LUING. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 135 



LUING.* 



THIS island, associated with Seil by community of 

 external character and of position, as well as by geological 

 structure, is separated from it by an arm of sea scarcely 

 300 yards in breadth. It possesses similar relations to 

 Torsa and Shuna ; the whole forming a group which com- 

 bines with variety and intricacy, an extensive range of pic- 

 turesque and pleasing maritime scenery. The shore is 

 in general low, and the surface diversified with rocky emi- 

 nences, which often form interior cliffs of moderate altitude. 

 These prevail chiefly in the northern half of the island ; 

 a considerable degree of cultivation being found in the 

 intervals, fostered by the large population, which here, as 

 in Seil, is employed in the manufacture of Slates, f 



* See the map of the Slate isles. The section of Seil is equally appli- 

 cable to Luing, omitting the trap only, as will appear by comparing the 

 lines of bearing in the map. 



f The well known aversion of the Highlanders to steady labour is 

 such, that in Sky and in many other places, they cannot be employed in 

 quarrying ; for which purpose it has always been necessary to import 

 labourers from the low country. In this tract, bordering, comparatively, 

 on the Lowlands, that indolence has in a great measure given way to 

 industrious habits ; a proof that the same may in time be effected else- 

 where. 



This disposition may be presumed to arise in some degree from habits 

 acquired in tending cattle among the unenclosed corn; an occupation in 

 which the children are employed from an early age. A singular and 

 somewhat ludicrous example of it occurred recently, and I doubt not 

 that it will long remain to amuse future travellers. The house of a 

 small tenant lay across the intended line of a new road, which was 

 accordingly carried through it. Being of sufficient length to accommo- 

 date the road and the inmates also, according to their notions of accom- 

 modation, the proprietor was content to build a wall at each of the 

 separated ends, regardless of this Highland mode of ejectment; the rafters 

 and thatch continuing to dangle above the road. A southern traveller 

 may perhaps imagine that this house proves something more than High- 

 land indolence. 



