South-Isles and others the North-Isles and that as they stand to the South or North of the greatest Island call'd the Mainland South-Ronalsha is the Southermost of these Islands five Miles long fertile in Corn and abounding with People To the South-East lie the Pightland Skerries dangerous to Seamen but to the North is St. Margarets Hope a very safe Harbour for Ships which has no difficulty in coming to it save a Rock in the middle of the Sound betwixt this Island and Burra call'd Lippa From Burwick in this Isle is the usual Ferry to Duncansbay in Cathnes A little separated from this to the South-West lies Swinna a little Isle and only considerable for a part of Pight land-Firth lying a little to the West of it call'd the Wells of Swinna which are two Whirlpools in the Sea occasion'd as is thought by some Hintus that is in the Earth below that run about with such violence that if any Boat or Ship come within their reach they will whirl it about and about till it be swallow'd up and drown'd They are only dangerous in a great Calm for if there be any Wind and the Boat under Sail there is no danger to go over them If a Boat happen to come near them in a Calm by the force of the Tide driving that way the Boats-men for their preservation throw a Barrel or an Oar or any bulky thing that comes next to hand into the Wells and when it is swallow'd up the Sea remains smooth for a time for any Boat to pass over Beyond this and to the West of South-Ronalsha lies Waes and Hoy thought to be the Dumna of Pliny which are but one Isle about twelve Miles in length full of high Mountains and but thinly inhabited unless in Waes where the Ground is very pleasant and fertile From Snelsetter in Waes is the other Ferry from this Country to Ham in Cathnes Here are several good Harbours as Kirk-hope North-hope Ore-hope and others but not now much frequented tho' North-hope be one of the best Harbours in this Country if not in the whole World and most proper for those that design a Fishing Trade To the North of South-Ronalsha lies Burra a pleasant little Isle fruitful in Corns and abounding in Rabbits Betwixt Burra and the Mainland is Lambholm and to the West towards Hoy-mouth lies Flotta Faira Cava Gramsey all of them fruitful and pleasant Islands tho' they be not large Next to these is the Mainland call'd by the Ancients Pomona or Pomonia about twenty four Miles in length and well inhabited About the middle of this Island to the North stands Kirkwall the only Town in all this Country There are in the Mainland four excellent Harbours for Ships one at Kirkwall both large and safe without any danger by Shoals or blind Rocks as they come to it unless they come from the West by Inhallo and Gairsa Another Harbour is at Deirsound which is a great Bay and a very safe Road for Ships having good anchoring ground and capable of sheltering the greatest Navies The third is at Grahamshall toward the East-side of this Isle where there is a convenient Road but the Ship that sails to it from the East would do well to keep betwixt Lambholm and the Mainland for the other way betwixt Lambholm and Burra which appears to them to be only open is very shallow and dangerous even for small Ships The fourth is at Kairston a small Village at the West end of the Mainland where there is a very safe and commodious Harbour well fenc'd against all Winds by two small Holms that stand at the entry To the East of the Mainland lies Copinsha a little Isle but very conspicuous to Seamen as is that Holm to the North-East of it call'd the Horse of Copinsha To the North of the Mainland lie the North-Isles the first of which is Shapinsha about five or six Miles in length and hath a very safe Harbour for Ships at Elwick Of an equal bigness to that toward the South-East lies Stronsa where there is two very good Harbours one at Lingasound fenc'd with Lingaholm the other at Strynie fenc'd with a little pleasant Isle to the North of it call'd Papa-Stronsa Beyond these toward the North at some distance lies Sanda about twelve Miles long but very narrow well inhabited it hath two Roads for Ships one at Kitletoft guarded by a little Holm call'd the Holm of Elsnes the other at Otterswick guarded by the most Northern-Island in all this Country call'd North-Ronalsha which is a little fruitful Isle but both it and Sanda have no Moss Ground but are obliged to bring their Peits and Turfs which is the only Fuel they have thorough this whole Country a great way off from the next adjacent Island Eda This Eda lyeth to the South-East of Sanda thought to be the Ocetis of Ptolemy near five Miles in length full of Moss and Hills but thinly inhabited unless it be about the skirts of it it has a safe Road to the North call'd Calf-sound Three Miles to the West of Kirkwall at the bottom of a large Bay lies a little Island call'd Damsey with a Holm near it as large as it self To the North North-West lies Rousa about six Miles long but very hilly and ill inhabited Betwixt it and the Mainland lies Inhallo and towards Kirkwall lies Wyre and Gairsa small but profitable Islands North from Kirkwall at eight Miles distance is Eglesha near three Miles in length very pleasant and fertile having a safe Road for Ships betwixt it and Wyre In this Isle there is a little handsome Church where it is said that Saint Magnus the Patron of this Country lies Bury'd To the North of Eglesha is Westra seven Miles long pleasant fertile and well inhabited There is in it a convenient Harbour for Ships at Piriwa At the East of it lies Faira call'd for distinction Faira by North and to the North and by East is Papa-Westra a pleasant Isle three Miles in length famous in this Country for Saint Fredwell's Chapel and Lake of which many ridiculous things are reported by the Vulgar All these Islands are indifferently fruitful well stor'd with Fields of Corn and Herds of Cattle and abound with Rabbits and the greatest plenty of Muir-fowl and Plover that there is any where but have no Hares or Partridges The chief products of this Country and which are Exported yearly by the Merchant are Butter Tallow Hides Barley Malt Oatmeal Fish Salted Beef Pork Rabbit-skins Otter-skins white Salt Stuffs Stockings Wool Hams Writing-Pens Downs Feathers c. A South-East and North-West Moon causeth high Water throughout all this Country CHAP. II. Of the Plants growing naturally in Orkney Of those Beans call'd the Molucca Beans thrown in there A Description of a strange Fish taken in Sanda An Account of their Land and Sea-shells Of their Mines Of some exotick Fowls driven in there and some other effects of violent Storms Of their Lakes and Locks I Did not find
Saxifrage Saxifraga rotundifolia aurea B. P. Golden Saxifrage Saxifraga Anglicafacie seseli pratensis Park Meadow Saxifrage Scabiosa pratensis hirsuta quae officinarum B. P. common Scabious Scandix semine rostrato sive pecten Veneris B. P. Venus comb or Shepherds-Needle Scordium alterum sive Salvia agrestis B. P. Wood Sage Scrophularia nodosa foetida B. P. common Figwort Scrophularia aquatica major B. P. Water Betony or Figwort Sedum parvum acre flore luteo J. B. Stone crop or Wall-pepper Sedum Tridactylites tectorum B. P. paronychia folio rutaceo Ger. Rue Whitlow Grass Senicio minor vulgaris B. P. common Groundsell Serpillum vulgare minus B. P. wild Thyme Sideritis alsines trissaginis folio B. P. Ironwort with Germander Chickweed leaves Sium angustifolium majus B. P. Water-Parsnip Sium minimum foliis ferulaceis Hort. Reg. Blessen minimum Jo. Ray. the least Water-parsnip Sonchus laevis laciniatus latifolius B. P. smooth Sow-thistle Sonchus asper laciniatus non laciniatus B. P. prickly Sow-thistle Soncho affinis Lampsana Domestica B. P. Nipplewort or Balagan Sparganium non ramosum B. P. Bur-reed Sphondylium vulgare B. P. Cow-parsnip Succisa sive morsus Diaboli J. B. Purple-flower'd Devils Bit. Telephium vulgare B. P. common Orpine Thalictrum minus B. P. the lesser Meadow Rue Tithymallus Helioscopius B. P. Sun surge Tormentilla Sylvestris B. P. Tormentil Tragopogon pratense luteum B. P. yellow Goats beard Trifolium pratense album B. P. white flower'd trefoil Trifolium pratense purpureum B. P. Purple flower'd trefoil Trifolium luteum lupulinum minimum Hist Oxon. the least hop trefoil Trifolium palustre B. P. marsh Trefoil Tussilago J. B. Coltsfoot Typha palustris major B. P. Cats-tail Valeriana Sylvestris major B. P. great wild Valerian Valeriana palustris minor B. P. small wild or marsh Valerian Verbascum vel primula veris flore simplici B. P. common Primerose Veronica mas supina vulgatissima B. P. the male Speedwell or Fluellan Vicia Multislora B. P. tufted Vetch or Birds tears Vicia segetum cum siliquis plurimis hirsutis B. P. small wild Tare Viola martia inodora Sylvestris B. P. wild or Dogs Violet Viola tricolor arvensis B. P. Pansies or Hearts-ease Virga aurea angustifolia minus serrata B. P. common golden Rod. Urtica aculeata foliis serratis sive Canabis spuria B. P. Bastard Hemp. Urtica urens maxima B. P. common Nettle There are no Trees any where in all this Country except some few Ashes Thorn and Plumb Trees that are in the Bishops Garden in Kirkwal There are in some Gentlemens Gardens in Kirkwal and several other places of the Country some Apple and Cherry-trees but they seldom bear Fruit that comes to any maturity and the Trees grow never higher than the Garden Walls And except some few wild Roses and Juniper that I see in Hoy and the Myrtillus and Heath which is common every where I don't remember to have seen any Bush or Shrub growing wild in all the Country Yet in a great many Gardens they have several very good Plants both for Use and Ornament Cabbage Turnip Carrot Parsnip Skirret or Crummocks c. grow to as great a bigness here as any where and Artichokes to a greater than ever I have seen them in any other place I do not understand the reason why Trees don't grow here since in the same Latitude in Norway and some degrees more Northerly Trees thrive very well even on small Rocks surrounded by the Sea I know not whether it be in places where the Sea makes such a breach as it does in some places of this Country where the Sea-water with the violence of the Storm is carry'd a great way on the Land and blasts all it falls on This with the violent Winds that oft blow in this Country I think may be one reason why Trees don't prosper so well but if they have the same Breaches in Norway I don't know what to say to it Whether Trees have grown here of old or what is more probable if it be the remains yet of the Flood but commonly in their Mosses they find Trees of twenty or thirty Foot long After Storms of Westerly Wind amongst the Sea-weed they find commonly in places expos'd to the Western-Ocean these Phaseoli that I know not for what reason go under the Name of Molucca Beans The ingenious Doctor Sloan in the Philosophical Transactions Number 222 gives a very satisfactory Account how from the West-Indies where they commonly grow they may be thrown in on Ireland the Western parts of Scotland and Orkney You have the Figures of four different sorts of them Here is good store of Sheep and Cows which tho' they be little yet yield abundance of Milk Their Ewes are so fertile that most of them have two at a Birth some three I my self saw one that had four all living and following the Dam. Their Horses are but little yet strong and can endure a great deal of Fatigue most of which they have from Zetland and are call'd Shelties There are great Herds of Swine and rich Warrens almost in every Isle well stor'd with Rabbits Frogs are seen but seldom yet there are some Toads tho' as it is thought they are not poisonous as indeed there are few if any poisonous Animals in all this Country Many Ottars and Seols are to be had every where and oft times Spout Whales and Pellacks run in great number upon the shore and are taken as in the Year 1691 near Kairston in the Mainland there run in a Bay no less than a hundred and fourteen at once The Stellae-marinae and Urtica-Marina are oft thrown in great plenty In the Sea they catch Ling Keeling Haddock Whiting Mackrel Turbat Scate Congre-Eels Sole Fleuks c. and sometimes they catch Sturgeon In the Year 1682 in Winter there was taken a strange but beautifull Fish in Sanda where several of them had been taken before it was about an Ell in length deep Breasted and narrow at the Tail the Head and Finns and a stroke down the Back were all of a deep scarlet colour which made it beautiful to look on the rest was of a brownish colour without scales having several whitish spots in the Body the Fish of the half next the Head was like Beef and of the other half next the Tail was like Salmon Herring swim thorough these Islands in great plenty but the People are not so frugal or have not the way to catch them Some Years ago many Ships from Fife frequented this Country for the catching of Herrings but the Seamen having been in the Year 1645 at the Battle of Kilsyth they were there almost all Killed since which time that Trade failed tho' the Hollanders to our eternal Reproach fail not to keep it up to their great advantage Sometimes strange Fishes are cast a shore to which the People give as strange Names I see one like a Goose Feather the Body being like the Quill and the Tail like
