Hello Once again, I need your help. There are a few words from the Statistical Account of 1840 for Barray / Barra that I cannot locate the meaning of. Have tried google but these may just be words that were used locally back then. They are not in my rather new Dictionary. I have capitalized the words I would like to understand better. Any ideas appreciated. Thank You Lorraine Ottawa, Canada 1. - the women wear clothes made by themselves, and, at times, south country DROGGETS or prints. 2. - distinguished into arable, MACHIR or sandy ground, hill-pasture, moss or meadow 3. - The people of Barray were in former years very successful in harpooning CEARBANS / CSARBENS or sail-fish, from which they extracted a good deal of oil. This one was not very clear for the spelling.

Hello Lorraine, Cearban is the Gaelic word for what is most commonly known as the "basking shark". It is also referred to as the "sun-fish" or "sail-fish". They are a common sight in the the waters of the west coast of Scotland and the Irish Sea. To see why they were easily harpooned, please visit: http://www.wallerkautsky.com/sharkology/species.html Regards, Iain Rogers, Hong Kong, China ----- Original Message ----- From: espencer <[email protected]> > > There are a few words from the Statistical Account of 1840 > for Barray / Barra that I cannot locate the meaning of. > Have tried google but these may just be words that were used > locally back then. They are not in my rather new Dictionary. > I have capitalized the words I would like to understand better. > Any ideas appreciated. Thank You > Lorraine Ottawa, Canada > > 1. - the women wear clothes made by themselves, and, at times, > south country DROGGETS or prints. > > > 2. - distinguished into arable, MACHIR or sandy ground, hill-pasture, > moss or meadow > > > 3. - The people of Barray were in former years very successful in > harpooning CEARBANS / CSARBENS or sail-fish, from which they > extracted a good deal of oil. > This one was not very clear for the spelling.