Mr Low on the Currents of Tide of the Pentland Frith , Sfc. 59 
breaking the same way, and with the same forces but with ebb, 
form the Merry Men of May , currents which it is impossible 
to stem with sails or oars ; but vessels will be hurried away by 
them, like feathers before the wind. A little below the neck of 
the stream, or where the water breaks on Stroma, it goes off in 
vast whirls, and forms a roust by the dancing of the stream now 
spread wider than before, and spending its lately acquired vigour 
in this tremulous motion ; and if any boat be so unhappy as to 
be hurled down into this gulf, it is a thousand to one if it is not 
tumbled over and over, as the waves attack it on all sides, often 
mounting it on its very end, throwing the men hither and thither 
out of it ; and, in a word, rendering it absolutely impossible for 
them to save themselves by any manner of slight or cunning. 
44 All these evils, and others, about Pightland Frith may be 
easily guarded against, by choosing a proper tide, which is 
some time before slack-water, (as it is called by the ferrymen,) 
i . e . about an hour before the high or low water, at any of which 
times, wind and weather favouring, the firth may be passed 
with great safety, as I then did, and landed at Stroma. 
44 Though this small isle does not so properly come within my 
province, as it is never reckoned one of the Orkneys, and has, 
from the earliest times, belonged to the people of Caithness, yet 
I was the more willing to give it a visit, as my very worthy 
friend Mr Pennant, in his Tour 1769, did not traverse it.’ 1 
Here follows the account of the Island of Stroma, which does 
not belong to the present subject. 
44 Swona is bordered with high rocks. There are also many 
sharp-pointed rocks, which shoot far above water, and give this 
place a very formidable appearance ; but with little danger, as 
the tides rather set a ship from, than on the coasts of the Pight- 
land Firth Isles. 
46 At the north and south ends of Swona, the tide sets off* with 
vast rapidity, as the strength of the Pightland Firth stream is 
broken by it ; the first considerable stop it meets with both 
flood and ebb. This rapidity of the tide, and the depth of wa- 
ter, together with the particular position of the island, which 
exactly crosses the stream, contribute to form these whirpools 
called the Wells of Swona, so long famous for the alleged dan- 
ger in passing over or near them. 
