MORE SHEEP THAN PEOPLE?
The human population was severely depleted during the clearances of the 19th century, when tens of thousands of tenant crofters in the Highlands and Islands were evicted by landowners to make way for sheep. Since then, the population of the Western Isles has declined slowly but steadily to about 27,000, in line with the contraction of the fishing industry and the demise of traditional crofting. More than half the islanders either have some understanding of Gaelic or actually speak Scotland’s ancient tongue as a first language. Gaelic (pronounced gallic) is enjoying a resurgence both at home and among the Hebridean diaspora around the world. One in three of the people lives in or around Stornoway in Lewis, the “capital” of the Western Isles. With its airport, busy harbour, traffic lights, weekday rush hour and Indian takeaways, Stornoway is the only place that feels remotely like the mainland. Outside Stornoway, the lack of trees adds to the bleakness. It’s disconcerting to some, but ma
