550 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



Macneill had erected expensive chemical works in Barra 

 for the manufacture of soap from kelp ; the money was 

 lost. The proprietors of Uist and Harris had made 

 provision against a fall in revenue ; the chief source ol 

 revenue was now gone. An increased population had beei 

 stimulated by the increased standard of comfort in the 

 islands ; the prosperous times were now over. Emigratioi 

 had been discouraged to provide a sufficiency of labour 

 the supply of labour now exceeded the demand. Th< 

 wages of the kelpers had been over four pounds a ton ; 

 were now reduced by more than half. Agriculture and th< 

 fisheries had been neglected in the feverish haste to tun 

 kelp into money, and the fish had been scared away froi 

 the coast ; an insufficiency of food was now threatened, 

 and in Barra, the people had to live chiefly on shellfish 

 The extravagance of the proprietors could have but on< 

 result, when the reaction set in. All the estates in th< 

 Long Island changed hands during the nineteenth century 

 and to that result, the bursting of the kelp-bubble contri- 

 buted in no small degree. 



When kelp went out, distress came in. The people wen 

 unable to pay their rents, which do not appear to have 

 been much, if at all, reduced. By the failure of kelp, 

 fresh impetus was given to the neglected arts of agricul- 

 ture and fishing. But the mischief had already been don< 

 A renewed exodus to America took place. From Lewii 

 especially from the parish of Lochs emigrants went t( 

 Nova Scotia, where their success would have caused many 

 to follow their example, had it not been for their reluctance 

 to part with their cattle at the low prices ruling. Six 

 hundred people went to British America from North Uist 

 in 1828, and from Barra a constant stream of emigrants 

 kept pouring into Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. Up to 

 this time, the policy of the proprietors had been to keep the 

 peasantry at home, but a reversal of that policy was now 

 initiated; and when the destitution of 1846-50 occurred, 

 the expediency of the new policy became increasingly 

 apparent. Much has been said and written for and against 



