142 HAMPTON. 



improved. This foil clay without much ftonc. 

 In its rough ftate worth only 5s. an acre to 

 remain fo, but the Baron paid 16s. 6d. The 

 ftrft year's expenfe was, crop included, iol. 

 an acre, now worth 20s. to 28s, an acre. 



The Baron carried me to Balbriggen, a little 

 fea port of his, which owes its being to his care 

 and attention. It fubfifts by its fiihing boats, 

 which he builds; has 23 of them, each carry- 

 ing 7 men, who are not paid wages, but di- 

 vide the produce of their fifhery. The veffel 

 takes one fhare, and the hands one each, which 

 amounts on an average to 1 6s. a week. A 

 boat cofts from 130I. to 200I. fitted out ready 

 for the fifhery: they make their own nets. 

 The port owes its exiftence to a very fiae pier 

 which Baron Hamilton built, within which 

 fhips of 200 tons can lay their broad fides, 

 and unload in the quay. Such veffels bring 

 coals and culm from Wales, &c. The bafe of 

 the pier is 1 8 feet thick, and on the outfide is 

 a confiderable rampart of great fragments of 

 rock, funk to defend the pier againft the waves. 

 In moving thefe huge ftones, fome of which 

 w r eigh 8 or 10 ton, the Baron made ufe of a 

 contrivance which deferves to be generally 

 known. They are fpread along the fhore, be- 

 tween high and low water mark, but to get 

 them to the place where wanted was a very 

 difficult bufinefs. He laflied puncheons to 

 them at low water, which floated them when 

 the tide came in, and conveyed them over the 

 fpot where wanted; but in difengaging the 

 calks from the ftone to fink the latter, he often 



had 



