The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-05

ing out the cod hSh to dry In the sun,
the sea being as assiduously cultivated
ss the land by the people of Orkney.
The fields are small in extent.
and separated by stone walls
built with great neatness. and
giving the country side the appearance
of huge patchwork of varying shades
of green and brown, the moors and hill
tops - the purple-brown border.
Many varieties of sea fowl abound in
these waters, but l have seen none except
guls and a few elder ducks. The gulls
are very tame and pitch upon the house
tops in the town. They partake of the
universal cleanliness and are graceful
and beautiful birds.
| Perhaps the most interesting objects
| to tn, traveller in this island are the
! Druidical remains found ten miles from
! Kirkwail on the road to Stromness. The
first OF these rs a large barren or circular
imound about twenty feet in height 1t Is
surrounded by an earthen wall which III
its turn seems originally to have been
encircled by a moat. The area enclosed
within the earthen work is, | should say,
about a quarter of an acre. The
mound is entered from one side
through stone passage about
three feet wide, four and a half feet
high and twenty feet long, or possibly a
little less. Within is a chamber with an
earthen floor, but walls and ceiling of
stone. The upper part of the ceiling had
fallen in when the mound was opened in
1861, so that the top of the vault is re-
cent. The rest is of unknown antiquity.
The chamber is fifteen feet square, ana
hn
fore the vaults begins to spring, is about
eight feet. The passage enters in the mid
die of one of the four sides. In the middle
of each of the other three sides is an
opening in the thickness of the stone wall
about two feet wide by eighteen inches
high, which going in about foot, opens
out into square space six feet long by
four and a half broad. On the smooth
surface of the slate stone of which the
| chamber is built are numerous lnScrlp-
tons in n sort of runic character, some
running up and down, others horizontal
Ily: also number of rude drawings. L no
ticed dragon, serpent. and also cross
rudely cut in the stone. l was told that
there was also palm tree, but that l
did not see This mound is known as the
Mealshowe.
About a mile from this mound. and
across an arm of the sea. which is hero
called the Loeb Of Stennes, are the
Standing Stones. These are surrounded
| by a very distinct fOpe or moat still ten
feet deep in some places. This moat en-
closes, | should judge, near an acre of
ground. and the stones stand just inside.
Fourteen stones of considerable height
still remain upright, the highest about
fifteen feet. The circle can be very plain
ly made out by these stones and by the
remains of many of the others, some still
living where they fell, others having only
a "stump" remaining Between this circle
and the mound are four other detached
stones standing upright, seeming to form
a sort Of connection between the two.
| The inscriptions in the stone chamber
| have been, | am told, variously inter
preted. / met very intelligent man who
II had lust visited the mound who told me
| hat the inscriptions were much later than
| the building. and that he had trans
/ lation of them which showed that they
had been made by party of Crusaders
returning from the East, and had rela-
ton to them, and that the palm tree sig
nified the Eastern countries from which
they had come The dragon and serpent.
| he thought more probably the work of the
original Druidical builders.
This is one of the very many subjects
about which | know nothing, and, know
ling nothing, do not venture even to have
an opinion.
A monument OF the past more within
the circle of our knowledge and sympa-
Ithies is the old Cathedral of st. Magnus.
in Kirkwal / am not clear in my mind
who st. Magnus was, but if veneration
for him inspired the building Of this ca
thedral. | am prepared to grant that he
deserved his name Unlike the other
buildings in Kirkwall the material of the
cathedral is sand stone Of rich, warm,
rcd color which gives it a singularly
happy effect amidst the cold gray of its
surroundings. 1t has suffered much less in
Its exterior from the corroding tooth of
ime than many more recent structures of
its kind in the south Of England. 1t tells
Its own story of its early Norman build
ers. being, as to the main bulk OF it, in
the early and simple form of that style.
Here and there, however, is the mark of
a later Norman hand, while the nave
clere story and the extreme eastern end
Of the choir are Of the simplest. early
EnSllSn ,anu tne Top OI tHe lower anu Cne
western entrance and gable begin to
show little trace Of the Decorated.
Though not so large as most Of the En-
glish cathedrals, ST. Magnus is by no
means unworthy Of its name. 1t has a
fine Norman choir and nave, with north
and south aisles throughout the whole
length, and north and south transepts
with asles. A spacious and graceful Tri-
forum extends around the whole, and at
the intersection Of the transepts with the
nave and choir rises fine square tower
which is ornamented by a short pyra-
midal spire. 1t has the conventional
Cock for weather vane above, and on
the apex of the west gable is
a Celtic cross, which seems to
have survived the zeal of
rioutous reformers who defOrmed sc
many beautiful medieval structures. Nc
part of the building seems to have been
restored" except the upper part of the
south transept, and the original seems in
that to have been carefully reproduced