62 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



a somevrliat oblique direction, so o? to turn their flat sides towards tlie 

 water wliicli falls upon them : and tlie spout, which, must give the 

 water a' sudden fall, is placed with its lower end close to these leaves. 

 From one end of th.e beam lying on the ground, which supports tie 

 axle and the upper millstone, a piece of wood rises in a perpendicular 

 dii'ection towai'ds the millwork, where it rests on wedges, and by 

 pushing in or drawing out these wedges the upper stone can be 

 raised or lowered at pleasure. The mil lstone makes a hundred revo- 

 lutions in a minute ; but, as the stones in general are small, and liave 

 no furrows in them, they grind slowly, and are not calculated for 

 the preparation of grits or barley. — Landt's ' Earoe Islands,' 1810, 

 p. 293." 



(p. 12.) — 2. In the Shetland Islands. — "In skii'ting along the 

 harboirr (* Rigseller Toe, in Shetland') numerous slender rills were 

 observed ambling down the dales to pay their tiibute to the Voe. 

 These occasionally served to supply some small mill, the presence of 

 which was signified by a low shed of unhewn stones that stretched 

 across a diminutive streamlet, over which it was possible in many 

 places to stride. Compared with a water-mill of Scotland or England, 

 the grinding apparatus of Shetland seemed designed for a race of 

 pigmies. The millstones are commonly formed of a micaceous gneiss, 

 being from 30 to 36 inches in diameter. Tender the fi-amework by 

 which they are supported is a sort of horizontal wheel of the same 

 diameter as the millstones, named ' Tirl,'' which consists of a stout 

 cylindrical post of wood, about 4 feet long, into which are mortised 

 twelve small float boards, placed in a slanting dii'ection, or at an 

 oblique angle. It has a pivot at its under end which runs in a 

 hollowed iron plate fixed in a beam. A strong ii'on spindle, attached 

 to the upper end of the ' Tirl,^ passes through a hole in the under 

 millstone, and is firmly wedged in the upper one. A trough conducts 

 the water that falls fi'om the hill, upon the feathers of the ' Tirl,'' at 

 an inclination of 40° or 45°, which, giving motion to the upper mill- 

 stone, turns it slowly round. Such is a description of this exquisite 

 piece of machinery, the invention of which is prohahly as old as the 

 time of Harold Hai-fagre." 



3. In the Hehrides. — " The mills at Lewis are probably the greatest 

 curiosity a stranger can meet with on the island. There is scarcely a 

 stream along the coast, or any part of the island, on which a mill is 

 not to be seen. These mills are of very small size and of a very 

 simple construction. The water passes through their middle, where 

 the wheel, a solid piece of wood, generally 18 inches 'n diameter, 



