ORKNEY ISLANDS, which, with Shetland, form one county, separated from Caith ness by the Pentland firth (q.v.), lie between 58° 41' 24' and 59° 23' 2' u. lat., and between 2' 22' 2' and 3' 25' 10' w. long.; and are 73 iu number at low water, of which 28, besides Pomona, or the Mainland, are inhabited. The area of the Orkney islands is 610 sq.m., or 390,147 imperial acres. The surface is very irregular, and the land is indented by numerous arms of the sea. The highest hill is the Ward of Hoy, 1555 feet. The rocks are of the Old red sandstone formation, except a small granite district near Stromness. Previous to the middle of last century; the agriculture of Orkney was, in more than an ordinary degree tor the time, in a primitive state, There was little com munication then with the mainland, and improvements were slowly adopted. The spin ning-wheel, for instance, was not introduced there for half a century after it was in use. elsewhere. Until toward the end of last century, little advance seems to have been made in the management of the land, the inhabitants deeming it more important and profitable to direct their attention to the manufacture of kelp. The people used to suffer periodically from bad seasons and violent storms, when less help could Ile afforded to them from without. In 1778 a great hurricane of four hours' duration drove the sea spray over the islands. The grain crop was in consequence sea-gusted, and rendered almost worthless, and there required to be imported 18,000 bolls of meal and bere, besides other articles, costing .£45,000, or nearly twice the gross rental of ,the county. Orkney was formerly divided into 32 parishes, having 8 parish ministers. It now con tains22 parishes, forming 3 presbyteries and 1 synod. There are also about 30 congre gations belonging to the Free and United Presbyterian churches, besides 3 Independent, and one or two others.
- The temperature of Orkney is comparatively mild, considering its northern latitude. This arises partly from its being surrounded by the sea, but chiefly from the neighbor hood of the gulf stream to the western shores. For the 13 years ending 1869, the mean annual temperature was 46°; the mean temperature of January and February, the cold est months, 39'; and that of July, 55°. The annual rainfall varies from about 28 in. on the e. side of the isles to 37 iu. on the west.
The carrying-trade and merchandise of Orkney have greatly increased of late years.
The exports rose from £49,308 iu 1848 to £181,483 in 1861. According to a carefully prepared return in connection with a piers' bill, the value of exports, in 1871, exceeded £230,000. The exports are chiefly of fish and agricultural produce, of which cattle are the principal.
The total acreage in 1875 under all kinds of crops, bare fallow and grass, was 93,615; barley and bere, 5,601 acres; oats, 20,549 acres; turnips, 12,201 acres; potatoes, 3,151 acres. The number of horses in 1875 was 5,614; cattle, 25,762; sheep, 31,898; swine, 4,156. The number of occupants of land was 3,147.
The chief towns are, Kirkwall, (q.v.), the capital (situated in Pomona), and Strom ness, in which there are 3 distilleries,, producing upwards of 20,000 gallons of whisky annually; but Kirkwall is the only royal burgh in the shire. The valued rent of the Orkney islands in 1653 was .•57,149 Scots, or £4,763 sterling. The valuation (exclusive of the burgh of Kirkwall) in 1878-9 was £64,065. In 1871, inhabited houses in the Ork ney islands, 6,288; pop. 31,274. Parliarnentary constituency in 1878-79, 1287, returning one member conjointly with Shetland.
The Orkneys, under the name Oreades [whence the modern adjective, Orcadian], are mentioned by the ancient geographers, Pliny, Ptolemy, Mela, and by other classical writers, but of their inhabitants we know almost nothing till the dawn of the middle ages. They were most probably of the same stockas the British Celts. From an early period, however, the Norsemen resorted to these islands, as a convenient spot from which to make a descent on the Scotch and English coasts. In 876 Harald Haarfager con quered both them and the Hebrides. Dunn; the greater part of the 10th c. they were ruled by independent Scandinavian jaris (earls), but in 1098 they became formally subject to the Norwegian crown. Thus they remained till 1468, when they were given to James III. of Scotland as a security for the dowry of his wife, Margaret of Denmark. The islands were never redeemed from this pledge; and on the marriage of James I. with the Danish princess Anne, Denmark formally resigned all pretensions to the sov ereignty of the Orkneys. During their long connection, however, with Norway and Denmark, all traces of the primitive population disappeared. The present proprietors of land are chiefly of Scotch descent; and the inhabitants generally are a mixed race of Scandinavian and Scotch descent.