ORKNEY Islands, or Orcades, a group of islands in the North Sea, belonging to and forming with the Zetland Islands one of the counties of Scotland. They are sepa [7:16:539]rated from Caithness by the Pentland Firth, a strait of about twelve miles in breadth, and are situated between the parallels 58. 44. and 59. 24. north latitude, and between 2. 24. and 3. 20. west longitude from the meridian of Greenwich. In number they amount to sixty-seven, of which twenty-seven are inhabited; and the others, known by the name of holms, are employed as grazing grounds for sheep and cattle, and for the manufacture of kelp. The islands are divided into two groups, called, in reference to Pomona, the principal island, the North and South Isles. The following are the names of the inhabited islands in the southern division, with their population according to the census taken in 1831:

South Ronaldshay 2265

Walls and Hoy 1388

Flotay and Faray 369

Burray 357

Graemsay 225

Swanay and the Skerries 89

Copinshay 7

4700

The following are the names and population of the North Isles:

Sanday 1839

Westray 1702

Stronsay, Papa Stronsay, and Lingholm 1071

Rousay 921

Shapinshay 809

Eday and Pharay 756

North Ronaldshay 522

Papa Westray 330

Egilshay 228

Weir 93

Gairsay 69

Enhallow 20

8360

Pomona, or the Mainland, has a population of 15,787, and thus the whole number of inhabitants roiounts to 28,847.

Orkney has been computed to contain 150,000 square acres, and, of these, 100,000 are said to be waste, or covered by water. But the very irregular form of the islands, penetrated by arms of the sea in all directions, renders these estimates, in absence of any accurate survey, nothing more than approximations. The general appearance of the islands is bleak, and upon the whole uninteresting. The total want of wood, and the immense tracts of waste, uncultivated land, present a very forbidding aspect.

The climate is exceedingly moist, and, though the cold is not very intense, the variable weather renders the winter disagreeable in the extreme. For several months there is a succession of rain, sleet, and storms. Spring is late, damp, and cold; but an Orkney summer, though short, has many and peculiar charms. The length of the day, the duration of twilight, the rapid vegetation, and, above all, the stillness of the sleeping ocean on a calm evening, compensate in no small degree for the dreariness of the other seasons.

Orkney is divided into twenty parishes, composing three presbyteries and one synod. Together with Zetland, these islands constitute one sheriffdom or stewartry, under the jurisdiction of a sheriff-depute and two substitutes, whose courts are held at Kirkwall in Orkney, and Lerwick in Zetland. Till the passing of the reform bill, Orkney alone had the privilege of sending a member to parliament; the landholders of Zetland, owing to the want of a separate valuation of their estates, having no vote in the election. Of the land-tax payable for the county, two thirds are levied from Orkney, and one third from the other division of the stewartry.

