(25) lies off the west coast of Mainland, south of the two Burras. East Burra (203), about 4 m. long by 1 m. broad, is separated from Mainland by Clift Sound, a narrow arm of the sea, 8 m. long. West Burra (612), 6 m. long by 1 m. broad, with a very irregular coast-line, lies alongside of East Burra and contains a church. It is said to be the Burgh Westra of Sir Walter Scott's Pirate. Burra is a contraction of Borgar-öy, meaning “Broch island.” Trondra (151), “Trond's island,” Trond being an old Norse personal name, in the mouth of Scalloway Bay. Oxna (36) lies about 4 m. S.W. of Scalloway, and Papa (priest's isle, 16), to the E. of Oxna. Bressay (679) lies 1 m. E. of Lerwick, from which it is separated by the Sound of Bressay, in which Haakon V., king of Norway, anchored his galleys on the expedition that ended so disastrously for him at Largs (1263). The island is 6 m. long by 3 m. broad and has several notable natural features. Ward Hill (742 ft.) is the sailors landmark for Lerwick harbour. Bard Head (264 ft.), the most southerly point, is a haunt of eagles, at the foot of which is an archway called the Giant's Leg. On the west side of the Bard is the Orkney Man's Cave—a great cavern with fine stalactites and a remarkable echo. Noss (7), to the E. of Bressay, from which it is separated by a channel 220 yds. wide. On the east coast the rocks form a headland (592 ft.) called the Noup of Noss (“the peak of the nose”), once the source from which falcons were obtained for the royal mews. Off the south-east shore lies the Holm (160 ft.), with which communication used to be maintained by means of the Cradle of Noss swing or ropes. Both Noss and Bressay are utilized in connexion with the rearing of Shetland ponies. Holm of Papal, “isle of the priest” (2), belonging to Bressay parish, and Linga, “heather isle” (8), to the parish of Tingwall, lie S.E. of Hildasay. Foula, pronounced Foola (Norse, fugl-öy, “bird island”) (230), lies 27 m. W; of Scalloway, and 16 m. W. of the nearest point of Mainland. It measures 312 m. long by 212 m. broad. The cliffs on the west coast attain in the Sneug (Norse, Snjoog, “hill top”) a height of 1272 ft. They are the home of myriads of sea-birds and one of the nesting-places of the bonxie, or great skua (Lestris cataractes), which used to be fostered by the islanders to keep down the eagles, and the eggs of which are still strictly preserved. The natives are daring cragsmen. The only landing-place is the village of Ham, on the east coast. Vaila (21), in the mouth of the Bay of Walls, affords good pasturage. Linga (4) lies immediately to the north of Vaila. Papa Stour (272), properly spelt Stoor, “the big [Norse stor] island of the priests,” lies in the south-west of the great bay of St Magnus. It measures 2 m. in length by about 3 m. in breadth and has a coast-line of 20 m. Christie's Hole and Francie's Hole, two of the caves for which it is noted, are reputed to be among the finest in the United Kingdom. The sword dance described in the Pirate may still be seen occasionally. Four miles N.W. are the islets known as the Ve Skerries, where seals are sometimes found. Whalsay, “whale island” (975), measuring 5 m. from N.E. to S.W. by 212 m. wide, is an important fishing station. Muckle Roe, “great red island” (202), roughly circular in shape and about 3 m. in diameter, lies in the E. of St Magnus Bay. Gruay, “green isle” (10), Housay (68), Bruray (44), Bound (2) are members of the group of Out Skerries, about 4 m. N.E. of Whalsay. There is a lighthouse on Bound, and the rest are fishing stations. Yell (2483), separated from the north-east coast of Mainland by Yell Sound, is the second largest island of the group, having a length of 17 m., and an extreme width of 612 m., though towards the middle the voes of Mid Yell and Whale Firth almost divide it into two. It contains several brochs and ruined chapels and is an important fishing station. Fetlar (347) lies off the east coast of Yell, from which it is divided by Colgrave Sound and the isle of Hascosay and is 5 m. long by 612 m. broad. It ranks with the most picturesque and most fertile members of the group and contains a breed of ponies, a cross between the native pony and the horse. Uyea, “the isle,” from the Old Norse öy (3), to the south of Unst, from which it is divided by the narrow sounds of Uyea and Skuda, yields a beautiful green serpentine. Unst (1940), to the N.E. of Yell and separated from it by Bluemull Sound, is 12 m. long and 6 m. wide. It has been called the “garden of Shetland,” and offers inducements to sportsmen in its trout and game. The male inhabitants are mostly employed in the fisheries and the women are the most expert knitters of hosiery in the islands. Unst contains several places of historic interest. Near the south-eastern promontory stands Muness Castle, now in ruins, built in 1598—according to an inscription on a tablet above the door—by Laurence Bruce, natural brother to Lord Robert Stewart, 1st earl of Orkney. Buness, near Balta Sound, was the house of Dr Laurence Edmonston (1795–1879), the naturalist. Near Balliasta are the remains of three stone circles. It is supposed the Ting, or old Assembly, met at this spot before it removed to Tingwall. Farther north, at the head of a small bay, lies Haroldswick, where Harold Haarfager is believed to have landed in 872, when he annexed the Orkney and Shetland Islands to Norway. Burra Firth, in the north of Unst, is flanked on both sides by magnificent cliffs, including the Noup of Unst, the hill of Saxavord (934 ft.), the Gord and Herma Ness. Muckle Flugga (3), about 1 m. N. of Unst, is the most northerly point of Shetland, and the site of a lighthouse.
Administration.—Shetland unites with Orkney to return a member to parliament. The island is divided into Mainland district (comprising the parishes of Northmavine, Delting, Nesting, Sandsting, Walls, Tingwall, Bressay, Lerwick and Dunrossness) and North Isles district (the parishes of Unst, Fetlar and Yell). It forms a sheriffdom with Orkney and Caithness, and there is a resident sheriff-substitute at Lerwick, the county town. There are parish poorhouses in Dunrossness and 'Unst, besides the Shetland combination poorhouse at Lerwick. The county is under school board jurisdiction and Lerwick has a secondary school, and a few of the other schools earn grants for higher education. The “residue” grant is expended on navigation and swimming classes.
History and Antiquities.—The word Shetland is supposed to be simply a modernized rendering of the Old Norse Hjaltland, of which the meaning is variously given as “high land,” “Hjalti's land”—after Hjalti, a man whose name occurs in ancient Norse literature, but of whom little else is known—and “hilt land,” in allusion to an imagined, though not too obvious, resemblance in the configuration of the archipelago to the hilt of a sword. Of the original Pictish inhabitants remains exist in the form of stone circles (three in Unst and two in Fetlar) and brochs (of which 75 examples survive). The islanders were converted to Christianity in the 6th and 7th centuries by Irish missionaries, in commemoration of whose zeal several isles bear the name of Papa or “priest.” Four stones with Ogam inscriptions have been found at different places. About the end of the 8th century both the Shetlands and Orkneys suffered from the depredations of Norse vikings, or pirates, until Harold Haarfager annexed the islands to Norway in 875. Henceforward the history of Shetland is scarcely separable from that of Orkney (q.v.). The people, more remote and less accessible to external influences, retained their Scandinavian characteristics longer than the Orcadians. The Norse language and customs survived in Foula till the end of the 18th century, and words and phrases of Norse origin still colour their speech. George Low (1747–1795), the naturalist and historian of Orkney, who made a tour through Shetland in 1774, described a Runic monument which he saw in the churchyard of Crosskirk, in Northmavine parish (Mainland), and several fragments of Norse swords, shield bosses and brooches have been dug up from time to time.
See George Low, Tour through the Islands of Orkney and Shetland in 1774 (published in 1879); A. Edmondston, Zetland Islands (1809); Samuel Hibbert-Ware, Description of the Shetland Isles (1822); C. Rampini, Shetland and the Islanders (1884); C. Sinclair, Shetland and the Shetlanders (1840); R. S. Cowie, Shetland (1896); Dr Jakob Jakobsen, The Dialect and Place Names of Shetland (1897).
SHEVAROY HILLS, a detached range in southern India,
in the Salem district of Madras, covering an area of 150 sq.
m., with plateaus from 4000 to 5000 ft. above sea-level.
They include the sanatorium of Yercaud, and several coffee
plantations.
