married:  by whom he had the above SIMON LORD FRASER, and several other children.  And, for the great love he bore to the family of MAC LEOD, he desired to be buried near his wife’s relations, in the place where two of her uncles lay.  And his son LORD SIMON, to shew to posterity his great affection for his mother’s kindred, the brave MAC LEODS, chooses rather to leave his father’s bones with them, than carry them to his own burial-place, near Lovat.’

I have preserved this inscription[645], though of no great value, thinking it characteristical of a man who has made some noise in the world.  Dr. Johnson said, it was poor stuff, such as Lord Lovat’s butler might have written.

I observed, in this church-yard, a parcel of people assembled at a funeral, before the grave was dug.  The coffin, with the corpse in it, was placed on the ground, while the people alternately assisted in making a grave.  One man, at a little distance, was busy cutting a long turf for it, with the crooked spade which is used in Sky; a very aukward instrument.  The iron part of it is like a plough-coulter.  It has a rude tree for a handle, in which a wooden pin is placed for the foot to press upon.  A traveller might, without further enquiry, have set this down as the mode of burying in Sky.  I was told, however, that the usual way is to have a grave previously dug.

I observed to-day, that the common way of carrying home their grain here is in loads on horseback.  They have also a few sleds, or cars, as we call them in Ayrshire, clumsily made, and rarely used[646].

We got to Ulinish about six o’clock, and found a very good farm-house, of two stories.  Mr. M’Leod of Ulinish, the sheriff-substitute of the island, was a plain honest gentleman, a good deal like an English Justice of peace; not much given to talk, but sufficiently sagacious, and somewhat droll.  His daughter, though she was never out of Sky, was a very well-bred woman.  Our reverend friend, Mr. Donald M’Queen, kept his appointment, and met us here.

Talking of Phipps’s voyage to the North Pole, Dr. Johnson observed, that it ’was conjectured that our former navigators have kept too near land, and so have found the sea frozen far north, because the land hinders the free motion of the tide; but, in the wide ocean, where the waves tumble at their full convenience, it is imagined that the frost does not take effect.’[647]

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22.

In the morning I walked out, and saw a ship, the Margaret of Clyde, pass by with a number of emigrants on board.  It was a melancholy sight.  After breakfast, we went to see what was called a subterraneous house, about a mile off.  It was upon the side of a rising ground.  It was discovered by a fox’s having taken up his abode in it, and in chasing him, they dug into it.  It was very narrow and low, and seemed about forty feet in length.  Near it, we