were also held in Edinburgh for the examination of a few
witnesses residing there.

Public notice by printed bills was given of all meetings, and
circulars were also sent to all clergymen, schoolmasters, and
landed proprietors, and to all persons in the fishcuring and hosiery
trades. Evidence was received from almost all who tendered it,
from a large number of persons suggested or put forward by
employers of labour and purchasers of hosiery goods and fish, and
from many witnesses who were selected and cited.

________________________

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SHETLAND.

The Shetland Islands are upwards of a hundred in number,
varying in size from the Mainland, which is about seventy miles in
length and thirty at its greatest breadth, to small rocks not even
affording pasturage to sheep. The outlines of all the islands, as
shown on the accompanying map are very irregular, long bays or
voes indenting them so deeply that no point is more than three
miles from the sea. The country is hilly, but none of the [Page 2
rpt.] hills are very lofty. Twenty-eight of the islands are inhabited;
some of the smaller islands containing only two, or in some cases
only one family. The population in 1861 was 31,670, viz. 18,617
females, and 13,053 males. The population in 1871 was 31,605,
viz. 18,525 females, and 13,080 males. The census is taken at a
time of the year when many men who are sailors in the merchant
service are absent from their homes, which they visit once a year
or oftener. At the last census there were 6,494 families, 5,740