water, and effectually stops her way, and they can then pursue their business at leisure."

It was long after the departure of the Dutch from the Shetland coast, that the cod fishery, by means of decked vessels, was languidly revived. About ten or twelve years since, a few vessels, from 6 to 35 tons burthen, and carrying from six to eight hands, first prosecuted a fishery for cod off the coasts of Shetland, using hand lines, baited with two or three hooks. They seldom went farther to look for fish than the immediate neighbourhood of Foula or Fair Isle; their search was highly desultory, and their success proportionably uncertain; it rarely happened that vessels of only 10 to 30 tons, after being employed a week in fishing, returned to their several harbours, like the Dutch doggers described by Smith, "so full laden as they could swim." For this reason, I am strongly inclined to suspect that the bank was, two centuries ago, well known to Holland, and that the knowledge of it was either carefully withheld from this nation in particular, or, which is more probable, regarded by us with such an indifference, that when the Dutch left these shores, it was soon forgotten that such a bank existed. It, however, appears from the testimony of Mr Low, in his Fauna Orcadensis, that a bank lying to the north-west of the Burgh of Birsay was well known in Orkney; but that it extended to the west of Foula, and perhaps much farther north, was a circumstance undiscovered. "The cod-fish," he remarks, "is found in swarms on the banks all round the coasts, but is very little sought after. Of old this was not the case. Merchants from the south had their factors here, and many fish were yearly made and transported from these isles. Now all is sunk in idolence and sloth." Additional evidence relating to an accidental visit to the bank, has been politely given me by Mr Sheriff Duncan of Lerwick. "I recollect," he remarks, "that a vessel came into Bressay Sound several years ago, with her decks filled with cod. I was told by the master of the vessel, that they had been caught to the northward of the Orkneys, during two or three hours of a calm. The master must therefore have been upon the bank when he fell in with the fish, since it stretches round the northward of these islands." Mr Neill, also, in his Tour through Orkney and Shetland, during the summer of 1804, has the following observations on the fishery of the north of Orkney, which no doubt took place on the southerly commencement of the cod-bark of Shetland, now named the Regent's Fishing Bank. "We weighed anchor," he states, "in the afternoon, and got under way with a gentle breeze. The sailors being provided with strong lines, we here lay to, and fished for cod and haddock. So abundunt were all kinds of fish in this place, that in an hour our deck was strewed with about fifty fine firm cod-fish, besides some haddocks of a large size. This was not two miles distant from Papa Westray; yet we saw no boat engaged in this rich fishery! How supine is such conduct."-With regard to the recent discovery of the Regent's Fishing Bank, it is I believe attributed to some of the vessels latest engaged in the cod fishing.* that time, the average quantity of cod, annually taken, has much increased.

From

The obstacles incidental to the present mode of conducting the fishery, chiefly refer to a supply of bait. That which is used by the Shetland fishermen, consists of the Mytilus modiolus or yoags, of a large species of whelk, and other shell-fish common to almost every

* The discovery of it is claimed by three or more parties; to whom it is properly due, I know not.

But it

northern coast. These are abundantly found in the numerous voes of the country. unfortunately happens, that when vessels run short of bait, they are obliged to quit the fishing bank with all expedition, and thus sustain a serious loss, which, as Mr Low has shewn, was not the case when the Dutch prosecuted the fishery, who depended for their first supply of bait upon the lampreys that they brought with them from their own coasts ; and afterwards upon their nets which they spread out to take herring for the same purpose. It has been always supposed that the cod prepared in Shetland will maintain its preeminence over that of other places. The Newfoundland fishermen are described as exposing their fish, after it has been salted, on standing flakes, made by a slight wattle, and supported by poles often 20 feet from the ground. But the humidity is not near so well extracted from the fish as when, according to the Shetland method, they are carefully laid out upon dry beaches, the stones of which have been, during winter, exposed to the abrading action of the ocean, and are thus cleared from vegetable and animal matter.

The discovery of the cod-bank has already proved of great importance to the country. Employment has been given to many seamen, and an opportunity has been afforded them, by purchasing small shares of vessels manned by themselves, of investing, to the greatest advantage, the profits of their severe labours in remoter climates.* When we also take into consideration, the improved state of our coasting navigation, it may justify the expectation, that, from this northern source, an economical and nutritious food may eventually come within the reach of the populous districts of our manufacturing counties, the alleviation of whose wants has always actively engaged the attention of the most enlightened of our countrymen.

HELGA WATER.

A mile or two to the north west of Hillswick, among the hills, is a very small pool named Helga Water, or the Water of Health. The reverence that was anciently paid to lakes or wells for their supposed sanative virtues, forms a striking feature of the early supersition of Orkney and Shetland. It was probably derived from the dry and parched countries of the east, being early perpetuated by the Asiatic followers of Odin, in connection with the bubbling streams that issue from the less arid soil in Europe; or probably the Scandinavians might have copied the supersition from the Celts, who paid homage to a peculiar god that presided over all the waters, under the name of Niord or Neith. In Shetland he was recognised by the name of the Shoopiltee. While the Romans confined the dominion of Neptune to the seas, and gave the guardianship of wells and fountains to Nymphs, in honour of whom they instituted certain festivals named Fontinalia, the watergod of the Celtic and Teutonic tribes had not only a controul over the sea, but over all rivers, lakes, brooks, and springs. Neckar (as the deity was named in the north of Europe) was wont to assume the form of various animals, also of a horseman, or of a man in a boat.

