747 
ORKNEY 
will 8000 marks, for the purpofe of founding a college in 
Edinburgh. Adam Bothwell, his fuccefl'or, wasthefirft 
epifcopal bilhop of the ifles. This prelate performed the 
marriage ceremony between queen Mary and Bothwell ; 
and alfo inaugurated her fon, king James, after (he was 
compelled to refign her crown. By his afliftance the 
Scotch laws were firft collefted into a body and publilhed ; 
and, when the unhappy differences occurred between 
the young king and his mother, during her imprifonment 
in England, he was chofen by the eftates to aid the regent 
in bringing them to a termination. 
So long as the catholic and epifcopal form of church- 
government continued in thefe iflands, eighteen ordinary 
officiating clergymen were dationed here. The fame num¬ 
ber was employed after the eftabliffiment of prefbyterian- 
ifm ; mod: of whom had, as their fucceffors dill have, two, 
or even three, churches to occupy, frequently fituated at 
confiderable didances from each other, and feparated by 
branches of the fea. Notwithdanding this, however, di¬ 
vine fervice is faid to be performed in all of them with be¬ 
coming regularity. For fome time fubfequent to the 
change of religion, the whole clergy were united into one 
prefbytery; but they afterwards divided into two, and 
now form three prefbyteries, confiding of fix miniders 
each; the whole compofing a provincial fynod. The 
three prefbyteries choofe each three members, and the bo¬ 
rough one, to reprefent them in the general aflembly. 
Lord Dundas is patron of all the pai'iffies both of Orkney 
and of Shetland. 
Before the transfer of the Orkneys to the crown of Scot¬ 
land, the inhabitants were governed by the laws, and ad¬ 
hered to the cudoms, of Norway. Indeed, for a long pe¬ 
riod after they changed their maders, thefe iflands dill 
retained the fame political conditution as before. The 
fupreme court, called in the.language of the country law- 
ting, continued in the exercife of its legitlative powers fo 
late even as the time of the commonwealth, when it was 
entirely abolifned. The aids pafled in this adembly, 
which are dill known under the name of county-ads, are 
faid by Mr. Barry to difcovermuch regard to the profpe- 
rity of the place, as police-regulations, though lamenta¬ 
bly defective on the fubjeft of trade and commerce. The 
conditution of the lawting is fuppofed to have refembled, 
in fome degree, that of the tyndal-court, or houfe-of- 
keys, in the Ifle of Man. The prefident, or principal 
perfon of this court, was named the great foud, or lagman ; 
and fubordinate to him were feveral little fouds, or un- 
der-fherids, or bailiff's; and, as the chief judge had a coun¬ 
cil, confiding of feveral members, called raddmen, fo the 
inferior ones had their council alfo, compofed of mem¬ 
bers denominated lagraetmen, or law-wrightmen, who 
were a kind of conflables for the execution of judice in 
the refpeftive iflands. To thefe members were added, at 
lead latterly, the governors for the time, the gentlemen 
of the county, and even a certain number of the peafantry, 
who, among a free people, claimed a vote in framing 
the laws that were to govern them. The legiflative enact¬ 
ments of the lawting have for many years totally fallen 
into difufe, and the decifions of all the courts are now 
regulated by the principles and practice of the law of 
Scotland. Lord Dundas, as high-deward or lord-lieu¬ 
tenant of the county, which includes both the Orkney 
and the Shetland ifles, has the power of nominating cer¬ 
tain judges called bailies, one of whom is edabliflied in 
every ifland and pariffi. Thefe petty magidrates aft as 
judices of the peace, and hold courts for the decifion 
of civil pleas to the value of 16s. 8d. derling. All quef- 
tions of higher import mud be pleaded in the flierid’’s 
court, which is held at Kirkwall, ufually by the ffierifl- 
fubditute ; the flieriff-depute, who is always a Scotch 
barrider, and appointed by the crown, only vifiting his 
jurifdiftion occalionally, to determine fuch caufes as may 
chance to involve more difficult and abdrufe points of 
law. Subfervient to the bailies are fix or feven of the 
more refpeftable inhabitants, who aft as condables, and 
ISLANDS. 
fuperintend the morals of the other parifliioners. In 
Kirkwall, which is the feat of judice, there are, befides 
the (heriff’s court, a commiflary, a judice of the peace, 
and an admiralty-court. The commiflary court is appro¬ 
priated to pleas of an ecclefiadical nature, fuch as di¬ 
vorces, marriages, &c. 
