Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

m sKv.
pasture; nor is there, perhaps, any where in Scotland, in
the same space, so large a proportion of land utterly
without value. Cattle form the main object of pastur-
age; and those of this island are noted for their good
qualities. The usual system of Highland agriculture is
pursued in the lands that admit of it ; and these are
found only along the sea-shores ; the largest arable dis-
tricts being the shores of Sleat and Bracadale, and that
of Loch Snizort ; in which lies the plain of Kilmuir,
emphatically called the granary of Sky. Elevation, ex-
posure, drainage, and the like collateral circumstances,
influence the rural economy of this island, much more
than the soil, which is almost every where of the finest
quality. Many districts are calcareous ; but the far
greater portion, nine-tenths perhaps of the island, are of
a trap soil, equal to the best parts of Fife. The greater
part of this, however, is suffocated either by peat or by
stones, or else is swampy and rocky, or is exposed in such a
manner to the winds andrains of this most stormy climate,
as to have all its fundamental good qualities defeated.
There is an excellent new road from Armadale to
Dunvegan and to the Kyle Rich, which lays open the
chief part of Sky ; and there are other good country
roads, which render all the most important communica-
tions sufficiently easy. Thus far this island possesses
great advantages over Mull. Kelp is manufactured to a
considerable extent ; but chiefly on the east coast, and
in the lochs ; as the western and northern sides are
formed of high cliffs, and exposed to heavy seas. As is
the case elsewhere on the western coast, the population
itself is perfectly maritime ; as there is scarcely a house
that is a quarter of a mile from the sea. It is thus that
the country appears a desert on a superficial vie^v
though peopled as highly as it will bear. Of the only
four proprietors, Lord Macdonald possesses nearly three-
;