CHAPTER XIV.

LIVE STOCK.

1

In thinly peopled and sterile regions, live stock has always constituted the leading object of attention to the natives. Riches, power, and influence have, in every age and nation, depended upon the quantity of such stock, and must of course, in periods prior to the introduction of commerce and the general diffusion of the arts and sciences, have almost exclusively occupied the time and labour of the inhabitants. It was for their live stock and its accommodation that they migrated from region to region, that they often carried on the most bloody wars, and that they abandoned their homes and the sepulchres of their fathers. In the Hebrides, intersected as they are by arms of the sea, and constituting what may be called separate principalities, from very early æras of their colonization, these Asiatic and

African

African migrations could not so conveniently take place; but the nature of their soil and climate has constantly obliged their population to pay the most particular attention to their live stock. On this stock depended their subsistence and their comfort. Every article of luxury, and even the arms with which they defended themselves or assailed others in war, or with which they obtained the spoils of the chase or of the ocean, were received in barter for what live stock they could spare to their continental or Irish neighbours, and compelled them to regard the rearing of cattle as an object not only of primary consideration, but also of indispensible and absolute necessity. By this the vassal paid his lord, and the lord protected his vassal. Both were mutually bound by the same ties to prosecute this branch of economy, and to devote to it their time and their care. The same necessity still exists, notwithstanding the favourable change effected in their situation by the more friendly communication with the rest of Scotland and of Britain, which has been the result of the union of the kingdoms, and of the various advantages which have been derived from it. Neither the acquisition of the potatoe root, (by far the most. beneficial hitherto made by the Hebrides,) nor the kelp manufacture, nor the fisheries, nor the dawn of agricultural and commercial illumination, which now unquestionably promise better times for these remote districts, enable them to dispense with the risks and labours of the pastoral life. Live stock is still the great support of the Hebrides, and, as such, merits a principal portion of our regard in a report of this kind.

SECTION I.CATTLE.

Or this description of live-stock there are about 110,000 head in the Hebrides; and of these one fifth are annually exported to the British continent, and fetch at a moderate average L. 5. each, or L. 110,000, which is somewhat more than the present rental of the isles*. The use of the four fifths which are kept, yields nearly one third of their subsistence stock to the inhabitants in meat, milk, manure, and money circulated among themselves by home purchases. The rest they derive from their agriculture, fisheries, and kelp manufacture. They have hitherto always purchased more wool than they sold; so that we cannot calculate much upon the profits of their sheep, further than in as far as the carcases of the few which they slaughter in autumn, and the clothes made of their wool by the natives themselves, can be taken into account.

1. Breed. The breed of cattle in the Hebrides was perhaps originally the same in all the isles; but it now varies so considerably, that it would be difficult to fix on any part of the whole region, where the real ancient Hebridian breed can be found. Some persons imagine

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imagine it to be the Skye*, others the Mull, and others again the Lewis or Long Island species. A person habituated to accurate observations on cattle, can easily distinguish those different breeds from one another, and all of them from the larger breed now introduced into Islay, Collonsay, and some parts of the Long Island, especially Barray, by persons who pay attention to so important a department of aggrestic economy.

Beginning with the southern islands, as more advanced and improved in every respect than the northern, we find Islay, as usual, pre-eminent in its breed of cattle. This island, however, possesses none that can be properly called a peculiar Islay breed, but has gradu-` ally attained to its present eminence as a grazing and breeding district by the skill and activity of its people. So lately as 30 years ago, the general average of the cattle of Skye and Mull brought as high prices as those of Islay; but for the last ten years, these two islands Dd 4 have

• The Isle of Skye breed of cattle has long been celebrat, ed as a hardy, easily fed, and speedily fattened species of cat, tle, and is accordingly propagated with much eagerness over the other isles. Some individual beasts have manes, like those of horses, on their necks, and were by strangers fancied to constitute a distinct and separate species; but we know for certain, that the same manes occur also in Mull and on the Long Island, and elsewhere in the Hebrides, as it were accidentally on some calves of the same fold and not on others, and that, although the maned individuals are reckoned fully more vigorous and hardy than.the rest, they do not form a different species, or transmit that distinctive mark to their progeny.

have sold their cattle at an average of L.6, while that of Islay has been L. 8. 10s.; and the highest prices obtained for whole parcels or droves have been frequently in the proportion of two to one.

Islay, (and when mentioning it, we may also join Collonsay, the proprietor of which is one of the first graziers and breeders of cattle in Scotland,) has gradually arrived at this superiority over the northern Hebrides by means of judicious selections from the native Hebridian and West Argyle breeds, and by feeding better, especially during the early period of the animal's life, than is practised in the other isles. The finest bulls and heifers have been procured from all parts of the west of Scotland, (carefully excluding Irish contamination) by Mr Campbell of Shawfield and many other gentlemen and farmers in Islay, and by Mr Macneill of Collonsay, at a considerable expence, and with vast attention and trouble for many years past. The best of these and of their descendants are kept as a breeding stock, while the most unsightly and least serviceable are annually sold off from these islands, to the number of above 3500, or slaughtered for winter provision, to the number of 1200. Amidst the remainder, which amount to about 9800 head, three-fourths are found every way suitable for the reproduction of more than the exported and slaughtered numbers, and accordingly yield an increase of calves, amounting to about 5800 head, out of which the wonted selection for rearing can be made. It must be acknowledged, indeed, that what we have to state as praiseworthy on this head refers principally to the exertions of the proprietors and gentlemen farmers in Islay and Collonsay, few of the lower