Language. Bindster, Scrabster, Bilbster, and a great variety of others. The names usually consist of two syllables, of which the first was perhaps the name of some early or distinguished possessor. Where wick is the terminating syllable, there is always in its vicinity an opening of the coast larger than a creek, but smaller than a bay, whose two containing sides form an angle similar to that of the lips terminating in the cheek, which in the Scottish dialect is termed "the wick of the mouth." In Orkney there are a great number of places whose terminating syllable is wick; and in Caithness, too, they are all upon the coast, and characterised by an opening in the rocks of the figure now described. Freswick in Caithness is the green wick, from frish signifying green, and the figure of the coast in its vicinity.

THE

ORKNEY ISLANDS.

HE Orkney and Shetland Isles form together one coun- General des ty, which sends a representative to the British parliament scription. We shall consider first the Orkneys, and afterwards the more northern group of islands called the Shetland Isles.

The islands that compose the group known to the ancients by the name of Orcades, and styled by the moderns the Orkney Isles, are situated in the Northern Ocean, between the coast of Caithness and Shetland; from the former of which they are distant only about four, and from the latter nearly twenty leagues. From observations that have been taken with sufficient skill and accuracy, the latitude of Kirkwall, the centre, has been found to be 59° 9′ north, and the longitude 2o 30' west from the meridian of Greenwich. Of those that are inhabited some are so small as not to exceed a mile in length; whereas the mainland or principal island extends to nearly thirty. They are separated from one another by portions of water denominated sounds, friths, or ferries; some of which are only a mile broad, and others more than five. Though thus closely connected together, the whole of them are of considerable extent; for from the south-west to the north-east, the points farthest removed from each other, the distance is not less than seventy miles, and they are upwards of forty in the other direction,

The islands are sixty-seven in number, twenty-eight of Number which are inhabited; the remaining thirty-nine, known islea

General De-under the name of holms, are dedicated to the pasturing scription. of a few cattle, sheep, or rabbits, and are in general too small, and too much exposed to the violence of the weather, to be fit for human habitation. They have probably derived their general name from Cape Orchus, the ancient name for " Dunnet Head" in Caithness, and have come to be denominated "Orkney Isles," or the "Isles of Cape Orchus." Or, in Gaelic, signifies a "whale," and innes an" island." These large animals are frequently seen there at present, and probably were more frequently observed in ancient times, before they had be come in so great a degree the prey of commercial nations. Pliny also gives the name of orce to some species of huge marine animals. These islands, when compared with the barren wilds of some of the Shetland isles to the north, or even with the lofty mountains and bleak marshy plains of Sutherland, assume, upon the whole, a favourable appearance. The surface of the whole of them follows, in general, the inclination of the surface of the greater part of the north of Scotland, being lofty towards the west, and declining toInclination wards the east. This appears to arise from the inclination of the strata. of the mineral strata, which here in general, and even perhaps throughout the whole globe, descend towards the east, and ascend towards the west. Hence, on the west coast of the Orkney Isles, the land is so elevated as, with a few interruptions, to form itself into a range of hills, not high indeed, but much more so than what is generally met with in the interior of the country. These hills, the highest of which does not exceed 1200 feet, do not always run in the largest direction of the islands, but frequently stretch across them; and while their sides that face the Western Ocean are bold and steep in the extreme, their opposite sides, for the most part, shelve away into plains of considerable extent with a gentle declivity. The shores in

the western quarter are in many places bounded by rocks Climate awfully majestic. In some places they remain entire ; in others they have yielded to the force of the billows and the ravages of time; and are consequently shattered into a thousand different shapes, altogether forming a scene highly interesting.

It is not improbable that, at some remote period, these islands have been joined to the mainland of Scotland of the county of Caithness; and it is no difficult matter to account for their separation, and the territory being broken into small parts or islands. We have already remarked, that in Caithness there are many caverns on the coast. These are formed by the violent action of the waves of the sea upon the soft strata which it finds in some places. In this way the sea cuts mines very far into the land; and undoubtedly, in the course of ages, has in this way cut off large portions of the continent, and thereby formed many of the isles which diversify the face of

the ocean.

In these islands the south-west wind is most prevalent; Climate and as it comes from the mountainous tract of the West Highlands, brings, as might be expected, not only the most frequent but the heaviest rains; and also raises the tides, through the whole shores, to their greatest elevation. From the south-east, too, the winds are very frequent, and sometimes even stormy. In the spring, summer, and har vest months, while these winds prevail, the weather is sometimes dry and cold, sometimes damp, and not unfrequently thick, dark, and foggy; and when this last kind of weather continues for any time, it seldom fails to have a manifest effect in depressing the animal spirits, and generating colds, coughs, sore throats, and similar complaints, that are the effects of such a state of the atmosphere. On the other hand, the north-west, north, and north-east

Climate. winds, bring for the most part cold, dry, wholesome weather; and in the same degree that the others relax and sink, these brace and elevate the animal system. The east and west winds are neither remarkable for their strength nor their long continuance; nor, indeed, are they marked with any striking peculiarity. Seldom do calms, for any length of time, prevail here; and the winds, from whatever quarter they blow, and in whatever season, are seldom or never tempestuous, but often loud and strong; and this circumstance has an evident tendency to render the climate salubrious. Through the whole islands rains fall in considerable quantity; but on the west coast, on account of its superior height, by far the greatest quantity falls. During the winter, when in other parts of the kingdom the land is locked up in frost, and deep buried in snow, rains more commonly prevail here, and are either so constant, or recur so soon, that they render it inconvenient to travel either by land or water; and, besides drenching the cultivated fields, and hurting the roots of the grass, introduce diseases among sheep, horses, and black cattle. Snows are neither so frequent, nor in such quantity; but they come with considerable violence, and generally from the north-west and south-east quarter of the heavens; and though what falls in the course of a year may not be much short of the quantity in other northern districts, it continues only a few days at a time on the surface of the earth, owing perhaps not only to the greater warmth, but also to the vapours that are constantly rising from the sea, and floating in the atmosphere.

A peculiarity of the climate, with respect to the season of snow and hail, merits some attention. Some parts of the month of June, which in Britain is well known to be of a pleasant and genial warmth, is here not only often colder than the preceding months, but almost as much so as any