The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-15 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S TOUR TO THE

HIGHLAN DS.
(From the Court Circular.)
ARDVERIKIE, SEPT. 12.—The storm of wind and
rain which prevailed the whole of yesterday, con-
tinued with unabated violence this morning.
Her Majesty and the Prince, and the royal house-
hold, attended the performance of Divine service at
Ardverikie.

(From the Correspondent of the North British Mail.

Locis LAGGAN, SEPT. 10.—The country through
' which Prince Albert passed on Wednesday possesses
many interesting features. If the parallel roads of
Glen Roy have rendered it a favourite resort of the
students of nature, the peculiar form of society which
still lingers in its peaceful glens makes it equally
worthy of the notice of those who seek to acquire a
knowledge of humanity under its various states of
social development. For there, amid the fall of chief-
ship and the dispersion of clans, there still remain dis
tinct traces of that ancient life, that form of social or-
ganization, and that mode of industry which long
existed in and were in a manner strictly peculiar to
the Scottish Highlands.
In Glen Spean you still find the people collected
together in small hamlets, occupying the soil in com-
mon, and rearing and dividing the produce on prin-
ciples which seek to harmonise individual rights with
a community of interest. A few facts indicative of
the condition of these small industrial societies may
not be unacceptable to the reader.
Glen Spean and its lateral valleys are the property
of Mackintosh, of Mackintosh, and Walker, of Loch-
treig—the former a descendant of the old hereditary
chiefs of the Mackintoshes, and the latter a successful
and gentlemanly Saxon from the borders. The River
Spean forms the boundary of the two properties,
which extend from Spean-bridge on the west, to Loch
Laggan on the east. Mr. Walker owns the southern
bank of the river; and Mr. Mackintosh the northern.
Both estates are laid out partly in large single farms,
devoted exclusively to the pasture of sheep, and partly
in Highland townships, each of which contains a tract
of arable land and a range of hill pasture.
I visited five hamlets on the property of Mackin-
tosh. Two of these are called "The Two Bahintins,"
and unite in occupying' the same farm. The other
three are called Bahainie, Achalnoroch, and Merligar.
and are also united together in one farm.

The Bahintins are situated on the left side of Glen
Roy, not far from the entrance to the valley from
Glen Spean. The two hamlets are quite contiguous
to each other, and are surrounded by the arable por-
tion of their farm. A march separates the cultivated
ground of one hamlet fromi;the other, but the hill,
which stretches up behind the cottages, is common to
the stock of both townships. In all respects they are
one community, holding the same lease, and mutually
responsible for the payment of one rent. Each ham-
let consists of sixteen families, and, among these, the
arable land is divided into rigs of equal size. The
rigs belonging to each family are not joined together
in one lot, but are scattered over the whole extent of
the arable portion of the farm ; for, in order to secure
a fair division of the soil, as the people argue, it is
necessary to cut it up into small sections, and set aside
a section to each family consecutively, till the whole
are exhausted. A family will thus have as many as
six or seven rigs, spread over all parts of the farm, and
each of them surrounded by the possessions of his neigh-
bours. Accordingly the crops have a very diversified
complexion. You have a rig of potatoes followed by
a rig of corn, and that again succeeded by a rig of
barley, and so on. Sometimes, indeed, you find two or
three kinds of crop in one rig. A stripe of waste
land, about 18 inches in breadth, separates one rig
from another; and there are no enclosures between
the arable and pasture divisions of the farm. Constant
herding of the cattle in the summer season is there•
fore indispensable; and as the sheep must be brought
down from the hills in winter, such crops only are
grown as can be gathered in during harvest. There
are, consequently, no turnip or green crops cultivated,
except potatoes ; and as these are eaten by the fami-
lies, there is a very scanty provision for both cows
and sheep in winter. The worst or half-ripened part
of the corn is given to the cows, to prevent them
being entirely starved; and though corn is the prin-
cipal crop, I was informed by an old tenant that he
does not bring home more than a boll and a half of
meal from the mill annually. Each family raises
about 12 bolls of potatoes, and keeps three cows.
The stock of sheep numbers about 800 in all. The
rent of the farm is 2501. The tenant employs a
shepherd to look after their flocks ; and one or other
of their number, in whom they have confidence, is
appointed yearly to superintend the sale of their stock.
The produce of the farm, after paying rent, is insuf
ficient to maintain the families; the men are conse-
quently obliged to hire themselves out at general labour
during a great part of the year. Sheep-driving is a
common employment. One of the men said to me,
" Many of our number are away with
.sheep-drovers
at present, but if you had come eight days later you
would not have found a man of us here." I observed
that it was probably when they had got their crops
in that they went away. " No, no," said he, "we
must go before that. We leave the crops to the
care of the women." It is impossible that the women
can take a proper interest in their farm under such a
state of things ; and during their absence damage may
be sustained by their crops which no future efforts
will be able to repair. But I should observe that
matters are rather worse in this respect in the Ba-
hintins than in some of the other hamlets. on account
of the extensive subdivision of lots which has taken
place. The tenants on the farm have gradually in-
creased, till now they are double their usual number.
So far as I could ascertain, it has not been usual for
a father to share his lot with his son, or to divide it
among the members of his family. When a man dies
or becomes disabled, his share of the lease falls to his
nearest heir, and the totality of the lot is preserved.
But when a man becomes unable to pay his rent or to
manage his lot, he seeks to lighten his burden
without parting with all his interest, and, accord-
ingly, takes a partner into the concern. This is the
way in which the subdivision has mainly arisen, and
it proves a deterioration in the circumstances of the
people, rather than that spirit of indolence which is
the usual source of squatting. The corn crops on
the Bahintins are luxuriant ; and the potatoes, of
which there is about one-half the usual quantity
planted, show very little symptoms of disease. The
huts are built of stone, but are generally poverty-
stricken in their appearance. In many cases the cows
occupy the same apartment as the family, and the
accumulation of dung-heaps at the entrance to the
huts—the just opprobrium of Highland hamlets—is
not uncommon.

LOCH LAGGAN, SEPT. 11.—Yesterday morning his
Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by the Hon.
Captain Gordon, went to the deer-stalking in Ben
Aulder Forest, and after enjoying excellent sport, re-
turned to the lodge about two o'clock, having killed
a stag weighing 16 stones clean. While the Prince
was in th! forest her Majesty took a drive in the
grounds, and was occupied for some time at the
head of the loch in sketching the scenery,
which from that point possesses peculiar at-
tractions. After lunch the royal barge was ordered
to be prepared, and her Majesty and her Royal Con-
sort sailed to the opposite shore of the loch, where a
carriage was in waiting to convey them to the west
end of the loch. Upon returning, her Majesty an.l
the Prince re-crossed the loch in a barge, and were
much delighted on finding that, during their absence,
the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal had been
furnished with fishing-rods by Mr. Purdue, the
Queen's fisherman, and that the Princess had suc-
ceeded in capturing a trout in a rivulet which runs
into the loch at Ardverikie.

Lord Palmerston, the Marquis of Abercorn, Ge-
neral Wemyss, and Mr. Anson, were engaged during
the day at grouse and ptarmigan shooting on Coradec.
The party killed ten or twelve brace of game.
To-day the weather alternately shines and blows ;
and the pleasures of the royal party will be retarded
by the changeable and threatening appearance of the
skies.