144 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



rNo.3 



roads, raising plantations, working mines, estab- 

 lishing inns tor the accommodation of travellers, 

 constructing harbors, and opening up nevv chan- 

 nels tor the extension of commerce and manufac- 

 tures. 



Great difficulties were at first experienced in 

 improving the roads in the county of Caithness, the 

 soil being either of clay or peal, and the materials 

 for making or mending them of a softish quality. 

 Sir John, however, got Government interested in 

 the undertaking; and perhaps the greatest exertion 

 ever made in road-making in Scotland was when 

 he had 1270 irien em|)loyed at one time, along the 

 side of the hill of JJennichiel, and laid down six, 

 miles in one day. Nor was the situation of Caith- 

 ness more favourably adapted Jor the growth of 

 plantations, being a promontory, two-thirds of 

 which are surrounded by the sea, whose spraj^ is 

 so injurious to the growth of trees. Add to this, 

 that the soil of a great part of it lies on a fiat rock, 

 preventing the roots from penetrating to a proper 

 depth. Attempts were however made, with con- 

 siderable success in many places that seemed of 

 little promise ; and, in the parts adjoining Suther- 

 land, on the eastern coast, not less than 320,000 

 Scotch firs, besides 22,000 larches, ashs, mountain 

 ashs, elms, and sycamores, were thriving in situa- 

 tions which at one time appeared destined to per- 

 petual sterility and bleakness. 



In the fisheries, a new source of wealth and in- 

 dustry was opened up to the inhabitants ; and they, 

 to this moment, continue, as all know, in a most 

 thriving state. Indeed, no district in the British 

 dominions is better calculated for that branch of 

 commerce, there being above forty different varie- 

 ties of fish, either in the fresh waters of the county 

 or in the adjacent seas. The greater part of the 

 cod with which the London market is supplied, is 

 taken almost within sight of the town of Thurso, 

 and the fishing-snmcks employed for the purpose 

 rendezvous at Scrabster Road, in its immediate 

 neighborhood. The most important branch of the 

 fishery, however, is that of herrings, which are 

 cured for home or foreign consumption. Sir John 

 Sinclair early foresaw the extent to which these 

 fisheries might and would be carried; as also their 

 vital importance to the prosperity of Caithness. 

 So early as 1787, he induced the Messrs. Fall of 

 Dunbar to re-establish the cod-fishery, which had 

 been nearly abandoned for many years; and he 

 furnished capital to John Sutherland of Wester, 

 and to John Anderson of Wick, to enable them to 

 commence a herring-fishery on the east coast, 

 which ultimately proved so successful as to liave 

 yielded, in one year, above 200,000 barrels. 



Sir John also procured public aid for increasing 

 harbor accommodation; and, at the expense of 

 £12,000, that of Wick was completed. An act 

 was also obtained for constructing the harbor of 

 Thurso, which if completed vvoulil prove so bene- 

 ficial to the neighborhood. From the sale of the 

 surplus produce of the farmer, an incitement was 

 given to commerce; and while he wa* accumulat- 

 ing capital wherewith to improve his stock, the 

 quality of his grain, and his implements of hus- 

 bandry, as well as increase his domestic comforts, 

 his intercourse with the trader tended to mutual 

 prosperity and enlightenment. The commerce, 

 which had hitherto been insignificant, and consist- 

 ed chiefly of grain, cattle, and fish, rapidly increas- 

 ed; and a trade has been opened up, not only with 

 the Baltic, but with the West India Islands. 



Tanneries have been erected, bleachfields laid 

 down, and woollen manufactories established. 



Impressed with the idea, that wherever a num- 

 ber ol inhabitants are collected together, they fur- 

 nish a market for agricultural produce, which of 

 .course increases with the demand. Sir John used 

 every exertion to enlarge the town of Thurso, at 

 that time containing sixteen hundred inhabitants. 

 It was, however, very irregularly built, and in 

 some parts so crowded as to be jirejudicial to the 

 health of the people. He therefore resolved on 

 Jayihg down the plan of a New Town, to be built 

 regularly, and in which he consulted both beauty 

 and convenience. How well this has succeeded 

 the reader need scarcely be reminded. Its situa- 

 tion lor commerce is admirable, being within a tew 

 hours sail of the German and Atlantic Oceans; 

 and nothing can surpass its convenience for fishe- 

 ries, that great source of northern wealth. It is 

 pleasing to think, that almost by the unaided en- 

 terprise of one mind, what was in the memory of 

 man the bare bank of a Highland river, is now a 

 flourishing town, with its churches and market- 

 places, its boarding-schools and academies, its 

 shops and warehouses; that the silence and the 

 solitude is now filled with the hum of human life, 

 and that elegance and comfort have taken the 

 place of those necessities, which chained down 

 man to an estate so much beneath his physical ca- 

 pabilities, as well as his immortal destiny. 



Such is a meager and general outline of the 

 improvements which Sir John Sinclair planned, 

 attempted, and successfully carried into execution, 

 in the shire of Caithness. Let it be remembered, 

 that when he succeeded to his estate, the whole 

 county might be said to be in a state of nature. 

 The tenantry had not a single cart in their posses- 

 sion; and, even if they had, there was not a single 

 road anywhere. Fvery article, not exceptincr ma- 

 nure, was carried on horseback, and the ground 

 was almost everywhere cultivated on the common 

 field, or alternate ridge system. So numerous 

 were the disadvantages under which his improve- 

 ments — by many they were considered mere in- 

 novations — were commenced, that they would 

 have daunted and cooled a spirit of ordinary' ener- 

 gy and enterprise. He had not only to arrange 

 plans, but he had to provide the adequate capital 

 tor carrying these into execution. He had not 

 only to procure from other districts the hands re- 

 quisite for various branches of the intended sys- 

 tem of improvement, but he had to overcome the 

 prejudices, many and deep-rooted, of the natives 

 themselves, and stimulate them to worth}' exer- 

 tion. All this wav carried on in the midst of a fo- 

 reign war, which diminished the number of labor- 

 ers, cheeked circulation in the remote provinces, 

 and augmented public burdens, already but too 

 severely lelt. How successfully, however, may 

 be attested by comparing the population census of 

 the kingdom in 1810 with that of 1820. It will 

 there be seen, that the proportionate increase is 

 greater in Caithness than in any county in the 

 British empire; and not only was the population 

 numerically greater, but one of a very difli^rent 

 kind, from what had inhabited these shores in 

 previous generations. Enterprise, industry, mo- 

 rality, and religion, went hand in hand together. 

 The coasts were occupied by extensive fisheries ; 

 and the soil, allowing lor difli'rence of climate, ex- 

 liibiled as excellent, and as skillul management, 

 as the most celebrated districts ol the Lothians. 



