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vicinity, the pirate is supposed to have witnessed the fight that terminated in the destruction of his ship near Stromness. In this incident, however, the novelist has used a little licence, for Stromness cannot be seen from the locality where the pirate is said to have stood. Generally Scott's descriptions of Orcadian scenery are extremely truthful; so much so, indeed, that Lockhart states when the "Pirate" was published persons in Stromness and Kirkwall who had made Scott's acquaintance when he visited the Orkneys, were certain that he was the author of the Waverley Novels.

A fanciful Orcadian might imagine that nature was grateful to him for having immortalised several portions of his storm-vexed islands. For shortly after Scott's name became famous, it was noticed that the north-west extremity of the high hill of Hoy presented a very striking likeness in profile of the great novelist. During countless ages this precipitous terminal hill-face has been slowly changing, under meteorological influences, and now the outline of the human face that is developed is found to accurately resemble that of the author of the "Pirate:" in another century perhaps another profile may be developed which will resemble that of some unborn worthy.

You will do well to put the "Pirate" in your pocket when you visit the Orkneys; and with respect to Stennis, if you wish to see the stony giants to the bestadvantage, spend an hour among them when the storm

M 2

blast sweeps across the lakes, the wild swans trumpet, the curlews scream, and the heavens are obscured by

heavy clouds; seen amidst such influences you will appreciate Malcolm's truthful lines:

"The hoary rocks of giant size
That o'er the land in circles rise,
Of which tradition may not tell,
Fit circles for the wizard's spell;
Seen far amidst the scowling storm,
Seem each a tall and phantom form,
As hurrying vapours o'er them flee,
Frowning in grim security;

While like a dread voice from the past,

Around them moans the autumnal blast."

The only dwelling near the "Stones" is a hovel of so wretched a nature that I entered it, curious to know whether it was occupied by human beings.

The interior consisted of one room, window and chimney-less, shared by bipeds and quadrupeds, both entering by the same door. An aged couple were cowering over a peat fire burning on the floor. Of furniture there was literally none; a heap of rags in one corner and a box doing the duty of bed and chair. The place seemed, and I am afraid was, the abode of great misery; but the owner of the narrow dwelling did not grumble with his lot. True, he said, the site of his cot was very bleak, and living hard, but in summer he earned a few pence by stabling the horses of gentlemen who came to look at the "Stanes," and very little sufficed for his wants. What a lesson of contentment do these lowly dwellers

among the waste places of the earth teach!-content with such a lot, while the possessor of thousands of pounds and vast estates is often a repining man.

Regaining our dog-cart, we pushed on to Kirkwall, eleven miles from Stennis. Long before we reached the Orcadian capital we saw the vast cathedral of St. Magnus towering over all the adjoining buildings, a dark mass of stern architecture. Crossing a causeway dividing a bay, on the shore of which the oldest part of Kirkwall is built, from a lake, we rattled into the town, passing through narrow and tortuous streets to the inn. This does not sustain the metropolitan reputation of Kirkwall; for, though capacious, it is far behind Flett's Hotel in comfort and cleanliness. Ordering dinner, we went out, directing our steps to the cathedral. But the lions of Kirkwall are of sufficient importance to merit a separate chapter.

CHAP. XVI.

Antiquity of Kirkwall.-Its foreign Appearance.-A Presbytery moderating. The Bishop's Palace.-The Mass Tower.-Bishop Reid.History of the Palace.-King Haco.-The Monarch's last Days.The Earl's Palace.-Patrick, Earl of Orkney.-Portrait of him.— His stern Rule.-Beauty of the Ruins.-The Cathedral.-St. Magnus. Severity of its Architecture.-Dimensions.- History of the Cathedral.-A religious Vow.-Quaint Inscriptions.—Curious Cell.— The Summit of the Tower.- View over the Orkneys.-Scalpa Flow. -Wasting of the Isles.-The Chimes.-Itinerant Show.- Police Notice.-Orcadian Exhibition.-An enthusiastic Naturalist.- The Eagles of Hoy.-The Orcadian Fauna.-Numerous Whales.-Strawplaiting. The Love-stricken Chieftain.- Fine Race of Men.Return to Stromness.

KIRKWALL, like Stromness, is traversed by one long winding narrow street, flagged in the centre. Many of the houses have a very foreign and antiquated appearance. Dates as early as the beginning of the fifteenth century may be seen on some of the gables, which are turned streetward. In that century (1468) Kirkwall obtained its first charter; James III. having previously made it a royal burgh, on the occasion of his obtaining possession of the Orkneys. As we proceeded, the town seemed more and more foreign. Small courtyards

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shaded by trees-actual trees, thick with leaves-stood between some houses and the street. These houses, we were told, were the winter residences of wealthy Orcadians, in the days when steam and railways were unknown, and when consequently Edinburgh was as remote in the matter of time from Kirkwall as Paris is now. The shops, too, wear a foreign and ancient air, the goods displayed being for the most part old-fashioned, as if the traders had purchased the remnant of stocks far behind the taste of the day. But the delusion that we were threading the mazy streets of a continental town was dispelled when, arriving at the cathedral, we found the doors not only closed, but our request to be admitted was met by a stern refusal from a surly janitor. "The Presbytery was moderating in a call to a minister," he said, and admittance was out of the question. How long would the Presbytery sit? He could not say; "Perhaps an hour, perhaps two, perhaps till night." Ecclesiastical proceedings are nowhere remarkable for their brevity, and those in Scotland form no exception to the rule, so we ventured to say that it would be more convenient to the public if the Presbytery deliberated in the vestry and did not shut up the cathedral. No remonstrance, however, could gain us admission, so we went in quest of other sights, being assured that the termination of the sitting would be announced by the ringing of the bells, and that then the cathedral would be thrown open.