Article III,
written by Alexander Gunn, aka A Native of Badbea, was printed in the Northern
Ensign on 21 August, 1879. Part B.
Note: this
extract was also included in the blog ‘For Peat’s Sake” but I have included it
again in the interests of publishing this series of the letters of A Native of
Badbea as a complete set. The illustrations I have used were not published with
the original article.
“Another great day with us was
the day "John Badbea" got his peats carried home. On such occasions
there came horses from Braemore and Houstry to lead worthy John's peats to the
stance where the peat stack stood, a little above the house. There was not a
road or track by which carts could be used, and the peats were therefore
carried in a sort of hamper called "crubags" on each side. It was a
sort of four- square thing, about 2 feet 6 inches long, perhaps 2 feet deep,
and about 18 inches wide. It was open at both ends, and was slung by a piece of
rope fixed to a sort of rude saddletree set on the back of the horse which
carried one of these "crubags" on each side. It is surprising what
quantity of peats could be packed into a couple of these.
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| Going For peats - Barra 1910 Source: www.geos.ed.ac.uk |
There might be 30 or
40 horses engaged in leading the peats on these occasions. Three or four, even
six horses were tied to each other's tails, and one person leading them. To us
it was a real post of honour to be leading these horses between the stacks and
the hill, when those who brought the horses were employed in building the peat
stack, or loading the horses at the hill. In this way all the good man's peats
were carried to the stance and built up ready for the winter in one day, and all
was done gratuitously both the labour of men and horses being given free of
charge.”
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| John Clifton, The Land of Heather. www.kellscraft.com |
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