BARRA. FISHERIES. ?l 



a mixture of peat and sand, and near the shores, of sand only ; 

 while the hills offer nothing to the eye but a motley mixture 

 of peat and rocks, affording but scanty pasture to the black 

 cattle which form the chief agricultural wealth of the island. 



THE rocky shores abound with fish, principally ling ; in 

 the pursuit of which the inhabitants are very industrious. 

 When cured they are carried by the fishermen themselves 

 to Greenock, and in this way much time is unprofitably 

 occupied ; an evil, which a greater extension of the fishery 

 and a proper commercial arrangement would easily remedy. 

 But society here is not yet advanced to the state that 

 admits of those arrangements ; and to this want is in part 

 owing the very inadequate manner in which fishing is con- 

 ducted along many parts of this productive shore. The 

 impediments arising from the want of commercial arrange- 

 ments, and the deficiency of capital, are not, however, 

 universal in the maritime Highlands ; as establishments 

 under the direction of capitalists, exist iii various parts of 

 the western coast, and are followed by the results that 

 might naturally be anticipated. 



To the preceding causes must be added the difficulty 

 of reconciling the often incompatible pursuits of farming 

 and fishing ; the most active season of the fishery being 

 frequently that where the attention of the fisherman is also 

 required at home, to conduct the operations of agriculture, 

 on which he must still depend for the chief part of his 

 subsistence. It is obvious that the state of the country 

 is not such as to admit of a ready or constant market for 

 immediate consumption, which is therefore limited to the 

 families of the fishermen themselves. Under these circum- 

 stances, there can be no effectual or extensive fishery, nor 

 any endeavours to take more than is required for domestic 

 use ; unless where the small fishermen are enabled to salt 

 and retain their several stocks, till they accumulate so as 

 to render them sufficient for a distant market. To the 

 natural impediments arising from want of capital, by which 

 this is checked, must be added the difficulties inevitably 



