"Jo Ben harps on about the laziness of the Orcadians a few times" this does not explain why fully 60 percent of indentured Hudson's Bay servants in Canada by the eighteenth century were Orcadians. bill p.s. unless it was the Bay's intent to hire only underachievers. ----- Original Message ----- From: Sigurd Towrie <sigurd@orkneyjar.com> Date: Saturday, August 7, 2004 1:34 am Subject: RE: [<orcadia>] Jo Ben's Descriptio Insularum Orchadiarum > On 07 August 2004 05:22, Clint McInnes wrote: > > > This is brilliant and a real insight. Can you tell me please what > > 'slothful drones' are...???? " uneducated people of the land who are > > of bad habits, maybe > > dirty and > > of general moral decay " ... I assume...????? > > Indeed. Jo Ben harps on about the laziness of the Orcadians a few > times. > > and what then does > > 'Sheipies' translate to please....???? > > I'm still looking into this one. On first glance it would appear > to relate > to "sheep" - however I suspect there's more to it and that it's a > Norn term > the author didn't understand so simply wrote what it sounded like. > > -- > Sigurd Towrie > Blackhall - Kirbister - Stromness - Orkney > Heritage of Orkney: www.orkneyjar.com > Home: sigurd@orkneyjar.com > Work: sigurd.towrie@orcadian.co.uk > > > ==== ORCADIA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Orcadia mailing list, send an e-mail with > the word > 'unsubscribe' in the message body to orcadia-l-request@rootsweb.com > >

On 07 August 2004 15:41, Bill Irvine wrote: > "Jo Ben harps on about the laziness of the Orcadians a few > times" this does not explain why fully 60 percent of > indentured Hudson's Bay servants in Canada by the eighteenth > century were Orcadians. bill p.s. unless it was the Bay's > intent to hire only underachievers. You'll find the "laziness" of Orcadians remarked upon by a number of historical chroniclers. You have to remember that these people were usually in the upper echelons of society and connected to the landowners of the time. So obviously in their eyes the peasantry were not working hard enough...and probably never would. If someone couldn't come up with the "rent" for the landowner, the fact that the Orcadian family had to survive as well as furnish their master's coffers meant nothing. They were obviously just idle. You'll find it throughout history. Think of the "worthless saxon dogs" the Normans encountered. -- Sigurd Towrie Blackhall - Kirbister - Stromness - Orkney Heritage of Orkney: www.orkneyjar.com Home: sigurd@orkneyjar.com Work: sigurd.towrie@orcadian.co.uk

I wonder where Jo Ben came from...????? As my old uncle used to say about the English ruling classes, and to continue the 'Pommy bashing a bit longer', ...'That if they had a dunderhead of a son that he was usually put in the army (evidenced by the number of incompetent British officers over time), or in the Ministry.' This repeated itself right through till after WW2 I suspect. My McInnes line were at Culloden also and the example was not just repeated by the British. What better way to get rid of one than to send him to the northern antipodes to bring faith to the heathen and to wander about recording his insights to boot. Coming from a perceived advanced imperialist society no doubt the Orcadian looked and acted a bit like a drone (as in bee) or even a 'sheep' for that matter. I am interested in this character Jo Ben and where he hailed from.... Do we know any more ??? Note the site says ,,,no trace... so I suspect you are still on the track. Sorry about opening the can of worms. Now we have to get them back in the can. Clinton McInnes On 8/08/2004, at 9:32 AM, Sigurd Towrie wrote: > On 07 August 2004 15:41, Bill Irvine wrote: > >> "Jo Ben harps on about the laziness of the Orcadians a few >> times" this does not explain why fully 60 percent of >> indentured Hudson's Bay servants in Canada by the eighteenth >> century were Orcadians. bill p.s. unless it was the Bay's >> intent to hire only underachievers. > > You'll find the "laziness" of Orcadians remarked upon by a number of > historical chroniclers. You have to remember that these people were > usually > in the upper echelons of society and connected to the landowners of the > time. So obviously in their eyes the peasantry were not working hard > enough...and probably never would. > > If someone couldn't come up with the "rent" for the landowner, the > fact that > the Orcadian family had to survive as well as furnish their master's > coffers > meant nothing. They were obviously just idle. > > You'll find it throughout history. Think of the "worthless saxon dogs" > the > Normans encountered. > > -- > Sigurd Towrie > Blackhall - Kirbister - Stromness - Orkney > Heritage of Orkney: www.orkneyjar.com > Home: sigurd@orkneyjar.com > Work: sigurd.towrie@orcadian.co.uk > > > > ==== ORCADIA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Orcadia mailing list, send an e-mail with the > word > 'unsubscribe' in the message body to orcadia-l-request@rootsweb.com > >