Papa-Westray

   PAPA-WESTRAY, an isle, in the parish of Westray, North Isles of the county of Orkney; containing 340 inhabitants. This isle lies about three miles north-east of Westray, and is about four miles long and one broad, having a very fertile soil, and remarkable for the excellence both of its arable and pasture land. The surface for the most part rises gently towards the middle, and terminates on the north in the well-known Mull of Papa, a bold and lofty headland, where is a cave deemed one of the greatest natural curiosities in the Orkneys. The interior of this cave presents the appearance of an immense amphitheatre; the roof, upwards of seventy feet in height, is like a regularly-built arch; the beds of rock on every side rise one above another in the form of steps of stairs, and the ground is smooth and even. The entrance is about fifty feet in width; the breadth of the middle part is about sixty, and the farthest part of the interior forty-eight feet. In the southern extremity of the island is a beautiful freshwater lake, which extends nearly across it from one side to the other; and in one part of this lake is an islet, whereon are the ruins of a chapel said to have been dedicated to a female saint named Tredwall. The island belongs almost exclusively to one proprietor, who, with his family, constantly resides upon it. Kelp in considerable quantity is manufactured by the population.