Martin Martin and Usquebaugh-baul: Early Island Spirits

“Two spoonfuls” was “a sufficient Dose”, Martin Martin wrote of usquebaugh-baul, the oat spirit he described as distilled four times on Lewis. His warning that more than two spoonfuls could endanger life makes arresting reading, but the passage’s historical significance lies in its distinctions between ingredients, distillation and island customs, not in any measurable claim about strength.[1][2]

Martin Martin and the island account

A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland appeared in London in 1703, with its author identified on the title page as “M. Martin, Gent.” Andrew Bell published it at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhill. The title page promised accounts of remedies made from local products and of “the Second Sight”: spirits belonged to a wider description of island customs, resources and beliefs.[1][2]

A second edition followed in 1716, advertised as “very much Corrected”. The Lewis and Harris passages discussed here read the same in both editions.[1][2]

Martin was born on Skye and served as factor to the Laird of Macleod, according to the Dictionary of National Biography. Its account traces the book to a short paper he presented to the Royal Society in 1697, expanded at the urging of the antiquary Sir Robert Sibbald.[3]

These dates trace the writer’s journeys and publications:

What were Martin’s three Lewis spirits?

Oats are the striking ingredient in two of Martin’s three Lewis spirits. He begins with the island’s crops: “Their plenty of Corn was such, as dispos’d the Natives to brew several sorts of Liquors”. He then distinguishes common usquebaugh, trestarig and usquebaugh-baul, rather than using three interchangeable names for one drink.[1][2]

Martin says trestarig and usquebaugh-baul were “both made of Oats”. That explicit ingredient matters: substituting the more familiar barley would change his account. The table summarises his Lewis passage, not modern product specifications.[1][2]

His use of “brew” also needs attention. He applies the word across the passage while explicitly describing repeated distillation, so it should not be read in isolation as evidence that these drinks were merely fermented.[2]

For usquebaugh-baul, Martin records four distillations and warns against exceeding two spoonfuls. He supplies neither a recipe nor a still description, and gives no alcohol strength. Four distillations cannot be converted into a percentage ABV or used to reconstruct the finished drink.[2] His distinctions illuminate Lewis drinking culture, while leaving the drinks’ modern equivalents unresolved.

Two spoonfuls: Martin’s arresting warning

Martin gives usquebaugh-baul a dose measured in spoonfuls, followed by a stark warning. Its oat ingredient is recorded, but its full composition is unknown.[1][2]

Story box

Two spoonfuls in Martin’s Lewis account

Martin wrote that “two spoonfuls of this last Liquor is a sufficient Dose”; exceeding this, he continued, “would presently stop his Breath, and endanger his Life”.[1][2]

Verdict badge

Verdict: Documented. Martin published the warning, but the passage does not establish the drink’s strength or independently demonstrate the warning’s physiological accuracy.[1][2]

Lewis was not a model for every island

Harris provides the clearest contrast. Martin says its inhabitants took aquavitae or brandy against the cold, but “brew no such Liquors as Trestarig, or Usquebaugh-baul”. He excludes those named drinks, not spirits altogether.[1][2]

On Skye, he again links strong drink with cold, moist air. Strangers and inhabitants, he claims, drank “at least treble the Quantity of Brandy” consumed in southern Scotland. That is Martin’s comparison, not a measured consumption statistic.[2]

Spirits among ale, vessels and remedies

Clay vessels and cups of ale place the spirits within the texture of Lewis life. Martin describes women making clay vessels for keeping ale, which he considered better for that purpose than wooden barrels.[2]

He also records a Hallowtide offering associated with the sea god Shony. Each family supplied malt to be brewed into ale. A man then carried a cup into the sea as an offering for plentiful seaweed.[2]

His language about spirits repeatedly crosses into remedies. He describes trestarig or usquebaugh as a “Corrective” to the Lewis climate and records trestarig water being used for diarrhoea and dysentery. These are historical reports of treatment beliefs, not medical advice or evidence of benefit.[1][2]

