66616: Deposition of Lewis Nicolson (Lewis/Harris boundary dispute) 1850

The testimony of Lewis Nicolson at the second hearing of the Lewis/Harris boundary dispute.

At Stornoway, the 16th day of August 1850.

Compeared Lewis Nicolson, a witness for the defender, who, being sworn, depones, That he is sixty-five years of age, and resides at Steimervay, in the parish of Lochs: That his father was gamekeeper with Lord Seaforth for forty-five years: That his father died about twenty-two years ago at an advanced age – he thinks about eighty-eight: That he was assistant-gamekeeper with his father: That his father frequently shewed him the marches: That the march began on the east in Loch Seaforth, at the mouth of Amhinn-Bhegadale, and went up the course of that stream, and by Braidh-an-fhia-clachan there to Loch Chrystle, and from thence by the water that runs from Loch Chrystle to the sea at Loch Resort: That his father told him, that if a deer that had been wounded at Lieud and ran to the water of Veckadale, where he fell, that the gamekeeper on the Harris side met the deer there, and they divided the deer between them, because it fell in the march burn: That he was a boy when his father first told him this, and he thinks it must have happened before the deponent was born; That the man who wounded the deer was his father’s immediate predecessor as gamekeeper to Seaforth: That his father often told this story: That the march he has described was that kept by him as assistant, and afterwards as successor to his father: That he was with the party on Monday, and saw them inspecting the stone called Clach-Sqirlt, at the top of Braidh-an-fhia-clachan. Depones, That he cannot write.