UNIVERSITY OF CA RIVERS'DE LlBRAR-V 
 
 3 1210 01972 8698 
 
 

 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE
 
 ¥
 
 NETHER LOCHABER: 
 
 BY 
 
 Rev. ALEXANDER STEWART, LL.D., 
 
 "With Beautiful "Woodcut Frontispiece by Whymper. 
 
 Crown 8uo, Cloth, 10s. 6d. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 ' ' ' Nether Lochaber ' lias been styled a phenomenon in the literary world. 
 No other writer is at all equal to him on his native heath. He has imitators, 
 just as Dickens and Carlyle have imitators, but as one star differeth from 
 another star in glory, so do ' Nether Lochaber's ' imitators. He is the centre 
 sun, and all other Highland naturalists revolve round him. The truth is, that 
 we fail to appreciate the influence and wonderful scope of his knowledge in 
 matters terrestrial and celestial, because we have him amongst us. ' Nether 
 Lochaber ' was the first public writer to popularise science." — Oban Times. 
 
 "We lay 'Nether Lochaber' aside with much reluctance, for a more 
 enjoyable book we have not read for many a day. The delicious breeze of the 
 sea and the heather stirs its every page, and the whole bears the mark of a rare 
 literary grace and elegance." — Whitehall lie fit w. 
 
 " This is a delightful book, worthy to be ranked with White's History of 
 Selbourne, full of accurate yet amusing descriptions of the habits of beasts, birds, 
 and fishes, intermingled with Highland folk-lore, and overflowing with quiet 
 humour." — N. B. Mail. 
 
 "Such a book as 'Nether Lochaber,' by the Rev. Alexander Stewart, 
 belongs to the best class of the lighter literature of natural history — a class in 
 which we have already so many good books. The author has a pleasant knack 
 of mingling observations on the scenery and the productions of the Western 
 Highlands with scraps of folk-lore, popular legends, and sporting reminiscences. 
 . There is something for every one, for the naturalist, the historian, 
 the angler, the artist, and the collector of old Highland traditions. 
 A more delightful book for those of kindred tastes than ' Nether Lochaber ' 
 it is difficult to conceive." — The Argus. 
 
 "From beginning to end it has not a single dreary page." — Newcastle W. 
 Chronicle. 
 
 "To lovers of quaint customs, curious legends, and odd bits of natural 
 history, this book will be welcome, being purely the result of personal observa- 
 tion and close intercourse with the people of the West Highlands, amongst 
 whom the writer has long lived and laboured, written, too, with that entrain 
 with which a busy man throws himself into the favourite occupation of his 
 leisure hours." — Spectator. 
 
 "Ad aperturam libri we see that it is a veritable book, constructed on sound 
 principles, and this means that it is both substantial and beautiful — the kind of 
 book one likes to see in a drawing-room or to give to a friend. The contents 
 deserved such excellent setting at the printer's hands, for ' Nether Lochaber ' 
 is a delightful book." — Elgin C'ourant. 
 
 WILLIAM PATEESOK EDINBUEGH.
 
 TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE.
 
 ' ' There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, 
 
 There is a rapture on the lonely shore, 
 
 There is society where none intrudes, 
 
 By the deep Sea, and music in its roar : 
 
 I love not Man the less, but Nature more, 
 
 From these our interviews, in which I steal 
 
 From all I may be, or have been before, 
 
 To mingle with the Universe, and feel 
 What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal." 
 
 Childe Harold's PU<jrlmo,ge.
 
 
 From a Negative by Ramsay, Bridge of Allan.
 
 TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND 
 GLENCOE: 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY, LEGENDS, AND FOLK-LORE 
 OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS. 
 
 The Rev. ALEXANDER STEWART, LL.D., F.S.A. Scot. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "NETHER LOCHABER." 
 
 "•-. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 WILLIAM PATERSON. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXV.
 
 da no 
 
 EDINBURGH I BURNESS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY.
 
 IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MANY KINDNESSES, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED 
 
 The Eev. EOBEBT HEEBEET STOEY, D.D., F.S.A. Scot. ; 
 
 MINISTER OF ROSENEATH, 
 
 HIS OBLIGED AND AFFECTIONATE FRIEND 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 "Author. Grant that I should write with sense and spirit 
 a few scenes, unlaboured and loosely put together, but which 
 had sufficient interest in them to amuse in one corner the 
 pain of body ; in another to relieve anxiety of mind ; in a 
 third place, to unwrmkle a brow bent with the furrows of daily 
 toil; in another, to fill the place of bad thoughts, or to suggest 
 better ; in yet another, to induce an idler to study the history of 
 his country ; in all, save where the perusal interrupted the 
 discharge of serious duties, to furnish harmless amusement, — might 
 not the author of such a work, however inartificially executed, 
 plead for his errors and negligences the excuse of the slave, who, 
 about to be punished for having spread the false report of a 
 victory, saved himself by exclaiming — 'Am I to blame, 
 Athenians, who have given you one happy day?'" — Cuthbert 
 Clutterbuck (Introductory Epistle to " The Fortunes of Nigel")
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TACK 
 
 Rats !— Rat Incantations — The Rat in Hamlet — Burns — Punch— Pro- 
 
 batum est Recipe for cure of Abdominal Pain, .... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Monument to the Great Brae-Lochaber Bard " Ian Lorn "—The Murder 
 
 of Keppoch — Montrose — Battle of Inverlochy, . . . • H 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Haymaking — Madame de Sevigne" — Haymaking in 1388— Big Stags- 
 Antlers — Gigantic Cephalopod — Krdken of Scandinavian Story, 1 9 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mild February— Birds in the Love Season— The Starry Heavens- 
 Meteors — Rabies — Its origin — How communicated — Extinction, 26 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Unfavourable Harvest — Patience and Resignation of Highlanders under 
 adverse circumstances — Tiinny captured at Corran Ferry — Its 
 characteristics — Tunny Steaks, ....... 34 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Popular Superstitions — The Water-Bull — His Bridle, ... 39 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Winter Solstice — Homer — "A fire when it cheerily blazes" — Bird- 
 Catchers — Their ch aracter — Greenfinch — Crossbill — Chaffinch — 
 Blackbirds sent to America, . . . . • • • 46
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Macdonells of Glengarry— Sale of the Estate— Creagan-an-Fhithich 
 
 —The last Family Bard— "Blind Allan," . . . . 53 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Weather Prophets and Prophecies— Beauty of the West Highlands in 
 early Summer — " Pedometric " Spring Temperature — Story of a 
 Song-Thrush— A mid-May Idyl, 58 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A Hebridean Correspondent — A Box and its Contents — A Skeleton — 
 A rare Cetacean— Delphi mis Delphis— The Sacred Fish of the 
 Ancients — Bee d'Oie or " Goose-bill " of the French — Its Food, . 66 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Ramble among the Hills — Encounter with an aged Parishioner — Song 
 of the Smuggling Times — A version in Herd's Collection — Which 
 is the Original 1 ......... 74 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Pets — "Merdo," a pet Billy-Goat — His Habits — Antipathy between 
 
 Goats and Rats — Goat's Hoof, Horns, &c. .... 82 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Hedgehogs — Frank Buckland — Hedgehog Pets — Hedgehogs combative 
 ■ — Excellent to eat — New Year Festivities — Story of Pyrrhus the 
 Epiret — An Evening with Christopher North — Professor Blackie — 
 " Songs of Religion and Life " — Sanctc Socrates, ora pro nobis, . 89 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A Wintry March — God made the Country, Man made the Town — 
 Spanish Mackerel — An Owl making a mistake — Dog and Hedgehog 
 — Intelligent Collies — Interchange of News, .... 99 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Cold Spring — An Arab Proverb — An old " Piobaireachd " — Its Origin 
 and Date — Words attached to — Translation — A strange Charm or 
 Talisman — Paralysis and Palsy proper, . . . . . 105
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Glen Tarbert — Lyche-Gate of Church at Strontian — Hedgehog — Contri- 
 bution to the Natural History of, . . . . . . 113 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Letter from the Hebrides — Curious old Song — Translated into English, 119 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Sea-Fowl seeking shelter — Coming Storms — A Fieldfare in sad plight — 
 Surgical Operation — " Sobieski " wrongously suspected — The 
 Nightingale in Scotland, ........ 124 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Wild-Birds and Meteorological Forecasts — Stewart of Appin and the V 
 Marquis of Tweeddale — A Christening — Miss Knight and Dr. 
 Johnson, ........... 132 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Great Grey Shrike — Its Habits — Stormy Petrel — Terrible force of 
 
 Mountain Squalls, ......... 139 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The Throstle-Cock — Substantial Breakfast — St. Valentine's Day — The 
 Paston Letters — How to lead a Stubborn Pig the way you would 
 have her to go, .......... 147 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Primroses — The Primrose in Gaelic Poetry — Translation — The little 
 
 Auk or Rotch — Skuas — Then- habits, ...... 157 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A Crooked Sixpence — A Luckpenny, or Coin of Grace — Popular Super- 
 stition — Weasel-skin Purse — Sealskin Purse — Fresh Herrings 
 amongst the Heather, . . . . . . . . . 166
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Crozier of St. Fillan — Its Gaelic name Cuigrcarh — Etymology and 
 meaning of term — East Indian Hoopoe — Upupa Longirostris — 
 Arrival of Cuckoo, ......... 174 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Folk-lore from the Hebrides — An Incantation of Increase — A Confabu- 
 lation in Glencoe — Periphrases as to Death and Dying — A Daughter 
 of Allan Dall, the Bard of Glengarry, . . . . . . 181 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 A " Slide " on a Frozen Stretch of River in an Upland Glen — Amaze- 
 ment of Black-faced Sheep at the Performance — "Lassie" also 
 astonished — All Quadrupeds have a horror of Ice — Intelligence of 
 " Lassie " — Finds the Cows unaided in a Midnight Storm — Age at 
 which Dogs cease to be useful — Famous Dogs, - . . . 187 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Cold January — Pet Days — Rainfall — Highlander's standard in gauging 
 a Fall of Snow — Anecdote of Alasdair Macdonald, the Ardna- 
 murchan Bard — Shoemaking — Shoes sent home unblackened, . 196 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Safe from East and Xorth-East Storms under the Lee of Ben Nevis — 
 Story of 'a Ballad of the Maritime Highlands — A Fragment — 
 Translation, 204 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Demons of the Dust-Cloud and Spindrift — Gaelic Rhyme— Demons 
 sometimes visible in form of Lambent Flame — Wit-Word Combats 
 — Meaning of a Gaelic Phrase, . . . . . . . 212 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Splendid Wild-Bird Season — Sea-fowl at Work — Following in the wake 
 
 of Steamers — Sharpness of Eye, . . . . . . . 217
 
 CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Puss-Moth Caterpillar — The Astronomy of Buddhist Priests — Galileo 
 
 — Chinese Encylopsedia in 5020 Volumes ! ..... 222 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 The Pearl Mussel in Highland Rivers and Streams — Story of a Pearl 
 belonging to Stewart of Appin — Byssus of Mya Margaritifera a 
 Specific in Affections of the Eye — Pearls in the Common Mussel — 
 Mussel sometimes poisonous, ....... 228 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Weather Prognosticators sometimes "out in their reckoning" — Mag- 
 nificent Double Rainbow over Glencoe — Cats — A One-Eared Cat 
 a Treasure — -How it came about — Rival Rhymes — Cat's Whiskers, 231 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Meteorological Observatory to be erected on Ben Nevis — Electric dis- \V 
 charges on top — Curious Story, ....... 241 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Comfortable condition of the People at Term-time — The old Quern 
 Hand-mill or Brath— The Cnotag or Edmachan, the Knockin'Stane 
 or Pot-Barley Preparer — Knockin'-Stane Stick and Sword Combat, 249 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 November Meteor Showers — Occultation of Stars — Superstition — Old- 
 Wife Herbalist — How a Cow was rescued from the effects of the 
 Evil Eye — Virtue of an Oatmeal Bannock — Fox caught sleeping — 
 Badgers, 258 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Intense Cold — Bird-Pensioners in frost and snow — Their tameness — 
 Fond of Scraps of Flesh and picking Bones — Stupidity of Cochin- 
 China Cock — Cochin-Chinas and Bantams — Ninth Ode of First 
 Book of Horace done into English, ...... 265
 
 xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Old Gaelic Rhyme, Meaning of — Golden Eagle at Kelvingrove Museum, 
 Glasgow — Golden Eagle on the wing — Circling Sguir-na-Cicke of 
 Glencoe — The Epithet Chrysaetos first applied to it by Aristotle — 
 Its predominant Colour — Professor Geddes of Aberdeen — His Pro- 
 blem of the Homeric Poems, ........ 273 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Meteors — Professor Blackie — Homer — The Descent as a Meteor of Pallas 
 Minerva — A sparkling swift-descending Fireball Meteor ought to 
 be called a Minervalite — The " Drear/ " of the Gaels — An exploding 
 Dreag in 1746 — The great Meteor Shower of 1866, . . . 285 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Cold out of Season — Its effects on the Nidification of Birds — The Golden 
 Eagle in the Hebrides and on the Mainland — Letter about Golden 
 Eagle from Kintail — Story of an Eagle from Loch Lomond — Ben 
 Lomond and Ben Nevis — Best View of the latter from Ardgour 
 and Banavie, .......... 296 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Storm — Stormy Petrel — Rare Birds — Red-necked Phalarope — Wild-Bird 
 Notes from Mull and Stranraer — Antique Silver Brooch found on 
 the top "of Benvere, in Appin— -Appin an old Hunting-Ground of 
 the Stuart Kings, ......... 303 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 Mild Winter — A Crubhan-Cait — Wild-Flowers — Birds singing — Bats ^ 
 
 abroad — An Egg in a Sparrow's Nest at New-Year Time, . . 310 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 The Cuckoo on February 10th — Willie Drummond, Pearl Fisher and 
 
 Herbalist, 316 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 April Drought — Early Nesting Birds — Survival of the Fittest — Rival 
 Song-Thrushes singing at Midnight — Ian Mac Roanuill Oig of 
 Glencoe — Singing Mice, ........ 324
 
 CONTENTS. xv 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Heavy Snowfall in April — Snow at Culloden Moor on the day of the 
 
 Battle, 16th April 1746— Flora Macdonald, .... 330 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 Sailing on Loch Leven— Mackerel — Porpoises — Aryus in the Odyssey — 
 
 " Lassie" — Age of Dogs — Dame Juliana Berners — Lassie's Crave, 336 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 A Visit to the Oval Brochs of the Island of Luing — Their Position and 
 
 Dimensions — The Hiding Craigs near Easdale, .... 345 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 Pied Swallows — 18S2 remarkable for Albinoism and Abnormal Colouring 
 in Birds — Kestrel neatly plucking a Partridge Poult, that it might 
 be the more easily carried against the wind, . . . . 354 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 Stormy October — Birds taking shelter — Superstition — The Oxeye Tit a 
 
 Bird of good omen, ......... 359 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 Meteorology and Weather Forecasts — Ornithology in aid of, V . 367 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 Cold and Stormy Winter — Transit of Venus — Dr. Tait, Archbishop 
 
 of Canterbury, .......... 372 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 Winter in the Country — Wild-Fowl — Flock of " Hooper" Swans (Anus 
 cyynus, Linn.) — Wild-Swan Notes — Letter from Perthshire — The 
 Eagle — Fox — Curious Egg — Alpine Hares on the Low Lands a 
 sign of severe Winter, . . . . . . . 379
 
 TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Rats !— Rat Incantations — The Rat in Hamlet — Burns — Punch — 
 Probati4?n est Recipe for cure of Abdominal Tain. 
 
 Why, of all living animal plagues, rats should in 
 popular superstition be considered the most amen- 
 able to good advice and expostulation, if couched 
 in rhyme — the most readily frightened and easily 
 driven away from any particular locality by the mere 
 force of a doggerel incantation — is a puzzle we have 
 long pondered over, without arriving at anything like 
 a satisfactory solution. A belief in the efficacy of 
 this mode of getting quit of rats seems to have been 
 common from very early times. Giraldus Cambren- 
 sis, who lived in the twelfth century, and wrote a 
 " History of the World," tells of a certain district in 
 the south of England so plagued with rats in his day, 
 that they could only be expelled by a powerful in- 
 cantation specially composed for the occasion by no 
 less a mediator than the austere and holy Saint Yvor. 
 Rats seem to have had no special or distinctive name 
 of their own at this time, for the chronicler is content 
 to speak of them simply as Mures majores, or bigger 
 mice, by which there can be no question rats are 
 meant. In many countries, even at the present day, 
 it is believed among the vulgar that rats, when they 

 
 2 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 become annoyingly troublesome, can be very easily 
 disposed of in this way, if the thing is gone about in 
 proper form ; and nowhere, perhaps, is this very 
 curious superstition more common than in the High- 
 lands of Scotland. In speaking of it, indeed, you gene- 
 rally find the people treat the subject with a certain 
 degree of jocular levity, as if they would have you 
 understand that they believe it no more than you do ; 
 but this is only a common trick, frequently resorted to 
 in such matters, in order to throw the inquirer off' his 
 guard, for though they pretend to laugh at many other 
 superstitions, as well as at this particular one of rat 
 incantation, they yet make no scruple to practise them 
 in all seriousness when they think a fitting occasion 
 has arrived. A clergyman of considerable standing in 
 the West Highlands once told us that he was tutor 
 when quite a young man in the family of Maclachlan 
 of Eahoy, in Morven. One morning that gentleman — 
 one of the most respectable men in the county — came 
 in from an examination of his stack-yard and barn, 
 and complained grievously of the multitude of rats 
 that had recently so increased about the place as to 
 have become a pest so destructive and annoying, that 
 some decided steps must instantly be taken to get rid 
 of them. " You, sir," he exclaimed, turning to the 
 tutor, who was then but a divinity student or parson 
 in embryo — " You, sir, a scholar, and something, as I 
 believe, of a poet too, might surely help us in this 
 emergency. Why not compose an Aoir or incantatory 
 rhyme to drive the rats away \ If you succeed in 
 ridding us of this pest, or even diminishing it to any 
 appreciable extent, you shall have a horse and saddle
 
 RA T IN CANT A TIONS. 3 
 
 to ride about on wherever you like for the rest of the 
 season." The prospect of a horse and saddle to ride 
 on such terms was not to be resisted, and the incanta- 
 tion was forthwith composed in excellent Gaelic, and 
 said or sun^ in due form at the barn door and stack- 
 yard corners. Curiously enough, as our informant 
 assured us, not only did the rats shortly afterwards 
 totally disappear, but they actually reappeared in 
 great numbers in the opposite district of Sunart, 
 whither in the spell or incantation they had been 
 directed to betake themselves. Our friend, the author 
 of the incantation, laughed, as a matter of course, at 
 the whole affair, but the disappearance at the time of 
 the rats from Morven was by hundreds attributed to 
 the cunning and power of the spell, and to nothing 
 else. It is curious that in such spells the absolute 
 destruction of the rats was never wished for ; the spell, 
 if it was to be efficacious, must distinctly assign them 
 some other place of residence, generally separated from 
 the home whence they were being expelled by a 
 mountain chain, a lake or running stream, or arm of 
 the sea. The following rat-spell, picked up quite 
 accidentally the other day, must suffice for the present. 
 Standing in our kitchen, we were growling over the 
 rat-eaten and very holey state of a sack of meal that 
 had just come in from Ballachulish Pier, where it had 
 been stored for only a single night, when an old man 
 in the neighbourhood came in, who joined us in 
 heartily abusing the Ballachulish Pier rats, from whose 
 depredations he also had suffered somewhat on a 
 recent occasion. The circumstance easily led to a 
 long talk on the natural history of rats and rat-spells,
 
 4 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 and our friend repeated the following as a well-known 
 rat incantation that had been completely successful in 
 a case of the kind some time during the last century. 
 The author was a farmer of the name of Livingstone, 
 in the Island of Lismore, and the spell-driven rats 
 swam across the ferry at Port Appin, taking up their 
 residence with Mr. Downie, the then proprietor, who 
 was very soon nearly eaten out of house and home 
 by the chisel-toothed invaders. It is no doubt a 
 colony of their descendants that now makes Balla- 
 chulish Pier about the last place in the world to leave 
 a sack of meal at, even for the shortest night in the 
 year. Here is the Lismore rat-spell, or 
 
 Aor Nan Eadan. 
 
 Mile marbhaisg ort, a radain ! 
 A shlaideare nam badan arbhair ; 
 Cha leor leat sop acb an Ian sguab dhetb, 
 Dh-fag thu 'm bualadh dhomb neo-tharbhach. 
 Kinn tbu gradan de'm cbuid ebrna, 
 A mbeirlich gur mor do chail dbetli ; 
 JS T a'n robh do cheann agam air innean, 
 'Smise nach tilleadb mo lamb dbiot ! 
 
 Cba d'fhag tbu mulan amis san iolainn 
 Nach do mbil thu 's nach do mhab thu, 
 Cha d'fhag thu poca 'san t'sabhal, 
 Nach do tholl thu 's nach do shlaid thu ; 
 Mo thruaighe mi aig am 'cuir coirce 
 An t'seann lairdhonn bi 'bochd da-rireamh ; 
 Mhic an Radain 's mor do pheacadh, 
 Mar a chreach thu de gach ni mi ! 
 
 Ach eirich a laochain a's dean imric, 
 Imich th'ar a chaol gu seolta, 
 Thu fein 's do cbuid daoine uile
 
 A GAELIC HAT-SPELL. 5 
 
 Falbhaibh gu builleach mar chomhla' 
 Air Michail 'sair Bride min, 
 Eirich, imicli as mo thir ! 
 
 The Gaelic is uncommonly good, and there is a touch 
 of humour in the whole that is very difficult to catch 
 and reproduce in a translation ; but we have ventured 
 upon the following version, which we warn the reader, 
 in order to prevent future quarrel on the subject, is 
 more of a paraphrase than a metaphrase : — 
 
 A Bat-Expelling Incantation. 
 
 A thousand ills befall thee, greedy rat ! 
 
 Expertest thief that ever yet was born ! 
 In barn and stack-yard, maugre trap and cat, 
 
 Sad is the state of all my stock of corn ; 
 Nor does a handful serve thee, shameless thief, 
 Unblushing rogue, thou claimest the whole sheaf ! 
 
 My barley thou hast millered into meal, 
 
 Chaff and small dust together close commingled ; 
 
 Thou spoilest more than ever thou canst steal ; 
 
 Hadst thou but any shame, thine ears had long since 
 tingled; 
 
 I wish I had thy head upon a stithy, 
 
 I'd rap it with the biggest hammer in the smithy ! 
 
 Nor corn in sheaf, nor barley snugly stacked, 
 
 Could serve thy turn ; but all my garner'd grain, 
 
 In well-tilled sacks is next by thee attacked, 
 And all yspoiled, thou thief of fertile brain. 
 
 And all my sacks are nibbled too, and holed, — 
 
 A sight most aggravating to behold. 
 
 Alas, for all my seed corn in the spring ! 
 
 Alas, for all thy keep, my good brown mare ! 
 But take advice, and leave me, rat ; and bring 
 
 All thy companions with thee ; else beware 
 My malison shall fall withouten fail 
 On thee and thine, from whisker-tip to tail !
 
 6 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 So rat be warned ; away ! across the Ferry, 
 And in some quarter new be sleek and merry ; 
 By good St. Michael, and by chaste St. Bride, 
 I charge thee, leave me ere the morning tide ! 
 
 {Exeunt Ratti tuniultuously, and best foot foremost.) 
 
 Why, as we have already remarked, rats should be 
 considered more manageable in this sort of way than any 
 other animals is a very great puzzle. We have thought 
 over it much, and can make nothing of it. In the 
 natural history of the animal, however, it is a fact 
 that should not be overlooked, that a colony of rats 
 are very often known, with or without an incantation 
 — oftener, indeed, without than with — to leave a 
 certain homestead, or entire district even, and take up 
 new quarters sometimes at a great distance. Rats are 
 proverbially said to leave an old rotten ship likely 
 soon to founder by a sort of still unexplained instinct, 
 and generally, we may be sure, they have good reasons, 
 if we only knew them, for all their migrations. The 
 puzzle is simply why they should be supposed to listen 
 and be obedient to a mere human spell, if cunningly 
 concocted and couched in rhyme. It is curious that a 
 certain degree of humour and fun should so invariably 
 be associated with the person and character of the rat 
 rather than with that of mouse, or cat, or dog, or 
 weasel, or other animal whatever. The scene in 
 Hamlet would lose much of its grim humour and 
 effectiveness, if it were not for the rat behind the 
 arras, that at the sword's point of the Prince was 
 
 " Dead, for a ducat, dead ! " 
 
 And the well-known scene in Burns' Jolly Beggars
 
 RAT INCANTATIONS. 7 
 
 would, be poor and tome indeed if it were not for the 
 prominency of the rats in the picture — 
 
 " lie ended ; and the kebars sheuk 
 Aboon the chorus roar ; 
 While frighted rattans backward leuk, 
 And seek the benmost bore." 
 
 Nothing else, perhaps, could so vividly impress us 
 with a full sense of the heartiness of the applause that 
 followed the song of him who was a son of Mars, and 
 had been in many wars. One of the best things that 
 ever appeared in Punch was the 
 
 " Still so gently o'er me stealing " 
 
 of one of these midnight depredators. The rat is un- 
 questionably an animal of great intelligence, and 
 almost more than vulpine cunning, as every one who 
 has tried to trap or take them unawares must readily 
 bear witness. To this extraordinary and really super- 
 quadrupedal nous and intelligence is probably due the 
 fact that their expulsion from any place by direct and 
 violent means being well-nigh an impossibility, people 
 fell into the belief that fair means might perhaps 
 succeed, and hence, we take it, the expostulatory 
 nature and wheedlino; tone of all the rat incantations 
 that have ever come under our notice. Not in the 
 " I'll make you," but in a " please go " sort of phrase, 
 is the rat in these " spells " invariably addressed. Any 
 one capable of composing a really efficacious rat-expel- 
 ling incantation in re the Ballachulish Pier colony 
 would, we make no doubt, be repaid by a large 
 amount of genuine gratitude on the part of the pier- 
 master and a numerous host of interested clients. Iu
 
 8 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 such a spell, however, we have to beg the incantator 
 not to direct the rats to the Lochaber shore, where we 
 have already quite as many of the whiskered marauders 
 as we want or care about. 
 
 A few days ago we were witness to an almost 
 instantaneous cure of a common ailment, the secret 
 of which and modus operandi we make public for 
 the benefit in all time coming of all whom it may 
 concern. A man of middle age, who had been cutting 
 peats all day, was on his return home in the evening 
 taken ill with severe abdominal pains. Happening to 
 be passing his door, we were called in to see him, and 
 he certainly seemed to be in the greatest agony, so 
 much so, that we feared it must be something much 
 more serious than any mere colic. Brandy had been 
 administered without effect, and all we could suggest 
 in addition was the immediate application of hot 
 fomentations. Before this could be done, however, 
 an old woman in the neighbourhood came in, and at 
 once undertook, if her advice was followed, to effect a 
 cure. She was known as a sensible and most respect- 
 able woman, who had passed many years as a domestic 
 servant in the south, and it was on all hands gladly 
 agreed that she should try her skill, there being some 
 consolation in the fact that, whatever she did or 
 administered to the patient, he could hardly be made 
 worse than he then was. We were going to leave as 
 she was about to commence operations, but she begged 
 of us to stay for a short time, and her manifest confi- 
 dence in herself rendering us not a little curious as to 
 the upshot of it all, we consented. She first asked the 
 patient's daughter for a common smoothing iron, which
 
 A HO MEL Y RECIPE. 9 
 
 having got, she placed not simply with its smooth face 
 to the fire, as is usually done in laundry work, but 
 bodily into the heart of the fire, heaping the peats 
 above and around it, and blowing the fire, until in a 
 few minutes it had attained a dull red heat. Fillinc: 
 a small wooden bicker or " cog" with cold water from 
 the neighbouring stream, she took the . iron from the 
 fire, and dipped it, hissing and hot, some half-dozen 
 times into the water, until it had attained a tempera- 
 ture considerably higher than mere tepidity, by which 
 time the iron had of course, pari passu, again become 
 cold. Filling a bowl, which might perhaps contain an 
 English pint or thereby, with this water, hot and iron- 
 impregnated, she made the patient drink it off at a 
 draught, and it acted like a charm. The " Faculty " 
 and uninitiated may smile incredulously as they read, 
 but it is perfectly true, as we can vouch, that in less 
 than five minutes the man was entirely and completely 
 well, not a trace of pain remaining. So effectual was 
 this very singular and simple cure, that within a 
 quarter of an hour of the moment we first saw him in 
 excruciating pain, he voluntarily put on his shoes and 
 walked with us quite comfortably and calmly for fully 
 half a mile on our way home. We visited the old 
 lady next day, in order to find out, if we could, what 
 she had to say as to the rationale of her cure. To all 
 our inquiries she answered honestly and quietly that 
 she really did not know how the hot-iron-impregnated 
 water operated so beneficially in such cases. She only 
 knew that she had often tried it in alleviation of severe 
 abdominal pains, and never once knew it to fail. She 
 first saw it used in a case of the kind by her whilom
 
 io 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 mistress, an old lady in Ayrshire, and the simplicity 
 and ready. application, as well as the invariable success 
 attending the remedy, struck her so forcibly, that she 
 treasured up the knowledge of it as something well 
 worth remembering, and for many years had continued 
 to practise it when occasion offered, as we saw. She 
 made no secret or mystery of the matter, and we felt 
 convinced of her perfect honesty, and of the efficacy of 
 the remedy as it came under our own observation. 
 These popular remedies in cases of human ailment, 
 though no doubt frequently empirical and illusory, 
 are nevertheless worthy, we think, of more attention 
 and careful study on the part of our regular practi- 
 tioners than they have hitherto deigned to bestow 
 upon them.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Monument to the Great Brae-Lochaber Bard " Ian Lom " — The Murder of 
 Keppoch — Montrose — Battle of Inverlochy. 
 
 Through the munificence and patriotism of Mr. 
 Fraser Mackintosh of Drummond, M.P., a monument, 
 no less substantial and enduring than beautiful and 
 every way appropriate, has been erected over the 
 grave of the celebrated Gaelic bard " Ian Lom," on 
 Dun Aingeal in Kill Choirreal of Brae-Lochaber. 
 As a poet and satirist of a very high order, and as a 
 steady and consistent Loyalist, in days when Loyalism 
 was accounted a crime, "Ian Lom," whose proper name 
 was John Macdonald, is from a certain point of view 
 just as deserving of a monument as John Bunyan. Both 
 were in extremes — the Puritan alle^orist of England, 
 and the uncompromising Catholic of Brae-Lochaber — 
 but both were in the main honest men and true from 
 their widely different standpoints, and equally deserve 
 the tribute of our respect and regard in the always appro- 
 priate and fitting form of monumental commemoration. 
 The monument is ten feet in height, and placed 
 upright, like the ancient stones of Scotland, of which, 
 in style and outline, it is intentionally an imitation. 
 The face is richly ornamented in relief. At the foot is a 
 raised plate, with the following inscription in Gaelic : — ■ 
 
 " 'An so 'n Dun- Aingeal a'm Braigh-Lochabar, 
 Tha Bard na Ceapaich gu trom na chadal ; 
 'Se Ian Lom Mac Dhomhnuill b'ainm dlia, 
 Ian Lom ! ach theireadh cuid Ian Manntach."
 
 i2 'TIV/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 The English of the lines is — 
 
 " Here in Dun-Aingeal, in the Braes of Lochaber, 
 The Bard of Keppoch is very sound asleep : 
 His name was John Mac Donald, John the Bare — 
 John the Bare and Biting ! but by some called John the 
 Stammerer." 
 
