H e a th a l e -
M a n u r e s .
C a t t l e .
withered, dulky and fmoke-dried. But my picture is not of til
illand only..
Notwithftanding the excellency -of the land, above a thoufarJ
pounds worth o f meal is annually .imported, a famine threatened
at this time;-but was prevented by the feafonable arrival of I
meal ihip; and the inhabitants like the fons of Jacob of old, fiockel
down to buy food.
Ale is frequently made in this ¡Hand-of the young tops of heati
mixing two thirds of that plant with one of malt, fometimes add!
ing hops. Boethius relates that this liquor was much ufed amonl
the Pifts, but when that nation was extirpated by the Scots, til
fecret of making it periihed with them 8 .
The country bleft with fine manures : befides fea-wrack, coral
ihell fand, rock and pit marie, it poflfeffes a tratft of thirty.fix fqinJ
miles of limeftone. What treafures, if properly applied, to bring
wealth and plenty into the illand.
Numbers o f cattle, are bred here, and about feventeen iul
•dred are annually exported at the price of fifty fhillings eaci
The illand. is often overftocked, and numbers die in March fol
want of fodder. None but milch cows are houfed : cattle of if
other kinds, except the faddle horfes, run out during winter.
The number of inhabitants is computed to be between few!
and eight thoufand. About feven hundred are employed in tki
mines and in the filhery : the reft are gentlemen-farmers, fill
tenants or fervants. The women fpin. Few as yet have mi
grated.
* Defer. Regni ScoUrum, p. 8.
m
L e fervants are paid in kind ; the fixth part the crop.
I l f houfes gratis: the mafter gives them the feed for the
K j L , and lends them horfes- to plough annually the land
f c f air is lefs healthy than that of Jura \ the prefent epidemi
| l difeafes are dropfies and cancers: .the natural effefts of bad
■The quadrupeds o f this illand are floats, weefels; otters and
lares- the laft finall, dark-colored, and bad runners. The birds
| eagles, peregrine falcons, black and red game-, and a very
Iw ptarmigans. Red breafted goofanders breed, on.. the foore
lo n g the loofe ftones, wild geefe in the moors Herons m the
E n d in Loch-guirm. The filh are plaife, fmeardab, large dabs
InlterJballan, lump-fiih, black goby, greater dragonet, and
Biat rare filh the Lepadegafier of M. Gouan. b
■ Vipers fwarm in the heath :■ the natives retain, the vulgar error
Kftheir Hinging with their forked tongues 9 that a fword on which
1 the poifon has fallen will hifs in. water like a red hot iron ; and
■at a poultice of human ordure is an infallible cure for the bite
| In this illand feveral antient diverfions and fuperftltions are ftill
■referved: the laft indeed are almoft extinft, or at moft lurk only
Bmongft the very meaneft of the people. I The late wakes or funerals, like thofe of the Romans, were at-
| tended with fports, and dramatic entertainments, compofed of
Inany parts, and the aftors often changed their drefles fuitable to
their charafters. The fubjeft of the Drama was hiftoncal and
preferved by memory. _ , ,,
The afltive fports are wreftling. Another is per orme ^ y
jumping,
D i s e a s e
A n i m a l s *
V i p e r s *-
D i v e r s i o n s
AND SUPERSTION8*