Toiling in the Vale of Tears: Everyday Life and Resistance in South Uist, Outer Hebrides, 1760-1860

Following the 1745 rebellion, agrarian capitalism rapidly transformed subsistence practices in the Outer Hebrides. Landowners increased rents, enclosed common lands, and replaced crofters and cattle with sheep-ranges. Population growth, the demise of the kelp industry, and crop failures compounded the problems of the peasantry. Widespread emigration commenced in the 1770s and peaked in the 1850s, when entire communities were exiled to British North America—the so-called Highland Clearances. This article traces the development of agrarian capitalism on the Isle of South Uist, explores the agricultural improvements undertaken by successive landlords, and considers modes of resistance adopted by the island's population.     

Excavations on the site of Sir Abraham Elton's glassworks,Cheese Lane,Bristol

SUMMARY: This article examines the evidence for engagement with the rural post-medieval landscape using two national case studies: Wales and Scotland. The issues reflected in these case studies are indicative of the wider challenges for archaeologists and professional practitioners alike. The article recognizes that landscape is not just about geographical place, but an archaeological theoretical framework. It proposes that Post-Medieval Archaeology monographs and conference sessions specific to landscape could help to tease out themes that address the big questions of the post-medieval world — capitalism, modernity and improvement — but also take account of agency, identity and meaning.     

Some notes on water supply in South India

This Article investigates the assertion by many Indian agronomists that methods of water management advocated by various Research Institutes are not being applied in the field. The sample village studies on the coastal plain around Madras and in the Cumbum Valley to the West of Madurai were carried out in 1969. Particular reference is also made to the Coimbatore Agricultural Research Centre in Tamilnad and the value of informed leadership in the villages of South India. “Although India can boast of her gigantic feats in the storage of water for irrigation and the distribution thereof in well planned channel systems, her performance in the actual application within the field continues to be outdated”. — (A. P. Bhattacharya¹).     

Obituary

EUROPE

The Future of Scotland. By James A. Bowie, M.A., D.Litt. London and Edinburgh : W. and R. Chambers, Ltd., 1939. Price 7s. 6d.

Hebridean Journey. By Halliday Sutherland. London : Geoffrey Bles Ltd., 1939. Price 10s. 6d.

The Islands of Scotland. By Hugh MacDiarmid. London : B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1939. Price 10s. 6d.

To Introduce the Orkneys and Shetlands. By Iain F. Anderson. London : James Clarke and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 7s. 6d.

My Kingdom for a Horse. By Margaret Leigh. London : Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 7s. 6d.

North Cape. By F. D. Ommanney. London : Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 10s. 6d.

The Land of France. By Ralph Dutton and Lord Holden. London : B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1939. Price 8s. 6d.

Greek Earth. By Sidney W. Hopper. London: Michael Joseph Ltd., 1939. Price 12s. 6d.

The Mirrors of Versailles. By Elisabeth Kyle. London : Constable and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 10s.

Towns and People of Modern Poland. By Robert McBride. London : Jarrolds Ltd., 1939. Price 10s. 6d.

ASIA

Minaret and Pipe‐Line: Yesterday and To‐day in the Near East. By Margret Boveri. Translated by L. M. Sieveking. London : Humphrey Milford at the Oxford University Press, 1939. Price 21s.

Settlements in the Lower Indus Basin (Sind), Parts I and II ; and Sind's Changing Map. By Professor M. B. Pithawalla. Karachi: The author. Prices Rs. 5 and Rs. 2 respectively.

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

Peaks and Lamas. By Marco Pallis. London : Cassell and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 18s.

Eastern Journey. By J. H. MacCullum Scott. London : The Travel Book Club, 1939. Price 3s. 6d.

The Naked Nagas. By C. von Fürer‐Haimendorf. London : Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 15s.

Karakoro: At Home in Japan. By Henry Noël. Tokyo : The Hokuseido Press, 1939. Price 6s. 6d.

I went to the Soviet Arctic. By Ruth Gruber. London : Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1939. Price 10s. 6d.

AFRICA

Afrique Équatoriale, Orientale et Australe (Géographie Universelle, vol. XII). By Fernand Maurette. Paris : Librairie Armand Colin, 1938. Price, 150 francs.

Ethiopia: An Empire in the Making. By Ferdinando Quaranta. London : P. S. King and Son Ltd., 1939. Price 7s. 6d.

By Bus to the Sahara. By Gordon West. London : The Travel Book Club, 1939. Price 3s. 6d.

Dark Subjects : Twenty‐four Adventurous Years in Nigeria. By H. L. Ward Price. London : Jarrolds Ltd., 1939. Price 15s.

AMERICA

Journey to the World's End. By Hakon Mielche. Edinburgh and London : William Hodge and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 12s. 6d.

