10 
A TRIP TO ORKNEY AND SHETLAND. 
Jan., 1891. 
the Hebrides and at Oban ; thus sailing all round Scotland 
from Edinburgh, and on to Liverpool. The whole fortnight’s 
trip was very pleasantly varied by the several alternations of 
a couple of days on the sea, with a stay on shore between 
them. 
The captains of the steamers complain of the absence of 
lighthouses along the west coast of Shetland. A reason for 
this is given in Walter Scott’s “ Pirate,” which is not very 
creditable if true. It is said there that soon after the light¬ 
houses were placed on the Pentland Skerries, two small 
islands lying between Orkney and the mainland, the islanders 
of the neighbourhood fell off in their rents because there was 
no longer the spoil from wrecks. It is to be hoped this was a 
libel; still it is certain that the ancient Shetlanders looked 
upon wreckage as legitimate prey, and that there was formerly 
a superstition that whoever saved a drowning man would 
suffer a future injury from him. The unfortunate fact 
remains that to this day there are no lighthouses along that 
coast. 
The principal objects of interest in Kirkwall, the capital 
of Orkney, are St. Magnus Cathedral, parts of which date 
from the beginning of the twelfth century, and the ruins of 
the Bishop’s Palace and the Earl’s Palace. The latter was 
built by the notorious Earl Patrick Stewart, and is well 
described in the “Pirate.” The older parts of the town are 
picturesque, the streets are very narrow, and paved all across 
with flags, with no distinction between the horseway and 
footway except a narrow track of pitching in the centre only 
about a yard wide. Kirkwall has a subsidiary port called 
Scapa on the opposite coast, about a mile and a half distant. 
From Lerwick, the capital of Shetland, a fine day’s 
excursion in a sailing boat was made to the eastern extremity 
of the rocky island Noss, where there are extensive bird 
rocks, a breeding ground for great swarms of birds. One 
special rock, the “Holm of Noss,” is detached from the 
island by a narrow channel, that can be sailed through in very 
calm weather; with both sides formed of vertical faces of rock 
rising direct from the sea, and in some parts having the top 
overhanging the base. One part of the rock face, beyond 
the Holm, forms a promontory called the “ Noup of Noss 
this is 600 feet in height from the sea, and we got to the top 
of it overland. 
There are several caves in the rocks along the coast; the 
largest one “ Orkneyman’s Cave,” we rowed into for a 
distance of about 250 yards, through a winding passage lighted 
by a torch ; the cave then becomes too narrow for the boat 
to enter farther, but a small canoe is said to have been once 
taken on for a distance of 100 yards further. 
