SEA-WEEDS. 103 



burn. They thus formed cakes of ashes, which 

 were in this state sold; and Dr. Drummond 

 remarked a few years since, that almost the entire 

 rent of the Island of Ratlin, on the northern 

 coast of Ireland, was paid from the produce of 

 sea- weeds ; and added, that from this source alone, 

 the rents of a Highland chief had of late years 

 increased 2,000 1. per annum. The picture drawn 

 by his brother, Dr. William Drummond, of the 

 Highlanders engaged in that occupation, is such as 

 to make us feel regret for that individual injury, 

 almost always sustained on the accession of any 

 public benefit. He thus describes them : 



" A race inured to toil severe, 

 Of manners simple, and of heart sincere; 

 Sons of the rock, and nurslings of the surge, 

 Around the kiln their daily labours urge ; 

 O'er the dried weed the smoky volume coils, 

 And deep beneath, the precious kali boils.'* 



The growth of these sea-weeds is remarkably 

 rapid, so that in a few months they will cover 

 with a dark vegetation the barren rocks on the 

 shore over which the white sea-wave dashes. So 

 readily do they increase, that on some parts of the 

 coast where the plants are not naturally abun- 

 dant, they have been raised by merely placing 

 stones at intervals, close to the sea. In a short 

 time these sea-weeds yielded to their owner a 

 plentiful crop. Scotland and its adjacent islands 

 are stated, at one time, to have furnished no less 

 than 20,000 tons annually of kelp, made from the 

 coarse marine plants. 



An anecdote related by Neill, is quoted by 

 Dr. Greville, and, indeed, by many writers on 

 sea-weeds, and well illustrates their rapid growth. 



