94 SOUTH UIST. AGRICULTURE. 



sequence off their height, subject to many showers from 

 which the remainder of the island is exempt. 



With a general resemblance to Barra in the nature and 

 disposition of its surface, considered as a subject of agri- 

 Culture, South Uist presents some differences. The belt 

 of sand on the west is more continuous and better defined, 

 while the middle region is a tract of moory flat ground 

 separating the sandy soil from the mountainous district. 



The sandy region presents a most desolate appearance 

 when the crops are removed and it has assumed its winter 

 dress ; but, like Coll, it is enlivened in spring with a pro- 

 fusion of clover and other wild flowers, which give it an 

 aspect of cheerfulness and a brilliancy of colour to be found 

 no where but on the sandy tracts of these islands. Barley, 

 oats, rye, and potatoes, are cultivated throughout the 

 whole, by the assistance of sea-weed and the ordinary 

 manures.* Portions of the middle tract are also in cul- 

 tivation where the ground is firm and naturally drained by 

 means of the lakes which are scattered in profusion 

 throughout it : the remainder is a gloomy extent of black 

 peat, but like the middle soils of these islands in general, 

 is undergoing a gradual amelioration from the diffusion of 

 the blowing sand along its surface. Beyond this tract 

 towards the east, the ground rises into low subsidiary hills 

 skirting the higher mountains. These are deeply covered 

 with peat, which is however, like the middle district, 

 naturally drained by means of cuts produced from the flow- 

 ing of the surface waters ; and they are thus rendered 

 capable of cultivation, holding out at present the chief 

 temptation to general and lasting improvements. 



* There is a sort of cultivation occasionally seen on the sea-shores of 

 the Highlands at which a stranger will be much surprised. Sea-weed is 

 strewed on the shingle above the high-water mark, and on it is sown 

 bulky (bear). As it disappears during the growth of the corn, the crop 

 is in harvest time seen covering a surface of pure rounded pebbles of 

 or granite without a vestige of soil. 



