NOTICE OF A REMARKABLE SOLAR RAINBOW

BY CAPT. F. W. L. THOMAS, R.N.

30th May 1861 - Noon: left Loch Tarbert, Harris.

8 P.M. it fell calm when we were four miles from Rodel, Harris.

There were a few trifling showers, and the air was beautifully clear.

At 8.15, when the sun's altitude was about ten degrees, a brilliant rainbow (C) formed; - its estimated altitude was 40 degrees.

Where the arch joined the horizon (A B) its colours were very bright.

A secondary bow (D) also formed, with the usual characteristics.

But, what must be very unusual, a third or extraordinary bow - (E) appeared.

The extraordinary and primary bow arose from the same points of, and were coincident with, the horizon; from whence the legs of the extraordinary bow rose almost perpendicularly, but bending gradually into a broad elliptic arch, whose summit, estimated at 70 degrees of altitude, was above that of the secondary bow.

The colours of the extraordinary bow were in primary order; less bright than the primary, but brighter than the secondary bow.
Neither the summits of the secondary nor extraordinary bows were ever very distinct.
The phenomenon lasted about half an hour.

A sketch of the arrangement is here drawn. (Please see embedded page)

Note: An old sailor informed me that he once witnessed a similar appearance of rainbows in the West Highlands. And in the Enc. Met. Mety., p. 171, is quoted a description of a like phenomenon, seen by Dr Halley from the walls of Edesten; but in which the extraordinary bow contracted until the upper portion of the arch became coincident with the upper portion of the secondary bow, when, from the order of the colours being contrary, the blending of the two produced white light.

Source: Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society, Volume 1, Nos I-XII, 1866. p270

Note: He had completed surveying 'East Loch Tarbert' 4 years earlier, and the West Coast from the 'Sound of Harris to Lochs Tarbert & Resort' in1860, so the precise purpose of this voyage is uncertain we can be sure that Fred Thomas had been putting the time to good use, perhaps even collecting Webs with his wife?

Bushey & the Congested Districts Board

This is one of those 'tying-up-a-loose-end' posts - although in this case there remain several 'tails' still to be told.

In my piece on 'Lululaund' I referred to the Tapestry Weavers of Bushey and then later discovered The British and Irish Spinning and Weaving School that had been located there. I mentioned the presence of Miss Clive Bayley and conjectured that she was the ladies teacher. Hence I was delighted to find in the National Archives of Scotland a reference from 1901 to 'Miss Clive Bayley. Home Industry. Expenses incurred at Bushey' that is filled under the Congested Districts Board (Ref:AF42/890)

Unfortunately there are no further details and the file, which is held off-site, has to be pre-requested but it nicely corroborates the foregoing guesswork and links the CDB to this particular endeavour. As it appears in Bushey, and Mrs Captain Thomas was now living in East Sussex as Mrs Frances Beckett, I wonder if once again she had a hand in yet another textile offshoot from Harris, this time one that was training some seven young ladies from 'Obbe, Harris'?

Whilst on the topic of connections twixt Bushey & Harris, here's the piece on 'A Somewhat Strange Affair' ...

Taking Hydrographic Surveyors Names In Vain

I was alerted to an article in The Guardian about the controversy regarding a new Loch Lomond Chart  via a comment made on this piece from the Across the Minch blog.
The media coverage; such as this from the BBC, this from STV, this from the Stirling Observer and this from the Scotsman; focus mainly upon the inappropriateness of the names that have been used.

What none of them addresses, however, is the fact that the Hydrographic Surveyors of 150 years ago took great pride in ensuring the accuracy of their charts and especially with regard to using the correct names of the features that they recorded.

Admiral Otter (as he became) would be horrified to learn of such a neocolonial attitude to cartography taking his name in vain in this way and, as the man who ensured the safe arrival of the first successful transatlantic cable in Newfoundland, I suspect that he would also object to being portrayed as in any way unsophisticated merely because the plumb-line was the main tool at his disposal.

