THE Hind and the Roe, the Hart and the Antelope, have always been held in the highest estimation by the Orientals, for the voluptuous beauty of their eyes, the delicate elegance of their form, and their graceful agility of action. In the Sacred Writings, therefore, as well as in other literary compositions of the East, we frequently meet with direct references, or incidental allusions, to their qualities and habits. The Hart, which is the Stag or male Deer, is one of those innocent and peaceable animals, that seem made to embellish the forest, and animate the solitudes of nature. The easy elegance of his form, the lightness of his motions, those large branches that seem made rather for the ornament of his head than its defence; the size, the strength, and the swiftness of this beautiful creature, all sufficiently rank him among the first of quadrupeds, among the most noted objects of human curiosity. The size of the Deer's antlers is in proportion to its age, and they are shed every year: in full-grown animals they are very large, and give an expansion and beauty to the head which is remarkably striking. The growth and extension of these appendages to the head, are affected by several external circumstances; and Buffon thinks it possible to retard their growth entirely, by greatly retrenching their food. As a proof of this, we may adduce the fact of the difference between a Stag bred in fertile pastures and undisturbed by the hunter, and one often pursued and ill-nourished. The former has his head expanded, his antlers numerous, and his branches thick; the latter has but few antlers, and the expansion is but little. The beauty and size of their horns, therefore, mark their strength and vigour; such of them as are sickly, or have been wounded, never shooting out that magnificent profusion so much admired in this animal. Thus the horns may, in every respect, be resembled to a vegetable substance, grafted upon the head of an animal. Like THE HIND. a vegetable they grow from the extremities; like a vegetable, they are for a while covered with a bark which nourishes them; like a vegetable, they have their annual productions and decay. The Hart is a ruminating animal, and divides the hoof; it was therefore permitted for food under the Mosaic law; which was, doubtless, a great advantage to the Israelites, the mountainous tracts of Lebanon, Gilead, and Carmel, abounding with Deer, and thus supplying them with a rich provision of food. Naturally of a hot and arid constitution, the Hart suffers much from thirst in the Oriental regions. He therefore seeks the fountain or the stream with intense desire, particularly when his natural thirst has been aggravated by the pursuit of the hunter. Panting and braying, with eagerness he precipitates himself into the river, that he may quench at once the burning fever which consumes his vitals, in its cooling waters. No circumstance can display more forcibly the ardent breathings of Divine love in the soul of a true believer; and the holy Psalmist has availed himself of it with admirable propriety and effect, in the description of his religious feelings, when exiled from the house of God. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. The Deer seems to resemble the Goat, in being remarkably sure-footed, and delighting in elevated situations. To this it adds extraordinary swiftness, and will bound, with agility, more than fifty feet. The Hind or female Stag, is a lovely creature, and of an elegant shape: she is more fecble than the Hart, and is destitute of horns. [Scripture Natural History.] LONDON: S. JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS PRICE SIXPENCE, AND Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom. GENERAL! LITER ERATURE Magazine. EDUCATION DECEMBER, 1834. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 250 SKETCHES OF THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND. PART THE THIRD. MULL. EMIGRATION. ON our return to MULL, we found the harbour of Tobermory in considerable bustle. It is the port of embarkation for the emigrants from the western Highlands and islands. Four vessels, laden with them, now lay here; one bound for Quebec, and the other for Nova Scotia. One contained 200 persons, from the Long Island, emigrating in consequence of a difference with their landlord. They had received no assistance in the prosecution of their undertaking, from any quarter; were in high spirits, and much encouraged by the accounts which they had received from their friends who had preceded them. Near Tobermory we met a man from Ballochroy, in Mull, proceeding to embark with his wife and three children. By the sale of their house, two cows, a horse, and the rest of their little property, they had realized a capital of £40; and, as the whole expense of their voyage to Cape Breton, amounted to £9. for the passage, and £4. 