But what particularly reminds the Scandinavian traveller in Shetland of finding himself in a country formerly altogether Norwegian, is the names of places, all of which bear the impress of their Norwegian origin. This remark applies to the names of the islands themselves, as well as to the names of towns, farms, promontories, and bays existing in them. They, of course, resemble, in a great degree, the old Scandinavian names of places farther south, in Scotland and England. Thus, for instance, a fiord is generally called “firth” (fjorðr); a creek “wick” (_Dan._, Vig); a holm, or small island, “holm;” a promontory, or naze, “ness;” a valley, “daill,” or “dale.” But it is peculiar to these districts, that the forms of names of places which occur most frequently in the old Danish part of the north of England, namely, those ending in _by_, _thwaite_, and _thorpe_, are extremely rare in Shetland, and in the rest of the old Norwegian possessions in Scotland. Of those in _by_, only a few instances are to be found; those in _thwaite_ are still more rare; and those in _thorpe_ are not to be met with at all. On the other hand, these districts possess several Scandinavian names of places which are also most frequently found in the old Norwegian colonies in the north and west of Scotland, but which are perfectly unknown in the old Danish part of the north of England. For instance, a small bay (_Dan._, Vaag) is called “voe” (vágr); whence, on Mainland, we find “West-voe,” “Aiths voe” (the bay by the tongue of land), “Lax-voe” (Lax, or Salmon-bay), “Selia-voe” (sildavágr, the “Silde Vaag,” or herring-bay), “Hamna-voe” (hafnarvágr, the Havne Vaag, or harbour bay), together with others. A still smaller bay, navigable only by boats, is called “gjo,” or “goe” (_Old Norsk_, gjá, an opening or cleft). For the rest, many farms have names with such endings as _seter_ (Old Norsk, _setr_), _ster_ and _sta_ (Old Norsk, _staðr_, a place); and also _busta_, _buster_, and _bister_ (contracted from “bolstaðr,” a dwelling-place); whence, for instance, Kirkbuster (formerly Kirkjubólstaðr); all of which names agree just as well with those found in the Faroe Isles, Iceland, and the mother-country, Norway, as the names of places in the north of England ending in _by_, _thwaite_, and _thorpe_, agree with those in the corresponding mother-country, Denmark. Although the difference between the present traces of Danish colonization in England, and of Norwegian in Scotland, is not considerable, still it may be recognised in this manner. In consequence of the remote situation of the Shetland Isles, the names of places, in spite of all revolutions, remain so much the same, that the old political and religious institutions of the islands are visible, as it were, through them. In the south part of Mainland lies the farm of Howff, where in ancient times there was certainly a “Hof,” or house of God; and far northwards, near Hillswick (formerly