26 Jottings on a Ravihlc in Wester Ross. [Sess. 



the foreground and the ishxnd of Skye beyond, showing a high 

 and picturesque outline, and on clear days the island of Lewis 

 is distinctly seen. The cattle and sheep of the crofters pasture 

 in common on this moorland, while they have small patches of 

 corn and potatoes on land reclaimed by their own exertions in 

 the more sheltered places in the vicinity of their houses. 

 These houses are mostly very small, built of rough unhewn 

 stones gathered from the adjacent shore, and thatched with 

 heather, but can be made very comfortable within. The 

 accommodation for their cows is of a still more primitive de- 

 scription. They each possess two or three cows, with followers, 

 and a few sheep. There are no horses about the district, and 

 indeed they could not be used for want of roads. The cows 

 are of the small, shaggy. Highland breed, and their milk is very 

 rich. The crofters dig their crofts with an implement called a 

 caschrom, which has more the appearance of a tool used by 

 drainers to clear and level the bottom of their drains than of 

 a spade. It consists of a piece of wood about 1^ foot long and 

 4 inches broad, shod with iron at one end, and having a handle 

 at the other end projecting at an angle, and about 4 or 5 feet 

 long. It is shoved into the ground with the aid of the foot, 

 and pushed along, the furrow being turned over as it goes by 

 regularly canting the handle to one side. It goes over the 

 ground a great deal quicker than a spade, but to my mind not 

 nearly so good a job is made, as the furrows it makes are very 

 shallow. The land is manured with sea-weed. It is quite 

 evident that these primitive modes of cultivation can never 

 yield anything but poor and barren results in such a region as 

 this. And when the scanty harvest of both sea and land fails, 

 the condition of the poor inhabitants must be sad indeed. 



The crofters themselves seem decent, honest, and industrious, 

 and I do not think the characteristics recently manifested by the 

 crofters on the opposite coast of Skye belong to them. They 

 are mostly engaged in fishing in the summer season, but their 

 fishing last season was not successful. They have small fishing- 

 yawls of two or three tons burden, which carry a crew of from 

 three to five. They are generally part owners of a boat, and 

 the earnings are divided among the crew. They are a very re- 

 ligious people, and very strict in their observance of the Sab- 

 bath, going frequently long distances to church. They are 



