Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

BAUKA.
wall-sided boat is naturally surprised at their form ; for-
getting- that in proportion as they heel to the breeze,
their bearings are increased :
while, from their lightness,
they are as buoyant in a bad sea as a Norway skiff.
It is a draw-back on the merits of the Barra men, that
they are addicted to the use of whisky; a propensity
fostered by their great gains as much as by their mode
of life. The ancient prowess of the Highlanders in this
respect, is well known ; and, like their ancestors, the
Scythians, they were notorious for quarrelling over their
cups. It was almost the inevitable consequence of a
Highland compotation, to terminate in bloodshed. The
reputation has descended, where the merit, such as it
was, is lost. Some years are now past since a meeting
of Highlanders would sit down to their whisky bottle,
just as, in these degenerate days, we do to our port wine;
and the quantify of this strong spirit which they could
drink without apparent inconvenience, is incredible. The
excuse for it still continues, when the means are o-one.
A damp climate is considered, not only a justification of
the morning dram, but as the disease for which, whisky,
whenever it can be got, is the only remedy. To say,
however, that the Highlanders are addicted to drinking,
is to make the mistake that has often been done, of form-
ing a judgment of their present manners from books long
since written. I have no doubt that, like the common
people elsewhere, they would drink whisky could they
get it ; nor do I know why they should not seek that
consolation which poets and philosophers have joined in
praising. But in the present state of things, they are
nearly as much cut off from the use of whisky as from
that of Tokay. Greater vigilance on the part of the
Excise has raised the price of illicit spirits nearly to that
of the licensed, and it is no longer in their power to pro-