an expense that could be illy
afforded. This class found themselves without a vocation, and they would
sow the seeds of discontent, if they remained in the country. They must
either enter the army or else go to another country in search of a
vocation.

Unquestionably the most potent of all causes for emigration was the
introduction of sheep-farming. That the country was well adapted for
sheep goes without disputation. Sheep had always been kept in the
Highlands with the black cattle, but not in large numbers. The lowland
lessees introduced sheep on a large scale, involving the junction of
many small farms into one, each of which had been hitherto occupied by a
number of tenants. This engrossing of farms and consequent depopulation
was also a fruitful source of discontent and misery to those who had to
vacate their homes and native glens. Many of those displaced by sheep
and one or two Lowland shepherds, emigrated like the discontented
tacksmen to America, and those who remained looked with an ill-will and
an evil eye on the intruders. Some of the more humane landlords invited
the oppressed to remove to their estates, while others tried to prevent
the ousted tenants from leaving the country by setting apart some
particular spot along the sea-shore, or else on waste land that had
never been touched by the plow, on which they might build houses and
have an acre or two for support. Those removed to the coast were
encouraged to prosecute the fishing along with their agricultural
labors. It was mainly by a number of such ousted Highlanders that the
great and arduous undertaking was accomplished of bringing into a state
of cultivation Kincardine Moss, in Perthshire. At that time, 1767, the
task to be undertaken was one of stupendous magnitude; but was so
successfully carried out that two thousand acres were reclaimed which
for centuries had rested under seven feet of heath and vegetable matter.
Similarly many other spots were brought into a state of cultivation. But
this, and other pursuits then engaged in, did not occupy the time of all
who had been despoiled of their homes.

The breaking up of old habits and customs and the forcible importation
of those that are foreign must not only engender hate but also cause
misery. It is the uniform testimony of all travellers, who visited the
Highlands during the latter half of the eighteenth century, especially
Pennant, Boswell, Johnson, Newte, and Buchanan, that the condition of
t