hore and thousands at the bottom of the
sea have been made with no names on them, as the long record of the
hazards they run in the perilous occupation. But they keep their
ranks full from year to year, pushing out new boats marked with
higher numbers.

The harbor has been dangerous and difficult of access, but of late a
great effort has been made to render it more safe and commodious.
The Scotch fisheries now yield from 600,000 to 700,000 barrels of
herrings annually, employing about 17,000 fishermen; Wick stands
first among all the fishing ports of the kingdom. It is a thriving
town, well supplied with churches, schools, hotels, banks and
printing-offices. Several new buildings are now being erected which
will rank high in architecture and add new features of elegance to
the place. The population is a vigorous, intelligent, highly moral
and well-read community, as I could not fail to notice on attending
service on the Sabbath at different places of worship. Wick is
honored with this distinction--it assembles a larger congregation of
men to listen to the glad Evangel on Sunday than any city of the
world ever musters under one roof for the same purpose. It is the
out-door church of the fishermen. They sometimes number 5,000 adult
men, sea-beaten and sun-burnt, gathered in from mountainous island
and mainland all around the northern coasts of Scotland.

Monday, Sept. 28th. The weather was favorable, and I set out on my
last day's walk northward with a sense of satisfaction I could
hardly describe. The scenery was beautiful in every direction. The
road was perfect up to the last rod; as well kept as if it ran
through a nobleman's park. The country most of the way was well
cultivated--oats being the principal crop. Here, almost within
sight of the Orkneys, I heard the clatter of the reaping machine,
which, doubtless, puts out the same utterance over and upon the sea
at Land's End. It has travelled fast and far since 1851, when it
first made its appearance in Europe in the Crystal Palace, as one of
the wild, impracticable "notions" of American genius. In Wick I
visited a newspaper establishment, and saw in operation one of the
old "Columbians," or the American printing-press, surmounted by the
eagle of the Republic. The sewing-machine is in all the towns and
villages on the island. If there is not an American clock at John
O'Groat's, I hope some of my fellow townsmen will send one there,
Bristol-built. T