McIan's Highlanders at home, or, Gaelic gatherings

r ..' ;• it

m

Presented to the

LIBRARY of the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

by

DR. MARION ROSS

MCIAN'S
HIGHLANDERS AT HOME

MCIAN'S

i

HIGHLANDERS AT HOME

OR

GAELIC GATHERINGS

TWENTY-FOUR COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS

WITH DESCRIPTIVE LETTERPRESS BY

JAMES LOGAN

THE ORIGINAL WORK

IN ONE LARGE FOLIO VOLUME

IS GIVEN HERE COMPLETE AND UNALTERED

FURTHER THAN BEING REDUCED IN SIZE PROPERLY

PAGED AND INDEXED FOR EASY REFERENCE

WITH SUITABLE TAIL-PIECE

ILLUSTRATIONS

GLASGOW

DAVID BRYCE AND SON

NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

MCM

LARGE LUCKENBOOTH BROOCH
OF SILVER AND STONES.

GAELIC GATHERINGS;

THE HIGHLANDERS
AT HOMfi, ON THE HEATH, THE RIVEB, AND THE

ft Jbrrittf of ftdtfUf 3)utf tr9tma

aaum u THKIR SOCIAL ntnoTirasTs, ram STOSTS,

000010, ruxTOKa M/UIB EznmiLT ro» THM won.

BY R R M'lAN, ESQ.

Tim BSKurrm UTTZB-PKBM,

BY JAMES LOGAN, ESQ^ F.S.A, SO,

1CKEKMANN AND CO, STRAND.
1S48.

QUAICH OF EBONY AND IVORY.

HOOFED WITH SILVER.
Said to have belonged to Prince Charles Edward.

TO

THE SOCIETIES ASSOCIATED FOB THE PBO1COTION OF THE
NATIONAL MANNER) AND CUSTOMS,

AND THOSE "WHO PATROXISE

THE 8POET8. PASTIMES, AND PEIMITIVE OBSERVANCES,
OP THE OAEL,

ARE INSCRIBED, WITH RESPECT AND GRATITUDE,

BY
THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANTS,

THE PUBLISHERS.

BROOCH OP BRASS, 3} inch dia.

10

List of Coloured Illustrations

Carrying Fern,
Threshing Corn, .
Drovers,

The Hand-Mill, .
Girls Washing,
Highland Foot Post,
Highland Shepherd,
Going to School, .
Gillies with Game,
Gathering Dulse, .
Wool-Carding,
Angling,
Deer-Stalking,
Spinning with the Distaff,
Herring Fishery, .
Robbing an Eagle's Nest,
Fording a River, .
Spearing Salmon, .
Whiskey Still,
Throwing the Stone,
Mac Phee, the Outlaw,.
Signal for the Boat,
Gille Calum,
Carrying Peat,

Tail-Piece Illustrations

Lochaber Axes,

Large Luckenbooth Brooch, .

Quaich of Ebony and Ivory, .

Brooch of Brass,

Spade of Oak,

Cruisie or Oil Lamp,

Harris Pottery,

Steel Strike Lights,

Target used by Prince Charlie,

Ornamented Pins, .

Brass Cooking Pot,

PAGE

2

6

8

10

ii

21
. 22, 51, 241

42, 81, 91, 101, no
6l

62
82

Powder Horn, 1672, 102

Circular Silver Brooch, in

Skian Dhu worn by Prince Charlie, . . 121
Highland Targe of Wood, . . . 122, 131
Prince Charlie's Double Barrelled Flint-lock, 141, 181

Bell of St. Fillans, 142

Watch carried by Prince Charlie, . . . 151
Cruisie or Oil Lamp with Iron Stand, . ". 162
Wooden Drinking Vessel with Handles, . . 171
Silver Brooch with Interlaced Ornamentation, 182
Drinking Cup used by Prince Charlie, . . 190

Powder Horn, 1678, 191

Powder Horn, 1783, 202

Sporran worn by Prince Charlie, . . .231
Bronze Armlet 250

These Tail-Piece Illustrations are mostly from blocks kindly
lent by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Introduction.

JOHNSON undertook a jour-
ney to the Highlands of Scotland and
the Hebride Isles, in 1773, curious to see a
people whose military habits, simple and
vigorous rules of government, and primitive
manners, had, after their last daring attempt,
in 1745, to restore the exiled line of Scottish
kings, brought them so prominently under
public notice.

Remarking that mountainous countries
contain the original and oldest race of men,
13

INTRODUCTION

who from the nature of their territories, and
their warlike habits, are not easily conquered,
he observes, that " to the southern inhabitants
of Scotland the state of the mountains and the
islands is equally unknown with that of
Borneo or Sumatra ; of both they have only
heard a little, and guess the rest. They are
strangers to the language and the manners,
to the advantages and the wants of the people,
whose life they would model, and whose evils
they would remedy." " Never perhaps," he
elsewhere adds, "was any change of national
manners so quick, so great, and so general,
as that which has operated in the Highlands
by the last conquest and the subsequent
laws." True as this may be, much still
remains of that system of antiquated life,
characteristic of those who have not advanced
beyond the primitive state in which mankind

in alpine situations is long retained, by the
14

INTRODUCTION

difficulty of access to their secluded homes.
Toilsome as travelling in the rugged and
sequestered regions of Caledonia was at that
time, especially to such a man as Johnson,
he stoutly encountered the obstacles of the
way: now, the Highlands can be traversed
in most parts by the best of roads, and its
coasts explored by means of numerous steam-
boats.

Considerable attention was drawn to this
part of the kingdom by the amusing journey
of the Doctor, and the works of subsequent
writers ; but the volumes of Sir Walter Scott
have done more to attract tourists to the
scenes he has depicted than was perhaps ever
accomplished by any writer. Not only have
natives crowded to these romantic scenes and
hospitable tribes, but foreigners of highest
distinction have been attracted to this portion
of the northern world. Her Gracious Majesty

INTRODUCTION

and Illustrious Consort unbend the bow of
Royal etiquette amid the quietness of a
mountain retreat, breaking the monotony of
seclusion by the healthful and exhilarating
pursuits peculiar to a Highland life, deriving
entertainment from the athletic and convivial
performances of their loyal Gaelic subjects.
The stream of visitors flows annually to the
north, and the Highlands are better known
in part to many than their native countries ;
but this knowledge does not often extend
beyond the mere exterior aspects of the land
and its inhabitants. Guide books, pictorial
illustrations, and historical productions, have
appeared in imposing abundance for the
gratification of the inquirer; but the social
state of the Celtic population of Britain is still
comparatively but little known. In order to
become acquainted with the peculiarity of
their manners and customs, a lengthened

16

INTRODUCTION

and familiar intercourse with the people is
requisite. The rapidity of steam conveyance
permits but a slight knowledge of a country
or its inhabitants ; and even by the sportsman,
who sojourns among the mountains during
the shooting season, much is to be learned
that does not meet his transient view.

Most of the European nations are now so
highly civilized and refined, that it is quite
refreshing to meet with those who are yet
simple and unsophisticated. The Gael have
preserved a peculiar language, a singular garb,
and a mode of life alike to the nomadic,
pastoral state of the most ancient people;
and rapid as the march of innovation has
been, they still retain much of their primitive
features. If they cannot boast a literary
history, they retain an oral record which in
antiquity sets other nations distant far. When

Mr. Stone and Mr. Hill, neither of them
»7

INTRODUCTION

natives, gave to the world several translated
portions of that beautiful poetry which Mac
Pherson some years after more industriously
collected, arranged, and published, it was
not dreamt that the Highlanders were in
possession of national poetry the most ancient
in Europe, and could glory in the immortal
Ossian as their countryman. Is it less matter
of pride for them, that when the Christian
world had almost been overwhelmed, in the
sacred fane of St. Columba the religion of
the cross was preserved in purity to re-
enlighten the nations of the west?

It is deemed the more useful thus to place
on record the games, the sports, the pastimes,
the social and domestic employments of the
Gaelic tribes, inasmuch as in the progress of
improvement and change they may at last be
swept away. It will be long, however, ere
the manners of this people are assimilated

18

INTRODUCTION

to those of the Saxon race, if they ever can be
entirely so, but assuredly the changes produced
on others must gradually affect them ; and
laudably as individuals and associations strive
to keep in vigour the ancient spirit of the
people by the encouragement of their national
language, poetry, music, dress, and amuse-
ments, they have gradually declined since the
breaking up of the bond of clanship, — the
patriarchal rule, that natural safeguard of the
pristine manners which so remarkably distin-
guished the Gaelic population. The legal
abolition of this antique system produced, in
the course of thirty years, "a rapid, incredible,
and total change," in the state of Highland
society, rendering all record of their peculiar
and decaying manners, an acceptable acquisition
to the present and succeeding generations.
In the former publication, entitled " The

Clans," this once formidable branch of the
19

INTRODUCTION

Celtic race, was exhibited in its genealogies,
military character, social state and importance ;
the peculiarities of the costume and arms were
illustrated with graphic skill ; and striking
views were presented of their former strength,
alliance, and influence.

The GAELIC GATHERINGS display in the
following pages the people engaged in their
domestic employments, — in their pastoral,
agricultural, piscatorial, and hunting occupa-
tions; and in their sports and recreations —
they indicate otherwise the nature of the
country and character of the people.

"The Clans" and "The Gatherings" com-
prise such a series of historical illustrations of
the Highlanders as few other nations can
show of themselves or approach in interest,
and the pictorial accuracy and effect of the
prints, with the research and lucid detail of
the letterpress, recommend these works to

INTRODUCTION

the use of tourists, native or foreign, render
them elegant and desirable productions for
the table of the drawing room, and highly
valuable as books of authentic reference to
the historian and general inquirer.

CRUSIK OR OIL LAMP.

2!

L

HARRIS POTTERY.

22

Threshing Corn.

agricultural state of society succeeds
the pastoral. Mankind, in the earliest
stage of social existence, is found rearing
herds and feeding numerous flocks ; but the
practice of agriculture indicates a considerable
advance in civilization. On the formation
of settled communities, the occupations of
the shepherd and tiller of the ground are
pursued at the same time, as a double means
of providing for comfortable subsistence ; and
nations, in the practice of both, frequently
pay more attention to the former than to
the latter, which is attended with a greater
amount of care and labour.
25

THRESHING CORN

We find from the Commentaries of Caesar
that the Britons, on the first Roman descent,
raised ample stores of corn, a proof that they
were not in the savage state which some
writers have represented. Caesar arrived in
Britain on the 26th August, B. c. 55, accord-
ing to Dr. Halley, and the harvest was then
almost finished, as only one field was seen
uncut, having been later than usual in ripen-
ing. The ingenious method by which the
Gauls reaped their fields is described by
Pliny ; but the inhabitants of Britain do not
appear to have made any improvement on
the sickle.

Both Gauls and Britons, however, used a
Flail in separating the ears from the straw,
when among the Romans the clumsy and
dilatory practice of treading it by cattle was
still in use. The Flail consists of two pieces
of hard round wood, about four feet in
length, loosely fastened together by thongs of
sheep-skin, or other hide ; and a dexterity,
acquired by long practice, is necessary to
perform the work, and save the workman's
26

THRESHING CORN

head, as he whirls the implement around in
making each successive stroke.

Threshing is usually performed in the
barn, but, in fine weather when the corn has
been sufficiently dried, and the weather is
favourable, the Highlander performs the
operation on the field ; by which he is
enabled speedily to remove the crop, a matter
of no slight importance in a watery climate,
like that of the West Highlands. For this
purpose a floor is constructed of planks, on
which is placed a sail or piece of canvas,
where such may be had, and in many places
a mat of sufficient size is spread underneath,
formed of rushes, woven or plaited, as we
find similar articles of furniture from India.
On this platform, in general temporary, called
Lar-bualadh, the vigorous workmen very
cleanly and expeditiously detach the grain
from the stalk, contriving in the operation
to cast the straw to one side. It is then
carried home and stored up until a suitable
time for the Fasgna', or winnowing from
the chaff, preparatory to grinding. The
27

_~2

THRESHING CORN

Threshers are called Buailtearan, from Buail,
to strike, or beat.

Women in the Highlands perform most
of the operations of agriculture, and they
may be seen carrying on their backs, from
the field, loads of the straw or the corn
sheaves ; but this is not to be considered a
proof of any disrespect to the fair, for the
Gael have a high regard for their females ; it
is one of the many practices derived from
their ancestors. M. de Cubieres, writing
on the services rendered to agriculture by
females, shows that in all primitive nations,
while the men were employed in hunting,
fishing, and in war, the women attended to
agriculture, the dairy, and their domestic
avocations — an onerous accumulation of
duties.

If the use of oats is not now so exclusively
prevalent among Scotsmen in the low country
as it was in the days of Dr. Johnson, it is
still so in the Highlands. His definition of
this grain, as being "the food of horses
in England and men in Scotland," gave an
28

THRESHING CORN

offence which has not yet been forgiven ; but
the Doctor, without intending it, passed a
high eulogium on this grain, for it is well
ascertained, and recent scarcity has drawn
particular attention to the subject, that it is a
much more nutritious substance than wheaten
flour, being lighter and more digestive ; and
hence the use of oatmeal is often prescribed
by medical men to patients of weakly
stomachs. It has been observed that the
products of a country have been adapted
by Providence to the circumstances of its
inhabitants. In this respect the oatmeal and
milk of the Gael have served on many an
occasion to carry them through severe and
protracted exertion, and prolonged their
health and lives to a goodly term. It is
farther proved that a Scottish labourer will
perform a greater amount of work, with
unabated strength, on his humble fare, than
that of an Englishman in similar employment,
say field labour — on a much greater propor-
tion of his wheaten bread, dumpling, and
bacon ; and it has been wittily remarked,
29

THRESHING CORN

that the horses of England and workmen in
Scotland, fed on the same materials, are the
most useful and best specimens of their kind.

The subject of illustration is from a party
at work near the old castle of Inverlochie,
in the county of Inverness, within twenty
yards of a spot where thirteen gentlemen of
the Campbells lie buried, side by side, having
fallen in the battle which took place in the
vicinity, anno 1645, when the Earl of Argyle,
with the whole power of his clan, opposed
the Marquis of Montrose in arms for King
Charles, whom he thought to subdue with
facility, but suffered an unexpected attack
and complete defeat, with the loss of 1500
men, leaving the royalists to proceed south-
wards to further conquest. This plain was
battle ground from an earlier period.

The turbulence of Clan Donald induced
the government to commission the Earls of
Caithness and Mar to attempt a pacification,
taking the precaution, at the same time, to
back their persuasions with a powerful army ;
but the energetic Donull du', or black Donald
3°

THRESHING CORN

Ballach of the Isles, landed in 1431, and with
inferior numbers, he at once engaged his
enemies, defeated and compelled them to
a speedy retreat. Very different are the
pursuits of the group here represented ; their
swords, if not converted into Suistean, or
flails, are, happily, no longer required to
guard the produce of their labour.

Drovers

TN the matter introduced on the illustration
of the Shepherd, in Number II., it was
observed that cattle constituted the riches
of the ancient Gael, with whom the possession
of many herds was synonymous with afflu-
ence. This was the case with all branches of
the Celtic race, and instances are there given
of the amazing numbers which belonged to
some individuals. We read in those vener-
able records of ancient manners, the Welsh
Triads, of various herds which numbered
2 1 ,000 each ; those of Nudd, a noted prince,
who flourished in the sixth century, amounted
32

DROVERS

to 20,000 ; and the three shepherds of
Britain, i.e., Wales, tended no fewer than
1 20,000 ! Such numbers can scarcely be
paralleled in later times ; but the booty
of 50,000 head of cattle carried off in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, from Sorle bui'
Mac Donald, of the Glens, a famous chief
in Antrim, is no slight indication of pastoral
wealth.

The inhabitants of mountainous countries
depend chiefly on pasturage, and pursue it as
a source of livelihood and enrichment, dispos-
ing of their surplus stock to supply the wants
of a denser population, engaged in manufac-
tures and commerce. From the Highlands
have been derived, from time immemorial,
abundant supplies of black cattle and sheep,
which are either sold in the fairs of the
country or are driven southwards to England.
Graziers and butchers frequently purchase
in the Highlands ; but the droves are gene-
rally taken to the south and the low country,
where purchasers meet them. Falkirk, near
the borders of the Highlands, has long been
35

DROVERS

celebrated as the great cattle market, which is
held nine or ten times a year.

Farmers may convey their own ' beasts ' to
these markets, and great proprietors may
occasionally send their shepherds with them ;
but the Highland Drover is a person whose
special employment it is to do so, and he
may be intrusted with various lots, amounting
to a numerous drove. The drovers are an
important class, and are men of the greatest
integrity : large sums of money coming into
their custody, and peculiar qualifications are
necessary for their duties, of which a good
knowledge of the value of cattle is an
essential.

The trade, although of considerable diffi-
culty and hardship, suits the spirit of a Celt.
He drives his native herds, of which he is for
a time the owner, with something of the
pride of his ancestors, when carrying off the
fat oxen of the Sassenaich, and his solicitude
is to carry his charge safely and in good
condition to their ultimate destination. The
drover moves on by easy stages, crossing the
36

DROVERS

country by certain tractways, less circuitous
than the public roads, soft for the feet of the
cattle, and affording them a mouthful of
grass as they pass along.

In the Highlands, the hardy drover rests
on the heath among the wearied animals,
whose heat in cold weather serves to keep
him in warmth ; even when he reaches the
plains, he cares not to avail himself of the
shelter of a lodging, although his cattle he
places within inclosure. Often do these
trusty fellows travel from the northern High-
lands to the south of England, as far as
Barnet and Smithfield, with their horned
stock, not losing one from their numerous
droves, during the long and wearisome
journey. It is surprising that in the darkness
of night no animal gets astray ; but the
acuteness of hearing possessed by those en-
gaged in droving, enables them to detect,
although unseen, those that may have left
the herd to snatch a browse of the tempting
herbage by the way — they will immediately
spring in pursuit and drive the stragglers back.
37

DROVERS

The importance of this class of High-
landers, and the responsibility of their occupa-
tion, obtained for them an exemption from
the operation of the Disarming Act, passed in
1725, and renewed with more stringent
clauses in 1748, when the national dress itself
was proscribed ! They were allowed to carry
their usual arms for personal protection.

The young men engaged in droving, hold
themselves of some consequence, for as they
must speak English, and are acquainted with
so many parts of Scotland and England, and
are, moreover, occasionally men of a little
substance, they are held in much respect.
Their manners, also, become a little more
polished than those who have never passed
the Garbh-criochan, or Highland boundary.
The author of a " Journey through Scotland
in 1726," says, "At the fair of Crief, they
were mighty civil, dressed in their slashed
short waistcoats, trousing," etc.

Many stories have the drovers to tell of
their travels to their neighbours during the
winter evenings, and many adventures do
38

DROVERS

they truly meet ; numerous strange and
laughable anecdotes being current respecting
them, their unacquaintance with southern
manners leading them at times into ludi-
crous positions. In the " Chronicles of the
Canongate," Sir Walter Scott has given an
interesting tale of two drovers, in which
their 'difficult trade' is very truly de-
scribed :—

The Highlanders, in particular, are masters of this
difficult trade of driving, which seems to suit them as
well as the trade of war. It affords exercise for all their
habits of patient endurance and active exertion. They
are required to know perfectly the drove-roads, which
lie over the wildest tracts of the country, and to avoid as
much as possible the highways, which distress the feet of
the bullocks, and the turnpikes, which annoy the spirit
of the drover ; whereas on the broad green or grey track
which leads across the pathless moor the herd not only
move at ease and without taxation, but, if they mind
their business, may pick up a mouthful of food by the
way. At night the drovers usually sleep along with
their cattle, let the weather be what it will; and many
of these hardy men do not once rest under a roof during
a journey on foot from Lochaber to Lincolnshire. They
are paid very highly, for the trust reposed is of the last
39

Sf

DROVERS

importance, as it depends on their prudence, vigilance,
and honesty whether the cattle reach the final market in
good order, and afford a profit to the grazier. But as
they maintain themselves at their own expense, they
are especially economical in that particular. At the
period we speak of) a Highland drover was victualled
for his long and toilsome journey with a few handfuls
of oatmeal and two or three onions, renewed from time
to time, and a ram's horn filled with whisky, which
he used regularly but sparingly every night and
morning.

His dirk, or $kene-dhu (i.e. black-knife), so worn as to be
concealed beneath the arm, or by the folds of the plaid,
was his only weapon, excepting the cudgel with which
he directed the movements of the cattle. A Highlander
was never so happy as on these occasions. There was a
variety in the whole journey which exercised the Celt's
natural curiosity and love of motion; there were the
constant change of place and scene, the petty adventures
incidental to the traffic, and the intercourse with the
various farmers, graziers, and traders, intermingled with
occasional merry-making, not the less acceptable to
Donald that they were void of expense; and there was
the consciousness of superior skill, for the Highlander, a
child amongst flocks, is a prince amongst herds, and his
natural habits induce him to disdain the shepherd's
slothful life, so that he feels himself nowhere more at
home than when following a gallant drove of his country
cattle in the character of their guardian.
40

DROVERS ^

The print from Landseer's painting of
Drovers setting out with their Herds, justly
celebrated as a work of art, is a striking
representation of the animated scene.

The print represents drovers in their pro-
gress stopping to refresh themselves with a
little bruithiste, or brose, being a simple
mixture of oatmeal and water, which with,
perchance, a few onions and a little butter,
is their wonted fare. Those of a former day,
dispensed with the pot, and were content
with cold water, and it is a very probable
etymology for Bannockburn, that it was so
called from the circumstance of the High-
landers attending the * tryst ' of Falkirk or
Eaglais-breac, as it is known to them,
stopping on the banks of the stream, from
which they laved the water for their humble
meal.

