£^

•I\^

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2008 with funding from

Microsoft Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/descriptionofsheOOhibbrich

DESCRIPTION

OF Till-.

SHETLAND ISLANDS.

J&1. (><r</U tfJfyh

Ftp 2. Surg A "/" Kauxf.,

■F'j/3- J8*0 and- To»ft qf AMMmAi

jX**x._$ ■

DESCRIPTION

OF THE

SHETLAND ISLANDS,

COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR

SCENERY, ANTIQUITIES, AND
SUPERSTITIONS,

.y^

SAMUEL HIBBERT, M.D., F.R.S.E., &C.

" Dispecta est et Thule." — Tacitus.

PRINTED FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH ;

AND HURST, ROBINSON AND CO. LONDON.

EDinburgb, 1822.

REPRINTED BY T. & J. MANSON,
Xenvtcfc, 1891.

PRELAW
LERWICK :

printed by t. & j, manson,

"news" office.

9°

TO THE

WERNERIAN SOCIETY

OF EDINBURGH

THE PRESENT VOLUME IS, WITH MUCH RESPECT,

INSCRIBED,

AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE HIGH ESTIMATION

ENTERTAINED BY THE WRITER REGARDING THE OBJECTS OF

THAT INSTITUTION

AND THE ZEAE OF ITS MEMBERS IN ILLUSTRATING

THE

NATURAL HISTORY

OF THE

BRITISH ISLANDS.

832876

PREFACE TO THE REPRINT.

H IB BERT'S valuable work on Shetland having become very scarce,
and accessible only to a limited few, the more interesting parts
of the book, (the geological section being omitted), were reprinted in the
"Shetland News" in the course of 1890-91. A very general desire was
expressed, when the proposal to reprint the work in the newspaper was
announced, that at the same time an opportunity should be afforded to
the public of procuring it in book form. Hence the issue of this volume.
As it was not intended to reproduce the book in an expensive form,
arrangements were not made for including the plates and maps which
are given in the original, but as a specimen of the former, one page of
the engravings has been reproduced in fac simile ; and the music of two
native airs has been added. The spelling of the original has been
adhered to throughout, and in other respects every effort has been made
to reproduce an accurate reprint of the original volume.

T. & J. MANSON.

CONTENTS.

ITINERARY THROUGH THE ISLES OF SHETLAND.

ITER I.

PAGE

Leith to Dunrossness in Shetland 1-27

Distant View of Fair Isle, 4. — Traditionary Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Spanish Armada
in 1588, 4.— Approach to Dunrossness, 8. — Grutness Voe to Quendal, 12. — Remarks on the
Dark Period of the History of Shetland and Orkney, 13. — Quendal Bay, 19.

Notes to Iter 1 27-31

ITER II.
South-east District of Shetland 33-118

History of the Udallers of Shetland, "4.— Appendix to the History, 65. — Holms of Quendal Bay,
69.— Fitfiel Head, 70.— Garthsness,72.— Sumburgh, 73.— Sumburgh to Sandwick, 81. — Ancient
Weapons of War discovered in Shetland, 82. — Burgh of Mousa, 86. — Burroland, 89. — Sand-
lodge, 90.— Coningsburgh, 91.— Fladibister to Scalloway, 92.— Scalloway, 93.— Tingwall, 98.—
Ancient State of the Jurisdiction of Sheiland, 99. — Tingwall to Lerwick, 106. — Lerwick, 107.
— Islands of Bressay and Noss, 109. — Lerwick to Catfirth, 111.— Eswick to Lunna, 114. — Island
of Whalsey and the Out-Skerries, 116.

Illustrations of the Law of Udal Succession, 119. — Illustrations of the Feudal Tenures of Shetland,
132.— Ancient Rental of Shetland, 133.

Notes to Iter II 138-140

ITER III.

North Isles of Shetland, Mid District of Mainland, Isles in

Bay of Scalloway . . . 147-271)

Island of Fetlar, 148.— Account of David Gilbert Tait, a lad born deaf and blind, 151.— Belmont
to Woodwick, 155.— Kirk of Baliasta, 157.— Hermananess to Haroldswick, 158.— Crucifield,
160. — Balta Sound, 163.— Castle of Mouness, 164.— Uyea Sound, 165. — Uyea Sound to the

Island of Hase.osea, 167. —Island of Yell, 169. Yell Sound, 172.— Lunna to Aithsvoe, 175. —
Ancient and Present State of Shtop Pastures, 182. — Trolhouland, 1S9. — Cullswkk to the Voe
of Sand, 193. — Bay of Scalloway, 196. — Scalloway to Bigsetter Yoe, 200.

Notes to Iter III. 209-210

ITER IV.
West of Shetland 213-270

Island of Meikle Roe, 213.— Dutch Herring Fishery of Shetlan 1,214. —Mavis Grind to Fcideland,
216.— The Haaf, 221. -Sand Voe to Roeness Voe, 224.— Fishing Tenures of Shetland, 226.—
Hillswick, 228. --Regents' Fishing Bank, 230. — Helga Water, 232.— Tangwick to Roeness Voe,
234.— Hillswick to Mavis Grind, 238.— Aithsvoe to Clousetter, 241.— Onzie Firth to Norbay,
243.— Papa Stour, 249. — Festivities of Shetland, 252. — Sword Dance, &c, ib. — Ve Skerries,
260.— Sandness to Vailey, 264.— Witchcraft, 265.— Island of Poula, 274.— Foula to Bressay
Sound, 276.

Notes to Iter IV 280-2SS

General Appendix.

Bressay, Coalfish, Whales, Population, &c, 289-290.— Music of Shetland, with Specimens, 291.

Index to the Itineraries 292-204

PREFACE

THE general plan of this work is by no means what was at first intended ; without,
therefore, this explanation, it may be liable to animadversion. My original object
was to publish nothing more than the result of certain geological researches conducted in
Shetland, with an Essay on Stratification, illustrative of the views on which an explanation
of the complicated distribution of the rocks of these islands would be attempted. Under
this arrangement, many pages had been printed off, when, on the supposition that a work
of this kind, purely mineralogical, could only bear reference to a very limited class of
readers, it was recommended to me to extend my plan, by including a popular account of
the Scenery and Manners of the country, and a particular notice of its Antiquities. I was
eventually induced to comply with this request, notwithstanding the peculiar - awkwardness
of allowing matter of a lighter kind to mingle with investigations purely scientific ; but in
order to obviate, in some degree, the inconvenience of the arrangement that resulted
from an altered system, the miscellaneous account of the country is printed in a larger
type, and being completely separated from the Geology, each department of the book
may be easily read as a detached work.

Respecting the vaiious subjects treated of, a few words may be said. Of the Antiqui-
ties which were to be investigated, none are so singular as those that relate to the Udal
System, and to the process of Feudalization which took place in Shetland and Orkney.
Into this curious research I inadvertently plunged, and the task of reconciling opposite
statements, and of arranging the materials that came into my possession, has been infinitely
beyond what could be calculated upon, having been such as to induce a consumption of
time, that, being totally out of the sphere of my proper pursuits, nothing can repay. I may,
indeed, truly state my case to be that of an illustrious townsman of my own, who, in a work
executed with a learning to which I can have no pretensions, however great may have been
my trouble, has remarked, that, " had he foreseen the full extent of his scheme at
first, he should never have had the hardiness to form it ; had he foreseen in any part of the

VI PREFACE

execution the time and the labour which the rest would have cost him, he had certainly
shrunk back from the attempt, and had closed the whole work immediately ; but he pro-
ceeded on the model before him, ever flattering himself, that a few months more would
dismiss him from the employ, and remit him again to those professional studies which he
had very unwittingly deserted."*

With the exception of my account of the Geology of Shetland, and the ancient Udal
System of the country, all the other matter may be considered as of a popular character.
A view is given of the manners and state of a country, which, in their simplicity, do not a
little resemble what the most improved districts of England and Scotland must have been
many centuries ago.' Thus, in respect to the Agriculture of these islands, I have rather
dwelt upon the curious features attending it, than imitated prior visitors by pointing out all
the improvements of which it is susceptible. The natives, indeed, as husbandmen, differ
little from that humble state of advancement, which has been so well described in a
Teutonic poem of the eighth century, the original of which, along with a Latin translation,
appears in a recent work, illustrative of ancient Scandinavian manners.

Baurn olu thau "Suis rebus contenti

Biuggu oc undu, — ■ Domos edificarunt et liberos genuerunt, —

logdu garda Saepibus segetes cingebant,

akra toddu Agros oblimabant,

unnu at svinum Sues nutriebant,

geita gasttu Capras custodiebant,

oc grofu torf. Et cespites effodiebant."

Song of King Eric.\

There has, in feet, been scarcely any exertion made until very recently, to improve
the condition of the country. It is true, that, in the year 1742, the Earl of Morton
had interest sufficient to bring in a bill, whereby he obtained a discharge of the reversion
of Orkney and Shetland to the Crown, for the sum on account of which he held them
in pledge, pleading that the emoluments were not sufficient to pay the interest of the
mortgage, and promising to ameliorate the state of these islands, by draining lochs,
and establishing fisheries and manufactories. These chimerical schemes, however, it is
needless to add, were never put into execution. But about seven years ago, the Agricul-
tural Society of Shetland was formed, the institution of which ought deservedly to be
considered as an epoch in the annals of this country. The effect of a number of well-
educated individuals of rank and property meeting together to consult on the state and
circumstances of the several districts in which they reside, cannot but be favourable to the
interest of the whole of the community. At the same time, the introduction of a better
state of husbandry, which is connected with many complicated relations under which the
landholders stand, not only to the Superior of the country, but to the Government of
Great Britain, must necessarily be a very slow process. Yet, under all these untoward
circumstances, the industry evinced by the Society is scarcely less than that which has

* Mr Whittaker of Manchester, in the Preface to his History, &c, 4to, vol. i.
t Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, printed at Edinburgh, A.D. 1814, p. 4-49.

PREFACE Vll

been attributed to an early civilizer of the Northmen a thousand years ago :

oxn nam at temia Boves didicit mansuefacere,

ardr at g'iorva Aratra fabricare,

hus at timbra domos sedificare,

hladur at smida horrea struere,

karta at giorfa currus parare,

oc keyra pldg. et aratro terrain vertere.

Song of King Eric.

Respecting the Fisheries of Shetland, little more than a popular view is given of them :
but to the Superstitions of the country, a greater degree of importance has been attached
than may be conceived necessary ; the motive for which has been to preserve opinions,
that in this sequestered group of islands seem to approach much nearer to the original
Pagan tenets of the Scandinavians, than are to be found in several districts of Norway itself.

The subjects to which I have little adverted are connected with Zoology. This
omission has been cruefly owing to the unexpected extent to which other matter treated
of has swelled the volume. For the same reason, no account is given of the Botany and
Meteorology of the country.

The Geology of Shetland cost me great pains to draw up ; my labour was also much
impeded, by the wretched charts of these islands that have been published, so that I was
obliged, with the aid of nothing more than a pocket compass, to climb almost every point
of high land in the country, in order to obtain a new draught fit for my purpose. The
map, therefore, that is now produced, appears so totally different to any that has ever been
before engraved, as to have every claim to the title of a New Survey. That it contains
many imperfections is to be expected, but I believe they do not affect it in the least, in a
geological point of view.*

It is to myself a source of regret, that my investigations have been confined to a class
of rocks (the primitive), of which Werner appears to have entertained very imperfect
notions. But that no erroneous view may be entertained of what I have said with regard
to this truly great naturalist, I shall state my conviction, that although his system is, in
several respects, open to many strictures, yet, taken as a zvhole, there has been nothing
proposed by any other theorist, that has comprehended so many inductions that appear
perfectly unobjectionable ; and the mode of prosecuting the study of rocks that he first
taught, has given to the history of geological science a new era.

An abstract of that part of the present work, which relates to the distribution of
the rocks of Shetland was first read to the Wernerian Natural History Society, and it was
to their active President, Professor Jameson, that I produced, as the fruits of my

* The rocks of Shetland, which I have undertaken to illustrate, were first examined partially by Professor Jameson, and the
work he produced is a highly creditable memorial of the early attention that he paid to Geology. Since this Gentleman's visit,
Dr Traill and Dr Fleming have visited the country, each of whom has given a very good description of the districts which he
examined. I have made several allusions to their researches, whenever I had no opportunity of directing my own personal obser-
vations to the objects that attracted their attention ; and have mentioned, in a particular manner, the more important remarks that
they made. Professor Jameson's account of Shetland, was published above twenty years ago, being afterwards reprinted in his
Mineralogical Travels through Scotland. Dr Traill's short notice of Shetland will be found in Mr Neill's Tour, and Dr Fleming's
in Mr Shirreff's Agricultural Survey of Shetland, and in the paper on the Rocks of Papa Stour, given in vol. i. of the Wernerian
Transactions. • .

Vlll PREFACE

voyage to Shetland, Chromate of Iron. This result of my first journey having been com-
municated to one who was well able to judge of its importance, he was, upon examining the
metal, so struck with the quality and magnitude of the masses which I had brought over
with me, that, at his earnest request, I consented to undertake a second voyage to Shetland,
for the purpose of rendering the discovery conducive to its interests, and, at the same time,
of completing a Geological Survey of that country. In the history, then, of my labours, I
have no slight mention to make of the encouragement that they met with from Professor
Jameson, who, in constantly stimulating his pupils to persevere in investigating the
Mineralogy of Scotland, shews in all such instances a zeal that is well calculated to prove
the National utility of the Science that he teaches with such success.

I may now, perhaps, be allowed to remark, that I had long, for several reasons,
abandoned the idea of giving any farther account of my investigations in Shetland, than
were made public through the means of a Scientific Journal ; but the honorary token of
approbation that I received from the Society of Arts and Commerce in London, as a reward
of my discovery of the Chromate of Iron, urged me to offer to the public the details of all
my researches, to which the circumstance that they were pleased to stamp with their
approval, was merely incidental. Accordingly, the present volume comprehends the
account of an arduous examination of the nature and distribution of the rocks of Shetland,
carried on in the autumn of the year 1817, and continued in the ensuing summer, during a
period of six months, the chief obstacle to it arising from the imperfect maps that have
hitherto been rendered of the country. In the process of such a minute survey, it can
rarely fail to happen that some contribution to the resources of the country should not
follow ; and it is a pleasing reflection, that a truly patriotic Society exists, whose approbation
is the best stimulus that can be given to the renewal of exertions, the object of which is to
encrease our knowledge of the mineralogical productions of the British kingdom.

During the progress of this work, 1 have felt particularly obliged to l)r Brewster for
the ready assistance that he has always afforded me, whenever, from the uncertainty that
too frequently prevails in identifying minerals from their external characters alone, I should
have been unable to discover their nature without a chemical analysis. It is, indeed, from
optical researches such as those which he is now pursuing, that we must expect to see
mineralogy advanced to a rank among the sciences that it has hitherto failed in attaining.

As a considerable part of this work is historical, it was necessary to consult many
scarce works, for the loan of several of which, I have been greatly indebted to Mr David
Laing of Edinburgh. Much information has been given me by the gentlemen of Shetland,
particularly by William Henderson, Esq. of Bardister, to whom I would return my
warmest acknowledgments for the interest and zeal he has taken in procuring me materials
for this work. From his superior intelligence, relative to the earlier manners of the
country, I have derived much valuable information. So many, indeed, have been my
obligations to this gentleman, that I should be ungrateful in not mentioning them in a
particular manner.

The attentions paid me during my visit to Shetland, I shall often feel myself called
upon to acknowledge. I may indeed safely aver, that the grateful sense I entertained of

PREFACE IX

them after a first visit to this country, had no small share in influencing all my conduct sub-
sequent to my discovery of the chromate of iron. Upon the result of my journey being
published, several inquiries were made after this mineral on views of speculation ; but as its
site was known to no one but myself, I was unwilling to afford any clue to the knowledge
of it, until the proprietors of the ground, whoever they might be, had been apprised of an
event so important to their interests. This was the object of my second visit to Shetland ;
and in communicating every instruction in my power relative to the nature and value of the
ore that was diffused in large masses throughout the hills near Balta Sound, as well as in
urging the importance of a minute examination of the rocks in which it abounded, I sought
for nothing more than to leave behind me some memorial of the visit of a stranger, happy
to acknowledge the hospitality of this remote extremity of the British Islands.

NOTICE.

On account of this publication swelling to a size far beyond what I could have anticipated,
in consequence of its enlarged plan, I have been obliged, for this reason alone, to
withhold, under the form of notes, many references and authorities, and, in a few
instances, the acknowledgments due to authors from whom I have derived assistance in
my descriptions. I may therefore now observe, that the modern statistical accounts
which I have chiefly consulted, in order to correct my observations on the subject of
the husbandry and fisheries of the country, have been those written by Thomas
Mouat, Esq., and by the Reverend Messrs Morrison and Barclay ; having availed
myself more particularly of their remarks in my description of some of the implements
and operations of agriculture. I have also examined the observations on general sub-
jects which are to be found in Mr Neill's Tour, in Dr Edmonstone's History of
Shetland, and in Mr Shirreff's Agricultural Survey. In reverting to the earlier state
of manners in Shetland, the ancient Country Acts published by Mr Leisk of Uyea
have suggested many inquiries.

Much information on the superstitions of the country, I obtained while rambling among the
wild, sequestered districts of the west of Shetland ; and many of them have, since my
return to Scotland, been communicated to me by some of my friends.

I shall lastly observe, that a volume of Mr Low's MS. Tour having fallen into my posses-
sion, it will be found that I have frequently adverted to it. The work was drawn up
with great care, but from some unexplained cause, was never published, while the most
important observations were selected from it (evidently with the author's consent), and
appeared in Mr Pennant's Arctic Zoology. After poor Low's MSS. had been thus
freely drawn upon, little more remained meriting a distinct publication, and the Tour,
along with the author's Fauna Orcadensis, eventually fell into the hands of his friend
Mr Paton, when they were again, by other writers, more or less ransacked for infor-
mation. On the occasion of Mr Paton's decease, Mr Low's MSS. were brought to
the hammer, when the Fauna Orcadensis fortunately came into the possession of Dr
Leach, who published it, with a well deserved tribute to the author's memory. The

X PREFACE

Tour afterwards appeared in the sale catalogue of Mr Laing of Edinburgh, when it was
purchased by myself; but there was little matter left that had not, in some shape or
other, been long before the public, the drawings being the most valuable part of the
whole. Some information, however, respecting the earlier customs of Shetland, still re-
mained that had escaped the notice of those who had seen the work, and it is now for
the first time, presented to the public ; and if I have been more particular in referring
to any one individual that has been consulted than to another, it has been to this
excellent yet unfortunate author, having indeed no other wish than to render every
tribute in my power to departed merit.
The numerous plates that are given in the body of the work, were for the most part from
slight sketches that I made, which were not originally intended for the public eye,
otherwise they would have been produced with more care and selection. New
drawings, however, were made from these, while I was in England, by an ingenious
young artist of Manchester, Mr Parry. For an original view I am indebted to a friend,
and I have been favoured with another by a gentleman of Edinburgh. A small view
of Foula, and a figure of the Torsk fish, are by Mr Low, and three sketches, viz., of the
Cradle of Noss, the Fort of Lerwick, and the Burgh of Culswick, have before appeared
in a Magazine of the present publishers.

// 07(ght to be particularly remarked, that, on account of the necessity of observing a
certain order in the geological description of the various places examined, I found it impossible,
in describing an itinerary through Shetland, conducted with the view of noticing the mis-
cellaneous objects occurring in each successive district, to regulate it by the strict rules that
a tegular diary of my travels might demand. But having visited almost every corner of
Shetland, I am perhaps entitled, for this reason only, to assume the functions of a guide,
and to lead the reader through the country in the route that is most convenient for examina-
tion, rather than in the order in which I passed through it myself. In pursuance of
this plan, the Itinerary is divided into distinct Iters, — a word lately Anglicised, and in
common acceptation among antiquaries, to express a district through which a gradual progress
has been made. In this sense it has been used by many authors, among whom is Mr Fenton,
in his Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire.

I may also be permitted to obserce, that while this Work was in the press, a neiv
novel by the " Great Unknown" was announced, with the notice that the scene was laid in
Shetland. Among the many reasons that I have had for regretting the present publica-
tion, in its enlarged plan, it is assuredly not the least of them, that this volume must
appear cotemporaneous with The Pirate ,■ for, in adverting to the scenery and mannas
of this country, I am sensible that I cannot fail to provoke a comparison which must be
highly to my disadvantage. Still, we owe so many ol ligations to the Author of Waverley,
for the pleasure he has afforded us in perusing his works, that an author ought not to
complain if he has incautiously brought himself into such a dilemma as to stand as a
mere foil to the greatest of all modern masters of description.

ITINERARY

THROUGH THE

• i

ISLES OF SHETLAND.

f to* g.

LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS IN SHETLAND.

" Ponti profundis clausa recessibus,
Strepens procellis, rupibus obsita,

Quam grata defesso virentem," •

[Thule] " sinum nebulosa pandis !'

Johnson, De Skia Insula.

THE cluster of Islands and Rocks, which, under the name of Shetland, form the
northern barrier of the British Kingdom, are, with the exception of two of them only,
contiguous to each other. If these be excluded from the number, the rest may be placed
between 59 48' 30", and 6o° 52' North latitude, and between 52' and 1° 57' of West
longitude from London. The two remote islands are named Fair Isle and Foula. Fair
Isle is situated about twenty-four miles to the south of the Mainland in Shetland, and
Foula about twenty miles to the west. — See Note I.

The principal communication that Shetland has with Scotland is maintained by
the Port of Leith, from which it is distant about 96 leagues. During the summer
season, one or more vessels go and return from this harbour very frequently ;

2 LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS. [ITER L

fishing materials, grain, woollen and linen goods, and spirits, are sent from Scotland,
whilst this country receives in return dried fish, hosiery, oil, and some little kelp. In
one of these vessels, a convenient passage is afforded for the Shetland Archipelago.

These islands, in a Geological point of view, afford, perhaps, one of the best
specimens that can be found in any country of a Primitive district, all the known
mountain-masses peculiar to it being present. A few rocks also occur of a newer kind,
consisting of Werner's oldest Sandstone, associated with secondary Porphyries.

To thf; Naturalist, therefore, who may be induced to follow the route I am now
taking, in order to investigate the relations of a class of rocks that are too little known,
I would offer the experience of a summer's itinerary among these islands, in the hopes
that, as a guide through the country, it may prove of some assistance to his future
researches.

He, also, to whom the study of Geology is yet new, may be informed, that there is,
perhaps, no greater advantage to be derived than from tracing, in their actual progress,
the researches which are pursued in order to decide the Geological character of a
district. There is, likewise, no incipient object to which the attention of the Student
can be more profitably directed, than to the examination of the nature and relative
position of Primitive Rocks, for which the strata of England and Wales present inferior
opportunities. To facilitate, therefore, the studies of the aspirant, I shall occasionally
dwell much longer, than may by some be deemed necessary, on circumstances that
are perfectly familiar to the adept.

It is to be confessed, however, that Geology would be a pursuit of inferior
attraction, if it did not involve a tolerable share of hypothesis, without which, as I
have heard it seriously contended, the character of the Geologist would be reduced
to that of the most inferior menial of Science, and, in comparision with the un-
daunted theorist, whose vivid imagination can readily apply the facts collected by
others to the explanation of the Earth's structure, he would become a mere hewer
of wood and drawer of water. These sentiments ought not, perhaps, to be admitted
without considerable qualification ; and yet in endeavouring to estimate the character
of a mere collector of mineralogical specimens, or of a mere topographical recorder
of the names of rocks, it is scarcely possible to descend much lower in the scale
of scientific contributors. It is true that we continue to hear the fastidious Naturalist
rail against Theory ; but it may be fairly questioned, if, amidst this prudish declamation,
there does not still remain some lurking hypothesis or other, that imparts to him the ardour
with which he is observed to scale the precipitous cliff; for it is difficult to suppose
that such an uncommon alacrity can have been excited by no other motive than that
of being the humble recorder of some few external characters of Nature. Far be it, then,
from the candid Geologist, to disown the importance and influence of theory ; and with
regard to the distribution of the strata of Shetland, there is every necessity for incor-
porating as much of hypothesis in our researches, as may be necessary for wielding
with vigour the heavy hammer that is directed to the resolution of primitive rocks.
But what particular views to adopt for the purpose is a distinct question : so many

ITKR E1 LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS. 3

reveries of Cosmogony succeed to each other, that it is difficult to state precisely
in what particular opinions consists the Petromania of the day.

But, notwithstanding the bold and poetical flights of imagination by which the study of
rocks may be enlivened, it is still not sufficient of itself to protect a long journey, which is
exclusively geognostical, from insufferable taedium. The attention cannot be always con-
fined to the relations of stratified and unstratified rocks ; and in courting some relief from a
diversification of objects, the attention of the Shetland visitor may be occasionally directed
to the incalculable riches of the Northern Seas ; these are tardily resigned for the use - of the
British nation, whose tutelary saint was never yet the anxious guardian of its Fisheries.

If, also, the spirit of Petromania has not rendered the mind of the Geognost
insensible to every other impression, but that which results from the external
characters of minerals, he may surely devote some portion of his time to examine
the simple manners of a race of People, who have as good a claim to the title of
primitive as the rocks among which they dwell. He may, for a time, lay down the
ponderous hammer with which he is caparisoned, for the purpose of tracing, in the
language, domestic habits, or agriculture of this people, some tokens of their early emigra-
tion from the shores of ancient Scandinavia. He may relinquish his labours for a short
period, to contemplate the simple architecture of the defensive Burgh ; or, when with
infinite toil, he has ascended a peak that overlooks all other hills, he may pause, for a
few moments, to inspect the lonely Watch-tower that crowns its summit. With these
combined inducements, then, for our voyage, we will now set sail, invoking, at the same
time, in the set form of the English Poet Drayton, the local genius of the Shetland Archi-
pelago, whom Scandinavian writers, "prisco sermone," were wont to name Hialtlandia.
By her benignant influence may we be conducted safely amidst the sounds and creeks of
Hyperborean Seas !

" Go thou before us still thy circling shores about,
And, in this wandering maze, help to conduct us out, —
Wise Genius ! by thy help, that so we may descry
How thy fair mountains stand, and how thy vallies lie."

Drayton's Poly-olbion.

The vessels which regularly trade between Leith and Shetland present humble cabin
accommodations ; but in the Lerwick Packet these were wholly overlooked in the national
welcome with which the worthy master, Captain Simpson, appeared to meet his passengers
as they came On board, and in the unremitting attention which he paid to their comfort
during the whole of their voyage. With a favourable wind, the passage to Shetland is made
in about fifty hours, but too frequently vessels are compelled, from contrary winds, to put
into some harbour on the eastern coast of Scotland.

The sail along the Scottish coast possesses much interest ; it is enlivened by the
numerous towns which diversify the coasts of Fife, and, on leaving the Frith of Forth, by
the noble light-house similar to that of Eddiston, the erection of which has been completed

4 LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS. [ITER L

by the ingenuity of Mr Stevenson ; — afterwards appear in succession Montrose, Aberdeen,
and Peterhead. On passing Kinnaird's Head, leaving in course of time the counties of
Banff and Moray to the south-west, and the coasts of Caithness and Orkney remotely to the
west, we lose all sight of land for several hours.

DISTANT VIEW OF FAIR-ISLE.

The earliest intimation of our approach to Shetland is afforded by the distant
appearance of Fair-Isle, which, in our direct course, we leave to the westward
a few leagues. This is a small island, said to be composed of sandstone, which presents
in its elevation something of an ellipitical outline. It is scarcely more than two miles in
length, and perhaps one in breadth, being situated about twenty-five miles SSW. from
the southern extremity of Mainland, the largest of the Shetland Islands.— See Note,
No. 2.

TRADITIONARY NARRATIVE OF THE SHIPWRECK OF THE DUKE DE MEDINA SIDONIA, COM-
MANDER OF THE SPANISH ARMADA, IN THE YEAR 1 588.

Fair Isle is, to an Englishman, associated with an event of no common interest in the
annals of his country, since it is connected with the personal disaster of the Commander
himself of the Invincible Armada of Spain.

When, by the valour of the English Navy, in the memorable year 1588, the Spanish
fleet had been dispersed with incalculable loss, the Duke de Medina Sidonia, to whom the
command of the Armada had been intrusted, resolved to sail northward, and, by making
the tour of the British Islands, to reach the Spanish harbours of the Western Ocean. He
was pursued by the English Admiral as far north as the Frith of Forth, when, owing to bad
weather, and an ill supply of provisions, the chace was given up. Meanwhile the Armada,
in its northern destination, had passed the Orkneys ; it was then overtaken by a violent
tempest. Of the ships which had been engaged with the English Navy, many had lost
their anchors, and these, for the most part, perished in their endeavours to keep out at sea.
The galleons, which composed two-thirds of the Spanish fleet, were, from their unwieldy
size, left to the mercy of an ocean over which they had little or no controul, whence
numerous wrecks of them took place on the shores of Scotland and Ireland. Thus, of an
armada conceived to be Invincible, which had consisted of 150 sail, carrying 2600 brass
guns, and 30,000 soldiers, marines and slaves, scarcely one-half returned to the haughty
monarch of Spain with the disastrous news, that the sceptre of England was still unwrested
from the Protestant grasp. While General History is, however, silent regarding the per-
sonal adventures of the Duke de Medina, which befel him in the Scottish seas, the
deficiency is amply supplied by traditionary accounts yet extant among the isles of
Shetland.

In the tempest which completed the discomfiture of the Spanish Navy, the Admiral
saw his own vessel driving fast to the precipitous rocks of Fair-Isle : he was successful in
making for a small creek on the eastern side of the island, when his unwieldy, anchorless

ITER L] LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS. 5

ship struck and went to pieces, the commander and 200 of his men effecting a landing in
their boats with the greatest difficulty.

The Duke now found himself inclosed in a small island, the extent and fertility of
which could afford little more support than was necessary for the few families which were
accustomed to derive from it a precarious subsistence ; whilst the population of the place
was, by the addition of his shipwrecked crew, considerably more than doubled. The
autumnal gales had also set in, which, by keeping the fishermen on shore, threatened to cut
off all supplies of food from the sea : from the same cause, also, the light boats of the island
were precluded from crossing a dangerous channel of nearly nine leagues, ever disturbed by
impetuous currents and tides, for the purpose of procuring from the Mainland of Shetland a
vessel, in which the Spanish soldiers might be either conveyed to a place capable of afford-
ing adequate provisions, or might be transported early in the spring to some friendly port
on the Continent. It also appears, that the Duke had long hesitated whether he should
make any entreaty whatever for succour to the inhabitants of Shetland, being doubtful of
the reception he should find among them. He was not ignorant that these islands were
under the direct influence of a Protestant king, whose sentiments on the subject of the
Spanish invasion of England were far from ambiguous. The Scottish Monarch had indeed
considered, that the danger which so lately threatened England, had also threatened Scot-
land, and the sentiments he was known to utter were the echo of Elizabeth's caution, That
if the Spanish enterprise had succeeded, he could have only hoped for the indulgence
which Polyphemus had promised Ulysses, — To be the last devoured.

Whilst meditating on what measures ought to be adopted, it does not appear that the
Duke had availed himself, so soon as he ought to have done, of the means in his power to
extricate himself from an island, the scanty resources of which menaced his soldiers
with all the horrors of a winter's famine. But, if the alarming prospect was late
in making any forcible impression on the mind of the Spanish Commander, it was
instantly seen by the natives of Fair-Isle in all its hideous colouring ; and they, there-
fore, became anxious to secure for the use of themselves and their own families the scanty
stock of provisions and cattle which remained in the island. An ample opportunity was
now given to the Duke for shewing to a defenceless people, whose compliance with his
requisition for provisions he could have easily commanded by force, that generous spirit
inseparable from true chivalry, which had long tempered with some of the most amiable
feelings of human nature, the military habits of southern Europe : for he gave the strictest
orders to his soldiers, and in these he was supported by his officers, that no provisions
should be received from the inhabitants of Fair-Isle, without a bountiful pecuniary re-
muneration. Accordingly, the voice of tradition still reports, that the unfortunate visitors of
Fair-Isle paid nobly in Spanish ryalls for the provisions which they might so easily have
obtained without the least compensation.

The Spaniards had consumed nearly all the victuals of the island ; they had eaten up
everything they could collect, such as horned cattle, sheep, fish, fowl, and even horses, when
the natives were tempted, in self-defence, to evade the delivery of any farther contribution.
To avoid, however, the least appearance of hostility to their visitors, they availed themselves

6 LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS. [ITER ,

of the darkness of the night, for the purpose of secreting among the recesses of the cliffs
known only to themselves, the provisions which appeared indispensable for their own
existence.

All the horrors of famine now began to rage in the island. Many of the Spaniards had
providentially saved from the wreck a reserve of bread ; to which was added fish-oil, in
which it was dipped. But others who were destitute of this coarse nourishment, perished
for hunger.

It would have been well for the memory of the transactions of Fair-Isle, that the same
voice of tradition which has recorded in honourable terms the magnanimity of the wretched
Spaniards, should, at the same time, have suppressed a recital of the treachery of the natives
among whom they had been thrown. The Spaniards were supplicants for the food which,
from their superior force, they might have commanded ; but the beings to whom this con-
cession was made, only returned the obligation by an over-anxiety for self-preservation, and
by a desire to rid the island, in the basest mode, of the unfortunate causes of the famine.
When any Spaniards, debilitated by hunger, were found to be detached from the rest
of their companions, the barbarous islanders are said to have availed themselves of
this incapacity to resistance, by secretly throwing them over the banks into the sea. It is
even said, that the roofs of the houses used in the island for drying fish, were so contrived
as to be let fall upon the unsuspecting strangers, who were for this purpose invited to seek
beneath them a shelter from the weather.*

At length, all sustenance appeared to fail, not only the Spaniards, but the natives of
Fair-Isle themselves ; and the Duke was determined to encounter every risk of hostility from
the neighbouring islands, which he knew to be under the government of a Protestant king,
by sending out a boat or yawl to make known his situation, and to implore that a suitable
vessel might be provided to release his famished crew from the horrors which they were
then suffering.

The boat was dispatched in the first place to Andrew Umphrey of Berry, who was then
said to have farmed the isle. It is not added, at the same time, whether the appeal was
made to one who was within or without the pale of the Romish Church ; but of this fact we
may be assured, that the instantaneous relief which the* case required was neither converted
into a Catholic nor a Protestant question.

Andrew Umphrey set off for Fair-Isle with all dispatch, and in the approach of a sail
to the island, the imagination may, without any assistance from tradition, truly paint to itself
the anxious faces of the Spaniards, exhibiting alternate emotions of hope and fear, as they
conceived the visit to be friendly or hostile.

The mission was, however, soon declared to be propitious, and the famished Spaniards
being assisted on board, were cheered with the immediate hopes of food, with the further
assurance that their sufferings would obtain for them, every where throughout Shetland, the
most hospitable reception, — with the promise, that the ship which now bore them should
attempt their escape to some convenient port on the Continent, from whence they might

* SherrifTs Agricultural Survey of Shetland, p. 7.

ITER L] LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS. 7

once more hope to embrace the friends they had left in the fertile valleys of Old Spain.

The vessel appears to have touched at Quendal Bay, the nearest point in the Main-
land of Shetland. This was with a view to the superior accommodation due to the
illustrious rank of the Duke, which the house of a worthy Scottish gentleman afforded, of
the name of Malcolm Sinclair.

The Duke de Medina landed in the complete costume of a Spanish nobleman, with a
view to impress on the simple islanders some notion of the rank which he held in his own
country. On being introduced to his host, he was received with the unfeigned welcome
that was due to an illustrious and an unfortunate stranger. This feeling was not, however,
wholly unmixed with Malcolm's conscientious disapproval of the cause which led eventually
to the Duke's disaster, though he wished, at the same time, that emotions of this nature
should intrude themselves as little as possible, so as to interfere with the rites of hospitality.
An intention so laudable was soon put to a trial, — particularly when the Duke, in order to
satisfy himself of the imposing effect which his appearance might have caused in the
country, bade his interpreter inquire, If his host had seen before a person of his rank and
mien. Malcolm Sinclair, who, in estimating the consequence of his guest had ever con-
sidered him as the redoubted champion of Great Babylon, bluntly replied in broad Scots,
" Farcie in that face ! I have seen many prettier men hanging on the ' Burrow-Muir."'* It
was well for the feelings of the Spanish Commander, that his interpreter's knowledge of the
English tongue had not yet extended to its provincialities, and that it was impossible to
translate this coarse reply.

The Duke de Medina is said to have lingered at Quendal, as the guest of Malcolm
Sinclair, until the vessel could be equipped in a manner sufficiently effective for the convey-
ance of himself and his party to the Continent. Meanwhile the Spaniards, in order to re-
main near the person of their commander, had entrenched themselves in the vicinity. The
walls and earthworks which they hastily constructed may be yet traced, along with the
foundations of temporary buildings.

There is, besides, a small fortification to be seen, about thirty miles to the north of
Quendal, in the small islet of Kirkholm, which is also ascribed to the Spaniards ; but this
is satisfactorily explained by the tradition, that there was another unfortunate galleon be-
longing to the Armada, which suffered shipwreck on the coast of Shetland ; and that the
crew were long detained in this more northerly part of the country, until they could be con-
veyed to their distant homes. The mural defence which this second party threw up, to
add security to their insular position, may be still detected, together with a well of water for
the use of the small garrison. Not far remote from Kirkholm may be likewise seen the
ruins of a neat chapel, dedicated to the Holy Virgin : it was erected by the same grateful
strangers, to beguile their vacant hours, in memory of their preservation on the hospitable
shores of Shetland.

A month or more had elapsed ere the equipment of the vessel destined to transport the
Duke de Medina's party was completed. At length the foreign guests took a final leave of

* Sir Robert Sibbald's Account of Shetland. — " Farcie in that face," i.e., " unsightliness is in that face, or, it is an ill-
favoured face," — an uncouth term of opprobium, very properly obsolete. — " Burrow-Muir," the ancient Tyburn of Edinburgh.

8 LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS.

[ITER I.

the islanders among whom they had last resided. In a few days the Spanish Commander
was landed safely at the Port of Dunkirk, for which service he rewarded his deliverer with a
present of three thousand marks.

Such are the traditions relating to the tempest of the Scottish seas, incidental to the
history of the leader himself of the celebrated Armada of Spain. The passing traveller, to
whom the rocks of Fair-Isle approach in view, and to whom may be narrated the interesting
events with which they are associated, may possibly belong to that country where religious
freedom has long been secured against the invasion of

" Banditti saints disturbing distant lands."

Is he then authorised to suppose that special interpositions of Providence have averted the
danger which threatened to blast the hopes of English Protestantism ? Is he allowed to
imagine, as others have done before him, that the remains of the powerful fleet which had
eluded the thunder of English guns, were only preserved in their flight for the purpose of
being nobler victims of the more powerful artillery of the skies, which was heard in the
northern seas ? — Is he justified in presuming, that the escape of the infatuated slaves of
Spain, who had eluded the vigilance of their Protestant foes, was only permitted, in order
that a signal occasion might be afforded for the unequivocal voice of Heaven itself
in its denunciation of the unhallowed cause of the Spanish crusade ? Be it so. But
there are events now transacting in the civil and religious communities of the world,
which lead to a less contracted view of the laws of the Divine Government. These events
are far from instructing us, that such laws, when directed against superstition, armed with
political authority, are manifested by the contingencies of atmospheric phenomena, or by
the incidents of war. No. These decrees of Heaven are more silently revealed in a
process that is moral ; in a process that is corrective, not vindictive ; in a process that is
slow, yet universal in its extent, and influencing as well the victims as the agents of perse-
cution. Already are we presented with the sublime spectacle of the lineal descendents of
those ancient foes of the Reformed Religion of Europe, that in days of yore would have
lighted on English ground the torch of infuriated bigotry, employed on their own soil in its
final extinction ; in repairing on Iberian land the desolations which its flames had spread,
and in erecting on the fertile banks of the Guadelquiver, the peaceful standard of civil and
religious liberty. — Note III.

APPROACH TO DUNROSSNESS IN SHETLAND.

No sooner do the rocks of Fair-Isle recede from observation, than Fitfiel Head, a
considerable hill to the south of the Mainland, first rises to view. In the ancient northern
language of the country, Fitfiel is said to signify the White Mountain*. To this promon-
tory succeeds a contiguous one to the east of it, less elevated, but stretching more to the
south ; this is named Sumburgh Head.

As we approach towards the shores of Dunrossness in Shetland, the general features of

See Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. i., p. 262.

ITER L] LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS. 9

a large tract of the principal island, named the Mainland, are gradually developed in per-
spective. The country seems to be characterised rather by the number than by the height
of its hills : but the nakedness of their surface, which not a tree or shrub interposes to
conceal, recalls every chilling idea that may have been preconceived in the mind of Hyper-
borean desolation. The stranger can scarcely avoid contrasting the sterility that appears
before his eyes, with the richness of the valleys that he may have so lately quitted on the
banks of the Forth. Shetland truly appears to be what was long ago said of it by a Stirling-
shire visitor, " the skeleton of a departed country."*

Our proximity to land is announced, in good weather, by the appearance of numerous
boats, fishing by means of hand-lines for seethe and cod. The Scandinavian character of
the natives first becomes evident in the form and lightness of their boats or yawls, the
planks of which are still imported from Norway, so modelled by the hands of the carpenter,
that, when they arrive in Shetland, little more labour is required than to put them together.
These boats are generally about eighteen feet in keel, and about six in beam ; they carry
six oars, and are furnished with a square-sail. Their extreme buoyancy, and the ease with
which they cut the waves, are the circumstances insisted upon by the fishermen, as render-
ing their construction particularly adapted to the stormy seas upon which they are
launched. Many of the boats are, however, less in size, being adapted only for four oars.

The boat-dress of the fishermen is in many respects striking. A worsted covering for
the head, similar in form to the common English or Scotch nightcap, is dyed with so many
colours, that its bold tints are recognised at a considerable distance, like the stripes of a
signal flag. The boatmen are also invested, as with a coat of mail, by a surtout of tanned
sheep skin, which covers their arms, and descends from below their chin to their knees ; t
whilst, like an apron or kilt, it overlaps their woollen femoralia ; — for with the latter article,
it is needless to observe, the Shetlander is better provided than the Gaelic Highlander.
This sheepskin garb has generally an exquisite finish given to it by boots of neat-skin
materials, not sparing in width, reaching up to the knees, and, altogether, vying in their
ample dimensions with the notable leather galligaskins, with which painters have long been
wont to encompass the royal calves of Charles XII. when they have represented him as
planning the trenches of Fredericshal. A nobleman, who visited Shetland a few years ago,
was, indeed, so struck with the fishing-garb of the natives of the place, that he took away
with him a perfect specimen of the same, for the special purpose of assigning to it a place
in his museum, at no remote distance from kindred illustrations of the habits of the Esqui-
maux or of the New Zealanders.

To antiquarian eyes, however, the trim of the Shetland boat-dress may present no in-
accurate model of the calfskin costume of the ancient English mummers, who looked so
fierce in their guise, that one of the personse of an old drama was made to say,

" I'll wrap me in a rousing calf-skin suit,
And come like some hobgoblin."

Old Play of " Wily Beguiled." .

* Neill's Tour through Orkney and Shetland, p. 159.

t This dress has been described by l)r Kemp as put on with the woollen side inwards. Does the expression imply that the
wool is preserved ? I have not myself seen it retained.

IO LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS. [ITKR L

In allusion also to these welcome promoters of the sports of Christmas, who may, in
the honest boatmen of Shetland, find parallel representatives in every thing save wit,
Constance and Faulconbridge, in Shakespeare's Play of King John, most pointedly " smoke
the skin-coat" of the Archduke of Austria :

" Thou wear'st a lion's hide ! doff it for shame,
And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs."

King John, Act j. Scene I.

There can be no doubt that the leathern dress of Shetland is of Scandinavian origin ;
a similar one is still worn in the Isles of Faroe, and Bishop Pontoppidan describes the same
as being common in his time among the peasantry of Norway. It must also be of great
antiquity, but whether the name of Lodbrog was added to the titles of the Danish King
Regner, from some important improvement on this garb, by which they were converted
into regular Braccoe, I shall leave for antiquaries, deeper versed than myself in Scandinavian
lore, to determine. " Methinks," says that paragon of Archaiologists, Aylett Sammes of
Christ's College in Cambridge, " I see the Danish King Lothbrock, in his jur-leather
breeches, (for so his name importeth,) in as good verses as ale could inspire, hugging
himself in the hopes of full pots in the world to come :

" We have stood true to snick and snee,

And now I laugh to think,
In Woden's Hall there benches be,

Where we may sit and drink.
There we shall tope our bellies full
Of nappy ale in full-brimm'd skull."

See a free translation from the Runic of Regner Lothbrock 's
well-known Death Song, in Aylett Sammes 's Britan-
nica Edition 1676, page 4j6.

But of this enough : — The true antique cut of the Shetland boat-dress requires no
ornament that any superfluous hemmings or fringes can give it, under the learned name of
" Annotations " and " Postils." I may briefly add, that the weight of this coreaceous garb,
which is almost as ponderous as the chain-armour, that, in the niche of some sacred fane,
invests the limbs of the bold crusader, is often disdained by the younger natives, who leave
the warmth which it yields to be enjoyed by those who are more advanced in years. They
themselves are contented with a common seaman's jacket and trowsers of the usual form,
and, in the place of the worsted cap, with a plain hat of straw.

Here it may be proper to observe, that the Packet which conveys passengers from
Leith to Shetland is generally destined to Lerwick, — nearly thirty miles distant from the
most southerly point of the Mainland. For reasons, therefore, that will be explained on a
future occasion, it will be of considerable advantage, that our geological researches should
commence either from the most southerly or northerly extremity of the country ; and if the
weather permit, it will be advisable to be put on shore at the nearest point of Dunrossness.

Taking leave of our attentive master of the Lerwick Packet, and entering a Shetland

ITER 1.1

LEITH TO DUNROSSNESS. I I

fishing boat, we are now introduced to the inhabitants of the country. The first question
that will be asked a stranger, preceding even the usual interrogatories of name, country,
occupation, destination, and so forth, will be the price of meal in Leith, with which, it is
expected, that he should be as much interested as they themselves. This is very natural :
the poor natives are, by the uncertainty of their climate, furnished with precarious crops,
not generally adequate to the requisition of their families, and, in a scarce season, the
slender remuneration for their labour, which altogether precludes an indulgence in such a
luxury as meal, obliges them to live almost wholly on fish.

In the discourse of the Shetlanders, which the stranger may now, perhaps, for the first
time, hear, he can scarcely fail to be struck with their accent, which certainly partakes
much more of the English than of the Scottish manner. When Orkney and Shetland were
transferred from the government of Norway to that of Scotland, in payment of part of the
portion of Margaret, daughter of the King of that country, to James the Third, the Scandi-
navian natives of these islands gradually abandoned the Norse language in consequence of
their encreased intercourse with the nation to which they were annexed : but they still
retain many Norwegian terms, and, alon^ with these, their own national accent. We,
therefore, now find, that there is an acuteness of tone and an elevation of voice, that impart
to the discourse of the Shetlanders much of the spirit of the English mode of utterance ;
whilst not unfrequently their pronunciation partakes of the still more modulated and im-
passioned tones of the Irish : but among none of the natives is to be found the Scotch
peculiarity of expression, which is less diversified by alternations of grave and acute accents,
since all the effects of emphasis is intended to be conveyed in the prolonged measure with
which particular words or syllables are pronounced.

An amusing altercation took place about twelve years ago, in a paper-war, which was
carried on between a Shetland and a Scotch gentleman, respecting the peculiarity of their
respective accents. " The English language," remarked Dr Kemp of Edinburgh, " is
spoken by all the natives of Shetland, but with such a rapidity, (at least it appears so to
strangers,) and such a sharpness of accent, together with a kind of lisp and guttural sound,
that it requires no little attention to understand them." This observation drew from the late
Mr Mouat of Belmont a retort courteous on the Scotch mode of pronunciation* : " Most
people," remarked the Shetland gentleman, " in characterising the dialect of others, under-
stand their own to be the standard or criterion, and, on that principle, the Shetlander is
entitled to retort the Doctor's observations : He speaks the English language, but drawls
out his words so slowly, and with such an obtuse accent, that it requires no little attention
to understand him." Mr Mouat then added, that " it was at St James's only the preference
could be determined." This was a proper reply : for the notion of a standard of accent or
language will ever involve an association of the rank of the individuals by whose influence
] >articular dialects first became objects of imitation. It has thus been justly remarked, that
if the Court of Great Britain had, since the union of England and Scotland, been held at
Holyrood instead of St James's, the fashionable dialect of this kingdom might have been

* See Pamphlets, entitled " Oiset7<ations on the Islands of Shetland," &c. Printed by Order of the Highland Society, 1801,
and Letter in reply, " By the Landholders of Shetland," 1802.

12 DUNROSSNESS.

[ITER I

found in the Lowland Pastorals of Allan Ramsay.

It is, however, a separate object of inquiry, if the accent of a country bear any corres-
ponding relation to its national character. Spurzheim, when in Edinburgh, took some
pains to prove to his pupils, that the organ of Cautiousness was a general developement of
the Scottish cerebrum. Yet it is perhaps questionable, if, from less ambiguous sources
some happier manifestation might not have been derived. Why not, in estimating national
character, extend the fashionable lucubrations of Phrenology to the lingual as well as to the
cerebral organs ? The less varied and measured accents of Caledonia's sons, which appear
to be in unison with " a mien more grave," offer a striking contrast

" To the blunt speech which bursts without a pause,"

or to the acuteness and rapidity of English utterance, — or to the still more impassioned
articulations of the Green Isle of the Ocean, — or to the milder, yet equally modulated
accents of neglected Hialtlandia.

GRUTNESS VOE TO QUENDAL, DUNROSSNESS.

As our boat draws near to the shore, a landing-place appears a little to the north of
the steep cliffs of Sumburgh-Head. The first prospect that encounters the attention of the
traveller is dreary enough. An immense accumulation of blowing-sand appears before him,
which has ravaged one of the most fertile estates of the island. It is well known, that when
very small breaches are made in the superficial turf that covers an extensive deposit of fine
sand, an escape of the levigated particles of the subsoil immediately takes place, and all the
ravages of a sand-flood ensue. Professor Jameson, in his visit many years ago to Shetland,
judiciously recommended, for the recovery of the land, the growth of such plants as the
Galium cruciatum and verum, the Elymus arenarius, the Triticum junceum, or the Arundo
arenaria. But this advice has long passed by unheeded ; and the latest visitor, Dr Fleming, J
found, that the seeds which grew among the sand were, for the laudable purpose of making
besoms, still dug up by the roots, — that numerous herds of swine were still allowed to roam
at large and dig in the sand, and that rabbits even appeared to meet with a hospitable
protection.*

A sandy tract leads to Quendal Bay, where, for some little distance, the eye obtains no
relief from an extensive waste of sand, save from small insulated tufts of verdure, that are
idly supposed to mock, rather than to encourage, the redeeming hopes of the husbandman.
The view, is, indeed, as unvaried as that which Sister Anne saw when, from the loftiest
turret of Blue-Beard's gloomy mansion, she anxiously looked out for the expected horse-
men ; and, with a slight deviation from the text of this delightful tale of our infancy, the
disappointed traveller may exclaim, " I see nothing but the sand blowing, and the grass
growing !"

* Jameson's Mineralogy of the Scottish Isles, vol. ii., p. 199. App. to Shirreffs Agriculture of Orkney and Shetland, p. 134.

ITER !., DUNROSSNESS. 1 3

REMARKS ON THE DARK PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF SHETLAND AND ORKNEY, SUG-
GESTED BY THE DISCOVERY OF ROMAN RELICS IN THE PARISH OF DUNROSSNESS.

The dreariness of the scene is soon interrupted by a fertile green sward, studded with
cottages, that is continued to West Voe and Sumburgh Head, which we leave to the south.
This ground is rendered somewhat interesting by the evidence which it has afforded of a
Roman visit to Shetland. About forty years ago, a copper medal of Vespasian, the reverse
Iudaea Victa, is recorded to have been turned up by the plough. I have examined several
of the coins that are said to have been found in different parts of Shetland, which were
those of Galba, ^lius Caesar and Trajan. In one district, Northmavine, a Pugio was re-
ported to have been discovered. There are also small fortifications, occurring in different
parts of the country, that will be noticed in the course of this itinerary, which manifest
striking marks of a Roman construction. — See Note IV. ,-t *A*rfxs

The presence of remains like these found in the parish of Dunrossness* and elsewhere,
may excite some little curiosity to learn the occasions which might have induced the
Romans to visit the seas to the north of Scotland, as well as to know the race of people by
whom Shetland might have been inhabited during so remote a period. This inquiry is, at
the same time, so connected with the earliest state of Orkney as well as of Shetland, that it
will be impossible to investigate the history of the one country to the exclusion of the
earliest annals of the other.
V Agricola visited Orkney in the eighty-fourth year of the Christian Era. But this group

of islands seems to have been known to the ancients before this period, since Diodorus
Siculus alludes to a promontory in the north of Scotland, supposed to be some headland in
the Pentland Firth, under the name of Cape Orcas, whilst Pomponius Mela states the
number of the islands of Orkney to be about thirty.

But, if the situation of Orkney was known to the ancients before the time of Agricola,
Shetland was much less distinctly recognised, unless under the vague name of Thule, it was
occasionally glanced at by Pomponius Mela or Pliny. t Thule was long a term of general
application, to denote a place either in Britain, Ireland, the north of Scotland, or in regions
even still farther north, which was supposed to be involved in darkness, whilst its shores
were washed by a boisterous ocean ; its situation, therefore, always varied with the un-
certain geographical information Roman writers possessed of the British or Caledonian
Seas. It is, however, certain, that Shetland was the Thule which was actually seen by
Agricola, in his circumnavigation of the British Islands.

* I find that the proper name of Dunrossness, as it appears in Norwegian annals, is Dynraust Ness, so named from raust,
roost, or conflict of tide off Sumburgh Head, which, in the year 1242, proved fatal to King Harold, of the Isle of Man, in sailing
to Norway. " Interea nuptiae Regis Haraldi, cum filia Regis [Norvegiae] insigni apparatu confectas, inde Rex ad conventum cum
Sveciae Re^e institutum magna classe comitatuq ; profectus, in Elldeyar Sunda, seu sinu Elldeyensi Jonem Dungadi fillium
Re|em pronunciavit, qvi tanto honore auctus, in aqvilonares Norvegiae partes Dugale comitante rediit, uterq ; in Hasbudas
Manniae Regi Haraldo, itineris socii futuri, verum proposito desistentes Jon Bergis, Dugall ad Regem Haconem in austris moran-
tem profectus hiemavit, Rex autem Haraldus cum uxore, splendidoque comitatu, unica nave Bergis solvit, inque itinere cum
omnibus vectoribus vecturaque periit in vortice Dynraust, qvi Hialtlandiam ab austro spectat, ut vulgo conjectant, eo qvod
fragmenta navis, in australis istius insulae partes sestus devexerit." — Torfaeus, p. 164.

t For a compendious view of the various opinions of the ancients on the situation of Thule, see Sir Robert Sibbald's " Thule
of the Ancients," as given in Gibson's Camden, page 1089 to 1100 ; and particularly " An Inquiry into the Original Inhabitants of
Britain," by Sir James Foulis, in the Transactions of the Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. i., page 155 to 169.

14 DUNROSSNESS. [ITER I.

When Agricola, in the year 84, visited Orkney, he is said not only to have discovered,
but to have subjugated these islands. Hence the important inference, that they were at
so early a period actually inhabited. The expression of Tacitus is, " invenit domuitque."
It is, consequently, with much surprise, that I have seen a supposition lately hazarded,
in a volume of Scottish Antiquities, that Orkney was in the time of Agricola unpeopled.
It is, indeed, possible to conceive, that when Agricola is said to have subdued the Orkneys,
his biographer meant no more than that he was victorious in the sense in which Dryden
applied the term to the hero of one of his Tragedies ;

" Alman/er is victorious without fight ;"

Or in which Fielding's no less triumphant hero Lord Grizzle, with equal felicity, enlarged
upon the idea :

" Thus far our arms with victory are crown 'd ;
For, though we have not fought, yet we have found
No enemy to fight withal."

Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, Act iii. Scene 7.

It is to be remarked, that two of the islands of Shetland, Foula and Fair-Isle, are to be
seen from Orkney; accordingly, it has been with every reason supposed, that the Thule
which Agricola saw from thence could be no other country than Shetland. " Dispecta est
et Thule quam hactenus nix et hiems abdebat."

Thus, it would appear, that in the time of Agricola, whilst Shetland was only distantly
observed, and was unexplored, Orkney was actually inhabited. The next question is, Of
what race were descended the Aborigines of Orkney ; or as the Archaeologists of a century
ago were wont to express themselves, From what fountain and original source was derived
unto us these puissant Orcadians ? Seeing, therefore, that all good historiographers have
thus handled their chronicles, an inquiry into national descent will be our first object ; for
this is no less expedient in treating of humble provincial annals, than a lineal pedigree is to
the consequence of some homely country gentleman, who, deprived of its emblazoning
support, might never have been recorded in any other terms, than that he was " a mar-
vellous good neighbour, in sooth, and a very good bowler."* For very sufficient reasons,
therefore, the aboriginal inhabitants of Orkney may be announced as having been derived
from a Celtic stock ; as having been descended from a people who have been traced from
the Euxine to the Atlantic, occupying at one time the whole of Europe, south of the Baltic,
and probably even farther north ; whose tribes were subsequently limited to the west of
Europe, who, from four to five centuries before the Christian era, seized the country on the
Po, settled in Germany, overran, under Brennus and Camillus, the whole of Italy,- their
last depredations being committed in Greece, and even in Asia. Most of the Celtic tribes
appear to have been lost in their intermixture with the inhabitants of the countries which,
from predatory motives, they had visited, whilst the remainder were eventually compelled to

* Love"s Labour Lost, act v.

iter i.] DUNROSSNESS. 1 5

confine themselves to the country of Gaul, in which was comprised, during the time of
Caesar, France, part of Germany, and the British Islands.

But the Celtic Emigration from the Euxine to Britain is more distinctly (I dare not
add more authentically) described in the ancient Triades of Wales, and in the curious com-
ments upon them which are to be found in the oldest manuscripts of that country. "Of
the three pillars of the Island of Britain, the first is Hu Gadarn, who first brought the race
of the Cymry into the Island of Britain ; and they came from the land of Hav called
Defrobani, (where Constantinople stands, says the ancient commentator,) and they
passed over Mor Tawch (the German Ocean,) to the Island of Britain, to Llydan
(the coast of Gaul,) where they remained." The Celtic race of Scotland is again referable
to the tribes who are said to have " come into the Island of Britain by the consent of the
nation of the Cymry, without weapon and without assault." Of these, one was the tribe
of the Caledonians, and another was the Gwyddelian race in Alban (Scotland.)*

The Celtic tribe of the Caledonians might probably have inhabited, during the
campaigns of Caesar, certain woods near the banks of the Thames f, exchanging soon after-
wards the rich plains of the south of England for the more inaccessible regions of the north,
where, amidst wilds and natural fastnesses, they might more successfully resist the Roman
eagle. J

The Gwyddelian race in Alban (Scotland,) are the proper Aborigines of North Britain ;
and they have been for centuries described by Welch bards, and other writers of that
country, under the name of Gwyddyl, Pichti, or Fichti, the (P) of the British being
frequently changed to (F.) The term Pichti denotes a tribe of the open country, or of the
waste or desart%\ and it may be identified with the name Picti, which was used by the
Romans to denote the same Celtic people who inhabited Scotland. The near resemblance
in sound of the Celtic Pichti to the Latin expression for a painted people, caused the
Romans to associate under this appellation the well known habit of tattooing,' to which the
Aborigines of Britain, like the savage American tribes of the present day, were originally
addicted. || The use, therefore, of the term Picti became particularly significant in its
perverted acceptation, of the wild hordes of ancient Caledonia, who could not be prevailed
upon to renounce the habit of painting their bodies, in favour of the refinements of civiliza-
tion which the Romans had early introduced among the Britons of the south.

It is now time to avail ourselves of these preliminary remarks in the hypothesis we may
entertain regarding the first peopling of Orkney, and in the ultimate conjectures of a similar
nature which we may form regarding Shetland.

On the assumption, then, that the expression of Tacitus, relating to Agricola's visit to
Orkney, " invenit do/uuitqne," naturally implies that the islands were then inhabited, the

* Davies's Celtic Researches, pages 154 and 155.

t " Eosdem rursus riritannos sequtus in Caledonias sylvas." L. Anna; Flori epitome, Rer., Rom., lib. iii., cap. 10.

J I am aware, that an opinion very different to this is usually entertained by antiquaries.

§ Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. i., p. 204.

|| " Nee /also nomine Pictos edomuit." CI. Claudiani de III. Cons. Hon. Aug. Pancg.

1 6 DUNROSSNESS.

[ITER I.

Aborigines must have been Celtic, since the Gothic tribes, who succeeded to the Celts in the
possession of Europe, are not recorded as encroaching so far westward as the British
Island until the 4th century.

On the natural probability, also, that the first peopling of Orkney took place from the
contiguous shores of the north of Scotland, the Aborigines of these islands must have been
Pictish in the Latin, rather than in the Celtic sense of the term ; for with the Romans the
designation was generic, and not only included the proper Celtic Pichti, as well as the
Caledonians, who had migrated from the south, but every other contemporary tribe, under
whatever name it might be specifically distinguished, that inhabited the northern wilds of
Britain. In this comprehensive sense Eumenes the Orator applies the word Picti in the 4th
century : " Non dico Caledonum aliorumque Pictorum." Thus also Ammianus \iar-
cellinus : " Picti in duas gentes divisi Dicaledones et Vecturiones."*

Most probably, then, a Celtic race, known at a later period of the Roman campaigns in
Britain, under the generic name of Picts, were the Aborigines of Orkney. There is^
however, another circumstance to be taken into consideration. The language
that is common to Celtic tribes is well known to have been transmitted to modern times
in the Cymraeg or Welch tongue, in the Armorican, the Irish, and the Scoto-Irish
or Gaelic, of the Scotch Highlands. Orkney itself is recorded in the Triades of Wales, as
one of the principal islands of Great Britain ; and the most satisfactory etymology of the
name is referable to the Celtic word ore, signifying what is outward, extreme or bo?dering,
and ynis, enis, and inis, expressive of an island. But to the notion that a Celtic race
oiginally inhabited Orkney, this derivation imparts a feeble degree of support. A con-
clusion to this effect would have been much more satisfactorily deduced from the
knowledge, that Celtic names are still applied to the specific localities of the country : that
Celtic names are still retained in describing the islands, hills, valleys, lakes or bays by
which this territory is diversified. Such evidence, however, is totally withheld from us ; for
without a single exception, all the topographical names, of Orkney as well as of Shetland, are
preserved in the Scandinavian tongue. No hypothesis, therefore, of the first peopling of
either country by a Celtic race can be defended, that does not, at the same time, admit
from subsequent causes, so complete a removal of the aboriginal colonists, as to imply, that
the first appellations which had been imposed upon the localities of the country, must have
become irrecoverably lost. Let us then endeavour to ascertain, if such an admission meet
with any sanction from the testimony of Roman writers.

For about a century and a half subsequent to Agricola's circumnavigation around
Britain, there is not to be obtained, from any authentic source, the least intimation re-
garding the state of Orkney. This silence is at length broken, by the short, yet empathic

* This is the only occasion in the course of the present itinerary, in which I shall involve myself in the Pictish question, with
the exception, perhaps, of a few brief remarks, that may be made in treating of the Scandinavian Burgh, — improperly enough
named Pictish. From the numerous disquisitions ti which the Pictish inquiry has given rise, it is now become the stalest and mest
tedious of Antiquarian subjects. I consider that the very best view that has yet been taken of the question, is to be found in the
First Volume of Dr Chalmers's Caledonia, under the head of the Pictish Period of North-Britain. A summary of the classical
authorities from which the opinions that had been given in this work are chiefly derived, may be found in an excellent paper of Sir
lames Foulis, published in the Antiquarian Transactions of Scotland, vol. i., p. 155, &c. See also Whittaker's History of Man-
chester, 410, vol. i., p. 415 and 416.

ITER I.]

DUNROSSNESS. IJ

intelligence on the subject that is communicated to us by Solinus : " Numero tres, vacant
homine, non habent silvas, tantum junceis herbis inhorrescunt, caetera earum nudae arenas
et rupes tenent." This information must have been procured about the middle of the
third century ; and, really, little is wanting to complete the chilling picture it presents of
arctic solitude : Orkney was seen, — but no human inhabitants, — no trees ; no objects
visible but marshes, steril sands and rocks. Solinus has inaccurately computed these
islands at no more than three ; — a possible error. In order to determine their real number,
Orcadian sounds and creeks must be explored. But what inducement could there be for
the visitors of this deserted Archipelago to undertake a research so devoid of interest, —
so fruitless in its ultimate object ?

Since the period when Orkney was pronounced to be uninhabited, more than a
century had elapsed ere this country came again to be recorded in Roman annals. A
Gothic or Teutonic people, of a very different origin to that of the Celts, may be regarded
as the second description of colonists, by whom Orkney was peopled. The language which
they spoke is perpetuated in such dialects as the English of the present day, the Lowland-
Scotch, the Belgic or Low-Dutch proper, the German, the Norwegian, the Danish, the
Swedish, and several others. With great probability, it has been supposed, that the Goths,
the Getas of Thrace and the Scythians of Little Tartary, were of the same race of people.
The Goths appear to have been long settled near the northern embouchure of the Danube ;
and at the Christian Era, a few of these tribes were scantily interspersed among the Celtic
Aborigines, dwelling between the Euxine and the Atlantic. About the third century, the
Goths first became formidable to Europe ; they ravaged Mcesia, and destroyed the city of
Istropolis, returning from their predatory excursion beyond the Danube. They afterwards
extended the conquests in various directions ; but their encroachments on the Roman
boundaries were first felt in the fourth century. It was then that the Saxon rovers, who
were of Gothic descent, proved of considerable annoyance to navigation, and that the coasts
and islands of the northern seas were conveniently resorted to in the course of their piratical
excursions. So audacious, at length, became their, depredations, that the Romans found it
necessary to exert themselves in a special manner against these marauders. It was on this
occasion, therefore, that Theodosius chased them into their most secret and remote haunts,
and that Orkney, and probably Shetland also, were bedewed with Saxon blood :

" ■ Maduerunt Savone fuso

Orcades."

Claud. Carm. De j Consul. Honorii.

This signal chastisement was only of temporary advantage. The power of the Gothic
tribes still gradually increased, and when the declining government of Italy was obliged,
for the defence of its own immediate frontiers, to recall its troops from every distant pro-
vince, a Saxon sceptre succeeded to the Roman eagle in the sovereignty of Britain.

Subsequent to the visit of Theodosius to the Orcades, all accounts of this country,
from the testimony of Latin authors, are found to cease ; and, until its Scandinavian history

1 8 DUNROSSNESS. [ITER I.

commences, the vacancy is only supplied by Monkish fables, to which it is not necessary
for a moment to advert.

By ancient Scandinavia, from which country the progenitors of the present race of
inhabitants in Orkney and Shetland were originally derived, may be understood the terri-
tories lying to the north of the Baltic Sea, namely, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Lapland and
Finland. Antiquaries are disposed to believe that a Scandinavian people occupied Orkney
before the sixth century ; founding their opinion on the credited history of Columba, the
Christian Missionary, who, in the year 565, met at the residence of Bridei, the Pictish King,
a Scandinavian chief of Orkney.*

We have at length endeavoured, from the testimony of authentic writers, to render
probable the supposition, that the successive colonists of Orkney were composed of Celtic,
Saxon, and Scandinavian tribes. But it may be now asked, Are we, from the same descrip-
tion of evidence, entitled to infer, that similar tribes succeeded in like manner to the
possession of the contiguous islands of Shetland? Certainly not. That the same people
who inhabited Orkney might have passed over into the adjoining islands more northerly
situated, is a very probable circumstance. An encouragement is, therefore, given to the
inquiry, Whether certain ancient relics or monuments generally ascribed to the Celtae,
Saxons, or early Scandinavians, are not to be found as abundant in Orkney as in Shetland?
This investigation will be prosecuted in the course of our itinerary.

Such are the few occasional glimpses of light which shed their dim lustre over the early
annals of Orkney and Shetland, rendering, in the words of Milton, "darkness visible." As
the general result, however, of this research, three periods in the history of these islands
may be kept in view.

In the first period, when Agricola visited Orkney, a Celtic race very probably inhabited
the country, who appear to have completely forsaken it a century and a half afterwards,
since it was described by Solinus in the middle of the third century as a complete desart.

In the second period, Orkney, and probably Shetland also, were infested by a Gothic
tribe of Saxon rovers : these were routed A.I). 368, by Theodosius.

In the third period, probably at or before the sixth century, succeeded in the posses-
sion of these islands the Scandinavians, who were the progenitors of the present race of
inhabitants in Orkney and Shetland.

Incidental to this investigation, we may now advert to the Roman coins which were
found at Uunrossness, and elsewhere in Shetland. The date of one of them is of the reign
of Adrian, or a few years previous to the Lieutenantship of the intelligent Lollius Urbicus,
by whom North Brtiain was well explored, — by whom new roads were constructed, new
stations were fixed, and new iters were settled. Did this active governor, then, explore the
coasts and islands of Caledonia, as far north as the Ultima Thule, which was seen by
Agricola from the shores of Orkney? Or are the Roman coins found in Shetland, to be
rather considered as having been left by the soldiers of Theodosius, when chacing the
Saxon pirates to their remotest and most secret haunts ? A reply to these questions must,

* See Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. i., p. 262.

ITrR |j DUNROSSNESS. 1 9

of necessity, be the vainest of conjectures. Let us, therefore, be content with the mere in-
dication afforded by the discovery of certain vestiges of antiquity, that the Roman eagle did
once condescend to visit the distant shores of ancient Hialtlandia. But in the attempt to
speculate on the occasion of these visits, a heavy censure hangs fearfully over the head of
rhe too daring archaeologist. "As the final cause of the principle of curiosity," say certain
critics, " is the acquisition of knowledge, it is a perversion much to be lamented, that it
should so often be found to fasten most keenly on those objects, about which little or
nothing can be known. A mere scrap of something, between knowledge and conjecture,
if it be but obtained with sufficient difficulty, appears far more valuable to persons of this
description, than abundance of real information, if easily acquired, and if as easily gained
by others as themselves* — See Note V.

QUENDAL BAY.

The shores of Quendal conclude our short walk from the landing-place whence we set
out on the east of Dunrossness.

Quendal Bay is an open inlet of the Sea, extending due north about two miles into the
land, from the surface of which appear a few small holms, that afford a pasture for cattle.
East of the Bay, and at the head of it, dreary tracts of blowing sand are to be seen, where
may be still detected the ruins of scattered buildings, that have long since yielded to the
removal of the light sand which laid bare their foundation. Here was the ancient estate of
Brow, worth, before it was destroyed, 3000 merks a-year, nearly equivalent to ^200
Sterling, — a considerable rental for Shetland fifty or sixty years ago. These barren sand-
hills are agreeably contrasted on the opposite side of the bay, with the green verdure of
Garthsness and Quendal, which slope gradually towards the water's edge, whilst the remoter
cliffs of Fitfiel Head, or the white mountain, towering above the whole, majestically close
the perspective. Quendal foims the north-west angle of the bay, — characterised by a neat
white farm-house, productive fields of corn, not unworthy the rich district of the Lothians,
while, in the same direction, signs of an encreased population appear in the numerous
cottages by which the distant landscape is diversified. Nothing is indeed wanting but a few
trees to complete this picture of fertility ; and it is contemplated with encreased relief to the
mind, when opposed to the depressing sandy desart to which it is contiguous. So abrupt,
indeed, is the transition from the excess of fecundity to complete barrenness, that the plain
line of demarcation between the two extremes, might, in days of dark superstition, have
been supposed to describe the exact site over which some balefull spell had heavily hung,
so as to blast for ever the productive hopes of the husbandman. The interest of the scene
is not a little encreased, when the traveller recalls to his memory the events of ''olden
time," with which the shores of Quendal are associated. His imagination may paint to
itself the shipwrecked crew which had belonged to the flag-ship of the Spanish Armada, trans-
ported from the fatal rocks of Fair-Isle in a small trading vessel, and anchoring in the bay

* See Quotation from the Monthly Review in Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 155.

20 DUNROSSNESS. [ITER ,

which now arrests his attention ; — in completing the ideal picture, he may conceive of the
Commander himself in the act of landing, attired in the costly and imposing dress of the
Spanish nobleman, followed in the rear by the remains of his famished soldiers, whilst to
greet their arrival, a numerous concourse of simple islanders, headed by the hospitable
Malcolm Sinclair, are collected on the beach, expressing in their silent countenances the
mixed feelings of awe and commiseration.

Thus engaged, the deep tracts of sand which impede the course of the traveller
occasion little or no fatigue. At the head of the Bay, the slight remains of a wall, together
with two or three erect monuments, proclaim the site of the ancient church of Quendal,
which, about half a century ago, was one of the neatest religious edifices in the country.
The ravages of the blowing sand had then commenced, and whenever the wind came from
the sea, the sand was dislodged, and an inundation took place presenting in miniature the
appearance of an Arabian desart. Then might the pious natives of Dunrossness be ob-
served in their weekly pilgrimage to the parish-kirk, to pursue a toilsome peregrination
through deep lodgements of sand, overwhelmed, at the same time, in clouds of drifted
particles that obscured the horizon, through which horsemen and footmen were dimly
descried at a distance, like the ghosts of Ossian through the dun clouds of rocky Morven.
Even when included within the precincts of the church, its sanctuary could afford little
shelter from the general pervasion of the sand-shower, the fine ingredients of which easily
insinuated themselves through the minutest crannies, and were fliffused over all the pews.*
At length, the walls were no longer able to resist the causes, which, in removing the sand to
a distance, undermined their foundations ; melancholy exposures, at the same time, took
place of the bodies of the recent dead, the remembrance of which event is still perpetuated
by numerous skulls and other relics of mortality, which being left to bleach upon the sandy
plain, have acquired a whiteness so Incomparable, as to arrest the attention of the most
heedless passenger. The erection of a new parish church was eventually found necessary,
in a situation secure from the agency of similai causes of destruction.

The monuments of the old kirk of Quendal which still remain, belong to the Scottish
families of Sinclair, Stewart, and Bruce, which settled in Dunrossness about two centuries
ago. The inscriptions upon them are very plain, not materially differing from multitudes
of a similar date, to be found in North Britain, where they were doubtless carved, and
from thence imported.

The white farm-house which, with its fertile corn-fields and pastures, so enlivens the
westerly view of Quendal, is tenanted by Mr Ogilvie, to whose hospitality, whilst remaining
in this country, I was much indebted. This gentleman is well acquainted with the farming-
improvements of North Britain, and he has meritoriously introduced as many of them as
were applicable to the more uncertain climate of the British Thule. Turnips, bear or big,
clover and oats, are raised in regular rotations. He has reclaimed some part of the sandy
waste, immediately contiguous to his farm, by planting potatoes upon it, which was not
taken up for the first year, but suffered to rot among the soil, so as to form a tenacious

Low's MS. Tour through Shetland, A.D. 1774.

ITER I.]

DUNROSSNESS. 2 1

medium for the blowing-sand, by which means, in a subsequent year, it was rendered cap-
able of yielding a crop of oats, or fit for the reception of proper grass seeds. The sand-
inundations of Dunrossness are, however, evidently on the decline, since their origin was
less referable to repeated accumulations of sand thrown up by the sea during heavy gales,
and afterwards dispersed, than to the existing nature of the subsoil of the country, which, by
improvident removals of the binding herbage that had long restrained its escape, was
allowed to devastate all the estates to which it was blown in any considerable quantity.

Mr Ogilvie's excellent management of his farm has had a powerful effect among the
smaller tenants, in stimulating them to similar exertions. In the year 1818, when the
Agricultural Society of Shetland offered to three parishes a premium for sowing turnips, all
the competitors were of Dunrossness. One small tenant had a fifth of an acre of good
turnips, drilled and very well cleaned ; another had a full quarter of an acre covered in the
same manner, the ground having been thrice ploughed over 3 but the crop of the third
competitor failed. Several small patches of ground, belonging to individuals who had not
contended for the prize, attracted the particular attention of the Committee who adjudged
the rewards.

The numerous cottages occurring in the vicinity of Quendal are of a better construction
than is to be generally found in Shetland, although they still retain much of their ancient
Scandinavian character. The oldest Shetland dwellings are built of rude stones, with a
cement of clay, or they are still more coarsely formed of stones and clods. After the
wooden rafters have been laid, they are roofed with what are provincially called flaas, or,
in the absence of these, with pones. Flaas are compact vegetable layers, consisting of the
short fibres of mossy or heathy roots closely interwoven with each other. The removal of a
layer of this description from the surface of dry moss land, is never accomplished by
cutting, but by tearing away ; and this manual operation is so like what Dean Swift, in his
description of the mode of collecting Irish scraws, calls " Flaying off the green surface of the
ground," that it is probably to the Scandinavian word flaa or flae, we must look for the
etymology of the Shetland wordy&ww.* When layers composed of flaas are doubled, they
are considered to be impervious to rain, and in this state are placed upon the rafters of the
houses. It has been also remarked, that, instead of flaas, the Shetlanders frequently substi-
tute what they call pones. These last mentioned materials for roofing are nothing more
than swards of earth cut very thin, upon the surface of which grows a short grass. They
differ from another species of turf, recognised in Shetland as well as in Scotland, under the
name of Fails, in the following respect : Fails are the thickest portions of turf that are cut,
being used for the construction of walls and dikes : Pones have always a covering of
grass ; they are thinner than fails, and they are never used for the construction of dikes, but
for the sole purpose of roofing, f A roof formed of thin turf has long been considered as

* See Johnson's Dictionary for the word Flay.

t Fails is said to be a Suio-Gothic word, signifying a siuord, (solum herbidum). The derivation of Pones is obscure ; it does
not occur in I)r Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary ; but this learned antiquary defines a Poiner (Q. dealer in Poins or Pones .')
to be " one who gains a livelihood by diggingyia/, divots or clay, and selling them for cmiering houses and other purposes." It is
needless to observe, that the true Shetland or Scandinavian word Flaas can scarcely be confounded with the Scotch Flaw or Flow
/tat, as described by Dr Jamieson, the distinction between them being so very evident.

2 2 DUNROSSNESS.

[ITER I.

the peculiar characteristic of the Scandinavian cottage. Bishop Pontoppidan says, that the
Norwegian peasants lay over the rafters of their dwellings the sappy bark of birch trees,
which they cover again with turf three or four inches in width. Probably, then, in a
country destitute of wood, like Shetland, the natives might have been first induced,
in the place of a supply of other materials for roofing, to have adopted the
Scotch method of thatching ; btt they appear to have still retained the use of
pones or flaas, since over these they lay the straw, and afterwards secure the whole
with simmonds or bands formed also of straw. In most of the Shetland
cottages the fire-place is in the middle of the room, and the smoke ascends
through a large aperture in the roof, after the usual manner of the hovels of the Scotch
Highlands. Windows are become much more general than they were some years ago ;
for, among some of the oldest habitations, no other light is received than through the
aperture which allows an egress to the smoke. To this opening is given the Scottish name
of lumb, but in the obsolete language of Shetland, it was called the livta, — a word resem-
bling the ancient liuren or light-hole of the Norwegians. Yet many old Shetland houses
are not destitute of that notable improvement of domestic architecture known by the name
of chimney ; for by the Scandinavians its invention was ascribed to royalty itself, which had
previously condescended to hold its courts within the sable, fuliginous walls of Rog-Stuerne,
or smoke rooms. It is recorded in Norwegian annals, that so early as the eleventh century,
King Oluf Kyrre was the first who removed fire-places from the middle of rooms, and
ordered chimneys and stoves to be erected.* The byre or cow-house generally adjoins the
dwelling, and is frequently entered by a common door, that introduces the stranger first to
the cattle, and afterwards to the apartment devoted to the use of the family. In most of
the Shetland habitations a partition of turf runs across the room, which is occasionally
carried up to the height of the house, being intended as well for the purpose of storing up
victuals as for a separate dormitory. But generally the beds, which consist of a few coarse
blankets or straw, are placed in any convenient angle of the cottage. One or two cumbrous
wooden chairs, designed for the heads of the family, with the addition of a few benches
constitute the heavy part of the furniture. — Such is a specimen of the ancient cottage of
Shetland ; but in the vicinity of Quendal dwellings of this kind are more rarely found than
in other parts of the country ; and the antiquary will be often chagrined in observing
such provoking modern improvements as slate roofs, regular windows, and detached cow-
houses, all of which have been introduced into the country by that foe to archaeological
sources of pleasure, ever stimulating to innovation, — a sense and desire of encreased com-
fort. Quitting, therefore, for the present, the habitations of the Shetland peasants, we may
briefly glance at the numerous rude dykes which are constructed around them :— These
observe great irregularity in their direction, sometimes inclosing only one cottage, and
sometimes uniting many which are distant from each other.

Such are the general remarks, that may suffice for the present, regarding the humble
dwellings of these islanders : ample opportunities will be afforded in the course of this

* See Pontoppidan's " History of Norway, Translation," vol. ii., p. 278.

j TER L] DUNROSSNESS. 2$

itinerary, for examining more in detail their rural economy. Our attention may now be
turned from the contemplation of Shetland cottages to the inhabitants within them, whose
general physiognomy may by this time have become sufficiently familiar to us.

The natives of these islands are rarely very tall ; they are of the middle size, remark-
ably well proportioned, light and nimble. It is true, that all these characters are
less observable among the females of the country ; for the male sex, in relinquishing most
species of domestic drudgery for the adventurous occupation of fishing, cause a more than
ordinary portion of labour, fatal to the preservation of a delicate and symmetrical form, to
devolve upon the poor females. The features of the Shetlanders are rather small, and
have nothing of the harshness that so peculiarly distinguishes many of the Anglo-Saxon
provincials in the north of England, or in some of the lowland districts of Scotland.
The constitutional temperament of the Scandinavians is generally conceived to be
sanguine, and since its characteristics are supposed to consist in a florid complexion, a
smooth skin, and hair brown, white, or slightly auburn, the natives of Shetland give
satisfactory tokens of their national descent. The elder Linnaeus's description of the
Northern Europeans well applies to them : " Gothi corpore proceriore, capillis albidis
rectis, oculorum iridibus cinereo-ccerulescentibus." But Principal Gordon detected a
peculiarity among the Scandinavian natives of Orkney, who are of the same race as
those of Shetland, that is too curious to pass unnoticed, since it must have wholly
escaped the penetrating glance of the great Swedish naturalist. This antiquary dis-
covered that there was not a human eye to be found in Orkney that was not of the
colour of sea-green. These are his words : " The inhabitants are generally strong-
bodied, and remarkable for the flava caesaries, and the oculi, csesii, assigned by Tacitus
as distinctive peculiarities of German nations. That sea-green colour of the eye, which
I take to be the meaning of the word easily is so common in Orkney, that / never met
with any person whose eyes were of a different colour."* This is a sweeping assertion,
that ought to go far towards removing the scepticism of a French writer, Monsieur
Le Grand, who, being as little aware of the modern existence of green eyes, as that
they were familar marks of discrimination among the ancients, endeavoured to amend the
reading of the "yeux vers" or green eyes of the early French poets, by converting them,
with a slight change of one or two vowels, into "yeux vairs" or gtey eyes. Hanmer also,
equally uninformed, proposed, by the substitution of a letter, to change the "green eye," of
Juliet, which he conceived to be a typographical error, into a "' keen eye."t

But Mr Francis Douce, in objecting to such overstrained alterations of Shakespeare's
text, has pointed out the ancient familiarity of the expression, by directing the attention to
the "oculi herbei," alluded to by Plautusj, to "the great eyes with a green circle," which

* Journey to the Orkney Islands, by Principal Gordon of the Scots College of Paris, Transactions of the Scottish Anti-
quaries, vol. i., p. 256.

t " Nurse. an eagle, Madam,

Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye."

Romeo and Juliet, Act iii., Scene v.
J " Qui hie est homo
Cum collativo ventre, atque oculis herbeis?"

Curculio of Plautus.

24 DUNROSSNESS. [ITER L

Lord Bacon affirmed to be significant of long life ; and to a Treatise of Villa Real, a
Portuguese, who selected " Green eyes " for his theme, in which they were most mar-
vellously lauded. This able commentator of Shakespeare then arrives at the conclusion,
That it is certain green eyes were found among the ancients, though there is a scarcity, if
not total absence, of such visual organs in modern times ; — adding with a sneer, " For this
let naturalists account, if they can."* Surely Mr Douce could not have been acquainted
with Principal Gordon's surprising discovery in Orkney, that a British province was entirely
peopled with green-eyed natives ! It is true, that the residents of these islands may be
willing to confess to any description of eyes rather than the " oculi csesii " of Tacitus ; and
it will be no wonder, if, by these individuals, a suspicion may arise of some defect in the
learned traveller's own vision, whereby the blue, black or hazel eyes of the inhabitants have
been transmuted into the outre tint of sea-green, f If such an affection there really be, it
must have frequently attacked the scholars of "olden times," being perpetuated at the pre-
sent day among a few modern antiquaries. Its symptoms must have been analogous to
those which a celebrated natural philosopher recently detected in his own sight ; the tint of
pink being found to impress the retina like the sensation of sky-blue, and the colour of red
sealing-wax like that of a green field. If any disease, then, can be well made out, capable
of imparting to a scientific mind the illusion of a green-eyed race of Scandinavians dwelling
in the Ultima Thule of the British Isles, it well deserves a place in Nosological Systems,
under the name of the Paropsis Archaeologica. Certes, there must be some distemper, the
bane of learned clerks,

which o'er the realms of sense,

Oft spreads that murky, antiquarian cloud,
Which blots our truth, eclipses evidence,

And taste and judgment veils in sable cloud."

Chatterton's " Epistelle to Doctoure Myites."

The dress of the Shetland peasants differs little from that of the inhabitants of the
sea-coast of Scotland. To men whose chief occupation is fishing, the common sailor's
jacket is a favourite attire. The red cap, which is a distinctive badge of the master of a
family, merits particular attention. It is made of worsted, somewhat resembling in form a
common double night-cap, but much larger, and gradually tapering to a point, whilst it
hangs down the back, after the fashion of the head dress of a German hussar. It is also
dyed with numerous colours. Frequently the men wear on their feet rivlins, which are a
sort of sandals, made of untanned seal-skin, being worn with the hair-side outwards and
laced on the foot with strings or thongs of leather. Their lightness is particularly adapted
for tramping with velocity over the soft heaths or scattholds of the country. The dress of
the women merits little attention, since it does not differ materially from the fashion of the

* Douce's illustrations of Shakespeare, vol. ii., p. 193.

t In a marginal postil, appended to Principal Gordon's Journey to Orkney, now before me, are the follow-in? observations,
written by a gentleman, a native of these isles. " Black, blue, and hazel eyes, are to be met with in Orkney as elsewhere ; the
eyes of the natives are, in truth, any colour but green."

ITER L] DUNROSSNESS. 25

Scotch peasantry. The woollens which are worn are generally imported from Lanca-
shire or Yorkshire, while some few are the manufacture of the country.

We have now lingered sufficiently long among the cottages in the vicinity of Quendal ;
for, as the Bard of Morven would intimate to us, — Night comes rolling down, and wreaths
of mist begin to robe the white cliffs of Fitfiel. — The annunciation of a fine Shetland
evening is always expressed by numerous boats covering the surface of the bay, the crews
of which are engaged in angling for the small fry of the coal-fish, or Gadus carbonarius.
These swarm in myriads within the numerous creeks and sounds of the Shetland Archi-
pelago. They first appear in May, scarcely more than an inch long, and in comparatively
small quantities, but gradually encrease as the summer season advances, when about Aug-
ust they become very abundant, measuring from 6 to 8 inches in length. During this time
the fry are distinguished by the name of Sillocks.* About the month of May ensuing,
they are found to have grown from 8 to 15 inches, acquiring during this period of their
growth the name of Piltocks.f Afterwards they thrive very fast, attaining the ordinary size
of the cod-fish ; a profitable fishery then takes place of them in deep tideways, under the
name of Sethes.

Although the fry of the coal-fish frequent all parts of bays, yet the fishermen have in-
formed me, that their favourite resort is among the constant floods and eddies which occur
near sunken rocks and bars, that are alternately covered and laid bare by the waves. The
fishery for Sillocks or Piltocks is, therefore, occasionally fatal to the more adventurous boats,
which, in quest of them, angle in such perilous situations. But, besides frequenting tide-
ways, and. currents of all kinds, these small fry appear to covet the security of thick planta-
tions of sea-ware, within the shelter of which they are protected from the keen look-out of
their natural enemies of the feathered race.

There is, probably, no sight more impressive to the stranger who first visits the shores
of Shetland, than to observe, on a serene day, when the waters are perfectly transparent and
undisturbed, the multitudes of busy shoals, wholly consisting of the fry of the coal-fish that
Nature's full and unsparing hand has directed to every harbour and inlet. %

As the evening advances, innumerable boats are launched, crowding the surface of the

* Known at Edinburgh, (says Mr Neill,) under the name of Podleys, and at Scarborough of Pars.

t Synonimous with the pollock, of the Hebrides ; the glassock of Sunderland ; the cuddle of the Moray Firth ; the g?cy
podley of Edinburgh ; and the billet of Scarborough. See Nell's Tour, p. 209. The Piltock of Shetland is the kuth of Orkney
which the following year is distinguished in the latter place by the name of harbines, or two year-old kuths, but they are large
and coarse, and not much sought after. Acquiring their greatest bulk, they are called Sethes. Low's Fauna Orcadensls, p. 194.
Mr Neill remarks, that the full grown fish is also in different places termed a Sey, a. grey ling, a. grey lord, &c. Mr Noel de la
Moriniere, Inspector-General of the French Fisheries, observes, that the name Sey or Sethe is frequently given by Scandinavian
fishermen to the full grown Gadus virens.

X Gawin Douglas, the beautiful early Poet of Scotland, has described a scene somewhere similar.

" For to behold it was a gloire* to see
The stabled windis, and the calmed sea,
The soft season, the firmament serene,
The lounS illumin'd air, and firth ameneX,
The silver-scalded fishes on the grit,
Oerthwart clear streams sprinkt lland\\ for the heat ;
With finnis shinand brown as cinnabar,
And chizzel tailis stirrand here and there."

* Glory. \ Calm. X Pleasant plain. || Darting with a tremulous motion.

26 DUKROSSNESS.

[ITKR I.

hays, and filled with hardy natives of all ages. The fisherman is seated in his light skiff,
with an angling rod in his hand, and a supply of hoiled limpets near him, intended for bait
A few of these are carefully stored in his mouth, for immediate use. The haited line is
thrown into the water, and a fish is almost instantaneously brought up. The finny captive
is then secured ; and while one hand is devoted to wielding the rod, another is used for
carrying the hook to the mouth, where a fresh bait is ready for it, in the application of
which the fingers are assisted by the lips. The same manual and labial routine goes on
with remarkable adroitness and celerity, until a sufficient number of sillocks are secured for
the fisherman's repast. But, in any season of the year the limpet bait may be superseded
by the more alluring temptation of an artificial fly. The rod and line are then handled
with a dexterity not unworthy the freshwater talents of a Walton or a Cotton.* Frequently,
also, instead of launching his light yawl on the ruffled surface of the bay, a small basket is
strung across the shoulders, and securely on shore,

" Some rock the fisher climbs, whose hanging brow
Threatens the waves that lash its base below.
A slender twig his trembling hand extends,
The waving horse-hair from the top descends :
Its fraud immerst with equal joys elate,
The shoals pursue, and snatch the lurking fate."f

So easily are captures made of these small fry, that whilst active manhood is left at
liberty to follow the'more laborious occupations of the deep water fishery, or to navigate the
Greenland Seas, it is to the sinewless arm of youth, or to the relaxed fibres of old age, that
the light task is resigned of wielding the sillock-rod.

The lavish abundance in which the fry of the coal-fish visit the inlets of Shetland,
afford sufficient matter for contemplation to the reflecting mind. Among islands, the severe
climate of which is too often fatal to the labours of husbandry, — where the reduced rate of
labour, resulting from the debased political state of the country, precludes the purchase of
meal at a cost much above the usual price in commercial districts, — under such circum-
stances, what is there, that can possibly render a few insulated rocks capable of supporting
a population of more than 20,000 souls ? The reply is not difficult. That kind Pro-
vidence,

" who pours his bounties forth

With such a full and unwithdrawing hand.
Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable,"

It may be of some interest to " brothers of the angle," as Isaac Walton calls his companions, to learn that the Shetland fly,
tii which Sillocks rise, is rarely intended to represent any particular species observed in Nature. The Shetlander assures us con-
fidently, that two wings are necessary for the insect, — the fish distinguishing nothing more. The inference is, that there is an
intellectual gradation among the finny tribe, and that the fry of the coal-fish are not so clear-sighted as the more wary and know-
ing inhabitants of pellucid trout-streams. For the construction of the bait, the white feather of the common gull, or of the goose,
is sometimes used. But the fibres of the tail or back fin of the dogfish, which, when cleaned, shines like silver, is preferred to any
other kind of material, being considered by the fishermen as particularly enticing. The fly is attached to a white hair line, and
when this cannot be procured, to a brass wire.

t Tianslation of Oppian's Halietiticks, by Jones, &c, p. 138. Oxford, 1722.

NOTES TO ITER I. 2J

has not neglected the obscure shores of Hialtlandia. Amidst the occasional visitations of
famine, the severity of which overwhelms in despair the commercial population of the
South, prompting to every act of civil insubordination, the Shetlander has only to launch his
skiff on the waters which glide past his own dwelling, and he finds that a bounteous supply
of food awaits him at his very door. A late visitor of this country, whose anxious inquiries
into the condition of the lower classes of its inhabitants, were creditable to his humanity,
has related, that in a period of scarcity, when many of the natives had not the means of
purchasing oatmeal for five months, the fry of the coal-fish formed the breakfast, — the
dinner, — and the supper of the Shetland peasant.* Brand, the honest Scottish Missionary,
recorded about a century ago, a similar fact, upon which he has commented in an inimit-
able strain of simple and unaffected piety. " In the late years of great scarcity," he
remarked, " the poorer people lived upon this fish almost as their only food, they not
enjoying a crumb of bread for many weeks. So our Good God, on the shutting up of one
door, opened another, in his holy and wise providence, for the relief of the poor."

NOTES TO ITER I.

NOTE I. Paae i.

In my statement of the latitude and longitude of Shetland, I have been in some
degree guided by the remarks of Mr Arrowsmith, in his Memoir relative to the construc-
tion of the Maj) of Shetland, by the longitude of Eressay Island which is given in Captain
Ross's voyage to Baffin's Bay, and by the latitude and longitude of Balta Sound, which
were accurately determined when observations were made in Shetland on the Seconds
Pendulum. But it is probable that a proper chart of the country, sanctioned by Gover-
ment, will be soon published, when the errors which have been frequently made in
determining its situation will be rectified.

NOTE II. Page 4.
Fair-Isle.
This is the only isle of Shetland, which, from its little communication with the rest of

* " In the course of the last year, when scarcity prevailed in Shetland to a most distressful degree, till partly relieved by the

bounty of Government, these Piltocks, or coalfish, formed the principal food of the poorer inhabitants. Even in September 1804,

when, in some of the meanest cottages, I inquired what they had generally for breakfast '! They answered, 'Piltocks.' What

for dinner'.' ' Piltocks and cabbage.' What for supper? ' Piltocks.' Some of them declared they had not tasted bread for

ii\ c month*."

Neill's " 'lour through Orkney ami Slictlami," p. 92.

28 NOTES TO ITER I.

the group, and from its remoteness, I had no opportunity of visiting. In order, therefore,
to complete my account of Shetland, I must be indebted for information regarding Fair-
Isle to the testimony of other visitors.

Fair-Isle, which is about twenty-five miles S.SW. of Dunrossness, has been stated to
be about two miles in length, and about three quarters in breadth. A very intelligent
naturalist, Dr Fleming, who visited this island in the year 1808, found that it consisted
chiefly of sandstone. He remarked that " in a mineral precipice of this rock, upwards of
300 feet in height to the northward of Naversgill, and directly exposed to the westward
ocean, is^a vein of copper. It intersects the strata in a perpendicular direction, and its line
of bearing is nearly from north to south. Both sides of the vein seem to be composed of
greenstone. Between these layers of greenstone, and in the middle of the vein, there is a
stratum of soft decomposed rock, containing much clay, and fragments of compact heavy-
spar. The principal ore is the copper-glance, or vitreous copper-ore. There is also a small
quantity of copper-green, and malachite disseminated through the copper-glance. The vein
of ore appeared to be only about six inches in breadth." Dr Fleming again observes, that
since copper-glance is known to afford from 60 to 80 per cent, of metal, it is an object of
considerable importance to ascertain the true size and extent of this vein.*

The following account of Fair-Isle, is an abstract from a MS. Journal, in my possession,
of a Mr James Robertson, (I believe of Edinburgh,) who, about the year 1770, visited this
place. " Fair-Isle rises in three high lands, known by the following names : The Coasthill
to the north-west, Sheepcraig to the south-east, and Setterness to the north-east. The whole
island is naturally fenced with perpendicular rocks, except on the north-east end, where
there are two bays, where boats can conveniently land ; the one on the north side, being a
tolerable harbour for vessels not exceeding 60 tons. It is, however, to be observed, that
two or three only can lie here with safety. The anchoring ground is in the inside of a small
rock called the Stack, which lies nearly in the middle of the entry. Ships always go in and
out by the west side of that rock ; and if it chance to blow hard from the north, which leads
straight into the harbour, it will be proper to make fast a rope to a stake, and ride under its
lee. The number of inhabitants is about 170. The men are employed in catching fish,
which they salt and sell to their landlord. The women knit stockings and gloves, or spin
lint and woollen yarn. The natives speak the English language with the Norse accent.
Their food is mostly milk, fish, wild-fowl and wild-fowl eggs, which they tak^ from among
the precipices, by climbing, or going down the rocks by the assistance of a rope."

In the next place, Mr Sherriff, who, in his survey of Shetland in the year 1808, visited
Fair-Isle in company with Dr Fleming, remarks, that the arable land is situated on the
south-east side, and is of moderate fertility. There is a good deal of meadow, tolerably pro-
ductive of herbage. The high grounds are in general grassy, and yield tolerable pasture for
the sheep and little horses. The latter are kept solely for carrying home peat, which is dug
in a vale towards the north end of the island. The inhabitants depend much upon fishing,
and catch annually about 30,000 cod and coal fish, with a few ling and tusk.f

Biand, in 1701, found about ten or twelve families in the island, but he observed, that
the small-pox had swept away two-thirds of the inhabitants.!

In Sir Robert Sibbald's time, the inhabitants were noted for their baldness, induced no
doubt by Tinea capitis. It was a common expression when speaking of these islanders, to
say, That there was not a hair between them and heaven. §

In 1700, Fair-Isle was united to the parish of Dunrossness, the minister of which re-
mained with them annually for six weeks. There was also a little church, with a person
appointed every Sabbath-day to read the Scriptures ; and it was said to be regularly and
orderly attended. " And it is worth the marking," adds Sir Robert Sibbald, " that fornica-

* Dr Fleming's Report in Sherriff's Agricultural Survey of Shetland, p. 128.
t SherrifFs Agricultural Survey of Shetland, p. 7.

X Brand's Brief Description of Orkney and Zetland ; Edinburgh, 1 701.
§ Sir Robert Sibbald's Description of Zetland, fol. p. 25.

NOTES TO ITER I. 29

tion, and other such escapes, (frequent in other places), are very rare here." But, more
lately, the Islands of Foula, Fair-Isle, and Skerries, were united in a separate ministry under
one clergyman. From the remoteness of these places from each other, this was found an
inconvenient arrangement. Fair-Isle was therefore again attached to Dunrossness. Divine
service is now performed by a schoolmaster, and the island is visited by the minister annu-
ally for a week only.

It may be lastly observed, that Fair-Isle is celebrated for the immense number of the
feathered tribe, which abound on its rocks. Mr Bullock of London visited this island a
few years ago, and added some rare specimens of birds to his museum. In Brand's time,
a.d. 1700, Fair-Isle was noted for hawks, affirmed to be the best in Britain. These
feathered marauders were said to have visited Orkney and Shetland for their prey, carrying
away from the former place moor-fowls, and flying with them over forty or fifty miles of sea,
to bring them to their nests.

NOTE III. Page 8.

Traditionary Narrative of the Duke de Medina's Shipwreck, Commander
of the Spanish Armada, a.d. 1588.

The Duke de Medina, who figures away so admirably in the Shetland tradition, is
described after the following manner by Strada, the Jesuit : " Igitur Alphonsum Peresium
Ousmanum, Medinse Sidoniae Ducem, militias quidem haud ita peritum sed clarum genere
divitiisque per Hispaniae regna praepollentem, pro Sanctacrucio rex substituit, classe non
aspernante, ferreo Duci aureum suffectum : quod et primarii milites ampliorem sui usum
a. novo inexpertoque imperatore sibi promitterent : et reliqui pecuniosum Ducem tanquam
obsidem acciperent stipendii non defuturi."

It is proper also to state, that on examining Strada's account of the disaster of the
Spanish Armada, I had, at first view, conceived that the narrative of the Jesuit was fatal to
the authenticity of the Shetland tradition ; since he mentions, that after the tempest of the
Scottish Seas, the Duke was driven to St Andero in Spain. These are the historian's
words : '' Medinae Sidoniae Dux ad Sanctandreanum veteris Castellae portum appulsus cum
paucis navibus, iisque sauciis mutilatisque et velut in magno naufragio collectis male
cohaerentibus tabulis, ut erat animo aeger pariter et corpore, domum permiss.u regis, cura-
tionis causa concessit."* An attentive examination, however, of this passage may shew,
that nothing more might have been meant, than that St Andero was a mere rendezvous, for
the purpose of collecting together the dispersed remains of the Armada. To this port,
therefore, the Duke, on being landed at Dunkirk, might have immediately speeded, where
the purpose for which he chose this station would have justified Strada's general narrative.
Besides, it was not the historian's object to inquire into personal adventures, but into
general historical events. On this account, we are not entitled to expect, that the Duke's
particular hardships at Fair-Isle would appear in a summary view of the Wars of the Nether-
lands. The tradition of Shetland, besides being so current at the present day as to have
afforded me much of the matter which I have related, was collected by Sir Robert Sibbald
a century ago, from the written communication of Mr Umphrey, a descendant of the worthy
Shetlander who landed the Duke de Medina at Dunkirk. Brand, in 1701, received the
tradition " from an old gentlewoman," as it was communicated to her when a child, by the
country people who saw the Duke.

In page 5 some explanation may be perhaps required, for attributing to Queen
Elizabeth an expression usually ascribed to king James of Scotland. Oldmixon, for instance,
remarks. " That the Scots nation were very sensible that the danger which threatened
England concerned them very nearly ; and that, as King James said himself, if the Spanish

* Famiani Stradae Romani, e Soc, Jes. de Bello Belgico ; Dec. Sec. Ed 1648, p. 559.

30 NOTES TO ITER I.

enterprise succeeded, he could only hope for the fate Polyphemes menaced Ulysses with, to
be the last devoured." Strado, however, in his usual eloquent style, gives a different
account of the matter. " Non cessabat ilia [Elizabetha] Uteris, legationibusque placare
juvenem regem [Jacobum], et communione periculi in partes attrahere, subinde admonens,
caveret sibi a consiliis Hispanorum, quibus decretum esset, post devictam Angliam, con-
tinenti opera Scotiam subjugare, nee majus ab Hispano beneficium Scoto expectandum,
quam quod Ulyssi promississe dicitur Polyphemus, nempe ut casteris devoratis, ultimus
ipse deglutiretur." — But if James was reluctant in embarking in the Protestant cause, it was
evident that such lukewarm sentiments prevailed nowhere in Scotland but in Holyrood-
House. "The rumour of the great Spanish Armada," says an old author, '' being blazed
abroad, frequent were the prayers of the godly in Scotland, powerful and piercing were
the sermons of preachers," &c. The Spaniards who were cast away upon the Scottish
coasts, are also said, in the spirit of the times, to " have begged from door to door,
proclaiming aloud the glory of God's justice and power."

NOTE IV. p. 13.
Roman Antiquities found at Dunrossness.

Mr Ross, (late of Lerwick,) was at considerable pains to collect all the remains of
antiquity which fell in his way, that were found in Shetland. In his possession I have seen,
among other coins, a copper medal, bearing the inscription of Ser. Galba Imp. Cass. Aug. ;
another of Vespasian, and a silver coin of Trajan. Mr Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, has
stated, on the authority of the late Reverend George Low, that a medal of Vespasian had
been formerly found at Dunrossness. I possess a note to the same effect in Mr Low's
handwriting. "In Dunrossness parish was some time ago found a copper medal of Ves-
pasian, the reverse Judaea Victa. It was turned up in plowing the ground."

In the Plate of Antiquities given in the Appendix, marked Fig. 2, a copper medal
found in Shetland, bears on one side the name of L. /Elius Csesar, and on the reverse
" Pannonias Curia A E L ;" in which /Elius is figured as receiving from a native of Pannonia
a cornucopias and a household-god. Below are the letters S. C. (senatus consulto.) /Elius
was the Roman whom Adrian in his old age adopted as his successor, being better known
by the name which he bore prior to his elevation, — that of L. Aurelius Verus. He was
created Prastor, and sent to govern the provine of Pannonia, in which employment he
acquitted himself with a reputation. He was sprung from a noble family, was well versed
in most branches of learning, particularly in poetry, and is described as preserving a digni-
fied manner amidst habits of extreme dissipation. His constitution was weak and infirm,
and he did not live to attain the high dignity which was intended him as Adrian's successor.
See Univ. His., vol. xv., p. 174 to 176.

NOTE V. p. 19.
Remarks ox the Dark Period of the History of Shetland.

I have stated that it is impossible to investigate the earliest annals of Shetland to the
exclusion of those of Orkney. In giving a concise view of what is recorded on the subject,
I have avoided much of the apocryphal matter which has been collected on the occasion by
Torfseus. Any antiquary who may possess a relish for the occupation of sifting truth from
falsehood, will find abundant materials for his purpose in Buchanan's Account of King
Belus of Orkney, in the information of Bede and Boethius that Claudius carried to Rome
King Gaius of Orkney for the purpose of gracing his triumph, or in Geoffry of Monmouth's
assertion that King Gunfasius of the Orkneys paid a tribute to King Arthur. The same
antiquary may also, like the learned Whittaker in his History of Giant Tarquin of

ADDITION TO ITER I. 3 1

Manchester, plunge at once into the regions of pure romance, where, in " La Morte
d' Arthur," printed by Caxton, he will find " how Lot, Kynge of Lowthean and of
Orkney wedded the sister of Kyng Arthur ; — how Pellinore smote hym a grete stroke
thorow the helme and hede unto the browes, and then all the hooste of Orkney fled for the
deth of Kynge Lot, and there were slayn many moders sones."

On the subject of the dark period of the history of Shetland and Orkney, I have only
to add, that the account of Claudius having, a.d. 43, added Orkney to his government,
rests on the authority of Eutropius (lib. 7.) The statement is not corroborated by the
testimony of other Roman authors, although it implies the common belief, that about the
Christian Era Orkney was inhabited. The narrative of Eutropius is indeed directly opposed
to the assertion of Tacitus, who affirms that the Orcades were unknown to the Romans
until the visit of Agricola. — See Tacitus, in Vit. Agric. c. 10.

ADDITION TO ITER I.

Sillocks. — I neglected to state in page 27 that the livers of the sillocks are converted
to an important use ; being collected in a tub, they are boiled for oil, while the overplus is
sold. " Thus," says a female writer of Thule (Miss Campbell) with much eloquence, " the
two articles most required in a climate like that of Shetland, have been abundantly provided
by the eternal and ever-wise Governor of the Universe, — these are fire and light. The
natives have, for their labour, as much fuel as they can consume. Whatever wants may be
in a Zetland hut, there is seldom or never a good fire wanting. The fish which they catch,
almost at their doors, supply them with the means of light. The cold and darkness of their
long winters are thus mercifully robbed of their terror; and in the mud-walled cottage of
the Zetlander, the providence of God is as conspicuous, and as surely felt, as in those
favoured lands which flow with milk and honey, and where the sun shines in all its glory."

stn M.

SOUTH-EAST DISTRICT OF SHETLAND.

" And all the Chamber filled was with flyes,
Which buzzed all about, and made such sound
That they encombered all men's eares and eyes ;
Like many swarm es of bees assembled round,
After their hives with honny do abound.
All those were [Geognostic] fantasies,
Devices, dreames, opinions unsound."

Whom Alma having shewed to her guestes,

Thence brought them to the Second Rowme, whose wals

Were painted faire with memorable gestes

Of famous wisards, and with picturals

Of magistrates, of courts, of tribunals,

Of common wealthes, of states, of policy,

Of lawes, of judgmentes, and of decretals."

Spenser's Fairy Queene, Book ii., Canto 9.

UPON first landing on the shores of Shetland, we were induced to consider, as objects
of no little interest, the habits of the people with whom we were to mingle, as well as
the memorials which serve to elucidate the early history of the country. It was indeed
requisite that there should be some relief of this kind from the monotonous labours of the
hammer. For it would be the most irksome of avocations to be condemned for a length of
time to toil unremittingly among primitive rocks,— to pore incessantly over mineralogical
specimens, — or rather, like Shakespeare's dull solemn foresters, to seek for " sermons in
stones."*

* " And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in Stones."

Duke, in " As you like it."