 Of the personal life and history of " Ian Lorn " very- 
 little is known for certain. He was of the family of 
 Mac-ic-Raonuill, or Macdonalds of Keppoch, and, 
 living through the greater part of the reigns of 
 Charles I. and II., died unmarried, a very old man, in 
 the autumn of 1709. He was a man of considerable 
 education, which we have heard accounted for by one 
 likely to be well informed on such a matter, by the 
 assertion that he had been for some years in training 
 for the priesthood at the College of Valladolid, in 
 Spain, when some unpardonable indiscretion caused 
 his expulsion from that seminary, and his return to 
 Scotland as a gentleman at large — a sort of hybrid 
 nondescript, half clerical and half lay. His poetical 
 powers are of a very high order, and he was unques- 
 tionably a man of very superior talents. He first 
 became known beyond the borders of his native 
 Lochaber by the active part he took in the punish- 
 ment of the murderers of the heir of Keppoch. Of 
 this atrocious crime the following account is given in 
 a short life of the bard, written by our late amiable 
 and excellent friend, the well-known Celtic scholar 
 and Seanachie, the Eev. Dr. Macintyre, minister of 
 Kilmonivaio; : — ■ 
 
 " The Keppoch massacre was perpetrated by the cousins of the 
 young man about the year 1663. The poet had foreseen what
 
 THE KEPPOCH MASSACRE. 13 
 
 really happened, and had done all he could to prevent it. He 
 perceived that the minds of the people were alienated from the 
 lawful heir in his ahsence ; he and his brother being sent abroad to 
 receive their education during their minority, and their affairs 
 being entrusted to their cousins, who made the best use they could 
 of the opportunity in establishing themselves by the power and 
 authority thus acquired in the land. Although he could not 
 prevent the fatal deed, he was not a silent witness. He stood 
 single-handed in defence of the right. As he failed in his attempt 
 to awaken the people to a sense of their duty, he addressed himself 
 to the most potent neighbour and chieftain, Glengarry, who 
 declined interfering with the affairs of a celebrated branch of the 
 great Clan Dughaill, and there was no other that could have aided 
 him with any prospect of success. Thus situated, our poet, firm 
 in his resolution, and bold in the midst of dangers, was determined 
 to have the murderers punished. In his ire at the reception he 
 met from Glengarry, he invoked his muse, and began to praise 
 Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat. Nothing can give us a better 
 idea of the power of the Highland clans and of the state of the 
 nation at this period than this event, which happened in a family 
 and among a people by no means inconsiderable. Macdonald of 
 Keppoch could bring out on emergency three hundred fighting 
 men of his own people, as brave and as faithful as ever a chieftain 
 called out or led to battle, that would have shed the last drop of 
 their blood in his cause, and yet he had not an inch of land to 
 bestow upon them. The Macdonald of Keppoch appeared at the 
 head of his own men, although only a branch of the great clan. He 
 might have got rights, as he had just claims to land for signal 
 services, but ' would he care for titles given on sheepskin 1 ' He 
 claimed his rights and titles by the edge of the sword. The kingdom 
 of Scotland, as well as other nations, often suffered from the 
 calamities that have been consequent on minorities. The affairs 
 of Keppoch must have been in the most disordered state, when a 
 people, warlike and independent in spirit, were trusted to the care 
 and left under the control of relations. Selfish and, as they 
 proved, unworthy of their trust, the innocent, unsuspicious young 
 men were sacrificed to the ambitious usurpations of base and cruel 
 relatives. Our poet alone proved faithful, and after doing what he 
 could, it was not safe for him to rest there. The cause he
 
 i 4 TJVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 espoused was honourable, and he was never wanting in zeal 
 Confiding in the justice of his cause and his own powers of 
 persuasion (and no man better knew how to touch the spring that 
 vibrated through the feelings of a high-spirited and disinterested 
 chieftain), he succeeded. Being favourably received by Sir 
 Alexander Macdonald, he concerted measures for punishing the 
 murderers, wbich met his Lordship's approval, and indicated the 
 judgment and sagacity of the faithful clansman. A person was 
 sent to North Uist with a message to Archibald Macdonald {An 
 Ciaran Mabach), a poet as well as a soldier, commissioning him to 
 take a company of chosen men to the mainland, where he would 
 meet with the Lochaber Bard, who would guide and instruct him 
 in his future proceedings. The usurpers were seized and beheaded. 
 They met with the punishment they so richly deserved ; but the 
 vengeance was taken in the most cruel manner, and the exultation 
 and feelings of the man who acted so boldly and stood so firmly 
 in the defence of the right have been too ostentatiously indulged 
 in verses from which humanity recoils. How different from his 
 melting strains, so full of sympathy and compassion for the 
 innocent young men whose death he avenged ! The atrocious deed 
 has been palpably commemorated in a manner repugnant to 
 humanity by ' Tobar nan Ceann ' in Glengarry." 
 
 In the wild and perturbed times in which he lived, 
 Macdonald's talents and habits of life caused him to 
 become a very prominent man indeed. To Montrose 
 and Alasdair Mac Cholla-Chiotaich, as well as after- 
 wards to Graham, Lord Viscount Dundee, and other 
 leading Loyalists, he was well known, and by them all 
 much trusted and employed on the most delicate 
 political embassies. No man of his day knew the 
 Highlands and its temper so thoroughly. While the 
 most zealous and uncompromising of Eoyalists, he 
 managed to be on good terms, outwardly at least, even 
 with those most opposed to the cause to which he had, 
 heart and soul, attached himself, his talents, his life,
 
 A HIGHLAND BARD. 15 
 
 his all ; and was thus able, though constitutionally a 
 
 coward and purposely a non-combatant as far as mere 
 
 fighting was concerned, to render the King and his 
 
 cause such services as made him a man of no small 
 
 mark and note throughout the kingdom. In those 
 
 wonderful campaigns which, true in every particular, 
 
 yet read like Mediaeval romances, in which Montrose 
 
 made himself the talk and envy of every soldier in 
 
 Europe, it is certain that he consulted " Ian Lorn " 
 
 at almost every step. A brief but characteristic note, 
 
 which we have more than once seen and read, from 
 
 the great Marquis to the Bard was in the possession 
 
 of the late Rev. Dr. Macintyre, and is probably still 
 
 preserved in the family as a very valuable and 
 
 interesting relic, which in truth it is. It consists but 
 
 of some half-dozen lines, but when we find the 
 
 Marquis declaring himself under his own hand, from 
 
 his " Camp near Kilsyth," Ian Lom's " very loving 
 
 and trew (sic) friend to command," we may be pretty 
 
 sure that the Brae-Lochaber Bard was a man of no 
 
 small account and consequence in his day. Tradition 
 
 gives "Ian Lorn" the credit of being the person that 
 
 at Fort-Augustus overtook Montrose and his army, 
 
 and told them that Argyll and the Campbells were at 
 
 Inverlochy, and was thus indirectly the cause of one 
 
 of the completest victories ever gained by Montrose — 
 
 and he had gained many, — a man of whom Scotland 
 
 has more reason to be proud than any one else that 
 
 we can think of within the limits of three consecutive 
 
 centuries, except Walter Scott. Unrivalled in his day 
 
 as a soldier, and almost faultless as a man, you will 
 
 have some difficulty, if you try, in finding any one
 
 1 6 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 entitled for an instant, and on any claims whatever, 
 to stand with the slightest pretensions to equality of 
 stature beside the, perhaps, greatest man of his age — 
 James Graham, Earl and Marquis of Montrose. 
 
 Of " Ian Lom's " poetry it is hardly possible to 
 speak too highly. Rough, and rugged, and rude 
 almost always, it yet hits the mark arrived at so 
 unmistakeably that you cannot but applaud. The 
 fact that his songs may be still heard from the lips of 
 unlettered shepherds on the hillside of a summer 
 morning, as well as from the more red and ripe and 
 musical lips of the " lassie " at the washing-tub by the 
 burn side in the summer evening, go where you may, 
 from the extreme west to east or north, where Gaelic 
 is spoken, is perhaps the best proof of the merits of 
 poems which it is utterly impossible to make a non- 
 Gaelic speaking reader understand, far less appreciate. 
 His Battle of Inverlochy, of which he was a 
 delighted spectator, and his Murder of Keppoch, 
 every Highlander knows by heart. His terrible satire 
 on William and Mary, his allusions to the daughter 
 particularly, who could so unnaturally aid and abet 
 in the dethronement and expulsion from his kingdom 
 of her own father, must, in parts at least, be familiar 
 to every reader of Gaelic poetry, while nothing can be 
 more beautiful and pathetic than his threnody on 
 the Execution of Montrose, ending as it does 
 with a satiric string of such pungency and venom as 
 is perhaps unequalled, search for its compeer where 
 you may, in any language, ancient or modern. Indig- 
 nantly and scornfully referring to Macleod of Assynt, 
 who so shamefully betrayed the hero to his doom, he
 
 A HIGHLAND BARD. 17 
 
 in the concluding stanza turns round, and, in the 
 most withering and contemptous language, compares 
 the reward with the valuable life betrayed : — 
 
 " Marbh-fhaisg ort a dhi-mheis, 
 Nach ole a reic thu a'm firean, 
 Air son na mine Liticb, 
 A's da tlirian di goirt ! " 
 
 He — that is, Macleod of Assynt — sold the life of the 
 best and greatest man of his day for a cargo of meal 
 from Leith, two-thirds of said meal, says the bard, in 
 which he is corroborated by contemporary chroniclers, 
 proving to be " rotten, weevily, worthless ! " Our 
 own favourite among all his poems is his address to 
 Sir James Macdonald of Sleat's birlinn or galley, two 
 verses of which cling to our memory from earliest 
 childhood. 
 
 "Dia na stinir air na daraich, 
 Dh' fhalbh air thus an t'suil mhara, 
 Seal mu'n tug e chiad bhoinne de 'n traghadh." 
 
 " Cha be marcaicb n' eich leimnich, 
 A bbuigneadh geall reis ort, 
 'X uair a tbogadh tu breid os ceann saile ! " 
 
 We wish we could translate them, but we cannot, 
 and no one can, with anything like justice to the 
 original. His Marbhrann, or elegy on the death of 
 " Black Alasdair of Glengarry," is also a very beauti- 
 ful and widely known poem, which old men and old 
 women continue yet to sing with unspeakable point 
 and pathos, when in the long and stormy winter 
 nights the oil in the lamp has wasted and the wick 
 burns but dimly. His song in praise of Sir Alexander 
 Macdonald of Sleat is also verv fine. His account in
 
 1 8 "TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 one verse of the heraldic bearings of the Macdonalds 
 is inimitable. Not daring to attempt even a para- 
 phrase, we can only direct the Gaelic reader's atten- 
 tion to the lines themselves : — 
 
 "Be do shuaicheantas taitneach, 
 Long, 's leoghan a's bradan, 
 Air chuan liobhara 'n aigeil ; 
 A chraobh fhigeis gun ghaiseadh, 
 A chuireadh fion di le pailteas ; 
 Lamb dhearg ro na gaisgich 'nan tim ! " 
 
 A plain prose literal translation is tame, but here 
 it is : — 
 
 " Thy well-known and well-beloved cognisance 
 Was the graceful galley, the lion, and the salmon, 
 All on a field of laughing ocean waves ! 
 With the unblemished wild fig-tree, 
 
 That never failed in fruit of large-heartedness and generosity ! 
 And the Red Hand of the race that never blenched in combat !"
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Haymaking — Madame de Sevigne — Haymaking in 1388 — Big Stags — 
 Antlers — Gigantic Cephalopod — Krakm of Scandinavian Story. 
 
 It is told of Buffon, the celebrated naturalist, that 
 when engaged on his great work he was in the 
 habit of dressing himself in his very best, wearing all 
 his orders and jewellery before sitting down to com- 
 position. The more elegantly he was dressed, the 
 more easily and elegantly flowed his periods. Such 
 was his notion ; and those who knew him intimately 
 went so far as to assert that this was true, and that if 
 on any occasion he was worse or better dressed than 
 ordinarily, they could readily detect and point out the 
 page or pages written during that particular sitting. 
 And, luckily for him, this taste for elegance and dress 
 Buffon could well afford to gratify to the full, for he was 
 Count de Buffon, Lord of Montbart, Marquis of Rouge- 
 mont, and Intendant of the King's Gardens and 
 Cabinets of Natural History. All naturalists, un- 
 fortunately, are not so happily circumstanced. Some 
 of our readers, for instance, will perhaps be shocked to 
 know, while others will very readily and sympatbis- 
 ingly believe the fact, that we have sat down to write 
 this article in our shirt sleeves. Why \ Merely 
 because it is wise and well to make hay while the sun 
 shines. One stone of hay well made is worth half a 
 dozen of such sodden and swept-out stuff as you often 
 see let down into your horse-rack of an early spring
 
 20 'TIVJXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 morning in every stable in the country. And irrespec- 
 tive of the propriety and profit of making hay in 
 favourable weather, we like it, and would be sorry to 
 exchange such a pleasant jolly labour in its season for 
 all the elegance and pernickitiness of Buffon's dress, 
 and all the comforts of his study, with all its velvet- 
 cushioned sofas and its "too easy" chairs. We had 
 rather have Madame de Sevigne along with us in hay- 
 making than Monsieur Le Comte de Buffon, dis- 
 tinguished naturalist though he was. Do you know 
 anything of Madame de Sevigne, good reader, the 
 most amiable, cheeriest, and gayest of Frenchwomen, 
 the most delightful of letter-writers \ Pure, too, and 
 spotless in a court as corrupt as it was brilliant, she 
 was one of the very few that could touch pitch without 
 being defiled. Of her many beautiful letters, one of 
 the most charming is that on haymaking. It is 
 written from the country to her cousin, Monsieur de 
 Coulanges, telling him she has been obliged to dismiss 
 Picard, her valet, and explaining the reason why. It 
 is altogether so charming, naif, and thoroughly French- 
 woman-like, that we make no apology for giving it 
 in full. The translation, almost as good as the original, 
 is by Leigh Hunt. 
 
 " The Rocks, 22d Jul;/ 1671. 
 " I write, my dear cousin, over and above the stipulated fort- 
 night communications, to advertise you that you will soon have 
 the honour of seeing Picard ; and as he is brother to the lackey of 
 Madame de Coulanges, I must tell you the reason why. You 
 know that Madame the Duchess de Chaulues is at Vitry. She 
 expects the Duke there in ten or twelve days with the Estates of 
 Brittany. ' Well, and what then ] ' say you. I say that the 
 Duchess is expecting the Duke with all the States, and that mean-
 
 LETTER FROM MADAME DE SEVIGNE. 21 
 
 while she is at Vitry all alone, dying of ennui. ' And what,' return 
 you, 'has this to do with Picard 1 ?' Why, look ! she is dying of 
 ennui, and I am her only consolation, and so you may readily 
 conceive that I carry it with a high hand over Mademoiselle de 
 Kerhorgue and Kerqueoison. A pretty roundabout way of telling 
 my story, I must confess, but it will bring us to the point. Well, 
 then, as I am her only consolation, it follows that after I have 
 been to see her, she will come to see me, when, of course, I shall 
 wish her to find my garden in good order, and my walks in good 
 order — those fine walks of which you are so fond. Still you arc 
 at a loss to conceive whither they are leading you now. Attend, 
 then, if you please, to a little suggestion by the way. You are 
 aware that haymaking is going forward ! Well, I have no hay- 
 makers ; I send into the neighbouring fields to press them into my 
 service ; there are none to be found, and so all my people are 
 summoned to make hay instead. But do you know what hay- 
 making is 1 I will tell you. Haymaking is the prettiest thing in 
 the world. You play at turning grass over in a meadow ; and as 
 soon as you know how to do that, you know how to make hay. 
 The whole house went merrily to the task ; all but Picard. He 
 said he would not go, that he was not engaged for such work, 
 and that he would sooner betake himelf to Paris. Faith ! didn't 
 I get angry 1 It was the hundredth dis-service the silly fellow had 
 done me. I saw he had neither heart nor zeal ; in short, the 
 measure of his offence was full. I took him at his word, was 
 deaf as a rock to all entreaties in his behalf, and he has set off. 
 It is fit that people be treated as they deserve. If you see him, 
 don't welcome him, don't protect him, and don't blame me. Only 
 look upon him as, of all servants in the world, the one least 
 addicted to haymaking, and, therefore, the most unworthy of good 
 treatment. This is the sum total of. the affair. As for me, I am 
 fond of straightforward histories that contain not a word too much, 
 that never go wandering about and beginning again from remote 
 points ; and, accordingly, I think I may say without vanity that 
 I hereby present you with a model of an agreeable narration." 
 
 Was there ever anything more charming 1 A nearly 
 perfect prose idyl, in which the erring Picard, thong] 1 
 really the hero of the story, is nevertheless, with
 
 22 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 admirable judgment and tact, allowed, only to occupy 
 a secondary and very subordinate position, while 
 really occupying a forward place in the picture : so 
 skilfully is the grouping effected that even his co- 
 servitors, the laughing, willing haymakers, seem 
 nearer to you than he. And, in truth, as Madame de 
 Sevigne found it, haymaking in its season, under a 
 bright sun and. blue skies, is one of the most delightful 
 of pastimes. With such weather as they were likely 
 to have in the south-east of France on the 22d July, 
 two hundred, years ago, one need not wonder that she 
 thoroughly enjoyed it. Even if she had not said so, 
 we should conclude that at such a date, and in such a 
 climate, it must have been the making of natural or 
 meadow hay that created such a commotion in her 
 household, and gave occasion for such a charming 
 letter as we have quoted. We do not know, indeed, 
 that rye-grass, or what are commonly called artificial 
 grasses, were cultivated at that time. It is interesting 
 to note that several centuries ago, as we daresay is 
 still the case, the season of haymaking — natural hay- 
 making, that is — on the borders of England and Scot- 
 land was about three weeks later than in France, 
 adopting the date of Madame de Sevigne's letter as 
 about the proper season, which we think we may, for 
 besides being too shrewd and intelligent a lady to 
 engage in such a work unseasonably, the difficulty of 
 finding labourers willing to help for love or money, 
 every one being probably busy with his own, seems to 
 indicate pretty clearly that from the middle to the end 
 of July was at that time, as it probably still is, the 
 proper meadow-haymaking season in the department
 
 HA Y-MAKING. 23 
 
 of Mame. Now, in the well-known ballad of the 
 Battle of Otterbourne, a composition which, what- 
 ever date we agree to assign to it, is probably at least 
 much older than Madame de Sevigne's time, it is said 
 that when 
 
 " The doughty Douglas boun' him to ride 
 To Englaude for to drive a prey," 
 
 it was the haymaking season. 
 
 " It fell upon the Lammas tide, 
 When husbandmen do win their hay." 
 
 In the Old Style Lammas falls upon the 12th August, 
 and we know that the battle of Otterbourne was 
 fought on the 15th August 1388, so that for the hay- 
 making, the time for which in France was the last 
 fortnight of July, the season on the Scottish Borders 
 was " upon the Lammas tide," or about the middle of 
 August — some three weeks, as we have said, later. 
 Never, perhaps, even in Lochaber, was meadow hay- 
 making so difficult to encompass satisfactorily as this 
 season. Throughout the whole of August, and up to 
 this date in September, it has been almost constantly 
 wet ; and when a dry day does come, or on a wet day 
 the sun bursts out for a time through the clouds, we are 
 all on the qui vive, up and doing, as if our all 
 depended on it. Like Madame de Sevigne, we head 
 our household, old and young, " merrily to the task," 
 and the healthy appetite on such occasions of every 
 one at dinner-time, and the sound sleep o' nights, 
 prove that an active spell at haymaking is a good 
 thing in more ways than one. 
 
 We have just been looking over some very interest- 
 ing photographs of deer's heads and antlers. One is a
 
 24 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 photograph of the champion head of last season, shot 
 in Kinloch Forest of Mamore, in our immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. It is, in truth, a magnificent head, the 
 grandest, perhaps, we ever saw, except one shot some 
 years ago in Glengour. The other is the photograph 
 of a head with curiously malformed antlers that was 
 shot last year in the Duke of Portland's forest. We 
 understand that a stag with singularly malformed 
 antlers has recently been seen in Mr. Thistlethwayte's 
 forest here, which we hope he may be able to get 
 before the close of the season, to be added to his 
 already very interesting and valuable collection of 
 similar trophies. The other photographs are from 
 across the Atlantic, from Newfoundland, representing 
 such parts of the gigantic Cephalopod as the fishermen 
 were able to show as trophies of their victory over the 
 big-eyed, parrot-beaked monster in the memorable 
 battle of Conception Bay, about a twelvemonth ago. 
 The Kraken of Scandinavian story may not be such 
 a mere myth after all, as the unbelievers have so long 
 accounted it, when, on the inductive " ex pede Hercu- 
 lem " principle, it is authoritatively asserted that this 
 Briareus-armed monster of the deep must have had a 
 body proper quite 5 feet in diameter and some 50 or 
 GO feet in length. The portion of one of the arms 
 now preserved in the Museum of St. John's, New- 
 foundland, is 19 feet in length, which, fairly estimat- 
 ing the part left attached to the body as of equal, or 
 nearly equal, length, gives to the entire member a 
 length of five-and-thirty or forty feet, its under 
 surface, from its junction with the body to extremest 
 tip, thickly studded with powerful sucking discs — 
 truly formidable weapon ! With black piercing eyes
 
 A MONSTER OF THE DEEP. 25 
 
 " of intense ferocity," larger than the biggest gold-fish 
 glass globe, and a hard and horny parrot beak " as big 
 as a six gallon keg " that could crack a cocoa-nut as 
 easily as if it were an empty egg-shell, add to which an 
 inexhaustible supply of ink (sepia), of which it can 
 eject gallons together at will to make turbid the sea, 
 and thereby stupify and confuse its prey, and you 
 have a marine monster as formidable as can be well 
 imagined. Even with the fiercest shark an expert 
 swimmer may have some chance ; once within sweep 
 of the arms of such a monster as this, absolutely none. 
 We may state, as an additional proof for the existence 
 of such monster Cephalopods in the North Atlantic, 
 the fact that a ten-armed specimen, 7 feet in length 
 and 5 feet in circumference, has recently been captured 
 in a net in Logy Bay, N.F. Two of the arms in this 
 animal, which has fortunately been preserved complete 
 in all its points, are no less than 24 feet in length, 
 armed with formidable sucking discs to their tips. 
 When we meet with such a baby " cuttle " as this, 
 what dimensions may not a centenarian Cephalopod 
 arrive at ? Fishes, and all sorts of marine animals, if 
 they escape their natural enemies, are essentially long- 
 lived ; and a cuttle of this gigantic species once attain- 
 ing its full growth, and safely arrived at the years of 
 cephalopodal discretion, might well be supposed to live 
 through the greater part of a century, or even longer. 
 Full-grown and full-armed, such a monster could 
 hardly meet with many enemies willing to venture, 
 on any pretence whatever, within reach of his terrible 
 disc-armed, cable -like tentaculse of 50 feet in length, 
 with the inward parrot-beak ready to act as the arms 
 slowly contracted !
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mild February — Birds in the Love Season — The Starry Heavens — Meteors — 
 Rabies — Its origin — How communicated — Extinction. 
 
 With the exception of one very wet and wild day, 
 ushered in by a night of bright aurora — the first 
 aurora of the season, by the way — February has thus 
 far been exceptionally genial and mild, with more of 
 bright sunshine within a single fortnight than could 
 honestly be placed by any fair apportionment to the 
 credit of the four preceding months together. Our 
 wild-bird favourites are jubilant and joyous beyond 
 measure, in full plumage, and already almost in full 
 song, from earliest dawn to the fading of twilight into 
 star-lit night, making wild-wood, copse, and hedge- 
 row vocal with their exquisite melodies. Even the 
 hoarse caw of the industrious rook, if not exactly 
 " musical as is Apollo's lute," is yet very far from 
 being unpleasant, and you feel as you listen that it 
 has an honest, frank, and cheery ring about it, which 
 tells you as plainly as plain can be that it is the very 
 best note at the command of a rook over head and 
 ears in love, and, except the small cares and anxieties 
 ever attendant on the tender passion, as happy and 
 comfortable, he would reply if you questioned him, 
 as on any St. Valentine's day within his recollection. 
 A bird in love is just as ridiculous as his more pre- 
 tentious featherless brother-biped in similar circum- 
 stances, and that is saying a great deal ; and of all
 
 THE ORNITHOLOGICAL ART OF LOVE. 27 
 
 bipeds a rook in love, and throughout the early 
 honeymoon, is perhaps the most comical and amusing. 
 No intelligent observer can watch them day by day at 
 this season, as we do, without being forced, nolens 
 volens, into many a loud laugh at the oddity of their 
 proceedings, nor are valuable additions to one's stock 
 of philosophy awanting on such occasions. The red- 
 breast, too, pert and pertinacious as ever, is now in his 
 glory, constantly pouring forth the liquid riches of his 
 mellow song, which, probably because of the common- 
 ness of the bird, and for no better reason, fanciers do 
 not, we think, half enough admire. And, look ! 
 emerging mouse-like from a crevice in the coping of 
 yonder wall, the wren, hardiest and pluckiest of 
 British birds, albeit the least, with mens soma in corpore 
 sano legibly written in his every look and gesture, and 
 a cheeriness that is perfectly contagious, as you listen, 
 in every note of his mellirluously pure and clear and 
 oft -repeated song. Of Earl Russell it was said, when 
 he was plain Lord John, that he had cheek enough to 
 undertake anything, were it even the command of the 
 Channel Fleet, at a day's notice, or a lithotomical 
 operation, if it came in his way, and a surgeon wasn't 
 at the moment handy. Our wren, for cheekiness and 
 pluck, is a bird of precisely similar feather. If the 
 Sylviadce had a fleet, he would at once volunteer as its 
 admiral, and would, we make no doubt, prove a very 
 Nelson on the quarter-deck, as he never fails to prove 
 himself a Napoleon in copse and hedgerow. Never 
 was there so much courage and verve in such a tiny 
 Tom Thumb of a thing : vouns; Lochinvar himself was 
 not " so gallant in love and so dauntless in war." We
 
 2 8 'TW/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 always call him the Little Corporal — Le Petit Corporal, 
 as the French soldiers so fondly styled him — who, pre- 
 judice apart, and when all is said and done, was 
 beyond all question the greatest captain of modern 
 times, as well as one of the greatest men otherwise the 
 world has ever known. Most of our birds are now 
 busy with the important labours of nidification. In 
 some instances the nests are already finished, and the 
 full complement of eggs laid. In another ten days, 
 should the present fine weather continue, incubation 
 will be general among our earlier spring nest -builders. 
 The student of the starry heavens cannot fail to be 
 delighted with the magnificence of our present cloud- 
 less nights, with just that scarcely perceptible tinge of 
 frostiness in the air which so adds to the brilliancy of 
 star and planet. From early evening on to midnight 
 the finest constellations in the heavens sweep by with 
 slow and solemn march, to the heart's ear of the 
 devout gazer — 
 
 " For ever singing as they shine, 
 The hand that made us is divine." 
 
 The gorgeous Orion, with glittering belt and sword, 
 and grand "Cairngorm" of incalculable price and 
 ruddy hue adorning his right shoulder ; Sirius, the 
 brightest of all the starry host, in the mouth of the 
 Greater Dog ; Procyon in the Lesser Dog ; Castor and 
 Pollux ; Virgo, with bright Spica far down on the 
 horizon, graced, too, at present by the presence of the 
 planet Jupiter ; the Lion, with front bold and erect, and 
 brightest Regulus, beside whose lustre and sheen a 
 million Koh-i-noors — mountains of light — rolled into
 
 METEORS AND STARS. 29 
 
 one were but the merest diamond point, diminutive 
 and dim ; the Greater Bear, whose resplendent tail points 
 down to the ruddy Arcturus; Andromeda, Perseus, and 
 Pegasus, and Auriga, with the beautiful Capella; Taurus, 
 with the Hyades and Pleiades, and matchless A Idebaran; 
 Draco, the Northern Crown ; Lyra, and " all the host of 
 them," with other constellations and bright stars well 
 worth the cmzmo- at with reverent intellio-ence and know- 
 ing, so as to be able to recognise and name them in 
 after years, are now visible throughout the evening and 
 night, and claim the attention of every one who would 
 not willingly be ranked with those of whom it is pre- 
 dicated, and with too much truth, that knowing not 
 and caring nothing for these things, they are but " of 
 the earth, earthy." There was a considerable and very 
 pretty display of falling stars on the night of the 12th. 
 The meteors came into visibility near the zenith, and 
 for the most part had a south-easterly course, the 
 principal stream passing through the large gateway of 
 apparently blank space between Sirius and Procyon, 
 and disappearing as they approached the horizon. 
 None of these was of remarkable size. In our first 
 paragraph we said that our only storm of this month 
 was ushered in by a display of aurora. We should 
 have remarked that, with this single exception, the 
 whole of this winter has been altogether auroraless. 
 Not for the quarter of a century during which we have 
 nightly studied the heavens has there been a season 
 so devoid of auroral phenomena as this lias been. 
 Why it should be so no one can tell, but the fact at 
 least is worth the chronicling. 
 
 We have now to direct our reader's attention to
 
 3 o ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 a very disagreeable subject — horresco refer ens — but 
 which ought, nevertheless, to be steadily looked in the 
 face, and, as far as possible, provided against by every 
 wise precaution while it is yet time. We refer to the 
 rapid and alarming spread of rabies, or dog-madness, 
 within the last four months throughout the midland 
 and northern counties of England. We are not aware 
 that the horrid disease, altogether incurable, and in its 
 every stage the most distressing and terrible to which 
 man or animal can be subjected, has as yet crossed the 
 borders ; the isolated cases one reads about from time 
 to time being only what may be looked for any season. 
 In England, however, the scourge has spread to a 
 most alarming extent, many human beings, as well as 
 numbers of dogs, horses, sheep, and horned cattle, 
 having died of it. It is remarkable that all animals 
 seem equally liable to the attacks of this dreadful 
 malady, for when it does not rise spontaneously — and 
 it is a question not yet satisfactorily decided whether 
 it ever does so originate even in dogs — the virus from 
 a rabid animal has only to be anyhow injected into the 
 blood of the healthy animal, and that animal, after a 
 longer or shorter interval, becomes raving mad — a 
 madness, alas, for which there is as yet no known 
 cure! — and after some days of indescribable agony, dies 
 a horrible and cruel death. No experiments, we 
 believe, have ever been made with a view to ascer- 
 tain whether fishes and reptiles can be inoculated with 
 the rabid poison ; probably not, though we make no 
 doubt that the Cetacea and Phocidce, at least — the 
 whale and seal tribes— if duly inoculated, would prove 
 just as susceptible to the disease as our terrestrial
 
 RABIES IN THE DOG. 31 
 
 mammals. A common opinion is that dog-mad- 
 ness is greatly more prevalent in hot than in cold 
 weather, that it is, in fact, entirely or in a great 
 measure due to intense heat — the weather of the " doo-- 
 days ; " but all the statistics that have been collected 
 go to prove that the disease is confined to no particular 
 season, and that, in our country at least, it is if any- 
 thing rather more common in winter and spring than 
 in summer and autumn. Another popular fallacy is 
 that rabid dogs will not drink nor even look at water 
 but with the utmost repugnance and horror. This, 
 which is perfectly true of human beings suffering 
 under this disease, is by no means true of dogs and 
 other animals. The latter will not only attempt to 
 drink, though they always seem to have the greatest 
 difficulty in swallowing any, but when they come 
 across a river or pond, will frequently wade in, and 
 even lie down in it at length, as if to cool the raging 
 fever of their blood, for rabies, though generally 
 attended by much nervous suffering, is clearly enough 
 of the nature of pure blood-poisoning. It is curious 
 that dog-madness should be unknown, or at all events 
 extremely rare, in such hot countries as Egypt, Con- 
 stantinople, and its neighbourhood, South Africa, 
 Syria, and South Sea Islands, where dogs swarm and 
 run at large, for the most part ownerless and master- 
 less, and feeding almost entirely on such offal and 
 garbage as they pick up in their wanderings. In the 
 extreme north, too, among the Esquimaux and Siberian 
 dogs, rabies is, we believe, altogether unknown, It 
 would thus seem to be mainly confined to the Tem- 
 perate Zones. The serpent's poison, the reader is aware,
 
 32 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GIENCOE. 
 
 is injected into the victim in a concentrated form, 
 through the grooved and hollow fang, from a gland 
 reservoir specially provided for the purpose. The 
 rabies poison, on the contrary, is in the affected 
 animal's saliva, and the virus is generally communi- 
 cated by the teeth in the act of biting. We say 
 generally, for it has been abundantly proved that the 
 malady may be communicated, not only by the teeth 
 in biting, but also by the nails of a dog and the claws 
 of a cat, the only explanation in the latter case being 
 that the disease, being attended by severe spasmodic 
 contractions of the throat, and the mouth being full of 
 a viscid, glairy saliva, wherein lurks the poison, the 
 doo- and cat, as is their habit, rubbing their paws 
 along and around their muzzles for relief, some of the 
 saliva sticks to their pads and claws, and thus, when 
 the skin is abraded and blood drawn by a scratch, 
 the dreadful poison is instantly communicated, and, 
 the fell disease entering into the circulation, the victim 
 is irrevocably doomed to several days, sooner or later, 
 of excruciating agony, ending in the most terrible of 
 all deaths. We have seen several instances of canine 
 madness, and once a sad case of hydrophobia, as the 
 disease in the human subject is properly termed, and 
 the reader may well believe that we have no wish to 
 see it in man or beast again. All who happen to be 
 bitten or scratched, so that blood is drawn, by dog, 
 cat, or other animal, should at once consult the nearest 
 surgeon, who will do what in his judgment is best in 
 the particular case. An application of nitrous acid 
 to the injured part has, in the experience of many 
 medical men of eminence, been found most efficacious
 
 RABIES IN THE DOG. z$ 
 
 in neutralising the virus. When a dog is observed to 
 lose his appetite, and has a wild staring look ; to be 
 sullen and fidgety, and heedless of his master s orders 
 and earesses ; begins to eat straw, hair, and other 
 such stuffs, frequently rubbing his mouth and nose 
 with his paws, and constantly lapping at any liquid 
 that comes in his way, though manifestly able to 
 swallow little or none of it ; when, after hiding in 
 some corner and shunning observation for a time, he 
 suddenly runs about excitedly, becomes quarrelsome, 
 attempts to bite such animals as come in his way, and 
 frequently howls rather than barks, that animal should 
 instantly be shut up where he can do no harm to any 
 other animal, or, best of all, should incontinently be 
 shot, for in all such cases it is best to err on the safe 
 side ; and all other animals suspected to be under the 
 influence of the mania should be similarly dealt with. 
 The most effectual way of dealing with the rinderpest 
 was found to be " stamping out ; " let rabies be treated 
 in the same way, for every attempt at successful treat- 
 ment and cure is attended with danger, and is, besides, 
 of no avail. Dog-madness has been known from very 
 early times, there being some expressions in the Old 
 Testament Scriptures that seem to refer to it. It is 
 clearly enough spoken of by Aristotle, Pliny, and 
 Horace, the first remarking that all animals except 
 man are subject to its attacks. We have long known, 
 from sad experience, how mistaken was the philosopher 
 in making any such exception. The subject has not 
 been examined with all the care and attention it un- 
 questionably merits.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Unfavourable Harvest — Patience and Resignation of Highlanders under adverse 
 circumstances — Tunny captured at Corran Ferry — Its characteristics — 
 Tunny Steaks. 
 
