THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Ofc 
 
 XV -. 
 

 
 JOURNEY 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS 
 
 OF 
 
 A NEW EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for A. STRAHAN ; and T.CADSLL, in the Strand. 
 MDCCXCI,
 
 * 
 
 v. ;*..
 
 ** 
 
 . 
 
 Strand, Oft. 26, 1785. 
 
 53- SINCE this Work was printed ofT, the Pub- 
 liftier having been informed that the Author, fome 
 years ago, had promifed the Laird of Rafay, to 
 correct, in a future edition, a paffage concerning 
 him, p. 133, thinks it a juflice due to that 
 Gentleman to infert here the Advertifement re- 
 lative to this matter, which was published, by 
 Dr. Johnfon's defire, in the Edinburgh Newf- 
 papers in the year 1775, and which has been 
 lately reprinted in Mr- Bofwell's Tour to the. 
 Hebrides: ,. 
 
 " The Authour of the Journey to the 
 " Weftern Iflands, having related that the 
 " Macleods of Rafay acknowledge the chief- 
 ct tain/hip, or fupcriorlty^ of the Macleods of 
 " Sky, finds that be has been mlfmformed or 
 miftaken. He means In a future edition to 
 cor reel bis err our, and iviftes to be told of 
 more i if more have been difcovered"
 
 JOURNEY 
 
 TO THE 
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS 
 
 OF 
 
 SCOTLAND, 
 
 I HAD defired to vifit the Hebrides, or 
 Weftern Iflands of Scotland, fo long, 
 that I fcarcely remember how the wifh was 
 originally excited; and was, in the Autumn 
 of the year 1773* induced to undertake the 
 journey, by finding in Mr. Bofwell a com- 
 panion, whofe acutenefs would help my 
 inquiry, and whofe gaiety of converfation 
 and civility of manners are fufficient to 
 
 B counteract
 
 2 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 counteract the inconveniencies of travel, 
 in countries lefs hofpitable than we have 
 pafled. 
 
 On the eighteenth of Auguft we left 
 Edinburgh, a city too well known to admit 
 defcription, and directed our courfe north- 
 ward, along the eaftern coaft of Scotland, 
 accompanied the firft day by another 
 gentleman, who could flay with us only 
 long enough to fhew us how much we loft 
 at reparation. 
 
 As we crofled the Frith of Forth, our 
 curiofity was attra&ed by Inch Keith, a 
 fmall ifland, which neither of my compa- 
 nions had ever vifited, though, lying 
 within their view, it had all their lives fo- 
 licited their notice. Here, by climbing 
 with fome difficulty over fhattered crags, 
 we made the firft experiment of unfre- 
 quented coafts. Inch Keith is nothing 
 more than a rock covered with a thin 
 
 layer
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, & c . 3 
 
 layer of earth, nor wholly bare of grafs, 
 and very fertile of thirties. A fmall herd 
 of cows grazes annually upon it in the 
 fummer. It feems never to have afforded 
 to man or beaft a permanent habitation. 
 
 We found only the ruins of a fmall fort, 
 not fo injured by time but that it might 
 be eafily reftored to its former ftate. It 
 feems never to have been intended as a 
 place of ftrength, nor was built to endure 
 a fiege, but merely to afford cover to a few 
 foldiers, who perhaps had the charge of a 
 battery, or were ftationed to give fignals 
 of approaching danger. There is there- 
 fore no provifion of water within the walls, 
 though the fpring is fo near, that it might 
 have been eafily enclofed. One of the 
 flones had this infcription : " Maria Reg. 
 cc 1564." It has probably been negleded 
 from the time that the whole ifland had 
 the fame king. 
 
 B 3 We
 
 4 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 We left this little ifland with our 
 thoughts employed awhile on the different 
 appearance that it would have made, if 
 it had been placed at the fame diftance 
 from London, with the fame facility of 
 approach ; with what emulation of price 
 a few rocky acres would have been pur- 
 chafed, and with what expenfive induftry 
 they would have been cultivated and 
 adorned. 
 
 When we landed, we found our chaife 
 ready, and paffed through Klngborn^ Kir- 
 kaldy, and Cowpar, places not unlike the 
 fmall or ftraggling market-towns in thofe 
 parts of England where commerce and 
 manufactures have not yet produced opu- 
 lence. 
 
 Though we were yet in the moft popu- 
 lous part of Scotland, and at fo fmall a 
 diftance from the capital, we met few paf- 
 fengers. . , 
 
 The
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 5 
 
 The roads are neither rough nor dirty ; 
 and it affords a fouthern ftranger a new 
 kind of pleafure to travel fo commodioufly 
 without the interruption of toll-gates. 
 Where the bottom is rocky, as it feems 
 commonly to 'be in Scotland, a finooth 
 way is made indeed with great labour, but 
 it never wants repairs ; and in thofe parts 
 where adventitious materials are neceflary, 
 the ground once confolidated is rarely 
 broken ; for the inland commerce is not 
 great, nor are heavy commodities often 
 tranfported otherwife than by water. The 
 carriages in common ufe are fmall carts, 
 drawn each by one little horfe -, and a man 
 feems to derive fome degree of dignity 
 and importance from the reputation of 
 poiTeffing a two-horfe cart. 
 
 ST. ANDREWS. 
 
 At an hour fomewhat late we came to 
 
 
 
 St. Andrews, a city once archiepifcopal ; 
 B 3 where
 
 6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 where that iniiverfity ftill fubfifts in which 
 philofophy was formerly taught by Bucha- 
 nan, whofe name has as fair a claim to 
 immortality as can be conferred by modern 
 latinity, and perhaps a fairer than the in- 
 ftability of vernacular languages admits. 
 
 We found, that by the interpofition of 
 fome invifible friend, lodgings had been 
 provided for us at the houfe of one of the 
 profeffbrs, whofe eafy civility quickly made 
 us forget that we were ftrangers ; and in 
 the whole time of our ftay we were gra- 
 tified by every mode of kindnefs, and enr 
 tertained with all the elegance of lettered 
 hofpitality. 
 
 In the morning we rofe to perambulate 
 a city, which only hiftory {hews to have 
 once flouriflied, and furveyed the ruins of 
 ancient magnificence, of which even the 
 ruins cannot long be vifible, unlefs fome 
 care be taken to preferve them; and where 
 
 is
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 7 
 
 is the pleafure of preferring fuch mournful 
 memorials ? They have been till very lately 
 fo much negle&ed, that every man carried 
 away the ftones who fancied that he wanted 
 them. 
 
 The cathedral, of which the foundations 
 may be ftill traced, and a fmall part of the 
 wall is ftanding, appears to have been a 
 fpacious and majeftick building, not un- 
 fuitablt to the primacy of the kingdom. 
 Of the architecture, the poor remains can 
 hardly exhibit, even to an artift, a fuffi- 
 cient fpecimen. It was demolifhed, as is 
 well known, in the tumult and violence of 
 Knox's reformation. 
 
 Not far from the cathedral, on the mar- 
 gin of the water, ftands a fragment of the 
 caftle, in which the archbiftiop anciently 
 refided.- It was never very large, and was 
 built with more attention to fecurity than 
 pleafure. Cardinal Beatoun is faid to have 
 
 B 4 had
 
 8 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 had workmen employed in improving its 
 fortifications at the time when he was mur? 
 dered by the ruffians of reformation, in the 
 jnanner of which Knox has given what he 
 himfelf calls a merry narrative. 
 
 The change of religion in Scotland, 
 eager and vehement as it was, raifed an 
 epidemical enthufiafm, compounded of ful- 
 Jen fcrupuloufnefs and warlike ferocity, 
 which, in a people whom idlenefs refigned 
 to their own thoughts, and who converfing 
 only with each other, fuffered no dilution 
 of their zeal from the gradual influx of 
 new opinions, was long tranfmitted in its 
 full ftrength from the old to the young, 
 but by trade and intercourfe with Eng- 
 land, is now vifibly abating, and giving 
 way too faft to that laxity of practice 
 and indifference of opinion^ in which men, 
 not fufficiently inftruded to find the middle 
 point, too eafily (belter themfelves from 
 rigour and ccnflraiqt. 
 
 The
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 9 
 
 The city of St. Andrews, when it had 
 loft its archiepifcopal pre-eminence, gra- 
 dually decayed : One of its ftreets is now 
 loft ; and in thofe that remain there is the 
 filence and folitude of inactive indigence 
 and gloomy depopulation. 
 
 The univerfity, within a few years, con- 
 fifted of three colleges, but is now reduced 
 to two; the college of St. Leonard being 
 lately diflblved by the fale of its buildings 
 and the appropriation of its revenues to the 
 profefibrs of the two others. The chapel 
 of the alienated college is yet ftanding, a 
 fabrick not inelegant of external ftru&ure ; 
 but I was always, by fome civil excufe, 
 hindered from entering it. A decent at- 
 tempt, as I was fince told, has been made 
 to convert it into a kind of green-houfe, 
 by planting its area with fhrubs. This 
 new method of gardening is unfucceff- 
 ful ; the plants do not hitherto profper. 
 To what life it will next be put, I have no 
 
 pleafure
 
 io A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 pleafure in conjecturing. , It is fomething, 
 that its prefent ftate is at leaft not often- 
 tatioufly difplayed. Where there is yet 
 fhame, there may in time be virtue. 
 
 The diflblution of St. Leonard's College 
 was doubtlefs neceflary j but of that necef- 
 fity there is reafon to complain. It is 
 furely not without juft reproach, that a 
 nation, of which the commerce is hourly 
 extending, and the wealth increafing, de 
 nies any participation of its profperity to 
 its literary focieties; and while its mer- 
 chants or its nobles are railing palaces, fuf- 
 fers its univerfities to moulder into duft. 
 
 Of the two colleges yet ftanding, one is 
 by the inftitution of its founder appro- 
 priated to Divinity. It is faid to be ca- 
 pable of containing fifty ftudents ; but more 
 than one muft occupy a chamber. The 
 library, which is of late erection, is not 
 very fpacious, but elegant and luminous. 
 
 The
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. n 
 
 The doctor, by whom it was fliewn, 
 hoped to irritate or fubdue my Englifh va- 
 nity, by telling me, that we had no fuch 
 repofitory of books in England. 
 
 St. Andrews feems to be a place 
 nently adapted to iludy and education, 
 being fituated in a populous, yet a cheap 
 country, and expofing the minds and man- 
 ners of young men neither to the levity 
 and diflblutenefs of a capital city, nor to 
 the grofs luxury of a town of commerce, 
 places naturally unpropitious to learning ; 
 in one the defire of knowledge eafily gives 
 way to the love of pleafure, and in the 
 other, is in danger of yielding to the love 
 of money. 
 
 The ftudents however are reprefented 
 as at this time not exceeding a hun- 
 dred. Perhaps it may be fome obftruc- 
 tion to their increafe that there is no 
 epifcopal chapel in tfie place. I faw no 
 
 reafon
 
 reafon for imputing their paucity to the 
 prefent profeflbrs; nor can the expence of 
 an academical education be very reafon- 
 ably objected. A ftudent of the higheft 
 clafs may keep his annual feffion, or as the 
 Englifti call it, his term, which lafts feven 
 months, for about fifteen pounds, and one 
 of lower rank for lefs than ten ; in which, 
 board, lodging, and inftruclion are all in- 
 cluded. 
 
 The chief magiftrate refident in the uni- 
 verfity, anfwering to our vice-chancellor, 
 and to the rettor magntficus on the conti- 
 nent, had commonly the title of Lord 
 Rector; but being addrefTed only as Mr. 
 Retfor in an inauguratory fpeech by the 
 prefent chancellor, he has fallen from his 
 former dignity of ftyle. Lordfhip was very 
 liberally annexed by our anceftors to any 
 ftation or character of dignity : They faid, 
 the Lord General, and Lord Ambaffador\ fo 
 we ftill fay? my Lord, to the judge upon the 
 
 circuit.
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 13 
 
 circuit, and yet retain in our Liturgy tie 
 Lords of the Council. 
 
 In walking among the ruins of reli- 
 gious buildings, we came to two vaults 
 over which had formerly flood the houfe 
 of the fub- prior. One of the vaults was 
 inhabited by an old woman, who claimed 
 the right of abode there, as the widow of 
 a man whofe anceftors had poflefled the 
 fame gloomy manfion for no lefs than four 
 generations. The right, however it began, 
 was confidered as eftablifhed by legal pre- 
 fcription, and the old woman lives undif- 
 turbed. She thinks however that ftie has 
 a claim to fomething more than fuffer- 
 ance ; for as her hufband's name was 
 Bruce, fhe is allied to royalty, and told 
 Mr. Bofwell that when there were perfons 
 of quality in the place, fhe was difKnguifhed 
 by fome notice ; that indeed {he is now 
 neglected, but (he fpins a thread, has the 
 
 company
 
 14 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 company of her cat, and is troublefome to 
 nobody. 
 
 Having now feen whatever this ancient 
 city offered to our curiofity, we left it with 
 good wiflies, having reafon to be highly 
 pleafed with the attention that was paid 
 us. But whoever furveys the world muft 
 fee many things that give him pain. The 
 kindnefs of the profeflbrs did not contri- 
 bute to abate the uneafy remembrance of 
 an univerfity declining, a college alienated, 
 and a church profaned and haftening to 
 the ground. 
 
 St. Andrews indeed has formerly fuf- 
 fered more atrocious ravages and more ex- 
 tenfive deftru&ion, but recent evils affect 
 with greater force. We were reconciled to 
 the fight of archiepifcopal ruins. The di- 
 ftance of a calamity from the prefent time 
 feems to preclude the mind from contact 
 
 or
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 15 
 
 or fympathy. Events long pad are barely 
 known; they are not confidered. We read 
 with as little emotion the violence of Knox 
 and his followers, as the irruptions of Al- 
 aric and the Goths. Had the univerfity 
 been deftroyed two centuries ago, we fhould 
 not have regretted it ; but to fee it pining 
 in decay and ftruggling for life, fills the 
 mind with mournful images and ineffec- 
 tual wifhes. 
 
 ABERBROTHICK. 
 
 As we knew forrow and wifhes to be 
 vain, it was now our bufmefs to mind our 
 way. The roads of Scotland afford little 
 diverfion to the traveller, who feldom fees 
 himfelf either encountered or overtaken, 
 and who has nothing to contemplate but 
 grounds that have no vifible boundaries, 
 or are feparated by walls of loofe ftone. 
 From the bank of the Tweed to St. An- 
 5 drews
 
 16 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 drews I had never feen a fingle tree; 
 which I did not believe to have grown 
 up far within the prefent century. Now 
 and then about a gentleman's houfe ftands 
 a fmall plantation, which in Scotch is called 
 a policy, but of thefe there are few, 
 and thofe few all very young. The va- 
 riety of fun and fhade is here utterly un- 
 known. There is no tree for either fliel- 
 ter or timber. The oak and the thorn is 
 equally a ftranger, and the whole country 
 is extended in uniform nakednefs, ex- 
 cept that in the road between KirkaUy 
 and Cowpar, I pafled for a few yards 
 between two hedges. A tree might be 
 a fhow in Scotland as a horfe in Venice. 
 
 At St. Andrews Mr. Bofwell found only 
 
 * 
 
 one, and recommended it to my notice; I 
 told him that it was rough and low, or 
 looked as if I thought fo. This, faid he, is 
 nothing to another a few miles off. I was 
 ftill lefs delighted to hear that another tree 
 was not to be feen nearer. Nay, faid a 
 
 gentleman
 
 'WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 17. 
 
 gentleman that flood by, I know but of 
 this and that tree in the county. 
 
 The Lowlands of Scotland had once un- 
 doubtedly an equal portion of woods with 
 other countries, Forefts are every where 
 gradually diminifhed, as archite&ure and 
 cultivation prevail by the increafe of peo- 
 ple and the introduction of arts. But I 
 believe few regions have been denuded like 
 this, where many centuries muft have 
 palTed in wafte without the leaft thought 
 of future fupply. Davies obferves in his 
 account of Ireland, that no Irifhman had 
 ever planted an orchard. For that neg- 
 ligence fome excufe might be drawn from 
 an unfettled ftate of life, and the inftabi- 
 lity of property ; but in Scotland pofTeflion 
 has long been fecure, and inheritance re- 
 gular, yet it may be doubted whether be- 
 fore the Union any man between Edinburgh 
 and England had ever fet a tree. 
 
 G Of
 
 i8 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Of this improvidence no other account 
 can be given than that it probably began 
 in times of turnulr, and continued becaufe 
 it had begun. Eftablifhed cuflom is not 
 eafily broken, till fome great event (hakes 
 the whole fyftem of things, and life feems 
 to recommence upon new principles. That 
 before the Union the Scots had little trade 
 and little money, is no valid apology ; for 
 plantation is the lead expenfive of all me- 
 thods of improvement. To drop a feed 
 into the ground can coft nothing, and the 
 trouble is not great of protecting the 
 young plant, till it is out of danger ; 
 though it mufl: be allowed to have fome 
 difficulty in places like thefe, where they 
 have neither wood for palifades, nor thorns 
 for hedges. 
 
 Our way was over the Firth of Tay, 
 *vhere, though the water was not wide, we 
 paid four (hillings for ferrying the chaife. 
 la Scotland the neceffaries of life are eafily 
 
 procured,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, Sec. 19 
 
 procured, but fuperfluities and elegancies 
 are of the fame price at leaft as in Eng- 
 land, and therefore may be confidered as 
 much dearer. 
 
 We flopped a while at Dundee, where I 
 remember nothing remarkable, and mount- 
 ing our chaife again, came about the clofe 
 of the day to Aberbrothick. 
 
 The monaftery of Aberbrothick is of 
 great renown in the hiftory of Scotland. 
 Its ruins afford ample teftimony of its an- 
 cient magnificence : Its extent might, I 
 fuppofe, eafily be found by following the 
 walls among the grafs and weeds, and 
 its height is known by fome parts yet 
 {landing. The arch of one of the gates 
 is entire, and of another only fo far di- 
 lapidated as to diverfify the appearance. A 
 fquare apartment of great loftinefs is yet 
 (landing; its ufe I could not conjecture, 
 as its elevation was very difproportionate 
 
 C 2 tO
 
 20 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 to its area. Two corner towers particu- 
 larly attracted our attention. Mr. Bofwell, 
 whofe inquifitivenefs is feconded by great 
 activity, fcrambled in at a high window, 
 but found the flairs within broken, and 
 could not reach the top. Of the other 
 tower we were told that the inhabitants 
 fometimes climbed it, but we did not 
 immediately difcern the entrance, and as 
 the night was gathering upon us, thought 
 proper to defift. Men fkilled in architec- 
 ture might do what we did not attempt : 
 They might probably form an exact ground- 
 plot of this venerable edifice. They may 
 from fome parts yet ftanding conjecture 
 its general form, and perhaps by comparing 
 it with other buildings of the fame kind 
 and the fame age, attain an idea very near 
 to truth. I fhould fcarcely have regretted 
 my journey, had it afforded nothing more 
 than the fight of Aberbrothick. 
 
 MON-
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 21 
 
 MONTROSE. 
 
 Leaving thefe fragments of magnificence, 
 we travelled on to Montrofe, which we fur- 
 veyed in the morning, and found it well 
 built, airy, and clean. The town-houfe is 
 a handfome fabrick with a portico. We 
 then went to view the Englifh chapel, and 
 found a fmall church, clean to a degree 
 unknown in any other part of Scotland, 
 with commodious galleries, and what was 
 yet lefs expected, with an organ. 
 
 At our inn we did not find a reception 
 fuch as we thought proportionate to the 
 commercial opulence of the place; but Mr. 
 Bofwell defired me to obferve that the inn- 
 keeper was an Engli(hman, and I then de- 
 fended him as well as I could. 
 
 When I had proceeded thus far, I had 
 
 opportunities of obferving what I had ne- 
 
 C 3 ver
 
 2 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 ver heard, that there were many beggars in 
 Scotland. In Edinburgh the proportion is, 
 I think, not lefs than in London, and in 
 the fmaller places it is far greater than in 
 EngliQi towns of the fame extent. It 
 muft, however, be allowed that they are 
 not importunate, nor clamorous. They 
 folicit filently, or very modeftly, and there- 
 fore though their behaviour may ftrike 
 with more force the heart of a ftranger, 
 they are certainly in danger of miffing the 
 attention of their countrymen. Novelty 
 has always fome power, an unaccuftomed 
 mode of begging excites an unaccuftomed 
 degree of pity. But the force of novelty 
 is by its own nature foon at an end ; the 
 efficacy of outcry and perfeverance is per- 
 manent and certain. 
 
 The road from Montrofe exhibited a 
 continuation of the fame appearances. The 
 country is ftill naked, the hedges are of 
 ftone, and the fields fo generally plowed 
 
 that
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 23 
 
 that it is hard to imagine where grafs is 
 found for the horfes that till them. The 
 harveft, which was almoft ripe, appeared 
 very plentiful. 
 
 Early in the afternoon Mr. Bofwell ob- 
 ferved that we were at no great diftance 
 from the houfe of Lord Monboddo. The 
 magnetifm of his converfation eafily drew 
 us out of our way, and the entertainment 
 which we received would have been a fuf- 
 ficient recompence for a much greater de- 
 viation. 
 
 The roads beyond Edinburgh, as they 
 are lefs frequented, muft be expected to 
 grow gradually rougher ; but they were 
 hitherto by no means incommodious. We 
 travelled on with the gentle pace of a 
 Scotch driver, who having no rivals in ex- 
 pedition, neither gives himfelf nor his 
 horfes unneceflary trouble. We did not 
 affect the impatience we did not feel, but 
 C 4
 
 14 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 were fatisfied with the company of each 
 other as well riding in the chaife, as fitting 
 at an inn. The night and the day arc 
 equally folitary and equally fafe ; for where 
 there are fo few travellers, why fhould therej 
 be robbers ? 
 
 ABERDEEN. 
 
 We came fomewhat late to Aberdeen, 
 and found the inn fo full, that we had 
 fome difficulty in obtaining admifHon, till 
 Mr. Bofwell made himfelf known : His 
 name overpowered all objection, and we 
 found a very good houfe and civil treat- 
 ment. 
 
 I received the next day a very kind let- 
 ter from Sir Alexander Gordon, whom I 
 had formerly known in London, and after 
 a ceflation of all intercourfe for near twenty 
 years met here profeflfor of phyfic in 
 the King's College. Such unexpected 
 3 renewals
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 25 
 
 renewals of acquaintance may be num- 
 bered among the moft pleafing incidents of 
 life. 
 
 The knowledge of one profeflbr foo.n 
 procured me the notice of the reft, and I 
 did not want any token of regard, being 
 conducted wherever there was any thing 
 which I defired to fee, and entertained at 
 once with the novelty of the place, and the 
 kindnefs of communication. 
 
 To write of the cities of our own ifland 
 with the folemnity of geographical defcrip- 
 tion, as if we had been caft upon a newly 
 difcovered coaft, has the appearance of 
 very frivolous orientation ; yet as Scot- 
 land is little known to the greater part 
 of thofe who may read thefe obfervations, 
 it is not fuperfluous to relate, that under the 
 name of Aberdeen are comprifed two towns 
 {landing about a mile diftant from each 
 
 other,
 
 26 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 other, but governed, I think, by the fame 
 magiftrates. 
 
 Old Aberdeen is the ancient epifcopal 
 city, in which are ftill to be feen the re- 
 mains of the cathedral. It has the ap- 
 pearance of a town in decay, having been 
 fituated in times when commerce was yet 
 unftudied, with very little attention to the 
 commodities of the harbour. 
 
 New Aberdeen has all the buftle of pro- 
 fperous trade, and all the fhow of increaf- 
 ing opulence. It is built by the water- 
 fide. The houfes are large and lofty, and 
 the ftreets fpacious and clean. They build 
 almoft wholly with the granite ufed in the 
 new pavement of the ftreets of London, 
 which is well known not to want hardnefs, 
 yet they fhape it eafily. It is beautiful and 
 mufl be very lafting. , 
 
 What
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 117 
 
 What particular parts of commerce are 
 chiefly exercifed by the merchants of Aber- 
 deen, I have not inquired. The manu- 
 facture which forces itfelf upon a ftranger's 
 eye is that of knit-ftockings, on which 
 the women of the lower clafs are vifibly 
 employed. 
 
 In each of thefe towns there is a col- 
 lege, or in ftricler language, an univer- 
 fity ; for in both there are profeflbrs of 
 the fame parts of learning, and the col- 
 leges hold their ieflions and confer degrees 
 feparately, with total independence of one 
 on the other. 
 
 In Old Aberdeen (lands the King's Col- 
 lege, of which the firft prefident was 
 Heftor Boece, or Boethius, who may be 
 juftly reverenced one of the revivers of ele- 
 gant learning. When he ftudied at Paris, 
 he was acquainted with Erafmus, who af- 
 terwards gave him a publick teftimony pf 
 
 hit
 
 * .A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 :his efkem, by infcribing to him a cata- 
 logue of his works. The ftyle of Boethius, 
 though, perhaps, not always rigoroufly 
 pure, is formed with great diligence upon 
 ancient models, and wholly uninfeded 
 with monadic barbarity. His hiftory is 
 written with elegance and vigour, but his 
 fabuloufnefs and credulity are juftly blamed. 
 
 -His fabuloufnefs, if he was the author of 
 the fictions, is a fault for which no apo- 
 
 -logy can be made; but his credulity may 
 
 -be excufed in an age, when all men were 
 credulous. Learning was then rifing on 
 
 -the world; but ages fo long accuftomed to 
 darknefs, were too much dazzled with its 
 light to fee any thing diftindtly. The 
 firft race of fcholars in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, and fome time after, were, for the 
 moft part, learning to fpeak, rather than 
 
 " to think, and were therefore more fludious 
 of elegance than of truth. The contem- 
 poraries of Boethius thought it fufficient to 
 
 know what the ancients had delivered. 
 
 The
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. *$ 
 
 The examination of tenets and of fads 
 was referved for another generation. 
 
 Boethius, as prefident of the univerfity, 
 enjoyed a revenue of forty Scottifh marks, 
 about two pounds four {hillings and fix- 
 pence of fterling money. In the prefent 
 age of trade and taxes, it is difficult even 
 for the imagination fo to raife the value of 
 money, or fo to diminim the demands 
 of life, as to fuppofe four and forty {hil- 
 lings a year, an honourable ftipend ; yet 
 it was probably equal, not only to the 
 needs, but to the rank of Boethius. The 
 wealth of England was undoubtedly to that 
 of Scotland more than five to one, and it 
 is known that Henry the Eighth, among 
 wliofe faults avarice was never reckoned, 
 granted to Roger Afcham, as a reward of 
 his learning, a penfion of 10 pounds a year. 
 
 The other, called the Marifchal College, is 
 in the new town. The hall is large and well 
 
 lighted.
 
 30 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 lighted. One of its ornaments is the pic- 
 ture of Arthur Johnfton, who was princi- 
 pal of the college, and who holds among 
 the Latin poets of Scotland the next place 
 to the elegant Buchanan. 
 
 In the library I was {hewn fome curi- 
 ofities ; a Hebrew manufcript of exquifite 
 penmanfhip, and a Latin tranflation of 
 Ariftotle's Politicks by Leonardus Aretinus y 
 written in the Roman character with nicety 
 and beauty, which, as the art of printing 
 has made them no longer neceflary, are 
 not now to be found. This was one of 
 the lateft performances of the tranfcribers, 
 for Aretinus died but about twenty years 
 before typography was invented. This 
 verfion has been printed, and may be found 
 in libraries, but is little read ; for the fame 
 books have been fince tranflated both by 
 Viftorius and Lambinus, who lived in an 
 age more cultivated ; but perhaps owed in 
 
 part
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 31 
 
 part to Aretinus that they were able to 
 excel him. Much is due to thofe who 
 firft broke the way to knowledge, and left 
 only to their fucceffors the tafk of fmooth- 
 ing it. 
 
 In both thefe colleges the methods of in- 
 ftruclion are nearly the fame ; the lectures 
 differing only by the accidental difference 
 of diligence, or ability in the profeflbrs. 
 The ftudents wear fcarlet gowns and the 
 profeflbrs black, which is, I believe, the 
 academical drefs in all the Scottijh univer- 
 fities, except that of Edinburgh, where 
 the fcholars are not diftingtiifhed by any 
 particular habit. In the King's College 
 there is kept a publick table, but the fcho- 
 lars of the Marifchal College are boarded 
 in the town. The expence of living is 
 here, according to the information that I 
 could obtain, fomewhat more than at St. 
 Andrews. 
 
 The
 
 32 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 The courfe of education is extended to 
 four years, at the end of which thofe who 
 take a degree, who are not many, become 
 matters of arts, and whoever is a mafter 
 may, if he pleafes, immediately commence 
 doctor. The title of doctor, however, was 
 for a confiderablc time beftowed only on 
 phyficians. The advocates are examined 
 and approved by their own body ; the mi- 
 nifters were not ambitious of titles, or were 
 afraid of being cenfured for ambition ; and 
 the doctorate in every faculty was com- 
 trionly given or fold into other countries* 
 The minifters are now reconciled to diftinc- 
 tion, and as it muft always happen that 
 fome will excel others, have thought gra- 
 duation a proper teftimony of uncommon 
 abilities or acquifitions. 
 
 The indifcriminate collation of degrees 
 has juftly taken away that refpect which 
 they originally claimed as ftamps, by which 
 the literary value of men fo diftinguifhed 
 
 was
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 33 
 
 was authoritatively denoted. That aca- 
 demical honours, or any others, ftiould be! 
 conferred with exact proportion to merit* 
 is more than human judgment or hu- 
 man integrity have given reafon to ex- 
 pect* Perhaps degrees in univerfities can-* 
 not be better adjufted by any general rule$ 
 than by the length of time pafled in the 
 public profeffion of learning. An Englifh 
 or Irifh doctorate cannot be obtained by a 
 very young man, and it is reafonable to 
 fuppofe, what is likewife by experience 
 commonly found true, that he who is by 
 age qualified to be a doctor, has in fo 
 much time gained learning fufficient not 
 to difgrace the title, or wit fufficient not 
 to defire it. 
 
 The Scotch univerfities hold but one 
 term or feffion in the year. That of St. 
 Andrews continues eight months, that of 
 Aberdeen only five, from the firft of No* 
 vember to the firft of April* 
 
 D Irt
 
 34 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 In Aberdeen there is an Englifh chapel* 
 in which the congregation was numerous 
 and fplendid. The form of public wor- 
 fhip ufed by the church of England is in 
 Scotland legally praclifed in licenfed cha- 
 pels, ferved by clergymen of Englifh or 
 Irifh ordination, and by tacit connivance 
 quietly permitted in feparate congregations 
 fupplied with minifters by the fucceflbrs 
 of the bifhops who were deprived at the 
 Revolution. 
 
 We came to Aberdeen on Saturday 
 Auguft 21. On Monday we were invited 
 into the town-hall, where I had the free- 
 dom of the city given me by the Lord 
 Provoft. The honour conferred had all the 
 decorations that politenefs could add, and 
 what I am afraid I fhould not have had to 
 fay of -any city fouth of the Tweed, I 
 found no petty officer bowing for a fee. 
 
 The
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 3$ 
 
 The parchment containing the record of 
 admiffion, is with the feal appending, 
 fattened to a riband, and worn for one day 
 by the new citizen in his hat. 
 
 By a lady who faw us at the chapel, the 
 Earl of Errol was informed of our arrival, 
 and we had the honour of an invitation to 
 his feat, called Slanes Caftle, as I am told, 
 improperly, from the caftle of that name* 
 which once ftood at a place not far diftanU 
 
 The road beyond Aberdeen grew more 
 ftony, -and continued equally naked of all 
 vegetable decoration. We travelled over 
 a trad of ground near the fea, which, not 
 long ago, fuffered a very uncommon and 
 unexpected calamity. The fand of the 
 fliore was raifed by a tempeft in fuch quan- 
 tities, and carried to fuch a diftance, that 
 an eftate was overwhelmed and loft. Such 
 and fo hopelefs was the barrennefs fuperin- 
 duced, that the owner, when he was re- 
 D 2 quired
 
 36 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 quired to pay the ufual tax, defired rather 
 to refign the ground. 
 
 SLANES CASTLE. THE 
 BULLER OF BUCHAN. 
 
 We came in the afternoon to Slanes 
 Caftle> built upon the margin of the fea, 
 fo that the walls of one of the towers feem 
 only a continuation of a perpendicular 
 rock, the foot of which is beaten by the 
 wave*. To walk round the houfe feemed 
 impracticable* From the windows the eye 
 wanders over the fea that feparates Scot- 
 land from Norway, and when the winds 
 beat with violence, muft enjoy all the ter- 
 rifick grandeur of the tempeftuous ocean. 
 I would not for my amufement wifh for 
 a ftorm; but as ftorms, whether wifhed or 
 not, will fometimes happen, I may fay 
 without violation of humanity, that I 
 fhould willingly look out upon them from 
 Slanes Caftle. 
 
 When
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 37 
 
 When we were about to take our leave, 
 our departure was prohibited by the Coun- 
 tefs, till we fhould have feen two places 
 upon the coaft, which fhe rightly confi- 
 dered as worthy of curiofity, Dun Buy, 
 and the Buller of Bucban, to which Mr. 
 J3oyd very kindly conducted us. 
 
 Dun Buy, which in Erfe is faid to fig- 
 nify the Tel/ow-Rcck, is a double protu- 
 berance of flone, open to the main fea on 
 one fide, and parted from the land by a 
 very narrow channel on the other, It has 
 its name and its colour from the dung 
 of innumerable fea- fowls, which in the 
 Spring chufe this place as convenient for 
 incubation, and have their eggs and their 
 young taken in great abundance. One of 
 the birds that frequent this rock has, as 
 we were told, its body not larger than a 
 duck's, and yet lays eggs as large as thofe 
 of a goofe. This bird is by the inha- 
 D 3 bitants
 
 38 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 bitants named a Coot. That which is 
 called Coot in England, is here a Coofer. 
 
 Upon thefe rocks there was nothing that 
 could long detain attention, and we foon 
 turned our eyes to the Bulkr, or Bouilloir 
 of Buchan^ which no man can fee with in- 
 difference, who has either fenfe of dan-? 
 ger or delight in rarity. It is a rock per- 
 pendicularly tubulated, united on one fide 
 with a high fhore, and on the other rifing 
 fteep to a great height, above the main 
 fea. The top is open, from which may 
 be feen a dark gulf of water which flows 
 into the cavity, through a breach made in 
 the lower part of the inclofing rock. It 
 has the appearance of a vaft well bordered 
 with a wall. The edge of the Buller is 
 not wide, and to thofe that walk round, 
 appears very narrow. He that ventures to 
 look downward fees, that if his foot fhould 
 flip, he muft fall from his dreadful ele- 
 vation
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 39 
 
 vation upon ftones on one fide or into the 
 water on the other. We however went 
 round, and were glad when the circuit was 
 completed. 
 
 When we came down to the fea, we faw 
 fome boats, and rowers, and refolved to 
 explore the Buller, at the Bottom. We 
 entered the arch, which the water had 
 made, and found ourfelves in a place, which, 
 though we could not think ourfelves in dan- 
 ger, we could fcarcely furvey without fome 
 recoil of the mind. The bafon in which 
 we floated was nearly circular, perhaps 
 thirty yards in diameter. We were in- 
 clofed by a natural wall, rifing fteep on 
 every fide to a height which produced the 
 idea of infurmountable confinement. The 
 interception of all lateral light caufed a 
 difmal gloom. Round us was a perpen- 
 dicular rock, above us the diftant Iky, and 
 below an unknown profundity of water. 
 If I had any malice againft a walking fpi- 
 D 4 rit,
 
 40 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 rit, inftead of laying him in the Red-fea, 
 I would condemn him to refide in the 
 Buller of Buchan, 
 
 But terrour without danger is only one 
 of the fports of fancy, a voluntary agita- 
 tion of the mind that is permitted no longer 
 than it pleafes. We were foon at leifure 
 to examine the place with minute in- 
 fpeclion, and found many cavities which, 
 as the watermen told us, went backward 
 to a depth which they had never explored. 
 Their extent we had not time to try j they 
 are faid to/erve different purpofes. Ladies 
 come hither fometimes in the fummer with 
 collations, and fmugglers make them ftore- 
 houfes for clandeftine merchandife. It is 
 hardly to be doubted but the pirates of an- 
 cient times often ufed them as magazines 
 of arms, or repofitories of plunder. 
 
 To the little veflels ufed by the northern 
 the Buller may have ferved as a 
 
 fhelter
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 4* 
 
 flielter from ftorms, and perhaps as a re- 
 treat from enemies; the entrance might 
 have been (lopped, or guarded with little 
 difficulty, and though the veflels that were 
 flationed within would have been battered 
 with ftones fhowered on them from above, 
 yet the crews would have lain fafe in the 
 caverns. 
 
 Next morning we continued our jour- 
 ney, pleafed with our reception at Slanes 
 Caftle, of which we had now leifure to 
 recount the grandeur and the elegance ; 
 for our way afforded us few topics of con- 
 verfation. The ground was neither uncul- 
 tivated nor unfruitful ; but it was flill all 
 arable. Of flocks or herds there was no 
 appearance. I had now travelled two hun- 
 dred miles in Scotland, and feen only one 
 tree not younger than myfelf. 
 
 BAMFF.
 
 4* A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 We dined this day at the houfe of Mr. 
 Frazer of Streicbton, who fhewed us in his 
 grounds fome ftones yet Handing of a 
 druidkal circle, and what I began to think 
 more worthy of notice, fome foreft trees of 
 full growth. 
 
 At night we came to Bamff, where I 
 remember nothing that particularly claimed 
 my attention. The ancient towns of Scot- 
 land have generally an appearance unufual 
 to Englifhmen. The houfes, whether great 
 or fmall, are for the mod part built of 
 ftones. Their ends are now and then next 
 the ftreets, and the entrance into them is 
 very often by a flight of fteps, which reaches 
 up to the fecond ftory. The floor which is 
 level with the ground, being entered only 
 by flairs defcending within the houfe. 
 
 The
 
 The art of joining fquares of glafs with 
 lead is little ufed in Scotland, and in fome 
 places is totally forgotten. The frames of 
 their windows are all of wood. They are 
 more frugal of their glafs than the Englifh, 
 and will often, in houfes not otherwife 
 mean, compofe a fquare of two pieces, not 
 joining like cracked glafs, but with one 
 edge laid perhaps half an inch over the 
 other. Their windows do not move upon 
 hinges, but are pufhed up and drawn 
 down in grooves, yet they are feldom ac-p 
 commodated with weights and pullies. He 
 that would have his window open muft 
 hold it with his hand, unlefs what may be 
 fometimes found among good contrivers, 
 there be a nail which he may flick into a 
 hole, to keep it from falling. 
 
 What cannot be done without fome un- 
 common trouble or particular expedient, 
 will not often be done at all. The incom- 
 modioufnefs of the Scotch windows keeps 
 4 them
 
 44 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 them very clofely fhut. The neceflity of 
 ventilating human habitations has not yet 
 been found by our northern neighbours; 
 and even in houfes well built and elegantly 
 furnifhed, a ftranger may be fometimes 
 forgiven, if he allows himfelf to wifli for 
 frefher air, 
 
 Thefe diminutive obfervations feem to 
 take away fomething from the dignity of 
 writing, and therefore are never commu- 
 nicated but with hefitation, and a little fear 
 of abafement and contempt. But it muft 
 be remembered, that life confifts not of a 
 feries of illuftrious actions, or elegant en- 
 joyments i the greater part of our time 
 pafles in compliance with neceflities, in the 
 performance of daily duties, in the re- 
 moval of fmall inconveniencies, in the pro- 
 curement of petty pleafures ; and we are 
 well or ill at eafe, as the main ftream of 
 life glides on fmoothly, or is ruffled by 
 {mall obflacles and frequent interruption. 
 
 The
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c, 4$ 
 
 The true ftate of every nation is the ftate 
 of common life. The manners of a people 
 are not to be found in the fchools of learn* 
 ing, or the palaces of greatnefs, where the 
 national character is obfcured of oblite- 
 rated by travel or inftrudion, by philo- 
 fophy or vanity ; nor is public happinefs 
 to be eftimated by the aflemblies of the gay, 
 or the banquets of the rich. The great 
 mafs of nations is neither rich nor gay : 
 they whofe aggregate conftitutes the people, 
 are found in the ftreets, and the villages, 
 in the fhops and farms; and from then! 
 collectively confidered, muft the meafure 
 of general profperity be taken. As they 
 approach to delicacy a nation is refined, as 
 their conveniences are multiplied, a na- 
 tion, at leaft a commercial nation, muft be 
 
 
 denominated wealthy. 
 
 ELGIN.
 
 46 A JOURNEY TO tHfi 
 
 ELGIN. 
 
 Finding nothing to detain us at BamfF$ 
 we fet out in the morning, and having 
 breakfafted at Cullen, about noon came to 
 Elgin^ where in the inn, that we fuppofed the 
 bed, a dinner was fet before us, which we 
 could not eat. This was the firft time, and 
 except one, the laft, that I found any rea- 
 fon to complain of a Scottifh table ; and fuch 
 difappointments, I fuppofe, muft be ex- 
 pected in every country, where there is 
 no great frequency of travellers. 
 
 The ruins of the cathedral of Elgin 
 afforded us another proof of the wafte of 
 reformation. There is enough yet re- 
 maining to fhew, that it was once magni-* 
 ficent. Its whole plot is eafily traced. On 
 the north fide of the choir, the chapter- 
 houfe, which is roofed with an arch of 
 ' ftone, remains entire ; and on the fouth 
 fide, another mafs of building, which we 
 
 could
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 47 
 
 could not enter, is preferved by the care 
 of the family of Gordon -, but the body of 
 the church is a mafs of fragments. 
 
 A paper was here put into our hands, 
 which deduced from fufficient authorities 
 the hiftory of this venerable ruin. The 
 church of Elgin had, in the imeftine tU* 
 mults of the barbarous ages, been laid 
 wafte by the irruption of a highland 
 chief, whom the bifliop had offended ; 
 but it was gradually reftored to the ftate* 
 of which the traces may be now difcerned* 
 and was at laft not deftroyed by the tu- 
 multuous violence of Knox, but more 
 {hamefully fuffered to dilapidate by deli- 
 berate robbery and frigid indifference* 
 There is ftill extant, in the books of the 
 council, an order, of which I cannot re^ 
 member the date, but which was doubtlefs 
 iflued after the reformation, directing that 
 the lead, which covers the two cathedrals 
 of Elgin and Aberdeen, fhall be taken 
 
 away*
 
 43 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 away, and converted into money for the 
 fupport of the army. A Scotch army was 
 in thofe times very cheaply kept ; yet the 
 lead of two churches muft have born fo 
 fmall a proportion to any military expence, 
 that it is hard not to believe the reafon 
 alleged to be merely popular, and the 
 money intended for fome private purfe. 
 The order however was obeyed j the two 
 churches were ftripped, and the lead was 
 fhipped to be fold in Holland. I hope 
 every reader will rejoice that this cargo of 
 facrilege was loft at fea. 
 
 Let us not however make too much hafte 
 to defpife our neighbours. Our own ca*- 
 thedrals are mouldering by unregarded di- 
 lapidation. It feems to be part of the def* 
 picable philofophy of the time to defpife mo- 
 numents of facred magnificence, and we are 
 in danger of doing that deliberately, which 
 the Scots did not do but in the unfettled 
 ftate of an imperfect conftitution. 
 
