NORTH UIST. ALLUVIA. 135 



of the evil, and of those of its remedy: while he is 

 damming the stream at one aperture, it escapes him 

 at another; such is the slippery nature of political 

 economy. 



The labour of making peat is in truth an evil which 

 it would be most desirable to see remedied; since it 

 occupies a great portion of the summer, employs many 

 hands in the making, and many animals in the carriage ; 

 while even all the labour which can be commanded is 

 sometimes insufficient to procure an adequate supply. It 

 is estimated at a third of the total expense of the farm; 

 an estimate probably in some cases not beyond the truth. 

 In this island however, and generally through the Long 

 Island, the vicinity of the peat, together with its compact 

 quality and goodness, renders it a much cheaper article. 



HAVING mentioned alluvial gravel as being found under 

 the peat in North Uist, I may proceed to remark that 

 considerable alluvia are to be observed on the surface 

 in various parts of this island ; considerable at least, when 

 compared with their almost total absence in the southern 

 islands of the range. These are independent of any 

 present flow of water, and are found either occupying 

 the declivities of the hills, or forming small elevations 

 over different parts of the surface. They are accompanied 

 by an occasional decomposed state of the rock, an occur- 

 rence, as we have seen, scarcely to be remarked in the 

 southern islands, and one, from which have undoubtedly 

 arisen the deposits of clay and soil already mentioned. 

 This indeed is not the only circumstance that marks 

 in North Uist the action of causes which the southern 

 islands appear to have escaped. A group of small islands 

 lies in the entrance of Loch Maddy, the nearest of them 

 being a mile from any shore, and the sea which separates 

 them varying from seven to fifteen fathoms in depth. 

 Yet on the surface of some of these is accumulated 

 a thick bed of alluvial clay and rubbish ; sufficient 



