Souming

Common Grazings, South Uist

Yet another anecdote, written on 15 December 1894, from the pen of John Ewen (Iain Eòghann) MacRury from Torlum, Benbecula, concerns ‘souming’, the agricultural practice of enumerating the type of stock that an individual croft is allowed to have on the common grazings. As previously noted in this blog, Alexander Carmichael had been commissioned to write a report for the Napier commission about Hebridean agricultural practices and customs and one part of this picture was the topic of common grazings. It is interesting to note that these varied from place to place and from one landlord to another for in 1810 Lord MacDonald and MacCoinnich Bodhar of Lewis introduced new rules whereas Clanranald had no souming until 1820. MacRury states that in 1830 his grandfather had to send five heifers to Barra from North Uist because of a disagreement over souming rights. It also seems as if the system was open to abuse as in the case of Mull people taking advantage over grazings near Ben More, South Uist.

When a cow reached
ten years, a quoy
calf was not counted in soum
ing till she was
four years old so
as to keep the
“leibhidh” in full. The “leibhidh”
was kept in full
in the Long Island
till about the year
1810, when Lord –
MacDonald and Mac
Coinnich Bodhar
of Lewis introduce
ed new rules of sou
ming on their estates
Simply for to get
more money out
of the tenants.
Clanranald had
no such souming on
their extensive till
1820. But those
tacksmen who held
ground under the
Still-bow tenure
could do as they
pleased with their
own subjects.
My grandfather
in 1830 had actually
to send five heiffers
to Barra from
Carinish North Uist
as Lord MacDonald
would not grant
on any account graz
ing to any person
and not only that
but other tenants
who was short
of full souming were
strictly prohibited
from giving it for full
value to their neigh
bours. The generous
laird of Barra gave
pasture to MacRae
& Cameron also
other two tenants
in the township of
Carinish. Beinn-
Mhor a chinn-a-
deas, was open
to all, even people
from Mull used
to send cattle &
horses there and
take them away
without paying
a fraction for
them. The curtail
ing
of the Common
in the Long island
was the first attempt
to saddle the indu
strious natives.
Under these circumsta
nces the tenants who
were unsuccessful in
rearing stock were not
benefited, and those who
were more lucky were
handicaped in increase
ing their fortune in
an honest way. To put
it in the plain word
of one of their sons
deceased twenty years
ago, Mhill iad (“na
h’ uachdaran) a chuid
a b’ fhearr dheth ’n tuath
’s cha do mhathaich
iad a chuid bu m[h]iosa.”

References:

Carmichael, Alexander, ‘Grazing and Agrestic Customs of the Outer Hebrides’, The Celtic Review, vol. 10, no. 37 (1914), pp. 40–54; vol. 10, no. 38 (1914), pp. 144–48; vol. 10, no. 39 (1915), pp. 254–62; vol. 10, no. 40 (1916), pp. 358–75.

CW1/55, ff. 19r–22r

Image: Common Grazings, South Uist.

Runrig System

A fairly long and self-explanatory note was taken down by Alexander Carmichael, on 20 October 1884, from the recitation of Angus MacQuarrie (c. 1845–1925), a schoolmaster belonging to Tigharry in North Uist. Around this time, Carmichael was collecting material relating to agricultural traditions as he was commissioned to write a paper subsequently entitled ‘Grazing and Agrestic Customs of the Outer Hebrides’. The contents of this article had a profound influence on Lord Napier as the introduction written by Carmichael tells:

This paper was written at the request of Lord Napier and Ettrick for the Crofter Royal Commission, over which his Lordship presided…The paper is hurried and fragmentary, and contains but little of what might have been said of the interesting people and customs of the Western Isles.

“The account of the old customs is the most interesting thing in your Report; the old hymns are also charming”- Extract of a Letter from a Nobleman in London to Lord Napier.

The spade-work carried out by Carmichael in this instance paid off judging by the compliments he got for his well-received paper.

The Hosta ten[an]ts div[ided] the land at tiny
intervals from Nov[ember] to May. The area
did on any part occasion is regu
lated to some extent by the quantity
of seaweed at their disposal They
div[ided] a field into a sets of rigs each
set consisting of five of equal
area – there being five tenants
in the place. Each tenant
takes possession of the rig in
the first set falling his lot and
keeps it as long as continuous crop-
ping goes on – a period of from
two to three years according to the
nature of the soil. If the rigs in the
first set very with respect to quality
in terms of the arrangement or
the agreement the man to
whose lot the worst rig in the
first set has fallen get his choice
of the rigs in the second sets.
Perhaps this privilege is conceded
to two or three each in his turn,
getting his choice in the second
sets so that the man to whose lot
the best rig fell in the first set
must be contend to accept
the worst rig in the second set
and so on of the other tenants
according to prearranged
prescribed rules – This aims
at balancing pasture to all as
nearly as possible – If the field
is uniform as to quality lots
determines which rig it to be own
ed by each tenant. But if the field
is irregular in quality the order
of possessorship in the first set
is reversed in the second set
Thus the man who gets the first
rig in the first set gets not by
lot but by fixed rule the fifth
rig in the second set. This is the
system at Caolas Paible and
Heisgeir as well as Hosta.

References:

Carmichael, Alexander, ‘Grazing and Agrestic Customs of the Outer Hebrides’ in the Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the Condition of the Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Parliamentary Papers 1884 xxxiii–xxxvi), 451–82.

CW 112/61, fos. 12r–13r.

Image: Runrig.