Continuation of Mifcellaneous Extracts from the Statistical Account of Scotland.

This practice is fometimes still continued.

fingle circumftance that had happened them, or being in the leaft hurt or fatigued with the violent exertions they had made during the fit. Que obfervation occurs on this diforder, that during the late fcarce years it was very uncommon; and during the two last years of plenty it has appeared more frequently.

Cattle, &c.

fummer fishery for a fee of L. 16 to L. 26 Scots. Sometimes the fees are as high as L. 28 Scots for 10 fummer weeks. When they have been one feafon at the fishing, they generally confider themselves as men. They are encouraged to marriage by their landlords, in order to prevent them leaving the country; and the confequences commonly are, that they find themselves involved in debt and large families in a few years. There is a fet of very old regulations, called Country Als; by one of which it is enacted, that no pair fhall marry unlefs they be poffeffed of L. 40 Scots of

as all the reft, is now not enforced; though all of them appear to have been well calculated for the good police of the country. It is faid that thefe regulations were approved and confirmed by the parliament of Scotland, in the reign of Queen Mary, or of James VI.

The winter of 1784 was very fevere, and cut off a great number of sheep and horned cattle in every part of thefe islands. An account was taken, at the defire of the minifter, in this parish, and the return was free gear, This regulation, as well 4506 fheep, and 427 black cattle, dead in the courfe of the winter, be fides horfes, of which no accurate account could be obtained. This, joined to a year of as great fcarcity as the country had experienced, was very hard on the poor tenants: and they have not yet recovered the lofs. In that winter, the fheep were often dug There has been no emigration from out of the fnow, after continuing un- the parish during the time of the preder it for 20 days; during all which fent incumbent: but, almost every time they had no food, but ate the year, a great number of young lads enwool from the backs of each other. gage with the Greenland fhips, which Some that died after they were taken touch at Briffay Sound on their outout were opened, and a hard ball of ward paffage in the month of March wool was found in their ftomach. and April. They receive from 30 s. The general poverty of the inhabitants; to 40 s. a-month. Many of thefe their being obliged to be from home men are landed on the island when during the fibing feafon; the fmall- the hips return from Greenland; but nefs of their farms, and the precari- many go at last into the navy. ous tenure by which they hold them; a fact well ascertained, that in the all confpire to keep them in a state of year 1763, there were 900 Shetland indigence. Every man, from the men paid off. What number remainage of 18 to 70, muft attend the fish- ed in the fleet after the peace it is im ing from the ift June to the 14th Au- poffible to fay. guft. None are left at home but a wife, with perhaps a number of young children, who require all her attention. Every thing in the farming line muft confequently go to wreck.

Population.

There are very few batchelors. The people, in general, marry young. A young lad, when he comes to the age of 18 or 19 years, goes to the

PARISH OF LUNAN.
Church.

It is

One of the minifters, Mr Alexander Pedie, who died in 1713, bequeathed fome plate for the Lord's Supper in the church of Lunan, on this fingular condition, that any Epifcopal congregation within feven miles of Lunan re

quiring

Mifcellaneous Extracts from the Statistical Account of Scotland.

quiring them fhould have the ufe of them for that purpose. There is a marble monument erected in the church to his memory, for upholding which his widow bequeathed an annuity of L. 4 Scots, payable to the kirk-feffion.

