Che Ka a be a5 
¢ appear fpreading along the horizon, and yield a moft charming profpect. Some 
“of them are fo near as diftinétly toexhibit the rocky fronts of thofe bold promon- 
© tories which fuftain the weight of the vaft currents from the Atlantic. Others 
© fhew more faint: their dittances finely exprefled as they retire from the eye, 
© until the mountains of the more remote have fearcely a deeper azure than. the 
©fky, and are hardly difcernible rifing over the furface of the ocean *. 
Between thefe and the main Jand, about two miles from the Cathne/s fhore, lies 
Stroma, the Ocetis of Ptolemy, a little ifland, an.appertenance to that county, fertile 
by the manual labor of about thirty families; pieafant, and lofty enough for the 
refort of the Auk tribe. #he noted mummies are now loft, occafioned by the doors 
of the caverns in which they were depofited being broke down, and admiffion 
given to cattle, which have trampled them to pieces. “This catacomb itands on.a 
neck of land’ bounded by the fea on three fides.. The falt air and fpray expels all 
infects, and is the only prefervation the bodies have; fome of which had been 
Todged here a great number of years. In many of the ifles, the inhabitants ufe 
no other method for preferving their meat from putrefa¢tion. than hanging it in. 
caves of the fea, and the method is vindicated by the fuccefs.. 
This ifland lies in the Pentland Firth, noted for the violence of the tides; tre- 
mendous to the fight, but dangerous. only when paffed at improper times. They 
fet in from the north-weft : the flood, on the contrary, on the coafts of Lewz7s, pours 
in from the fouth ¢.. The tide of flood upon Strama (and other iflands fimilarly 
fituated in mid-ftream) divides or fplits before it reaches it. A current runs with 
great violence on both fides, then unites, at fome diftance from the oppofite end, 
and forms a fingle current, running at fpring-tides at the rate of nine knots an 
hour; at.neap;.at that of three only. The fpace between the dividing tides, at 
different ends of an ifland, is quite ftagnant,. and is called the eddy. Some of 
them are a mile or two:long, and give room for a fhip to tack.to-and fro, till the 
tides are fo far {pent as to permit it to purfue its voyage. 
The moft boifterous parts of the ftreams are at the extremities of the ifland, and 
a little beyond the-top of the eddy, where they unite. Thecollifion of thefe oppo- 
fite ftreams excite a circular motion, and, when the tide is very ftrong, occafion 
whirlpools in. form of an inverted bell, the largeft diameter of which may be about 
three feet. In fpring-tides they have force enough to turn a veffel round, but not to 
do any damage : but there have been inftances of fmall boats being fwallowed up. 
‘Thefe whirlpools are largeft when firft formed; are carried away with the ftream, 
and difappear, but are quickly followed by others. The fpiral motion or fuction 
* Mr, Cordiner’s elezant defcription, p. 35, +. Mackenfie’s Charts of the Orknies; Pp» 45 5+ 
é does: 
XXII 
OrKNEY 
IsLANDs,. 
STROMA. 
Tipes,. 
Tue SwELCHIE 
OF STROMA..- 
