U s e f u l p l a n t s .
amounted to five thoufand; perhaps in fome meafure owing to the
farms being over-ftocked.
About two hundred and fifty horfes are purchafed from hencei
every year.
Here are no iheep but what are kept for home confumptionj
or for the wool for the cloathing of the inhabitants. Hogs are!
not introduced here yet, for want of proper food for thofe ani-l
nials.
Goats might turn ’to good advantage if introduced into the!
few wooded parts of the ifland. Thefe animals might be procured!
from the neighborhood of Lochnefs; for being naturalized to the!
climate, would fucceed better than any imported from the foutherij
parts of Europe, or from Barbary. As an inducement, I mufti
inform the natives of the Hebrides that in the Alpine, part of PVcp!
a well-haired goatflsin fells for feven and fix-pence or half a guinea, I
About three hundred tuns of kelp are made here annually, I
but it is thought not to anfwer, as it robs the land of fo much!
manure.
There are -not above two or three flated houfes in the .iilandJ
the general thatch is fern, root and ftalk, which will laft above!
twenty years.
The roots of the orobus tubtrofus, the cor-mdlle or carmel of the I
highlanders, are in high efteem in this and the other iilands: they I
fometimes chew them, at others make a fermented liquor with them. I
They imagine that they promote expedtoration, and that they are I
very efficacious in curing any diforders of the breaft or lungs:]
they alfo ufe it as a remedy againft hunger, chewing it as fome of I
ourpooreft people do tobacco *, to put off that uneaiy fenfation.
* Vide Mt- Spence's life of Mr. Robert Hill, taylor, p. j 8a.
Ligufiicum
mufticum fcoticum, Scotch parfley, or ihe jhunis of this ifland, is
* much valued ; in medicine, the root is reckoned a good carmi-
l iv e and an infufion of the leaves is thought a good purge for
calves! It is befides ufed as a food, either as a fallad, raw, or boiled
as greens. ,
Very few fuperftitions exift here at prefent : pretenders to
f c c o n d - f i g h t are quite out of repute, except among the moft
ig n o r a n t , .and at prefent are very.ihy of making boaft o f thetr
faculties. . |
poor Browny, or Robin Good-fellow, is alfo put to flight. This
ferviceable fprite was wont to clean the houfes, helped to churn,
thralhed the corn, and would belabor a ll who pretended to make a
ieft of him. He was reprefented as ftout and blooming, • had fine
long f l o w i n g hair, and went.about with a wand in his hand. He.
Wthe very counter-part o f M i l t o n ’ s Lubbar-fiend, who •
Tells how the drudging goblin fweat
T o earn his cream-bewl duly fe t;
When in one night, ere glimpfe of morn,
His ihadowy Hale hath thrafli’d the corn
That ten day-lab’rers could not end ;
T h e n la y s h im d ow n th e lu b b a r f ien d ,
A n d i t r e t c h 'd a lo n g th e c h im n e y ’ s le n g th , ,
Balks, at the fire his hairy Itrength..
The Grmgmch is a deity in f o r m reprefenting the laft; and who
« worihipped in o l d times by libations of W g g milkmaids
ffllretain the cuftom by pouring fome on certain ftones that bear
lis.name. Gruagach fignifies the fair^hamd, and is fuppoled^by
S u p e r s t i t i o n s »
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