10s. for provisions, they calculated on a surplus sufficient to enable them to locate themselves prosperously on their arrival. The former absurd or useless regulations, which rendered the conveyance of emigrants expensive and almost impracticable, have been abolished. Among other provisions, it was required that each individual should be supplied with a large allowance of meat during the voyage, calculated on military rations; a diet almost unknown to most of the natives of these regions: and pork was particularly specified, though as much abhorred by Highlanders as by Jews. There is no doubt but that the prevailing prejudice against emigration, conspired, with motives of humanity, to induce the Society, from which these regulations emanated, to suggest them to government. The obstacles to Emigration have been now, in a great measure, removed: the emigrants are healthy on their voyage; generally carry out suflicient capital to enable them to settle are located, on their arrival, whether in Canada or in the United States, usually among their own kindred or former neighbours, who have paved the way for them there or enjoy the benefit of arrangements framed for their accommodation by government or by societies. In general they succeed well; but it is remarked that their habitual indolence, though yielding to the temporary pressure of necessity, too frequently returns, when that stinulant no longer operates. Our American colonies afford a bright prospect to the industrious settler. The advantages of emigration must, however, be considered not only in reference to the individuals, but in a national point of view. Emigration has been, during a considerable period, a resource of the population of Scotland, as of all poor countries. In former times, among the Scotch, it was confined almost entirely to military service; and they supplied troops to several foreign states, and contributed to some of the most important victories which have influenced the fate of Europe. Many of the noble families of Sweden have descended from, and bear the name of, their Scottish ancestors, who fought under Gustavus Adolphus. War constituted almost the sole employment, and offered the sole inducements, to the Highland clansmen; for them the speculations of more peaceful adventure possessed no charm. Lord Selkirk mentions that a temporary emigration, from Inverness-shire to Georgia, in 1722, was produced by tempting prospects of advantage; but that forty years elapsed before it was followed by another. The time to which emigration, for the purpose of settling, must be referred, is that of the breaking up of the ancient Highland system, during the early and middle period of the last century. The chiefs, whose power depended on the number of their clansmen and retainers, and who were indemnified for the expense of maintaining them, partly by low rents and partly by military service, found themselves transformed, by the operation of law, into mere landlords; and compelled to adopt a new mode of living, and more productive management of their estates. The transition, retarded by the force of ancient habits, by the ties of relationship and of clanship, by humanity, as well as by indolence, pride, and prejudice, occupied a considerable period; involving the enlargement of farms, the introduc tion of sheep, and the diminution of farm-servants, useless retainers, and unprofitable stock: and unavoidably caused the ejection of a large body of people from their former modes of employment and of living. For these it became necessary to provide. Emigration immediately presented itself as an obvious resource; and, from the period in question, has been adopted at intervals, in almost all parts of the Highlands and islands, till almost every district has created a corresponding colony on the other side of the Atlantic. Its effect, in retarding the progressive increase of the population, has been, however, little perceptible. Lord Selkirk observes, in 1805, in his letter on emigration, that the population had materially increased, both in the Long Island, which had contributed the largest portion in proportion to its people, and in Sky, from whence about 4000 persons had proceeded to America, and about double the number to the Low Countries, between 1772 and 1791; and Sky has continued since to be overburdened with people! The commencement of this very emigration was witnessed by Dr. Johnson, and suggested the following remarks, indicating his ignorance of a principle which Mr. Malthus has since enrolled among the fundamental truths of political science. 66 Some method to stop this epidemic desire of wandering, which spreads its contagion from valley to valley, deserves to be sought with great diligence. In more fruitful countries, the removal of one only makes room for the succession of another: but in the Hebrides, the loss of an inhabitant leaves a lasting vacuity; for nobody born in any other part of the world, will choose this country for his residence; and an island once depopulated will remain a desert, as long as the present facility of travel gives every one who is discontented and unsettled, the choice of his abode." The influence of the change of system on population, may be further illustrated by the following quotation from Lord Selkirk's work. "There is no part of the Highlands where the change in the system of management has advanced so far towards maturity as in Argyleshire. In Dr. John Smith's Survey of that Country, drawn up for the Board of Agriculture, we find this remark: The state of population in this county, as it stood in 1755, and as it stands at present, may be seen in the statistical table. Although many parishes have greatly decreased in their number of inhabitants, owing to the prevalence of the sheep-system, yet upon the whole the number is greater now than it was forty years ago. This is owing to the greater population of the town of Cambleton, and village of Oban, which have more than doubled their joint numbers in that period; so that, if these are left out of the reckoning, the population in the county will be found to have decreased considerably. The fact is curious and valuable: the population of Argyleshire has not diminished on the whole, yet the value of produce which is now sent away to feed the inhabitants of a distant part of the kingdom, is much greater than formerly." The unquestionable