He has the proper disposition of a Chieftain,
and seems desirous to continue the customs of his house. The
bagpiper played regularly, when dinner was served, whose person and
dress made a good appearance; and he brought no disgrace upon the
family of Rankin, which has long supplied the Lairds of Col with
hereditary musick.
The Tacksmen of Col seem to live with less dignity and convenience
than those of Sky; where they had good houses, and tables not only
plentiful, but delicate. In Col only two houses pay the window
tax; for only two have six windows, which, I suppose, are the
Laird's and Mr. Macsweyn's.
The rents have, till within seven years, been paid in kind, but the
tenants finding that cattle and corn varied in their price, desired
for the future to give their landlord money; which, not having yet
arrived at the philosophy of commerce, they consider as being every
year of the same value.
We were told of a particular mode of under-tenure. The Tacksman
admits some of his inferior neighbours to the cultivation of his
grounds, on condition that performing all the work, and giving a
third part of the seed, they shall keep a certain number of cows,
sheep, and goats, and reap a third part of the harvest. Thus by
less than the tillage of two acres they pay the rent of one.
There are tenants below the rank of Tacksmen, that have got smaller
tenants under them; for in every place, where money is not the
general equivalent, there must be some whose labour is immediately
paid by daily food.
A country that has no money, is by no means convenient for beggars,
both because such countries are commonly poor, and because charity
requires some trouble and some thought. A penny is easily given
upon the first impulse of compassion, or impatience of importunity;
but few will deliberately search their cupboards or their granaries
to find out something to give. A penny is likewise easily spent,
but victuals, if they are unprepared, require houseroom, and fire,
and utensils, which the beggar knows not where to find.
Yet beggars there sometimes are, who wander from Island to Island.
We had, in our passage to Mull, the company of a woman and her
child, who had exhausted the charity of Col. The arrival of a
beggar on an Island is accounted a sinistrous event. Every body
considers that he shall have the less for what he gives away.
Their alms, I believe, is generally oatmeal.
Near to Col is another Island called Tireye, eminent for its
fertility. Though it has but half the extent of Rum, it is so well
peopled, that there have appeared, not long ago, nine hundred and
fourteen at a funeral. The plenty of this Island enticed beggars
to it, who seemed so burdensome to the inhabitants, that a formal
compact was drawn up, by which they obliged themselves to grant no
more relief to casual wanderers, because they had among them an
indigent woman of high birth, whom they considered as entitled to
all that they could spare. I have read the stipulation, which was
indited with juridical formality, but was never made valid by
regular subscription.
If the inhabitants of Col have nothing to give, it is not that they
are oppressed by their landlord: their leases seem to be very
profitable. One farmer, who pays only seven pounds a year, has
maintained seven daughters and three sons, of whom the eldest is
educated at Aberdeen for the ministry; and now, at every vacation,
opens a school in Col.
Life is here, in some respects, improved beyond the condition of
some other Islands. In Sky what is wanted can only be bought, as
the arrival of some wandering pedlar may afford an opportunity; but
in Col there is a standing shop, and in Mull there are two. A shop
in the Islands, as in other places of little frequentation, is a
repository of every thing requisite for common use. Mr. Boswell's
journal was filled, and he bought some paper in Col. To a man that
ranges the streets of London, where he is tempted to contrive
wants, for the pleasure of supplying them, a shop affords no image
worthy of attention; but in an Island, it turns the balance of
existence between good and evil. To live in perpetual want of
little things, is a state not indeed of torture, but of constant
vexation. I have in Sky had some difficulty to find ink for a
letter; and if a woman breaks her needle, the work is at a stop.
As it is, the Islanders are obliged to content themselves with
succedaneous means for many common purposes. I have seen the chief
man of a very wide district riding with a halter for a bridle, and
governing his hobby with a wooden curb.
The people of Col, however, do not want dexterity to supply some of
their necessities. Several arts which make trades, and demand
apprenticeships in great cities, are here the practices of daily
economy. In every house candles are made, both moulded and dipped.
Their wicks are small shreds of linen cloth. They all know how to
extract from the Cuddy, oil for their lamps. They all tan skins,
and make brogues.
As we travelled through Sky, we saw many cottages, but they very
frequently stood single on the naked ground. In Col, where the
hills opened a place convenient for habitation, we found a petty
village, of which every hut had a little garden adjoining; thus
they made an appearance of social commerce and mutual offices, and
of some attention to convenience and future supply. There is not
in the Western Islands any collection of buildings that can make
pretensions to be called a town, except in the Isle of Lewis, which
I have not seen.