 We fear that a respectable South-country shepherd's 
 prophecy some weeks ago has little chance of fulfil- 
 ment. He averred, with a grave, meteorological shake 
 of the head, that, bad as was the weather then, we 
 should have " a grand backend o' hairst." We have 
 now entered upon the " backend o' hairst," and there 
 are as yet little, or rather no signs of improvement. 
 For more than a score of years, at least, our crops all 
 over the West Coast have not been gathered so 
 unsatisfactorily ; and the worst of it is that there is 
 much still to gather, which must be poor feeding stuff 
 after all the rain it has got, come now what weather 
 may. One would think that our small crofters, whose 
 all may be said to depend on the favourableness or 
 otherwise of the harvest, would, in such a season as 
 this, grumble loudly, or at least wear an air of 
 despondency and gloom ; but this is not the case, nor 
 have we ever known it to be the case, even in more 
 disastrous times, when our Highlanders suffered Ions' 
 and severely, yet bore it all with admirable patience 
 and resignation. In recently talking this matter over 
 with one older and wiser than ourselves — one, too, 
 who has had opportunities of studying the Celtic 

 
 CHARACTER OF THE HIGHLANDERS. 35 
 
 character such as are afforded to few — we were 
 surprised to hear him attribute this uncomplaining 
 patience in misfortune to a deep tinge of fatalism in 
 the Celtic mind, a mere helpless acquiescence, so to 
 speak, in the inevitable, indicative, he thought, of 
 their Eastern origin. The suggestion is a curious one, 
 and might be made the subject of a very interesting 
 treatise. Meantime we had to differ from our learned 
 friend, attributing, as we do, the patience and fortitude 
 referred to, to something higher and holier than blind 
 fatalism ; to a pious acquiescence in, and resignation 
 to, the Divine will : the cloud, to the Celtic eye of 
 faith, invariably having its silver lining, the overcast 
 sky its bow of promise. The Highlander, in such 
 circumstances, calls not fatalism, but true piety, truer 
 because of its unostentatiousness, to aid. He thinks 
 and feels as the ancient prophet thought and felt 
 when he exclaimed, " Although the fig-tree shall not 
 blossom, nor fruit be in the vines ; though the labour 
 of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no 
 meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and 
 there shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet will I rejoice 
 in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation ! " 
 Thus beautifully paraphrased in words that every 
 Highlander has by heart,— 
 
 " Chaoidh ged nach toir crann fige blath, 
 'S nach fas air fion-chrann meas ; 
 Saoth'r a chroinii oladh ged a threig, 
 'S fas deis gun bhi air slios ; 
 Gach treud o'n mhainnir ged a bliuail, 
 Grad fhuathas 'nuair nach saoil : 
 Greigh ged nach fag an t-Earrach cruaidh, 
 No bb air uachdar raoin ;
 
 36 'TJVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 " Gidheadh 'san Triath bidh raise ait 
 Is ni mi uaill 'na ghradh 
 Mor aoibhneas ni mi ann am Dhia ; 
 'S e Dia mo shlaint' gu brath ! " 
 
 The English paraphrase is good — uncommonly good — 
 one of the very best in the collection ; but the Gaelic 
 is splendid, with the true Hebraic ring about it from 
 first to last. Earnestly and honestly sung, to such a 
 beautiful and. plaintive air as "Pembroke," for example, 
 by a whole churchful of devout worshippers, with the 
 heavy rain-drops pattering upon the window-panes 
 the while, and the stooks in ragged rows still afield, 
 as we recently heard it, the effect is as solemn and 
 striking as can well be imagined. 
 
 A rare fish was recently run ashore just under the 
 lighthouse at the narrows of Corran Ferry. Several 
 whales were at the time passing in with the flood-tide, 
 and it is thought that they must have hunted the 
 stranger until he had no other way of escape than 
 flinging himself bodily high and dry upon the beach. 
 A gentleman who happened to be passing ran for an 
 axe, and gave the animal its coup de grace as it 
 flopped about and floundered upon the shingle. 
 Owing to some stupidity — so rare, however, in our 
 neighbourhood as to be in this case readily pardoned — 
 Ave got no word of the matter till some days after- 
 wards, when, unfortunately, before we could reach it, 
 an unusually high tide and an equinoctial gale had 
 carried off the fish no one knew whither. Our 
 excellent friend Mr Macmillan of Aryhualan, who saw 
 the fish, and examined it minutely, gave us such a 
 clear and precise description of it as convinced us that
 
 THE TUNNY FISH. 
 
 37 
 
 we knew it ; and drawing with his riding switch a 
 rough outline of the fish on the puddled road, we 
 were certain in the matter, and had no difficulty in at 
 once, then and there, giving our verdict. It was the 
 Tunny, the Thynnus vulgaris of ichthyologists, a 
 common fish in the Mediterranean, but rare on the 
 British coasts, and rarest of all in our north-western 
 seas. It is a large fish ; this specimen, we are assured, 
 must have weighed nearly a ton. If we say that his 
 weight in the gross was half & ton, we shall probably 
 not be far wrong. If the people about only knew it, 
 this fish was as good as a winter " mart " to any one 
 taking the trouble to cut and cure it ; and its head 
 and viscera would have yielded some ten or a dozen 
 gallons of the purest oil. The tunny is of the 
 mackerel family, the Scomberidce, its vast rotundity 
 and thickness of body, and crescent-shaped tail, being 
 its distinguishing characteristics. In the Mediter- 
 ranean, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Hellespont, 
 it is common ; and the tunny fisheries at certain 
 places are quite as important, if not more so, than our 
 own herring fisheries in the North of Scotland and the 
 Hebrides in their season. The flesh, if the term be 
 allowable, of the tunny is excellent. Cut fresh in 
 slices or steaks, it is, in the opinion of many, better 
 than the best salmon. It is rich and succulent 
 without being too rich, more like young beef than 
 anything else that it can be compared with. A 
 nobleman, whose many yachting cruises over the blue 
 waves of the Mediterranean have made him intelli- 
 gently conversant with its natural history, writes as 
 follows in answer to a note of inquiry with which we
 
 38 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 took the liberty to trouble him : — " Your Corran fish 
 was certainly a tunny ; the description will fit no 
 other fish that I know. Pity you did not get hold of 
 him : a tunny broil is first-rate. I have eaten it a 
 hundred times, and, properly done, it is a feast for 
 priest or presbyter. Keep a good look-out, for there 
 was probably a shoal of them ; they rarely travel 
 singly, and, if they are headed in shallow water, are 
 easily driven ashore. Let me know if any more turn 
 up, and I shall send you a recipe for tunny broil and 
 all about the curing of them. If the tunny only took 
 it into its head to become as plentiful in your lochs as 
 in some parts of the Mediterranean, it would be a 
 fortune to you all." Should any more tunnies really 
 ' ' turn up," the reader shall not fail to hear of it.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Popular Superstitions — The Water-Bull — His Bridle. 
 
 There is much in the popular superstition of the 
 Highlands, even when it deals with the supernatural, 
 that is perfectly harmless, and a great deal that 
 is very beautiful and suggestive to the unpre- 
 judiced and thoughtful investigator ; but its absurdities 
 are endless, and so ridiculously silly at times, as to 
 make one wonder how such transparent nonsense 
 could find shelter within the pale of honest popular 
 belief for a single hour. Some things are so perfectly 
 childish, so certainly without any possibly conceivable 
 raison d'etre, that you cannot conceive how any one 
 out of petticoats and pinafore can listen to them with 
 patience, far less repeat them with grave imperturbed 
 visage and seriously avowed belief. It is, however, 
 we suppose, of the very nature and essence of popular 
 superstition, that amidst much that is harmless and 
 beautiful, possible and poetical, there shall be a great 
 deal that is at once ridiculously childish and absurdly 
 impossible. What strikes us as a very absurd article 
 of superstitious belief came under our notice for the 
 first time only a day or two ago. The reader must 
 know that the Water Kelpy of the south of Scotland 
 is also a prominent character in Highland supersti- 
 tion. The kelpy, or uirisg, is generally represented 
 as of the male sex ; of a form rude, indeed, and
 
 4 o ' TIVIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 grotesque, but, upon the whole, of human shape ; cross 
 and ill-tempered, delighting in forboding and wit- 
 nessing calamity, but to be propitiated and readily 
 attached to such as have the courage to treat him with 
 confidence and kindness. In the south the kelpy is 
 an inhabitant indifferently of rivers and lakes, while 
 in the Highlands he is almost always associated with 
 solitary rivers, where they wind their murmuring way 
 through wild and uninhabited glens, or with those 
 deep, dark, eddying cauldron pools that mountain 
 torrents so frequently scoop out for themselves as they 
 plunge and roar adown the steep in their mad and 
 headlong gallop to the sea. Thus the kelpy of the 
 south and the uirisg of the north are, upon the 
 whole, identical ; half human, half demoniac, to be 
 shunned and avoided if possible ; but, if accidentally 
 encountered, to be conciliated and caressed, never to 
 be openly challenged or defied. But while the waters 
 of the south can only boast of their kelpy, those of 
 the north are the habitation not only of the uirisg, but 
 of the water-horse and water-bull (An t'Each Uisge, 
 'san Tarbh Uisge) as well. These last are painted on 
 that tablet of the popular mind consecrated to super- 
 stition, as, upon the whole, of the same shape and 
 form as the more kindly quadrupeds after whom they 
 have been named, but larger, fiercer, and with an 
 amount of " devilment " and cunning about them of 
 which the latter fortunately manifest no trace. They 
 are always fat and sleek, and so full of strength, and 
 spirit, and life, that the neighing of the one and the 
 bellowing of the other frequently awake the mountain 
 echoes to their inmost recesses for miles and miles
 
 THE WATER-HORSE OF THE HIGHLANDS. 41 
 
 around. The habitation of the water-horse and water- 
 bull is not the sluggish river or mountain torrent pool, 
 which belong of right to the uirisg only, but the 
 solitary inland lakes and dark mountain tarns rarely 
 seen by other eyes than those of the red deer in his 
 many wanderings, and of the eagle, as, on the look- 
 out for prey, he gracefully circles round on tireless 
 wino-s as far above the clouds as the clouds are above 
 the mountain tops. Calves and foals are the result of 
 occasional intercourse between these animals and their 
 more civilised domestic conveners, such calves bearino; 
 unmistakeable proofs of their mixed descent in the 
 unusual size and pendulousness of their ears, and the 
 wide aquatic spread of their jet black hoofs ; the foals 
 in their clean limbs, large flashing eyes, red distended 
 nostrils, and fiery spirit. The initiated still pretend 
 to point out cattle with more or less of this question- 
 able blood in them, in almost every drove of pure 
 Highland cows and heifers you like to bring under 
 their notice. The intercourse between these demon 
 quadrupeds and the domestic breed is now necessarily 
 rarer than in the olden times, when all the crofters of 
 a hamlet sent their cattle and horses to summer 
 sheiling grazings among the hills, where lakes and 
 tarns, the dark, deep homes of the water-horse and 
 water-bull, abounded. Even to this day, however, if 
 a young heifer gives much trouble in the milking, and 
 is recalcitrant and reluctant to have her head bound 
 up in her stall, and her feet confined in the buarach 
 or milking shackle, it may be gravely suspected that 
 she has more or less of the old water-bull blood in her 
 veins ; while horses having the points already indi-
 
 42 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 cated, and much given to shying in the day-time 
 without apparent cause, and a fondness when out at 
 grass for wading through rivers and streams, and 
 standing in listless meditative mood by the margin of 
 pools, may be confidently set down as descendants in a 
 nearer or remoter degree of some demon steed pro- 
 genitor. The lakes of Llundavra and Achtriachtan, 
 in Glencoe, both in our immediate neighbourhood, 
 were at one time celebrated for their water-bulls, 
 while Loch Treig could at once boast of the magni- 
 ficent eagles that made its encircling mountain clefts 
 their favourite breeding-place, and of the largest, 
 wildest, fiercest breed of water-horses in the world. 
 Rarey, with some difficulty, managed to tame 
 " Cruiser," 
 
 " Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer," 
 
 with all his devilry ; suggest to a Lochaber or. 
 Rannoch Highlander that the same distinguished 
 American hippothist could clap a saddle on one of the 
 demon steeds of Loch Treig, as he issues in the grey 
 dawn, snorting, from his crystal paved sub-lacustral 
 stalls, and he would answer, with a look of mingled 
 horror and aw r e, "Impossible!" The water-horse would 
 tear him into a thousand pieces with his teeth, and 
 trample and pound him into pulp with his jet black, 
 iron-hard, though unshod hoofs ! 
 
 The reader will now have a better idea of the 
 absurdity of the following superstition. We were 
 talking to an old woman about a man whom we both 
 knew w T ell, and who has been wonderfully successful 
 in life ; from very small beginnings having become a
 
 THE WATER-HORSE BRIDLE. 43 
 
 person of considerable substance in horses, cattle, and 
 lands. We remarked that it was curious how every- 
 thing he took in hand seemed to prosper with him. 
 The old lady agreed with us, but observed that what 
 he owed his success to wasn't so much of a mystery 
 after all ; that she and some others knew it, and had 
 long known it. We earnestly begged for further 
 enlightenment on the subject, and being somewhat of 
 a favourite with the good old lady, she promised to 
 gratify our curiosity, if we called on her in the 
 evening, when she should be quite alone. We did 
 call on her in the evening, and when we had shut the 
 door and barred it at her request, she invited us to a 
 seat by the ingle cheek, and in a low voice informed 
 us that the secret of the success in life of the man 
 about whom we had been speaking in the forenoon 
 was that he possessed a water-horse bridle, srian Eich- 
 Uisge. "A water-horse bridle!" we exclaimed, hiding, 
 however, our astonishment and inclination to laugh 
 outright under an assumed air of simple curiosity. 
 "Where in the world did he get hold of such a thing?" 
 " I can tell you all about it," she continued. " His 
 granduncle, who was a drover, was once returning 
 home from a cattle market at Pitlochry, in Perthshire. 
 As he was coming through the Moor of Kannoch the 
 night overtook him, but as it was in the autumn time, 
 and the moon rose full and bright behind him, he 
 continued his journey as easily as if it was the clear 
 noonday ; and he was, besides, perfectly acquainted 
 with the way, having often travelled it at all seasons. 
 With his stick in his hand, and his plaid over his 
 shoulder, he walked along hastily, without stop or halt,
 
 44 "TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 till lie reached Lochanna Cuile, where he sat down to 
 refresh himself with some bread and cheese, and a 
 bottle of milk he had got at a shepherd's house on the 
 way ; for Domhnull Mot Drobhair, as they called 
 him, was a very sober man, and seldom drank w^hisky. 
 As he sat on a stone by the side of the lake he saw 
 something glittering in the moonlight, which, on 
 taking it up, he found to be a horse-bridle. Domhnull 
 M6r carried the bridle home with him, and was 
 surprised next morning to find that the bit and 
 buckles were of pure silver, and the reins of a soft and 
 beautifully speckled sort of leather, such as he had 
 never seen before. What astonished him most was, 
 that on touching the silver bit it felt so hot as to be 
 unbearable. He was very much frightened as well as 
 astonished, and now wished that he had let it lie where 
 he found it. It was only when a ' wise woman ' was 
 sent for from a neighbouring glen that the truth 
 became known. She declared it to be a water-horse's 
 bridle, the bit of deep down, subterranean silver still 
 retaining part of the heat which belonged to it in its 
 primeval molten state. The reins, she said, were the 
 skin of Buarach-Baoibh, a sort of magical serpents, 
 dreadfully poisonous, that frequent such rivers and 
 lakes as are inhabited by the kelpy and water-horse. 
 The ' wise woman ' directed the bridle to be hung up 
 on a cromag or crook made of rowan tree, which, 
 while permitting free escape for all its beneficial 
 influences, would yet effectually check the radiation of 
 any evil that might be inherent in it. This was 
 done, and from that day forward Domhnull Mor was 
 fortunate and successful in all his undertakings. At
 
 THE WATER-HORSE BRIDLE. 45 
 
 his death, having no family of his own, he bequeathed 
 the magic bridle to his grandnephew, the present 
 owner; and this man has been prosperous just because 
 of the possession of a water-horse ' bridle of luck.' ' 
 "But how," we asked, "do water-horses happen to have 
 bridles \ Who could ride or drive them % and if they 
 can neither be driven or ridden, why should they 
 have bridles ? " " Thomas the Rhymer," the old lady 
 replied, " or some other magician and prophet of the 
 olden time now detained in Fairyland, is destined yet 
 to reappear upon earth with some companions almost 
 as powerful as himself; then shall the water-horses be 
 bridled and saddled by a brave company of Scottish- 
 men from Fairyland, some Highland, some Lowland, 
 bridled and saddled, and fearlessly mounted ; a great 
 battle will be fought ; all Englishmen and other 
 foreigners will be driven out of the country ; the 
 crown will again revert to the rightful heirs, and 
 Scotland once again become a free, independent, and 
 happy kingdom ! " 
 
 Such, in substance, is a very respectable old lady's 
 account of a superstition which, on inquiry, we find 
 to be known, and more or less believed in, everywhere. 
 There is much in it, as we have said, that is puerile 
 and absurd ; but thoughtful students of such matters, 
 accustomed to look under the surface of things, 
 will, we daresay, also find in it not a little that is 
 poetical and beautiful, and more instructively sug- 
 gestive as a whole than is possible of detection to the 
 mere cursory glance of uninitiated and careless out- 
 siders.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Winter Solstice — Homer — "A fire when it cheerily blazes" — Bird-Catchers — 
 Their character — Greenfinch — Crossbill— Chaffinch — Blackbirds sent to 
 America. 
 
 As we approach the winter solstice, the weather is 
 rapidly becoming colder and colder, and after the in- 
 dispensable matutinal tub, the first plunge into which 
 sets your teeth on edge, one begins to rummage his 
 drawers in search of the thickest and warmest articles 
 of clothing he can put on. A fire in your parlour is 
 now indispensable ; if one could afford it, a fire is always 
 a good thing. Every room has, or ought to have, its 
 grate, and every grate should decidedly have its fire, 
 in such a humid climate as ours, not " once a week, " 
 but " all the year round. " Homer is not only facile 
 princeps " Father of Verse" and king of poets — one 
 and indivisible, let the Germans yelp to the contrary 
 as they may — but one of the wisest of men as well. 
 The grand old gaberlunzie once landed on the island 
 of Samos, so runs the story, cold and chill, from off a 
 long-protracted sea voyage. He arrived at a house 
 wherein happened that evening to be a feast in honour 
 of the gods. Homer was hungry, as you may suppose, 
 and, bard-like, thirsty too, you may be sure. But as 
 he stood on the threshold, and viewed the company 
 and goodly table groaning under its consecrated load, 
 he made no mention of his joy at sight of meat and
 
 " A FIRE WHEN IT CHEERIL Y BLAZES." 47 
 
 drink, but of a good, blazing fire, as being the best of 
 good things, in unimpeachable Greek hexameters, which 
 our good friend, Professor Blackie, has admirably 
 rendered into English as follows : — 
 
 " Children bring glory to men ; strong towers are the praise of 
 
 a city ; 
 Steeds are the pride of the plain ; swift ships the boast of the 
 
 ocean ; 
 Riches adorn a house ; and when kings in the Forum are seated, 
 Glad is the eye that beholds the purple pomp of their session ; 
 But of the family hall, the praise, and the pride, and the glory, 
 Boast and honour supreme, is a fire when it cheerily blazes ! " 
 
 Homer is right ; and a fire, " when it cheerily blazes, " 
 is the antidote to a thousand domestic discomforts, and 
 we beg all good housewives to remember the fact. 
 Depend upon it that in presence of a tidy fireside and 
 a bright and cheery fire the inevitable grumbling over 
 such annoyances and discomforts as buttonless shirts, 
 ill-cooked dinners, and other such domestic desagre- 
 rnents, will be reduced to a minimum, if it be not con- 
 verted into such good-natured banter as leaves no 
 clouds behind it. The popularity of a well-known 
 song is mainly due, we take it, to the beauty and cheery 
 suggestiveness of its refrain, that so happily celebrates 
 the comforts and agreements of the " bonnie blythe 
 blink " of one's "ain fireside." Those conversant with 
 vital statistics will bear us out in the assertion that 
 fires, altogether irrespective of their moral and sesthetic 
 aspects, are as necessary as food itself to robust health 
 and longevity. 
 
 A peripatetic bird-catcher, with whom we have been 
 long acquainted, a man, too, of much more intelligence
 
 4 8 ' TIVIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 and good sense than is usually met with in people of 
 his class, brought us a curiosity a few days ago in the 
 shape of a bird, the identity of which puzzled him 
 extremely. He could make nothing of it, unless it 
 was a male canary that had somehow escaped from 
 captivity, and had devoted its freedom to the com- 
 panionship and fortunes of a flock of chaffinches, out 
 of which it was recaptured. We, too, were for the 
 moment puzzled, but, on minute examination, the bird 
 proved to be a greenfinch (Loxia Chloris, Linn.). The 
 difficulty arose from its very unusual plumage. The 
 head, neck, and all along one side was bright yellow, 
 exactly like the yellow-hammer's spring plumage, while 
 the other side was of a dull white, except the tips of 
 the quill feathers, which were jet black. We should 
 like to have kept it, but, as a curiosity, it was worth 
 more money to the poor man than we could well afford 
 to give for it ; and it seemed sickly, besides, and not 
 likely to live long in captivity, even if we had it. We 
 have long since remarked that among, birds pure 
 albinos, which are by no means uncommon, and such as 
 present any very marked colourings different from 
 those generally obtaining in the order, are in captivity 
 invariably sickly and short-lived. We may therefore 
 conclude that instances of abnormal colouring in beasts 
 and birds are to be attributed to some constitutional 
 derangement, which first manifests itself in this way, 
 and sooner or later causes death. This man had at 
 least a hundred birds in cages slung around him, and 
 was very proud of his load. To him the money value 
 of the lot was perhaps £10 or £12, and that, of course, 
 was no small consideration, but we really believe he
 
 THE BIRD-CATCHER. 49 
 
 liked the birds for their own sakes ; for, while he sat 
 in our kitchen, we noticed that he fed them very 
 liberally, giving them at the same time a drink all 
 round, and otherwise treating them with the greatest 
 gentleness and affection. Two or three of the birds had 
 been in his possession for years, and he assured us he 
 wouldn't part with them for any money. They were 
 splendid singers, and probably valuable from their 
 docility as decoy or call birds. It was pleasant to 
 notice that on being fed many of the birds began to 
 sing merrily ; nor did they cease when the man slung 
 the ca^es on his shoulders, and took to the road, so 
 weather-hardened that he seemed not to care a whit for 
 the wind and rain that beat and battered him as he 
 trudged along. The feathered captives in this instance 
 were mostly linnets and goldfinches ; and besides the 
 oddly coloured greenfinch already mentioned, the only 
 other bird that particularly attracted our attention was 
 a Crossbill (Loxia curviostra, Linn.), which he told us 
 he had captured shortly before in the neighbourhood 
 of Ardverikie, in Badenoch. This last is so rare a bird 
 on the West Coast, that, on turning to our common- 
 place book, we can find mention of only a single speci- 
 men that was shot many years ago somewhere about 
 Tirindrish, in Brae-Lochaber, and which, through the 
 kindness of the Be v. Mr. Fraser, now minister of Fearn, 
 found its way as a stuffed specimen into our own col- 
 lection. The reader will perhaps be slow to credit it, but 
 w T e have good reason to believe that this particular bird- 
 catcher, however it be with the rest of the fraternity, 
 is worth upwards of a couple of hundred pounds, 
 safely lodged in bank, every shilling of it made from 
 
 D
 
 50 'TJV/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 his profession of bird-catching. He is of course a 
 perfectly steady and sober man, else the thing had 
 been impossible ; nor must we forget the fact that 
 during what he emphatically called the "deid months 
 o' the year," when bird-catching is impossible, or at 
 all events unprofitable, he is a bird-trainer — training 
 and teaching his linnets, siskins, and goldfinches to 
 sing little airs, which he plays to them on the flute or 
 Jew's harp, and to perform such pretty tricks and feats 
 of cleverness as best illustrate the intelligence and 
 docility of the feathered performers. For the best of 
 these, he assured us, he sometimes got a guinea, and 
 even more when he could produce a pair of about 
 equal cleverness that could perform their tricks 
 together, and warble their songs in concert. The best 
 birds, he told us, are disposed of without difficulty at 
 home, principally in the manufacturing districts, where 
 well-to-do operative artisans never grudge the highest 
 price for a perfectly healthy and well-trained bird. 
 Within the last five years he has sold upwards of forty 
 dozen linnets, green, gold, and chaffinches, mostly 
 newly caught and untrained, to go to America and the 
 colonies, where they command such high prices as 
 handsomely repay all the trouble and expense of their 
 capture and transportation. Considering the delicacy 
 of these little beauties, the per-centage of deaths, even 
 amongst those sent long voyages, is very small. 
 Amongst those sent to America, for instance, the death- 
 rate, he assured us, was under 20 per cent. ; and, with 
 more attention than is generally bestowed upon them 
 on the voyage, he believed that, under skilful manage- 
 ment, even this death-rate might be largely diminished.
 
 THE BIRD-CATCHER. 51 
 
 One of this man's most successful overturns in recent 
 years was the despatch last spring of five dozen coral- 
 billed cock blackbirds by steamer from Liverpool to 
 Philadelphia, where they all arrived safely except seven, 
 and were readily sold at prices ranging from three to 
 five dollars a piece, leaving him, after payment of all 
 expenses, a clear profit of nearly two dollars per head, 
 or something like twenty pounds sterling on the trans- 
 action. When overtaken, too, by a long tract of wet 
 weather on his bird-catching perambulations through 
 the country (bird-lime, you must now, is useless in the 
 wet, nor can birds in rainy weather be readily lured to 
 the vicinity of the clap-net), he can always employ his 
 leisure time profitably in the manufacture of bird cages 
 of all shapes and sizes, and neater cages than some of 
 those made by him we have never seen. One word in 
 conclusion in favour of bird-catchers as a class. Some 
 of them are sorry wretches enough, out at elbows and 
 out at heels, ragged and wretched-looking in the ex- 
 treme, but you almost invariably find them intelligent 
 and ready witted, with a delicacy and refinement of 
 speech and manner which has always struck us as sur- 
 prising, and which we can in nowise satisfactorily 
 account for, except on the supposition that, passing so 
 much of their time in solitude, and necessarily moving 
 about quietly and cautiously, always on their guard, 
 as it were, gives them the habit of using a subdued and 
 gentle tone of speech, which is not only, as the poet 
 avers, "a most excellent thing in woman," but, as a 
 rule, in man as well ; while the constant companion- 
 ship of such gentle and pretty creatures as they make 
 captive has doubtless its effect in making them kindly
 
 52 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 mannered, good-natured, and cheery. If you take the 
 trouble to compare them, you will find that the bird- 
 catcher is not only infinitely above every conceivable 
 description of tramp, but a gentleman in word and 
 deed, even when compared with the best class of 
 travelling packmen, and the peripatetic vendors of 
 stationery and small ware. We had rather, of course, 
 that there were no bird-catchers ; but bird-catchers 
 know birds, and he who knows a bird knows more 
 than the world wots of.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Macdonells of Glengarry — Sale of the Estate — Creagan-an-Fhithich— 
 The last Family Bard—" Blind Allan." 
 
 There has recently been a discussion on the Mac- 
 donells of Glengarry, and the right still of the repre- 
 sentative of the family to the title, though no longer 
 owner of an acre of the ancient lordship. Such 
 matters are of interest to any Highlander, and we beg 
 leave to contribute the following anecdote to the sub- 
 ject. In the grey dawn of a November morning, 
 many years ago, we were riding in a gig along with 
 our good friend the late Rev. Dr. Macintyre, of Kill- 
 monivaig, from his manse to Fort- Augustus. In pass- 
 ing Invergarry we naturally began to speak of the old 
 family, with whom Dr. Macintyre had been for many 
 years on terms of close intimacy, and of the changed 
 times since the Macdonells were all-powerful, and 
 could well hold their own against all comers, from the 
 heights of Knoydart to Killeanain on Loch Lochy. 
 " I well remember," says Dr. Macintyre, "the day on 
 which it was decided that the lands of Glengarry must 
 be sold. I had been spending the night in the Castle, 
 and was standing in the morning by the breakfast 
 parlour fire when the door opened, and Glengarry 
 entered in his Highland dress, as usual, and with a 
 bundle of papers in his hand." " Mr. Macintyre," he
 
 54 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 quickly observed, " I regret to have to inform you that 
 Glengarry must be sold, and I, your friend Glengarry, 
 be Glengarry no longer ! " " Is it must t " returned 
 Mr. Macintyre ; " is there no alternative?" "None, 
 my good friend," continued the chief, "it is really 
 must ; within a few days Glengarry shall have passed 
 to a stranger." " What must be must be," said Mr. 
 Macintyre, " but, at all events, do not part with 
 ' Creagan-an-fhithich,' the old Raven Rock, the watch- 
 word and gathering cry of your clan ! With ' Creagan- 
 an-fhithich ' yours, you shall still be Glengarry, ' A 
 dh'aiudeoin co 'theireadhe,' gainsay it who may, and 
 placing your back to that steadfast rock, you can 
 exclaim with undaunted front, like James Fitz-James 
 in your friend Scott's Lady of the Lake — 
 
 ' Come one, come all, this rock shall fly 
 From its firm base as soon as I.' " 
 
 " It shall be done ! " said Glengarry, with a proud toss 
 of his head ; " and to this day," continued Dr. Mac- 
 intyre, " I believe that ' Creagan-an-fhithich ' belongs 
 to the representative of Glengarry, whoever he may 
 be, and with the ' Raven Rock ' the titles of Mac-Ic- 
 Alasdair and Glengarry." Such was Dr. Macin tyre's 
 story to us ; and whether the " Raven Rock " was 
 really excepted from the sale or not, we may be certain 
 that its retention was at least in contemplation. 
 
 On the same occasion Dr. Macintyre told us the 
 following anecdote in illustration of Glengarry's ami- 
 ability and frank and kindly manner : — " On that 
 same morning," said the Doctor, " although his mind 
 must have been disagreeably busied about his own 
 affairs, he happened to notice, after we had been talk-
 
 MACDONELL OF GLENGARRY. 55 
 
 ing for a little, a bit of thread, or straw, or feather, or 
 something of that kind in my hair. He stepped for- 
 wards, and, with a smiling ' By your leave, Mr. Mac- 
 intyre,' took the offending waif from my head, and 
 holding it up in his hand, remarked, ' 'S math an 
 sgathan siiil caraid' (' An excellent looking-glass is a 
 true friend's eye'). Driving his carriage one day 
 through the village of Fort-Augustus, he found a 
 certain corner of the street unnecessarily obstructed by 
 a plasterer's or mason's ladder, the owner standing on 
 the topmost round, busily engaged in renovating a house 
 front. Glengarry pulled up, and in a stern voice called 
 out to the mason, ' C'ainm a th'ort a dhuine V ('What 
 is thy name, man ? ') The man looked down, dis- 
 playing a face by no means prepossessing, and deeply 
 pitted besides with the small-pox. ' 'Se Domhnull 
 Grannd as ainm dhomh ' (' Donald Grant is my 
 name!'), pronouncing Grannd, however, like 'Granta,' 
 for he was a north countryman. Glengarry looked at 
 him for a moment, and, with a smile, observing, ' Air 
 m' fhallain gu bhail thu granta da rireamh ' (' By the 
 vestments, but you are well named, for you are Donald 
 Ugly in very truth),' drove leisurely past the obstruc- 
 tion." This Glengarry, Colonel Alexander Ranaldson 
 Macdonell, was perhaps the last Highland chief that 
 had a family bard, and provided abundantly for all his 
 wants. This bard was the well-known Gaelic poet 
 " Allan Dall," or Blind Allan. He was a Macdougall, 
 and originally connected with the Clan Iain of Glen- 
 coe, a sept of the great family of Macdonald, and 
 could thus the more readily attach himself to the 
 family of Glengarry. Every one must know his
 
 56 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 excellent song to the chief who so liberally befriended 
 him : — ■ 
 
 " Faigh a nuas dhuinn am botal, 
 
 'S theid an deoch so mu'n cuairt ; 
 
 Lion barrach an copan, 
 
 Cum socrach a chuach ! 
 
