A less admirable characteristic of the Gairloch people is their cautious, "canny" disposition; it is, however, by no means confined to them. Modern curtailment of their privileges, the advent of tourists and other strangers, and a constant need for strict economy, have tended to the growth of this trait. It is evinced in a strong disinclination to reveal their views and intentions, and a grasping keenness in driving bargains. Here is an example from my personal experience:--A crofter had made known his desire to sell a heifer; a gentleman, wanting to purchase one, came some distance to see the animal; the crofter at first denied flatly that he had anything to sell; on the gentleman turning to leave, he said he would shew him a heifer; at length he named an exorbitant price; then finding the possible customer was a judge of cattle, he reduced the figure but still held out for too high a sum; no bargain was concluded that day. Captain Burt, in his racy "Letters" (about 1730), charges Highlanders with a want of cleanliness. A similar charge, supported by evidence of the same nasty kind, is even in the present day made against some Highlanders. Here in Gairloch the charge is not generally applicable; nay, it may truly be said that the people are in their persons even more cleanly than their neighbours in our large centres of population. True the odour of stale peat "reek," and the stains it leaves on articles of dress, sometimes convey an impression of dirtiness, but there is no real filth in this, and the presence of parasites is now-a-days very rare. Let the visitor enter one of the public schools of the parish and see the clean neatly-dressed children, and the charge will at once be disposed of. In former days, and even to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the morals of the people were far from perfect; this is shown by the minutes of the presbytery. Happily, whether from fear of the kirk-session, or from the general improvement of recent times, offences against morals are to-day less common in Gairloch than in some parts of the lowlands. It is singular that among Highlanders, at least in Gairloch, there is a total absence of anything like jealousy between married people; this fact by itself speaks volumes.