The only towns or villages of any confequence in the 
Orkney iflands, are Kirkwall and Stromnefs. Both thefe 
places are fituated on the Mainland or Pomona, and are 
fuppofed to contain nearly 3000 inhabitants each. The 
former is a royal burgh, and the capital of the county ; 
but Stromnefs is merely a village, though it probably 
carries on more trade than Kirkwall. 
Orkney with Shetland is reprefented in the Britifli par¬ 
liament by one knight of the (hire. Lord Dundas, as 
may be fuppofed, poifefles the chief intered: in faft, his 
fon is the member. 
As there are no authentic data by which the ancient 
population of thefe iflands can be accurately afeertained, 
the conjeftures which have been hazarded.on this fubjeft 
ad'ord very different refults, When however the power 
of the earls, and the anxiety with which their alliance was 
courted, are taken into view, it feems reafonable to con¬ 
clude, that it mud have been very confiderable. In a ge¬ 
neral muder of the people by P. Stewart earl of Orkney, 
it is faid that 10,000 men could be raifed on any emer¬ 
gency, and as many left as were fufficient for the agricul¬ 
ture and fifheries. Guthrie, in his Hidory of Scotland, 
aflerts, that the fame amount of perfons from this country 
carried arms at the time of the great rebellion in the 17th 
century. Thefe reprefen rations, if admitted to be cor- 
reft, would feem to fwell the population beyond thfe 
bounds of probability. Dr. Barry, therefore, confiders 
them as extravagant. It is certainly evident, however, 
that the population of the Orkneys has differed a great 
decreafe within the lad century; and no lefs clear, that 
the iflands are capable of l'upporting four times the 
amount of their prefent inhabitants, which, according to 
the parliamentary returns of 1811, were computed at 
23,238 in number. 
The eadern coad of the Orkney iflands is low, and ge¬ 
nerally flat. As the flrore advances to the wed, the land 
is fo elevated, as, with a few interruptions, to form itfelf 
into a range of hills, the highefl of which is about 1200 
feet in perpendicular height from the furface of the fea. 
The fliores in this quarter are bold and deep, and prefent 
many feenes truly fublime. In fome places they remain 
entire ; but in others, having yielded to the force of the 
ocean, and the ravages of time, they appear (battered into 
a thoufand pieces, formed into majedic arches, or hol¬ 
lowed out into dark and unfathomable caverns. From 
the difpofition of the drata, and many other confidera- 
tions, little doubt can be entertained but that thefe 
iflands, in remote times, were connefted with each other,' 
and alfo with the mainland of Scotland. 
The foil of thefe iflands is more various, probably, than 
in any other didrift of Great Britain ; and thefe varieties 
are fo intermixed, that fcarcely a Angle farm is in this re- 
fpeft uniform. All the foils are thin or (hallow, being 
feldoni more than one or two feet deep ; but they are ne- 
verthelefs uncommonly fertile. The rocks upon which 
the foil reds, and which in many places are fo foft and fri¬ 
able as to break before the plough, appear, by their de- 
compofition, to prove favourable to vegetation, or to afford 
food for plants. 
Though fituated fo much to the north, the climate of 
thefe iflands is not liable to thofe extremes of heat and 
cold which prevail in continental countries lefs diflant from 
the equator. This faft is the refult of the proximity 
of every part of them to the ocean. The medium tem¬ 
perature, as appears by the fprings, amounts to 45 0 ; and 
the whole range, between the lowed point of cold in win¬ 
ter and the highed of heat in fummer, is from 25 0 to 75 0 
of Fahrenheit’s thermometer. The mod prevalent winds 
here blow from the fouth-wed and fouth-ead, in the 
fpring. 
