The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-16 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S TOUR TO THE

HIGHLANDS.
(From the Court Circular.)
ARDVERIKIE, SEPT. 13.—Her Majesty and
his
Royal Highness walked in the grounds early this
morning.
The Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal,
attended by Miss Hillyard, went on their ponies to
the hills.

:From the Special Correspondent of the North British

Mail.)
LOCII LAGGAN, FRlDAY.—Bahainnie is situated on

the opposite side of Glen Roy, and its two co-town-
ships, Achalnoroch and Merligar, on the outskirts of
the farm in Glen Spean. They consist in all of 16
families, who pay a rent of 3501., or 1001. more than
is paid by the 32 families who occupy the I3ahantins.
As might be expected, they are much more comfort-
able in their circumstances than the latter. They
have 2,000 sheep on the hill, of which they sell 300
lambs and 200 ewes yearly. Their arable ground,
however, is managed on the same principles as in the
Bahantins ; and judging from the appearance of the
crops, I would say the land is of inferior quality.
The soil at Bahainnie is wet and mossy. The tenants
drained it at their own expense some years ago, and
are now reclaiming considerable tracts of moss.
The people on this farm are generally con-
vinced of the disadvantages of the rig system ;
but the fears and prejudices of a few, aided by
the depressing influence of a landlord who takes no

interest in his people, and refuses to lay out any
money, prevent the introduction of any better and
more enlightened mode. There is the same want of
green crops here as in the Bahantins ; and to all in-
quiries why they do not grow more turnips, the
answer is, " We cannot, because we have no fences.
A scarcity of manure is sometimes hinted ; but where
there are so many families, each possessing three or
four cows, this is a difficulty which can only arise
from indolence or mismanagement. I have no doubt,
however, that the people in these hamlets are very
hardly dealt with by their proprietor, and that they
have many grievances to complain of. Last Martin-
mas they asked permission to retain 501. of their rent
as a loan till Whit- Sunday, for the purpose of buying
meal for their families, as a substitute for the pota-
toes which had been destroyed by the blight; but
this small boon Mackintosh of Mackintosh peremp-

torily refused, alleging, as his excuse, that he had to
do so much for the poor that he could give no indul-
gence to his tenants. He might as well have said
that he had his grocer's bill to pay, for he is as much
bound to contribute his share to the maintenance of

thero road-
ships.d p. ot
ao
xr
Each
pressesa s
amvlryy discharge
is
unjustly any
assessed ootnhr
as
hs
tlegalh Highlande deby ‘
were
e town
oe
uTh e
t.
hne.
sole
in oe ct
hup
e saen
threet ofthe s
hamlets
a r .
are
compelled Thus the sixteentofami-
lies2 1.8 s
of road money, and at the same time are obliged to
make and repair the roads to their farm steadings.
It is such imposts that breed Rebecca riots in
Wales; but Donald bears fleecing as mutely as his
own sheep.
Every person in the smallest degree acquainted
with agriculture must feel satisfied, upon inspecting
the condition of these townships, of the injurious
effects of the system of run-rig, and the hollowness
of the reasons which are advanced in its favour. The
waste of land occasioned by the marches between the
rigs is enormous. A great deal of labour is also lost
erig to another ;
spread over so many
attended to as when
l
concentrated in one spot. But these are small evils
backse
et;
impossiblesd, c forwardatnhabte sc
or fowrpoesmi o
n
iann d goingitis
detached
compared with the obstacles which run-rig raises in
the way of agricultural improvement. A joint-tenant
in one of these townships, however enterprising, and
however deeply convinced of the necessity of new
modes of culture, is unable to manage his lot in his
own way until he carries his sluggish neighbours
along with him. He cannot drain unless they all
drain. If they choose to grow certain kinds of crops,
and to pursue a certain system of rotation, his rigs
are so inseparably mixed up with theirs, that he is
compelled to follow their example, however sell-
ruinous it may be. Suppose, for instance, that he
grows turnips or mangold wurtzel for his cows on the
rigs from which old habit teaches his fellow-tenants
to take a second or a third crop of oats, what is the
result ? Why, they cut down their corn in Sep-
tember, and his green crop is left exposed to the
common destruction of the cows, which, for want of
anything better, must be brought down to graze on
the stubble. The experiment, therefore, is never
made, and the minds of the small Highland farmers
remain impervious to the idea of improvement, be-
cause the golden advantages to be reaped from it are
never exhibited.

