and debtors to flee into. The inhabitants of this ifle are all proteftants; they generally fpeak the English tongue, and many among them retain the ancient Danish language, especially in the more northern ifles. There are feveral who speak English, Norfe, and Dutch; the laft of which is acquired by their converfe with the Hollanders, that fill yearly in thofe ifles. The people are generally reputed difcreet, and charitable to ftrangers; and those of the best rank are fafhionable in their apparel. Shetland is much more populous now than it was thirty years ago, which is owing to the trade, and particularly that of their fifhery, fo much followed every year by the Hollanders, Hamburghers, and others. The increafe of people at Lerwick is confiderable; for it had but three or four families about thirty years ago, and is fince increased to about three hundred families; and it is obfervable, that few of their families were natives of Shetland, but came from feveral parts of Scotland, and especially from the northern and eastern coafts. The fishery in Shetland is the foundation both of their trade and wealth; and though it be of late become less than before, yet the inhabitants, by their industry and applica tion, make a greater profit of it than formerly, when they had them nearer the coast, both of the larger and leffer ifles; but now the grey fish of the largest fize are not to be had in any quantity without going further into the ocean. The fish commonly bought by strangers here are cod and ling; the inhabitants themselves make only use of the fmaller fish and herrings, which abound on the coaft of this ifle in vaft fhoals. The fish called tufk abounds on the coaft of Braffa; the time for fifhing is at the end of May. This fifh is as big as a This fifh is as big as a ling, of a brown and yellow colour, has a broad tail; it is better fresh than falted: they are commonly fold at fifteen or fixteen fhillings the hundred. The inhabitants obferve, that the further they go to the northward the fish are of a larger fize, and in greater quantities. They make great ftore of oil, particularly of the large grey fish, by them called feths, and the younger fort fillucks: they say that the liver of one feth affords a pint of Scots measure, being about four of English measure. The way of making the oil is first by boiling the liver in a pot half full of water, and when it boils the oil goes to the top, and is fkimmed off and put in veffels for use. The fishers obferve of late, that the livers of fish are lefs in fize than they have been formerly. The Hamburghers, Bremers, and others, come to this country about the middle of May, fet up fhops in feveral parts, and fell divers commodities; as linen, muflin, and fuch things as are moft proper for the inhabitants, but more especially beer, brandy, and bread; all which they barter for fifh, ftockings, mutton, hens, &c.: and when the inhabitants afk money for their goods, they receive it immediately.. In the month of June the Hollanders come with their fifhing-buffes in great numbers upon the coaft for herring; and when they come into the found of Braffa, where the herrings are commonly moft plentiful, and very near the fhore, they difpofe their nets, &c. in order, but never begin till the twenty-fourth of June; for this is the time limited among themselves, which is obferved as a law, that none will venture to tranfgrefs. This fifhing-trade is very beneficial to the inhabitants, who have provifions and neceffaries imported to their doors, and employment for all their people, who by their fifhing, and felling the various products of the country, bring in a confiderable fum of money yearly. The proprietors of the ground are confiderable gainers alfo, by letting their houfes, which ferve as fhops to the feamen during their refidence here. VOL. III. 4 U There There have been two thousand buffes and upwards fishing in this found in one fummer; but they are not always fo numerous: they generally go away in August or September. There are two little towns in the largest of the Shetland ifles: the most ancient of thefe is Scalloway; it lies on the weft fide of the ifle, which is the most beautiful and pleasant part of it. It hath no trade, and but few inhabitants, the whole being about ninety in number. On the fouth-eaft end of the town ftands the caftle of Scalloway, which is four stories high; it hath feveral conveniences and useful houses about it, and is well furnished with water. Several rooms have been curiously painted, though the better part be now worn off. This ancient house is almost ruinous, there being no care taken to repair it. It ferved as a garrifon for the English foldiers that were fent hither by Cromwell. This houfe was built by Patrick Stewart Earl of Orkney, anno 1600. The gate hath the following infcription on it: Patricius Orchadia et Zelandia And underneath the infcription: Cujus fundamen faxum eft, domus illa manebit; labilis è contra fi fit arena perit. That houfe whofe foundation is on a rock fhall stand; but if on the fand, it fhall fall. comes. The inhabitants fay that this houfe was built upon the fandy foundation of oppreffion, in which they say the earl exceeded; and for that and other crimes was executed. There is a high ftone erected between Tingwall and Scalloway: the inhabitants have a tradition, that it was fet up as a monument of a Danish general, who was killed there by the ancient inhabitants, in a battle against the Danes and Norwegians. The fecond and latest built town is Lerwick; it ftands on that fide of the found where the fishing is the ground on which it is built is a hard rock, one fide lies toward the fea, and the other is furrounded with a mofs, without any arable ground. On the north is the citadel of Lerwick, which was built in the year 1665, in time of the war with Holland, but never completed; there is little more of it now left than the walls. The inhabitants, about thirty years ago, fifhed up three iron cannon out of a fhip that had been caft away near eighty years