. The land of heather . It wasan incident in the warring of the local clans. TheMacleods of Skye had made a successful descent onthe island, and all the inhabitants, numbering twohundred, were driven into a big cave near theshore. Then the savage invaders built fires at themouth of the cave, and those within were suffocatedby the smoke, and not one escaped the cruel death. I went steerage. But steerage on a little coastingsteamer is very different from what it is on an oceangreyhound. One would have crowded quarters andthe company of the scum of the earth on a trans-atlantic steamer, while her
. The land of heather . It wasan incident in the warring of the local clans. TheMacleods of Skye had made a successful descent onthe island, and all the inhabitants, numbering twohundred, were driven into a big cave near theshore. Then the savage invaders built fires at themouth of the cave, and those within were suffocatedby the smoke, and not one escaped the cruel death. I went steerage. But steerage on a little coastingsteamer is very different from what it is on an oceangreyhound. One would have crowded quarters andthe company of the scum of the earth on a trans-atlantic steamer, while here there was abundant room,and the peasantry and tradespeople who were my fellow-voyagers were in no wise untidy or offensive. I wasreally quite comfortable, in spite of being excludedfrom the upper deck and from the cabin at the stern. The person among the passengers with whom I be-came best acquainted was a heavy, talkative old said he was a native of Skye, and when that islandhove into sight he was The Crofters of Skye 189 Skye Is not a place of dear prices, he not like Oban. Aha! There they skin thenose off you with their prices. But Skye — Skye isa fine place to live — good fishing — its healthy —beautiful water for drinking, not the like of it in thiswide world; and theres no such scenery anywhereelse in Scotland. You want to see the Coolin youll have to have stouter shoes than thoseyoure wearing, if youre going tramping there, andyoull want thick stockings like these Ive got of em. Theyre stiff—not soft like factorygoods. Theyre homespun, same as my trousers now, the cloth in ems just a blanket,only different color, and it washes. When thosetrousers get dirty all you have to do is to put em ina tub with water and soap and tramp em out theway they do blankets. Do you see the tips of some hills way off ahead ?Some of the mountains back in there are black — blackas the old Nick! Theres a church over
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1904
