COCKLE-FISHING. 9 1 



ance which, is almost unexampled. At that time (a year 

 of scarcity) they presented every day at low water a 

 singular spectacle, "being crowded with men, women, 

 and children, who were busily employed in digging for 

 these shell-fish as long as the tide permitted. It was 

 not unusual also to see thirty or forty horses from the 

 surrounding country, which had been brought down for 

 the purpose of carrying away loads of them to distances 

 of many miles. This was a well-known season of 

 scarcity, and, without this resource, I believe it is not 

 too much to say, that many individuals must have died 

 for want." l 



The isles of Barra and North Uist, in the Hebrides, 

 possess also enormous resources of the same character. 

 " It is not easy to calculate," says Mr. Wilson, " the 

 amount of such beds of shell- fish, but we may mention 

 that, during a period of great distress which prevailed a 

 good many years ago, all the families in the island (then 

 about two hundred in number) resorted, for the sake of 

 this food, to the great sands at the northern end of 

 Barra. It was computed that, for a couple of summers 

 at the time alluded to, no less than from one hundred 

 to two hundred horse-loads were taken at low water 

 every day of the spring-tides during the months of 

 May, June, July, and August. We were pleased to 



1 Highlands and Islands of Scotland, vol. iii. p- 349. 





