As regards the artistic features of the book, special acknowledgment is due to Messrs. Thomas Kent, for his generosity in placing at the disposal of the Editor the whole of his unique collection of Orkney views, all the photographs reproduced being from his studio, with three or four exceptions; T. Marjoribanks Hay, R.S.W., for his drawing of St. Magnus Church, Egilsay; Stanley Cursiter, for the decorative initial letters, the title-page, and the cover design; and Miss Rose Leith, for the border designs of the grouped photographs; and to J. G. Bartholomew, LL.D., for the two-page map of the county. Finally, the thanks of the Committee are due to the generous and patriotic friends, among whom special mention ought to be made of the Glasgow Orkney and Shetland Literary and Scientific Association, whose donations of money have enabled them to produce this book, for a volume whose circulation must necessarily be limited to a small area could be issued at so low a price only on condition of the initial cost of manufacture being met by those interested in its production. The Editor, who must accept responsibility for the general scope and plan of the book, as well as for the actual form and part of the contents of the unsigned articles, desires personally to acknowledge the valuable assistance he has received from the members of the Committee, especially Dr. John Tait and Mr. James Drever, and from the other friends who have helped by their sympathetic criticism and advice, to all of whom, as well as to himself, the work has been in every sense a labour of love; and he ventures to express the hope that the results of that work, as here visible, may find favour in the sight of all young Orcadians, and of many who are no longer young. J. GUNN. EDINBURGH, 1909. CONTENTS. Page Part I.—The Story of the Past. Prehistoric Orkney, 9 The Beginnings of our History, 18 The Norsemen and their Sagas, 23 The Beginning of the Earldom, 32 The Dark Century, 40 Earl Thorfinn and Earl Rognvald, 54 The Slaying of Earl Magnus, 59 The Founding of St. Magnus Cathedral, 67 The Jorsalafarers, 74 Sweyn Asleifson, the Last of the Vikings, 90 The Decay of the Earldom and the End of the Western Kingdom, 97 The Annexation to Scotland, 105 Udal and Feudal, 110