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From 'Observations made in a Journey through the Western Counties of Scotland'

by Robert Heron. Perth 1793

'Landing on the western bank of the Tummel, I was desirous to refresh myself and my horses. I had been told that some tolerable accommodation might be obtained for a few minutes, at the boatman's house. I entered the house. It exhibited a scene of nastiness and simplicity which convinced me that the primitive manners of my country were not everywhere lost. It was a low, smoky hut, the door of which could hardly be entered without creeping. The thatched roof was not rain-proof, and all the rafters were dropping an inky fluid. On each side of the door, a partition ran through the house: It was formed of stakes driven into the ground, interwoven with twigs, or willow branches, and the whole plastered, on both sides, with clay. This simple partition had, like the roof, suffered by the injuries of time; the clay was here and there broken off; and the wooden part of the partition seemed to have decayed through rottenness.

One end of the house was appropriated to the purposes of a bed room, store-room, cellar, pantry, and apartment for the accommodation of strangers. It were hard to say whether dampness, dirt, or disorder seemed to predominate most in it. The other was the kitchen; and into it I entered. there was a smoking fire in the middle of the floor. I am not sure whether or not there might be a hole in the roof for the discharge of smoke. If there were, it was certainly inadequate to the purpose; for the smoke was diffused through the kitchen, so as to obscure it with almost palpable darkness.

Immediately around the fire was a small sphere within which the darkness was visible. Here sat the mistress of the family with several of her children beside her. The good woman was dirty, black and overgrown, and seemed just Sir John Falstaff in petticoats. The children were half naked and dirty, but with health and cheerfulness in their looks. They conversed together in Gaelic. I addressed the mother. She could speak a little, and but a very little, broken English; the children neither spoke nor understood a syllable of English.

In compliance with my request for refreshment, the good woman soon produced her whisky bottle, with berad and cheese. To measure out the whisky, she brought a tin stoup which by frequent use, by the impression of the smoke, and by the religious reverence with which it had been kept sacred from anything like rinsing or washing, had assumed a hue something between a dirty brown and jet black. It was, at the same time marked with many a dimple; and was deprived of its lid to show that it was always either filling or emptying. With this vessel was produced a glass which through long and faithful service had lost its only leg and foot; but to guard it against future accidents, what remained was thickly coated over with a mixture of soot and dust, wrought with whisky into cement.

It were tedious to describe at length the cheese, the cakes, the plate, and the - but there was no table: The good woman gave all but the bottle into my hands; and the bottle retained in her lap. But, even this fare was agreeable; for it had rained heavily at times, as we rode between Blair and the ferry; and the exercise of riding, with the keen air of Atholl had sharpened my appetite. I cut down the cheese, therefore; the good woman poured out her whisky; the children shared the bread and cheese; and the mother partook of the whisky so liberally as to convince me that her predilection for this cordial must have contributed considerable to the enlargement of her bulk.

Every thing was new and striking. The scene was simple as the hut of a savage; there was the same squalid nastiness, the same aspect of vigorous health, and the same cheerful, kind hospitality, as society is said to present in its simplest and rudest forms. I was, in consequence, more gratified than I should have been in a more commodious inn, and with better entertainment. And before I had time to be disgusted, my servant having also obtained refreshment for the horses and himself, called me to proceed on my journey.'