Isles. in summer; but the only safe harbour is called Pier-o- Inhabited wall, on the north-west; and this is fit for small vessels only. Formerly it afforded accommodation for ships of much greater burden, and it is sheltered in all directions; but from the blowing of the sand, which of late has been very great, the water has become so shallow, that ships which have occasion to put in here are compelled to anchor in a more open road farther out in the harbour. The blowing of the sand has also spread desolation over some of the most beautiful and best land, not only in this island, but also in Sanday. Papay Westray is a beautiful little island to the north 23. Papay Westray. of the former. It is four miles long and about one mile broad. It is pleasant and fertile, and abounds with fine natural clover. A lake of fresh water adorns its south east corner. hay, Eagleshay is about six miles south of Westray, and 24. Eagles. divided from it by a tempestuous frith. It is about two miles long and one broad; and in this part of the world is accounted so beautiful, as to have been chosen as a place of residence by some of the ancient counts and bishops of Orkney Ronsay lies to the north-west of the Mainland, and 25. Ronsay. is about nine miles long and four broad. The greatest part of it is hill-ground, but it has some stripes of arable land on the coast. It has several small lakes, which give rise to a number of rivulets. It has several safe harbours, and is accounted one of the most agreeable of the Orkney Isles. Weir is divided from Ronsay by Weir Sound, which 26. Weir. is one of the best retreats for shipping in the district. The island is two miles long and one broad, and lies comparatively low. It has abundance of turf for fuel, but its soil is poor. En-hallow is only about a mile in circumference. It is 27. En-hal. low. Isles. Inhabited separated from Ronsay by a reef of rocks, which is ca vered at high water, and therefore dangerous. It cons tains two families, who say that neither rats, mice, nor cats, will live in it. 28. Gair say. 29. Dam say. Agricul zure. Gairsay is a mile from the Mainland, and two miles south from Weir. It is two miles long and one broad; consisting chiefly of a hill that is steep on the west side, but gradu-, ally declines, forming a tolerably fertile district on the It has a harbour, called Millburn, on this last side. Damsay is about three miles from Kirkwall. It is scarcely a mile in circuit, and is covered with a thick sward of fine grass, which is used for the pasturage of sheep. On the supposition that these islands contain 600 square miles, or 384,000 English acres, which is the calculation made by Templeman, they may be divided in the following proportions: Live stock. Crops. The breeds of horses, black cattle, and sheep, are all of a despicable sort, and very little attention has been given to their improvement. The grains cultivated in these islands are almost universally grey oats and big or bear, and these in alternate crops without intermission. Bear has succeeded to oats, and oats to bear, invariably, on the same land for centuries. No fallow or other crop has intervened, unless a few acres annually cropped with pota ture. tões or flax are excepted. Fallowing is of late a little prae- Agricul tised by the larger farmers, but not at all by the smaller ones, though those who have tried it have found its great advantages. A few acres are annually cultivated for turnip; a crop which seems here to be in its peculiar climate. Upwards of thirty-six tons per Scottish acre have been produced in single rows on three feet ridges; many single turnips weighing from fourteen to eighteen pour. They are scarcely ever injured by the blackfly, other insects; they are never hurt by frost; if they are ever covered by snow, it is only for a day or two at a time, and if sown late in summer, so that they do not shoot in the early part of the winter, they stand good and firm till the end of April; yet is this crop so little cultivated, that no more than six or eight farmers in these islands have field turnips; and the whole yearly quantity does not exceed thirty or forty acres. ments Sea-weed is the manure most used and most prized in Manures the islands. Compost dunghils are made, in which dung, ashes, and earth, are mixed with little skill or care. Marl, though frequently to be met with, is little used; and lime has scarcely ever had a fair trial. The land is always manured when bear is to be the crop, but never for oats. The Scottish plough, of a small size, is in common use. ImpleA plough of a very peculiar construction, with one stilt, without either ground wrist or earth board, was the only instrument of tillage in these islands a century ago, and still continues in common use in some parishes. Ia shallow or rocky ground it is found to answer better, as it is a much cheaper instrument than the other; to which nevertheless it is now generally giving place. Small two-wheeled box-carts are in common use, drawn by two oxen or one horse. The common harrows are very small and light, often with wooden teeth, even where the soil is strongest. The roller is little used, and not at all by the small Obstacles to er farmers. Horses and oxen are both used for draught; Improvethe former more commonly for the plough, and the latter for the cart. ment. ment. The precariousness of the climate occasions great va riations in the seed time and harvest. Oats are sown from the 12th of February to the 20th of April; bear from the 1st of May to the 16th of June. In the earlier seasons, harvest begins in August and ends with September; sometimes the crop is not got in before the middle of November. In backward seasons, the crop of grain is always more or less damaged by the sea spray, and commonly shaken by high winds. The first is sometimes the cause of almost total destruction to the grain; changing it from fresh green in one day's space to withered white, from which it recovers no more. Obstacle to The great obstacle to the improvement and value of improvethese islands results from a circumstance which has been explained by Colonel Thomas Balfour, in a statement published by Sir John Sinclair. It is to be observed, that Charles the First, most impolitically, granted to the Earl of Morton the rights and property belonging to the crown over these islands. The grant was afterwards set aside, but the union parliament restored it; and it has since been sold to another family. Colonel Balfour observes, that "the situation and climate of these islands are, we must observe, much better suited to the cultivation of grass and green crops in general than of corn. The crop of the latter is often scanty, and always of mean quality, from want of ripening heats; and is often partially, sometimes almost totally, destroyed by the spray of the sea, in the manner already mentioned, which, while it probably indurates the soil, gives a fatal check to the ripening of the grain. The great obstacle to the agricultural improvement of these islands is a circumstance which forces upon us the attempt to cultivate grain, with out the hope of doing so with advantage. Our agricul- Obstacles to Improve ture is a constant endeavour to avoid a loss, in which we ment. are not animated by any expectation of positive profit, "The property of these islands is burdened with pay. ments to the crown, partly as coming in place of the king of Norway (to whom these islands paid tribute till the year 1468), partly as having acquired right to lands and feu-duties by subsequent purchases and forfeitures; and, lastly, as coming in place of the bishop of Orkney. This tribute, and the rents or feu-duties of the crown lands, are almost all payable in kind, chiefly in oat-meal, big, or malt. The sum of those payable to the crown, or its donators, is greatly beyond the average surplus of the grain produced in these islands after supplying the inhabitants. The crown's right to all but the bishopric is now, by an irredeemable grant, the property of a subject, who has also of late obtained a temporary right to the crown rents and feu-duties of the bishopric. In vir tue of both these rights (which were never before united in the same person), a legal title is given to exact from the tenants and proprietors of these islands a quantity of grain, which it is always difficult, often impossible, for them them to deliver; and for the deficiency there is no established rule whereby to limit the extent of price which may be exacted. These exactions are always so high, that the part unpaid in kind is much more productive to the holder of these estates than an equal quantity of what is paid. He charges always a higher price for deficiencies than he gets for the grain delivered in kind. Our grain or meal, in quality inferior to that of every country, is nevertheless often estimated by the cost of what we are for ced to import, much superior in intrinsic worth, and loaded with freight charges and mercantile profits; so that when we cannot deliver our crown rents in kind, as is come VOL. XV. D |