a small vessel, chiefly used in coasting, or carrying goods to or from a ship, in a road or bay, where the ordinary lighters cannot be managed with safety or convenience.

It would be very difficult to describe precisely the marks of distinction between this vessel and some others of the same size, which are also rigged in the same manner; because what is called a hoy in one place, would assume the name of a floop or smack in another; and even the people who navigate these vessels, have, upon examination, very vague ideas of the marks by which they are distinguished from those above mentioned. In Holland, the hoy has two masts; in England, it has but one, where the main-tail is sometimes extended by a boom, and sometimes without it. Upon the whole, it may be defined a small vessel, usually rigged as a floop, and employed for carrying passengers and luggage from one place to another, particularly on the sea-coast.

one of the Orkney islands, which lie off the north coast of Scotland, is situated between the island of Pomona and the north coast of Caithness, and is separated from the small island of Graemay by a sound of a mile broad. The whole island is nearly occupied by three large hills, of which that to the north-east rises from a broad base to the height of 1200 feet. Some veins of lead and iron have been discovered in this island. Birch trees of considerable size seem to have been produced on it in former times. But at present its vegetable productions, excepting what are fit for sheep pasture, are extremely limited. A few hardy alpine plants and stunted shrubs include the whole. The number of inhabitants does not exceed 520. The Dwarf stone is the only monument of antiquity in the island. This is a large mass of sandstone 32 feet long, 18 broad, and 7½ feet thick above the surface. It is hallowed within, and divided into three apartments, one of which, called the dwarf's bed, is five feet eight long, by two feet broad. It has probably been the retreat of a hermit. Tradition says, that it was the habitation of a giant. Waas or Waes, which is often considered as a distinct island, makes part of Hoy. It is distinguished for the excellence of its harbours, particularly the Longhope, one of the finest and safest in Europe. Waas contains 750 inhabitants.