of the Marine Algw, or Sea-Weeds. 347 
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 their lozenge-shaped interstices 
wholly filled with the transparent gluten of the hai-tsaz.” 
On the southern and western coasts of Ireland, cur own Chon- 
drus crispus is converted into size, for the use of house-painters, 
&c. ; and, if I be not erroneously informed, is also considered as a 
culinary article, and enters into the aye YOM aOL of Blanc-mange, 
as well as other dishes. 
In the manufacture of kelp, however, for the use of the glass- 
maker and soap-boiler, it is that the Algce take their place among 
the most useful vegetables. The species most valued for this pur- 
pose are Fucus vesiculosus, nodosus and serratus, Laminaria digi- 
tata and bulbosa, H seca lorea and Chorda Filum. The ma- 
nufacture of kelp was introduced into Scotland, according to Mr. 
Neill, half a century subsequent to its establishment in France 
and England, and the first cargo exported from Orkney was about 
the year 1722. ‘The employment, however, being new to the in- 
habitants of Orkney, the country people opposed it with the ut- 
most vehemence. ‘Their Aabestne had never thought ef making 
kelp, and it would appear that they themselves had no wish to 
render their posterity wiser in this matter. So violent and unani- 
mous was the resistance, that officers of justice were found neces- 
sary to protect the aed employed in the work. Several 
trials were the consequences of these outrages. It was gravely 
pleaded in a court of law, on the part of the defendants, * that the 
suffocating smoke that issued from the kelp-kilns, we auld 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 the grass 
en their farms; introduce diseases of various kinds ; and ae 
with barrenness their sheep, horses and cattle, and even their own 
families.” The proceedings exist, as I am informed by Mr. Peter- 
kin, in the Records of the Sheriff-Court ;—a striking instance of 
the prejudices, indolence and superstition, of the simple people of 
Orkney in those days. The influential individuals who had taken 
the matter up, succeeded in establishing the manufacture ; 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 so much; that, where the 
plants did not grow naturally, attempts were made, and not with- 
out success, ve cultivate them, by covering the sandy bays with 
large stones. By this method a crop of faci. has been obtained, as 
we are informed by Mr. Neill, in about three years, the sea ap- 
pearing to abound everywhere with the necessary seeds. Upon the 
authority of Dr. Barry,* during the years 1790 to 1800, the quan- 
tity sometimes made was 3000 tons, and, as the price was then 
from nine to ten pounds per ton, the manufacture brought into the 
* History of the Orkney Islands, p. 333. 