Note: Previous pieces regarding the work of 'Captain Otter', 'Captain FWL Thomas' and 'Mapping' may easily be accessed via the Labels at the left of this page.

Turf Houses in Scotland

This is a huge topic that has only really started to be fully appreciated relatively recently.
It sits within the landscape of the forms of social & economic organisation that the islands have witnessed during the past 9000 years of human habitation.

Scotland's Rural Past is a 5-year project that ends in 2011 'which supports local communities across Scotland to investigate deserted rural settlements dating from the medieval and post-medieval periods'. http://www.scotlandsruralpast.org.uk/

RCAHMS Interpretation Officer Brian Wilkinson has written ' A Study of Turf: Historic Rural Settlements in Scotland and Iceland' which explains how the so-called 'traditional' island blackhouse is actually an adaptation of an earlier form that used turf for its exterior walls and was, in fact, technologically superior to the more modern, 'improved' version.

An archaeological reconstruction of one of the Icelandic types of Turf House was recently completed and its story can be read here.

As I said at the start, this is a huge topic that is still in its infancy and I am sure that the closing conference of Scotland's Rural Past on the 18th of June 2011in Birnam will generate much interest.

Battle of the Pens in the late 18thC

The final years of the 18thC attracted a sudden surge of learned visitors to, & commentators upon, the Western Isles.

John Knox, John Lanne Buchanan and Robert Heron each wrote of their experiences whilst John Pinkerton (aka another 'Robert Heron') embarked on a spirited attack upon all things Gaelic. We shall, however, start with a private letter between two other men of letters and learning:

Letter from Jospeh Ritson to Mr George Paton

Gray's Inn, 5^th March 1794

Dear Sir...

...Pinkerton seems busy in his intended History of Scotland. Whether it is to be the same with that advertised under the name of Robert Heron,*I cannot learn. His treatment of the "Celtic savages" is to be speedily resented in print by the Reverend John Lane Buchanan, nominal author of " Travels in the Western Hebrides," who seems, in fact, to be as very a Celt as his antagonist could possibly wish for. I am sorry to find so good a cause in the hands of such an incompetent advocate.

I indulge myself at present with the hopes of seeing you in the course of the ensuing summer: and in the mean while, request you to believe me,

DEAR SIR,

Your sincere friend and faithful

Obedient servant, .
J. RITSON.

An explanatory note is provided in the book:

*Pinkerton brought out his " Letters on Literature" under the fictitious name of " Robert Heron." It singularly happened that a " Robert Heron," a man of some literary acquirements, did then exist, and that he was about to publish a History of Scotland. Pinkerton was also at the time engaged in his History of the Stewarts, and thus the puzzle which perplexed Ritson arose. Of the unfortunate fate of the real Robert Heron, a very interesting account will be found in Murray's valuable, but undeservedly neglected, literary History of Galloway.

Source: 'Letters from Joseph Ritson, Esq to Mr George Paton. To which is added, a critique by John Pinkerton, Esq upon Ritson's Scotish Songs' Edinburgh 1879

Pinkerton appears to have previously attacked Paton in his trademark intemperate manner but clearly Ritson was less than enthusiastic that it was Buchanan who had mounted a speedy rebuttal to Pinkerton's latest attack on the Gaels. Paton was employed at the Custom House in Edinburgh and was an amateur student of Scottish antiquities. Anyone with such an interest and who dared to suggest that Gaelic culture might have an ounce of value would be a target for Pinkerton's outrageous vitriol. Ritson had previously exposed a set of supposedly ancient Ballads that Pinkerton had championed but were in fact forgeries, including some from Pinkerton's own hand.

