THE ORKNEY AND SHETLAND ISLES
The Orkney Islands, mountains, capes, and bights,
A lengthened stretch of bay-indented coast,
Whose cliffs arise, a bold, defiant host,
From which the shattered might of ocean reels.
David Grant
To most people the islands of Orkney and
Shetland call up the remembrance of a small square outline, containing two
outrageous wiggles labelled by their respective names, placed in false positions
far too near the coast of Scotland so as to include them within the margin of
the average map of that country. A little further thought leaves a Scandinavian
flavour in the mouth, together with an impression of bleakness, for has one not
heard somewhere that there are no trees there?
Why their comparative treelessness
should deter the visitor is a problem. Nobody visits Holland in search of hills,
the desert to look at trees, or the Norwegian fiords to listen to bird song.
And, un-blurred by woolly greenery, the Orkneys and the Shetlands can show
magnificent cliffs, together with almost endless chains of small, glittering
lakes, which ought to be sufficient compensation.
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