The prophecies of the Brahan seer, Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche

PROPHECIES

OF THE

BRAH AN SEER

(COINNEACH ODHAB, F1OSA1CHE)

FOURTH EDITION— ENLARGED

ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot.

Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

1980

-

PROPHECIES

*

OF THE

BRAHAN SEERS**

(COINNEACH ODHAR FIOSAICHE).

BY '

ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A. SCOT.,

KJ3ITOR OF THE " CELTIC MAGAZINE " ; AUTHOR OF " THE HISTORY OF TH&

MACKENZIES," " THE HISTORY OF THE MACDONALDS AND LORDS OF THE

ISLES," ETC., ETC.

Jonrth (Kbititftt— Jfturh (Snlargei.

APPENDIX ON THE SUPERSTITION OF
THE HIGHLANDERS,

BY

THE REV. ALEXANDER MACGREGOR, M.A.

INVERNESS:
A. & W. MACKENZIE, "CELTIC MAGAZINE" OFFICE.

1888.

>\** As

«

#

THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS;

JOHN THOMSON AND J. F. THOMSON, M.A.

DEDICATION TO FIRST EDITION.

TO MY REVERED FRIEND,

THE REV. ALEXANDER MACGREGOR, M.A.,

Of the West Church, Inverness, as a humble tribute of my
admiration of his many virtues, his genial nature, and his
manly Celtic spirit. He has kept alive the smouldering
embers of our Celtic Literature for half a century by his
contributions, under the signature of " Sgiathanach," " Alas-
tair Ruadh," and others, to the Teachdaire Gaidhealach,
Cuairtear nan Gleann, Fear Tathaich nan Beann, An
Gaidheal, The Highlander ; and, latterly, his varied and
interesting articles in the Celtic Magazine have done much
to secure to that Periodical its present, and rapidly increasing,
popularity. He has now the pleasing satisfaction, in his
ripe and mellow old age, of seeing the embers, which he so
long and so carefully fostered, shining forth in the full blaze
of a general admiration of the long despised and ignored
Literature of his countrymen ; and to him no small share of
the honour is due.

That he may yet live many years in the enjoyment of
health and honour, is the sincere desire of many a High-
lander, and of none more so, than of his sincere friend,

ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.

, May, 1877.

PREFACE.

THE Second Edition of the " Prophecies " has long been
out of print, stray copies of it selling at more than double
the published price. We now place another edition, con-
siderably extended, and much improved in every respect,
at the disposal of the public, at a lower price.

Fifty Large paper copies are thrown off, printed on thick
Crown Quarto, giving a handsome margin, and making
altogether a handsome unique volume for the Library,
or the Drawing-room table, of a work which the Scotsman,
and all the press of the country, "recommended to the
lovers of the marvellous as a sweet morsel".

On the i Qth of October, 1881, the author of the Appendix
on " The Superstition of the Highlanders " passed over the
majority, regretted and loved by all who knew him.

A. M.
INVERNESS, June, 1882.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

DEDICATION... ... ... ... ... ... ... iii

PREFACE ... ... ... ... ... ... ... v

CONTENTS ... ... ... ... ... ... ... vii

GENERAL INTRODUCTION — How Kenneth became a Seer —

Various Versions ... ... ... ... ... i

PROPHECIES WHICH MIGHT BE ATTRIBUTED TO NATURAL SHREWDNESS 9

PROPHECIES UNFULFILLED ... ... ... ... ... 13

PROPHECIES AS TO THE FULFILMENT OF WHICH THERE is A DOUBT 24

PROPHECIES WHOLLY OR PARTLY FULFILLED ... ... ... 28

SKETCH OF THE FAMILY OF SEAFORTH ... ... ... 61

SEAFORTH'S DOOM ... ... ... ... ... 68

SEAFORTH'S DREAM ... ... ... ... ... 71

THE SEER'S DEATH ... ... ... ... ... 77

FULFILMENT OF THE SEAFORTH PROPHECY ... ... 82

APPENDIX —

General Superstition ... ... ... ... ... 95

Dmidism ... ... ••• 100

Fairies ...f ••• ••• J°4

Witchcraft ... ... — ••• "2

Second Sight ... ... ••• ••• "7

Smaller Superstitions ... ... ... ••• ... 125

New- Year Customs ... ... ••• ••• 134

Easier Customs ... ... ... 135

May-day Customs ... ... ... ... ••• *35

Hallowe'en ... ... ••• ••• 136

• Sacred Wells and Lochs... ... ... ... ••• 147

THE

PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER:

COINNEACH ODHAR FIOSAICHE.

HE gift of prophecy, second-sight, or "Taibh-
searachd," claimed for and believed by
many to have been possessed, in an
eminent degree, by Coinneach Odhar, the
Brahan Seer, is one, the belief in which
scientific men and others of the present day accept as un-
mistakable signs of looming, if not of actual insanity. \Ve all
are, or would be considered, scientific in these days. It will,
therefore, scarcely be deemed prudent for any one who wishes
to lay claim to the slightest modicum of common sense, to
say nothing of an acquaintance with the elementary principles
of science, to commit to paper his ideas on such a subject,
unless he is prepared, in doing so, to follow the common
horde in their all but universal scepticism.

Without committing ourselves to any specific faith on the
subject, however difficult it may be to explain away what
tollows on strictly scientific grounds, we shall place before

2 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

the reader the extraordinary predictions of the Brahan Seer.
We have had slight experiences of our own, which we would
hesitate to dignify by the name of second-sight. It is not,
however, with our own experiences that we have at present
to do, but with the " Prophecies " of Coinneach Odhar
Fiosaiche. He is beyond comparison the most distinguished
of all our Highland Seers, and his prophecies have been known
throughout the whole country for more than two centuries.
The popular faith in them has been, and still continues to
be, strong and wide-spread. Sir Walter Scott, Sir Humphrey
Davy, Mr. Morrit, Lockhart, and other eminent contem-
poraries of the " Last of the Seaforths " firmly believed in
them. Many of them were well known, and recited from
generation to generation, centuries before they were fulfilled.
Some of them have been fulfilled in our own day, and many
are still unfulfilled.

Not so much with the view of protecting ourselves from
the charge of a belief in such superstitious folly (for we
would hesitate to acknowledge any such belief), but as a
slight palliation for obtruding such nonsense on the public,
we may point out, by the way, that the sacred writers — who
are now believed by many of the would-be-considered-wise
to have been behind the age, and not near so wise and far-
seeing as we are — believed in second-sight, witchcraft, and
other visions of a supernatural kind. But then we shall be
told by our scientific friends that the Bible itself is becoming
obsolete, and that it has already served its turn ; being only
suited for an unenlightened age in which men like Shak-
spere, Milton, Newton, Bacon, and such unscientific men
could be considered distinguished. The truth is that on
more important topics than the one we are now considering,
the Bible is laid aside by many of our would-be-scientific
whenever it treats of anything beyond the puny

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 3

comprehension of the minds and intellectual vision of these
omniscient gentlemen. We have all grown so scientific
that the mere idea of supposing anything possible which is
beyond the intellectual grasp of the scientific enquirer can-
not be entertained, although even he must admit, that in
many cases, the greatest men in science, and the mightiest
intellects, find it impossible to understand or explain away
many things as to the existence of which they have no
possible doubt. We even find the clergy slightly incon-
sistent in questions of this kind. They solemnly desire to
impress us with the fact that ministering spirits hover about
the couches and apartments in which the dying Christian is
drawing near the close of his existence, and preparing to
throw off his mortal coil ; but were we to suggest the
possibility of any mere human being, in any conceivable
manner having had indications of the presence of these
ghostly visitors, or discovering any signs or premonitions of
the early departure of a relative or of an intimate friend,
our heathen ideas and devious wanderings from the safe
channel of clerical orthodoxy and consistent inconsistency,
would be howled against, and paraded before the faithful
as the grossest superstition, with an enthusiasm and relish
possible only to a strait-laced ecclesiastic. Clerical incon-
sistency is, however, not our present theme.

Many able men have written on the Second-sight, and to
some of them we shall" refer in the following pages ; mean-
while our purpose is to place before the reader the Pro-
phecies of the Brahan Seer, as far as we have been able to
procure them. We are informed that a considerable col-
lection of them has been made by the late Alexander
Cameron of Lochmaddy, author of the "History and
Traditions of the Isle of Skye," but we were unable* to,
discover into whose possession the manuscript fouKOjjls.

4 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

way ; we hope, however, that this reference may bring it to
light.

Kenneth Mackenzie, better known as Coinneach Odhar,
the Brahan Seer (according to Mr. Maclennan), was born at
Baile-na-Cille, in the Parish of Uig and Island of Lews,
about the beginning of the seventeenth century. Nothing
particular is recorded of his early life, but when he had just
entered his teens, he received a stone in the following
manner, by which he could reveal the future destiny of
man : — While his mother was one evening tending her cattle
in a summer shealing on the side of a ridge called Cnoc-
eothail, which overlooks the burying-ground of Baile-na-
Cille, in Uig, she saw, about the still hour of midnight, the
whole of the graves in the churchyard opening, and a vast
multitude of people of every age, from the newly born babe
to the grey-haired sage, rising from their graves, and going
away in every conceivable direction. In about an hour
they began to return, and were all soon after back in their
graves, which closed upon them as before. But, on scanning
the burying-place more closely, Kenneth's mother observed
one grave, near the side, still open. Being a courageous
woman, she determined to ascertain the cause of this
singular circumstance, so, hastening to the grave, and
placing her " cuigeal " (distaff) athwart its mouth (for she
had heard it said that the spirit could not enter the grave
again while that instrument was upon it), she watched the
result. She had not to wait long, for in a minute or two
she noticed a fair lady coming in the direction of the
churchyard, rushing through the air, from the north. On
her arrival, the fair one addressed her thus — " Lift thy
distaff from off my grave, and let me enter my dwelling of
the dead." " I shall do so," answered the other, " when
you explain to me what detained you so long after your

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 5

neighbours." " That you shall soon hear," the ghost re-
plied ; " My journey was much longer than theirs — I had
to go all the way to Norway." She then addressed her : —
" I am a daughter of the King of Norway ; I was drowned
while bathing in that country ; my body was found on the
beach close to where we now stand, and I was interred in
this grave. In remembrance of me, and as a small reward
for your intrepidity and courage, I shall possess you of a
valuable secret — go and find in yonder lake a small round
blue stone, which give to your son, Kenneth, who by it shall
reveal future events." She did as requested, found the
stone, and gave it to her son, Kenneth. No sooner had he
thus received the gift of divination than his fame spread far
and wide. He was sought after by the gentry throughout
the length and breadth of the land, and no special assembly
of theirs was complete unless Coinneach Odhar was amongst
them. Being born on the lands of Seaforth, in the Lews,
he was. more associated with that family than with any other
in the country, and he latterly removed to the neighbour-
hood of Loch Ussie, on the Brahan estate, where he worked
as a common labourer on a neighbouring farm. He was
very shrewd and clear-headed, for one in his menial position ;
was always ready with a smart answer, and if any attempted
to raise the laugh at his expense, seldom or ever did he fail
to turn it against his tormentors.

There are various other versions of the manner in which
he became possessed of the power of divination. Accord-
ing to one — His mistress, the farmer's wife, was unusually
exacting with him, and he, in return, continually teased,
and, on many occasions, expended much of his natural wit
upon her, much to her annoyance and chagrin. Latterly,
his conduct became so unbearable that she decided upon
disposing of him in a manner which would save her any

0 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

future annoyance. On one occasion, his master having sent
him away to cut peats, which in those days were, as they
now are in more remote districts, the common article of
fuel, it was necessary to send him his dinner, he being too
far from the house to come home to his meals, and the
farmer's wife so far carried out her intention of destroying
him, that she poisoned his dinner. It was somewhat late
in arriving, and the future prophet feeling exhausted from
his honest exertions in his master's interest and from want
of food, lay down on the heath and fell into a heavy
slumber. In this position he was suddenly awakened by
feeling something cold in his breast, which on examination
he found to be a small white stdne, with a hole through the
centre. He looked through it, when a vision appeared to
him which revealed the treachery and diabolical intention
of his mistress. To test the truth of the vision, he gave
the dinner intended for himself to his faithful collie; the
poor brute writhed, and died soon after in the greatest
agony. ,

The following version is supplied by Mr. Macintyre,
teacher, Arpafeelie : — Although the various accounts as to
the manner in which Coinneach Odhar became gifted with
second-sight differ in some respects, yet they generally agree
in this, that it was acquired while he was engaged in the
humble occupation of cutting peats or divots, which were
in his day, and still are in many places, used as fuel through-
out the Highlands of Scotland. On the occasion referred
to, being somewhat fatigued, he lay down, resting his head
upon a little knoll, and waited the arrival of his wife with
his dinner, whereupon he fell fast asleep. On awaking, he
felt something hard under his head, and examining the
cause of the uneasiness, discovered a small round stone
with a hole through the middle. He picked it up, and

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 7

looking through it, saw by the aid of this prophetic stone
that his wife was coming to him with a dinner consisting of
sowans and milk, polluted, though unknown to her, in a
manner which, as well as several other particulars connected
with it, we forbear to mention. But Coinneach found that
though this stone was the means by which a supernatural
power had been conferred upon him, it had, on its very first
application, deprived him of the sight of that eye with which
he looked through it, and he continued ever afterwards cam,
or blind of an eye.

It would appear from this account that the intended
murderer made use of the Seer's wife to convey the poison
to her own husband, thus adding to her diabolical and
murderous intention, by making her who would feel the
loss the keenest, the medium by which her husband was to
lose his life.

Hugh Miller, in his " Scenes and Legends in the North
of Scotland," says : — When serving as a fieLl labourer with
a wealthy clansman who resided somewh .re near Brahan
Castle, he made himself so formidable to the clansman's
wife by his shrewd, sarcastic humour, that she resolved on
destroying him by poison. With this design, she mixed a
preparation of noxious herbs with his food, when he was
one day employed in digging turf in a solitary morass, and
brought it to him in a pitcher. She found him lying asleep
on one of those conical fairy hillocks which abound in some
parts of the Highlands, and her courage failing her, instead
of awaking him, she set down the pitcher by his side and
returned home. He woke shortly after, and, seeing the
food, would have begun his repast, but feeling something
press heavily against his heart, he opened his waistcoat
and found a beautiful smooth stone, resembling a pearl, but
much larger, which had apparently been dropped into his

8 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

breast while he slept. He gazed at it in admiration, and
became conscious as he gazed, that a strange faculty of
seeing the future as distinctly as the present, and men's
real designs and motives as clearly as their actions, was
miraculously imparted to him ; and it is well for him that
he should become so knowing at such a crisis, for the first
secret he became acquainted with was that of the treachery
practised against him by his mistress.

We have thus several accounts of the manner in which
our prophet obtained possession of his remarkable stone,
white or blue, with or without a hole through its centre, it
matters little ; that he did obtain itj we must assume to be
beyond question ; but it is a matter for consideration, and
indeed open to considerable doubt, whether it had any real
prophetic virtue. If Kenneth was really possessed of the
power of prophecy he more than likely used the stone
simply to impose upon the people, who would never believe
him possessed of such a gift, unless -they saw with their own
.eyes the means by which he exercised it.

We shall, as far as possible, give the Prophecies under
the following headings — Those which might be attributed
to great penetration and natural shrewdness; those which
are still unfulfilled; those that are doubtful; and those
which have been unquestionably fulfilled, or partly fulfilled.

PROPHECIES WHICH MIGHT BE ATTRIBUTED
TO NATURAL SHREWDNESS.

E no doubt predicted many things which the
unbeliever in his prophetic gifts may as-
cribe to great natural shrewdness. Among
these may be placed his prophecy, 150
years before the Caledonian Canal was built,
that ships would some day sail round the back of Tomnahu-
rich HilL A gentleman- in Inverness sent for Coinneach to
take down his prophecies. He wrote several of them, but
when he heard this one, he thought it so utterly absurd and
impossible, that he threw the manuscript of what he had
already written into the fire, and gave up any further com-
munication with the Seer. Mr. Maclennan gives the following
version of it : — " Strange as it may seem to you this day, the
time will come, and it is not far off, when full-rigged ships
will be seen sailing eastward and westward by the back of
Tomnahurich, near Inverness." Mr. Macintyre supplies us
with a version in the Seer's vernacular Gaelic: — "Thig an
latha 's am faicear laraichean Sasunnach air an tarruing le
srianan corcaich seachad air cul Tom-na-hiuraich." (The
day will come when English mares, with hempen bridles,
shall be led round the back of Tomnahurich.) It is quite
possible that a man of penetration and great natural shrewd-

10 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

ness might, from the appearance of the country, with its chain
of great inland lakes, predict the future Caledonian Canal.
Among others which might safely be predicted, without the
aid of any supernatural gift, are, " that the day will come
when there will be a road through the hills of Ross-shire from
sea to sea, and a bridge upon every stream ". " That the
people will degenerate as their country improves." " That
the clans will become so effeminate as to flee from their
native country before an army of sheep." Mr. Macintyre
supplies the following version of the latter : — Alluding possibly
to the depopulation of the Highlands, Coinneach said " that
the day will come when the Big Sheep will overrun the
country until they strike (meet) the northern sea ". Big sheep
here is commonly understood to mean deer, but whether the
words signify sheep or deer, the prophecy has been very
strikingly fulfilled. The other two have also been only too
literally fulfilled.

Mr. Macintyre supplies another version, as follows : •' The
day will come when the hills of Ross will be strewed with
ribbons ". It is generally accepted that this prediction finds
its fulfilment in the many good roads that now intersect the
various districts of the country. Other versions are given,
such as 'a ribbon on every hill, and a bridge on every stream'
^Raoban air gach cnoc agus drochaid air gach alltan) ; ' a
mill on every river and a white house on every hillock'
(Muillinn air gach abhainn agus tigh geal air gach cnocan) ;
and ' that the hills of the country will be crossed with
shoulder-halts ' (criosan guaille). Since Kenneth's, day mills
were very common, and among the most useful industrial
institutions of the country, as may be evidenced by the fact
that, even to this day, the proprietors of lands, where such
establishments were once located, pay Crown and Bishop's
rents for them. And may we not discover the fulfilment of

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. II

" a white house on every hillock' " in the many elegant
shooting lodges, hotels, and school-houses now found in
every corner of the Highlands.

Mr. Maclennan supplies the following : — There is opposite
the shore at Findon, Ferrintosh, two sand banks which were,
in the time of the Seer, entirely covered over with the sea,
even at the very lowest spring ebbs. Regarding these,
Coinneach said, " that the day will come, however distant,
when these banks will form the coast line ; and when that
happens, know for a certainty that troublesome times are at
hand ". " These banks," our correspondent continues, " have
been visibly approaching, for many years back, nearer and
nearer to the shore." This is another of the class of pre-
dictions which might be attributed to natural shrewdness.
It is being gradually fulfilled, and it may be well to watch
for the " troublesome times," and so test the powers of the
Seer.

Other predictions of this class may occur as we proceed,
but we have no hesitation in saying that, however much
natural penetration and shrewdness might have aided Kenneth
in predicting such as these, it would assist him little in
prophesying " that the day will come when Tomnahurich,"
or, as he called it, Tom-na-sithichean, or the Fairy Hill,
* will be under lock and key, and the Fairies secured within".
It would hardly assist him in foreseeing the beautiful and
unique cemetery on the top of the hill, and the spirits (of
the dead) chained within, as we now see it.

Since the last edition of the "Prophecies" appeared, our
attention has been called to the following paragraph pub-
lished in the Inverness Advertiser, in 1859 ; that is before
it had been turned into a Cemetery — " Tomnahurich, the
far-famed Fairies' Hill, has been sown with oats. According
to tradition, the Brahan prophet, who lived 200 years ago,

12 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

predicted that ships with unfurled sails would pass and re-
pass Tomnahurich ; and further, that it would yet be placed
under lock and key. The first part of the prediction was
verified by the opening of the Caledonian Canal, and we
seem to be on the eve of seeing the realization of the rest by
the final closing up of the Fairies' Hill. ' This paragraph
was in print before the prediction was fulfilled.

UNFULFILLED PROPHECIES.

ENNETH foretold " that, however unlikely
it may now appear, the Island of Lews will
be laid waste by a destructive war, which
will continue till the contending armies,
slaughtering each other as they proceed,
shall reach Tarbert in Harris. In the Caws of Tarbert,
the retreating host will suddenly halt ; an onslaught led
by a left-handed Macleod, called Donald, son of Donald,
son of Donald, will then be made upon the pursuers.
The only weapon in this champion's hands will be a black
sooty cabar, taken off a neighbouring hut ; but his intre-
pidity and courage will so inspirit the fugitives that they
will fight like mighty men, and overpower their pursuers.
The Lews will then enjoy a long period of repose." It
has not hitherto been suggested that this prophecy has
been fulfilled, and we here stake the reputation of our
prophet upon its fulfilment, and that of the following pre-
dictions, which are still current throughout the Northern
Counties of Scotland.

Another, by which the faith of future generations may be
tested, is the one in which he predicted "that a Loch above
Beauly will burst through its banks and destroy in its rush a
village in its vicinity". We are not aware that such a

14 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

calamity as is here foretold has yelf occured, nor are we aware
of the locality of the loch or the village.

We have received various versions of the, as yet, unful-
filled prediction regarding " Clach an t-Seasaidh," near the
Muir of Ord. This is an angular stone, sharp at the top,
which at one time stood upright, and was of considerable
height. It is now partly broken and lying on the ground.
" The day will come when the ravens will, from the top of it,
drink their three fulls, for three successive days, of the blood
of the Mackenzies."

Mr. Maclennan's version is : — " The day will come when
the ravens will drink their full of the Mackenzies' blood three
times off the top of the ' Clach Mhor,' and glad am I
(continues the Seer) that I will not live t® see that day, for a
bloody and destructive battle will be fought on the Muir of
Ord. A squint-eyed (cam), pox-pitted tailor will originate
the battle ; for men will become so scarce in those days that
each of seven women will strive hard for the squint-eyed
tailor's heart and hand, and out of this strife the conflict will
originate/'

Mr. Macintyre writes regarding these : — " The prophecies
that ' the raven will drink from the top of ' Clach an t-Seasaidh,'
its full of the blood of the Mackenzies for three successive
days,' and ' that the Mackenzies would be so reduced in
numbers, that they would be all taken in an open fishing-
boat (scuta dubh) back to Ireland from whence they originally
came,' remain still unfulfilled."

In the Kintail versions of these predictions they are made
to apply to the Macraes, who are to get so scarce that a
cripple tailor of the name is to be in such request among the
ladies as to cause a desperate battle in the district between
themselves and the Maclennans, the result of which will be
that a black fishine wherry or " scuta dubh " will carry back

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 15

to Ireland all that remains' of the clan Macrae, but no sooner
do they arrive than they again return to Kintail. Before
this was to take place, nine men of the name of Macmillan
would arrive at manhood (assume their bonnets) in the
district ; assemble at a funeral at Cnoc-a-Chlachain in Kil-
duich, and originate a quarrel. At this exact period, the
Macraes, would be at the height of their prosperity in Kintail,
and henceforth begin to lose their hold in the country of
their ancestors. The Macmillans have actually met in this
spot and originated a quarrel as predicted, although nothing
could have been more unlikely, for in the Seer's day there
was not a single one of the name in Kintail, nor for several
generations after. It is somewhat remarkable to find that
the Maclennans are at this very time actually supplanting
the Macraes as foretold, for the last two of the ancient stock
— the late tenants of Fernaig and Leachachan— who left the
district have been succeeded in their holdings by Mac-
lennans ; and other instances of the same kind, within recent
years, are well known.

At present, we are happy to say, there does not appear
much probability of the Clan Mackenzie being reduced to
such small dimensions as would justify us in expecting the
fulfilment ot the " scuta dubh " part of the prophecy on a
very early date. If the prediction, however, be confined in
its application to the Mackenzies of Seaforth, it may be said
to have been already almost fulfilled. We have, indeed,
been told that this is a fragment of the unfulfilled prophecy
uttered by Coinneach regarding the ultimate doom and total
extinction of the Seaforths, and which we have been as yet
unable to procure in detail. It was, however, known to
Bernard Burke, who makes the following reference to it : —
" He (the Seer) uttered it in all its horrible length ; but I at
present suppress the last portion of it, which is as yet un-

1 6 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

fulfilled. Every other part of the prediction has most
literally and most accurately come to pass, but let us
earnestly hope that the course of future events may at length
give the lie to the avenging curse of the Seer. The last
clause of the prophecy is well known to many of those versed
in Highland family tradition, and I trust that it may remain
unfulfilled."

One of our correspondents presumes that the mention of
" Clach an t-Seasaidh " refers to the remains of a Druidical
circle to be seen still on the right and left of the turnpike
road at Windhill, near Beauly. As a sign whereby to know
when the latter prophecy would be accomplished, Coinneach
said " that a mountain-ash tree will grow out of the walls of
Fairburn Tower, and when it becomes large enough to form
a cart axle, these things will come to pass ''. Not long ago,
a party informed us that a mountain-ash, or rowan-tree, was
actually growing out of the tower walls, and was about the
thickness of a man's thumb.

Various other unfulfilled predictions of the Seer remain to
be noticed. One is regarding " Clach an Tiompain," a well-
known stone in the immediate vicinity of the far-famed
Strathpeffer Wells. It is, like " Clach-an-t-Seasaidh," an up-
right, pillar-looking stone, which, when struck, makes a
great hollow sound or echo, and hence its designation, the
literal meaning of which is the " stone of the hollow sound
or echo ". Coinneach said " that the day will come when
ships will ride with their cables attached to ' Clach-an-
Tiompain'". It is perhaps superfluous to point out that this
has not yet come to pass ; and we could only imagine two
ways in which it was possible to happen, either by a canal
being made through the valley of Strathpefier, passing in the
neighbourhood of the Clach, or by the removal of the stone
some day by the authorities of " Baile Chail " to Dingwall

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 17

pier. They may feel disposed to thus aid the great prophet
of their country to secure the position as a great man, which
we now claim in his behalf.

While the first edition was going through the press we
visited Knockfarrel, in the immediate vicinity of Loch Ussie,
and we were told of another way in which this prediction
might be fulfilled so peculiar that, although it is altogether
improbable, nay impossible, that it can ever take place, we
shall reproduce it. Having found our way to the top of this
magnificent and perfect specimen of a vitrified fort, we were
so struck with its great size, that we carefully paced it, and
found it to be one hundred and fifty paces in length, with a
uniform width of forty, both ends terminating in a semi-circle?
from each of which projected for a distance of sixty paces,
vitrified matter, as if it were originally a kind of promenade,
thus making the whole length of the structure two hundred
and seventy yards, or thereabout. On the summit of the
hill we met two boys herding cows, and as our previous ex-
perience taught us that boys, as a rule — especially herd boys,
— are acquainted with the traditions and places of interest in
the localities they frequent, we were curious enough to ask
them if they ever heard of Coinneach Odhar in the district,
and if he ever said anything regarding the fort on Knockfarrel.
They directed us to what they called " Fingal's Well," in the
interior of the ruined fort, and informed us that this well was
used by the inhabitants of the fortress " until Fingal, one day,
drove them out, and placed a large stone over the well, which
has ever since kept the water from oozing up, after which he
jumped to the other side of the (Strathpeffer) valley ". There
being considerable rains for some days previous to our visit,
water could be seen in the " well ". One of the boys drove
down a stick until it struck the stone, producing a hollow
sound which unmistakably indicated the existence of a cavity

2

1 8 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

beneath. " Coinneach Odhar foretold," said the boy, " that
if ever that stone was taken out of its place, Loch Ussie
would ooze up through the well and flood the valley below
to such an extent that ships could sail up to Strathpeffer and
be fastened to ' Clach-an-Tiompain '; and this would happen
after the stone had fallen three times. It has already fallen
twice," continued our youthful informant, " and you can now
see it newly raised, strongly and carefully propped up, near
the end of the doctor's house." And so it is, and can still
be seen, on the right, a few paces from the roadside, as you
proceed up to the Strathpeffer Wells. We think it right to
give this — a third — with the other versions, for probably the
reader will admit that the one is just as likely to happen as
the other. We can quite understand Kenneth prophecying
that the sea would yet reach Strathpeffer ; for to any one
standing where we did, on the summit of Knockfarrel, the
bottom of the valley appears much lower than the Cromarty
Firth beyond Dingwall, and it looks as if it might, any day,
. break through the apparently slender natural embankment
below Tulloch Castle, which seemed, from where we stood,
to be the only obstruction in its path. We need, however,
hardly inform the reader in the district that the bottom of
the Strathpeffer valley is, in reality, several feet above the
present sea level

Another prediction is that concerning the Canonry of
Ross, which is still standing — "The day will come when,
full of the Mackenzies, it will fall with a fearful crash ".
This may come to pass in several ways. The Canonry is
the principal burying-place of the Clan, and it may fall
when full of dead Mackenzies, or when a large concourse
of the Clan is present at the funeral of a great chief.