Johnson’s later view: barley and the skalk

A morning glass of whisky, “which they call a skalk”, appears in Samuel Johnson’s A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, published in 1775. Johnson also describes the Hebrideans as “not a drunken race”. Both are his characterisations of the people he describes.[6]

His account names a different grain: “The spirit drunk in the North is drawn from barley.” Set beside Martin’s two named oat spirits, it offers a later comparison, not evidence that one grain wholly replaced another. Each statement belongs with its author and the scope of his account.[2][6]

The books have a personal connection too. According to the Dictionary of National Biography, Johnson’s father gave him Martin’s Description, helping to awaken his interest in Scotland. Johnson carried the book on his Highland journey.[3]

Familiarity did not make him an unquestioning admirer. Martin, he judged, “has often suffered himself to be deceived”. That criticism remains an important counterweight to the earlier book’s vivid detail.[6]

How much should we trust Martin?

Martin’s reliability as a recorder of island customs is Verdict: Disputed. Johnson criticised his susceptibility to deception, and Undiscovered Scotland suggests reliance on hearsay. The Dictionary of National Biography treats the book as a record gathered during a tour.[3][4][6] Whether Martin personally saw the spirits made is not established.

The earliest source identified for the criticism is Johnson’s book, published in 1775. The assessments can be read in Johnson, the Dictionary of National Biography and Undiscovered Scotland. These sources were last checked on 5 November 2026.

Martin’s book is valuable without being infallible. Its printed words establish that he reported three Lewis spirits and identified oats for two of them; they do not independently verify every custom or explanation he recorded.

The names deserve equally close reading. The Dictionary of the Older Scots Language connects “trestarig” with Gaelic treas-tarruing, glossed as thrice-distilled whisky. That accords with Martin’s description of three distillations.[5]

Usquebaugh-baul is less clear. Martin’s own gloss is only “id est, Usquebaugh”. The meaning of “baul” is not established by the sources checked, and the later linguistic discussion does not settle it.[2][7]

Common mistakes when quoting the passage

Three shortcuts strip away distinctions Martin preserved:

• Calling both named spirits barley malt whisky: Martin explicitly says trestarig and usquebaugh-baul were made from oats.[1][2]
• Giving usquebaugh-baul a precise strength: neither four distillations nor the spoonful warning supplies an ABV.[2]
• Making Lewis stand for every island: the Harris passage expressly excludes those two named drinks there.[1][2]

Where to go next

• The 1494 Exchequer Rolls: What Scotland's Earliest Distilling Record Actually Says: examine another early record through its wording.
• Illicit Stills and Smugglers: Scotland's Hidden Whisky Before 1823: continue into the history of illicit production.
• Finding Scotland's Lost Whisky Stills: What Archaeology Reveals: explore a different kind of evidence for past distilling.

Sources

1. M. Martin. A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland. First edition. London: Andrew Bell, 1703. Internet Archive scan and OCR. https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_a-description-of-the-wes_martin-martin-gent_1703
2. M. Martin. A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland. Second edition, “very much Corrected”. London, 1716. Internet Archive scan and OCR; the catalogue date differs from the title page. https://archive.org/details/descriptionofwes00mart
3. Dictionary of National Biography. Martin, Martin, entry by J. R. M., volume 36, 1893. Wikisource transcription. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Martin,_Martin
4. Undiscovered Scotland. Martin Martin. Secondary biography, undated; checked November 2026. https://undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/m/martinmartin.html
5. Dictionary of the Scots Language. Dictionary of the Older Scots Language, trestarig. Online entry, checked November 2026. https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/trestarig
6. Samuel Johnson. A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. 1775. Project Gutenberg ebook 2064. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2064
7. CELTLING mailing list, LINGUIST List. Etymology of “usquebaugh-baul”. January 2013 discussion. https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/celtling/2013-January/000860.html

This desk-researched article follows verified fact sheet TOP-A728, comparing its supplied edition extracts and keeping contemporary reports separate from later interpretation.

Last checked: November 2026