99*

Although the parish confifts wholly of the poorer ranks of fociety, newfpapers are generally read and attended to: The defire for them increases; and the reading of them feems to be attended with advantage. With re gard to the intellectual character of the people: They are deficient in'imagination, vivacity, humour, &c. their PARISH OF AUCHTERDERRAN. apprehenfion and judgment are very good, and they make a decent figure General Character of the People. in the common profeffions of life. THE inhabitants are very regu- With refpect to their moral and relar in their attendance on public wor- ligious character, they have all a profeffhip. Formerly they were fond of fion of religion; but, in the points. long church fervices, and confidered where their fituation more immediateit as a point of duty to continue long ly leads to temptation, they too frein religious exercifes. Perhaps the quently and even habitually contrafervices, though thorter than before, dict their profeflion. Their civil cha-. are fill too long for anfwering the racter is excellent : they seem in ends of devotion and fpiritual edifica- 'fome degree capable of reflecting on tion. The people are not illiterate. the advantages of government; and In common with the rest of Scotland, they obey it peaceably, and on prin the vulgar are, for their ftation, lite- ciple. They could, however, be easi rate, perhaps, beyond all other na- ly ftirred up to fedition in matters of tions. Puritanic and abftrufe divi religion. There is one Burgher meetnity comes in for a fufficient share in ing in this parish. The religious totheir little flock of books; and it is leration granted feems to anfwer, in perhaps peculiar to them, as a people, this district, the full ends of good that they endeavour to form opinions, government and public utility: it by reading, as well as by frequent could hardly ftand on a better footconversation, on fome very metaphyfi- ing. Seceffion now begins to dimical points connected with religion, nifh; and the bitterness of contending and on the deeper doctrines of Chrif- fects is greatly fubfiding: this partly tianity. They likewife read a variety of other books unconnected with fuch fubjects. The parochial fchools are by no means fupplied with fuch enlightened teachers as thofe that were formerly inftrumental in diffufing knowledge. No one of good education and ability now accepts of this reduced pittance, where the fituation is not favourable for procuring lucrative cholars; and the village teacher, brought in by the subscription of needy people, is a ftill more unqualified peron. In fuch cafes, the people do not propofe feeking out the beft, but the cheapeft. The confequence will be, that the poorer diftricts of the country, and the poor claffes of the Teople, must become more ignorant.

proceeds from the novelty being over; partly from the great variety of feas which have taken place; and partly, it is hoped, from more enlightened views of true religion. As to holidays for recreation or merry-making, the people have only one in the year, called Handfel-Mondey; and even the manner in which this is employed fhews the fober mindedness of the people. Inftead of meeting in large affemblies for diverfions, each family collects its own kindred from the different parts of the diftrict, provides a feaft, and spends the time in eating, drinking, and converfation. The holidays, befides Sabbaths, for religious fervices, in the Establishment, are three days in the year; among the

Seceders fix. The people have fcarcely any sports after they are grown up. among the infinite advantages of the Reformation, this feems to have been one difadvantage attending it, that, owing to the gloomy rigour of fome of the leading actors, mirth and vice have, in their apprefion, been confounded together. Some of the fectaries punish attendance on penny weddings, and public dancing, with a reproof from the pulpit, in the prefence of the congregation: fo that the people muft either dance by themfelves or let it alone. This cenfure, in feveral congregations, is falling into dif

Wilfon was the first that introduced turnips and potatoes into the parish. He had a few of them in his garden, which the people in coming to the church used to look at as a great cu riofity; and it was thought, at that time, that none but a gardener could raise them. It was long before the method of hoeing came to be thought of. Being fown thick, and handweeded, they came to no fize. Another fingularity deferves notice, viz. that, when he came to Gamrie, there was not a watch in church except the laird's and the minifter's.

APPIN.

Mifcellaneous Obfervations.

The people in this parish are, in general, laborious and industrious. Crimes of an enormous nature are No inftance of hardly known here. fuicide, or of murder, has occurred The common for 25 years paft.

ufe. There are a few perfons, called UNITED PARISHES OF LISMORE AND tinkers and horners, half-resident, and half-itinerant, who are feared and fufpected by the community. Two of them were banished within these fix years. Strangers complain of the pronunciation in this district being drawling, and that it impreffes them with a belief that the perfon speaking is four and ill tempered. The inhabitants are improving in their mode of living and drefs. Intemperance from fpirituous liquors is by no means frequent among them; but, unluckily, the ufe of whisky is increafing, and that of beer diminishing. The blue bonnet, a national badge, is difappear. ing rapidly. The prevalent colour of the men's drefs is blue.

