TRAVELLERS' ACCOUNTS. 505 



Seaforth (Kenneth Og) is praised for his " industrious care 

 and benevolence " towards the people, who, formerly in- 

 clined to " rudeness and barbarity," had been civilised and 

 educated by means of the flourishing school opened in 

 Stornoway by the ruling family. The Pigmies Isle claims 

 the attention of John Morison, who scoffs at the tradition 

 associated with it, and states that the bones must be those 

 of the small fowls which abounded at Ness. 



A contemporary of Morison, whose name is unknown, 

 gives a short account of Lewis, the accuracy of which is, 

 however, not very convincing. His statement that the deer 

 in the great forest had two tails, makes one suspect him 

 of Munchausen tendencies. He himself had two tales : 

 a plain unvarnished one, which we may accept, and an 

 ornamental one which we must reject. In the former 

 category may be placed his brief account of historic events 

 connected with the island, and his description of the island 

 confirmed by other writers ; in the latter, must be placed 

 his list of the parishes (of which he names no less than 

 eight), as well as his wonderful deer, and his fish with four 

 feet like a lizard. His statement that in the year 1585, 

 3,000 large salmon were taken out of the Barvas River, may 

 also possibly be classed with the exaggerated number of 

 his parishes. 



The well-known account of the Outer Hebrides (circa 

 1700) by Martin Martin, a native of Skye, is the next in 

 chronological order, and in some respects it is the most 

 valuable of all. He says that Lewis was reputed very 

 fruitful for corn, until recent years of scarcity and bad 

 seasons. Barley, oats, and rye, were the crops sown, and 

 to these are now added, for the first time, flax and hemp. 

 The ground manured by seaweed yielded the best results. 

 Soot was also used as a fertiliser, but it was believed that 

 the bread obtained from the corn so manured gave rise to 

 jaundice. Five hundred people were employed daily for 

 some months preparing the soil. Small harrows with 

 wooden teeth were used, each harrow being drawn by a 

 man having a strong rope of horse-hair across his breast. 



