File:The land of heather (1904) (14773347175).jpg

Identifier: landofheather01john (find matches)
Title: The land of heather
Year: 1904 (1900s)
Authors: Johnson, Clifton, 1865-1940
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, The Macmillan company London, Macmillan and co., limited
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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lemoorland villages, their savings were wiped out, andthe hovels they were able to build for homes were verypoor affairs. Many of them are not self-supportingas things are at present. Rents to a very large extentare paid by sons and daughters who have gone to themainland to work. There are Skye lads and lassiesin all the large Scotch cities, and a Portree tradesmanvisiting Oban or Glasgow is sure to meet some ofthem, and is equally sure to be made the bearer ofmoney and other presents to the old folks on thehome crofts. Agitation in behalf of the crofters has been goingon for many years, and in 1895 they were given theright to have their rents fixed by a commission oncein seven years. The immediate effect of this in Skyewas to reduce the croft rents forty per cent. The greattrouble now is the lack of liberty to acquire large hold-ings. Another trouble is with the proprietors. Abouttwelve men own the whole island, and nearly all of thetwelve live elsewhere. Only a very small proportion
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Feeding the Dog The Crofters of Skye 195 of the rentals is spent in Skye itself, which is thussimply drained of whatever wealth it produces. Thegentry themselves are poverty-stricken through theirown extravagance, as are the Highland chiefs in gen-eral. They are educated in the south, and prefer tolive there where they stick out their chests and tryto emulate the style of the English aristocracy, a thingwhich with their comparatively small income keepsthem chronically bankrupt. Perhaps the worst phaseof the matter is the slight thought and attention theygive to their tenantry, who suffer from the want ofsympathetic and intelligent oversight. The crofters pay yearly rentals of from one to fif-teen pounds. This is simply ground-rent, for theythemselves erect and own the houses in which theylive. On the smaller crofts there is only an acre or sounder cultivation, and this is dug over by hand. Acrofter, however, who pays a rental above five poundsis pretty sure to have horses and a plough

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