Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-08-12

Daily 8eaaetss journal.
ISLAND OF POMONA.
The Standing Stones of Stem
ness and Stone of 0din.
Wiefd and Romantic superstitions
Connected with These Scenes.
Described by The Journals Special Cor.
respondent a, Crphr.

pondeace of the Journai-All rights
reserved. The highest point on the
lslaha OF Pomona, or the Mainland as
II Is generally called on account Of be-
ms the largest OF the islands, is the
Nafd hill of Orphir, SIC feet high 1t
rs very steep and we found ii a rou;sn
c4h4D, but the view from the top more
than repaid US for our exertion. The
whole isfand lay spread out before us
A-oth Stenness was just in front and on
us margin could be dimly seen tho
circle of stones known as the Standing
stones Of Stenness. 70 the west coutd
be seen a bit of Loeb kirblster ana
beyond that was Kirkwall and the
tower Of its cathedral, St Magnus. at
was not clear day or we could have
seen nearly all the North Isles Ward
Hhl gets its name from the fact that
1t used to he the station of the warders
whose duty Ii was to keep a lookout
for hostile ships ana often has mid
might beacon blazej on lis summit t.
call the Norsemen to arms. At the
bottom Of the hiH once stood the resi-
dcpce of the Norwegian Earle. but
Z, hing remains Of ii now. 1t was Ia
this Palace of Orphir that Earl Harold
died from the effects of wearing a
beautifully embroidered robe which his
mother had sl1illmly poisoned. meaning
to give ii 10 his brother, Earl Paul
Descending Ward Hill We walked
along the road to Loeb Stenness and
soon stood in the center Of the Stones
OF Stenness. These stones are huge
hlocks Of pillars Of granite standing on
thc f-ir,ls If e,ta,,,,.,.. IA +1,, r:,-r 10
Bronqr ,Fha forrnas. .tan.fs go -,
tse lncb an t],a so,,,,, si,ta of tha p,-;ae,.
~ l2,aesar ana on1,. eb,,.. .,f.ta,,,(.
f,,r,, ~ h;eb,ya1. orI,r t,., ~ ~.
sto,,1e l,,,,-,.,s;,,,, t1,e circle a,.o e+a,,I,-
,t,n M tslIsr t. -. 1e rsat -
ond much hroo6ar a. tha too 49, a+|
Tn hot1for,. ,be otba,. i, ,,,,rb gl,a,+e,,.
ar7 broader tbsn ifs ,.or,I,a,,;or In
tba can+a,, of t,a cfretc a,.n ia ro,,,s i've
Of an alfar ,s-bicf, ,,-a', ,,,.,t,,,,,,, ,1s,,7
r7y s3e,ieco. some I,9a,.s arro = ,,ugn
e-ona vim "a 1orra bo}a tb,,o,,el, :.
called he stone If C,sln stood . lt4fls
anart rro,,, A.. rircln rho ,.{otj,,.. t,5-
tended fo,. s,cri6cs ara s,,,,,r..,i "a
havo been tia5 Ia ans s7ona l,ut n
,ao4arn tio,as f. ,,-as mn "a ,,,,fta a .lif-
far4rt use ~ becaro., a fs,,ar;tp ty,sf-
mo nlace of orl-n4v la,.ars and thev
llig5ted their froth nv aninse Grsf to
\ b.. rFsant1. of raa aroon fCfrcla If
s. e;i.nnors5 s,.h,.,.. fha woman, l1nalt ha-
fore The man and praved o.lq, 10 helm
her 10 j.. faithful. than ,hsy vent to
the 'r..n,ole If fhe sun CF;ino If Rrogarl
where the man went through similar
ceremony Last of ali they returned
40 tte Stone af I,J5a ana iaining their
hands thra,-sa the hole t,omised to be
Faithful oae o the other. ana 4his vow
10 03iu was considered as binding as
The rest sacped oath. II tha Dartles
,yfsaea l., anuul the vow they had
Simply 10 70 10 tne chtlrch OF Sternes,s.
a7sd one 20 walk out AZ the north door
and rr. et5t af tba south ana fhe thfne
was aoue.
N was at fhis stone mat the pirate
Cow ana a Mis-. Gordon plightea their
tr0th. ana SD binding did The lady con
si7ef her yt,ty that after Gows execl,-
tion she ravelel an the wav 90 l.9r
don 10 touch his hand. Tais was
thougbt TO release her There was a
s,,r,arsttfien fha5 if one If NE parties
died ana The other wished to form new
iacs tba snj,.3t of me deaarted ly8ul;i
haunt fbn f3I+llless one unless released
il lbis wav The ,hel.ef was very e@n-
raj that child vino was pass d
throijeh the li,,le would never he
aIilIcf9d with Yalsy. The Odin ston,
vas 8estr,vsa hy "A farmer IN 1914. W.l1
,t~ed r. oa n,at4rfai cor q cow house.
Tho man was a Ferry-Louper. the
~ mo forf,erIv eiyen 20 strangers from
= he South and the peopl.. in the nefgn-
A0rhnod were SO enraged with him that
several 9efemuts were made to burn ais
eotse ana ather rropertv.
fbe 1;ine Of Brogar is on the north
side % the bridge. and is surrounded
bv a trench about twenty-n!ne feet
y,an and six feet deeu. There are
t,irteen stones sEIIl standing and ten
.3,e wing an the gfouaG At the top
ri = low hin not far from the circle is
an ancient n,arry from which many
ri the stones were prohabiv taken. 4
nee farther AWAY is a large circular
anace surro,mdad nv q trench called
he Ridge Of Bookan. There are no
st,nes hy the edge Of This circle but
terge blocks of stone and many smaller
.caes are y.eible mem the centre.