Orissa. ORISSA, an extensive province of Hindostan, situ ate between the 16th and the 23d degree of north latitude; extending about 530 miles in length from northeast to south-west, and 90 at its average breadth. It is bounded by Bengal on the north; by the river Goda very on the south; by the bay of Bengal on the east; and by the province of Gundwana on the west. It was formerly known by the name of Utcala or Odradesa; and was then inhabited by a powerful martial race, who were at last extirpated by the kings of Magadha. In more recent times, it was governed by a dynasty of Hindoo princes of the race of Gijaputty, who were conquered in 1592 by the Emperor Acber's viceroy in Bengal. It was never completely occupied by the Mahommedans: and it is still one of those provinces in which the Hindoo manners are preserved in their greatest purity. Three-fourths of the province are under the British government, and the remainder is possessed by a number of petty native chiefs, who are in a state of perpetual hostility with each other, but in some measure subject to the Nagpoor Mahrattas. The principal modern divisions of this province are Cicacole, Rajumundry, Cuttack, Mohurbunge, Konjeur, and Midnapoor. The maritime districts are equal in fertility

to any territory in the south of India; but the province in general may be described as barren in comparison with Bengal. The interior in particular remains in a very savage state, consisting chiefly of rugged hills, uninhabited jungles, and deep water courses, surrounded by pathless forests. These tracts are extremely unhealthy, and are traversed only during the dry season by the inland carriers.

The population varies very much in the different districts. Midnapoor, one of the richest divisions, contains one million and a half of souls; but the population of the whole province does not exceed four millions and a half. In the back parts of the province, beyond the British dominion, the natives are a fierce and intrepid people. They are armed with bows and arrows, and swords of a peculiar shape, broad in the end and narrow in the middle, which they usually carry without a scabbard. Those again who are under the Company's jurisdiction, are a quiet inoffensive race, resembling the other Hindoos, who live under the British government. The language of the province, and the character in which it is written are termed Ooreeah. The most remarkable place in the province is JUGGERNAUTH, described in Vol. XII. p. 387. (q)

Islands.

of small islands in the ocean which washes the northern extremity of Scotland, included between the parallels 58° 44', and 59° 25′ N. Lat. and within the meridians 0° 19′ E. and 0° 17′ W. Long. from Greenwich. They are irregularly scattered over a space of about forty-one geographic miles in length, by twenty-five in breadth. Their number, including the uninhabited islets, or, as they are called in the dialect of the country, holms, amounts to sixty-seven. Of these, twenty-nine are inhabited, and the rest are wholly dedicated to pasturage, and the manufacture of kelp. The following are the modern and ancient names of the inhabited islands. The orthography of the former is according to the

derived from old authors.

VOL. XVI. PART I.

A

Orkney Scottish historians. This venerable pile fortunately Islands suffered little injury from the rude hands of the reformers; but the ravages of time and of neglect were too apparent on it till of late years. It narrowly escaped demolition from an Earl of Caithness in 1614; but was saved by the spirit of the bishop and the inhabitants. Since the days of Episcopacy, the only funds for its support and repair were derived from a small portion of the voluntary contributions received weekly at the church doors, and the trifling fees exacted on burials; which together seldom exceeded from L.10 to L.20. The rigidly economical application of these by the kirk session, have been sufficient to prevent dilapidation. The increased revenues of the church enabled them to appropriate something even toward beautifying the cathedral, and considerable improvements on it were commenced about 1802; under the superintendence, and directed by the taste of the present senior clergyman, the Rev. Robert Yule; but the munificent bequest of the late Gilbert Meason, Esq. of L.1000, the interest of which is to be applied to the ornament and repair of this noble pile, has already contributed much to its restoration. This fund, under the judicious management of Mr. Yule and the trustees, has already produced the restoration of all the fallen pinnacles, and the reopening of 67 windows, out of the 95 which light the Cathedral.