before; and being all over ruft, they made a great fire of peats round them to get off the ruft; and the fire having heated: the cannon, all the three went off, to the great furprize of the inhabitants, who fay they faw the ball fall in the middle of Braffa Sound, but none of them had any damage by them. There are many Picts houses in this country, and several of them entire to this day ;: the highest exceeds not twenty or thirty feet in height, and are about twelve feet broad in the middle; they taper towards both ends, the entry is lower than the doors of houses commonly are now, the windows are long and very narrow, and the ftairs go up between the walls. These houfes were built for watch-towers, to give notice of an ap-proaching enemy; there is not one of them but what is in view of fome other; fo that: a fire being made on the top of any one house, the signal was communicated to all the reft in a few moments. The inhabitants fay that these houfes were called burghs, which in the Saxon language fignifies a town or caftle fenced all round. The names of fortified places in the western ifles are in feveral parts called Borg; and the villages in which the forts ftand,. are always named Borg. The inhabitants of Orkney fay that feveral burying-places among them are called: burghs, from the Saxon word burying. It is generally acknowledged that the Picts were originally Germans, and particularly from that part of it bordering upon the Baltic Sea. They were called Phightian, that is, fighters. The Romans called them Picti. Some writers call them Pictavi, either from from that name of Phightian, which they took to themfelves, or from their beauty; and accordingly Boethius, in his character of them, joins both thefe together: Quod erant corporibus robuftiffimis candidifque; and Verftegan fays the fame of them. The Romans called them Picti, because they had their fhields painted of divers colours. Some think the name came from pichk, which in the ancient Scots language fignifies pitch, that they coloured their faces with, to make them terrible to their enemies in battle; and others think the name was taken from their painted habit. This ifle makes part of the fhire of Orkney; there are twelve parishes in it, and a greater number of churches and chapels. Shetland pays not above one-third to the crown of what Orkney does. The ground being for the most part boggy and moorish, is not so productive of grain as the other ifles and main land of Scotland; and if it were not for the fea-ware, by which the ground is enriched, it would yield but a very small product. There is lately difscovered in divers parts abundance of lime-stone, but the inhabitants are not fufficiently inftructed in the use of it for their corn land. There is plenty of good peats, which ferve as fuel for the inhabitants, especially on the main. The amphibia in these ifles are feals and otters in abundance: fome of the latter are trained to go a fishing, and fetch several sorts of fish home to their masters. There are no trees in any of these ifles, neither is there any venomous creature to be found here. 1 There have been several strange fish seen by the inhabitants at sea, fome of the fhape of men as far as the middle; they are both troublesome and very terrible to the fishers, who call them Sea-devils. It is not long fince every family of any confiderable fubftance in those islands was haunted by a spirit they called Browny, which did several sorts of work; and this was the reafon why they gave him offerings of the various products of the place: thus fome when they churned their milk, or brewed, poured fome milk and wort through the hole of a stone, called Browny's stone. A minister in this country had an account from one of the ancient inhabitants who formerly brewed ale, and fometimes read his bible, that an old woman in the family told him that Browny was much displeased at his reading in that book; and if he did not cease to read in it any more, Browny would not ferve him as formerly. But the man continued his reading notwithstanding, and when he brewed refused to give any facrifice to Browny; and fo his first and fecond brewing miscarried, without any visible cause in the malt; but the third brewing proved good, and Browny got no more facrifice from him after that. There was another inftance of a lady in Unft who refused to give facrifice to Browny, and lost two brewings; but the third proved good, and fo Browny vanished quite, and troubled them no more. I fhall add no more, but that the great number of foreign fhips which repair hither yearly upon the account of fishing, ought to excite the people of Scotland to a speedy improvement of that profitable trade; which they may carry on with more ease and profit in their own feas than any foreigners whatever. A VOYAGE TO ST. KILDA. BY M. MARTIN, GENT.* PREFACE. Mder that plaufible invitation to pafs unnoticed. ́EN are generally fond enough of novelty, not to suffer any thing represented unA defcription of fome remote corner in the Indies fhall be fure to afford us high amufement, whilft a thousand things much nearer to us might engage our thoughts to better purpose, and the knowledge of them serve to promote our true intereft, and the hiftory of nature. It is a piece of weakness and folly to value things merely on account of their distance: thus men have travelled far in fearch of foreign plants and animals, and continued ftrangers to the productions of their own climate. The following relation, therefore, I hope will not prove unprofitable or difpleafing, unless the advantages of truth and unaffected fimplicity fhould prejudice it in the opinion of fuch as are more trifling and curious than solid and judicious. The author, born in one of the most spacious and fertile ifles in the weft of Scotland, by a laudable curiofity was prompted to undertake the voyage, and that in an open boat, to the almost manifest hazard of his life, as the feas and tides in those rocky islands are more inconftant and raging than in most other places. And he has been