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138 THE HISTORYgreatest Hand of Orkney *, commonly calFd theMainland, there are likewise two temples, wherethe natives believe by tradition, that the snn andmoon were worshipt: which belief of theirs is veryright, since the lesser temple is semicircnlar.Thegreater is 110 paces diameter. They know notwhat to make of two green mounts erected at theeast and west end of it: a matter nevertheless forwhich it is not difficult to account. There's atrench or ditch round each of these temples, likethat about Stonehenge; and, in short, every suchtemple had the like inclosure. Many of the stonesare above 20 or 24 foot in height above the ground,about 5 foot in breadth, and a foot or two in thickness.Some of 'em are fallen down: and thetemples are one on the east and the other on thewest side of the lake of Stennis, where it is shallowand fordable, there being a passage over bylarge stepping stones. Near the lesser temple(whicli is on the east side of the lake, as the greateron the west) there stand two stones of the samebigness with the restf; thro' the middle of one ofwhich there is a large hole, by Avhich criminals* The lies of Orkney are denominated from Orcas or Orca^which, ill Diodorus Siculus and Ptolemy, is the ancient name ofiJaithness; and this from Orc^ not a salmon (as by some interpreted)but a whale : so that in old Irish Orc^i is the WhaleIslands. The words of Diodorus are, to Je u7rox»7re;w£»cv [rn: Bp£T«yirt'v]/ty>i3t£iv /4£v KTOfovgiv us to TrtXctycv, ovc(wa.^«o-0«i h Ofnuy. Lib. 4.f Brand, pag. 44^