Our place-names have suffered much from the blunders of surveyors and map-makers who knew nothing of the Norse language. Whenever they found a name which bore some resemblance to an English word, they immediately changed it into what they supposed to be its correct English form. A good example of a name thus “corrected” for us is that of the place now called “Walls.” The proper name of the district is _Waas_, and this is the name which it should bear on the map. But the intelligent surveyors no doubt knew that there is an English word “walls” which is pronounced “wa’s” in Scotland, and so they assumed that the Norse place-name “Waas” ought to be written and pronounced “Walls.” This is of course an absurd error. “Waas” is a form of “Voes,” a name which is admirably suited to the district, the land of the voes or bays. The name of our county town, Kirkwall, has been similarly disguised by the well-meaning reforms of ignorant persons. Old people in the islands still call it “Kirkwaa,” and this is the correct form of the name. The Peerie Sea was called the “Kirk-voe” long before St. Magnus Cathedral was built, the name being derived from the old church of St. Olaf, whose doorway still exists, and this name, applied to the town, naturally changed into “Kirkwaa.” It would probably be impossible now to restore the old name; we can only be grateful that our map-makers did not also turn “kirk” into the English form “church.” We may suspect that the parish name Holm has been similarly tampered with. The local pronunciation, which is “Ham,” indicates that the name may be derived from _hafn_, a harbour, as in “Hamnavoe” (_Hafnarvagr_) and other cases, but has no connection with _holm_, which means a small island. When the meaning of _hafn_ had been forgotten, and the local pronunciation was ignored, the name was naturally supposed to be connected with the _holms_ which lie off the shore. A similar intrusion of the letter _l_ is found in _Pierowall_, and also in _Noltland_, in Westray. The latter is sometimes, and more correctly, written as “Notland.” The Norse name was _Nautaland_, the pasture for “nowt” or cattle. The word _Pentland_ must be our last example of such blunders. To the Norsemen the Scottish mainland was _Pettland_, the land of the Picts; and even at the present day Orcadians, who have not been misled by books and maps, still speak of the “Pettland Firth.”