98 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



received £2 to ^3 with maintenance. During the interval 

 between June 12th to August 12th they were employed in 

 the manufacture of kelp. Day labourers received 6d. to 8d. 

 per day. The price of beef was i^d. per lb., and mutton 

 2d. The roads in the islands are described as ' naturally 

 good.' In some of the larger of the islands attempts had 

 been made to improve the roads, which in some cases had 

 been successful, while in others they had made them much 

 worse than before. Sir John records with evident gratula- 

 tion that in Stronsay, one of the northern islands, ' an 

 Agricultural Society was erected in 1783, and the Society 

 have applied for the countenance, correspondence, and the 

 encouragement of the National Board of Agriculture, which, 

 so far as is consistent with the rules of the Board, it is to 

 be hoped will be afforded them.' 



In Shetland, the population derived their subsistence 

 more from the sea than from the soil. Still, farming was 

 carried on to a considerable extent, though the holdings 

 were generally very small, proprietors not letting more 

 ground to one person than would barely support his family 

 for a few months in the year. Of the Shetland cattle, Sir 

 John Sinclair reports that, when fat, some of the cows would 

 weigh from two to three cwt. The horses he considers to 

 be evidently descendants of the Norway horses, reduced in 

 size by scanty fare. Of the Shetland sheep, Sir John had 

 a great admiration, on account of their valuable wool. He 

 says it was estimated that there were 110,000 to 120,000 

 sheep in the islands. He believes they were descended 

 from sheep originally brought from Denmark and Norway. 

 Carts were not used in the island, except by one or two 

 gentlemen. Ploughs were of very simple construction. 

 Sir John's paragraph on roads is only to be paralleled by 

 a certain famous chapter on ' Snakes in Ireland.' Sir 

 John says of the Shetland roads — ' There are no roads in 

 Shetland.' 



Mr James Robson, under date 1794, furnishes a report 

 on Western Inverness-shire and on Argyllshire. 



