( 44 ) 



fishermen ti loan to enable them to provide a new 



boat of the same class ; and I hope this may soon be 



Construction of eflfected. I regret to add that the advice of the most 



safe har our i - gj^-jj^^j^^ cnmneers does not encourao;e me to believe 



cult, if not iinpos- o ^ 



Bible. that on the open and stormy shores of Tyree — exposed 



everywhere to a tremendous surf — it would be possible 

 to construct an)' really safe harbour at any moderate, 

 or indeed almost at any cost. 

 Cottars are remains I have said that the cottar population of Tyree is 

 cro^lfn^p^oS ^^^ detritus of the old subdivided crofting population ; 

 and principally of but I ought to have added that it is also in great 

 and kd^p4)^uridng^ measure the remains of the old kelp-burning or kelp- 

 population, gathering population, which had once been so lucra- 

 tively employed. And in connection with this subject, 

 I have to relate to the Commission some circumstances 

 Facts as to rise of which exhibit in a very striking light the fact — 

 class. ° too often forgotten — that the wages of the labouring 

 classes generally depend on influences to which they 

 themselves contribute nothing. There are, perhaps, 

 no sources of income so entirely due to the general 

 progress of society, or very often to the brains and 

 inventiveness of other men, as the opportunities of 

 labour. The circumstances to which I refer are these. 

 The kelp trade had entirely ceased long before the 

 potato failure of 1846. A few tons were occasionally 

 bought at a trifling price by some manufacturer in 

 Glasgow, but as any important resource to the popu- 

 lation in the earning of wages it had entirely failed. 

 Origin of the Sea- It Avas under these circumstances that, tw^enty-one 

 xveed Company. ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^p^, ^£ ^1^^ ,. Pharmaceutical Journal of 



London " came under my notice, which contained an 

 interesting paper on the products of seaweed. In 

 this paper it was shown, as it seemed to me to de- 



