A Strong South Wind
Was Driving In The Billows From The Sea With Noise And Foam, But They Were
Broken And Checked By A Bar Of Rocks In The Middle Of The Strait, And We
Crossed To The North Of It In Smooth Water.
The ferryman told us that when
the wind was northerly he crossed to the south of the bar.
As we climbed
the hill of the Noss the mist began to drift thinly around us from the
sea, and flocks of sea-birds rose screaming from the ground at our
approach. At length we stood upon the brink of a precipice of fearful
height, from which we had a full view of the still higher precipices of
the neighboring summit, A wall of rock was before us six hundred feet in
height, descending almost perpendicularly to the sea, which roared and
foamed at its base among huge masses of rock, and plunged into great
caverns, hollowed out by the beating of the surges for centuries. Midway
on the rock, and above the reach of the spray, were thousands of
sea-birds, sitting in ranks on the numerous shelves, or alighting, or
taking wing, and screaming as they flew. A cloud of them were constantly
in the air in front of the rock and over our heads. Here they make their
nests and rear their young, but not entirely safe from the pursuit of the
Zetlander, who causes himself to be let down by a rope from the summit and
plunders their nests. The face of the rock, above the portion which is the
haunt of the birds, was fairly tapestried with herbage and flowers which
the perpetual moisture of the atmosphere keeps always fresh - daisies
nodding in the wind, and the crimson phlox, seeming to set the cliffs on
flame; yellow buttercups, and a variety of other plants in bloom, of which
I do not know the name.
Magnificent as this spectacle was, we were not satisfied without climbing
to the summit. As we passed upward, we saw where the rabbits had made
their burrows in the elastic peat-like soil close to the very edge of the
precipice. We now found ourselves involved in the cold streams of mist
which the strong sea-wind was drifting over us; they were in fact the
lower skirts of the clouds. At times they would clear away and give us a
prospect of the green island summits around us, with their bold headlands,
the winding straits between, and the black rocks standing out in the sea.
When we arrived at the summit we could hardly stand against the wind, but
it was almost more difficult to muster courage to look down that dizzy
depth over which the Zetlanders suspend themselves with ropes, in quest of
the eggs of the sea-fowl. My friend captured a young gull on the summit of
the Noup. The bird had risen at his approach, and essayed to fly towards
the sea, but the strength of the wind drove him back to the land. He rose
again, but could not sustain a long flight, and coming to the ground
again, was caught, after a spirited chase, amidst a wild clamor of of the
sea-fowl over our heads.
Not far from the Noup is the Holm, or, as it is sometimes called, the
Cradle or Basket, of the Noss. It is a perpendicular mass of rock, two or
three hundred feet high, with a broad flat summit, richly covered with
grass, and is separated from the island by a narrow chasm, through which
the sea flows. Two strong ropes are stretched from the main island to the
top of the Holm, and on these is slung the cradle or basket, a sort of
open box made of deal boards, in which the shepherds pass with their sheep
to the top of the Holm. We found the cradle strongly secured by lock and
key to the stakes on the side of the Noss, in order, no doubt, to prevent
any person from crossing for his own amusement.
As we descended the smooth pastures of the Noss, we fell in with a herd of
ponies, of a size somewhat larger than is common on the islands. I asked
our guide, a lad of fourteen years of age, what was the average price of a
sheltie. His answer deserves to be written in letters of gold -
"It's jist as they're bug an' smal'."
From the ferryman, at the strait below, I got more specific information.
They vary in price from three to ten pounds, but the latter sum is only
paid for the finest of these animals, in the respects of shape and color.
It is not a little remarkable, that the same causes which, in Shetland,
have made the horse the smallest of ponies, have almost equally reduced
the size of the cow. The sheep, also - a pretty creature, I might call
it - from the fine wool of which the Shetland women knot the thin webs
known by the name of Shetland shawls, is much smaller than any breed I
have ever seen. Whether the cause be the perpetual chilliness of the
atmosphere, or the insufficiency of nourishment - for, though the long
Zetland winters are temperate, and snow never lies long on the ground,
there is scarce any growth of herbage in that season - I will not undertake
to say, but the people of the islands ascribe it to the insufficiency of
nourishment. It is, at all events, remarkable, that the traditions of the
country should ascribe to the Picts, the early inhabitants of Shetland,
the same dwarfish stature, and that the numerous remains of their
habitations which still exist, should seem to confirm the tradition. The
race which at present possesses the Shetlands is, however, of what the
French call "an advantageous stature," and well limbed. If it be the want
of a proper and genial warmth, which prevents the due growth of the
domestic animals, it is a want to which the Zetlanders are not subject.
Their hills afford the man apparently inexhaustible supply of peat, which
costs the poorest man nothing but the trouble of cutting it and bringing
it home; and their cottages, I was told, are always well warmed in winter.
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