640 



SCOTLAND. 



Commerce 

 and manu- 

 factures. 



Statistics, value. The progress of machinery and capital, with a 

 " change in the taste of the public, has reduced this ma- 

 nufacture to little more than one for domestic consump- 

 tion. But it is a mistake to imagine that Shetland 

 ever manufactured many fine articles of this kind for 

 sale, and from its own wool. The chief produce was 

 extremely coarse, and certainly not of a good quality, 

 either in point of material or workmanship ; and the 

 finer stockings were few, while those so proverbially 

 fine were wrought merely as efforts of skill or pride. 

 The prices of these ranged as high as thirty shillings, 

 while the common kinds sold as low as fourpence and 

 sixpence. Leith was the principal market. The wool 

 of Shetland is indeed very coarse, and the fleeces scanty, 

 as, till lately, they possessed only the Norwegian breed 

 of sheep. The finer wool was plucked from the necks 

 of the lambs, and did not amount to above a 30th, 

 sometimes not to a 60th or ?0th of the whole fleece. 

 This wool is also woven into wadmall and other coarse 

 articles for domestic use. 



The last manufacture of these islands is a trifling 

 one carried on at Lerwick in plaited straw, which is 

 furnished from Leith and returned in the plait. 



In Orkney kelp is manufactured to a greater extent 

 than in Shetland, and it appears to bear a better price 

 than that of the western islands. Here it is burnt in 

 pits of earth, not in stone coffins ; and it is thought 

 that this is the cause of the superior produce. There 

 is a trifling white fishery also carried on for the foreign 

 market, and these are all conducted, on the same prin- 

 ciples as in Shetland, by servitudes. Lately the her- 

 ring has re-appeared on these coasts after a long ab- 

 sence. The woollen manufacture of Orkney is too 

 trifling to require any particular mention. But we 

 must here remark, that there is here as well as in the 

 Pentland Firth, a considerable fishery of lobsters, which 

 are delivered to the London smacks ; and even at the 

 low prices of twopence and threepence, a single fisher- 

 man has been known to make 20 a-year in this 

 trade. 



In concluding this account, we might perhaps in- 

 clude the Greenland fishery, since it affords a summer's 

 employment to many at least of the Shetlanders, the 

 crews being generally made up at Lerwick. 



If there are no roads in Shetland, and next to none 

 in Orkney, the want is not felt, from the great facility 

 afforded by water communication. Nor is there any 

 want of commodious harbours ; while Lerwick, Scallo- 

 way, Stromness, and Kirkwall, also furnish convenient 

 piers and landing places. Thus also Stromness, being 

 a rendezvous of foreign shipping, possesses a slender 

 trade in articles of supply and in the cooperage. But 

 if Orkney is now furnished with a weekly and com- 

 modious post from Thurso, by means of the Sutherland 

 and Caithness mail coach, this want is severely felt in 

 Shetland, which has no regular post, and must depend 

 for its letters on casual traders from Leith. Thus it is 

 not unusual for them to be without arrivals for three 

 months, and even six, particularly in winter ; an in- 

 convenience which government might now easily re- 

 move by an occasional packet from Orkney. In con- 

 cluding this account we must now add, that if the 

 common lands in these islands were divided, and the 

 total agricultural system altered, as it loudly claims, 

 both sets of islands, and Shetland in particular, might 

 in no long time, export cattle, if not sheep, and fur- 

 ther cultivate for exportation its valuable breed of 

 horses ; valuable if small, and capable under care in 



the breeding, of commanding a steady market in Eng- Statistic* 

 land. 



The Western Islands and Highlands. 



Commerce 

 and manu- 

 factures. 



We may throw these into one general mass for the The west- 

 present purpose, as our remarks will commonly apply ern islands 

 alike to the whole, to all the islands as to the corres- and High- 

 ponding coast of the main land. landj. 



The great manufacture of this district is kelp. We Kelp, 

 should rather say was, as it has lately suffered consi- 

 derably in consequence of the changes in the duty and 

 price of foreign barilla. It is on the low and extensive 

 Shetland shores that the sea weeds which produce it 

 chiefly grow, and thus a kelp estate is regulated by 

 these circumstances. Hence Sky, surrounded with 

 lofty cliffs, produces little ; while the Long Island, 

 running into deep and sinuous indentations, furnishes 

 as much as all the western coast united. In this 

 tract, North Uist, Benbecula, and South Uist, are 

 the chief seats of this manufacture; and among these 

 we may include all the smaller and flat islands asso- 

 ciated with them. It is from the deep sinuosities of 

 North Uist in particular that arises the immense quan- 

 tity of its produce. In this island, the rent of the kelp 

 was equal to that of the entire land, when the price 

 was 10 a ton, amounting to 7000 per annum ; and 

 it may thus be conjectured how valuable an article of 

 property this was, and still is, to a certain extent, in- 

 dependently of its commercial value, and its further 

 value as a manufacture furnishing wages, or their equi- 

 valent, to an ill-employed and crowded population. 



But in the islands alone, excluding the coast, the 

 total annual produce varies between 5000 and 6000 

 tons, and consequently, at the price above named, the 

 annual returns divided among the proprietors, vacil- 

 lated between 50,000 and 60,000 a-year, of which 

 one half is expended in the various charges appertain- 

 ing to the manufacture and the trade. We may con- 

 ceive, that about 20,000 per annum of this was divid- 

 ed among the manufacturers ; and hence it is easy to 

 conjecture the value of the kelp manufacture to the 

 mere labourer, independently of all other considera- 

 tions. It is to be remarked, however, that this was 

 not paid in money but in land; or putting it into the 

 commonly apprehended form of servitude, the rent of 

 a tenement was so much in money, and so much la- 

 bour in kelp, or rather the production of a given 

 quantity. That this is the most beneficial plan for all 

 parties, can admit of no doubt. We shall only further 

 remark on this commodity, that during the war, it 

 rose as high as to 20, and was for a considerable period, 

 as high as 15. On an average of twenty-three years, 

 ending in 1822, the price was found to be 10, 9s. 7d. 

 per ton; and as the total annual quantity made in 

 Scotland is estimated at 20,000 tons in favourable sea- 

 sons, the total value of the manufacture may be stated 

 at 200,000, giving employment to about 80,000 indi- 

 viduals, and about 200 vessels. 



The next manufactory of the Highlands and islands Fish, 

 is fish, in the two distinct forms of white fish and her- 

 rings. As we have considered the general subject of 

 the fisheries in the end of this division, we shall here 

 notice only a few of the local particulars which are 

 worthy of remark. 



In Barra, there is a considerable ling fishery, of 

 which the produce is delivered at Greenock, for the 

 foreign market ; but being in the hands of petty fisher* 



