Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire Part 61

After a rough ride, occupying most of the day, and which seems to have been by way of Achneigie, thence by Glen na Muic and the heights of Kenlochewe to the lower end of Glen Dochartie (a route still indicated by a mountain track), he writes as follows (vol. ii., page 328) under date of 1st August 1772:--

"Black mora.s.sy heaths succeed, named Gliann-dochartai. Dine on the side of a rill at the bottom, on plentiful fare provided by our kind host, whose son Mr Mackenzie, and another gentleman of the name, kindly undertook the charge of us to the next stage. Ride through a narrow strath called Kin-loch-ewe, where we first saw the signs of houses and a little cultivation since morning. This terminates in a meadowy plain, closed at the end with Loch-Maree: the night proved wet and tempestuous; we therefore determined to defer the voyage till next day; and to shelter ourselves in a whisky house, the inn of the place. Mr Mackenzie complimented Mr Lightfoot and me with the bedstead, well covered with a warm litter of heath: we lay in our cloaths, wrapped ourselves in plaids and enjoyed a good repose. Our friends did not lose their sleep; but great was our surprize to see them form their bed of wet hay, or rather gra.s.s collected from the fields; they flung a plaid over it, undressed, and lay most comfortably, without injury, in what, in a little time, must have become an errant hot bed: so blest with hardy const.i.tutions are even the gentlemen of this country!

"At seven in the morning (Aug. 2) take a six-oared boat, at the east end of Loch Maree, keep on the north sh.o.r.e beneath steep rocks, mostly filled with pines waving over our heads.

Observe on the sh.o.r.e a young man of good appearance, hailing the boat in the _erse_ language. I demanded what he wanted; was informed, a place in the boat. As it was entirely filled, was obliged to refuse his request. He follows us for two miles through every difficulty, and by his voice and gestures threatened revenge. At length a rower thought fit to acquaint us, that he was owner of the boat, and only wanted admission in lieu of one of them. The boat was ordered to sh.o.r.e, and the master taken in with proper apologies and attempts to sooth him for his hard treatment.

Instead of insulting us with abuse as a _Charon_ of _South Britain_ would have done, he instantly composed himself, and told us through an interpreter, that he felt great pride in finding that his conduct gained any degree of approbation.

"Continue our course. The lake, which at the beginning was only half a mile broad, now, nearly half its length, widens into a great bay, bending towards the south, about four miles in breadth, filled with little isles, too much cl.u.s.tered and indistinct. Land on that called Inch-maree, the favoured isle of the saint, the patron of all the coast from Applecross to Loch-broom. The sh.o.r.es are neat and gravelly; the whole surface covered thickly with a beautiful grove of oak, ash, willow, wicken, birch, fir, hazel, and enormous hollies. In the midst is a circular dike of stones, with a regular narrow entrance; the inner part has been used for ages as a burial-place, and is still in use. I suspect the dike to have been originally _Druidical_, and that the ancient superst.i.tion of _Paganism_ had been taken up by the saint as the readiest method of making a conquest over the minds of the inhabitants. A stump of a tree is shewn as an altar, probably the memorial of one of stone; but the curiosity of the place is the well of the saint; of power unspeakable in cases of lunacy. The patient is brought into the sacred island, is made to kneel before the altar, where his attendants leave an offering in money; he is then brought to the well, and sips some of the holy water: a second offering is made; that done, he is thrice dipped in the lake; and the same operation is repeated every day for some weeks: and it often happens, by natural causes, the patient receives relief, of which the saint receives the credit. I must add that the visitants draw from the state of the well an omen of the disposition of St _Maree_; if his well is full, they suppose he will be propitious; if not, they proceed in their operations with fears and doubts; but let the event be what it will, he is held in high esteem; the common oath of the country is by his name; if a traveller pa.s.ses by any of his resting-places, they never neglect to leave an offering; but the saint is so moderate as not to put him to any expense, a stone, a stick, a bit of rag contents him.

"This is the most beautiful of the isles; the others have only a few trees sprinkled over their surface.

"About a mile farther the lake again contracts. Pa.s.s beneath a high rock, formed of short precipices, with shelves between, filled with mult.i.tudes of self-sown pines, making a most beautiful appearance.

"The south of the water is bounded with mountains adorned with birch woods, mixed with a few pines: a military road runs along its length. The mountains are not very high, but open in many parts to give a view of others, whose naked and broken tops shooting into sharp crags, strangely diversify the scene, and form a n.o.ble termination.

