| Reference Number | 196 |
| Title | Hints for the Use of Highland Tenants and Cottagers. By a proprietor. … Beachd-Chomhairlean airson feum do Thuathanaich ’us Choitearan Gaidh’lach. Le uachdaran Fearuinn |
| Author | N/A [Sir Francis Mackenzie of Gairloch] |
| Editor | N/A |
| Date Of Edition | 1838 |
| Date Of Language | early 19c |
| Date Of Language Ed | 1800-1849 |
| DateMacro | Early 19th c. |
| Date Of Language Notes | |
| Publisher | Rob[ert] Carruthers |
| Place Published | Inverness |
| Volume | N/A |
| Location | National, academic, and local libraries (Highland, reference) |
| Geographical Origins | Gairloch, Wester Ross (But see Social Context below) |
| Geographical Origins Ed | Gairloch |
| GeoMacro | W Ross |
| GeoX | -5.7639 |
| GeoY | 57.7282 |
| Geographical Origins Notes | |
| Register | Prose, Educational |
| Register Ed | Education, Prose |
| Genre | Information |
| Medium | Prose |
| Rating | B Advice to crofters on how to improve their home life and livelihood. Gaelic and English text en face. Contains vocabulary relating to agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, beekeeping, fishing, housing, clothing, food, and diseases (both human and animal). |
| Alternative Author Name | N/A |
| Manuscript Or Edition | Ed. |
| Size And Condition | 22cm x 14cm |
| Short Title | Beachd-Chomhairlean airson feum do Thuathanaich |
| Reference Details | NLS: M.43/2.d.alpha |
| Number Of Pages | 273 pages |
| Gaelic Text By | ‘Roderick Macdonald Schoolmaster at Inverness’ (?) |
| Illustrator | Unknown |
| Social Context | The authorship of this work has been attributed to Sir Francis Alexander Mackenzie, the 5th Baronet and 12th Laird of Gairloch. He was the eldest son of Sir Hector MacKenzie, 4th Baronet and 11th Laird. He had three brothers, William, Hector, and Dr. John MacKenzie of Eileanach who published Croft Cultivation in 1885 (see Text 89). In 1829 Francis Alexander MacKenzie married Kytha Caroline Wright of Nottinghamshire. They had two sons, Kenneth Smith (who became 6th Baronet and 13th Laird of Gairloch) and Francis Harford. His wife died in 1834, at the age of 23, along with her infant son. In 1836 he married Mary Hanbury, daughter of Osgood Hanbury of Holfield Grange in Essex. Their son, Osgood Hanbury MacKenzie (born in Brittany in 1842), cultivated Inverewe Gardens, and published a volume of reminiscences in 1921, the year before his death. Francis Alexander MacKenzie died in 1843, shortly after the family’s return from Brittany. This text comprises the English version of Hints for the Use of Highland Tenants and Cottagers, and a translation of the same into Gaelic. English and Gaelic are presented on facing pages. A handwritten note on the title-page of the edition that can be viewed on the website of Am Baile (http://www.ambaile.org.uk) states that ‘the Gaelic was written by Roderick Macdonald Schoolmaster at Inverness’. The author explains his aims as follows: ‘This Treatise, though applicable to many parts of Scotland, is chiefly intended for the benefit of you, my Cottar Tenants, since, although I so frequently have the satisfaction of meeting you personally, the little time afforded for conversing upon a variety of matters connected with your welfare, induces me now thus to address you and offer my assistance in alleviating that want of plenty and comfort which amongst you all is but too apparent’ (p. 4). |
