subordinate islands of almost every parish, few or none can be found who know even the letters.

And here we cannot avoid expressing our surprise at the eonduct of the Bible Societies, and similar associations, who, with such immense funds at their disposal, lavish vast sums in foreign missions, while so great a proportion of our own people, both in Scotland and in Ireland, have so much stronger claims upon their attention. Why should a single shilling go abroad, so long as it deprives a single individual among our own countrymen of that very blessing which it is sent away to bestow? Such extensive philanthropy would be very praiseworthy, if the work at home was accomplished; but to lay out our treasure in cultivating another man's field, while our own is overgrown with briars and thistles, is either insanity or the most preposterous vanity. We fear that it is to this last source that we must trace this wild delusion; for a Report from a Missionary in Otaheite or Owhyee, who tells how many hundred Bibles he has distributed to the savages, has a much more imposing sound in a speech at the Freemason's Tavern, than could be produced by the homely names of Sutherland and the Isle of Skye.

The peculiarities of character and of manner among the inhabitants of these insulated regions, are no less interesting to a stranger than the country they inhabit; and they did not fail to awaken the attention of this acute traveller. One of the most striking features in their character, is that invincible indolence which can hardly be overcome either by the promise of profit, or the certainty of danger. That it is created by the peculiar circumstances in which they are placed, and is not a constitutional disease, is manifest, because it ceases when they leave their country, and are roused into exertion by the bustle of active life in the busy world. Where the work to be done is so little, and the labourers so many, in a climate where the inhabitant is forced to seek shelter from the inclemency of the weather for three fourths of the time that the sun is above the horizon; where there are no manufactures; and where he is denied the occupation that reading would afford, can it be wondered at, if the Highlander sleeps away his existence in listless inactivity? He has no spur to exertion by sceing luxury and refinement around him, in the possession of those who have risen into wealth by the industrious exercise of their talents: The little he does see, belongs to those who have inherited their riches from a long line of ancestry, and who seem to their surrounding tenantry as beings of a higher race of existence. We have already quoted some instances of this indolent habit, in pointing out the

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difficulties a traveller has to contend with in these countries; but it would seem, from the following example, that the lord is not exempt from this disease of his vassals.

In a proportional degree, a Highland gentleman is as little anxious to multiply his enjoyments as his tenant, whose domestic animals dispute the fireside with himself, and whose smoke, for want of other vent, must find its exit at the door of his miserable hut.

The following example is characteristic. An Highland estate was given in lease for 200 years to a cadet of the family, as a reward for military services, under the sole condition of delivering it at the expiration of the lease, with a specified number of growing trees of a certain age, and under a determined fine for each tree deficient in the required age. That lease is on the point of expiring, and, as yet, not a tree is planted. When I visited it not long ago, the lessee informed me that he meant to plant to-morrow. He had been twenty years in possession; and his predecessors, for five or six ge. nerations past, had probably all, like him, intended for the last 200 years to plant "to-morrow. I. 156, 157.

It is comfortable however to reflect, that amidst all the privations which the poor people of these islands are doomed to suffer, they are yet contented and happy with their lot; and that, too, in situations where these sufferings must be felt in their severest form. There are few who will not derive a most valuable lesson of contentment from the following very interesting account of our author's visit to the Island of North Rona.

The islands of Sulisker and North Rona, although at a considerable distance from each other, are usually associated by the joint appellation of Barra and Rona; but they are scarcely known except to the mariners who navigate the North Sea, and to the inhabitants of Lewis, of which estate they form a part. They are the northernmost of the Western Islands,-the Thulé of the other islanders, who consider them as placed "far from the sun and summer gale," and beyond the limits of the habitable world. To have visited Barra and Rona gives a claim to distinction scarcely less in their estimation than to have explored the sources of the Nile or the Niger.

Rona is accessible in one spot only, and even that with difficulty, from the long swell which is rarely altogether absent in this sea. The landing-place is only the face of an irregular cliff; and it is necessary to be watchful for the moment to jump out on the first ledge of rock to which the boat is lifted by the wave. The removal of the sheep is a perilous operation, the animal being slung by the legs round the neck of a man, and thus carried down the face of a rock where a false step exposes him to the risk of being either strangled or drowned. To find inhabitants on such an island, is a strong proof, among many others, of the value of land in this country, compared to that of laVOL. XXXIII. NO. 66.

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bour. There are few parts of Britain where Rona would not be abandoned to the sea-fowls that seem its proper tenants.

The violence and height of the mountainous seas which in winter break on this island are almost incredible. The dykes of the sheep folds are often thrown down, and stones of enormous bulk removed from their places, at elevations reaching to 200 feet above the high-water mark :-so powerful is the breach of the sea.

'Some years have now past since this island was inhabited by several families, who contrived to subsist by uniting fishing to the produce of the soil. In attempting to land on a stormy day, all the men were lost by the upsetting of their boat; since which time it has been in the poseession of a principal tenant in Lewis. It is now inhabited by one family only, consisting of six individuals, of which the female patriarch has been forty years on the island. The occupant of the farm is a cottar, cultivating it and tending fifty sheep for his employer, to whom he is bound for eight years; an unnecessary precaution, since the nine chains of the Styx could afford no greater security than the sea that surrounds him, as he is not permitted to keep a boat. During a residence, now of seven years, he had, with the exception of a visit from the boat of the Fortunée, * seen no face but that of his employer and his own family. Twice in the year, that part of the crop which is not consumed on the farm, together with the produce of the sheep and the feathers obtained from the sea-fowl, which he is bound to procure, are taken away by the boat from Lewis; and thus his communication with the external world is maintained. Fortunately, he seemed to care but little for any thing out of the limits of his own narrow kingdom. + In addition to the grain and potatoes required for the use of his family, he is allowed one cow, and receives for wages the value of two pounds sterling annually in the form of clothes. With this, the family, consisting of six individuals, must contrive to clothe themselves. How they are clothed it is scarcely necessary to say; covered they are not, nor did there appear to be a blanket in the house; the only substitute for a bed being an excavation in the wall, strewed, as it seemed, with ashes and straw.