The reason why Ritson would consider Buchanan 'an incompetent advocate' was simple. Buchanan had been a Missionary minister on Harris between 1782 and 1790 but had been found guilty of conducting unbecoming his position. He had been caught 'in flagrante delicto' in the bed of a servant of the Tacksman of Luskentire and also accused of the attempted rape of another tacksman's wife. His subsequent sacking and disgrace mean that his writings regarding the island inevitably open themselves to questions of credibility: Were the tacksmen really as appalling as he suggested and were the Harrismen as keen to become fishers rather than remain being farmers as he insisted?

Buchanan wasn't universally critical of the tacksmen but, even if those at Luskentire and elsewhere on Harris at the time weren't as terrible as he suggests, one of their successors in the form of Donald Stewart most certainly was! It is also worth pointing out that the comments made in the Statistical Account of 1794 by the Rev John Macleod reinforce Buchanan's view of the Tacksman class in general and this despite Buchanan accusing the Established Church of either ignoring, or even collaborating, in the tacksmen's persecution of the people.

Regarding the fishing, even if the relatively small population of Harris (2536 souls in 1792) wasn't too keen on going fishing themselves, that is in no way the same thing as suggesting that Tarbert was indeed an obvious site for the British Fisheries Society to develop and should have been included as such in John Knox's recommendations.

At the risk of becoming an apologist for Buchanan, I humbly suggest that, whilst he may well have overstated the situation and his writings be seen as polemical and therefore without academic value, he should be given some credit for having an intimate knowledge of the ways of Harris having lived amongst the people there for nearly a decade and, unlike some of his his detractors, never hiding behind a nom de plume nor sitting in silence at the injustices he perceived around him.

He also greatly irritated the Tory's at the time, exciting vitriolic attacks from the pages of
'The Gentleman's Magazine' of May 1794 and 'The Critical Review' of 1795.

Neither of the authors of those particular pieces provided their name...

Further reading:

JLB & 'Piscator' (aka John Knox?)

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/11/he-brought-wheels-reels-and-other.html

JLB

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/12/of-two-tacksmen-towards-close-of-18th.html

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/defence-of-scots-highlanders.html

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/11/john-lanne-buchanan-1768-1828-his.html

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/defence-of-scots-highlanders.html

Heron

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/heron-1794-or.html

Pinkerton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pinkerton

I have not read the Harris Kirk Session records themselves but Buchanan's crimes & their repercussions are described here:

Useful Index Pages for Statistical Accounts

I mentioned these in the last piece but thought that, as they are so helpful, I'd devote them an entry in their own right.

A project on the 'Old Roads of Scotland' has, amongst many other things, indexed the Statistical Accounts by County & Parish. This is especially useful as they have contain sketch-maps showing the Parishes and have links to the Statistical Accounts on the EDINA site and the Google Books pages.

Inverness-shire, for example, is here: http://www.oldroadsofscotland.com/stataccinverness.htm and if, like me, you get confused between your 'Sleat's and your 'Strath's, or want to search for a particular word/phrase in the Account,s then these indices & the Google pages that they link to are invaluable.

Enjoy!

The Harris Drove

I have made brief reference to the driving of cattle from Harris to the mainland via Skye in a previous piece 'Of Black Cattle, Kyloes and Crodh Dubh' but here are two references from the Old Statistical Accounts for Glenelg & Harris that clarify those droves:

Glenelg

Tides - The tides run very strong, both in Lochurn and Lochneavis; but the most remarkable current in this parish, or perhaps in all the west coast, is to be seen at Kylerea, the name of the sound that separates Sky from the main land; at spring-tides it runs so rapidly as to render it impossible for any vessel to pass through with a fresh breeze, and the wind never so favourable. Mackenzie, in his chart, reckons its velocity equal to nine notes an hour. Over this sound the black cattle annually driven to market from Sky, and part of the Long-island are made to swim; and though the current is so very strong, yet few accidents happen. The number cannot be exactly ascertained, but in general they may be reckoned about 2000.

