On 15 February 2004 15:09, Sue Hamilton wrote: > My son sent me a story from the NEW YORKER (Jan > 21,2002) titled "Swept Away", by T. Coraghessan Boyle. > It was about an American Ornithologist visiting the > Shetland ISlands. It seemed to me that the names, the > surroundings, and the mythic quality greatly resembled those of > Orkney. > > How great are the resemblances? Is there now or was > there ever a lot of traffic/migration back and forth? The heritage is practically identical - i.e. placenames, folklore, language etc. However the landscape is distinctly different. Shetland is more rugged, and as such less importance is laid on agriculture. To quote an oft used saying: "Orcadians are farmers with boats...Shetlanders are fishermen with farms" A good introduction to Shetland is Charles Tait's new Shetland Guidebook. -- Sigurd Towrie Blackhall - Kirbister - Stromness - Orkney Heritage of Orkney: www.orkneyjar.com Home: sigurd@orkneyjar.com Work: sigurd.towrie@orcadian.co.uk