176 LEWIS. SOIL. 



general irregular level of the country. Still further north 

 is seen the similarly rounded and low hill of Munach, 

 owing its importance, like the former, to the almost level 

 surface of the land by which it is surrounded. In the 

 vicinity of the southern group both Munach and Barvas 

 would be undistinguishable. With the exceptions now 

 mentioned, the whole land of Lewis from the termina- 

 tion of the southern group to the Butt, is low, partaking 

 of an irregular undulation in the vicinity of the hills, and 

 subsiding into an uneven table land towards the northern 

 extremity. 



The soil varies as the elevations change. While the 

 summits and sides of the high hills are naked and rocky, 

 the plain land is clothed with a thick bed of peat, obscur- 

 ing almost every where the rocky substratum, or only 

 suffering it to break through in occasional protuberances. 

 The aspect of this interior level is that of an universal, 

 desolate, brown moor; pastured in the summer months, 

 and in the winter almost impassable to man or animals. * 

 Towards the sea, as is generally the case, green pastures 

 are found, and here also some tracts of alluvial land of 

 considerable extent occur, affording an excellent soil. 

 The best of this land lies at the northern extremity, and, 

 wherever situated, it is the sole receptacle of the great 

 population by which the Lewis like the rest of the Long 

 Island is crowded, may I add, encumbered. 



* The deserted state of this tract is the result of its barren surface, 

 but in general the present uninhabited parts of the Highlands have 

 been unavoidably reduced to that condition by the system of sheep- 

 farming. Thus many of them have been rendered nearly or altogether 

 inaccessible to a traveller, from the want of houses where he may 

 obtain shelter. It is not uncommon now to go thirty miles or more 

 without seeing the trace of human existence. To the solitary wanderer, 

 the deserted patch of green land in the mountains, or the abandoned 

 valley with its ruined huts, presents an aspect peculiarly melancholy ; 

 while he is often at a loss to explore his way, the tracks which for- 

 merly conducted to those villages having been effaced by want 

 of use. 



