234 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



ings of the Dee, Don, Ythan, and the two Esks, " to the great 

 prejudice of the whole kingdom." The question of the reserved 

 waters at the Isles and on the west coast had not been dealt 

 with by the burghs, and the Council asked them to report on 

 these. The burghs thereupon modified their original demands, 

 specifying certain places that should be reserved, where the 

 fishings had been continually carried on by Scottish fishermen 

 and merchants, who were able, they said, to undertake and fish 

 the same " to the full," and within which no stranger had ever 

 been admitted to fish. These places were as follows : (1) all 

 lochs on the mainland between Farryhead (Cape Wrath) and 

 the Kyle, together with Loch Hourn on the south side of Kyle ; 



(2) the east side of Lewes, Uist, Barra, and " Muggersland " 

 (? Mull), and the lochs of the same, together with the Broad 

 Loch and the " Bybleheid " on the north-east part of the Lewes ; 



(3) " Lochusherd " (? Loch Eishort) in Skye ; (4) between the 

 islands and the mainland, from " Farayhead " to the north-east 

 point of Lewis, and for fourteen miles without the line between 

 them it was " absolutely necessary," for the good of the fishings 

 in the lochs above mentioned, that no buss-fishing should be 

 permitted. All the salmon-fishings were to be wholly reserved 

 for the natives, and the burghs expressed the wish that fourteen 

 miles around the Orkneys and Shetlands should also be reserved, 

 but they referred this to the king. The question of the remain- 

 ing lochs on the mainland between the Kyle and the Mull of 

 Cantyre, and of the waters on the " backside " of Lewis, Uist, 

 Barra, " Muggersland," and Skye, except those previously men- 

 tioned, was to be "remitted" to the king's consideration. 1 



The Council forwarded these propositions to London, and 

 the burghs instructed their own commissioner in a like sense, 

 but with an important qualification as to the Hollanders fish- 

 ing on the coast of Scotland. The king was to be informed 

 of the great oppressions and wrongs suffered by his subjects 

 from the encroachment of the Dutch on the seas and coasts of 

 the kingdom, at Shetland and Orkney, and lately at the Lewes. 

 If these encroachments were allowed to continue, the burghs 

 declared that the rich fishings would be made quite unprofit- 

 able, and they appealed to the king " to free the seas of Scot- 

 land and the Isles of the busses of the said Northlands (Nether-. 



1 Acta Part. Scot., v. 238. 