admirably and which is often seen a great way off It hath shined more brightly before than it does now tho' many have climbed up the Hill and attempted to search for it yet they could find nothing The Vulgar talk of it as some enchanted Carbuncle but I take it rather to be some Water sliding down the face of a smooth Rock which when the Sun at such a time shines upon the reflection causeth that admirable splendor At Stennis in the Mainland where the Loch is narrowest in the middle having a Causey of Stones over it for a Bridge there is at the South-end of the Bridge a Round set about with high smooth Stones or Flags about twenty Foot high above ground six Foot broad and each a Foot or two thick Betwixt that Round and the Bridge are two Stones standing of that same largeness with the rest whereof one hath a round hole in the midst of it and at the other end of the Bridge about half a Mile removed from it is a large Round about an hundred and ten paces in Diameter set about with such Stones as the former but that some of them are fall'n down and at both East and West of this bigger Round are two artificial as is thought green Mounts both these Rounds are ditched about See the Figure of it Some think that these Rounds have been places whereon two opposite Armies have encamped but I think it more probable that they have been the high places in the Pagan times whereon Sacrifice was offered and that these two Mounts were the places where the Ashes of the Sacrifice was flung And this is the more probable because Boethius in the Life of Mainus King of Scots makes mention of that kind of high Stones calling them the Temples of the Gods His words are these In Memory of what King Mainus ordained anent the worship of the Gods there remains yet in our days many huge Stones drawn together in form of a Circle named by the People the Ancient Temples of the Gods and it is no small admiration to consider by what Art or Strength so many huge Stones have been brought together So far Boethius There are besides in many other places of this Country Obelisks or great high Stones set in the Ground like the former and standing apart and indeed they are so very large that none sees them but wonders by what Engine they have been erected which are thought to be set up either as a memorial of some famous Battle or as a monument of some remarkable Person that has been buried there that way of honouring deserving and valiant Men being the invention of King Rentha as Boethius says There is in Rousay betwixt high Mountains a place call'd the Camp of Jupiter Fring The name is strange and would import some notable accident but what it was I could not learn At the West-end of the Mainland near Skeal on the top of high Rocks more than a quarter of a Mile in length there is something like a Street all set in red Clay with a sort of reddish Stones of several figures and magnitudes having the Images and Representations of several things as it were engraven on them and which is very strange a great many of these Stones when they are raised up have that same Image engraven under which they have above This Causey is all along the tops of Rocks and though they be otherwise of a very considerable heighth above the Sea yet the West Ocean in a Storm leading that way does dashwith such violence against the Rocks that the Sea breaches do wash the Ground on the tops of the Rocks If these Stones had not the same Figure on that side next the ground that they have above I should think the Sea washing over them might occasion these different figures by washing away the softish parts of the Stone and leaving the harder and so accordingly give them these accidental Shapes and Figures Tho' there are a great many of them still remaining yet the Gentlemen living near that place have taken away those that had the prettiest Figures to set their Chimnies with as they use to do in Holland with painted Bricks and Tiles In the Links of Skeal where the Sand is blown away with the Wind are found several places built square with Stones well cemented together and a Stone lying in the mouth having some black Earth in them The like of which also are found in the Links of Rousum in Stronsa where also some Years ago was sound another remarkable Monument It was a whole round Stone like a Barrel hollow within sharp edged at the top having the bottom joyn'd like the bottom of a Barrel on the mouth was a round Stone conform to the mouth of the Monument and above that a large Stone for the preservation of the whole within was nothing but red Clay and burn'd Bones See the Figure It 's like that this and the other Four-square Monuments have been some of these Urns wherein the Romans when they were in this Country laid up the Ashes of their dead Likewise in the Links of Tranabie in Westra have been found Graves in the Sand in one of which was seen a Man lying with his Sword on the one Hand and a Danish Axe on the other and others that have had Dogs and Combs and Knives bury'd with them which seems to shew the way how the Danes when they were in this Country bury'd their dead as the other was of the Romans Besides in many places of the Country are found little Hillocks which may be supposed to be the Sepulchres of the ancient Pights For Tacitus tells that it was the way of the ancient Romans and Verstegan that it was the way of the ancient Germans and Saxons to lay dead Bodies on the ground and cover them over with turss and clods of earth in the fashion of little Hillocks hence it seems that the many Houses and Villages in this Country which are call'd by the name of Brogh and which all of them are built upon or beside some such rising ground have been cemeteries for the burying of the dead in the time of the Pights and Saxons For the word Brogh in the Teutonick Language signifies a burying place In one of these hillocks near the circle of high Stones at the North end of the Bridge of Stennis there were found nine Fibulae of Silver of the shape of a Horse-shooe but round See the Figure of one of them Moreover in many places of this Country are to be seen the ruins and vestiges of great but antique Buildings most of them now covered over with Earth and call'd in this Country Pights Houses some of which its like have been the Forts and Residences of the Pights and Danes when they possess'd this Country Among the rest there is one in the Isle of Wyre called the Castle of Cubberow or rather Coppi-row which in the Teutonick Language signifies a Tower of Security from outward violence It
This Map of THE ISLANDS OF ORKNEY is Humbly Dedicatid To D R HUTTON the Kings first Physician by Ia Wallace AN ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS OF ORKNEY By JAMES WALLACE M. D. And Fellow of the Royal Society To which is Added an ESSAY concerning the Thule of the Ancients LONDON Printed for Jacob Tonson within Gray's-Inn-Gate next Gray's-Inn-Lane 1700. To the Right Honourable CHARLES Earl of Dorset and Middlesex Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter Ld. Lieutenant of the County of Sussex and one of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council My LORD THE way to make these Bleak Northern Islands more Temperate will be your Lordships taking 'em into your Indulgence and Protection They are not so distant as to be unacquainted with your Character for the Latitude that is so must not be inhabitable Every one that wants 'em feels the Effects of your Lordships good Actions but no Body sees you do ' em Your care and concern for mankind is your own but your Fortune is your Friends Your Wit is the only thing you are not enough Diffusive off and what others covet of you most you your self value least In the Ardour to declare the perfections of your Lordships Pen I forget to conceal the Imperfections of my own which are most pardonable when I most profess to be My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Obedient and most Humble Servant James Wallace THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE several Names by which Orkney is call'd The Longitude and Latitude of this Country An account of a Stone generated in the Air. How this Country is bounded Some odd Phaenomena about the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea The number of the Islands and a short Account of each of them with their different Harbours The chief Products of this Country Page 1 CHAP. II. Of the Plants growing naturally in Orkney Of those Beans call'd the Molucca Beans thrown in there A Description of a strange Fish taken in Sanda An Account of their Land and Sea-shells Of their Mines Of some exotick Fowls driven in there and some other effects of violent Storms Of their Lakes and Locks pag. 15 CHAP. III. Of the Ancient Monuments and Curiosities of this Country An Account of the Dwarfie Stone in Hoy. Of the Obelisks and standing Stones in Stennis Of the figur'd Stone Causey near Skeal Of some Urns and Burial Places found in several places An Account of the Finn-men that are sometimes driven in there pag. 51 CHAP. IV. Some peculiar Customs Manners and Dispositions of the Inhabitants of this Country An Account of a Woman that had a Child in the 63d Year of her Age. An Account of their Diseases and some of their particular Cures A particular Language amongst them Their way of Transporting and Weighing their Corn. Their custom of Sheep-shearing And the way they have to catch Sea-Fowls And an Account of some Remarkable Accidents that have fallen out here pag. 62 CHAP. V. Of the Town of Kirkwall pag. 78 CHAP. VI. Of the ancient State of the Church of Orkney Of the Cathedral Church at Kirkwall Bishop Robert Rei's erection of the Chapter Bishop La's Transaction with King James IV. pag. 81 CHAP. VII Of the Plantation of the Christian Faith in Orkney and of the Bishops thereof pag. 91 CHAP. VIII The History of the first Plantation of the Isles of Orkney and of the ancient and present Possessors of them The Pights or Picts the first Possessors Of Belus and Ganus Kings of Orkney When it came to the Possession of the Kings of Scotland When the Norwegians got footing and when they were expell'd An Account of the Earls of Orkney Of the Sirname of Sinclar A double of an ancient Manuscript relating to the Affairs of Orkney wherein there is an Account of the first Possessors of that Country different from the former and a full Account of the Earls of Orkney till that time Of Bothwell Duke of Orkney Of the Earls of the Sirname of Steward and Douglass When this Country was again re-annex'd to the Crown Of the Stewardry The several ways how Orkney hath been a Honorary Title Of the Law-right-men and their Office pag. 105 An Essay concerning the Thule of the Ancients pag. 148 The Author not being in Town these following errors are desir'd to be corrected PAge 15 line 9 locks read lochs p. 19 l. 25 chamaeustus r. chamaecistus p. 25 l. 1 laetifolia r. latifolia p. 28 l. 26 Cardamini r. Cardamine p. 33 l. 8 surge r. spurge p. 37 l. 6 Seols r. Seals p. 46 l. 19 Foists r. Toists p. 47 l. 18 Greehead r. Greenhead p. 51 l. 13 eight feet r. eighteen p. 64 l. 19 tho we have also sure account r. tho we have no sure account p. 66 l. 28 Cumfrey r. Comfrey p. 67 l. 13 They use Arby the Caryophyllus marinus Thrift or much as they call it r. They use the Caryophyllus marinus Thrift or Arby as they call it p. 71 l. 8. lecspound r. leispound p. 72 l. 2 and l. 10. wrack r. sea-weed p. 73 l. 11 Foists r. Toists p. 73 l. 20 fowl r. fowls p. 74 l. 17. perhaps some hundered of Fathoms r. perhaps some fifty or sixty Fathoms p. 101 l. 12 Patreek r. Patrick p. 101 l. 26 who r. whom p. 107 l. 6 Twisio r. Twisco p. 107 l. 9 Kelders 1. Keldees p. 118 l. 20 accompany r. carry p. 120 l. 13 Sheris r. Sheriff p. 123 l. 13 patefacciones r. patefacciores p. 133 l. 30 regnirem r. regni p. 136 l. 11 digne r. digni p. 145 l. 23 near three thousand and five hundered pounds r. near three thousand pounds Sterling p. 153 l. 1. Tu r. Tu. p. 153 l. 25 Caledonio r. Caledonios p. 155 l. 5 imperva r. impervia p. 161 l. 22 maria r. mari p. 162 l. 15 Agricola r. Agricolae p. 166 l. 20 Romani r. Romane p. 173 l. 4 means r. meant l. 5 had r. has p. 173 l. 21 where the country of the Pights was add of which the North east part was our Thule Figured Stones Molocca Beans Penna Marina Piscis non scriptus pecten vide pag 44 A Circle of long stones Concha Anatifera Another molucca bean Urna Sepulchralis patella articulata cymbi formis Duarfie Stone Ember Goose Obeliscús Fibúa CHAP. I. The several Names by which Orkney is call'd The Longitude and Latitude of this Country An account of a Stone generated in the Air. How this Country is bounded Some odd Phaenomena about the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea The number of the Islands and a short Account of each of them with their different Harbours The chief Products of this Country THIS Country in our English Language is call'd Orkney by the Latins both Ancient and Modern it is call'd Orcades Pomponius Mela writes it with an aspiration Orchades What reason there is for the Name is not condescended upon but it 's probable the Latin Name may be from Orcas which Ptolemy makes to be a Promontory