34 UDALLERS. [ITKR „.

In the examination of the south-east district of Shetland, the objects inviting particular
attention, are the Burgh of Mousa, which forms no insignificant monument of the military
arts of the Northmen by whom the pile was reared ; the Castle of Scalloway, built by Earl
Patrick Stewart, which recalls to mind the period when Hialtland first became a Scottish
province ; and the modern town of Lerwick, sufficiently indicative of the commercial spirit
that has been imbibed from the kingdom to which Shetland was last annexed. These
objects, which, in the route we are taking, arrest the notice of the traveller in a sort of his-
torical succession, suggest, at the same time, an inquiry into the causes that have led to the
present political state of the country. But this history would be imperfectly understood,
without an accurate conception of the state of landed property during the period when
Shetland was subject to Norway, and of the changes which Scandinavian tenures under-
went, from the introduction into the country of Scottish feudalism. This preliminary infor-
mation, therefore, I now propose to give.

HISTORY OF THE UDALLERS OF SHETLAND.

Norwegian poets relate, that in the 9th century, Harold Harfagre, or the Fair-haired,
hearing of the transcendant beauties of the Princess Gida, credited the rumour to its full
extent, and, without ever seeing the damsel, commissioned a Lord to make her an offer of
his hand. " The name of Harold is not sufficiently renowned," said the ambitious fair one,
" never will Gida esteem the noble suitor worthy of her love, until he has reduced all Nor-
way under his power." The hero was not disheartened by these severe conditions, but
vowed to neglect his fine golden locks until the subjugation was accomplished.*

Harold was successful. Most of the petty princes of Norway yielded to him absolute
submission : others, less patient of the yoke, sought with their retainers a voluntary exile in
Iceland, Feroe, or the islands contiguous to the north of Scotland. Among the remote and
steril tracts of Orkney and of Shetland, valiant Norwegians, whose deeds of arms had been so
lately sung in their own country, were only solaced by the opportunities of revenge which
the earliest breezes of the spring afforded to their piratical barks. Thus did numerous
summers attest the devastation and slaughter with which the coasts of Harold were visited.

The monarch was at length roused from his contemptuous disregard of these daring
hordes, and, having collected a fleet, immediately put to sea. Shetland, Orkney, and the
Hebrides, which had ever afforded shelter for the objects of piracy, fell before him. The
liberation of the seas being thus accomplished, Harold offered the provinces of Caithness,
Orkney, and Shetland, as one earldom, to Ronald, Count of Merca. But this nobleman
being more attached to a Norwegian residence, resigned the donation in favour of his

* Torfteus, Reruin Oread. Ifist., c. 6. Mallet's North. Antig. (Translation by Percy), vol. i.

ITER II.] UDALLERS. 35

brother Sigurd, who was accordingly elected the first Earl of Orkney.*

During a period of three centuries from the time of Sigurd, the events immediately
connected with Shetland deserve little regard, with the exception of the state of landed
property, and the admirable system of civil polity by which a small community of colonists
was firmly linked together.

In order that the islands and coasts which Harold had subdued, might no longer be a
refuge for his foes, it was necessary that they should be peopled by individuals firm in their
allegiance to the Crown of Norway ; and in a partition of the vanquished territories among
the first colonists, the magnitude of shares would be regulated by military or civil rank.f
But in measuring out allotments in proportional shares, it would be necessary to resort to
some familiar standard of valuation. The Norwegians in the time of Harold, appear to
have scarcely known any other than what was suggested by the coarse woollen attire of the
country, named Wadmel. Eight pieces of this description of cloth, each measuring six ells,
constituted a mark. J The extent, therefore, of each Shetland site of land bearing the
appellation of Mark, was originally determined by this rude standard of comparison ; its
exact limits being described by loose stones or shells, under the name of Merk-stones or
Meithes, — many of which still remain undisturbed on the brown heaths of the country.
The Shetland mark of land presents every variety of magnitude, indicating, at the same
time, that allotments of territory were rendered uniform in value, by a much greater extent
of surface being given to the delineation of a mark of indifferent land than to soil of a good
quality. It was some time after the Norwegian colonization of Shetland, that it became
necessary to reduce each measurement of ground into still smaller allotments. But although
the division was into eight parts, its correspondence to the similar one of a mark of wad-
mel, was not immediately derived from this measurement. A newer standard of comparison
had succeeded to the wadmel, formed of a certain weight of some inferior metal. The
division, therefore, of a Mark- Weight of this substance into eight Ures§ or ounces, appears
to have suggested a name for the same number of portions into which a mark of land began
to be resolved. ||

* Johnson's Antiq. Celto-Seandiae. Torfa;us, Rcrum Oread. Hist., c. 6.

t It is certain, from Norwegian Historians, that the largest division of property in the Earldom of Orkney, was originally
possessed by the Earls themselves.

* " In Iceland and Norway all crimes were rated at a certain number of marks. The mark was divided into eight parts, each
of which was equivalent to six ells of such stuff as made their ordinary cloaths. Consequently, a mark was in value equal to forty-
eight ells of this cloth. Now, a mark consisted of somewhat more than an ounce of fine silver. A cow commonly cost two marks
and a half. See Arngtim. Jon Crymog, lib. i., p. 86." Mallet's Northern Antiq. (Translation by Percy), vol. i., p. 276.

It may be observed, that in Shetland, Wadmel continued to be paid in lieu of coin for scat, feu-duties and rent, down to a
very late period. In the seventeenth century, however, the name of a mark of wadmel became entirely obsolete, owing to the
custom introduced of converting it into money. It was then rated as equivalent to a Zealand Zullen, or to two shillings English.
The eighth part of a mark of this coarse cloth then acquired the name of a shilling of Wadmel. But notwithstanding this innova-
tion, the eighth part or shilling ever continued to retain its ancient extent of six ells. See GifFord's Description 0/ Zetland, p. 64.
— Published in the Biblioth. Topogr. Brit.

§ An Ure is said to signify a denomination of money, either coined or reckoned by weight. In Iceland, — the Scandinavian
colonization of which took place nearly at the same time as Shetland, — the term Auri, from which Ure is said to be derived, is the
eighth part of a pound or mark. For the original authorities respecting the word Ure, See Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary.

II " An ure is the eighth part of a merk. The dimensions of the merk vary, not only in the different parishes, but in different
towns of the same parish." Statist. Account 0/ Scotland, vol. xxi., p. 278. — The division of a mark of land into Ures, appears to
have been first introduced into the Earldom in the year 1263. Hacon, King of Norway, in an expedition against the Scots, bad

3 6 UDALLERS. [ITER „.

Such is the simple detail of events, over which an air of mystery has ever unnecessarily
hung, relative to the distribution of territory among the early Norwegian possessors of
Shetland ; all the leading circumstances attending the partition amounting to no more
than this brief statement : — that the standard of valuation to which each divided allotment
or mark of land bore reference, was a simple mark of wadmel, consisting of forty-eight ells ;
that in limiting the area of equivalent allotments of ground, and in adjusting to this simple
standard each various quality of soil, every mark of land throughout Shetland would mani-
fest corresponding differences of extent ; also, that in the course of time, each mark of land,
whatever might have been its area, was supposed to be divisible into equal portions, named
zires, the term being arbitrarily derived from the eighth part of some inferior metal.

Before the reign of Harold, Scandinavian lands had been held unfettered by any tax
or impost. The hardy Northman, after discovering that a soil could be so improved by
labour as to afford to the cultivator a subsistence less precarious than that which depends
upon the resources of fishing or hunting, would inclose a piece of ground around the cabin
he had erected, to which he would affix some unlimited notions of property. Harold is
supposed to have been the first monarch of Norway who oppressed his subjects by levying
a tax or skat upon land.* But in whatever mode the tax might have been exacted in Nor-
way, it appears, that, in the colony of Shetland, the inclosures designed for cultivation were
ever considered as property that was sacred to the free use of the possessor ; these were
never violated by the unwelcome intrusion of a collector of scat. Each mark of land
bounded by mark-stones or meithes, naturally contained very little soil fit for tillage. It was,
therefore, from pastures, and from the produce of the flocks which grazed upon them, that
the scat, or contribution for the exigencies of the state of Norway, was originally levied.!
The patch of ground which the possessor had inclosed, being rendered exempt from every
imposition to which grazing-lands were liable, it is possible that the uncontrolled enjoyment
of the soil destined for culture, first suggested to the early colonists of Shetland such a term
as odhal or udal, expressive in the northern language of free property or possession ;\ whilst

occasion to quarter his men on the inhabitants of Orkney. That they might be billeted with a regularity worthy of modern times,
he divided the islands into Eurelands or Ouncelands, each of which was the eighth part of a mark. Torfajus thus describes the
fact : " Ipse rex (Hacon) in superioribus aedibus accubuit, insulasque in uncias describi curavit ( Eyrhland habetur, continet au-
tern qutelibet tnerca terrcc octo eyrer sue uncias,) satrapis et nobilitati, eorumque turmis, per singulos unciarios agros sustendan-
dis." — Torfasus, Rerum Oread. Hist., p. 169.

* "When King Harold had suppressed all the petty kings, his power extended itself likewise to the Odels-bonden, (free
landholders,) and they were obliged to pay him a tax, which was without doubt the origin of the Odels-skat or tax, which is still
imposed upon them, though King Hagen Adalsteen afterwards promised that it should be taken off." Pontopp. A r at. Hist, of
Norway, vol. ii., p. 290.

t " The Scat was originally the tax or rent paid for pasturing-ground. This scat was ths only land-rent payable to the
Crown out of Zetland at first ; but in process of time, some of the arable-land which was at first the pi-operty of the improver,
came also to the Crown by forfeitures and donations." — Gifford's Description of Zetland, p. 54.

To be in perfect correspondence with the foregoing information, the mark of land ought to have originally included both
arable and pasture ground. The following; is the reply to a Query submitted by Mr Shirreff to R . Hunter , Esq. of Lunna —
" When merks of lands are spoken of, is it the land within the Hill-dikes only that is meant to be identified, or is the Scattald or
hill-grazings included?" — Answer: " In the legitimate sense, in sales and in charters, it is the whole arable and pasture-land,
sea-weeds, minerals, &c. unless particular exceptions be made." — Shirreff s Agric. Survey, p. 32., Appendix.

X This is the etymology proposed by Scheffer and sanctioned by Pontoppidan. Blackstone, the English Judge, also conceives
it to be the best which has been given. " Schefferus autumat ab Adel et Odel, oriundum es.-,e, quod proprietatem omnimodam,
scilicet ab odh proprietas, et all totum omne denotavit ;" — (Pontopp. Nonuay, vol. ii., p. 290.) Lastly, With regard to the term,
odhal or udal, it has been imagined, that, by a transposition of these syllables, the term allodh would convey the true etymology
of allodium or absolute property. See Blackstone's Comment., Ed. 1803, vol. ii., p. 44.

ITER II.]

UDALLERS. tf

to pasture-land which was held by the payment of a tax or scat, the distinctive, appellation
was awarded of Scattald.*

Thus the Shetland mark of land originally included pasture or scattald, as well as in-
closed cultivated ground free from scat, and hence named udal. Accordingly, when a mark
of land was transferred by sale or bequest from one individual to another, or was even let to
a tenant, the proportion of scattald remaining after the patch of free arable ground had been
separated from it, was always clearly expressed.!

It is difficult to form an accurate judgment respecting the amount of the scat which
was paid by Shetland to the Crown of Norway. When arable ground was inclosed, and
subtracted from scattald, becoming by this means udal, or free from the impost of scat,
various assessments, for the purpose of equalizing the tax, would be required ; and the
population of the country encreasing, land would become more in demand, and conse-
quently more valuable. In reference, therefore, to a fixed standard of value, marks of land
would be multiplied. At the time when Shetland was separated from the Kingdom of
Norway, there are reasons for supposing that the number of marks might be about 13,000
or 14,000, being the same that is recognised at the present dayj", these having been rated
for their proportion of the scat due to the King, according to the extent of pasture-ground
or scattald which they respectively contained.^

In the days of Harold, the scat was paid in wadmel.|| In a later period an

equivalent of butter or oil was accepted. U There is also reason for supposing, that,
instead of scattald having been considered as liable to an impost of one or more ells
of wadmel, the assessment was made in some rude description of coin, bearing the
name of Pennings or Pennies.** The relative value of the penny acknowledged in this
- -

* This distinction is evidently implied by Mr Gifford of Busta, in his excellent Memoir of Shetland, drawn up eighty years
ago, which displays a degree of research that would do credit to the topography of any province. He expressly says, that it was
the arable-ground (which he had elsewhere shewn to be not liable to the levy of a scat,) that bore the name of Udal. The follow-
ing are his words : " The arable ground being all at first the property of the immediate possessors thereof, went to their success-
ors by a verbal title called Udell Succession." (Clifford's Zetland, p. 37.) From this and other passages in Mr Gifford's work, it
is apparent that the word udal was merely meant in Shetland to distinguish free arable land from pasture-land, which last was
liable to a scat-duty, and was hence named scattald. Thus were the terms scattald and udal-lands originally opposed to each
other, however confounded these distinctions might have been in later times, owing to the innovations of a feudal nature that had
been introduced into the country, when it became annexed to the Crown of Scotland.

t This will be fully illustrated when I have to treat of the law of Udal Succession.

J Since the time that Shetland was annexed to the Crown of Scotland, several causes have conspired to prevent the introduc-
tion of any innovation in the measurement of the lands of the country ; and the ancient land-marks, as they have existed from
time immemorial, are still recognised in all transfers of property. As far as I can collect from the description of the different
parishes of Shetland given in Mr Gifford's Description of Shetland, the number of marks are supposed by him to be 12, 611. Mr
Hunter of Lunna has recently supposed them to bz about 14,000. — App. to Shirreffs Survey of Shetland, p. 32.

§ The amount of the tax paid to the Crown of Scotland, before the oppressive government of Earl Robert Stewart, is supposed
to have been the same that had previously been exacted by the King of Denmark and Norway. Mr Gifford says, that before the
accession of this Earl, "the Crown rent of Zetland was farmed at 500 marks a-year." — Gifford s Zetland, p. 63. I5ut no informa-
tion of the Crown's revenues is conveyed from this circumstance. Tacks of Orkney and Shetland were ever enjoyed by court-
favourites, who paid for them an annual consideration, much beneath the real amount of the profit which they derived from these
islands.

|| Money was then unknown. In Pinkerton's History of Medals, (vol. ii. p. 35.) may be found the following quotation from
Crantz, regarding the ;tate of Scandinavian commerce prior to the nth century. "Ilia vero tempestate nulla erat in terra
moneta ; sed rebus res commutantes, vetustissimo more mercabantur."

IT Gifford's Zetland, p. 62.

** Four penny, six penny land, &c, originally denoted the proportion of scattald contained within the mark. In elucidation

3§ UDALLERS. riTKR n.

country, when compared with silver, appears in the course of time to have varied materially.
But whatever encrease of value the coin might have sustained, either by an addition to the
weight, or from causes not purely artificial, four of these pennies were ever demanded as
the equivalent of an ell of wadmel, the cloth never having been exacted according to the
ratio of its quality, but always in a fixed measurable quantity.* The inevitable conse-
quence was, that, in course of time, the equivalent of an ell of wadmel for every fourpence
charged on a mark of land, was transmitted to the government of Denmark in materials of
the very coarsest description.! It may be also observed, that the amount of the scat
exacted from each mark was within the limits of four and twelve pennings. Hence the
designation of four penny, six penny, eight penny land, &c, recognised in Shetland at the
present day, no mark having been rated under four pence, or more than twelve pence.

During the period in which Shetland was subject to the crown of Norway, the Grand
Foude, or Governor, strictly forbade all commercial intercourse with other nations. The
poverty resulting no less from this prohibition than from the disproportionate amount of the
tax to which land was subject, ever induced a considerable emigration from these islands.^

Thus oppressed, it is no wonder that Shetland and Orkney should have always yielded
an unwilling submission to the Crown of Norway. Pecuniary mulcts were at various times
imposed upon the inhabitants for their disobedience ; but these, as they increased the
poverty of the country, only served to multiply the causes of irritation.

It will now be proper to take a concise view of the relations in which the different
ranks of men belonging to the Scandinavian colony stood to each other.

Shetland being by nature constituted a province distinct from the other divisions of
territory belonging to the Earldom of Orkney, had a separate governor appointed by the
King of Denmark, as judge of all civil affairs, the country at the same time acquiring the

of the origin of this and other terms of the like nature, Dr Jamieson has brought forward two quotations from Ihre, which at least
shew the familiarity of the term among the northern nations. These are, however, more applicable to the division of the lands of
Orkney than to those of Shetland, since the latter country, in the retention of many primeval customs, long after they were
abolished in ancient Scandinavia, and even in Orkney, has never yet acknowledged such an innovation as a regular land measure-
ment. Old meithes or mark -stones are still by the Shetlanders religiously preserved ; and the mark of land is at the present
moment as indefinite as ever it was in the days of Harold Harfagre.

* The ancient Penning of the northern nations was less than an ocre, and, according to one author, an oere was less than a
farthing ; whilst another writer maintains, that a farthing was called halj-oere. The value, therefore, of the penning, must have
been small indeed. — (See [amiesoris Ktym. Diet., word merk). But in the course of time, so much had the value of the penny
increased, that a groat, or four pennies (the fixed price of an ell of wadmel) was, in the old rentals that were examined by Mr
Clifford, rated at the sixth part of a Zealand zullen, or two shillings Sterling. — (Giffords Zetland, p. 61.) It has been before
observed, that, in the early annals of Norway, forty-eight ells of wadmel were equal to an ounce of silver. (See Note, p. 178.)
Bat in the old rentals of Mr Gifford it appears, that this commodity had so much increased in value, that the same quantity of
silver was considered as an equivalent for no more than twelve ells ; so that the Shetlanders, who had been in early times assessed
for their scattalds in a definite number of pennies, the equivalent for which was arbitrarily demanded in an unvarying number of
ells of wadmel, were by this and other similar oppressions, rendered miserably poor.

t Tradition has not been wholly silent with regard to the fabric of the wadmel. "The Shetlanders were wont," says [)r
Siblxdd, " to make very coarse cloth, (called wadmiln), the threeds whereof, were as thick as fishers lines, and this they paid to
the Danes as a part of their superiour duties ; but now they spin it small enough." — Sibb.ilds Shetland, p. 21.

% " The poor Udellers were universally oppressed by the Governor or Fowd, and kept under, being forbidden all sorts of
commerce with foreigners, as the subjects of that king are to this day in Fairo and Iceland ; so there was no such thing as money
amongst them ; and what they had of the country product, more than paid the Crown rent, they were obliged to bring to the
Governor, who gave them for it such necessaries as they could not be without, and at what prices he had a mind, wherewith they
were obliged to rest content, having no way to be redressed. Kept under this slavery, they were miserably poor, careless, and
indolent, and most of their young men, when grown up, finding the poor living their native country was like to afford them, went
abroad and served in foreign countries for their bread, and seldom or never returned ; so that these islands were but thinly in-
habited." Gifford's Zetland, p. 37.

ITER II.] UDALLERS. 39

name of a Foivdrie* The Fowdrie of Shetland was divided into five, and subsequently
into a still greater number, of districts, to each of which was allotted an inferior foude or
magistrate. The foude of a district had only the power of deciding in small matters, his
office being intended for the preservation of good neighbourhood : he was assisted in the
execution of his duty by ten or twelve active officers under the name of Rancilmen, and by
a law-rightman, who was entrusted with the regulation of weights and measures. Cases
of importance were, at stated periods, tried by the Grand Foude, and at an annual court,
at which all udallers were obliged to attend, new legislative measures were enacted ; appeals
were heard against the decisions of the subordinate foudes ; and causes involving the life or
death of an accused individual, were determined by the voice of the people.

The colonists of Shetland never acknowledged any legal civil authority but that with
which the Grand Foude or Lawman was arrayed, who was the King of Norway's representa-
tive. To the Earl of Orkney was granted the power of a military commander, but that it
was never to be exerted in wresting from the udaller the free possession of his national
laws, rights and privileges.! When the native force of the country was required for the
protection of its own coasts, or when, for the purpose of embarking in some piratical excur-
sion to the coasts of Scotland, the Earl unfurled the black banner of the raven, crowds of
eager warriors repaired to the signal. That the Scandinavian chief had frequently the
power of controlling the legislative decisions of the community, is undeniable ; but this
influence was ever considered as illegal. From his greater wealth, he was daily enabled to.
spread out a plenteous table, by which means a numerous band of retainers became attached
to his household, who knew no other stipend than the liberty of carousing at the banquets
of the great hall.J Rendered thus powerful, he was frequently tempted, from unworthy
motives of ambition, self interest, or resentment, to commit unjust aggressions on the civil
liberty of the community.

Christianity was introduced by King Olaus of Norway into the earldom of Orkney in
the year 1014, when the colonists became liable to new burdens. In addition to the scat
of wadmel obtained from the produce of the flocks which grazed upon the pastures, tithes
of wool were required for the Pope.§ The freedom of the soil, which the Shetlander had
inclosed for culture, became, for the first time, invaded by the united authority of the bishop
and the priest of the parish. These dignitaries divided between them in equal shares the
tenth part of the corn that was inclosed within the udal fence. For the purpose of partition,
the lands of the parish were assessed with the utmost exactness, and the dominion over the

* It is so named in all old charters, as, for instance, in the grant of the Earldom of Orkney, a.d. 1381, to Lord Robert

Stewart: " Totas et Integra* terras de Orkney et Shetland ac cum officio vice-comitatus de lie Fowdrie de Shetland," &c. —

Memorial against Sir Lawence Dundas, signed Hay Campbell.

\ That a responsibility of this nature was attached to the relation in which the Earl stood to the Udallers, is evident from the
whole of the History of Torfseus ; and when Lord Sinclair of Scotland received the Earldom of Orkney from the Crown of Den-
mark, it formed a leading article in his investiture.

t Mallet's North. Antiq., vol. i., p. 303.

§ The Pope's tenths in Shetland, were, in the year 1328, very considerable, and said to amount to " 22 cwt. of wool less than
16 pounds, according to the standard of Hialtland, being 36 span Hialtland weight of wool." The growth of Shetland wool, as
well as of the Pope's power, seem to have diminished about the same period. — For the original authority regarding the Pope's
tythes, see the Biblioth. Topogr. Brittann. Dr Edmondston has transcribed the document in his History of Zetland.

4-0 UDALLERS. [ITER 1L

tenth part of the produce of the husbandman's labour was reduced, by a demarcation of
soil, to equal shares. In ord^.r also to effect with a still greater nicety, a fair allotment of
these temporalities, and to obviate the possibility that the partition which fell to one mem-
ber of the hierarchy, might not be more lucrative than that which was enjoyed by the other,
it was resolved that an annual interchange should take place in the respective shares of the
tithe-lands, and that the same ground which belonged in one year to the priest, should be
transferred in the following year to the bishop ; hence the term umboth, that was given to
the corn-tithes, intended to express, in the northern language, such an alternate possession.*
Three districts of Shetland, namely, Tingwall, Whitness, and Weesdale, were formed into
an Archdeaconry, the tithes being the exclusive emoluments of the ecclesiastic to whose
care it was committed. But besides these compulsory contributions, superstition dictated
one burden on the lands that was gratuitous.! A venerable female was introduced into
Shetland, recommended by the Bishop as a personage of extraordinary sanctity, that if she
slept but one night in a parish, the inhabitants would ever afterwards be blessed with plenti-
ful harvests and fisheries. But the orisons of the matron could scaicely be expected with-
out some pecuniary acknowledgement. Accordingly, the simple natives were easily induced
to allow the holy dame, as an annuity for life, a penny for each mark of land.

Notwithstanding all the encroachments of the Church on the free tenure of udal lands,
they were prevented from growing into excess, owing to the jealousy with which they were
regarded by the Crown of Denmark and Norway. A writer, evidently well versed in Scandi-
navian literature, has recently observed, that the hierarchy never became so deeply engrafted
in the northern commonwealth as in the other countries of Christendom.! A proof of the
mistrust with which the Bishop of Orkney was viewed by the Danish monarch, is to be found
among the conditions under which Lord Sinclair of Scotland received his investiture in the
earldom. There was a special stipulation, that he should enter into no engagements to the
king's prejudice with the Bishop of Orkney, nor should he be a party in any contract with
the Church, that was not ratified by the royal consent.^

During the period when Shetland was a Norwegian province, there was no incident of
udal tenures more remarkable than the law ascribed to King Olaus, known by the name of
Udal Succession, to which the lands of the country were subject. By this law, the arable
ground, which, having been separated by inclosure from the scattald, was the free property
of the cultivator, went to all the children of the proprietor, male or female, in equal shares.
In order to obviate any evasion of this rule of inheritance, no one could dispose of an
estate without the public consent of his heirs. Even the property of the Earls of
Orkney was often partitioned out in nearly equal shares among descendants. The
annals of the country present a copious detail of conflicting interests arising from this
cause, together with the civil discords which they occasioned. It appears that the kingdom

* See Gifford's Discription of Zetland, p. 64. " Umboth is a Danish word, signifying to change about."
t This burthen was originally but a temporary one ; feudal injustice subsequently rendered it permanent.
\ See Edin. Review, Article on the Ancient Laws of Scandinavia, No. lxvii.
§ Torfaeus, Rerum Oread. Hist., p. 175.

IIKK IL) UDALLERS. 4 1

of Harold Harfagre was divided in the 9th century among male successors, in nearly equal
proportions.

Before that part of our narrative be closed which appertains to the early state of udal
tenures in Shetland, the inquiry, Whether or not the landed property of this country was
ever fettered with any kind of feudal restrictions, cannot be devoid of interest. It is well
known, that the feudal system of Europe arose from a migratory people, who, in the course
of their continued invasions, could not retain land, and therefore returned it to the use of
the vanquished, annexing to the tenure the service of arms. But when the military tribes of
Europe chose to settle in the country which they had subdued, the chiefs parcelled out the
lands among their favourites or retainers, under the obligation of a warrior's oath of fealty.
These original possessors dealt out in like manner their lands in lesser divisions, requiring
from sub-feudatories the same allegiance which they themselves had been pledged to give to
the liege-lord. Lands were thus made accessory to military subordination. But in Scandi-
navia and its colonies, tenures of this nature were unknown. On the soil of the Northman,
" Feudality," as a writer has elegantly remarked, " never expanded beyond the germ."*
When soldiers were required to be raised, a popular convocation was held, and the levy was
made by fixing the number of men which each village or town could conveniently furnish, f
Accordingly, when one of the Earls of Orkney, by impressing soldiers and forcibly carrying
them off, had assumed an illegal authority, a meeting of the Udallers was held, and a re-
monstrance, though ineffectual at the time, was pronounced against the unjust proceeding. |
Abundant proofs may, indeed, be adduced, that the Earls of Orkney never possessed the
uncontrolled power of a feudal lord over the personal services of the community. When
Harold Harfagre was indignant at Einar Earl of Orkney and his adherents for the slaughter
of his son, he imposed upon the country a fine of sixty marks of gold. The Chief furnished
the sum from his own coffers, and in security for that part of the amount which was the pro-
portion due from the Udallers, received in pledge all the lands of the country. But history
sanctions not the supposition, that the Earl was enabled to convert the alienated property
into feudal tenures ; for in a later period, when Earl Sigurd, a descendant of Einar, was
desirous to levy troops, in order to ward off a Scottish invasion, he was compelled, before
the natives would take up arms in his defence, to offer a free restoration of the impignorated
lands. § This historical event sufficiently proves, that the soil for which the udaller fought
was discharged of all personal obligations incidental to feudal tenures. In short, the Earl
stood in no other relation to the people, than that of a military chief, who was responsible
at the same time to the king, that his influence should be exerted in such a manner as
was calculated to preserve to the country its accustomed rights and privileges.

At length it has been shewn, that the lands enjoyed by the udaller originally owed
nothing but a contribution to the commonwealth, exigible from the produce of the flocks

* Edin. Review, No. Ixvii., p. 177.

t Mallet's North. Antiq., vol. i., p. 234. •

t Torfeus, Rerum Oread. Hist., p. 47.

§ Torfasus, Rerum Oread. Hist., c. 7. & 10. Johnson's Antiq. Celto-Scandicae, p. 11.

42 UDALLERS.

[ITER If.

that grazed on the wild and uninclosed pastures of the country ; that the soil destined for
culture, was for a long time sacred to the free use of the encloser, — the udal fence being
first broken by the bold hands of the tither, delegated with irresistible power from the Pope,
the Bishop, or the Vicar. The causes may now be investigated which led to the annexation
of the earldom of Orkney to the Crown of Scotland, and eventually to such a change in the
state of udal property, that it became in the course of time almost completely feudalised.

In the fourteenth century,* there was a failure of the male line of the Earls of Orkney,
when Henry Sinclair of Scotland, who, from an alliance by marriage, had the best right to
the earldom, received an investiture of it from the King of Denmark, on conditions that left
undisturbed the ancient laws of the Scandinavian colony, and preserved entire the alle-
giance due to the mother country.! The earldom of Orkney for a century afterwards con-
tinued in the hands of the Sinclairs, when certain events took place, by which it devolved as
an appendage to the Scottish Crown.

The Crown of Denmark and Norway had endeavoured to enforce with threats the
annual payment of ioo marks, which Scotland had agreed to give for the cession of the
Western Isles. The penalties accruing from the non-fulfilment of the contract, had at the
same time amounted to a sum little less than ten millions Sterling. A long controversy
ensued, the result of which was, that the claim might be conveniently cancelled, by a mar-
riage between the Scottish monarch and the Princess of Denmark. The alliance took place
when Orkney and Shetland were pledged to James III. for 58,000 florins, as part of
the maiden's dower : — -a leading condition of the treaty being, that the natives of the
Islands should retain their ancient laws and customs.

The right of redemption has not since been resigned by the Crown of Denmark. The
historians of Scotland maintain, that the King of Denmark waved his claim to Orkney and
Shetland, in joy for the birth of a grandson, the deed of gift being subsequently confirmed
by the monarch's successor. The Danes, however, shew that the right of redemption was
never surrendered, being formally urged at several distinct periods, the last of which was no
longer ago than the year 1667 ;$ but it is often an unsatisfactory labour to reconcile the
diplomatic contracts and secret understandings of high-contracting parties.

A few years after the impignoration of Orkney and Shetland, Lord Sinclair bartered to
James III. his whole right and title to the earldom, in exchange for the castle and lands of
Ravenscraig in Scotland ; when the first proceeding of the king was, by a formal statute, to
annex these islands to the Crown.

We now enter upon the Scottish period of the history of udal tenures. From the year
1470 to 1530, the estate and revenues of the earldom of Orkney, that had devolved by ex-
change to the Crown, were let out to lease : the civil government was committed to lieu-
tenants and viceroys ; and to the Archbishop of St Andrew's was assigned the jurisdiction
of the church. The estates were now possessed by the King of Scotland, the hierarchy,
and the udallers, when, for the first time, feudal tenures became known to the islands.

* A.!). 1379.

t Torfa;us, Rerum Oread. Hist., p. 176.

X See Sir Thomas Craig, on the one hand, who advocates the Scottish right ; and, on the other hand, Torfanis

ITER II.]

UDALLERS. 43

The feudal system of Scotland was not introduced into the Earldom of Orkney, until it
had made a considerable progress towards a civil establishment. Feudatories had formed
attachments to particular sites of ground ; — lands were not recalled at the mere caprice'
of the superior ; they were granted for a term of years, — they were even extended to
the life of the possessor, — or they were retained by hereditary succession in particular
families. When the King of Scotland, in consequence of his marriage with the Princess
of Denmark, had acquired the dominion over Shetland and Orkney, becoming also
by dint of a subsequent treaty with Earl Sinclair, the sole disposer of the estate and
revenues of the earldom, his first care was to annex the property he had acquired to
the Crown, not to be given away except to a lawful male descendant of the royal
stock. The next object of the Crown was to derive from the property a pecuniary
revenue, and to obtain a rent in money or kind, upon terms as little revolting as
possible to the prejudices of a people unacquainted with any possessions that entailed
upon the inheritors military or servile obligations. In the earliest tenures, therefore, of the
crown-lands that were granted to the natives of Shetland, the asperities of feudality were
so softened down as to be scarcely perceptible. Leases of the king's property were
granted in small divisions for a term of three years ; and when the tenant entered into
the possession of the soil for which he had stipulated, a sum for entry of 24s Scots, equal
to 2s of English money, was required for each mark of land ; the payment being ren-
dered in butter and wadmel. This duty to the king was named a Grassum, being a term of
Danish or Anglo-Saxon derivation, importing a compensation*. In addition to this fee for
entry, an annual tribute or rent was paid, known by the name of Land-mail f; but in each
year where the soil was not under tillage, the acknowledgment of land-mail was altogether
remitted. In order, also, to insure to the tenants of the Crown a perfect freedom of settle-
ment, triennial leases were renewed for an indefinite period, without any variation in the
amount of the grassum ; or, on the terms of a feu, the possessor enjoyed the lands which
he held from the King free from grassum, whilst the conditions of his tenure were rendered
the subject of bequest to his most distant posterity. In this attempt to assimilate the
tenures of the crown-lands to the unshackled nature of allodial possessions, an unsparing
sacrifice was made of all the slavish fetters of a strict seigniory; yet a shadowy form of
feudality still remained, which was not overlooked by the keen glance of the suspicious
udaller. He still perceived that there was the retention of a feudal principle, which re-
garded rent in money or kind as nothing more than the substitute for personal service ; and
consequently, that crown-lands, on the death of a tenant, naturally reverted into the hands
of a superior. For in no other light than as the acknowlegement for possession due to a
feudal grant, could he explain in connection with the annual compensation of land-mail, the
new investiture required before the son could inherit the soil of his fathers. From this

* See Dr Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary. • The word Oersome (whence Grassum) is supposed to be from the Danish
dorsum, and A.S. Gaersuma. The Norwegian word Gersemar, simply denotes treasures.

In the course of time, the tenants did not be;ome very exact in these triennial payments. Accordingly, the grassum became
converted into an annual duty, a third of which, or 8d Sterling, was exacted each year. Under this form it appears in the
Shetland rentals of the present day.— See Giffonfs Zetland, p. 64.

t A.S. male; Isl. mala, tributum, vectigal.— See Jamieson'i ■ Etym. Diet.

44 UDALLERS.

[ITER II.

period, therefore, the udallers began to distinguish themselves by the name of Rothmen or
Roythmen, the import of which term has been most emphatically explained by one of their
descendants : "The heritage of the udalman," boasts this Orcadian, "is so entirely his own,
that neither homage, nor rent, nor service, is due for it. And the reason is, he owns no
seigneural superior, but holds de Deo et sole, — of God and heaven only. For this reason,
the udalmen were likewise called Rothmen or Roythmen ; that is, self-holders, or men hold-
ing in their own right, by way of contradistinction to feudatories, who hold derivatively, or
by a dependance on others. And hence their udals, at this day, are not transmitted like
other lands, but with the Roth always, or Royth, and the Roet, Aynim and Saymin ; that is,
with the very or sole right and dominion, the very or compleat propriety and demesne of
the subject."*

We now find, that in the earliest period, when the Norwegian colonies of Orkney and
Shetland were pledged to the Scottish Government, three descriptions of tenants occupied
the lands of the latter country. Of the first were the udallers, naming themselves Rothmen,
whose enclosures destined for culture were free from civil imposts, no authoritative intruder
having yet entered them, save the haughty churchman. For their pastures or scathold, they
paid to the Scottish Government a scat or tribute. The second description of landed
possessors, consisted of triennial tenants, who, for their inheritance, paid scat, church-dues,
annual land-mails, and, along with these, a contribution on entry. Of the third were the
feuars, in whose favour the grassum was remitted.

A number of wealthy Scottish natives were now induced to settle among the udallers,
from whom they found no difficulty in purchasing lands. For, although udal possession
was secured to families, by sales being rendered illegal that did not obtain the consent of
heirs, and although the power of redeeming paternal lands was allowed to descendants even
to the second and third generation, yet, from political causes, the poverty of the inhabitants
was often irretrievable, so as to preclude for ever the chance of udal redemption. The first
endeavour of these strangers was to set aside the old law of descent, ascribed to St Olaus,
by which an estate was divided among all the children of the possessor, male or female, in
equal shares, the house of the parent excepted, which was added to the share of the young-
est. Since it was indispensable, by Virtue of the national treaty subsisting between Denmark
and Scotland, that the laws of the country should be purely Scandinavian, the Scottish
settlers were enabled, whenever they chose, to supersede the old law of udal succession, in
favour of another, derived from Norway, and probably of a more recent date. The newer
rule of inheritance was less revolting to Scottish feudality, since it afforded the means of
perpetuating family wealth and power, by concentrating them in one individual. It as-
signed the principal mansion and estate of the parent to an elder son ; whilst to the
youngest children equivalents from other estates were given. As for the portion of the poor
neglected daughter, it was peremptorily ordained, that she should have her lot in the most
remote and uncontiguous lands. If equivalents for the younger children could not be thus
furnished, lesser shares were awarded either from soil, from moveables, or from some yearly

* General Grievances, &c, of Orkney and Shetland (by Mr James Fea), p. 105.

ITER II.l

UDALLERS. 45

income, secured on the estates of the chief heir. Such was the later precept of succession
that was introduced among the udallers : it was enforced by the Scottish settler; but
among the Scandinavian natives never became general.*

In the year 1530, King James V. was induced to make an hereditary grant of the estate
of the Crown in Orkney and Shetland to his natural brother James, Earl of Moray. When
the islanders saw that a feudal superior was intended to be interposed between them and
the sovereign, they were alarmed that the ancient laws of the country were about to suffer a
corresponding change. Headed by Sir James Sinclair, the Governor of Orkney, they arose
in arms, to resist the arbitrary innovation. The Earl of Caithness, and his kinsman Lord
Sinclair, were sent out against them : the udallers met their opponents on the confines of
Stennis, and, in a sanguinary engagement, defeated them with great slaughter. The Earl of
Caithness, and 500 of his followers, were slain ; the rest were taken prisoners. When the
King heard of the result of the contest, so far from taking vengeance on the udallers, he
appeared, in his subsequent conduct, to be sensible of the justice of their cause, and that
they had only resisted the intended dominion of a mesne lord, and the undue attempt to
transfer them from the hands of the Sovereign of Scotland, to whose immediate protection
they had been committed by their former king. Accordingly, the promoters of the insurrec-
tion were pardoned ; the Governor of Orkney was not only restored to the royal favour,
but he also received various gifts and honours ; and at length a complete reconciliation took
place between the King and the udallers. f

It appears that the Sovereigns of Scotland, as well as the Bishops, granted various feus
of their lands ; and since the tenants of the King were, by the Scottish law, subject to
taxation, they had opportunities, which it is probable they did not at first embrace, of being
represented in Parliament. Kirkwall in Orkney was also erected into a Royal Burgh. J

We now arrive at the period when a new and great change was beginning to take place
in the state of the landed property of Orkney and Shetland. In the. year 1565,
Queen Mary made an hereditary grant of the Crown's patrimony in these islands-, and of the
superiority over the free tenants, to her natural brother Lord Robert Stewart, the Abbot of
Holyrood, in consideration of an annual payment of ^2006 : 13 : 4 Scots. The Reformed
Religion had then been introduced into the islands, and a Scottish act of Parliament had
passed, declaring that the third of all Popish benefices should be set apart for the support of
parochial ministers, who had been always ill remunerated for their duties. Lord Robert,
therefore, was entrusted with the controul over the churches of the bishopric.§ But it does

* The authorities regarding the old laws of inheritance, will be given on another occasion.

t The cause of this insurrection is narrated by some writers in very mysterious terms. I am indebted for the present explana-
tion of the fray, 10 the very learned Memorial against Sir Laurence Dundas, in 1776, signed Hay Campbell, (afterwards Lord Pre-
sident of the Court of Session.)

t When Orkney and Shetland were under the immediate government of the King, the estates and revenues of the Crown were
farmed out for the following sums, viz., From a.d. 1478 to 1502, for ,£486 13s 4d Scots ; from a.d. 1502 to A.D. 1540, for .£433 6s
8d ; and in 1541, the duties of the King's rental were let for ,£2000 Scots, with the rights of Admiralty in addition. — See Shirreff's
Agric. Survey of Orkney, Aj>p. p. 29.

§ The words of the grant are ; " Omnes et singulas terras de Orkney et Zetland, cum tota superioritate libere

tenentium, advocatione, donatione ecclesiarum, ac cum officio vicecomitatusde Orkney, et vicecomitatus de lie Foudrie de Zetland
tenen., reddendo inde annuatim summam 3010 mercarum." — See Memorial for Dundas, A.D., 1776, p. 7.

46 U DALLE RS.

[ITKR II.

not appear that this division of ecclesiastical power met with the cordial approbation of the
Bishop of Orkney.

We may now consider the exact relation in which the Scottish Government stood to
Denmark at this period, with regard to the possession of these islands. It must be kept in
view, that, by virtue of the national treaty betwixt these two kingdoms, the ancient laws of
Norway, by which udal lands were then held, were to remain undisturbed.* But when
King James III. by a subsequent treaty with Lord Sinclair, had acquired the landed pro-
perty of this nobleman, he assumed the prerogative of creating, on the new estates of the
Crown, a number of immediate vassals, who should hold their lands according to the usage
of Scotland. On this occasion, the law of udal succession was waved in favour of the
Scottish conditions of primogeniture! ; and since Kirkwall was erected into a Royal Burgh,
by which means an opportunity was afforded of sending representatives to the Scottish
Parliament, an indirect declaration was intended to be made, that the Crown-vassals cf
Orkney and Shetland were in every respect to be considered as holding their lands agree-
ably to the tenor of Scottish laws. These proceedings were in evident contradiction to the
general terms of the national treaty with Denmark, by which no new conditions of landed
tenure could be introduced into the Norwegian colony, that were in opposition to its ancient
statutes. But the Danish Government having been precluded by its poverty fiom doing
more than declaring the right of redeeming the islands as the pledge of a royal marriage-
dower,! it was perfectly useless to insist upon the subordinate points of a treaty, the essen-
tial article of which could not be enforced. For, on the supposition that the redemption by
Denmark had been successfully urged, Scotland must either have abandoned her right of
considering the Crown-tenants of Orkney and Shetland as maintained in their possessions
exclusively by Scottish laws, or the country would have reverted into the hands of Denmark,
with the strange anomaly presented, of a population composed in part of Scottish and of
Danish subjects. But it is sufficiently evident, that a resignation of the sovereignty of these
islands was very remote from the contemplation of the power into whose hands they had
fallen. The sentiments of Scotland on this point became gradually unfolded ; and when, in
the year 1567, Queen Mary, with her usual caprice, chose to revoke the grant which she had
made to her natural brother of the Crown-estates of Orkney and Shetland, in order to erect
them into a Scottish dukedom for the use of the Earl of Bothwell, it was impossible any
longer to doubt, that the ultimate intentions of the Scottish Government were unfavour-
able to Denmark's just claim of redemption.

The atlainture of the Earl of Bothwell having occurred soon after the grant, Lord
Robert appears to have been immediately afterwards reinstated in the enjoyment of the

* " De lu.ptiis facile cum Dano transactum omni jure, quod in omnes circa Scotiam insulas, majores ejus sibi arrogarant, dotis
nomine remisso ; tantum ut privatis agrorum possessoribus caveretur, ut agros, quos ibi haberent uti ante possederant, ita tener-
ent. '— Buchanan, Hist., &c. See also Torfa:us, Rerum Oread. His., p. 195, 196.

t Anno 1566, King Henry and Queen Mary grant an estate in the Orkneys to Gilbert Kalfonr of Westra, and his heirs-male,
" Sic quod omni tempore afifuturo, unicus ha;res masculus successor post alium quamdiu vixerit, possideat et gaudeat hasce terras,
secundum consuetudinem Scotiae, non obstantibus legibus patria; Orcaden. eandem gavisionem sen possessionem recusantibu-..'
See Fea's Grievances, &c, of Orkney and Shetland, p. 5, where two other illustrations of similar grants appear of the date of JS87
and 1 59 1.

J See Torfams, Rerum Oread. Hist., c. 3.

ITER II.]

UDALLERS. 47

Crown-lands of the revoked dukedom. His first object was to obviate the necessity of par-
ticipating with anyone in the dominion over the islands of which he was about to take
possession ; for this purpose he effected an exchange of his Abbey of Holyrood for the tem-
poral estates of the bishopric of Orkney. The Church of Scotland was then under a
Presbyterian form of Government. Lord Robert, therefore, left to a Superintendant the
spiritual concerns with which he was entrusted, being himself content with the immense
temporal influence which the estates of the Crown and of the bishopric gave him, when
subsisting under one undivided feu.

The free tenants of the Crown were now intended to be under the sway of a mesne
lord, from whom they were to receive investitures. The superiority over them was distinct-
ly expressed in the royal grant ; but that such a design was illegal, there can be no doubt ;
for it is properly argued, " that no act of the Crown could, in law, be effectual to raise up an
immediate superiority, which had no existence prior to the grant; that the issues and profits
of the dominium directum might indeed be assigned, but that the right itself must remain
with the Crown, as incapable of alienation, — it not being in the power of any superior to
place an intermediate person over the vassal without his consent."* Lord Robert, however,
found no difficulty in assuming the superiority over the free tenants, which was awarded by
the Crown ; and, by issuing out at the same time new investitures of the crown-lands, he
materially increased his revenue. But the chief design of this tyrant was, to wrest, by
oppression and forfeitures, the udal lands from the hands of their possessors ; to retain the
poor natives who might be forced out of their tenements as vassals on his estates, and to
entail upon them the feudal miseries of villein-service. This he was enabled to accomplish,
by establishing a military government throughout the islands, which was intended to impede
all avenues to judicial redress. The complaint, drawn up by a Lowland inditer, which
eventually reached the ear of the Scottish Government, was, that the udallers were " heavily
troublit, hereit [robbed] and oppressit be companies of suddartis [soldiers], and others,
broken men [vagabonds], now remaining in the countries, dependars upon Lord Robert
Stewart. They are so halden under thraldom and tyranny, that they can have na passage,
neither be sea nor land, to repair to thir partis, to complain heirupon, and sute redress and
remeid be the course of justice, nor yet to do others their lefull errandis and business. —
The ferris and all other common passages are stoppit be the suddartis [soldiers] and
others, bearand charge of Lord Robert, quhairthrow the countries and inhabitants thairof is
able to be all utterly wrakit and hereit for ever."f

After having established a military force of this kind, Lord Robert, by the good aid of
his '' suddartis and others, broken men," found it to be a labour of little difficulty to rule in
all matters, civil and ecclesiastic. To remove every source of information that might
benefit the ends of strict justice, he stormed the charter-chest of the good town of Kirkwall,
and did " away put, cancel, burn, and destroy, all the said town's papers and evidents." He
received his rents in produce : and the weight named a matk, very conveniently multiplied

* Memorial against Sir Laurence Dundas, A.n. 1776, p. 17.

+ Petition to the Privy Council of Scotland, dated January 31, 1575, quoted in Fea's Grievances, &c, of the Isles of Orkney
and Shetland, p. 35.

48 UDALLERS. [IT ER II.

under his hands from 8 to 10 ounces; whilst the lispund increased from 12 lb. to 15 lb.
He learned that the compliment of an ox and twelve sheep from every parish had a few
years before been granted to the Earl of Bothwell, in his visit to Shetland. Surely, then, as
he marvelled, there could be no very sound reason why this handsome token of respect
should not be continued for the support of himself, his suddartis and broken men. It was
therefore easily converted into a perpetual tribute under the name of ox and sheep silver.
This ruler, aided by his " broken men," was perfectly convinced of the salutary effects to be
derived from the Reformed religion, and therefore introduced, with few preliminary argu-
ments on the occasion, what he called the Presbyterian form. But, that the natives might
not altogether forget their old Catholic attachments, he revived an ancient annuity, that had
been paid to a holy matron for the benefit of her prayers, and inserting it into his rental con-
verted it into a perpetual oblation to her manes. Yet the most illegal of all these oppres-
sions was to increase the amount of the scat or tax which was levied from pasture lands or
scatholds. This measure was in open defiance of the promise of Norway, with which the
islanders had been lulled, that when their country was pledged Jlo Scotland, there should be
no alteration of the terms under which their lands had been enjoyed.

It is now time to inquire into the more immediate object which Lord Robert appears
to have had in view, by the extraordinary pains which he took in desolating the country
placed under his rule. By the latest law of udal succession derived from Norway, lands
could not be alienated from their possessors, without the consent of the udal-born, or
nearest of kin, who had long afterwards the power of redeeming an inheritance at the price
for which it had been plighted ; neither could lands be sold, but on proof successfully ad-
vanced in the Foude's court of extreme poverty. It had been, therefore, the flagitious
policy of Lord Robert to create such an universal distress throughout the islands, that, by
overwhelming the udallers in one common state of ruin, the poor landed possessor might
be qualified, by the urgency of famine, to dispose of his inheritance ; whilst his nearest
kindred, equally involved in misery, might be prevented from purchasing its redemption.
This rapacious scheme was eminently successful ; the open violence which was committed
on the property of the inhabitants, — the inordinate advance which took place of scat-
duties, together with the audacious means to which Lord Robert resorted, of foisting
creatures of his own into the Lawting, as judicial officers, caused an extensive tract of
territory to fall within his grasp.

These flagrant abuses became at length so notorious, as to attract the attention of the
Scottish Government. An investigation took place, the result of which was, that Lord
Robert was confined in the Palace of Linlithgow. After remaining a prisoner for six
months, he was released, upon condition of giving a large pledge, to ensure his engagement
that he would plead at any time to the crime for which he was chaiged. On the excuse
that the accusation against him contained proofs of rebellious designs, the estates of Shet-
land and Orkney reverted to the Crown.

Lord Robert was withheld from the power of tyrannizing over the natives of Orkney
and Shetland for three years, and the rents were paid into the Exchequer. But his interest
at the Scottish palace, where his follies or vices were always forgiven, procured for him, in

ITER II.]

UDALLERS. 49

the year 1581, a reinstatement in his former possessions ; the feu being subject to the same
annual payment to the Crown which had been specified in the previous grant. It had not
escaped the attention of this court-favourite, that in his late dominion over the islands, one
charge that had been successfully preferred against him was, for corrupting the judicial
members of the Lawting, in his design against the lands of Nicol Randall, an udaller
whom he had ousted out of the Island of Gersa. That he might be enabled, therefore, to
controul the decrees of justice with less chance of detection, he had the address to procure
for himself the heritable appointment of Justiciar,* by which he was not only entitled to
convoke and adjourn the Lawtings, to administer justice in his own person, and to punish
malefactors, but he might select any individuals to fill the various offices of the court, who
could be prevailed upon to minister, by corrupt decrees, to the new plots which he was still
hatching against the property of the injured udallers.

Along with the office of Justiciar, King James VI. conferred upon Lord Robert the
hereditary titles of Earl of Orkney and Lord of Zetland. But it does not appear, that the
new Earl, in the resumption of the Crown estates, was equally indulged with the temporali-
ties of the bishopric. The cause of this exclusion from them has not been explained. A
Scottish act of Parliament had passed, directing the division of church-lands, for the purpose
of securing on a third part of them the revenues which, by evasions and false rentals, had
been too often withheld from the Parochial clergy. But in a country like Orkney and
Zetland, where a regular land-measurement was unknown, and where the lands of the church
were intermixed in the most confused manner with those of the Crown, the purport of the
act could not well be carried into effect. It is probable, therefore, that the titular of the
church-lands of Orkney and Shetland had readily fallen into the common practice of the
day, by concealing the amount of his church rental, in order to evade the full demand of a
third which was due to the clergy of parishes. If Earl Robert, from some such cause as
this, was at first only entrusted with the appointment of ministers, and the donation of
benefices, it was not long before he resumed his dominion over all or most of the tem-
poralities of the bishopric. It was then that he began a new career of injustice, and that
his command over the levy of the tithes was rendered subservient to a fresh scheme of
operations which he meditated, with the purpose of wresting the right of soil from the
ancient udaller. The tither was instructed to exact the dues of the church to the last tenth,
and in a mode sufficiently harassing to induce the poor udaller, for the sake of a temporary
subsistence offered him by his designing and merciless lord, to appear at the Foude's court,
and, with no fictitious tale of woe, to confirm, by such a plea, the validity of his oppressor's
purchase. t It is even questionable if the laws of udal succession were not occasionally
superseded altogether, by Earl Robert's interpretation of the royal grant, wherein all lands,
without limitation, were unjustifiably included within the dominion of the earldom of Orkney
and lordship of Zetland. The Earl might consider himself, from this general clause, as gifted
with the authority of a feudal superior; as entitled to receive resignations of udal lands,

* See Charter of James VI., dated October 28, 1581.

t It is affirmed, that when landholders fell under the censure of the Church, part of their property, by way of penance, was
added to the lands of the bishopric.

50 • UDALLERS. [ITER IL

with the superiority over which, from the very nature of udal tenures, he never could have
been invested.

Reiterated complaints against Earl Robert's new acts of tyranny once more reached
the Royal ear, upon which he was, for the third time, recalled from the exercise of a do-
minion that he had so greatly abused.

King James VI., however, did not altogether lose his attachment to his natural uncle,
since he granted the earldom in joint shares to the Lord Chancellor of Scotland and to the
Lord Justice-Clerk,* on some secret understanding, that the whole would be given up
whenever required, in order to be again transferred, on some more favourable opportunity,
to its last Lord. Accordingly, the old oppressor was soon afterwards reinstated in his
former possessions, and he lost no time in renewing his attempts to wrest the right of soil
from the poor udaller. But learning from experience the futility of open violence, he was
now prepared to use more covert means, and to illegally support, by a new prerogative, the
purchase of udal lands, in opposition to the consent of heirs.

The designs of Earl Robert to gain the possession of the lands of the udallers, had
been always impeded by the obligation imposed upon him to obtain a title for his acquisi-
tions in what was called a Shynd-bill. Respecting the nature of this document, it may be
proper to offer a brief explanation. The udal lands of Orkney and Shetland were originally
considered as belonging to the community of Scandinavian colonists, among whom they
were partitioned in various proportions. It was therefore to the. support of the common-
wealth alone, of which the King of Norway was supposed to be the head, that the scat or
contribution exigible from pasture-land was paid as a tribute ; and it was by the common
laws which governed the community, that individual possession was secured. The right of
soil was confirmed by the decree of those to whom the power of enforcing the laws of the
community was entrusted. Whenever, therefore, an udaller was desirous to make his will,
or whenever he died intestate, the Foude convened a regular court of judicature, for the
purpose of partitioning the property among heirs, agreeably to the rules of udal succession.
A court was also held, when, with the consent of heirs, any purchase of land was intended
to be confirmed. Upon all these occasions, the parties applying for judgment produced
satisfactory evidence of the legality of their claims. The decree of the court was then re-
corded, and the authority for entering on the possession of lands conveyed in a shynd-bill :
the term Shynd, being said to signify in the Norwegian language a court, and the familiar
word bill, implying a document. This record of the court's decree, when signed and sealed
by the foude, constituted the only legal title by which udal lands could be bequeathed to
heirs, or could be disposed of by sale.f Such being the nature of the Shynd-bill, it is pro-
bable that the formalities by which it was obtained, would not be agreeable to Earl Robert's
views, since his contracts for land were not such as were calculated to bear the test of a strict
scrutiny. But numerous complaints .having found their way to the throne of James, against

* " The new rental amounted to 1535 meils of cost, 3001 meils of bear, 2281 meils of flesh, 72 barrels 12 lispunds of butter, 24
barrels 6 lispunds of oil, and ,£109 of money-rent, besides a separate rental for Shetland, which the Exchequer compounded at £400
Scots." — Shirreff's Orkney, p. 32.

t See Gifford's Zetland, p. 54.

ITER II.] UDALLERS. 5 1

the attempts that hrd been made to change the laws of the country, and these remons-
trances having been followed in the latest grants that had been made of the Crown-estates,
by provisional clauses in which the functions of the Justiciar of the Islands were rendered
comformable to the proper pandects of the Lawting,* the Earl did not yet venture to oppose,
in the most open manner, the statutes of the Foude's Court. He rather sought to evade
the necessity of having recourse to a shynd-bill, as a title to his acquisitions of territory, by
inducing the Government to sanction his pretentions, that the lands of the udallers had
been held of the king as of a superior ; that the ancient scat or land-tax which was paid for
them, was a real feudal acknowledgment ;f and, consequently, that udal possessions formed,
along with the estates of the Crown, constituent portions of the earldom. Scotland, with
little consideration, favoured Earl Robert's insidious designs, and, by specially including
udal lands in the new grant, sanctioned, in direct opposition to the treaty with Norway, an
infringement of the laws under which the lands of Orkney and Shetland had from time
immemorial been held. The Earl of Orkney's charter was dated in the year 1589 ; and this
may be reckoned the most fatal blow that was struck against the ancient rights of the
udaller.J The little despot now conceived himself fully released from the unwelcome
obligation of having recourse to a shynd-bill as a legal title to possession ; he had now the
sanction of a Royal grant for considering his ill-acquired estates as being resigned or returned
into the hands of a superior, thus proceeding on the false assumption that the lands of
Orkney and Shetland had been originally dealt out by his predecessors in the earldom to
a number of vassals, on terms that involved in them the feudal incidents of sasine, relief,
escheat, scutage or homage. Earl Robert had now the power of superseding the shynd-bill
as a confirmation of his own acquisitions ; but it was not his interest that it should be
rendered inert with regard to the contracts of other powerful or wealthy settlers in the
country, who in similiar designs on the possessions of the natives, might engage with him,
on equal terms, in a course of sordid competition. In order, therefore, to obviate any
interference of this kind, — the law whereby no purchase could be rendered valid that was
not made with the consent of heirs, was retained in full force ; and it rendered difficult of
confirmation any acquisitions of landed property that did not receive the sanction of the

* In the year 1567, the Scotttish Parliament discussed it as a question, if Orkney and Shetland were to be subject to their own
laws. Among their minutes are these words : " Quhidder Orknay and Zetland sal be subject to the common lawe of this realme,
or gif thai sale bruike their awne lawis. — Findis thai aught to be subject to thair awne lawis." But in after times, the Government
was more decisive on this point, as Mr Fea has well shewn : " In the grant made to the Lord Chancellor of Scotland and his
colleague, anno 1587, besides their right of convoking and adjourning the Lawting, they have power likewise of appointing Fouds
under them, and of administering justice, and punishing malefactors. — Also in the grant made to Earl Robert of Orkney, anno 1589,

"Cum potestate (says the King) justitiarii et foudriae deputatos creandi justitiam partibus conquerentibus ministrandi, et

jmnitionem super legum transgressoribus et malefactoribus, secundum leges et consuetudinem patriae Orcaden. et Zetlandias,
exequendi et puniendi." And in the Reddendo, " Ac etiam administrando justitiam in dictis officiis, tenentibus et inhabitantibus
dictarum terrarum, et allis quorum interest vel intererit secundum leges patriae Orcaden. et Zetlandiae, prout dictus comes, et nil
prasdicti, Deo omnipotenti et nobis desuper respondere voluerint." — See Fea's Grievances of Orkney, &c, p. 4. & 5.

t In a legal process which took place several years ago respecting the superiority of Orkney and Shetland, it was an important
object to determine whether the Scat was ever paid as a feudal acknowledgment, consequently the primary signification of the
word became an object of inquiry. Dr Jamieson has since produced 'atisfactory authorities for shewing that the term, in its oldest
form, whether Saxon or Scandinavian, simply denoted money.

\ The charter of 1589 runs thus : " Totam et integram terram praedict. comitateum Orcaden. et dominium Zetlandiae, terras
firmas, insulas, lie Holms, &c, integras terras lie Udal lands nuncupat, &C, qua: nobis successoribus nostris pertinent, seu
quovismodo, in iisdem pertinere dignoscuntur, reddendo summam 3110 merks."

52 UDALLERS. [ITER II.

new self-elected superior of udal lands. If a purchaser of udal property could not confirm
his possession by the means of a shynd-bill, which title depended on the consent of the
nearest kindred of the inheritor, he could, by ministering to the Earl's avarice, obtain a
charter of the lands, whereby they became converted into proper feudal holdings.

As another consequence of these false pretensions to the superiority over udal lands
which Earl Robert arrogated to himself, naturally followed the attempt to convert the
Lawting into a tribunal of his own, whereby the faithfulness with which his newly created
vassals, the udallers, had done their duty, was to be determined by the jurisdiction of a
lord's court. Hence the power with which he immediately arrayed himself, of confiscating
lands for criminal offences.

Fresh complaints against Earl Robert's tyranny still reaching the throne, it was thought
necessary to make his son a participator with him in the earldom. This experiment did
not succeed ; the joint grant was recalled, and the Earl was again singly invested with the
possession of the Crown-estates of Orkney and Shetland, the management of which was,
however, subject to the immediate controul of the Scottish Government. But this
unwearied persecutor of the udallers soon afterwards dying, the fruits of his iniquity only
became fully ripened in the misrule of his successor. Such a scene of universal turmoil
and dismay then ensued, as is perhaps unparalleled in the history of any other British
province.

Earl Robert Stewart was succeeded in his estates and title by his son Patrick,*

" A fellow by the hand of Nature mark'd,
Quoted and sign'd, to do a deed of shame."f

When Earl Patrick was invested with the earldom, his own patrimony had been much
wasted by riotous expences, and these he sought to redeem by fraud and violence. His
first object was to supersede the ancient laws of the country, which Scotland had engaged
to preserve inviolate, and to hold a court of his own, the statutes of which could
be easily polluted by the influence which a feudal lord naturally possessed. The
ancient law-book of Shetland, beheld by the Scandinavian colonist with awe and
reverence, soon disappeared. The tyrant's newer code of punishment embraced con-
fiscation of lands and property. The loss of soil awaited the crime of quitting the
isles without the consent of the superior, or, in any other courts except his, of suing for
legal justice. But the forfeiture of both lands and goods was attached to the unpardonable
misdemeanour of concealing the amount of personal property, in order to evade or mitigate
an impending pecuniary mulct. The feelings of humanity which, at the peril of life, might
attempt the salvation of a vessel distressed by tempest, were considered in no other light
than as an endeavour to frustrate the chance of lucre from the incident of a wreck on the

* I find some difficulty in learning the exact year when Earl Patrick commenced his authority in the Islands. It is prohably
about the year 1595. A charter in his favour was dated in the year 1600, by which the former grants were revoked, and a new one
made, giving him the titles of his father, and the office of Sheriff, Justiciar, &C. ; his functions to be exercised according to the
laws and consuetude of the country. The feu is subject to an annual payment of 3110 nierks. The Earl does not appear to have
possessed the lands of the bishopric until A.u. 1600.

t Shakespeare's King John.

ITER II.] UDALLERS. 53

coast. The act was, therefore, visited, not only with a personal punishment, but with a
fine that was of an unlimited amount. The Earl did not even like his father scorn the low,
fraudulent act of clandestinely altering the standard weights and measures, in order to
increase the revenues of the earldom that were paid in kind. The mark of ten ounces
received an addition of a fifth ; and the lispund was advanced from fifteen to eighteen
pounds. Another act of the Earl was to increase the rents in Shetland, in order to defray
the expenses of the new castle which he was erecting at Scalloway. For this purpose the
whole country was assessed in money, provisions, and personal labour.

During this dominion of terror, wealthy Scandinavians are reported to have hastily sold
to Scottish inhabitants their estates and interests in the country, seeking a refuge in the
more kindly bosom of the parent region, from which their ancestors had originally
emigrated ; whilst the recent occupants, who had acquired a settlement by purchasing udal
lands from the natives, were fain to secure even a pracarious assurance of protection, by ad-
ministering to the revenue of the Earl, in the conversion of their estates into regular
feudal investitures. As free tenants they now paid to the Lord compositions on entry and
annual land-mails. But the poor cottager, who could make feeble resistance against the
views of the superior, easily fell a victim to his deep laid designs. Summoned to a
court, the arbiters of which were the mere creatures of his will, vain was the plea
against the secret plots prepared to ensnare him, or against charges hitherto unregistered as
criminal in the revered pages of the lost law-book of Hialtland.* The remonstrance
availed not : nothing could arrest the doom of confiscation, that exiled the udaller for ever
from the ancient soil of his fathers, that rendered his family outcasts among the barren
tracts of the country, or annexed them to the discontented list of menials belonging to the
demesnes of the castle. Equity was a stranger in the land. The " udaller looked for judg-
ment, but behold oppression ; for righteousness, but behold a cry."

At length, the lamentations of Orkney and Shetland deeply pierced the ears of a
Government, which had been ever too indifferent to the concerns of this remote extremity
of the kingdom. Earl Patrick was summoned by open proclamation, "to compear upon
the 2d of March 1608, to answer to the complaints of the distressit people of Orkney."
The charges were fully proved ; the Earl had been authorised with the Royal power and
commission, and, under colour of his Majesty's authority, had committed many great
enormities and insolences " upon his Majesty's poor people." Certain acts had the
character assigned to them of rebellion ; on which account the estates of the Earl became
liable to forfeiture. The Secret Council then directed that the aggressor should be com-
mitted in sure ward, until the royal pleasure regarding him should be signified. They also
professed the humane intention of making such new enactments in favour of the suffering
islanders, as were calculated to prevent a repetition of similar abuses. In the mean time,
the government of Shetland and Orkney was entrusted to the humane Bishop of the

• The Reverend Peter Barclay communicates the following curious information, which he derived from an inspection of some
ancient records in Shetland : " Patrick, Earl of Orkney, in a disposition of the lands of Sand to Jerom Umphray, narrates, that he
had evicted seven merks of that land from Powl Nicolson in Cullswick, for stealing a swine ; and that he had evicted six merks

from in Cullswick, for stealing bolts from his Lordship's trood ; probably some piece of wreck which had

been drawn into Cullswick." — See Statist. Account o/Scotland, vol. vii., p. 584.

54 UDALLERS.

[ITER II.

Province, by whose active means the charges against the Earl had been matured and
successfully preferred.

The Scottish Government did not immediately declare the estates of Earl Patrick for-
feited, for reasons apparently creditable to its liberality. An ancient treason-law of Scotland
was then in full force, the rigours of which had been originally directed to this important
object : it was intended, that, in addition to the allegiance which sub-vassals owed for their
lands to a mesne lord, the tenant should be always reminded that there was a permanent
obligation of the same nature, that was due to the liege Sovereign. In order, therefore, to
enfeeble that unlimited attachment of sub-vassals to a mesne-lord, by which, at the mere
will of a subject, they had been often induced to assemble in arms against the King, it was
enacted, that upon the discovery of a treasonable conspiracy, all the lands of sub-vassals,
the tenures of which had not been previously ratified by the Crown, should, along with the
sequestrated estates of the mesne-lord, be involved in one common forfeiture. And to
obviate any evasion of the penalty, condemned estates devolved to the Crown, free from
every incumbrance ; no fictitious claim could be advanced, since the prayer of the creditor
was ever condemned unheard."* It was probably in anticipation of some illegal act which
Earl Patrick might commit, whilst pursuing the same oppressive course for which his
father was called to account, that Sir John Arnot, to whom the tyrant had pledged his
basely-acquired udal lands,! was not satisfied with a charter or disposition from the
Earl of Orkney, but also procured from the Crown a confirmation of his right, so as to
enable him to hold of the King in capite.% But however construable into treason might
have been the illegal proceedings of the Earl, it appears that from this imputation his
immediate tenants were perfectly exempt. An ample opportunity was, therefore, allowed
them of becoming the Crown's vassals, by which means their tenures would be preserved
from the forfeiture of the superior. Of this indulgence some availed themselves before the
confiscation was pronounced ; others had not their subaltern infeftments confirmed until
long afterw ards.§ But it was doubtful if this was the only reason for not enforcing the
treason law of Scotland. It must be remembered, that in the royal grant to Earl Patrick
and his father of the superiority over the free tenants of the crown-lands, a feudal principle
had been violated, which denies the right of any superior, whether the King or a subject, to
interpose a person between himself and his immediate vassal. On this account, any
subaltern infeftments which might have been granted by Earl Patrick to Crown-tenants,
were null and void ; and they who might have been compelled to accept them, still
remained the immediate vassals of the King, whom the treason law of Scotland could

* It is remarked of later times, that " this law was considered a great grievance, and therefore it was remedied after the Re-
volution by act 1690, cap. 33, by which the lirht and interest of creditors, vassals, and heirs of entail of forfeiting persons, were
saved." — Memorial against Dundas, 1776, p. 20.

t Gifford's Zetland, p. 41.

J In implement of a contract entered into by Arnot and the Karl of Orkney, dated a.d. 1601, there is a charter granted by
the latter, dated 1603, in which certain lands are held from his Lordship, his heirs and successors, of his Majesty, his royal heirs
and successors, in feu-farm, for payment to his Majesty of the feu-duties and others contained in the Earl's infeftment. This
charter was confirmed under the Great Seal, March 5, 1605. — See Mem. against Dundas, dated 1776, p. 18.

§ Memorial against Dundas, dated 1776, p. 19 & 20.

ITER II.] UDALLERS. 55

not in justice affect.* But the discussion of this question was very prudently avoided : the
Government did nothing more than declare, that those lands for which no charters from
the Crown could be produced, were liable to forfeiture, but that under all circumstances,
the King, in his clemency, was unwilling to enforce the execution of the law.f

Three years had now elapsed, when the islanders, who were little acquainted with
the deliberation and delay incidental to state affairs, began to manifest, by their impatient
clamour, a strong suspicion of the sincerity of the promises with which they had been
soothed. It now became necessary that these doubts should be removed : the Bishop
was directed to exhort the people " to give no ear to the idle reports which they had heard
of alterations and changes to the former condition of misrule, trouble and oppression ;" and
soon afterwards the King and Council issued a proclamation, that the lands and earldom of
Orkney and Shetland were annexed to the Crown, to remain perpetually and inseparably
therewith in time coming."^

After the act of Parliament had passed in the year 1612, by which Orkney and
Shetland were annexed to the Crown of Scotland, and erected into a stewartry, the
Government released from mortage Sir John Arnot's security upon the udal lands, that had
been so wrongfully acquired by Earl Patrick. The next step was to provide some remedy
for the frays and even bloodshed that had resulted from the lands of the bishopric being in-
termixed with these of the Crown, in every island, parish, and even township. Bishop
Law, therefore, the new episcopal dignitary of the islands, received from the King's Com-
missioners certain crown-lands in Orkney, the extent of which was well defined, in lieu of
the scattered possessions from which the church had previously derived emolument. In
consequence of this exchange, the Bishop of Orkney no longer possessed any control over
the ecclesiastical revenues of Shetland, his share of them devolving to the Crown ; at the
same time he succeeded to the King in the right of presenting qualified ministers to all the
vicarages.

* " It is plain, that such grant of intermediate superiority over the Crown's vassals was of an illegal nature, and could not have
effect ; and therefore, supposing the fact to be, that these grantees did take upon them to exercise the rights of superiority, and
that the Crown vassals were prevailed on to accept their charters from them, which must have happened through undue influence
and concussion, yet the inference will by no means follow, that the persons accepting of such charters, and their heirs and
successors in all time coming, are to be considered merely in the state of subvassals. The intermediate authority thus created, was
null and void from the beginning, and could not be rendered better by the act and deed of the interposed superior in granting a
charter, or of the vassal in accepting of it, this not being the proper feudal form by which a superiority and a subvassalage could be

constituted ; for, as the pretended superior was not himself seised in the lands, he could not have a vassal in them." " No act

of the Crown could in law be effectual to raise up an intermediate superiority, which had no existence prior to the grant. The
only mode in which this can possibly be done, is by the Crown vassal's resigning his lands in the hands of his Majesty, or his
I'arons of Exchequer, for new infeftment in favour of a third party, and afterwards accepting a subaltern right from such party.
It is manifest, that a grant by the Crown in favour of a third party can carry nothing. The full property of the land is in the
Crown's vassal, minus that right of superiority which is in the Crown jure coronee ; and as that right must necessarily remain
with the Crown, so, it is plain, that any conveyance granted by the Crown to a third party, is a mere shadow, and can carry
nothing real. The Crown may indeed assign the issues and profits of the dominium directum, but the right itself must remain
with the Crown, as incapable of alienation, it not being in the power of any superior to place an intermediate person over the
vassal, without his consent." — See Memorial against Dundas, dated 1776, p. 18 & 16.

t " A charter of confirmation under the Great Seal, dated March 13, 1616, proceeds on the narrative of Edward Stewart and
his brother being heritable vassals and tenants to Earl Patrick and his predecessors, in all and haill the eighteen penny land of
Sellibuster ; that they were now in his Majesty's hands by the forfeiture of Earl Patrick ; and that his Majesty was not desirous
to hurt Edward Stewart's right and title to said lands, but willing to grant a more ample security. The charter contains a
novodamus in favour of Edward Stewart, ' to be holden of his Majesty and royal successors, in feu and heritage for ever, paying
therefor the scat and other duties therein mentioned." — Memorial against Dundas, (dated 1776, p. 20.)

J Extract from Registers of Parliament 1612, quoted in the Memorial against Dundas, dated 1776, p. 4.

56 UDALLERS.

[ITER II.

One of the last objects of the Government was to erect a court of Stewart ry, and to
confine the civil judicial power of the church within the circuit of its own proper estate.
The Bishop, in the jurisdiction of Commissaries, had the privilege of appointing clerks and
other members ot court. The form of judicature thus organized, bore still less resemblance
to the uncomplicated tribunal of the Foude. Causes were now tried in some hall of the
castles of Kirkwall and Scalloway ; whilst the open space of the Scandinavian Law ting was
devoted to legislative convocations. Here a little Parliament of udallers again began to
meet, in order to replace with a fresh code of pandects the ancient law-book which Earl
Patrick had destroyed.

When, by the Earl's forfeiture, all the udal lands which had been wrested from their
ancient possessors, by the fraud or open violence of the petty tyrants that had been unduly
interposed between the Sovereign and the udallers, came into the possession of the Crown,
it would have been an act of clemency worthy the exalted rank of the monarch who then
held sway over the united realms of England and Scotland, to have instituted a commission,
for the purpose of restoring the lands which had been the fruits of evaded laws, and of open
rapine. But vainly did humanity intercede in the behalf of the poor udallers ; — vainly did
justice urge the propriety of restitution.

The King had now made a grant of the islands to Sir James Stewart, in the quality
of a farmer-general. Earl Patrick's rental was recorded in the Court of Exchequer,
and directions had been given, that it was to be the rule of every future exaction of the
revenues of the Crown's estate. Of this cartulary, which is still extant, a late writer has
remarked, " that it exhibits, in a strong point of view, the enormous quantity of gross and
manufactured produce paid by the country, and affords a sufficient proof of the oppressive
means that had been employed to increase the rental."* The money paid was little more
than ^200 Scots, the rest being deliveied in the several species of bear, malt, meal, flesh,
oil, or butter. And when the demands could not be answered in kind, the udallers and
Crown vassals were subject to the payment of a price depending on the mere will of a
rapacious exacter. This perpetuation of Earl Patrick's rental, has, in combination with
parochial tithes, entailed upon the landed proprietors of Orkney and Shetland a burden, the
oppressive nature of which the resources of the islands have not, for the last two centuries,
been able to counteract."!

It may be now remarked, that, in consequence of the resolution of the British govern-
ment not to sacrifice the smallest abatement of the amount of the scat-duty which had been
paid to Earl Patrick, a decisive change took place in the nature of udal possessions The

* ShirrefFs Agricultural Survey of Orkney, p. 32.

t Mr Shirreff remarks, in reference to that part of Earl Patrick's rental, which concerns the earldom and bishopric of Orkney,
that " the scat-duties were more considerable than was generally imagined, consisting altogether of ,£117 14s 7d Scots of silver,
627 lispunds of butter, 53 lispunds of oil, 954 meils of malt, 1903 meils, or nearly 54 chalders of bear, 922 meils of flesh, 134 meils of
cost, and 60 of oatmeal : but there is reason to believe, from some instances in the rental, that the scat itselt had in some cases
been lately augmented." The entire rents of the earldom and bishopric amounted to ,£322 Scots of money, 132 barrels and 634
lispunds of butter, 3806 meils of cost, 4251 meils of bear, 3504 meils of flesh, 6 barrels and 127 lispounds of oil, 215 meil sof oatmeal
multure, besides poultry and oysters to a large amount. — ShirrejjTs Agric. Sun<ey, p. 32, 33. It is also remarked in a Memorial
for the Earl of Morton, dated 1758, that " when the total quantity of these respective articles [of the rental] are converted at the
present current prices, [of A. D 1758], the produce of the whole, including the rent of Zetland as it is now let, will extend to
,£41,500 Scots."

her ii. i

UDALLERS. 57

same nmount of scat that was paid for a mark of land, was doomed to perpetuation,
whatever diminished proportion of arable ground the scathold or pasture-land by new
inclosures might contain. The udal fence that was now reared, no longer rendered the soil
which it inclosed free from the burden of a tax, and sacred to the unfettered use of the
cultivator.* At the same time, the Crown retained the privilege first usurped by Earl
Robert Stuart, to confirm the purchaser of udal lands in his possessions, independently of
the laws of udal succession ; so that, by the operation of a charter from the Crown, the
force of a shynd-bill, which sanctioned no contract that was not made with the consent of
the udal-born, was easily evaded.

When all these arrangements, so particularly connected with the future political con-
dition of Orkney and Shetland, had been concluded, the King commissioned Sir James
Stewart to take a formal possession of the islands. Earl Patrick was then a prisoner in
Dumbarton Castle, and hearing of these intentions, he persuaded Robert Stuart, his natural
son, to undertake the wild and desperate scheme of raising a party in Orkney, for the
purpose of wresting the islands from the power of the Crown. The attempt, as might be
expected, completely failed. The brave youth, who to the utmost of his means fulfilled his
father's commands, was overpowered, carried a prisoner to Scotland, and underwent a
capital punishment. Afterwards, the Earl himself was brought to trial, and being convicted
of high treason, paid the last forfeit of his crimes on a public scaffold at Edinburgh.

But the sufferings of Orkney and Shetland did not cease with Earl Patrick. The
tyrannical privilege first assumed by the Earls of Orkney of condemning lands, was per-
petuated by the tacksmen of the crown revenues. The forfeiture of udal property was the
penalty for non-payment of the King's duties. It is even affirmed that the lands thus
forfeited were not always applied to the use of the Crown, but constituted part of the private
emolument of the fortunate individual who had obtained a tack of the crown-revenues in
these islands.! The oppressions which Sir James Stewart, the new farmer, committed,
was the occasion in ten years afterwards of his recall. The crown-estates were then
successively let out to a number of court-favourites, who felt little compunction in
flagrantly abusing their trust. For this reason, there was a frequent revocation of their
grants. I By means of escheats, — of the exorbitant amount of scat-duties, land-mails, tithes,
and the clandestine increase of the standard weights and measures, the resources of the
country were drained to the last extremity. The udallers of Orkney and Shetland were
now reduced by their overwhelming authority, to the most dispirited state of humiliation.
Their udal rights were fled, — the last relic of them, the Shynd-bill, which anciently pro-

* It may be proper to remark, with regard to Orkney, that before the time of Earl Patrick, the land which, by being inclosed
for culture, became free from scat, was named Quoy land. This is a Gothic word, the primary idea of which is, according to Dr
Jamieson, simply an inclosure. Quoy, at the present day, denotes in Orkney a piece of ground taken in from a common. When
a patch of quoy-land became reconverted into pasture-ground, by which means it was rendered again liable to a payment of scat,
it was named a Ticmail. Of the etymology of this word I profess myself ignorant.- — See Peterkin's Rentals of Orkney, No.
2, p. 2.

t See Grievances of Orkney, &c, p. no.

t The Lord Chancellor Hay had the islands for the rent of 40,000 merks Scots, with the heritable office of Steward. This
grant was (n the course of three years surrendered to the Crown. Various other farmers had subsequent grants, whose names it is
of no consequence to record.

58 UDALLERS.

[ITER II

tected from the wealthy hand of power the inheritance of their fathers, could now be
evaded by a royal charter and infeftment. They now saw no other alternative than to
renounce at once their ancient independence of feudal obligations, and, in reminding the
monarch of Scotland that they were properly under the influence of Danish laws, to wave
this claim, — -to style themselves the immediate dependents of the King, — to supplicate a
feudal protection, — and to implore that the proud arm of oppression wmich was interposed
between the royal superiority and their newly acknowledged state of vassalage, might be for
ever removed.* But the Shetlanders conceived that their grievances required a distinct
petition- and, as it is recorded by the genealogist of the Sutherland Family, "they com-
plained heavily upon oppressions and disorders committed in that island, far remote from
jnstice, and from the laws of the kingdom." It is then added, that Sir Robert Gordon was
selected " to goe thither to redresse and to suppresse these insolencies." In the mean
time, the King himself apprised his council in Edinburgh, of the general object of Sir
Robert's voyage : He was " to proceed in all things that may tend to the public good, and
the increase of our revenues." Sir Robert accordingly set out from London on his mission,
but being commanded to previously receive instructions on the subject from the King's
council at Edinburgh, he lingered there for two months, these ministers " not having then
the leisure to peruse and consider these informations which his Majesty sent unto them
concerning Zetland." And now the winter had commenced, and " then went Sir Robert
Gordon into Sutherlande to visite his friends f upon which the King's council excused
themselves to his Majesty, that, " in regard to the late season of the year, the difficultie of
the passage, and the present estate of that countrey, which is visited with great penurie and
want, they had continued his voyage thither until a more opportune time." They had, " in
the mean time, established Justices of the Peace in these parts, and had given order for
such things as the state of the country did require." It is not remarked whether the poor
Shetlanders were satisfied with the wisdom of the council on this occasion, or whether they
were altogether convinced that a supply of Peace-officers was the most suitable remedy that
could be devised for the relief of the penury of this province. But it is safer to put a
favourable construction on the measures of these statesmen, since it is added, that when
their letter was received by his Majesty, " the King rested very well satisfied."!

The supplications from the natives of Orkney and Shetland had, however, this effect,
that a general act was passed in the ensuing Parliament, annexing the King's property anew
to the Crown, by which measure the islanders were, for a few years, saved from the
rapacious farmers of the royal revenues. But this respite lasted for a short time only :
exacters of the same description again made their appearance, and oppression was again the
lot of the udallers.

It may be now remarked, that since the forfeiture of Earl Patrick, new settlers from

* The Petition sent to the King in A. D. 1633 contained the following remarkable clause: "/hi//, It is claimed by the
Udallers of Orkney and Shetland, who have for these many ages, conform to the Danish law, possessed their lands for payment of
skat and teind, that no man be interponed between his Majestie and them, to molest them ; but that they remain his .Majestic >
immediate vassal*, for payment of sl.at and other duties, conform to their rentals, aye and while his Majestie conform their rights
to the laws of this kingdom."

t Genealogy of the Earls of Sutherland, p. 468 to p. 471.

. I KR H.i UDALLERS. 59

Britain had been gradually introducing themselves into the country, by whom the state of
udal tenures was in the progress of undergoing as great a change as had ever been effected
under the last Earls of Orkney. It has been shewn that Robert and Patrick Stuart
had, by claiming a dominion of a feudal nature over udal lands, removed from
themselves the obligation of obtaining a title for their acquisitions in any other way
than by accepting them as resignations to a superior ; and that the shynd-bill or written
decree of the Foude's court, by which no purchase could be confirmed that was not made
with the consent of the udal-born, had been preserved as an obstacle to the designs of
new settlers in the country, who might be as desirous as the Earls themselves of taking
advantage of the impoverished state of the udallers, by obtaining lands from them at a
reduced rate. It was the object, therefore, of the Stuarts, to obviate any interference of
this nature from the similiar inclination of others, by protecting, with the most anxious
solicitude, the force of the shynd-bill, as the necessary authority for confirming every
contract of land, but that in which they themselves were parties.* At the same time, the
Earls had reserved in their own persons the feudal privilege of confirming any purchaser of
udal lands by a feu-charter, which they rendered, by their influence, of a validity equal to
the decree of the Foude's court. Such an unwarrantable pretension, therefore, hostile as it
was to the ancient statutes of the country, the Crown, upon the forfeiture of Earl Patrick,
perpetuated.! The king confirmed all the infeftments of the Earl that had been granted
upon udal-lands, and retained the prerogative of issuing out new charters, and of feudalis-
ing, if required, all the udal lands in the country. From this cause it was very easy for
wealthy purchasers to evade the rigid terms which the Shynd-bill prescribed. The obstacle,
therefore, which, in the time of the Earls of Orkney, prevented numerous inhabitants of
Scotland from crowding into the country, was at length removed.

By these new settlers, the native islanders are said to have suffered many undue
encroachments on their possessions, to which the mixed state of the landed property of the
country was calculated to give every facility. In the disputes respecting territory, the
udaller was too frequently unable to contend against the influence of wealth and the unjust
exercise of civil authority.!

Notwithstanding the act of Parliament, by which Orkney and Shetland were to be
inseparable from the Crown, excuses were still found to annul the decree, and to doom the

* In the Law-ting of Shetland, on the 22a! of August 1604, a record under the Earl of Orkney, was made as follows :
"Taking consideration of the great confusion, usit within the county of Zetland, anent the buying and selling of land thereinto,
continually remembered be the complaints and supplications of the commons of the country, to the great hurt of the commonweal
thereaf: therefore, it is statute and ordained, that no person or persons frae this forth, either buy or sell ony sort of lands with
others, without the samen being first offered to the nearest of the seller's kin, according to the use and constitution of the country."
-Grievances, Sfc., of Orkney, p. 8.

t " From 1612 downwards, there are many charters from the Crown to different proprietors in Orkney, as well as infeftments
upon precepts issuing from the Chancery." — Memorial against Dunias, A. D. 1776, p. 4.

% There in an ancient statute in Orkney, dated A. D. 1632, " anent gripping lands." — " It is statute and ordained, that no
man grip his neighbour's lands, under the pain of £,\o Scots." No act of this kind appears in the old country laws of Shetland,
although Mr Shirreff and Dr Kemp have spoken of the habit as not having b^en unknown to this country. The latter gentleman
has been called to a severe account for the assertion ; but, as I have no particular inclination myself to enter into a controversy
with my Shetland friends, on the ancient custom of gripping lands, (which, by the bye, has not been wholly unknown among
much more -southerly tracts of Uritain,) I shall preserve a cautious silence on the occasion.

60 UDALLERS. [ITER ,,

islanders to a new change of masters. In the year 1641, the rents of the Bishoprick of
Orkney had, upon the establishment of a Presbytery in the islands, been granted to the
City of Edinburgh ; and two years afterwards, King Charles the First, on the fictitious plea
of a loan affirmed to have been made to him by the Earl of Morton, procured from Parlia-
ment the confirmation of a grant to this favourite of the lands of the earldom of Orkney
and lordship of Zetland, subject to redemption by the payment of ^30,000 Sterling.

The Earl of Morton had now power, during ihe mortgage of the islands, to enter and
receive the heritable vassals and tenants of the land, and he had command over all the
casualties of the superiority. But it is not evident, from the general tenor of the grant, that
the Crown regarded the udallers as holding their lands by feudal tenures ; udal lands were,
specially included in the earldom of Orkney and lordship of Zetland, on account of the
scat and other duties which they paid.

Soon after this contract the Earl of Morton died, and his son, on coming into posses-
sion of the Islands, immediately endeavoured to sweep away every relic of udal tenures.
He acted upon the principle that the Shynd-bill was an illegal infringement of the universal
right of superiority which he claimed over the lands of the Province. This was a proceed-
ing that even outstepped all that Earl Patrick had achieved in similiar designs to subvert the
laws of the country ; for although the last Earls of Orkney had always acted as if they had
an undubitable right of superiority over Udal-lands, yet the Crown had never retained these
pretensions to any greater extent than by admitting the principle, that the validity of a
( 'rown-charter was equal to that of a Shynd-bill, and that it was optional to which of these
two titles the purchaser or heir of Udal-lands might resort. But Robert, Earl of Morton,
now held out the unjustifiable language, that the ancient laws of the country, which Scot-
land had never verbally rescinded, imparted to udal possessions an imperfect tenure. The
words that he used in his charters, when he converted udal lands into heritable feu-farms,
were, " That he understood the party had right and possession of the udal land, — of
[which] he noways was willing to prejudge him, but rather to grant to him and his heirs
a more perfect right and security." He then, by a feu-charter, confirmed the
udaller in his possessions, taking special care that for this indulgence there should be an
augmentation of rental.* Owing to language such as this, which was promulgated as the
tenor of the grant from the British Parliament,, the Shynd-bill of the Foude's Court began
to be regarded with contempt by the wealthy settler, although it was still held in reverence
by the ancient udaller, who was naturally tenacious of the laws by which his ancestors had
for centuries held their lands undisturbed.

The Earl of Morton, in order to raise a sum of money for the support of the un-
fortunate Charles, now subjected Orkney to a subaltern and real mortage ; and at this time
a scene of great confusion, from which, indeed, no part of Great Britain was free, began to
take place in the Islands. Orkney and Shetland were seized upon by Cromwell, who sent
over Deputies into the province. These new rulers committed many irregularities,
particularly in the clandestine alteration of the weights ; but it is doubtful if they exceeded

* An extract from the Charter of the Feu farm, granted to Jerome Fotheringhame, dated September 5, 1649, is the chiiif
authority from which this information is derived. It is to be found in the Memorial against Dundas, A.D. 1776, p. 22.

IIIKII] UDALLERS. 6 1

in oppression their predecessors in the Government. At this period, when the Earl of
Morton was no longer enabled to grant feu-charters, when it was doubtful to whom the
rights of superiority were due, when the superiority over udal lands was, as a question,
still undecided, and when the original udal title of a Shynd-bill was, by the new
settlers, regarded not only with distrust, but with dislike, the udaller granted to the
wealthy purchaser, under the form of a Scottish disposition and sasine, a charter for his
lands, by which they were held immediately from the disponer himself. " Whether," said
a well informed historian of Shetland about a century ago, with much simplicity, " the
purchases of these incomers were not always such as could admit of a judicial confirmation,
or if they wanted to introduce the Scots laws and customs, or partly both, I know not ; —
but they began to lay aside the Shynd-bill, and to use dispositions and sasines. And there-
upon followed that long train of conveyances, filled with all the clauses and quirks that the
lawyer and noter could invent, for lengthening the writing, and making it so intricate, that
the true sense and meaning thereof might only be known to themselves. So that it came to
pass, in a short process of time, that, instead of the honest, easy, and simple Shynd-bill,
Zetland was stocked with rights and conveyances upon the lands, sufficient to find the
lawyers and noters as much business as any place of its value in Scotland. Whereby the
ancient simple udallers were turned out of their old inheritances, and obliged to improve
that ground for others that they had foolishly neglected to do for themselves."*

Upon the accession of Charles II. to the British Throne, in the year 1662, this
monarch's first act with regard to these islands, was to restore Episcopacy, and to command
that the rents of the church-lands should be paid to the Bishops. He was next inclined to
restore the family of Morton to their possession of the Crown estates of Orkney and
Shetland, subject to the same terms of redemption as had been specified in the former
contract. This grant having been annulled by the general act of revocation that had been
passed in the same year, a new mortgage was obtained in the name of George, Viscount
Grandison, as trustee for the family of Morton, who were then in embarrassed circum-
stances. The charter empowered the grant of heritable feus of any part of the Earldom,
to be held of the trustees until the extinction of the mortgage, and afterwards of the Crown.
Lord Grandison, therefore, appointed Alexander Douglas of Spynie, as factor to receive
the Crown-rents of the Islands, and to grant feu-charters. The mission of this individual
proved an important era in the history of Orkney and Shetland.

Douglas of Spynie was instructed to dispute the validity of all the tenures in the
Islands, which could not produce for them confirmations from the Crown. Most of the
lands of the country were then in possession of the new settlers, who, in their avidity to
purchase up the little patrimonial possessions of the impoverished udallers, had superseded
the ancient security of a shynd-bill for a private deed of transfer, under the form of a
Scottish disposition and sasine. This mode of conveyance was, in the first place, objection-
able, on the principle that an udal inheritance was specially protected by the laws of the
particular community among which udal lands had been originally partitioned ; and, that,

* Gifford's Zetland, p. 57.

62 UDALLERS.

ITER II.

therefore, no title but a judicial decree of the Foude's court could properly transmit an
udal right. The second objection to which a private deed of transfer was liable, bore
reference to the fact, that prior to the protectorate of Cromwell, no Scottish forms of title
for udal lands had ever been given but by the Earls of Orkney or by the King. When,
therefore, the title of the Shynd-bill had, by the united influence of the new settlers in the
country and the Earl of Morton, gradually fallen into disuse or contempt, the erroneous
notion became more easily inculcated, that the King was the proper superior of udal lands,
and that, therefore, no property purchased from an udaller could be legally held by a deed
from the disponer, unless a prior one had been obtained from the granter's superior. But,
as it has been before observed, although the Crown, in violation of the treaty with
Norway by which the laws of Orkney and Shetland were to remain undisturbed, had
consented to perpetuate the privileges first usurped by Earls Roberts and Patrick
Stewart, of feudalizing udal lands, the absolute obligation of the udallers to hold in capite
from the Crown, had never yet received a direct Royal sanction. The Scottish Govern-
ment had not acted as if the King was the real superior of udal lands, but as if he might
become the superior of them, whenever an inheritor was desirous to hold his lands by a
charter, rather than by virtue of a decree from the Foude's court. But it is doubtful if any
distinction of this kind was made by the poor udaller, who could see nothing more than
that new landed tenures and new terms of possession, unknown to the lost statutes of the
Law-ting, were intended to be introduced into the country, which it was in vain to resist.
The udaller was easily intimidated with the hints which were promulgated, that he held his
lands on a doubtful right, but that, in consideration of an augmentation of the sums he paid
to the King for scat and wattle, he might receive a charter of confirmation, by which he
would become, when the King had paid off the mortgage on Orkney and Shetland, an
eventual Crown-vassal. This security the udaller gladly purchased, finding in it the sooth-
ing words of promise which had been employed thirteen years before, but with less success,
on the same purpose of feudalization, that Alexander Douglas of Spynie was no way willing
to prejudge him for his udal lands, but to grant unto him, his heirs and assignees, a more
perfect right and security of the same. As for the new settlers, whose purchases, as Mr
Clifford has remarked, were not always such as would admit of a judicial confirmation, —
they readily assented to the principle that the King was the superior of udal lands, and
gladly embraced the opportunity of securing the possessions which they had obtained, in
opposition to the strict terms of udal succession, by obtaining for them charters of confir-
mation from the Crown.

From this period, also, may be dated the complete subversion of the ancient laws of
the country. The jurisdiction of the Islands had been given to the Earl of Morton's
trustee, and the udallers now abandoned for ever the open space of the Law-ting, where,
beneath no other canopy than the sky, their fathers had met to legislate for at least six
centuries.* They were now required, as new vassals of the Crown, to give their suit and
presence to the courts which were held within some covered hall at Kirkwall and Scalloway.

* " The practice of making laws in the Law-tinj, subsisted till the year 1670." — Grievances of Orkney, d-^c, p. 4.

ITER II.] UDALLERS. 63

The causes have at length been explained, to which the great success that attended
Douglas of Spytiie's mission to Orkney and Shetland may be attributable. When the
Shynd-bill, the ancient security of udal property, had grown into disuse, the feudalization
of nearly all the lands of the country became an easy process. There 'were very few
landed inheritors, with the exception of those who had formerly obtained charters of confir-
mation from the Crown, that did not now hold from the Earl of Morton's trustee.
" By granting of these charters from the Crown," remarks Mr Gifford, " Spynie raised
a considerable sum of money of the heritors and feuars of Orkney and Zetland, as
appeared by a particular account thereof for Zetland, amounting to the sum of
,£15,000 Scots, which was very heavy upon many of them. But the composition-money
paid for the charters, and the great feu-duties payable yearly out of the lands, did, in a
short time thereafter, sink many of the heritors so far in debt, that they were obliged to sell
the lands for payment thereof. They were utterly incapable of being at the charge of the
public securities and frequent confirmations required by law."*

Douglas of Spynie was also commissioned to make long tacks of the Crown lands ;
but, as he did not approve of the old country practice of enclosures paying no land-mails
when not laboured, he required an annual rent for them whatever might be their condition.
At the same time, he disposed in feu, of most of the King's moieties of the umboth or corn
tithes.

Orkney and Shetland now began to present a new aspect. Numerous allotments of
territory, which had been the result of inheritances equally divided among the nearest
kindred of possessors, were laid together so as to form an ample estate. In every part of the
islands new settlers were to be found, who began to assume within their small demesnes, all
the proud functions of the baronial lord. Each little manor afforded an epitome of the
state of the Feudal System, when aided in its civil establishment by the necessity imposed
upon feudatories, of resigning to a limited number of their dependents the care of cultiva-
ting the soil. The little landlord of Orkney or Shetland demanded, along with his rent, the
acknowledgement of a grassum or entry, and many of the menial services that were
rendered to baronial lands, such as annual presents, casting the lord's peats, or labouring
for him a certain number of days.

It is remarkable, that when the last act of feudalising the udal lands of Orkney and
Shetland took place, Denmark appeared to be more seriously bent than ever upon entering
into an explicit understanding with Britain regarding her right of redeeming these islands, as
the ancient pledge of a royal marriage-dower. But in what state could this ancient
Scandinavian settlement have been then restored? The laws which Britain had engaged to
protect, were totally subverted ; — udal lands were transmuted into regular feudal tenures,
and were oppressed with the heavy duties, which had first found a place in the wicked rental
of the Earls of Orkney, but were perpetuated by the Government to whose care the
•udaller's rights had been entrusted ; — the ancient Scandinavian inheritor was ejected from
his little patrimony, and was become a menial vassal to some wealthier settler, — some

* Gifford's Zetland, p. 43 & 58.

64 UDALLERS.

[ITKR II.

stranger in the land ; — this suffering colony of Norway had been goaded to the quick, — its
wounds were yet open. The British Government, therefore, seems to have acted with
much less violence to its feelings, in again evading a definite explanation regarding
Denmark's claim of redemption, than in restoring the colony in this lacerated state to its
mother country. Denmark, not without marks of chagrin, has never since the treaty of
Breda persisted in the claim, chiefly from the dread of being implicated on its account in
an expensive war ; she has been content with transmitting to posterity, through the medium
of her national historian Torfseus, the discussions that have at various times taken place
with the British Government on the subject of the impignorated colony, together with the
poignant disappointment she has felt at their unsatisfactory termination.* " In tanta igitur
historiarum luce," concludes Torfseus, "etiamsi per tot obstacula rerum, cum veisati simus,
nihil orbem latere potest, quod regum Daniae, Norvegiaeque jus in praedictas insulas ex
naturae gentiumque corroboret pandectis, quibus Anglorum toties injecta, mora penitus
adversatur. Necveritas usquam gloriosius tuetur locum, quam in re tarn lucida et con-
testata, omnium oculis et judiciis exposita. Causam ideo coram amplissimo orbis terrarum
tribunal] ulterius disceptare supersedemus, et confisi aequitati remedia a tempore
speramus."t

Soon after the conference with Denmark, the English Government was induced to
inquire very particularly into the circumstances which led to the dissolution of Orkney and
Shetland from the immediate protection of the Crown. The mode in which these islands
were mortgaged by Charles I. to the Earl of Morton, became an object of strict investiga-
tion, the result of which was, that the transaction was formally declared to be obtained by
importunity and obreption, in the face of many acts of perpetual annexation, and without
any previous dissolution of Parliament. A reduction of the grant immediately ensued ;
but although the sum alleged to have been advanced to Charles I. for which the islands
were mortgaged, was suspected to be a fictitious loan, the Morton family were satisfied for
their claim, as if they had been real creditors of the Crown. These arrangements being
completed, a new annexation of Orkney and Shetland took place, accompanied with the
profession, that the islands were to remain inseparably with the Crown in all time
coming.

With the change of landed tenures introduced into Orkney and Shetland by the
Morton family, and with the subsequent annexation of these islands to the Crown in the
year 1669, the history of the udallers properly terminates. Some few of this ancient descrip-
tion of landholders still remained unfeudalised ; and their descendants may now have the
satisfaction of thinking, that, in their respective families, the hereditary transmission of udal
rights has been for centuries successfully opposed to all the feudal obligations of charters, of
precepts of infeftment, of casualties of superiority, of compositions for the entry of heirs and

singular successors, or of renewals of investiture. The ancient udaller may at the present

•

* Rerttm Oread. Hist., liber iii. " De indefessis potentissimorum Regum Daniae, Norvegiaeque studiis jus suum in Orcades,
adjectntemque Hetlandiam pacifice retinendi.'' At the end of the 2d Book of Torfseus, the assertions of Buchanan and Boethins,
that the claim of redemption was surrendered, are ably commented upon.

t Torfseus, Rerum Oread. Hist., p. 228.

ITKR | L] APPENDIX TO THE HISTORY OF THE UDALLERS. 65

day contemplate his little patrimony with pride, although, alas ! his native land,

" bound in with the triumphant sea,

Whose rocky shore beats back the envious surge
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame
With inky spots and rotten parchment bonds."*

This narrative is not closed without the impression, that it is difficult to conceive, how
a train of events such as has been recorded, could have ever taken place in a province
placed under the protection of the popular government of Britain. But the British Legis-
lature itself, in the manifesto that was published in the year 1669 on the occasion of the
fresh annexation of these islands to the Crown, has given so complete a summary of the
causes of the misrule, that it may, with the greatest propriety, form the conclusion to the
present narrative. The act of annexation recites, " That the islands of Orkney and
Shetland were so considerable a part of his Majesty's ancient kingdom, that, for divers ages,
they had been the occasion of much trouble and expence of blood and money : That, being
of great and large extent of bounds, and so remote from the ordinary seat of justice and
judicatures, the inhabitants could not repair to the said judicatures without great trouble
and expence, to complain when they were oppressed and grieved : That it is not only fit
for his Majesty's interest, but will be for the great advantage of his Majesty's subjects dwell-
ing there, that, without interposing any other lord or superior between his Majesty and
them, they should have an immediate dependence upon his Majesty and his officers, being
their greatest security against all foreign attempts, and oppressions at home.

" That notwithstanding divers former Acts of annexation, yet, importunity prevailing
with his Majesty and his royal father, their goodness and inclination to gratify their subjects,
they had been induced to give away and part with so great a jewel of their crown, and to
dispone and grant rights of the earldom of Orkney and lordship of Shetland, to the great
prejudice of his Majesty, his crown and subjects, and contrary to law."

APPENDIX TO THE HISTORY OF THE UDALLERS.

A slight sketch of the political state of Orkney and Shetland from 1669 to the present
period, may be properly appended to this history.

After the act of annexation, the revenues of these islands were let out to different
farmers, upon leases not exceeding five years. These tacksmen are said to have been not
less scrupulous than their predecessors in the office of contributing to the distresses of the
islanders.

In 1697, the Presbyterian form of church-government was introduced into Orkney and
Shetland. All lands belonging to the Church then returned to the Crown ; but since they

* Shakespeare's Richard II.

66 APPENDIX TO THE HISTORY [ITER ,,

were not annexed to it, they could be disposed of by the Sovereign at pleasure. Three
years afterwards, in consequence of a commission being dispatched to these islands by the
General Assembly in Scotland, nearly the whole of the ministers conformed to Presby-
terianism. The Bishop's rents in Orkney were retained by the Crown, but the stipends to
ministers were paid out of the church funds, though in a less proportion.

In A.D. 1707, Queen Anne, notwithstanding the former solemn annexations of Orkney
and Shetland to the Crown, yielded to the importunity of James, Earl of Morton, who
had been one of the Commissioners for the treaty of Union, and made a new grant of
the islands in his favour, but still in the form of a mortgage, redeemable on the payment
of ^30,000 Sterling, and subject to an annual feu-duty of ^500 Sterling. The Earl
had " full power," as the charter specified, " to enter and receive the heritable vassals who
now actually hold of her Majesty and Crown, and their heirs, and to grant charters and
infeftments." He also obtained a lease of the unappropriated part of the lands of the
Church, as well as of those teinds which had devolved to the Crown, by virtue of the
exchange, a century before, of certain lands of the King for others of the bishopric. The
Earl of Morton was at the same time elected heritable Steward and Justiciar of Orkney
and Shetland : he was authorised to appoint deputies for the administration of justice,
according to the practice of Scotland ; and it appears that he retained a few of the
subordinate forms of the ancient legislature of the country. He was made Vice- Admiral of
Orkney and Shetland, with all the powers of judicature in the maritime affairs of the
country, and with a donation of the rights of admiralty. Lastly, the Earl had conferred
upon him the right of patronage to the kirks of Shetland and Orkney, which privilege was
taken from the Presbytery, and reckoned a great grievance. A Commissary was retained,
who was a judge in consistorial affairs. The revenue accruing from every source of emolu-
ment enumerated was about ^3000 Sterling per annum.

In the year 1742, the Earl of Morton, on the fictitious plea that the emoluments of his
concerns in Orkney and Shetland, were not sufficient to pay the interest of the mortgaged
sum, had influence enough with Parliament to obtain a discharge of the reversion ; an act
was therefore passed, making the whole of the estates of which he was in possession,
heritable and irredeemable. Five years afterwards, this Nobleman was deprived of the
jurisdiction of the Islands, for which he received in compensation the sum of ^7200
Sterling. The country now enjoyed nearly the same state of laws as other districts of Scot-
land. About this period the Earl of Morton became involved in suits at law, chiefly on
account of the fraudulent increase of weights and measures that had gradually taken place,
by the Earl of Orkney, the farmers of the Crown revenues, and his own ancestors ; and
although he gained his suit, his property became so troublesome to him, that, in the year
1776, he sold it for the sum of ,£60,000 to Sir Lawrence Dundas.

The new successor of the Earl of Morton in the estates and superiority of Orkney and
Shetland that had formerly belonged to the Crown, appears to have entered on his acquisi-
tions with little historical knowledge of the peculiarities of landed tenure which the Islands
had enjoyed whilst annexed to Norway, and of the various changes which they had
undergone, during their progress of feudalization. Sir Lawrence Dundas immediately

ITKR II.]

OF THE UDALLERS. 67

conceived that his powers of superiority were too limited ; and in order to extend them
involved himself in an expensive suit at law, in which he completely failed. Since the
result of this action did not make the least difference in the relative situation of the various
description of landed inheritors in the Islands to the King or to Sir Lawrence Dundas, any
particular detail of the proceedings is unnecessary, being a subject less of historical than of
legal interest.*

Such are the principal events that have occurred in Orkney and Shetland since the
year 1669, — the period when nearly all the lands were feudalised and annexed to the
Crown. The Province then became in every respect subject to British laws. It was
rendered liable to a land-tax, which was in vain disputed, on the plea that the scatt already
paid was a proper equivalent, and that no other could in justice be demanded. Orkney
has always paid two-thirds of the cess, the remaining one-third having been rendered by
Shetland ; but the latter country having no valued rent, by which the right of individuals
to vote can be ascertained, is denied any share in the election of a Member of Parlia-
ment. Lord Dundas is the Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland : and, with
regard to the internal legislation of the latter country, it may be briefly remarked, that
the offices of Justice of Peace have been lately revived ; that the Sheriff-substitute holds a
regular Court, and that there are separate Admiralty and Commissary jurisdictions.

These islands have never been able to recover from the oppressions exercised by Earls
Robert and Patrick Stewart, and the farmers and feuars of the Crown revenues, by whom
they were succeeded. Of the lands of Orkney, it has been recently said, that " they are
now of much less productive value than they were several centuries ago, and were it not for
the comparative recent discovery of the kelp manufacture, many of the proprietors would be
unable to pay for the total produce of the land, the feu and teind-duties which were paid by
their ancestors several centuries ago."t Of Shetland it has been also affirmed, that, " were
it not for the profits arising from the fisheries, a great part of the lands would long ago have
fallen into the hands of the superior, whose interest in them, under the existing circum-
stances, is in many instances far beyond that of those who are considered the actual pro-
prietcrs."j

But a brighter prospect is perhaps at this very moment opening to the country. The
superiority of the Islands is vested in a truly honourable family, and if numerous litigations
have occurred between the heritors and the superior, they have been in no less degree
attributable to the distracted state of the country during the tyranny of the ancient feuars and
farmers of the Crown revenues, than to the ignorance which has since prevailed among all
parties of the real state of the tenures of the country, and of the extent of their respective
rights. The supply of this deficiency has been the labour of the year 1820. A collection
has been made of numerous interesting documents, lately discoveied in the charter-room of

* I shall give a brief statement of them in the Notes to the present Iter. — See Note 6.
t Memorial against Dundas, A.D. 1820, by R. Jameson, Esq., Advocate, p. 38.
J Shirreft's Agricultural Survey of Shetland, p. 18.

68 APPENDIX TO THE HISTORY OF THE UDALLERS.

[ITER II.

Edinburgh, and their publication has been conducted with an ability and zeal that must
entitle the industrious editor of them to the lasting gratitude of his countrymen.*

Nothing remains to be added, but that Orkney and Shetland have a long account of
arrears against the British Government. The admission into the King's Exchequer of Earl
Patrick Stuart's enormous and unjust rental, and the repeated breaches of Parliamentary
faith committed in disannexing the islands from the immediate protection of the Crown, are
charges of such a serious nature against a free state, that, in justice to the perpetuated
sufferings of the natives, ample reparation, even at the present day, is a duty. It is to be
hoped, therefore, that an acquaintance with the natural advantages which these islands
possess in regard to their fisheries, the manufacture of kelp, or other sources of emolument,
may suggest some mode in which a liberal and enlightened Legislature may be enabled to
atone for past injuries, and, perhaps, to add materially to the resources of the nation at
large, t

The history of Udal Tenures being investigated, the intervals of a Shetland traveller's
geological pursuits cannot be better employed than in examining the state of a country
which differs little from what it was about a century and a-half ago. Shetland is in the
precise state that is calculated to afford much matter for delectation to the taste of some
learned member of the Antiquarian Society, well clergyonned in the rolles of old Tyme's
Historic

The land of the country is still as unmeasured as ever it was in the days of Harold
Harfagre. Collectors still come round for the annual duties of scat, wattle, ox-penny, hawk-
hens, grassum, and land-mails. The tenant labours for his lord a certain number of days.
Corn-teinds as well as vicarage-teinds, are severally paid in kind from the produce of cows,
sheep, and fishing boats. The single stilted plough is yet in use, — the tusker, the quern
and the cassie, — all genuine Scandinavian implements of husbandry, — the description of
which can in nowise, without an offence to true Archaiological taste, be mixed up with
proposals for introducing at the same time some new-fangled cart, plough, harrow,
roller, box and stone wheel-barrow, even though recommended by the Shetland New
Agricultural Society.