" When two false teachers shall come across the seas who
will revolutionize the religion of the land, and nine bridges

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 19

shall span the river Ness, the Highlands will be overrun by
ministers without grace and women without shame," is a
prediction which some maintain has all the appearance of
being rapidly fulfilled at this moment. It has been sug-
gested that the two false teachers were no other than the
great evangelists, Messrs. Moody and Sankey, who, no
doubt, from Coinneach Odhar's standpoint of orthodoxy,
who must have been a Roman Catholic or an Episcopalian,
attempted to revolutionize the religion of the Highlands.
If this be so, the other portions of the prophecy are looming
not far off in the immediate future. We have already eight
bridges on the Ness — the eighth has only been completed
last year — and the ninth is almost finished. If we are
to accept the opinions of certain of the clergy themselves,
"ministers without grace" are becoming the rule, and as for
a plenitude of "women without shame," ask any ancient
matron, and she will at once tell you that Kenneth's pro-
phecy may be held to have been fulfilled in that particular
any time within the last half century. Gleidh sinne ! !

It is possible the following may have something to do with
the same calamity in the Highlands. Mr. Maclennan says:
— With reference to some great revolution which shall take
place in the country, Coinneach Odhar said that " before
that event shall happen, the water of the river Beauly will
thrice cease to run. On one of these occasions a salmon,
having shells instead of scales, will be found in the bed of
the river." This prophecy has been in part fulfilled, for the
Beauly has on two occasions ceased to run, and a salmon of
the kind mentioned has been found in the bed of the river.

Mr. Macintyre gives another version : — " When the river
Beauly is dried up three times, and a ' scaly salmon ' or
royal sturgeon, is caught in the river, that will be a time of
great trial." (Nuair a thraoghas abhainn na Manachain tri

20 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

uairean, agus a ghlacair Bradan Sligeach air grunnd na
h-aibhne, 's ann an sin a bhitheas an deuchainn ghoirt.)
The river has been already dried up twice, the last time in
1826, and a •' Bradan Sligeach,' or royal sturgeon, measuring
nine feet in length, has been caught in the estuary of the
Beauly about two years ago.

The following is one which we trust may never be realized
in all its details, though some may be disposed to think that
signs are not wanting of its ultimate fulfilment : — " The day
will come when the jaw-bone of the big sheep, or ' caoirich
mhora,' will put the plough on the rafters (air an aradh) ;
when sheep shall become so numerous that the bleating of
the one shall be heard by the other from Conchra in Loch-
alsh to Bun-da-Loch in Kintail they shall be at their height
in price, and henceforth will go back and deteriorate, until
they disappear altogether, and be so thoroughly forgotten
that a man finding the jaw-bone of a sheep in a cairn, will
not recognise it, or be able to tell what animal it belonged
to. The ancient proprietors of the soil shall give place to
strange merchant proprietors, and the whole Highlands will
become one huge deer forest ; the whole country will be so
utterly desolated and depopulated that the crow of a cock
shall not be heard north of Druim-Uachdair ; the people
will emigrate to Islands now unknown, but which shall yet
be discovered in the boundless oceans, after which the deer
and other wild animals in the huge wilderness shall be ex-
terminated and drowned by horrid black rains (siantan
dubha). The people will then return and take undisturbed
possession of the lands of their ancestors."

We have yet to see the realization of the following : — " A
dun, hornless, cow (supposed to mean a steamer) will appear
in the Minch (off Carr Point, in Gairloch), and make a
' geum,'- or--"bellow, which will knock the six chimneys off

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 21

Gairloch House." (Thig bo mhaol odhar a steach an t-Aite->
mor agus leigeas i geum aiste 'chuireas na se beannagan
dheth an Tigh Dhige.) Gairloch House, or the Tigh Dige
of Coinneach's day, was the old house which stood in the
park on the right, as you proceed from the bridge in the
direction of the present mansion. The walls were of wattled
twigs, wicker work, or plaited twig hurdles, thatched with
turf or divots, and surrounded with a deep ditch, which
could, in time of approaching danger, be filled with water
from the river, hence the name " Tigh Dige," House of the:
Ditch. It has been suggested that the Seer's prediction
referred to this stronghold, but a strong objection to this
view appears in the circumstance that the ancient . citadel
had no chimneys to fall off. The present mansion is, how-
ever, also called the "-Tigh Dige," and it has the exact
number of chimneys — six.

' " The day will come when a river in Wester Ross shall be
dried up." " The day will corn e when there .shall be such
dire persecution and bloodshed in the county of Sutherland,
that people can ford the river Oykel dryshod, over' dead
men's bodies." " The day will come when a raven, attired
in plaid and bonnet, will drink his full of human blood on
' Fionn-bheinn,' three times a day, for thtee successive
days."

" A battle will be fought at Ault-nan-Torcan, in the
Lewis, which will be a bloody one indeed. It will truly
take place, though the time may be far hence, but woe to
the mothers of sucklings that day* The defeated host will
continue to be cut down till it reaches Ard-a-chaolais (a
place nearly seven miles from Ault-nan-Torcan), and there
the swords will make terrible havoc." This has not yet
occurred.

Speaking of what should come to pass -in

22 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

Lochs, he said — " At bleak Runish in Lochs, they will spoil
and devour, at the foot of the crags, and will split heads by
the score." He is also said to have predicted " that the
day will come when the raven will drink its three fulls of the
blood of the Clan Macdonald on the top of the Hills of
Minaraidh in Parks, in the parish of Lochs ". This looks
as if the one above predicted about the Mackenzies had been
misapplied to the Macdonalds. " The day will come when
there shall be a laird of Tulloch who will kill four wives in
succession, but the fifth shall kill him."

Regarding the battle of Ard-nan-Ceann, at Benbecula,
North Uist, he said — " Oh, Ard-nan-Ceann, Ard-nan-Ceann,
glad am I that I will not be at the end of the South Clachan
that day, when the young men will be weary and faint ; for
Ard-nan-Ceann will be the scene of a terrible conflict".

" A severe battle will be fought at the (present) Ardelve
market stance, in Lochalsh, when the slaughter will be so
great that people can cross the ferry over dead men's bodies.
The battle will be finally decided by a powerful man and
his five sons, who will come across from the Strath (the
Achamore district)."

Coinneach said — " When a holly bush (or tree) shall grow
out of the face of the rock at Torr-a-ChuiJinn (Kintail) to a
size sufficiently large to make a shaft for a ' carn-slaoid '
(sledge-cart), a battle will be fought in the locality."

" When Loch Shiel, in Kintail, shall become so narrow
that a man can leap across it, the salmon shall desert the
Loch and the River Shiel." We are told that the Loch is
rapidly getting narrower at a particular point, by the action
of the water on the banks and bottom, and that if it goes on
as it has done in recent years it can easily be leaped at no
distant date. Prudence would suggest a short lease of these
Salmon Fishings.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

2.3

He also predicted that a large stone, standing on the hill
opposite Scallisaig farm-house, in Glenelg, " will fall and
kill a man ". This boulder is well known to people in the
district, and the prophecy is of such a definite character,
that there cannot possibly be any mistake about its meaning
or its fulfilment should such a calamity ever unfortunately
take place.

PROPHECIES AS TO THE FULFILMENT OF
WHICH THERE IS A DOUBT.

HEN a magpie (pitheid) shall have made
a nest for three successive years in the
gable of the Church of Ferrintosh, the
church will fall when full of people," is
one of those regarding which we find it
difficult to decide whether it has been already fulfilled or
not. Mr. Macintyre, who supplies this version, adds the
following remarks : — The Church of Ferrintosh was known
at an earlier period as the Parish Church of Urquhart and
Loggie. Some maintain that this prediction refers to the
Church of Urray. Whether this be so or not, there were
circumstances connected with the Church of Ferrintosh in
the time of the famous Rev. Dr. Macdonald, which seemed
to indicate the beginning of the fulfilment of the prophecy,
and which led to very alarming consequences. A magpie
actually did make her nest in the church gable, exactly as
foretold. This, together with a rent between the church
wall and the stone stairs which led up to the. gallery, seemed
to favour the opinion that the prophecy was on the eve of
being accomplished, and people felt uneasy when they
glanced upon the ominous nest, the rent in the wall, and

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 25

the crowded congregation, and remembered Coinneach's
prophecy, as they walked into the church to hear the
Doctor. It so happened one day that the church was
unusually full of people, insomuch that it was found neces-
sary to connect the ends of the seats with planks, in order
to accommodate them all Unfortunately, one of those
temporary seats was either too weak, or too heavily bur-
dened : it snapped in two with a loud report and startled
the audience. Coinneach Odhar's prophecy flashed across
their minds, and a simultaneous rush was made by the
panic-struck congregation to the door. Many fell, and were
trampled underfoot, while others fainted, being seriously
crushed and bruised.

Among a rural population, sayings and doings, applicable
to a particular parish, crop up, and, in after times, are ap-
plied to occurrences in neighbouring parishes. Having
regard to this, may it not be- suggested that, what is current
locally in regard to Ferrintosh and Coinneach's sayings, may
only be a transcript of an event now matter of history in a
parish on the northern side of the Cromarty Firth. We
refer to the destruction of the Abbey Church at Fearn by
lightning, October 10, 1742. We have never seen a detailed
account of this sad accident in print, and have no doubt the
reader will be glad to have a graphic description of it from
the pen of Bishop Forbes, the famous author of the " Jaco-
bite Memoirs," who visited his diocese of Ross and Caith-
ness in the sammer of 1762. This account is taken from
his unpublished MS. Journal, now the property of the
College of Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and
presently in the hands of the Rev. F. Smith, Arpafeelie, who
has kindly permitted us to make the following extract : —

"The ruinous Church of Feme was of old an Abbacy of
White Friars (see Keith's Catalogue, p. 247). The roof of

26 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

flagstones, with part of a side wall, was beat down in an
instant by thunder and lightning on Sunday, October loth,
1742, and so crushed and bruised forty persons, that they
were scarcely to be discovered, who or what they were, and
therefore, were buried promiscuously, without any manner of
distinction. The gentry, having luckily their seats in the
niches, were saved from the sudden crash, as was the
preacher by the sounding-boards falling upon the pulpit, and
his bowing down under it. Great numbers were wounded
(see Scot's Magazine for 1742, p. 485). But there is a most
material circumstance not mentioned, which has been care-
fully concealed from the publishers, and it is this : By a
Providential event, this was the first Sunday that the Rev.
and often-mentioned Mr. Stewart, had a congregation near
Cad boll, in view of Feme, whereby many lives were saved,
as the kirk was far from being so throng as usual, and that
he and his people, upon coming out from worship, and
seeing the dismal falling-in just when it happened, hastened
with all speed to the afflictive spot, and dragged many of
the wounded out of the rubbish, whose cries would have
pierced a heart of adamant. Had not this been the happy
case, I speak within bounds when I say two, if not three,
to one, would have perished. Some of the wounded died.
This church has been a large and lofty building, as the walls
are very high, and still standing."

It has been suggested that the prediction was fulfilled by
the falling to pieces of the Church at the Disruption ; but
we would be loth to stake the reputation of our prophet on
this assumption.

Another, supposed by some to be fulfilled by the annual
visits of the militia for their annual drill, is — "That when a
wood on the Muir of Ord grows to a man's height, regiments
of soldiers shall be seen there drawn up in battle order."

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 27

In connection with the battle, or battles, at Cille-Chriosd
and the Muir of Ord, Mr. Macintyre says : — The Seer fore-
told that " Fear Ruadh an Uird (the Red Laird of Ord)
would be carried home, wounded, on blankets ". Whether
this saying has reference to an event looming in the distant
future, or is a fragment of a tradition regarding sanguinary
events well known in the history of Cille-Chriosd, and of
which a full and graphic account, both in prose and verse,
can be seen on pp. 82-86 and 136-139, Vol. I. of the Celtic
Magazine, it is impossible to say.

PROPHECIES WHOLLY OR PARTLY FULFILLED.

ERE are several additional predictions which
have been wholly or partly fulfilled. " The
day will come when the Mackenzies will
lose all their possessions in Lochalsh, after
which it will fall into the hands of an
Englishman, who shall be distinguished by great liberality to
his people, and lavish expenditure of money. He will have
one son and two daughters ; and, after his death, the pro-
perty will revert to the Mathesons, its original possessors,
who will build a Castle on Druim-a-Dubh, at Balmacarra."
The late Mr. Lillingstone was an Englishman. He was
truly distinguished for kindness and liberality to his tenants,
and he had a son and two daughters, although, we are
informed, he had been married for seventeen years before he
had any family. When he came into possession, old people
thought they discerned the fulfilment of a part of Kenneth's
prediction in his person, until it was remarked that he had no
family as foretold by the Seer. At last, a son and two
daughters were successively born to Mr. Lillingstone. After
his death, the son sold the whole of Lochalsh to Alexander
Matheson, M.P. for the Counties of Ross and Cromarty,
and, so far, the prediction has been realized. A castle has
been built at Duncraig, a considerable distance from the

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 29

spot predicted by the Seer ; but if Kenneth is to be de-
pended upon, a castle will yet be built by one of the Mathe-
sons on Druim-a-Dubh, at Balmacarra. Had this prophecy
been got up after the event, the reputation of the Seer would
certainly not have been staked on the erection of another
castle in the remote future, when the Mathesons already
possess such a magnificent mansion at Duncraig.

During a recent visit to the Island of Raasay we received
a peculiar prediction regarding the Macleods from an old
man there, over eighty years of age, who remembered seven
proprietors of Raasay, and who sorely lamented the fulfil-
ment of the prophecy, and the decline of the good old stock,,
entirely in consequence of their own folly and extravagance.
Since then, we had the prediction repeated by a Kintail man
in identical terms ; and as it is hardly translatable, we shall
give it in the original vernacular : — " Dar a thig Mac-
Dhomhnuill Duibh ban ; MacShimidh ceann-dearg ; Sisea-
lach claon ruadh ; Mac-Coinnich mor bodhar ; agus Mac-
Gille-challum cama-chasach, iar-ogha Ian bhig a Ruiga, 'se
sin a Mac-Gille-challum is miosa 'thainig na thig; cha bhi mi
ann ri linn, 's cha'n fhearr learn air a bhith." (When we
shall have a fair-haired Lochiel ; a red-haired Lovat ; a
squint-eyed, fair-haired Chisholm ; a big deaf Mackenzie ;
and a bow-crooked-legged MacGille-challum, who shall be
the great-grand-son of John Beg, or little John, of Ruiga :
that Mac-Gille-challum will be the worst that ever came
or ever will come ; I shall not be in existence in his day, and
I have no desire that I should.) Ruiga is the name of
a place in Skye. When the last Macleod of Raasay was-
born, an old sage in the district called upon his neighbour,
and told him, with an expression of great sorrow, that Mac-
Gille-challum of Raasay now had an heir, and his birth was-
a certain forerunner of the extinction of his house. Such an

30 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

event as the birth of an heir had been hitherto, in this as in
all other Highland families, universally considered an occa-
sion for great rejoicing among the retainers. The other old
man was amazed, and asked the sage what he meant by such
unusual and disloyal remarks. " Oh !" answered he, " do
you not know that this is the grand-grandson of John Beg of
Ruiga whom Coinneach Odhar predicted would be the worst
of his race." And so he undoubted^ proved himself to be,
for he lost for ever the ancient inheritance of his house, and
acted generally in such a manner as to fully justify the Seer's
prediction; and what is still more remarkable, the Highland
lairds, with the peculiar characteristics and malformations
foretold by Kenneth, preceded or were the contemporaries
of the last MacGille-challum of Raasay.

Here is a prediction of the downfall of another dis-
tinguished Highland family — Clan Ranald of the Isles.
" The day will come when the old wife with the footless
stocking (cailleach nam mogan) will drive the Lady of Clan
Ranald from Nunton House, in Benbecula." We are in-
formed that this was fulfilled when the Macdonalds took the
farm of Nunton, locally known as " Baile na Caillich ". Old
Mrs. Macdonald was in the habit of wearing these primitive
articles of dress, and was generally known in the district as
" Cailleach nam Mogan ". Clan Ranald and his lady, like
many more of our Highland chiefs, ultimately went to the
wall, and the descendants of the " old wife with the footless
stocking " occupied, and, for anything we know, still occupy
the ancient residence of the long-distinguished race of Clan
Ranald of the Isles.

In the beginning of the seventeenth century, and during
the Seer's lifetime, there lived in Kintail an old man —
Duncan Macrae — who was curious to know by what means
he should end his days. He applied to a local female Seer,

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 31

who informed him that he " would die hy the sword" (le has
a chlaidheamh). This appeared so improbable in the case
of such an old man, who had taken part in so many bloody
frays and invariably escaped unhurt, that the matter was re-
ferred to the greater authority, Coinneach Odhar. He corro-
borated the woman, but still the matter was almost univer-
sally discredited in the district, and by none more so than
by old Duncan himself. However, years after, conviction
was forced upon them ; for, according to the " Genealogy of
the Macraes," written by the Rev. John Macrae, minister of
Dingwall, who died in 1704 — " Duncan being an old man in
the year 1654, when General Monk, afterwards Duke of
Albemarle, came to Kintail, retired from his house in Glen-
shiel to the hills, where, being found by some of the
soldiers who had straggled from the body of the army
in hopes of plunder, and who, speaking to him roughly, in
a language he did not understand, he, like Old Orimanus,
drew his sword, &c., and was immediately killed by them.
This was all the blood that General Monk or his soldiers,
amounting to 1500 men, had drawn, and all the opposition
he met with, although the Earl ol Middleton and Sir George
Monro were within a few miles of them, and advertised of
their coming, Seaforth having been sent by Middleton to the
Isle of Skye and parts adjoining, to treat with the Mac-
donalds and the Macleods, &c."

Regarding the evictions which would take place in the
Parish of Petty, he said, " The day will come, and it is not
far off, when farm-steadings will be so few and far between,
that the crow of a cock shall not be heard from the one
steading to the other ". This prediction has certainly been
fulfilled, for, in the days of the Seer there were no fewer than
sixteen tenants on the farm of Morayston alone.

On the south of the bay, at Petty, is an immense stone, of

32 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

at least eight tons weight, which formerly marked the boun-
dary between the estates of Culloden and Moray. On the
2oth of February, 1799, it was mysteriously removed from
its former position, and carried about 260 yards into the
sea. It is supposed by some that this was brought about by
an earthquake ; others think that the stone was carried off by
the action of ice, combined with the influence of a tre-
mendous hurricane, which blew from the shore, during that
fearful and stormy night. It was currently reported, and
pretty generally believed at the time, that his Satanic
Majesty had a finger in this work. Be that as it may, there
is no doubt whatever that the Brahan Seer predicted " that
the day will come when the Stone of Petty, large though it
is, and high and dry upon the land as it appears to people
this day, will be suddenly found as far advanced into the
sea as it now lies away from it inland, and no one will see it
removed, or be able to account for its sudden and marvel-
lous transportation ".

The Seer was at one time in the Culloden district on some
important business. While passing over what is now so well
known as the Battlefield of Culloden, he exclaimed, " Oh !
Drummossie, thy bleak moor shall, ere many generations
have passed away, be stained with the best blood of the
Highlands. Glad am I that I will not see that day, for it
will be a fearful period ; heads will be lopped off by the
score, and no mercy will be shown or quarter given on either
side." It is perhaps unnecessary to point out how literally
this prophecy has been fulfilled on the occasion of the last
battle fought on British soil. We have received several
other versions of it from different parts of the country,
almost all in identical terms.

" The time will come when whisky or dram shops will be
so plentiful that one may be met with almost at the head of

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 33

every plough furrow." (Thig an latha 's am bi tighean-oil
cho lionmhor 's nach mor nach fhaicear tigh-osda aig ceann
gach claise.) ' ' Policemen will become so numerous in every
town that they may be met with at the corner of every
street." " Travelling merchants " [pedlars and hawkers]
" will be so plentiful that a person can scarcely walk a mile
on the public highway without meeting one of them."

The following is from " A Summer in Skye," by the late
Alex. Smith, author of " A Life Drama ". Describing Dun-
vegan Castle and its surroundings, he says : — " Dun Ken-
neth's prophecy has come to pass — ' In the days of Norman,
son of the third Norman, there will be a noise in the doors
of the people, and wailing in the house of the widow ; and
Macleod will not have so many gentlemen of his name as
will row a five-oared boat round the Maidens '. If the last
trumpet had been sounded at the end of the French war, no
one but a Macleod would have risen out of the churchyard
of Dunvegan. If you want to see a chief (of the Macleods)
now-a-days you must go to London for him." There can
be no question as to these having been fulfilled to the letter.

" The day will come when a fox will rear a litter of cubs
on the hearthstone of Castle Downie." " The day will come
when a fox, white as snow, will be killed on the west coast
of Sutherlandshire." " The day will come when a wild deer
will be caught alive at Chanonry Point, in the Black Isle."
All these things have come to pass.

With respect to the clearances in Lewis, he said — •
" Many a long waste feannag (rig, once arable) will yet
be seen between Uig of the Mountains and Ness of the
Plains." That this prediction has been fulfilled to
the letter, no one acquainted with the country will
deny.

The following would appear to have been made solely on
3

34 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

account of the unlikelihood of the occurrence : — "A Loch-
alsh woman shall weep over the grave of a Frenchman in
the burying-place of Lochalsh." People imagined they
could discern in this an allusion to some battle on the West
Coast, in which- French troops would be engaged ; but there
was an occurrence which gave it a very different interpre-
tation. A native of Lochalsh married a French footman,
who died, shortly after this event, and was interred in the
burying-ground of Lochalsh, thus leaving his widow to
mourn over his grave. This may appear a commonplace
matter enough, but it must be remembered that a French-
man in Lochalsh, and especially a Frenchman whom a
Highland woman would mourn over, in Coinneach's day,
was a very different phenomenon to what it is in our days
of railways, tourists, and steamboats.

The Seer also predicted the formation of a railway through
the Muir of Ord, handed down in the following stanza : —

Nuair a bhios da eaglais an Sgire na Toiseachd,
A's lamh da ordaig an I-Stian',
Da dhrochaid aig Sguideal nan geocaire,
As fear da imleag an Duncan,
Thig Miltearan a Cam a-chlarsair,
Air Carbad gun each gun srian,
A dh-fhagas am Blar-dubh na lhasach,
'Dortadh fuil le iomadh sgian ;
. A's olaidh am fitheach a thri saitheachd

De dh-fhuil nan Gaidheal, bho clach nam Fionn.

Here is a literal translation : —

When there shall be two churches in the Parish of Ferrintosh,

And a hand with two thumbs in ' I-Stiana,"

Two bridges at " Sguideal" (Conon) of the gormandizers,

And a man with two navels at Duncan,

Soldiers will come from " Cam a Chlarsair" (Tarradale)

On a chariot without horse or bridle,

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER 35

Which will leave the "Blar-dubh " (Muir of Ord) a wilderness,

Spilling blood with many knives ;

And the raven shall drink his three fulls

Of the blood of the Gael from the Stone of Fionn.

We .already have two churches in the Parish of Ferrintosh,
two bridges at Conon, and we are told by an eye-witness,
that there is actually at this very time a man with two
thumbs on each hand in '* I-Stiana," in the Black Isle, and
a man in the neighbourhood of Duncan who has two navels. •
The " chariot without horse or bridle '' is undoubtedly the
" iron horse ". What particular event the latter part of the
prediction refers to, it is impossible to say ; but if we are to
have any faith in the Seer, something serious is. looming not
very remotely in the future.

Mr. Macintyre supplies the following, which is clearly a
fragment of the one above given : — Coinneach Odhar fore-
saw the formation of a railway through the Muir of Ord
which he said " would be a sign of calamitous times ". The
prophecy regarding this is handed down to us in the following
form : — " I would not like to live when a black bridleless
horse shall pass through the Muir of Ord." " Fearchair a
Ghunna " (Farquhar of the Gun, an idiotic simpleton who
lived during the latter part of his extraordinary life on the
Muir of Tarradale) seems, in his own quaint way, to have
entered into the spirit ol this prophecy, when he compared
the train, as it first passed through the district, to the funeral
of "Old Nick". Tradition gives another version, viz.: —
'' that after four successive dry summers, a fiery chariot shall
pass through the *Blar Dubh,'" which has been very literally
fulfilled. Coinneach Odhar was not the only person that
had a view beforehand of this railway line, for it is commonly
reported that a man residing in the neighbourhood of
Beauly, gifted with second-sight, had a vision of the train,

36 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

moving along in all its headlong speed, when he was on his
way home one dark autumn night, several years before the
question of forming a railway in those parts was mooted.

Here are two other Gaelic stanzas having undoubted
reference to the Mackenzies of Rosehaugh : —

Bheir Tanaistear Chlann Choinnich
Rocus ban as a choille ;
'S bheir e ceile bho tigh-ciuil
Le a mhuinntir 'na aghaidh ;
'S gum bi' n Tanaistear mor
Ann an gniomh 's an ceann-labhairt,
'Nuair bhios am Pap' anns an Roimh
"ur a thilgeadh dhtth chathair,

Thall fa chomhar Creag-a-Choclh
Comhnuichicih taillear caol odhar ;
'S Seumas gorach mar thigh earn,
'S Seumas glic mar fhcar tomhais —
A mharcaicheas gun srian
Air loth fhiadhaich a roghainn ;
Ach cuiridh mor-chuis gun chiall
'N aite siol nam fiadh siol nan gobhar ;
'S tuitidh an t-Eilean-dubh briagha
Fuidh riaghladh iasgairean Audi.

Literal translation :— '

The heir (or chief) of the Mackenzies will take

A white rook out of the wood,

And will take a wife from a music house (dancing saloon;,

With his people against him I

And the heir will be great

In deeds and as an orator,

When the Pope in Rome

Will be thrown off his throne.

Over opposite Creag-a-Chow
Will dwell a diminutive lean tailor,
Also Foolish James as the laird,
And Wise James as a measurer.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 37

Who will ride without a bridle

The wild colt of his choice ;

But foolish pride without sense

Will put in the place of the seed of the deer the seed of the goat ;

And the beautiful Black Isle will fall

Under the management of the fishermen of Avoch.

We have not learnt that any of the Rosehaugh Mackenzies
has yet taken a white rook from the woods ; nor have we
heard anything suggested as to what this part of the prophecy
may refer to. We are, however, credibly informed that one
of the late Mackenzies of Rosehaugh had taken his wife from
a music saloon in one of our southern cities, and that his
people were very much against him for so doing. One of
them, Sir George, no doubt was " great in deeds and as an
orator," but we fail to discover any connection between the
time in which he lived and the time " when the Pope in
Rome will be thrown off his throne ", We were unable in
the first edition to suggest the meaning of the first six lines
of the last stanza, but Mr. Maclennan supplies us with the
following explanation : — " I have been hearing these lines
discussed since I was a boy, and being a native of Rose-
haugh, I took a special interest in everything concerning it.
The first two lines I was repeatedly informed, referred to a
pious man who lived on the estate of Bennetsfield, opposite
Craigiehow, when * Seumas Gorach ' (Foolish James referred
to in the third line), was proprietor of Rosehaugh. This
godly man, who was contemporary with Foolish James, often
warned him of his end, and predicted his fate if he did not
mend his ways ; and as he thus cut his bounds for him, he
is supposed to be the ' diminutive lean tailor'. He is still
in life. We all knew ' Foolish James '. The fourth line
refers to James Maclaren, who lived at Rosehaugh most of
the time during which the last two Mackenzies ruled over

38 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

it, and only died two years ago. He was an odd character,
but a very straightforward man ; often rebuked ' Foolish
James ' for the reckless and fearless manner in which he
rode about, and set bounds before the ' foolish laird, which
he was not allowed to pass. Maclaren was, on that account,
believed to be the ' measurer ' referred to by the Seer. The
fifth and sixth lines are supposed to apply to the wife
fancied by Mackenzie in a 'dancing saloon,' who was
always considered the ' wild colt,' at whose instigation he
rode so recklessly and foolishly." We wish the realizations
of our prophet's predictions in this case were a little less
fanciful.

Those in the seventh and eighth lines have been most
literally fulfilled, for there can be no doubt that "foolish
pride without sense " has brought about what the Seer pre-
dicted, and secured, for the present at least, the seed of the
goat where the seed of the deer used to rule. The deer,
and the deer's horns, as is well known, are the armorial
bearings of the Mackenzies, while the goat is that of the
Fletchers, who now rule in Rosehaugh, on the ruins of its
once great and famous " Cabair-feidh "

Part of the beautiful Black Isle has already fallen under
the management of the son of a fisherman of Avoch ; and
who knows but other fishermen from that humble village
may yet amass sufficient wealth to buy the whole. The
old proprietors, we regret, are rapidly making way with their
" foolish pride without sense," for some one to purchase it.

We are informed that the present proprietor of Rosehaugh
is the son of an Avoch fisherman — the son of a Mr, Jack,
who followed that honourable avocation in this humble
village for many years ; afterwards left the place and went to
reside in Elgin, where he commenced business as a small
general dealer, or " huckster " ; that some of the boys — his

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 39

sons — exhibited a peculiar smartness while in school ; that
this was noticed by a lady relative of their mother, an
aunt, of the name of Fletcher, who encouraged and helped
on the education of the boys, and who took one or more of
them to her own home, and brought them up ; afterwards
they found their way south, and ultimately became success-
ful merchants and landed proprietors.* These are facts of
which we were entirely ignorant when first writing down the
stanzas already given. The verses were sent to us from
various quarters, and they have undoubtedly been floating
about the country for generations. So much for the Seer's
prophetic power in this instance. Were we better acquainted
with the history of the other families referred to in the
stanzas, it is probable that more light could be thrown upon
what they refer lo than we are at present able to do.