the Feather of a reddish colour This seems to be what Gesner calls Penna Marina Sitardi As for that strange sleeping Fish that Boethius mentions in his Description of this Country I could never hear of it I have oft observ'd in the Head of the grayish Snail those bright white Stones Doctor Lister mentions in his excellent Book De Cochleis Araneis Angliae The People here beat them to Powder and reckon it a Specifick for the Gravel As to their Land Shells I cannot so well describe since after I understood any thing of that part of Natural History the very short time I staid there gave me but little opportunity to make so nice an enquiry as I should otherwise have done only I observ'd a great variety of the Cochleae Terrestres both as to their Maculae and Fasciae and that buccinum rupium c. which Dr. Lister describes Tit. 8. De Cochleis Terrestribus Since there are no Rivers there can no River-shells be expected here but in their small Rivolets the buccinum exiguum trium spirarum à sinistra in dextram convolutarum was common And of the Sea-shells I found the Buccinum album laeve maximum septem minime spirarum Buccinum crassum rufescens striatum undatum Buccinum tenue laeve striatum undatum Buccinum bilingue labro propatulo This Doctor Lister in his Synopsis Conchyliorum makes a West-India Shell I found it here common as I found it afterwards in several other places of Scotland Buccinum angustius tenuiter admodum striatum octo minimum spirarum Buccinum minus albidum asperum intra quinas spiras finitum Buccinum minus ex albo subviride ore dentato eoque ex slavo leviter rufescente Buccinum tenue dense striatum 12 mininimum spiris donatum Cochlea fusca fasciis crebris angustisque praedita Cochlea rufescens fasciis maculatis maxime ad imos orbes distincta Nerita ex fusco viridescens aut ex toto slavescens modo pallide modo intense ad colorem mali aurantii maturi Nerita fasciatus unica lata fascia insignitus caeterum subfuscus ex viridi Nerita reticulatus Trochus albidus maculis rubentibus distinctus sex minimum spirarum Trochus crebris striis fuscis transverse undatim dispositis donatus Trochus minor coerulescens striatus umbilicatus apice brevi Concha Veneris exigua alba striata Nuns call'd in Orkney John-a-Groats buckies Echinus marinus orbicularis esculentus The largest of this kind I ever see any where are in Orkney I have seen several of them twenty or thirty Inches in Circumference The common people reckon the meat of the Sea Urchin or Ivegars as they call them a great Rarity and use it oft instead of Butter Patella ex livido cinera striata The Limpet Patella fusca compressa dense striata Patella articulata cymbiformis I never see any of this kind any where but this one yet Rondeletius has something pretty near it and I have lately had one from the West-Indies that seems to be of that same kind but bigger see the Figure Patella minor fusca tenuis umbone nigro ad extremitatem anteriorem detruso tribus inde lineis coeruleis per dorsum decurrentibus pulchre distincta Patella ovalis minor viridis nigra fascia in medio donata Patella maxima ex albo viridescens umbone ad partem anteriorem admoduni dotruso Ostreum vulgare maximum The largest Oysters ever I see any where are got in some places of this Country and the fittest for pickling I have seen them so large that they must be cut in two or three pieces before they can be eaten But the people are so careless that they have in few places Drags to take them up as they do elsewhere but for the most part at a great ebb go in amongst the Rocks and cut them off with a Knife Concha longa lataque in mediis cardinibus cavitate quadam pyriformi insignita Concha quasi rhomboides in medio cardine utrinque circiter tribus exiguis denticulis donata Concha è maximis admodum crassa rotunda ex nigro rufescens Concha tenuis subrotunda omnium minime cava cardinis medio sinu amplo pyriformi Concha crassa ex altera parte compressa ex altera subrotunda Concha parva subrotunda ex parte interna rubens Pecten maximus circiter 14 striis admodum crassis eminentibus iisdem ipsis striatis insignitus Scallop or Clamshell Pecten tenuis subrufus maculosus circiter 20 striis majoribus at laevibus donatus Pecten minimus angustior inaequalis fere asper sinu ad cardinem cylindraceo creberrimis minutissimisque striis donatus Pecten minor utrinque aequaliter auritus profunde striatus ex albo rubro pulchre variegatus I could name a great many more of these kind of Pectines that are by some reckon'd distinct species but I think them all of the same kind and that they have these accidental Colours c. from their being sometime expos'd to the weather since I could never see any live shells have such Colours or be so variegated And tho' they were I doubt if it be altogether warrantable in this part of natural History to distinguish Shells only differing in some accidental Colours more than it would be to reckon black and red Hair'd those of a large or smaller Stature different Species or Tribes of men I observ'd in Stroma a little Island that lies in Pightland Firth and in some places in Orkney where there went extraordinary cross and strong Tides almost all the thinner sort of Pectines so twisted and of such an irregular shape that I was surpris'd to see it I cannot think the odd strange tumbling the Tides make there can contribute any thing to that frame yet after all I never see them so in any other place See the Figure of one of them Pectunculus maximus at minus concavus plurimis minutioribus parum eminentibus striis donatus rostro acuto minus incurvato Pectunculus albus exiguus muricibus insigniter exasperatus Pectunculus maximus subfuscus valde gravis Listeri Synop. Conch Numb 108. Pectunculus maximus insigniter echinatus Pectunculus vulgaris albidus rotundus circiter 26 strijs majusculis at planioribus donatus The Cockle Tellina intus ex viola purpurascens in ambitu serrata I have a great many more of these Tellinae of different Colours and some very beautifully variegated but I reckon them on the same score with the Pectines that are so Concha laevis altera tantum parte clausilis apophysi admodum prominente lataque praedita Solen sive concha tenuis longissimaque ab utraque parte naturaliter hians The Spout Fish Musculus ex coeruleo niger The common Muscle On a Log of wood which has been some time in the Sea and afterwards thrown upon the shore by some Storm I have seen thousands of the Balani Rondeletij or the Concha Anatifera and on the Rocks
old and did live till he saw this same Man's Children Some there be also of an exceeding high Stature as that young Man who for his height was usually call'd The Mickle Man of Waes as being a great deal higher than the common sort of Men. At the Chaple of Clet in Sanda is a Grave to be seen wherein they say a Giant was bury'd and indeed the Stone that is laid upon the Grave is about twelve Foot long so that if the Body has been proportionable to the Grave it has been exceeding Monstrous The more common and general Diseases here are the Scurvy Agues Consumptions c. Commonly in the Spring they are troubled with an Aguish Distemper which they call the Axes but for this there are Quacks amongst them that pretend an infallible Cure by way of Diet-drink infusing a Hotch-potch of several Plants I suppose what are greenest at that time in an English Gallon of Ale the Receipt is this They take of Buckhorn Plantain Water Plantain Lovage wild Daisie Rocket Roots of Elecampane Millefoil Roots of Spignell Dandelyon Parsley Roots Wormwood Cumfrey Tansey Thrift or Sea-Pink Garden Angelica and a kind of Masterwort the Imperatoriae assinis of all these they take a like quantity to wit about half a handful and of this Infusion they drink half a Pint Morning and Evening This is what they call the Axes Grass and the old Women talk wonders of it pretending there are so many of the Herbs good for the Liver so many good for the Head and so many for the Heart Spleen c. In Phthisical Distempers they use Arby the Caryophyllus Marinus Thrift or much as they call it boyl'd with sweet Milk Instead of a Cupping-glass they have a Horn with a small thin Skin at the smaller end The way how they use it is thus The Surgeon with the point of his Knife gives three or four small cuts or gashes on the place where he purposes to set the Horn and having set the broadest end on the Wounds he sucks the small end a little and then lets it stand till the abundance of Blood it draws makes it fall off Some have a way as they pretend if they be to Cure any akeing or inward Pain to draw out several little Worms out of the part affected whereby they remove the Pain Others there be that use Charms for the curing of the Rickets c. but these are much curbed by their Ministers All speak English after the Scots way with as good an Accent as any County in the Kingdom only some of the common People amongst themselves speak a Language they call Norns which they have derived to them either from the Pights or some others who first planted this Country for by the following Lord's Prayer in that Language it has but little of the Danish or Norwegian Language to which I thought it should have had more affinity considering how long time they were possessors of this Country Favor i ir i chimrie Helleur ir i nam thite gilla cosdum thite cumma veya thine mota vara gort o yurn sinna gort i chimrie ga vus da on da dalight brow vora Firgive vus sinna vora sin vee Firgive sindara mutha vus lyv vus ye i tumtation min delivera vus fro olt ilt Amen Or On sa meteth vera Since Gesner in his Mithridates nor Bishop Wilkins in his Real Character have nothing like this I thought this Formula might not be unacceptable Anciently as they are yet in great measure they were much given to Superstition as appears by the many Chapels that are here and there dispersed through the Country but the Chapels to which most frequently they made their Pilgrimage were to the Chapels of the Brough of Birsa and to the Chapel of the Brough at the Mulehead in Deirness these two Chapels standing at the furthest extremities of the Mainland East and West nor to this day are these Pilgrimages omitted by the common People who still for the obtaining of some good or deprecating of some evil do frequent some Chapels they have most veneration for Besides they have this general custome The day that is dedicated to the Memory of the Saint who is Patron of the chief Church where Sermon is made is kept Holy by the common People of the whole Parish so that they will not Work on that day And those that live next the smaller Chapels do moreover keep holy that Day that is dedicated to the Memory of that Saint that Chapel is denominated by Here they make no use of Poaks or Sacks but a sort of Vessel made of Straw which they call Cassies in which they keep and transport their Corn Nor do they make use of Peck and Firlot or any other Measure for their Grain as they use to do thorough the rest of the Kingdom but weigh all which they have a particular way of doing with Bismires for small Weights and Poundlers as they call them for great Weights In most it resembles a Stilliard that Money is weighed on It is a Beam of Timber marked with different weights which hath a Stone at one end which Stone on the Malt Poundler should be a setten weight and on the Bear Poundler sixteen Merk and a Hook at the other end for hanging up the Cassie in which the Corn or Meal is and there is a Ring in the middle near the Sheir that has a Pole thrust thorough it by which by the help of a Man at each end all is supported that the Cassie may swim fair The least weight is call'd a Merk which will be eighteen Ounces twenty four Merks make a Lecspound or Setten six Settens make a Meil equivalent to a Boll and eighteen Meils make a Chaldron In every Isle they have a Wart-hill or Ward-hill which is the most conspicuous and elevated part of the Isle on which in time of War they keep Ward and when they see the Enemies Ships approaching they put a Fire thereby to give notice to the adjacent Isles of the nearness of the Enemy and to advertise them to be on their Guard or to come to their help this they distinguish by the number of Fires Their Corn Land is every where Parked and without these inclosures their Sheep and Swine and some of their Cattle go at random without a Herdsman to keep them The most ordinary Mannour they have for their Land especially in places near the Sea is Sea-weed Sea-ware as they call it and in Bayes after Storms when the Wrack is driven in greater plenty all the People of the Neighbourhood come and divide the Wrack according to the proportion of Land they have about that place but methinks 't is the greatest slavery in the World for the common People as they do there in Winter to carry this Wrack in small Vessels made of Straw or Cassies on their Backs to their Land All their Sheep are marked on the Ears or Nose every man that hath Sheep hath his own Mark whereby
of the Bishop Provost Canons and Chaplains and their Servants in the time of Easter and to administer the Eucharist to them The 4th Prebendary was to have the Chaplainry of St. John the Evangelist in the said Cathedral Church The 5th Prebendary was to have the Chaplainry of St. Lawrence The 6th was to have the Prebend of St. Katharine And the 7th Prebendary was to have the Prebend of St. Duthas To which seven Dignities and seven Prebendaries he moreover assigned and allotted besides the former Churches and Titles the Rents and Revenues of the Personages of St. Colm in Waes and Holy-cross in Westra as also the Vicarages of the Parish Churches of Sandwick and Stromnes with their pertinents for their daily Distributions Besides these he erected thirteen Chaplains to the first was allotted the Chaplainry of St. Peter and he was to be Master of the Grammar School To the second was allotted the Chaplainry of St. Augustin and he was to be Master of the Singing-School The third was to be Stellarius or the Bishop's Choirister The fourth the Provost Choirister The fifth the Archdeacons The sixth the Precentors The seventh the Chancellors The eighth the Treasurers The ninth the Subdeans The tenth the Prebendaries of Holy-cross The eleventh the Prebendaries of St. Mary The twelfth the Prebendaries of St. Katharine The thirteenth the Chaplains of Holy-cross Every one of these Choiristers were to have twenty four Meils of Corn and ten Merks of Money for their Stipend yearly besides their daily distributions which were to be raised from the Rents of the Vicarage of the Cathedral Church and from the foundation of Thomas Bishop of Orkney and of the twelve Pounds left by King James III. and King James IV. Kings of Scotland To these he added a Sacrist who was to ring the Bells and light the Lamps and carry in Water and Fire to the Church and to go before the Processions with a white Rod after the manner of a Beadle and for this he was to have the accustomed Revenue together with forty Shillings from the Bishop yearly He moreover ordained six Boys who were to be Taper-bearers and to sing the Responsories and Verses in the Choire as they were to be ordered by the Chanter Of which six Boys one was to be nominate and maintain'd by the Bishop the second by the Prebendary of St. Magnus the third by the Prebendary of St. John the fourth by the Prebendary of St. Lawrence the fifth by the Prebendary of St. Katharine the sixth by the Prebendary of St. Duthas And every one of them was to have besides their Maintenance twenty Shillings Scots a Year To every one of the foresaid Dignities Canons and Prebendaries he assigned certain Lands in Kirkwal for their Dwelling Houses The Charter of this erection is dated at Kirkwal October 28. Anno 1544 and in the following Year it was confirmed by another Charter granted by David Beaton Cardinal of St. Stephen in Mount Celio and Archbishop of St. Andrews having Authority so to do It is dated at Stirling the last of June and eleventh Year of Pope Paul the Third