DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1310#0228
OF THE WORLD'S INDUSTRY. 177
highlands, then, the people are destitute of the faculty which carves out profitable
employment for itself. They are energetic to the utmost as sportsmen, lazy to a degree
as labourers; just, in fact, because sporting in some shape or other is the labour to which
thev have been taught to consider themselves devoted. Above the class of the peasantry
there is as little enterprise or desire for change as lower down; the only social revolution
favoured by the lairds being the removal, either to the south or across the Atlantic, of as
many poor and half-starved "crofters" as possible, in order that their vacant patches of
land may be flung together into huge expanses of grazing ground for lowland sheep
farmers. Under these circumstances, we repeat, we hardly expected to have seen the
highlands represented in the Crystal Palace at all; and we probably should not have been
so agreeably disappointed as we were, had it not been for the manful and single-handed
exertions of one singularly enterprising, active, and indefatigable tradesman of Inverness.
The name of this individual, Mr. Macdougall, has now attained something like a
European reputation as a dealer in all textile and other productions manufactured in,
or characteristic of, the highlands. From Inverness, the capital of the highlands, and
the centre, judicial and commercial, of a large district of interesting country, it was to
be expected that a comparatively large and characteristic collection—illustrative, not
indeed, of a commercial industry—but of those domestic pursuits and household works
which every people, however rude, must in some degree practise—would be sent.
Nothing of the kind however. The enlightened Invernessians declined to form any
local committee, or to take the slightest trouble about the matter; and Mr. Macdougall,
after in vain trying to inspire his townsmen with a spark of his own spirit and energy,
was actually obliged to put himself in communication with a committee formed in the
small and rising little town of Elgin, in order to have the means of forwarding to the
Crystal Palace a collection of highland manufactured stuffs, in the original production of
which he himself had no mean share. In the gallery above China stood the stall which
alone represented the industrial condition of the Scottish highlands. We shall select a
few of the objects exhibited, and string them together by a slight thread of personal
highland reminiscences and remarks.
The various tartans of the clans naturally formed a conspicuous object among
the textile stuffs exhibited. The several checks were stated to have been arranged
upon the very highest authority; for, be it known to our readers, there are formidable
differences of opinion among the authorities relative to the exact and orthodox plan and
colour of the checks of more than one tartan. You shall have a couple of fiery highland
antiquarians disputing the shade of a red, or the proper breadth of a stripe of green, as
if the fate of the world rested upon the issue. But if you wish to see both gentlemen
roused to the pitch of the most appalling indignation, hint Dr. Johnson's theory, that the
origin of tartan was rags, and that the different colours are counterfeit presentments of
the variously hued shreds and patches with which the Doctor maintained that his high-
land friends used to clothe themselves. Kecent investigations, we believe, however, give
a higher antiquity to the tartan than it is generally believed to possess. Down to the
reign of the sixth James, tartan is now said to have been a common wear, both in the
lowlands and highlands; and recent discovei'ies iu ancient costume seem to prove that
a chequered species of garment, woven of many colours, was a favourite with a large
body of semi-civilized men, the ancient stuffs disappearing from the more busy and
changeful parts of the world, but still lingering in such nooks and corners as the until
recently almost inaccessible highland hills. The Scotch lowlanders never seem, however,
to have worn the kilt. At one time, no doubt, the kilt and plaid were simply one piece
of cloth, folded at once over the shoulders and the loins. The separation of the whole
into two distinct garments was adecided improvement, as the plaid for mountain countries,
2z
highlands, then, the people are destitute of the faculty which carves out profitable
employment for itself. They are energetic to the utmost as sportsmen, lazy to a degree
as labourers; just, in fact, because sporting in some shape or other is the labour to which
thev have been taught to consider themselves devoted. Above the class of the peasantry
there is as little enterprise or desire for change as lower down; the only social revolution
favoured by the lairds being the removal, either to the south or across the Atlantic, of as
many poor and half-starved "crofters" as possible, in order that their vacant patches of
land may be flung together into huge expanses of grazing ground for lowland sheep
farmers. Under these circumstances, we repeat, we hardly expected to have seen the
highlands represented in the Crystal Palace at all; and we probably should not have been
so agreeably disappointed as we were, had it not been for the manful and single-handed
exertions of one singularly enterprising, active, and indefatigable tradesman of Inverness.
The name of this individual, Mr. Macdougall, has now attained something like a
European reputation as a dealer in all textile and other productions manufactured in,
or characteristic of, the highlands. From Inverness, the capital of the highlands, and
the centre, judicial and commercial, of a large district of interesting country, it was to
be expected that a comparatively large and characteristic collection—illustrative, not
indeed, of a commercial industry—but of those domestic pursuits and household works
which every people, however rude, must in some degree practise—would be sent.
Nothing of the kind however. The enlightened Invernessians declined to form any
local committee, or to take the slightest trouble about the matter; and Mr. Macdougall,
after in vain trying to inspire his townsmen with a spark of his own spirit and energy,
was actually obliged to put himself in communication with a committee formed in the
small and rising little town of Elgin, in order to have the means of forwarding to the
Crystal Palace a collection of highland manufactured stuffs, in the original production of
which he himself had no mean share. In the gallery above China stood the stall which
alone represented the industrial condition of the Scottish highlands. We shall select a
few of the objects exhibited, and string them together by a slight thread of personal
highland reminiscences and remarks.
The various tartans of the clans naturally formed a conspicuous object among
the textile stuffs exhibited. The several checks were stated to have been arranged
upon the very highest authority; for, be it known to our readers, there are formidable
differences of opinion among the authorities relative to the exact and orthodox plan and
colour of the checks of more than one tartan. You shall have a couple of fiery highland
antiquarians disputing the shade of a red, or the proper breadth of a stripe of green, as
if the fate of the world rested upon the issue. But if you wish to see both gentlemen
roused to the pitch of the most appalling indignation, hint Dr. Johnson's theory, that the
origin of tartan was rags, and that the different colours are counterfeit presentments of
the variously hued shreds and patches with which the Doctor maintained that his high-
land friends used to clothe themselves. Kecent investigations, we believe, however, give
a higher antiquity to the tartan than it is generally believed to possess. Down to the
reign of the sixth James, tartan is now said to have been a common wear, both in the
lowlands and highlands; and recent discovei'ies iu ancient costume seem to prove that
a chequered species of garment, woven of many colours, was a favourite with a large
body of semi-civilized men, the ancient stuffs disappearing from the more busy and
changeful parts of the world, but still lingering in such nooks and corners as the until
recently almost inaccessible highland hills. The Scotch lowlanders never seem, however,
to have worn the kilt. At one time, no doubt, the kilt and plaid were simply one piece
of cloth, folded at once over the shoulders and the loins. The separation of the whole
into two distinct garments was adecided improvement, as the plaid for mountain countries,
2z