PARISH OF GAMRIE.

Population.

In this parish, many inftances of longevity might be mentioned. It is only a few years fince a fifhermar: in Macduff died at the age of 109; and there are living at prefent feveral perfons 90 years old and upwards. Mr Wilfon (the minifter) is in his 97th year; and laft autumn, at the conclufion of the harveft, the age of him, and the two fervants that affifted in taking in his crop, amounted in all to 257; and it is worthy remarking that one of thefe has been his fervant 50 years. Mr

people are lefs addicted to drinking than they were 20 years ago. All ranks are remarkable for their charity to the poor. In fevere feasons, many of them double their attention to relieve the wants of the needy. No inhabitant of thefe extenfive parifhes has been executed or banished for 25 years paft. One or two perfons, guilty of fome irregularities, voluntarily banished themfelves. There has been no inftance of child-murder in the parish in the memory of "man. This is a crime hardly known in the weft Highlands. The people in this part are much less fluctuating in their religious opinions than they are to the fouthward.

A man of fingular frame was born in Appin. He was the ftouteft or thickeft man in Britain, or even per-` haps in Europe, at the time. His name was Carmichael. He was а foldier in the 42d regiment, and died above 30 years ago. He was faid to be not above fix feet high; but was

fo

fo fingular for the ftoutnefs of his make, that his portrait, as large as the life, was painted, by order of the King, and placed in the Tower of London as a curiofity. He was not

ed for the mildness of his difpofition He could carry on his back, with ease I cwt. more than the ftrongest porter in Dublin.

Of the ancient and high civilization of the Inhabitants of India *.

[THE elegant and learned author propofes to prove the early and high civilization of the inhabitants of India; ft, by taking a view of their rank and fituation as individuals; 2d, of their civil policy; 3d. of their laws and judicial proceedings; 4th, of their ufeful and elegant arts; 5th, of their fciences; and, 6th, of their religious inftitutions. From the firft and fifth of these heads, the following obfervations are extracted.]

1

vance and expertnefs in execution. In proportion as refinement fpreads, the diftinction of profeffions increases, and they branch out into more nume. rous and minute fubdivifions. Prior to the records of authentic hiftory, and even before the most remote ara to which their own traditions pretend to reach, this feparation of profeffions had not only taken place among the natives of India, but the perpetuity of it was fecured by an inftitution which must be confidered as the fundamental article in the fyftem of their policy. The whole body of the peo

PROOFS FROM THE DISTINCTION OF ple was divided into four orders or

RANKS.

ROM the most ancient accounts

FROM ancient acthe diff of to

of India we learn, that the diftinction of ranks and feparation of profeffions were completely eftablished there. This is one of the moft undoubted proofs of a fociety confiderably advanced in its progrefs. Arts in the early ftages of focial life are fo few, and fo fimple, that each man is fufficiently mafter of them all, to gratify every demand of his own limited defires. A favage can form his bow, point his arrows, rear his hut, and hollow his canoe, without calling in the aid of any hand more skilful than his own. But when time has augmented the wants of men, the productions of art become fo complicated in their ftructure, or so curious in their fabric, that a particular course of education is requifite towards forming the artift to ingenuity in contri

cafts. The members of the first, deemed the moft facred, had it for their province, to ftudy the principlesof religion; to perform its functions; and to cultivate the fciences. They were the priests, the inftructors, and philofophers of the nation. The members of the second order were entrustted with the government and defence of the flate. In peace they were its rulers and magiftrates, in war they were the foldiers who fought its battles. The third was compofed of hufbandmen and merchants; and the fourth of artifans, labourers, and fervants. None of thefe can ever quit his own caft, or be admitted into another. The ftation of every individual is unalterably fixed; his destiny is ir revocable; and the walk of life is marked out, from which he never deviates. This line of feparation is not only established by civil authority, but confirmed and fanctioned by reli

From " Dr Robertson's Disquisition concerning Ancient India.”

gion;