Ossian Collection > Journey to the western islands of Scotland

2^6 AJOURNEY 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, th^t peat grovv'-s
again where it has been cut; which, as it
fp-ems to be chiefly a vegetable fubftance,
is not unlikely to be true, whether knowa
or not to thofe who relate it.
There are water mills in Sky and Raq/a ;
but where they are too far diftant, 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
liole, and on one fide is a long handle. The
grinder flieds the corn gradually into the
hole with one hand, and works the handle
round with the other. The corn Hides
down