( 



) 



Habits of the 

 fishermen then 

 ancl now. 



Improving Leases 

 granted in- 1776 

 and later. 



from this date to the end of the century, that is, dur- 

 ing the following two-and-twenty years, a great deal 

 had been done in dividing several farms into good- 

 sized separate possessions, and in clearing them of a 

 scattered surplus population, which was transplanted 

 where their labour would be available for a2"ricul- 

 ture and for fishing. The Duke had then also tried 

 to encourage the fisheries, by keeping men in his own 

 employment ; but this was a failure, as the men, being 

 independent of success, were idle and drunken. The 

 reporter, wishing to go out in a boat to try the fish- 

 ing, had found the Duke's fishermen so drunk that 

 they could not take him. I mention this circum- 

 stance, which occurred now more than a century ago, 

 because it enables me to record the fact of a signal 

 change for the better in the habits of the people. The 

 fishermen of Tyree are now as sober as they are in- 

 dustrious. Indeed, I question whether there is any 

 part of the Highlands where drunkenness is less 

 common — a result to which I hope and believe that 

 I have contributed something in never having granted 

 a site for any public-house to be established on the 

 Island. 



In the Leases given by the Duke, from 1776 on- 

 wards, I find that the erection of houses, and of march 

 fences in the form of dikes, was made, an obligation 

 on the tenants themselves, and that this kind of im- 

 provement was therefore done under specific agree- 

 ment that it w^as to be held as done for valuable con- 

 sideration received in the Lease, and in the moderate 

 rent off*ered and accepted. These Leases are farther 

 remarkable for the proof they afford, if, indeed, any 

 proof were needed, that it was solely by the influence 



