122 NORTH UIST. KELP MANUFACTURE. 



him to pay the rent, and he must find the money for 

 it by his labour, no advantage is gained if he is merely 

 to repay the money with one hand which he has re- 

 ceived in the other. He may in fact be considered as 

 a cottar, subject to the calls of his employer, not so 

 well situated perhaps, yet still as well as the state of 

 the country admits. It is even to be doubted whether, 

 in many cases, any thing short of this apparent com- 

 pulsion could overcome the natural indolence and aversion 

 to labour which, from whatever causes, is a strong feature 

 in the character of the unimproved Highlander. 



As far as relates to the details of this manufacture, 

 they seem to have been for some years past in a state 

 of rapid improvement, and to have attained on many 

 of the estates, in consequence of the attention of the 

 proprietors or their agents, all the perfection of which 

 they are susceptible. The time occupied in it, as I 

 before remarked, is about three months, namely June, 

 July, and August. Drift weed, thrown on the shores 

 by storms, and consisting chiefly of Fucus digitatus and 

 saccharinus, is used to a certain extent when fresh and 

 uninjured, but the greater part is procured by cutting 

 other plants of this tribe at low water.* The differences 

 in the declivity of the shores therefore, as well as in 

 their linear extent, and the greater or less rise of the 

 tide, together with more or less shelter from the pre- 

 valent surge, constitute the chief bases of the variations 

 of a kelp estate. Soda is well known to abound most 

 in the hardest Fuci, the serratus, digitatus, iiodosus, and 

 vesiculosus. On some estates they are cut biennially, on 

 others once in three years, nor does it seem to be as- 

 certained what are the relative advantages or disadvan- 



* The method of landing the weed after cutting is simple and 

 ingenious. A rope of heath or birch twigs is laid at low-water 

 beyond the portion cut, and the ends are brought up on the shore. 

 At high water, the whole being afloat together, the rope is drawn 

 at each end, and the included material is thus compelled at the 

 retiring tide to settle on the line of high-water mark. 