There is no other water in the island than that which is collected in pools from the rain; but there is no chance of any deficiency

*Then employed in cruizing after the President in 1812.'

On the appearance of our boat, the women and children were seen running away to the cliffs to hide themselves, loaded with the very little moveable property they possessed; while the man and his son were employed in driving away the sheep. We might have imagined ourselves landing in an island of the Pacific Ocean. A few words of Gaelic soon recalled the latter; but it was some time before the females came from their retreat, very unlike in look to the inhabitants of a civilized world. '

in this article. As there is no peat, turf is used for fuel, and the oil of the cuddy for light: but, with characteristic improvidence, there are no means of lighting the fire should it ever be extinguished. Well may the vestals of this cottage watch the smoky embers and trim the dying lamp.

Such is the violence of the wind in this region, that not even the solid mass of a Highland hut can resist it. The house is therefore excavated in the earth, the wall required for the support of the roof scarcely rising two feet above the surface. The roof itself is but lit

tle raised above the level, and is covered with a great weight of turf, above which is the thatch; the whole being surrounded with turf stacks to ward off the gales. The entrance to this subterranean retreat is through a long, dark, narrow and tortuous passage like the gallery of a mine, commencing by an aperture not three feet high, and very difficult to find. With little trouble it might be effectually concealed; nor, were the fire suppressed, could the existence of a house be suspected, the whole having the appearance of a collection of turf stacks and dunghils. Although our conference had lasted some time, none of the party discovered that it was held on the top of the house. It seemed to have been constructed for concealment from white bears, or men more savage still, with a precaution now at least useless. The interior strongly resembles that of a Kamschatkan hut; receiving no other light than that from the smoke hole, being covered with ashes, festooned with strings of dried fish, filled with smoke, and having scarcely an article of furniture. Such is life in North Rona; and though the women and children were half naked, the mother old, and the wife deaf, they appeared to be contented, well fed, and little concerned about what the rest of the world was doing. It was still an object of curiosity to ascertain if beings so insulated had no desire to return to society, and mingle once more with their fellowcreatures. But though man is gregarious, the want of extended society is in a great measure the want of cultivated minds. Here the family was society enough; and to provide for the demands of the impending day, sufficient occupation. The inferior members of it seemed to know of no other world than North Rona; and the chief appeared to wish for little that North Rona could not supply. The only desire that could be discovered, after much inquiry, was that of getting his two younger children christened; and for this purpose he had resolved to visit Lewis when his period of residence was expired. I need not say to those who know the Highlanders, that their sense of religion is not limited to externals. Amid his solitude this poor man had not forgotten his duties, though excluded from the advantages of their social forms. Yet I shall not be surprised, if, after the accomplishment of his only wish, he should again long for his now habitual home; and expect that some future visitor will, twenty years hence, find Kenneth Mac Cagie wearing out his life in the subterrascan retreat of his better days. I. 204-210.

We should be led far beyond our limits, were we to attempt to notice, in any other than a very cursory manner, the information which these volumes contain upon the State of Agriculture in the different islands. In general, the land is in the possession of small tenants, who have neither capital or enterprise to introduce a single improvement; and every thing is conducted upon the most uneconomical and most ignorant systems. Scarcely any notion is entertained of the rotation of crops, or of the advantages to be derived from it; and turnips, peas, beans, grass-seeds, and clover are unknown. In some of the larger islands, however, such as Mull, Skye, Coll, and a part of the Long Island, but chiefly in Isla, very material improvements have lately taken place by the enlargement of farms, the granting of secure leases to tenants of capital, and the exertions of the more wealthy and enlightened proprietors who have farms in their own hands. The introduction of green crops, the improvement of the breed of cattle and of sheep, and a better system of stocking and of winter feeding, are gradually going on. But it is impossible that any general system of improvement can take place, until a very large capital is laid out in an extensive system of drainage, and in making roads. Where that capital is to come from, it is not easy to guess:The proprietors have it not-and as to any assistance from Government for these purposes in the islands, it could only be expected upon a very strong case of national advantage being made out, as it would not be very reasonable that the inhabitants of Middlesex and Mid-Lothian should be taxed, merely to improve the estates of these Highland lairds. But, supposing the capital to be found, is it quite clear, that, under the most improved system, the soil and climate would not be an insuperable bar to an adequate return?

We are very unwilling to pass over the many valuable and interesting remarks of our author upon the numerous remains of antiquity that are to be found in the Western Islands, the curious superstitions of the people, and his dissertation upon Highland Music; but we must not forget that we have yet to enter upon the chief subject of the work, and we do not wish to encroach upon the space allotted for it.

Among the numerous descriptions of the more remarkable islands in the Hebrides that have been published from time to time, there is no work previous to this of Dr Macculloch, which can be referred to with any degree of confidence for geological information, except the MINERALOGY OF THE SCOTTISH ISLES, by Professor Jameson, published in 1800. His observations did not, however, extend beyond a small number of the islands;