 Tosda Choirneil na feile, 
 
 Leis an eireadh gach buaidh, 
 
 Oighre Chnoideairt a bharraich, 
 
 'S Ghlinne Garaidh na tbuath. 
 
 " Co 'thairneadh ruit riobadh 
 Nuair a thig na bheil 'uat ] 
 Iarl Antruim a Eirinn 
 Leis an eireadh na sluaigb ; 
 Mac-Ic-Ailein nan geur-lann, 
 Dbeanadh euchd air a chuan, 
 Aig am bheil na fir ghleusda 
 'Dhol a reubadh nan stuadh ! " 
 
 Another Gaelic poet befriended by Glengarry was 
 Ewen Maclachlan, "of Aberdeen," whom the big- 
 hearted chief not only patronised as a lank, lean, 
 kilted lad of promising talents, but was always glad to 
 see at his table as an honoured guest in after years, 
 Avhen these talents had raised him to eminence and 
 distinction. " Come," said Glengarry one morning 
 to Maclachlan, who was at the Castle on a visit, 
 " Come and let us call upon my bard, Allan Dall." 
 They went, and on reaching the door of the bard's 
 cottage, Maclachlan, bending and putting his head 
 just within the lintel, exclaimed, "Am beil am bard 
 dall a stigh, a chi gu gle shoilleir V (" Is the blind 
 bard who is yet so clear-sighted in \ ") " Tha mi," 
 readily answered Allan, " 'S cha neil dad air an 
 t'saoghal a b'fhearr learn na sibhse fhaicinn, ge be co
 
 MACDONELL OF GLENGARRY. 57 
 
 sibh ! " ("Yes, I am in, and nothing in the world could 
 so please me as to see you, whoever you may be ! ") 
 With a loud burst of laughter, Glengarry and Mac- 
 lachlan went in, and, with an occasional dram from 
 the bard's bottle— a bottle which, by the liberality of 
 the gallant chief, was but rarely allowed to run dry — 
 listened for hours to his songs, anecdotes, and violin 
 performances, for of Allan it might be asserted, as of 
 Neil Gow himself, that he " played the fiddle weel," 
 and, even more ardently than the Athole musician 
 himself, " dearly lo'ed the whisky, ! " 
 
 Let us add, by way of note, that the Glengarry 
 spoken of here throughout is the celebrated chief, 
 Colonel Alexander Eanaldson Macdonell, who was 
 killed on the rock of Inverscaddle in 1828. In leap- 
 ing ashore from the West Highland steamer, which 
 had been driven on the rock in a gale of wind, his 
 foot slipped ; he fell forward heavily on his head, and 
 sustained such injuries as resulted in his death a few 
 hours thereafter. This Glengarry took a very promi- 
 nent part in the grand reception given by Scotland to 
 George IV. on occasion of the royal visit in 1822. 
 Scott, who knew him well, introduces him into his 
 well-known ballad-song on the occasion — 
 
 " But yonder come my canty Celts, 
 With dirk and pistols at their belts, 
 Thank God, we've still some plaids and kilts — 
 Carle, now the King's come ! 
 
 " Lord, how the pibrochs groan and yell ! 
 Macdonell 's ta'en the field himsell ; 
 Macleod comes branking o'er the fell — 
 Carle, now the King's come."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Weather Prophets and Prophecies — Beauty of the West Highlands in early 
 Summer — " Pedometric " Spring Temperature — Story of a Song-Thrush 
 — A mid-May Idyl. 
 
 The scientific meteorologist is always chary of ven- 
 turing upon anything like positive weather forecasts, 
 and when he does so venture, he is careful to give you 
 the data on which his anticipated weather changes are 
 founded. It is only the sea, we believe, that is 
 generally spoken of as the " treacherous " element, but 
 the meteorologist knows that all the elements are 
 treacherous — treacherous, that is, in the sense that, to 
 use an expressive old Scripture phrase, their " going 
 forth/' irregularities, and incessant changes are, as a 
 rule, as utterly beyond human foresight as beyond 
 human control. An ignorant non-scientific weather 
 prophet may sometimes vaticinate correctly ; out of 
 many guesses it is impossible but that he shall some- 
 times be right, but this chance and happy-go-lucky 
 system of prediction has long since, and deservedly, 
 fallen into disfavour and disrepute. A very obvious 
 method of arriving at a knowledge of truth is the 
 ascertainment, first of all, of facts, and then reasoning 
 upon these facts towards conclusions ; and yet, obvious 
 and simple as is the process, the world, strange to say, 
 never thoroughly recognised or understood it, though 
 it doubtless often unconsciously employed it, until, in
 
 WEATHER PROPHETS. 59 
 
 the fulness of time, it was boldly enunciated and en- 
 forced by our own illustrious Bacon. Strictly adher- 
 ing to this method of investigation, meteorologists tell 
 us that from their observations of many years, a check, 
 or retrogression rather, of a day or two's duration in 
 the onward march of temperature over the British 
 Islands may very confidently be looked for some time 
 during the third week of April ; and a second check, 
 of somewhat longer duration, about the middle of the 
 second week in May ; and this year the forecast has been 
 verified in a very remarkable manner. The 20th and 
 2 1st Aj;)ril were two decidedly cold days, with flying sleet 
 showers, in a month otherwise almost unprecedentedly 
 warm and genial, with such floods of sunshine, too, as 
 April rarely knows. The second week of May has 
 also been wet and cold, and however grateful to vege- 
 tation after so bright and uninterruptedly dry a spring, 
 the check on the previously high and rapidly increasing 
 temperature has been such as to show how valuable 
 and carefully observed, and honestly recorded, are 
 meteorological statistics towards an attempt at forecast- 
 ing weather changes. The weather has now again 
 become warm and bright, and never before, perhaps, 
 in mid -May did the country appear so beautiful from 
 every conceivable standpoint. The luxuriance of 
 vegetable and floral life at so early a date is something 
 astonishing. In garden and orchard the sight is mag- 
 nificent. You have heard of trees bending under their 
 load of fruit ; at this moment they are actually bend- 
 ing under their load of blossoms, just as you have seen 
 their boughs bent until they kissed the ground after a 
 quiet and stormless fall of snow. Should the crop of
 
 60 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 fruit only equal even half the promised abundance, it 
 will be such a crop as has rarely, if ever before, been 
 gathered. And have you noticed the extraordinary 
 abundance of wild-flowers this season 1 Primroses 
 especially, wherever you turn your eyes, are as numerous 
 — singly, clustered, and constellated — as to the tele- 
 scopic eye are the stars in the midnight Milky Way ; 
 the hawthorn everywhere is one towering mass of 
 scented, snow-white beauty, actually laughing in the 
 sunlight, as if in response to the wild bee's grateful 
 hum on and around it, while the very air seems sur- 
 charged as you never knew it before with the richest 
 fragrance of flowers and the sweetest melodies of birds. 
 On one point, at least, we are at this moment the 
 most unanimous people in the world — the exceeding 
 loveliness of the Western Highlands and Islands in 
 such delightful seasons as this. One day, about a 
 month ago, as we were talking to an old man, still 
 lively and active, though upwards of fourscore years of 
 age, he observed that for fifty years at least he had 
 not known so " natural " a spring, so seasonable a 
 season, as he termed it, as from mid-March to mid- 
 April. His way of proving it was curious. " When 
 I was a big boy, long-legged and clumsy (we translate 
 his Gaelic literally), bare-headed and barefooted — for 
 I was twenty years of age before I had a shoe on my 
 foot or a bonnet on my head — I well recollect that in 
 carting out the manure in the spring I had frequently, 
 barefooted as I was, to jump now and again from off 
 the top of the dung-heap ; it had become so hot in the 
 burning sun that I couldn't bear it. Dung-heaps in 
 those days used to reek like so many kilns, sir !
 
 WEATHER PROPHECIES. 61 
 
 Thinking of this the other day, I made a barefooted oe 
 of mine stand in a manure heap that I remarked was 
 reeking as it was being carried afield, and after a 
 minute or two, he also found it so hot that he couldn't 
 bear it ; and from this I conclude that this is one of 
 the real good old springs of my younger days ; for if 
 you try in ordinary years, you will find the dung-heap 
 at the time of its removal not hot, but at the best 
 clammy, no warmer than a spadeful of the soil around, 
 and oftentimes as cold, or colder, than a puddle of black 
 peat moss. Depend upon it, sir, that when manure 
 has to be put upon the land in spring otherwise than 
 hot and steaming, the season is not of the good old 
 sort." A method this of pedometrically ascertaining 
 the maximum and minimum of spring temperatures 
 probably unknown to our friends of the Meteorological 
 Society. 
 
 A remarkable instance of affectionate intelligence in 
 wild-bird life was brought under our notice a few days 
 ago. A boy, idling through the woods near us, set 
 a horse-hair noose, in which, by-and-by, to his no 
 small delight, he found that a song-thrush had firmly 
 entangled itself by one of its legs. It was a great 
 prize, and the boy carried it home as proud as proud 
 could be. The capture was made in the morning, and 
 in the course of the afternoon the boy's mother told us 
 about it, begging us to come and persuade the boy to 
 let it go, as they had no proper way of keeping it ; 
 and, indeed, as neither herself nor the boy, she assured 
 us, knew exactly what kind of bird it was, they were 
 uncertain if it was worth the keeping, even if they 
 could abundantly and comfortably provide for all its
 
 62 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 wants. It was a song- thrush (Turdus musicus), a 
 female, which the boy had meantime provided for in 
 the best way he could by putting it into a roomy 
 reticule basket, hung on a nail near the open window. 
 When we had sufficiently examined the bird, the 
 mother drew our attention to the fact that there was 
 at that moment another bird very like it perched on 
 an elder-tree branch right opposite the house, about 
 eight or ten yards away. " Yes ! " eagerly exclaimed 
 the boy, a very intelligent little fellow, " and it 
 followed me home all the way from the wood." 
 Glancing in the direction indicated, and seeing the 
 bird, we understood the thing at once. It was the 
 captive's mate, the cock song-thrush, that, when he 
 could do nothing else for her, had faithfully followed 
 his partner to the scene of her captivity, and there he 
 sat with speckled breast touching the branch on which 
 he perched, disconsolate and sad, chirping querulously 
 in little broken notes, that said as plainly as plain 
 could be, that, cruelly deprived of the partner of his 
 love, May, even with its sunshine, its verdure, and its 
 flowers, had no more joys for him. Taking the basket 
 in our hand, we took it outside, and hung it against 
 the eave of the cottage, and retiring with the boy and 
 his mother to a little distance, we stood quietly watch- 
 ing for what might happen. After a little while the 
 captive, revived and emboldened by finding herself in 
 the open air, ventured, in a scarcely audible whisper, 
 to respond to her mate's chirping — it was the first time 
 she had done so since her capture — and his joy was 
 unbounded. First springing to the topmost spray of 
 the elder tree, he trilled out two or three rapid notes
 
 A MID-MA Y ID YL. 63 
 
 of his usual song, and then, descending in a graceful 
 curve, he alighted on the basket lid, through a hole in 
 which the head and neck of the captive were now 
 thrust forth. It was now that a most touching scene 
 took place. After billing and cooing with the captive 
 for a time in the most affectionate manner, preening 
 and stroking her head and neck with his bill, all the 
 while fluttering his wings and uttering a low, and to 
 us scarcely audible, undersong or crdnan, clearly of 
 encouragement to the captive, and an assurance of his 
 unalterable love, and, as such, understood by her, you 
 may be sure ; after indulging for a little while in these 
 demonstrations of affectionate solicitude, the cock bird 
 suddenly assumed a totally different attitude. Gather- 
 ing up his drooping wings, and assuming his compactest 
 and erectest position, he began vigorously to peck and 
 pull away at the edges of the hole on the basket-lid, 
 endeavouring with all his ingenuity and strength to 
 enlarge it, so as to facilitate the captive's escape ! And 
 if he had only been allowed plenty of time, we do not 
 know but he might have succeeded, for the throstle 
 cock is a strong bird, and with his horny, compressed 
 bill he can both strike hard and home, and pull with 
 a force and strength of purchase astonishing in a bird 
 of his size. It was a most touching and beautiful 
 sight, and even the boy was so impressed with it that 
 he at once agreed to the liberation of the prisoner, 
 that he had vowed and determined only a few minutes 
 before to have and to hold as his pet while it lived. 
 The poor widowed mother had her apron more than 
 once at her eyes, partly affected by the bird scene, and 
 partly from maternal pride that her boy had evinced
 
 64 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 so much feeling and heart. With a view of testing 
 the gallant cock bird's affection and intelligence a 
 little further, we now suggested that the boy and our- 
 selves should carry the basket to the wood, and 
 liberate the prisoner as nearly as possible on the spot 
 where she had been captured. Giving the basket to 
 the boy to carry, we set him off before us, while we 
 followed at a little distance, the better to watch and 
 note the doings of the cock bird. No sooner were we 
 fairly away from the cottage than he followed, as we 
 were sure he would, sweeping occasionally close past 
 the boy, and uttering short, abrupt, swallow-like chirps, 
 as if to assure his mate — who had now drawn back her 
 head into the basket — that he was still near her, and 
 that his motto, even unto death, was " Faithful and 
 true." In this way we marched along, until we 
 reached the primrose-carpeted glade in which she had 
 been noosed. As we sat down to open the many 
 strings, with many intricate knots — for it was the boy 
 that had tied them — by which the basket-lid was 
 secured, so that we might set the captive at liberty, 
 the cock bird alighted on a hazel bough so near us, 
 that we might have reached him from where we sat, if 
 not with an ordinary walking-stick, at least with the 
 shortest of fishing-rods. He uttered not now a chirp, 
 nor moved, but sat and watched with his large intel- 
 ligent hazel eyes, which seemed to beam with hopeful 
 eagerness, as if he half divined what we were about to 
 do, and wondered why we could be so long about it ! 
 The captive was at length liberated — freed ! — dashing 
 away as soon as the basket-lid was raised with a wild 
 scream of mingled terror and joy, and he followed like
 
 A MID-MAY IDYL. 65 
 
 an arrow from a bow, the pair instantly disappearing 
 from our sight behind a clump of birch trees that 
 crowned a knoll before us. It was, upon the whole, 
 we take it, an excellent lesson for the boy, and one 
 which he is never likely altogether to forget ; nor was 
 it without its significance to the widowed mother and 
 ourselves. We are not rich, but very much the con- 
 trary, yet would we give the brightest and newest 
 brace of sovereigns that our friends the Fort-William 
 bankers could hand over to us in exchange for two of 
 their notes, if we knew and could tell, fairly and fully, 
 all that passed between the whilom captive song- 
 thrush and her mate on that evening, after they found 
 themselves at leisure to converse, — all they felt and all 
 they thought and said, for birds can feel, and think, 
 and speak intelligibly enough amongst themselves, 
 gainsay it who may.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A Hebridean Correspondent — A Box and its Contents — A Skeleton — A rare 
 Cetacean — Delphinus Delphis — The Sacred Fish of the Ancients — Bee 
 dOie or "Goose-bill" of the French— Its Food. 
 
 That it is right and proper to give every one his 
 due — suum cuique tribuere — is an old Greek and 
 Latin adage, as obvious and trite as it is honest and 
 true ; an adage, indeed, to be met with in some form 
 or other in all languages, but in no language in such 
 an emphatic form as in English, which teaches that 
 fair-play and his righteous due is to be accorded even 
 to the great enemy of mankind. For our own part, 
 all our life long we have been ready to acknowledge 
 favours received, and to remember them ; and if in 
 after years our benefactor should, as sometimes happens, 
 find such fault in us, or we such fault in him, as 
 brought a cloud over the hitherto fair prospect, we 
 have tried, and so trying, have always succeeded in 
 finding the edges of said cloud silver- fringed or golden. 
 Upon the whole, however, all our prospects of this 
 kind have been, and we rejoice to say still remain, 
 unclouded, a readiness to oblige, and to receive, and at 
 once heartily acknowledge obligations, being an 
 ethereal atmosphere, in which one can always breathe 
 freely, and in which clouds, mists, or noxious exhala- 
 tions of any kind can hardly have existence. To come 
 to the point and " the particular," as Jeremy Taylor
 
 A RARE BOX. 67 
 
 has it, we once for all hereby acknowledge and 
 proclaim to all whom it may concern, that to our good 
 friend, Mr. A. A. Carmichael, of Uist, we are, and for 
 many years have been, largely indebted for natural 
 history and antiquarian kindnesses of great value ; and 
 if our " Nether Lochaber " column is interesting, a 
 great deal of the praise and commendation which 
 accrues to us as writer and demonstrator should go, 
 each his fair and full share, to our many excellent 
 correspondents, amongst whom Mr. Carmichael, in 
 his own particular line, stands very high — the first 
 amongst the foremost. 
 
 With all this prefacing, the reader doubtless expects 
 something unusual to follow, nor shall the reader be 
 disappointed. Coming from Fort- William the other 
 evening, by steamer " Mountaineer," when about to 
 land, we had shaken hands with and bade goodbye 
 to our always polite and excellent friend, Captain 
 Maccallum, the piermaster accosted us with the 
 information that there was a box for us in the office. 
 Said box, of narrow and elongated, gun-case-like 
 form, was at our request at once produced, brought by 
 omnibus to Ballachulish Ferry, and thence in our own 
 conveyance home. It couldn't be grouse, we knew, in 
 mid-May, nor would such a length of box be necessary 
 for a salmon, and we could meantime only guess that 
 it might be some natural history curiosity or other 
 from our friend, Mr. T. B. Snowie, of the northern 
 capital. On getting it home, we only wish you saw 
 the eagerness and all-a-tiptoe expectation with which 
 our household, particularly our " woman-kind," as the 
 Antiquary has it, surrounded the box, as we, with coat 
 off, and hammer and chisel in hand, proceeded to the
 
 68 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 no easy task of taking off the lid, and bringing the 
 contents into the golden light of the western sunset. 
 First came into view the occipital hemisphere of a 
 skull or cranium of such human-like phrenological 
 development, that our servant girl, who stood in- 
 tensely curious and all agape beside us, screamed 
 with affright, and the solemnly declared averment 
 that it was the skeleton of a child, or, when we 
 pointed out to her its size and the firm contexture of 
 its bones, even of an adult. The ladies beside us 
 didn't exactly scream nor fall into hysterics — we are 
 not much given to nonsense of that kind in Lochaber 
 ■ — but they stood with bated breath, with an expression 
 of face so puzzled and dumfoundered, that, as we 
 lifted the skeleton from its coffin, and held it forth 
 before the gaze of our awe-struck audience, the whole 
 affair was so comically solemn and serious, that we 
 burst into a shout of laughter that made the roof ring 
 again. This partly broke the spell, but a neighbouring 
 drover, to whom we had given a ride from the Ferry, 
 and who in his day has sold many a thousand pounds 
 worth of wide-horned West Highlanders at Falkirk, 
 still stood in front of us in such manifest perplexity of 
 mind — such dubiety of opinion as to what the skeleton 
 might be — that at that moment he would have let the 
 best bargain in stirks in all Lochaber slip through his 
 nerveless fingers like so much running water. By 
 next morning's post came a letter from our aforesaid 
 correspondent in Uist, Mr. Carmichael, which we 
 cannot do better perhaps than transcribe at length — 
 
 " Creagorry, Outer Hebrides, Wik May 1875. 
 " Rev. Dear Sir, — I send for your inspection the skeleton of a 
 Saurian. My knowledge of zoology is not sufficiently good to
 
 A CURIOUS SAURIAN. 69 
 
 enable me to quote the scientific name ; nor have I a compre- 
 hensive work on this particular branch of natural history at hand 
 to consult. However, what I lack in these respects you possess, 
 and I doubt not that the world wiil have another of your beautiful 
 and brilliant descriptions of animal life. 
 
 ;< The skeleton was found at Airdmore, Barra, about three weeks 
 ago. Those who discovered it incidentally mentioned it to me, 
 and I at once sent a man to secure it ; and I have now much 
 pleasure in sending it to you for examination. When discovered, 
 the skeleton lay a few feet beyond the tide-mark (Os cion/i tuir an 
 Ictin), and was as cleanly dissected then as you now see it. The 
 remains of the blood had not yet become hard, nor had the articula- 
 tion of the ribs become stiff, thus evidencing that the dissecting 
 operators — crabs, fish, and sea-birds, probably — had only recently 
 finished their anatomical labours. 
 
 " How this animal found its way to Barra, and whether it 
 arrived there dead or alive, are simply matters of conjecture upon 
 which I can throw no light. — With kindest regards, yours very 
 faithfully, Alex. A. Carmichael." 
 
 And now for a verbal description of our skeleton — 
 very unsatisfactory, of course, as all verbal descriptions 
 of such matters must be. It is exactly four feet one 
 inch in length ; it is not complete, for all the caudal 
 vertebrae are wanting. Making: a fair allowance of at 
 
 o o 
 
 least two feet for these, the lenoth of the livino; animal 
 may be set down as upwards of six feet. It must 
 have been an immensely strong animal, the size, 
 contexture, and articulation of the bones showing that 
 in its proper element, which we at once decided must 
 be the sea, river, or lake, it must have been at once 
 active and powerful. The skull is strongly built and 
 large, with the jaws curiously prolonged into a flattened 
 platypal or duck-bill-like beak. In our specimen the 
 lower jaw is wanting, but we may state that along its 
 edges the upper jaw is furnished with a row of equal,
 
 70 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 or nearly equal, ivory white teeth, fifty -four in number, 
 and allowing an equal number for the lower jaw, the 
 animal could boast of a set of teeth of 108 or more — 
 all of them teeth not intended for grinding or mastica- 
 tion, but steel-trap-like, for laying hold, and keeping 
 hold when got, of slippery prey. And what now, the 
 reader will ask, have you made of it ? Whose skeleton 
 is it 1 Well, we are neither a Cuvier nor an Owen, 
 but a single forenoon's careful study satisfied us that 
 it was neither a Saurian reptile nor a fish of any kind. 
 That Mr. Carmichael should have dubbed it a Saurian 
 was the most natural thing in the world, for the 
 elongated beak or snout, and the formidable dentition, 
 have a most suspicious Saurian look about them, very 
 likely to deceive any one unaccustomed to such studies. 
 And if it wasn't a Saurian, it was still clearer that it 
 couldn't be a fish. We finally decided that the animal 
 was a Cetacean, of the order Deljjhinidw, and that 
 this particular species was the Delphinus Delphis, or 
 Dolphin proper. Dead or alive, it is rare on our 
 British shores, its proper home being in tropical and 
 sub-tropical seas. It is a Mammal, bringing forth its 
 young — generally one, and never more than two, at a 
 birth — and suckling them at its breast like all the 
 Cetaceans. This is the true dolphin — the Hieros 
 Ichthys, or sacred fish of the ancients, the identical 
 animal that, along with some companions — so charmed 
 were they with the incomparable music of his lyre — 
 bore the Lesbian Arion through many a league of sea 
 safely to land ; a fable having its origin, probably, in 
 the fact that the smaller Cetacese, at least, are by 
 no means insensible to the charms of music, vocal or
 
 THE DOLPHIN. 71 
 
 instrumental. Porpoises may be arrested in their 
 course, as they tumble along, by a judicious strain of 
 loud whistling, almost as readilv as seals, and we 
 recollect that several years ago a whole "school" 
 of porpoises used to collect from all parts of the loch 
 around a yacht that was anchored for some days 
 in our bay, when, on a fine evening after gun-fire, the 
 men on board formed themselves into an impromptu 
 band, and played on several wind instruments so well, 
 that we, with better instructed ears, probably, than the 
 porpoises, were also attracted to the beach to listen to 
 the music. No other animal of the deep was held in 
 such veneration by the ancient Greeks as the dolphin. 
 With the Tritons it was represented appropriately 
 enough as in constant attendance upon Neptune. It 
 was in a special manner — though why it would be 
 difficult to say — sacred to Apollo, whose celebrated 
 shrine at Delphi was named after it, and where the 
 god was worshipped on solemn occasions with dolphins 
 for his symbols. It is common on ancient coins and 
 medals. A veneration for this Cetacean seems to have 
 spread westwards from Greece, for it was borne long 
 before the Jleurs de lis times on the shields of some of 
 the early French kings. It gave its name to the 
 province of Dauphine, and the eldest son of the king, 
 as heir-apparent, was called the Dauphin, with the 
 province above named for his appanage. The phrase 
 " In usum Delphini " (for the use of the Dolphin or 
 Dauphin) will readily occur to all our classical readers. 
 The French, on whose coasts the dolphin is more 
 frequently met with than on ours, call it Bee d'Oie, or 
 " Goose-bill," a by no means inappropriate vulgar
 
 72 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 name for it, for the long, compressed snout is quite 
 like a goose's bill, enlarged into monstrosity. The 
 food of the dolphin is fish, Medusae, Cephalopods, &c. ; 
 for " circumventing," as " Hawkeye " would term it, 
 such slippery customers, the formidable array of 
 numerous sharp laniar teeth is admirably adapted. 
 Cut into steaks, and fried or boiled, its flesh is said to 
 be capital eating, an assertion which we can quite 
 believe, for the dolphin and the porpoise are at least 
 " Highland cousins," if not more nearly related, and a 
 gentleman assured us a few years ago that he had . 
 more than once tried a porpoise steak broiled secundum 
 artem, and that it was excellent. The dolphin is by 
 no means remarkable for gaiety of colours ; it is, on the 
 contrary, douce and sober-garmented, like all the 
 Cetaceans. The animal of gay and brillant colours, 
 over which modern poets and voyageurs get into such 
 raptures, and which they call a dolphin, is not a 
 dolphin at all — not a Cetacean that breathes by means 
 of lungs, the necessary air being inspired and again 
 expelled through a blow-hole, but a fish proper, an 
 animal that breathes by means of gills. The " dying 
 dolphin," over whose ever-changing and brilliant 
 metallic hues our poets make such a fuss, is the 
 Coryphene (Cori/phcena) — a true fish of the order 
 Scomberidce, or mackerel family, and is no more a 
 dolphin than it is a whale. You have seen its first 
 cousin, the common and beautiful mackerel of our 
 own shores, and except in the mere matter of size, it is 
 in its way just as brilliantly coloured and as much a 
 "dolphin" as its congener, the Coryphene, which 
 people who know no better will insist on calling a
 
 THE DOLPHIN. 73 
 
 dolphin. The animal whose skeleton now lies before 
 11s came to our shores, doubtless, by means of the 
 Gulf Stream, and probably in lusty life enough. 
 Getting hurt somehow, it was driven ashore in a 
 storm, and the sea-gulls, crabs, and other scavengers 
 of the deep, soon reduced it to the mutilated skeleton 
 form in which it was found, and forwarded to us by 
 our always attentive correspondent. This is the first 
 dolphin in any form that has come under our inspec- 
 tion, and it was with a feeling of no little pleasure, 
 not altogether unmingled with pride, perhaps, that we 
 stood up confident and erect beside the table on which 
 it was laid, when at last, after some hours' hard study, 
 we had satisfactorily completed the labours of identi- 
 fication.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Ramble among the Hills — Encounter with an aged Parishioner — Song of 
 the Smuggling Times — A version in Herd's Collection — Which is the 
 Original ? 
 
 In the course of an ornithological ramble anions; the 
 hills a few days ago — one of the few fine days of the 
 season — we forgathered with an old man resident in 
 a distant corner of our parish, who was returning 
 home with a burden of fine-leaved heath [Erica 
 cinerea) for making brooms with, a necessary house- 
 hold implement which our old men manufacture in 
 their idle hours with a neatness and bouquet-like 
 elegance of form and finish which we have often 
 admired. Having saluted each other in a friendly 
 manner, we invited the old man to sit down beside us 
 on the mossv corner of a huge drift boulder, and give 
 us his crack ; and, as a Highlander is rarely in a 
 hurry, and dearly loves to get hold of a good listener 
 appreciative of his reminiscences, he readily laid aside 
 his fragrant burden, and sat down beside us. He was 
 a fine old man of venerable and dignified presence, and 
 spoke the mountain tongue with a mellifiuousness and 
 round roll and rhythm that delighted us. Our role 
 was simply to listen, only throwing in an occasional 
 remark to keep the old gentleman straight, and make 
 him disemburthen himself of his budget with the 
 greatest possible ease and satisfaction to himself. In
 
 "ANGLING." 75 
 
 such circumstances, only manage to keep an old man, 
 or woman — a still more difficult lot to deal with — on 
 good terms with themselves — " playing " them, in 
 angler's phrase, with tact and judgment — and they will 
 pour forth all they know of any subject, with all the 
 freedom, if also with much of the tortuousness of 
 channel and irregularities of depths and shallows, of 
 one of their own mountain streams ; like a mountain 
 stream, too, sometimes fairly drying up, not from lack 
 of will to o-o on, but from sheer want of matter to go 
 on with. Old age is proverbially garrulous, but it is 
 also frequently whimsical ; and it is against this latter 
 characteristic that you have to guard in your inter- 
 course with these old people, if you would get fair 
 and full hold of such stores of folk-lore as they may be 
 possessed of. A basketful of speckled trout, with a 
 rod and cunningly hooked line beside it, on the banks 
 of a many-pooled and eddying stream, seems to the 
 uninitiated an easy and natural thing enough. He 
 knows not, or forgets the fact, that the whole matter 
 mainly lies in the act and art of angling — in putting 
 the rod and its delicate appendages to practical and 
 successful use. It is even so with a bundle of folk- 
 lore. It seems easy enough to pick up these things as 
 you wander about the country, but the actual picking 
 up — the successful angling, so to speak — is a very 
 different matter when you come to try it. You have, 
 first of all, to discover the individual in whom the 
 hidden treasure you are in search of lies hid, and then 
 you have to extract it, and extract it as much as may 
 be in the completest and most perfect form possible. 
 This you will find requires all your judgment and tact,
 
 76 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 and a patience that, however Job-like, will at times be 
 sorely tried. " Hie labor, hoc opus est" as we have a 
 thousand times found from our own experience in such 
 matters. Our venerable coiifabulator on this occasion 
 said a great deal that was interesting, but at present 
 we intern! only troubling our readers with the follow- 
 in 2;. In telling an old story about the wife of a 
 farmer in a neighbouring district, who seems to have 
 been no better than she should be, he quoted a stanza 
 of an old song which, he said, his father used to sing 
 with great spirit when Bacchi plenus, in the good old 
 smuggling days, upwards of sixty years ago. Having 
 a pencil and slip of paper in our pocket, we took down 
 the verse on the spot, as follows : — 
 
 " Thainig fear-an-taighe dhachaidh, 
 
 (Cha robh fiuthair riamh ris) 
 'S chunnaic e geola air a chladaeh, 
 'S dh'fheoiraich de bha gheola a' g' iarraidh ! 
 Geola ars ise 1 
 
 Seadh, geola ars esan ; 
 Cha'n 'eil ann ach meadaran 
 A thug mo mhathair dhomhsa. 
 
 'S ioma cearn a shiubhail mi, 
 Agus ceum a dh-fhalbh mi, 
 Ach da ramh 'am meadaran, 
 
 Cha'n' fhaca mi riamh e ! 
 
 " 'S thainig fear-an-taighe dhachaidh, 
 (Cha robh fiuthair riamh ris) 
 'S chunnaic e each aig an dorus, 
 'S dh-fheoiraich de bha'n t' each a g' iarraidh 1 
 Each ars ise ! 
 Seadh, each ars esan ; 
 Cha'n 'eil ann ach bo laoidh, 
 'Thug mo mhathair dhomhsa ;
 
 AN OLD SMUGGLING SONG. 77 
 
 'S ioraa ceam a shiubhail mi 
 Agus ceum a thriall mi, 
 Ach diallaid air bo laoidh, 
 Cha'n' fhaca mi riamh e ! " 
 
 These lines shall have sufficient elucidation ere we are 
 done with them. Meanwhile, in the interests of our 
 more inland readers, we need only observe that 
 " geola " in the first stanza means a ship's boat. It 
 is from the Danish and Norwegian jolle, a small boat. 
 The same word, under the thinnest of disguises, is met 
 with in the English terms yawl and j.olly-ho&t. There 
 were some half-dozen more verses, our colloquist 
 assured us, but he could not remember them. Ke- 
 peating over these lines by ourselves, as we took a spell 
 at hay-making in the evening, it struck us all of a 
 sudden that we had surely seen or heard them, or 
 something very like them, before. It was at first like 
 trying to piece together the disjointed fragments of a 
 disconnected and ill-remembered dream, a difficult, 
 and, for a time, it seemed a hopeless effort of memory 
 to connect the lines with a nameless somethino- of the 
 past. Aided by our ear, however, we managed to hit 
 upon it at last. Unconsciously, as the words were 
 being repeated for the twentieth time, perhaps, we 
 found ourselves humming a tune into which they 
 fitted as easily and naturally as a well-worn glove fits 
 the hand. Casting our hay -fork aside, Ave made 
 straight for our study, and taking down Whitelaw's 
 Book of Scottish Song from its shelf, we found the 
 very thing we wanted, and which had been racing 
 about indistinctly and will-o'-the-wisp-wise in our 
 mind all the afternoon. On page 46 of Whitelaw's
 
 78 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 collection is the old and tolerably well-known and 
 pawky song beginning — 
 
 " Our gudeman cam' hame at e'en, 
 And hame cam' he," &c. 
 
 prefixed to which is the following editorial note : — 
 
 " This highly humorous old ditty is preserved in the second 
 edition of David Herd's collection, 1776. Johnson recovered 
 the tune from the singing of an old hairdresser in Edinburgh, 
 and published it for the first time in the 5th vol. of his 
 ' Museum.' " 
 
 Of the song thus prefaced, the first stanza is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Our gudeman cam' hame at e'en, 
 And hame cam' he ; 
 And there he saw a saddle-horse, 
 
 Where nae horse should he. 
 Oh, how cam this horse here 1 
 
 How can this he 1 
 How came this horse here 
 Without the leave o' me 1 
 A horse ! quo' she ; 
 Ay, a horse, quo' he ; 
 Ye auld, blind, dotard carle, 
 
 And blinder mat ye be ! 
 It's but a bonnie milk-cow 
 My mither sent to me. 
 A milk-cow ! quo' he ; 
 Ay, a milk-cow, quo' she. 
 Far hae I ridden, 
 
 And muckle hae I seen, 
 But a saddle on a milk-cow 
 Saw I never nane." 
 
