4 38 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



illustrations of the quaint methods adopted in fixing 

 boundaries, one of which was to bury charcoal at a con- 

 siderable depth in the line of march ; charcoal being em- 

 ployed on account of its imperishable properties. Inci- 

 dentally, the evidence in this case bears out the fact, that 

 kelp was manufactured in Harris at an earlier period 

 than in Lewis.* 



The lawsuit between the proprietors of Lewis and 

 Harris dragged on for years, and it was not until the 

 case went to the House of Lords, after interlocutors of 

 the Court of Session which failed to satisfy Seaforth, that 

 the dispute was finally settled. 



The last Lord Seaforth was in some respects the most 

 remarkable man of his race. In early life, he served in 

 the navy, and during an engagement with the French, 

 while he was suffering from a fever, the noise of the 

 cannon totally deprived him of his hearing. In spite of 

 this serious disability, from which he did not wholly 

 recover during his lifetime, he was a man of varied 

 activities. He represented the County of Ross in Parlia- 

 ment, and for six years was Governor of Barbadoes, 

 where he distinguished himself by his efforts to put down 

 the slave trade. In his dealings with his tenantry, he 

 showed a spirit of patriarchism at its best, which formed 

 a marked contrast to the commercialism of most of the 

 Highland landlords. He had an offer for his Loch Carron 

 property from some Lowland sheep farmers, who were 

 ready to take the land on lease, at double the existing 

 rental. Seaforth's reply was, that he would neither let 

 his lands for sheep pasture, " nor turn out his people 

 upon any consideration, or for any rent that could be 

 offered." "A sentimentalist," sneers the political econo- 

 mist. A few more sentimentalists like this noble chief 

 would have saved many parts of the Highlands from 

 being the desolate tracts which they are to-day. In 



* "Sixty-one" mentions in his Reminiscences that the question of bounda- 

 ries between Lewis and Harris was being settled while he was in Lewis 

 (about 1851). 