It is worthy of remark, that several of the vessels which have fished this season, have, for their joint proprietors, sailors who have saved a little money in the navy or in the Greenland fishery. In Scalloway, a company of this deserving class of people were highly successful in the prosecution of their new object.

In Orkney, the same spirit, under a different appellation, had something of a human shape, though inclined to the nature of a horse, and was decked with fuci and other productions of the sea:* in Shetland, he took the decided form of a shelty, making his most frequent haunts near water-mills, but when observed, hastily withdrawing himself into a burn, or vanishing in a flash of fire.

This deity, or water-trow, is the same to whom the Edda recommends the offering of a prayer for success in navigation, hunting and fishing, since he gives to his votaries treasures, and even kingdonis. The inhabitants of Lewis formerly sacrificed to him, in the hopes that he would send them plenty, of sea-ware, for the purpose of enriching their ground. But although he figures away with the northern mythologists as the ruler of winds, of waves, and of fire, his goodness was ever considered no less uncertain than the deceitful elements over which he had command. The Scandinavians, therefore, denied that he was of the true lineage of the gods, but deemed it prudent that some token of submission, though it might be of the smallest value, should be made to him on account of his power. In St Kilda, it consisted of shells, pebbles, worn-out rags, pins, rusty nails, or some mean description of currency. The Lewismen, with more liberality, cast into the sea, at Hallowtide, a cup of good ale. In Unst, it was customary to repair to the head of a stream, named Yelaburn, or the Burn of Health, and to throw, as an acknowledgment to the water-god, three stones on an adjoining site of ground. The pool of Helga Water also appears to have been formerly visited by the natives with superstitious views, and with perhaps the same mysterious ceremonies that were used from time immemorial in Orkney, such as walking round it in the course of the sun, observing strict silence in their perambulations, taking up water in their hands, and casting it on their heads. But when Christianity was introduced into the country, and when the priests found it impossible to root from the people their ancient Pagan customs, it is not unlikely that they took away the government of this pool from a water-deity, and gave it to some favourite saint. Thus there is a rude stone, with a small cavity in it, probably a natural one, that held water, which might have been sanctified with Christian ceremony, in order to repay the pilgrimage made to it by the zealous imbiber.

The water deity of the Celts and Teutones was ever regarded with great alarm. It was a popular superstition, that when a person fell into the water, the lips of this god were applied to his nostrils, and through such a conveyance his blood was sucked out; hence the redness that appears in the face of drowned persons. On account, therefore, of these destructive propensities, a Teutonic name was awarded to him of Nocka, Nickur, or Necker, answering to the Latin necare, and giving origin, as many profound antiquarians have supposed, to the name of Old Nick, that the English have so long applied to the devil. In Scotland, the appearance of this demoniacal Neptune is always considered as a prognostication of the swelling of rivers, and of deaths taking place from drowning; it is then that he

In Ben's Description of Orkney, written A.D. 1529, the god is thus described: "Initus est algis marinis toto corpore, similis est pullo equino convoluto pilis, membrum habet simile equino et testiculos magnos." An exquisite story is at the same time told of the addresses which he paid to a female of Stronsay: "Mulier illic erat formosa maritata colono forti; ipsa verebatur spiritu maximo, invito marito, concubantibus in uno thoro, et naturaliter concubuit cum muliere ut videbatur. Mulier tandem macera facta est præ dolore. Hortatus sum ut vacaret precatione eleemosyna et jejunio quod et fecit; durante anno siccine turbata est."-Barry's Orkney, p. 435.

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comes under various shapes, such as the river-horse, or the bull of the waters. In Shetland, the same deity, the Shoopiltee, assumes the form of a beautiful shelty, inviting some one to mount him, when he immediately runs into the sea and drowns his rider.

When the warlocks of Shetland communed with various demons, known by the name of Sea-trows and Land-trows, the beneficial acquaintance of an unearthly nature would be made with the Shoopiltee. John Sutherland, for instance, of Papa Stour, who, not half a century ago, was accustomed, at the distant Haaf, to haul up, whenever he was hungry, a cod ready dressed, was perhaps indebted to his friendship with this water-trow, for his demoniacal repast.

TANGWICK TO ROENESS VOE.