Harris

They are sold in small lots from each farm to drovers, who ferry them to the Isle of Sky in the month of July; and from thence they are driven to market, sometimes to the S. of Scotland, but more frequently to England. Though there may be in all Harris about about 900 milk cows, supposed a breading stock, yet the number annually sold to drovers does not exceed 200.

Thus in the closing years of the 18thC it looks likely that some 200 of the 2000 cattle that were driven across 'Kylrea' to the mainland were from the 'part of the Long-island' called Harris.

It is easy to imagine a series of sales occurring as the cattle were passed like bovine batons along the relay race that reached its finish line as far away as England. The cattle were said to improve as they journeyed, presumably adding even more to their value in the markets of the south, and I cannot help comparing favourably their final days on Earth with those of some of their less fortunate modern cousins...

Refs:

Avonsuidh

By the later years of the 19thC we see references to 'Avonsuidh' or 'Fin Castle' as the Harris seat of the Earl of Dunmore.

It would appear that the 7th Earl first named it Fincastle then it later became Amhuinnsuidhe Castle and was 'Anglicised' into Avonsuidh which, according to Iain mac an Tailleir, is from Abhainn Suidhe or 'River Suidhe'.


I think 'suidhe' is, coincidentally, to do with 'seating' (although Iain mac an Tailleir has it as 'seething'?) but, as he had to sell his 'seat' soon after it was completed, then I suppose that the Earl probably was indeed seething...

The Edinburgh encyclopedia, conducted by D. Brewster, 1830

For background, the 1811 Census recorded 3569 people in Harris living in 760 houses.

Selected highlights from pages 716-7 (interspersed with a few of my comments)

The east coast of Harris is singularly indented all along with innumerable bays, creeks, and natural harbours, and presents a frightfully rocky and barren appearance when viewed from the sea.

The neighbourhood of the shore, however, is inhabited all along; and near the little settlements are patches of barley, oats, and potatoes, raised by extreme labour.

Some of these being the remnants of Captain Macleod's fishing developments of nearly 50 years earlier; and some being the result of early 19thC Clearances such as those of Horgabost, Rodel, Scarista & Seilibost.

Calligray and Ensay lie about a league and a half east from Berneray, being separated from each other, by a narrow sound called Caolas Scaire, through which the tide passes with the most impetuous current known upon these coasts. The sea in which these islands are situated, is called the Sound of Harris, and is much frequented by shipping .

All the early accounts remark upon the Sound regarding its tides & its extensive shipping.

Cattle and kelp are the chief saleable articles of produce.

The former soon to be replaced by sheep and the latter, some decades later, by Harris Tweed.

Harris and its islands contain about 900 milk cows; and about 200 head of cattle are generally sold annually to drovers. The whole stock of cattle in Harris and its islets may be about 2500.

It is difficult to imagine 2500 cows roaming around on Harris and observing some 200 cattle being driven across the land and sea to the mainland, following the fairs on the island, must have been a magnificent sight.

The sheep in Harris are of a diminutive size, of a thin lank shape, with straight horns, the face and legs white, tail short, and wool sometimes bluish-grey, sometimes black, brown, russet, or blotched of various colours: their number is about 1100.

Clearly not to the author's taste, but what a lovely palette of wool walking across the landscape!

Note that there were two-and-a-half times as many cattle as there were sheep.

On Harris a considerable tract of ground has been stocked with Tweed-dale or black faced sheep, by Mr. Mackinnon of Corry, and other gentlemen.

The word 'gentlemen' reminds us that here were are being told of the work of an 'improving' farmer from outwith the islands.

In some of the mountainous islands, they are said to have sometimes four, and sometimes even six horns.

Jacob sheep? Or Soay, Shetland, Spanish?If anyone reading this has researched the history of the primitive multi-horned sheep of Scotland I'd love to hear from you!

The number of goats is trifling.

Similarly what's the story regarding these useful (& tasty?) creatures in Scotland?

