nt to the south-east again is Sumburgh Head. What bleak
and barren hills appear to the northward again! What a dreadful coast
to make during the long nights of winter!" The captain shuddered.
"Unless we find the interior more attractive, I shall wonder how my
ancestors could have had so much partiality for such a country."

"Summer or winter, in stormy weather it is not a coast a seaman would
wish to hug too closely," observed Lieutenant Alvarez; "the crews of the
ships of our great Armada found that to their cost. However, there
appear to be some good roadsteads, where, should bad weather come on, we
may be secure."

"Numbers. See what a curious shape has the mainland," observed the
captain, pointing to the chart. "It is fully twenty leagues long, and
yet there does not appear to be a point where it is more than a league
across from sea to sea. Those voes run up for a league or more, and
make it appear like some huge insect. Then what innumerable islands of
all shapes and sizes! The people should be amphibious, who live here,
to enable them to visit their neighbours: in a southern clime what a
delightful spot it might be! but in this hyperborean region, existence
must be a penalty."

"As to that, my fancy is for a southern clime," answered the lieutenant,
who, by-the-by, did not clearly comprehend all his captain's remarks;
"but I suppose as there are some animals, polar bears and arctic foxes,
who delight in snow and frost, so there are human beings who are content
to live on in this cheerless region."

"Not a bad notion, Alvarez," observed the captain, who continued walking
the deck, and talking much in the same strain with his officer. The
contrast between the two was very considerable. The captain, Don Hernan
Escalante, was a refined, highly-educated man. His knowledge on most
matters was extensive, if not profound; he spoke several languages, and
among them English, with a fluency few Spaniards attain. Few Spaniards
indeed of that day were equally accomplished. His first lieutenant,
Pedro Alvarez, was every inch a seaman, and like many seamen despised
all who were not so. Again the captain stopped before the chart, and
placing his finger on it, observed: "Here I hope we may anchor to-night,
opposite the capital, Lerwick. See, there is a long wide sound marked
with good anchorage, called Brassay Sound, formed by the mainland and
the island of Brassay. I wonder what sort of a city is Lerwick! It