Recovered Health--Journey to the Orkneys--Aboard the Steamer at Wick--Mr. Bremner--Masonry of the Harbor of Wick--The greatest Blunders result from good Rules misapplied--Mr. Bremner's Theory about sea-washed Masonry--Singular Fracture of the Rock near Wick--The Author's mode of accounting for it--"Simple but not obvious" Thinking--Mr. Bremner's mode of making stone Erections under Water--His exploits in raising foundered Vessels--Aspect of the Orkneys--The ungracious Schoolmaster--In the Frith of Kirkwall--Cathedral of St Magnus--Appearance of Kirkwall--Its "perished suppers"--Its ancient Palaces--Blunder of the Scotch Aristocracy--The patronate Wedge--Breaking Ground in Orkney--Minute Gregarious Coccosteus--True Position of the Coccosteus' Eyes--Ruins of one of Cromwell's Forts--Antiquities of Orkney--The Cathedral--Its Sculptures--The Mysterious Cell--Prospect from the Tower--Its Chimes--Ruins of Castle Patrick. 414 CHAPTER XI. The Bishop's Palace at Orkney--Haco the Norwegian--Icelandic Chronicle respecting his Expedition to Scotland--His Death--Removal of his Remain to Norway--Why Norwegian Invasion ceased--Straw-plaiting--The Lassies of Orkney--Orkney Type of Countenance--Celtic and Scandinavian--An accomplished Antiquary--Old Manuscripts--An old Tune book--Manuscript Letter of Mary Queen of Scots--Letters of General Monck--The fearless Covenanter--Cave of the Rebels--Why the tragedy of "Gustavus Vasa" was prohibited--Quarry of Pickoquoy--Its Fossil Shells--Journey to Stromness--Scenery--Birth-place of Malcolm, the Poet--His History--One of his Poems--His Brother a Free Church Minister--New Scenery. 437 CHAPTER XII. Hills of Orkney--Their Geologic Composition--Scene of Scott's "Pirate"--Stromness--Geology of the District--"Seeking beasts"--Conglomerate in contact with Granite--A palaeozoic Hudson's Bay--Thickness of Conglomerate of Orkney--Oldest Vertebrate yet discovered in Orkney--Its Size--Figure of a characteristic plate of the Asterolepis--Peculiarity of Old Red Fishes--Length of the Asterolepis--A rich Ichthyolite Bed--Arrangement of the Layers--Queries as to the Cause of it--Minerals--An abandoned Mine--A lost Vessel--Kelp for Iodine--A dangerous Coast--Incidents of Shipwreck--Hospitality--Stromness Museum--Diplopterus mistaken for Dipterus--Their Resemblances and Differences--Visit to a remarkable Stack--Paring the Soil for Fuel, and consequent Barrenness--Description of the Stack--Wave-formed Caves--Height to which the Surf rises. 457 CHAPTER XIII.