THE STORNOWAY CUSTOM HOUSE. 423 



Lochiel of the " '45 " the misery resulting to his clan from 

 the rising, caused him the most poignant grief. 



In the year 1732, an attempt was made to close the 

 Custom House in Stornoway and transfer it to Glenelg. 

 The moving spirit seems to have been Norman Macleod of 

 Harris (grandson of Ian Breac) who, in a letter to John 

 Forbes of Culloden " toothless John Forbes " as he calls 

 him refers to a conversation which he had with Culloden 

 on the subject.* The ostensible reason for the proposed 

 transfer was the prevalence of smuggling on the coast of 

 Skye and Glenelg ; but, in a memorial presented a few 

 months later by the Commissioners of Customs in Scotland 

 to the Treasury, a different cause is assigned. The memorial 

 in question gives a curious instance of boycotting, as prac- 

 tised in Stornoway in those days. The Comptroller who 

 had recently been appointed to Stornoway, had received 

 instructions to exercise special care, that no debentures (i.e, 

 the certificates entitling exporters to a drawback on certain 

 goods which had paid duty) should be issued for greater 

 sums than the merchants were entitled to receive. Accord- 

 ingly, he refused to grant a debenture for a parcel of fish, 

 said to have been exported, because neither he nor any of 

 his subordinates had seen the fish shipped. The people of 

 the island " made him so uneasy and intimidated him so 

 far, as forced him to leave the place after a short stay 

 there." 



The memorial goes on to say that Stornoway was not 

 entitled to the privileges of a " port," or a " creek " which 

 was inferior to a " port " having never been set out as such 

 by a commission from the Court of Exchequer. Officers 

 were stationed there only for the convenience of fish ex- 

 porters during the fishing season. It was pointed out 

 that this object would be better met if the officers resided 

 at Bernera, in Glenelg, opposite Skye, " and adjacent to the 

 several lakes and creeks where the greatest resort is for 

 fishing," and where a constant garrison was kept, " which 



* Culloden Papers, pp. 128-9. 



