398 
Sutherland Reclamation. 
The earliest history of the county, written by Sir Robert 
Gordon, in 1630, states that Sutherlantlshire was " mair suitable 
lor bestiall than cornes." The greater part of the interior con- 
sists of a succession of mountains, moors, and bogs ; and in no 
other county in Scotland is there so small a proportion of the 
whole area under cultivation. Out of a total acreage of 
1,207,188, only 28,711 acres are under cultivation. The preva- 
lent rocks throughout the county are gneiss and mica-schist, 
yielding a soil very deficient in the elements of fertility ; and it 
is only along the south-eastern coast that a naturally fertile soil 
is found, resting upon the Old-red-sandstone and Oolitic forma- 
tions. It is here that the chief part of the arable land is found. 
Until A'ery recent times no attempt was made to overcome the 
natural wildness of the country. At the beginning of this cen- 
tury the bridge at Brora, of 24 feet span, was literally the only 
one in a county intersected by innumerable rivers and streams. 
The coast-side road was only recognisable by its ruts and the 
greenness of its surface; while the inland communication was 
almost exclusively confined to those who could endure the toil 
of long journeys on foot, and of frequent wading of mountain 
streams that are often converted by a few hours of rain into 
impassable torrents. 
Thus isolated from the rest of the kingdom, the people, while 
yielding a loyal obedience to their chief, knew but little of the 
power of the Crown. The wealth of the Earls of Sutherland 
consisted chiefly in the number of men that they could summon 
to attend them in their frequent contests with neighbouring- 
chiefs. Long after the southern highlands, with greater facilities 
of intercourse, had made great advances in civilization, the 
Earls of Sutherland derived the means of maintaining their 
station chiefly from raising for the service of Government a 
" family regiment," of troops no longer needed for the prose- 
cution of local feuds. The ranks of this regiment (Sutherland 
Fencibles, now 93rd Regiment) were filled, partly by those 
who held land jointly in townships directly from the chief, and 
partly by those who were subtenants of the tacksmen, local mag- 
nates who each claimed kindred with the chief, and paid to 
him the bulk of their rent in feudal service, expecting that 
their sons and nephews should receive promotion according to 
the number of recruits they furnished to the regiment. 
The tacksmen sublet, at exorbitant rates, a certain portion of 
their land. They also exacted service from their tenants, and 
thus lived almost, or quite, rent-free, saving themselves from all 
regular industry or exertion by stipulating that their immediate 
dependants should perform for them all the work required on 
their farms — the ingathering of harvest, the grinding of corn, and 