careful to relate nothing in the following account but what he afferts for truth, either upon his own particular knowledge, or from the conftant and harmonious teftimony given him by the inhabitants; people fo plain, and fo little inclined to impofe upon mankind, that perhaps no place in the world at this day knows inftances like these of true primitive honour and fimplicity; a people abhorring lying tricks and artifices, as they do the most poisonous plants or devouring animals. The author confeffes he might have put these papers into the hands of fome capable of giving them, what they really want, a politer turn of phrafe; but he hopes for the indulgence of at leaft the intelligent reader, who will always fet a higher value upon unadorned truth in fuch accounts than the utmost borrowings of art, or the advantages of refined languages. A VOYAGE, &c. THE various relations concerning St. Kilda, given by thofe of the western ifles and continent, induced me to a narrow enquiry about it: for this end I applied myfelf to the present steward, who by his description, and the products of the island, which were brought to me, together with a natural impulfe of curiofity, formed fuch an idea of it in my mind, that I determined to fatisfy myfelf with going thither, it having been never hitherto defcribed to any purpose; the accounts given by Buchanan and Sir Robert Murray being but relations from fecond and third hands, neither of them ever having the opportunity of being upon the place. I attempted feveral times to visit it, but in vain, until laft fummer, the laird of Mack-Leod heartily recommending the care of the inhabitants of St. Kilda to Mr. John Campbell, minifter of Harries, he went to St. Kilda, and I chearfully embraced the occafion; and accordingly we embarked at the idle Efay in Harries, May 29, 1697, the wind at S. E. From the fourth edition, London, 1753. 8vo. We We fet fail with a gentle breeze, bearing to the weftward, and were not well got out of the harbour when Mr. Campbell obferving the whiteness of the waves attended with an extraordinary noise beating upon the rocks, expreffed his diflike of it, being in those parts a prognoftic of an enfuing ftorm; but the fame appearing fometimes in fummer before exceffive heat, it was flighted by the crew. But as we advanced about two leagues further, upon the coaft of the ifle of Pabbay, the former figns appearing more confpicuoufly, we unanimoufly concluded a ftorm approaching, which occafioned a motion for our return; but the wind and ebb-tide concurring, determined us to pursue our voyage, in hopes of arriving at our defired harbour before the wind or storm should rife, which we judged would not be fuddenly: but our fond imagination was not feconded with a good event, as will appear; for we had fcarce failed a league further, when the wind inclined more foutherly, and altered our measures; we endeavoured by the help of our oars to reach the Haw-sker rocks, fome four leagues to the fouth coast, which we were not able to effect, though we confumed the night in this vain expectation. By this time we fo far advanced in the ocean, that after a second motion for our return it was found impracticable, efpecially fince we could not promife to fetch any point of Scotland; this obliged us to make the best of our way for St. Kilda, though labouring under the disadvantages of wind and tide: our crew extremely fatigued and difcouraged without fight of land for fixteen hours; at length one of them discovered feveral tribes of the fowls of St Kilda flying, holding their courfe foutherly of us, which (to fome of our crew) was a demonftration we had loft our courfe, by the violence of the flood and wind both concurring to carry us northerly, though we fteered by our compafs right weft.. The inhabitants of St. Kilda take their meafures from the flight of thofe fowls, when the heavens are not clear, as from a fure coinpafs, experience fhewing that every tribe of fowls bends their courfe to their refpective quarters, though out of fight of the isle: this appeared clearly in our gradual advances; and their motion being compared did exactly quadrate with our compafs. The inhabitants rely fo much upon this obferva. tion, that they prefer it to the surest compafs; but we begged leave to differ from them, though at the fame time we could not deny their rule to be as certain as our compass. While we were in this ftate we difcovered the ifle Borera, near three leagues north of St. Kilda, which was then about four leagues to the fouth of us; this was a joyful fight, and gave new vigour to our men, who being refreshed with victuals, lowering maft and fail, rowed to a miracle. While they were tugging at the oars we plied them with plenty of aquavitæ to fupport them, whofe borrowed fpirits fo far wafted their own, that upon our arrival at Borera, there was fcarce one of them able to manage cable or anchor: we put in under the hollow of an extraordinary high rock, to the north of this isle, which was all covered with a prodigious number of Solan geese hatching in their nefts; the heavens were darkened by their flying over our heads, their excrements were in fuch quantity, that they gave a tincture to the fea, and at the fame time fullied our boat and cloaths: two of them confirmed the truth of what has been frequently reported of their ftealing from one another grafs wherewith to make their nefts, by affording us the following very agreeable diverfion, and it was thus: one of them finding his neighbour's neft without the fowl, lays hold on the opportunity, and steals from it as much grafs as he could conveniently carry off, taking his flight towards the ocean; from thence he presently returns, as if he made a foreign purchase, but it does not pafs for fuch: for the owner had difcovered the fact before the thief had got out of fight, and to nimble for his cunning, waits his return, all armed with fury, and engages him defperately. This bloody battle was fought above our heads, and proved fatal to the thief, who fell dead |