 Thofe
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 49 
 
 Thofe who had once uncovered the ca- 
 thedrals never wiflied to cover them again: 
 and being thus made ufelefs, they were firft 
 neglected, and perhaps, as the ftone was 
 wanted, afterwards demolifhed. 
 
 Elgin feems a place of little trade, and 
 thinly inhabited. The epifcopal cities of 
 Scotland, I believe, generally fell with their 
 churches, though fome of them have fince 
 recovered by a fituation convenient for 
 commerce. Thus Glafgow y though it has 
 no longer an archbifhop, has rifen beyond 
 its original ftate by the opulence of its 
 traders; and Aberdeen, though its ancient 
 (lock had decayed, flourifhes by a new 
 fhoot in another place. 
 
 la the chief ftreet of Elgin, the houfes 
 jut over the loweft ftory, like the old 
 buildings- of timber in London, but with 
 greater prominence; fo that there is fome- 
 times a walk for a confiderable length 
 
 E under
 
 50 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 under a cloifter, or portico, which is now 
 indeed frequently broken, becaufe the new 
 houfes have another form, but feems to 
 have been uniformly continued in the old 
 city. 
 
 FORES. CALDER. FORT GEORGE. 
 
 We went forwards the fame day to 
 Fores, the town to which Macbeth was 
 travelling, when he met the weird fitters 
 in his way. This to an Englifhman is 
 claflic ground. Our imaginations were 
 heated, and our thoughts recalled to their 
 old amufements. 
 
 * 
 
 We had now a prelude to the High- 
 lands. We began to leave fertility and cul- 
 ture behind us, and faw for a great length 
 of road nothing but heath ; yet at Focba- 
 bars t a feat belonging to the duke of 
 Gordon, there is an orchard, which in 
 
 Scotland
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 51 
 
 Scotland I had never feen before, with fome 
 timber trees, and a plantation of oaks. 
 
 At Fores we found good accommoda- 
 tion, but nothing worthy of particular re- 
 mark, and next morning entered upon the 
 road, on which Macbeth heard the fatal 
 prediction ; but we travelled on not inter- 
 rupted by promifes of kingdoms, and came 
 to Nairn, a royal burgh, which, if once 
 it flouriflied, is now in a ftate of miferable 
 
 decav : but I know not whether its chief 
 
 j * 
 
 annual magiftrate has not flill the title of 
 Lord Provoft. 
 
 At Nairn we may fix the verge of the 
 Highlands ; for here I firft faw peat fires, 
 and firft heard the Erfe language. We 
 had no motive to ftay longer than to break- 
 faft, and went forward to the houfe of 
 Mr. Macaulay, the minifter who publifhed 
 an account of St. Kilda* and by his di- 
 re&ion vifited Calder Caftle, from which 
 E 2 Macbeth
 
 52 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Macbeth drew his fecond title. It has 
 been formerly a place of ftrength. The 
 draw-bridge is flill to be feen, but the 
 moat is now dry. The tower is very an- 
 cient. Its walls are of great thicknefs, 
 arched on the top with ftone, and fur- 
 rounded with battlements. The reft of 
 the houfe is later, though far from modern. 
 
 We were favoured by a gentleman, who 
 lives in the caftle, with a letter to one of 
 the officers at Fort George, which being 
 the moft regular fortification in the ifland, 
 well deferves the notice of a traveller, who 
 has never travelled before. We went thi- 
 ther next day, found a very kind recep- 
 tion, were led round the works by a gen- 
 tleman, who explained the ufe of every 
 part, and entertained by Sir Eyre Coote, 
 the governor, with fuch elegance of con- 
 verfation as left us no attention to the de- 
 licacies of his table. 
 
 Of
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 53 
 
 Of Fort George I (hall not attempt tq 
 give any account. I cannot delineate it 
 fcientifically, and a loofe and popular de- 
 fcription is of ufe only when the imagina- 
 tion is to be amufed. There was every- 
 where an appearance of the utmoft neat- 
 nefs and regularity. But my fuffrage is of 
 little value, becaufe this and Fort Augttftus 
 are the only garrifons that I ever faw. 
 
 We did not regret the time fpent at the 
 fort, though in confequence of our delay 
 we came fomewhat late to Invernefs, the 
 town which may properly be called the ca- 
 pita! of the Highlands. Hither the inha- 
 bitants of the inland parts come to be fup- 
 plied with what they cannot make for 
 themfelves : Hither the young nymphs of 
 the mountains and valleys are fent for edu- 
 cation, and as far as my obfervation has 
 reached, are not fent in vain. 
 
 E 3 INVER-
 
 54 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 INVERNESS. 
 
 Invernefs was the laft place which had 
 a regular communication by high roads 
 with the fouthern counties. All the ways 
 beyond it have, I believe, been made by 
 the foldiers in this century. At Invernefe 
 therefore Cromwell, when he fubdued Scot- 
 land, ftationed a garrifon, as at the boun- 
 dary of the Highlands. The foldiers feem 
 to have incorporated afterwards with the 
 inhabitants, and to have peopled the place 
 with an Englifh race ; for the language 
 of this town has been long confidered as 
 peculiarly elegant. 
 
 Here is a caftle, called the caftle of Mac- 
 beth, the walls of which are yet ftanding. 
 It was no very capacious edifice, but 
 ftands upon a rock fo high and fteep, 
 that I think it was once not acceflible, but 
 by the help of ladders, or a bridge. Over 
 
 againft
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 5$. 
 
 againft it, on another hill, was a fort built 
 by Cromwell, now totally demolifhed ; for 
 no faction of Scotland loved the name of 
 Cromwell, or had any defire to continue his 
 memory. 
 
 Yet what the Romans did to other na- 
 tions, was in a great degree done by Crom- 
 well to the Scots ; he civilized them by 
 conqueft, and introduced by ufeful violence 
 the arts of peace. I was told at Aber- 
 deen that the people learned from Crom- 
 well's foldiers to make fhoes and to plant 
 kail. 
 
 How they lived without kail, it is not 
 eafy to guefs : They cultivate hardly any 
 other plant for common tables, and when 
 they had not kail they probably had no- 
 thing. The numbers that go barefoot are 
 ftill fufficient to {hew that fhoes may be 
 fpared ; they are not yet confidered as ne- 
 cefiaries of life ; for tall boys, not other- 
 E 4 wife
 
 $6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 wife meanly dreffed, run without them in 
 the ftreets and in the iflands ; the fons of 
 gentlemen pafs feveral of their firft years 
 with naked feet. 
 
 I know not whether it be not peculiar to 
 the Scots to have attained the liberal, 
 without the manual arts, to have excelled 
 in ornamental knowledge, and to have 
 wanted not only the elegancies, but the. 
 conveniencies of common life. Literature, 
 foon after its revival, found its way to 
 Scotland, and from the middle of the fix- 
 teenth century, almoft to the middle of 
 the feventeenth, the politer fludies were 
 very diligently purfued. The Latin poetry 
 of Delicite Poetarum Scotorum would have 
 done honour to any nation, at leaft till the 
 publication of Mays Supplement the Eng- 
 lifh had very little to oppofe. 
 
 Yet men thus ingenious and inquifitive 
 were content to live in total ignorance of 
 
 the
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 57 
 
 the tiades by which human wants are fup- 
 plied, and to fupply them by the grofleft 
 means. Till the Union made them ac- 
 quainted with Englifti manners, the cul- 
 ture of their lands was unfkilful, and their 
 domeftick life unformed ; their tables were 
 coarfe as the feafts of Eikimeaux, and 
 their houfes filthy as the cottages of Hot- 
 tentots. 
 
 Since they have known that their condi- 
 tion was capable of improvement, theif 
 progrefs in ufeful knowledge has been ra- 
 pid and uniform. What remains to be 
 done they will quickly do, and then won- 
 der, like me, why that which was fo ne- 
 ceflary and fo eafy was fo long delayed. 
 But they muft be for ever content to owe 
 to the Englim that elegance and culture, 
 which, if they had been vigilant and active, 
 perhaps the Englim might have owed to 
 them. 
 
 Here
 
 53 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Here the appearance of life began to 
 alter. I had feen a few women with plaids 
 at Aberdeen\ but at Invernefs the Highland 
 manners are common. There is I think a 
 kirk, in which only the Erfe language is 
 ufed. There is like wife an Englifh chapel, 
 but meanly built, where on Sunday we faw 
 a very decent congregation. 
 
 We were now to bid farewell to the 
 luxury of travelling, and to enter a coun- 
 try upon which perhaps no wheel has ever 
 rolled. We could indeed have ufed our 
 poft-chaife one day longer, along the mi- 
 litary road to Fort Auguftiu, but we could 
 have hired no horfes beyond Invernefs, 
 and we were not fo fparing of ourfelves, 
 as to lead them, merely that we might 
 have one day longer the indulgence of a 
 carriage. 
 
 At Invernefs therefore we procured three 
 horfes for ourfelves and a fervant, and one 
 
 more
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 59 
 
 more for our baggage, which was no very 
 
 heavy load. We found in the courfe of 
 
 our journey the convenience of having 
 
 difencumbered ourfelves, by laying afide 
 
 whatever we could fpare ; for it is not 
 
 to be imagined without experience, how in 
 
 climbing crags, and treading bogs, and 
 
 winding through narrow and obftru&ed 
 
 paflages, a little bulk will hinder, and a 
 
 little weight will burden ; or how often a 
 
 man that has pleafed himfelf at home with 
 
 his own refolution, will, in the hour of 
 
 darknefs and fatigue, be content to leave 
 
 behind him every thing but himfelf. 
 
 LOUGH NESS. 
 
 We took two Highlanders to run befide 
 us, partly to {hew us the way, and partly 
 to take back from the fea-fide the horfes, 
 of which they were the owners. One of 
 them was a man of great livelinefs and 
 activity, "of whom his companion faid, 
 
 that
 
 6o A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 that he would tire any horfe in Invernefs. 
 Both of them were civil and ready-handed. 
 Civility feems part of the national charac- 
 ter of Highlanders. Every chieftain is a 
 monarch, and politenefs, the natural pro- 
 duk of royal government, is diffufed from 
 the laird through the whole clan. But 
 they are not commonly dextrous : their 
 narrownefs of life confines them to a few 
 operations, and they are accuftomed to en- 
 dure little wants more than to remove 
 them. 
 
 We mounted our fteeds on the thirteenth 
 of Auguft, and directed our guides to con- 
 duit us to Fort Auguftus. It is built at 
 the head of Lough Nefs, of which Inver- 
 nefs ftands at the outlet. The way be- 
 tween them has been cut by the foldiers, 
 and the greater part of it runs along a rock, 
 levelled with great labour and exa&nefs9 
 near the water-fide. 
 
 Moft
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 61 
 
 Moft of this day's journey was very 
 pleafant. The day, though bright, was 
 not hot ; and the appearance of the coun- 
 try, if I had not feen the Peak, would 
 have been wholly new. We went upon a 
 furface fo hard and level, that we had 
 little care to hold the bridle, and were 
 therefore at full leifure for contemplation. 
 On the left were high and fteep rocks 
 {haded with birch, the hardy native of the 
 North, and covered with fern or heath. 
 On the right the limpid waters of Lough 
 Nefs were beating their bank, and waving 
 their furface by a gentle agitation. Beyond 
 them were rocks fometimes covered with 
 verdure, and fometimes towering in horrid 
 nakednefs. Now and then we efpied a 
 little corn-field, which ferved to imprefs 
 more ftrongly the general barrennefs. 
 
 I 
 Lough Nefs is about twenty- four miles 
 
 long, and from one mile to two miles broad. 
 It is. remarkable that Boethius> in his de- 
 
 3 fcription
 
 62 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 fcription of Scotland, gives it twelve miles 
 of breadth. When hiftorians or geogra- 
 phers exhibit falfe accounts of places far 
 diftant, they may be forgiven, becaufe they 
 can tell but what they are told ; and that 
 their accounts exceed the truth may be 
 juftly fuppofed, becaufe moft men exagge- 
 rate to others, if not to themfclves : but 
 Boethius lived at no great diftance ; if he 
 never faw the lake, he muft have been very 
 incurious, and if he had feen it, his veracity 
 yielded to very flight temptations. 
 
 Lough Nefsj though not twelve miles 
 broad, is a very remarkable diffufion of 
 water without iilands. It fills a large hol- 
 low between two ridges of high rocks, 
 being fupplied partly by the torrents which 
 fall into it on either fide, and partly, as is 
 fuppofed, by fprings aUthe bottom. Its 
 water it remarkably clear and pleafant, and 
 is imagined by the natives to be medicinal. 
 We were told, that it is in fome places a 
 
 hundred
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 63 
 
 hundred and forty fathom deep, a profun- 
 dity fcarcely credible, and which probably 
 thofe that relate it have never founded. Its 
 fifli are falmon, trout, and pike. 
 
 It was faid at Fort Auguflu^ that Lough 
 Nefs is open in the hardeft winters, though 
 a lake not far from it is covered with ice. 
 In difcuffing thefe exceptions from the, 
 courfe of nature, the firft queftion is, whe- 
 ther the fad be juftly ftated. That which 
 is ftrange is delightful, and a pleafmg er- 
 ror is not willingly detected. Accuracy of 
 narration is not very common, and there 
 are few fo rigidly philofophical, as not to" 
 reprefent as perpetual, what is only fre- 
 quent, or as conftant, what is really cafual. 
 If it be true that Lough Nefs never freezes, 
 it is either flickered by its high banks from 
 the cold blafts, and expofed only to thofe 
 winds which have more power to agitate 
 than congeal j or it is kept in perpetual 
 motion by the ruih of ftreams from the- 
 
 rocks
 
 64 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 rocks that inclofe it. Its profundity, though 
 it fhould be fuch as is reprefented, can have 
 little part in this exemption ; for though 
 deep wells are not frozen, becaufe their 
 water is fecluded from the external air, 
 yet where a wide furface is expofed to the 
 full influence of a freezing atmofphere, I 
 know not why the depth fhould keep it 
 open. Natural philofophy is now one of 
 the favourite ftudies of the Scottifh nation, 
 and Lough Nefs well deferves to be dili- 
 gently examined. 
 
 The road on which we travelled, and 
 which was itfelf a fource of entertainment, 
 is made along the rock, in the direction of 
 the lough, fometimes by breaking off pro- 
 tuberances, and fometimes by cutting the 
 great ma'fs of ftone to a confiderable depth. 
 The fragments are piled in a loofe wall on 
 either fide, with apertures left at very fhort 
 fpaces, to give a paflage to the wintry 
 currents. Part of it is bordered with low 
 
 . trees,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 65 
 
 tree?, from which our guides gathered 
 nuts, and would have had the appearance 
 of an Englifh lane, except that an Englifh 
 lane is almoft always dirty. It has been 
 made with great labour, but has this ad- 
 vantage, that it cannot, without equal 
 labour, be broken up. 
 
 Within our fight there were goats feed- 
 ing or playing. The mountains have red 
 <3eer, but they came not within view ; and 
 if what is faid of their vigilance and fub- 
 tlety be true, they have fome claim to that 
 palm of wifdom, which the eaftern philo- 
 fopher, whom Alexander interrogated, gave 
 to thofe beafts which live furtheft from 
 men. 
 
 Near the way, by the water fide, we 
 efpied a cottage. This was the firft High- 
 land Hut that I had feen; and as our bufi- 
 nefs was with life and manners, we were 
 willing to vifit it. To enter a habitation 
 without leave, feems to be not confidered 
 
 F here
 
 66 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 here as rudenefs or intrufion. The old 
 laws of hofpitality flill give this licence to 
 a ftranger. 
 
 A hut is conftruded with loofe ftones> 
 ranged for the moft part with fome ten- 
 dency to circularity. It muft be placed 
 where the wind cannot act upon it with 
 violence, becaufe it has no cement ; and 
 where the water will run eafily away, be- 
 caufe it has no floor but the naked ground. 
 The wall, which is commonly about fix 
 feet high, declines from the perpendicular 
 a little inward. Such rafters as can be 
 procured are then raifed for a roof, and 
 covered with heath, which makes a ftrong 
 and warm thatch, kept from flying off by 
 ropes of twifted heath, of which the ends, 
 reaching from the centre of jhe thatch to 
 the top of the wall, are held firm by the 
 weight of a large ftone. No light is ad- 
 mitted but at the entrance, and through a 
 hole in the thatch, which gives vent to the 
 fmoke. This hole is not directly over the 
 
 fire,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 6^ 
 
 fire, left the rain fhould extinguish it ; and 
 the fmoke therefore naturally fills the place 
 before it efcapes. Such is the general ftruo 
 ture of the houfes in which one of the na- 
 tions of this opulent and powerful ifland has 
 been hitherto content to live. Huts how- 
 ever are not more uniform than palaces; and , 
 this which we were infpecting was very far 
 from one of the meaneft, for it was divided 
 into feveral apartments ; and its inhabit- 
 ants poflfefifed fuch property as a paftoral 
 poet might exalt into riches. 
 
 When we entered, we found an old 
 woman boiling goats-flefti in a kettle. She 
 fpoke little Englifh, but we had inter- 
 preters at hand ; and fhe was willing 
 enough to difplay her whole fyilem of 
 economy. She has five children, of which 
 none are yet gone from her. The eldeft, 
 a boy of thirteen, and her hufband, who 
 is eighty years old, were at work in the 
 wood. Her two next fons were gone to 
 F 3 Invernefi
 
 68 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Invernefs to buy meal, by which oatmeal 
 is always meant. Meal fhe confidered as 
 expenfive food, and told us, that in Spring 
 when the goats gave milk, the children 
 could live without it. She is miftrefs of 
 fixty goats, and I faw many kids in an 
 enclofure at the end of her houfe. She had 
 alfo fome poultry. By the lake we faw a 
 potatoe-garden, and a fmall fpot of ground 
 on which flood four fhucks, containing 
 each twelve (heaves of barley. She has all 
 this from the labour of their own hands, 
 and for what is neceflary to be bought, her 
 kids and her chickens are fent to market. 
 
 With the true paftoral hofpitality, fhe 
 afked us to fit down and drink whifky. 
 She is religious, and though the kirk is 
 four miles off, probably eight Englifn 
 miles, fhe goes thither every Sunday. We 
 gave her a fhilling, and fhe begged fnuffj 
 for fnuff is the luxury of a Highland cot- 
 tage. 
 
 Soon
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 69 
 
 Soon afterwards we came to the Genera?* 
 Hut, fo called becaufe it was the temporary 
 abode of Wade, while he fuperintended 
 the works upon the road. It is now a 
 houfe of entertainment for paflengers, and 
 we found it not ill flocked with provifions. 
 
 FALL OF FIERS. 
 
 : r^jvsn* '.VJ.tsir"! "JO3~ ".H~|VV - 
 
 Towards evening we crofled by a bridge, 
 the river which makes the celebrated fall 
 of Fiers. The country at the bridge 
 ftrikes the imagination with all the gloom 
 and grandeur of Siberian folitude. The 
 way makes a flexure, and the mountains, 
 covered with trees* rife at once on the left 
 hand and in the front. We defired our 
 guides to fliew us the fall, and difmounting 
 clambered over very rugged craggs, till I be- 
 gan to wifti that our curiofity might have 
 been gratified with lefs trouble and danger. 
 We came at laft to a place where we could 
 overlook the river, and faw a channel torn, 
 F 3 as
 
 70 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 as it feems, through black piles of flone, 
 by which the ftream is obftrucled and 
 brokenj till it comes to a very fteep defcent, 
 of fuch dreadful depth, that We were na- 
 turally inclined to turn afide our eyes. 
 
 But we viiited the place at an unfeafon- 
 able time, and found it diverted of its 
 dignity and terror. Nature never gives 
 every thing at once. A long continuance 
 of dry weather, which made the reft of 
 the way eafy and delightful, deprived us 
 of the pleafure expected from the fall of 
 Fiers. The river having now no water 
 but what the fprings fupply, {bowed us 
 only a fwift current, clear and fhallow, 
 fretting over the afperities of the rocky 
 bottom, and we were left to exercife our 
 thoughts, by endeavouring to conceive the 
 effect of a thoufand dreams poured from 
 the mountains into one channel, ftruggling 
 for expanfion in a narrow pafiage, exaf- 
 perated by rocks rifing in their way, and 
 t HI at
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 7* 
 
 at laft difcharging all their violence of 
 waters by a fudden fall through the horrid 
 chafm. 
 
 The way now grew lefs eafy, defcending 
 by an uneven declivity, but without either 
 dirt or danger. We did not arrive at Fort 
 Auguftus till it was late. Mr. Eofwell^ who, 
 between his father's merit and his own, 
 is fure of reception wherever he comes, 
 fent a fervant before to beg admiflion and 
 entertainment for that night. Mr. Tra- 
 paud, the governor, treated us with that 
 courtefy which is fo clofely connected with 
 the military character. He came out to 
 meet us beyond the gates, and apologized 
 that, at fo late an hour, the rules of a 
 garrifon fuffered him to give us entrance 
 only at the poflern. 
 
 FORT AUGUSTUS. 
 
 In the morning we viewed the fort, 
 
 which is much lefs than that of St. George, 
 
 F 4 and
 
 72 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 and is faid to be commanded by the neigh- 
 bouring hills. It was not long ago taken 
 by the Highlanders. But its fituaiion feems 
 well chofen for pleafure, if not for ftrength ; 
 it ftands at the head of the lake, and, by 
 a floop of fixty tuns, is fupplied from In- 
 vernefs with great convenience. 
 
 We were now to crofs the Highlands 
 towards the weflern coaft, and to content 
 ourfelves with fuch accommodations, as a 
 way fo little frequented could afford. The 
 journey was not formidable, for it was but 
 of two days, very unequally divided, be- 
 caufe the only houfe, where we could be 
 entertained, was not further off than a 
 third of the way. We foon came to a 
 high hill, which we mounted by a military 
 road, cut in traverfes, fo that as we went 
 upon a higher ftage, we faw the baggage 
 following us below in a contrary diredion. 
 To make this way, the rock has been hewn 
 to a level with labour that might have 
 
 broken,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 73 
 
 broken the perfeverance of a Roman 
 legion. 
 
 The country is totally denuded of its 
 wood, but the flumps both of oaks and 
 firs, which are ftill found, (hew that it has 
 been once a foreft of large timber. I do 
 not remember that we faw any animals, 
 but we were told that, in the mountains, 
 there are flags, roebucks, goats, and 
 rabbits. 
 
 We did not perceive that this tract was 
 pofieffed by human beings, except that 
 once we faw a corn-field, in which a lady 
 was walking with fome gentlemen. Their 
 houfe was certainly at no great diftance, 
 but fo fituated that we could not defcry it. 
 
 Fading on through the drearinefs of 
 folitude, we found a party of foldiers from 
 the fort, working on the road, under the 
 fuperintendence of a ferjeant. We told 
 
 them
 
 ,?4 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 them how kindly we had been treated at 
 the garrifon, and as we were enjoying the 
 benefit of their labours, begged leave to 
 fhew our gratitude by a fmall prefent. 
 
 A N O C H. 
 
 Early in the afternoon we came to Anoch, 
 a village in Gknmoll/fon of three huts, one 
 of which is diftinguifhed by a chimney. 
 Here we were to dine and lodge, and were 
 conducted through the firfl room> that 
 had the chimney, into another lighted by 
 a fmall glafs window. The landlord at- 
 tended us with great civility, and told us 
 what he could give us to eat and drink. 
 I found fome books on a flielf, among 
 which were a volume or more of Prideaux's 
 Connection. 
 
 This I mentioned as fomething unex- 
 peted, and perceived that I did not pleafe 
 him. I praifed the propriety of his lan- 
 guage,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 75 
 
 guage, and was anfwered that I need not 
 wonder, for he had learned it by grammar. 
 
 J ..* fJULi . . ' ' '. 
 
 By fubfequent opportunities of obfer- 
 vation I found that my hoft's diction had 
 nothing peculiar. Thofe Highlanders that 
 can fpeak Englifh, commonly fpeak it well, 
 with few of the words, and little of the 
 tone by which a Scotchman is diftinguifli- 
 ed. Their language feems to have been 
 learned in the army or the navy* or by 
 fome communication with thofe who could 
 give them good examples of accent and 
 pronunciation. By their Lowland neigh- 
 bours they would not willingly be taught ; 
 for they have long confidered them as a 
 mean and degenerate race. Thefe preju- 
 dices are wearing faft away ; but fo much 
 of them ftill remains, that when I afked a 
 very learned minitter in the iflands, which 
 they confidered as their moft favage clans : 
 " Tboje, laid he, that live next the Low- 
 lauds:' 
 
 6 As
 
 76 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 As we came hither early in the day, 
 we had time fufficient to furvey the place. 
 The houfe was built like other huts of 
 loofe ftones, but the part in which we 
 dined and flept was lined with turf and 
 wattled with twigs, which kept the earth 
 from falling. Near it was a garden of 
 turnips and a field of potatoes. It ftands 
 in a glen, or valley, pleafantly watered by 
 a winding river. But this country, how- 
 ever it may delight the gazer or amufe the 
 naturalift, is of no great advantage to its 
 owners. Our landlord told us of a gen- 
 tleman, who poflefles lands, eighteen 
 Scotch miles in length, and three in 
 breadth; a fpace containing at lead a hun- 
 dred fquare Englifh miles. He has raifed 
 his rents to the danger of depopulat- 
 ing his farms, and he fells his timber, 
 and by exerting every art of augmen- 
 tation, has obtained an yearly revenue 
 of four hundred pounds, which for a 
 
 hundred
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 77 
 
 hundred fquare miles is three half-pence 
 an acre. 
 
 Some time after dinner we were fur- 
 prifed by the entrance of a young woman, 
 not inelegant either in mien or drefs, who 
 afked us whether we would have tea. 
 We found that fhe was the daughter of 
 our hoft, and defired her to make if. Her 
 converfation, like her appearance, was 
 gentle and pleafing. We knew that the 
 girls of the Highlands are all gentlewo- 
 men, and treated her with great refpect, 
 which fhe received as cuftomary and due, 
 and was neither elated by it, nor confufed, 
 but repaid my civilities without embarraff- 
 ment, and told me how much I honoured 
 her country by coming to furvey it. 
 
 She had been at Inveniefs to gain the 
 common female qualifications, and had, 
 like her father, the Englifh pronunciation. 
 I prefented her with a book, which I hap- 
 pened
 
 78 A JOURNEY TO'THE 
 
 pened to have about me, and mould not 
 be pleafed to think that fhe forgets me. 
 
 In the evening the foldiers, whom we 
 had pafled on the road, came to fpend at 
 our inn the little money that we had given 
 them. They had the true military impa- 
 tience of coin in their pockets, and had 
 marched at leaft fix miles to find the firft 
 place where liquor could be bought. Hav- 
 ing never been before in a place fo wild 
 and unfrequented, 1 was glad of their ar- 
 rival, becaufe I knew that we had made 
 them friends, and to gain ftill more of their 
 good will, we went to them, where they 
 were caroufing in the barn, and added 
 fomething to our former gift. All that we 
 gave was not much, but it detained them 
 in the barn, either merry or quarrelling, 
 the whole night, and in the morning they 
 went back to their work, with great indig- 
 nation at the bad qualities of whifky. 
 
 We
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 79 
 
 We had gained fo much the favour of 
 our hoft, that when we left his houfe in 
 the morning, he walked by us a great way, 
 and entertained us with converfation both 
 on his own condition, and that <-^l the 
 country. His life feemed to be merely \ af- 
 toral, except that he differed from fome 
 of the ancient Nomades in having a fet- 
 tled dwelling. His wealth confifts of one 
 hundred fheep, as many goats, twelve milk- 
 cows, and twenty-eight beeves ready for 
 the drovers. 
 
 From him we firft heard of the gene- 
 ral diffatisfadion, which is now driving the 
 Highlanders into the other hemifphere ; 
 and when I afked him whether they would 
 ftay at home, if they were well treated, 
 he anfwered with indignation, that no man 
 willingly left his native country. Of the 
 farm, which he himfelf occupied, the rent 
 had, in twenty-five years, been advanced 
 from five to twenty pounds, which he 
 
 found
 
 86 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 found himfelf fo little able to pay, that he 
 would be glad to try his fortune in fome 
 other place. Yet he owned the reafonable- 
 nefs of raifing the Highland rents in a cer- 
 tain degree, and declared himfelf willing 
 to pay ten pounds for the ground which 
 he had formerly had for five. 
 
 Our hod having amufed us for a time, 
 refigned us to our guides. The journey 
 of this day was long, not that the diftance 
 was great, but that the way was diffi- 
 cult. We were now in the bofom of the 
 Highlands, with full leifure to contem- 
 plate the appearance and properties of 
 mountainous regions, fuch as have been, in 
 many countries, the laft fhelters of na- 
 tional diftrefs, and are every where the 
 fcenes of adventures, ftratagems, furprifes, 
 and efcapes. 
 
 Mountainous countries are not pafled 
 but with difficulty, not merely from the 
 
 labour
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 81 
 
 labour of climbing; for to climb is not 
 always neceflary: but becaufe that which 
 is not mountain is commonly bog, through 
 which the way muft be picked with cau- 
 tion. Where there are hills, there is much 
 rain, and the torrents pouring down into 
 the intermediate fpaces, feldom find fo 
 ready an outlet, as not to ftagnate till they 
 have broken the texture of the ground. 
 
 Of the hills, which our journey offered 
 to the view on either fide, we did not take 
 the height, nor did we fee any that afto- 
 nifhed us with their loftinefs. Towards 
 the fummit of one, there was a white 
 fpot, which I fhould have called a naked 
 rock, but the guides, who had better 
 eyes, and were acquainted with the pbse- 
 riomena of the country, declared it to be 
 fnow. It had already lafted to the end of 
 Auguft, and was likely to maintain its 
 conteft with the fun, till it fhould be rein- 
 forced by winter. 
 
 G The
 
 2 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 The height of mountains philofophically 
 confidered is properly computed from the 
 furface of the next fea; but as it affefts 
 the eye or imagination of the pafienger, as 
 it makes either a fpeclacle or an obftruc- 
 tion, it muft be reckoned from the place 
 where the rife begins to make a confider- 
 able angle with the plain. In extenfive 
 continents the land may, by gradual ele- 
 vation, attain great height, without any 
 other appearance than that of a plane 
 gently inclined, and if a hill placed upon 
 fuch raifed ground be defcribed, as hav- 
 ing its altitude equal to the whole fpace 
 above the fea, the reprefentation will be 
 fallacious. 
 
 Thefe mountains may be properly enough 
 meafured from the inland bafej for it is 
 not much above the fea. As we advanced 
 at evening towards the weftern coaft, I did 
 not obferve the declivity to be greater 
 
 thin
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, & c . 83 
 
 than is neceflfary for the difeharge of the 
 inland waters. 
 
 We patted many rivers and rivulets*' 
 tvhich commonly ran with a clear (hallow 
 dream over a hard pebbly bottom. Thefe 
 channels, which feem fo much wider than 
 the water that they convey would naturally 
 require, are formed by the violence of 
 wintry floods, produced by the accumu- 
 lation of innumerable ftreams that fall 
 in rainy weather from the hills, and burfl- 
 ing away with refiftlefs impetuofity, make 
 themfelves a paflage proportionate to their 
 mais, 
 
 Such capricious and temporary waters 
 cannot be expected to produce many fifh. 
 The rapidity of the wintry deluge fweeps 
 them away, and the fcantinefs of the fu ai- 
 mer ftream would hardly fuftain them 
 above the ground. This is the reafon why 
 G 2 in
 
 84 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 in fording the northern rivers, no fifties 
 are feen, as in "England, wandering in 
 the water. 
 
 Of the hills many may be called with 
 Homer's Ida abundant in fprings, but few* 
 can deferve the epithet which he beftows 
 upon Pelion by waving their leaves. They 
 exhibit very little variety; being almoft 
 wholly covered with dark heath, and even 
 that feems to be checked in its growth. 
 What is not heath is nakednefs, a little 
 diverfified by now and then a ftream rufh- 
 ing down the fteep. An eye accuftomed 
 to flowery paftures and waving harvefts is 
 aftonifhed and repelled by this wide ex- 
 tent of hopelefs fterility. The appearance 
 is that of matter incapable of form or 
 ufefulnefs, difmifled by nature from her 1 
 care and di {inherited of her favours, left 
 in its original elemental ftate, or quickened 
 only with one fullen power of ufelefs ve- 
 getation. 
 
 It
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 85 
 
 ( It will very readily occur, that this uni- 
 formity of barrennefs can afford very little 
 amufement to the traveller; that it is eafy 
 to lit at home and conceive rocks and 
 heath, and waterfalls; and that thefe jour- 
 neys are ufelefs labours, which neither 
 impregnate the imagination, nor enlarge 
 the underftanding. It is true that of far 
 the greater part of things, we muft content 
 ourfelves with fuch knowledge as delcrip- 
 tion may exhibit, or analogy fupply; but 
 it is true likewife, that thefe ideas are 
 always incomplete, and that at leaft, till 
 we have compared them with realities, we 
 do not know them to be juft. As we fee 
 more, we become poflefled of more cer- 
 tainties, and confequently gain more prin- 
 ciples of reafoning, and found a wider 
 bafis of analogy. 
 
 Regions mountainous and wild, thinly 
 
 inhabited, and little cultivated, mak;e a 
 
 G 3 great
 
 86 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 great part of the earth, and he that has 
 never feen them, muft live unacquainted 
 with much of the face of nature, and with 
 one of the great fcenes of human ex- 
 iftence. 
 
 As the day advanced towards noon, we 
 entered a narrow valley not very flowery, 
 but fufficiently verdant. Our guides told 
 us, that the horfes could not travel all day 
 without reft or meat, and entreated us to 
 flop here, becaufe no grafs would be found 
 in any other place. The requeft was rea- 
 fonable and the argument cogent. We 
 therefore willingly difmounted and diverted 
 ourfelves as the place gave us oppor- 
 tunity, 
 
 I fat down on a bank, fuch as a writer 
 of Romance might have delighted to feign. 
 I had indeed no trees to whifper over 
 my head, but a clear rivulet ftreamed at 
 
 my
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 87 
 
 my feet. The day was calm, the air foft, 
 and all was rudenefs, filence, and folitude. 
 Before me, and on either fide, were high 
 hills, which by hindering the eye from 
 ranging, forced the mind to find enter- 
 tainment for itfelf. Whether I fpent 
 the hour well I know not ; for here 
 I firft conceived the thought of this nar- 
 
 * - 
 
 ration. 
 
 We were in this place at eafe and by 
 choice, and had no evils to fuffer or to 
 fear ; yet the imaginations excited by the 
 view of an unknown and untravelled wil- 
 dernefs are not fuch as arife in the ar- 
 tificial folitude of parks and gardens, a 
 flattering notion of felf-fufficiency, a pla- 
 cid indulgence of voluntary delufiorfs, a 
 fecure expanfion of the fancy, or a cool 
 concentration of the mental powers. The 
 phantoms which haunt a defert are want, 
 and mifery, and danger ; the evils of 
 dereli&ion rufh upon the thoughts ; man is 
 G 4 made
 
 88 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 made unwillingly acquainted with his own 
 weaknefs, and meditation {hews him only 
 how little he can fuftain, and how little 
 he can perform. There were no traces 
 of inhabitants, except perhaps a rude pile 
 of clods called a fummer hut, in which 
 a herdfman had refted in the favourable 
 feafons. Whoever had been in the place 
 where I then fat, unprovided with pro- 
 vifions and ignorant of the country, might, 
 at leaft before the roads were made, have 
 wandered among the rocks, till he had pe- 
 rimed wilh hardfhip, before he could have 
 found either food or fhelter. Yet what are 
 thefe hillocks to the ridges of Taurus, or 
 thefe fpots of wildnefs to the defarts of 
 America ? 
 
 It was not long before we were invited 
 to mount, and continued our journey along 
 the fide -of a lough, kept full by many 
 flreams, which with more or lefs rapidity 
 and noife crofled the road from the hills
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 98 
 
 on the other hand. Thefe currents, in 
 their diminimed ftate, after feveral dry 
 months, afford, to one who has always 
 lived in level countries, an unufual and 
 delightful fpe&acle ; but in the rainy fea- 
 fon, fuch as every winter may be expe&ed 
 to bring, muft precipitate an impetuous 
 and tremendous flood. I fuppofe the way 
 by which we went, is at that time im- 
 
 paflable. 
 
 Hi& - al^K- -. ;. r f ^Mftt'.x '/-{ ,.. 
 
 GLENSHEALS. 
 
 The lough at laft ended in a river broad 
 and {hallow like the reft, but that it may 
 be pafTed when it is deeper, there is a 
 bridge over it. Beyond it is a valley called 
 Glenjheaht inhabited by the clan of Mac- 
 rae. Here we found a village called Auk- 
 najheah, confifting of many huts, perhaps 
 twenty, built all of dry-Jlone> that is, ftones 
 piled up without mortar, 
 
 We
 
 90 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 We had, by the direction of the officers 
 at Fort Augujlus> taken bread for ourfelves, 
 and tobacco for thofe Highlanders who 
 might fliew us any kindnefs. We were 
 now at a place where we could obtain milk, 
 but muft have wanted bread if we had not 
 brought it. The people of this valley did 
 not appear to know any Englifh, and our 
 guides now became doubly neceffary as 
 interpreters. A woman, whofe hut was 
 diftinguifhed by greater fpacioufnefs and 
 better architecture, brought out fome pails 
 of milk. The villagers gathered about us 
 in confiderable numbers, I believe wirhout 
 any evil intention, but with a very favage 
 wildnefs of afpec"t and manner. When our 
 meal was over, Mr. Bofwell fliced the 
 bread, and divided it amongft them, as he 
 fuppofed them never to have tafted a 
 wheaten loaf before. He then gave them 
 little pieces of twifted tobacco, and among 
 the children we diftributed a fmall handful 
 of halfpence, which they received with 
 
 great
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 91 
 
 great eagernefs. Yet I have been fince 
 told, that the people of that valley are not 
 indigent ; and when we mentioned them 
 afterwards as needy and pitiable, a High- 
 land lady let us know, that we might 
 fpare our commiferation ; for the dame 
 whofe milk we drank had probably more 
 than a dozen milk- cows. She feemed un- 
 willing to take any price, but being prefled 
 to make a demand, at laft named a (hilling, 
 Honefty is not greater where elegance is 
 lefs. One of the by-ftanders, as we were 
 told afterwards, advifed her to alk more, 
 but {he faid a (hilling was enough. We 
 gave her half a crown, and I hope got 
 fome credit by our behaviour ; for the com- 
 pany faid, if our interpreters did not flat- 
 ter us, that they had not feen fuch a day 
 fince the old laird of Macleod pafled through 
 their country. 
 
 The Macraes, as we heard afterwards in 
 
 the Hebrides, were originally an indigent 
 
 X and
 
 92 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 and fubordinate clan, and having no farms 
 nor flock, were in great numbers fervants 
 to the Maclellans, who, in the war of 
 Charles the Firft, took arms at the call of 
 the heroic Montrofe, and were, in one of 
 his battles, almoft all deftroyed. The wo- 
 men that were left at home, being thus 
 deprived of their hufbands, like the Scy- 
 thian ladies of old, married their fervants, 
 and the Macraes became a conTiderable 
 race. 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS. 
 
 As we continued our journey, we were 
 at leifure to extend our fpeculations, and 
 to inveftigate the reafon of thofe peculia- 
 rities by which fuch rugged regions as thefe 
 before us are generally diftinguiftied. 
 
 Mountainous countries commonly con- 
 tain the original, at leaft the oldeft race of 
 inhabitants, for they are not eafily con- 
 quered,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 94 
 
 quered, becaufe they muft be entered by 
 narrow ways, expofed to every power of 
 mifchief from thofe that occupy the heights; 
 and every new ridge is a new fortrefs, 
 where the defendants have again the fame 
 advantages. If the affailants either force 
 the ftrait, or ftorm the fummit, they gain 
 only fo much ground j their enemies are 
 fled to take pofleflion of the next rock, and 
 the purfuers ftand at gaze, knowing neir 
 ther where the ways of efcape wind among 
 the fteeps, nor where the bog has firmnefs 
 to fuftain them : befides that, mountaineers 
 have an agility in climbing and defcending 
 diflincx from ftrength or courage, and at- 
 tainable only by ufe. 
 
 If the war be not foon concluded, the 
 invaders are diflodged by hunger ; for in 
 thofe anxious and toilfome marches, pro- 
 vifions cannot eafily be carried, and are 
 never to be found. The wealth of moun- 
 tains is cattle, which, while the men ftand 
 in the pafles, the women drive away. 
 
 Such
 
 $4 A JOtJRNEY TO THE 
 
 Such lands at laft cannot repay the expence 
 of conqueft, and therefore perhaps have 
 not been fo often invaded by the mere am- 
 bition of dominion ; as by refentment 
 of robberies and infults, or the defire of 
 enjoying in fecurity the more fruitful pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 As mountains are long before they are 
 conquered, they are likewife long before 
 they are civilized. Men are foftened by 
 intercourfe mutually profitable, and in- 
 drafted by comparing their own notions 
 with thofe of others. Thus Caefar found 
 the maritime parts of Britain made lefs 
 barbarous by their commerce with the 
 Gauls. Into a barren and rough tract no 
 ftranger is brought either by the hope of 
 gain or of pleafure. The inhabitants having 
 neither commodities for fale, nor money 
 for purchafe, feldom vifit more polifhed 
 places, or if they do vifit them feldom re- 
 turn. 
 
 Il
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 95 
 
 It fometimes happens that by conqueft, 
 intermixture, or gradual refinement, the 
 cultivated parts of a country change their 
 language. The mountaineers then become 
 a diftindt nation, cut off by diflimilitude 
 of fpeech from converfation with their 
 neighbours. Thus in Bifcay, the original 
 Cantabrian, and in Dalecarlia, the old Swe- 
 difh ftill fubfifts. Thus Wales and the 
 Highlands fpeak the tongue of the firft 
 inhabitants of Britain, while the other 
 parts have received firft the Saxon, and in 
 fome degree afterwards the French, and 
 then formed a third language between 
 them. 
 
 That the primitive manners are conti- 
 nued where the primitive language is 
 fpoken, no nation will defire me to fuppofe, 
 for the manners of mountaineers are com- 
 monly favage, but they are rather produced 
 by their fituation than derived from their 
 anceftors. 
 
 Such
 
 $6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Such feems to be the difpofition of man, 
 that whatever makes a diftindion produces 
 rivalry. England, before other caufes of 
 enmity were found) was difhirbed for fome 
 centuries by the contefts of the northern 
 and fouthern counties ; fo that at Oxford, 
 the peace of ftudy could for a long time 
 be preferved only by chufing annually one 
 of the prodors from each fide of the Trent. 
 A trad interfered by many ridges of 
 mountains, naturally divides its inhabit- 
 ants into petty nations, which are made 
 by a thoufand caufes enemies to each other. 
 Each will exalt its own chiefs, each will 
 boaft the valour of its men, or the beauty 
 of its women, and every claim of fupe- 
 riority irritates competition ; injuries will 
 fometimes be done* and be more injurioufly 
 defended ; retaliation will fometimes be at- 
 tempted, and -the debt exaded with too 
 much intereft. 
 