In this church repose the ashes of several of the Norwegian, and of some of the Scottish_earls, and the bones of the patron saint were here enshrined, as well as those of his nephew St. Ronald, the founder. A coffin containing bones, in a rich pall, was discovered about 40 years ago, in an upright position, in one of the piers of the choir. After a hasty examination, they were restored to their original niche; and there is some reason to believe, that they were the remains of the MAID OF NORWAY, who died in Orkney in 1290, on her way to mount the throne of her ancestors.

The ruins of the once strong castle of Kirkwall are reduced to some insignificant vestiges, on the west side of the wide street, in front of the cathedral. It was founded by Henry St. Clair, the first of the Scottish Earls, and a descendant of the Norwegian line. Gil bert Balfour, its governor, shut its gates against the infamous Bothwell. It subsequently was held out by the valiant bastard of Orkney, for his father Earl Patrick, against the Earl of Caithness, at the head of a party of the king's forces, aided by artillery, for the space of three weeks; and, when taken, was demolished by order of the privy council.

The bishop's palace appears to have been built and altered at different times. It consisted of several lofty square, and one vast round tower, connected by strong walls, and inclosing some large apartments. The walls of the towers are of enormous thickness. The whole was built of a sort of sandstone flag in thin layers, united by so excellent a cement, that large masses of wall fell unbroken to the earth. The angles and windows were faced with red freestone.

The date of its commencement is uncertain; but it must have been a place of note in the 13th century; for it was the winter quarters of king Hacon of Norway, after his disastrous expedition to Scotland; and in one of its apartments, that monarch expired in 1263. The round tower, which was repaired, or rebuilt, by Bishop Reid, is still pretty entire. Its height to the parapet is 58 feet: its external circumference below the parapet is 91 feet. Though externally round, it is square within; and such is the solidity of its walls, that

the apartments it contains are but 14 feet square. It Orkney is a handsome tower, and has in its N.W. wall a stone tablet with an alto relievo of the founder.

The extreme length of the whole palace seems to have been 91 feet, its breadth 27 feet. The hall = 49 feet by 21 feet. The most wanton destruction of a great part of this building has been made within the last 30 years, and, until lately, it was regarded only

as a convenient quarry.

The Earl's palace stands on the opposite side of a spacious court. It might have still been habitable, had not a barbarian clothed with temporary authority, in the last century, unroofed the building to sell the materials, and even pulled down a part of its walls to inclose an adjoining field. It is in that style of architecture which prevailed in Scotland about the time of James V. Regularity of design was less studied than variety; yet, the effect of the hanging turrets of considerable size at the angles, the fine masonry of its massy walls, its ornamented doors, and the spacious mullioned windows of its great hall, gave it an air of magnificence. It was built by Earl Patrick Stewart, who appears to have united it to the Bishop's palace, so as to form a hollow quadrangle of buildings of dif ferent styles, which measures 240 feet by 200 feet; exceeding in magnificence any other habitation of the proudest Scottish noble of that day. This extravagance may have been one cause of the difficulties which precipitated this Earl into the criminal methods of repairing his desperate fortunes that ultimately proved his ruin. The following are the dimensions of what remains: East side, 89 feet by 26 feet. South side = 58 feet by 22 feet. Extreme length of the west front, including the breadth of its wings 101 feet. The great hall 58 feet by 20 feet, was lighted by four large mullioned windows, and warmed by two fire places, one of which is not less than 15 feet wide. The grand entrance is through a curious anteroom, which is gained by a very spacious staircase of three easy flights of steps.

=

Kirkwall was created into a royal burgh by James III. on his obtaining possession of the islands; and it was honoured by a visit of James V. in one of his useful progresses through his scattered dominions. The government of the burgh is vested in a provost, four baillies, a dean of guild, a treasurer, and fifteen councillors, annually chosen. Kirkwall, in conjunction with Wick, Dornoch, Tain, and Dingwall, sends a representative to the imperial parliament. Besides a parochial school, there is an endowed grammar school, where the classics, mathematics, and the more usual branches, are taught to numerous scholars.

