41 TIREY. AGRICULTURE. 



minated by the violent means above alluded to. When 

 carefully managed and selected, the Highland horses 

 admit of great improvement ; but are injured materially 

 by want of food and shelter, and by other modes of ill 

 treatment. They are sometimes shod on the fore feet, 

 often not at all; yet when habituated to it, will travel 

 without injury over the most stony roads, the feet acquiring 

 an unusual degree of hardness, and justifying, as well 

 as the practices of the ancients, the notion that the 

 shoe may in many cases, and under certain systems 

 of work, be entirely dispensed with. Many of the 

 islands, and among these Tirey and Coll, do not even 

 possess a shoeing smith. There is no regular system 

 of breeding for exportation, unless it be in Isla and 

 Jura ; and even in these it is not carried to any 

 extent. A few are taken from Sky and Mull by the 

 Irish, but they seem rather to be the last remains of those 

 which are fast becoming unnecessary for the country; 

 and which, though they may still be propagated for a 

 time till the improvements are fully adopted, will pro- 

 bably soon altogether cease to be produced. 



Asses and Mules are unknown in these islands, although 

 they would probably be found of use as substitutes for 

 horses, from their greater facility in feeding. 



Goats have nearly disappeared ; and the few that are 

 yet to be seen appertain generally to wealthy tenants, 

 rather as objects of variety or of amusement than profit. 



The neglect of swine appears a radical defect in the 

 farming systems of this country, since the sea shores 

 and the unlimited power of cultivating potatoes would 

 render them a valuable stock. I may also add, that 

 rabbits are absolutely unknown ; a neglect which is very 

 striking, since innumerable insular situations, capable of 

 being converted into warrens without expense, would 

 render them objects of profit in the commerce of peltry, 

 as well as a welcome addition to the meagre and limited 

 catalogue of a Highland tenant's food. 



