It thus appears that lowlanders were in the habit of visiting the Highlands nearly three hundred years ago for the purpose of hunting the red-deer, and that to please the natives they adopted the Highland dress whilst in the north.
It was not, I believe, until between 1830 and 1835 that the present system of letting deer forests became general in the Highlands. The rents paid to the proprietors have enabled them in many cases to free their estates from encumbrances, and to effect material improvements, whilst the annual visits of wealthy southerners have conferred considerable benefits on the native population.
The well-remembered Colonel Inge, who (about 1832) began his sporting visits to the Highlands, is often spoken of as one of the pioneers of English sportsmen in the north. At that time he rented deer-stalking in Gairloch from Sir Francis Mackenzie, and the military discipline he maintained among the forty keepers and gillies he always employed is still spoken of, as are also his passion for method and order, and his love of a good joke.
There are many misconceptions abroad with regard to deer forests, even among those who might be expected to be better informed.
In 1883 a Royal Commission inquired into the condition of the crofters and cottars in the Highlands and islands of Scotland. In the report of the Commissioners a large section is devoted exclusively to deer forests and game. The Commission was considered to be decidedly friendly to the interests of the crofters. The report can be purchased through any bookseller for 4s. 8d., and ought to be perused by all who are interested in the subject. The following quotations speak for themselves:—
The Commissioners say:—"The principal objections advanced against deer forests, as presented to us, are the following:—
"1. That they have been created to a great extent by the eviction or removal of the inhabitants, and have been the cause of depopulation.
"2. That land now cleared for deer might be made available for profitable occupation by crofters.
"3. That it might at all events be occupied by sheep farmers, and that a great loss of mutton and wool to the nation might thus be avoided.
"4. That in some places, where deer-forests are contiguous to arable land in the occupation of crofters, damage is done to the crops of the latter by the deer.