jrj^ Method of Tanning Leather in Lewis. May. 



TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE FARMER's MAGAZINE. 



Method of Tanning Leather in Leiuis, and other Iflands of the 



Hebrides* 

 Sir, 



Although the fubjecH; of the following communication be 

 not immediately conneded with agriculture, yet I flatter myfelf 

 it has a remote connexion, and that its utility is fuch as to de- 

 ferve being made generally known, through the medium of your 

 extenfively circulated work. 



I had no idea of troubling you, or your numerous readers, with 

 the information I had collected on this point, becaufe I fuppofed 

 it to be generally known ; and prefumed that if the praAice of 

 the Hebridians were advantageous, it would have been, long 

 ago, univerfally adopted. In their fituation, I confidered their 

 mode of tanning leather, rather as the efFe6l of neceffity, which 

 has no choice *, than as refulting from a deliberate preference to 

 other modes, which they had equally in their power to adopt. 



But having learned from the tranfaclions of the Dublin So- 

 ciety, that Thomas Rankin of Ballaghey had fucceeded in tan- 

 ning leather by means of heath, I am induced to think, that the 

 Hebridian pra£lice is not fo generally known as 1 at firft fup- 

 pofed, and that it is of greater importance than I was aware. 

 In fail the Hebridians have been in the habit of tanning leather 

 with heath, and other plants, which they gather in moflTes, from 

 time immemorial. 



It may be neceflary to explain to fome of your readers, the 

 cauies which have led to the adoption of this and fimilar prac- 

 tices. 



In the remote Highlands and Iflands of Scotland, you do not 

 find fociety fubdivided into farmers, tradefmcn, and labourers, 

 as in other places. Every man, and woman too, is accuflomcd 

 to do every thing. The women fpin and weave the cloth ; dye, 

 and wauk or thicken it with their feet upon an old door; and 

 the men tan the leather, and make all the (hoes that are ufed by 

 the family. I have often been furprifed at the addrefs they difplay, 

 in effedling their purpofes with very imperfect inftruments. 



Among the remote mountains of the main land, the people 

 ufe the bark of birch, of aller, of willow, or of oak, for tanning 

 their leather-, juft as is pra£lifed in other places. But in the 

 Iflands, where there is very little wood, neceflity has impelled 

 the people to have recourfe to other means of eflfeiting this 

 obje£l. 



It was in the parifli of Uig, in Lewis, Augufl 1800, that I 

 firft learned they tanned leather in the way alluded to. This is, 

 perhaps, ihe patt leaft frequented by ftrangers; of any in the 



Britifh 



