Our steamer, again on its way, soon cleared the islands in the Orkney group, and began to cross the sound which separates them from Shetland. This sound is fifty miles broad, and is clear of any islands except Foula and Fair Isle, which lie halfway between Orkney and Shetland.* In an hour after passing Fair Isle, the bold promontory of the mainland of Shetland came into view. The extreme point of this elevated peninsula is one of the most terrific things in marine scenery. On the east is the precipitous front called Sumburgh Head, and on the west is the lofty crag named the Fitful Head, against which the rolling waves of the Atlantic, aggravated by the contrary pressure from the German Ocean, are continually lashing and raging in unmitigable fury. As we approached the beetling cliff of Sumburgh, which rises four hundred feet above the boiling ocean beneath, our view became unfortunately intercepted by the mists of evening, which crept over the scene, shrouding everything in their bosom. This was doubly unfortunate, for it caused our captain to slacken his speed, and detained us at sea till early next morning. We had, however, some agreeable companions on board; and as the accommodations were good, we passed the night without feeling that we had much to lament in our detention. Being now in the 60th degree of north latitude, daylight could scarcely be said to have left us during the night; and at two o'clock in the morning, albeit the mist still hung about us, we could see as clearly as we can do in London at about any hour in a November day. At six, the fog, to our delight, broke up, drawing itself away to seaward; and as it rose like a curtain from the land, we had before us, at the distance of two or three miles, the inlet called Bressay Sound, at the head of which was Lerwick, the place of our destination. In half an hour we were landed at a little quay in this the most remote town in the British Islands, and in a few minutes more lodged under the hospitable roof of Mr

conduct has, however, improved in all respects of late years, especially in their attendance at church, which was formerly entirely neglected by those people. The young minister of Stromness assured me that he had lately seen as many as a hundred of them present at divine service; and he confidently attributed the change to the practice, now observed at the Straits, of hoisting a flag on board some of the vessels on Sunday, for the purpose of assembling the crews for prayer, and the consequent influence of the uninterrupted attention to religious observances. The men gain usually from £20 to £40 on the voyage. If they do not return in time for the harvest, it is gathered in by their wives and sisters. Orkney does not furnish a single vessel for this trade.'-Sketches of the Coasts and Islands of Scotland, by Lord Teignmouth.

*It was on the shores of Fair Isle that the Duke of Medina Sidonia was driven during his flight northwards, by the tempest which so nearly completed the destruction of the Spanish Armada, in the memorable year 1588. In this small island the great Spanish noble (his huge unwieldy ship having gone to pieces), with two hundred men, was nearly starved for want of provisions. He afterwards made his way to the house of Malcolm Sinclair in Quendale Bay, in the mainland of Shetland, and eventually landed in safety at Dunkirk. One of the most curious results connected with the temporary residence in Fair Isle of the foreign sailors, is, that the natives acquired, and their descendants have ever since preserved, a knowledge of the peculiar patterns of gloves and caps worn by the Spaniards, and to this day work them in various-coloured worsteds exactly resembling the corresponding articles produced at Cadiz.-Wilson's Voyage Round the Coasts of Scotland.

a relation of my fellow-traveller. Before saying a word about this strange-looking town, let me glance at the

HISTORY OF SHETLAND.

The Orkney and Shetland Islands appear to have been visited by the Romans, by whom they were considered the Ultima Thule; in an after-period they were conquered and taken possession of by the Northmen or Norwegians-their numerous bays or voes affording the best refuge for their vessels. Indeed, from the latter circumstance, these Danish rovers acquired the name of Vikingr; that is, Voe or Bay Kings. From the voes of Shetland, as well as from Orkney and the north and north-west of Scotland, these northern pirates made descents on the rich coasts of Europe, and devastated them with fire and sword. By these rovers, Shetland is said to have been first named Hialtland or Hetland, either word signifying the high or lofty land; and from this term the modern name Shetland or Zetland is derived. The vikingr, after a pretty long possession of Shetland, and fortifying themselves in burghs or towers on the headlands, were at length, in the tenth century, subdued by Harold of Denmark, and the islands added to his continental dominions. Both from the vikingr and the more regular governors who succeeded them, the inhabitants of Shetland acquired the Norwegian character, laws, language, and manners. If the earliest inhabitants were of a Celtic race, like their neighbours on the mainland of Scotland, they lost every trace of this origin, and in the course of ages became in every respect a different people from the inhabitants of either the Highlands or the Lowlands.

