30 A HUNDRED YEARS 



one or two pounds of maize meal, which constituted 

 then the daily wage. My mother was totally opposed 

 to this ridiculous plan in our district, and also against 

 merely giving miserable doles of meal, which were barely 

 sufi&cient to keep the population alive. Her plan was 

 to pay all the able-bodied men a sufficient wage in money 

 or food to enable them to do good work themselves 

 and to support their dependents. So with the help of 

 Government and begging and borrowing (I think) 

 £10,000, she and my uncle undertook the great responsi- 

 bility of guaranteeing that no one would be allowed to 

 starve on the property. Thus the Loch Maree road 

 was started, and this was about the only thing which 

 could possibly open up the country. 



Both my half-brothers were absent from the country 

 at the time, so I, as a small boy, had the great honour 

 conferred on me of cutting the first turf of the new road. 

 How well I remember it, surrounded by a huge crowd, 

 many of them starving Skye men, for the famine was 

 more sore in Skye and the islands than it was on our 

 part of the mainland ! I remember the tiny toy spade 

 and the desperate exertions I had to make to cut my 

 small bit of turf; then came the ringing cheers of the 

 assembled multitude, and I felt myself a great hero ! 

 I must have driven or motored past that place thousands 

 of times since that day, but I never do so, even if it be 

 pitch dark, without thinking of the cutting of the first 

 turf, and the feeling of great gratitude to the Almighty 

 for His having put into the hearts of my mother and 

 uncle the strong determination to carry through the 

 great work. Nor did they cease with the finishing of the 



