TRADE AND COMMERCE. 537 



with dried ling and cod, dog-fish oil, whiskey there were 

 twelve stills in the island linen, yarn, wool and blanketing, 

 kelp, salmon, sheepskins, and feathers. Harris exported 

 kelp, black cattle, a little butter and cheese, some wool, 

 and the skins of sheep, otters, and seals. North Uist ex- 

 ported kelp, butter and cheese ; South Uist and Benbecula, 

 black cattle and kelp ; and South Uist alone, dried ling, 

 butter and cheese. Barra's exports consisted of black- 

 cattle, salted beef, hides, ling, and kelp. Lewis neither 

 exported nor imported grain ; Harris seldom exported or 

 imported it ; South Uist exported after a wet summer, 

 and imported after a dry one ; and Barra had usually a 

 little barley to spare. A large proportion of the total 

 exports went to the Clyde. 



In 1765, labour was cheaper than in any European 

 country, a labourer's wages in Lewis being 28s. per 

 annum, while women were employed at the rate of 8s. 

 a year. In South Uist, the annual wages of a labourer con- 

 sisted of 135. in money, grain sown to the extent of i6s., and 

 two pairs of brogues, the whole amounting to about 315. 

 The cost of maintenance varied in the Long Island, from 

 2 to 2 IDS. for a man, and from 255. to 305. for a woman, 

 per annum. By the end of the eighteenth century, owing 

 to the " multitudes " recruited for the army and navy, the 

 price of male labour had gone up to 8d. per day without 

 food. The labour of women in Lewis was to some extent 

 utilised for the spinning of linen yarn from flax, linseed 

 having been grown in the island since the commencement 

 of the eighteenth century. Captain Barlow tells us that 

 there was a thriving linen factory in North Uist in 1753, 

 which had been established by Lady Margaret Macdonald. 

 A spinning school was opened in Stornoway in 1763, which 

 proved a great success. At first there was great opposition 

 to the school, and the women were afraid to come to it, 

 fearing there was some scheme on foot to send them to the 

 American plantations. When the prejudice was overcome, 

 and the groundlessness of their fears exposed, the women 

 proved apt pupils, showing marked intelligence and quick- 