While we are dealing with the " wonderful" in connection
with the House of Rosehaugh, it may not be out of place to
give a few instances of the somewhat extraordinary ex-
periences of the famous Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh
already referred to. He was one of the most distinguished
members of the Scottish Bar , was Lord-Advocate for Scot-
land in the reign of Charles the Second, and was, indeed, a
contemporary of the Brahan Seer. His " Institutes" are still
considered a standing authority by the legal profession : —
On one occasion, while at Rosehaugh, a poor widow from a
neighbouring estate called to consult him regarding her being

* In corroboration of the main facts here stated, we quote the following
from " Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom v : — "FLETCHER,
JAMES, Esq. of Rosehaugh, Ross-shire, son of the late Wm. Jack, Esq., by
Isabel, dau. of the late Charles Fletcher, Esq., and brother of J. C. Fletcher,
Esq. ; b. 18 — ; m, 1852, Frederica Mary, dau. of John Stephen, Esq., niece
of Sir Alfred Stephen, C.B., Chief Justice of New South Wales, and widow

of Alexander Hay, Esq. , of the 58th Regt He assumed

the name of Fletcher in lieu of his patronymic on the death of his mother in
1856."

4O THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEEK.

repeatedly warned to remove from a small croft which she
held under a lease of several years : but as some time had
yet to run before its expiry, and being threatened with
summary ejection from the croft, she went to solicit his
advice. Having examined the tenor of the lease, Sir George
informed her that it contained a flaw, which, in case of
opposition, would render her success exceedingly doubtful ;
and although it was certainly an oppressive act to deprive
her of her croft, he thought her best plan was to submit.
However, seeing the distressed state of mind in which the
poor woman was on hearing his opinion, he desired her to
call upon him the following day, when he would consider
her case more carefully. His clerk, who always slept in the
same room as his lordship, was not a little surprised, about
midnight, to discover him rising from his bed fast asleep,
lighting a candle which stood on his table, drawing in his
chair, and commencing to write very busily, as if he had
been all the time wide awake. The clerk saw how he was
employed, but he never spoke a word, and, when he had
finished, he saw him place what he had written in his private
desk, locking it, extinguishing the candle, and then retiring
to bed as if nothing had happened. Next morning at break-
fast, Sir George remarked that he had had a very strange
dream about the poor widow's threatened ejectment, which,
he could now remember, and he had now no doubt of making
out a clear case in her favour. His clerk rose from the table,
asked for the key of his desk, and brought therefrom several
pages of manuscript; and, as he handed them to Sir George,
enquired — " Is that like your dream ?" On looking over it
for a few seconds, Sir George said, "Dear me, this is
singular ; this is my very dream !" He was no less surprised
when his clerk informed him of the manner in which he had
acted ; and, sending for the widow, he told her what steps to

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 41

adopt to frustrate the efforts of her oppressors. Acting on
the counsel thus given, the poor widow was ultimately suc-
cessful, and, with her young family, was allowed to remain in
possession of her " wee bit croftie " without molestation.

Sir George principally resided at this time in Edinburgh,
and, before dinner, invariably walked for half-an-hour.
The place he selected for this was Leith Walk, then almost
a solitary place. One day, while taking his accustomed
exercise, he was met by a venerable-looking, grey-headed
old gentleman, who accosted him and, without introduction
or apology, said — " There is a very important case to come
off in London fourteen days- hence, at which your presence
will be required. It is a case of heirship to a very extensive
estate in the neighbourhood of London, and a pretended
claimant is doing his utmost to disinherit the real heir, on
the ground of his inability to produce proper titles thereto.
It is necessary that you be there on the day mentioned;
and in one of the attics of the mansion-house on the estate
there is an old oak chest with two bottoms ; between these
you will find the necessary titles, written on parchment."
Having given this information, the old man disappeared,
leaving Sir George quite bewildered ; but the latter, resum-
ing his walk, soon recovered his previous equanimity, and
thought nothing further of the matter.

Next day, while taking his walk in the same place, he
was again met by the same old gentleman, who earnestly
urged him not to delay another day in repairing to London,
assuring him that he would be handsomely rewarded for his
trouble ; but to this Sir George paid no particular attention.
The third day he was again met by the same hoary-headed
sire, who energetically pleaded with him not to lose a day
in setting out, otherwise the case would be lost. His
singular deportment, and his anxiety that Sir George should

42 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

be present at the discussion of the case, in which he seemed
so deeply interested, induced Sir George to give in to his
earnest importun'ties, and accordingly he started next
morning on horseback, arriving in London on the day pre-
ceding that on which the case was to come on. In a few
hours he was pacing in front of the mansion-house de-
scribed by the old man at Leith Walk, where he met two
gentlemem engaged in earnest conversation — one of the
claimants to the property, and a celebrated London barrister
— to whom he immediately introduced himself as the prin-
cipal law-officer of the crown for Scotland. The barrister,
no doubt supposing that Sir George was coming to take the
bread out of his mouth, addressed him in a surly manner,
and spoke disrespectfully of his country ; to which the latter
replied, " that, lame and ignorant as his learned friend took
the Scotch to be, yet in law, as well as in other respects,
they would effect what would defy him and all his London
clique ". This disagreeable dialogue was put an end to by
the other gentleman — the claimant to the property — taking
Sir George into the house. After sitting and conversing
for some minutes, Sir George expressed a wish to be shown
over the house. The drawing-room was hung all round
with magnificent pictures and drawings, which Sir George
greatly admired; but there was one which particularly at-
tracted his attention ; and after examining it very minutely,
he, with a surprised expression, inquired of his conductor
whose picture it was? and received answer — "It is my
great-great-grandfather's ". " My goodness ! " exclaimed Sir
George, "the very man who spoke to me three times on
three successive days in Leith Walk, and at whose urgent
request I came here ! " Sir George, at his own request, was
then conducted to the attics, in one of which there was a
large mass of old papers, which was turned up and exa-

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 43

mined without discovering anything to assist them in prose-
cuting the claim to the heirship of the property. However,
as they were about giving up the search, Sir George noticed
an old trunk lying in a corner, which, his companion told
him, had lain there for many a year as lumber, and con-
tained nothing. The Leith Walk gentleman's information
recurring to Sir George, he gave the old moth-eaten chest a
good hearty kick, such as he could wish to have been
received by his " learned friend " the barrister, who spoke
so disrespectfully of his country. The bottom flew out of
the trunk, with a quantity of chaff, among which the original
titles to the property were discovered. Next morning, Sir
George entered the court just as the case was about to be
called and addressed the pretended claimant's counsel —
" Well, sir, what shall I offer you to abandon this action ? "
"No sum, or any consideration whatever, would induce me
to give it up," answered his learned opponent. " Well, sir,"
said Sir George, at the same time pulling out his snuff-horn
and taking a pinch, " I will not even hazard a pinch on it."
The case was called. Sir George, in reply to the claimant's
counsel, in an eloquent speech, addressed the bench; ex-
posed most effectually the means which had been adopted
to deprive his client of his birthright ; concluded by produc-
ing the titles found in the old chest ; and the case was at
once decided in favour of his client. The decision being
announced, Sir George took the young heir's arm, and,
bowing to his learned friend the barrister, remarked, " You
see now what a Scotsman has done, and let me tell you that
I wish a countryman of mine anything but a London
barrister" Sir George immediately returned to Edin-
burgh, well paid for his trouble; but he never again, in
his favourite walk, encountered the old grey-headed gentle-
man.

44 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

The following two stanzas refer to the Mackenzies of
Kilcoy and their property : —

Nuair a ghlaodhas paisdean tigh Chulchallaidh,

' Tha slige ar mortairean dol thairis ! '

Thig bho Chroidh madadh ruadh

Bhi's 'measg an t-sluaigh mar mhadadh-alluidh,

Re da-fhichead bliadhna a's corr,

'8 gum bi na ch6ta iomadh mallachd ;

'N sin tilgear e gu falamh bronach

Mar shean sguab air cul an doruis;

A's bithidh an tuath mhor mar eunlaith sporsail,

'S an tighearnan cho bochd ris na sporais —

Tha beannachd 'san onair bhoidhich,

A's mallachd an dortadh na fola.

Nuair bhitheas caisteal ciar Chulchallaidh

Na sheasaidh fuar, agus falamh,

'S na cathagan 's na rocuis

Gu seolta sgiathail thairis,

Gabhaidh duine graineal comhnuidh,

Ri thaobh, mi-bheusal a's salach,

Kach gleidh guidhe stal-phosaidh,

'S nach eisd ri cleireach no caraid,

Ach bho Chreag-a-chodh gu Sgire na Toiseachd

Gum bi muisean air toir gach oaileag —

A's ochan ! ochan ! s' ma Icon,

Sluigidh am balgaire suas moran talamh I

Literally translated : —

When the girls of Kilcoy house cry out,

' The shell (cup) of our murderers is flowing over,'

A fox from Croy will come

Who shall be like a wolf among the people

During forty years and more,

And in his coat shall be many curses ;

He shall then be thrown empty and sorrowful,

Like an old besom behind the door ;

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 4$

The large farmers will be lilce sportful birds,
And the lairds as poor as the sparrows—-
There's a blessing in handsome honesty
And curses in the shedding of blood.

When the stern Castle of Kilcoy

Shall stand cold and empty,

And the jackdaws and the rooks

Are artfully flying past it,

A loathsome man shall then dwell

Beside it, indecent and filthy,

Who will not keep the vow of the marriage coif,

Listen neither to cleric nor friend ;

But from Creag-a-Chow to Ferrintosh

The dirty fellow will be after every girl —

Ochan ! Ochan ! ! mroe's me,

The cunning dog will swallow up much land.

The history of the Kilcoy family has been an unfortunate
one in late years, and the second and last lines of the first
stanza clearly refer to a well-known tragic incident in the
recent history of this once highly-favoured and popular
Highland family.

Mr. Maclennan applies them to an earlier event, and
says : — " The second and last line of the first stanza refer to
the following story — Towards the latter end of the seven-
teenth century a large number of cattle, in the Black Isle,
were attacked with a strange malady, which invariably
ended in madness and in death. The disease was particu-
larly destructive on the Kilcoy and Redcastle estates, and
the proprietors offered a large sum of money as a reward to
any who should find a remedy. An old warlock belonging
to the parish agreed to protect the cattle from the ravages
of this unknown disease, for the sum offered, if they pro-
vided him with a human sacrifice. To this ghastly pro-
posal the lairds agreed. A large barn at Parkton was, from
its secluded position, selected as a suitable place for the

46 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

horrid crime, where a poor friendless man, who lived at
Linwood, close to the site of the present , Free Church
manse, was requested, under some pretence, to appear on a
certain day. The unsuspecting creature obeyed the sum-
mons of his superiors ; he was instantly bound and disem-
bowelled alive by the horrid wizard, who dried the heart,
liver, kidneys, pancreas, and reduced them to powder, of
which he ordered a little to be given to the diseased animals
in water. Before the unfortunate victim breathed his last,
he ejaculated the following imprecation : — ' Gum b' ann
nach tig an latha 'bhitheas teaghlach a Chaisteil Ruaidh
gun oinseach, na teaghlach Chulchallaidh gun amadan'.
(Let the day never come when the family of Redcastle shall
be without a female idiot, or the family of Kilcoy without a
fool.) It appears, not only that this wild imprecation was
to some extent realised, but also that the Brahan Seer, years
before, knew and predicted that it would be made, and that
its prayer would be ultimately granted."

Who the ** fox from Croy " is, we are at present unable to
suggest ; but taking the two stanzas as they stand, it would
be difficult to describe the position of the family and the
state of the castle, with our present knowledge of their
history, and in their present position, more faithfully than
Coinneach Odhar has done more than two centuries ago.
What a faithful picture of the respective positions of the
great farmers and the lairds of the present day ! And what
a contrast between their relative positions now and at the
time when the Seer predicted the change !

In the appendix to the Life of the late Dr. Norman
Macleod, by his brother, the Rev. Donald Macleod, D.D.,
a series of autobiographical reminiscences are given, which
the famous Rev. Norman, the Doctor's father, dictated in
his old age to one of his daughters. In the summer of

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 47

1799 he visited Dunvegan Castle, the stronghold of the
Macleods, in the Isle of Skye. Those of the prophecies
already given in verse are, undoubtedly, fragments of the
long rhythmical productions of Coinneach Odhar Fios-
aiche's prophecies regarding most of our Highland families,
to which the Rev. Norman refers, and of which the pro-
phecy given in his reminiscences is as follows : —

" One circumstance took place at the Castle (Dunvegan)
on this occasion which I think worth recording, especially
as I am the only person now living who can attest the truth
Of it. There had been a traditionary prophecy, couched in
Gaelic verse, regarding the family of Macleod, which on this
occasion, received a most extraordinary fulfilment. This
prophecy I have heard repeated by several persons, and
most deeply do I regret that I did not take a copy of it
when I could have got it. The worthy Mr. Campbell of
Knock, in Mull, had a very beautiful version of it, as also
had my father, and so, I think, had likewise Dr. Campbell
of Killinver. Such prophecies were current regarding
almost all old families in the Highlands ; the Argyll family
were of the number ; and there is a prophecy regarding the
Breadalbane family as yet unfulfilled which I hope may
remain so. The present Marquis of Breadalbane is fully
aware of it, as are many of the connections of the family.
Of the Macleod family, it was prophesied at least a hundred
years prior to the circumstance which I am about to relate.

" In the prophecy to which I am about to allude, it was
foretold that when Norman, the Third Norman (' Tormad
nan 'tri Tormaid'), the son of the hard-boned English lady
(' Mac na mnatha caoile cruaidhe Shassunaich ') would
perish by an accidental death ; that when the ' Maidens ' of
Macleod (certain well-known rocks on the coast of Macleod's
country) became the property of a Campbell ; when a fox

48 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

had young ones in one of the turrets of the Castle, and
particularly when the Fairy enchanted banner should be for
the last time exhibited, then the glory of the Macleod
family should depart ; a great part of the estate should be
sold to others ; so that a small ' curragh,' a boat, would
carry all gentlemen of the name of Macleod across Loch
Dunvegan ; but that in times far distant another John
Breac should arise, who should redeem those estates, and
raise the power and honours of the house to a higher pitch
than ever. Such in general terms was the prophecy. And
X)w as to the curious coincidence of its fulfilment,

" There was, at that time, at Dunvegan, an English
smith, with whom I became a favourite, and who told me,
in solemn secrecy, that the iron chest which contained the
' fairy flag ' was to be forced open next morning ; that he
had arranged with Mr. Hector Macdonald Buchanan to be
there with his tools for that purpose.

"I was most anxious to be present, and I asked per-
mission to that effect of Mr. Buchanan (Macleod's man of
business), who granted me leave on condition that I should
not inform anyone of the name of Macleod that such was
intended, and should keep it a profound secret from the
chief. This I promised and most faithfully acted on. Next
morning we proceeded to the chamber in the East Turret,
where was the iron chest that contained the famous flag,
about which there is an interesting tradition.

" With great violence the smith tore open the lid of this
iron chest; but, in doing so, a key was found under pait of
the covering, which would have opened the chest, had it
been found in time. There was an inner case, in which
was found the flag, enclosed in a wooden box of strongly-
scented wood. The flag consisted of a square piece of very
rich silk, with crosses wrought with gold thread, and several

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 49

elf-spots stitched with great care on different parts of
it

" On this occasion, the melancholy news of the death of
the young and promising heir of Macleod reached the
Castle. ' Norman, the third Norman,' was a lieutenant of
H.M.S., the ' Queen Charlotte,' which was blown up at sea,
and he and the rest perished. At the same time, the rocks
called ' Macleod's Maidens ' were sold, in the course of that
very week, to Angus Campbell of Ensay, and they are still
in possession of his grandson. A fox in possession of a
Lieutenant Maclean, residing in the West Turret of the
Castle, had young ones, which I handled, and thus all that
was said in the prophecy alluded to was so far fulfilled,
although I am glad the family of my chief still enj©y their
ancestral possessions, and the worst part of the prophecy
accordingly remains unverified. I merely state the facts of
the case as they occurred, without expressing any opinion
whatever as to the nature of these traditionary legends with
which they were connected."

The estates are still, we are glad to say, in possession of
the ancient family of Macleod, and the present chief is
rapidly improving the prospects of his house. The proba-
bilities are therefore at present against our prophet. The
hold of the Macleods on their estates is getting stronger
instead of weaker, and the John Breac who is to be the
future deliverer has not only not yet appeared, but the un-
desirable position of affairs requiring his services is yet, we
hope, in the distant future.

The Seer predicted that " when the big-thumbed Sheriff-
Officer and the blind [man] of the twenty-four fingers shall
be together in Barra, Macneil of Barra may be making ready
for the flitting " (Nuair a bhitheas maor nan ordagan mora
agus dall nan ceithir-meoraibh-fichead comhla ann am

4

50 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

Barraidh, faodaidh MacNeill Bharraidh 'bhi deanamh
deiseil na h-imirich.) This prediction, which was known in
Barra for generations, has been most literally fulfilled. On
a certain occasion, " the blind of the twenty-four fingers," so
called from having six fingers on each hand, and six toes on
each foot, left Benbecula on a tour, to collect alms in South
Uist. Being successful there, he decided upon visiting
Barra before returning home. Arriving at the Ferry — the
isthmus which separates South Uist from Barra, — he met
" Maor nan Ordagan mora," and they crossed the kyle in
the same boat. It was afterwards found that the officer was
actually on his way to serve a summons of ejectment on the
laird of Barra; and poor Macneil not only had to make
ready for, but had indeed to make the flitting. The man
who had acted as guide to the blind on the occasion is, we
are informed, still living and in excellent health, though
considerably over eighty years of age.

The following is said to have been fulfilled by the conduct
of the Duke of Cumberland at and after the battle of Cul-
loden. The Seer was, on one occasion, passing Millburn,
on his way from Inverness to Petty, and noticing the old
mill, which was a very primitive building, thatched with
divots, he said : — " The day will come when thy wheel shall
be turned for three successive days by water red with human
blood ; for on the banks of thy lade a fierce battle shall be
fought, at which much blood shall be spilt". Some say
that this is as yet unfulfilled ; and it has been suggested that
the battle may yet be fought in connection with the new
Barracks now building at the Hut of Health.

Coinneach also prophesied remarkable things regarding
the Mackenzies of Fairburn and Fairburn Tower. •' The
day will come when the Mackenzies of Fairburn shall lose
their entire possessions, and that branch of the clan shall

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 51

disappear almost to a man from the face of the earth.
Their Castle shall become uninhabited, desolate, and for-
saken, and a cow shall give birth to a calf in the uppermost
chamber in Fairburn Tower." The first part of this pro-
phecy has only too literally come to pass ; and within the
memory of hundreds now living, and who knew Coinneach's
prophecy years before it was fulfilled, the latter part — that
referring to the cow calving in the uppermost chamber — has
also been undoubtedly realised. We are personally ac-
quainted with people whose veracity is beyond question,
who knew the prophecy, and who actually took the trouble
at the time to go all the way from Inverness to see the cow-
mother and her offspring in the Tower, before they were
taken down. Mr. Maclennan supplies the following ver-
sion : — Coinneach said, addressing a large concourse of
people — " Strange as it may appear to all those who may
hear me this day, yet what I am about to tell you is true and
will come to pass at the appointed time. The day will come
when a cow shall give birth to a calf in the uppermost
chamber (seomar uachdarach) of Fairburn Castle. The
child now unborn will see it."

When the Seer uttered this prediction, the Castle of Fair-
burn was in the possession of, and occupied by, a very rich
and powerful chieftain, to whom homage was paid by many
of the neighbouring lairds. Its halls rang loud with sounds
of music and of mirth, and happiness reigned within its
portals. On its winding stone stairs trod and passed care-
lessly to and fro pages and liveried servants in their wigs
and golden trimmings. Nothing in the world was more
unlikely to happen, to all appearance, than what the Seer
predicted, and Coinneach was universally ridiculed for
having given utterance to what was apparently so non-
sensical ; but this abuse and ridicule the Seer bore with the

52 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

patient self-satisfied air of one who was fully convinced of
the truth of what he uttered. Years passed by, but no sign
of the fulfilment of the prophecy. The Seer, the Laird of
Fairburn, and the whole of that generation were gathered to
their fathers, and still no signs of the curious prediction
being realised. The Laird of Fairburn's immediate suc-
cessors also followed their predecessors, and the Seer, to all
appearance, was fast losing his reputation as a prophet.
The tower was latterly left uninhabited, and it soon fell into
a dilapidated state of repair— its doors decayed and fell
away from their hinges, one by one, until at last there was
no door on the main stair from the floor to the roof. Some
years after, and not long ago, the Fairburn tenant-farmer
stored away some straw in the uppermost chamber of the
tower ; in the process, some of the straw dropped, and was
left strewn on the staircase. One of his cows on a certain
day chanced to find her way to the main door of the tower,
and finding it open, began to pick up the straw scattered
along the stair. The animal proceeded thus, till she had
actually arrived at the uppermost chamber, whence, being
heavy in calf, she was unable to descend. She was conse-
quently left in the tower until she gave birth to a fine healthy
calf. They were allowed to remain there for several days,
where many went to see them, after which the cow and her
progeny were brought down ; and Coinneach Odhar's pro-
phecy was thus fulfilled to the letter.

" The day will come when the Lewsmen shall go forth
with their hosts to battle, but they will be turned back by
the jaw-bone of an animal smaller than an ass," was a pre-
diction accounted ridiculous and quite incomprehensible
until it was fulfilled in a remarkable but very simple manner.
Seaforth and the leading men of the Clan, as is well known,
were "out in the '15 and '19," and had their estates for-

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 53

felted ; and it was only a few years before the '45 that their
lands were again restored to Seaforth, and to Mackenzie,
nth Baron of Hilton. The Rev. Colin Mackenzie, a
brother of Hilton, minister of Fodderty and Laird of Glack,
in Aberdeenshire, was the first in the neighbourhood of
Brahan who received information of Prince Charlie's landing
in 1745. Seaforth had still a warm feeling for the Prince.
His reverend friend, though a thorough Jacobite himself,
was an intimate friend of Lord President Forbes, with whom
h'; kept up a regular correspondence. He decided, no
doubt mainly through his influence, to remain neutral him-
self, and fearing that his friend of Brahan might be led to
join the Prince, he instantly, on receipt of the news, started
for Brahan Castle. Although it was very late at night when
he received the information, he crossed Knockfarrel, entered
Seaforth's bedroom by the window — for he had already gone
to rest for the night — and without awakening his lady, in-
formed him of the landing of Charles. They decided upon
getting out of the way, and both immediately disappeared.
Seaforth was well known to have had previous correspondence
with the Prince, and to have sent private orders to the Lews
to have his men there in readiness ; and Fodderty impressed
upon him the prudence of getting out of sight altogether in
the meantime. They started through the mountains in the
direction of Poolewe, and some time afterwards, when there
together in concealment near the shore, they saw two ships
entering the bay, having on board a large number of armed
men. whom they at once recognised as Seaforth's followers
from the Lews, raised and commanded by Captain Colin
Mackenzie, the great-grandfather of Major Thomas Mac-
kenzie of the 78th Highlanders. Lord Seaforth had just
been making a repast of a sheep's head, when he espied his
retainers, and approaching the ships with the sheep's jaw-

54 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

bone in his hand, he waved it towards them, and ordered
them to return to their homes at once, which command
they obeyed by making at once for Stornoway ; and thus
was fulfilled Coinneach Odhar's apparently ludicrous pre-
diction, that the brave Lewsmen would be turned back from
battle with the jaw-bone of an animal smaller than an ass.

Mr. Maclennan supplies us also with the following : — " In
the parish of Avoch is a well of beautiful clear water, out of
which the Brahan Seer, upon one occasion, took a refreshing
draught. So pleased was he with the water, that he looked
at his Blue Stone, and said — ' Whoever he be that drinketh
of thy water henceforth, if suffering from any disease, shall,
by placing two pieces of straw or wood on thy surface,
ascertain whether he will recover or not. If he is to recover,
the straws will whirl round in opposite directions ; if he is to
die soon, they will remain stationary'. The writer (con-
tinues Mr. Maclennan) knew people who went to the well
and made the experiment. He was himself once unwell,
and supposed to be at the point of death ; he got of the
water of the well, and he still lives. Whether it did him
good or not, it is impossible to say, but this he does know,
that the water pleased him uncommonly well."

With reference to Lady Hill, in the same parish, the Seer
said — " Thy name has gone far and wide ; but though thy
owners were brave on the field of battle, they never decked
thy brow. The day will come, however, when a white
collar shall be put upon thee. The child that is unborn
shall see it, but I shall not." This prediction has been ful-
filled a few years ago, by the construction of a fine drive
right round the hill.

The Seer said, speaking of Beauly — " The day will come,
however distant, when ' Cnoc na Rath ' will be in the centre
of the'- village ". It certainly would appear incredible, and

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 55

even absurd, to suggest such a thing in Coinneach's day,
for the " village " then stood at a place south of the present
railway station, called, in Gaelic, " Bealaidh-Achadh," or
the Broom field, quite a mile from Cnoc na Rath. The
prophecy has to some extent been fulfilled, for the last
erection at Beauly — the new public school — is within a few
yards of the Cnoc; and the increasing enterprise of the
inhabitants is rapidly aiding, and, indeed, will soon secure,
the absolute realisation of the Seer's prediction. In con-
nection with this prophecy we think that we have discovered
a Celtic origin for the term Beauly. It is generally supposed
to have been derived from the French word " Beaulieu ".
The village being originally at " Bealaidh-Achadh," and so
called when the present Beauly was nowhere, what can be
more natural than the supposition that the inhabitants
carried the original name of their original village along with
them, and now present us with the Gaelic "Bealaidh,"
anglified into Beauly. This is not such a fine theory as
the French one, but it is more likely to be the true one, and
is more satisfactory to the student of Gaelic topography.

We have several versions of the prophecy regarding the
carrying away of the Stone Bridge across the River Ness,
which stood near the place where the present Suspension
Bridge stands. Mr. Macintyre supplies the following, and
Mr. Maclennan's version is very much the same : — " He
foretold that the Ness bridge would be swept away by a
great flood, while crowded with people, and while a man
riding a white horse and a woman ' enciente ' were crossing
it, Either the prophet's second-sight failed him on the
occasion, or tradition has not preserved the correct version
of the prediction, for it is well known that no human being
was carried away by the bridge when it was swept awdy'by
the extraordinary flood of 1840." ^ fE?***-v

traordinary flood of 1849. .

"••• •

56 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

As a matter of fact, there was no man riding a white
horse on the bridge at the time, but a man — Matthew
Campbell — and a woman were crossing it, the arches tumbl-
ing one by one at their heels as they flew across ; but they
managed to reach the western shore in safety, just as the
last arch was crumbling under their feet. Campbell, who
was behind, coming up to the woman, caught her in his
arms, and with a desperate bound cleared the crumbling
structure.

The Seer also foretold that before the latter prediction
was fulfilled " people shall pick gooseberries from a bush
growing on the stone ledge of one of the arches ". There
are many now living who remember this gooseberry bush,
and who have seen it in bloom and blossom, and with fruit
upon it It grew on the south side of the bridge, on the
third or fourth pier, and near the iron grating which supplied
a dismal light to the dungeon which in those days was the
Inverness prison. Maclean, "A Nonagenarian," writing
forty years ago, says nothing of the bush, but, while writing
of the predicted fall of the bridge, states, with regard to it,
that " an old tradition or prophecy is, that many lives will
be lost at its fall, and that this shall take place when there
are seven females on the bridge, in a state poetically des-
cribed as that ' in which ladies wish to be who love their
lords'." This was written, as will be seen by comparing
dates, several years before the bridge was carried away in
1849, showing unmistakably that the prophecy was not
concocted after the event.

"The natural arch, or 'Clach tholl,' near Storehead in
Assynt, will fall with a crash so loud as to cause the laird
of Leadmore's cattle, twenty miles away, to break theii
tethers." This was fulfilled in 1841, Leadmore's cattle
having one day strayed from home to within a few hundred

. THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 57

yards of the arch, when it fell with such a crash as to send
them home in a frantic fright, tearing everything before
them. Hugh Miller refers to this prediction, as also to
-several others, in the work already alluded to — " Scenes
.and Legends of the North of Scotland," pp. 161, 162, 163.

About sixteen years ago, there lived in the village of
" Baile Mhuilinn," in the West of Sutherlandshire, an old
woman of about 95 years of age, known as Baraball n'ic
Coinnich (Annabella Mackenzie). From her position,
history, and various personal peculiarities, it was universally
believed in the district that she was no other than the
Baraball n'ic Coinnich of whom the Brahan Seer predicted
that she would die of the measles. She had, however,
arrived at such an advanced age, without any appearance or
likelihood of her ever having that disease, that the prophet
was rapidly losing credit in the district. About this time
the measles had just gone the round of the place, and had
made considerable havoc among old and young ; but when
the district was, so to speak, convalescent, the measles paid
Baraball a visit, and actually carried her away, when within
a few years of five score, leaving no doubt whatever in the
minds of the people that she had died as foretold centuries
before by the famous Coinneach Odhar.