 In the Highlands it was a law, that if 
 a robber was flickered from juftice, any 
 
 man
 
 97 
 
 man of the fame clan might be taken in 
 his place. This was a kind of irregular 
 juftice, which, though neceflary in favage 
 times, could hardly fail to end in a feud, 
 and a feud once kindled among an idle 
 people with no variety of purfuits to divert 
 their thoughts, burnt on for ages either 
 fullenly glowing in fecret mifchief, or open- 
 ly blazing into public violence. Of the 
 effe&s of this violent judicature, there are 
 not wanting memorials. The cave is now 
 to be feen to which one of the Campbells, 
 who had injured the Macdonalds, retired 
 with a body of his own clan. The Mac- 
 donalds required the offender, and being 
 refufed, made a fire at the mouth of the 
 cave, by which he and his adherents were 
 fuffbcated together. 
 
 Mountaineers are warlike, becaufe by 
 their feuds and competitions they confider 
 themfelves as furrounded with enemies, and 
 are always prepared to repel incurfions, or 
 
 H to
 
 9& A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 to make them. Like the Greeks in their 
 unpolifhed ftate, defcribed by Thucydides, 
 the Highlanders, till lately, went always 
 armed, and carried their weapons to vifits, 
 and to church. 
 
 Mountaineers are thievifh, becaufe they 
 are poor, and having neither manufactures 
 nor commerce, can grow richer only by 
 robbery. They regularly plunder their 
 neighbours, for their neighbours are com- 
 monly their enemies ; and having loft that 
 reverence for property, by which the order 
 of civil life is preferved, foon confider all 
 as enemies, whom they do not reckon as 
 friends, and think themfelves licenfed to 
 invade whatever they are not obliged to 
 protect. 
 
 By a Uriel: adminiftration of the laws, 
 fmce the laws have been introduced into 
 the Highlands, this difpofition to thievery 
 is very much repreft. Thirty years ago no 
 
 herd
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 99 
 
 herd had ever been conducted through the 
 mountains, without paying tribute in the 
 night to fome of the clans ; but cattle are 
 now driven, and paflengers travel without 
 danger, fear, or moleftation. 
 
 Among a warlike people, the quality of 
 higheft efteem ia perfonal courage, and 
 with the oftentatious difplay of courage are 
 clofely connected promptitude of offence 
 and quicknefs of refentment. The High- 
 landers, before they were difarmed, were 
 fo addicted to quarrels, that the boys ufed 
 to follow any publick proceffion or cere- 
 mony, however feftive, or however folemn, 
 in expectation of the battle, which was 
 fure to happen before the company dif- 
 perfed. 
 
 Mountainous regions are fometimes fo 
 
 remote from the feat of government, and 
 
 fo difficult of accefs, that they are very 
 
 little under the influence of the fovereign, 
 
 H 2 or
 
 ioo A JOURNEY, TO THE 
 
 or within the reach of national juftice. 
 Law is nothing without power ; and the 
 fentence of a diftant court could not be 
 eafily executed, nor perhaps very fafely 
 promulgated, among men ignorantly proud 
 and habitually violent, unconnected with 
 the general fyftem, and accuftomed to re- 
 verence only their own lords. It has there- 
 fore been neceflary to erect many parti- 
 cular jurifdictions, and commit the punifh- 
 xnent of crimes, and the decifion of right 
 to the proprietors of the country who could 
 enforce their own decrees. It immediately 
 appears that fuch judges will be often igno- 
 rant, and often partial ; but in the imma- 
 turity of political eftablifliments no better 
 expedient could be found. As government 
 advances towards perfection, provincial 
 judicature is perhaps in every empire gra- 
 dually aboli/hed. 
 
 Thofe who had thus the difpenfation of 
 law> were by confequence themfelves law- 
 
 lefs.
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 101 
 
 lefs. Their vafTals had no fhelter from 
 outrages and opprefiions ; but were con- 
 demned to endure, without refiftance, the 
 caprices of wantonnefs, and the rage of 
 cruelty. 
 
 In the Highlands, fome great lords had 
 an hereditary jurifdiction over counties; and 
 fome chieftains over their own lands ; till 
 the final conqueft of the Highlands afforded 
 an opportunity of crufhing all the local 
 courts, and of extending the general bene- 
 fits of equal law to the low and the high, 
 in the deepeft recefles and obfcureft cor- 
 ners. 
 
 While the chiefs had this refemblance 
 of royalty, they had little inclination to 
 appeal, on any queftion, to fuperior judica- 
 tures. A claim of lands between two 
 powerful lairds was decided like a conteft 
 for dominion between fovereign powers. 
 They drew their forces into the field, and 
 H 3 right
 
 102 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 right attended on the ftrongeft. This was, 
 in ruder times, the common practice, which 
 the kings of Scotland could feldom control. 
 
 Even fo lately as in the laft years of King 
 William, a battle was fought at Mull Roy r , 
 on a plain a few miles to the fouth of In- 
 uernefs) between the clans of Mackintofo 
 and Macjonald of Keppocb. CoL Macdo- 
 nald, the head of a fmall clan, refufed to 
 pay the dues demanded from him by Mac- 
 kintofh) as his fuperior lord. They dif- 
 dained the interpofition of judges and laws, 
 and calling each bis followers to maintain 
 the dignity of the clan, fought a formal 
 battle, in which feveral confiderable men 
 fell on the fide of Mackintoft, without a 
 complete victory to either. This is faid to 
 have been the laft open war made between 
 the clans by their own authority. 
 
 The Highland lords made treaties, and 
 formed alliances, of which fome traces may 
 
 flili
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 103 
 
 flill be found, and fome confequences ftill 
 remain as lading evidences of petty rega- 
 lity. The terms of one of thefe confede- 
 racies were, that each fhould fupport the 
 other in the right, or in the wrong, ex- 
 cept againft the king. 
 
 * 
 
 The inhabitants of mountains form dif- 
 tinct races, and are careful to preferve their 
 genealogies. Men in a fmall diftrift ne- 
 ceflarily mingle blood by intermarriages, 
 and combine at laft into one family, with 
 a common intereft in the honour and dif- 
 grace of every individual. Then begins 
 that union of affeclions, and co-operation 
 of endeavours, that conftitute a clan. They 
 who confider themfelves as ennobled by 
 their family, will think highly of their 
 progenitors, and they who through fuc- 
 ceflive generations live always together in 
 the fame place, will preferve local ftories 
 and hereditary prejudices. Thus every 
 Highlander can talk of his anceftors, and 
 H 4 recount
 
 104 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 recount the outrages which they fuffered 
 from the wicked inhabitants of the next 
 valley. 
 
 Such are the effe&s of habitation among 
 mountains, and fuch were the qualities of 
 the Highlanders, while their rocks fecluded 
 them from the reft of mankind, and kept 
 them an unaltered and difcriminated race. 
 They are now lofing their diftinction, and 
 haftening to mingle with the general com- 
 munity. 
 
 G L E N E L G. 
 
 We left Auknajheah and the Macraes 
 in the afternoon, and in the evening came 
 to Ratiken, a high hill on which a road is 
 cut, but fo fteep and narrow, that it is very 
 difficult. There is now a defign of making 
 another way round the bottom. Upon one 
 of the precipices, my horfe, weary with 
 the fteepnefs of the rife, daggered a little, 
 
 and
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 105 
 
 and I called in hafte to the Highlander to 
 hold him. This was the only moment of 
 my journey, in which I thought myfelf en- 
 dangered. 
 
 Having furmounted the hill at laft, we 
 were told that at Glendg, on the fea-fide, 
 we fhould come to a houfe of lime and < 
 Hate and glafs. This image of magnifi- 
 cence raifed our expectation. At laft we 
 came to our inn weary and peevifh, and 
 began to inquire for meat and beds, 
 
 Of the provifions the negative catalogue 
 was very copious. Here was no meat, no 
 milk, no bread, no eggs, no wine. We 
 did not exprefs much fatisfaclion. Here 
 however we were to ftay. Whifky we 
 might have, and I believe at laft they 
 caught a fowl and killed it. We had fome 
 bread, and with that we prepared ourfelve* 
 to be contented, when we had a very emi- 
 nent proof of Highland hofpitality. Along 
 
 fome
 
 io6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 fome miles of the way, in the evening, a 
 gentleman's fervant had kept us company 
 on foot with very little notice on our 
 part. He left us near Glene/g, and we 
 thought on him no more till he came to us 
 again, in about two hours, with a prefent 
 from his mafter of rum and fugar. The 
 man had mentioned his company, and the 
 gentleman, whofe name, I think, is Gordon^ 
 well knowing the penury of the place, had 
 this attention to two men, whofe names 
 perhaps he had not heard, by whom his 
 kindnefs was not likely to be ever repaid, 
 and who could be recommended to him 
 him only by their neceflities. 
 
 \Ve were now to examine our lodging. 
 Out of one of the beds, on which we were 
 to repofe, ftarted up, at our entrance, a 
 man black as a Cyclops from the forge. 
 Other circumftances of no elegant recital 
 concurred to difguft us. We had been 
 frighted by a lady at Edinburgh, with 
 
 difcouraging
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 107 
 
 difcouraging reprefentations of Highland 
 lodgings. Sleep, however, was neceffary. 
 Our Highlanders had at laft found fome 
 hay, with which the inn could not fupply 
 them. I directed them to bring a bundle 
 into the room, and flept upon it in my 
 riding coat. Mr. Bofwell being more deli- 
 cate, laid himfelf (heets with hay over and 
 under him, and lay in linen like a gentle- 
 man. 
 
 SKY. ARMYDEL. 
 
 In the morning, September the twen- 
 tieth, we found ourfelves on the edge of 
 the fea. Having procured a boat, we dif- 
 mifled our Highlanders, whom I would 
 recommend to the fervice of any future 
 travellers, and were ferried over to the ifle 
 of Sky. We landed at Armidel, where we 
 were met on the fands by Sir Alexander 
 Macdonald, who was at that time there 
 with his lady, preparing to leave the ifland 
 
 and refide at Edinburgh. 
 
 13 jLrmidd
 
 io8 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Armldel is a neat houfe, built where 
 the Macdonalds had once a feat, which 
 was burnt in the commotions that followed 
 the Revolution. The walled orchard, which 
 belonged to the former houfe, ftill remains. 
 It is well fhaded by tall afh trees, of a 
 fpecies, as Mr. Janes the foflilift informed 
 me, uncommonly valuable. This planta- 
 tion is very properly mentioned by Dr. 
 Campbell, in his new account of the ftate 
 of Britain, and deferves attention; becaufe 
 it proves that the prefent nakednefs of the 
 Hebrides is not wholly the fault of nature. 
 
 As we fat at Sir Alexander's table, we 
 were entertained, according to the ancient 
 ufage of the North, with the melody of 
 the bagpipe, Every thing in thofe coun- 
 tries has its hiftory. As the bagpiper was 
 playing, an elderly gentleman informed 
 us, that in fome remote time, the Macdo- 
 nalds of Glengary having been injured, or 
 offended by the inhabitants of Culloden^ 
 
 and
 
 109 
 
 and fefolving to have juftice or vengeance, 
 came to Culloden on a Sunday, where find- 
 ing their enemies at worfhip, they {hut 
 them up in the church, which they fet on 
 fire; and this, faid he, is the tune that the 
 piper played while they were burning. 
 
 Narrations like this, however uncertain, 
 deferve the notice of a traveller, becaufe 
 they are the only records of a nation that 
 has no hiftorians, and afford the moft ge- 
 nuine reprefentation of the life and cha- 
 racter of the ancient Highlanders. 
 
 Under the denomination of Highlander 
 are comprehended in Scotland all that now 
 fpeak the Erfe language, or retain the pri- 
 mitive manners, whether they live among 
 the mountains or in the iflands; and in 
 that fenfe I ufe the name, when there is 
 not fome apparent reafon for making a 
 diftinftion.
 
 no A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 In Sky I firft obferved the ufe of Brogues, 
 a kind of artlefs fhoes, ftitched with thongs 
 fo loofely, that though they defend the 
 foot from flones, they do not exclude 
 water. Brogues were formerly made 
 of raw hides, with the hair inwards, and 
 fuch are perhaps ftill ufed in rude and re- 
 mote parts; but they are faid not to laft 
 above two days. Where life is fomewhat 
 improved, they are now made of leather 
 tanned with oak bark, as in other places, 
 or with the bark of birch, or roots of tor- 
 mentil, a fubftance recommended in defeft 
 of bark, about forty years ago, to the Irifh 
 tanners, by one to whom the parliament 
 of that kingdom voted a reward. The 
 leather of Sky is not completely penetrated 
 by vegetable matter, and therefore cannot- 
 be very durable. 
 
 V. 
 
 My inquiries about brogues, gave me 
 an early fpecimen of Highland informa- 
 tion.
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. in* 
 
 tion. One day I was told, that to make 
 brogues was a domeftic art, which every 
 man pradifed for himfelf, and that a pair 
 of brogues was the work of an hour. I 
 fuppofed that the hufband made brogues as 
 the wife made an apron, till next day it 
 was told me, that a brogue-maker was a 
 trade, and that a pair would coft half a 
 crown. It will eafily occur that thefe re- 
 prefentations may both be true, and that, 
 in fome places, men may buy them, and 
 in others, make them for themfelves j but 
 I had both the accounts in the fame houfe 
 within two days. 
 
 Many of my fubfequent inquiries upon 
 more interefling topicks ended in the like 
 uncertainty. He that travels in the High- 
 lands may eafily faturate his foul with in- 
 telligence, if he will acquiefce in the firft 
 account. The Highlander gives to every 
 queftion an anfwer fo prompt and peremp- 
 tory, that ikepticifm itfelf is dared into 
 
 filence,
 
 H2 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 filence, and the mind finks before the bold 
 reporter in unrefifting credulity; but if a 
 fecond queftion be ventured, it breaks the 
 enchantment; for it is immediately dif- 
 covered, that what was told fo confidently 
 was told at hazard, and that fuch fearleflhefs 
 of afiertion was either the fport of negli- 
 gence, or the refuge of ignorance. 
 
 If individuals are thus at variance with 
 themfelves, it can be no wonder that the ac- 
 counts of different men are contradictory. 
 The traditions of an ignorant and favage 
 people have been for ages negligently heard, 
 and unfkilfully related. Diftant events 
 muft have been mingled together, and the 
 actions of one man given to another. 
 Thefe, however, are deficiencies in ftory, 
 for which no man is -now to be ceniured. 
 It were enough, if what there is yet op- 
 portunity of examining were accurately 
 infpected, and juftly reprefented; but fuch is 
 the laxity of Highland converfation, that 
 
 the
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, Sec. 
 
 the inquirer is kept in continual fufpenfe, 
 and by a kind of intellectual retrogradation, 
 knows lefs as he hears more* 
 
 In the iflands the plaid is rarely worri* 
 The law by which the Highlanders have 
 been obliged to change the form of their 
 drefs, has, in all the places that we have 
 vifited, been univerfally obeyed. I have 
 feen only one gentleman completely cloth- 
 ed in the ancient habit, and by him it was 
 worn only occafionally and wantonly. The 
 common people do not think themfelves 
 under any legal neceflity of having coats ; 
 for they fay that the law againfl plaids was 
 made by Lord Hardwicke, and was in force 
 only for his life : but the fame poverty that 
 made it then difficult for them to change 
 their clothing, hinders them now from 
 changing it again. 
 
 The fillibeg, or lower garment, is flill 
 
 Very common, and the bonnet almoft unU 
 
 I Verfal ;
 
 ii4 A JOURNEY TO TEfE 
 
 rerfal ; but their attire is fuch as produces 1 ; 
 in a fuffieient degree, the effect intended 
 by the law, of abolifhing the diffimilitudc 
 of appearance between the Highlanders 
 and the other inhabitants of Britain ; and, 
 if drefs be fuppofed to have much influ- 
 ence, facilitates their coalition with their 
 fellow-fubjecls. 
 
 What we have long ufed we naturally 
 like, and therefore the Highlanders were 
 unwilling to lay afide their plaid, which 
 yet to an unprejudiced fpeclator muft appear 
 an incommodious and cumberfome drefs; 
 for, hanging loofe upon the body, it muft 
 flutter in a quick motion, or require one 
 of the hands to keep it clofe. The Romans 
 always laid afide the gown when they had 
 any thing to do. It was a drefs fo unfuit- 
 able to war, that the fame word which fig- 
 nified a gown fignified peace. The chief 
 ufe of a plaid feems to be this, that they 
 could commodionfly wrap thernfelves in it, 
 
 when
 
 ISLANDS, &c. t 
 
 when they were obliged to fteep without a 
 
 . 
 
 better cover. 
 
 In our paflage from Scotland to Sky, wg 
 were wet for the firft time with a Ihower, 
 This was the beginning of the Highland 
 winter, after which we were told that a 
 Fucceffion of three dry days was not to be 
 expedled for many months. The winter 
 of the Hebrides confifts of little more than 
 rain and wind. As they are furrounded 
 by an ocean never frozen, the blafts that 
 come to them over the water are too much 
 foftened to have the power of congelation* 
 The fait loughs, or inlets of the fea, which 
 {hoot very far into the ifland, never have 
 any ice upon them, and the pools of frefh 
 water will never bear the walker. The 
 Fnow that fometimes falls^ is foon diflblved 
 by the air, or the rain 
 
 This is not the defcription of a cruel cli- 
 mate, yet the dark months are here a time 
 
 I 2 Of
 
 u6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 of great diftrefs; becaufe the fummer can 
 do little more than feed itfelf, and winter 
 comes with its cold and its fcarcity upon 
 families very flenderly provided. 
 
 CORIATACHAN IN SKY, 
 
 The third or fourth day after our arrival 
 at Armidely brought us an invitation to the 
 ifle of Raafayt which lies eaft of Sky* It 
 is incredible how foon the account of any 
 event is propagated in thefe narrow coun- 
 tries by the love of talk, which much lei- 
 fure produces, and the relief given to the 
 mind in the penury of infular converfation 
 by a new topick. The arrival of ftrangers 
 at a place fo rarely vifited, excites rumour, 
 and quickens curiofity. I know not whe- 
 ther we touched at any corner, where Fame 
 had not already prepared us a reception. 
 
 To gain a commodious paffage to Raafay, 
 it was neceflary to pafs over a large part of 
 
 Sty.
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 117 
 
 Sky. We were fu mimed therefore with 
 horfes and a guide. In the iflands there 
 are no roads, nor any marks by which a 
 ftranger may find his way. The horfeman 
 has always at his fide a native of the place, 
 who, by purfuing game, or tending cattle, 
 or being often employed in meffages or 
 conduct, has learned where the ridge of the 
 hill has breadth fufficient to allow a horfe 
 and his rider a pafiage, and where the mofs 
 or bog is hard enough to bear them. The 
 bogs are avoided as toilfome at leaft, if not 
 unfafe, and therefore the journey is made 
 generally from precipice to precipice; from 
 which if the eye ventures to look down, it 
 fees below a gloomy cavity, whence the 
 yufti of water is fometimes heard. 
 
 But there feems to be in all this more 
 alarm than danger. The Highlander walks 
 carefully before, and the horfe, accuftomed 
 to the ground, follows him with little de- 
 viation. Sometimes the hill is too fteep for 
 
 I 3 the
 
 n8 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 the horfeman to keep his feat, and fome- 
 times the mofs is too tremulous to bear 
 the double weight of horfe and man. The 
 rider then difmounts, and all fhift as they 
 can. 
 
 Journies made in this manner are rather 
 tedious than long. A very few miles re- 
 quire feveral hours. From Armidel we 
 came at night to Coriatacban, a houfe very 
 pleafantly fituated between two brooks, 
 with one of the higheft hills of the ifland 
 behind it. It is the refidence of Mr. Mac- 
 kinnon, by whom we were treated with very 
 liberal hofpitality, among a more numerous 
 and elegant company than it could have 
 been fuppojfed eafy to coiled. 
 
 The hill behind the houfe we did not 
 climb. The weather was rough, and the 
 height and fteepnefs difcou raged us. We 
 were told that there is a cairne upon it. A 
 cairne is a heap of ftones thrown upon the 
 
 grave
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 119 
 
 grave of one eminent for dignity of birth, 
 or fplendour of atchievements. It is faid that 
 by digging, an urn is always found under 
 thefe cairnes : they muft therefore have 
 been thus piled by a people whofe cuftorn 
 was to burn the dead. To pile ftones is, I 
 believe, a northern cuftom, and to burn the 
 body was the Roman practice ; nor do I 
 know when it was that thefe two ads of 
 fepulture were united. 
 
 The weather was next day too violent 
 for the continuation of our journey; but 
 we had no reafon to complain of the inter- 
 ruption. We faw in every place, what we 
 chiefly defired to know, the manners of the 
 people. We had company, and, if we 
 had chofen retirement, we might have had 
 books. 
 
 I never was in any houfe of the Iflands, 
 where I did not find books in more lan- 
 guages than one, if I ftaid long enough to 
 want them, except one from which the 
 I 4 family
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 family was removed. Literature is not 
 neglected by the higher rank of the He- 
 bridiaiio. 
 
 It need not, I fuppofe, be mentioned, 
 that in countries fo little frequented as the 
 Iflands, there are no houfes where travel- 
 lers are entertained for money. He that 
 wanders about thefe wilds, either procures 
 recommendations to thofe whofe habita- 
 tions lie near his way, or, when'night and 
 wearinefs come upon him, takes the chance 
 of general hofpitality. If he finds only a 
 cottage, he can expetl: little more than 
 ihelter ; for the cottagers have little more 
 for themfelves : but if his good fortune 
 brings him to the refidence of a gentleman, 
 he will be glad of a ftorm to prolong his 
 fray. There is, however, one inn by the 
 fea-fide at Sconfor, in Sky, where the poft- 
 office is kept. 
 
 At the tables where a ftranger is received, 
 neither pknty nor delicacy is wanting. A 
 
 trad 
 
 -
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 121 
 
 tract of land fo thinly inhabited, muft have 
 much wild-fowl ; and I fcarcely remember 
 to have feen a dinner without them. The 
 moor- game is everywhere to be had. That 
 the fea abounds with fifli, needs not be 
 told, for it fupplies a great part of Europe. 
 The ifle of Sky has flags and roebucks, 
 but no hares. They fell very numerous 
 droves of oxen yearly to England, and 
 therefore cannot be fuppofed to want beef 
 at home. Sheep and goats are in great 
 numbers, and they have the common do- 
 meflick fowls. 
 
 But as here is nothing to be bought, 
 every family muft kill its own meat, and 
 roaft part of it fomewhat fooner than Api- 
 cius would- prefcribe. Every kind of flefh 
 is undoubtedly excelled by the variety and 
 emulation of Englifh markets ; but that 
 which is not beft may be yet very free from 
 bad, and he that (hall complain of his fare 
 
 in
 
 122 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 in the Hebrides^ has improved his delicacy 
 more than his manhood. 
 
 Their fowls are not like thofe plumped 
 for fale by the poulterers of London, but 
 they are as good as other places commonly 
 afford, except that the geefe, by feeding iq 
 the fea, have univerfally a fimy ranknefs. 
 
 Thefe geefe feem to be of a middle race, 
 between the wild and domeftick kinds. 
 They are fo tame as to own a home, and 
 fo wild as fometimes to fly quite away. 
 
 Their native bread is made of oats, or 
 barley. Of oatmeal they fpread very x thin 
 cakes, coarfe and hard, to which unac- 
 cuftomed palates are not eafily reconciled. 
 The barley cakes are thicker and fofter ; 
 I began to eat them without unwillingnefs ; 
 the blacknefs of their colour raifes fome 
 diflike, but the tafte is not difagreeable. 
 
 In
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 123 
 
 In mod houfes there is wheat flower, with 
 which we were fure to be treated, if we 
 ftaid long enough to have it kneaded and 
 baked. As neither yeaft nor leaven are 
 ufed among them, their bread of every kind 
 is unfermented. They make only cakes^ 
 and never mould a loaf. 
 
 A man of the Hebrides, for of the wo- 
 men's diet I can give no account, as foon as 
 he appears in the morning, fwallows a glafs 
 of whifky ; yet they are not a drunken 
 race, at leaft I never was prefent at much 
 intemperance ; but no man is fo abftemious 
 as to refufe the morning dram, which they 
 call zjkalk. 
 
 The word wkijky fignifies water, and 
 is applied by way of eminence to Jlrong 
 water, or diftilled liquor. The fpirit drunk 
 in the North is drawn from barley. I never 
 tafted it, except once for experiment at the 
 inn in Inwrary y when I thought it pre- 
 ferable
 
 124 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 ferable to any Englifo malt brandy. It 
 was ftrong, but not pungent, and was free 
 from the empyreumatic tafte or fmell. 
 What was the procefs I had no opportunity 
 of inquiring, nor do I wifh to improve 
 the art of making poifon pleafant. 
 
 Not long after the dram, may be ex- 
 pelted the breakfaft, a meal in which the 
 Scots, whether of the lowlands or moun-? 
 tains, muft be confefled to excel us. The 
 tea and coffee are accompanied not only 
 with butter, but with honey, conferves, 
 and marmalades. If an epicure could re- 
 move by a with, in queft of fenfual gratir 
 fications, wherever he had fupped he would 
 breakfaft in Scotland. 
 
 , 
 In the iflands, however, they do what I 
 
 found it not very eafy to endure. They 
 pollute the tea-table by plates piled with 
 large dices of Chefhire cheefe, which 
 mingles its lefs grateful odours with the 
 
 fragrance of the tea. 
 
 Where
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 125 
 
 Where many queftions are to be afked, 
 fome will be omitted. I forgot to enquire 
 how they were fupplied with fo much ex- 
 otic luxury. Perhaps the French may 
 bring them wine for wool, and the Dutch 
 give them tea and coffee at the fifhing fea- 
 fon, in exchange for frefli provifion. 
 Their trade is uriconftrained ; they pay 
 no cuftoms ; for there is no officer to de- 
 mand them; whatever therefore is made 
 dear only by impoft, is obtained here at an 
 eafy rate. 
 
 A dinner in the Weftern Iflands differs 
 very little from a dinner in England, ex- 
 cept that in the place of tarts, there are 
 always fet different preparations of milk. 
 This part of their diet will admit fome 
 improvement. Though they have milk, 
 and eggs, and fugar, few of them know how 
 to compound them in a cuftard. Their 
 gardens afford them no great variety, but 
 they have always fome vegetables on the 
 
 table*
 
 A JOURNEt TO THE 
 
 table. Potatoes at leaft are never wanting; 
 which, though they have not known them 
 long, are now one of the principal parts of 
 their food. They are not of the mealy, 
 
 but the vifcous kind. 
 
 . 
 
 Their more elaborate cookery, or made 1 
 dimes, an Englifhman, at the firft tafte is 
 not likely to approve, but the culinary com* 
 pofitions of every country are often fiich 
 as become grateful to other nations only 
 by degrees ; though I have read a French 
 author, who, in the elation of his heart* 
 fays, that French cookery pleafes all 
 foreigners, but foreign cookery never fa- 
 tisfies a Frenchman. 
 
 Their fuppers are, like their dinners; 
 Various and plentiful. The table is always 
 covered with elegant linen. Their plates 
 for common ufe are often of that kind of 
 manufacture which is called cream co- 
 loured, or queen's ware. They ufe filver 
 4 on
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 
 
 on all flccaiions where it is common in 
 England, nor did I ever find the fpoon of 
 horn, but in one houfe. 
 
 The knives are not often either very 
 bright, or very fharp. They are indeed 
 inftruments of which the Highlanders have 
 not been long acquainted with the general 
 ufe. They Were not regularly laid on the 
 table, before the prohibition of arms* and 
 the change of drefs. Thirty years ago 
 the Highlander wore his knife as a com- 
 panion to his dirk or dagger, and when 
 the company fat down to meat, the men 
 who had knives, cut the flefh into fmall 
 pieces for the women, who with their' 
 fingers conveyed it to their mouths. 
 
 There was perhaps never any change 
 of national manners fo quick, fo great, and 
 fo general, as that which has operated in 
 the Highlands, by the laft conqueft, and 
 the fubfequent laws. We came thither 
 
 too
 
 i28 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 too late to fee what we expected, a people 
 of peculiar appearance, and a fyftem of 
 antiquated life. The clans retain little 
 now of their original character, their fe- 
 rocity of temper is foftened, their military 
 ardour is extinguifhed, their dignity of in- 
 dependence is depreffed, their contempt of 
 government fubdued, and their reverence 
 for their chiefs abated. Of what they had 
 before the late conqueft of their country, 
 there remain only their language and their 
 poverty. Their language is attacked on 
 every fide. Schools are erected, in which 
 Englifh only is taught, and there were 
 lately fome who thought it reafonable to 
 refufe them a verfion of the holy fcriptures, 
 that they might have no monument of 
 their mother-tongue. 
 
 That their poverty is gradually abated, 
 cannot be mentioned among the unpleafmg 
 confequences of fubjedion. They are now 
 acquainted with money, and the poffibility 
 
 of
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 129 
 
 of gain will by degrees make them induf- 
 trious. Such is the effect of the late regu- 
 lations, that a longer journey than to the 
 Highlands muft be taken by him whofe 
 curiofity pants for favage virtues and bar- 
 barous grandeur. 
 
 R A A S A Y. 
 
 At the firft intermiflion of the ftormy 
 weather we were informed, that the boat, 
 which was to convey us to Raafay, attended 
 us on the coaft. We had from this time 
 our intelligence facilitated, and our conver- 
 fation enlarged, by the company of Mr. 
 Macqueen, minifter of a parifh in Sky, 
 whofe knowledge and politenefs give him 
 a title equally to kindnefs and refpect, and 
 'who, from this time, never forfook us till 
 we were preparing to leave Sky, and the 
 adjacent places. 
 
 The boat was under the direction of 
 Mr. Malcolm Macleod, a gentleman of Ra- 
 it, afay.
 
 I 3 o A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 afay. The water was calm, and the rowers 
 were vigorous ; fo that our paflage was 
 quick and pleafant. When we came near 
 the ifland, we faw the laird's houfe, a neat 
 modern fabrick, and found Mr. Mackod> 
 the proprietor of the Ifland, with many 
 gentlemen, expecting us on the beach. We 
 had, as at all other places, fome difficulty 
 in landing. The crags were irregularly 
 broken, and a falfe ftep would have been 
 very mifchievous. 
 
 It feemed that the rocks might, with no 
 great labour, have been hewn almoft into 
 a regular flight of fleps ; and as there are 
 no other landing places, I confidered this 
 rugged afcent as the confequence of a form 
 of life inured to hardfhips, and therefore 
 not ftudious of nice accommodations. But 
 I know not whether, for many ages, it was 
 not confidered as a part of military po- 
 licy, to keep the country not eafily accef- 
 fible. The rocks are natural fortifica- 
 * tions,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 131 
 
 tions, and an enemy climbing with diffi- 
 culty, was eafily deftroyed by thofe who 
 flood high above him. 
 
 Our reception exceeded our expectations. 
 We found nothing but civility, elegance, 
 and plenty. After the ufual refrefhments, 
 and the ufual converfation, the evening 
 came upon us. The carpet was then rolled 
 off the floor; the mufician was called, and 
 the whole company was invited to dance, 
 nor did ever fairies trip with greater ala- 
 crity. The general air of feftivity, which 
 predominated in this place, fo far remote 
 from all thofe regions which the mind has 
 been ufed to contemplate as the manfions 
 of pleafure, ftruck the imagination with a 
 d_elightful furprife, analogous to that which 
 is felt at an unexpected emerfion from dark- 
 nefs into light. 
 
 When it was time to fup, the dance 
 
 ceafed, and fix and thirty perfons fat down 
 
 K 2 to
 
 132 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 to two tables in the fame room. After fup- 
 per the ladies fung Erfe fongs, to which I 
 liftened as an Englijh audience to an Italian 
 opera, delighted with the founds of words 
 which I did not underftand. 
 
 I inquired the fubjeds of the fongs, and 
 was told of one, that it was a love fong, 
 and of another, that it was a farewell com- 
 pofed by one of the Iflanders that was go- 
 ing, in this epidemical fury of emigration, 
 to feek his fortune in America. What 
 fentiments would rife, on fuch an occafion, 
 in the heart of one who had not been 
 taught to lament by precedent, I fhould 
 gladly have known ; but the lady, by whom 
 I fat, thought herfelf not equal to the work 
 of tranflating. 
 
 Mr. Macleod is the proprietor of the 
 iflands of Raafay, Rona, and Fladda, and 
 poflefles an extenfive diftricT: in Sky. The 
 eftate has not, during four hundred years, 
 
 gained
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 133 
 
 gained or loft a Tingle acre. He acknow- 
 ledges Machod of Dunvegan as his chief, 
 though his anceftors have formerly difputed 
 the pre-eminence. 
 
 One of the old Highland alliances has 
 continued for two hundred years, and is 
 ftili fubfifting between Macleod of Raafay 
 and Macdonald of Sky> in confequence of 
 which, the furvivor always inherits the 
 arms of the deceafed ; a natural memorial 
 of military friendfhip. At the death of the 
 late Sir James Macdonald^ his fword was 
 delivered to the prefent laird of Raafay. 
 
 The family of Raafay confifts of the laird, 
 the lady, three fons, and ten daughters. For 
 the fons there is a tutor in the houfe, and 
 the lady is faid to be very Ikilful and dili- 
 gent in the education of her girls. More 
 gentlenefs of manners, or a more pleafing 
 appearance of domeftick fociety, is not 
 found in the moft poliflied countries, 
 
 K 3 Raafay
 
 134 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Raafay is the only inhabited ifland in 
 Mr. Mucleod's pofleflion. Rona and Fladda 
 Afford only pafture for cattle, of which one 
 hundred and fixty winter in Rona^ under 
 the fuperintendence of a folitary herdfman. 
 
 The length of Raafay is, by computa^- 
 tion, fifteen miles, and the breadth two. 
 Thefe countries have never been meafured, 
 and the computation by miles is negligent 
 and arbitrary. We obferved in travelling, 
 that the nominal and real diftance of places 
 had very little relation to each other. Ra- 
 ajay probably contains near a hundred 
 fquare miles. It affords not much ground, 
 notwithstanding its extent, either for tillage, 
 or pafture ; for it is rough, rocky, and 
 barren. The cattle often perifti by falling 
 from the precipices. It is like the other 
 iflands, I think, generally naked of (hade, 
 but it is naked by neglect ; for the laird 
 has an orchard, and very large foreft trees 
 grow about his houfe. Like other hilly 
 
 countries
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 135 
 
 countries it has many rivulets. One of 
 the brooks turns a corn-mill, and at lead 
 one produces trouts. 
 
 . * 
 
 In the ftreams or frefh lakes of the iflands, 
 I have ne^H^ heard of any other fifti 
 than trouts and eels. The trouts, which I 
 have feen, are not large ; the colour of their 
 flefh is tinged as in England. Of their eels 
 I can give no account, having never tafted 
 them ; for I believe they are not confidered 
 as wholefome food. 
 
 It is not very eafy to fix the principles 
 upon which mankind have agreed to eat 
 fome animals, and reject others; and as 
 the principle is not evident, it is not uni- 
 form. That which is feleded as delicate 
 in one country, is by its neighbours abhor- 
 red as loathfome. The Neapolitans lately 
 refufed to eat potatoes in a famine. An 
 Englifhman is not eafily perfuaded to dine 
 on fnails with an Italian, On frogs with a 
 K 4 Frenchman,
 
 136 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Frenchman, or on horfe-flefh with a Tar- 
 tar. The vulgar inhabitants of Sky, I 
 know not whether of the other iflands, 
 have not only eels, but pork and bacon in 
 abhorrence, and accordingly I never faw a 
 hog in the Hebrides^ except one at Dun* 
 vegan, 
 
 Raafay has wild fowl in abundance, but 
 neither deer, hares, nor rabbits. Why it 
 has them not, might be afked, but that of 
 fuch queftions there is no end. Why does 
 any nation want what it might have ? 
 Why are not fpices tranfplanted to Ame- 
 rica ? Why does teg continue to be brought 
 from China ? Life improves but by flow 
 degrees, and much in every place is yet to 
 do. Attempts have been made to raife 
 roebucks in Raafay, but without effect. 
 The young ones it is extremely difficult to 
 rear, and the old can very fejdom be taken 
 alive. 
 
 Hares
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 137 
 
 Hares and rabbits might be more eafily 
 
 obtained. That they have few or none of 
 
 cither in Sky, they impute to the ravage 
 
 of the foxes, and have therefore fet, 
 
 for fome years paft, a price upon their 
 
 heads, which, as the number was dimi- 
 
 nifhed, has been gradually raifed, from 
 
 three (hillings and fixpence to a guinea, a 
 
 fum fo great in this part of the world, 
 
 that, in a fhort time, Sky may be as free 
 
 from foxes, as England from wolves. The 
 
 fund for thefe rewards is a tax of fixpence 
 
 in the pound, impofed by the farmers on 
 
 themfelves, and faid to be paid with great 
 
 willingnefs. 
 
 The beafts of prey in the Iflands are 
 foxes, otters, and weafels. The foxes are 
 bigger than thofe of England ; but the 
 otters exceed ours in a far greater propor- 
 tion. I faw one at Armidel^ of a fize 
 much beyond that which I fuppofed them 
 ever to attain > and Mr. Maclean, the heir 
 
 ;V of
 
 138 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 of CW, a man of middle ftature, informed 
 me that he once (hot an otter, of which the 
 tail reached the ground, when he held up 
 the head to a level with his own. I ex- 
 peeled the otter to have a foot particularly 
 formed for the art of fwimming; but upon 
 examination,! did not find it differing much 
 from that of a fpaniel. As he preys in the 
 fea, he does little vifible mifchief, and is 
 killed only for his fur. White otters are 
 fometimes feen. 
 
 In Raafay they might have hares and 
 rabbits, for they have no foxes. Some de- 
 predations, fuch as were never made be- 
 fore, have caufed a fufpicion that a fox has 
 been lately landed in the ifland by fpite or 
 wantonnefs. This imaginary ftranger has 
 never yet been feen, and therefore, per- 
 haps, the mifchief was done by fome other 
 animal. It is not likely that a creature fo 
 ungentle, whofe head could have been fold 
 in Sky for a guinea, fhould be kept alive 
 9 only
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 139 
 
 only to gratify the malice of fending him 
 to prey upon a neighbour: and the paflage 
 from. Sky is wider than a fox would ven- 
 ture to fwim, unlefs he were chafed by 
 dogs into the fea, and perhaps then his 
 ftrength would enable him to crofs. How/ 
 beafts of prey came into any ifiands is not 
 eafy to guefs. In cold countries they take 
 advantage of hard winters, and travel over 
 the ice : but this is a very fcanty folution ; 
 for they are found where they have no dif- 
 coverable means of coining. 
 
 The corn of this ifland is but little. I 
 faw the harveft of a fmall field. The wo- 
 men reaped the corn, and the men bound 
 up the fheaves. The ftrokes of the fickle 
 were timed by the modulation of the har- 
 veft fong, in which all their voices were 
 united. They accompany in the Highlands 
 every action, which can be done in equal 
 time, with an appropriated ftrain, which 
 has, they fay, not much meaning ; but 
 
 its
 
 I 4 o A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 its effects are regularity and cheerfulnefs. 
 The ancient proceleufmatick fong, by 
 which the rowers of gallies were animated, 
 may be fuppofed' to have been of this kind. 
 There is now an oar-Jong ufed by the 
 Hebridians. 
 
 The ground of Raafay feems fitter for 
 cattle than for corn, and of black cattle I 
 fuppofe the number is very great. The 
 Laird himfelf keeps a herd of four hundred, 
 one hundred of which are annually fold. 
 Of an extenfive domain, which he holds in 
 his own hands, he confiders the fale of 
 cattle as repaying him the rent, and fup- 
 ports the plenty of a very liberal table with 
 the remaining product. 
 
 Raafay is fuppofed to have been very long 
 inhabited. On one fide of it they fhow 
 caves, into which the rude nations of the 
 firft ages retreated from the weather. Thefe 
 dreary vaults might have had other ufes. 
 
 There
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 141 
 
 There is ftill a cavity near the houfe called 
 the oar-cave, in which the feamen, after 
 one of thofe piratical expeditions, which in 
 rougher times was very frequent, ufed, as 
 tradition tells, to hide their oars. This 
 hollow was near the fea, that nothing fo 
 neceflary might be far to be fetched; and 
 it was fecret, that enemies, if they landed, 
 could find nothing. Yet it is not very evi- 
 dent of what ufe it was to hide their oars 
 from thofe, who, if they were mailers of 
 the coaft, could take away their boats. 
 
 A proof much ftronger of the diftance at 
 which the firft pofleflbrs of this ifland lived 
 from the prefent time, is afforded by the ftone 
 heads of arrows which are very frequently 
 picked up. The people call them Elf-bolts^ 
 and believe that the fairies fhoot them 
 at the cattle. They nearly refemble thofe 
 which Mr. Banks has lately brought from 
 the favage countries in the Pacifick Ocean, 
 
 and
 
 142 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 and muft have been made by a nation to 
 which the ufe of metals was unknown. 
 
 The number of this little community 
 has never been counted by its ruler, nor have 
 I obtained any pofitive account, confiftent 
 with the refult of political computation* 
 Not many years ago, the late Laird led out 
 one hundred men upon a military expedi- 
 tion. The fixth part of a people is fup- 
 pofed capable of bearing arms: Raafay had 
 therefore fix hundred inhabitants. But be- 
 caufe it is not likely, that every man 
 able to ferve in the field would follow the 
 fummons, or that the chief would leave 
 his lands totally defencelefs, or take away 
 all the hands qualified for labour, let it 
 be fuppofed, that half as many might be 
 permitted to ftay at home. The whole 
 number will then be nine hundred, or nine 
 to a fquare mile ; a degree of populoufnefs 
 greater than thofe tracts of defolation can 
 
 often
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 143 
 
 often (how. They are content with their 
 country, and faithful to their chiefs, and yet 
 uninfe&ed with the fever of migration. 
 
 Near the houfe at Raafay^ is a chapel 
 unroofed and ruinous, which has long been 
 ufed only as a place of burial. About the 
 churches, in the iflands, are fmall fquares 
 inclofed with ftone, which belong to par- 
 ticular families, as repofitories for the 
 dead. At Raafay there is one, I think, for 
 the proprietor, and one for fome collateral 
 
 houfe. 
 
 ^ ._ , . \ 
 
 It is told by Martin, that at the death of 
 the Lady of the Ifland, it has been here the 
 cuftom to eret a crofs. This we found not 
 to be true. The ftones that ftand about 
 the chapel at a fmall diftance, fome of 
 which perhaps have crofles cut upon them, 
 are believed to have been not funeral mo- 
 numents, but the ancient boundaries of 
 the fancluary or confecrated ground. 
 
 Martin
 
 144 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Martin was a man not illiterate: he was 
 an inhabitant of Sky, and therefore was 
 within reach of intelligence, and with no 
 great difficulty might have vifited the places 
 which he undertakes to defcri-bej yet with 
 all his opportunities, he has often fuffered 
 himfelf to be deceived. He lived in the 
 laft century, when the chiefs of the clans 
 had loft little of their original influence. 
 The mountains were yet unpenetrated, no 
 inlet was opened to foreign novelties, and 
 the feudal inftitutions operated upon life 
 with their full force. He might therefore 
 have difplayed a feries of fubordination and 
 a form of government, which, in more lu- 
 minous and improved regions, have been 
 long forgotten, and have delighted his 
 readers with many uncouth cuftoms that 
 are now difafed, and wild opinions that 
 prevail no longer. But he probably had 
 not knowledge of the world fufficient to 
 qualify him for judging what would de- 
 ferve or gain the attention of mankind. 
 
