of Eclinlurgh, Session 1882 - 83 . 123 
To translate the serf and the slave of ancient life into modern 
language, I would use the word dependant ” ; that I think con- 
veys more of the spirit of the ancient relation with its mutual ser- 
vice and protection than the terms of slave and serf, which convey 
a harsher meaning than probably describes the true nature of the 
tie which bound the earliest predecessors of the chiefs to those 
below them. ^^"ow, in our modern life, how has this relation adapted 
itself to modern systems? The chief, though deprived of the ser- 
vices of his dependants, has been forced to maintain and protect 
them; not in the grand patriarchal manner of ancient times, and 
with none of their pomp and panoply of war, and with none of their 
keen zest for raids and marauds ; he has to pay poor rates. Eut 
translated into the vernacular of our modern life he has no light 
burden thus to defray. I have taken ten parishes in Inverness, and 
eight in Ross, of which the gross rental in the one case is £58,000, 
in the other £64,000; of the £58,000 in Inverness, £15,800 is 
paid by tenants under £10 ; of the £64,000 in Ross, £17,500 is 
paid by tenants of the same class. The poor rates paid in the ten 
Inverness parishes amount to £6200, in the eight Ross parishes 
to £8300. I cannot state accurately the school rate, but one 
of the inspectors in his last report says it varies in one of these 
districts from 2s. to 6s. 8d. per £. I have taken it at the lowest 
amount, and we have thus in the Inverness group an assessment 
of £12,000, and a rental under £10 of £15,800 ; in the Ross-shire 
group an asse.ssment of £14,700 a rental under £10 of £17,500. 
Now I cannot here attempt to determine what precise proportion 
of that assessment is due to the special necessities of the small 
tenants under £10, but everyone will admit it must be very large. 
For the maintenance and education of the poor in these districts 
the land has to pay annually about 90 per cent, of the nominal 
rental under £10, and a proportion of course very much greater 
of the real rental actually drawn. It is safe to say that more than 
the whole rental under £10 is required to defray the expense of 
maintaining and educating the poor. It can hardly therefore be said 
that the survival of the relation between the land and the poor from 
ancient times, if it has been in many respects painful to those who 
were the dependants of the old chiefs, has been favourable to the 
successors of the chiefs themselves — the fathers no doubt ate sour 
