Gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

SHETLAND.
927
bourhood, as in questions of minor trespasses
on land, &c. &c. A higher court was a cir-
cuit ting, over which the Earl of Orkney pre-
sided, or, hi his absence, the great foude, so
named in contradistinction to the subordinate
or parish foudes. In his judicial capacity, the
great foude was the lawman of Shetland, and
gave doom according to the Norwegian Book
of the Law. The lawman made his circuit
round the whole of the more comprehensive
juridical districts of the country, ting sokens :
each ting soken including several minor dis-
tricts, which were severally under the subordi-
nate jurisdiction of parish foudes. He here
heard appeals against the decrees of parish
tings, and tried weightier offences, such as were
visited with heavy fines, or confiscations, or
capital punishments. A third ting was named
the lawting, because it was a legislative assem-
bly. This was held once a-year, and here also
the lawman presided. All the udallers owed
to it suit and service. The lawting was held
within a small holme or islet, situated in a
fresh water lake, the communication with the
shore being by stepping-stones. The valley
in which the lawting was situated, bore the
name of Thingv&llr, now corrupted into Ting-
wall. Here the udallers exercised the power
of reversing the decrees of inferior courts, of
trying important causes, and of legislating, or
making bye-laws for the good of the whole
community. The highest appeal was to the
king at Bergen. Having already, under the
head Orkney, presented a sketch of the his-
tory of this country after it passed under the
feudal dominion of the rapacious Stewarts, Earl
of Orkney, we may pass on to state, that, since
it submitted to the superiority of the crown in
the seventeenth century, it has paid a third of
the cess or land tax imposed on the islands of
Orkney and Shetland ; but the latter having
no valued rent, by which the right of individu-
als to vote can be ascertained, it is denied any
share in the election of a member of parlia-
ment. Orkney and Shetland form one stew-
artry or county, under the jurisdiction of one
sheriff-depute and two sheriff-substitutes. The
system of husbandry has till recent times been
in a backward condition ; the causes of which
are independent of the inclemency of the wea-
ther. Far removed from the seat of improve-
ment, and little actuated by the ordinary reasons
for a persevering industry, the Shetlanders have
hitherto been careless about those alterations
necessary to bring the country into cultivation.
They also labour under the disadvantage
of a want of roads, of which there are ab-
solutely none, except where one has been at-
tempted to no greater distance than five or
six miles west of Lerwick, The want of
roads by land is nevertheless partly supplied
by the use of boats, on the numerous fine voes
which penetrate far into the interior. In tra-
velling from place to place, the small ponies of
the country pursue their way across the wastes
without much difficulty and at no expense ;
but in sailing to and fro in boats, strangers are
often much at a loss, and the expense is consi-
derable. There is generally a piece of green
pasturage, never dug up, attached to each
house, which in the ancient language of
the country was named a setter or scater ; the
Shetlander now names it his town mails. On
this spot horses are always tethered, when
wanted for immediate use, or upon the close of
a summer day ; the small horned cattle of the
country are in like manner secured, previous
to their being lodged for the night without the
byre. The black cattle of Shetland are of a
very diminutive breed ; a cow is said to weigh
from two to three hundred weight upon an
average ; an ox from three to four, but not ex-
ceeding five hundred weight. These animals
have long small horns, and are of a brindled
white, brown, or black colour. There is ge-
nerally so little food for the cows, that during
severe winters, numbers have been known to
perish from want. A very grt-at abundance of
poultry is kept on almost every farm. The
most common tenants, however, of the enclo-
sures are the small swine peculiar to the coun-
try, which are of a dunnish white, brown, or
black colour, with a nose remarkably strong,
sharp-pointed ears, and back greatly arched,
from which long stiff bristles stand erect.
The hog is said to weigh from sixty to one
hundred lbs., and his flesh is generally lean.
The small Shetland ponies, which are barrel-
bellied, broad backed, and of a brown or black
colour, are well known throughout Scotland
by the name of shelties. The shelty is left to
feed on the hills during the whole year ; and
in the most inclement weather of winter, is
never admitted within the warm wails of a
stable, being frequently compelled to subsist on
the drift ware that is left by the ebb of the
tides. In spring, these animals are often in
such a half-starved state, owing to their scanty