ORKNEY 
in perpetuity to ee who are bound to pay for ever the 
old rents. ‘The church-lands are thofe which formerly be- 
longed to the biftiops and clergy, and which are now hel 
by individuais, whofe anceftors had obtained them in feu or 
perpetuity, for payment in kind of the original rents. The 
udal-lands are thofe po offeffed without any written charters 
in t Ow 
fome of see 
pay a trifling rent to the crown or church, but many pa 
neither. Several of the ee, and many of the fhaler, 
proprietors cultivate their own grounds; but the far greater 
proportion of the lands is let out to tenants; the larger 
farms on leafes of feven, fourteen, or nineteen years, and 
the leffer ones ufually at will. The fize of farms in tillage 
varies from two acres to two Bindeed: : an average fize may 
be about eight acres in ra asa to each farm 
Agriculture.—The great irregularity of ten difcernible 
in thefe iflands renders it almoft impoffible to compute t 
number of {quare miles, or of acres they may contain. 
attempt to effect this objeCt has been made, however, by 
Templeman; according to whom, the whole group com- 
prifes 384,000 Englifh acres, of —_ ad Baca are 
arable, and 60,000 laid down in paftu inder is 
sai ga by heath, and mofs, and by ‘nouies. oe roads, 
water, & 
The a grains cultivated in the Orkneys are grey oats 
3 and thefe in alternate cr rops, without inter- 
a 
turnips are {own annua ae od fro fiche oabuni ce of the 
produce, the Sagan and climate would feem to be ‘peculiarly 
adapted to that cro h inary ufe is fea- 
incentives to vigor 
To clog him, ‘therefore, with civil burdens, is to extinguifh 
every feeling of which induftry is the refult. 
The inftruments made ufe of here for agricultural pur- 
pofes are lamentabiy deficient. The fame plough, which 
was formerly univerfal, is ftill common. It has only one 
ftilt, without either welt or mould- board ; and its other 
driver moving backwards before them. T he ha riows are 
very {mall and light, and often have wooden teeth, even 
where the foil is ftrongett. The roller is little eel 
being ufed only by a few of the great farmers. 
further remarks on the agriculture of thefe iflands, fee Po. 
MONA. 
3 
® 
a the 
{ually 
raifed for convenience, or ornament, differ little fae fuch 
as are met with in fimilar fituations, in other parts of Scot- 
land. 
Bear or bigg and oats are the kinds of grain moft 
ISLANDS. 
commonly sheng our tobe to thefe, though in very {paring 
quantities, are fom s added peafe, beans, wheat, rye, 
of the more enterprifing gentlemen 
tares, faintfoin, nce, cabbage, turnips, and different forts 
of clover and rye-gra 
tulip, the carnation, he pin 
flowers, are cultivated with fuccefs ; and the kitchen- garden 
produces cabbage, brocoli, cauliflower, peafe, — aa 
age, leeks, onions, turnips, carrots, parfnips, celery, a 
artichokes, The fruit- garden affords: excellent black, white, 
rrants: the other fruits, however, are very in 
eroe os ath refpeét to fize and flavour. Of trees there 
and thefe, on eae “of their 
me: and fome - 
on e gardens around Kirkwall. 
would excite little furprife, if the moft nneauivoss 
evidence of their former exiftence since in great plenty, were 
not derived from an ory, and mber of trunks. 
d in the m opinion fo coiiniealy enter- 
t trees will not grow in the i 
pletely erroneous. e 
early growth of the 
come manifett. 
has been the confequence of neglect, or of the want of 
judgment in planting in fituations too much expofed to the. 
violence of the weather, or of the fea {pra 
Zoology.—-The quadrupeds of thefe iisads are the horfe, 
the ox, the fheep, the hog, the dog, the cat, the otter, the 
fhrew-moufe, the role-moufe, the field-moufe, the Nor- 
wegian rat, the rabbit, and the feal. The horfe is precifely 
fimilar in appearance and qualities to that of Shetland. (See 
MainLanp of SHETLAND.) ‘The ox is of a very fingular 
breed, and altogether different from any kind known in 
other parts of Great Britain. This animal is of a i 
minutive fize, but ftrong.and hardy; and is fuppofed to 
have originally come from the Scandinavian fhores. e 
eep is likewife a peculiar breed, and, from fome features 
in its character, appears to be fprung from the fame ftock 
with that _of Iceland, the Ferroes, and Shetland. It is 
o 
“— 
< 
om 
an 
pss) 
ie] 
fo 
rtic 
ccelivan fubitte for ici: in making ropes to anchor 
ag 
The or Norwegian rat has been introduced by the 
s, and has nearly banifhed 
at. m the tip of the nofe to the 
coe « the tail it estes Ak 18 inches. This animal 
oa gae ee fiercenefs, and has even been known to brave 
the attack of bits are fo abundant here, that 
ee fi Their 
c 
fhipping ¢ that Gece the 7 
black 
rown 5 
Though devoured by various animals of prey, the 
ftock never feems to fuffer any diminution. The cafe, how- 
ever, is very different with the hare, which was formerly an 
inhabitant of the Orkneys, but rae entirely sda a 
aiid the laft two centuries. Seals are common in all t 
{mall iflands, or holms, and are be for their fkins ad 
oil. Hams, made of young feals, are much relifhed by the 
natives. 
domeflic birds are dung-hill fowl, ducks, geefe, 
turkeys, and a few peacocks. The wild birds confitt of a 2 
immenfe 
