THE, or WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND, consist of about 200 islands or islets, lying between N. Lat. 55. and 58. 51., and W. Long. 5. and 7. 32. Their ancient name was Hebudea or Eubudae, and the alteration was simply the result of a printer's error in an early edition of the works of the venerable Bede, published in Paris. From the census returns it appears that in 1851 the number of inhabited islands in the Hebrides was 79, having a population of 116,367; from 20 to 30 more are partially inhabited during the summer and grazing season. The most southern of the group are situated on the Firth of Clyde—as Bute, Arran, the Cumbraes, Lamlash, and Inchkarnoch. The geological formation of these islands includes granite, gneiss, slate, trap, sandstone, and limestone. Arran is peculiarly rich in attractions both to the geologist and botanist, and possesses highly picturesque scenery. The other islands are usually divided into the Outer Hebrides, or Long Island, and the Inner Hebrides. The former consists of the Lewis, Harris, North and South Uist, Benbecula, Barra, and a number of smaller islands—the whole length from Barra-Head to the Butt of Lewis being about 130 miles. The Inner Hebrides include Islay, Skye, Mull, Jura, Coll, Colonsay, Rum, Tiree, Ulva, Iismore, &c. The outer range consists almost exclusively of gneiss rocks, with poor soil and large proportions of moss and moor. The inner range is composed chiefly of trap and slate—"a basis," as is said by a recent authority, "for the most part of secondary sandstones and limestone, out of which have arisen from the fiery nucleus of the earth, enormous overlying, and, in some cases, overflowing masses and mountains of trap rocks, chiefly greenstone, sienite, basalt, hypersthene, and an endless variety of pitchstone, claystone, and felspar porphyries, with their associated crystals and minerals." The magnificent basalt columns and caves of Staffa are well known. The islands are not rich in minerals. Iron has been found in several of them, but the want of coal in sufficient abundance renders it of but nominal value. Lead exists, and was sometime wrought in Islay. In Skye and Tiree are marble quarries, which also were worked for a short time, but are now abandoned. There are excellent slate quarries at Easdale, Luing, Seil, Shuna, Lunga, &c.—a small and intricate group of islands annexed to Argyllshire, which, from the number of workmen employed, the workmen's houses, and vessels shipping cargo, present a busy and animated scene. The Outer Hebrides are almost wholly destitute of wood. For miles the eye ranges over tracts of dreary moss, though efforts have been made in Lewis to redeem the sterility of the soil. At one time the manufacture of kelp from the seaware afforded employment to the people of Barra, Harris, Lewis, Skye, &c., but the reduction of the duty on salt and barilla has nearly extinguished this branch of Hebridean trade. When Dr. Johnson visited Skye in 1773, agriculture was neglected, and there was scarcely a vegetable grown on the island. Now arable farms, cultivated with care and skill, and gardens producing all the fruits and flowers grown in Scotland, are found. The mild and humid climate of the islands is peculiarly favourable to vegetation, and vast improvement has been effected. Arable cultivation, however, is in most districts considered subordinate to grazing and sheep-farming. The greater part of the surface consists of mountains incapable of cultivation. The valleys by which these mountains are intersected are narrow, and frequently covered with peat-moss, and the sides of the valleys are often too steep and rocky to be fit for tillage. But the most formidable obstacle to the profitable pursuit of corn-farming is the excessive humidity of the climate, which no industry can overcome, and no skill obviate. The drenching rains and cloudy skies for which the Hebrides are so notorious, frustrate the efforts of the cultivator in every stage of his operations. In winter the finer particles and every soluble and fertilizing ingredient in the soil are washed away; in spring the land cannot be brought to the requisite condition for receiving the seed; in summer the corn is etiolated and does not fill, and in harvest the process of ripening is retarded, and the crop is often little better than straw. In truth, the islands are essentially pastoral. Drainage and artificial manures have done much, and there are farms in Skye and Islay which may vie with any on the mainland, but the general characteristics of the islands are such as we have described. Rearing of cattle (which is carried on to a considerable extent) and sheep-farming seem to be the only sure and profitable occupations. Much of the land has been converted into sheep-walks, on which large flocks of Cheviot sheep are now reared, and sold at the Inverness or Falkirk trysts. The Crinan and Caledonian canals offer facilities for export and inter-communication; steamboats from Glasgow now visit most of the islands; and excellent roads, under the charge of a parliamentary commission, traverse the principal districts. The impulse which all these combined have given to trade and production need not be described. The moors and desolate tracts are often let at high prices to English sportsmen. Every year the passion for field sports, especially deer-stalking, seems to increase, and many Highland lairds derive a larger revenue from their moors than their grandfathers did from their whole estates. One great and permanent interest in the Hebrides is that of the fisheries. This has never been prosecuted with sufficient spirit or perseverance. The Lewis islanders are perhaps the most active;—of old, Barra was celebrated for its bold seamen and fishermen, but their descendants are sunk in apathy and poverty. To Lowland adventurers is left the chief harvest of these distant seas.
