By the Rev. Mr William McKenzie, and the Rev. Mr Hugh Ross
Language:
Gaelic is the language generally spoken, and from it the names of the principal parts of the parish are said to be derived. The instances given are. Skerray, from the Sker, a rock, and Iye, a man's name; Torrisdale, from Tor, a tower, and dal, a valley; in which place are to be seen the ruins of an antient structure, on a plain between two hills; Kinloch, from cean, a head, and loch, a lake or bay; Achchaistal, from achadh, a field, and caistal, a castle; Dalchairn, from dal, a valley, and carn a heap; where there is a druidical temple built upon a plain. It would require considerable skill in the Gaelic to judge of the propriety of these derivations, and whether sker and dal be Gaelic words. Perhaps they are common to that language and the Danish.
Roads:
It is not many years since roads began to be made in this parish; they are now carried on with great spirit, and rendered as convenient as the nature of the ground will admit. Statute labour is still exacted in kind.
Rent and conversion of Services:
The real rent of the parish is 525l. 19s. Sterling, in which are included 20l. as the conversion of those services, which the tenants were formerly used to perform to the proprietor, as the remains of the feudal system. These services were thought a very great grievance, as the tenants were obliged to perform them, at the time they should have been employed in cultivating their own farms. To work without maintenance from their employers, from morning to night, at the distance of several miles from their respective homes, they justly deemed cruel and oppressive, and a violation of the precepts of religion, of justice, and the rights of men. They therefore applied, by petition, to the late Hon. And worthy Commander in Chief of his Majesty's forces in North Britain, General M'Kay, (tutor to Lord Reay, the sole proprietor of this parish), praying for a conversion of said services into money, which that humane and public spirited gentleman most cheerfully granted; and, in a letter to the minister of Tongue, reprobated, in very severe terms, every remnant of such barbarity. Thus the last vestige of feudal domination, and tyrannical oppression, in this remote northern corner of the Highlands, has been abolished, under the auspices and influences of an honourable gentleman, whose patriotic character, and generous conduct, shall be perpetuated while there is a M'Kay living in this country. The farms, in general, of which there are 130, consist of from 1 acre to 40 of arable land, besides pasture; and let at from 10s. to 12s. the acre.
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