There are not less than 1000 horses in Harris, of very small size, but remarkably stout and hardy. Some of the gentlemen have larger horses on their farms, and a few asses have been introduced.

As with the cattle, the thought of 1000 horses (that's 4 horses for every 3 houses!) is unimaginable nowadays and it would be interesting to know about horse ownership in the isles in earlier times.

'...a sin against people and a denial of basic human rights.'

It was inevitable that the focus of my early interest was is in 19thC Harris for that were where I found the information for most of my early pieces. As I started to discover a richer, more varied seam of sources I was able to develop a longer-term context within which to place my findings and, quite frankly, some of the earlier pieces make me cringe with their now-obvious ignorance & naivety!

Nonetheless, they remain as records of the stumbling progress that I believe I have made and when I look at my mentor Angus Macleod's work I perceive a similarly non-linear and, at times, perceptibly perplexed collection of writings.

There are several more modern studies that, with hindsight, I should perhaps have read first but on the other hand it is good to travel on one's own path -even if on reaching the destination a pre-existing short-cut is discovered!

A common theme in all that I have read is the bias between those for whom the islander was perceived as a feckless, lazy and out-dated individual and those who understood the islands as integrated communities with values extending into realms far beyond mere monetary value.

Kelp was the late 18thC cash-crop that fuelled seasonal migration & continual population growth without the profits from the boom years being reinvested within the island to develop alternative forms of employment for when the inevitable bust occurred.

Captain Macleod's attempts at developing fishing were the nearest that anyone got to in thinking about this and, had he lived to see his plans come to full fruition, it is just possible that Tarbert, Harris could have grown & prospered in the 19thC on a par with, or perhaps at the expense of, Stornoway.

But that, too, would have foundered with the over-fishing and changes elsewhere in the economy so that once again reliance upon a single engine for the economy would have seen boom turn to bust.

All this, however, is to lose sight of the situation on the isles before the fishing, before the kelp, before the Captain and before Culloden. If any single turning-point exists for the problems that dogged the isles for all of the 19thC, and much of the 20^thC, it is surely the destruction of the clan system and the ongoing denigration of the Highlander and Gaelic culture that had started in 1745.

I shall leave it to Angus Macleod to explain this in what I think is the most succinct yet complete of his writings on this subject (and from which the title of this piece was taken): The Highland and Islands Clan System

and will merely add that all that I have written fully supports his assertion that:

'The real philosophy behind these events was the unrestricted accumulation of wealth in the hands of the privileged few, by exploiting the land as well as any other basic resource available.'

Angus Macleod - born 25 August 1916, Calbost, Pairc, Lochs, Isle of Lewis, died 2002.

Harris Parochial School 1836/7

I have happened upon a source relating to the school at Rodel:

'The Sessional Papers printed by Order of the House of Lords or presented by Royal Command in the Session 4 and 5 Victoriae, Volume III – Education Returns, Scotland Part II, page 173' pub 1841

These were answers given by Schoolmasters to a list of questions that had been submitted to them in 1836. The report even 'names & shames' those Schoolmasters who had failed to make a return!

From it we may glean that the school had been established at an uncertain date and was benefiting from no private endowment, which may go some way to explaining why there was no regular school-house for the teacher.

There were 25 boys and 5 girls attending the school in 1836 and 1837 and they started when aged between 4 and 8 and only finished school when they were 15.

The schoolmaster, A. Macdougall, who took-up the post in 1829, appears to have been educated in Perth and to have received a salary of £22. A price list of 1s 6d, 2s, 2s 6d & 3s for scholars is given but which additional subjects were attracting the higher three rates is not specified.

There was an annual report made to the Presbytery and a list of the texts used is provided:

English – Dr Thomson's books

Greek – Collectanea Minora and Xenophon, etc

Latin – Caesar, Sallust, Virgil, etc

Mathematics – Euclid

Arithmetic – Gray's and Morrison's

Geography – Stewart's

History – Simpson's Histories

Religious – Scriptures

Catechism – Assembly's Shorter Catechism, and Williason's

The school hours were from 9 to 12 and then from 2 to 6 with an annual break of generally about 4 weeks, presumably to allow the children to assist with harvest.