The course which I intended to take had a reference to the geology of the country.
There was consequently a necessity for proceeding in such a direction as would be best
adapted for determining the boundaries and mutual relations of the rocks under examina-

* There is at the same time no doubt but that the hopes held out by Mr Peterkin (the gentleman alluded to), will be fulfilled ;
that by the publication of these documents, " the rights of all parties can be adjusted without litigation or expense ; that various
obstacles to improvement which have checked its progress in Orkney, may be removed ; and the basis be established of a more
prosperous state of society, in a region which has hitherto enjoyed but little of the beneficence of the British Government, but has
been impoverished for centuries past, by a system of leasing the crown-lands and revenues to middle-men of all descriptions." —
Preface to Mr Peterkin s Collection of the Rentals of Orkney, printed in the year 1820.

t For a particular explanation of the various authorities to which I am indebted for my information in drawing up these
memoirs of the udal system, see Note 6.

ITER II.]

HOLMS OF QUENDALE BAY. 69

tion. The result of the investigation forms the subject of a distinct Geological Treatise ;
but the miscellaneous incidents attending the research constitute the proper details of an
Iter.

HOLMS OF QUENDAL BAY.

When the geognost has got in readiness his ponderous hammers, — the well-tried steel
of which

-the strong-bas'd promontory

Hath oft made shake,"

he cannot, perhaps, more conveniently commence his examination of Shetland, than by
first visiting a small insulated rock in Quendal Bay, named Little-Holm ; for which purpose
he must seat himself in a light Norway yawl, launched on the swelling surge of
Dunrossness, whilst he is propelled by the toiling oars of four or six active Shetland
boatmen.

On approaching Little Holm, the attention is directed to a mural heap of stones, that,
with few interruptions, encircles the island, and presents the appearance of a rude fortifica-
tion. Upon landing, the mutilated remains may be observed of what antiquaries
name Kist-vaens, or stone coffins. Each of these is formed by four flat stones, sunk
edgeways into the earth, the upper margins of which do not rise many inches above the
common level of the ground. The cavity of the most perfect coffin is about 4^ feet long
by about 2 7 inches broad ; of the depth no idea could be formed, from the quantity of
earth and rubbish which it contained. With regard to the origin of these stone chests, it is
useless to offer any conjectures, as their contents have been removed, and as the use of
receptacles of this kind for bones or urns was never restricted to any particular race among
the ancient European tribes. It is however remarkable, that antiquaries should have con-
sidered that all their speculations on the antiquities of Orkney and Shetland could only
refer to a pure Scandinavian or to a Celtic people. It seems to have been lost sight of,
that Orkney, and probably Shetland also, was frequented by Saxon pirates, who sustained a
defeat by Theodosius. This is so important a fact connected with the earliest annals of the
country, that it will be occasionally an object of inquiry, if a proper Saxon race, or even if a
mixed people composed of Saxons and Scandinavians, did not inhabit the land prior to the
occupation of it by the Norwegians, who had made it their abode after the usurpation of
their country by Harold Harfagre. It was now evident, that the stones which encompassed
the isle as a sort of defence, were derived from the dilapidation of sepulchral tumuli that
covered the stone coffins. Probably this wall might have been hastily thrown up by the
shipwrecked party belonging to the Duke de Medina's flag-ship ; for, in a different part of
the country, where another galleon belonging to the Spanish Armada was cast away, an islet
was fortified in nearly a similar manner.

Little Holm is composed of epidotic sienite, and secondary rocks of a conglomerate

JO FITFIEL HEAD.

flTER II.

and arenaceous structure; an interesting exposure here takes place of the junction of the
two formations. In Cross Holm, a contiguous islet, nothing but sienite occurs.

FITFIEL HEAD.

In landing at the head of Quendal Bay, the sienite made its appearance close to the
house of Mr Ogilvie, being no longer modified by the presence of epidote. In a north-
westerly direction, therefore, being that in which the rock is said to have been occasionally
exposed by the spade of the labourer, it was proper to proceed, until the granitic mass
should become fully exposed on the western coast.— As the fine corn lands of Quendal,
and the barren sand-hills to the east of them retreat from view, we become acquainted with
the different inhabitants of the Shetland scatholds or commons. The diminutive fleecy
tenants of the hills resemble in their form, their nimbleness and fieetness, the Argali or wild
sheep of Siberia.* The scene is again varied by the occasional appearance of a little
barrel-bellied broad-backed equuleus, of a brown or black colour, which Buchanan, the
Scottish historian, has described as "asino haud major;" that is, not larger than a donkey.
When the shelty is in his winter or spring garb, it is difficult to suppose that his progenitors
were the same animals which travellers have described as prancing over the arid tracts of
Arabia ; — the long shaggy hair with which he is clothed, has more the appearance of a polar
dress, or of some arctic livery, specially dispensed to the quadruped retainers of the Genius
of Hialtland. Another ranger of the hills is of a revolting kind ; he is a little ugly brindled
monster, the very epitome of the wild boar, yet not larger than the English terrier :

" His bristled back a trench impal'd appears,
And stands erected like a field of spears."

This lordling of the Shetland scatholds and arable lands ranges undisturbed over his free
demesnes, and, in quest of the roots of plants or earthworms, hollows out deep furrows and
trenches in the best pastures, — destroys in his progress all the nests which he can find of
plovers, curlieus or chalders, — bivouacs in some potato field, which he rarely quits until he
has excavated a ditch large enough to bury within it a dozen of fellow-commoners of his
own size and weight.! Nor is the reign of this petty tyrant altogether bloodless. When a
young lamb is just dropped, it is then that he foams, and, as Blackmore has pompously
sung, " flourishes the iv'ry war ;" never quitting his ground until the grass is tinged with the
red slaughter of his victim.

Continuing in the same north-westerly course, the ocean at length appeared full in view,
and near it the fresh-water lake of Lunabister, frequented by numerous web-footed birds.
The Cliff Hills, which stretched out far to the north, presented the form of a long, bleak
mountain-ridge, muffled up in wet, exhaled mists, and sloping on each side towards the wild
superb waste of the Atlantic. For several miles the coast seemed broken into creeks,

* To this race they have been compared by Mr Shirreflf in his Agriculture of Shetland.
t See Low's Fauna Oread, for a description of the Sus Scrofa of this latitude.

ITKR II.]

FITFIEL HEAD. J I

islets, and sea holms, and, in their pent-up channels, amidst the white foam of tilting waves,
the poet might describe the sea-nymphs as keeping up a perpetual coil. In journeying
along the west of the lake, the direction of this course was terminated by a little inlet of the
sea named Spigga, where the sienite of Dunrossness became fully exposed, where it was in
junction with the clay-slate of the Cliff Hills, and with interstrata of homblend-slate and
quartz. After walking due south from Spigga for a distance of two miles along high banks
of sienite, this rock had the appearance of reposing upon strata of gneiss and mica-slate.
At this place commences the promontory of Fitfiel. The clay-slate of which this headland
is composed, has so pearly a lustre, that when the rays of the sun shine fully upon it, a
whitish appearance is produced, which seems to have suggested to the early Scandinavian
settlers the name of Fitfiel, or the White Mountain. At some little distance from the place
where the clay-slate begins, is to be seen a large vein of iron-mica, running from east to
west, about 12 feet broad, which was discovered several years ago by a company of miners
who worked in the vicinity. This ore is supposed to contain about 70 or 80 per cent, of
iron, and by the miners of the continent would probably be considered of some conse-
quence. Iron-mica is described in mineralogical works as melting better than common
iron-glance, but as requiring a greater addition of lime-stone ; as affording an iron which is
sometimes cold-short, but which is well fitted for cast-ware.* Dr Fleming several years ago
very properly recommended this vein to the attention of practical mineralogists.

From this point of fock, as we cast our eyes to the north, an extensive view of the
country is exhibited ; yet nothing is to be observed but the most frequent constituents of
Shetland scenery, — islets, holms, creeks, precipices, and a long line of ragged coast. Bear-
ing off the most distant extremity of the Mainland is the island of Foula, supposed to have
been the Ultima Thule which Agricola saw from Orkney. An inland survey of the country
shews nothing but a trackless brown desert of hill and dale, which the Forest Nymphs have
for centuries forsaken. Towards Fitfiel I found the ascent to gradually increase ; a few
signs of cultivation appeared, and some cottages were interspersed among the hills. Still
pursuing a course along precipitous banks,

" where the murmuring surge

That on th' unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,
Cannot be heard so high ;"

a short walk led to the summit of Fitfiel Head, and to a view of the southerly ocean, — Fair
Isle appearing like a speck in the vast expanse. On the easterly brow of this hill may be
seen the estuary of Quendal, studded with sea holms ; at the head of the bay are fertile
corn lands, a neat white farm-house, and various groups of cottages, around each of which
rude dikes of stone or turf irregularly wind, and to the east of these a cheerless contrast of
barren sand-hills. More remote is a straitened tongue of land, clothed with a green sward,
jutting out far into the sea, and swelling out at its extremity into a bold promontory : — this
is the Head of Sumburgh. The prospect in this direction is closed by the ocean, which,

* Jameson's Mineralogy, 2d edit., vol. iii., p. 242.

72 GARTHSNESS.

[ITER II.

invading the low sandy beach that forms the easterly declivity of the sand-hills, channels
out the shore into numerous meandring creeks. In unison with this highly varied, although
woodless scenery, are the hoarse screams of the sea-fowl that build among the crags of
Fitfiel. Occasionally the noble, generous falcon whom Isaac Walton's sportsman, in disdain
of the Imperial Eagle, has dubbed " Jove's servant in ordinary," deigns to visit this proud
eminence.

GARTHSNESS.

In descending the heights of Fitfiel towards Quendal Bay, I crossed the small ridge of
Garthsness, composed of mica-slate and gneiss. Close to the sea there was a piece of
ground approaching to a semicircular form, and naturally protected on the west by high
banks, on the south by the ocean, and strengthened in other places by artificial embank-
ments of earth. This fortification was probably the hasty workmanship of the marauding
parties of Highlanders, who are said to have visited Shetland for a long series of years, and
to have secured for themselves within temporary strongholds their booty of corn and cattle,
until a sufficient freight of plunder was collected, with which they might sail away to the
Western Isles.

At the extremity of Garthsness there is a bed of iron-pyrites,'running north and south, of
the width of 8)4 feet.* This mineral is not worked as an ore of iron, but is in Germany
principally valued for the sulphur which may be obtained from it by sublimation, and for
the green vitriol or sulphate of iron which it aflords by exposure to the air, either with or
without previous roasting.! About thirty years ago, Shetland was visited by a mining
company from London, who, by the suggestion of an unskillful, trading projector, under-
took to work this bed of iron-pyrites, in the expectation that it necessarily contained a
deposit of copper. An agreement was entered into with the owner of the estate, for the
purpose of introducing a party of Cornish miners into the country, who immediately fell to
work upon the mineral, and sunk shafts in various directions of the hill. In the mean time,
the wise promoter of the scheme undertook, during the progress of the work, the labour of
essaying. The iron-pvrites of Garthsness suffered (as the ancient chemists would say) all
the vexations and the martyrizations of metals in the work : solution, ablution, sublimation,
cohobation, calcination, ceration, and fixation. But the martyrization was in vain : it is
doubtful if a single grain of copper was ever extiacted from the ore. At length, a Shetland
wight, ambitious for a quiz against the Dousterswivel of the party, slily dropt among the
contents of the crucible a copper penny. The effect which was produced exceeded his
most ardent hopes of mischief. The crucible was taken from the furnace ; its contents
were examined, and joy sparkled on every mining countenance. " I know not," said the
deluded visionary, who, from his suggestion of the mining scheme, was allowed to have a

* The account of the Garthsness vein is given in p. 143, of this Work ; [the Geological portion].
t Jameson's Mineralogy, 2d edit., vol. iii., p. 309.

ITER II.]

SUMBURGH. 73

proportion of its profits, " Whether I or Bedford's Duke, with all his immense estates, ought
most to be envied." This vein of Garthsness

" is the rich Peru,

And there within, Sir, are the golden mines,
Great Solomon's Ophir ! he was sailing to't
Three years ; but we have reached it in ten months.
This is the day, wherein to all my friends
I will pronounce the happy word, Be rich."

But the unfortunate company at whose expense this delectable comedy was got up, were
left, notwithstanding the fine promising indications of the laboratory, to wait so long for a
cargo of metal from the Shetland Ophir, that their patience was at length exhausted. An
emissary from their fraternity was dispatched to Garthsness, sufficiently well qualified to
judge of the probable success of the undertaking. He saw the vein, and all the labours of
the experimentalist were dissipated infumo.

" Why, now you smoky prosecutor of Nature !

Now, do you see, that something's to be done,

Besides your beech-coal and your cor'sive waters,

Your crosslets, crucibles, and cucurbites ?

You must have stuff brought home to you to work on."

(Probably alluding to the coppe? penny-piece dropt into the crucible!)
" And yet, you think I am at no expence,

In searching out these veins, then following them,

Then trying them out. 'Fore God, my intelligence

Costs me more money than my share comes to

In these rare works."*

SUMBURGH.

Before quitting the parish of Dunrossness, I paid a visit to the Ness and Links of
Sumburgh. After passing along the head of the Bay of Quendal, the rocks appeared to
consist either of agglutinated fragments of quartz, granite and felspar, or of a very loose and
arenaceous variety of sandstone. Upon crossing the hills east of Quendal Bay, a sandstone
succeeded, which much resembled the most common species of primitive quartz rock.
I now directed my course to an open inlet of the sea, smaller than that of Quendal, named
West Voe. Here, it may be proper to explain a few provincial terms expressive of the
different circumstances under which the sea invades the land. The name of Voe, from the
Scandinavian vogr, is given to a narrow inlet of the sea of moderate extent ; but
to an estuary of considerable width, the common English term of Bay is applied. An inlet
of diminutive size is called a Gio or Geo, from the Scandinavian gea. Some idea, though
certainly an incomplete one, may be formed of the comparative magnitude of a Voe and a
Gio, by supposing that the former, if deep enough, is capable from its width, of affording a

* Johnson's Alchymist.

74 SUMBURGH. [ITER n .

harbour for ships, but that the latter is, from its narrowness, only proper for boats. There is
still another small inlet of the sea distinguished by the Shetlanders as being more open than
the Gio ; it is named a Bite, the word having been probably derived from the popular
phrases of English or Scotch sailors, among whom I have occasionally heard it used. The
Bite of the Shetland shores is nothing more than the latinised expression of indentation of
coast, the low metaphor of both terms (morsu frangere) in nowise differing from each other.
A keen etymologist, indeed, might be at little loss to justify the use of the term Bite, in its
application to invasions of the sea on a coast, by citations of the highest classical authority :
as, for instance, by a passage from Horace,

" Non rura, qua? Liris quieta,
Mordet aqua taciturnus omnis.

Hnu at

HORAT. I. 31.

Francis, in translating these lines, was unwilling to give the closest translation of the term
mordet, but it is questionable if he has got rid of all the vulgarity of the expression, by the
following clumsy version :

" Nor the rich fields that Liris leaves,

And eats away with silent waves."

The sand-hills which appear as we approach West Voe from Quendal, are agreeably
contrasted with the grassy Links of Sumburgh to the east, and the green headland of Sum-
burgh. On the confines that mark the devastation of the blowing sand, are to be seen the
ruins of buildings, the foundations of which have wholly or in part yielded to the removal of
the light arenaceous particles upon which they were improvidently built. An old, plain
family mansion, seated in the middle of the green sward of Sumburgh, and erected by the
Scottish family of Bruce, remains entire ; but at no great distance to the south, being close
to the seat of the sand-flood, may be seen the shell of two or three rooms of an ancient
house, built in a very plain manner, without any manifestation of a castellated style of
architecture. The walls appear of a remarkable thickness, though sunk in several places
by the dislodgment of the sand from beneath the foundations. This dwelling was erected
by Lord Robert Stuart, the last and 27th Abbot of Holyrood, who was afterwards Earl of
Orkney. He was for thirty years the indefatigable persecutor of the ancient udallers of
Orkney and Shetland, in his endeavours to subvert their laws, and to wrest from them their
landed possessions.

Robert Stuart was the natural son of James V. by Euphemia, daughter of Lord
Elphinston. He was generally addressed in the court of Queen Mary by the title of Lord
Robert, and very early in life was appointed Abbot of Holyrood*. When the Popish..
dignitaries of Scotland were compelled, for the sake of securing their benefices, to join the
cause of the Reformers, the pliant abbot readily fell in with the prevailing religious
sentiments of the times, and probably yielded in zeal to none of those elect,

* Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 753. " As the last corruption of a corrupt age," remarks this writer, " the King's bastards
were introduced into the greatest bishoprics, and the richest abbeys."

ITER II.] SUMBURGH. 75

" Who prove their doctrine orthodox,
By apostolic blows and knocks."

When the abbot had turned Protestant, he obtained in marriage the hand of Lady
Jane Kennedy of the house of Cassilis ; and, in a short period, the Queen settled a hand-
some annuity upon him, out of her thirds of the revenue of Holyrood, in support of his
three legitimate children, as well as of two that were base born ; for, it may be briefly
hinted that the abbot had not in his catholic days imposed upon himself the strictest rules
of chastity which might have been expected from his religious order. In the year 1569,
Lord Robert exchanged his abbey for the temporal estates of the bishopric of Orkney and
Shetland, receiving at the same time a feu of the lands of the crown : it was then that he
took possession of his estates in a mode sufficiently indicative of the arbitrary rule which he
meant to exercise over the islands. It was the custom of the 16th century, for the nobility
and gentry to attach to their retinue a considerable number of men, sometimes to the
amount of 200, who were not kept constantly in the house, like other menial servants, but
were dispersed over different parts of the lord's demesnes, giving their occasional presence
for the purpose of ostentation. Lord Robert brought with him a great number of
dependants of this description into Orkney and Shetland, who, from the arms which they
constantly wore, agreeably to the fashion of the times, were occasionally named Suddartis
or Soldiers, but they were also styled in these islands broken men,- — an epithet that stands in
need of some explanation. Retinues of serving men were engaged, with this intention, —
that besides giving their attendance for the sake of pomp, their weapons should be ready to
decide the quarrels of their masters, or for the perpetration of any excesses or disorders in a
country that might be required. It was, therefore, by no means necessary that retainers
should be chosen from that class of society who were addicted to the most regular
or honest occupations of life : — for, indeed, to no rank of people but of the lowest
description, could the conditions of entering the train of a great man be agreeable ; such
dependents were required to serve for little or no pay, to receive only the perquisite of arms
and an uniform livery, and to be content with the chance of quartering themselves upon the
country at large, without being made responsible for any dissolute habits to which they
might be prone. It was on this account that the name of a livery or lithry, answering to a
retinue of serving men, long became in Scotland the bye-word that was used to signify a
despicable crowd.* Lord Robert Stuart's train of dependents that were introduced into
Orkney and Shetland, appear to have been composed of individuals of the precise stamp
described ; they acquired the appellation of broken men, a term of opprobrium that finds no
synonym but in the more modern word vagabonds. It is probable that the moral qualifica-
tions of Lord Robert's retinue were not very dissimilar to what might have been found in
England about the same period among the kindred description of worthies whose habits

This is the meaning assigned to Lithiy by Dr Jamieson, though he does not express the same opinion of the origin of the
word as I have ventured to give. " In came sic a rangel o' gentles," says an old Scottish writer quoted by the learned etymologist,
'' and a lithry o' hanyiel slyps at their tail, that in a weaven the house wis gaen like Lawren fair." Hanyicl, says Dr Jamieson,
denotes something in a dangling and dcpemient state, and slyps, (from Tuet. sleflp), a train or retinue. Lithry or livery, is, there-
fore, suitably associated with this expression. There is an excellent description in Mr Douce 's Illustrations of Shakespeare, of tke
antient English Serving-men in livery, whose characters are well enough expressed by the Scottish idea of a Lithry.

j6 SUMBURGH.

ITER II.

are so well related by early authors ; and that there was not one of these broken men
that could not "rob a ripper of his fish, — cut off a convoy of butter, — or drive a regiment
of geese afore him, and not a hiss heard, nor a wing of the troops disordered."* Lord
Robert employed an armed retinue of this description, who were dispersed over the
islands, to guard all the common ferries, for the purpose of preventing complaints
against his exactions reaching the Government of Scotland : in the mean time, he com-
mitted what depredations he pleased, — making illegal exactions of rent, and (in the
phraseology of the time) gripping lands from the udallers ; until, at length, a petition
reached the roval ear, stating, "That the inhabitants were so oppressit be companies
of suddartis and others broken men, dependers upon Lord Robert Steuart, that they
were all utterly zvrakit and fiereit for ever." Lord Robert was then recalled from the
islands, but was soon after reinstated in his possessions, with the title of an Earl ; " when,"
says a worthy prelate, "he found out ane uther way to doe his turne. He became Bischope
in omnibus, and set his rentall of teynds upon these Vdellands, above the availe [value], yea
triple above the availe." At the same time, all mortifications and penances for crimes,
under the cognizance of the Church, consisted in loss of land ; and thus, as Bishop
Grahame has added, " the Earl's lands grew daily, as adulteries and incests increased in the
country :"f — for these oppressions he had frequently his grant taken from him, but had
always interest enough at Court to get it leturned. — His Lordship built a palace at Birsay
in Orkney, which was remarkable for nothing so much as the whimsical mottoes which
adorned its walls. One was " Sic fuit, est, et erit," which the pious men of the time con-
strued as blasphemous ; but this is perhaps a mistake ; the Earl might have meant nothing
more in the expression than an allusion to the unchangeable nature of his moral habits : —
Sic fuit, est, et erit ; that is, A man such as he always was, — such is he now, and such he
ever will be. Another of the Birsay mottoes is said to have highly displeased the Monarch
of Scotland. " When we entered the palace gate," said Brand, the Missionary, about the
year 1700, " we saw above it that inscription so much talk't of, and reputed treasonable by
King James VI. : — ' Robertas Stuartus, filius Jacobi Quinti Rex Scotorum, hoc sedificium
instruxit :' which inscription could not but offend the lawful heir of the Crown ; for it
cannot well be thought, that the Earl and all about him, were such blunderers in the Latin
tongue, as to put down Rex instead of Regis, if there had been no design in \L"% The
simple Missionary seems to have erred in his conjecture. A grammatical knowledge of
Latin was by no means the indispensable acquirement of a courtier of the 16th century,
even though he should have been created the merry Abbot of Holyrood. The Earl died at
an advanced age, and though he was not sainted by the udallers of Orkney and Shetland,
yet he was at least respected by his own posterity ; for when, in thirty years afterwards, an
irreverend churl had erected his pew in the Cathedral of Kirkwall, immediately over Robert
Stuart's revered remains, he was formally and publicly admonished by the Lord Bishop of
Orkney, "not to incur the indignation of such noblemen as the Eatl of Carrick, and others

* See the qualifications of the broken men of England in Beaumont and Fletcher's Beggar's Bush, Act v, Scene ist.
t Peterkin's Ancient Rentals of Orkney, No. iii. p. 21.
} Brand's Description of Orkney, p. 31.

ITER II.]

sumburgh. yy

of the worthy name of Stuart ; for it would come to his Majestie's ears how such persone
did sit there and trample upon his Hienes' graund-uncle's bellie."*— Such were the eventful
features in the annals of Robert Stuart, once Abbot of Holyrood, afterwards a Protestant
reformer, but whose latest amusements of life were concentrated in the act of monopolizing
all the lands of Orkney and Shetland, whether they belonged to the Crown, the Church, or
the unfortunate Udallers.

After loitering a few moments near the ancient mansion of Earl Robert, his viitues not
inspiring any extraordinary sensation for the walls associated with his memory, I ascended
the adjoining promontory of Sumburgh, — a headland of considerable extent, the easterly
side of which having yielded considerably to the ocean, is formed into a steep precipice. It
is proposed upon this tongue of land to erect, without delay, a stately pharos, the accom-
plishment of which is assigned to Mr Stevenson, whose execution of the Bell-Rock Light-
house is a monument of skill so honourable to the architecture of Scotland.! It is to be
hoped that other beacons, equally required on the north and west of the coast, may render
these islands no longer the terror of the northern mariner, who, fearing to be benighted
near their destructive cliffs, chuses to brave the elements of the open sea, rather than make
the still more perilous attempt to steer for the security which the numerous harbours of
Shetland are well calculated to afford. But the time is probably iiot very remote, when it
may be said of this country as of other parts of Britain,

-Lo ! ports expand

Free as the winds and waves their sheltering arms,
Lo ! streaming comfort o'er the troubled deep,
On every pointed coast the light-house towers."

Thomson.

From Sumburgh Head we have a view of what is named the Roust, — this being a term
of Scandinavian origin, used to signify a strong tumultuous current, occasioned by the
meeting of rapid tides. J The sea being calm, there was the appearance of a turbulent
stream of tide, about two or three miles broad, in the midst of smooth water, extending a
short distance from Sumburgh, and then gradually dwindling away, so as lo terminate in a
long slender dark line, bearing towards Fair Isle. The explanation of this appearance is,
perhaps, to be given in connection with that wave of tide propagated from the great
diurnal undulation of the Atlantic, which, in the progress of completing its circuit round
Britain, is described by naturalists as passing to the west of Orkney, — from thence to the
north of the British Isles, and then taking a southerly direction, so as to form a ridge that
extends between Buchan and the Naze of Norway.§ The tides of Shetland appear to be
induced by lesser currents, generated during the progress of the wave along the westerly,

* Peterkin's Collections, Append, p. 53.

t Sumburgh Head Light-house has been completed since I visited Shetland. A short description of it will be found in Note
7 to the present Iter.

X Isl. roest, must, aestuaria, vortices maris, Verel, Ind. Supposed by one author to be synonimous with the A. S. rase,
stridor, impetus fluvii. — See Jamieson's Etym. Diet, word roust.

§ See Playfair'* Outlines of Natural Philosophy, vol. ii. p. 338., and Young's Lectures on Natural Philosophy, vol. i.

yS SUMBURGH.

[ITER II

northerly, and easterly parts of the country, and these set in nearly an hour sooner on the
west than on the east coast of these islands. At the beginning of the flood, the tide in the
Roust is directed to the eastward, until it passes the promontory of Sumburgh ; it then
meets with a south tide, that has been flowing on the east side of the country ; when a
divergement takes place to the south-east, and lastly to the south. At high-water there is a
short cessation of the tide called the Still ; the ebb now begins, first setting north-west and
then north, until the recommencement of the flood. The various directions of the tides of
Shetland are no doubt owing in a considerable degree to modifications which take place
from the number and form of the various headlands and inlets of the coast ; but since they
are propagated at successive intervals of time, it is evident that at the northerly and
southerly extremities of the Shetland Archipelago, they would be naturally opposed to each
other. A gentleman informed me that he has been for five days becalmed in a sloop
between Fitfiel Head and Sumburgh Head, which are only distant from each other about
three miles, without being able to pass either point ; one current carrying the vessel into the
eastern, and the other into the western ocean : the sloop was often transported by the tide
very near the shore, yet another tide always carried her off again.* But although there is
an opposition of currents from Sumburgh to Fair Isle, and no doubt from thence to Orkney,
the Roust is that part of the stream lying at a small distance from the promontory, the.
force of which is probably encreased by its proximity to the coast, and by the shallowness,
of the water. Here there is always a heavy sea, bnt in a storm the waves are said to rise
mountains high. Drayton has given a good description of the occurrence of similar
phenomena at the Race of Portland, not however unmixed with a tolerable proport^n of
poetic bathos :

" Some coming from the east, some from the setting sun,
The liquid mountains still together mainly run,
Wave woundeth wave again, and billow billow gores,
And topsy-turvy so fly tumbling to the shores."

In the Roust of Sumburgh there is a considerable fishery for the Gadus carbonarius, or
coal-fish, the fry of which, named Sillocks, have been already described as entering the bays
in myriads. The Gadus carbonarius is known in Shetland by the name of Seethe,
although in Feroe and Norway this appellation is given to the full grown Gadus virens.
Naturalists have described the coal-fish as being of a very dark or black colour, — hence its
name ; but this term is ill applied to those specimens of the fish that I saw in Shetland,
which were rather of a lightish brown. The white lateral line with which the fish is marked,
has been properly considered as a very distinctive character. The coal-fish, or Shetland
seethe, is of a large size, and is said sometimes to attain the length of three feet. It is
correctly represented as of an elegant shape, with a small head, sharpened snout, and
a lower jaw exceeding the upper in length. I have tasted the fish in a fresh state, but it
was dry and coarse. It is, however, cured for sale, and is then sent to a Scotch market,

* I am indebted for my information on the direction of the tides at Sumburgh to the kindness of William Henderson, Ks<j.
of Bardister, in Shetland.

ITER II.]

SUMBURGH. 79

where it sells much cheaper than cod or ling. Coal-fish are general frequenters of tideways,
but the Roust of Sumburgh offers for them attractions of no common kind ; there they are
found in great numbers, being sometimes seen sporting near the surface of the water, whilst,
in quest of them, the dauntless Shetlander launches his light skiff among the white waves of
contending tides, and, by means of handlines baited with haddock or shell fish, rarely
returns without a plenteous freight.

When on the heights of Sumburgh, I omitted to walk round the whole of the head-lands,
and, therefore, missed the opportunity of seeing a fortification that appears to have attracted
the particular attention of Mr Low, the author of the Fauna Orcadensis. He has described
it as a neck of land protected by a ditch and strong wall, at the entrance of which is the
foundation of a large structure, that he supposes may have served as a guard-room ; he has
also stated, that along the wall, and at some little distance from it, are to be found the
marks of numerous small buildings. This defence was supposed to be constructed for the
purpose of containing cattle and provisions : not improbably it was the work of the western
Highlanders, who, in their predatory excursions to Shetland, are said to have rendered the
vicinity of Quendal Bay the great repository of the plunder that they were enabled to levy.
In fortifications like those of Sumburgh and Fitfiel Head a considerable booty of cattle,
corn, or other provisions, might have been preserved and allowed to accumulate, until a
freight had been collected : sufficient to repay the Highlanders for the trouble of their
summer's trip.

After descending the promontory, I again passed over the Links of Sumburgh, which
have long been commemorated in the traditions of the country, from being the site of an
engagement that took place between the Shetlanders and some Western Highlanders. This
feud was of a very ancient date. In the 9th century, the Western Isles, which had been
originally occupied by a Celtic race, were subdued by Harold Harfagre, and formed into a
Norwegian province. But by the arrival of a number of Gaelic colonists from Ireland, the
Scandinavian natives were gradually ousted out of the territory which they had acquired,
being obliged to occupy the most westerly confines of the coast. In the middle of the 13th
century, Scotland was invaded by Haco, King of Norway, on which occasion detachments
of these Norwegians were left in the Hebrides, for the purpose of keeping the W'estern
Highlanders in awe. The party that was sent to the Isle of Lewis becoming troublesome, a
plan was laid for cutting them off. The lord of the island summoned his attendants, and
oidered the'Croishtarich* to be constructed, the ritual fire to be lighted, and a goat to be
brought forth and slain. The extremities of a wooden cross were then kindled in the flame,
and, whilst the blood of the victim followed the knife, they were extinguished in the purple
stream. The chief now delivered this emblem of fire and sword to a swift messenger, with
the laconic mandate, " Marbhadh ghach shen a bhuana," (let each kill his guest). The
nimble footman entrusted with the fire-cross, flew with it to the inhabitant of the next ham-
let ; — the receiver heard it announced as the cross of shame, disregarded by none but the

* The word Croishtarich is said to be derived from Crois, a cross, and tara, a multitude, expressive of a. popular signal \ but
this is a very unsatisfactory explanation of the term. — I need not remark how sublimely the great Scottish bard of modern days has
explained the use of the croishtarich in his poem of the Lady of the Lake.

SO SUMBURGH. [ITER „_

infamous ; he bowed to the chief's command, — flew to dispatch his guest, and having
imbrued himself in Norwegian blood, bore the signal to the next habitation, where a similiar
scene of assassination was repeated, — and thus as fast as the message went round from
house to house, each Northman was in succession cut off. Haco, King of Norway, was at
that t : me defeated by the Scots at the battle of Largs in Ayrshire, and dying soon after-
wards, the treachery of the Lewis men remained unrevenged ; his successor contenting
himself with the surrender of the Western Isles to the Scots for a pecuniary consideration,
but with the stipulation that the ancient Scandinavian inhabitants should be proiected in
their return to the mother-country with all their effects. Long after this period, the name,
of the Norwegian became hateful to the Gael ; and notwithstanding the Scandinavian
colony of Orkney and Shetland was under the protection of Scotland, the natives of Lewis
gratified their animosity by annually visiting this province for the sake of plunder. Upon
landing in Shetland, they are said to have constructed some sort of inclosures on the steep
banks of the coast, for the purpose of holding cattle and other plunder, preparatory for
embarkation. Two fortresses well adapted for this purpose, appear on the south shores of
Dunrossness ; but at the Ness of Skeld, in the parish of Sandsting, there is the vestige of an
inclosure to be seen, which is distinctly ascribed to these marauders. The Lewismen are
affirmed to have had many battles with the Shetlanders, the last of which was with one of
the Sinclairs of Brow, who is said to have marshalled the men of Dunrossness in goodly
array on the plains of Sumburgh, and to have resolutely opposed the landing of the High-
landers. A severe engagement ensued, of which no particulars are handed down, except
that it had so sanguine a character, as perhaps to have rivalled the best got-up skirmish of
the times :

" Then limbs like boughs were lopp'd, from shoulders arms to fly ;
They fight as none could scape, yet scape as none could die.
The ruffling northern lads and the stout [Lew'smen] try'd it;
Then head-pieces hold out, or brains must sore abide it."

Drayton.

Not a Lewisman is said to have returned, who might report the fate of his companions.
The Highlanders were rudely buried on the Links of Sumburgh, and tumuli of sand raised
on their remains. Several of these, about half a century ago, were removed during the
devastations of the blowing sand, when heaps of bones were discovered thrown indis-
criminately together*.

Quitting the Links of Sumburgh, I again entered upon the sandy tracts of Dunross-
ness, where vast accumulations of sand, referable, perhaps, to some violent action of the
sea, occassionally make their appearance, indicating, that from this cause the form of the
coast may have undergone material successive changes. This suspicion is confirmed by the
circumstance, that in the year 1778 Mr Low dug up, at some little distance from the water,

* Two of these tumuli were opened in the year 1778, by Mr Low of Orkney. In one of them, among the bones, which were
laid without any order, he coun'ed nine skulls. — In concluding this account of the fray in Dunrossness, I may remark, that the
traditional narration of the assassination of the Norwegians in the Isle of Lewis, may be found in the 1st volume of the Trauma -
tions of the Scottish Antiquaries. This account I have connected with the Shetland tradition of the predatory visits of the Lewis-
men ; for the particulars of which I am indebted to Mr Henderson of Bardister.

ITER II.]

SUMBURGH TO SANDWICK. 8 1

a number of cockle and limpet shells, which appeared to be arranged in the form of a
regular stratum. Along with these were oysters, many of which were no less than nine or
ten inches in diameter ; and in some of them the pearls iemained. This naturalist has
supposed that these remains were fossil, as no shell-fish of this sort were to be found alive
within twenty miles of the place. But since no forms were discovered among them that
could not be referred to the present inhabitants of the sea, this opinion has little weight.
Mr Brand, however, the zealous missionary to Shetland, had a century ago a much more
wonderful story to tell about the shell-fish buried in the vicinity of Sumburgh ; as that a
gentleman in the parish of Dunrossness told one of the ministers of this country, who told
the credulous traveller, that a plough in this parish did cast up fresh cockles, though the
place where the plough was going was three quarters of a mile from the sea ; which cockles
the gentleman saw made ready and eaten. Brand then adds, "that if only shells were
found, such as oysters and the like, the marvel would not be great, seeing such are found
upon the tops of high mountains, at a greater distance from the sea, which, in all proba-
bility, have lain since the universal deluge ; but that any shell-fish should be found at a dis-
tance from sea, and fit for use, is somewhat wonderful and astonishing." It is so indeed !
and it is unfortunate that no more of these antediluvian cockles should remain in an
edible state. A dish of them would make a delightful geognostic treat, and would prove
that the worlds of modern cosmogonists are not unreal mockeries.

SUMBURGH TO SANDWICK.

Having now lingered a sufficient time at Sumburgh, being warned to depart by the
declining sun, I retraced my steps over the toiling sands of Brow, and reached the
house of my kind entertainer at the close of the evening. The morrow was a halcyon day ;
scarcely a ripple was seen on the surface of Quendal Bay. The sandy plain of Brow
strongly reflecting the sun's rays, communicated an uneasy sensation to the vision, which was
agreeably alleviated when the eyes turned from the sight of this glittering waste, to repose
upon the contiguous green blades of rising corn that were repaying the toil and ingenuity
which had rescued a portion of glebe from the devastation of the sand-flood. As the
cool of the evening approached, I was induced to take a final leave of the hospitable shores of
Dunrossness. Pursuing, then, a route along the eastern side of the parish, over secondary
rocks of sandstone, the dreariness of the road in proceeding northward could not well be
exceeded. After passing Lamigard Voe, there is nothing for several miles to vary the
uniform and dull scenery of the journey. To the right is the wide ocean that separates
Shetland from the shores of Norway, bounded by low, ragged cliffs, over which a wild surf
continually breaks. On the west is the brown ridge of the Cliff Hills, — beneath which are
trackless moors, diversified by no object except the stony land-marks that once separated
the little patrimonial possessions of the ancient udaller, — except the ruins of huts,
indicative of the desertion of these wild tracts, when, by the poverty of the harassed
natives, their inheritances were ceded to some wealthier settler in the islands. At length

82 ANCIENT WEAPONS OF WAR DISCOVERED IN SHETLAND. [ITER n

some cottages appeared, contiguous to an open harbour, resorted to about fifty years ago by
the Dutch busses, whilst waiting for St John's day, the commencement of the hei ring-
fishery. At the head of the bay was Channerwick, which I reached about dusk. Several
huts Avere scattered about on its shores ; and as it was on the Sabbath, not a native was
absent from the hamlet. The women were attired in the ordinary garb of the country,
which consisted of dark woollen stuffs ; but the men were dressed like sailors on a holiday,
wearing along with their trowsers neat blue short jackets. The country altogether resembled
the good piratical days of King Regner Lodbrog of Denmark, when his subjects were more
numerous on sea than on land, — when they wore nothing but the habits of sailors, and were
ready to embark on the first opportunity. I had intended to have reached a small house at
some distance, where an accommodation, though humble, could be procured ; but the
mists of the night were fast approaching, and I gladly availed myself of the shelter
generously offered me for the night by the schoolmaster of Sandwick.— We were now
within a mile or two of the Burgh of Mousa, — the most perfect specimen extant in Scotland
of an ancient Scandinavian fortress, the interest of which may perhaps be heightened by a
knowledge of the description of warlike weapons that are often found in the immediate
vicinity of structures of this kind. This preliminary information is the more necessary,
since it is to the form and nature of such instruments, that the construction of the Burgh as
a defence must necessarily refer.

ANCIENT WEAPONS OF WAR DISCOVERED IN SHETLAND.

The ancient weapons nf war discovered in Shetland are of stone. That such were
used by the Teutonic tribes of Europe in the 8th century, and probably very long before, is
evident from the fragment of a prose-romance written about that period, in the Saxon
dialect of the Teutonic. This manuscript, which is preserved in Cassel, was first printed in
Eccardi, Comment, de Rubus Franciae Orientalis, and it has been reprinted with a Latin
and English translation, in an interesting work lately published in Edinburgh, entitled,
" Illustrations of Northern Antiquities."* From this very curious document, two or three
disjoined passages may be given, by which we may see the reference that is made to the
Teutonic Burgh, and to the arms contemporary with this early kind of fortress : —

" I heard it related that Hiltibrant and Hatubrant with one mind agreed to go on a
warlike expedition. The relatives [sons of the same father] made ready their horses, pre-
pared their war-shirts, [shirts of mail], girded on their swords [which were fastened] at the
hilt with chains.

" well give now, [turn thou this to good,] wielding God, quoth

Hiltibrant, whose word is done. I wandered summers and winters sixty out of [my] land ;
there they detached me among shooting people [archers] ; never in any burgh [city, castle]
fastened they my legs : [but] now my nearest relation will hew my neck with his bill [battle-
axe] or I entangle his legs, [tie him as a captive].

" said Hiltibrant, — Good fellow-citizens, be judges who it be that

* By Henry Weber and R. Jamieson, Esquires.

ITER II.] ANCIENT WEAPONS OF WAR DISCOVERED IN SHETLAND. 83

this day must quit the field of battle, or who will have both these brunies [hauberks] in his
possession.

" Then they first let ashen [spears] fly with rapid force, that they stuck in the shields.
Then they thrust together resounding stone-axes ; they wrathfully heaved white shields."
— Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 218, 230.

These extracts from a composition of so remote a date as the 8th century, may be
considered as illustrative of the general mode of warfare adopted at that time by the Saxon
and Scandinavian tribes of Europe, among whom a greater similiarity of language and
manners then prevailed than was to be found at a later period. We learn from the
same authority that the offensive arms of the Teutones were at that early period, (1st), The
battle-axe ; (2dly), Ashen or spears ; (3dly), Bows and arrows ; (4thly), Swords fastened at
the hilts with chains. The defensive arms were, (1st), Shirts of mail, or war-shirts ; (2dly),
Brunies or hauberks; (3dly), Shields. We lastly fiid, that special mention is made of the
early Teutonic fortress or Burgh.

1st, Offensive Atms.

The first of the offensive arms of the Teutones of the 8th century, was the Battle-Axe.
It appears that these axes were constructed of stone. The heroes of the Teutonic romance
are said to have " thrust together resounding stone-axes f these weapons being expressed in
the original by the term Staimbort, from stein, a stone, and barte or barde, an axe. In
Shetland, numbers of stone-axes have been discovered, which were wrought from a remark*
alby compact green porphyry, probably derived from Scandinavia.* In form, the Shetland
Steinbartef or stone-axe admits of two varieties ; it is either (a.) Single ; or (b.) Double-
edged.

(a.) Single-edged Steinbarte. — This variety of blade has one cutting-edge, generally of a
semilunar outline, and tapering from opposite points to a blunted extremity or heel. In
some specimens both sides are convex; in others, one side only, the other being flattened.
All the edges except the broad sharpened margin are bluntly rounded off. The single-
edged stone-axes of Shetland vary much in their dimensions, being from four to eight or ten
inches in length ; their breadth proportionally differing. When the Shetland Steinbarte was
used in war, its blunt tapering extremity may be supposed to have been introduced within
the perforation made into some wooden or bone haft, and afterwards secured by overlapping
cords, formed of thongs of leather, or of the entrails of some animal ; twine of hemp not
being then in use. \ Another kind of steinbarte has been said to occur in Shetland, the
sharp edge of which describes the segment of a circle, whilst the chord of the outline is
thickened like the back of a knife. Probably its blunt edge was fixed within the groove of

* The stone contains, along with quartz, a considerable portion of felspar in its composition, and probably some little mag-
nesian earth : it much resembles a rock that I have seen associated with serpentine, as well as a substance that is used in the con-
struction of some of the stone hatchets of the South Sea islands.

t I shall venture to give the name of Steinbarte to these remains of antiquity.

t A representation of the single-edged Steinbarte, mounted after the manner I have supposed it was, may be seen in Fig. 3 of
the Plate of Antiquities in the Appendix. The length of the blade is 6 inches ; greatest breadth 2J, and greatest thickness 1 i«ch.

84 ANCIENT WEAPONS OF WAR DISCOVERED IN SHETLAND. f i TER lL

a wooden or bone handle, so as to form a single-edged cutting instrument.*

(b.) Double-edged Steinbarte, — The blade of this instrument is a stone completely
flattened on each of its sides, and not more than the tenth of an inch thick ; it is of an
oblong shape, having one blunted margin perfectly straight, and when the stone is held
in such a position that the dull edge is the uppermost, we have the form of a blade pre-
sented, in which the two narrow edges are irregularly rounded off at their angles, so that
one edge is much broader than the other. Every part of the margin but that which con-
stitutes the summit of the outline, is sharpened ; by which means there is a great addition
made to the extent of the cutting-edge. The blade is 5 ^2 inches long, and from 3 to 4
broad. Mallet, in his History of Denmark, describes a battle-axe of two edges, as used by
the ancient Scandinavians, and he adds, that when it was fixed to a long pole, it constituted
a halbert. In reference to this observation, I have supposed a long staff, with the extremity
so penetrated at one or two inches from the summit, as to form a long groove 4 inches
in length, through which the stone blade, with the blunt side kept uppermost, may be
drawn half way, and then secured to its station by means of cross ligatures. The whole
would then present the form of a two-edged battle-axe. Antiquaries have remarked, that
this weapon was probably in use from the earliest period, but since it was in the course of
time wielded by the Trabants, or those who stood upon guard in the castles of their Kings,
it was named a Halbert, from the Teutonic Halle, a court, and Barde, an axe.t In the
true spirit, therefore, of archaiological reasoning, it may be pronounced, that the blade of
this variety of the Shetland steinbarte, and the hypothetical handle to which it is fastened,
constitute the aboriginal rude form of the northern halbert. J

The blades of steinbartes are very abundantly found in Shetland. Not unfrequently
several of them are discovered buried together, thus indicating a little armoury, from which a
number of weapons might be distributed on an emergency, by the hand of some chief, to a
small band of natives met together on the alarm of common danger. Assemblages of these
weapons have been found in the parishes of Walls, of Delting, and in the Island of Unst.§
In Northmavme, says Mr Low of Orkney, seven were discovered under ground, disposed in
a circular arrangement, with the points of each directed towards the centre of the ring ; — it
is a pity that the number of these weapons was not nine, corresponding to the nine wounds
of a lance in the form of a circle, which the deified Scandinavian hero Odin gave himself,
when, by an act of suicide, he shewed an example of death to his surrounding followers. At
any rate, the circular arrangement of the weapons remains, indicative of a mystical allusion,
and that is quite sufficient to provoke an antiquarian inference.

Regarding the people by whom these stone axes were used, the natives of Shetland

* The blade is represented in the Plate of Antiquities given in the Appendix, Fig. 4, from an original drawing by Mr Low, the
author of the Fauna Orcadensis. This gentleman supposes it to be a knife.

t Mallet's Northern Antiq., vol. i., p. 239.

} The relic of antiquity which is supposed to be a two-edged steinbarte, was found in the parish of Walls in Shetland, and
kindly presented to me by Mr Robinson of Vailey. See Plate of Antiq. Appen. Fig. 5. I possess a drawing, by Mr Low, of a
similar instrument.

§ Mr Low of Orkney says, that a deposit of twenty-four in one place was found. The late Mr Archibald, a respectable
minister of Unst, has stated, in a communication to Mr Low, that eight of these weapons were discovered together in this island.
That more considerable assemblages have been found in other places, I have the assurance of some gentlemen in Shetland.

ITER II.] ANCIENT WEAPONS OF WAR DISCOVERED IN SHETLAND. 85

have not the least tradition, and this circumstance is a proof of their great antiquity. They
are supposed to have dropped from the clouds, endowed with the power of protecting the
houses in which they are preserved from the effects of thunder ; hence they are commonly
named Thunder-bolts.

The second description of weapons cited in the Fragment of Eccard's Teutonic
Romance of the eighth century, was Ashen or Spears. The extremities of these, which are
formed of stone, have been found in Shetland, although rarely. They are about four
inches long, containing a groove for the adaptation of a wooden shaft.*

The third kind of weapons used in the eighth century, consisted of bows and arrows.
The flint heads of arrows are frequently found in Orkney, indicating that the plains of this
country were frequently sites on which battles with the Scotch were fought. But I am not
prepared to say if such relics ought to be enumerated among the vestiges of the ancient
armoury of Shetland. These arrow-heads are described as having a point of a lozenge-
shape, one end more obtuse and shorter than the other, indicating that it was inserted in
the wood of the shaft, and that the union was completed by the security of a ligature. Mr
Pennant has properly remarked, on the origin of such rude weapons as these, that they
must be referred to the earliest inhabitants, at a petiod in which they were on a level with
the natives of the newly discovered South Sea Islands.

The fourth weapon of attack of the eighth century was the sword, no specimen of which
has probably yet been found in Shetland.! The northern sword or swerd was short, and
frequently crooked like a scymitar, hanging to a little belt, which passed over the right
shoulder. Sometimes a very long sword was used, which went by the name of Spad or
Spada.

Such is the enumeration of the most ancient offensive weapons of the Northmen :
slings and clubs stuck round with sharp instruments were also used.

2d, Defensive Arms.

In the second place, respecting the defensive arms mentioned in the Teutonic
Romance, little may be said ; none of them having been yet discovered in Shetland.
There is the war-shirt or shirt of mail, and the brunie or hauberk, which, as Monsieur Mallet
has remarked, were only for such as were able to procure them. Casques or helmets made
of leather, were worn by private soldiers, but those of the officers were frequently of iron or
of gilded brass. The shield was of an oval form, usually constructed of wood, bark, or
leather \ ; but that which was worn by warriors of distinction, was frequently of iron or brass
variously ornamented : it was also made long, and was used for a protection against arrows,

*' For the representation of a stone spear-head that was found in the island of Foula by the late Mr Low, see Plate of Antiq
in Appen. Fig. 6.

t An ancient weapon was found in the parish of Northmavine, which I have not seen, hut it was pronounced to be a Roman
Pugio.

J A beautiful engraving of the ancient Scandinavian shield, is given in a curious work entitled the Musaum Wormianum.
l>- 37o.

86 BURGH OF MOUSA. [ITER n

darts, and stones ; it is said to have even served the use of a tent, so as to afford a kind of
shelter for the night, and when many of such bucklers were locked together in the form of
a circle, they constituted a rampart.

It may be, lastly, observed, that there is an allusion in the Teutonic Romance to the
defensive Burgh, of which a noble specimen, probably built antecedent to the eighth
century, is next to be considered.*

BURGH OF MOUSA.

I passed along the shore of the open bay of Sandwick, which has been the grave of
many seamen, who, by mistaking it for Bressay Harbour, have suffered all the horrors of
shipwreck upon its exposed shores. In crossing a headland to the east of the Inlet, a small
low island, named Mousa, separated from the Mainland by a narrow strait, first rises to
view : this spot is little diversified with hill and dale ; it contains one good house with out-
buildings and cottages. But the most conspicuous object that lines its shores is the Burgh
of Mousa, a circular building, which, if it did but taper towards its summit, would present
no unapt similitude of a modern glass-house. This ancient fortress stands close to the
water's edge ; by crossing, therefore, in a boat, a narrow channel, little more than half a
mile in breadth, we are landed immediately under its walls.

The Burgh of Mousa occupies a circular site of ground, somewhat more than fifty feet in
diameter, being constructed of middle sized schistose stones of a tolerable uniform magnitude,
well laid together, without the intervention of any cement. This very simple round edifice
attains the elevation of 42 feet ; it swells out, or bulges from its foundation, and draws
smaller as it approches the top, when it "is again cast out from its lesser diameter ;
which singularity of construction is intended to obviate the possibility of scaling
the walls. The door that leads to the open area contained within the structure, is a
small narrow passage, so low that an entrance is only to be accomplished by crawling
upon the hands and knees ; and in creeping through it, the wall appears of the great thick-
ness of 15 feet, naturally leading to the suspicion of a vacuity within. On arriving at the
open circular area included within this mural shell, I found the diameter of the space to be
about 21 feet. On that part of the wall within the court, which is nearly opposite to the
entrance, the attention is excited by a number of small apertures resembling the holes of a
pigeon house. There are three or four vertical rows of them, having each an unequal pro-
portion of openings, varying from eight to eighteen in number. It was now evident that
the mural shell of the structure was hollow, and that it contained chambers, to which these
holes imparted a feeble supply of light and air. Beneath the whole, at a distance from the
ground, there is a door that leads to a winding flight of stone steps, of the width of 3 feet,
which communicates with all these apartments ; I then discovered that the shell of the
Burgh was composed of two concentric walls, each of about 4^ to 5 feet in breadth, and

For additional remarks on the Ancient Weapons of Shetland, see Note S.

ITKR II.]

BURGH OF MOUSA. 87

that a space of nearly a similar dimension was devoted to the construction of the inner
apartments. In ascending these steps, which wound gradually to the top of the wall, I
observed that they communicated at regular intervals with many chambers or galleries, one
above another, that went round the building. These were severally of such a height, that
it was possible to walk within them nearly upright. The roof of the lowest chamber was
the floor of the second, and after this manner seven tiers were raised. On reaching the
highest step of the flight of stairs, there appeared no reason for supposing that any roof had
ever protected the summit of the building, so that the Burgh of Mousa must have been
originally nothing more than a circular mural shell, open to the top. The height of the
inside wall was 35 feet, being 7 feet less than that of the outside ; this difference was partly
owing to the accumulation of stones and earth, which had filled the inner court.

The mode was now evident in which this Burgh had been intended to give security to
the persons and property of the ancient inhabitants of Shetland against the sudden landing
of predatory adventurers. The tiers of apartments contained within the thick walls would
afford a shelter to women and children from the missile weapons of assaulters, besides
being repositaries for grain and other kinds of property, as well as for the stores whereby a
long siege might be sustained. The low narrow door within the court, which admits of no
entrance but in a creeping posture, might be easily secured at a short notice by large blocks
of stone. It has been remarked of the rude forts similar to these which occur on the shores
of Scandinavia, that they were seldom taken by an enemy, unless by surprise, or after a long
blockade : that frequently terraces and artificial banks were raised near that side of the wall,
which was the lowest, and that the besieged were then annoyed with arrows, stones, boiling-
water, or melted pitch, being thrown into the fort ; — offensive weapons which they did not
neglect to return.* The history of the Burgh of Mousa confirms the correctness of this
observation ; its high walls bulging out from their foundation, defied any attempt to scale
them ; for, when they were encompassed by one of the Earls of Orkney, he had no hopes
of inducing the fortress to surrender, but by cutting off all supplies of food, and then
waiting the event of a long siege. Altogether the building was well adapted for resisting
the attacks of the ancient piratical hordes of these seas, who, from the short summers of
Northern latitudes, and from the incapability of their vessels to susta : n a winter's navigation,
durst not allow themselves to be detained on the coast by any tedious operations of assault.

Before quitting the Burgh of Mousa, I endeavoured to explore some of the chambers
belonging to it, but owing to the ruined state of the floors, the attempt was too hazardous.
A lively historian has remarked, that in Scandinavia, such recesses were often devoted in
days of yore to the security of young damsels of distinction, who were never safe while so
many bold warriors were rambling up and down in quest of adventures. It is also
surmised, that galleries like these which ran winding around the walls, were, from the direc-
tion which they took, not unfrequently distinguished by the name of Serpents or Dragons ;
and hence the many allegorical romaunts that were coined concerning princesses of great
beauty being guarded by such monsters. It is unlucky, however, for the historical interest

* Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. i., p. 244.

88 BURGH OF MOUSA. [ITER H

of the Dragon-fortress of Mousa, that within the dismal serpentine windings of its apart-
ments, was confined a damsel past her prime of life, and as well entitled to be "shrined for
her brittleness," as any of the frail ladies worthie of antiquity.* In the fourteenth century,
when, by the rights of udal succession, there were joint Earls of Orkney, Dame Margareta,
the widowed-mother of one of them, listened to the lawless importunity of the gay Brunnius.
Harold, her son, became impatient of the family disgrace, and banished from the islands
his mother's paramour, as well as the illegitimate offspring that were the fruits of the con^
nection. But, in the course of a short time, Dame Margareta's beauties attracted the notice
of a more honourable suitor, who was no other than Harold's partner in the Earldom of
Orkney and Shetland. Erlend profferred love to the Dame, which she returned, but as her
son, from some cause, was averse to the nuptials, the parties entered into a tender engage-
ment without his consent, and afterwards fled from his fury with all speed into Mousa.
Then must Harold needs follow them, his hostile barks sailing in pursuit, as fast as if all the
winds of heaven had driven them ; and then, anon, fled the Dame Margareta and Erlend
into the fort, within the dark recesses of which they nestled like two pigeons in a dove-cot.
The Burgh was beset with troops, but so impregnable was its construction, that the
assaulter found he had no chance of reducing it, but by cutting off all supplies of food,
and by this means waiting the result of a tedious siege. And now turn we to the gentle
pair in the fortress, that we may speak of what pain they must there endure, what cold,
what hunger, and what thirst. In such a dog-hole, — "a conjurer's circle gives content
above it ; — a hawk's mew is a princely palace to it." — But Harold had powerful foes in
other places wherewith to contend, and, on this account, he gave heed to the advice of his
friends, that Erlend should be retained as a friend and not as an enemy, and that he ought
not to despise the new family alliance. A reconciliation took place, and, then, with great
joy, returned the parties to their several pursuits, well satisfied with each other. Such is
the story chronicled by Torfseus, concerning the siege of Moseyaburgum and the loves of
Dame Margareta and Erlend, her last leman.t

On quitting the Burgh of Mousa, I felt no little regret at seeing the ruinous state to
which some parts of it were reduced. The form of the low, narrow porch, which was nearly
entire when Mr Dow saw it about fifty years ago, was much impaired. Mr Stevenson, the
engineer to the Northern Light-houses, in visiting Mousa, had laudably interceded with the
proprietor for the preservation of the structure. But it can scarcely be expected, that an
individual, who may feel little interest in such buildings, should launch out into any
expence, with the view of gratifying occasional visitors to the islands. It is from some
public fund that repairs of this kind ought to be defrayed ; and certainly the integrity of the
Burgh of Mousa deserves to be in Scotland of national interest, since a more perfect
specimen of the earliest description of Teutonic fortresses does not perhaps exist in Europe.

* Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. L, p. 243. The story of King Regner Lodbrog's Slaughter of a Snake, has been sup-
posed to imply that " he had surmounted the winding and misshapen wall of the fortress, in which a lovely virgin was confined."
Sir Walter Scott properly considers this explanation as forced. See his Notes on Sir Tristrem, p. 295.

t See Torfaeus's Rerum Oread. Hist., p. 131. — For a Representation of the Burgh of Mousa, see Plate III., Fig. 2, and Plate
of Antiquities in the Appendix.

ITER II.]

BURROLAND. 89

I am inclined to date the erection of these holds to an early period, long previous to the
arrival of Harold Harfagre. Eccard, indeed, in a specimen of a Teutonic romance of the
8th century, has shewn that they were common at that time ; but from their simplicity of con-
trivance, it is not impossible but that their date might have been some centuries before, and
that some of them in Shetland might have been thrown up by the Saxons, who peopled the
Orcades and were defeated by Theodosius. The name which the Scots gave to these
buildings of Pictish, is scarcely entitled to the smallest degree of notice. The appellation
of Pictish Burghs, or, indeed, the notion that a race under the name of Picts, inhabited
Orkney or Shetland at a remote period, is not attributable to Scandinavian Historians, who
were best acquainted with the history of these islands, but to Scottish writers. The Scots
appear, for several centuries, to have given the name of Pictish to every building, respecting
the origin of which the tradition was lost : hence, a famous Roman Wall in Scotland was
named Pictish. But as another burgh appeared on the opposite shores, though rising
a few yards only above "the surface of the ground, I deferred extending my speculations
on the circumstances connected with the origin of these structures until I had made
additional observations.

BURROLAND.

On sailing across a narrow channel to the Mainland, I arrived at Burroland, or the
Land of the Burgh. This is a defence that seems to have been originally of greater extent
than that of Mousa. The inside diameter of this circular fort is about 48 feet, and it is
formed of concentric walls, each from 10 to 12 feet in width, between which are many
chambers. The fort is situated on a point of rock near the sea, the land-side of which was
originally defended by a stone rampart. Fifty years ago, Mr Low of Orkney detected, in a
situation between the burgh and the extreme point of the rock, numbers of foundations of
small houses, generally 14 feet long, and 6 or 8 wide, with a foot or two of the wall still
standing. He supposed them to have been co-eval with the burgh itself, and to have
formed a sort of huts, to which the inhabitants might fly upon any occasion of common
danger, in order to be safe under the shelter of the burgh. It is, however, doubtful if this
view be strictly correct. There is a greater probability that, buildings not temporary but in-
tended for constant occupation were erected near the burgh, and that originally there was
no small number of inhabitants collected in any place, that were not provided with a fast-
ness of this kind. The name of Burgh or Beorg at first implied nothing more than what is
explained from the Saxon dialect ; — i.e. a place of defence.* But from the circumstance
that a beorg or fortress was an usual appendage to towns, is transmitted to us the name of
Burgh, which, in more modern Saxon, stands for the town itself, f

* Bairgs, a Northern word, and the A. S. Beorg, burg, are explained mons, acervus, munimentum. Thus, the name of Burg
would be given to the site of any rock naturally defended, or to any circular mound or embankment of earth and stones, or to any
regular built structure like the Shetland Burgh.

t It has been properly remarked, that Burgh, as a modern Saxon term, signifies either a castle or market town. — Set
Whittaker's Hist, of Manchester.

90 SANDLODGE.

[ITER II.

The design of the burgh at length became evident. The imagination may easily figure
to itself, on the site of Burroland or the vicinity of Mousa, the first rudiments of a fortified
city. Instead of the stately collonades, the palaces, or the lofty fanes of some modern
city, environed with regular bastions, curtains, ditches and out-works, we may fancy a few
low huts, constructed from rude boulder stones, and protected by roofs of turf, dispersed
in the vicinity of a small circular mural shell that forms the defence of this aboriginal garri-
son town. As the beacon of the hill streams with fire, and an alarm is given that an enemy
is off the coast, the inhabitants fly to secure within the fort the property of their dwellings,
and to prepare for a vigorous defence, whilst the interior of the walls affords an asylum for
helpless women and children.

SANDLODGE.

A short walk of about a mile leads to Sandlodge, the seat of John Bruce, Esq. of
Sumburgh. This is a well built white modern mansion, situated close to the shore,
adjoining to which is a pavement strewed over with the produce of some veins that were
wrought a few years ago. Haematites and bog iron-ore have made the road as black as
Erebus, and caused it to resemble the vicinity of a smelting furnace. The mineralogist will
find some amusement in examining the ores which lie in heaps near the old shafts ; these
have been by Mr Bruce judiciously preserved : — they present satisfactory indications of the
contents of the vein, and may afford a criterion of the hopes to be entertained from any
future prosecution of the mining operations of Sandlodge.*

It is now upwards of twenty years since a party of Welsh miners wrought these veins,
but without advantage ; some time afterwards, in the year 1802, another company under-
took the working of them, who spent nine or ten thousand pounds in the undertaking, but
were still unsuccessful. Brown haematite was a plentiful production of the vein, but copper-
pyrites constituted the object of search : at the surface it was found much mixed with
haematite, but towards the bottom of the mine disseminated in sparry iron-stone. The
scarcity of the ore, when found imbedded in this matrix, and the difficulty of working it,
were stated to be the principal reasons for the abandonment of the undertaking. The
copper-ore, after being washed and dressed, was sent to England, where the best sold for
^70 per ton, and in the course of two years, 470 tons of copper-ore were exported from this
mine to Swansea. Dr Fleming has remarked, that the captain of the mining party did not
seem acquainted either with the composition or value of the sparry ironstone or haematite ;
that the persons who were appointed to conduct the work were ignorant of the art of
working mines, and of the nature and value of the ores they met with ; and that the mine
appeared to deserve the attention of an enterprizing company, under the direction of an
active and intelligent manager. The same gentleman has recommended, that the ore,

* The carbonates of copper obtained from the vein were uncommonly fine ; they were in the form of capillary fibres, radiating
from a centre. I was presented with a specimen of this ore by Mr Bruce, to whose polite attention to me when visiting this
place I am much indebted.

rITFRIL CONINGSBURGH. 9 1

instead of being exported, should be smelted near the mine.*

CONINGSBURGH.

Fiom Sandlodge, I proceeded along the banks of an open inlet of the sea, commanded
by the Cliff Hills, and, after passing by the ruins of an old kirk, came into the parish of
Coningsburgh. The name given to this district was probably antecedent to the conquest of
Shetland by Harold Harfagre, having had an allusion to some Saxon or Scandinavian leader,
bearing the Teutonic title of Cyning, and to some burgh, as of Burroland or Mousa, calcu-
lated to afford, from its contiguity, a ready protection on the approach of an enemy. In
course of time, as the term Burgh expressed a settlement or residence, the fortress being an
essential part of it, the appellation of Conigsburgh would imply the residence of the chief.

After tracing the banks of the small voe of Aith, and losing sight of the mansion of
Sandlodge, a dreary prospect ensued, — -misty hills on the left, and, in perspective heaths
without a shrub, relieved occasionally by groups of cottages, and surrounded with winding
stone-dykes, that were intended to protect from the invasions of cattle, a few patches of lean
and hungry earth, somewhat greener than the desart waste which appeared on every side. Nor
is the hardy race of people named Coningsburghers, that inhabited this district, said to be less
wild than the rugged soil from which they derived their support.! In their form we see few
of the peculiarities of the Norwegian cast : they are less nimble and active than their
neighbours, but they have a more muscular and robust form : they have a harsher set of
features, resembling in this respect the Anglo-Saxons of the north of England, or of
Lothian : they have also a dialect peculiar to themselves, that is more rough and guttural.
A keen antiquary might amuse himself with the speculation, that this people are descended
from the tiibe of Saxons that invested the Orcadian seas so early as the fourth
century in the days of Theodosius ; that they are derived from the original race of
warriors, to whom the erection of the burghs were in some part attributable, and
that their district, in the name which it bears of Coningsburgh, may find a similar
appellation in a town of the north of England contiguous to a Saxon burgh or
fortress. But the Coningsburgher was, about half a century ago, distinguished by anothgr
peculiarity ; — whatever social virtues he might evince to the inhabitants of his own district, he
was to the natives of other parts of Shetland surly and inhospitable. The traveller who, in
the close of evening, might be compelled to supplicate for a night's lodging, met with a
chilling reception, and was awakened at the first dawn of day by a harsh-sounding warning
to depart, expressed in the ancient Shetland language in a sort of formula : — This was,
Myrkin i livra ; lurein i linnga ; timin i guestin i geungna. It is dark in the chimney, but
it is light along the heath ; it is now time for the stranger to be gone. " It thus became a

* I consider the information respecting these mines, during the period in which they were worked, as of such importance, that
I am induced to give the report of them in Note 9 of the present Iter.

t " The peopJe of this small spot," said Mr Low in the year 1778, "are a stout hardy race, by all accounts the wildest in
Shetland."

92 FLADIBISTER TO SCALLOWAY. riTER lL

custom," said Mr Low of Orkney, who has recorded this expression, "when any one wanted
to dismiss a stranger from his house if he staid too long, to recite in Norse the Conings-
burgher's phrase." The natives of this district are still proverbially quarrelsome with the
inhabitants of other places ; for, as I was informed at Lerwick, there is not a fracas that
occurs in the town, in which a Coningsburgher is not prejudged to be a party. If the
archceologist, therefore, can persuade himself that there is sufficient of the blunt, honest,
quarrelsome disposition in this people to identify them with the early Saxons, he has only to
go a step farther, and to make the feud between the Saxon Coningsburghers and the Nor-
wegian inhabitants of Shetland, of as early a date as the arrival in the country of Harold
Harfagre. " Art thou willing to sell thy coat," said Styrkar Stallarius, a Norwegian in the
nth century, "to an Anglo-Saxon churl?" " Not to thee," said the other, "for thou art
perhaps a Norwegian." "And if I were a Norwegian," asked Styrkar, "what wouldst thou
do to me?" "I would be disposed to kill thee," replied the boor.* It is, after all, not a
little curious, that the Coningsburghers should have been traditionally regarded as a distinct
race of people, since they are said to have formerly had many peculiarities among them, by
which they were distinguished from the rest of their countrymen. Far be it, however, from
me to speak of the hospitality of this people at the present day, but with the greatest respect.
On arriving at Fladibister, where a quantity of limestone is burnt for the use of the Town of
Lerwick, an offer of accommodation for the evening met me in the way ; and from the
honest, blunt natives of the place I received a true Saxon Waes had.

FLADIBISTER TO SCALLOWAY.

From Fladibister to Quarf, the road leads for several miles over high banks much
indented by the sea ; these are formed of conglomerate rocks and sandstone, from beneath
which occasionally appeared the outgoings of primitive strata. The prospect was now, if
possible, more dreary than ever. The range of the Cliff Hills still continued to the left, and
below were rocks with a mere uneven surface, which shewed themselves in naked patches
that rose from damp moors and swamps. Such are the too frequent constitutents of
Shetland scenery, — -materials of description well adapted to the stanzas of some Northern
Pastoral, where they may be conveniently mixed up with the sighs of a Shetland Damon :

" O'er desert plains and rushy meers
And wither'd heaths I rove ;
Where tree,, nor spire, nor cot appears,
I pass to meet my love."

After a dreary walk of a few miles, I arrived at Quarf, at which place, avoiding the
road to Lerwick, I followed the course of a deep valley, that divided the ridge of the Cliff

* See this anecdote from Sturleson, in a paper by Dr Jaiuieson, in the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland,
Vol. ii., p. 279.

ITER II.] SCALLOWAY. 93

Hills in a transverse direction, so as to extend from sea to sea. This defile is a little more
than a mile across, and it is rendered convenient for the transportation of goods by land,
from one side of the coast to the other. Arriving at Western Quarf, there is a view of Cliff
Sound, which is a channel of very uniform length that washes the base of the steep westerly
side of the Cliff Hills, and is confined on the other side by the nearly parallel coasts of
House and Trondra Islands. It runs parallel to the course of the strata in as straight a
line as a canal ; and if the banks on each side were but clothed with wood, nothing could
well exceed the beauty of the scene. Taking, therefore, a boat, and sailing along the sound,
there being few objects to enliven the view in this leafless desert, I passed the Island of
Trondra, and approached the stately turreted walls of Scalloway Castle.

SCALLOWAY.

The first view of this town in sailing to it from the south, is exceedingly picturesque.
We come in sight of a fine semicircular harbour, around the sweeping shores of which
numerous cottages, of a better description than common, are grouped. A handsome
modern white house, and extensive garden walls, enliven the head of the bay. Towering
above the whole is the castellated mansion of Scalloway, built in the year 1600. It is a
square formal structure, now reduced to a mere shell, composed of freestone brought from
Orkney, and of the fashion of many houses of a similar date in Scotland ; it is three storeys
high, the windows being of a very ample size; on the summit of each angle of the building
is a small handsome round turret. Entering the mansion by an insignificant door-way, over
which are the remains of a Latin inscription, we pass by an excellent kitchen and vaulted
cellars, whilst a broad flight of steps leads above to a spacious hall; the other chambers,
however, are not large.

Patrick, Earl of Orkney, was the founder of this building. He succeeded to his father,
Earl Robert, in the enjoyment of the estates of Orkney and Shetland about the year 1595,
but he only came into the possession of the Church-lands in the year 1600. Spottiswoode
gives this account of his character: "This Nobleman having undone his estate by riot and
prodigality did seek by unlawful shifts, to repair the same, making acts in his court, and
exacting penalties for the breach thereof, as, if any man was tried to have concealed any
thing that might inferre a pecuniary mulct, and bring profit to the Earl, his lands and goods
were- declared confiscated ; or, if any person did sue for justice before any other Judge than
his deputies, his goods were escheated, or if they went forth of the isle without his license,
or his deputie's, upon whatsoever occasion, they should forfeit their moveables : and, which
of all his acts was held most inhumane, he had ordained, that if any man was tried to
supply or give relief to ships, or any vessels distressed by tempest, the same should be
punished in his person, and fined at the Earl his pleasure."*

About the year 1600, Earl Patrick commenced the erection of Scalloway castle ; and it

* SpottiswooUe's History of the Church of Scotland.

94 SCALLOWAY.

[ITER II.

is scarcely possible to conceive of a more flagrant exercise of oppression than that which
occurred during the execution of this structure. A tax was laid upon each parish in the
country, obliging the Shetlanders to find as many men as were requisite for the building, as
well as provisions for the workmen. The penalty for not fulfilling this requisition was for-
feiture of property. The building was soon perfected ; its turreted walls rising from the
naked shores of Hialtland with all the feudal haughtiness of a regular baronial mansion, —
appearing to mock the humble habitations of the ancient udallers. It was then that Mr
Pitcairn, the minister of the parish of Northmavine in Shetland, said to be a pious and
godly man, came to pay his respects to the lord of the new mansion. After the usual greet-
ings, the Earl desired the minister to compose for him a verse, which might be put upon the
frontispiece of his house. This was an occasion of which the minister availed himself, to
lay before the founder of the new castle of Scalloway the sinful enormity of that overbear-
ing oppression which had enforced its structure. The Earl's wrath was kindled, and in his
rage he threatened the devout pastor with imprisonment ; but afterwards coming to some
composure of spirit, Mr Pitcairn said to him, " Well, if you will have a verse, I shall give
you one from express words of Holy Scripture, — you will find that ' the wise man built his
house upon a rock : and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat upon that house, and it fell not. But the foolish man built his house upon the sand ;
and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house,
and it fell, and great was the fall of it.' What think you, then, of this inscription : That
house which is built upon a rock shall stand, — but built upon the sand it will fall ! " Strange
to add, Earl Patrick heard with appearant composure the pious man's insinuation of the
sort of foundation upon which his habitation was erected ; but pretending not to receive
the motto in its moral sense, he applied it to his building in such literal terms as might
express his disregard of the prophetic words of Scripture ; — for, with that happy
effrontery which habituated guilt with ease assumes, he honoured the inscription with his
approval, as denoting the reason why he had abandoned the house which he had possessed
upon the sandy shores of Sumburgh : " My father's house was built upon the sand ; its
foundations are already giving way, and it will fall ; but Scalloway castle is constructed upon
a rock, and will stand." Mr Pitcairn was now required to convert the inscription, which in
the spirit of zealous reproof he had proposed, into a suitable Latin distich, and this was
immediately labelled on the lintel-stone of the gate :

PATRICIUS STEUARDUS, Orcadian et Zetlandire
COMES, I. V. R. S.

Cujus fundamen saxum est, Dom. ilia manebit,

Labilis e contra, si sit arena perit.

A.D. 1600.

iter II.] SCALLOWAY. 95

Many of these letters can be traced over the door of Scalloway castle at the present
day.*

Although the imprisonment of Earl Patrick, and the forfeiture of his estate, seem to
have followed a representation to the King of his abuses, yet the disgraceful termination of
his career is suspected to have resulted from the plots laid to ensnare him by the Earl of
Caithness. An ancestor of this Nobleman had, in the year 1529, invaded Orkney, with the
illegal design of interposing himself between the King and the udallers, as the superior of
the lands of the country, in which attempt he was secretly countenanced by the Crown ;
but being defeated and slain, an implacable enmity to Orkney, and to all who might sway
that province, was perpetuated among the Sinclairs for several generations. On this account,
the Earl of Caithness lost no opportunity to offer Earl Patrick ever)' indignity which, among
those who profess the principles of chivalry, could not pass unresented, but at the penalty
of dishonour. Some of the Earl of Orkney's servants, whilst navigating the Pentland Firth,
had been obliged to land in Caithness, on account of contrary winds and stormy weather.
The Earl of Caithness, with insincere professions of hospitality, invited them all within his
walls ; — he treated them with the best cheer in his house ; — encouraged their carousals until
they had drunk themselves into a state of intoxication ; he then ordered that one side of
their beards, and one side of their heads should be shaved, and as soon as they shewed
signs of returning sobriety, he forced them to again commit themselves to the storm which
was unsubsided. "This was a cryme," said the genealogist of the Sutherland Family, "the
lyk whereof I never heard or read of before ; onely one example I doe remember : the
servants of David, King of Israel, were so intreated by Hannum, King of the Children of
Amnion. The Earle of Catteynes thus farr exceided Hannum, that the Earle, not satisfied
with what himself had done, he forced the Earle of Orknay his servants to take the sea in
such a tempest, and exposed them to the extremitie of the rageing waves ; whereas Hannum
suffered King David his servants to depart home quietlie after he had abused them."
These poor men are said to have escaped the storms of the Pentland Firth, whicb, in the
best of weathers, is rarely calm, with great difficulty. When the Earl of Orkney came to
hear of this indignity committed against the servants of his house, he complained of it to
the King ; — the King referred the transaction to his council ; — the council shewed an
undisguised reluctance to the discussion of an affair which they might think required among
men of honour the private satisfaction of the sword ; and thus, when the two Earls came to
Edinburgh, ready to inform against each other, mutual friends intervened, so that the result
of the mediation is said to have been, that the recriminators "agreed all their private
quarrels, lest they should reveal too much of either's doings."

About this time the distresses of the udallers became so insupportable, that, notwith-
standing the strict guard which was placed over all ferries, so as to prevent any complaints
of tyranny and oppression reaching the royal ear, a few Shetlanders made their escape,
attired in the usual skincoat garbs of the country, and in this dress found their way to the

* This inscription is copied from Mr Gifford's Zetland. Ihe story of Earl Patrick's interview with Mr Pitcaim will be found
in Brand's Zetland. With the reason assigned by Earl Patrick for placing Mr Pitcairn's motto on his walls, Brand was not
acquainted.

96 SCALLOWAY.

[ITER II.

Court of James, and submitted to him, with true native eloquence, the oppressed condition
of their country. Their complaints met with attention ; and soon afterwards a representa-
tion from the whole of the inhabitants of Orkney and Shetland was forwarded, through the
Bishop of those islands, to the Monarch. King James directed a formal investigation,
the result of which was, that the Earl was committed to the Castle of Edinburgh,
where he lay for two years, and afterwards to Dumbarton, where he was imprisoned
for three years longer. It was then that he heard of his castles in Orkney and
Shetland being surrendered to the Sheriff, and that he was ready to commit any act of
desperation for their recovery. In this mood, it appears that he resigned himself to the
councils of a treacherous servant attending upon his person, of the name of Hacro, who,
there is reason to suspect, was bribed by the Earl of Caithness to lay a snare for his master,
by which he might be induced to commit some act of treason that would lead him to the
scaffold ; for so deadly at that period was the enmity of the Sinclairs to the Earls of Orkney,
that it was only to be satisfied by their blood. Earl Patrick, at the persuasion of his
servant, directed his secretary to write a letter to his natural son Robert, urging him to raise
a party in his behalf, for the purpose of regaining his castles. The youth, from an excess of
filial duty, complied with the request, and, accompanied with the insidious Hacro, contrived
to secure in his interest a few dissolute fellows, by whose means he surprised the Castle of
Birsay, and placed in it a garrison of thirty persons. The surrender of Kirkwall followed.
"When news of this transaction came to Edinburgh, the Earl of Caithness, who was then in
that City, laboured much to obtain the command of the party proposed to quell it : assign-
ing, among other reasons for volunteering the service, " that he might thereby be equal with
such injuries as the Earl had done unto him before, and to revenge old quarrels upon the
inhabitants of Orkney, for killing his great-grandfather." This Nobleman was entrusted
with a few soldiers and some pieces of ordnance ; and setting sail from Leith, in company
with the Bishop of Orkney, he landed at Kirkwall, where he was soon afterwards joined by
a much larger force of his own men from Caithness. Robert Stuart was now deserted by
all his followers with the exception of fifteen men, and his attendant Hacro, the same
faithless wretch, who, after having instigated the Earl of Orkney to treason, was now urging
the son to surrender at discretion. But the gallant youth resisted this importunity, and was
determined to outbrave the large force of the Earl of Caithness drawn out against him in
battle array. First, the steeple and church of Kirkwall were beseiged, which Robert Stuart
had fortified : these he abandoned, in order to concentrate the whole of his small force
within the castle. This fortress was now manfully assaulted ; many hundred shot were
levelled at it in vain ; but so well directed was the fire of the Orkney Leonidas, that
numbers of the Earl of Caithness's men are reported to have fallen ; one soldier was shot in
the act of drinking a health in mockery of the besieged. But, unfortunately for Robert
Stuart, Hacro, the Judas of the party, was secretly encouraging his comrades, by the hopes
of reward and pardon from the Earl of Caithness, to betray their master into the power of
his foes. The youth heard of the meditated treason ; and, sooner than be delivered bound
by the hands of the wretch Hacro, he made a voluntary surrender of his person to the
enemy. He was then conveyed to Edinburgh, in order to be confionted with his father,

ITER ii.] SCALLOWAY. 97

who was suspected to be accessory to the plot. Afterwards both Earl Patrick and his son
were brought to trial, and on the evidence of Hacro and the Earl's secretary, they were con-
demned to suffer death. Robert Stuart was then conducted to the Market-cross of
Edinburgh, and there executed. The similar punishment which was intended for the father,
was deferred a little time longer, on the recommendation of the clergy, who had reported
him as taking the sentence with great impatience, and as refusing all their proffered exhor-
tations. At the expiration, therefore, of a month, when it was supposed that his mind
would be better resigned to death, he was brought to the scaffold, guarded by the Magis-
tiates of Edinburgh, and, in the sight of a numerous concourse of people, beheaded.*

Such was the fate of Earl Patrick Stuart, and with him terminated the sway of the
Scottish Earls of Orkney and Lords of Zetland. The misrule of this spurious brood from
the royal stock of the Stuarts, remains traditionally current at the present day, and it is
mentioned with no other sentiment than that of horror. What Orkney and Shetland were
during the tyranny of the Stuarts, cannot be better depicted than in the great poet's descrip-
tion of a similar lot, which had once befallen the country from which these oppressors,
armed with illegal authority, had issued.

-Alas, poor country ;

Almost afraid to know itself ! It cannot

Be call'd our mother, but our grave : where nothing

But who knows nothing is seen once to smile ;

Where sighs, and groans, and shrieks that rent the air,

Are made not mark'd ; where violent sorrow seems

A modern ecstacy : the dead man's knell

Is there scarce ask'd, for whom ; and good men's lives

Expire before the flowers in their caps,

Dying, or ere they sicken."!

Since the death of Earl Patrick, no regular inhabitant has ever dwelt within the walls
of Scalloway Castle. The house was allowed to fall gradually into decay ; and thus the
prophetical denunciation over the gate, indicative of the fate of that building which could
not boast the solid basis of justice, was strictly fulfilled. For no longer a period than five or
six years did these chambers resound with the licentious merriment of this worst of op-
pressors j and now no revelry is heard within the castle but that which proceeds from the
discordant screams of the foul birds of rapine, that build their nests upon its mouldering
walls.

The night coming on, I looked out for the small public house of the village, which
having entered, I found my way up stairs with difficulty, through a passage darkened with
fumes outbreaking from the kitchen. Here was a modest quadrangle, — a bed in the
corner of it, — a chearful peat fire, — and a delightful view of the bay from the window : — the

• Robert Stuart was executed on the ist January 1615, and Earl Patrick Stuart was brought to the scaffold on the 6th of
February following. The narrative concerning this last Earl of Orkney is chiefly derived from the Genealogy of the Earls of
Sutherland, p. 299 to 301, and from Spottiswoode's History of the Churrh of Scotland, p. 520 and 521.

t Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 3.

98 TINGWALL.

[ITER II.

bill of fare consisted of sillocks newly caught, of a hamrasher, tea and eggs ; whilst the
attention of the family to their guests could not be exceeded. Such is the cheer which the
weary traveller may expect from the comfortable hostel of Scalloway :

" — — ■ — ■ It is none

Of those wild, scatter'd heaps calPd Inns, where scarce
The host is heard, tho' he wind his horn t' his people.
Here is a competent pile, wherein the man,
Wife, servants, all do live within the whistle."*

Before leaving this vicinity, I was favoured by Mr Scott, the laird of the place, from
whom I received many civilities, with a sight that was in this country a rarity ; opening the
door of a high garden-wall, a plantation of trees burst upon my view. — I had not seen a
twig before in Shetland. But so cutting are the winds of this climate, that no plant be-
longing to the Hyperborean Grove of Scalloway could rise higher than the shelter of the
garden-wall ; one tree, eighty years old, and five feet in circumference, was a sycamore ;
another, of healthy growth, was fourteen years old ; there was also an elm well protected,
that was 20 feet high j but planes afforded the best promise.

TINGWALL.

North from Scalloway, I entered the Valley of Tingwall, flanked on the east by the
Cliff Hills, and by a less steep parallel ridge on the west. The first object that encounter
the traveller's notice is a tall unhewn monumental stone, regarding which there are several
uncertain traditions. It is said to have been erected in commemoration of a Danish
General who was slain in this place, whilst endeavouring to reduce the Norwegian colonists
of Shetland to some sort of obedience ; others have connected this stone of memorial with
the story of a son of one of the Earls of Orkney, who having incurred his father's dis-
pleasure, had fled to a strong-hold in the holm of a contiguous loch named Strom. The
Earl sent four or five men to Shetland, charging them to bring back the fugitive to Orkney,
dead or alive ; the party met with him in the Vale of Tingwall, fought with him, slew him,
cut off his head, and laid it before the feet of his father, who, upon recovering from his
wrath, was so little gratified with the implicit obedience which had been paid to his un-
natural command, that he ordered the perpetrators of the foul deed to instant execution,
and afterwards erected a stone upon the spot where the slaughter had been committed.!

In the Vale of Tingwall there is a bed of limestone of considerable width, which has
communicated to the soil above it a remarkable degree of richness ; and in this parish
an improved state of agriculture has been introduced, chiefly through the exertions of
the intelligent minister of the parish. I now approached the bank of a pellucid loch, which

* Beaumont and Fletchers' Love's Pilgrimage.
t Brand's Zetland, p. 122.

lTER n#] ANCIENT JURISDICTION OF SHETLAND. 99

watered the valley, and soon arrived at the northerly extremity of it, where was the church
of Tingwall, a plain modern building. Close to it were the remains of an old kirk, which
was once ornamented with a steeple ; but little more than the foundation stones now
remain. In the church-yard I observed several ancient monuments covered with lichens
and moss. One inscription was very legible ; it was to the memory of a Foude of Tingwall,
who lived at the period when the udallers were most oppressed ; but the stone records
nothing more than that he was "An honest Man ;" and this is saying a great deal for a Shet-
land judge, who lived in a period unparalleled for misrule and oppression.* The court where
the Chief Magistrate of Shetland issued out his decrees, was in a small holm at the head of
the adjoining loch, from which there was a communication to the shore by means of large
stepping-stones. But this site of the ancient law-ting of Shetland will be contemplated with
more interest, when associated with a knowledge of the Jurisdiction of the country, before
this open law-court was removed to some covered hall at Scalloway.

ANCIENT STATE OF THE JURISDICTION OF SHETLAND, DURING THE SUBSISTENCE OF THE
LAW-COURT OF THINGVALLA OR TINGWALL.

When, in the 9th century, colonists from Norway peopled Iceland, their first object was
to erect at the place where they landed a temple to the God Thor, which served alike for
religious and juridical purposes; but at a later period, when Christianity had forbidden the
reverence that had been paid to the deified heroes of the Edda, legislative convocations
were held at a place called Thingvalla, on the shores of a salt-water lake. It is not a little
remarkable, that the same sequence of events took place at Shetland. Harold landed at a
bay now named Haroldswick, situated at the Island of Unst ; and on the adjoining promon-
tory appears a Scandinavian temple which the early colonists erected, that has from time
immemorial been named the House or Seat of Justice ; but at a later period, the Provincial
Assembly of Shetland held their meeting in a valley on the small holm adjoining the shore
of a fresh water lake, which site, like the Icelandic place of convocation, had the appellation
given to it of Thingvalla, now corrupted into the name of Tingwall.

It is a character of the Scandinavians who, in the 9th century, colonized Iceland, Feroe,
and the islands to the north and west of Scotland, that they had no sooner taken possession
of a country, than they immediately proceeded to elect Magistrates, and to give their
government a regular form ; the whole appearing, as Monsieur Mallet has emphatically re-
marked, to settle as without any effort. After Harold Harfager had visited Shetland, and
subdued the pirates that had infested the shores of Scandinavia, colonizing the country at
the same time with subjects attached to his own cause, he extended his sway over the three
provinces of Orkney, Caithness and the Hasbudae. There is reason to suppose, that to each
of these four provinces a separate juridical establishment was allotted, and that the whole of
these conquered tracts were, like Iceland divided into four quarters or Fiordungar.f

* The inscription runs : — " Here lies an honest man, Thomas Boyne, sometime Foude of Tingwall."
t Von Troil's Letters on Iceland, p. 71.

IOO ANCIENT JURISDICTION OF SHETLAND. [ITER n

Shetland was named for many centuries a Foudtie, this being a word that was probably the
corruption of some term like that which the Scandinavians of Iceland used to denote one of
their four prefectures. It was also not unusual among the Scandinavians to divide a Pre-
fecture into five Bailywicks.* Accordingly, the same number of districts for the controul of
an inferior foude or bailiff was formed in Shetland ; and whilst the court of Tingwall was
devoted to the general jurisdiction of the Great Foude or Lagman, five other tings in
different parts of the country were intended for the decision of district causes. But in the
course of time, when Shetland became subject to Scotland, a Magistrate was appointed to
each parish ; so that, instead of five districts of jurisdiction, there were in later years ten.

The municipal laws that were directed to the good order of each district, were framed
at a general convocation of the householders of the country, that was held in the law-ting ;
and this practice of legislating in the law-tings of Orkney and Shetland subsisted so
late as the year 1670. Besides this general assembly, each small district of inhabitants
formed itself into a legislative community, and as no other kind of punishment was in-
flicted for minor offences except fines, it was probably from this source, aided by taxation,
that distress was removed, when arising from causes that were inevitable. Thus, in
Scandinavia, when any man's house was burnt down, or when a stock of cattle was lost by
contagion, the bailiff taxed each citizen according to his substance ; and, in order to prevent
any abuse of such resources of indemnification, no man was entitled to a vote in the
municipal assemblies of the country, who had failed in honour upon any occasion, or was
too poor.f In the commencement of the 17th century, all the ancient law-books of
Shetland were destroyed, and a newer municipal code, under the name of the Country Acts
of Shetland, was passed at the general Legislative Meetings of the Law-ting, which was
intended for the preservation of good and orderly neighbourhood (as it was called), in each
district ; by these laws, punishments were inflicted on the dissolute, lands were preserved
from trespasses, the equity of commercial dealings was protected, and means were provided
for searching out or securing offenders, whose crimes it was necessary to submit to the
proper tribunals of the country.

When the householders of a district were assembled, they were empowered to select
ten or twelve respectable individuals out of their number, to serve the offices of Rancelmen.
The mode of election, which probably differs little from that which existed before the time
of Earl Patrick, is to be collected from the ancient Country Acts of Shetland. The clerk
of the court read a list of such honest men in the parish as were proper for the office, and
these individuals were severally asked if they were willing to serve in it. If any of them,
without assigning a sufficient reason, refused the appointment, he was liable to the penalty
of ^10 Scots. The office of the Rancelman was of a very miscellaneous kind. In the
first place, he was intended to be the guardian of the domestic morals of the district, being
(as the act specifies,) entrusted with the power of inspecting the manners of others ; — he
was to inquire into the lives and conversations of families, to prevent all quarrels and

* Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. i., p. 174.
t Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. i., p. 175.

ITERII-] ANCIENT JURISDICTION OF SHETLAND. IOI

scolding, and to levy penalties for cursing and swearing ; in every case he was to be an
exhorter, and if the parties offending did not obey his recommendation, they were to
become liable to judicial interference of a more serious kind. Secondly, The Rar.tdi.imn
was to be the guardian of the religion of the district ; he was to narrowly inquire who sat at
home from the kirk on the sabbath day, and from diets of catechising, and to )-evy ;
accordingly. Thirdly, He was to be the guardian of the commercial dealings of the parish ;
he was to see that all tradesmen made sufficient work, and did not impose upon their
customers. Fourthly, He was made inspector of the agriculture of the parish ; he was to
oversee the building of dikes, to punish for trespasses on land, to try the merits of sheep
dogs, &c. Fifthly, He was to be a steward for landlords ; he was to report to them when
tenants abused their lands and demolished their houses. Sixthly, He was to punish idle
vagabond persons, and to take charge of the poor. Seventhly, He was to inform against all
persons using any manner of witchcraft, charms, or any abominable or devilish superstitions,
that they might be brought to condign punishment ; and, lastly, He was to be the general
thieftaker ; he had the power of entering any house within the district, in quest of stolen
goods ; which last office was named Rancelling.

Along with the appointment of rancelmen, a Lawrightman was selected in each district
for the regulation of weights and measures. " He was an honest man," said Mr Gifford,
"whose business it was to weigh and measure the rent-butter and oil, and to determine its
proper quality, and if found insufficient, to return it as not receivable : he was sworn to do
justice, and to keep just weights and measures."*

In ancient Scandinavia, and originally, perhaps, in its colonies, it was customary at
popular assemblies to appoint a bailiff for each district, who was to be a person distin-
guished for prudence, and possessed of a certain income in land, for fear his poverty should
expose him to contempt or corruption. Judicial officers of this kind were chosen in Shetland,
but when the country was annexed to Scotland, the appointment of them was given to
some superior of the lands, or farmer of the Crown revenues. In early times, each bailiff
of Shetland was known by the name of Foude ; this appellation being given to any law
officer who presided at a court.! The foude of a division, or bailiff convoked, in later
times, two courts in the course of the year, at which all the respectable householders of a
district were required to be present. J Here the laws or Country Acts, which directed the
foude's decrees, were first read over ; the foude or bailiff then proceeded to try such causes
as were brought before him ; but, as Mr Gifford has remarked, " he was only a judge in
small matters, such as keeping good neighbourhood, and could decern in no cause above
;£io value."

It is difficult to collect the practice of the tribunals of Shetland at an earlier period
than the close of the 16th, or commencement of the 17th century. It is evident, that the
extensive yet dangerous authority with which the rancelmen were arrayed, had no other

* For the ancient directions to the Rancelmen, see Note 10.

t Dr Jamieson has observed, in his Etym. Diet, that he has seen no satisfactory conjecture on the origin of the word Foude,
which is the same as the Su. G. fogde, praefectus, and Germ. vogd.

t The periods at which they were held in later times were at Martinmas and Michaelmas. — Gifford's Zetland, p. 47.

102 ANCIENT JURISDICTION OF SHETLAND. [ITER II.

object than to prevent many causes from coming in a regular shape before the court of the
District-Foude or bailiff, and the law-ting of the Great Foude, that could be settled in a
more private way. Each rancelman was considered as a domestic arbiter in all the disputes
of his district; but when charges came before him in which he could not interfere, he
reported <lrem r to the District-Foude, who, if they came within his jurisdiction, submitted
them before a court of householders ; and in passing judgment, he was assisted by the opin-
ion of the whole assembled rancelmen and the lawright-man.

Over the decrees of the subordinate foude or bailiff was placed the controul of the
Great Foude or Lagman, to whose superintendence was entrusted the whole of the jurisdic-
tion of the foudrie of Shetland. It is remarked by Mallet of the Lagman of Scandinavia,
that he had a power of reversing all the sentences pronounced by inferior judges throughout
the island, of annulling their ordinances, and even of punishing them, if the complaints
brought against them were well-founded.* It is curious that a similar controul was vested,
about the commencement of the 18th century, with the Steward-depute of the country, in
whom the functions of the lagman were, up to this period, continued. Mr Gifford has
distinctly stated, that "the bailiff was obliged to keep a court-book, wherein all causes
brought before his court were recorded ; which book must be produced to the Steward-
depute, [the successor of the Great Foude,] when called for at his circuit-courts. If the
book was regularly kept, and nothing amiss in it, then it was approven, otherwise the bailiff
was enjoined to amend what was amiss, or to lose his commission. "f

The Lagman or Great Foude of Shetland anciently administered justice in conformity
to the precepts of some law-book derived from Scandinavia. When Shetland was first
colonized by the Norwegians, it would be governed by the laws which were in force in the
mother country ; and it was customary in Scandinavia to collect these under the form of a
book, when it acquired the name of The Book of the Law. It is perfectly certain, from the
testimony of Torfseus, that such a book existed in Orkney and Shetland at a very early date,
and there is an allusion to it in many legal documents that are preserved of the decrees of
the lagman. An able investigator into the antiquities of these islands, has shewn, that
when, in the year 1575, Lord Robert Stuart was indicted by an udaller for ousting him out
of his inheritance, having by a packed jury seized upon it for himself, Mr John Sharpe, the
solicitor to the defendant, who had endeavoured to skreen this act of injustice under the
peculiarity of the laws of the country, was ordered by the Regent and Council assembled,
" to bring and produce the Book of the said Law, together with the process and sentence
pronounced be the said assize before them." And in an entry in the records of the Privy
Council of Scotland, dated August 23, 1602, against Adam Sinclair of Brow, who was con-
cerned in the slaughter of Matthew Sinclair of Ness, the assize is said to have taken " long
and mature deliberation, be the inspection of the chapturis of the Law-buik, and practicks
of the country in such case." J It thus appears that there was not a decree recorded with-

* Mallet's Northern Antiq., vol. i., p. 179.
t Gifford's Zetland, p. 46 and 47.

X These cases have been collected by the author of the Grievances of Orkney, &c, from the records of the Privy Council of
Scotland, and from Lord Haddington's Collections of the Minutes of Parliament.

[ITER „. ANCIENT JURISDICTION OF SHETLAND. IO3

out reference to some chapter in the Scandinavian Law-book.

Of the particular code of laws which were in use in Shetland, we learn little more than
from tradition. The oldest Norwegian Collection is attributable to Haco, the foster-
son of Athelstan, the English King, who appears, in the year 940, to have been the
first legislator who promulgated a regular code, and new-modelled the laws. This code
was afterwards amended by Olafus, King of Norway, who in the year 1014, introduced
into Orkney and Shetland the Christian religion, and with it, probably, his new and milder
decrees; for, so late as the 18th century, the Shetlanders were accustomed to boast that
their laws had been received from St Olla, of whom they were said to have reported strange
things in their songs they had of him, called vissacks.* But there is no doubt, that several
of the later alterations of St Olla's code were admitted into the law-tings of Orkney and
Shetland. Some enactments respecting sheep are ascribed to Hagen, Duke of Norway, and
son to King Magnus ; and Torfseus remarks, that although Norwegian laws originally
prevailed in these islands, they were afterwards intermixed with Danish statutes. During
the tyrannical sway of Patrick, Earl of Orkney, the law-book of Orkney and Shetland
disappeared for ever ; and other edicts were in subsequent times derived from Scotland.

The Prefect or Lagman of Shetland, in presiding at the great Legislative Assemblies
which were held in the country, and at those courts where the result of the trial involved
the life or death of the party accused, was assisted by counsellors, who had the name of
Raadmen given to them, from the Scandinavian word raeti, signifying right ; their business
being to see that justice was done according to law. Accordingly, it was by the united
sanction of the Raadmen and Great Foude that all decrees of the court were confirmed,
with the exception of cases involving the life and death of the accused. The criminal might
then make a popular appeal to the general convocation of Udallers, who were assembled to
take part in the decision. In the functions of the Raadmen there was a great resemblance
to those of a Jury ; indeed they appear to have been allied to the compurgators of Scandi-
navia, who, as Sir Walter Scott has observed, "were at first a kind of witnesses, that, upon
their general knowledge of the character of the accused, gave evidence of his being
incapable of committing the crime imputed, but gradually obtained the character of Judges,
who formed their opinion upon the evidence of others adduced in their presence." An
illustration of the functions of the compurgators appears in the same author's abstract of the
Eyrbiggia-saga, where " Geirrida is cited to a popular assembly and accused of witchcraft ;
but twelve witnesses or compurgators having asserted upon their oath the innocence of the
accused party, Geirrida was honourably freed from the accusation brought against her."f
But it appears that the number of Raadmen in Shetland and Orkney was not restricted to
twelve. A criminal was ordered to be brought to trial in a law-ting held July 5, 1604,
when there sat with the Lagman twenty-two assistants. In the year 1514, a sale of land was

* Sir Robert Sibbald's Zetland, p. 42.

t Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 484. Mons. Mallet is evidently mistaken in the character of the ancient compur-
gators, when he speaks of the ridiculous practice of "obliging the accused to produce a certain number of persons called
Compurgators, not that these men had, or were supposed to have any knowledge of the affair in question, but they were simply
to swear that they were persuaded the accused spoke true." Sir Walter Scott's view of the Compurgators of Scandinavia, whom
I suppose to be identified with the Raadmen of Orkney and Shetland, is much more correct.

104 ANCIENT JURISDICTION OF SHETLAND. [ITER II.

confirmed by a lawman and thirteen assistants ; not unfrequently, however, the number
was that of an English Jury.*

The great Foude or Lagman, in dispensing justice, made an annual circuit round the
Mainland of Shetland, for the purpose of presiding at the lesser law-tings of each separate
district. In his route, he came attended with a large retinue, composed of Raadmen,
and other members of his court. At these tings he heard appeals from the inferior courts
of subordinate Foudes or Bailiffs ; he revoked unjust decrees, and sat in judgment upon all
causes, except those upon which depended the life or death of the accused. The custom
of making circuits round parishes once a-year, was continued long after the law-tings were
abolished, even to the period when the office of the lagman was given to a steward-depute.
Mr Gifford, who wrote in the year 1733, has remarked, that " the steward-depute having no
salary, could not afford to be at the charge of travelling through the country with such a
retinue as all the members of the court made out, and therefore these circuit-courts were
much laid aside."!

After these remarks, we may now visit the Law-ting, and with the aid of a lively
imagination, suppose the whole of the udallers of Shetland to be in the act of assembling
from different parts of the country, for the purpose of attending the general convocation of
Tingwall : — being mounted on the hardy race of animals known by the name of Shelties.
They first halt at the houses on the east side of the loch, where persons are appointed to
tether their horses, and to undertake the charge of them ; for the loss and trouble of which
the occupiers were declared to be free from the usual impost of scat. J An immense crowd
is now assembled on the edge of the lake ; adjoining to them the holm is situated, not more
than thirty yards in diameter, which is separated from the land by a shallow channel, and is
reached by the aid of a few stepping-stones. This site is destined for the reception of the
Great Fcude, his raadmen cr counsellors, the recorder, the witnesses, and other members of
the court. The people stand on the outside of the ting, and on the side of the loch. The
President and his Recorder pass through the crowd, trace their way over the stepping-stones,
and seat themselves on the large stones of the holm, followed by the raadmen, the whole
turning their faces to the east. "We must turn our faces to the east," was the expression of
the ancient Scandinavian Lagman, " and pray unto Christ to grant us good tide and peace,
that we may keep our land without travail ; and our King, the Lord of our land, with health
and grace ; may he be our friend and may we be his friend for evermore."^ — At such a
Legislative Assembly, or little Parliament, municipal laws were made, the last of which were
the ancient Country Acts of Shetland ; causes were determined according to the Law-book
of Norway, the business of the Foude being to expound the statutes, in which he was
assisted by his raadmen or counsellors. It was also the office of the Foude to pronounce

* See Grievances of Orkney and Zetland, p. 8 to 13, and Appendix.

t GifTord's Zetland, p. 46.

J "The udallers coming all on horse-back," says Mr Gifford, "had their horses grazed in the neighbourhood thereof, for
which the proprietors of Griesta and Astar (two adjoining rooms or towns) were bound to make up their damage, for which one
had the scat of some lands in Wiesdale, and the other the scat of Quarf, and half the scat of Coningsburgh." — Gifford's Zetland.

Essay on Ancient Laws of Scandinavia, Edinburgh Review, No. 67, p. 179.

m;R1I] ANCIENT JURISDICTION OF SHETLAND. IO5

the sentence ; and there is reason to suppose that the law-book, the pious work of St Olave,
was regarded with a reverence that generally ensured a righteous decree. In the year 15 19,
remarks the author of the Grievances of Orkney, the High Foude or Lagman, in order to
give a sacied and venerable authority to his sentence, confirmtd it "be the fayth of the law-
buik," as now-a-days men confirm their testimony by the faith of the holy Gospels.* In
cases where the criminal was capitally convicted, it was allowed him to appeal to the voice
of the people ; and the mode in which this was accomplished, still the lively subject of tradi-
tion, bears reference to a period antecedent to the introduction of Christianity. When the
Scandinavians colonized Iceland, and erected a place of justice on Helgafels or the Holy
Mount where the popular assemblies were held, this place, being dedicated to Thor, was
esteemed so sacred, that it was not to be defiled by blood : a neighbouring rock was
appointed for the performance of any indispensable act that might be considered of a
polluted nature. In like manner, at the Island of Unst in Shetland, where the first legisla-
tive convocation was held, the place of execution for any criminal who submitted to the
decree of the Foude, was on the summit of a high hill named Hanger-Hugh : and if any
accused person, after hearing the sentence of the Lagman, was desirous to appeal to the
voice of the People, he was allowed to pass uninjured from without the precincts of the site
that was considered hallowed. A sanctuary was then fixed at a certain distance, the escape
to which depended upon the will of the people. If the popular voice did not accord with
the sentence of the Foude, the accused was allowed to reach it unhurt, and his life was
afterwards protected. But if the popular indignation was against him, he was pursued on
his way to the sanctuary, and any one, before he reached it, might put him to death. This
practice was continued in Shetland subsequently to the introduction of Christianity ; and
when the Legislative convocation held at Unst was removed to the distant holm ofTingwall,
the mode in which a condemned person might make an appeal to the people, was still pre-
served. Mr Brand, in the year 1700, heard the familiar traditional report which is still
current, " that when any person received sentence of death upon the holm, if afterwards he
could make his escape through the crowd of people standing on the side of the loch without
being apprehended, and touch the steeple of the church of Tingwall, the sentence of death
was retrieved, and the condemned obtained an indemnity.!

Such are the particulars which may be collected respecting the ancient Jurisdiction
of Shetland. The account is very imperfect, owing to the scanty documents and traditions
on the subject which are preserved ; but that a favourable view is presented of the civil
polity of the ancient Norwegian colonists of this country can be scarcely denied. "When
we read of Scandinavia," says an eloquent writer on the ancient laws of this region of
Europe, " it seems involved in a perpetual snow-storm. Its inhabitants are pictured in our
imagination, as a race of stern and barbarous warriors, intent only upon war and plunder ;
yet, according to their polity, the members of the community were knitted together by the
closest social bonds. Moral duties were enforced by the penalties of the law, which came

* Grievances of Orkney, &c, p. 6.

t Brand's Description of Zetland, p. 122.

106 TINGWALL TO LERWICK. [ITER II.

in aid of the precepts and dictates of friendship, of charity, and of natural affection."*

TINGWALL TO LERWICK.

Having left the fertile vale of Tingwall I began to ascend the Cliff Hills to the east of
it, and observed what was a real novelty in the country, — a regular paved road, cut across
a thick bed of peat moss, and leading to Lerwick, a distance of four miles. The execution
of this work is attributable to two private gentlemen, who, several years ago, were at the
expence of opening a communication from Lerwick across the Cliff Hills to their estates.
If these spirited individuals had lived in Roman days, they would have been honoured at
their death by an apotheosis, as being among the earliest promoters of civilization. But,
seeing that the Lares viales of Hialtland, whom the Agricultural Society of the country are
invoking, meditate another march as far south as Fladibister, as far west as Wiesdale, and
as far north as Yell Sound, it is pleasant to contemplate, in the very distant perspective of
two or three centuries, when the resources of Shetland for its fisheries may be better known,
the gradual effects which will be produced by the new roads, which are intended to connect
different parts of the country : — the little shelties, loaded on each side with panniers or
cassies, may give place to heavy draught horses imported from Lothian, and dragging
behind them a ponderous car : — along the new line of road, convenient quays may adorn
the numerous voes which intersect the islands : — at length may arise populous towns, when
new and more expensive communications between them will be projected.

" Lo ! ray'd from cities o'er the brighten'd land,
Connecting sea to sea, the solid road.
Lo ! the proud arch (no vile exactor's stand)
With easy sweep bestrides the chafing flood."

Thomson on Liberty.

Such is the dream which may be excited by the solitary paved road of four miles that
leads to Lerwick. After passing the head of a long inlet of sea named Dale's Voe, the last
eminence which I ascended was cut through mud exhausted mosses, where nothing was to
be seen but a few sheep employed in grazing the scanty herbage of the hills. The low
lands of Lerwick next appeared in view ; the sea to the right, splendent as a mirror, with its
wmding shores; in front was the beautiful Sound of Bressay, burdened with large vessels,
into which a stately frigate was then majestically gliding, while ranged along its shore were a
number of white houses,

" In the sunshine glittering fair,
Haunts of business, haunts of care."

* Essay on Ancient Laws of Scandinavia, Edinburgh Review, No. 67, p. 199.

ITER II.] LERWICK. 107

These formed the town of Lerwick. The prospect was closed by the Island of Bressay,
rising into a fine symmetrical hill of a conoid form, and by the distant cliffs of Noss.

Near to Lerwick is a valley through which the road passes, where there is a small fresh
water loch, and on a holm may be observed the foundation of a small circular burgh ; con-
tained within the wall of it are several distinct chambers, the dimensions of which, as they
have been given by Mr Neill in his Tour, are about 10 or 12 feet in length, and 3 in width.
At certain places, on the north and north-west of the building, straight walls have been
extended from the exterior of the burgh to the water's edge, by which means an additional
defence has been rendered, and small inclosures formed for the temporary protection of
cattle. South of the holm, stepping-stones communicate with the shore ; and to guard this
exposed point, a mural out-work, of a crescentic form, shelters this part of the fortress. In one
place I traced the remains of a subterraneous passage which led to the water's edge, where-
by a supply of fresh water might be obtained for the use of the little garrison that was
engaged in defending the holm.

