THE ORKNEYS AND SHETLANDS 



Photograph by Charles S. Olcott 



ORCADIAN TOMBSTONES, ST. MAGNUS CATHREDAL. ORKNEY ISLANDS 



These two stones, now set on end in St. Magnus Cathedral, were originally laid in the 

 floor. The full inscription of the one on the left is reproduced on page 217. On most of 

 these stones the sculpture shows the skull greatly enlarged on the left side because of the 

 Orcadian belief that the spirit took its departure through the left ear. 



by Earl Patrick Stewart, who, with his 

 father, Earl Robert, cruelly oppressed 

 the islanders for half a century. 



In 1897 Mr. John Bruce, the owner at 

 that time, was visiting the place with 

 some friends when they discovered the 

 unmistakable evidences of masonry in 

 the mound beneath the Jarlshof, so an- 

 cient as to make the sixteenth-century 

 castle seem quite modern. Some recent 

 storms had washed away the seaward 

 part of the mound, exposing the ends of 



walls, the existence of which had been 

 previously unsuspected. 



This led to extensive excavations, with 

 the result that the remains of a large 

 broch were unearthed, one-half of which 

 had been washed away by the sea. Close 

 by were three structures, shaped like bee- 

 hives, the largest of which was oval in 

 shape, 34 feet long and H) feet wide, and 

 contained live chambers, one of which 

 was 5 J 2 feet wide at the front and \o l 2 

 feet at the rear. 