As they travelled at their own expense, they
were the more careful to avoid any luxurious
seductions ; but a supply of whiskey in a
ram's horn, used sparingly night and morn-
ing, was an indispensable necessary.
41

DROVERS

Black cattle is a description more particu-
larly applied to the breed of the north High-
lands. They are small and hardy, seldom
weighing above thirty stone, but fattening
rapidly in rich pastures, and Furnishing
admirable beef. Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex,
and Lincolnshire, are the chief counties in
which the graziers put them to pasture.

STEEL STRIKE LIGHT.

42

The Hand-Mill.

/"T"VHE art of reducing grain to meal for
human food is coeval with the first
practice of agriculture. The corn productions
of the earth were ground by manual labour,
the simple method of using a Hand-mill
being common to all people in the early
stages of civilization, and it is still in practice
among those whose primitive circumstances
have not estranged them from the artless
manners of their fathers. Baking and boiling
were the only preparations in ancient use, and
Sarah is the first on record who kneaded
meal, and she has left, says the quaint and

45

:j« THE HAND-MILL

honest Thomas Fuller, in "The Holie State,"
the prints of her knuckles in the leaven to
this day.

The circumstances recorded in Holy Writ
of Esau having parted with his birthright for
a mess of porridge, is a proof of the early
use of meal in the state so generally served
up in the north; and although the people in
that part of the kingdom may be jeered on
the subject of their roughish fare, as the
Sybarites of old were on their black broth, it
is now fairly proved by analysis, that oatmeal
contains more nutritious substance than the
flour of wheat, or that of any other grain.

The Hand-mill is called in Gaelic,
Muillean-bra', which will strike one as being
a term very similar to the French Moulin a
bras; in -the Irish idiom it is Bronn, and in
the Lowland Scots it is named Quern. The
stones are eighteen to thirty inches in
diameter, the undermost being rather larger
than the upper, and having a spike in the
centre as a pivot on which the other is
turned. The women, when at work, seat
46

THE HAND-MILL

themselves on the ground, beside the
Muillean, and with a stick, which is fixed
into a hole in the margin of the stone, turn
it round while they pour in the grain by a
central opening. There are generally two
females employed, who sit opposite to each
other, and as usual in almost all their
avocations, they lighten their labours by
appropriate songs. In this employment we
are reminded of the Scriptural passage,
Matthew xxiv. 41 : "Two women shall be
grinding at the mill ; the one shall be taken
and the other left ; " and we are told by Dr.
Shaw, that the Arabs at this day use two
small grindstones, the uppermost turned by
a handle of wood placed in its edge, and
when expedition is required, then two persons,
who are generally women, sit at it.

When water and windmills were intro-
duced, the lairds very strictly prohibited the
use of the hand-stone, by which they were
deprived of their thirlage dues, and the
miller of his lawful multure ; consequently,
wherever found they were broken up. In

47

THE HAND-MILL

1284, it was er acted by King Alexander III.,
that "na man sail presume to grind Quheit,
Maishlach, or Rye, with a Hand Mylne,
except he be compellit be storm, or be in
lack of mylnes quhilk suld grind the samen ; "
if he was found to do so, he was mulcted of
the thirteenth measure, or multure, and by a
repetition of the offence, he was to " tyne,"
or lose, "his hand-mylne perpetuallie." The
exception permitted their very general use in
remote parts, where they cannot yet be laid
aside, and in caves and beside the ruins of
ancient houses these stones are frequently
discovered.

The conversion of grain into bread, or
other food, was an operation which did not
occupy much of the time of a Highland
goodwife, as will be seen from the following
account, among many others that could be
given. It is furnished by Ian fada, or long
John, of Ben Nevis, a much respected gentle-
man and true-hearted Celt. He verges on
the patriarchal age of fourscore, and recollects
when a boy having been sent by his grand-

!tJ

THE HAND-MILL

father, Ian du', or dark John of Aberarder,
on a message to a distant part of the country,
and when he reached the end of his journey,
he found there was no bread, or other
eatables, where he was to take up his
quarters for the night. The woman of the
house, however, speedily supplied this want ;
for taking a reaping-hook, she went to the
field, cut a sufficient quantity of corn, and
quickly separating the grain from the straw,
winnowed it in the open air, dried it in an
iron pot, ground it by the Quern, and
presented it in well-baked Bonaich-cloich,
or cakes prepared on a stone before the turf
fire; the time occupied in these various
operations not exceeding half an hour ! Long
John is a Mac Donald of the brass of
Lochaber, and adds to his other qualifications
that of being one of the best and most
extensive distillers of the native Uisge-bea',
or Whiskey.

The corn and meal prepared in this ancient
manner is called Graddan, from grad, quick,
speedy, and the operation after reaping is

49

THE HAND-MILL

thus performed : — A woman sitting down
takes a handful of corn, and holding it by the
stems in her left hand, she sets fire to the
ears, which immediately flame up; but to
prevent them being burnt, with a small stick
held in her right hand, she dextrously beats
the grain off the straw, the moment when
it is sufficiently done. For sifting the meal
from the husks, a sheep's skin, perforated
by a small hot iron, is stretched on a
hoop.

It is maintained all over the Highlands,
that the meal thus manufactured is more
pleasant to the palate and is more wholesome
than what is dried and ground by the aid
of machinery, and the graddan meal is pre-
ferred for bannocks, brose, brochan, lite, or
porridge, fuarag, a mixture of meal with
cream, or water, and other culinary prepara-
tions of the Celtic housewives.

The practice of burning corn in the straw
prevailed among the Irish; but as they
performed it so recklessly as to destroy
most part of the straw, an Act of Parlia-
50

THE HAND-MILL

ment was passed in 1635, which declared it
illegal.

Oats and rye, we find, were raised by the
Britons before the introduction of wheat and
barley, and in the barbarous ages acorns were
ground for bread, hence, by the Welsh laws,
the oak tree is declared to be common
property.

HARRIS POTTERY.

Girls Washing.

'TP'HE important domestic operation of
Washing is generally performed by
the Highland females, in the clear, purling
streams of their native glens, the water from
its softness being excellent for the purpose
of cleansing.

Blankets and the heavier linen are always
taken to this natural lavatory, but smaller
articles are occasionally ' beetled,' that is, they
are laid upon a stone in the river and beaten
with a wooden mallet ; but treading with the
bare feet, as here represented, is the usual
process of purification.
52

GIRLS WASHING

This method is generally termed Strampail
na Plaideachan, or ' tramping the blankets,'
as these are the stuffs most frequently washed
in this manner.

Companies of young women are sometimes
engaged in this work at the same time, and
on the margin of the river at Inverness, which
is reckoned the capital of the Highlands,
fifty or sixty girls may be seen busily em-
ployed in this necessary part of their domestic
duties, which they call ' posting,' and it
presents an animated scene, from its singu-
larity, particularly striking to a stranger.

The beautiful banks of the stream are a
favourite promenade of the citizens, and the
younger portion of the male community are
no doubt fond of sauntering by the river, but
no offensive curiosity is displayed. Were
any persons, by unbecoming levity of be-
haviour or expression, to draw on them the
resentment of these Celtic Naiads, an uncere-
monious drenching in the Ness would be the
least penalty they might expect to pay for
their indiscretion.

55

GIRLS WASHING

This simple practice, once equally common
in more southern towns, is giving place to
genteeler modes of executing a work indis-
pensable in Highland housekeeping.

Allan Ramsay celebrates Habbie's How, a
romantic spot in the vicinity of Edinburgh,
as a favourite resort of the rural laundresses
of that city, and very prettily describes it, in
his interesting composition, ' The Gentle Shep-
herd,' as

" A flowery howm atween twa verdant braes,
Where lasses use to wash an' spread their clai's,
A trottin' burnie wimplin' through the ground,
Its channel pebbles, shinin' smooth an' round;
Between twa birks out o'er a little lin,
The water fa's an' mak's a singin' din ;
A pool breast-deep beneath, as clear as glass,
Kisses in easy whirls the borderin' grass :
Here view twa barefoot beauties clean an' clear,
First please your eye, next gratify your ear."

Sir Walter Scott, also, in the ninth chapter
of ' Waverley,' describes the appearance of the
Baron of Bradwardine's maids when at this
work : —

56

GIRLS WASHING

" The garden, which seemed to be kept with
great accuracy, abounded in fruit-trees, and
exhibited a profusion of flowers and ever-
greens, cut into grotesque forms. It was
laid out in terraces, which descended rank by
rank from the western wall to a large brook,
which had a tranquil and smooth appearance,
where it served as a boundary to the garden ;
but, near the extremity, leapt in tumult over
a strong dam, or wear-head, the cause of its
temporary tranquillity, and there forming a
cascade, was overlooked by an octangular
summer-house, with a gilded bear on the top
by way of vane. After this feat, the brook,
assuming its natural rapid and fierce char-
acter, escaped from the eye down a deep and
wooded dell, from the copse of which arose
a massive, but ruinous tower, the former
habitation of the Barons of Bradwardine.
The margin of the brook, opposite to the
garden, displayed a narrow meadow, or
haugh as it was called, which formed a ^small
washing-green ; the bank, which retired be-
hind it, was covered by ancient trees.
57

GIRLS WASHING

" The scene, though pleasing, was not quite
equal to the gardens of Alcina ; yet wanted
not the ' due donzelette garrule ' of that en-
chanted paradise ; for upon the green aforesaid,
two bare-legged damsels, each standing in a
spacious tub, performed with their feet the
office of a patent washing-machine.

" These did not, however, like the maidens
of Armida, remain to greet with their
harmony the approaching guest, but, alarmed
at the appearance of a handsome stranger
on the opposite side, dropped their garments
(I should say garment, to be quite correct)
over their limbs, which their occupation
exposed somewhat too freely, and, with a
shrill exclamation of ' Eh, sirs ! ' uttered
with an accent between modesty and
coquetry, sprung off, like deer, in different
directions."

The girls generally select a retired and
romantic spot, where, in some cases, they are
secluded by rocks, with trees, overhanging
foliage, and other beauties of the sylvan scene ;
and here, when the large pot or cauldron
58

.v« GIRLS WASHING

is used to assist the labour, they light their
fire.

Sometimes two girls trample together in
the same tub, when with one arm encircling
each other's waist, they go round, while their
motions are accompanied with a simple and
melodious song, the arms being frequently
changed as they move in a contrary direction.
Judging from the hilarity which prevails, the
burnside washing seems to be a favourite
1 ploy ' with these damsels.

The Highlanders, like all primitive people,
when at work, always accompanied their
labours with appropriate songs, which modu-
lated their operations and lightened their toil.
The Oran Luathadh is the melody chanted
by the women engaged in washing, and is
more particularly referable to the ancient
practice of cleansing and fulling their woollen
cloths.

The process of Luatha', the * waulking ' of
the low country, is likewise performed by the
feet ; but the parties, eight, ten, or more, sit
on the ground opposite to each other, having
59

GIRLS WASHING

the wet material laid between, on a long hurdle
or piece of grooved woodwork. The cloth
is then rubbed and tossed about with great
vigour and dexterity until it becomes properly
thickened, the swell of voices and rapidity of
execution rising to a climax as the work pro-
ceeds ; and the story is told of an English
gentleman, who having come unexpectedly
on a number of women in the heat of their
work, made a speedy retreat, believing he had
discovered a company of lunatics ! This
singular operation forms the subject of one
of the prints in * Pennant's Tour in Scot-
land,' 1772.

The wash-house, or laundry, in the house
of a Highland gentleman, is called Tigh Nig-
heachain.

The picture was made from sketches stolen
from three mountain belles, natives of the
lonely vale of Glenco, interesting as the birth-
place of Ossian, the prince of Celtic bards, and
long the possession of a branch of the great
Clan Donald, most of whom were treacherously
slain in a winter midnight, by order of King
60

GIRLS WASHING

William III., the intention being to cut off the
whole. These nymphs bear the euphonious
appellations, Isabell ruadh, Caorag ruadh,
Morag dubh, and Cairistin dail, but they are,
of course, all Mac Donalds.

TARGET USED BY PRINCE CHARLIE.

61

ORNAMENTED PINS.

62

Highland Foot Post.

* I ^HE conveyance of written communica-
tions is one of the most important objects
of civilized society, and without the considera-
tion of telegraphic dispatch, it is accomplished
by railroad in these days with a celerity and
certainty altogether astonishing.

The only written correspondence which took
place in former ages was between princes on
matters of state, or the more powerful nobility,
on matters of consequence to themselves, and
the functionaries to whom the responsible duty
of its conveyance was entrusted, were called
Nuncios. Edward IV. of England, during his
65

HIGHLAND FOOT POST

war with the Scots in 1481, established Posts
twenty miles distant from each other, where
relays of horses were stationed for the trans-
mission of letters from one to another, which
was duly performed at the rate of two hundred
miles a day. From this early arrangement, it
would thus appear, arose the name of the
national establishment which has now attained
such universal magnitude.

Long after this time the public conveyance
of literary correspondence remained in the
hands of private individuals, but letters were
transmitted by special messengers among the
higher classes, who did not choose to commit
them to the dilatory progress and uncertainty
of the stage-waggon, or horseman ; for the
injunction which so frequently accompanied
the superscription, ' haste poste, haste,' indi-
cates an occasional want of punctuality in
those carriers of the good old times.

It was soon perceived that the ' promiscuous
use of transmitting or taking up of letters,
whereby the secrets of the realm might be
disclosed,' ought not to be entrusted to

66

HIGHLAND FOOT POST

private enterprise, but that it was of political
and pecuniary importance for Government to
assume the sole management of epistolary
conveyance. A proclamation of Charles I.
was issued in 1635, for regulating the 'letter
office,' and a running post was established
between Edinburgh and London, to go thither
and return in six days. The city of London
and other parties, nevertheless, maintained for
a considerable time a rivalry with the Govern-
ment ' master of the posts, messengers, and
couriers,' but all opposition was finally put
down in 1656, by an Act which instituted
* one general post-office and one postmaster-
general of England.'

The post-office of Scotland was settled by
Act of 1698, but it was so troublesome and
unprofitable, that a grant of £300 a-year, with
the whole receipts, would not induce Sir Robert
Sinclair to retain his situation of superintendent!
The penny postage which had been established
in Edinburgh by Peter Williamson, a person
who attained celebrity by having lived many
years among the American Indians, into whose
67

HIGHLAND FOOT POST

hands he had fallen, was purchased by Govern-
ment about 1760.

From the nature of the country, it was
much more difficult to establish a regular
system of post conveyance in the northern
part of the kingdom ; and at this day the
transmission of letters in many Highland
districts is accomplished with considerable
difficulty and delay. It would seem, at the
same time, that the post-office authorities
decline the conveyance of letters to parts of
the country which do not pay the ex-
pense, or are considered too insignificant
to receive the favour, for the proprietors
of remote districts, as the Isles of Lewis,
Barra, etc., are obliged to keep yachts for
the purpose of communication with the main-
land !

It is said that the first Duke of Gordon,
who received the tide in 1684, was accustomed
to dispatch a confidential retainer to the south
country, in order that he might glean in his
travels all news of importance, which he was
to relate faithfully to his Grace on return,

68

HIGHLAND FOOT POST

and traditions exist as to the same practice
in other families. These messengers were
expected to bring home an ample budget
of various information from * beyond the
month.'

The Gille-ruithe, or running footman, was
a member of the Luchdtachd, a body of per-
sonal attendants kept by a Highland laird, and
his most important duty was to carry through-
out the country, at his chief's behest, all missives
and messages.

The Highland postman must be qualified
for his toilsome occupation by great activity
and hardihood, having to traverse unremit-
tingly, in all weathers, a country, in many
parts very uninviting in the finest season. He
has not often the advantage of a regular road,
but knowing all the localities, he urges his way
even in the darksome night, through hill and
glen, fording the streams when they cross his
path. This last is one of his greatest perils, for
the mountain torrents come down so suddenly,
that the wayfarer is often surprised by finding
a flooded river when it is quite unlooked for.
69

HIGHLAND FOOT POST

The post bags sometimes get wet to the damage
of their contents, and it is said that one of those
useful and adventurous couriers, in passing a
river while her Majesty sojourned at Ard
Ferigie, having got the mail packet wet, the
circumstance gave rise to the idle story of
some of the royal letters having been opened
in transitu !

An old man, who died about thirty years
ago, carried the letters for Braemar during
thirty-six years, in which time it was calculated
he had walked no less than about 260,000
miles !

The postman here represented is a speci-
men of these hardy pedestrians, who, it will
be seen, are occasionally loaded with other
property than letters or papers. He is always
a welcome visitor, — except, indeed, when he
unhaply brings evil news. When he has any
time to spare, he gratifies his eager hearers with
all the news he has acquired ; and as those for
whom he has letters are often in remote locali-
ties, the epistles are frequently left with others,
who cheerfully undertake to transmit their
70

HIGHLAND FOOT POST

charge to the proper parties, either by some
one going the way of their dwellings, or per-
sonally delivering the letters on meeting them
at kirk or market.

LOCHABKR AXB.

Highland Shepherd.

/TpHE Highlands are the natural breeding-
•*• grounds for black cattle and sheep.
The inhabitants were not inattentive to agri-
culture ; but their herds and flocks were the
staple commodities, either for their own con-
sumption or disposal to the dealers of the
south, and the extensive proprietor of kine
was formerly synonymous with a rich man.

The Duke of Cumberland's soldiers drove
in from around the neighbourhood a herd
of 20,000 in the short time during which
they lay at Killi-Chuimin, after the battle
of Culloden.

HIGHLAND SHEPHERD

In the north of Ireland, the people being of
the same race as the Scots Highlanders, were
in a similar state of Society; and an expedi-
tion sent, in 1585, by Queen Elizabeth against
Sorle buidh, a celebrated chief, carried off no
fewer than' 50,000 head of cattle !

The hurricane which burst from the High-
lands in 1745, spreading consternation and
fear as it swept victoriously along, was
followed by measures of coercion, which were
characterised by neither statesmanship nor
humanity. The legislative enactments which
followed, and dissolved the patriarchal state
in which the Highlanders had lived, repressed
their warlike propensities, and secluded them
long from the public view.

The country was scarcely known, save from
the numerous droves of well-pastured cattle,
which supplied the southern markets, but a
great revolution in its social state was going
on. The altered state of chiefs and gentle-
men required other means of preserving their
position in society than by a numerous clan of
humble tenants, who were no longer wanted
75

HIGHLAND SHEPHERD

for service in war, and could add little or
nothing to the increased exigencies of the
proprietor, nor do anything to better their
own dependent condition ; and as the land
was found admirably adapted for rearing
sheep, long ranges of glen and muir were '
thrown into extensive Sheep-walks, yielding a
greatly increased rental.

The Store farmer now occupies the place of
a very superior order of tenants called Tacks-
men — blood relations of the chief and men of
education, who in many cases had seen much
of the world by military service, either in the
British army or that of foreign states. To
this class portions of land were leased on
moderate, and occasionally nominal terms,
and besides maintaining a number of servants
for management of the stock, proportionate
crofts were sublet by them to a numerous
body of poorer cottars, who claimed with
them, a propinquity of blood.

From this change, unhappy for the people,
the ruins of houses and hamlets are so
frequently met with throughout the High-
76

HIGHLAND SHEPHERD

lands, and as every farm had its Bothan-
Airidh, or mountain Sheilings, where the
dairy-maids sojourned during the months of
summer, preparing their cheese and butter,
the number of abandoned dwellings is more
strikingly increased.

Those solitary ruins, around which the
green sward and marks of cultivation may
still be seen, impart a melancholy character to
the view, and one is more prone to fancy the
desolate sites, where hundreds dwelt, were
the scenes of continued peace and comfort,
rather than the witnesses, mayhap, of warlike
feuds and predatory forays.

Much has been written on the system of
sheep-farming. The expatriation of a race,
who may be called the indigenous possessors
of the land, is a subject which painfully
touches the chord of human sympathy; but
the Act of 1748, which abolished the
hereditary rights of clanship, made so com-
plete a change in the constitution of Highland
government, that the natural and reciprocal
bonds of service and protection were violently

77

HIGHLAND SHEPHERD

dissolved, and the country, under the regal
law, seemed no longer suitable for the dis-
heartened people, or the people for it.

The introduction of sheep- farming has not,
it must at the same time be noted, been
the sole cause of depopulation. Many
proprietors, whose pecuniary wants were
above the requirements of such means of
increasing their rental, gratified their other
desires in a different manner. A gentleman
writing lately, says : —

" In Glentilt, we counted, in a few hours'
walk, upwards of thirty ruined villages, not
one house of which has been rebuilt, so that
that fine and once cultivated district, is now a
solitary waste, used only as a huge Deer-
forest with a few sheep farms."

The loss of the Kelp manufacture, by the
introduction of Barilla, was a heavy blow to
both landlord and tenant ; but the fleeces of
the numerous flocks now pastured throughout
the Highlands, would furnish material for a
manufacture which the country is in every
way adapted for, and which would give use-
78

HIGHLAND SHEPHERD

ful employment to thousands who now are so
often subject to great distress.

Sheep-walks are sometimes of incredible
extent, many farms being thrown into one,
and their tenants are generally from the
southern districts of Scotland. The wages of
a shepherd vary in different localities, and are
dependent on the extent of the duty to be
performed. He usually receives between io/.
and I2/. yearly, if he live in his master's
house. If he occupy one of his own, he will
be allowed ground for raising potatoes, three
to five or six bolls of meal per annum,
grazing for two or three cows, a horse, and
perhaps fifty to seventy sheep, with ground
sufficient to raise winter fodder.

