cer to demand them; whatever therefore is made dear only by impoft, is obtained here at an easy

rate.

A dinner in the Western Islands differs very little from a dinner in England, except that in the place of· tarts, there are always fet different preparations of milk. This part of their diet will admit fome improvement. Though they have milk, and eggs, and fugar, few of them know how to compound them in a cuftard. Their gardens afford them no great variety, but they have always fome vegetables on the table. Potatoes at leaft are never wanting, which, though they have not known them long, are now one of the principal parts of their food. They are not of the mealy, but the viscous kind.

Their more elaborate cookery, or made dishes, an Englishman, at the first tafte, is not likely to approve, but the culinary compofitions of every country are often fuch as become grateful to other nations only by degrees; though I have read a French author, who, in the elation of his heart, fays, that French cookery pleases all foreigners, but foreign cookery never fatisfies a Frenchman.

Their fuppers are like their dinners, various, and plentiful. The table is always covered with elegant linen. Their plates for common ufe are often of that kind of manufacture which is called cream coloured, or queen's ware. They ufe filver on all occafions where it is common in England, nor did I ever find a fpoon of horn but in one houfe.

The knives are not often either very bright, or very sharp. They are indeed instruments of which the Highlanders have not been long acquainted with

the

the general use. They were not regularly laid on the table, before the prohibition of arms, and the change of drefs. Thirty years ago the Highlander wore his knife as a companion to his dirk or dagger, and when the company fat down to meat, the men who had knives, cut the flesh into finall pieces for the women, who with their fingers conveyed it to their mouths.

There was perhaps never any change of national manners fo quick, fo great, and fo general, as that which has operated in the Highlands, by the last conqueft, and the fubfequent laws. We came thither too late to fee what we expected, a people of peculiar appearance, and a fyftem of antiquated life. The clans retain little now of their original character; their ferocity of temper is foftened, their military ardour is extinguished, their dignity of independence is depreffed, their contempt of government fubdued, and their reverence for their chiefs abated. Of what they had before the late conqueft of their country, there remain only their language and their poverty. Their language is attacked on every fide. Schools are erected, in which English only is taught, and there were lately fome who thought it reafonable to refufe them a verfion of the holy fcriptures, that they might have no monument of their mother-tongue.

A

That their poverty is gradually abated, cannot be mentioned among the unpleafing confequences of fubjection. They are now acquainted with money, and the poffibility of gain will by degrees make them industrious. Such is the effect of the late regulations, that a longer journey than to the High

lands must be taken by him whofe curiofity pants for favage virtues and barbarous grandeur.

RAASA Y.

At the first intermiffion of the ftormy weather we were informed, that the boat, which was to convey us to Raafay, attended us on the coaft. We had from this time our intelligence facilitated, and our converfation enlarged, by the company of Mr. Macqueen, minifter of a parish in Sky, whofe knowledge and politenefs give him a title equally to kindnefs and refpect, and who, from this time, never forfook us till we were preparing to leave Sky, and the adjacent places.

The boat was under the direction of Mr. Malcolm Macleod, a gentleman of Raafay. The water was calm, and the rowers were vigorous; so that our pasfage was quick and pleasant. When we came near the island, we faw the laird's house, a neat modern fabrick, and found Mr. Macleod, the proprietor of the ifland, with many gentlemen, expecting us on the beach. We had, as at all other places, fome difficulty in landing. The crags were irregularly broken, and a falfe ftep would have been very mischievous.

It feemed that the rocks might, with no great labour, have been hewn almost into a regular flight of fteps; and as there are no other landing places, I confidered this rugged afcent as the confequence of a form of life inured to hardships, and therefore not ftudious of nice accommodations. But I know not whether, for many ages, it was not confidered as a part of military policy, to keep the country not cafily acceffible,

acceffible. The rocks are natural fortifications, and an enemy climbing with difficulty was eafily deftroyed by those who stood high above him.

Our reception exceeded our expectations. We found nothing but civility, elegance, and plenty. After the ufual refreshments, and the ufual converfation, the evening came upon us. The carpet was then rolled off the floor; the mufician was called, and the whole company was invited to dance, nor did ever fairies trip with greater alacrity. The general air of festivity, which predominated in this place, fo far remote from all thofe regions which the mind has been used to contemplate as the manfions of pleafure, ftruck the imagination with a delightful furprise, analogous to that which is felt at an unexpected emerfion from darkness into light.

room.

When it was time to fup, the dance ceased, and fix and thirty perfons fat down to two tables in the fame After fupper the ladies fung Erfe fongs, to which I liftened as an English audience to an Italian opera, delighted with the found of words which I did not understand.

` I inquired the fubjects of the fongs, and was told of one, that it was a love fong, and of another, that it was a farewell compofed by one of the islanders that was going, in this epidemical fury of emigration, to feek his fortune in America. What fentiments would rife, on fuch an occafion, in the heart of one who had not been taught to lament by precedent, I fhould gladly have known; but the lady, by whom I fat, thought herfelf not equal to the work of tranflating.

Mr. Macleod is the proprietor of the islands of Raafay, Rona, and Fladda, and poffeffes an extensive district in Sky. The eftate has not, during four hundred years, gained or loft a fingle acre.

One of the old Highland alliances has continued for two hundred years, and is ftill fubfifting between Macleod of Raafay, and Macdonald of Sky, in confequence of which, the furvivor always inherits the arms of the deceased; a natural memorial of military friendship. At the death of the late Sir James Macdonald, his fword was delivered to the prefent laird of Raafay.

The family of Raafay confifts of the laird, the lady, three fons, and ten daughters. For the fons there is a tutor in the houfe, and the lady is faid to be very fkilful and diligent in the education of her girls. More gentleness of manners, or a more pleafing appearance of domeftick fociety, is not found in the most polished

countries.

Raafay is the only inhabited ifland in Mr. Macleod's poffeffion. Rona and Fladda afford only pafture for cattle, of which one hundred and fixty winter in Rona, under the fuperintendence of a folitary herdsman.

The length of Raafay is, by computation, fifteen miles, and the breadth two. Thefe countries have never been measured, and the computation by miles is negligent and arbitrary. We obferved in travelling, that the nominal and real distance of places had very little relation to each other. Raafay probably contains near a hundred fquare miles. It affords not much ground, notwithstanding its extent, either for tillage or pasture; for it is rough, rocky, and barren.