The Crofter in History |
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Common terms and phrases
acres Amongst arable Argyll Arran barley beir bollis bolls Buchanan cattle century cheese chief clan system Clanchattan Colonel Stewart Colonsay common condition corn cottar cows croft croft land crofters crops cultivated customs described Dr Walker Earl families fertile feudal law feudal system fish glen ground Hebrides Highland proprietors HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS holdings horses husbandry infield inhabitants Islay kelp kelp trade kindly possessions labour laird land landlord Lewis Lord Lowlands M'Intosh Mackneil mairtis manure manurit Martin master meal milk misery mountains Mull Mull of Kintyre natives North Uist oats obliged occupiers outfield pasture Pennant persons Perthshire plough poor population potatoes rent runrig rural economy says scallag Scotland sheep farming shillings Sir John Sir John Sinclair Skene Skye soil Stewart of Garth sub-tenants Sutherland tacks tacksmen tenants thair tion Uist wedderis Western Islands Western Isles wretched writer
Popular passages
Page 54 - To understand this description one should compare with it a passage from Martin's " Description of the Western Islands of Scotland," which was published in 1703 : — "A woman," he said, " sitting down, takes a handful of corn, holding it by the stalks in her left hand, and then sets fire to the ears, which are presently in a flame. She has a stick in her right hand, which she manages very dexterously, beating off the...
Page 74 - The scallag, whether male or female, is a poor being, who, for mere subsistence, becomes a predial slave to another, whether a subtenant, a tacksman, or a laird. The scallag builds his own hut with sods and boughs of trees; and if he is sent...
Page 47 - The women seem to have the same sentiments with the men; though their habits were mean, and they had not our sort of breeding, yet in many of them there was a natural beauty, and a graceful modesty which never fails of attracting.
Page 54 - A Woman sitting down, takes a handful of Corn, holding it by the Stalks in her left hand, and then sets fire to the Ears, which are presently in a flame ; she has a Stick in her right hand, which she manages very dexterously, beating off the Grain at the very Instant, when the Husk is quite burnt, for if she miss of that, she must use the Kiln ; but Experience has taught them this Art to perfection. The Corn may be so dressed, winowed, ground, and baked within an Hour after reaping from the Ground.
Page 38 - And in raising or furthbringing of thair men ony time of yeir to quhatsumevir cuntrie or weiris, na labourers of the ground are permittit to steir furth of the cuntrie quhatevir thair maister have ado, except only gentlemen quhilk labouris not, that the labour belonging to the teiling of the ground and wynning of thair corns may not be lefi undone, albeit thai byde furth ane haill zeir, as ofttimes it happins quhen ony of thair particular Hands hes to do with Irland or neighbours, that the haill...
Page 74 - ... with his old sticks, stubble, and fern. Five days in the week he works for his master, the sixth is allowed to himself for the cultivation of some scrap of land, on the edge of some moss or moor, on which he raises a little kail, or coleworts, barley, and potatoes.
Page 96 - ... composed. Every hollow formed a receptacle for whatever fluid happened to fall near it, where it remained until absorbed by the earth. It was impossible that it should ever be swept ; and when the accumulation of filth rendered the place uninhabitable, another hut was erected in the vicinity of the old one. The old rafters were used in the construction of the new cottage, and that which was abandoned formed a valuable collection of manure for the next crop.
Page 97 - ... for concluding, that the mountainous parts of the estate and indeed of the county of Sutherland, were as much calculated for the maintenance of stock as they were unfit for the habitation of man, there could be no doubt as to the propriety of converting them into sheep walks, provided the people could be at the same time settled in situations, where, by the exercise of their honest industry, they could obtain a decent livelihood, and add to the general mass of national wealth...
Page 94 - Eastern coast, on the report of a ship being there loaden with meal. Numbers of the miserables of this country were now migrating: they wandered in a state of desperation; too poor to pay, they madly sell themselves, for their passage, preferring a temporary bondage in a strange land, to starving for life on their native soil.
Page 57 - ... of Canada, in its present form, came into existence. But thrice that period has elapsed since the fateful day when Montcalm and Wolfe laid down their lives in battle on the Plains of Abraham, and the lands which now comprise the Dominion finally passed from French hands and came under British rule. The Peace of Paris, which brought the Seven Years' War to a close in 1763, marked the termination of the empire of France in the New World. Over the continent of North America, after that peace, only...