Before the great sheep-farms were established, the Gairloch people always took their black cattle to the shielings on the hills to feed on the upland pastures. It was generally the younger people who accompanied the cattle; they went up to the shielings when the spring work of the crofts was finished, about the end of May, and remained to the end of August, when they brought the cattle home again. There is an air of romance about the life at the shielings. Miss Harriet Martineau, in her "Feats of the Fiord," draws a charming picture of the similar life in Norway. But in Gairloch it cannot have been very desirable; the shieling bothies, of which many remains are left, were indeed miserable dwellings. Dr Mackenzie says:--"Well do I remember the dreadful shieling bothies, and I can hardly yet believe that heaps of strong healthy people actually lived and throve in them." Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, writing in 1810, tells us that the present system of sheep-farming was introduced into Ross-shire by Sir John Lockhart Ross of Balnagown about 1775. Many evictions of smaller tenants took place, and much resistance was aroused. The first sheep-farm in Gairloch was started about 1810 at Letterewe, under the management of Mr John M'Intyre, who was much praised by Sir G. S. Mackenzie for his activity and good management, as well as his successful cultivation of the land about his place of residence,--"in every department of inclosing, draining, and management, he evinced judgment and knowledge of the best principles of agriculture." The commencement of sheep-farming in Gairloch does not seem to have been accompanied by any noticeable friction. If one or two small townships were abolished to make way for the sheep-farmer, the inhabitants had other more desirable quarters provided for them. The population of Gairloch steadily increased from the date when sheep-farming began. Recently several sheep-farms have been forested for deer, _i.e._ the sheep have been removed, and to-day the only large sheep-farm is that of Bruachaig above Kenlochewe; but there is a considerable extent of ground the pasturage of which is held by the crofters and by some smaller farmers, all of whom, both crofters and farmers, possess a number of sheep. Sheep, unlike cattle, cause a rapid deterioration in the quality of the pasturage, so that the number of sheep any particular ground will maintain in health is said to diminish annually, _i.e._ if it be stocked to its full extent. In Gairloch it generally requires ten acres of hill pasture to support one sheep.