Tangwick, lying to the west of Hillswick, was, when I visited it, the residence of Mr Cheyne, the representative of an ancient respectable family that settled in Shetland from Aberdeenshire.* The shores near Tangwick are low; farther to the west, as we approach Stenness, Doreholm rises from the surface of the sea, hollowed out on the west by the incessant action of the waves and atmospheric elements, into a spacious arch 70 feet high. The holm is visited by the black and white gull, the puffin (Alca Arcica), and the kittywake. Farther west, dark reddish rocks of secondary porphyry are formed by the sea into steep cliffs, and on approaching Stenness, a considerable number of the rude lodges of fishermen, overtopped with a factor's booth, rise above the black crags that line the coast. The Isle of Stenness, and the Skerry of Eshaness, appear at a short distance, exposed to the uncontrolled fury of the Western Ocean. The isle presents a scene of unequalled desolation. In stormy winters, huge blocks of stones are overturned, or are removed far from their native beds, and hurried up a slight acclivity to a distance almost incredible. In the winter of 1802, a tabular-shaped mass, 8 feet 2 inches by 7 feet, and 5 feet 1 inch thick, was dislodged from its bed, and removed to a distance of from 80 to 90 feet. I measured the recent bed from which a block had been carried away the preceding winter (A.D. 1818), and found it to be 171⁄2 feet by 7 feet, and the depth 2 feet 8 inches. The removed mass had been borne to a distance of 30 feet, when it was shivered into thirteen or more lesser fragments, some of which were carried still farther, from 30 to 120 feet. A block 9 feet 2 inches by 61⁄2 feet, and 4 feet thick, was hurried up the acclivity to a distance of 150 feet. Such is the devastation that has taken place amidst this wreck of nature. Close to the Isle of Stenness is the Skerry of Eshaness, formidably rising from the sea, and shewing on its westerly side a steep precipice, against which all the force of the Atlantic seems to have been expended it affords a refuge for myriads of kittiwakes, whose shrill cries, mingling with the dashing of the waters, wildly accord with the terrific scene that is presented on every side.

* This gentleman, since I left Shetland, died at a very advanced age. His memory will ever be held dear in the country, for the judicious and kind treatment he shewed to his tenantry, and for the proof that he established of the effects which a liberal treatment to dependents might have in increasing their active and industrious spirit; the result having been alike beneficial to both landlord and tenant.

The fishing station of Stenness is occupied by the tenants of Messrs Cheyne, who, from the liberal manner in which they are treated, bear the character of being the best fishermen in the country. About seventy boats are annually employed at the Stenness Haaf. It is computed, that between the middle of May and the 12th of August, when the ling fishery ceases, a boat makes about eighteen trips to the Haaf. Most of the ling, cod, and tusk that are cured in Northmavine go to Ireland; other markets are found for them by Scottish and English merchants, in Barcelona, Lisbon, Ancona, and Hamburgh. The dangers that the boats run at the Haaf have often suggested the expediency of employing small decked vessels for the fishery. Accordingly, there was an undertaking of this kind set on foot about half a century ago, but it was in every respect ill managed, and failed.

Leaving Eshaness, where may be observed an immense block of granite, not less than three yards in diameter, thrown up by the sea, I pursued my way nerth, along a high gradually ascending ridge that impends the ocean, which is covered by the finest and softest sward that ever refreshed the tired feet of the traveller, being frequently resorted to by the inhabitants of Northmavine, on a fine Sabbath evening, as a sort of promenade. The verdure that embroiders this proud bank, on which numerous sheep continually feed, pleasingly harmonizes, on a calm day, with the glassy surface of the wide Atlantic; nor is the pleasure less perfect, when the smooth coating of so luxuriant a green turf is contrasted with the naked red crags that form the precipice below, whitened with the spray of the breakers which continually dash against them with angry roaring. The rich surface of pasture that thus gradually shelves from the elevated ridge of the coast, bears the name of the Villans of Ure;-and well might we apply to this favoured spot of Thule, the compliment that has been often paid to some rich vale of England,-" Fairies joy in its soil." After a distance of three miles, this gladdening prospect of fertility is suddenly closed with the harsher features that Hialtland usually wears. Near the mountain lake of Houland, where a burgh built on a holm close to its shore displays its mouldering walls, the coast resumes its wild aspect.

A large cavernous aperture, ninety feet wide, shows the commencement of two contiguous immense perforations, named the Holes of Scraada, where, in one of them that runs 250 feet into the land, the sea flows to its utmost extremity. Each has an opening at a distance from the ocean, by which the light of the sun is partially admitted. Farther north, other ravages of the ocean are displayed. A mass of rock, the average dimensions of which may perhaps be rated at twelve or thirteen feet square, and four and a half or five feet in thickness, was first moved from its bed, about 50 years ago, to a distance of thirty feet, and has since been twice turned over. But the most sublime scene is where a mural pile of porphyry, escaping the process of disintegration that is devastating the coast, appears to have been left as a sort of rampart against the inroads of the ocean;-the Atlantic, when provoked by wintry gales, batters against it with all the force of real artillery,—the waves having in their repeated assaults forced for themselves an entrance. This breach, named the Grind of the Navir, is widened every winter by the overwhelming surge, that, finding a passage through it, separates large stones from its side, and forces them to a distance of no less than 180 feet. In two or three spots, the fragments which have been detached are