80 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI. 



class of inhabitants take but little trouble towards 

 earning their own livelihood. At whatever hour of 

 the day you go into a cottage, you find the whole 

 family idling at home over the peat-fire. The 

 husband appears never to employ himself in any 

 way beyond smoking, taking snuff, or chewing 

 tobacco ; the women doing the same, or at the utmost 

 watching the boiling of a pot of potatoes ; while the 

 children are nine times out of ten crawling listlessly 

 about or playing with the ashes of the fire. 



The Duke, having tried every plan that phi- 

 lanthropy and reason could suggest, has now suc- 

 ceeded in opening their eyes to the advantage of 

 emigrating, and at a great expense sends numbers 

 yearly to Canada, w^here these very people, who at 

 home, in spite of every effort and encouragement, 

 drag on a life useless to themselves and burthensome 

 to others, when once settled in their new country, 

 put their shoulder to the wheel, and rapidly become 

 most independent and comfortable ; and instead of 

 seeing their children grow up in the midst of self- 

 imposed squalid misery, they see them become daily 

 more prosperous and thriving. Certainly, in this 

 rocky and sterile part of the country, it is difficult 

 for a cottager to advance himself. The soil is not 

 adapted for a numerous population ; there is nothing 

 to feed mankind on : all or the greatest part of the 