The scenery of the Hebrides may be generally described as partaking of the wild and sublime. Large masses of mountains, of all forms, tower up in the interior; and the coasts, indented by arms of the sea, are rugged and varied in outline. Skye is now a favourite resort of tourists. The Bay of Scavaig, Loch Coruisk, Glen Sligachan, and the Cuchullin Hills, are scenes of almost unexampled grandeur and picturesque desolation. The Spar Cave, with its lofty chamber and white translucent stalactite, and the mighty ocean-temple of Staffa, have no parallels. Spots of great beauty—green pastoral glens, sheltered bays and lakes, are interposed amidst the wildest scenes. Even among the rough rocks of Harris and Barra, enchanting marine views burst on the spectator. In winter they are terrible; but "what can be more delightful?" asks a native of that solitary coast—the late Professor Macgillivray—"than a midnight walk by moonlight along the lone sea-beach of some secluded isle, the glassy sea sending from its surface a long stream of dancing and dazzling light, no sound to be heard save the small ripple of the idle wavelet, or the scream of a sea-bird watching the fry that swarms along the shores?" In the short nights of summer, the melancholy song of the thrush has scarcely ceased on the hill-side, when the merry carol of the lark commences, and the plover and snipe sound their shrill pipe. Again, how glorious is the scene which presents itself from the summit of one of the loftier hills, when the great ocean is seen glowing with the last splendour of the setting sun, and the lofty isles of St Kilda rear their giant heads amid the purple blaze on the extreme verge of the horizon!" We may add that a sail on a summer day down the Sound of Mull, amidst the archipelago of islands, gigantic mountain-ranges in the distance, and by the shores, perched on projecting rocks and promontories, the ruins of Dunolly, Dunstaffnage, Duart, Ardornish, Mingarry, &c.,—"chiefless castles breathing stern farewells"—is an event never to be forgotten or remembered without emotion.
The original inhabitants of the Hebrides seem to have been of the same Celtic race as those settled on the mainland—the Scoi-Irish, whom Columba, about the middle of the sixth century, converted to Christianity. Scandinavian hordes then poured in, with their northern idolatry and lust of plunder, but in time they adopted the language and faith of the islanders, and were recognised as Earls of Orkney and Kings of the Hebrides and Isle of Man. The chief seat of their sovereignty was at Islay. About the year 1076 or 1096 died in Islay, Godred Crovan, King of Dublin, of Man, and of the Hebrides. He was succeeded by Olaus or Olave, and the daughter of Olaus was married to Somerled, or Sorlet (in Gaelic Somhairle), and corrupted by chroniclers into Sorli Marlday, &c.), who became the founder of the dynasty known as Lords of the Isles. From the year 1156 to 1164, Somerled was styled Prince of Argyll (Regulus Eregeithel) and Lord of Kintyre. After a rebellion of twelve years against the Scottish monarch, Malcolm IV., he was slain in 1164, and was succeeded by his son Reginald, who styled himself Lord of Inchgall (the Western Isles), and also King of the Isles and Lord of Argyll and Kintyre. This Reginald, his son, and grandson, were monks of Paisley, and liberal benefactors to the monastery there. Angus Oig, the fifth of the race of Somerled, in 1306, after the defeat of Robert Bruce by John of Lorn, entertained the king for three days at his castle of Dunaverty, in South Kintyre. Previous to this many efforts had been made by the Scottish monarchs to displace the Norwegians. Alexander II. led a fleet and army to the Hebrides shores of Argyleshire in 1249, but he died in the island of Kerrera. On the other hand the Norwegian sovereign was no less indignant at the independence assumed by the Jarls, or governors of the islands, and at the indignities offered to his subjects. King Haco or Hacon sailed with a great fleet and army to assert his rights. The