Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/914

Rh 848 ORKNEY AND SHETLAND stockings to the value of about 17,000 were annually exported from Shetland about the beginning of the present century. The manufacture of gloves was introduced about 1800, of shawls about 1340, and of veils about 1850. Fair Island has long been famous for its coloured hosiery, into the art of knitting which the inhabit ants are said to have been initiated by the wrecked mariners of one of the ships of the Spanish Armada. The various dyes employed are extracted from the plants and lichens of the island. Fisheries. For some centuries the neighbourhood of the Orkneys and Shetlands was frequented by the fleet of Dutch vessels connected with the great herring fishery, but Barry states that fishing in his time was almost wholly neglected by the inhabitants of the Orkneys. The principal herring -stations are at Papa-Stronsay, Deersound, Holm, and South Ronaldshay. The greater part of the catch of spring herrings is despatched direct to Hamburg. The cod and ling fishing is prosecuted chiefly by the inhabitants of the north isles, both in open boats and in smacks, at the Faroes and near Iceland. Fishing is almost the sole occupation of the Shetland men, the women doing nearly all the farm-work and occupying also every spare moment in knitting both in the house and when carrying their burdens. The Shetland herring fishery has lately (1884) made rapid strides, but the increase in the take of herrings is partly due to boats from the south. As the herring fishery has increased, the deep-sea ling and cod fishing, formerly the mainstay of the islands, has proportionately diminished. The whole of the fisheries were originally in the hands of the Dutchmen, but in 1712 their supre macy was destroyed by the imposition of the duty on salt. Until within recent years the boats chiefly used were the old &quot;sixerns&quot; built in the islands after the model of the Norwegian yawl, but whole or half-decked boats are now rapidly taking their place. The total number of persons now employed in the fisheries of the Orkneys and Shetlands together is about 11,000, Shetland employing over 7430. The number of smacks belonging to the Orkneys is about 30, employing over 300 men ; Shetland possesses about double this number, and the Shetland smacks are much more successful than those of Orkney, as more of them frequent the distant fishing- grounds. Shetland possesses, in addition to these, 285 decked first- class and 15 second-class fishing boats. Administration and I ojnilatioii. The islands of Orkney and of Shetland form one sherifldom or stewartry, but the sheriff has a substitute in Orkney and another in Shetland. The county of Orkney and Shetland returns one member to parliament, and Kirkwall is included in the Wick district of burghs, which returns one member. Orkney includes 18 parishes and Shetland 12. From 24,445 in 1801 the population of Orkney had in 1831 increased to 28,847, and in 1861 to 32,395, but in 1881 was only 32,044, of whom 14,982 were males and 17,062 females. The population of Shetland in 1801 was 22,379, which had increased in 1831 to 29,392, and in 1861 to 31,670, but by 1881 had diminished to 29,705, of whom 12,656 were males and 17,049 females. In Orkney there were 113 88 females to every 100 males, but in Shet land the proportion is 13471, by far the largest in any county of Scotland. The number of inhabited islands in Orkney was 29, the Mainland numbering 17,165 persons, while 5 other islands had a population of over 1000 each, viz., South Ronahlshay 2557, &quot;Westray 2200, Sanday 2082, Hoy 1380, and Stronsay 1274. &quot; Shetland com prised 30 inhabited islands, of which the Mainland contained 20,821, Yell 2529, and Unst 2173. In the Orkneys the only town is Kirk- wall (3947), a royal and parliamentary burgh, and the villages are Stromness (1705) and St Margaret s Hope (412). Stromness, which received an independent charter in 1817, has risen within the last century from a mere fishing hamlet to a port of some importance. It possesses a fine natural harbour, with a pier accessible to vessels of large tonnage at high tides, and a patent slip. It is the rendez vous of vessels for the whale fishery at Davis Straits and Greenland. In the Shetlands Lerwick (4045) is the principal town, distant 272 miles from Edinburgh and 95 from Kirkwall. It dates from the beginning of the 17th century. Its harbour can afford safe accom modation for an immense fleet. Scalloway (648), the only village of the Shetlands, and the original capital, is situated on a fine bay about 6 miles west of Lerwick. It possesses the ruins of an ancient castle, and is the seat of a herring fishery. History and Antiquities. Scarcely any information is obtainable from Roman writers regarding the Orkneys, and none regarding the Shetlands, but there is abundant evidence that both groups of islands were originally inhabited by a Pictish population. Of the two forms of Picts houses chambered mounds and underground habitations or weems many are still so entire as to afford an accurate notion of the character of the buildings ; and of the barrows or burial-mounds, which number over 2000, the majority belong to the Pictish period. The rings of Brogar and Stenness are the only stone circles in the Orkneys, and there are only five groups in Shetland, three being in Unst and two in Fetlar. It has been disputed whether the fort resses known as borgs or brochs are to be attributed to the Picts or the Norsemen, but the balance of probability seems to indicate that they were erected before the Norse invasion, and