In drawing close to the town, numerous formal inclosures of a stony and steril ground
appeared, which were intended for gardens. There is not, perhaps, a poorer soil to be
found in the country than about Lerwick ; yet, when a large district of moorland was lately
disposed of by auction, the high price which it fetched was remarkable. It had then to be
converted into garden ground at a considerable expence, owing to the necessity of levelling
the small elevated portions of rock, which, protruding from a swampy soil, were laid bare by
rains.

LERWICK.

On approaching Lerwick, the houses appeared to be from two to three storeys in
height, roofed with a blue, rough, sandstone slate ; the descent into the town was by a
narrow passage of tolerably uniform width, until I arrived at the main street, the" irregularity
of which nothing could well exceed. Lerwick seems to have been first built about the
beginning of the 17th century, when Bressay Sound was annually visited by not less than
2000 busses. For the sake, therefore, of an easy traffic with these ships in stockings and
fresh provisions, the houses, not less than 200, were erected close to the shore ; and there
was no passage between them and the sea wider than would admit of two men walking
together abreast. But great as the disorder was which resulted from ranging the buildings
agreeably to the indentations of the coast, it could not be exceeded by the contiguous range
of houses which was subsequently planned, with the intention that a street between them
should intervene. In one place a taller house might be observed to advance proudly into
the road, taking the precedence of contiguous habitations, while, in another place, a lesser
dwelling seemed to claim the privilege of encroachment as if it were a fellow-compeer.
After this manner houses may be now seen to retreat from one side of the street, like the
salient and re-entering angles of a fortification : in other places, they answer to Gray's
description of Kendal ; " They seem as if they had been dancing a country dance, and were
out : they stand back to back, corner to corner, some up hill, some down." But, after all,

108 LERWICK. [ITER II.

the town is so remarkably striking, that, woe betide the Hyperborean architect who would
reduce the irregular lines of its street, on which its picturesque appearance depends, to the
dull uniformity of right lines and squares. Lerwick is laid with flags, which are seldom
pressed by any beasts of burden heavier than the little shelties of the country, that are
loaded with cassies of turf from the adjoining scathold. No pavement is required, for there
is only one cart to be seen, which belongs to a gentleman in the vicinity. A lively appear-
ance is presented in the town from the number of shops with which it is filled ; and from
the sailors of all nations who are engaged in making small purchases, whilst their vessels are
moored in the harbour.

In the town there is no public structure demanding particular attention. There is one
plain building, dedicated to the use of a town-house, a court of justice, and a prison ; and
there is a small neat kirk for the Established religion of Scotland. A dissenting sect,
named The Haldanites, have also a regular meeting-house.

The population has of late years much encreased. In the year 1701 many Dutch
vessels frequented Bressay Sound, and the number of families residing in Lerwick was said
to have been from two to three hundred. When several nations, owing to continued wars,
declined their visits to Shetland, the population so far decreased, that, in the year 1778,
Mr Low remarked, that the town only contained 140 families. By the last census taken,
the number of individual inhabitants was estimated at 1301.

Lerwick boasts no kind of manufactory except one for straw-plaiting, in which 50 girls
are said to be employed: the town is much indebted for its support to the vessels which
touch at Bressay Sound in their voyage to the Northern Seas, and on their return home ;
among these are chiefly Greenlanders. In consequence also of the small barters that are
made with foreign vessels, Danish and other coins pass more freely in the country than
British money.

Provisions in Lerwick are very moderate, being less than half the price which they
bear in the Scottish market. A great boast of the inhabitants of Lerwick is the number
of vegetables produced in this variable climate. The esculent roots and artichokes are
esteemed of excellent quality, and as great a variety of them is enumerated as Drayton has
celebrated on the shores of Norfolk :

The colewort, colliflower, and cabbage in their season,
The rouncefall, great beans, and early ripening peason ;
The onion, scallion, leek, which housewives highly rate;
Their kinsman garlic then, the poor man's mithridate ;
The savoury parsnip next, and carrot, pleasing food ;
The skirret which (some say) in sallads stirs the blood :
The turnip, tasting well to clowns in winter weather :
Thus in our verse we put roots, herbs, and fruit together.

Lerwick was never invested with any particular privileges ; it was formerly governed by
a Bailie, whose office was, to the great inconvenience of the place, allowed to become
extinct, but lately it has been erected into a Burgh, for the government of which two annual

ITER II.]

ISLANDS OF BRESSAY AND NOSS. IO9

Magistrates are chosen with the title of Bailies. The Sheriff-substitute holds his weekly
courts, where justice is administered according to the forms of Scotland, whilst the force of
a few of the country acts of Shetland is still retained : here also are held Commissary and
Admiralty Courts.

The general habits of the higher classes of Society in Lerwick differs little from those
of any small town in Scotland : it is indeed usual for them to receive a part of their educa-
tion at Aberdeen or Edinburgh. All strangers have spoken in the highest terms of the
urbanity of the inhabitants. The northern voyager, in particular, is wont to descant with
rapture on the hours which he has spent in this hospitable harbour. There is only one inn
in the place, but it deserves high praise for civility and attention.

On the south of the town is the citadel, built A.D. 1665, which adds much to the
beauty of the place : its erection is said to have cost ^28,000 Sterling.* In the Dutch war
of that time, Lerwick was garrisoned for three years by 300 men, commanded by Colonel
William Sinclair, a Shetland gentleman, and they were supplied with about twenty or thirty
cannon. Long afterwards, until the commencement of the 18th century, Lerwick was
unprotected, when it was visited by a Dutch frigate, which burnt the fort and several houses
in the town. The country was also visited by the French, who, says Mr Gifford, " were a
more generous enemy than the Dutch, doing little damage to the country, sometimes
demanding fresh provisions, which were readily granted them." In the year 1781, the fcrt
was completely repaired, and named, after the late Queen, Fort Charlotte ; and in the late
war it received a part of a garrison battalion, being mounted with twelve guns, and con-
taining accommodation for two or three companies. There are now no soldiers required in
the town, and the fort is destined to an use that must delight every friend of peace ; for,
next to the pleasure of seeing the sword beat into a ploughshare, nothing can more harmon-
ise with the scene than the conversion of the citadel into the peaceful manse of the pious
minister of the parish.

ISLANDS OF BRESSAY AND NOSS.

With the view of visiting the two Islands of Bressay and Noss, I crossed what is named
a Sound, the term implying, not only in Shetland, but in the Western Islands of Scotland, a
narrow passage of the sea, formed by the contiguity of one or more islands to any uninter-
rupted line of coast, f Bressay presents an interesting appearance: on the shore are the
spacious house and grounds of Gardie, the seat of Thomas Mouat, Esq., laid out in a
modern style of elegance, and adjoining to Gardie are the manse and the parish kirk.
Crossing the scatholds of the country, diversified with numerous cottages, and occasionally
varied by the ruins of a burgh, or a rude monumental stone, I arrived at the Ferry of Noss,
adjoining to which may be traced the remains of a circular fort, within the foundation walls
of which were distinct cavities, each about twelve feet long, six feet broad, and about five

* See a view of the Citadel in Plate III., Fig. 3.

t Johnson supposes a Sound to mean nothing more than a shall<nu sea; but it is doubtful if the term was in any country so
restricted in its meaning.

IIO ISLANDS OF BRESSAY AND NOSS. [ITER n.

feet deep. From the eminence above the water's edge is a good view of the small island of
Noss, which consists of one hill rising gradually towards the easterly ocean, and presenting
in its outline the similar conoid form shewn by the hill of Bressay.

Crossing in a boat a small rapid channel, I arrived at a neat farm-house, contiguous to
which were the ruins of a small chapel, and directed my course to the south-east extremity
of the island. Skirting along the steep banks of sandstone, frequently broken into
deep chasms, the famous Holm of Noss at length came in view, bounded by precipitous
cliffs, and divided by a narrow channel from the equally steep rocks on which I was
then standing. The traveller is now struck with the appearance of a tremendous gulf, over
which ropes are passed, from which is slung a sort of wooden trough named a Cradle, large
enough for the conveyance across of one man and a sheep. How such a device was first
contrived, is naturally one of the first objects of inquiry. The holm, which is little more
than 500 feet in length, and 170 in breadth, rises abruptly from the sea in the form of a per-
pendicular cliff 160 feet in height. The chasm which intervenes between it and the no less
precipitous banks of Noss is sixty-five feet across.* The original temptation to reach this
holm, was on account of the visit paid to it during the season of incubation by innumerable
sea-birds, such as black and white gulls, scarfs, sea-pies, and kittywakes, when the grass
became whitened with their eggs. It was therefore about two centuries ago, that an
adventurous fowler was induced, by the tempting offer of a cow, to scale the cliff of the
holm. This hardy and almost incredible undertaking he accomplished, bearing with him
two stakes, with the intent of fixing them into that part of the bank which was nearest to the
opposite rock. The object of the undertaking was now fulfilled, and the fowler was
entreated to avail himself of the communication across the gulf: this he refused to do,
determined to descend the way he had climbed, and in so fool-hardy an attempt he fell and
perished. When the islanders first availed themselves of this ill-fated hero's success, a stone
was fastened to the double of a light cord, and while one man kept in his hands the extrem-
ities of the rope, the other threw the part to which the stone was attached across to the holm.
By the assistance of a long pole or fishing-rod, the cord was so elevated as to be easily
drawn round the stakes ; a thicker rope was then attached to the thin cord, and upon the
latter being drawn in, the former was in its turn brought round the post. This operation
was repeated until a firm cordage formed the medium of transport from bank to bank. In
the next place, an oblong box, named a Cradle, was contrived, through the extremities of
which two holes were made that allowed ropes to pass along each of its sides, by which
means the machine was properly slung. The first visitor of the holm then seated himself in
the cradle, and since there was a slight descent towards it, he easily moved forward, and by-
means of the lateral cords, regulated the celerity of his conveyance. In returning, how-
ever, he was assisted by persons stationed on the opposite bank, who were employed in
drawing him up by means of a rope that had been for this purpose attached to the cradle. t

* By Dr Scott of Lerwick I hafe been favoured with these particulars of measurement. He found, by a line dropped to the
surface of the sea, when he was half way across the gulf, that the height of the Cradle was 162 feet : at the same time the depth of
the channel was 27 feet 8 inches.

t In Plate III, Fig. 1. some idea is intended to be conveyed of the Holm of Noss.

[ITER II.

LERWICK TO CATFIRTH. I I I

At the present day, the Holm is converted into a pasture for twelve sheep. The cradle
is slung twice each summer, in a manner differing little from that which was practised two
centuries ago. The box is made large enongh for the admission into it of one man and a
sheep. When Mr Low of Orkney visited Noss, nearly fifty years ago, it was customary to
fasten the double of a thin piece of packthread to a fishing-rod, and to allow a favourable
breeze to blow it over the stakes ; it then proved the medium by which a thicker cordage
could be made to supply its place.

I now passed to the highest part of a rock named the Noup, which is a dreadful per-
pendicular precipice, 480 feet above the level of the sea. The surge beneath is not con-
templated without terror, and to a native rose that attaches itself to the crevices of the rock,
a peculiar interest is attached by the Shetlanders, which may have originated from the cause
that has been so beautifully explained by Dryden.

" As from a steep and dreadful precipice,
The frightened traveller cast down his eyes,
And sees the ocean at so great a distance,
It looks as if the skies were sunk beneath him.
If then some neighbouring shrub, how weak soever,
Peeps up, his willing eyes stop gladly there,
And seem to ease themselves and rest upon it."

LERWICK TO CATFIRTH.

In returning from Noss, I passed by the beautiful harbour of Aithsvoe in Bressay
island, near to which there is a fine stone quarry, and soon afterwards arrived at the Sound,
which I again crossed and entered Lerwick. From this town I proceeded north along the
west shore of the harbour, past the new quays which are formed by an enterprising gentle-
man of Lerwick, for the reception of vessels, and shortly afterwards came to Rovie Head,
where the conglomerate rocks and sandstone, which I had traced from Dunrossness, ceased
altogether. At this place nothing could well exceed the raggedness of the coast, the rocks
being formed of immense boulder-stones, cemented by the intervention of smaller fragments.
Farther west there is a very thick bed of limestone, which, from its contiguity to Lerwick,
may be useful to the agriculture of the vicinity. I had now passed "the north entrance of
Bressay Sound, when, in directing my course westward, I came in view of a small tumulated
hillock, named a Knoll, which crowned the ridge of clay-slate that formed Kibister's Ness.
Near this place once lived an unfortunate wretch, who had the reputation of being a wizard.
He was a fisherman ; and whenever there was a storm which prevented boats from going
out to sea, he was wont, say the Shetlanders, to ascend the Knoll of Ki bister, and in a deep
cleft of the rock, to let down a line, when, for his own provision, he was able to draw up at
any time, codlings or ling. From this circumstance the Knoll of Kibister afterwards went
by the name of Ltiggie's Know. This act, says Brand the missionary, " was certainly done
by the agency of evil spirits, with whom he was in contact and covenant ; but the economy
of the kingdom of Darkness is very wonderful, and little known to us." Another story of

I I 2 LERWICK TO CATFIRTH. [ITER „

poor Luggie is best related in Sinclair's Invisible World discovered. When fishing at sea
with his companions, he was accustomed, whenever hungry, to cast out his line ; and, it is
added, "he would, out of Neptune's lowest kitchen, bring cleverly up fish well boiled and
roasted." This supernatural power became at length so familiar to Luggie's comrades, that
so far from being startled at the idea of partaking with him in his infernal banquet, " they
would," says Sinclair, " by a natural courage, make a merry meal thereof, not doubting who
was cook." This poor fellow was, in the end, brought to trial, and being condemned for
sorcery, was burnt at a stake neai Scalloway.

If, from the hill of Kibister, we direct the attention to a point north-east of the harbour
of Bressay, some little commotion of the sea may be perceived, which is occasioned by a
number of waves that break over a dangerous rock named the Unicorn. This shoal is
associated with the history of Earl Bothwell, the wicked tool of a more wicked faction,
whose views were unremittingly directed to the dethronement of the unfortunate Mary.
Bothwell had secretly lent himself to the murder of Darnley, the confederacy with which he
was connected having procured his acquittal ; — he had forcibly seized upon the Queen, and
by the foulest means had left her no resource, but to make him a surrender of her person at
the altar. The object of the faction was now on the point of being accomplished, — a
marriage had taken place that must render Mary odious to her subjects Troops were then
easily raised for the alleged purpose of compelling the Queen to separate herself from the
influence and counsels of the guilty bridegroom. Mary, accompanied by the Earl, prepared
to meet her foes ; but seeing the unsteadiness of her men, who were disheartened in her
cause, she surrendered to their terms, promising to dismiss Bothwell from her presence, and to
govern the kingdom by her Nobles. When the plots of the faction were thus far successful,
it had been lost sight of, that, in order to be consistent in the object for which a pretence
was made for levying arms against the Crown, Bothwell ought to have been secured ; but as
he vas a mere instrument in their plots, he was easily forgotten, and allowed to escape.
This forsaken favourite, who had recently been created Duke of Orkney, then conceived,
that, in the country which gave to him his title, he should meet with every protection.
Sailing thither from Dunbar, with a few ships and men, he arrived at Kirkwall, where he was
coldly received by the inhabitants of that place, the governor refusing him admission into
the castle. He then came to Shetland, — a country which, from its remoteness, partook
much less than Orkney of the party spirit of Scotland. Here he met with a welcome.
Bringing with him a number of retainers, an ox and two sheep out of every parish were
allowed for their maintenance.* But indigence still overtaking the outcast husband of
Mary, he was induced to arm the vessels that had accompanied him, and venturing into the
northern seas, he attacked every trading vessel which came within his reach, seeking to
procure by piracy subsistence for himself and his followers. The Government of Scotland
hearing of these atrocities, sent out two vessels against him, commanded by William

* It has been observed, that this voluntary grant became, during the tyranny of the Stuarts, the precedent for an annual
demand to the same amount, on the alleged purpose, that the country was bound to furnish provisions for the workmen who were
engaged in building Scalloway Castle. Upon the forfeiture of Earl Patrick's estates, the exaction was recorded in the Exchequer
under the name of Ox and Sheep Silver ; and it is paid at the present day.

[ITER n . LERWICK TO CATFIRTH. I I 3

Kirkaldy of Grange, and Murray of Tullibardine, the former of whom was accompanied
by Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, who had solemnized Mary's last fatal marriage.
Kirkaldy's ship, named the Unicorn, came up with Earl Bothwell whilst anchored in
Bressay Sound. The noble pirate immediately abandoned the harbour, took in a pilot,
to whom he promised a great reward if he could effect his escape, set all sail and passed
through the north entrance of Bressay Sound ; while the vessel in pursuit followed him
so close, that the ships were within a gun-shot of each other. On entering the open
channel, Kirkaldy ordered all sails to be set : the steersman faultered ; he was ignorant of
the coast, — he hesitated to obey the command of his Captain. Kirkaldy was peremptory ; —
and still pursuing BothwelFs vessel, which insidiously directed its course close to the hidden
rock, his ship broke upon the bank ; and, whilst his men were employed in saving them-
selves, Bothwell had time allowed him for escape. His purpose he effected by stealing
from his ship with the aid of a small boat. He then privately entered another of
his vessels, which, from the ignorance that he was on board, became not the object
of pursuit. From the accident that befel Kirkaldy's ship, the bank has ever since,
from the name which the vessel bore, acquired the title of the Unicorn Rock. The
sequel of BothwelFs history is w r ell known : flying towards Norway, he met with a ship
richly laden and well armed, — he attacked it, failed in the attempt, when he and all
his men were carried prisoners to Copenhagen. On his rank being made known in that
city, he was saved from the ignominious death which his associates suffered, being con-
demned to prison for life. " He languished," says an eminent historian of Scotland, " ten
years in this unhappy condition ; melancholy and despair deprived him of his senses, and,
at last, he ended his days, unpitied by his countrymen, and unassisted by strangers."

Crossing Dales Voe to a dreary point of land named Hawksness, I was ferried over a
beautiful harbour, which, like the other inlet, flows into the large bay of Catfirth. The soil
on the banks was highly fertilized by substrata of limestone, and a lively scene was pre-
sented by the neat farm of Mr Hay. Situated close to the water's edge was a good house
with out-buildings ; at a little distance were barns, stables and lime-kilns, and around them
were inclosures smiling with waving corn. Traversing a brown hill to the west, I arrived
at the Head of Wadbister Voe, and in the same direction was led to the extremity of Cat-
firth. This bay, communicating with the channels of several other inlets, stretches many
miles north-west into the country. The scenery around it is soon described, since it is
diversified with the least possible variety of objects 5 — it is bounded with unwooded ridges
of muirland, inconsiderable in their height ; — there is to be seen a solitary good house at
the head of the bay, a few cottages, and occasionally the remains of some lonely burgh,

" With ragged waulles, yea, all so rent and torne,
As though it had been never known to men,
Or carelesse left, as wretched thing forelorn ;
Like beggar bare, as naked as my nail,
It lies along whose wrecke doth none bewayle."*

Churchyard's Worthiness of Wales.

J 14 ESWICK TO LUNNA. [ITER II.

ESWICK TO LUNNA.

A considerable peninsular promontory to the north of Catfirth, bears the name of Es-
wick. Travelling along the shore of Vassa Voe, a small inlet, I passed over two fresh-
water lochs, that watered a valley of limestone, and arrived at a fertile little valley named
Brugh, well sheltered from the eost by a rising hill. In this vicinity was an ample estate,
which once belonged, to a Scottish family, that anciently held a distinguished rank in
Shetland. The lands of Brugh were given by King James VI. to Hugh Sinclair and his
heirs, in the year 1587 ; and in a clause of the grant, there was a special provision, that they
should not descend to the family according to the law of udal succession, but according to
the rule of primogeniture adopted in Scotland. The charter was expressed as follows :
" Secundum formam et modum successionis infra regnum nostrum Scotiae observat. sciz.
quod unus haeres immediate post alteram succedet, absque divisione, non obstantibus legi-
bus et consuetudinibus patriae Zetlandise in contrarium observatis."* The Sinclairs main-
tained in Shetland, during the 17th century, an establishment of no small degree of
splendour. This is evinced by an inventory of the plate and household-goods of one of
the family named Robert Sinclair, which is still extant.f He had also when he died, 82
horses, 38 mares, 60 oxen, 118 cows, 3060 sheep, 165 barrels of oats, 212 barrels of bear,
and 3 chalders of bear. The lords of this estate were, on account of the royal grant,
generally honoured by the title of Barons of Brugh ; but the family is now become extinct,
and their estates, which were sold, passed into several distinct hands.

On arriving at the extremity of the Valley of Brugh, near to the sea, the attention is
arrested by a ruined chapel of the Sinclairs ; a front and part of a side wall being nearly all
that remains of the structure. It was built at the close of the 16th century, in the plainest
manner. On each side of the door are engraved in stone the arms of the family, and
underneath them occur devout mottos. The words of one of them are, "Remember to die,
and after that to live eternally." In the other motto, is a sentiment to the following
purport : " In earth nothing continueth, and man is but a shadow. "J Of the house that
the Barons of Brugh once inhabited scarcely the foundations remain. The site which was
chosen for their residence was judicious ; it was a rich valley, sheltered from the east winds
by the rocks of Eswick, and beautified by seveial small lakes with which it was watered.
To the front, however, nothing is to be seen but the ocean, into which protrudes the distant
promontory of the Neap of Nesting.

I had now arrived at the parish of Nesting, so named from an ancient ting or open
law-court, which was held by the great Foude when he made his circuit round the mainland.
A wall of a few miles close to the sea, and along the brow of a long mountain ridge of
gneiss, led to the kirk of the parish, which is a new building, situated close to a small
mount, on which appear the ruins of a burgh. I then came to a promontory, named the
Neap, where, in the days of Patrick, Earl of Orkney, an act of savage revenge took place,

* Grievances of Orkney, p. 5.

t It was in the possession of Thomas Mouat, Esq. of Belmont.

{ See Plate III. fi-. 4, 5, & 6.

XTER II.] ESWICK TO LUNNA. I I 5

which has not been exceeded in any country, hut where oppressive power has inflicted
wounds that, rankling to madness, impart to the human breast the passions of demons. It
has been shewn that the rapacity of Earl Patrick, in his designs upon the udal lands of
Orkney and Shetland, led to his disgrace, and eventually to an ignominious death. His
attempts to wrest from the ancient udaller his little inheritance, or to burden him with
obligations unknown to his fathers, is perpetuated in the rental of his estate, which, on his
forfeiture, was recorded in the King's Exchequer, with the intention that it should be the rule
of every future exaction. A more infamous document than this never, perhaps, existed in any
age or in any country. Besides requiring duties from lands to an amount that scarcely left for
the cultivator the means of existence, Earl Patrick assumed the power of confiscating lands
for criminal offences, and thereby, on false charges of theft, witchciaft, or raising march-
stones, an immense tract of territory fell within his grasp. If any one also had met with a
violent death, his landed property became forfeited. In one island of South Ronaldsay, we
find mention made of the lands of four individuals which were seized, because the proprie-
tors of them had been found " deid in the flood-mark." In the same place, the lands of
Oliver Sinclair were " escheit for theft." The patrimony was confiscated of Jonet of Cara,
"quha was brunt for witchcraft," and of Stansgair, "pertaining to the Couplands, the ane
brother [having been] hangit, the other banishit, for theft." It is affirmed, that the parson
of the parish of Orphir, in Orkney, was particularly instrumental in administering to Earl
Patrick's avarice, which tradition is indeed countenanced by the rent-roll preserved of that
parish, dated in the year 1595, where there is a considerable forfeiture of udal property.
Among those whose lands fell in escheat, were four brothers, of the names of Sinclair:
their estates appearing on the rental to have been confiscated on the accusation of theft.*

When Earl Patrick's degradation had taken place, the popular vengeance was kindled
against every instrument of his oppression, in a mode of which no idea can be formed, but
by those who have witnessed some revolutionary movement in a country that. has long
tasted of oppression's bitterest dregs. It was then that the parson of Orphir took flight,
pursued by the four Sinclairs of Orkney, who toiled after him like blood-hounds for their
prey. The wretched man fled to Shetland ; the avengers hunted him out, — met him on the
Noup of Nesting, and slew him on the spot. One of the brothers imitated the tiger in his
rage, — he laid open the breast of the slaughtered victim, — tore out his heart, and with a
ferocity, — from the bare mention of which the mind shudders, — drank of his heart's blood.
May the causes which gave rise to such scenes be few on the face of the earth. t

On the summit of the Noup of Nesting, the manse of the respectable minister of the
parish is situated.}: It was built by one of his predecessors, on a site better adapted for a

* " Adhuc in land maill of i mk terra? in Ingamyre, fallen in escheat to my Lord for theft, pertaining to the Sinclairs, 9 sett,
cost, tantum flesh, 1 pultrie." In another place, there is a mention of lands named Be-north-the-Gait, in Swanbuster, part )f
which were reported as " pertaining to the Sutherlands, fallen in escheat to my Lord, for witchcraft, and raising of ane march-
stane," and the rest were " escheat for theft, pertaining to the Sinclairs."

t The forfeiture of the property of the Sinclairs of Orphir, appears in Mr Peterkin's Collection of the Orkney Rentals. The
tradition of the horrid tragedy committed on the Noup of Nesting, may be found in Brand's Tour through Zetland. There is no
rtason to doubt the statement, since history has recorded scenes equally shocking, that have taken place in countries where all the
finer feelings of human nature have been obliterated by long and unprovoked acts of cruel oppression.

t Now occupied by the Reverend Mr Inches, to whom I feel much obliged for the hospitality I experienced at his house.

Il6 ISLAND OF WHALSEY AND THE OUTSKERRIES. [ITER II

light-house. From this eminence there is a fine view of the Isle of Whalsey, stretching out
far to the north-east, and situated between a cluster of islands that approach the shore of
the mainland, and a remoter group, named the Outskerries. In proceeding northward, my
road led through one of the wildest districts of Shetland, where were hills of the most
grotesque form, among which were interspersed innumerable small lochs. Passing for
several miles along the barren shores of Vidlin Voe, I came in sight of the House of Lunna,
situated on the brow of a hill ;* close to it is a very narrow isthmus of land, which com-
municates with a large promontory, several miles long, that stretches out into Yell Sound, t
Near the Isthmus of Lunna, once stood a religious building, but of what description is very
doubtful : a broken font was discovered among the ruins, as well as architectural carvings,
executed in a soft magnesian stone, of a steatitic kind, named Kleber. Much fish is
cured at Lunna, consisting of ling, cod, and the Gadus Brosme, or torsk, commonly named
Tusk. The latter, which somewhat resembles ling, though not so long, is very abundantly
caught in the deep-water fishery off the coast.

ISLAND OF WHALSEY AND THE OUTSKERRIES.

Whalsey, to which I sailed, is a large island, consisting of irregular ridges of gneiss,
that stretch far to the north-east. The approach to it from the south-west extremity is very
fine. Near a small bay is a handsome house, belonging to Robert Bruce, Esq., shewing the
style of the middle of the last century, with gardens walled round. A system of farming
has been introduced in this island, highly creditable to the proprietor. The fields of corn
around the house looked beautiful ; and, if the country could only have been clothed with
trees, we might transport ourselves, in imagination, to some district of the Lothians. The
island to the north-east is very uninteresting. There is nothing to diversify bleak and
uneven ridges of gneiss, except a good parish church and a few scattered cottages. I
omitted to see a loch which Mr Low noticed, where was a small holm connected to the
shore by means of stepping-stones, originally defended by a wall round its margin, and by a
breast-work toward the land. A space of ground was thus enclosed, sufficient to contain
many people, with their cattle and effects. The Burgh (as it is called) bears the name of
Hogsetter.j

From Whalsey I set sail for the Outskerries, a very remote and detached groupe of
small islands and rocks, fifteen miles distant from the mainland of Shetland. Our
light yawl was manned by six excellent seamen ; a square sail was hoisted ; and a breeze

* Lunna, which was inhabited by Mr Leisk, when I visited it, is the family residence of Robert Hunter, Esq., a gentleman of
considerable intelligence, who has the merit of attempting first to introduce into the country a better description of tenures, free
from the obligation of fishing for landlords. The obstacles that he met with in his views arose, however, from an unexpected
source, — from the tenants themselves, who being by no means prepared for so sudden a change of condition, much abused the
liberality they had experienced. The event evidently shews, that a domestic reform, like a political one, should be a gradual
process.

t It has been remarked, (p. 173) that, about a mile or two to the north of the house, are several remarkable detached rocks,
named the stones of Stefis, of which the largest is about 23 feet in height, and 96 feet in circumference.

t There is a rock of gneiss on the west of the island, which, in one place, considerably affects the compass.

ITER il.j ISLAND OF WHALSEV AND THE OUTSKERRIES. I 1 7

springing up favourable for the passage, the buoyant skiff rapidly cut its way through
surging waves ; whilst the seamen, with admirable adroitness, raised or lowered the sail,
according to the force of the wind with which we were impelled along. Passing several
solitary holms on which rude huts appeared for the temporary summer accommodation of
the seamen who were engaged in the ling-fishery, I arrived at length near the Outskerries.
They seemed fenced round about by cliffs frightfully steep and rugged. One of these was
pointed out to me, on which was cast away, in the year 1664, the rich vessel, named the
Carmelan of Amsterdam, that was bound to the East Indies, laden with three millions of
guilders, and many chests of coined gold. The wreck happened on a dark night, when four
men, placed among the shrouds, were endeavouring to discover the land. They were not
able to descry the rock before the vessel was close upon it, and before they could warn the
rest of the crew, the ship struck. The mast broke close to the deck, falling, at the same
time, on one of the cliffs, by which means the four men were saved : but the ship itself sank
in deep water, and all the crew on board immediately perished. A considerable quantity
of spiritous liquors was driven ashore ; and, for twenty days afterwards, the inhabitants of
the Skerries were in a state of continued intoxication. When the Earl of Morton heard of
the wreck, he repaired to the spot, and was actively employed in rescuing from the water
several of the chests of gold. These ought to have come to the King's treasury : and, when
Charles II. heard of the Earl's private appropriation, he is said to have been decided in the
views which he had before entertained, of recalling the Crown-estates of Orkney and
Shetland that had fallen into the hands of the Morton family on the fictitious plea of a
mortgage by Charles I.*

After passing the rock on which the Carmelan had split, a narrow opening appeared
through ragged rocks, out of which ran a strong current of tide, that caused the billows on
the outside, impatient of resistance, to boil and foam with uncommon impetuosity.
Through these our reeling yawl was guided with infinite skill, when we entered a small
harbour, well sheltered by high ground, and presenting on its surface the unruffled tranquil
appearance of a mountain lake.

-" It was a still

And calmy bay, on th' one side sheltered

With the brode shadow of an hoarie hill ;

On the other side an high rock toured still ;

That, t'wixt them both, a pleasaunt port they made,

And did like an half theatre fulfill." Spencer.

As the Outskerries lie so much to the east of Shetland, they are well adapted for
carrying on a deep water fishery for ling. On this account, there are a few slight per-
manent buildings, erected for the accommodation of agents who superintend the preparation
of curing ; and, along with these, are several rude huts or lodges, for the temporary abode
of the fishermen. An old custom, now legalized, allowing any one to erect temporary

* The narrative of the loss of the Carmelan, may be found in Brand's Voyage to Orkney and Zetland.

Il8 ISLAND OF WHALSEY AND THE OUTSKERRIES. [ITER II.

fishing-huts and booths on grounds that had not been previously enclosed for cultivation,
has caused frequent disputes between landholders, and others, who were engaged in the
ling fishery, some of which frays had even led to bloodshed. Early in the last century, for
instance, a contention in the Outskerries arose between two considerable families in
Shetland, regarding this right, which proved so serious, that it is still traditionally handed
down under the name of the Skerry Fight. The fishermen belonging to the Gifford Family
of Busta, came armed, and obtained possession of a booth that they had erected the pre-
ceding year. The Sinclairs, also, headed by the valiant lady of the family, took the field.
A siege commenced j there was a discharge of fire-arms from each party with little or no
effect, until Magnus Flaws, the champion of the Sinclairs, having tried in vain to break
open the door of the booth which was occupied by the Giffords, mounted the roof, and
swore most stoutly that he would be in the building though the devil should dispute him
admission. On effecting an entrance, he was immediately shot dead by the occupants
within ; upon which the Sinclairs took flight, and, like dastards, abandoned their lady, who
was, by the opposite party, made prisoner. It appears that no legal notice was taken of the
fray. The head of the Gifford Family was at that time the steward of the island, being
invested with the full power of punishing such breaches of law ; but he did not think proper
to proceed against his immediate dependants.*

The time when I visited the Skerries, was not the season for pursuing the fishing of
ling ; I thus missed a busy and interesting scene. There are no objects at the Outskerries
worth particular notice ; a rich bed of limestone passes through the group, near to which
the land is remarkably fertile. There are but very few families, perhaps not more than six
or seven, who constantly reside at this remote place.

Having at length accomplished my journey through the south-east part of the country,
I prepared to sail for the north-east isles of Fetlar and Unst ; but I did not quit the district
without impressions of the most grateful kind for the hospitable attention I had received in
my journey from Dunrossness to the Outskerries. f If there is any district in the globe
where hospitality, in flying from crowded cities and courts, has sought some peaceful refuge,
it is among the pathless wilds of the British Thule.

I have at length concluded an Iter, the various incidental objects of which were
associated with all the leading events connected with the history of Shetland. It will now,
perhaps, be sufficiently evident, how little the annals of this country are to be understood,
without an accurate knowledge of the original state of the udal laws, that prevailed in this
Sandinavian province. The task, therefore, remains of giving more particular illustrations

* This tradition of the country has been related to me by Mr Henderson of Bardister.

t I have to acknowledge, in the most grateful manner, the kind attention I received at Lerwick and its vicinity ; at Laxfuh
at tht Manse of Nesting ; at Lunna and Whalsey.

ITER II.] ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. II9

of them, as well as of the feudal tenures by which they were succeeded, in corroboration of
the historical sketches that have been rendered.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION.

Definition of the wotd Odel or Udal, and the distinction between the terms of Odel and
Feudal.

The original meaning of the word udal, in its appplication to land, was absolute pro-
perty ; that of feudal, implied stipendiary property.

" The real signification of the word Odel" says Bishop Pontoppidan, " implies real
property, according to Joh. Gramm, in his dissertation upon the word Herremand, " ' ut
Adelbonde redeamus, is non alius quam locuples et copiosus colonus aut fundi possessor.
Schefferus autumat ab Adel et Odel oriundum esse, quod proprietatem omnimodam, scilicet
ab Odh proprietas, et All totum orane denotavit, atque Adelbonde esse eum qui haberet Odel,
hoc est proprium et a majoribus, per hsereditatem acquisitum possidebat fundum. Vide
acta Societatis, Reg. Hafn. t. 2., p. 272.'" Sir William Blackstone, in his remarks on this
passage of Pontoppidan, adds, " the transposition of these northern syllables, allodh, will
give us the true etymology of the allodium, or absolute property of the feudists ; as, by a
similiar combination of the latter syllable with the word fee, (which signifies, as we have
seen, a conditional reward or stipend), feeodh or feodum, will denote stipendiary property."
See Blackstone's Commentaries, 14th Ed., Vol. II., p. 44.

Other opinions on the Etymology of the word Udal, will be found in Dr Jamieson's
Scottish Dictionary, where they have been collected with great industry, but none of these I
have thought proper to adopt. Some of them are nearly as amusing as that which was
given in the year 1642, by Bishop Grahme of Orkney, in reply to a query by the Magistrates
of Edinburgh, to know what the lands haldin of Udil were : " Ratio nominis, alse far as ever
I could trye," answers the worthy prelate, " is, that the kings of Norroway sent one Udill-
aus, wha divyded the lands of Orknay and Shetland, in pennie lands and used lands, as
Ireland is now divyded in aikers ; from yat divisione, to this day, they have possesst yair
lands as heritors without wreate." Peterkin's Rentals of Orkney, No. 3, p. 20.

The author of the Grievances of Orkney has observed that the word Udal was by the
Germans and Scandinavians called Aoidal, Audal, Othel or Odal ; and by the Orkneymen
and Shetlanders, Authal, Uthel or Udal."

Nature of Udal Tenures.

Feudal lands were originally possessed by military chiefs, and they were granted to
inferiors on certain conditions of homage, rent or personal service. The incidents of feudal
tenures, which were at the first connected with military subordination, have been considered
as seven in number, viz., the heriot, relief, escheat, wardship, scutage, marriage-licence and
homage.

Udal lands, however, did not render the earliest possessors of them liable to obligations
of a military, or even of a civil nature ; for it was in later times that they became liable to a
scat or tax. Yet this impost was not devoted to the service of a military chief, but to the
support of a popular government, of which the King was supposed to be the head. It also
appears, that on the introduction of Christianity, tithes on udal lands were levied by the
clergy. But although religious and civil tributes became eventually imposed upon udal
possessors, their estates were ever free from those incidents of feudal tenures which
originated from military obligations.

120 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. (iter n.

No community can exist without regulations for its internal government, and for its
independent preservation ; contributions would, therefore, be required for the purposes of
civil jurisdiction, upon which its validity would depend, or for the exigencies of war. The
earliest tax of this nature, that existed in Scandinavia, was a Nose tax ! " We are told,"
says the author of an article on the ancient laws of Scandinavia, in the Edinburgh Review,
•'that Odin set such laws in the land, as before were in use among the Asi ; and throughout
all Swedland, the people paid unto Odin a Scotpenny for each nose."*

The origin of the scat or land-tax, is ascribed to Harold Harfager, at the time that he
had suppressed the petty kings of Norway, and had made himself sovereign of that couniry.
But the duty was never paid as a feudal acknowledgment to a superior, but merely as a
contribution for the support of the Government. Scat is an old northern word, that merely
denotes money or treasure, and its etymology conveys no information of the latest accepta-
tion of the term. But it has been shewn from the Norwegian versions of the Bible, that a
tax or tribute was always expressed by the word Scat. (Grievances of Orkney and Shetland,
p. ioo and 101.)

When Harold Harfager subdued Orkney and Shetland, and promoted the colonization
of these countries by Norwegians devoted to his interest, it appears that he only exacted a
scat from pasture or grazing land, and this was named Scathold ; but the land which was
inclosed for cultivation became free from scat, and consequently retained the ancient name
of Udal. The scat was also rated at a certain number of ells of wadmel ; but in a later
period, the assessment was made in some rude description of coins that bore the name of
pennings or pennies. At this time the lands were divided into marks ; a mark of land
being of such an extent as would be equal in value to a mark of wadmel, a rate of silver, or
a mark of some baser kind of metal. A mark ot land would, then, include a certain area of
scathold, and of inclosed or cultivated soil, retaining its original name of Udal, because it
was free from a tax ; an estimate, therefore, of the quantity of scathold included within the
mark, was expressed by the number of pennies which were rendered as a tax to the King.
The largest extent of Scathold, incidental to a mark of land, was liable to an impost not
exceeding twelve pennings ; this sum being rendered equivalent to a certain measure of
wadmel ; for the least extent of scathold, a sum not less than four pennies or one ell of
wadmel was required. It was, therefore, within the limits of four and twelve pennies, that
an appreciation was intended to be made of the proportional quantity of scathold, which,
with udal or arable soil, formed the individual mark. But as the population of the country
increased, and as soil became more valuable, a diminished area of the mark of land would
be the equivalent of a fixed standard of comparison, and minuter divisions of scathold, by
means of mark-stones, would become inconvenient. It was, therefore, within the enlarged
compass of districts and parishes, that the proportion of scathold belonging to each mark of
land was adjusted. Thus, in time, the term Penny became expressive of the proportion of
scathold contained within the mark of land ; a six-penny mark of land denoting a division
that contained six proportions of scathold ; an eight-penny mark a division that contained
e : ght proportions, and so on. This is all the knowledge that a Shetland landholder has at
the present day, of the quantity of soil which he possesses. That the mark of land, as
some have stated, is not less than half an English acre, and does not exceed two acres, is a
mere conjecture ; it is as indefinite in its extent as ever it was in the days of Harold
Harfager.

The lands in Orkney, however, do not appear to have been always in this unmeasured
state. It was, probably, during the stay of King Hacon in Orkney, when he wished to
billet his men over the country, that estates were for this purpose divided, in order to
regulate the area that was necessary to support a certain number of men. The mode in
which this was effected, is explained by a well informed author. "In Domesday-book,"
he remarks, " the entries of land in order to Hidage, are first by counties, then by towns or
manors, and lastly by hides, half-hides and virgates of land, according to which the Hidage

" The Latin translators," says the reviewer, " have absurdly and unfaithfully converted the nose tax into a capitation tax.' 1

ITER II.] ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. 12 1

is fixed and limited. So also with us, the entries are first by islands or parishes, then by
towns or villages, and lastly by mark-lands, pennies and farthings, according to which the
Skat is fixed and limited. Therefore, Skat with us, is in the nature of Hidage in Domes-
day-book, that is tribute real, land-tax or ground-subsidy." (Grievances of Orkney and
Shetland, p. 102.)

A mark of land had thus divided into eight ures or ounces ;* each ounce-land into
eighteen penny-lands, and each penny-land into four farthing-lands. The cultivated soil
free from scat, was then named Quoy-land, a term meaning nothing more than an enclosed
field. In No. II, p. 3 of Mr Peterkin's Rentals is this explanation : —

" Ane buoy-land or outbrek is ane peece of land newly win without the dykis, and
payis no scatt.

'• Ane tumall is ane peece land whiche wes quoy-land, but now enclosed within the
dykis."

It was also a humane provision, that no mark should pay a tax for its proportion of
scathold, unless the inclosed udal land was in a cultivated state. By this means the burden
of the tax was much alleviated.

Thus, it appears, that Harold Harfager first invaded the udaller's rights in Orkney and
Shetland, by rendering grazing lands liable to a tax, by which it acquired the name of Scat-
hold ; but the land which was enclosed for cultivation, was long afterwards sacred for the
free use of the possessor, until the udal fence was first broken by the rude hands of
Ecclesiastical power. The author of the Grievances of Orkney and Shetland has remarked
that " Olaus, King of Sweden, was sirnamed Shot-Konung, i.e., the tributary king, because
he sent tribute to the Pope, and made his kingdom subject to the Holy See. Rex Suecise
Olaus, Skot-Konung, /.*., tributarius Rex cognominatus esse existimatur, quod hortatu
Prsesulum Sueticorum ad Pontificem Romanum misisset tributum. Loccen. Hist. Suec,
lib. ii." Ever since, udal lands have been burdened with tithes.

But although lands became eventually liable, but to civil duties and to tithes, it is
almost unnecessary to repeat that there is no reason to suspect that allodial or udal land
ever rendered the occupier liable to personal service in the field, or in maritime excursions ;
but if it did, the obligation would by no means have resulted from the absolute will of a
superior lord, as in feudal tenures, but from the popular voice of the cummunity. When
the ancient kings of Scandinavia were desirous to raise an army, they convoked a general
assembly of the free men of the nation. In this council, the requisition of each province,
to furnish a certain number of soldiers or ships, was rendered proportional to its m'eans.f

It may be also observed, that when Orkney and Shetland were united into an Earldom,
the chief had no legal power over the inhabitants but when called into the service of war,
when he held the rank of military commander. His engagement to the people appeats,
from many circumstances recorded in the early history of the Orcades, to have been like
that which the King himself was bound to maintain ; it was " to observe the laws ; to
defend his country ; to extend its boundaries ; to revenge whatever injuries his predecessors
had received from their enemies, and to strike some signal stroke which should render him
and his people famous." An obedience to the laws of Orkney and Shetland, appears, in
fact, to have been alike obligatory on the ancient Earls of Orkney and on the people.

Origin of Udal Laws a?id their diversity.

It was at popular assemblies that laws were enacted for the decision of hereditary
claims, and for preventing the alienation of lands from those who might be considered as
proper heirs ; by this means, rights of succession we protected by the general regulations
of the community, to which the udaller belonged. In the ancient laws of udal inheritance,

* See Torfaeus, Rer. Oread. Hist., p. 169. The greatest division of land at the present day is named an ounce-land,
t See Ma'let's Northern Antiquities, Trans., vol. i., p. 257.

122 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. [ITER II.

the proper successors to estates on the death of those who enjoyed them, were named the
Udal-born.

It is stated in Erskine's Institutes of the law of Scotland, that when Orkney and
Zetland were first transferred from the crown of Denmark to that of Scotland, the right of
lands was held by natural possession, and might be proved by witnesses, without any title
in writing, which had probably been their law formerly, while they were subject to
Denmark. This is a mistake. Since the lands of the Scandinavian colony of Orkney and
Shetland were considered as under the protection of common laws, no title for estates could
be established, without a written decree of the Foude's court, delivered under the name of
a Shynd-bill ; the word Shynd being said to signify a Court. This bill or deed was signed
and sealed by the Foude and a number of witnesses. The practice of confirming the
possession of estates by means of Shynd-bills, continued long after these islands were
annexed to the Scottish Crown. It was only when feudal oppression sought to destroy the
force of the Shynd-bill, and with it the common laws which protected the rights of landed
property, that great irregularities took place in the conveyance of estates, and that the poor
udaller, alarmed for the security of his little property, knew of no other way in which his
little patrimony could be held, except through the means of a charter from some superior,
when it would be converted into a regular feudal tenure, or, on the other hand, by that sort
of natural possession described by the celebrated Scottish lawyer, which consists in the
proof of a right before witnesses, without any title in writing.

It has indeed been a common mode of defining udal lands, to say, lhat they were a
property which was transferred from one hand to another without writing, possession being
the only right. But, in reference to the principle, that the rights of udal lands were pro-
tected by the laws of the community of individuals among whom they were partitioned, the
possession of them was never guaranteed but by a written judicial decree, which was
mc de agreeably to the laws of udal succession, that had been passed at some popular legis-
lative meeting.

The enactment of laws declaratory of those who were the udal-born, or had claims of

hereditary succession to the enjoyment of udal-lands, is to be referred to a date long prior

to the period when Harold Harfager converted Orkney and Shetland into a Norwegian

colony.

That the laws of udal succession are antecedent to the reign of Harold Harfager is
admitted by Pontoppidan, and many other Norwegian writers. There is an obscure illusion
to the udal laws, in one of the most remarkable ancient poems that has been preserved ;
it is entitled Rigs-Mai, the song of King Eric. — " Rig (Rich), or Eric the second," says Mr
Jamieson of Edinburgh, in his illustrations of Northern Antiquities, " was one of the first
of the Goths in Scandia, who assumed the denomination of Kong (King), his predecessor
having been stiled Diar or Drottnar ; that is, Chiefs or Lords. He was likewise the first
who divided his subjects into the three distinct classes of nobles, husbandmen and slaves,
distinguishing precisely the rights and privileges of each ; and upon this foundation, an
allegorical poem was constructed, which was no more than a personification of the different
modes of society, and making them the children of King Rig." In this very ancient poem,
then, supposed to have been written about the eighth century, is an allusion to some
decisive regulations which had taken place relative to the possession of udal lands. King
Rig's directions to his son Jarl, (comes), are thus related :

Thann bad hann eignatzt Eum possidere jussit

ddal vollu avitos agros

odal vollu avitos agros

oc alldnar bygdir. et antiqua rura.*

* Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 456,

ITER II.] ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. 1 23

The oldest law of udal succession that existed in Shetland, and no doubt in Orkney
also, is thus described by Mr Gifford. " The most ancient way, how lands and heritage
was transmitted to posterity, was by a verbal deed called Udal Succession, founded upon an
old Norwegian law called St Olla's Law, by which a man could no way dispose of or burden
the lands he had by his father ; neither had he any power to make a will contrary to the
said law ; but whatever children he had, male or female, they all succeeded equally to the
father in his estate, heritable and moveable, and the youngest son had the father's dwelling-
house, because the elder children were commonly foris famialiat before the father's death,
and the youngest son staid with him, and supported him in his old age, and thereby had no
opportunity to provide himself in a settlement ; and, therefore, was provided with his
fathers dwelling-house, which was also an inducement to make him more careful of his old
father. By this way of succession, most of the inhabitants were proprietors of the lands
they possessed, and very few tenants amongst them ; and this Udell succession continued
with many of the small Udellers of Zetland, till the year 1664, that they took heritable
tacks of their own Udell lands from Spynie." (Gifford's Zetland, p. 54.)

It is well known that the Scandinavians succeeded to the Celts in the possession of
certain of the northern districts of Europe. It is not improbable, therefore, that this law,
which is that of Gavelkind, might have been borrowed from the custom of the earlier tribes
who were dispossessed of their settlements, particularly as it is certain that many religious
customs peculiar to Celtic nations became introduced among the rites of Odin. In the
old Welsh laws, every man's inheritance was divided among his children, but the youngest
son had the principal house. The Celtic females, however, were precluded from the
inheritance, for, sooner than that an estate should devolve to them, it escheated to a
superior. There is reason to suspect, that in some partial cases, an exclusion of this kind
existed in Orkney ; for although the estates of the Earldom were, in an early period, equally
divided among all the sons of the father, so that by this means there were at one time
several Earls of Orkney, yet in no instance do we find that a female was made a partaker in
such an inheritance. This exclusion may be accounted for, when it is considered that the
Earls of Orkney were hereditary military leaders ; they were appointed to the command of
all predatory expeditions, and they headed the forces of the country that were united for
common defence. Among the Scandinavians and Saxons, it also appears that there was a
distinction made between spurious and legitimate children. But by the ancient Welsh laws,
and the Irish custom of Tanistry, the inheritance of a deceased landholder was equally
divided among his sons, whether bastards or lawfully born. (Whittaker's History of Man-
chester, vol. i., p. 206, Ware's Antiq. of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 73, and Bingley's North Wales,
vol. ii., p. 257.)

Mr Gifford has recorded the manner in which the udalborn of Shetland came into the
possession of their rights ; this is so curious that I shall give it at full in his own words :
"The first right that is to be found upon lands in Zetland, is that called a Shynd-bill, and
that was only used by the most considerable heritors.* Shynd, in the Danish language,
signifies a Court, and Bill was a common name to any deed or writing made in court ; so it
may be translated in English a judicial right. The way how it was done was this ; a man
having a mind to dispone his estate, invited the Fowd and three or four of the best men in
the country to his house, where he had an entertainment provided for them. And being all
convened, the Fowd kept a court, before which the heritor compeared, and did there judi-
cially made his will, disponing his estate, heritable and moveable, particularly mentioned,

_ * Mr Gifford is here under a mistake, Before the introduction feudality into Shetland, the Shynd-bill was obtained by all
heritors, considerable or inconsiderable, as a title for their estates.

124 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. ITER II.]

and divided to his children, reserving his own liferent of the whole, and a liferent of a
part to his wife, if she survived him ; which will the clerk of court wrote, and being done,
was publicly read, all being concerned being present, and if approven by the disponer, it
was signed by the Fowd, and these three or four gentlemen that sat with him, as assessors,
and all their seals were put to it, and being recorded in the court-books, the principal was
delivered to the disponer, who kept it till his death, and then all the heirs mentioned in the
Shynd-bill, entered to their respective portions contained therein, and were all equally
chargeable for the defunct's debts and funeral charges. And if there was no such will made
by the udeller in his lifetime, after his death his children, or nearest of kin if he had no
children, made application to the Fowd to divide the inheritance amongst them, who ap-
pointed a day and place, ordaining all concerned to attend ; and having called a court, he
caused the heirs to give up a faithful inventory, upon oath, on the whole subject left by the
heritor deceased, which he divided equally amongst them, according to the Udell or St
Olla's law, and caused a Shynd-bill to be written thereupon, which was signed, sealed, and
delivered to the heirs, and was as good as if made by the udaller while he lived." (Gifford's
Zetland, p. 54 and 55.)

At a later period in the annals of Orkney, primogeniture appears to have been favoured
to a certain extent. Newer laws of inheritance were introduced in the country, which
afforded the means of perpetuating family wealth and power, by concentrating them in an
individual. But it does not appear that this later law of Norway was enforced to any extent,
until the annexation of Orkney and Shetland to the Scottish Crown. Recent settlers from
Scotland then found a Norwegian pandect, in which primogeniture was respected, much less
revolting to their notions of feudality, than the law of Gavelkind, which had originally
existed in the country. A translation of the rule inheritance, from the law-book of Nor-
way, (Lib. vi. cap. 2. act 63), is given in the scarce work entitled the Grievances of Orkney
and Shetland.

— " Does a father leave odals behind him ? Then shall the eldest son succeed to the
principal mansion and estate ; the other children receiving an equivalent out of the other
land ; everyone his own lot, a brother, a brother's lot, and a sister, a sister's lot, according
to the estimation of neutral men.

" Is there no son ? Then descends the chief manor to the grandson by the eldest
son; or by the second, or any other son in order, as nearer the inheritance than daughters.
Are there no grandsons? Then belongs the chief manor to the eldest daughter, the rest of
the sisters getting land in equivalent, as said concerning the children in general.

"Is there not land enough to compensate the chief manor? Then must the co-heirs
be satisfied in money or goods. Do these fall short too : The eldest shall yet keep the
manor, giving the rest a share only of the income, as by neutral men shall be determined.
As for the other manors, these, with the woods, shall belong to the sons ; for daughters
shall only have their lot in the most remote and discontiguous lands. But can they not
have a lot in these, nor in moveable, nor city-goods neither ? Then shall the brothers who
receive the manors, make up their lot by some other equivalent; otherwise they shall admit
them for partners in the manors, for so much as the sisters have right to."

Pontoppidan remarks on this latter law, — "One great evil arises from this odal's right,
namely, many an undutiful and wicked son, because he is the eldest, and depends on his
odal right, which nothing can affect, behaves extremely ill, not only to a deserving mother-

ITER II.1 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. 1 25

in-law after the death of his father, but also to his own parents. This might certainly be
remedied, without infringing the odal's right, when there are younger children of better dis-
position, and more deserving of the inheritance. By this means, great sins against the law
of Nature might be prevented, if the legislature would think fit to set proper restrictions to
the odal's right." — Pontopp. History of Noway, vol. ii., p. 291.

I shall now subjoin two illustrations of the mode in which property was assigned to
heirs, as they appear in the memorials of the Foude's Court. It will be evident, from the
tenor of these decrees, that the law of primogeniture was directed to invalidate a prior divi-
sion of lands, which had taken place according to the more ancient law of St Olave, which was
that of Gavelkind. It may be, however, premised, that the principal mansion and estate
that formed the share of the oldest son were often named the head-buil : in other records,
they were called the chemis place ; the term chemis being from Old French, chesmez, import-
ing the principal house on an estate which was inhabited by the lord or proprietor. — See
Jamieson's Etym. Did. word Chemys.

— " August 19, 1602. Anent the action and cause persuit be Margaret. Murray, oy to
umquhil Niager Williams' daughter, heretrix of the lands underwritten, and Hierome
Umphray her spouse for his entres ; against John Murray of Stendail, and Robert Murray
his son, anent the richt and tytil of six mark land uthel, lying in the town of Gruting,
disponed be the said umquhil Niager to the said Margaret Murray her oy, in her minority :
Compeirit Hierome Umphray, pruifit sufficiently the said umquhil Niager to have conquest
and giftit the foresaid six mark land, and disponit the samen to her said oy, and placit her
in possession thereof, be casting of peits, and uplifting the debts and duties thereof, in her
name. Compeirs the said John Murray and his son, and alledgit that the said six mark
land was the head-buil, (i.e. the principal manor), and so could not be giftit nor disponit frae
the principal air. Quhilk alledgance was found relevant, and therefore assigns them to pruif
the samen at the next lawting, this beand the first diet of the actioun, and then justice to be
ministred in the said matter as law lewis. And in case the samen beis provin to be the
head-buil, the complainer to have als meikle, als guid other land in another part, according
to the use and consuetude of the country."

'''July 21, 1603. Anent the action and caus persuit be Alexander Cheyn, ane of the
sons and airs of unquhil Mr Robert Cheyn of Ury, agains Thomas Cheyn of Walla, his
eldest brother, for making an airff and division of all lands and moveables appertaining to
the said unquhil Mr Robert, amangs the haill airs, to the effect the said Alexander many be
kend to his part thereof. Quhilk being considerit be the assize, in presence of the said
Thomas, they ordain him to make an lawful airff and division of all lands and moveables
pertaining to his said father, at the airff-house of Norby, — be twelve neutral men, to be
chosen with advice and consent of the said hails airs, — and to make every one of the said
airs, either sister or brother, to be kend to their own parts, according to the laws, use and
consuetude of the country."*

The author of the Grievances of Orkney, <Scc., in his desire to shew that the udal right
had its foundation in the Mosaic institutions, observes, that " by the law, the eldest son had
right to a double portion of his father's estate, and the other sons had their equal shares ;
the daughters, in this Case, being incapable of any inheritance, but of legacies only, in
money or moveable goods. And thus, for the most part, it is by the law of Norway, which
in this matter is much alike, differing more in modification than in substance."

It is difficult to say when the right of primogeniture was introduced for the first time
into Orkney and Shetland. Torfeeus, in speaking of a period about the beginning of the
1 2th century, has the following remark : — " Sueinus omnibus allodiis quae parter, quse frater
Valthiofus possidebat sibi assertis (jure profecto a Norvegico, vel etiam eo, quod septem-
trionalibus hisce regnis in usu erat alieno, sed occidenti usitato, primogeniturae privilegio)
magnifice deinde vixit," &c. — Torf. Rerum. Oread. Hist. p. 113.

Another Scandinavian law, incidental to udal tenures, was the incapability of an inheri-

* Grievances of Orkney and Shetland, p. 9 and 10.

126 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. iter II.]

tor to dispose of his patrimony without the consent of the next heirs, or the udal-born. In
the law-book of Norway, (lib. v. cap. 3. act 1.), is the following injunction. — "Will a man
sell his odalland ? Then shall he summon all the odal-born [his kindred] and notify to
them, that he is to sell such odal-land, making them the first offer, if they will buy, and
have no impediment, such as the want of money, and the like. Also he shall proclaim, or
cause to be proclaimed, in the public market, that he is to sell such odal land, and shall again
offer it to his own kindred, the odal-born, whether known or unknown ; but first to those
who stand in the nearest degree of relation to him, whether male or female, that so the
thing may come to their knowledge, though they should not be there present."*

Mr Gifford has testified to the introduction of this law into Shetland. He has re-
marked, that " if any man was to make a purchase from an udeller with consent of his heirs,
without which the purchase was not good, the property was conveyed to the purchaser by a
Shynd-bill, with this addition, that the disponer did judicially acknowledge that he had re-
ceived the full value of the land disponed, and desired that his property therein might
instantly be transferred to the purchaser and his heirs ; and the apparent heirs of the dis-
poner being also present, consented to the sale ; and the Shynd-bill being signed and sealed,
was delivered by the Fowd to the disponer, who did judicially deliver it to the purchaser,
with a benediction."!

Another confirmation of the prevalence of this law, is the mandate of Earl Patrick,
quoted in p. 59, ordaining, "that no person or persons frae this forth, either buy or sell
ony sort of lands with others, without the samen be first offered to the nearest of the seller's
kin, according to the use and constitution of the country."

Besides the incapability of an udaller to dispose of his patrimony without the consent
of the udal-born, it also appears that the lawting of Orkney and Shetland did not allow him
to sell his lands, unless he could substantiate before the court, that it was poverty and
wretchedness alone which prompted him to an alienation of the inheritance of his fathers.

This is evident from the copy of a Shynd-bill, which has been preserved by the author
of the Grievances of Orkney and Shetland.

Dectee of the Lawman of Orkney and Shetland, and his Council, affirming a Sale
of Land in these Lslands, as made according to Law.%

" At Kirkwall, on Tuisday in the Lawting, in the moneth of Junii, the zeir of God ane
thousand fyve hundreth and fourtein zeiris : A dome dempt be me Nicoll Hall, Lawman
of Zetland and Orknay for the tyme, and ane certane of famows, discreit and unsuspect
personis, of Rothmen and Rothmenisonis,§ chosin, the grit ayth sworne, and admitit to
dissyd in ane matter of heritag : their names followis, that ar to say, Johnne Flet of Harray,
Hendrie Cragie, Thomas Craigie, Nicol Craigie, brether-german to Johnne of Cragie, um-
quhile lawman of Orknay, Peiris Loutfut, Hendrie Fowbuster, Andro Linclet, William
Clouthcath, Alexander Housgarth, Magnus Comra, Magnus Aitkin, Andro Skarth, and
Johnne of Bristo; betwixt Thomes Adameson, in the umbuth of ane nobill and potent man,

* Grievances of Orkney and Shetland, p. 7, 8.
t See Gifford's Zetland, p. 56.

} "From the protocol of Mr William Peirson, and another notary, in possession of the Lord Sinclair."

§ "The Udalmen were likewise called Rothmen, or Roythmen, that is, self-holders, or men holding in their own right, by
way of contradistinction to feudataries, who hold derivatively, or by a dependence on others."

ITER II.] ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. 1 27

Schir William Sinclair Warsetter knycht, and in the umbuth of Nicoll Fraser, sone and
lauful air to David Fraser, on the ane part ; and Alexander Fraser, the said Nicollis father-
brother, in his awin umbuth, on the tother part :

" Quhafr the said Thomas Adameson, in the name and behalff of the said Schir
Williame, producit lauchfull witnesses, of full bying and selling of all and haill the said
Nicollis father heritag, that he airit, or mycht air be ony manner of way, lauchfullie sauld
frae him and all his airis, to the said Schir Williame and all his airis ; and gart reid the
writtingis maid tbairon, as it beiris : and proponit, allegit and schew ressonabill caussis,
as the law levis, that is to say, that the said Nicoll, divers sindrie tymis, come to the said
Alexander, and offerit him the bying of all and haill his rychtis, and his fatheris heritag,
befoir ony utheris, and he refussit it all tymis : and thaireftir, he come befoir the best and
worthiest in the countrie, and divers and sindrie tymis, in courttis and heidstenis ; and maid
knawin that he was fameist, and perachand of hungar, in fait of fude, and naikit in fait of
cleithing ; and tuk witnes, that sen the said Alexander had refusit the bying of his rychtis
and heritag, that it was force till him to sell to ony that wald by ; Quhilkis the said Schir
William thaireftir bocht, as his chairtor maid thairon mair fully proportis. And the said
Alexander shew for his evidentis, that he had gewin the said Nicollis father, his broder,
foure markis usuell money of Scotland, in part of payment of his part of heritag.

" All the saidis parteis allegance and evidentis, he ws avisitlie and ryplie considderit,
hard, sene and undirstand, havand God befoir e,* hes deliverit, decreitit, and, be the
cheptor of the Law-buk red thairon, for final dome gewin, that the said Schir William's
bying and selling fra the said Nicoll is lauchfull, and thairfoir he sail bruk, joiss and posses,
perpetuallie to him and all his airis, the saidis Nicollis father part of all and sindrie his
rychtis, landis, heritag, malingis, steidingis, togidder with the principal chemis placet in
Tool), J as eldest brother thairto. And the said Alexander bying and selling, fund of nane
availe, becaus it is weill knawin, and fund, that he smikit and defraudit his brother foirsaid,
and did siclych to the said Nicoll, his brother sone. And the said Schir William to lous ane
sister-part of the foirsaid landis and heritag, togidder with the tane halff of the teind pennie,
and the feird, as the eldest brother in the foresaid heritag. And the foirnamit four markis
usuell money, gewin be the said Alexander to the said David, with all utheris that he may
preiff gewin to the said Nicoll, before the said Schir William's bying and selling of the said
heritag, sal be allowit in the landmaillis and ogude, sa far as it extendis to. And siclik, all
that the said Alexander may prief that his foirsaid brother David Fraser tuk upe of the
pament of the tenement in Sowyr, mair nor he gat, sal be allowit in pament of the said
landmaillis and ogude, sa far as it extends to ; and all the wanttis be rycht compt and
reknyng, the said Alexander sail mak pament to the said Schir William, togidder with the
landmaillis of the eldest brotheris part, frae the day and dait of the said Schir William's
bying and selling, quhyll the making of this present writ. And the said Schir William and
Alexander to be at the arff-hows and chemeis, betwixt this and Allhallow-evin next eftir the
dait of this present writ, to mak ane lauchfull shone and ayrfkest, as law levis.

" In witness of the quhilk thing, I the foirsaid Lawman hes hungin my seill to this
present dome. And for the mair verificatioun and sikkerness, we the foirnamit domismen
hes procurit, with grit instance, the seilis of venerabill and discreit men, that ar to say,
Fredrick Newplar notar-publick, and Gilbert Kennedy burges of Kirkwall, for ws, to be
hung to the present dome, befoir thir witnessis, Thomas Tullo of Ness, James Murray,
Williame Scot and Alexander Borthwick, with utheris divers, day, zeir and place above-
writtin, befoir thir witnessis, Schir Umplair Clerk officiar, Schir Matho Farcar and Schir
William Boswale, with otheris divers.

" Hsec copia concordat cum suo originali in omnibus, aliena manu (me aliis
prsepedito negotiis) fideliter copiat. ac collationat. per me magistrum Willelmum

* That is, before their eyes.

+ The head-buil, or principal manor. See p. 125.

} Now Tob, a village near Saba, upon the mainland of the Orkneys.

128 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. [ITER II.

Peirson notarium publicum, teste hoc meo cyrographo.
" Ita est. — Willelmus Peirson notarius publicus manu propria.
" Alterius notarii testimonium et subscriptio avulsa sunt."

There was a law in Shetland empowering the possessors of udal lands, with the consent
of their heirs, to dispose of their patrimony to any person who would undertake their
support for life. Such disposers were then received into the house of their maintainer
under the name of his opgesters ; whence the law by which estates could be alienated from
the udal-born for such a purpose, was named the custom of opgestery.

In the possession of the late Thomas Mouat, Esq. of Belmont in Shetland, was a curious
document, dated A.D. 1602, in which William Mansone accepts as his domestic inmate for
life, or opgester, Freia Rasmusdochter, and her aged mother; and for their support he re-
ceives the amount of four marks of land. It also appears that Freia Rasmusdochter was
married, and had children. Hence the husband's agreement to part with his wife was
requisite, as well as the consent of her children, or udal born, to the alienation of their grand-
mother's estate. It is but too probable that extreme poverty rendered necessary this deed
of opgestery. The document I shall take the liberty of subjoining.

"P>e it kend to all men, be this presentis, me, Freia Rasinusdochtir, to haif overgiven

and transferit, and be ye tenor hierof overgivis and transferis my mither Enggegerth
Thomesdochtir, with all and haill hir landis and heritag, viz. twa mark and ane half sax
pennies ye mark lyand in Ronan in Sound, and ane mirk and one half in Gardom, all within
ye south herischour of Unst, and lordship off Zeittland, to my guid frien Wm. Manssone of
Gardie, his airis and assignayis, togidder with all my haill guids and geir, movabill and
unmovabill, apertteining to me, or yat heiraftir may be found to aperttein to me ; and I the
said Freia, and my husband Ingillbrycht Nickellsom, grantis us weill content, satisfeit and
thankfullie payd for our guid will and overgcom of our said mother, to ye said Wm. and his
airis for now and ever, and yat of opgestrie, be virtue off ane laudabill custome and
form of ye cunttrye of opgestrie, and with express consent of my hail baimis, I am
become lawfull opgester to ye said Wm., to be sustenitt in meat and claith all ye dayis
of my lyfetyme, rattefieing, confirming, and aproveing ye forsaid gift given to ye said Wm.
and his airis, to stand firrae and stabill, without recovattioun or backcalling wnatsomever ;
and for the better secutittie and veriefficattioun to ye said Wm. and his forsaide, becauss I
culd not writt myself, I haif procurit the seallis of famous and discreit men, viz. Magnus
Thomassone of Ronins seal, with ye seal of Nickell Acklay of Hiegaland, and Malcolm
Mowatt of Wadbester is seall, and wt ye subscriptioun of Jhone Arschair, to be affixit and
sett to yis present widd+ + -+-

" At Gardie, in Unst, ye tent day of May 1602, beffor this witnes forsaid, and under
subscryveand, wt eithers divers.

" Freia Rasmusdocther, wt consent of my husband Ingillbricht Nickellsone, wt our
hands led at the pen, be me Jhone Archair, becaus we could not writt oursel.

"Jhone Archair, witnes to yis premisses."

The last law of udal possession, which is that of redemption, is stated after the follow-
ing manner by Pontoppidan : " According to the old law, called Odelsbalken, thirty years
possession was required to establish the odel's right. The law now requires but twenty
years. This right could then never be forfeited to the Crown, unless by treason or felony.
No odels-gods or freehold, can be alienated by sale, or any other way whatsoever from him,
that can make it appear that he has the best title to it, by being the right heir or odels-

ITER II.] ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. 1 29

mand. If he has it not in his power to redeem it, then he must declare, every tenth year at
the sessions, that want of money is the only reason ; and if he surmounts that difficulty, or,
if he or his heirs, to the second or third generation, be able to redeem it, then he that
inhabits it, who is only a possessor pro tempore, must turn out directly, and give up the
premises to the odels-mand. For this reason, they keep a strict account of their pedigree ;
and formerly, about midsummer, every family used to meet together, and make themselves
merry ; and if any of their kindred had deceased since their last meeting, they marked his
name in the tal-stock provided for that purpose."*

Respecting the law. Bishop Pontoppidan has made the following excellent remarks :
" This odels right is preferable to that of the sele-eyers or freeholders in Denmark, not only
because it is better secured to their families by the right of redemption, but because they
possess it with all the privileges which a nobleman has in Denmark ; for the Norwegian's
odelsgaard or freehold, is only subject to the Crown. Whether this odels rights be to the
advantage or disadvantage of the country, is a question that cannot easily be resolved.
However, we may say of this as of most human institutions, which are always imperfect,
that it may produce both good and bad consequences. It has this good effect, that it fixes
the peasant's affections on his native place, with hopes of keeping his little patrimony in his
family, and consequently improves with pleasure those possessions which he looks upon to
be strongly secured to him. It likewise induces many a peasant's son, who sees the posses-
sion that must one day devolve to him, to keep near at hand, with hopes of enjoying and
improving it by his industry. On the contrary, when it must be sold to a stranger, it never
fetches its value, because the buyer possesses it with a great uncertainty, and does little to
improve the ground that cannot be called his own, according to the words of the Poet :

" Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves."

The very learned author of the Grievances of Orkney and Shetland, has made the
following curious observations on this law of udal redemption : " If we consider the law-
book of Norway, under the head of selling and redeeming udal land, it is plain that the
udal right has its foundation in the Mosaical institutions. It was allowed by the Law, that
if a man had sold his land, and was not able to redeem, his next relation might redeem, and
the buyer could not refuse. So likewise by the law-book of Norway, not only may the odal-
born, or the next heir of an odal-man, redeem from a stranger ; but if he is not able, any of
his kinsmen may ; and so may another kinsman, if nearer than he who redeems, redeem
back from him, till the land returns to the odal-born. — By the Law, no man was allowed to
sell his house or his field, till the time of jubilee, except for necessary provision, compelled
by poverty. And just so in Norway, or in these islands, which is the same, when one was
to sell his land, it was not enough to make the first offer to his kindred ; but he could not
sell at all, except for the relief of his necessities. — By the Law, a man whose poverty had
constrained him to sell his land, might redeem it before the year of jubilee, and so might
any of his near relations : But then (say the Hebrew doctors) this was to be honestly done,
and not with borrowed money, on purpose to carry the land from the buyer to another. By
the law-book of Norway, the odal-born cannot redeem but for himself; and if the buyer
mistrusts he must clear himself by oath, that he seeks back the land to his own odal, and
to no other. — By the Law a man was to redeem his field according to what was given for it,
though the buyer (say the doctors) had sold it to another for twice as much. By the law-
book of Norway, the odal-man, or odal-born, is to redeem his land for the price which was
first paid for it, according to the letter of sale, and this though he redeems from one of his

* Pontoppidan, Nat. Hist, of Norway, vol. ii., p. 290.

I30 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. iter II.]

own kindred, who had already redeemed it for more. — By the Law, houses within walled
cities, if not redeemed within a year after the sale, remained with the buyer as his own, and
the jubilee would not restore them. By the law r -book of Norway, the owners of houses and
lands within cities, may freely alien them, without making any offer to their kindred, as the
law provides when odal land is sold."

The power of reversing any sales of land that were made contrary to the law-book of
Norway, seems to have been vested, before the impignoration of Orkney and Shetland to
the Scottish Crown, and even some little time afterwards, in the Law-man of Bergen.

This is evident from a curious document which has been given by the author of the
Grievances of Orkney and Shetland.

J?ecree by the Law-man of Bergen, in Norway, and also by the Law-man of Shetland, and
their Council, reversing a Sale of Land in these Lslands, as made contrary to Law.

" Allum manum som dette breff see elder hore, sender Sebiorn Gottormson, Gulatings
og Berwen lagman, Neils Willemson lagman i Hieltland, Erland Anderson-Frack, Jon
Sturkason, Mattis Jenson, Endrith Swenson-Rostungh, Asmond Salmonson, raadmen iher
samesteds, Willem Thomason lagrettisman i Hieltland ' ; ' kuniktgorende at mith worse i
Sacreffiet i Kros-Kurkie, liggende i Fornefnte stad Berwen, Manedaghen neft for St Lauris
dagh, anno Domini 1485. Soghon ogh gordan aa at their heldo handon saman aff enen
halffwo Beskedelig man, Jeppe Zeirsen radman, i tratnefnte stad, i fullo umbode hustrue
Marion Jons-dotter, eighte kono sinne En aff Andro halfuone, Thomas Engilisk, i fullo um-
bode Dyoneth Alexanders-dotter, eighte kono sinne ' ' ' saa mange Jorder som Thomas
foresagd ulogligh koyt hadde af Anders Scot, aftnefnte hustrue Marions fader broders, som
liggeri Hieltlando, ch herefter nemes, primo, i Liungoyo i sunde thio Marker vrenda viii
penninga aff marken. Ltem, i Yaale i Hedderokill vii marker, nio peninga aff marken.
Ltem, Ulstadt i Jala sex marker, sex peninga aff marken. Ltem, i Hawle i Jala nio marker,
sex peninga aff marken, undan tratnefnte Thomas och hans Erffvinga, och under ofuen-
nefnte Jeppe hans hustrue och theris Erffvinga, til ewineligh egn. och als forrad innengords
och utthen, til lands och Fiarls i mindelwch eder meira med alio tui, som tilliger eller
tilliger hafuer ■ ■ \ Til ytermer vissu hengia, wii ivor insigle for dette breff, med forsagdo
Thomas som screffuit, er dagh och aar som forfagher.

Ex originali, penes Dominum Sinclair; sub octo sigillis, quorum sex avulsa sunt, duo
supersunt."

Translation.

" To all men who shall see or hear this decree, Sebiorn Guttormson, law-man of Gula-
ting and Bergen, Neils Williamson, law-man in Shetland, Erland Anderson-Frak, John
Sturkarson, Mattis Jenson, Endrith Swenson-Rostungh, Asmund Salmonson, council-men
of the same place, William Thomason, lagrettman in Shetland, (send greeting). Know, that in
a convention held in the quire of the Cross Church of Bergen aforesaid, upon the Monday
before St Lawrence Day, A. D. 1485 ; there being present, on one side, a judicious man,*
Jeppe Zeirson, council-man of that place, in right of his lawful wife Marion, John's
daughter ; and, on the other side, Thomas Engilisk, in right of his lawful wife Dyoneth,
Alexanders daughter : We said ■ ' ' that the lands in Shetland, herein after mentioned,
which Thomas aforesaid had unwarrantably bought from Andrew Scot, the above Marion
her father's brother, viz. ptimo, in Linga in Whalsey-sound, ten marks land, vm pennies the
mark less : Ltem, in Yell in Hedderokel, vn mark land, nine pennies the mark less : Ltem,
in Ulstadt in Yell, six mark land, six pennies the mark less : Ltem, in Hule in Yell, nine

* Beskedelig man ; in Latin, ptovidus vir.

ITER ll.[ ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAWS OF UDAL SUCCESSION. 131

mark land, six pennies the mark less ; shall all pass from the said Thomas and his heirs,
and return to the above Jeppe his wife, and their heirs, for an everlasting possession ;
with all the appurtenances likewise, within the hamlets, or without the hamlets, where the
lands lie, whether hills or dales, that do belong, or have belonged to them * ' \ In con-
firmation of which thing, we, and also the said Thomas, do seal this decree, the day and
year mentioned above."

There is a passage in this document that requires some explanation. It has been
shewn, that when land was separated from scatthold, and enclosed for the purpose of
cultivation, it became udal, or the free property of the cultivator. It appears, then, that in
the notice which has been taken of the estates of Shetland by the law-courts in Norway, the
quantity of udal lands contained within the mark was made the subject of free bequest ; but
as the proportion of grazing land or scatthold, expressed by the term pennies, had not, for
the purpose of culture, been surrounded by an udal fence, it was considered as held con-
ditionally from the State, to which it paid a tax or tribute, and for this reason formed the
subject of an exceptional cause. Hence the expression ten mark land, eight pennies [or
eight proportions of scathold] the mark less; seven mark land, nine pennies [or nine propor-
tions of scathold] the mark less, and so on.

In concluding this account of the udal system of Orkney and Shetland, it may be
generally noticed, that there is not the slightest proof that feudality ever prevailed in these
islands, whilst they constituted a colony of Norway ; but the feudal system was immediately
introduced on their annexation to Scotland ; and it has been shewn, that the feudalization
was completed by an unparallel course of injustice exercised in the country, by the illegiti-
mate and tyrannical race of the Stuarts, Earls of Orkney, by needy farmers of the revenues
of the Exchequer, and by fictitious mortgagees of the Crown estates.

It has been affirmed, that when Harold imposed a fine upon Orkney for the slaughter
of his son, and when Einar received in pledge all the lands of the country, on condition
that he would pay the fine from his own private coffer, the natives lost, for a short time,
their udal rights, and they were reduced to the state of feudal vassals, who were bound to the
Chief by a sort of military tenure. But it ought to be considered, that the soldiers of ancient
Scandinavia never received any regular pay for their services in predatory expeditions, but
were recompensed by a division of the booty; and if the natives of Orkney and Shetland, who
had pledged their lands to the Earl, were allowed to retain them, and if they, in consequence
of the impignoration, were more urgently impelled to follow the standard of the Earl when
he embarked on some plundering excursion to the Scottish coast, it was with the hopes of
obtaining such a share of spoils as might afford them the' means of regaining their inheri-
tance. That this hope of redemption was never finally abandoned, is evident from the
' sequel of the narrative ; for when Earl Sigurd, a descendant of Einar, was desirous to take
the field against a Scottish Chieftain, the udallers seized that opportunity of insisting that
their services on this important occasion should be accepted as a redemption of their
impignorated lands. "Singulis deinde civibus agros allodiales," remarked Torfaeus, "a
tempore Einaris de Cespite, in possessione Comitum sub hypotheca dedentos, restituit, quo
militiam hanc sequerentur. Inde convincitur, non ibi magis, quam in Norvegia aut alibi,
licuisse principibus cives ad militiam extra patriae fines pro libitu cogere." — Torf. Rerum
Oread. Hist. p. 27.

It has been also supposed, that when, in A. I). 1379, Earl Sinclair received an investi-
ture of the earldom of Orkney, there entered into his engagement with the Norwegian
Monarch some obligation of a feudal nature. This is true enough ; for the Earl was obliged
to find the King a hundred good men, well armed, as often as required. But if this feudal
relation existed between the King and the Earl, it was impossible that it could affect the
relation in which the udaller stood to this nobleman. Their possessions were as un-
burdened as ever from military obligations ; consequently the Earl had no other way left

I 32 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE

[ITER II.

him to fulfil his engagement with the Monarch, than by regularly hiring the voluntary
services of those who might be induced to serve the King of Norway.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FEUDAL TENURES OF SHETLAND THAT SURVIVED
THE EXTINCTION OF UDAL RIGHTS.

It has been remarked, that, in the earliest tenures of the Crown-lands that were granted
to the natives of Shetland, the asperities of feudality were so softened down as to be
scarcely perceptible. The lands that devolved to the Crown, by virtue of the treaty of
James III. in the fifteenth century with Earl Sinclair, were named Property-lands ; and the
king, in letting them out on triennial leases, subjected them to an annual rent named Land-
maills, and to a fine or compensation on entry, named Grassum. But if a tenant wished to
convert his lease into an heritable feu, the triennial compensation of grassum was dispensed
with, and he merely paid the annual tribute of land-maills. When, also, lands were ley or
not laboured, the land-maills were humanely remitted. The earliest feuars of the Crown
estates were named The Kindly Tenants of the King.

By no author have the relation of kindly tenants to their monarch been better ex-
plained, than by Sir Walter Scott, in his remarks on the Rentallers of Lochmaben. The
kindly tenants of the four towns of Lochmaben, who are each entitled to a small piece ef
ground, are said by this author to have been " the descendants of Robert Bruce's menials,
to whom he assigned, in reward of their faithful service, these portions of land, burdened
only with the payment of certain quit rents, and gassums, or fines, upon the entry of a new
tenant. The right of the rentallers is in essence a right of property ; but, in form, only a
right of lease : of which they appeal, for the foundation, to the rent-rolls of the lord of the
castle and manor. This possession, by rental or by simple entry upon the rent-roll, was
anciently a common and peculiarly sacred species of property granted by a chief to his
faithful followers ; the connection of landlord and tenant being esteemed of a nature too
formal to be necessary, when there was honour upon one side, and gratitude upon the
other." — (See. Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. i., p. 87.) It is evident, that, in
Orkney and Shetland, the king created a number of these kindly tenants on the Crown-
estates, in order to assimilate their feus as much as possible to the free nature of udal
tenures.

When the superiority of the country was granted to mesne-lords, and when the

revenues of the King were let out to farmers, Crown-lands paid rent whether they were ley

or laboured ; and, in the course of time, the terms on which the rentallers of the Crown

were allowed to possess their lands, were rendered particularly rigorous. The consequence

of the fraudulent encrease of the standard weights of the country, and other oppressions

that have been pointed out, which took place during the feudalization of Orkney and

Shetland, have entailed such a burden on lands, as to perpetuate the greatest of hardships

upon all classes of tenantry.

The mode in which lands have been fued or let out to tenants since the feudalization
of Shetland, will now be pointed out. A mark of land was supposed to contain within it a
greater or less extent of scathold, in proportion to the number of pennies which entered into
its denomination. Thus a twelve penny mark of land contained a greater proportion of
scathold than a ten penny mark. Appellations like these, anciently expressed the propor-
tion of scathold which remained after arable or udal ground had been separated from it by
inclosure ; and although, upon the record of Earl Patrick Stewart's rental in the Exchequer,

ITER II.]

FEUDAL TENURES OF SHETLAND.

133

inclosed arable ground became no longer exempt from the impost of scat, yet the term was
still of use to perpetuate the proportion of the annexed scathold. Frequently, in any
division of commons, proportions were awarded, according to the number of pennies with
which each mark of land had been long designated.

These preliminary observations being made, it may be now remarked, that, when
Crown-lands were first let out to lease, they were supposed to consist wholly of scathold ;
and, therefore, the amount of the rent annually required for each mark, was regulated by its
denomination of pennies. Thus, for instance, a mark of twelve penny land, containing
twelve proportions of scathold, was charged with a greater rent than ten penny, eight penny,
six penny, or four penny land that contained only ten, eight, six, or four proportions of
scathold.

When Shetland was first annexed to Scotland, the Crown-rents were paid in wadmel
and butter. Originally, a mark of wadmel was divided into eight parts, each of which con-
tained six ells ; and when, in the course of time, this coarse cloth was, for payment,
converted into money, an eighth part of a mark, or six ells, was made equivalent to a
Zealand zullen, which, again, said Mr Gifford, was equal to 24s Scots, or 2s Sterling.
Hence six ells, or cuttels, were named a shilling of wadmel ; and, in the old rentals, the
quantity of cloth that was exigible from each estate, was marked down in shillings and
cuttels. The amount of butter required from each lease holder from the Crown, was in
lispunds and marks. A lispund was originally of 12 lb. weight; and it was farther divided
into 24 marks, each of 8 oz. This weight was fraudulently raised during the tyranny of
Earl Robert from 12 to 13 lb. Earl Patrick clandestinely advanced it to 18 lb. In the
year 1690, under the oppressive exactors of the Crown-rents, and needy farmers, the lispund
had further increased from 18 to 24 lb. weight. In 17 10 it was again advanced to 26 lb.
Mr Gifford of Busta in 1734, found that it was 28 lb. It is now said to be 32 lb.* By
this augmentation it will be seen, that the produce fraudulently exacted from the injured
and empoverished husbandman, was more than doubled. On this subject, the author of
the Grievances of Orkney and Shetland has stated, that, "As a consequence of this
encrease, numberless little heritages, and some fair estates also, are swallowed up, the
Crown-rents having so encreased with the weights, that, when the years are not very plenti-
ful, the whole fruits of the ground are not sufficient to satisfy them."

The ancient rental of Shetland, which has remained unaltered from the annexation of
this country to Scotland down to the present period, may be now given.

Ancient Rental of Shetland.

Proportions of Scathold contained
within the mark expressed by the
term Pennies.

Butter paid, as computed according
to Lispunds and Marks ; the Lis-
pund having been fraudulently in-
creased. A Lispund is also divided
into 24 Marks.

Wadmel computed in Money.

12 Penny land.

12 Marks Butter.

16s Scots.

10 Ditto.

14^$ Ditto.

14s 8d do.

9 Ditto.

1 2 Ditto.

12s do.

8 Ditto.

io^S Ditto.

1 os 8d do.

7 Ditto.
6 Ditto.

9}i Ditto.
8 Ditto.

9s 4d do.
8s do.

4 Ditto.

6 Ditto.

6s do.

24 marks are said to be equal to 32 lb. Scots troy, upwards of 35 lb. avoirdupois.

134 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE [ITER II.

It may now be farther added, that when the chamberlain set a tack or lease of the
property-lands to a tenant, it was for three years ; and he caused him to pay the usual fine
or compensation of Grassum. This amounted to 24s Scot, or 2s Sterling, for each mark of
land ; but, in progress of time, it was found more convenient to convert the grassum that
was due every three years, into an annual demand of 8s Scots, or 8d Sterling. The annual
land-maills, therefore, for a mark of the King's land, was estimated by the general rental of
the country that had been given ; and, added to this, was the annual sum of 8s Scots for
grassum. This is the rental for all the lands in the country at the present day, whether
they belong to private landholders, or to the superior of the country. When the number of
pennies /£>' mark determines the value of land, and when the annual grassum is added to
the amount it will be found that

1 mark of 12 penny land pays yearly 16 marks of butter, and £1 4 o Scots,
g 12 100

16 o

In the Appendix to Mr Shirreff's Agricultural Survey, p. 17, it is stated, that each
penny per mark paid i}i mark of butter, and i}i in money : for instance, six penny land
paid 8 marks of butter, and 8s Scots in money, to which was added 8s Scots per mark of
Grassum.

Thus, although the nominal rents have not been raised since the islands were annexed
to the Crown of Scotland, yet, by the gradual fraudulent increase of the lispund from 12 lb.
to 32 lb., the produce exacted by the landlord has nearly tripled. Mr Morrison, in his
statistical survey of Delting parish, has also remarked, that " till a few years, it was con-
sidered a standard regulation, that the butter part of the rent should be charged at 5s
Sterling a lispund, or 2^d a mark ; but the factor for the superior thought proper to charge
the current price for the feu-duty butter, and many of the proprietors followed his example ;
so that a mark of butter, which weighs 1% English, is sometimes 3d, 4d, and 4^d, instead
of the old conversion of 2^d a mark. This the tenants considered as a hardship, as few of
them can pay their butter rents in kind."

The lands which were originally udal, but which were feudalized at a later period by
the Earls of Morton, are enjoyed on tenures that are comparatively light. Some very
ancient patrimonies having never been held by a charter from the Crown, are still in a
limited decree udal. But the vassals who having inherited the proper estates of the Crown
and its donators, have been rendered liable to the charge contained in the ancient rental of
Shetland, labour under heavy burdens. All landholders, however, still pay the old scat that
was rendered to the Kings of Norway ; they pay a duty named Wattle, in commemoration
of the prayers of a good sainted lady which the Shetlanders, in Popish times, purchased as
an intercession for their manifold sins, and which Earl Robert Stuart, a Protestant reformer,
contrived to perpetuate, by inserting in his rental ; they pay the ox and sheep money that
was granted as a compliment to the Earl of Bothwell, when he obtained a refuge in
Shetland, after his marriage with the unfortunate Mary. The average of scat, wattle, and
ox money, is said to be about 8d Sterling ; some lands being charged for them as high as
is 4d. According to Mr Shirreff, in his account of the agriculture of the country, the land-
holder pays one-half the cess or land-tax, and rogue-money ; a premium for killing eagles,
ravens, and hooded-crows ; bounty to seamen and other casualties, with a proportion of
schoolmasters' salary, which may altogether amount to about 6d Sterling per mark of land.
The duties to the superior, which were originally exigible in the ipsa corpora, have long
been commuted for money ; the amount being regulated by the rise or fall of butter and
oil, according to the prices of the market.

After Shetland had become subject to the Scottish Crown, the falconer of the Royal
household came annually to collect hawks for the use of the King ; and to feed these birds
a hen was demanded from every house ; or (as it is called) from every reek, under the name
of Havrk-hens. Long after the sports of hawking had gone out of fashion, the payment was
continued ; and it is, at the present day, said to be perquisite assumed by one of the officers

ITER II.]

FEUDAL TENURES OF SHETLAND. 1 35

of the Exchequer, who has been in the habits of letting out the privilege of collecting them,
for an annual compensation in money ; but I have not learnt that the claim has been very
recently advanced.

• It was shewn, (page 63) that when the udallers had become so distressed by poverty,
that they were obliged to dispose of their property to wealthy strangers in the land, numer-
ous allotments of territority were laid together so as to form an ample estate ; and in every
part of the islands new settlers were to be found, who began to assume within their limited
demesnes all the proud functions of the baronial lord. The little landlord demanded, along
with rent, the acknowledgment of a grassum or entry ; and in many menial services, such as
annual presents, casting the lord's peats, or labouring for him a certain number of days.

The proprietor of the lands of Shetland has been in the habit of setting them accord-
ing to the ancient rental of the King ; and he has imitated the superior of the Crown-
estates, in adding the King's ancient requisition of grassum, to the amount of hisland-maills;
he has also taken for his precedent all the subsequent mode of exactions adopted by the
inheritor of the Crown-estates. But, indeed, considering the nature of the lands of
Shetland, and their undivided state, this assimilation of tenures, to those that were granted
by the superior, was almost unavoidable.

Among the private proprietors of Shetland, but more particularly of Orkney, many
ancient feudal customs were continued, long after their extinction in Scotland from whence
they were derived. Of these, none is more remarkable, than the perpetuation of those
exactions which had their remote origin in a capitation tax, that prior to all feudal institu-
tions, was paid for the support of some Commonwealth. It has been observed, that the
most ancient tax of Scandinavia, instituted by Odin, was a Nose-tax. When countries,
therefore, were, by the invasion of an enemy, feudalized, the chief feudatories, who had
allotments of conquered land granted them by some liege lord, subjected their newly
acquired vassals whom they found on their estates, to the same impost to which they had
been accustomed, by inserting it in their rentals. We find traces of this most ancient of all
duties, in the old rent-rolls of many manors in England, as well as Scotland. In the latter
country, it was perpetuated under the name of Canage : this term being said to be derived
from the Gaelic Cean, signifying the head; and, therefore, supposed to import the capitation
duty, which had preceded feudal vassalage. This tribute was generally paid at one period in
the year, often at Christmas, in fowls, in cheese, or in oats ; which were hence named cane
fowls, cane cheese, or cane oats. I have an account of this exaction being introduced, though
late, into Shetland, by a gentleman of that country, which is related with so much of the
spirit of the ancient udaller, that I shall give it in his own words : " About the beginning of
the last century, the first Sir John Mitchell of Westshore in Shetland, married Margaret
Murray, daughter of Francis Murray of Pennyland, who was commissary of Caithness. Sir
John, as steward of Shetland, held the supreme judicial power in that country. His lady being
accustomed to the oppressive feudal impositions then laid on the poor peasantry of Caith-
ness, introduced some of them on her husband's estate, viz. the payment of a hen for every
merk of land possessed by them, under the name of Poultry Fowls. In other cases, she
imposed the burden of casting and carrying home peats to the manor-house, and of furnish-
ing packages employed in the carriage of them called Cassies or Maizeys. The poultry is
still paid, but the other exactions have partly gone into disuse, or have been commuted for
money, or the annual labour of a certain number of days." Another mode of collecting the
capitation tax, was by requiring from tenants an annual present at Christmas ; and this was
spent in providing a treat, in which both the landlord and tenant partook. This feudal
custom, which I have reason to believe is little know among antiquaries, is so curious, that
although it was only introduced in Orkney and not in Shetland, I shall, perhaps, be excused,
for giving some account of it on this occasion, though a little out of place. It was con-
tinued so late as the beginning of the last century, by the petty landlords of that country,

I 36 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ITER IL]

feuars of the Crown-lands, in imitation of the lordly Barons of the south. In a very small
pamphlet, entitled, The Tri/e Causes of the Poverty of Orkney, published in the year 1760. I
find the following account of what are termed Boumacks, or Bummacks, a word which l)r
Jamieson supposes to be of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Isl. Bua parare, and mage
socius ; that is to make preparations for one's companions. " The ancestors of the
generality of the present Lairds of Orkney," says the writer of the pamphlet, " w r ere mean
men, feuars of the King's property ; by their tenures they became bound to pay the full rent
by way of feu-duty ; they were wise enough to reckon nothing their own, except what, by
their labour and industry, they brought the ground to yield, over and above the rents
payable to their superior. They were plain, simple, sober, countrymen, frugal, industrious
labourers, unacquainted with tea, coffee, rum, silks and velvets. Their tenants were their
friends and companions ; every tenant feasted his laird at least once a year, in the Christ-
mas holidays ; these feasts are called Boumacks by the country people. A late landlord of
a good estate, looking on these boumacks as what the tenant was obliged to give his master,
converted the boumacks of every house on his estate to 4 stettins of malt, and charged that
in his rental as a fixed and constant rent; for now a-days most of these lairds would be
affronted to sit down at a boumack with his tenants."* That a custom similar to the one
described, existed in the north of England among the powerful landlords of that country, I
have shewn in a paper which I had the honour of reading to the Antiquarian Society of
Edinburgh. The return of an annual present from tenants, for the sake of partaking at the
feast of Yole or Yule, I have detected in the rent-roll of a knight of Ashton-under-line, near
Manchester, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. In the preamble of the rental are the
following words: "The service of the said tenants is this ; that they shall give their presents
at Yole, every present to such a value as it is written and set in the rental, and the Lord
shall feed all his said tenants and their wifes, upon Yole day, if them like for to come ; but
the said tenants and their wifes, though it be for their ease not to come, they shall send
neither man nor women in their name, but if she be their son and their daughter dwelling
with them ; for the Lord is not bounden to feed save "only the goodman and goodwife."
There is no doubt, but that these annual presents were of the same nature as the Scotch
canage, and that they are to be identified in the Orkney boumacks. They were, in fact,
perpetuations of a capitation^tax, in use before the introduction into the country of feudality.
It may be also observed, that the amount of the presents thus collected, was, in the manor-
roll which I have examined, of such a considerable magnitude in proportion to the rent
paid, that it would more than repay the expences of the table, leaving to the lord a
handsome surplus. Accordingly, it is not improbable, that the name of Landlord was
originally attached to the host of an inn, as a satirical allusion to the manorial landlord, who
never provided a dinner for his guests, without receiving for it an adequate recompense. I
may further remark that in the old halls of manorial residences in Lancashire, may be
commonly seen an occasional elevation of the floor, or sometimes a lofty gallery, which was
for the purpose of accommodating the Lord of the manor or his family, that they might not
be incommodated with the coarse freedoms of the tenants below ; also to preserve due
decorum, was frequently introduced a diminutive pair of stone-stocks, about eighteen inches
in length, with holes for fastening the fingers of the unruly. This instrument was entrusted
to the general prefect of manorial festivities, the king of misrule, w r hose office it w r as to
punish all who exceeded his royal notions of decency. — Thus much in illustration of the
canage or cane-fowls of Shetland, and of the kindred acknowledgment of boumacks in
Orkney.

The landed proprietor of Shetland has also long been accustomed to exact in addition
to cane-fowls, the labour of each tenant for three or six days in the week, for the purposes of
casting peats, or other labours of husbandry. We find this requisition in the rent-rolls of
the powerful feudatories of more ancient times. In a manor-roll in my possession, every

* Some account of these Boumacks or Bummacks, may be found in the 15th vol. of the Statistical Account of Scotland, p.
393i 394- But the best notice of them is in the scarce pamphlet to which I have alluded, for the perusal of which I am indebted to
Mr Neill.

ITER II.] FEUDAL TENURES OF SHETLAND. 1 37

tenant at will is thus commanded : " He that plough has, shall plough a day, whether the
Lord be liever [more willing] in wheat seeding or in lenten seeding ; and every tenant
harrow a day with their harrow in seeding time, when they bin charged ; and they shall cart
every tenant ten cartful of turve from Doneain Moss to Assheton, and shere four days in
harvest, and cart a day corn." This service, so profitable to the lord, was in the north of
England called Boon-work ; and hence, an old adage, when a man was compelled to work
for nothing, " I am served like a Boon-shearer." No one, perhaps, but an antiquary, will
be delighted to hear that boon-work is not still extinct in the British isles, and that it is still
felt with all the impatience of the ancient boon-shearers of the South. " The three days
labour in each year to the landholder," says Dr Edmonstone, with much justice, " is
certainly a serious hardship on the tenant, especially as he has to work three days also to
the clergyman. Both the heritor and the clergyman now live in a new enlightened state of
society ; and it becomes their duty to concur in abolishing a practice which keeps alive the
recollection of feudal oppression, and stifles the feelings of generous freedom."

Having now taken leave of the ancient udal and present feudal state of Zetland, I shall
briefly notice the state of the tithes which constitute one of the greatest burdens on lands
that is at present experienced in this country, since they are generally drawn in kind.

The teinds of Shetland are partly of corn ; these are paid by some lands in every tenth
sheaf, after being cut down ; in other lands the teinds are compounded for in butter and oil,
and in a few lands only in money. For every thirty sheep three marks of wool and
one lamb are exacted. For each cow three marks of butter on an average, and for each
calf is Scots. Each six-oared boat pays of teind fifteen ling; and each four-oared boat ten
ling. In the last place, the minister claims a right to three days work from each family in
the parish, for the purpose of casting, raising and bringing home his peats. See Memorial
for the Parishioners of Notth Mavine, in Mr Shirrejfs Agricultural Survey of Shetland, p.

24—33-

There are no poor rates ; the poor are said to be quartered upon the parishes in rota-
tion, living on each family for periods varying from one week to a month.

138

NOTES TO ITER II.

NOTE VI. History of the Udallers, Page 34 to 68.

In drawing out a narrative of the history of Udal Tenures, although I have made many
references to the authorities on which they are given, yet several of them I shall acknow-
ledge under general sources of information. Of the first of these is Mr Clifford's Historical
Description of Zetland, given in No. 38 of the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica. This
is an excellent work ; it was written in the year 1733, in conformity to the wish of the Earl
of Morton, by whom he was appointed a Steward-depute in the county ; but the fear of
offending this Nobleman, by allusions to the conduct of his ancestors, led him to be very
careful of entering with great particularity into the history of Udal Tenures. It is indeed
questionable, if, after all, Earl Morton did not think he had explained too much on the
subject ; for the book was not printed for more than fifty years after it was written ; and the
publication is attributable to a late celebrated antiquary of Edinburgh, Mr George Paton,
into whose hands the MS. had fallen. It is from some hints thrown out by Mr Gifford in
the course of his work, that I attempted to explain, in connection with the laws of udal
succession, the series of causes by which the ancient landed tenures of the country became
feudalized. The difficulty of the task has been infinitely greater than I was aware of, and it
can only be estimated by those who may still recollect the disputes which took place about
forty years ago, regarding the rights of the superiority of Orkney and Shetland. That the
statement which I have ventured to give of the feudalizing process which took place in the
country may not be free from inaccuracies, I am prepared to expect ; nor do I need to be
reminded, that an individual who may possess a very trifling degree of knowledge of the
feudal peculiarities of Scotland is ill qualified for the attempt. But, unfortunately, I had
commenced the inquiry with little foreknowledge of the difficulties attending it ; otherwise I
should have long since shrunk from the task. My last object was to illustrate, from examples,
the curious laws of udal succession ; and as this is accomplished, I shall soon take my leave
of the subject.

Another work that contains much curious information relating to the early state of the

NOTES TO ITER II. 1 39

l?\vs and udal tenures of Orkney and Shetland, is usually ascribed to a Mr James Mac-
kenzie ; it is named The General Grievances and Oppressions of Orkney and Shetland. I
am, however, given to understand that it was written by an Orkney gentleman of
the name of Fea, on whose abilities it reflects great credit. It was drawn up in consequence
of a law suit that was impending relative to the encrease that had taken place in the weights
of the country ; and the object having been to prove that the laws of Orkney and Shetland
ought not to be conformed to those of Scotland, it became necessary to state what the
peculiarities of the subverted statutes were. Of this scarce work only fifty copies were
printed ; one of these is in the possession of Mr William Laing, bookseller, of Edinburgh,
who kindly favoured me with the perusal of it whilst I was drawing up my narrative of Udal
Tenures.

The information which I have received relative to the various feudal grants that have
been made of Orkney and Shetland, is chiefly derived from the arduous and learned re-
searches of the legal gentlemen who drew up Memorials of the date of 1776, in' an action
brought by Sir Laurence Dundas, relative to his assumed right of superiority. An allusion
is made to this law-suit in page 67. I shall now state its nature.

Sir Lawrence Dundas asserted, 1st, That he was superior of such of the lands
belonging to the defenders as had once been held of the Earls of Orkney, or other grantees
of the Crown, and of which the vassals were not actually seised by infeftment from the
Crown in 1707.

2dly, That he had a right, as the King's Commissioner, by virtue of the charter 1707, to
enter even the Crown vassals, by giving them charters and precepts for infeftment ; and
that no Crown vassal in Orkney or Zetland had a right to the charters from the Exchequer,
or precepts from his Majesty's Chancery.

2)dly, That, as grantee of the feu and other duties, and causalties of superiority, he was
entitled to insist for the composititions due on the entry of heirs and singular successors, and
renewals of investitures, even from the Crown vassals, whether they received their entries
from him or from the Exchequer.

Lastly, That if any of the udallers should at any time chuse to be feudalized, they
could not take their charters and entries from any other than him, and were bound to hold
of him for payment of the skat-duties in use to be paid out of these lands, and the usual
casualties of superiority.

The termination of this action is given in a MS. addition to Campbell's Political
Survey, which is in the possession of the Antiquarian Society of Edinburgh ; this -document
I have not seen, but it is quoted in the Appendix to Dr Edmondstone's History of Zetland.
Sir 1 awrence Dundas's pretension is said to have been "successfully resisted on the part
of the defendants, in whose favour the Judges determined the suit. Some points
of lesser moment were remitted to the Barons of the Exchequer ; but the plaintiff's title to
the feu-duties in use to be paid to his predecessor not being disputed, was confirmed ;
leaving the principal heritors at liberty to recur, as formerly, directly to the Crown, while
the small udallers had an option, if they chose, either to subject themselves to the
Sovereign, or to acknowledge Sir Lav.rence Dundas."

In page 47 and elsewhere in page 95, &c. it has been shewn, that the agents by
whom the Stewarts were enabled to inflict unparalleled atrocities upon the country, were a
class of people known by the name of Dependants. These differed from mere vassals in
this respect, that they were not only required to take up arms in the quarrels of their
master, but to give their presence at all times when required, for the sake of pomp and
ostentation, particularly when their lord rode abroad. Mr Francis Douce, in speaking of
the English custom of clothing persons in liveries or badges, remarks that " it was not
confined to menial servants. Another class of men, called Retainers, who appear to have
been of no small importance among our ancestors, were habited in a similar manner. They
were a sort of servants, not residing in the house, but attending occasionally for the purpose
of ostentation, and retained by the annual donation of a livery, conisting of a hat or hood, a
badge, and a suit of clothes. As they were frequently kept for the purpose of maintaining
quarrels and committing other excesses, it became necessary to impose heavy penalties on

I4O NOTES TO ITER II.

the offenders, both masters and retainers." In process of time they were licensed. The
same author quotes an extract from a work of Jervis Markham, dated A.D. 1596, to shew
that these retainers were not always men of low condition, but consisted of the sons of
noblemen, of " Esquire's sonnes, and of gentlemen younger brothers, that wears their elder
brothers' blew coate and badge." " Let us congratulate ourselves," adds Mr Douce, " that we
no longer endure such insolent aggressions, the result of family pride and ignorance, and
which had been too often permitted to degrade the natural liberties and independence of
mankind." In treating of Earl Bobert Stewart's atrocities, I have had occasion to state,
that the retainers or dependants which he brought with him from Scotland, were distributed
over the whole of the country of Orkney and Shetland, having no establishment given them
for a constant residence, but that they were allowed to quarter themselves at a free cost on
the country ; and that they were hence named broken men. This mode, however, of keep-
ing retainers, does not seem to have been general in Scotland ; and in thio respect the
country was better governed than in England. Retainers had, in many well regulated
demesnes, lands given them, with the obligation annexed, that they and their heirs should
be loyal and true men, and servants to their lord, and " ryde, gang, and serve yame, and tak
plain part with yame in all and sundrie yare actiones, causes, quarrellis" &c. though not to
the detriment of the liege Sovereign. When any one, therefore, enlisted himself among
the retainers of a superior, for which engagement lands were sometimes granted, he was said
to be in manrent ; which significant term scarcely requires any explanation. Two bonds of
Manrent have been shewn me, which are so very curious, as illustrating a prominent trait
in the Scottish manners of the 16th century, that I have scarcely any apology to offer for
inserting them in this place.

BOND of MANRENT, A B of that Ilk, to C D , dated

19th October 1555.

Be it kent till all men be yir p'nt Lres me A B of yat ilk For-

samekle as be vertew of an contract and appoinctment maid betwix an Noble man C

I) of' on yat ane part and me on yat uther part toucheing ye infeftment of

alienatioune maid and gevin be ye said C D to me my airis and assignais off

all and sundrie ye Landis of and wt comoun pasture frie

ische and intre in ye Comoun of ye Lordschip of usit and wount and als of

ye myln of ye wt the mylne landis thirle multure pertening to ye

samin and comoun pasture frie ische and intre in ye landis of usit and

wount wt all yair pertinentis lyand in ye I am oblist by vertew

of the said contract to mak sele subscryve and deliver to ye said C D ane

Band of Manrent byndand and oblissand me and my airis to be lele and trew men and

servandis to ye said C D of and his airis in ye maist ampill forme yat

ye said C — - — - D — can devyss oure allegeance to our Soverane Lady allanerlay

except as ye said contract at mair length proportis Thairfoir to be bundin and oblist and
be ye faith and treuth in my body lelelie and trewlie bindis and oblisses me and my airs in

Manrent to ye said C D of and his airis and yat we sail be leill and

trew men and servandis to yame and ryde gang and serve yame and tak plain part with
yame in all and sundrie yare actiones causes quarellis pleyis contraversys and debaitis lefull
and honest quhatsumever movit or to be movit be yame or agains yame be'and agains
(juhatsumever persone or persones yat leif or de may in ye law or by the law oure Soverane
Lady ye Quenis Grace and her auc'te allanerlie except and sail nowther here se nor knaw
yare skaith but sail revele ye samin to yame and stop ye samin at the utermaist of oure
poweris and further sail leif nathing undone yat men and servandis aucht and suld do to
yair maisteris And hereto I bind and oblisses me and my airis faithfullie to ye said

C D — ■ and his airis under the pane of forfalting and tinsel of ye foresaidis

landis mylne thirle multuris and utheris abovewri" And gif I or my airis failzies hereintill
to ye said C — D and his airis the saidis landis to returne againe to ye said

NOTES TO ITER II. 141

C D and his airis and be fre in yair handis In witness hereof to yis my p'nt

Band of Manrent subscryvit with my hand my proper sele yrto hingin at Edinburgh the 19th
day of October the yeir of God Ane thousand fyve hundreth and fyftie fyve yeirs, before yir

witnes And howbeit ony failzie above-written happynis to be made be the said A

B and his airis to the said Laird of or his airs zit notyesless he nor

his airis sail not haif regress to ye foresaids lands be resone of ye said failzie unto ye tyme
ye soume of xviij c & 1 merles ressavit be ye said Lard of for ye alienatioune

of ye saids landis be refundit again be the said A B wt ye annualrent of xxi

mks yrely and again to yaim. Before ye witnesses &c.

A B

BOND of MANRENT, A B of to C D

Be it kend tyll al Men by yir p'nts Lres Me A B of

to be bundin and oblist and be ye tenor of yir p'nts fathfully bindis and obless me to ane

Honerable man C D of to becumin his man for all ye dayis

of my lyff and to tak his part at all tymess him to supple wt my kynd servants and frends at
or power in all his rycht honest and just pleis and querellis before al oyr p'sones excepand

ye Kings Grace & allegeancy to ye Croun And forther newer to her nor to se scaitht

no pert in body fayme or his gudes bot I sal resist defend and reweil to ye said C

D ■ at my power at al fraud & gyll excludit For ye observying keping and fulfilling

p'misses I ye said bindis and oblisses me be ye faith and treucht in my body

in the mast sekarest form and stratest still of obligation In witness of ye quhilk for ye mair

securitie I ye said A — B hes affixit to my seil at ye 2d day of

September ye zer of God ane thousand fyff hundrett xxi zers and wt my subscription manuel
before yer witnesses, &c.

