A TRIP TO THE SHETLANDS.—I.
THE far North of her Majesty's dominions are less known than any other part, except, perhaps, the west of Ireland. To the great mass of tourists and sportsmen whom summer skies and autumn game call to Scotland, the Caledonian Canal proves an impassable bound ; and these return without having trodden the soil of the true Caledonia—land of the "men of the woods "—at all. To the smaller number of adventurous spirits who do penetrate the forests of Caledonia and learn the existence of true Scots, speaking an unintelligible Gaelic tongue, it is equally unknown that there is land further north, in which they would find them- selves more at home than the.Gael,—land peopled by an English, rather than Lowland Scotch-speaking race, and ending in a grand coast-line from John o' Groat's to Cape Wrath. Less still is the important and populous group of the Orkneys, or the much more distant group of the Shetlands, borne in mind by people who think they have " done " Scotland by reaching Inverness, the northern end of the Caledonian Canal. Yet from Carlisle, at the southern end of Scotland, to Inverness only two and a half degrees of latitude are traversed, and there are all but three and a half more to pass over to attain to the northernmost point of Shetland. The distance of the latter, as the crow flies, is, from London, 650, and from Brighton (which gives the extreme length along the meridian), 700 miles. It is therefore, perhaps, no wonder that these outlying islands are so little known, except as names upon the map ; the more so as Caithness, which seems the natural stepping-stone to them, is not the most attrac- tive of Scotch counties. The broad sea, too (50 miles of open ocean), which separates the most northerly Orkneys from the most southern Shetlands, and the still greater distance of 110 miles between their respective capitals, keep the Shetlanders very free from the intrusion of inquisitive strangers. And this very fact enhanced the curiosity I felt about them, and decided me to see who and what they were.
The journey proved a very easy and ordinary affair. At Aber- deen I stepped into a splendid steamship, with a fine saloon on deck, a spacious deck above it, and comfortable, well-ventilated berths below, prepared as carefully as if for a voyage across the Atlantic, and bearing a happy omen in her name—the St. Magnus ; recalling the great and wise Saint of Orkney, brother to one of the Norse Earls of those islands. The ship had come from Edinburgh, but it suited my conveni- ence to embark at Aberdeen. She started at 6 p.m., and (after a short halt at Wick in the early morning) passing safely through the tossing waves and meeting currents of the Pentland Firth, reached the capacious bay of Kirkwall at 9 a.m. Starting again at 11 a.m., she passed northwards out of the peaceful grass-lined harbour, and wound her way among the smaller islands (where now one, now another course is taken) under Gairsa, and between Eda and Sande and past North Ronaldsha into the open sea again. The islands differ greatly in height ; Rowse and Eda are hilly and bold in the interior. The coast is similarly diversified, some parts having beautiful sandy beaches, on which the fresh blue waves
gently rolled without breaking, on the brilliant day on which I saw them. More frequently the coast-lines were rocky and even precipitous, and then the waves broke into dazzling white foam, which recoiled in spray visible miles off. No sooner had the vessel left the Orkneys behind and reached the open sea. again, than Fair Island was discerned on the right, in that dreamy violet hue which distance over the sea imparts under a brilliant sun. Fouls Island, smaller and more distant, appeared tinged with rather deeper hues on the left. As we advanced, and came much nearer to Fair Island, I was struck with the resemblance of the scene to one of the most lovely in the Mediterranean ,—Fair Island being my Capri, Fouls: being Ischia, and the brilliant blue sea with breakers of sparkling white quite worthy of comparison with Neapolitan waters. The shape of the islands, both of which are very high and precipitous, and have a jagged summit with several points, formed one striking element of resemblance. In this lovely light, and on this playful ocean, it was difficult to realize the dangers to which these rocky islands are exposed. Fouls., although well peopled with men and sea birds, is but rarely visited from the other islands. Fair Island, which is much larger, is not so thickly peopled, and is even more difficult of access, the coast being so generally precipitous as only to allow approach, when the sea is ruffled, in one or two places. It attained a sad notoriety a few years ago, when a German emigrant ship in a winter gale was thrown into a, fearful chasm on its coast, where no help could be rendered from the sea, which was raging, nor from the land, which was many hundred feet above ; and nearly 500 persons perished in that fearful night. A more illustrious shipwreck is said by Shetland tradition, —which I leave to Mr. Froude to confirm or condemn—to have taken place on the same coast in the year 1588. The chief vessel of the Spanish Armada—that of the Duke of Medina Sidonia him- self—was wrecked, and the crew had to winter there, and wait till the proprietor could take them in his own vessel to Dunkirk. To this visit is attributed the peculiar style of the articles knitted in Shetland wool in Fair Island, and nowhere else in Shetland. The various and brilliant colours in which the Spaniards delight are here imitated in duller tone by dyes derived from native herbs, each article having a complex and particoloured pattern. It should also be noted that here, as generally among the descendants of Norsemen, " Fair " means sheep, and not beautiful. Another appropriate example is found in Fairfield, sheep-mountain, above Ambleside, whose grassy slopes and summits make it pre- eminently a sheep-walk, while in beauty it is surpassed by many of its neighbours. The position of Fair Island makes it sufficiently lonely. It is about 25 miles from the nearest point of the Shet- land Mainland ; Fouls is rather less.
