Scotland/Scots > Reminiscences of a Highland parish

PREAMBLE.
13
Here and there appear small groups of ruins, mere
gatherings of stones, to mark where man once
built his temporary home. Before sheep-farming
was introduced generally into the Highlands,
about seventy or eighty years ago, the young
cattle ranged at large over the hills, clambering
as far up as any grass grew, and at mid-summer
the milch-cows also were removed to the upland
pastures, as is still the habit in Norway, and
probably in other mountainous countries. The
greenest, grassiest, and most sheltered nooks were
always chosen for these summer residences, or
shielings, as they were called. Bothies, rude but
substantial, were built for the family, and various
enclosures for calves, lambs, and kids surrounded
them. Each family had such a number of sheep
as sufficed for their own need as to food and
clothing. The whole household flitted to the
shieling with great glee. The men, however, re¬
mained there only for a few days, to see that
bothy and pen were all right and tight. They
returned to the strath, or homestead, to attend to
the crops and to the peats, to thatch the houses,
to set matters generally in order for the winter