Isles. Inhabited nerally green on the sides, many parts of which are productive when cultivated. The tops are covered with a mixture of heath and various sorts of grass, and afford a secure haunt for multitudes of moorfowl, as well as pasture for sheep, and black cattle and horses. The breadth of the Mainland is by no means considerable; for, though it reaches nearly sixteen miles on the west side, the east does not extend above five or six; and near the middle it is so narrow as to form a neck of land which comprehends little more than a mile in length, dividing the island into two peninsulas. The spacious and beautiful Bay of Scalpa bounds the one side of this isthmus, and the Bay of Kirkwall the other; and the ground that lies between them is at once so flat, so damp, and in other respects of such a nature, as to render it probable that the sea, some time or other, has occupied the whole space between them. To the eastward of the Bay of Kirkwall is the Bay of Inganess. Advancing from the north, it is sa well sheltered from the west winds as to render it an extremely commodious retreat for shipping. Another bay to the eastward advances inland, and forms a large terri tory, or parish of Deerness, into a peninsula. This bay is also well calculated to afford a retreat for shipping. In this eastern part of the island the soil is in general thin, and the cultivated land lies in a declivity to the south. The houses of the peasantry, however, are neatly built, and their small gardens are usually in good order. In the western part of the Mainland is the great loch of Stennis, rising at the head of the Bay of Kerston, which proceeds from the south. The tide in some measure alternately fills and almost empties it. Its direction is towards the north-west to the extent of five miles. Trout, flounders, and other kinds of fish, are found in it. The village of Stromness is on the south-west quarter of the Mainland. Isles It would appear that deer have once inhabited this island, Inhabited as their horns have sometimes been dug up; and, both from tradition, and from the roots of trees and hazle nuts, which are frequently dug up, there seems reason to believe, that at some distant period it was not destitute of woods. say. 3. Hoy. Græmsay is one of the southern islands, about a mile 2. Græn and a half south-east from Stromness. It extends from east to west about a mile and a half, and about a mile in breadth. The whole is level, and the soil good; being either used for corn, or suffered to remain in old grass. In the interior parts a bed of slate supports the thin surface. Another inhabited island is Hoy, separated from Græmsy by a strait of a mile in breadth. It consists of the highest land in Orkney. Almost the whole of it is occupied by three large hills, in the form of a triangle, of which that to the north-east is the largest. Except along the north shores, which are bordered with a loamy soil and a rich verdure, the island has a soil composed of peat and clay, of which the former commonly predominates, black, wet, and spongy. This seems to arise from a greater quantity of rain falling here than in many other parts of the country. The island is chiefly appropriated to the pasture of sheep. On the hills are many alpine plants; and among them some delightful valleys, intersected with rivulets, whose banks are decked with flowers, and sheltered with shrubs, such as the birch, the hazel, and the currant, which are sometimes honoured with the name of trees, because in this particular situation they have risen ten or twelve feet above the ground that supports them. The Wart or Wardhill of Hoy rises to about a mile in height above the level of the sea. Westward from this hill is a stupendous rock, called the Old Man of Hoy. It rises about 1500 Isles. Inhabited feet above the sea, and resembles, at a distance, à mon strous ruin, from the fantastic manner in which its sides and summit have been worn by the dashing of the waves of a tempestuous ocean, or by the action of the winds in this northern climate. Hoy, in former times, produced large birch trees and white hares. 4. Waas. 5. Russay. 