The Seer, one day, pointing to the now celebrated Strath-
peffer mineral wells, said : — " Uninviting and disagreeable
as it now is, with its thick crusted surface and unpleasant
smell, the day will come when it shall be under lock and
key, and crowds of pleasure and health seekers shall be
seen thronging its portals, in their eagerness to get a draught
-of its waters."

Regarding the "land-grasping" Urquharts of Cromarty
he predicted " that, extensive though their possessions in
the Black Isle now are, the day will come — and it is close

58 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

at hand — when they will not own twenty acres in the dis-
trict." This, like many of his other predictions, literally
came to pass, although nothing could then have been more
unlikely; for, at the time, the Urquharts possessed the
estates of Kinbeachie, Braelangwell, Newhall, and Mont-
eagle, but at this moment their only possession in the Black
Isle is a small piece of Braelangwell.

That " the day will come when fire and water shall run
in streams through all the streets and lanes of Inverness,'"'
was a prediction, the fulfilment of which was quite incom-
prehensible, until the introduction of gas and water through
pipes into every corner of the town.

" The day will come when long strings of carriages with-
out horses shall run between Dingwall and Inverness, and
more wonderful still, between Dingwall and the Isle of
Skye." It is hardly necessary to point out that this refers to
the railway carriages now running in those districts.

That " a bald black girl will be born at the back of the
Church of Gairloch " (Beirear nighean mhaol dubh air cul
Eaglais Ghearrloch), has been fulfilled. During one of the
usual large gatherings at the Sacramental Communion a
well-known young woman was taken in labour, and before
she could be removed she gave birth to the " nighean
mhaol dubh," whose descendants are well known and
pointed out in the district to this day as the fulfilment of
Coinneach's prophecy.

That " a white cow will give birth to a calf ; in the garden
behind Gairloch House," has taken place within the memory
of people still living ; that, in Fowerdale, " a black hornless
cow (Bo mhaol dubh) will give birth to a calf with two
heads," happened within our own recollection. These
predictions were well known to people before they cr.me
to pass.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. CO

9

The following are evidently fragments regarding the Lovat
Estates. He" said: —

Thig fear tagair bho dheas,
Mar eun bho phreas.
Fasaidh 2 mar luibh,
'S sgaoilidh e mar shiol,
'S cuiridh e teine ri Ardrois.

(A Claimant will come from the South
Like a bird from a bush ;
He will grow like an herb ;
He will spread like seed,
And set fire to Ardross. )*

"Mhac Shimidh ball-dubh, a dh'fhagus an oighreachd
gun an t-oighre dligheach." (Mac Shimidh (Lovat), the
black-spotted, who will leave the Estate without the rightful
heir.) "An Sisealach claon ruadh, a dh'fhagus an oighre-
achd gun an t-oighre dligheach." (Chisholm, the squint-
eyed, who will leave the estate without the rightful heir.)
" An tighearna storach a dh'fhagus oighreachd Ghearrloch
gun an t-oighre dligheach." (The buck-toothed laird who
will leave the estate of Gairloch without the rightful heir),
are also fragments.

We do not know whether there has been any Lovat or
Chisholm with the peculiar personal characteristics men-
tioned by the Seer,t and shall be glad to receive information

* A place of that name near Beauly.

•f- Since the above was in type, we came across the following in Ander-
son's History of the Family of Fraser, p. 114: — " Hugh, son of the toth
Lord Lovat, was born on the 28th September, 1666. From a large black
spot on his upper lip he was familiarly called, Mac Shimidh Ball-dubh, i.e.,
black-spotted Simpson or Lovat. Three chieftains were distinguished at
this time by similar deformities — (i) Mac Coinnich Glun-dubh, i.e., black-
kneed Mackenzie; (2) Macintoshich Claon, i.e., squint-eyed MacKintosh ;
(3) Sisealach Cam, crooked or one-eyed Chisholm."

<>0 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

1

on the point, as well as a fuller and more particular version
of the prophecy. We are aware, however, that Sir Hector
Mackenzie of Gairloch was buck-toothed, and that he was
always known among his tenants in the west, as " An
tighearna storach ". We heard old people maintaining that
Coinneach was correct even in this instance, and that his
prediction has been actually fulfilled; but, at present, we
abstain from going into that part of this family history which
would throw light on the subject. A gentleman is trying to
assert rights to the Lovat estates at the present moment.

Before proceeding to give such of the prophecies regard-
ing the family of Seaforth as have been so literally fulfilled
in the later annals of that once great and powerful house —
the history of the family being so intimately interwoven
with, and being itself really the fulfilment of the Seer's
predictions — it may interest the reader to have a cursory
glance at it from the earliest period in which the family
appears in history.

SKETCH OF THE FAMILY OF SEAFORTH.

HE most popularly-received theory regarding,
the Mackenzies is that they are descended
from an Irishman of the name of Colinas
Fitzgerald, son of the Earl of Kildare or
Desmond, who distinguished himself by
his bravery at the battle of Largs, in 1263. It is said that
his courage and valour were so singularly distinguished that
King Alexander the Third took him under his special pro-
tection, and granted him a charter of the lands of Kintail,
in Wester Ross, bearing date from Kincardine, January the
9th, 1263.

According to the fragmentary " Record of Icolmkill,"
upon which the claim of the Irish origin of the clan is-
founded, a personage, described as " Peregrinus et Hiber-
nus nobilis ex familia Geraldinorum " — that is "a noble
stranger and Hibernian, of the family of the Geraldines "
— being driven from Ireland with a considerable number of
his followers was, about 1261, very graciously received by
the King, and afterwards remained at his court. Having
given powerful aid to the Scots at the Battle ot Largs, two
years afterwards he was rewarded by a grant of the lands
of Kintail, which were erected into a free barony by royal
charter, dated as above mentioned. Mr. Skene, however,

62 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

says that no such document as this Icolmkill Fragment was
«ver known to exist, as nobody has ever seen it ; and as for
Alexander's charter, he declares (Highlanders, vol. ii., p.
235) that it " bears the most palpable marks of having been
a forgery of a later date, and one by no means happy in the
execution ". Besides, the words " Colino Hiberno " con-
tained in it do not prove this Colin to have been an Irish-
man, as Hiberni was at that period a common appellation
for the Gael of Scotland. Burke, in the " Peerage " has
adopted the Irish origin of the clan, and the chiefs them-
selves seem to have adopted this theory, without having
made any particular inquiry as to whether it was well founded
or not. The Mackenzie chiefs were thus not exempt from
the almost universal, but most unpatriotic, fondness ex-
hibited by many other Highland chiefs for a foreign origin.
In examining the traditions of our country, we are forcibly
struck with this peculiarity of taste. Highlanders despising
a Caledonian source trace their ancestors from Ireland,
Norway, Sweden, or Normandy. The progenitors of the
Mackenzies can be traced with greater certainty, and with
no less claim to antiquity, from a native ancestor, Gillean
{Cailean) Og, or Colin the Younger, a son of Cailean na
h'Airde, ancestor of the Earls of Ross ; and, from the MS
of 1450, their Gaelic descent may now be considered be-
yond dispute.*

Until the forfeiture of the Lords of the Isles, the Mac-
kenzies always held their lands from the Earls of Ross, and
followed their banner in the field, but after the forfeiture of
that great and powerful earldom, the Mackenzies rapidly
rose on the ruins of the Macdonalds to the great power,
extent of territorial possession, and almost regal magnifi-

* See Nos. XXVI. and XXVII. of the Celtic Magazine, VoL III., in
•which this question is discussed at length.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 63

cence for which they were afterwards distinguished among
the other great clans of the north. They, in the reign of
James the First, acquired a very powerful influence in the
Highlands, and became independent of any superior but
the Crown. Mackenzie and his followers were, in fact,
about the most potent chief and clan in the whole High-
lands.

Kenneth, son of Angus, is supposed to have commenced
his rule in Kintail about 1278, and was succeeded by his
son, John, in 1304, who was in his turn succeeded by his
son, Kenneth. John, Kenneth's son, was called Iain Mac-
Choinnich, John MacKenneth, or John son of Kenneth,
hence the family name Mackenny or Mackenzie. The
name Kenneth in course of time became softened down to
Kenny or Kenzie. It is well known that, not so very long
ago, z in this and all other names continued to be of the
same value as the letter y, just as we still find it in Menzies,
MacFadzean, and many others. There seems to be no
doubt whatever that this is the real origin of the Mackenzies,
and of their name.

Murchadh, or Murdo, son of Kenneth, it is said, received
a charter of the lands of Kintail from David II.

In 1463, Alexander Mackenzie of Kintail obtained the
lands of Strathgarve, and other possessions, from John, Earl
of Ross. They afterwards strenuously and successfully
opposed every attempt made by the Macdonalds to obtain
possession of the forfeited earldom. Alexander was suc-
ceeded by his son, Kenneth, who married Lady Margaret
Macdonald, daughter of the forfeited Earl John, Lord of
the Isles; but through some cause,* Mackenzie divorced
the lady, and sent her home in a most ignominious and

* For full details of this act, which afterwards proved the cause of such
strife and bloodshed, see Mackenzie's " History of the Clan Mackenzie",

64 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

degrading manner. She had only one eye, and Kintail
sent her home riding a one-eyed steed, accompanied by a
one-eyed servant, followed by a one-eyed dog. All these
circumstances exasperated the lady's family to such an.
extent as to make them ever after the mortal and sworn
enemies of the Mackenzies.

Kenneth Og, his son by the divorced wife, became chief
in 1493. Two years afterwards, he and Farquhar Mackin-
tosh were imprisoned by James V. in Edinburgh Castle. In
1497, however, they both made their escape, but were, on
their way to the Highlands, seized, in a most treacherous
manner, at Torwood, by the laird of Buchanan. Kenneth
Og made a stout resistance, but he was ultimately slain, and
Buchanan sent his head as a present to the King.

Leaving no issue, Kenneth was succeeded by his brother
John, whose mother, Agnes Fraser, his father's second wife,
was a daughter of Lovat. He had several other sons, from
whom have sprung other branches of the Mackenzies. As-
John was very young, his uncle, Hector Roy (Eachainn
Ruadh) Mackenzie, progenitor of the house of Gairloch,
assumed command of the clan and the guardianship of the
young chief. Gregory informs us, that " under his rule
the Clan Kenzie became involved in feuds with the Munroes
and other clans ; and Hector Roy himself became obnoxious
to the Government as a disturber of the public peace. His
intentions towards the young chief of Kintail were considered
very dubious, and the apprehensions of the latter and his
friends having been roused, Hector was compelled by law to
yield up the estate and the command of the tribe to the
proper heir."* John, the lawful heir, on obtaining posses-
sion, at the call of James IV., marched at the head of his

* Highlands and Isles of Scotland, p. in.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 05

clan to the fatal field of Flodden, where he was made pri-
soner by the English, but afterwards escaped.

On King James the Fifth's expedition to the Western
Isles in 1540, John joined him at Kintail, and accompanied
him throughout his whole journey. He fought with his clan
at the battle of Pinkie in 1547, and died in 1561, when he
was succeeded by his son, Kenneth, who had two sons by a
daughter of the Earl of Athole — Colin and Roderick — the
latter becoming ancestor of the Mackenzies of Redcastle,
Kincraig, Rosend, and several other branches. This Colin,
who was the eleventh chief, fought for Queen Mary at the
battle of Langside. He was twice married. By his first
wife, Barbara Grant of Grant — whose elopement with him
will be found described in a poem in the Highland Ceilidh,
Vol. I, pp. 215-220, of the Celtic Magazine — he had four
sons and three daughters, namely — Kenneth, who became
his successor ; Sir Roderick Mackenzie of Tarbat, ancestor
of the Earls of Cromartie ; Colin, ancestor of the Macken-
zies of Kennock and Pitlundie ; and Alexander, ancestor of
the Mackenzies of Kilcoy, and other families of the name.
By Mary, eldest daughter of Roderick Mackenzie of Davoch-
maluag, he had a natural son, Alexander, from whom des-
cended the Mackenzies of Applecross, Coul, Uelvin, Assynt,
and others of note in history.

Kenneth, the eldest son, soon after succeeding his father,
was engaged in supporting Torquil Macleod of Lewis, sur-
named the " Conanach," the disinherited son of the Macleod
of Lewis, and who was closely related to himself. Torquil
conveyed the barony of Lewis to the Chief of the Macken-
zies by formal deed, the latter causing the usurper to the
estate, and his followers, to be beheaded in 1597. He after-
wards, in the following year, joined Macleod of Harris and
Macdonald of Sleat, in opposing James the Sixth's project

5

66 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

for the colonisation of the Lewis by the well-known adven-
turers from the " Kingdom of Fife ".

In 1602, the old and long-standing feud between the
Mackenzies and the Macdonalds of Glengarry, concerning
their lands in Wester Ross, was renewed with infuriated
violence. Ultimately, after great bloodshed and carnage on
both sides, an arrangement was arrived at by which Glen-
garry renounced for ever, in favour of Mackenzie, the Castle
of Strome and all his lands in Lochalsh, Lochcarron, and
•Other places in the vicinity, so long the bone of contention
between these powerful and ferocious chieftains. In 1607.
a Crown charter for these lands was granted to Kenneth,
thus materially adding to his previous possessions, power,
and influence. " All the Highlands and Isles, from Ardna-
murchan to Strathnaver, were either the Mackenzies' pro-
perty or under their vassalage, some few excepted," and all
around them were bound to them " by very strict bonds of
friendship ". In this same year Kenneth received, through
some influence at Court, a gift, under the Great Seal, of the
Island of Lewis, in virtue of, and thus confirming, the resig-
nation of this valuable and extensive property previously
made in his favour by Torquil Macleod. A complaint was,
however, made to his Majesty by those of the colonists who
survived, and Mackenzie was again forced to resign it. By
patent, dated the ipth of November, 1609, he was created a
peer of the realm, as Lord Mackenzie of Kintail. Soon
after, the colonists gave up all hopes of being able to
colonize the Lewis, and the remaining adventurers — Sir
George Hay and Sir James Spens — were easily prevailed
upon to sell their rights to Lord Mackenzie, who at the
same time succeeded in securing a grant from the king of
that part of the island forfeited by Lord Ealmerino, another
of the adventurers. He (Lord Mackenzie) now secured a

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 67

commission of fire and sword against the islanders, soon
arrived with a strong force, and speedily reduced them to
obedience, with the exception of Neil Macleod and a few
of his followers. The struggle between these two continued
for a time, but ultimately Mackenzie managed to obtain
possession of the whole island, and it remained in the pos-
session of the family until it was sold by the " Last of the
Seaforths ".

This; the first, Lord Mackenzie of Kintail died in 1611.
One of his sons, Simon Mackenzie of Lochslin, by his
second wife, Isabella, daughter of Sir Alexander Ogilvie of
Powrie, was the father of the celebrated Sir George Mac-
kenzie,. already referred to. His eldest son, Colin, who
succeeded him as second Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, was
created first Earl of Seaforth, by patent dated the 3rd
December, 1623, to himself and his heirs male. Kenneth,
Colin's grandson, and third Earl of Seaforth, distinguished
himself by his loyalty to Charles the Second during the
Commonwealth. He supported the cause of the Royalists
:so long as there was an opportunity of fighting for it in the
field, and when forced to submit to the ruling powers, he
was committed to prison, where, with much firmness of
mind and nobility of soul, he endured a tedious captivity
during many years, until he was ultimately released, after
the Restoration, by authority of the king. He married a
lady descended from a branch of his own family, Isabella
Mackenzie, daughter of Sir John Mackenzie of Tarbat, and
sister of the first Earl of Cromartie. To her cruel and
violent conduct may undoubtedly be traced the remarkable
doom which awaited the family of Seaforth, which was pre-
dicted in such an extraordinary manner by Coinneach
Odhar, fulfilled in its minutest details, and which we are, in
the following pages, to place before the reader.

SEAFORTH'S DREAM.

EFORE proceeding to relate the Seer's
remarkable prediction, and the extra-
ordinary minuteness with which it has
been fulfilled, we shall give the particulars
of a curious dream by Lord Seaforth,
which was a peculiar forecast of the loss of his faculties of
speech and hearing during the latter part of his eventful life.
It has been supplied by a member of the family,* who shows
an unmistakable interest in everything calculated to throw
light on the " prophecies," and who evidently believes them
not to be merely an old wife's tale. We give it verbatim
et literatim : — " The last Lord Seaforth was born in full
possession of all his faculties. When about twelve years
of age scarlet fever broke out in the school at which he was
boarding. All the boys who were able to be sent away
were returned to their homes at once, and some fifteen
or twenty boys who had taken the infection were moved
into a large room, and there treated. After a week had
passed, some boys naturally became worse than others,
and some of them were in great danger. One evening,
before dark, the attendant nurse, having left the dormitory,
for a few minutes, was alarmed by a cry. She instantly

* The late Colonel John Constantine Stanley, son of Lord Stanley of
Alderley, who married Susan Mary, eldest daughter of the late Keith William
Stewart Mackenzie of Seaforth.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 69

returned, and found Lord Seaforth in a state of great excite-
ment. After he became calmer, he told the nurse that he
had seen, soon after she had left the room, the door oppo-
site to his bed silently open, and a hideous old woman
came in. She had a wallet full of something hanging
from her neck ia front of her. .She paused on entering,
then turned to the bed close to the door, and stared steadily
at one of the boys lying in it. She then passed to the
foot of the next boy's bed, and, after a moment, stealthily
moved up to the head, and taking from her wallet a mallet
and peg, drove the peg into his forehead. Young Seaforth
said he heard the crash of the bones, though the boy never
stirred. She then proceeded round the room, looking at
some boys longer than at others. When she came to him,
his suspense was awful. He felt he could not resist or even
cry out, and he never could forget, in years after, that
moment's agony, when he saw her hand reaching down
for a nail, and feeling his ears. At last, after a look,
she slunk off, and slowly completing the circuit of the room,
disappeared noiselessly through the same door by which she
had entered. Then he felt the spell seemed to be taken off,
and uttered the cry which had alarmed the nurse. The
latter laughed at the lad's story, and told him to go to sleep.
When the doctor came, an hour later, to make his rounds,
he observed that the boy was feverish and excited, and
asked the nurse afterwards if she knew the cause, where-
upon she reported what had occurred. The doctor, struck
with the story, returned to the boy's bedside and made him
repeat his dream. He took it down in writing at the
moment. The following day nothing eventful happened,
but, in course of time, some got worse, a few indeed died,
others suffered but slightly, while some, though they re-
covered, bore some evil trace and consequence of the fever

70 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

for the rest of their lives. The doctor, to his horror, found
that those whom Lord Seaforth had described as having
a peg driven into their foreheads, were those who died from
the fever; those whom the old hag passed by recovered,
and were none the worse ; whereas those she appeared to
look at intently, or handled, all suffered afterwards. Lord
Seaforth left his bed of sickness almost stone deaf; and, in
later years, grieving over the loss of his four sons, absolutely
and entirely ceased to speak.

We shall now relate the circumstances connected with
the prophecy, and continue an account of the Seaforths' con-
nection with it to the end of the chapter.

SEAFORTH'S DOOM.

ENNETH, the third Earl, had occasion to
visit Paris on some business after the Re-
storation of King Charles the Second, and
after having secured his liberty. He left
the Countess at Brahan Castle, unattended
by her lord, and, as she thought, forgotten, while he was en-
joying the dissipations and amusements of the French
capital, which seemed to have many attractions for him, for
he prolonged his stay far beyond his original intention.
Lady Seaforth had become very uneasy concerning his pro-
longed absence, more especially as she received no letters
from him for several months. Her anxiety became too
strong for her power of endurance, and led her to have
recourse to the services of the local prophet. She accord-
ingly sent messages to Strathpeffer, summoning Coinneach
to her presence, to obtain from him, if possible, some
tidings of her absent lord. Coinneach, as we have seen,
was already celebrated, far and wide, throughout the whole
Highlands, for his great powers of divination, and his rela-
tions with the invisible world.

Obeying the orders of Lady Seaforth, Kenneth arrived at
the Castle, and presented himself to the Countess, who

72 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

required him to give her information concerning her absent
lord. Coinneach asked where Seaforth was supposed to be,
and said, that he thought he would be able to find him if he
was still alive. He applied the divination stone to his eye,
and laughed loudly, saying to the Countess, " Fear not for
your lord, he is safe and sound, well and hearty, merry and
happy ". Being now satisfied that her husband's life was
safe, she wished Kenneth to describe his appearance ; to tell
her where he was now engaged, and all his surroundings.
" Be satisfied," he said, " ask no questions, let it suffice you
to know that your lord is well and merry." " But," de-
demanded the lady, " where is he ? with whom is he ? and
is he making any preparations for coming home ?" " Your
lord," replied the seer," " is in a magnificent room, in very
fine company, and far too agreeably employed at present to
think of leaving Paris." The Countess, finding that her
lord was well and happy, began to fret that she had no
share in his happiness and amusements, and to feel even the
pangs of jealousy and wounded pride. She thought there
was something in the seer's looks and expression which
seemed to justify such feelings. He spoke sneeringly and
maliciously of her husband's occupations, as much as to say,
that he could tell a disagreeable tale if he would. The
lady tried entreaties, bribes, and threats to induce Coinneach
to give a true account of her husband, as he had seen him,
to tell who was with him, and all about him. Kenneth
pulled himself together, and proceeded to say — " As you will
know that which will make you unhappy, I must tell you the
truth. My lord seems to have little thought of you, or of his
children, or of his Highland home. I saw him in a gay-
gilded room, grandly decked out in velvets, with silks and
cloth of gold, and . on his knees before a fair lady, his arm
round her waist, and her hand pressed to his lips." At this

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER, 73

unexpected and painful disclosure, the rage of the lady knew
no bounds. It was natural and well merited, but its object
was a mistake. All the anger which ought to have been
directed against her husband, and which should have been
concentrated in her breast, to be poured out upon him after
his return, was spent upon poor Coinneach Odhar. She felt
the more keenly, that the disclosures of her husband's infide-
lity had not been made to herself in private, but in the presence
of the principal retainers of her house, so that the Earl's
moral character was blasted, and her own charms slighted,
before the whole clan ; and her husband's desertion of her
for a French lady was certain to become the public scandal
of all the North of Scotland. She formed a sudden resolu-
tion with equal presence of mind and cruelty. She deter-
mined to discredit the revelations of the seer, and to
denounce him as a vile slanderer of her husband's character.
She trusted that the signal vengeance she was about to
inflict upon him as a liar and defamer would impress the
minds, not only of her own clan, but of all the inhabitants
of the counties of Ross and Inverness, with a sense of her
thorough disbelief in the scandalous story, to which she
nevertheless secretly attached full credit. Turning to the
seer, she said, " You have spoken evil of dignities, you have
vilified the mighty of the land ; you have defamed a mighty
chief in the midst of his vassals, you have abused my
hospitality and outraged my feelings, you have sullied the
good name of my lord in the halls of his ancestors, and
you shall suffer the most signal vengeance I can inflict —
you shall suffer the death ".

Coinneach was filled with astonishment and dismay at
this fatal result of his art. He had expected far other
rewards from his art of divination. However, he could not
at first believe the rage of the Countess to be serious ; at all

74 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

events, he expected that it would soon evaporate, and that,
in the course of a few hours, he would be allowed to depart
in peace. He even so far understood her feelings that
he thought she was making a parade of anger in order
to discredit the report of her lord's shame before the clan ;
and he expected that when this object was served, he might
at length be dismissed without personal injury. But the
decision of the Countess was no less violently conceived
than it was promptly executed. The doom of Coinneach
was sealed. No time was to be allowed for remorseless
compunction. No preparation was permitted to the
wretched man. No opportunity was given for intercession
in his favour. The miserable seer was led out for im-
mediate execution.

Such a stretch of feudal oppression, at a time so little
remote as the reign of Charles II., may appear strange. A
castle may be pointed out, however, viz., Menzies Castle,
much less remote from the seat of authority, and the Courts
of Law, than Brahan, where, half a century later, an odious
vassal was starved to death by ordei of the wife of the chief,
the sister of the great and patriotic Duke of Argyll !

When Coinneach found that no mercy was to be expected
either from the vindictive lady or her subservient vassals, he
resigned himself to nis fate. He drew forth his white stone,
so long the instrument of his supernatural intelligence, and
once more applying it to his eye, said — " I see into the far
future, and I read the doom of the race of my oppressor.
The long-descended line of Seaforth will, ere many genera-
tions have passed, end in extinction and in sorrow. I see a
chief, the last of his house, both deaf and dumb. He will
be the father of four fair sons, all of whom he will follow to
the- tomb, • He will live careworn and die mourning, knowing
that the honours of his line are to be extinguished for ever.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 75

and that no future chief of the Mackenzies shall bear rule
at Brahan or in Kintail. After lamenting over the last and
most promising of his sons, he himself shall sink into the
grave, and the remnant of his possessions shall be inherited
by a white-coifed (or white-hooded) lassie from the East,
and she is to kill her sister. And as a sign by which it may
be known that these things are coming to pass, there shall
be four great lairds in the days of the last deaf and dumb
Seaforth — Gairloch, Chisholm, Grant, and Raasay — of whom
one shall be buck-toothed, another hare-lipped, another half-
witted, and the fourth a stammerer. Chiefs distinguished by
these personal marks shall be the allies and neighbours of
the last Seaforth ; and when he looks around him and sees
them, he may know that his sons are doomed to death, that
his broad lands shall pass away to the stranger, and that his-
race shall come to an end."

When the seer had ended this prediction, he threw his
white stone into a small loch, and declared that whoever
should find that stone would be similarly gifted. Then
submitting to his fate, he was at once executed, and this
wild and fearful doom ended his strange and uncanny
life.

Sir Bernard Burke, to whose " Vicissitudes of Families "
we are mainly indebted for this part of the Prophecies,
says : — With regard to the four Highland lairds, who were to-
be buck-toothed, hare-lipped, half-witted, and a stammerer —
Mackenzie, Baronet of Gairloch ; Chisholm of Chisholm ;
Grant, Baronet of Grant ; and Macleod of Raasay — I am
uncertain which was which. Suffice it to say, that the four
lairds were marked by the above-mentioned distinguishing
personal peculiarities, and all four were the contemporaries
of the last of the Seaforths.

We believe Sir Hector Mackenzie of ffiairlEch, WAS Hie

•

j5 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

buck-toothed laird (an Tighearna Stbrach) ; the Chisholm,
the hare-lipped ; Grant, the half-witted ; and Raasay, the
stammerer, all of whom were contemporaries of the last Lord
Seaforth.

THE SEER'S DEATH

R. MACINTYRE supplies the following
account of the Seaforth prophecy and the
Seer's death, as related at this day, in the
Black Isle :—

Coinneach's supernatural power was at
length the cause which led .to his untimely and cruel death.
At a time when there was a convivial gathering in Brahan
Castle, a large concourse of local aristocratic guests was-
present As the youthful portion were amusing themselves
in the beautiful grounds or park surrounding the castle, and
displaying their noble forms and features as they thought to
full advantage, a party remarked in Coinneach Odhar's
hearing, that such a gathering of gentlemen's children could
rarely be seen. The seer answered with a sneer, " that he
saw more in the company of the children of footmen and
grooms than of the children of gentlemen," (Is mo th'ann do
chlann ghillean-buird agus do chlann ghillean-stabuil na
th'ann do chlann dhaoin' uaisle), a remark which soon came
to the ears of Lady Seaforth and the other ladies present,
who were so much offended and provoked at this base in-
sinuation as to the paternity of the Brahan guests, that they
determined at once to have condign punishment on the once
respected seer. He was forthwith ordered to be seized ;
and, after eluding the search of his infuriated pursuers for

78 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

some time, was at last apprehended. Seeing he had no way
of escape, he once more applied the magic stone to his eye,
and uttered the well-known prophetic curse [already given]
against the Brahan family, and then threw the stone into a
cow's footmark, which was full of water, declaring that a
child would be born with two navels, or as some say, with
four thumbs and six toes, who would in course of time dis-
cover it inside a pike, and who then would be gifted with
Coinneach's prophetic power. As it was the purpose of his
pursuers to obtain possession of this wonderful stone, as well
as of the prophet's person, search was eagerly made for it in
the muddy waters in the footprint, when, lo ! it was found
that more water was copiously oozing from the boggy
ground around, and rapidly forming a considerable lake,
that effectually concealed the much-coveted stone. The
waters steadily increased, and the result, as the story goes,
•was the formation of Loch Ussie (Oozie). The poor
prophet was then taken to Chanonry Point, where the
stern arm of ecclesiastical authority, with unrelenting
severity, burnt him to death in a tar-barrel for witchcraft.

It is currently reported that a person answering to the
foregoing description was actually born in the neighbour-
hood of Conon, near Loch Ussie, and is still living. Of
this I have been credibly informed by a person who saw him
several times at the Muir of Od markets.

