The Cruise of the Betsey
and Rambles of a Geologist
By Hugh Miller
 A
long book subtitled The Rambles of a Geologist or Ten Thousand Miles
Over the Fossiliferous Deposits of Scotland may not at first sight
cause you to leap out to the nearest bookshop and order a copy.
If this is your first reaction you could be missing
something.
For this is a facsimile reprint of the 1858 Hugh
Miller classic work The Cruise of the Betsey.
The chance to have your own copy has come about
through funding provided by the author¹s descendants, coinciding
with a growing academic interest in the history of Victorian ideas, specifically
in geology in formulating a new view of the time.
The Betsey of the title was a Free Church yacht
used by a minister as a home when refused permission to build a manse
after the Disruption which resulted in the Church of Scotland and the
Free Church going their separate ways.
Hugh Miller, a Cromarty man, was not only an author
and amateur geologist, but also edited a religious newspaper. Dr Michael
Taylor, in his introduction, feels that the book may be seen as a classic
of travel writing comparable to William Cobbett¹s Rural Rides. It
is, he says, an evocation of the pleasures of the countryside and a powerful
polemic for justice as its author saw it.
Miller visited Orkney with "its hospitable
people". He describes in detail a visit to St Magnus Cathedral and
displays a wry humour when moving on to the Earl¹s Palace in saying
it "stands in the middle of a dense thicket of what are trying to
be trees..."
Another example of Miller¹s light touch is
his reference to the disappearance of the upper storey of the Bishop¹s
Palace "thanks to the economic burghers who converted the stately
ruin into a quarry".
He was not sorry to hear that one of two men involved
in the removal of stone blocks had died when the other man loosened one
which hit him on the head.
Substantial sections of the book are devoted to
Miller's travels in Orkney in search of fossils and interesting geological
formations. Details of theseare intermingled with descriptions of the
countryside he passes through, as well as Kirkwall and Stromness.
In his journeys he meets numerous characters
with whom he discusses topics of the day, and listens to their tales of
the past.
One such is a Mr Bremner of Wick, "known
now all over Britain for his success in raising foundering vessels"
and of whom it was said that "nothing ever baffles Mr Bremner".
Another man had failed to raise a sunken laden
coal boat with huge bags of inflated India rubber, when they had burst.
Mr Bremner succeeded by another method and was
delighted with the bonus of all that rubber. It is not recorded what he
did with it.
Miller hears about a fisherman from Graemsay,
a resolute, unsocial man with a dash of reckless humour who had married
a religiously disposed woman who belonged to a dissenting body.
Separated by sea from any place of worship he
had rarely allowed her to see the inside of a church. On a communion Sunday
in Stromness she insisted on attending.
He had got his yawl ready and had set off across
the sound but instead of going to Stromness, he sailed to a nearby holm
and ³incarcerated the poor woman for the rest of the day till evening².
This fascinating book tells us so much about the
author whose thirst for knowledge and understanding of his world brings
that world alive. That he did not live long enough to see it published
and to experience the recognition which he deserved, is tragic.
After a long period of obscurity, his genius
is seeing the light of day once more. If there is any justice it should
prevail for longer than his name carved on the Dwarfie Stone survives.
He had spotted the names of H. Ross and P. Folster, added his, and wondered
whether they would all be legible two centuries hence. Perhaps a forgivable
lapse for a modest man who saw history in stone.
I leave the final word to Prof T.C. Smout, Historiographer
Royal in Scotland.
This volume gives "the modern reader full
access to this 19th century classic, an introduction, notes and maps are
provided, as well as recommendations on places to visit".
He continues: "It is a delight to have this
book available again, as a mirror both to its age and to the qualities
of the great man who wrote it".
This "supremely instructive and entertaining
book" as Prof John Hudson of Leicester University describes it, is
published in paperback by the National Museums of Scotland at £20.
Orkney readers will delight in recognising their
familiar landscape as seen through such observant eyes 150 years ago.
An ideal bedside book, and Christmas is coming...
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