And who is he? the blue-eyed northern child Of isles more known to men, but scarce less wild, The fair-haired offspring of the Orcades, Where roars the Pentland with its whirling seas. Stromness is a place of considerable trade, and has the advantage over Kirkwall of direct communication with Liverpool and Manchester. There is a good museum in the town. (pp. 11, 27, 41, 42, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87.) =Whitehall= (200), a village on the shores of Papa Sound, near the northern extremity of the island of Stronsay. (p. 41.) SHETLAND By T. MAINLAND PREFACE The author begs to acknowledge his indebtedness to Messrs Peach and Horne (in Tudor’s _Shetland_) for the notes on Geology in Chapter 5; to Mr John Nicolson author of _Arthur Anderson_, for the Notes and photograph in Chapter 18; and to Goudie’s _Antiquities_ for historical information. 1. County and Shire.[2] Name and Administration of Shetland [2] See p. 1. _Shetland_ or _Zetland_ is derived from the Norse _Hjaltland_, variant spellings being _Hieltland_, _Hietland_, _Hetland_. The Norse word is of doubtful origin. Like Orkney, Shetland cannot be regarded as strictly a Scottish county till the seventeenth century. During that century various County Acts were framed for the better government of the islands. These lasted till 1747, when heritable jurisdiction was abolished and the judicial administration of Shetland was assimilated to the general Scottish system. Shetland has the same Lord-Lieutenant as Orkney, but separate Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace. It shares a Sheriff-Principal with Orkney and Caithness, but has a Sheriff-Substitute of its own. The County Council, the Education Authority, Parish Councils, and Town Council of Lerwick are the administrative bodies. The civil parishes are: Unst, Fetlar, Yell, Northmavine, Delting, Walls, Sandsting, Nesting, Tingwall, Lerwick, Bressay, Dunrossness. In Parliament one member represents both Orkney and Shetland. Ecclesiastically the parishes are divided into three presbyteries, Lerwick, Burravoe and Olnafirth, which make up the Synod of Shetland. 2. General Characteristics The county of Shetland is entirely insular, and its characteristics are varied. The coastline is generally broken and rugged, and in many places precipitous; while the larger islands are intersected by numerous bays and voes stretching far inland, which form safe and commodious places of anchorage and easy means of communication. No point in Shetland is more than three miles from the sea. Detached rocks and stacks, some high above the water and others below the surface, present a forbidding aspect to the spectator, and increase the dangers of navigation round the coast. [Illustration: Crofter’s Cottage]