and confirm'd by Queen Mary at Edinburgh the last of April Anno Regni 13. In this condition the Church stood as long as Popery continued but the Reformation coming in and Robert Steward Earl of Orkney having obtain'd the Bishoprick from Bishop Bothwell in exchange for the Abbacy of Holyrood-house he became Lord of the whole Country and he and his Son Earl Patrick who succeeded him did in the Church what they pleas'd At last James Law being made Bishop of Orkney and the Earldom being united to the Crown by the death and forefaulture of the foresaid Patrick Earl of Orkney as we shall have occasion to speak more of in the 8th Chapter he with the consent of his Chapter made a Contract with King James VI. In which they resign to the King and his Successors all their Ecclesiastical Lands and Possessions with all Rights and Securities belonging thereto to be incorporated and united to the Crown especially by such as should be thought necessary to be united to it and the King gives back and dispones to the Bishop several Lands in the Parishes of Ham Orphir Stromnes Sandwick Shapinsha Waes Hoy St. Ola and of Evie Burra and Flotta to be a Patrimony to the Bishop and his Successors for ever disponing moreover to him and his Successors the Right of Patronage to present to all the Vicarages of Orkney and Zetland with power to them to present qualify'd Ministers as oft as any Church should vake Disponing also to them the heretable and perpetual Right and Jurisdiction of Sheriffship and Bailiffry within the Bishoprick and Patrimony thereof exeeming the Inhabitants and Vassals of the Bishoprick in all Causes Civil and Criminal from the Jurisdiction of the Sheriff or Steward of the Earldom As also he gave to the Bishop and his Successors the Commissariot of Orkney and Zetland with power to constitute and ordain Commissars or Chancellors Clerks and other Members of Court This contract was made Anno 1614 and in the Year following by an act of Platt dated at Edinburgh the 22d of November the several Dignities and Ministers both in the Bishoprick and Earldom were provided to particular Maintenances besides what they were in possession of before payable by the King and Bishop to the Ministers in their severl bounds respective And as it was agreed by that Contract and determin'd by that Act of Platt so are they provided for at this present CHAP. VII Of the Plantation of the Christian Faith in Orkney and of the Bishops thereof NIcephorus writing that Simon Zelotes after he had preached the Gospel in several other Kingdoms came at last ad occidentalem oceanum insulasque Britannicas by which Orkney must be especially understood and there Preached the Gospel Whatever truth may be in that yet it is certain That the Christian Faith was greatly promoted in this Country about the beginning of the Fifth Century Eugenius II. being then King of Scotland at which time Palladius being sent by Pope Celestin to Purge that Kingdom of the Heresie of Pelagius that had infected it He Instituted 1. Servanus call'd St. Serf in the Calender Bishop of Orkney that he might instruct the Inhabitants of these Isles in the Faith of Christ which Polyd. Virgil says he did very carefully He was a Man of Eminent Devotion and Piety and Master of the famous Kentigern whom he used to call Mongah which in the Norish Tongue signifieth Dear Friend which afterwards became the Name by which he was usually called From him there has been a continual Succession of Bishops in this Country but by reason of the many alterations that fell out in it and the loss of ancient Records his Successors for many years are not known yet in History we read of these that follow 2. William Bishop of Orkney who liv'd in the time of King Robert the Third 3. Thomas who liv'd in the
time of King James the First 4. William Tulloch who was Bishop of this Country in the time of King James the Third of him we read that Anno 1468 he was sent with several other Noble Persons to Christiern King of Denmark and Norway to seek his Daughter the Lady Margaret in Marriage to the said King James About July they came to Hafnen in Denmark where King Christiern then remained and were of him joyfully received and well heard concerning their Sute insomuch that by advice of his Council he agreed that the Lady Margaret should be given in Marriage to King James and that the Isles of Orkney and Zetland should remain in the Possession of him and his Successors Kings of Scotland till either the said King Christiern or his Successors in Name of Dowry should pay to King James or his Successors the Sum of Fifty thousand Florins of the Rhine Upon this the Bishop and the other Ambassadors return with the espoused Lady to Scotland in November and in the Abbey Church at Holyrood-house She was Married and Crowned Queen Afterwards she was brought to Bed of a Son call'd James who afterwards succeded to the Crown whereupon Christiern to congratulate the happy Birth of this young Prince his Grandchild renounced by a Charter under his Great Seal all the Right Title and Claim which he or the Kings of Denmark might have to the Isles of Orkney and Zetland This Bishop was translated from this to the Bishoprick of Murray and continued five Years Bishop of that See and there dying was buried in St. Maries Isle in the Canonry Church of Elgin 5. To him succeeded Andrew Bishop of Orkney who also liv'd in the Reign of King James the Third and was Bishop at that time when the Town of Kirkwall got their erection into a Royal Burrough confirm'd by the said King Anno 1486. 6. After him succeeded Edward Steward Bishop of Orkney who liv'd in the Reign of King James the Fourth of him Boethius gives a noble Testimony He enlarged the Cathedral Church to the East all above the Grees 7. To him succeeded Thomas Bishop of Orkney who Endowed something for the maintenance of the Choiristers of the Cathedral 8. After him was Robert Maxwell Bishop of Orkney he caused to be built the Stalls that are in the Cathedral and it was he that caused found and made those excellent Bells that are in the Steeple of the Cathedral which at his own expences were founded in the Castle of Edinburgh in the Year 1528 in the Reign of King James the Fifth as their inscription bears The next Year Anno 1629 May 18. The Earl of Cathnes and the Lord Sinclar came with a great Army by Sea into Orkney to have taken possession of it as of a Country to which they pretended some Right but the People of the Country under the command of Sir James Sinclar natural Son to Robert Sinclar the last Earl of Orkney of that Sirname encounted the Earl with such courage at a place call'd Summersdale that his Army was wholly discomfited the Earl himself with 500 of his Men being killed and the Lord Sinclar with all the rest taken Prisoners It is said of this Sir James Sinclar that presuming on his merits and the good service he had done the King by that engagement begg'd of King James the Fifth then Reigning the Isles of Sanda and Eda which he represented to him then as small Islands or Holms only sit for Pasture and upon his Request obtain'd them which I conceive may be the reason why Buchanan does not reckon any of these either Sanda or Eda amongst the Isles of Orkney by being deceiv'd with that opinion that they were but Holms whereas they are amongst the most considerable Islands in this Country but the King being afterward better informed and that he had been imposed on by Sir James threatned that his Head should pay for it when he came to Orkney for fear of which when he heard of the King's Arrival he cast himself in the Sea in a place called the Gloup of Linksness and was drowned The King coming in Person to this Country to settle the Troubles and Commotions that were in it was nobly entertain'd by the Bishop all the time of his stay and having put a Guard in the King 's and Bishop's Castles having first visited some of the Western Isles he returned to Edinburgh taking with him some of the Factious Gentry At this time also the Town of Kirkwall gave such demonstrations of their Affection and Loyalty to their King that sometime after he ratified their Erection into a Royal Burrough by a new Charter of confirmation Anno 1536 9. To him succeeded Robert Reid Bishop of Orkney a very deserving Man of an excellent Wit and great Experience He caus'd to be built a stately Tower to the North end of the Bishop's Palace where his Statue in a stone is as yet remaining set in the Wall He greatly enlarged the Cathedral Church adding three Pillars to the former Fabrick and decoring the entry with a magnificent Porch He moreover built St. Olaus Church in Kirkwal and a large Court of Houses to be a College for the instructing the Youth of this Country in Grammar and Philosophy He made a new foundation of the Chapter enlarging the number of Canons Prebendaries and other Officers and setling large and ample Provisions on them as is set down in the former Chapter In a Book Dedicated to him by Adam Senior a Monk of the Cisteroian Order I find that he had a right to the Monastries of Beaulie and Kinloss but whether he had these as Bishop of Orkney or only in commendam I cannot determine He was in great credit with his Prince King James the Fifth who consulted him in all his weighty Affairs In his time he perform'd many Honourable Embassages to the Credit and Benefit of his Country Amongst the rest he was one of those that accompanied the young Queen Mary when she was sent into France to be Married to the Dolphin afterwards Francis the second King of France tho' both in his going and coming he had bad Fortune for in his going the Ship he was in Perished on the Coast of France near to Bulloigne the Bishop and the Earl of Rothes that was with him hardly escaping by the Ship 's Boat And in his return from the Court of France he died at Diep the 14th of September 1558 of whom Ant. Bardol gives us this Epigram Quid tentem angusto perstringere carmine laudes Quas nulla eloquii vis celebrare queat Clarus es eloquio Coelo dignissime praesul Antiqua generis nobilitate viges Commissumque gregem pascis relevasque jacentem Exemplo ducens ad melioratuo Ac velut exoriens terris sol discutit umbras Illustras radiis pectora caeca tuis Hortaris tardos objurgas corripis omnes In mala praecipites quo vetus error agit Pauperibus tua tecta patent tua prompta voluntas Atque
bonis semper dextera larga tua est Nemo lupos melius sacris ab ovilibus arcet Ni Christi lanient diripiantque gregem 10. The Reformation being set afoot about this time there succeeded to him Adam Bothwel Bishop of Orkney the first Reform'd Bishop of this Country and who continued long in his Bishoprick notwithstanding of the prejudice that the Church had then to that Order This Bishop was a Man of great employment and action it was he that Married the Earl of Bothwel then made Duke of Orkney with the Queen in the Palace of Holyrood-House To him Queen Mary when she had resigned the Crown gave a Procuration for the inaugurating the Prince her Son who accordingly on the 29th of July 1567 Crowned and Anointed him in the Church of Sterling And in the Year following when the Earl of Murray Regent was to go to England about the debate betwixt the King and his Mother who was detained Prisoner there This Bishop was one of those who by the Estates of the Kingdom were Commissioned to attend the Regent and assist him in that debate And afterwards at the desire of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1571 he with others were sent into England for the composing of some differences between the Kingdoms He made an exchange of the Bishoprick of Orkney with Robert Steward natural Son to King James the Fifth then Earl of Orkney for the Abbacy of Holyrood-House whereby it came to pass that the Bishop's Son afterwards was made Lord Holyrood-House Robert Steward being Earl of Orkney and also obtaining the Bishoprick of Orkney as is said by the exchange of the Abbacy of Holyrood-House which he before possessed he and his Son Earl Patrick who succeeded him uplifted the Rents of the Bishoprick as their own Hereditary Patrimony The Church of Orkney in the mean time according to the custom then received in Scotland being governed by a Superintendant with Episcopal Power to direct all Church Censures and Ordain Ministers 11. This Superintendant was Mr. James Annan at that time Minister of the Churches of Sanda and Westra But Anno 1606 King James the Sixth by consent of his Parliament and assembly of the Church having restored the Estates of Bishops in Scotland 12. James Law was made Bishop of Orkney and tho' for some time he was deprived of the Temporalities of his Bishoprick by the Oppression of Patreek Earl of Orkney yet after his death he enjoy'd them peaceably Considering the many and great Quarrels and Mischiefs that had always been between the former Earls and Bishops of Orkney and their several Vassals because their Lands did lie mixed thorough other therefore he made that Transaction and Contract with King James the Sixth of which in the last Chapter you have had an Account whereby the Bishoprick is separated from the Earldom and the Bishop is made sole Judge within his own bounds He was a Person who King James did much respect and often employ in several important Matters After his Election to the Bishoprick he was with some other Prelates sent for by the King to Court to advise with them about setling the State of the Church in Scotland And the next Year we find him presiding in the Convocation or Assembly at Linlithgow He had a chief hand in the Tryal of those Oppressions and Treasonable Acts for which Patrick Earl of Orkney was Executed After he had sat Bishop nine Years he was translated from this See to the Archbishoprick of Glasgow 13. To him succeded George Graham Bishop of Dumblane who sat Bishop of Orkney twenty three Years but in the Year 1638 at the Assembly at Glasgow he resign'd his Bishoprick 14. After Bishop Graham had been divested of the Bishoprick King Charles the First did promote Robert Barron Doctor and Professor of Divinity in the Marishal College of Aberdeen to the Bishoprick of this Country but he being forced to fly to Berwick he there died before his Consecration In the Interval of Presbytery the Rents of the Bishoprick were granted to the City of Edinburgh till the Year 1662. 