exact date of his expedition is ascertained by a fact illustrative of the light thrown by science on history. The Norwegian chronicler remarked, that when the king lay with his fleet in Orkney, "a great darkness grew over the sun, so that only a little ring was bright round his orb." The eclipse was calculated, and found to have taken place on the 5th of August 1263. Haco's fleet was shattered by tempests in the Firth of Clyde, and the portion of his army which landed was defeated at Largs. The discomfited monarch retreated, passing the narrow strait between Skye and the mainland (which still bears the name of Kyle-Hacon, or Kyleakin), and reaching Orkney, died there on the 12th of December. Magnus, son of Haco, concluded a peace with the Scots (1266), renouncing all claim to the Hebrides and other islands, excepting Orkney and Shetland, and King Alexander agreed to give him a sum of 4000 marks in four yearly payments. It was also stipulated that Margaret, daughter of Alexander (then only four years of age), should be betrothed to Eric, the son of Magnus—a connection long remembered and lamented in Scottish song and story.
The race of Somerled continued to rule the islands, and from a younger son of the same potentate sprung the Lords of Lorn, who took the patronymic of Macdougall. John of Isle or Islay, between the years 1346 and 1354, first adopted the title of "Lord of the Isles." He was one of the most potent of the island princes, and was married to a daughter of the Earl of Strathern, Steward of Scotland. His son, Donald of the Isles, was memorable for his rebellion in support of his claim to the earldom of Ross. The chiefs of Mackintosh and Maclean joined his standard, but Donald was defeated or weakened at the battle of Harlaw, fought in July 1411, and was ultimately compelled to make submission, and abandon his claim to the earldom. His son Alexander resumed the hereditary warfare against the Scottish crown. The sceptre, however, was now in the firm and unrelenting hand of James I.; and the Lord of the Isles, after undergoing, with his mother, the Countess of Ross, imprisonment for a year, was fain to make abject submission, delivering up his sword on his knees. The son of Alexander, John of the Isles, soon however appears in an attitude of sovereignty, treating as an independent prince with Edward IV. of England. In 1462 was concluded, between John of Isle, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles, and King Edward IV., the treaty of Ardornish, by which John, his son Donald Balloch, and his grandson John of Isle, became bound to assist King Edward, and James Earl of Douglas in subduing the kingdom of Scotland. The reward promised for this high service was not great. They were to receive respectively, in time of war, L200, L40, and L20 yearly; and in time of peace 100 merks, L20 and L10 sterling. The alliance seems to have led to no active operations, and the island king was adjudged to be a traitor to his liege sovereign of Scotland, and deprived of his earldom of Ross, which was annexed to the crown. In the reign of James V. another John of Isla resumed the title of "Lord of the Isles," but was compelled to surrender the dignity. He afterwards laid siege to the Castle of Ellandonan in Ross-shire, and was slain with an arrow. The glory of the lordship of the Isles—the insular sovereignty—had departed. From the time of Bruce, the Campbells had been gaining the ascendancy in Argyll. The Macleans, Macnaughtons, Maclachlans, Lamonts, and
---
1 Worsaae's Danes. Origins Paretchales Scotiae, Bannatyne Club, 1854. other ancient races had sunk before this favoured family. The lordship of Lorn was wrested from the Macdonalds by Bruce, and their extensive possessions, with Dunstaffnage Castle, bestowed on the king's relative, Stewart and his descendants, afterwards Lords of Lorn. The Macdonalds, at a subsequent period, regained possession of their ancient residence, Dunally Castle, but this branch of the house of Somerled was never reinstated in its former importance.
