Chapter X

Recovered Health--Journey to the Orkneys--Aboard the Steamer at
Wick--Mr. Bremner--Masonry of the Harbor of Wick--The greatest
Blunders result from good Rules misapplied--Mr. Bremner's Theory
about sea-washed Masonry--Singular Fracture of the Rock near
Wick--The Author's mode of accounting for it--"Simple but not
obvious" Thinking--Mr. Bremner's mode of making stone Erections
under Water--His exploits in raising foundered Vessels--Aspect of
the Orkneys--The ungracious Schoolmaster--In the Frith of
Kirkwall--Cathedral of St Magnus--Appearance of Kirkwall--Its
"perished suppers"--Its ancient Palaces--Blunder of the Scotch
Aristocracy--The patronate Wedge--Breaking Ground in Orkney--Minute
Gregarious Coccosteus--True Position of the Coccosteus' Eyes--Ruins
of one of Cromwell's Forts--Antiquities of Orkney--The
Cathedral--Its Sculptures--The Mysterious Cell--Prospect from the
Tower--Its Chimes--Ruins of Castle Patrick. 414

CHAPTER XI.

The Bishop's Palace at Orkney--Haco the Norwegian--Icelandic
Chronicle respecting his Expedition to Scotland--His Death--Removal
of his Remain to Norway--Why Norwegian Invasion
ceased--Straw-plaiting--The Lassies of Orkney--Orkney Type of
Countenance--Celtic and Scandinavian--An accomplished
Antiquary--Old Manuscripts--An old Tune book--Manuscript Letter of
Mary Queen of Scots--Letters of General Monck--The fearless
Covenanter--Cave of the Rebels--Why the tragedy of "Gustavus Vasa"
was prohibited--Quarry of Pickoquoy--Its Fossil Shells--Journey to
Stromness--Scenery--Birth-place of Malcolm, the Poet--His
History--One of his Poems--His Brother a Free Church Minister--New
Scenery. 437

CHAPTER XII.

Hills of Orkney--Their Geologic Composition--Scene of Scott's
"Pirate"--Stromness--Geology of the District--"Seeking
beasts"--Conglomerate in contact with Granite--A palaeozoic Hudson's
Bay--Thickness of Conglomerate of Orkney--Oldest Vertebrate yet
discovered in Orkney--Its Size--Figure of a characteristic plate of
the Asterolepis--Peculiarity of Old Red Fishes--Length of the
Asterolepis--A rich Ichthyolite Bed--Arrangement of the
Layers--Queries as to the Cause of it--Minerals--An abandoned
Mine--A lost Vessel--Kelp for Iodine--A dangerous Coast--Incidents
of Shipwreck--Hospitality--Stromness Museum--Diplopterus mistaken
for Dipterus--Their Resemblances and Differences--Visit to a
remarkable Stack--Paring the Soil for Fuel, and consequent
Barrenness--Description of the Stack--Wave-formed Caves--Height to
which the Surf rises. 457

CHAPTER XIII.

Detached Fossils--Remains of the Pterichthys--Terminal Bones of the
Coccosteus, etc., preserved--Internal Skeleton of Coccosteus--The
shipwrecked Sailor in the Cave--Bishop Grahame--His Character, as
drawn by Baillie--His Successor--Ruins of the Bishop's
Country-house--Sub-aerial Formation of Sandstone--Formation near
New Kaye--Inference from such Formation--Tour resumed--Loch of
Stennis--Waters of the Loch fresh, brackish, and salt--Vegetation
varied accordingly--Change produced in the Flounder by fresh
water--The Standing Stones, second only to Stonehenge--Their
Purpose--Their Appearance and Situation--Diameter of the
Circle--What the Antiquaries say of it--Reference to it in the
"Pirate"--Dr. Hibbert's Account. 476

CHAPTER XIV.

On Horseback--A pared Moor--Small Landholders--Absorption of small
holdings in England and Scotland--Division of Land favorable to
Civil and Religious Rights--Favorable to social Elevation--An
inland Parish--The Landsman and Lobster--Wild Flowers of
Orkney--Law of Compensation illustrated by the Tobacco
Plant--Poverty tends to Productiveness--Illustrated in
Ireland--Profusion of Ichthyolites--Orkney a land of Defunct
Fishes--Sandwick--A Collection of Coccostean Flags--A Quarry full
of Heads of Dipteri--The Bergil, or Striped Wrasse--Its Resemblance
to the Dipterus--Poverty of the Flora of the Lower Old Red--No true
Coniferous Wood in the Orkney Flagstones--Departure for Hoy--The
intelligent Boatman--Story of the Orkney Fisherman. 492

CHAPTER XV.

Hoy--Unique Scenery--The Dwarfie Stone of Hoy--Sir Walter Scott's
Account of it--Its Associations--Inscription of Names--George
Buchanan's Consolation--The mythic Carbuncle of the Hill of Hoy--No
Fossils at Hoy--Striking Profile of Sir Walter Scott on the Hill of
Hoy--Sir Walter, and Shetland and Orkney--Originals of two
Characters in "The Pirate"--Bessie Millie--Garden of Gow, the
"Pirate"--Childhood's Scene of Byron's "Torquil"--The Author's
Introduction to his Sister--A German Visitor--German and Scotch
Sabbath-keeping habits contrasted--Mr. Watt's Specimens of Fossil
Remains--The only new Organism found in Orkney--Back to
Kirkwall--to Wick--Vedder's Ode to Orkney. 507

THE CRUISE OF THE BETSEY.