 The
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS* &c. 145 
 
 The mode of life which was familiar to 
 himfelf, he did not fuppofe unknown 
 to others, nor imagined that he could 
 give pleafure by telling that of which it 
 was, in his little country, impofiible to be 
 ignorant. 
 
 What he has neglected Cannot now be 
 performed. In nations, where there is 
 hardly the ufe of letters, what is once out 
 of fight is loft for ever. They think but 
 little, and of their few thoughts, none are 
 wafted on the paft, in which they are nei- 
 ther interefted by fear nor hope. Their 
 only regifters are ftated obfervances and 
 practical reprefentations. For this reafon 
 an age of ignorance is an age of ceremony. 
 Pageants, and proceffions, and commemo- 
 rations, gradually fhrink away, as better 
 methods come into ufe of recording events, 
 and preferring rights. 
 
 It is not only in Raafay that the chapel 
 
 is unroofed and ufelefs ; through the few 
 
 L iHands
 
 I 4 6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 iflands which we vifited, we neither faw nor 
 heard of any houfe of prayer, except in 
 Sky, that was not in ruins. The malig- 
 nant influence of Calvinifm has blafted 
 ceremony and decency together ; and if 
 the remembrance of papal fuperftition is 
 obliterated, the monuments of papal piety 
 are likewife effaced. 
 
 It has been, for many years, popular to 
 talk of the lazy devotion of the Romifh 
 clergy ; over the fleepy lazinefs of men 
 that erected churches, we may indulge our 
 fuperiority with a new triumph, by com- 
 paring it with the fervid activity of thofe 
 who fuffer them to fall. 
 
 Of the deftrudtion of churches, the decay 
 of religion muft in time be the confe- 
 quence ; for while the public acts of the 
 miniftry are now performed in houfes,a very 
 fmall number can be prefent ; and as the 
 greater part of the Iflanders make no ufe 
 
 of
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 147 
 
 of books, all muft neceflarily live in total 
 ignorance who want the opportunity of 
 vocal inftruftiori. 
 
 From thefe remains of ancient fanciity$ 
 which are every where to be found, it has 
 been conjectured, that, for the laft two cen- 
 turies, the inhabitants of the Iflands have 
 decreafed in number. This argument* 
 which fuppofes that the churches have been 
 fuffered to fall, only becaufe they were no 
 longer neceflary, would have fome force, 
 if the houfes of worfhip ftill remaining 
 were fufficient for the people. But fince 
 they have now no churches at all, thefe 
 venerable fragments do not prove the peo- 
 ple of former times to have been more nu* 
 merous, but to have been more devout. If 
 the inhabitants were doubled with their 
 prefent principles, it appears not that any 
 provifion for publick worfhip would be 
 made* Where the religion of a country 
 enforces confecrated buildings, the number 
 L 2 of
 
 of thofe buildings may be fuppofed to afford 
 fome indication, however uncertain, of the 
 populoufnefs of the place ; but where by 
 a change of manners a nation is contented 
 to live without them, their decay implies 
 no diminution of inhabitants. 
 
 Some of thefe dilapidations are faid to 
 be found in iflands now uninhabited ; but 
 I doubt whether we can thence infer that 
 they were ever peopled. The religion of 
 the middle age is well known to have 
 placed too much hope in lonely aufterities. 
 Voluntary folitude was the great art of pro- 
 pitiation, by which crimes were effaced, 
 and confcience was appeafed j it is there- 
 fore not unlikely, that oratories were often 
 built in places where retirement was fure to 
 have no difturbance. 
 
 Raafay has little that can detain a tra- 
 veller, except the Laird and his family ; 
 but their power wants no auxiliaries. 
 
 Such
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 149 
 
 Such a feat of hofpitality, amidft the winds 
 and waters, fills the imagination with a 
 delightful contrariety of images. Without 
 is the rough ocean and the rocky land, the 
 beating billows and the howling ftorm : 
 within is plenty and elegance, beauty and 
 gaiety, the fong and the dance. In Raafay, 
 if I could have found an Ulyfles, I had 
 fancied a Phaacia* 
 
 DUNVEGAN, 
 
 At Raafay) by good fortune, Macleod, fo 
 the chief of the clan is called, was paying 
 a vifit, and by him we were invited to his 
 feat at Dunvegan. Raafay has a ftout boat, 
 built in Norway, in which, with fix oars, 
 he conveyed us back to Sky. We landed 
 at Port Re> fo called, becaufe yames the 
 Fifth of Scotland^ who had curiofity to vifit 
 the Iflands, came into it. The port is made 
 by an inlet of the fea, deep and narrow, 
 L 3 where
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 where a fhip lay waiting to difpeople Sky, 
 by carrying the natives away to America. 
 
 In coafting Sky, we pafled by the cavern ia 
 which it was the cuftom, as Martin relates, 
 to catch birds in the night, by making a 
 fire at the entrance. This practice is dif- 
 ufed ; for the birdsi as is known often to 
 Jiappen, have changed their haunts. 
 
 Here we dined at a publick houfe, I be- 
 lieve the only inn of the ifland, and having 
 jnounted our horfes, travelled in the man- 
 ner already defcribed, till we came to Kingf- 
 borough, a place diftinguifhed by that name, 
 becaufe the King lodged here when he 
 landed at Port Re. \Ve were entertained 
 with the ufual hofpitality by Mr. Macdonald 
 and his lady Flora Macdonald^ a name that 
 will be mentioned in hiftory, and if cou- 
 rage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with 
 honour. She is a woman of middle ftature,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 151 
 
 foft features, gentle manners, and elegant 
 prefence. 
 
 In the morning we fent our horfes round 
 a promontory to meet us, and fpared our- 
 felves part of the day's fatigue, by croffing 
 an arm of the fea. We had at la ft fome 
 difficulty in coming to Dunvegan; for our 
 way led over an extenfive moor, where 
 every ftep was to be taken with caution, 
 and we were often obliged to alight, be- 
 caufe the ground could not be trufted. la 
 travelling this watery flat, I perceived that 
 it had a vifible declivity, and might with- 
 out much expence or difficulty be drained. 
 But difficulty and expence are relative 
 terms, which have different meanings in 
 different places. 
 
 To Dunvegan we came, very willing to 
 
 be at reft, and found our fatigue amply 
 
 recompenfed by our reception. Lady Mac- 
 
 kod, who had lived many years in England^ 
 
 L was
 
 152 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 was newly come hither with her fon and 
 four daughters, who knew all the arts of 
 fouthern elegance, and all the modes of 
 Englifh economy. Here therefore we fet- 
 tled, and did not fpoil the prefent hour with 
 thoughts of departure, 
 
 Dunvegan is a rocky prominence, that 
 juts out into a bay, on the weft fide of Sky. 
 The houfe, which is the principal feat of 
 Macleod) is partly old and partly modern ; 
 it is built upon the rock, and looks upon 
 the water. It forms two fides of a fmall 
 fquare j on the third fide is the fkeleton of 
 a caftle of unknown antiquity, fuppofed to 
 have been a Norwegian fortrefs, when the 
 Danes were mafters of the Iflands. It is fo 
 nearly entire, that it might have eafily been 
 made habitable, were there not an ominous 
 tradition in the family, that the owner mall 
 not long outlive the reparation. The 
 grandfather of the prefent Laird, in de- 
 fiance of prediction, began the work, but 
 
 defifted
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 153 
 
 defifted in a little time, and applied his 
 
 money to worfe ufes. 
 
 i 
 
 As the inhabitants of the Hebrides lived, 
 for many ages, in continual expectation of 
 hoftilities, the chief of every clan refided 
 in a fortrefs. This houfe was acceflible 
 only from the water, till the lad poffeflbr 
 opened an entrance by flairs upon the land. 
 
 They had formerly reafon to be afraid, 
 not only of declared wars and authorized 
 invaders, or of roving pirates which, in the 
 northern feas, muft have been very com- 
 mon; but of inroads and infults from rival 
 clans, who, in the plenitude of feudal inde- 
 pendence, afked no leave of their Sovereign, 
 to make war on one another. Sky has 
 been ravaged by a feud between the two 
 mighty powers of Macdinald and Macleod. 
 Macdonald having married a Macleod, upon 
 fome difcontent difmiiTed her, perhaps be- 
 caufe fhe had brought him no children. 
 
 Before
 
 154 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Before the reign of James the Fifth, a High- 
 land Laird made a trial of his wife for a 
 certain time, and if flic did not pleafe him, 
 he was then at liberty to fend her away. 
 This however muft always have offended, 
 and Macleod refenting the injury, whatever 
 were its circumftances, declared, that the 
 wedding had been folemnized without a 
 bonfire, but that the feparation fhould be 
 better illuminated ; and raifing a little army, 
 fet fire to the territories of Macdonald^ who 
 returned the vifit, and prevailed. 
 
 Another ftory may (how the diforderly 
 ftate of infular neighbourhood. The in- 
 habitants of the Ifle of Egg> meeting a 
 boat manned by Macleods, tied the crew 
 hand and foot, and fet them a- drift. Mac- 
 hod landed upon Egg, and demanded the 
 offenders ; but the inhabitants refufing to 
 furrender them, retreated to a cavern, into 
 which they thought their enemies unlikely 
 to follow them. Macleod choked them 
 
 with
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 155 
 
 with fmoke, and left them lying dead by 
 families as they flood. 
 
 Here the violence of the weather con- 
 fined us for fome time, not at all to our 
 difcontent or inconvenience. We would 
 indeed very willingly have vifited the 
 Iflands, which might be feen from the 
 houfe fcattered in the fea, and I was par- 
 ticularly defirous to have viewed Ifay ; but 
 the ftorms did not permit us to launch a 
 boat, and we were condemned to liften in 
 idlenefs to the wind, except when we were 
 better engaged by liftening to the ladies. 
 
 We had here more winds than waves, 
 and fuffered the feverity of a tempeft, with- 
 out enjoying its magnificence. The fea 
 being broken by the multitude of iflands, 
 does not roar with fo much noife, nor beat 
 the ftorm with fuch foamy violence, as I 
 have remarked on the coaft of Suffex. 
 Though, while I was in the Hebrides^ the 
 
 wind
 
 156 -A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 wind was extremely turbulent, I never faw 
 very high billows. 
 
 The country about Dunvegan is rough 
 and barren. There are no trees, except in 
 the orchard, which is a low flickered fpot 
 furrounded with a wall. 
 
 When this houfe was intended to fuftain 
 a fiege, a well was made in the court, by 
 boring the rock downwards, till water was 
 found, which though fo near to the fea, 
 I have not heard mentioned as brackifh, 
 though it has fome hardnefs, or other quali- 
 ties, which makes it lefs fit for ufe ; and the 
 family is now better fupplied from a ftream, 
 which runs by the rock, from two pleafmg 
 water-falls. 
 
 Here we faw fome traces of former 
 manners, and heard fome ftanding tradi- 
 tions. In the houfe is kept an ox's horn, 
 hollowed fo as to hold perhaps two quarts,. 
 
 which
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 157 
 
 which the heir of Macleod was expected to 
 fwallow at one draught, as a teft of his man- 
 hood, before he was permitted to bear arms, 
 or could claim a feat among the men. It is 
 held that the return of the Laird to Dunve- 
 gari) after any confiderable ab fence, produces 
 a plentiful capture of herrings; and that, if 
 any woman crofles the water to the oppofite 
 Ifland, the herrings will defert the coaft. 
 Boetius tells the fame of fome other place. 
 This tradition is not uniform. Some hold 
 that no woman may pafs, and others that 
 none may pafs but a Macleod. 
 
 Among other guefts, which the hofpita- 
 lity of Dunvegan brought to the table, a 
 vifit was paid by the Laird and Lady of a 
 fmall ifland fouth of Sky, of which the pro- 
 per name is Muack y which fignifies fwine. 
 It is commonly called Muck^ which the pro- 
 prietor not liking, has endeavoured, without 
 effect, to change to Monk. It is ufual to call 
 gentlemen in Scotland by the name of their 
 
 poflfeflions.
 
 158 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 pofleflions, as Raafay> Bernera, Loch Buy, 
 a practice neceflary in countries inhabited 
 by clans, where all that live in the fame 
 territory have one name, and muft be 
 therefore difcriminated by fome addition. 
 This gentleman, whofe name, I think, is 
 Maclean^ fhould be regularly called Muck\ 
 but the appellation, which he thinks too 
 coarfe for his Ifland, he would like flill lefs 
 for himfelf, and he is therefore addrefled 
 by the title of, Ijle of Muck. 
 
 This little ifland, however it be named, 
 is of confiderable value. It is too Eng- 
 It/Jj miles long, and three quarters of a mile 
 broad, and confequently contains only nine 
 hundred and fixty Englifh acres. It is 
 chiefly arable. Half of this little domi- 
 nion the Laird retains in his own hand, 
 and on the other half, live one hundred 
 and fixty perfons, who pay their rent by 
 exported corn. What rent they pay, we 
 were not told, and could not decently in- 
 quire.
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 159 
 
 quire. The proportion of the people to 
 the land is fuch, as the raoft fertile coun- 
 tries do not commonly maintain. 
 
 The Laird having all his people under 
 his immediate view, feems to be very atten- 
 tive to their happinefs. The devaftation of 
 the fmall-pox, when it vifits places where 
 it comes feldom, is well known. He has 
 difarmed it of its terrour at Muack, by in- 
 oculating eighty of his people* The ex- 
 pence was two {hillings and fixpence a 
 head. Many trades they cannot have 
 among them, but upon occafion, he fetches 
 a fmith from the Ifle of Egg, and has a 
 tailor from the main land, fix times a year. 
 This Ifland well deferved to be feen, but the 
 Laird's abfence left us no opportunity. 
 
 Every inhabited Ifland has its appendant 
 and fubordinate iflets. Muck^ however 
 fmall, has yet others fmaller about it, one 
 of which has only ground fufficient to afford 
 pafture for three wethers, 
 
 9 At
 
 r6o A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 At Dungevan I had tafted lotus, and 
 was in danger of forgetting that I was 
 ever to depart, till Mr. Bofwell fagely re- 
 proached me with my fluggifhnefs and foft- 
 nefs. I had no very forcible defence to 
 make ; and we agreed to purfue our jour- 
 ney. Macleod accompanied vs to Ufimjb, 
 where we were entertained by the fhericF 
 of the Ifland. 
 
 U L I N I S H. 
 
 Mr. Macqueen travelled with us, and di- 
 rected our attention to all that was worthy 
 of obfervation. With him we went to fee 
 an ancient building, called a dun or bo- 
 rough. It was a circular inclofure, about 
 forty two feet in diameter, walled round 
 with loofe ftones, perhaps to the height of 
 nine feet. The walls are very thick, di- 
 minuliing a little towards the top, and 
 though in thefe countries, ftone is not 
 brought far, muft have been raifed with 
 much labour. Within the great circle were 
 
 feveral
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 161 
 
 feveral fmaller rounds of wall, which form- 
 ed diftincT: apartments. Its date and its 
 ufe are unknown. Some fuppofe it the 
 original feat of the chiefs of the Macleods. 
 Mr. Macqueen thought it a Da?ii/h fort. 
 
 The entrahce is covered with flat (tones, 
 and is narrow, becaufe it was necefiary 
 that the ftones which lie over it, fhould 
 reach froth one wall to the other; yet, 
 ftrait as the paflage is, they feem heavier 
 than could have been placed where they 
 now lie, by the naked ftrength of as many 
 liieh as might ftand about them. They 
 were probably raifed by putting long pieces 
 of wood under them, to which the adtion 
 of a long line of lifters might be applied* 
 Savages, in all countries, have patience 
 proportionate to their unfkilfulnefs, and 
 are content to attain their end by very te- 
 dious methods. 
 
 If it was ever roofed, it might once have" 
 been a dwelling, but as there is no provi- 
 
 M fion
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 fion for water, it could not have been a 
 fortrefs. In Sky y as in every other place, 
 there is an ambition of exalting whatever 
 has furvived memory, to fome important 
 ufe, and referring it to very remote ages. 
 I am inclined to fufpect, that in lawlefs 
 times, when the inhabitants of every moun- 
 tain ftole the cattle of their neighbour, 
 thefe enclofures were ufed to fecure the 
 herds and flocks in the night. When they 
 were driven within the wall, they might 
 be eafily watched, and defended as long as 
 could be needful ; for the robbers durfl not 
 wait till the injured clan fhould find them 
 in the morning. 
 
 The interior enclofures, if the whole 
 building were once a houfe, were the 
 chambers of the chief inhabitants. If it 
 was a place of fecurity for cattle, they 
 were probably the (heifers of the keepers. 
 
 JFrom the Dun we were conducted to 
 another place 'of fecurity, a cave carried a 
 
 great
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 163 
 
 great way under ground, which had been 
 difcovered by digging after a fox. Thefe 
 caves, of which many have been found* 
 and many probably remain concealed, are 
 formed, I believe, commonly by taking ad- 
 vantage of a hollow, where banks or rocks 
 rife on either fide. If no fuch place can 
 be found, the ground muft be cut away. 
 The walls are made by piling ftones againft 
 the earth, on either fide. It is then roofed 
 by large ftones laid acrofs the cavern, 
 which therefore cannot be toide. Over the 
 roof, turfs were placed, and grafs was fuf- 
 fered to grow ; and the mouth was con* 
 cealed by bufhes, or fome other cover. 
 
 Thefe caves were reprefented to us as 
 the cabins of the firft rude inhabitants, of 
 which, however, I am by no means per- 
 fuaded. This was (b low, that no mart 
 could ftand upright in it. By their con-* 
 ftruction they are all fo narrow, that two 
 can never pafs along them together, and 
 M 2 being
 
 164 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 being fubterraneous, they muft be always 
 damp. They are not the work of an age 
 much ruder than the prefentj for they are 
 formed with as much art as the conftruc- 
 tion of a common hut requires. I imagine 
 them to have been places only of occafional 
 ufe, in which the Iflander, upon a fudden 
 alarm, hid his utenfils, or his clothes, and 
 perhaps fometimes his wife and children. 
 
 This cave we entered, but could not pro-< 
 ceed the whole length, and went away 
 without knowing how far it was carried. 
 For this omiffion we fhall be blamed, as we 
 perhaps have blamed other travellers ; but 
 the day was rainy, and the ground was 
 damp. We had with us neither fpades 
 nor pickaxes, and if love of eafe furmounted 
 our defire of knowledge, the offence has 
 
 not the invidioufnefs pf fmgularity. 
 
 i . .1 . 
 
 Edifices, either ftanding or ruined, are 
 the chief records of an illiterate nation. In 
 
 fome
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 165 
 
 fome part of this journey, at no great 
 diftance from our way, flood a (hatter ed 
 fortrefs, of which the learned minifter, 
 to whofe communication we are much in- 
 debted, gave us an account. 
 
 Thofe, faid he, are the walls of a place 
 of refuge, built in the time of James the 
 Sixth, by Hugh Macdonald, who was next 
 heir to the dignity and fortune of his chief. 
 Hugh, being fo near his wifh, was im- 
 patient of delay; and had art and influence 
 fufficient to engage feveral gentlemen in a 
 plot againft the Laird's life. Something 
 inuft be ftipulated on both fides ; for they 
 would not dip their hands in blood merely 
 for Hugh's advancement. The compact 
 was formally written, figned by the con- 
 fpirators, and placed in the hands of one 
 Macleod. 
 
 It happened that Macleod had fold fome 
 
 cattle to a drover, who not having ready 
 
 M 3 money,
 
 166 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 money, gave him a bond for payment. 
 The debt was difcharged, and the bond re- 
 demanded; which Macleod, who could not 
 read, intending to put into his hands, gave 
 him the confpiracy. The drover, when he 
 had read the paper, delivered it privately to 
 Macdonald, who being thus informed of 
 his danger, called his friends together, and 
 provided for his fafety. He made a pub- 
 lic feaft, and inviting Hugh Macdonald 
 and his confederates, placed each of them 
 at the table between two men of known 
 fidelity. The compact of confpiracy was 
 then {hewn, and every man confronted 
 with his own name. Macdonald aded 
 with great moderation. He upbraided 
 Hugh, both with difloyalty and ingra- 
 titude ; but told the reft, that he con- 
 fidered them as men deluded and mifm- 
 formed. Hugh was fworn to fidelity, and 
 difmifled with his companions; but he was 
 not generous enough to be reclaimed by 
 Jenity; and finding no longer any counte- 
 nance
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 167 
 
 nance among the gentlemen, endeavoured 
 to execute the fame defign by meaner hands. 
 In this practice he was detected, taken to 
 Macdonald's caftle, and imprifoned in the 
 dungeon. When he was hungry, they let 
 down a plentiful meal of faked meat ; and 
 when, after his repaft, he called for drink, 
 conveyed to him a covered cup, which, 
 when he lifted the lid, he found empty. 
 From that time they vifited him no more, but 
 left him to perifli in folitude and darknefs. 
 
 We were then told of a cavern by the 
 fea-fide, remarkable for the powerful re- 
 verberation of founds. After dinner, we 
 took a boat, to explore this curious cavity. 
 The boatmen, who feemed to be of a rank 
 above that of common drudges, inquired 
 who the ftrangers were, and being told we 
 came one from Scotland, and the other 
 from England^ afked if the Englijhman 
 could recount a long genealogy.. What 
 M 4 anfwer
 
 i68 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 anfwer was given them, the converfatlon 
 being in Erfe, I was not much inclined to 
 examine. 
 
 They expected no good event of the 
 voyage ; for one of them declared that he 
 heard the cry of an EngUJh ghoft. This 
 omen I was not told till after our return, 
 and therefore cannot claim the dignity of 
 defpifing it. 
 
 The fea was fmooth. We never left the 
 fhore, and came without any difafter to 
 the cavern, which we found rugged and 
 misfliapen, about one hundred and eighty 
 feet long, thirty wide in the broadeft part, 
 and in the loftieft, as we guefled, about 
 thirty high. It was now dry, but at high 
 water the fea rifes in it near fix feet. 
 Here I faw what I had never feen before, 
 Jimpets and mufcles in their natural ftate. 
 put, as a new teftimony to the veracity of 
 
 common
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 169 
 
 common fame, here was no echo to be 
 heard. 
 
 We then walked through a natural arch 
 in the rock, which might have pleafed us 
 by its novelty, had the ftones, which en- 
 cumbered our feet, given us leifure to con- 
 fider it. We were fhown the gummy feed 
 of the kelp, that faftens itfelf to a ftone, 
 from which it grows into a ftrong ftalk. 
 
 In our return, we found a little boy 
 upon the point of a rock, catching with his 
 angle, a fupper for the family. We rowed 
 up to him, and borrowed his rod, with 
 which Mr. Bofwell caught a cuddy. 
 
 N 
 
 The cuddy is a nfh of which I know- 
 not the philofophical name. It is not much 
 bigger than a gudgeon, but is of great ufe 
 in thefe Iflands, as it affords the lower 
 people both food, and oil for their lamps. 
 Cuddies are fo abundant, at fome times of 
 
 the
 
 170 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 the year, that they are caught like white- 
 bait in the Thames, only by dipping a 
 bafket and drawing it back. 
 
 If it were always practicable to fifh, 
 thefe Iflands could never be in much dan- 
 ger from famine; but unhappily in the 
 winter, when other provifion fails, the feas 
 are commonly too rough for nets, or boats. 
 
 TALISKER IN SKY. 
 
 From Ulimjh, our next ftage was to Ta- 
 lijker^ the houfe of Colonel Macleod, an 
 officer in the Dutch fervice, who in this 
 time of univerfal peace, has for feveral years 
 been permitted to be abfent from his regi- 
 ment. Having been bred to phyfick, he 
 is confequently a fcholar, and his lady, by 
 accompanying him in his different places 
 of refidence, is become fkilful in feveral 
 languages. Talt/ker is the place beyond all 
 that I have feen, from which the gay and the 
 4 jovial
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &o-. 171 
 
 jovial feem utterly excluded ; and where the 
 hermit might expect to grow old in medi- 
 tation, without poflibility of difturbance or 
 interruption. It is fituated very near the 
 fea, but upon a coaft where no veflel lands 
 but when it is driven by a tempeft on 
 the rocks. Towards the land are lofty 
 hills ftreaming with water-falls. The gar- 
 den is flickered by firs, or pines, which 
 grow there fo profperoufly, that fome, 
 which the prefent inhabitant planted, are 
 very high and thick. 
 
 ^- 
 
 At this place we very happily met Mr. 
 Donald Maclean, a young gentleman, the 
 eldeft fon of" the Laird of Co!, heir to a 
 very great extent of land, and fo defirous 
 of improving his inheritance, that he fpent 
 a confiderable time among the farmers of 
 Hertfordfiire^ and Hampjhire^ to learn 
 their practice. He worked with his own 
 hands at the principal operations of agri- 
 culture, that he might not deceive himfelf 
 
 by
 
 172 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 by a falfe opinion of ikill, which if he 
 fhould find it deficient at home, he had no 
 means of completing. If the world has 
 agreed to praife the travels and manual 
 labours to the Gzar of Mufcovy, let Col 
 have his (hare of the like applaufe, in the 
 proportion of his dominions to the empire 
 of Rujfia* 
 
 This young gentleman was fporting in 
 the mountains of Sky, and when he was 
 weary with following his game, repairecj 
 for lodging to Tali/ker. At night he 
 miffed one of his dogs, and when he went 
 to feek him in the morning, found two 
 eagles feeding on his carcafs. 
 
 Col, for he muft be named by his pof- 
 feflions, hearing that our intention was to 
 vifit Jona^ offered to conduct us to his 
 chief, Sir Allan Maclean, who lived in the 
 ifle of Incb Kenneth, and would readily 
 find us a convenient paffage. From this 
 
 time
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, & . 173 
 
 time was formed an acquaintance, which 
 being begun by kindnefs, was accidentally 
 continued by conftraint j we derived much 
 pleafure from it, and I hope have given 
 him no reafon to repent it* 
 
 The weather was now almoft dne con- 
 tinued ftorm, and we were to fnatch fome 
 happy intermiflion to be conveyed to MulI 9 
 the third Ifland of the Hebrides, lying 
 about a degree fouth of Sky, whence we 
 might eafily find our way to Inch Kenneth^ 
 where Sir Allan Maclean refided, and after- 
 ward to Jona* 
 
 For this purpofe, the moft commodious! 
 ftation that we could take was Armidel 9 
 which Sir Alexander Macdonald had now 
 left to a gentleman, who lived there as his 
 factor or fteward. 
 
 In our way to Armidel, was Coriatachan, 
 where we had already been, and to which 
 therefore we were very willing to return- 
 
 We 
 
 V.
 
 174 A JtfUftNfcY tO f HE 
 
 We ftaid however fo long at Tali/kef^ that 
 a great part of our journey was performed 
 in the gloom of the evening. In travelling 
 even thus almoft without light thro' naked 
 folijude, when there is a guide whofe con- 
 dud: may be trufted, a mind not naturally 
 too much difpofed to fear, may preferve 
 fome degree of cheerfulnefs ; but what 
 xnuft be the folicitude of him who fhould 
 be wandering, among the craggs and hol- 
 lows, benighted, ignorant, and alone? 
 
 The ficYions of meGotfcic& romances were 
 not fo remote from credibility as they are" 
 now thought. In the full prevalence of 
 the feudal inftitution, when violence defo- 
 lated the world, and every baron lived in a 
 fortrefs, forefts and caftles were regularly 
 fucceeded by each other, and the adventurer* 
 might very fuddenly pafs from the gloom 
 of woods, or the ruggednefs of moors, 
 to feats of plenty, gaiety, and magnifi- 
 cence. Whatever is imaged in the wildefi 
 
 tale, 

 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 175 
 
 tale, if giants, dragons, and enchant- 
 ment be excepted, would be felt by him, 
 who, wandering in the mountains with- 
 out a guide, or upon the fea without a pi- 
 lot, fhould be carried amidft his terrour and 
 uncertainty, to the hofpitality and elegance 
 of Raafay and Dunvegan. 
 
 To Coriatachan at laft we came, and 
 found ourfelves welcomed as before. Here 
 we ftaid two days, and made fuch in- 
 quiries as curiofity fuggefted. The houfe 
 was filled with company, among whom 
 Mr. Macpherfon and his fitter diftinguifhed 
 . themfelves by their politenefs and accom- 
 pliihments. By him we were invited 
 to Qftigt a houfe not far from Armidel, 
 where we might eafily hear of a^boat, when 
 the weather would fuffer us to leave the 
 Ifland. 
 
 OSTIG IN SKY. 
 
 At Ojlig, of which Mr. Macpherfen 19 
 minifter, we were entertained for fome days, 
 
 then
 
 i;6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 then removed to Armidel, where we finifhed 
 our obfervations on the ifland of Sky. 
 
 -jjfvv s fjii :.; . . '. .n'i ; 
 As this ifland lies in the fifty-feventh 
 
 degree, the air cannot be fuppofed to have 
 much warmth. The long continuance of 
 the fun above the horizon, does indeed 
 fometimes produce great heat in northern 
 latitudes ; but this can only happen in fhel- 
 tered places, where the atmofphere is to a 
 certain degree ftagnant, and the fame mafs 
 df air continues to receive for many hours 
 the rays of the fun, and the varfours of the 
 earth. Sky lies open on the weft and north 
 to a vaft extent of ocean, and is cooled 
 in the fummer by a perpetual ventilation, 
 but by the fame blafts is kept warm in 
 winter. Their weather is not pleafing. 
 Half the year is deluged with rain. Froni 
 the autumnal to the vernal equinox, a dry 
 day is hardly known, except when the 
 fhowers are fufpended by a tempeft. Under 
 fuch fkies can be expected no great exu- 
 berance
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 177 
 
 feerance of vegetation. Their winter over- 
 takes their fummer, and their harveft lies 
 upon the ground drenched with rain. The 
 autumn ftruggles hard to produce fome of 
 our early fruits. I gathered goofeberries 
 in September j but they were fmall, and 
 the hufk was thick. 
 
 Their winter is feldom fuch as puts a 
 full flop to the growth of plants, or reduces 
 the cattle to live wholly on the furplufage 
 of the fumrner. In the year Seventy- one 
 they had a fevere feafon, remembered by 
 the name of the Black Spring, from which 
 the ifland has not yet recovered. The 
 fnow lay long upon the ground, a calamity 
 hardly known before. Part of their cattle 
 died for want, part were unfeafonably fold 
 to buy fuflenance for the owners ; and, 
 what I have not read or heard of before, 
 the kine that furvived were fo emaciated 
 and difpirited, that they did not require 
 N the
 
 178 A J.OURNEY TO THE 
 
 the male at the ufual time. Many of the 
 roebucks perifhed. 
 
 
 The fell, as in other countries, has its 
 diverfuies. In fome parts there is only a 
 thin layer of earth fpread upon a rock, 
 which bears, nothing but Ihort brown heath, 
 and perhaps is not generally capable of any 
 better proxlucl:. There are many bogs or 
 mofles of greater or lefs extent, where the 
 foil crannot be fuppofed to want depth, 
 though it is top wet for the plough. But we 
 did not obierve in thefe any aquatick plants. 
 The vallies and the 'mountains are alike 
 darkened with hea.th. Some grafs, how- 
 ever, grows here and there, and fome hap- 
 pier fpots of earth are capable of tillage. 
 
 Their agriculture is laborious, and per- 
 haps rather feeble than unfkilful. Their 
 chief manure is fea- weed, which, when they 
 lay U to rot upon the field, gives them a bet- 
 ter crop than thofe of the Highlands, They 
 
 heap
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 
 
 heap fea-flieils upon the dunghill, which in 
 time moulder into a fertilifing fubftance. 
 When they find a vein of earth where they 
 cannot life it, they dig it up, and add it to 
 the mould of a more commodious place. 
 
 Their corn grounds often lie in fuch in- 
 tricacies among the craggs, that there is no 
 room for the action of a team and plough. 
 The foil is then turned up by manual la- 
 hour with an inftrument called a crooked 
 fpade, of a form and weight which to me 
 appeared very incommodious, and would 
 perhaps be foon improved in a country 
 where workmen could be eafily found and 
 eafily paid. It has a narrow blade of iron 
 fixed to a long and heavy piece of wood, 
 which muft' have, about a foot and a half 
 above the iron, a knee or flexure with the 
 angle downwards. When the farmer en- 
 counters a ftone which is the great impe- 
 diment of his operations, he drives the blade 
 under it, and bringing the knee or angle to 
 N 2 the
 
 i8o A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 the ground, has in the long handle a very 
 forcible lever. 
 
 According to the different mode of til- 
 lage, farms are diflinguifhed into long land 
 and Jhort land. Long land is that which 
 affords room for a plough, and fhort land 
 .is turned up by the fpade. 
 
 The grain which they commit to the fur- 
 rows thus tedioufly formed, is either oats 
 or barley. They do not fow barley with- 
 out very copious manure, and then they 
 expec~fc from it ten for one, an increafe 
 equal to that of better countries ; but the 
 culture is fo operofe that they content 
 themfelves commonly with oats ; and who 
 can relate without compaffion, that after 
 all their diligence they are to expert only a 
 triple increafe ? It is in vain to hope for 
 plenty, when a third part of the harveft 
 muft be referved for feed. 
 
 When
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 181 
 
 When their grain is arrived at the ftate 
 which they muft confider as ripenefs, they 
 do not cut, but pull the barley : to the 
 oats they apply the fickle. Wheel car- 
 riages they have none, but make a frame 
 of timber, which is drawn by one horfe 
 with the t\vo points behind preffing on the 
 ground. On this they fometimes drag 
 home their fheaves, but often convey them 
 rjome in a kind of open panier, or frame 
 of flicks upon the horfe's back. 
 
 Of that which is obtained with fo much 
 difficulty, nothing furely ought to be wafted ; 
 yet their method of clearing their oats from 
 the hufk is by parching them in the ftraw. 
 Thus with the genuine improvidence of 
 favages, they deftroy that fodder for want 
 of which their cattle may. perim. From 
 this practice they have two petty convent 
 encies. They dry the grain fo that it is 
 eafily reduced to meal, and they efcape the 
 theft of the threflier. The tafte contracted 
 N 3 from
 
 i8i A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 from the fire by the oats, as by every other 
 fcorched fubftance, ufe muft long ago have 
 made grateful. The oats that are not 
 parched muft be dried in a kiln. 
 
 The barns of Sky I never faw. That 
 which Mackod of Raafay had creeled near 
 his houfe was fo contrived, becaufe the har- 
 veft is feldom brought home dry, as by 
 perpetual perfladon to prevent the mow 
 from heating. 
 
 Of their gardens I can judge only from 
 their tables. I did not obferve that the 
 common greens were wanting, and fuppofe, 
 thatbychoofingan advantageousexpofition, 
 they can raife all the more hardy efculent 
 plants. Of vegetable fragrance or beauty 
 they are not yet ftudious. Few vows are 
 made to Flora in the Hebrides. 
 
 They gather a little hay, but the grafs is 
 
 mown late ; and is fo often almoft dry and 
 
 * again
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, ' &c. 183 
 
 again very wet, before it is houfed, that it 
 becomes a collection of withered ftalks with- 
 out tafte or fragrance ; it muft be eaten by 
 cattle that have nothing elfe, but by moil 
 Englifti farmers would be thrown away. 
 
 In the Iflands I have not heard that any 
 fubterraneous treafures have- been difco- 
 vered, though where there are mountains, 
 there are commonly minerals. One of the 
 rocks in Col has a black vein, imagined to 
 confift of the ore of lead; but it was never 
 yet opened or eflayed. In Sky a black mafs 
 was accidentally picked up, and brought 
 into the houfe of the owner of the land, 
 who found himfelf ftrongly inclined to 
 think it a coal, but unhappily it did not 
 burn in the chimney. Common ores would 
 be here of no great value; for what requires 
 to be feparated by fire, muft, if it were 
 found, be carried away in its mineral ftate, 
 here being no fewel for the fmelting houfe 
 or forge. Perhaps by diligent fearch in 
 N 4 this
 
 1 84 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 this world of ftone, fome valuable fpecies 
 of marble might be difcovered. But nei? 
 ther philofophical curiofity, nor commercial 
 induftry, have yet fixed their abode here, 
 where the importunity of immediate want 
 fupplied but for the day, and craving on 
 the morrow, has left little room for excur- 
 five knowledge or the pleafmg fancies of 
 diftant profit. 
 
 They have lately found a manufacture 
 confiderably lucrative. Their rocks abound 
 with kelp, a fea-plant, of which the afhes 
 are melted into glafs. They burn kelp in 
 great quantities, and then fend it away 
 in IhipS9 which come regularly to purchafe 
 them.. This new fource of riches has raifed 
 the rents of many maritime farms j but the 
 tenants pay, like all other tenants, the ad- 
 ditional rent with great unwillingnefs ; be- 
 caufe they confider the profits of the kelp 
 as the mere product of perfonal labour, 
 to which the landlord contributes nothing. 
 
 How-
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 185 
 
 However, as any man may be faid to give 
 what he gives the power of gaining, he 
 fyas certainly as much right to profit from 
 the price of kelp as of any thing elfe found 
 or raifed upon his ground. 
 
 This new trade has excited a long and 
 eager litigation between Macdonald and 
 Macleod, for a ledge of rocks, which, till 
 the value of kelp was known, neither of 
 them defired the reputation of pofieffing. 
 
 The cattle of ky are not fo fmall as is 
 commonly believed. Since they have fent 
 their beeves in great numbers to fouthern 
 marts, they have probably taken more care 
 of their breed. At fta.ted times the annual 
 growth of cattle is driven to a fair, by a ge- 
 neral drover, and with the money, which he 
 returns to the farmer, the rents are paid. 
 
 The price regularly expected, is from 
 two to three pounds a head : there was once 
 
 one
 
 iS6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 one fold for five pounds. They go from 
 the Iflands very lean, and are not offered 
 to the butcher, till they have been long 
 fatted in Englifh paftures. 
 
 Of their black cattle, fome are without 
 horns, called by the Scots bumble cows, 
 as we call a bee an bumble bee, that wants 
 a fling. Whether this difference be fpeci- 
 iick, or accidental, though we inquired 
 with great diligence, we could not be in- 
 formed, We are not very fure that the bull 
 is ever without horns, though we have been 
 told, that fuch bulls there are. What is 
 produced by putting a horned and unhorned 
 male and female together, no man has 
 ever tried, that thought the refult worthy 
 of obfervation. 
 
 Their horfes are, like their cows, of a 
 moderate fizey I had no difficulty to mount 
 myfelf commodioufly by the favour of 
 the gentlemen. I heard of very little 
 
 cows
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 
 
 cows in Earra^ and very little horfes in 
 Rum, where perhaps no care is taken to 
 prevent that diminution of fize, which muft 
 always happen, where the greater and the 
 lefs copulate promifcuoufly, and the young 
 animal is reftrained from growth by pe* 
 nury of fuftenance. 
 
 The goat is the general inhabitant of the 
 earth, complying with every difference of 
 climate, and of foil. The goats of the He* 
 brides are like others : nor did 1 hear any 
 thing of their fheep, to be particularly re- 
 marked. 
 
 In the penury of thefe malignant regions 
 nothing is left that can be converted to food. 
 The goats and the fheep are milked like the 
 cows. A fingte meal of a goat is a quart, 
 and of a fheep a pint. Such at leaft was 
 the account, which I could extract from 
 thofe of whom I am not fure that they ever 
 had inquired. 
 
 The
 
 i88 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 The milk of goats is much thinner than 
 that of cows, and that of fheep is much 
 thicker. Sheeps milk is never eaten be- 
 fore it is boiled : as it is thick, it muft be 
 very liberal of curd, and the people of Sf. 
 form it into fmall cheefes. * 
 
 The flags of the mountains are lefs than 
 thofe of our parks, or forefts, perhaps not 
 bigger than our fallow deer. Their flefli 
 has ncj ranknefs, nor is inferipur in flavour 
 to our common venifon. The roebuck I 
 neither faw nor Rafted. Thefe are not coun- 
 tries for a regular chafe. The deer are not 
 driven with horns and hounds. A fportf- 
 m.an, with his gun in his hand, watches 
 the animal, and when he has wounded him, 
 traces him by the blood. 
 
 They have a race of brinded greyhounds 
 larger and ftronger than thofe with which 
 we courfe hares, and thofe are the only 
 dogs ufed by them for the chafe. 
 
 Man
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 189 
 
 Man is by the life of fire-arms made fo 
 much an overmatch for other animals, that 
 in all countries, where they are in ufe, the 
 wild part of the creation fenfibly dimi- 
 nilhes. There will probably not be long 
 either ftags or roebucks in the Iflands. All 
 the beafts of chafe would have been loft 
 long ago in countries well inhabited, had 
 they not been preferved by laws for the 
 pleafure of the rich. 
 
 There are in Sky neither rats nor mice, 
 but the weafel is fo frequent, that he is 
 heard in houfes rattling behind chefts or 
 beds, as rats in England. They probably 
 owe to his predominance that they have no 
 other vermin ; for fince the great rat took 
 pofleffion of this part of the world, fcarce 
 a fhip can touch at any port, but fome of 
 his race are left behind. They have with- 
 in thefe few years began to infeft the Ifle 
 of Col, where being left by fome trading 
 
 veflel,
 
 190 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 vefiel, they have increafed for want of wea- 
 fels to oppofe them. 
 
 The inhabitants of Sky, and of the other 
 Iflands, which I have feen, are commonly 
 of the middle ftature, with fewer among 
 them very tall or very fhort, than are feen 
 in England, or perhaps, as their numbers 
 are fmall, the chances of any deviation 
 from the common meafure are necefiarily 
 few. The talleft men that I faw are among 
 thofe of higher rank. In regions of bar- 
 rennefs and' fcarcity, the human race is 
 hindered in its growth by the fame caufes 
 as other animals. 
 
 The ladies have as much beauty here as 
 in other places, but bloom and foftnefs are 
 not to be expected among the lower clafles, 
 \vhofe faces are expcfed to the rudenefs of 
 the climate, and whofe features are fome- 
 times contracted by want, and fometimes 
 hardened by the blafts. Supreme beauty 
 
 is
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 191 
 
 % 
 is feldom found in cottages or work-fhops, 
 
 even where no real hardfhips are fuffered. 
 To expand the human face to its full per- 
 fection, it feems neceflary that the mind 
 fhould co-operate by placidnefs of content, 
 or confcioufnefs of fuperiority. 
 
 Their ftrength is proportionate to their 
 fize, but they are accuftomed to run upon 
 rough ground, and therefore can with 
 great agility ikip over the bog, or clam- 
 ber the mountain. For a campaign in the 
 waftes of America, foldiers better qualified 
 could not have been found. Having little 
 work to do, they are not willing, nor per- 
 haps able to endure a long continuance of 
 manual labour, and are therefore confider- 
 ed as habitually idle. 
 
 x - 
 
 Having never been fupplied with thefe 
 accommodations, which life extenfively di- 
 verfified with trades affords, they fupply 
 their wants by very infufiicient ihifts, 
 
 and
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 and endure many inconveniences, which 
 a little attention would eafily relieve. I 
 have feen a horfe carrying home the harveft 
 on a crate. Under his tail was a ftick for a 
 crupper, held at the two ends by twifts of 
 draw. Hemp will grow in their iflands, 
 and therefore ropes may be had. If they 
 wanted hemp, they might make better cord- 
 age of rufhes, or perhaps of nettles, than 
 of ftraw. 
 
