462 



Eiyldands and Islands Commission. 



xcix. 



Alexander 

 Carmichael. 



eight crofters. This is done at Hallowmas — Gaelic, Samhuin. The Scat, Clar, 

 or Leob, as the undivided ground is called, is divided into four quarters. 



These quarters are ballotted for hy the Constables of the Townlands for their 

 respective constituencies. This accomplished, the Constables, aided by the 

 people, the whole supervised by the Maor, subdivide their respective sections 

 into the necessary number of rigs or ridges — Gaelic, Imirean, or lomairean. 



The crofters cast lots in their respective wards, and the rig which then falls to 

 a man he retains for three years. At the end of that time the whole cultivation is 

 again let out in grass, and fresh ground broken in as before. 



During summer and autumn, the flocks of the whole community graze ovei 

 these Machairs, herded by one or two herdsmen as occasion requires. 



AVhile each crofter sends more or less stock to the district grazing of the 

 machair, he probably grazes fewer or more cows and horses on the uncultivated 

 portions of his croft at home. These are tethered or tended by a member of the 

 crofter's family. 



There being no fences in the district of locar, except those built by the late 

 Rev. Father James Macgrigor, the gaunt cattle and horses of the crofters 

 roam at will when the crops are secured. In their intense struggle for 

 existence, these crofters keep far more stock than their crofts can at aU 

 adequately maintain. They do not act upon their own proverb, ' Is fearr aon 

 ' laogh na da chraicionn,' One calf is better than two skins. They give the food 

 to their cattle and horses that they so sorely need for themselves. Considering 

 the quantity and quality of their land, that the cottars living upon them are 

 nearly as numerous as the crofters themselves, while many of these keep nearly 

 as much stock, that practically they support their own poor, and several other 

 considerations that must be taken into account, probably these crofters pay 

 four times the rent paid by the large farms; not that the large farms are 

 under-rented ; that as a whole they are not. That the locar crofters exist at 

 all is only an evidence of the tenacity of their race. As one of themselves 

 said — ' We take a deal of killing, or we would have been killed out long ago.' 



Of the dykes built by Mr Macgrigor no praise is too good. Mr Macgrigor was 

 the priest of probably the most depressed congregation in Scotland. Yet dur- 

 ing his incumbency of over forty years he showed a more admirable example to 

 the people how to improve their crofts than all the proprietors, factors, and 

 tacksmen put together. He built several miles of the most excellent enduring 

 stone dykes round and across his croft, while it is computed that more stone is 

 hid underground in drains made by him than appears in these dykes. And 

 all these stones, together with those that went to build his chapel, chapel-house, 

 and outhouses, Mr Macgrigor quarried from the rocky hillocks and erratic 

 boulders that literally studded the face of the land when he came to the place. 

 This land, so well laid out in parks, is now equal to any in the Western 

 Isles for cropping and grazing. 



Mr Macgrigor lived on the plainest fare in order to improve his place. He 

 personally superintended the digging and tlie filling up of every drain, the 

 building of every dyke, and the constructing of every house, while nothing 

 delighted him so much as to see boulders and rocks breaking down before his 

 fire, gunpowder, and crow-bars. 



The good works that this poor priest accomplished above and below ground, 

 and as a skilful medical man among all denominations, and in social life, are 

 marvellous. Nor are they 'all interred with his bones.' Mr Macgrigor was 

 the last professor in the Catholic College of Lismore. In that island he is stiU 

 remembered. 



