REMINISCENCES OP THE LEWS. 217 



work got through, they breakfast or dine, and 

 then commence the most elaborate toilet. 

 Among them you will often remark exceedingly 

 handsome women, of that dark, Spanish type 

 that you sometimes see in the Highlands and 

 the western parts of Ireland, only I never could 

 make out why. When dressed up in their gar- 

 ments of many colours, rich and gaudy, as they 

 lounge listlessly about the town, they form a 

 strange contrast with the rest of tbe population. 

 They seem, like Portobello and Musselburg 

 fishwomen, a race of themselves. They often 

 have that dark, flashing, glistering eye that 

 speaks what they might be if ofiended ; and as 

 they say they never leave their knives behind 

 them, on giving the slightest offence, you might 

 in a twinkling find yourself made a herring of. 

 But I never saw or heard of anything among 

 them but the most orderly and respectable 

 behaviour. 



There is one particular attending this herring 

 season by no means pleasant. The refuse of 

 the fish remains about the quays, sheds, and 

 curing-houses, and is carted away as manure, 

 and very excellent it is for the fields in the 

 neighbourhood of Stornoway ; but the odours 

 of that great capital are not, or were not, im- 

 proved by the process ; and for preference I 