"Towards the bottom of the lake is a headland, finely wooded to the very summit. Here the water suddenly narrows to the breadth of a hundred yards, and continues so for nearly a mile, the banks cloathed with trees, and often bending into little semilunar bays to the very extremity; from whence its waters, after the course of a mile, a continual _Rapide_, discharge into a deep and darksome hole, called Pool-ewe, which opens into the large bay of Loch-Ewe.

"The lake we had left is eighteen miles long; the waters are said to be specifically lighter than most others, and very rarely frozen; the depth is various, in some places sixty fathoms; but the bottom is very uneven; if ten feet of water were drained away, the whole would appear a chain of little lakes.

"The fish are salmon, char, and trout; of the last is a species weighing thirty pounds.

"Land; are received by the Rev. Mr Dounie, minister of Gairloch, whom we attend to church, and hear a very edifying plain comment on a portion of Scripture. He takes us home with him, and by his hospitality makes us experience the difference between the lodgings of the two nights.

"Aug. 3. Take a view of the environs: visit the mouth of the river, where the salmon fishery supplies the tenant with three or four lasts of fish annually. On the bank are the remains of a very antient iron furnace. Mr Dounie has seen the back of a grate, marked 'S. G. Hay,' or Sir George Hay, who was head of a company here in the time of the Queen Regent; and is supposed to have chose this remote place for the sake of quiet in those turbulent times.

"Potatoes are raised here on the very peat-moors, without any other drains than the trenches between the beds. The potatoes are kiln-dried for preservation.

"It is to be hoped that a town will form itself here, as it is the station of a Government-packet, that sails regularly from hence to _Stornoway_, in _Lewis_, a place now growing considerable, by the encouragement of Lord Seaforth, the proprietor. This is a spot of much concourse; for here terminates the military road, which crosses from the East to the West sea, commencing at _Inverness_, and pa.s.sing by _Fair-burn_ and _Strath-braan_ to this place. Yet I believe the best inn on the last thirty miles is that of Mr Roderick Mac-donald, our landlord the last night but one.

"Ride about six miles South, and reach Gair-loch; consisting of a few scattered houses, on a fine bay of the same name.

Breakfast at _Flowerdale_; a good house, beautifully seated between hills finely wooded. This is the seat of Sir _Hector Mackenzie_, whose ancestor received a writ of fire and sword against the antient rebellious owners; he succeeded in his commission, and received their lands for his pains.

"The parish of Gair-loch is very extensive, and the number of inhabitants evidently encrease, owing to the simple method of life, and the conveniency they have of drawing a support from the fishery. If a young man is possessed of a herring-net, a hand-line, and three or four cows, he immediately thinks himself able to support a family, and marries. The present number of souls are about two thousand eight hundred.

"Herrings offer themselves in shoals from _June_ to _January_; cod-fish abound on the great sandbank, one corner of which reaches to this bay, and is supposed to extend as far as Cape Wrath; and South, as low as _Rona_, off Skie; with various branches, all swarming with cod and ling. The fishery is carried on with long-lines, begins in _February_, and ends in _April_. The annual capture is uncertain, from five to twenty-seven thousand. The natives at present labor under some oppressions, which might be easily removed, to the great advancement of this commerce. At present the fish are sold to some merchants from _Campbeltown_, who contract for them at two-pence farthing a-piece, after being cured and dried in the sun. The merchants take only those that measure eighteen inches from the gills to the setting on of the tail; and oblige the people to let them have two for one of all that are beneath that length. The fish are sent to _Bilboa_; ling has also been carried there, but was rejected by the Spaniards. This trade is far from being pushed to its full extent; is monopolised, and the poor fishers obliged to sell their fish at half the price to those who sell it to the merchants.

"The want of a town is very sensibly felt in all those parts; there is no one commodity, no one article of life, or implement of fishery, but what is gotten with difficulty, and at a great price, brought from a distance by those who are to make advantage from the necessities of the people. It is much to be lamented that after the example of the Earl of _Seaforth_, they do not collect a number of inhabitants by feuing their lands, or granting leases for a length of years for building; but still so much of the spirit of the chieftain remains, that they dread giving an independency to their people; a false policy! as it would enrich both parties; and make the landlord more respectable, as master of a set of decent tenants, than of thousands of bare-footed half-starved va.s.sals. At present adventurers from distant parts take the employ from the natives; a town would create a market; a market would soon occasion a concourse of s.h.i.+pping, who would then arrive with a certainty of a cargo ready taken for them; and the mutual wants of stranger and natives would be supplied at an easy rate.