The country parish of St. Ola, or St. Olave, which is united to Kirkwall, contains 1034 persons, and exhibits considerable marks of a spirit of agricultural im provement. No vestige remains of the ancient church of St. Olave. The Antiburgher dissenters have a large place of worship in this parish. The deep ditches, and shapeless mounds of a fort, thrown up by the soldiers of Cromwell, to command the harbour of Kirkwall, are still visible. Several of those subterranean retreats called Pict's, or Pik's houses, have been here discovered; the most remarkable of which was found at Quanterness, near the borders of Firth, in 1803. It consisted of a central quadrangular chamber 214 feet long, by six in breadth, which communicated with six smaller apartments of the same shape. They were lined with masonry without mortar and the roof of the largest apartment was formed by the gradual ap

Islands.

In this parish is a very strong chalybeate spring, in which the iron is suspended by carbonic acid. It is sues from a boggy soil about two miles from Kirkwall; and was formerly in some repute, but is now neglected. Two extensive bays divide the island of Pomona into two unequal parts, connected by an isthmus about two miles in width. The western part comprehends the united parishes of Firth and Stennis, Evie, and Rendal, Birsay and Harray, Sandwick and Stromness, and the single parish of Orphir. This division is more hilly than the eastern. The hills inclose some pretty extensive and fertile valleys, possessing a rich loamy soil; but the principal cultivation here, as in the smaller islands, is along the coast, where an abundant supply of sea weed thrown up by the waves, affords, at little expense, a valuable manure. Much of this district remains in a state of nature, and regular inclosures are scarcely known. It contains several fresh water lakes, or locks, as those of Orphir, Stennis, Skaill, Birsay, and Aikerness, giving rise to considerable streams, abounding with various species of trout; but Orkney, as might be expected, has no river, and the true salmon is rarely caught. The extensive heaths in the western parishes afford shelter to immense numbers of red grous, plovers, and snipes. Neither partridges, nor hares, nor foxes, are found in Orkney; though the white hare was once indigenous in Hoy. That the stag once browsed on these hills is manifest, from the numerous instances of their horns found in the peat bogs. These wastes also bear evidence of their having once been covered with woods of the smaller kinds of trees; and this has been confirmed by the discovery of an ancient submerged wood, of some extent, exposed by a heavy surf at Skaill, on the western side of Pomona. The hills feed a vast number of sheep; a branch of rural economy, till lately extremely ill managed in Orkney. Formerly the sheep of a parish were permitted to run wild among the hilly districts, which are separated from the cultivated land by an insecure wall of turf, forming a general fence to the whole parish. Once a year they were collected to be shorn, and to receive certain marks on their ears or on their nose, a barbarous mode of ascertaining the property of each individual owner in the general flock. Latterly, a better system has been introduced. Merino rams have been imported, and care has been taken to improve the breed of sheep. The commons feed also large herds of swine, of a diminutive and ill favoured breed, which are very destructive when accident permits them to enter the cultivated townships.

The western coasts of Pomona are, in general, very bold, presenting mural cliffs, covered with innumerable sea-fowl, and often hollowed out into caverns, or perforated by natural arches. A magnificent instance of the latter occurs near Skaill, and not far from the pavement of figured stones, as it has been named, which is conspicuous in the early descriptions, but which modern inquiry has reduced to a very common instance of partial disintegration in a ferruginous sandstone. In fine weather, this lofty arch, which perforates a little promontory, may be safely entered; but when the storm rages, the waves burst through it with surprising fury. Along this western coast, the approach of a storm is usually indicated, several hours before it happens, by a sudden rolling of vast waves from the ocean. Enor

mous stones are hurled against the rocks; and the raging of the waves against the caverned precipices may be distinctly heard, on such occasions, at the distance of eighteen miles.

The western parts of Pomona contain the scanty remains of the once independent Udallers, or allodial proprietors of Orkney. The usurpations of the Scottish earls, who laboured to introduce feudal tenures, and the injustice of the Scottish government, which trans ferred to itself the spoliations committed on the people by the earls, and altered the laws which it had solemnly promised to retain inviolate, have reduced the Udallers to a very small number of little proprietors, who chiefly reside in Rendal and Harray. The names of many of these men proclaim their pure Scandinavian descent, though they have now totally lost the Norse language, which, about eighty years ago, was the common tongue in Harray.

