Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Description of the Orkney Islands (Author: Joseph Ben)

section 17

Damsay,17.

In this island there is no hill; it is the, most temperate of all, and is by some called Tempe. There is a church in this island, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, much frequented by women. The women here are barren, and if at any time they become pregnant, they never survive the parturition. It is said that their eyebrows sometimes drop off in the course of an hour, but are afterwards restored. This island is two miles distant from Kirkwall.