We see from the public prints, our correspondent humor-
ously continues, that the Magistrates and Police Commis-
sioners of Dingwall contemplate to bring a supply of water
for " Baile-'Chail " from Loch Ussie. Might we humbly
suggest with such a view in prospect, as some comfort to
the burdened ratepayers, that there may be, to say the least,
a probability in the course of such an undertaking of re-
covering the mystic stone, so long compelled to hide its

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 79

prophetic light in the depths of Loch Ussie, and so present
the world with the novel sight of having not only an indivi-
dual gifted with second-sight, but also a Corporation ; and,
further, what would be a greater terror to evil-doers, a
magistracy capable, in the widest sense of the word, of dis-
cerning between right and wrong, good and evil, and thus
compelling the lieges in the surrounding towns and villages
to exclaim involuntarily — O si sic omnes ! They might go
the length even of lending it out, and giving you the use
of it occasionally in Inverness.

"vvTien Coinneach Odhar was. being led to the stake, fast
bound with cords, Lady Seaforth exultingly declared that,
having had so much unhallowed intercourse with the unseen
world, he would never go to Heaven. But the seer, looking
round upon her with an eye from which his impending fate
had not banished the ray of a joyful hope of rest in a future
state, gravely answered — " / will go to Heaven, but you
never shall ; and this will be a sign whereby you can
determine whether my condition after death is one of ever-
lasting happiness or of eternal misery ; a raven and a dove,
swiftly flying in opposite directions will meet, and for a
second hover over my ashes, on which they will instantly
alight. If the raven be foremost, you have spoken truly ;
but if the dove, then my hope is well-founded." And,
accordingly, tradition relates, that after the cruel sentence of
his hard-hearted enemies had been executed upon the
Brahan Seer, and his ashes lay scattered among the
smouldering embers of the fagot, his last prophecy was most
literally fulfilled ; for those messengers, emblematically
denoting — the one sorrow, the other joy — came speeding to
the fatal spot, when the dove, with characteristic flight,
closely followed by the raven, darted downwards and was
first to alight on the dust of the departed Coinneach Odhar ;

8o THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEEU.

thus completely disproving the positive and uncharitable
assertion of the proud and vindictive Lady of Brahan, to the
wonder and consternation of all the beholders.

Mr. Maclennan describes the cause of Coinneach's doom
in almost identical terms ; the only difference being, that
while the former has the young ladies amusing themselves
on the green outside, the latter describes them having a
grand dance in the great hall of the Castle. The following
is his account of the prophet's end : —

In terms of her expressed resolution, Lady Seaforth, some
days after this magnificent entertainment, caused the seer
to be seized, bound hand and foot, and carried forthwith
to the Ness of Chanonry, where, despite his pitiful looks and
lamentable cries, he was inhumanly thrown, head foremost,
into a barrel of burning tar, the inside of which was thickly
studded with sharp and long spikes driven in from the outside.
On the very day upon which Coiuneach was sent away from
the castle to meet his cruel fate, Lord Seaforth arrived, and
was immediately informed of his Lady's resolution, and that
Coinneach was already well on his way to the Chanonry,
where he was to be burned that very day, under clerical
supervision and approval. My lord, knowing well the
vindictive and cruel nature of his Countess, believed the
story to be only too true. He waited neither for food nor
refreshment ; called neither for groom nor for servant, but
hastened immediately to the stable, saddled his favourite
steed with his own hands, for lairds were not so proud in
those days, and set off at full speed, hoping to reach Chan-
onry Point 'jefore the diabolical intention of her ladyship
and her religious (!) advisers should be carried into effect.
Never before -ior since did Seaforth ride so furiously as he
did on that day. He was soon at Fortrose, when he ob-
served a dense smoke rising higher and higher from the

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 8 1

promontory below. He felt his whole frame giving way, and
a cold sweat came over his body, for he felt that the foul
deed was, or was about to be, perpetrated. He pulled him-
self together, however, and with fresh energy and redoubled
vigour, spurred his steed, which had already been driven
almost beyond its powers of endurance, to reach the fatal
spot to save the seer's life. Within a few paces of where
the smoke was rising the poor brute could endure the strain
no longer ; it fell down under him and died on the spot.
Still determined, if possible, to arrive in time, he rushed
forward on foot, crying out at the height of his voice to
those congregated at the spot, to save their victim. It was,
however, too late, for whether Seaforth's cries were heard or
not, the victim of his lady's rage and vindictive nature had
been thrown into the burning barrel a few moments before
his intended deliverer had reached the fatal spot.

The time when this happened is not so very remote as to
lead us to suppose that tradition could so grossly blunder as
to record such a horrible and barbarous murder by a lady
so widely and well-known as Lady Seaforth, was, had it not
taken place.

It is too much to suppose that if the seer had been
allowed to die a peaceful and natural death, that such a
story as this would have ever originated, be carried down
and believed in from generation to generation, and be so
well authenticated in many quarters as it now is. It may be
stated that a large stone slab, now covered under the sand,
lies a few yards east from the road leading from Fortrose to
Fort-George Ferry, and about 250 yards north-west from the
lighthouse, which is still pointed out as marking the spot
where this inhuman tragedy was consummated, under the
eyes and with the full approval of the highest dignitaries of
the Church.

6

THE FULFILMENT OF THE SEAFORTH
PROPHECY.

AVING thus disposed of the seer himself,
we next proceed to give in detail the ful-
filment of the prophecies regarding the
family of his cruel murderer. And we
regret to say that the family of Seaforth
will, in this connection, fall to be disposed of finally and
for ever, and in the manner which Coinneach had unques-
tionably predicted. As already remarked, in due time the
Earl returned to his home, after the fascinations of Paris
had paled, and when he felt disposed to exchange frivolous
or vicious enjoyment abroad for the exercise of despotic
authority in the society of a jealous Countess at home. He
was gathered to his fathers in 1678, and was succeeded by
his eldest son, the fourth Earl. It is not our purpose to re-
late here the vicissitudes of the family which are unconnected
with the curse of Coinneach Odhar, further than by giving a
brief outline, though they are sufficiently remarkable to
supply a strange chapter of domestic history.

The fourth Earl married a daughter of the illustrious
family of Herbert, Marquis of Powis, and he himself was
created a Marquis by the abdicated King of St. Germains,

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 83

while his wife's brother was created a Duke. His son, the
fifth Earl, having engaged in the rebellion of 1715, forfeited
his estate and titles to the Crown ; but in 1726 his lands
were restored to him, and he, and his son after him, lived in
wealth and honour as great Highland chiefs. The latter,
who was by courtesy styled Lord Fortrose, represented his
native county of Ross in several Parliaments about the
middle of last century. In 1766, the honours of the peerage
were restored to his son, who was created Viscount Fortrose,
and in 1771, Earl of Seaforth; but those titles, which were
Irish, did not last long, «.nd became extinct at his death, in
1781. None of these vicissitudes were foretold in the seer's
prophecy ; and, in spite of them all, the family continued to
prosper. That ruin which the unsuccessful rising in 1715
had brought upon many other great houses, was retrieved in
the case of Seaforth, by the exercise of sovereign favour ;
and restored possessions and renewed honours preserved the
grandeur of the race. But on the death of the last Earl, his
second cousin, descended from a younger son of the third
Earl and his vindictive Countess, inherited the family estates
and the chiefdom of the Mackenzies, which he held for two
short years, but never actually enjoyed, being slain at sea by
the Mahrattas, at Gheriah, in the south of India, in 1783,
after a gallant resistance. He was succeeded by his brother,
in whom, as the last of his race, the seer's prophecy was
accomplished.

Francis Humberston Mackenzie was a very remarkable
man. He was born in 1794, and although deaf, and
latterly dumb, he was, by the force of his natural abilities
and the favour of fortune, able to fill an important position
in the world. It would have been already observed that
the " Last of the Seaforths " was born in full possession of
all his faculties, and that he only became deaf from the

84 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

effects of a severe attack of scarlet fever, while a boy in
school, which we have previously noticed in connection
with his remarkable dream. He continued to speak a
little, and it was only towards the close of his life, and
particularly during the last two years, that he was unable to
articulate — or perhaps, unwilling to make the attempt, on
finding himself the last male of his line. He may be said
to have, prior to this, fairly recovered the use of speech, for
he was able to converse pretty distinctly ; but he was so
totally deaf, that all communications were made to him by
signs or in writing. Yet he raised a regiment at the be-
ginning of the great European war; he was created a
British peer in 1797, as Baron Seaforth of Kintail ; in 1800
he went out to Barbadoes as Governor, and afterwards to
Demerara and Berbice ; and in 1808 he was made a
Lieutenant-General. These were singular incidents in the
life of a deaf and dumb man. He married a very amiable
and excellent woman, Mary Proby, the daughter of a digni-
tary of the Church, and niece of the first Lord Carysfort,
by whom he had a fine family of four sons and six daughters.
When he considered his own position — deaf, and formerly
dumb ; when he saw his four sons, three of them rising to
man's estate ; and when he looked around him, and ob-
served the peculiar marks set upon the persons of the
four contemporary great Highland lairds, all in strict
accordance with Coinneach's prophecy — he must have felt
ill at ease, unless he was able, with the incredulous in-
difference of a man of the world, to spurn the idea from him
as an old wife's superstition.

However, fatal conviction was forced upon him, and on
all those who remembered the family tradition, by the
lamentable events which filled his house with mourning.
One after another his three promising sons (the fourth died

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 85

young) were cut of by death. The last, who was the most
distinguished of them all, for the finest qualities both of head
and heart, was stricken by a sore and lingering disease, and
had gone, with a part of the family, for his health, to the
south of England. Lord Seaforth remained in the north, at
Brahan Bastle. A daily bulletin was sent to him from the
sick chamber of his beloved son. One morning, the accounts
being rather more favourable, the household began to rejoice,
and a friend in the neighbourhood, who was visiting the chief,
came down after breakfast full of the good news, and gladly
imparted it to the old family piper, whom he met in front of
the Castle. The aged retainer shook his head and sighed —
"Na, na," said he, "he'll never recover. It's decreed that
Seaforth must outlive all his four sons." This he said in
allusion to the seer's prophecy ; thus his words were under-
stood by the family ; and thus members of the family have
again and again repeated the strange tale. The words of the
old piper proved too true. A few more posts brought to
Seaforth the tidings of the death of the last of his four
sons.

At length, on the nth January, 1815, Lord Seaforth died,
the last of his race. His modern title became extinct.
The chiefdom of the Mackenzies, divested of its rank and
honour, passed away to a very remote collateral, who suc-
ceeded to no portion of the property, and the great Seaforth
estates were inherited by a white-hooded lassie from the East.
Lord Seaforth's eldest surviving daughter, the Honourable
Mary Frederica Elizabeth Mackenzie, had married, in 1804,
Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, Bart., K.B., who was Admiral of
the West India station while Seaforth himself was Governor
in those islands. Sir Samuel afterwards had the chief com-
mand in the Indian seas, whither his lady accompanied him,
and spent several years with him in different parts of the East

86 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

Indies. He died while holding that high command, very
nearly at the same time as Lord Seaforth, so that his youthful
wife was a recent widow at the time, and returned home from
India in her widow's weeds, to take possession of her paternal
inheritance. She was thus literally a white-coifed or white-
hooded lassie (that is, a young woman in widow's weeds, and
a Hood by name) from the East. After some years of
widowhood, Lady Hood Mackenzie married a second time,
Mr. Stewart, a grandson of the sixth Earl of Galloway, who
assumed the name of Mackenzie, and established himself on
his lady's extensive estates in the North. Thus, the pos-
sessions of Seaforth may be truly said to have passed from
the male line of the ancient house of Mackenzie. And still
more strikingly was this fulfilled, as regarded a large portion
of these estates, when Mr. and Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie sold
the great Island of Lewis to Sir James Matheson.

After many years of happiness and prosperity, a frightful
accident threw the family into mourning. Mrs. Stewart
Mackenzie was one day driving her younger sister, the Hon.
Caroline Mackenzie, in a pony carriage, among the woods
in the vicinity of Brahan Castle. Suddenly, the ponies took
fright, and started off at a furious pace. Mrs. Stewart Mac-
kenzie was quite unable to check them, and both she and
her sister were thrown out of the carriage much bruised and
hurt. She happily soon recovered from the accident, but
the injury which her sister sustained proved fatal, and, after
lingering for some time in a hopeless state, she died, to the
inexpressible grief of all the members of her family. As
Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie was driving the carriage at the time
of the accident, she may be said to have been the innocent
cause of her sister's death, and thus to have fulfilled the last
portion of Coinneach's prophecy which has yet been ac-
complished.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 87

Thus \ve have seen that the last chief of Seaforth was
deaf and dumb ; that he had four sons ; that he survived
them all ; that the four great Highland lairds who were his
contemporaries were all distinguished by the peculiar per-
sonal marks the seer predicted ; that his estates were inherited
by a white-coifed or white-hooded lassie from the East ; that
his great possessions passed into the hands of other races ;
and that his eldest daughter and heiress was so unfortunate
as to be the innocent cause of her sister's death. In this
very remarkable instance of family fate, the prophecy was
not found out after the events occurred ; it had been current
tor generations in the Highlands, and its tardy fulfilment
was marked curiously and anxiously by an entire clan and a
whole county. Seaforth was respected and beloved far and
near, and strangers, as well as friends and clansmen, mourned
along with him the sorrows of his later years. The gradual
development "of the doom was watched with sympathy and
grief, and the fate of Seaforth has been, during the last half-
century of his. life, regarded as one of the most curious
instances of that second-sight for which the inhabitants of
the Highlands of Scotland have been so long celebrated.
Mr. Stewart Mackenzie, the accomplished husband of the
heiress of Seaforth, after being for many years a distinguished
member of the House of Commons and a Privy Councillor,
held several high appointments in the Colonial Dominions
of the British Crown. He was successively Governor of
Ceylon and Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands,
and died, universally beloved and lamented, in the year
1843.

Lockhart in his Life of Scott, in reference to the Seaforth
prediction, says : — " Mr. Morrit can testify thus far — that
he heard the prophecy quoted in the Highlands at a time
when Lord Seaforth had two sons 'alive, and in good health,

88 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

and that it certainly was not made after the event " ; and he
goes on to tell us that Scott and Sir Humphrey Davy were
most certainly convinced of its truth, as also many others
who had watched the latter days of Seaforth in the light of
those wonderful predictions.

The late Duncan Davidson of Tulloch, Lord-Lieutenant
of the County of Ross, on reading our Second editon, wrote
to the author, under date of May 21, 1878, as follows: —
" Many of these prophecies I heard of upwards of 70 years
ago, and when many of them were not fulfilled, such as the
late Lord Seaforth surviving his sons, and Mrs. Stewart-
Mackenzie's accident, near Brahan, by which Miss Caroline
Mackenzie was killed." Tulloch was, he said, during the
latter years of Lord Seaforth, a regular visitor at Brahan
Castle, and often heard the predictions referred to among
members of the family. The letter is in our possession, and
it was published, during Tulloch's life, and by his special
dermission, in Mackenzie's History of the Mackenzies, p.
267.

An attempt was recently made to sell the remaining pos-
sessions of the family, but fortunately, for the present, this
attempt has been defeated by the interposition of the Mar-
chioness of Tweeddale and Mrs. Colonel Stanley, daughters
of the present nominal possessor of the property. At the
time a leading article appeared in the Edinburgh Daily
Review giving an outline of the family history of the Seaforths.
After describing how the fifth Earl, with the fidelity charac-
teristic of his house, " true as the dial to the sun," embraced
the losing side in the " the Fifteen " ; fought at the head of his
clan at Sheriffmuir ; how in 1719 he, along with the Marquis
of Tullibardine, and the Earl Marischal, made a final attempt
to bring the " auld Stewarts back again " ; how he was
dangerously wounded in an encounter with the Government

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 89

forces at Glenshiel, and compelled to abandon the vain en-
terprise; how he was carried on board a vessel by his
clansmen, conveyed to the Western Isles, and ultimately to
France ; how he was attainted by Parliament, and his estates
forfeited to the Crown ; how all the efforts of the Government
failed to penetrate into Kintail, or to collect any rent from
his faithful Macraes, whom the Seaforths had so often led
victorious from many a bloody conflict, from the battle of
Largs down to the Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1719;
and how the rents of that part of the estates were regularly
collected and remitted to their exiled chief in France, with
a devotion and faithfulness only to be equalled by their own
countrymen when their beloved " bonnie Prince Charlie "
was a wanderer, helpless and forlorn, at the mercy of his
enemies, and with a reward of .£30,000 at the disposal of
many a poverty-striken and starving Highlander, who would
not betray his lawful Prince for all the gold in England ;
the article continues : — But their (the Seaforth's) downfall
came at last, and the failure of the male line of this great
historical family was attended with circumstances as singu-
lar as they were painful. Francis, Lord Seaforth, the last
Baron of Kintail, was, says Sir Walter Scott, " a nobleman of
extraordinary talents, who must have made for himself a
lasting reputation, had not his political exertions been
checked by painful natural infirmity ". Though deaf from
his sixteenth year, and inflicted also with a partial impedi-
ment of speech, he was distinguished for his attainments as
well as for his intellectual activity. He took a lively interest
in all questions of art and science, especially in natural
history, and displayed at once his liberality and his love of
art by his munificence to Sir Thomas Lawrence, in the
youthful straits and struggles of that great artist, and by his
patronage of other artists. Before his elevation to the

90 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

peerage, Lord Seaforth represented Ross-shire in Parliament
for a number of years, and was afterwards Lord-Lieutenant
of the county. During the revolutionary war with France,
he raised a splendid regiment of Ross-shire Highlanders
(the 78th, the second which had been raised among his
clan), of which he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel
Commandant, and he ultimately attained the rank of
Lieutenant-General in the Army. He held for six years the
office of Governor of Barbadoes, and, by his firmness and
even-handed justice, he succeeded in putting an end to the
practice of slave-killing, which at that time was not unfre-
quent in the Island, and was deemed by the planters a
venial offence, to be punished only by a small fine.

Lord Seaforth was the happy father of three (four) sons
and six daughters, all of high promise ; and it seemed as if
he were destined to raise the illustrious house of which he
was the head, to a height of honour and power greater than
than it had ever yet attained. But the closing years of this
nobleman were darkened by calamities of the severest kind.
The mismanagement of his estates in the West Indies in-
volved him in inextricable embarrassments, and compelled
him to dispose of a part of his Kintail estates — " the gift-
land " of the family, as it was termed — a step which his
tenantry and clansmen in vain endeavoured to avert, by
offering to buy in the land for him, that it might not pass
from the family. He had previously been bereaved of two
of his sons, and about the time that Kintail was sold, his
only remaining son, a young man of talent and eloquence,
the representative in parliament of his native county,
suddenly died. The broken-hearted father lingered on for a
few months, his fine intellect enfeebled by paralysis, and
yet, as Sir Walter Scott says, " not so entirely obscured but
that he perceived his deprivation as in a glass, darkly."

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 91

Sometimes he was anxious and fretful because he did not
see his son; sometimes he expostulated and complained that
his boy had been allowed to die without his seeing him ;
and sometimes, in a less clouded state of intellect, he was
sensible of his loss in its full extent. The last " Cabar-
feidh " followed his son to the grave in January, 1815, and
then —

Of the line of Fitzgerald remained not a male.
To bear the proud name of the Chiefs of KintaiL

The most remarkable circumstance connected with this
sorrowful tale, is the undoubted fact that, centuries ago, a
Seer of the Clan Mackenzie, known as Kenneth Oag (Odhar),
predicted that when there should be a deaf and dumb
" Cabarfeidh " (Staghead, the Celtic designation of the chief
of the clan, taken from the family crest), the " gift-land " of
their territory (Kintail) would be sold, and the male line
become extinct. This prophecy was well known in the
north long before its fulfilment, and was certainly not made
after the event. " It connected," says Lockhart, " the fall
of the house of Seaforth not only with the appearance of
a deaf ' Cabarfeidh,' but with the contemporaneous
appearance of various different physical misfortunes in
several of the other great Highland chiefs, all of which are
said to have actually occurred within the memory of the
generation that has not yet passed away."

On the death of his lordship, his estates, with all their
burdens and responsibilities, devolved on his eldest daughter,
Lady Hood, whose second husband was James Stewart
Mackenzie, a member of the Galloway family, and whose
son has just been prevented from selling all that remains of
the Seaforth estates. " Our friend, Lady Hood," wrote Sir
Walter Scott to Mr. Morritt, " will now be ' Cabarfeidh '

92 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

herself. She has the spirit of a chieftainess in every drop of
her blood, but there are few situations in which the cleverest
women are so apt to be imposed upon as in the management
of landed property, more especially of a Highland estate.
I do fear the accomplishment of the prophecy that, when
there should be a deaf ' Cabarfeidh,' the house was to fall."
The writer concludes thus : — " Scott's apprehensions proved
only to well founded. One section after another of the
estates had to be sold. The remaining portion of Kintail,
the sunny braes of Ross, the church lands of Chanonry, the
barony of Pluscarden, and the Island of Lews — a princi-
pality itself — were disposed of one after the other, till now
nothing remains of the vast estates of this illustrious house
except Brahan Castle, and a mere remnant of their ancient
patrimony (and that in the hands of trustees), which the
non-resident, nominal owner has just been prevented from
alienating. Sz't transit."

Leaving these extraordinary prophecies with the reader,
to believe, disbelieve, or explain away on any principle or
theory which may satisfy his reason, his credulity, or scep-
ticism, we conclude with the following

LAMENT FOR "THE LAST OF THE SEAFORTHS".
BY SIR WALTER SCOTT.

In vain the bright course of thy talents to wrong
Fate deaden'd thine ear and imprison'd thy tongue,
For brighter o'er all her obstructions arose
The glow of the genius they could not oppose ;
And who, in the land of the Saxon, or Gael,
Might match with Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail ?

Thy sons rose around thee in light and in love,
All a father could hope, all a friend could approve ;

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 93

What 'vails it the tale of thy sorrows to tell ?
In the spring time of youth and of promise they fell !
Of the line of MacKenneth remains not a male,
To bear the proud name of the Chief of Kintail.

And thou, gentle Dame, who must bear, to thy grief,
For thy clan and thy country the cares of a Chief,
Whom brief rolling moons in six changes have left,
Of thy husband and father and brethren bereft ;
To thine ear of affection, how sad is the hail
That salutes thee — the heir of the line of Kintail !

Na 'm biodh an fearball na bu ruighne bhiodh mo
sgialachd na V fhaide.

ON HIGHLAND SUPERSTITION.

THE REV. ALEXANDER MACGREGOR, M.A.,
ON HIGHLAND SUPERSTITION,

DRUIDS, FAIRIES, WITCHCRAFT, SECOND-SIGHT, HAL-
LOWE'EN, SACRED WELLS, AND OTHER PECULIAR
PRACTICES AND BELIEFS, WITH SEVERAL CURIOUS
INSTANCES.

T is lamentable that mankind in all ages of the
world have been prone to the most degrading
superstitions. The enlightenend ages of an-
tiquity were no more exempt from them
than the most ignorant. We know from the
Bible how difficult it was to restrain the Jews from the most
idolatrous and superstitious observances, and to confine them
to the worship of the only living and true God. This re-
markable tendency of the Hebrew nation was caused, in all
likelihood, by their sojourning for the long period of 400
years among the Egyptians, whose system of religion was a
mass of idolatrous observances. They had a number of
ideal gods, to whom they erected temples of prodigious size
and architectural splendour. Their principal deities,
were Osiris and Isis, whom they considered typical of the
sun and moon. But they had a great variety of other deities,
animals of all kinds — (hence the golden calf of the Hebrews),

7

98 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

the dog, the wolf, the hawk, the stork, the cat, and several
other creatures. They also adored their great river, the
Nile, personifying it in the crocodile, to which they erected
temples and appointed priests to serve at their altars. The
Egyptians also believed in dreams, lucky and unlucky days,
charms, omens, and magic — in short, they were grossly
superstitious !

The absurdities of Egyptian superstition formed the
basis of what followed in Greece and Rome. Fifteen
hundred years before the birth of our blessed Saviour,
Egypt was at the height of its civilisation, but then, too, it
was at the height of its superstition. The mythology and
superstitious observances of the Greeks deserve to be noticed,
both as a matter of amusement and instruction, but we can,
in the meantime, hint at but a few particulars. They had no
idea of the only living and true God. Their notions of
Divinity were grovelling and contemptible. Their gods
were, as they believed, at one time heroes and rulers on
earth, but still having their habitation somewhere within the
boundaries of the Grecian territories. We are made acquaint-
ed with the character of these imaginary deities by the numer-
ous allusions made to them in the works of the Greek and
Roman poets, as well as by the various sculptured figures
which have been brought to light in modern times. Jupiter,
the son of Saturn, was the chief God. But even the great
Jupiter himself did not enjoy unmolested his supreme
dignity, for the offspring of Titan, a race of terrible giants,
set Jupiter at defiance. They piled the mountains of Pelion
and Ossa on the top of each other, and endeavoured to
ascend into heaven, and to pull Jupiter down from his
throne. The gods, in great alarm, fled from Mount
Olympus into Egypt, where they concealed their true character
by assuming the form of various animals ; but Jupiter,

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 99

assisted by Hercules, succeeded in destroying the giants,
and in reasserting his sovereign sway. And hence he is
always represented on a throne, with a thunderbolt in his
hand, and an eagle by his side. Jupiter's brothers and chil-
dren were the gods and goddesses of a great variety of
distinct things — in fact, under the complicated mythology of
Greece, every imaginable thing had its god or goddess. For
example, Jupiter's brother Neptune was god of the ocean,
and is painted as a majestic figure, with a crown on his head,
and a trident in his hand, and drawn in a car over the sea
by powerful water-horses. Neptune has often appeared in
his stately chariot on the decks of ships when crossing the
Equator. Then all on board who had never crossed the
line before were brought into his presence, laid hold of, and
plunged into a bath of water, where they received a smart
shave, with tar for soap, and a rusty hoop for a razor. Only
the ladies on board were exempted from this unpleasant
treatment, not because they had no beards, but by the
powerful talismanic effect of slipping a few sovereigns into
the hands of the seamen for grog.

The superstitions of the European Northmen, or Scandi-
navians (the early inhabitants of Denmark, Norway, Sweden,
and Iceland), were of a kind remarkably accordant with the
cold and stern character of the regions which they occupied.
The dread names of their gods Odin, Thor, and other
deities of the north are now only perpetuated in the names
given to some of the days of the week. Thus, our term
"Wednesday" is derived from "Oden's" or Woden's " day —
the day of the week on which the northern Jupiter was
specially worshipped. Our Thursday is from Thor, the
second dignity among the fabulous gods. As this day was
called " Dies Jovis " by the Romans, we have a confirmation
that Thor, the thunderer, was equivalent to the thundering

TOO THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

Jove of the Grecian mythology. Friday takes its name from
Freya, the beautiful daughter of Niord, and corresponds
with the " Dies Venevis," or " Venus-day " of the Greeks
and Romans. Saturday is derived in the same manner from
the god " Saeter " of the Scandinavians, or Saturn of the
Greeks. Tuesday, or anciently "Tiesday" (a pronunciation
still preserved in many parts in Scotland), is from " Tisa,"
the wife of Thor; Sunday and Monday were named from the
sun and moon, both by the northern and southern nations
of Europe, from a remote period.

DRUIDISM. — Interesting as are the ancient superstitions of
Greece, Rome, and the northern regions of Europe, we feel
a greater interest in the history of Druidism, the great super-
stition which flourished peculiarly among our own forefathers,
the aboriginies of the British Islands. Druidism was the
religion of the ancient Celts or Gauls, and prevailed in
France, and everywhere, indeed, wherever that ancient race
had formed settlements. Several learned inquirers into the
native Druidism have cavilled much about the etymology of
the word. Some writers, as Pliny, derive " Druidh " from
the Greek " Drus " an oak ; but we think that the proper
etymon is the ancient Celtic vocable, " Dru " an oak tree,
from which no doubt " Drus " was taken. The Diuids, we
believe, had their name before the Greek language was in
existence, and it is well known that the Greek itself is partly
at least of Celtic origin. As far as can be gathered from
the statements of Caesar, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and others,
the Druids not only formed the priesthood of the Celts, but
appointed to themselves all the offices now usually discharged
by the several learned professions. There appears to have
been three orders among their priests — the Druids proper,
the Vates, and the Bards — who severally performed different

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. IOI

functions. The Bards sung, in heroic verse, the brave
actions of eminent men ; the Vates studied the productions of
nature and the laws; while the Druids directed the education
of youth, and officiated in the affairs of religion and justice.
In their hands they commonly carried a long wand, and
their arms and necks were decorated with golden chains and
bracelets. But the most notable of their ornaments was an
artificial egg set in gold, and of miraculous virtues. They
asserted that every one of these eggs, which they sold at
enormous prices, was formed by a number of serpents,
mysteriously conjoining for its production. When made, it
was raised up in the air by the hissing of these reptiles, and
was to be caught .in a clean white cloth when falling to the
ground. The person who was fortunate enough to catch it
had instantly to mount a swift horse, and escape from the
angry serpents. Procured in this way, the egg possessed
the property of making the owner successful in all his under-
takings. The open sky was the canopy under which they
worshipped. A wood or grove, fenced in by large stones,
constituted the scenes where their rites were performed. In
the centre of the groves was an open area, encompassed by
large, erect stones, closely set together. Here there were
circles within circles, and in the centre of the inner one
there was a stone of prodigious size, on which the victims
were slain, and offered up to the Supreme Being. The fruit
of the oak, and especially the mistletoe bough, were thought
to possess a divine virtue. The mistletoe is perhaps one of
the most remarkable parasitic plants in the world, hence
it became an object of superstitious regard. It grows
chiefly on the oak and chesnut. It is an evergreen, and
appears strange in winter, with its brilliant green leaves on
an otherwise leafless tree. It is thought that it springs from
a seed carried by birds from tree to tree, landed in a crevice

102 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

of the bark, where it sprouts, and derives its nourishment
from the living wood, like a graft in a fruit tree. The mistle-
toe bough grows sometimes as large as a bushel basket —
sometimes four or five feet in diameter-^of a roundish form,
and covered with leaves of the brightest green. Two white
bulls were brought and fastened to a tree by the horns, then
the arch-Druid ascended the tree, cropped the mistletoe with
his golden knife, and received it in his robe, amid the shouts
of the people. Then the bulls were sacrificed on the large
stone, and the deity was invoked to bless the gift. The
Druids had an idol of gigantic size, formed of wicker-work
in the rude likeness of a human being. They filled it with
human victims, men and women. Straw and wood were
piled around it, and the unfortunate creatures within perish-
ed in the flames by a slow, horrible death. It is said by
some historians that women were more frequently the victims
of these superstitious cruelties than the men. Young,
innocent, beautiful maidens were dragged to the altar, and
sacrificed to the powers above.