| Contents | The work consists of an Introduction (pp. 4-10), a List of Contents (p. 10) and the following nine chapters: I. Food/Lon (pp. 12-27). II. Diseases and Medicines / Tinneas agus Iocshlaintean (pp. 26-45). III. Clothing / Aodach (pp. 44-51). IV. Houses, Furniture, &c. / Tighean, Airneis, &c. (pp. 50-67). V. Boats, Fishing Implements, &c. / Bataichean, Innealan Iasgaich, &c. (pp. 66-69). VI. Agriculture Implements, &c. / Acfhuinnean Tuathanais, &c. (pp. 70-145). VII. Cattle, Horses, Pigs, &c. Diseases / Crodh, Eich, Mucan, ’s an Euslaintean (pp. 146-205). There is no chapter heading on p. 146. VIII. Gardens, Seeds, Fruits, Vegetables / Lis, Sil, Measan, ’us Luibhean (pp. 204-39). This includes a section on beekeeping (pp. 224-37). IX. Education, Morals, &c. / Foghlum, Modhalachdan, &c. (pp. 238-73). There is no chapter heading on p. 238. The text contains a few illustrations. Most of them consist of drawings of crofters’ cottages. |
| Sources | |
| Language | This text is a useful source of vocabulary relating to agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, beekeeping, fishing, housing, clothing, food, and diseases (both human and animal). The Gaelic text, like the English, contains advice delivered in an informal, accessible style, e.g.: ‘Faodaidh mi ’luaidh gu’m bheil mhin choirc, air a gnathachadh mar bhrochan no lit ni’s beathachail’ agus ni’s caontaich’ na ’n uair a tha i air a fuineadh na bannaich; agus gu’n toir saluinn uinneanan, seibheas, no pairslie, agus beagan peabar dubh le ’ur buntata no cal air a phronnadh, cha’n’e ’mhain blas gle thaitneach, ach gu’m bac e gaoth cuime agus na h-easlaintean ud a tha ’geiridh bho chus cleachdaidh loin luibheach’ (p. 21). With regard to fowl, the advice given is as follows: ‘Maille ris na h-uile eoin, tha iadsan aig am bi luirgnean geala gu bhi air an roghnachadh, ach tha na seorsan seilg le luirgnean uana no buidhe gu cumanta gu bhi air an seachainneadh airson iad a bhi maoth ri arach an fheadh a tha iadsan le luirgnean dubh gun a bhi cho measail air feill, airson am feoil a bhi dorcha, agus ciod air bith an dath ma bhios an luirgnean fada cha’n fhiach iad an cumail’ (p. 183). With regard to bee-keeping, the author advises: ‘Cothromaich do sgeap a roimhe, agus an deighe an sgaoth a chuir innte, cum cunntadh air a cuideam. Bithidh tu a reisd comasach gu breith a thoirt air an tomhas meala a bhios innte ’san fhoghair’ (p. 225). Smuggling and illicit distilling are also referred to. Here the author asks rhetorically, ‘Nach ’eil laghan ar duthcha-ne air am briseadh leis gach smugailear, co dhiubh a tharruingeas e uisge-beath ann ’ur creagan ’s’ur mointichean, no ghiulanas e an t-opium mhi-laghail do China, an Iompair neamhaidh, mar a theirear rithe? Nach ’eil cursa an smugaileir na cursa mhealltaireachd, ’us dheanamh bhreug, agus mheirle, anns an t-seadh as treise de na focail seo’ (p. 257). The text closes with a discussion of education, religion, and good morals. The tone of the following excerpt is typical: ‘Na’n robh an te mu dheireadh dhiubh air a chleachdadh aig sgoilean Sabaid, agus earrainn air a leughadh do na parantan, dh’fhaodadh gu’m biodh e cho feumail ri teagasg ’sam bith a dh’fhaodar a thoirt do ’ur clann; oir b’urra dhuibh aig an dachaidh riaghailtean ionmholta gidheadh fhurasda Mrs Childs a chleachdadh’ (p. 247). |
| Orthography | The orthography is characteristic of the early-to-mid-nineteenth century. There are no particular dialectal features of note. |
| Edition | First edition. |
| Other Sources | |
| Further Reading | MacKenzie, Alexander, History of the MacKenzies with Genealogies of the Principal Families of the Name (Inverness, 1894: A. & W. Mackenzie). MacKenzie, Osgood, A Hundred Years in the Highlands (London, 1921: [n. pub.]). |
| Credits | |
| Link Label | |
| Link | |
| Download File | 196.pdf |
| NumWords | 60114 |