 Almost identically the same, observe, as the second 
 Gaelic verse given above, of which — but the English
 
 WHICH IS THE ORIGINAL ? 79 
 
 reader may judge for himself — we give a literal line- 
 for-line translation : — ■ 
 
 " The gudeman came home 
 (He was in nowise expected), 
 And he saw a horse at the door ; 
 And he inquired what that horse might be doing 
 there. 
 
 A horse ! says she (i.e., the wife) ; 
 
 Yes, a horse, said he. 
 It is only a calved-cow (i.e., a milk-cow) 
 That my mother gave to me. 
 Many a place have I wandered through, 
 And step have I travelled afar, 
 But a saddle on a calved-cow 
 Never saw I before ! " 
 
 It will be observed that the humorously objurgatory 
 eleventh and twelfth lines of the English is awanting 
 in the Gaelic, as well as the ludicrously interrogative 
 and impudently assertive fifteenth and sixteenth lines. 
 These lines are either altogether awanting in the Gaelic 
 version, or they were forgotten in the recitation of our 
 moorland colloquist, whose exact words we have given 
 above. Our first Gaelic verse is literally as follows : — 
 
 " The gudeman came home 
 (He was not in the least expected), 
 And he saw a small boat (a yawl) on the beach, 
 And he inquired what the boat might be doing there : 
 
 A small boat ! said she ; 
 
 Ay, a small boat, said he. 
 It is but a small timmer coggie 
 That my mother gave to me. 
 Through many scenes have I wandered, 
 And steps have I travelled afar, 
 
 But a pair of oars in a timmer coggie 
 
 Never saw I before ! "
 
 8o ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 To this there is no exact counterpart in the English, or 
 broad Scotch version rather, but you have its equi- 
 valent probably in this stanza — 
 
 " Our gudeman cam' hame at e'en, 
 
 And hame cam' he ; 
 He spied a pair o' jack-boots 
 
 Where nae boots should be ; 
 What's this now, gudewife 1 
 
 What's this I see 1 
 How cam' these boots here 
 
 Without the leave o' me 1 
 Ye auld, blind, dotard carle, 
 
 And blinder mat ye be ; 
 Its but a pair o' water stoups 
 
 The cooper sent to me. 
 Water-stoups ! quo' he, 
 Ay, water-stoups, quo' she. 
 Far hae I ridden, 
 
 And muckle hae I seen, 
 But siller spurs on water-stoups 
 
 Saw I never nane ! 
 
 Now, good reader, here you have an old Scotch song 
 first published in Herd's collection a hundred years 
 ago, and here is a Gaelic version, almost identical, 
 asserted by our venerable hill -side colloquist to have 
 been sung with great glee by his father, as something 
 even then well known and popular some sixty years 
 ago. The one is clearly a translation, or paraphrase 
 rather, of the other. It is simply impossible that both 
 can be original. Is the Gaelic version, then, derived 
 from the broad Scotch % Or, on the contrary, is the 
 broad Scotch derived from the Gaelic % The Gaelic 
 version has all the signs of an original composition, 
 and so, for that matter of it, has the English. - Which
 
 WHICH IS WHICH 7 81 
 
 is Napoleon Bonaparte, and which Pompey ? For our 
 own part, we find the question so beset with difficulty 
 that we decline meanwhile committing' ourselves 
 either way. There is this, however, in favour of the 
 Gaelic being the original, that the air to which the 
 song is sung — and we have heard it admirably sung 
 many years ago, both by Wilson and Templeton — is 
 unquestionably Celtic, being, with some slight and 
 unimportant variations, no other than that known 
 along the western sea-board and in the Hebrides as 
 '* Criomadh na Cnamh," or " The Picking of the 
 Bones." Some of our readers may perhaps be able to 
 throw some light on so interesting a question, at a 
 time when Celtic literature is at lerjoth receiving- some 
 slight share of the attention it so richly merits.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Pets—" Merdo," a pet Billy-Goat — His Habits— Antipathy between Goals 
 and Rats — Goat's Hoof, Horns, &c. 
 
 We once met a man who was not in the least ashamed 
 to confess that he never had a pet of any sort in all his 
 lifetime. We looked at him closely, and entirely 
 believing his assertion to be true, bade him good 
 morning at the earliest possible moment consistent 
 with courtesy and good breeding. Such people, we 
 should hope, are rari aves — " black swans " in their 
 way — for we think we are right in saying that in his 
 or her day everybody has had a pet or pets of some 
 sort or other. As for ourselves, we have had scores 
 of pets of every kind, from the tiny wren to the golden 
 eagle, from the fragile field-mouse to the gallant steed, 
 that could carry us, if need were, a score of miles an 
 hour, and was yet as intelligently tame and docile as 
 a short-frocked girl. Of all our pets, however, the 
 drollest and funniest is that which at this moment is 
 scampering about our bit of lawn, and doing all the 
 mischief he can, out of sheer love of mischief, we do 
 believe, and because he knows that we shall very soon 
 be out and after him ; and he knows full well, too, that 
 that is all, for as to actually catching him with a view to 
 punishment, you might as well attempt to lay your hand 
 upon a midnight meteor. Our present pet is a goat, 
 a buck-goat or billy-goat, a male, a grand fellow, with
 
 A PET BILLY-GOAT. 83 
 
 horns enough and beard enough to make his fortune at 
 a photographer's. We got him last Christmas as a 
 present from our good neighbour and friend Mr. 
 Buchanan of Caolasnacone ; wild he was from the 
 mountains, and as averse to anything like domestica- 
 tion as if he were an ibex from the Alps. With 
 patience, however, and gentle handling, we got him 
 to know us, and to manifest pleasure at sight of us, 
 and then we knew the work was done. He is now 
 the most amusing quadruped that ever played tramp 
 with impatient feet in a gentleman's lobby. Antici- 
 pating somewhat his greatness, we gave him a great 
 name, for we called him " Merdo," after a celebrated 
 goat of mediaeval romance — a goat so big and strong, 
 that when all other engines had failed, he broke open, 
 with a single dint of his head, the prison doors of a 
 distressed damoiselle, and bore her off and away on 
 his back with such speed and goodwill that all pur- 
 suit on the part of her gaoler — a horrible giant — was 
 as ineffectual as if he chased the wind. We introduce 
 our goat to the reader not so much because he really 
 is a splendid animal worth the looking at, but because 
 goats have for a very long time been maligned and 
 misrepresented — vilipended, in fact, to use an old 
 Scottish law term — and we wish to say a w r ord or two 
 in their favour. If you can get a chance, be sure to 
 speak a good word of man or beast of whom much evil 
 is spoken, were it from no higher moral motive than 
 that thereby you exceedingly tease and annoy the 
 evil-speakers — a class of people at whom a slap well 
 laid on with honest, open palm is always a delight. 
 First of all, then, we confidently assert that a goat can
 
 84 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GIENCOE. 
 
 remember a kindness, and be very grateful therefor. 
 Ours, soon after we got him, and before he became 
 quite tame, had one of its hind feet seriously hurt ; 
 how it happened we could not discover. He limped 
 painfully, and we caught him much against his will, 
 and surgeoned him as seemed best at the moment. 
 He soon got better, and to this present hour he 
 acknowledges our attentions by coming to us at call, 
 and allowing us to handle him at pleasure, a liberty 
 which he will permit to no other human being. That 
 he should be more friendly with us than anybody else 
 is only, we think, to be accounted for by the fact that 
 we chanced, as stated, to have had it in our power to 
 do him a kindness, and that he remembers it. But 
 apart from gratitude for favours received, a goat is, of 
 all animals, perhaps the most attentive and attached 
 to his quadrupedal companions of the stable and byre. 
 Ours has had his pen so placed that the cows and pony 
 are constantly in sight, and his affection for his com- 
 panions is very remarkable. He butts at them all in 
 turn, no doubt, and makes believe to box and buffet 
 them, but he never really hurts them ; and woe be 
 unto the animal that any time begins a row in verit- 
 able earnest ! Merdo, in such a case, comes forward 
 with lightsome step, and for a moment views the 
 combatants with sparkling, angry eyes, then backing 
 to a considerable distance, rushes full a-tilt at one or 
 other of the belligerents, with a force that generally 
 suffices to end the combat. We have remarked that 
 his conduct on these occasions exhibits less than his 
 ordinary intelligence, for his charge is quite as often 
 directed against the smaller and weaker of the com-
 
 ANTIPATHY BETWEEN GOATS AND RATS. 85 
 
 batants as against the larger and stronger. When a 
 battle has thus, by his timely intermediation, been 
 decided, his bleat is full-toned, and loud and long, as 
 if he rejoiced at being able to proclaim that by his act 
 it is peace and goodwill throughout the land. A 
 goat's foothold, always and everywhere, is simply 
 marvellous. Merdo will gallop at racing speed along 
 the rough, uneven coping of a " Galloway" dyke as if 
 it were smooth and even as a grass-carpeted lawn, 
 never making a miss or mistake, or rather making a 
 thousand misses and mistakes every instant, as if to 
 show how cleverly he can recover himself at the very 
 moment that you fancy he must come inevitably to 
 the ground. He will ascend and descend right in the 
 face of rocks and precipices that to an ordinary spec- 
 tator seem perfectly perpendicular, and do it, too, as 
 easily as if it were the easiest and most broad-stepped 
 of staircases. Nothing can possibly be imagined more 
 admirably adapted to its purpose than a goat's hoof. 
 Take it in your hand and study its structure, and it 
 is well worth the studying. How hard, compact, and 
 firm are its outward edges, yet soft, cushiony, and 
 elastic in its intermediate and inner parts, beautifully 
 designed, in short, and meant for a goat, and for no 
 other animal in the world. 
 
 It is a common opinion that there is a deep-rooted 
 and natural antipathy between goats and rats, or 
 perhaps, to put it more correctly, between rats and 
 goats— that the rats will at once clear out of premises 
 into which a goat is introduced, and hence it is that 
 about mills, granaries, distilleries, &c, where rats most 
 do congregate, a goat is very often kept, and if you
 
 86 'TW1XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 ask the reason, you will be told that where a goat is 
 kept rats dare not, for their health's sake, abide. 
 With how much of truth this is averred we are unable 
 to decide. It is not at all unlikely, however, that the 
 very strong and pronounced odour about a buck-goat 
 at certain seasons, and, indeed, at all seasons, may be 
 so unpleasant to rats that they will, because of it, 
 vacate localities otherwise desirable residences enouo-h. 
 It is a fact, at all events, worth the chronicling, that 
 the " foot-and-mouth " murrain so common among; 
 cattle this season was later in reaching our byres, and 
 lighter when it did reach, than was the case around 
 us, and rightly or wrongly, we are disposed to credit 
 Merdos powerful antiseptic odours as, in part at least, 
 the cause of the exemption. Rats, we know, cannot en- 
 dure the smell of coal-tar, much less contact with it, and 
 that the strong effluvium of a goat should also be dis- 
 tasteful and unpleasant to them is perfectly credible. 
 " There is nothing unscientific," as Sir William 
 Thomson said of his life-germ bearing meteorites from 
 the moon, in the averment. Poets, painters, architects, 
 and sculptors have for centuries agreed to represent, 
 or rather misrepresent, the goat as the embodiment 
 and sign of all moral degradation. Now, we have 
 closely watched our Merdo under all possible circum- 
 stances, and we can positively assert that we can 
 detect no more propensity to evil thoughts or evil 
 deeds in him than might be looked for in any one of 
 his many cousins and congeners. We should rather 
 be disposed to assert that a buck-goat is a far more 
 graceful and intelligent animal than, for example, a 
 ram, quite as well behaved and moral, too, let preju-
 
 STRUCTURE OF GOATS' HORNS. 87 
 
 diced people shake their heads as they may. We have 
 in our day known many quadrupeds, and some bipeds 
 too, heterodox as it may seem, worse behaved than our 
 very amiable and excellent Merdo. That a goat has 
 faults may perhaps be conceded — every living being 
 has ; but they seem to us to be only such faults as one 
 might reasonably look for in a denizen, naturally, of 
 the rocks and wilds ; and then, if you only say of him 
 the simple truth, his good parts will always counter- 
 balance all the evil in him. Our readers, therefore, 
 will understand that our Merdo is a great favourite, 
 and how annoyed we were this morning to hear a 
 huge aldermanic-visaged tourist, who was passing our 
 place with, we presume, his wife in a waggonette, call 
 his lady's attention to the "pretty nanny-goat" when 
 in very truth it was our big-horned hero that he talked 
 about. We have noticed, by the way, that, compara- 
 tively common as are sea-fowl and goats, the vast 
 majority of passing tourists, natives or foreigners, will 
 stand to look at either when they have the opportunity. 
 One thing more about our goat, and we have done. 
 If you examine his horns, you will find them, for their 
 size, of immense weight, showing the solidity of their 
 structure. They are not round like a bull's horns, 
 which are built for tossing and goring ; nor like a 
 ram's, which are corrugated rough and gross, intended 
 for strikino- a forward solid blow that shall crush and 
 bruise. A goat's horns, on the contrary, are much 
 compressed in all their length, with the sharper edge 
 in front, and we have an idea that, fairly launched at 
 one with the full force and impetus of an irate buck, 
 the effect would be dreadful, a gash probably as deep
 
 88 'TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 as could be made by a deftly-wielded sabre, and, we 
 should say, ten times more difficult of healment. A 
 wound from a quadruped's horns never perhaps was 
 known to heal kindly. The insulting exclamation — 
 " Not for Cadwallader and all his goats," 
 
 was the filling up of the sum of ancient Pistol's iniqui- 
 ties in the estimation of the much-enduring Fluellen, 
 and earned him such a thorough trouncing at the 
 hands of that irate and gallant Welshman ; and such, 
 say we, be the well-merited punishment always of any 
 one graceless enough to sneer at Welshmen, Gaels, 
 or goats !
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Hedgehogs — Frank Buckland — Hedgehog Pets — Hedgehogs combative — 
 Excellent to eat — New Year Festivities — Story of Pyrrhus the Epiret — 
 An Evening with Christopher North — Professor Blackie — "Songs of 
 Religion and Life" — Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis. 
 
 Of living naturalists, we were the first, Ave believe, 
 to say a good word in favour of a much-abused 
 animal, the common hedgehog (Echinus erinaceus), 
 in connection with two of these quadrupeds which were 
 about our place for some months as very interesting 
 pets. They were both males, and while in our 
 keeping they were known by the names of " Wallace " 
 and " Garibaldi." It was at the time that Garibaldi 
 and his doings in Sicily and Italy were being con- 
 stantly talked about, and hence the name of the 
 second and smaller-sized of our favourites. Both 
 managed finally to escape, by tunnelling for them- 
 selves a path beneath the garden gate. They dis- 
 appeared, but they seem very soon to have met each 
 with an amiable and willing lady-love, for now the 
 country is full of them— that is to say, you can 
 hardly set a trap for rat or rabbit, but once a week 
 at least, or oftener, you find a hedgehog where you 
 expected a very different animal. We revert to the 
 subject, which, so far as the hedgehog and ourselves 
 were concerned, we had thought pretty well exhausted 
 and done with, merely to notice the fact that our
 
 go 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 friend Mr. Frank Buckland entirely corroborates our 
 verdict as to the innocuousness of the harmless and 
 sadly abused hedgehog. This is what Mr. Buckland 
 says in a recent article in Land and Water — "It 
 always grieves me to see gamekeepers and country 
 folks put their heavy hobnail boots on a poor hedge- 
 hog, and crush it to death. If I was an owner of 
 shootings, I would never allow a hedgehog to be killed. 
 The structure and number of teeth show clearly that 
 they are insectivorous by nature. I am quite certain 
 that they are of great service to the farmer in 
 destroying the insect pests of the farm. I have 
 several times given hedgehogs unbroken eggs, and 
 although I have kept them hungry, I have never 
 known them crack and eat them. If an e^ is 
 broken the hedgehog will lick out its contents with 
 its little tongue. I have no doubt that if the hedge- 
 hog found a dead or wounded rabbit, he would eat 
 it, and why should he not ? " So far Mr. Frank 
 Buckland. The reader caring about these things may 
 recollect that we also tried our hedgehogs with eggs, 
 broken and unbroken, and that they would not touch 
 them ; so that our appeal to gamekeepers and others, 
 now renewed, is that the harmless hedgehog should be 
 let alone. Mr. Buckland admits that it will eat dead 
 rabbits ; we, on the contrary, are of opinion that 
 under no circumstances would it touch rabbit, dead or 
 living, at least in the way of food. It will eat slugs, 
 snails, worms, and beetles of every kind. It will also 
 eat the common blindworm, and probably also the 
 common snake and adder ; but beyond this we are 
 extremely sceptical as to its carnivorousness. We are
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HEDGEHOG. 91 
 
 certain, at all events, that it will neither eat eggs nor 
 birds, for we have tried ours once and again with 
 both, with no other result than that in the morning 
 these thing's remained untouched as we had left them 
 on the evening before, and for the purpose of experi- 
 ment we had kept our pets on such occasions, as Mr. 
 Buckland says, " hungry." Yet not exactly untouched 
 either, for the hedgehog; is a most curious and in- 
 quisitive little animal, and whatever you lay beside it, 
 even if it has no thought of eating it, it will nozzle 
 and turn over, and toss and roll about as if determined 
 to know all about its structure and contexture at all 
 events. Although comparatively common, of no other 
 British mammals do our naturalists all round seem to 
 know so little as of the little hedgehog. And the 
 little you find about them in books, meagre as it is, 
 is as a rule not much to be depended on. We have 
 only further to say that the hedgehog is in its way 
 sufficiently combative. Ours used to fight at times 
 viciously, the casus belli generally being as to which 
 of them should get first and furthest into the pillow- 
 slip full of uncarded wool in which they slept. They 
 sometimes also, though not often, had a bit of a 
 squealing scramble over their food, which generally 
 consisted of a saucer full of porridge and milk, a diet 
 to which they took from the first, and of which they 
 seemed fonder than of anything else that we could 
 offer them. Mr. Buckland says that they are eaten in 
 some places, and we see no reason at all why they 
 should not. They are most cleanly little animals, 
 and, pig-like, are generally met with in excellent 
 condition, round and fat. An old fox-hunter here
 
 92 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 tells us that he once had his fair share of a roasted 
 hedgehog at a farm bothy near Perth, and that it was 
 excellent. He did not know what he was eating till 
 he was done with it, and then, on being told, such is 
 the force of prejudice and habit, he avows that he felt 
 certain stomachic qualms, indicative of a desire on the 
 part of that organ to get quit of its bonne-bouche. 
 He had been hungry, however, before eating, and 
 after all managed to retain his hedq;eho2f meal, and 
 through a long ten miles after-journey he confesses he 
 felt all the stronger and better of his tuck-in of roast 
 hedgehog. Could we overcome the prejudices of our 
 " womankind " as to the necessary cooking and pre- 
 liminary preparations, which, we believe, are somewhat 
 complicated and difficult, we think that, fortified by 
 the co-operation of some healthy stomached friend to 
 so shares with us, we ourselves could venture on our 
 quota of a hedgehog feast any day. The best way 
 probably would be to begin with a young and tender 
 one, which we see no reason to doubt would, if 
 properly prepared secundum artem, taste quite as well 
 as a sucking pig, this last a dish of which the Third 
 George was so fond, that his mouth always watered 
 at the very sight of it. 
 
 Our New Year festivities and merry-makings are 
 now at length happily ended, and only now, observe, 
 for here in Lochaber we keep the Old Style, and 
 rather pride ourselves than otherwise on our attach- 
 ment to old style and old forms and traditions of 
 every kind. Our people here seem thoroughly to 
 enjoy themselves on such occasions, casting carking 
 cares for the time entirely aside, and taking all the
 
 PYRRHUS THE EPIRET. 93 
 
 good within their reach while it is to be had, and 
 very wise, if you think of it, they are in so doing. 
 You remember the old story of Pyrrhus the Epiret ? 
 It is so good in every way, and so brimful of a sound 
 philosophy, that we make no apology for calling- 
 attention to it here, even if the reader has met with 
 it before. The story of Pyrrhus the Epiret, then, is 
 this : — One day, upon a friend requesting to know 
 what ulterior purposes the King might mask under 
 his expedition to Sicily, " Why, after that is finished," 
 replied the King, " I mean to administer a little 
 correction (very much wanted) to certain parts of 
 Italy, and particularly to that nest of rascals in 
 
 Latium." " And then " said the friend. " And 
 
 then," said Pyrrhus, "next we go for Macedon, and 
 after that job's jobbed, next, of course, for Greece." 
 
 " Which done ," said his friend. " Which done," 
 
 interrupted the King, " as done it shall be, then we're 
 off to tickle the Egyptians." " Whom having tickled," 
 
 pursued the friend, "' then we ? " " Tickle the 
 
 Persians," said the King. " But after that is done," 
 urged the obstinate friend, "whither next?" " Why, 
 really, man, it's hard to say ; you give one no time to 
 breathe ; but we'll consider the case as soon as we 
 come to Persia, and until we've settled it, we can 
 crown ourselves with roses, and pass the time 
 pleasantly enough over the best wine to be found in 
 Ecbatana." " That's a very just idea," replied the 
 friend, " but, with submission, it strikes me that we 
 might do that just now, and at the beginning of all 
 these wars, instead of waiting for the end." " Bless 
 me," said Pyrrhus, " if ever I thought of that before.
 
 94 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GIENCOE. 
 
 Why, man, you're a conjuror ; you've discovered a 
 mine of happiness. So here, boy, bring us roses and 
 plenty of Cretan wine ! " The philosophy of our 
 apologue is too obvious to require any explication. 
 We recollect being once privileged to spend an evening 
 in company of the late Professor Wilson, of Edin- 
 burgh, the world-renowned " Christopher North," in 
 his son-in-law's house, Professor Ferrier, of St. Andrews. 
 Some time during the course of our sederunt, Wilson 
 took occasion to relate this story of Pyrrhus and his 
 friend, and he told it so admirably and with so many 
 happy turns of his own, that he very soon had us all 
 in convulsions of laughter. He then made the apologue 
 the text of a long lay sermon, bristling with apt 
 philosophisings, such as we had never heard before, 
 and are never likely to hear again. For this alone we 
 reckon it one of those nights, the memory of which 
 one treasures up as something more valuable and 
 precious than anything else this world has to offer. 
 A fireside sermon from such a man as John Wilson 
 was something worth the listening to, for you might 
 live a long lifetime and meet no other intellect of 
 equal wit and equal shrewdness. Under the sparkling 
 of the richest and rarest humour, and peals of the 
 heartiest laughter, you felt all the same that, during 
 the whole time, you were breathing an atmosphere of 
 profoundest wisdom and world-wide philanthropy. 
 We were then, of course, young, and more impression- 
 able than we are to-day, but even yet we should 
 gladly walk a rough winter day's journey to listen to 
 wisdom so profound from lips so eloquent. An 
 evening with Professor Blackie, too, at your own
 
 PROFESSOR B LA CAVE. 95 
 
 fireside, solus cum solo, with the curtains drawn, and 
 no one to disturb you, is very enjoyable, for the 
 learned Professor, although the world at large is loth 
 to admit it, is in truth a man as thoroughly and 
 really religious, in the best sense of that term, as he is 
 ready-witted and warm-hearted. He has, by the way, 
 recently published a volume of poetry, which, ex dono 
 auctoris, is now on the table beside us. It is 
 entitled " Songs of Religion and Life." That Pro- 
 fessor Blackie should appear as a religious poet, many 
 people will be surprised at ; not we, however, for we 
 have long known that under an air of apparent levity 
 and abandon, and much brusquerie of manner, there 
 is pervading the whole man a deep undercurrent of 
 great thoughtfulness and unaffected piety. Here is a 
 single specimen, very characteristic of the author. 
 At first sight it sounds somewhat heteredox, but, cum 
 grano and at bottom, it is orthodox enough, and 
 conveys a censure which some people would do well 
 to take to heart. 
 
 " Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis. 
 
 " Dear God, by wrathful routs, 
 
 How is Thy Church divided : 
 And how may he that doubts, 
 
 In such turmoil be guided ] 
 "When, weeping, I behold 
 
 How Christian people quarrel, 
 Oft-times from Heathens old 
 
 I fetch a saintly moral : 
 And while they fret with rage 
 
 The sore-distraught community, 
 I look for some Greek sage 
 
 Who preaches peace and unity,
 
 96 'TJVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 And thus I pray : 
 
 Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis ! 
 Let faith and love and joy increase, 
 And reason rule and wrangling cease, 
 
 Good Saint, we pray thee ! 
 
 " They pile a priestly fence 
 
 Of vain scholastic babble, 
 To keep out common sense 
 
 With the unlearned rabble. 
 A curious creed they weave, 
 
 And, for the Church commands it, 
 All men must needs believe, 
 
 Though no man understands it. 
 Thus, while they rudely ban 
 
 All honest thought as treason, 
 
 1 from the Heathen clan 
 
 Seek solace to my reason, 
 
 And thus I pray : 
 Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis ! 
 
 From creeds that men believe, because 
 They fear a damnatory clause, 
 
 Good Saint, deliver us ! 
 
 " Some preach a God so grim, 
 
 That, when his anger swelleth, 
 They crouch and cower to him, 
 
 When sacred fear compelleth ; 
 God loves his few pet lambs, 
 
 And saves his one pet nation, 
 The rest he largely damns 
 
 With swinging reprobation. 
 Thus, banished from the fold, 
 
 I wisely choose to follow 
 Some sunny preacher old, 
 
 Who worshipped bright Apollo : 
 And thus I pray : 
 Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis ! 
 
 From silly flocks of petted lambs, 
 
 And from a faith that largely damns, 
 Good Saint, deliver us !
 
 "SANCTE SOCRATES, OR A PRO NOBIS." 97 
 
 " And some do strongly strive, 
 
 By light of noon-day taper, 
 The guilty soul to shrive 
 
 With many a jest and caper ; 
 With candlestick and hells, 
 
 With postui'es and grimaces, 
 With wealth of holy spells, 
 
 And lack of lovely graces. 
 And when I see increase 
 
 These feats of antic duty, 
 I turn me back to Greece, 
 
 Where truth was wed to beauty, 
 And thus I pray : 
 O Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis 1 
 
 From quaint religion tucked in laces, 
 
 From genuflexions and grimaces, 
 Good Saint, deliver us ! 
 
 " And some there be who say 
 
 That through their veins a virtue 
 Doth run to charm away 
 
 All ills that flesh is heir to ; 
 And from their finger-tips 
 
 A sacred tremor passes, 
 To ope the braying lips 
 
 Of Apostolic asses. 
 From ferment I abstain 
 
 Of such high-churchly preachers, 
 And keep myself quite sane 
 
 By sober Attic teachers ! 
 And thus I pray : 
 Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis ! 
 
 From men that say wide earth contains 
 
 No truth but creeps through saintly veins, 
 Good Saint, deliver us ! 
 
 " Such eager fancies vain, 
 
 Shape forth the rival churches ; 
 And each man's fuming brain 
 God's holy light besmirches ; 
 G
 
 98 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 And thus they all conspire 
 
 The primal truth to smother, 
 And think they praise their Sire, 
 
 By hating well their brother. 
 Such wrangling when I see, 
 
 Such storms of godly rancour, 
 To Heathendom I flee, 
 
 To cast a peaceful anchor, 
 And thus I pray : 
 Sancte Socrates, ova pro nobis/ 
 
 Let love and faith and joy increase, 
 
 And reason rule, and wrangling cease, 
 Good Saint, we pray thee 1 "
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A Wintry March— God made the Country, Man made the Town— Spanish 
 Mackerel— An Owl making a mistake — Dog and Hedgehog — Intelligent 
 Collies — Interchange of News. 
 
 Such a wintry March was never before known in 
 the West Highlands. Yesterday we met a plucky old 
 man, now in his eighty-sixth year, light of foot, and 
 clear of eye, and clever of speech, as if he had not yet 
 attained a third of that age, who solemnly assured us 
 that in all his life long he never knew a March so in- 
 clement throughout. We ourselves can speak of the 
 last twenty or twenty-five years, and it is very certain 
 that in that time at least we never had such a March 
 month as this, so persistently stormy and wild every 
 way, as well as cold. In coming from our stable and 
 byre a few nights ago, after seeing our pony and cows 
 thoroughly well fed and bedded — the latter quite as 
 neeessary in its way to the well-being of your stock as 
 the former — we stood, and while actually shivering 
 from crown to toe in the keenness of the biting blast, 
 that, razor-like, seemed to cut us to the very bone, we 
 startled our servant lassie not a little, as with lantern 
 and milk-pail she passed by us, by half-unconsciously 
 repeating aloud a verse, the meaning of which she, 
 fortunately for herself, knew nothing : 
 
 " The bleak wind of March 
 Made her tremble and shiver, 
 But not the dark arch, 
 Nor the black flowing river.
 
 ioo 'TF//XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 Mad from life's history — 
 Glad to death's mystery, 
 Swift to be hurl'd — 
 Anywhere, anyAvhere, 
 Out of the world." 
 
 A stanza of itself sufficient to immortalise the name of 
 Thomas Hood. 
 
 " God made the country, and man made the town," 
 and the more we think of it, the more are we disposed 
 to exclaim with much heartfelt fervour. " God bless 
 the country ! and God bless our own rural population ! 
 There may be sin amongst us, as, alas ! sin will find 
 its way everywhere, but of sin with all the horrors of 
 its squalor and sad surroundings, as you meet with it in 
 over-peopled cities, we happily know nothing." Our 
 only son, now in business in Glasgow, fond of his 
 work M.nd happy in every way, yet writes, " The 
 scenes I sometimes come across here are terrible. On 
 a fine day, when I see the sun shining on the house- 
 tops, I often think how much I should like a run 
 among the hills behind the manse." Cunning com- 
 mentators have once and again tried to prove that 
 Falstoff's babbling " o' green fields " is a corruption of 
 the text, and have suggested different readings. We, 
 for our own part, like the present reading best ; it is 
 to us very beautiful and of infinite meaning. In no 
 other passage of Shakespeare would the general 
 acceptance of a conjectural emendation, however 
 felicitous, so much annoy us as in meddling with poor 
 Sir John's babbling, bairn-like, when at the point of 
 death, of the green fields so fresh and flowery, in 
 which as a boy, yet innocent of " sack " in any form,
 
 SPANISH MA CKEREL. i o i 
 
 he ran and scampered and shouted, as boys, boy-like, 
 will run and shout and scamper while the world lasts. 
 Mr. Grant, schoolmaster of Ardgour, did something 
 clever the other day, and something out of his 
 ordinary " beat," too. He noticed a fish, with which 
 evidently something was wrong, coming now and 
 again to the surface of the sea, right opposite his 
 windows. It was behaving as no sound and sane fish 
 would ever think of behaving, and Mr. Grant went out 
 at last and managed to capture it. It was shown to us 
 next day, and we had no difficulty in recognising it as 
 a species of mackerel, the horse or Spanish mackerel, a 
 by no means rare fish on our shores. It was fat and 
 in good condition, and seemed healthy every way, and 
 we have no doubt proved good eating, though not 
 quite so good on the table as the common mackerel. 
 The wonder was what could have been the matter 
 with it when it so flopped about upon the surface of 
 the sea, and allowed itself at last to be captured. 
 " Putting that and that together," a process in which 
 the naturalistmust often find himself engaged in, in the 
 unravel ment of such puzzles as constantly come his 
 way, the explanation is probably to be found in the 
 following fact : — Some time after the capture of the 
 fish, a something was seen floating past with the 
 ebbing tide, very much at the same distance from the 
 shore as was the mackerel when first seen. This 
 latter waif, on being intercepted and landed, proved to 
 be a dead owl — a specimen of the barn owl — the Strix 
 jiammea of ornithologists. On being made aware 
 of all this, we knew at once what had happened. The 
 owl is very fond of fish, even when mice and small 
 
 UNIVERSITY LIFORf
 
 102 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 birds, its ordinary food, are plentiful. It often dips 
 into a lake or stream, and seizes such small fish as, 
 swimming; for the moment near the surface, it can 
 reach with its sharp talons. The mackerel in this 
 case was pounced upon by the owl, but the fish was 
 too heavy and too powerful to be taken up and sailed 
 away with in the usual manner. The fish, however, 
 probably struck about the head and gills, was badly 
 hurt and stupefied, so as to be captured in the way 
 stated, while the owl, with its claws for a time inserted 
 in its prey so firmly as not to be immediately extracted, 
 was dragged about and drowned. When dead, the 
 talon tendons would become so relaxed that the fish 
 could easily shake itself clear of its enemy. The moral 
 of the whole is that people should beware of attempt- 
 ing the encompassment of a feat for which they are, 
 upon the whole, unfit and incapable. 
 