15. In which Year Episcopacy being again restor'd Thomas St. Serf who seems to have his name from Servanus the first Bishop of Orkney commonly call'd St. Serf formerly Bishop of Galloway and the only old Bishop who was then alive was made Bishop of Orkney he liv'd two years after his Installment and died at Edinburgh 16. To him Anno 1664 succeeded Andrew Honyman Archdeacon of St. Andrews a Godly and Learned Prelate the Author of The Seasonable Case and Survey of Napthalie he repaired the Church of Sandwick and did many other works of Charity Anno 1669 being at Edinburgh and going into the Archbishop of St. Andrew's Coach with him he was shot thorough the Arm with a poisoned Ball which by the Phanaticks was designed for the Archbishop this so weakned him that he liv'd not many years after for he died in February 1676 in great peace and with great resignation contrary to what is asserted in a late scandalous Pamphlet as is ready to be attested if need were by several Gentlemen of untainted Reputation Witnesses when he died 17. To him succeeded Murdoch Mackenzie Bishop of Murray translated from that See to this Anno 1677 a most worthy Bishop and greatly beloved of all for his Hospitality Peaceableness Piety and prudent Government he did on his own Charges repair the Lady Church in Shapinsha He liv'd to a good Age being near an hundred Years and yet great was his vigour of Body and Vivacity of Judgment even to his Death but to the regret of all that knew him and the loss of the whole Country He died February 1688. 18. To him Anno 1688 succeeded Andrew Bruce formerly Bishop of Dunkeld He died last March CHAP. VIII The History of the first Plantation of the Isles of Orkney and of the ancient and present Possessors of them The Pights or Picts the first Possessors Of Belus and Ganus Kings of Orkney When it came to the Possession of the Kings of Scotland When the Norwegians got footing and when they were expell'd An Account of the Earls of Orkney Of the Sirname of Sinclar A double of an ancient Manuscript relating to the Affairs of Orkney wherein there is an Account of the first Possessors of that Country different from the former and a full Account of the Earls of Orkney till that time Of Bothwell Duke of Orkney Of the Earls of the Sirname of Steward and Douglass When this Country was again re-annex'd to the Crown Of the Stewardry The several ways how Orkney hath been a Honorary Title Of the Law-right-men and their Office THE first Planters and Possessors of this Country were the Pights as the generality of our Historians do affirm who call Orkney Antiquum Pictorum regnum There are yet in this Country several strange Antique Houses many of which are now overgrown with Earth which are still by the Inhabitants call'd Pights Houses and the Firth that runs betwixt this
Country and Cathnes is still from them called Pightland-Firth i. e. the Firth that runs by the Land of the Pights Tho' Buchanan to establish his opinion would rather have it call'd Fretum Penthlandicum from Penthus a Man of his making These Verses of the Poet Claudian Maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades incaluit pictorum Sanguine Thule do evidently prove that the Pights or some other Colony of the German Nation particularly the Saxons at that time were the Possessors and Inhabitants of these Northern Isles And to this Day many of the Inhabitants use the Norns which has yet the greatest affinity with the old Gothick Language not much differing from the Teutonick which is supposed to be the Language the Pights used Besides the Sirnames of the ancient Inhabitants of this Country are of a German Original as the Seaters are so called from Seater one of the old German Idols which they worshipped for Saturn the Taits from Twitsh i. e. the Dutch who got that name from Twisio the Son of Noe and Tythea the famous Progenitors of the Germans the Keldas from the ancient Culdees or Kelders who as Spotswood thinks were the ancient Priests or Ministers of the Christian Religion amongst the Pights so called because they lived in Cells the Backies from some small running Water which in the ancient Teutonick is call'd Backie So the names that end in stane which are very frequent in this Country as Hourstane Corstane Yorstane Beistane c. which is a Pictish or Teutonick termination of Sirname signifying the superlative degree of comparison and many more reasons might be added if it were needful to shew that the Pictish Blood is as yet in this Country and that that People were the first Possessors of it These Pights as is generally acknowledg'd were of a German descent coming at first from that part of Germany that borders on the Baltick Sea where at present are the Dukedoms of Meckleburgh and Pomerania They were so called because they were notable Warriours and Fighters their true Name as Verstegan says being Phightian that is Phighters or Fighters They were by the Romans call'd Picts tho' some of them call'd them Pictavi and might have been so called of them either from some resemblance of that name of Phightian that they took to themselves or from their singular Beauty and comely Form as if they had been a painted People and so Boethius in his character of them puts both these properties together saying of them Quod erant corporibus robustissimis candidisque The like saith Verstegan of them That they were tall and strong of Body and of a very fair Complexion and so it is to this day there being no People in Scotland that more resemble the Pights in these qualities than the generality of the Orkney Men and Women do being generally strongly built and very beautiful and lovely Or the Romans might have call'd them Picts because being a People much delighting in Wars they had their Sheilds painted with divers colours for Alex. ab Alex Lib. 2. gen dierum Cap. 22. observes That it was the way of the German Nation so to do saying Germani scuta lectissimis coloribus distinxere Though I think it more probable they were called so because to make themselves more terrible to their Enemies they used to paint their Bodies with the Images of different Beasts or imprint them on their Flesh with some Iron Instruments which has given occasion to Claudian to say of them Ferroque not at as Perlegit exanimes Picto moriente Figuras But at what time these Pights first planted these Isles is somewhat controverted by our Historians Some say that in the Year of the World 4867 the Pights having left their native Country to seek out some new Habitation to themselves came first to Orkney where they left a Colony to plant the Country and then with their main body Ferrying over Pightland-Firth and passing thorough Cathnes Ross Murray Marr and Angus at last setled themselves in Fife and Lothian which from them by our Writers is call'd Pictlandia Others think that the Pights did not settle here till the time of Reuther King of Scots at which time the Scots by an intestine division warring upon one another each party being assisted by considerable numbers of the Pights they fought so desperately that besides Gethus King of the Pights the greatest number of both the Scots and Pictish Nobility were killed together with many thousands of the Commons of both Nations which great slaughter with the Invasion of the Britains at that time constrained the Pights who perceived themselves unable to resist them to fly to the more Northern parts of the Kingdom and so to Orkney where they abode for a time and made Gothus the Brother of the foresaid Gethus their King and after some years having left some few of their number to People and Plant this Country they returned to Lothian and having expell'd the Britains setled themselves again in their ancient Possessions This Country being thus planted the People grew and multiplied and for a long time were governed by Kings of their own after the manner of the Pights and other Nations There is still a place in this Country that by reason of its name and antique Form would seem to be the residence of some of these Kings it is call'd Coninsgar or the King's House 't is in the Parish of Sandwick in the Mainland but the memory and actions of these Kings are by the injury of Time and carelessness of our Writers bury'd in silence so that only we find mention made of these two Belus King of Orkney Holinshed calls him Bladus and Boethius Balus but it is more probable he was called Belus for there is at this time still remaining a Stone in the Church of Birsa where probably the King had his principal residence as to this day one of the Earls chiefest Palaces is remaining having this name Belus engraven on it in very odd ancient characters which has probably been taken from some ancient Buildings thereabouts This Prince upon what provocation is not recorded levied an Army and crossing Pightland-Firth Invaded Cathnes and Ross making Prey of all he met with but Ewen the second being at that time King of Scotland hearing of this Invasion came with his Army so unexpectedly upon him and assaulted him so vigorously that he put his Soldiers to flight a great many escaping by Boat but Belus himself was put to that strait that he slew himself lest he should fall into his Enemies hands After him we read of another King of Orkney call'd Ganus in the time of Caratacus King of Scots and of him it is reported by Boethius that he with his Wife and Children were carry'd Captives to Rome by Claudius Caesar when he went from Britain and Hermannus Shedel in his general History of the several Ages of the world speaking of the Emperor Claudius says Quod insulas Orchades Romano adjecit imperio sexto quo profectus erat
discerned unlawful and the practice thereof prohibited in all times These Oppressions moved King James the Sixth that he might deliver these injur'd People from so great a Tyranny to purchase Sir John Arnot's Right to whom the Earl had given the Morgage of his Estate and so he took the Country into his own hand sending Sir James Stuart to it whom he made Chamberlain and Sheriff of the Country who came and took possession of the Castles of Kirkwall and Birsa in the King's Name The Earl at this time being Prisoner in the Castle of Dumbarton sent his natural Son Robert Stuart with an express Command to retake these Houses again who accordingly did so But the Earl of Cathnes being commissioned by the King to be Lieutenant in these bounds with Order to recover these Castles and pacify the Country Shortly after his coming he took in the Castle of Kirkwall which he demolished and in it seized on the said Robert Stuart with some of the Earl's Servants whom he sent to Edinburgh where shortly after they were hang'd And the next Year being February the 6th 1614 the Earl himself for several treasonable Acts and Oppressions proven against him being brought from Dumbarton to Edinburgh was there Beheaded He was a Man of profuse spending and the Builder of that beautiful Fabrick which afterwards was appropriated to be the Manse of the Bishops of Orkney The King by these means being fully possessed of this Country he made Sir James Stuart Lord Ochiltrie Chamberlain and Sheriff as is said After whom others succeeded to be Governors in it till the Year 1647 at what time William Douglass Earl of Morton got a Wadset or Morgage of this Country from King Charles I. To him succeeded his Son Robert Douglass Earl of Morton Anno 1649 in which Year the Marquiss of Montrose came to this Country from Holland with several Commanders and some Companies of Foreign Soldiers and having staid some few Months in Kirkwall he there raised some Forces most of which were either killed or taken Prisoners at that unfortunate encounter of Carbersdale To him succeeded in the possession of Orkney and Zetland his Son William Douglass Earl of Morton Anno 1664 or thereabouts in the first Dutch Wars there was a great Ship call'd The Carmelan of Amsterdam cast away at Zetland in which Ship as was said were some Chests of Coin'd Gold which were seiz'd on by some who acted for the Earl whereupon the Lords of the Treasury call'd the Earl to an Accompt and so redeemed the Morgage of Orkney and Zetland and obtain'd a Decreet of Declarator against him and in the Year 1669 these Countries of Orkney and Zetland thus redeemed from the Earl of Morton were excepting the Bishops interest re-annexed to the Crown and erected into a Stewardry by Act of Parliament Thus Orkney hath been a Honourary Title several ways to several Belus and Ganus as we have read were Kings of Orkney Henry and William Sinclars were stil'd Princes of Orkney Bothwel by Patent from Queen Mary was made Duke of Orkney and the Lords of this Country of the Sirname of Sinclar and Stuart were entituled Earls of Orkney as were the Earls of Morton when they had possession of this Country and at present the Right Honourable George Earl of Orkney Brother to his Grace the Duke of Hamilton has the honourary Title of this Country but they have ever since the Year 1669 when these Countries were again adjoyn'd to the Crown been governed by those they call Stewards of Orkney The Kings Exchequer gives a Lease to any that gives highest for it at a Roup The present Farmers and Taxmen have it for Eighteen hundred Pounds Sterling so low by the oppression and changing of Taxmen has this Country fall'n being reckon'd in the Earl of Morton's time to near three thousand and five hundred Pounds when the Taxmens Lease is out which is commonly in three or five Years the Lords of the Treasury Roup it of new and he that bids most is Taxman and Steward for the Lease of Years he takes it for The Government of the Steward is in the King's bounds the manner and procedure of his Jurisdiction is after the form of Sheriffship the Title only differing The Bishops part is governed by a Sheriff both he and the Kings Steward have one and the same manner of punishing of Delinquents and administration of Justice and that according to the custom and practise of other Shires in the