Helping the Hebrides :sx Skye .sx Reviving Ancient Industries Among the Crofters .sx BY THOMAS HANNAN , M.A. .sx Author of " The Beautiful Isle of Mull , " " Iona and some Satellites " and " Famous Scottish Houses Lowlands .sx " HISTORY , archaeology , and scenery , all contribute to give fascination to the Western Islands of Scotland ; but these things do not feed a hungry man .sx They charm the tourist , who views the scenery with delight ; and perhaps they lead him to take a certain evanescent interest in the people , or even to make him wonder how they live .sx That is the very problem which has worried the Hebridean for a long time ; and if the Western Islander were not a very easy-going person it would have worried him still more .sx His reasoning on the subject is neither elaborate or deep .sx It practically amounts to this his forefathers for innumerable generations have lived on the islands , tilling the soil where it can be tilled , raising a certain number of cattle and sheep , and drawing a contribution from the surrounding seas , in which there are great shoals of fish according to season ; and he sees no reason why he should not continue to do so .sx He does not reason that certain very effective restrictions of remote days donot now apply , for example , the constant feuds between clans and the sweeping effects of recurring epidemics factors which must have kept the population practically stationary .sx He quite sees that a croft on which he has with difficulty brought up a family of sons who helped him in the work will not suffice to support the families of those sons if they marry .sx The difficulty is often met by the demand that the State should provide more land crofts for the landless sons .sx The largest islands of the Northern Hebrides are Lewis and Harris , often called " The Long Island , " Skye , and North and South Uist .sx Everyone knows the result of the late Lord Leverhulme's attempt to help the Hebrides by introducing Lowland methods of industry at Stornoway in Lewis .sx It meant the factory system with the factory syren calling to work or dismissing from work ; the Highlander's nature resented that .sx Different methods are being used in the Isle of Skye , which is probably the .sx finest of all the islands .sx I know that island and can write with first-hand knowledge .sx Its area is 535 square miles , with a greatest length of 48 miles from north-west to south-east .sx At two points of its coast-line it is only half a mile from the mainland of Scotland , and one of these points is Kyleakin , which is opposite the railway terminus at Kyle of Lochalsh .sx From the Kyle a motor ferry plies across the narrow strait , and a Macbrayne steamer plies regularly to Portree , the capital of the island .sx That line of steamships also plies between Oban , Mallaig , and the west side of the island , so that Skye can be reached from three railway termini connecting with Edinburgh , Glasgow , and the South .sx One result is that Skye is rapidly be-coming a tourist centre ; but that is not enough to make it prosperous , so far as the main elements of the population are concerned .sx At the same time it is a great help , and it stimulates action on the part of both the local and the national governing bodies .sx One of the greatest needs of the island is a series of good roads .sx I remember cycling in 1912 from Dunvegan to Broadford , a main arterial road , and being thrown four times by running into sandy holes about the size of bunkers .sx Now there is a new , magnificent , and picturesque road running all the way from Kyleakin to Portree ; and in course of time the roads all over the island will be similarly improved .sx This is clue to large Government subsidy of County effort .sx It was as recently as 1929 that the road to Portree was completed , but already its influence is being felt in various ways .sx The great disadvantage of the islands has been the lack of capital in other words , the lack of money to pay for improvements .sx That applies to the landed proprietors as well as to the " small land-holders " and crofters .sx The result is that until recent years there was practically no improvement .sx The small-holder and the crofter lived in the " black house " which was the typical dwelling for centuries .sx A " black house " is a round or rectangular building of one storey in height , built of unhewn stones as collected from the field or watercourse , these stones being placed in irregular courses without mortar , and the walls covered within and without with earth or clay .sx Usually the house consists of one room only .sx There is no chimney , but a hole in the thatched roof allows the smoke to pass out :sx and the fire is on a stone hearth underneath this hole and in the centre of the floor , which is of beaten earth .sx The fire consists of peat and the house is usually full of smoke when the fire is burning .sx Sometimes the house was divided into two , or even three rooms , by partitions of wood or stone , one of these compartments being allocated to the cows and poultry .sx All this is very primitive , but it is a mistake to imagine that the people who were satisfied with these things were uncivilised .sx Even people of position in the islands in the old days had very humble houses ; and in the " black houses " men have been born who have .sx risen to eminence in many walks of life .sx On his native land the Highland crofter is a gentleman hospitable and courteous and possessing manners which many men might copy with benefit to them-selves .sx But when he leaves his land for the cities there is as a rule only unskilled work for him , and he deteriorates .sx I do not like to admit it , but I am afraid that it must be agreed that improvement set in strongly although it may not have actually begun as a result of illegal acts and wild agitation .sx About fifty years ago the " land hunger " of the young men , incited by outside agitators , led them to " raid " various large farms and to stake out crofts for themselves .sx Raiders were tried and imprisoned , but in time it was realised that grievances and hardships underlay their action .sx So Parliament set to work to improve matters , and various Acts now on the Statute Book trace the building up of a class of men who are practically peasant proprietors , " small-holders " and " crofters .sx " The Department of Agriculture forScotland is the great statutory body which is carrying out the provisions of the various Acts of Parliament .sx It gives financial and scientific help in many ways .sx One direction of its scope is seen in three lines of print in its Report for 1929 " During 1929 the Department granted five loans amounting to 290 to crofters on the Glendale Estate ( Skye ) , for the erection of two new houses and the improvement of three existing houses .sx " The loans enable the crofter to buy the building material , and he may build the house himself or get it built for him .sx The crofter is quite used to the idea of building his house with his own hands ; the " black houses " were all so built .sx Now , however , he wants a two-storeyed slated house , which is more of a problem , but he manages to get it built , while loan capital and interest are both paid off by annual instalments , and he has his own good house free as long as it will last .sx The old " black house " in such a case becomes a cow-house .sx The Department has been able to do these things because it has become the landlord by buying great stretches which were in the possession of the two great landlords of the island MacLeod of MacLeod and Lord Macdonald of Sleat .sx Neither of these great landlords had the money to make the improvements , and it is hard to say if the improvements made by the Department have been financially " a paying pro-position .sx " Probably they have not ; but the general well-being of the communities is there as an immense asset .sx Lord Macdonald's seat is Armadale Castle , in the southern part of the is-land ; the Macleod's seat is at Dunvegan Castle , a magnificent old creation in the north , on one of the grandest bays which I know .sx I had an acquaintance with the late Chief of Dunvegan , who was one of the most charming and philanthropic men one could meet ; and he was always interested in any-thing which I was writing about the islands .sx In a postscript to a letter which he wrote to me on May 4th , 1920 , in answer to some inquiries of mine , he said :sx " You might allude to my selling a large portion of the estate , about 60,000 acres , this year , to the Government for the purpose of settling the ex-Service men on the land .sx If the glens of Skye can show a thriving population , no one will be better pleased than myself and my brothers .sx " One of the brothers , Sir Reginald MacLeod , is now Chief in succession to that Nor-man MacLeod , and his interest is the same .sx The Department purchased over 100,000 acres from Lord Macdonald , and all these 16o,000 acres and more have been divided into farms which are either " small-holdings " or " crofts , " within the meaning of the various Acts of Parliament .sx The Report already mentioned refers to a revival of the fishing industry " at Uig , on the Department's estate of Kilmuir .sx " The reference is in these few words :sx " The Department propose to increase the accommodation availableon the pier and to improve the water supply .sx " The Department's estate of Kilmuir is part of the former Macdonald estate ; it covers a most delightful part of the Isle of Skye ; and in ancient days it was esteemed " the granary of Skye .sx " There is a village of Kilmuir , and also a village of Uig .sx A moderately good road runs from Portree to Kilmuir by Uig , the distance being about 22 miles in a direction to the north-west ; and this road continues a few miles further to the famous old Duntulm Castle , now a ruin , but in its heyday the great stronghold of the ancient Lords of the Isles .sx Uig Bay is a fine protected piece of water , and the pier extends a long way out , so that the facilities for landing fish and for hand-ling the produce of the island for trans-port to the mainland are excellent .sx Skye has received a good deal of literary attention recently , mostly from summer travellers who are not able to describe the realities of the island , and who leave the impression that it is al-most unfit for life except in summer .sx Yet the winter is generally mild ; there is not much snow ; the great defect of the climate , summer and winter , is rain .sx While I am writing these words in the immediate neighbourhood of Edinburgh and a few yards from the sea , the worst blizzard of snow which I have known for many years is blowing in at my study window , with intervals of strong sunshine .sx At the same time I have be-side me a letter written two days ago from Kilmuir in Skye , in which are the words :sx " On Monday and Tuesday there was a lot of snow , and it has been freezing hard ever since .sx Everything looks too wonderful , as it has been very sunny all week .sx The Hebrides are quite white and look marvellous in the moon-light .sx It looks just rather like Switzer-land .sx The snow is beginning to vanish now .sx " " The Hebrides " here are Harris and the Fists .sx The coast-line is immense , the number of bays incalculable , and the line in many places walls of rock .sx One result of the long coast-line is that there .sx is a very extensive belt of low-lying land fit for cultivation .sx The island is not greatly mountainous ; although the visitor will probably receive that first impression when he sees the Cuchullin Hills of the south-west of the island .sx That part is wild in the extreme , and provides as dangerous climbing as can be found in Switzerland .sx I am no mountaineer , and have not entered the recesses of that region .sx