, 1890-12-18

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1t was not very long ago that the
Orkneys, and especially the Shet
land islands, were regarded as
wholly remote from and inaccessi'
bio to the civilized world. The rev.
olution Of November, l6SS, was not
known of In Shetland until the fol.
lowing May. AS late as 1904 the
British mails for three or -four
months time would arrive ut the
same hour. The first steamer mp
peared off the Shetland coast In 1882,
the peasantry believing 1t to be
A SHIP ON FIRE,
and 1t was not until 1S47 that one
was seen In the ports of the North
Isles. They still have many auec-
dotes here of the effect of its arrival
at Lerwick. A sam pie one is that
the occasion of the craft blowing off
steam with great noise, two simple
islanders engaged In gathering lin.
pets off the rocks nearly went mad
with fright. AT length, surveying
the 'fre-ship" monster with desper-
ate dismay, the strouger-minded of
the two handed his snutf-horn to
his companion with the ex hortation.
"Oh, Jamie, Jamie, take doc q
snuff, for doo'll. snuff nae mair wi
me till we snuff thegither in gloryW
He thought the "Great Dayn had
come, and that the angel was aboard
the steamer, trumpeting the signal
for universal dissolution.
Sailing packets were finally su.
.l..I In at
larly ply between Scottish ports and
those of the Northern isles, furnish
ing the remotest and dreariest fish
ing hamlets with three mails u
week. The tremendous increase In
the importance of the herring fish
ing industry of the Orkneys and
Scotland Is not alone responsible for
the establishing of convenient
means of intercommunication with
England, Southern Scotland and
the near mainland. European
summer tourists have within few
years come here in great numbers.
On the Continent, and especially In
London, now that the lochs and
glens of Northern Scotland have
been pretty well explored, there is
an increasing enthusiasm I'm pene-
trating northernmost regions.
Only this season periodic excur-
sion parties to Iceland were Or
ganized with great success. The
spirit Of adventure, easily and pleas
antly gratiiied, the grand and mag
nificert rock scenery, especially of
the western seawalls of both island
groups, the fascination of the fierce
tideways and whirlpoOls with which
the coasts abound, locally called
''roosts," the grewsomeness and
grandeur of the outlying islets aud
holms, the occasional roarings of the
Atlantic, which may often be heard
for distancs of twenty miles rs the
bowling storms beat upon mural
precipices of the western shores, and,
above all, probably the grandest
free fishing in the world, In Shet-
land, where the lochs aud tarns
which communicate with the sea
are alive with brown trout, and the
woes and CLOS indenting the coasts
swarm with sea trout innumerable,
have all contributed in rendering
these remote islands
EASY OF ACCESS.
From Edinburgh o, Glasgow they
may now be reached by rail to
Thurso, and steamer to the Orkneys,
in eighteen hours time. Or, one
may take train to Aberdeen and
thence by steamer skirt the eastern
Scottish coast, touching at Wick, in
Caithness, and Kirkwall, in the
Orkneys, and reach Lerwick, the
capital of Shetland, In twenty-four
hours time from Aberdeen.
The latter Is u coastiug trip full of
incident and interest, as the coast of
Scotland Is nearly always in sight.
Leaving Aberdeen's harbor mouth
of the river Dee, half hours sail
brings you abreast of the great
Slain's castle, the seat of the Earl of
Enrol, where DIR. johnson and hos
we'll were entertained in I773, one OF
eastern coast. Then for long dis
tance the coast is reach OF soft,
honeycombed scaur, assuming at fire.
quent intervals the appearance of
Gothic ruins with open arches.
This leads to the famous Buffers
(roarers) of Buchan, tremendous
caverns in the preci pitous sea-wall,
where in high gales the waters rush
in with terrific violence, while
their roaring, mingled with the
shriel<ing of sea-fowl, which build
along the edge of Dun Buy in myr-
lads, give the spot us doiorous aud
dreadful sounds as those greeting
the doomed Vathek in the awful
realms of Eblis. Beyond the "Bul-
iers" to the north, the noted red
granite quarries of Peterhead come
in sight, and but four miles further
is the city of Peterhead, olden seat
of the Greenland trade, now given
over to ship-building and fishing,
the easternmost town III Scotland,
dominated with its fiat surrounding
country by the bleak hill of Mar
mond, rearing it's lone and coffin
shaped head in the north west hori-
zon.
Fraserburgh, one Of the great east
coast fishing ports, Is next passed,
when the course Is changed and
your steamer crosses the ninety
miles wide mouth of
THE GREAT MORAY FIRTH,
headed for Wick, the northeaster.
most Scottish port. Aberdeen,
Peterhead and Wick are, outside of
Shetland, the most important fish
ing ports of Scotland, and in sailing
from the former to the latter, fully
l 900 craft may be counted in pleas
ant weather. AT Wick where the
gigantic breakwater, on which near
ly $500, 900 were expended, is in