LEWSIANA.*
"THE Lews," which, however, is more familiar to us under its English denomination of the "Island of Lewis," has lately come in for no small share of notice. A little while ago the Outer Hebrides were scarcely known out of Scotland, save to the geographical student, the more enterprising wanderer in by-ways, and the ardent sportsman ; but since Mr. Black's magic pen has been busy about "the peat floating in the Atlantic," and has intro- duced us to the most charming of Princesses and her little northern dominion, who is there who does not feel an interest in the home of "Sheila," and a desire to know more about-it? It is true that Mr. Anderson Smith's papers in the Glasgow Herald had the precedence in point of time of Mr. Black's novel, but although racy sketches, they were only matter-of-fact narrations, and naturally could not be surrounded by a halo of romance, nor could they in the columns of any single newspaper obtain a very wide-spread circulation ; he has therefore done wisely to reprint them, with many others, in a separate volume, one which is really of considerable interest, bringing, as it does, most dis- tinctly before us the lives of the inhabitants of these little-known islands, and grouping together graphically, yet succinctly, much information concerning their flora, their fauna, and their ancient history. If we observe in the course of the narration somewhat more of the "smartness" of the special correspondent than of the studied grace of the more composed and thoughtful writer, we must not be too critical, since Mr. Anderson Smith only claims to produce a succession of vivid sketches, and not by any means a serious or important work.
One thing which cannot fail to strike the reader at the first glance is the similarity of habits and manners between the people
* Letesiana ; or, Life in the Outer Hebrides. By W. Anderson Smith. London Daldy, Isbieter, and Co.
of the Lews and those of Ireland, whether of the wilds of Kerry or of the black North. The beehive dwellings which exist near Diogle and in other Irish localities are identical (save that they are perhaps somewhat better built) with those of Hebridean con- struction, and the mode of life of the present inhabitants of Lewis, their careless, contented disposition, their cheerful lazi- ness, their ways of striking a bargain, their cayleys round the peat fire, the expressions they make use of, and lastly, the rela- tions between landlord and tenant, remind one forcibly of the Green Isle ; as is indeed perfectly natural, when so large a portion of the inhabitants of each are undeniably Celtic. Mr. Anderson -Smith remarks that wherever throughout Scotland special activity and success are observable at a fishing station, or in any centre of industry, the population may be safely assumed to be of Scandi- navian or Teutonic descent ; and in the Lews this statement is remarkably borne out by the condition of Ness, where a larger proportion of the Norse element prevails than in any other part a the island ; and which, although a most inhospitable-look- ing tract of land, is more prosperous than any out of Storno- way. This district of Ness is a great plain, extending, with scarcely any elevations, from the Butt of Lews down to Barvas, open to the broad Atlantic, and swept by every wind that blows, "so that," says the author, "it is in winter de facto a howling desert." Not even a natural harbour exists within its limits, the so-called "Port" being nothing more than an opening in the rocks of a few feet in width, from which the laird has laid a pave- ment, in order to enable the fishermen to draw up their boats, and out of which no boat can be launched, even on the calmest day, without the men who push it being up to their waists in water. Yet, notwithstanding all these disadvantages, the fishery is very prosperous, because the Nessmen's boats are numerous, "they have enterprise to purchase them from the curers, energy to fish under the most adverse circumstances, pluck to go to sea in weather such as the Western fishermen would not face, and sufficient skill as boatmen to bring them bravely through it."
Since, however, the population of the Lews depends in so great a measure for its subsistence upon its fisheries, it is deplorable to find this important branch of industry in so ruinous a condition as that in which Mr. Anderson Smith describes it to be in most parts of the island. "Amateurs," as he very truly describes men to be who can, like their Irish brethren, only go to sea during a -portion of the year, by reason of their open boats, still they are defrauded, mostly through their own laziness and want of energy, of a large portion of the profits which they do earn. Immense quantities of cod, ling, haddock, lobsters, and herrings fre- quent these shores, to say nothing of turbot, flounders, skate, mackarel, gurnard, grey mullet, and other varieties of fish ; but the fisheries are almost all in the hands of the curers, who are usually the owners of the boats and gear; even the long-lines, supposed to be the property of the men, being supplied on credit. Besides this, the men are, during the months when fishing cannot be carried on, provided in the same manner with meal for their families, and as interest is charged upon all these accounts ; it is -the interest of the curers to keep the men considerably, but not too deeply, in their debt, more especially as they are then obliged to fish for them the following year. "The effect of this," says Mr. Anderson Smith, "is exceedingly curious to an onlooker in one of the wholesale stores kept by the several curers. There the best salesman is that man who can sell the least, and not the most, to the men ; who, when a fisherman demands a few yards of cloth, can send him away believing that one yard will suffice, or persuades him that his old oilskin will keep out the storm for another season. Notwithstanding all this, the curers have got the men irretrievably in debt, and it is not unusual for a crew of Light men to have a standing debt of £100 or more on the curers' books."
