98 SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. PART VII. 



condition of those counties which immediately bordered 

 the wild Highland districts, the inhabitants of which 

 regarded the Lowlands as their lawful prey. The only 

 method by which security of a certain sort could be ob- 

 tained for their property was by the payment of black- 

 mail to some of the principal caterans ; though this 

 was not sufficient to protect them against the lesser ma- 

 rauders. Regular contracts were drawn up between 

 proprietors in the counties of Perth, Stirling, and Dum- 

 barton, and the Macgregors, in which it was stipulated 

 that if less than seven cattle were stolen which pecca- 

 dillo was styled picking no redress should be required ; 

 but if the number stolen exceeded seven such amount 

 of theft being termed lifting then the Macgregors be- 

 came bound to recover. This blackmail was regularly 

 levied as far south as Campsie then within six miles 

 of Glasgow, but now almost forming part of it down 

 to within a few months of the outbreak of the rebellion 

 of 1745. 1 Under such circumstances agricultural im- 

 provement was impossible. Another evil was, that the 

 lawless habits of their neighbours tended to make the 

 Lowland farmers almost as ferocious as the Highlanders 

 themselves. Feuds were of constant occurrence between 

 neighbouring baronies, and even contiguous parishes ; 

 and the county fairs, which were tacitly recognised as 

 the occasions for settling quarrels, were the scenes of as 



thought themselves very well dressed 

 for going to church on Sunday with a 

 black kelt-coat of their wife's making. 

 The distresses and poverty felt in the 

 country continued till about the year 

 1735. During these times, when 

 potatoes were not generally raised 

 (having been only introduced into 

 the stewartry in 1725), there was, 

 for the most part, a great scarcity of 

 food, bordering on famine ; for, in the 

 whole of Kirkcudbright and Dum- 

 fries, there was not as much victual 

 produced as was necessary for the 

 supply of the inhabitants ; and the 

 chief part of what was required for 



that purpose was brought from the 

 Sandbeds of Esk, in tumbling cars, 

 to Dumfries; and when the waters 

 were high by reason of spates, and 

 there being no bridges so that these 

 cars could not come with the meal, I 

 have seen the tradesmen's wives in 

 the streets of Dumfries crying, be- 

 cause there was none to be got." 

 Letter of John Maxwell, in Appendix 

 to MacDiarmid's ' Picture of Dum- 

 fries.' Edinburgh, 1832. 



1 ' Farmer's Magazine :' ' Account 

 of the Husbandry of Stirlingshire,' 

 No. xxxiv., p. 198. 