Under the kings of Norway the Shetlanders enjoyed liberal treatment and government. The principal inhabitants were called Udallers, from the conditions on which they held their lands; the word udal being compounded from ade and dale, signifying a waste or uninhabited dale. A udaller was at first nothing more than the proprietor of land previously accounted waste, which he had enclosed for his own use. But as land became more valuable, the expression gradually lost its primary signification, and was applied to the holders of large tracts of land which were enclosed, and free from scat or taxation. Latterly, it came to signify any wealthy proprietor.

Shetland being separated from Orkney by a wide and stormy channel, had a distinct prefect or governor appointed over it, who acquired the name of Foude, an office which likewise included in it the guardianship of the revenues of the country. The country at the same time acquired the name and character of a Foudrie. The relics of antiquity connected with the Norwegian government of Shetland are various. Courts of judicature, or tings, were held in the open air, the erection being for the most part constructed of loose stones piled together in a circular form. Of these tings,

the sites of many of which are still visible, there were three kinds. The lowest was a herad, or parish ting, over which the foude of the parish presided-an officer who, in the Scottish period of the history of these islands, afterwards assumed the name of bailiff. The foude was assisted in his magistracy by a law-right man, whose particular duty it was to regulate the weights and measures, and by a number of men named rancelmen. The ting, to which these men gave their service, could only doom or give judgment in small matters, namely, in those which related to the preservation of good neighbourhood, as in questions of minor trespasses on land, &c. A higher court was a circuit ting, over which the Earl of Orkney presided, or, in his absence, the great foude, so named in contradistinction to the subordinate or parish foudes. In his judicial capacity, the great foude was the lawman of Shetland, and gave doom according to the Norwegian Book of the Law. The lawman made his circuit round the whole of the more comprehensive juridical districts of the country-ting sokens_each_ ting_soken including several minor districts, which were severally under the subordinate jurisdiction of parish foudes. He here heard appeals against the decrees of parish tings, and tried weightier offences, such as were visited with heavy fines, or confiscations, or capital punishments. A third ting was named the lawting, because it was a legislative assembly. This was held once a year, and here also the lawman presided. All the udallers owed to it suit and service. The lawting was held within a small holm or islet, situated in a freshwater lake, the communication with the shore being by steppingstones. The valley in which the lawting was situated bore the name of Thingvôllr, now corrupted into Tingwall. Here the udallers exercised the power of reversing the decrees of inferior courts, of trying important causes, and of legislating or making by-laws for the good of the whole community. The highest appeal was to the king at Bergen, in Norway.

Excepting for such appeals, and the imposition of a tax, Orkney and Shetland had little actual dependence on the crown of Norway. They were very much under the immediate sway of the Earls of Orkney, a Scandinavian race, who continued in power from 922 to 1325, when the direct line failed, and the earldom passed to a collateral branch in Malis, Earl of Stratherne, and afterwards into the family of St Clair about 1379. The renewal of the title in the Stewarts, at a considerably later period, has already been noticed.

The Orkney and Shetland Islands belonged to Norway till 1468, when they were impledged to James III. of Scotland, as a portion of the dowry given with his queen. The sum for which Orkney was pledged was 60,000 florins. The money not being forthcoming, the islands were declared to be forfeited, and, with all their inhabitants, were formally annexed to the crown of Scotland. On being finally emancipated from the earls and other court favourites, to whom the

Scottish kings had inconsiderately assigned them, they fell under the ordinary rule of sheriffs and other magistrates; the old udal holdings were abolished; and the laws of Scotland were extended over them. The two groups of islands now form one county, with a representative in parliament.*

It is much easier to alter laws and other civil institutions than to change the language and social habits of a people. This has required four centuries; and even yet, in the greatly modernised state of things in Shetland, there are many interesting traces of Scandinavian manners.

