fr
Chorda Filum. Tlie niamilactiire of’ kelp was introduced into
Scotland, according to Mr N e i l l , half a century suhsequcnt to
its c.stahlishmeiit iu Franco and England, and the first cargo
cxjiorted from Orkney was ahout the year 1722. The em-
jiloymeiit, however, hciiig new to the iiihahitaiits of Orkney,
the country people opposed it with the utmost vehemence.
Tlicir ancestors had never thought of making kelp, and it
would appear that they themselves had no wish to render
their posterity wiser in this matter. So violent and unanimous
was the resistance, th a t officers of justice were found
necessary to ])rotcct the individuals employed in the work.
Several trials were the consequences of these outrages. It
was gra\'cly pleaded iu a court of law, on the part of the dc-
leiidants, “ th a t the-suffocating smoke that issued from the
kelp-kilns, would sicken or kill every sjiecies of fish on the
coast, or drive them into the ocean far hcyond the reach of
the fishermen; hlast the corn and the grass on their farms;
introduce diseases of various kinds; and smite with harreii-
iiess their sheep, horses and cattle, and even their own
families.” The proceedings exist, as I am informed hy Mr
P e t e r k in , iu the Records of the Slieriff-Court;—a striking
instance of the prejudices, indolence and superstition, of the
simple jieople of Orkney in those days. The influential individuals
who had taken the matter up, succeeded in estahlish-
ing the manufacture; and the henefits 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 in value, that, where the plants did not
grow naturally, attempts were made, and not without success,
to cultivate them, hy covering the sandy hays with large
stones. By this method a crop of fu c i has been obtained, as
we are informed by Mr N e i l l , in about three years, the sea
appearing to abound everywhere with the necessary seeds.
Upon the authority of Dr B a r r y ,*- during the years 1790 to
1800, the quantity sometimes made was 3000 tons, and,
as the price was then from nine to ten pounds per ton, the
* History of the Orkney Islands, i>. 383.
manufacture brought into the place nearly £30,000 Sterling,
sometimes in one season. During the eighty years subsequent
to its introduction (from 1720 to 1800) the total value
will rise to £595,000 Sterling. Thus, says Dr B a r r y , “ in
the space of eighty years, the proprietors of these Islands,
whose land-rent does not exceed £8000 a-year, have, together
with their tenants and their servants, received, in addition
to their incomes, the enormous sum of more than half
a million Sterling.”
Among the Hebrides, also, large quantities of kelp are
manufactured. “ The inhabitants of Canna,” observes Dr
E. D. C l a r k e *, in 1797, “ like those of the neighbouring
islands, are chiefly occupied in the manufacture of kelp.
Cattle and kelp constitute, in fact, the chief objects of commerce
in the Hebrides. The first toast usually given on all
festive occasions is, ‘ A high price to kelp and cattle.’ In
this every islander is interested, and it always is drank with
evident symptoms of sincerity. The discovery of manufacturing
kelp has effected a great change among the people;
whether for their advantage or not, is a question not yet decided.
I was informed, in Canna, that, if kelp keeps its present
price, Mr M a c d o n a l d of Clanranald will make £ 6 0 0 0
Sterling hy his kelp, and Lord M a c d o n a l d no less a sum
than £10,000.”
During the course of the late war, kelp rose to eighteen,
twenty, and even twenty-two pounds per ton, in consequence of
the interruption to the importation of barilla, and the profits
upon it during th a t period were enormous. The price has
subsequently fallen hy degrees to five guineas per ton, and the
sale has latterly been heavy even a t th a t rate. This was to he
attributed at first to the superior quality of the Spanish Barilla
for the purposes of glass-making and soap-hoiling, hut more
recently to the almost entire removal of the duty on muriate of
soda, or common salt. The rock-salt of Cheshire, which now
bears an insignificant price, is submitted to a chemical process,
hy means of which the soda is separated from the muriatic acid;
• Life and Remains of E. D. C l a u k e , by O t t e r , v . i. p. 338.