by frantic and ineffectual efforts to keep their footing, and were forced to make sudden and involuntary rushes to starboard or port as the steamer rolled in the swell, and occasionally pitched very considerably, the boilers thereat giving a defiant snort, and the passengers more firmly grasping the nearest supports A sudden blow as of some mighty steam hammer on the bows of the vessel by a wave whose power we had met in full force, and the drenching shower of salt spray by which it was succeeded, soon sent below another detachment of passengers, who were no more seen until we steamed into the smooth waters of Bressay Sound.

After the steamer left the harbour at Kirkwall and as it neared the west side of Shapinsay, an excellent view of the town could be obtained by looking back on the receding shores, till at length the distance lent its enchantment and nothing but the dim outline of houses could be seen, clustering round St. Magnus' ancient cathedral tower, with their background of hills, and between us and them the broad expanse of waters. Then we had a passing view of Thieves' Holm; the green slopes and varied and undulating pastures surrounding Balfour Castle, Wideford Hill, and the Bay of Firth were duly

commented on and admired,' and the village of Fintown descried. Eday, Sandy, Stronsay, and the north islands of Orkney were passed in rapid succession, and before long we were abreast of Fair Isle, midway between Orkne and Shetland.

The precipitous cliffs and rocky shores of this island rise rugged and forbidding on all sides, and only two points give access to the shore, and thes only in perfectly calm weather. Thus the two or three hundred people who inhabit the island are at times completely isolated, all intercourse with the rest of the world being impossible in stormy weather. The island does no produce sufficient grain even for its scanty population, and supplies have to be landed from Orkney or Shetland from time to time. In the event of a shipwrecked crew being cast on the island, both islanders and crew are occasionally driven to great straits, as what was a bare subsistence for the few becomes a starvation dole when shared with a number of unexpected and, we suspect, unwelcome guests. Thus it happened when one of the ships of the

Spanish Armada was wrecked upon the island (1588), and 200 men landed, to the consternation of the unfortunate islanders. According to Sir Robert Sibbald's account, the Spaniards fared but badly, for the islanders, after a time, fearing a famine, refused to sell their food, though the Spaniards were willing to buy it at exorbitant prices. Many are said to have died of starvation, and many more were so weakened by hunger and exposure, that they were easily disposed of by the not over-scrupulous islanders, who assisted in thinning their ranks by pushing some of them over the cliffs into the sea. The island is famed for the beauty of its hand-knitted hosiery worked in complicated patterns of various colours, an accomplishment said to have been acquired from the shipwrecked Spanish crew.

It has not been our good fortune to pay a visit to the island, but as some account of it may be interesting, we extract the following graphic picture of scenes which are here too frequent, from Mr. Peace's book on Shetland :"From the height of its hills the Fair Isle is in clear weather seen from a

great distance, and thus serves as a beacon by which mariners may direct their course; but when a gale lashes the sea into fury-when the rain-mist, after having shrouded the summit of the Ward Hill, gradually settles down, first into the inland valleys, but there only for a time-when, bidding defiance to the gale, and asserting its supremacy, it covers the whole in fleecy clouds-it is then that the island proves terribly fatal. Driving before the gale, many a noble bark rushes swiftly to destruction against the rugged precipices by which the island is on every side engirdled.

"During the summer of 1868, a German emigrant vessel, from Bremen to New York, was wrecked at one of the cliffs of the island. A thick fog had for some days prevented the officers from taking an observation; but the wind blowing fair, and supposing themselves many miles beyond the island, every stitch of canvas was set to 'woo the favouring gale.' The 'Lessing' was sailing bravely before the wind, her living freight not yet at early morn

awoke from slumber, when, with a sudden and terrible crash, she struck the fatal rock. Instantly hundreds of human beings rushed on deck, to find themselves literally wedged up between precipices. On either side aro e the almost perpendicular cliffs, whose tops were lost to view in the fog, wh le around the

sea-swell swept with a swift and steady roll. A boat was lowered, but only to be dashed to pieces among the breakers, which threatened to engulph the noble ship and all on board. There seemed no hope, no chance of escape. Seamen went aloft, expecting to measure the height of the crags by which

they were surrounded, but even then the tops of the precipices remained shrouded in mist. Hope forsook every heart, despair was pictured on every countenance, and the loud wail of agony for the moment drowned the noise of the sea; but, piercing the thick fog by which they were enveloped, this shout was wafted to the ears of the islanders, who were thus guided to the scene of

disaster, and successfully landed the whole of the passengers and crew through one of the remarkable subterranean galleries-known as the Sheldie Cavewhich permeate, in many cases, hundreds of feet through the rocks. The operation of bringing the people to land being safely accomplished, the whole

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shipwrecked party was, without any serious accident, brought to the summit of the lofty precipices which guard the coast."

Eighteen miles west from the mainland of Shetland, rising with almost perpendicular cliffs out of the sea, the Island of Foula is seen; it is only three miles long and two miles wide, but the stupendous nature of the precipices

which fall sheer into the sea on all its sides, renders it visible at a great distance. What life on this remote island must be, cut off from the comforts and luxuries of civilization, perhaps even from a knowledge of the things enjoyed by the rest of the world, it is only possible to conjecture, and seldom can any communication take place, or the wants of its inhabitants be made

INTERIOR OF A FOULA COTTAGE.