Page:A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland - Johnson (1775).djvu/202

 vessel, they have increased for want of weasels to oppose them.

The inhabitants of, and of the other Islands, which I have seen, are commonly of the middle stature, with fewer among them very tall or very short, than are seen in , or perhaps, as their numbers are small, the chances of any deviation from the common measure are necessarily few. The tallest men that I saw are among those of higher rank. In regions of barrenness and scarcity, the human race is hindered in its growth by the same causes as other animals.

The ladies have as much beauty here as in other places, but bloom and softness are not to be expected among the lower classes, whose faces are exposed to the rudeness of the climate, and whose features are sometimes contracted by want, and sometimes hardened by the blasts. Supreme beauty