cannot have forgot its fad deficiency o f recruits towards the end oJ
the- late long and deftruitive war: and.what it owed in the courfl
of it to North Britain. In refpeit to cattle, this in particular bear J
the. pre-eminence of having the largeft breed o f all' the: highlands®
The greater tenants keep * their cattle during winter in what a r l
called mnter-fcarks,. the drieft and belt ground they have;., her!
they are kept till April, except.the winter proves'very hard,_whal
they are foddered with ftraw : in April the farmer turns them to thil
moor-grafs (cotton-grafs) which, fprings.firft, and at night.dtive»
them into the dry grounds again.
The poorer tenants, who have no winter parks, are,- under t i l
neceflity o f keeping the cattle' under the fame roof with then®
felves during night; and often are obliged to keep them alive witH
the meal defigned for their families. The cows are often force«
through, want. of. other food, to have: recourfe to the ihores, a n il
feed on the iea-plant-s at low water1.: by inilinct they will,, at rri
o f tide,. , haften.from the moors, notwithftanding they are not withiihl
fight o f the fea,.
One of the greater-farms in-Skie is thus flocked 1
Fifty cows,, and their followers, viz. ,20. young heifers, .fit fo l
hull; 39 ditto,,three years old; 35 :ditto, two years old ; 40yea»|
lings, or fturks.. O f thefe the owner can Fell only twenty cows atd
forty-fiye ihillings each at an average.;-.can make butter and cheefa
for his family, but none for fale, for. their beft cow will not yiell
above three Englijh quarts of milk at a meal. Such a. farm waS
formerly rented for fixteen pounds a year, at prefent is railed to|
The greateft rent in the ifland is eighty pounds, .but tha
medium, from thirty to forty.
rn She when a tackfman has a greater farm than he can manage,
he often fets off part to a Bowman or Aireach, who takes-
^are of the ftock o f cattle on a certain tradì: ; and binds himfelf
¡o give to the tackfman every year four itone of cheefe, and two
of butter, from each couple of milch cows. I f there is any
arable ground, he is provided with horfes and a plough; and
feed fufficient to fow it ; and receives part of the crop ; and fome
additional grafs g r o u n d for. two or three, milch cows, for his
trouble.- .
There is certainly much ill management in the direzion o* the
farms : a tackfman of fifty pounds a year often keeps twenty fer-
vants; the lazieft o f creatures, for not one, will do the leaft thing
! that does not belong to his department.^ Moihof them- are married,
as in nay. Their common food is ' Brochan, a thick meal-
pudding,- with milk, butter or treacle; or a thinner fort, called
Eafocb, taken- with' their bannocs; This number of fervants
feemed to anfwer the retainers-in great families before-that parnr-
■ cuftom was aboliihed by Henry V II; infeudai times they
were kept here for the fame bad 'end. The caute is now no more, -
! but-the habit cannot Suddenly be ibaken off; charity forbids one
to wifti it, till fome employ is thought of for them ; otherwife,.
like the poor cottagers before-mentioned, ftarving mult be their
portions - #
Cattle is1 at * prefènt thè only trade o f5 the ifland : about four
thoufand are annually fold, from-forty Ihillings to three pounds a
head.. The lofs Fuftained in Skie by the feverity of the laft win-
teiv.atuL the general failure of the crops the preceding feafon,..
amounted,.