That the rig system secures an equal division o
good and bad soil among the co-tenants is an absurd
imagination, wholly inconsistent with fact. The
tenants at Bahainnie occupy soil entirely different in
its qualities from the soil divided among the tenants
at Achalnoroch and Merligar, yet those people are
on the same farm, and pay an equal share of the rent.
Even on such a farm as the Bahantins, where the
arable ground is all in the same place, the rig system
fails to secure the nice adjustment which it is sup-
posed to do. There are sixteen tenants in each of
the two hamlets, and each rig may be 18 cr 20 feet
wide. I ask what chance is there that the sixteenth
rig will be as good as the first ? Soil changes its
qualities rapidly.
By dividing the arable ground into crofts, an
equally just allotment of the soil would be effected
than by cutting it up into rigs. And if a tenant
should get a worse croft than his neighbours, there it
is before you. The degree of its inferiority may be
estimated, and deducted with the utmost exactness,
in pounds, shillings, and pence, from the tenant's
share of the rent.
Nor is it necessary that the hamlets be swept away
in order to introduce a system of separate allot-
ments. The fervid tenacity with which the High-
land people cling to these old seats of population is
worthy of sympathy and respect. They are the
dwelling-places of their fathers and grandfathers—
the homes of their childhood—the scenes of their loves
and their joys. They are hallowed by the warm
emotions of the past, and are not inconsistent with
the wants and exigencies of the present. They are
admirably adapted to dissipate the loneliness of rural
life, and to preserve the enjoyments of society and
intercourse amid the dreary solitudes of a mountain
land. Picturesquely situated, with the green sward
stretching to their thresholds, enlivened by the merry
gambols of the children, or the joyous labours of the
haymakers, a little more taste and cleanliness is all
that is required to render them the finest combina-
tions of rural happiness and simplicity to be found in
any country in the world. By all means let them
be preserved. There is little danger of any of the
crofts being so far removed from the hamlets aarto
give any serious inconvenience to the cultivator ; and
the union of the cottages will still be a symbol of that
community of interest with which their inmates have
agreed to occupy and stock the hills ; for with the
pastoral department of their industry no fault can be
found. It is only by some such system of co-opera-
tion that a poor but numerous tenantry can take pos-
session ofimmense tracts of mountain pasture ; and
there is nothing to hinder a stock of sheep belonging
to a community of small farmers from being as well
managed and as productive as a stock which is the
property of one large monopolising grazier.
The two hamlets on Mr. Walker's property in Glen
Spean are called Munessie and Achnacoichan. They
are also joint townships, and occupy the same farm.
Thirteen families are bound for a rent of 1501. They
have a stock of 600 sheep, and the usual proportion
of cows. They sell 50 ewes and 100 lambs yearly.
The former generally bring about 10s. each, and the
latter 7s. or Bs. They clip 120 stones of wool, which
the factor sells for them, and retains the proceeds as
part payment of the rent. Twenty fat ewes are also
sold yearly off this farm—an item which is not found
in the sales of the other townships, because the few
fat sheep on the farms are consumed by the tenants
themselves The poverty, however, of the people in
Munessie and Achnacoichan does not admit of the
luxury of butcher meat. Each tenant sows about
one and a half bolls of corn, and plants about eight
barrels of potatoes, but the produce is not sufficient
to maintain the families, each of whom has usually
to purchase three or four bolls of meal yearly. Mr.
Walker is attempting to abolish the rig system, and
introduce a plan of separate allotments. He proposes to
diminish the holdings of some of the tenants, and has
on this account raised an opposition to his scheme
which it may require time and patience to overcome.
He seems to be a kind-hearted gentleman, who wishes
to improve the condition of the people without resort-
ing to cruel and repulsive methods.
The remainder of Glen Spean and Glen Roy are
occupied as large single farms. The upper part of
Glen Roy is consolidated into two immense sheep-
walks. It was possessed in former times by nine
townships, similar to Bahainnie and the Bahantins.
Mr. Walker resides for a month or two every year
at Lochtrieg. Mr. Mackintosh has not visited Glen
Spean during the last fifteen years; and his factor is
never seen except on rent-day. Several oak planta-
tions on the estate are literally going to wreck for
want of thinning and cleaning, and the most promising
facilities of improvement are neglected. The popula-
tion is consequently poor and dispirited.
LOCH LAGGAN, SATURDAY NIGHT.
Another tremendous storm! The wind is blowing
with the greatest violence, and, though there is not
much rain, the agitated billows of the loch, the roar-
ing of the trees, as if they were about to be torn from
their roots, and the tumultuous aspect of the sky,
render the scene wild and awful enough. The royal
party have not been able to leave the lodge to-day,
with the exception of a short period in the fore•
noon, when her Majesty and the royal children tcoli
an airing in the gr rounds. It will be matter of thank-
fulness if no damage is done to the marquees during
the night.
Lord and Lady Jocelyn have returned from Glen-