fires, is by heaping it on the hearth; but it burns well in grates, and in the best houses is fo ufed. The common opinion is, that peat grows again where it has been cut; which, as it feems to be chiefly a vegetable fubftance, is not unlikely to be true, whether known or not to those who relate it. There are water mills in Sky and Raafa; but where they are too far diftant, the house-wives grind their oats with a quern, or hand-mill, which confifts of two ftones, about a foot and a half in diameter, the lower is a little convex, to which the concavity of the upper must be fitted. In the middle of the upper stone is a round hole, and on one fide is a long handle. The grinder fheds the corn gradually into the hole with one hand, and works the handle round with the other. The corn flides down the convexity of the lower ftone, and by the motion of the upper is ground in its paffage. These ftones are found in Lochabar. The Iflands afford few pleasures, except to the hardy sportsman, who can tread the moor and climb the mountain. The diftance of one family from another, in a country where tra velling velling has fo much difficulty, makes frequent intercourse impracticable. Vifits last several days, and are commonly paid by water; yet I never faw a boat furnished with benches, or made commodious by any addition to the first fabrick. Conveniencies are not miffed where they never were enjoyed. The folace which the bagpipe can give, they have long enjoyed; but among other changes, which the laft Revolution introduced, the ufe of the bagpipe begins to be forgotten. Some of the chief families ftill entertain a piper, whofe office was anciently hereditary. Macrimmon was piper to Macleod, and Rankin to Maclean of Col. The tunes of the bagpipe are traditional. There has been in Sky, beyond all time of memory, a college of pipers, under the direction of Macrimmon, which is not quite extinct. There was another in Mull, fuperintended by Rankin, which expired about fixteen years ago. To thefe colleges, while the pipe retained its honour, the students of mufick repaired for education. I have had my dinner exhilarated by the bagpipe, at Armidale, at Dunvegan, and in Col. The The general conversation of the Iflanders has nothing particular. I did not meet with the inquifitiveness of which I have read, and fufpect the judgment to have been rafhly made. A ftranger of curiofity comes into a place where a stranger is feldom feen: he importune's the people with questions, of which they cannot guess the motive, and gazes with furprise on things which they, having had them always before their eyes, do not suspect of any thing wonderful. He appears to them like fome being of another world, and then thinks it peculiar that they take their turn to inquire whence he comes, and whither he is going. The Islands were long unfurnished with inftruction for youth, and none but the fons of gentlemen could have any literature. There are now parochial fchools, to which the lord of every manor pays a certain ftipend. Here the children are taught to read; but by the rule of their inftitution, they teach only English, fo that the natives read a language which they may never use or understand. If a parish, which often happens, contains feveral Islands, the fchool being but in one, cannot affift the reft. This is the ftate of Col, which, however, is more enlightened than fome other places; for the the deficiency is supplied by a young gentleman, who, for his own improvement, travels every year on foot over the Highlands to the feffion at Aberdeen; and at his return, during the vacation, teaches to read and write in his native Island. pounds, to four that of inftruc But the fcholars In Sky there are two grammar schools, where boarders are taken to be regularly educated. The price of board is from three pounds ten fhillings a year, and tion is half a crown a quarter. are birds of paffage, who live at school only in the fummer; for in winter provisions cannot be made for any confiderable number in one place. This periodical difperfion impreffes strongly the fcarcity of thefe countries. Having heard of no boarding-school for ladies nearer than Inverness, I fuppofe their education is generally domeftick. The elder daughters of the higher families are fent into the world, and may contribute by their acquifitions to the improvement of the reft. Women must here ftudy to be either pleasing or useful. Their deficiencies are feldom fupplied by very liberal fortunes. A hundred pounds is a portion beyond the hope of any but the Laird's daughter. They do not indeed often give money with their daughters; the question is, How many many cows a young lady will bring her husband. A rich maiden has from ten to forty; but two cows are a decent fortune for one who pretends to no distinction. The religion of the Islands is that of the Kirk of Scotland. The gentlemen with whom I converfed are all inclined to the English liturgy; but they are obliged to maintain the established Minister, and the country is too poor to afford payment to another, who muft live wholly on the contribution of his audience. They therefore all attend the worship of the Kirk, as often as a vifit from their Minister, or the practicability of travelling gives them opportunity; nor have they any reafon to complain of infufficient paftors; for I saw not one in the Ilands, whom I had reafon to think either deficient in learning, or irregular in life but found several with whom I could not converse without wishing, as my refpeâ increased, that they had not been Presbyterians. The ancient rigour of puritanism is now very much relaxed, though all are not yet equally enlightened. I fometimes met with prejudices fufficiently malignant, but they were prejudices of ignorance. The Ministers in the Islands had attained fuch knowledge as may justly be admired in men, who |