R O S S - S H I R F . 





lloaihire. burgh, but the inhabitants petition.. d for he-ing ele- 

 -Y^ ' prived of their privileges. It po^sc-cs ii.ir- 



l>our, and the ro.uNte-ad is not.-d a-. t!i in all 



Britain. A considerable manufacture of hemp into 

 canva-s for bagging, iSce. has been lon_r i--tahli-hed, 

 and cmpl >v- a great number of hands. Curing pork 

 is carried mi to a large extent. A c cut some 



. from ihe mouth of the rivei Conan to Ding- 

 wall, in order to facilitate the exportation of gr 

 and the importation of coals, lime, and goods. The 

 principles on which it was constructed, though very 

 able engineers were employed, were however errone- 

 ous, and the consequence has been that it became fill- 

 ed with mud. It has been once cleaned at a great ex- 

 pense, but, what appears most extraordinary, no steps 

 were taken to prevent a recurrence of the evil, and it 

 is again nearly useless. 

 Villages. There are numerous villages in Ross and Cromarty 



shire; but almost every proprietor who has feued land 

 for building has repented. When there is no regular 

 employment for it, it is baneful to accumulate popula- 

 tion into villages. Idleness, vice, distress, and crime, 

 give too frequent evidence that, when there is no fix- 

 ed employment, population should not be too rashly 

 encouraged. No improvement can be forced ; but 

 must depend on an extensive combination of circum- 

 stances, which it requires talent and meditation to dis- 

 cover. At this moment a great revolution is taking 

 place, owing to the liberal view which the government 

 has taken of the distillery. The effects of this revolu- 

 tion will be the emigration of the remaining High- 

 landers who have hitherto subsisted solely on the pro- 

 fits of illicit distillation, scanty as they were ; or they 

 will seek subsistence from honest labour wherever 

 they can find employment at home; or attend more 

 closely to the produce of such land as they may pos- 

 sess on lease. It is probable that all these effects may 

 take place, and that point of civilization and improve- 

 ment to which we have been tending since the rebel- 

 lion in 1745, will ere long be fully attained. In many 

 villages we see shops opened for the accommodation of 

 the inhabitants ; and butchers and bakers are esta- 

 blishing themselves. The consumption of meat and 

 wheaten bread is very rapidly increasing, and the as- 

 similation of the north of Scotland to the land of the 

 Sassenach is almost complete. New wants are aris- 

 ing the dress of the Gael has disappeared the lan- 

 guage is wearing away, and in half a century will be 

 as rare as the dress is now. 



Agricul- Almost every part of the counties of Ross and 



ture. Cromarty, capable of carrying crops, is in the high- 



est state of cultivation. There has been, during the 

 last thirty years, a wonderful spirit of emulation 

 in all matters connected with agricultural improve- 

 ment both among proprietors and tenants. Seve- 

 ral able cultivators from the finest districts of the 

 south of Scotland have settled amongst the natives, 

 most of whom, having seen the result of the manage- 

 ment adopted by the strangers, have, though slowly, 

 adopted their practices. There are still some of the native 

 cultivators who persist in following their old practices ; 

 and, wherever fences are seen in disorder, patches of 

 waste land in the middle of fields, and the crops inter- 

 mixed like Mosaic on a great scale, a stranger may be 

 assured that the tenant is a native. While incalculable 

 good has unquestionably arisen out of the stimulus 

 given to improvement, much temporary mischief has 

 also resulted from it. Many who perceived the pros- 



YOL. XVII. PART II. 



of tho*e who set about improving the soil with Ik**-*bire. 

 knowledge, judgment, prudence, and wi'.h that <-*et.- -V ' 

 ti.il foundation, an adequate capital, c. ncewd that 

 they would become rich without them, l-'arniv c!,:diy 

 gr.i/ings, were taken, and money obtained by nego- 

 tiating accummodatii n bills. When the rc*nt 

 presMon in the prices of all kinds of produce took 

 .>(<] nenccs were far more severe and 

 alarming than elsewhere, and the north of Scotland 

 will be longer of recovering from them. But it may. 

 be reasonably expected that, in this case, experience 

 will teach wisdom, and that it is the part of a fool to 

 spend a fortune before it is made. Ui, fortunately, 

 however, habits are not easily got rid of, and more 

 especially those engendered by ambition to imitate su- 

 periors, and to have the wives and daughters of farmers 

 without fortune equally well dressed and accomplished 

 as those of the landlords. 



On the great majority of arable farms we now see a 

 degree of neatness in the style of dressing the land and 

 inclosing it, superior to most districts of England and 

 Scotland, and inferior to none. The crops are uni- 

 formly clean, and for the most part lich. and tiie quality 

 of wheat such as frequently to have topped the London 

 markets* 



A spirit of improvement in horticulture has like- Horticul- 

 wise arisen, and we find many excellent gardens turt - 

 attached to the mansions of the proprietors ; and 

 though those attached to farm houses be small, they 

 yield abundantly both the utile cl dulcc. Some pro- 

 prietors are noted for their love of horticultural 

 pursuits, and for introducing new fruits, as well as 

 ornamental plants heretofore unknown in the north. 

 The climate is not very favourable for the finer depart- 

 ments of garden culture, and, as already observed, it 

 has become worse since the beginning of the century. 

 When the blossoms look full and healthy, there comes 

 a withering frost, or rain prevents fecundation. In- 

 sects, of late years, have become numerous and defy 

 all efforts to destroy them till nature herself finds the 

 remedy. The cottagers are now observed everywhere 

 to form little gardens whenever they have a patch of 

 ground adapted for it. Formerly great quantities of 

 onions and cabbage plants used to be sold from the 

 gardens of the proprietors, and now scarcely any are 

 sold, on account of their being raised by the people them- 

 selves. The robbery of gardens is not now uncommon; 

 and of late there seems to have been a regular sys- 

 tem established for stealing bee-hives from cpttage 

 gardens, which, in some parts of Rots-shire, are a 

 scource of great profit to the cottagers. The people 

 who suffer are averse to give information to the magis- 

 trates ; and an instance recently occurred, in which 

 the sheriff-substitute was the sufferer, by two sheep 

 having been killed and flayed at his own door, when 

 no steps were taken to trace the offenders. We L 

 recorded these matters in order that, at some future 

 time, the present state of the country may be compared 

 with what it may be hereafter. 



The salmon fishery is carried on to a considerable 

 extent in the rivers and estuaries ; but, owing to 

 over fishing, and partly to the openness of the win- 

 ters, it has greatly fallen off. 



The herring fishery has of late been prosecuted with 

 great success on the east coast, at Portiuahomack and 

 C'romarty ; and a red-herring house has been erecud 

 on the point of Fortrose. Formerly Loch Broom, on 

 the west coast, was esteemed one of the very best 

 3o 



