LEWIS, one of the largest of the Hebrides, or Western islands of Scotland, extending about 60 miles in length from north to south, and from 13 to 14 in breadth, consisting of a great number of isles and rocks, and parted by the sea into two divisions, called Lewis and Harries, the former lying to the westward of the other. Lewis belongs to the shire of Ross; is divided by several channels, distinguished by several names, and portioned out among different proprietors; but the Lewis, strictly so called, stretches about 36 miles in length, from the north point of Bowling-head to the southern extremity of Hufness in Harries. The air is temperately cold, moist, and healthy; great part of the low ground is flooded with lakes; the rest is arable in many places, and has been counted fruitful in oats, barley, rye, flax, and hemp. The soil in these parts is a light sand, which the inhabitants manure with foot and sea-ware: but great part of the island is covered with heath. The labouring people dig the land with spades, and break the clods with small harrows, the foremost teeth of which are made of wood, and the remainder of rough heath, which smooths what the others have broken; and this harrow is drawn by one man, having a strong trace of horse-hair across his breast. Of their corn they not only make malt for ale, but likewise a strong spirit called treforeg, which is the whisky, or usquebaugh, three times distilled. Lewis abounds with convenient bays and harbours, in which are caught, in great plenty, cod, ling, and herring; here are likewise whales of different sizes, which the natives drive into the bays, and kill with harpoons. These bays afford great plenty of shell-fish, such as clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, limpets, welks, and such a prodigious quantity of spout-fish is sometimes cast up from the sand off Lochua, that they infect the air, and render it unhealthy to the neighbouring inhabitants, who are not able to consume them, either by eating, or using them as manure for the ground. Some of these lochs and bays likewise produce small coral and coralline. The fresh-water lakes are well stored with trout and eels, and the rivers yield plenty of salmon. Along the coast are found a great number of caves, which serve as shelter for the seals and otters, which are also eaten as dainties by the inhabitants; and vast numbers of sea-fowl build upon the rocks and promontories.
The land animals reared in this island, are cows, horses, sheep, goats, hogs, and deer; all these are of a diminutive size. The beef, mutton, and pork, are juicy and delicious; the horses are active and hardy; the deer, which are of the red kind, confine themselves to the chase of Osevaul, about 15 miles in compass, which affords tolerable pasturage; but in the winter, when the ground is covered with frost and snow, these animals are forced to feed on sea-ware, and endure all the rigour of the season, without any shelter from wood or copse, for there is not a tree to be seen; nevertheless, the roots of very large trees, which have been cut by the axe, are found in different places.
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There is likewise a small grove of birch and hazel on the south-west side of Loch Stornaway.
The inhabitants of Lewis are well-proportioned, tall, fair, sanguine, strong, and healthy. They are in general sober, circumspect, and hospitable; dexterous in fishing, swimming, and leaping; bold and skilful mariners; and so temperate, that they will tug at the car all day, without any other provision than bread and water, with a snuff of tobacco.
Along this coast we see several natural mounts, or forts, called Duns; such as Dun-rowly, Dun-coradel, and Dun-eisten. There are also the remains of some old castles, and other monuments of antiquity. At Stornaway village we see the ruins of a fortress destroyed by the English garrison sent thither by Oliver Cromwell. To the northward of Brago there is a round tower built of large stones, three stories high, tapering towards the top, with a double wall, and a circular staircase between, by which one may go quite round the building. On the heaths and summits of hills there are several cairns or heaps of stones, which served either for graves or beacons. In the parish of Barvas we see a single stone called the thrushel, standing upright, above 20 feet high, and almost as much in breadth. Three stones, about 12 feet high each, are seen standing on the north side of Loch Carlvay; and many others standing single at great distances, and in remote parts of the island. But the most remarkable monument of this kind appears by the village of Clafernish. Here we find 39 pyramidal stones standing upright, about six or seven feet high from the surface, each about two feet in breadth. They are placed in form of an avenue, eight feet wide; the distance between every stone amounting to six feet, and a single piece stands at the entrance. This avenue leads to a circle of 12 stones of the same dimensions, with one in the centre 13 feet in length, and shaped like a rudder: on the east, south, and west sides of this circle, are four stones, such as those that compose this round and avenue, forming three lines, or as it were rays from the body of the circle. This is supposed to have been a Druid temple; and tradition reports, that the chief Druid stood by the large stone in the centre, and harangued the audience. At the distance of a quarter of a mile there is another circle of the same nature; but without the range and avenue. In all probability, these, as well as the monuments we have described in our account of the Orkneys, and Stonehenge on Salisbury plain, were places of worship erected by the Druids in time of Pagan superstition. The chief town in Lewis is STORNAWAY.
There is a considerable number of inferior adjacent isles and rocks, some of which hardly deserve to be mentioned: such as the small island Garve at the mouth of Loch Carlvay, Berinsay, Fladda, Bernera Minor and Bernera Major, Kialisay, Cavay, Carvay, Grenim, Pabay, Shirem, Vexay, Wuya the Larger and Lesser, and the Flannan islands, which the seamen denominate the northern hunters. These are visited every summer by the inhabitants of the Lewis, who go thither in quest of fowls, eggs, down, quills, and feathers, as well as to shear or kill the sheep that are kept here for pasture. As these islands are very steep and rocky, the visitors, after having landed and
Lewis. climbed up the rock by a ladder, uncover their heads, and, making a turn sun-ways, thank God for having escaped the danger they have undergone. In the largest island are the ruins of a chapel dedicated to St Flannan, from whom the isles derive their name. Thither the fowlers repairing, strip themselves of their upper garments, which being laid upon a stone, they advance towards the altar, and repeat three prayers; an exercise which is performed every morning and evening. They observe many other superstitious customs during their residence on these rocks; and when they have landed their boat with their purchase, return to the larger islands. Among the islands belonging to the Lewis, we may likewise take notice of the small isle of Pigmies, so called, because, it is said, bones resembling those of human creatures, but of very small dimensions, have been dug out of the ground.
The island of Lewis is divided into the two parishes of Barvas and Eye, and in each of these one minister is settled; but there is a great number of churches and chapels dedicated to different saints, in the different isles which compose this cluster. All these were sanctuaries before the Reformation, but now they are divested of that privilege. The people of these islands are Presbyterians, with a few Protestants of the English communion, and a still smaller number of Roman Catholics. The Protestants observe the festivals of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Michaelmas; on the last of which the individuals of both sexes perform an anniversary cavalcade.