452 Tliyhlands and Islands Commission. 



XCIX. Tlie system of Run-Rig prevailed of old over the whole British Isles and the 



Alexnnripr t^'ontinent of Europe. It was common in Ireland, it is extinct in England, and 



rarmicliaei. obsolete in Scotland, except to a limited extent in the Western Isles. There 



the .system still lives in three diUerent forms, more or less modified — two of 



these being gradations of decay. 



ToioiiRliip. 



The English word Township represents the Gaelic word Baile, as applied to a 

 rural locality and to a country community. I, however, prefer the word town- 

 land to township, having already used it in the paper which Mr Skene asked me 

 to write for his Celtic Scotland, and which your Lordship was pleased to commend. 



The word Baile, townland, often appears in Origines Parochiales. This invalu- 

 able work is a compilation, by Cosmo Innes, from ancient charters and other 

 historical documents affecting the Highlands. 



The word Baile occurs also in Martin's Western Isles, published in 1703. Dr 

 Johnson says that it was this book that gave him a desire to see the Highlands 

 of Scotland, and, therefore, to this book the world is indebted for Johnson's 

 famous Totir to the Hebrides. A copy of Martin, which Johnson and Boswell 

 had with them in the Highlands and Islands, the writer has seen in the Signet 

 Library, Edinburgh. 



I think the word Townland is recognised by law. I have certainly seen it used 

 in law documents. The townland has a collective existence in various ways, — by 

 tradition, by usage, by the condition of the people, by the consensus of public 

 opinion, and by the treatment of the proprietor. I shall endeavour to show 

 this, and in doing so shall confine my observations to the Long Island. 



Alaor. 



The word Maor is old, and is used in several languages. Before and after the 

 tenth century it carried a territorial title equal to Baron among the Highlanders 

 and to the Jarl of the Norwegians. 



The name was then applied to the governor of a province, whose office was 

 hereditary, like that of the king. The term Maor is now applied to a petty 

 officer only. 



Maor-Gruinnd is a ground ofiicer. He is appointed by the Factor — Gaelic, 

 Baillidh — and acts under him. On large properties the Maor is practically a 

 sub-factor, and, being the eye, the ear, and the tongue of the Factor in his 

 district, he is often more feared than the factor himself. Where the Factor is a 

 non-Gaelic speaking man, as has been the case on the Gordon properties, the 

 people look on the Maor with suspicion. ' The tongue of the people being then 

 • in another man's mouth,' as one of themselves graphically said to me, they 

 know not what the Maor says or leaves unsaid concerning them. Nevertheless, 

 there are and have been ground-oilicers who were far from giving cause for such 

 suspicion, who, on the contrary, devoted their time and energies to the interests 

 of proprietor and people to the neglect of their own. Among these have been 

 some of the kindliest men I have ever known. 



The Constable. 



There is a Constable (Gaelic, Constabal) in every town, and in some two — 

 one representing the proprietor, the other the people. Occasionally the Factor 

 and the crofters elect the Constable conjointly. More often, however, the 

 Factor alone .appoints the Constable. When this is the case, the crofters 

 murmur that the man thus appointed and paid by the Factor alone is, uicon- 