Many Druidical relics still exist. By far the most extra-
ordinary of these remains are those at Stonehenge, on Salis-
bury plain, in Wiltshire. They are numerous on the Western
Isles, and some are near Inverness, such as the relics at
Clava, on Nairnside, and the circles at Strathnairn and at
Culduthel. Mona, or Anglesea, as it is now called, was
their chief settlement ; but it is in North Britain that the
Druidical monuments are most abundant. As a specimen of a
Druidical cairn, we may mention that on the Moor of
Strathardle, in Perthshire — a stoney mound, ninety yards in
circumference, and twenty-five feet high. Such monu-
ments are numerous along the Grampian range. There
are also curious stones, called rocking-stones, supposed to
be of Druidical origin. In the parish of Kells, in the

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 103

Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, there is a rocking-stone
called the " Logan-stone," about ten tons in weight ; and it
is so nicely balanced upon another stone that the pressure
of a child's hand can set it in motion. A similar stone may
be seen on the glebe of the parish of Strath, in Skye. The
artifices of the Druids to deceive the ignorant were numerous.
For example, among the ancient Britons a meteor was sup-
posed to be a vehicle for carrying to paradise the soul of
some departed Druid. So well did they engraft their absurd
ideas on the minds of the ignorant, that, even at this distant
day, the appearance of a ball of fire, meteor, or of what are
called falling stars, creates, among the more credulous
Highlanders, a belief that some illustrious spirit has taken
its flight to eternity. From this circumstance we may infer,
with Dr. Smith, that " Dreug," the Gaelic for a meteor, is a
contraction for " Druidh-eug " — a Druid's death. This
ingenious antiquarian thinks that this Druidical fantasy had
its origin in a tradition of Elijah's fiery chariot. While
Druidical superstitions were at one time prevalent over the
continent of Europe and the adjacent Isles, their extinction
is enveloped in the mystery of the dark ages. Up to a late
period, however, some traces of Druidical customs were
perceivable among the Scottish Celts. Dr. Jamieson men-
tions that an old Highlander, so lately as the end of the
eighteenth century, was in the habit of addressing the Deity
by the title of Arch-Druid.

Dr. Smith says that the British Druids owed their decline
to the following circumstances : — Trathal, the grandfather
of Fingal, being chosen generalissimo of the Caledonian army
sent against the Romans, did not feel disposed, on his return,
to resign his authority, even at the command of the Druids;
hence arose a civil war, in which the army of the church
was defeated in several battles. These overthrows were

104 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

fatal to the Druids. They made several attempts to regain
their dominions, but all were ineffectual. They retired to
the I-thonn (the isle of waves), that is lona, where their
order was not quite extinct on the arrival of St. Columba on
that island, in the sixth century.

FAIRIES. — Among the various spiritual beings to whom
the credulity of mankind has given an imaginary existence,
the fairies occupy a prominent place, and are specially
worthy of notice. The fairy is distinguished by one peculia-
rity from every other being of a similar order. Other spirits,
such as dwarfs, brownies, elves, and such like, are represent-
ed as deformed creatures, whereas the fairy is a beautiful
miniature of " the human form divine ". It is perfect in face,
delightful in figure, and more of angelic than human ap-
pearance. These points of distinction, with generally a dress
of bright green, mark the personal individuality of the fairy.
The origin of the fairy superstition is ascribed to the Celtic
race ; hence in Ireland, the Highlands and Islands of Scot-
land, and Wales, the fairies are even to this day believed by
some to exist. They were usually called "good neighbours,"
" Daoine-sithe," men of peace, and yet, if offended, they
became very inveterate in their spite. They readily kid-
napped unbaptised children, and even adult men and women,
particulary young married females, to become nurses to the
fairy children. They lived under ground, or in little green
hills, where the royal fairies held their courts. In their places
all was beauty and splendour. Their pageants and processions
were far more magnificent than any that Eastern sovereigns
could get up or poets devise. They rode upon milk-white
steeds. Their dresses were brilliant beyond conception, and
when they mingled in the dance, their music was more
sublime by far than mortal lips or hands could ever produce.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 105

The fairy legends are numerous and various. From an early
period every fairy annalist concurred in giving to the king
and queen of the fairies the name of Oberon and Titania.
Titania, though not under this name, figures in the tale of
Thomas Lermont, commonly called Thomas the Rhymer,
one of the earliest traditions relative to the fairy tribe.
Thomas was a distinguished poet and prophet, who lived
near Melrose, and was proprietor of Ercildoune. The year
of his birth is uncertain, but he was an old man when Edward
I. was carrying on war in Scotland. His predictions have
long excited interest in his native country. The following
adventure, handed down in the words of an ancient ballad,
befel this individual on the Eildon hills, in Roxburghshire : —

True Thomas lay on Huntly bank,

A ferlie spied he with his e'e ;
For there he saw a ladye bright

Come riding down by Eildon ties.

Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk,

Her mantle o' the velvet fyne ;
At ilka telt o' her horse's mane

Hung fifty siller bells and nine.

The saddle of this visionary beauty's steed was of ivory,
inlaid with gold. She had a quiver of arrows at her back,
with a bow in one hand, and the other led three beautiful
hounds in a leash.

True Thomas he pull'd off his cap,

And louted low down to his knee ;
" All hail ! thou mighty queen of heaven,

For thy peer on earth I ne'er did see ! "

" O no ! O no ! Thomas," she said,
' ' That name does not belang to me ;

I am but the queen of fair Elfland,
That am hither come to visit thee."

106 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

By some spell this fairy queen made Thomas her slave.
She became changed into a hideous hag, yet he was com-
pelled to follow her. They entered a cavern, and after
wading through pools of blood, in pitchy darkness for three
days, they reached a beautiful orchard, where the lady re-
sumed her former dignity and stateliness. She took him
to a gorgeous castle, where he joined with lords, and knights,
and ladies in dancing to the most exquisite music. At the
end of what he thought a short time, the queen told him that
he had been seven years in the castle, and that he
might return home. On parting, she gifted him " with a
tongue that could never lie ". There are numberless such
fairy legends, but one is enough for a specimen. Some of
the poor creatures arraigned in Scotland for witchcraft ad-
mitted having had correspondence with the fairies. The
trials of Bessie Dunlop in 1576, and of Alison Pearson in
1588, illustrate this statement. Bessie Dunlop avowed that
the ghost of one Thomas Reid appeared to her — a soldier
slain at Pinkie in 1547 — that he took her to fairyland, and
introduced her to the queen. Alison Pearson also admitted
her familiarity with the fairies, from whom she had received
herbs for the cure of diseases. It is remarkable that Patrick
Adamson, an able scholar and divine, who was created
Archbishop of St. Andrews by James VI., actually took the
medicines prescribed by this poor woman, in the hope that
they would transfer an illness with which he was seized to
the body of one of his horses. These poor women were
both convicted, and both were put to death at the stake.
No doubt there are some in the Highlands and Islands who
still believe in the existence of the fairy race. The
" sithiche," or fairy, is the most active sprite in Highland
mythology. It is a dexterous child-stealer, and must be
carefully guarded against. At birth many covert and

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 107

cunning ceremonies are still used to baffle the fairy's power,
otherwise the new-born child would be taken off to fairyland,
and a withered, little, living skeleton of a child laid in its
stead. If offended, they are wantonly mischievous, and
hurt severely, and perhaps kill with their arrows, such as
annoy them. These arrows are of stone, like a yellow flint,
and shaped like a barbed arrow-head. They are called
" saighdean sithe," or fairy arrows. These arrow-heads must
have been extensively used in their warfare by the aboriginal
people of the Isles (and not, of course, by the fairies), as
they are still picked up here and there in the fields, and are
all much of the same size and shape. In Skye, and in the
Hebrides in general, the fairies dwelt in green knolls or hil-
locks, called " sitheanan," and there is hardly a parish or
district which has not its " sithean," or fairy-hill. I knew
an old man in Skye who died about thirty years ago, at the
age of about 100, whose name was Farquhar Beaton. He
so firmly believed in fairies and other superstitions that in
his "grace before meat" he prayed thus : —

O Thi bheannuichte, cum ruinn, agus cuidich leinn, agus na tuiteadh do
ghras oirn mar an t-uisge air druim a" gheoidh. An uair a bhios fear 'na
eigin air gob rutha, cuidich fein leis ; agus bi mu'n cuairt duinn air tir, agus
maille ruinn. Gleidh an t-aosda agus an t-oga, ar mnathan agus ar paisd-
ean, ar spreidh agus ar feudal, o chumhachd agus o cheannas nan sithich-
ean, agus o mhi-run gach droch-shula. Bitheadh slighe reidh romhainn,
agus crioch shona aig ar turas.

Which may be translated thus : —

O Blessed One, provide for us and help us, and let not thy grace fall on
us like the rain-drops on the back of a goose. When a man is in danger
on the point of a promontory at sea, do thou succour him ; and be about
us and with us on dry land. Preserve the aged and the young, our wives
and our children, our sheep and our cattle, from the power and dominion
of the fairies, and from the malicious effects of every evil eye. Let a
straight path be before us, and a happy end to our journey.

Many throughout the Highlands and Islands entertained

108 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

the same firm belief in the existence of fairies as poor old
Farquhar Beaton did. They were generally deemed harm-
less sprites — " Daoine-sithe," — beings that loved kindness
and peace, yet they had their differences and quarrels ; and
desperate were their disputes when they took place. Old
Farquhar spoke of many occasions when the fairy fights
became fast and furious. The Macleods of Dunvegan, and
the Macdonalds (commonly called the Lords of the Isles)
at Duntulm, had their particular pipers, and their pipe-
music colleges. The Macleods had the distinguished race
of MacCrimmons for centuries, as family pipers, and they
had their college at Boreraig, a tenement near Dunvegan,
which they held free. In the same way, the Macdonalds
had the famed MacArthurs as pipers, with the free posses-
sion of Peingowen for their college. A continued rivalry
existed between the MacCrimmons and MacArthurs for
supremacy in the musical art, and both had their particular
fairy friends, who were said to supply them with reeds, and
even, at times, with sets of bagpipes. As the famed Muses
of Parnassus inspired their favourite bards with poetic powers,
so the fairies conferred the requisite power on these family
pipers to progress in the proficiency of their art. But at
times, so keen were these gay coadjutors for the success of
their particular musical proteges, that they disputed, and
actually fought for the victory, thereby causing their "sian "
dwellings to ring with the din of the conflict. Old Farquhar,
when questioned as to his belief in these things, would raise
his hands, and say, " Mo dha shuil fein a chunnaic iad ; mo
dha -chluas fein a chual iad." (My own two eyes beheld
them; my two ears heard them.) Farquhar was a thin,
spare, hard-featured, little man, who prided himself on his
ancestry, as a race distinguished for their knowledge of
medicinal herbs. He could trace his genealogy from son to

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 109

sire, back to ten or twelve generations, as many others in
Skye could do in regard to themselves. Poor Farquhar had
a superstitious dislike to bacon or pork. F.or many years
before his death he had dinner at the Manse every Sabbath
by the minister's special request, when he invariably said the
above grace before commencing his meal. It frequently
happened that the servants' dinner consisted of pork or bacon,
the look of which Farquhar could not bear, and yet he often
dined on it. The servants, knowing his prejudices, had
beforehand prepared a quantity of the lean parts of the meat
for the old man, which they passed of as mutton, and which
he never suspected. While partaking of it, however, he
frequently said, to the nc small amusement and tittering of
the domestics — " Bu tu fein an f heoil mhaith, cheart, agus
cha b'i a' mhuc ghrannda, shalach " ; (Thou art the good,
right meat, and not the filthy, unclean pig).

The fairies were said to be very fierce and vindictive when
altercations and differences took place among themselves,
and particularly so, when enemies injured or assailed those
with whom they were on friendly terms. The Jameses, who
were jolly monarchs, were in general most auspicious parti-
sans of these fantastic tribes ; at least they considered those
royal personages as such. Perthshire was of old a noted
district for the intrigues of the fairies. The Clan Donnach-
aidh, or Robertson of Struan, were not generally favourites
with them. During the minority of James V., this powerful
clan committed bloody outrages over the district of Athole,
at which the fairies were so enraged, that they contrived
means whereby the enemy waylaid the laird of Struan, while
visiting his uncle, and basely assassinated him in the presence
of his relative.*

In ancient times, the residence of the Athole family was

* Vide Buch. Lib. xiii.

IIO THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

a lofty, turreted mansion, possessing an air of grandeur
characteristic of feudal times. It is said that it was within
this lordly mansion that the cruel assassin 01 our first James
meditated his bloody purpose. If credit can be given to
Lindsay, the historian, it was here also, about a century
afterwards, that an Earl of Athole entertained, in the most
sumptuous manner, King James V. On that occasion, his
Majesty entered the district of Athole with a numerous
retinue, to hunt the deer of the Grampian hills. A banquet
of extraordinary magnificence and splendour was furnished
for the Scottish Monarch. A separate banquetting-hall was
prepared, at a vast expense, for the entertainment of his
Majesty and his retainers. Lindsay says, " That there was
no want of meates, drinkes, and delicacies, that were to be
gotten at that time in Scotland, either in brugh or land.
So that he (the King) wanted none of his orders mare than
he had been at home in his own palace. The King remained
in this wilderness (i.e., Athole) at the hunting the space of
three days and three nights, as I have shewn. I heard men
say it cost the Earl of Athole every day in expenses a thousand
pounds." No sooner had the royal visitor taken his depar-
ture than Athole, instigated, as was said, by the fairies, caused
his Highlandmen to set fire to the temporary palace and huts
which had been reared for the occasion, " that the King and
the ambassadors might see them on fire ". Then the ambas-
sador said to the King, " I marvel, Sir, that you should thole
your fair palace to be burnt, that your grace has been so well
lodged in ". Then the King answered, — " It is the use of
our Highlandmen, though they be never so well lodged, to
burn the lodgings when they depart."

" It would seem," says Lindsay, " the next visit the King
paid to his Highlandmen, was not marked with so much
merriment and banquetting as the former, for when the King

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. Ill

passed into the isles, and there held justice courts, and
punished both thief and traitor, according to their demerits,
syne brought many of the great men of the isles captive with
him ; such as Mudyart, Maconnel, Macloyd, Mackay, Mac-
loyd of the Lewis, MacNeil, Maclane, Macintosh, John
Mudyard, Mackenzie, with many others that I cannot re-
hearse at this time. Some of them he put in ward, and some
bade in court, and some he took pledges for good rule in
time coming. So he brought the isles, both north and south,
in good rule and peace."

It was believed by the natives in these times, that the King
had acquired power over these chieftains through the influence
of the fairies, or some other evil spirits that had not been on
friendly terms with the natives of the Isles, on account of some
injuries received at their hands. Superstition in those days was
at no loss to find a cause for every revolution and change.

Speaking of the fairies in olden times, they seem to have
exercised their various pranks in different localities, still
pointed out in the shires of Fife and Forfar, as well as in the
counties around. The old Castle of Glammis, a venerable
and majestic pile of building, has several fairy legends con-
nected with it. In an underground part of this old edifice,
there was a secret room, which was only known to two, or at
most three individuals, at the same time, and these were
bound not to reveal it, but to their successors in the secret.
It is said to have been haunted, and at times taken possession
of by ghosts and fairies. It has frequently been the object
of search with the inquisitive, but the search has been in vain.
Tradition gives one account, that Malcolm II. was murdered
in this room in 1034, and that the murderers lost their way
in the darkness of the night, and by the breaking of the ice
were drowned in the loch of Forfar. Fordun gives a different
account, and states that the King was mortally wounded in a

112 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

skirmish near the Castle, and that an obelisk or large stone of
rude design was erected to commemorate the murder, and not
to represent the King's gravestone, as he was buried at lona.

Near the summit of Carmylie hill is a large burrow or
tumulus, which was believed at one time by the natives to
be a favourite haunt of the fairies, where, with much splen-
dour, they held their nightly revels. It still bears the name
of "Fairy-folk hillock". .

In the parish of Lunan, in Forfarshire, there is an immense
variety of "knaps" or round hillocks, in different places.
Very probably the knaps had been used as beacons in ancient
times, to give notice of alarm on the approach of an enemy,
by means of fires lighted upon them. It is, however, the
case, that various fairy superstitions were connected with
these " sians " or tumuli, of which mention is made to this
day. One ancient practice existed, that the relatives of the
dead, the day after the funeral, carried the chaff and bed-
straw on which the body had lain to the knap nearest to the
house, and there consumed them by fire. This superstition
was prevalent in several parts of Scotland.

WITCHCRAFT. — This superstition took its rise in the East,
and at an early period of the world's history. It was re-
garded as the power of magical incantation through the
agency of evil spirits. From an early era, it was pursued as
a trade by crafty wretches, who played upon the weakness of
their fellow-creatures. Laws were passed against it. Many
wretches were tortured in order to confess to it; and, to
avoid these preliminary horrors, hundreds confessed all that
they were accused of, and were forthwith led to execution.
It has been calculated that, from the date of Pope Innocent's
bull in 1484 to the final extinction of these persecutions, no
fewer than 100,000 were put to death in Germany alone.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 113

Witchcraft was first denounced in England in 1541, in the
reign of Henry VIII. Previous to that time, however, many
witch trials had taken place, and severe punishments were
inflicted. We are all familiar with the fearful account of the
witches near Forres, in the tragedy of Macbeth. Queen
Elizabeth, in 1562, directed a statute exclusively against
witchcraft. Many sad incidents are on record of the effects
of this statute.*

The mind of King James VI. was deeply impressed with
the flagrant nature of the crime of witchcraft. Soon after
his arrival from Denmark in 1590, to conduct, his bride
home, the Princess Anne, a tremendous witch conspiracy
was formed against his Majesty's prosperity. One Mrs.
Agnes Sampson, commonly called " the wise wife of Keith"
(a village of East Lothian), was the principal agent in this
horrible work. She was summoned before the King, and in
the words of her trial it is recorded : — " The said Agnes
Sampson was after brought again before the King's Majestie
and his Council, and being examined of the meetings and
detestable dealings of these witches, she confessed that upon
the night of All Hallowe'en she was accompanied with a great
many other witches, to the number of two hundred, and
that all they together went to the sea, each one in a riddle
or sieve, and went in the same, very substantially, with
flaggons of wine, making merry and drinking by the way in
the same riddles, or sieves, to the Kirk of North Berwick, in
Lothian, and that after they had landed, took hands on the
land, and danced this reil, or short dance, singing all with
one voice —

Cummer, goe ye before, Cummer goe ye ;
Giff ye will not go before, Cummer, let me.

* For several of these in England and the South of Scotland, see Celtic
Magazine, Vol. III., pp. 52-53.

8

114 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

One Geillis Duncan did go before them, playing this reil
upon a small trump until they entered the Kirk of North
Berwick. These made the King in a wonderful admiration,
and he sent for the said Geillis Duncan, who upon the like
trump did play the said reill before the King's Majestic.
Agnes Sampson declared that one great object with Satan
and his agents was to destroy the King by raising a storm
at sea when James came across from Denmark," and that
"the witches demanded of the Divell, why he beare sic
hatred to the King ? who answered, by reason the King is
the greatest enemie hee hath in the world." Such an eulogy,
from such a quarter, could not but pamper the conceit of
the easily flattered Scottish monarch !

But we had some cases in the north, which showed that
witchcraft was not confined to the lower classes. Catherine
Ross, or Lady Fowlis, was indicted by the King's advocate
for the practice of witchcraft. She was anxious to make
young Lady Fowlis possessor of the property of Fowlis, and
to have her married to the Laird of Balnagown. Before
this could be effected, she had to cut off her sons in-law,
Robert and Hector Munro, and the young wife of Balna-
gown. She proceeded to her deadly work by consulting
with witches, making effigies of her intended victims in clay,
and shooting at them with arrows, shod with elf-arrowheads.

The nature of these effigies of clay may be explained. Such
as were intended to be doomed, or destroyed, were formed
of clay into hideous figures, or rude statues larger than life-
size. These were called " cuirp-creadha," or bodies of
clay. Once formed, incantations and spells were uttered
over them. Pins, nails, and feathers were pierced into them,
and fairy arrows darted against them, with fearful oaths and
imprecations. Such things Lady Fowlis resorted to for de-
stroying her relatives*; but when all failed, this abandoned

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 115

woman had recourse to the poisoning of ales and certain
dishes, by which she put several persons to death, though
not the intended victims. By the confession of some of the
assistant hags, the purposes of Lady Fowlis were disclosed ;
she was brought to trial, but was acquitted by a local jury.

These disgraceful proceedings were not without parallel in
other distinguished families of the day. Euphemia Macal-
zean, daughter of an eminent judge, Lord Cliftonhall, was
burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1591. This abandoned
woman was found guilty by a jury for murdering her own
godfather, as also her husband's nephew, and others, for
which she was " burnt in assis, quick to the death".

In the beginning of the reign of Charles II., Morayshire
became the scene of a violent fit of the great moral frenzy,
and some of the most remarkable trials in the course of
Scottish witchcraft took place there. The last justiciary trial
for witchcraft in Scotland was that of Elspeth Rule, who
was convicted in 1708, and banished. The last regular
execution for this crime took place in Dornoch in 1722,
when an old woman was condemned to death by David
Ross, Sheriff of Caithness. It is difficult to compute the
number of the victims of witchcraft in Scotland, but attentive
inquirers make out that the black list would include upwards
of four thousand persons ! And by what a fate did they
perish ? Cruelly tortured while living, and dismissed from
life by a living death amidst the flames ! And for what ?
For an impossible crime. And who were the victims, and
who were the executioners ! The victims in most cases,
were the aged, the weak, the deformed, the lame, and the
blind— those, indeed, whom years and infirmities had
doomed to poverty and wretchedness ; yes, exactly that class
of miserable beings for whom Acts of JParliament have now
made comfortable provision — those unfortunate creatures

Il6 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

for whose benefit our more enlightened rulers now provide
houses of refuge, erect poorhouses like palaces, build large
asylums, and endow charitable institutions of every kind.
But who were the executioners ? The wisest, the greatest,
and the most learned of their time — men distinguished above
their fellows for knowledge and intelligence — ministers of
religion and of the law, kings, princes, and nobles.

It is rather remarkable that, as late as January, 1871, a
trial in regard to witchcraft took place in Newtonwards
Quarter Sessions, in County Down. Hugh Kennedy sued
his brother John for payment of a sum alleged to be due to
him for wages and other services. He stated that his
brother's house and land were frequented by witches, and
that he had been employed to banish them. The witches
did not belong to the " good people," and were maliciously
inclined towards his brother — his land got into a bad con-
dition, and his cows into a state of settled melancholy.
There was a certain charm of great repute in the neighbour-
hood for putting to flight these unwelcome visitors ; but it
was only useful when properly applied and performed, and
no other person but plaintiff could be got to undertake the
task. The method pursued was thus : — The plaintiff locked
himself in the house alone ; he stopped up the keyholes,
closed up the windows, stuffed up the chimney, and, in fact,
left no mode of egress to the unfortunate witches whom he
was to summons into his presence. He then lit a fire and
put a pot of milk on it, and into the pot he put three rows
of pins and needles, which had never been sullied or con-
taminated by use. These he boiled together for half-an-hour,
during which time the witches were supposed to be suffering
the most excruciating tortures, and had at last to take to flight.
They had never been seen or heard of since. The cows-
resumed their former healthy condition, and the land its

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. Iiy

wonted fertility. The case being of a rather "complicated "
nature, it was left to arbitration. Subsequently, it was an-
nounced in court, that the sum of los had been awarded to
the plaintiff.

SECOND-SIGHT. — This is the faculty of seeing otherwise
invisible objects. It is neither voluntary nor constant, and
is considered rather annoying than agreeable to the possessors
of it, who are chiefly found among the Highlands and Islands
of Scotland, the Isle of Man and Ireland. The gift was
possessed by individuals . of both sexes, and its fits
came on within doors and without, sitting and standing,
at night and by day, and at whatever employment the votary
might chance to be engaged. The visions were usually
about funerals, shrouds, the appearance of friends who were
at the time in distant countries, the arrival of strangers, falls
from horses, the upsetting of vehicles, bridal ceremonies,
funeral processions, corpses, swamping of boats, drowning
at sea, dropping suddenly dead, and numberless other
subjects. Very astonishing cases might be mentioned
wherein it would appear impossible that either fraud or
deception could exist. Martin, in his book on the Western
Isles, alludes to many who were undoubtedly, in his belief,
" Taibhsears," or Seers ; and even to this day this faculty is
believed by many to exist. Dr. Beattie ascribes it to the
influence of physical causes on superstitious and unenlighten-
ed minds, such as the effects which wild scenery, interspersed
with valleys, mountains, and lakes, have upon the imagina-
tion of the natives. Others maintain that it arose from
optical illusions, and others from ignorance, the great mother
of all superstitions. It is remarkable when Dr. Samuel
Johnson visited Skye in 1773, and had heard much about
the second-sight, that he gave credit to it, and expressed

Il8 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

his surprise that it was disbelieved by the clergy, while
many others were of a different opinion. If space permitted,
many wonderful cases of second-sight might be given, but a
few must suffice. It is traditionally stated that the execution
of the unfortunate Queen Mary had been foreseen by many
Highland seers, and had been previously described by them
by extraordinary minuteness. King James alludes to it in
his " Demonology " ; and it was brought as a charge against
various Shetland witches in that monarch's reign. Mackenzie
of Tarbat, afterwards Earl of Cromartie, a talented statesman
in the reign of Charles II. , wrote some account of this
strange faculty for the use of the celebrated Boyle. He gives
one instance, as follows : — One day as he was riding in a
field among his tenants, who were manuring barley, a stranger
came up to the party and observed that they need not be so
busy about their crop, as he saw the Englishmen's horses
tethered among them already. The event proved as the
man had foretold, for the horses of Cromwell's army in 1650
ate up the whole field. A few years after this incident, be-
fore Argyll went on his fatal journey to congratulate King
Charles on his restoration, he was playing at bowls with some
gentlemen near his castle at Inverary, when one of them
grew pale and fainted as the Marquis stooped for his bowl.
On recovering, he cried. " Bless me, what do I see ? my
lord with his head off, and all his shoulders full of blood".
The late General Stewart of Garth, in his "Sketches of the
Highlanders," relates a very remarkable instance of second-
sight which happened in his own family : — " Late on an
autumnal evening in the year 1773, the son of a neighbour-
ing gentleman came to my father's house. He and my mother
were from home, but several friends were in the house. The
young gentleman spoke little, and seemed absorbed in deep
thought. Soon after he arrived, he inquired for a boy of the

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 119

family, then three years of age. When shown into the
nursery, the nurse was trying on a pair of new shoes, and
complained that they did not fit the child. ' They will fit
him before he will have occasion for them,' said the young
gentleman. This called forth the chidings of the nurse for
predicting evil to the child, who was stout and healthy.
When he returned to the party he had left in the sitting-room,
who had heard of his observation on the shoes, they caution-
ed him to take care that the nurse did not derange his new
talent of the second sight, with some ironical congratulations
on his pretended acquirement. This brought on an ex-
planation, when he told them that as he had approached the
end of a wooden bridge near the house, he was astonished
to see a crowd of people passing the bridge. Coming nearer,
he observed a person carrying a small coffin, followed by
about twenty gentlemen, all of his acquaintance, his own
father and mine being of the number, with a concourse of
the country people. He did not attempt to join, but saw
them turn off to the right, in the direction of the churchyard,
which they entered. He then proceeded on his intended
visit, much impressed with what he had seen, with a feeling
of awe, and believing it to have been a representation of the
death and funeral of a child of the family. The whole re-
ceived perfect confirmation in his mind, by the sudden death
of the boy the following night, and the consequent funeral,
which was exactly as he had seen. This gentleman was not
a professed seer. This was his first and his last vision, and, as
he told me," says General Stewart, " it was sufficient."