The shepherds wear the grey plaid common
in the great sheep districts of the border
counties, and now so well known every-
where as a material of general use. It is not,
however, of Highland origin, but was first
seen on the shoulders of the southern farmers,
who visited the north in the way of business.
The late Mac Leod of Luskintire asserted

79

HIGHLAND SHEPHERD

that the first plaid of this pattern seen in
Skye, was worn by Hogg,* the celebrated
"Shepherd" poet; but even the gamekeepers
and foresters on the estates of some High-
land nobles and gentlemen, are seen at the
present day, arrayed in dresses of this homely
hue.

The sketch was made from Duncan Mac
Niven, or Doncha' mor Mac Gille Naomh,
in the vernacular ; a shepherd in the service
of Campbell of Monzie, at that time dwelling
in the farm of Dalness.

*We know that the great shepherd poet wore his
plaid during his journey through the Western Highlands
and Islands in 1803. He says, "On the twenty-seventh
of May I again dressed in black, put one shirt, and two
neckcloths in my pocket ; took a staff in my hand, and
a shepherd's plaid about me, and left Ettrick on foot,
with a view of traversing the West Highlands, at least as
far as the Isle of Skye. I took the road by Peebles for
Edinburgh, and after being furnished with letters of
introduction to such gentlemen as were most likely to
furnish me with the intelligence which I wanted respect-
ing the state of the country, I took a passage in the
* Stirling Fly ' for that town. I got only a short and
superficial view at the old palace of Linlithgow, and
80

HIGHLAND SHEPHERD

satisfied myself with only making my uncle's observation
on viewing the Abbey of Melrose, " Our masons can mak
nae sic houses now-a-days."

Again in Glenfalloch he says, " Musing on certain
objects I fell into a sound sleep, out of which I was at
length awaked by a hideous, yelling noise. I listened
for some time before I ventured to look up, and on
throwing the plaid off my face, what was it but four huge
eagles howering over me in a circle at a short distance ;
and at times joining all their voices in one unconceivable
bleat. I desired them to keep at a due distance, like
Sundhope's man, for I was not yet dead, which, if I had
been, I saw they were resolved that I should not long
remain a nuisance amongst the rocks of Glenfalloch."

STEEL STRIKE LIGHT.

Si

BRASS COOKING POT.

82

ft.

Going to School

country is more celebrated for its
educational institutions than Scotland,
the advantages of moral and intellectual
improvement being 'secured to all, by the
legal provision for a school and teacher in
every parish throughout the kingdom. This
system, so admirably adapted for the low
country, is less effective in the rugged land
of the Gael, where the great extent of the
parishes was found to require subsidiary
establishments.

It is not merely the elementary branches
of education which are taught in these
85

GOING TO SCHOOL

seminaries; the schoolmasters having to go
through a classical curriculum before being
admitted to a parochial charge, and being,
indeed, often licentiates for the ministry,
their acquirements are sufficient to enable
them to prepare pupils for college.

The numbers who attend the parish
schools, vary, of course, with the popula-
tion ; but there are always fewer in the
summer months, as parents then require
the assistance of their children in agricul-
tural or pastoral occupations.

Fees are paid by all who are able to do
so, but the children of the poor have a
claim to gratuitous education, a liberal pro-
vision, but far from the constitution of a
charity school.

The subject of illustration is a scene in
Lochaber, representing a peculiar custom.
One of the poorer boys is appointed to
muster his fellow pupils to their morning
tasks, which he does at half-past eight in
summer, and nine in winter : and this juvenile
official is known as the Gille an Adharc, or
86

.,.« GOING TO SCHOOL

the Boy of the Horn, from the instrument
he uses to "gather his motley clan," a duty
for which he receives one penny a quarter
from each scholar.

It is the practice in rural parishes for
each boy to carry a peat, or piece of turf,
to school every morning, by .which means
a good fire is kept up for the general
benefit. These ragged-looking, bare-legged
urchins, wading through the snow of a cold
morning, are, notwithstanding, strong and
healthy, and in general hardier than children
whose parents wrap them in more comfort-
able-looking garments. They are also of
sharp intellect; and there are few boys in
the Highlands of twelve or fourteen years
of age who cannot read and write.

The aptitude of the race for the acqui-
sition of knowledge, although assertions
have repeatedly been made to the con-
trary, has been, from the days of
Druidism, one of its characteristics, which,
to Roman refinement, appeared only an idle
and importunate curiosity in the people.
87

GOING TO SCHOOL

Thiery, speaking of a later division than
the Gael, more truly observes in them a
predilection for " the cultivation of letters,
that power of imagination," in which he
sees " a trace of their Celtic origin."*

The Highlanders have been rashly pro-
nounced an illiterate people. Unacquainted
with the early history of those whose lan-
guage is unknown to their accusers, such
writers may be forgiven, but waving con-
sideration of the Bardic remains, so carefully
held in oral preservation, and the series of
illustrious teachers in the far-famed isle of
lona, for ages the conservators of Gospel
light in Western Europe, it will be admitted
that their general literary history equals
neither that of the Celts of Ireland nor the
Cumri of Wales, cognate branches of the
same great race. The Highlanders were
not, unfortunately, in a state so favourable
to the pursuits of peace and the gratification
of mental solace as that of their neighbours.
It was the attachment of the great Buchanan

* Hist. Norman Conquest.
88

GOING TO SCHOOL

to the court of King James, that gave him
opportunity to display his classical acquire-
ments and literary talent.

The first book printed in Gaelic was the
Liturgy of Dr. Carsewell, Bishop of the
Isles, in 1566, since which time typography
has steadily progressed. Dictionaries and
grammars have been long published; well-
conducted periodicals have, from time to
time, appeared, and a cheap newspaper is
now circulated. The names of Doctors Mac
Leod, Mackay, Mac Pherson, Ross, Dewar,
Armstrong, Stewart, Smith, Ewen Mac
Lachlan, and many others, would throw
lustre on the literature of any country.

In the Highlands, there are about 400,000
persons who speak Gaelic, of whom it is
calculated that 80,000 know no other. How
surprising therefore it must appear, that
among a people so careful of moral and
intellectual education, there should not exist
in any of the Scottish colleges a chair for the
qualification of future teachers in a gram-
matical knowledge of that language !
89

GOING TO SCHOOL

If, as it has been stated, in a congregation
of 500 persons, not more perhaps than fifty
would be found who could understand an
English sermon perfectly throughout, the
magnitude of such an evil is lamentably
obvious.

A spirit has frequently prevailed, strongly
opposed to the continuance of old lan-
guages, as serving to keep up inconvenient
distinctions, and at one time the Assembly
of the Scottish Kirk, the guardian of parochial
education, thought it right to interdict all
tuition through the vernacular tongue. It
was alleged by the advocates of this profound
policy, that the Gaelic was an insurmountable
barrier to all mental improvement. The
children were, therefore, taught in English,
and the lesson was acquired, and correctly
repeated too, without being at all under-
stood !

The latent nationality of some individuals,
who saw the absurdity and injustice of such
a method of instruction was roused, and
funds having been provided, in 1811, "The
90

GOING TO SCHOOL

Gaelic School Society" was established. The
plan met with eminent success, and not only
did the young joyfully attend, but cases have
frequently been reported where the aged
have gone to school, learning to read the
Scriptures along with their children and
offspring! The Venerable Assembly thus
stimulated, repealed the insane regulation,
and schoolmasters, now most properly, give
the first lessons in the mother tongue of the
children, the only one which in early life a
majority of the population can understand.

STKEL STKIKR LIGHT.

Gillies with Game.

ILLE is the Gaelic term applied to a boy,
or young man, and is used also for a
servant, being given, like the Irish buachal,
to those who have long surmounted the age
of youth, and even of manhood. ' Gille-cois,'
is a footman — * Gille-each,' a groom, &c.

The love of field sports, for which the
country is admirably adapted, is so strong in
the Highlander, that it may be said to be
innate. No greater delight can be afforded a
boy than to be allowed to accompany the
sportsmen to the hills or the rivers, and
their services are exceedingly useful, especi-
92

GILLIES WITH GAME

ally to those who are not well accustomed
to traverse the rugged and boggy muirs and
mountains.

They lead the way with sure footing
across morasses, a matter, occasionally, of
no small difficulty, nor always devoid of
danger ; they bound over the heath with
surprising agility, and in walking or running
up hill, few of the gentlemen from the south
country who go to the shooting could keep
pace with them.

In wooded districts the deer are frequently
' driven ' from their coverts, as they cannot in
such a situation be { stalked,' and lads from
ten to sixteen years of age are generally the
most efficient for the purpose, as they make
their way both bare-legged and bare-footed
through heather, whins, and underwood,
where grown-up men could not very easily
follow, and numbers are sometimes so
employed.

Possessed of much endurance and greater
temerity than those more advanced in years,
these lads will perform feats, the hazard of

95

GILLIES WITH GAME

which might well deter others from the
attempt. On precipitous and giddy preci-
pices they will pursue the game, and an
instance lately occurred of a boy, who,
at ten years of age, killed with his own
hand no less than nine foxes in one year,
on most rugged parts of the mountain of
Ben Nevis. ,

The artist has related of a Gillie, only
twelve years old, that going out alone in one
of the wildest parts of Ross-shire, for the
purpose of stalking deer, he brought down a
fine stag, which he greallached, i.e., opened
and cut up on the spot. He is now alive
and no longer a poacher ; but the rifle is his
loved companion, and he is a most excellent
shot and a worthy Highlander.

Indeed, the Highlanders are the surest of
marksmen, and their proficiency is solely the
result of their early and constant practice ;
neither Highlanders nor any others being
' naturally good shots,' as a tourist in Scotland
very simply observes. The nature of the
country leads to the frequent use of gun and
96

GILLIES WITH GAME

rod, and hence the dexterity acquired by the
natives.

A Highlander having proved himself a
most skilful stalker and an unerring shot, it
was jocularly proposed by a hunting party,
that he should shoot a deer, then in view,
through the off eye ! The Gael at once
undertook to do so, and giving a loud whistle,
the animal immediately turned round his head,
when instantly the fatal ball, true to its mark,
went through the devoted eye !

The principal figure in the print is given
from a sketch of Corie bui' 6g, nephew to
Ewen Mac Fee, the outlaw of Glenquoich,
taken in Glen Nevis, where the stag, the
brown and white, or alpine, hare, and the
birds, which he carries, were killed within two
hours, near the curious natural caves, in one
of which the Lady Glennevis, her child, and
servant, were concealed in the lamentable
1746.

The exhilarating effect of a hunting expedi-
tion, accompanied by the hardy tenants of the
hills, is acknowledged by the numerous parties

97

GILLIES WITH GAME

who leave the south for its enjoyment. The
scenes in the good old days were quite capti-
vating to strangers from their novelty and
rude grandeur.

When at peace, the lairds kept alive the
spirit of their clans by congregating the Gillies
to this sort of military exercise, and when
meditating war, it served as a pretext for a
general mustering without any suspicion of
the design being excited.

The eccentric Taylor, called * The Water
Poet,' from having been a waterman of South-
wark, went, in 1618, on a * pennilesse
pilgrimage' as far northwards as Banffshire,
and having been invited to accompany Lord
Erskine to a deer hunt, he witnessed a
meeting of noblemen, with a retinue of
fourteen or fifteen hundred, and most of
these were the hardy Gillies who drove
in the game from the recesses of the
forest of Mar, which he describes as
follows : —

" I thank my good Lord Erskine (says the poet) ; hee
commanded that I should always bee lodged in his

GILLIES WITH GAME

lodging, the kitchen being always on the side of a banke,
many kettles and pots boyling, and many spits turning
and winding with great variety of cheere, as venison
baked, sodden, rost, and stu'de ; beef, mutton, goates, kid,
hares, fish, salmon, pigeons, hens, capons, chickens,
partridge, moorcoots, heathcocks, caperkillies, and terma-
gents ; good ale, sacke, white and claret, tent (or Alle-
gant), and most potent aquaevitas.

" All these, and more than these, we had continually
in superfluous abundance, caught by faulconers, fowlers,
fishers, and brought by my lord's (Mar) tenants and
purveyres to victual our campe, which consisted of
fourteen or fifteen hundred men and horses.

" The manner of the hunting is this : five or six
hundred men doe rise early in the morning, and they doe
disperse themselves divers wayes, and seven, eight or ten
miles compass they doe bring or chase in the deer in
many heards (two, three, or four hundred in a heard) to
such or such a place as the noblemen shall appoint them;
then when the day is come, the lords and gentlemen of
their companies doe ride or go to the said places, some-
times wading up to the middles through bournes and
rivers ; and then they being come to the place, doe lye
down on the ground till those foresaid scouts, which are
called the Tinckell, do bring down the deer ; but as the
proverb says of a bad cooke, so these Tinckell men doe
lick their own fingers ; for besides their bows and arrows,
which they carry with them, wee can heare now and
then a harquebusse or musket goe off which they doe
99

GILLIES WITH GAME

seldom discharge in vaine : then after we had stayed
three houres, or thereabouts, we might perceive the deer
appeare on the hills round about us (their heads making
a shew like a wood), which being followed close by the
Tinckell, are chased down into the valley where wee lay;
then all the valley on each side being waylaid with a
hundred couple of strong Irish greyhounds, they are let
loose as occasion serves upon the hearde of deere, that
with dogs, gunnes, arrowes, durks, and daggers, in the
space of two houres, fourscore fat deere were slain,
which after are disposed of, some one way and some
another, twenty or thirty miles ; and more than
enough left for us to make merrey withall at our
rendevouse. Being come to our lodgings, there was
such baking, boyling, resting, and stewing, as if cook
Ruffian had been there to have scalded the devill in
his feathers."

Inspired with the scene, his muse burst
forth in these quaint and curious lines : —

" If sport like this can on the mountains be,

Where Phoebus' flame can never melt the snow :
Then let who list delight in vales below,

Skie-kissing mountains pleasure are for me.

What braver object can man's eyesight see,
Than noble, worshipfull, and worthy wights,
As if they were prepared for sundry fights,

Yet all in sweet society agree ?

ICO

GILLIES WITH GAME

"Through heather, moss, 'mong frogs, and bogs, and

fogs,

'Mongst craggy cliffs, and thunder-battered hills,
Hares, hinds, bucks, roes, are chaced by men and dogs,

Where two hours hunting fourscore fat-deer kills.
Lowlands, your sports are low as is your seat :
The Highland games and minds are high and great" !

STEEL STRIKE LIGHT.

101

POWDER HORN, 1672.

102

Gathering Dulse

71 I ''HIS marine production, which grows in
leaves of a deep chocolate colour, over-
spreads the sea rocks, from which it is gathered
when the tide recedes, chiefly by women and
children, who carry it home in creels, Croid-
hleagan, as represented in the illustration, or
in a smaller sort borne under the arm, called
Murlan.

The Dulse of the low country is the Gaelic
Duilasg, the Dulisc of the Irish, and the Fucus
palmatus of naturalists.

When freshly picked and washed it is an
agreeable and wholesome article of food, and
105

GATHERING DULSE

is in perfection when it has been " three times
bathed in the May flood." The Ollamh
Mhaolich, or the celebrated doctor of Mull,
held this production in high estimation, and
a saying of his is preserved, which intimates
that did the people know its excellence they
would gather it from the rocks as if their
nails were like iron. It is much improved
when intermixed with a small pungent plant
called pepper dulse the fucus primatifidus.
Some prefer it dipped in scalding water, and
we have had it roasted with a hot poker, but
when properly boiled it forms a rich, gela-
tinous sort of soup, a piece of butter being
added to it, and seasoning according to one's
means or taste, in which state it may be
preserved for some time. It is at times
boiled with milk, or a mixture of cream is
added when served up, by which it is much
improved.

Slaik is another marine plant, less abundant
than dulse, which is used in a similar manner.
The leaves are transparent, of a brown colour,
and being of so extremely delicate a texture,

106

GATHERING DULSE

they are dissolved in boiling into a beautiful
jelly, in the preparation of which some old
dames are very nice. Dulse is regularly sold
in the northern towns, and women attend
the markets from great distances, with heavy
loads in creels slung on their backs.

The severity of the climate in the High-
lands of Scotland is in many seasons exceed-
ingly great, subjecting the natives to frequent
painful privations, the poorer cottars, from
their situation, being often reduced to utter
want on the failure of their little crops. The
temperature is not so excessively low, being
mollified, especially in the islands and along
the coasts of the mainland, by the ocean ;
but the country is subject to long-continued
winds and rains, which with the early in-
setting of winter and the late advance of
spring, frustrate the labours of the industrious
farmer and leave him in sad destitution.

Of late years, and at the present time, this
is lamentably the case with the hardy popu-
lation of these parts, whose patient endurance
of their sufferings is worthy of the highest
107

GATHERING DULSE

praise, and if we do not read of such dire
calamities as famine and consequent disease
ravaging the Highlands in former ages, we
must conclude that under the patriarchal rule
of clanship the people were saved by the
chiefs, their natural protectors, from such a
fate, being provided for when in distress by
them and their more fortunate friends, and
assisted through their difficulties by the frater-
nal co-operation of the clan.

The social state of the Gael is now very
different, and it is unfortunately found that
they can no longer live with comfort, or even
without the frequent occurrence of periods
of starvation in their native land. Emigra-
tion is the political panacea for both their
own distress and the burden of their support
thereby thrown on the lairds. The solitude
of sheepwalks, hunting grounds, and forest
preserves, are already more commonly seen
than the cultivated fields and grazings of the
tenantry, and the destruction of that class,
never to be restored — " a bold peasantry,
their country's pride," — cannot be averted ;

108

GATHERING DULSE

sic tempora mutantur in the progress of society
— the Highlanders have outlived their pristine
state, and must yield to changes not to be
eluded. Tenaciously have they clung to their
fathers' institutions, delighting in the recollec-
tion of a system no longer in existence.

The wars, for which they were so useful
in the British armies, opportunely met their
wonted feelings and habits ; but even now
when these are legally subverted, they have
not been able, generally speaking, to adapt
themselves entirely to the wide alteration of
their circumstances. The philosopher and
patriot may regret this melancholy change,
but the Highlander's fate appears inevitable.

When a people are visited with want of
food, what expedients will be resorted to for
alleviation of the pains of hunger ! In the
late periods of destitution, old and young
resorted daily to the rocks of a stormy ocean
as the only source, whence they strove to
pick the means of life ; but, truly, much may
there be found to serve for human food,
and of no inferior sort. Besides the dulse
109

GATHERING DULSE

and slaik, there are wilks, limpits, mussels,
oysters, crabs, etc. Of the first an excellent
and substantial broth is made, with the addi-
tion of butter, and, at times, oatmeal. Groups
of children are often seen around a fire
kindled among the rocks, broiling the shell
fish which have just been taken from their
oozy bed, rejoicing at their humble feast, and
furnishing pleasing subjects for the artist.

STBKL STRIKE LIGHT.

\

CIRCULAR SILVER BROOCH (Pin broken).

>

Wool-Carding.

T)EFORE the application of machinery
for carding and spinning wool, these
operations were most efficiently performed
by manual labour : they are among those
primitive domestic occupations of the High-
land females which have not yet been
superseded. If, in the march of improve-
ment, carding could be accomplished with
greater expedition, it could not certainly be
done in greater perfection by artificial process.
The superiority of home-wrought materials
is well known, and the people very indus-
triously prosecute carding, spinning, weaving,

WOOL-CARDING

and wauking or fulling linen, tartan, and
other cloth, in preference to sending it to
the mill or the manufacturer, where, as old
women will say, "the heart is taken out
of it."

The sheep's fleece is divided into short, or
clothing, and long, or combing, wool. The
first varies in length from one to four
inches, and it is carded with the implements
represented in the print, which are furnished
with fine short wire teeth, thickly set on
leather on a wooden frame, by which the
material is mixed or matted, one being
held firmly on the knee. This is generally
spun soft, and is chiefly used for * cath-da '
hose and coarse thick cloth.

Long wool, which is from three to eight
inches in length, is prepared by a different
process. The carding is so called from the
' Card,' with which it is performed : for long
fleece, the Cir na-Olain, or wool-comb, is
used, of which there are, in most families,
two or three sets. These, having been
moderately heated, the one in which the
"5

WOOL-CARDING

teeth, about four inches in length, are widest
apart, is filled with the wool, and, when
sufficiently combed, it is in a similar manner
put through the second, and being thus nicely
smoothed in one direction, it is transferred to
the finest, and drawn strongly through it by
the hand, operations requiring considerable
patience and strength. When completed the
wool is carefully rolled up for spinning, and
the residue sticking in the teeth is placed
among the short wool.

