Me. Smith's Visit to the Island of Lewis. 3 



fortune, and returning to it afterwards with wealth. From Storno- 

 way, it was true, a number had gone out and distinguished themselves, 

 but this was the exception. Still the inhabitants were not deficient by 

 nature. They were a social people in their own way; they were kind 

 to their children, kind to each other, and kind to their animals. 

 He would say, that they were a people of intelligence ; and when you 

 entered upon any subject which they understood, it would be found 

 that their intellects were as acute as those of other people. With 

 regard to their habits of industry, they were a hard-working people, 

 and ready to exert themselves when they had an opportunity of doing 

 so ; but, from the circumstances under which they were placed, they 

 were not able to do so with advantage. Their possessions, as he had 

 said, extended only to a few acres each, and the people were congre- 

 gated in villages or little towns, instead of being dispersed in farms 

 over the face of the country, as was the case elsewhere. They had, 

 therefore, their little portions of land around for cultivation, and a 

 right to grazings in the neighbourhood. 



In regard to their houses, they did not live in dwellings such as were 

 seen in the mainland, for they were more like huts than any thing 

 else. The walls were from six to eight feet thick, composed of bog in 

 the centre, and faced with stone inside and out. There was some- 

 times only one apartment, but generally two, and under the same roof 

 the people lived and kept their cattle. There was this distinction, 

 however, viz., a fall of eighteen inches from the apartment in which the 

 family lived to the adjoining one in which the cattle were kept. This 

 might seem to some to be rather an odd arrangement, but the people 

 themselves considered that there were points in it which contributed 

 to their comfort. The room in which the cattle were kept was the 

 entrance one, and as the air passed through it, it came into the adjoin- 

 ing portion of the house appropriated to the family in a warm state. 

 Where ponies were kept, an outer hall or shed, beyond the cattle apart- 

 ment, was reared for their accommodation. Some of the better houses 

 had a division wall, which separated the cow-house from the family 

 apartment, but generally this was not the case. Most people would 

 think it strange to live along with their cattle, but the people of Lewis 

 had different notions on this subject, and when shut up in the long 

 winter nights, they considered it comfortable to have the beasts in the 

 next apartment, to hear them, and see their motions, and occasionally 

 to supply them with food. One peculiarity in the building of their 

 houses was, that the roof was within the wall, instead of projecting 

 beyond it ; and in this way he had seen something like a series of 

 terraces, extending over half a town. One use of them was, that when 

 the children became troublesome, or the mother was more than usually 

 busy, the children were disposed of on these terraces, or high places, 

 and it was quite amusing to see the little creatures looking down over 

 the wall at what was going on below. The parents, however, did all 