A B

NOTE VII. Sumburgh Light-House, Page 77.

The Shetland Islands, owing to their detached form and central position in the North
Sea, present several situations whereon light-houses would be extremely beneficial to
shipping ; aud the Commissioners of the Northern Light-houses have lately extended their
operations to these islands, and have erected a light-house on Sumburgh-Head, the most
prominent southern extremity of the Mainland. The light-house here is known to mariners
as a stationary light. The buildings were founded in the month of March 1820, and the
house was lighted on the 15th day of January 182 1. The light is from oil with reflectors,
elevated 300 feet above the medium level of the sea, and has been distinctly seen, in a
favourable state of the atmosphere, at the distance of no less than eight or nine leagues.

NOTE VIII. Steinbartes or Stone-Axes, Page 86.

Dr Chalmers, in his Caledonia, has made the following remarks on the subject of the
stone-axes found in Shetland : "The curious fact, that Druid remains and stone monuments
exist, and that celts and flint arrow heads have been found in the Orkney Islands, while
none of them have discovered in the Shetland Islands, evinces, that the same Celtic people
who colonized South and North Britain, also penetrated into the Orkneys, but not into the
Shetland Islands ; and this fact also shews that those antiquities owe their origin to the
Celts, who early colonized the Orkney Isles alone, and not to the Scandinavians, who
equally colonized both the Orkney and Shetland Islands." I am sorry that Dr Chalmers
had been misinformed on this subject, since stone-axes are much more abundant in

142 NOTES TO ITER II.

Shetland than in Orkney ; but it is still more unfortunate, that the same learned antiquary
should have enfeebled the excellent arguments which he had advanced relative to the
Pictish question, by dwelling on such fallacious incitements to antiquarian inferences as
stone-axe or barrows. Whittaker, in his History of Manchester, has given a plate of a
stone-axe which he supposes to have been used by the Celts, but it differs materially from
the form of the Teutonic steinbarte. The blade of the Celtic stone-axe exhibits hollow
sides ; that of the Shetland steinbarte is convex on one or both sides. The blade of the
Celtic stone-axe contains an orifice, calculated to admit within it a wooden shaft ; but there
is no orifice displayed by the blade of the Shetland steinbarte ; on the contrary, it is itself
passed through the aperture of a wooden or bone handle, for which its tapering extremity is
adapted.

NOTE IX. Sandlodge Mines, Page 91.

I consider the information of those gentlemen who have seen the Sandlodge Mines as
so important, that I shall insert the testimony of all the mineralogists who have visited
Shetland while they were worked. Professor Jameson, who saw the mines about twenty
years ago, thus describes them: "At a little distance from the shore, in the sandstone,
which is here still continued, there is a vein of copper pyrites, or sulphuret of copper, which
was worked for some time by a party of miners from Wales, with very flattering prospects; but
the vein gradually decreased in width, until it was not above an inch broad, when it was
thought proper to leave it. On the opposite side of the house there is another large vein of
iron-ore, above six feet wide, having a very scorified aspect. This was also worked for some
time, but the great expence, and the small proportion of copper obtained, soon made it to
to be given up."

"At Sandlodge, in 1803," says Dr Traill, "a copper-mine was wrought, which has, I
understand, been since given up, but which, I have been told, it is in contemplation soon
again to (-pen. There was then a small but well constructed steam-engine on it. The
principal shaft was sunk within a few fathoms of the sea. The miners had penetrated to the
depth of about twenty-two fathoms, and were but little incommoded with water. The
upper rock was sandstone ; and below it, at twenty-two fathoms, lay a petrosiliceous, or
perhaps quartzy rock, traversed by many veins of brown quartz. This was the greatest
depth to which they had then penetrated ; and I believe that the hardness and unpromising
nature of this rock was the cause of their so quickly giving up. At that time there were but
two Cornish miners, besides a Cornish Captain of the Mines, engaged, and these were
chiefly occupied in giving directions to the natives employed to work in the mine. The
want of men sufficiently skilled in mining, was certainly one cause of their failure. The
principal manager was a partner, who had chiefly directed his attention to the corn-trade, as
I was informed, and who was totally ignorant of the art of mining. The principal lode or
vein lies between the sandstone and the petrosiliceous rock, in a direction from NE. to SW.
The copper-ore is chiefly green carbonate, and the sulphuret ; it is imbedded in an iron-ore,
which is sometimes pulverulent, and was called by the Cornish miners gozzan. The iron-
ore is by much the more abundant. When Mr Jameson visited this place, the copper-mine
was not opened ; and he only mentions iron-ores as the product of the mine, which many
years ago had been wrought by an English iron company, but afterwards abandoned. It
was subsequent to Mr Jameson's visit that the copper-ore was much noticed. The iron-ores
here found, are, 1. Dark-brown, fibrous, and mamillated haematites ; 2. Columnar bog iron-
ore ; 3. Micaceous iron-ore; 4. Iron-ochre of a brown colour; 5. Stalactitic iron-ore,
colour, dark-brown ; 6. Earthy matter, much charged with iron, seemingly arising from the
debris of other ores. The copper-ores are, 1. Friable and amorphous carbonate of copper,
colour rich green ; 2. Beautiful carbonate of an emerald green, crystallized in capillary
fibres of a silky lustre, diverging in radii from a centre. This species is found imbedded in
iron-ore.; 3. Sulphuret of copper, disseminated through felspar in some places, and, in
others, in great masses in iron-ore. The rich carbonates were found near the bottom of the

NOTES TO ITER II. 1 43

mine. The levels and shafts of the old company seem to have passed within three or four
feet of this rich vein, but never to have touched it. I walked through the galleries scooped
out in former attempts, for about forty fathoms, but saw only little appearance of copper-
ores, while there was iron in abundance all around. The roads near the mine were all
paved with fine iron haematites, which the Cornish miners who were there did not seem to
regard as of any value, or indeed almost to know. Some of them imagined it was a new
kind of copper-ore. Some pieces of bog iron-ore I had collected, were called copper-spume
by one of them ; hence, it is evident, we cannot trust much to the mineralogical opinions of
the generality of miners. From the saline taste of the waters of the mine, and the crust of
copper it left on my knife, I proposed to the workmen to try to procure copper of cementation
in the usual way. This company had already expended between ^9000 and ,£10,000 on
the work, and had shipped one or two cargoes of ore ; for, when dressed and washed, it was
carried to England to be smelted. I was informed that the best of it sold for £70 pet ton.
The hills in the vicinity afford both copper and iron-pyrites in considerable quantity. Near
Coningsburgh Cliffs, a vein of copper-pyrites was wrought a few years ago, which yielded
Mr Jameson 18 pet cent, of copper ; but it so much decreased in width as they descended,
that it was finally abandoned. The appearance of the ores was judged, by the Cornish
miners, to improve as they descended in the Sandlodge mine ; and, at their lowest ltvel, the
quantity of fibrous malachite, when I visited the mine, was such as to afford a most beauti-
ful specticle by the light of our candles. They have since, however, I am told, unfortu-
nately met with such obstacles as to induce them to give up the work. Still, it appears to
me, that it would be worthy the attention of some Mining Company, who had capital and
enterprise to prosecute the undertaking." — App. to Mr Neill's Tour, p. 169, &c.

Dr Fleming, who last visited the mines in the year 1808, states as follows : — •" Copper-
pyrites was the ore which the miners sought for. Near the bottom of the mine it is
disseminated in sparry ironstone, along with iron-pyrites. The difficulty of working the
sparry ironstone or veinstone, and the small proportion of copper-ore which it contained,
were stated to me as the reasons for abandoning the mine. Among the rubbish thrown out
from the vein I observed a few pieces of grey copper-ore. Fibrous tnalachite occurs in
abundance in the cavities of the other ores, or in the form of a surface coating. Specimens
of native copper have also been found.

" Besides these ores of copper, the vein contains a great proportion of iron-ores.
Common iron-pyrites is found in company with the copper-pyrites, but does not seem to be
very abundant. Brown hasmatite is found towards the surface of the vein in great quantity,
and nearly occupies its whole breadth. The sparry ironstone appeared in plenty towards
the bottom of the mines, and constituted the veinstone." (Appendix to Shirreff's Agri-
cultural Survey of Shetland, p. 130.) The substance of Dr Fleming's opinion on the
Productiveness of the Sandlodge mines will be found in p. 90.

NOTE X. Ancient Jurisdiction of Shetland, Page 10 1.
Anent making of Ranselmen, and their Instructions.

In a Bailie Court lawfully fenced, the whole householders in the parish being present,
the Bailie is to cause his Clerk read out a list of such honest men in the parish as are fit to
be ranselmen, and then he is to inquire each of them if they are willing to accept of the
office of ranselmen, and if any of them refuse, and give no good reason for his refusal to
accept, the Bailie may fine him in jQxo Scots. And those that accept, the Bailie asks the
whole householders present if they have ought to object against any of these men why they
may not be made ranselmen. And no objection being made, then the following instruc-
tions are to be read to them.

1. You are, at any time of night or day you see needful, to call for ass stance, and to
enter into any house within the parish and search the same as narrowly as you can, and
upon any suspicion of theft, if they refuse you the keys, you are to break open heir doors

144 NOTES TO ITER II.

or chests, and if you find anything that is stolen, you are to bring the thief and the fang to
the Bailie, or secure both, and acquaint the Bailie. If you have any scruple about any
thing you find in the house, you are to inquire how they came by it, and if they refuse to
tell, take witness upon their refusal, and let the thing be secured until you acquaint the
Bailie. You are also to examine the household stores of flesh and meal, and see if they be
correspondent to their stocks, and likewise the wool, stockings, yarn, webs, &c. and inquire
how they came by all these, and if they cannot give a satisfying account thereof and brough
and hamell, you are to inform against them.

2. You are to inquire into the lives and conversations of families, whether there is any
discord or any unbecoming carriage betwixt husband and wife, parent and child, master and
servant, or any other unchristian or unlawful practice in the family, and you are to rebuke
such and exhort them to amend. If they obey, it is well,, if not, you are faithfully to repre-
sent such to the judicatory competent, and bring the best evidences you can against all such
offenders.

3. You are to prevent all quarrels and scolding as far as in your power, by commanding
the contending parties to peace, and if they persist, require witnesses against them, and call
for assistance to separate them, and give in a faithful report thereof to the Fiscal or Clerk of
Court ; and in case you are not witness to any scolding or quarrelling that happens, you are
to gather the best information thereof you can, and make report of the same as aforesaid.

4. If you hear any person cursing or swearing, you are to demand of them the fine of
Twenty Shillings Scots, and if they refuse to pay it, you are to require witnesses against
them, and report it to the Court, the one-third of which fine to yourself, and two-thirds to
the poor.

5. That you narrowly enquire into your neighbourhood, who sits home from kiik on
the Sabbath-day, and from diets of catechising, and if they can give no sufficient reason for
their so doing, that you cause them pay the fine, being twenty shillings Scots, to be applied
as aforesaid. And that you take particular notice in your neighbourhood anent keeping the
Sabbath-day, and if you find any breach thereof that you report the same.

6. You are strictly to observe the country acts anent good neighbourhood ; such as
none injure others in their grass and corn, and rebuke the offenders, with certification if
they continue so to do, you will inform the Court against them ; and that they big their
dikes sufficiently and timeously under the pain contained in the Acts.

7. That you take notice that tenants do not abuse their lands, nor demolish their
houses, through sloth and idleness, and that you reprove such, and if they continue so to
do against the land-masters, you are to report them.

8. You are to inquire if there is in your neighbhurhood any idle vagabond persons,
and to acquaint such that they must take themselves either to some honest employ, or you
will inform against them, so as they may be punished and ordered to service, and that the
poor be taken care of in your respective quarters, and not suffered to stray abroad, nor are
you to allow any begger or tigger from any other parish, to pass through your bounds, and if
they offer so to do, you will secure them till they be punished, conform to the country Acts.

9. That you try all the dogs in your quarter, and that none be allowed to keep a dog
that can take a sheep, unless allowed to keep a sheep-dog by the Bailie, and that none keep
scare-sheep otherwise than in the Act ; and that the Acts be observed anent punding,
hounding, marking, and taking off sheep.

10. You are to inquire in your quarters anent all persons using any manner of witch-
craft, charms, or any abominable or devilish superstitions, and faithfully inform against such,
as that they may be brought to condign punishment.

n. You are to examine all tradesmen in your bounds, and see that they make suffi-
cient work, and do not impose upon any in their prices, and if you find any such
transgressors, inform against them so as they may be punished as law directs.

12. Upon any suspicion of theft, two or three ranselmen may take as many witnesses
with them, and go to the neighbour parish and ransel, and if they catch the thief, they are
to acquaint the Bailie of that parish thereof, who will order the thief to be secured.

And, in the last place, as you are entrusted with a power of inspecting the lives and

ADDITIONS TO ITER II. 1 45

manners of others, so let your own good life and conversation be exemplary unto them for
good, and take care you are not found guilty of these faults yourselves, that you are called to
reprove in others ; for if you should, your punishment shall be double to theirs. Now, all
these instructions, as far as it is in your power, you promise and swear solemnly in the
sight of Almighty God, and as you shall answer to him at the great day, faithfully and
honestly to observe and perform. So help you God.

ADDITIONS TO ITER II.

FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF UDAL LAWS.

Since drawing up the History of the Udallers, a document fell into my hands, that
would have been noticed in the account of these ancient landholders if it had arrived in
time. Early historians have asserted, that the oldest law of Udal succession was " Gavel-
kind, which," says Sir Robert Sibbald, " is the division of the heritage moveables equally,
sine disct imine sexus vel cetatis amongst the children of the deceased, only by the custom of
Shetland, the youngest got the dwelling-house, beside his share." The early Scottish
settlers, however, readily availed themselves of an edict that gave them the opportunity of
concentrating and perpetuating family wealth and power in one individual ; the principal
features of it being, that the oldest son should have the head buil, or principal manor ; that
the youngest sons should, if possible, have equal compensations in other lands, or in
income, but that the daughter should have her share in the most remote and discontiguous
lands.

Although this law seems to have been evidently framed on the principle of gavel-kind,
yet it left room for many evasions of it, with the sinister view that the oldest son should not
only succeed to the manor of a deceased udaller, but should enjoy the bulk of his landed
property. Accordingly, it appears to have been resisted by many of the wealthier
landed proprietors, who, in their law-ting, framed an act of their own, by which primo-
geniture was no farther respected, than that the first choice of such lands as were equally
divided among all the sons of a deceased udaller, fell to the oldest. If, however, the rights
of sons were reduced to an equality, those of the daughters were little respected ; since, in a
division of property, two sisters' snares were allotted for one brother's part. The law was
explained in the year 1610, when an estate was awarded to Edward Sinclair of Marrasetter ;
but the allegation that it was " inviolablie observit," has been shewn to be incorrect.

" Till all and sundrie quhome it effeiris, to quhais knowlege thir presentis sail cum ;
we, vndersubscryveand, dois testifie and beir witnes, That in all tymes bygane, past memorie
of man, thair hes bene an ancient law, custome and consuetude, within the cuntrey of Zet-
land, be the quhilk it hes bene inviolablie obseruit, that quhan ony landit man haveand
landis within the said cuntrey, depairtit this mortall lyffe, the haill landis and heretage

146 ADDITIONS TO ITER II.

appertening to him in his lyftyme, immediatlie efter his deceis, war equallie and lawtyfullie
diuydit amangis his haill bairnis, alsweill sones as dochteris, comptand alwayis twa sisteris
pairtis for ane brotharis pairt ; and being sua diuydit, the eldest brother had na farder pre-
rogative abone the rest of his brethers, except the first choiss of the pairtis and parcellis of
the lands diuydit."

This Laiv ought to have been noticed in pages 45 and 12 3.

Iter iff,

THE NORTH ISLES OF SHETLAND, THE MIDLAND

DISTRICT OF THE MAINLAND, AND THE ISLANDS

OF THE BAY OF SCALLOWAY.

" Piscator — So Sir, now we have got to the top of the hill out of town, look about you,
and tell me how you like the country.

" Viator. — Bless me, what Mountains are here ! are we not in Wales ?

" Piscator. — No, but in almost as mountainous a country ; and yet, these hills though
high, bleak and craggy, breed and feed good mutton above ground, and afford good store of
metal within."

Complete Angler, Part ii., Chap. 2.

HAVING prepared to quit the Outskerries, with sentiments of gratitude for the attention
which Mr Bruce of Whalsey had paid to my accommodation in this detached and
dreary group of islets, I set sail with a moderate breeze for the North Isles of Fetlar, Yell
and Unst ; the distance to the nearest point of them being about twelve miles. Landing at
a low, barren rock north-west from the Outskerris, named the Meikle Skerry, which I found
to be composed of gneiss, and leaving to the west, the dismal shore of Yell, which appeared
to consist of a number of dark and tenantless ridges of hills, the steep rocks on the south of
Fetlar began to appear more distinct ; and, in a short time, I came to a north-westerly point
of land where the banks were much lower, and where the presiding deity of the place, was

I48 ISLAND OF FETLAR. [ITER III.

" Clad in a gown of grass so soft and wondrous warm,"

that the traditional account seemed highly probable, which gave to Fetlar the name of the
Green Island ; its early designation was Foedar Oi.

ISLAND OF FETLAR.

I landed on the north coast of the Island, at Urie, where was a plain family mansion,
built early in the last century, which, with most of the estates of the place, belonged to a
Scottish family of the name of Bruce. A fine fertile valley lay to the south, bounded on the
west by a high ridge of gneiss, and on the east by the barren serpentine hill of the Vord ; to
the north were the distant shores of Unst. The island is considered to be from five to six
and a half miles in length, and about five in breadth ; and in my circuit round it, I first
arrived at Odsta, where there was a rock of serpentine which much influenced the compass.
Continuing my tour along banks of gneiss, in a southerly direction, I observed a site of
ground where were the remains of a remarkable fortification, unlike all others I had seen in
the country. It was situated in a very low and level green sward, close to the edge of the
ocean, but a considerable part of the defence has been washed away by the sea, in its in-
roads on the coast. A small quadrangular area, the original dimensions of which cannot be
well determined, was inclosed by a wall of uncemented stones and earth, about eight yards
in breadth, and about two in height ; it was also protected by a double ditch. There was
likewise an outer rampart of less magnitude, being about five yards broad and two
yards high, which Mr Low of Orkney conjectured, and with reason, was for no other
use than to secure for the small garrison, the possession of a well of water that had
been sunk in the fosse. About ten yards distant from the fortification, was a
mound of earth about thirty-seven yards in circumference. If the antiquary does
not fear being contradicted in his conjecture, by some unlucky Edie Ochiltree,
such as the learned occupant of Monkbarns met with in his newly discovered camp of
Agricola, he may fairly set down his fortress as showing more marks of a Roman construc-
tion, than of one that is either Saxon or Scandinavian. Shaw, the historian of Staffordshire,
has proved from examples, that the Romans always took great care to have a supply of
water for the soldiers, and even placed their camps very near a regular road, that, on an
emergency, the men might be in immediate readiness to march ; but less civilized nations,
as the Saxons for instance, with no provident view of this kind, fixed their camps on high
hills, with a steep precipice before them ; thinking that this kind of security was more to be
regarded than water, which they were forced to carry a great way to the considerable incon-
venience of the army when large. The Romans also selected a quadrangular spot of
ground, and made a single graff; but the Saxons gave themselves no trouble about the
form, and, where they apprehended the fortification to be weak, would often make two or
three ditches. These judicious remarks of Mr Shaw, apply sufficiently well to the strong
hold of Fetlar, which, from its smallness, and very plain construction, could never have
been intended for more than a temporary fortress, and might have been constructed by a

ITER III.] ISLAND OF FETLAR. 1 49

few of the troops that manned the vessels of Theodosius, when, in the fourth century, they
rooted out the Saxon pirates from the Orcadian seas. The site of the camp of Fetlar was
not upon a hill such as the Saxon barbarians would have selected, but upon a low site of
ground near to the sea, and, as it has been shewn, special care was taken to preserve,
adjoining to the station, a well of water which the experienced artificers defended by an
outer vallum.*

The southerly direction which I took, led me along very steep cliffs to Lamhoga, a
south-westerly point of land which has long been the resort of the Peregrine Falcon. Not
far from this place, is a considerable accumulation of decomposed gneiss, which appears
under the form of porcelain earth. In turning round the point of Lamhoga, I came in view
of the wide open bay of Triesta; at the head of it stood a neat white kirk and manse, built
contiguous to a small fresh water loch, which was divided from the sea by a low sandy
beach. Behind the manse was some good corn land enlivened by several cottages. The
westerly banks of the bay were high and barren ; the easterly shore, which was terminated
by a promontory named the Snap of Fetlar, was much less steep. Arriving at the Loch of
Triesta, I staid to examine its sands, which have long been celebrated for the magnetic iron-
ore, in the form of grains, with which they are intermingled. To the south-east of the
manse is Houbie, near to which town are the ruins of two burghs. One of them was once
a circular fort, formed by two walls, with chambers between them ; it was situated on a
bank close to the sea, being further protected by segments of three concentric ramparts, and
by one cross or flanking wall.f Another burgh was placed on an eminence having no out-
works ; but contiguous to it were the foundations of numerous small houses now in ruins,
that had been built on this site, for the purpose of being under the protection of the burgh.

My examination of the mineralogy of the coast that lined the bay of Triesta having
been concluded, I again set out in a north-westerly direction for Urie, having received from
Mr Ingram, the worthy minister of the parish, much kind attention on the way. From
Urie, where I was hospitably entertained by Mr Nicholson, the principal proprietor of the
island, I journeyed the next morning in an easterly direction, and soon reached the summit
of the Vord Hill, which was so named from the ancient watch-tower that crowned its
summit. The rock is composed of serpentine, and its surface exhibits a yellowish
ferruginous coating, which is exceedingly hostile to vegetation. On this hill once stood
three circles, each of which was of the diameter of about thirty-six feet, formed by
loose stones. These remains, which were probably ancient Tings or Courts of Judicature,
are now much injured. Descending the high banks on the east, I came in view of the open
bay of Gruting, and after having become an inmate, for one night, at the house of Mr Smith

* A plan of this Camp has been given in Mr Pennant's Arctic Zoology, from a drawing by Mr Low, the original of which is
now in my possession. To the strict correctness of it I cannot assent, but as the general view which it gives is not very remote
from its present appearance, it is recopied in the Plate of Antiquities given in the Appendix, Fig. i. I may remark, that as no
part of my observations, except on the Geology of Shetland, was originally intended to appear before the public, I neglected to
take such a plan of the fortress as the object deserved.

It has been said, that not far from this place, on digging in a moss, six brass relics were found, shaped like fetters, and
wrapped in a strong hide. Their form has not been described, and it would, therefore, be absurd to offer any conjecture regard-
ing their use!

t See Plate of Antiquities in the Appendix, Fig. n.

I50 ISLAND OF FETLAR.

ITER III.]

of Smithfield, from whom I received a generous welcome, I arrived at the north-east ex-
tremity of the island, where is an old fortress that bears the name of Strandiburgh. My
road then led along steep banks of conglomerate rocks to Funzie, a small open bay, on the
banks of which a booth has been long erected for the convenience of several boats that
prosecute the ling fishery during the summer months, at a distance of forty miles from
land.

It is affirmed by tradition, that the fleet under Harold Harfagre, which invaded
Shetland, first sailed to Funzie, but that the Norwegian Monarch finding he could not pro-
cure anchorage in this insecure harbour, steered for some other part of the country, where,
at the island of Unst, he was more successful in effecting a landing for his soldiers.

About the middle of the last century, the Vandela, a Swedish vessel, trading to the
East Indies, perished within a short distance of the booth of Funzie ; she had on board a
sum to the amount of ^22,000 Sterling, in various coins and pieces of silver. About
,£18,000 of this money was fished up by means of diving apparatus.

At a small distance from Funzie, a remarkable instance of the effect of thunder, took
place about the middle of the last century. A rock 105 feet long, 10 feet broad, and in
some places more than 4 feet thick, was in an instant torn from its bed, and broken into
three large and several lesser fragments. One of these, 26 feet long, 10 feet broad,
and 4 feet thick, was simply turned over. The second, which was 28 feet long, 17
broad, and 5 feet in thickness, was hurled across a high point of a rock to the distance of
50 yards. Another broken mass, about 40 feet long, was thrown still farther, but in the
same direction, quite into the sea. There were also many lesser fragments scattered up and
down.*

From Funzie, I proceeded south to the promontory named the Snap of Fetlar, which had
terminated, on a former occasion, my examination of the mineralogy of the coast of Triesta
Bay. From this point I crossed the country in a direction to Urie. It was impossible, in
this route, not to admire the rich loam with which the valleys were enriched, and this
fecundity was often singularly contrasted with the bare and yellow surface of the serpentine
of the Vord Hill, which was overspread with a ferruginous matter fatal to vegetation. A
considerable number of shelties were roaming over the scatholds of the island, the breed of
this place being considered as some of the best that Shetland produces.

I was presented, in the Island of Fetlar, with specimens of pumice, which, from their
small specific gravity, easily float on the water, and appear to have been driven to the coasts
of Shetland from the volcanic rocks of Iceland. It is then a question, from what cause
were these substances conveyed to Shetland ; were they thrown here by currents of tide,
propagated from the great diurnal undulation of the Atlantic? The ridge of one wave
must, in its northerly course, have passed between Feroe and Iceland, and, in taking a
southerly direction, might have fallen in with another current which passes between
Shetland and Feroe, or Shetland and Norway ; whether, from such a cause, these specimens
of pumice have floated to the shores of Shetland, I shall not pretend to determine. There

* For the narrative of this effect of lightning, I am indebted to the MS. of the late Reverend George Low.

[ITER III.

ISLAND OF FETLAR. 151

are indeed reasons for supposing that the vicinity of this country itself has been the seat of
a submarine volcanoe. " In the year 1768," said the late Andrew Bruce, Esq. of Urie, in
a communication to Mr Low, " we had the visible signs of a submarine shock, which threw
ashore vast quantities of shell-fish of different kinds, and of all sizes, with conger eels and
other sorts of fish, but all dead ; at the same time, the sea for several miles round was of a
dark muddy colour for several days after." The late Mr Gordon, minister of the Island of
Fetlar, in allusion to the same event, stated, thtt, " some years ago, there was a marine
eruption, or some such phenomenon, which we could not account for in any other way.
There was a vast quantity of sea-fish driven ashore, and many that had never made their
appearance on this coast before. Conger eels above seven feet long, but all dead. The
water in the bays was so black and muddy for eight days after, that when our fishermen
were hawling haddock, or any small fish, they could never discern them until taken out of
the water."

It is, again, a curious coincidence, that whilst specimens of pumice, thrown on the
shores of Shetland, indicate directions of current from the North Seas, the West Indian
products, known by the name of Molucca beans, which float to the coast, should give
tokens of extensive and opposite currents, branching from the gulf-streams that are directed
from the south-west. Three descriptions of the seeds that are cast on the shores of
Shetland and Orkney, are enumerated by authors ; the first of them belongs to the Mimosa
scandens of Linnaeus ; it is so large that the fishermen of Orkney make snuff-boxes of it ; the
second is the seed of the Dolichos urens, distinguished by the hilus or welt with which it is
surrounded ; and the third is a round hard seed of the size of a musket-bullet, belonging to
the Guilandina Bonduc*

ACCOUNT OF DAVID GILBERT TAIT, A LAD BORN DEAF AND BLIND.

Before quitting the Island of Fetlar I accidentally heard of the existence of a lad of the
name of David Gilbert Tait, who had been born deaf and blind. The knowledge of his
case seems not to have extended beyond the insulated place of his nativity, where he has
dragged on an unnoticed existence for twenty-five years. I, therefore, hastened to corn-
template so remarkable an object, being accompanied in my visit to him, by Mr Nicolson
of Fetlar, and Captain Macdermid, two gentlemen to whose hospitality, in Shetland, I have
been much indebted.

. We soon reached the miserable hovel, one of the worst in the island, occupied by the
family of the Taits, and on entering it, the lamentable object of our visit first arrested our
attention. He appeared to be in a squatting position, and was warming himself by a fire
which occupied the centre of the hut. He was almost in a state of nudity, and we learned
that he had never been accustomed to wear any thing more than the apparel that he then
possessed, which was a coarse blanket, slightly tied round him so as to cover his back. In
his limbs, he showed much emaciation and feeble muscular powers ; being little disposed,

■* For a more particular description of these seeds, see Neill's Tour to Orkney and Shetland, p. 60 and 213.

152 ISLAND OF FETLAR.

[ITER III.

perhaps from the mode in which he was brought up, to exposure in the open air. His
countenance certainly appeared very idiotic. His forehead, which in the lower part pro-
truded, was in the upper part retreating, whilst the occiput was disproportionably large, yet
flattened on its surface. His chin was very prominent, his mouth remarkably wide, and his
nose particularly sharp. The pupil of the eyes shewed the pitchy black appearance
characteristic of amaurosis, and the iris did not contract or dilate upon the sudden applica-
tion or withdrawing of a candle.

Upon first hearing of this youth, I naturally expected that his sense of odorous sub-
stances would be as acute as that of tangible bodies. But in this expectation I was
disappointed ; there was no evidence of a very perfect sense of the power of smell when I
was present ; nor, from the representation of his parents, am I inclined to think that it was
ever exhibited. The question rather is, — Was the sense blunted or suspended ? From my
own observations, and the enquiries which I made, it certainly did not seem to be
obliterated.* It is, therefore, not improbable, that the circumstance of the youth's
idiotism, ascribed to him by his parents, might have prevented the particular exertion of
this organ.

In the course of my interrogation relative to the degree of intellect which this singu-
larly destitute being has exhibited, I learned from his mother, that she had brought ten
children into the world, some of whom were living, but that she had a daughter, who soon
after her birth became blind, and had always exhibited unequivocal marks of mental
imbecility. This female was two years older than her brother David, being of the age
of twenty-seven. The torpor of her intellectual faculties was indicated by an indocility of
apprehension, and confused articulation, which could not be rendered subservient to the
purposes of speech. Thus, the probability of the son's idiotism was strengthened by
the hereditary predisposition to it, which appears to have existed in the family. But
it must be confessed, at the same time, that such a state of fatuity is difficult to be
proved, in an individual possessing so few avenues by which external objects can be
conveyed to the mind. The lad's sense of touch, for instance, appeared to be perfect,
and we are entitled to suppose, that it necessarily included every abstract notion of
perception which a sane intellect would possibly entertain ; — that it involved the individu-
ality, number and position of material objects as they co-exist in space, or as they are con-
tinuous in point of time. His careful selection of the objects which he chose to handle,
indicated correct notions of form, magnitude, and of the comparative hardness of bodies, as
they more or less resist his muscular contractions. His preference of particular kinds of
food, also evinced the comparative distinction which he was accustomed to make in the
varied nature of sapid bodies. Respecting, also, the generation of ideas in the mind, after
the causes which have excited sensations are withdrawn, there appeared to be a sufficient
state of efficiency in the law of ideal association, although the evidence on this point was
confined to a few of the most simple events. Previously to receiving food, the mother of

* I paid a second visit to David Tait, for the purpose of satisfying myself upon the state of the organ of smell, by the applica-
tion of various substances to his nostrils ; but, unfortunately for my purpose, the day on which I returned, happened to be the time
of his repose, when his parents were naturally very unwilling that he should be disturbed.

ITER III.) ISLAND OF FETLAR. 153

David taps his hand with a spoon, which is recognised by the poor object as a signal that
she is preparing to satisfy his hunger. In an instant, therefore, his hands are extended to
receive the bason in which is contained his pottage. If, then, the senses of touch and taste
are perfect, and if the law of association by which perceptions are reproduced in the state of
ideas be equally efficient, in what way is the youth's supposed deficiency of intellect to be
detected ? Metaphysical writers conceive that the reasoning power of man is only elicited
when, upon the occasion of two or more objects being brought into the view of the
mind, their mutual correspondences are discovered ; hence are supposed to arise our
notions of relation. At length, then, we may perhaps draw the distinction between
idiotism and a sane state of intellect. The perceptions of relation comprehended by
the youth, were derived from the contemplation of the fewest possible objects ; but no
relations could be felt, that must result from the reflection of a numerous train of ideas
associated in the mind, particularly if they were of an abstract nature, as those which belong
to number and mensuration. The reason, then, of Tait, resembled the feeble discrimina-
tion of the lower race of animals, being limited to few objects, and being incapable of much
variety or improvement. In this respect, the interest of the present case is much di-
minished ; particularly when placed in comparison with that of James Mitchell, a deaf and
blind youth of much discrimination, whose situation has been so ably described by the pen
of Professor Stewart.

It was, in the next place, an important enquiry, What were the particular objects which,
in affecting a youth of this kind, would appear to be original sources of gratification. It is
very manifest, from the delight which infants take in certain colours, sounds, odours and
sapid bodies, while certain other objects are disagreeable to them, that there is a predis-
position to receive pleasure and pain from particular objects in preference to others. When
first observed, David had no sensible object within his grasp. It was then curious to
observe the innumerable muscular contractions of his fingers, and the velocity with which
each motion was executed, in order to produce a rapid change of their position. The
solitary circumstance of varied muscular contraction, exerted in parts of the body best
calculated to produce the effect, was, in fact, the origin from which much of the enjoyment
of this individual was derived. Metaphysicians may refer all our enjoyments of touch, as of
many other senses, to the same source of varied position, but it is only in such a destitute
being as Tait, where these are unmixed with motives of action arising from any other organs
of sensation, except occasionally those of smell or taste, that speculations on the abstract
sources of sensitive pleasure can be confirmed. It was of importance to ascertain, in the
next place, what objects, by being opposed to, and by consequently resisting the muscular
contractions of his fingers, (which is all we mean, when we speak of objects of touch,)
appeared to afford the highest gratification. The answer given by the mother, when an
interrogatory to this effect was put to her relating to her son, was in the highest degree
satisfactory. It afforded the most direct proof of the law to which our pleasures are subject.
That there may be a continuation of agreeable sensations, it is necessary that the causes of
them should be continually varied. The most beautiful landscapes, or the most exquisite
monuments of art, when long opposed to vision, lose all their captivating power. Applying

154 ISLAND OF FETLAR. [ITER III.

this principle, therefore, to the case of Tait, and conceiving it highly possible, that the
abstract causes of pleasurable sensations in touch, might in this individual be exemplified, I
proposed a question to the parent, "What did the lad like best to handle?" — "Every thing
that he can alter the shape of," answered the mother. This direct reply comprehended all
that might have been anticipated. She at the same time referred to the flexible substances
in the cottage, as to wollen and linen clothes, materials of cotton, or to straw. These were
the objects the form of which he could change, and they consequently yielded him the
greatest sum of enjoyment.

At the same time, when different substances were presented to the lad, he preferred
those which had smooth surfaces to those which were uneven or rough : thus the outside of
the tea-kettle, coated with sooty matter, was particularly disagreeable to him. The sense of
taste, owing to the poverty of his parents, has had little opportunity of being gratified by
variety : all that I could learn on this subject was, that, in preference to fish, he chiefly lives
on meal pottage, with which he is generally fed by his mother from a spoon.

I have heard a celebrated metaphysician enumerate as original objects of desire,
society, knowledge, power, the esteem of men, the happiness of those whom we love, or the
affliction of those whom we hate. All or most of these, which I should be disposed to con-
sider on a different theory as original sources of gratification, may, I think, be traced in
Tait ; though it would necessarily require a long acquaintance with his habits to detect in
him those affections which we may be disposed to consider as purely instinctive. That he
is susceptible of resentment, as well as of friendly attachment, can be easily shewn. The
attachment which he expresses towards his mother, who constantly feeds him, is said to
be remarkable. This is denoted by a restlessness, when he cannot, by feeling every object
around him, detect her presence ; her maternal offices of kindness are also preferred before
those of any other individual.

It may be now noticed that David's interval of time, set apart for sleep, is never
regular, being very indeterminate in length ; it may also so happen, that either the day or
the night constitutes his hours of vigilance. This circumstance affords an additional proof
how little his habits have been under the controul of proper tuition.

An opportunity having occurred to me, of examining more narrowly the person of Tait,
I found that the sternum was much protruded, and that the lumbar and dorsal vertebra;
were somewhat curved ; but whether this effect could be attributable to some disease, as to
rachitis, or whether, on the other hand, it resulted from a mere habitual position of the
trunk, which had been bent forwards equally with the sternum, I could not learn. It how-
ever appeared, that this state of the body much favoured the attitude in which I first
observed him, when he was warming himself by the fire. He was in a posture not unlike
that which is described as peculiar to the Moors ; — he was net actually seated, but seemed
most at his ease, when his extremities were gathered up to the trunk, and his chin was at
perfect rest upon his knees. I was, however, not a little surprised to find, that a squatting
position was maintained in his gait. The usual erect attitude of man was certainly not
habitual to him, and when I directed that it should be induced by coercion, it was main-
tained with very uneasy feelings, whilst its continuance met with his decided resistance. I

ITER III.]

ISLAND OF UNST. 1 55

also learned from the mother, with equal astonishment, that no attempts had ever been
made to teach her son to walk erect. The parents of poor David had, from his birth,
regarded him in the hopeless light of a forlorn creature, whose peculiarly bereft lot no
tuition could ameliorate. Consequently, if we could be assured that disease had not in-
duced the position of body most easily sustained, it might possibly have afforded a reply to
the question, Whether the erect attitude was the natural or acquired position of man ?

David's intonations of voice, which I only heard when his painful feelings were in-
tended to be expressed at the erect position in which he was placed, were somewhat
remarkable. They were highly melodious, being uttered in almost every key ; and if music,
as some philosophers state, be the natural language of passion, this idea was perhaps never
better illustrated by example, than in the case of this untaught youth.

Pauca de appetitu venereo in hoc adolescente manifesto restant. Hanc enim quaes-
tionem, vir illustrissimus Dugaldus Stewart, de Jacobo Mitchell agens, sic defendit :
"Neque inutile foret, neque ah honestissima sapientia alienum, novisse quo modo hie
miserandus, jam puber factus, se habuerit quoad ad res venereas." Davidis Tate semi-
nudum corpus hanc propensionem detegendi facultates quidem copiosissimas praestat.

Genitalia ipsa solito ampliora videntur. Mater ejus (nam pater piscatu occupatus
domo longe abfuit) mihi ad rogata respondere parum haesitavit. In memoriam revocandum
est, Davidem semper in casulae aream suo more sedere assuetum esse. Saepe ideo
evenit, ut crura nuda paupercularum familiariter domum invisentium, pueri omnia con-
trectantis, digitis occurrant. Tali bus igitur occasionibus, mater confitetur se saepius
admiratam esse, qua cupidiate manus earundem cruribus adhjererent, quanta maxima
celeritate, per summam omnemcutem haud vestimentis contectam, ideoque tactui subjectam,
digiti aberrarent. Interea in miseria corpore, notae veneris desideratae (scilicet priapismus)
in oculos adstantium sese manifestas darent. Has autem res arcanum quiddam nee notis
legibus subjectum, et naturam appitus venerei insitam, quern nullus imaginationis vel
idearum impetus hoc exemplo sed contactus solus accendere potuit, clare comprobare
viderentur.

Oporteat quoque hoc loco adjicere, ut in dejectionibus alvi vel vesicae, nullo pudoris
sensu hie miserandus cohibeatur.

These are the leading circumstances in the case of David Gilbert Tait. I was sorry
that the time which I could conveniently detach from other avocations was so limited, as to
prevent me from devoting that long attention to his habits which was necessary to the com-
pleteness of his history. The feelings with which I retired from the cottage, were by no
means of an unpainful nature : an observer, though shrinking from an involuntary associa-
tion of the name of man, with the rank of any earthly creature which may exhibit no
emotions beyond those that are produced by mere natural appetite, is still incapable of with-
holding the confession, that, in an exclusion from all sounds, in a deprivation of sight and
intellect, this unfortunate object has an. existence in no degree advanced above that of a
race of animals occupying the lowest scale of creation.

BELMONT TO WOODWICK, ISLAND OF UNST.

The distance from Fetlar to the island of Unst is about six miles, being across a
channel diversified with several sea-holms. Belmont, the handsome seat of Thomas Mouat,

156 ISLAND OF FETLAR.

[ITER III.

Esq., is situated on the south-west extremity of the island, being built on a site of rising
ground at the head of a small inlet of the sea, and commanding a clear view of the ragged
and indented coast of Yell ; on the east arises a ridge of serpentine, known by the name of
Gallow-hill, which was an occasional place of execution in the country, during the oppressive
period when feudality exercised its lawless dominion over the injured udallers ; on the west
is a steep headland, defended by two semicircular ramparts of earth, the inner one being five
yards, and the outer one ten yards in breadth. A ditch intervenes, much filled up, that is
now about five yards broad and two deep ; there is also an outer fosse, of nearly the same
dimensions. In the area thus defended, may be traced the remains of a burgh ; but
whether this structure is to be considered as cotemporary with the fortification, is highly
questionable : — I scarcely dare pronounce with much confidence the camp to be Roman.

The tumultuous channel of Blomel Sound separates the west of Unst from Yell, where
there always occurs an opposition of tides, that is to be explained in connection with the
great wave of tide which performs its circuit round the shores of Britain. Lesser currents
are generated during the progress of the wave, which, running in a direction of north with
the flood, and south with the ebb, set in nearly an hour sooner on the western than on the
eastern coasts of the country. It will be evident, therefore, that in any channel which
communicates with the opposite coasts of the country, as in Blomel Sound, tides propagated
at successive intervals of time will be naturally opposed to each other. Sir Robert Sibbald
has long since remarked, that the tide in Uyea Sound, on the east of Unst, flows an hour
later than that of Blomel Sound on the west, though only two miles distant ; and Mr Gifford
has also stated, that when the great current in the middle of the sound sets north, there is
an eddy, deriving its course from opposite shores, that sets as fast south, and so shifts about
as the great current alters.

About five miles from Belmont is the open bay of Wick, where there is a house and
fishing-booth belonging to Mr Scott of Greenwell. On a large headland to the south,
foundations of small huts have been traced, which probably were places of refuge for the
ancient inhabitants of Shetland on the appearance of an enemy, where they safely lodged
their cattle and other property. The Moul or promontory is naturally protected by the
steepness of its banks, which overhang the sea, and on the land side by rough crags and
rocks, the defence of which was assisted by the erection of a strong wall, no part of which
now remains. West of the Moul is a rock, where are the remains of an ancient burgh,
destroyed by time and wilful dilapidation. It is, I believe, a little south of Wick that Mr
Low of Orkney found a burgh named Snaburgh, formed by a double circular wall, which
contained large apartments, severally of a shape that was oblong, and widening at each
extremity. The situation of the fort was close to a loch, defended partly by the water, and
partly by a wet ditch, and rampart composed of loose stones.*

At the head of the inlet of Wick the dreary hill of Vallafiel rears its lofty head, on the
opposite side of which, is a long valley, watered by several lochs, that runs parallel with the

* The figure of this burgh, which is copied from Mr Low's original Sketch, is given in the Plate of Antiquities, Appendix,
Fig. 12.

ITER ill.] ISLAND OF UNST. 1 57

coast. The hill terminates close to the sea, at a well-sheltered fertile dell near Woodwick,
rendered interesting to the mineralogist by the crystals of grenatite which are so abundantly
diffused throughout its rocks.

KIRK OF BALIASTA, ISLAND OF UNST.

A walk through the valley near Woodwick leads to a large open lawn at the head of
the Loch of Cliff, which seemed very populous and well cultivated. I arrived there on the
Sabbath morning : the natives of the Vale were all in motion in their way to the Kirk of
Baliasta. The peasant had returned home from the bleak scathold, where he had ensnared
the unshod poney that was destined to convey him to the parish kirk. No curry-comb was
applied to the animal's name, which, left to nature's care, " ruffled at speed, and danc'd in
every wind." The nag was graced with a modern saddle and bridle, while on his neck was
hung a hair-cord, several yards in length, well bundled up ; from the extremity of which
dangled a wooden short pointed stake. The Shetlander then mounted his tiny courser, his
suspended heels scarcely spurning the ground. But among the goodly company journeying
to the kirk, females and boys graced the back of the shelty with much more effect than
long-legged adults of the male sex, whose toes were often obliged to be suddenly raised, for
the purpose of escaping the contact of an accidental boulder that was strewed in the way.
A bevy of fair ladies next made their appearance, seated in like manner on the dwarfish
steeds of the country, who swept over the plain with admirable fleetness, and " witch'd the
world with noble horsemanship." The parishioners at length arrived near the kirk, when
each rider in succession, whether of high or low degree, looked out for as green a site of
ground as could be selected, and after dismounting, carefully unravelled the tether which
had been tied to the neck of the animal. The stake at the end of the cord was then fixed
into the ground, and the steed appeared to be as satisfactorily provided for during divine
service, as in any less aboriginal district of Britain, where it would be necessary to ride up
to an inn, and to commit the care of the horse to some saucy lordling of the stables.

The kirk was remarkably crowded, since there was a sermon to be preached incidental
to the administration of the Sacrament ; on which occasion I had an opportunity of seeing
the convulsion fits to which the religious congregations of Shetland are subject. The
introduction of this malady into the country is referred to a date of nearly a century ago,
and is attributed to a woman who had been subject to regular paroxysms of epilepsy, one of
which occurred during divine service. Among adult females, and children of the male sex,
at the tender age of six, fits then became sympathetic. The patient complained, for a con-
siderable time, of a palpitation of the heart ; fainting ensued, and a motionless state lasted
for more than an hour. But, in the course of time, this malady is said to have undergone a
modification such as it exhibits at the present day. The female, whom it had attacked,
would suddenly fall down, toss her arms about, writhe her body into various shapes, move
her head suddenly from side to side, and, with eyes fixed and staring, send forth the most
dismal cries. If the fit had occurred on any occasion of public diversion, she would, as
soon as it had ceased, mix with her companions, and continue her amusement as if nothing

I58 ISLAND OF UNST.

[ITER III.

had happened. Paroxysms of this kind prevailed most during the warm months of
summer ; and about fifty years ago, there was scarcely a Sabbath in which they did not
occur. Strong passions of the mind, induced by religious enthusiasm, were also the exciting
causes of these fits ; but, like all such false tokens of divine workings, they were easily
counter-acted, by producing in patients such opposite states of mind, as arise from a sense of
shame : thus they are under the controul of any sensible preacher, who will administer to a
mind disease, — who will expose the folly of voluntarily yielding to a sympathy so easily
resisted, or of inviting such attacks by affectation. An intelligent and pious minister of
Shetland informed me, that being considerably annoyed on his first introduction into the
country by these paroxysms, whereby the devotions of the church were much impeded, he
obviated their repetition, by assuring his parishioners, that no treatment was more effectual
than immersion in cold water, and as his kirk was fortunately contiguous to a fresh-water
lake, he gave notice that attendants should be at hand, during divine service, to ensure the
proper means of cure. The sequel need scarcely be told. The fear of being carried out
of the church, and into the water, acted like a charm ; not a single Naiad was made, and
the worthy minister has, for many years, had reason to boast of one of the best regulated
congregations in Shetland.

When I attended the kirk of Baliasta, a female shriek, the indication of a convulsion-fit,
was heard ; the minister (Mr Ingram of Fetlar) very properly stopped his discourse, until
the disturber was removed ; and after advising all those who thought they might be similarly
affected to leave the church, he gave out in the mean time a psalm. The congregation was
thus preserved from farther interruption ; for, on leaving the kirk, I saw several females
writhing and tossing about their arms on the green grass, who durst not, for fear of a
censure from the pulpit, exhibit themselves after this manner within the sacred walls of the
kirk.

HERMANESS TO HAROLDSWICK, ISLAND OF UNST.

After skirting along the east of the Loch of Cliff, which is situated in a beautiful valley
of limestone between rocks of gneiss and serpentine, I crossed some low ground at the head
of the water, and arrived at Burrafiord, (generally named Burra Firth), which is a wide bay,
so open to the ocean as to afford no refuge for ships : it is bounded on the east and west by-
lofty banks of gneiss, and at the head of the inlet is a low, sandy shore, contiguous to which
several cottages appeared, along with a small building intended for the curing of fish. The
heavy sea and surf, which had succeeded to a few boisterous days, prevented me from visit-
ing two large caverns which communicated with the water ; the larger of these is said to be
formed by a grand natural aich of considerable height, and wide enough to admit the sail-
ing of a boat for a distance of 300 feet. The high banks of Burra Firth, and the stacks
contiguous to it, are frequented by numberless flocks of birds, such as gulls and scarfs ; and
along with these the lyre, or Procellatia puffimis,— the Tomnorry, or Alca arcttca, — and the
kittiwake, or Larus Rissa. Their nests are annually visited by the nimble and adventurous
rockmen, who, for the sake of plunder, land with boats at the foot of the most hideous

ITER III.] ISLAND OF UNST. 1 59

precipices, which they easily scale, or are let down from the summit of them by means of
ropes. The eggs thus obtained are considered as a great dainty ; the carcases of the young
birds serve for grosser food, and the feathers form an article of commerce.

On the east of the bay is the hill of Saxavord, the occasional resort of the Skua gull,
which is estimated at a height of 600 feet. The view from this eminence affords little
variety ; hills of serpentine, " cold, barn, bleak, and dry," lie extended to the south ; and to
the north there is an immense prospect of the wide and wealthy sea. On the summit of
the ascent are several loose stones, which bespeak the ruins of an ancient watch-tower, the
erection of which is fabulously assigned to a giant of the name of Saxe. In the old
Shetland dialect, a watch-tower is said to have been expressed by the term vord, this being
a word that finds a kindred signification in the English expression ward. Accordingly, the
name of Saxavord indicates Saxe's Vord, or watch-tower. There is also a deep cleft of the
rock which is said to have been the residence of this tall warrior, whose name is well calcu-
lated to excite the speculative views of some ardent antiquary. For if it be admitted that
Shetland was once possessed by the Saxons, who were defeated in the 4th century by
Theodosius, the conclusion might be, that tradition, in perpetuating the memory of the
giant of Unst, has still preserved in the country the name of Saxe or Saxon. The appella-
tion of Hermaness, by which the adjacent headland on the west of Burrafiord has long
been known, is said to have been derived from the residence of a similar gigantic chief of
the name of Herman.

East of Saxavord, are the high cliffs of Braewick, composed of mica-slate, which appear
remarkably prone to disintegration, and at the north-east angle of Unst, is to be seen a
small cottage, which may be considered as the most northerly habitation in the British isles.
To the north of Scaw, a small sea holm, there is a considerable opposition of tides, named
a Roust, which arises from the same cause that I explained in treating of the Roust of
Sumburgh-head, on the south of Shetland, (See page 77.) During the circuit of a great
wave of tide round the British isles, lesser currents generated from it meet the west and
east coast of Shetland, at successive intervals of time ; and, by this means, the tides at the
north and south extremities of the country are opposed to each other. The tumultuous
Roust of Scaw is much frequented by the Gadus carbonarions, or Shetland Seethe, for
which there is a good fishery.

In continuing my excursion, I arrived at Lambaness, a considerable headland stretch-
ing out far to the east, and presenting a favourable situation for the erection of a light-house,
that would be an highly useful signal for vessels in sailing from the north. A booth or two
is erected in the vicinity for the purpose of conducting from this extreme point the deep
water fishery for ling. Near this place, at the distance of a few yards from the brink of a
precipice, we look down upon a very deep sloping cavity of a circular form, arising from the
disintegration of gneiss, which, at the bottom, communicates by a subterranean channel
with the ocean, so as to admit into it the flowing of the tide. This hole is named Saxe's
Kettle, being a culinary vessel (and certainly a leaky one) that was used by the Shetland
Giant. A short walk in a southerly direction leads to the open Bay of Norwick, which is
bounded on its two sides by the steep cliffs of Lambaness, and by brown hills of serpentine.

l6o ISLAND OF UNST.

[ITER III.

At the head of the inlet, where a heavy surf continually breaks, is a fishing-booth with
several cottages, and well cultivated patches of land : the picturesque effect of the whole
being heightened by the shattered remains of an arch belonging to St John's Kirk of Nor-
wick.

After crossing some bleak hills of serpentine, an open bay appears in view, much
exposed to the ocean, and affording not the least shelter for shipping. This inlet, named
Haroldswick, is celebrated for being the place to which Harold Harfagre sailed after he had
touched at Funzie in the Isle of Fetlar, and it was here that he landed, in order to wrest
Shetland from the possession of Norwegian pirates, to whose vessels its numerous bays had
long afforded a protection. On the brow of a hill are the remains of a sepulchral tumulus
of loose stones, which bears the name of Harold's Grave, but as the death of this monarch
did not occur in Shetland, it would be idle to offer any conjecture upon the origin of the
appellation. The Barrow was opened some years ago, but what description of relics it
contained I could not learn.

CRUCIFIEI.D, ISLAND OF UNST.

South of Haroldswick are bleak and barren hills of serpentine, the most conspicious of
which is Crucifield, where there are circular ranges of stones that have, with little reason,
been supposed Drnidic. The Druids believed that the peculiar residence of their deity was
among groves of oak, and it was beneath the shade of such trees that Celtic oratories were
constructed. But the Scandinavians had no veneration for any trees, with the exception of
the ash, their temples being often built on high exposed places, where no forests had ever
insinuated their roots. As it is evident, therefore, that the bare surface of the hill of Cruci-
field never could have supported the growth of trees, we must be prepared to consider these
circles of stones as Scandinavian Temples, sacred to the rights of the deities of the Edda.
While, in this record of the tenets of the Teutonic tribes who followed Odin into the wilds
of Scandinavia, an universal and beneficent Father was acknowledged under the name of
Alfader, as well as a personified evil principle under the name of Surtur, various fables are
narrated concerning the origin of giants, of dwarfs, and of the proper human race, as well as
of a man named Brure, from whom were descended three gods, stiled Odin, Vile and Ve,
who ruled between them both heaven and earth : of these Odin was the most powerful.
This god in a short time married Frigga, from whom was descended the family of the Ases,
or of the gods, whilst Thor, or the first born, was the most renowned for valour. It was
promised to the freeborn of Scandinavia, that if they fell by the sword, they were to be
admitted to Valhalla, or the hall of Odin, where heroes might have the pleasure of daily
cutting each other to pieces in battle ; but, as soon as the hour of repast should approach,
they would be restored to life and health, in order that they might eat boar's flesh, and
drink beer and mead out of the skulls of their enemies. On the other hand, there was a
place, consisting of nine worlds, where Hela, with the direst horrors, inflicted punishments
on those who had died of disease or old age.

It is not unlikely that the Scandinavians, in the circular ranges of upright stones that

ITER IH.] ISLAND OF UNST. l6l

composed their temples and courts of judicature, imitated the religious structures of the
Celtic people, whom they had succeeded in the possession of certain European territories ;
it is also probable, that many Druidic temples which had been abandoned by the Celts in
their flight to more secure realms, became occupied by their invaders, who dedicated them
to some deity of the Edda. Yet, as lofty columns of stones do not seem to have been
absolutely necessary to the construction of Scandinavian temples, we often find that the
limits of a holy site of ground were described in the most simple manner, by shallow
furrows scooped into the earth, within which loose stones of various sizes were strewed.
Accordingly, such a structure distinguishes the juridical remains that appear on the hill of
Cruci field.

A remark has been made, (page 99), that when, in the ninth century, colonists from
Norway peopled Iceland, their first object was to erect a temple to the god Thor. It is,
therefore, singular, that near to the place where Harold Harfagre landed in the Island of
Fetlar, and near Haroldswick, to which he subsequently sailed, certain appearances should
be presented, indicative of similar honours that were paid to some deity.

The sites of ground now under examination are three in number. The first of
these is not far from the Kirk of Baliasta ; it is formed by three concentric circles,
cut into the stratum of soil that covers the serpentine, into which boulder stones
or earth were thrown, until they rose above the level of the ground. The diameter of the
outermost circle is 67 feet, of the middle one S4H ^ eet > an( ^ °f tne innermost 40 feet.
There is a small central tumulus of stones in the middle of the inclosure, 12 feet in
diameter, the presence of which is no unfrequent indication of a Scandinavian temple. It
was customary on a central stone, or heap of stones, to sacrifice human victims to Thor,
which was effected by crushing or breaking the spine. Rites of this kind were also mingled
with the duties of legislation ; it was at some general convocation for this purpose, after the
altars and worshippers of Odin had been sprinkled with the blood of immolated victims,
that leaders were elected under a vow to defend their country, to revenge its injuries, and
to extend its boundaries ; that taxes were levied for the maintenance of religious rites and
ceremonies, and that supplies of men and vessels were voted as necessary for the support of
predatory excursions, 01 for defence. In such convocations, therefore, the concentric
ranges of circles might be intended to separate individuals of greater or lesser rank, who
officiated in the ceremonies of religion or legislation, while the populace stood on the out-
side.

About a mile to the east of the temple thus described, is a second, yet smaller site of
ground, formed, like the first, by three concentric circles, in the centre of which is a tumu-
lus; the diameter of the outermost circle being 55 feet, and of the central heap 10^ feet ;
and at the distance of about 80 feet from the second temple is a third, consisting of a
central tumulus, inclosed by no more than two concentric circles, the diameter of the outer-
most being 22 feet, and of the innermost 17 feet.* There are reasons for supposing that
these sites of ground were intended for popular juridical assemblies; the central space being

For a representation of these concentric circles, See Plate of Antiquities in the Appendix, Fig. 15 and 16.

1 62 ISLAND OF UNST. [ITER in.

devoted to the reception of the Foude or Judge, the accused, and the evidences ; while the
concentric circles divided in an order of precedence, counsellors, men of landed rank, and
the lowest orders of society. The place of execution for any criminal condemned by the
voice of the people, was without the precincts of the site that was considered hallowed,
being on one of the contiguous peaks of the hills named the Heogs ; for, probably, like the
Holy Mount of Iceland which was dedicated to Thor, the site of the temple was considered
so sacred, that it could not be defiled by the blood of a criminal. One of the small peaks,
which rises abruptly, like an artificial tumulus, from the high platform of a hill, is named
Hanger Heog, and at the foot of it is a heap of stones, which went under the title of the
Place of Justice. The top of the peak was reached by a flight of rude steps, where another
heap was to be seen, named the Place of Execution. A tradition prevails, that whatever
criminal ascended the steps of Hanger Heog never came down alive ; and, in confirmation
of the account, two bodies, supposed to have been executed criminals, were, about sixty
years ago, found buried in disorder near the base of the lower heap of stones. But if any
accused person, after hearing the sentence of the Lagman, was desirous to appeal to the
voice of the people, he tried to effect his escape in a direction that led to the more westerly
circle of stones situated on an adjoining hill, and if he could reach in safety that sacred site
of ground, his life was preserved ; but if the popular indignation was against him, he was
pursued on his way to the sanctuary, and any one before he reached it might put him to
death. Such a practice was long continued ; but on the conversion of the country to
Christianity, the Pagan temple was superseded by the erection of a church, which formed
the latest place of refuge. Several crosses, scooped in the earth, shew the places where
malefactors have been slain in pursuit ; hence the name which has been given to the hill
of Crucifield. The juridicial assembly held at Unst was afterwards removed to the Vale of
Tingwall on the Mainland, where the same mode in which a condemned person might make
an appeal to the people, was, till a very late period, preserved.

Torfseus states, that the Pagan supersitions of Shetland were first abolished by the
arrival of King Olave Triguesson into the earldom of Orkney, who introduced Christianity
among the colonies of Norway at the point of the sword. Landing at South Ronaldsay, he
invited Earl Sigurd on board one of his vessels, with which request the unsuspecting chief,
accompanied by his young son Hindius, complied. "You are now," said the monarch,
" fallen into my power, and I propose to you one of these two conditions ; Profess, with all
under your dominion, the Christian religion, present yourself at the font for baptism, yield
me homage, and while your liberties are enjoyed according to the usage of your ancestors,
consider your possession of the country as due to my courtesy : be also my friend for ever,
and, by obeying the mandates of God, participate with him for the time to come in his
heavenly kingdom. Or, on the other hand, hesitate to comply with my demand, and
immediate death awaits you. Unless also your people chuse to profess, upon this very
spot, what will be to them their true liberty, — the rites of Christianity, — the whole of the
islands shall be destroyed by fire and sword. Refuse me, — and ye may expect, as mere
mortals, that at this instant of time, an extreme calamity awaits you, while hereafter a much
more severe consequence will ensue, — an eternal punishment." "Truly, O King!" replied

ITER III.]

ISLAND OF UNST. 1 63

the Earl of Orkney, with much mildness, " I cannot be induced, either by choice or fear, to
prostitute the religion of my fathers, or to deny the established worship of the gods ; for I
am not conscious of being more clear-sighted than my ancestors, nor do I know in what
respect that adoration, which you command, excels our own." The King seeing him thus
obstinately bent to idolatry, drew his sword, and seizing upon Hindius, exclaimed, " Now,
be assured that I shall keep my word, that I shall spare no one who is opposed to the wor-
ship of the Heavenly God, and to the Gospel which I announce. You are a father
obstinately bent against your own interest, and unless you, and all under your dominion,
shall profess yourselves the servants of the great Deity whom I revere, your son shall perish
before your eyes, and one common destruction shall follow." Earl Siguard could not
resist this powerful argument : he submitted, along with his son and the whole of his
people, to baptism. The King then left ministers of the divine word, with other holy men
to give the proselytes farther instructions, and taking with him Hindius as a hostage, he set
sail, with pious delight, to communicate his success to his good people of Norway.

BALTA SOUND, ISLAND OF UNST.

After crossing Crucifield, I arrived at Balta Sound, a fine inland harbour, stretching
from east to west, the mouth of which is closed in by the small island of Balta.

" Within a long recess there lies a bay,
An island shades it from the rolling sea,
And forms a port secure for ships to ride,
Broke by the jotting land on either side,
In double streams the briny waters glide
Between two rows of rocks."

Two large merchantmen were safely anchored in the Sound ; the low bounding shores
were arrayed with a few large spread meads, adorned with summer's green, and at various
intervals might be seen some good houses, which communicated a cheerful addition to the
scene, when contrasted with the brown and barren scalp of the dreary hills of serpentine
and euphotide, that rose to the north and south. Bait Island is a rock of inconsiderable
height, chiefly inhabited by rabbits of a brownish-grey colour, the natural enemies of whom
are ernes, hawks, ravens, and the great horned owl, or Strix bubo. The shieldrake, or sly-
goose, builds in these rabbit burrows ; and when the breeding season is past, takes its flight
from the country, to spend its winter in some warmer clime. Near the head of Balta Sound
is Buness, the residence of Thomas Edmonston, Esq., which place will be long celebrated
as having been the site where the French philosopher Biot, in the year 181 7, carried on his
experiments for the purpose of determining, in this high latitude, the variation in the length
of the second's pendulum. He was succeeded in the following year by Captain Kater, who
occupied the same station with the same intent. Mr Edmonston rendered every accom-
modation in his power to facilitate the scientific views of these gentlemen, for which he

164 ISLAND OF UNST.

[ITER III.

obtained the warmest thanks of the Royal Society of London, and of the National Institute
of Paris. The party who, during M. Biot's visit, prosecuted the trigonometrical survey of
Great Britain, were encamped in Balta Island.

The Hill of Crucifield, Hagdale, Buness, and other places in the immediate vicinity of
Balta Sound, abound with that valuable substance hitherto chiefly obtained from America,
named the Chromate of Iron. I discovered it in different parts of the serpentine rock, in
the form of insulated masses of various sizes ; and those portions of the mineral which have
been loosened by the disintegration of the rock in which they were contained, seemed to be
strewed about the hills, in a direction west from Hagdale, for an extent of several miles.*

Among the serpentine hills, which, in quest of the chromate of iron, I took much labour
in exploring, there is a pure stream that has long been celebrated for its supposed sanative
virtues. It was of late years usual to walk to its source, and on an adjoining site of ground
to throw three stones. This custom is so old, that a considerable pile has been raised by
these offerings ; but as the influence of the water god has been long on the wane, the ack-
nowledgment is now much less frequently paid. It was also usual, after the sacrifice to the
deity had been made, to drink of the water of the spring, which insured health to the
zealous imbiber. Hence the stream acquired the name of Yelaburn or Hielaburn, that is,
the Burn of Health.

CASTLE OF MOUNESS, ISLAND OF UNST.

My next excursion was across the Vord Hill, so named from some ancient watch-
tower which crowned its summit, when I came in view of the long bleak line of the east
coast, that is terminated on the north by the Islands of Hunie and Balta. On reaching the
Bay of Sandwick, the fine white sand of which strongly reflected the rays of the sun, I
ascended a headland that forms the south-east extremity of Unst, and arrived at the ancient
castle of Mouness, founded by a Scottish gentleman of the name of Lawrence Bruce. His
mother was Euphemia, daughter to Lord Elphingston, the same frail dame who, having
born a child to James V., afterwards entered into an honourable alliance with Bruce of
Cultmalindie. He who was the fruit of this marriage, thus became the half brother of
Robert Stewart, Abbot of Holyrood, and afterwards Earl of Orkney. It unfortunately
happened, that Lawrence Bruce, in a private altercation, slew his antagonist. It is then
supposed, that, through the intercession of his relation Earl Robert Stewart, who possessed
great interest at court, he was allowed to form an undisturbed settlement in Shetland. On
reaching this country, where he was accompanied by his cousin William Bruce, he bought
up a quantity of land from the distressed udallers of Shetland, and, on the estate which he
thus acquired, completed, in the year 1598, the spacious mansion of Mouness. This castle,
the principal walls of which still remain entire, stands near the sea, surrounded with a few
low hovels. It is three storeys in height, two of its corners being surmounted by round
hanging towers, whilst at two other angles, much larger turrets rise from the ground. At

v The account of my discovery of ChromatJ of Iron will be given at the close of the work.

[TER 111.]

ISLAND OF UNST. 1 65

the same time, the castellated stile is intended rather for show than for real defence. On
entering a passage of no great width, a kitchen and apartments leading into it, may be
found to occupy the lowest storey. Above, is a well shaped dining-room, about thirty-two
feet long, and twenty-one broad, with chambers contained within the towers nearly three or
four yards in diameter. The upper storey consists of bedrooms. On returning, I noticed,
over the outside of the door-way, an undefaced inscription, well engraved on a tablet of
freestone :

" List ze to knaw this building quha began ?
Lawrence the Bruce he was that worthy man,
Quha arnestlie his ayris and afspring prayis,
To help and not to hurt this work always."

Unhappily for the peace of Lawrence Bruce's shade, his supplication was in vain.
Owing to the imprudence of his posterity, the estate of Mouness has passed into other
hands ; the castle then became uninhabited, and the rank weeds of desolation were
allowed to fix their roots among its walls, and to wave with every wind. Many beautiful
ornaments of masonry have been robbed from the mansion, which now appear stuck
up for show among the rude unhewn stones that constitute the fabric of several vile hovels.
Yet, after all, there is not so much of the tenement fallen into decay, as would prevent its
restitution at a moderate expence ; and since the structure does not appear too large for the
seat of a country gentleman, it would reflect great credit on the taste of the country, if the
disturbed ghost of the anxious founder could, by the restoration of the building, be
appeased.

I can find little or no mention made of the family of Bruce in the histories of Shetland.
Brand states, that when, in the year 1699, tne Laird of Mouness was in a boat with nine or
ten persons, aflann, or blast off the land, came with such force against the sail, as to over-
turn the vessel, and to consign to a watery grave the Laird and all his party, with the
exception of one servant. From Lawrence Bruce, the founder of Mouness Castle, and his
cousin William Bruce, are descended two respectable families in Shetland; from the
former the Bruces of Simbister, and from the latter the family of Sumburgh.

UVEA SOUND, ISLAND OF UNST.

A short walk of two miles across the bleak scatholds of the country, brought me to a
harbour formed by the low shores of Uyea Island and the coast of Unst. A gleam of sun-
shine played lightly on the gay white dwellings that were ranged along the circling shore of
the sound. Numberless bones belonging to the small whales called Bottle-noses, or Ca'i/ig
Whales, which had been killed in the harbour, lay bleaching on the strand. The ground to
the rear of the hamlet was beset with green patches of corn land, and the humbler habita-
tions of the Shetland peasants. Bleak moorlands closed the prospect, the forbidding
summits of which rose with a gradual and dull ascent. But on a small eminence to the

1 66 ISLAND OF UNST. [ITER III

east might be seen a rude unhewn obelisk, supposed to have been an ancient land-mark,
which directed the vessels of Scandinavia that were steering into the harbour, while some
have conceived that it commemorated the site of a battle, where some chief of heroes fell.

Uyea Sound is a great resort for vessels that trade from Leith to Shetland. After
touching at Lerwick, where they discharge and take in fresh goods, they sail with the same
intent to the north isles of the country.

On landing at the Island of Uyea, which is scarcely a mile in breadth, and about a
mile and a half in length, I learnt that a barrow had been recently opened, which contained
urns of a interesting description. One of these I had indeed seen, when I was on a visit to
the hospitable house of Mr Leisk of Lunna. It was a well shaped vessel, that had been
apparently constructed of a soft magnesian stone, of the nature of the Lapis ollaris. The
bottom of the urn had been wrought in a separate state, and was fitted to it by means of a
circular groove. When found, it was filled with bones, partly consumed by fire. The
barrow was composed of heaps of stones, but by what people it had been raised no idea can
be formed ; most probably it was of Scandinavian origin. The stones of the sepulchre
were completely removed, for the purpose of being applied to the uses of a contiguous
building.

In the island of Uyea, the soil is very fertile, and it is likely to be much improved,
having become the residence of Mr Leisk, who was then employed in erecting upon it a
good house, prior to his removal from Lunna. To the east of Uyea, are two holms, named
Weather-holm and Haaf Grunie, the latter of which is a great resort for birds during the
period of incubation.

Whilst the rowers rested off the island of Uyea, our boat was visited by one of the large
seals of the country (Phoca barbata), named by the natives a Haaf fish, because it usually
appears at that remote distance from the main coast, which, in the language of the fisher-
men, is called the Haaf. This stray animal was much larger than the common seal, being
not less than seven or eight feet in length.* The curiosity which it shewed upon approaching
us was remarkable ; it played round the edge of the boat for at least half an hour, appear-
ing to inspect the vessel and its occupants with the most marked attention. The boatmen
often lamented that the visit which the animal paid to us was upon a Sunday, since the
sanctity of the day prevented them from shooting him through the head ; and they also
attributed to his supernatural sagacity, the choice of a time wherein he could securely
make his observations. But how could it be regretted that these fellows were
deterred by a religious dread from making an ill return for that unsuspicious con-
fidence which the creature seemed to repose in man ? Upon sailing away, the seal was
unwilling to quit us, and pursued the boat for a considerable distance. A new dread now
arose in the mind of one of the rowers ; he was plying his oars on a Sunday, and for this
profanation of the Sabbath, the Haaf fish was come to welcome the intended transfer of one
of them to the unfathomable depths of the ocean : his object, therefore, was to fly from the
influence of the seal's evil eye : —

* Mr Low has stated in his MS. Tour, that a seal which was taken in Shetland was not less than twelve feet in length and
seven feet in breadth.

ITK R ill.] ISLAND OF UNST. 1 67

" So forth they rowed, and that ferryman
With his stiff oares did brush the sea so strong,
That the hoare waters from his frigot ran,
And the light bubles daunced all along."

In leaving this foreboder of mischief far behind us, we arrived at Haaf Grunie, where all the
remorse of the occasion was stifled by the sight of the numerous eggs of the sea-birds which
covered the holm. These were the property of Mr Leisk, and although I had given strict
injunctions that not one of them should be taken, I was sorry to find on my return to Uyea,
that the sacredness of the Sabbath had not prevented the conscientious boatmen from
committing a far greater violation of the day, by charging their pockets to the utmost height
with the plunder of the nests.

UYEA SOUND, UNST, TO THE ISLAND OF HASCOSEA.

Along the cultivated land on the south coast of Unst, which extends from Uyea Sound
to Belmont, there is little to arrest the attention of the traveller. In the absence, therefore,
of any particular object of notice, we may stay to contemplate the inclosures connected with
the habitations of the peasantry that bear the name of Towns or Rooms. It has been
pointed out, that Harold Harfagre first levied a tax upon all the land of the country that
was intended for pasture : hence the term scathold, which was applied to it. But the in-
closures destined for cultivation were ever considered as sacred to the unfettered use of the
possessor, and not obnoxious to the impost of any scat ; they thus acquired the name of
Udal or Free Property. When the ancient udaller, therefore, had built a habitation on the
land which he had inclosed, he gave to it the name of Town. Thus, the word town, in this
aboriginal country, signified nothing more than udal land which was cultivated and occupied
by a proprietor, although there might be upon it but a single cottage. The nature of a
Shetland town may afford a curious subject for antiquarian speculation. It is possible, that
among many Scandinavian and Saxon nations of Europe, where land was originally allodial,
a solitary inclosure, within which was built no more than one habitation, was styled a
Town ; but along with the introduction of feudality small solitary possessors would be more
rare, and as the name of Town would include not only the mansion occupied by the lord,
but the cottage of his dependants, it would thus be in time associated with a large collection
of dwellings.* It is, therefore, only in thinly inhabited districts, or in countries unfeudalized
until a very recent period, that the original meaning of the word would stand a chance of
being retained. Thus, at the present day, if a Shetlander incloses land from the scathold,
and surrounds it with a fence, it is still called a Town ; and when a stranger is directed to
repair to the town before him, he may be surprised to descry that it consists of a single
inclosed habitation. A similar use of the term is not wholly unknown in some parts of

* I have before had occasion to remark, that, in some countries of Europe, it would, in an early period, be necessary that each
town, when it consisted of a number of houses, should be under the protection of a fortress or burgh ; and since such a defence
became in time an usual appendage to towns, the name of Burgh eventually signified the town itself.

1 68 ISLAND OF UNST. [ITER m

Scotland, but when settlers from this country came into Shetland, a town was also named
by them, according to their own phraseology, a room ; the expression signifying a limited
space inclosed from the commons for a place of abode and for culture.

It is a tradition of Shetland, that the most ancient houses which belonged to the
wealthier udallers were composed of wood ; and that planks were cut out in Norway of such
a shape, as that they might form, when joined, proper habitations. These were said to be
constantly imported from the mother country in large, twelve-oared boats, named Scudas.
The best description of houses may be probably found described by Torfaeus. There was a
spacious cellar for the preservation of casks of ale, a large refectory, with a fire-place in the
middle ; certain apartments for repose, and often-times a private chapel was attached to the
building. But the hovels of the peasants were rude enough, being composed of unhewn
stones, with roofs of straw or turf.

Most of the tenons or rooms which had originally belonged the small udallers of the
country, fell, in the course of time, into the hands of some rich settler from Scotland, who
attempted to connect the various small inclosures that had been made by a single dike.
At this day, therefore, nothing can well surpass the irregularity of such circumscriptions,
which often wind in every direction in the most zig-zag manner. One dike may include
thirty or forty towns, and every farmer is obliged to repair a certain extent of his fence, pro-
portional to the land which he occupies ; but so imperfect are these inclosures, which
consist of turf or stone, that, by the incursions of sheep, horses, and swine, they are thrown
down every year.

Before quitting the island of Unst, I may notice the peculiar mode in which cows are
housed. The black cattle of Shetland are of a very diminutive breed ; a cow is said to
weigh from two to three hundred weight upon an average ; an ox from three to four, but
not exceeding five hundred weight. These animals have long, small horns, and are of a
bridled white, brown, or black colour, rarely displaying an uniform hue. In the summer
season they are tethered during the day-time in some adjoining pasture, but at night they
are kept within the house. Upon the conclusion of the ling fishery, which is generally in
August, the Shetlander repairs to his scathold, and cuts down a large quantity of grass and
short heath, which he spreads abroad upon the hills to dry j it is afterwards stored within
the enclosure of his small farm, being piled into stacks like hay. When intended for use,
the heath is strewed along the floor of the byre, for the purpose of being well mingled with
the dung that accumulates from the cows. The wet stratum is then covered over with a
layer of duff mould, or dry decomposed moss, which substance, in like manner, remains
until it is well moistened with the dung that falls, when the whole is again covered with a
layer of heath ; and after this manner, successive strata of heather and mould, mixed with
the ordure of the animal, are allowed to accumulate to a considerable height, until the pile
attains such an elevation, that its removal is necessary, in order that the cattle may find
sufficient head-room beneath the roof of the byre ; but how far the effluvia of putrid matters
may conduce to the health of the animals that inhale the tainted atmosphere of such con-
fined places, is a question of unnecessary discussion. When the compost is removed, it is
well blended together with a spade, and is then adapted to the land destined for cultivation.

ITER III.]

ISLAND OF YELL. 1 69

Leaving Belmont, I sailed on the turbulent channel of Blomel Sound, in order to visit
the Holm of Linga, contiguous to the shore of Yell, and from thence rowed to the small
island of Hascosea, situated between Yell and Fetlar, which is composed in like manner of
gneiss. Hascosea is inhabited by a very few families; the land is low, and is in some places
tolerably fertile. Some little kelp is burnt in this place, but it may be generally remarked,
that the quantity of this substance annually made in Shetland is very inconsiderable, not
exceeding 500 tons ; for, among the bold shores of these islands, but a small extent of
surface is left by the tide, for the collection of sea-weed.*

ISLAND OF YELL.

From Hascosea I was ferried across a narrow channel to Yell, an island six miles in
breadth and about twenty miles in length. The rocks are wholly composed of gneiss, and
little more is to be seen than parallel mountain ridges, which have a dull and uniform course
from south-west to north-east, and slope gradually towards the shore. Landing on the south
of Refiord, a voe closed in by the island of Hascosea, my journey south possessed little or
no interest. After passing a few good houses at Gossaburgh, Otterswick and Quhon, I
arrived at the south-east of Yell, where is the small harbour of Burra Voe, which is well
sheltered, and visited by the Leith traders, who land goods from Scotland, and accept in
return fish, oil and kelp. An old fashioned house, erected early in the last century, is
occupied by Mr Leisk, who keeps on the shore what is named a Booth ; that is, a small
ware-room filled with vendible articles, chiefly imported from Scotland. This is after the
manner of the Hamburgh and Bremen merchants, who, in their visits to Shetland, above a
century ago, for the sake of trafficking with the natives for fish, opened booths in various
parts of the country, for the sale of fishing-lines and nets, coarse cloth and linen, spirits,
strong beer, and other articles.

It was in Burra Voe, probably, which is so well situated for trade, that a Bremen mer-
chant dwelt in the days of Buchanan. " In hac " (insula) " habitare ducitur Bremensis, qui
omnes merces exoticas, quarum illic usus, abunde omnibus suppeditet, adportet." Near
the ruins of a burgh which gives its name to the voe, are the later remains of a building
named a Skeo, several of which may be indeed seen on the shores of Shetland. A skeo is a
small square house formed of stones without any mortar, with holes through which the air
may have a free passage ; for which purpose the building was erected on a small eminence,
being at the same time protected from the rain by a roof. It is not long since it was

* On taking my leave of Unst, I must acknowledge, in the most grateful manner, the attention I received from several
families in this island. There are no inns in the place, except a small one at Uyea Sound, kept by a civil family, of the name of
Gardner. But however regardless I might be of this deficiency, and unwilling to intrude myself on the hospitality of the inhabi-
tants, the invitations which I received were so frankly tendered, that I had little or no difficulty in availing myself of the kind
welcome that met me on my way. The families to whom I would particularly own my acknowledgments, are those of Mr
Edmonston of Buness, Mr Spens of Hammer, Mr Scott of Greenwell, and Mr Nicolson of Haroldswick. I was in like manner
indebted to the late Thomas Mouat, Esq. of Belmont, a gentleman of considerable literary attainments, who, from his writings,
evidently possessed an intimate acquaintance with the ancient history of this country. I felt much regret in hearing of his death a
few months after my \\<h to Shetland.

I70 ISLAND OF YELL.

[ITER III.

customary, before using beef or mutton, not to salt it, but to hang it up in one of these
places, until the wind, by which it was penetrated, should, at the necessary degree of
temperature, have so completely dried the meat as to preserve it from putrefaction : it was
also found, that any cave within which the tide flowed, named a helyer or hiallar, (the Iceland
name at the present day for a skeo), had similar antiputrescent powers. When beef or mut-
ton was thus treated, it was named vivda ; but much of the latter description of food appears
to have been previously salted, and, says Sir Robert Sibbald, it then acquired the name of
blotvn meat. Fish was also hung up unsalted in the skeo, but in this case a slight degree of
putrefaction was promoted, that is even at the present day as agreeable to the Shetlanders
as the tainted flavour of venison is to an English stomach. "Of the fishes they take," says
an early writer on the countiy, "some they hang in skeos till they be soure, and these they
call blowen fishes, which, indeed, are very delicious, and easy to be concocted ;" but when
Mr Low travelled through Shetland in the year 1776, he felt much annoyance from the
relish which the natives had for tainted fish. " Nothing," says this traveller, "can smell
stronger than a number of these skoes placed near one another ; and this, together with the
natural fogs of the country, must render it unhealthful and pernicious, particularly for stran-
gers." Many fish, however, which were caught during the period that the Hamburgh
merchants trafficked in Shetland, were more carefully dried in these houses, so as not to run
into an incipient stage of putrefaction, or they were salted ; they then became an object of
barter at the booths of the traders, under the name of Stock-fish* About the middle of the
last century, the practice of curing beef and mutton in skeos without salt was much given
up, and, at the present day, such buildings are not even receptacles for blown-fish, being
roofless, and allowed to fall into decay.

A dreary walk to the west, along the south coast of Yell, leads to Hamna Voe, the
shore of which is whitened by the numerous bones of the Ca'ing Whale, and from thence
past several towns to the south-west point of the island, (named the West Sound of Yell),
near to which are the ancient ruins of a small, yet firm built church. The road to the north
is along a dreary line of coast, commanding a good view of Yell Sound, with its tumultuous
rousts, and its various holms and islets ; the prospect being closed on the south by the dark
hills of Delting and Northmavine. Sandwick, which I next visited, is the most fertile place
in the island, and is well inhabited. To the north is a high headland, forming the south of
Whalefiord Voe, named the Neaps of Graveland. Lofty banks stretch along the remaining
westerly line of coast, where the grotesque forms presented by the immense granitic veins
that traverse the strata of gneiss, aided by the solitary appearance of some ancient burgh,
serve to beguile the labour of walking through this trackless desert. The north-western
extremity of this line of coast is remarkably bold, and at Gloup several naked skerries, the
refuge of innumerable sea-birds, appear to have been torn from the neighbouring foreland,
while their caves form the great resort of seals. At this place, scories and kittiwakes are
caught, by lines being let down perpendicular cliffs, and jerked into the young birds. The

* The same custom of treating fish occurs at the present day in Iceland. Dr Henderson remarks, that they are hung up and
dried in houses called hiallar, which are so constructed as to admit the wind through them : the fish are then named hcngi-Jish,
or hung-fish, in contradistinction tojlat-jiskar, or flat fish dried on the rocks.

ITER III.] ISLAND OF YELL. \J I

north and east coasts of North Yell are well inhabited, owing to the lowness of their shores,
and their greater breadth of soil that admits of cultivation. At Burra Ness, a point of land
near the mouth of a large open inlet named Basta Voe, are the remains of a burgh, that
consists of two concentric walls, the outermost of which is about 10 feet thick, and 150 feet
in circumference. The inner wall is 4*^ feet in breadth, and the space between the outer
and inner wall, which has been formed into chambers, is about 2 feet in breadth. About
fifty years ago, when Mr Low visited this burgh, the walls were 20 feet in height, but from
subsequent dilapidation they are now much lower. The area contained within the fort is
about 31 feet in diameter.

Returning to Refirth, I found the prospect relieved by the appearance of some more
cultivated land, together with three or four neat white houses. Near the voe is a small
church, to the porch of which is affixed an ancient description of pillory named the juggs,
which much resembles the carcan that in former times was well known on the Continent.
In Mr Douce's Illustrations of Shakespeare, may be seen the copy of a print from Co-
menius's Orbis Pictus, representing a woman mounted on a platform, and confined to a
pillar by means of an iron collar. The same ring characterises the Shetland punishment,
being suspended by a chain to the kirk-porch ; and when it was fitted to the neck of a
criminal, he was rendered the scorn and gaze of the parish, as they entered the kirk to hear
divine service. Such an ignominy is not unknown in Scotland, and was probably introduced
into Shetland by settlers from that kingdom. It is enacted in the bye-laws of the country,
that all tiggers [beggars] of wool, corn, fish, and others, " be punished with the stocks or
juggs." The word juggs is supposed to be of monkish coinage, being derived from the
Latin jugum, significant of the Roman infliction of the yoke, which, like this description of
pillory, was not attended with corporeal pain, but with moral degradation. The exposure is
now considered of such a humiliating kind, that it is not inflicted ; and, although the acts
which render the Shetland carcan a penalty are still extant, yet they become no longer a
terror to evil doers, but are rendered easy objects of transgression :

" We must not make a scarce-crow of the law ;
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch, and not their terror."

To the west of Refirth is a dell that leads to another voe of the name of Whalefirth,
confined within high banks, open to the Atlantic, and beset at its entrance with dangerous
rocks. Refirth and Whalefirth nearly divide the island into two equal parts, which are
named North and South Yell.

The interior of the island, which I explored in different directions, will give little
interest to the mineralogical traveller, being, for the most part, covered with an impenetrable
moss. Brand the missionary tells us that one of the ministers of his time, fell into such a
loose piece of ground, that his horse, furniture and all, sank beneath him, and were no more

172 YELL SOUND.

[ITER III.

seen, while he himself, with great difficulty, struggled out and was saved. I may add,
however, that, duiing the summer months, the moss is firm enough.*

YELL SOUND.

In Yell Sound there is always a very troubled sea, owing to the currents of tide which
are opposed to each other. The flood that sets south between the parish of Northmavine
and the Island of Yell, encounters a tide on the east of Shetland, which sets in an hour
later, between Lunna Ness on the Mainland, and Burra Voe in Yell. These torrents
are again broken in their direction, by the number of islands and sunken rocks that offer
resistance to them in their course.

The Islands of Yell Sound, which are in general low, amount to the number of
thirteen, or more, Brother Island, Biga, Samphray, and Little Rhoo, which are severally
inhabited by a very few families, being the largest. Many of the holms afford a very fine
succulent pasture for black cattle, and for sheep destined for the table, such spots being
indeed the chief places where they are fattened. So great is the value attached to holms,
that an ancient law of the country ordains, that no person trespass upon them, under the
penalty of ^"io for the first fault, of ^20 for the second, and for the third, of being prose-
cuted as thieves ; one-half of the penalty accruing to the judge, and the other to the
owner of the holm. Several of the rocks, particularly Linga, are the reson of the
Tern, or Sterna hirundo, named by the Shetlanders the Tirrock. This bird may be often
seen in its hovering flight to suddenly dart upon the surface of the water ; and, in its
successful capture of a sillock, to utter a shrill cry ; the Scouti aulin or parasitic gull, hears
the well known note of success, and instantly repairing to the spot, forces the captor to drop
his prey, which he intercepts in its fall. Numbers of the small, low rocks that rise but a few
feet from the surface of the water, afford a basking-place for seals, or are frequented by the
great black cormorant, or the common scarfs. In the smaller bays that open into the Sound,
the eider duck (Anas mollissima) may be observed to dive in pursuit of its food. Fre-
quently numerous shoals of sillocks, or young herrings, swarm in every creek. Nor is this
channel wholly free from the mightier inhabitants of the deep. Large porpoises roll among
the waters ; and sometimes appear the Delphinus orea, or Chaffer, anciently the dread of
boatmen ; and the Squalus maximus, or basking shark. But an interesting frequenter of
the Sound is the large animal lately named in systems of natural history Delphinus Deduc-
tor, styled by the Shetlanders the CdUng Whale ; and by the natives of Feroe, the Grinda-
quealur. Adult whales of this kind, which have been often skin on the sands of Hamna
Voe, in Yell, seldom exceed 22 feet in length. They are of a shining black colour; though
frequently white or grey about the belly. The skin may rival in softness the texture of silk.
The head is round, short and thick, having the under jaw shorter than the upper, by three
or four inches. The eyes are remarkably small ; the teeth, which are of the average length
of an inch, and of a sharp, subconoid form, vary with the age of the animal, being, in the

* There is a deficiency of puplic accommodation for the traveller at the large island of Yell. I have, however, to acknowledge
the hospitality I received from Mr Irvine, Mr Leisk, and a gentleman whose name I do not recollect, in Gossaburgh.

ITER III.] YELL SOUND. 1 73

largest size, about 24 in number. There is a blow-hole near its neck, from which it is able
to spout water to the height of a few feet. It has a tail that is cleft and vertical, a short,
stiff dorsal fin, and two long and narrow pectoral fins. The females have two nipples,
although they are much concealed by an adipose substance. These whales often appear in
a gregarious concourse to the number of from one to five hundred.*

I had landed at Mr Leisk's of Burra Voe in Yell, when a fishing boat arrived with the
intelligence that a drove of Ca'ing Whales had entered Yell Sound. Females and boys, on
hearing the news, issued from the cottages in every direction, making the hills reverberate
with joyful exclamations of the event. The fishermen armed themselves with a rude sort of
harpoon, formed from long iron-pointed spits ;— they hurried to the strand, launched their
boats, and, at the same time stored the bottom of them with loose stones. Thus was a
large fleet of yawls soon collected from various points of the coast, which proceeded towards
the entrance of the Sound. Some slight irregular ripples among the waves shewed the place
where a shoal of whales were advancing. They might be seen sporting on the surface of
the ocean for at least a quarter of an hour, disappearing, and rising again to blow. The
main object was to drive them upon the sandy shore of Hamna Voe, and it was evident
that the animals, with their enemy in the rear, were taking this direction. Most of the
boats were ranged in a semicircular form, being at the distance of about 50 yards from the
animals. A few skiffs, however, acted as a force of reserve, keeping at some little distance
from the main body, so that they might be in readiness to intercept the whales, should they
change their course. The sable herd appeared to follow certain leaders! ; who, it was soon
feared, were inclined to take any other route than that which led to the shallows on which
they might ground. Immediately the detached crews rowed with all their might, in order
to drive back the fugitives, and, by means of loud cries and large stones thrown into the
water, at last succeeded in causing them to resume their previous course. In this tem-
porary diversion from the shore, the van of the boats was thrown into confusion ; and it was
a highly interesting scene to witness the dexterity with which the Shetlanders handled their
oars, and took up a new semicircular position in rear of the whales. Again the fish
hesitated to proceed into the inlet, and again a reserve of boats intercepted them in their
attempt to escape, while a fresh line of attack was assumed by the main body of the
pursuers. It was thus that the whales were at length compelled to enter the harbour of
Hamna Voe. Then did the air resound with the shouts that were set up by the boatmen,
while stones were flung at the terrified animals, in order to force them upon the sandy shore
of a small creek ; but before this object could be effected, the whales turned several times,
and were as often driven back. None of them, however, were yet struck with the harpoon ;
for if they were to feel themselves wounded in deep water, they would at all hazards betake

* I was little aware when in Shetland that the external characters of a whale frequently seen in Feroe and the north of Scot-
land, were imperfectly known to many naturalists, otherwise I should, by independent observations on its form, have been spared
the necessity of comparing my recollections of it with the previous remarks of other writers. I have, however, to subscribe to the
general correctness of Captain Scoresby's representation of the shape of the Delphinus Deductor, as giveu in vol. i, p. 496 of his
work on the Arctic Regions, which was derived from communications on the subject by Mr Neill and Dr Traill, who have the
merit of being the first to point out the distinctive characters of this animal. — See also Landy's Description of Feroe (x.rans\.) y. 217.

t From this circumstar.ee, Dr Traill, with great propriety, first proposed to give the animal the title of Delphinus Dcdtictor.

174 YELL SOUND.

[ITER III.

themselves to the open sea. The leaders of the drove soon began to ground, emitting
at the same time a faint murmuring cry, as if for relief; the sand at the bottom of the bay
was disturbed, and the water was losing its transparency. The shoal of whales which
followed increased, as they struck the shore, the muddiness of the bay ; — they madly rolled
about, irresolute from the want of leaders, uncertain of their course, and so greatly intimi-
dated by the shouts of the boatmen, and the stones that were thrown into the water, as to
be easily prevented from regaining the ocean. Crowds of natives of each sex, and of all ages,
were anxiously collected on the banks of the voe, hailing with loud acclamations the
approach of these visitants from the northern seas ; — and then began the work of death.
Two men, armed with sharp iron spits, rushed breast-high into the water, and seizing each a
fin of the nearest whale, bore him unresistingly along to the shallowest part of the shore.
One of the deadly foes of this meekest of the inhabitants of the sea deliberately lifted up a
fin, and beneath it plunged into the body of the animal the harpoon that he grasped, so as
to reach the large vessels of the heart. A long state of insensibility followed, succeeded
by the most dreadful convulsions ; the animal lashed the water with his tail, and deluged
the land for a considerable distance : another deathlike pause ensued, throes still fainter and
fainter were repeated with shorter intermissions, until at length the victim lay motionless on
the strand. The butchers afterwards set off in a different direction, being joined by other
persons assuming the same functions. Female whales, appearing, by their hasty and
uncertain course, to have been wrested from their progeny, and sucklings no less anxiously
in pursuit of those from whose breasts they had received their nutriment, were severally
arrested in their pursuit, by the relentless steel of the harpooner. Numerous whales which
had received their death-wound soon lined the bay, while others at a greater distance were
rolling about among the muddy and crimsoned waves, doubtful whither to flee, and appear-
ing like oxen to wait the turn of their slaughterer. Wanton boys and females, in their
anxiety to take a share of the massacre, might be observed to rankle with new tortures the
gaping wound that had been made, while, in their blood-thirsty exultation they appeared to
surpass those whose more immediate business it was to expedite the direful business. At
length the sun set upon a bay that seemed one sheet of blood : not a whale was allowed to
escape ; and the strand was strewed over with carcases of all sizes, measuring from six to
twenty feet, and amounting to not fewer than the number of eighty. Several of the natives
then went to their homes in order to obtain a short repose ; but as the twilight in this
northern latitude was so bright as to give little or no token of the sun's departure, many
were unremittingly intent upon securing the profit of their labour, by separating the blubber,
which was of the thickness of three or four inches. It was supposed that the best of these
whales would yield about a barrel of oil ; and it was loosely computed that the whales were
on an average worth from two to three pounds Sterling a-piece, the value of the largest being
as much as six pounds.*

The division of the profits that accrue from these whales, was, from very ancient times,

In Captain Scoresby's work, the measurement of an adult ca'jng whale appears as follows : Length, 19A feet ; greater circum-
ference to feet ; pectoral fin (the external portion) 3J feet long by 18 inches broad ; dorsal fin 15 inches high and 2 feet 3 inches
broad ; ^readth of the tail 5 feet.

ITER III.]

LUNNA TO AITHSVOE. 1 75

regulated by strict laws, which on the introduction of feudality varied from those of Den-
mark. " As soon," says Mr Gifford, "as the whales are got ashore, the Bailie of the parish
is advertised, who comes to the place, and takes care that none of them are embezzled ; and
he acquaints the Admiral thereof, who forthwith goes there, and holds a Court, where the
Fiscal presents a petition, narrating the number of whales, how and where drove ashore ;
and that the Judge thereof may give judgment thereupon, according to law and the country
practice. Whereupon the Admiral ordains the whales driven on shore to be divided into
three equal parts ; one of the parts to belong to the Admiral, one part to the salvers, and
one-third to the proprietor of the ground on which the whales are driven ashore ; and he
appoints two honest men, who are judicially sworn, to divide them equally. The minister
or vicar claims the tithes of the whole, and commonly gets it ; the Bailie also claims the
heads for his attendance, and if the Admiral finds he has done his duty, the heads are
decerned to him, otherwise not." In consequence, however, of frequent disputes that took
place on this tripartite division of the whales, the Earl of Morton, who was invested with
the droits of Admiralty, appears to have compounded with the landed proprietors of
Shetland, by agreeing to accept a definite sum for his share of the capture ; but his suc-
cessors have, I believe, relinquished the claim altogether.

Nothing can better display the debased state of the husbandry of Shetland, than the
fact that the carcases of the whales are in general allowed to taint the air until they are
completely devoured by gulls and crows. Mr Hay and Mr Bruce are, I believe, the first
agriculturists in the country, who have sent for them from a considerable distance, in order
to apply their carcases to the land as a manure ; but many of those which were caught
during my visit to Shetland, were allowed to rot on the shore. At Feroe, the flesh of these
animals is cured like beef, which it is said to resemble in taste, and is considered as a great
dainty; and in the year 1740, a time of greaf scarcity, it was eaten from necessity by the
natives of Northmavine.

LUNNA TO AITHSVOE.

After crossing Yell Sound to the Mainland, and experiencing a rough passage, from the
waves caused by the Roust, one of which half-filled the boat, I arrived at Lunna, and from
thence steered north-west, along the east coast of Belting, where several considerable
mountain-ridges of gneiss terminated in bold headlands. In the intervals between them, the
sea finds access for some little distance. Swinnin Voe runs a mile and a half into the land ;
Colafirth Voe a mile ; and Dale's Voe, the banks of which are highly enriched by strata of
limestone, is three miles in extent. On the shore of the latter inlet once stood an open ting
or court of justice, that gave its name to the parish of Delting or Daleting. My next sail
was round the peninsula of Foreholm, which shelters the entrance of Dale's Voe. To the
north of this land are four projecting capes, formed by gneiss and sienite, between which
run the North Voe of Swinnister, Firth's Voe, and Taph's Voe ; their course is respectively
not more than from half a mile to a mile inland. Taph's Voe is visited by Leith traders,

176 LUNNA TO AITHSVOE.

[ITER III.

for the purpose of discharging and taking in goods, while, on the shore between this harbour
and the most northerly point of Mioness, may be seen the booths of a few small traders
employed in the ling fishery, and the cottages, or rather towns, as they are called, of several
fishermen. But as the coast is viewed from the water at some little distance, the patches of
cultivation that vary the surface of the land, seem so comparatively scanty, when compared
with the extensive desert which forms the interior of the mainland, that, by enabling the
spectator to contrast the general complexion of the country with what ought to be its hue,
the gloomy sensations excited by the prospect are not diminished but increased. On
approaching the dwellings of a humbler description, the traveller is often surprised with the
great number of domestic fowls that are reared, the encouragement given to this race having
probably originated in the ancient requisition of an annual number of fowls due to the
falconer of the Royal household, for the alleged purpose of supporting the King's hawks that
were collected in Shetland. It is supposed that the goshawk, or Falco palumbarius, was the
object of the falconer's search ; but the bird which was held in chief estimation, was the
Falco pengrinus niger, said to be recognised at a distance by a white band that he wore ;
he was found in Fair Isle, Foula, Lamhoga, Fitfiel and Sumburgh Heads. No more
than one pair would inhabit the same rock, and from the memory of man would
continue in the same place. In such request were these birds, that when the earldom of
Orkney and lordship of Zetland were disannexed from the Crown, there was a clause in the
act of Parliament, stating, " that all hawks should be reserved to his Majesty, with the fal-
coners' salaries, according to ancient custom." During the Scottish government of Shetland,
each parish afforded the falconer who was sent over the means of feeding the King's hawks,
by an obligation to furnish for this purpose a certain quantity of carrion, dogs, horses or
other garbage ; but as food of this kind was not always to be procured, the requisition was
commuted for a certain number of fowls from each parish, or for a hen from every reek or
house. Fowls were said to be thus collected for the food of the hawks ; but during the
tyranny of Robert and Patrick Stuart, they rather administered to the supply of the Supe-
rior's table.* When hawks ceased to contribute to the amusements of the king, who in
later times lived in England, the continuation of the levy was considered a great hardship,
and the falconer found much difficulty in levying his hawk-hens. In revenge, therefore, for
the trouble which he experienced, he brought one year into the Mainland some weazels.
which he turned loose, in order to destroy the fowls. But the object was not successful;
on the contrary they were said to be of some little use of clearing the island of rats. It also
appears, that the early inducement for the Shetland peasantry to rear poultry, was not only
attributable to the requisition of hawk-hens (due even at the present day,) but to a feudal
custom of the south, which was the payment of a certain number of fowls at Yule or Christ-
mas to the new settler, who was aping, in his little demesnes, the exaction of some mightier
feudal chief of Scotland.

The most common tenants, however, of the inclosures are the small swine peculiar to

* It has not been unaptly remarked to me, that the most insatiable of the hawks that required poultry for their maintenance,
were the Stewarts, Earls of Orkney.

ITER III.]

LUNNA TO AITHSVOE. I 77

the country, which are of a dunnish-white, brown or black colour, with a nose remarkably
strong, sharp pointed ears, and back greatly arched, from which long, stiff bristles stand
erect. The hog is said to weigh from 60 to 100 lb. Being often very lean, his flesh is as
food proportionally coarse; but when fattened, the meat is sufficiently sweet and delicate,
and when cured forms excellent hams. The swine are too often suffered to roam abroad,
and to root up turnips, potatoes, corn, and other herbage, so that they are scarcely a profit,
but an absolute loss to the country. There is an ancient law in Shetland, that " none have-
more swine than effeiring (proportional) to their land labouring;" and that "none have swine
pasturing in their neighbours' lands, — under the pain of ^10, besides damages." But this
proper regulation is little regarded.

There is generally a piece of green pasturage, never dug up, that surrounds the Shetlan-
der's farm-house, which he names his town mails* On this spot horses are always tethered,
when wanted for immediate use, or upon the close of a summer's day, the small black
cattle of the country are in like manner secured, previous to their being lodged for the
night within the byre. Cows, are kept in the house every evening during the year. Their
litter is composed of heath and sometimes of duff mould or decomposed moss. Their food
is in general so little, that during very severe winters, numbers have been known to perish
for want. When Dr Kemp travelled through the country a few years ago, so great was the
dearth for food, that he witnessed a kind of mash served up for a cow, consisting of a large
pail filled with boiled fish-bones, which had been broken down. Such an unnatural mess,
however, though by no means uncommon in Iceland, is much less frequently seen in
Shetland. The quantity of milk given in the day by the Shetland cow is very inconsider-
able, not amounting, in the middle of summer, to more than from three to five English
quarts in the day. The operation of churning takes place every second or third day. A
little time before the butter is about to part from the serum, the dairy-maid throws red-hot
stones into the churn, by which the separation is hastened, and rendered more complete.
The attention she pays to the purity of the butter depends upon its destination, — whether it
is intended for consumption within the house, or must be rendered in payment of feudal
duties, or of teinds ; thus the proverbial quality of teind-butter, which is fit for little more
than for greasing cart-wheels, is notorious ; nor has the impurity ever been counteracted by
an act of the country, which declares, that no butter be rendered for payment of land-rent,
or for sale, but such as is clean from hairs or bland, and other dirt, and sufficiently salted,
under the pain of forty shillings Scots for each offence; and for the first fault, the insuffi-
cient butter to be returned, and for the second, to be forfeited for the use of the poor of the
parish. Into the buttermilk that remains in the churn hot-water is poured ; the caseous
part, named Kirn-milk, subsides, and is used for food : the mixture of serum and water that
is left, forms a common drink named Bland, which when allowed to rest, undergoes a slight
degree of fermentation, and acquires in the course of a few months a remarkable degree of
transparency, and along with it a very acid yet agreeable taste. A similar beverage is
familiar at the present day to the Icelanders, among whom it is known by the same

* In the ancient Shetland language, the green pasturage attached to a dwelling was named a Setter ox Seater.

178 LUNNA TO AITHSVOE.

[ITER III.

appellation that it bears in Shetland. Another product of the dairy, is obtained by adding
to a quantity of sour cream some sweet milk ; the mixture then undergoes a sort of fer-
mentation, after which the whey or serous part is poured off, and more new milk is added.
The process is thus repeated several times, until the firmer part restmbles a sub-acid and
h : ghly pleasant taste.

On turning round the point of Mioness, I steered south-west past the mouth of Orka
Voe, an inlet two miles in extent, and reached the narrow entrance of Soulam Voe,
confined on the west by the peninsula of Glus and by Foula Ness, and on the east by the
promontory of Coldback. Soulam Voe soon afterwaids sends out a considerable arm into
the low land on the east, which acquires the name of Garth's Voe; and to the south, at a
distance of seven or eight miles from the mouth, are two or more smaller inlets, near one
of which named Hardwell Voe, is the manse of the minister of Delting. This large "
channel was evidently at one time nothing more than an inland lake, being connected to
the sea by the disintegration of the granitic cliffs that appear at its entrance between Foula"
Ness and Coldback. The vicinity of Garth's Voe was one of the last retreats of the native
Dryads, before they foresook in despair the British Thule. On the low land of this place,
the encroachment of the sea, long since exposed the remains of a very ancient forest, con-
sisting of hazel and several large aquatic plants, the stocks of which were from half an inch
to eight inches in diameter, that struck their roots into a bed of gravel, while above them
was an accumulation of peat-moss about ten feet in thickness. The disclosures that are
made throughout the country in digging for peat, shew that certain kinds of small trees,
such as hazels, willows or birch, once braved with success the cutting blasts of Shetland,
while the introduction of sheep into the country, which would prevent new plants from
springing up, or inundations arising from the incursions of the ocean, have probably been
the conspiring causes to which their decay is attributable. It was in an early period of the
historical annals of the country that the want of food was first felt. The first Norwegian
colonists were acquainted with no other kind of fuel than that which they had collected
from the forests of their own native mountains, and when Einar, Earl of Orkney, pointed
out to them that a fuel was to be obtained from dried peat, he was almost deified for the
discovery, having ever afterwards the honorary title prefixed to his name of Torf. The
celebrity that Torf-Einar thus secured for himself among the songs of the Northern Scalds,
is by no means remarkable : the dark annals of many European nations celebrate the names
of individuals, who are considered as benefactors to the human race, from inventions no
less simple. Thus, in the Welsh Triads, three Bards are renowned as modellers of the
Island of Britain, one of whom made a vessel with a sail and helm for the race of the
Cymri ; a second taught the use of stone and lime, and the third the use of a mill with a
wheel.

It is in the time of Voir or Spring, after the seed has been sown, that the Shetlander
generally repairs to his scathold for the purpose of cutting his peat. Thus, there is an
ancient law in the country, " that none cut floss before Lammas-day in their own scathold,
without due advertising of their neighbours belonging to the same scathold, under the pain
of 40s Scots toties quoties." When the natives are assembled to cast their peat, their first

ITER ill.] LUNNA TO AITHSVOE. I 79

object is to pair off the vegetating moss, named the feal: this is always called flaying the
moor. For this purpose an ancient description of spade is used, the shaft of which is long
and light, while the iron-plate at the bottom of it is of a different shape, and much narrower
than that which distinguishes the common spade of England and Scotland, (See Hate of
Antiq. in the Appendix, Fig. 25.) There is one man, who, with this implement, makes a
ditch seldom wider than two feet, while another is employed in disengaging the feal that has
been cut, which he throws on the delver's right hand-side, in the most slovenly manner.
When the moor is thus flayed, an ancient Scandinavian implement of husbandry is used for
casting the peats, named a tuskat ; its shaft is rather longer than that of a common spade,
whilst to the bottom of it is affixed a sharp iron-plate, styled a feather, which projects from
one place seven inches, and from another a little more than an inch, (See Plate of Antiq.,
Fig. 24). Thus, when the Shetlander, in wielding his tuskar, pushes down the feather into
the moor in a perpendicular direction, a corresponding shape and size is given to the peat
that is cut ; he then with the greatest activity, lifts up each portion as it is severed, and
whilst it rests upon his tuskar, throws it abroad on his left hand-side, or piles it in such a
manner, that proper intervals may subsist for the admission of air. The ditch is dug very
narrow, and its depth rarely extends beyond the depth of two peats. When this labour is
finished, the feals appear in loose slovenly heaps, being but seldom deposited at the bottom
of the ditch, with the verdant surface upwards, so that vegetation might be continued.
With regard to the length and direction of the excavations, they are governed by no rule,
the tenant having the unrestricted liberty of making what devastation he chooses upon his
pasture. Often, as Mr Shirreff in his Agricultural Survey has remarked, the cuts are at
right angles across a declivity, so as to catch all the surface water that runs down the slope,
and to prove traps for drowning sheep ; or not unfrequently the water bursts over the lower
sides of the trenches, and converts the ground, for a considerable distance, into an unsightly
gulley. In the course of a fortnight or three weeks after the peats have been cast-, they are
set up on one end that the drying may be completed ; but the close of the process is in the
middle of the summer, when the Shetlanders build up their peats in large stacks near the
place where they were dug, or, by means of the little shelties of the country, carry them
home. For this purpose, a saddle, named a Klibbar, h contrived, which consists of two flat
pieces of wood that meet on the ridge of the shelty's back, being rounded off in their
summit, and connected together, by means of two long attached pieces of wood, which
transversely fit into each other, and project upwards ; the boards are then secured below by
girths, that pass under the animal's breast and tail, while from the two cross pieces of wood
that rise ftom the top of the saddle, are suspended a couple of cassies or baskets made of
straw.* When a number of horses are thus accoutered, they are driven to the scatholds ;
the cassies which they bear are filled with peat, which, on arriving at its destination, is
stored up in piles close to the Shetlander's house, for his yearly stock of fuel.

It appears that the use of the shelty, which is seldom more than from nine to eleven

* A klibbar or klibbari is in use in the Feroe Islands ; but its form is very different to the Shetland saddle. See Landt's
Feme Islands, (Transl.) p. 278.

l8o LUNNA TO AITHSVOE.