Note: Unfortunately I have not been able to discover the original questions and hence have restricted this account to those where a description is given in the answer.

(The only exception is where it is clear that the question asked if there was a private endowment)

The nature of the questions where no expansion is provided from Harris might be guessed-at from answers given elsewhere but I have elected to wait until the original questions are found.

The (True) Origin of Harris Tweed?

It is inevitable that, in this year which see celebrations of the centenary of the first Clo Mor to bear the Orb stamp, my thoughts should turn once again to the story of the early origin of Harris Tweed.

It is a topic that clearly exercised the late Angus Macleod too, for his archive is full of notes on the subject and these have been particularly valuable in guiding my research, although whether he would accord with my conclusions or not is quite another matter.

Are the tales told part of the oral history of the people of the island, or are they a marketing spin invented in the late 19thC to add romance to the material and conveniently mask some of the less-palatable aspects of the Dunmore years, especially those of the 1840s?

Minutes of Evidence - 12^th May 1847 John Tait Esq.

Third Report from the Select Committee on Sites For Churches (Scotland)

6290. Was anything done with a view to giving a market for the fabrics of the island?

Yes; Lady Dunmore intimated to all the people in Harris that the whole fabrics of the island, such as tartan plaids and stockings, would be taken at once by her, and paid for in ready money; and I may state that she has has received from there about 80L. worth of such fabrics, most of which have been brought up to England, and sold or given to her friends.

This represents the earliest datable, documented account of the Countess of Dunmore involving herself with 'Harris Tweed'.

No family tartan, no sisters from Strond sent to train in Paisley, or Alloa, or anywhere else.

£80 in 1847 equates to £5,360 today using the Retail Price Index (£57,800 using Average Earnings).

Her late husband had bought the whole of Harris 13 years earlier for £60,000.

This equates to nearly £5million using the RPI and almost £50million using Average Earnings.

750 times the amount 'taken at once' from the weavers & stocking knitters...

John Tait had had a long-standing & knowledgeable relationship with the family:

6259. I Believe you were one of the trustees under the will of George Earl of Dunmore, the grandfather of the present Earl ? -Yes, I was.

You are intimately acquainted with the affairs of the family, and assist Lady Dunmore in the management of the property ? - Yes, I have been consulted by her frequently.

The situation the Countess found herself in was undoubtedly complex: the Disruption of 1843; the death of the 6^th Earl of Dunmore in July 1845 (shortly followed by the birth of his last child); the start of the Potato Famines in 1846; the requests for a Free Church or churches to be built; and the resettlement of Borve in 1847 all being major features that occurred in these five short years.

It seems a little too convenient that it is in the middle of this period that she is alleged to have set the industry on its way, especially as there is no concrete evidence of her visiting Harris at this time.

The very complexity of the situation, made all the more difficult by her acting as 'Tutor' to the small boy who legally owned the property, makes it extremely difficult to differentiate fact from fiction but the more of the former that I examine the less inclined I am to accept much of the latter. As I have made clear previously, almost all the published accounts of the origins of Harris Tweed were written decades after the events that they purport to describe (and after the death of the Countess herself) by people who had a vested interest in mythologising the Dunmore proprietorship of Harris. They were fellow 'establishment' figures (or their immediate underlings) and included a titled Lady or two, Ministers of the Established Church, Factors & Farmers.

She did make a payment of £1800 pounds in the Spring of 1847 which is the earliest documented evidence of the Countess assisting 'woollen manufactures, partly knitting and partly spinning.' on Harris. It equates to perhaps as little as £180,000 today:

"In the spring of 1847, Lady Dunmore, from her private funds, supplied seed oats, and a considerable quantity of seed potatoes, to the tenants. Some have repaid their advances, but a greater number have not. Her Ladyship also provided materials for employing females in woollen manufactures, partly knitting and partly spinning. For these two purposes she expended above £1800. Nearly £1200 have also been expended on boats, fishing-gear, and the erection of a pier at West Tarbert, for the encouragement of the fishery."

