HELMSDALE TO MEIKLE FERRY. 63 



a rule ; but some will select a score or so of the 

 strongest, and put their lambs on ewes which have 

 lost their own. The ewes are brought on to the 

 strath to lamb, and in fair average seasons eighty- 

 four lambs to a hundred ewes is not bad. There 

 are different bits in the marking system of the east 

 and west coasts ; and on the latter, where the flocks 

 are more liable to be mixed, the face is marked as 

 well, at an agreed angle. If, on the east coast for 

 instance, a man's land marches with another, he will 

 mark his ewe lambs with a double forebit on the near 

 ear, to begin with. The next summer it is double 

 backbit on the same ear, then ditto on the off ear, 

 and so round to double forebit again. The wedder 

 lambs are marked in this ear order, but on the single- 

 bit system, and his neighbour pursues the same pro- 

 cess, but exactly reverses it. 



The conflict between the sheep and the shooting 

 interests is sometimes pretty hot over the heather 

 burning, as the shepherd is anxious to burn as much 

 and the shooter as little as possible. The old system 

 was a peculiarly expensive one, as a whole cohort of 

 broom-men had to be paid and kept for several days, 

 waiting for the wind to set in from the right quarter. 

 Mr. Houstoun's system, which has been 'adopted to a 

 slight extent by Colonel Hunt in Kildonan, is far more 

 economical and effective. The heather is cut into 

 squares by means of drains 3 inches deep and 28 

 inches broad, and burnt on a three or a five course 

 rotation. Thus the reversed sod goes to make up a 



