136 A V I E W OF 



ftead of driving them, by hundreds, acrofs the 

 Atlantic ocean. 



On the contrary, fhould the 300 iQands of the 

 Hebrides, thofe within the Firth of Clyde, and the 

 extenfive line of coaft upon the mainland, their nu- 

 merous bays, lakes, and rivers, be found capable 

 of being rendered the bulwark of our ifland, on 

 that fide ; the great nurfery of hardy feamen and 

 foldiers, to defend our fettlements abroad ; the 

 chief repofitory of fifh, to fupply the wants of the 

 labouring people, and to extend the fcale of com- 

 merce, navigation, and fhip-building ; fhould thefe, 

 and other objects, prove the certain confequence 

 "of parliamentary attention, it is to be hoped that 

 government will take that bufinefs into confidera- 

 tion, before America fhall again open a door for 

 the dirTatisfied, from all parts of Britain, but more 

 efpecially for thefe hitherto neglected mountaineers. 



Comparative State of the Highlands, and the Northern 

 Countries of Europe, in rejpetf of Towns, Commerce , 

 and Navigation. 



If we take our ftand at the fputh-wefl extremity 

 of Cantire, and look northward along the double 



.coafl of the continent, and the Hebride iflands, to- 

 wards Cape Wrath, we fhall perceive no towns, mar- 

 kets, ftorehoufes, granaries, manufactures, commerce, 

 or fhipping of any fort. * If we extend the view 



. from Cape Wrath to Dungfby-Head, the eaft en- 

 trance to that Firth, and from thence fouthward to 



* A few herring buflfes, and the village of Stronaway in Lewis 

 excepted, where feme Dutch families had been fettled, but were 

 imrbrtunately driven away during the Dutch wars in the lalt cen- 

 tury. Theie ia duftrious people, during their fhort flay, extended 

 the fifhe'ries, and eilablifhed a petty navigation, both of which 

 have been kept up, in feme degree, by the natives, who can boait 

 of more traffic than t|ie Hebride iilands united. An attempt was 

 ah%made fince 1760, towards abufs fiihery, by the natives of the 

 \yeftern coafls of Argylefhire, but which failed through the fame 

 ca'ules that ruined the bufs filliery in general, 



the 



