THE ISLE OF SKYE IN 1882. 21 



appear to be all hard-working, industrious men, and their 

 houses are better, on the whole, than any crofter district that 

 that we have yet visited in Skye. The soil is more fertile, 

 well drained, and comparatively well cultivated. The men 

 seem to be thoroughly intelligent, and some of them not 

 only read newspapers, but have very decided opinions in 

 regard to some of them. One of these, the Scotsman^ 

 we heard them designating as " The United Liar ". But 

 newspaper reading that is Liberal newspaper reading is 

 not encouraged in Glendale. One man whom we met 

 informed us that a crofter in Glendale was accused of 

 reading too many newspapers, a circumstance which the 

 factor strongly suspected accounted for the heinous crime of 

 the crofter being a Liberal. At one time there were some 

 small shops in Glendale, but these would appear to have 

 practically vanished. Some years ago the factor set up a 

 meal store himself, and the crofters, we are informed, were 

 given to understand that shopkeepers would have to pay a 

 rent of 2 each for these so-called shops, in addition to 

 their rents. No one, however, appears to have ever been 

 asked to pay this, but the shops ceased to exist ! 



Perhaps the most indefensible custom of all was to compel 

 the incoming tenant to pay up the arrears, however large a 

 sum, of his predecessor. This appeared so incredible that 

 no one present felt justified in publishing it ; but on our 

 consulting the factor personally, he not only admitted but 

 actually defended the practice as a kind of fair enough 

 premium or " goodwill " for the concern, and said it was 

 quite a common practice in the Isle of Skye. We would 

 describe it in very different terms, but that is unnecessary. 

 It only wants to be stated to be condemned by all honest 

 men as an outrage on public morality. 



As we left the district the crofters were in great glee at the 