Kingdom Both their seats of Justice is at Kirkwal Under the Sheriff and Steward are some Judges of their Creation and Appointment called Baliffs In every Parish and Isle there is one Their Office is to oversee the manners of the Inhabitants to hold Courts and to decern in civil petty matters to the value of ten Pounds Scots but if the matter be above that it is referred to the Sheriff or Steward or their Deputies under and subservient to these Bailiffs are six or seven of the most honest and intelligent persons within the Parish called Lawrightmen These in their respective bounds have the oversight of the People in the fashion of Constables and delate to the Bailiff such enormities as occasionally fall out which the Bailiffs punish according to the importance and circumstances of the Fault and if it be above his limits or extent of his Power he sends the delinquent to the seat of Justice either to the Steward or Sheriff respective These Lawrightmen have a privilege inherent to their Office by the custom of the Country which is not usual elsewhere and it is this if there be at any time any suspicion of Theft they take some of their Neighbours with them under the silence of the night and make search for the Theft which is called Ransalling they search every house they come to and if the Theft be found they seise upon him with whom it is found and bring him to the seat of Justice for Punishment An Essay concerning the Thule of the Ancients THere is no place oftner mentioned by the Ancients than Thule and yet it is much controverted what place it was some have attempted the discovery of it but have gone wide of the marks the Ancients left concerning it yet they seem all to agree that it was some place towards the North and very many make it to be one of the British Isles and since Conradus Celtes saith it is encompassed with the Orkney Isles It will not be amiss to subjoyn to the description of Orkney this Essay concerning it Some derive the name Thule from the Arabick word Tule which signifies farr off and as it were with allusion to this the Poets usually call it ultima Thule but I rather preferr the reason of the name given by the learned Bochartus who makes the same to be Phaenician and affirmeth that it signifieth Darkness in that language Chanaan lib. 1. Cap. 40. Thule propriè Syris umbrae sunt hinc translata significatione Thule pro tenebris passim
so called first because Ireland can never deserve the Epithet Glacialis since by the Testimony of the Irish writers the Snow and Ice don't continue any time there Secondly the Romans were never in Ireland properly so called while as it appears by the forementioned Verses that Theodosius past our Firths of Forth and Clide called by him Hyperboreae undae and entered Strathern which to this day bears the name Ierne in which Roman Medals are found and the Roman Camps and viae militares yet are extant the Vestiges of their being there beyond all dispute and therefore is so to be understood in the same Poets lines upon Stilico employ'd in the British Wars Me quoque vicinis pereuntem gentibus inquit Munivit Stilico totam cum Scotus Iernam Movit infesto spumavit remige Thetis Illius effectum curis ne bella timerem Scotica nec Pictum tremerem Now Thetis in these Verses and the undae Hyperboreae in the Verses before mentioned cannot be understood of the Sea between Scotland and Ireland for Ireland lyeth to the South of the Roman Province and the Situation of the Scots and Pights Country is to the North of it for it was separate by the two Firths of Forth and Clide from the Roman Province which does clearly show it was to be understood of them which is also imported by the words Hyperboreas undas and Remis which cannot be understood of the Irish Sea which is to the South of the Roman Province and is very tempestuous and cannot so well be past by Oars as the Firths of Forth and Clide but the same Poet has put this without all doubt in these Verses Venit extremis legio praetenta Britannis Quae Scoto dat fraena truci ferroque notatas Prelegit exanimes Picto moriente Figuras For were it to be understood of the Irish Sea then the Wall and the Praetenturae should have been placed upon the Scotish shore that was over against Ireland whereas they were placed over against that Country which is called Strathern now and is the true Ierne not only mentioned by Claudian but likewise by Juvenal in these Verses Arma quid ultra Littora Juvernae promovimus modo captas Orcades minima contentos nocte Britannos Where he directs us to the Situation of the Country of the Scots and Pights Juverna being the Country of the Scots which had been over-run in part by Julius Agricola Governour of Britain under Domitian the Emperour who first entered the Orcades and as Tacitus observeth Despecta est Thule they saw the North part of the Country beyond Ierne the Country of the Pights which lies to the North of the Firth of Forth and upon the German Sea and is designed in these words minima contentos nocte Britannos all which particularly relate to Ross and Cathnes And the Inhabitants of this Juberna and Thule are the very same the Panegyrist Eumenius speaks of in his Oration to Constantine the great where he saith that the Nation of Britain in the time of Caesar was rudis soli Britanni Pictis modo Hibernis assueta hostibus Seminudis They had not been in use of War but with these half naked people of the British Soil the Pights and the Irish who for their loose and short Garments may to this day be called half naked They were called Hyberni as being at first a Colony from Ireland and as possessing that tract of the Isle of Britain which is called by the ancient writers Ierne glacialis and Ierne simply and by the writers of the middle age Hybernia as may be seen in the Roman Martyrology Martyrol Roman Sexto decem Sanctus Beanus Episcopus Abredoniae in Hybernia Now never any Irish writer yet could say that in Ireland properly so called there ever was a Town or Bishops See called Aberdeen or a River called Don. And that this part of Britain then possessed by the Scots was called Hybernia is clear from the testimony of venerable Bede Ecclesiast hist. lib. 4. cap. 26. who names it Hybernia in the beginning of the Chapter and in the next page calls the same Country Scotia 'T is certain that as the Wall betwixt Tyne and Solway Firth called Murus Picticus was built to exclude the Pights so was that betwixt Edinburgh and Dumbarton Firth to exclude the Scots highlanders and was designed first by Agricola as appears from Tacitus vita Agricolae where he saith nam Glotta Bodotria diversi maris aestu per immensum revecti angusto terrarum spatio dirimuntur quod tum praesidiis firmabatur atque omnis propior sinus tenebatur summotis velut in aliam insulam hostibus That is for Clide and Forth two arms of two contrary Seas shooting mightily into the Land were only divided asunder by a narrow Partition of Ground which passage was guarded and fortified then with Garrisons and Castles so that the Romans were absolute Lords of all on this side having cast out the enemies as it were into another Island and indeed as Tacitus remarks inventus in ipsa Britannia terminus so the Romans made this indeed the outmost limit of their province and gave the name Britain to that part of the Island within the Roman Wall which was built on this narrow neck of Ground between the two Firths And hence it is that the venerable Bede calleth those people that dwell beyond the Wall Transmarinae gentes but explaineth himself thus lib. 1. cap. 12. Transmarinas autem dicimus has gentes non quod extra Britanniam sunt positae sed quia à parte Britonum erant remotae duobus sinubus maris interjacentibus quorum unus ab orientali maria alter ab occidentali Britanniae terras longe lateque irrumpit And a little before this he tells who these Transmarinae gentes were viz. Scotorum à Circio that is the Scots from the Northwest Pictorum ab Aquilone and the Picts from the North Which Firths relate to that part of the Isle without the Roman Province but Ireland properly so called cannot be said to lie to the North-West of the Roman Province Now we will endeavour to shew that what Juvenal saith in the Verse Arma quod ultra Littora Juvernae promovimus c. is to be meant of that part which is now called Strathern and the rest of Perthshire and the West Highlands the Country of the Scots designed by Bede à Circio which are truly so situated in respect to the Roman Province and this we will make out from what we meet with in Tacitus vita Agricola for first he saith Tertius expeditionum annus novas gentes aperuit vastatis usque ad Taum aestuario nomen est nationibus The third years expedition discover'd people they were not before acquainted with having over-run all those that were on this side Tay which he describes to be a Firth It appears by this they were other people than these he had to do with before because they are
called novae gentes In the next place he says the fourth Summer was spent in taking possession of what they had over-run and he observes in that expedition the small Isthmus or neck of Land that keeps Clyde and Forth from meeting and this was so secured by Garrisons Summotis velut in aliam insulam hostibus that the enemy by these means were removed as it were into another Isle Now if we will compare what we observ'd out of Bede of the Gentes Transmarinae beyond these two Firths we will see clearly that these novae gentes were the Scots and Pights the Scots in the Country towards the North-West and the Pights in the Country North-East but this is yet more confirmed by the account that is given by Tacitus of the Action in the sixth Summer of Agricola's Government Ampla civitate trans Bodotriam sita being inform'd of a great people that dwelt beyond Forth and civitate being in the singular makes it to be understood of the people that lie nearest that is the Scots and quia motus universarum ultra gentium infesta hostili exercitu itinera timebantur because he apprehended that all the people beyond Forth would rise against him and for that he feared that in his passage he might be attaqued by the Enemies Army he tryed their Havens with his Fleet where by the by there is a pretty description of the nature and quality of the Country in these words ac modo Sylvarum montium profunda modo tempestatum ac fluctuum adversa hinc terra hostis hinc auctus oceanus militari Jactantia comparentur Which very well agreeth to the Woody and Mountainous Country mixed with Valleys that lieth to the North of this Firth and to the roughness of these Firths when agitated with winds and a little below this he saith ad manus arma conversi Caledoniam incolentes populi where he gives an account of a bloody Battle they had with the Romans where Agricola was put to it to make use of all his force and art What is meant by Caledonia he has told us where he speaks of the figure of Britain that what the Ancients said of it agreed to that part upon this side of Caledonia sed immensum enorme spatium procurrentium extremo jam littore terrarum velut in cuneum tenuatur by which he makes Caledonia to contain all the rest of Brittain to the North of these Firths And that they were different people that were possessors of it is clear by the words Caledoniam incolentes populi By the Caledonij simply the Romans understood the Pights that inhabited the countrey that lay upon the German Sea but as he mentions several people here so he gives you afterwards the Horesti that is the Highlanders the name of old given to the ancient Scots and kept by their descendants even to this day And after that he had given an account of the great preparations he relates the battel he fought with these people the last summer of his Government where he tells us that he marched up the Grampian hills where the Enemy were encamped on and the way of their Fighting and the description he makes Galgacus their Commander in chief give of them may clearly see that they were different People and no other than those that Claudian and other Authors call Scots and Pights But because it is controverted by some late writers whether they were Natives of Britain or Irishes who from Ireland properly so called then invaded Britain we shall bring some arguments Tacitus furnishes us with to prove that they were Natives of the British Soil for in the account even in this last expedition he says Nam Britanni nihil fracti pugnae prioris eventu ultionem aut servitium expectantes tandemque docti commune periculum concordia propulsandum legationibus foederibus omnium civitatum vires excitaverant jamque supra trig inta millia armatorum aspiciebantur adhuc affluebat omnis Juventus quibus cruda viridis senectus clari bello ac sua quisque decora gestantes Where it is observable that although he call'd them before novae gentes yet here he calls them Britanni which was the name the Romani gave to all that inhabited this Island but it was never given by any of the Roman Authors to the inhabitants of Ireland the words legationibus foederibus omnium civitatum vires exciverant shows how the Scots and Pights were united and composed one Army for the Britons spoken of here are the inhabitants of Caledonia and so it is that Tacitus says Galgacus designed them in these words Ostendamus quos sibi Caledonia viros seposuerit We find likewise in our Author several marks of destinction first they are Gentes now the Criticks have observ'd that Gens is a more general name and so Universim Britanni Gens Britannorum appellantur Natio is a particular people a part comprehended under the general name Gens so the Caledonij the Silures and the rest mentioned by Ptolemee in his Map of Britain are nationes Britannicae Our Author also speaks of Civitates which are not Towns but Gentes people and the Clans that composed them which lived under the command of their chiefs so Galgacus is described here inter plures duces virtute genere praestans And these same names we find in Ptolemee are certainly the Ancient names of the Clans but Ptolemee has been deficient in that he has not set down the general names the people designed themselves by which in this part of the Island was Albanich and Peaghts that is Albanenses and Picti which two names prove them to be the ancient and first inhabitants of Britain whom Caesar designs in these words Interior pars ab ijs incolitur qui se natos in insula dicunt which Galgacus owns here speaking to his Army he calls them Nobilissimi totius Britanniae eoque in ipsis penetralibus siti It is worth the observing that that part of the Island which lay to the North of Humber was by the confession of the learnedst of the British Historians as priceus defen hist Britan. pag. 60. Ranulph Higden polychronic lib. 1. Luddus Fragment called Albania and a part of the country still carries the name of Broad Albine And to clear that the same people he designed Caledoniam incolentes populi were the same called novae gentes appears from this that follows that when because of the summers being much spent spargi bellum nequibat in sines Horestorum exercitum deducit and a little after ipse peditem atque equites lento itinere quo novarum gentium animi ipsa transitûs mora terrerentur in Hybernis locavit where they are called by the same name novae gentes for Tacitus here relates that because the Summer was spent and that the War could not be extended against the Pights and Scots both he marched with his to the borders of the Scots whom he calls Horesti that
