The principal difeafe here is the pleurify: fmall-pox, mead
and chin-cough vifit the iiland once in feven or eight years, ra
praftice of bleeding twice every year feems to have been intendj
as a preventitive againft the pleurify : but it is now performed »il
the utmoft regularity at fpring and fall. The Duke of HmiM
keeps a furgeon in pay; who at thofe feafons makes a tourJ
the iiland. On notice o f his approach, the inhabitants of eatj
farm affemble in the open air; extend their arms; and are bid
into a hole made in the ground, the common receptacle of t*
vital fluid.
In burning fevers a tea of wood forrel is ufed with fuccefs, j
allay the heat.
An infufion of Ramfons or allium urfinum in brandy is efteeimj
here a good remedy for the gravel.
The men are ftrong,«tall and well made; all fpeak the lj
language, but the antient habit is entirely laid afide. Their did
is chiefly potatoes and meal; and during winter, fome dried mil
ton or goat is added to their hard fare. A deep dejection afl
pears in general through the countenances o f a l l ,n o time d
be fpared for amufement of any kind; the whole being given foi
procuring the means of paying their rent; o f laying in their fuelj
or getting a fcanty pittance of meat and cloathing,
The leafes o f farms are 19 years. The fucceeding tenants general!)
find the ground little better than a caput mortmm; and for $
reafon; fhould they at the expiration of the leafe leave the la»!
in a good ftate, lome avaritious neighbors would have the p
ence in the next letting, by offering a price more than the pef
/on who had expended part o f his fubftance in inriching the far«;
L i d poffibly do. This induces them to leave it in the original
^The method of letting a farm is very Angular: each is com- Ro-Ric Farms.
fflonlv poffefied by a number of fmall tenants ; thus a farm of
Irty pounds a year is occupied by eighteen different people, who
bv their leafes are bound, conjunftly and feverally, for the pay-
len t of the rent to the .proprietor. Thefe live -in the farm in
lie s cluftered together, fo that_ each ftrtn appears like a -little
t illage. The tenants annually divide the arable land by lo t ; each
i has his ridge of land, to which he puts his mark, fuch as he
H i d do to any writing: and this fpecies of farm is called, run-
I«, i e ridcre. They join in ploughing; every one keeps a
I f c i more; and the number of thofe animals confume fo | J corn as often to occafion a fcarcity; the corn and peas railed
; bein« (much of it) defigned for their fubfiftance, and that o f the
Kittle, during the long Winter. The pafture and moor-land an-
Bexed to the farm is common to all the pofleffors.
■ AH the farms are open. Inclofures o f any form, except in two
fir three places, are quite unknown : fo that there muft be a great
| f s of time in preferving their corn, &c. from trefpafs. The
jlfual manure is fea-plants, coral and fhells.
I The Run-rig farms are now difcouraged; but fince the tenements
are fet by Roup, or au&ion, and advanced by an unnatural
force to above double the old rent, without any allowance for
inclofing; any example fet in agriculture ; any fecurity of tenure,
§>y lengthening the leafes; affairs will turn retrograde, and the
■arms relapfe into their old ftate of rudenefs; migration will en-
Ireafe (for it has begun) and the rents be reduced even below their-
D d former