Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

NORTH UIST. 151
KELP. HARRIS. ROWDILL. POLICE.
It is not easy to imagine a greater air of desolation
than is presented by the coasts of these islands. A sea
without ships, a land without houses, a bleak, rude, and
treeless shore, never-ending rocks intermixed with black
bogs, they seem as if destined to desertion and solitude,
abandoned to the winds and the waves. But the kelp
season had noAV commenced, and the whole was one con-
tinued line of fires; the grey smoke streaming away from
each on the surface of the water, till, mixing with
the breeze, it diffused its odoriferous haze over all the
surrounding atmosphere. Industry and activity were at
length roused, and the endless line of grey and barren
rocks appeared now to be swarming with a busy popula-
tion. Little imagination was required to fancy the " Norman
sails afar " and the fatal Raven of the North stream-
ing to the gale, while the kindling of the beacon fires
was summoning the clans, and the " hawks of heaven "
were watching for their destined prey.
As we ran by, an island was pointed out as being
then worth to the lessee £2,000 a year, having been let
on a long lease to his ancestors for £40. I give you the
story as I heard it, but it is not unlikely to be true. No-
body has attempted to balance the comparative value of
the kelp and of the agricultural produce for the whole
islands, and I am unable to do it for you, for want of
documents ; but, on some very important estates, they
are equal ; taking the price of that commodity at an