is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Montani Highlanders and indeed I have seen Roman Medals that were found in Argileshire and a great many have been found in several parts of Pearthshire besides a great many Roman camps are still to be seen there And in the Sixth year of Agricola's Government some of these camps had been attacqued by some of those that dwelt in Caledonia for he saith Castella adorti metum ut provocantes addiderant and a little after it is said of these same people Universi nonam legionem ut maxime invalidam nocte aggressi inter somnum ac trepidationem caesis vigilijs irrupere jamque in ipsis castris pugnabant This camp seems to be the very same which is yet extant near to Airdoch and the reason I take it to have been one of Agricola's camps is for that our Author hath observed before Adnotabant periti non alium ducem opportunitates locorum sapientius legisse nullum ab Agricola positum castellum aut vi hostium expugnatum aut pactione aut fuga desertum for if we will consider this same Camp we will find it has all the advantages Vigetius de re militari lib. 1. cap. 22. saith a Camp should have Castella munienda sunt loco tuto ubi lignorum pabuli aquae suppetit copia si diutius commorandum sit loci salubritas eligenda est cavendum autem ne mons sit vicinus altior qui ab adversarijs captus possit officere considerandumque ne torrentibus inundari consueverit campus This is upon a heath in a slooping ground it hath the water of Kneck running close by it whose banks are so high that it could not overflow and there is wood near to it and more has been about it there is no Mountain nor considerable height so near as that they could from thence annoy it The same Vegetius adds haec castella saepe structa instar oppidorum in finibus imperij ubi perpetuae stationes praetenturae contra hostem and the largeness of this Camp and its Situation upon the Fronteirs makes this to be a Praetentura The Praetorium or the Generals quarter is a large square about a hundred paces every way around it are five or six Aggeres or Dykes and as many Valla or Ditches the deepness of a mans height there are Ports to the four quarters of the World and to the East there are several larger Squares with their circumvallations continued for a good deal of way To the West is the bank of the water of Kneck and five or six miles to the North-East of this by the water of Earn near to Inch Pasery is a lesser camp the Castrum exploratorum the camp for the advance guard and a little to the Eastward of this beginneth the Roman via militaris called by the common people The street-way this in some places is raised from the ground almost a man's height and is so broad that Coaches may pass by other with ease upon it and this runneth towards the River of Tay the length of which Agricola's devastations reached as our Author Tacitus tell us Tertius expeditionum annus novas gentes aperuit vastatis usque ad Taum aestuario nomen est nationibus And the Grampian hills towards which he marched when he fought the last Battle in the last year of his Government ad montem Grampium pervenit quem jam hostes insiderant are but a few miles distant from these Camps There was a stone with this inscription DIS MANIBUS AMMONIUS DAMIONIS COH I HISPANORUM STIPENDIORUM XXVII HEREDES F. C. lately taken up out of the Praetorium of the Praetentura below which are some Caves out of which some pieces of a Shield were taken up and several Medals have been taken up thereabouts I have seen one in Silver of Antoninus pius found there The people that live thereabouts report there was a large Roman Medal of Gold found there and great quantity of Silver ones have been found near to the water of Earn amongst which I have seen some of Domitian some of Trajan and some of Marcus Aurelius And whereas it is said that this man for whom this Sepulcral inscription was made was cohortis primae Hispanorum if we will look to the notitia Imperij Romani we will find amongst the Troops placed Secundum lineam valli this cohors prima Hispanorum was one And it would seem the Poet Claudian had this very same praetentura in his view in these Verses Venit extremis legio praetenta Britannis Quae Scoto dat fraena truci c. And so without all question the Glacialis Ierne is means of this very Country which had now the name of Strathiern where all these vestiges of the Roman exploits are found and these called Scoti by Claudian are the very same people Eumenius calleth Hyberni soli Britanni the Irish of the British Soil and Tacitus calleth Horesti Highland men or Braemen the name some of their descendants yet bear while on the other side all Authors both ancient and modern agree that the Romans were never in Ireland properly so called and there are no Roman Camps viae militares nor Roman Coins to be found there It remaineth now that we show where the Country of the Pights was who in the Verse last cited are joyned with the Scots and were not far from this same Praetentura since the Poet immediately subjoyns to Quae Scoto dat fraena truci Ferroque notatas Perlegit exanimes picto moriente figuras That this Thule was a part of Britain the Roman writers seem to be very clear especially Silius Italicus lib. 17. in these Verses Cerulus haud aliter cum dimicat incola Thules Agmina falcifero circumvenit acta covino For Silius here seemeth to have in his view what Caesar in his Commentaries hath delivered of the Britons fighting in Essedis and Pomponius Mela lib. 3. cap. 6. where he speaks of the Britons saith Dimicant non equitatu modo aut pedite verum bigis curribus Gallice armati covinos vocant quorum falcatis axibus utuntur And our Author Tacitus tells us that in the Battle fought with our Countrymen at the Grampian hills media covinarius eques strepitu ac discursu complebat and a little below that Covinarij peditum se praelio miscuere quanquam recentem terrorem intulerant densis tamen hostium agminibus inaequalibus locis haerebant These Covinarij are called by Caesar Essedarij so I believe no Body will doubt but that Silius the Poet by Cerulus incola Thules meant the Britons We also find an appellation of the same nature given to one of the Tribes of the Scots by Seneca in ludo in these Verses Ille Britannos Ultra noti Littora ponti Et ceruleos Scoto Brigantas Dare Romuleis Colla Catenis Jussit For so it is read by Joseph Scaliger and by Salmasius exercitat Plini in Solinum pag. 189. upon these words
Gelones Agathirsi collimitantur cerulo picti sane Pictos sive Agathirsos haud aliter interpretare liceat quam aliquo colore fucatos sic picti Scotobrigrantes Senecae Picti populi Britanniae ab eadem ratione dicti And it would seem by these Verses Et ceruleos Scoto Brigantas Dare Romuleis Colla catenis Jussit That Seneca who was Contemporary with Claudius had in his View the Victory which Ostorius under Claudius the Emperour Governour of Britain obtained over Caratacus King of Scots whose History may be seen elegantly done by Tacitus in the 12th Book of his Annals where he shews us that Caratacus being brought before Claudius in Chains he made a brave discourse to him and amongst other things tells him neque dedignatus esses claris majoribus ortum pluribus gentibus imperantem foedere pacis accipere and without doubt besides the Silures mentioned there by Tacitus these Scoto-brigantes were of the number of these gentes he commanded Claudius was so well pleased with his manly behaviour saith Tacitus Caesar veniam ipsique conjugi fratribus tribuit atque illi vinculis exsoluti c. But to make it appear which part of Britain the Thule mention'd by the Romans was it will be fit to see to which part of Britain the Epithets attributed by the Authors to Thule do agree best First then it was a remote part Ultima Thule as this is the remotest part of Britain and as Tacitus bringeth in Galgacus expressing it nos terrarum ac libertatis extremos recessus ipse ac sinus famae in hunc diem defendit Then Thule was towards the North and so is this Country in respect of the Roman Province And then thirdly it might deserve the name Thule because of its obscure and dark aspect it being then all overgrown with Woods Fourthly the length of the day is attribute to Thule and upon this Account it must be the Country to the North and to the East of Ierne by these Verses of Juvenal Arma quid ultra Littora promovimus Juvernae modo captas Orcades minima contentos nocte Britannos For it is of the North and East parts of Britain the Panegyrist saith Panegiri Constantino Constantij filio Constantij dicti O! fortunata nunc omnibus beatior terris Britannia And a little below Certe quod propter vitam diliguntur longissimi dies nullae sine aliqua luce noctes dum illa littorum extrema planities non attollit umbras noctisque metam coeli siderum transit aspectus ut sol ipse qui nobi videtur occidere ibi appareat praeterire this same is applyed to the Northmost part of Britain by Tacitus where he saith of it Dierum spatia ultra nostri orbis mensuram nox clara extrema Britanniae parte brevis ut sinem atque initium lucis exiguo discrimine internoscas quod si nubes non officiant aspici per noctem solis fulgorem nec occidere exsurgere sed transire affirmant And Lesly in his History observeth that in Ross and Cathnes the nights for two Months are so clear that one may read distinctly The like we have before observ'd of Orkney Another property of Thule given by Tacitus is that about it Mare pigrum grave remigantibus perhibent which agreeth indeed to the Sea upon the North-East part of Scotland but not for the reason Tacitus gives for want of Winds but because of the contrary Tides which drive several ways and stop not only Boats with Oars but Ships under sail that if any where it may be there said of the Sea Nunc spumis candentibus astra lacessit Et nunc Tartareis subsidet in ima Barathris But Thule is most expresly describ'd to be this very same Country we treat of by Conradus Celtes itinere Baltico Orcadibus qua cincta suis Tyle glacialis Insula The same Epithet Claudian gives to Ierne where he calleth it Glaciales Ierne and this Thule he makes to be encompassed suis Orcadibus which Isles lie over-against it and a little after he gives the like Epithet to mare pigrum Et jam sub septem spectant vaga rostra Triones Qua Tyle est rigidis insula cincta vadis And afterwards he makes the Orcades to lie over-against this Thule and seems to have in his view the Rocks and Weels in Pightland Firth in these Lines Est locus Arctoo qua se Germania tractu Claudit in rigidis Tyli ubi surgit aquis Quam juxta infames scopuli petrosa vorago Asperat undisonis saxa pudenda vadis Orcades has memorant dictas a nomine Graeco By all which I think it appeareth sufficiently that the North-East part of Scotland which Severus the Emperor and Theodosius the Great infested with their Armies and in which as Boethius observes Roman Medals were found is undoubtedly the Thule mention'd by the Roman writers and which if we will believe the learned Angrimus Ionas Specimen Island Hist was meant by Ptolemee where he saith ubi nec omittendum quod parallelo xxi per Thulen ducto ab ipso Ptolemaeo latitudo respondeat 55 gr 36. So that our Country in these ancient times past under the name of Hybernia and Thule and the Hyberni and Picti Incolae Thules are the same people who were afterwards called Scots It seems indeed the name Scot at first was only proper to some tribes of those people who called themselves Albanich such as the Scoto Brigantes mentioned by Seneca and the Scottodeni in Ptolemee which by the corruption of the copies is now read Ottodeni but they it seems were never called Scots generally nor their countrey Scotia till after Keneth the Second King of Scotland who subdued the Pights and incorporated them into one nation with our Ancestors Yet Wernerus Ralwingius fasciculo temp saith edente Lino papa Scotica gens oritur ex Pictis Hybernis in Albania quae est pars Angliae which confirms very much what we have been proving all along but makes the name to have been used generally sooner than it appeareth to us from our Historians I shall only add one remark more and that is that we need not have recourse for the rise of the name Scot to the fabulous account of the Monks who will needs have it from one Scota Pharaoh's daughter married to Gathalus since without that strain if it be granted that the Country was once call'd Thule which in the Phoenician language signifies darkness we have a very clear reason for the name Scotia which signifieth the same in the Greek tongue and it is very well known that it was usual with the Greeks who next to the Phoenicians were the Famousest Navigators not only to retain the Phoenician name of the place but likewise to give one in their own Language of the same import And since the learned Brochartus has very ingeniously deduced the Greek name of the whole Island 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Barat anac and Bratanack in the Phoenician tongue which signifies a Land of Tinn which the Greeks not only inflected to their own termination but likewise call'd the British Isles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Lands of Tinn which is the signification of the Phoenician and Greek names we make take the same liberty to derive the Greek name Scotia from the Phoenician Thule FINIS
