His Opinion Seemed To Be That The Dirt Was Salted By The Sea-Winds,
And Preserved From Further Decomposition.
I was somewhat amused, in
hearing him boast of the climate of Shetland in winter.
"Have you never
observed" said he, turning to the old Scotch clergyman of whom I have
already spoken, "how much larger the proportion of sunny days is in our
islands than at the south?" "I have never observed it," was the dry answer
of the minister.
The people of Shetland speak a kind of Scottish, but not with the Scottish
accent. Four hundred years ago, when the islands were transferred from
Norway to the British crown, their language was Norse, but that tongue,
although some of its words have been preserved in the present dialect, has
become extinct. "I have heard," said an intelligent Shetlander to me,
"that there are yet, perhaps, half a dozen persons in one of our remotest
neighborhoods, who are able to speak it, but I never met with one who
could."
In returning from Lerwick to the Orkneys, we had a sample of the weather
which is often encountered in these latitudes. The wind blew a gale in the
night, and our steamer was tossed about on the waves like an egg-shell,
much to the discomfort of the passengers. We had on board a cargo of
ponies, the smallest of which were from the Shetlands, some of them not
much larger than sheep, and nearly as shaggy; the others, of larger size,
had been brought from the Faro Isles.
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