 Their method of life neither fecures 
 them perpetual health, nor expofes them 
 to any particular difeafea. There are phy- 
 ficians in the Iflands, who, I believe, all 
 pradife chirurgery, and all compound their 
 own medicines. 
 
 It is generally fuppofed, that life is longer 
 in places where there are few oppor- 
 tunities of luxury; but I found no in* 
 ftance here of extraordinary longevity. A 
 cottager grows old over his oaten cakes, 
 
 like
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 193 
 
 like a citizen at a turtle feaft. He is in- 
 deed feldom incommoded by corpulence. 
 Poverty preferves him from finking under 
 the burden of himfelf, but he efcapes no 
 other injury of time. Inflances of long 
 life are often related, which thofe who 
 hear them are more willing to credit than 
 examine. To be told that any man has 
 attained a hundred years, gives hope and 
 comfort to him who ftands trembling on 
 the brink of his own climaclerick. 
 
 Length of life is distributed impartially 
 to very different modes of life in very diffe- 
 rent climates ; arid the mountains have no 
 greater examples of age and health than the 
 low lands, where I was introduced to two 
 ladies of high quality ; one of whom, in her 
 ninety-fourth year, prefided at her table 
 with the full exercife of all her powers; and 
 the other has attained her eighty-fourth, 
 without any diminution of her vivacity, 
 
 O and
 
 194 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 and with little reafon to accufe time of 
 depredations on her beauty. 
 
 In the Iflands, as in moft other places, 
 the inhabitants are of different rank, and 
 one does not encroach here upon another. 
 Where there is no commerce nor manufac- 
 ture, he that is born poor can fcarce be- 
 come rich ; and if none are able to buy 
 eftates, he that is born to land cannot anni- 
 hilate his family by felling it. This was 
 once the ftate of thefe countries. Perhaps 
 there is no example, till within a century 
 and half, of any family whofe eftate was 
 alienated otherwife than by violence or for- 
 feiture. Since money has been brought 
 amongft them, they have found, like others, 
 the art of fpending more than they receive ; 
 an'd I faw with grief the chief of a very 
 ancient clan, whofe Ifland was condemned 
 by law to be fold for the fatisfaction of his 
 creditors. 
 
 The
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 
 
 The name of higheft dignity is Laird, of 
 which there are in the extenfive Ifle of Sky 
 only three, Macdonald^ Machod y and Mac- 
 kinnon. The Laird is the original owner 
 of the land, whofe natural power muft be 
 very great, where no man lives but by 
 agriculture ; and where the produce of the 
 land is not conveyed through the labyrinths 
 of traffick, but pafles diredly from the 
 hand that gathers it to the mouth that eats 
 it. The Laird has all thofe in his power 
 that live upon his farms. Kings can, for 
 the moft part, only exalt or degrade. The 
 Laird at pleafure can feed or ftarve, can 
 give bread, or withhold it. This inherent 
 power was yet flrengthened by the kind- 
 nefs of confanguinity, and the reverence of 
 patriarchal authority. The Laird was the 
 father of the Clan, and his tenants com- 
 monly bore his name. And to thefe prin- 
 ciples of original command was added, for 
 many ages, an exclufive right of legal 
 jurifdiction. 
 
 O 2 This 4
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 This multifarious and extenfive obliga- 
 tion operated with force fcarcely credible. 
 Every duty, moral or political, was ab- 
 forbed in affection and adherence to the 
 Chief. Not many years have pafied fince 
 the Clans knew no law but the Laird's will. 
 He told them to whom they fhould be 
 Friends or enemies, what king they fhould 
 obey, and what religion they fhould pro- 
 fefs. 
 
 When the Scots firft rofe in arms againft 
 the fucceffion of the houfe of Hanover, 
 Lovat, the Chief of the Frafers, was in 
 exile for a rape. The Frafers were very 
 numerous, and very zealous againft the 
 government. A pardon was fent to Lovat. 
 He came to the Englifo camp, and the 
 Clan immediately deferted to him. 
 
 Next in dignity to the Laird is the 
 Tackfman ; a large taker or leafe-holder 
 of land, of which he keeps part, as a do- 
 main
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 197 
 
 main in his own hand, and lets part to 
 under-tenants. The Tackfman is neceflfa- 
 rily a man capable of fecuring to the Laird 
 the whole rent, an4 is commonly a colla- 
 teral relation. Thefe facks, or fubordinate 
 pofieflions, were long confidered as here- 
 ditary, and the occupant was diftinguifhed 
 by the name of the place at which he 
 refided. He held a middle ftation, by 
 which the higheft and the loweft orders 
 were connected. He paid rent and reve- 
 rence to the Laird, and received them from 
 the tenants. This tenure ftill fubfifts, with 
 its original operation, but not with the 
 primitive (lability. Since the iflanders, no 
 longer content to live, have learned the 
 defire of growing rich, an ancient depend- 
 ent is in danger of giving way to a higher 
 bidder, at the expence of domeftic dig- 
 nity and hereditary power. The ftranger, 
 ^hqfe money buys him preference, confi- 
 ders himfelf as paying for all that he has, 
 and is indifferent about the Laird's honour 
 O or
 
 198 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 ' ' Jfc- 
 or fafety. The commodioufnefs of money 
 
 is indeed great ; but there are fome advan-* 
 tages which money cannot buy, and which 
 therefore no wife man will by the love of 
 money be tempted to forego. 
 
 I have found in the hither parts of Scof* 
 land, men not defective in judgment or 
 general experience, who confider the Tackf- 
 jnan as a ufelefs burden of the ground, 
 as a drone who lives upon the product of 
 an eftate, without the right of property, 
 or the merit of labour, and who impove- 
 rifhes at once the landlord and the tenant. 
 The land, fay they, is let to the Tackf- 
 xnan at fix-pence an acre, and by him to 
 the tenant at ten-pence. Let the owner be 
 the immediate landlord to all the tenants ; 
 if he fets the ground at eight-pence, he will 
 increafe his revenue by a fourth part, and 
 the tenant's burden will be diminifhed by 
 a fifth, 
 
 Thofe
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 
 
 Thofe who purfue this train of reafon- 
 ing, feem not fufliciently to inquire whi-* 
 ther it will lead them, nor to know that it 
 will equally fhew the propriety of fuppreff- 
 ing all wholefale trade, of fhutting up the 
 fhops of every man who fells what he does 
 not make, and of extruding all whofe 
 agency and profit intervene between the 
 manufacturer and the confumer. They 
 may, by ftretching their underftandings a 
 little wider, comprehend, that all thofe 
 who by undertaking large quantities of 
 manufacture, and affording employment to 
 many labourers, make themfelves confi- 
 dered as benefactors to the publick, have 
 only been robbing their workmen with one 
 hand, and their cuftomers with the other. 
 If Crowley had fold only what he could 
 make, and all his fmiths had wrought their 
 own iron with their own hammers, he 
 would have lived on lefs, and they would 
 have fold their work for more. The fala- 
 ries of fuperintendents and clerks would 
 O 4 have
 
 200 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 have been partly faved, and partly fhared, 
 and nails been fometimes cheaper by a far- 
 thing in a hundred. But then if the fmith 
 could not have found an immediate pur- 
 chafer, he muft have deferted his anvil ; 
 if there had by accident at any time been 
 more fellers than buyers, the workmen 
 mud have reduced their profit to nothing, 
 by underfelling one another ; and as no 
 great flock could have been in any hand, 
 no fudden demand of large quantities could 
 have been anfwered, and the builder muft 
 have flood flill till the nailer could fupply 
 him. 
 
 According to thefe fchemes, univerfal 
 plenty is to begin and end in univerfal 
 mifery. Hope and emulation will be ut- 
 terly extinguifhed ; and as all muft obey 
 the call of immediate neceflity, nothing 
 that requires extenfive views, or provides 
 for diftant confequences, will ever be per- 
 formed.
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 201 
 
 To the fouthern inhabitants of Scotland, 
 the ftate of the mountains and the iflands 
 is equally unknown with that of Borneo or 
 Sumatra : Of both they have only heard a 
 little, and guefs the reft. They are ftran- 
 gers to the language and the manners, to 
 the advantages and wants of the people, 
 whofe life they would model, and whofe 
 evils they would remedy. 
 
 Nothing is lefs difficult than to procure 
 one convenience by the forfeiture of another. 
 A foldier may expedite his march by throw- 
 ing away his arms. To banifh the Tackf- 
 man is eafy, to make a country plentiful 
 by diminishing the people, is an expeditious 
 mode of huibandry ; but that abundance, 
 which there is nobody to enjoy, contributes 
 little to human happinefs. 
 
 As the mind muft govern the hands, fo 
 in every fociety the man of intelligence 
 muft direct the man of labour. If the 
 
 Tackfmen
 
 202 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Tackfmen be taken away, the Hebrides 
 muft in their prefent ftate be given up to 
 grofihefs and ignorance ; the tenant, for 
 want of inftru&ion, will be unfkilful, and 
 for want of admonition will be negli- 
 gent* The Laird, in thefe wide eftates, 
 which often confift ofiflands remote from, 
 one another, cannot extend his perform! 
 influence to all his tenants; and the 
 fleward having no dignity annexed to his 
 character, can have little authority among 
 men taught to pay reverence only to birth, 
 and who regard the Tackfman as their 
 hereditary fuperior; nor can the fleward 
 have equal zeal for the profperity of an 
 eftate profitable only to the Laird, with 
 the Tackfman, who has the Laird's income 
 involved in his own. 
 
 The only gentlemen in the iflands are 
 the Lairds, the Tackfmen, and the Mini- 
 ilers, who 'frequently improve their livings 
 by becoming farmers. If the Tackfmen 
 
 be
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 203 
 
 be banifhed, who will be left to impart 
 knowledge, or imprefs civility ? The Laird 
 muft always be at a diftance from the 
 greater part of his lands ; and if he refides 
 at all upon them, muft drag his days in 
 folitude, having no longer either a friend 
 or a companion ; he will therefore depart 
 to fome more comfortable refidence, and 
 leave the tenants to the wifdom and mercy 
 of a factor. 
 
 Of tenants there are different orders, as 
 they have greater or lefs flock. Land is 
 fometimes leafed to a fmall fellowfhip, who 
 live in a clufter of huts, called a Tenants 
 Town, and are bound jointly and fepa- 
 rately for the payment of their rent, Thefe, 
 I believe, employ in the care of their 
 cattle, and the labour of tillage, a kind of 
 tenants yet lower; who having a hut, with 
 grafs for a certain number of cows and 
 iheep, pay their rent by a ftipirfated quan- 
 tity of labour. 
 
 The
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 The condition of domeftic fervants, or 
 the price of occafional labour, I do not 
 know with certainty. I was told that the 
 maids have fheep, and are allowed to fpin 
 for their own clothing ; perhaps they have 
 no pecuniary wages, or none but in very 
 wealthy families. The ftate of life which 
 has hitherto been purely paftoral, begins 
 now to be a little variegated with com- 
 merce; but novelties enter by degrees, and 
 till one mode has fully prevailed over the 
 Other, no fettled notion can be formed. 
 
 Such is the fyftem of infular fubbrdina- 
 tion, whieh, having little variety, cannot 
 afford much delight in the view, nor long 
 detain the mind in contemplation. The 
 inhabitants were for a long time perhaps 
 not unhappy; but their content was a 
 muddy mixture of pride and ignorance, an 
 indifference for pleafures which they did 
 not know, a blind veneration for their 
 
 chiefs,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 105 
 
 chiefs, and a ftrong conviction of their own 
 importance. 
 
 Their pride has been crufhed by the 
 heavy hand of a vindictive conqueror, 
 whofe feverities have been followed by 
 laws, which, though they cannot be called 
 cruel, have produced much difcontent, be- 
 caufe they operate upon the furface of life, 
 and make every eye bear witnefs to fubjec- 
 tion. To be compelled to a new drefs has 
 always been found painful. 
 
 Their chiefs being now deprived of their 
 jurifdiclion, have already loft much of their 
 influence j and as they gradually degene- 
 rate from patriarchal rulers to rapacious 
 landlords, they will diveft themfelves of 
 the little that remains. 
 
 That dignity which they derived from 
 an opinion of their military importance, 
 the law, which difarmed them, has abated. 
 
 An
 
 206 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 i 
 
 An old gentleman, delighting himfelf with 
 the recollection of better days, related, that 
 forty years ago, a Chieftain walked out 
 attended by ten or twelve followers, with 
 their arms rattling. That animating rab- 
 ble has now ceafed. The Chief has loft his 
 formidable retinue; and the Highlander 
 walks his heath unarmed and defencelefs, 
 with the peaceable fubmiflion of a French 
 peafant or Englifh cottager. 
 
 Their ignorance grows every day lefs, 
 but their knowledge is yet of little other 
 life than to fhew them their wants. They 
 are now in the period of education, and 
 feel the uneafmefs of difcipline, without 
 yet perceiving the benefit of inftruction. 
 
 The laft law, by which the Highlanders 
 are deprived of their arms, has operated 
 with efficacy beyond expectation. Of for- 
 mer ftatutes made with the fame defign, the 
 execution had been feeble, and the effect 
 
 incon-
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 207 
 
 inconfiderable. Concealment was undoubt- 
 edly praclifed, and perhaps often with 
 connivance. There was tendernefs or par- 
 tiality on one fide, and obftinacy on the 
 other. But the law, which followed the 
 victory of Culloden, found the whole na- 
 tion dejected and intimidated ; informa- 
 tions were given without danger, and 
 without fear, and the arms were collected 
 with fuch rigour, that every houfe was 
 defpoiled of its defence. 
 
 To difarm part of the Highlands, could 
 give no reafonable occafion of complaint. 
 Every government muft be allowed the 
 power of taking away the weapon that is 
 lifted againft it. But the loyal Clans mur- 
 mured, with fome appearance of juflice, 
 that after having defended the King, they 
 were forbidden for the future to defend 
 themfelves ; and that the fword {hould be 
 forfeited, which had been legally employed. 
 Their cafe is undoubtedly hard, but in 
 5 political
 
 political regulations, good cannot be com- 
 plete, it can only be predominant. 
 
 Whether by difarming a people thus 
 broken into feveral tribes, and thus remote 
 from the feat of power, more good than 
 evil has been produced, may deferve in- 
 quiry. The fupreme power in every com- 
 munity has the right of debarring every 
 individual, and every fubordinate fociety, 
 from felf-defence, only becaufe the fupreme 
 power is able to defend them ; and there- 
 fore where the governor cannot aft, he 
 muft truft the fubjeft to at for himfelf. 
 Thefe Iflands might be wafted with fire and 
 fword before their fovereign would know 
 their diftrefs. A gang of robbers, fuch as 
 has been lately found confederating them- 
 felves in the Highlands, might lay a wide 
 region under contribution. The crew of 
 a petty privateer might land on the largeft 
 and mod wealthy of the Iflands, and riot 
 without control in cruelty and wafte. It 
 
 was
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &e. 209 
 
 was obfcrved by one of the Chiefs of Sty, 
 that fifty armed men might, without refift- 
 ance, ravage the country. Laws that 
 place the fubjects in fuch a ftate, contra- 
 vene the firft principles of the compact of 
 authority : they exact obedience, and yield 
 no protection* 
 
 It, affords a generous and manly pleafure 
 to conceive a little nation gathering its 
 fruits and tending its herds with fearlefs 
 confidence, though it lies open on every 
 fide to invafion, where, in contempt of 
 walls and trenches, every man fleeps fecure- 
 ly with his fword befide him; where all on 
 
 the firft approach of hoftility came together 
 
 *^i- 
 
 at the call to battle, as at a fummons to a 
 fieftal {how; and committing their cattle 
 to the care of thofe whom age or nature 
 has difabled, engage the enemy with that 
 competition for hazard and for glory, 
 which operate in men that fight under the 
 eye of thofe, whofe diflike or kindnefs they 
 
 P have
 
 have always confidered as the greateft evil 
 or the greateft good. 
 
 This was, in the beginning of the pre- 
 fent century, the ftate of the Highland's. 
 Every man was a foldier, who partook of 
 national confidence, and interefted himfelf 
 in national honour. To lofe this fpirit, is 
 to lofe what no fmall advantage will com- 
 
 penfate. 
 
 ? i ^ 
 
 It may likewife deferve to be inquired, 
 whether a great nation ought to be totally 
 commercial ? whether, amidft the uncer- 
 tainty of human affairs, too much atten- 
 tion to one mode of happinefs may not 
 endanger others ? whether the pride of 
 riches muft not fometimes have recourfe to 
 the protection of courage? and whether, 
 if it be neceffary to preferve in fome part 
 of the empire the military fpirit, it can 
 fubfift more commodioufly in any place, 
 than in remote and unprofitable provinces, 
 7 where
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. ait 
 
 \ ' * 
 
 where it can commonly do little harm, and 
 whence it may be called forth at any fud- 
 den exigence ? 
 
 It muft however be confefTed, that a man 
 who places honour only in fuccefsful vio- 
 lence, is a very troublefome and pernicious 
 animal in time of peace; and that the mar- 
 tial character cannot prevail in a whole 
 people, but by the diminution of all other 
 virtues. He that is accuftomed to refolve 
 all right into conqueft, will have very little 
 tendernefs or equity. All the friendfhip in 
 fuch a life can only be a confederacy of 
 invafion, or alliance of defence. The ftrong 
 muft flourifh by force, and the weak fub- 
 fift by ftratagem. 
 
 O !,-. f , ^ I 
 
 Till the Highlanders loft their ferocity, 
 with their arms, they fufFered from each 
 other all that malignity could dictate, or 
 precipitance could act. Every provocation 
 was revenged with blood, and no man that 
 P 2 ventured
 
 212 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 ventured into a numerous company, by 
 whatever occafion brought together, was 
 fure of returning without a wound. If 
 they are nQw expofed to foreign hoftilities, 
 they may talk of the danger, but can 
 feldom feel it. If they are no longer mar- 
 tial, they are no longer quarrelfome. Mifery 
 is caufed for the moft part, not by a heavy 
 crufti of difafter, but by the corrofion of 
 lefs vifible evils, which canker enjoyment, 
 and undermine fecurity. The vifit of an 
 invader is neceflarily rare, but domeftick 
 animofities allow no ceflation. 
 
 The abolition of the local jurifdidions, 
 which had for fo many ages been exercifed 
 by the Chiefs, has likewife its evil and its 
 good. The feudal conftitution naturally 
 diffufed itfelf into long ramifications of 
 fubordinate authority. To this general 
 temper of the government was added the 
 peculiar form of the country, broken by 
 mountains into many fubdivifions fcarcely 
 
 accefliblc
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 213 
 
 acceffible but to the natives, and guarded 
 by pafles, or perplexed with intricacies, 
 through which national juftice could not 
 find its way. 
 
 The power of deciding controverfies, and 
 of puniming offences, as fome fuch power 
 there muft always be, was entrufted to 
 the Lairds of the country, to thofe whom 
 the people confidered as their natural 
 judges. It cannot be fuppofed that a rug- 
 ged proprietor of the rocks, unprincipled 
 and unenlightened, was a nice refolver of 
 entangled claims, or very exact in propor- 
 tioning punifhment to offences. But the 
 more he indulged his own will, the more 
 he held his vaflfals in dependance. Pru- 
 dence and innocence, without the favour 
 of the Chief, conferred no fecurity; and 
 crimes involved no danger, when the judge 
 was refolute to acquit. 
 
 P 3 When
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 When the Chiefs were men of know* 
 ledge and virtue, the convenience of a 
 domeftick judicature was great, No long 
 journies were neceflary, nor artificial de- ; 
 lays could be practifed ; the character, the 
 alliances, and interefts of the litigants were ' 
 
 
 
 known to the court, and all falfe pretences 
 were eafily detected. The fentence, when it 
 was pad, could not be evaded ; the power 
 of the Laird fuperfeded formalities, and 
 juftice could not be defeated by intereft or 
 ftratagem. 
 
 I doubt not but that fince the regular 
 judges have made their circuits through tjie 
 whole country, right has been every where 
 more wifely and more equally diftributed ; 
 the complaint is, that litigation is grown 
 troublefome, and that the magistrates are 
 too few, and therefore often too remote 
 for general convenience. 
 
 Many
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 215 
 
 Many of the fmaller Iflands have no 
 legal officer within them. I once afked, 
 If a crime fhould be committed, by what 
 authority the offender could be feized ? 
 and was told, that the Laird would exert 
 his right; a right which he muft now 
 ufurp, but which furely neceffity muft vin- 
 dicate, and which is therefore yet exer- 
 cifed in lower degrees by fome of the 
 proprietors, when legal procefles cannot be 
 obtained. 
 
 In all greater queftions, however, there 
 is now happily an end to all fear or hope 
 from malice or from favour. The roads 
 are fecure in thofe places through which, 
 forty years ago, no traveller could pafs 
 without a convoy. All trials of right by 
 the fword are forgotten, and the mean are 
 in as little danger from the powerful as in 
 other places. No fcheme of policy has, in 
 any country, yet brought the xich and 
 poor on equal terms into courts of judica- 
 P 4 ture.
 
 ti6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 ture. Perhaps experience, improving on 
 experience, may in time effedl it. 
 
 Thofe who have long enjoyed dig- 
 nity and power, ought not to lofe it with- 
 out fome equivalent. There was paid 
 to the Chiefs by the publick, in ex- 
 change for their privileges, perhaps a fum 
 greater than moft of them had ever pof-* 
 fefled, which excited a thirft for riches, of 
 which it {hewed them the ufe. When the 
 power of birth and ftation ceafes, no hope 
 remains but from the prevalence of money. 
 Power and wealth fupply the place of each 
 other. Power confers the ability of grati- 
 fying our defire without the confent of 
 others. Wealth enables us. to obtain the 
 confent of others to our gratification. 
 Power, fimply coniidered, whatever it con- 
 fers on one, muft take from another. 
 Wealth enables its owner to give to others, 
 by taking only from himfelf. Power pleafes 
 t}ie violent and proud: wealth delights the 
 
 placid
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 217 
 
 placid and the timorous. Youth therefore 
 flies at power, and age grovels after 
 riches. 
 
 The Chiefs, diverted of their preroga- 
 tives, neceffarily turned their thoughts to 
 the improvement of their revenues, and 
 expert more rent, as they have lefs ho- 
 mage. The tenant, who is far from per- 
 ceiving that his condition is made better in 
 the fame proportion, as that of his land- 
 lord is made worfe, does qot immediately 
 fee why his induftry is to be taxed more 
 heavily than before. He refufes to pay the 
 demand, and is ejected ; the ground is thea 
 let to a ftranger, who perhaps brings a 
 larger ftock, but who, taking the land at 
 its full price, treats with the Laird upon 
 equal terms, and confiders him not as a 
 Chief, but as a trafficker in land. Thus 
 eftate perhaps is improved, but the 
 is broken. 
 
 It
 
 2i3 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 It feems to be the general opinion, that 
 the rents have been raifed with too much 
 eagernefs. Some regard muft be paid to 
 prejudice. Thofe who have hitherto paid 
 but little, will not fuddenly be perfuaded to 
 pay much, though they can afford it. As 
 ground is gradually improved, and the va- 
 lue of money decreafes, the rent may be 
 raifed without any diminution of the far- 
 mer's profits : yet it is neceffary in thefe 
 countries, where the ejection of a tenant is 
 a greater evil, than in more populous places, 
 to conGder not merely what the land will 
 produce, but with what ability the inhabitant 
 can cultivate it. A certain ftock can allow 
 but a certain payment ; for if the land be 
 doubled, and the ftock remains the fame, 
 the tenant becomes no richer. The pro- 
 prietors of the Highlands might perhaps 
 often increafe their income, by fubdividing 
 the farms, and allotting to every occupier 
 only fo many acres as he can profitably 
 employ, but that they want people. 
 
 There
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 219 
 
 There fcems now, whatever be the caufe, 
 to be through a great part of the Highlands 
 a general difcontent. That adherence, 
 which was lately profefled by every man 
 to the Chief of his name, has now little 
 prevalence; and he that cannot live as he 
 deiires at home, liftens to the tale of for- 
 tunate iflands and happy regions, where 
 every man may have land of his own, and 
 eat the product of his labour without a 
 fuperior. 
 
 Thofe who have obtained grants of Ame- 
 rican lands, have, as is well known, in- 
 vited fettlers from all quarters of the globe ; 
 and among other places, where oppreiTioa 
 might produce a wifh for new habitations, 
 their emhTaries would not fail to try their 
 perfuafions in the liles of Scotland, where at 
 the time when the Clans were newly dif- 
 united from their Chiefs, and exafperated 
 by unprecedented exactions, it is no won- 
 der that they prevailed. 
 
 Whether
 
 220 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Whether the mifchiefs -of emigration 
 were immediately perceived, may be juftly 
 queftioned. They who went firft, were 
 probably fuch as could beft be fpared ; but 
 the accounts fent by the earlieft adventurers, 
 whether true or falfe, inclined many to fol- 
 low them ; and whole neighbourhoods 
 formed parties for removal j fo that depar- 
 ture from their native country is no longer 
 exile. He that goes thus accompanied, 
 carries with him all that makes life plea- 
 fant. He fits down in a better climate, 
 furrounded by his kindred and his friends : 
 they carry with them their language, their 
 opinions, their popular fongs, and heredi- 
 tary merriment : they change nothing but 
 the place of their abode ; and of that 
 change they perceive the benefit. 
 
 This is the real effecT: of emigration, if 
 thofe that go away together fettle on the 
 fame fpot, and preferve their ancient union. 
 But fome relate that thefe adventurous vifiN 
 
 ants
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 221 
 
 &nts of unknown regions, after a voyage 
 pafTed in dreams of plenty and felicity, are 
 difperfed at laft upon a fylvan wildernefs, 
 where their firft years muft be fpent in toil, 
 to clear the ground which is afterwards 
 to be tilled, and that the whole effecl: of 
 their undertaking is only more fatigue and 
 equal fcarcity. 
 
 Both accounts may be fufpe&ed. Thofe 
 who are gone will endeavour by every art 
 to draw others after them ; for as their 
 numbers are greater, they will provide bet- 
 ter for themfelves. When Nova Scotia was 
 firft peopled, I remember a letter, publimed 
 under the character of a New Planter, who 
 related how much the climate put him in 
 mind of Italy. Such intelligence the He- 
 bridians probably receive from their tranf- 
 marine correfpondents. But with equal 
 temptations of intereft, and perhaps with 
 no greater nicenefs of veracity, the owners 
 of the Iflands fpread ftories of American 
 
 hardships
 
 121 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 \ 
 
 hardmips to keep their people content at 
 home. 
 
 Some method to flop this cpidemick de- 
 fire pf wandering, which fpreads its conta- 
 gion from valley to valley, deferves to be 
 fought with great diligence. In more fruit- 
 ful countries, the removal of one, only 
 makes room for the fucceffion of another : 
 but in the Hebrides, the lofs of an inha- 
 bitant leaves a lading vacuity ; for nobody 
 born in any other parts of the world will 
 choofe this country for his refidence; and 
 an Ifland once depopulated will remain 
 a defert, as long as the prefent facility of 
 travel gives every one, who is difcontented 
 and unfettled, the choice of his abode. 
 
 Let it be inquired, whether the firft in- 
 tention of thofe who are fluttering on 
 the wing, and colle&ing a flock that they 
 may take their flight, be to attain good, 
 or to avoid evil. If they are diflatif- 
 
 fied
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 223 
 
 fied with that part of the globe, which their 
 birth has allotted them, and refolve not to 
 live without the pleafures of happier cli- 
 mates ; if they long for bright funs, and 
 calm fkies, and flowery fields, and fragrant 
 gardens, I know not by what eloquence 
 they can be perfuaded, or by what offers 
 they can be hired, to ftay. 
 
 But if they are driven from their native 
 country by pofitive evils, and difgufted by 
 ill-treatment, real or imaginary, it were 
 fit to remove their grievances, and quiet 
 their refentment ; fince, if they have been 
 hitherto undutiful fubjects, they will not 
 much mend their principles by American 
 converfation. 
 
 To allure them into the army, it was 
 thought proper to indulge them in the con- 
 tinuance of their national drefs. If this 
 conceflion could have any effect, it might 
 cafily be made. That diflimilitude of ap- 
 pearance,
 
 224 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 pearance, which was fuppofed to keep them 
 diftincl: from the reft of the nation, might 
 difincline them from coalefcing with the 
 Pcnfyfoanians or people of Connecticut. 
 If the reftitution of their arms will recon- 
 cile them to their country, let them have 
 again thofe weapons, which will not be 
 more mifchievous at home than in the Co- 
 lonies. That they may not fly from the 
 increafe of rent, I know not whether the 
 general good does not require that the land- 
 lords be, for a time, reftrained in their de- 
 mands, and kept quiet by penfions propor- 
 tionate to their lofs. 
 
 To hinder infurrection by driving away 
 the people, and to govern peaceably by 
 having no fubje&s, is an expedient that 
 argues no great profundity of politicks. 
 To foften the obdurate, to convince the 
 miftaken, to mollify the refentful, are wor- 
 thy of a ftatefman ; but it affords a legifla- 
 tor little felf-applaufe to confider, that 
 
 where
 
 \YESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 225 
 
 where there was formerly an infurreclion, 
 there is now a wildernefs. 
 
 It has been a queftion often agitated 
 without folution, why thofe northern re- 
 gions are now fo thinly peopled, which for- 
 merly overwhelmed with their armies the 
 Roman empire. The queftion fuppofes what 
 I believe is not true, that they had once 
 more inhabitants than they could maintain, 
 and overflowed only becaufe they were full. 
 
 This is to eftimate the manners of all 
 countries and ages by our own. Migration, 
 while the ftate of life was unfettled, and there 
 was little communication of intelligence be- 
 tween diftant places, was among the wilder 
 nations of Europe, capricious and cafual. 
 An adventitious projector heard of a fertile 
 coaft unoccupied, and led out a colony ; a 
 chief of renown for bravery, called the young 
 men together, and led them out to try 
 what fortune would prefent. When Caefar 
 
 was
 
 226 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 was in Gaul, he found the Helvetians pre- 
 paring to go they knew not whither, and 
 put a flop to their motions. They fettled 
 again in their own country, where they 
 were fo far from wanting room, that they 
 had accumulated three years provifion for 
 their march. 
 
 The religion of the North was military; 
 if they could not find enemies, it was their 
 duty to make them : they travelled in queft 
 of danger, and willingf took the chance of 
 Empire or Death. If their troops were 
 numerous, the countries from which they 
 were collected are of vaft extent, and with- 
 out much exuberance of people great ar- 
 mies may he raifed where every man is 
 a foldier. But their true ntlmbers were 
 never known. Thofe who were conquered 
 by them are their hiftorians, and fhame 
 may have excited them to fay, that they 
 were overwhelmed with multitudes. To 
 count is a modern pradice, the ancient 
 7 method
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 227 
 
 method was to guefs ; and when numbers 
 are guefled they are always magnified. 
 
 Thus England has for feveral years been 
 filled with the atchievements of feventy 
 thoufand Highlanders employed in Ame- 
 rica. I have heard from an Englifti officer, 
 not much inclined to favour them, that 
 their behaviour deferved a very high degree 
 of military praife ; but their number has 
 been much exaggerated. One of the mini- 
 fters told me, that feventy thoufand men 
 could not have been found in all the High- 
 lands, and that more than twelve thoufand 
 never took the field. Thofe that went to 
 the American war, went to deftrudtion. 
 Of the old Highland regiment, confifting of 
 twelve hundred, only feventy-fix furvived 
 to fee their country again. 
 
 The Gothick fwarms have at lead been 
 multiplied with equal liberality. That they 
 bore no great proportion to the inhabitants, 
 in whofe countries they fettled, is plain from 
 
 the
 
 230 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 That the immediate motives of their 
 defertion muft be imputed to their land- 
 lords, may be reafonably concluded, becaufe 
 fome Lairds of more prudence and lefs 
 rapacity have kept their vaflals undimi- 
 nifhed. From Raafay only one man had 
 been feduced, and at Col there was no wifh 
 to go away. 
 
 The traveller who comes hither from 
 more opulent countries, to fpeculate upon 
 the remains of paftoral life, will not much 
 wonder that a common Highlander has no 
 flrong adherence to his native foil ; for of 
 animal enjoyments, or of phyfical good, he 
 leaves nothing that he may not find again 
 wherefoever he may be thrown. 
 
 The habitations of men in the Hebrides 
 may be diftinguiftied into huts and houfes. 
 By a boufrj \ mean a building with one 
 flory over another ; by a to, a dwelling 
 with only one floor. The Laird, who for- 
 merly
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 231 
 
 merly lived in a caftle, now lives in a 
 houfe ; fometimes fufficiently neat, but fel- 
 dom very fpacious or fplendid. The Tackf- 
 men and the Minifters have commonly 
 houfes. Wherever there is a houfe, the 
 flranger finds a welcome, and to the other 
 evils of exterminating Tackfmen may be 
 added the unavoidable ceflation of hofpi- 
 tality, or the devolution of too heavy a 
 burden on the Minifters. 
 
 * i - 
 Of the houfes little can be faid. They 
 
 are fmall, and by the neceffity of accumu- 
 lating ftores, where there are fo few oppor- 
 tunities of purchafe, the rooms are very 
 heterogeneoufly filled. With want of clean- 
 linefs it were ingratitude to reproach them. 
 The fervants having been bred upon the 
 naked earth, think every floor clean, and 
 the quick fucceflion of guefts, perhaps not 
 always over-elegant, does not allow much 
 time for adjufting their apartments. 
 
 Huts
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Huts are of many gradations ; from 
 murky dens, to commodious dwellings. 
 
 The wall of a common hut is always 
 built without mortar, by a fkilful adaptation 
 of loofe (tones. Sometimes perhaps a double 
 wall of ftones is raifed, and the interme- 
 diate fpace filled with earth. The air is 
 thus completely excluded. Some walls 
 are, 1 think, formed of turfs, held toge^ 
 ther by a wattle, or texture of twigs. 
 Of the meaneft huts, the firft room is 
 lighted by the entrance, and the fecond by 
 the frnoke-hole. The fire is ufually made 
 in the middle. But there are huts, or 
 dwellings, of only one ftory, inhabited by 
 gentlemen, which have walls cemented 
 with mortar, glafs windows, and boarded 
 floors. Of thefe all have chimneys, and 
 fome chimneys have grates. 
 
 The houfe and the furniture are not 
 always nicely fuited. We were driven 
 
 once,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 233 
 
 once, by miffing a pafiage, to the hut of a 
 gentleman, where, after a very liberal 
 (upper, when I was conducted to my cham- 
 ber, I found an elegant bed of Indian cot- 
 ton, fpread with fine fheets. The accom- 
 modation was flattering; I undrefTed myfelf, 
 and felt my feet in the mire., The bed 
 flood upon the bare earth, which a long 
 courfe of rain had foftened to a puddle. 
 
 In paftoral countries the condition of the 
 loweil rank of people is fufficiently wretch- 
 ed. Among manufacturers, men that have 
 no property may have art and induflry, 
 which make them neceflary, and therefore- 
 valuable. But where flocks and corn are 
 the only wealth, there are always more 
 hands than work, and of that work there 
 is little in which fkill and dexterity can be 
 much diftinguifhed. He therefore who is 
 born poor never can be rich. The fon 
 merely occupies the place of the father, and 
 
 life
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 life knows nothing of progreflion or ad- 
 vancement. 
 
 The petty tenants, and labouring pea- 
 fants, live in miferable cabins, which afford 
 them little more than fhelter from the 
 ftorms. The Boor of Norway is faid to 
 make all his own utenfils. In the Hebrides, 
 whatever might be their ingenuity, the 
 want of wood leaves them no materials. 
 They are probably content with fuch ac- 
 commodations as ftones of different forms 
 
 and fizes can afford them. , 
 
 "*'-. * . . t* 
 
 Their food is not better than their lodg- 
 ing. They feldom tafte the flefh of land 
 animals ; for here are no markets. What 
 each man eats is from his own flock. The 
 great effecl: of money is to break property 
 into fmall parts. In towns, he that has a 
 {hilling may have a piece of meat ; but 
 where there is no commerce, no man can 
 eat mutton but by killing a fheep. 
 
 Fifh
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 235 
 
 Fifh in fair weather they need not want; 
 but, I believe, man never lives long on 
 fifh, but by conftraint; he will rather feed 
 upon roots and berries. 
 
 The only fewel of the Iflands is peat. 
 Their wood is all confumed, and coal they 
 have not yet found. Peat is dug out of 
 the marfhes, from the depth of one foot to 
 that of fix. That is accounted the beft 
 which is neareft the furface. It appears to 
 be a mafs of black earth held together by 
 vegetable fibres. I know not whether the 
 earth be bituminous, or whether the fibres 
 be not the only combuftible part; which, 
 by heating the interpofed eanh red hot, 
 make a burning mafs. The heat is not 
 very ftrong nor lading. The afhes are 
 yellowifh, and in a large quantity. When 
 they dig peat, they cut it into fquare pieces, 
 and pile it up to dry befide the houfe. In 
 fome places it has an offenfive fmell. It 
 is like wood charked for the fmith. The 
 
 common
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 life knows nothing of progreflion or ad- 
 vancement. 
 
 The petty tenants, and labouring pea- 
 fants, live in miferable cabins, which afford 
 them little more than fhelter from the 
 florins. The Boor of Norway is faid to 
 make all his own utenfils. In the Hebrides, 
 Whatever might be their ingenuity, the 
 want of wood leaves them no materials. 
 They are probably content with fuch ac- 
 commodations as ftones of different forms 
 
 and fizes can afford them. - k . 
 
 ''' '. < 
 
 Their food is not better than their lodg- 
 ing. They feldom tafte the flefh of land 
 animals ; for here are no markets. What 
 each man eats is from his own flock. The 
 great effect of money is to break property 
 into fmall parts. In towns, he that has a 
 {hilling may have a piece of meat; but 
 where there is no commerce, no man can 
 eat mutton but by killing a fheep. 
 
 Fifli
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 235 
 
 Fifh in fair weather they need not want; 
 but, I believe, man never lives long on 
 fim, but by conftraint ; he will rather feed 
 upon roots and berries. 
 
 The only fewel of the Iflands is peat. 
 Their wood is all confumed, and coal they 
 have not yet found. Peat is dug out of 
 the marfhes, from the depth of one foot to 
 that of fix. That is accounted the beft 
 which is neareft the furface. It appears to 
 be a mafs of black earth held together by 
 vegetable fibres. I know not whether the 
 earth be bituminous, or whether the fibres 
 be not the only combuftible part; which, 
 by heating the interpofed earth red hot, 
 make a burning mafs. The heat is not 
 very ftrong nor lading. The a(hes are 
 yellowim, and in a large quantity. When 
 they dig peat, they cut it into fquare pieces, 
 and pile it up to dry befide the houfe. In 
 fome places it has an offenfive fmell. It 
 is like wood charked for the fmith. The 
 
 commoQ
 
 236 A JOURNEY TO THE: 
 
 common method of making peat fires, is 
 by heaping it on the hearth ; but it burns 
 well in grates, and in the beft houfes is fo 
 ufed. 
 
 The common opinion is, that peat grows 
 again where it has been cut ; which, as it 
 feems to be chiefly a vegetable fubrtance, is 
 not unlikely to be true, whether known or 
 not to thofe who relate it. 
 
 There are water mills in Sky and Raafay\ 
 but where they are too far diflant, the 
 houfe-wives grind their oats with a quern, 
 or hand-mill, which confifts of two ftones, 
 about a foot and a half in diameter ; the 
 lower is a little convex, to which the 
 concavity of the upper muft be fitted. In 
 the middle of the upper ftone is a round 
 hole, and on one fide is a long handle. The 
 grinder (heds the corn gradually into the 
 hole with one hand, and works the handle 
 round with the other. The corn flides 
 
 down
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 237 
 
 down the convexity of the lower (lone, and 
 by the motion of the upper is ground in its 
 paffage. Thefe ftones are found in Locb- 
 abar. 
 
 The Iflands afford few pleafures, except 
 to the hardy fportfman, who can tread the 
 moor and climb the mountain. The di- 
 tance of one family from another, in a 
 country where travelling has fo much diffi- 
 culty, makes frequent intercourfe imprac- 
 ticable. Vifits laft feveral days, and are 
 commonly paid by water; yet I never faw 
 a boat furnifhed with benches, or made 
 commodious by any addition to the firft 
 fabrick. Conveniencies are not miffed where 
 they never were enjoyed. 
 
 The folace which the bagpipe can give, 
 they have long enjoyed ; but among other 
 changes, which the laft revolution in- 
 troduced, the ufe of the bagpipe begins to 
 be forgotten. Some of the chief families 
 
 (till
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 ftill entertain a piper, whofe office was an- 
 ciently hereditary. Macrimmon was piper to 
 Mackod> and Rankin to Maclean of Col. 
 
 The tunes of the bagpipe are traditional. 
 There has been in Sky, beyond all time of 
 memory, a college of pipers, under the 
 direftion of Macrimmon, which is not quite 
 extinct. There was another in Mult, fu- 
 perintended by Rankin y which expired 
 about fixteen years ago. To thefe colleges, 
 while the pipe retained its honour, the 
 ftudents of mufick repaired for education. 
 I have had my dinner exhilarated by the 
 bagpipe, at Armldale, at Dunvegan, and 
 in CoL 
 
 The general converfation of the Iflanders 
 has nothing particular. I did not meet 
 with the inquifitivenefs of which I have 
 read, and fufpect the judgment to have 
 been rafhly made. A ftranger of curiofity 
 comes into a place where a ftranger is fel- 
 
 dom
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 239 
 
 dom feen : he -importunes the people with 
 questions, of which they cannot guefs the 
 motive, and gazes with furprife on things 
 which they, having had them always be- 
 fore their eyes, do not fufpecT: of any thing 
 wonderful. He appears to them like fome 
 being of another world, and then thinks it 
 peculiar that they take the^r turn to in- 
 quire whence he comes, and whither he 
 is going. 
 
 The Iflands were long unfurnifhed 
 with inftru&ion for youth, and none but 
 the fons of gentlemen could have any lite- 
 rature. There are now parochial fchools, 
 to which the lord of every manor pays a 
 certain flipend. Here the children are taught 
 to read ; but by the rule of their inftitu- 
 tion, they teach only EngHjb^ fo that the 
 natives read a language which they may 
 never ufe or underftand. If a parifh, which 
 often happens, contains Several Iflands, the 
 fchool being but in one, cannot aflift the 
 
 reft.
 
 24 o A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 reft. This is the (rate of Cb/, which, how- 
 ever, is more enlightened than fome other 
 places ; for the deficiency is fupplied by a 
 young gentleman, who, for his own im- 
 provement, travels every year on foot over 
 the Highlands to the feffion at Aberdeen ; 
 and at his return, during the vacation, 
 teaches to read and write in his native 
 IQand. 
 
 H . . 
 
 In Sky there are two grammar fchools, 
 where boarders are taken to be regularly 
 educated. The price of board is from three 
 pounds, to four pounds ten {hillings a 
 year, and that of inftructlon is half a crown 
 a quarter. But the fcholars are birds of 
 paflage, who live at fchool only in the 
 fummer ; for in winter provifions cannot 
 be made for any confiderable number in 
 one place. This periodical difperfion im- 
 prefles ftrongly the fcarcity of thefe coun- 
 tries. 
 