[ITER III.

hands high, is principally confined to the carrying home of peat ; yet, in the transportation
of other kinds of light burdens, his back is still surmounted with a wooden saddle. When
hay or any light bulky substance is to be carried, maiseys are used, which are made of ropes
prepared from floss or rushes, these being reticulated in meshes of some inches in width. A
net of this kind is passed round the horse, so as to secure the hay or other light substance
that rests upon the boards of the klibbar. This ancient saddle is also found of use when
the shelty is required by the female rider to bear her to the parish kirk ; she then throws
over his back a native coarse manufacture of the country, woven into the shape of a saddle-
cloth, and when, upon this covering the klibbar is fixed, its projecting pieces of wood which
the female holds by, form it into a kind of side-saddle. But, amidst the various services
which the poor shelty renders to his owner, the revolting task remains of recording the
treatment which in spite of them he undergoes. He is left to feed on the hills during the
whole of the year ; and in the most inclement weather of winter, is never admitted within
the warm walls of a stable, being frequently compelled to subsist on the drift ware that is
left by the ebb. On my arrival in Shetland early in the spring, I found these animals in
such a half-starved state, owing to their scanty supply of winter food, that the growth of the
summer herbage was necessary before they had so sufficiently recovered their strength, as to
bear a rider over the moors of the country.

At the head of Soulam Voe there is a small isthmus about ioo yards broad, that
separates this inlet from the westerly seas, while there is a larger neck of knd to the south,
though not more than a quarter of a mile across, that leads to another spacious harbour,
diversified with islands and holms, which is not only the common centre at which several
voes and sounds meet, but the site where the common junction takes place of several
mountain masses, consisting of granite, sienite, epidotic sienite, quartz rock, greenstone and
gneiss. The traveller now perceives that he is treading upon a regular paved road, several
yards in breadth, which, though scarcely a mile in extent, gives to a visitant of Shetland,
who for several days may have seen nothing before him but trackless deserts, a delight that
is wholly inexpressible. At the termination of the walk is the substantial and respectable
old fashioned mansion of Busta, built at different periods, but of a style characteristic of the
commencement of the last century, being closed in by spacious garden-walls, the height of
which is coequal with the tops of a grove of trees. Near the shore is an excellent landing
place for boats, and a dove-cot, of dimensions that might rival in magnitude the buildings
of a similar kind, that are to be found in the south. This prospect of comfort and civiliza-
tion is still more enjoyed, in connection with the rocky tract of country and wild seas that
appear on every side ; but on entering the garden amidst a grove of mountain ashes, plane
trees and elders, the gratification is complete ; nothing can give greater cheer to the
fatigued vision, when so long satiated with the superfluous waste of bare and tenantless
scatholds.

" It is a chosen plott of fertile land
Amongst wild waves set, like a little nest
As if it had by nature's cunning hand
Bene choicely picked out from all the rest,

m K | 1L] LUNNA TO AITHSVOE. I 8 I

And laid forth for ensample of the best :

No dainty flowre or herbe that grows on ground,

Nor arborett with painted blossoms chest,

And smelling sweete, but there it might be found

To bud out faire and throw her sweet smells all around." — Spenser.

The garden is laid out in a style, in regular parterres, that shews much of the formal
taste of the last century. The trees are, however, stunted as soon as they get above the
shelter of the wall. Mountain ashes may be found near 20 feet high, and from 2 feet to
2^ feet in circumference, when reckoned within the limits of six feet above the ground.
Planes are of a similar height, and from 2^ feet to nearly 3 feet in circumference. There
is also an elder, having dimensions little different. The trees that thrive the best are those
of which particular mention has been made : the growth of other kinds, with perhaps the
exception of the scyamore, having hitherto defied the attempts of the planter; but the
result of his success, should seeds be imported from Norway, or raised in the country,
might perhaps be very different. In the parish of Delting, near the Burn of Valyor, native
mountain-ashes may be found growing in sites secure from the attacks of cattle. It is said
that plants from this place have been transplanted into the garden of Busta, where they now
flourish.

Busta is the seat of Arthur Gifford, Esq., the worthy representative of an ancient
family, who settled in Shetland in the sixteenth century. Some of their land was purchased
from Earl Patrick Stewart, since a feu-charter is recorded, dated July 8, 1583, of certain
lands on the opposite shore of Wethersta, in which this nobleman reserved for his own use
two or three rooms in the mansion-house that belonged to the estate. As Busta was the
habitation of a gentleman who published the earliest statistical description of this country
worth notice, on account of the acquaintenance that it shews with the laws of this ancient
Scandinavian colony, this family-seat ought to be for ever held in esteem by the inhabitants
of Shetland. The author of the History of Shetland married the sister of Sir Andrew
Mitchell of West Shore near Scalloway. It is recorded of the Gifford family, that, in the
year 1748, no fewer than four of the sons belonging to the Laird of Busta, accompanied by
a cousin," were lost in a boat whilst crossing a bay. A more melancholy accident than this,
it is seldom the fate of the provincial historian to record.

Not far from the house of Busta, is a large stone of granite, that appears as erect as if
it had been fixed there by art.* Not improbably it was a large boulder-stone, brought
thither by natural causes, and placed in an upright position, as the memorial of some battle
or death of a chief. It is supposed by the vulgar to have been thrown there by the Devil
from some hill in Northmavine. A similar origin is ascribed to appearances like these in
other countries.

" And whereto serves that wond'rous trophy now,
That on the goodly plain near Walton stands ;

* See Plate iv. Fig. i. — I cannot take leave of the vicinity of Busta, without expressing my sense of the hospitality I received
from the truly respectable resident of this place. I have singular obligations due to Mr Barclay of Olnasfiord.

1 82 SHEEP PASTURES OF SHETLAND. [ITER III.

That huge dumb heap that cannot tell us how,

Nor what nor whence it is, nor with whose hands,
Nor for whose glory it was set to shew ?

How much our pride mocks that of other lands ! — ■
Then Ignorance, with fabulous discourse,

Robbing fair art and cunning of their right,
Tells how these stones were, by the Devil's force,

From Afric brought to Ireland in a night." — Daniels.

South of Busta is the Island of Meikle Roe, divided from the Mainland and the Island
of Vementry by two narrow sounds, and to the east of it is Linga, a small holm of a per-
fectly round shape, that is situated at the common entrance into two voes ; the first, which
is named Gonfiord. runs two miles from north to south, and the second named Olnafiord,
is a broad inlet, the channel of which intersects, at right angles, the gloomy ridges of gneiss
that run from south-west to north-east, stretching at the same time from five miles to the
eastward ; at the head of this voe stands an ancient kirk, where are some good monuments
of the Gifford family, and adjoining to it is the mansion of Mr Barclay, a very intelligent
medical practitioner. Entering a yawl, I was rowed across the mouth of Gonfiord Voe,
and reached the headland ot Hoobensetter, where are the remains of several tumuli,
probably of Scandinavian origin, from which rude earthen urns have been taken. From
this point there is a good view of Aithsvoe, the entrance of which is nearly closed by the
island of Papa Little. Several buoyant skiffs were floating on the blue trembling waves of
the bay, while the active Shetlander was wielding the light rod, and throwing his line
among the throng of sillocks with which the inlet was filled ; his successful competitors
in the pursuit were the rapacious maws, who, in their hovering flight, darted down
frequently on the surface of the waters, though in the abundance of their finny victims, they
failed in outnumbering the captives which had been secured by the adroit hand of the busy
angler. Small patches of cultivated ground and dwellings lined ths circling coast of the
voe, indicating the cause that had designated it by the title of Aif/i, which implied the
vicinity of a fertile soil. Near the head of this voe is East Burrafiord, an inlet so named
from a holm that contains an ancient burgh, of which scarcely the foundations remain.
The shore is commanded by the hill of Scallowfield, exceeding a thousand feet in height,
which forms the highest point of a ridge that extends from Weesdale to Olnasfiord.

ANCIENT AND PRESENT STATE OF THE SHEEP PASTURES OF SHETLAND.

The country to the south and south-west of Olnasfiord consists of bleak and unin-
habited hills, which form part of the scatholds of the Mainland, where there are neither
partridges, moorfowl, nor hares to afford amusement for the sportsman ; but, in the place of
them, he may hear the shrill and plaintive notes of the curlew and plover, or the whistling
of the snipe.

The tenants of the scatholds were the wild sheep of the country, celebrated for their
small size, and known by naturalists under the name of the ores Cauda brevi, that at the.

ITKR ni.i SHEEP PASTURES OF SHETLAND. 1 83

present day range among the mountains of modern Scandinavia and Russia : in very few-
places are the Shetland sheep mixed with a Northumberland breed. Their colour is
exceedingly various, being grey, black, dunnish brown, white, or they are streaked and
speckled in the most curious manner with a combination of various tints and shades.
Besides the distinctive character which they possess, from the shortness of their tails, their
horns also are very small. In summer, they collect from the pastures that kind of food
which the natives still designate by the ancient Scandinavian term of Lubba, expressive, in
the original sense, of coarseness or roughness. Lubba comprises those common produc-
tions of the hills which are found where heath is absent ; thus it consists of several kinds of
Carices, of Nardus siricta, Eriophoron or cotton-grass, which is the food of sheep in spring,
and of other plants.* Burra, which is the provincial name given to the Juncus squatrosus,
serves the animals during the winter. But besides these productions, the Erica vulgaris
and tetralix are the last resources. The sea also affords provision for the wild inhabitants
of the Shetland scatholds, and there almost appears to be a peculiar instinct, which, in the
severer months of the year, prompts them, upon the ebbing of the water, to flee to the
shore, where they remain feeding on marine plants until the flow of the tide ; they then
return to the hills. The diseases to which they are subject are as various as in the several
districts of Scotland ; thus they are afflicted at times with what the Scotch call braxy, or an
inflammation in the bowels, with the stwdy, or water in the head, with blindness, from
which they frequently soon recover, and with the rot. About thirty or forty years ago, the
scab was unfortunately introduced into the Mainland, and proved very fatal, reducing the
number of these animals in some places to a third. The natural enemies of the young
lambs are eagles, (named Ernes), ravens, hooded crows, and the black-backed gull. Of
these, the ravenous sea-eagle (Falco ossifragus), and the ring-tailed eagle (Falco fulvus), are
the most formidable; nor is the Vultur albici/la, or white-tailed eagle, unknown as an
assailant of the Shetland pastures. In order to encourage the destruction of these birds of
prey, there was an ancient law of the country that set a liberal price upon their heads,
whenever they were brought to the court of the Foude. The reward was much less in
value when paid by the Commissioners of the Land-tax, amounting to 3s 4d Scots for an
erne, 3d for a corbie or raven, and 2d for a crow. Other formidable invaders of the flock
are the swine, which, to the approbrium of the husbandry of the country, are suffered to
roam uncontrolled over the scatholds, and to die their tusks in the blood of young lambs
when just dropped.

The sheep are allowed to run w T ild among the hills, herding and housing being almost
wholly unknown in Shetland. There is an old law, that was probably introduced by the
Scotch settlers, ordering that every scathold have a sufficient herd, and that builling,
punding, and herding, be used in a lawful way, before, or a little after, sun-setting ; and that

* The provincial term Lubba is well explained by Mr Neill in his account of the heathy eminences of Yell. This author re-
marks, that " Narthecium ossifragum (bastard asphodel), Pinguicula vulgaris (butterwort or sheep-rot), and Pedicularis palustris
(marsh lousewort), were indeed too common. Melica coerulea (purple nielic), Nardus stricta (heath matweed), and Festuca
vivapera (vivaperous sheep's fescue), were the principal grasses; together with Carices recurva, distans, panacea, &c, and some
junci or rushes. To a mixture of all these, when heath is absent, the natives give the name of Lubba." — Neilfs Tour through
Shetland, p. 74, 75. Mr ShirrefF remarks, that the Anthoxanthum odoratum is seldom touched by the sheep.

184 SHEEP PASTURES OF SHETLAND.

[ITER III.

none scare, hound, or break up their neighbours' punds and buills, under the penalty of
ten pounds Scots, besides damages ; but the regulation has not, for a long time, been
enforced. On the contrary, the sheep are almost to be regarded as in a state of nature,
since they range at large over the scatholds during the whole of the year. No food is pro-
vided for the poor animals during deep falls of snow, nor is there any friendly shepherd to
drive them to some buill, or dry place of shelter, where the lives of numbers of them might
be preserved. Upon the approach of a storm, a sense of common danger causes them to
congregate for self-defence beneath the shelter of some rock on the sea-shore, where
they protect themselves from the cold, by the warmth which arises from their bodies in a
crowded state ; or, if they are covered with snow, hunger impels them to tear portions of
wool from each other's backs.

Whenever it is requisite to catch any sheep, they are hunted down with dogs, trained
for the purpose, which Wallace, the historian of Orkney, describes as a sport both "strange
and delectable." When a flock is in sight, the Shetlander seizes hold of his had-dog, (the
ancient Scandinavian name for a sheep-dog,) and points out to him a particular sheep. The
dog then bounds after his prey : the flock are immediately alarmed, but soon perceiving
the particular individual that is the intended victim, they restrain their flight, and allow the
pursuit to be uninterruptedly confined to one object of selection. The poor animal is then
chaced from hill to hill, until he falls into the power of his pursuer, who is taught to seize
him by the foot, the nose, or the ear; or perhaps he perishes by tumbling over some
precipice, where he is either dashed to pieces upon the stones, or falls into the sea.

As the sheep of one scathold, island, or parish, constitute a promiscuous flock, which
may belong to more than a hundred individuals, it is remarkable that more frequent dis-
putes should not arise respecting the rights of possession. No property of this kind was
ever secured without the means of had-dogs ; it was therefore a proper regulation that none
of these animals should be kept in secret. An ancient act of Shetland declares, " that none
keep sheep-dogs but such as are appointed or allowed by the Bailiff, with the advice of the
honest men of the parish, whose names are to be recorded in the Court-books ; and each of
them to be accountable for their actings." It was also ordered, that all dogs should be
tried yearly by the Bailiff, the ranselmen, or other honest men belonging to the parish in
which they are kept; and if any individuals should be found to possess a had-dog, who had
no property in a sheep stock to entitle him to keep such an animal, he should be fined and
the dog hanged. The next object of the ancient legislators of the country, was to see that
each dog which might be kept to take sheep, was under proper contrOul, and that he was
not what was named a running dog, whom the old acts of Orkney characterise as "a dog
that runs frae house to house, or through the country, the neighbours' sheep ;" such a dog
would be not only prompt to seize a sheep for his master, but would have little hesitation in
providing mutton for himself. Whenever, therefore, the ranselmen in their annual examina-
tion of dogs, found out any of these freebooters, they put in force the act, "That all running
dogs be discharged, under the pain of forty shillings, to be paid by the owner of the dog,
toties quoties, and the dog to be hanged. But since this act was framed, a sort of
demoralization has taken place in the character of the canine race of Shetland, — and it

Eton III.] SHEEP PASTURES OF SHETLAND. 185

would be difficult to say, at the present day, what dog was not a running dog. Mr Shirreff,
in his agricultural survey of the country, has complained, with great justice, of a rapacious
ranger, of this kind, which he observed, who, without any order from his master, would
break off at the first unfortunate sheep that he saw, throw him down, give him a good
biting, and then return, unchided for his cruelty, to his owner, who seemed to consider the
treatment as a matter of course. " The fact is," adds the narrator, " that there is so little
profit arising from sheep stock, in the present state of landed property, compared with
fishing, that the landowners and tacksmen do not put as much value on a sheep, as in Great
Britain on a hare."

When sheep were considered of more value than they are at present, it was of great
consequence that no wild or scar sheep should be at large in any particular district, which might
have the tendency of scattering the flock. Thus there is an ancient act, " that none keep
s ar sheep except it be in holms of nesses diked in, and properly belonging to themselves,
under the pain of ten pounds Scots, and forfeiture of the sheep after six months advertise-
ment." But, at the present day, most of the sheep of the country are so wild, that the old
distinction of scar sheep seems to be nearly lost; and as summer herding is almost unknown,
these animals are by no means in a progressive state of tameness.

In the last place, as the seizure of sheep took place by means of dogs, it was necessary
for the preservation of individual property, that no capture should be private. Every pro-
prietor in claiming his share of a promiscuous flock, had a particular mark of his own, that
was formed by various kinds of incisions, which were inflicted on one or both of the animal's
ears ; these received such names as a shear, a slit, a hole, a bit out of the right or left ear,
before, behind, or from the top. In this way an infinite variety of private marks was devised,
but none of these could be lawfully used without the sanction of the bailiff of a district, or
civil officer, whose duty it was to insert in a public register a descriptive account of all the
tokens which any individual wished to adopt, for the recognition of the particular share
which he had in a joint flock of sheep.* It was, therefore, a proper regulation, that the
marking of sheep should be a public act, and that no property could be thus claimed, but
in the sight of a whole district. The period appointed for marking lambs, was when all the
proprietors of a flock were assembled for the purpose of rueing, or tearing off with the hand
the wool from sheep, after it had naturally begun to loosen ; this was about the middle of
May, or near midsummer. Thus there was a law, that no one mark lambs, or rue sheep,
where there are different owners in the flock, but in the sight of sufficient witnesses, under
the pain of ten pound Scots for the first offence, of double the amount for the second, and
for the third fault of being reputed and punished as thieves. The time of marking and rue-
ing is still publicly proclaimed, and on the day fixed, all the men of a district turn out, and
drive their common flock, without any preparation of washing, into rude inclosures, named
punds or crues. If the punding be delayed too long, the sheep become so wild that they are

* Mr Shirreff has given a curious specimen of the register of a sheep-mark, as taken from the parish records of Orkney, where a
custom nearly similar to the Shetland practice prevailed : " I John Gillies, baron-bailie of the parish of Orphir, hereby grant
warrant to Edward Wishart, in Mill )f Claistran, to assume and use the sheep-mark following, as the same is recorded in the
register of sheep-marks, on the 4th day of July 1770 years, in the name of John Flett in Skelbister, viz. The crop of the right lug
and a bit behind, a rip in the left lug and a bit before, and the tail off." — Agricultural Survey of Orkney, p. 132.

1 86 SHEEP PASTURES OF SHETLAND.

[ITER III.

hunted down and taken by dogs; but when at last they are secured within the ernes, the civil
officers (who were in former days the bailiff and ranselmen of a district) appear as arbiters
of all disputes. Each owner now searches the crue for his property, which the civil officers
confirm by their register, and also claims the lambs that are produced from the particular
stock that he possesses, in order that his right to them may be secured by a proper ear-mark.
At the same time the general tueing begins, the proprietor seizes hold of his poor sheep, and,
disdaining the use of shears, tears away the wool from the struggling animal's back in the
most brutal manner ; and if the fleece has not begun to naturally loosen, the operation is
attended with most excruciating pain. Such a cruel mode of fleecing, which is of true
Scandinavian origin, is at the present day retained in Iceland, as well as in Hialtland.

Thus it is shown, that no claims of individual property among sheep could, by the
ancient laws of Shetland, be sanctioned, if made in secret. An act expresses, " That if any
person use a sheep-dog, and run therewith after his own sheep unaccompanied ; if he mark,
rue, or take any home without showing the mark, he shall pay for the first fault four angels,
for the second six angels, and for the third be holden and repute as a common thief, and
punished accordingly." It also appears that the last penalty was awarded for even a first
offence, if committed under cloud of night. If any one also killed a sheep without first
showing the mark to a ranselman, " or other honest man," he was liable to a fine of ^10
for the first offence, with payment of damages ; of ^20 for the second offence ; and for the
third crime, of being reputed and punished as a common thief, and of being prevented in all
time coming for keeping a sheep-dog. It is a pity that, in reference to the undivided state
of the scatholds, the salutary tendency of these good laws has not been perpetuated. Mr
Shirreff has properly remarked, that the Shetlander, who may possess the best sheep-dog, is
by repute the greatest sheep-owner in Shetland ; and that thieves are greater enemies to the
sheepstock than either defect of food or the inclemency of the weather : — he produces as an
example, some natives of Yell, who, for many years, had severally contrived to secure for
themselves, on an average, two sheep each week. But how can such a state of the Shetland
sheep pastures create much surprise ? Husbandry has long sickened under oppressions of
the must galling nature; the fisheries have become the only sources of profit in the country;
and thus has the care of the individual property which may exist in a common sheep-stock,
become an object of little moment.

The carcase of the Shetland sheep is very small, being said not to weigh more than
thirty pounds. The flesh is peculiarly sweet, and may rival in flavour the best Welsh
mutton, that is so esteemed in England. But, owing to the crooked policy of proprietors
leaving none but the worst lambs, which are unacceptable for the table, for breed-
ing rams, the race of Shetland sheep has been long supposed to be in a state
of degeneracy.* The wool is short, yet very fine. From the amount of the tithes
paid in this commodity to the Pope, so early as the 14th century, it has been

* Mr Sheriff conceives, that the same strange policy is operating to the disparagement of the Shetland wool. He states, that
if a proprietor observe among his lambs any one that is particularly fine wooled, all his alarm is that it should stray away to some
other pasture ;he does not hesitate, therefore, to stifle in the animal any inducement which he may have, during the tupping season
to ramble after the ewes. Thus are the best rams incapacitated from perpetuating a race of fine woolled sheep, whilst the worst
serve for breeders.

ITER in.] ANCIENT PASTURES OF SHETLAND. 1 87

supposed that the breed of sheep in this country was much greater in ancient
times than at the present day. Their wool, which was manufactured into the
coarse cloth named Wadmel, afforded the means that this ancient colony of Norway
possessed of paying the tribute which was due to the King of Denmark under the title of
Scat. The tax for each mark of land being exigible in a certain unchangeable measure of
wadmel, it was found convenient, in a later period, to lessen the burden of the exaction, by
making the threads as thick as fish-lines; but, upon the commutation of wadmel into money,
the weavers of Shetland soon obviated the aspersions that were thrown upon their manufac-
tures, and their cloth was woven fine enough. There were originally no walk-mills in the
country, and the web was thickened by the hands and feet ; at other times it was securely
spread along the bottom of a narrow passage among the rocks through which the tide ebbed
and flowed, so that the action of the sea, which, in such pent up channels was much en-
creased, might walk or full the cloth. When thus prepared, the fabrick was said by Sir
Robert Sibbald to have acquired the name of Tuvacathoe. Early in the last century, the
Earl of Morton ordered a walk-mill to be built, but the manufacture of wadmel was then
much on the decline. There is, however, at the present day, a considerable quantity of
woollen cloth made for home-consumption.

The chief use to which the Shetland wool is applied at the present day, is for the stock-
ings and gloves that are knit. The fleece of the sheep, which is remarkably soft, has been
wrought into stockings so fine, that they have been known to sell as high as 40s per pair.
I had not the good fortune to see articles of this value, but several pairs were shewn to me,
which, from the fineness of the workmanship, might be considered reasonable at half-a-guinea
or fifteen shillings each. The price of the most common quality, however, is about three
or four shillings, whilst they are manufactured so coarse as to be worth no more than five-
pence or sixpence. When the Hamburgh traders, who had encouraged the fishery of cod
and ling, had ceased to visit Shetland, the manufacture of stockings for the demand of the
Dutch busses, which annually anchored in Bressay Sound, was so considerable that the sale
of them was a principal resource that enabled the Shetlander to contend, for the sake of a
bare subsistence, against the numerous feudal oppressions with which he was overwhelmed ;
but when the Dutch fishery had dwindled away, the peasantry became so wretchedly poor,
that, if their landlords had not succeeded to the Hamburghers in the prosecution of the ling
fishery, the country must have been almost rendered a perfect desert. The knitted covering
for the head, which the master of a family wears, is an object of the Shetland manufactures ;
its shape has been described, as resembling a common double nightcap, with this variation,
that its extremity, to which is affixed a small tassel, hangs so low down the back, as to re-
semble, in this respect, the cap of a German hussar. The variegated and fantastical colours
which it displays are produced by native dyes, the collection of which was anciently an
object of great importance, particularly when the manufacture of wadmel was a leading
employment in the country. The Lichen tartareus yields a lit or dye, that was formerly an
article of commercial notice, named Korkelit; it is scraped from the rocks after a fall of rain,
reduced to a powder, steeped for many days in stale household-ley, and kneaded into balls
of the weight of a pound and a half, which are dried. When boiled with cloth, it communi-

1 88 SHEEP PASTURES OF SHETLAND. [ITER in.

cates to the fabric a reddish purple colour. The Lichen saxatilis (provincially named Old
man), when treated partly in the same way, yields a yellowish or reddish brown colour.
The Lichen parietinns (named by the Shetlanders Scriota), dyes cloth of an orange colour.
I believe that the Lichen omphaloides is also occasionally used for the purpose of affording a
brownish or blackish purple colour. From a collection of plants, (no names of which I
could learn, with the exception of the marigold), a yellow colour is procured. A good black
is extracted from the mossy earth of the country, when found much impregnated with bog
iron-ore.

Another sort of woollen cloth that was manufactured, was expressed by the term
Kiverins, or covet ings for the beds of the peasantry. These were composed of very coarse
materials. Sometimes they formed a ground, into which different coloured worsteds were
sewed, so as to display various figures of more or less beauty, according to the taste or
ingenuity of the operator. Manufactures of this kind were then used for rugs or hearth
covers ; when intended for superior coverlids, the figures of them were, with a view to
warmth, produced by thicker threads, the thrums of which were left about two inches long.
The last use for which kiverins were designed, was for saddle-cloths ; these were placed
under a klibbar, when the shelty was mounted by a female rider.

The skins of the Shetland sheep are in requisition, for the purpose of affording the
fishermen a sort of surtout, that covers his common dress. The tormentilla erecta has been
long used in the process of tanning.

Among the ancient laws of Shetland, there are some remarkable regulations respecting
the rights of Ranselmen to inspect at any time the stock of wool, skins of sheep, and the
cloth or stockings made of wool, which may be in a house. Such functions would appear
inquisitorial,, if we did not advert to the circumstances that might have rendered them
necessary. A flock of sheep belonged to a number of proprietors, and the guardianship of
them actually devolved upon the civil officers of a district. In order, therefore, to prevent
theft, it was not only necessary that every seizure or slaughter of sheep should be forbidden,
without being reported to the Ranselmen, but even that the produce of flocks should not be
applied to any use, without the knowledge of such guardians of the general sheep-stock of the
community. On this account, it was a proper regulation, that each Ranselman should
always have access to the stock of wool or sheep-skins in a house ; in order that he might
compare with his register, the amount of sheep that each individual had, before legal wit-
nesses, claimed by proper ear-marks, as his own. Thus it was ordered, "That the Ransel-
men should be yearly sworn and examined, or as oft as needful, and give an account to the
Sheriff or Bailiff anent their diligence, and that they should see all wool, skins, heads and
marks whatsoever ; and that they should see all cloths and stockings made of wool, and
compare the same with the stock of the makers ; and that they should take up inventories
from weavers, of all work wrought by them ; and that none refuse ranselling, or to give up
inventories, or quarrel or offend at ranselling, under pain to be repute and prosecute r.S
thieves." At the same time, a general warrant was given to the Ranselmen, to search,
whenever occasion required, any part of a house, and to examine " the wool, stockings,
yarn, webs, &c. ; and enquire how the inmates of the dwelling came by all these; and if

ITER III.]

TROLHOULAND. 1 89

they could not give a satisfying account thereof, and brough and hammell, to inform against
them."

These are all the remarks which I have to offer on the sheep of this country, and the
manufactures to which they give rise. It will be evident, that if lands are still destined to
remain in their present uninclosed state, no improvement can ever possibly take place in the
state of the Shetland pastures, unless the salutary operation of the ancient acts of the
country be in their full force revived.* It is true, that such regulations are, in their inquisi-
torial nature, little accordant with the present spirit of British liberty; yet they are still well
calculated to excite our high admiration for the ample security which they must have once
afforded to every scatholder, that his proper interest in a promiscuous sheep-stock should be
preserved to him entire.

TROLHOULAND.

A south-westerly walk from Aithsvoe led me for two miles across a brown moor, unen-
livened by a single habitation; but this cheerless scene at length receded from the view, and
was replaced by the different reaches and windings of a large irregular inlet of the sea, that
penetrates the mainland for a distance of six miles. As the eye traced the widening of this
estuary in its flow with silent majesty towards the southerly expanse of the ocean, a few spots
of verdure and scattered cottages might be detected, above which frowned the dark parallel
ridges of gneiss, that form the Western Kaim. Leaving the head of Bigsetter Voe, I
ascended a high track of moorland, where the barking of the house-dog, in signal of the
traveller's attempt to explore the indistinct tracks before him, might still be heard ; a few
scanty human habitations presented themselves, closed in by a melancholy waste of hills and
lakes. In this wild abode of man, a knoll shrouded in clouds and mists has long been
dreaded as a domicile for unclean spirits ; hence its name of Trolhoidand, or the Hill of
Demons or Trozus. Several other hills in Shetland are also celebrated for affording, within
their internal recesses, a habitation for evil genii ; and it is remarkable, that certain places in
Norway have, for many centuries, from a similar superstition, been associated with the name
of Trol ; thus, Olaus Magnus, in speaking of a place rendered awful, by the descent of a
rapid and tumultuous river, adds, "Nomen vulgare habet T/olhetta, hoc est, caputium
Demonis, forte propter horrorem, quern sono, stridoreque generat, in paludinosam planitiem
cadens." In Iceland a number of craters are known by the name of Trolla-dyngiar, which
is translated magic heaps ; and an ancient volcano is called Trb'lla-kyrkia, or the Giants'
Church. The word Trol thus applied, is of very obscure etymology ; possibly it may be an
old Teutonic word, the meaning of which is perpetuated in the French Troler, signifying to
lead, draw along, seduce or entice ; and an epithet of this kind might have been applied in
the early age of Christianity, to the fabulous deities of the Edda, who were considered as
still capable of exerting a seductive or alluring influence over the souls of mankind.

* Some of the Sheep-laws of Shetland bear evidence of a date so early as A.D. 1040. See Note II. at the end of the present
Iter.

I90 TROLHOULAND.

[ITER III.

The Trows of Shetland, who inhabit the interior of rocks, are the same race of beings
whom the natives of Feroe describe as Foddenskemand, or underground men ; in the
Icelandic Edda, they appear under the name of Duergar or dwarfs, the origin of whom is
thus stated : Odin and bis brothers killed the giant Ymir, from whose wound ran so much
blood, that all the families of the giants were drowned, except one that saved himself on
board a bark. These gods then made of the giant's bones, of his flesh and his blood, the
earth, the water and the heavens. But in the body of the giant, several worms had, in the
course of putrefaction, been engendered, which, by order of the gods, partook of both human
shape and reason. These little beings, which were of the most delicate figure, always dwelt
in subterraneous caverns, or clefts of rocks. They were remarkable for their riches, their
activity, and their malevolence.

It has been supposed, that this mythological account of the Duergar bears a remote
allusion to real history, having an ultimate reference to the oppressed Fins, who, before the
arrival of invaders under the conduct of Odin, were the prior possessors of Scandinavia.
The followers of this hero saw a people, who knew how to manufacture the produce of their
mines better than they themselves ; and, therefore, from a superstitious regard, transformed
them into supernatural beings of an unfavourable character, dwelling in the interior of rocks,
and surrounded with immense riches.*

The subterraneous Trows of Shetland, who resemble the malignant Dives of the East>
in every thing but their hideousness of form, have, in more recent times had the improper
name given to them of Fairies, which is of comparatively modern introduction into Europe,
being derived from the Persian Peris, an imaginary race of intelligences, whose offices of
benevolence were opposed to the spiteful interference of evil spirits. Another later term of
Elves, is equally objectionable, if, as some suppose, it is to be found in the Teutonic helfeti,
translated juvare.

Sir Walter Scott, in an elegant and learned dissertation on the fairies of popular belief,
prefixed to the tale of Tamline, has shewn that the modifications which the rudiments of
elfin superstition have undergone, are to be sought for not only in the traditions of the East,
but in the wreck and confusion of the gothic mythblogy, in the tales of chivalry, and in the
fables of classical antiquity; yet in such an obscure and detached country as Shetland, few
of these causes could have operated in changing the earliest traditions of the country. A
few tales of chivalry might have been introduced; but the fables of classical antiquity, and
the learned fictions of the poets of the 16th century, have never found growth on the distant
soil of Thule.

The Dwarfs of Shetland, then, who dwell among the hills, are to be considered as the
same malevolent beings who are to be found in the Scandinavkn Edda ; and as it is deemed
dangerous to offend them by any terms of obloquy, however well merited, they are also
named the %uidfolk, words of similar import being used at the present day for the self-same
reason in the Feroe Islands, as well as in other places.

It does not appear that the popular belief in the personal appearance, habits, and

• Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii., p. 276.

ITER III.] TROLHOULAND. I9I

influence of these land Trows has much varied, since, as objects of Pagan worship, they
were enumerated by pious Catholics among the list of fallen angels : for the Shetlander still
sains or blesses himself, as he passes near their haunts, in order to get rid of his fearful
visitants. Although, according to the theory of the early Divines of Scotland, the light
of the Reformed Religion ought to have long ago expelled from the land these agents of
heathenism and popery, yet they are scarcely less seen than formerly, and cannot be con-
sidered as in the act of emigrating to climes where they will be more cherished. They are
described, at the present day, as a people of small stature, gaily dressed in habiliments of
green. Brand, however, says, that in his days they were often seen in Orkney, clad in com-
plete armour. They partake of the nature of men and spirits, yet have material bodies,
with the means, however, of making themselves invisible. They have also the power of
multiplying their species : thus a female of the Island of Yell, who some years ago died at
the advanced age of one hundred years, or more, once met some fairy children, accompanied
by a little dog, playing, like other boys and girls, on the top of a hill. At another time,
whilst in bed, she had occasion to stretch herself up, when seeing a little boy, with a white
nichtcap on his head, sitting at the fire, she asked him who he was. " I am Trippa's son,"
answered he. Upon hearing which, the good woman sained herself, that is, called on God
to be about her, and Trippa's son immediately vanished.

Several Shetlanders, among whom are warlocks and witches, have enjoyed a communion
with the guidfolk, and, by a special indulgence, have been transported in the air, whenever
occasion served, from one island to another. In their visits to Trolhouland, or any other
knoll of a similar description, they have been allowed to enter the interior of the hill at one
side, and to come out of it at the other ; and, in this subterraneous journey, have been
dazzled with the splendour exhibited within the recesses through which they have passed.
They report that all the interior walls are adorned with gold and silver, and that the
domestic utensils of the place, peculiar to Fiary-land, resemble the strange implements that
are sometimes found lying abroad on the hills, which sceptical antiquaries ascribe to an
early race of inhabitants who peopled Shetland. Thus there are innumerable stories told of
Trows, who, in their rambles, have carelessly left behind them utensils of a shape unknown
to human contrivance. Sometimes the dairy-maid observes a fairy woman in the act of
clandestinely milking the cows in the byre, upon which she sains herself, when the evil spirit
takes so precipitous a flight, as to leave behind her a copper pan, of a form never before
seen.

The Trows of the hills have a relish for the same kind of food, that affords a sustenance
to the human race, and when, for some festal occasion, they would regale themselves with
good beef or mutton, they repair to the Shetlander's scatholds or town-mails, and employ elf-
arrows to bring down their victims.

" There ev'ry herd by sad experience knows

How wing'd with fate these elf-shot arrows fly,
When the sick ewe her summer food forgoes,
Or stretch'd on earth the heart-smit heifers die."

192 TROLHOULAND. [ITER III.

In Scotland, the guid folk are not the best of archers, since the triangular flints with
which the shafts of their arrows are barbed do not always take effect, and are therefore found
strewed on the hills ; but the Shetland dwaifs are much more successful, none of their
arrows having ever glanced aside, so as to afford a fertile theme of speculation for the
northern antiquary, who, if they could have been found in the country, might have assigned
their origin to some imaginary Pictish race that had fled from the pursuit of King Kenneth.

When the Trows are so successful as to shoot one of the best fatlings that is to be met
with, they delude the eyes of its owner with the substitution of some vile substance possess-
ing the same form as that of the animal which they have taken away, and with the semblance
of its sudden death, as if it were produced either by natural or violent means. It is on this
account that the bodies of animals which have perished by accident are condemned as un-
lawful food. A Shetlander at the present day affirm^ that he was once taken into a hill by
the Trows, when the first object that he saw was one of his own cows brought in for the
purpose of furnishing a savoury supply for a banquet. So precarious at the same time was
the man's individual preservation, thai he considers himself as indebted for it to the gracious
protection of a fairy lady, under whose special favour he had been admitted within the cave.
On returning to his friends whom he had left on the earth's surface, he learned that at the
very moment when, with his own organ of vision, he had observed the cow conveyed into the
interior of the hill, other earthly eyes had beheld the animal in the act of falling over
the rocks. In this instance, then, the real cow had been abstracted, and an illusory image
left in its place, lacerated and dead.

As the Trows are not altogether secure from diseases, they possess among themselves
medicines of as invaluable efficacy as those which, in the seventeenth century, immortal-
ized the name of Anne Jefferies of Cornwall, who, with salves derived from fairies,
performed many special miraculous cures. There was, for example, a good man in the
Island of Unst, who had an earthen-pot containing an unguent of infallible power, which he
alleged was obtained by him from the hills, and, like the widow's cruise, it was never
exhausted of its contents.

These spirits are much addicted to music and dancing, and, when they make their
excursions, it is generally with an imposing effect, being accompanied by most exquisite
harmony :

" Like Fairy elves

Whose midnight revels, by a forest side,

Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,

Or dreams he sees, while over head the moon

Srts arbitress, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale course ; they, on their mirth and dance

Intent, with jocund music charm his ear."

A Shetlander, while lying in bed, heard one morning before day-light the noise of a
large company of Trows passing his door, accompanied by a piper. Having a musical ear,
he readily learnt the air that was played, which he would afterwards repeat, calling it by the

ITER III.] TROLHOULAND. 1 93

name of the Fairy-tune. The site where dances of the guid folk are held, is, as in other
countries, to be detected by the impressions in the form of rings which their tiny feet make
on the grass ;* and within such unholy precincts it is hazardous for a Christian to enter :

Their nightly dancing ring I always dread,
Nor let my sheep within that circle tread ;
Where round and round all night, in moonlight fair,
They dance to some strange music in the air."

The Trows are addicted to the abstraction of the human species, in whose place they
leave effigies of living beings named Changelings, the unholy origin of whom is known by
their mental imbecility, or by some wasting disease. Although visits of such a purpose are
to be particularly dreaded at midnight and at noon, yet to childbed-women who may be
designed for wet-nurses f o some fairy infant of quality, the latter hour is, as in certain
Asiastic countries, by far the most formidable. On this account, it is still a point of duty
not to leave, in so fearful an hour, mothers who give suck, but, like pious Saint Basil, to
pray that the influence of the demon of noon may be averted.! Children also are taken
away to the hills, in order to be play-fellows to the infant offspring of the Trows ; on which
occasion, all the lamentable effects have been produced that have been so well depicted by
an elegant poet of Scotland, in his address to the muse of the Highlands.

" Then wake (for well thou canst), that wondrous lay,

How, while around the thoughtless matrons sleep,
Soft o'er the floor the treacherous fairies creep,

And bear the smiling infant far away :
How starts the Nurse, when, for her lovely child,

She sees at dawn a gaping idiot stare !
O snatch the innocent from demons wild,

And save the parents fond from fell despair."!

When an impression prevails that any childbed-women or infants, pining away with dis-
ease, or betraying a mental fatuity, are beings of a "base elfin breed," substituted by .the
Trows, in the place of those whom they may have taken into the hills, no inducement can
persuade a family, labouring under such a persuasion, to afford the objects of commiseration
entrusted to their care, the attention which their situation demands. Nor, on such
melancholy occasions, are there wanting persons who pretend to the power of entering the
caves of the fairies, and of restoring the human beings who may be immured in them, to

* The cause of Fairy-rings is ascribed to the growth of certain species of Agaric, which so entirely absorb the nutriment from
the soil beneath, that the herbage is for a while destroyed.

\ "The Celts," says Dr Percy, "with the same view offered sacrifices. One says pleasantly, the true demon of noon is
Hunger, when one has nothing to satisfy it."

* Supplemental Stanzas to Collins' Ode on the Superstition of the Highlands. By Wm. Erskine, Esq., Advocate.

194 TROLHOULAND.

[ITER III.

their friends. A warlock of the parish of Walls is said to have amassed a considerable sum
of money by assuming such an influence over the demons of the hills ; his success being
denoted by the apparent recovery of childbed-women or children from the disease under
which they had laboured.

When the limb of a Shetlander is affected with paralysis, a suspicion often arises that it
has been either touched by evil spirits, or that the sound member has been abstracted, and
an insensible mass of matter substituted in its place. A tailor now living reports, that he
was employed to work in a farm house where there was an idiot, who was supposed to be a
being left by the Trows, in the place of some individual that had been taken into the hills.
One night when the visitor had just retired to his bed, leaving the changeling asleep by the
fire side, he was startled by the sound of music ; at the same time, a large company of
fairies entered the room, and began to bestir themselves in a festive round. The idiot
suddenly jumped up, and in joining their gambols, shewed a familiarity with the movements
of the dance, that none but a supernatural inhabitant of the hills could be supposed to
possess. The observer grew alarmed and sained himself; upon hearing which, all the elves
immediately fled in most admired disorder ; but one of the party, a female, more discon-
certed than the rest at this inhospitable interruption to their sports, touched the tailor's big
toe as she left the room, when he lost the power of ever afterwards moving that joint.

Such are the details which I was enabled to collect, relative to the Trows that inhabit
the interior of the Shetland hills. In no country are there more habitations remaining of
unclean spirits than in Thule. All these had their origin in the mythology of the ancient
Scandinavians; and when Christianity was introduced into Shetland, a belief in the existence
of gods, giants or dwarfs, still remained, with this qualification only, that they were fallen
angels of various ranks belonging to the kingdom of darkness, who, in their degraded state,
had been compelled to take up their abode in mountains, springs or seas.* These were
tenets conveniently subservient to the office of exorcism, which constituted a lucrative part
of the emoluments of the inferior Catholic clergy, with whom Orkney and Shetland were in
ancient times overrun. We may, therefore, reasonably expect that the industry of these
Papists would resemble that of the holy freres of England, so well described by Geoffery
Chaucer :

" That serchen every land and every streme,
As thikke as motes in the sonne-beme,
Blissing halles, chambres, kichenes and boures,
Citees and burghes, castles high and toures,
Throps and bernes, shepenes and dairies,
This makets that ther ben no faeries."

Demons or Trows were thus kept in order by a kind of spiritual police, which pre-
vented them, owing to the interference of exorcism, spells, or charms, from breaking into
human habitations, or trespassing on the lands of the udallers, to the injury of live-stock

* A doctrine nearly similar was inculcated by Debes in his description of Feroe, and by Olaus Magnus.

JTERIJL] CULLSWICK TO THE VOE OF SANDS. 1 95

and to the fruits of the earth : and on the suppression of Popery, the Reformer left the
popular belief in Trows uncontroverted, contenting himself with the allegation, that the
means employed by the Catholic of expelling them were delusive, but that they were to be
effectually banished the land by the pure light of the Gospel.* On this view, the reason
why these spirits have not yet fled the islands of Shetland remains to be explained ; but as
an inquiry of this sort is out of my province, I shall prefer leaving it for the discussion of
learned divines.

CULLSWICK TO THE VOE OF SANDS.

Cullswick is situated at a distance of five miles from Trolhouland, in a south-westerly
direction, the way to it lying across a trackless waste, where, in a peculiar formation of the
hills of quartz and granite that characterise this district, a sort of undulating surface of moor-
land is presented, that is covered over with a deep heath, and is dotted with numerous pools
embosomed in irregular hollows. At length the circular burgh of Cullswick appears in
sight, fixed on the brink of a menacing cliff of red granite, below which the ocean dashes in
relentless fury. Innumerable loose crags, a dusky pool, and a few wretched cottages, are
interspersed on the barren surface of an irregular plain, while the darkening shadows of
higher rocks cast around an indescribable gloom. The westerly cliffs ot Valey Island and
Grating's Voe appear to the west, where few other inhabitants are to be seen

" But yelling meawes, with sea-guiles hoars and bace,
And cormoyraunts, with birds of ravenous race."

The fortalice of Cullswick is constructed of unhewn stones of granite, closely built,
without any cement ; it exhibits a double concentric wall, inclosing a space 263^ feet in
diameter. The thickness of the outer wall is four feet, and of the inner wall three and a
half feet, while the interval is two feet wide. So much of the burgh has been destroyed of
late years, that it rises but a very few feet from the ground ; and its utility, even as a sea-
mark, could not preserve its stones from being applied to the erection of a vile set of hovels.
In the memoiy of man its height was known to be about twenty-three feet from the ground ;
chambers were formed within the walls, but whether they ran round the building in a spiral
direction, so as to resemble the burghs which antiquaries maintain were, from this peculiar
construction, metamorphosed by poets into serpents or dragons, I could not learn. Mr
Low seemed to think that the roof of the lowest room was the floor of an upper room, and
so on ; the whole communicating, as in the burgh of Mousa, by steps ; but I have heard
this assertion doubted. The entrance to the internal area was by a door about two feet

* Sir Walter Scott, in speaking of the belief of fairies in Selkirkshire, says, that " the most sceptical among the lower ranks
only venture to assert, that their appearances and mischievous exploits have ceased, or, at least, become infrequent, since the light
of the Gospel was diffused in its purity."

I96 BAY OF SCALLOWAY.

[ITER III.

high, strongly lintelled at the front with a large triangular stone, while other supports of the
same nature which rested on both walls, formed the internal structure of the entrance. The
passage, when besieged, would of course be blocked up by large stones rolled from within the
area. The fortalice was surrounded by a ditch, now filled up, the breadth of which was
thirteen feet. An outer rampart secured the whole, 19^ feet broad. (See Fig. 14 of the
Plate of Antiquities.)

A walk of three or four miles, along a coast thinly inhabited, leads to Skelda Ness, a
bold headland, worn in deep recesses, the abode of ravens, sea-gulls, or wild pigeons : one
of the larger caves is said to have been in former times the haunt of a Norwegian pirate.
Crossing Skelda Voe, an inlet three miles in extent, I reached Reawick, where the ancient
family of the Umphrays have a residence ; an ancestor of whom afforded, by his vessel, the
means whereby the Duke de Medina, the commander of the Spanish Armada, escaped,
after shipwreck, from Dunrossness to Dunkirk. Selie Voe, (said to signify, in the Norse,
a Herring Voe), lies to the north-east, which I reached in a boat. This is an inlet, open to
the sea, and about a mile in extent ; the banks of which are adorned with a few good
houses, and by a neat manse. The sea in the vicinity abounds with haddocks, whitings,
piltocks, and sometimes with mackarel. Kirkholm lies off a point of land to the east of the
bay ; being an islet celebrated for the refuge that it afforded to the crew of a galleon belong-
ing to the famous Spanish Armada, which sank on a haddock-sand near Reawick Head,
now called the Meeth. The Spaniards having effected their escape on the shore, took
possession of Kirkholm, sank a well of good fresh water, fortified the banks with a wall,
and built for themselves several huts. Sands Voe, which is about half a mile to the east, is
a small open bay, near to which are the ruins of a very neat chapel, erected by the
Spaniards during the time they were detained in Shetland ; it was originally dedicated by
them to St Mary, as a tribute of gratitude to the Virgin for their preservation on the hospitable
shore of Thule.* On the west of the inlet, Sir Andrew Mitchell of Westshore, formerly
built a large house, three storeys in height, which is now possessed by John Scott, Esq.
The shore of the Voe was strewed over with the bodies of a numerous herd of ca'ing whales,
that had recently been driven on the sands and slaughtered.

BAY OF SCALLOWAY.

The rocks, holms and islets in the bay of Scalloway are very numerous, and the
mineralogical examination of them, which I undertook, was very tedious ; my labour being
much impeded by the Shetland boatmen, who, notwithstanding they were engaged at a
specific sum, for the purpose of landing me at different points of the islands, were as im-
patient of the least delay as they were extortionate in their charges. In no part of great

* A medal, that was lon.oj in the possession of a Shetland family, commemorating the defeat of the Armada, is given in Fig.
z5 of the Plate of Antiquities, Appendix. It is now in the hands of Mr Ross of Edinburgh, late collector of the customs in
Lerwick. The coin materially differs from one relating to the same event, that is described in a number of the Spectator.

ITER III.]

BAY OF SCALLOWAY. 1 97

Britain is boat-travelling more extravagant than in Shetland. There are no regular ferries ;
and although the Magistrates of the county have attempted to fix a rate of fares, and to
express their determination, in case of any disputes coming before them, to make it their
standard of reference, the regulation is altogether a dead letter. There are few gentlemen
who, in the trips that they make, are not rowed by their own tenants, and they take such an
opportunity of ingratiating themselves in the favour of their dependents, by paying them
above their due ; it is, therefore, unfortunate that the sum thus given is the least that is
demanded from the stranger. It is also impossible to bind the Shetlander down to any
specific agreement : — whatever sum he may contract for as a fare, he endeavours to
encrease, and there is a great degree of unpleasantness in entering into a new agreement
during the whole of the passage, this being the chief object of the boatman's gratuitous con-
versation with which the passenger is perpetually annoyed. All this meanness might have
been expected from the poor peasant, when in a debased state of vassalage, which would
naturally prompt him to treat the higher ranks with mistrust and artfulness ; but since the
country is by no means what it was half a century ago, it is time that a different line of con-
duct, indicative of a more improved state, should be adopted. The fishermen whom I had
engaged from the parish of Walls were under the influence of an old boatman, whose un-
accommodating and surly disposition, was in perfect correspondence with the hideous
appearance of his figure ; his person had been so long entrusted to Nature's care alone, that
his beard hung down to his breast ; he was in truth

" An uncouth, salvage and uncivile wight,
Of griesly hew and foule ill-favour'd sight ;
His face with smoke was tand, and eies were blear'd
His head and beard with soul were ill bedight,
His cole-black handes did seeme to have been sear'd
In Smythes fire-spitting forge, and nayles like clawes appear'd."

The Shetlander is too often in the habit of considering the extortion to which he makes the
stranger submit, as of the same nature as the right that he assumes to plunder a wreck ; for
he enumerates under the blasphemous title of the " God-sends" a wreck, a drove of whales,
and a boat-fare.

After landing on the Sandistura Rocks, which rise but a few feet above the level of the
sea, I visited the cluster of isles composed of epidotic sienite or gneiss, named Hildazoo,
Papa Little, Oxna, Longa, and the Cheyneys.* Burra is a island of gneiss, about four miles
in length and two in breadth, rendered memorable in Holland for the disaster which befel
the Dutch navy in the summer of the year 1652. The vessels were driven by a gale on the
west side of the island ; a fire-ship was wrecked, and a man-of-war sank to the bottom.
The rest of the fleet ventured among the small isles and rode in safety. In Burra, formerly

* Mr Low has remarked, that he found on these holms the long-leaved sorrel, the sea gilliflower, the sweet smelling garlick,
also the Lychnis dioica, petalis rubris et albis.

I98 BAY OF SCALLOWAY.

[ITER III.

stood a church, adorned with a spire, but the whole is now rased to the ground. House
Island, which lies so near to Burra as to be connected with it by a wooden bridge, was
anciently the residence of a Sinclair who joined the force that, in defence of the rights of
the Udallers, opposed and slew the Earl of Caithness. He obtained a respite, along with
Sinclair and Strom, for nineteen years. Great Havery is a small inhabited isle, partly
formed of limestone-rocks, respecting which there is an idle tradition, that no mouse or rat
will live in it, and that its ground is of such a virtue, as to kill vermin although removed for
the purpose to any other place. Very far south lies the peninsulated eminence of St
Konan's, joined to the Mainland by a low sand-bank, which, in high tides or gales, is
occasionally overflown. The foundations appear of an old chapel dedicated to St Ninian,
commonly named Ronan, from the Irish appellation given to the saint of Ringan. St
Ninian was a Cambrian who zealously preached Christianity in the fifth century to the
Britons of the province of Valencia or shire of Galloway. Dr Chalmers conceives, that the
chapel might have been founded by some pious Columbans of the sixth century in their
visit to Shetland ; but this is very doubtful. Both Shetland and Orkney were considered in
a pagan state until the year 1195, when Olaus Triguesson, king of Norway, converted the
earldom to the true faith at the point of the sword. The account of the country, that the
chapel was built by a Dutch captain as the fulfilment of a vow which he had made to the
saint for protection in a storm at sea, is much more conjectural than the notion of the
learned antiquary whom I have quoted. Little now remains of St Ronan's Chapel, although
it is still used as a burying place. The lower storey of the kirk may be distinctly traced,
which having been once vaulted, is supposed to have served for a burying place. The cliffs
of St Ronan's are very high, and, with the insulated rocks adjoining, serve as a resort for
numerous varieties of gulls, whose nests, when I visited this place, were plundered for the
sake of the young birds named scories. I partook of a dinner of them, but found the flesh,
as might be expected, strong and fishy. The most southerly islet belonging to the bay of
Scalloway is Colsay, which is uninhabited.

Near St Ronan's is a good estate which anciently belonged to the Stewarts of Bigtown,
the present representative of whom is John Bruce, Esq. of Simbester. Bigtown was for
many years the resort of Scottish traders who trafficked with the natives for salt, or coal-fish,
as well as of a Jew who was the great purchaser of the feathers of sea-fowl. On an adjacent
promontory named Ireland, once stood a church which was adorned with a lofty steeple.
But of three buildings of this kind situated in Ireland, Burra and Tingwall, that were said
to have been erected by three Norwegian sisters, it is unfortunate that not one should now
remain.*

In sailing north from Bigtown, I passed Maywick, a small open inlet, to the east of
which are the extensive dreary scatholds that form the Cliff Hills, where a right of pasturage
was long a source of dispute between the proprietors of the islands of Burra and House, and
the natives of Coningsburgh on the Mainland. Several pitched battles are said to have

* There is a small religious edifice in Orkney, which these kirks of Shetland are said to have much resembled ; a specimen,
therefore, of the ancient Scandinavian church is given in the Plate of Antiquities that appears in the Appendix of this Work. (See
Fig. 17.

ITKR in.] BAY OF SCALLOWAY. 1 99

been fought about two centuries and a half ago between the parties ; in one of which, the
men of Burra and House crossed the Cliff of Sound during the night, and occupied a
station among the hills in ambush. In the morning, their wives and daughters, who were
instrumental in the plot, dressed themselves in male attire, and launching several yawls
made their appearance in the sound as in hostile array. The Coningsburghers, easily
deceived by the formidable appearance of this- mock armament, came down the hills to
attack the boats, when they fell into the snare that had been laid for them, and being
fiercely attacked on the rear by the male inhabitants of Burra and House, were for the most
part killed or routed. It appears, that the liberty of pasturage on the Cliff Hills continued
disputable until about forty years ago, when the late Mr Scott of Scalloway, who acquired a
title, by marriage, to the property of the Sinclairs of House, sold or transferred his contested
right to the late Mr Bruce of Sumburgh, who owned a considerable estate in Coningsburgh.
In order Lo prevent contentions like these, there are several country acts relative to the
rights of the joint scatholders of a parish. Thus it is commanded, "That the bailiff of each
parish, with twelve honest men, should annually ride the marches of the parish, betwixt the
first of October and the last day of April, or at any other time when required by the scattlers,
the penalty of non-performance being Forty pounds Scots : it is also enacted, that none con-
temptuously pasture upon, rive flaws, cut floss, or cast peats in their neighbour's scattald,
under the pain of Ten pounds Scots." In ancient times, a hill or uninclosed pasture
ground, was expressed by the term Hoga ; this is nearly synonimous at the present day with
scathold. Whenever, therefore, a liberty was granted, either to pasture cattle or sheep in a
hoga or common pasture ground, or even to cast peats within it, the permission was named
Hoga-leave. The sum paid annually for hoga-leave is very trifling, not amounting for each
mark of land to many shillings, except at Bressay, where tenants who cast peat for the town
of Lerwick can afford to pay a much greater sum.

After passing the low valley that intersects the Cliff Hills, named Quarf, or the Carry-
ing Place,* where boats are dragged across the land from the Western to the Eastern Sea, I
visited the low island of Trondra, which is thinly inhabited, and once more came in view of
Earl Patrick's ill-fated castle, that, in its last state of habitation, was converted into barracks
for the reception of a party of Cromwell's soldiers. My next route led past the upright
stone I had before seen in the strath of Tingwall, which my Cicerone, in despite of opposite
traditions, conceived to have been erected in commemoration of the scene of a dispute that
took place in the year 1391, between Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, and his cousin Malis
Sperre, relative to a question that had arisen affecting the right of the former to the Earl-
dom. Torfseus says nothing more than that the rencounter was in Shetland. Malis, and
seven of his companions, were killed, while other seven fled in a six-oared boat, and took
refuge in Norway. Owing to this event, the government of Orkney was entrusted to other
hands, and Henry Sinclair, and his successor, rendered their acknowledgments to King
Eric of Norway for Shetland only ; but in the year 1434, William Sinclair was reinstated in
the undivided possessions of the family.

* It was usual with the Greeks to draw boats over necks of land. The Highlanders give to an isthmus or Quarf of this
kind, the name of Tarbat, said to be compounded of Gaelic, terms expressive of its use.

200 SCALLOWAY TO BIGSETTER VOE.

[ITER III.

SCALLOWAY TO BIGSETTER VOE.

A little to the north-west of Scalloway, I observed, for the first time, a specimen of the
ancient Shetland plough, as it was fixed against the wall of a cottage. This implement of
husbandry is of a very ancient construction, being single-stilted, like one that is represented
by Olaus Magnus, as common to northern nations. A crooked piece of wood, bent to a
right angle, forms the beam of the plough, which has a length of six feet and a height of two
feet and a half; the single stilt at the top of it consists of an oak stave seven feet long.
Through the lower end of the beam a square hole is cut, for the introduction of a piece of
oak about twenty-two inches in length, named the Mercal, to which is affixed the sock and
sky. The coulter stands nearly perpendicular to the sock, while a wedge driven below or
above the mercal, regulates the depth of the furrow. A slender machine of this sort, which
one man may lift with ease, is driven by four oxen abreast. Two yokes, joined by a double
rope, are laid on their necks ; a large one on the two outermost animals, and a small one
on the two innermost. The draught or chain with which their necks are connected to the
plough is from eighteen to twenty-four feet long. With this strange instrument two labourers
take the field. The holder of the plough stands on the left of the pliable stilt. The driver
or caller as he is named, goes before the oxen, walking backward ; the sound of his whip
sets the cattle in motion ; the holder of the stilt lies on with his side ; the earth is turned
over ; the work is executed to admiration, until a large stone encounters the coulter, and
then crack go the joints of the frame- work. All hands are now pressed into service for
repairs, and the plough is again set to rights. A lash of the caller's whip again causes the
beasts to resume their tardy pace. Every thing is carried on smoothly until a stiff furrow
appears, when another impediment takes place. It is now necessary that the stubborn glebe
should be broken down ; this is accomplished.; the labour of the plough is again resumed,
and, by the help of Heaven, is at length happily completed ! Such being the operation of
this primitive machine, every antiquary must regret that an implement of so precious a
description, elucidative of the earliest state of Scandinavian agriculture, is going fast out of
use, chiefly owing to the innovating spirit of the Shetland New Agricultural Society. (See
Plate of Antiq. App. Fig. 20.)

But for turning up land, the plough has been often laid aside, and the ancient slender
and long-shafted spade of Shetland, which has a blade a quarter of the breadth of the
common garden spade of Scotland, and a convenient projecting piece of wood for the
application of the foot, is in much greater requisition, being indeed well enough adapted for
the rugged and stony ground of the country. (See Plate of Antiq. App. Fig. 25.)

In taking a north-easterly direction near to the head of Catfirth Voe, where we approach
thick beds of limestone, a fresh water loch may be observed, that has been celebrated by
Torfseus, under the name of Geirhildar-vatn. When Iceland had been accidentally dis-

ITER III,] SCALLOWAY TO BIGSETTER VOE. 201

covered in the ninth century, Floke, a northern pirate, attended by his daughter, went in
quest of the country of which he had heard such favourable accounts. The compass was
not then known ; he therefore took three ravens, which he had consecrated to the gods,
seeking, by their direction of flight, the desired land. Landing at Shetland with his
daughter, to which place he was directed by the omens that he had consulted, they arrived
at a lake, where \vc s a small islet visited by numerous birds, upon which the unfortunate
damsel, probably in quest of their eggs, attempted to land, and in her passage was drowned.
From the fate which befel her, the lake was named Geirhildar-vatn, of which the modern
name of Girlsta was probably a corruption. It is added in the history of Iceland, that the
flight of the third raven which Floke let loose, conducted him to his place of destination.

To the south-west of Girlsta, at a distance of a few miles, is Whiteness, where was once
a church dedicated to St Olla, and named St Olla's Chair. Here is a beautiful voe which
has a course exactly parallel to the long ridges of gneiss, that, running from south-west to
north-east, constitute its lofty banks. In this district there is much arable land inclosed.
The manure intended for it, which is to be seen at the front of most cottages on the Main-
land, is a midden, consisting of dung, of heather that has been cut for litter, of sea-weed and
of earth or dry decomposed moss, named Duff-mould. This compost, which has been
known from the remotest antiquity, is an object of such importance to the Shetlander, that
the ill-judged sacrifice which he often makes in order to obtain the ingredient of earth, might
be considered as the exaggeration of a traveller, if it were not attested by a committee of the
Shetland Agricultural Society, appointed in the year 1818, to adjudge the premiums for a
south-east district of the country. They state, that they were concerned to observe the extent
to which the pernicious practice, too common all over the country, is carried, of cutting up
the uncultivated grounds in the neighbourhood of the principal farms for manure ; that it
happens unfortunately to be the most improvable ground which is thus sacrificed, and that
one man was observed to have destroyed his very town-maills for this purpose, when the
earth was not more than two or three inches deep. — Upon the application of the manure it
is conveyed in cassies, which form an appendage to the klibbars or wooden saddles that are
fitted to the backs of the shelties ; — though sometimes it is carried to the land by women.
Carts are little known in the country.

A walk of a mile to the north-west, leads to the lake of Strom, a fine expanse of water
that stretches far to the north, and loses itself among dark mountains of gneiss. In the
midst of it is a small holm, on which are the remains of an ancient fortress, where, accord-
ing to tradition, a son of one of the Earls of Orkney fled, in order to evade the wrath of his
father ; but meeting with pursuers, he was slain in a contest with them on the strath of
Tingwall. In the vicinity of this place, once lived a Shetland gentleman of the name of
Sinclair, who, in the year 1530, gallantly headed a number of udallers that composed part
of the force which the Governor of Orkney raised in opposition to the designs of the
Scottish Government, when, in favour of the Earl of Caithness, it was decreed, that udal
rights should be exchanged for feudal servility. In this contest the Earl of Caithness was
slain ; and in the subsequent reconciliation of the Monarch of Scotland to the udallers,
Edward Sinclair of Strom, with thirty companions in arms, received a respite from the King

202 SCALLOWAY TO BIGSETTER VOE. [ITER n ,

for a nominal term of nineteen years.

To the south of the lake is an inlet ot the sea, five miles in extent, that opens into the
Ray of Scalloway. Ustaness Voe and the Loch of Strom communicate with each other by
means of a small channel, over which there is a rude bridge; and near this spot, strata of
limestone rise into small eminences, contributing, in a great degree, to fertilize the soil.
The arable land generally preferred for culture is described as sandy, or composed of a
mixture of clay and gravel that approaches to a soft loam ; but often it consists of a black
mould resting on clay alone, or on clay and sand. It is usual to give to land a distinction
that was no doubt introduced into the country by the Scottish settlers ; that is, into Infield
and Outfield. In Scotland, the land lying near the homestead was kept for successive
years in tillage, and under the name of Infield, received all the manure, mixed with earth,
which the farm afforded. Thus, also in Shetland, many inclosures near the house have
been dunged every year, and have been sown in the end of April with bear and oats for
more than half a century, without ever lying fallow, or having produced a different kind of
grain ; but the Shetlanders have not altogether imitated certain Scottish districts in allowing
no manure to any part of the land, but that which was properly infield. In Perthshire, for
instance, any portion of land which lay in a valley at a distance from the house, and was
sufficiently free from stones, was, under the name of outfield, alternately kept in corn, and
natural ley or weedy wastes, without receiving the smallest return of manure, except that
which was afforded by cattle, when it was used for the purpose of folding. But the outfield
of the Shetlander, which is often mossy, and seldom drained, has long received each year a
portion of dung, mixed with douff-mould, earth, or sea-weed. The ground is slightly
harrowed, and is then sown in the end of March or beginning of April with black oats.
The dung which has been carried out to the land during the winter is afterwards applied to
the surface of the sown ground, and not being incorporated with the soil, wastes away by
the action of the sun and lain. During the next season, the outfield lies fallow ; and thus
in alternate years it is under tillage and in ley. Sometimes the ground is two years
laboured, and lies two years ley. It has been also long customary in the country to adopt
in the outfield a mode of marking out beds for oats that resembles the lazy-bed way of
Scotland, incidental to the cultivation of potatoes. Moss-earth, sand, &c, are thrown
up from an adjacent ditch, and upon this substance oats are sown, which thrive remark-
ably. In the year T730, potatoes were introduced for the first time into Shetland,
when it became customary to obtain from the infield in alternate years a crop of this
vegetable ; and, at the present day, oats, potatoes and bear are not unfrequently produced
in succession. Of late years, cabbage have been much less cultivated ; their use as food
being superseded by potatoes. Lastly, under the encouragement given by the New
Agricultural Society lately founded in Shetland, a complete new system of farming may be
in time expected. The attention of the gentlemen of the country is laudably directed to
a division of commons, as the groundwork of all agricultural improvements ; but in the
mean time, the premiums that are given for the growth of turnips, which are found to
succeed remarkably well, — for the breaking out of waste ground, — for the improvement of
live stock, — and for the cultivation of artificial grasses, — already promise the most bene-

ITER III.]

SCALLOWAY TO BIGSETTER VOE. 20'

ficial results. Not long ago leases were unknown ; and although annual tenants still
constitute by far the greatest portion of land-cultivators, yet much longer terms may in many
parts of the country be easily procured.

One of the greatest detriments to the agriculture of Shetland, is the wretched state of
the fences. Nevertheless, very ancient laws have existed in the country for the protection
of the inclosures destined for cultivated ground. It was ordered that all dikes should be in
sufficient repair by the ist of March, which was reckoned as the time when the labouring
began; and should any live stock between this day and the ist of May tread upon the
grounds of others, the penalty for each swine would be ios Scots ; for each sheep 2s ; and
for each shelty 6s besides payment of damages. After the ist of May, these penalties were
doubled: at the same time, every winter-slap left open, every neglect of closing a grind or
wilful act of breaking down, or even scaling a dike, was liable to a fine of 40s Scots. The
penalty for swine observed to actually pasture upon the lands or commonty of others, was
;£io Scots, besides damages. All these good regulations, which would be highly valued,
when agriculture was less oppressed by feudal duties, are now much disregarded, and the
imperfect dikes that are constructed of turf or stones, easily yield to the repeated assaults of
shelties, sheep or swine.

Near Strom is the Hill of Kenyness, which having ascended, I arrived at Wiesdale Voe,
the mouth of which is tolerably well sheltered by numerous islets and rocks of limestone,
that form excellent grazing holms for cattle. On the west is the house of John Ross, Esq.,
whose active embarkation in the fishery for cod,* by means of decked vessel, much enlivens
the scenery of the place ; the towering hills of the Kawi, which are among the highest in
the county, close the prospect. Adjoining Mr Ross's house is Our Lady's Kirk, which, for
a century after the abolition of Popery, was, even while in ruins, still visited by the vulgar.
It was resorted to in completion of promises made during perilous navigations, or during
sickness ; " It was much fiequented," says Brand, " by women, who, when they desired to
marry, went to this church, making their vows, and saying their prayers there, so assuring
themselves that God would cause men come in suit of them." The mariner also placed his
confidence in the offerings which he might make within the pale of the church, trusting,
that they would secure for him a happy voyage. Within these walls the supplicant would
light candles, and even when the shrine had been destroyed, would drop money among the
ruins, or would parade around the kirk on his bare knees. So great was the temple in
repute, that an old smith, living in the vicinity, long found it his interest, after the roof had
begun to decay, to attempt its repair, and to preach up the miraculous effects which obla-
tions might produce. Near the pulpit of the church a great quantity of all the different
currencies of Shetland has been found, from the guilder down to the stiver. Even at the
present day, when the building is almost razed to the ground, the anxious fisherman still
occasionally drops a ptcuniary offering among its loose fragments.

Tingwall, Whiteness, and Wiesdale, formed, in days of Popery, an archdeaconry.
Their union is indeed still perpetuated under the name of a Parish.

In the well-sheltered valley of Wiesdale there is much limestone, which imparts a
remarkable degree of fertility to its glebe. The Swedish turnips which grew in the grounds

204 SCALLOWAY TO BIGSETTER VOE.

[ITER III.

of Mr Ross were of a good size, one of them, which I weighed, being nft>. 8 oz. In this
gentleman's garden sycamores seemed to thrive better than in any other place in Shetland.

Wiesdale Voe was formerly a port, to which the Orkney men resorted for the pur-
pose of supplying Shetland with grain ; but this country now obtains it from Scotland.
Although numerous patches of corn land appear interspersed wherever the traveller turns
his eyes, yet it is lamentable to consider the fatality which too often awaits them ; in
September heavy gales from the north and north-west may arise which will destroy the crops
in a single night. In the year 1792, and for four years afterwards, a disappointment
took place in the harvest, which, combined with a great mortality of the horned cattle
and sheep, rendered the country almost a desert ; much of the cattle which remained
was sold to purchase grain ; the poor, who could not always obtain the fry of the coalfish,
were obliged to live on wilks, limpets, and other shellfish. But, to the great credit of the
principal landholders, they vied with each other in kindly offices to the poor, in which they
were liberally assisted by the British Government. So variable indeed is the climate, that,
instead of the crops being in the yard in the middle of September, this event does not often
occur before the end of October, or even November. The corn is then cut down with a
very small sickle ; the sheaves are put up in small stooks until dry, carried into the corn-
yard, built in large stacks, taken into the barn when wanted, threshed with a flail, winnowed
and dried on kilns.

The best pastures are to be found where limestone prevails. Natural red and white
clover, with rye-grass and the Vicia sepium, may be observed growing spontaneously in
many parts of Shetland. In August, after the expiration of the ling fishery, the natives cut
heath, mixed with other plants of the hills, for winter fodder ; at the same time the grass is
mown with a small scythe, of a construction peculiar to the country; (See Plate of Antiq.,
App. Fig. 23.) It is then allowed to dry, and is built into stacks. There is one practice,
however, which occurs in Wiesdale, that Mr Shirreff, who witnessed it in the Island of
Bressay, has deservedly commended. When a moss is but one peat deep, the inhabitants,
after obtaining from it their fuel, lay the sods with which the peat was covered in a fine clay
bottom, press them down with the feet, and derive from them good crops of grass, or when
broken up, good crops of corn.

After ascending an eminence to the west of Wiesdale, I reached a narrow dismal pass
named the Skiord, the high hill of Wiesdale appearing above robed in mist, when, for the
second time, I came in view of the large irregular Voe of Bigsetter, six miles in length, and
from one to two in breadth. The products of the inlet are valuable to the fisherman, on
account of the large quantity of shellfish it yields for bait, consisting chiefly of the Mytilus
modiolus or yeog. The declivity of the high hills surrounding its banks has to boast a toler-
able population, and numerous patches of corn land, the marauders of which were the wild
pigeons that build among the rocks. Not unfrequently also the grain attracted to it as great
a number of larks, linnets, sparrows, redbreasts, wrens or buntings, as I have seen in many
districts of Scotland. A kirk has been erected on the west shore, for the administration of
the regular Scotch service, and on the opposite banks a small congregation of the sect of
Methodists named Haldanites, meet every Sabbath in a little building that constitutes their

1TER III#] ANCIENT DOMESTIC TROW OF SHETLAND. 205

tem])le. In skirting along the harbour, the weather was particularly boisterous ; numerous
slender rills were ambling down the dales to pay their tribute to the voe. These occasion-
ally served to supply some small mill, the presence of which was signified by a low shed of
unhewn stones, that stretched across a diminutive streamlet, over which it was possible in
many places to stride ; compared indeed with a water-mill of Scotland or England, the
grinding apparatus of Shetland seemed designed for a race of pigmies.

The millstones are commonly formed of a micaceous gneiss, being from 30 to 36
inches in diameter. Under the frame work by which they are supported, is a sort of
horizontal wheel, of the same diameter as the mill-stones named a Tirl, which consists of a
stout cylindrical post of wood, about 4 feet in length, into which are mortised twelve small
float-boards, placed in a slanting direction, or at an oblique angle. It has a pivot at its
under end, which runs on a hollowed iron plate, fixed on a beam. A strong iron spindle
attached to the upper end of the tirl, passes through a hole in the under millstone, and is
firmly wedged in the upper one. A trough conducts the water that falls from the hill upon
the feathers of the tirl, at an inclination of 40° or 45°, which, giving motion to the upper
millstone, turns it slowly round. To the hopper that surmounts the upper millstone
there is a log of wood fastened, which, striking upon the uneven upper surface of the stone,
shakes this repository for the corn, and makes it come out, whilst too quick an escape is
checked by a device for lessening the size of the aperture. But sometimes there is no
hopper at all, and a man patiently feeds the mill with his hand. (See Plate of Antiq., App.
Fig. 2.)

Such is a description of this exquisite piece of machinery, the invention of which is
probably as old as the time of Harold Harfagre. Captain Preston, the author of an old
nautical chart of Shetland, was, during his detention on this coast, by shipwreck, shewn a
Shetland mill, and was at the same time informed, that it had been for many years a
source of dispute between two landed proprietors. The Englishman looked at his Cicerone
with surprise, and, significantly eyeing the object of contention, replied, with a sneer, " I can
certainly conceive of no dispute which such a structure ought to have reasonably occasioned,
— but whether it is a mill or no." There is, however, another sort of grinding apparatus,
once used by the English and Scotch, which I saw in a cottage near Bigsetter Voe, that is
well known under the name of the Quern. A hand-mill of this kind consists of two stones
about 21 inches in diameter, that rest on a kind of table. Near the edge of the upper stone,
is a handle which the grinder, (generally a female of the house,) seizes and turns round with
a sort of centrifugal movement, whilst the left hand is employed in supplying with corn a
hole in the centre. The meal then flies outwards, and drops from between the stones on
the table, when it is every now and then scraped together and taken away.

This operation was, in former times, much alleviated by the influence of a shrewd and
knavish spirit named Brownie, who, in return for the attention or neglect he experienced,
was known to

" Sometimes labour in the quern,

And bootless make the breathless housewife churn ;
And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm."

206 ANCIENT DOMESTIC TROW OF SHETLAND.

[ITER III.

In most northern countries, besides Shetland, there was scarcely a family that in
former times had not a domestic trow in the house of this description. Mr Douce, in
his illustrations of Shakespeare, has shewn, that the Samogitae, a people formerly in-
habiting the shores of the Baltic, who remained idolatrous as late as the 15th century, had
a deity named Putscet, whom they envoked to live with them, by placing in the barn,
every night, a table covered with bread, butter, cheese, and ale. If these were taken away,
good fortune was to be expected ; but, if they were left, nothing but bad luck. This spirit
is the same as the Goblin-groom of the English, who was an inmate of many houses so late
as the 17th century, and would assist in threshing, churning, grinding malt or mustard, and
sweeping the house at midnight ; a standing fee being required for him each night, of white-
bread, and milk or cream, spread upon a table. A similar tall " lubbar-fiend," who in
Shetland was habited in a brown garb of wadmel, used by his influence to ensure a good
grinding of corn, a good brewing of ale, a good separation of butter during churning, and'
protection for corn-stacks against the greatest storm that could blow. In return, therefore,
for these benignant offices, it was usual to apply to Brownie's use a sacrificial stone, within
which was a small cavity for the reception of a little wort, upon the occasion of every
brewing ; or when milk was to be churned, it was necessary that a part should be sprinkled'
with the same intent, in every corner of the house. As Brownie was thus an useful kind of
inmate, and as the acknowledgments which he required were so moderate, a Shetlander
would, in days of Popery, think he had ill spent his money, if he had employed an exorcist
to banish the harmless Trow from beneath his roof. There was also another reason for not
offering him any disturbance. According to Olaus Magnus, the northern nations regarded
domestic spirits of this description, as the souls of men who had given themselves up, during
life, to illicit pleasures, and were doomed, as a punishment, to wander about the earth for a
certain time, in the peculiar shape that they assumed, and to be bound to mortals in a kind
of servitude. It would have been, therefore, an act of opposition to the high decree of
Heaven, to refuse the penal labours of such slaves, and, in a temporal point of view, it
would have been a sorry description of policy to turn away an useful servant, although an
unearthly one, who could be kept at the cheapest of rates. But all such satisfactory
arrangements were destroyed, upon the introduction into the country of the Reformed
Religion. The divine of the school of Calvinism never affirmed the non-entity of Brownie,
but, in accusing him of being a fallen spirit leagued with Satan, maintained that the
sacrifices rendered to him were offerings to the devil. It was, therefore, asserted, that a
denial of such acknowledgments would clearly confirm the text of scripture, '' Resist the
devil, and he will flee from you." Thus we are informed by Brand, that a young man
" used to brew and sometimes read upon his bible, to whom an old woman in the house
said, that Brownie was displeased with that book he read upon, which, if he continued to
do, they would get no more service of Brownie ; but he being better instructed from that
book, which was Brownie's eyesore, and the object of his wrath, when he brewed, he would
not suffer any sacrifice to be given to Brownie, whereupon the first and second brewings
were spilt, and for no use ; though the wort wrought well : yet in a little time it left off
working and grew cold ; but of the third browst, or brewing, he had ale very good, though

ITKR III.l FOOD. 207

he would not give any sacrifice to Brownie ; with whom afterwards they were no more
troubled." Another story of the same kind is of a lady in Unst, who refused, on religious
grounds, the usual sacrifice to this domestic spirit. The first and second brewings failed,
but the third succeeded ; and thus when Brownie lost the perquisite, to which he had been
su.long accustomed, he abandoned the inhospitable house, where his services had so long
been faithfully rendered. Yet it may be fairly questioned, if Brand's explanation of the
flight of Brownie from the shores of Shetland be of universal application ; for when the
British Government laid such an exorbitant duty upon malt, as to render it inadmissable
into families, the services of the trow, which were chiefly valued during the uncertain opera-
tion of brewing, suffered a deterioration, that all the exhortations of the zealous divine
could not, with half the success, effect. Taxes, the annoyance even of demons, banished
ale from the land, and with it the honest, faithful, neglected Brownie.*

From Bigsetter Voe I again crossed the hills, and arrived at Aithsvoe. In this vicinity
some little kelp was burning. A hole, about six feet long and about half the dimensions in
breadth, is dug in the earth for the reception of the sea-ware, and, when the ignited matter
acquires a glutinous consistence, it is stirred up with a rake, and then allowed to cool.

At Aithsvoe the present Iter io concluded. Nothing, therefore, remains for me at
present, but to glance at a few of the domestic habits of the natives, as far as they relate to
food. The oats and bear raised by them make a very coarse and ponderous bread, but
sometimes the grain is ground by means of a quern, and passed through a sieve with much
care, when it is formed into small cakes, very round and thick, named Broonies. Often,
instead of bread, kirned milk is used, — a name given to the curds that fall to the bottom of
the churn, after boiling water has been poured into the bledoc or butter-milk, for the prepara-
tion of bland. Tea is in great request, being taken at all hours of the day. The chief
sustenance, however, of the natives is fish, of which the Shetland seas afford a great variety.
In former times every dwelling had, adjoining to it, a skeo, which I have described as a
building, cor structed of stones, with intervals between them, for the admission of the free
air. Cod and ling were then caught near the shore, and the best of them being intended
for sale, under the name of stock-fish, were hung up unsalted, on poles, within a drying
house of this kind, that the wind, in issuing through its crevices, might cure them ; but as
these fish could not always be preserved from putrefaction, they were at first, perhaps from
necessity, consumed by families, until a relish for such tainted food would naturally result
from their constant introduction at meals. It is probably, then, from this cause, that,
though skeos are now in ruins, the love for fish in a semi-putrescent state, named sour fish,
or sottked fish, still prevails. Vivda, or unsalted mutton, hung up in their buildings until it
was hardened and dried, is no longer known.

But the sillocks, with which every voe swarms, never fail at any time to fill the
Shetlander's biddy or fishing basket with a meal, while the result of the ling fishery affords

* A domestic spirit of this kind was the inmate of the house of Ollaberry, about a century ago. In high gales of wind, that
threatened to blow down the corn that was stored up, Brownie was often seen on one side of a stack assisting the husbandmen,
who stood on the other side to secure the grain. The good offices of the trow were never increased by extraordinary presents ;
thus it was a Shetland proverb, when a servant was spoilt by too generous a treatment, to say, that he was like Brownie, who,
when a cloak and a hood was given to him, left the house, and did no more good to the donor.

208 FOOD. [ITER m

him the means of purchasing flour from Scotland, to compensate for the deficiency of his
own crops, which autumnal storms may destroy in a single night. The sources from which
the Shetlander derives his support is, indeed, no where so happily illustrated as in the toasts
that he gives in his hours of conviviality, the most popular of which is " Death ta da head
that wears nae hair ;" or, in less enigmatical words, Death to the fish. It was usual about
sixty years ago, when a party had been assembled at Johnsmas, a festival held at the time of
the ling-fishery, for the principal person of the feast to address his comrades after the follow-
ing manner : " Men and brethren, lat wis raise a helt. Here's first ta da GWy o' God an
da guid o wir ain puir sauls, wir wordy land-maister, an wir lovin meat-mither, helt ta man,
death ta fish, an guid growth i' da grand." About Lammas, when from the length of the
nights, and the rapidity of the tides, lines were often lost, the convivial sentiment was,
" Helt ta man, death ta fish, and detriment ta no man." But when the natives were about
to quit the ling-fishery, and to return home to the harvest, the toast remembered in the
cottager's cup was, " God open the mouth of the gray fish,* and haud his hand about da
corn."f

These are the chief observations I have to make on the Husbandmen of Shetland. It
may be likewise briefly remarked, that, with the exception of the inhabitants of Lerwick,
few or no distinct trades are to be found in the thinly inhabited districts of the country ;
almost every peasant being the fabricator of his own rivlins and shoes, as well as his own
tailor, and his own carpenter. The ancient acts of the country, that were directed against
commercial imposition, appear, however, to indicate that there was formerly a much greater
exercise of separate professions than at the present day. But these laws could little preserve
the natives from being defrauded in their transactions with the higher powers of the
country ; for, as the standard weights of Shetland were regulated by the Bysmer, it was
commanded that none should use any instrument of this kind that had not been adjusted
by authority. Clandestine means were, therefore, devised, for gradually raising the weights,
in order to exact a proportional increase of feu-duties payable to the superior in kind. For
a description of the Bysmer, see next page.

* Kygyayjish, are meant the fry of the Coal-fish (Piltocks and Sillocks), in contradistinction to ling, cod, tusk, hallibut,
haddock, &c. which are called White-fish.

t The interjection that God may haud his hand about da corn, implies the wish that the hand of the Diety may be extended
to preserve the grain from destructive tempests.

NOTES TO ITER HE 209

NOTES TO ITER III.

NOTE X. Page 182. Oldest Sheep-Laws of Shetland. .

There is a code of sheep laws, preserved in Debes's Description of Feroe, which is
dated Opslo, A.D. 1040, being addressed from Hagen, Duke of Norway, and son of King
Magnus, to the Bishop of Feroe and Mr Sefvort, Provincial Judge of Shetland, named
here Hetland.

From the tenor of this sheep-ordinance, it evidently relates to an enclosed state of the
country. The laws corrected the grievances that arose from unmarked, stray and wild
sheep, — from a clandestine marking of lambs,— from trespasses upon fields or enclosures,
— from keeping a superfluous number of sheep-dogs, — and from sheep being injured or
destroyed by dogs not properly trained to their office.

NOTE XI. Ancient Bysmer of Shetland.

The Bysmer of Shetland, by which is estimated lispunds, has been described with such
accuracy by the learned author of the " Grievances of Orkney and Shetland," that I shall
give it in his own words. " It is a lever," he remarks, "about three inches diameter ; from
thence, it gently tapers to the other end, which is about one inch diameter. From the
middle, all along this small end, it is marked with small iron pins, at unequal distances

2IO

NOTES TO ITER III.

corresponding to, and exhibiting the weight of the bodies weighed from one mark to twenty-
four, or a lispund. The body or commodity to be weighed, is hung by a hook, in the small
end of the bysmer, which is then horizontally suspended by a cord going round it.; the weigher
still shifting the cord this and that way, till the commodity equiponderates with the gross
end of the bysmer, which serves as a counterbalance to it. Thus, the pin nearest the cord,
at the time of equilibrium, shews the weight of the commodity in marks." (See Plate of
Antiquities, Appendix, Fig. 22.)

I may observe, that this instrument for weighing is of the greatest antiquity in Scandin-
avia and its colonies, being represented in the following plate from Olaus Magnus. (See
his Historia de Gentibus Septenlrionalibus, lib. 13, cap. 47.)

JltCf IIII.

WEST OF SHETLAND.

" Little know they the fisher's toilsome pain,

Whose labour with his age, still growing, spends not ;

His care and watchings (oft mispent in vain),
The early morn begins, dark evening ends not.

To foolish men, that think all labour stands

In travel of the feet and tired hands !

Ah wretched fishers ! born to hate and strife ;

To others good, but to your rape and spoil.
This is the briefest sum of fisher's life,

To sweat, to freeze, to watch, to fast, to toil."

Phineas Fletcher.

ISLAND OF MEIKLE ROE.

AT Aiths Voe, well situated for commencing an examination of several districts, I en-
gaged a boat, and sailing to the narrow sound formed by the islands of Papa Little,
Vementry and Meikle Roe, landed at the latter place. It would appear that the name of
Roe, significant in the ancient Shetland language of Redness, is given to many spots which,
in the aspect of their rocks, display this particular tint. Meikle Roe is about three miles in
length and two in breadth, being inhabited by scarcely more than a dozen families ; its
surface is rendered uneven by shapeless crags of granite and greenstone, which are the
abodes of the sea-eagle, or by pools that are resorted to by the teal or the raingoose. The

214 DUTCH HERRING FISHERY OF SHETLAND. [ITER IV.

shore on ihe east is low, but on the west its rocks are wrought, by the inroads of the sea,
into steep precipices or excavations, that stretch for a considerable distance under ground,
being the dark abode of seals. These can only be penetrated in the serenest weather ; it
was, therefore, unfortunate for my visit, that the murmur of the waves, as they sullenly
broke on the sides of the caverns, might be heard at some little distance fiom the coast, in
forbiddance of the gloomy pleasure of exploring these dismal recesses. After several in-
effectual attempts to struggle through passages beset on each side by white breakers, that
burst with loud commotion over disjointed rocks, our unsteady yawl was at length safely
steered into what appeared the gloomy mouth of a cave : but we had not rowed many yards,
when, emerging from a black and shady vault, we found ourselves floating upon a narrow
canal-shaped basin about twenty feet in width, that was completely open to the sky ; and at
the same time, the full light of the sun burst upon us in its meridian splendour. The
pellucid water of this retired shelter, undisturbed by a single ripple, beautifully reflected the
lofty perpendicular walls of granite, through which it extended in a straight course for a
considerable distance ; the channel, resembling, in the undeviating regularity of its form,
some stupendous work of human ingenuity, where the solid rock had been pierced so as to
form a deep secure cove. But Nature soon appeared to be the sole engineer of this well-
wrought excavation : it was the result of atmospheric elements, acting for an incalculable
number of years upon the soft and mouldering materials of a dike or vein of granite,
enclosed within a matrix of the same substance, but of a much firmer texture.

A narrow sound bounds the north of Meikle Roe, being so closed in by the land that
about seven or eight years ago a Spanish vessel, which was driven by force of tempest upon
this horrid part of the coast, could not see the channel though close to its mouth, and went
to pieces, when the exertion to steer the ship but a few yards to the south of the fatal rock
on which she split, would have conducted her safely into a deep confined basin, that is calm
in the most stormy weather.

I now prepared to visit the parish of Northmavine, off the shores of which the greatest
quantity of ling is caught ; but as I shall have occasion, in adverting to the circumstances
that gave rise to the landed tenures of the country, strangely involved in its fisheries, slightly
to notice the ancient Dutch herring fishery that was prosecuted on the outside of this coast,
I shall take this opportunity of giving a concise view of its history.

HISTORY OF THE DUTCH HERRING FISHERY OF SHETLAND.

The herring fishery of Shetland carried on by the Dutch, was in ancient times an
undertaking of the greatest national importance. Near the close of the 15th century, the
success of this people induced the Scotch to take into serious consideration the propriety of
embarking in the same pursuit ; but the design was not carried into execution. In the year
1633, there were so many as 1500 Dutch herring busses, each of 80 tons burden, employed
on this coast, with 20 armed ships carrying 30 guns each, and a fleet of dogger-boats to the
number of about 400, each of 60 tons burden. But not many years had elapsed in the

1TER IV .] DUTCH HERRING FISHERY OF SHETLAND. 215

same century, before the number of busses that visited Shetland amounted to 2200. Owing,
however, to wars, and other causes, a diminution took place; and, at the close of the 17th
century, only 500 or 600 busses visited the country. In the year 1702, the French burned
150 of these vessels in Bressay Sound ; and for several years following, no more appeared
than 300 or 400. In the year 1774, the number of Dutch vessels only amounted to 200;
but there were as many at the same time belonging to the Danes, the Prussians, the French,
and the Flemings ; the English had also two vessels, and the Scotch one. The Dutch
fishery off the coast of Shetland, has since continued to diminish in extent, has been often
interrupted, and at present scarcely deserves a name.

The busses employed in the herring fishing, sailed from Holland about the 10th or
the 15th of June, in order, if possible, to rendezvous a few days in Bressay Sound. The
doggers attached to them, named also Jaggers or Yaggers, were swifter sailers, being in-
tended to run home with the herrings first caught. There were also a few armed vessels,
named Convoyers, sent out with the fleet, which, besides being fitted up as hospitals for
the sick, carried with them supernumerary hands, carpenters, and materials for fishing of all
descriptions, in order to give assistance to busses in case of losses or accidents. In the
year 1774, two convoyers arrived with the fleet, with the intent that one of them should
always attend the fishing, while the other should be stationed at Bressay Sound, and that
they should thus alternately change situations every fortnight.

It was during the time when the busses were detained at Bressay Sound, that the
Shetlander anticipated, from his commercial intercourse with them, a great means by which
his family would be enabled to support themselves during the year; and, accordingly,
numbers of stockings, gloves, night-caps and rugs, were previously manufactured, in expecta-
tion of the annual fair that was then held in Lerwick. A great employment was at the same
time given to boatmen ; for, as none of the busses brought with them boats, each was
attended, when lying in the Sound, by a yawl. The quantity of fresh meat required by the
Dutch was so great, that during the fishing season provisions were three times as dear as in
Orkney. When Mr Low visited Lerwick in the year 1774, he described the fair as a scene
of uncommon bustle ; the country people were very smart in making bargains, using as
many Dutch and Norwegian words as served their purpose of buying and selling; but as
for the Dutch language they spoke it with great fluency. The Foreigners paid money for
every thing. A scathold behind the town was crowded with shelties, which were let out for
the amusement of the Dutch at the rate of a stiver a mile ; this being a kind of exercise
prescribed by their medical men, as useful to them after having been long confined on ship-
board.

On the 23d of June, (St John's Mass), the Dutch would set sail from Bressay Sound to
the fishery, but the Prussians, the French, and the Flemings would leave it six days sooner,
— which practice was much reprobated as breaking the shoal of herrings, and causing them
to fly towards the shore; it was even said, that if any of them were caught a week sooner
than the 24th, they would be unfit for curing. In the beginning of the season, the Dutch
fished off the middle of Shetland, but as the season advanced, they followed the herrings
southward, discontinuing in later years to visit the Yarmouth banks, and fishing no farther

2l6 MAVIS GRIND TO FEIDELAND.

[ITER IV.

than Buchan Ness. Mr Low describes the system that was pursued in the following
manner: " The jaggers or doggers (from 30 to 35 in number), are numbered 1st, 2d, 3d,
4th, &c, and if the first jagger can get ten barrels among the fleet the first night, she pro-
ceeds home immediately, when nothing is more common than to sell these herrings for ^50
per barrel, as every individual, almost, in the eastern countries look on the first fruits of
this fishery as medicine. When the earliest jagger arrives, a present of her cargo is
immediately sent to the Prince of Orange, and then every one who can may pur-
chase. The first three jaggers go to Holland, a fourth to Hamburgh, the others sail as
they get cargoes, the last being obliged (for they are all freighted vessels), to stay
on the coast till the 15th July, if she does not get a full loading. Every one has her
station ; and though the fishing busses belong to different companies, yet in dispatching the
jaggers, they take from every buss what herring she has got, and account to each other at
home, as they are sold. After the jaggers are all dispatched, the busses continue fishing till
they make up cargoes."* The narrator speaks, at the same time, of the remarkable cleanli-
ness of the Dutch, and of the national encouragement given to the fisheries, by rendering
all provisions and materials used for them duty free, and by bounties paid for the first
herrings caught.

Such are the particulars relative to the annual visits that the Dutch formerly paid to
these shores. The commercial intercourse resulting from them, greatly assisted the
Shetlanders in struggling for a bare subsistence, when the weights and measures of their
country had been clandestinely raised by the hand of power to more than twice their
ancient standard, for the purpose of exacting, in the same proportion, the rent, scat, wattle,
and feudal duties paid in kind to a superior.

In the year 1750, the British Government first directed their attention to the herring
fishery ; and a company incorporated in the same year, entitled, The Free British white
Herring Company, fitted out vessels that visited the Shetland coasts. They were, by means
of bounties, so feebly encouraged by the British Government, that the twenty busses which
they at first owned, gradually dwindled to eight, — at which number they stood for several
years, and the undertaking was eventually given up, after the loss of half a million of money
Sterling. Lately, the herring fishery of Britain has revived under much greater encourage-
ment, but it is generally conducted off more southerly coasts of Britain than those of
Shetland. Two or three vessels are, I believe, fitted out for the purpose from Lerwick ; but
the herring fishery is by no means a favourite pursuit in the country. " We have hitherto,"
says a Shetland landholder, in a letter addressed to the Highland Society, "considered it as
beyond our reach, as precarious, and requiring a great capital in ships, nets, cash and salt,
than we could afford."

MAVIS GRIND TO FEIDELAND.

I again crossed the narrow ridge of land named Brae, that separates Busta Voe from

* From Mr Low's MS. Tour through Orkney and Shetland, much of my information on the Dutch herring fishery of the last
century is derived. See also Brand's, Sir Robert Sibbald's, and Mr Gifford's, Descriptions of Shetland.

ITER iv.j MAVIS GRIND TO FEIDELAND. 2\J

Soulam Voe, where were anciently erected the booths of foreign merchants, when they
carried on a traffick with the natives for ling. The situation was very central, readily com-
municating with the North Isles of Shetland, and, by an isthmus only one hundred yards
broad, named Mavis Grind, with the large peninsulated district of Northmavine. From the
istofMayto the ist of August (old style), vessels freighted with goods for barter were
constantly arriving in the country from Hamburgh, Lubeck, Bremen, Denmark, and more
latterly from Scotland and England. The merchants, upon landing, obtained either booths
ready constructed, or the privilege of erecting them upon some convenient site of ground,
for which they paid the landed proprietors of Shetland a most exorbitant rate. They then
stored these buildings with a variety of articles for sale or barter, such as hooks, lines,
herring-nets, several descriptions of corn and flour, a kind of wheaten bread named Cringel-
bread, salt, fruits of all kinds, mead, strong beer, various sorts of distilled spirits, particularly
one named Corn-watejs, coarse hempen cloth, together with fine linens, muslins, and other
merchandise. At the same time, the natives got ready their yawls, which were then so
small that none contained more than three or four men, and laid their lines for ling, cod, or
tusk, in the voes, or within the distance of two or three leagues. They then generally
brought these fish for barter to the doors of the booths in a wet state, though sometimes,
under the name of Stock-fish, they were previously dried in skeos. Other articles which
were disposed of to the strangers, comprised stockings, wadmel, horses, cows, sheep, seals'
skins, otters' skins, butter, and oil that had been extracted from the livers offish. Booths
were also opened in other parts of the country, particularly at Unst, Yell, Sumburgh, and
Hillswick ; but when, in the beginning of the last century, various acts of Parliament were
framed, prohibiting the importing of foreign salt, except in British vessels, and encouraging,
by bounties, the exportation of fish cured at home, foreigners gradually left the ling-fishery
of Shetland to its own resources.

After passing Mavis Grind, I coasted along the sloping shores of Soulam Voe,
covered by a deep moss, and arrived at the Peninsula of Glus, divided from the Mainland
by a narrow low bank of sand, named an Air. A sweeping shower of rain compelled me
to seek for shelter in the first habitation that I could find. The owner of it having been
caught by the same tempest, had just retired to bed indisposed ; but his sister, on seeing
that I was a stranger (for this character needed no further introduction on the hospitable
soil of Thule), politely stept forward and offered me every accommodation which the
mansion could afford, — an invitation which, to a rain-drenched traveller, could not but be
acceptable. A blazing peat-fire, and an excellent dish of trout fresh from the lakes of
Roeness Hill, soon made me forget the late pelting of the storm. Shetland is, in point of
hospitality, what England was several centuries ago, — what the Hebrides were much later.
It is o'ten with regret observed, that hospitality diminishes with an increased population.
Why should it not ? A man may make his house an occasional solace to a scanty collection
of inhabitants, but the more frequent demands of the same sort that would accrue from
increasing villages or towns, would no longer render his house sacred to the duties of
domestic retirement, but would convert it into a public inn.

On the following morning, I was welcomed by the gentleman of the house, and among

2l8 MAVIS GRIND TO FEIDELAND. [ITER IV.

the dainties with which our breakfast-table was supplied, a dish composed of small quarters
of lamb, daintily carbonadoed, and of a most exquisite flavour, was pre-eminent ; their size
was what might have been expected from the fleecy progeny of Shetland, not one of them
being much more than twice the size of the limb of a rabbit. The morning being fine, my
kind entertainer assisted me in my journey by a passage in his yawl, which was bound to
the foot of Roeness Hill, where he was meditating, among the lakes of that wild region, a
fishing excursion ; and to the same place I was tempted to accompany him with geological
views. After sailing along the dull line of coast that is opposite to Glus Voe, we reached
the remains of an ancient church and a town, known by the name of Ollaberry. This was
a situation that, in the commencement and middle of the last century, formed a convenient
residence for a few gentlemen of Shetland, when, by the cessation of the periodical visits of
Hamburgh traders, and the decline of the Dutch herring-fishery, they were obliged themselves
to turn exporters of fish. The country had long enjoyed a successful traffic with the Dutch,
by selling them stockings and fresh provisions ; nor was the commercial intercourse less
lucrative than subsisted with those foreigners who annually set up booths, and stocked them
with the various commodities that the Shetlanders required, taking in exchange ling, cod,
and tusk, which they cured. But owing to the various feudal impositions of the country,
conjoined with the fraudulent increase of its weights and measures, attributable to the
Stewarts, Earls of Orkney, and the rapacious farmers of the Crown revenues, which had
eventually more than doubled the amount of the lispund, it was almost impossible that any
resources of commerce could afford the tenant the means of a tolerable subsistence. When,
therefore, the landlords saw that the herring-fishery was dwindling away, and that the
foreigners who traded for ling were, by the new powers intrusted to custom-house officers,
about to leave the conntry, nothing but ruin threatened them, unless they would avail them-
selves of the encouragement given by successive acts of Parliament, towards the promotion
of the British fisheries. Accordingly, they were compelled, in their own defence, to be
the proper successors of the foreign merchants, who had, for the uninterrupted period of two
centuries, been the chief supporters of the Shetland fishermen.

After passing the small inlet of Quayfiord, we reached the spacious harbour of Cola-
fiord, and at the north-west angle of it landed at the foot of a large hill of granite, near to
which is an accumulation of large stones, bearing the form of a sepulchral tumulus, and
around it a circle of considerable extent. There is a monstrous story told concerning it, —
as that a giant proposing to build a bridge over the voe, brought these rude materials
intended for the structure in a maisey ; and about a mile to the northward, there is a steep
ridge of rocks named the Biorgs, on the summit of which is a rude inclosure, styled the
Giant's Garden, where he secured the cattle and other property that he had acquired by
plunder. But the inhabitants contrived, either by force or stratagem, to throw him over the
precipice, when he was buried between two large upright stones, still existing, that are set
up at a distance of several yards from each other.

In tracing the burn of Roer-water, we arrived in our ascent at an immense barren and
trackless wilderness of red granitic rocks, where the apparent disturbance, induced by the
penetration into the mass of a large dike of greenstone, was exhibited in the deep hollows of

ITER IV.]

MAVIS GRIND TO FEIDELAND. 219

a chain of lakes. Of these the largest is Roer-water, an untroubled and limpid pool, con-
tained in an irregular basin of more than two miles in circumference, and abounding with
fine trout. The holms with which it is studded are peopled with gulls and wild ducks, but on
one of them the sea-eagle has long built its nest. In a southerly direction, the eye might
trace the gradual ascent to the round summit of Roeness Hill, which was reflected into
various tints and shades. The rangers of this desert tract were the small sheep of the
country, regarded here as a kind of ferce natures, that have long defied the celerity of the
had-dog. I now became well acquainted with the companion of my journey, and was
surprised to find, in this retired inhabitant of the Shetland hills, one who had been
so great atraveller, that it might be said of him, " mores hominum multorum yidit
et urbes," — one who had visited far distant tropical climates, — who had enjoyed
the polished societies of the principal capitals of Europe. While he was engaged in
angling, I set off alone in a north-westerly direction, to explore the nature of these
solitary rocks. Light wreaths of mist moved gently over the dreary waste, while the
deepest silence prevailed, except when interrupted by the plaintive note of the plover, or the
shrill cry of the whimbrel, whose haunts I had invaded. At length appeared in view a vast
range of impendent cliffs, extending for a distance of ten miles, and worn by the action of a
turbulent sea into a thousand fantastic forms. Insulated rocks were whitened with innumer-
able flocks of sea-fowl ; and at their base were hollow caverns, the domicil of seals and
otters. Some hundred feet below me, the billows of the Atlantic broke with tremendous
roar, being unchecked by any land intervening between America and the western banks of
Roeness. In returning, the sun shone bright, and I retraced my course along the chain of
lakes, which, flowing with silvery whiteness among rugged and dreary crags, reflected every
object near them ; sky, rocks and heath limited the horizon ; no marks of the labour of man
appeared, but tranquility pervaded the scene. At length I descried my friend busily
ruminating with his angling rod in his hand on the bleak banks of Roer-water, and, in
allusion to the wild scene before him, lamenting his hard destiny, which had compelled him
to terminate his days, a mere hermit as he named himself, in the vile climate of Thule. His
dejection he explained as that of Jacques : *' It is a melancholy of mine own, compounded
of many simples, extracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry contemplation of my
travels, in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness." I could
have replied to him even as Shakespeare's misanthrope was answered: <: A traveller! by
my faith you have great reason to be sad ; to have seen much, and to have nothing, is to have
rich eyes and poor hands." The hermit's meditations were, however, soon interrupted by
the announcement of the repast that was prepared. A natural table of granite, upon which
a white cloth was laid, displayed the attractions of an excellent cold collation. In the mean
time, a vessel, filled with the limpid water of the lake, was simmering over a boiling appara-
tus brought from Vienna. The regale of cold fowls and lamb which followed, washed down
with Cape Madeira, and the luxury after it of hot punch, was mountain cheer of the most
unexpected kind.

After retracing my steps to the shores of Colafiord Voe, I arrived at Lochend, where I
was received with much hospitality by Mr Hoseason, and pursuing from thence a course

220 MAVIS GRIND TO FEIDELAND.

[ITER IV.

parallel to the mural ridge of rocks named the Biergs, I arrived at North Roe, where I met
with a similar welcome at the house of Mr Sinclair. An extensive ling fishery is carried on
in this district, the usual mode of prosecuting it being through the medium of tenants.
The origin of the tenures that involve the obligation to fish for landlords, may be traced to
a date a little preceding the middle of the last century. When the foreign merchants
who had almost exclusively conducted the Shetland ling fishery for nearly two centuries,
had left these shores, in consequence of the bounties granted for the exportation of
fish from Great Britain, occasional companies of Scotch and English merchants next
appeared. But, as I have before had occasion to observe, the chief successors of the
foreigners were the landholders themselves, who cured and exported ling, chiefly with a
view to procure for their tenants the only means that they possessed, of paying their rents.
They had not, however, been long engaged in their new occupation, before the foreign
markets at Hamburgh and Bremen, from some unexplained cause, began to fail ; and the
utmost commercial exertions of landholders could not ward off the distress of the peasantry,
who were reduced to the most abject state of penury. Consequently, when in the course of
a few years, through the means of a Greenock and London company, conjoined with the
stimulus of a more advantageous bounty offered by the British Grovernment, a renewal of
the exportation of ling was meditated, and when it was intended that the markets of
Portugal, and those of Barcelona and Alicant should be first tried, a new embarrassment
arose, — the tenants were totally incapacitated by their distresses from purchasing the boats
and lines necessary for the fishery, and unless sums sufficient for the purpose could be
advanced by the landlord, the attempt to renew the ling fishery must have proved abortive.
Under such novel circumstances, then, it was found necessary to introduce into landed
tenures, a condition of a very remarkable kind. The landlord allowed his yearly tenant to
be in debt to him for the boats and fishing lines necessary for the taking of ling, but required
from him the obligation, that all the fish which he might take during the customary season,
should be sold to him at a stipulated rate. This complicated relation of landlord and
tenant has ever since prevailed in the country.

From the spacious and open bay of North Roe, I proceeded northwards, but, on
setting out, a heavy rain came on, which obliged me to take shelter in the house of a poor
woman, who was contenting herself with a humble repast of potatoes, and the scanty nutri-
ment that could be picked off from the rig or back-bone of a cod or ling, which had been
separated in the process of curing. This was a sort of fare, that, in the language of Pennant,
might rather be called a permission to exist, than a support of vigour. On the north of the
parish of Northmavine, the low hilly ridges, formed by the sea into deep fissures or caverns,
terminate in a line of ragged coast, agreeably diversified by a long narrow peninsula of green
land jutting out far into the Northern Ocean, which is named Fiedeland, an appellation of
true Scandinavian origin, that is explained by Debes, in his description of Feroe. He
observes, that where grass is found so abundant and juicy, that oxen feed thereon both
winter and summer, such places are named Fiedelands ; and it is very remarkable, he adds,
that where there are any Fiedelands, they invariably turn to the north-east and north.
Every where the coast is awfully wild, the peninsula is broken on each side into steep

ITER IV.] THE HAAF. 22 1

precipices, exhibiting now and then a gaping chasm, through which the sea struggles, while
numerous stacks rise from the surface of a turbulent ocean, — the waves beating around them
in angry and tumultuous roar. This is a great station for the ling fishery, which commences
in the middle of May, and ends on the 12th of August. When any fishermen resort, for
the first time, to a convenient place of this kind, they are allowed by the law to build for
themselves huts, on any site which may be uninclosed, uncultivated, and at a distance of
not more than 100 yards from the high water-mark. These are constructed of rude stones,
without any cement, being made no larger than is sufficient to contain a six-oared boat's
crew. The men form the roof of thin pieces of wood, on which they lay turf; — they then
strew a little straw upon the ground, and snatch from their severe labours a short repose.
On the narrow isthmus of low marshy land, that connects the peninsula of Feideland to the
Mainland, is interspersed, with all the disorder of a gypsey encampment, a number of these
savage huts named summer lodges, and in the centre of them is a substantial booth, used by
a factor for curing fish. Here I met with excellent accommodation, owing to the kindness
of Mr Hoseason, who had sent from his house at Lochend every refreshment I might need,
together with a comfortable bed for the evening. Feideland is a place possessing no little
interest ; a remarkable busy scene is presented by the numerous crews sailing to the Haaf,
or returning from it laden with fish ; some men are busily engaged in weighing the stock of
ling, cod and tusk, as it is brought in to the factors ; others in spreading their lines on the
rocks to dry, or in cooking victuals for their comrades who may be employed on the
haddock grounds, or in brushing, splitting and salting the fish, that are brought to the door
of the booth. But to the naturalist, Feideland presents attractions of no mean kind ; the
numerous rare marine productions that are continually drawn up by the lines of the fisher-
men, which a small perquisite might induce them to preserve and bring to the shore, would
richly repay him for lingering several days in such a station. — (See Sketch of Fiedeland,
Plate J-)

I shall now take an opportunity of giving an account of the Ling Fishery, as it is pro-
secuted at

THE HAAF.

The Haaf is a name applied to any fishing-ground on the outside of the coast, where
ling, cod, or tusk may be caught. Not much above a century ago, the fishery for ling and
cod was prosecuted much nearer shore than it is now, and fishing places designated Faiths,
were pointed out by certain land-marks called Meiths, so that every one knew his own raith,
and any undue encroachment upon it was considered no less illegal and actionable, than if
it had been upon a landed inclosure. The fishermen, however, at the present day, find it
their interest to seek for ling at a much greater distance, even to the extent of thirty or
forty miles.

The men employed at the Haaf are from 18 years of age and upwards. Six tenants
join in a boat, their landlords importing for them frames ready modelled and cut out in

2 22 THE HAAF.

[ITER IV.

Norway,* which, when put together, form a yawl of six oars, from 18 to 19 feet in keel, and
six in beam ; it is also furnished with a square sail.t

On the 25th of May, or on the 1st of June, the fishermen repair to their several stations.
They either endeavour, with rod and line, to procure for bait the fry of the coalfish, of the
age of 12 months, named Piltocks, or they obtain at the ebb mussels and limpets ; and then
going out to sea six miles or more, lay their lines for haddocks, and after obtaining a suffi-
cient supply of these fish, reserve them for bait.

