NORTH UIST. KELP MANUFACTURE. 121 



in it are too few, and the total advantages too insig- 

 nificant, to claim the protection of restrictive laws. In 

 general, it may be remarked, that the kelp is reserved 

 by the proprietor, and manufactured on his account; 

 a very questionable piece of policy in some points of 

 view. A large portion of the population is employed 

 for the three summer months in the manufacture, which 

 is so laborious and severe as to have no parallel in 

 this country; certainly at least, not at the same rate 

 of wages. This labour has been called compulsory, and 

 in one sense it may be considered a servitude, since 

 it is generally the condition of tenure and either the 

 whole or a portion of the rent by which the tenant 

 holds his farm. If he were a free labourer, it is often 

 said, he would not engage in so disagreeable a task. 

 But this, although abstractedly a painful view, is a false 

 one, and is unjust as it regards the proprietors of 

 estates; though casual visitors may be sometimes in- 

 clined to think that Highland proprietors have not yet 

 forgotten their ancient habits of unrestricted sovereignty. 

 It is a case of competition, and is the natural result of 

 excess of population, combined with the absence of 

 that proper and necessary division in an agricultural 

 system which creates a class of independent labourers. 

 The tenant must pay a fine for his farm, and he knows 

 the price which he has to pay. That rent which he 

 cannot procure by his surplus produce, he must pay 

 by his labour, and as the system does not admit 

 of a steady demand for work, he must labour when 

 he can obtain it. An efficient and steady demand for 

 labour might indeed affect the rate of wages, but it 

 would scarcely leave the labourer the choice of refusing 

 to work in the manufacture of kelp when called on. 

 He might imagine himself free, his wages might possibly 

 be greater, but still he must work wherever there is 

 work for him. It is plain moreover in this case, that 

 as the surplus produce of his farm does not enable 



