is needed in a tempest." All
round the coast are fishing-villages, thickly populated by these
intrepid children of the tempest.

Fishing is a precarious industry, and often fails. The harvest of the
land may fail at the same time as that of the sea: in such a case the
plight of the islanders is sad indeed. During the last five years, the
trade of weaving has been wisely fostered by the Government, so that in
future, when sea and soil are churlish, the loom will to some extent
supply the lack. The Duchess of Sutherland and the Congested Districts
Board have done excellent service in encouraging the tweed-weaving
industry all over the Long Island. Her Grace, some years ago, made a
progress through Lewis and addressed the people by means of an
interpreter, on the advantages of such industry in their homes. She also
instituted exhibition sales of work in the big cities of the south, with
the result that large quantities of cloth were sold and a precious
publicity given to the scheme. Depots for receiving the cloth from the
workers are now established in Stornoway and Harris. The Congested
Districts Board advance money without interest for the purchase of
looms, provide an experienced instructor to supply the people with new
patterns, and give an adequate supply of dye-pots free of charge. This
instructor goes over the whole of Lewis and Harris, spending month about
in each, erecting new looms and modernising old ones. There is a large
carding mill in Stornoway, where the natives can have the wool
expeditiously carded in the most approved modern style. An industry thus
fostered and supervised is bound to succeed.

Educationally, the Long Island is making great progress. Higher
education is almost entirely centred in the Nicolson Institute,
Stornoway, a school admirably conducted and finely equipped. The pupils
of marked ability in the elementary schools of Lewis come here to
continue their higher studies, and, in many cases, to prepare themselves
for the University. I have seen specimens of a magazine, annually put
forth by the senior pupils of this school, and containing many
interesting essays and poems, grave and gay. The English of the essays
was remarkably good, and contained here and there some piquant
suggestions of Gaelic idiom. The pupils read French well, probably
because their native Gaelic contains such a rich reservoir of nasal
sounds to draw upon.

HIGHLAND DOCTORS.

I have a great respect for the medic