120 NORTH UIST. KELP MANUFACTURE. 



statement; that while the whole of Loch Maddy is com- 

 prised within an area of nine square miles or less, its 

 shores have been found by measurement to extend two 

 hundred. These shores abound in those Fuci which are 

 used in the making of kelp, the annual produce of 

 this inlet alone being 300 tons. The cutting is chiefly 

 triennial, and the quantity of sea weed required to produce 

 this proportion of kelp is upwards of 7200 tons. Loch 

 Evort covers a space nearly equal to that occupied by 

 Loch Maddy, and its sinuosities are equally remarkable. 



HAVING mentioned the kelp of Loch Maddy, I may 

 extend the remarks on this manufacture for a few lines ; 

 since it is almost the only one which may be said to 

 exist in the islands, and since its establishment, although 

 but recent, has made so material an addition to the 

 value of these estates, and to the demand for labour. 

 The total produce of the Western islands in kelp varies 

 from 5000 to 6000 tons, of which two thirds are the 

 produce of the Long Island ^ the result of its highly 

 indented shores, and of the consequent extent of surface, 

 as well as of the superior tranquillity of the waters in 

 which the plants grow. The variations in the price of 

 this article, resulting from the varying competition of 

 foreign commerce, are very considerable; and as the 

 total expense of manufacture has been estimated on an 

 average at 5 per ton, a considerable deduction must, 

 in calculating the profit, be made from the market 

 price, which at the time of my last visit was 10.* A 

 great increase in the supply of foreign barilla, or the 

 disco veiy of the long attempted problem to decompose 

 sea salt by a cheap process, would destroy this most 

 precarious source of profit; since the interests concerned 



* That price has occasionally varied even to 20, causing differences 

 of serious amount in the value of these estates. 