The credit system, always injurious to the poor of any class, is especially fatal to the prosperity of the fishermen of the Lows; and even, in a smaller degree, to that of the curers, in whose suc- cess the men take no interest, but rather, knowing their charges to be in all cases exorbitant, and that not 40 per cent. of the value of what is in account against them has ever really reached their own hands, they earnestly desire that they should fail, in order that a debt which they have neither the power nor the intention to discharge should be in this manner written off. Even with- out such a catastrophe, the men when they have saved a little very often put their money into the bank, instead of employing it in wiping off arrears or in the purchase of the boats and tackle which would render them independent,—for here again they are met with extortion in another form, the curers being themselves boat-builders, and putting so high a price upon the boats that the men are unwilling to purchase. Many more evils in fishery management are plainly exposed by hir. Ander- son Smith, who deserves the thanks of the Hebridean people for his warm championship, although at the same time he freely blames them for their supineness and want of self-reliance. It is a pity that some means could not be found in Lewis and also in Ireland of striking at the root of this pernicious system, and of enabling the fishermen to receive and enjoy the profits of their labour.
Into the other employment of Lewsmen, farming, the author enters also at some length, but it is unnecessary to follow him, as his descriptions apply to the operations of all men with only rudimentary knowledge, with few implements, and those of the simplest construction, who have also to battle with an uncon- genial climate, and in many cases with an ungrateful soil. Sheep-shearing with them is, indeed, a primitive business, and so is the planting of potatoes, which are manured with the barley-roots and straw which have been used to thatch their dwellings, the roofs being taken off at the return of spring and carried in creels to the land, the value of this soot-impregnated and half-rotted material being estimated at from 50s. to 13 per roof. The dwellings themselves, rudely constructed of double walls of unmortared stone, the space between them being filled in with earth or gravel, and roofed upon a frame-work of old oars and odd scraps of drift-wood, covered beneath the thatch with " divots " or large turfs, are the joint property of the family and the live stock ; the fowls taking possession of the top where the smoke finds its exit, and where they can enjoy to the full the comfortable heat of the never-failing peat-fire, giving a return to their owners in the shape of an unlimited supply of eggs,—and the cows, horse, sheep, and pigs (for pigs have been of late years introduced into the Lews), occupying one end of the single chamber, across which there runs occasionally, but not as a rule, a slight division in the shape of an edging of stones. In the pre- sent day these habitations are furnished, and may contain besides a chest or two, a half-box bed, some pots, and a few dishes. But fifty years ago we are told that there was but one bowl in the whole district of Carloway, which place was also the possessor of the one bonnet entrusted by the community to any one of its members who happened upon some grand occasion to make a solitary journey to the capital ! In those days we are further informed the wages of an active maid-servant were five shil- lings per annum, and out of this magnificent remuneration for her services she had to make good any damage which she might have occasioned to her master's property. Men-servants at that period were paid from 10s. to 40s. a year. Even now a maid-servant does not expect more than 5.3, or a man more than £10, which might be an inducement to remove to Barva,s or Carloway in these hard times ; but then might not " Life in the Lews," as described in Mr. Anderson Smith's pleasant first chapter, prove a little too much of a good thing for some of us, except, perhaps, during that joyous season when, winter having vanished as if by magic, that supernaturally rapid and luxuriant summer growth common to cold countries suddenly takes place, and Dalebeg all at once becomes a garden of flowers ? Then the Lews' maidens, like those of Switzerland, betake themselves with their milch cattle to the pasture-grounds, and in the rudely-con- structed "shieling " spend six weeks or two months gipsying, courting, and making butter.
We have but noticed some few portions of this agreeable book, sufficient, however, to let the reader judge in some measure of the nature of its varied contents. The chapters on the birds, fishes, and fauna of Lewis are interesting, and so are the slight historical sketches, and the more detailed accounts of its antiqui- ties. Mr. Anderson Smith enters at some length into the yet un- settled questions at to the origin of the latter, and defends his own opinion regarding them with some skill. Whatever view may be taken of this portion of the volume, no one, we think, can fail to be interested and pleased in a general way with "Lewsiana."
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