Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 4

HEBRIDES
12 there is fairly good cultivation. There are 2790
crofts, with a total rental of £8104, 5s. 7d., or nearly
£2, ISs. of rental for each, occupiers having also the right
of pasture in the moorland in the centre of the island,
which enables them on an average to keep 4 cattle and
10 sheep, while there is on an average 1 horse or pony
for every 4 crofts. The yearly produce of 2000 of the
best crofts is 8 bolls of meal and 4 tons of potatoes. In
the case of the others, the produce is less ; and a good
deal of meal has to be imported. The best arable land
rents at 15s. per acre, medium at 10s., and poor at 5s.
All these remarks apply also to Harris except that it is
rougher, and the patches of arable land are smaller and
more difficult to cultivate. In North Uist the state of
things is the same, but the soil is drier and yields best
returns in moderately wet seasons. On the sandy soil
rye is cultivated. The yield of grain is 2J to 2f quarters
per acre, potatoes 5 tons, and turnips 10 to 12 tons.
The rent of the best arable land is 10s. per acre
medium 5s., poor 2s. 6d. In Benbecula and South
Uist the state of matters is almost exactly the same, as
it is also in the islands still farther to the S. The
bere is not reaped in the ordinary way, but is plucked
up by the root and used for thatching the houses. The
thatch consists of two layers, and every spring the
upper layer is taken off and laid carefully aside, while
the under layer, which has become considerably de-
cayed, and has got very much impregnated with soot
from the peat smoke of the winter, is taken off, and
spread over the fields as potato manure. The upper
layer is then replaced on the roof, and in autumn re-
ceives a covering of fresh straw, and the process is re-
peated every year. The newer houses are fairly good,
but the older are very primitive structures, mostly
without chimnej-s or windows, though some of them
have a solitary pane of glass inserted in the thatch.
They are low, rounded at the corners, and with round
roofs, which, in general appearance, bear a strong re-
semblance to a potato pit. The walls, which are seldom
more than 5 feet high, are constructed of two fences
of rough boulders packed in the centre with earth, and
in some cases 5 to 6 feet thick. People and cattle are
all stowed away together under one roof, and only in
some cases is there a partition between the part set
aside for the human beings and that which shelters
animals. There is only one entrance, and the floor of
the end belonging to the cattle is made lower, so that the
compost may collect during the whole of the winter, and
be all taken out at once in spring to be used as manure.
The thatch roof is held down by ropes of heather, cross-
ing one another, and secured against wind by large
stones tied to their ends. The floor is of hard clay, and
the fire is in the centre.
As might be expected from the estimated amount of
arable and grazing land already given, the pasture lands
of the Hebrides are much more important than the
arable grounds, and comprehend by far the greater
portion of the islands. The high pastures yield herb-
age all the year round, while the low, though luxuriant
and rich during summer and autumn, are totally useless
in winter and spring. A large amount of very rich
pasture occurs in Skye, Islay, Lismore, Tyree, the
Uists, and Lewis, and much of it with better manage-
ment ought to yield far better results than it does.
That in North Uist is better adapted for cattle than
sheep, while the grazing of Barra is the best in the
Hebrides. The breed of cattle — the same as in the
Highlands — was originally the same in all the islands,
but now various kinds have been introduced. The
Islay and Colonsay cattle are much superior to those in
the other islands, and command a price from 50 to 100
per cent, higher. Attention is given to breeding, and
not to fattening. Very good cheese and butter are
produced, the excellent quality being due to the good-
ness of the milk. On farms in the Stornoway district
the cattle are mostly Ayrshire crosses, but elsewhere
they are of the Highland breed, and inferior in quality.
About 1500 head of cattle annually leave the Lewis
district alone and in addition 200 are slaughtered in
260
HEBRIDES
Stornoway, or, in other words, about one in every eight
of the Lewis cattle is converted into money every year.
The animals in the possession of the farmers are much
superior to those of the crofters, and bring a higher
price in the market, the former selling at from £6 to
£10, and the latter at from £2, 10s. to £6, 10s. In
North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and the islands to
the S, the state of matters is the same, but the High-
land cattle of North Uist are the best in the Hebrides.
The cattle fairs at Stornoway and Loch Maddy are
events of the Hebridean year. The sheep are of a
number of different breeds. Down almost to the
beginning of the present century the only breed known
was the native or Norwegian sheep, the smallest in
Europe, thin and lank, with straight horns, white face
and legs, and a very short tail. It was probably in-
troduced at the time of the Scandinavian invasion.
Early in the century the black-faced breed was intro-
duced, and soon made its way, as it was three times
heavier and more valuable than the former, and was at
the same time equally hardy. About the middle of the
century the Cheviot breed was introduced, and now the
principal breeds are these and the black-faced, though
crosses, half-bred and grey-faced, are also being intro-
duced. In the Outer Hebrides the cost to the tacksmen
for grazing Cheviot or cross is about 3s. 6d. a head,
and to the crofters for black-faced about Is. 6d. In
summer both cattle and sheep are herded in common,
the crofters paying the expense of watching in propor-
tion to the number of their sheep. Ponies are very
common, and those of Barra were at one time very
celebrated, but they have of late years fallen off. Such
horses as there are are very undersized even in Lewis,
where Sir James Matheson made great efforts for their
improvement by the introduction at his own expense of
excellent stallions. Improvement, indeed, is needed,
not only in breeding, but in feeding and tending. One-
year-old ponies sell at from £3 to £5 ; older and larger
animals at from £10 to £15 ; and animals of the best
class at from £20 to £30. Pigs were formerly held in
great aversion, but are now reared in some districts in
considerable numbers.
Fislieries, etc. — The shores of the Hebrides and the
W coast of the adjacent mainland form an excellent
fishing ground, but the industry is not by any means
so largely developed as it might be, and this is due to
many causes, but in particular to the want of good
harbour accommodation. The crofters would, indeed,
be badly off were it not for the harvest of the sea, and
yet their lack of energy and their poverty prevent them
from taking full advantage of it, and allow the energy
and enterprise of the East Coast fishermen to carry off
the greater part of the spoil. In consequence of the
nature of the shores and the violence of the sea, fishing
is scarcely possible along the western coast of the Outer
Hebrides. The favourite stations are along the coasts of
Knock and Lochs in Lewis, and at Loch Boisdale and
Barra farther S. In the beginning of the present
century the herring fishing, though subject, as it
always is, to considerable fluctuations, was good ; but
between 1830 and 1840, it fell off to a large and
alarming extent, and caused during that time, and
particularly in 1S36 and 1837, a very great amount of
misery and destitution. Iu 1840 the herring returned
in large shoals, but so sudden and unexpected was their
reappearance that the people, utterly unprepared, had
not salt enough to cure the herrings they caught, and
could in that year realise little other advantage than a
temporary increase in their own immediate supplies of
food. From that time the fishing has been regular and
good. There are two seasons — in spring and in autumn.
The former is carried on by boats from all quarters, but
the latter is left to the home boats. ' A busy sight
indeed is Loch Boisdale or Stornoway in the herring
season. Smacks, open boats, skiffs, wherries make the
narrow waters shady ; not a creek, however small, but
holds some boat in shelter. A fleet indeed ! — the
Lochleven boat from the East Coast with its three masts
and three huge lugsails ; the Newhaven boat with its