5o6 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



From their oats, the natives distilled their strong drinks. 

 Usquebaugh was the common liquor, but besides the 

 ordinary aqua-vita, they made another kind three times 

 distilled, which was called trestarig. This drink appealed 

 to those who liked their liquor strong and hot. But the 

 most fearsome kind of all was called usquebauh-baul y 

 which was usquebaugh four times distilled. Presumably 

 this was the favourite drink of those topers who scorned 

 the meaner joys of common usquebaugh, and even of 

 trestarig. Martin tells us that this drink was so strong, 

 that a dose exceeding two spoonfuls was sufficient to stop 

 the breath and endanger life itself; which we can well 

 believe. 



Whale hunts formed one of the excitements of the 

 Levvismen in Martin's time. One large species was known 

 as the Gallon whale, because it was never seen except off 

 Gallon Head on the west coast of Lewis. The custom 

 was to chase the whales into the bays, and there attack 

 them. When one was wounded mortally, it made for the 

 shore, whereupon the others, according to the natives, 

 usually followed the track of its blood and ran themselves 

 ashore likewise. Martin mentions that five years pre- 

 viously, fifty young whales had been so killed, and utilised 

 as food by the common people, who found it very nourish- 

 ing. They called it " sea-pork" and fattened upon it. 



Martin notes the immense quantity of shellfish in the 

 sands of the Broad Bay. He states that coral was to be 

 found in the lochs, especially in Loch Seaforth, and that 

 pearls had often been discovered in black mussels. Trout 

 and eels abounded in the fresh water lakes. In connexion 

 with the Barvas River, so famous for salmon, he mentions 

 the custom of sending a man very early on the first day of 

 May to cross the stream, in order to prevent a female 

 having the " first-footing " ; for, in the latter event, no fish 

 would come into the river all the year round. This 

 ungallant superstition is first related by Hector Boece ; 

 it is impossible to trace its origin, which appears to have 

 gone pretty far back. 