Accustomed to associate Orkney and Shetland as one remote chain of islands, it is somewhat difficult to comprehend that they have very little intercourse or connection with each other. The people of Orkney contemplate their remote neighbours, the Shetlanders, with nearly the same feeling of strangeness which we ourselves entertain. Though having a common origin, from the greater intercourse with the continent of Britain, the people of Orkney have less peculiarity of manners than those in Shetland. In both groups of islands the Scandinavian language has vanished, and been superseded by English, purer than the ordinary Lowland Scotch; everywhere Norwegian terms are common, along with some peculiarities in the mode of utterance. For the universal spread of the English tongue, the islands are indebted to the introduction of schools and parochial ministrations; also the residence of the higher and mercantile classes, who are connected with the best society in Scotland.

but

EXCURSIONS AMONG THE ISLANDS.

It was not without a feeling of interest and curiosity that I found myself settled in a town nine hundred miles north from London, and in the midst of a comparatively foreign, though British people. Every such feeling was soon enhanced by the hospitality of our reception, and the expectation of making several excursions to different parts of this insular country. There was little to detain us in Lerwick. Situated on a piece of irregular ground, it stretches

*The Orkneys consist of sixty-seven islands, thirty-eight of which are uninhabited, the whole scattered over a space of forty-five miles in length by twenty-five in breadth. The largest, forming the mainland, is called Pomona, and on this Kirkwall is situated. The islands are generally bare and pastoral, but there have been considerable advances in agriculture of late years. The Shetland Islands lie at the distance of about fifteen leagues north-east of the Orkneys, and forty-four leagues west of Bergen, in Norway, which is the nearest point of continental Europe. With the exception of two, the Shetland Islands are contiguous to each other, and lie between 59° 48′ 30′′ and 60° 52′ north latitude. There are three principal islands in the group-Mainland; next, on the north, Yell; and still farther north-east, Unst. On the east of Yell lies Fetlar, which is the largest of the inferior islands. The next in point of size is Bressay, which lies opposite Lerwick. The smaller islands are Whalsay, Out Skerries, Samphray, Big Island, Mukle Roe, Papa-Stour, House, Baray, Trondray, besides a great number of islets, holms, and skerries or mere rocks. population of the Shetland Islands is 32,000.

The

the sites of many of which are still visible, there were three kinds. The lowest was a herad, or parish ting, over which the foude of the parish presided-an officer who, in the Scottish period of the history of these islands, afterwards assumed the name of bailiff. The foude was assisted in his magistracy by a law-right man, whose particular duty it was to regulate the weights and measures, and by a number of men named rancelmen. The ting, to which these men gave their service, could only doom or give judgment in small matters, namely, in those which related to the preservation of good neighbourhood, as in questions of minor trespasses on land, &c. A higher court was a circuit ting, over which the Earl of Orkney presided, or, in his absence, the great foude, so named in contradistinction to the subordinate or parish foudes. In his judicial capacity, the great foude was the lawman of Shetland, and gave doom according to the Norwegian Book of the Law. The lawman made his circuit round the whole of the more comprehensive juridical districts of the country-ting sokens-each ting soken including several minor districts, which were severally under the subordinate jurisdiction of parish foudes. He here heard appeals against the decrees of parish tings, and tried weightier offences, such as were visited with heavy fines, or confiscations, or capital punishments. A third ting was named the lawting, because it was a legislative assembly. This was held once a year, and here also the lawman presided. All the udallers owed to it suit and service. The lawting was held within a small holm or islet, situated in a freshwater lake, the communication with the shore being by steppingstones. The valley in which the lawting was situated bore the name of Thingvôllr, now corrupted into Tingwall. Here the udallers exercised the power of reversing the decrees of inferior courts, of trying important causes, and of legislating or making by-laws for the good of the whole community. The highest appeal was to the king at Bergen, in Norway.

Excepting for such appeals, and the imposition of a tax, Orkney and Shetland had little actual dependence on the crown of Norway. They were very much under the immediate sway of the Earls of Orkney, a Scandinavian race, who continued in power from 922 to 1325, when the direct line failed, and the earldom passed to a collateral branch in Malis, Earl of Stratherne, and afterwards into the family of St Clair about 1379. The renewal of the title in the Stewarts, at a considerably later period, has already been noticed.

The Orkney and Shetland Islands belonged to Norway till 1468, when they were impledged to James III. of Scotland, as a portion of the dowry given with his queen. The sum for which Orkney was pledged was 60,000 florins. The money not being forthcoming, the islands were declared to be forfeited, and, with all their inhabitants, were formally annexed to the crown of Scotland. On being finally emancipated from the earls and other court favourites, to whom the