It is not entirely clear if the sum of £1800 refers solely to the knitting and spinning manufactures, or if it includes the seed oats and seed potatoes too, but what is significant is that it appears in the 1851 submission of the Parochial Board of Harris. and yet this account makes no reference to any subsequent encouragement occurring in the four years following this one-off payment.

It was, I suggest, simply an attempt at recouping some of the costs of the famine relief that had been borne ('from her private funds' probably because the Trust legislation made such payments difficult for her to make directly from the estate of her 6 year-old son), rather than a part of any properly planned enterprise. That would only appear a decade later, after the famines had ended and a certain 'Mrs Captain Thomas' had appeared on the scene. A decade later still, the 26 year-old 7^th Earl's castle-building led to him having to sell the North Harris Estate for £155,000.

In conclusion, whilst there is evidence from as early as 1847 of the Countess providing some stimulus for the women of Harris to generate income from textiles, there is nothing to support the familiar myth of the origin of Harris Tweed which may well be rooted in true events but which, in it's well-spun version(s), is too full of flaws to be given the stamp of approval...

Sources:

Note: Previous pieces that may be of interest:

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/08/harris-tweed-origins-from-angus-macleod.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/06/womens-work-in-harris-hebrides.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/06/it-would-be-unjust-to-mrs-thomas.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/countess-and-captains-wife.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/tweed-specific-weaving.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/02/harris-weavers-in-19th-century.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/07/countess-of-dunmores-letter-to-rev-n.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/06/evidence-to-house-of-lords-letter-of-23.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/09/letter-from-john-robson-macdonald.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/02/some-notes-on-selection-from-report-to.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/11/parochial-board-of-harris-in-1851.html 

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/11/first-report-from-committee-on.html 

Characteristics of Old Church Architecture &c. in the Mainland and Western Islands of Scotland

by Thomas Scott Muir 1861

'Any one—a surveyor of taxes, a runner with the post, an old way-worn creature carrying a bolster of kelp to a Stornoway customer, or the like—who happened to go through Oab on the morning of Thursday, the eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, must have been more taken up with his own affair than that of his neighbour, if he did not suspect from the unusual stir at the door of its little inn, that somewhat quite out of the common was toward.

And so there was; for "the doctor"—as that arch-inventor Michael, my travelling servitor had dubbed me—was going to Hirt, and the thing in the course of its development having been industriously bruited, along with a signification of the doctor's willingness to accommodate all comers, the minister out of Scarista-Bheag, the schoolmaster of Oab, and Donald Mackinnon, the minister's man—a native of the island, and therefore no less valuable an accessary—were down on the spot, preordinately resolved and made ready to share in the perils of the expedition.'

This snippet gives a flavour of the tone of this description of the 'Long Island' from 1858.

I am particularly pleased that he mentions 'a runner with the post' for my cousin Roderick was a Post Runner in Strond around this time whilst Donald Mackinnon, 'the minister's man' might well be the husband of the School Mistress of 1851:

1851

Isabella Mackinnon, 31, School Mistress, Wife, Obe, ED3, b. Harris

(Donald Mackinnon, 39, Catechist & Farmer, b. Harris plus 5 children ages 1 to 10 and a female ‘House Servant’)

and 'the schoolmaster of Oab' was possibly James Stewart:

1861

James Stewart, 40, Parish Schoolmaster, Oab, ED6, b. South Uist

(Margaret Stewart, 34, Wife, b. Harris plus 7 children ages 5 months to 12 years and a female ‘General Servant’),

these two appearing in the earlier piece on 'Schooling along the Sound of Harris.