Before the wool is submitted to the card or
the comb, for the poor can seldom afford to
separate the fine, it is thoroughly washed,
dried, and greased, or saturated with oil, of
which a quantity equal to a fifth, sixth, or
more, of its weight is required. As fish-oil
will not do, tallow, lard, and the butter from
ewe's milk is generally used in the West
Isles and remote parts. Long wool may be
spun in soft or hand yarn, but the latter
requires greater length of staple. It is of
course a matter of pride to have fine thread,
and this is usually called * fingering,' from the

116

WOOL-CARDING

careful process of spinning. The whole
furnishes very ingenious and useful employ-
ment for the female inmates of a Highland
farm-house during the winter nights, pro-
ducing scenes of joyous industry and content.
Cloth among primitive nations must have
been first formed of the undyed wool, or
a mixture of the natural white and black, still
common. The manufacture of wool is
supposed to have been introduced by the
Belgae, who are said to have arrived in Britain
about three hundred years A. c., and it is
evident that woollen garments were used in
the time of Julius Cassar. If the robe
interwoven with various colours which distin-
guished the renowned Bonduica, otherwise
Boadicea, was not a tartan plaid, it is difficult
to imagine of what other material it could be
formed. Of the same nature were the
dresses worn by the Gauls, described by
Diodorus, as "saga virgata, crebrisque
tesselis florum instar distincta — seu floribus
conspersas " ; and the inference is, that
their descendants, so tenacious of ancient
117

WOOL-CARDING

usages, retained the manufacture of their
progenitors.

Be that as it may, tartan, as known in
later times, may be indisputably held to be
an original Scottish production, and these
beautiful stuffs, now so popular, were until
recent years peculiar to the northern portion
of the kingdom. The fabrics of these
manufactures are often exceedingly good in
material and design, and the old webs are far
from inferior to those of the present day. A
plaid of elegant pattern has been obligingly
submitted to us by Mrs. Mackintosh, of
Stephen's Green, Dublin, a lady of the family
of Mac Pherson of Crubin in Badenach.
The colours and texture are very fine, and
there is a considerable intermixture of silk.
She states, that when placed on the shoulders
of her grand-daughter, it is the seventh
generation by whom it has been worn ; and,
although thus more than two hundred years
old, it is still in good condition, but rather
threadbare. It is of the hard manufacture,
and believed to have been the veritable

118

WOOLCARDING

tartan worn by her ancestors, the clan
Mhuirich ; having been submitted, with other
specimens, to George IV. and the Emperor
Alexander, who wished to possess Highland
costumes, it was the pattern which they
selected. Several remains of garments worn
by Prince Charles and others, in 1745, and
before that period, have likewise come under
our observation, which display very fine
thread, and colours which are still vivid.

The subject is given from an aged woman
called Kirsty Mac Cail, the wife of an old
Islesman, who adheres to the fashion of a
century back, and the figure is seen in almost
the same dress which the old dame wore
when she became a guidwife.

The square piece of tartan, worn over the
shoulders in manner of a shawl, is the
Tonnag ; the covering of the head, assumed
on marriage, is called Breid, and consists of
a square of fine linen, neatly fastened round
the head, and hanging down behind. She is
busily occupied in carding, as depicted, and,
at the time the sketch was taken, she was
119

WOOL-CARDING

relating to her attentive great-grandchild, with
characteristic earnestness, Gaelic traditions of
other years : of raids and reivers of bygone
days, and rencontres of the red-coats and the
Gael ; thus handing down, with oral precision,
those stirring details of her country's history,
too frequently overlooked by the general
writer. The abode of this almost centenarian
is at Balme, Bunawe, the property of Camp-
bell of Monzie, situated on the borders of
Loch Etive, near the old castle of Dunstaff-
nage, long the residence of royalty, but now
in unarrested ruin, although its brightly
polished keys are often proudly displayed
at the girdle of its hereditary keeper. Nearer
to the humble cottage of Mac Cail stand the
noble ruins of Ardchattan Priory, also suffered
to fall into utter decay, with its monuments
and tombstones, so highly interesting as relics
of remote antiquity, and curious specimens of
sculptural art. Loch Etive is scarcely inferior
in romantic beauty to any salt-water lake
throughout the Highlands.

To no department of national industry has

120

WOOL-CARDING

more sedulous attention been devoted than to
the wool trade and its manufacture. The
Acts of Parliament on the subject are
exceedingly numerous, and no small anxiety
was at times manifested for the proper
formation of Cards, which, it was complained,
were often made of old leather. It is a
curious evidence of the estimation in which
this * staple of England ' was held by the
British legislature, that in the House of
Peers, the most distinguished seat retains
its ancient name and impressive form of a
Wool Sack.

SKIAN DHU WORN BY PRINCE CHARLIE.

HIGHLAND TARGE OF WOOD,
Covered with Leather and studded with Nailheads.

Angling.

/T~"VHIS sport has been denounced as a cruel,
unsocial, and foolish amusement, by
many eminent writers — Johnson, Byron, and
others ; but opposed to their opinion we have
that of Walton, the prince of anglers, a man
of gentle and amiable nature, of Dr. Paley,
Sir Humphrey Davy, and a host of the distin-
guished and good. Certain, however, it is,
that sensitive minds revolt at a pastime by
which fish, guiltless of committing any injury,
as in the case of many land animals, are
ensnared and killed whilst harmlessly playing
in their native element. The sport may be
125

ANGLING

•

well defended ; but the unfeeling argument
that neither the bait nor the fish have the sen-
sation of pain must be reprobated.

No creature is exposed so much to the
attacks of man as the inoffensive salmon. If
it escapes the draught, stake, and bag nets in
the sea and lower stream, it is intercepted in
ascending by the impassable cruives, and
should it get upwards during the * Saturday
slap,' when they are opened from twelve
o'clock at night until twelve next night, the
devoted fish is pursued by the skilful angler
with his hook, and the poacher with his
deadly trident. Indeed, so greatly have
salmon decreased in the Scottish rivers, as
anglers are well aware, that the Duke of
Sutherland has just ordered them a year of
jubilee throughout his extensive northern
estates; and if other proprietors do not
imitate so judicious an example, this will
assuredly in time become one of the rarer
breeds of fish.

The salmon is called Bradan by the High-
landers, and a trout is termed Breac, from its
126

ANGLING

spots; and he who angles is the lasgair,
literally the fisherman.

The salmon, although properly a sea-fish,
is never caught afar off, but on the coasts
adjacent to the mouths of rivers. They are
impelled to forsake this element periodically,
to get rid of vermin which attach themselves
to the sides under the fins ; but ere they leave
the streams, other parasites, in the form of
worms, fix themselves about the gills. The
salmon possess the wonderful instinct of un-
deviatingly returning to the river in which
they were spawned; but some cases have
occurred in which, after floods, they have
mistaken their native stream, and been found
in others, being easily known by experienced
fishers.

In making their way to the upper
streams for the purpose of depositing their
spawn, they encounter obstacles which it is
surprising they surmount. After urging a
passage for many miles along the rocky
channel of a rapid stream, a perpendicular
waterfall may present to the now greatly
127

ANGLING

enfeebled fish, a formidable impediment to
their farther progress. The Keith, a fall
on the river Erich, in Perthshire, is a direct
down pour of upwards of thirteen, feet,
the water rushing through a gap of the
width of a few feet only. In seasons of
drought, the channel is so ebb, that the
salmon cannot attempt the necessary leap,
and they may be seen in the pool below,
waiting, in shoals two or three deep, the
swelling of the waters. When the rain
produces a sufficient stream, the salmon then
essay the arduous task, and often do they leap
before they get fairly a head, the falling water
dashing them back; but according to the
height, they seem to calculate the requisite
force, and all at last get over the cascade.
These falls are called easan in the Highlands,
and linn in the Low Country, which is the
Gaelic for the pool which they form. They
occur on almost every stream, and it is
amusing to witness a shoal of salmon thus
actively engaged. When the spawning season
is over, the fish pass down to the sea in a state
128

ANGLING

of such weakness as scarcely to be able to
swim, even with the stream.

It is needless to give any particular descrip-
tion oi the tackle used in this sport, the least
expensive and perhaps the most easily acquired
of all others. The rod and line are known
to almost every one ; the manner of using
them is, like all other accomplishments,
acquired by practice. An angler must have
a knowledge of the flies which are in exist-
ence at the different seasons ; and those found
about particular streams, and the proper mode
of busking artificial ones on the hook, requires
considerable skill.

No rivers are better adapted for the enjoy-
ment of nature and this exhilarating and
health-giving amusement than those of the
Highlands. The Gael, from early infancy,
betake themselves to angling, and at an early
age become such adepts, that they will some-
times hook and land salmon almost as big as
themselves. Boys of ten or twelve years of
age have been known, in favourable streams,
to kill upwards of a hundred good trout in
129

ANGLING

one day ; and Coll, son of Mac Donald of
Inch, a youth equally expert with his gun as
with his rod, has taken in the Spean, which
flows from Loch Laggan, six fine salmon
before breakfast.

As the breed of salmon decreases, so also
does the size. The largest we recollect of
late was one caught two years ago in the Tay,
which weighed forty-five pounds ; but in that
river, which of all others in Scotland has pro-
duced those of greatest weight, there have
been taken beautiful fish of sixty and even
seventy pounds. Next to the majestic Tay,
in this respect, ranks the beautiful Tweed.

Before the expedient of preserving them in
ice was adopted, salmon were generally boiled
and pickled; the Highlander kippers them,
which is performed by cutting them open,
salting and drying them over wood or turf
fires, and in this state they are to him a con-
venient provision, as the bacon is to the Eng-
lishman.

130

HIGHLAND TARGB OF WOOD,
- Covered with Leather and studded with Nailheads.

Deer-Stalking

/T^HIS is the most notable of all field-
sports, as regards the majestic character
of the prey, and its keenness of instinct, the
qualities necessary for the hunter, and the
grandeur of the scenery where he pursues his
game. The deer, notwithstanding its great
strength and fleetness, is an extremely shy
and solitary animal, and so vigilantly does it
guard against the approach of man, that it
is a matter of the greatest difficulty to get
within reach of shot. The deer possesses the
keenest of eyes, and its olfactory powers are
surprising ; hence it is scarcely possible to
132

DEER-STALKING

advance, especially on the weather side, the
animal never, but from necessity, going
' down the wind,' without giving alarm, while
still perhaps at an unseen distance.

It is further remarkable of the deer, that
in a herd there is always a stag of com-
manding age and size, which takes the van,
and is indeed the leader, the whole following
his movements, and taking warning of danger
from him. The sportsman must, therefore,
have recourse to the most skilful manoeuvring
to get within reach of his game, with which
he has to deal much in the way of the red
warriors of America, adopting the same
tactics to entrap his prey as the Indian prac-
tises to surprise his enemy. Like him, also,
he must possess the necessary qualities for
the arduous task : energy — perseverance —
endurance of bodily fatigue and privation-
quickness of sight, and precision of aim. The
Highland deer-hunter will have to go through
numberless fatigues ; wading through bogs
and streams, swimming rivers, clambering
among rugged mountains, lying prostrate for
135

DEER-STALKING

hours, advancing on hands and knees — a
movement in sporting parlance called ealadh
— and even creeping like a snake among the
lank heather, are some of the pleasures of
this manly recreation. A bivouac on the
naked heath after a day spent in the above
evolutions, and a frugal breakfast of oatcake
and water, happily, at times qualified by a
glass of whiskey, are not to be reckoned
hardships. When the deer are discovered,
the softened exclamation Eid, passes quickly
along the company.

There is not, throughout the Highlands,
a man who possesses a superiority in every
qualification required in a hunter of the hills
to John Mac Rae, gamekeeper to Grant of
Glenmoriston, in Inverness-shire, and from a
sketch of this worthy the principal figure in
the print is taken.

The stealthy manner in which the deer is
slain is called Stalking ; but although a
covert attack, resembling the method used
by illegal trespassers, is thus made on the
game, which is incompatible with the rules
136

DEERSTALKING

of the open chase, it must in nowise be
confounded with poaching. The country
does not permit the deer to be followed as
on the gentle uplands in the southern por-
tion of the kingdom, with the exhilarating
attendants of hound and horn.

When hunting was necessarily pursued for
the supply of food, or, in accordance with
a Gaelic practice, to honour the visits of
strangers, it was on a scale which gave it
the aspect of a military campaign. The
Scottish monarchs frequently retired from
the cares of royalty to enjoy the chase in
their Highland dominions ; and our most
gracious Queen, like the unhappy Mary of
Scotland, evinces a partiality for this ' royal
divertisement.'

This ancient mode of hunting was per-
formed by surrounding a large extent of
country by numbers of men, who, at a signal,
advanced slowly with loud shouting, and by
these means roused the game, and drove the
whole towards a certain point, where the
animals were shot or cut down by the broad-
137

DEER-STALKING

sword. This extensive battue is not in exact
accordance with the modern rules ; but it had
formerly necessity in its favour, and it is so
agreeable to a Highlander's habits, that it is
not yet abandoned when such a circumstance
occurs as a royal visit. It is called Timchioll
na Sealg, or the Circuit of Hunting. Curious
accounts are preserved by olden chroniclers
of several of these magnificent huntings,
which have been made the subject of an
entertaining article in the ' United Service
Magazine ' for November, 1 844.

At that held in honour of Queen Mary,
1563, there were collected, besides fallow and
roe, 2000 red deer, of which more than 360
were killed. In another of these ' hunting
matches,' given by the Earl of Athol to King
James V., there fell " thirty score hart and
hynd, with other small beasts, as roe, wolf,
fox, and wild cats."

Taylor, an English writer, called the Water-
Poet, accompanied Lord Erskine, ancestor of
the Earl of Mar, to the Highlands of Aber-
deenshire, where he witnessed a splendid deer
138

DEER-STALKING

hunt, with the subsequent banquet, and gives
a very particular detail of the whole pro-
ceedings, in quaint prose and quainter verse.
The camp contained 1400 or 1500 men, who
were sumptuously regaled.

"The modern method of deer-stalking, though not
carried out with such semi-barbaric display, has very
largely increased during the last half of the nineteenth
century. This is more strikingly illustrated when we
state that the deer-forests of Scotland cover a space of
over two million square acres. These are chiefly rented
by English noblemen, wealthy merchants, or American
millionaires. Though called deer-forests in Scotland,
there is really now little wood in them. They chiefly
consist of large tracts of ground, lofty mountains,
pasture, heather, moorland, and sheltered corries.
These vast solitudes are supposed to be more favourable
for the purpose of breeding the deer and for sport,
if other game, sheep and cattle, are excluded. It is
a debatable point whether the extension of these
forests has done much to displace the crofters and
sheep in the Highlands. The great deer-forests of
Scotland are nearly all in the counties of Aberdeen,
Sutherland, Ross, Argyll, Perth, and Inverness."

As may be supposed, the English terms
of venery are not in use among the High-
139

DEER-STALKING

landers. A deer is called Fiadh, a male roe
Boc, a female, Earb, and Earbag, the dimi-
nutive, is usually applied to a fawn. The
young at six months of age is called Laogh,
a calf. Mang or fiadh 6g will correspond
with the English term brocket ; when the
animal is three years old, it acquires the
name Damh, which it retains until it is five,
and is afterwards called Lan-damh, a full
stag. The same terms are applied to the
roe, except that after the third year the
female obtains the name of Eilid.

The Antlers are called Cabar, from which
the deer is frequently called Cabarach. A
male deer at the age of one year has knobs,
or cnapan, on his forehead and small brow
antlers appear. The horns are shed annually,
and the new-attain their full growth in three
months, when a velvet-like coat, called
Mogan, which covers them at first, drops
off. The horns are the perquisites of the
gamekeeper, and they are valuable, but are
so seldom found in comparison with the
numbers which are cast, that it has often
140

DEER-STALKING

excited surprise. From so many being found
in lakes and marshes, it is supposed that
the animal resorts to these places at the
time the horn begins to get loose.

The size of the stag depends on the
supply of pasturage in the range he in-
habits : eighteen or twenty stone is the
average weight; but instances have occurred
of their weighing thirty. The longevity of
the deer is very great. By a Gaelic Rann,
or verse, it is said to be three times the
age of a man, and cases have occurred which
fully verify the calculation.

PRINCE CHARLIE'S

FLINTLOCK DOUBLE-BARRELLED PISTOL
(Left Side).

141

142

Spinning with the Distaff.

/TT^HE art of forming threads from wool,
•*• flax, cotton or other material, was
practised in the most early ages. In the
sculptures of ancient Egypt are representations
of females spinning, who use the spindle and
distaff in precisely the same manner as repre-
sented in the illustrative print; and in the
Bible record, frequent allusion is made to
this manual occupation, as one of the most
excellent of female qualifications. In Exodus
xxxv. 26, the Jewish women are extolled for
their diligence and skill in spinning ; and in
that beautiful book, the Proverbs xxxi. 13, a
us

SPINNING WITH THE DISTAFF

strong recommendation of a good wife is that
" she seeketh wool and flax, and worketh
willingly with her hands." It is the most
natural expedient that could have been
adopted for the combination of fibres, and
the primitive operation continues in practice
among the inhabitants of our Celtic countries,
and in the rural districts of the continental
nations.

The Dealgan, or Spindle, the Whorl of the
low country, is a piece of hard wood, round,
smooth, and tapering at one end to a small
point, the thicker end being downwards,
which serves to give it sufficient impetus to
spin round. The whorl, or whirling part,
is, however, often composed of a circular bit
of wood, sometimes even of bone or ivory,
through which the spindle is thrust, fixing
it near the lower end. The Fearsaid differs
from the Dealgan in being formed like a
slender cone of such weight as to maintain a
proper velocity.

The Cuigeil or Distaff, called Kogel by the
Welsh, is the staff, around the top of which
146

SPINNING WITH THE DISTAFF

is wrapped the material to be spun, and it
is kept upright at the side by being fixed in
the string or belt, fastened around the waist.
This part is frequently carved, as the dirk
hilts are, with tracery, much similar to the
implements used by the Indian tribes, and
they are preserved for generations. It
appears that this part of the simple apparatus
was often held in the hand, and the spindle
was twirled on the ground, on which the
women were seated, in the same manner as
children spin their tops ; but by a simple
noose which prevents the thread from un-
winding, the fearsaid, or spindle, can be
suspended so that the spinner may work
while standing or walking, thus gaining a
greater length of thread. Having set it in
motion by the fingers and thumb, or a smart
roll against the thigh, the fibres which have
been attached to the small end are twisted
into thread of the requisite fineness, and the
spinner continues to draw off proportionate
supplies until a convenient length is obtained,
when she winds it around the thicker part
147

SPINNING WITH THE DISTAFF

of the spindle, repeating the operation and
removing the balls of worsted or thread until
the task is completed. When the spindle
was worked on the ground and rapidly
whirling, the spinner was enabled to make
it wind up the thread by bending it with
the finger to right angles with the spindle,
and when it was thus wound up, the spinning
was recommenced without stopping, a process
requiring the greatest dexterity.

The great, or one thread wheel, was the
first improvement on this tedious occupation.
By this the spindle is worked horizontally,
the end, to which the thread is attached,
projecting beyond its frame. The wheel
being driven quickly round, which gives
great velocity to the spindle ; as it continues
to revolve, the spinner goes backwards,
supplying the wool, which is not put on a
distaff, but held in the hand or affixed to
the side ; and when a sufficient line of thread
is formed, it is either wound up in the manner
above described, or allowed to wind itself
up as the person slowly walks towards the
148

SPINNING WITH THE DISTAFF

wheel. Ardess and toilsome as these modes
of spinning may appear, they require an
attention and dexterity which nothing but
long and careful practice can produce.

The Saxon, or small wheel, for spinning
linen thread, common elsewhere for house-
hold use, is so little known in the Highlands,
that it is unnecessary to say more respect-
ing it.

By these methods of spinning one thread
only is formed, and when two or more are to
be united, so many balls are put in a basket
and wound into one as in the first operation,
or an instrument is used for the purpose,
called Caitir-leasg, or Catti-suirig.

The simple reel on which the threads are
wound preparatory to making them into
iornan or hanks, is represented in the figure
carding wool in Number III.

.The picture was made from a sketch taken
in Strathglas, Inverness-shire, a romantic glen
near the baronial castle of the Chisholm.
The costume of these damsels is such as is
commonly worn by Highland girls in these
149

SPINNING WITH THE DISTAFF

days — rather modern, especially the cap.
The short upper frock, called in parts of
the low country, a wrapper, is the Bedagoun
of the Gael, a term derived, it is presumed,
with the garment from the Saxon. The want
of stockings or shoes is no privation to the
Highland fair sex, for in going to church or
elsewhere, when it is becoming to wear them,
it is done with reluctance, and in returning
they will often be seen to sit down by the
way and denude themselves of such un-
pleasant restraint.

The cottage walls are formed partly of turf
and stone, a very usual mode of building, and
the roof is thatched with straw. The * Hake '
on which the fish are hung, is a usual appen-
dage to the cottager's house, except in the
more inland parts, where from the want of
conveyance, that excellent food cannot readily
be procured.

The horse-shoe is placed over the door to
prevent the effects of witchcraft or intrusion
of the Sithichean, or fairies, who, although
they are called ' the good people,' no High-
150

w

w\

SPINNING WITH THE DISTAFF

m

II

lander wishes in any way to encounter. This
potent preservative is also affixed to the masts
of boats and ships to save them from being
wrecked by malevolent spirits ; but the
superstition is not confined to the Gael,
it is prevalent among the higher civilized
English; and we have seen the talisman at
the threshold of more than one house, even
in London.

WATCH CARRIED BY PRINCE CHARLIE.

15*

Herring Fishery.

' I VHIS branch of our national commerce,
the source of great wealth, gives em-
ployment to many thousands, and affords a
cheap and excellent food to millions.

The name of this prolific and useful fish
is derived from the German Heer, an army,
a term descriptive of the prodigious numbers
in which they appear ; in Gaelic it is called
Sgadan.

The shoal which proceeds from Iceland,
occupies an extent of surface equal to that
of Great Britain and Ireland. It reaches the
shores of these kingdoms about the middle
152

HERRING FISHERY

of June, and dividing, one division proceeds
southwards by the east coast, as far as Great
Yarmouth, while the other passes by the
Hebrides and west coast of Scotland, to
Ireland and Wales. They are in full roe
until the end of June, and are in good con-
dition until the beginning of winter, when
they begin to deposit their spawn and dis-
appear from the southern seas, retiring, it
is supposed, to their native haunts in the
polar ocean.

