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Old Highlnrd Industries. 409
water-tight, but simply as a protection, and their duration was
not great.
They are now ahnost extinct, and T liad great difficulty in getting
a specimen. I am indebted to Mr Macphail, Glenmore, Skye,
and Mr J. i\racallum, Fort-William, for the specimen now shewn.
A still more primitive kind of shoe is still used in Shetland,
namely, the " rivelan." It is, as you will see, a piece of untanned
leather, 'aken while still flexible, and tied round to the shape of
the foot, and then allowed to harden. A lace of cord is then
introduced round the upper edge, and so the shoe is held on. It
is a curious contrast to see the women working in the peat bogs,
one half of them clad in modern Indiarubber goloshes, the other
half in native rivelans. The specimens shown were prepared, and
worn into shape by a young lady at Scalloway, and cost me 2s Gd.
The p('oi)le in the outlying districts had to provide themselves
with most of their utensils, and necessity made them handy and expert
in many trades, and the custom still obtains of assisting the
village craftsman. I was struck with this in Jura, for on entering
one of the cottages I saw the occupant dropping burning peat
through a small hole 3 or 4 inches in diameter. On asking what
was the object of this, I was informed he was making peat charcoal.
I examined the process and found that l)elow this hole was
a small chamber about 2 feet in diameter, built of stones about 20
inches deep, and covered with a flat stone very much like the upper
stone of a quern.
The peats are burned to a red heat in the open fire and then
dropped in all aglow through the small hole referred to, and when
the chamber is quite full sods are placed over the hole to exclude
the air, and so the charcoal is })repared. This charcoal is used l^y
the clachan blacksmith, and is said to greatly improve the quality
of iron. It is not so powerful as coal but answers the purpose otherwise
very well. The arrangement with the smith is peculiar.
There were twelve tenants in the clachan or club farm, and each
pays the smith 15s. per annum for his work, the smith being
bound on his part to do all jobbing for the tenants. The crofters
must each pi'ovide and bring his own fuel, blow the bellows and
work the forehammer.
In this same clachan, I saw a peculiar kind of pigsty, made
by building a hollow peat stack against the gable of the house in
the autumn. Into this hollow, which is capable of accommodating
three pigs, the young porkers are thrust inside, where they stay
over winter. Meanwhile the stack is being gradually reduced, and
by the time the peat is consumed, the pigs are fit for the market.
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