 Backward still as is this season, and wintry, our 
 Avild-birds wisely make the most of it. Nest-building 
 has begun in sheltered corners, although we have not 
 as yet come across a nest with eggs in it. In any- 
 thing like a calm, and with every stray gleam of 
 fitful sunshine, the thrush, blackbird, redbreast, and 
 chaffinch ring out their cheeriest carols. They know 
 full well that " the time of the singing; of birds has 
 come," and only wonder how it should continue so 
 wild and wintry at the back of the vernal equinox. 
 The first hedgehog, probably roused from its hyber- 
 nation by one fine day last week, was met with this 
 morning by our collie dog, and there was such a row 
 as is usual in such encounters. The dog yelped and 
 barked, and tried to bite, but it was no use. The
 
 DOGS SPEECH. 103 
 
 hedgehog curled itself up in its covering of spike 
 armour, and being an animal of infinite patience, it 
 just allowed the dog to bark away and fret itself into 
 a useless passion, until it grew tired of the business, 
 and was glad to retire, hoarse and crest-fallen, leaving 
 its invulnerable antagonist the same bristly ball he 
 found it. We the while sat on a dyke, and enjoyed 
 our dog's discomfiture hugely. His looks towards us 
 when making a dash at the hedgehog, and finding his 
 nose hurt by the prickles — he was glad enough to leap 
 back again, rubbing his injured organ in the moss — were 
 so comical at times as to make us fairly laugh outright. 
 He once or twice asked our aid as plainly and unmis- 
 takeably as if he spoke in human speech ; and when, 
 after all, we only sat still and laughed, he seemed 
 really offended, and sulked about in a manifest pet for 
 the remainder of the day. The same dog when in 
 chase of a rabbit is very amusing. He is swift of 
 foot, but not so quick -footed as a rabbit, and when, 
 after a hot chase, the rabbit pops into its burrow and 
 is safe, the way the dog looks at us, suggesting the 
 immediate aid of pick and spade to dig the runaway 
 out, is so absurd, that the herd-boy in the adjoining 
 copse often hears us laughing aloud, and is not a little 
 puzzled at what. 
 
 With an intelligent, well-bred collie beside you, one 
 need never say that he is companionless or without 
 amusement, wander where you may. Did you ever, 
 by the way, remark how dogs seem to speak to each 
 other, evidently interchanging news when they chance 
 to meet 1 We were passing a shepherd's house among 
 the hills on a recent occasion, and it was amusing to
 
 104 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 watch the meeting between our dog and some half- 
 dozen curly tailed tykes belonging to the shepherd. 
 Our dog, as the stranger, was instantly surrounded by 
 his canine relations, and such a whispering, sniffing, 
 and general 'palaver took place as made even the old 
 shepherd smile. " Don't you think, Hugh," we 
 observed, " that these dogs are perfectly understand- 
 ing each other, and having their crack in their own 
 way, just as much as you and I \ " " Well, sir," 
 responded honest Hugh, " I whiles think that dogs are 
 in their way just as intelligent and capable of inter- 
 changing ideas as we are." " I am quite of the same 
 opinion," we added, " and there's a bit of as good 
 tobacco as ever was smoked. How are the sheep 
 doing?" " Just very middling in all this bad weather. 
 There'll be grand prices at the ' deliveries ' this year, 
 I'm thinking." "So be it, Hugh. The outgoing 
 tenant will be pleased, and the incoming tenant will 
 probably scratch his head as he wends him to the 
 bank parlour to provide the wherewithal to settle for 
 his ' stock.' Good evening," — and so we parted. On 
 our way home we noticed that our dog was convoyed 
 by the two oldest and shaggiest of his canine friends 
 till we were more than half-way down the glen, the 
 final parting taking place after a friendly frolic round 
 and round a green knoll that lay in our path. What 
 news our dog gave to them, or they to our dog, we 
 shall never know, but that an interchange of news of 
 some kind took place we hold to be as certain as our 
 own crack with the shepherd. It was in the course of 
 this ramble, too, that we saw the first wild bee of the 
 season, though what could have tempted him abroad 
 in weather so unkindly it is difficult to say.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Cold Spring — An Arab Proverb — An old " Piobaireachd " — Its Origin and 
 Date — Words attached to — Translation — A strange Charm or Talisman — 
 Paralysis and Palsy proper. 
 
 April came in pleasantly enough, and we had already- 
 begun to forget all the cold and inclemency of March, 
 when, to the surprise of every one, the wind, that for 
 a week had been " westlan' " and genial, went round 
 as if at a single bound to east and north ; and after a 
 few burly blasts, snell and spiteful enough for Candle- 
 mas-tide, warning us in a measure for what was coming, 
 brought down upon us the heaviest fall of snow of the 
 season. The country all around now wears a sad mid- 
 winter aspect. Agricultural labour is for the time at 
 a standstill, and shepherds and flockmasters, who had 
 already begun to whistle as if fairly " through the 
 wood, " are again terribly anxious, as well they may, 
 and all the more so that this, too, is the lambing season. 
 The snow, it is true, will not probably remain long at 
 this date on the low-lying grounds, but on the hills and 
 in the upland glens it must be a considerable time 
 before the sun, even at his present altitude, and shining 
 with what brightness he may, can dissolve the very 
 great depth of snow that has fallen so unexpectedly 
 as well as untimeously. It is long since matters wore 
 so hopeless and unkindly an aspect in mid-April. Our 
 wild-birds are fairly at their wits' end, and for that
 
 106 % TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 matter of it at their songs' end too, for the present. 
 Dowie and listless, they can only cheep and chirrup 
 their complaints in little deprecatory, expostulatory 
 notes at the untimeous and unlooked-for turn affairs 
 have taken. One would like to hear, in confidence, 
 their opinion of the "clerk of the weather" in present 
 circumstances. The Arabs have a proverb that 
 "patience is stronger than a lion." Fine weather 
 cannot in the nature of things be far distant. In any 
 case, impatience and fretting on our own part, or on 
 that of our wild-bird friends, can in present circum- 
 stances avail us nothing. 
 
 Most admirers of bagpipe music are familiar with 
 the port or tune known as " Tigh Bhroinein " — The 
 Miserly, Miserable Ones House. To an old piper, 
 John Macarthur of Cladaich, on Lochawe side, we are 
 indebted for the story of the origin of this really very 
 fine piobaireachd, as well as for a couple of stanzas of 
 the original Gaelic verses attached to it, as to most 
 Highland airs of the same class. Such scraps of infor- 
 mation should be collected on all hands and carefully 
 treasured up, as they never fail to lend additional 
 interest to a tune, no matter how beautiful in itself, 
 no less than they do to an old ballad or song. Some 
 two or three hundred years ago, when the great Clan 
 Campbell was at the height of its power, the estate of 
 Barbreck was possessed by a Campbell, who was the 
 brother or cousin — tradition is somewhat uncertain as 
 to the exact degree of relationship — of another Camp- 
 bell, the neighbouring laird of Craignish. This latter, 
 the laird of Craignish, kept a piper, while Barbreck 
 did not. Barbreck could afford to keep one, too, as
 
 AN OLD PIOBAIREACHD. 107 
 
 well as his cousin, but he grudged the expense. His 
 stinginess in this respect, or wise economy, if you so 
 like to term it, is still commemorated in a saying com- 
 mon in some parts of Argyllshire — Tha mi as iunais, 
 mar 'bha 'm Barbreac gun phiobaire — when you 
 would admit that you want a certain thing, such, for 
 instance, as a horse and gig, yacht, or anything else 
 that your neighbour has, and that you might have too, 
 and could well enough afford to have if you only liked. 
 Barbreck was one day on a visit at Craignish, and as 
 he was leaving, meeting the piper, he addressed him, 
 " The New Year is approaching. On New- Year's day 
 morning, when you have played the proper ' salute ' to 
 your master, my cousin Craignish, I wish you would 
 come over to Barbreck and play a New-Year's ' salute ' 
 to me, for, as you know, I have no piper of my own to 
 do it. Come and spend the day with us." The piper 
 promised, and on New- Year's morning, after first play- 
 ing his master into good humour, he went to Barbreck 
 as was arranged. He played and played until the 
 laird of Barbreck was in raptures. After a while the 
 piper felt that he was both hungry and thirsty, and 
 hinted as much to the laird. Food was therefore set 
 before him, but unsatisfactory in every way as to 
 quantity, no less than as to quality and kind. The 
 drinkables were no better, and long ere the sun had 
 set, the piper was anxious to return home. " Give us 
 one more tune before you go, " said Barbreck. " That 
 I will, " responded the piper, and he then and there 
 played impromptu the tune, from that day forth so 
 much admired and widely known as"Tigh Bhroinein" — 
 the House of the Miserly One ! The following are two
 
 108 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 of some half-dozen stanzas attached to this 'port from 
 the very first, whether by the piper himself or by a 
 brother bard is not known, and having a reference to 
 its origin and history : — 
 
 " Tigh Bhroinein. 
 
 " Bha mi 'n tigh Bhroinein 'n diugh, 
 Bha mi 'n tigh Bhroinein ; 
 Fhuair mi cuireadh 
 'S cha d' fhuair mi mo leor ann. 
 Fhuair mi deoch bhrochain ann, 
 A's clroch aran ebrna, 
 Fhuair mi cas circ' ann, 
 'S air chinnt' gum bi 'm bron i ! 
 Cuireadh gu'n dreach a chraidh mi ; 
 Fagaidh mi 'noclid, 
 Gun bhiadh, gun deoch, 
 Fagaidh mi 'nochd 'm Bar-breac, 
 : S cha phill mi riut tuilleadh, 
 A sheinn do phort failte," &c. 
 
 Only a very literal translation, such as our friend Mr 
 J. T. Campbell of Islay delights in, can do anything 
 like justice to these curious old lines: — 
 
 " The House of the Miserly One. 
 
 " I was in the house of the miserly one to-day, 
 In the house of the miserly one was I : 
 I went by invitation thither, 
 But I got no sufficiency (of meat or drink). 
 I got a drink of meal gruel there, 
 And got bad barley scones. 
 I got the leg of a hen there, 
 
 And, by my troth, she was a poor and tough one ! 
 This is an invitation that has annoyed me ; 
 I will leave this to-nkdit
 
 A TALISMAN. 109 
 
 Without (I may say) food or drink ; 
 
 I will leave thee Barbreck, 
 
 Nor will I return to thee any more, 
 
 To play thee a piobaireachd salute ! " &c. 
 
 A curious double-barrelled satire this, musical at once 
 and verbal. It conveys an important lesson, too, which 
 some people would do well to heed. If musician or 
 bard visits you by invitation, and they do the best 
 they can for your delectation and amusement, see that 
 you treat them handsomely, for they are a genus 
 irritabile, kittle cattle, a waspish race, every man of 
 them, and, in return for any slight or improper treat- 
 ment on your part, they may invest your name with 
 an immortality of the least enviable kind. Little did 
 the Barbreck of our piobaireachd think that we should 
 have occasion to record the story of his stinginess to 
 the honest piper of Craignish at this, a date so distant 
 from that New- Year's day morning ; nor even the 
 piper himself that his impromptu melody on the oc- 
 casion, in which, when well played, you can still re- 
 cognise the screams of the tough old hen when her 
 neck was being thrawn, would live and be played, and 
 quoted and hugely admired a couple of hundred years 
 or more after he had been gathered to his fathers. 
 
 Some little time ago we happened to meet a' woman 
 who, in speaking of a recently deceased aunt, said, 
 " By the way. sir, in looking through my aunt's trunk 
 the other day, the hist, you know, in which she kept 
 her clothes and everything she valued most, I found 
 a curious sort of thing which I had once or twice got 
 a glimpse of while she lived, and by which I know she 
 set great store, and considered very valuable. It
 
 no TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 seems to be a plant or vegetable of some kind, and I 
 know that her idea was that while she kept it wrapped 
 up in her dead-clothes, which you must know she had 
 prepared many years ago, she should be free from every 
 illness and ailment whatever, until the final illness of 
 death itself should come." We went next day to see 
 this wonderful herbaceous talisman or charm, and after 
 a little examination, found it to be a stalk, and rather a 
 large stalk, with part of the root attached, of the Great 
 Cat's-Tail Grass or Reed-Mace, a species of bulrush, the 
 Typha latifolia of botanists. It was, of course, very 
 much dried up and withered, and had evidently been 
 many years separated from the marshy soil which is its 
 proper habitat. The niece either could not or would 
 not tell us anything more about the matter, but she 
 good-naturedly allowed us to carry the bulrush charm 
 along with us, remarking, with an ill-suppressed smile, 
 that she hoped it had not lost all its virtue, and that 
 we should find it of some value, as we were at the 
 time suffering from a sore throat. More seriously she 
 said, at parting, that it was the truth, whether the bul- 
 rush had anything to do with it or not, that for thirty 
 years at least, until a few days before her death, her 
 aunt had not had a single moment's illness. A few 
 days afterwards we rode a considerable distance to 
 consult an old woman, with whom we chance to be a 
 great favourite, and who is up to the time of day 
 more than anybody else we ever knew as to the philo- 
 sophy and raison d'etre of everything in the shape of 
 talismans, amulets, charms, and superstitious freits in 
 every shape and form. She recognised the plant at 
 once by its Gaelic name, which was new to us. She
 
 A TALISMAN. in 
 
 called it Cuigeal-nam ban sith, or the Fairy Wives' 
 Distaff. Had she ever, we asked, known it to be 
 treasured up as the deceased lady, its late possessor, 
 had done, and with the same belief in its virtues ? 
 Well, not exactly, she replied, as a charm against sick- 
 ness of every kind, but only as a very effectual charm, 
 she had been told — for she had never tried it herself 
 nor seen it tried — against attacks of epilepsy or tinneas- 
 tuiteamas, as she called it — the exact equivalent of the 
 vulgar Scottish name for the ailment the falling sick- 
 ness. To have all the virtues that it ousdit to have, 
 she said that it required to be pulled on midsummer 
 midnight, or on a midnight nearest to midsummer eve 
 possible, when the moon is at the full. It must be 
 pulled by a person who has fasted since the preceding 
 mid-day, who is barefooted at the time, and, if a female, 
 whose hair is loose and ungathered, without pin, or 
 ribbon, or comb, or cap, or covering of any kind to 
 trammel its freely flowing in the wind as the breeze 
 may select to deal with it. Some other particulars, 
 she said, had also to be attended to, but she had for- 
 gotten them. Once selected and properly pulled with 
 all the necessary ceremonies, the bulrush was to be 
 taken' home to the dwelling of the person to be benefited 
 by its mysterious virtues. It was to be wrapped up in 
 some one or other article of the clothes in which corpses 
 are usually swathed for interment, the patient, as a 
 rule, instantly feeling the benefit of the presence under 
 the same roof of the fairy distaff charm. One remark 
 the old lady made, which is, perhaps, worth repeating. 
 The bulrush charm, she said, is now seldom used, just 
 because epilepsy, at one time very common in the
 
 ii2 TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 Highlands, is now of rather rare occurrence. She also 
 observed that paralysis, almost unknown in the High- 
 lands fifty years ago, is now becoming very common, 
 while palsy proper, or that tremulousness of the head 
 and limbs known as true palsy, is now almost unknown, 
 while in her younger days it was so common that there 
 were two or three or more cases to be met with in 
 almost every hamlet.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Glen Tarbert — Lyche-Gate of Church at Strontian — Hedgehog — Contribution 
 
 to the Natural History of. 
 
 We wonder that it does not oftener occur to the tourist 
 in the Highlands to act more independently for him- 
 self than he is usually in the habit of doing, by throw- 
 ing; his guide-book occasionally aside, and taking a 
 route for himself, of which route, if it at all lies off the 
 beaten track, the said guide-book maker probably never 
 heard, and by which he very certainly never travelled. 
 This thought struck us as lately of an early morning we 
 were riding down Glen Tarbert on our way to Stron- 
 tian. It was a lovely day, a bright sun and cloudless 
 sky overhead, but with heavy masses of pearl-like 
 mist here and there still lingering; along the mountain 
 tops ; there was such a constant change and inter- 
 change of lights and shadows, of a glory beginning 
 and culminating and dying away, only to begin 
 again, and often, too, in reverse order, all in a manner 
 so impressive and beautiful and solemn withal, that 
 once and again we were fain to rein up our horse 
 until he stood stock-still, while we gazed and gasped 
 in very bewilderment of delight. The distance from 
 Corran Ferry to Strontian is just fifteen miles, and if 
 the tourist will take our word for it— and he can 
 understand that in such a matter as this we can have 
 no earthly object or end to serve in exaggerating, any
 
 r t 4 ' TWIX T BEN NE VIS AND GLEN CO E. 
 
 more than in saying what is absolutely untrue — every 
 furlong of these fifteen miles' length will be found 
 worth the looking at with the most attentive, intelli- 
 gent, and receptive of eyes. To describe in words, 
 no matter how honestly done, would give but an im- 
 perfect and faint idea of the splendid reality. We do 
 not say, observe, that Glen Tarbert is finer than many 
 other glens along the western sea-board and elsewhere 
 in the Highlands, far less that the already well-known 
 and accredited tourist routes in the Highlands should 
 be at all abandoned or superseded. On the contrary, 
 we would have tourist routes multiplied, and the first 
 step in this direction seems to us to be that the in- 
 dividual tourist and sightseer should occasionally, as 
 opportunity offers, strike out for himself in short 
 excursions to right or left of the usual beaten track. 
 For our own part, we can at times enjoy the com- 
 panionship of others, even a crush and a crowd, as 
 much as most people, but, in our view of the matter, 
 one of the main attractions of the short lateral excur- 
 sions here hinted at would be their solitariness and 
 the total absence of anything tending to distract or 
 interrupt the sightseer in the full enjoyment of his 
 surroundings. In all such supplementary excursions 
 from the main route and more beaten tracks of 
 tourists, fine weather is, of course, presupposed ; and 
 in this and other minor matters the adventurous 
 tourist must just watch his opportunity, and endeavour 
 to make his hay while the sun shines. In returning 
 from Strontian that same evening, we had the pleasure 
 of calling upon Sir Thomas M. Riddell and Lady Rid- 
 dell at Horseley Hall, at this season one of the loveliest
 
 A LYCHE-GATE. n 5 
 
 spots in all the West Highlands. Not having had an 
 earlier opportunity, we were now taken to see the new 
 chapel of St. Mary's, in all its parts and belongings 
 designed and superintended to completion by Lady 
 Riddell and Sir Thomas. It is a very pretty little 
 church, perfect, indeed, for its size, though in the last 
 respect, too, it is probably quite large enough for the 
 requirements of the district. The internal fittings and 
 decorations are in admirable taste. On approaching 
 the main entrance we noticed that there is an arched 
 and open cloister intended for the comfort and shelter 
 of the worshippers on a wet or stormy day. And 
 what immediately struck us was that, although not 
 originally intended as such, it might quite appropri- 
 ately be called a lych-gate, and used as such, if necess- 
 ary — thus giving the pretty little building quite a 
 mediaeval character and tone perfectly in keeping with 
 its general style of architecture. A lick, lyche, or 
 lych-gate is a sort of cloister or piazza attached to 
 churches and churchyards in early and mediaeval 
 times, and even up to a later period, through which a 
 corpse was carried, and, if necessary, allowed to rest, 
 while the officiating clergyman assumed his robes, and 
 other necessary preparations for the burial service and 
 interment were being carried out. Lich or lych (A.S.) 
 signifies a dead body or corpse, so that lych-gate is 
 just corpse-gate. We have the word still retained in 
 our more common compound term lyke-wake, or 
 nightly watching of the dead until their burial. Our 
 Strontian trip was in all resjDects a most pleasant one. 
 We are indebted to Mr. John Bain of Stranraer for 
 the following notes on the habits of the hedgehog, &c,
 
 1 1 6 ' TW1XT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 by one who has recently given the subject much 
 careful attention, to wit, the Rev. George Sturrock, 
 minister of the parish of Corsock, in the Stewartry of 
 Kirkcudbright, where hedgehogs seem to be very plenti- 
 ful — more plentiful, perhaps, than anywhere else in 
 Scotland. As a contribution to the natural history of 
 an interesting little animal, whose true character and 
 economy has been for some time a subject of much dis- 
 cussion, these notes by one who has taken the trouble 
 to observe for himself with all the closeness and care 
 the circumstances permitted, are of considerable value. 
 Mr. Sturrock writes, under date 10th July, to his 
 friend Mr. Bain as follows : — 
 
 " We had your favour of the 6th June. It looks as if I were 
 careless, but it is not so ; the hedgehogs have required all the time. 
 I think that, without presumption, I may now be reckoned some- 
 what of an authority on this subject. At least, since I saw you I 
 have spared no pains to be so, standing often almost stone-still on 
 drizzling evenings making my observations. The subject may not 
 by some be thought an exalted one, but it very soon became to me 
 quite fascinating. As to the food of the hedgehog, any difficulty, 
 after the most careful observation, is not in saying what it will eat, 
 but what it will not eat. Before beginning these observations, I 
 thought a good deal on the subject, and as the result, that you were 
 wrong in saying that it eat eggs and killed birds ; and that Sir 
 William Jardine, who says that ' it is very fond of eggs, and is, con- 
 sequently, mischievous in the game preserve and hen-house,' must 
 also be wrong. Its sensitiveness to anything that menaces it, how- 
 ever weak or harmless, led me to think that a partridge, for 
 example, would be more than a match for it, making it by a single 
 peck roll up and wait for a convenient retreat, but it is evidently 
 a subject that requires more than reflection. My observations have 
 led me to a different conclusion. I have found that in captivity 
 two hedgehogs are more than a match for a rat, and, in a state of 
 nature, I have seen one putting a pheasant to deliance. After see-
 
 A T OTES ON THE HEDGEHOG. 117 
 
 ing you I made a house, a large box covered with wire-netting, and 
 the first night I went out in search I captured two hedgehogs, 
 one very large and another rather small. These I placed in said 
 house or cage. At first, after all was quiet, they surveyed their 
 quarters, and evidently looked for a way of escape. Getting tired 
 of this, they rolled themselves up under the litter. Later in the 
 evening, and with the aid of candle-light, Ave placed beside them a 
 great variety of kinds of food, among which were some small trout. 
 We then made use of the watering-can with rose, and gave them 
 an artificial rain. They soon began to snuff about, and were 
 attracted — likely by the smell — to a piece of pork. They soon left 
 this, and, curiously enough, each made choice of a small trout. To 
 this several witnesses can testify. In the morning we found 
 everything— fish, flesh, bread, cheese, milk, &c. — had been more or 
 less tried. On the following evening we put in a reptile which 
 they call here a mankeeper, and although it could move about 
 briskly, they soon devoured it. I am astonished at their preference 
 for fish. This I proved by placing a variety of kinds of food as 
 before, and hanging an eel by a string from the roof. This they 
 first eat as far up as effort enabled them to get at it, and finished 
 the rest when it was put within their reach. We afterwards 
 starved them for a time, and then placed beside them a large rat, 
 with no injury, so far as I know, but a leg broken in the trap. 
 After the rat began to get quiet, our friends the hedgehogs set to 
 work, making a sort of dart at it with the nose, and, when it 
 resisted, rolling themselves up a little. This went on for an hour 
 at least, and I fancied that they could make nothing of it. In the. 
 morning, however, I found it dead and completely gutted. In 
 captivity they seem to eat anything. One in the vinery seems 
 very fond of the thinnings of the grapes, showing that they will eat 
 vegetables. All eggs I tried were readily eaten, but they cannot 
 break a hen egg with a thick shell. The efforts they made to do 
 this, and the way in which they persevered to do it, was extraor- 
 dinary. But, both in captivity and in a state of nature, I have seen 
 them defeated after all their efforts. Small eggs they readil}' 
 devour as they come in their way, or can be reached by them. 
 The most extraordinary thing I have to tell is, that one wet even- 
 ing, when passing along the road a little below my manse, I saw 
 a pheasant fluttering about in a very unhappy like style, and
 
 1 1 8 ' TW1XT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 believing that its young were being disturbed by my dog, I called 
 on him. He did not come, and I entered the field to take him 
 away, when, to my surprise, I found a hedgehog partially rolled up, 
 and on turning it over, found a young pheasant all eaten but the 
 head and some bones and feathers. This I was telling a friend 
 who is of some note in the stewartry, and he assured me that he 
 and a friend found a partridge in a similar predicament. This I 
 meant merely for jottings, but I have been twice interrupted, and 
 the post is now at hand, so that with all its mistakes I will send it 
 off. I only add this — let those who will not believe that the 
 hedgehog is an egg-eater only go to its haunts on a damp night, 
 and place eggs not at its nose, but at some distance from it, wait 
 patiently and watch carefully, and I shall be surprised if they do 
 not come away sufficiently convinced that the hedgehog is an 
 egg-eater." 
 
 As the above observations were made and the notes 
 written at Mr. Bain's request, with a view to their 
 being sent to us, we have to thank both gentlemen for 
 their courtesy and attention. We may remark that 
 the term " mankeeper " for any of our reptiles is new 
 to us. We have no doubt, however, that the blind- 
 worm (Angius fragilis) is the reptile meant. The 
 Highlanders, from a mistaken belief in its venomous- 
 ness and evil character, generally call it Plaigh-Shlat, 
 the Plague or Distemper Switch. It is needless to say 
 that in reality it is as harmless and blameless of life 
 as the commonest earth-worm. It has no means or 
 power of doing harm to beast or body, even if had 
 the will, which it has not.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Letter from the Hebrides — Curious old Song — Translated into English. 
 
 From the Outer Hebrides our friend Mr. Caruiichael 
 sends us a song; which he took down on the 10th 
 March 1869 from the dictation of a cottar woman at 
 Howmore, South Uist, a woman who, though in a 
 lonely position, has a keen sense of the humorous and 
 ludicrous. 
 
 The following is the song ; we retain Mr. Car- 
 michael's orthography as being more in keeping with 
 the Outer Hebrides pronunciation of many of the 
 words : — 
 
 " Na Tri Eoin Chrtjinne-Gheala Dhonn." 
 
 Fonn — " Na tri Eoin chruinne-gheala dhonn, 
 
 Chruinne-gheala dhonn, chruinne-gheala dhonn, 
 Na tri Eoin chruinne-gheala dhonn, 
 'S b' iad sid na tri Eoin ! 
 
 i. 
 " Is dubh am fionn sin, 's dubh am fionn 
 Chaidh mi butarscionn mo bhean ; 
 Ma their mise 's dubh am fitheach, 
 Their is' gum beil am fitheach geal ! 
 
 n. 
 " Tha bean agam mar an deantag, 
 Bean is crainnte na torn druis ; 
 Bean is teogha na seachd teinteann 
 Bean chruaidh chainntidh mharbh i mis !
 
 i2o 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 in. 
 
 " Thogain tigh air laraich luim, 
 Chairinn bonn ri maide cas, 
 Thigeadh ise 's car na ceann, 
 ' 'S meirig a rachadh ann a steach.' 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Dhianain treothadh, dhianain buain, 
 Dhianain cruach mar fhear a chach, 
 Theireadh i mar bha i beo, 
 Nach robh ann ach torr air lar. 
 
 v. 
 
 " Dhianain iasgach leis an doradh, 
 Mharbhain langa, mharbhain sgat ; 
 Chuireadh ise 'lamb na cliabh, 
 'S dh-iarradh i sid 'thoirt an chat ! 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Dhianain cuman air fiodh cruaidh, 
 A shuidheadh gu buan air an lar ; 
 Chuireadh i h-anam an geall, 
 Gun robh e 'call air a mhas ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Teinne ga fhadadh mu loch 
 Gu tiormachadh cloich an cuan, 
 Teagasg ga thoirt do mhuaoi bhuirb, 
 Mar bhuil' uird air iarann fuar 1 
 
 vm. 
 
 " Cha truimeid an loch an lach, 
 Cba truimeide an t' each a shrian, 
 Cha truimeid' a chaora a h-olainn, 
 'S cha truimeid' a choluinn ciall ! 
 
 Form — " ]S"a tri eoin chruinne-gheala dhonn, 
 
 Chruinne-gheala dhonn, chruinne-gheala dhonn, 
 Na tri eoin chruinne-gheala dhonn, 
 'S b' iad sid na tri eoin ! "
 
 AN OLD HIGHLAND SONG. 121 
 
 It is impossible, perhaps, to give the full aroma of 
 the quiet satire aud humour of these verses in an 
 English translation, even the most literal. One must 
 be " to the manner born," a Celt brought up amongst 
 Celts, familiar with their domestic avocations, as well 
 as with their speech and modes of thought, thoroughly 
 to appreciate all that the poor wife-tormented wight 
 suffered from the thrawn temper and stiff-neckedness 
 of his uncompromising, termagant spouse. In the 
 following jingle, however, the outsider has a tolerably 
 fair rendering of a song that is certainly old and in 
 many respects curious. 
 
 " The Three Brown-Backed Birds ; " or the Wife that 
 nothing could please. 
 
 Chorus — " 0, the three brown-backed birds, 
 
 The brown-backed birds, the brown-backed birds ; 
 0, the three brown-backed birds, 
 The wale of birds I trow are they ! 
 
 1. 
 " Black is white, and white is black, 
 (A quarrelsome wife is of woes the woe !) 
 If I assert that the raven is black, 
 She'll swear it's as white as the driven snow ! 
 
 11. 
 
 " My wife she stings like a nettle top, 
 Crosser in grain than bramble or thorn ; 
 Hotter than seven times heated fire, 
 "With her loud bad tongue I'm shattered and torn. 
 
 in. 
 
 " If I build her a house on a good dry stance, 
 With rafters and roof all tight and trig, 
 She says, with provoking gesture and sneer, 
 1 Was there e'er such a hovel — not fit for the pig ! '
 
 122 'TJV/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Well can I plough, and sow, and reap, 
 And build a corn-stack without bulge or hump, 
 But she'll vow and declare, ' by her blameless life,' 
 That ' 'tis never a stack, but a shapeless lump ! ' 
 
 v. 
 " Well can I fish with hook and line, 
 Fish round and long, fish broad and flat, 
 When, hark ! from her lips, with her hands on her hips, 
 ' Such fish to be sure ! give it all to the cat ! ' 
 
 VI. 
 
 " If I make a milk-cog of good hard wood, 
 That will stand on its bottom all steady and stieve, 
 She will swear by her soul, and by all she's worth, 
 That the poor cog leaks like a very sieve ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 " As well light a fire on the brown-ribbed sand, 
 For to dry a rock that is washed by the sea ; 
 As well may you hammer a cold-iron bar, 
 As to make a ba I wife all she ought to be. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " Nought to the lake is the mallard's weight ; 
 To the generous steed nought the weight of his rein ; 
 Not worse is the sheep for its coat of wool ; 
 Nor can sense give any one trouble or pain. 
 
 Chorus — " 0, the three brown-backed birds, 
 
 The brown-backed birds, the brown-backed birds ; 
 0, the three brown-backed birds, 
 The wale of birds I trow are they ! " 
 
 For very obvious reasons, no kind of poetry is so 
 difficult to translate from one lano-uasre into another 
 as the comic or humorous and the satiric, and hence 
 it is that literal renderings of such compositions are 
 but rarely attempted, the loosest paraphrase being pre-
 
 AN OLD HIGHLAND SONG. 123 
 
 ferred even in justice to the original itself. The 
 chorus or burden of the foregoing song seems to be 
 only accidentally connected with the accompanying 
 verses, probably, as is often the case, merely as the 
 key-note to the air to which they are to be sung. It 
 is manifestly the chorus of an older composition, pro- 
 bably also of the comic order, which, opportunely 
 ringing in the ears of the hen-pecked bard, as he 
 resolved to give vent to his grievances in song, he laid 
 hold of and pressed for the nonce into his own service.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Sea-Fowl seeking shelter — Coming Storms — A Fieldfare in sad plight — 
 Surgical Operation — " Sobieski " wrongously suspected — The Night- 
 ingale in Scotland. 
 