result of the substitution of order, economy, and judicious and well-regulated employment of the resources of the Highlands, for the vicious system which it superseded, and the consequent augmentation of wealth, comfort, civilization, and moral improvement, has been, notwithstanding the partial diminution of the population in some few districts, the material increase of its total amount, which may be proved by reference to the statistical tables. Whether emigration to foreign parts has been necessary, is a question involving several considerations. Johnson observed to Boswell, upon hearing read a letter written by Sir Hector Maclean, from Georgia, where he was employed in settling a colony, to the Laird of Coll, dissuading him from letting his people go there, on the assurance that there would soon be an opportunity of employing them better at home; that "the lairds, instead of improving their country, diminished their people." Subsequent experience has most fully proved the truth of this observation. The progressive developement of the resources of the country has since afforded employment SUPPLEMENT FOR DECEMBER, 1834. and subsistence to a population, compared with which the emigrants form but an infinitely small fraction. Lord Selkirk himself, an active and intrepid personal promoter of emigration, but recommending it with no empirical partiality, deemed it subordinate to the primary object of improving the agriculture and the fisheries; yet he did not apparently foresee the very ample extension of the latter, which has since contributed so much to the wealth of the Northern Highlands, and of Scotland in general. The complaints of excessive population in Scotland, during the last century, were really as inapplicable as to England, in the reign of Henry VII., when a similar change of system occurred; or to Ireland, when that fertile country was thinly peopled and wretchedly cultivated. Emigration was, indeed, materially checked by the demands for labour and capital, produced by the increasing attention to domestic improvement. The late Duke of Sutherland employed the whole of the population which he ejected from their glens, profitably and happily on his coast, which previously supplied only a few cottagers with subsistence. Several other proprietors have acted similarly. Emigration was also directed to the Lowlands of Scotland by the growth of manufactures, of towns, and improving agriculture, though the Highlanders could be brought little to the actual employment of the loom; and, during the war, it was stopped by the demands of the military service. Yet, as the developement of the means of employment could not invariably coincide with the progress of the change of system, and the situation of estates sometimes precluded the transfer of the tenants from one part of them to another, emigration proved eminently advantageous in preventing an accumulation of poverty, misery, and crime, and the general prevalence of those disorders which occurred in particular districts, and which, had the transition been effected simultaneously in all parts of the country, instead of diffusing itself gradually during two thirds of a century, might have involved the kingdom in another rebellion. The The circumstances of these regions have been now materially altered. The Irish, working for lower wages, have supplanted the natives in the Lowlands; peace has almost put an end to military recruiting; and the consequent redundance of population has been materially augmented by the recent failure of one branch of employment already adverted to, the manufacture of Kelp. peculiar emergency to which the people are reduced, appears to justify that loud cry for emigration in which landlords and tenants join, blending with the general voice of the nation in its favour. All disinclination to it has ceased. The agent for an estate on the coast, near Sky, assured me that, in a single parish, there were 300 persons anxious to proceed to America; and poverty alone restrains multitudes from embarking. The assistance of government is desired, and the occasion deemed appropriate. But the assumption of permanent distress as the result of this temporary failure of a valuable resource, the only, and still inadmissible ground on which national aid can be solicited, may be fairly questioned. The precarious, but often ample, profits of the kelp, have counteracted the progress both of agriculture and the fisheries. The maritime farms which yield the kelp in Orkney, and in other parts of Scotland, have been notoriously usually the worst cultivated; and the fisheries, which demand the almost exclusive attention of those employed in them, and which invariably decline, when occupation and subsistence can be procured on shore, have also suffered from the kelp; and the idle lounging habits produced by the mode of employment which it affords, have been prejudicial to industry. Let the proprietors of the maritime farms bend their attention to the soil and to the sea, profiting by the numerous examples of successful speculation and exertion before their eyes, and they will perhaps discover that temporary distress has been, in this instance, in conformity to the ordinary dispensation of Providence, in eliciting good from evil, productive of substantial benefit both to themselves and to their tenants. That emigration to America may still continue to be advantageous to Scotland, if pursued with moderation, and without extraneous encouragement, cannot be questioned. Though, on the introduction of sheep, many landlords provided permanently for their ejected tenants, others adopted the temporary