INTRODUCTION. 



THE body of this book was in type before the Royal 

 Commission to inquire into the grievances of the 

 Highland Crofters began its labours, but its publication 

 was delayed to enable me to glance at its proceedings in an 

 Introductory Chapter. Some of the statements made in the 

 book itself were described by certain interested indi- 

 viduals as exaggerations; others hesitated not to apply even 

 stronger terms, without the slightest pretence to a personal 

 knowledge of the facts. Keeping this in view, I resolved to 

 await the result of the Inquiry of the Royal Commissioners 

 in Skye before publishing this volume. The first portion of 

 the work has appeared in my " History of the Highland 

 Clearances," now nearly out of print, but I felt that Skye 

 deserved a volume specially dealing with itself, during a 

 period in its history when the eyes of the whole of the 

 British people, and indeed of the civilized world, were upon 

 it. The Social Unrest which has exhibited itself in the 

 Island during the last two years, will prove the turning point 

 in a long reign of oppression in the Highlands. To the 

 Men of Skye will be due the honour of securing a complete 

 change in the system of land tenure which has hitherto kept 

 the Highlands under the foot of the oppressor; and this 

 fact alone will give an interest to what might otherwise 

 appear comparatively trifling incidents, but which, in the 



