INTRODUCTION. xlv 



applicable. The crop is gathered in summer, dried and 

 collected like hay, and toward the end of the season burned. 

 Dr. Greville has given us (* Introd. to Algae Britannicse ') an 

 interesting sketch of the introduction and establishment of 

 this branch of industry into the north of Scotland, where 

 it has been most extensively pursued ; and I shall take the 

 liberty of extracting the following passages. " The manu- 

 facture of kelp was introduced into Scotland, according to 

 Mr. Neill, half a century subsequent to its establishment 

 in France and England, and the first cargo was exported 

 from Orkney about the year 1722. The employment, how- 

 ever, being new to the inhabitants of Orkney, the country 

 people opposed it with the utmost vehemence. Their 

 ancestors had never thought of making kelp, and it would 

 appear that they themselves had no wish to render their 

 posterity wiser in this manner. So violent and unanimous 

 was the resistance, that officers of justice were found ne- 

 cessary to protect the individuals employed in the work. 

 Several trials were the consequences of these outrages. It 

 was gravely pleaded in a court of law, on the part of the 

 defendants, ' that the suffocating smoke that issued from 

 the kelp-kilns would sicken or kill every species of fish on 

 the coast, or drive them into the ocean far beyond the reach 

 of the fishermen; blast the corn and grass on their farms; 

 introduce diseases of various kinds ; and smite with bar- 

 renness their sheep, horses and cattle, and even their own 

 families.' The proceedings exist, as I am informed by Mr. 

 Peterkin, in the records of the Sheriff-Court; a striking 

 instance of the prejudices, indolence and superstition, of 

 the simple people of Orkney in those days. The influential 

 individuals who had taken up the matter succeeded in es- 

 tablishing the manufacture ; and the benefits which accrued 

 to the community soon wrought a change in the public 

 feeling. The value of estates possessing a sea coast well 



