that they would do so without a lease of such duration as to be nearly equivalent to absoThe calculations which a lute property. rich and intelligent farmer would make, as to the proportion between his outlay and its return, would by no means be suitable to a case of this kind. The poor Highland cotter finds so much difficulty in accumulating a small sum of money, that it is no wonder he should be disposed to hoard it with tenacity, and be reluctant to lay it out for a profit, which a person accustomed to a liberal scale of business might think more than adequate. In proportion as he finds his labour of little value, he must value his money the more, and will not part with it without a very evident advantage indeed. On the other hand, a very long lease would certainly have bad effects. The exertions of these poor cotters are seldom carried further than they are im pelled by the necessity of providing a main→ tenance for their families. Whenever this becomes tolerably easy, their new and halfformed habits of industry relax; and at any rate they proceed in a trifling and unsyste matic manner. In The improvements would be carried on with much more effect, if the proprietor would advance not only the pecuniary expenses which are indispensable, but make the occupier an allowance for every work he executes, of such amount, as to form (along with the first crop or two on the improved land) a fair compensation for his labour. this way, there would be no nécessity of giving him a permanent tenure, and the proprietor might carry forward the improvements with spirit and regularity, keep up the industry of the people, and render it far more effective. This, though a temporary burthen, would soon be compensated by the increased value of the land, and those who have the means could not perhaps apply their capital in a more advantageous manner. How far pecuniary difficulties may prevent the proprietors in general through the Highlands from making these advances, and how far the situation of entailed estates may be an obstacle, are questions very interesting in a review of the improvements of which the Highlands are capable, but not immediately connected with the subject of these observations; for there is no probability that this resource can have any effect in diminishing the emigrations. It is only to the poorest of the people that it can be rendered acceptable; by the tenants, even those of the lowest order, it would be considered as too great a degradation*. The same may, perhaps, be said of the fisheries, which seem, next to the cultivation of waste lands, the most important resource that is open to the Highlanders in their own country. The extent to which they may be carried, will probably fall far short of any expectations formed upon the romantic ideas, which some authors have given of the incredible abundance of fish. Without listening to these exaggerations, it is unquestionable that several stations are very productive, and a great extent of coast sufficiently so to afford an adequate reward for the labour of the industrious fisherman, and to employ a considerable number of people. It is also certain, that this employment is more congenial to the habits and inclinations of the * See Appendix [0.] people, than almost any other that can be proposed, and without any very extraordinary encouragement this branch of business may be carried as far as natural circumstances and the extent of the market will permit. The obstacles arising from the salt-laws, &c. are illustrated in so many publications, that it is unnecessary here to dwell upon them ; but it may not be superfluous to observe, that the general change, in the management of Highland estates, is likely to remove the greatest of all impediments to the progress of the fisheries on the Western coast and Isles: I mean the connection between fishing and the cultivation of land. The opinion of practical men, as to the absolute incompatibility of these employments,is uniform*; and experience has also proved, that a very trifling possession of land, by distracting the attention of a fisherman, will lead him to neglect opportunities of more important * See Appendix [P.] Н profits in his own business. The minute division of farms, which was the result of the feudal state, precluded entirely the separation of these employments. The natural remedy to this lies in the rise of the value of land, and its accumulation in the hands of active and intelligent farmers. When land becomes dear, some of those who cannot procure it, will be under the necessity of betaking themselves to fishing as their only employment. The success which may justly be expected to attend those who first apply to it with steady and unremitting industry, is the only bounty which will be necessary to induce others to follow their example*. It is to be regretted that the establishments of the British Society for the Encouragement of Fisheries have not, in this respect, been conducted on just principles, and have counteracted, instead of aiding,. the natural progress of the country. the villages where those gentlemen proposed * See Appendix [Q] In |