As these islands receded, two grand headlands appeared in front, at first isolated, but afterwards seen to be joined by lower land between. That to the left was much the higher, and appeared a mountain of considerable size ; it was black and gloomy, and cast its hue upon the sea beneath it. This was Fitful Head, whose caverned end was the abode of Norna, of "The Pirate." The headland to the right was lower, but more precipi- tous. The sun shone brightly upon it, and gave it a brilliant sandy colour. Strata, rounded by waves and storms, were visible- on its front, and patches of grass clung wherever there was room. Its summit was rounded, and had none of the dread aspect of its neighbour. This was Sumburgh Head, the southernmost point of the mainland of Shetland. Readers of Sir Walter Scott's Pirate will remember how the two Mertouns sallied forth from their ancient abode of Jarlshof at the back of the Head, after a great gale, to witness from thence the state of the sea, and how the son descried the figure of a man struggling with the waters, and by climbing down the fearful precipice, came near and succeeded in saving Captain Cleveland, the pirate. Even on the placid day when I passed the waters were troubled for a considerable distance from the Head. This current is very strong, and demands careful navigation ; it is called the "Sumburgh Roost," and is well described by Scott. It was the chief and a serious impediment to communication with the Shetlands before the days of steam. In a powerful steamer there is generally no risk at all,—our pace was not slackened, nor our direction sensibly altered by it ; but in the winter storms even the steamers do not like this part of the
passage. • Sumburgh Head once passed, the steamer coasts under the land all the way to Lerwick, about twenty-two miles. Sumburgh remained long in sight, and was equally striking from the back, where also Fitful Head towered up and presented a new aspect. The coast then grew lower, but all the promontories were of hard black rock, caverned and shattered into striking forms overhang-
ing lovely inlets of deep blue water. We passed through the narrow channel between the small island of Monza and Mainland. This, which I afterwards had an opportunity of seeing at my leisure from the land, is a most picturesque scene, from which, within a circuit of one or two miles, an artist might take a dozen most effective sketches. Mousa is a grassy island, with low black rocks, but no precipices. But one object it possesses which is both picturesque and archmologically most interesting. This is the so-called Broch of Mousa ; it is the most perfect existing specimen of the curious towers called "Pecks' [Picts'] Houses." I will not forget my present pleasant function so far as to reopen the ancient (and as far as I know still unsettled) question of the origin of the Picts. Whoever they were, here they seem to have been, for they have left us these extraordinary records, the ancient nomenclature of which is not likely to have been erroneous. I observe, in passing, that the Pentland Firth also witnesses to their presence in the islands of Orkney at least ; for Pentland is merely an unmeaning modern corruption of Pechtland, which form is used in 1633. The Picts' Houses are found all round the Shetland coasts ; they usually stand on a promontory, or on an elevation which commands a vim's, of the sea in both directions. They are perfectly circular, diminishing in diameter upwards to a certain point, but then bulging out again slightly to the top, thus resembling a dice-box. The whole height, however, is only about equal to the diameter. They are built of loose unliewn stones, hence presumably by a people without iron or the use of lime as mortar. The stones are mainly broad and flat, the interstices being filled up by smaller ones. It is not surprising that the top of most of these towers, so built, has altogether fallen away, and that of many only the basement remains. Within the outer circular wall is another concentric with it, leaving about three feet distance between. them, which is filled by a stair leading to the summit. There is no opening what- ever in the outer wall. The inner has occasional apertures to light the stair. The entire inner space is open to the sky, and bears no sign of having been covered or built in or over. The fact of these towers always commanding a sea view and being built close to the shore, taken in connection with what has been stated of their construction, suggests that they must have been built by inhabitants who had cause to fear invasion from the sea, and had frequent occasion to collect people, cattle, and possessions into a place of defence at a very short notice. The fighting men would not shut themselves in these blind towers, which afforded no means of offence ; they would defend their coasts in the open country-. The towers are manifestly of a far earlier antiquity than the settlement of the islands by the Scandinavians ; and of any earlier population these towers are probably the sole evidence. Neither the Highland Scotch nor the Anglo-Saxon lowlanders ever penetrated so far as the Shetlands ; and the Scandinavian accounts say nothing distinct of any earlier inhabitants. Hence the great historical importance attaching to these "Picts' Houses."
The steamer left no time for these profound investigations, but darted past the tower, and is by this time nearly at Lerwick. A high hill has long been visible directly in front. This is the island of Bressay, which, lying in a lunar form opposite Lerwick, gives to the town the advantage of a capacious harbour, open at both ends, and yet sheltered from every wind. Then the shipping and then the town, literally rising from the waters, attracted our notice. My impressions of Lerwick must be reserved for a future
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