what I have conjectured to exist. He will be fortunate if he is not compelled to leave much unseen, and to supply somewhat from conjectures. Though, lile the philosopher in Rasselas, he were to find the winds and waves obedient to his word, he would still have much to encounter. He cannot ride in a land without roads, since his horse can neither tread the bogs, nor scale the rocks. Though he may walk with the strength of Antæus, and, like the Arab, live on the chameleon's diet,' it will avail him little, unless with the wild duck, the proper tenant of this amphibious region, he can also traverse the lakes and swim the friths. The dependence which he may place on the maritime habits of the islands, will be overthrown at every step by the mis-arrangements common in this country which display so strikingly some of the characteristics of the Highlander; an almost unsurmountable indolence, and a content which is either satisfied with an expedient, or submits to inconveniences of its own creating, as if they were part of the necessary career of his life. Poverty is not always the cause of these inconveniences. If the poor fisherman has no rudder to his boat, no yard to his mast, or no sheet to his sail, his richer neighbour is often equally in want of them. He who has traversed these islands will easily recognise the truth of the subjoined picture. It was settled in the evening that we should visit Barra Head on the following morning. Unfortunately the laird's only boat had been left on the beach without an anchor a few days before, whence it was carried away by the tide and dashed to pieces. But there was an expedient at hand, as there was another boat in the island, and it was borrowed for the occasion. In the morning, when ready to embark, it was discovered that the borrowed oars had been negligently left on the beach on the preceding evening, and had, like the former boat, been carried away by the tide. There was now a boat, but there were no oars. Oars could be borrowed, somewhere: they would be ready at some time in the day; at twelve or one o'clock; it would not be many hours too late; we could only be benighted in returning. By the time the oars had been sent for, it was discovered that the boatmen and servants were all absent cutting peat in a neighbouring island. But it was possible to find another expedient for this, by procuring some of the islanders. A messenger was accordingly sent for four men. In the mean time, the borrowed oars of one fisherman were fitted to the borrowed boat of another; but, alas! all the islanders were absent making kelp. Thus the day was spent in arranging expedients and in removing obstacles. Thus is life spent in the Highlands, and thus will it be spent by him who trusts to Highland arrangements for the accomplishment of his objects.' I. p. 86-7. I have on a former occasion described the nautical circumstances under which I did not reach Barra Head: it will not be useless to describe those under which I accomplished a first visit to Loch Scavig. The itinerary of a traveller is often of advantage to his succes sors; while a single anecdote is often more characteristic of a people than a laboured description. • The expedition was to proceed from Gillan on the west side of Sleat; and as a Highland boat is not soon set in motion, the crew was bespoke on the preceding evening. It was in vain that the orders were given for six in the morning; the men were not collected till nine-a Highlander being seldom ready, even for his harvest field, before ten o'clock. After the ordinary useless discussions we proceeded to the beach; but the tide had ebbed, and the boat was dry: it could not be launched without further assistance. Before the requisite assistance was procured, an hour had elapsed. Being at length launched, it was discovered, that, out of the four oars required, only one was present. It was necessary to procure the complement from a neighbouring village, and this was scarcely accomplished in another hour. Some hopes at last appeared that the day would not elapse in preparations; but, of the pins required for rowing, only two could be found, swimming in the water which filled half of the boat. Sky not being a land of wood, some time passed before this little but indispensable requisite could be obtained, for which the teeth of a harrow were at length procured. We were now fortunately under way the first stroke of the oars had been given, when an unlucky breeze springing up, one of the crew proposed that we should return for a sail. It was in vain to oppose this motion, too favourable to the natural indolence of this people; although it was not easy to conjecture how a sail was to be rigged on a boat which had neither step for a mast nor provision for a rudder. It was wrong to wonder at the latter defect, as the use of this contrivance is quite unknown in many parts of these islands. In less than two hours the trunk of a birch tree was procured, which, being fastened to one of the thwarts with some twine, was converted into a mast worthy of the first navigator. A broomstick, secured to this mast in a similar manner, formed the yard, and the sail was composed of a pair of blankets pinned together by wooden skewers, and fastened to the broomstick by the same means. The want of sheet and tack was supplied by a pair of scarlet garters which one of the men stripped from his chequered stocking; and thus a ship was at length generated, not much unlike those of the heroic ages, of which memorials are still existing in the sculptures of Iona. It was two o'clock before this rigging was perfected and we were ready for sea. The want of a rudder being supplied by an oar, and the sail unable to stand near the wind, we made no way except to leeward, and there was a prospect of reaching Rum instead of Scavig; neither arguments nor authority being of the least avail with a people who, in spite of their practice, are utterly ignorant of the properties and management of a boat. On a sudden a fortunate squall unshipped the helm; brought the sail aback; and the whole apparatus, too feeble to upset the boat, was carried overboard. We reached our des tination when we should have been returning, and passed the greater part of the night at sea.' I. 281, 282. • Between Garvrisa and the point of Craignish is the passage known by the name of Dorish more (the great gate), frequented by vessels passing from Crinan northwards, and distinguished, like the other narrow channels of this coast, by the strength and rapidity of the tides, and by the short cross sea produced when their course is opposed to a fresh breeze. On the day of my visit to these islands, a boat with six men was lost in this passage; an accident, like most of those which happen in the Western islands, resulting from the rashness and ignorance of the boatmen. Were it not for the extreme buoyancy of their boats, generally built on the plan of a Norway skiff, and often indeed built in Norway, such accidents would be more frequent, as no experience seems to have taught them the management of a boat in those delicate cases which are of perpetual occurrence in such a sea of cross tides, and in a climate so squally. It is not an exaggeration to say, that the traveller who makes this tour, is in daily, often in hourly risk of his life, more particularly with the boatmen of the country; the rigging of their boats being as bad as their management. Fortunately for themselves, their timidity is generally equal to their ignorance. II. 270. Nor are these the only obstacles a traveller has to contend with in these islands; for he who is so satisfied with the first answer to his question as to venture to act upon it, will very soon discover, that the testimony is not to be relied upon, even in matters that come under his daily observation. "How long is this Loch?"