expedient of placing them on small allotments, upon which they have multiplied and become burdensome. The usual result of negligence and of mistaken humanity, on the part of the landiord or his agent, is an accumulation of paupers. The removal of the super Of the beneficial result of such an arrangement, a recent Emigration should be, however, regarded as affecting may perpetuate that characteristic hereditary attachment to the land of their fathers, their heroes, and their martyrs, so exquisitely expressed by the poet. O Caledonia! stern and wild, Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, That knits me to thy rugged strand! Each emigrating family may thus become a link in the mighty chain, which may hereafter bind the old world to the new, in the bonds of mutual good-will and common philanthropy. The following extract from STEWART's Sketches, affords a gratifying instance of the perpetuity of Highland attachment, exhibited by some emigrants from the estate of one "It is now upwards of thirty years since the first detachof his kinsmen, corroborative of these observations. ment emigrated; but so far are they from entertaining a spirit of hostility to this country, that they cherish the kindest feelings towards their ancient homes, and the families of their ancient lairds; their new possessions are named after their former farms, and their children and their lairds; and so loyal were they to the king and grand-children are named after the sons and daughters of government of this country, that to avoid serving against them in the late war, several emigrated from the States to Canada, when the young men entered the Royal Militia treatment, and of voluntary emigration." and Fencibles. Such are the consequences of considerate BALLYHULISH; GLENCO; DEVIL'S LOCH SUNART, a narrow arm of the sea, extending twenty 160-2 miles, affords the varied prospects of river-scenery, deriving | much beauty from the frequent indentations of the coast, and the occasional profusion of wood, especially on the coast of Ardnamurchan, which it separates from Morvern. Mingary Castle, at its entrance, occupies a commanding position. The neat cottages near Strontian, built of substantial granite, and sometimes adorned with creepers, contrasted with the turf huts with which they are intermingled, indicate the neighbourhood of a resident proprietor. This improved taste in building is perceptible in the cottages of several of the landlords in Appin and its neighbourhood: it is not more expensive than the old rude style of construction, and whilst ornamental, animates the proprietor with the consciousness of that paternal care of his tenants, which proves its own reward, and the tenants with self-respect and a regard to cleanliness, incompatible with the filthy and slovenly habits almost inseparable from their old and often wretched dwellings. The turf cottage is by no means necessarily a hovel; its walls, the growth of the soil, are often proof against the roughest winds and heaviest rain: and its interior may be the abode of cleanliness and independence. But the difficulty of preserving it from dilapidation and dirt, is far greater than in the case of a building of more durable material, and requires attention and industry rarely found among the Scottish peasantry. At STRONTIAN is the residence of Sir James Riddell, the proprietor of the wild and mountainous district of Ardnamurchan. Its population, scattered over the islands, or gathered in groups along the coasts, was formerly much neglected: but the joint efforts of the proprietor, and of the Gaelic School Society, have been beneficially felt; and two parliamentary churches will soon supply the deficiency of spiritual instruction. Some remains of former ecclesiastical structures may be traced on an island in a small lake embosomed in the mountains, still hallowed by the Catholics. The people of Ardnamurchan are distinguished by their attachment to their native soil: Sir James Riddell has endeavoured, like his neighbour of Coll, to counteract the practice of smuggling to which they are addicted, by banishment from their homes to less hospitable parts of his estate; but with little success: Smuggling, like drinking, being a propensity scarcely curable where there is an opportunity of indulging it. Of the estimate of the moral guilt of smuggling, found in these parts, a proof was afforded to me by the remark made by my guide from Fort William to Arisaig, whilst pointing out a glen near the road-side, notorious for the practice of the illicit distillation of spirits: "Oh, Sir," he exclaimed, in reply to an observation on its baneful tendency, "we do not reckon men bad in this country, who engage in this trade; we consider it only forcing the laws!" But lately the illegal distillers of the wild district, between Lochs Lomond and Long, marched through Dumbarton, preceded by a piper, carrying their kegs in triumph, and bidding defiance to the police. The pernicious distinction between offences against the law of God, and the law of the land, to which the housebreaker and highwayman might appeal in vindication of their crime, as justly as the smuggler, is unfortunately by no means confined to the Highlands of Scotland, but is current on our own coasts; and the rich who sanction the practice by their participation or connivance, are responsible in part, not only for the guilt incurred, but for the miserable sophistry by which so many are tempted to the commission of the crime. The lead-mine of this district affords employment and support to a considerable population, and is celebrated for the production of the