A very remarkable instance of supernatural vision happen-
ed a few years ago, in a landed proprietor's hoyse in Skye.
On a certain evening, probably that of New Year's Day, a
large party of neighbouring ladies and gentlemen, with the
youngsters of their families, had been invited to enjoy certain

120 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

harmless festivities at this proprietor's house, the lady of
which had been absent at the time in the south, but her sons
and daughters were at home to entertain the happy guests.
After dinner the junior members of the party retired to the
drawing-room to amuse themselves. A quadrille was set
agoing, but before it had commenced, the figure of a lady
glided along the side wall of the room, from end to end, and
was seen by several of those opposite to it. " My mother !
my mother!" screamed one of the young ladies of the family,
and fainted. The vision put a sudden termination to the
hilarities of the evening ; but the most surprising fact was,
that at the very time the vision appeared, the lady of the
house had died in a city in the south.

Besides the many instances of second-sight given by Martin,
Theophilus Insulanus, and several others, a great additional
variety might be stated of rather remarkable cases. In the
village of Earlish, parish of Snizort, in Skye, about fifty
years ago, a cottar's wife was delivered of a nice baby.
Soon after the birth, the happy mother was visited by the
wives of her neighbours, who came, according to the custom
of the place on such occasions, each with a gift of fowls,
eggs, and such like. The baby was admired as a nice infant,
and the usual hopes were expressed that it might be long
spared to the parents. One female in a corner of the
apartment whispered in her neighbour's ear, that she was
afraid the infant would not be long spared, and that it would
some day be the cause of excessive grief to the poor mother.
On being questioned for the reason of such a statement, she
said that she had a vision of the child all mangled, torn up,
and bleeding. Her neighbour upbraided her for expressing
a thing so ridiculous in itself, and so very improbable. In
the course of a month or two, when the infant had progressed
in health and strength to the desire of his parent's heart, he

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 12*

was laid to sleep in the cradle, and the mother, being alone
at the time, embraced the opportunity of going to the well
for a pitcher of water. After having talked for a few minutes
with a neighbour who had met her at the well, she returned
to her house, when, to her unspeakable horror, she found
her baby on the floor dead, mangled, torn to pieces, with
the arms and face eaten away. During the distracted
mother's absence, a large brute of a pig had been roaming
about. It entered the deserted apartment, seized upon the
innocent sleeping babe, and partially devoured it.

About sixty years ago, one of the annual fairs was to be
held at Portree, the Capital of Skye, to. which the natives
were in the habit of resorting in hundreds from all quarters
of the Island. In the East-side district of Kilmuir, about
eighteen miles north of Portree, there lived at that time a
female advanced in years, who was reported to be possessed
of the faculty of second-sight. Some -time previous to the
date of the market, this woman was day after day sitting,
sighing, and lamenting the catastrophe, which she said was
sure to take place, as she had seen a boat sinking in a storm,
and so many people drowned. Few, however, paid any
attention to the cause of her grief at the time, but there was
reason afterwards to do so. A large boat left Portree on
the market-day evening for the East-side, which was literally
crammed with people of all ages, anxious to get home. A
storm got up, and all were consigned to a watery grave.

Here is another remarkable instance. A worthy parish
minister in Skye, about seventy years ago, went to visit a
brother of his, a Captain Macleod, who had been ailing, and
lived near Portree. Captain Macleod had a numerous
family of sons and daughters. In the evening, the minister
mounted his horse to return home, a distance of about nine
miles. The weather became so boisterous and stormy, that

122 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

the good old gentleman deemed it prudent to pass the night
at Scorribreck, where Widow Nicolson and her family resided.
She was a sister of the late Adjutant-General Sir John Mac-
donald. Mrs. Nicolson welcomed her reverend guest, and
was delighted at his unexpected appearance. At that remote
period most of the large farmers' dwellings in Skye, were
comfortable thatched houses, with trap-stairs to the upper
flats, where they deposited all kinds of lumber. In a certain
corner up-stairs in this domicile, the parish mort-cloth was
kept for safety, as the burying-place was near by. Mrs.
Nicolson ascended the stairs on some business in the dark,
and left the reverend gentleman with her family for a few
minutes in the parlour. Immediately thereafter a scream
was heard, instantly followed by the noise of a fall on the
upper floor. Two or three rushed up with a light, and found
Mrs. Nicolson in a fainting fit, quite insensible. On her re-
covering, and at a subsequent hour of the evening, she
reluctantly told her reverend friend that she beheld a very
brilliant light on the mort-cloth, which was spread on a table,
and in the middle of the light she saw the distinct image of
his niece's face, a daughter of the said Captain Macleod.
The circumstance, no doubt, created some concern in the
minds of the family circle, but ere bed-time, the conversation
turned on something else. Shortly thereafter, however, the
young lady alluded to, took ill, and died, and her bier was
the first to require the use of the mort-cloth in question after
that eventful evening.

Another instance equally marvellous took place in the
northern district of Skye, at a considerably later date than
that of the event just recorded. The parish clergyman on
his rounds, visited the miller's house, and met the miller's
wife evidently in a very excited state, standing on the kitchen
floor. In that part of the Island great quantities of timber

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 123

were frequently found on the sea-shore, drifted thither from
wrecked vessels. On this occasion the miller's kitchen was
benched all round with batons and planks of timber, in order
to be seasoned by the heat of the fire, which is placed in
these dwellings in the middle of the floor. The clergyman
had scarcely time to speak, when the goodwife, a very res-
pectable woman, told him that she was always glad to see
him, but particularly so on this occasion. She explained
that Christy Macleod, a female of known repute as a seer,,
had just been sitting on that plank, warming herself by the
fire, when she suddenly fainted and fell on the floor. She
further stated that she carried Christy ben the house, and
laid her on a bed until she would recover. " But," said the
matron to the minister, "you must go to see Christy, and
insist upon her telling what she saw, as I am in terror that
she had an unlucky sight of some of my own children."
The minister very reluctantly complied, and, on entering
the apartment, found Christy so far recovered as to bear
being questioned. He asked the cause of her ailment, and,
in short, put the query whether she had seen anything?
She refused to reply, except by the uttering of some evasive
answers. He then told her to tell at once what she had
seen, as otherwise he would not leave her until she did.
Eventually she expressed herself in timid, tremulous terms,
and said, that while seated on the wooden bench by the fire,
she happened to cast her eyes upon a plank on the opposite
side, and beheld stretched on it the mangled, bleeding body
of a lad, Macdonald, then alive and well. Having told this,
she solicited the minister not to divulge it. On his leaving
the seer, he was instantly pounced upon by the landlady,
and asked, in breathless anxiety, " What did she see ?
What or whom did she see ?" His reverence had no alter-
native but to tell the good matron, for the comfort of herself

124 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

and her domestic circle, what the dreaded woman had
revealed. All parties were then contented, and "the affair
looked on as a mere revery. Six weeks or so thereafter,
there was a marriage in the upper district of the parish, to
which the young man, Macdonald, was invited, and went.
On returning home alone about midnight by a hilly pathway,
in the extreme darkness, he lost his way, fell over a precipice
about a thousand feet high, and was dashed to pieces in the
clefts of the debris below. He was eventually missed at
home. Messengers were sent in quest of him, hither and
thither, and when no tidings could be found concerning him,
the population of the district went forth in hundreds on the
search. After a day or two's minute ransacking of every hill
and dale, lake and river, the mangled corpse was discovered
by a boy, jammed hard and fast in a crevice at the base of
the huge precipice already named. The crowd assembled
around the shattered remains, and a cry was uttered as to
what was best to be done ? The torn body could hardly
be handled, and a proposal was immediately agreed to, that
four men should run to the miller's house for a door or plank,
to convey the remains to the father's home. This was done
— the men rushed forward to the miller's, and snatched away
the identical plank on which the woman, Macleod, had seen
the vision already related.

Many similar instances of second-sight in the Western
Isles are alleged to have existed, which as yet have not been
recorded.

It is stated in the Statistical Account of lona, that St.
Columba was the first on record who had the faculty of
second-sight. He is said to have told the victory of Aidan
over the Picts and Saxons, on the very instant it happened.
The same authority states, that when St. Columba first at-
tempted to build on lona, the walls, by the operation of

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 125

some evil spirit, fell down as fast as they were erected.
Columba received some supernatural information that they
would never stand unless a human victim was buried alive.
According to one account, the lot fell on Oran, the companion
of the Saint, as the victim that was demanded for the success
of the undertaking. Others pretend that Oran voluntarily
devoted himself, and was interred accordingly. At the end
of three days, Columba had the curiosity to take a farewell
look at his old friend, and caused the earth to be removed
accordingly. Oran raised his swimming eyes, and said,
"There is no wonder in death, and hell is not as it is
reported". The Saint was so shocked at this monstrous
impiety, that he instantly ordered the earth to be flung in
again, uttering the words, " Uir ! Uir ! air beul Orain ! mu'n
labhair e tuilleadh comhraidh !" — that is, Earth ! Earth ! on
the mouth of Oran, that he may blab no more ! This passed
into a proverb, and is in use in the Highlands at the present
day. It is not improbable that the story was invented by
some of Columba's Druidical enemies to expose him and his
Christian doctrines to ridicule.

SMALLER SUPERSTITIONS. — Somewhat resembling this al-
leged faculty, yet different from it, are certain prognosti-
cations of death, which are said to be seen in the shape of
blue, quivering lights, resembling the feeble flame of a taper.
These have been observed moving along in the course which
some funeral procession would soon take, or perhaps twink-
ling in or about the bed on which some individual was soon
to die. Many intelligent people firmly believe in the
existence of these lights.

Some years ago, if not even still, many in the Western
Isles believed in the existence of the " Gruagach," a female
spectre of the class of Brownies to which the Highland.

126 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

dairymaids made frequent libations of milk. The Gruagach
is said to have been an innocent, supernatural visitor, who
frisked and gambolled about the cattle-pens and folds. She
was armed only with a pliable reed, with which she switched
all who annoyed her by uttering obscene language, or would
neglect to leave for her a share of the dairy produce. Even
so late as 1770, the dairymaids who attended a herd of
cattle in the Island of Trodda, at the north end of Skye,
were in the habit of pouring daily a quantity of milk on a
hollow stone for the Gruagach. Should they neglect to do
so, they made sure of feeling the effects of her wand next
day. The Rev. Dr. Macqueen, then minister of Kilmuir, oi
whom Dr. Johnson spoke so highly, and who is buried
within a few yards of Flora Macdonald's grave, went pur-
posely to Trodda to check this gross superstition. He might
then have succeeded for a time, but it is known that many
believed in the existence of the Gruagach long after that
worthy clergyman had been gathered to his fathers. Besides
the votaries of this ridiculous superstition, there are others
who confidently believe in the existence of an evil eye, by
which cattle and all kinds of property are said to suffer
injury. The glance of an evil eye is, therefore, very much
dreaded. It deprives cows of their milk, and milk of its
nutritive qualities, and renders it unfit for the various
preparations made from it. This superstition can certainly
lay claim to great antiquity. Virgil, Ossian, and other
writers, seem to have dreaded the effects of it, at least they
allude to its existence. Virgil says (Eclog. III., 103). —

Nescio quis teneros nrulus mihi fascinat agnos.

(I know not what malignant eye bewitches my tender kmbs).

But equally superstitious are the means resorted to for the
cure of these sad afflictions, such as the use of certain charms,

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 127

the repetition of strange rhymes, putting living trout in a
portion of the injured milk, and many other such ridiculous
appliances.

There is an endless variety of superstitions in regard to
things which are unlucky or unfortunate to be done. It is
unfortunate if a stranger counts the number of your sheep,
cattle, or children. It is quite common if one asks, " How
many children have you ? " to add the words, " Bless them "
to the question. It is unlucky for an odd number to sit at
a table, such as 7, 9, n ; and 13 in particular is so unfor-
tunate that unless rectified, one of the party is sure to die
that ytar. It is unlucky if a stranger walks across a parcel of
fishing-rods on the sea beach, over ropes, oars, or sailing gear,
when a boat is about to go to sea. Means are used for
getting the stranger to retrace his steps. It is unlucky to
drink the health of a company, or to serve them round a
table except from left to right, as the sun goes in the fir-
mament, or the hands on the dial-plate of a watch. It is
unlucky, in setting off, to row in a boat, or to commence a
procession at a marriage or funeral, but to the right. It is
unlucky to hear the cuckoo, or see a foal or snail before
breakfast. As to this there is a Gaelic rhyme as follows,
viz. : —

Chunnaic mi an searrachan 'sa chulaobh rium,

Chunnaic mi an t-seilcheag air an lie luim ;

Chual mi' a' chuag gun ghreim 'nam bhroinn,

Is dh' aithnich mi fein nach rachadh a' bhliadhn' so learn.

These lines may be translated —

With its back to me turn'd I beheld the young foal,
And the snail on the bare flag in motion so slow ;
Without tasting of food, lo ! the cuckoo I heard,
Then judged that the year would not prosperously go.

It is unlucky to stand between an epileptic man and fire or

128 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

water. In Shetland there was once an idea that it was un-
lucky to save drowning men. It is unlucky to throw out
water after sunset, and before sunrise. It is unlucky to have
a grave open upon Sunday, as another will be dug during the
week for some of the family. If a corpse does not stiffen
after death, there will be another death in the family before
the end of that year. Fires and candles afford presages of
death. Long hollow coals spirted from the fire are coffins.
Winding-sheets are indicated when the tallow of the candle
curls away from the flame. The howling of a dog at night,
and the resting of a crow or magpie on the house-top, are
warnings of death. It is unlucky to weigh infants ; they are
sure to die. Cats sleeping near infants suck their breath
and kill them. When children begin to walk they must go-
up-stairs before they go down-stairs, otherwise they will not
thrive in the world, and if there is no stair they should climb
a chair. A mother after the birth of a child must not go
outside beyond her house door until she goes to be kirked.
If you rock an empty cradle you will soon rock a new baby
in it. It is quite curious to see the face of alarm with which
a poor woman, with her tenth baby in her arms, will dash
across the room to prevent " the baby but one " from the
dangerous amusement of rocking the empty cradle. It is
unlucky that a stray swarm of bees should settle on your
premises unclaimed by their owner. It is customary in
many parts of England when a death takes place to go and
tell the bees of it, to ask them to the funeral, and to fix a
piece of crape upon their hives ! It is unlucky to catch a
sight of the new moon through a window. It is a token of
fine weather to see the old moon in the arms of the new ;
and so is the turning up of the horns of the new moon, as
they retain the water which would fall to the earth if the
horns were turned down. It is unlucky to enter a house.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 129

which you are to occupy, by the back door. If, when fishing
you count what you have taken, you will catch no more. If,
you break your bones by accident, it is unlucky and useless
to employ a physician or surgeon to bind them, as it is
believed that, however skilful these may be in curing all
other maladies, they know nothing whatever about the setting
of broken bones.

Many other remarkable cures are resorted to, such as
healing sore eyes by putting gold rings in the ears, by
rubbing them with jewels of pure gold, and by repeating
certain rhymes. Warts are removed by washing them in
rain-water or swine's blood. Serpents' heads are preserved
for years to heal their own sting wounds. If a man, cow, or
any animal be stung by a serpent, let the dried serpent's head
be cast into water, let the wound be washed in it, and it soon
heals. Fried mice are a specific for small-pox. Whooping-
cough is cured by whatever is recommended by a person
riding a piebald horse. A spider put into a goose-quill, well
sealed, and put round a child's neck, will cure it of the
thrush. In the Island of Soa, near Skye, it was customary
when the head of the family died to have a large lock of
hair cut off his head and nailed fast to the door-lintel to keep
off the fairies. Sailors are sometimes very superstitious.
They greatly dread the stormy petrel, or Mother Carey's
chickens, as they flutter at night around their masts and
yards. These birds are regarded as objects of superstitious
fear, believing that they are possessed of supernatural agency
in creating danger for the poor, hard-toiled mariner. At
one time, a horse-shoe nailed to the mast of the vessel was
great security against all evil agencies, such as witches, petrels,
fairies, and evil eyes. To recapitulate all such superstitious
frets would be an endless task. There are many similar
fanciful notions in regard to births, baptisms, marriages, and

9

130 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

deaths, but it is impossible to enlarge much upon them.
It was once prevalent when a child was baptised, that the
infant was neither washed nor bathed that night, for fear of
washing off the baptismal water before it had slept under it.
Frequently too, the water used in baptism was bottled up as
an effectual recipe for various disorders. Parents took all
possible care lest their female infants should be baptised with
the same water used for male children, for if they should,
the females would grow up with beards ! A few years ago, I
was baptising two or three children at the same time, in a
village near by, when the first presented was a boy, and
the next a girl. After the water had been sprinkled on
the face of the boy, and when I was about to do the same
to the girl, an old worthy granny present hastily snatched
away the bowl containing the water, poured it out, and filled
it afresh, muttering aloud, " Na leigeadh Ni Math gum biodh
feusag air mo chaileig" (Goodness forbid that my lassie
should' have a beard).

It is reckoned very unlucky in some parts of the country
to have a child left unbaptised beyond the year in which it
was born. For example, should a child come into the world
on the 3oth December, 1877, the parents would feel very
uncomfortable, and consider it a neglect of duty, if they did
not get the infant baptised either on that or next day.

Even in England peculiar frets are still observed in regard
to infants. In a late number of an English paper, the
following paragraph appeared : — " A certain act of barbarity
and superstition is practised in many parts of the country.
Children who are sickly are taken to a woman for the pur-
pose of being cut for a supposed disease, called the Spinnage.
The infants are, on a Monday morning, taken to this woman,
who, for threepence, with a pair of scissors, cuts through the
lobe of the right ear, then makes a cross with the blood

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 131

upon the forehead and breast of the child. On the following
Monday the same barbarous ceremony is performed upon
the left ear, and on the succeeding Monday the right ear is
again doomed to undergo the same ceremony. In some
cases, it is deemed necessary to perform this ridiculous
operation nine times. It is not the lower classes alone who
are chargeable with this and similar follies. Some of the
higher classes likewise observe them. It is quite common
to make the children partake of a roasted mouse as a cure
for whooping-cough."

The cold-bath was so much esteemed by the Highlanders
in ancient times that, as soon as an infant was born, he was
plunged into a running stream, and then carefully wrapped
in a warm blanket. Immediately thereafter, the little
creature was forced to swallow a large quantity of fresh
butter. It was made into a ball of no ordinary size, and
was pressed down its little throat, in a manner sufficient to
create a fear of the poor child being suffocated. Another
fret was observed, that immediately after a child was baptised,
he behoved to be secured from the power of the fairies, and
of all evil spirits. For this purpose a basket was taken,
which was half filled with bread and cheese, wrapped up in
a clean linen cloth. Over this parcel the child was laid as
if in a cradle. The basket was then taken up by the oldest
female in the family circle at the time, carried three times
round the fire, and then suspended for a few seconds from
the crook that hung over the fire. The child was then re-
moved from its temporary berth, while the bread and cheese
were divided among the company present, as nourishment to
guarantee their health for another year. There was still
another superstition, that soon after the birth of a child,
when all the duties necessary on such occasions had been
performed, it was customary to make a dish of " crowdie "

132 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

by mixing oaten meal and water together, of which each of
the company required to take three horn-spoonfuls, for the
protection of the infant. This superstition was, until of
late, very prevalent in the Highlands of Perthshire. It was
likewise the custom that the mother of the infant dare not
perform any work, or engage herself in any of her domestic
affairs, until she had been kirked. After she had performed
this religious rite, and had dealt out a portion of bread and
cheese to every one she met on her way home from the
place of worship, she was invested with free liberty to attend
to her ordinary household concerns. Until then, however,
everything she did, and every object she handled, was
reckoned unclean, and would not be meddled with by any
in the family circle.

It was also alleged by carpenters that, while in bed at
night, they heard their saws, hammers, and planes at work
before being employed next day in making a coffin. High-
landers in particular speak confidently of the expected nature
of the weather, from the figure, appearance, colour, coming,
and stages of the moon. They avoid slaughtering sheep,
pigs, 'and cattle in the wane of the moon, as the meat would
shrink in cooking. In the same way they study to shear
corn, to mow grass, to fell trees, and to cut peats and turf in
the wane of the moon, as the best time for drying and
seasoning these commodities.

There was a superstition in Ross-shire whereby it was
believed that the soul did not finally and completely leave
the body until the corpse had been laid in the grave. There
was a similar superstition in Perthshire, whereby it was
believed that at the moment of dissolution, whether by a
natural death or by accident the soul or spirit was visibly
seen leaving the body in the shape of a little creature like a
bee. Witches frequently put themselves into the appearance

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 133

of animals, such as a hare, but when arrows were pointed at
them, barbed with silver, or muskets loaded with silver coins
for shot, the semblance of the hare disappeared at once, and
some shrivelled, decrepit hag of a witch wife stood before
the shooter in full size !

The natives of Easter Ross, particularly the fishermen on
the sea-coast from Tain to Cromarty Bay, are influenced to
this day by remarkable superstitious frets which they observe
on marriage occasions. It is the practice among them that
couples, once the marriage festivities are past, must go to be
kirked on the Sunday. This devout duty is easily performed
when there is but one marriage in the place. But should
there be two or three, as frequently occurs, in the same week,
the kirking affair is entirely altered, and becomes a matter of
no small difficulty and concern. Sabbath comes, and each
marriage party, bridegroom and bride, with their attendants,
prepare themselves for the parish church ; duly arrive there
in good time ; and perhaps desert their usual seats, through
a desire to occupy those that happen to be nearest to
the door. The sermon is impatiently listened to, when,
without waiting perhaps for the benediction, the parties rush
out, like so many bees from a hive, and run. homewards as
fast as their feet can carry them. Thus, one marriage party
strives with another, in running the lucky race. Frequently,
in their haste, the bridegroom outruns the bride and others
of the party. All this arises from an old superstition, that
the marriage party which first arrives at home from the
kirking are sure to be prosperous and happy in after life,
whereas those left behind, should it only be a distance of
a few yards, run the risk of becoming the victims of mis-
fortune and adversity.

The Highlanders, as well as many other ancient tribes,
looked upon certain days as lucky or unlucky in themselves.

134 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

The 1 4th of May was considered an untoward day ; so
much so, that the day of the week on which the i4th day of
May fell, was deemed unlucky during the whole of that year,
and nothing of consequence was undertaken on that day.
May and January were considered unfortunate months to
marry in, as also the Friday of any week.

On the death of a Highlander, many silly superstitions
were practised. In some districts it was believed that when
death ensued, the spirit still kept close to the body, as if it
were to guard it until after the burial, when dust was con-
signed to dust, and ashes to ashes. The relatives, friends,
and neighbours of the deceased, deemed it their duty like-
wise to watch the corpse of the dead, both by night and by
day. This was called the " late wake," at which the most
absurd fooleries were practised, such as music, called the
"coronach," dancing, leaping, riddles, games, singing of
songs, and the most boisterous revelry. These manners and
customs are now, however, almost extinct. There are many
superstitious observances at certain seasons of the year, of
which we must treat briefly.

I. "La Calluinn" and "Oidhche Challuinn" (New Year's
Day and New-Year's Night). Besides the "first-footing,"
which is a common practice still, the Highlanders observed
many in-door and out-door ceremonies. On New-Year's
Eve, they surrounded each other's houses, carrying dried
cow-hides, and beating them with sticks, thrashing the walls
with clubs, all the time crying, shouting, and repeating
rhymes. This is supposed to operate as a charm against
fairies, demons, and spirits of every order. They provide
themselves with the flap, or hanging part of the hide on
the cow's neck, which they called " caisean-uchd," and which
they singed in the fire and presented to the inmates of the
family, one after another, to smell, as a charm against all

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 135

injuries from fairies and spirits. A specimen of the rhyme5
repeated, with loud chorus, is as follows : —

Mor-phiseach air an tigh,
Piseach air an teaghlach,
Piseach air gach cabar,
Is air gach ni saoghalt' ann.

Piseach air eich a's crodh,
Piseach air na caoraich,
Piseach air na h-uile ni,
'S piseach air ar maoin uiT.

Piseach air beann an tighe,
Piseach air na paistean,
Piseach air gach caraide,
Mor-phiseach agus slaint dhuibh.

Great good luck to the house,
Good luck to the family,
Good luck to every rafter of it,
And to every wordly thing in it.

Good luck to horses and cattle,
Good luck to the sheep,
Good luck to every thing,
And good luck to all your means.

Luck to the good-wife,
Good luck to the children,
Good luck to every friend,
Great fortune and health to all.

II. " Di-domhnuich-caisg " (Easter Sunday). This period
is observed in the Highlands by preparing and eating certain
kinds of pan-cakes made of eggs, milk, meal, or flour. To-
gether with this the young people provide themselves with
large quantities of hard-boiled dyed eggs, which they roll
about, and finally eat. The English hot cross buns at Easter
are only the cakes which the Saxons ate in honour of their
goddess " Eastre," and from which the Christian clergy, who
were unable to prevent people from eating them, sought to
expel the Paganism by marking them with the cross. Hence
the hot cross buns.

III. " La Bealtuinn " (May-day, Whitsuntide). The de-
monstrations of this day are now all but extinct. The first
of May was held as a great Druidical festival in honour of
the mighty Asiatic god, Belus. Fires were kindled on the
mountain-tops, through which all the cattle of the country
were driven to preserve them till the next May-day. On
this day all the hearth-fires were extinguished, in order to
be kindled from this purifying flame. Hence the word
Bealtuinn is " Beil-teine," the fire of Belus. So that " La
Bealtuinn" (Whitsunday) is " the day of Belus' fire". Of old

136 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

in the Highlands the young people went to the moors on
this day, made a circular table on the grass, cut a trench
around it, kindled a huge fire, baked a large cake, which they
cut into as many similiar pieces as there were persons present
They daubed one of the pieces with charcoal, and made it
perfectly black. Then they put all the bits of cake into a
bonnet, from which all of them, blindfolded, drew a bit.

Whoever drew the black bit was the person who was
doomed to be sacrificed to Baal ; and in order to avoid the
execution of this doom, he was compelled to leap six times
over the flames. Even in Ayrshire, Baal's fire was kindled
till about the year 1790.

HALLOWE'EN. — The only other season noted for super-
stitious observances is that of Hallowe'en. Hallowe'en in
Gaelic means " Samhuinn," that is " Samhtheine," the fire of
peace. It is a Druidical festival, at which the fire of peace
was regularly kindled. There is no night in the year which
the popular imagination has stamped with a more peculiar
character than Hallowe'en. It was the night, above all
others, when supernatural influences prevailed. It was the
night for the universal walking abroad of all sorts of spirits,
fairies, and ghosts, all of whom had liberty on that night. It
was customary in many parts of Scotland to have hundreds of
torches prepared in each district for weeks before Hallowe'en,
so that, after sunset on that evening, every youth able to
carry a blazing torch, or " samhnag," ran forth to surround
the boundaries of their farms with these burning lights, and
thereby protect all their possessions from the fairies. Hav-
ing thus secured themselves by theses fires of peace, all the
households congregated to practice the various ceremonies
and superstitious rites of that eventful evening. As these
are pretty fully alluded to in Burns' poem of " Hallowe'en," .

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 137

it is unnecessary to enlarge here. There is still a remarkable
uniformity in these fireside customs all over the kingdom.
Nuts and apples are everywhere in requisition. These the
old matron of the house has generally in store beforehand
for the youngsters' good luck on that night, or as the Ayr-
shire Bard has so naturally expressed it —

The auld guidwife's weel hoordit nits

Are round and round divided,
And mony lads' and lasses' fate

Are there that night decided.
Some kindle couthie, side by side,

And burn thegither trimly ;
Some start awa' wi' saucy pride,

And jump out-owre the chimley,
Fu' high that night.

The ceremonies of the evening were numerous — such as,
ducking for apples in a tub of water, the pull-ing of kail stocks,
the three dishes or " luggies," the wetting of the shirt sleeve,
the sowing of hemp seed, pulling the stalks of corn, throwing
the clue of blue yarn into the pit of the kiln, the white of
eggs put into a glass of water, reading of fortunes in tea-
cups ; these and many more were the superstitious ceremonies
of Hallowe'en.

Perhaps there is no part of the Highlands of Scotland
where the practice of using the flaming torches of Hallowe'en
is so much observed, even still, as in the braes of Aberdeen-
shire. Not later than last year, our Gracious Majesty, no
doubt in order to preserve those relics of ancient times,
caused these blazing torches to be kindled by the youth of
the place, around Balmoral Castle. The torches are con-
sidered by the natives to be the means of protecting, not only
their farms and other possessions from the ravages of the
fairies, but likewise mothers and newly-born infants. While

138 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

the landed possessions were duly surrounded that evening by
the torch-bearers, the dwellings where children had been
born were encompassed with still greater care, for the safety
of the mothers and their young offspring, which the fairies
were on the watch to snatch away. The torch-bearers used
great care in carrying their fire in the right-hand, and there-
with running around their premises from right to left, thus
observing the " Deas-iuil," or the right hand direction. The
" Tuath-iuil," being the left-hand, or wrong direction, would
render their precautions entirely abortive. In this manner
they protected their properties, and prevented the fairy thieves
from snatching away the unbaptised infants from their mo-
thers' bed, placing in their room their own ugly and deformed
children. Martin, in his History of the Western Isles,
informs us, " That this was considered an effectual means to
preserve both the mother and infant from the power of evil
spirits, who are ready at such times to do mischief, and
sometimes carry away the infants, and return poor, meagre
skeletons ; and these infants have voracious appetites. In
this case it was usual for those who believed that their
children were thus taken away, to dig a grave in the fields on
quarter-day, and there to lay the fairy-skeleton till next
morning, at which time the parents went to the place, where
they doubted not to find their own child instead of the
skeleton." They had also, in other localties, recourse to
the barbarous charm of burning, with a live coal, the toes
of the suffering infant, the supposed changeling. The Fairies
were not contented with abstracting handsome children — >
beautiful maidens and wives sometimes disappeared.

