3U 



THE BIUTISII ISLES. 



waves are ilasl.cd over the nortliera cliiis of the island, and f^ive birth to a briny 

 stream flowing- southwards, on the banks of which the natives have erected a 



mill.* 



Twenty-seven of the Orkneys arc permanently inhabited, and about forty 

 smaller islands afford pasturage for sheep. In their contour these islands present 

 all the features of the coast of Western Scotland, and from the sea the archipelago 

 assumes the appearance of a single island bristling with bold headlands and 

 peninsulas. The islands, however, are formed of old red sandstone, and their 

 elevation is but trifling, AVard Hill, of Hoy, their culminating point, only 



Fii^. 169.— The Orkneys. 

 Scale 1 : 850,000. 



28 to 55 

 Fathoms. 



Orer .5.5 

 I'athoms. 



10 Miles. 



attaining a height of 1,555 feet. Close to the shore of that island rises the Old 

 Man of Hoy, an insulated pillar 300 feet high, with arches below. The Main- 

 land, or Pomona,t is far less elevated than Hoy. Most of the Orkneys are 

 covered bv natural meadows, and the peat bogs are of small extent. One of 

 the ancient Scandinavian Earls of Orkney actually received the surname of Torf 

 Einar, or " Turf-cutter," because he regularly visited the neighbouring mainland, 

 where he procured his turf, or peat. The old lords of these islands likewise 



• Peach; Goikie, " Scenerj- and Geology of Scotland." 



t A Scandinavian name, and not Latin : its meaning is unknown. 



