Causes of the Suspension of Earl Robert On the number of Udallers, in 1633, Few Crown Charters in Zetland in 1664, of the Stewartry of Orkney and Zetland, Irredeemable Charter in favour of the Earl 342 343 345 346 347 348 349 after 1669, A VIEW OF THE ANCIENT AND PRESENT STATE OF THE ZETLAND ISLANDS. CHAPTER I. SITUATION, GENERAL APPEARANCE, AND CLIMATE OF THE ZETLAND ISLANDS. THE islands comprehended under the general appellation of Zetland, exceed one hundred in number. Of these, only thirty-four are inhabited. They lie between the fifty-ninth and sixty-second degrees of north latitude, about forty-seven leagues distant from Buchan-ness, and a little west of the meridian of London. The general appearance of Zetland is by no means attractive. The coast is rocky and un equal, and the hills bleak and mossy. More closely examined, this country presents many interesting scenes, partaking both of the tranquil and the wild. The latter, however, greatly predominate; and while spots of cultivated retirement are comparatively few, the romantic beauties of simple nature are abundantly displayed. Every where may be seen rocks of immense size standing in the sea, and, in some places, at a great distance from the land; some are perforated by magnificent arches, of great magnitude and regularity; in others, there are deep caverns and subterranean recesses; some are cleft in two nearly to the bottom, and others present accuminated tops, exhibiting an endless variety of form and appearance. Although several places possess this combination of wildness and tranquillity, the most perfect instances of it occur in the island of Unst, and in the parishes of Northmaven and Dunrossness. Balta-sound is a bay two miles long, and about half a mile broad, so completely shut in by the island of Balta, that, seen from a distance, it resembles a lake. Both sides of this bay are in a state of high cultiva * tion, and sheltering hills rise gradually from the shore. About half a mile from the beach there is a commanding view of the northern ocean, beyond Balta, which it has nearly cut asunder; so that one can at once contemplate the serenity of villages and fields, and the tempestuous motion of a stormy sea. On the west side of the peninsula of Northmaven is a succession of high and precipitous rocks, and back from their edges are verdant plains of several miles in extent. These plains are call About two hundred ed the Villens of Ure. and forty feet directly back from the brink of one of these rocks, are two very large caverns, called the holes of Scraada. They are separated from each other above, by a solid mass of rock covered with grass. The sea covers the bottom of the one nearest the edge of the precipice, to a considerable height; but it does not penetrate more than half way into the inner one, which is larger in circumference than the former, and has a beach in it. The distance through which the water flows in this subterranean vault, is above three hundred feet; but I could not ascertain the height of the arch. Some years ago a boat passed under it, to bring off some wood which the sea had driven on the beach. In a fine summer evening the scene here is truly magnificent: the western ocean swelling on towards the land, the fishing boats almost disappearing on its distant waves, the wild screams of the seafowl among the rocks, the verdure of the fields, and these awful gulphs suddenly opening to view, arrest the attention, and excite in the mind the mingled emotions of admiration and horror. Dunrossness presents many beautiful examples of this interesting species of contrast; and in this district there are fields which would not suffer by a comparison with Mid-Lothian. any in Almost all the large islands are deeply intersected by tortuous bays, or voes, as they are called, which afford facilities for internal communication, and excellent harbours for vessels. Several of these are very commodious, well sheltered from every wind, and sufficiently capacious to contain the navy of Britain. There are also a variety of lakes, some of which are interspersed with small islands; but none of them much exceed two miles in length. In |