From John OGroats to Lands End | Page 8

Scotland in pre-Roman times, and who constructed their
dwellings either of earth or stone, but always in a circular form. This
old castle was built of stone, and the walls were five or six yards thick;
inside these walls rooms had been made for the protection of the
owners, while the circular, open space enclosed by the walls had
probably been for the safe housing of their cattle. An additional
protection had also been formed by the water with which the castle was
surrounded, and which gave it the appearance of a small island in the
middle of a lake. It was connected with the land by means of a narrow
road, across which we walked. The castle did not strike us as having
been a very desirable place of residence; the ruins had such a very
dismal and deserted appearance that we did not stay there long, but
returned to our lodgings for lunch. After this we rested awhile, and then
joined the townspeople, who were patrolling every available space
outside. The great majority of these were women, healthy and
good-looking, and mostly dressed in black, as were also those we
afterwards saw in the Orkneys and the extreme north of Scotland, and
we thought that some of our disconsolate bachelor friends might have
been able to find very desirable partners for life in these northern
dominions of Her Majesty the Queen.
The houses in Lerwick had been built in all sorts of positions without
any attempt at uniformity, and the rough, flagged passage which did
duty for the main street was, to our mind, the greatest curiosity of all,
and almost worth going all the way to Shetland to see. It was curved
and angled in such an abrupt and zigzag manner that it gave us the
impression that the houses had been built first, and the street, where
practicable, filled in afterwards. A gentleman from London was loud in
his praise of this wonderful street; he said he felt so much safer there
than in "beastly London," as he could stand for hours in that street

before the shop windows without being run over by any cab, cart, or
omnibus, and without feeling a solitary hand exploring his coat pockets.
This was quite true, as we did not see any vehicles in Lerwick, nor
could they have passed each other through the crooked streets had they
been there, and thieves would have been equally difficult to find.
Formerly, however, Lerwick had an evil reputation in that respect, as it
was noted for being the abode of sheep-stealers and pirates, so much so,
that, about the year 1700, it had become such a disreputable place that
an earnest appeal was made to the "Higher Authorities" to have the
place burnt, and for ever made desolate, on account of its great
wickedness. Since that time, however, the softening influences of the
Christian religion had permeated the hearts of the people, and, at the
time of our visit, the town was well supplied with places of worship,
and it would have been difficult to have found any thieves there then.
We attended evening service in the Wesleyan Chapel, where we found
a good congregation, a well-conducted service, and an acceptable
preacher, and we reflected that Mr. Wesley himself would have
rejoiced to know that even in such a remote place as Lerwick his
principles were being promulgated.
Monday, September 11th.
We rose early with the object of seeing all we could in the short time at
our disposal, which was limited to the space of a single day, or until the
St. Magnus was due out in the evening on her return journey. We were
anxious to see a large cavern known as the Orkneyman's Cave, but as it
could only be reached from the sea, we should have had to engage a
boat to take us there. We were told the cave was about fifty feet square
at the entrance, but immediately beyond it increased to double the size;
it was possible indeed to sail into it with a boat and to lose sight of
daylight altogether.
The story goes that many years ago an Orkneyman was pursued by a
press-gang, but escaped being captured by sailing into the cave with his
boat. He took refuge on one of the rocky ledges inside, but in his haste
he forgot to secure his boat, and the ground swell of the sea washed it
out of the cave. To make matters worse, a storm came on, and there he

remained a prisoner in the cave for two days; but as soon as the storm
abated he plunged into the water, swam to a small rock outside, and
thence climbed to the top of the cliff and so escaped. Since that event it
had