5io HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



used as salt in preserving mackerel. Lochmaddy, where 

 in the memory of living man four hundred sail had been 

 loaded with herrings, was now deserted by fishing boats ; 

 and there was not a herring net in the whole of North 

 Uist. White fish, however, abounded, and herrings were 

 occasionally caught by handlines. Cloth-waulking was 

 practised on the Island of Borera, and Martin mentions 

 that an Englishman, who chanced upon a number of 

 women so engaged, to the accompaniment of their weird 

 waulking-songs, thought he had entered a lunatic asylum. 

 Seals were killed in large numbers, their flesh being used 

 as food, and their skins, cut into long pieces, for plough 

 traces. A girdle of sealskin round the waist was believed 

 to be a cure for sciatica. Shipments of beef were sent to 

 Glasgow, whence it was exported to India in barrels. The 

 birds of North Uist, its damp climate, the prevalent dis- 

 eases and their cures, the hospitality of the natives, their 

 horse-races at Michaelmas,* with some curious attendant 

 circumstances ; these are all touched upon with more or 

 less detail. The inhabitants, with a solitary exception, 

 were all Protestants. 



The accounts of Benbecula and South Uist are less 

 comprehensive. The natives of South Uist were noted for 

 the purity of their Gaelic. The old people of the island, 

 especially the women, still wore the ancient dress, a des- 

 cription of which, unfortunately, is not given. Seven 

 churches in South Uist are named. The inhabitants of 

 Benbecula and South Uist were all Roman Catholics, with 

 the exception of sixty Protestants in the latter island. 

 They were a hospitable people, but apparently a certain 

 amount of religious bitterness disturbed the harmony of 

 the community. 



Some interesting particulars are given about Barra. 

 The Macneill of Martin's day seems to have retained some 

 of the best customs of the patriarchal system, for he was 

 in the habit of making good to his tenantry, milch cows 



* Possibly the horse- racing had its origin in the legend which asserts that 

 Saint Barr swam across the Irish Channel on horseback. 