carbonate of strontian first discovered in it. A parliamentary road proceeds between steep and lofty ridges to Loch Linnhe, and under the mountains of Ardgowar to the Connal Ferry. On setting foot on the opposite shore we enter a region remarkable for its striking, varied, and contrasted interest. Ash and other trees enrich the scenery between the Ferry and Ballyhulish, at which spot the channel of Loch Leven forms a rapid, so narrow and powerful, as to expel the salt from the upper part of the lake. The residence of Mr. Stewart is near to it; a gentleman descended from a younger branch of the Stewarts of Appin. The Stewarts were the original proprietors of a large part of Argyleshire, and displaced by the Campbells, a clan of Irish extraction, who were consequently long regarded as interlopers, and designated greedy," in having gradually obtained possession of nearly the whole county. The branch of Appin was regarded as | | | the head of the Episcopalians in this part of Scotland; the body of Christians to which that family belonged, and which prevails as far as Fort William. The chapel in that place may be considered the outpost of episcopacy on this side of Scotland. The house of Appin, the residence of this family, was purchased some years ago by a stranger: and the attachment of the people to its ancient proprietor could scarcely be restrained from open displeasure at the sale. At BALLYHULISH the slate-quarries divert the attention awhile to the bustle and industry of a crowded population. But the eye is more forcibly attracted, and the imagination engrossed, by the picturesque beauty and gloomy grandeur of the scenery which now opens on the view, and by the dismal tragedy which it recalls to remembrance. St. Mungo's Island, the cemetery of GLENCO, is the repository of the remains of the victims of the massacre. No memorials of them can be discovered: a ruined chapel contains some monuments, one of which offers an innocent exhibition of vanity, which may be justified by many a splendid precedent, and rescues effectually from oblivion an achievement which history has passed over in silence. It bears the representation, very well sculptured, of a dragoon struck from his charger by a Highlander armed with sword and target: above it is the name of Duncan Davidson, and beneath it the following inscription: "The fate of an English dragoon who attacked Duncan Davidson at the battle of Preston Panns, where he fought under Prince Charles Stuart." The prospect embraces on one side the shores of Loch Leven, rock, knoll, and wood-land, extending in beautiful perspective to bare and lofty heights: and on the other a rich valley terminated by the sombre aud majestic precipices of Glenco. The entrance to this celebrated pass through a long and stately avenue of forest-trees, corn-fields, rich meadows, copse and wood, contrasts strangely with the utter desolation of the barren and stony region which extends beyond to its further extremity, and which, inseparably associated in the mind of the traveller with the barbarous transaction of which it was the scene, suggests to the imagination "the curse of barrenness" as the penalty of the guilt incurred. Some huts occupy the site of the abodes of the unfortunate inhabitants of this valley, who were treacherously murdered by the soldiers who had partaken of their hospitality. The infamy of this atrocious deed, perpetrated in conformity to the principles of the ancient Highland system of retaliation and warfare, is divided between the immediate actors and the government of King William who sanctioned it. The remembrance of it would have rankled in the breast of the most feeble and apathetic people: but in the fiery and tenacious bosom of the Highlanders it wrought the settled and deadly purpose of revenge; and to the frequent and bloody harvests, reaped by King William's guiltless successors, the seed sown on that fatal day contributed its share. The pass ascends between dark, lofty, and precipitous ridges, of which the prominent and only picturesque feature is a single round rocky peak, towering nobly above the rest. It chanced at the moment of my passing to derive additional sublimity from the circumstance of a solitary ray piercing the clouds which brooded over its summit, and drawing forth at its base the vivid lustre of a plot of green grass into brilliant contrast with the noon-day twilight of the valley. A single farm-house relieves the unvaried barrenness of the upper part of the pass. The road, the military route through Tyndrum, winds its way to the highest point of the ascent, when the dismal moor of Rannock opens on the view: the King's House, a solitary inn, appearing like a caravansera in the desert. The descent to LOCH LEVEN from the Moor, which is considerably elevated, significantly called the DEVIL'S STAIRCASE, is tedious and difficult, down the almost precipitous side of a deep ravine, through which the river Leven foams and tumbles, in its rapid progress from a hill-encircled basin to the lake, rolling smoothly during the latter part of its course over a rich and inhabited valley. Two men passed us as we approached the lake, one of whom bore on his shoulder a keg of spirits, whilst the other, who gently whispered, as he hurried by, that he would speedily join us, was pointed out to me by my guide as the boatman who had engaged to await us at the upper extremity of the lake. He had availed himself of the opportunity to convey a smuggler to the public-house in the valley, and so well was he entertained, that he remained carousing during an hour, when, as the evening was cold, and we were tor |