Selected quad for the lemma: day_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
day_n	long_a	longitude_n	minute_n	4,140	5	11.8628	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67329	An account of the Islands of Orkney by James Wallace ... ; to which is added an essay concerning the Thule of the ancients.	Wallace, James, d. 1688.; Sibbald, Robert, Sir, 1641-1722. Essay concerning the Thule of the ancients.	1700 (1700)	Wing W491; ESTC R34706	63,791	200

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

his Sheep are distinguish'd from others And 't is strange to consider how so madifferent Marks could be invented as are found cut in so little room They use to Fleece their Sheep about the beginning of May and the way they take to apprehend them for they go wild is both strange and pleasant The Bailiff of the Parish with the Law-right-men which are the Bailiffs Assessors and the persons to whom the Sheep belong meet together on a day appointed having with them Sheep Dogs trained up for the Hunting of them and when they would have such a Sheep caught they point him out by the finger to the Dog upon which he runs and singles out that Sheep from all the rest and never leaves of running till he catch him which being fleec'd or shorn by the owner they then go on and hunt for others They have also a pleasant way of taking the Sea Fowls when they are young as Foists Lyers Kittiwaeks Gulls c. which build very thick on shelves of high Rocks under the Rock there is a Boat with men having a large Net which at the two uppermost corners is fastned with two long Ropes which are in the hands of men at the top of the Rock who hoise up the Net till it be over against the place where the young Fowl sit then they that are in the Boat under the Rock have a Rattle which makes so frighting a noise that all the young Fowls take wing and fly forward into the bosom of the Net where they are caught Then the Net is laid down in the Boat and the Prey seised upon and thus they go from Rock to Rock taking as many as they can Others have this way in taking these Fowls a Man that is accustomed to the exercise has a Rope well bound about his middle with which he is let slide down the steep Rock till he be over against the place where the young Fowls are of whom he apprehends as many as he is able to carry and then is hoisted up with his Prey They use that way also in taking the young Hawks There are some Fellows so hardy that go a catching of Sea Fowls without any help by tying a Rope about his own middle and tying the other end to a Stake which he drives well in the Ground and so lets himself go over the Rock perhaps some hundred of fathoms and catches what Fowls he can and then hoises himself up again Several remarkable accidents have fall'n out in this Country besides some already mentioned I shall instance in three or four only whereof the witnesses are still alive About the year 1634 when Bishop Grahame was Bishop of this Country a young Boy named William Garioch his Father being dead had some little Land and some small portion of Cattle left him by his Father in the Parish of Ham his Uncle took him in his Service and having a greedy desire after the Young mans Possessions it happen'd that he stole a Setten of Barley which will be about Twenty Eight pound weight from his Uncle For which he pursued him before the Sheriff of the Bishoprick and the Young man at that time about Eighteen years of Age the Theft being proved was Sentenced to be hanged When he was at the Gallows he prayed that God would inflict some visible Judgment on his Uncle who because of the greedy desire he had to his little Portion had for so small a matter procur'd his Death It came to pass that his Uncle walking thorough the Church-Yard of Kirkwal upon the Young mans Grave the Bishops Dog seised on him and tore out his Throat whereby he became a sad monument of God's wrath against such impious greedy wretches Some years ago one James Lenay and some others Fishing in a Boat beside Auskerie in a fair day it came to pass that their leaning all on one side of the Boat that it overturned and all were drowned except the said Lenay who by providence got up and sat on the Keil of the Boat in which condition he continued for the space of four days driven by the Tides sometime this way and sometime that sometimes to Westra and back again to Stronsa till at last he was seen floating by Spurness in Sanda where by the careful endeavour of the Gentleman who was owner of the Ground he was delivered There was one John Smith who lived in Stronsa who with three others used to fish not far from Land their way was to rise early and stay many Hours a Fishing This Man having by several days Fishing gotten a great plenty of Fish his Wife was desirous that he would omit that exercise for a time and stay at home to take his rest He was very unwilling to do so wherefore next Morning she rises before him and being desirous he might take a longer Sleep after so many days toil she stopped the holes and windows of the Room where he lay that he might sleep the more soundly and then she went to the Fields to her work where working with her Servants she was surpris'd with this sad accident The three men that used to fish with her Husband because he came not had taken the Boat themselves and gone a Fishing and suddenly the Boat overturned no man knows how and the men were all drowned This the Woman and her Servants seeing startled them greatly but tho' she was grieved for their death yet she was glad that her Husband by her Policy went not to Sea with them and thereupon runs hastily to the house to acquaint her Husband with that sad accident and to congratulate with him for his preservation when opening the door she was surpris'd with a more sad and astonishing sight even the Death of her own husband For he having risen out of his bed had fallen with his head in a large vessel wherein they used to make Urine where he was choked and found dead Strange are the effects that are here sometimes produc'd by Thunder and Lightning for by it Anno 1670 the Steeple of the Cathedral Church at Kirkwal was burned and sometimes it will seize on low Cottages In the year 1680 the Lightning enter'd a Gentlemans Cow-stall where were twelve Cows standing side for side as they used to be and killed every other one that is it killed the first and missed the second it killed the third and missed the fourth and so of the rest so that six were killed and six remained alive and untouched CHAP. V. Of the Town of Kirkwall THE only remarkable Town in all this Country is Kirkwall an ancient Burrough long possessed by the Norwegians by whom it was called Cracoviaca built upon a pleasant Oyse or Inlet of the Sea near the middle of the Mainland narrow streeted and about a mile in length having a very safe Harbour and road for Ships Here is the Seat of Justice the Steward Sheriff Commissary all of them keeping their several Courts in this place Almost all the Houses in this Town are