 I heard
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 241 
 
 Having heard of no boarding-fchool for 
 ladies nearer than Invernefs, I fuppofe their 
 education is generally domeftick. The 
 elder daughters of the higher families are 
 fent into the world, and may contribute by 
 their acquifitions to the improvement of 
 the reft. 
 
 Women muft here ftudy to be either 
 pleafing or ufeful. Their deficiencies are 
 feldom fupplied by very liberal fortunes. A 
 hundred pounds is a portion beyond the 
 hope of any but the Laird's daughter. They 
 do not indeed often give money with their 
 daughters ; the queftion is, How many 
 cows a young lady will bring her hufband ? 
 A rich maiden has from ten to forty ; but 
 two cows are a decent fortune for one who 
 pretends to no diftindion. 
 
 3$? J'H* oj*. ;>:; r -1- ;?>n ; 
 
 The religion of the Iflands is that of the 
 
 Kirk of Scotland, The gentlemen with 
 
 whom I converfed are all inclined to the 
 
 R Engtijh
 
 242 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Englifo liturgy ; but they are obliged to 
 maintain the eftablifhed Minifter, and the 
 country is too poor to afford payment to 
 another, who muft live wholly on the con- 
 tribution of his audience. 
 
 They therefore all attend the worfhip of 
 the Kirk, as often as a vi fit from their Mi- 
 nifter, or the practicability of travelling 
 gives them opportunity j nor have they any 
 reafon to complain of infufficient paftors ; 
 for I faw not one in the Iflands, whom I had 
 reafon to think either deficient in learning, 
 or irregular in life ; but found feveral with 
 whom I could not converfe without wifh- 
 ing, as my refpect increafed, that they had 
 not been Prefbyterians. 
 
 The ancient rigour of puritanifm is now 
 very much relaxed, though all are not yet 
 equally enlightened. I fometimes met 
 with prejudices fufficiently malignant, but 
 they were prejudices of ignorance. The 
 
 Miniftera
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 243 
 
 Minifters in the Iflands had attained fuch 
 knowledge as may juftly be admired in 
 men, who have no motive to ftudy, but 
 generous curiofity, or, what is ftill better, 
 deiire of ufefumefs ; with fuch politenefs 
 as fo narrow a circle of converfe could not 
 have fupplied, but to minds naturally difc 
 pofed to elegance. 
 
 Reafon and truth will prevail at laft. 
 The moft learned of the Scottifh Doctors 
 would now gladly admit a form of prayer, 
 if the people would endure it. The zeal 
 or rage of congregations has its different 
 degrees. In fome pariflies the Lord's Prayer 
 is fuffered : in others it is ftill rejected as a 
 form ; and he that fliould make it part of 
 his fupplication would be fufpected of here- 
 tical pravity. 
 
 The principle upon which extemporary 
 
 prayer was originally introduced, is no 
 
 longer admitted. The Minifter formerly, 
 
 R 2 in
 
 244 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 in the effufion of his prayer, expe&ed im- 
 mediate, and perhaps perceptible infpira- 
 tion, and therefore thought it his duty 
 not to think before what he mould fay. It 
 is now univerfally confefied, that men 
 pray as they fpeak on other occafions, ac- 
 cording to the general meafure of their 
 abilities and attainments. Whatever each 
 may think of a form prefcribed by ano- 
 ther, he cannot but believe that he can 
 himfelf compofe by ftudy and meditation a 
 better prayer than will rife in his mind at 
 a fudden call; and if he has any hope of 
 fupernatural help, why may he not as well 
 receive it when he writes as when he 
 fpeaks ? 
 
 In the variety of mental powers, fome 
 muft perform extemporary prayer with 
 much imperfection ; and in the eagernefs 
 and rafhnefs of contradictory opinions, 
 if public Hturgy be left to the pri- 
 vate judgment of every Minifter, the 
 
 congre-
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 245 
 
 congregation may often be offended or 
 mifled. 
 
 There is in Scotland, as among ourfelves, 
 a reftlefs fufpicion of popifh machinations, 
 and a cjamour of numerous converts to the 
 Romifh religion. The report is, I believe, 
 in both parts of the Ifland equally falfe. 
 The Romifh religion is profefled only in 
 Egg and Canna* two fmall iflands, into 
 which the Reformation never made its 
 way. If any miffionaries are bufy in the 
 Highlands, their zeal entitles them to re- 
 fpecl, even from thofe who cannot think 
 favourably of their doctrine. 
 
 
 
 The political -tenets of the Iflanders I 
 was not curious to inveftigate, and they 
 were not eager to obtrude. Their conver- 
 fation is decent and inoffenfive. They dif- 
 dain to drink for their principles, and there 
 is no difaffection at their tables. I never 
 heard a health offered by a Highlander that 
 K 3 might
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 might not have circulated with propriety 
 within the precin&s of the King's palace. 
 
 Legal government has yet fomething of 
 novelty to which they cannot perfectly con-? 
 form. The ancient fpirit that appealed 
 only to the fword, is yet among them. The 
 tenant -of Scalpa y an ifland belonging to 
 Macdonald, took no care to bring his rent , 
 when the landlord talked of exacting pay- 
 ment, he declared his refolution to keep his 
 ground, and drive all intruders from the 
 Ifland, and continued to feed his cattle as 
 on his own land, till it became neceflary for 
 the Sheriff to diflodge him by violence. 
 
 The various kinds of fuperftition which 
 prevailed here, as in all other regions of 
 ignorance, are by the diligence of the Mi- 
 nifters almoft extirpated. 
 
 / "S>I * 
 
 Of Browny, mentioned by Martin, no- 
 thing has teen heard for many years. 
 
 Browny
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 247 
 
 Browny was a fturdy Fairy; who, if he 
 was fed, and kindly treated, would, as they 
 faid, do a great deal of work. They now 
 pay him no wages, and are content to la- 
 bour for themfelves. 
 
 In Troda, within thefe three-and-thirty 
 years, milk was put every Saturday for 
 Greogachy or the Old Man 'with the Long 
 "Beard. Whether Greogach was courted 
 as kind, or dreaded as terrible, whether 
 they meant, by giving him the milk, to 
 obtain good, or avert evil, I was not in- 
 formed. The Minifter is now living by 
 whom the practice was abolimed. 
 
 They have ftill among them a great 
 number of charms for the cure of different 
 difeafesj they are all invocations, perhaps 
 tranfmitted to them from the times of po- 
 pery, which increafmg knowledge will 
 bring into difufe. 
 
 They have opinions, which cannot be 
 
 ranked with fuperftition, becaufe they re- 
 
 R 4 gard
 
 248 
 
 gard only natural effects. They expect 
 better crops of grain, by fowing their feed 
 in the moon's increafe. The moon has 
 great influence in vulgar philofophy. In 
 my memory it was a precept annually given 
 in one of the Engliflj Almanacks, to kill 
 hogs when the moon was increajing, and 
 the bacon 'would prove the better in boil- 
 
 We fhould have had little claim to the 
 praife of curiofity, if we had not endeavour- 
 ed with particular attention to examine the 
 queftion of the Second Sight. Of an opi- 
 nion received for centuries by a whole na- 
 tion, and fuppofed to be confirmed through 
 its whole defcent, by a feries of fucceffive 
 fads, it is defirable that the truth fhoulc} 
 be eftablifhed, or the fallacy detected. 
 
 The Second Sight is an impreffion made 
 either by the mind upon the eye, or by the 
 eye upon the mind, by which things diftant 
 or future are perceived, and feen as if they 
 
 were
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 249 
 
 were prefent. A man on a journey far 
 from home falls from his horfe, another, 
 who is perhaps at work about the houfe, 
 fees him bleeding on the ground, com- 
 monly with a landfcape of the place where 
 the accident befalls him. Another feer, 
 driving home his cattle, or wandering in 
 idlenefs, or mufing in the funfhine, is 
 fuddenly furprifed by the appearance of a 
 bridal ceremony, or funeral proceffion, and 
 counts the mourners or attendants, of 
 whom, if he knows them, he relates the 
 names, if he knows them not, he can 
 defcribe the drefles. Things diftant are 
 feen at the inftant when they happen. Of 
 things future I know not that there is any 
 rule for determining the time between the 
 Sight and the event. 
 
 This receptive faculty, for power it can- 
 not be called, is neither voluntary nor 
 conftant. The appearances have no de- 
 pendence upon choice : they cannot be 
 
 fummoned,
 
 250 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 fummoned, detained, or recalled. The 
 impreffion is fudden, and the effedt often 
 painful. 
 
 By the term Second Sight, feems to be 
 meant a mode of feeing, fuperadded to that 
 which Nature generally beftows, In the 
 Earfe it is called Taifcb; which fignifies 
 likewife a fpeclre, or a vifion. I know 
 not, nor is it likely that the Highlanders 
 ever examined, whether by rfaifchy ufed 
 for Second Sight t they mean the power of 
 feeing, or the thing feen. 
 
 I do not find it to be true, as it is re- 
 ported, that to the Second Sight nothing 
 is prefented but phantoms of evil. Good 
 feems to have the fame proportion in thofe 
 vifionary fcenes, as it obtains in real life : 
 almoft all remarkable events have evil for 
 their bafis ; and are either miferies incur-* 
 red, or miferies efcaped. Our fenfe is fo 
 much ilronger of what we fuffer, than of 
 
 what
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c, 251 
 
 what we enjoy, that the ideas of pain pre- 
 dominate in almoft every mind. What is 
 recollection but a revival of vexations, or 
 hiftory but a record of wars, treafons, and 
 calamities ? Death, which is confidered as 
 the greateft evil, happens to all. The 
 greateft good, be it what it will, is the lot 
 but of a part. 
 
 That they fliould often fee death is to be 
 expected ; becaufe death is an event fre- 
 quent and important. But they fee like- 
 wife more pleafmg incidents. A gentle- 
 man told me, that when he had once gone 
 far from his own Ifland, one of his labour-? 
 ing fervants predicted his return, and de- 
 fcribed the livery of his attendant, which 
 he had never worn at home; and which 
 had been, without any previous defign, 
 occafionally given him. 
 
 Our defire of information was keen, and 
 our inquiry frequent, Mr. Bof well's frank- 
 
 nefs
 
 252 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 nefs and gaiety made every body commu- 
 nicative ; and we heard many tales of thefe 
 airy fhows, with more or lefs evidence and 
 diftinctnefs. 
 
 It is the common talk of the Lowland 
 Scots, that the notion of the Second Sight 
 is wearing away with other fuperftitions ; 
 and that its reality is no longer fuppofed, 
 but by the grofleft people. How far its 
 prevalence ever extended, or what ground 
 it has loft, I know not. The Iflanders of 
 all degrees,^whether of rank or underftand- 
 ing, univerfally admit it, except the Mini- 
 fters, who univerfally deny it, and are 
 fufpe&ed to deny it, in confequence of a 
 fyftem, againft conviction. One of them 
 honeftly told me, that he came to Sky with 
 a refolution not to believe it. 
 
 Strong reafons for incredulity will readily 
 occur. This faculty of feeing things out 
 of fight is local, and commonly ufelefs. It 
 
 is
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 253 
 
 is a breach of the common order of things, 
 without any vifible reafon or perceptible 
 benefit. It is afcribed only to a people 
 very little enlightened ; and among them, 
 for the moft part, to the mean and the ig- 
 norant. 
 
 To the confidence of thefe objections it 
 may be replied, that by prefuming to de- 
 termine what is fit, and what is beneficial, 
 they prefuppofe more knowledge of the, 
 univerfal fyftem than man has attained ; 
 and therefore depend upon principles too 
 complicated and extenfive for our com- 
 prehenfion ; and that there can be no fecu- 
 rity in- the confequence, when the premifes 
 are not underftood ; that the Second Sight 
 is only wonderful becaufe it is rare, for 
 confidered in itfelf, it involves no more 
 difficulty than dreams, or perhaps than the 
 regular exercife of the cogitative faculty ; 
 that a general opinion of communicative 
 impulfes, or vifionary reprefentations, has 
 
 prevailed
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 prevailed in all ages and all nations ; that 
 particular inftances have, been given, with 
 fuch evidence, as neither Bacon nor "Boyle 
 has been able to refift; that fudden im- 
 preffions, which the event has verified, 
 have been felt by more than own or publifh 
 them; that the Second Sight of the He~ 
 brides implies only the local frequency of a 
 power, which is no where totally unknown 5 
 and that where we are unable to decide by 
 antecedent reafon, we muft be content to 
 yield to the force of teftimony. 
 
 By pretenfion to Second Sigbt, no profit 
 was ever fought or gained. It is an invo- 
 luntary affe&ion, in which neither hope 
 nor fear are known to have any part* 
 Thofe who profefs to feel it, do not boaft 
 of it as a privilege, nor are confidered by 
 others as advantageoufly diftinguifhed. 
 They have no temptation to feign; and 
 their hearers have no motive to encourage 
 the impofture. 
 
 5 To
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 255 
 
 To talk with any of thefe feers is not 
 eafy. There is one living in Sky t with 
 whom we would have gladly converfed; 
 but he was very grofs and ignorant, and 
 knew no EngVJh. The proportion in thefe . 
 countries of the poor to the rich is fuch, 
 that if we fuppofe the quality to be acci- 
 dental, it can very rarely happen to a man 
 of education ; and yet on fuch men it has 
 fometimes fallen. There is now a Second 
 Sighted gentleman in the Highlands, who 
 complains of the terrors to which he is 
 expofed. 
 
 The forefight of the Seers is not always 
 prefcience : they are imprefled with images, 
 of which the event only {hews them the 
 meaning. They tell what they have feen 
 to others, who are at that time not more 
 knowing than themfelves, but may be- 
 come at laft very adequate witnefies, by 
 comparing the narrative with its verifi- 
 cation. 
 
 To
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 To collect fufficient tefti monies for the 
 fatisfaction of the publick, or of ourfelves, 
 would have required more time than we 
 could beftow. There is, againft it, the 
 feeming analogy of things confufedly feen, 
 and little underftood ; and for it, the 
 indiftinft cry of national perfuafion, which 
 may be perhaps refolved at laft into preju- 
 dice and tradition. I never could advance 
 my curiofity to conviction ; but came away 
 at laft only willing to believe. 
 
 As there fubfifts no longer in the Iflands 
 much of that peculiar and difcriminative 
 form of life, of which the idea had delighted 
 our imagination, we were willing to liften 
 to fuch accounts of paft times as would be 
 given us. But we foon found what memo- 
 rials were to be expected from an illiterate 
 people, whofe whole time is a feries of dif- 
 trefs ; where every morning is labour- 
 ing with expedients for the evening ; and 
 where all mental pains or pleafure arofe 
 
 from
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 257 
 
 from the dread of winter, the expe&a- 
 tion of fpring, the caprices of their Chiefs, 
 and the motions of the neighbouring Clans ; 
 where there was neither fhame from igno- 
 rance, nor pride in knowledge; neither 
 curiofity to inquire, nor vanity to commu- 
 nicate. 
 
 The Chiefs indeed were exempt from 
 urgent penury, and daily difficulties j and 
 in their houfes were preferved what ac- 
 counts remained of paft ages. But the 
 Chiefs were fometimes ignorant and care- 
 lefs, and fometimes kept bufy by turbu- 
 lence and contention ; and one generation of 
 ignorance effaces the whole feries of unwrit- 
 ten hiftory. Books are faithful repofitories, 
 which may be a while neglected or forgot- 
 ten ; but when they are opened again, 
 will again impart their inftrudion : me- 
 mory, once interrupted, is not to be re- 
 called. Written learning is a fixed lumi- 
 nary, which, after the cloud that had hid- 
 S dea
 
 258 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 den it has paft away, is again bright in its 
 proper ftation. Tradition is but a meteor, 
 which, if once it falls, cannot be rekindled. 
 
 It feeras to be univerfally fuppofed, that 
 much of the local hiftory was preferved by 
 the Bards, of whom one is faid to have 
 been retained by every great family. After 
 thefe Bards were fome of my firft inquiries ; 
 and I received fuch anfwers as, for a while, 
 made me pleafe myfelf with my increafe of 
 knowledge ; for I had not then learned 
 how to eftimate the narration of a High- 
 lander. 
 
 They faid that a great family had a Bard 
 and a Scnachi, who were the poet and hifto- 
 rian of the houfei and an old gentleman 
 told me that he remembered one of each. 
 Here was a dawn of intelligence. Of 
 men that had lived within memory, fome 
 certain knowledge might be attained. 
 Though the office had ceafed, its effects 
 
 might
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 259 
 
 might continue ; the poems might be found 
 though there was no poet* 
 
 Another converfation indeed informed 
 me, that the fame man was both Bard and 
 Senachi. This variation difcouraged me ; 
 but as the practice might be different ia 
 different times, or at the fame time in dif* 
 ferent families, there was yet no reafon for 
 fuppofmg that I muft necefiarily fit down 
 in total ignorance* 
 
 Soon after I was told by a gentleman 
 who is generally acknowledged the greateft 
 mafter of Hebridian antiquities, that there 
 had indeed once been both Bards andSena- 
 chies ; and that Senachi fignified the man of 
 talk, or of converfation ; but that neither 
 Bard nor Senachi had exifted for fome cen- 
 turies. I have no reafon to fuppofe it ex- 
 actly known at what time the cuftom 
 ceafed, nor did it probably ceafe in all 
 houfes at once. But whenever the practice 
 82 of
 
 260 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 of recitation was difufed, the works, whe- 
 ther poetical or hiftorical, perifhed with 
 the authors ; for in thofe times nothing 
 had been written in the Earfe language. 
 
 Whether the Man of talk was a hiftorian, 
 whofe office was to tell truth, or a ftory- 
 teller, like thofe which were 1 * in the laft 
 century, and perhaps are now among the 
 Irifh, whofe trade was only to amufe, it 
 now would be vain to inquire. 
 
 Moft of the domeftick offices were, I be- 
 lieve, hereditary ; and probably the laureat 
 of a Clan was always the fon of the laft 
 laureat. The hiftory of the race could no 
 otherwife be communicated, or retained ; 
 but what genius could be expected in a 
 poet by inheritance ? 
 
 The nation was wholly illiterate. Nei- 
 ther Bards nor Senachies could write or read ; 
 but if they were ignorant, there was no 
 
 danger
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 261 
 
 danger of detection ; they were believed 
 by thofe whofe vanity they flattered. 
 
 The recital of genealogies, which has 
 been confidered as very efficacious to the 
 prefervation of a true feries of anceftry, 
 was anciently made, when the heir of the 
 family came to manly age. This practice 
 has never fubfifted within time of memory, 
 nor was much credit due to fuch rehearfers, 
 who might obtrude fictitious pedigrees, 
 either to pleafe their matters, or to hide 
 the deficiency of their own memories. 
 
 Where the Chiefs of the Highlands have 
 found the hiftories of their defcent is dif- 
 ficult to tell ; for no Earfe genealogy was 
 ever written. In general this only is evi- 
 dent, that the principal houfeof a clan muft 
 be very ancient, and that thofe muft have 
 lived long in a place, of whom it is not 
 known when they came thither. 
 
 i* , - ' -, 
 
 S 3 Thus
 
 26? A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Thus hopelefs are all attempts to find 
 any traces of Highland learning, Nor are 
 their primitive cuftoms and ancient manner 
 of life otherwife than very faintly and 
 uncertainly remembered by the prefent 
 race. 
 
 The peculiarities which ftrike the native 
 of a commercial country, proceeded in a 
 great meafure from the want of money. To 
 the fervants and dependants that were not 
 domefticks, and if an eftimate be made 
 from the capacity of any of their old houfes 
 which I have feen, their domefticks could 
 have been but few, were appropriated cer- 
 tain portions of land for their fupport. 
 Macdonald has a piece of ground yet, called 
 the Bards or Senachies field. When a beef 
 was killed for the houfe, particular parts 
 were claimed as fees by the feveral officers, 
 or workmen. What was the right of each I 
 have not learned. The head belonged to 
 the frnith) and the udder of a cow to the 
 
 piper :
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 263 
 
 piper; the weaver had likewife his parti- 
 cular part ; and fb many pieces followed 
 thefe prefcriptive claims, that the Laird's 
 was at laft but little. 
 
 The payment of rent in kind has been 
 fo long difufed in England, that it is totally 
 forgotten. It was praclifed very lately in 
 the Hebrides, and probably ftill continues, 
 not only in St. Kilda^ where money is not 
 yet known, but in others of the fmaller and 
 remoter Iflands. It were perhaps to be 
 defired, that no change in this parti- 
 cular fliould have been made. When 
 the Laird could only eat the produce of his 
 lands, he was under the neceffity of refid- 
 ing upon them; and when the tenant could 
 not convert his flock into more portable 
 riches, he could never be tempted away 
 from his farm, from the only place where 
 he could be wealthy. Money confounds 
 fubordi nation, by overpowering the diftinc- 
 tions of rank and birth, and weakens au- 
 S 4 thority
 
 264 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 thority by fupplying power of refiftance, 
 or expedients for efcape. The feudal 
 fyftem is formed for a nation employed in 
 agriculture, and has never long kept its 
 hold where gold and filver have become 
 common. 
 
 Their arms were anciently the G lay more j 
 or great two-handed fword, and afterwards 
 the two-edged fword and target, or buckler, 
 which was fuftained on the left arm. In 
 the midft of the target, which was made 
 of wood, covered with leather, and ftudded 
 with nails, a fiender lance, about two feet 
 long, was fometimes fixed; it was heavy 
 and cumberous, and accordingly has for 
 fome time pafl been gradually laid afide. 
 Very few targets were at Culloden. The 
 dirk, or broad dagger, I am afraid, was of 
 more ufe in private quarrels than in battles. 
 The Lochaber-ax is only a flight alteration 
 
 of the old Engliil bill. 
 
 j 
 
 After
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 265 
 
 After all that has been faid of the force 
 and terrour of the Highland fword, I could 
 not find that the art of defence was any 
 part of common education. The gentle- 
 men were perhaps fometimes fkilful gla- 
 diators, but the common men had no other 
 powers than thofe of violence and courage. 
 Yet it is well known, that the onfet of the 
 Highlanders was very formidable. As an 
 army cannot confift of philofophers, a 
 panick is eafily excited by any unwonted 
 mode of annoyance. New dangers are natu- 
 rally magnified ; and men accuftomed only 
 to exchange bullets at a diftance, and rather 
 to hear their enemies than fee them, are 
 difcouraged and amazed when they find 
 themfelves encountered hand to hand, and 
 catch the gleam of fteel flaming in their 
 
 faces. 
 
 f 
 
 The Highland weapons gave opportu- 
 nity for many exertions of perfonal cou- 
 rage, and fometimes for fingle combats in, 
 
 the
 
 266 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 the field; like tbofe which occur fo fre- 
 quently in fabulous wars. At Falkirk, a 
 gentleman now living, was, 'I fuppofe after 
 the retreat of the King's troops, engaged 
 at a diftance from the reft with an Irifh 
 dragoon. They were both fkilful fwordf- 
 men, and the conteft was not eafily de- 
 cided : the dragoon at laft had the advan- 
 tage, and the Highlander called for quarter ; 
 but quarter was refufed him, and the fight 
 continued till he was reduced to defend 
 himfelf upon his knee. At that inftant one 
 of the Macleods came to his refcue ; who, 
 as it is faid, offered quarter to the dragoon, 
 but he thought himfelf obliged to reject 
 what he had before refufed, and, as battle 
 gives little time to deliberate, was imme- 
 diately killed. 
 
 Funerals were formerly folemnized by 
 calling multitudes together, and entertain- 
 ing them at great expence. This emulation 
 of ufelefs coft has been for fome time difcou- 
 
 raged,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 267 
 
 raged, and at laft in the Ifle of Sky is almoft 
 fupprefTed. 
 
 Of the Earfe language, as I underftand 
 nothing, I cannot fay more than I have been 
 told. It is the rude fpeech of a barbarous 
 people, who had few thoughts to exprefs, 
 and were content, as they conceived grofsly, 
 to be grofsly underftood. After what has 
 been lately talked of Highland Bards, and 
 Highland genius, many will flartle when 
 they are told, that the Earfe never was a 
 written language ; that there is not in the 
 world an Earfe manufcript a hundred 
 years old ; and that the founds of the 
 Highlanders were never exprefled by let- 
 ters, till fome little books of piety were 
 tranflated, and a metrical verfion of the 
 Pfalms was made by the Synod of Argyle. 
 Whoever therefore now writes in this lan- 
 guage, fpells according to his own percep- 
 tion of the found, and his own idea of the 
 
 power
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 power of the letters. The Welfo and the 
 Irijh are cultivated tongues. The Welfh, 
 two hundred years ago, infulted their Eng- 
 ]i/h neighbours for the inftability of their 
 Orthography; while the Earfe merely float- 
 ed in the breath of the people, and could 
 therefore receive little improvement. 
 
 When a language begins to teem with 
 books, it is tending to refinement; as thofe 
 who undertake to teach others muft have 
 undergone fome labour in improving them- 
 felves, they fet a proportionate value on 
 their own thoughts, and wifh to enforce 
 them by efficacious expreffions ; fpeech 
 becomes embodied and permanent; diffe- 
 rent modes and phrafes are compared, and 
 the befl obtains an eftablifhment. By de- 
 grees one age improves upon another. 
 Exaclnefs is firft obtained, and afterwards 
 elegance. But diction, merely vocal, is 
 always in its childhood. As no man leaves 
 
 his
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 269 
 
 his eloquence behind him, the new gene- 
 rations have all to learn. There may 
 poflibly be books without a polifhed lan- 
 guage, but there can be no polifhed lan- 
 guage without books. 
 
 That the Bards could not read more than 
 the reft of their countrymen, it is reafon- 
 able to fuppofe ; becaufe, if they had read, 
 they could probably have written ; and 
 how high their compofitions may reafon- 
 ably be rated, an inquirer may beft judge 
 by confidering what ftores of imagery, 
 what principles of ratiocination, what com- 
 prehenfion of knowledge, and what delicacy 
 of elocution he has known any man at- 
 tain who cannot read. The ftate of the 
 Bards was yet more hopelefs. He that 
 cannot read, may now converfe with thofe 
 that can; but the Bard was a barbarian 
 among barbarians, who, knowing nothing 
 himfelf, lived with others that knew 
 no more. 
 
 There
 
 270 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 There has lately been in the Iflands one 
 of thefe illiterate poets, who hearing the 
 Bible read at church, is faid to have turned 
 the facred hiflory into verfe. I heard part 
 of a dialogue, compofed by him, tranflated 
 by a young lady in Mull and thought it 
 had more meaning than I expected from a 
 man totally uneducated; but he had fome 
 opportunities of knowledge; he lived among 
 a learned people. After all that has been 
 done for the inftru&ion of the Highlanders, 
 the antipathy between their language and 
 literature ftill continues ; and no man that 
 has learned only Earje is, at this time, 
 able to read. 
 
 The Earfe has many diale&s, and 
 the words ufed in fome Iflands are not 
 always known in others. In literate na- 
 tions, though the pronunciation, and fome- 
 times the words of common fpeech may 
 differ, as now in England, compared with 
 the South of Scotland, yet there is a written 
 9 diction,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 271 
 
 di&ion, which pervades till dialeds, and 
 is underftood in every province. But where 
 the whole language is colloquial, he that 
 has only one part, never gets the reft, 
 as he cannot get it but by change of 
 refidence. 
 
 V 
 
 A 
 
 In an unwritten fpeech, nothing that 
 is not very fhort is tranfmitted from one 
 generation to another. Few have opportu- 
 nities of hearing a long compofition often 
 enough to learn it, or have inclination to 
 repeat it fo often as is neceflary to retain it; 
 and what is once forgotten is loft for ever. 
 I believe there cannot be recovered, in the 
 whole Earfe language, five hundred lines 
 of which there is any evidence to prove 
 them a hundred years old. Yet I hear that 
 the father of Oflian boafts of two chefts 
 more of ancient poetry, which he fup- 
 prefles, becaufe they are too good for the 
 Englifh. 
 
 He
 
 272 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 He that goes into the Highlands with 
 a mind naturally acquiefcent, and a credu- 
 lity eager for wonders, may come back 
 with an opinion very different from mine ; 
 for the inhabitants knowing the ignorance 
 of all ftrangers in their language and anti- 
 quities, perhaps are not ver-y fcrupulous 
 adherents to truth; yet I do-npt fay that 
 they deliberately fpeak ftudied falfehood, or 
 b^ve a fettled purpofe to deceive. They 
 have inquired and confidered little, and do 
 not always feel their own ignorance. They 
 are not much accuftomed to be interrogated 
 by others ; and feem never to have thought 
 upon interrogating themfelves ; fo that if 
 they do not know 'what they tell to be true, 
 they likewife do not diftin&ly perceive it 
 to be falfe. 
 
 Mr. Bofwell was very diligent in his in- 
 quiries ; and the refult of his inveftigations 
 was, that the anfwer to the fecond queftion 
 
 was
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 373 
 
 was commonly fuch as nullified the anfwer 
 to the firft. 
 
 We were a while told, that they had an 
 old tranflation of the fcriptures ; and told 
 it till it would appear obftinacy to inquire 
 again. Yet by continued accumulation of 
 queftions we found, that the tranflation 
 meant, if any meaning there were, was 
 nothing elfe than the Irijh Bible. 
 
 We heard of manufcripts that were, or 
 that had been in the hands of fomebody's 
 father, or grandfather; but at laft we had 
 no reafon to believe they were other 
 than Irifti. Martin mentions Irifh, but 
 never any Earfe manufcripts, to be found 
 in the Iflands in his time. 
 
 I fuppofe my opinion of the poems of 
 Oflian is already difcovered. I believe they 
 never exifted in any other form than that 
 which we have feen. The editor, or au- 
 thor, never could ihew the original ; nor 
 can it be fliewn by any other ; to revenge 
 
 T reafonable
 
 -74 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 reafonable incredulity, by refufing evi- 
 dence, is a degree of infolence, with which 
 the world is not yet acquainted ; and ftub- 
 born audacity is the laft refuge of guilt. It 
 would be eafy to {hew it if he had it; but 
 whence could it be had ? It is too long to 
 be remembered, and the language formerly 
 had nothing written. He has doubtlefs in- 
 ferred names that circulate in popular flories, 
 and may have tranflated fome wander- 
 ing ballads, if any can be found ; and the 
 names, and fome of the images being recol- 
 lected, make an inaccurate auditor imagine, 
 by the help of Caledonian bigotry, that fee 
 has formerly heard the whole. 
 
 I afked a very learned Minifter in Sky, 
 who had ufed all arts to make me be- 
 lieve the genuinenefs of the book, whe- 
 ther at laft he believed it himfelf ? but he 
 would not anfwer. He wifhed me to be 
 deceived, for the honour of his country ; 
 but would not directly and formally de- 
 ceive me. Yet has this man's teftimony 
 
 been
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 275 
 
 been publickly produced, as of one that 
 held Fingal to be the work of Oflian. 
 
 It is faid, that fome men of integrity 
 profefs to have heard parts of it, but they 
 all heard them when they were boys ; and 
 it never was faid that any of them could 
 recite fix lines. They remember names, 
 and perhaps fome proverbial fentiments; 
 and, having no diftincl ideas, coin a refem- 
 blance without an original. The perfua- 
 iion of the Scots, however, is far from 
 Univerfal j and in a queftion fo capable of 
 proof, why fhould doubt be fuffered to con- 
 tinue ? The editor has been heard to fay, 
 that part of the poem was received by him, 
 in the Saxon character. He has then 
 found, by fome peculiar fortune, an un- 
 written language, written in a character 
 which the natives probably never beheld. 
 
 I have yet fuppofed no impofture but in 
 the publifher ; yet I am far from certainty, 
 
 that forae tranflations have not been lately 
 
 - 
 
 T 2, made,
 
 made, that may now be obtruded as parts 
 of the original work. Credulity on one 
 part is a ftrong temptation to deceit on the 
 other, efpecially to deceit of which no per- 
 fonal injury is the confequence, and which 
 flatters the author with his own ingenuity. 
 The Scots have fomething to plead for 
 their eafy reception of an improbable 
 fiction : they are feduced by their fondnefs 
 for their fuppofed anceftors. A Scotchman 
 inuft be a very fturdy moralift, who doea 
 not love Scotland better than truth j he will 
 always love it better than inquiry; and if 
 falfehood flatters his vanity, will not be 
 very diligent to detect it. Neither ought 
 the Engtijb to be much influenced by Scotch 
 authority j for of the paft and prefent ftatc 
 of the whole Earfe nation, the Lowlanders 
 are at leaft as ignorant as ourfelves. To 
 be ignorant is painful j but it is dangerous 
 to quiet our uneafinefs by the delufive 
 opiate of hafly perfuafion. 
 
 But
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, See. 277 
 
 But this is the age in which thofe 
 who could not read, have been fuppofed to. 
 write ; in which the giants of antiquated 
 romance have been exhibited as realities. 
 If we know little of the ancient High- 
 landers, let us not fill the vacuity with 
 Ofjian. If we have not fearched the l\lageL 
 lanick regions, let us however forbear to 
 people them with Patagovs. 
 
 Having waited fome days at Armidel* 
 we were flattered at laft with a wind that 
 promifed to convey us to Mutt. We went 
 on board a boat that was taking in kelp, 
 and left the Ifle of Sky behind us. We 
 were doomed to experience, like others, 
 the danger of trufting to the wind, which 
 blew againft us, in a fhort time, with 
 fuch violence, that we, being no feafoned 
 failors, were willing to call it a tern pelt, 
 I was fea-fick and lay down, Mr. EofweH 
 kept the deck. The matter knew not well 
 whither to go; and our difficulties might 
 perhaps have filled a very pathetick page, 
 T 3 had
 
 478' A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 had not Mr. Maclean of Cot, who, with 
 every other qualification which infular life 
 requires, is a very active and fkilful ma- 
 riner, piloted us fafe into his own harbour. 
 
 COL. 
 
 In the morning we found ourfelves under 
 the Ifle of Co/, where we landed ; and 
 pafled the firft day and night with Cap- 
 tain Maclean, a gentleman who has lived 
 fome time in the Eaft Indies; but having 
 dethroned no Nabob, is not too rich to fet- 
 tle in his own country. 
 
 Next day the wind was fair, and we 
 might have had an eafy paffage to Mull-* 
 but having, contrarily to our own intention, 
 landed upon a new liland, we would not 
 leave it wholly unexamined. We there- 
 fore fuffered the veflel to depart without us, 
 and trufted the ikies for another wind. 
 
 Mr. Maclean of Col, having a very nume- 
 rous family, has, for fome time paft, 
 
 refided
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 279 
 
 refided at Aberdeen > that he may fuperin- 
 tend their education, and leaves the young 
 gentleman, our friend, to govern his do- 
 minions, with the full power of a High- 
 land Chief. By the abfence of the Laird's 
 family, our entertainment was made more 
 difficult, becaufe the houfe was in a great 
 degree disfurnifhed ; but young CWs kind- 
 nefs and activity fupplied all defeats, and 
 procured us more than fufficient accommo- 
 dation. 
 
 Here I firft mounted a little Highland 
 deed ; and if there had been many fpe&a- 
 tors, fliould have been fomewhat afliamed 
 of my figure in the march. The horfes of 
 the Iflands, as of other barren countries, 
 are very low: they are indeed mufculous 
 and ftrong, beyond what their fize gives 
 reafon for expecting; but a bulky man 
 upon one of their backs makes a very dif- 
 proportionate appearance. 
 
 T 4 From
 
 280 A JOURNEY TO *THE 
 
 From the habitation of Captain Maclean, 
 we went to Grijjipol^ but called by the way 
 on Mr. Heftor Maclean^ the Minifter of 
 Col, whom we found in a hut, that is, 
 a houfe of only one fl'oor, but with win- 
 dows and chimney, and not inelegantly 
 furnifhed. Mr. Maclean has the reputa- 
 tion of great learning : he is feventy-feven 
 years old, but not infirm, with a look of 
 venerable dignity, excelling what I re- 
 member in any other man. 
 
 His converfation was not unfuitable to 
 his appearance. 1 loft fome of his good- 
 will, by treating a heretical writer with 
 more regard than, in his opinion, a here- 
 tick could deferve. I honoured his ortho- 
 doxy, and did not much cenfure his afpe- 
 rity. A man who has fettled his opinions, 
 does not love to have the tranquillity of his 
 conviction difturbed ; and at feventy-feven 
 it is time to be in earneft. 
 
 Men-
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c, 281 
 
 Mention was made of the Earfe tranfla- 
 tion of the New Teftament, which has been, 
 lately publifned, and of which the learned 
 Mr. Macqueen of Sky fpoke with commen- 
 dation ; but Mr. Maclean faid he did not 
 ufe it, becaufe he could make the text more 
 intelligible to his auditors by an extempo- 
 rary verfion. From this I inferred, that the 
 language of the tranflation was not the 
 language of the Ifle of Col. 
 
 He has no publick edifice for the exer- 
 cife of his miniftry ; and can officiate to no 
 greater number, than a room can contain; 
 and the room of a hut is not very large. 
 This is all the opportunity of worfhip that 
 is now granted to the inhabitants of the 
 Ifland, fome of whom muft travel thither 
 perhaps ten miles. Two chapels were 
 erected by their anceftors, of which I faw 
 the fkeletons, which now ftand faithful 
 witnefles of the triumph of Reformation. 
 
 The
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 The want of churches is not the only 
 impediment to piety : there is likewife a 
 want of Minifters. A parifh often con- 
 tains more Iflands than one ; and each 
 Ifland can have the Miriifler only in its 
 own turn. At Raafa they had, I think, 
 a right to fervice only every third Sunday. 
 All the provifion made by the prefent eccle- 
 liaftical conftitution, for the inhabitants of 
 about a hundred fquare miles, is a prayer 
 and fermon in a little room, once in three 
 weeks: and even this parfimonious diftri- 
 bution is at the mercy of the weather : and 
 in thofe Iflands where the Minifter does not 
 refide, it is impoflible to tell how many 
 weeks or months may pafs without any 
 publick exercife of religion. 
 
 GRISSIPOL IN COL. 
 
 After a fhort converfation with Mr. Mac* 
 lean> we went on to Grijfipol t a houfe and 
 farm tenanted by Mr. Macfweyn, where I 
 
 faw
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 
 
 faw more of the ancient life of a High- 
 lander, than I had yet found. Mrs. Mac* 
 fweyn could fpeak no Englifh, and had 
 never feen any other places than the Iflands 
 of S&y, Mull, and Col: but (he was hofpi- 
 table and good-humoured, and fpread her 
 table with fufficient liberality. We found 
 tea here, as in every other place, but our 
 fpoons were of horn. 
 
 The houfe of Griffipol ftands by a brook 
 yery clear and quick; which is, I fuppofe, 
 one of the moft copious ftreams in the 
 Ifland. This place was the fcene of an 
 adHon, much celebrated in the traditional 
 hiftory of Col, but which probably no two 
 relaters will tell alike. 
 
 Some time, in the obfcure ages, Macneil 
 of Earra married the Lady Maclean, who 
 had the Hie of Col for her jointure. Whe- 
 ther Macneil detained Col, when the 
 widow was dead, or whether fhe lived fo 
 
 long
 
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 long as to make tier heirs impatient, is per- 
 haps not now known. The younger fon, 
 called John Gerves, or "John the Giant, a 
 man of great flrength, who was then in 
 Ireland, either for fafety, or for educa- 
 tion, dreamed of recovering his inherit- 
 ance ; and getting fome adventurers toge- 
 ther, which in thofe unfettled times was 
 not hard to do, invaded Col. He was driven 
 away, but was not difcouraged, and col- 
 lecting new followers, in three years came 
 again with fifty men. In his way he 
 flopped at Artorinijh in Morvern, where 
 his uncle was prifoner to Macleod, and was 
 then with his enemies in a tent. Maclean 
 took with him only one fervant, whom he 
 ordered to flay at the outfide ; and where 
 he fhould fee the tent prefled outwards, to 
 flrike with his dirk ; it being the intention 
 of Maclean^ as any man provoked him, to 
 lay hands upon him, and pufh him back. 
 He entered the tent alone, with his Locba- 
 bar-axe in his hand, and ftruck fuch terror 
 
 into;
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 285 
 
 into the whole affembly, that they difmifled 
 his uncle. 
 
 h Jo' ^IbTtoq A.i w^wAA ,.'.-<' 
 When he landed at W, he faw the fen- 
 
 tinel, who kept watch towards the fea, 
 running off to Gnffipol, to give Macneil, 
 who was there with a hundred and twenty- 
 men, an account of the invafibn. He told 
 Macgill) one of his followers, that if he 
 intercepted that dangerous intelligence, by 
 catching the courier, he would give him 
 certain lands in Mull. Upon this pro- 
 mife, Macgill purfued the meflenger, and 
 either killed, or flopped him ; and his 
 pofterity, till very lately, held the lands 
 m Mull. 
 
 The alarm being thus prevented, he came 
 unexpectedly upon Macneil. Chiefs were 
 in thofe days never wholly unprovided for 
 an enemy. A fight enfued, in which one 
 of their followers is faid to have given an 
 extraordinary proof of activity, by bound* 
 
 ing
 
 286 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 ing backwards over the brook of Grijfipol. 
 Macneil being killed, and many of his clao 
 deftroyed, Maclean took poflfeflion of the 
 Ifland, which the Macneils attempted to 
 conquer by another invafion, but were de- 
 feated and repulfed. 
 
 Maclean, in his turn, invaded the eftate 
 of the Macneils^ took the caftle of Brecacig, 
 and conquered the Ifle of Barra t which he 
 held for feven years, and then reftored it 
 to the heirs. 
 
 CASTLE OF COL. 
 
 From Griffipoly Mr. Maclean conducted 
 us to his father's feat ; a neat new houfe, 
 erected near the old caftle, I think, by 
 the laft proprietor. Here we were allowed 
 to take our ftation, and lived very commo- 
 dioufly, while we waited for moderate 
 weather and a fair wind, which we did 
 not fo foon obtain, but we had time to get 
 
 fome
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c.. 287 
 
 fome information of the prefent fiate of 
 Col t partly by inquiry, and partly by occa- 
 iional excurfions. 
 
 Col is computed to be thirteen miles in 
 length, and three in breadth. Both the 
 ends are the property of the Duke of Ar- 
 gyle, but the middle belongs to Maclean^ 
 who is called Col, as the only Laird. 
 
 Col is not properly rocky ; it is rather 
 one continued rock, of a furface much di- 
 verfified with protuberances, and covered 
 with a thin layer of earth, which is often 
 broken, and difcovers the ftone. Such a 
 foil is not for plants that flrike deep roots ; 
 and perhaps in the whole Ifland nothing 
 has ever yet grown to the height of a table. 
 The uncultivated parts are clothed with 
 heath, among which induftry has inter- 
 fperfed fpots of grafs and corn ; but no 
 attempt has yet been made Jo raife a tree. 
 Young Col t who has a very laudable defire 
 
 of
 
 2*8 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 of improving his patrimony, purpofeS fome 
 time to plant an orchard ; which, if it be 
 {haltered by a wall, may perhaps fucceed. 
 He has introduced the culture of turnips, 
 of which he has a field, where the whole 
 work was performed by his own hand. His 
 intention is to provide food for his cattle 
 in the winter. This innovation was con- 
 fidered by Mr. Macfweyn as the idle pro- 
 ject of a young head, heated with EngliJJj 
 fancies ; but he has now found that tur- 
 nips will really grow, and that hungry 
 fheep and cows will really eat them. 
 
