He Therefore Asked,
And Obtained Shelter In The Isle Of Col.
The power of protection subsists no longer, but what the law
permits is yet continued, and Maclean of Col now educates the heir
of Maclonich.
There still remains in the Islands, though it is passing fast away,
the custom of fosterage. A Laird, a man of wealth and eminence,
sends his child, either male or female, to a tacksman, or tenant,
to be fostered. It is not always his own tenant, but some distant
friend that obtains this honour; for an honour such a trust is very
reasonably thought. The terms of fosterage seem to vary in
different islands. In Mull, the father sends with his child a
certain number of cows, to which the same number is added by the
fosterer. The father appropriates a proportionable extent of
ground, without rent, for their pasturage. If every cow brings a
calf, half belongs to the fosterer, and half to the child; but if
there be only one calf between two cows, it is the child's, and
when the child returns to the parent, it is accompanied by all the
cows given, both by the father and by the fosterer, with half of
the increase of the stock by propagation. These beasts are
considered as a portion, and called Macalive cattle, of which the
father has the produce, but is supposed not to have the full
property, but to owe the same number to the child, as a portion to
the daughter, or a stock for the son.
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