88 A HUNDKED YEAES 



and on the outside are straw ropes like a network put 

 across to keep the wind from blowing away the thatch. 

 The houses have generally a sort of window with a tiny 

 bit of glass, and they have a plan of their own for 

 locking their doors with a wooden key made by them- 

 selves . It appears to keep matters quite secure . Osgood 

 observed that the beaks of the solan-geese were used as 

 pegs to keep down the straw on the buildings. The 

 houses are built on a gentle slope, the highest hill, 

 Conacadh, gradually rising to the west. The land 

 between the shore and the houses and up some way above 

 them is cultivated, and at the back is a capital high, 

 strong dyke to keep the cattle and sheep out. I did not 

 hear how much arable land they have, but by making 

 a rough guess I should say between thirty and forty 

 acres. Each head of a family or crofter pays £1 for the 

 arable land, 7s. a year for his cow's grass, and 10s. for 

 ten sheep at Is. per head. Besides this £1 17s., he has 

 to pay 7 stones of 24 pounds weight of feathers, which 

 is reckoned to him at 5s. a stone. I heard various 

 accounts as to how many birds would be required to 

 supply sufficient feathers to make up a stone weight. 

 One lad told me about two hundred fulmars and another 

 eight hundred puffins; the latter, of course, are much 

 smaller, and the feathers are not so plentiful nor of such 

 good quality, I should think. 



" There are two burns or very small streams running 

 from Conacadh by the houses to the shore. There is a 

 capital natural well or spring in the arable land, and 

 another in the glen two or three miles off. This one is 

 celebrated. On the right side of the village and near 



