gentry, and is of the same construction with the ploughs used in the south country. The old Zetland plough has now yielded to the spade, and is nowhere to be seen.

In this island, far removed from a market-town, great or rapid improvements in agriculture are not to be expected. It is well adapted for a population whose chief employment is fishing, and who hold their small farms as cheap places of abode, and for furnishing them with various comforts, which they could not have, if they had only their fishing to depend upon. Yet improvements are silently going on, and considerable quantities of ground are, from year to year, added to the old arable land. If the commons were divided, and the improvable parts inclosed, from time to time, as the population increases, portions of them would be willingly taken at a low rent and cultivated by tenants; and this is the only way in which improvements could be prudently made in this place. To attempt speculations in agriculture here, on a large scale, would be the height of folly.

Revised May 1841.

PARISH OF NESTING.

PRESBYTERY OF BURRAVOE, SYNOD OF SHETLAND.

THE REV. JOHN M'GOWAN, MINISTER.

I-TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.

Name.-THE parish consists of the three parishes of Nesting, Lunasting, and Whalsay; and to these are annexed the detached islands of Skerries.

Extent. If the whole land of the parish were thrown together, its average length would be from 18 to 20 miles, and average breadth 4.

Boundaries.-Nesting is bounded on the east by the Island of Whalsay, with the Skerrie Islands adjacent; by Catfirth Voe on the south; and by Delting on the west.

Geology. The predominating rock in this parish is gneiss. Primitive limestone, mica-slate, syenite, and granite veins occur in subordinate quantity. In the out Skerries there are beds of primitive limestone associated with gneiss.

II. CIVIL HISTORY.

Parochial Registers.-There are registers of births and marriages, but not of deaths. These registers were very irregularly kept till 1827; and the Dissenters do not register, except those who have been married and baptised by the parochial minister. Land-owners.-The principal land-owners are, Robert Bruce, Esq. Simbister, and Miss Robina Hunter of Lunna. These pos

sess nearly the whole parish.

Mansion-House.-A splendid house and offices have been built in Whalsay by Mr Bruce of Simbister. The building is of granite, and cost L. 20,000. The stone was imported across the Sound of Whalsay.

The population of the three parishes is supposed to be at present 2250.

During the last three years, only one case of illegitimate birth occurred.

This parish contains a greater number of inhabitants, in proportion to the rental land, than any other in Shetland, owing to the exertions of the two principal heritors in making outsets, or new settlements, on grounds formerly uncultivated.

IV.—INDUSTRY.

The extent of arable land in the parish is supposed to be about 1000 acres. All the rest is waste or in pasture. The whole land is undivided, and common to the tenants of the two principal proprietors. No wood.

Rent.-The average rent of land per merk is L. 1. No progress in the wretched agriculture of the parish, has been made during the last fifty years. The people direct their sole attention to fishing, and consider the cultivation of the lands as only a secondary object.

Fisheries-The inhabitants adventure in what we call the great fisheries of ling, cod, and tusk; but the principal part of their subsistence arises from the small fishing of piltock and sillock, which, except in very extraordinary years, they can pursue at no expense, and with great advantage, all the year round.

There are fourteen or sixteen herring boats belonging to Mr Bruce, and about seven to Mr Hunter. Mr Bruce's average

fishing amounts to 2000 barrels per annum, and Mr Hunter's is in proportion. Ling and cod, and tusk-fishing, called the Haaf Fishery, commences in the beginning of June, and continues till July and August. The produce is sent to Leith. The greater part of the male population is concerned in fishing;-and many men go to the Greenland whale fishery. *

V.-PAROCHIAL ECONOMY.

Ecclesiastical State.-There are three churches, viz. at Nesting, Whalsay, and Lunnasting. The church at Nesting is made for the accommodation of the whole population at sacrament. Skerries Church is sixteen miles distant from the mainland, and the minister preaches there only once a-year. Whalsay is visited by him eleven times in the year, and Lunnasting eleven times also. It was intended that the Whalsay church should have been endowed as a Parliamentary church; but, unfortunately, this advantage was not obtained. Lunnasting Church has been newly repaired, and the seating is good. Whalsay Church has been newly roofed; but the seating is not good or comfortable.

The parish church of Nesting was built in 1794, and is in a tolerable state of repair.

The whole population belongs to the Established Church, except thirty individuals, who are Methodists, Baptists, or Independents.

Stipend L. 150; of which sum L. 69 are received from Exchequer. The extent of the glebe is twelve merks and a-half.