 By fuch acquifitions as thefe, the He- 
 brides may in time rife above their aanual 
 diftrefs. Wherever heath will grow, there 
 is reafon to think fomething better may 
 draw nourifhment ; and by trying the pro- 
 duction of other places, plants will be found 
 fuitable to every foil. 
 
 Col has many lochs, fome of which have 
 
 trouts and eels, and others have never yet 
 
 13 been
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 289 
 
 been flocked ; another proof of the negli- 
 gence of the Iflanders, who might take 
 fifh in the inland waters, when they can- 
 not go to fea. 
 
 ' r"'"i s;:o 7 f . *>i ;*: 
 
 Their quadrupeds are horfes, cows, flieep, 
 
 and goats. They have neither deer, hares, 
 nor rabbits. They have no vermin, except 
 rats, which have been lately brought thi- 
 ther by fea, as to other places ; and are 
 free from ferpents, frogs, and toads. 
 
 The harveft in Col, and in Lewis , is 
 
 | . J . ** r 
 
 ripe fooner than in 6^y, and the winter in 
 Col is never cold, but very tempeftuous. I 
 know not that I ever heard the wind fo 
 loud in any other place ; and Mr. Bofizell 
 obferved, that its noife was all its own, for 
 there were no trees to increafe it. 
 
 Noife is not the worft effeft of the tern- 
 
 pefts ', for they have thrown the fand from 
 
 the fhore over a confiderable part of the 
 
 U .land;
 
 2 9 o A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 land ; and it is faid ftill to encroach and 
 deftroy more and more pafture ; but I am 
 not of opinion, that by any furveys or 
 land-marks, its limits have been ever fixed, 
 or its progreffion afcertained. If one man 
 has confidence enough to fay, that it ad- 
 vances, nobody can bring any proof to 
 fupport him in denying it. The reafon 
 why it is not fpread to a greater extent, 
 feems, to be, that the wind and rain come 
 almoft together, and that it is made clofe 
 and heavy by the wet before the ftorms 
 can put it in motion. So thick is the bed, 
 and fo fmall the particles, that if a traveller 
 fhould be caught by a fudden guft in dry 
 weather, he would find it very difficult to 
 efcape with life. 
 
 For natural curiofities, I was fhown onfy 
 two great maffes of ftone, which lie loofe 
 upon the ground ; one on the top of a hilt, 
 and the other at a fmall diftance from the 
 bottom. They certainly were never put 
 I* into
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. * 9 i 
 
 into their prefent places by human ftrength 
 or fkill ; and though an earthquake might 
 have broken off the lower ftone, and rolled 
 it into the valley, no account can be given 
 of the other, which lies on the hill, unlefs, 
 which I forgot to examine, there be ftill 
 near it fome higher rock, from which it 
 might be torn. All nations have a tra- 
 dition, that their earlieft anceftors were 
 giants, and thefe ftones are faid to have 
 been thrown up and down by a giant and 
 his miftrefs. There are fo many more im- 
 portant things, of which human knowledge 
 can give no account, that it may be for- 
 given us, if we fpeculate no longer on two 
 ftones in Col. 
 
 This Ifland is very populous. About 
 nine-and-twenty years ago, the fencible 
 men of Col were reckoned one hundred and 
 forty, which is the fixth of eight hundred 
 and forty ; and probably fome contrived to 
 be left out of the lift. The Minifter told us, 
 U*t that
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 that a few years ago the inhabitants were 
 eight hundred, between the ages of feven- 
 and of feventy. Round numbers are fel- 
 dom exaft. But in this cafe the authority 
 is good, and the errour likely to be little. 
 If to the eight hundred be added what the 
 laws of computation require, they will be 
 increafed to at leaft a thoufand ; and if the 
 dimenfions of the country have been accu- 
 rately related, every mile maintains more 
 than twenty-five. 
 
 This proportion of habitation is greater 
 than the appearance of the country feems 
 to admit ; for wherever the eye wanders, it 
 feems much wafte and little cultivation. I 
 am more inclined to extend the land, of 
 which no meafure has ever been taken, 
 than to diminifli the people, who have beea 
 really numbered. Let it be fuppofed, that 
 a computed mile contains a mile and a half, 
 as was commonly found true in the men- 
 furaiion of the Englijb roads, and we fliall 
 * then
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 293 
 
 then allot nearly twelve to a mile, which 
 agrees much better with ocular obferva- 
 tion. 
 
 Here as in Sky and other Iflands, are 
 the Laird, the Tackfmen, and the under- 
 tenants. 
 
 Mr. Maclean, the Laird, has very ex- 
 tenfive pofleffions, being proprietor, not 
 only of far the greater part of Co/, but of 
 the extenfive Ifland of Rum, and a very 
 confiderable territory in Mull. 
 
 Rum is one of the larger Iflands, almoft 
 fquare, and therefore of great capacity in 
 proportion to its (ides. By the ufual method 
 of eftimating computed extent, it may con- 
 tain more than a hundred and twenty 
 fquare miles, 
 
 It originally belonged to Clanronald, and 
 purchafed by Col ; who, in fome dif- 
 U 3 pute
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 pute about the bargain, made Clanronald 
 prifoner, and kept him nine months in con- 
 finement. Its owner represents it as moun- 
 tainous, rugged, and barren. In the hills 
 there are red deer. The horfes are very 
 fmall, but of a breed eminent for beauty. 
 Col t not long ago, bought one of them 
 from a tenant ; who told him, that as he 
 was of a fliape uncommonly elegant, he 
 could not fell him but at a high price ; and 
 that whoever had him (hould pay a guinea 
 and a half. 
 
 There are faid to be in Barra, a race of 
 horfes yet fraaller, of which the higheft is 
 not above thirty-fix inches. 
 
 The rent of Rum is not great. Mr. 
 Maclean declared, that he fhould be very 
 rich if he could fet his land at two pence 
 halfpenny an acre. The inhabitants are 
 fifty-eight families, who continued Papifts 
 for fome time after the Laird became a Pro- 
 
 teftant.
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 295 
 
 teftant. Their adherence to their old reli- 
 gion was ftrengthened by the countenancs 
 of the Laird's fitter, a zealous Romanift, 
 till one Sunday, as they were going to mafs 
 under the conduct of their patronefs, Mac- 
 lean met them on the way, gave one of 
 them a blow on the head with a yellow 
 Jlicky I fuppofe a cane, for which the Earfe 
 had no name, and drove them to the kirk, 
 from which they have neverfince departed. 
 Since the ufe of this method of converfion, 
 the inhabitants of Egg and Canna, who 
 continue Papifts, call the Proteftantifm of 
 Rum> the religion of the Tet/ow Stick. 
 
 The only Popifti Iflands are Egg and 
 Canna, Egg is the principal Ifland of a 
 parifh, in which, though he has no congre- 
 gation, the Proteftant Minifter refides. I 
 have heard of nothing curious in it, but the 
 cave in which a former generation of the 
 
 lilanders were fmothered by Macleod. 
 
 \ . 
 
 U 4 If
 
 s 9 6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 If we had travelled with more leifure, if 
 had not been fit to have neglected the Po- 
 pilh Iflands. Popery is favourable to cere- 
 mony ; and among ignorant nations, cere- 
 mony is the only prefervative of tradition. 
 Since Proteftantifrn was extended to the fa- 
 vage parts of Scotland, it has perhaps been 
 one of the chief labours of the Minifters to. 
 abolifh ftated obfervances, becaufe they 
 continued the remembrance of the former 
 religion. We therefore who came to hear 
 old traditions, attd fee antiquated manners, 
 fhould probably have found them amongft 
 the Papifts. 
 
 Canna, the other Popifti Ifland, belongs 
 to Clamonald. It is faid not to comprife 
 more than twelve miles of land, and yet 
 maintains as many inhabitants as Rum. 
 
 We were at Col under the protection of 
 the young Laird, without any of the di,fr 
 treffes, which Mr. Pennant, in a fit of fim- 
 
 pie
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 297 
 
 pie credulity, feems to think almoft worthy 
 of an elegy by Oflian. Wherever we roved, 
 we were pleafed to fee the reverence with 
 which his fubjeds regarded him. He did 
 not endeavour to dazzle them by any mag- 
 nificence of drefs : his only diftinclion was 
 a feather in his bonnet; but as foon as he 
 appeared, they forfook their work and 
 cluttered about him : he took them by the 
 hand, and they feemed mutually delighted. 
 He has the proper difpofition of a Chieftain, 
 and feems defirous to continue the cuftoms 
 of his houfe. The bagpiper played regu- 
 larly, when dinner was ferved, whofe per- 
 fon and drefs made a good appearance; 
 and he brought no difgrace upon the family 
 of 'Rankin^ which has long fupplied the 
 Lairds of Col with hereditary mulick. 
 "* '* 
 
 The Tackfmen of Col feem to live with 
 lefs dignity and convenience than thofe of 
 Sky, where they had good houfes, and 
 tables not only plentiful, but delicate. In 
 
 Col
 
 298 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Col only two houfes pay the window-tax ; 
 for only two have fix windows, which, I fup- 
 pofe, are the Laird's and Mr. 
 
 The rents have, till within feven years, 
 been paid in kind, but the tenants finding 
 that cattle and corn varied in their price, 
 defired for the future to give their land- 
 lord money; which, not having yet arrived 
 at the philofophy of commerce, they con- 
 fider as being every year of the fame 
 value. 
 
 We were told of a particular mode of 
 undertenure. The Tackfman admits fome 
 of his inferior neighbours to the cultiva- 
 tion of his grounds, on condition that per- 
 forming all the work, and giving a third 
 part of the feed, they fhall keep a certain 
 number of cows, fheep, and goats, and reap 
 a third part of the harveft. Thus by lefs 
 than the tillage of two acres they pay the 
 rent of one. 
 
 There
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c, 299 
 
 There are tenants below the rank of 
 Tackfmen, that have got fmaller tenants 
 under them ; for in every place, where 
 money is not the general equivalent, there 
 muft be fome whofe labour is immediately 
 paid by daily food. 
 
 A country that has no money, is by no 
 means convenient for beggars, both becaufe 
 fuch countries are commonly poor, and be- 
 caufe charity requires fome trouble and 
 fome thought. A penny is eafily given 
 upon the firft impulfe of compaflion, or im- 
 patience of importunity ; but few will de- 
 liberately fearch their cupboards or their 
 granaries to find out fomething to give. 
 A penny is like wife eafily fpent ; but vic- 
 tuals, if they are unprepared, require houfe- 
 room, and fire, and utenfils, which the 
 beggar knows not where to find. 
 
 Yet beggars there fometimes are, who 
 wander from Ifland to liland. We had, 
 
 in
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 in our pafiage to Mull, the company of a 
 woman and her child, who had exhaufted 
 the charity of Col. The arrival of a beg- 
 gar on an Ifland is accounted a finiftrous 
 event. Every body confiders that he (hall 
 have the lefs for what he gives away. 
 Their alms, I believe, is generally oat- 
 meal. 
 
 Near to Col is another Ifland called Tir~ 
 eye, eminent for its fertility. Though it 
 has but half the extent of Rum> it is fo well 
 peopled, that there have appeared, not long 
 ago, nine hundred and fourteen at a fune- 
 ral. The plenty of this Ifland enticed 
 beggars to it, who feemed fo burthenfome to 
 the inhabitants, that a formal compact was 
 drawn up, by which they obliged themi- 
 felves to grant no more relief to cafual 
 wanderers, becaufe they had among them 
 an indigent woman of high birth, whom 
 they confidered as entitled to all that they 
 could fpare. I have read the ftipulation, 
 
 which
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 301 
 
 which was indited with juridical forma- 
 lity, but was never made valid by regular 
 fubfcription. 
 
 If the inhabitants of Col have nothing 
 to give, it is not that they are opprefled 
 by their landlord : their leafes feem to be 
 very profitable. One farmer, who pays 
 only feven pounds a year, has maintained 
 feven daughters and three fons, of whom 
 the eldeft is educated at Aberdeen for the 
 miniftryj and now, at every vacation, 
 opens a fchool in Co/. 
 
 Life is here, in fome refpeds, improved 
 beyond the condition of fome other Iflands. 
 In Sky what is wanted can only be bought, 
 as the arrival of fome wandering pedlar may 
 afford an opportunity; but in Col there is 
 a ftanding (hop, and in Mull there are two. 
 A (hop in the Iflands, as in other places of 
 little frequentation, is a repofitory of every 
 thing requifue for common ufe. Mr.
 
 302 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Bofae/Ps journal was filled, and he bought 
 fome paper in Col. To a man that ranges 
 the ftreets of London^ where he is tempted 
 to contrive wants for the pleafure of fup- 
 plying them, a fhop affords no image 
 worthy of attention ; but in an Ifland, it 
 turns the balance of exiftence between good 
 and evil. To live in perpetual want of lit- 
 tle things, is a date not indeed of torture, 
 but of conftant vexation. I have in Sky 
 had fome difficulty to find ink for a letter; 
 and if a woman breaks her needle, the 
 work is at a flop. 
 
 As it is, the Iflanders are obliged to con- 
 tent themfelves with fuccedaneous means 
 for many common purpofes. I have feen 
 the chief man of a very wide diftricT: riding 
 with a halter for a bridle, and governing 
 his hobby with a wooden curb. 
 
 The people of Col, however, do not 
 want dexterity to fupply fome of their 
 
 neceflides.
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 303 
 
 neceflities. Several arts which make trades, 
 and demand apprenticefhips in great cities, 
 are here the practices of daily economy. 
 In every houfe candles are made, both 
 moulded and dipped. Their wicks are fmali 
 fhreds of linen cloth. They all know how 
 to extract from the Cuddy, oil for their 
 lamps. They all tan {kins, and make 
 brogues. 
 
 As we travelled through Sky, we faw 
 many cottages, but they very frequently 
 flood (ingle on the naked ground. In Co! 9 
 where the hills opened a place convenient 
 for habitation, we found a petty village of 
 which every hut had a little garden adjoin- 
 ing; thus they made an appearance of focial 
 commerce and mutual offices, and of fome 
 attention to convenience and future fupply. 
 There is not in the Weftetn I/lands any col- 
 lection of buildings that can make preten- 
 fions to be called a town, except in the Ifle 
 of Lewis, which I have not feen. 
 
 If
 
 304 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 If Lewis is diftinguiflied by a town, Col 
 has alfo fomething peculiar. The young 
 Laird has attempted what no Iflander per- 
 haps ever thought on. He has begun a 
 road capable of a wheel-carriage. He has 
 carried it about a mile, and will continue it 
 by annual elongation from his houfe to the 
 harbour. 
 
 Of taxes here is no reafon for complain- 
 ing ; they 'are paid by a very eafy com- 
 pofition. The malt-tax for Col is twenty 
 (hillings. Whifky is very plentiful: there 
 are feveral ftills in, the Ifland, and more is 
 made than the inhabitants confume. 
 
 The great bufinefs of infular policy is 
 now to keep the people in their own coun- 
 try. As the world has been let in upon 
 them, they have heard of happier climates, 
 and lefs arbitrary government ; and if they 
 are difgufted, have emifidries among them 
 ready to offer them land and houfes, as a 
 
 reward
 
 WESTERN isLAKbs, & c . 
 
 Reward for deferting their Chief and Clan. 
 Many have departed both from the main 
 of Scotland^ and from the Iflands ; and all 
 that go may be confidered as fubjeds loft 
 to the Britijh crown ; for a nation fcattered 
 in the boundlefs regions of America refem- 
 bles rays diverging from a focus. All the 
 rays remain, but the heat is gone. Their 
 power confifted in their concentration : 
 when they are difperfed they have no ef- 
 fect. 
 
 It may be thought that they are happier 
 by the change ; but they are not happy as 
 a nation, for they are a nation no longer. 
 As they contribute not to the profperity of 
 any community, they muft want that fecu- 
 rity, that dignity, that happinefs, whatever 
 it be, which a profperous community throws 
 back upon individuals. 
 
 The inhabitants of Col have not yet 
 
 learned to be weary of their heath and 
 
 X rocks,
 
 rocks, but attend their agriculture and their' 
 dairies, without liftening to American fe- 
 
 ducements. 
 
 There are fome however who think that 
 this emigration has raifed terrour difpro- 
 portionate to its real evil ; and that it is 
 only a new mode of doing what was always 
 done. The Highlands, they fay, never 
 maintained their natural inhabitants ; but 
 the people, when they found themfelves 
 too numerous, inftead of extending culti- 
 vation, provided for themfelves by a more 
 compendious , method, and fought better 
 fortune in other countries. They did not 
 indeed go away in collective bodies, but 
 withdrew invifibly, a few at a time ; but 
 the whole number of fugitives was not lefs, 
 and the difference between other times and 
 this, is only the fame as between evapora~ 
 tion and effufion. 
 
 This is plaufible, but I am afraid it is 
 not true. Thofe who went before, if they 
 
 were
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 307 
 
 'were not fenfibly miffed, as the argument 
 fuppofes, muft have gone either in lefs num- 
 ber, or in a manner lefs detrimental, than 
 at prefent ; becaufe formerly there was no 
 complaint. Thofe who then left the coun- 
 try were generally the idle dependants on 
 overburdened families, or men who had no 
 property; and therefore carried away only 
 themfelves. In the prefent eagernefs of 
 emigration, families, and almoft commu- 
 nities, go away together. Thofe who were 
 confidered as profperous and wealthy fell 
 their ftock and carry away the money. 
 Once none went away but the ufelefs and 
 poor j in fome parts there is now reafon. 
 to fear, that none will flay but thofe who 
 are too poor to remove themfelves, and too 
 ufelefs to be removed at the coft of others. 
 
 Of antiquity there is not more know- 
 ledge in Col than in other places; but 
 every where fomething may be gleaned. 
 
 X 2 How
 
 308 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 How ladies were portioned, when there 
 was no money, it would be difficult for an 
 Englifiman to guefs. In 1649, Maclean 
 of Dronart in Mull married his fifter Fin- 
 gala to Maclean of Col, with a hundred 
 and eighty kine; and ftipulated, that if fhe 
 became a widow, her jointure fhould be 
 three hundred and fixty. I fuppofe fome 
 proportionate tract of land was appropriated 
 to their paflurage. 
 
 Thcdifpofition to pompous and expenfive 
 funerals, which has at one time or other 
 prevailed in moft parts of the civilized 
 world, is not yet fupprefled in the Iflands, 
 though fome of the ancient folemnitres are 
 worn away, and fingers are no longer hired 
 to attend the proceflion. Nineteen years 
 ago, at the burial of the Laird of CW, were 
 killed thirty cows, and about fifty flieep. 
 The number of the cows is pofitively told, 
 arid we muft fuppofe other victuals in like 
 proportion. 
 
 Mr.
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 309 
 
 Mr. Maclean informed us of an odd 
 game, of which he did not tell the origi- 
 nal, but which may perhaps be ufed in 
 other places, where the reafon of it is not 
 yet forgot. At New-year's eve, in the 
 hall or caftle of the Laird, where, at feftal 
 feafons, there may be fuppofed a very 
 numerous company, one man drefles him- 
 felf in a cow's hide, upon which other men 
 beat with flicks. He runs with all this 
 noife round the houfe, which all the com- 
 pany quits in a counterfeited fright : the 
 door is then {hut. At New-year's eve there 
 is no great pleafure to be had out of doors 
 in the Hebrides. They are fare foon to re- 
 cover from their terrour enough to folicit 
 for re-admiffion ; which, for the honour of 
 poetry, is not to be obtained but by re- 
 peating a verfe, with which thofe that are 
 knowing and provident take care to be 
 furnifhed. 
 
 X 3 Very
 
 jio A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Very near the houfe of Maclean ftands 
 the caftle of Col y which was the manfion of 
 the Laird, till the houfe was built. It 15 
 built upon a rock, as Mr. Bofwell remark-* 
 ed, that it might not be mined. It is 
 very ftrong, and having been not long 
 uninhabited, is yet in repair. On the 
 wall was, not long ago, a ftone with an 
 infcription, importing, that if any man 
 of the Clan of Macknich Jball appear 
 before this caftle, though he come at mid- 
 mgbf, with a man's head in his band, he 
 Jljall there find fafety and protection agalnft 
 all but the King. 
 
 This is an old Highland treaty made upon, 
 a very memorable occafion. Maclean, the 
 fon of John Gerves, who recovered Col, and 
 conquered Barra, had obtained, it is faid, 
 from James the Second, a grant of the lands 
 of Locbifl t forfeited, I fuppofe, by fome 
 offence againft the ftate. 
 
 Forfeited
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 311 
 
 Forfeited eftates were not in thofe days 
 quietly refigned ; Maclean, therefore, went 
 with an armed force to feize his new pof- 
 feffions, and, I know not for what reafon, 
 took his wife with him. The Camerons 
 rofe in defence of their Chief, and a battle 
 was fought at the head of Loch Afr/j, near 
 the place where Fort Auguftm now ftands, 
 in which Locbiel obtained the victory, and 
 Maclean, with his followers, was defeated 
 and deftroyed. 
 
 The lady fell into the hands of the con- 
 querors, and being found pregnant, was 
 placed in the cuftody of Maclonich, one of 
 a tribe or family branched from Cameron^ 
 with orders, if fhe brought a boy, to deftroy 
 him, if a girl, to fpare her. 
 
 Maclonicb's wife, who was with child 
 
 likewife, had a girl about the fame time 
 
 at which lady Maclean brought a boy, and 
 
 Macknkb with more generofity to his cap- 
 
 X 4 tive,
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 tive, than fidelity to his truft, contrived 
 that the children fhbuld be changed. 
 
 Maclean being thus preferved from death, 
 in time recovered his original patrimony ; 
 and jn gratitude to his friend, made his 
 caflle a place of refuge to any of the Clan 
 that fhould think himfelf in danger ; and 
 as a proof of reciprocal confidence, Maclean 
 took upon himfelf and his pofterity the 
 care of educatin the heir of Maclonicb. 
 
 
 This (lory, like all other traditions of 
 the Highlands, is varioufly related ; but 
 though fome circumstances are uncertain, 
 the principal faft is true. Maclean un- 
 dpubtedly owed his prefer vation to Maclo- 
 nicb ; for the treaty between the two fami-? 
 lies has been ftiidly obferved: it did not 
 firik into djfufe and oblivion, but continued 
 in its full force while the chieftains retained 
 their power. I have read a demand of pro- 
 tedipn, made not mpre thaq thirty- fever* 
 
 years,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 313 
 
 years ago, for one of the MacknicbS) named 
 Bwen Cameron, who had been accefibry to 
 the death of Macmartin, and had been 
 banifhed by Locbll t his lord, for a certain 
 term ; at- the expiration of which he 
 returned married from France ; but the 
 Macmartins, not fadsfied with the punifh- 
 merit, when he attempted to fettle, ftill 
 threatened him with vengeance. He there- 
 fpre afked, and obtained flicker in the Ifle 
 of Col. 
 
 The power of protection fubfifts no 
 longer ; but what the law permits is yet 
 continued, and Maclean of Col now educates 
 the heir of Maclonich. 
 
 There ftill remains in the Iflands, though 
 it is pafling faft away, the cuftom of fofter- 
 age. A Laird, a man of wealth and emi- 
 nence, fends his child, either male or female, 
 to a tackfman, or tenant, to be foflered. 
 It is not always his own tenant> but fome 
 
 diftant
 
 314 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 diftant friend that obtains this honour; 
 for an honour fuch a truft is very reafon- 
 ably thought. The terms of fofterage feem 
 to vary in different iflands. In Mull the 
 father fends with his child a certain num- 
 ber of cows, to which the fame number is 
 added by the fofterer. The father appro- 
 priates a proportionable extent of ground, 
 without rent, for their pafturage. If every 
 cow brings a calf, half belongs to the 
 fofterer, and half to the child ; but if there 
 be only one calf between two cows, it is 
 the child's, and when the child returns to 
 the parents, it is accompanied by all the 
 cows given, both by the father and by the 
 fofterer, with half of the increafe of the 
 flock by propagation. Thefe beads are 
 confidered as a portion, and called Mac- 
 elfoe cattle, of which the father has the 
 produce, but is fuppofed not to have the 
 full property, but to owe the fame number 
 to the child, as a portion to the daughter, 
 or a flock for the fon. 
 
 Children
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 315 
 
 Children continue with the fofterer per- 
 haps fix years, and cannot, where this is 
 the practice, be confidered as burdenfome. 
 The fofterer., if he gives four cows, re- 
 ceives likewife four, and has, while the 
 child continues with him, grafs for eight 
 without rent, with half the calves, and all 
 the milk, for which he pays only four cows 
 when he difmifles his Dalt y for that is the 
 name for a fofter child. 
 
 Fofterage is, I believe, fometimes per* 
 formed upon more liberal terms. Our 
 friend, the young Laird of Col y was fof- 
 tered by Macfxeyn of GriJJipoL Mac- 
 fweyn then lived a tenant to Sir James 
 Macdonald in the Ifle of Sty: and there- 
 fore Co/, whether he fent him cattle or not, 
 could grant him no land. The Da/f, how- 
 ever, at his return, brought back a confi- 
 derable number of Macalive cattle, and of 
 the friendfhip fo formed there have been 
 good effe&s. When Macdonald raifed his 
 8 rents,
 
 316 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 rents, Macfaeyn was, like other tenants, 
 difcontented, and, refigning his farm, re- 
 moved from Sky to Col, and was eftablifh- 
 ed at Griffipol. 
 
 Thefe obfervations we made by favour of 
 the contrary wind that drove us to Col, an 
 Ifland not often vifited; for there is not much 
 to amufe curiofity, or to attract avarice. 
 
 The ground has been hitherto, I be- 
 ,lieve, ufed chiefly for pailurage. In a dif- 
 tricl, fuch as the eye can command, 
 there is a general herdfman, who knows 
 all the cattle of the neighbourhood, and 
 whofe ftation is upon a hill, from which 
 he furvcys the lower grounds j and if one 
 man's cattle invade another's grafs, drives 
 them back to their own borders. But other 
 means of profit begin to be found; kelp is 
 gathered and burnt, and floops are loaded 
 with the concreted ames. Cultivation is 
 likely to be improved by the {kill and en- 
 couragement
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 317 
 
 couragement of the prefent heir, and the 
 inhabitants of thofe obfcure vallies will 
 partake of the general progrefs of life. 
 
 The rents of the parts which belong to 
 the Duke of Argyle, have been raifed from 
 fifty-five to one hundred and five pounds, 
 whether from the land or the fea I cannot 
 tell. The bounties of the fea have lately- 
 been fo great, that a farm in Southuift has 
 rifen in ten years from a rent of thirty 
 pounds to one hundred and eighty. 
 
 He who lives in Col, and finds himfelf 
 condemned to folitary meals, and incommu- 
 nicable reflection, will find the ufefulnefs 
 of that middle order of Tackfmen, which 
 fome who applaud their own wifdom are 
 wifhing to deftroy. Without intelligence 
 man is not focial, he is only gregarious ; 
 and little intelligence will there be, where 
 all are conftrained to daily labour, and every 
 mind muft wait upon the hand. 
 
 After
 
 After having liftened for fome days to 
 the tempeft, and wandered about the Ifland 
 till our curiofity was fatisfied, we began to 
 think about our departure. To leave Col 
 in October was not very eafy. We how- 
 ever found a floop which lay on the coaft 
 to carry kelp; and for a price which we 
 thought levied upon our neceffities, the 
 matter agreed to carry us to Ma//, whence 
 we might readily pafs back to Scotland. 
 
 MULL. 
 
 As we were to catch the firft favourable 
 breath, we -fpent the night not very ele- 
 gantly nor pleafantly in the veflel, and 
 were landed next day at T^obor Morar, a 
 port in Mull) which appears to an unex- 
 perienced eye formed for the fecurity of 
 fhips ; for its mouth is clofed by a fmall 
 ifland,- which admits them through narrov/ 
 channels into a bafon fufficiently capacious. 
 They are indeed fafc from the fea, but 
 
 there
 
 WESTERN ISLA-NDS, &c. 319 
 
 there is a hollow between the mountains, 
 through which the wind iflues from the 
 land with very mifchievous violence. 
 
 There was no danger while we were 
 there, and we found feveral other veflels 
 at anchor ; fo that the port had a very 
 commercial appearance. 
 
 The young Laird of &/, who had deter- 
 mined not to let us lofe his company, while 
 there was any difficulty remaining, came 
 over with us. His influence foon ap- 
 peared; for he procured us horfes, and 
 condu&ed us to the houfe of Doctor Mac- 
 cleari) where we found very kind enter- 
 tainment, and very pleafing converfation. 
 Mifs Maclean^ who was born, and had 
 been bred at Glafgow, having removed 
 with her father to Mull, added to other 
 qualifications, a great knowledge of the 
 Earfe language, which fhe had not learned 
 in her childhood, but gained by ftudy, and 
 
 was
 
 J20 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 was the only interpreter of Earfe poetry 
 that I could ever find. 
 
 The Ifle of Mult is perhaps In extent the 
 third of the Hebrides. It is not broken 
 by waters, nor fhot into promontories, but 
 is a folid and compact mafs, of breadth 
 nearly equal to its length. Of the dimen- 
 fions of the larger Iflands, there is no 
 knowledge approaching to exaclnefs. I am 
 willing to eftimate it as containing about 
 three hundred fquare miles. 
 
 Mull had fuffered like Sky by the Wack 
 winter of feventy-one, in which, contrary 
 to all experience, a continued froft detained 
 the fnow eight weeks upon the ground. 
 Againft a calamity never known, no provi- 
 fion had been made, and the people could 
 only pine in helplefs mifery. One tenant 
 was mentioned, whofe cattle perimed to the 
 value of three ^hundred pounds; a lofs 
 which probably more than the Irfe of mart 
 
 is
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 
 
 is neceflary to repair. In countries like 
 thefe, the defcriptions of famine become 
 intelligible. Where by vigorous and art- 
 ful cultivation of a foil naturally fertile, 
 there is commonly a fuperfluous growth 
 both of grain and grafs ; where the fields 
 are crowded with cattle ; and where every 
 hand is able to attract wealth from a di- 
 ftance, by making fomething that promotes 
 eafe, or gratifies vanity, a dear year pro- 
 duces only a comparative want, which 
 is rather feen than felt, and which termi- 
 nates commonly in no worfe effecT:, than 
 that of condemning the lower orders of 
 the community to facrifice a little luxury to 
 convenience, or at moft a little convenience 
 to neceflity. 
 
 But where the climate is unkind, and the 
 ground penurious, fo that the moft fruit- 
 ful years produce only enough to main- 
 tain themfelves; where life unimproved, 
 and unadorned, fades into fomething little 
 
 Y more
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE.' 
 
 more than naked exiftence, and every one is 
 bufy for himfelf, without any arts by 
 which the pleafure of others may be in- 
 creafed ; if to the daily burden of diftrefs 
 any additional weight be added, nothing 
 remains but to defpair and die. In Mull 
 the difappointment of a harveft, or a mur- 
 rain among the cattle, cuts off the regu- 
 lar provifion ; and they who have no 
 manufactures can purchafe no part of the 
 fuperfluides of other countries. The con- 
 fequence of a bad feafon is here not fear- 
 city, but emptinefs j and they whofe plenty 
 was barely a fupply of natural and prefent 
 need, when that (lender flock fails, muft 
 perim with hunger. 
 
 All travel has its advantages. If the paf- 
 fenger vifits better countries, he may learn 
 to improve his own, and if fortune carries 
 him to worfe, he may learn to enjoy it. 
 
 Mr. Bofwell's curiofity ftrongly impelled 
 him to furvey lona, or IcolmkiU, which was 
 
 to
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 
 
 to the early ages the great fchool of 
 Theology, and is fuppofed to have been 
 the place of fepuhure for the ancient kings. 
 I, though lefs eager, did not oppofe him. 
 
 That we might perform this expedition, 
 it was neceffary to traverfe a great part of 
 Mull. We pafled a day at Dr. Maclean's, 
 and could have been well contented to ftay 
 longer. But Col provided us horfes, - and 
 we purfued our journey. This was a day 
 of inconvenience, for the country is very 
 rough, and my horfe was but little. We 
 travelled many hours through a tract, black 
 and barren, in which, however, there were 
 the reliques of humanity ; for we found a 
 ruined chapel in our way. 
 
 It is natural, in traverfing this gloom of 
 defolation, to inquire, whether fomething 
 may not be done to give Nature a more 
 cheerful face, and whether thofe hills and 
 moors that afford Keath cannot with a little 
 Y a care
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 care and labour bear fomething better? 
 The firft thought that occurs is to cover 
 them with trees, for that in many of thefe 
 naked regions trees will grow, is evident, 
 becaufe flumps and roots are yet remain- 
 ing; and the fpeculatift haftily proceeds to 
 cenfure that negligence and lazinefs that 
 has omitted for fo long a time fo eafy an 
 improvement.' 
 
 To drop feeds into the ground, and at- 
 tend their growth, requires little labour 
 and no {kill. He who remembers that all 
 the woods, by which the wants of man 
 have been fupplied from the Deluge till 
 now, were felf-fown, will not eafily be 
 perfuaded to think all the art and prepara- 
 tion neceflary which the Georgick writers 
 prefcribe to planters. Trees certainly have 
 covered the earth with very little culture. 
 They wave their tops among the rocks of 
 Norway^ and might thrive as well in the 
 Highlands and Hebrides. 
 
 But
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 325 
 
 But there is a frightful interval between 
 the feed and timber. He that calculates 
 the growth of trees, has the unwelcome 
 remembrance of the fhortnefs of life driven 
 hard upon him. He knows that he is do- 
 ing what will never benefit himfelf; and 
 when he rejoices to fee the ftem rife, is dif- 
 pofed to repine that another (hall cut it 
 down. 
 
 Plantation is naturally the employment 
 of a mind unburdened with care, and va- 
 cant to futurity, faturated with prefent 
 good, and at leifure to derive gratification 
 from the proipect of pofterity. He that 
 pines with hunger, is in little care how 
 others fhall be fed. The poor man is fel- 
 dom ftudious to make his grandfon rich. 
 It may be foon difcovered, why in a place, 
 which hardly fupplies the cravings of ne- 
 ceflity, there has been little attention to the 
 delights of fancy, and why diftant conve- 
 nience is unregarded, where the thoughts 
 Y 3 are
 
 3*6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 are turned with inceflant folicitude upon 
 every poflibility of immediate advantage. 
 
 Neither is it quite fo eafy to raife large 
 woods, as may be conceived. Trees intend- 
 ed to produce timber muft be fown where 
 they are to grow; and ground fown with 
 trees muft be kept ufelels for a long time, 
 inclofed at an ex pence from which many 
 will be difcouraged by the remotenefs of 
 the profit, and watched with that attention, 
 which, in places where it is moft needed, 
 will neither be given nor bought. That it 
 ca'nnot be plowed is evident ; and if cattle 
 be fuffered to graze upon it, they will de- 
 vour the plants as faft as they rife. Even 
 in coarfer countries, where herds and flocks 
 are not fed, not only the deer and the wild 
 goats will browfe upon them, but the hare 
 and rabbit will nibble them. It is there- 
 fore reafonable to believe, what I do not 
 remember any naturalift to have remarked, 
 that there was a time when the world was 
 
 very
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 327 
 
 very thinly inhabited by beafts, as well as 
 men, and that the woods had leifure to rife 
 high before animals had bred numbers fuf- 
 ficient to intercept them. 
 
 Sir James MacdonaU^ in part of the 
 waftes of his territory, fet or fowed trees, 
 to the number, as I have been told, of 
 feveral millions, expecting, doubtlefs, that 
 they would grow up into future navies and 
 cities ; but for want of inclofure, and of 
 that care which is always neceflary, and 
 will hardly ever be taken, all his coft and 
 labour have been loft, and the ground is 
 likely to continue an ufelefs heath. 
 
 Having not any experience of a journey 
 in Mull, we had no doubt of reaching the 
 fea by day- light, and therefore had not left 
 Dr. Macleans very early. We travelled 
 diligently enough, but found the country, 
 for road there was none, very difficult to 
 pafs. We were always ftruggling with 
 Y 4 fome
 
 328 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 fome obftrudion or other, and our vexa- 
 tion was not balanced by any gratification 
 of the eye or mind. We were now long 
 enough acquainted with hills and heath to 
 have loft the emotion that they once raifed, 
 whether pleafmg or painful, and had our 
 mind employed only on our own fatigue. 
 We were however fure, under Col's pro- 
 tection, of efcaping all real evils. There 
 was no houfe in Mull to which he could 
 not introduce us. He had intended to 
 lodge us, for that night, with a gentleman 
 that lived upon the coaft, but difcovered on 
 the way, that he then lay in bed without 
 hope of life. 
 
 We refolved not to embarrafs a family, 
 in a time of fo much forrow, if any other 
 expedient could be found ; and as the Ifland 
 of U/va was over-againft us, it was deter- 
 mined that we fhould pafs the ftrait and 
 have recourfe to the Laird, who, like the 
 other gentlemen of the Iflands, was known 
 
 to
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 329 
 
 to Col. We expected to find a ferry-boat, 
 but when at laft we came to the water, the 
 boat was gone. 
 
 We were now again at a flop. It was the 
 fixteenth of October, a time when it is not 
 convenient to deep in the Hebrides with- 
 out a cover, and there was no houfe within 
 our reach, but that which we had already 
 declined. 
 
 U L V A. 
 
 While we flood deliberating, we were 
 happily efpied from an Irijh (hip, that lay 
 at anchor in the ftrait. The matter faw 
 that we wanted a paflage, and with great 
 civility fent us his boat, which quickly con- 
 veyed us to Ufa, where we were very 
 liberally entertained by Mr. Macquarry. 
 
 To Uha we came in the dark, and left 
 it before noon the next day. A very exa<3 
 
 tlcfciiptioa
 
 330 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 defcription therefore will not be expected. 
 We were told, that it is an Jfland of no 
 great extent, rough and barren, inhabited 
 by the Macqtiarrys ; a Clan not powerful 
 nor numerous, but of antiquity, which 
 xnoft other families are content to reve- 
 rence. The name is fuppofed to be a de- 
 pravation of fome other; for the Earfe 
 language does not afford it any etymo- 
 logy. Macquarry is proprietor both of 
 "Ufoa and fome adjacent Iflands, among 
 which is Staff a t fo lately raifed to renown 
 by Mr. Banks. 
 
 When the Iflanders were reproached 
 with their ignorance, or infenfibility of the 
 wonders of Stafa, they had not much to 
 reply. They had indeed confidered it 
 little, becaufe they had always feen it ; and 
 none but philofophers, nor they always, 
 are ftruck with wonder, otjherwife than by 
 novelty. How would it furprife an unen- 
 lightened ploughman, to hear a company 
 
 of 
 ft
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 331 
 
 of fober men, inquiring by what power the 
 hand tofTes a ftone, or why the ftone, when 
 it is tofled, falls to the ground ! 
 
 Of the anceftors of Macquarry, who thus 
 lies hid in his unfrequented Ifland, I have 
 found memorials in all places where they 
 could be expected. 
 
 t r .*;" -J '- -. '. ; i'. 
 
 Inquiring after the reliqiies of former 
 manners, I found that in Uha, and, I 
 think, no where elfe, is continued the pay- 
 ment of the Mercheta Mulierum ; a fine in 
 old times due to the Laird at the marriage 
 of a virgin. The original of this claim, as 
 of our tenure of Borough Englijh, is vari- 
 oufly delivered. It is pleafant to find an- 
 cient cuftoms in old -families. This pay- 
 ment, like others, was, for want of money, 
 made anciently in the produce of the land. 
 Macquarry was tifed to demand a ftieep, 
 for which he now takes a crown, by that 
 inattention to the uncertain proportion be- 
 tween
 
 332 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 tween the value and the denomination of 
 money, which has brought much diforder 
 into Europe. A ftieep has always the fame 
 power of fupplying human wants, but a 
 crown will bring at one time more, at an- 
 other lefs. 
 
 Uha was not negleded by the piety of 
 ancient times : it has dill to ihow what was 
 once a church. 
 
 INCH KENNETH: 
 
 In the morning we went again into the 
 boat, and were landed on Inch Kenneth^ an 
 Ifland about a mile long, and perhaps half 
 a mile broad, remarkable for pleafantnefs 
 and fertility. It is ve.rdant and grafly, and 
 fit both for pafture and tillage; but it has 
 no trees. Its only inhabitants were Sir 
 Allan Maclean, and two young ladies, his 
 daughters, with their fervants, 
 
 Romance
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 333 
 
 Romance does not often exhibit a fcene 
 that ftrikes the imagination more than this 
 little defert in thefe depths of Weftern ob- 
 fcurity, occupied not by a grofs herdfman, 
 or amphibious fifherman, but by a gentle- 
 man and two ladies, of high birth, polifhed 
 manners, and elegant converfation, who, 
 in a habitation raifed not very far above 
 the ground, but furnifhed with unexpected 
 neatnefs and convenience, practifed all the 
 kindnefs of hofpitality, and refinement of 
 courtefy. 
 
 Sir Allan is the Chieftain of the great 
 Clan of Maclean, which is faid to claim the 
 fecond place among the Highland families, 
 yielding only to Macdonald. Though by 
 the mifcondudof his anceftors, moft of the 
 extenfive territory, which would have de- 
 fcended to him, has been alienated, he ftill 
 retains much of the dignity and authority 
 of his birth. When foldiers were lately 
 wanting for the American war, application 
 
 was
 
 334 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 was made to Sir Allan, and he nominated 
 a hundred men for the fervice, who obeyed 
 the fummons, and bore arras under his 
 command. 
 
 He had then, for fome time, refided 
 with the young ladies in Inch Kenneth, 
 where he lives not only with plenty, but 
 with elegance, having conveyed to his cot- 
 tage a collection of books, and what elfe is 
 neceffary to make his hours pleafant. 
 
 When we landed, we were met by Sir 
 Allan and the ladies, accompanied by Mifs 
 Macquarry^ who had pafled fome time with 
 them, and now returned to U/va with her 
 father. 
 
 We all walked together to the manfion, 
 where we found one cottage for Sir Allan^ 
 and I think two more for the domefticks 
 and the offices. We entered, and wanted 
 little that palaces afford. Our room was 
 1 1 neatly
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 335 
 
 neatly floored, and well lighted ; and our 
 dinner, which was drefled in one of the 
 other huts, was plentiful and delicate. 
 
 In the afternoon Sir Lilian reminded us, 
 that the day was Sunday, which he never, 
 fuffered to pafs without fome religious dif- 
 tin&ion, and invited us to partake in hia 
 acts of domeftick worihip ; which I hope 
 neither Mr. Bofwell nor, myfelf will be fuf- 
 pecled of a difpofition to refufe. The elder 
 of the ladies read the Englifo fervice. 
 
 Inch Kenneth was once a fern i nary of 
 ecclefiafticks, fubordinate* I fuppofe, to 
 IcolmkilL Sir Allan had a mind to trace 
 the foundation of the college, but neither 
 I nor Mr. Bofwett, who bends a keener eye 
 on vacancy^ were able to perceive them. 
 
 O.ur attention, however, was fufficiently 
 engaged by a venerable chapel, which 
 Hands yet entire, except that the roof is 
 
 gone.
 
 336 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 gone. It is about fixty feet in length, and 
 thirty in breadth. On one fide of the altar 
 is a bas relief of the blefled Virgin, and by 
 it lies a little bell ; which, though cracked, 
 and without a clapper, has remained there 
 for ages, guarded only by the venerable- 
 nefs of the place. The ground round the 
 chapel is covered with grave- ftones of 
 Chiefs and ladies ; and ftill continues to be 
 a place of fepulture. 
 
