Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

HEBRIDES
able, by their large capital and the new system of sheep-
farming, to pay higher rents than the crofters could
offer. These increased rents were at the same time col-
lected at less cost, with less trouble, and with more
certainty. The proprietors were thus led to take every
opportunity of converting lands held by crofters into
large farms for tacksmen, planting the displaced crofters
on fishing crofts and crofts on waste land. In conse-
quence discontent spread rapidly, and an agitation
sprang up which in some places led to breaches of the
peace, and at Tyree and Lewis to the landing of marines.
The crofters complained that their rents were exorbi-
tant, that in very many instances common grazings had
been taken from them and converted into deer parks, and
that their crofts had been reduced in extent or taken
entirely from them without any compensation. The
result was that a Crofters' Act was passed in 1885, some-
what on the lines of the Irish Land Act of 1881, and a
commission appointed whose duty was, on the petition
of the crofters, to fix a fair rent, to settle the arrears,
and to inquire into the grazings and the size of the
crofts. This commission has been very successful, and
has adjudicated upon thousands of cases, in the majority
reducing the rent, wiping out arrears, etc. Another
commission was appointed to superintend a colonization
scheme, by which suitable emigrants were sent to
Canada and provided with money and other supplies.
To still further aid them a Congested Districts (Scot-
land) Act was passed in 1897.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century many of
the landlords in the Hebrides devoted themselves vigor-
ously to the improvement of both land and people, and,
in general, with great success. The chief improver at an
early date, both as to extent and energy, was Campbell of
Islay, who so revolutionised the agricultural character
of that island between 1820 and 1840, that, from a con-
dition of being obliged to import grain to the value of
£1200 annually, it passed into a condition of being able
to supply a sufficiency of grain for all the Hebrides and
the Western Highlands. Mr Clark, of Ulva, went to Bel-
gium in 1846, in order to study the system of petite cul-
ture, so that he might introduce it on his estate in the
Hebrides, but he says — ' The result of my investigation
was to convince me that the Belgian system was alto-
gether unsuited for Ulva or any other part of the
Hebrides;' and, indeed, though the croft system is in
most case precisely a system of spade husbandry, the
results will always differ widely from those obtained on
the Continent with better soil and a finer climate. The
peasant proprietary which generally accompanies spade
husbandry seems, for the same reason, equally unsuit-
able, for Mr Walker, who, as one of the assistant-com-
missioners on the Royal Commission on Agriculture,
instituted extensive inquiries into the state of the
Hebrides, and had ample opportunity of studying the
subject, gives, in a minute and painstaking report, pub-
lished in a blue-book in 1881, the following very decided
opinion: — 'Peasant proprietors on such islands would be
a failure; a large and rich proprietary willing to spend
for the benefit of property ana people is what is most
required, and will do most good. ' Pre-eminently such a
proprietor as Mr Walker seems to desiderate was the
late Sir James Matheson, the greatest benefactor of the
Hebrides in the present age, who, in 1844, purchased
the vast estate of Lewis from the representatives of the
last Earl of Seaforth. For 417,416 acres the sum of
£190,000 was paid, and since then a sum of over
£400,000 has been expended in rebuilding a number of
houses, of which there are altogether about 3500 on the
estate, in making 170 miles of good road, in constructing
roads and draining, etc. The heaviness of some items
of outlay may be imagined when it is mentioned that
all the wood, lime, and slate had to be imported specially,
while £4000 was spent in relieving cases of distress
during the famine in 1846 and 1847; and £10,069 in
aiding families to emigrate in 1851, '52, '55, '62, and '63,
during which years 2231 persons left, mostly for Canada.
The present proprietor of the estate is D. Matheson, Esq.
When Sir James purchased Lewis in 1844, -it was in a
HEBRIDES
very primitive condition, and, notwithstanding all his
efforts for its improvement, it is still far from occupying
the position it might. Were the crofters only energetic
much might be done by the proper trenching of the
gravelly or clay-gravel soils exposed by the cutting and
removal of peat for fuel. The clay-gravel is difficult
to drain, and heavy, but the lighter parts would yield
good crops, while the mixture of decomposed rock soils
with moss makes land that yields excellent natural
grass. The ordinary crops of the Hebrides are oats
(mostly the black variety), bere, rye (in a few of the
sandy districts), turnips, and potatoes. The latter hold
indeed a similar place in the Hebrides to what they do
in Ireland, and constitute four-fifths of the food of the
inhabitants, and so any failure in the potato crop is
always followed by severe distress, sometimes almost
universal, and, if accompanied by any other failures,
leads to necessity for direct aid from without. This was
strikingly shown in 1846 and 1847, after the first out-
break of the potato disease; and again in the winter
of 1882-83 distress was exceptionally severe, as not only
was the potato crop a failure in 1882, but also the East
Coast fishing, on which so many of the crofters largely
depend, while at the same time a violent gale in the
autumn utterly destroyed the crop just as it was ready
for being cut.
The agricultural condition of the two groups of the
Inner Hebrides may be gathered from the condition of
Islay, Rum, and Skye, for which reference may be made
to these articles. In the Outer Hebrides there is
hardly any such thing as regular scientific cultivation,
as no rotation is observed except upon a few of the
larger farms, and, indeed, on some crofts where the
whole produce is necessary for the subsistence of man
and beast, no part of the arable land has been under
grass or allowed to rest for more than 100 years, while
in many cases the seaweed, which is almost the only
manure employed, is very exhausting to the soil.
Where rotation is observed, the shift is either five, six,
or seven, as best suits the particular case. In Lewis
the crofter, having the right of pasture in the moorland
in the centre of the island, is enabled 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. 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 2J quarters per
acre, potatoes 5 tons, and turnips 10 to 12 tons. 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 care-
fully aside, while the under layer, which has become
considerably decayed, and has got very much impreg-
nated 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 receives a covering of fresh straw, and the pro-
cess is repeated every year. The newer houses are fairly
good, but the older are very primitive structures, mostly
without chimneys 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