ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF SUTHERLAND. 2?> 



interest in connection witli the .agricnltural history of the 

 county, and therefore an extract on the sul)ject from Mr Loch's 

 work may not he out of place. lie states — that " wlien tliat hardy 

 hut not in(histrious race of people spread over the county they took 

 the advantage of every spot wliich could he cultivated, and which 

 could with any chance of success be applied to raising a precarious 

 crop of inferior oats, of which they baked their cakes, and of here, 

 from which they distilled tluur whisky; added but little to the 

 industry, and contributed nothing to the wealth of the empire. 

 Impatient of regular and constant work, all heavy labour was 

 abandoned to the women, who were employed occasionally even 

 in dragging the harrow to cover in the seed. To build their 

 hut or get in their peats for fuel, or to perform any other occa- 

 sional labour of the kind, the men were ever ready to assist, but 

 the great proportion of their time, when not in the pursuit of 

 game or of illegal distillation, was spent in indolence and sloth. 

 Their huts were of the most miseral)le description ;. they were 

 built of turf dug from the most valualtle portions of the mountain 

 side. Their roof consisted of the same material, which was 

 supported upon a wooden frame, constructed of crooked timber 

 taken from the natural woods I)elonging to the proprietor, and 

 of moss-fir dug from the peat bogs. The situation they selected 

 was uniformly on the edge of the cultivated land and of the 

 mountain pastures. They were placed lengthways and sloping 

 with the declination of the hill. This position was chosen in 

 order that all the tilth might flow from the habitation without 

 further exertion upon the part of the owner. Under the same 

 roof, and entering at the same door, were kept all the domestic 

 animals belonging to the establishment. The npper portion of 

 the hut was appropriated to the use of the family. In the 

 centre of this upper division was placed the fire, the smoke from 

 which was made to circulate throuirhout the whole hut for the 

 purpose of conveying heat into its furthest extremities, — the 

 effect being to cover everything with a black glossy soot, and to 

 produce the most evident injury to the appearance and eyesight 

 of those most exposed to its influence. The floor wms the bare 

 earth, except near the fire-place, where it w^as rudely paved with 

 rough stones. It was never levelled wdtli much care, and it 

 soon wore into every sort of inequality according to the hard- 

 ness of the respective soils of which it was composed. Every 

 hollow formed a receptacle for whatever fluid happened to fall 

 near it, where it remained until a])Sorbed by the earth. It was 

 impossible that it should ever be swept, and when the accumu- 

 lation of filth rendered the place uninhabitable another hut was 

 erected in the vicinity of the old one. The old rafters were 

 used in the construction of the new cottage, and that which was 

 abandoned formed a valuable collection of manure for the next 



