554 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



steady declension between 1821 and 1851 is remarkable, the 

 largest fall, which occurred during the decennial period of 

 1841-51, pointing to a considerable exodus of the people. 

 At the last census, the population was 3,862, and the rental f 

 now stands at 5,301. 



In Benbecula, the number of inhabitants was 600 in 

 1765, and the rental (including kelp) was 458. In 186; 

 the population was 1,544. South Uist had, in 1765, 

 population of 1,580, and the rental was about 500. The 

 population was 4,595 in 1801 ; 4,825 in 1811 ; 6,038 ii 

 1824; 7,333 in 1841; and 5,358 in 1861, the last tw< 

 numbers including the inhabitants of Benbecula. In 1864, 

 the rental of South Uist alone was 5,635. A decreai 

 of nearly 2,000 persons, or about 27 per cent, of the 

 population in twenty years, is clear evidence of what 

 occurred after the famine, when the proprietor adopted 

 the policy of wholesale expatriation. The population of 

 the parish of South Uist in 1901 was 5,489, and the rental 

 is 6,096. 



The inhabitants of Barra and its pertinents numbered 

 1,150 in 1755; I > 2 ^5 in 1764, when the rental was 298. 

 The number of inhabitants was 1,604 ' in I 79 l \ I ,9 2 5 ' m 

 1801 ; 1,969 in 1811 ; 2,303 in 1821 ; 2,097 m I ^3 I 5 anc ^ 

 1,853 m ^i. Here we see the effects of the kelp debacle 

 in the first period of decline, and of Colonel Gordon's 

 " crowning mercy " in the second. The rental of the estate 

 amounted to 1,692 in 1865. In 1901, the population of 

 the parish of Barra was 2,542, and the rental stands at 

 2,492. 



It will thus be seen that during the period embraced 

 between 1770 and 1860, the number of emigrants from 

 the Long Island reached a very large total. Their 

 descendants are to-day to be found in Canada, Nova 

 Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, forming colonies where 

 Gaelic is still a spoken language, and where the people still 

 " behold in dreams the distant Hebrides." 



It need hardly be said that deeper causes than any of 

 those mentioned, lay at the root of the misery which pre- 



> f 



: 



