WHICH FELL IN ORKNEY. 193 



pictarneys or sea-swallows, were seen floating on the sea, oc- 

 casionally attempting to fly, but unable to raise themselves. 



Owing to the fortunate circumstance of the thunder and 

 lio-htning having for some time preceded the great fall of hail, 

 the people at work in the fields, and on the " kelp-shore," in 

 the track of the cloud, had all taken shelter. One boy alone, 

 named Peter Stevenson, suffered from exposure : he was at a 

 distance from any house when the hail began ; he threw down 

 a bundle which he was carrying, and ran towards a projecting 

 crag at the sea-beach for protection j but before he could reach 

 it, he received a severe blow on the back of the neck, which 

 stupified him, and produced a contusion, from the effects of 

 which he had not recovered after the lapse of six months. 

 Four men in a boat, at some distance from land, were exposed 

 to a part of the shower, and had their hands much cut and 

 bruised by the hailstones. Had they been subjected to its full 

 violence, they would probably have perished. 



It does not appear that the electric fluid had any share in 

 killing the geese or other birds, at least no marks of discolora- 

 tion or singeing were observable on the feathers, and the pal- 

 pable blows which the animals had received, were fully suffi- 

 cient to account for their death. The cows being " struck 

 " ydd" as Caithness expresses it, seems a curious circum- 

 stance ; it is ascribed by him to the dreadful fright they got. 

 The wounds received by the cattle and horses were all evident- 

 ly inflicted by the hailstones. It is proper to add, however, 

 that, in some places, Caithness observed the surface of the 

 pasture-grass to be much discoloured and scorched-like ; 

 and a good deal of the broken straw of the grain-crops 

 likewise " coloured white by the fire, as if it had been sudden- 

 " ly ripened." Mr Taylor informs me, that when he first 

 went abroad, immediately after the cloud had passed over, he 



vol. ix. p. i. b b was 