"By example of a gentleman or two, some few improvements in farming appear. Lime is burnt; sea tang used as manure; and sh.e.l.l sand imported by such who can afford the freight. But the best trade at present is cattle: about five hundred are annually sold out of this parish, from the price of one pound seven to two pounds five a-piece. About eighty horses, at three pounds each, and a hundred and fifty sheep, at three pounds per score. The cattle are blooded at spring and fall: the blood is preserved to be eaten cold.

"We found our vessel safely arrived at anchor with many others, under the shelter of a little isle, on the south side of the bay. Weigh, and get under sail with a good breeze."

C.

Notes on the Parish of Gairloch, from the "Old Statistical Account," being an Extract from "The Statistical Account of Scotland, drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the different parishes, by Sir John Sinclair, Bart.,"

vol. iii., page 89, printed in 1792.

"PARISH OF GAIRLOCH.

"BY THE REV. MR DANIEL M'INTOSH.

"_Name, Extent, &c._--This parish had its name originally from a very small loch, near the church and the house of Flowerdale, and so close by the sh.o.r.e that the sea at high tides covers it. The etymology of it is abundantly clear, and signifies in the Gaelic language a short contracted loch.

"The parish of Gairloch is situated in the county of Ross, in the presbytery of Lochcarron, and synod of Glenelg. Its length is no less than thirty-two miles English, and its breadth about eighteen.

"_Soil._--This country resembles many other parts of the Highlands of Scotland. The valleys are surrounded with hills, that afford good pasture to different kinds of cattle. As the parish abounds in hills and mossy ground, the arable parts of it are consequently but of a small extent.

When the season is favourable, the crops are by no means bad, yet they scarcely serve the inhabitants above seven or eight months. The potatoes the farmers plant, and the fish they catch, contribute much to their support. This country, and all the West coast, are supplied in the summer with meal by vessels that come from different ports at a distance, such as Caithness, Murray, Peterhead, Banff, Aberdeen, Greenock, &c., and, at an average, sell the boll, consisting of eight stones, at 16s., and, when provisions are high, at 18s. and upwards.

"_Rivers and Antiquities._--There are many rivers in this parish, but no bridges nor pa.s.sage but by horses; and therefore, when these rivers overflow their banks, which often happens in the winter and spring seasons, and sometimes even in summer, travellers are detained, and are exposed to delays and additional expences. There are two large rivers near the east end of this parish, which meet and run into one at Kenlochew, which, in the Ea.r.s.e language, imports the Head of the Loch-River. These two rivers empty themselves into Loch-Mari. This loch again is twelve computed miles in length, and more in some parts than a mile in breadth. There are twenty-four small islands in it, which are beautified with fir trees, and a variety of other kinds of wood; in one of these islands there is an antient burying-place, called Isleand-Mari, where the people on the north side of the loch still continue to bury their dead.

There is a well in it of a salubrious quality, the water of which hath been found, for ages past, very serviceable to many diseased persons. The remains of a Druidical temple is likewise to be seen in this small island.

"_Fish._--Gairloch has been for many ages famous for the cod-fis.h.i.+ng. Sir Hector M'Kenzie of Gairloch, the present proprietor, sends to market annually, upon an average, betwixt 30,000 and 40,000 cod, exclusive of the number with which the country people serve themselves. Gairloch hath also, from time immemorial, been remarkable for the herring-fis.h.i.+ng. The coast of this parish abounds in very safe harbours for vessels of all dimensions.

"_Agriculture._--Oats and barley are sown in this country.

Some of the gentlemen sow a small quant.i.ty of pease, which, when the harvest is warm and dry, yield profitable returns; our time of sowing oats, black and white, is commonly from the middle of March to the end of April, within which period we also plant potatoes; we sow barley from the beginning of May to the 10th of June; our latest barley is seldom the worst part of the crop, when the summer proves warm and showery. Our harvest commences about the end of August, and the crop is gathered in about the 10th of October. Our crop frequently suffers much from shaking winds, attended with heavy cold rain, about the autumnal equinox.

"_Diseases._--No peculiar local distemper of any kind is prevalent in this parish. Fevers are frequent; sometimes they are of a favourable kind; at other times they continue long, and carry off great numbers. An infectious and putrid fever, early in winter last, made its way from the north over a long tract of different countries, and proved fatal to many.