The Dutch have obtained the credit of
being the first to engage in the herring
fishing, and they have for centuries enjoyed
the best part of it ; but there is good reason
to believe that the inhabitants of Britain had
devoted their attention to it at an earlier
period. From Anderson's " History of Com-
merce," it appears that traders from the
Netherlands resorted to Scotland in 836, for
the purchase of salted fish ; and in the
" Annals of Batavia," it is recorded that
the Scots were accustomed to sell their her-
rings there in the ninth century, a traffic

HERRING FISHERY

which led to a commercial alliance, which
long subsisted, between the two countries.
The Dutch, who date their regular fishing
from 1163, nevertheless, appear to have
acquired a sort of monopoly of the herring
fishery, while it became much neglected by
the Scots. To revive this trade, King James
III., considering it " expedient for the com-
mon good of the realm, and great increase
of riches," enacted, in 1471, that certain
lords, spiritual and temporal, and burghs,
should make or procure "ships, busses,
and other pink boats, with nets, etc., for
fishing." This was confirmed by James IV.,
when the burghs were ordered to provide
ships and boats of not less than twenty
tons, with nets and all other necessaries,
according to the substance of each burgh.
Subsequently the attempt was made to
establish towns in the Highlands for the
promotion of fishing, which after many
years' perseverance by the " Undertakers,"
or barons and gentlemen, empowered for
the purpose, in the island of Lewes, was
156

^

HERRING FISHERY

ultimately frustrated by the opposition of
the Highlanders.

It has been remarked by the author of
" Caledonia," that no encouragement has in-
duced the Celtic race, in Ireland, Wales, or
Scotland, to enter with spirit into the fisheries,
for which their coasts are so favourable ; the
herring is, however, so desultory in its habits,
that the Highlanders may be unjustly blamed,
for sometimes a loch, or tract of coast, will
be entirely deserted for years ; neither does
it appear that in other portions of the empire
have even bounties and privileges produced
greater enterprise. The herring fishery has
been regulated by many Acts of the Legis-
lature ; but the first bounty on the expor-
tation of herrings was granted by the Scottish
parliament, in 1705.

The Highland Society of Scotland, with
characteristic patriotism, charged itself with
the duty of framing a bill for the revival of
this important branch of employment, which
was passed in 1808, and by the encourage-
ment given by subsequent regulations, and
15?

HERRING FISHERY

the services of the Board for Fisheries, etc.,
it has since been prosecuted with spirit.

The art of curing herrings is supposed to
have been discovered by William Beukelings,
a Dutchman, who died in 1397 ; but there
is reason to believe that he was only an im-
prover on the art, for from 1306 to 1360,
the herring fair and fishery of Yarmouth
formed a great branch of its trade ; and, in
1313, a ship of Lynn, a neighbouring town,
was captured, which had been fishing for
herrings on the Norwegian coast.

The herrings of the west coast are not so
plentiful, but are much superior to those of
the east ; and, as the season commences, the
Highlanders pass round in great numbers,
when the town of Wick, in Caithness, the
most noted place of resort, presents a highly
animated appearance. When multitudes of
boats from both north and south are col-
lected, the scene is singular and pleasing.
In the northern latitudes, a dim twilight con-
tinues during the mid-summer nights, and
the boats are often within hail of each other.
158

HERRING FISHERY

The stillness is broken by the occasional
mirth of the crews, or the plaintive lorrams,
or boat songs of the West Highlanders,
whose thoughts are of their distant home
and the relatives and friends they have there
left.

When the boats arrive with their cargoes,
which are reckoned by crans, or barrelfuls,
the fish to be cured have the entrails taken
out by a particular nip, leaving the melt and
roe ; but they are not opened, as several of
the most esteemed Encyclopedias describe ;
they are then put into a strong brine, where
they are allowed to remain from twelve to
sixteen hours, and when taken out are
well drained, and packed closely on their
backs, in a circular form, the cooper
finishing the process by putting in the
heads of the barrels very tightly. This is
called the White pickle. Red herrings must
be kept in the salt water twenty-four hours,
they are then strung by the head on wooden
spits, and placed, to the number of many
thousands, in chimneys, where brushwood, or

HERRING FISHERY

turf, is kindled on the floor, and managed
so as to give a great deal of smoke without
flame, from which is derived their peculiar
flavour and colour. They are generally dry
in about twenty-four hours, when they are
put into barrels for keeping. These barrels
will hold from 500 to 800 fish.

The sketch was taken on the side of Loch
nan Uagh, in Arisaig, and the male figure
is that of a man not more experienced as a
fisher than notorious as a smuggler ; and it is
said that in barrels, such as represented, he
has at times contrived to convey without
detection, a keg of good poit du', or whiskey,
concealed among the fish. A curious cir-
cumstance had occurred at the time the
artist made his drawing. The fishermen,
having one night caught a young whale,
the old one making its appearance, attacked
the boats furiously, and continued in the loch
for some days, so that without harpoons or
other weapons they could not venture on
an attack. The group represents an idle
peasantry, in their usual costume, having

160

HERRING FISHERY

at the time no avocation to withdraw them
from ' a friendly crack ' about the country
news.

It is matter of just complaint that the
Dutch should be allowed to fish so near the
coasts, and drive a lucrative trade on our
very shores ; it indicates a laxity in the en-
forcement of the international laws, which
regulate the mutual rights of different
countries.

PIN HEAD.

161

CRUSIE OR OIL LAMP WITH IRON STAND.

162

Robbing an Eagle's Nest.

f I VHE Eagle, sacred to Jove, is called
lolair, by the Highlanders, as a generic
name, but a common designation is Fioreun,
a term composed of Fior, perfect, true, and
Eun, a bird, and it well merits such a title of
distinction, holding the first rank among
birds, as the lion does among quadrupeds.

The towering flight of the eagle has been
often alluded to with admiration ; in the
height to which he soars he is frequently lost
to view; yet, from this altitude, he appears,
by his extraordinary visual powers, to discover
his prey, on which he descends with amazing
165

ROBBING AN EAGLE'S NEST

rapidity. When, however, the bird is flying
low, the speed is not remarkably great;
and notwithstanding his surprising strength,
majestic mien, and expanse of wing, the act
of rising from the ground is accomplished
with difficulty.

This noblest of British birds is so keenly
pursued as a destroyer of game, that they
have, in general, much decreased; yet, it is
observable, that in those parts of the High-
lands where the population has been removed,
it has been favourable to the increase of the
lolairean, and game on which they prey has
become, consequently, scarce ; the lambs of
the solitary shepherd, more particularly, afford-
ing them a frequent and favourite repast.

The districts of Arisaig, Muidart, and
Morar, on the Western coast of Inverness-
shire, still known by the natives as ' the
country of Clan Rannald,' though now in
possession of the stranger, are rather famed
for the stock of these monarchs of the
feathered race ; and in the former locality,
the interesting circumstance took place which
1 66

ROBBING AN EAGLE'S NEST

forms the subject of the accompanying print,
and which the young man to whom it
occurred himself related to the artist. On
the summit and ledges of its inaccessible
crags, the eagle rears its young, and may be
observed looking abroad, fearless of molesta-
tion, searching with its piercing eyes the lake
and the plains, whence it so often, to the
shepherd's grief, bears off its prey.

The anecdote was thus detailed : — Having
repeatedly lost his lambs, a watch was care-
fully set, and the lawless 'lifter' was detected
by the Buachail, or herdsman, in the very
act — a splendid eagle, seizing a lambkin, bore
it away, high in mid air to feed its young.
The nest was built in the cliff of a perpen-
dicular rock, on the north side of Loch nan
uagh, or Lake of the caves, noted as the place
where Prince Charles landed, in the rising of
1745. The eyrie was thus discovered; but a
height of two hundred feet from the surface
of the lake seemed to preclude the shepherd
from all modes of assault. Determined to
succeed, the fearless Celt formed the resolution
167

ROBBING AN EAGLE'S NEST

of descending from above, as practised by the
fowlers in the island of St. Kilda and the
North Isles, and slung himself by a rope over
the dizzy steep. He had reached the nest,
where lay his lamb, the provender for two
voracious eaglets, when suddenly he was
pounced on by the old birds, arrived with a
fresh supply. The peril of his situation may
be conceived ; on plain ground the fierce
encounter with two such infuriated assailants
would have been sufficiently trying, but in
his position it was appalling. He defended
himself long from their furious attacks, and
at last succeeded in wounding both with
his sgian-dubh ; when, fastening to his girdle
the eaglets and the relics of the lamb, with the
knife in his mouth, ready for further defence,
he warped himself up, and fortunately reached
the summit, bleeding and quite exhausted!
A similar exploit is recorded as having taken
place in the province of Connaught, Ireland ;
but in this case the hero was let down the
precipice in a basket, which gave him a great
advantage over the Highlander; yet he was
1 68

ROBBING AN EAGLE'S NEST

glad to escape, after wounding one of the
eagles, without accomplishing his object.

The plunder which eagles may amass is
astonishing, both from its quantity and variety,
and their predacious habits require an extended
range : from their power of wing and talons,
and the deadly stroke of beak, none of the
weaker animals can make defence. Naturalists
have at the same time observed, that they do
not indulge in wanton destruction, are inclined
to solitude, and roam only in search of food.
It is told of a gentleman in Strathspey, near
whose residence a couple of large eagles had
taken up their abode, that if, on the arrival of
guests or otherwise, he was in want of pro-
vision, he sent to the eyrie of his providers,
where hares, rabbits, poultry, game, and lambs
were procured. Salmon and trout might even
be found among the multifarious products of
the forage, for it is known that they will
watch by the breeding fords of the fish, and
destroy numbers when weakly and intent on
forming the beds for their spawn; but
instances are on record where the salmon has
169

ROBBING AN EAGLE'S NEST

destroyed the eagle, by carrying it under
water, when incapable of extricating his deep
sunk talons, and having his plumage drenched
in the stream.

A Highlander, who had found out a nest
with young, contrived, by fixing rings around
the eaglets' throats, to restrict their appetite,
to live sumptuously, by carrying away, daily,
the best provision which the old eagles had
collected for their brood. In some countries
young eagles are trained to the chase.

The voracity of the eagle sometimes equals
that of the vulture, and it is not unusual to
find the bird so gorged over a carcase, that,
unable to get away, it is overtaken and killed.
It lives to a very old age, being known
to have reached considerably upwards of a
century.

As the eagle is reckoned the most noble
bearing in heraldry, so it affords the mark of
distinction among the Gael. By the Ossianic
compositions, we learn that a pinion distin-
guished the heroes of old. The Highlander
carries one feather in his bonnet, the Duine-
170

ROBBING AN EAGLE'S NEST

uasal, or higher order, display two, and the
chief is known by bearing three. Had the
enterprise of Prince Charles been successful,
it is said that a Celtic order of the mountain
eagle was to have been instituted.

WOODEN DRINKING VESSEL WITH HANDLES.

171

so

Fording a River

f I VHE streams which descend from a
mountainous country are difficult to
be passed, and when swollen it is often
impossible for a considerable time to get
across them, where no bridges have been
erected. Channels, which in summer are
almost dry, become raging torrents during
winter, and continue full until the summer
is advanced, from the melting of the snow
in the mountain hollows.

The heavy falls of rain, also, which
frequently take place, bring down the waters
suddenly as to cause great damage, and
172

FORDING A RIVER

they rush onwards with such rapidity that
instances are recorded of loss of life from
being surprised by the impetuous flood ; but
a Highlander can distinguish the peculiar
noise of the coming stream before it emerges
from the mountains.

Water spouts occasionally burst in the
hills, when trees, corn, cattle, and houses,
are carried away, gravel and stones of
enormous size being left on the fertile
haughs, or meadow land ; and sometimes a
new channel is formed for the stream, and
where in such case it is the march or boun-
dary of estates, disputes have arisen as to
the proprietorship of the dissevered portion
of land.

On the broader rivers, where boats
are used, they have not unfrequently
been swamped in the passage, and this was
more particularly the case in the olden
time, when Curraghs, or small vessels con-
structed of hides, stretched on a wicker
frame work, or boats formed from the
massive trunks of trees were used, as was
175

FORDING A RIVER

the case within memory of man in
Strathglas.

An ingenious contrivance is to be seen
at the castle of Abergeldie,1 in Braemar,
where the passenger takes himself across
the Dee in a basket, or ' cradle,' suspended
from a rope passed from each bank of the
river; stilts are, also, sometimes used where
the bottom is not rocky and uneven, which
seems a practice introduced from the south,
where it is quite common; but it being
necessary for the Highlanders to ford the
streams without artificial assistance, great
strength, fortitude, and particular skill, are
required to do so with safety.

1 While the 'cradle ' at Abergeldie existed until recently,
much of the danger and romance which survive in the
story and legends of the Highlands in connection with
the fords and ferries by which the 'crossing of the stream '
was effected has been swept away by the onward march
of civilization. Many of those ferries, deep and rapid
rivers, and innumerable smaller streams, subject to
frequent and sudden floods or ' spates,' have long since
been provided with the requisite bridges and necessary
roads leading thereto, chiefly provided for by statute
176

FORDING A RIVER

i

If the river is very rapid, the stones and
pebbles are rolled violently along its rugged
bed, which renders the passage more dan-
gerous; and as a means of strengthening
his resistance to the water, the Highlander
will carry a heavy stone in his plaid as
ballast ; but when two are in company, they
are enabled by their joint energies to ford
deep and strong rivers, by grasping each
other at arms' -length and using a strong
stick in the other hand as a support. If
the ford admits it, the more who are thus
locked together, * gualibh ri cheile,' or shoulder
to shoulder, as it is expressed, so much the

labour. The first result of this was the substitution of
carts and other wheeled vehicles instead of ponies for
the internal commercial intercourse of the people, and
consequently partial disuse of the 'fords.' In more
recent times still, the utilitarian spirit of the age has
provided, either at the public expense or by private
generosity, bridges almost wherever they were required.
Thus all the glamour and mystery connected with
nearly every fordable Highland stream will henceforth
only exist as legends and traditions preserved in local
history.

177

FORDING A RIVER

better, although their confidence often exposes
parties to great danger.

A company returning from a funeral in
Strathglas, resolved to ford the river, a
practice which the more spirited Highlanders
prefer, even when a bridge is nigh. It was
then greatly swollen, or in a ' spate,' and
they arranged themselves as usual with the
strongest men towards the stream ; but when
they reached the middle, so insecure was
their footing, that, afraid to proceed, and
unable to retreat, they came to a stand still.

Those who had accompanied them to the
water, and the others, who, having passed
round by the bridge and awaited their
landing, beheld in anguish their imminent
and helpless situation, as they stood in the
raging flood, which every moment threatened
to carry them off.

The cries of the friends of Ian mor, who
stemmed the torrent, were, that he should
loose hold of his neighbour, and seek to
save his own life : advice to which the
generous Celt would give no ear. Some of
178

?,«* FORDING A RIVER

the weaker occasionally gave way, but were
upheld by their companions : and a short,
thick-set fellow, Cailain dubh, or dark Colin,
who flanked the lower end of the line, having
fastened a heavy stone across his shoulders
with the rope that had been used to lower
the coffin, firmly kept his feet, until, towards
nightfall, by cautious steps, they all got
safely over!

Ian mor's brogs, by the effect of the
gravel and water, had lost their soles
and worked up to his knees; but he
and his friends were becomingly thankful
that the coffin rope, to which they owed
their salvation, had been brought with
them.

The Spean, through which the figure in
the illustration is passing, discharges in a
rapid stream a great body of water, and
as the fords in most places are narrow,
and bordered by pools of great depth, it
is a very dangerous river to those who
may attempt its passage. Some years ago
a party, consisting of Mr. Eraser, sheriff
179

FORDING A RIVER

of Fort William, Mr. Mac Donald, of
Inch, and their ladies, with the author of
these illustrations, were nearly lost by
fording it in the night. Since this mishap,
the place has been pointed out as glac an
t-Siorra, ' the sheriff's pass.'

The figure of the Highlander here repre-
sented is taken from an old but sturdy fellow,
called Mac Gillie Mhantich, and it is very
usual to ford the river in this manner; a
plaid being put around the woman, the ends
are taken over the neck of the man, who, pro-
vided with a stout staff, or as here shown, the
Cromag, or Crook, makes his way, with the
female on his back, steadily through his watery
path. When there are two men, by grasping
each other as before described, a person can
sit securely between them, the arms being
put around their necks. This way is more
particularly suited to females in delicate
health.

There is a Gaelic rann, or verse, which
celebrates the most fearless forders of their
native streams in these words :—
180

FORDING A RIVER

u Mac Garranich, Mac Glasich's, Mac Uthich,
Triur 's fhear a chuireas
An Amhuin an Alba,"

which signifies, that, ' The men of the Garry,
the Glass, and the Ewe, are the three best to
cross any river in Britain.'

PRINCE CHARLIE'S

FLINTLOCK DOUBLE-BARRELLED Pisrot
(Right Side).

181

SILVER BROOCH WITH INTERLACED ORNAMENTATION,

182

As

sr

V

Spearing Salmon

/TPO the rivers, friths, and lochs of Scot-
land, this excellent species of the finny
tribe resorts in great abundance, and the
streams afford to the angler the most excel-
lent amusement.

It was an early observation, that among
the Celtic race a prejudice to fish existed,
and reference has been made in modern times
to its still lingering existence. In some old
poems, catching salmon is spoken of as a
Highland sport, yet a proverb is retained ex-
pressing something like contempt for those
who feed on fish ; and certain it is that some
185

SPEARING SALMON

writers of a former generation who visited
the Highlands, felt surprised to find that the
trout, with which many streams abounded,
should not be molested by the natives. It
is to be feared that dire necessity, from their
want of cattle and failure of their crops, has
since forced such prejudice to give way. Too
happy would the hungry be to carry home
a load of trout, fattened in the moss-imbued
waters of the lake or burn.

The nature of all mountain streams is well
known : in winter and in spring they pour
down in rapid torrents, when the trout and
salmon leave the sea, and urge, with amazing
strength and instinct, their passage to the
upper parts, where they deposit their spawn.
Here they continue, until often they are left
in numbers, imprisoned in pools by the de-
clining stream, thus affording a plentiful and
easy capture. The anti-game preserving
ideas of the Highlander, lead him to con-
sider the taking of salmon little breach of
moral propriety ; yet " black fishing," as it
is called, is not only illegal, but lamentably
1 86

SPEARING SALMON

destructive to the brood of this valuable fish,
as they are then foul, or in their passage to
the spawning ground.

Like all such exhilarating sports, the young
are greatly pleased when engaged in it, and
Highland boys are often dexterous salmon
spearers, even by day, when it is much more
difficult to strike a fish than by night, the
usual time for operation.

The scene represented was sketched in
Lochaber, where two men are seen busily
engaged, but more may be supposed present,
as parties of ten, twenty, or thirty sometimes
go out, and pursue their occupation all night.
They are generally men from a neighbouring
district, who are more likely to avoid detec-
tion ; and as those who engage in such
pursuits are of determined character, no one
who values a whole head and unbroken bones
would venture to molest them.

One man holds the torch, which is com-
posed of pieces of tar barrels, old ropes, bog
fir, etc., and another carries the instrument,
which he can use with unerring dexterity ;
187

SPEARING SALMON

and a company will sometimes be so success-
ful as to carry off creels full of fine salmon,
sufficient to load several native garrons, or
ponies.

The spear is called Muirgheadh in Gaelic,
but is otherwise named the leister, and, as
shown in the print, it is barbed, so that when
the fish is struck its capture is sure. If the
spearman can approach so near as to transfix
the salmon, he brings it up ; but the instru-
ment is often thrown by a good marksman,
with equal certainty, and in this case it has
sometimes a rope attached, to recover it and
the fish with facility. A man in Glenspean
has been known to kill a salmon nine times
out of ten attempts, at a distance of forty
yards. It is best to strike at the head or
middle, for if fixed by the tail, from its great
strength, the fish may give considerable
trouble.

Spearing salmon affords a scene of the
most novel and striking description, the wild
excitement of which must be witnessed to be
rightly appreciated. The picturesque effect

1 88

SPEARING SALMON

of the blazing torches on the darksome
waters, on which are thrown shifting and
fantastic shadows, the lurid glare discovering
the expected prey — the sound of the rushing
stream in the gloomy night — the splashing
of both men and salmon, with the shouts of
laughter as some poor fellow, intent upon
the sport, slips over a stone into a sullen
pool — the occasional dash of a heavy fish as
it springs from the water through the legs of
the spearman, altogether form a picture of
the strangest character to the eye of one
unaccustomed to the sight.

It is a scene the more interesting, as
among other effects of refined civilization,
spearing salmon may be among those things
which once have been. This valuable fish
has been decreasing for years, and if the
breed continue to decline in the same propor-
tion, experienced fishermen say it must, ere
long, become extinct.

The salmon fishery, in a national point of
view, is highly important, and although
numerous Acts of Parliament have been
189

SPEARING SALMON

passed to protect it, and various individuals,
as the late Sir Francis Mac Kenzie, of Gair-
loch, have exerted themselves in the discovery
of means for the safety of the spawn, the
root of the evil has not been reached. It
is the new, and it is believed illegal, use of
bag-nets, introduced about twenty years ago,
which is the chief cause of this result ; they
are not only placed in rivers, but along the
whole coast, and their effect may be seen
from the fact, that in this year there arrived
in London market, of grilse or young salmon,
5100 boxes less than in 1846, which was
itself one of the worst years of fishing ever
remembered.

