SVC By Et +L) ALN, BD. 
Schetland confifts of feveral iflands. Mainland, the principal, extends from 
Youth to north twenty-eight leagues, and is moft fingularly formed ; confifting of 
an infinite number of peninfule connected by very narrow ifthmufes. That called 
Mavifgrind, which unites the,parith of North Maven, is only eighty yards broad. 
But the irregular fhape of this ifland occafions it to abound with the fineft and moft 
fecure ports, called here voes ; a moft providential difpenfation in a fea which 
fwarms with fifhes of the moft general ufe. The adjacent iflands are in general fo 
near to the mother ifland, and their headlands point fo ex aétly to its correfponding 
capes, that it is highly probable that they once made apart of the Mainland. The 
rocks and ftacks affume great variety of forms, fuch as fteeples and-Gothic cathe- 
drals rifing out of the water, fleets of fhips, and other fancied fhapes. The Dore- 
holm, in the parifh of North Maven, is very fingular: part is rounded, the reft feems 
a ruin, compofed of a fingle thin fragment of rock, with a magnificent arch within, 
feventy feet in height. 
To ufe the words of Captain Thomas Preffon, to whom we are indebted for an 
excellent chart of this group, ‘ the land is wild, barren, and mountanous; nor 
* is there fo much as a bufh or a tree to be feen. ‘The fhores are difficult, and in 
* many parts inacceffible ; rude, fteep, and iron-like; the fight of which ftrikes 
© the mind with dread and horror; and fuch monftrous precipices and-hideous rocks 
‘as bring all Brabdingnag before your thoughts. Thefe iflands lie between lat. 60 
©to61. In winter the fun fets foon-after it rifes, and in fummer rifes foon after it 
© fets; fo that in that feafon the nights are almoft as light as the day; as on thé 
© contrary, in December the day is nearly as dark as the night. About the foillice, 
© we fee every night the aurora borealis, or, as they are called by the natives, the 
© merry dancers, which fpread a broad glaring appearance over the whole northern 
€ hemifphere *.’ ; 
They are the conftant attendants of the clear evenings in all thefe northern 
iflands, and prove great reliefs amidft the gloom of the long winter nights. They 
commonly appear at twilight near the horizon, of a dun color, approaching to yellow: 
fometimes continuing in that ftate for feveral hours without any fenfible motion ; 
after which they break out into ftreams of ftronger light, fpreading into columns, 
and altering flowly into ten thoufand different fhapes, varying their colors from all 
. the tints of yellow to theobfcureft ruffet. They often cover the whole hemifphere, 
and then make the moft brilliant appearance. Their motions at thefe times are 
moft amazingly quick ; and they aftonifh the fpeétator with the rapid change of 
their form, They break out in places where none were feen before, fkimming 
* Phil. Tranf. abr. xi. 1328, 
YW 2 brifkly 
XXYVII 
ScHETLAND. 
Avrora Bore= 
ALIS. 
