386 Droves of Cattle destined to no Market. 



the produce of thirty thousand acres; employing 

 one hundred and seventy thousand persons." * 



We had ten miles of very mountainous 

 country to Castle Isle, where we expected to 

 meet with some comforts, but in which we were 

 grievously disappointed. Bad as inns have 

 sometimes been, Castle Isle is ten times worse. 

 In the course of the day we had met several 

 droves of cattle, destined to no specific market, 

 but travelling through the country for sale. 

 The owners of these beasts ought to be en- 

 dowed with an uncommon share of patience 

 to wait the tardy disposal of such numbers to 

 individual customers, with whom no competi- 

 tion would be found to quicken the market. A 

 number of goats, mostly coupled together to pre- 

 vent their depredations, are kept by the cottiers ; 

 these browse on the scanty herbage of a most 

 deplorable looking country, in which but few 

 enclosures are to be seen. The constant pre- 

 sence of water renders the crops very poor and 

 stunted ; even the grass, in some of the meadows 

 which we saw cutting, would scarcely cover the 

 scythe. Draining here, which might be ac- 

 complished by a certain advance of capital, 

 would amply repay the proprietor. Lord Eardly, 

 of course an absentee, is not likely to further 



* Campbell's Political Survey. 