DRINKING CUP USED BY PRINCE CHAKLIB.

190

POWDER HORN, 1678.

191

Whiskey Still.

TT is a curious fact that the means of
producing artificial excitation, or a
pleasing flow of animal spirits, is one of
the earliest objects of human solicitude.
No sooner have herds been domesticated
and the land brought into cultivation, than
the invention of man discovers the art of
preparing an exhilarating beverage. To the
people of the east and the southern countries
of Europe, the vine afforded a delicious
treat, the want of which the Gauls and
Britons supplied from grain, and the liquor
prepared from it they named Curmi, a word
192

WHISKEY STILL

retained in close resemblance by the Welsh,
whose term for beer is Cwrw ; the Gael have
lost this word, but they retain Cuirm, a feast,
and call ale Loinn, the Llyn, or liquor of the
former.

It was reserved for the northern descend-
ants of the Celtic race to improve on the
process of fermentation, and by distilling
the Brathleis, or wort, they became the
noted preparers of Uisge beatha. This term
is literally " the water of life," corresponding
to Aqua vitae, Eau de vie, &c., and it is
from the first portion of the word that
* Whiskey ' is derived. It is otherwise called
Poit du', or the black pot, in the slang
vocabulary of the smuggler, the Irish Poteen,
or the little pot, being of similar import.

The superiority of small still spirits to that
which is usually produced in large licensed
distilleries, is supposed to arise from the more
equable coolness of the pipe, a regular supply
of spring water being introduced for the
condensation of the steam and the Braich,
or malt, is also believed to be of a better
195

WHISKEY STILL

quality, being made in small quantities, and
very carefully attended to. As the prepara-
tion of malt for private distillation is illegal,
it must be managed with great secrecy, and
the writer has seen the process carried on
in the Eird houses, often found on the muirs,
which, being subterraneous, were very suitable
for the manufacture. These rude construc-
tions had been the store-houses for the grain,
to be used in another form, of the original
inhabitants. Whiskey may be sometimes of
inferior quality; but where the people are
generally so good judges of its worth it is not
likely that a bad article will be produced, and
it may be observed that the empyreumatic
taste, vulgarly called 'peat reek,' is a great
defect. Tarruing dubailt is double distilled,
Treasturruing, three times, and when it is
wanted to be still stronger, it is "put four
times through," and called Uisge bea'a ba'ol.
From the nature of the traffic, the most
secluded spot is selected for the plantation of
the simple distillery. Caves in the mountains,
coiries or hollows in the upland heaths, and
196

WHISKEY STILL

recesses in the glens, are chosen for the
purpose, and they are, from fear of detection,
often abandoned after the first ' brewst.'
The print exhibits a Whiskey Still at work
in a moonlit night, attended by two gillean,
or youths, and the primitive construction of
the apparatus is sufficiently made out. Into
the tub, or vessel, through which the ' worm,'
or condensing pipe is conveyed, although not
seen in the picture, there is a small rill
conducted, which, running through, affords
a constant supply of the cold stream.

National as the love of whiskey appears to
be, it is matter of doubt whether it has been
long known to the Highlanders. Some
writers seem to have no doubt that the
ancient Caledonians possessed the art of
preparing alcohol ; but to arrive at the
distillation of spirits an acquaintance with
chemistry is requisite, and society must be
in an advanced state of improvement ere
such a manufacture could be attempted.
Writers who have directed their attention
to the subject, maintain that no satisfactory
197

proof can be found of whiskey having been
in use at an earlier period than the beginning
of the fifteenth century. Certain it is, that
malt liquor formed the chief beverage of the
old Highlanders, who do not seem to have
had so fond a relish for uisge beatha as their
successors, and however useful a dram of
good Glenlivet may be in a northern climate,
it does not appear that the present race are
more healthy and hardy than their fathers.
General Stewart gives the evidence of a
person who died in 1791, at the age of
104, that lionn-laidir, strong ale, was the
Highland beverage in his youth, whiskey
being procured in scanty portions from the
low country ; yet Prince Charles, at Coireairg,
in 1745, elated to hear that Cope had declined
battle, ordered whiskey for the common
soldiers, to drink the general's health, which
would prove it to have been then plentiful.

Illicit distillation was at one time perse-
veringly carried on throughout Scotland, and
whiskey was indeed a staple commodity.
Many depended for payment of their rents
198

WHISKEY STILL

upon what they could make by this means,
and landlords had obvious reasons to wink at
the smuggling which prevailed with their
knowledge to such an extent among their
tenants; some years ago several justices of
the peace in Aberdeenshire were deprived
of their commissions, for stating it as impos-
sible to carry into effect the stringent acts
passed for the suppression of the illegal
practice.

In the fastnesses of the Highland districts
it was difficult to discover the bothies, where
the work was carried on, and prudence often
forbade the gauger from attempting a seizure ;
but in more accessible parts of the country,
his keen search could only be evaded by the
utmost vigilance. In Strathdon, Strathspey,
and neighbouring localities, where a mutual
bond of protection exists, it is the practice,
when the exciseman is seen approaching, to
display immediately from the house-top, or a
conspicuous eminence, a white sheet, which
being seen by the people of the next ' town,'
or farm steading, a similar signal is hoisted,
199

WHISKEY STILL

and thus the alarm passes rapidly up the glen,
and before the officer can reach the trans-
gressors of the law, everything has been
carefully removed and so well concealed,
that even when positive information has
been given, it frequently happens that no
trace of the work can be found.

The life of a smuggler is harassing, and the
system has a demoralising tendency ; from
the time he commences malting he is full of
anxiety, and the risk he runs of having the
proceeds of his painful labour captured in its
transit to the customer is not the least of his
troubles. Sometimes the low-country people
will meet the Highlanders, and purchase the
article at their own risk; but it is generally
taken by the latter to the towns, and they
travel frequently in bodies with horses and
carts. Information is often obtained of these
expeditions, and the exciseman intercepts it,
taking, if necessary, a party of soldiers ; but
sometimes, after a severe encounter, the
smugglers have got off, carrying back a
portion of the spirits, and, mayhap, leaving

WHISKEY STILL

wounded or dead on both sides. When the
party reaches the vicinity of a town the
greatest caution must be observed in going
about with the sample of " the dew," and
all sorts of expedients are adopted to convey
it, when sold, to the premises of the buyer.

LOCHABSR AXB.

201

POWDER HORN, 1783.

202

Throwing the Stone.

A THLETIC sports form one of the
Y"\

favourite pastimes of people in a state

of society similar to that of the Scottish
Highlanders, the inhabitants of mountainous
countries delighting in the perils of Alpine
adventures and the trials of strength and
hardihood. These are the most congenial
amusements to those of masculine, agile
frames, and impetuous spirits, and they
greatly promote both mental animation and
warlike prowess.

The famed Olympic games, founded in
the infancy of Greece, and instituted for the
205

J!

THROWING THE STONE

display of feats of strength and agility, were
proudly supported through after ages. The
Athletae were professional exhibitors, but
the most exalted personages also entered the
heroic arena, and often carried off the prize.
The Olympiads bore a close resemblance
to the Bardic festivals still maintained in
Wales, and the competition gatherings so
frequently held in the Scottish Highlands.

Indoor employments are less suitable to
the taste of a Gael, than the invigorating
recreations of the field, yet, when not called
abroad, some divertisement is naturally re-
quired to alleviate the tedium of the evening
hours, during the long and darksome winter,
in which he is enwrapt. For this he is well
provided with many amusing social recrea-
tions, some of which are unknown in the
low country. Mairi, nighean Alasdair ruadh,
a poetess of high renown, who flourished
about 1620, tells us that "the game of
Chess and the music of the harp — the history
of the feats of the Fingalians, with the
relations of the pleasures of the chase,
206

THROWING THE STONE

were what the good son of Mac Leod
loved."

The antiquity of Chess among the High-
landers is proved by a curious discovery
which was made in the Isle of Lewis 1831 of
a number of the pieces, antiquely carved
from the tusks of the Walrus, and a king-
piece of similar workmanship found in the
ruins of Dunstafnage Castle, Argyleshire.

The love of gambling was particularly
observable among the ancient Gauls and
Irish, for the latter would lie in wait for any
one whom they might induce to play, and
the former would continue the amusement, if
the term can be used for so serious an affair,
until all being lost, they staked their freedom
on the chance and would thus place them-
selves in slavery !

The Cymro branch of the Celtic race, so
remarkable for the minute regulation of all
their customs, did not overlook the impor-
tance of manly exercises. From 'Proberts
Welsh Laws ' as published in the Archasology,
the following among " the twenty-four excel-
207

THROWING THE STONE

lencies," which formed the proper education
of youth, are given as applicable to the
present subject.

Feats of strength.

Wrestling.

Running.

Jumping.

Swimming.

Horsemanship.

Archery.

Fencing with sword and buckler.

Fencing with the two handed sword.

Fencing with the double pointed stick.

Coursing with grey hounds.

Fishing.
Chasing birds.

Bardism.

Playing at Chess.

The first ten only are accounted manly, the
others being either "youthful" or "trivial."
The Quinquertium, or five principal games
at the Olympian festival were running, leap-
ing, wrestling, throwing the javelin and quoits.
Among the Highlanders, are racing, leaping,
208

THROWING THE STONE

the running leap, much practised for its use-
fulness, wrestling, club and foot ball, tossing
the caber, throwing the hammer, putting or
throwing the stone, lifting a heavy stone,
contests in swimming and many other feats
of sheer strength and agility. The weight of
the stone, called clach-neart or the stone of
strength, which was to be lifted from the
ground, was sometimes very great, and it
was frequently placed near the church and
sometimes in the Kirkyard, that the men
might exercise their ' vis inertia ' after the
conclusion of religious service. One of this
sort, named the Puterach, remains near the
Kirk of Balquhider in Perthshire, which the
strongest may boast having raised from the
ground, breast high, which is the trial, and
he is accounted a muscular man who can do
so. Clach-cuid-fir was a stone of two hun-
dred pounds weight and upwards, which was
to be lifted from the ground and placed on
another four feet high at least, and the youth
who could perform this feat was forthwith
reckoned a man.

209

THROWING THE STONE

It is judicious in several respects to encour-
age national sports and pastimes, especially
when they are of a manly and invigorating
character. It affords pleasure to the tenantry
who are excited to a generous rivalry, and
circulates money in localities where it is some-
times of great use. We accordingly find
throughout Scotland, numerous associations
tor promoting competition in these exercises,
supported by the nobility and gentry. Be-
sides the Highland Society of London and its
branches, the chief objects of which, are the
encouragement of Language, Literature, and
ancient Music, and that of Scotland, which is
principally devoted to Agriculture, the follow-
ing may be enumerated as more particularly
engaged in the patronage of athletic games.
The Celtic, the Bannockbura and Stirling, the
St. Fillan, the Athol, the Braemar, the Strath-
earn, the Glasgow, the Perth, the Dunkeld,
the Fort William, the Dornoch, established by
the Duke of Sutherland, the Holyrood and
the Roslin Gymnastic, the Heather dub of
Edinburgh, and the St. Ronan on the border.

210

THROWING THE STONE

In the game here illustrated which is called
Putting, two sorts of stones are used, the
light and the heavy. The first is about six-
teen pounds in weight, the latter from twenty
to twenty-four pounds ; but the regulation
differs in several societies. Sometimes a few
paces run is taken to increase the impetus.
We have seen a stone of twenty-two pounds
thrown a distance of thirty-three feet, but it
is often propelled considerably farther. The
prizes are sometimes in money and at others
in dresses, swords, dirks, powder horns,
brooches, snaoisin mulls or snuff horns,
medals, etc.

Mac Phee, the Outlaw.

A FTER the risings of 1715 and 1745,
numerous individuals, and even bands
of Highlanders, lived in undisguised hostility
to the constituted authorities of the realm ;
being either legally proscribed on charge of
rebellion, or having voluntarily disclaimed
allegiance to the House of Hanover. These
lived in the ' troublous times ' ; but that any
one in the present day should be able to
maintain himself in safety when outlawed, is
somewhat surprising.

There is considerable interest in the life
of the Highlander, here the subject of

MAC PHEE, THE OUTLAW

illustration, who has lived so long at the
ban of the law, and has grown grey in a
state of roving independence.

It is about forty years since Ewen Mac
Phee, then a fine athletic young man, was
enlisted by his landlord in one of the
Highland regiments embodied at that time.
The profession was well suited to Ewen's
disposition, and he was noted as a sprightly
and able soldier ; but having very improperly
been led to expect a commission, he became
greatly discontented ; and when, after serving
some time, he found no prospect of the
realization of his hopes, he formed the
resolution to desert.

He did not attempt this object in the usual
clandestine manner, but quite deliberately left
parade, and marched home to the Highlands.
He was, of course, quickly pursued, and was
speedily captured, handcuffed, and marched
off under a file of soldiers. In passing
through Stratheric, the prisoner, watching
a favourable opportunity, bounded from his
guard, and plunging down a precipitous
215

MAC PHEE, THE OUTLAW

bank escaped the musquets of the party,
and was quickly lost in the thicket. He
qpntinued his flight until he reached a
lonely cottage, where, with the assistance
of the shepherd, the handcuffs were knocked
off by a stone, and the deserter was
again free in his mountain wilds. He pro-
ceeded to Coiriebuie, a secluded retreat
on the estate of Locheil, where he lived
unmolested for many years, supporting him-
self by hunting, fishing, and rearing a few
goats, and occasionally assisted in floating
wood.

He was well known by his countrymen,
but met with no molestation, for although he
avoided giving any offence, his determination
to die rather than be retaken, and his being
constantly armed, served to overawe any who
might intend to arrest him ; and it was
matter of prudence not to arouse his sense
of danger. On one occasion he was pointed
out to a person anxious to see a character
so noted, by the incautious observation,
" there he is," on which Ewen drew his
216

MAC PHEE, THE OUTLAW

dirk, and in the confusion which arose, Mac
Kenzie, the stranger, was wounded.

Being at last hotly pursued, he was obliged
to leave Locheil, and he took possession of
an island in Glenquoich, one of the chain
of lakes in the line of the Caledonian canal.
It is of small dimensions, scarcely a half
acre in extent ; but the situation is highly
romantic and solitary, the few birch trees
which it produces contrasting agreeably with
the dark mountains on either side, which are
streaked with snow almost throughout the
summer.

He had, when in Locheil's country, won
the affection of a girl of fourteen, who is now
his faithful wife, and mother of five children.
In this islet they constructed a hut with
branches of trees and turf, and he found, or
formed, a boat, to enable him to get to the
mainland, where he pastured some goats.
These supplied him with milk and flesh,
and his rod and gun procured him other
food.

Ewen is held in fear by the neighbouring
217

MAC PHEE, THE OUTLAW

tenants, from his daring character and
supposed supernatural powers, which he
believes himself to possess, and hence offer-
ings of meal and money are not unfrequently
conveyed to the island. This residence,
however, must in winter be exceedingly
cheerless ; and the situation of his family,
bred up in lawless wildness, is a painful
consequence of Ewen's singular position ;
although it is believed the mother, who is
still comparatively young and active, may
impart a certain amount of instruction and
Christian duty.

Ewen is represented as much attached to
his family, and a melancholy evidence of
this lately occurred on occasion of the death
of one of his sons. He had no wood
wherewith to form a coffin, and if he had
possessed the materials, he was so over-
whelmed with grief, that he could not, as he
said, "steady his hand for the work." He
therefore left the desolate isle in his boat,
and sought the assistance of a shepherd, who,
procuring some herring barrel staves, was
218

MAC PHEE, THE OUTLAW

able to form a rude receptacle for the
body, which was interred in a romantic
burying-ground used by the people of the
glen, and situated in another island in the
lake.

Ewen, although well stricken in years, is
still strong and healthy, and his muscular
frame gives promise of a protracted age.
The dangers to which his irregular mode of
life exposes him, require his utmost vigilance,
and frequently his greatest physical exertion.
To prevent surprise, he has always a loaded
gun close to his bed by night, and his dirk
by his side during day : it seems even his
wife is not unused to the rifle.

His goats, a flock of sixty, had pastured
on the farm of Mr. Cameron, of Coirechoillie,
for which Mac Phee had never paid ' grass
mail'; so one day in February, 1842, during
his absence, the whole were driven off. Mrs.
Mac Phee, a modern Helen Mac Gregor,
gave quick pursuit, firing several times upon
the party, but could not rescue the spoil ; yet
the dread of the outlaw's, retaliation on
219

MAC PHEE, THE OUTLAW

Cameron's sheep, induced him at last to
pay for the goats.

When Mr. Edward Ellice had purchased
the property of Glenquoich, Ewen paid him
a visit, and in the style of ancient vassalage,
or rather independent lairdship, he presented
him with some goat milk cheese, and coolly,
but with great politeness, informed the new
proprietor, that he wished him well, and if no
disturbance were offered to him, he should
never think of molesting Mr. Ellice ! The
island is, indeed, not perhaps worth a shilling ;
but it was well adapted for the residence of
this stern Highlander. Yet he has been
lately ejected from his domain, and lives at
Fort William, without much fear of being
farther troubled by civil or military
authorities.

The foregoing is graphically described in
Mr. Edward C. EUice's book on Place-
Names in Glengarry and Glenquoich^ published
in 1898.

" Macphee was a well-known character throughout
Inverness-shire about 50 years ago. Enlisting into the

MAC PHEE, THE OUTLAW

army as a young man, he soon found the restraints of
discipline irksome to his restless nature, and, after a
short term of service, deserted, and returned to his
native Glengarry, where he lived in concealment
with his sister at Feddan. The regimental authorities,
however, hearing of his hiding-place, sent a sergeant
with a. posse of soldiers to arrest him, and these, coming
to Feddan unawares, captured him without much
difficulty, and marched him off to the steamer at
Corpach. Just as the steamer was starting, Ewen
suddenly bent down, and, snapping his handcuffs
against an iron bar which lay on the deck, leapt
ashore. The steamer was off, and so was Ewen, and
bounding over the heath, he was soon out of reach,
unharmed by the few bullets which the soldiers sent
after him. For two years he wandered about the
woods which line the shores of Loch Arkaig, when,
finding that he was no longer pursued, he made up
his mind to build himself a bothy on the island in Loch
Quoich, which now bears his name. His bothy built, he
must needs have a wife ; so one fine morning he stepped
across the hill to Glen Dulochan, where he had
previously made the acquaintance of a girl, and,
without much more courting, popped her on his back,
and returned to his island, where they were duly
married.

When Mr. Ellice first came to Glenquoich he
found Macphee in possession of his island. He was
looked up to by all the poor people of the glen as a
" seer " ; cows that were ill were brought to him to
be cured, and he was also a noted weaver of charms.
Mr. Ellice's first interview with Ewen was characteristic
of the man. The former and a friend were sitting
one night after dinner at Glenquoich Lodge, then
quite a small house, " a but and a ben," drinking their

MAC PHEE THE OUTLAW

whisky-toddy, when in walked Macphee, attired, as
usual, in full Highland dress. Mr. Ellice, in the course
of conversation, asked him by what right he lived on
the island ; for answer, Ewen drew his dirk and,
plunging it into the table, said : " By this right I have
kept it, and by this right I will hold it."

Macphee lived for many years on the island, and
was a great favourite with Mr. Ellice, in spite of his
notoriously wild character. Many are the anecdotes
told in Glenquoich of his escapes from the sheriff's
officers ; but as time went on his sheep-stealing pro-
pensities grew on him, and at last the neighbouring
shepherds, alarmed at the losses in their flocks, de-
termined to try and bring the thefts home to him.
They had not long to wait ; one snowy morning they
found the tracks of a man and some sheep which led
down from the hill to the lochside just opposite his
house. The sheriff was informed, and two officers were
sent to his house; these rowed over from Glenquoich
to the island. Ewen, of course, was away on the hill;
not so his wife, who without much ado commenced
to fire on the officers as soon as they approached the
island ; these, being quite unprepared for this style of
reception, found in discretion the better part of valour,
and retired to Inverness. Then, next week, however,
they returned in force and this time well-armed. Ewen
Macphee was caught and taken to prison, where he
eventually died ; and on searching the place, bales
upon bales of tallow and skins were found hidden in
the loch under the banks of the island."

222

Signal for the Boat.

of the great inconveniences of a
Highland and insular life, is the
necessity in traversing the country for cross-
ing rivers, lochs, and arms of the sea. The
state of the weather renders this frequently
impossible for some length of time; rivers
become swollen, lochs and seas are in
tempestuous agitation during a great part
of the winter, the inhabitants of remote
places consequently suffering at times con-
siderable privation from the stoppage of
regular communication with the mainland
or more favoured localities. Should the
225

SIGNAL FOR THE BOAT

weather, however, be favourable for a
passage, it is necessary to apprise the Fear
a bhata, or Boatman, on the opposite side,
which may be a mile or more distant, that
his services are required by some weary
traveller, anxious to reach his destination.
The hoisting a flag on a tall pole con-
spicuously fixed, might well answer the
purpose of a signal, but a more ready and
natural expedient is practised in the High-
lands. Turf is found plentifully in almost
every part of the country, with which a fire
is speedily got up, the smoke giving the
necessary notice.