 Inch Kenneth is a proper prelude to 
 Icolmkill. It was not without fome 
 mournful emotion that we contemplated 
 the ruins of religious ftructures, and the 
 monuments of the dead. 
 
 On the next day we took a more diftincT: 
 view of the place, and went with the boat 
 to fee oyfters in the bed, out of which the 
 boat-men forced up as many as were want- 
 ed. Even Inch Kenneth has a fubordi- 
 nate Ifland, named Sandiland, I fuppofe, 
 
 in
 
 t * 
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 337 
 
 in contempt, where we landed, and found 
 a rock, with a furface of perhaps four 
 acres, of which one is naked ftone, another 
 fpread with fand and (hells, fome of which 
 I picked up for their glofly beauty, and 
 two covered with a little earth and % grafs, 
 on which Sir Allan has a few (heep. I 
 doubt not but when there was a college at 
 Inch Kenneth, there was a hermitage upon 
 Sandiland. 
 
 Having wandered over thofe extenfive 
 plains, we committed ourfelves again to the 
 winds and waters ; and after a voyage of 
 about ten minutes, in which we met with 
 nothing very obfervable, were again fafe 
 upon dry ground. 
 
 We told Sir Allan our defire of vifiting 
 Icolmkill) and entreated him to give up his 
 protection, and his company. He thought 
 proper to hefitate a little; but the Ladies 
 hinted, that at they knew he would not 
 Z finally 

 
 338 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 finally refufe, he would do better if he prc- 
 ferved the grace of ready compliance. He 
 took their advice, and promifed to carry us 
 on the morrow in his boat. 
 
 We pafied the remaining part of the day 
 in fuch amufements as were in our power. 
 Sir Allan related the American campaign, 
 and at evening one of the Ladies played on 
 her harpfichord, while Csl and Mr. Bofwell 
 danced a Scottijh reel with the other. 
 
 We could have been eafily perfuaded to 
 a longer ftay upon Inch Kenneth, but life 
 will not be all pafled in delight. The feflion 
 at Edinburgh was approaching, from which 
 Mr. Bcfwett could not be abfent. 
 
 In the morning our boat was ready : it 
 was high and ftrong. Sir Allan victualled 
 it for the day, and provided able rowers. 
 We now parted from the young Laird of 
 Col, who had treated us with fo much kind- 
 
 nefs,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 339 
 
 nefs, and concluded his favours by con- 
 figning us to Sir Allan. Here we had the 
 laft embrace of this amiable man, who, 
 while thefe pages were preparing to atteft 
 his virtues, perifhed in the paffage between 
 Ufaa and Inch Kenneth. 
 
 Sir Allan, to whom the whole region 
 was well known, told us of a very remark- 
 able cave, to which he would {how us the 
 way. We had been difappointed already 
 by one cave, and were not much elevated 
 by the expectation of another. 
 
 It was yet better to fee it, and we flop- 
 ped at fome rocks on the coaft of Mull. 
 The mouth is fortified by vaft fragments of 
 {lone, over which we made our way, nei- 
 ther very nimbly, nor very fecurely. The 
 place, however, well repaid our trouble. 
 The bottom, as far as the flood rulhes in, 
 was encumbered with large pebbles, but as 
 Z 2 we
 
 3 4 o A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 we advanced was fpread over with fmooth 
 fand. The breadth is about forty-five feet: 
 the roof rifes in an arch, almoft regular, to 
 a height which we could not meafure; but 
 I think it about thirty feet. 
 
 This part of our curiofity was nearly 
 fruftrated j for though we went to fee a 
 cave, and knew that caves are dark, we 
 forgot to carry tapers, and did not difcover 
 our omiflion till we were wakened by our 
 wants. Sir Allan then fent one of the boat- 
 men into the country, who foon returned 
 with one little candle. We were thus en- 
 abled to go forward, but could not venture 
 far. Having pafled inward from the fea to 
 a great depth, we found on the right hand 
 a narrow paflage, perhaps not more than 
 fix feet wide, obftructed by great ftones, 
 over which we climbed and came into a 
 fecond cave, in breadth twenty-five feet. 
 The air in this apartment was very warm, 
 but not oppreflive, nor loaded with vapours. 
 
 Our
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 341 
 
 Our light fhowed no tokens of a feculent 
 or corrupted atmofphere. Here was a 
 fquare ftone, called, as we are told, F/W- 
 gafs TMe. 
 
 If we had been provided with torches, 
 we fhould have proceeded in our fearch, 
 though we had already gone as far as any 
 former adventurer, except fome who are 
 reported never to have returned ; and, 
 meafuring our way back, we found it more 
 than a hundred and fixty yards, the eleventh 
 part of a mile. 
 
 Our meafures were not critically exact, 
 having been made with a walking pole, fuch 
 as it is convenient to carry in thefe rocky 
 countries, of which I guefled the length by 
 ftanding againft it. In this there could be 
 no great errour, nor do I much doubt but 
 the Highlander, whom we employed, re- 
 ported the number right. More nicety 
 however is better, and no man fhould tra- 
 Z 3 vel
 
 342 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 vel unprovided with inftruments for taking 
 
 heights and diftances. 
 
 There is yet another caufe of errour not 
 always eafily furmounted, though more 
 dangerous to the veracity of itinerary nar- 
 ratives, than imperfedt menfuration. An 
 obferver deeply imprefied by any remark- 
 able fpectacle, does not fuppofe, that the 
 traces will foon vanifh from his mind, 
 and having commonly no great conve- 
 nience for writing, defers the defcription to 
 a time of more leifure, and better accom- 
 modation. 
 
 He who has not made the experiment, 
 or who is not accuftomed to require ri- 
 gorous accuracy from himfelf, will fcarcely 
 believe how much a few hours take from 
 certainty of knowledge, and diflinctnefs of 
 imagery; bow the fucceffion of objects will 
 be broken, how feparate parts will be con- 
 fufed, and how many particular features 
 
 and
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 343 
 
 and difcriminations will be compreffed and 
 conglobated into one grofs and general 
 idea. 
 
 To this dilatory notation muft be im- 
 puted the falfe relations of travellers, where 
 there is no imaginable motive to deceive. 
 They trufled to memory what cannot be 
 trufted fafely but to the eye, and told by 
 guefs what a few hours before they had 
 known with certainty, Thus it was that 
 Wheeler and Spen defcribed with irrecon- 
 cilable contrariety things which they 
 furveyed together, and which both un- 
 dpubtedly defigned to Ihow as they faw 
 them. 
 
 When we had fatisfied our curiofity in 
 the cave, fo far as our penury of light per- 
 mitted us, we clambered again to our boats, 
 and proceeded along the coaft of Mull to a 
 headland, called Atun, remarkable for the 
 Z 4 columnar
 
 344 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 columnar form of the rocks, which rife in 
 a feries of pilafters, with a degree of regu- 
 larity, which Sir Allan thinks not lefs 
 worthy of curiofity than the fhore pf 
 Stafa. 
 
 Not long after we came to another range 
 of black rocks, which had the appearance 
 of broken pilafters, fet one behind an- 
 other to a great depth. This place was 
 cliofen by Sir Allan for our dinner. 
 We were eafily accommodated with feats, 
 for the ftones were of all heights, and 
 refrefhed ourfelves and our boatmen, who 
 could have no other reft till we were at 
 Icolmkill. 
 
 The evening was now approaching, and 
 we were yet at a confiderable diftance from 
 the end of our expedition. We could 
 therefore ftop no more to make remarks in 
 the way, but fet forward with ibme degree 
 
 of
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 345 
 
 of eagernefs. The day foon failed us, 
 and the moon prefented a very folemn and 
 pleafing fcene. The fky was clear, fo that 
 the eye commanded a wide circle : the fea 
 was neither (till nor turbulent: the wind 
 neither filent nor loud. We were never 
 far from one coaft or another, on which, if 
 the weather had become violent, we could 
 Jiave found fhelter, and therefore contem- 
 plated at eafe the region through which we 
 glided in the tranquillity of the night, and 
 faw now a rock and now an ifland grow 
 gradually confpicuous and gradually ob- 
 fcure. I committed the fault which I have 
 juft been cenfuring, in neglecting, as we 
 paffed, to note the feries of this placid na- 
 vigation. 
 
 We were very near an Ifland, called 
 Nuns I/land, perhaps from an ancient con- 
 vent. Here is faid to have been dug the 
 ftone which was ufed in the buildings of 
 
 ' -ife Jcolmkill.
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 IcolmkilL Whether it is now inhabited wfc 
 could not ftay to inquire. 
 
 At laft we came to Icolmkill t but found 
 no convenience for landing. Our boat 
 could pot be forced very near the dry 
 ground, and our Highlanders carried us 
 over the water. 
 
 We were now treading that illuftrioua 
 Ifland, which was once the luminary of the 
 Caledonian regions, whence favage Clans and 
 roving barbarians derived the benefits of 
 knowledge, and the bleflings of religion. 
 To abftract the mind from all local emotion 
 would be impoflible, if it were endeavoured, 
 and would be foolifh, if it were poffible. 
 Whatever withdraws us from the power 
 of our fenfes ; whatever makes the paft, the 
 diftant, or the future predominate over the 
 prefent, advances us in the dignity of think- 
 ing beings. Far froru me and from my 
 
 frietids,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 347 
 
 friends, be fuch frigid philofophy as may 
 conduct us indifferent and unmoved over 
 any ground which has been dignified by 
 wifdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is 
 little to be envied, whofe patriotifm would 
 not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, 
 or whole piety would not grow warmer 
 among the ruins of Icna. 
 
 We came too late to vifit monuments: 
 fome care was neceflary for ourfelves. 
 Whatever was in the Jfland, Sir Allan 
 could demand, for the inhabitants were 
 Macleans ; but having little they could not 
 give us much. He went to the headman 
 of the Ifland, whom Fame, but Fame de- 
 lights in amplifying, reprefents as wortli 
 DO lefs than fifty pounds. He was perhaps 
 proud enough of his guefts, but ill pre- t 
 pared for our entertainment ; however, he. 
 foon produced more provifion than men not 
 luxurious require. Our lodging was next 
 to be provided. We found a barn well 
 
 flocked
 
 348 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 flocked with hay, and made our beds as' 
 foft as we could. 
 
 In the morning we rofe and furveyed 
 the place. The churches of the two con- 
 vents are both (landing, though unroofed. 
 They were built of unhewn ftone, but 
 folid, and not inelegant. I brought away 
 rude meafures of the buildings, fuch as 
 I cannot much truft myfelf, inaccurately 
 taken, and obfcurely noted. Mr. Pennant's 
 delineations, which are doubtlefs exact, 
 have made my unfkilful defcription lefs 
 neceflary. 
 
 The epifcopal church confifts of two 
 parts, feparated by the belfry, and built at 
 different times. The original church had, 
 like others, the altar at one end, and tower 
 at the other ; but as it grew too fmall, an- 
 other building of equal dimenfion was 
 added, and the tower then was neceffarily 
 in the middle. 
 
 That
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 349 
 
 That thefe edifices are of different ages 
 feems evident. The arch of the firft church 
 is Roman, being part of a circle ; that of the 
 additional building is pointed, and there- 
 fore Gotbick, or Saracenical\ the tower is 
 firm, and wants only to be floored and 
 covered. 
 
 Of the chambers or cells belonging to the 
 monks, there are fome walls remaining, 
 but nothing approaching to a complete 
 apartment. 
 
 The bottom of the church is fo incum- 
 bered with mud and rubbifh, that we could 
 make no difcoveries of curious infcriptions, 
 and what there are have been already 
 publifhed. The place is faid to be known 
 where the black ftones lie concealed, on 
 which the old Highland Chiefs, when they 
 made contracts and alliances, ufed to take 
 the oath, which was confidered as more 
 facred than any other obligation, and which 
 * could
 
 350 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 could not be violated without the blacked 
 infamy. In thofe days of violence and 
 rapine, it was of great importance to im- 
 prefs upon favage minds the fanctity of an 
 oath, by fome particular and extraordinary 
 circumftances. They would not have re- 
 courfe to the black ftones, upon fmall or 
 common occafions, and when they had 
 eftabliftied their faith by this tremendous 
 fantion, inconftancy and treachery were 
 no longer feared. 
 
 The chapel of the nunnery is now ufed 
 by the inhabitants as a kind of general 
 cow-houfe, and the bottom is confequently 
 too miry for examination. Some of the 
 ftones which covered the later abbefies have 
 infcriptions, which might yet be read, if 
 the chapel were cleanfed. The roof of 
 this, as of all the other buildings, is totally 
 deftroyed, not only becaufe timber quick- 
 ly decays when it is neglected, but be- 
 caufe in an ifland utterly deftitute of wood, 
 
 ic
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 351 
 
 it was wanted for ufe, and was confequently 
 the firft plunder of needy rapacity. 
 
 The chancel of the nuns' chapel is 
 covered with an arch of ftone, to which 
 time has done no injury; and a fmall 
 apartment communicating with the choir, 
 on the north fide, like the chapter-houfe in 
 cathedrals, roofed with ftone in the fame 
 manner, is likewife entire. 
 
 In one of the churches was a marble 
 altar, which the fuperftition of the inha- 
 bitants has deftroyed. Their opinion was, 
 that a fragment of this ftone was a defence 
 againft ftiipwrecks, fire, and mifcarriages. 
 In one corner of the church the bafon for 
 holy water is yet unbroken. 
 
 The cemetry of the nunnery was, till 
 very lately, regarded with fuch reverence, 
 that only women were buried in it. Thefe 
 reliques of veneration always produce fome 
 
 mournful
 
 352 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 mournful pleafure. I could have forgiven 
 a great injury more eafily than the viola- 
 tion of this imaginary fanctity. 
 
 South of the chapel ftand the walls of a 
 large room, which was probably the hall, 
 or refectory of the nunnery. This apart- 
 ment is capable of repair. Of the reft of 
 the convent there are only fragments. 
 
 Befides the two principal churches, there 
 are, I think, five chapels yet ftanding, and 
 three more remembered. There are alfo 
 crofles, of which two bear the names of 
 St. John and St. Matthew. 
 
 A large fpace of ground about thefe con- 
 fecrated edifices is covered with grave- 
 flones, few of which have any infcription. 
 He that furveys it, attended by an infular 
 antiquary, may be told where the Kings 
 of many nations are buried, and if he 
 loves to footh his imagination with the 
 13 thoughts
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 353 
 
 .thoughts that naturally rife in places 
 where the great and the powerful lie min- 
 gled with the duft, let him liften in fub- 
 mifTive filence ; for if he afks any queftions, 
 his delight is at an end. 
 fm 9ffl l::r 
 
 lona has long enjoyed, without any very 
 credible atteftation, the honour of being 
 reputed the cemetery of the Scottijh Kings. 
 It is not unlikely, that, when the opinion 
 of local fanclity was prevalent, the Chief- 
 tains of the Ifles, and perhaps fome of the 
 Norwegian or Irijh princes, were repofited 
 in this venerable enclofure. But by whom 
 the fubterraneous vaults are peopled is now 
 utterly unknown. The graves are very 
 numerous, and fome of them undoubtedly 
 contain the remains of men, who did not 
 expect to be fo foon forgotten. 
 
 Not far from this awful ground, may 
 
 be traced the 'garden of the monaftery: 
 
 the fifhportds "are yet difcernible, and the 
 
 A a aqueduct,
 
 354 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 aqueduct, which fupplied them, is flill 
 in ufe. 
 
 There remains a broken building, which 
 is called the Bimop's houfe, I know not 
 by what authority. It was once the refi- 
 dence of fome man above the common rank, 
 for it has two ftories and a chimney. We 
 were f^ewn a chimney at the other end, 
 which was only a nich, without perfora- 
 tion, but fo much does antiquarian cre- 
 dulity, or patriotick vanity prevail, that it 
 was not much more fafe to truft the eye of 
 our inftrudor than the memory. 
 
 There is in the Tfland one houfe more, 
 and only one, that has a chimney; we en- 
 tered it, and found -it neither wanting re- 
 pair nor inhabitants; but to the farmers, 
 who now poflefs it, the chimney is of no 
 great value; for their fire was made on the 
 floor, in the middle of the room, and r.ot- 
 \vithftanding ihe dignity of their manlion, 
 
 they
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 355 
 
 they rejoiced, like their neighbours, in 
 the comforts of fmoke. 
 
 It is obferved, that ecclefiaftical colleges 
 are always in rhe moft pleafant and fruitful 
 places. While the world allowed the 
 monks their choice, it is furely no difho- 
 nour that they chofe well. This Ifland is 
 remarkably fruitful. The village near the 
 churches is faid to contain feventy families, 
 which, at five in a family, is more than a 
 hundred inhabitants to a mile. There are 
 perhaps other villages; yet both corn and 
 cattle are annually exported. 
 
 But the fruitfulnefs of lona is now its 
 whole profperity. The inhabitants are re- 
 markably grofs, and remarkably negleded : 
 I know not if they are vifited by any Mi- 
 nifter. The Ifland, which was once the 
 metropolis of learning and piety, has now 
 no fchool for education, nor temple for 
 A a 2 worfhip,
 
 356 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 worfhip, only two inhabitants that can 
 fpeak Englijhi and not one that can write 
 or read. 
 
 The people are of the Clan of Mackan ; 
 and though Sir Allan had not been in the 
 place for many years, he was received with 
 all the reverence due to their Chieftain* 
 One of them being ftiarply reprehended by 
 him, for not fending him fome rum, de- 
 clared after his departure, in Mr. Bofaveli's 
 prefence, that he had no defign of difap- 
 pointing him, for > faid he, / would cut my 
 bones\ for him ; an d If he had Jent his dog 
 for if, be Jhould have had it. 
 
 "When we were to depart, our boat was 
 left by the ebb at a great diftance from the 
 water, but no fooner did we wim it afloat, 
 than the iflanders gathered round it, and, 
 by the union of many hand.s, pufhed it 
 down the beach ; every man who could 
 2 contribute
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c, 357 
 
 contribute his help feemed to think himfelf 
 happy in the opportunity of being, for a 
 moment, ufeful to his Chief. 
 
 We now left thofe illuftrious ruins, by 
 which Mr. BofweU was much affe&ed, nor 
 would I willingly be thought to have look- 
 ed upon them without fome emotion. Per- 
 haps, in the revolutions of the world, lona 
 may be fometime again the inftruclrefs of 
 the Weftern Regions. 
 
 It was no long voyage to Muff, where, 
 under Sir Allan's protection, we landed in 
 the evening, and were entertained for the 
 night by Mr. Maclean, a Minifter that lives 
 upon the coaft, whofe elegance of conver- 
 fation, and ftrength of judgment, would 
 make him confpicuous in places of greater 
 celebrity. Next day we dined with Dr. 
 Maclean, another phyfician, and then tra- 
 velled on to the houfe of a very powerful 
 A a 3 Laird,
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Laird, Maclean of Lochbuy ; for in this 
 country every man's name is Maclean. 
 
 \ 
 
 Where races are thus numerous, and 
 thus combined, none but the Chief of a clan 
 is addrefied by his name. The Laird of 
 Dunvegan is called Mackod y but other 
 gentlemen of the fame family are denomi- 
 nated by the places where they refide, as 
 Raafa, or 'Talijker. The diftin&ion of the 
 meaner people is made by their Chriftian 
 names. In confequence of this practice, 
 the late Laird of Macfarlane, an eminent 
 genealogift, confidered himfelf as difre- 
 fpectfully treated, if the common addition 
 was applied to him. Mr. Macfarlane, faid 
 he, may with equal propriety be faid to 
 many ; but I, and I only, am Macfarlane. 
 
 Our afternoon journey was through a 
 country of fuch gloomy defolation, that 
 Mr. Bofivell thought no part pf the High- 
 lands equally terrifick, yet we came with- 
 
 * 
 
 out
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 359 
 
 out any difficulty, at' evening, to Locbbuy, 
 where we found a true Highland .Laird, 
 rough and haughty, and tenacious of his 
 dignity; who, hearing my name, inquired 
 whether I was of the Jobnflons of Glencx^ 
 or of Ardnamurchan ? 
 
 Locbbuy has, like the other infular 
 Chieftains, quitted the caftle that (hcltered 
 his anceftors, and lives near it, in a 
 manfion not very fpacious or fplendid. I 
 have feen no houfes in the Iflands much to 
 be envied for convenience or magnificence, 
 yet they bear teftimony to the progrefs of 
 arts and civility, as they fiiew that rapine 
 and furprife are no longer dreaded, and are 
 much more commodious than the ancient 
 fortreiTes. 
 
 The caftles of the Hebrides, many of 
 
 which are (landing, and many ruined, 
 
 were always built upon points of land, on 
 
 the margin of the fea. For the choice of 
 
 A a 4 this
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 this fituation there muft have been, fome 
 general reafon, which the change of man- 
 ners has left in obfcurity. They were of 
 no ufe in the days of piracy, as defences of 
 the coaft; for it was equally accefiible in 
 other places. Had they been fea-marks or 
 Jight-houfes, they would have been of 
 more ufe to the invader than the natives, 
 who could want no fuch directions on their 
 own waters : for a watch-tower, a cottage 
 on a hill would have been better, as it 
 would have commanded a wider view. 
 
 If they be confidered merely as places of 
 retreat, the fituation feems not well chofen; 
 for the Laird of an Ifland is fafeft from 
 foreign enemies in the centre: on the coaft 
 he might be more fuddenly furprifed than 
 in the inland parts ; and the invaders, if 
 their enterpriie mifcarried, might more 
 eafily retreat. Some convenience, how- 
 ever, whatever it was, their pofition on 
 the fhore afforded ; for uniformity of prac- 
 tice
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 361 
 
 tice feldom continues long without good 
 reafon. 
 
 A caftle in the Iflands is only a fingle 
 tower of three or four ftories, of which the 
 walls are fometimes eight or nine feet 
 thick, with narrow windows, and clofe 
 winding flairs of ftone. The top rifes in a 
 cone, or pyramid of ftone, encompafled 
 by battlements. The intermediate floors 
 are fometimes frames of timber, as in com- 
 mon houfes, and fometimes arches of ftone, 
 or alternately ftone and timber; fo that 
 there was very little danger from fire. In 
 the centre of every floor, from top to bot- 
 tom, is the chief room, of no great ex- 
 tent, round which there are narrow cavi- 
 ties, or recefles, formed by fmall vacuities, 
 or by a double wall. I know not whether 
 there be ever more than one fire-place. 
 They had not capacity to contain many 
 people, or much provifion ; but their ene- 
 mies could feldom ftay to blockade them ; 
 
 for
 
 362 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 for if they failed in the firft attack, their 
 next care was to efcape. 
 
 The walls were always too ftrong to be 
 fhaken hy fuch defultory hoftilities; the 
 windows were too narrow to be entered, 
 and the battlements too high to be fcaled. 
 The only danger was at the gates, over 
 \vhich the wall was built with a fquare ca- 
 vity, not unlike a chimney, continued to the 
 top. Through this hollow the defendants 
 let fall ftones upon thofe who attempted to 
 break the gate, and poured down water, 
 perhaps fcalding water, if the attack was 
 made with fire. The caftle of Locbbuy was 
 fecured by double doors, of which the 
 outer was an iron grate. 
 
 In every caftle is a well and a dungeon. 
 The ufe of the well is evident. The dun- 
 geon is a deep fubterraneous cavity, walled 
 on the fides, and arched on the top, into 
 which the defcent is through a narrow door, 
 
 by
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 363 
 
 by a ladder orva rope, fo that it feems im- 
 poffible to efcape, when the rope or ladder 
 is drawn up. The dungeon was, I fup- 
 pofe, in war, a prifon for fuch captives as 
 were treated with feverity, and, in peace, 
 for fuch delinquents as had committed 
 crimes within the Laird's jurifdiclion ; for 
 the manfions of many Lairds were, till the 
 late privation of their privileges, the halls 
 of juftice to their own tenants. 
 
 As thefe fortifications were the produc- 
 tions of mere neceiTity, they are built only 
 for fafety, with little regard to convenience, 
 and with none to elegance or pleafure. It 
 was fufficient for a Laird of the Hebrides, 
 if he had a ftrong houfe, in which he could 
 hide his wife and children from the next 
 Clan. That they are not large nor fplendid, 
 is no wonder. It is not eafy to find how 
 they are raifed, fuch as they are, by men 
 who had no money, in countries where the 
 labourers and artificers could fcarcely be fed. 
 
 The
 
 364 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 The buildings in different parts of thtf 
 Iflands (hew their degrees of wealth and 
 power. 1 believe that for all the caftles 
 which I have feen beyond the Tweed, the 
 ruins yet remaining of fome one of thefe 
 which the Englifi built in Wale$ t would 
 fupply materials. 
 
 Thefe catties afford another evidence 
 that the fictions of romantic chivalry had 
 for their bafis the real manners of the 
 feudal times, when every Lord of a feignory 
 lived in his hold lawlefs and unaccountable, 
 with all the licentioufnefs and infolence of 
 uncontefted fuperiority and unprincipled 
 power. The traveller, whoever he might 
 be, coming to the fortified habitation of a 
 Chieftain, would, probably, have been in- 
 terrogated from the battlements, admitted 
 with caution at the gate, introduced to a 
 petty Monarch, fierce with habitual hofti- 
 lity, and vigilant with ignorant fufpicion; 
 who, according to his general temper, or 
 
 accidental
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c, 365 
 
 accidental humour, would have feated a 
 ftranger zls his gueft at the tablej or ae 
 fpy confined him in the dungeon. 
 
 Lochbuy means the Tellow Lake, which. 
 is the name given to an inlet of the fea, 
 upon which the caftle of Mr. Maclean 
 ftands. The reafon of the appellation we 
 did not learn. 
 
 We were now to leave the Hebrides, 
 where we had fpent fome weeks with fuf- 
 ficient amufement, and where we had am- 
 plified our thoughts with new fcenes of 
 nature, and new modes of life. More 
 time would have given us a more diftinct 
 view, but it was neceflary that Mr. Bof- 
 well fhould return before the courts of juf- 
 tice were opened ; and it was not proper to 
 live too long upon hofpitality, however 
 
 liberally imparted. 
 
 ''t : UW ."f .:,; '>/' k --' f i J .) 
 
 Of thefe iflands it murV be confeffed, that 
 they have not many allurements, but to 
 
 the
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 the mere lover of naked nature. The in- 
 habitants are thin, provifions are fcarce, 
 and defolation and penury give little 
 pleafure. 
 
 The people collectively confidered are 
 not few, though their numbers are fmall 
 in proportion to the fpace which they oc- 
 cupy. Mutt is faid to contain fix thoufand, 
 and Sky fifteen thoufand. Of the compu- 
 tation refpeding Midl y I can give no ac- 
 count; but when I doubted the truth of 
 the numbers attribuied to Sky> one of the 
 Minifters exhibited fuch fads as conquered 
 my incredulity. . 
 
 Of the proportion, wfyich the product of 
 any region bears to the people, an eftimate 
 is commonly made according to the pecuni- 
 ary price of the necefiaries of life ; a prin- 
 ciple of judgment which is never cer- 
 tain, becaufe it fuppofes what is far from 
 truth, that the value of money is always 
 
 the
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 367 
 
 the fame, and fo meafures an unknown 
 quantity by an uncertain ftandard. It is 
 competent enough when the markets of the 
 fame country, at different times, and thofe 
 times not too diftant, are to be compared; 
 but of very little ufe for the purpofe of mak- 
 ing one nation acquainted with the ftate 
 of another. Provifions, though plenti* 
 ful, are fold in places of great pecuniary 
 opulence for nominal prices, to which, 
 however fcarce, where gold and filver arc 
 yet fcarcer, they can never be raifed. 
 
 . r In the Wcjlern IJlands there is fo little in- 
 ternal commerce, that hardly any thing has 
 a known or fettled rate. The price of 
 things brought in, or carried out, is to be 
 confidered as that of a foreign market; and 
 even this there is fome difficulty in difco- 
 vering, becaufe their denominations of 
 quantity are different from ours; and when 
 there is ignorance on both fides, no appeal 
 can be made to a common meafure. 
 
 This,
 
 This, however, is not the only impedi- 
 ment. The Scofs, with a vigilance of jea- 
 loufy which never goes to fleep, always 
 fufpeft that an, Englifhman defpifes them 
 for their poverty, and to convince him 
 that they are not lefs rich than their neigh- 
 bours, are fure to tell him a price higher 
 than the true. When Lefley, two hundred 
 years ago, related fo punctilioufly, that a 
 hundred hen eggs, new laid, were fold in 
 the Iflands for a penny, he fuppofed that 
 no inference could poffibly'follow, but that 
 eggs were in .great abundance. Pofterity 
 has fince grown wifer; and having learn- 
 ed, that nominal and real value may differ, 
 they now tell no fuch (lories, left the 
 foreigner fhould happen to colled, not that 
 eggs are many, but that pence are few. 
 
 Money and wealth have by the ufe of 
 commercial language been fo long con- 
 founded, that they are commonly fuppofed 
 to be the famej and this prejudice has 
 
 fpread
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 369 
 
 fpread fo widely in Scotland, that I know 
 not whether I found man or woman, whom 
 I interrogated concerning payments of mo- 
 ney, that could furmount the illiberal defire 
 of deceiving me, by reprefenting every 
 thing as dearer than it is. 
 
 From Lccbbuy we rode a very few miles 
 to the fide of Mull^ which faces Scotland^ 
 where, having taken leave of our kind pro- 
 tedor, Sir Allan, we embarked in a boar, in 
 which the feat provided for our accommo- 
 dation was a heap of rough brufhwood; and 
 on the twenty- fecond of October repofed at 
 a tolerable inn on the main land. 
 
 On the next day we began our journey 
 fouthwards. The weather was tempeftu- 
 ous. For half the day the ground was 
 rough, and our horfes were ftill fmall. 
 Had they required much reftraint, we might 
 have been reduced to difficulties ; for I 
 think we had amongft us but one bridle. 
 
 Bb We
 
 370 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 We fed the poor animals liberally, and they 
 performed their journey well. In the lat- 
 ter part of the day, we came to a firm and 
 fmooth road, made by the foldiers, on 
 which we travelled with great fecurity, 
 bufied with contemplating the fcene about 
 us. The night came on while we had yet 
 a great part of the way to go, though not 
 fo dark but that we could difcern the ca- 
 taracls which poured down the hills on 
 one fide, and fell into one general channel 
 that ran with great violence on the other. 
 The wind was loud, the rain was heavy, 
 and the whittling of the.blaft, the fall of 
 tlje fhower, the rufh of the cataracts, and 
 the roar of the torrent, made a nobler cho- 
 rus of the rough mufic of nature, than it 
 had ever been my chance to hear before* 
 The ftreams, which ran crofs the way from 
 the hills to the main current, were fo fre- 
 quentj that after a while I began to count 
 them ; and, in ten miles, reckoned fifty-* 
 five, probably miffing fome, and having 
 12 let
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 371 
 
 let fome pafs before they forced themfelves 
 upon my notice. At laft we came to Invcr- 
 rfry, where we found an inn, not onlyx:om~ 
 modious, but magnificent. 
 
 The difficulties of peregrination were 
 now at an end. Mr. Bofwell had the ho- 
 nour of being known to the Duke of Ar- 
 }'/?, by whom we were very kindly enter- 
 tained at his fplendid feat, and fupplied 
 with conveniences for furveying his fpa- 
 cious park and rifing forefts. 
 
 
 
 After two days ftay at Inverary we pro- 
 ceeded fouthward over Glencoe, a black 
 and dreary region, now made eafily rjafT- 
 able by a military road, which rifes from 
 either end of the glen, by an acclivity not 
 dangeroufly fteep, but fufficiently labori- 
 ous. In the middle, at the top of the hill, 
 is a feat with this infcription, Reft, and be 
 thankful. Stones were placed to mark the 
 diftances, which the inhabitants have taken 
 B b a away,
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 away, refolved, they faid, to have no new 
 miles. 
 
 In this rainy feafon the hills ftreamed 
 with waterfalls, which, crofling the way, 
 formed currents on the other fide, that ran 
 in contrary directions as they fell to the 
 north or fouth of the fummit. Being, by 
 the favour of the Duke, well mounted, I 
 went up and down the hill with great con- 
 venience. 
 
 From Glencoe we pafled through a plea- 
 fant country to the banks of Loch Lomond, 
 and were received at the houfe of Sir 
 James Colquboun, who is owner of almoft 
 all the thirty iflands of the Loch, which we 
 went in a boat next morning to furvey. 
 The heavinefs of the rain fliortened our 
 voyage, but we landed on one ifland 
 planted with yew, and flocked with deer, 
 and on another containing perhaps not 
 more than half an acre, remarkable for the 
 
 ruins
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 375 
 
 ruins of an old caftle, on which the ofprey 
 builds her annual neft. Had Loch Lomond 
 been in a happier climate, it would have 
 been the boaft of wealth and vanity to own 
 one of the little fpots which it inclofes, and 
 to have employed upon it all the arts of 
 embellifhment. But as if is, the iflets, 
 which court the gazer at a diftance, dif- 
 guft him at his approach, when he finds, 
 inftead of foft lawns and fhady thickets, no- 
 thing more than uncultivated ruggednefs. 
 
 Where the Loch difcharges itfelf into a 
 river, called the Leven, we pafled a night 
 with Mr. Smollet) a relation of Doctor Smol- 
 let, to whofe memory he has raifed an 
 obelifk on the bank near the houfe in which 
 he was born. The civility and refpect 
 which we found at every place, it is un- 
 grateful to omit, and tedious to repeat. 
 Here we were met by a poft-chaife, that 
 conveyed us to Glafgcw. 
 
 Bb3 To
 
 374 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 To defcribe a city fo much frequented as 
 Glafgoiv, is unneceiTary. The profperity of 
 its commerce appears by the greatneis of 
 many private houfes, and a general appear- 
 ance of wealth. It is the only epifcopal 
 city whofe cathedral was left ftanding in 
 the rage of Reformation. It is now di- 
 vided into many feparate places of worfhip, 
 which, taken all together, compofe a great 
 pile, that had been fome centuries in build- 
 ing, but was never finifhed ; for the change 
 of religion intercepted its progrefs, before 
 the crofs ifle was added, which feems efien- 
 tial to a Gothick cathedral. 
 
 The college has not had a fufficient (hare 
 of the increafing magnificence of the place. 
 The feffion was begun ; for it commences 
 on the tenth of Otfober, and continues to 
 the tenth of June; but the ftudents appear- 
 ed not numerous, being, I fuppofe, not yet 
 returned from their feveral homes. The 
 divifion of the academical year into one 
 
 feflion,
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 375 
 
 feffion, and one r'ecefs, feems to me bet- 
 ter accommodated to the prefent ftate of 
 life, than that variegation of time by 
 terms and vacations derived from diftant 
 centuries, in which it was probably conve- 
 nient, and ttill continued in the Eng/ijb 
 universities. So many folid months as the 
 Scotch fcheme of education joins together, 
 allow and encourage a plan for each part of 
 the year; but with us, he that has fettled 
 himfelf to ftudy in the college is foon 
 tempted into the country, and he that has 
 adj ufted his life in the country, is fummon- 
 cd back to his college. 
 
 Yet when I have allowed to the univer- 
 fities of Scotland a more rational diftribu- 
 tion of time, I have given them, fo far as 
 my inquiries have informed me, all that 
 they can claim. The ftudents, for the moft 
 part, go thither boys, and depart before 
 they are men ; they carry with them little 
 fundamental knowledge, and therefore the 
 B b 4 fuper-
 
 j;6 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 fuperftru&ure cannot be lofty. The gram- 
 mar fchools are not generally well fup- 
 plied ; for the character of a fchool-mafter 
 being there lefs honourable than in England^ 
 is feldom accepted by men who are capable 
 to adorn it, and where the fchool has been 
 deficient, the college can effect little. 
 
 Men bred in the univerfities of Scotland 
 cannot be expected to be often decorated 
 with the fplendours of ornamental erudi- 
 tion, but they obtain a mediocrity of know- 
 ledge, between learning and ignorance, not 
 inadequate to the purpofes of common life, 
 \vhich is, I believe, very widely diffufcd 
 among them, and which countenanced in 
 general by a national combination fo in* 
 yidious, that their friends cannot defend 
 it, and a&uated in particulars by a fpirit of 
 cnterprife, fo vigorous, that their enemies 
 are conftrained to praife it, enables them 
 to find, or to make their way to employ- 
 ment, riches, and dillindion. 
 
 From
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 377 
 
 From Glafgow we directed our courfe to 
 Aucbinleck, an eftate devolved, through a 
 long feries of anceftors, to Mr. Bofue/Ps 
 father, the prefent pofleflbr. In our way 
 we found feveral places remarkable enough 
 in themfelves, but already defcribed by 
 thofe who viewed them at more leifure, or 
 with much more (kill ; and flopped two days 
 at Mr. CampbelF&i a gentleman married to 
 Mr. Baficelft fitter. 
 
 Aucbinkck, which fignifies a Jlony field t 
 feems not now to have any particular claim 
 to its denomination. It is a diftricl: gene- 
 rally level, and fufficiently fertile, but like 
 all the Wejlern fide of Scotland^ incommoded 
 by very frequent rain. It was, with the reft 
 of the country, generally naked, till the 
 prefent pofleflbr finding, by the growth of 
 fome (lately trees near his old caftle, that 
 the ground was favourable enough to tim- 
 ber, adorned it very diligently with annual 
 plantations. 
 
 Lord
 
 378 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 Lord Auclinleck, who is one of the 
 Judges of Scotland, and therefore not 
 wholly at leifure for domeftick bufmefs or 
 pleafure, has -yet found time to make 
 improvements in his patrimony. He has 
 built a houfe of hewn ftone, very ftately 
 and durable, and has advanced the value 
 of his lands with great tendernefs to his 
 tenants. 
 
 I was, however, lefs delighted with the 
 elegance of the modern man (ion, than with 
 the fullen dignity of the old cattle. I clam- 
 bered with Mr. Bofivell among the ruins, 
 which afford ftriking images of ancient 
 life. It is, like other caftles, built upon 
 a point of rock, and was, I believe, an- 
 ciently furrounded with a moat. There is 
 another rock near it, to which the draw- 
 bridge, when it was let down, is faid to 
 have reached. Here, in the ages of tumult 
 and rapine, the Laird was furprifed and 
 killed by the neighbouring Chief, who 
 
 perhaps
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 379 
 
 perhaps might have extinguished the fa- 
 mily, had he not in "a few days been feized 
 and hanged, together with his fons, by 
 DougLs, who came with his forces to the 
 relief of Aucbinleck. 
 
 At no great diftance from the houfe runs 
 a pleafing brook, by a red rod$, out of 
 which has been hewn a very agreeable and 
 commodious fummer-houfe, at lefs ex- 
 pence, as Lord Anchinleck told me, thaa 
 would have been required to build a room 
 of the fame dimenfions. The rock feems to 
 have no more dampnefs than any other 
 wall. Such opportunities of variety it is 
 judicious not to neglect. 
 
 We now returned to Edinburgh, where 
 I pafied fome days with men of learning, 
 whofe names want no advancement from, 
 my commemoration, or with women of 
 elegance, which perhaps difclaims a pe- 
 dant's praife. 
 
 The
 
 j8o A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 The converfation of the Scots grows every 
 day lefs unpleafing to the Englift>\ their 
 peculiarities wear faft away ; their dialect is 
 likely to become in half a century provin- 
 cial and ruflick, even to themfelves. The 
 great, the learned, the ambitious, and the 
 vain, all cultivate the Rnglifo phrafe, and 
 the Englijb pronunciation, and in fplendid 
 companies Scotch is not much heard, ex- 
 cept now and then from an old Lady. 
 
 There is one fubjecl: of philofophical cu- 
 riofity to be found in Edinburgh^ which 
 rio other city has to fhew ; a college of rhe 
 deaf and dumb, who are taught to fpeak, 
 to read, to write, and to pradlife arithme- 
 tick, by a gentleman, whofe name is Braid" 
 liood. The number which attends him 
 is, I think, about twelve, which he 
 brings together into a little fchool, and 
 inftructs according to their feveral degrees 
 of proficiency. 
 
 I dp
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 381 
 
 I do not mean to mention the inftru&ion 
 of the deaf as new. Having been tirft prac- 
 tifed upon the fon of a conftable of Spain^ it 
 was afterwards cultivated with much emu- 
 lation in England, by Wallis and Holder^ 
 and was lately profefled by Mr. Baker^ 
 who once flattered me with hopes of feeing 
 his method publifhed. How far any for- 
 mer teachers have fucceeded, it is not eafy 
 to know ; the improvement of Mr. Braid- 
 wood's pupils is wonderful. They not only 
 fpeak, write, and underftand what is writ- 
 ten, but if he that fpeaks looks towards 
 them, and modifies his organs by diftindt 
 and full utterance, they know fo well what 
 is fpoken, that it is an expreflion fcarcely 
 figurative to fay, they hear with the eye. 
 That any have attained to the power men- 
 tioned by Burnety of feeling founds, by lay- 
 ing a hand on the fpeaker's mouth, I know 
 not ; but I have feen fo much, that I can be- 
 lieve ID ore ; afmgle word, or a mort fentence, 
 I think, may poflibly be fo difticiguifhed. 
 
 It
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE 
 
 It will readily be fuppofed by thofe that 
 confider this fubjet, that Mr. Braidwood's 
 fcholars fpell accurately. Orthography is 
 vitiated among fuch as learn firft to fpeak, 
 and then to write, by imperfect notions of 
 the relation between letters and vocal utter- 
 ance ; but to thofe ftudents every character 
 is of equal importance ; for letters are to 
 them not fymbols of names, but of things ; 
 when they write they do not reprefent a 
 found, but delineate a form. 
 
 This fchool I vifited, and found fome of 
 the fcholars waiting for their matter, whom 
 they are faid to receive at his entrance with 
 fmiling countenances and fparkling eyesi 
 delighted with the hope of new ideas* One 
 of the young Ladies had her (late before 
 her, on which I wrote a queftion confiding 
 of three figures, to be multiplied by two 
 figures. She looked upon it, and quiver- 
 ing her fingers in a manner which I thought 
 very pretty, but of which I know not whe- 
 ther
 
 WESTERN ISLANDS, &c. 383 
 
 ther it was art or play, multiplied the fum 
 regularly in two lines, obferving the deci- 
 mal place ; but did not add the two lines to- 
 gether, probably difdaining fo eafy an ope- 
 ration. I pointed at the place where the 
 fum total mould ftand, and ihe noted it with 
 fuch expedition as feemed to mew that (he 
 had it only to write. 
 
 It was pleafing to fee one of the moft 
 defperate of human calamities capable of fo 
 much help: whatever enlarges hope, will 
 exalt courage; after having feen the deaf 
 taught arithmetick, who would be afraid to 
 cultivate the Hebrides ? 
 
 Such are the things which this journey 
 has given me an opportunity of feeing, 
 and fuch are the reflections which that 
 fight has raifed. Having pafled my time 
 almoft wholly in cities, I may have been 
 furprifed by modes of life and appearances 
 of nature, that are familiar to men of 
 
 wider
 
 384 A JOURNEY, &c. 
 
 vider furvey and more varied converfation. 
 Novelty and ignorance muft always be reci- 
 procal, and I cannot but be confcious that 
 my thoughts on national manners, are the 
 thoughts of one who has feen but little. 
 
 THE END.

 
 
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