FIRST DIVISION OF PLANTS. 



187 



give a gloss to gauze or silk. It seems probable 

 also that this is the principal ingredient in the 

 celebrated gummy matter called chin-chou, or 

 hai-tsai, in China and Japan. Windows made 

 merely of slips of bamboo crossed diagonally, 

 have frequently thin lozen-shaped interstices, 

 wholly filled with this transparent gluten. 



But it is in the manufacture'of kelp, for the use 

 of the glass maker and soap boiler, that the algae 

 take their place among the most useful vegeta- 

 bles. Almost all the common sea weeds may 

 be used for the manufacture of this substance; 

 but the most valued for tliis purpose are the 

 fuci, generally knowTi under the name of blad- 

 der kelp. The fucws vesiculosus, nodosns, and 

 serratus. 



78. 



a. Fucus vesiculosus ; b. Laminaria. 



The different kinds of sea tangle are the lam- 

 inaria digitata, and hulhosa, himanthalia lorea, 

 and chorda filum. 



The manufacture of kelp is an exceedingly 

 simple process. The sea weed is cut from the 

 rocks, and allowed to dry partially by spreading 

 it on the beach. It is then taken to a simple 

 kiln formed by a hole dug a few feet in the 

 sand, and sun-ounded with rude stones, and ig- 

 nited; as the dry sea weed gi-aduaUy consumes, 

 more is added, until the bottom of the kiln is 

 filled with the ashes or kelp, which is a dark 

 brown fursed-like substance of a half glassy as- 

 pect, consisting of soda mixed with many im- 

 purities. This manufacture was introduced into 

 Scotland and its islands nearly half a century 

 after it had been established in France and 

 England. The first cargo exported from Orkney 

 was in the year 1722. The employment, how- 

 ever, being new to the inhabitants, the country 

 people ojjposed it with the utmost vehemence. 

 Their forefathers had never thought of making 

 kelp, and it would appear that they themselves 

 had no wish to render their posterity wiser in 

 this matter. So unanimous and violent was the 

 resistance, that officers of justice were found 

 necessary to protect the individuals employed 

 in the work; and several trials were the conse- 

 quence of those outrages. It was gi-avely pleaded 

 in a court of law, on the part of the defendants, 

 that the suflbcatini? smoke that issued from the 



kelp kilns would sicken or kill every species of 

 fish on the coast, or drive them into the ocean 

 far beyond the reach of the fishermen; blast the 

 corn and grass on their farms; introduce diseases 

 of various kinds; and smite with barrenness their 

 sheep, horses, and cattle, and even their own 

 families, — a striking instance of the gross preju- 

 dice, indolence, and superstition of the simple 

 people of Orkney in those days. The influen- 

 tial individuals who had commenced the manu- 

 facture, succeeded at last in establishing it; and 

 the benefits which accrued to the community 

 soon wrought a change in the public feeling. 

 The value of estates possessing a sea coast well 

 stocked with sea weed, rose go much in value, 

 that where the plants did not gi-ow naturaDy, 

 attempts were made, and not without success, 

 to cultivate them by covering the sandy bays 

 with large stones. By this method a crop of 

 sea weed has been obtained in about three years, 

 the sea appearing to abound every where with 

 the necessary seeds. During the years 1790 to 

 1800, the annual quantity sometimes made was 

 3000 tons; and as the price was then fi-om £9 to 

 £10 per ton, the manufacture brought into the 

 place nearly £30,000 Sterling in one season. 

 Bui'ing the eighty years subsequent to its intro- 

 duction, the total value amounted to £596,000 

 Sterling. Thus in the space of eighty years the 

 proprietors of those islands, whose land rent did 

 not exceed £8000 a yeai', had, together with their 

 tenants and servants, received in addition to their 

 incomes the enormous sum of more than half a 

 miUion. In the Hebrides also, kelp is extensively 

 manufactured. "The inhabitants of Canna," 

 says Dr E. D. Clarke in 1797, 'hke those of the 

 neighbouring islands, are chiefly occupied in the 

 manufacture of kelp; cattle and kelp constitute, 

 in fact, the chief objects of commerce with them. 

 The first toast usually given on all festive occa- 

 sions is a high price to kelp and cattle. In this 

 every islander is interested, and it is always 

 di;ank with evident symptoms of sincerity. The 

 discovery of manufacturing kelp has affected a 

 great change among the people, whether for their 

 advantage or not, is a question not yet decided. 

 I was informed in Canna that, if kelps keep its 

 present price, Macdonald of Clanronald wiU 

 make £6,000 Sterling, and Lord Macdonald no 

 less than £10,000." 



During the course of the late war kelp 

 rose to £18, £20, and even £22 per ton, in 

 consequence of the interruption to the impor- 

 tation of barilla, and the profits upon it dur- 

 ing that period were enormous. The price has 

 subsequently fallen by degrees to £5 per ton, 

 and the sale has latterly been heavj' even at that 

 rate. This was to be attributed at first to the 

 superior qualities of the Spanish barilla, for the 

 purposes of glass making and soap boiling; but 

 n.ore recently to the almost entire removal of 



