BARVAS, a parish, in the island of Lewis, county
of Ross and Cromarty, 10 miles (N. W. by N.) from
Stornoway; containing, with the former quoad sacra
district of Cross, 38.50 inhabitants. The name of this
place, like many other names in the neighbourhood, is
supposed to be of Norwegian derivation; but its signification
is altogether unknown. From the memorialswhich
still remain, the Danes appear to have had some connexion
with the district. A fort, now in ruins, evidently
of Danish construction, stands on the border of a loch
south of Bragar, and three buildings of the same description
are to be seen between Shadir and Borve, each
of them, by its peculiar form, locality, and appendages,
indicating the scene of the military operations of that
people. On a plain of moss between Barvas and Shadir
stands an immense stone, eighteen feet high, and
almost as much in girth, supposed to have been raised
as a triumphal memorial of the slaughter of some cruel
and reckless tyrant of the Danish nation. The ruins of
several old chapels and burying-grounds also remain in
the parish, shewing the subsequent occupation of the
soil by religious teachers. The chapels were dedicated
to St. Bridget in Borve, St. Peter in Lower Shadir, St.
Mary in Barvas, and St. John in Bragar.
The PARISH, which is remotely situated, in the
northern extremity of the island of Lewis, is about
twenty-two miles long and seven broad, containing
16,103 acres, of which number 1468 are in tillage, 4S9
the best kind of pasture, and 14,146 pasture of an inferior
kind. It is bounded on the north-west by the Atlantic
Ocean. The coast, which comprises a length of about
fourteen miles, is rugged, in many parts bold and rocky,
and is beaten by a violent surf when the wind blows
from the west or north-west. The surface of the interior
is diversified by gentle elevations, except in one or
two instances, where it is broken by a deep glen traversed
by rivulets, or occupied by a sweeping moor the
resort of red mountain deer. There are five rivers, the
Glen, the Borve, the Shadir, the Arnal, and the Torra,
which ri.se from springs or lochs, generally six or seven
miles np the country, and empty themselves into the
ocean. The climate is surcharged with vapour and fog,
and subject to violent storm? and rains; the striking
phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis is frequently seen,
in all its splendour and majesty.
The soil of the cultivated land, which chiefly lies
along the sea-shore, is black earth, often largely mixed
with gravel or sand; but as the main part of the parish
is moor, the soil is mostly mossy. The arable portion
is overspread with quantities of stones, and the exposure
of the land to winds from the sea, without hill or mountain
to protect behind, presents a formidable impediment
to the labour of the farmer, and sometimes destroys his
crops altogether. The rental is small. No produce is exported,
the whole being required for home consumption;
and but few improvements have been made in agriculture,
the backwardness arising chiefly from the shortness
of the leases, and the poverty of the people, who in
seasons of scarcity are compelled to live upon whelks,
periwinkles, limpets, and crabs, the only shell-fish to be
found. About 2500 head of black-cattle are reared,
which are fed in winter chiefly on sea-weed. The sheep
amount to upwards of 7000, and are all of small stature,
as also are the horses, which, however, are compact,
active, and mettlesome, and well suited to their ordinary
work of carrying the sea-weed in double-baskets, over
difficult and rocky grounds. The subsoil is a stiff hard
clay, which in some parts is covered with large banks of
sand, twenty feet high, driven inward from the shore by
the continued action of westerly winds. The annual
value of real property in the parish is £1942.
The inhabitants live in numerous villages on the
coast, almost entirely in an isolated state, having very
little communication with others. There are two roads,
one running along the coast, and another to Stornoway,
the only mart in the island. The parish contains four
small bays, into which boats sometimes enter; but the
violence of the wind prevents the anchorage of any
vessel. Salmon-fishing has been carried on for some
years, with considerable success, near the mouths of the
rivers; but the nature of the coast rendering other fishing
impracticable, the people are generally little inclined
to malie the employment a steady pursuit. For ecclesiastical
purposes the parish is withiu the bounds of the
presbytery of Lewis, synod of Glenelg, and in the
patronage of the Crown: the minister has a stipend of
£158. 6. 8., partly paid from the exchequer; with a
manse, and a glebe worth about £20 per annum. The
church, built about sixty years since, is a long narrow
building, and contains 300 sittings. There is a parochial
school, in which the classics and the common branches
of education are taught; the master has a salary of £28.
Two other schools are supported by the Edinburgh Gaelic
School Society. The parish contains several chalybeate
springs, but none of them of any note.