In these days of universal improvement,
the Highlanders doubtless avail themselves
of the use of chemical matches in the most
remote districts, but when this valuable
article is not at hand, a light is procured
as in former times, from a neighbouring
cottage, or a live peat may be carried from
some distance. It is otherwise obtained by
the sparks elicited from flint and steel, the
back of a dirk, a sword, or the flash of the
226

.™ SIGNAL FOR THE BOAT

powder from the lock of a pistol or gun.
Those who possessed a lens have used it
during the warm days of summer to raise
a fire by the well known concentration of
the sun's rays.

There was much agreeable excitement in
journeying through the West Highlands in
days of yore. It was then incumbent on
the tourist to engage a boat with able rowers
to transport him from isle to isle or across
the numerous lochs or inlets of the ocean ;
horses and guides were also to be procured,
and in these ways a considerable amount of
money was left among the Highlanders,
while the intercourse was in other respects
beneficial.

It is quite otherwise now that steam boats
ply all around. In these the travellers
generally embark at Glasgow when bound
to the west and north, and they are carried
to the far-famed Staffa, the venerated lona,
the Caledonian canal, and other places, where
they are allowed an hour or two to land
and examine the natural and antiquarian
227

SIGNAL FOR THE BOAT

curiosities, which offer themselves to notice,
and thus they pass through the country,
without perhaps leaving a shilling behind.
The poor Highlanders feel the loss of this
source, whence a seasonable accession to their
scanty means was often obtained.

The boat fire is always made on the same
spot, that it may not be mistaken. It is
generally kindled on a projecting point of
land, and when the smoke is seen ascending,
the people on the opposite side announce it
to the ferryman, " Smuid suas ! " the smoke
is up, on which the boat puts off to convey
the awaiting passengers across their watery
way. The smoke, which it is desirable to
render dense, is seen from a great distance
when the day is fine, but in wet and foggy
weather the mist which overhangs the water
is embarrassing.

At night the brightness of the fire will
render it the obvious means of giving signal
for a boat. " The warning flame " was the
primitive telegraph by which aid was requested
and danger indicated, and the same means
228

•>* SIGNAL FOR THE BOAT

are yet employed in military operations.
The proper distribution and management of
" Bail fires " were regulated by Scottish
Parliament, and the proper time for the
immortal Bruce's descent upon Carrick for
the recovery of his kingdom, was indicated
by the kindling of a fire in a certain
place.

An affecting tale, in which we find the
use of fire, as the only mode of conveying
information, is preserved in the islands of
the west.

St. Kilda, or Hirta, as it is called by the
natives, is the farthest inhabited islet in this
range, and it has only one place where a
landing can be effected, while it is exposed to
the unopposed fury of the Atlantic Ocean.
The people live chiefly on the sea fowl which
abound among the rocks, and with the
feathers their little rent is paid. To procure
these birds the greatest perils are encountered,
and loss of life is often the result of the
adventurous toils.

A boat had gone on one occasion to a
229

SIGNAL FOR THE BOAT

precipitous rock at some distance from St.
Kilda, in search of the usual game, when
unfortunately the boat was dashed to pieces,
while the crew got safe upon the rugged isle.
The storm increased, and here were the for-
lorn men exposed to its severity with no
means of escape, or any hope of relief from
their grieving friends, who could do nothing
for their rescue or ascertain their fate. In
these afflicting circumstances the unfortunate
men lighted as many fires as there were
survivors, and at night, when these beacons
were seen, and the number reckoned, night
by night, the people of St. Kilda knew, by
this device, how many had been saved, and
until the weather moderated so that assistance
could be sent to take them off their sea-girt
prison, they contrived to subsist on such fowl
and fish as could be procured.

The artist has sketched a man and woman,
waiting the arrival of the boat for which they
have raised the smoke, the well-known signal,
which has been obeyed. In cold weather
the fire is agreeable, if the party has long
230

SIGNAL FOR THE BOAT

to wait, and there is usually a quantity of
fuel prepared for use, as necessary for the
working of this Celtic Trajectus, which is
sometimes maintained at the expense of the
landed proprietor or surrounding gentlemen.

SPORRAN WORN BY PRINCE CHARIJK.

231

Gille Calum.

'"TpHIS dance so popular in the Highlands
•*• is more properly the Sword Dance, a
performance which requires great agility and
admits of considerable grace in its execution.
Dancing is one of those beautiful exercises
and agreeable amusements in which all nations
indulge. The savage, with whom it is either
a matter of enjoyment, a defiance to the foe,
or incentive to fight, enters into the wonted
evolutions with the same spirit, and threads
its maddening mazes, with as much punctilio,
as the accomplished performer of the grave
minuet and the more exhilarating waltz.
232

, %

GILLE CALUM

It is deemed by many of the more austere
to be unbecoming the composure and good
sense of civilized mankind, if not morally
reprehensible, to engage in dancing ; but we
have the example of no less a personage than
Socrates, who in his advanced life addicted
himself to the practice, and to one who,
having found him so engaged, expressed sur-
prise at the philosopher's levity, he answered,
that, were his friend to know how much
pleasure and advantage in point of health
were derived from the pastime, he also would
learn the art.

Dancing was a part of religious worship
among ancient nations, and it is intro-
duced in the ceremonials of some modern
people. We find King David dancing
with joy and gladness before the ark of
the Lord. On the escape of the Israel-
ites from Pharaoh, Miriam, the sister of
Aaron, went out, followed by all the
women chaunting with timbrels and with
Dances, a solemn song of praise for
their deliverance, and the daughters of
235

GILLE CALUM

Shiloh danced in an yearly feast of the
Lord.

With the Greeks and Romans it was a
principal part of worship, and the Welsh
were accustomed to form a dance in the
churchyard on the conclusion of service.

There is, perhaps, no people who take
more delight in dancing than the Gael, both
of Scotland and Ireland. It is indicative of
a strong musical genius and buoyancy
of spirits, for they will resort to it as a
recreation after the hard labours of the day.
The figures and steps are admirably adapted
to the national music ; the Jigs of the one,
and the Reels and Strathspeys of the other
being well known characteristics of the two
countries.

The effect of Scottish dancing is very
much heightened by the picturesque costume,
as well as the manner of using the arms
by the men, and knacking the finger and
thumb, with an occasional shout of exhilara-
tion in unison with the notes, which we think
peculiar to Scotland. The steps and passes
236

GILLE CALUM

are varied, and in many cases elegant,
generally requiring great agility to be well
performed.

In variety, they are a contrast to those
of Ireland. George IV. on witnessing some
of the reeling, at the Ball given in the
palace of Holyrood, 1822, repeatedly ex-
pressed his applause by clapping his hands ;
and our excellent Queen orders the native
dances to be gone through, not only in her
visits to the Highlands, but at all Court
Balls.

Military dances have been in practice
among most nations of antiquity, and are
found with those who still retain their
primitive manners. The Indians exhibit with
fervent enthusiasm that striking scene in
savage life, the wild war dance, and the
Greeks, so highly refined, joyed in the
Pyrrhic, in which the actors clashed their
swords and bucklers in imitation of a combat.

The Gauls and their descendants, the
Caledonians, doubtless, had similar warlike
excitements. The Highlanders have the
237

GILLE CALUM

Dirk Dance now almost forgotten, and the
Sword Dance, known all over the country,
as * Gille Calum,' from the name of the tune
by which the movements of the performer
are regulated, but it has no relation to the
performance itself, being simply the name
of a man, about whom some unimportant
verses are repeated.

The air played to the dancer does not
appear to have been uniformly the same,
different districts having had particular com-
positions ; in Perthshire, the tune was called
' Mac an Rosaich,' being of that grave de-
scription called ' Port.' Its original name,
it would appear, was * Mac an' orsair,' which,
with the mode of dancing, General Stewart
of Garth tells us, has disappeared; but he
had seen it executed by some old men.

As now performed, two naked swords are
laid across each other on the floor, and the
person who dances, moves nimbly around
them, dextrously placing his feet by a peculiar
step in the intervals between the blades, at
first by a single step, but as he proceeds
238

GILLE CALUM

the movement becomes rapid and compli-
cated, exciting a dread in spectators lest he
may wound his ancles. The object is to
avoid the blades, as the dance is broken
should either be touched ever so slightly.

This is the Sword Dance as now per-
formed, which does little more than shew,
like those of several other nations, its martial
origin. As danced by old men, according
to descriptions I have received, it was more
in character, for in the course of the dance
they took up the swords and made certain
flourishes as if engaged in fighting or defying
an enemy.

It was also appropriately called ' an Baiteal,'
or the Battle Dance, and was performed by
thirteen persons at Perth in 1633, before
King Charles. In Rolt's life of the Earl of
Crauford, Colonel of the 42nd Highlanders
in 1739, we are told, that "he performed
in a noble way the Highland dance habited
in that dress, and flourished a naked broad
sword, similar to the Pyrrhic dance. He
performed before the King and full court,
239

GILLE CALUM

also before a grand assembly at Cormorra,
in Hungary, in the costume of that country."

' Gille Calum ' has not certainly been im-
proved by the loss of this variation, which
would give so much effect and character to
an interesting relic of the ancient Gaelic
manners.

The figure in the illustration dances to
the music of the Jew's-harp, a simple instru-
ment which the Highlanders play with great
effect, and for excellence in which prizes
were formerly bestowed. An old man whistles
as an accompaniment.

w\

HARRIS POTTERY.

24I

Carrying Peat.

f I ""HE supply of fuel in a northern country
•*• of variable climate, is an object of
primary solicitude to the inhabitants.

In the north and west parts of Scotland
the only material in general use for the
domestic hearth is turf or peat, called in
the Highlands foid and moin. It is un-
necessary to describe so well known a natural
feature as a moss or bog, and the manner
of its formation from the marshy deposit
of vegetable substances, accumulating for
ages. Such a tract is sometimes of wide
extent, and although in many cases shallow,
242

CARRYING PEAT

in others the depth is found astonishingly
great. One at the foot of the Grampian
Mountains in Aberdeenshire was sounded
by an auger of forty feet without meeting
other soil!

Mosses are often an unsightly blemish on
the fair fields of a proprietor, and are fre-
quently brought under tillage and rendered
excellent soil by agricultural skill. This is
accomplished sometimes by cutting up the
surface, which is burned and the ashes
scattered around ; at other times, judicious
irrigation speedily transforms the dusky heath
into a verdant field; and, in the case of
the great Blair Drummond Moss in Perth-
shire, the turf being cut deeply out, it was,
by an ingenious contrivance, carried away
by water and floated into the river Forth.
Where the fuel is plentiful, a moss may be
brought into cultivation without hardship
to the people, and should it be wanted in
future, the peat will be again found under
the surface soil.

The destruction of the Caledonian forest,
245

J

CARRYING PEAT

which covered the Highlands, and the pro-
gress of improvement has denuded the
country of its ancient wood, and where
coal is wanting, mosses afford a supply, as
if by the order of Providence, of an article
of the first necessity, for which no substitute
is to be found.

In some parts where peat is valuable,
the several farms have certain allotments,
or ' peat banks,' specified in the tack or
lease ; but great liberality is generally shown
in this matter, the poorer tenantry being
by most landowners allowed to supply them-
selves with as much as they require during
the year. Some proprietors have, indeed,
restricted this practice, of immemorial obser-
vance, at which the people, very reasonably,
grumble, as an interference with their ancient
rights.

The peat-harvest, to assume an expression,
takes place in the months of summer, and
the cutting or ' casting ' begins in May, the
operation being performed with an implement
called Torrisgian, by which the turf is cut
246

CARRYING PEAT

into pieces of the form of a brick, but
thinner and some inches longer. The sur-
face being taken off, the torrisgian is applied,
and the spade part being furnished with a
sharp projection at right angles, cuts the
moin into the shape described. This is
done within a certain breadth, the workman
passing alternately from side to side, and
the operation is continued to a suitable
depth, the pieces being detached with rapidity
and thrown to the bank, where a person
dextrously catches them ; and when there
are no wheelbarrows, and plenty of hands,
the peats are passed from one to another,
spread out to harden, and then set on end
by threes and fours to dry. If the weather
is propitious and the people diligent, they
are then removed home and ' stacked,' or
built up in an oblong form beside the house,
like a small hut, and protected from wet
by a covering of the upper part of the
moss. They are often, however, left in
this state on the muir, and portions carried
home when required for use. The primitive
247

CARRYING PEAT

stack was conical, and hence called Cruach
mhoine, as descriptive of its form.

The poorer people have their * firing ' cut
and taken home for them by their friendly
neighbours, and there is often seen a spirit
of cheerful co-operation, such as a Socialist
might envy. A certain farmer wishes to
have the whole quantity of fuel which he
requires cut up at once, he therefore intimates
his desire, when all the adjacent tenants
turn out, both men and women, and the
work is speedily accomplished — generally in
one day. This affords a scene of great
animation, for casks of whiskey and ale,
bread, cheese, fish, and mutton are provided
in cheering abundance, and now-a-days the
female portion of the labourers are provided
with their valued beverage, the heart-healing
tea. This is a mutual service rendered to
each other with great delight, and is particu-
larly remarkable in the county of Sutherland.

Peat-fuel is burned on the hearth, and
considerable skill is said to be necessary in
its right management. It makes a cheerful
248

CARRYING PEAT

fire, throwing out great heat with a smell
which pervades the whole house, but is not
disagreeable, and its effects are said to be
less injurious than those of coal. The ashes
are carefully preserved and are a useful
manure, especially when mixed with sea-
weed or other substances.

The illustration represents two Cailleagan
carrying home a portion of their winter
comfort, from the Maol a Cruadh, in Loch-
aber, by a path where it is evident neither
horse nor cart could be used. The principal
figure was sketched from a Glenco girl,
named Caorag rua' ; both are in the usual
costume of Highland peasants, and the
basket, the Scottish creel, is called Cliabh.
The open work is for the convenience of
lifting it, and reeving the rope by which it
is carried.

249

BRONZE ARMLET.

250

Carrying Fern

(See Frontispiece.)

* I KHIS beautiful plant, the Filix of botanists,
is found in the greatest abundance and
luxuriance in most parts of the Highlands,
rapidly spreading wherever it takes root, a
single leaf often bearing no less than one hun-
dred millions of seeds, and when it gets into
land under cultivation for grass or crop, it is
a matter of great difficulty to expel it from
the soil. It is chiefly found in wooded
situations, but it is otherwise seen over-
spreading large tracks, forming a contrast
to the brown or purple heathy muirs. In
autumn, when it assumes a deep golden
251

CARRYING FERN

colour, some of the small uninhabited isles
of the west present a pleasing and a singularly
gorgeous appearance.

The Fern is called Raineach in- Gaelic,
and receives the name of Braikens in the
south and east of Scotland, a term which is
properly applied to the female plant, and
is evidently derived from the word ' breac,'
signifying spotted, the seeds appearing in
numerous brown specks or clusters beneath
the leaf.

The Raineach is applied to different pur-
poses by the economic Highlanders. It serves
as a ready and excellent litter for cattle,
and it forms no unpleasant bed for a weary
traveller. It is highly valuable as a com-
pound in manure, either of itself when
green or taken from the cowhouse. It forms
an excellent covering for corn stacks and
houses, being much cheaper, while it is
greatly superior for this purpose, to straw
or rushes ; it is next to Heath in durability
as an article for thatching, and if well laid
on it will last without requiring any repair,
252

CARRYING FERN

from fifteen to twenty years, heather being
equal to slate and standing as long as eighty
to a hundred, if the timber do not decay!

The practice in thatching, Tughadh in
the vernacular, is to lay an under covering
of Foid, scotice, divots or thin cuttings of
turf, which are placed with care and regu-
larity in manner of fish scales, on cabers or
pieces of wood laid transversely on the
rafters or great beams, which in the houses
of old construction spring from the ground,
giving great strength to the building. On
this the Fern is carefully spread, but it is
frequently the sole covering. The plant is
first laid at the top of the side walls, the
stems being usually placed downwards and
successive layers are added as the work
advances upwards to the ridge, where it is
terminated by a fastening of divot or turf;
sometimes also its security is increased by
ropes of straw or birch twigs, held in their
place by wooden pegs.

To the above applications of this useful
plant may be mentioned that of having it
253

burned when green, to procure a lye for
the process of bleaching.

It has been observed in a former number,
that in all primitive society, a large pro-
portion of work is performed by women,
more particularly that which appertains to
the management of flocks, and the domestic
regulation of the household. The same
practice is continued to a great degree in
the Highlands, and from observing the per-
formance of duties which, from their severity,
seem to devolve with more propriety on
the men, travellers have taken frequent
occasion to charge them with the harsh
treatment of the females, an assertion al-
together groundless and uncharacteristic of
the people. When travellers observe the
women engaged in what appears hard work,
in fishing villages and habitations on the
coast, they must recollect, that the men are
spending their weary days and nights seeking
a precarious livelihood on a stormy sea.
Many duties in rural life necessarily fall to
the care of the females, by whom they are
254

CARRYING FERN

performed with cheerfulness, however labori-
ous, and such, indeed, is the force of habit,
that they would not willingly be prevented
from these acts of attention, which they
believe it incumbent on them to perform.
One of these employments is conveying
home Ferns. From their lightness a quantity
of great bulk may be easily carried, and the
Highland girl, with a light heart and an
agile step, bounds along the dusky plain
and across the roughly rushing brook, with
her sylvan load. The Raineach stubble and
the wiry heath are not, to be sure, the softest
materials on which the naked feet may tread,
but habit has inured the peasant to the
practice, and shoes would sadly cramp the
elasticity of gait so observable in the High-
land population : in fact, the females have
a dislike to the use of shoes and stockings,
although they may have them.

The visit of Her Majesty to Badenach,
last year, afforded the artist an opportunity
of sketching one of many girls employed to
cut and carry from the hills the choicest
255

F

CARRYING FERN

Ferns to ornament the rustic arches raised
in honour of the Royal landing at Fort
William. The dress is that which is now
worn, and has nothing in it more particular
than what has been shewn in the illustrations
of some former numbers. Heretofore the
gown was open in front, which allowed it to
be tucked behind with a degree of grace
and convenience. In this figure it is parti-
ally pinned up, loose, and neglige, without
the appearance of scantiness; neat, and
befitting the nature of alpine and pastoral
life.

In elder times, while the men marched
bare thighed to the field of honour, the
better part of human creation went with
uncovered leg to those employments which
threw comfort and happiness around their
mountain dwellings, and enhanced the solace
of their " ain fire side."

256

Index.

Abergeldie Castle, 176.

Acts against illicit distilling,

199.
Albert, Prince, his Highland

home, 15.
Alexander, Emperor of Russia,

119.

Alexander II. of Scotland, 48.
Allegiance to House of Hanover

disclaimed, 212.
Amusements of the Highlanders,

205.

Anderson's " History of Com-
merce," 155.
Angling, 125.
Angling, Opinions for and

against, 125.

" Annals of Batavia," 155.
Antlers, or cabar, 139.

Antlers, shed annually, 140.
Archaeological remains, Ard-

chattan, 120.
Archery, 208.
Ardchattan Priory, 120.
Argyle, Earl of, in battle, 30.
Arisaig, famous for eagles, 166.
Armlet, Bronze, 250.
Athol, Earl of, and James V.,

138-

Attacked by a whale, 160.
Axe, Lochaber, 71.

Badenach visited by Queen
Victoria, 255.

" Bail Fires " regulated by Par-
liament, 229.

Ballach, Black Donald, 30.

Balme, Buna we, 120.

257

INDEX

Balquhidder, Kirk of, 209.

Bardic festivals, 206.

Bardism, 208.

Barilla, Introduction of, 78.

Battle dance, 239.

Bedagoun, The, 150.

Bell of St. Fillans, 142.

Benkelings, William, 158.

Bird chasing, 208.

Black and white cloth, 117.

Black cattle, 42.

" Black fishing," 186.

Blair Drummond Moss, 245.

Boadicea's robe, 117.

Boat, Signal for the, 225.

Boat, Waiting for the, 230.

Boat fire kindled, 228.

Boats swamped in crossing a

river, 175.

Book first printed in Gaelic, 89.
Bothan-Airidh,or mountain sheil-

ings, 77.

" Boy of the Horn," 87.
Bradan, or salmon, 126.
Braikens, or ferns, 252.
Bradwardine, Baron of, his

washing maids, 56.
Brass cooking pot, 82.
Breac, or trout, 126.
Breid, The, 119.
Britons, Early, Corn stores of, 26.
Brooch, Brass, 10.
Brooch, "Large Luckenbooth,"

6.

Brooch, Silver, in, 182.
Buachail, or herdsman, 167.
Buailtearan, or threshers, 28.
Buchanan, George, 88.
Burning corn in the straw

illegal, 50.
Byron, Lord, on angling, 125.

Cabar, or antlers, 139.

Caesar landed in Britain B.C. 55,
26.

Caesar's " Commentaries," 26.

Caithness, Earl of, 30.

Caitir-leasg, 149.

" Caledonia," by Chalmers, 157.

Caledonian Forest, 245.

Caledonian's knowledge of dis-
tilling, 197.

Cameron of Coirechoillie, 219.

Camp at a deer hunt, 139.

Campbell of Monzie, 120.

Carrying fern, 251.

Carrying peat, 242.

Carsewell, Dr., Bishop of the
Isles, 89.

Cattle, Black, 42.

Cattle, some wonderful herds, 32.

Celtic prejudice to fish, 185.

Chalmers's " Caledonia," 157.

Charles, Prince, 119.

Charles, Prince, and Cope, 198.

Charles, Prince, and the "order
of the mountain eagle," 171.

Charles, Prince, his pistol, 141.

258

INDEX

Charles, Prince, his skian dhu,

121.

Charles, Prince, his target, 61.
Charles, Prince, his watch, 151.
Charles, Prince, landed, 1745,

167.

