As Roman Governor of Britain, Agricola sent his fleet north to confirm that the land he was attempting to subjugate was indeed an island. In doing so, he came upon the Orkneys, described here by his son-in-law Tacitus, who acted as his chronicler. As for so many subsequent visitors to Scotland, weather dominates his first impressions.
The vast and boundless extent of land, running out in the farthest shore, contracts as it were in a wedge. The Roman fleet, having sailed for the first time the coast of this last-found sea, made certain that Britain was an island: and at the same time it discovered and subdued islands till then unknown, called Orcades. And Thule was seen, though even yet snow and winter hid it away. But they say that the sea was sluggish and heavy to the rowers, therefore not ever to be raised by winds. I think this must be because lands and mountains, the cause and matter of storms, are rare, and the deep mass of the high seas is stirred more slowly. One thing I will add: the sea nowhere has wider dominion. In divers places there are many currents, and not only against the shore does it rise or fall, but it flows in deeply, winding and piercing among hills and mountains, as if in its own habitation … The sky is foul with frequent rain and clouds: harshness of cold there is not. The length of their days is beyond the measure of our world: the night is clear, and in the farthest part of Britain so short one can scarcely tell the twilight from the dawn. But if clouds do not hinder, they say that the sun’s brightness is seen all night, and nor sets nor rises but passes across the sky … The earth is fertile and fit for fruits, save for the olive and vine and those which are accustomed to warmer lands. They spring quickly, but ripen slowly, for the same cause, much moisture of earth and sky.