The Fiedeland Haaf being 30 or 40 miles from land, the fishermen endeavour to leave
their station in the morning of one day, so as to be enabled to return in the course of the
day following. And if, owing to boisterous weather, they have suffered long detention in
their lodges, the first boat that is launched, induces every weather-bound crew to imitate
the example ; it is, therefore, no unusual circumstance to see, in a fleet of yawls, all sails
set, and all oars plied nearly at the same instant of time. Each boat, in the first turn that
it makes, observes the course of the sun, J and then strives to be the first which shall arrive
at the fishing station.

Some few of the fishermen, during their voyage, superstitiously forbear to mention in
any other name than one that is Norse, or in some arbitrary word of their own coinage,
substituted for it, various objects, such, for instance, as a knife, a church, the clergyman,
the devil, or a cat. When after a tug of 30 or 40 miles, the crew has arrived at the Haaf,
they prepare to set their tows, which is the name they designate the lines by that are fitted
with ling hooks. Forty-five or fifty fathoms of tows constitute a bught, and each bught is
fitted with from nine to fourteen hooks. It is usual to call twenty bughts a packie, and the
whole of the packies that a boat carries is a fleet of tows. Thus, while a boat in the south
or east of Shetland carries only two or three packies, a fleet of tows used on the Feideland
Haaf, amounts to no less than six, these being baited with seldom less than twelve hundred
hooks, provided with three buoys, and extending to a distance of from 5000 to 6000
fathoms.

The depth at which ling are fished for varies from 50 to 100 fathoms. In setting the
tows, one man cuts the fish used for bait into pieces, two men bait and set the lines, and
the remaining three or four row the boat. They sink at certain "distances, what they call
Cappie-stanes, the first that is let down being called the Steeth. These keep the tows
properly fixed to the ground. When all this labour is finished, which, in moderate weather,
requires three or four hours, and when the last buoy has floated, the fishermen rest for

* A friend of mine has informed me, that the price of boats has been almost tripled of late years, by a most unjust and
oppressive mode of levying the duties on importations, at so much for each piece of wood, however small, of which the boat con-
sists, before it is put together. He adds, that nothing but dire necessity could induce the poor people to purchase materials at
such prices. A boat is said to cost £20. I may add, that the Agricultural Society of Shetland has properly petitioned for a
reduction of the duties upon wood.

t Boats of this size are, says Mr Shirreff, 20 to 24 feet from stem to stern, the depth 2j feet to 2L Each oar is from 10 to 14
feet long, and the sail 15J feet deep, by 12 broad at the top, and 14 at the bottom.

J This is a superstition not peculiar to either Celtic or Scandinavian nations. Sir Walter Scott has observed, that the High-
landers, in making the Deasil, a sort of benediction which they bestow in walking round the party to be propitiated, always
observe the course of the sun. And witches, on the other hand, make their circles widdershins, as the Scottish dialect expresses it
(widder-sins Germ.), or in opposition to the course of the sun. Dr Henderson again observes, that in Iceland the altar is always
left by turning to the right, or sunways.

ITER IV.]

THE HAAF. 223

nearly two hours, and take their scanty sustenance ; hut it is lamentable to think, that their
poverty allows them nothing more than oat-meal bread, and a few gallons of water. Their
severe labours have never yet excited the commiseration of the British Government; for,
owing to the excessive duty on spirits, they can rarely afford to carry with them the smallest
supply of whisky.

At length, one man, by means of the buoy-rope, undertakes to haul up the tows, —
another extricates the fish from the hooks and throws them in a place near the stern,
named the shot, — a third guts them and deposits their livers and heads in the middle
of the boat. Along with the ling that is caught, there is a much less quantity of cod and
of the Gradus Brosme or tusk ; these are all valuable acquisitions. Six to ten wet lings
are about a hundred weight, and hence six or seven score of fish are reckoned a decent haul
— fifteen or sixteen a very good one, — twenty scores of ling are rarely caught, but in such a
case, garbage, heads, and small fish are all thrown overboard, nor can these lighten the boat
so much as that she will not appear, according to the phrase of the fishermen, just lippering
with the water. The skate and halibut which may be taken, are reserved to supply the
tables of the fishermen. That formidable looking fish, the stone-biter, (Anarchicus Lupus),
is also esteemed good eating. When all the tows are heaved up, they are deposited in the
bow of the boats.

If the weather be moderate, a crew does not need to be detained at the Fiedeland
Haaf more than a day and a half. But too often a gale comes on, — the men are reluctant
to cut their lines, and the most dreadful consequences ensue. About two years ago Mr
Watson, the respectable minister of Northmavine, communicated to the editor of an Edin-
burgh paper a striking instance of the misfortunes to which the fishermen are liable. In
speaking of a number of boats that went off to the Haaf, he remarked, that "about the time
they were laying their lines, it blew strong from the south-east, so that it was with much
difficulty they could haul them in again. The storm increased and blew off land; two boats
particularly, were in great distress; they having lost their sails, and being quite worn out
with fatigue, were able to do very little for their own safety. Luckily the wind shifted to
the westward, and on the third day the crews all reached land, completely exhausted with
hunger and labour, having had nothing but a very litile bread and some water. Two of the
men, one in each of the boats which suffered most, died before they came to land, and the
rest were not able to walk to their houses without assistance."* In my journey through
Shetland, I have, indeed, heard too many females lamenting the loss of a husband or of a
son at the distant Haaf. The dangers there encountered are the frequent theme of the
Shetlander's conversation, and his recital of them beguiles the tedious hours of a long
winter's evening. One of these stories I shall venture to give in all its native rudeness and
prolixity, as it was collected by a friend of mine from the recital of a Fiedeland fisherman.
It possesses little or no interest as a mere narrative, but it may afford a tolerable specimen
of the modern Shetland dialect.

* Mr Watson remarks, that " since the smuggling has ceased, and the spirits are io dear, the boats cannot afford to take out
with them a drop to refresh them in the heat, or to cheer them in the wet. It would be a good deed in Government to allow them
a small quanity of rum per man, duty free, in the same manner as in the navy, and such a boon would be most gratefully received,
and not in many cases abused."

2 24 SAND VOE TO ROENESS VOE. [ITER IV.

Account of a Voyage to the Haaf, as given by a Fisherman at Feideland in Northmavine.

Mony a foul dae hae I seen at da Haaf; bit I tink Martinabullimus 1 dae fearnyear 2
wis da warst dae I ever saw. He wis a bonny morning, but a grit lift i' da sea and a hantle
o' brak. So I said to wir men, we hae a guid neberfi o' haddicks, he's bonny wather, and I
tink we'll try da deep watter. So we gat wir tows and capistanes* into the boat, and we set
aff, and we row'd oot upon him till we sank a' da laigh land, and dan we began and laid
/ram, 5 and whan we cuist wit ootet bow, 6 de'el a stane o' Shetland did we see, except da tap
o' Roeness hill and da Pobies o' Unst. Noo he beguid ta gro frae the sud east J — So whan
we had sitten a while, we tuik wir bow s and began ta hail f and, faith, before we gat in ee
packie o' tows, four men cood doe nae mair den keep da tow at da kaib. 10 We gat tw'ar'-
tree 11 fish fira'dat, 12 and at last sic a grit weight cam upo' da line, dat it tuik a' mi strent to
hail, and whan it cam to da wayl, 1 ^ what wis it bit a grit dayvel of a skate. So I said ta
Tammy, dam her, cut here awa, wha's geean ta row under her sic a dae? So he tuik da
skuin 1 * and sneed da tombed And at last we got in wir tows, and, faith, we'd gotten a braw
puckle o' fish. Noo, says I, lads, i' God's name, fit da mast and swift da sail, 16 , da east
tide is running, and we'll sail wast be sooth upon him. So I guid i' the starn, and just as
wc gae sail, he made a watter aff o' da fore kaib, and when he brook, he took Hackie^ aff
o' da skair ta/t, lS and laid him i' da shott. Dan I cried to Gibbie, ia for God's sake to
strik da head oot o' da drink kig and ouse 20 da boat ; da watter wis up at da fasta bands, 21
bit wi' God's help we gat her toom'd 22 before anither watter cam. Whan the east tide ran
aff, noo said I, lads, we'll tak doon da sail an row in upon him. So we did sae, — and whan
da wast tide made, we gae sail agin and ran east upon him, and faith we lay upo' Vallyfield
in Unst, and we wrought on rowing an' sailing till, by God's Providence, we gat ashore
about aught o'clock at night. O man, dat wis a foul dae !

In the foregoing specimen of the modern Shetland dialect, a curious circumstance is

'the omission of the neuter pronoun //, and the personification of every object by the words

he and she. Although some Scottish phrases are evidently introduced into the language,

yet they are delivered with an acute pronunciation and accent resembling no provincial

dialect of Britain that I have ever heard, being no doubt referable to a Norwegian origin.

SAND VOE TO ROENESS VOE.

The small tract of country between Feideland and Sand Voe possesses not the least
interest. Its bleak coast to the west affords a refuge for seals and otters, and its forlorn

1 Festum St Martini Bullientis ? la For a " that -

2 Last year. 13 Gunwale of the boat.

3 A sufficient quantity of bait. Knife.

< Stones u.-ed for sinking the lines or tows. 15 Cut the 'ine to which the hook is attached.

5 Laid their lines to sea-ward. 16 Put U P the mast and reef the saiI -

6 Threw their last or outer buoy. 17 Hercules.

1 It began to blow an increasing breeze from the south- 18 The aftermost thwart but one.

east , 19 Gilbert.

8 Buoy." 20 Bale.

9 H au ] 21 Pieces of wood that cross the boat to strengthen it under the

10 Keep the lines at the thowl on which they rest in hauling. thwarts.

11 Two or three. M Emptied.

1TER IV .] SAND VOE TO ROENESS VOE. 2 25

inland tracts for mountain sheep. Sand Voe is a channel hemmed in with irregular ridge-
shaped hills, which appear broken into many various shapes, while they stretch so far into the
land as almost to meet the inlet of North Roe, and to intersect with it the northern district
of Northmavine. At Roer Mill, Mr Sinclair's factor receives and cures the fish that are
obtained at Uyea Haaf. Leaving Sand Voe to the east, a desart range of precipices dis-
played itself on the northern coast, backed by the ruddy eminence of Roeness. At
Uyea, the north-westerly angle of Northmavine, there is a large verdant holm, that
affords one of the richest pastures for cattle which is to be found in the country ;
and on the mainland adjoining to it, a number of fishermen have erected their rude
summer lodges. While the fishing season lasts, these men repair to their station
every Monday morning, and are employed until the Friday or Saturday following. During
this period they have but few hours for rest. On the return of a boat from the Haaf, the
fishermen are first engaged in spreading out their tows to dry ; then a part of the men catch
piltocks with a rod and line, or procure other kinds of bait at a distance from shore, — while
others again mend the tows, and cook victuals for the next day's voyage to the Haaf.
Owing to all these successive and rapid demands on the time of a crew, their sleep must be
very trifling, not exceeding, as is supposed, two or three hours in the twenty-four. When
piltocks and haddocks cannot be procured for bait, which is a rare circumstance, halibut,
cod, tusk, and even ling are substituted.

I sailed from Uyea to Roeness Voe, along the range of vast impending cliffs of granite
open to the Atlantic, that form the western coast of Northmavine. The remarkable inva-
sion of a dike of greenstone, which is fantastically displayed in a natural section of the
mountain of Roeness, — the subordinate inequality of lesser crags that have been separated
by encroachments of the sea, — the numberless seals that bask on low ledges, within dark
caverns, or that follow the boat, eyeing it with evident marks of curiosity, — the stacks that
boldly rise from the expanse of the ocean, together with the distant skerry of Ossa, inhabited
by the greater gulls, — these are the objects which form the interesting display of coast and
mountain scenery on the west of Northmavine. I at length arrived at Roeness Voe, a
considerable inlet, seven miles in extent, which, with Quayfirth Voe, nearly divides in two
the parish of Northmavine. To the north it opens into the sea; but as it winds in its
inland course round the steep hill of Roeness, it is closed in by the land, and expanded like
a lake. On the south of the Voe there is a cottage or two, with a few temporary huts, built
for the accommodation of the natives employed during the summer in the deep water
fishery. Here, also, may be seen a solitary knoll, that commemorates an event which
took place in the reign of Charles II., when a Dutch sixty-gun ship came into this estuary,
to harbour in it during the winter. England being then at war with Holland, an express
was sent by the Shetlanders to the British Government, who dispatched two frigates to
Roeness Voe. They there met with the enemy's vessel, an engagement took place, and
after a severe contest she was captured. A number of the Hollanders being killed, their
bodies were interred at a place that is still named the Dutchman's Knoll.

From the Voe I ascended Roeness Hill by a very steep side. Its surface abounds
with several alpine plants. Its height, which is the most considerable in Shetland, has been

226 FISHING-TENURES OF SHETLAND. [ITER IV

estimated at 1447 feet. To the north there was nothing in view but the red barren scalp
of a mountain of granite, affording in its hollows a receptacle for deep pools of water, —
except a woodless tract, the haunt of wild mountain sheep, — the prospect being closed by
the northern sea and the skerries of Feideland. On my right was the wide estuary of Yell
Sound, with its rocky promontories, and the long parallel ranges of mountain summits and
intermediate hollows that distinguish the Island of Yell. In an opposite direction, where
the western waves murmured at the foot of the mountain, the eye might roam over the
wide domain of the Atlantic. The immense bay of St Magnus lay to the south, with
its several estuaries and swelling shores, the bold island of Foula being in distant perspec-
tive. But to the south-east Thule has assumed her wildest dress, — she has decorated this
vast collection of leafless mountains, — this assemblage of rocks piled upon rocks, of different
shapes and elevations, — with thickly-studded lakes and voes, and with the habitations of
men, all in their rudest form. On the highest part of Roeness Hill, stands a watch-tower of
a circular shape, composed of rude uncemented stones of granite, and capable of containing
within it about six people: — it is doubtful, however,' if the appearance it presents is that of
its original form. The fishermen are careful in preserving it entire, since it is found an
useful land-mark at sea.

FISHING-TENURES OF SHETLAND.

When at Roeness Voe, I was obliged, before I could pursue my tour, to set off for
Colafiord, half a mile distant, and from thence to cross Yell Sound. At the south-west
angle of Yell, the crew of a six-oared boat had come in from the Fiedeland Haaf, having in
bad weather lost the fleet of tows that they had laid, the value of which was estimated at a
sum exceeding twenty pounds. Thus were gone at one stroke the profits of the year ; the
poor fellows would be even indebted to their masters, and a season or two must pass over
their heads, before they would be enabled to recover themselves from their misfortune. I
shall never forget the looks of despair that the men expressed, when they had to relate their
story, — how the hopes of supporting their family with independence were thus blighted.
An adject dependence is the consequence that ensues from the state of tenures in Shetland.
The landlord lets his land for one year only, in consideration of a certain rate that was
regulated by the ancient rental of Shetland ; he undertakes, at the same time, to advance a
tenant the articles necessary for the ling-fishery, such as boats and lines, requiring from him
the same profit that a buyer would expect from a seller; but in lieu of all these offers, the
tenant must enter into an obligation to deliver the fish which he takes at a stipulated price.
A system such as this cannot but be objectionable ; it had its origin in the debased political
state of the country, which was occasioned by the fraudulent doubling of its weights and
measures, and by excessive feudal exactions, all of which are attributable to the number of
mesne lords and farmers of the Crown-revenues, that in ancient times ravaged Orkney and
Shetland. These oppressions so impoverished the peasantry, that upon the revival of the
ling-fishery, their landlords were obliged to furnish them on trust, with boats and lines

ITER iv.] FISHING-TENURES OF SHETLAND. 227

necessary for carrying on the business. This advance became ever afterwards involved in
the system of Shetland tenures ; and, for the cause stated, it ought to be criticised with
much lenity. That it opens a wide field for oppression, against the temptation of which no
country, where human passions prevail, is proof, it would be absurd to deny. An unfavour-
able state of the weather occurring throughout the short summer season in which the
fishermen repair to the Haaf, or a loss of lines or boats, may oblige the tenant to become a
debtor to his landlord, and actuated under these circumstances, by a threat of distrain or
ejectment, he may assent to any slavish conditions which a task-master may choose to
dictate. These are certainly very possible results that must arise from such a system, and
whether, under the fear of them, the moral character of the Shetland tenant has not been
in some degree debased, and his stimulus to exertion checked, I shall leave for those to
determine, who are better acquainted than myself with the internal state of the country.
The late Mr Cheyne of Tanwick, however, who was both a considerable landholder himself
and a tacksman, made his dependents forget the power that the tenures of the country threw
into his hands ; he attended to their wants, and encouraged their exertions in so many
different ways, that he had the sntisfaction, before he died, of seeing the tenants under his
influence pre-eminent in the country as an industrious, enterprising, and contented race of
people. His example, also, has been imitated with success by other gentlemen in North-
mavine. But this circumstance argues little in favour of the tenures of Shetland. A people
may flourish under a good king, though the system of the government be arbitrary ; but the
system is not to be defended on this account, since a successor may rule with a rod of iron.
It is, however, creditable to the present race of Shetland landlords, that they are fully sensi-
ble of the advantages to be derived from letting land at a definite price, independent of the
obligation of fishing, and of paying tenants a regular price for their fish, that may correspond
with the fluctuations of the market. Yet, after all, the introduction of any new description of
tenures must be necessarily a slow process ; for I have frequently had opportunies of seeing,
that the objection against it chiefly arises on the part of the tenants themselves, who, though
familiarized all their lifetime to a system which they are conscious is a bad one, are, not-
withstanding, unwilling to exchange it for one of which they have had no experience. It
was long ago remarked by a writer, strenuous for the support of the present state of Shetland
tenures, that the fishermen were so poor that they durst not fish for themselves, fearing, that
if they were deprived of the support of their landlords, they should perish for want. This
assertion affords the best argument that can be produced for the necessity of a change of
system. A sense of dependency in the human mind, is too often the forerunner of an
inactive and unadventurous state of poverty.

It is very unfortunate for the tenants, and must be annoying to the feelings of the
respectable ministers of Shetland, that the teinds are drawn in kind.* These are, for the
most part, farmed by tacksmen, who exact for every milch-cow from two to four marks of
butter ; for each sheep under the number of thirty id or 2d per head, or for thirty head
one mark of butter and three marks of wool ; for each six-oared boat 1 J^ cwt. wet fish ; for

* The penalty of concealing teinds was, by an ancient act of the country, ,£10 Scots.

2 28 HILLSWICK. [ITER IV

each four-oared boat i cwt. ; for each mark of land three quarters of a can or gallon of oil,
and from three to four marks of butter. Such are sums disbursed by the Shetland fisher-
man to the church ; but to his immediate landlord, or to his superior, he owes scatt, land-
tax, land-maills, wattle, ox-money and sheep-money, three days service (the same being due
to the clergyman,) poultry fowls (similar to the Scotch canage), school-penny and hawkhens.

The complicated system of Shetland tenures, has been complained of as giving an
illegal encouragement to a number of clandestine traders in fish. Thus, when a needy
tenant was obliged to sell his landlord all the ling, cod, or tusk that he caught, at a certain
rate for each fish, he was tempted to violate this contract, by privately disposing of them,
often at a better price, to private dealers. The landlord could not always detect this fraud,
but in order to prevent the largest of the ling or cod from disappearing, he paid his tenant a
certain sum, reckoned by the weight of the fish.

I engaged the boat that had been so unfortunate as to lose its lines, to convey me
across Yell Sound. A sudden squall came on, which, conspiring with the rousts of the
channel, gave me a complete wetting ; but landing at Glus Air late in the evening, every
accommodation was kindly provided for me by Mr Henderson of Bardister. On the next
morning I proceeded west, mounted on a shelty, over the soft scatholds of the country,
frequently slackening the reins, and allowing the animal to exert the particular sagacity for
which he is celebrated, by chusing for himself the firmest road : — I was not deceived in
him, for, after little hesitation or floundering, he soon arrived with me safe at

HILLSWICK.

The Ness of Hillswick is a bold, narrow headland, two miles in length, and not ex-
ceeding half a mile in breadth, being joined to the Mainland by a narrow isthmus ; it is
broken on the west and south into steep cliffs, the easterly banks sloping gradually towards
the shore. On the north-east, there is a small bay, containing good anchorage for vessels,
and the isthmus has to boast of a parish kirk, and two well built houses. The largest
mansion is occupied by Messrs Cheyne, having warehouses and cellars attached to it, and
before the door a spacious beach of stones cast up from the sea, which in this country, is
particularly valuable for drying fish. On the east of the Ness, a narrow stripe of land
stretches out that is named the Taing of Torness. The word Taing expresses the character
of the Idw projecting cape; and as for Torness. the antiquary is at perfect liberty to suppose
it a corruption of T/iors Ness. As we approach the south of the Ness, it is iiupossihle to
withhold our astonishment at the immense veins of red porphyry ramifying among dark
strata of gneiss, and distorting them in the most remarkable manner. The Huttonian
would regard such veins as flung up by some internal convulsion ; but they rather suggest
the comparison made by a French geologist, in the true spirit of petromania, "of a sea con-
solidated in a storm, the violence of which may still be seen in its petrified waves. In
doubling the headland, I arrived at the Stack of Sound, where strata of gneiss and horn-
blende presented the most picturesque distorsions that can well be imagined ; and farther to

ITER IV.] HILLSWICK. 229

the north-west, perpendicular cliffs arose, shewing an endless variety of bold advancing pro-
monotories and deep indentations or gios; but at the most westerly point of the Ness, the sub-
limity of the scene was complete. The sun shone in full splendour, and beamed on certain tall
stacks, issuing from ocean's depths like sea-encompassed towers. On this account, they have
had the same Scandinavian name given to them, which similar shaped rocks still bear in
Feroe, of Drenge or Drongs. They present a variety of shapes as they are seen from different
parts at sea, having been oftened likened to a small fleet of vessels with spread sails.
Nearer the shore, the sea struggles through a cluster of other crags, which in some places
rise in large masses above its surface, and in others, appear through the transparency of the
stream, shelving to a fathomless depth. On the west, the Ness, which is exposed to the
fury of the western ocean, is advanced into a lofty eminence; and near the summit of it, a
red unhewn obelisk of granite, mantled with grey moss, being the memorial of far remote
times, shews its venerable head. (See Plate IV.)

The curing and drying of fish taken at the Stenness Haaf, is conducted at Hillswick
with great regularity, a bell ringing for the cessation and resumption of labour. When a
boat comes on shore, the ling, cod and tusk that have been taken at the Haaf, are in a
gutted state, and with their heads taken off, delivered by weight to the factor. A splitter,
as he is called, then, with a large knife, cuts a fish open from the head to the tail, and takes
out half the back bone next the head ; he now hands it over to the washet, who, with a
heath brush, and the assistance of the sea water, clears away every particle of blood. When
all the fish are in this way split and washed, they are allowed to drain ; after which comes
the Salter, who places at the bottom of a large wooden vat a stratum of salt, and over it one
of fish with the skin-side undermost, until the chest is filled with alternating layers, and
above all are laid heavy stones to keep the fish under the pickle. After remaining in the
vat some days, they are taken out, well washed and brushed in a direction from the shoulder
to the tail, and put up in small heaps called clamps, in order to allow the water, to drain off.
The fish are next spread out with the skin-side undermost, and exposed to the action of the
sun. on a beach composed of round stones, where they are again damped, and thus alter-
nately spread out, turned and disposed into piles of a gradually increasing size, until dry.
They are afterwards built into a large stack named a steeple; and, for the sake of equal
pressure, the steeple is again taken down and rebuilt, by which means the fish that were the
uppermost in one steeple, are the undermost in another. When the drying, ox pining, as it
is called, has been completed, which is indicated by a white efflorescence appearing on the
surface named the bloom, the fish are transported to a dry cellar lined with wood, and there
piled up closely, or shipped off immediately to a market. A well cured fish is said to be of
a greenish-white colour, and when held in the light is translucent.

While I was at Hillswick, a sloop came into the harbour, belonging to Mr Gifford of
Busta, loaded with fish, which had been taken from a cod-bank recently discovered to the
west of Foula.* Mr Stevenson, whose knowledge of this coast is very extensive, considered

* Aware of the importance of the discovery in a national point of view, I ommitted no opportunity afforded me to procure
every information in my pow=r, with regard to its situation, extent, and productiveness; and a very brief account of the result of
my inquiry was communicated to the public in January 1819, and a more full one afterwards throught the medium of the Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal. The testimonies which I obtained from various individuals, only disagreed on subordinate points.

23O REGENTS FISHING BANK. [ITER IV.

it of such importance, as to propose for it the name, which I shall follow him in adopting, of

THE REGENT'S FISHING BANK.

This cod-bank has been described to me as having a breadth averaging from fifteen to
twenty miles, — as commencing from the west of Westray, in Orkney, and as having been
traced in a direction nearly N. by W., until Foula appears to the east, or even south-east ;
but it is very doubtful if its extent be known. The depth of the water on the bank is
estimated from 30 to 50 fathoms ; its surface being in some places rocky, and in others
sandy ; it is also covered with buckies, mussels, and razor-fish.

In connection with the history of this bank, it may not be uninteresting to learn if it
was really known to those nations who cannot be accused of a supineness in the prosecution
of their fisheries, and, for this purpose, my inquiries will be directed to the Dutch, who,
for nearly three centuries, have been the principal fishers frequenting the coast of Shetland.
Captain Smith, who, in the year 1633, by order of the Earl of Pembroke, and the British
Fishery Company of London, visited Shetland, saw 1500 sail of busses, of 80 tons each,
taking herrings on this coast, and with them, as he adds, " a small fleet of dogger-boats,
which were of the burden of 60 tons and upward, which did fish only with hooks and lines
for ling and cod. Many of these boats and busses came in to several havens or sounds, to
fit and trim themselves. One thing was observable, that within eight or ten. days after the
dogger-boats went to sea, they came into the sound again so full laden as they could swim.
The certain number of dogger-boats I could not learn, but the general report was about
400." In Sir Robert Sibbald's description of Shetland, written A.D. 171 1, we learn "that
the Dutch employed hundreds of doggers for the taking of cod."

But in the year 1774, the mode of prosecuting the cod fishery was witnessed and
accurately described by Mr Low, from whose manuscript tour in Shetland I shall make the
following transcript. " Besides the herring busses, the Dutch have doggers on the cod
fishery. These are going and coming from early spring, through the whole summer. They
are fitted out in this manner, — the owner of the dogger lays in provisions, salt and casks,
which are paid for out of the first returns of the voyage ; about a fourth of what remains is
the property of the owner of the dogger, and the remainder is divided among the crew.
Each dogger has ten men and two boys, the half of whom sleep while the others are
employed in fishing. As soon as they catch a cod, they cut its throat, and soon after lay it
in salt ; every man salting and packing his own barrel. When these fishermen come first
on the coast, they use the lesser lamprey for bait, kept alive in fresh-water wells on board,
and continually stirred (which is done by the boys) while in harbours, to keep them in
motion, otherwise they immediately die ; but at sea this is done by the motion of the ship.
They prefer this kind of bait to all others for a cod, but when there is a failure of it, each of
the doggers is provided with eight herring nets, for catching herring after the month of June
comes on. To hinder the too rapid motion of the vessel, which would prevent their lines
from taking the bottom, each has what is called a drove-sail, or one which hangs under

ITER IV.] REGENTS FISHING BANK. 23 I

water, and effectually stops her way, and they can then pursue their business at leisure."

It was long after the departure of the Dutch from the Shetland coast, that the cod
fishery, by means of decked vessels, was languidly revived. About ten or twelve years
since, a few vessels, from 6 to 35 tons burthen, and carrying from six to eight hands, first
prosecuted a fishery for cod off the coasts of Shetland, using hand lines, baited with two or
three hooks. They seldom went farther to look for fish than the immediate neighbourhood
of Foula or Fair Isle ; their search was highly desultory, and their success proportionably
uncertain; it rarely happened that vessels of only 10 to 30 tons, after being employed a week
in fishing, returned to their several harbours, like the Dutch doggers described by Smith,
" so full laden as they could swim." For this reason, I am strongly inclined to suspect that
the bank was, two centuries ago, well known to Holland, and that the knowledge of it was
either carefully withheld from this nation in particular, or, which is more probable, regarded
by us with such an indifference, that when the Dutch left these shores, it was soon forgotten
that such a bank existed. It, however, appears from the testimony of Mr Low, in his Fauna
Orcadensis, that a bank lying to the north-west of the Burgh of Birsay was well known in
Orkney ; but that it extended to the west of Foula, and perhaps much farther north, was a
circumstance undiscovered. " The cod-fish," he remarks, " is found in swarms on the
banks all round the coasts, but is very little sought after. Of old this was not the case.
Merchants from the south had their factors here, and many fish were yearly made and
transported from these isles. Now all is sunk in idolence and sloth."" Additional evidence
relating to an -accidental visit to the bank, has been politely given me by Mr Sheriff Dnncan
of Lerwick. " I recollect," he remarks, " that a vessel came into Bressay Sound several
years ago, with her decks filled with cod. I was told by the master of the vessel, that they
had been caught to the northward of the Orkneys, during two or three hours of a calm.
The master must therefore have been upon the bank when he fell in with the fish, since it
stretches round the northward of these islands." Mr Neill, also, in his Tour through
Orkney and Shetland, during the summer of 1804, has the following observations on the
fishery of the north of Orkney, which no doubt took place on the southerly commencement
of the cod-bank of Shetland, now named the Regent's Fishing Bank. " We weighed
anchor," he states, " in the afternoon, and got under way with a gentle breeze. The sailors
being provided with strong lines, we here lay to, and fished for cod and haddock. So abun-
dunt were all kinds of fish in this place, that in an hour our deck was strewed with about
fifty fine firm cod-fish, besides some haddocks of a large size. This was not two miles
distant from Papa Westray ; yet we saw no boat engaged in this tick fishery / How supine
is such conduct." — With regard to the recent discovery of the Regent's Fishing Bank,
it is I believe attributed to some of the vessels latest engaged in the cod fishing.* From
that time, the average quantity of cod, annually taken, has much increased.

The obstacles incidental to the present mode of conducting the fishery, chiefly refer to
a supply of bait. That which is used by the Shetland fishermen, consists of the Mytilus
modiolus of yoags, of a large species of whelk, and other shell-fish common to almost every

• The discovery of it is claimed by three or more parties ; to whom it is properly due, I know not.

232 HELGA WATER. [ITER IV.

northern coast. These are abundantly found in the numerous voes of the country. But it
unfortunately happens, that when vessels run short of bait, they are obliged to quit the
fishing bank with all expedition, and thus sustain a serious loss, which, as Mr Low has
shewn, was not the case when the Dutch prosecuted the fishery, who depended for their
first supply of bait upon the lampreys that they brought with them from their own coasts ;
and afterwards upon their nets which they spread out to take herring for the same purpose.

It has been always supposed that the cod prepared in Shetland will maintain its pre-
eminence over that of other places. The Newfoundland fishermen are described as
exposing their fish, after it has been salted, on standing flakes, made by a slight wattle, and
supported by poles often 20 feet from the ground. But the humidity is not near so well
extracted from the fish as when, according to the Shetland method, they are carefully laid
out upon dry beaches, the stones of which have been, during winter, exposed to the abrad-
ing action of the ocean, and are thus cleared from vegetable and animal matter.

The discovery of the cod-bank has already proved of great importance to the country.
Employment has been given to many seamen, and an opportunity has been afforded them,
by purchasing small shares of vessels manned by themselves, of investing, to the greatest
advantage, the profits of their severe labours in remoter climates.* When we also take into
consideration, the improved state of our coasting navigation, it may justify the expectation,
that, from this northern source, an economical and nutritious food may eventually come
within the reach of the populous districts of our manufacturing counties, the alleviation of
whose wants has always actively engaged the attention of the most enlightened of our
countrymen.

HELGA WATER.

A mile or two to the north west of Hillswick, among the hills, is a very small pool
named Helga Water, or the Water of Health. The reverence that was anciently paid to
lakes or wells for their supposed sanative virtues, forms a striking feature of the early
supersition of Orkney and Shetland. It was probably derived from the dry and parched
countries of the east, being early perpetuated by the Asiatic followers of Odin, in connection
with the bubbling streams that issue from the less arid soil in Europe ; or probably the
Scandinavians might have copied the supersition from the Celts, who paid homage to a
peculiar god that presided over all the waters, under the name of Niord or Neith. In
Shetland he was recognised by the name of the Shoopiltee. While the Romans confined
the dominion of Neptune to the seas, and gave the guardianship of wells and fountains to
Nymphs, in honour of whom they instituted certain festivals named Fontinalia, the water-
god of the Celtic and Teutonic tribes had not only a controul over the sea, but over all
rivers, lakes, brooks, and springs. Neckar (as the deity was named in the north of Europe)
was wont to assume the form of various animals, also of a horseman, or of a man in a boat.

* It is worthy <->f remark, that several of the vessels which have fished this season, have, for their joint proprietors, sailors who
have saved a little money in the navy or in the Greenland fishery. In Scalloway, a company of this deserving class of people were
highly successful in the prosecution of their new object.

ITER IV.] HELGA WATER. 233

In Orkney, the same spirit, under a different appellation, had something of a human shape,
though inclined to the nature of a horse, and was decked with fuci and other productions of
the sea :* in Shetland, he took the decided form of a shelty, making his most frequent
haunts near water-mills, but when observed, hastily withdrawing himself into a burn, or
vanishing in a flash of fire.

This deity, or water-trow, is the same to whom the Edda recommends the offering of a
prayer for success in navigation, hunting and fishing, since he gives to his votaries treasures,
and even kingdoms. The inhabitants of Lewis formerly sacrificed to him, in the hopes that
he would send them plenty of sea-ware, for the purpose of enriching their ground. But
although he figures away with the northern mycologists as the ruler of winds, of waves, and
of fire, his goodness was ever considered no less uncertain than the deceitful elements over
which he had command. The Scandinavians, therefore, denied that he was of the true
lineage of the gods, but deemed it prudent that some token of submission, though it might
be of the smallest value, should be made to him on account of his power. In St Kilda, it
consisted of shells, pebbles, worn-out rags, pins, rusty nails, or some mean description of
currency. The Lewismen, with more liberality, cast into the sea, at Hallowtide, a cup of
good ale. In Unst, it was customary to repair to the head of a stream, named Yelaburn, or
the Burn of Health, and to throw, as an acknowledgment to the water-god, three stones on
an adjoining site of ground. The pool of Helga Water also appears to have been formerly
visited by the natives with superstitious views, and with perhaps the same mysterious cere-
monies that were used from time immemorial in Orkney, such as walking round it in the
course of the sun, observing strict silence in their perambulations, taking up water in their
hands, and casting it on their heads. But when Christianity was introduced into the
country, and when the priests found it impossible to root from the people their ancient
Pagan customs, it is not unlikely that they took away the government of this pool from a
water-deity, and gave it to some favourite saint. Thus there is a rude stone, with a small
cavity in it, probably a natural one, that held water, which might have been sanctified with
Christian ceremony, in order to repay the pilgrimage made to it by the zealous imbiber.

The water deity of the Celts and Teutones was ever regarded with great alarm. It was
a popular superstition, that when a person fell into the water, the lips of this god were
applied to his nostrils, and through such a conveyance his blood was sucked out; hence the
redness that appears in the face of drowned persons. On account, therefore, of these
destructive propensities, a Teutonic name was awarded to him of Nocka, Nickur, or Necker,
answering to the Latin fiecare, and giving origin, as many profound antiquarians have sup-
posed, to the name of Old Nick, that the English have so long applied to the devil. In
Scotland, the appearance of this demoniacal Neptune is always considered as a prognostica-
tion of the swelling of rivers, and of deaths taking place from drowning ; it is then that he

* In Ben's Description of Orkney, written A.D. 1529, the god is thus described : " Initus est algis marinis toto corpore,
similis est pullo equino convolute pilis, membrum habet simile equino et testiculos magnos." An exquisite story is at the same
time told of the adrlresses which he paid to a female of Stronsay : " Mulier illic erat formosa maritata colono forti ; ipsa verebatur
spiritu maximo, invito marito, concubantibus in uno thoro, et naturaliter concubuit cum muliere ut videbatur. Mulier tandem
macera facta est pra; dolore. Hortatus sum ut vacaret precatione eleemesyna et jejunio quod et fecit ; durante anno siccine
turbata est." — Barry's Orkney, p. 435.

234 TANGWICK TO ROENESS VOE.

[ITER IV.

comes under various shapes, such as the river-horse, or the bull of the waters. In Shetland,
the same deity, the Shoopiltee, assumes the form of a beautiful shelty, inviting some one 10
mount him, when he immediately runs into the sea and drowns his rider.

When the warlocks of Shetland communed with various demons, known by the name
of Sea-trows and Land-trows, the beneficial acquaintance of an unearthly nature would be
made with the Shoopiltee. John Sutherland, for instance, of Papa Stour, who, not half a
century ago, was accustomed, at the distant Haaf, to haul up, whenever he was hungry, a
cod ready dressed, was perhaps indebted to his friendship with this water-trow, for his
demoniacal repast.

TANGWICK TO ROENESS VOE.

Tangwick, lying to the west of Hillswick, was, when I visited it, the residence of Mr
Cheyne, the representative of an ancient respectable family that settled in Shetland from
Aberdeenshire.* The shores near Tangwick are low ; farther to the west, as we approach
Stenness, Doreholm rises from the surface of the sea, hollowed out on the west by the
incessant action of the waves and atmospheric elements, into a' spacious arch 70 feet high.
The holm is visited by the black and white gull, the puffin ( Alca Arcica). and the kitty-
wake. Farther west, dark reddish rocks of secondary porphyry are formed by the sea into
steep cliffs, and on approaching Stenness, a considerable number of the rude lodges of
fishermen, overtopped with a factor's booth, rise above the black crags that line the coast.
The Isle of Stenness, and the Skerry of Eshaness, appear at a short distance, exposed to
the uncontrolled fury of the Western Ocean. The isle presents a scene of unequalled
desolation. In stormy winters, huge blocks of stones are overturned, or are removed far
from their native beds, and hurried up a slight acclivity to a distance almost incredible. In
the winter of 1802, a tabular-shaped mass, 8 feet 2 inches by 7 feet, and 5 feet 1 inch thick,
was dislodged from its bed, and removed to a distance of from 80 to 90 feet. I measured
the recent bed from which a block had been carried away the preceding winter (A.I).
1 818), and found it to be 17^ feet by 7 feet, and the depth 2 feet 8 inches. The removed
mass had been borne to a distance of 30 feet, when it was shivered into thirteen or more
lesser fragments, some of which were carried still farther, from 30 to 120 feet. A block 9
feet 2 inches by 6)^ feet, and 4 feet thick, was hurried up the acclivity to a distance of 150
feet. Such is the devastation that has taken place amidst this wreck of nature. Close to
the Isle of Stenness is the Skerry of Eshaness, formidably rising from the sea, and shewing
on its westerly side a steep precipice, against which all the force of the Atlantic seems to
have been expended : it affords a refuge for myriads of kittiwakes, whose shrill cries,
mingling with the dashing of the waters, wildly accord with the terrific scene that is pre-
sented on every side.

* This gentleman, since I left Shetland, died at a very advanced age. His memory will ever be held dear in the country, for
the judicious and kind treatment he shewed to his tenantry, and for the proof that he established of the effects which a liberal
treatment to dependents might have in increasing their active and industrious spirit ; the result having been alike beneficial to both
landlord and tenant.

ITER NT.] TANGWICK TO ROENESS VOE. 235

The fishing station of Stenness is occupied by the tenants of Messrs Cheyne, who, from
the liberal manner in which they are treated, bear the character of being the best fishermen
in the country. About seventy boats are annually employed at the Stenness Haaf. It is
computed, that between the middle of May and the 12th of August, when the ling fishery
ceases, a boat makes about eighteen trips to the Haaf. Most of the ling, cod, and tusk that
are cured in Northmavine go to Ireland ; other markets are found for them by Scottish and
English merchants, in Barcelona, Lisbon, Ancona, and Hamburgh. The dangers that the
boats run at the Haaf have often suggested the expediency of employing small decked
vessels for the fishery. Accordingly, there was an undertaking of this kind set on foot
about half a century ago, but it was in every respect ill managed, and failed.

Leaving Eshaness, where may be observed an immense block of granite, not less than
three yards in diameter, thrown up by the sea, I pursued my way north, along a high
gradually ascending ridge that impends the ocean, which is covered by the finest and softest
sward that ever refreshed the tired feet of the traveller, being frequently resorted to by the
inhabitants of Northmavine, on a fine Sabbath evening, as a sort of promenade. The
verdure that embroiders this proud bank, on which numerous sheep continually feed,
pleasingly harmonizes, on a calm day, with the glassy surface of the wide Atlantic ; nor is
the pleasure less perfect, when the smooth coating of so luxuriant a green turf is con-
trasted with the naked red crags that form the precipice below, whitened with the spray
of the breakers which continually dash against them with angry roaring. The rich surface
of pasture that thus gradually shelves from the elevated ridge of the coast, bears the name
of the Villans of Ure; — and well might we apply to this favoured spot of Thule, the compli-
ment that has been often paid to some rich vale of England, — "Fairies joy in its soil."
After a distance of three miles, this gladdening prospect of fertility is suddenly closed with
the harsher features that Hialtland usually wears. Near the mountain lake of Houland,
where a burgh built on a holm close to its shore displays its mouldering walls, the coast
resumes its wild aspect.

A large cavernous aperture, ninety feet wide, shows the commencement of two contigu-
ous immense perforations, named the Holes of Scraada, where, in one of them that runs
250 feet into the land, the sea flows to its utmost extremity. Each has an opening at a
distance from the ocean, by which the light of the sun is partially admitted. Farther north,
other ravages of the ocean are displayed. A mass of rock, the average dimensions of which
may perhaps be rated at twelve or thirteen feet square, and four and a half or five feet in
thickness, was first moved from its bed, about 50 years ago, to a distance of thirty feet, and
has since been twice turned over. But the most sublime scene is where a mural pile of
porphyry, escaping the process of disintegration that is devastating the coast, appears to
have been left as a sort of rampart against the inroads of the ocean ; — the Atlantic, when
provoked by wintry gales, batters against it with all the force of real artillery, — the waves
having in their repeated assaults forced for themselves an entrance. This breach, named the
Grind of the Navir, is widened every winter by the overwhelming surge, that, finding a
passage through it, separates large stones from its side, and forces them to a distance of no
less than 180 feet. In two or three spots, the fragments which have been detached are

236 TANGWICK TO ROENE5S VOE.

[ITER IV.

brought together in immense heaps, that appear as an accumulation of cubical masses, the
product of some quarry. ( See Plate V.)

From Navir I returned to Tangvvick, with the intent to pursue my journey the following
day farther north, to Roeness Voe, and in my way passed Cross Kirk, now almost erased to
the ground, which was one of the most famous kirks in Shetland. Orkney and Shetland
were very late in embracing the tenets of Christianity. The first person commissioned
by Olaus, King of Norway, to baptize the pagans of Hialtland, was Sigismund Brette-
son, a hero of Feroe, whom the Scalds, in marvellous stories of his prowess, have
celebrated in their songs. But the light of Christianity was at first feebly opposed to
the phantoms of the Scandinavian mythology. The temples at Unst and at other places
dedicated to Odin, or to Thor, long retained their influence over the popular mind. In
Orkney, it was customary, even in the last century, for lovers to meet within the large
circle of stones that had been in the earliest times dedicated to the chief of the Scandinavian
gods. Through a large hole in one of the pillars, the hands of the contracting parties were
joined, and the faith they plighted was named the promise of Odin, to violate which was
infamous. The chief Christian Saint of Orkney and Shetland was Magnus, once partaker,
in the 13th century, with Hacon, his cousin, in the earldom of Orkney. He was a meek
ruler, worthy a throne in the period of the Millenium, since he refused to fight against men
from whom he had received no injury. Hacon was his deadly foe, and Magnus, attended
with unarmed men of peace, went to meet him, by appointment, in an island of Orkney,
hoping for conciliation, while Hacon repaired thither, with warriors well accoutred, and
instantly doomed his cousin to death. Vainly did the pious Magnus entreat that his
adversary would not by such an act lose the protection of heaven — recommending him to
pronounce a sentence of banishment — of imprisonment for life, conjoined even with the
mutilation of limbs, or the privation of sight, — any thing, rather than take away an innocent
life. Hacon was inexorable; his victim then, with all the fortitude of a martyr, bent forward
his head, and an executioner cut it off at a single blow. After his death, he was sainted by
the Pope ; a grand cathedral was dedicated to him in Kirkwall, and numbers repaired to
his tomb, where, with the assistance of proper oblations and ceremonies, they were cured
of their diseases.*

All the ecclesiastical buildings of Shetland appear to have been devoid of the least
show and ornament, the ingenuity of the architect extending little farther than in con-
structing a round vaulted roof. The pointed arch, the pinnacled buttress, or the rich stone
canopy, never dignified the chapels of humble Hialtland. The number of them, however,
was remarkably great. The parish of Yell, for instance, boasted twenty chapels, when only
two or three are used at the present day. Many of these buildings may be attributed to
wealthy udallers, who generally had a private oratory contiguous to their dwellings ; others
were erected by foreign seamen, in fulfilment of their vows to some tutelar saint, who had
been miraculously preserved on these dreaded shores from shipwreck or from death. They

* Among those in Hialtland who were miraculously healed by the interference of the Saint, the names are recorded in the
Orkneyinga Saga of Bergfinr, Amundi Illhugason, Sigurdr Tandrasonn of Dale, Thorbiorn Olafson, Sigridr daughter of Sigurdar
of Sannd, Sigridr daughter of Arnfridar of Unustadir, and Sigridr of Aumstr.

ITER IV.] TANGWICK TO ROENESS VOE. 237

were variously dedicated to Our Lady, to St Olla, to St Magnus, to St Lawrence, to St
John, to St Paul, or to St Sineva.

Orkney and Shetland were late in receiving the Reformed Religion ; and when at
length it was ungraciously introduced by such an unworthy professor of it as Lord Robert
Stewart, the cidevant Abbot of Holyrood, no wonder that it should be necessary, at a very
late period, to issue out acts in Kirkwall, forbidding, under severe penalties, all idolatry,
such as walks and pilgrimages. In the commencement of the last century, many Romish
Festivals were still preserved, particularly those of Halloween, of St John's Mass, or
of Whitsuntide. The people had their fasts, in which they eat fish, or, in conformity
with an ancient church decree, they indulged themselves with the flesh of seals, which was
admitted as a lawful substitute, whenever it could be proved, that these animals, in having
been pursued, had betaken themselves for safety to sea, in preference to dry land. But the
greatest complaint that the clergymen of the Reformed Religion had to make against their
parishioners, was for their labour in preserving the old chapels that had been dedicated to
particular saints, or had been connected with the solemnization of Catholic Festivals, that
were held in abhorrence by the minister of the New Light. They were resorted to so late
as the beginning of the last century, upon every Easter Sunday, or during Lent. It was
therefore recommended, that, in order to purify these northern islands from the sour dregs
of Popish superstition and idolatry, all the old chapels should be rased, which might prove
as the taking away of a nest egg. Cross-Kirk in Northmavine had been one of the most
noted edifices in Shetland, for the superstitious reverence that was long paid to its vacant
walls. The devotee cast among the ruins of the church, as a religious offering, a small image
of silver, representing any particular part of his body, that might be afflicted with illness : — a
recovery was then fully anticipated. Even the shell-snails that infested the walls, were
supposed to be possessed of particular healing powers ; — they were dried, pulverised and
administered for the cure of jaundice. It was customary, long after the abolition of Popery,
to walk at Candlesmas to the chapel, in the dead of night, with lighted candles ; this being
the ceremony used in memory of Christ, the Spiritual Light. The tapers thus solemnised,
would, no doubt, be converted to the popular use which their well known virtues throughout
all Christendom have from time immemorial suggested ; they would be lighted up whenever
thunder was heard, or the malevolence of demons was apprehended. But at length came
Mr Hercules Sinclair, minister of Northmavine, mighty and fervent in zeal against all
idolatry, who, by rasing Cross-Kirk to the ground, succeeded, as Brand supposed, in making
the people of Northmavine more civilised than the rest of their neighbours. The crews of
the numerous French privateers, also, who, a century ago, landed in different parts of the
country, were coadjutors in so holy a work. They found the old chapels very convenient,
in a country like Shetland destitute of trees, for affording them a supply of fire-wood, and,
therefore, readily assisted in the pious labour of demolition.

There is a gravestone in Cross-Kirk which I overlooked, that contains a Runic inscrip-
tion. The copy of it, for which I am indebted to the MS. Tour of the late Mr Low,
appears in the Plate of Antiquities, at the end of this work.

After again visiting Navir, I arrived at Hamna Voe, a small but safe harbour, that

238 HILLSWICK TO MAVIS GRIND.

[ITER IV.

extends a mile and a half into the land, where the Messrs Cheyne have a factor's booth for
the curing of ling ; here also are a few fishing-lodges. The remains of three upright
stones denote The Gianfs Grave, respecting which tradition is silent. It is said, that an
ancient weapon was found in this vicinity, which, by the Antiquaries of Edinburgh, was
pronounced to be a Roman Pugio. But the shores of Hamna Voe deserves the most
particular notice, for giving birth to a native practitioner_of medicine, who well deserves the
erection of a monument to his name, for his successful treatment of the small-pox. This
disease, which in its dreaded visits, had periodically appeared once in about twenty years, com-
mitted great ravages in Shetland. Brand was told a centuary ago, that upon its occurrence,
a third of the inhabitants had died of this complaint. Mr Bruce of Urie estimated the
number, forty years ago, at a sixth. Not very long ago started up a successful inoculator
for variola, in the person of John Williamson of Hamna Voe, who, without recommending
that any medicines should be given as preparatory to the infection, or even during its
progress, proposed to use matter that had been deprived of its virulence, by being first dried
in peat-smoke, — then covered with camphor, — buried in the earth, and retained in this
situation for so long a period as seven or eight years. In the application of it, he carefully
raised with a knife, a very little of the outer skin of the arm, so that no blood should follow,
and insinuated beneath it, the smallest possible portion of the virus, healing the wound
with a common cabbage leaf. It was confidently maintained by the Reverend Mr Dishing-
ton of Yell, who published this account, that several thousand persons were thus inoculated,
without the loss of a single patient ; and that there was not an instance in which the infec-
tion had not taken place, and made its appearance at the usual time.

The large tract of country that lies between Hamna Voe and Roeness Voe is devoid of
the smallest degree of interest. Its banks are indented by the sea into numerous gios ; and
its hills are long, irregular, bleak and uninhabited. From Roeness Voe I returned to
Hillswick, with the intention to take my leave of Northmavine ; not, however, without
feeling the deepest obligations to Messrs Cheyne, for the unremitting attention paid me,
during the long period that I was employed in examining the geology of the parish.

HILLSWICK TO MAVIS GRIND.

From Hillswick Ness to Mavis Grind, a distance of eight miles, a wild tract of hills is
exhibited, not gentle in their ascent, but broken into numerous small craggy eminences,
thinly inhabited. Every height we ascend shews some new mountain lake, or on the coa~t
some deep indentation and extensive voe winding far into the land. Near Magnussetter
Voe, appears the small holm of Eagleshaw, where a perpendicular vein of greenstone, softer
than the included mass of the same kind within which it is contained, has yielded to a pro-
cess of disintegration, so as to convey the idea of a deep rent, dividing the island into twc
unequal parts. This appearance has given birth to a monstrous tale. The two sons of a
deceased udaller, in sharing their father's money between them, made use of a cylindrical
wooden vessel, named a cog, which, being unequally divided within, by means of a transverse

ITER IV.] REGULATIONS OF PARISHES. 239

piece of wood, formed, when turned on one end, double the measure that it was when
resting on the opposite margin. The younger son was blind, and the elder, in dealing out
the respective shares, clandestinely contrived to fill the greater measure for himself, and the
smaller one for his brother. "You have now your share of the money," said the heir whose
eyes were perfect. " I doubt it," said the blind one, " and may the Lord divide Eagleshaw
to-morrow as you have divided the money to-day." The defrauded son had his wish.
After a horrible night of thunder and lightning, the island was found in the morning split
across by a deep rent into two parts, one of which was just twice the size of the other.

Arriving at Mavis Grind, I took my leave of Northmavine, a parish inhabited by an
honest, enterprising, industrious, and civil people ; which is saying much, considering the
fate that has attended the provisions made by the country for the preservation of morals.
During the seventeenth century, whenever the ranselmen heard that there was any discord
or unbecoming carriage between husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant, or
any quarrels or scolding, he entered the house of the parties offending, rebuked them, and,
if his advice was unheeded, made a report of the domestic irregularity to the Bailiff.* Yet
strange to say, the landholders, in the year 1725, did not think the acts that concerned
domestic morals half strict enough ; they accused the country, at the same time, of all
manner of vices, as Sabbath-breaking, cursing, lying, fornication, malice, covetousness,
drunkenness, and abominable feuds between husband and wife. These they referred to a
neglect of religion and education, a fulness of bread, indifference of the civil officers and
ministers to their duty, and early marriages without means of subsistence. They com-
plained that Shetland was in a difficulty for the want of servants, which they conceived was
owing to the poverty of masters, who, on that account, could not afford to give their
dependents proper instruction. For all these reasons, they formed the ranselmen and
elders of each district into a society, for the regulation of servants and the reformation of
manners, with the power of inflicting penalties for offences ; three of their number being a
quorum. The officious and consequential ranselman could now boast additional and most
extraordinary powers : he could settle, with two of his compeers, every dispute between
master and servant ; he could determine the number and character of those who ought to
be kept ; he could dismiss from a house any dependent whose services he conceived were
superfluous, or he could transfer him to another family, who were in greater want of an
assistant. The ranselman could dictate to the poor father of a family, how many children
he might retain in his house for the purpose of assisting age and weakness ; or he could
prevent any servant after having left his place, from engaging himself elsewhere, without a
certificate of proper conduct from the society for the reformation of manners ; he could,

* This judge, when charges of scolding or abusive language came before him, had the power of punishing it with a penalty of
,£3 Scots, or of treating the delinquent more severely, if a perpetual scold.

24O REGULATIONS OF PARISHES. [ITER IV

lastly, prevent any stranger from being employed without a testimonial in his favour from
the elders and ranselmen of his own parish.

It is almost useless to inquire what must be the fate of such inquisitorial functions.
The society for the reformation of manners, as well as the ancient ranselman, gradually
fell into contempt. Under such circumstances, a complete laxity of morals must have
ensued, if the clergymen of the country had not availed themselves of the opportunity
afforded them of exercising their own proper province, — of succeeding to the duty of
correcting domestic immoralities, which had been improperly entrusted to a civil officer.
The increased influence which the minister has since possessed, appears, however, to have
been in no small degree strengthened by kirk-sessions, and by the heavy penalties of the
ancient country acts denounced against such offences as profane cursing and swearing,
violations of the Sabbath, or the refusal of a householder to afford his family instructions in
religion and morality. But this ascendancy, as I have had frequent occasion to witness, has
been no less maintained by the attention that the pastor pays to his parishioners, in giving
them solace or assistance, during hours of distress or sickness. The reverence with which
he is consequently held among the people, of whom he is a real guardian, has rendered the
occasional public censures which he bestows, a punishment of the most dreaded kind, and
highly effective among detached islands, that, from the frequent absence of landed posses-
sors of civil rank, cannot be otherwise under proper controul. I have, indeed, no where
seen more discreet and orderly parishioners than are to be found in Shetland.*

The cause of education has never met with liberal encouragement in Shetland. A
century ago, there was not even a school for the wealthier classes, " whereby," said Brand,
'' many promising and pregnant ingenys were lost ;" but shortly afterwards, the poor were
taught by a master sent over by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge.
In the year 1724, the landholders of the country met and established a school in each
parish, obliging parents, under a heavy penalty, to send their children thither. Afterwards,
for a long period, the education of the poor was again neglected. At the present day, how-
ever, many schools are established in different parts of the country, although some of them
appear to be ill attended.

The manner in which the poor are supported merits particular notice. In early times,
it was a particular duty of the ranselman to see that there were no vagrant or idle persons in
his quarter or district, and he was empowered to order them to service, or to award them
punishment. But in cases of real poverty, a mode was adopted, that still prevails. At the
present day a parish is divided into a certain number of parts, named Quarters, to each of
which the support of a definite number of poor is entrusted. Every householder receives a
pauper into his family for a limited number of days and nights, proportional to the amount
of the marks of land that he occupies. Thus the poor are continually transferred from
house to house. There are also weekly collections and contributions at each sacrament

* Twelve ministers constitute the Presbytery of Shetland, and to each of them is entrusted two or three kirks. Their church
discipline in kirk -sessions, is constituted by elders, and they send up yearly one of their members as a commissioner to the General
Assembly of Scotland. At first, :he Presbytery had the power of presentations, but, by the act of Queen Anne restoring patronage,
it devolved to the superior of the country, his choice of ministers to vacant kirks being confirmed by a popular call.

IT ER IV.] AITHSVOE TO CLOUSETTER. 24 1

week, from which source raiment is procured for the indigent, or their funeral-expences
defrayed. When children have lost their parents, their support is entrusted to some family,
the expence of it being defrayed until they are ten years of age, when they are considered as
belonging to the house in which they were reared. The extraordinary calamities of indi-
viduals are provided for by special collections.

AITHSVOE TO CLOUSETTER.

I again arrived at Aithsvoe, and after visiting Papa Little, inhabited by one or two
families, crossed over to the island of Vementry. In this single spot, not more than three
miles in length, all the varieties of a Shetland landscape are exhibited, — the fissured cliff,
the barren crag or knoll, on which few tufts of vegetation hang, — the low, fertile grassy
patch, or the still and dark mountain lake, — the rocky gio deeply indenting the coast, the
bold promontory jutting out far into the sea, or the long-winding voe. Vementry is in so
many places intersected by its inlets, that Mr Dickson, the intelligent Scottish farmer who
occupies the island, has by short dikes from sea to sea, formed many inclosures, convenient
for pasturing in them black cattle or sheep. A lofty hill of granite rises on the north, where
may be traced the foundation-stones of a round watch-tower, about 15 feet in diameter,
containing within it an irregular cavity, that is entered by a strait passage about two feet
long and one broad, being narrow near the entrance, but widening out at its opposite
extremity : — the length of its internal cavity is ten feet ; its narrowest width five, and its
greatest ten feet ; it appears to have been roofed with large fiat pieces of granite. The
cavity was probably intended for containing the peat or fuel necessary for lighting a fire to
give an alarm in case of invasion. We read in early Orcadian Annals, of a spy being
landed on Fair-Isle, who was commissioned to secretly drench the wood' with water,
which was stored up for the purpose of being kindled, whenever an enemy appeared
off the coast. Mr Pennant has remarked, in his Notice of the Shetland Isles, that
the Norwegians had anciently their ward-madher, or watch-man, a sort of centinel who
stood on the top of a Vord Hill, and challenged all that came in sight. In Orkney, so
late as the 17th century, it was ordered, that every bailiff should, in his respective district,
have a signal of this kind, and that when a blaze was seen on Whiteford Hill, each should
fire the beacon of his own watch.

In returning to Aithsvoe, I was induced to ascend the lofty eminence of Scallowfield,
from which the prospect is in most directions confined, except on the west, where a succes-
sion of barren and naked eminences arose, while the waters of distant lakes appeared more
than usually dark and gloomy. This was the district I was now about to visit ; but to
explore the strata of such a wild tract, the geognost ought to be endowed with a more than
common share of petromania : —

" And hither to approach he will not dare,
Where deserts, rocks, and hills no succour give,

242 AITHSVOE TO CLOUSETTER. [ITER IV

Where desolation and no comforts are,
Where few can do no good, many not live.
Besides, we have the ocean to prepare
Some other place if this should not relieve."

I proceeded to the hill of Aithsness, where a greater quantity of bog iron-ore occurs
than is often to be seen in the country, and became the opgester or inmate of a farmer of
that place. His house was situated on the south side of the hill of Aithsness, upon the
brow of the acclivity. A steep brown hill rose to the north, washed at its base by a trans-
parent pool. The farm-house was built of the rough unhewn stones of the country ; much
green outfield, well cultivated, appearing in various patches along the valley. Stone-dikes
ran around the dwelling in a zig-zag direction, enclosing it like so many outworks of a
fortification. On a small adjoining eminence were the remains of a skeo, where was once
prepared the blown fish and vivda that furnished a delicious repast for the ancient udaller.
Before the door were placed a few stepping stones, somewhat difficult to trace, and intended
to prevent a plunge, knee-deep, into the immense bed of compost that lay reeking all
around. The visitor, after entering a dark and gloomy byre which forms a part of the tene-
ment, — after grazing the heels of the cows on the left of him, and feeling carefully along the
surface of a partition to his right, may detect the latch of a door that leads to a spacious
apartment containing a fire-place in the middle of it, — where the floor is of clay,- — where the
walls are thickly coated over with soot, — where are two long forms, on which the servants
of each sex are seated, the mistress of the house being distinguished by a high and separate
chair, — where, in one coner, is a favourite calf quietly regaling itself with a bowl of milk, —
and where are two or three surly had-dogs stretched on the hearth, perfectly happy in the
society of a miraculous quantity of cocks, hens, and chickens, a sow and a playful litter of
young ones. A rude partition divides, from the main room, a small private apartment,
including within the recesses of its walls two or three press beds. The state dormitory,
however, reserved (or the opgester, is reached by scaling a wooden ladder, on each side of
which are stored barrels of meal or oats, dusty tows, fishing-nets, sillock-rods, and various
kinds of hand-lines ; the middle of the room being reserved for a curtainless bed. There
may the inmate, after commending himself to the guardianship of all good spirits, consign
himself to repose, and rise in the morning cheered by the unobstructed rays of the sun, that
light the room from an open fissure in the roof.

West from Aithsness is Uyea Sound, a channel two miles and a half in extent, which,
in its tortuous course, winds around the extended base of the island of Vementry, often
gliding through the straitened confines of protruding capes, or emerging in a proud
sweep, so as at length to join the wide expanse of the Bay of St Magnus. These shores
afford numerous coverts for sea-otters, whose skins were once in great requisition as an
article of commerce by the Hamburghers. Their food, which they collect from the sea,
principally consists of the conger eel. At Sonsoness, the winding voes and clear lakes of
Clousetter, are wildly disordered by the irregular encroachments of the hills among which
they run. Nature, from mere rocks and water, without the assistance of a single tree, has
presented ceaseless varieties of interesting scenery. Nunsburgh, a bold eminence, rises to

IXER IV.] ONZIE FIRTH TO NORBAV. 243

the west of Clousetter ; the fortalice which gives rise to its name, being almost wholly rased.
From this hill, I was compelled, by a heavy shower of hail and rain, attended with lightning
uncommonly vivid, and loud thunder that rolled awfully among the hills, hastily to cross the
channel of Onzie Firth, and seek for shelter until the weather cleared, at a cottage near
Brindaster. Along this part of the coast, several wretched dwellings are interspersed, where
a melancholy want of cleanliness prevails, which is a too general characteristic of the hovels
of Thule. The fairies of the hills, numerous as they are, have never inculcated among the
peasants those notions of cleanliness, that in early times recommended them to the notable
English housewife :

" Within one of these rounds was to be seen,
A hillock rise, where oft the Fairie Queen
At twilight sate, and did command her elves
To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves."

ONZIE FIRTH TO NORBAY.

The aspect of this part of Aithsting is of the most rugged description. From the
surface of Onzie Firth, low rocks and dangerous shoals arise, while on each side oozy pools
or creeks, replenished every tide, named vaddles, find for themselves channels among
irregular brown hills of heath.

During the preceding winter a fever had raged in the cottages of this place, and owing
to their construction, by which air was too much excluded, the disease proved fatal to
many. In some instances, every member of a family would be attacked with Typhus ; and
as the dread of the contagion that prevailed in the country was very great, the attendance
which a sickbed demanded could not be obtained from neighbours.* The situation of a
family thus left without succour to linger or perish, is too painful to contemplate. That
cases of this sort have too often occurred, I had the opportunity of learning. Nor is the
assistance of a medical man always to be obtained, for when patients do not live on the
Mainland, but in detached islands, ferries must be crossed, upon which no boat in winter
could with the least chance of safety venture. It would, on all these accounts, be an act of
great humanity, if, on the recurrence of fever, a few well aired rooms could be economically
fitted up, and provided with a nurse or two, to which patients of this kind might be re-
moved. The expence to a parish in procuring attendance and rooms of this kind would be
so trifling, as not to merit the smallest degree of notice, when contemplated in reference to
the great service which it might render. In the report of the Agricultural Society of Shetland,
it appears that Mr Spence and Dr Scott, two eminent medical gentlemen in Lerwick, had
formed a plan for the establishment of a Public Dispensary. Nowhere would such an
institution be more useful than in Shetland, particularly if its effects could be extended to

* In an island that I visited, the groans of a man attacked with an inflammation in the bowels, had attracted many neighbours
round the house. But as the poor fellow lived in a dwelling where fever had recently raged, no one would come within a hundred
yards of it. I was detained in the cottage some time in detracting from the man a quantity of blood, and in coming out of it, was
myself in great danger of being shunned, from the fear of the infection which I might spread through the vicinity.

244 ONZIE FIRTH TO NORBAY. [ITER IV _

the distant extremities of the country. If it were not indeed for the friendly offices of
ministers of parishes, or the principal heritors of the country, who are in the habit of distri-
buting medicines gratis, the poor inhabitants would be still more distressed.

In Shetland there are several native popular medicines. Scurvy grass, for instance, is
used in cutaneous complaints, butter-milk in dropsy, the shells of whelks calcined and
pounded for dyspepsia, and a variety of steatite named in the country kleber, for ex-
coriations. But the mode of letting blood, known from time immemorial, deserves the
most particular notice. When the native chirurgeon is called in, he first bathes the part
from which the detraction is to be made, with warm water, and then draws forth his cupping
machine, which consists of nothing more than the upper part of a ram's horn perforated at

the top, and bound round with a soft piece of cotton or woollen rag. In applying it to the

f
skin, he sucks out a little of the included air, takes off the horn, makes upon the surface o

the part that has thus been gently raised six or seven slight incisions, again fixes the cupping

instrument, freely draws out the air by the reapplication of his lips to it, and, either by

insinuating his tongue within the perforation, or by twisting round it a piece of leather or

bladder, prevents the ingress of fresh air. He next uses coarse cloths, wrung out with warm

water, to stimulate the flowing of the blood, and when the horn is half filled, it leaves the

skin and falls down. The same process is repeated several times, until a sufficient depletion

has been made. It is worthy of remark, that the African negroes, described by Park, have

a similar mode of cupping ; but I should pay an undeserved affront to the natives of Thule,

by adding, that, on the theory of a philosopher, who maintains that the manners of an

uncultivated people are in all periods and countries the same, such a coincidence ought to

have been expected.*

In so variable a climate as that of Shetland, Phthisis pulmonalis, pneumonia, croup,

and scrofula, are, as we might expect, very frequent. There is a great variety of cutaneous

complaints, tinea capitis being the most common. Sibbens, a disease hitherto ill defined,

I saw occasionally. Brand describes a leprosy that was very prevalent about a century ago,

indicated, as he says, " by the hairs falling from the eye-brows, and the nose falling in." It

was considered as infectious, and huts were erected for the reception of the lepers, in order

that they might be separated from the rest of the community. Owing to some pecularity of

food, conjoined with the nature of the climate, dyspepsia and liver complaints are very

common. If, however, the reports of instances of great longevity are to be depended upon,

as they appear in Buchanan's history, or in the statistical accounts of different parishes that

have been published, several remarkable ages appear from 90 to 105, and even 120. A native

of Walls, of the name of Laurence, is said at the age of 100 to have married a wife, and when

140 years old to have gone out to sea in his little boat. But Brand, the honest missionary,

heard of a case far more wonderful; — of a man of the name of Tairville, who lived 180

years, and during all this time never drank beer or ale. He was descended from a family

remarkable for their longevity, his father having attained even a greater age than himself.

* This native cupping instrument of Shetland, has been well described bv Dr Copland in his Disputatio Medica Inauguralis de
Rheumatismo, (A.D. 1815), where the effectiveness of this mode of detracting blood is spoken of with much commendation. Dr
Scott of Lerwick, who politely presented me with an instrument of this kind, entertains the same sentiment respecting it.

ITER IV.]

ONZIE FIRTH TO NORBAY. 245

From Onzie Firth, I ascended a high promontory, name the Neing of Brindaster, beset
with dangerous islets and stacks, which have too often proved fatal to vessels that have been
driven on this insidious shore. The rapacity exercised on such occasions by the natives of
this wild district has been often reprobated. Their distant Scandinavian progenitors were
little addicted to the vile practice of plundering wrecks. " The Norwegians," says Pennant,
" stationed on a ward hill an officer, whom they named a Gackman, who was appointed to
give notice if he saw a ship in distress ; and," adds the same writer, " he was allowed a
large horn of generous liquor, which he had always by him, to keep up his spirits." Earl
Patrick Stewart, however, issued forth an edict, the most cruel that perhaps ever entered
into the code of any despot, imposing a personal punishment, and a fine, the amount of
which depended on his own pleasure, upon any one who should be found giving relief
to vessels distressed by tempest. It is by no means improbable that so barbarous an
edict, thus publicly proclaimed, should have been one of the first causes that produced
that insensibility to the crime of stealing from a wreck, which has been transmitted
through successive generations to the present sons of Thule. Not long before I visited
Onzie Firth, a vessel was stranded in the vicinity. The vultures of the coast immedi-
ately flocked to the spot ; the master loudly remonstrated against the object of the
visit, and maintained that the vessel could be got off: the Shetlanders, on the contrary,
as a justification for their meditated plunder, asserted that she came under their peculiar
definition of a wreck. A scuffle ensued ; when the captain, overpowered by numbers,
was threatened with death, if he opposed the views of the savage and rapacious multi-
tude by whom he was surrounded. But if the pillage from vessels driven on these shores
be reconciled to a Shetlander's conscience as a god-send, or, if the pilfering of sheep out of a
scathold be considered by him as not belonging to the prohibition contained in the eighth
article of the Decalogue, it would be an injustice to his character not to state, that against
other temptations to dishonesty, he is proof to a remarkable degree.* It is, in fact, from
the earliest period of youth that the Shetlander is taught to regard an attack upon a wreck
as no less commendable than was piracy to the ancient Scandinavian sea-kings, one of whom
has, by a northern Scald, been thus lauded :

Tolf vetra nam At twelve years began

Tyggi at heria. The king to plunder.

It is doubtful in what manner the ancient Scandinavian inhabitants of Shetland re-
imbursed themselves for their exertions to save lives or property when a ship was in danger ;
but there can be no doubt, that when Earl Patrick became superior of the country, he
divided a wreck in the manner most agreeable to him, and without reference to any existing
law. When Shetland, however, was in a more settled state, it was ordered that a third of
the ship and cargo which might go ashore, should accrue to the proprietor of the ground ; a

* Not two miles from Onzie Firth, the contents of my trunks, owing to the loss of my keys, were indiscriminately exposed, in
a small house, to more than a score of eyes, for several days together, but I was perfectly easy with regard to the safety of my
property ; nor was I in this, or any other instance of the like kind, deceived in the confidence I had placed in the cottagers of
Shetland.

246 ONZIE FIRTH TO NORBAV.

[ITER IV.

third to the salvers, and a third to the owner ; or in default of claim within the year, to the
King.* When the Earl of Morton, was invested with the rights of Admiralty, he, with a
great sense of justice, refused to give the proprietor of the ground any greater allowance
than was necessary fcr the damage that he sustained, — this being awarded to him by a
Court of Admiralty, as a kind of premium ; at the same time, salvages were rated according
to the trouble and charge that had been incurred. I understand, that, at the present day,
there is an Admiralty Court empowered to judge all circumstances regarding the wrecks of
Shetland, which consists of a judge, a clerk, and a procurator-fiscal. When a wreck
happens, and none of the marines are saved, it is the duty of the procurator-fiscal to state
the circumstances to the judge, who appoints a person to take charge of what part of the
property may remain, to sell it, and publicly to advertise that the proceeds are lodged in
court, until an owner appears ; and if, after the lapse of a year and a day, no claim be
made, the property devolves to the Admiral.

Burrafiord, an open bay, lies to the west of the Neing, affording no shelter for vessels,
containing sunken rocks, and beset on each side by dangerous rocky crags. A burgh,
situated in a holm, gives its name to the inlet. This building of uncemented stones has a
single wall 13 feet thick, with eleven small round apartments, each of the diameter of 5 feet,
which were entered from within the internal area of the burgh ; the roofs of them were not
vaulted, but formed of stones, that, projecting over each other, drew to a point. The area
included within the fort, was 31 feet. The burgh was well protected by the sea on all
sides. (See Plate of Antiq. Append. Fig. ij.J

When visiting this Voe, I was, by the extreme lateness of the evening, under the
necessity of availing myself of the custom of the country, when a stranger is perplexed for a
lodging, which was to seek for hospitality in the nearest convenient house on my way. My
boatman led me to a small creek, at the head of Burrafiord, where the setting sun brightened
into a fine purple, a wild intermixture of crag and lake. The smoke arose from a low
house, built of unhewn stones, after the most ancient fashion of the country ; — it was the
Head Buil or Manor-house of a small landed possessor of Aithsting, named the Laird of
Fogrigate. On opening the door, I passed through a double range of servants of both
sexes, who occupied forms disposed along each side of the room, and made suitable obeis-
ance to the hoy saedet or high seat of the house, filled by the laird himself, with all the
patriarchal dignity worthy that primitive state of manners described in an ancient poem of
the 8th century.

Ipse insedit Meir settizt hann

Medio scamno Middra fletia

Ad utrumque latus Enn a' hlid hvara

familia domus hion salkynna.

Rigs-Mai.

Song of King Eric.

* This law I was taught three miles west of Onzie Firth. A little girl was tempted, with the offer of a shilling, to take a
mile's walk, and find an umbrella for me that I had left on the shore of Kilista Voe. She soon brought it back, with an intimation
from her father, that, according to the law of the country, she was entitled to a third of its value for salvage. I next expected a
similar demand of a third of this tureck from the proprietor of the ground, but the claim was graciously waved.

ITER iv,] ONZIE FIRTH TO NORBAY. 247

Native Shetland ale was introduced, which was the first I had tasted in the country.
It was not many days old, and had such a pleasant briskness in it that it might have been
seasoned with the tops of heather, after the recipe, as learned Antiquaries would tell us, of
Pictish Ale. But there was no other ingredient in it except malt ; — it was, as an English-
man in Henry the Eighth's time would have said, " As good as the King's ale, for it con-
tained neither hops nor brimstone."* The room to which I was shewn for repose, served
the double purpose of being a dormitory for the opgester, and a granary for the family. A
quantity of straw was strewed on the floor, and upon this was laid a sufficient number of
kiverins and blankets, with clean white sheets. The morning was announced by the grind-
ing of the quern. Breakfast was got ready; my trunks furnished me with tea and sugar, and
to a thrifty female I was indebted for cakes : —

Protulit turn Edda Tha tor Edda

Conspectum cinere panem Okunn leif

Ponderosum et crassum Thiingann oi thyckvann

Plenum furfuribus. thrunginn sadum.

Song of King Eric.

There are in the vicinity of Burrafiord, a number of families of the name of Doule,
descended, as it is said, from a soldier of the clan of M'Dougal (hence the corruption of
Doule), who coming over with a party of soldiers in the pay of Cromwell, that garrisoned
Scalloway Castle, eventually settled in this secluded district. It was very easy, not many
years ago, to know all the native inhabitants of Shetland, since they distinguished them-
selves from later settlers by retaining in their names the use of patronymics. Thus, if the
father's name was William, or Magnus, the son's would be John Williamson, or William
Magnusson ; and, in the old records of the country, it appears that the names of daughters
were subjected to the same rule; there were, for instance, in ancient deeds,such appella-
tions as Madda Scuddadaughter, and Freia Erasmusdaughter.

There is a good estuary on the west of Burrafiord, named Keilester Voe. All this part
of the country is rocky and unproductive, yet not lacking cottages and inhabitants, each of
the poorest description. Marriages take place, and housekeeping is begun, with little
concern for the future. This was attempted to be remedied so early as the year 1680, by a
law that might have been dictated by Malthus himself. Every person who had not forty
pounds of free gear, or some lawful trade, was forbidden to marry ; and none were allowed,
under the penalty of ten pounds Scots, to set them house or land. It was formerly the
custom for a young married couple to beg from each of their neighbours a supply of
domestic articles, as a set-up for housekeeping, but this plan was obviated, by rendering it
liable to the rigour of a law that punished with the stocks and juggs all tiggers [or beggars]
of wool, corn, fish, &c. whoever they might be, and that inflicted the penalty of ten pounds
Scots to any one who might grant them service or hospitality.

• In the time of Henry VI. an information was exhibited against a person for putting an unwholesome weed called An Hopp
into his brewing ; and it was a positive order issued to the brewers of Henry the Eighth's household, that there should be neither
hops nor brimstone in the King's ale.

248 ONZIE FIRTH TQ NORBAY.

[ITER IV.

The parish of Sandness terminates on the west part of the coast, where is exposed a
large valley, that is enriched with several patches of good corn land, and that may boast
houses and cottages of a neater appearance than usual, as well as a good parish kirk. It is
watered by one or two fresh-water lakes, the largest of which contains a holm, the aviary for
myriads of gulls. The high hill of Sandness rises to the south, amidst fogs and vapours.
The north of the valley is sheltered by an elevated ridge of land gradually ascending from
it ; and on attaining the summit of this steep, which is clothed by Nature in her best robe
of green, crumbling perpendicular cliffs appear beneath, impendent over a sandy shore ; an
uninterrupted view is at the same time commanded of the Bay of St Magnus, where, amidst
projecting and receding mountains, Roeness Hill towers above the whole. Mr Low was
shewn a stone fixed in the wall of the parish kirk of Sandness, of so old a date as tc require
for its interpretation an antiquary possessed of the accomplishments of a northern hero, who
was versed in the knowledge of the newer as well as of the older Runic characters.

En Konr natu minimus Enn Konr vngr

Novit Runas, Kunni runar

Antiquas Runas, Ae finn runar

et sui temporis Runas. Oc alldr runar.

Song of King Eric.

Mr Pennant, who has shewma drawing made by Mr Low of this inscription, conceived
it to be of a date not later than the tenth or eleventh century. It was one of the commands
of Odin, that over the graves of the great, huge heaps of earth should be raised, but that
over those who had performed signal achievements, high stones should be erected, inscribed
with Runic characters, which ever commanded in Scandinavia a superstitious awe. To add,
therefore, to the sanctity of an early Christian Church, the relic of this kind existing in
Sandness might have been removed within its pale. It certainly, as Mr Low has asserted,
commanded, so late as the last century, a mysterious sort of regard, though unconnected
with any tradition relative to its use or origin. In the same period, some relic appeared of
the ancient mode in which a respect to Pagan sepultures was testified. " It was usual,"
said a minister of Unst, " when any one met a funeral, to lift up three clods, and to throw
them, one by one, after the corpse."

I was surprised to observe, that, in the kirk-yard of Sandness, no less than in other
burying places of Shetland, few or no sepulchral stones should be set up to record the
names or virtues of those who were sleeping with their fathers. But, in this neglect, there
was much true philosophy :

" Where will you have your virtuous name safe laid,
In gorgeous tombs, in sacred cells secure ?
Do you not see those prostrate heaps betray'd
Your father's bones, and could not keep them sure ?
And will you trust deceitful stones fair laid,
And think they will be to your honoui truer ?

ITER IV.] PAPA STOUR. 249

No, no ; unsparing time will proudly send

A warrant unto wrath, that with one frown

Will all these mock'ries of vain glory rend,

And make them (as before) ungrac'd, unknown ;

Poor idle honours, that can ill defend

Your memories, that cannot keep their own."

Daniel's Musophilus.

It certainly appears, that while among the Scandinavian inhabitants of Shetland, there
are more scanty honorary observances paid to the dead than are preserved by the descend-
ants of Celtic tribes, the supersitious notions entertained on the subject of death are no less
few. Second sight has been claimed by none except by a family which is not Norwegian,
the representative of whom was always supposed to be gifted by a power of foretelling
the time of his own decease.* Ganfers or ghosts are, however, very commonly seen,
particularly by the sagacious shelty. When a medical gentleman, of the last century, was
returning home from visiting a female whom he had left — at least alive, the shelty on which
he rode suddenly began to snort and gallop; and on looking behind him to see the cause
of the alarm, he saw the spectered form of the patient he had visited, and soon after-
wards heard of her death, which took place at the exact time when she took it in her
head to frighten the shelty and his rider. There is also a popular belief among the
lower class, that if two infants who have got no teeth, meet in the same room, one of
them will immediately afterwards die. When a death takes place, there are few or no
popular customs observed relating to it, differing from the most familiar ones in Scotland ; a
plate, as in that country, is set on the body containing salt, the reason for which ceremony
it is difficult to explain, unless we admit the force of what a learned expounder has remarked,
that " the Devil loveth no salt to his meat, for that is a sign of eternity, and used by God's
commandment in all sacrifices."

PAPA STOUR.

I now prepared to set off for Papa Stour, an island deriving its name from certain Irish
Papae or Priests, who, in the earliest period of Christianity, either sought in Ireland, as well
as in the islands to the north of Britain, places of refuge during some commotion in their
country, or came over to propagate the Gospel. In Shetland, three islands bear the name
of Papa, the largest of them being named Papa Stour, or the Great Papa.f

The sail from Norbay to Papa Stour is across a very troubled channel, where there is
an opposition of tides, occasioned by the meeting of one current that sets into the Bay of St

* The last head of this family exercised such a power when he happened to be in a large party of company. He suddenly
looked grave, and on being questioned as to the cause of his seriousness, declared that in a fortnight his spirit would be hovering
over them in the air. The death took place at the time foretold, as an event, 0/ course.

t In the diploma given in Wallace's Orkney, dated A.D. 1406, in order to ascertain the right of William Sinclair to the Earl-
dom of Orkney, there is a very obscure tradition, scarcely deserving the notice bestowed upon it by Antiquaries, on the subject of
two nations named the Peti and Papae, who were utterly destroyed by Harold Harfagre. The Papae were the Irish priests ; but
by the Peti, a race of Picts is understood, — this name being indiscriminately giver, by the Scotch in the 15th century, to any
description of early tribes or nations of whom they had but indistinct traditions. Northern historians assure us, that the people
whom Harold subdued were Norwegian pirates.

25O PAPA STOUR. [ITER IV.

Magnus, and another into Papa Sound. Houseavoe is indicated at a distance by a plain
well-built white house, — by several cottages that line its shores, and by an uninterrupted line
of rich arable land. The evening was calm, and so transparent was the water, that our yawl
appeared suspended in mid-air, over meadows of yellow, green, or red tangle, glistening with
the white shells that clung to their fibres. From the surface of the waters started up red
barren stacks of porphyry, scooped by the attrition of the sea into a hundred shapes.
One of these insulated rocks, named Frau-a- Stack, or the Lady's Stack, — accessible tc none
but the best of climbers, is crowned on the summit by the remains of a small building, that
was originally built by a Norwegian Lady, to preserve herself from the solicitations of
suitors, when she had entered into a vow of pure celibacy. The ascent to the house was
considered almost unsurmountable, except by the help of ropes. But a dauntless lover, an
udaller from Islesburgh, contrived in the dark secrecy of evening to scale the stack, and,
after the first surprise was overcome, so far ingratiated himself in the fair devotee's affec-
tion, that, in a fatal hour, she was induced

" To trust the opportunity of night,
And the ill counsel of a desart place,
With the rich worth of her virginity."

When the consequence of the Lady's faux pas could no longer be concealed, Frau-a-
Stack became the scoff of the island, and was deserted by its fair and frail tenant. The
house was soon afterwards unroofed and reduced to ruin, in contempt of the vow of
chastity that had been broken.*

Another insulated rock rises above the surface of the water, which the sea has worn
into long winding caverns. The boat in which I sailed entered a vault involved in gloom,
when, after turning an angle, the water began to glitter as if it contained in it different
gems, and suddenly a burst of day-light broke in upon us, through an irregular opening at
the top of the cave. This perforation, not more than twenty yards in its greatest dimen-
sions, served to light up the entrance to a dark and vaulted den, through which the ripples
of the swelling tide were, in their passage, converted by Echo, into low and distant murmurs.

The coast on the south and west of Papa Stour continued to be wild and rugged,
where, from low projecting ledges that impended over the sea, the Shetlander might be
seen angling for his nightly meal of sillocks : —

" About his head a rocky canopy,
And craggy hangings round a shadow threw,
Rebutting Phoebus' parching fervency ;
Into his bosom zephyr softly flew,
Hard by his feet the sea came waving by,
The while to seas and rocks (poor swain) he sang ;
The while to seas and rocks ans'ring loud echoes rang."

* Another tradition is, that an udaller confined his daughter in this rock, in order to prevent her from listening to the solicita-
tions of a favoured suitor; but Love soon scaled the beetling cliff, when the same consequences ensued which befel the Norwegian
lady. — I may add, that, steep as the cliff is, it has been scaled by several inhabitants of Papa, and even by a young lady dwelling
in the island, who ascended it without the help of a rope.

ITER IV.] PAPA STOUR. 25 1

An inlet, named Hamna Voe, rather difficult of access, affords a secure harbour for
vessels. To the north of it high cliffs succeed, which are shaped by the water of the sea
into a continual recurrence of excavations. The most remarkable of these is Christie's
Hole, which, when surveyed from the. summit of a cliff, appears a cavity of some hundred
feet deep, and about 120 feet in length, being situated at a distance of 180 feet from the
sea. It can be explored by means of a boat,— a labour that is only to be accomplished in
the calmest weather. A large arch first presents itself, and, after rowing through dark vaults,
the light of the sun bursts in from the lofty opening above j — here the water is said to be
several fathoms in depth. The boat then pursues its gloomy course through another exten-
sive perforation, which at length expands into an immense cavern, where the light of the
sun is wholly excluded. In the innermost recesses there is a steep beach, which terminates
in small dens, where the laiger seals and Haaf fish couple, and where the females produce
their young and suckle them, until they are able to accompany their dams to sea.

It is customary for two boats' crews of the island of Papa to go to this place, at certain
seasons of the year, armed with thick clubs, and well provided with candles. They attack
the seals with their weapons, stun them by a blow on the head, and, in this state of insensi-
bility, put them to death. The animals boldly step forward in defence of their young ; they
face their destroyers, and with their teeth often wrench the clubs out of their enemies' hands.
But the attempt is vain ; the walls of these gloomy recesses are stained with their blood, and
numbers of dead victims are carried off by the boats.

On the north-west of the island, Lyra Skerry, Fugloe Skerry, and other insulated rocks
and stacks, rise boldly out of the sea, richly clothed on their summits with stripes of green
turf, but presenting perpendicular sides, and entrances into dark caverns, that resemble the
vaulted arches of some Gothic crypt. In Lyra Skerry, so named from the multitudes of
lyres, or puffins, by which it is frequented, there is a perforation throughout its whole
breadth ; yet so violent are the currents that force their way through it, that a passage is
forbidden to the explorer, except when the ocean shews no sterner wrinkles than are to be
found on the surface of some sheltered lake. These stacks are covered with gulls and other
sea-birds, but on one of them the sea-eagle has long fixed its aerie. Such is the coast of
Papa Stour, which receives additional beauty when the glaring tint of its red rocks has a
sombre hue imparted to it by the shades of a declining sun. Nor can there be any greater
satisfaction experienced than in viewing this interesting scenery at an hour so late that the
smoke of the cottage has become extinct. The twilight of this northern latitude has little of
the demureness under which it appears in the south, and a summer's midnight in Thule
shews so bright an aspect, that the evening and the morning seem, in the words cf a poet,
" to melt into each other."

Leaving the north coast of the island, and passing Culia Voe, I arrived at another islet,
named Ollas Voe, where there is a factor's booth for curing fish belonging to Mr
Gideon Henderson. Two sloops had just arrived from the cod-fishery. The skipper of
one of them obstinately persisted in looking for fish in the places to which vessels had been
previously accustomed to resort. The other master, who, having formerly belonged to
the Royal Navy, was accustomed to adventure, boldly steered at a considerable distance

2 52 FESTIVITIES OF SHETLAND.

ITER IV.

from land to the newly discovered fishing-bank, on which other vessels appeared to have
been profitably engaged. The consequent difference of success in each vessel was remark-
able. Whilst sympathising in the disappointment which the proprietor experienced in the
empty hold of the first sloop which came into the harbour, the subsequent entrance of the
other, rich with the product of the new bank, amply compensated for the failure of the less
adventurous crew. In returning to Housea Voe, I observed at North House the gateway
of an old mansion that belonged to the Mouats of Bauquhally, in Banffshire, where might
be traced the armorial bearings of the family, with the inscription " Monte Alto." The kirk,
a neat structure, and not very old, is situated near the centre of the island. A merchant,
from Holland, gave to it, about a century ago, a bell, a silver cup for the administration of
the sacrament, and a curious copper bason for holding water in baptisms, on which appeared
several religious emblems. I did not see a stone in the kirk, conceived by Brand to have
been the grave-stone of a man of note, but, by another visitant, to been an ancient ship-
anchor.

I had at length finished my survey of the Island of Papa Stour, having been hospitably
entertained during my stay at the house of Mr Henderson. Among the dainties of a
Shetland gentleman's table, the Tusk-fish must be always considered pre-eminent ; it is in
truth the most delicious of the Gadus species, and Thule no less deserves a pilgrimage to it
from the epicure on account of this dish, than Plymouth, for the sake of eating John Dories.
Another favourite Shetland dainty is known by the name of Cropping moggies, consisting of
the liver of the cod mixed with flour and spice, and boiled in the fish's stomach ; this pre-
paration, when met with at the houses of the more opulent inhabitants, is excellent ; — in the
plainer form of livered moggies, the flour and spice being absent, it regales the fishermen at
their summer lodges. The ancient Scandinavian beverage of Bland, prepared from the
serum of milk, is met with at almost every house. There is a great variety of shell-fish to
be found in Shetland, that might add to the varieties of a table, particularly lobsters, which
occur in abundance near Papa Stour, but none of these are very favourite kinds of food.

FESTIVITIES OF SHETLAND.

Papa Stour is the only island in the country where the ancient Norwegian amusement
of the sword-dance has been preserved, and where it still continues, in Thule, to beguile the
tediousness of a long winter's evening. At the shortest day, the sun is not more than five
hours and a quarter above the horizon.* To dissipate, therefore, the graver phantoms of
the night, the careless Shetlander spends, in the conviviality of an assembled party, the
hard earnings which he has received for his summer's labours on the seas of Greenland, and
it is then that he invokes the spirit of conviviality,

" Whose beauty gilds the more than midnight darkness,
And makes it grateful as the dawn of day."

* It has been remarked by Mr Mouat, in his Letter to the Highland Society, that the sun is 5 hours and 25 minutes above
the horizon, but owing to refraction, the daylight is, in clear weather, prolonged to about 7 hours and a half.

ITER iv.] SWORD-DANCE. 253

When the ancient udaller gave an entertainment, it was open to the whole country ;
but strangers from the south, with more rigid notions of economy, corrected the generous
custom, by rendering such feasts liable to the scrutinizing influence of the Ranselman or
bailiff, who was empowered to levy a fine to the amount of forty shillings Scots upon any
one who came to feasts uninvited. Marriages also, which are chiefly contracted during che
winter, serve to draw together a large party, who, not many years ago, used to meet on the
night before the solemnity took place. It was then usual for the bridegroom to have his
feet formally washed in water by his men, though in wealthy houses wine was used for the
purpose. A ring was thrown into the tub, — a scramble for it ensued, the finder being the
person who would be first married. On the eve before the marriage, the bride and bride-
groom were not allowed to sleep under the same roof; and on the wedding-night, the
bridegroom's men endeavoured to steal the bride from her maidens, and a similar design on
the bridegroom was made by the bride's maids, — kisses being the usual forfeiture exacted
from the negligent party. Last of all took place the throwing of the stocking, and, as an
old writer styles such kind of amusements, " many other pretty sorceries." The bride,
when in bed, threw the stocking of her right foot over her left shoulder, and the individual
on whom it fell, was predicted to be the first who should be married. Many of these
customs are, however, at the present day, much laid aside ; but there is a sport still retained
on occasions of festivity, that deserves particular notice.

A martial dance was practised by many early nations, as by the Germans and the
Gauls ; it was also known to the Curetes or Priests of Cybele. Olaus Magnus, in his
account of the manners of the Northmen, describes an ancient military dance as being com-
mon to them, which from the illustration he has given of it in a plate, seems to have been
achieved by six persons. It was accompanied by a pipe and song, — the music being at first
slow, and gradually encreasing in celerity. The dancers held their swords, which were
sheathed, in an erect position, — they then danced a triple round,— released their blades
from the scabbards, — held them erect, — repeated the triple round, — grasped the hilts and
points of each others swords, and extending them, moved gently round, — changed their
order, and threw themselves into the figure of a hexagon, named a rose. They again, by
drawing back and raising their swords, destroyed the figure which they had made, in order
that over the head of each other a four-squared rose might be formed. Lastly, they forcibly
rattled together the sides of their swords, and by a retrograde movement ended their sport.

The sword-dance performed by the Curetes of Papa Stour, is not unlike that described
by Olaus Magnus; but since the residence of Scottish settlers in the country, it has sustained
some modification, by being rendered the sequel to a sort of drama performed by seven
men, in the characters of the Seven Champions of Christendom. In this state, therefore, it
will now be noticed.

We shall suppose Yule to be arrived, which is always announced at break of day by the
fiddles striking up the Day-dawn, an ancient Norwegian tune, that, being associated with
gaiety and festivity, is never heard without emotions of delight. As the evening approaches,
piles of turf are lighted up in the apartment where wassail is to be kept ; young and old of
each sex make their appearance, and, after the whisky has gone liberally round, it is

254 SWORD-DANCE. [ITER IV-

announced that the sword-dancers are making their appearance ;

" The actors are at hand, and, by their show,
You shall know all that you are like to know."

The company then seat themselves on the forms, tubs, beds, and benches, that serve
the place of chairs, leaving a large space in the middle of the room for the exhibition. The
fiddle strike up a Norn melody, and at the sound of it a warrior enters in the character of
St George, or the master of Seven Champions of Christendom, a white hempen shirt being
thrown over his clothes, intended to represent the ancient shirt of mail that the Northman
wore, and a formidable looking sword being girt to his side, constructed from the iron-hoop
of a barrel. St George then stalks forward and makes his bow, the music ceasing while he
delivers his

PROLOGUE.

" Brave gentles all within this bow'r, if ye delight in any sport,
Come see me dance upon this floor : — you, minstrel man, play me a porte."*

The Minstrel strikes up : the master bows and dances.

" Now have I danced with heart and hand, brave gentles all, as you may see ;
For I've been tried in many a land, in Britain, France, Spain, Italy.

I have been tried with this good sword of steel, yet never did a man yet make me yield."
Draws his sword, nourishes it, and returns it to his side.

" For in my body there is strength, as by my manhood may be seen :
And I, with this good sword of length, in perils oftentimes have been.
And over champions was I king, and, by the strength of this right hand,
Once on a day I killed fifteen, and left them dead upon the land.
Therefore, brave minstrel, do not care, to play to me a porte most light,
That I no longer may forbear to dance in all these gentles' sight !"

The Master then bows, and, while the music plays, again dances ; and thus, after
having "rid his prologue like a rough colt, knowing not the stop," — he gives notice of the
further entertainment that is intended.

" Brave gentles all be not afraid, ■ although my sight makes you abas'd,
That with me have six champions stay'd, whom by my manhood I have rais'd.
For since I've dane'd, I think it best to call my brethren in your sight,
That I may have a little rest, that they may dance with all their might ;

* In the ist volume of the Edinburgh Antiquarian Transactions, p. 486, I find it remarked, that "to the wandering harpers
we are indebted for that species of music which is now scarcely known, — I mean the Port. Almost every great family had a port,
that went by the name of the family. Of the few that are still preserved, are Port Lennox, Port Gordon, Port Seton, and Port
Athole, which are a'l of them excellent in their kind. The Port is not of the martial strain of the march, as some have conjectured ;
those above-named being all in the plaintive strain, and modulated for the harp."

ITER IV.]

SAVORD-DANCE. 255

And shake their swords of steel so stout, and shew their main strength on this floor,
For we shall have another bout, before we pass out of this bow'r.
Therefore, brave Minstrel, do not care to play to me a porte most light,
That I no longer may forbear to dance in all these gentles' sight."

The Minstrel obeys; — the Master again dances, and then, with much polite discretion,
introduces into the room six formidable looking knights, each with a white shirt over his
clothes in the place of a shirt of mail, and a good sword girt to his side, their respective
names and deeds being announced in well set verse.

" Stout James of Spain, come in our sight, thine acts are known full well indeed,
And champion Dennis, a French knight who shews net either fear or dread.
And David, a brave Welshman born, descended of right noble blood,
And Patrick, too, who blew the horn, an Irish warrior, in the wood.
Of Italy, brave Anthony the good, and Andrew, of fair Scotland knight ; —
St George of England here indeed ! who to the Jews wrought mickle spite ;
Away with this ! — Lets come to sport, — since that ye have a mind to war, —
Since that ye have this bargain sought, come let us fight and do not fear.
Therefore, brave Minstrel, do not care to play to me a porte most light,
That I no longer may forbear to dance in all these gentles' sight."

The Master, after shewing his brethren a specimen of the sort of pas seul that they will
be required to exhibit before the company, draws his sword, and addresses all the Knights
in succession.

" Stout James of Spain, both tried and stour, thine acts are known full well indeed,
Present thyself upon the floor and shew not either fear or dread ;
Count not on favour for thy meed, since of thy acts thou hast been sure ; —
Brave James of Spain, I shall thee lead, to prove thy manhood on the floor !"

James of Spain draws his sword, and on the fiddle being heard, he proves his manhood
on the floor by a pas seul.

" Stout champion Dennis, a tried knight, as by thy manhood may be seen,
Present thyself here in our sight, thou true French knight that bold hast been j —
Since thou such valiant acts hast done, come let us see some of them now ; —
With courtesy, thou brave French knight, draw out thy sword of noble hue."

The Minstrel strikes up ; Dennis draws his sword and dances.

" Brave David, a bow must string, and big with awe,
Set up a wand upon a stand,
And that brave David will cleave in twa."

David draws and dances.

" Here is, I think, an Irish knight, to prove himself a valiant man,
Who has not either fear or fright ! — Let Patrick dance, then, if he can."

Patrick draws and dances.

256 SWORD-DANCE.

[ITER IV.

" Thou stout Italian, come thou here ; thy name is Anthony most stout,
Draw out thy sword that is most clear, and fight thou without dread or doubt.
Thy leg shake ! bow thy neck thou lout ! some courtesy shew on this floor,
For we shall have another bout before we pass out of this bow'r."

Anthony draws and dances.

" Thou kindly Scotsman, come thou here ; Andrew's thy name of Scottish land !
Draw out thy sword that is most clear, and by the strength of thy right hand,
Fight for thy king with all thy heart, fight to confirm his loyal band,
Make all his enemies to smart, and leave them dead upon the land."

Andrew draws and dances.

The Minstrel now flourishes his bow with spirit, and the sword dance commences.
The Master gives a signal to his brethren, who stand in rank with their swords reclined on
on their right shoulders, while he dances a pas sent. He then strikes the sword of James of
Spain, who moves out of line, dances and strikes the sword of Dennis ; then Dennis sports,
a toe on the floor, and in the same manner brings David out of line, and thus each
champion is successively made to caper about the room.

The Champions then extend their swords out at full length, when each of them is seen
to grasp his own sword with his right hand, and the point of his left hand neighbour's sword
with his left hand; and being thus formed into a circle, hilt and point, as it is named, they
dance a double roundel.

The Champions hold their swords in a vaulted direction, and, headed by the Master,
successively pass under them ; they then jump over their swords ;— this movement bringing
the weapons into a cross position, from which they are released by each dancer passing
under his right hand sword. A single roundel, hilt and point, is then performed as before.

The roundel is interrupted by the Master, who runs under the sword of his right hand,
and then jumps over it backwards ; his Brethren successively do the same. The Master
then passes under his right hand sword, and is followed in this movement by the rest. Thus
they continue to dance, until a signal is given by their Director, when they form into a
circle, swords tended, and grasping hilt and point as before. After a roundel has been
danced, the Champions jump over their right hand sword, by which means their back is to
the circle, and their hands across their backs, and in this form they dance round until the
Master calls "loose !" They then respectively pass under their right hand swords, and are
in a circle as before.

The Master now lays down his own sword, and seizing hold of the point of James's
sword, turns himself, James, and the rest of the champions, into a clue, and the swords
being held in a vaulted position, he passes under them, and thus removes out of the circle,
being followed in the same manner by the other Knights. A repetition of all, or part of the
movements already described, then ensues.

The Master and his Brethren, in the next place, throw themselves into a circle, each
holding his arms across his breast, and with their swords, form a figure intended to represent
a shield ; this being so compact, that each Champion alternately dances with it upon his
head. The shield is then laid down upon the floor, when each Knight, laying hold of the

ITER IV.] GUISARDS. 257

hilt and point which he before held, and placing his arms across his breast, extricates his
sword from the shield, by a figure directly opposite to that by which it had been formed.

This movement finishes the Sword-dance. The Master then gravely steps forward and
delivers the following

EPILOGUE.

Mars does rule, he bends his brows, he makes us all aghast ;
After the few hours we stay here, Venus will rule at last.

Farewell, farewell, brave gentles all, that herein do remain,
I wish you health and happiness till I return again.

The whole of the champions then repeat the last verse.

Farewell, farewell, brave gentles all, that herein do remain,
We wish you health and happiness till we return again.*

When in frolics and dances, the prophecy of St George has been fulfilled, that " Venus
would rule at last," it is not unusual to hear of the announcement of the guisards. A
number of men enter the room dressed in a fantastic manner, their inner clothes being con-
cealed by a white shirt as a surtout, which is confined, at the waistband, by a short petticoat
formed of loose straw, that reaches to the knee. The whole are under the controul of a
director, named a scndler,\ who is distinguished from his comrades by a very high straw
cap, the top of which is ornamented with ribbons. He is the proper arbiter elegentiatum of
his party, regulating their movements, and the order in which they should alternately dance
with the females assembled. The amusement thus afforded is the same that may be found
in any politer masquerade, since it depends upon the guisards being able to conceal from
the company who they are. \

The great delight, however, of the ancient udaller's convivial hours was in the recita-
tion of Norwegian ballads. Shetland was, from time immemorial, celebrated for its native
poets. Ronald, Earl of Orkney, being in the year 1151 shipwrecked near Gulberswick, was
visited by two poets, Oddi Glumson the Little, and Armodr. The Earl, who composed
verses himself with great fluency and elegance, found them so well skilled in the same
art, that he received them among the number of his retainers, and took them with him on
his travels to the Holy Land. On the occasion of a public feast, he gave to Armodr, as
an acknowledgment for his poetic talents, a golden spear. Not longer ago than seventy
years, a number of popular historic ballads existed in Shetland, the last person who

• The words of this drama are taken from an official prompt-book, for which I am indebted to a lady of the island ; a few
glaring interpolations have been omitted, and the words have been corrected according to other recitations.

t An ancient Shetland name given to the pilot of a Scuda or twelve-oared boat.

{ The custom of paying visits to parties under the disguise of a mask, is delineated in a plate given in Olaus Magnus's
History of the Northern Nations. See Olaus Magnus, di Gentibus Septcntrionalibus. Lib. xiii., cap. 43.

258 ANCIENT NORSE ROMANCES OF SHETLAND.

[ITER IV.

could recite them being William Henry, a farmer of Guttorm, in the island of Foula,
who was vibited in the year 1774 by Mr Low. "I do not remember," says this tourist,
in a letter to Mr George Paton of Edinburgh, preserved in the Advocates' Library,
" if I left you a copy of a Norse ballad. I wish you would try if Dr Percy could make any
thing of it. If you have no copy, I shall send an exact one, though I cannot depend on the
orthography, as I wrote it from an honest country man's mouth, who could neither read nor
write, but had the most retentive memory I ever heard of. He, I am afraid, is by this time
dead, as he was then old and much decayed ; but, when I saw him, he was so much pleased
with my curiosity, — and now and then a dram of gin, — that he repeated and sang the whole
day." Some kinds of poetry, as the historical ballads and romances, which William Henry
could recite, were, as he stated, never sung but on a winters evening at the fire-side. The
subject of one of them, as explained by this aged and last minstrel of Hialtland, was

The Strife of the Earl of Orkney, on account of his Marriage with the King of

.Norway's daughter.

Hildina, the daughter of the King of Norway, was beloved by Hiluge, a courtier, whose
pretensions to her hand, though supported by the approval of ihe Crown, she discouraged.
While this Sovereign, accompanied by his favourite, was engaged in a distant war with some
northern potentate, one of the Earls of Orkney, in his rambles on the coast on Norway, met
with the fair Princess, and became enamoured of her charms. Nor did his accomplishments
obtain for him less favour in the lady's eyes, as she eventually gave her hand to this new
lover, and fled with him to the shores of Orkney, in order to avoid the wrath of her sire.
When the King, on returning from the wars, had learned what had happened, the daring
presumption of the Earl, in obtaining an unsanctioned alliance with the Crown, exasperated
him to the greatest degree ; while Hiluge felt no less wounded under the poignancy of
slighted love. Both were impatient to gratify their revengeful feelings, and, for this purpose,
set sail with a strong force, and landed at Orkney. By the persuasion of Hildina, the Earl
met her father unarmed, and, throwing himself upon his mercy, eloquently besought from
him a reconcilement to the nuptials. The monarch's affection for his daughter, which
nothing could wholly subdue, made him relent ; but no sooner had his son-in-law left him,
to communicate the joyful result of the conference to his spouse, than the courtier, by
resorting to all the artful means he could devise, by reminding the King of the affront com-
mitted against the royal dignity, succeeded in inducing him to recal his promise of
forgiveness. Nothing, then, could prevent the dispute from being decided by the sword
alone. Hiluge and the Earl met arm to arm ; their combat was desperate, but the contest
proved fatal to Orkney's chief, who was cleft to the earth by his fierce and overwhelming
adversary. The victor cut off the head of the unfortunate bridegroom, and, bearing away
this dreadful signal of his triumph, threw it, bedewed with blood, at Hildina's feet, accom-
panying the brutal act with the most sarcastic reproaches. The lady, after recovering from
the horror with which she was struck at the sight, felt her injured pride return, and told the

ITER IV] VISECKS AND REELS. 259

destroyer, that great as was her affliction for the loss of her husband, the feeling was
subordinate to the impatience that she felt under the cruel insult with which her feelings
had been mocked. Hildina being compelled to return with her royal father to Norway, was
again sought for in marriage by Hiluge, the renewed suit being importunately seconded by
the king. The lady thus beset, gave a reluctant consent, requesting, as the slightest of
acknowledgments for her concession, that she might be allowed to fill the goblets with wine
at her wedding-dinner. A boon so humble was readily granted. The bridal party was
assembled, the marriage was solemnized, the banquet prepared, and Hildina, after having
secretly drugged the wine that was to be used, poured it into the cups, and presented it
to her guests ; — its narcotic qualities soon threw the company into a deep slumber, and
the lady then began to execute the work of deadly vengeance she had meditated. She
first ordered her sleeping father to be conveyed out of the house to a place of safety,
and, seizing a lighted brand, set the mansion in flames, and invested it with her dependents
to prevent escape. Hiluge, roused by the blaze, saw the treachery, and piteously cried out
for mercy. Hildina heard with horrid delight his supplication, and, bitterly returning the
taunts he had used while throwing her husband's head at her feet, left the wretched courtier
to perish in the flames.*

It was not many years before Mr Low's visit to Shetland in the 1774, that numerous
songs, under the name of Visecks, formed the accompaniment to dances that would amuse a
festival party during a long winter's evening. When the corn-waters of Hamburgh had gone
merrily round, the tables labouring, at the same time, under the weight of skeo-dried vivda,
sillocks, gammon, and reeked trout,— when the gue, an ancient two-stringed violin of the
country, was aiding the conviviality of Yule, then would a number of the happy sons and
daughters of Hialtland take each other by the hand, and while one of them sang a Norn
viseck, they would perform a circular dance, their steps continually changing with the tune.
In the middle of the last century, little of the Norwegian language remained in the country,
and these visecks being soon lost, they were followed, as a clergyman of Unst informed Mr
Low, by playing at cards all night, by drinking Hamburgh waters, and by Scotch dances.
The reel, upon being introduced, became highly popular, and a few original melodies
adapted to it, were composed by native musicians of Shetland, the most popular of which
was the Foula Reel. To this tune a song was afterwards adapted, named the Shaalds of
Foula, bearing allusion to a profitable fishery for cod that was long conducted upon those
shaalds or shoals. The words sufficiently express the freedom with which the cottager spent
in the conviviality of a winter, the hard-earned savings of a summer, in the perilous fishery
of the haaf.

Weel, since, we are welcome to Yule, up wi't Lightfoot, link it awa', boys ;
Send for a fiddler, play up Foula reel, we'll skip as light as a maw, boys.

Chorus.

The Shaalds of Foula will pay for a', up wi't Lightfoot, link it awa', boys ;
The Shaalds of Foula will pay for a', the Shaalds will pay for a', boys.

* For an account of the original of this romance, see Note 12, Iter IV.

260 VE SKERRIES.

[ITER IV.

The A wens are amang the cows in the byre, up wi't Lightfoot, link it awa', boys ;
Link up the pot, and put on a gude fire, we'll sit till cocks do craw, boys.

