TRAVELLERS' ACCOUNTS. 503 



chalders of victual, 58 score of kine, 32 score of wethers 

 and a great quantity of fish, poultry, and white plaiding. 

 Thus were the people bled. The salmon were killed in 

 the shallow burns by sticks, that being the sole method 

 of salmon fishing known to the natives. References to the 

 Pigmies Isle, and to the sport afforded by the large number 

 of deer in Lewis, make up the remainder of this account 

 of the island. 



The next description of the Long Island is dated 1595, 



being included in a general account of the fighting strength 



i of the Hebrides, which seems to have been prepared for 



'the information of Queen Elizabeth; the document being 



in the handwriting of a clerk of Bowes, the English 



i Ambassador in Scotland. The author of this statement 



, apparently drew upon Dean Monro and the writer of 



| (circa) 1580 for some of his facts. We learn from his 



account that Ruari Macleod, "an old man famous for the 



massacring of his own kinsmen," was alive in 1595. The 



document is valuable in some respects, but throws little 



t light upon the social or economic conditions of the islands. 



A most interesting and useful account of Lewis is given 



! by an Englishman, Captain John Dymes, who was sent to 



khe island in 1630 to make a report upon it, in connexion 



with the great fishery scheme of Charles I. He deals with 



the climate, the natural features, the agricultural methods, 



Ithe language, religion, superstitions, system of land tenure, 



i products, and particularly the fisheries, of the island; and 



| the value of his account is enhanced by the fact that he 



i was an observer who was unprejudiced by pre-conceived 



notions. A copy of his valuable report is appended to 



this history. (See Appendix F.) 



During the Cromwellian period, various communications 

 relative to Lewis were sent to the Protector, the gist of 

 which is embodied in the text ; the information which they 

 convey in respect of the internal economy of the island is 

 unimportant. The notes to Blaeu's well-known map of 

 1654* are simply extracts from Dean Monro's description. 



* This map incorporates the surveys of Timothy Pont (1609). 



