80 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI. 



class of inhabitants take but little trouble towards 

 earning their own livelihood. At whatever hour 

 of the day you go into a cottage you find the 

 whole family idling at home over the peat-fire. 

 The husband appears never to employ himself in 

 any way beyond smoking, taking snuff, or chewing 

 tobacco ; the women doing the same, or at the 

 utmost watching the boiling of a pot of potatoes ; 

 while the children are nine times out of ten crawling 

 listlessly afaout or playing with the ashes of the fire. 

 The Duke, having tried every plan that phil- 

 anthropy and reason could suggest, has now suc- 

 ceeded in opening their eyes to the advantage of 

 emigrating, and at a great expense sends numbers 

 yearly to Canada, where these very people, who at 

 home, in spite of every effort and encouragement, 

 drag on a life useless to themselves and burthensome 

 to others, when once settled in their new country, 

 put their shoulder to the wheel, and rapidly become 

 most independent and comfortable ; and instead of 

 seeing their children grow up in the midst of self- 

 imposed squalid misery, they see them become daily 

 more prosperous and thriving. Certainly, in this 

 rocky and sterile part of the country, it is difficult 

 for a cottager to advance himself. The soil is not 

 adapted for a numerous population; there is nothing 

 to feed mankind on : all or the greatest part of the 



