It is to be observed that the original material costs nothing; but that liberty to dry and prepare the peats may perhaps be coupled with some trifling services to be performed to the landlord or proprietor; but that indulgence may easily be repaid five-fold by the labour of the peat makers during the bye days, on which we suppose them not to be engaged in their labour out of doors, viz. seven days in May, four in June, and nine days (exclusively of Sundays) in July. These 20 days we do not take into account in the credit side of this calculation, while at the same time very high wages are allowed the labourers, and very moderate prices are fixed upon the peats both to the exporter and the con

sumer.

It is natural to ask why, in a case of this kind, should a whole nation, like the Highlanders and Hebridians, remain insensible of the obvious relief thus presented for their most grievous local inconvenience? Why are there no peat-casters or peat-makers by profession in North Uist and Lewis, where the finest mosses in the world are met with in inexhaustible quantities, lying upon the very beach of some of the best harbours in Europe; and where boats of all descriptions, and intelligent and active sailors abound? We might easily answer these questions; but we leave them to those who are most interested in removing the reproach which they imply The place where we suppose this manufacture to commence is peculiarly well calculated for it, being a well frequented harbour in the centre of the Long Island, within three hours sailing of Skye, and within 24 hours sailing of all the Hebrides excepting Bute and Arran.

CHAPTER

CHAPTER XVI.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Circumstances dependent on Legislative Authority.

UNTIL of late years the British Government was known only by name in the Western Isles. Its pressure was indeed occasionally felt by the natives, who were dragged to fight the battles of the empire in the army and navy; but none of its benefits or privileges extended to their neglected wastes. No roads or bridges were made;-no post offices, packet boats, or other channels of communication existed;-no bounties or rewards of any description were held out to industry, enterprise, or invention ;-there was no police, no order, no motive to exertion, and no stigma for itregularity and confusion. With all these disadvantages, the people were, upon the whole, a more respectable tribe than many others which enjoyed superior advan

tages.

tages. The patriarchal manners and affections of their chiefs maintained a considerable share of social happiness among them; and if they could not justly be said to stand high in the lists of polished, commercial, and industrious nations, they were at least not inferior to the general run of their countrymen in excellence of individual character. Their local disadvantages, however, and the dispersed and unconnected straggling position of their population, rendered abortive the attempts at improvements which were from time to time made by public spirited men among them. At last Government perceived the importance of this district, and has of late years bestowed some share of attention upon it. Roads, bridges, packet-boats, and post offices are erected and established in various places; and although not yet by any means so extensively useful as were to be wished, or as they shall very probably be in some years hence, they have effected very salutary changes upon the condition of the inhabitants. Much remains, indeed, still to be done, and Government will do well to continue its fostering care towards this interesting part of the kingdom. The legislature has been seconded in its exertions by the co-operation of the Highland Society, which has unquestionably done considerable good to the Hebrides as well as to the rest of Scotland; and it is to be hoped that, in the course of time, the local impediments to the improvement of that extensive region, shall be in some degree removed by the amelioration and more general enforcement of such salutary measures as have already been adopted.

It is perhaps to be regretted that the Hebrides do not possess one iota of efficient political power, having no representation in parliament further than the counties to which they are attached would have although they were sunk in the Atlantic. Excepting the town of Rothesay in Bute, they have no royal burgh; and their valuation is so low, that their weight in their respective counties, in returning members to Parliament, is almost absolutely null. The valued rent of the parish of St Andrews, in Fife, is greater than that of Skye, Rum, and the Long Island, which are in extent to it as 150 to 1, and in value as 15 to 1!!

In consequence of this insignificance in a political point of view, and of being perhaps overlooked in framing most of such Parliamentary bills as regulate the Excise laws and the regulations of our fisheries, the Hebrides have great cause to complain of the hardships to which they are exposed. The difficulty of procuring salt, excepting for the express purpose of curing fish, and the round-about and tedious mode of getting it even for that purpose, are constant sources of irritation and disgust. The humidity of the climate renders it a very difficult matter to preserve salt from melting; and, therefore, every man who lays up a stock of it, and becomes bound for the specific application of every bushel of that stock to fish-curing, and to that process only, incurs not only a certain loss, but also a heavy penalty. The result is, that few salt stocks are found in the Hebrides, and many thousand barrels of the finest herrings in the world are lost every week during the fishing season for want of salt. We have seen whole cargoes thrown into the sea in a putrid state,

Kk

state, and others used as manure for potatoe ground, in consequence of the inability of the fishermen to find surety or bail for the requisite supply of salt conformably to the salt-law régulations. This has long been bitterly complained of, and yet has met with no attention. It is often supposed to involve some intricate and difficult problem in economics; whereas the Hebridian thinks, nothing under the sun clearer than its remedy. Give us the salt (says he) at a moderate duly for every purpose of life, in such quantities as we please, and give us a bounty upon the fish when it is brought by us to market and shewn you cured according to your own regulations." He has no patience to listen to the objections urged by men from other parts of the empire against this plan, on the ground that the He bridian would in that case smuggle his salt to the east of Scotland and to England, to the great detriment of the revenue, and the serious loss of the fair dealer in those countries. He answers, that smuggling of salt would easily be prevented like that of foreign spirits and foreign contraband goods, without adding a single wherry or a single mariner to our present revenue vessels.

Intimately connected with the grievance in question, is another complaint against the legislature, respecting the late enactments in the herring fishery. Threefourths of the herrings caught in the Hebrides are caught by the common people and by gentlemen's tenants and servants in their own boats, and with their own nets, in the vicinity of their usual places of residence, at very little expence, and with (comparatively speaking) very little risk or trouble. These men can