478 RUM. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



liarly inimical ; no less than the almost incessant rains 

 are to their harvesting. To say that the badness of this 

 system is the effect of excessive population, may appear 

 surprising, when it is stated that the number of inhabitants 

 does not exceed 350 in an island of dimensions so con- 

 siderable. But being almost utterly unfitted for cultivation 

 and incapable of improvement, it is truly encumbered with 

 population ; a cause of suffering to the proprietor as well 

 as to the tenants themselves ; the former of whom might 

 raise a greater rent together with a greater produce from 

 an extensive system of sheep farming ; while the comforts 

 of the tenants could not fail to be improved by their 

 partial removal from a soil inadequate to their maintenance 

 under the present and only system of agriculture which 

 so divided and poor a tenantry is capable of pursuing. 



In consequence of its rainy climate and the favourable 

 nature of its rocks to the formation of springs, this island 

 gives rise to some perennial streams ; which, for a country 

 of so small an extent, are of considerable magnitude. 

 The two largest of these are at Harris, where they almost 

 meet from the opposite hills ; raging at times with great 

 fury, like the torrents of higher lands, and marking their 

 violence by an enormous accumulation of stones which 

 forms a great terrace near that village. This is the only 

 alluvial matter of any note in the island ; the remain ing- 

 rolled fragments consisting merely of such substances as 

 are annually detached from the mountains by the slow 

 but effectual operations of the weather. 



From Loch Scresort to Giurdil on the north side the 

 shores are skirted by low rocks or cliffs of moderate eleva- 

 tion, with two or three small beaches interposed, the 

 whole of this line being formed of sandstone. The re- 

 mainder of the coast, with similar exceptions, consists 

 of high cliffs, attaining in some places to an apparent 

 elevation of 400 feet, and formed of various rocks which 

 will be described in their places. On these shores the 

 western swell scarcely ever ceases to beat, so .that it is 



