Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1885-01-17
The bspopnlated Highlands.

There are few Highland glens thai
60 not contain traces of the banishe6
population. In Lochaber, along thu
shores of Loeb Arkaig. the home Of the
clan Cameron, the remains of what
were once extensive townships may vel
be seen.. The celebrated Glencoe for.
merly teemed with a hardy population.
Famous Glengarry is a sheep walk, and
the powerful clan Macdonald are now
in Canada. Round Fort Augustus and
far into the country of the clan Fraser
is naught but d%esolation.. In hundreds
OF str tbs in Ross-shire the wild heather
has not even yet ~obliterated the greer
pastures, and the cultivated fields that
once belonged to the MacKenzies and
Munroes, and from whence the different
battalions of the gallant Ross-shire
bluffs march d to conquer at Maidra, al
Seringapatam, at ASA e, and Argaum.
SO late as. 1849, when the present prime
minister h d already obtained political
eminence, H gh Miller attempted, bu,
frui lessly, to draw the attention of the
British public to the work of destruc.
ton that was going on. He eloqLently
proclaimed that ''while the law is ban.
lshing its tens for terms of seven and
fourteen years, the penalty of deep-dyed
crimes, irresponsible and infatuated
power is banishing its thousands fol-
life for no crime whatever" A large
number of the disposs ssed tenantry
were sent to America; the remainder
settled on tn seashore, where they
were cramped into small hol ings, and
have since. lived. The tourist steamine
:lohg the wild coast of the western
Highlands and islands may see pc, ched
on every cliff, in the most exposed sit
uations and subject to the fury of At.
lantic gales, the wretched hamlets t at
now contain the remnants of the High
land clans. Probably he will wonder
how a population can at all manage to
exist under such conditions. But there
they are, elbowed to the very verge OF
their country. For large tracts Of that
country the p~roprietors even now can
show no scrap of document, their
claim to possess resting solely on the
fact that it has never been contested.
Created and looked upon, like the foxes,
rs mere vermin that interfere with
sport, discouraged and thwarted in
every direction, these people, notwith-
standing their poverty and the hard
ships of their lot, have maintained un-
impaired the noblest attributes of their
race. Crime of any kind is almost un-
known among them. Their moral
standard is the highest in Britain, con-
xasting in that respect most rem rk-
ably with their lowland neig ,bors; and
not a few of the leading British states
men. lawyers. divines, and soldiers OF
tho past eighty years first saw the light
in these crofters' huts. Far behind the
strip of Inhabited littoral stretch the
Blue mountains, the snug and oftenfer-
tile glens from whence the clans were
banished, now turned into silent will
derness, inhabited only by sheep and
deer and an occasional shepherd or
keeper. There are the vast tracts,
rented by the American, Mr.. Winans,
as a hunting ground, to be visited by
that alien for two or three months, and
abandoned to solitude for the remain
der of the year, where noteven a native
Of the soil may plant his foot.-TAs
Nineteenth Century.