to fix the head quarters of the Highland fisheries, they have annexed to the building lots, portions of arable and meadow land at low rents, with a right of common for the pasture of a cow or horse. These patches of land, though they afford but a miserable subsistence, are yet a sufficient rescurce for men, whose rooted habits require the stimulus of absolute necessity, to bring them to a life of regular and persevering industry. Accordingly the vil lages of Tobermory and Steen, on which very large sums of money have been expended, are scarcely possessed of a fishingboat, their inhabitants are sunk in inactivity, and consist in general of the refuse of the population of the country.

The custom so universally established in 'the Highlands and Western Isles, that every person whatever should have some portion. of land, large or small, has tended to render fishing an entirely subordinate employment, followed in an irregular manner, only as it suits the intervals of leisure from

business on shore. It is a natural consequence, that the fishing boats and apparatus are in general extremely bad; nor is it surprising, that from these combined circumstances, an idea should prevail among the peasantry, that it is impossible by fishing alone to earn a livelihood. Instances are quoted, where the proprietors have been anxious to employ in fishing the tenants who were dispossessed of their lands; and have with this view made liberal offers of supplying boats, nets, and every requisite material, which have been rejected under that idea. To establish fishing as a separate employment, can only perhaps be brought about in a gradual manner, by encouraging individuals to pay a greater share of attention to it, previous to their being totally deprived of land and though this may not succeed with those who have property, there is no doubt that, among those who are too poor to have much land, many may be found who would pursue the business with activity, if they were assisted with credit for the purchase of the necessary materials, and if arrange

ments were made for securing them as advantageous a market as possible.

1

It is with pleasure I learn that the practicability of this suggestion has been ascertained by experimental proof in a village on Loch Fyne, established by Mr. Maclachlan of Maclachlan. That gentleman, finding himself a number of years ago under a necessity of thinning the population on several of his farms, selected ten or twelve families of the poorest cotters, men, however, whom he knew to be capable of laborious exertion, These he fixed in a situation on the shore, where he furnished them with two substantial fishing boats of the best construction, with all their apparatus, on condition that their cost should be repaid to him from the produce of their industry. Anxiety to discharge their debt stimulated these men to exertion, and a season or two of successful fishing left them free proprietors of the boats they had been furnished with. The proprietor was sensible that, from the habits of these people, they would think it impossible to live without some land; and that

in fact, from the want of markets for pur chasing provisions, such an accommodation was to a certain degree indispensable in the present state of the country. He therefore laid out a part of a farm for them, and, to avoid disheartening them, allowed them to possess it for a year or two at an inadequate rent. By degrees, however, he raised it to its full value, so that the possessors cannot trust to the land for their support, having no means to pay their rent unless they are industrious in their fishing. Other inhabi tants have likewise been brought to the village, and the original portions of land subdivided, so as to become to every individual a mere accommodation, and an object entirely subordinate. When the further progress of the country towards a commercial state leads to the establishment of markets for provisions, these people, being already brought to such a degree of advancement, may be entirely deprived of land without any fear of their being disconcerted by the change. The success of the first fishermen has been such, that they have fitted out a number of additional boats, of the best

construction, at their own charge, and several of them have accumulated considerable sums of money.

This experiment was made in one respect under favourable circumstances; as the situation, from the vicinity of the richer parts of Scotland, has the advantage of a constant and ready market for fish. In the remoter parts of the Highland coast, and Hebrides, the people can scarcely get any price for fish in small quantities; and in the establishment of a village there, it would be of essential consequence to obviate the difficulty by proper arrangements. But if, with a due attention to this point, experiments were made on the same principles in each of the capital fishing stations in the distant Hebrides, a race of people exclusively fishermen would by degrees be formed, and would spread to every part of the coast that is adapted to the purpose.

The success of a few poor people in each of these, supported in the manner that has been alluded to, would over