The Macdonalds of Sleat, the direct representatives of Somerled, though driven from Islay and deprived of supreme power by James V., still kept a sort of insular state in Skye. There were also the Macdonalds of Clanranald and Glen-garry (descendants of Somerled), with the powerful houses of Macleod of Dunvegan (Siod Torquid), and Macleod of Harris (Siod Torquid), McNeill of Barra, and Maclean of Mull. Fierce sanguinary feuds continued throughout the 16th and 17th centuries among these rival clans and their dependent tribes, and the turbulent spirit was not subdued till a comparatively recent period. James VI. made an abortive attempt at the colonization of Lewis. William III. and Queen Anne attempted to subsidize the chiefs in order to preserve tranquillity, but the wars of Montrose and Dundee, and the Jacobite insurrections of 1715 and 1745 showed how futile were all such efforts. It was not till 1748, when a decisive blow was struck at the power of the chiefs by the abolition of heritable jurisdictions and the appointment of sheriffs in the different districts, that the arts of peace and social improvement made way in these remote regions.
The change was great, and at first not unmixed with evil. It was no longer the interest of the chief to surround himself with a host of dependents. His strength lay in money, not in arms. A new system of management and high rents were imposed, in consequence of which numbers of the tacksmen, or large tenants, emigrated to America. In twenty years, from 1772 to 1792, about 6400 persons left the country, carrying with them, in specie, at least £38,400. The exodus continued for many years. Sheep-farming, on a large scale, was next introduced, and the crofters were thrust into villages or barren corners of the land. The consequence was, that despite the numbers who entered the army, or emigrated to Canada, the standard of civilization sunk lower, and the population multiplied in all the islands. The people came to subsist almost entirely on potatoes and herrings; and in 1846, when the potato blight commenced its ravages, a scene of nearly universal destitution ensued. The population of Skye, which Johnson, in 1773, considered too great for the means of subsistence, had swelled from 15,000 to 24,000; and of these, 8000 (one-third) demanded and received relief from the Destitution Fund nobly provided by the British nation. In Tiree there were 1400 people who paid no rent and had exhausted the fuel on the island. Over the islands, generally, the proportion of destitution was in the ratio of 70 per cent. of the population. Temporary relief was administered in the shape of employment on roads and other works; and an emigration fund being raised, from 4000 to 5000 of the people, in the most crowded districts, were removed to Australia, where labour, and the reward of labour, awaited them. The condition of the islanders at home is still deplorable. To elevate them must be the work of many years; and a still more extensive family emigration seems necessary as a preliminary step. Education in the English language is also required, to which should be added the prosecution of the fisheries on a better basis, and the colonization in the Hebrides of east coast fishermen (descendants of the industrious and hardy Shetlanders and Scandinavians) in eligible fishing stations.
New, a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean.
HEBRAH, a very ancient city of Palestine, in the tribe of Judah, 18 miles S. of Jerusalem. Its most ancient name was Kirjath-arba, i.e., "the city of Arba," so called from Arba, the father of Anak and of the Anakim, who dwelt in and around Hebron. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob resided much at Hebron, and are there entombed. The ancient city lay in a valley; and the two remaining pools, one of which at least existed in the time of David, serve with other circumstances to identify the modern with the ancient site. David on becoming king of Judah, made Hebron his royal residence, and reigned here seven and a half years. Its modern name is El Khulil, "the friend" of God, the title by which the Moslems designate Abraham. In modern history Hebron is chiefly noted for the part taken by its inhabitants in the rebellion of 1834, and the heavy retribution which it brought down upon them. They gave battle to Ibrahim Pasha near Solomon's pools, but were defeated, and retired within the city, which was taken by storm, and given over to sack and pillage. The town of Hebron lies low down on the sloping sides of a narrow valley. The houses are all of stone, high and well-built, with windows, and flat roofs, on which are small domes, sometimes two or three to each house. The streets are narrow, seldom more than two or three yards in width. The bazaars and shops are well supplied with commodities. It has nine mosques, the principal of which is the massive structure built over the tombs of the patriarchs. This is esteemed by the Moslems one of their holiest places, from which Christians are rigorously excluded. Hebron has long been noted for the produce of its glass-works, consisting chiefly of glass lamps, many of which are exported to Egypt. Pop. variously estimated from 5000 to 10,000.