THE HIGHLANDS. 321 



Better the proud poverty of their heather and their pris- 

 tine idleness. 



There would have been some hope of being able to 

 overcome these impediments, over which time, in all feudal 

 countries, had triumphed, had there not been in this case 

 a peculiar difficulty which rendered success absolutely 

 impossible. Although scanty in numbers, as compared 

 to the extent of their country, the Highlands counting no 

 more than from two hundred and fifty to three hundred 

 thousand inhabitants upon nearly ten millions of acres, 

 population was still too dense for the productive powers 

 of the soil. However inured to fasting, the Highlanders 

 were decimated by famines, and it frequently happened 

 that they bled their half-starved cattle in order to feed 

 upon the blood. Although the population had been 

 ever so laborious, it could only have succeeded, while 

 remaining thus numerous, in feeding itself a little better, 

 without saving anything ; and if in some parts a better 

 culture appeared practicable, it was of no use attempting 

 this while the neighbouring districts were in possession of 

 the ancient clans ; for neither crop nor cattle could escape 

 the plunder which old habits sanctioned. 



Thus it was that the Highland chiefs came gradually 

 to the conclusion that it was impossible to make any- 

 thing of their mountains but by depopulating them. From 

 that time they have not ceased endeavouring, first by 

 indirect means, and then openly and by force, to dimin- 

 ish that population which their ancestors, for purposes of 

 warfare, had multiplied. 



The English government, with some tact, encouraged 

 these proceedings. They began by holding out attractions 

 to the chiefs to come to London, in order to wear off, by 

 degrees, their national feelings, and to instil into them new 

 ideas and habits. Then, after persuading them that the 