We shall now proceed to notice the principal islands, pointing out the most remarkable objects in them. The most southerly is South Ronaldshay, containing twenty-four square miles, and a population of 2265 persons, chiefly employed in agriculture, and the lobster, cod, and herring fisheries. There are two'commodious and secure harbours in this island, Widewall Bay on the west, and St Margaret’s Hope on the north. The antiquities of the island are several Picts’ houses, three or four monumental stones of large size, and the How of Hoxa, an ancient stronghold. To the north-west of South Ronaldshay lies Hoy, an island of twice the extent, but containing only 1388 inhabitants, the greater part of it being high land covered with heath. This is in many respects the most interesting of all the islands. The Wart Hill, the highest mountain in Orkney, its towering precipices washed by the fury of the Western Ocean, the huge isolated rock called “the Old Man of Hoy,” the meadows of the Kaim, the beautiful vale o. Berrydale, through which flows a stream whose banks are fringed with birches, creeping juniper, and willows, and the dwarfie stone, present to the spectator objects which will amply repay a lengthened visit. Forming part of the island of Hoy, but constituting a different parish, is Waas, or Walls, distinguished chiefly for its excellent harbour, Long Hope, which is now protected by a small battery and a couple of martello towers. Burray, situated to the north of South Ronaldshay, and separated from it by a channel of a mile in breadth, has an area of only three square miles, but produces grain, green crops, and good pasture, and has, moreover, a valuable rabbit warren. Farther north is the largest island of the group, Pomona, or Mainland, extending to thirty miles in length, and containing upwards of two hundred square miles. The towns of Kirkwall and Stromness are in this island (see articles Kirkwall and Stromness). Pomona is divided into thirteen parishes, which are supplied by eleven clergymen. Of these divisions, if we except St Ola, or Kirkwall, Stennis has the greatest claims on the attention of the traveller or the antiquary. Here are the Stones of Stennis, two collections of what at one time must have been upright pillars, forming a circle and a semicircle. Many of these stones are now overthrown; but the circle, when complete, seems to have been formed of thirty-five blocks; its diameter is three hundred feet, and the stones of which it is composed vary from ten to sixteen feet in height, and from two and a half to five feet in breadth. There have been many conjectures as to the purpose of these erections, and it is by no means certain even by whom they were raised. One opinion is that they are of Druidicaí, and another that they are of Scandinavian origin. A very probable conjecture is, that the circle was dedicated to the sun, and the semicircle to the moon, the frequent objects of Scandinavian worship. Of these stones the most interesting was one which stood near to, but did not form part of, the circle; it was perforated by a small hole, through which the heads of children were passed in order to secure them against palsy in after-life, and through which also lovers’ hands were joined, in token that the vows then made should be faithfully kept. The contracts or agreements here made were peculiarly binding, and the promise of Odin was regarded by an Orkneyman as of too solemn a nature to be trifled with. The malice or stupidity of a stranger, who rented a neighbouring farm, induced him, in 1814, to overthrow and break to pieces this curious relic of ancient times. In front of the circle there is a large horizontal stone, conjectured to have been used for sacrificial purposes; and it has been thought that it was on this altar that Einar, jarl of Orkney, son of Ronald, about the year 893, or, according to other accounts, 930, stretched Halfdan, the son of Harold the fair-haired, king of Norway, and, tearing out his lungs, presented the reeking gift to his god. In the adjoining parish of Sandwick, the gran*
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deur of the rocks must attract the attention of the visitor; and one huge archway, formed by the restless fury of the waves, called the Hollow Row, or the Hole of Row, is particularly deserving of attention. Robert Steuart, earl of Orkney, had a palace in Birsaý, the next parish on the north-west, the ruins of which still remain. Brand, who visited the county in 1700, says, “the palace is two stories high, the upper hath been prettily decored, the ceiling being all painted, and that for the most part with schems holding forth Scripture histories, as Noah’s flood, Christ’s riding to Jerusalem, &c. and the Scripture is set down beside the figure. It was inhabited within these twenty years, but is now fast decaying.” The writer of this article saw it in 1820. All the decorations, the roof, and a great part of the walls, were then gone; and the clergyman of the parish informed him that the palace was regarded as a common quarry, whence every intending builder drew materials for the erection of his house. It was over the gateway of this building that the inscription was placed which is said to have been adduced as evidence of the treasonable designs of the family on the trial of Patrick, Earl Robert’s son: “Dominus Robertus Stuartus, filius Jacobi quinti, rex Scotorum, hoc opus instruxi.” The two islands of Shapinshay and Rousay, each containing from ten to twelve square miles, he to the north of the Mainland. In the former lead ore has been found, but not in quantities sufficient to remunerate the miner; and the latter presents to the antiquary for his investigation, tumuli, Picts’ houses, standing stones, and a number of ancient graves. To the east of Rousay is the beautiful island of Egilshay, the favourite summer residence of the ancient jarls, and, at a later period, of the bishops of Orkney. It was here that St Magnus, the tutelar saint of the islands, was basely murdered by his cousin Hacon, in 1110. Beyond these, to the north-east, he Stronsay, where there is an extensive fishing station; and Eday, an island that can boast of a burgh of barony. Still farther north lie Sanday on the east, and Westray on the west. The former, because of its superior productiveness, has been called the granary of Orkney; and it produces, or rather did produce, fully one fifth of the kelp manufactured in all the islands. It is a flat, low-lying island; and, till the erection of a lighthouse in the year 1806, proved fatal to many a vessel. Westray is, with the exception of Sanday, the largest of the north isles. In it are the remains of a strong castle, of which Ben, who wrote in 1529, thus speaks: “Est excellentissima arx sive castellum, sed nondum tamen adhuc completa.” A great many graves, generally formed of five flat stones, four standing on their edges, and resting on the fifth, have been lately uncovered, in consequence of sand blowing. In them have been found the remains of human bones, and of various weapons, offensive and defensive. In all probability they are the graves of natives and strangers, who had fallen in some of the many battles of which tradition preserves the remembrance. Separated from Westray by a frith of a mile in breadth, is the small island of Papa Westray, with its beautiful fresh-water loch, in the middle of which is a small island, whereon stood the chapel of St Tredwall. The most northerly of the islands is North Ronaldshay, containing an area of from four to six square miles, with a population of 522. It was on a reef near this island that the Suetia of Gottenburg, an Indiaman, valued at half a million sterling, was wrecked in 1740; and here, too, four years afterwards, another Indiaman, the Crown Prince of Denmark, with thirty chests of treasure on board, was cast away. About the year 1790, a lighthouse, seventy feet in height, was erected on the north-east point of the island; but this light being often mistaken for that in Sanday, misled mariners, and it is now discontinued, the latter being regarded as sufficient.