The parish of Stennis obtains its name from some remarkable antiquities in the vicinity of its large loch. The figure of this piece of water is winding. It communicates with the head of the bay of Stromness, or Kairston, by a wide channel, over which the road from Kirkwall to Stromness is carried on a bridge formed of wooden beams, resting on piers of stone. The lake, by much the largest in Orkney, is nearly divided into two by a tongue of land projecting through its centre. The united lengths of both portions of the lake is about ten miles, while its medial breadth is about a mile. Its shores are flat, and tolerably cultivated; but deserve notice here, only on account of the remains of an ancient place of assembly, or temple, second only to the stupendous monument on Salisbury plain, which has so long exercised the ingenuity, and baffled the researches of our antiquaries.

The Stones of Stennis, or of Stonehouse, consist of two groups of rude pillars, formed of single stones, placed perpendicularly in the earth. On a slight elevation, on the above-mentioned peninsula, stands the largest of these, arranged in a circle 300 feet in diameter. When entire, it appears to have consisted of thirty-five upright stones, thirteen only of which now retain their erect position. The distances between them seem to have been in some places irregular, and a considerable space on the east side of the circle appears never to have been occupied by any; yet many of them are planted at regular intervals of 17 feet. The tallest of the remaining pillars is 16 feet high, and the lowest is 10 feet; their breadth varies from 24 feet to 5 feet. The circle is surrounded by a circular ditch; which is still 12 feet deep, and 20 feet broad. The earth of this excavation seems to have been carried away, probably to form four large tumuli at a little distance on the west and east sides of the circle; and may have contributed to the numerous smaller mounds which are scattered around. Whether we are to regard this as a place of assembly, or Ting, or as a temple, it must have been a work of great labour, and therefore a place of great consequence in the eyes of the early inhabitants of Orkney. From the extremity of the peninsula, a series of loose stones forms a rude sort of bridge, or foot path, across the narrowest part of the lake. This is also probably of high antiquity, as it forms the communication between the circle and a se micircle of similar construction, which stands close to the castern side of the lake. The diameter of the lat ter is 96 feet. Only two of the pillars now remain erect; but the circumference is well marked by a surrounding mound of earth, and the remains of some of the overthrown stones. The pillars of this monument

are a little larger than those of the former, measuring 174 feet in height. A third stone, which was lately pulled down, had two feet only buried in the earth; but it had been firmly wedged by several blocks of stone fixed around its base. This stone measures 18 feet by 5 feet, and is 22 inches in thickness. In the centre lies a large horizontal slab, which has been conjectured to be the altar for Scandinavian sacrifice; and probably was that which smoked with the blood of the unhappy Halfdan, son of Harold, king of Norway, who was offered up to Odin by the command of Earl Einar I.

At a little distance there were two or three other upright stones, through one of which was a hole, consecrated from time immemorial by a native superstition, which gave an inviolable sanctity to every promise made between those who joined hands through the magic aperture. The plighted vows of love, and the rude contracts of the natives, were, even lately, more firmly sealed by the promise of Odin, as this ceremony was named. The awe with which this vow was regarded, its name, the site, and the worn appearance of the hole, give colour to the local tradition, that this was the pillar to which the victims, about to be offered to the fierce deity of the north, were bound, preparatory to the horrid sacrifice.

The antiquary will learn with much regret, that this venerable relic of antiquity, as well as two of the pillars of the semicircle, were, in 1814, wantonly destroyed by the stupid barbarity of a neighbouring farmer, who, a stranger to the country, and regardless of its antiquities, but vexed at the damage his pastures sustained from the frequent pilgrimages to the stone, shivered it and another in pieces, and employed the materials in the construction of a pig stye. The hand of sacrilege was arrested by the exertions of the late Malcolm Laing, Esq. the historian of Scotland, a native of these islands. The remaining parts of these mopuments, especially on the eastern side of the loch, have a venerable appearance from their age, and their shaggy covering of luxuriant tufts of the Lichen calicaris. Stennis contains 596 people.