 Whatever may be yet in store for us before the 
 vernal equinox has again come round, it is certain 
 enough that, up to this date at least, we have hardly 
 had any winter proper to speak of. Here we are 
 within a week of the winter solstice, and the weather 
 continues mild and ojjen as if it were mid- April rather 
 than mid-December. It was impossible but that to a 
 certain extent we should feel the gales which else- 
 where raged so violently at the beginning of the 
 month ; but blowing as these gales did from some 
 point intermediate between north-east and south-east, 
 our geographical position is such that they passed 
 harmlessly over our heads, and off our shores rather 
 than on them ; thanks to the mountain barriers that 
 environ us, sheltering us as they do very effectually, 
 and in the friendliest way, from every storm, however 
 fiercely it may blow, except such as fall upon us from 
 the opener compass points of south-west and south- 
 south-west. How long this mild and open weather .is 
 to continue, in a climate so inconstant as ours, and at 
 this season of the year, it would be rash to say, but we 
 should think not very long. A change to colder and 
 stormier weather, the advent of true winter in short,
 
 THE WOUNDED FIELDFARE. 125 
 
 seems to be close at hand — -a bit of weather prophecy 
 on our part solely founded on our knowledge of wild- 
 bird life at this season. Within the last two or three 
 days larger flocks of all sorts of sea-fowl have been 
 crowding into our estuaries and bays, as if seeking 
 shelter in anticipation of a coming time of trial, which 
 their instinct, infallible within a given range, tells 
 them is at hand ; while on land, birds, now gathered 
 into flocks, rush hither and thither restlessly and ex- 
 citedly, anxiously and querulously cheeping and 
 chirping, as if they too, almost as well as their web- 
 foot cousins, could tell when a season of cold and 
 storm was imminent. Sometimes, it is to be confessed, 
 that even our wild-birds, both of the sea and land, 
 seem to be out in their meteorological vaticinations, as 
 well as their " featherless " fellow-bipeds of a higher 
 order, but as a rule they are right, and may be 
 depended upon ; and at this moment we should be dis- 
 posed to say, as interpreter of the sayings and doings 
 of our feathered friends, that severe gales and a period 
 of intense cold is about as certain as anything meteoro- 
 logical in our climate, with so much of the varium et 
 mutabile semper about it, can ever be held to be 
 before its actual occurrence. 
 
 Wandering; along the beach a short time ago, we 
 noticed a bird that we took to be a thrush hirpling 
 helplessly across a field in a state of evident distress. 
 Wondering what could be the matter with him, we 
 managed by a little manoeuvring to capture him, and 
 found him to be not a song-thrush, but a fieldfare 
 (Turdis pilaris, Linn.), in miserable condition, his 
 breast-bone, as we ran our forefinger along its ridge,
 
 126 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 about as sharp of edge as the carving-knife that is 
 usually set before you to operate with, so hugely to 
 your satisfaction, at public dinners. On examining it 
 further, we found that the cause of its hirpling and 
 miserable condition generally was that the tarsus of 
 the left leg was broken about half an inch above the 
 toes. Wound round the latter was a long horse-tail 
 hair, in which the bird had somehow got itself en- 
 tangled, and a loop of this having, if our theory be 
 correct, got fixed on a hawthorn twig, on the pretty 
 dark-red berries of which these birds feed largely in 
 the fall of the year, the fieldfare, in its struggles to free 
 itself, got its leg broken as described, and, from pain 
 and inability to get at its proper food in comfort, 
 became the miserable object it was when we effected its 
 capture. Pitying the wretched plight of the poor 
 fieldfare, and determined to help it if we could, we 
 took it home with us, and getting hold of a pair of 
 scissors, at once amputated the leg at the fracture, 
 which it was evident was not of recent date, and 
 which no surgical skill on our part could possibly set 
 in such a way as to give us any hope that it might 
 eventually heal. To the stump we applied a little 
 common tar, and wrapping a small wisp of cotton 
 wool around it, the operation, so far as we were con- 
 cerned, was complete. The next thing was to feed our 
 patient, a delicate and difficult job in the case of a 
 bird naturally wild and shy, and of whose proper food 
 we had at the moment none that we could offer it. 
 Some hawthorn berries, it is true, were still to be found 
 here and there along the garden hedge, but in confine- 
 ment at least we knew that the bird would not look at
 
 THE WOUNDED FIELDFARE. 127 
 
 them, and to force them upon him, however carefully 
 we went to work, we were afraid might hurt him. 
 What he wanted was a good hearty meal — it must he 
 forced upon him nolens volens, and it must obviously 
 be such food as he could swallow readily and easily, if 
 he swallowed at all, and such as was least likely to 
 hurt him if he struggled, as we knew he was pretty 
 sure to do, in its administration. Grating part of a 
 fresh turnip into a cup full of fine Hour, we made the 
 whole, with the aid of a little milk, into a thick paste, 
 and taking Mr. Tardus Pilaris in our left hand, and 
 holding him firmly but tenderly, we forced upon him, 
 despite his strong dislike to the operation, manifested 
 by many a vicious nip at our fingers, pellet after 
 pellet of the paste, until we considered that his crop 
 was sufficiently distended, and he had had enough of 
 it. We had now done all for him we could, and in the 
 evening, after dark, we took him out into the garden, 
 and placed him on a branch in the heart of a holly bush, 
 and there we left him to the care and protection of 
 Him without whose knowledge not even a sparrow 
 falleth to the ground. Next morning our first after- 
 breakfast stroll was into the garden ; we looked into 
 the heart of the holly bush, and made careful search in 
 every direction, but nothing of our yesterday's patient, 
 dead or alive, could we see. We met, indeed, our 
 favourite tom-cat, a magnificent animal, striped like a 
 tiger, and with a strong dash of wild-cat blood in his 
 veins, prowling about ; and we had an idea that if he 
 could speak, and chose to make a clean breast of it, he 
 knew and could tell us more about Tardus Pilaris, 
 albeit he knew him not by that name, than anybody
 
 128 'TW1XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 else ; for, with many good qualities, Sobieski, as he is 
 called, is but a cat after all, and, sooth to say, as ruth- 
 less among birds, when he gets the chance and thinks 
 no one is looking on, as the Turk among the Bul- 
 garians. In this particular case, however, Sobieski 
 was innocent enough, for about mid-day a rustling in 
 a large hawthorn tree in a corner of the garden 
 attracted the attention of a young lady who happened 
 to be passing at the time, and on closer inspection our 
 fieldfare patient of the day before was discovered as 
 comfortably perched as a single set of toes would per- 
 mit on one of the topmost boughs. For a day or two 
 afterwards the fieldfare was occasionally seen about 
 the garden, feeding greedily on the last of the haw- 
 thorn berries, and manifestly improving in condition 
 and strength. He then disappeared for a time, and it 
 was odds whether he was alive or dead, until yester- 
 day afternoon, when, with a good glass, we easily 
 picked him up by his halting gait from among a flock 
 of his fellows that had alighted to sun themselves in a 
 field some five hundred yards distant from our study 
 window. He seemed to put the stump under him fear- 
 lessly, so that it is by this time probably quite healed. 
 What we wonder at just now is, if his " game " leg will 
 at all interfere with his migration to the north and north- 
 eastwards in spring ; and more particularly, if it will 
 interfere with his matrimonial prospects at the pairing 
 season. Will a lady fieldfare (for our friend by his 
 plumage markings is a male) be found that will accept 
 him for a husband in virtue of his other good qualities, 
 his game leg to the contrary notwithstanding % We 
 shall at all events keep an eye upon him, and if he
 
 THE NIGHTINGALE IN SCOTLAND. 129 
 
 survives the winter here, it is not at all impossible, nor 
 even improbable, that we shall see him back again 
 some time in October of next year. 
 
 But 'place aux dames ! A lady who, in the course 
 of her reading, has met with some references to the 
 nightingale in the works of one or more Scottish and 
 Irish poets, writes us to ask if in the British Islands 
 the nightingale is ever found so far north as Scotland, 
 or so far west as Ireland \ Has it any right to be 
 called or referred to as a bird of Scotland or Ireland at 
 all 1 for if not, then, she argues very sensibly, the 
 poets aforesaid are out in their " local colouring," and, 
 so far, are to be condemned, however apropos other- 
 wise and well- worded their references to the match- 
 less music of the plain-plumaged songster. We reply 
 without doubt or difficulty that the nightingale proper 
 [Philomela luscinia) is not a Scottish bird, neither 
 is it an Irish bird. In the latter island we believe it 
 has never been seen, nor does its appearance two or 
 three times as a mere accidental straggler north of the 
 Tweed give it any claim to be ranked in any sense as 
 a Scottish bird ; and the less, therefore, Scottish and 
 Irish poets and song-writers have to do with a bird of 
 which they can know but very little, and the people of 
 Scotland and Ireland generally nothing at all, the 
 better, we should say, for all parties concerned. Our 
 fair correspondent seems to be under the impression 
 that in England, at all events, and everywhere south 
 of the Tweed, the nightingale is common. This is a 
 mistake. Even in England it is of very circumscribed 
 distribution, being strictly confined to certain favourite 
 localities, forth of and beyond which it is rarely met
 
 i 3 o 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 with. A curious belief, common amongst the bird- 
 catchers of London and its neighbourhood, is that 
 nightingales are never seen except where cowslips are 
 abundant. How far this is true or otherwise we have 
 personally had no means of determining, but such a 
 belief is at all events worth the chronicling. It is rarely 
 met with even in England further north than about the 
 middle of Yorkshire. Westward it is found plentiful 
 enough, up to the very borders of Devonshire, but no 
 further. In Devonshire itself and Cornwall it is never 
 seen. The very partial distribution, indeed, of this 
 bird is one of the most curious and interesting puzzles 
 in the history of English bird-life, and deserves more 
 attention than, so far as we are aware, it has yet 
 received at the hands of ornithologists. As to the 
 appearance of the nightingale in Scotland, we cannot 
 do better than quote, for our correspondent's edifica- 
 tion, the following note from our friend Mr. Eobert 
 Gray's excellent volume : — 
 
 " The nightingale," says Mr. Gray, " is believed to have been 
 met with in at least two instances north of the Tweed. The first 
 is thus alluded to in Macgillivray's British Birds : — ' In a letter with 
 which I am favoured by Mr. Eobert D. Duncan is the following 
 notice: — "The nightingales arrived in Calder Wood, in West 
 Lothian, in the early part of the summer of 1826. I cannot 
 remember so far back, but credible eye and ear witnesses, on whose 
 testimony implicit reliance may be placed, gave me the information. 
 Before and about midnight, while the full moon shone bright and 
 clear, the superior warble of the male was first heard, which soon 
 attracted a number of admiring individuals, who hastened to the 
 spot, supposing it at first to be a scape-canary. The owner of the 
 wood was extremely anxious to preserve them, thinking, perhaps, that 
 they might propagate ; but, with all his care and attention, some 
 malicious and selfish individuals attempted to take them with bird-
 
 THE NIGHTINGALE IN SCOTLAND. 13 r 
 
 lime, but failing in their efforts, they afterwards shot the male, upon 
 which the female left the wood.'" In this case (continues Mr. 
 Gray) it is possible that some other bird, such as the sedge- 
 warbler, black-cap, or garden-warbler (although the two latter do 
 not, so far as I am aware, sing at midnight), may have been mis- 
 taken for the nightingale, and that the lateness of the hour, not to 
 speak of the ' full moon,' may have helped the deception. The 
 second instance is given in Turnbull's Birds of Ead Lothian, 
 wherein it is stated that the nightingale was heard near Dalmeny 
 Park, Midlothian, in June 1839. In the belief that migratory 
 songsters returned to their native haunts in the breeding season, an 
 attempt was made, many years ago, by Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, 
 Bart., to introduce nightingales into Caithness-shire, by placing 
 eggs, which had been transmitted from the neighbourhood of 
 London, in the nests of robin redbreasts. The foster-parents 
 managed satisfactorily to bring up the young nightingales, which 
 for some time afterwards were observed flying about in the 
 vicinity of their birthplace. In September, however, in obedience 
 to their migratory instincts, they quitted their northern home, to 
 which they never returned. Perhaps they were right." 
 
 Were Sir John Sinclair's very interesting experiment 
 tried of new in one of the southern counties of Scot- 
 land — no difficult matter either, for nip-htinsrale ep-p-s 
 are easily procurable in spring — it might perhaps be 
 attended with more satisfactory results. The idea of 
 trying it in Caithness-shire was absurd ab incepto : 
 as well try it in Kamschatka,
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Wild-Birds and Meteorological Forecasts — Stewart of Appin and the Marquis 
 of Tweeddale — A Christening — Miss Knight and Dr. Johnson. 
 
 It was with some confidence, as our readers may re- 
 member, that, believing in the meteorological instincts 
 of our wild-birds, we ventured about the 18th of 
 December upon a very decided weather forecast — to 
 predict, in short, that a period of really cold and 
 wintry weather, probably to be accompanied by severe 
 gales, was at hand ; and before our letter could well 
 have been in type — before at all events it could have 
 been in the hands of our readers — the vaticinated cold 
 and gales were already upon us, and in such wise, too, 
 as is not likely soon to be forgotten. Nor, if our wild- 
 bird friends are to be further trusted, is all the ele- 
 mental hurly-burly of the past twenty days by any 
 means at end. We can hardly recollect ever before 
 seeing such a crowding together of sea-fowl along our 
 shores ; such a congregating together of land birds 
 along our hedgerows, in copse and sheltered glade ; 
 and in all their movements, as well as in every note of 
 their plaintive chirpings, an evident restlessness, 
 anxiety, and apprehension of evil days yet to come, 
 as bad, or even worse, if worse be possible, than those 
 already experienced from Christmas-tide to Twelfth- 
 day. The fact that within the last few days our web- 
 foot visitors have for the most part shifted their
 
 WILD-BIRDS AS WEATHER PROPHETS. 133 
 
 ground — shifted, that is, their resting-places for the 
 night from their first selected quarters to others along 
 the shores directly opposite — induces us to venture 
 on another weather prediction, viz., that our next 
 storms, probably at no distant date, will be from the 
 south and south-west, rather than, as in the case 
 of those already past, from the opposite direction. 
 The western seaboard, in short, rather than the 
 eastern, is most likely to receive the full force and 
 fury of the next gale. Whether propter hoc or merely 
 post hoc, whether because of our last letter or 
 independently of it, we shall not take it upon our- 
 selves to say, but it is the fact that letters have 
 recently appeared in the Times drawing attention to 
 the wisdom of utilising our wild-birds as weather 
 prophets more than has ever hitherto been done. 
 This is put forward in the columns of the " leading 
 journal" as if the idea were entirely a new one, 
 whereas our many readers at home and abroad will 
 bear us witness that we have in this column advocated 
 meteorological attention in the same direction not once 
 and again, but repeatedly, during the last twenty years. 
 On one occasion the late Admiral Fitzroy wrote us a 
 long letter with reference to one of our papers on this 
 subject, and he was arranging for a series of simul- 
 taneous bird observations during the following winter 
 at certain selected stations along the Scottish and Irish 
 coasts, when his sudden and sad death put an end to 
 the scheme. One thins: is certain : if the scheme 
 which it was Admiral Fitzroy's intention to bring into 
 active operation as an aid to what may be called in- 
 strumental meteorology, or meteorology proper, is ever
 
 i 3 4 ' TW1XT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 to be fairly tried, the observer or observers at each 
 station, in order to give our wild-birds fair-play and 
 the scheme every chance of success, must be not mere 
 fireside or closet naturalists, but practical ornitholo- 
 gists, conversant for years with birds and their habits 
 in their natural haunts of unrestrained freedom. And 
 it is well to remember at the outset that it is only 
 when weather changes are very decided and extreme 
 that a close study of wild-bird life can be of much 
 service to meteorological science. As regards violent 
 and very pronounced weather changes, such a study 
 cannot but be of importance and value ; in the course 
 of slight and ordinary weather changes and atmo- 
 spheric perturbations, our wild-birds, as a rule, are but 
 slightly if at al] affected, and from the closest study 
 of their doings in such circumstances not much infor- 
 mation is to be expected. We do not see, however, 
 why the Scottish Meteorological Society should not 
 take up Admiral Fitzroy's scheme, and give it a fair 
 trial. 
 
 A few days ago, in the course of a friendly Gaelic 
 " crack " with an old woman in the opposite district 
 of Appin, we were reminded of an anecdote connected 
 with the late Marquis of Tweeddale which we had 
 heard many years ago, but which, until it chanced to 
 come in our way the other day, we had entirely 
 forgotten. About the beginning of the present 
 century, Lord Tweeddale, then quite a young man, 
 had his shooting quarters for a year or two together 
 in the district of Appin. He became acquainted, 
 as in the circumstances was unavoidable, with the 
 last Stewart of Appin, Duncan Mac Allain Ic-Rob,
 
 STEWART OF APPIN. 135 
 
 one of those of whom Professor Aytoun has sung so 
 spiritedly — 
 
 " A leal old Scottish cavalier, 
 All of the olden time." 
 
 Appin was at the time well advanced in years, but 
 hale and hearty, and of a frank and jovial disposition, 
 and the society of the district being necessarily limited, 
 it was the most natural thing in the world that the 
 young Marquis and the old Jacobite chief should be- 
 come intimate, so intimate, indeed, that Tweeddale 
 spent all his idle hours at Appin House, frequently 
 remaining over nip-hts top-ether. Although, counting 
 his years, decidedly an old man, Appin, as we have 
 already hinted, was still a man of vigorous and lusty 
 life, who bore the burden of his threescore years and 
 ten as if they were but a featherweight, and no more 
 a real burden to him than is half the number to men 
 in our degenerate days. " In years he seemed, but 
 not impaired by years ; " or, to quote Scripture rather 
 than Pope, his eye was still undimmed, nor was his 
 natural force abated. He was married to his second 
 wife, a stately and beautiful woman, the daughter, we 
 believe, of Menzies of that Ilk. It so chanced that 
 Mrs. Stewart, or the Lady of Appin, as she was usually 
 styled by the courtesy of the people around, was con- 
 fined of a son while Lord Tweeddale was in the 
 country. Calling to offer his congratulations on the 
 occasion, the Marquis and old Stewart made a merry 
 night of it ; and it was then and there arranged that 
 on a given day the child was to be christened, and 
 that, at his Lordship's special request, it was to be 
 called after him. When the christening day arrived,
 
 136 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 and the company were assembled, the place of honour 
 on the occasion being of course conceded to the Marquis 
 in right of his dignity as " name-father," the officiating 
 clergyman stopped, as is usual at a certain stage of the 
 ceremony, and, leaning over to the old chief, asked 
 him for the name whereby the child was to be called 
 — henceforward known. " Air m osan " (by my hose, 
 a curious exclamation, unknown, so far as we are 
 aware, in any other language) — " Air m' osan cha'n 'eil 
 fhios agam fhein co dhiii : cha d'fhaoinac mi." " By 
 my hose," that is, " I declare," quoth the lively old 
 gentleman, "I do not know : I forgot to ask his Lord- 
 ship's first name." On the question being now put to 
 the Marquis, he simply replied, " My name is George." 
 " George ! " exclaimed the chief, lifting up his huge grey 
 eyebrows till they commingled with the lyart locks 
 that still fell plentifully over his temples. "George! 
 why, my Lord, no son of mine shall ever be called 
 George ; that I warrant you ! God forbid that a 
 George should ever be known in my family. Have 
 you no other name, my Lord ? " " Indeed, Appin," 
 returned his Lordship, smiling, " I am plain George 
 Hay, and nothing more." " Plain George Hay!" 
 muttered the old man. " I promised to call him after 
 you, my Lord, but ' George ' he shall not be called. 
 Minister, name him Hay ; it is a good old name in 
 Scottish history of which no one need be ashamed ; " 
 and Hay Stewart the boy was named accordingly. 
 Shortly afterwards the estate of Appin was sold ; the 
 old chief died, and the family left the country. 
 Young Hay Stewart in due time emigrated to the 
 United States of America, where, we believe, he be-
 
 " GOD BLESS THE KING." 137 
 
 came a prosperous man, and died only a year or two 
 ago, predeceasing, which was not wonderful, his long- 
 lived nono<renarian name-father. 
 
 o 
 
 Aud, apropos of the Tvveeddale family, let us 
 observe that, in the course of our reading lately, we 
 fell in with an anecdote well worth the reproduction, 
 in which a Marchioness of Tweeddale, the wife of the 
 fourth Marquis, is concerned. She was before her 
 marriage the Lady Frances Carteret, daughter of Earl 
 Granville, the " polite " of Pope's muse, and, as a 
 young girl, was brought up by her aunt, Lady Worsley, 
 who was a staunch Jacobite, and extremely zealous 
 in what was always termed by its adherents the " good 
 cause." The Marchioness of after years used to tell 
 that on one occasion, when her aunt found grave fault 
 with her for not regularly attending morning prayers, 
 she replied that she did not attend because she had 
 heard that her Ladyship (Lady Worsley) did not pray 
 for the King. " Not pray for the King ! " said Lady 
 Worsley ; "I will have you and those who sent you 
 know that I do pray for the King ; only I do not 
 think it necessary to tell God Almighty who is King ! " 
 On the part of good Lady Worsley this is simply 
 naivete, but to the unprejudiced bystander it amounts 
 to genuine wit, and is admirable of its kind. It re- 
 minds one of Dr. Byrom, the Manchester Jacobite's 
 well-known epigram, one of the best in the language, 
 of which, we believe, the following is the correct 
 version : — 
 
 " God bless the King ; God bless the Faith's Defender ; 
 God bless — no harm in blessing — the Pretender ; 
 Who that Pretender is, and who that King — 
 God bless us all — is quite another thing ! "
 
 138 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 The above anecdote is taken from a most entertaining 
 book, Anecdotes, Biographical Sketches, &c, by 
 Letitia Matilda Hawkins, daughter of Johnson's ac- 
 quaintance and biographer, Sir John Hawkins, whom 
 Boswell so heartily detested, and whose Life he takes 
 such a delight in constantly contradicting and 
 " correcting." Miss Hawkins tells a very characteristic 
 story of Johnson, which w T e do not recollect seeing 
 before. On one occasion a Miss Knight, author of a 
 brace of novels, Dinarbas and Marcus Flaminius, 
 called upon Dr. Johnson to pay him a farewell visit 
 on her quitting England, with the intention of making 
 a prolonged stay on the Continent. Besides being 
 exceedingly vain of her novels, it so chanced that Miss 
 Knight was a lady of large and portly presence. 
 When the final "good-bye" came to be said, the 
 " Eambler " dismissed her with these words, " Go, go, 
 my dear ; for you are too big for an island." This is 
 so like Johnson as to be inimitable. One actually sees 
 him rolling about like a Dutch galliot in a ground 
 swell, and blinking that larboard eye of his — " the 
 dog," as he said himself, " was never good for much " 
 — as he dismissed the authoress, at once vain and 
 obese, with the grimly equivocal paternal benediction. 
 The reflection irresistibly occurs to one that we too not 
 unfrequently meet with people who, at their own ad- 
 measurement and appraisement of themselves, are " far 
 too big for an island."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Great Grey Shrike — Its Habits — Stormy Petrel — Terrible force of 
 Mountain Squalls. 
 
 Our always attentive friend, Mr. Snowie of Inverness, 
 informs us that a specimen of the Great Grey Shrike 
 (Lanius excubitor, Linn.) has recently come into his 
 possession. It is an exceedingly rare bird in the 
 West Highlands, two or three specimens being all that 
 have come under our notice during an ornithological 
 career entending now — Eheu,fagaces labuntur anni! 
 — over something like a quarter of a century. Mr. 
 Snowie does not say whether his specimen is a male 
 or female ; if the former, and in full adult plumage, 
 with the wing spots clearly marked, and the secon- 
 daries broadly and prominently margined with white, 
 it is very valuable, and deserves a place of honour in 
 any collection of our rarer wild-birds. As a rule, and 
 curiously enough, it so happens that it is only females 
 and young males in imperfect plumage that are usually 
 captured or shot, so that you may visit a score of 
 collections and not meet with a single specimen in 
 the full and perfect plumage of the adult male bird. 
 If Mr. Snowie's specimen, therefore, is a male in full 
 feather, it well deserves preserving and setting up with 
 the utmost care, and nowhere can this be better done 
 than under Mr. Snowie's own superintendence. In 
 the eastern counties of Aberdeen. Forfar, and Fife, the
 
 i 4 o 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 great grey shrike is more frequently met with than 
 anywhere else in Scotland. The shrike, or butcher- 
 bird, as it is sometimes called, is easily tamed, and 
 makes an amusing: cag;e-bird. We recollect the first 
 living bird of the species we ever saw was during our 
 curriculum at the University of St. Andrews. It was 
 kept in a bell-shaped cage in the window of an apothe- 
 cary's shop, and from its odd and comical gestures, 
 and loud shrieking notes when anywise excited, it 
 attracted no little attention from the passers-by, 
 students and townsfolk alike, during; their evening; 
 promenade along the broad pavements of South Street, 
 the principal street in the fine old cathedral city. We 
 had then just begun the study of natural history and 
 comparative physiology under the justly celebrated Pro- 
 fessor John Eeid, and the reader may believe that we 
 seldom passed the way without having more or less to 
 say to the butcher-bird, the first living specimen we 
 had ever seen. The shrike is much of a polyglotist, 
 imitating the notes of other birds with surprising 
 exactness, to deceive them, bird-catchers will tell you, 
 though you needn't believe them unless you like, and 
 to lure them towards it, that it may the more easily 
 pounce upon and destroy them ! Its favourite note, 
 however, is a shrill scream or shriek two or three times 
 rapidly repeated, and hence probably its provincial 
 name of shrike, q.d. shriek. The St. Andrews bird 
 was fed on mice and sparrows, both easily enough pro- 
 cured. It preferred to get hold of its prey alive, that 
 it might have the pleasure of killing it for itself, we 
 presume ; and it was interesting to see it next suspend- 
 ing the mouse or sparrow that it had just killed on a
 
 THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 141 
 
 small iron hook purposely placed for that use in the 
 side of its cage, and then proceed to tear it into small 
 pieces, which it devoured greedily and with a 
 tremulous motion of the wings, as if to show how 
 thoroughly it enjoyed the repast. In a wild state it 
 usually selects a sharp thorn spine or prickle on which 
 to suspend its victim, and hence its other common 
 name of butcher-hird. Its bill is slightly notched 
 and sharp of edge, and hard as steel, and under the 
 command of muscles so powerful, that, on innocently 
 presenting it on one occasion with our ungloved fore- 
 finger, it nipped us so viciously that the blood sprang 
 — a lesson which there was little likelihood, you may 
 take our word for it, that we should forget in our 
 future dealings with such birds of the order as 
 chanced to come our way. Linnseus's scientific name 
 for the shrike is a wonderfully happy one. Too 
 frequently in the case of birds his scientific nomen- 
 clature only serves to perpetuate vulgar errors ; as a 
 rule, however, as in this instance, nothing could be 
 better. Lanius means a butcher, having reference to 
 the shrike's habit of hanging up its victim, as already 
 described, in order to tear it to pieces the more easily, 
 its slenderness and weakness of legs and claws render- 
 ing it impossible for it to use them after the manner 
 of hawks and falcons when devouring their prey. 
 Excubitor means a sentinel or watchman, which 
 admirably indicates the bird's habit in a wild state of 
 always sitting on the exposed extremity of the branch 
 or bough of the particular tree on which it selects to 
 alight. Lanius excubitor, therefore, is the Butcher- 
 Sentinel, and a more appropriate name could not 
 possibly have been adopted.
 
 1 42 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 It is rare at any season to see the stormy petrel 
 (Procellaria pelagica, Linn.) along the mainland 
 shores of the western seaboard — so rare, indeed, that 
 although we have more than once picked up the dead 
 bird on our shores after heavy gales, until Tuesday 
 last we never before saw the lively little webfoot — the 
 smallest of all the Palmipedes — nearer the mainland 
 than the neighbourhood of the island of Staffa and the 
 back of Mull. That they should be seen at this 
 moment in our firths and estuaries is an evidence as 
 unmistakeable and incontrovertible as could well be 
 selected how wild, and wintry, and stormy of late has 
 been the weather in the more open seas around the 
 British Islands. On Tuesday morning last, which 
 was a very stormy day, having had occasion to cross 
 Corran Ferry, we were no less delighted than surprised 
 to see a pair of petrels disporting themselves along the 
 crests of the huge waves, which a conflict between an 
 ebbing tide and a sleet shower gale from the south- 
 south-west caused to rise and roll heavily inwards into 
 the narrows of Corran, opposite the lighthouse. Im- 
 mediately recognising the birds, we persuaded the 
 boatmen to row in their direction, although it was 
 somewhat dangerous to venture in an open boat into 
 so heavy a swell, until we got quite near them, for 
 our approach did not seem to alarm them in the least. 
 Nothing of the kind could be prettier than to see them 
 skimming swallow-like along the green hollows and 
 over the curling crests of the huge waves, their little 
 feet at times in as rapid motion as their wings, as they 
 just touched the sloping sides of the advancing seas, 
 pit-pattering over the great green ridges as if the
 
 THE STORMY PETREL. 143 
 
 little fellows were working out a sentence of a sort of 
 wave treadmill imposed upon them by a jury, say of 
 gannets, cormorants, and gulls, for some serious breach 
 of the ancient laws of the Oceanic Palmipede Republic. 
 After a while we took up a broken thowl-pin from the 
 bottom of the boat and threw it in the direction of the 
 petrels, whereupon they rose a little, and wheeling 
 rapidity round, at once pounced upon the floating bit 
 of wood, thinking, no doubt, that it might prove some- 
 thing good to eat ; disappointed, they instantly rose 
 again, and wheeling round with a curious chirring 
 cheep, expressive of their disappointment, perhaps, they 
 dashed off in the very teeth of the gale, and disappeared 
 behind the crest of a huge advancing wave, to which we 
 were obliged to turn our boat stern on, and allow our- 
 selves to be carried on its crest onwards and inwards 
 to the pier. The petrel, or little petrel of British 
 zoology, is so called because it walks, or seems to walk, 
 upon the sea, as St. Peter did, until, owing to the in- 
 creasing boisterousness of wind and waves, his faith 
 failed him, and he began to sink, when, in answer to 
 his call for help, he was saved by the outstretched arm 
 of Him whom alone the winds obey, and at whose 
 bidding a great storm becomes not merely a moderate 
 breeze, but a "great calm." The little petrel, although 
 of all the Palmipedes the most harmless, perhaps, 
 has as many aliases as any long undetected burglar 
 that ever stood at the bar of the Old Bailey. He 
 is called the little petrel, or stormy petrel, Mother 
 Carey's chicken, assilay, spency, water-witch, mitty, 
 sea-swallow, allarmoth, sea-blackbird, &c. &c. Lin- 
 naeus dubs him very happily Procellaria pelagica —
 
 i 4 4 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 the sea-storm bird. Colonel Montagu says that " the 
 body of the petrel is of so oily a nature, that if a wick 
 is drawn through from the mouth to the vent and 
 lighted it will burn as a lamp," and that it is actually 
 used for that purpose in the Faroes and other islands 
 of the north. We once tried this wick experiment 
 with a specimen that was picked up on the beach here 
 after a storm some five or six years ago, and found 
 that it burned neither better nor brighter than if the 
 bird operated upon had been a sparrow or song- thrush. 
 Our specimen, it is true, was in poor condition, and in 
 part at least had probably died of inanition. "With a 
 freshly shot bird, full, fat, and oily, it is quite possible 
 that our wick might have absorbed sufficient of the 
 rank oil in which many sea-birds abound to cause it 
 to burn with a flame of more or less brightness, though 
 even for the rudest lamp such a bird-oiled wick* must, 
 we should think, be but a sorry substitute. We have 
 long been wanting a good, full-plumaged example of 
 the stormy petrel as a cabinet specimen, and for a 
 moment had some thoughts of getting a neighbouring 
 keeper to go with us next day in order to secure one 
 or both of these little fellows at Corran. It was but a 
 momentary temptation, however, which we successfully 
 resisted and mastered : we decided to let the birds 
 alone, a decision which we hope most people will 
 applaud. When the weather moderates they will 
 retire to their usual haunts to feed, and disport them- 
 selves along the hollows and over the ridges of the 
 long, uninterrupted Atlantic swell, returning to our 
 shores probably with a flock of their companions, in 
 the course of some future winter that, like the present,
 
 MO UNTAIN SQ UALLS. 145 
 
 proves exceptionally wild and stormy at all their haunts, 
 from Ailsa Craig to Barra Head. 
 
 And while speaking of Corran Ferry, let us give an 
 incident illustrative of the terrible and almost irresist- 
 ible force with which sudden gusts of wind from adown 
 the upland glens and corries not unfrequently strike 
 across our lochs, firths, and ferries, making the 
 navigation of them often more dangerous than that of 
 mid-ocean itself, even in a storm. On a somewhat 
 stormy day about a month ago, with the wind from 
 east-south-east, the large ferry boat, used for crossing 
 cattle, horses, carriages. &c. at South Corran, belong- 
 ing to Mr. Thomas Maclean, and moored in what one 
 would call a perfectly sheltered bay within a hundred 
 yards of the pier, and not more than twenty yards from 
 the shore, was, by a sudden squall from the mountains, 
 which seems to have embraced it whirlwind-wise, 
 fairly raised for a minute or two, to the height of 
 several feet, clean and clear out of the water, and 
 whirled round and round on its chain as rapidly and 
 easily as if it had been a badly balanced schoolboy's 
 kite in its efforts at incipient ascension. When the 
 rotatory squall at length passed onward, gravitation 
 reasserted its power, and the boat fell back into the 
 sea again, bottom upwards. Now, such a boat as this, 
 long in the water, and with its massive thwarts and 
 flooring, weighs something like three tons ; there was 
 in it, as it lay afloat after a rainy night, at least a ton 
 of bilge water, with quite another weight of chains, 
 cables, mast, oars, &c. It will thus be understood that 
 a boat weighing, with all its gearing, at least six tons, 
 of whose gunwale, too, no more than twelve inches is
 
 i 4 6 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 ever exposed above water, was caught up in the em- 
 braces of a gust of wind that swirled it at the end of 
 its heavy chain like a feather : how incredible, until 
 one enters into the philosophy of such problems, that 
 anything so tenuous and unsubstantial as mere wind, 
 air in motion, could exert a force so extraordinary ! 
 A gust of similar force suddenly striking a ship under 
 sail would inevitably cause her, in seamen's phrase, to 
 " turn turtle," or it would knock the masts, with their 
 rigging and tophamper, clean out of her, as if they 
 were brittle as pipe-stems. Hence it is that, in navi- 
 gating our lochs, as little sail as possible is carried, and 
 all is ready, that everything may be let go by the run 
 the moment one of these squalls comes rushing sea- 
 wards from corrie or narrow glen, as suddenly, and 
 almost as swiftly, as a flash of lightning.
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 The Throstle-Cock — Substantial Breakfast — St. Valentine's Day — The Paston 
 Letters — How to lead a Stubborn Pig the way you would have her to go. 
 
