in want of peats, they have recourse to the use of cow and horse dung, sea-tangle, dried weeds, &c.; and are often reduced to the greatest distress by want of fuel. They have no mill on the island: Indeed, they in many things resemble the people of St Kilda in respect of accommodation, though they are within one-twentieth of the distance of those islanders from the continent of Scotland. The island is the property of the family of Clanranald. The population in 1808 was 184 souls. The valued rent of Monk, Rum, and Cannay is L.87. 10s. 7d. 19. EIGG. Dean Monroe" Egga.-North from Ellan-muchd be foure myles lyes ane iyle, called the iyle of Egga, foure myle lange, and twa myle braid, guid maine land, with a paroche kirke in it, and maney solan geese, and very gude for store, namelie for sheip, with a haven for Heighland bottis." Martin says that its length is 3 miles and its breadth 1; but it is in fact 6 miles long and from 3 to 1 broad, the average being very nearly 12. Its contents are about 5500 Scotch acres. The coast is in general bold and rocky, the soil very fertile, and susceptible in some parts of the most regular husbandry, and capable of yielding crops of oats, barley, barley, potatoes, flax, turnips, and grasses of every des cription adapted to the climate of the Hebrides. The water of mostly all the springs of Eigg is excellent, and hence perhaps the uncommon beauty of skin and whiteness of teeth observable among the natives. Dr Walker found 457 souls in Eigg in 1764. The numbers have not much increased since that time, being at present about 500; nor, indeed, is there room for a great increase of population. There is no good harbour nor roadstead for vessels of considerable size, but boats and sloops of a light draught may anchor in the sound of Castle-island, at the south-east extremity of Eigg. The horses of this island are very handsome, and uncommonly hardy and durable. Considerable quantities of wool and a few horses are exported to Uist, and bartered for barley and other commodities from that island. Eigg suffers great inconvenience from the want of a wind-mill, there being no rùn for the rivulets of the isle sufficient to enable them to turn machinery. The inhabitants are therefore obliged to send their corn 9 or 10 miles by sea to be ground in Arisaig, and often suffer very serious losses and incur great risks on the voyage. They have no regular communication with the mainland of Scotland, or with any post-office, and consequently must suffer the various impediments to improvement, which want of communication with their countrymen involves. The clergyman of Eigg, commonly called minister of the parish of Small Isles, (i.e. Monk, Eigg, Rum, and Cannay, comprehending a solid landed estate of more than 30,000 acres!) has the most arduous ecclesiastical duties to perform of all the clergy 3 A clergy perhaps in the Christian world. He undergoes dangers and fatigues, indeed, sufficient to terrify a dervise or a faquir of Hindostan. His manse and residence is in Eigg. He must preach and discharge other sacred duties in their turn in all the other isles, at all seasons of the year. His voyage to Cannay, for the purpose of preaching a sermon there, is 24 miles going and 24 returning, supposing the wind to be as favourable as possible; but, at an average, may be fairly calculated 30 miles both ways, or 60 miles in all, around the terrific and boisterous island of Rum, where there is not a single harbour, in case of bad weather, which a boat dares enter, excepting the dangerous and exposed one of Loch-scrissort: The expence of that voyage cannot fairly be calculated at less than two guineas, exclusive of wear and tear of boat, rigging, cloathes, &c. and of the great risk which is run by himself and his boat's crew. It is unnecessary to state in detail the various hardships to which that reverend gentleman is exposed, or to mention that his worldly remuneration is scarcely L. 120 per annum! Both are men of finished There is a Roman Catholic clergyman resident on this island also, who has similar toils to undergo, at least as far as Cannay is concerned, (there being no catholics in Rum or Monk,) and, alas! he must toil for a still smaller pittance, or rather for the conscious ness of doing his duty. education and manners; and no man who visits those isles can leave them without regret for their toils and admiration for their virtues. There is no situation in Britain which more loudly calls for the interposition of a benevolent public, for helping them to procure a packet-boat packet-boat from Arisaig, and to support schools on the different isles, to be taught by persons licenced to preach the gospel, than that of the inhabitants of those small isles. The islands hitherto described belong politically to Argyleshire; but Eigg is attached to Inverness-shire, and was formerly a part of the parish of Sleat in Skye. In an agricultural point of view, this island does not merit any particular notice; but to the traveller and natural historian it is well calculated to afford a rich feast. The various caverns, the astonishing and stupenduous precipices of basalt, pitch-stone, free-stone, lime-stone, and other minerals; and, above all, the magnificent perpendicular rock, called ScourrEigg, which stands like a threatening tyrant upon the prostrate isle, yield scenes perhaps unparalleled in Britain. Considerable quantities of kelp are made in Eigg, especially on the western side, where there is a beautiful semi-amphitheatre fenced with a natural inclosure of rock, equally adapted to the cultivation of corn and the manufacture of kelp. 20. RUM. Dean Monroe.-"Ronin. Sixteen myle northwast from the ile of Coll, lyes ane iyle callit Ronin ile, of six teen myle lang and sixe in breidthe in the narrowest, ane forrest of heigh mountains, and abundance of little deire in it, quhilk deire will never be slaine dounewith, but the principal saitts* maun be in the heighth of the hill, because the deire will be callit upward ay be the tainchell, or without tainchell they will pass upwart perforce. In this iyle will be gotten about Britane als many wild nests upon the plane mure as men pleasis to gadder, and yet by reasson the fouls hes few to starte them except deir. This iyle lyes from the west to the east in lenth, and pertaines to M'Kenabrey of Colla. Maney solane geese are in this ile." Martin and Buchannan scarcely mention Rum. Dr Walker found its population in 1764 to be 304 souls; they have increased considerably since that time, and now approach to 350. This island is the most mountainous and rugged of all the Hebrides, Jura itself not excepted, and ought to be entirely converted into a sheep walk or a deer park. Its extreme length, from south to north, is nine miles, and its average breadth five; comprehending a space of upwards of 22,000 Scotch acres. In point of agriculture, it is one of the most backward of all the Hebrides, nor is this in the least degree surprising. The surface of the island is so rugged, its climate *Saitts were walls of stone gradually approaching each other, built by the ancient Caledonians for catching deer and other game. |