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262 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
to bi*ew a very poteble liquor by mixing two thirds of the tops of
heather to one-third of malt. It is a matter of history that Britjiiu
was once celebrated for honey, and it is quite probable that, when
in full bloom and laden with honey, a fermentable infusion could be
obtained from heather tops. Alcohol cannot, however, be obtained
except from a saccharine basis, and I fear that any beverage
which could have been extracted from heather itself must have
been of a very teetotal character. Mixed wath malt something
might be got out of it. Now heather is only used by smugglera
in the bottom of their mash-tun for draining purposes. I liave
often wondered whether Nature intended that our extensive heaths
should be next to useless. The earliest mention of the drinking
and manufacture of whisky in the Highlands is found in the
famous " Statutes of Icolm-Kill " which were agreed to by the
Island Chiefs in 1 609. The Statutes, as summarised in Gregory's
Western Uighlamls and Islands, are quoted in Mackenzie's History
of the Macdonalds. "The fifth Statute proceeded upon the narrative,
that one of the chief causes of the great poverty of the
Isles, and of the cruelty and inhuman barbarity practised in
their feuds, was their inordinate love of strong mnes and aquavitae,
which they purchased partly from dealers among themselves,
partly from merchants belonging to the mainland. Power was,
therefore, given to any person whatever to seize, without payment,
any wine or aqua-vitse imported for sale by a native
merchant ; and if any Islander should buy any of the prohibited
articles from a mainland trader, he was to incur the penalty of
forty pounds for the tirst oftence, one hundred for the second,
and for the third the loss of his whole possessions and moveable
goods. It was, however, declared to be lawful for an individual
to brew as much aqua-vitse as his own family might require ; and
the barons and wealthy gentlemen were permitted to purchase in
the Lowlands the wine and other liquors required for their private
consumption."
For some time after this, claret appears to ha\'e been the
favourite drink. The author of Scotland SocAal and Domestic,
states that not^vithstanding the prohibition of 1 609 against the
importation and consumption of wine, the consumption of claret
continued, and the Privy Council in 1616 passed an " Act agans
the drinking of Wynes in the Yllis," as follows :
" Forsamekle as the grite and extraordinar excesse in drink-
ing of wyne commonlie vsit amangis the commonis and tenentis of
the yllis is not onlie ane occasioun of the lieastlie and barbarous
cruelties and inhumaniteis that fallis oute amongis thame to the
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