their arrangements are almost the same with those which may be seen in any part of our own Highlands. A dark apartment, where all sorts of dead and living things are huddled together; cows and calves living in kindly fellowship with man-the master or mistress of the house being only distinguished by occupying the great arm-chair; and dogs of all kinds appearing perfectly happy in the fellowship of a miraculous quantity of cocks, hens, chickens, swine, and pigs."

In the present state, however, of the unexampled diffusion of liberal knowledge, it is impossible to traverse even the most sequestered or inhospitable countries of Europe, without meeting occasionally with individuals whose attainments seem altogether disproportioned to the scene in which their lot is cast; with men, whose earlier days have been spent amidst all the elegance of refined society-or who have contrived, amidst the most apparently unpropitious circumstances, to enrich their minds with much valuable and even elegant learning. We know that Zetland possesses several individuals of this description; and Dr Hibbert has commemorated a day's excursion, which he had with one individual, whom he found to be a person who had seen and learned much, and with whom, when the one traveller had finished his fishing excursion, and the other had satisfied himself, by means of his hammer, of the nature of the rocks by which he was surrounded, he partook, upon the green turf, of an elegant collation, seasoned with exquisite Madeira, and washed down with a plentiful quantity of warm punch. We have said nothing of the Doctor's geological speculations, because they are not suited to our work; but those who can peruse them will find them very valuable.

the Dwarfie-Stone; and from thence proceeded to view the other curiosities of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, now become so much the topic of conversation since the appearance of the new novel, by "the Author of Waverley." Whatever object that eminent person illustrates in the language of description, few feel confidence enough to attempt a more detailed account of. We may allude to the beautiful passages in these volumes, in which descriptions are given of the scenery in the neighbourhood of Stromness, the Standing-stones of Stennis, and the ancient buildings at Kirkwall. On the way to Shetland, the attention of the traveller is finely arrested by the isolated object of the Fair Isle; and on his ideal arrival at Shetland, the "inconstant stomach" of the landsman, who has never in reality visited those islands, feels a palpitating thrill at the very mention of Sumburgh Roost. Ample amends, however, is made for this by the striking descriptions of Sumburgh, and the fairy land of the "Fitful-Head." But it would be quite endless to attempt even a very general notice of the graphic descriptions contained in these volumes. Though I had for ever laid my notes regarding these islands on the shelf, yet the perusal of these volumes has created new desires for retracing my steps.

I HAD, Some years since, visited the island of Hoy, in Orkney, to see

VOL. X.

As the dimensions of the DwarfieStone of Hoy are only mentioned in a quotation from an old author, and as I doubt not the scenery of the "Pirate," in all its minute detail, will now be sought after as classic ground, and that, ere long, steam-boats will be advertised to make the Grand Tour of the Northern Archipelago, I shall here transcribe what had occurred to me upon my visit to the Dwarfie-Stone. S.

1816. After spending an interesting day in viewing the extensive lake and Standing-stones, in the parish of Stennis, situate between Kirkwall and Stromness, the two principal towns of Orkney, we entered the town and strangely-formed street of Stromness, where, like the inhabitants of the city of Venice, a great proportion of the people live upon the water. Here we took boat, and

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crossed the Sound to the beautiful flat green island of Gremsey, along which we coasted for a time, and then crossed the narrow Sound of Gremsey to the mountainous island of Hoy, and landed near the hospitable manse of Mr Hamilton, who directed our steps to the Dwarfie-Stone. It is difficult to say whether we were more surprised at the singularity of this huge stone, or the peculiarity of the vale of Rockwich, in which it lies. After walking upwards of two miles on a rising ground, with a boggy bottom, covered with so luxuriant a growth of heath, that in many places it might almost form a cover for the deer, we at length reached the Dwarfie-Stone, which, like the seat of "rest and be thankful," between the vales of Glencroe and Ardkindlas, to the weary traveller, afforded us a welcome seat. It was on a summer's evening that we undertook this walking excursion; and the sun was low in the north-west, when we began to admire the romantic beauties of this sequestered spot. The vale of Rockwich forms a deep ravine, which, in a very curious manner, intercepts the mountainous land of Hoy. Towards the south, by a winding passage, it opens to view the western entrance of the Pentland Frith and the shores of Caithness; to the north it falls into the Sounds of Gremsey and Hoy, and is itself intercepted by a stream, which occasionally assumes the character of a mountain torrent. On the west, this valley is bounded by the stupendous Wart or Ward hill of Hoy, which, us, exposed on one side a hollow, which had all the appearance of the crater of an extinct volcano, or the semicircular slip of an immense mass of the soil. On the eastern side, where the Dwarfie-Stone lies, the hill rises precipitously, exposing the formation of extensive crags of reddish-coloured sandstone, from which we were led to suppose the object of our visit had most probably been separated by the wasting effects of time.

Dr Wallace makes this stone 36 feet in length, 18 feet in breadth, and 9 feet in thickness. We, however, found its dimensions considerably less; but after making due al

lowance for its medium cubical contents, (about 25 feet by 15, and 6 or 7 feet in medium thickness), and allowing at the rate of 16 cubic feet of rock to the ton, we concluded its weight to be about 150 tons.

The two apartments, with a passage, a door, and a kind of sky-light window, and perhaps vent for smoke, forming the interior excavation of this huge stone, must have been a work of much patient labour and time, especially as the circumscribed area of the apartments would hardly admit of the work of more than one person. The area of the whole excavation measures about 9 feet 6 inches in length, and 4 feet 6 inches, or thereby, in width. The door and passage nearly divide the length of the excavated area equally, and measure about 2 feet 6 inches in width, and 3 feet in height. On the right is the bed-room, with an irregularlyformed aperture in the roof, which may answer for window or chimney, as before noticed, and which measures about 18 inches across. this curious apartment, a bed-place, measuring only 3 feet 4 inches in length, and having a ledge rising about 3 or 4 inches along the front of the bed, with a step at one end, which may be supposed to have answered the purpose of a pillow for the inmate of this cell, are all formed in the solid rock. The apartment on the other side of the passage is excavated in the same manner, but has neither bed-place nor window. These apartments are but rudely formed, and are of an irregular figure, the bed-room in particular being wider in the middle than at the end, arising evidently from the difficulty of working them of a square form.

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This extraordinary work has probably been the pastime of some frolicsome shepherd, or secluded devotee; and the history of the stone having been lost, it was natural for the people of a superstitious age and country to apply a fabulous origin both to the stone and its inhabitants, in so retired and lonely a place as the vale of Rockwich. The story, therefore, goes, that the DwarfieStone fell from the moon, and that it was once the habitation of a faires and his wife, a water-kelpie.