Chronicles (1 of 6): The Description of BritaineHolinshed, Raphael
History
Chronicles (1 of 6): The Description of Britaine
Holinshed, Raphael
Great Britain -- History -- To 1485; Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603
There is also tin and lead to be found in six of these Iles, so good and
plentifullie as anie where else in Britaine. It lieth foure & twentie
miles from Cathnesse, being separated from the same by the Pictish sea:
wherein also lie certeine Ilands, as Stroma, foure miles from Cathnesse,
which albeit that it be but foure miles from Cathnesse, is not reputed
for anie of the Orchades. Going therefore from hence northward, we come
to the first Ile of the Orchades, called south Rauals, which is sixtéene
miles from Dunghilsbie, aliàs Dunachisbie, & that in two houres space,
such is the swiftnesse of the sea in that tract. This Ile is fiue miles
long, and hath a faire port called saint Margarets hauen. Then passe we
by two desert Iles, which lie towards the east, wherein nothing is found
but cattell: some call them the holmes, bicause they lie low, and are
good for nothing but grasse. On the northside lieth the Bur, and two
other holmes betweene the same & Pomona. From Bur, toward the west lie
thrée Iles, Sun, Flat, and Far: and beyond them Hoie and Vall, which
some accompt for two, and other but for one; bicause that in March and
September, the flats that lie betwéene them, doo séeme to ioine them
togither, after the tide is gone. This neuerthelesse is certeine, that
in this single or double Ile, which is ten miles in length, the highest
hilles are to be séene that are in all the Orchades. And as they lie
eight miles from Rauals, so are they two miles from Pomona, & from saint
Donats in Scotland full twentie miles, and on the north side of it lieth
the Brainse, in a narrow streict, as Buchanan dooth remember. And these
are the Iles which lie betweene Pomona and Cathnesse. As for the west
side of the continent, I find that it lieth open to the sea, without
either shelues, Ilands, or rocks appéering néere vnto it: but on the
east side thereof Cobesa dooth in maner ouershadow it. Siapinsa also an
Ile of six miles long, lieth within two miles of Cracouia, toward the
east, on the west side of Pomona lieth the Rouse of six miles in length:
and by east of that, the Eglisa, wherin (as they saie) their patrone S.
Magnus lieth interred. From hense southward lie the Vera, Gersa, and not
far off the Vester (which is fourescore miles from Hethland) Papa &
Stronza, which is also eightie miles from Hethland as is the Vester. In
the middest also of this tract lieth Far, or Fara, which is to saie,
faire Ile, in old English, faire eie: and within sight so well of
Hethland, as the Orchades (by reason of three insuperable rocks which
are apparant in the same) a verie poore Iland, and yet yearelie robbed
of such commodities as it hath by such Flemish and English fishermen as
passe by the coasts thereof in time of the yeare, to catch fish for the
prouision of their countries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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