The Kelp Imhtsiry in the Highlands 



During- the Napoleonic wars in the early part of the 

 nineteenth century, the price of kelp, as will be shown 

 later, rose to a very high figure, and at that time quite five 

 hundred tons of the ash were produced on the Island of 

 Mull alone. Gradually the industry declined on the latter 

 island till a few years ago no seaweed at all was burnt there. 

 The work is now being revived to a slight extent, and the 

 Bangle is being gathered in a few places in the Ross of 

 Mull, and also on lona; the western shores of this island 

 retaining large quantities of weed after a storm. 



It may be of interest to give an account of the introduction 

 and growth of the kelp industry in these islands. 



It appears that as early as 1688 it was realised that the 

 shores of the Orkneys produced "plenty of tangle, of which 

 in other places is made kelp for the making of soap." It 

 was not, however, till 1722 that the first kelp was produced 

 in Scotland, the initial attempt being made in Orkney. 

 At the very first there seems to have Been strong opposition 

 on the part of the inhabitants, who considered that the new 

 industry drove off the fish from the coast, and was detrimental 

 to agriculture, in that it deprived the fields of their supply 

 of seaweed manure. The industry was introduced to the 

 Hebrides about 1730, and at first the price obtained for the 

 ash was a very low one — from i8s. to ;^i per ton. The 

 value of the product gradually rose, however, reaching the 

 average of over £2 per ton between 1740 and 1760. About 

 this time the industry spread to the Inner Hebrides. It 

 was begun in Tiree in 1745, in the time of the third Duke 

 of Argyll, but the price at first was trifling. It spread to 

 Coll — where, by the w^ay, the industry has entirely died 

 out — in 1754, and was started on Mull in 1768, when the total 

 production of the western coast generally was about five 

 thousand tons. Even at this early period the ash fetched 

 as much as £^ los. per ton at the glass manufactory of 

 Newcastle. During the remainder of the eighteenth century 

 the price varied considerably, but always with a tendency 



