treated with severity, and, in peace, for fuch de linquents as had committed crimes within the Laird's jurifdiction; for the manfions of many Lairds were, till the late privation of their privileges, the halls of justice to their own tenants.

As thefe fortifications were the productions of mere neceffity, they are built only for fafety, with little regard to convenience, and with none: to elegance or pleafure. It was fufficient for a Laird of the Hebrides, if he had a strong houfe, in which he could hide his wife and children from the next: elan. That they are not large nor fplendid is no wonder.. It is not eafy to find how they were rai-fed, fuch as they are, by men who had no money, in countries where the labourers and artificers could fcarcely be fed. The buildings in different parts of the islands fhew their degrees of wealth: and power. I believe that for all the castles which I have feen beyond the Tweed, the ruins yet: remaining of fome one of thofe which the English. -built in Wales, would fupply mater als..

Thefe caftles afford another evidence that the: fictions of romantic chivalry had for their bafis the real manners of the feudal times, when every Lord of a feignory lived in his hold, lawless and unaccountable, with all the licentioufnefs and infolence of uncontested fuperiority and unprincipled power.. The traveller, whoever he might be, coming to the fortified habitation of a Chieftain, would, proba bly, have been interrogated from the battlements,.

admitted

admitted with caution to the gate, introduced to a -petty Monarch, fierce with habitual hoftility, and vigilant with ignorant fufpicion;. who, according. to his general temper, or accidental humour, would have feated a ftranger as his guest at the table, or as a fpy confined him in the dungeon.

Lochbuy means the Yellow Lake, which is the name given to an inlet of the fea, upon which the caftle of Mr Maclean ftands. The reason of the

- appellation we did not learn.

We were now to leave the Hebrides, where we had spent fome weeks with fufficient amufement, -and where we had amplified our thoughts with new fcenes of nature, and new modes of life. More -time would have given us a more distinct view, but: it was neceffary that Mr Bofwell fhould return before the courts of justice were opened; and it was not proper to live too long upon hospitality, how ever liberally imparted.

Of thefe iflands it must be confeffed, that they have not many allurements, but to the mere lover of naked nature. The inhabitants are thin, provifions are fcarce, and defolation and penury give little pleasure.

The people collectively confidered are not few, though their numbers are small in proportion to the space which they occupy. Mull is faid to contain fix thousand, and Sky fifteen thousand. Of the computation refpecting Mull, I can give no account; but when I doubted the truth of the

numbers

numbers attributed to Sky, one of the minifters exhibited fuch facts as conquered my incredu lity.

Of the proportion, which the product of any region bears to the people, an estimate is commonly made according to the pecuniary price of the neceffaries of life; a principle of judgment which is never certain, because it fuppofes what is far from truth, that the value of money is always the fame, and fo measures an unknown quantity by an uncertain ftandard. It is competent enough when the markets of the fame country, at different times,. and those times not too distant, are to be compared; but of very little ufe for the purpose of making one nation acquainted with the state of another. Provifions, though plentiful, are fold in places of great pecuniary opulence for nominal prices, to which, however fcarce, where gold and filver are yet scarcer, they can never be raised.

In the Western Iflands there is fo little internal commerce, that hardly any thing has a known or fettled rate. The price of things brought in, or carried out, is to be confidered as that of a foreign market; and even this there is fome difficulty in difcovering, because their denominations of quanti ty are different from ours; and when there is ignorance on both fides, no appeal can be made to a common measure.

This, however, is not the only impediment.. The Scots,, with a vigilance of jealoufy which never

goes

true.

goes to fleep, always fufpect that an Englishman defpifes them for their poverty, and to convince him that they are not lefs rich than their neighbours, are fure to tell him a price higher than the When Lefley, two hundred years ago, relalated fo punctiliously, that a hundred hen eggs, new laid, were fold in the Iflands for a penny, he fuppo fed that no inference could poffibly follow, but that eggs were in great abundance. Pofterity has fince grown wifer; and having learned, that nominal and real value may differ, they now tell no fuch ftories, left the foreigner should happen to collect, not that eggs are many, but that pence are few.

Money and wealth have by the use of commer cial language been fo long confounded, that they are commonly fuppofed to be the fame; and this prejudice has fpread fo widely in Scotland, that I know not whether I found man or woman, whom I interrogated concerning payments of money, that could furmount the illiberal defire of deceiving me, by reprefenting every thing as dearer than it is.

From Lochbuy we rode a very few miles to the fide of Mull, which faces Scotland, where, having taken leave of our kind protector, Sir Allan, we embarked in a boat, in which the feat provided for our accommodation was a heap of rough brushwood; and on the twenty-fecond of October repofed at a tolerable inn on the main land.

On the next day we began our journey fouthwards. The weather was tempeftuous. For half

the