" The Miller of Menstrie," in Clackmannan, who possessed
a charming spouse, had given offence to the fairy court, and
was, in consequence, deprived of his fair helpmate. His dis-
tress was aggravated by hearing his wife singing in the air —

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 139

Oh ! Alva woods are bonnie,

Tillicoultry hills are fair ;
But when I think o' the bonnie braes o' Menstrie,

It male's my heart aye sair.

After many attempts to procure her restoration, the miller
chanced one day, in riddling some stuff at the mill-door, to
use a posture of enchantment, when the spell was dissolved,
and the matron fell into his arms. The wife of the Black-
smith of Tullibody was carried up the chimney, the fairies,
as they bore her off, singing —

Deidle linkum doddie ;

We've gotten drucken Davie's wife,

The smith o' Tullibody.

"Those snatched to Fairyland," says Dr. Buchan,* "might
be recovered within a year and a day, but the spell for the
recovery was only potent when the fairies made, on
Hallowe'en, their annual procession." Sir Walter Scott
relates the following : — " The wife of a Lothian farmer had
been watched by the fairies. During the year of probation,
she had repeatedly appeared on Sundays in the midst of her
children, combing their hair. On one of these occasions
she was accosted by her husband, when she instructed him
how to rescue her at the next Hallowe'en procession. The
farmer conned his lesson carefully, and, on the appointed
day, proceeded to a plot of furze to await the arrival of the
procession. It came, but the ringing of the fairy bridles so
confused him, that the train passed ere he could sufficiently
recover himself to use the intended spell. The unearthly
laugh of the abductors, and the passionate lamentations of
his wife informed him that she was lost to him for ever."

*Dr. Buchan, Secretary of the Lancashire Insurance Company at In-
verness, a gentleman rarely surpassed in his knowledge of Celtic Legendary
Traditions and Folklore, and to whom the writer is much indebted for
these remarks on Hallowe'en.

140 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

" A woman," says Dr. Buchan, " who had been conveyed
to fairyland, was warned by one she had formerly known as
a mortal, to avoid eating and drinking with her new friends
for a certain period. She obeyed, and when the time ex-
pired, she found herself on earth restored to the society of
mankind."

A matron on another occasion was carried to fairyland to
nurse her new-born child, which had been previously
abducted. She had not been long in her enchanted dwelling
when she furtively anointed an eye with the contents of a
boiling cauldron. She now discovered that what had pre-
viously seemed a gorgeous palace, was, in reality, a gloomy
cavern. She was dismissed, but one of the wicked wights,
when she demanded her child, spat in her eye, and extin-
guished its light for ever.

About the middle of last century, a clergyman at Kirk-
michael, Perthshire, whose faith was more regulated by
the scepticism of philosophy, than the credulity of super-
stition, would not be prevailed upon to yield his assent to the
opinion of the times. At length, however, he felt from ex-
perience that he doubted what he ought to have believed.
One night, as he was returning home at a late hour, from a
meeting of Presbytery, and the customary dinner which
followed, he was seized -by the fairies, and carried aloft into
the air. Through fields of ether and fleecy cloud he
journeyed many a mile, descrying the earth far distant below
him, and no bigger than a nut-shell. Being thus sufficiently
convinced of the reality of their existence, they let him down
at the door of his own house, where he afterwards often
recited to the wondering circle, the marvellous tale of his
adventure. Some people will believe that " spirits " of a
different sort had a little to do with the worthy minister's
conviction, and that his " ain gude grey mare " had

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 141

more to do with bringing him to his own door than the
fairies

It is difficult to describe a Hallowe'en as enjoyed by a
family circle in olden times. An eye-witness has given the
following account of it : — " When I entered the house, the
tide of enjoyment was rolling on in full career. I listened
and thought I heard an unusual noise in the apartment
immediately above. The noise, however, was by no means
of an alarming kind. It appeared to be the obstreperous
romping of a parcel of youngsters. I found that the ladies
of the house had brought together a number of young friends
to burn nuts and duck for apples. I ascertained that
previous to my appearance, they had already gone through
the greater part of the ceremonies of the evening. They
had pulled stocks, burnt nuts, and were now collected with
earnest and somewhat awe-stricken faces, round a table on
which stood two or three wine-glasses full of pure water.
They were, in fact, about to commence the ceremony of
dropping the egg — a ceremony which is performed by
puncturing a fresh egg with a pin, when the person whose
destiny is to be read holds it over a glass of pure water, into
which he allows a few drops from the egg to fall. The glass is
then held up to the candle, and some important event in the
future life of the inquirer is found exhibited hieroglyphically
in the glass, — the egg droppings assuming an endless
variety of shapes, in which the skilful in these matters dis-
cover a resemblance to things, which, by association, clearly
point out coming circumstances and events. All this was
done by an old, weird sybil, who had been invited for the
special purpose of reading to the young folks the various
signs and indications of this privileged right. We all tried
our fortunes after the most approved manner of egg-dropping,
by the direction of the withered sybil already alluded to, and

142 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

who, indeed, looked the very ' beau ideal ' of a witch, or
fortune-teller of coming events. She was old, shrivelled, and
haggard — had a shrill, sharp voice, and was withal mar-
vellously loquacious. She seemed to be deeply in earnest,
and to be strongly impressed with the solemnities which were
going forward, and was more than once highly displeased
with what she considered our irreverence for these matters,
and the unbecoming and ill-timed levity with which we heard
each other's fortunes foretold. We had all now tried our
luck, with various results, but there was one young gentleman,
who, I thought, seemed rather disinclined to go through the
ceremony — and indeed, he finally endeavoured to back out
altogether by a forced joke. We all urged him on, however,
and at length fairly drove him to the experiment. ' Come
awa, come awa, my bonny man, — excuse me for speaking
that way, but ye ken I've kent ye sin ye was a bairn, and hae
dandled ye mony a time on my knee. Come awa, and lat's
see what luck is to be yours. I'm sure it'll be gowd in
goppins, and true love to brook it — a bonnie lady wi' a
bonnier tocher.' Whilst the old woman was speaking, the
youth, having advanced close to the table, was in the act of
dropping, with rather an unsteady hand, the egg into the
glass. This done : ' Here Janet,' he said, with an affected
laugh, and at the same time handing the glass to her across
the table — ' Now, give me all the good things of this life, let
not one be awanting on your peril.' Well, all awaited in
silence the announcement of our friend's future fortune, as
we felt a degree of interest, nay of awe, stealing in upon us,
which gradually allayed the light spirit with which we had
entered the apartment. The old woman had now gently
raised the glass between her eye and the candle, and having
peered through it for a second — ' Eh ! gude guide us, Sirs,'
she exclaimed, ' Gude guide us, what's this we hae here; but

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 143

it canna be, it canna be, let me see,' and she looked with an
increased intensity at the fatal signs. ' Ay ! ay ! ' she said
again, ' it's but owre true, my bairn, my bairn,' she added,
and laying down the glass on the table. ' Are ye sure it was
your glass ye gae me ? ' ' Sure enough, Janet, sure enough,
what's all this fuss about ? ' ' What is it, Janet, what is't,
what is't ? ' now burst from both old and young, all being
wound up to a pitch of the most intense interest to know
what was that fate which Janet's expressions so particularly
and fearfully hinted at. ' I insist on knowing,' said the
young gentleman, striking his hand on the table with a sort
of good-natured energy, for he affected to be laughing at the
time. ' I insist upon it,' he said, ' for the edification of all
present. Come then, Janet, any thing you like short of per-
mature death and ruin, and crossed love.' ' But it's short o'
neither, my bairn ! Alas ! it's short o' neither,' said the
old woman gravely and seriously. ' It's indeed short o'
neither — there's a winding sheet there wi' a fearful rent in it,
and that ye ken, betokens a violent death ; there's a' — here,
perceiving that things were getting rather serious, I suddenly
burst in with an affected shout of hilarity, overturned the
glass, talked loudly and obstreperously, and insisted upon
our adjourning to the apartment we had left. So, with a
wild, but assumed glee, we hurriedly descended to the room
below.

" We endeavoured to enjoy ourselves, but still a weight
seemed to have been laid upon the spirits of us all, which
nothing could remove. We all felt the absurdity of per-
mitting such a frivolous circumstance as the egg-dropping to
depress us, but we could not hide from ourselves the fact
that it had depressed us, and more particularly so, as our
excellent host — a kind-hearted youth of twenty-three — had
evidently taken the sybil's vaticinations too severely to

144 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

heart. Under this feeling, and after our kind host had
made such ineffectual attempts to restore the gaiety of the
evening, the party broke up, each went his own way, and I
retired to bed. ' Confound that old hag,' said my friend,,
just as I was about to part with him for the night ; 'confound
her, she has spoiled our evening's enjoyment with her non-
sense. Wasn't it evident,' he said, ' that our friends were
damped by the fooleries up-stairs ? ' I said, avoiding a
direct answer, ' that we had spent a very pleasant night,
and if there was any feeling of the kind he alluded to, a
night's sleep would entirely remove it.' I met my friend
and his aunts next morning at breakfast, where he more than
once alluded to the circumstance during our meal ; and in-
deed fairly allowed that, in despite of the contempt with
which he viewed such things, he could not help the idea
of the rent winding-sheet still retaining its hold on his
imagination.

" It will serve no purpose to relate the history of this un-
fortunate youth. The impression of the old hag's prediction
never left him, but increased in intensity as some years
passed on. He became addicted to intemperate habits, and
utterly heedless of his worldly affairs. He squandered his
patrimonial estate, and ruined his aged aunts, who lived
with him. Ultimately, he wandered in beggary to a neigh-
bouring city, and frequented the lowest haunts of dissipation,
where he was found by a friend, who had gone in search of
him, but found exactly an hour after he had swallowed a
vial of laudanum. He opened his eyes, and knew his friend,
who had just procured a surgeon ; but all in vain. His
last words were — ' Oh ! the winding sheet ; the rent wind-
ing-sheet ! ' and in less than two hours, he gently expired."

There are instances of the minds of some having been
unhinged through the influence of undue credulity in certain

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 145

practices of this nature. It has frequently happened besides,
that personal injury has been inflicted, unintentionally no
doubt, by the frolics and fooleries of that evening. The
throwing of cabbage runts and large round turnips down
the " lums." or chimneys of the cottars' dwellings, have often
struck violently upon the family group around the cosy
ingle, and inflicted serious injuries. The ceremony of
throwing the clue of blue yarn into the pit of the kiln is one
that has been attended with unhappy results. Kilns for
drying corn are generally erected in lonely places, apart
from the other dwellings, owing to their liability to catch fire.
On the other hand, the kiln-logies or pits, are dreary, dark,
deep receptacles, of circular form, narrow below and wide
above, like hollow cones inverted. During the romping
frivolities of the domestic circle in performing as many of
the games as they can, lots are cast as to the maiden who
must resort to the kiln at the dark hour of midnight, with
her clue of blue thread in her hand, to meet with her
sweetheart, or to hear his name. The selected "lass"
must go, and go alone, however dark and stormy the night.
It requires no small fortitude to enter the damp, dark kiln,
to climb to the upper ridge of the kiln-logie, and to sit in
that weird position in utter darkness. By this time, how-
ever, a number of the young men, unknown to the girl, had
resorted to the kiln, and concealed themselves in and around
the place. The girl, with palpitating heart cast her clue in
to the kiln-logie, retaining the end of the thread in her hand,
and exclaiming, with tremulous voice, " Co e sud th'air
ceann mo ropain ? ' (Who is there at the end of my rope or
thread?) Some of the youths, hidden in the kiln, would
enter the aperture or fire-place below, lay hold of the clue in
the pit, and cry with a feigned-unnatural voice, " I am here,
what want ye with me?" "Who art thou, and what thy name,

IO

146 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

bold swain ? " The replies to this query were various.
Some said that they were the girl's sweetheart, others, that
they were wizards or beings of the supernatural order.
Some even wickedly feigned to be the prince of darkness,
when the preconcerted shrieking and howling of the hidden
fellows so terrified the trembling young female above, as to
render her a helpless maniac for life.

SACRED WELLS AND LOCHS. — The veneration that has
been paid for ages to " Sacred Wells," and the confidence
placed in their charms all over the kingdom for the curing
of diseases, both mental and bodily, falls next to be noticed.
It appears of old that if a well had a peculiar situation, if its
waters were bright and clear, it was dedicated to some
tutelary saint, by honouring it with his name. Thus we
have St. Fillan's, St. Conel's, St. Catherine's, St. Bernard's,
St. Cuthbert's wells, and a host of others in Scotland. We
have hundreds of holy wells in England, such as St. Chad's,
St. John's, St. Mary's, St. Madern's wells, all remarkable for
something. We have St. Winifred's holy well in Flintshire,
the most famous in the three kindgoms, at whose shrine
Geraldus Cambrensis offered his devotions in the twelfth
century. The vast majority of holy wells were frequented
for any disease, while some wells were visited for special
ailments, for the cure of which they had been celebrated.
St. Tegla's well was patronised by sufferers from the falling
sickness ; St. John's, Balmanno, Kincardineshire, by rickety
children, and sore eyes. The waters of Trinity Gask, Perth-
shire, will render all baptised therein proof against every
plague. In the Island of St. Kilda there are two wells —
" Tobar nam buadh " (the spring of virtues), celebrated for
deafness, and " Tobar a' chleirich " (the clerk's well) — which,
though covered twice a day by the sea, never becomes

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 147

brackish. At Kirkden, in Angus, there is a well said to
cure all sores, by mere washing, after the applications of
skilled physicians had proved ineffectual. But by far the
most interesting wells in this country are those formerly re-
sorted to for the cure of insanity. Of these may be mention-
ed St. Fillan's well, near Tyndrum, Perthshire, as well as St.
Nun's celebrated fountain in Cornwall. The curing process
at St. Fillan's may be described as a specimen. The lunatics
were first plunged into the water, wherein they were tumbled
and tossed about rather roughly. They were then carried
into the adjacent Chapel of St. Fillan's and there secured
with ropes, tied in a special way. A celebrated bell, which
has a history of its own, was then placed with great
solemnity on the patient's head. There the poor creature
was left all night alone in the dreary chapel, and, if in
the morning he was found unloosed, hopes were enter-
tained that he would recover his reason, but the case was
hopeless if found still in his bonds. Very frequently
the patients were released from the bonds and tormentors
by death, caused by the cold, and all the cruelties in-
flicted upon them. St. Catherine's well, near Edinburgh,
was regarded in olden times with great awe, because
there appeared a black substance on its surface which
could be set on fire. This dark-looking, greasy sub-
stance or oil, was supposed to proceed from the strata of
coal underneath, and it was believed to cure all sorts of
cutaneous diseases. In the north end of Skye, and a little
beneath the towering cliffs of the far-famed Quiraing, there
is a conflux of pure, fresh-water springs, which form a small
elliptical pond of considerable depth. It is a beautiful spot,
pleasantly hemmed in with shrubs and bushes. It is called
" Loch Sianta," or the Holy Lake. Owing to the natural
beauty of this little Hebridean Siloam, the natives conceived

148 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

it to be favoured with its divinity, to whom, in the days of
darkness and superstition, they were extremely punctual in
making offerings of various kinds. Invalids resorted thither,
drank of its waters, washed themselves therein, and received
cures thereby for their mental and bodily ailments. These
superstitions have, however, long ceased, and Loch Sianta,
though beautiful as ever, has lost its ancient charms in this
more enlightened age. On the first Sunday of May (old
style) the well at " Creagag " or Craigie, in Munlochy Bay,
was believed to possess powerful charms against diseases,
witchcraft, fairies and such like. For weeks before the time,
old and young prepared for their pilgrimage to this well.
All behoved to bring their offerings. Coloured threads and
rags of cloth were brought in thousands, and hung upon the
rocks and brushwood, as propitiatory gifts to the saint of the
healing waters. Even in St. Kilda the divinities of " Tobar
nam buadh " and " Tobar a' chleirich " had to be propitiated
by offerings, in the shape of shells, pins, needles, pebbles,
coins, or rags, otherwise their tutelary saint would be inexor-
able. So common, indeed, was this habit, that at the Rug-
well, near Newcastle, the shrubs and bushes near the spring
were densely covered with rags. And many of my readers
are old enough to have seen crowds of the good citizens of
the Highland Capital flocking on a May morn eastward to
the well at Culloden to taste of its waters, and to cover with
their offerings of rags the branches of the surrounding trees.
There is a place beyond Kessock Ferry, near the point of
Kilmuir, called " Craigie-How," where there is a cave close
to the sea-beach. In this cave a little water falls down from
the roof in drops on the stones below. These drops are to
this day considered a complete cure for deafness, if properly
applied. The patient lies down, and lays his head on the
flags, and lets the water fall first into the one ear and then

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 149

into the other. After some formalities are gone through,
the patient rises, and the deafness is believed to be gone !

Loch Maree also has its Sacred well. The scenery of
this part of Gairloch, in Ross-shire, is unsurpassed, and
perhaps rarely, if at all equalled, by that of any other quarter
of the kingdom. The mountains which surround Loch
Maree are of great height, and of beautifully characterised
outline. Their lofty, jagged, serrated peaks, like Macbeth's
witches, " so withered and so wild in their attire," present the
finest specimens of the grand and picturesque to be met
with anywhere. The gigantic Slioch (Sliabhach) towering
to a height of more than 4000 feet, is seen from afar, even
from the remotest of the Northern Hebrides. Within the
bosom of these mountains lies enshrined the far-famed Loch
Maree, with its many wooded islets, so varied in size and so
different in appearance. About twenty-seven of these lie in
a cluster near the middle of the lake (opposite the Loch
Maree Hotel), which is eighteen miles in length, and two in
average breadth.

Dr. M'Culloch writes — " It was with some difficulty that
we explored our way through the labyrinth of Islands in the
centre of this lake ; as they are little raised above the water,
and covered with scattered firs, and thickets of birch, alder,
and holly, while they are separated by narrow and tortuous
channels." The scene indeed, is so grand, wild, and
fantastic, that words are at fault to describe it. Some years
ago it was visited by tourists, whose admiration of it cannot
be better expressed than in their own words. " When this
majestic scene first burst upon our view, the effect was as
surprising and enchanting, as it was unexpected. The lake
sparkled bright in the evening sun. The lofty mountains
were, at their summits, tinged with his golden rays, while in
the hollows, and nearer their base, they were wreathed in

ISO THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

mist and light clouds. The effect of this was to increase to
a prodigious degree, the apparent height of the mountains,
to make every hollow on their rugged sides, seem a deep
and inaccessible glen, and to enlarge to an almost immeasur-
able extent the lake, and the hills which rose at its extreme
distance. It was altogether a scene of enchantment never
to be forgotten. The white piqued summits of the File-
Mountain sparkled like the spires and turrets of an emerald
palace, the work of some eastern magician, or of the genii
of Arabian romance, and forming a splendid contrast to the
dark and rugged Slioch, which rises from the opposite side
of the lake !"

It is by no means surprising that Superstition, in her
fantastic freaks, should have, in ages long byegone, selected
this weird locality for the manifestation of not a few of her
favourite protege's.

This superb sheet of water, from its almost unfathomable
depth and other dimensions, furnished a befitting receptacle
for brownies, water-horses, uruisgean, kelpies, and such like,
while one of the islets of this beautiful lake became the arena
of various superstitious practices, and of curing therewith
some of the most inveterate diseases. The largest of these
Islands are Eilean Suthain (St. Swithan's Isle), Eilean
Ruairidh Mhoir, and Eilean Ruairdh Bhig. Eilean Maree
is the most celebrated, and was, as some think, dedicated
to the Virgin Mary ; others assert that it is named after St.
Malrube ; but more probably it is called after a Prince, or
petty King who occupied the Island — is, in short, "Loch-ma-
Righ," or Loch of my King. It has a burying-ground with
tombstones bearing inscriptions and hieroglyphical figures,
which cannot now be deciphered. There is in the Island
also a Sacred Well, in which, as in the pool of St. Fillan's,
lunatics were plunged and healed, and, in short, all manner

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 151

of diseases cured. Around this sacred spot the usual ob-
lations were made to the tutelary saint, and coins of every
descriptions stuck into a tree that grew out of the bank.
The sacred water of this well was deemed so effectual in
curing the insane, that they were brought to it from the
remotest quarters of the north. The treatment they received
was no doubt somewhat severe. Before they drank of its
waters, it was reckoned indispensable to the permanency of
their cure, that they should be dragged at the stern of a
boat twice round the Island, pulled by a rope made of horse-
hair, fastened under their arms and around their shoulders.
They were then dipped in the well, and drank of its
water.

Her Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria, recently paid a
visit to this romantic district, and held a religious service on
the Island. In commemoration of this welcome visit she
has been pleased to sanction a memorial inscription, by the
proprietor of Gairloch, on a large stone opposite the Loch
Maree Hotel, in which she took up her abode. In this
manner our beloved sovereign, whose eye is always keen to
observe, whose taste is exquisite to admire, and whose
sensibility is great to appreciate all that is grand and beauti-
ful in Nature's workmanship, has conferred a lasting honour
on the true-hearted Highland Chief, Sir Kenneth S. Mac-
kenzie, Baronet ; on his loyal and delighted tenantry ; as
well as on his romantic property in Gairloch.

It may be remarked that there is hardly a lake, or peren-
nial fountain in Scotland of any magnitude, but has certain
traditional stories connected with it, bearing reference to
something wild or supernatural. The celebrated Hugh
Miller relates the following regarding the " Fiddler's Well,"
near Cromarty : — " There is a little path which, in the
eastern part of the parish, goes winding over rock and stone

152 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

along the edge of a range of low-browed precipices, till it
reaches a fine spring of limpid water, that comes gushing out
of the side of a bank, covered with moss and daises. This
beautiful spring has been known to the people of the town,
for a century and more, by the name of Fiddler's Well. Its
waters are said to be medicinal; and there is a tradition
still preserved, of the circumstance through which its virtues
were first discovered, and to which it owes its name. Two
young men of the place, who were much attached to each
other, were seized at nearly the same time by consumption. In
one the progress of the disease was rapid ; he died two short
months after he was attacked by it ; while the other, though
wasted almost to a shadow, had yet strength enough left to
follow the corpse of his companion to the grave. The sur-
name of the survivor was Fiddler, a name still common
among the seafaring men of the town. On the evening of
the interment, he felt oppressed and unhappy, his imagina-
tion was haunted by a thousand feverish shapes of open
graves, with bones smouldering round their edges, and of
coffins with the lids displaced ; and after he had fallen
asleep, the images, which were still the same, became more
grissly and horrible. Towards morning, however, they had
all vanished ; and he dreamed that he was walking alone by
the sea-shore in a clear beautiful day in summer. Suddenly,
as he thought, some person stepped up Dehind, and
whispered into his ear, in the voice of his deceased companicn,
'Go on, Willie, I shall meet you at Stormy'. There is a
rock in the neighbourhood of Fiddler's Well, so called from
the violence with which the sea beats against it, when the
wind blows strongly from the east. On hearing the voice,
he turned round, and seeing no one, he went on as he
thought, to the place named, in the hope of meeting with his
friend, and sat down on a bank to wait for his coming ; but

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 153

he waited long, lonely and dejected ; and then remembering
that he for whom he waited was dead, he burst into tears.
At this moment, a large field-bee came humming from the
west, and began to fly round his head. He raised his hand
to brush it away ; it widened its circle, and then came
humming in to his ear as before. He raised his hand a
second 'time, but the bee could not be scared off ; it hummed
ceaselessly round and round him, until at length its mur-
murings seemed to be fashioned into words, articulated in
the voice of his deceased companion. ' Dig, Willie, and
drink,' it said, ' Dig, Willie, and drink.' He, accordingly,
set himself to dig, and no sooner had he torn a sod out of
the bank, than a spring of clear water gushed from the
hollow ; and the bee, taking a wider circle, and humming in
a voice of triumph that seemed to emulate the sound of a
trumpet, flew away. He looked after it, but as he looked,
the images of his dream began to mingle with those of the
waking world ; the scenery of the hill seemed obscured by a
dark cloud, in the centre of which there glimmered a faint
light ; the rocks, the sea, the long declivity faded into the
cloud ; and turning round, he saw only a dark apartment,
and the first beams of morning shining in at the window.
He rose, and after digging the well, drank of the water, and
recovered. And its virtues are still celebrated ; for though
the water be only simple water, it mus,t be drunk in the
morning, and as it gushes out of the bank ; and with pure
air, exercise, and early rising for its auxiliaries, it continues
to work cures."*

•Since this was first published, the late Alexander Fraser, Registrar,
Inverness, a well-known Northern Antiquarian, wrote four full and most
interesting papers, entitled, Northern Folk-lore on Wells and Water ; with
an Account of some interesting Wells in the neighbourhood of Inverness and
the North, which appeared in the Celtic Magazine, Vol. III., pp. 348, 370,
419, and 456.

154 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

It has been remarked, that almost all our lakes, fountains,
pools, waterfalls, rocky crevices, and caves, have been
tenanted, by superstition, with water-horses, kelpies, uruisgean,
and brownies. Of this there are many instances in the High-
land districts of Perthshire, which are now made classic
ground by the magic pen of the author of Waverley. Beinn
Venue is a lofty mountain which rises from the south-east shore
of Loch Katrine. The celebrated " Coir-nan-Uruisgean," or
Goblin's Cave, is situated at its base. It is guarded by pre-
cipitous rocks, which lie strewed in immense fragments on
every side, and this well-defended corrie or cave, affords a
safe asylum for foxes, badgers, and wild-cats ; as also one
equally safe, if the natives be credited, for the goblins, kel-
pies, and uruisgean. The uruisgean are, in short, no
strangers in various quarters of Perthshire, as well as in most
parts of the Highlands. Dr. Graham says that they are " a
sort of lubberly supernaturals, who could be gained over by
kind attention, to perform the drudgery of the farm ; and it
was believed that many Highland families had some of the
order so tamed, as to become attached to them". Sir
Walter Scott states that " tradition has ascribed to the
uruisgean, a figure between a goat and a man ; in short,
however much, the classical reader may be startled, precisely
that of a Grecian Satyr."

It is related of an honest farmer's wife in Glenlyon, that
one wet morning, as the decent matron was in the act of
making the porridge for the family breakfast, she had an
unexpected visit from an "uruisg," who came in quite
unceremoniously, cold, dripping with rain, and squatted her-
self close by the cheering fire. There the huge, slippery-
skinned, uncouth monster lay, enjoying the genial warmth,
but awkwardly impeding the worthy good-wife from cooking
the family meal. Sadly annoyed at the monster's impertin-

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 155

ence, the good old lady lifted a ladleful of the boiling
beverage from the pot on the fire, and poured it on the
sides and thighs of her unwelcome guest, on which, the
creature arose suddenly, darted off in a moment, upsetting
tables and chairs, and exclaiming in pure Gaelic : —

Ochan ! loisg thu mi, chraidh thu mi,
Led' bhrochan teth, tana, gu'n sta ;
Ach fhad's bhios uisg' ann an Liobhain,
Cha chriochnaich do pheanas gu brath.

A' Chaillich gu'n mhodh, is gu'n nair

'S tu chiurr mi gu goirt, is gu searbh,

Ach thig mi le armachd gu'n dail,

Is cuiream gu bas thu gu dearbh !

We ought to learn one lesson from this subject — gratitude
to the Great Ruler, because we live in more favourable cir-
cumstances, and under the light and liberty of a preached
Gospel The press and the pulpit have now opened the
eyes of men ; the schoolmaster is abroad ; and many
superstitions by which past ages have been deluded have
greatly vanished before the pure light of evangelic truth. In
many quarters of the world they have disappeared before the
lustre of that revelation which has brought the truth of im-
mortality to light, and which impresses the imagination of
man with truer notions and simpler imagery. We cannot
but admire the dauntless courage of Paul when he boldly
faced the Epicurean and stoic philosophers — when " he
stood in the midst of Mars' Hill, and said. Ye men of
Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too susperstitious".
There he met a people, the most distinguished for the
wisdom of their political constitution, for the brilliancy of
their achievements, for the extent and variety of their
learning, and for the refinement of their manners ; yet a

156 THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER.

people who, amid all their glory and renown, were ignorant
of the true God, and lived the blind and deluded victims of
the grossest idolatry and superstition.

THE END.

A. KING AND CO., ABERDEEN.

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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

BF
1812

Mackenzie, Alexander

The prophecies of the
Brahan seer, Coinneach Odhar
Fiosaiche