no obstacles from land, rocks, or shallows, intervene, di- Climate. rects its course to the east, south-east, or south, according as it is new made, half run, or approaching to still water. At full and new moon it is high water about half an hour after nine, when the ordinary spring tides rise eight feet perpendicular, and the extraordinary ones fourteen; and at the quadratures the usual neap tides rise three and a half, and such as are uncommon above six feet in height. The greatest rapidity of the spring tides, even in those channels where they run quickest, is nine miles in an hour; and the neap tides have only about a fourth part of that velocity.

If these spring tides be either at their greatest height or their lowest, the water continues still for the space of only half an hour, and in the neap tides it remains one hour and a half. From whatever quarter ships come, there is almost at all times an easy and ready access to such as are acquainted with the proper channels: and as soon as they have got within the precincts, however stormy the weather may be, or however shattered their condition, little or no difficulty will arise to their finding an excellent harbour. For one part of the year, the night is nearly as fit as the day for entering the har bours; for so far do the islands extend to the north, and such is the effect of having no land immediately beyond them, that the twilight is in general so bright, for two months in the summer, as to enable a person, with the ordinary powers of vision, to read in the house at midnight with the utmost facility. In winter, in deed, the sun is only four hours above the horizon; but neither does the darkness, even at that season, either much retard or endanger the entrance of ships, or their sailing among these islands; for the moon, from the re flection of the water, shines with such an unqommon des VOL, V.

Climate.

Aurora borealis.

gree of splendour, that not only the little islands, but even the rocks and tides, are almost as conspicuous in the night as in the day. But even in the long nights, and when the moon does not shine, light from a different source seasonably arises to facilitate navigation, by dispelling the darkness that would otherwise overspread these coasts. This is the aurora borealis, now very improperly denominated the northern lights, since by late discoveries they have been found to belong equally to both hemispheres. Here they happily appear, both more frequently, and with greater splendour, than in most other regions; for during the harvest, winter, and spring months, they arise almost every unclouded night, and often shine with the most magnificent brilliancy. The light of the moon at her quadratures sometimes, on such occasions, scarcely equals them in illuminating the friths and the islands.

Between the setting of the sun and the close of the twilight, they commonly make their first appearance in the north, issuing, for the most part, from behind the clouds, like a fountain of pale light, the form of which is undefined; and they continue in this state, a little above the horizon, sometimes only for a short period, and at other times for the space of several hours, without any motion that can be discovered. They form themselves one while into an arch, the height of which is about thirty degrees, and its breadth about sixty; and the pillars on which it is supported several times broader than the rainbow; and so long as they retain this shape they are without any sensible motion. At other times they extend farther over the heavens, rise much higher, assume a greater variety of shapes, and discover a dusky hue, with a motion that is slow but perceptible. Very often they exhibit an appearance quite different, and spread themselves over the whole heavens, diffusing every where a surprising degree of light, and exhibiting the most beautiful phenomena.

realis.

Their motion, in this case, is in various directions, ex- Aurors Bow tremely swift, and as it were in separate columns, resem bling somewhat the evolutions of a great army. Their lower extremities are distinctly defined, and deeply tinged with the colours of the rainbow; but their upper ones are tapering and less marked. In several places, at once, they kindle into a blaze, dart along in almost all directions for some seconds at a time; and then, as if by the strength of their exertions they had spent their force, they are extinguished in a moment, leaving a brown tract in the sky behind them. Near the place where they disap peared, in a short time they flash out anew, and with equal rapidity trace the same path in similar motions, and again expire in the same manner. Thus they often continue for several hours together, to the great satisfaction and amusement of the spectators on land, and advantage of the mariner, when they gradually die away, and leave through the whole heavens a colour resembling that of brass. If the night be uncommonly still, and their mo tions very rapid, a whizzing noise has been thought to have been distinctly heard from them at various intervals. This beautiful coruscation, which has never yet been satisfactorily explained, is said to have appeared much seldomer eighty or ninety years ago than it does at present.

The hills composing the rugged tract that skirts the west-S ern coast, as well as those that intersect the Mainland, and occupy some of the other islands, are seldom single and detached, but for the most part formed into ridges of some extent, with small intervening valleys; and their tops, instead of rising high into a conical form, are generally ei ther flat or rounded. Some few of them are almost en tirely covered with verdure. The bottoms of most of them consist of corn fields, interspersed with patches of rich old grass, excellently fitted for feeding black cattle. The

Soil.

Tenure of Jands.

soil consists of sandy or clayey loam. Their sides produce an excellent mixture of heath and grass for sheeppasture, on a thin stratum of peat-moss; while their tops are usually brown, on a bottom of peat-moss, clay, or gravel. There are spots on some of them delightfully romantic, where the attention is arrested, and the ear pleased, with the murmurs of the rills; and the eye feasts on flow, ers that rear their heads, and shed their fragrance, amidst various kinds of shrubs.

These islands contain almost every variety of soil; and these varieties are so intermixed that scarce any one farm is in this respect uniform. The soil is in general of no great depth, and a considerable proportion of the surface consists of a mossy soil, mixed with other materials. All the soils are thin or shallow, being seldom more than one or two feet in depth, without any intervening strata ; but, with few exceptions, they are uncommonly fertile. The rocks on which the soil rests, and which, in many places, are so soft and friable as to break before the plough, appear, by their decomposition, to prove favourable to vegetation, or to afford food for plants. The strata, consisting of mixtures of clay, sand-stone, and lime-stone, appear mixed with a considerable quantity of bituminous matter, which in all probability gives much assistance to vege

tation.

Property in land is held in the Orkneys in a variety of forms, which may be reduced to three: 1st, King's lands, which had formerly belonged to the Earls of Orkney, but which had been, in process of time, feued out or granted. in perpetuity to vassals, who became bound to pay for ever the old rents, which were usually taken in kind, on account of the scarcity of money. 2dly, Kirk lands, or those which anciently belonged to the bishops and clergy of Orkney, and which are now held by private persons, to whose ancestors they had been granted in feu or perpetu

Isles.

ity, for payment in kind of the old rents. And, lastly, Inhabited there are udal lands, or lands held without any written. charters. This tenure occurs nowhere else in the Scottish territory, excepting in Orkney and Shetland, and in the four towns of Lochmaben, which we formerly mentioned. It would appear that the feudal system had never fully penetrated to these northern isles. At the same time, the udallers are few in number; some of them pay a small rent to the crown or church, and some pay to neither.

A few of the larger, and many of the smaller proprie. tors occupy farms, but the far greater part of the lands is possessed by tenants. Those of the larger farms have generally leases for terms of seven, fourteen, or nineteen years; but by much the greater number of farms are possessed by tenants at will. The size of farms in tillage varies from two acres to two hundred. An average size may be about eight acres in cultivation to each farm.

It would be a fruitless waste of the time of our readers to Islands. attempt to give a minute geographical description of each of these remote isles. The chief, as already noticed, is called the Mainland or Pomona. This island is in the centre of 1.Mainland, or Pomona, the group; and the remaining islands receive the appellation of north or south isles from their position with regard to it. The Mainland, from south-east to north-west, extends not less than thirty English miles, and displays considerable variety of appearance. A ridge of hills, of no great height, rises on its eastern extremity, and stretches westward, with some interruptions, to a considerable distance; after which it turns northward, nearly at right angles, so as to run parallel to the western boundary of the island, from which it is distant about six miles. Along the western boundary run the hills of Stromness and Sandwick. Through this extensive tract the hills are ge