an to infest the isle of
Col, where being left by some trading vessel, they have increased for
want of weasels to oppose them.

The inhabitants of Sky, and of the other Islands, which I have seen, are
commonly of the middle stature, with fewer among them very tall or very
short, than are seen in England, or perhaps, as their numbers are small,
the chances of any deviation from the common measure are necessarily few.
The tallest men that I saw are among those of higher rank. In regions of
barrenness and scarcity, the human race is hindered in its growth by the
same causes as other animals.

The ladies have as much beauty here as in other places, but bloom and
softness are not to be expected among the lower classes, whose faces are
exposed to the rudeness of the climate, and whose features are sometimes
contracted by want, and sometimes hardened by the blasts. Supreme beauty
is seldom found in cottages or work-shops, even where no real hardships
are suffered. To expand the human face to its full perfection, it seems
necessary that the mind should co-operate by placidness of content, or
consciousness of superiority.

Their strength is proportionate to their size, but they are accustomed to
run upon rough ground, and therefore can with great agility skip over the
bog, or clamber the mountain. For a campaign in the wastes of America,
soldiers better qualified could not have been found. Having little work
to do, they are not willing, nor perhaps able to endure a long
continuance of manual labour, and are therefore considered as habitually
idle.

Having never been supplied with those accommodations, which life
extensively diversified with trades affords, they supply their wants by
very insufficient shifts, and endure many inconveniences, which a little
attention would easily relieve. I have seen a horse carrying home the
harvest on a crate. Under his tail was a stick for a crupper, held at
the two ends by twists of straw. Hemp will grow in their islands, and
therefore ropes may be had. If they wanted hemp, they might make better
cordage of rushes, or perhaps of nettles, than of straw.

Their method of life neither secures them perpetual health, nor exposes
them to any particular diseases. There are physicians in the Islands,
who, I believe, all practise chirurgery, and all compound their own
medicines.

It is generally supposed, that life is longer in places where there are
few opportunities of luxury; but I f