in defence against the Northmen. Orkney possessed 70 and Shetland 75, the most perfect of existing specimens being the tower of Mousa in Shetland. Although few implements, and those of the rudest kind, have been discovered in the Picts houses, the brochs contain handmills used for grinding corn, stone whorls and bone combs employed in woollen manufactures, and examples of a rude kind of pottery. Various scattered notices occur of early expeditions to the Orkneys, the most important being those of the Dalriadic Scots about the beginning of the 6th century ; but the Picts soon regained their power, and the islands remained in their possession until the Norse invasions of the 9th century. The earliest notice regarding the Christianization of the islands is that of a visit of Cormac and other companions of St Colnmba to the Orkneys about 565. The Irish monk Dicuil, writing about 825, states that a &quot;certain honest monk had visited&quot; certain islands &quot;in the northern British seas,&quot; which are evidently iden tical with the Shetland Islands. Other proofs of the early Christian ization of the Orkneys and Shetlands are the dedications to St Columba, St Bridget, St Ninian, and St Tredwell ; the designation Papa applied to several of the islands, that being the Norse name for the Irish missionaries ; monumental stones like those on the mainland of Scotland bearing the Ogham inscription, four having been found in Shetland and one in the broch of Burrian in North Ronaldshay in Orkney ; the discovery of sqnare-sided bells peculiar to the early ages of the church ; and the occurrence of the crescent symbol on various sculptured slabs. About the end of the 8th century the Orkneys and Shetlands became the rendezvous of the northern vikings, who sailed thence to ravage the coasts of Norway and the western coasts and islands of Scotland. About 872 the Norse settlement in the islands became perpetual by the flight to it of the jarls, dispossessed of their authority by Harold Haarfager. As the jarls began a retaliatory warfare on the coasts of Norway, Harold fitted out a great expedi tion against them, and placed the Orkneys and Shetlands under the government of Rognvald, earl of Mceri, who, with the per mission of Harold, handed it over to his brother Signrd. Gut- torm succeeded his father Sigurd, but, dying childless about a year afterwards, was succeeded by Hallad, son of Rognvald, who, being unable to cope with the vikings, returned to Norway, Einar, another son of Rognvald, taking his place. He thor oughly subdued the vikings, and also taught the inhabitants to use peat for fuel, from which he received the name of Torf Einar. The two eldest sons of Einar were slain in battle in England, and the third, Thorfinn Hausakliuf, who succeeded in 950, having married Grelauga, daughter of Duncan, earl of Duncansby, became joint-earl of Orkney and Caithness. Thorfinn had five sons, all of whom were shortly afterwards slain, except the youngest, Hlodver. He was succeeded, about 980, by Sigurd the Stout, who fought against the Scots, but ultimately came to an agreement with Malcolm, king of the Scots, whose daughter he obtained in marriage. Sigurd was slain in a great battle at Clontarf against Brian Boroime, king of Minister, in 1014, upon which King Malcolm of Scotland bestowed the earldom of Caithness on Thorfinn, a son of Sigurd by his daughter, the earldom of the islands being divided among Somerled, Brusi, and Einar, Sigurd s sons by a former marriage. After the death of Somerled and Einar the claim of Brusi to the earldom of the islands was disputed by Thorfinn. An arrangement was finally made that Thorfinn should receive two-thirds of the islands ; but on the death of Brusi he took possession of all the islands ; he came to an agreement, however, with Rognvald Brusi - son which lasted for eight years, when Thorfinn, having defeated Rognvald in a sea-fight in the Pentland Firth, took possession of the earldom also. Finally he obtained recognition from the king of Norway, and, after making a pilgrimage to Rome, built Christ s Church in Birsay, where he established a bishop s see. Thorfinn was succeeded, about 1064, by his two sons Paul and Erlend, whom King Magnus (Barefoot) of Norway subsequently replaced by his son Sigurd. He, on his father s death, became king of Norway, and was succeeded in the earldom of the Orkneys by Hakon, Paul s son, and Magnus, Erlend s son, the latter of whom was murdered by the former in 1115. Hakon was succeeded by his two sons Harold and Paul, the former of whom shortly afterwards died, when Kali, a nobleman of Norway, receiving from King Sigurd the gift of half of the Orkneys, surprised Paul and induced him to consent to this arrangement, whereupon, in accordance with a vow he had made, he built a &quot;stone minster&quot; at Kirkwall. Paul was carried off by the vikings, and his place as joint-earl was taken by Harold, the son of Maddad, earl of Athole. King Eystein super seded Harold by Erlend, son of Harold the son of Hakon. Erlend fortified himself against Harold in the broch of Mousa in Shetland until Harold came to an agreement with him. Afterwards Erlend was slain in a battle with Harold and Rognvald, who then reigned jointly till the death of Rognvald in 1158. On account of Harold s support of Sigurd, son of Magnus Erlingson, against King Sverri of Norway, he was deprived of the whole of Shetland. He was succeeded in 1206 by his sons John and David, the former of whom, on the death of his brother seven years afterwards, became sole ruler. He was slain in an inn in Thurso in 1231, and, as the line of