6 Feray. The island of Waas is remarkable on account of its excellent harbours, called Orehope, Kirkhope, and Longhope. It is adjacent to the Pentland Frith. It is in truth a district. of Hoy, or peninsula connected with it by a narrow neck of land, and forms the southern part of that island. Russay, Farray, and Cavay, are small islands on the 7. Cavay. the eastern side of Hoy, and support a few persons. Flo3. Flotay. tay is on the same side of Hoy, and is three miles long and little more than one in breadth. It has a bay called Panhope, well known to mariners. Its western side is covered with long heath, and abounds with moorfowl; the remainder is covered with grass, or cultivated for 9. Ronald say. 10. Swinna. corn. South Ronaldsay is the most populous of the southern division of the islands. It consists of about eighteen square miles; and the arable and grass lands form a larger proportion than elsewhere to the rude ordinary pasMuch kelp is produced on its shores. tures. To the south-west of the former is Swanay, or Swinna, a small island, about a mile long and a mile and a half broad, lying nearly in the middle of the Pentland Frith. It is very barren, but is inhabited by a few families, who gain a livelihood by the wages which the men receive for acting as pilots to vessels passing that dangerous strait. At each side of it are the whirlpools called the Wells of Swinna, which are chiefly dangerous in a calm. It is said that, to avoid them, when a vessel is found within the vortex, it is found necessary to throw Isles. out a barrel, or some bulky substance, at the stern of the Inhabited vessel, whereby to enable her to turn her side to the cur rent, and thereby to stand out of it. In a quick breeze of wind the pools may be passed with little danger. Indeed these currents, like the story of Scylla or Charybdis, appear to have been chiefly rendered formidable by ignorance. A post-office boat, four times in the week, crosses the Pentland Frith from Caithness, and in fifty years no accident has occurred. The case seems to have been very different formerly, as it is said that a Scottish fisherman was imprisoned in Kirkwall, in the beginning of May, for publishing an account of the revolution by which the Prince and Princess of Orange were raised to the throne of the British islands in the preceding month of November; and he would have suffered punishment had not the news been confirmed by the arrival of a vessel. The truth of the story has, however, of late been doubted. land Sker Pentland Skerry is one of two small islands in the 11. PentPentland Frith, inhabited by a man and his family who ry. take care of the light-house; the importance of which establishment must be obvious, when it is considered that 3300 ships have passed this frith annually. Burray is separated from South Ronaldsay by a ferry of a mile broad. It is nearly four miles in length and one in breadth. Potatoes, carrots, peas, onions, cabbage, and turnip, are raised here in greater perfection than in the other islands; and white and red clover abound in the natural pastures. 12. Burray. Lamon is a small island between Burray and the Main- 13. Lamon, land. It contains only one family. Copinsay, to the eastward of the Mainland, forms an 14. Copinexcellent land-mark for ships. It presents a bold perpendi-say cular front to the German Ocean on the east. It is about a mile in length and half a mile in breadth, and contains twó or three families, who rear some corn. Inhabited 15. Shapinsay. 16 Stron pay. Shapinsay is adjacent to the Main land. On its northern side its surface amounts to about nine square miles. It formerly belonged to the bishops of Orkney. Around the whole island the shores are low, and to a considerable distance inland pretty level, and covered with grass and corn fields. Towards the middle, the land is considerably higher, and exhibits the appearance of a barren waste, fit only for sheep pasture. A small bay is called Grucula, in consequence, according to tradition, of one of Agricola's ships having been stranded here. In fact, some Roman coins have been lately found near the place. Its only harbour is that of Elwick. About 120 tons of kelp are annually burned on its shores. Stronsay is a pretty large island, rather flat, situated to the east of the former, from which it is divided by a rapid frith of the same name, six miles wide. On that quarter it bounds the group of the Orkney Islands. From an inspection of the map, it appears to be not only curiously indented, but almost cut into three distinct islands, which were formerly so many separate parishes; and this intersection has probably given rise to the name conferred on it by the ancients, of the Isle of Strand, or Stronsay. Its dimensions are seven miles long and four broad; through the whole it discovers much variety in point of soil and elevation; and while it equals several of the rest in the production of the fruits of the earth, it enjoys one advantage over them in its very convenient situation for an extensive and lucrative fishery. This advantage, however much despised at present, seems to have attracted attention in former times, when the island was considered as of more consequence, on account of its extensive intercourse with the east in the flourishing state of the herring fishery, a pretty extensive one being then carried on in that island. The exact share which the |