 This largesse notwithstanding, conditions were primitive. There was no permanent minister and when one visited he was obliged to conduct sermons in the open air, there being no church. Nor was there a mill, and leather was tanned with willow bark and dressed with sea shells due to the lack of lime. The nearby smaller island of Muck was valued for land rental the same as the whole of Rùm at this time, again indicating the poverty of agriculture on Rùm. The growing population of Rùm's demands on the land led to the extermination of the native red deer (Cervus elaphus) during the latter half of the 18th century.
