228 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Charles S. Olcott 



THE) BANOUKTRY II ALL 01? THE) EARl/S CASTLE, KIRKWALL, ORKNEY ISLANDS 



On the fireplace at the left may be seen the initials of Earl Patrick Stewart. The room 

 apparently contained two great fireplaces and several large arched doors (see text, page 

 217). 



erses the dreary wastes of Siberia — all 

 of which gives one a kind of icy shiver. 

 But the climate of the islands is so 

 modified by the sea that they are neither 

 excessively cold in winter nor warm in 

 summer. A strong wind blows across 

 them most of the time, and this has inter- 

 fered with vegetation to such an extent 

 tli at few trees are to be found. The in- 

 land scenery is, therefore, not attractive, 

 but the rugged outlines of the coast, cut 

 ii]) by the action of the sea into numerous 

 inlets, or voes, and carved into fantastic 

 "stacks" and "castles," like the Old Man 

 of I toy, have a wild beauty of their own. 



TJll'. ORKNEYS AKiv TAKING A VACATION 



As we sailed down the coast at mid- 

 night, it was with the feeling that we 

 were leaving a land that was strangely 

 fascinating, where every rock and cave 

 and sheltered voe, every mound and 

 bYoch and ruined castle or church, 

 seemed to speak of a race of men who 



had long since disappeared from the face 

 of the earth. 



They were men of tremendous activity, 

 giants in stature, fierce, resistless, relent- 

 less, yet capable of love and romance, 

 warriors by profession, yet occasionally 

 statesmen, poets, or saints. They came 

 to supersede a mysterious race of whom 

 history can tell us nothing, and when 

 their allotted time was elapsed, they de- 

 parted as mysteriously as they came, 

 leaving the islands to the keeping of their 

 less ferocious but not more scrupulous 

 brethren of the south. 



Since then the centuries have passed, 

 and while the rest of the world has pro- 

 gressed in learning and industry, they 

 have been content to be let alone, to enjoy 

 the peace of obscurity. 



Civilization, Commerce, Science, and 

 Art may march forward with proud and 

 determined mien, but the Shetlands and 

 Orkneys, after ages of turmoil, are now 

 taking their vacation. 