On the confines of the parishes of Stennis and Orphir is Summerdale, the scene of a battle of some note in Orkney history. In this place an Earl of Caithness lost his life; and the adjacent marsh of Bigswell is found to have been the grave of his defeated followers. STROMNESS. This is the only place in Orkney besides Kirkwall, which deserves the name of a town. It lies at the foot of a rugged granitic hill, skirting the west side of a beautiful and excellent haven, where ships of considerable size are secure from every blast. The town is very irregular, the houses having been placed without any regard to symmetry, or even general convenience. The streets are badly paved, and are impas sable to wheel carriages. The best houses are built on small wharfs, at which vessels of moderate burthen may discharge their cargoes. Stromness has been created by the excellence of its port, which is continually the resort of numerous ships navigating the north seas. By the returns of 1821, the population amounted to 910 males and 1296 females, or to 2286 persons, having more than doubled itself in twenty years. It is stil, however, united into one cure with the parish of Sandwick, so that the inhabitants have public worship among them only on every second Sunday. Until the middle of the last century, Stromness was considered as under the control of the magistrates of Kirkwall, who, not exercising their authority meekly, caused the

inhabitants to appeal to the Court of Session; and the Orkney decision of that body in their favour was confirmed, in Islands. 1758, by the House of Lords. Stromness was erected into a burgh of barony in 1817, and is now under a corporation of two baillies, nine councillors, a townclerk, a fiscal, and seventy-two burgesses. The spirit of improvement is in full activity in this thriving community, and the establishment of a public library by voluntary subscription affords a good omen of future progress. The approach from Kirkwall affords a picturesque view of Stromness, backed by the magnificent mountain skreen of Hoy, with its stupendous waveworn cliffs.

A large portion of Sandwick is devoted to open pasturage; yet it is a populous parish, containing, with the part of Stromness not included in the burgh, 1614 persons. The improvements introduced into this parish are chiefly due to Mr. Watt of Skaill, who has success. fully introduced the cultivation of flax, and established the first tannery erected in Orkney.

The united parishes of Harray and Birsay are populous; the latter district containing 1526, the former 719 persons. Harray long retained the use of the Norse tongue; but not one individual now speaks a language, which within a century was there the vulgar dialect. Birsay was long a favourite residence of the Norwegian race of earls, whose ancient castle was greatly enlarged by Earl Robert Stewart, a natural son of James V. of Scotland. It still testifies, though in ruins, the pride and magnificence of that prince. This building is a hollow oblong of 158 feet by 100 feet, with a flanker of 20 feet square at each angle of the main front, to strengthen the entrance. Another square tower of more ancient workmanship is at the north-west angle. The principal gateway is 44 feet wide and 7 feet high; but it is most remarkable for the Latin inscription, in which, probably by a grammatical error, the founder, arrogates to himself the crown of Scotland: Dominus Robertus Stuartus filius Jacobi Quinti Rex Scotorum, hoc opus instruxi,—a circumstance, it is said, which actually urged on the trial of his son as evidence of treasonable intentions. His palace was not a place of strength, but secure against a coup-de-main. Its walls are thirty feet high, of two stories, and it had a well in the centre of the court.

The curious stone over the burial-place of the fabulous Orkney prince Belus, is no longer seen in the church-yard of Birsay, as it was in the days of Dr. Wallace.

The parish of Evie is in part well cultivated. Along its shores are numerous examples of those structures called Pik's houses. The parish of Rendal is generally hilly; and though the low lands have generally a good soil, they are ill cultivated. The first parish has a population of 811, the latter of 518 persons. A deep bay divides these from the parish of Firth, which is little cultivated, and only contains 545 inhabitants. A range of undulating hills divides this parish from Orphir. The south-west parts of the latter are tolerably cultivat ed. At Howton, the Scandinavian earls had a strong castle, of which no remains are now to be traced. A fulling mill was formerly wrought in this parish. Its population, including the little island of Cava, = 906 persons.

The eastern division of Pomona contains the fertile parish of Holm, and the united parishes of St. Andrew's and Deerness.

Holm, or Ham, is one of the best cultivated tracts in these islands. The culture of flax has here been long