In another part of his "Survey" Sir George gives the following account of the Highland husbandman of his day:--"Though a singular one, it is a fact, that every one of the Highlanders, except those who have some connection with the soil, is active and enterprising. If he cannot find employment at home, he travels hundreds of miles to seek it. There are not more handy labourers in the world than Highlanders at piece-work. They are not in general neat-handed, but they very soon acquire expertness in any kind of work they engage in. But look attentively to the proceedings of a Highland farmer, and a very different description will be found necessary for his habits. Until he gets his seed sown, he is as active as a man can be. When that business is over, he goes to sleep, until roused by the recollection that he must have some means of keeping himself warm during winter. He then spends a few days in the peat moss, where the women and children are the chief operators. He cuts the peats, and leaves them to be dried and piled up by his family. Whenever the peats have been brought home, another interval presents itself for repose until the corn is ripe. During the winter, unless a good opportunity for smuggling occurs, a Highland farmer has nothing to do but to keep himself warm. He never thinks of labouring his fields during mild weather, or of collecting manure during frost; nothing rouses him but the genial warmth of spring. I cannot reckon how often I have seen Highland farmers basking in the sun on a fine summer day, in all the comforts of idleness. I have asked them, when I found them in such a situation, why they were not busy hoeing their potatoes. "O! the women and bairns do that," was the answer. I would then ask why they did not remove the heaps of stones which I saw on their fields, or conduct away the water which rested on them. They would answer, that they did not know where to put them; or, that they did no harm; or, that they had been there so long that it was not worth while to stir them; and that water gave sap to the land; with many other answers equally absurd, and dictated by nothing but what must be considered constitutional sloth. During his leisure hours a Highland farmer will do nothing for himself; but hire him to work, and he will become as brisk as a bee. He will never go to seek work; it must be brought to him. There are many, however, who will absolutely refuse to work at all."