PAPA-WESTRAY, an isle, in the parish of Westray,
North Isles of the county of Orkney; containing
340 inliabitants. This isle lies about three miles
north-cast 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. Its
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 there 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 of 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,
containing 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.