Alexandei 



466 Highlands and Islands Commission. 



A board, with heavy weight on the top, was placed over the strips of bhibber 

 to press out the oil. The people's tastes have changed, and they do not now 

 CarmichaeL eat seals. Probably the monks of Monach used seal tlesh for their table, and 

 seal oil for their beacon lights. 



The hapless Lady Grange lived in Heisgeir before she was sent to Saint Kilda. 



Run Rig Wholly. 

 All the land in Heisgeir is held in common by all the tenants of the island. 

 There are no crofts, and consequently no portion of the land is permanently held 

 by an individual tenant. There are ten tenants, and two of these having two 

 shares each, the land is divided into twelve shares. 



About Hallowtide— Gaelic, Samhuin — the ten tenants of the island meet for 

 Nabac,' neighbourliness.' Probably the only thing to be done at the neighbourly 

 conference is to decide upon the piece of ground to be broken up for cultivation. 

 This foregone conclusion decided, the men proceed at dawn of day to divide the 

 ground. The land to be divided is called Scat, Clar, or Leob. 



The Constable takes a rod and divides the Scat into six equal divisions. At 

 the boundary of each division he cuts a mark— Gaelic, Beam — in the ground, 

 which Is called by the curious name of Tore. The Tore resembles the broad 

 arrow of the Ordnance Department. 



The word Tore signifies a notch, and is applied to cattle whose eara are notched. 

 These notch-eared cattle — ' Torc-Chluasach ' — are frequent in the Western Isles, 

 and are spoken of as ' Slioc a Chroidh Mhara,' the descendants of the fabled sea 

 cattle. 



The Constable, having marked off the Scat or Clar into six divisions, with the 

 •willing aid of his fellow-crofters, sends a man out from the people. Probably 

 the man sent out of the way is the herdsman, who has no personal interest in 

 the matter. Each of six men then put a lot — Gaelic, Crann — into a bonnet. 

 The man sent out is then recalled, and the bonnet is handed to him. From this the 

 man takes the lots, and places them one after one on a line on the ground. The 

 order in which the lots stand on the ground is the order in which the owners 

 of the lots stand to one another in the shares. Each man knows his own mark, 

 and care is taken when putting them into the bonnet that no two be alike. 



The two tenants who have double shares, retain their two shares each. The 

 other four tenants subdivide their divisions with the other four men whom they 

 represent. These subdivisions are called, Imirean or lomairean, rigs or ridges. 

 Each two tenants cast lots again for the two subdivided rigs. 



These arrangements are carried out (juickly and quietly, and as the people 

 themselves correctly say — ' Gun ghuth mor gun, droch fhacal' — without a loud 

 voice, without an evil word. 



The tenants set apart a piece of ground for their herdsman, and this is 

 called in Gaelic, Imir a Bhuachaille, the rig of the herdsman. This is 

 generally the outside ridge bordering on the grazing, and called the ' Imir lonaiU,' 

 the browsing rig. The reason of giving this ridge to the herd is obvious. The 

 man will take care to keep his own ridge safe, and if that ridge be safe the 

 others are sure to be safe, because they lie behind it. 



The crofters also set apart pieces of ground for the poor among them. These 

 are called ' Imirean nam boc,' the ridges of the poor, and 'Cianag nam boc' 

 The kindness of the poor to the poor throughout these islands is wonderful. 

 This arrangement of the land lasts for three years, at the end of which time 

 the ground is let out under grazing as before, and new ground is broken in. This 

 is the Roinn Ruith, Run Rig System, pure and simple. 



