staple commodity as black cattle, sheep, and wool. The people, anxious to remain among their native straths and mountains, outbid the great capitalists for their possessions; and the smuggling of whiskey is the only resource for the regular payment of their rents. The heavy duties on home-made spirits having debased the quality, while it has raised the price, the superiority of the smuggled article is so palpable, that the demand for it is universal among spirit drinkers of all ranks, at any price not exceeding the prices of the best foreign spirits, to which the highland whiskey is preferred by many. The temptation therefore to the highlanders, to avail themselves of the facilities afforded by their extensive wastes, and almost inaccessible mountains, to manufacture this article, is irresistible. Some carry it on in the valley; and when any one of those engaged in it observes the approach of the excise officers, a concerted signal is hoisted, and every illicit article is immediately concealed. Others for greater security retire to the hills, remote woods, and recesses of the mountains; and centinels are stationed in particular convenient situations to give notice of the approach of any suspicious persons; and upon a signal from any of the centinels, every seizable article is in the same manner instantly

concealed. In the middle of the darkest and most stormy nights, the whiskey is sent down towards the low country on horseback, or in carts along the great roads, in bladders carried on men's shoulders along the pathless wilds, or in boats along the lakes and rivers; the smugglers sometimes proceeding singly, trusting to the better opportunity of concealment, at other times uniting in considérable parties, and placing their security on their formidable appearance and numbers. Journeying by night, and hiding by day, they usually convey their commodity to its destination, and the day-light traveller then sees them returning joyfully with their empty casks. When united in large parties, they sometimes travel with their whiskey by day; and the excise officers, although they meet them on the road, feel it necessary to allow them to pass without asking questions, or find reason to repent their useless interference. Seizures however are frequently made, owing chiefly to information given by rival smugglers, or other informers, who direct the excise officers to the hiding places; and some are thus compelled to discontinue the practice, who have been heard to declare that they would have held as nothing the unassisted efforts of the excise.

Those who engage in the smuggling of malt

or whiskey, or both, may be divided into three classes; first, the small farmers, who smuggle only at certain seasons, and to no greater extent than they find necessary to enable them to pay their rents; second, those small farmers and country tradesmen, such as smiths, carpenters, &c. who carry on the smuggling business also as a regular trade; third, those whose sole occupation is smuggling. Persons of the first and second classes are by repeated seizures and fines sometimes driven into the last class, and persons of the last class are forced to discontinue the practice, when deprived of the little capital or credit, requisite to procure the smuggling materials. The far greater number, however, contrive to draw sufficient emolument from the trade, to answer their immediate occasions, and many make by it what they consider as fortunes. This success, and the greatness of the profits, lead many, even of the most respectable highland corn farmers, to engage in the trade, at least so far as to convert into whiskey a considerable portion of their own barley; while the comparatively easy labour, and the indulgencies with which the practice is attended, form additional temptations to the idle and the dissolute, who belong chiefly to the last class. Much of the barley used for this manufacture is brought

from the low country, the carriage being facili tated by the excellent roads now made through all the most important highland valleys; and a boll of this barley, purchased perhaps at thirty shillings, and malted or distilled for ten or fifteen shillings more, is returned to the south in an anker of whiskey, of the value of 10l. without reckoning the refuse, which is employed in feeding cattle and poultry; so that one anker passed will more than repay the loss of two ankers seized. The quality of the spirit is, generally speaking, in proportion to the remoteness or inaccessibility of the place where it is made. In the lower highland districts, where detection is more frequent, although nothing but barley is used, except in seasons when that grain is excessively scarce, the processes of malting, steeping, and distilling, are often performed in a hurried and imperfect manner, and the quality of the article is so far deteriorated. But in the higher wastes, and less accessible situations, where detection is very difficult, all these processes are conducted in the proper manner, and the quality of the article is superior or perfect in its kind. In many of the latter places, the same pot which serves for cooking the family dinner, is used for the making of whiskey, in small quantities at a time, in the same manner

probably as the whiskey called poteen is made in Ireland, by little farmers or cottagers, who cannot so well provide the materials for distilling to any greater extent, or the means of distant conveyance; and the collected store is purchased at a comparatively low price by the more considerable smuggling distillers, who drive it, along with the whiskey made by themselves, to the low country, which is the great market. Many persons, residing near the borders, make a trade of purchasing up the whiskey brought from the remoter highlands, and driving it to the lowlands, where it is re-sold with a high profit.

This great trade is carried on at all seasons; and even in the month of September, 1818, although in the upper highlands the harvest was not then finished, smugglers were seen on the roads, returning from their southern or lowland expeditions, though not in such numbers as may be observed at other times, when the business proceeds with the greatest activity. The immorality of the practice, from the injury done to the public and regular distiller, few of them can clearly comprehend, and, if they could, the impression would avail but little against the force of the temptation. The whiskey drinkers also easily settle the matter with their consciences, maintaining that it cannot