WHALSAY, an island, in the parish of Nesting-LuNASTiNG-and-Whalsay, county of Shetland; containing 6'28 inhabitants. This island is situated eastward of the Mainland, on which are Nesting and Lunasting, the other portions of the parish; and is distant from it between two and three miles: the channel between is interspersed with several small isles. Whalsay is about six miles in length and three in breadth; is much indented; has a rocky shore; and the land is of the usual bleak and hilly nature of this part of Shetland, though considered on the whole as tolerably fertile. The culture of the ground is a subordinate occupation, the inhabitants, for the most part, being engaged in fishing, and drawing their chief subsistence from this pursuit. A large and very handsome mansion has been erected on the island, by Mr. Bruce, of Simbister, at the estimated cost of £20,000: it is built of fine freestone imported across the sound of Whalsay; but the edifice is considered as ill-placed, and of too expensive a description for an island so destitute of interest, and of inducements to reside upon it. One of three churches in the parish is situated here: it is a very plain structure, built in 1768, and since then new-roofed; and is visited by the minister of Nesting eleven times a year. The island is distant from Lerwick fourteen miles.