Ossian Collection > Journey to the western islands of Scotland

i8 A JOURNEY TO THE
Of this improvidence no other account
can be given than that it probably began
in times of tumult, and continued becaufe
it had begun. Eftablifhed cuftom is not
eafily broken, till fome great event fliakes
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 leaft expenfive of all me-
thods of improvement. To drop a feed
into the ground can coft nothing, and the
trouble is not great of proteding the
young plant, till it is out of danger;
though it muft 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,
where, though the water was not wide, we
paid four fhillings for ferrying the chaife.
In Scotland the ncgeflaries of life are eafily
procured.