The Shaalds of Foula, &c.

Now for a light and a pot of gude beer, up wi't Lightfoot, link it awa', boys ;

We'll drink a gude fishing against the next year, and the Shaalds will pay for a', boys.

The Shaalds of Foula, &c.

VE SKERRIES.

(Including an account of the Superstitions of the Shetland Seas.)

With the intention of visiting the Ve Skerries, I passed several low rocks lying a little
below the surface of the water. Inequalities of this kind, named in Shetland Baas, and
in Feroe Boffves, which interrupt the currents of tide, and raise immense high waves that
break, may be found at various depths, some of them having upon them as much as twenty
fathoms of water. When the sea is disturbed, the breaking is repeated a few times, said to
not exceed seven, and before it recommences, a long interval of stillness succeeds. It
is a popular opinion, that the breaking of a Baa may be induced by hot weather ; — that
when it takes place in calm weather, an approaching storm is indicated, and that though a
Baa appear perfectly still, if a boat approach or go over the place where it lies, a breaking,
often fatal to the crew, immediately ensues.* Debes notices the latter circumstance,
and with much ingenuity supposes, that a magnetic sympathy possessed by the hidden
rock, attracts the iron of the boat, which the shallow water, in its magnetic antipathy, " not
being able to endure, riseth itself." I have been assured that the Shetlanders, whose im-
aginations have conceived of strange wonders in the seas, entertain similar notions of the
existence of submarine magnetic rocks. The opinions, indeed, which they entertained
during the last century, and which are scarcely forgotten at the present day, of the ocean, or
of its inhabitants, have all the wildness in them of the popular notions existing on the same
subject among Norwegian fishermen, and are still blended with the mythology of the north.
Formerly, whenever a crew at the Haaf met with some immense and unusual visitant of the
seas, as a finner,t a grampus or a porpoise, it was converted by them into a sea-trow.J The
kraken or horven, which appears like a floating island, sending forth tentacula as high as the
masts of a ship,§ and the great sea-snake with his formidable mane,|| are monsters that have

* There is a rock near Mavis Grind, named Tairville's Baa, connected with the name of an ancient Norwegian settler, who
slew in a deul, fought at Papa Stour, a gentleman of rank, and resistedall the attempts that were made to bring him to a trial for
the act, living by depredations in the country. He is said to have perished in a boat with many of his sons, on the Baa that bears
his name. Mr Low was shewn in Papa Stour a circular inclosure of stones, where the duel alluded to was said to have been fought.

t The Finner of Shetland may consist of the Balaenoptera gibbar, the Jubartes or Rorqual of La Cepede. One of the latter
kind was killed in Balta Sound, A.D. 1817.

\ Brand describes certain sea-trows as great rolling creatures tumbling in the water. Some of them, adds the same author,
come among the fishermen's nets, break them and take them away.

§ A few years since, an affidavit was taken by a Justice of the Peace in Shetland, relative to a monster of this kind, that was
seen at a distance from the shore off the island of Burra. It appeared, said the men, like the hull of a large ship, but on approach-
ing it nearer, they saw that it was infinitely larger, and resembled the back of a monster. It is also said, that part of the remains
of a dead kraken were found about 70 years ago driven to the mouth of a large cave in the island of Meikle Roe.

II The existence of the sea-snake, — a monster fifty-five feet long, is placed beyond a doubt, by the animal that was thrown on

ITER IV .] SUPERSTITIONS OF THE SHETLAND SEAS. 26 1

been occasionally recognised, and their occurrence is much connected with the demonology
of the Shetland seas. If we could, indeed, conjure up all the creatures that either do
actually exist, or only live in the imagination of the natives, an hideous host of monsters-
would present themselves in array.

" Most ugly shapes and horrible aspects,
Such as Dame Nature's self mote feare to see,
Or shame that ever should so fowle defects
PVom her most cunning hand, escaped bee,
All dreadful portraicts of deformitee."

The appearance assumed by the malevolent Neptune of the Shetlanders, named the
Shoopiltee,* bear a complete or near resemblance to that of a horse. Of mermen and mer-
woman, many strange stories are told. Beneath the depths of the ocean, an atmosphere
exists adapted to the respiring organs of certain beings, resembling, in form, the human
race, who are possessed of surpassing beauty, of limited supernatural powers, and liable tc
the incident of death. They dwell in a wide territory of the globe far below the region of
fishes, over which the sea, like the cloudy canopy of our sky, loftily rolls, and they possess
habitations constructed of the pearly and coral-line productions of the ocean.t Having
lungs not adapted to a watery medium, but to the nature of atmospheric air, it would be
impossible for them to pass through the volume of waters that intervenes between the sub-
marine and subra-marine world, if it were not for the extraordinary power that they inherit,
of entering the skin of some animal capable of existing in the sea, which they are enabled to
occupy by a sort of demoniacal possession. One shape that they put on, is that of an animal
human above the waste, yet terminating below in the tail and fins of a fish, but the most
favourite form is of the larger seal or Haaf-fish ; for, in possessing an amphibious nature,
they are enabled not only to exist in the ocean, but to land on some rock, where they
frequently lighten themselves of their sea-dress, resume their proper shape, and with much
curiosity examine the nature of the upper world belonging to the human race. Unfortu-
nately, however, each merman or merwoman, possess but one skin, enabling the individual
to ascend the seas, and if, on visiting the abode of man, the garb should be lost, the hapless
being must unavoidably become an inhabitant of our earth.

I effected a landing, not without considerable difficulty, on one of the low rocks that

shore in Orkney, the vertebrae of which are to be seen in the Edinburgh Museum. The faith in the Edda of the great serpent,
that Thor fished for, did not, as Dr Percy conceives, give rise to the notion of the sea-snake, but a real sea-snake was the founda-
tion of the fable. I have heard, in Shetland, of a sea-serpent being seen off the Isle of Stennes, Vailey Island, and Dunrossness.

* Sir Robert Sibbald says, that the Shetlanders "sometimes catch with their nets and hooks Tritons, they call them
Shoupiltins." This account does not agree with the superstition of the present day. There is only one shoupiltin or shoupiltee,
whose character is that of Nickur, the demoniacal Neptune of the North of Europe.

t I could obtain little satisfaction from the Shetlanders relative to the nature of the country beneath the sea ; but a native of
the Isle of Man once visited it by means of a diving-bell, that drew after it a rope double the distance of the moon from the earth.
After passing the region of fishes, he descended into a serene atmosphere, and at length arrived at the bottom of the submarine
world, which was paved with coral and unknown shining pebbles, where were large streets and squares on every side, pyramids of
crystal, and buildings of mother of pearl. The interior of the houses boasted walls of jasper, floors of diamonds, topazes, and other
precious stones, chairs and tables of amber, and comely mermen and pretty mermaids for inhabitants, who were greatly alarmed at
the sight of the diving-bell and its occupant. --See Waldron's Isle of Man, and Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Border, vol. iii. p. 300.

262 SUPERSTITIONS OF THE SHETLAND SEAS. [ITER IV .

forms a part of the Skerries, seven or eight miles north-west of Papa Stour. This is a
dangerous reef for vessels, — the sea around being agitated by opposite tides, while in the
winter it is so washed over with the waves as to be scarcely visible. From the shelving
crags of these Skerries, numerous large seals sought their safety in the ocean, while others
less timorous, drew near the boat and gazed at us with attention ; but these might have
been the disguised submarine inhabitants of ocean's depths,— philosophers, perhaps, in their
own world, availing themselves of the opportunity of examining the geognosy of our portion
of the earth's crust, and the external characters and habits of the Homo Sapiens of supra-
marine systematic writers. The Ve Skerries are, according to popular belief, the particular
retreat of the fair sons and daughters of the sea, where they are defended by a raging surf,
that continually beats around them, from the obtrusive gaze and interference of mortals ;
here they release themselves from the skins within which they are inthralled, and, assuming
the most exquisite human forms that ever were opposed to earthly eyes, inhale the upper
atmosphere destined for the human race, and, by the moon's bright beams, enjoy their mid-
night revels.

As the green-haired denizens of the ocean are mortal, the visits that they pay the upper
world are -not always unattended with peril. On the authority of Brand, it appears, that in
making their way through the ocean, there was much danger in their being entangled among
the meshes spread out for taking herring; in which case they were certain to obtain a sound
beating from the fishermen. It often happened, therefore, that they would contrive to break
through the nets, or to the vexation of the Shetlanders, bear them away. Sometimes, how-
ever, a more disastrous fate attended these beings. A damsel, who, in swimming through
the intermediate expanse of the ocean, had assumed the peculiar half-fishy form under which
a mermaid in her disguise very frequently appears, was caught by a ling hook that had been
laid, which, from the narrative of Brand, appears to have entered her chin, and come out at
her upper lip. When she was brought to the side of the boat, one of the crew fearing that
her appearance denoted mischief, took out his knife, and stabbed her to the heart ; — the
luckless mermaiden fell backwards, emitted a mournful cry, and disappeared for ever. The
murderer never afterwards prospered in his affairs, but, until his death, was haunted by an
old merman, who continually upbraided him with the crime he had committed. But the
greatest danger to which these rangers of the sea seem liable, are, from the mortal hurts
that they receive, upon taking on themselves the form of the larger seals or Haaf-fish ; for
when shot under this shape, the blood no sooner issues forth from the wound, and mixes
with the ocean's brine, than it possesses the supernatural power of causing an awful swell
and break of the sea, in the vicinity of the spot where the victim, from a sense of the pain
inflicted, has been seen to dive. On the Ve Skerries, the inhabitants of submarine depths
are liable to considerable peril, whenever the natives of Papa Stour repair thither, at certain
times of the year, for the purpose of attacking the seals, as they lie in the hollow of a certain
crag. A story is told of a boat's crew that landed with this design at one of the Stacks ;—
they stunned a number of these animals, and, in this state, striped them of their skins, with
the fat attached to them, — left the carcases on the rock, and were about to set off for the
shore of Papa Stour, when such a tremendous swell arose, that every one flew quickly to

ITER IV.] SUPERSTITIONS OF THE SHETLAND SEAS. 263

the boat, and were successful in entering it, except one man, who had imprudently lingered*
behind. The crew were unwilling to leave a companion to perish on the skerries, but the
surge increased so fast, that after many unsuccessful attempts to bring the boat close in to
the stack the unfortunate wight was left to his fate. A stormy night came on, and the
deserted Shetlander saw no prospect before him, but of perishing with cold and hunger, or
of being washed into the sea by the breakers which threatened to dash over the rocks. At
length, he perceived many of the seals, who, in their flight, had escaped the attack of the
boatmen ; — they approached the skerry, disrobed themselves of their amphibious hides, and
appeared like the sons and daughters of the ocean. Their first object was to assist in the
recovery of their friends, who, having been stunned by clubs, had, in this state, been
deprived of their skins. When the flead animal had regained their sensibility, they
assumed their proper form of mermen or merwomen, and began to lament in a mourn-
ful lay, wildly accompanied by the storm that was raging around, the loss of their
sea-dress, which would prevent them from again enjoying their native azure atmosphere,
and coral mansions that lay below the deep waters of the Atlantic. But their chief lamenta-
tion was for Ollavitinus, the son of Gioga, who, having been striped of his seal's-skin, would
be for ever parted from his co-mate, and condemned to be an outcast inhabitant of the
upper world. Their song was at length broken off, by observing one of their enemies view-
ing, with shivering limbs and looks of comfortless despair, the wild waves that dashed over
the stack. Gioga immediately conceived the idea of rendering subservient to the advantage
of her son the perilous situation of the man. She addressed him with mildness, proposing
to carry him safe on her back across the sea to Papa Stour, on condition of receiving the
seal-skin of Ollavitinus. A bargain was struck, and Gioga clad herself in her amphibious
garb ; but the Shetlander, alarmed at the sight of the stormy main that he was to ride
through, prudently begged leave of the matron, for his better preservation, that he might be
allowed to cut a few holes in her shoulders and flanks, in order to procure, between the
skin and the flesh, a better fastening for his hands and feet. The request being complied
with, the man grasped the neck of the seal, and committing himself to her care, she landed
him safely at Acres Gio in Papa Stour; from which place he immediately repaired to a skeo
at Hamna Voe, where the skin was deposited, and honourably fulfilled his part of the con-
tract, by affording Gioga the means whereby her son could again revisit the ethereal space
over which the sea spread its green mantle.*

Sometimes mermen and merwomen have formed connubial attachments with the
human race.f A story is told of an inhabitant of Unst, who, in walking on the sandy
margin of a voe, saw a number of these beings dancing by moonlight, and several seal-skins
strewed beside them on the ground. At his approach they immediately fled to secure their
garbs, and taking upon themselves the form of seals, plunged immediately into the sea.
But as the Shetlander perceived that one skin lay close to his feet, he snatched it up, bore

* There is a story that perhaps proceeds from a supersition nearly like this, to be found in the Illustrations of Northern Anti-
quities, which is derived from the Wilkina Saga. Some merwomen, in going to the Rhine to sport, take off their clothes, and lay
them at the water's edge. These are seized by a warrior, who will not restore them but on certain conditions.

+ It is said in Ben's Description of Stronsay in Orkney, written A.D. 1529, " Monstri maximi nomine Troices (trows), sjepiss-
ime coeunt cum mulieribus illic colentibus." The belief in such attachments is popular in many countries.

264 SANDNESS TO VAILEY.

[ITER IV.

'it swiftly away, and placed it in concealment. On returning to the shore, he met the fairest
damsel that was ever gazed upon by mortal eyes, lamenting the robbery, by which she
should become an exile from her submarine friends, and a tenant of the upper world.
Vainly she implored the restitution of her property ; the man had drunk deeply of love, and
was inexorable, — but offered her protection beneath his roof as his betrothed spouse. The
mer lady, perceiving that she must become an inhabitant of the earth, found that she could
not do better than accept of the offer. This strange connubial attachment subsisted for
many years, and several children were the fruits of it, who retained no farther marks of their
origin than in the resemblance which a sort of web between their fingers, and a particular
bend of their hands, bore to the fore feet of a seal, — this peculiarity being possessed by the
descendants of the family at the present day. The Shetlander's love for his merwife was
unbounded ; but his affection was coldly returned. The lady would often steal alone to the
desert strand, and on a signal being given, a large seal would make his appearance, with
whom she would hold, in an unknown tongue, an anxious conference. Years had thus
glided away, when it happened that one of the children, in the course of his play, found
concealed beneath a stack of corn a seal's skin, and, delighted with the prize, ran with it to
his mother. Her eyes glistened with rapture, — she gazed upon it as her own,— as the
means by which she could pass through the ocean that led to her native home, — she burst
forth into an ecstacy of joy, which was only moderated when she beheld her children,
whom she was now about to leave, — and, after hastily embracing them, fled with all speed
towards the sea-side. The husband immediately returned, — learned the discovery that had
taken place, — ran to overtake his wife, but only arrived in time to see her transformation of
shape completed, — to see her, in the form of a seal, bound from the ledge of a rock into
the sea. The large animal of the same kind with whom she had held a secret converse
soon appeared, and evidently congratulated her, in the most tender manner, on her escape.
But, before she dived to unknown depths, she cast a parting glance at the wretched
Shetlander, whose despairing looks excited in her breast a few transient feelings of com-
miseration. " Farewell," said she to him, "and may all good attend you. I loved you
very well when I resided upon earth, but I always loved my first husband much better."

These inhabitants of a submarine world were, in the later periods of Christianity, regarded
as fallen angels, who were compelled to take refuge in the seas : They had, therefore, the
name of Sea-Trows given to them, as belonging to the dominion of the Prince of Darkness.
Brand appears to have confirmed this view, by assenting, to the opinion of the sailors, that
it was the devil, who in the shape of great rolling creatures, broke their nets; adding; "It
seems to be more than probable that evil spirits frequent both land and sea."

SANDNESS TO VAILEY.

In an inland course from Sandness, on the Mainland, to Vailey, there is not a single
habitation ; hills, that afford receptacles for numerous lochs, and covered with a thick brown
moss, are surmounted by higher rising heaths, which present a barren and bleak picture of

ITER IV.]

WITCHCRAFT. 265

more than usual wildness. Along the coast, which is broken into steep precipices and
gios, there are several patches of cultivation. On the rocks of Deepdale, a ship freighted
with timber had recently gone into pieces 3 the few individuals, whose lives were saved,
having effected their escape, by being thrown upon a frightful cliff, which, in a dark night,
they contrived to scale, and in the morning reached the small town of Dale. As soon as
they related their story, every boat in the vicinity was launched, for the sake of plunder.

At Vailey, a more enlivened prospect is presented, from the many voes which lead
into the sound, and from its populous and well cultivated shores. The island, on which
a handsome house is built, is the residence of John Scott, Esq., the proprietor. There
are several burghs in this vicinity, one of which is situated on a holm at the loch of Burro-
land, having a double concentric wall, with ditches that were filled with water from the loch,
and communicating with the shore, by means of stepping stones. I found in this vicinity
some tenants who had been released from the obligation of fishing. They sold their fish to
Yaggers, by which cant phrase, derived from the vessels that attended the Dutch busses and
took home the first herrings, an enterprising set of young men were originally designated,
who, having few or no boats themselves employed at the Haaf, purchased fish from the
natives at a higher price than that which landlords paid. There was an old tradition re-
specting Vailey, that neither cat nor mice would live in it, and, as a cat was seen there,
about a century ago, at the time a gentleman was afflicted with illness, it was judged that the
creature could be nothing but a noted witch of the vicinity in disguise. On the popular
notions entertained at present, and more particularly in the last two centuries, respecting the
witchcraft of Shetland, I have hitherto said nothing, and this task I shall fulfil on the
present occasion.

WITCHCRAFT OF SHETLAND.

Magic was originally sanctioned in Scandinavia by Odin, and, during the Pagan state
of Orkney and Shetland, was practised by individuals of the highest rank. The mother of
Thorfin, Earl of Orkney, who lived in the nth century, gave to her son a standard, em-
broidered with the signal of a raven, telling him, that if the fates had intended he should
have lived for ever, she would have nursed him much longer in his cradle ; but that life
was finished more honourably with glory, than lengthened out with dishonour; — that
although the standard on which she had expended all her magic art portended victory to
him before it was carried, yet it might bring death to the bearer. The females who, in
Scandinavia, or its colonies, had most distinguished themselves in the art of divination,
were deified after their decease, under the name of Nornies, or Destinies ; and it was sup-
posed, that upon the completion of their apotheosis, they had the power of controlling
human events. Urda the past, Verdandi the present, and Skulda the future, mounted swift
horses, and with drawn swords travelled through the air and over the seas, in order to select
the particular mortals who were to die in battle, and to conduct them to Valhalla : — they
were the handmaids of Odin, and dwelt in a beautiful city. But Nornies of a subordinate

266 WITCHCRAFT. [ITER Iv

character lived in caves ; some of them were descended from the gods, some from genii, and
others from the malignant dwarfs. They assisted at the birth of children, and determined
their fate and age : the Nornies of good origin dispensing riches and honour ; and the
Nornies of wicked descent dooming certain individuals to poverty and infamy, or to death
in the flower of life.

The esteem in which the Pagan professors of magic were held, was first diminished
upon the introduction of Christianity, when it was far from being believed that the deities
of the Edda were fabulous beings, but that they were fallen angels in league with the Prince
of Darkness, who, until the appearance of our Saviour, had been allowed to range on the
earth uncontrolled, and to involve the world in spiritual darkness and delusion. It was then
supposed, that witches and warlocks, by a compact with Satan himself, were enabled to com-
mand the assistance of the demons of the Pagans, who, having been driven from Heaven,
took shelter in caverns, seas, and lakes, or became the drudging domestic spirits of particular
families. An opinion precisely similar was entertained among the early Reformers of the
Christian Church.

The forms in which the demons appeared, with whom the magicians of Shetland com-
muned, were often those which had been familiar to Pagan times. The raven, for instance,
whose language the ancient diviner boasted he could understand,* had a supernatural know-
ledge of the secret affairs of men, and the hidden things of Nature. Odin had always in
attendance two ravens, who would sit upon his shoulders, — who would fly the world over,
and, at dinner time, return, for the purpose of whispering in his ears all the occurrences
they had either heard or seen. In like manner, a witch of Shetland, who, in the middle of
the 17th century, held converse with the Prince of Darkness, was seen going to and from
Brecon to Hillswick, while the devils, who were her familiars, appeared to her in the likeness
of two corbies, that hopped on each side of her all the way. As this appearance was main-
tained to be contrary to the nature of wild fowls, it formed one of the charges against the
unhappy woman, for which she was condemned to be worried and burnt at a stake. It was
also customary for a familiar to appear under the form of a cat ; and sometimes he put on a
human shape, as when, about fifty years ago, he assisted the wife of a warlock in Papa Stour
to delve, during the time that her husband was engaged at the Haaf. As soon as the devil
had abandoned a Shetland witch, he was seen under the shape of a fiery ball. Sinclair, in
his Invisible World Discovered, assures us, that when Helen Stewart and hex daughter
were brought to the gibbet to be burned, the poor girl was so stupified that she was thought
to be then possessed by Satan ; for after she had hung some little time at the gibbet, a
black pitchy ball foamed out of her mouth, which, after the fire was kindled, grew to the
bigness of a walnut, and then flew up like squibs into the air, — this being a visible sign that
the devil was gone out of her.

* The supernatural powers that were the boast of the ancient Scandinavian magicians, are thus recited in the song of King
Eric:

Intellexit quid garriant aves, Klok nam fugla

potuit ignem restinguere, kyrra elda

fluctus compescere, saeva oc svefia

dolores lenire. sorgir laegia.

ITER IV.]

WITCHCRAFT. 267

The chief means by which the devilry of a Shetland witch or warlock was accom-
plished, appears to have been by an evil eye or an evil tongue. It was said of Marion
Pardon, who suffered in the year 1645, that she was all her days a wicked, devilish, fearful
and abominable curser, and that whenever she cursed those whom she wished evil, every
evil, sickness, harm, and death, followed thereupon ; — she cursed Janet Robinson and,
accordingly, showers of pains and fits fell upon the victim. Nor was her eye less baneful ;
she looked upon a cow, and it " crapped togidder till no lyfe was leukit for her." It may
be remarked, however, that the notion of an evil eye or tongue having the power to hurt,
was not confined in Shetland to the professors of magic, but was attributed to any enemy
who might look maliciously at a neighbour's person and property, or might bestow upon
them a curse.* A superstition of this kind was not unknown to the ancient Romans, the
Turks, the modern Egyptians, and many of the Celtic tribes. The influence of an evil eye
was also supposed to be in a more intense degree blasting, when any one was beheld in
glory and triumph. There is, again, in Shetland, another modification of the superstition,
resembling one which may be found described in Lupton's Book of Notable Things, on the
authority of Gellius, that " There are in Africk families of men, who, if they chance
exceedingly to praise fair trees, pure seeds, goodly children, excellent horses, fair and well-
looking cattle, soon after they will wither and pine away and so dye." In like manner, Mr
Low was informed in Shetland, by a minister, that, " if you praise their children, or call
them fat, they think you their worst enemy, and that such children are certainly doomed to
die. Nor must any be praised upon which these poor people set a value."

The Shetland witch delighted in imitating a practice to which Brownie, the well known
domestic spirit, was addicted ; for whenever sacrifices were not the regular pay of the
goblin's drudgery, the brewing was spoiled, which was named ''Taking away the profit from
the malt." Accordingly, she has long been notorious for gratifying her revenge or malevo-
lence, in depriving her neighbours of the profits of their rooms, lands, corn, grass, butter,
cattle and wool. In an indictment against Marion Pardon of Hillswick, she was charged
with attempting to take away the profit of some bear belonging to Edward Halcro, when he
was dichting it to steep for malt ; with marring and undoing two whole makings of the same
bear, and with taking away the profit of Andro Erasmusson's kine for thirteen days.t

The witch of Shetland had, like Odin, the great father of Scandinavian magic, the
power of undergoing a transmutation of shape resembling various animals. Marion Pardon
of Hillswick, conceived a malice against the crew of a fishing-boat, and, transforming herself
into the likeness of a pellack-whale or porpoise, upset a fishing-boat. She was convicted of
the crime by the confession of another witch, and by the well-known test of the bahr-recht,
or law of the bier ; for being commanded, along with Swene, her husband, to lay hands on
two of the dead bodies that were found, one of them bled at the craig-bane, and another in
the head and fingers, "guishingout bluid thereat, to the great admiration of the beholders, and

* Mr Low remarked of the Orkney natives, that there were not a few instances of their falling ill upon being cursed by an
enemy.

t A similar superstition prevailed in Orkney. Elspet Smith, in the year 1672, complained to the minister and elders of Hoy,
that Marion Mangie had falsely accused her of witchcraft, in saying, " That she sent for ane pynt ofaile from her, and did thereby
take awa the fruit and fusion of ane dyssen of pynts or thereby, that remained in the vessel."

2 68 WITCHCRAFT. [ITER IV

revelation of the judgment of the Almightie." On this irrefragable proof of murder,
admitted, as the indictment expressed, not only in this country but likewise in most foreign
kingdoms, the unfortunate woman was executed.

It was usual with the Shetland dealers in sorcery, like the ancient magicians of Scandi-
navia, to use incantations. " I know a song," said Odin, " of such virtue, that were I
caught in a storm I can hush the winds, and render the air perfectly calm." But the
warlocks and witches of Thule used, by the same means, to raise tempests, the lay being
accompanied by some simple process, that denoted the advancement that was made towards
the attainment of the malevolent object. About fifty years ago, a woman, of the parish of
Dunrossness, known to have a deadly enmity against a boat's crew that had set off for the
Haaf, took a wooden bason, named a cap, and allowed it to float on the surface of a tub of
water; then, to avoid exciting a suspicion of her devilry, she went on with her usual domestic
labours, and, as if to lighten the burden of them, sang an old Norse ditty. After a verse or
two had been recited, she sent a child to the tub, and bade him tell her if the cap was
luhummilled, or turned upside down. Her orders were obeyed, and intelligence were soon
brought to her, that the water was beginning to be agitated, but that the bowl was afloat.
She then continued her incantation, and once more broke it off, by requesting the child to
go again to the tub, and let her know if the cap was whummilled. The little messenger
soon returned with the news that there was a strange swell in the water, which caused the
bowl to be sadly tossed about. The witch then sang still more loudly, and, for the third
time, sent the child to the tub to report the state of the bason, who immediately hastened
back with the information that the water was frightfully troubled, and that the cap was
whummilled. The enchantress, with an air of malignant satisfaction, then ceased her song,
and said, " The Turn is done." On the same day, news came that a fishing yaul had been
lost in the Roust, and that the whole of the crew had been drowned. A similar story is
told of some women in the island of Fetlar, who, when a boat's crew had perished in the
bay of Funzie, were detected sitting round a well, muttering mysterious words over a wooden
bowl that was supernaturally agitated. The accompaniment of a magical incantation by some
process, indicative of the progress of the magical purpose that is meditated, may be found
in many of the wild superstitions of Scandinavia and its colonies. While the Nornies or
Destinies of Pagan times were within the recesses of a gloomy cave, dooming in a wild song
the fate of the warriors who were to fall with the Earl of Orkney in an engagement on the
Irish coast, they were employed on a strange loom, where human entrails furnished the
materials for the warp, foemens' heads for treadles, swoids dipped in gore for shuttles and
darts for woofs. W T hen the incantation was ended, the women each tore a portion of the
cloth, and, mounting their horses, six rode away towards the north, and six to the south.
There is also in Scandinavia an ancient rhyme, named the Quern Song, wherein two female
slaves of a gigantic form sing a strange ditty, while they are employed in labouring on a
quern of immense magnitude, in which they grind riches to a sea-king; but, being dissatis-
fied with the oppression of their master, in making them persist throughout the whole of the
night in their labour, they grind against the same warrior a destructive army.

Another mode, by which the magician of Shetland obtained a power over Nature's

ITER IV.]

WITCHCRAFT. 269

operations, was by means of knots, the superstitious regard for them seeming to have arisen
from the use to which they were from the remotest period applied as memorials of events,
or as inviolable pledges of agreement, indicating that they were not to be loosened.* It has
been affirmed, that the most ancient Runic characters imitated the variety of knots that were
made on such occasions ;f and if this be the case, we can easily account for similar magical
effects being ascribed to them, as to the symbols of which they were mere substitutes.^ The
Fins were long notorious for controlling, by such means, events depending on the atmos-
phere, or for " untying the winds." And Brand relates a story of a witch of Shetland, who
made nearly the same use of knots as Odin did of the Runae, by which they were succeeded :
for while the God, by virtue of written spells, could make a witch, when riding through the
clouds, miss her aim, the Shetland sorceress, upon seeing a fowl which a sea-eagle was
carrying through the air, has taken a string, and after having cast some knots upon it, the
bird of prey has let its captive fall into the ocean, from which it has been immediately
recovered by a boat. Artifices of this kind were also applied to the cure of diseases ; this
use of them being indeed familiar to other countries. When, for instance, an old woman of
Shetland has been called in to cure a sprained limb, she has tied around it a piece of woollen
thread, on which was made a certain number of knots, and after muttering during the
operation certain mysterious words, a cure has been soon effected. These charms were,
two centuries ago, supposed to have been constructed by the Devil, from whom witches
received them. Thus, in an indictment against Marion Pardon of Hillswick, it appeared in
evidence, that Swene, her husband, was labouring in a peat-moss, with several other scat-
holders, among whom was a poor fellow, enfeebled by disease. A Shetlander of the party,
in a sneering way, asked Swene if he could not prevail upon his wife to go to her J>ooe§ the
devil, and bid him loose a knot, that the sick man might be enabled to cast his peats.

When the Pagan magic of the North was modified by the introduction of Christianity,
it was supposed that many diseases were induced by a sort of demoniacal possession that
took place in different parts of the body, and that a cure was to be effected by obliging the
demon to enter the body of some ether animal. When a Shetland witch, therefore, had, by
a compact with the prince of darkness, obtained a command over subordinate evil spirits,
she could charge them to enter the mortal tenement of flesh belonging to either man or
beast, and to cause affliction even unto death. Marion Pardon of Hillswick, by a power of
this kind, cast fits upon Janet Robertson, but being threatened with the terror of the law,
removed the disease (or rather the demon that induced it), by throwing it upon two kine
that shortly afterwards expired. She also visited with sickness the wife of a neighbour,
but, under fear of legal consequences, cast it upon a calf that soon afterwards ran mad and
died. In another case, after inflicting illness upon a man, she cured him by putting her

* Hence " the true lover's knot," familiar at the present day, and the knot emblematic of friendship.

t In Hickes's Thesaurus, it is stated, " Inscriptionum Runa? in nodis sive gyris, nodorum insculpta: leguntur, propterea quod
apud veteres septentrionales gentes nodus amoris, fidei, amicitiae symbolum fuisse videtur, ut quod insolubilem pietatis et affectus
nexum significavit." But when these letters were carved on wood, they sustained a considerable alteration, being rather meant to
resemble sprigs that were cut from the tops of trees. — Davies' Celtic Researches, p. 314.

X Thus Odin, by the means of Runic characters, assumed the power of raising the dead to life.
§ Foster-father, or nurse's husband.

27O WITCHCRAFT.

[ITER IV.

finger on his leg and then on the ground, three times to and fro : but on the rumour of the
cure spreading abroad, the beldam grew angry at the exposure, and caused the disease to
return. She again was earnestly entreated to restore the patient once more to a state of
health, — an object that she effected, by sending him a bannock to eat prepared from her
own hands, and by casting the disease on one of his cows, to whom it proved fatal.

It appears, that an exertion of the supernatural powers possessed by warlocks and
witches, was often requested for both good and bad purposes. John Sutherland of Papa
Stour, who lived about fifty years ago, was in the habit of procuring a fair breeze for any
boats that were wind-bound. There is a tradition in the country, connected with a melan-
choly disaster which once befel a respectable family in Shetland, relative to a Norwegian
lady, who being slighted by a young gentleman, bribed a hag to bring the direst misery to
the house with whom she had been refused an alliance. The time selected for the purpose,
was when the sons were about to be ferried across a voe ; and in order to induce the whole
of the heirs-male of the race to take the boat, a shelty that had been secured for the medi-
tated journey of one of them, was in a mysterious manner conveyed away from his tether.
The four youths, accompanied by a cousin, set sail at the close of the evening ; — there was
scarcely a ripple on the water, and not a noise nor a cry was heard, yet when the anxious
parents, impatient of their return, instituted a search after them, they found nothing but the
boat which had drifted ashore with little damage. When the dark deed of enchantment had
been accomplished, the shelty that had been lost was brought back to his tether in as secret
a manner as he had disappeared.

There can be little doubt, but that in a superstitious age, an individual thus consulted
and treated as a common charmer, would in time become herself impressed with the same
conceit, being strongly tempted to make a free surrender of her mind to this self-delusion,
by the convenient power which she would find herself possessed of, under the supernatural
character attributed to her. " Children cannot smile upon a witch," says an old writer,
" without the hazard of a perpetual wry mouth ; a very nobleman's request may be denied
more safely than her petitions for butter, milk or small beer ; and a great ladie's or queen's
name may be less doubtfully derided." There were, however, several ways in which it was
supposed that the power of the sorceress could be resisted, the chief of which was, by draw-
ing some of her blood.* A female, upon whom Marion Pardon of Hillswick had, in her
veneficial heart, cast a terrible and fearful madness, was counselled to draw blood from the
witch, and this she performed by running foul upon her, and biting two of her fingers,
when a recovery took place. Scmetirnes a magician was openly charged with the
diabolical deeds which had been committed, on the principle of the text in Scripture,
" Resist the devil and he will flee from you." The effect of the mystic craft would then
immediately cease. Thus, when Marion Pardon had taken away the profit from certain
kine, their milk was shewn to the dame, and the owner got back her profit. When another
cow produced nothing but blood, the fluid was openly exposed before her eyes, and the

* A number of examples are given in Mr Ellis's edition of Brand's Popular Antiquities, to shew the very prevalent opinion,
that drawing blood from a witch rendered her enchantments ineffectual. Thus, in the first part of Henry the IVth, act 1st, Talbot
says to the Pucelle d'Orleans, " Blood I will draw on thee, thou art a witch."

ITER IV.] WITCHCRAFT. 2 y I

beast soon grew well. In a third ease, where a cow yielded nothing but a fetid matter, the
runnion was not only made to look at the animal, but also to milk her, upon which a
recovery ensued. But the magic of Thule was in no way so successfully combated as by
the terror of the law ; and in no part of Christendom has there been a more industrious
search made after professors of the black art than in Orkney and Shetland. The rapacity
of Earls Patrick and Robert Stewart in seizing lands from the udallers, caused them to bring
to immediate justice all impious charmers, in order to obtain possession of their estates,
which became due to them by forfeiture. Nor was their example unfollowed, for thirty or
forty years afterwards, by those individuals who succeeded them in the government of the
province. Even so late as the commencement of the last century, the witches of Shetland
were, as Brand says, talked of so much anent their devilry, that he was told it was danger-
ous going to or living in this their abode. By the ancient laws of the country, each ransel-
man was directed to inquire in his quarters anent all persons using any manner of withcraft,
charms, or any abominable or devilish superstitions, that they might be brought to condign
punishment. Entrusted with such powers, there is no doubt that these industrious civil
officer^ would find, in every district, some old woman, who could shew the usual manifesta-
tions of a Shetland hag, — one who was a devilish, fearful, and abominable curser, — a taker
away of her neighbour's profits, — a charmer and healer of some, and a caster of sickness
upon others, — who in every way lived a damnable and diabolical life, contrary to God and
his commandments. Every district would display some hollow glen,

" In which a witch did dwell, in loathy weedes,
An wilfull want, all careless of her needes ;
So choosing solitarie to abide
Far from all neighbours, that her devilish deedes
And hellish arts from people she might hide,
And hurt far off unknown whomever she envide." — Spenser.

The task now remains of shewing the modifications that the art of magic underwent in
Shetland from being blended with ceremonies, or notions appertaining to Popery or to the
Reformed Religion. When Popery prevailed in these islands, the effects of witchcraft were
obviated by means of crosses, benedictions, amulets, prayers, and "other godly gear." Such
virtues indeed were attributed to mummery of this kind, that the true warlocks were the
Catholic clergy, who, by mere priestcraft, could at any time produce the accomplishment of
objects, that in days of Paganism depended on incantations, knots, or Runic characters.
But when Reformation was introduced in the land, and when the rites and ceremonies of
Popery were condemned as idolatrous, it was still found not very easy to shake the popular
faith in the effectiveness of many of the ancient ceremonies of the Roman Church, that were
employed to ensure success in fishing and during harvest. Accordingly, a description of
people was greatly encouraged who performed numerous ceremonies, which had evidently a
Popish origin, that were calculated to oppose the malevolence of demons and of common
sorcerers, — to heal diseases or to procure good fortune in worldly affairs. The religious
charmer of Shetland would mutter some words over water, in imitation of the practice of

272 WITCHCRAFT.

[ITER IV

the Catholic priest, and the element was named forespoken water; boats were then sprinkled
with it ; and limbs were washed with it, for the purpose of telling out pains. When a beast
was wounded with elf-shot, the saining or blessing witch would find out the hole, inscrutable
to common eyes, in which the arrow entered, and would wash the place with forespoken
water. By the application of this fluid were the effects combated of an evil eye, or of an
evil tongue. There was a considerable advantage in exercising a profession of witchcraft
thus modified, which admitted into it Christian ceremonies, inasmuch as it had for its avowed
object deeds that were opposed to the designs of the devil. Nor could a collusion with
Satan be suspected, so that supernatural acts might be attempted without the fear of a
capital conviction of the law.

The last modification which took place of witchcraft, arose from a doctrine taught by
the Reformers respecting the efficacy of the Gospel in banishing from the land all demons.
" Now do I not hear," says Brand, after he had visited Shetland, " of any such appearances
the devil makes in these isles, so great and many are the blessings which attend a Gospel
dispensation j the brownies, fairies, and other evil spirits that haunted and were familiar in
our houses, were dismissed, and fled at the breaking out of our Reformation (if we may
except but a few places not yet well reformed from Popish dregs), as the Heathen oracles
were silenced at the coming of our Lord, and the going forth of his Apostles ; so that our
first noble Reformers might have returned and said to their master, as the Seventy did,
' Lord, even the devils are subject to us through thy name.' And though this restraint put
upon the devil was far later in these northern places than with us, to whom the light of a
preached Gospel did more easily shine, yet now also do these northern isles enjoy the
fruits of this restraint." Such was the opinion of the Reformers in the commencement of
the last century ; and it differed from one that had been entertained by the Roman Church
in an important particular. The Catholic divine never arrogated to himself the power of
banishing the trows of Shetland from their native rocks, streams, or seas, but he conceived,
that, by means of exorcisms, he could preclude them from particular sites of ground.
The Reformer, however, supposed, that the light of the Gospel woi^d, by its effulgence,
penetrate into the very domiciles of unclean spirits, and expel them to unknown regions.

When a view like this gained ground, it will scarcely create surprise that the Bible
should become no less useful an instrument in the hands of charmers than crosses, fore-
spoken water, and benedictions. It was recommended, that the lonely wanderer by night
among the bleak scatholds of Thule, should bear in his hands the Holy Scriptures, as a
means of screening himself from the attacks of the trows or demons of the hills. The
inconvenience arising from such a superstitious regard paid to the Gospel, is well illustrated
in a case that came, in the year 1708, before the ministers and elders in Orkney, where
notions similar to those of Shetland prevailed. William Stensgar of Southside, being afflicted
with a pain in his limbs, probably rheumatic, which confined him to his bed, Catharine
Taylor, a poor cripple beggar woman, in repute as a charmer, was sent for to tell out the
pain. She came to the man about an hour before sunrise, and by her directions he followed
her to a gateway named a slap ox grind; the wife accompanying with a stoup of .water. Here
the sybil halted ; the patient laid bare his knee,. and she touched it with her hands, repeat-

ITER iv.] WITCHCRAFT. 2J $

ing at the same time the following words. " As I was going by the way, I met the Lord
Jesus Christ in the likeness of another man ; he asked me what tidings I had to tell. I said
I had no tidings to tell, but I am full of pains, and I can neither gang nor stand. Thou
shalt go to the holy kirk, and thou shalt gang it round about, and then sit down upon thy
knees and say thy prayers to the Lord, and then thou shalt be as heal as the hour when
Christ was born." After this raving nonsense, which by her confession she had learned
when a child from an old woman, she applied to the knee the lawful charm of the Gospel,
by repeating over it the twenty-third Psalm, upon which the evil spirit that caused the
disease was telled out, and fairly transferred into the stoup of water. She then emptied the
vessel on the slap, with the malevolent intention that the disease, (or, to speak more
correctly, the demon that induced it), should take possession of the first unlucky wight that
might pass the stile ; and when a new habitation was thus secured for the evil spirit, the
possibility of the invalid experiencing a return of the complaint would be completely obvi-
ated. While, however, the charmer was employed in concealing, by means of feal and turf,
the water that had been spilt on the ground, so that no suspicion of the intention might be
excited, she was detected by a neighbour, who, suspecting some devilry, forced an entrance
through another part of the dike and safely passed over. But there was another man who
passed through the slap before sun-rising, that was immediately afterwards overtaken with
bodily indisposition. This case affords a good illustration of the gospel sorcery, which was a
natural result of the superstitious view entertained by the early Reformers, respecting the
power of the Scriptures in expelling demons. Brand was, indeed, so confounded when he
visited Orkney and Shetland, at the mixture of Pagan, Popish and Gospel- superstitions
which prevailed, that he was totally unable to justify any of them as authorised by the
doctrines of the New Light, but denounced the practice of them as a hellish art and
tremendous devilry, and not the product of Nature's operation.* " God so permitting it,"
he adds, "to be in his holy and wise providence, for the further punishment and judicial
binding of those who follow such unlawful courses, and the devil thereby engaging his slaves
more in his service. Yet not always the effects desired and expected do follow, that all may
know the devil is a chained one, and can do nothing without the permission of a sovereign
God, who is Lord over all."

These are many of the particulars I have to offer respecting the Witchcraft of Shetland,
as it has existed from the earliest period, as well as the modifications that it has undergone,
from the introduction of Christianity into the country. A belief in most of the superstitions
enumerated is still entertained, such as in the power of taking away profits, or causing
afflictions by an evil eye or tongue ; but as the doors of justice are shut against complaints
of the malevolence of warlocks or witches, v^ho only thrive under persecution, the scarcity
of them at the present day is more attributable to the little disturbance which they meet

* Charmers of the description reprobated by Brand over-ran England, being known by the names of wise men, wise women,
cunning or looming women, white witches or blessing witches. An old writer has remarked, that it would be better for the land,
if all witches, especially the blessing witch, might suffer death. " Men," he adds, " do commonly hate and spit at the damnifying
sorcerer, as unworthie to live among them, whereas they flie unto the other in necessitie, they depend upon him as their god, and
by this means thousands are carried away to their final confusion. Death, therefore, is the just and deserved portion of the good
witch."

274 ISLAND OF FOULA. [ITER IV.

with from the laws, than to the want of inducement that there may be for the imagination
to endow them with the attributes of sorcery. The charmers, who still exercise their pro-
fession, find stolen goods and cure diseases. One practice familiar in former times is still
known. It has been long a popular belief, that when any person is emaciated with sick-
ness, his heart is worn away ; this is attributed to the agency of trows. The patient then
seeks out a cunning woman, who, with several mystic ceremonies, melts some lead, and
allows it to drop through an open sieve into cold water. If an image, bearing some faint
resemblance to the heart, is, after a certain number c{ trials, produced, it is an indication
that "the charm has been successful ; but if no such figure appears, it is a sign that the decay
of this organ is irremediable.

(For the chief authority, from which this account of the Witchcraft of Shetland is draiun
up, consisting of a trial for Witchcraft, dated A.D. 1644, see Note XIII. page 2 So.
Appended to it is a description by Miss Campbell, of the mode of casting Hearts.)

ISLAND OF FOULA.

From Vailey I set sail for Foula, — a bold island rising from the surface of western sea,
at a distance of eight leagues from the mainland, and towering into the sky.

" A place there is, where proudly rais'd there stands
A huge aspiring rock neighb'ring the skies,
Whose surly brow imperiously commands
The sea his bounds, that at his proud feet lies ;
And spurns the waves that in rebellious bands
Assault his empire and against him rise." Daniels.

The island, when viewed from sea, presents the appearance of five hills, most of them
being of a conoid form, named the Noup, Liora Field, the Sneug, Comma Field, and the
Kaim, the highest of which has been estimated at 1300 feet. On the north, a small insu-
lated rock appeared, that had all the appearance, when viewed at a distance, of the ruined
arch of a religious building. The boat lingered a short time among the banks on the east
of the island to catch cod for bait used at the Haaf ; and so fast did we take them, that our
boat might have soon been filled.

On our passage, numbers of the Ca'ing whales appeared ; and, nearer the island, there
were many of the smaller seals, or Tang-fish, so named from being supposed to live among
the Tang, or larger fuci that grow near the shore. The phrenologists of Paris, judging from
the foim and size of the cranium of the seal, have hazarded an opinion, that he is possessed
of uncommon intelligence. I am confirmed in the same notion, from a different kind of
observation. These animals, if taken young, are said to be easily domesticated, when they
readily assume the habits of the dog ; shewing attachment to particular individuals of the
human species, repairing to the water in quest of fish, and returning to the roof where they
have experienced kindness.

ITER IV.]

ISLAND OF FOUL A. 275

In a few hours, I arrived at Ham town, where there is a small gio, that affords a
landing-place for boats. The kirk is situated a little to the south, the duty of which is
weekly performed by a schoolmaster, while it is visited once a year by the minister of Waes,
for the purpose of administering the sacrament.* It was formerly the custom of the in-
habitants, after divine service, to repair to the church-yard, for the sake of a competi-
tion in strength, — who should throw to the greatest distance a large stone, named a
putting-stone, — the old men standing by to tell what feats they and their ancestors had
done, and to lament the feeble powers of a newer and degenerate race. In one of the
valleys, the remains of a wood have been detected, and Mr Low heard the tradition, that
Foula was despoiled of its sylvan honours by the Lewismen who, in one of their plundering
excursions, burnt the trees, in order to prevent them from being a future shelter to the
natives.

There is little doubt but that this island is the Thule which Agricola descried from
Orkney ; since it is often seen from the vicinity of Papa Westray. Learned Antiquaries
have long indeed had no doubt of the fact, from the resemblance which they find between
the words Foula and Thule. t The natives, however, formerly gave to the place the appella-
tion of Uttrie ; it is now named Fughloe, [Foula] or Fowl Island, from the numbers of the
feathered tribe that make it a place of resort.

Foula was one of the last places in which the Norse language was spoken. Mr Low
found it, nearly fifty years ago, much worn out. "It was evidently," he remarked, "much
mixed with English. None of the natives could write the ancient language, and few could
speak it. The best phrases were lost, and little more remained than the names of a few
objects, and two or three remnants of songs, which an old man (William Henry of Gutlorm)
could repeat, though indistinctly."

The ascent from the east to the summit of the hills of Foula, is very steep ; on the west
they are broken by the sea into one line of precipitous cliffs. On the nearest of them, lying
to the north-west of the island, the Shetlander has fancied he could perceive, amidst the
sable gloom of the evening, numerous twinkling rays, emitted by a native light from a car-
buncle, that has been fixed in the steep cliff. My Cicerone was, therefore, at great pains to
point out the particular situation

" Of that admired mighty stone, the Carbuncle that's named,
Which from it such a flaming light, and radiancy ejecteth,
That in the very darkest night the eye to it directeth." — Drayton.

The low lands remote from the sea are frequented by parasitic gulls, which build among
the heather. The surface of the hills swarms also with plovers, Royston crows, sea-pies, or
curlieus. On reaching the highest ridges of the rocks, the prospect presented on every side

.Mr Low, in his visit to Foula, observes, that, at the desire of the whole island, he preached once to a most attentive
audience of the whole community. " These honest creatures," he adds, " in the simplicity of their hearts, are not shy to express
their approbation of a public discourse, even in words, and that aloud. The common appellation to all acquaintances is brother.'

t In a note in the handwriting of Mr Pennant, on a paje of Mr Low's Tour, I find the following remark. " This was the
Thule of Tacitus, which, from its height, was easily seen in the circumnavigation of the Orknies, by the Roman fleet. Dispecta
est ct Thule. How nearly is the name preserved !"

276 CONCLUSION.

[ITER IV.

is of the sublimest description. The spectator looks down from a perpendicular height of
1 1 00 or 1200 feet, and sees below the wide Atlantic roll its tide. Dense columns of birds
hover through the air, consisting of maws, kittywakes, lyres, sea-parrots, or gullemots ; — the
cormorants occupy the lowest portions of the cliffs, the kittywakes whiten the ledges of one
distinct cliff, gulls are found on another, and lyres on a third. The welkin is darkened
with their flight ; nor is the sea less covered with them, as they search the waters in quest
of food. But when the winter appears, the colony is fled, and the rude harmony produced
by their various screams, is succeeded by a desart stillness. From the brink of this awful
precipice the adventurous fowler is, by means of a rope tied round his body, let down many
fathoms 5 he then lands on the ledges, where the various sea birds nestle, being still as re-
gardless as his ancestors of the destruction that awaits the falling of some loose stones from
a crag, or the untwisting of a cord. It was formerly said of the Foula man, — " his gutcher
(grandfather) guid before, his father guid before, and he must expect to go over the Sneug
too."

I ascended several of the highest points of the rocks of Foula. One of them is
occupied by the Bonxie, or Scua Gull, the terror of the feathered race, but so noble
minded, as to prefer waging war with birds larger than himself. The Eagle forbears to
make an attack upon lambs while Scua is present ; on which account he was long con-
sidered a privileged bird, the act of destroying him being visited with a severe penalty. On
the summit of Liorafield is a small hole within which several barrels of lines are said to have
been let down without finding a bottom. It is covered with a flag, which I had the
temerity to remove, notwithstanding an ancient superstition, that he who the first time is
upon the island, opens the Liora or vent that leads to this subterraneous abode of Trows,
dies immediately afterwards. On the summit of Foula there is a view, on the south, of the
distant shores of Orkney ; but on the east, Hialtland is fully exposed in all its native wild-
ness, appearing as one long range of desolate hills.

FOULA TO BRESSAY SOUND.

I found a large boat sailing to Vailey from the Haaf, and availed myself of the oppor-
tunity of taking a passage in it, but having offended the demon of Liora-field, by exposing
to the light of day, the opening that led to his secret habitation within the hill, a perilous if
not fatal passage across the wide channel we had to cross, followed as a matter of course.
Accordingly, the wind sprung up, the waters began to swell, our heavily freighted boat
shipped much water, and at length the main-sail gave way, so that after a passage of eight
hours, not unattended with danger, we with difficulty arrived in port.

The approach of autumn now gave me notice to quit the islands of Shetland. The
Greenland vessels were constantly arriving in the harbours to bring back the seamen whom
they had taken with them early in the spring to the Northern Seas. The short nights pre-
venting the fishers from sailing to the Haaf, they were catching, by means of handlines, ling
and cod, which were allowed to remain in salt until beginning of the spring. Heavy

ITER iv.j CONCLUSION. 277

gales were coming on, which, combining with the spray of the sea that was flung up, in
some places destroyed the crops in a single night.* The shipwreck of a Russian vessel had
occurred on the coast, on which occasion I observed a number of boats crews toiling with
all their might at their oars, for the sake of plunder. But the most decided indication of
the season was the brilliancy with which the evening was lighted up by the aurora borealis ;
streamers of a reddish yellow colour darting over the heavens with a tremulous and curved
motion.

I soon arrived at Bressay Sound, named in Norwegian Annals Bredeyiar Sound, where
the fleet of King Haco was moored for several days after sailing from Norway, in an unsuc-
cessful expedition against Scotland. "The leader of his people," says Sturlas, "unmoored
the ploughers [ships] of the ocean, and raised aloft the expanded wings [sails,] of his sky-
blue doves [ships]. Our Sovereign rich in the spoils [gold,] of the sea-snake's den, viewed
the retiring haven from the stern of his snorting steed [ship] adorned with ruddy gold."t

At Lerwick, to which place I returned, there is an object the most desirable to a
traveller, — a comfortable inn. $ For too often in rambling over the bleak scatholds of the
country, the traveller is apt to long for the accommodation so expatiated upon by good
Master Isaac Walton, " An honest ale-house, where we shall find a cleanly room, lavender
in the windows, and twenty ballads stuck about the wall." He who may wish to explore the
most secluded parts of Shetland, and to proceed with a true spirit of independence, will find
no great difficulty in inducing the cottagers to accept of an adequate remuneration for
receiving him beneath their roof. But with these free notions, he must submit to great
inconvenience, chiefly arising from the want of cleanliness that stamps the character of the
Shetland hovels ; this want of comfort, however, will be at any time preferred, rather than
be reduced to the necessity of seeking for gratuitous comfort in more commodious habita-
tions ; yet, as I have often experienced, too frequently is this reluctance subdued, by the
generous invitation that has met on his lonesome way the unintroduced and weary stranger.

The hospitality of Shetland has long been recorded by the northern poets, and there
still remains in the country all the practice of it that was recommended in the Havamaal
of Odin. "To the guest, who enters your dwelling with frozen knees, give the warmth
of your fire; and he who hath travelled over the mountains hath need of food and well-
dried garments." The vicinity of Lerwick is associated with the hospitality shewn to
Ronald Earl of Orkney, when, in company with Harold, his partner in the earldom, he was

■* " When the winds blow in great force," says a describer of Shetland, " the surges rise in proportion, dashing violently
against the rocks. The white salt froth which is forced up against the highest promontories, mixes with the air in circulation ; is
carried over lands under cultivation ; falls, as it passes, on the corns ; dries and hardens upon thein, by which its farther growth is
impeded : and the most sanguine hopes of the poor farmer destroyed. The straw even, as well as the hay, becomes unfit for any
purpose in husbandry. "—Considerations on the Fisheries in the Scottish Islands, p. 17.

t Expedition of King Haco against Scotland.— Translated by Johnson.

t This was kept by a very civil family of the name of Sinclair, and possesses very good accommodation. There is an oppor-
tunity of seeing in this place the conviviality of the county, which is quite as much as an industrious pains-taking landlord would
desire. Honest Barnaby would have been quite at home in this place, the wild scene around him bearing no faint resemblance to
that of Kighley.

Ubi montes minitantes, vivi fontes,

Ardui colles, arids valles laeti tamen sunt sodales,

Festivantes et jucundi, ac si domini essent mundi.

278 CONCLUSION.

[ITER IV.

cast upon some rocks near Gulberswick. Much treasure, with which the vessel was loaded,
became lost; but the Earl still preserved his good spirits, and amused himself during the
night in composing sportive verses. In the morning, when a landing was effected, the doors
of the inhabitants were thrown open for the accommodation of the party ; and as the Earl
was exceedingly wet, he was presented with the common garb of the country, which con-
sisted, as he remarked, of a rough-skinned, thick-napped leather coat, which he wore with
pleasure, as he had taken leave of his " sea-horse," and as the splendour of garments was
then to him of little avail. The Earl sent twelve of his companions in misfortune to Einar
of Gulberswick, but the proud udaller, over-anxious to take the lead in hospitality, sent a
message, that he would not receive them, unless the Earl himself would condescend to be
his guest. Ronald, however, expressed little fear of the threat being put into execution.*

I now prepared to leave Hialtland, and availed myself of a passage politely offered me
in his Majesty's brig the Nimrod, by Captain Bailing. But I did not leave the country
without paying a third visit to Unst, where I had discovered the chromate of iron.

This ore has, of late years, been an object of commercial importance, on account of the
use to which it has been converted, in affording the means of procuring a yellow pigment for
the use of the Arts. Although found in some parts of the Continent, the country from
which it was most frequently obtained was America, while the expence of bringing it over
was very considerable. The chrome of this substance also promises to be of much use in
its application to the dying of silk, wool, linen and cotton, as is shewn in the account which
has been given in the Journals of the experiments of M. J. L. Lassaigne.

My discovery of the chromate of iron took place in the autumn of 181 7, and was
first announced to the public through the medium of Dr Thomson's Journal, in a short
notice written by Professor Jamieson. The information attracted the attention not
only of scientific mineralogists, but of the manufacturing chemists ; and, as I had been
prevented, by the lateness and inclemency of the season in which I visited Shetland,
from devoting as much time to the prosecution of this discovery as the importance of it
merited, I was induced, in the following year, to pay a second visit to this remote district
of Britain. My wish then was to ascertain the general site of ground in which this ore
occurred in the usual form of imbedded masses and veins, and to render the proprie-
tors of the land aware of its distinctive character, and of its importance, in order that
the search after it might be continued when I was absent. t In this object I was perfectly
successful; and my second visit to Shetland afforded me at the same time the oppoitunity

* The jocular character of the Earl is thus shewn in the Orkneyinga Saga :

— " In eorum dein gratiam, ingentes foci, ad quos se fovebant, succeduntur ; ancilla interim ingressa valde tremuit et locuta
est qua£ non intellexere, ast Comes se ejus linguam percipere asserebat.

Inhalas adhuc Asa, Hutututu udi sedebo?

Atatata in aqua jacet, Perquam frigesco ; ad ignem.

t When the intelligence of my discovery of the chromate of iron had arrived in Shetland, after my first visit to that country,
there were few landed proprietors who could persuade themselves that it was of the least importance, so often had they had been
deceived by visitors who had come over, impressing them with false notions of the value of mines and minerals. To Mr Edmon-
stone of Buness, however, I succsssfully addressed myself, and spent some days in pointing out to this ger.tleman, and his servants,
the character of the ore which was strewed over the hills in astonishing abundance ; for, owing to the resemblance that it bore to a
kind of diallage or hornblende, it was repeatedly mistaken for this substance. Accordingly, in following up these instructions, he
perceived, for the first time, that a valuable b=d of ihis ore awaited the operation of the miner, within scarcely more than a hundred
yards of his own door.

ITER IV.]

CONCLUSION. 279

of conducting a Geological Survey of the whole of these islands. Of the great sacrifice of
my time incurred in these journeys, as well as of their expence, I would say nothing : — the
handsome testimonial of approbation that I have received from the Society in London for
the encouragement of Arts and Commerce, leaves me nothing on this score to regret ; and,
if the result of my labours should in any way conduce to the resources of Shetland, or to the
knowledge of the natural history of .this remote province, I would wish for nothing more,
than that it should be considered as one of the effects arising from the encouragement given
to the study of Mineralogy in the University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh, \
Oct. 31, 1821. )"

280 NOTES TO ITER IV

NOTES TO ITER IV.

NOTE XII. Page 258. Ancient Norse Romances of Shetland.

The argument of the Shetland romance given in page 258, as explained by William
Henry of Guttorm, has appeared in print, for the first time, from Mr Low's MSS. I would
have inserted the words which were taken down by this Tourist, but as they have already
appeared in Dr Barry's History of Orkney (page 484), a reprint is scarcely demanded. I
may observe, that the imperfect orthography of the poem, owing to the transcriber's ignor-
ance of the northern languages, rendered it to Dr Percy wholly unintelligible. A gentle-
man, however, of Edinburgh, well versed in Danish literature, had some intention of
transmitting the ballad to Copenhagen, under the impression that it would there stand a
chance of being interpreted. In Dr Barry's work (page 482 and 403), may be also found a
few ancient Shetland words, collected by Mr Low from Foula, as well as the Lord's Prayer
in Norse, which it is unnecessary to republish.

NOTE XIII. Page 259. Witchcraft of Shetland.

Trial of Witches in Shetland, A.D. 1644.

Intent upon Pannel Marion Peebles alias Pardone, spouse to Stvene

in Hildiswick.

In the first, you the said Marion Peebles alias Pardone, is Indytit and accusit for the
sinful and damnable renouncing of God, your Faith and Baptism, giving and casting of
yourself, body and saul, in the hands of the Devil, following, exercising, using and practising
of the fearfull and damnable craft of Witchcraft, Sorcerie, and Charming, in manner follow-
ing, viz.

In the first, you are Indytit and accusit for coming in the month of

NOTES TO ITER IV. 251

Jmvjc. and thirty years, to the house of John Banks in Turvisetter, and Janet Robertson,
his spouse, with a wicked, devilish and malicious intention to cast Witchcraft and Sickness
upon them; and missing the said 'Janet there, for going to Sursetter, where she then was,
and after cursing and scolding her, telling her that she should repent what she had done to
your daughter and good-son. And for that immediately with the word, ye, by your devilish
art of witchcraft, did cast sickness upon the said Janet, who, immediately upon your depar-
ture, fell in an extraordinary and unkindly sickness, and lay eight weeks, taking her shours and
pains by fits, at midday and midnight, and so continued most terribly tormented ; her said
sickness being castin upon her by your said devilish witchcraft, during the said space, until
the said John Banks came to you and threatened you, at which time ye gaif him a gullion
of silver [2s value], to hold his peace and conceal the same, promising to him that nothing
should ail his wife. And thereafter, for that ye sent her ane cheese of the breadth of one
loof, composed by your said devilish art of witchcraft, which ane jinke-roll, and desiring her
the said Janet to eat the same, when (whereof the said Janet refused to eat,) yet immedi-
ately she grew well, bnt two of her kine died, the said sickness being casten upon them by
your said wicked and devilish art of witchcraft.

2. Witchcrajt. — Likeas also, you are indytit and accusit, for that by your said art of
devilish witchcraft, ye did, upon the recovery of the said Janet, cast the same sickness upon
Marion Banks, sister to the said John Banks, which troubled her after the same manner,
tormenting her for twenty days, until that one Osla in Olnasfirth, coming to you, by direc-
tion of the said John Banks, and warned you hereof, whereupon, by your said devilish
witchcraft, the said sickness was taken off the said Marion and casten upon a young cow of
the said John's, which took wodrome, [madness,] and died within twenty-four hours, which
ye cannot deny.

3. — Item, Ye the said Marion are indytit, for that you being very shroudly
suspected, and ccmmonly bruited as a common witch, ye coming along upon some of your
said devilish and wicked intentions to umquil Edward Halcro in Overure, qr. he was
dichting bear to steep for malt, you being of wicked intention, by your said devilish craft,
did undo the said making of malt, and he suspecting you, after he had reproved you for
minding you about him, ye said to him all would be well touching the said making, as it so
fell out; so taking upon you and acknowledging by your wordis your power in the said
wicked and devilish art of witchcraft. That, after that, he being there scrowing corns, and
ye persisting in your said wicked and devilish intentions to undo and provock the said
Edwd. you did thereby marr and undo twa whole makings of the same bear,- qlk never did
good, qlk ye rank witch cannot deny.

4. Witchcraft. — Item, the said Marion is indytit and accusit for that in April 1641, the
sd. Edwd. coming to your houss, after ye had urged him to take meat, he took resolution
to go to the war [seaweed] having not intention before, and going with Sueno your husband
to the gio heid [narroiv creek with high rocks] v. here they were usit to go down, he being
affrayit to go down first, desyrit your husband to go before him, quha refusing to go, the
: aid Edwd. went, whereon he going down and stepping upon a stone which was ever a sure
step before, ye the said Marion, be yor. said wicked and devilish art of witchcraft, maid the
said stone to lows and fall down with him, whereby his life was in great peril], yet saved to
the admiration of all the beholders. And ye being accusit for taking the said occasion and
cryme upon you, anserit that it was not for his gud, but for Helen Thomson his spous gud
that he was savit.

5. Witchcraft. — Item, ye the said Marion are indyttit and accusit for that ye by yor said
wicked and devilish art of witchcraft, did cast ane terrible and fearful madnes and sickness
upon ane Madda Scuddasdoughter, your awin friend, becaus she wold not byd with you,
yron she continuit most terriblie tormentit, and throw the torment of the sd. disease, she
was caryit manytimes to run upon her awin sister yt. keepit her, and divers so as to have
devorit them in her madnes, and so continuit a zeir and half ane zeir, till she, being coun-
sallit be of Hildiswick, ran upon the sd. Marion and drew blood of you, within
Jas. Halcros hows, biting twa of yr. fingers till they bled, whereupon the said Madda
Scuddadoughter recoverit of her disease, and came to her ryt sinces, thereby manifestly

282 NOTES TO ITER IV.

shewing, and approving your sd. trade, and exercising of you, said Marion Pardone. your
sd. devilish and wicked craft of witchcraft, tormenting and abusing thereby of weak Chris-
tians, Goddis people, againes quhom ye carrie evil will and malice, which ye rank witch
cannot deny.

6. Witchcraft. — Item, ye the sd. Marion Pardown ar indyttit and accusit for that

zeers syne, James Halcro in Hilldiswick having a cow that ye alledged had
pushed a cow of yours, ye in revenge thereof, by yr. said devilish art of witchcraft, made the
sd. James his cow, milk nothing but blood, whereas your awin cow had no harm in her
milk ; whereupon they suspecting you, shewit the sd. bloody milk to Marion Kilti your
servant, quha desyrit of you the same bloody milk for Goddis caus to shew you, and said
she houpit the cow sould be weil ; quhilk having gotten, and coming therewith to your hous,
and shawing it to you, thereafter the cow grew weil, thairby shewing and proving your
sd. devilish practyce of the art of witchcraft.

7. Witchcraft. — Item, ye the said Marion are indyttit and accusit for that you having
a'no 1642 zeirs, hyrit ane cow from Androw Smith, younger in Hildiswick, which ye keepit
frae the bull, when she wald have taken bull, and the sd. Andro getting knowledge thereof,
causit the same to be brought to the bull and bullit against your will. The next year when
she calved, ye by vour sd. devilish art of witchcraft, took away her proffeit and milk, sa that
she milked nothing but water, quhilk stinked and tasted of sham a long tyme, till that you
comming by the sd. Andro his hous, he suspecting you, caused you to milk her and look to
her, after which doing, immediately the sd. cows milk cam to its own nature, — thairby
indicating and shewing your sd. devilish, and wicked, and abbominable airt and practyce of
witchcraft,- — and quhilk ye cannot deny,

8. Witchcraft.- — Item, ye the said Marion ar indyttit and accusit, for that in anno ,
ye coming by ane pies of grass quhairin Andro Smith elder in Videfield had six kine
tederit, quhairintil ye went, and out of whilk grass ye and your son, after you had lousit and
taken the kyne, fell in scoulding with and abusit the said Andro, and said to him that he
sould not have so many kyne to eat grass and milk the next zeir ;• — according to the qlk
wordis, sa it fell out thereafter ; for that by your sd. devilish art of witchcraft, the sd. hail
six kyne died befoir the next half yeir, all fat and gudlike by that same order, as they were
lousit by you on tether, beginning at the first cow, (quhilk was ane black cow, qlk ye lousit,
qlk died 20 days before Yule, fat and tydie,) and so furth in succession the rest, by your sd.
devilish witchcraft, conform to your sd. veneficial, wicked and malicious powers, qlk ye
cannot deny.

9. }Vitchcraft.- — Item, ye the sd. Marion ar indyttit and accusit for that yeirs
syne, ye coming to the said Andro Smyth elder, and desyring him len you ane of his hors,
to go to Urafirth to lead peatis, qlk he refusit to do, ye out of a wicked and malicious heart
said to him that he would repent it ; whereupon ye by your sd. wickeed and devilish airt of
witchcraft, and for outting of your malice, and for keeping of your said devilish promeis,
within aught days thereafter did kill ane of his best warke hors, and within half ane zeir
thereafter other three of his sd. hors; thairby shewing baith in your words and deeds, your
wicked and devilish skill concerning the practise of the fursd. devilish and abbominable airt
of witchcraft, qlk ye cannot deny.

10. Witchcraft.- — Item, you the sd. Marion ar indyttit and accusit, for that

years syne, ye being suspectit to have castin sickness upon the said Andro Smith elder his
oy, qrof she lay long benumed and senseless, ye coming tyme foirsd. to the hous of Overure,
and they challenging and quarrelling you therfor, ye fell into cursing and swearing, and went
to the dore, qr ane calf was standing in the dore besyd you, qrupon in your sd. wicked and
devilish malice, be your sd. detestable craft of witchcraft, ye did cast sickness that it pre-
sentlie run mad, cracy, and died.

11. Witchcraft. — Item, ye the said Marion are indyttit and accusit for coming to
Andro Erasmusson's house in Eshaness, qr. he having ane cow three days calved
befoir, qrupon as ye luikit, ye immediately be airt and devilrie cast sickness, that she im-
mediatlie crap togidder, that no lyf was looked for her; till they sent for you, and causit you
lay your hand upon her, qrupon scho then immediatlie recoverit, and was weil, — thereby

NOTES TO ITER IV. 283

manifestlie and cleirlie shewing your forsd. wicked, devilish and detestahil lyf, carridge,
trade and practise of the forsd. abominable airt and craft of witchcraft, qlk ye cannot deny.
12. Witchcraft. — Likeas ye the sd. Marion to cullour and extenuat your sd. craft, alledg-
ing that ye wantit the profit of your kyne, qlk was not true, but onlie to tak occasion, by your
sd. wicked and devilish airt of the profit of the said Andro his kyne, came to his hous in July
therefter, and efter cursing his wyf, quha shawed you the milk of her kyne, desirit her to
caus Usla Sinclair, her servant woman, to go with you to kerne, qlk she did. Qrby, and by
your sd. wicked and devilish airt, you touk away with you the profeit of the sd. Andro his
kyne until the space of throttein dayes ; till the sd. Andro his wyf went to your hous, and
shewit you the milk and butter, and maid publication yrof to the nybours, and immediatlie
thereafter gat back her profeit of baith her milk and butter ; — qrby manifestly appears, and
is shawen, your guiltines in taking the samen be your sd. wicked and detestahil aert of witch-
craft, and your restoring again of the samen upon a challenge, qlk ye cannot deny. Item,
ye ar indyttit and accusit for that zeirs syne, ye cam to Thomas in Urabister, and

desyrit a quoyach cow of his of four zeir old to hyre, qlk was with calf then, whereof he maid
you half a grant, but not the full, untill he could advyse with his Mrs, the gud wyf of Ura-
firth, quha would not consent ; and becaus ye gat her not, ye outscoldit him and wer verie
angrie. And in revenge of his sd. refusal, immediatelie yrafter ye cas seeknes upon the sd.
cow, qlk being at the hill with otheris of his kyne, scho tuik a wodroam or madnes and cam
scouring hame frae the rest to the byre dere, brak up the saim and went in, having her head
thrawin backward to hjr back, that 4 people could not get it back, and thereby dyed throw
the sh. diseas, cassin on her by your sd. airt, working and witchcraft, qlk ye cannot deny.

14. Witchcraft. — Lykeas ye not being in your devilish and wicked mynd eneugh re-
venget and satisfyit, ye be the same your craft, devilrie, and witchcraft, within six weeks
yrefter, cast the lyke seeknes upon ane uther cow of the sd. Thomas his kyne, whereby scho
also died mad and in woddram, and for the qlk you are also indyttit, accusit, and cannot
deny the samin.

15. Witchcraft. — Item, ye the sd. Marion are indyttit and accusit for that in anno
1634, at Michehnes, when the cornes were taking in, the sd. Thomas in Urabister having
aught piere of hors and mairs gaing on the riggs of Olnais firth, ye cam furth with a staff to
ding awa his hors, qn. ye fell and hurt your knee, whereupon ye, to revenge yourself, and to
assyth your wicked and malicious heart and mynd, did, by your foirsd. airt of witchcraft and
devilrie, caus that within aught dayis thereafter his best hors died, and thereafter before
Candelmes uther sex hors and mares.

At Scalloway, the ijth March, 1645 zeirs.

We the Moderator and remanent Brethren of the Presb. of Zetland, being convened
day and place forsaid, and having examined the above vvreattin process, doe find and declare
the poyntis former market in the margine \_now maiked in Jtalics] ; being lawli prowing to
be witchcraft, and yrfor the pairtie guiltie wortdy of death be the law of God and the law of
the kingdome, and requyris you judges to put them to the knawledge of ane assye, and
minister justice upon them accordinglie, as ye wil be ansrable to God, his Maijeslie and
Counsel, and to discharge of your deutie heeranent.

Nicol WHYTE, Moderator.
W. Robert Murray, Clk.

Fytts. — Item, ye the said Marion Peebles alias Pardoun, ar indyttit and accusit for
that at Canclemiss or thereby 1643, on ane Sunday, ye coming into the hous of James
Halcro in Hildiswick, where Andro Broun then wis for the time, and falling into contest,
and fletting with him about linching ane boat, ye, being enraged, set your venefical malice
against him, and cursit him with many wicked and execrable words, and by your damnable
and venefical heart wishit and cravit ill may so befall him ; whereupon by your develish airt
and craft of witchcraft ye bewitched him, and cast sickness upon him immediatly that he
fell in a deadlie sickness and diseas. — That upon Munday next hereafter, he did contract sa

284

NOTES TO ITER IV.

vehement and deadlie diseas and sickness, tormentit thereby fra the croun of his head to
the sole of his fute, that there was no lyff expectit of him. Quhairfor his nybers, knawing
your detestable brute of witchcraft, and your pouir at your said practising, and that on
whomsoever your cursed charm fell, sum notable and extraordinar mischieff and evile
followit to yame, they did advys him to send for you, to shaw that there wis na lyff for him,
and that they all suspectit you for casting the samin upon him. Qupairupon, after many
dinyellis to cum and see him, at last you cam to him, quhen shewing you his diseas and
sickness, togidder with the racking pain thereof, imputit by him and utheris to be your act
and doing, Andro thaerfor prayit you to lay your hand upon him, which you wold not do,
nor be na intreattie nither of him nor of your nybures moved thereto, till that they all that
were in the hous, being wearied of your refusal, went furth grivet, and prayit you for Goddis
cause to lay your hand upon him ; and then at last, being movit thereto, using your said
venefical and damnabil charms and witchcraft, ye did uncover his leg, and pat your finger
thereon, and on the ground three several tymes, to and fra ; qrby immediatlie, by your said
airt of witchcraft and charms, he fell, and said his pein and diseas was desolvit frae the
crown of his head to the sole of his fute ; at qlk tyme he was before her tucth sa heavyly
diseased frae top to toe, through all his body, with swelling in his handes, lykwise armis,
leges and knees, that he was unable to move or turn himself in the bed ; but after your said
tutch, he became able to sit up, and turn himself in the bed, and within tvva dayes, was
fullie recoverit, and went furth. Quhilk sudden recoverie, togidder with your forme and
manner of charming, and cureing of be your said tutch and charmes being spread abroad
amang your nybers, and the same cuming to your ears, about 14 days after his recoverie, ye
said to your nybbers, emgrace on them that had bewitched you, that wald not witch you oer
the bankes [high rocky shore] ; quhairupon immediatlie again he fell again in the sd. sicknes
wors than befoir, and paynet away with sic extremetic of sicknes, that he sent to you againe,
desyring meat out of your hand ; and after long intreatie, ye wald not cum to him with it,
least your witchcraft and charmes again sould cum to lyt, but sent wt. Swene your husband,
ane bannock,* after long stryving betwixt the sd. Swene and you, qlk of you sould give the
samin to him ; qlk he having eaten, he again recoverit presentlie thereafter, and the sd.
sicknes was cassin be you upon ane cow, pertaining also to Andro, qlk then died. Qlk
hail premis wer wrought and done be your sd. detestable and devilish airt of witchcraft and
charming, qlk ye cannot deny.

Item, ye the sd. Marion, ar indyttit and accusit for that, you bearing ane deadlie and
veneficall malice in your heart agains the sd. umquill Edward Halcro in Overure, (as in
your former dettayes and accusationis persisting in,) and incrissing your malice and divelish
intentiones of your wicked heart, and taking occasion to renew and bring your wicked
intention by your sd. wicked airt of witchcraft, to work his ruyine and death, — (being set on
edge be a speitch spoken be him to the sd. Swene your husband, when he was castin \cut-
ing] peates to him in Voir [seed time] last year, as the sd. Andro Brown also was castin
peatis to him, having callit to your sd. husband, and bade him go to you, to desyre you to
go to your pobe [nurse's husband] the devill, and bid him loose ane knot, that the sd. Andro
Brown myt be able, being then verie waik, to cast out his bank of peates :) — qurpon ye and
the sd. Swene being angrie, awaitting your occasion to practise your said abominable airt
and craft of witchcraft, to destroy and put down the sd. Edward Halcro, and having cove-
nantit and conversit with the devill to bring the saiin to pass, (as ane declaration of umquill
Jvenit Fraser, witch, whom you desyrit the devill to move her to assist you doth prove, qlk
the both before and after her conviction did testiffie,) ye be your sd. wicked, detestable,
abhominable and develish airt of witchcraft, being transformed in the lyknes of an pellack
quhaill, (at the [counsel of the sd. Swene,] and be your consent and wish, the devill chang-
ing your spirit, qlk fled in the same quhaill ;) and the said Edward being at sey with
Malcolm Smyth, sone unto Helen Cloustin, his spous, and Nicol Smyth, sone to Grissel
Bruce in Gluis, and Finland, servant to the sd. Edward, all four in ane fishing-boat

coming frae the sey at the north bankis of Hildiswick, on ane fair morning, the day of

* Marginal Note in the handwriting of the Moderator, " then confessit, sht sent the Bannock."

NOTES TO ITER IV. 285

last bypast, ye did cum under the said boat and overturnit her with ease, and drowned
and devoirit thame in ye sey, right at the shore, when there wis na danger utherwayis, nor
hazard to have cassin thame away, it being sik fair widder, as said is. Lykwais when the
said umquill Edward wis fund with the said umquill , and you and the said

S.vino your husband wir sent for, and brought to see thame, and to lay your hands on thame
dayis after said death and away casting, quhaire their bluid was evanished and
desolved from every natural cours or caus to shie and run, the said umquill Edward bled at
the collir bain or craig bane, and the said in the hand and fingers, gushing

out bluid thereat to the great admiration of the beholders and revelation of the judgment of
the Almytie. And by which lyk occasionis and miraculous works of God, made manifest in
murders, and the murderers, whereby be many frequent cccasiones brought to light, and the
murderers be the sd. proof brought to judgment, convict and condemned, not onlie in this
kingdom, also this countrie, but lykwayis in maist forrin Christiane kingdomis ; and be so
manie frequent precedentis and practising of and tuitching murderis and murdereris
notourllie known, so that the foirsaid murder and witchcraft of the sadis persons, with the
rest of their companions, through your said husbands deed, art, part, rad and counsall, is
manifest and cleir to not onlie through and by the foirsaid precedentis of your malice,
wicked and malishis practises, by witchcraft, confessionis and declarations of the said
umquill Janet Fraser, witch, revealed to her as said is, and quha wis desyrit by him to con-
cur and assist with you to the doing thereof; but lykwais be the declaration and revelation
of the justice and judgmentis of God, through the said issueing of bluid from the bodies,
qrby booth you and your said husband are found takin, and proven in the art of your said
witchcraft and murder ; and speciallie when the said Marion Peebles alias Pardoun, now an
pannel, quhilk ye booth rank witch and murderir, cannot deny.

Lykeas ye the said Marion, indyttit and accusit as ane common rank witch, charmer
and deceaver, and quaha wer all your dayes, then lx. years and more, been so report and
halden, bearing yourself sa, consulting, riving with the devill in his caus, who did

change lyknis appearing to you severallie ; for that ye being cuming fra Breckon to Hildes-
wick, in the month of last, quhen you wir to be apprehendit and sent in for

the foirsayid crymes to suffer, the devill there in the way, did converse and appear to you,
both in your going to and frae Breckcn and Hildiswick, in the lyknes of twa corbies, ane on
every side of you, clos at your sides, going and happing alongis the way with you to Hildis-
wick, and stayid where you went, not leaving you three quarters of a myle, till Robert
Ramsay overtuik you, when they came full flyght to the sey, and the corn land

and hills ; he then did challenge you anent the saidis corbies, of the cause of thair so far
accompanying you, sa neir and sa far way, it not being the natuir of wyld fuillis to follow sa
far, and keep pace sa neir approaching ony man or woman. Ye then did cast a glos upon it,
saying they smellit bread on you, quhilk made them, (to quhom ye sayd ye was casting
bread) to come, — quhilk wis onlie a lie maid by you, conceeling. At your returne they
continuit with you, and conversit ut supra, als far back agane as scoir and threttein. As
lykways, you have not onlie behavid yourself as sayd is, as ane common rank witch, alwayis
giving yourself to charmis, and never knowing the trew God, and quhom the truly sentifyed
Chryst ar, not sa much as to learne the Lordis Prayer, nor to repeat the samen in all your
lyfetime, but ar reprobit from God; has given yourself, boith saul and bodie, to serving the
Devill, and bund up in him, that you will not muster power, nor will cast off the Devill, sa
mutch as to follow learning to repeat the Lordis Prayer amangist Goddis ministers and
children, but ar, and has been all your dayis ane wicked, devilish, fearful and abhominable
curser ; quhaver ye ever cursed, ane them ye disendit and wishit evil to, everie evil sicknes,
herme and death followit thereupon, throw your diabolical tongue, witchcraft and

cursing. And has ever behavit yourself as ane common witch and charmer, taker away of
your nyber's profeits of their roumes, landes, cornes, grass, butter, key, sheip, and wul, and
a charmer and healer of sum, and caster of sicknesses upon uthers, and everie way living a
damnable, wicked and diabolical lyff, contrarie to God and his commandments. Quhilk
you cannot deny, and quhairfoir you the said Marion ought and sould undergo the tryal of
ane assyse, and being convictit and adjudged thairfoir to the death, and your hail landis, if

286 NOTES TO ITER IV.

any be, ye have foirfattit, and your moveabil goods escheat and inbrought to his Majesty's
use, conforme to the lawis and daylie practise of this realme.*

The Brethren considering the premises ut supra in the former sheets of paper.

Nicol Whyte, Mode? a tor.
(Signed) W. Robert Murray, Ok.

Provin.

Curia Justiciar, vicecomitatus de Zetland, tento apud Scalloway Banks, in castro ibidem,
per venerabiles viros Magistrum Jacobum Mouat de Ollaberrie, Johannem Stewart de Big-
toun, et Patricum Umphray de Sand, Vicecomitatus ac Justiciar Deputatus, die vigesimo
primo Martis 1644.

Curia tenta et legitima affirmata.

The quhilk day compearit James Gray, Pror-fiscal, and producit the dittay of witchcraft
given agains Marion Pardon and Margaret Guthramdaughter witches, pannels, and desyrit
they sould be accusit, and the said ditty put to the trial of an assyze; whereupon the Judges
Deputes ordained them to be called, upon which the Pror-fiscal askit instruments of Court.

ASSYZE.

Jas. Mouat of Hamne Voe. Manis Finlayson in Burroland.

Olla Manson of Ilesbrough. Manis Swainson in Tongine.

Andro Manson of Mangister. Willm. Tullocht in Skelberrie.

Thos. Manson in Braure. Olla Williamson in Glus.

Laurenc Gresvillsone in Tanwick. John Ornsone, senior in Enisfirth.

Jas. Gryersone in Setter.

Olla Gunner in Sullom.

Jas. Andrewsone in Uzea.

Andrew Smyt, younger in Hildswicke.

The Assyze being recavit, sworn and admittit ; and, after reading the dittay, and ex-
amination of the penneles thereupon, and having recavit the depositiunes of divers famous
witnesses, quhilk wer sworne tutching the dittays, proving them, as lykwayes in considera-
tion of their confessions, and instances markit and set downe in and upon the said dittayis.
They passing out of judgment, and reconsidering the saidis dittayis, togidder with the saidis
depositiones of witnesses, having namit Olla Mansone of Ilesburgh chancellar ; and after
examining the hail poyntis and consultation of the delusions and confessiones of the said
Marion, fyllis hir, that the hail poyntis of dittay are agains her, boith general and special,
except theft of Thomas of Urabister not provin, and anent Edward Halcro's malt, quherein
they rest clauseure, and

They all in one voice ffylls her of the hail! poyntis of dittay producit, and remittis
sentens to the Judges, and dome to the dempster. In witnes qrof subscribit be the
chancellar.

(Signed) Oli.avv Magnassone.

Continuis sentence to the morow xxij Martii 1644.

The Judges adjudges and decerns the pannells to be taken brought hence to the place
of execution to the Hill of Berrie, and there wyryt at ane stak, and brunt in ashes, betwix
and 2 aftirnoone, qlk Andro of Offir, dempster, gave for dome.

Respecting the foregoing Trial of Witches, the original document was in the possession of a

'■ " Proven also Mart. Qn thay war waking er, scfao spirit qr her husband wis, qn answering her speiring gains her husband,
scho assertit he lay tutching her hand, and would not suffer her to confess." — The Note is in the handwriting of the Moderator.

ADDITIONS TO ITER IV. 287

gentleman of Shetland, lately deceased. It is to be regretted t/iat the transcript made from
it is in some degree an imperfect one ; but I have rather pteferted pi-inting it as it has
been received, than make any change that is not authorised by the original, which I have
not the means of consulting. The possession of the transaipt I obtained through the
kindness of Mr Ross, late Collector of the Customs in Lerwick.

The custom of Casting Hearts, alluded to in page 274, is so well related by Miss
Campbell of Lerwick, in the Notes to her recent Novel entitled Harley Radington,
illustrative of Shetland manners, that I shall beg leave to transcrible the passage.

" When people are afflicted with consumptive complaints in Zeatland, they image that
the heart of the person so affected has been wasted away by the enchantment of the fairies,
or witchcraft of some other evil beings.* Old women, and sometimes men, profess to cure
this disease. The patient must undergo the following curious and very ridiculous operation:
— He is directed to sit upon the bottom of a large cooking pot, turned upon its mouth ; a
large pewter dish is placed, or held upon hrs head ; upon the dish a bason or bowl is set
nearly full of cold water ; into this water the operator pours some melted lead though the
teeth of a common dressing comb. A large key is also employed in this operation. All
this is performed with many strange incantations and gesticulations. If the lead falls into a
shapeless lump, they declare that the heart and the lungs of the patient are completely washed
away, that they will have infinite trouble, and perhaps, after all, will not be able to bring
back the heart and lungs to their natural and healthful form. The lead is again melted, and
run into the water through the teeth of the comb ; it most likely assumes some shape, which
the operator assures the spectators is the exact form of the patient's heart in its diseased
state. The lead is repeatedly melted, and poured through the comb into the water ; every
time it is asserted to be more and more like the natural heart and lungs, and the bewitch-
ment, of course, is rendered weaker and weaker. The patient undergoes this three times,
with some days between each operation. When the last cast of the lead is over, the opera-
tor shews it round, and points out how exactly every part of the heart and the lungs are
restored to their natural and proper shape ; if the patient dies (perhaps his death is hurried
on by the fatigue and agitation occasioned by this mummery), his death is ascribed to some
oversight in the strict performance of all the relative parts of this casting of the heart. The
moon must be at a certain age, and it must be performed at a certain turning of the tide
and hour of the night ; numberless other things must be attended to. The operator will
take an) thing they please to give, if it should be the half of all their goods and chattels, but
he must not touch money. He appoints, however, a particular place, where a Danish coin,
worth fivepence, current in Zealand, is to be laid, (as many as they like — the more the
better, no doubt) ; this money is for the fairies, who come, it is asserted, and take it away ;
but the poor honest operator must not, and will not finger it, otherwise his trouble would
come to nought, and the spell which bound the patient would be firmer than ever. This
operation of casting the heart is performed to this day in some parts of the Zetland Isles,
and implicit belief placed in this tfficacy. The patient must wear the lead, which has been
used, in his bosom, for some time after the operation."

ADDITIONS TO ITER IV. t

In a pamphlet, entitled, Considerations on the Fisheries in the Scotch Islands, there are

* I found Dyspepsia to be the most frequent disorder attributed to a decay of the heart. — S. H.

t Having finished my journey through the Isles of Shetland, I have to acknowledge the attentions and civilities I received
from several gentlemen not before mentioned, among whom are Mr Scott, jun. of Sands, Mr Ross of Weisdale, and Mr Moncrieff
of Selie Voe.

288 ADDITIONS TO ITER IV.

many curious detached circumstances relative to the fisheries of Shetland, as they were con-
ducted several years ago, a few of which I shall extract.

Description of the Haaf about fifty years ago, when succouring vessels were
employed in guarding crews.

" The various articles for the grand fishery being provided, the natives push in a body,
all round the islands, on the same day, which i; commonly the ist of June, arid a kind of
annual jubilee. They soon reached the Haaf:" — "There they immediately set to work,
and persevere with the most unremitting diligence during the season, which only lasts six
weeks ; for when the sun declines to the south, the nights grow dark, and the succouring
vessels frequently lose sight of the boats under their care. These boats left to themselves,
strive to push for the shore, amidst the greatest danger, especially when they are stationed
on the west of the Shetlands, about 15 or id leagues out at sea ; and often miserably perish
within sight of the shore, where the wives and children of the poor fishers are the melan-
choly witnesses of their sad catastrophe, without being able to afford them any assistance."

" Many adventurers from the south have for several years past fished on these coasts
with uncommon success, and greatly improved this important branch of trade. They arrive
on the coast in small vessels of 60 or 20 tons ; and after purchasing their boats in the
country, and hiring their fishers by the month or season maintenance included ; they put
three boats, commonly with five men in each, under the care of one vessel ; the most ex-
perienced man in every boat is made patron or skipper." — " They proceed to what distance
these skippers direct, towing their boats with proper ropes, placed in such a manner, that
they do not run foul of one another, at any time during the passage. The first day the men
in each boat assist in beating the lines, and have them all ready for the night's fishing.
When they are about to throw their lines, the vessels bring to, and the boats are manned ;
they then put off together from the vessel, rowing different ways from each other, on a
certain point of the compass, with which each boat is supplied ; and when they come to the
designed spot, they cast their first buoy. While the boats are fishing, the succouring vessels
run around them, telling them the hour of the night, keeping close to the fishers, and
cheering them to support their spirits in this dangerous and fatiguing business. About an
hour after sunrise, they begin to take in the lines, and when that is done, they return to the
ships, where they throw their fish on board, and moor their boats properly astern, at neces-
sary intervals. The different crews, after having refreshed themselves, and taken some rest,
return to their fish about noon, and vie with each other who shall cure them the best."

APPENDIX.

In this Appendix, I shall insert a few articles I have omitted treating of.

Bressay.— In page 109, it might have been stated, that Bressay was the ancient
property of the Hendersons of Gardie, the eldest branch of an early Scandinavian family,
descended from a grand Fowde, sent to Shetland by the King of Denmark in the 15th
century, whose commission was, until a late date, carefully preserved. Their names ceased
to be regular patronymics about a century and a half ago. At that time their estate, which
was the largest in the country, was divided, according to the laws of udal succession, among
six sons. The Island of Bressay became the property of the late Thomas Mouat, Esq. of
Garth, by marriage with the niece and heiress of the late James Henderson, Esq. of Gardie.
It is now in possession of his nephew William Mouat, Esq.

Coal-fish. — -In page 78, the particular manner in which the fishing of the Gadus
carbonarius is conducted, was not described. But in a pamphlet published A.D. 1787,
entitled Considerations on the Fisheries in the Scottish Islands, it is particularly mentioned,
and I understand that it is conducted in the same manner at the present day. The coal-
fish are taken in the Rousts of Sumburgh and Scaw.

" The yawl contains three and sometimes four men, for the cole-fishery. Each of the
boats is rowed by two men ; the others are placed one at the stern and another at the head,
with floating lines thrown out on the tide-side ; the hook being baited with the whitest part
of the belly of the cole, cut nearest to the size of a herring. The rowers direct the boat as
close to the edge of the broken water as they can with safety ; for were they to fall into the
tide, they must perish, as no assistance could be given them. They exert their utmost
strength on this occasion, to keep the hook always on the surface, whilst the fishers fix
their eyes on the bait, as the more the water is raised by the force of the tide, the more
successful the fishing proves, as the deceit is better concealed. Whenever the coles come
to the surface of the water, they are then in quest of herrings, and if the fishers find any in
their stomachs, they deem it a treasure, and apply small pieces of it over the other bait.
When the tide is run and the fish follows, he drags for it, by putting to the line a lead or
sinker, which is commonly a pound and a half weight ; this being let down into the water
to the depth of twenty fathoms or more, he hauls it up with all quickness possible. Thus
the deception takes place most powerfully, and the fish aiming at the herring in motion, and
seemingly running away, is the more easily taken. This species always plunges deeper into
the water, in proportion as the tide wears weak."

29O APPENDIX.

Whales. — In page 172, it might have been observed with regard to any whale being
driven ashore, that, according to the old laws of Shetland, it was not a droit of Admiralty,
unless it was too large to be drawn by four oxen.

Sheep-Pastures. — In page 185, I was apprehensive of having too strongly reprobated the
practice of rooing sheep, which is much abused, from the neglect of selecting a proper time
for the operation, (if, indeed, any time be justifiable for its adoption,) when the wool is not
naturally loosened. I find, however, that Mr Low, in his Fauna Orcadensis, is infinitely
more decisive than myself in protesting against the practice. He calls the penns, in which
the rooing is performed, a place of execution, where the wool is torn, not shorn, off the
backs of the sheep, — -"an operation," he adds, "that brings the whole blood into their skin,
and is not only disgusting, but, if the season proves harsh, is the cause of great destruction."
Miss Campbell, the writer whom I have lately quoted, observes, that "the wool is not cut
off with sheers, but pulled up by the roots, and the animal is left quite naked ; that, too, in
the month of May, when the weather is often extremely cold and stormy in Zetland. It is
supposed that the wool gets coarse from being cut, and this barbarous practice is continued
fur the sake of preserving wool very fine."

Regent's Fishing Bank, page 230. — I have received a few additional particulars respect-
ing this bank, from a young man, Arthur Halcro, employed in fishing upon it this year, who
attended me through the various parts of Shetland, when I visited the country. He states,
that forty vessels were this summer employed on the bank, who met with the greatest
success, whenever the weather was favourable. The depth of water on it, he considers to
be from 46 to 70 fathoms; and he supposes it to terminate in a point from which Foula lies
E. by S.

Population. — In Shetland this is a curious investigation, but it requiries so many data
before we can account for the variations it has exhibited, that I would rather decline the
task of entering upon the subject at all, than treat of it most imperfectly. The number of
inhabitants was estimated in the year 1755 at I 5) 2I °; hi the year 1793 at 20,186; and in
1810 at 23,000. Mr Sheriff, in the latter period, conceived, that the cultivated land did not
exceed 25,000, or 50 square miles ; that the population was equal to any part of the British
Empire where great towns did not prevail, and that there were not fewer than 460 persons
upon each square mark of land that is cultivated ; the Scathold adding little to wealth and
support.

Ancient Music of Shetland. — In page 253 and 259 allusion was made to the Day-Dawn
and to the Foula Reel, two Shetland airs, the first of them being very ancient. By the
kindness of ¥.r Henderson of Bardister, I have procured a copy of these melodies, as they
have been set by Miss Kemp of Edinburgh, a teacher of acknowledged musical taste and
abilities, to whom I feel particularly obliged for this favour. A native Shetland song, to the
tune of the Foula Reel, first appeared among an ingenious collection of poems, written by
Miss Chalmers of Lerwick, and it is copied from thence in page 259.

29T

(I be H>a^ Dawn.

AN ANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN AIR PRESERVED IN SHETLAND, SET BY
MISS KEMP OF EDINBURGH.

m-»H — ! — I m . 0-J—i — t--J — ' 1 — , m. 0-g — I — H M . * » J — >- ^ U . 0J J I M. 0A — < — I

— _ j *_ ) — <■« — * *-*— i — ^ * — i — «« «-i * 1 — ^ *— i — *— * —

=pc

-*4-

m-J-»-0-

-m-*-*

=P=T

^==S :

:*-±*:

^=J-

^2Z

-H — »„ *

5E J E 1 f , *

£*

it*:

-#-^

rt~Ui^zzq:

£bc jfoula IReel.

A POPULAR NATIVE SHETLAND AIR, SET BY MISS KEMP OF EDINBURGH.

tr tr_

-N-t— >

:£=^

HM—fc

H — <*—m — *-

-^ ■"— *-M-

±^#

*i? mi

_ # • < p

• • *~

*-* — 0-

tr ^

o » « J I

X^3iJ

» );ft : f * f •

-^ — »-

-y • • \ _0 ■ m • LJ T> >'

INDEX.

Aithsvoe, 182.

Agricultural Society, 202, and Preface.
Armada, Spanish, shipwreck of, on the Shetland
coast, 4, 29, 196.

Baa, 2C0.

Bailiff, ancient, of Shetland, 100, 101.

Bailiasta, Kirk of, 157.

Balta Sound, 163.

Bigsetter Voe, 204.

Black cattle, 168, 177.

Bland, 177, 252.

Blerloc, 207.

Boats, 9, 222.

Boatmen, 197.

Booths, 169.

Bolhwell, Earl of, anecdote of, 112.

Bonmacks of Orkney, 136.

Bressay and Bressay Sound, 109, 111,

Broonies, 207.

Brownie (a domestic trow,) 205 to 207.

Buidy, 207.

Buill 184.

Buill, Head, 125.

Burgh, Barons of, 114.

Burghs, ancient, 86, 107, 149, 156, 171, 195, &c.

Burra Voe, in Yell, 169.

Bun-oland, 89.

Busta, 181.

Bysmer, 209.

Ca'ing-whale, see Delphinus deductor.
Canage, 135.

Carbuncle, superstition relating to, 275.
Carmelan, (vessel so named), shipwreck of, 117.
Cassies, or straw-baskets, 179.
Casualties of superiority, 134.
Catfirth, 113.

Christianity, introduction of, 162, 230.
Chromate of Iron, 164, 278, and Preface,
Chapels, old, O, 203, 236.
Cliff-Hills, 71.

Coal-fish, 78, 289. (See also Sillocks and Piltocks.)
Cod Fishery, 230, 251, 290. (See also Ling Fis-
hery.)
Colafiord Voe, 218.
Coningsburg, 91.
Cornwaters, 259.

Costume of the Natives, 9, 24, 82, 188.
Cottages, 21, 243.
Crucifield, 160.
Cullswick, 195.

Cupping, mode of, 244.

Day-dawn, an ancient air, 253.

Deaths and Funerals, customs and superstitions

relating to, 248, 249.
Delphinus deductor, or ca'ing whale, 165, 172.
Dependants or Retainers introduced by Lord

Robert Steuart, 75.
of Scotland, bound by on obligation of

manrent, 140.
Dikes, 168, 203.
Doreholm, 234.
Dunrossness, 8, 13.

Eagleshaw, 238.
Eshaness, 234.
Eswick, 114.

Fair Isle, 4, 27.

Feideland, 220.

Festivities, 252.

Fetlar, Island of, 148.

Fevers, ravages of, 243.

Fishing Station, description of, 221.

Fitfiel-Head, 8, 70.

Fits prevalent during divine service, 158.

Fladi bister, 92.

Floke, (a pirate,) anecdote of, 201.

Food, 207.

Foude or Fowde, 100, 101.

Foula Reel, 291.

Fortified sites of ground, 72, 79. 116, 149, 156.

Foula, Island of, 274.

Frau-a-Stack, 2.50.

Funzie, 150.

Garth sn ess, 72.
Gio, definition of, 73.
Girlsta, Lake of, 201.
Godsends, 197.
Grassmn, 43, 132.
Grutnes-s Voe, 12.
Gue, 259.
Guisards, 257.
Gulberswick, 278.

Haaf, 221, 288.

Habitations, ancient and modern.

ages), 167, 241, 246.
Had-dogs, 184.
Hamburgh Traders, 169, 217.

(See also Cott*

INDEX.

293

Harvest, 204, 276.

Haseosea, 1(30.

Hawk-hens, 134, 176.

Helga Water, 232.

Helyer, 170.

Herman ess, 158.

Herring-Fishery, 214.

Hillswick, 228.

Hoga, 190.

Hospitality, general remarks on, 277.

Infield, 202.
Iron-mka, 71.

pyrites, 72.

Jurisdiction of Shetland, history of, 00, 143. (See

also History of Udallers.)
Jnggs, 171.

Kelp, 1C0, 207.

Kirk-Holm, 196.

Kirn-Milk, 177, 207.

Kiverins, 188.

Klebcr, 244.

Klibbar, 170.

Knots, superstitions of, 260.

Lagman. (See Lawman and Foude.)

Latitude of Shetland, 1.

Land-maill, 43.

Language, 11, 224, 275.

Lawman, 102. (See also Foude.)

Law-book, ancient, 102.

Lawright-man, 30, 101.

Lawtings, 09, 149. 160.

Lewismen, 70, 275.

Lerwick, 107.

Light-house (Sumburgh,) 77, 141.

Lines, fishing. (See Ling and Cod Fisheries.)

Ling-tishery, 216, 220, 225, 226, 220, 288.

Lits or Dyes, 188.

Lodges, Fishermens', 221.

Longevity, 244.

Longitude of Shetland, 1.

Lnbba, 183.

Luggie's Knoll, 111.

Lunna, 114.

Maiseys, 180.

Magnus, St„ 236.

Manrent. (See Dependants.)

Manure, 201.

Mark of Land, 35, 131. (See History of the

Udallers. )
Marriages, 247, 253.
Mavis Grind, 216.
Medicines, ancient, 244.
Medina Sidonia, Duke of, anecdote of. (See

Armada.)
Meikle Roe, 214.
Meiths, 221.
Mill, 205.

Moggies livered and cropping, 252.
Molucca beans, 151.
Mouness Castle, 164.
Mousa, 8(5.
Music, 258.

Natives, physiognomy ef, 23.
Navir, Grind of, 236.
Noss, 109.

Opgester, and custom of opgesterie, 128.
Otters, 242.

Ox and sheep silver, (or penny), 48, 112.
Outfield, 202.

Outskerries, 116.

Papa Stour, 249.

Parishes, regulations of, 239.

Pastures, 204.

Patronymics, 247.

Peat, 178

Piltocks, 25.

Plough, 200.

Poor, (Parochial Regulations), 240.

Population, 200.

Poultry-fowls, 135.

Putting-stone, 275.

Quarf , 199.
Quendal, 12, 19, 69.
Quern, 205.

Rjadmen, 103.

Raiths, fcd.

Ranselmen, 30, 100, 143, 230.

Regent's Fishing Bank, 230, 290.

Rental, ancient, 133.

Rivlins, 24.

Roads, 106.

Roeness Voe and Hill, 225.

Roer Water, 218.

Roman Antiquities, 13, 30, 148, 156.

Romances, ancient Norse, 258, 2S0.

Ronans, 108.

Rooms, 167.

Rousts, 77, 1.56, 163, 289.

Rueing, 185, 290.

Runic Inscriptions, 237, 248.

Sandlodge (Mines), 90, 142.

Sandness, 264.

Sand Voe, (Northmavine), 224.

Sandwick, 81.

Saxavord, 150.

Saxe's Kettle, 164.

Scalloway, 03.

Bay of, 196.

Scat, 36.

Scatholds, 37, 70, 100.

Scraada, holes of, 235.

Sena Gull, 276.

Scudler, 257.

Seals, 166, 251, 261, 274.

Seas, superstitions of, 260.

Seater, 177.

Sepulchral remains, 60, 166, 182, 218, 237, 238, 248.

Sheep, 70, 182, 200, 200.

Shell-fish found in Sumburgh, 81.

Shelty, 70. 157, 170.

Shetland, history of, dark period, 13. — Subdued by

Harold, 34. — Becomes pledged to Scotland, 42.

(See History of the Udallers.)
Shynd-bill. 122.
Shoopiltee, 234, 261.
Sillocks, 25, 31, 182, 250.
Sinclairs, of House Island, 108.

Orkney, (Four brothers), 115.

Strom, 201.

Skeo, 160, 207.
Skerry Fight, 118.
Spade, 179, 200.
Sperre, Malis, feud of, 100.
Steepled Chapels, 108.
Steinbartes, 83, 141.
Stenness, 235.
Stock-fish, 170, 207.
Stone-Axes. (See Steinbartes.)
Stewarts, Earl Robert, 74. (See also History of
the Udallers.)

294

INDEX.

Patrick, 93. Ditto.

Strom, Lake of, 202.
Sumburgh, 73.
Swir.e, 70, 177.
Sword-dance, 252.

Tait, David Gilbert, 151.

Tangwick, 234.

Teinds, 137, 227.

Temples, Scandinavian, 159.

Tenants, kindly, 132.

Tenures, Feudal, illustrations of, 132.

Udal, 119.

Fishing, 226.

Thule, 275.

Tingwall, 98.

Toasts, 208.

Torsk or Tusk fish, 110, 252.

Towns, 107.

Town-mails, 177.

Tows, 222.

Trees, 178.

Trades, 208.

Trolhouland, 189.

Trows, 189.

■ , Sea, 160, 264.

Tuskar, 179.

Vailey, 264.

Variola, mode of treating, by John Williamson, 238.

Ve Skerries, 262.

Vementry, 241.

Villians, of Ure, 235.

Visecks, 259.

Vivda, 170, 207.

Voe, 73.

Volcanic Products, 150.

Vord Hills, 159, 226, 241, &c.

Udal Lands, origin and definition of 36, 37, and 115.

Tenures, nature of, 119 to 121.

Laws, origin and diversity of, 121 to 131, and 145.

Laws, perfectly distinct from Feudal condi-
tions, 131, 132.

Udallcrs, history of. Mode of adjusting a mark of
land, 35 to 37. What part of their lands were
liable to scat, and their mode of paying it, 37.
Oppressed by the mother country of Norway,
38. Shetland constituted into a Fowdrie, 38.
Relations of LTdallers to the Earl of Orkney, 39.
Burdens of tithes, umboths and wattle, 40.
Origin of laws of udal succession, 40. Lands
during the Norwegian Government never feu-
dalised, 41. The Earldom of Orkney, including
Shetland, accrues to Henry Sinclair of Scot-
land, 42. Orkney and Shetland become pledged
to the Scottish Crown, with a stipulation that
their ancient laws should be preset ved inviolate,
42.— Feudality first introduced into Shetland in
. its mildest form. 43.— Udallcrs distinguish
themselves from feudal tenants by the name
of Rothmen or Roythmen, 44. -New Scottish
settlers endeavour to set aside the old laws of
udal succession, and introduce newer ones, more
favourable to primogeniture, 44, 145. — Udallers
under Sir Ja. Sinclair, resist the invasion of
their udal rights, by defeating the Earl of
Caithness, 45.— Lord Robert Steuart becomes
feuar of Orkney and Shetland, 45.— 'J he Crown
creates a number of feudal vassals, 45. — Grant
to Lord Robert Steuart revoked in favour of the
Earl of Boswell, who was created Duke of
Orkney, 46. — Probable intentions of Scotland
never to part with Orkney and Shetland, 46. —
Lord Robert Stewart, reinstated as feuar of

Orkney and Shetland, who exchanges his Abbey
of Holyrood for the temporal estates of the
Bishopric of Orkney, 47.— Oppressions of the
udallers under him, in his endeavours to wrest
from them their estates, 47, 48.— Lord Robert de-
posed, and imprisoned for his persecutions, 48.
— Reinstated in his possessions, with the
additional powers of Justiciar ; also created
Earl of Orkney and Lord of Zetland, and after
a temporary exclusion from the possession of
the Bishopric, restored to it, 49. — Again
disposed, 50. — Earldom granted to Lord
Chancellor of Scotland and the Lord Justice-
Clerk, 50.— Lord Robert Steuart reinstated, who
assumes the power, in consequence of his new
grant, of overruling the decrees of Court with
regard to udal lands, and of confiscating estates,
50, 52. — Patrick Steuart, son to Robert, is invested
with the Earldom, who exercises powers of the
most illegal kind in his designs on udal lands, 52,
53. — Deposed, 53. — His estates not immediately
declared to be forfeited, and for what reason, 54,
55.— Orkney and Shetland again annexed to the
Crown, and arrangements in consequence, 55. —
Granted to Farmers, 56. — Altered state of udal
tenures after the forfeiture of Earl Patrick, 56,
57. — Tyrannies of the Tacksmen to whom
Orkney and Shetland were let, 57. — En-
croachments on the possessions of the udallers
by the new settlers, 59. — Earl of Morton
acquires possession of the Crown estates of
Orkney and Shetland, on the plea of a mort-
gage, and usurps a direct superiority over udal
lands, 60. — Orkney and Shetland seized upon
by Cromwell, 60.— Agin restored, on pl.vi of a
mortgage, to the Morton family, 61.— Douglass
of Spynie, Fictor of the Crown rents, feudalises
nearly all the udal lands, and adds to the
distresses of the udallers, 61. — Denmark fails in
obtaining an acknowledgment that O -kney and
Shetland were held in pledge to this power, 62.
— Orkney and Shetland re-annexed to the
Crown, by the cancelling of the claims of the
Morton Family, 64.— Orkney and Shetland let
out to Tacksmen, 65.— State of Bishops' rents,
66. — Earl of Morton reinstated, with new
powers, 66.— He obtains a discharge of the
reversion, but is deprived of the jurisdiction of
the islands, 06. — Sells his interest in the islands
to Sir Lawrence Dundas, 66. — Effects arising
from the ancient injuries which Orkney and
Shetland have sustained, 67. — Termination of a
law-suit brought by Sir Lawrence ! 'imdas,
relative to the landed tenures of Shetland, 138.

Unicorn Rock, 112.

Urns, ancient sepulchral, 166, 182.

Uyea Sound, (Unst), 165.

Wadmel, 35, 187,

Water, superstitions respecting, 164, 232, 272.

Wattle, 48, 134.

Weapons of War, ancient, 85, 141.

Weights and Measures, 133, 209.

Whales, 261, 290. See also Delphinus Deductor.

Whalsev, 116.

Whiteness, 201.

Witchcraft, history of, 265, 280.

Wool, 187.

Wrecks, 245, 205, 277.

Yaggers, 214, 265.
Yawls. See boats.
Yelaburn, 164.
Yell, 169.
Yell Sound, 172.

§H&

832876

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

KffiHB

UHBI^HHi

■Hi

BOMB