the old manse, which had been a home to his family
for well nigh two generations, and in which both he and his brother had
been born, he scarce knew what his people were to do, nor in what
proportion he was to have followers among them. Somewhat to his
surprise, however, they came out with him almost to a man; so that his
successor in the parish church had sometimes, he understood, to preach
to congregations scarcely exceeding half a dozen. I had learned
elsewhere how thoroughly Mr. Malcolm was loved and respected by his
parishioners; and that unconsciousness on his own part of the strength
of their affection and esteem, which his statement evinced, formed, I
thought, a very pleasing trait, and one that harmonized well with the
finely-toned unobtrusiveness and unconscious elegance which
characterized the genius of his deceased brother. A little beyond the
Free Church manse the road ascends between stone walls, abounding in
fragments of ichthyolites, weathered blue by exposure to the sun and
wind; and the top of the eminence forms the water-shed in this part of
the Mainland, and introduces the traveller to a scene entirely new. The
prospect is of considerable extent; and, what seems strange in Orkney,
nowhere presents the traveller,--though it contains its large inland
lake,--with a glimpse of the sea.

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.

The Orkneys, like the mainland of Scotland, exhibit their higher hills
and precipices on their western coasts: the Ward Hill of Hoy attains to
an elevation of sixteen hundred feet; and there are some of