AUSTRALIA

A Voyage to New Holland. By William Dampier. Edited, with Introduction, Notes and Illustrative Documents, by James A. Williamson, D.Litt. London : The Argonaut Press, 1939. Price 12s. 6d.

Australian Journey. By Paul McGuire. London : William Heinemann Ltd., 1939. Price 12s. 6d.

POLAR REGIONS

Polar Exploration (” Epics of the Twentieth Century “). By Andrew Croft. London : A. and C. Black Ltd., 1939. Price 7s. 6d.

Sir John Franklin's Last Arctic Expedition. By Richard J. Cyriax. London : Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 12s. 6d.

GENERAL

Admiralty Weather Manual, 1938. By Order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. London: H.M.S.O., for the Hydrographic Department, Admiralty, 1938. Price 10s. 6d.

White Settlers in the Tropics. By A. Grenfell Price, with additional notes by R. G. Stone. New York: American Geographical Society, Special Publication No. 23, 1939. Price $4.00.

BIOGRAPHY

Livingstone et l'Exploration de l'Afrique. By René Maran. Paris : Gallimard. Eighth Edition, 1938. Price 25. francs.

I Was There. By Edith Tyrrell. Toronto : The Ryerson Press, 1938. Price $2.00.

EDUCATIONAL TEXT‐BOOKS

Memorandum on the Teaching of Geography. Issued by the Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools. London : George Philip and Son Ltd. Second Edition Revised 1939. Price 8s. 6d.

The World of Man. Book IV. Europe, The British Isles and the World. By C. C. Carter and E. C. Marchant. London : Christophers Ltd. Price 3s. 9d.

Geography for To‐day : North America and Asia (also issued separately) : Europe and the British Isles (also issued separately). By a Committee including L. Dudley Stamp and L. S. Suggate. London : Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price, 4s. each, or 3s., 2s. 6d., 2s. 9d. and 2s. 9d. respectively.     

Shoreline Change and Coastal Vulnerability Characterization with Landsat Imagery: A Case Study in the Outer Hebrides,Scotland

Abstract

Observation of cause–effect patterns of change in coastal environments provides insights into vulnerable areas and supports prediction and adaptation to flooding and erosion. Historic and periodic (6–8 year intervals) imagery from the Landsat archive is used to investigate transformations in the Atlantic coast of two Scottish islands over the period 1989–2011. Supervised classification of spectrally normalized images followed by change detection and spatial analysis reveals the patterns of change and the location of the most dynamic coastal areas. Quantitative measures of recent shifts and movement rates of relevant coastal lines, such as the lower limit of land-based vegetation, are assessed with the Digital Shoreline Analysis System. While very low rates are indicated for horizontal changes in the position of the lower limit of land-based vegetation (0.3?m?y^?1), specific areas have been subjected to high rates of coastal progradation as well as erosion (e.g. 2.5?m?y^?1 at Stilligarry). Information derived from satellite data supports the characterization of geomorphologically dynamic coasts at regional scales. With a rich and open access archive of imagery, a commitment to continuity, and compatibility with the Earth observation missions of other space programs, the Landsat mission offers useful and otherwise unavailable data for monitoring of coastal areas.     

The Legacy of Planter Jean My: Analysis of Two Private Colonial Homes in Southern Melanesia

This paper discusses two private houses built by New Hebrides planter Jean Marot dit My, one on Santo Island, northern Vanuatu, and another in Nouméa, New Caledonia. The former is relatively well known in Vanuatu, as it is assumed to be the inspiration behind the octagonally shaped mansion of the character Emile de Becque, a French planter in James A. Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific. Mr My’s houses are linked to French Art Deco style and are here compared to one another. Through the study of their similarities and differences, and of their interiors, the integration of Art Deco style and design can be demonstrated. While they represent two very different ways of life, they show the inspiration, aspirations and trajectory of a colonial French family in southern Melanesia. Hopefully, this research will help promote the protection of both houses, through emphasising the importance of their historical and literary connections.     

Resisting Traditions: Ceramics, Identity, and Consumer Choice in the Outer Hebrides from 1800 to the Present

On a number of levels, peripheral status has been imposed on the Outer Hebrides (Scotland) since the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745. Drawing on a series of interviews with Hebridean families, this paper explores the changing meanings of ceramics imported into the islands from the early nineteenth century and displayed on wooden dressers. It is argued that in renegotiating their identity in the face of a series of externally generated economic changes, rural communities in the Hebrides have acted as thoughtful consumers, appropriating mainland material culture to their own ends. Throughout this process, imports have behaved ambiguously. This ambiguity is crucial to our understanding of the relationship—here characterized not as resistance but as resistant adaptation—between the Hebrides and the mainland.