NOETHEEN SCOTLAND. 345 



visited Scotland wlien desirous of hunting, for there only existed forests harbour- 

 ing wild beasts. The Orkneys are now inhabited by peaceable agriculturists and 

 fishermen, but during the early Middle Ages they were of great strategical 

 importance. They then afforded shelter to the fleets of the Norwegian vikings, 

 who thence threatened equally the western and eastern coasts of Great Britain. 

 During summer every part of the British Islands lay open to their attack, whilst 

 in winter they shut themselves up in their fortresses, and kept high festival with 

 barbaric splendour. 



The Shetland Islands (Zetland or Hjaltland) lie in the same axis as the 

 Orkneys, from which they are separated by a channel 48 miles across. In the 

 centre of this strait lies Fair Island, otherwise Faroe, the " Island of Sheep," a 

 scarped mass of rock rising to a height of 706 feet. Upon this desolate island 

 was cast, in 1588, the flag- ship of the Spanish Armada, and the natives are hence 

 supposed to have Castilian blood in their veins. Many amongst them, finding 

 their island too small for their support, have sought a new home in Canada. 

 There are few cliffs in the world superior in wild grandeur and steepness to 

 those of Xorthern Shetland. When circumnavigating the Mainland, cape 

 rises beyond cape from above the deep sea, which has worn caverns into the foot 

 of the cliffs. One of these caverns, or hclycrs, is known as the " Orkneyman's 

 Harbour," on account of its having once aflbrded shelter to an Orkney fisherman 

 pursued by a French privateer. Although the mean height of Shetland is greater 

 than that of the Orkneys, there is no summit equal to Ward Hill, of Hoy. 

 Roeness Hill, a granitic dome on the northern peninsula of the Mainland, only 

 rises 1,476 feet. 



The archipelago, since 1766 the property of the Earl of Zetland, consists 

 of more than 100 islands, of which 34 are inhabited, the others being mere 

 stacJcs, or pillars of rock ; skerries, or foam-washed reefs ; and holms, or 

 small islands, affording pasturage to the spirited Shetland ponies and to dimi- 

 nutive cattle, lately crossed with English shorthorns.* For the most part the 

 soil of the islands consists of heathy wastes, and there exists only one tree, about 

 10 feet high, which is looked upon as a great curiosity. The remains of birch 

 forests have, however, been discovered in the peat bogs. 



Secure harbours are numerous between these islands, and the depth of the 

 sea, even within a short distance of the land, generally exceeds 30 fathoms. But 

 this very depth often proves a source of danger to the mariner, as the islands are 

 frequently enveloped in dense fogs, and an appeal to the sounding-lead affords 

 no information as to the proximity of land. Often, too, powerful roosts, or 

 tidal currents, carry vessels out of their proposed course into the midst of cliffs. 

 Foul Island, or Foula, which lies in raid-ocean, 18 miles to the west of Mainland, 

 is more formidable of aspect than any other island of the Shetland group. The 

 small creek on its south-eastern coast is at all times dangerous of approach. 

 The Kaim, or culminating summit of the island, rises to a height of 1,370 feet, and 



* John Wilson, " British Farming," 



