Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1885-02-14
IN THE ISLE OF SKYE.
The Crofter Seen at Home.
Inha bitanfs of the outer HebvIdei
Whose simplicity 10 Semi.Bar.
baric-The Gay Gathering at
lhe Half. Yearly Church
Meeting.

In their homes, says the London Tel
egraph, the Scotch cfofters are simple
to semi barbarian. A traveller pass
ing up the narrow sound separating
Skye from the mainland, with its gen.
tie sloping grass banks and fringe of
golden seaweed that only thrives in
waters of the northern seas, notices the
crofts dotted about in the holiows and
the straggling villages at the estuaries
of the more Important streams. 1t is
like Norway. and he fancies he recOg-
nizes q Norwegian cast Of fcOuntenances
in the natives who come down to the
beach through the thin, driving mists
enshrouding their hills, and stare at
the wande:er from the southwark with
Scandinavian eaimness. Proceeding
northward he sees the last of natural
vegetation OF the mouth of the broad
and lonely Loch Sigachan. Hence
the hills, where the hand of a man has
not made them smile with scanty
harvest of cereals, are gaunt and DESC
late, the thin grasses below struggling
upward being met and overwhelmed
by avalanches OF loose stones which
pour down tho mountain sides aud
seam its green coat with tongues of gray
aud brown debris.
AS he nears Portree the altered char
acter of the peasantry, as seen in their
architecture hereabouts, becomes more
aud more visible. The Puritanical
whitewash of the Scotch cottage, with
its blue intels and creeper- covered
porch, has given place to wilder habi-
tations. On the promontories jutting
into the sea stand ruins of old towers,
and round their base are clustered, /,
without a vestige of order, rude huts
of unhewn stone, mOrtarles>, and so
stained with the tints Of many seasons
that at first it is impossible to separate
which they lean. Heavily thatched,
the caves come down over the top of
the doorway and wellnigh Obliterate
the diminutive single -paned window,
shining dimly through the covering
like the eyes Of one of those aboriginal
terriers who live wild, careless life
among bare-legged children and long
necked fowls, and serve to indicate
by their yelping ut strangers ap'
proach that the craggy village is i'll
habited. The peasautry themselves
are OF an enduring and gentle man
nered kind. Short in stature, but wei
formed and muscular, Morse extrac
ton, or something very much like it.
shows in their faces aud heads as mucf
as in their superstitions and legends
All over the territory cf Lord Mac
donald, where disaftection has beer
rife during the autumn, and up ant
down the slopes OF the long sea l0chs
these gray shanties dot the strath sides
harrow strips OF cultivation run up III,
hills, and herds of long haired dun ant
black high and cattle Craze among tn
tufts of cotton grass and heather.
We venture to enter q wayside calm
and the owner, q big-boned woman
and widow, as we subsequently hear
lays down the sickle she has been ply
ing outside in her rod of barley, all,
does the honors of her abode. All j
smoke withii,-the thin blue smoke q
peat, as aromatic to seasoned nostril
as cedar wood, and every article 9
furniture is clothed in its fine blac
polish. In one corner, the lowest Z
the floor, pig reclines, conscious G
the consideration attaching to eth
gentleman that pays the rent" whil
chickens make themselves at home
percbing on the ratters overhead
among the dense azure-gray "reek.
Our hostess is poor woman, even fo
a crofter; the herrings that hang i
festoons round her hut are OF vast
kind, the refuse of the nets, and he
store of winter potatoes is meager i
the extreme; yet she prDffers us a bi
wooden bowl of milk, and puts bac
the silver we offer in return, A singl
pane of glass high up, and the embel
Of peat fire in the middle OF the foo
show US her couch, nondescript oil
long box, against the wall. her milkin:
stooI and spinning wheel, her work
bench, and curious trousseau- boz
wherein is stored all she has OF tinery
Such is about all the place contains all
little enough to tempt the closest {
taxmen. Some of the cottages of th
Outer Hebrides, wherein dwell thos
peasants who have given the "mes
+ senger-at-arms" such a rough receE
ton, are better found. A hand-lool
, is occasionally to be seen in the plae
, of honor, worked patiently and clever
, ly by weaver-fisherman, who turn
out linsey- wOolseys OF admirable text
ure; round the walls are hung tt
good wife's spinning wheels, old an
new, her stock Of provisions, threat
: etc. Herrings, split and dried, glittt
in many rows overhead, and CHECKER
mediate about the boiling of the fam
i l.