Chase, The, 137.
Chasing birds, 208.
Chess, Antiquity of, 207.
Chess, Game of, 206.
Chess men found at Dunstafnage,

207.

Chess playing, 208.
Chisholms, The seat of the, 149.
Christianity in early Scotland,

18.
Circuit of hunting, an old

method, 138.
Clanship abolished, 77.
Clanship, Breaking up of, 19.
Cloth, Black and white, 117.
Club and foot ball, 209.
Coffin made from herring-barrel

staves, 218.

Coiriebuie in Lochiel, 216.
Caber, Tossing the, 2(39.
Columba, St. , see St. Columba.
Communication, Stoppage of,

225.

Competition gatherings, 206.
Connaught, Ireland, 168.
Cooking pot, Brass, 82.
Cope, Sir John, 198.
Cormorra, in Hungary, 240.

Corn burning in the straw illegal,
50.

Com grinding, 27.

Corn store, 26.

Com threshing, 25.

Costume of spinner girls, 150.

Coursing with grey hounds, 208.

Crauford, Earl of, dances sword
dance, 239.

Crieff: "Drovers at fair of
Crieff," 38.

Croidhleagan, or creel, 105.

Crusie, or oil lamp, 162.

Crossing rivers, 225.

Cubieres, De, 28.

Cuigeil, or distaff, 146.

Culloden, 20,000 cattle cap-
tured, 72.

Cumberland, Duke of, drove in
20,000 cattle at Culloden, 72.

Curraghs, Description of, 175.

Dance, Battle, 239.
Dance, Sword, 232.
Dances, Military, 237.
Dancing, Antiquity of, 235.
Dancing, Socrates advocates,

235;

Dancing, Universality of, 232.

Dancing a part of early wor-
ship, 236.

Dancing in Bible times, 235.

David, King of Israel, and danc-
ing, 235.

259

INDEX

Davy, Sir Humphrey, on Ang-
ling, 125.

Dealgan, or spindle, 146.

Deer, Age of, 140.

Deer, an exceedingly difficult
animal to hunt, 132.

Deer herds, 135.

Deer-hunter, Privations of a,

'35-

Deer-hunting, Ancient mode of,

137.

Deer-hunting, 98.
Deer-hunting in Highlands, 95.
Deer- stalking, 132.
Deer-stalking a regal sport, 137.
Diodorus describes dresses worn

by the Gauls, 117.
Dirk dance, 238.
Disarming Act, 38.
Distaff, 145.
Distaff, Celtic veneration for,

.147-

Distillation, Illicit, 198.
Distillation, Private, illegal, 196.
Distilling, an old industry, 192.
Donald Ballach of the Isles, 30.
Donald, Clan, in rebellion, 30.
Drinking cup used by Prince

Charlie, 190.
Drovers, 32.
Drovers, keen sense of hearing,

37-

Drovers, tale of two drovers, 39.
Drovers, their work, 36.

Drovers exempted from Dis-
arming Act, 38.

Dulochan Glen, 221.

Dulse, a wholesome article of
food, 105.

Dulse, Description of, 105.

Dulse gathering, 105.

Dulse, Various ways of cooking,
106.

Dunstafnage Castle, 120.

Dunstafnage Castle, Chess men
found at, 207.

Dutch and Scotch Fishers, 155.

Eagle, Fight with an, 167.

Eagle and the Highlander, 170.

Eagle in heraldry, 170.

Eagle sacred to Jove, 165.

Eagles attack sheep, 166.

Eagles' feathers denote rank,
170.

Eagles' great strength, 166.

Eagles greatly decreasing in
numbers, 166.

Eagles, Longevity of, 170.

Eagle's nest, Robbing an, 165.

Eagles, some of their good
habits, 169.

Eagles, Voracity of, 170.

Eagles, their plunder, 169.

Eagles and salmon, Fights be-
tween, 169.

Edinburgh and London Post, 67.

Education free, 86.

260

INDEX

Educational institutions, 85.

Edward IV. established posts,
66. [220.

Ellice, Edward, of Glenquoich,

Ellice, Edward C. , Place-names
in Glengarry, 220.

Emigration for Highlanders, 108.

Erich, River, in Perthshire, 128.

Erskine, Lord, 138.

Erskine, Lord, and his deer-
hunt, 98.

Etive, Loch, 120.

Excitement of travelling in West
Highlands, 227.

Falkirk, a great cattle market, 35.
Fasgna, or winnowing from the

chaff, 27.

Fear a bhata, or boatman, 225.
Fearsaid, The, 146.
Feathers, Eagles', denoting

rank, 170.
Feathers, Three, denoting a

chief, 170.

Feathers as rent, 229.
Feats of strength, 208.
Fencing, Various modes of, 208.
Fencing with sword and buckler,

208.

Ferns, an excellent manure, 252.
Ferns, Carrying, 251.
Ferns used for litter, 252.
Ferns used for thatch, 252.
Festival, Bardic, 206.

Fiadh, or deer, 139.

Fight between eagle and salmon,
169.

Fight with an eagle, 168.

Fights between smugglers and
excisemen, 200.

Fingalian feats, 206.

Fire, Methods of getting, 226.

First book printed hi Gaelic, 89.

Fishery, Herring, 152.

Fishing, 208.

Fishing Laws, Laxity of, 161.

Flail described, 26.

Flail used by Britons, 26.

Flame, Warning, 228.

Fly-fishing, 129.

Football, 209.

Fording a river, 172. [177-

Fording incident at Strathglass,

Foxes, boy kills 9 foxes, 96.

Fraser, Mr., Sheriff of Fort-
William, 179.

Free education, 86.

Fuller, Thomas, "The Holie
State," 46.

Funeral in Strathglass, 177.

Gael, Social state of, 108.

Gaelic gatherings, 20.

Gaelic language, need for a

chair at a university, 89.
Gaelic language, number of

people who speak Gaelic, 89.
Gaelic language preserved, 17.

261

INDEX

Gaelic School Society, 91.

Gaels' love for dancing, 236.

Gambling, Love of, among High-
landers, 207.

Game laws, 186.

Games, Olympic, 205. •

Garbh-criochan, or Highland
boundary, 38.

Gathering dulse, 105

Gatherings, Gaelic, 20.

" Gentle Shepherd," Allan
Ramsay, 56.

George IV., 119.

Gille Calum, Description of,
238.

Gille Calum or sword dance,
232.

Gille-ruithe, or running footman,
69.

Gillie, or servant, 92.

Gillies with game, 92.

Girls washing, 52.

Glencoe, birthplace of Ossian,
59-

Glencoe, Massacre of, 59.

Glenquoich, MacPhee in, 217.

Glenspean, 188.

Goats, Flock of, belonging to
MacPhee, 219.

Gordon, Duke of, and his con-
fidential retainer, 68.

Graddan, or meal, 49.

Grant of Glenmoriston's game-
keeper, 136.

Grinding corn, 27.

Grinding corn by hand-mill, 45.

Great Yarmouth, 155.

Habbie's How, 56.

Hake, The, 150.

Halley, Dr., 26.

Hammer, Throwing the, 209.

Hand-mill, 45.

Hand-mill, how used, 47.

Hand-milling forbidden by law,

48.
Hanover, House of, Hostility to,

212.

Harp, Jew's, 240.
Harp, Music of the, 206.
Harris' pottery, 22, 51, 241.
Hebrides, Johnson's Journey to,

13-

Heraldry, The eagle in, 170.
Herring, Derivation of, 152.
Herring curing, 158.
Herring curing described, 1 59.
Herring fishing, 152.
Herring Fishery Legislature,

157-
Herring shoal, enormous area of,

152-

Herrings, Red, 159.
Highland children healthy, 87.
Highland foot post, 65.
Highland games, Prizes at,

211.

Highland gatherings, 206.

262

INDEX

Highland girls without shoes,

ISO-

Highland names of deer, 139.
Highland risings of 1715 and

1745, 212.

Highland societies, List of, 210.
Highland Society of Scotland

and herring fisheries, 157.
Highland targe of wood, 122,

131-

Highlander and the eagle, 170.

Highlander carries stone in his
plaid, 176.

Highlanders' literary qualities,
88.

Highlanders simple and un-
sophisticated, 17.

Highlanders, Social condition of,
1 6.

Highlanders foretell a flood, 175.

Highlanders of keen intellect,
87.

Highlanders true sportsmen, 96.

Highlands, Johnson's Journey to,

13-

Hill, Mr., 17.

Hirta, or St. Kilda, 229.

Hogg, James, the Ettrick Shep-
herd, 80.

Home-spun materials, 112.

Horse shoes for good luck, 150.

Horsemanship, 208.

Horn, Powder, 102.

Horns, See Antlers.

Hunting, Examples of Highland,

96.

Hunting, old methods, 138.
Hunting expeditions, 96, 97.
Hunting matches, 138.

lasgair, a fisherman, 127.

Ian du, or Dark John of Aber-

arder, 49.
Ian fada, or Long John of Ben

Nevis, 48.

Ian m6r fording a river, 178.
Illicit distillation, 198.
Illicit stills, 196.
Inverlochie, Battle near, 1645,

30.

Inverlochie Castle, 30.
Inverness, Washing scenes at,

55-
lorrams, or boat songs, 159.

James III. revives fishing trade,
James V., 138. [156.

Javelin, Throwing the, 208.
Jew's harp, 240.
Johnson's definition of oats, 28.
Johnson, Samuel, "Journey to

the Highlands," 13.
Johnson, Samuel, on "Angling,"

125.
Jumping, 208.

Keith, Fall of, 128.
Kelp manufacture, 78.

263

INDEX

Laggan, Loch, 130.
Landseer, Edwin, 41.
Language, Gaelic, preserved, 17.
Lar-bualadh, The, 27.
Leister, or spear, 188.
Lens used to produce fire, 227.
Lewis, Barra, etc., 68.
Life, Gaelic mode of, 17,
Light. Steel strike-light, 42, 81,

91, 101, no.

Literature of Highlanders, 17.
Live peat as a signal, 226.
Lochaber axes, 2, 71.
Lochaber, Salmon spearing at,

187.

London and Edinburgh post, 67.
Luatha' or " waulking," 58.
Luckenbooth brooch, 6.
Lynn, A ship of, captured, 1 58.

MacCail, Kirsty, 119.
MacDonald, Coll, a young fisher,

130.

MacDonald, Mr., of Inch, 179.
MacDonald, Sorle" bui', 35.
MacKenzie, Sir Francis, 190.
MacKintosh, Mrs., 118.
MacPhee, The outlaw, 212.
MacPhee, Ewen, an outlaw, 97.
MacPhee, Ewen, captured, 215.
MacPhee, Ewen, enlists in a

Highland regiment, 215.
MacPhee, Ewen, deserts, 215.
MacPhee, Ewen, escapes, 216.

MacPhee, Ewen, death of, 222.
MacPhee, Ewen, his wife, 217.
MacPhee, Ewen, short sketch of

his wanderings, 220-3.
MacPherson of Crubin, 1 18.
MacPherson, James, 18.
MacRae, John, deerstalker, 136.
Main, nighean Alasdair ruadh,

206.

Manly exercises, 208.
Manners, change of national, 14.
Mar, Earl of, 30.
Mary, Queen. Deer hunt in

her honour, 138.
Mhuirich, Clan, 119.
Military dances, 237.
Mill, hand. See Hand-mill.
Mode of life, Gaelic, 17.
Mogan, 140.

Montrose, Marquis of, 30.
Monuments of antiquity — Ard-

chattan, 120.

Monzie, Campbell of, 120.
Morar, famed for eagles, 166.
Muidart, famous district for

eagles, 166.

Muillean-bra", or hand-mill, 46.
Muirgheadh, or spear, 188.
Mnrlan, or creel, 105.
Music of the harp, 206.
Mustering for school, 86.

National sports, their uses, 210
Nuncios, or postmen, 65.

264

INDEX

Oatmeal medically recom-
mended, 29.

Oats, Dr. Johnson's definition
of, 28.

Oats used in Scotland, 28.

Olympiads, The, 206.

Olympic games, 205.

" Order of the mountain eagle,"
171.

Ornamented pins, 62.

Ossian, Poetry of, 1 8.

Ossian's birthplace, 59.

Outlaw, Story of an, 215.

Paley, Dr., on angling, 125.
Parish schools, 85.
Peat ashes used as manure, 249.
Peat banks specified in the lease,

246.

Peat carrying, 242.
Peat casting or cutting, 246.
Peat cutting described, 246.
Peat, live, as a signal, 226.
Peat moss, Great depth of a,

245.
Peat, old practice of carrying

peats to school, 87.
Peat smoke less injurious than

coal, 249.
Peat stacks, 247.
Pennant's tour in Scotland, 59.
Penny postage established by

Peter Williamson, 67.
Pepper dulse, 106.

Pins, Ornamented, 62.

Pistol, Prince Charlie's, 141-181.

Plaid of a shepherd, 79.

Pliny and the Gaul's method of

reaping, 26.
Poetry, Gaelic, 18.
Porridge, Antiquity of, 46.
Postage, Penny, established, 67.
Post bags, Mishaps to, 70.
Post, Highland foot, 65.
Postman, Highland, 65, 69.
Post offices taken over by

Government, 67.
Posts established by Edward IV.,

66.

Pot, Brass cooking, 82.
Pottery, Harris, 51.
Powder horn, 102, 191, 202.
Prizes at Highland games, 211.
Probert's Welsh Laws, 207.
Puterach, The, 209.
Putting the stone, 209.

Quaich of ebony and ivory, 8.
Quoits, 208.

Raineach of Fern, 252.

Ramsay, Allan, describes a wash-
ing scene, 56.

Rebellions of 1715 and 1745,
212.

Recreations, Social, 206.

Red herrings, 159.

Reels, Scotch, 236.

265

INDEX

River, Fording a, 172.
Rivers become swollen, 225.
Rivers cause great damage to life

and property, 175.
Rivers, Difficulty in crossing, 172.
Robbing an eagle's nest, 165.
Rolt's Life of Earl of Crauford,

239-

Ruins of hamlets in the High-
lands, 76.

Running, 208.

Running leap, 209.

Roads in the Highlands, 15.

St. Columba, 18.

St. Kilda, or Hirta, 229.

St. Kilda. Fowlers, 168.

St. Kilda, Wrecked at, 230.

St. Fillans, Bell of, 142.

Salmon a much hunted creature,
126.

Salmon, Large, 130.

Salmon, Preserving, 130.

Salmon and eagle, Fight be-
tween, 169.
| Salmon Fishery Acts, 189.

Salmon leaps, 128.

Salmon spearing, 185, 187.

Shield. See Targe.

Silver brooch, HI.

Skian dhu worn by Prince
Charlie, 121.

School attendance in summer,
86.

School fees, 86.

School, Going to, 85.

Schools, Parish, 85.

Scotch fisheries in olden times,

155-

Scotch reels, 236.

Scotland, climate of, 107.

Scott, Sir Walter, and Scottish
scenery, 15.

Scott, Sir Walter. Tale of two
drovers, 30.

Sheep farming, 77.

Sheilings, 77.

Shell-fish broth, 109

Shepherd, Highland, 72.

Shepherd's tartan plaid, 79.

Shepherd's wages, 79.

"Sheriff's pass," 179.

Sickle mentioned, 26.

Signal for the boat, 225.

Signalling the approach of an
exciseman, 199.

Sinclair, Sir Robert, as post-
master, 67.

Singing when at work, 58.

Slaik, description, 106.

Small-still spirits, Superiority of,

Smuggler's life, 200. [195.

Smuggling, Difficulties of, 200.

Smuggling whisky, 160.

" Smuid suas," the smoke is up,
228.

Social condition of Highlanders
little known, 16.

266

INDEX

Social recreations, 206.
Societies, Highland, List of, 210.
Society, altered state of, after

1745. 75-

Socrates on dancing, 235.
Spade of oak, n.
Spate, Rivers in, 177.
Spean, River, 178.
Spearing salmon, 185, 187.
Spinner girls, Costume of, 150.
Spinning an art, 149.
Spinning, Antiquity of, 145.
Spinning, description of the

process, 147.
Spinning, Scriptural quotations

on, 145.

Spinning in ancient Egypt, 145.
Spinning with the distaff, 145.
Sporran worn by Prince Charlie,

231.

Sport, Highlanders' love of, 92.
Sport, Some instances of fine, 96.
Sports, Highland, 16.
Sports, List of, 208.
Sports, National, Uses of, 210.
Sports promote warlike prowess,

205.
Steel strike-light, 42, 81, 91,

1 01, IIO.

Stewart, General, 198.
Stewart, General, of Garth, on

Highland dances, 238.
Stewart, Charles Edward. See

Charles, Prince.

Still, Whiskey, 192.

Still, Whiskey described, 197.

Stills, Illicit, 196.

Stilts used for fording a river,

176.

Stone, Mr., 17.
Stone, Putting the, 209.
Stone, Throwing the, 205.
Stone carried in the plaid, 176.
Store farmer, 76.
Strampail na Plaideachan, or

tramping the blankets, 55.
Strathdon, Illicit stills at, 199.
Strathglass, Fording incident at,

177.

Strathglass, Inverness, 149.
Strength, Feats of, 208.
Strike-light, Steel, 42, 81, 91,

10!, IIO.

Suistean, or flails, 31.
Superstitions of the Highlanders,

150.
Sutherland, Duke of, and his

salmon, 126.
Swimming, 208.
Sword dance, or Gille Calum,

232.

Targe, Highland, 122, 131.
Target used by Prince Charlie,

61.

Tartan, A very old, 1 1 8.
Tartans, Antiquity of, 118.
Tay, River, 130.

267

INDEX

Taylor, the Water Poet, 98,
138.

Thatched roofs, 150.

Thatching, Method of, 253.

Thiery on the Gaels, 88.

Three feathers, 170.

Threshing corn, 25.

Throwing the javelin, 208.

Throwing the stone, 205.

Tigh-Nigheachain, or wash-
house, 59.

Timchioll na Sealg, or circuit
of hunting, 138,

Tonnag, The, 119.

Torrisgian, The, for cutting
peats, 246.

Tossing the caber, 209.

Travelling in West Highlands,
Excitement of, 227.

Travelling then and now, 227.

Triads, Welsh, 32.

Trout, Good catches of, 129.

Tweed, River, 130.

Uagh, Loch Nan, 160.
Uisge-bea, or Whiskey.
"Undertakers," 156.
United Service Magazine, 138.

Venery, Highland Terms of,

139-

Victoria, Queen, Her Highland
Home, 15.

Victoria, Queen, visits Bade-

nach, 255.
Vine, In eastern countries, 192.

Waiting for the boat, 230.
Walrus tusks, 207.
Walton, Isaac, on angling, 125.
Warning flame, Uses of the,

228.

Washing clothes, 52.
Washing scenes at Inverness, 55.
Watch carried by Prince Charlie,

IS*-

Water Poet, Taylor, 98, 138.

Water spouts, 175.

Waverley, Sir Walter Scott, De-
scription of washing scene, 56.

Welsh laws, 207.

Welsh trials, 32.

Whale attacks a fishing party,
160.

Whiskey, Long John, A famous
distiller, 49.

Whiskey, Various names for, 195.

Whiskey still, 192.

Whorl, The, 146.

Wick in the fishing season, 158.

William III., 59.

Williamson, Peter, Established
penny postage, 67.

Wooden drinking vessel with
handles, 171.

Wool, Fingering, 116.

Wool long and short, 115.

268

INDEX

Wool, Manufacture of, intro-
duced, 117.
Wool, process of preparation,

US-
Wool carding, 112.
Wool carding, Legislature, 121.
Wool sack, The, 121.
Woman's work in the High-
lands, 254.
Women working in fields, 28.

Women, Highlanders' high re-
gard for, 28.

Wreck at St. Kilda, 230.
Wrestling, 208.

Yachts kept for postal authori-
ties, 68.

Yarmouth, Great, 155.
Yarmouth, herring fishery, 158.

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[>maexea, reierence oemg inus renaerea mucn more conven eni.
LIST OF CLANS ILLUSTRATED.

uchanans.

Grants.

Mac Donalds of

Mac Kays. Mac Raes.

pamerons.

Grants of Glen-

Glenco.

Mac Kenzies.

Mathesons.

Campbells of

moriston.

Mac Donalds of

Mac Kinnons.

Menzies.

I Argyle.

Gordons.

the Isles.

Ma Lachlans.

Munros.

Campbells of

Gunns.

Mac Donalds of

P.Ta Laurans.

M arrays.

1 Bread albane.

Kennedys.

Clan Ranald.

Ma Leans.

Ogilvies.

Khisholms.

Lamonds.

Mac Donnells of

Ma Leods.

Robertsons.

]>olquhouns.

Logans.

Glengarry.

Ma Millans.

Roses.

Cumins.

Mac Allasters.

Mac Duffs.

Mac Nabs.

Rosses.

Davidsons.

Mac Arthurs. • Mac Dugals.

Mac Nachtans.

Shaws.

|)rummonds.

Mac Aulays.

Mac Gillivrays.

Mac Nicols.

Sinclair*.

iarquharsons.

Mac Beans.

Mac Gregors.

Mac Niels.

Skenes.

ergusons.

Mac Colls.

Mac Innes.

Mac Pharlans.

Stewarts.

orbeses.

Mac Cmimins.

Mac Intires.

Mac Phees.

Sutherlands.

rasers.

Mac Donalds of Gara- Macintoshes.

Mac Phersons.

Urquharts.

j rtemes.

gach and Keppach.

Mac Ivors.

Mac Quaries.

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