302 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



discover that the Dutchmen who had settled in Stornoway 

 traded in tallow, butter, hides, skins, and plaiding a 

 respectable list of exports, which shows the comparative 

 capabilities of the island in those days as a centre of 

 export. Charged to appear to answer for his Dutch 

 dependents, Seaforth informed the Council that there were 

 only " ten or twelffe men " altogether.* So all this pother 

 was about a dozen inoffensive Dutchmen, who were doing 

 useful work by instructing the Stornowegians in the arts 

 of fishing and trading. But it is fair to the burghs to say, 

 that the few Dutchmen in Stornoway were evidently the 

 pioneers of a considerable influx. Furnaces and other 

 necessaries for making train oil had been imported into 

 the island, the enterprising foreigners having included a 

 whale fishery in their projects. The Council ordered 

 Seaforth not to add to his "ten or twelffe men," and 

 informed him that he would be answerable for any breach 

 of the laws committed by the latter. 



On Qth March, the discussion was renewed at a meeting 

 of the Council, the proposals of Seaforth and of Hay 

 being under consideration. Hay offered, on behalf of the 

 burghs, to people Stornoway with " natives onelie " ; a 

 proposal which suggests unpleasant reminiscences of the 

 Fife Adventurers. Unable to come to any decision, and 

 having in view the King's hint of an alternative scheme, 

 the Council, at their meeting, ten days later, determined 

 to refer the whole matter to the decision of Charles, with 

 the suggestion that he should pay regard to his own 

 interests, rather than to those of the contending parties, 

 neither of whom had substantiated their statements by 

 proofs. The whole of the arguments on both sides were 

 accordingly forwarded to London, together with the 

 famous charter. 



Seaforth followed his charter to London in order to 



* Capt. Dymes, who visited Lewis in 1630, states that besides seamen, 

 there were only seven Dutchmen, including the Agent of the Dutch merchants, 

 residing in Stornoway. They had built there "a pretty dwellinge house" 

 and a storehouse. 