"_Population._--There were in this parish, in the year 1774, of examinable persons about two thousand. And from that period to the present there is an increase of two hundred souls and upwards. In Dr Webster's report the number was two thousand and fifty. There are a few people in the parish at the age of eighty-six and eighty-seven. Two died lately who arrived at the age of an hundred years.

"_Character of the People._--They are in general sobre, regular, industrious, and pious. They have always been remarked and esteemed for their civility and hospitality to strangers.

"_School._--In the great extent of this parish, as hath been already observed, there is no school but the parochial, by which means the rising generation suffer much and are wholly neglected, having no access to the benefit of instruction.

There are only two catechists, who have their appointments partly in the skirts of this and partly of the two neighbouring parishes.

"_Church._--All the people of every denomination are of the Established Church; there are no Dissenters, Seceders, nor any other kind of sect whatever in the parish. The church of this parish has stood more than a century, but has for some years past been in a ruinous situation, and was therefore taken down this summer, and a new elegant church is building. There are three places of public wors.h.i.+p in the parish, exclusive of the church, viz., Kenlochew, Chapel of Sand, and the croft of Jolly. The church and manse are at the distance of six English miles from each other. The manse is very near the sh.o.r.e, on the north of the church, and supposed to be in the centre of the parish. The value of the living, exclusive of the glebe, and including the expence allowed for communion elements, is only 58, 6s. 9d. There are five heritors in the parish, viz., Sir Hector M'Kenzie of Gairloch, Baronet, John M'Kenzie of Gruinord, John M'Kenzie of Letterew, Roderick M'Kenzie of Kernsary, and Colonel M'Kenzie of Coul, who is at present in the East Indies; all the rest reside in the parish.

"_Rent._--The land-rent cannot be ascertained with accuracy.

It may probably be about 1700 per annum.

"_Poor._--The number of the poor in this as well as in many other Highland parishes is daily increasing. There are eighty-four upon the kirk-session roll, besides some other indigent persons, who, though not inrolled, yet are considered as objects of sympathy. They have the annual collections made in the church, with the interest of 20, distributed among them. The collections, upon an average, are about 6, 7s.

"_Language._--The Gaelic is the prevailing language in this as well as in several other corners of the West coast, where the people have no opportunity of learning English."

D.

Extracts from "The Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, founded on a series of annual journeys between the years 1811 and 1821," by John MacCulloch, M.D., F.R.S., L.S.G.S., &c., vol. ii., page 280 _et seq._:--

"There is nothing worthy of notice between Loch Torridon and Gairloch; but this inlet possesses considerable beauty in various parts, and more particularly in that angle occupied by Flowerdale. The very unsuspected ornament of this place, contrasted also as it is with all the surrounding wildness, almost carries us back to the most polished regions of Perths.h.i.+re. It is an interesting spot, independently of its beauty, as proving that nothing is wanting but taste and industry to render a thousand places on the west coast rivals to the most ornamental parts of the interior of Scotland, qualities which may exist in many persons besides Sir Hector Mackenzie, but which are wasted if the proprietors do not reside on their estates. Had there been as many Sir Hector Mackenzies as there are spots equal in capacity to Gairloch, the west coast of Scotland might have challenged any equal s.p.a.ce in the world for judicious ornament, embellis.h.i.+ng and improving Nature, as it now may for natural advantages.

"Loch Ewe is a deep and not a very wide inlet. The form of the land on each side is tame, and it is only at the extremity where the high mountains of the interior come into view that the outline has any character. But the view of Pol Ewe, from the anchorage, is picturesque; as the finely characterised mountains which surround Loch Maree form its conspicuous features. The rocky hills that surround this rude and strange valley are singularly wild. From Loch Maree, scarcely a mile distant from the sea-sh.o.r.e, the Ewe, a broad river, runs with a rapid course to the sea. Issuing from the lake, it first meanders gently through low grounds interspersed with wild groves of alder and birch and oak, enclosed by woody cliffs and irregular rough ground, which, on both hands, rise up the intricate skirts of the high mountains that bound the lake and the valley together.

Shortly, however, it is seen roaring through a steep and stony channel, deep below the surrounding land, which is now a rude heathy moor, with occasional patches of corn near the margin of the water. Hence, pa.s.sing a salmon weir, the river forms a considerable cascade, falling into a dark rocky pool; immediately after which it joins the sea.