600 THE DWELLINGS OF THE SCOTCH PEASANTRY. 
side, as the walls are not sufficient to support them ; recesses about 
nine inches deep being left in the wall for their reception. Tile-lath 
is then laid on at random, and covered over with very thin turf in 
regular courses, and finished with sti'aw. The strata of the materials 
of the roof is secured by heather (heath) ropes, braced down at the 
easings by lintel-shaped stones, suspended and equally ballanced in 
the loop of the ropes. No openings are in the external walls except 
the door-way, which has a cross-barr'd batten door, that is shut up 
or fastened with a wooden bolt, turned off and on outside by a 
crooked piece of iron. The light is admitted by a skylight about 
twelve by sixteen inches. The interior division walls are the same 
as nature left the stone and turf; and the floors are earthen or clay. 
Where there is more than one apartment, the walls have openings 
without doors. A stone stands on edge in the middle of the living 
room, (if can it be called a room,) which the fire is built against ; 
the smoke ascending through a round hole in the roof, having a 
funnel, but more generally an old barrel, to conduct it into the 
atmosphere. Opposite to the fire are recesses for the children's bed; 
and behind the fire are calves, swine, and hen-roosts ; and not unfre- 
quently, a horse or a cow. 
In such like houses do the peasantrj- of that part of our country 
sjjend their days ; and, although they remain silent on the subject, 
they are not insensible to the injury they receive from the negligence 
of their poor, but proud and haughty lairds. 
Having remained in that part of the country until the middle of 
winter, I had an opportunity of witnessing the effects of these damp, 
disagreeable, and unwholesome houses ; and were the inhabitants not 
a hardy race of people, they never could exist in such cold, miserable 
hovels. The severe bleak winds from the north, without any trees 
to afford shelter, induce them to build their habitations in low 
glens or valleys, which is both uncomfortable and dangerous in 
stormy winters. The wind drives the snow from the heights into 
the lower parts in the night time, and I have seen the poor cottagers 
dug out in the morning by their neighbours. 
The houses of the peasantry in that part of the country might be 
improved, or rebuilt at a very little expense. Stone is abundant in 
almost every parish ; and in some places it can even be procured by 
digging twelve or twenty feet deep. The shore dues are exceedingly 
low, and therefore Memel and American timbers might be had 
cheaper than in Edinburgh or London. There is a pavement quarry 
in Halkirk in the county of Caithness, the best in Scotland, which 
might supply them with large flag-stones to form their roof: this 
