THE SOUTH ISLES. 37 



with a large steading, and otherwise improving his property. From 

 the northward this valley is joined by the narrow glens of Segal 

 and Berriedale, 1 which contain some of the few indigenous trees 

 in the island, as before mentioned ; 2 close to the track is one of 

 the strongest springs of water we have seen anywhere. 



Separated by the strath through which the Eackwick road runs 

 on the one side, and another deep glen on the other, stands the 

 Ward Hill, 1564 feet in height, and the highest hill in the whole 

 group of the Orkneys. Bound its base the heather grows, but its 

 sides are much cut up with fissures, down which quantities of 

 stones and rocks are brought by the winter rains, forming large 

 " screes " or slopes of loose stones, and these, with its steep slant, 

 give the hill an appearance of even still greater height. In the 

 glen to the south of the Ward Hill, and facing north, are some 

 ledges of rock on which Golden Eagles, probably the only pair in 

 the islands, used to breed. 



From Rackwick the land rises southwards very abruptly from 50 

 to 1000 feet in a very short distance, and the whole of the coast-line 

 all along is very steep, culminating at last in the magnificent, sheer, 

 red-coloured precipice of Berry Head, 600 feet ; after that the land 

 sinks down rather abruptly to Melsetter. Throughout this length 

 of coast are several " stacks " or upright pieces of rock detached 

 from the main cliff, their tops, as a rule, being covered with grass, 

 though none of them is so conspicuous as the " Old Man of Hoy," 

 before mentioned. 



The coast-line on the east of the island never assumes such 

 grand proportions as that last mentioned, the whole land falling 

 towards that point of the compass ; the shore is more indented 

 with bays, having sandy or muddy flats in their upper reaches. 



Elsewhere along the eastern side the coast is mainly composed 

 of low cliffs, or steep banks clad with grass, fern, and heather, 

 having rarely any beach beyond boulders and weed-covered rock. 

 Only at two places towards the northern end of the line do the 

 cliffs rise to some 200 to 300 feet in the precipices known as the 

 White Breast and the Bring. 



1 Berrie = Berry = Bergdale = the Rocky Glen. 2 Vide p. 6. 