-" It will be about twanty mile. "Twenty miles! surely it cammot be so much."-" May be it will be twelve."-" It does not seem more than four."-" Indeed I'm thinking ye're right."—" Really you seem to know nothing about the matter, "-" Troth I canna say I do.' This trait of character is universal; and the answer is always so decided, that the inquirer, unless he is a strenuous doubter, is not induced to verify the statement by this mode of cross-examination.' I. p. 162. Note. Dr Macculloch estimates the population of the Western Islands at 60,000. But if the inquiries instituted by the Gaelic School Society are to be relied on, and there is no reason to doubt their accuracy, he has underrated their numbers very considerably. In the first Report of that Society, published in 1811, the population of the Islands is estimated at from 90 to 100,000; and as the population has, for the last seventy years, been regularly progressive, it is probably now fully equal to the greater of these numbers. Although this is a scanty population, when compared to the extent of territory, such is the natural barrenness of the soil, and the small propertion of land that has been brought into cultivation, that almost every one of the islands is oppressed with a redundant population, living in a state of wretched poverty, and very often exposed to the most serious privations. So few are the wants of the inhabitants, so wholly ignorant are they of the comforts of civilized life, that a bare subsistence is sufficient to remove all the fears of oppression from a numerous family. This excessive population has been gradually created by that ruinous system so long prevalent in the islands, by which the cultivation of that part of the land which is capable of culture, is in the hands of small occupants; a system excellently adapted to the end, when the great object of the Laird was to swell his band of submissive vassals, but most unhappy in its consequences, now that these Lairds have been tamed, and brought under the dominion of the laws. It is quite clear, that the soil and climate are insuperable obstacles to the successful cultivation of grain to any considerable extent; and that the land can in no way be turned to so good account as in the rearing of cattle and sheep. This change, however, cannot be brought about until a vast proportion of the present inhabitants are removed from the soil; a measure which cannot be accomplished on a sudden without outraging humanity, but which may perhaps be brought about by some system of certain but imperceptible operation. We do not believe that much relief can be looked for from emigration; for this simple reason, that, to a people like the inhabitants of these islands, who are not very unhappy with their condition, it does not hold out temptations sufficiently strong to overcome those powerful ties which attach them to the land of their forefathers. At The Englishman, to whom the habits and feelings of this people are unknown, will be surprised that such a state of things can exist at all, and not less so to find that it is difficult to apply a remedy. He expects that the natural overflowing of people in one place, will, without effort, discharge its superfluity on those where there is a deficiency. He is unacquainted with the pertinacity with which the Highlanders adhere to their place of birth; and that, it would seem, exactly in the inverse ratio of all apparent causes of attraction. the same time it must be remarked, that the insulated state, the peculiar habits, and the language of these people, present additional obstacles to migration; and that many changes, yet far distant, must be made before such a free communication can be established as shall allow it to take place, without effort and without pain, before it shall become a current part of the system of action. Any expedients which shall break through these habits and destroy these bounds, will facilitate this measure so much to be wished; and by abolishing distinctions in the community at large, render the interchange of all its constituent parts easy. I. 109, 110. But this great population is not only labouring under the pressure of wretched poverty-it is in the most deplorable state of ignorance. We shall scarcely be believed by those of our countrymen who do not attend to inquiries of this sort, when we tell them, that at this moment there are in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, nearly three hundred thousand persons who are unable to read. And, when this is made known to our Southern neighbours, how justly will they rebuke the presumption of the assertion, so often made in reproach to them from this part of the island, that it is the proud distinction of Scotland that every poor man is taught to read and write. This most melancholy fact would, in all probability, have never been brought to light, had it not been for the exertions of those enlightened and benevolent individuals who established the Gaelic School Society-who have, with very limited support, during the last nine years been actively engaged in the most judicious plans to remove, as far as their slender means will extend, this humiliating national disgrace. We take shame to ourselves, that we have not long ago taken notice of the valuable Reports published by that Society, which are full of the most interesting information; but we hope ere long to bring the subject more prominently forward. In the mean time, that we may induce some of our sceptical countrymen, who are firmly persuaded that no such disgrace can attach to Scotland, to look into the facts stated by the Gaelic School Society, we give the following extract from their First Report, in 1811. The returns which have been made by the clergymen of different parishes, fully confirm all that had been feared by individuals belonging to your Society. This will appear by the mention of a few parishes, their population, and the number incapable of reading in each. "On the Main Land In the parish of Fearn, out of 1500, 1300 are unable to read. In the parish of Kilmuir, Skye, 3056, 2718 unable to read. Stornoway, Lewis, 4000, Harris, 2800 ditto. Thus, out of 22,501, 19,367 are incapable of reading either English or Gaelic; and many other parishes might be mentioned in a state equally destitute. Connected with this melancholy fact, it must be observed, that the proportion who are able to read, reside in or near the district where a school is taught; but in the remote glens, or |