The manse was built in 1770. It was lately repaired, but again needs repair.

Education.-There is one parochial, and two adventure schools. Three more are required. Education is, in this parish, at the lowest ebb. The parish schoolmaster's salary is L. 25 per annum, and his fees do not exceed L. 2 or L. 3.

Poor.-Average number of paupers yearly on the permanent roll for the three years 1835-36–37, 25. Average yearly amount of church collections for these years, L.14, 2s. Id. Mortcloth dues, &c. L.1, 8s.

Seventeen boats perished in 1832; seven of which belonged to Nesting. About L. 3000 were raised in Scotland and in London for relief of the widows; each widow receiving L.3: each child under fourteen, 10s; and parents depending on sons, L.2. This allowance they have got annually since 1832, and will get till 1843.

June 1841.

PARISH OF DELTING.

PRESBYTERY OF BURRAVOE, SYNOD OF SHETLAND.

THE REV. JOHN PATON, MINISTER.*

I. TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.

Name, Situation, and Extent.—THE name seems to be of Danish or Norwegian origin. The parish is bounded on the west by Northmaving, from which it is divided by a long narrow voe, called Sulom Voe; on the east, by Nesting and Lunnasting; on the north, by Yell Sound, which separates it from Yell; and on the south, by Weesdale and Sandsting. It is difficult to state, with any degree of precision, the length or breadth of this parish, as it is much intersected by narrow voes, and no part of it is above two miles from the sea. The appearance of the county is hilly, bleak, and barren. The air is moist, but not unhealthy.

There are some small lakes or lochs in the parish, but nothing deserving the name of river.

Geology. The prevailing rocks in this parish are gneiss and syenite subordinate are beds of limestone and of hornblende rocks. II. CIVIL HISTORY.

Parochial Registers.-There is a register of births and marriages, and a record of the acts of the kirk-session. The latter commences in 1709, and was regularly kept till 1719,—from which time till 1751 there is a blank. From 1751, this record was again regularly kept till 1781. Since 1821 the entries have been quite regular. The register of marriages and births commences in 1751, but was not properly kept till within the last twenty years.

Land-owners. The principal land-owners at present are, Earl of Shetland; Arthur Gifford of Busta; Captain C. Mowat of Garth; Mrs William Mowat; Miss Hunter of Lunna; Representatives of R. Hoseason; and William Angus of Toft. No valuation ever existed in Shetland. Public charges are paid according to an arbitrary arrangement of old standing, and peculiar to this county.

From notes furnished by the schoolmaster at Brae, Delting.

Mansion-Houses.-The mansion-houses in the parish are those of Busta, Garth, Ullhouse, and Mossbank.

Antiquities. Of antiquities the parish has little to boast. Of the Pictish castles mentioned in the old Account there are no remains, except that of Brough, at Yell Sound side, which is much dilapidated. The others, at Burraness in Firthsvoe, and Burravoe in Bustavoe, have been entirely demolished, and levelled with the ground, the foundations being occupied for booths or storehouses and stations for curing fish. But there are two relics of antiquity not mentioned in the old Account. One of these is the remains of a wet-dock or harbour at Burravoe, which, from its proximity to the Pictish castle that stood there, must have been built as a place of security for such small craft as belonged to it. The other is a stone, (a block of granite 10 feet high, circumference near the top 18 feet, at the base 16 feet,) commonly called the standing-stone of Busta. It has evidently been set up by the hands of man.

In the rocky banks of Culsterness, there is a cave of some extent, and moderate height, containing an outer and inner apartment, and of very difficult access, said to have been in former times a hiding-place. There is another cave at the side of the loch of Trondavoe, of less extent, which appears to have been made by art, for what purpose cannot now be ascertained; but it is supposed to have been a place, which, in times long past, was used by sheep-stealers, in which to deposit their stolen sheep. III. POPULATION.

In this parish there are neither towns nor villages.

The population amounted in 1811, to

1624

1821,

1818

During the last three years, there was only one illegitimate birth.

The land is not estimated by acres, but by merk-land, an old Norwegian or Danish denomination, the quantity designated by which is not now understood; but, generally speaking, this measure may be estimated as containing about two-thirds of a Scotch acre. Upon this reckoning, the parish may contain about 1000 acres under cultivation; and the pasture ground enclosed and attached to these 1000 acres, may be as much more.

There is no wood of any description in the parish.

Rent. The rent may be pretty fairly taken, on an averag