of Cathnes over-against this Country or from some Colony of the Picts who first Planted this Country and from some Similitude with the Name whereby they call'd themselves might be so call'd by the Romans As for the English name Orkney it may be derived from some Pictish Prince as Erick or Orkenwald or some other who has been famous in the first Plantation or might have got the name from some remarkable Title which the first Planters the Pights took to themselves for Picts or Pights as Verstegan says in the Teutonick Tongue signifies Fighters and Orkney may come from Ear which signifies Honour and Kyn which signifies on Off-spring as if the name were intended to shew That they were an Off-spring or Generation of Honour This Country lies in the Northern temperate Zone and thirteenth Climate the Longitude being 22 Degrees and 11 Minutes and Latitude 59 Degrees and 2 Minutes the Compass varying eight Degrees so that the length of the longest Day is eighteen Hours and some odd Minutes yet notwithstanding that this Country is so far remov'd to the North the Air is temperate and wholsome agreeing well with those Constitutions that can endure a little Cold. At Midnight it is so clear for a great part of June that one may read a Letter in his Chamber yet it cannot be true what Bleau reports That from the Hill of Hoy a Man may see the Sun at Midnight for it cannot be the true Body of the Sun that is seen but the Image of it refracted through some watry Cloud about the Horizon seeing it must be as far depressed under our Horizon in June as it is elevated above it in December which is by many Degrees for from that Hill the Sun is to be seen in the shortest Day in December above five Hours The Air and Clouds here by the operation of the Sun do sometimes generate several things as some Years since some Fishermen Fishing half a League from Land over-against Copinsha in a fair Day there fell down from the Air a Stone about the bigness of a Foot-ball which fell in the middle of the Boat and sprung a Leake to the great danger of the Lives of the Men that were in it which could be no other than some Substance generated in the Clouds The Stone was like condensed or petrefied Clay and was a long time in the custody of Captain Andrew Dick at that time Steward of this Country and Captain Dick who is yet alive told me he gave it to the late Earl of Glencairn Here the Winters are generally more subject to Rain than Snow nor does the Frost and Snow continue so long here as in other parts of Scotland but the Wind in the mean time will often blow very boisterously and it Rains sometimes not by drops but by spouts of Water as if whole Clouds fell down at once In the Year 1680 in the Month of June after great Thunder there fell flakes of Ice near a foot thick This Country is wholly surrounded with the Sea having Pightland-Firth on the South the Deucaledonian Ocean on the West the Sea that divides it from Zetland on the North and the German Sea on the East Zetland stands North-East and by East from Orkney and from the Start of Sanda in Orkney to Swinburg Head the most Southerly Point in Zetland is about eighteen leagues where there is nothing but Sea all the way save Fair Isle which lies within eight Leagues of Swinburg-Head Pightland-Firth which divides this Country from Cathnes is in breadth from Duncansbay in Cathnes to the nearest point of South-Ronalsha in Orkney about twelve Miles in it are a great many different Tides reckon'd to the number of twenty four which run with such an impetuous force that a Ship under sail is no more able to make way against the Tide than if it were hinder'd by a Remora which I conceive is the reason why some have said they have found the Remora in these Seas In this Firth about two Miles from the Coast of Cathnes lies Stroma a little pleasant Island but because of its vicinity to Cathnes and its being still under the Jurisdiction of the Lords of that Country it is not counted as one of the Isles of Orkney On the North-side of this Isle is a part of Pightland-Firth call'd the Swelchie of Stroma and at the West-end of the Isle betwixt it and Mey in Cathnes there is another part of the Firth call'd the Merry Men of Mey both which are very dangerous to Seamen The Sea ebbs and flows here as in other places yet there are some Phaenomena the reason of which cannot so easily be found out as in the Isle of Sanda it flows two hours sooner on the West-side than it does on the East-side and in North Faira which lies betwixt Eda and Westra the Sea ebbs nine hours and flows but three And at Hammoness in Sanda both ebb and flood run one way except at the be ginning of a quick Stream when for two or three hours the flood runs South The Sea here is very turbulent in a Storm and uneasie even to those on Land especially in those places of the Country that lie expos'd to Pightland-Firth and the Western Ocean for when the Storm beats that way the Sea dashes with such violence against the Rocks that a great deal of the Sea is carry'd in some places near a quarter of a mile on the Land and falls like a great shower of Rain on the Ground which is very oft prejudicial to their Corn at certain Seasons The Tides also are very swift and violent by reason of the multitude of the Isles and narrowness of the Passage for when all the rest of the Sea is smooth these Tides carry their Waves and billows high and run with such violence that they cause a contrary motion in the Sea adjoyning to the Land which they call Easter-birth or Wester-birth according to its course yet notwithstanding of the great rapidity of these Tides and Births the Inhabitants daily almost travel from Isle to Isle about their several affairs in their little Cockboats or Yoals as they call them Whatever the Ancients have written of the number of the Islands of Orkney it 's certain there are but twenty six at present inhabited viz. South-Ronalsha Swinna Hoy and Waes Burra Lambholm Flotta Faira Cava Gramsey Pomona or Mainland Copinsha Shapinsha Damsey Inhallo Stronsa Papa-Stronsa Sanda North-Ronalsha Eda Rousa Wyre Gairsa Eglesha North-Faira Westra Papa-Westra The rest of the Islands are call'd Holms and are only used for Pasture all of them being separated from one another by some narrow Streights Most of these Islands names end in a or ey which in the Teutonick signifieth Water to shew that these Isles are pieces of Land surrounded with Water These Islands are of different Natures some Sandy some Marsh some abounding in Heath and Moss and some that have none some of them Mountainous and some Plain Of these some are call'd the
this Country so well stor'd with Plants as I expected as for instance I found none of the Malva kind nor several other Plants that I thought might have agreed well enough with this Country but such as I did find I thought an account of them might not be unacceptable tho' I am far from pretending this to be so very exact as it should have been these being the Names of those only I have by me Acetosa pratensis B. P. common Sorrel Acetosa arvensis Lanceolata B. P. Sheeps Sorrel Adianthum album Tab. Ruta muraria B. P. white Maiden-hair Adianthum nigrum Off. I. B. black Maiden-hair Adianthum aureum majus Ger. golden Maiden-hair Alchimilla vulgaris B. P. Ladies Mantle Alchimilla minime montana Percepier Anglorum Ger. Parsly break-stone Alliaria B. P. Sauce alone or Jack-by-the-Hedge Alsine media B. P. common Chickweed Alsine arvensis hirsuta magno flore I. B. Mouse-ear Chickweed Alsine plantaginis folio B. P. Plantain-leav'd Chickweed Alsine sperula dicta major B. P. Spurrey Alsine minor multicaulis B. P. fine Chickweed Alsine palustris portulacae aquaticae similis J. Ray small water Chickweed Alsine Hederulae folio B. P. Ivy-leav'd Chickweed Alsine veronicae foliis flosculis cauli adhaerentibus B. P. speedwell Chickweed Ambrosia campestris repens Swines cresses Anagallis flore Phoeniceo B. P. Male pimpernell Anagallis aquatica major folio oblongo B. P. the greater long-leav'd Brook-lime Anagallis aquatica minor folio subrotundo B. P. common Brook-lime or Waterpimpernell Androsaemum Mathioli Park Ascyrum sive Hypericum glabrum bifolium non perforatum B. P. Mathiolus his Tutsan or elegant St. John's wort not perforate Angelica Sylvestris B. P. wild Angelica Angelica Sylvestris minor sive erratica B. P. Goutweed or Ashweed Anthillis maritima B. P. Sea-pimpernel Aparine vulgaris B. P. common Goose-grass Argentina Ger. Argentine or Silverweed Artemisia vulgaris J. B. common Mugwort Arundo vulgaris B. P. common Reed Asperula Ger. common white-flower'd Woodroof Asphodelus minimus luteus palustris Acori folio Lob. Hist Oxon. Bastard Asphodel Atriplex Sylvestris angusto folio oblongo B. P. narrow-leav'd wild Arrach Atriplex marina nostras J. Ray English Sea-Arrach Auricula muris pulchra flore albo J. B. Mouse-ear with a white Flower Auricula muris pulchra flore albo folio tenuissimo J. B. fair-flower'd Mouse-ear with cut leaves Barba Caprae floribus compactis B. P. Meadow-Sweet or Queen of the Meadow Bardana major sive Lappa J. B. Burdock Bellis major J. B. the greater wild white Daisie Bellis Sylv. minor B. P. common small wild Daisie Buglossum Sylvestre minus B. P. wild or corn Bugloss Buglossum Sylvestre minus caulibus procumbentibus B. P. small wild Bugloss Bursa Pastoris J. B. Shepherds purse Bursa Pastoris minor loculis oblongis B. P. Paronychia vulgaris Ger. Nailwort or whitlow Grass Calamintha vulgaris arvensis verticulata B. P. Water Calamint Caltha Palustris J. B. small marsh Marigold Campanula pratensis rotundifolia vulgaris B. P. the lesser round leav'd Bell-flower Campanula pratensis flore conglomerato B. P. little Throatwort or Canterbury Bells Carduus vulgatissimus viarum Ger. common-way Thistle Carduus nutans J. B. Thistle with a bending head Carduus lanceatus B. P. the Spear-thistle Carduus Polyacanthus primus Ger. Thistle upon Thistle Carduus Polyacanthus secundus Lob. walted Thistle with small leaves Caryophyllata vulgaris B. P. Avens Caryophyllus pratensis laciniato flore simplici B. P. wild Williams or Cuckoc-flowers Caryophyllus minimus muscosus nostras Park Chickweed-breakstone Caryophyllus montanus minor B. P. Thrift or Sea Gilliflower or Arby Chaerephyllum Sylvestre B. P. common wild Chervile Chamaeustus flore luteo B. P. Dwarf Cistus or little Sun-flower Chamaedrys Sylvestris Ger. wild Germander Chamaemelum inodorum B. P. Mayweed or Dogs Chamomel Chamaemelum inodorum flore pleno double-flower'd Mayweed Cheledonium minus Ger. lesser Celandine Chrysanthemum Segetum Ger. Corn Marigold Cicuta major B. P. common Hemlock Cochlearia folio sinuato B. P. common Sea-Scurvy-grass Consolida media pratensis B. P. common Bugle Convolvulus minor arvensis B. P. small Bindweed Coronopus Sylvestris hirsutior B. P. Buckhorn Plantain Cruciata vulgaris B. P. Crosswort Cyanus minor segetum B. P. common blew-bottle or Sun-flower Cynaglossum majus vulgare B. P. common Hounds-tongue Daucus nostras wild Carrot or Birds-nest Dens leonis B. P. Dandelyon Digitalis purpurea folio aspero B. P. purple Fox-gloves Echium marinum B. P. Sea-bugloss Echium scorpoides arvense B. P. Mouse-ear Scorpion-grass Echium Scorpoides palustre B. P. water Scorpion-grass Equisetum arvense longioribus setis B. P. common Horse-tail Equisetum palustre longioribus setis B. P. the greater Marsh Horse-tail Equisetum palustre brevioribus setis polyspermon B. P. Female Horse-tail Equisetum faetidum sub aqua repens B. P. stinking-water Horse-tail Equisetum nudum Ger. naked Horse-tail Erica baccifera procumbens nigra B. P. Berry bearing Heath Erica vulgaris glabra B. P. common Heath or Heather Erica humilis cortice cineritio Arbuti flore B. P. fine leav'd Heath Erica ex rubro nigricans Scoparia B. P. Low-Dutch-Heath or Broom-Heath Eruca Sylvestris minor luteo parvoque flore J. B. small water Rocket Erysimum vulgare B. P. Hedge Mustard Erysimo Similis hirsuta non laciniata alba B. P. Hairy-hedge Mustard with uncut leaves Eupatorium aquaticum folio integro Park water Agrimony with undivided leaves Euphrasia J. B. Eyebright Euphrasia pratensis rubra B. P. Eyebright Cow-wheat Filix ramosa major pinnulis obtusis non dentatis B. P. common Brakes or female Fern. Filix non ramosa dentata B. P. male Fern. Fumaria officinarum B. P. Fumitory Gallium album J. B. white Ladies Bedstraw Gallium luteum B. P. yellow Ladies Bedstraw Gallium sive Molugo montana minor Gallio albo similis J. Ray. small Mountain Bastard Madder Gentianella autumnalis centauri minoris foliis Park Dwarf autumnal Gentian Geranium Batrochoides folio Aconiti B. P. the lesser Crowfoot Crainsbill Geranium Cicutae folio inodorum B. P. unsavory Crainsbill Geranium Columbinum tenuius laciniatum B. P. Doves-foot with uncut leaves Geranium lucidum saxatile B. P. shining rock Crainsbill Geranium Robertianum primum B. P. Herb Robert Glaux Maritima B. P. Sea-Milkwort Gnaphalium montanum flore rotundiore B. P. Mountain Cudweed or Cats-foot Gnaphalium medium B. P. middle or black headed Cudweed Gramen Caninum Arvense B. P. Dogs-grass Gramen Cristatum J. B. smooth crested grass Gramen Avenaceum panicula flavescente locustis parvis J. Ray. Oat-grass with a yellow pannicle Gramen aquaticum genicalatum spicatum B. P. spiked flote Grass or water Grass Gramen Asperum J. B. rough Grass Gramen avenaceum dumetorum spica simplici J. Ray. Single-spiked-hedge Oat-grass Gramen Cyperoides majus angustifolium Park the greater narrow-leav'd Cyperus Grass Gramen exile duriusculum in muris aridis proveniens J. Ray. small hard Grass Gramen palustre echinatum J. B.