The geology of these islands offers little to attract our attention. The Orkneys are said to consist of an assemblage of secondary strata, disposed round a high central nucleus of primitive rocks; but Professor Traill remarks, that “the mineral history of Orkney is singularly monotonous and uninteresting; the whole islands, with slight exception, consisting of horizontal or slightly inclined strata of sandstone, flag, and a species of slaty clay, occasionally intermixed with thick beds of red and gray sandstone, and, in a few places, containing beds of limestone, with some traces of marine remains.”

The Orkney Flora is known to consist of 545 species, to which it is probable that a careful examination will make some additions. The chara aspera, discovered by the Rev. Charles Clouston, minister of Sandwick, is the only Orkney plant new to the British Flora.

The zoology of Orkney, according to the Fauna Orca· densis of Low, is as follows: Quadrupeds, eleven genera; birds, thirty-four genera; reptiles, two genera; and fishes, twenty-three genera. To these a few additions, we believe, have been made.

The history of the islandswill not detain us long. They seem to have been originally peopled by a Scandinavian tribe; but little certain is known till the year 870, when the Norwegian chiefs, who had fled from home because of the victories of Harold the Fair-haired, arrived thĕre. Harold pursued them six years afterwards, defeated them, and appointed Ronald count of Moere jarl or earl of Orkney. He was succeeded, after an interval and some changes, by his son Einar; whilst another son of his, Rollo, wrested Normandy from Charles the Simple, king of France, and, becoming duke of that province, was the greatgreat-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror. The descendants of Ronald ruled as jarls for upwards of four hundred years, when the male line terminated in the person of Magnus, the fifth earl of that name. He died about 1320 or 1330, leaving one daughter, Matilda, who became the wife of Malise, earl of Stratherne, and had issue Isa-bell, who married Sir William St Clair, baron of Rosslyn; and the son of this marriage, Sir Henry, was the first of the Scottish Earls of Orkney. His title was admitted by Hacon VI., king of Norway, in 1379. By a treaty entered into before this period, between the courts of Scotland and Norway, the latter ceded to the former Man and the Western Islands, for the payment of a certain yearly sum called the “Annual of Norway.” This tribute, not having been regularly rendered, soon amounted to a large sum; but, after much negotiation on the subject, it was arranged that the arrears of the annual should be held as discharged, that James III. should marry Margaret of Norway, that her dowry should be 60,000 florins, and that Orkney should be impignorated to Scotland for five sixths of that sum, the islands to be redeemed on the payment of the money. This treaty was entered into in 1468. The marriage-portion was never paid, and it has given rise to much controversy, whether the claim of Norway to these islands has been ever formally relinquished; a question into which we shall not enter, as it has been for centuries practically resolved. The earldom remained in the family of St Clair till 1471, when it and the title merged in, or rather was united to, the crown of Scotland, never again to be alienated, except in favour of a lawful son of the king. For almost a century the crown-lands were leased to various tenants, till at length, in May 1564, Queen Mary granted a charter to Lord Robert Stuart, her father’s son by Dame Euphemia Elphinstone, constituting him Earl of Orkney. Afterwards, by her marriage-contract with Bothwell, dated May 1567, Mary bound herself to create him Duke of Orkney, and to put him in possession of the islands. He appears never to have been infeft, or, at all events, a month after the marriage, he fled, and the dukedom[7:16:541] was at an end. Earl Robert had no concern with Orkney from 1567 to 1581, but in the latter year he had another grant of the earldom made to him. This was revoked by King James upon his attaining his majority in 1587. Again, a farther grant was executed in favour of him and his heirs in 1591, which in 1592 was confirmed by parliament. Earl Robert died in that year, and the earldom was once more resumed by the crown; and once more, in March 1600, Patrick, the son of Robert by the Lady Jean Kennedy, got a grant of it in his favour; and in May of the same year he got a grant of the bishopric. Earl Patrick’s crimes brought him to the scaffold in 1615; and after his death ‘the Orkneys were again unalienably annexed to the crown, and again they were alienated in 1643. This deed was declared null and void in 1669; and once more, in 1707, they were mortgaged to the Morton family, burdened with an annual payment of L.500 to the crown. In 1742, this mortgage was declared irredeemable, and Lord Morton in 1766 sold his rights for L.60,000, to Sir Laurence Dundas, in whose family they still remain. From a calculation made by Sheriff in his agricultural survey, printed in 1814, it would appear that Lord Dundas draws annually from his vassals in the earldom L.2187. Ils. 9j∣d., payable partly in money and partly in produce. In addition to this he has a large private property in the county.

Of the trade and manufactures of Orkney, it is not easy to give any thing like an accurate estimate; but the following may be looked upon as generally correct.
[table]

The exports consist chiefly of grain, fish, cattle and sheep, butter, hides, rabbit-skins, and eggs. In 1833, it is said, 100,000 dozens of eggs were exported, which, at 6d. a dozen, brought L.2500. The imports are of a most miscellaneous description, and we have seen no probable estimate of their value.

Till lately, the principal manufacture in the islands was that of kelp, which at one time brought L.12, L.16, and even L.20 a ton; but now the prices obtained barely suffice to cover the expenses of making and carrying it to market. The greatest quantity ever made in one year was in 1826, when 3500 tons were manufactured, which, on an average, sold at L.7 a ton. The expense of cutting, drying, and burning the sea-weed, amounts to about L.3 or L.3. 3s. a ton of kelp, and it costs about L.l more to bring it to market; and, for some years, the price has scarcely exceeded L.4. 10s. or L.5.

In 1833 there were forty vessels of about thirty tons each engaged in the cod-fishery, and they caught and cured 560 tons of fish, valued at L.13 per ton. During the same year, the produce of the lobster-fishery, in which there were engaged 216 boats and 432 men, amounted to L.1800. The principal fishery, however, is the herringfishery. In 1820 there were exported from Orkney 17,989 barrels of herrings, which, at 10s. a barrel, would amount to about L.8000; and in 1833 the number had amounted to 34,000 barrels, valued at L.17,000. The principal stations for this fishery are Huip in Stronsay, and St Margaret’s Hope in South Ronaldshay.

The chief manufacture in Orkney at present is that of straw-plaiting. Twenty years ago, from six to seven thou sand females were employed in this branch of trade; and they are calculated to have drawn in wages L.20,000 annually. Since that time the plaiting of common straw has been almost entirely discontinued, and that of the unsplit straw of rye or wheat has been introduced. In 1833 there were plaited 489,560 yards of Orkney straw, and 240,900 yards of foreign straw. The former is thought tougher than the latter, but the colour is not so pleasing. A bonnet that will cost L.4 contains about 140 yards of the finest plait.

In Kirkwall there are two licensed distilleries, and there is one in Stromness. In 1833 there were distilled 13,947 gallons of whisky, yielding to the revenue L.2324. 10s. of duty. It has been calculated, that during the year to which these estimates chiefly refer (viz. 1833), upwards of L.60,000 was received in Orkney, principally from fisheries, farm produce, and manufactures.

When Dr Barry wrote his history of Orkney, more than thirty years ago, he pointed out many defects in the system of Orkney farming. Some of these still remain, but many of them have disappeared; and, as old prejudices wear away, and landlords see that it is for their own no less than for their tenants’ advantage to grant leases of some duration, and when both parties arc convinced that a proper rotation of crops should be insisted on, and when fencing and draining have been carried to a greater extent than has yet been done, we may hope to witness a still more marked improvement. The grain almost exclusively raised in Orkney is barley, or rather bear or big (hor∙ r deum tetrastechon), and gray oats (avena strigosa). We have seen wheat tried, but the result of the experiment was not encouraging.

In conclusion, we would remark, that the inhabitants of these islands are in general not overmuch inclined to labour when at home, but that when abroad they can be made to exert themselves. They are somewhat superstitious, but are nevertheless well informed on many subjects; whilst the upper classes, as a body, are not inferior to their equals in station in any part of Scotland. All classes are universally acknowledged to be kind, courteous, and most attentive to strangers.

( Orkneyinga Saga ; Torfaei Perum Orcadensium Historia ; Brand’s Brief Description of Orkney, &c.; Wallace’s Description of Orkney ; M‘Kenzie’s Greevances of Orkney ; Fea On the Fisheries of Orkney ; Low’s Fauna Orcadensis ; Barry’s History ; Sheriff’s Agricultural Scenery ; Neill’s Tour; Peterkin’s Pentals and Notes ; Groat’s Thoughts on Orkney.)