 Here, on the West Coast, a gale of wind, with cold, 
 raw showers, half sleet half rain, ushered in St. 
 Valentine's morning 1877; and ma ugre the calendar 
 and all the saints, no wonder that our woods and 
 hedgerows continued songless and silent, and that our 
 wild-bird friends made no sign in acknowledgment of 
 the advent of a day wintry enough to make them 
 think less of love-making and song than of providing, 
 if it might be, the wherewithal to appease their 
 hunger, and the preening and composing their feathers 
 in the manner most conducive to comfort and warmth 
 against a wind that had manifestly acquired its 
 incisiveness from having been honed to a razor-like 
 keenness of edge by long and stormy contact with the 
 cold glittering ridges of North Atlantic icebergs. It 
 was only three days ago that the weather cleared up a 
 little and assumed a mildness somewhat in keeping 
 with the season. Our birds have readily acknow- 
 ledged the genial change quantum valeat, and at the 
 moment of this writing the cheery notes of the bolder 
 and hardier of them — the redbreast, chaffinch, hedge 
 accentor, &c. — reach our ears as we sit by the open 
 window. In the early morning, as we were dressing, 
 the loud, clear pipe of the throstle-cock from the
 
 148 'TIV/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 topmost branch of an old pear-tree in the garden so 
 delighted us that we hurried abroad to enjoy the first 
 unclouded sunshine of the month, and wandering far 
 afield, returned to breakfast with an appetite such as a 
 hero of the Homeric or Fingalian period might envy, 
 and carrying in our hand a posy of early primroses, 
 the very sight of which put everybody in good 
 humour as they bent over their preliminary porridge- 
 plates, that most excellent and indispensable sub- 
 stratum to a genuine country breakfast. Why, 
 after a good substantial meal of this sort, we could ride 
 from Nether Lochaber to the door of your own 
 hospitable mansion at Inverness, caring little if we got 
 nothing by the way beyond a glass of beer at Fort- 
 Augustus to lubricate the larynx, the better to croon 
 our favourite Gaelic ditties, a habit of ours when in 
 the saddle, which seems, too, to please our gallant 
 pony of the Mull breed and Spanish Armada descent, 
 for he steps out famously, in perfect time to the air, 
 be it slow or fast, till, when we are anxious to get on, 
 to such lively lilts as the " Fairy Dance " or " The 
 deil amang the tailors," he absolutely devours the way ! 
 But this is a digression. Reverting to our muttons for 
 a moment, let us observe that we have often seen 
 love-making among our wild-birds and niclification 
 much further advanced on the eve of St. Valentine's 
 Day proper than it is on this the 26th day of the 
 month. Only last evening a large flock of chaffinches 
 flew past us as we drove home from church, all of them 
 males — a sure sign that amongst them, at all events., 
 although they are very early breeders in this district, 
 pairing has .not generally taken place. And speaking
 
 £7: VALENTINES DAY. 149 
 
 of St. Valentine, we find on inquiry that, in our more 
 rural districts at least, the number of billets-doux or 
 love circulars, familiarly ycleped valentines, sold and 
 sent through the post, is within the last half-dozen 
 years largely on the decrease, while Christmas cards, 
 rather an innovation in Scotland, are rapidly coming 
 into favour. Valentine sending is now very much 
 confined to young children, and when it is otherwise, 
 we have reason to believe that, as a rule, they are 
 sadly devoid of any real point or meaning, being sent 
 and received with an indifference anything but com- 
 plimentary to the memory of the match-making saint. 
 The fact is, that in these our prosaic and utilitarian 
 times, the good old saint has no chance ; " the age of 
 chivalry is gone," and if the weather only proves 
 favourable on his anniversary, our wild-birds will be 
 found more faithful to his memory than our bachelors 
 and " maidens fair," even when most matrimonially 
 inclined. Matrimony now-a-days is fast becoming a 
 matter of business, a thing of contract — love and 
 love-makino- in the good old sense in which our fore- 
 fathers knew the terms, being voted " spoony," " slow," 
 "vulgar," "sentimental," '' romantic," and whatnot. 
 So be it, thouo;h we must take leave to doubt if the 
 world is much the better of this particular evidence 
 of " progress." In the famous Paston Letters, so 
 interesting for the glimpses they afford us into the 
 domestic economy and inner life of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, we meet with occasional delightful references to 
 St. Valentine's Day and the love-making proper to the 
 season something like four hundred years ago. Thus, 
 in 1478, young John Paston, in wooing Margery,
 
 150 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 the handsome daughter of Sir Thomas Brews, very 
 knowingly goes to work by managing matters so as to 
 get the Lady Brews, the fair one's mother, on his side 
 in the first instance, pretty confident, sly rogue as he 
 was, that by the aid of such an ally the good knight, 
 who is at the outset a little stiff in the business, may 
 be finally outgeneralled, and forced into an honourable 
 capitulation. " Upon Friday," writes Lady Brews 
 to the love-sick swain, " is Saint Valentine's day, and 
 every bird chooseth him a mate ; and if it like you to 
 come on Thursday at night, and so purvey you that 
 you may abide there till Monday, I trust to God that 
 ye shall so speak to mine husband ; and I shall pray 
 that we bring the matter to a conclusion." The 
 young gentleman took the hint, and pressed his suit so 
 successfully, that after that St. Valentine's eve the fair 
 Margery was his with all her heart, the grim old 
 knight soon afterwards yielding with tolerable grace, 
 and coming down in the matter of dowry and " settle- 
 ments " to the satisfaction of all parties. Here is a 
 very pretty letter written by Margery to her lover 
 after the happy engagement, largely brought about, as 
 she doubtless believed in her heart, by the influence 
 and friendly intervention of the good St. Valentine : 
 "Right Reverend and Worshipful " (one would think 
 he was Moderator of the General Assembly !), " and my 
 right well-beloved Valentine — I recommend me unto 
 you, full heartily desiring to hear of your welfare, 
 which I beseech Almighty God long for to preserve 
 unto his pleasure and your heart's desire. And if it 
 please you to hear of my welfare, I am not in good 
 health of body nor of heart, nor shall be till I hear
 
 JOHN PA STOWS WOOING. 151 
 
 from you. And my lady mother hath laboured the 
 the matter " (the matter of dowry, on which Mr. John 
 Paston had a wary eye) " to my father full diligently, 
 but she can no more get than ye know of, for the 
 which God knoweth I am full sorry. But if that ye 
 love me, as I trust verily ye do, ye will not leave me 
 therefore ; for if that ye had not half the livelihood 
 that ye have, for to do the greatest labour that any 
 woman alive might, I would not forsake you." It is 
 pleasant to know that after all their little troubles the 
 pair were at last fairly and happily married. That 
 ladies really honoured and obeyed their husbands in 
 those times more than in these latter days, we shall 
 not take upon ourselves positively to affirm, for 
 women, and for that matter of it, men too, are, we 
 suppose, very much the same in all ages, but judging 
 from the style of their letters, they seem to have held 
 their lords and masters in a decree of reverence and 
 respect that must make our modern guidwives stare 
 with astonishment. Writing after her marriage, the 
 gentle Margery addresses her husband as " Right 
 reverend and worshipful husband." But, after all, the 
 " Dear husband," " Dear Dick," Tom, or Harry of our 
 modern epistles may have quite as much heart in 
 them. 
 
 When we would imply the ne plus ultra of stubborn- 
 ness and stiffneckedness, we use the adjective "mulish," 
 and we use the familiar proverb, " as stubborn as a 
 mule," applied to people who will neither lead nor 
 drive, who are deaf to advice, entreaty, or persuasion, 
 and who either stand stock-still in a posture of negative 
 defiance, or pursue a retrograde course the very
 
 152 TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 opposite and antithesis of that which we would have 
 them follow. If we consider them attentively, how- 
 ever, there is a want of correct local colouring in the 
 uncomplimentary adjective and proverb alike, as we 
 commonly apply them. They are, in fact, foreign to 
 our soil, having come to us from Spain, and the old 
 Spanish dependencies, where the animal is common, 
 and the reference has a point and meaning which it 
 cannot possibly have in a country like ours, where a 
 veritable mule, the semi-equine semi-asinine quad- 
 ruped is about as uncommon as a giraffe or a zebra. 
 The fact is, that the familiar proverbs of our every-day 
 speech much require overhauling, pruning, and general 
 revising, and to any one possessed of the requisite 
 knowledge and leisure, the labours of such a revisal 
 would neither be unprofitable nor unamusing. We 
 say, for instance, " dirty as a pig," which is clearly a 
 mistake and a libel on the poor porcine quadruped, that, 
 in its domestic no less than in its wild state, is one of 
 the cleanliest of animals, when the ways and means, 
 that is, of cleanliness are fairly within its reach. If, 
 however, we say " as stubborn, as obstinate as a pig," 
 we are about right ; the phrase, turn it about as you 
 will, is unobjectionable. We have not the mule proper, 
 and the familiar saying, however apt in Spain, is 
 quoad us inapt and inapplicable ; but we have the pig, 
 and assuredly of British quadrupeds it is beyond all 
 question the most stubborn and stiff of neck, the most 
 deaf to advice or persuasion, to rhyme or reason ; the 
 most difficult to lead or drive, whether by wheedling, 
 entreaty, or coaxing, or by force, finesse, or furtive 
 circumvention. To be stubborn and unpliable to our
 
 COAXING A PIG. 153 
 
 wishes, particularly in the matter of locomotion, seems 
 to be of the essence of porcine nature, ineradicable, too, 
 by any mode of treatment to that end you may please 
 to adopt ; bone of its bone, and flesh of its flesh, and 
 there you may safely let the matter rest, and say no 
 more about it. The Irishman who got his pig to 
 market by pretending strenuously to drive it for half 
 a day in the very opposite direction, must have under- 
 stood the nature of the animal thoroughly ; and, born 
 under a happier star, might have been a distinguished 
 naturalist, the Linnaeus of Carrick-on -Shannon, the 
 Buffon of Carrick-011-Suir. And now, courteous reader, 
 all this by way of introduction to a clever feat 
 in pig management that chanced to come under our 
 notice a few days ago. It was in this wise. As we 
 were passing along the road we came upon two or 
 three men surrounding an immense black pig, with a 
 stiff upright mane, and one of the curliest tails we 
 ever saw. The pig had just been taken out of the 
 stye, which from early piglinghood had been its home, 
 and the men were trying to get it into a larger and 
 roomier place some score of yards distant, in order, as 
 they informed us, that it might be killed. The pig, 
 pig-like, would not budge, nor move an inch in the 
 desired direction. They coaxed and fondled it by 
 scratching its flanks and ears, and endeavoured to 
 entice it towards the open door of the place of 
 slaughter by holding a dish with food in it just in 
 front of its nose, but the pig only stuck out its legs 
 all the more rigidly, and half-grunted, half-squealed a 
 decided negative, a non 2 :)0ssumus which it was 
 evident there was no overcoming by any such means.
 
 154 'TJV/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 A rougher style of persuasion was therefore adopted. 
 One of the men laid hold of the large, flapping ears, 
 one in each hand, and another man seized one of the 
 animal's forelegs, and they began to pull with might 
 and main, while the third man nroceeded to twist and 
 twine the pig's tail just as you have seen a seaman do 
 with the ends of two pieces of three stranded rope 
 before proceeding to splice them together. Stubborn 
 and obdurate, the pig wouldn't move an inch, that is, 
 in the right direction ; it rather gained a little in a 
 retrograde motion styewards, yelling the while loud 
 enough to be heard by the periwinkle gatherers along 
 the shores of Appin and Kingerloch. The man at the 
 tail at last got mad, and, taking up a long hazel 
 switch, belaboured the pig with all his might, but to 
 no purpose. Move in the desired direction she would 
 not ; and the men, panting and terribly riled at the 
 brute's obstinacy, were at their wit's end, when, 
 fortunately, a man from a neighbouring district 
 happening to pass the way at the time came to the 
 rescue. " What in the world are you doing with the 
 pig 1 " exclaimed the new-comer in excellent Gaelic. 
 " With the pig ? " replied one of the men, as he wiped 
 the perspiration from his brow with his sleeve. 
 " What are we doing with the pig, is it ? Why, we 
 are trying to get her (perverse daughter of an ugly 
 father !) into yonder open shed, and, as you see, we are 
 likely to be beaten in the attempt." " Leave her to 
 me," said the stranger, a strapping young fellow, " and 
 I undertake to put her quietly and quickly into the 
 shed by myself, unaided ! " " There's not a man in 
 Lochaber can do it," growled another of the worsted
 
 HOW TO MANAGE A PIG. 155 
 
 pig-fighters. " Perhaps not," quietly replied the 
 young man, while an incipient smile played about his 
 eyes and the corners of his mouth. " I am not a 
 Lochaber man, but a Lismore man, and I think I can 
 manage the pig if you let me try." " Try away," 
 exclaimed the man, " in the name of the legion, let us 
 see what you can do." " Keep away then," cried the 
 stranger, as he slipt behind the pig, and quickly and 
 cleverly catching her by her hind legs, one in 
 either hand, lifted her up as one would a wheel- 
 barrow. The pig was now resting on her fore-feet, 
 with her snout close to the ground, and, to our surprise, 
 perfectly quiet. Giving her a slight push, just as one 
 would with a heavily-laden barrow, he trundled her 
 pigship, to show his command over her, once or twice 
 backwards and forwards on the road with the greatest 
 ease, and finally steering her in the right direction, he 
 let her go in the furthest corner of the open shed. It 
 was a clever feat, simple enough to be sure, like 
 Columbus and the egg, when it was done, but all the 
 more admirable just because of its simplicity. The 
 philosophy of the thing seems to be this — when 
 caught up by the hind legs wheel-barrow-wise, as 
 described, the weight of the animal is almost entirely 
 thrown upon the fore-feet, and on the slightest impulse, 
 it must move forward, if it move at all ; it has no 
 purchase in the direction of a backward or reluctant 
 course. Its quietness, so remarkable in the circum- 
 stances, is probably partly due to astonishment at the 
 unwontedness of its position, and a sense of its own 
 utter helplessness in such a case, and partly, perhaps, 
 to the weight of the viscera thrown forward into the
 
 156 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 thorax, interfering for the time with the proper use of 
 the vocal organs. This particular pig, while perfectly 
 dumb in the man's hands, no sooner was let go than 
 she yelled loud enough to take the roof of one's head 
 off. We were glad to see that the men manifested not 
 a particle of jealousy or resentment, as we feared they 
 would, at the ingenuity displayed by the Lismore man 
 in pig management compared with their own rude and 
 ineffectual manner of dealing with porcine perverseness. 
 On the contrary, they shook hands with him all round, 
 and from certain masonic signs interchanged, which 
 we pretended not to notice, we have reason to believe 
 that on our departure they treated him to a fair share 
 of the " refreshments " usually provided on pig-killing 
 occasions in the Highlands.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Primroses — The Primrose in Gaelic Poetry — Translation — The little Auk or 
 Rotch — Skuas — Their habits. 
 
 That the sun should be bright at its present altitude 
 at this the season of the vernal equinox is not much 
 to be wondered at ; but that with a bright, cloudless 
 sun we should also have a May-like mildness of 
 temperature is somewhat unusual ; and you may 
 believe that we make the most of it, rejoicing in it 
 exceedingly after the many storms and general in- 
 clemency of the by-past winter — a winter so excep- 
 tionally stormy, that nothing like it has been known 
 for upwards of a quarter of a century. Under a 
 bright, genial sun, such a sudden burst, such a pro- 
 fusion of primroses in copse and glade, in dell and 
 dingle, we never saw before ; and of all our wild 
 flowers, the primrose in its season is assuredly the 
 most delightful and loveable. Our readers need 
 hardly be told that primrose, the common name of 
 this favourite flower (from the Latin £>ra^.s*) means 
 prime rose, first rose or early flower, because of its 
 early appearance in spring. The Primulus veris or 
 Primula vulgaris of botanists is of course of like 
 origin. While the French call it primevere, early 
 spring flower, to the Highlanders, with whom it has 
 always been an especial favourite, it is known as the 
 sdbhrag or sdbhrach. Alastair-Mac-Mhaighstir-Alastair,
 
 158 'TW1XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 the Ardnamurclian bard, makes it the subject of the 
 following beautiful apostrophe : — 
 
 " A shobhrach gheala-bhui' nam bruachag, 
 
 Gur fanna-gheal, snuagliar, do ghnuis ! 
 'Chinneas badanach, cluasach, 
 
 Maoth-mhin, baganta, luaineach ; 
 Gur tu ros is fearr cruadal 
 
 A ni gluasad a li-uir ; 
 Bi'db tu' t-eideadli a's t-earrach, 
 
 'S each a falacb an siil ! " 
 
 Nor does Ewen Maclachan (of Aberdeen) forget the 
 dainty primrose in describing the early spring flowers 
 that so delighted him, that they made, as he declares, 
 each bank and brae, and knoll, and holm, and glade 
 smell to him more sweetly " than all the wines of 
 France." 
 
 " Gur h-ionmhuinn an sealladh fonnmbor, 
 
 A chitear air loni gach leacainn ; 
 'S ciibhraidh leam na fion na Frainge 
 
 Faile thom, a's bbeann a's ghlacag ; 
 Milseineach, biolaireach sbbhrach, 
 
 Eagach cuacb nan neoinein maiseach, 
 Siomragacb, failleineacb, brigh 'or, 
 
 Luachracb, ditbeanacb, gun ghaiseadh." 
 
 Burns, in "The Posie," one of his most exquisite lyrics, 
 has a reference to the primrose, in which, unconsciously 
 perhaps, he admirably renders the botanical Primula 
 by " firstling." 
 
 " The primrose I will pu', the firstli?ig o' the year, 
 And I will pu' the pink, the emblem o' my dear, 
 For sbe's the pink o' woman-kind, and blooms without a peer ; 
 And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May." 
 
 We wish, for the sake of our English readers, that we
 
 THE LITTLE AUK. 159 
 
 could do anything like justice to the above Gaelic 
 lines in a translation, but it is impossible. The 
 following is, longo intervallo, something like the first 
 quoted stanza : — 
 
 " Primrose, loveliest, fairest flower ! 
 Blooming sweet on bank and brae ; 
 Keeking forth with gentle smile, 
 And a modest mein alway ; 
 Hardiest flower in all the wild, 
 Sweetest flower beneath the sky, 
 Thou art dressed in all thy bloom, 
 Ere other flowers have oped their eye." 
 
 While collecting seaware on the beach after one of 
 the severest gales of the season, that of the 14th 
 inst. — a sturdy, honest "equinoctial" of the old sort, 
 however, which was so natural and so looked, that it 
 neither annoyed nor alarmed us in the least — one of 
 our people picked up a little webfoot bird, dead of 
 course, which he considered a curiosity of sufficient 
 importance to warrant his walking several miles in 
 the evening in order to submit it to our inspection. 
 It turned out to be a specimen of the little auk or 
 rotch (Alca alle, Linn.), next to the stormy petrel, 
 the smallest of the ocean Palmipedes. The li vino- 
 bird is exceedingly rare along the western seaboard, 
 nor is it common even amongst the Outer Hebrides. 
 The only specimens of it we ever saw anywhere on 
 the West Coast were, as in this instance, dead birds 
 cast up on the beach after storms. The bird is not 
 so uncommon on the East Coast, where we have often 
 seen it in company of puffins, razorbills, and other sea 
 birds. Two that were shot in St. Andrews Bay, in 
 the winter of 1847, were, after dissection by Professor
 
 i6o 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 John Keid, at which we assisted, preserved as 
 specimens, and duly deposited in the University 
 museum, where they may doubtless still be seen. 
 Both these were males. Although the little auk may 
 occasionally remain to breed on some solitary outlying 
 islets along the eastern and northern shores of Scotland, 
 it is properly a bird of much higher latitudes, of Green- 
 land, for instance, and Spitzbergen, of Norway and 
 Iceland, coming south only when its own proper shores 
 and seas are frozen over, when it must necessarily seek 
 open water under milder skies in order to obtain its 
 food. It is a pretty little bird ; a pair of them would 
 be a most interesting addition to an aquarium. 
 
 The same man who brought us the little auk told 
 us that, while hand-line fishing at Corran Ferry on the 
 previous day, he was struck with an extraordinary 
 commotion amongst the gulls that always frequent 
 these narrows in great numbers ; such screaming, 
 quarrelling, and fighting he assured us he had never 
 seen before among birds usually so friendly and well- 
 behaved amongst themselves as are all the Lctridce. 
 His account of the whole affair was so graphic and 
 interesting, for he is a most intelligent man, and in 
 his way a very shrewd observer, that we determined 
 on visiting the scene of riot, and finding out for 
 ourselves, if possible, what could be the cause of 
 quarrel. As a rule, gulls, even when they gather in 
 large flocks over their favourite feeding-grounds, and 
 there may be many different species wheeling about in 
 wild confusion, are so friendly with each other, and so 
 little given to quarrels, that although there may some- 
 times be a little angry scolding, what the wives of the
 
 SKUAS. 161 
 
 south of Scotland call " fly ting/' between two or more 
 birds that happen to select the same fish at the moment 
 of making their pounce, and thus come into unlooked 
 for and unintentional collision, anything like an actual 
 fight or even a protracted quarrel is of very rare occur- 
 rence. Next day was fine, and taking our seat, with 
 a good binocular in our hand, on the rocks opposite 
 the lighthouse, just as the flood-tide began to make, 
 the firth, as we expected, was filled with sea-gulls 
 wheeling about in detached flocks and feeding on the 
 shoals of young seth or coal-fish as they " boiled up/' 
 to use the expressive Gaelic phrase, or played here and 
 there along the surface of the rapid, eddying stream. 
 It was an interesting and beautiful sight, but we had 
 seen it hundreds of times before, and it wasn't exactly 
 what we had come to see. In a short time, however, 
 the flock of gulls nearest us was thrown into a state 
 of wild commotion by the arrival in their midst of 
 what we took at first to be a pair of herring-gulls in 
 the dark grey-marbled plumage of last year's birds ; 
 but a second and keener look, and the screams of the 
 gulls that scattered in all directions, convinced us that 
 what we took to be young gulls were in truth a pair 
 of skuas, — birds which bear about the same relationship 
 to the ordinary gull that the Bedouin Arab of the 
 desert does to the peaceful trading caravan, or rather 
 that the pirate schooner, with her skull and cross- 
 bones flag, bears to the honest merchantman. The 
 skuas were not long in selecting their first victims. 
 Two large black-backed gulls, separating themselves 
 from the rest, flapped and flew away with loud screams 
 of honest execration at the disturbers of their peace,
 
 i6z 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 and after them darted the dusky skuas, each coursing 
 his selected victim with all the ardour and all the 
 staunchness of a well-bred hound. The gulls were 
 strong of wing, and in their efforts to distance their 
 pursuers, exerted themselves to the utmost, but 
 without avail ; the skuas were not to be shaken off. 
 They soon overtook the gulls, and wheeling rapidly 
 above and around them, struck at them and buffeted 
 them unmercifully. The gulls screamed in loud 
 complaint of their treatment, and circled back to- 
 wards their companions, hoping, doubtless, that their 
 persecutors would select some fresh victims and 
 leave them alone. But the skuas knew what they 
 were about too well to be done in that sort of way. 
 They stuck to their game right through the centre 
 of the loud-screaming flock, and out and beyond 
 began again to strike and buffet them as before, 
 until at last, thoroughly tired out, and seeing that 
 no better might be, the gulls almost at the same 
 instant vomited in one large half-digested lump all 
 the fish they had caught that morning, which was 
 just what the skuas wanted, for they now poised 
 themselves for a moment, falcon-wise, on quivering 
 wings, and then, with a graceful sweep and light- 
 ning-like velocity of descent, they darted each after 
 the falling mass which properly belonged to itself, 
 and cleverly catching them before they touched the 
 water, bore them away with a loud shriek of exulta- 
 tion, to be devoured at leisure somewhere along the 
 solitudes of the opposite shore. It was certainly a 
 shameful and flagrant case of open robbery and 
 spoliation, but then, as the hymn says, "it is their
 
 HABITS OF THE SKUA. 163 
 
 nature to." Skuas are born, or hatched, if you 
 prefer it, to act in this sort of way ; and it is one of 
 the desagrements of gull life to be thus treated. It is 
 proper to say, however, that skuas do not live 
 altogether and entirely after this fashion, for we have 
 often seen them fishing industriously enough on 
 their own proper behalf in the most legitimate way 
 possible. Our own idea is that skuas, while able 
 enough to cater for themselves when fish of any 
 size are to be had, are unable to pick up the smaller 
 fry, which the gulls capture and gobble up with 
 the greatest ease, and on which they largely, mainly 
 indeed, depend for their sustenance. When, there- 
 fore, only small fry are going, the skua is hard up, 
 and has no other way of appeasing his hunger than 
 by making the gulls regurgitate and disgorge in 
 the rude manner described. With a superior power 
 of wing, a hooked beak, and strong, sharp, black, 
 recurved claws, it is physically superior in every way 
 to the largest of the gull tribe, and by constant 
 teasing and buffeting its victim, who knows full 
 well from a sad experience that there is only one 
 way of escape, it is made at last to vomit its un- 
 digested meal, which, precisely as we saw it the 
 other day, is invariably caught ere it touches the 
 water, and eagerly redeavoured as a dainty and 
 easily-digested bonne-bouche by the dusky marauder. 
 How the skua is able to distinguish between a gull 
 that has fish in its crop from that which is still 
 empty-stomached and hungry, we cannot tell ; but 
 that it can so distinguish is unquestionable, for it 
 never chases a bird but one that can on compulsion
 
 r64 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 disgorge the remains of a more or less hearty meal. 
 It is probable that this questionable mode of liveli- 
 hood is not peculiar to the skua among sea-birds, 
 nor are the gulls the only birds so hardly dealt 
 with. We suspect that, on the contrary, although 
 we have no actual proof of the matter, it is com- 
 moner than naturalists suppose. We are led to this 
 opinion by having observed that puffins, razorbills, 
 guillemots, and other web-feet birds frequently dis- 
 gorge the contents of their stomachs when they 
 are wounded, and even when they chance to be 
 captured in an unwounded state. This seems to us 
 to be a natural and intuitive attempt on their 
 part to appease their enemies, real or supposed, 
 the disgorged food, in our view of it, being meant 
 as a peace-offering by the wounded or captured 
 bird. The skuas we saw at Corran Ferry we take 
 to have been a pair of the species known as Eich- 
 ardson's skua (Lestris Ricliardsonu), a bold and 
 rapacious bird, that does not scruple to attack man 
 himself if he intrudes upon their favourite haunts 
 in the breeding season. An old shepherd in the 
 neighbourhood here tells us that he has known a pair 
 of these birds kill a young lamb on an early spring 
 morning on the island of Bernera, and that before 
 night it was all eaten up, its bones being picked as 
 clean as if one had scraped them with a knife. The 
 people of the Hebrides, where the skua is common 
 and its habits well known, call it Am Fdsgaidear, 
 the Squeezer, because it as it were squeezes the un- 
 digested food from the stomachs of the gulls. When 
 a merchant over-reaches his customers in any way,
 
 THE SQUEEZER. 165 
 
 and charges exorbitant prices for his goods, or 
 when a proprietor over-rents his lands, and deals 
 hardly with his tenantry, where we should speak of 
 dishonesty, tyranny, &c, the Hebrideans straightway 
 think of the skua, and call such an one a Fasgaidear 
 or squeezer (of men), an application of the term which 
 is not devoid of humour.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A Crooked Sixpence — A Luckpenny, or Coin of Grace — Popular Superstition 
 — Weasel-skin Purse — Sealskin Purse — Fresh Herrings amongst the 
 Heather. 
 
 It is commonly known, we are pretty safe in assuming, 
 that a crooked sixpence, or some other " coin of grace," 
 as the French peasantry term it, is frequently carried 
 about in people's purses to ensure them good luck in 
 money matters, the belief being not only that the 
 owner and custodier of such a luckpenny can never be 
 absolutely moneyless while that particular coin remains 
 in his purse — an assertion which no one will dispute 
 — but also that while that coin is retained safe and 
 sound in its proper receptacle, it shall rarely if ever 
 want one or more other coins of equal or superior 
 value to keep it company, or, as the Highlanders say, 
 " to keep it warm." Now, when we look into it with 
 some attention, is even the latter part of this almost 
 universal superstition entirely baseless ? We are 
 aware, indeed, that in dealing with popular super- 
 stitions in this wondrous ao-e of " enlightenment " and 
 " scientific research," the proper thing to do is, at the 
 very least, to laugh at them ; but better still, to frown 
 at them with the sourest visage that can be assumed, 
 and soundly to scold and threaten with ulterior pains 
 and penalties unmentionable those who make or meddle 
 with them in any way. And yet we are not much
 
 THE LUCKPENNY. 167 
 
 afraid to affirm, even if right reverend presbyteries 
 and general assemblies frown upon us the while, that, 
 calmly and philosophically pondered, all, or almost all, 
 our popular superstitions are based upon a more or 
 less substantial and reliable substratum of truth and 
 fact, usually possessing, too, when closely examined, a 
 vertebral column — a back-bone — of shrewd sound sense, 
 without which they never could long find favour even 
 with the few, much less with the many — that is, become 
 popular in the proper sense of the term. It is, of 
 course, only too true that man is sadly given to error, 
 having a tendency, indeed, errorwise, even as Falstaff 
 had an "alacrity" in sinking in ditch water, but it 
 may nevertheless be very confidently asserted that 
 nothing that is essentially and entirely false, nothing 
 that is no more than a sheer, unmitigated lie, ever did 
 or ever can become popular, so antagonistic is human 
 nature, with all its faults and failings, to everything 
 that is wholly and essentially false and truthless. 
 Popular superstition may, therefore, be defined as a 
 web of error, having always, however, some threads of 
 truth more or less prominently interwoven with it 
 alike in warp and woof. The truth at the bottom of 
 the above-mentioned superstition is simply this, that 
 a person having such a love of money, and such 
 anxiety about it, as will induce him to treasure up a 
 supposed lucky coin, refusing to part with it even for 
 its full value in the direst extremity, is already what 
 may be called a " saving " man, and is almost certain 
 to save and hoard past an odd coin when he can, and 
 thus the " lucky " coin has its companions, that, in a 
 short time, become in the owner's estimation almost
 
 1 68 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 as sacred as the original coin itself, and the superstition 
 is kept in countenance. What we desire more par- 
 ticularly, however, to direct our readers' attention to 
 at present is the fact, not so generally known, that 
 sometimes it is not a particular coin to which the luck 
 is supposed to be attached, but the money receptacle 
 or purse itself. In the former and commoner case, 
 the coin is everything, the purse nothing. In the 
 latter this is reversed, the coin being nothing, the 
 purse everything. The one is a belief in a lucky 
 penny, the other a belief in a lucky purse. Crossing 
 Ballachulish Ferry a short time ago, a respectable man 
 from a neighbouring district took out his purse in 
 order to pay his fare. We were sitting beside and 
 speaking to him at the moment, and the purse from 
 which he abstracted the necessary coin at once 
 attracted our notice, as it was impossible but it should, 
 for to our no little surprise it was none other than a 
 weasel skin, with head, feet, and tail still attached, just 
 as if it had been a cabinet specimen of the fierce little 
 Mustela, ready for "setting up." As our vis-a-vis 
 placed it for a moment on his knee, with its glass-bead 
 eyes, and the lips shrivelled and slightly drawn back 
 so as to show the sharp teeth, ivory white at their tips 
 and yellow towards their roots, as in all the order, as 
 if in act to spring at you, it had a sufficiently life-like 
 appearance to make any one unacquainted with the 
 real state of the case slightly nervous and uncomfort- 
 able. In answer to our inquiries — cautiously entered 
 upon, and only when quite alone with our friend — the 
 owner of the weasel skin made no secret of the fact 
 that he carried it, and had long carried it, as a
 
 A L UCK Y P URSE. 1 6 9 
 
 ". lucky " purse, and reminded us that there was an 
 old Gaelic rhyme, which, however, we had not heard 
 before, in which the virtue of a weasel-skin purse as a 
 money-getter and a money-keeper is very pointedly 
 referred to. The rhyme, which we took down at the 
 moment, was as nearly as he could recollect it as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Neas bheag, bhuidhe nan cbs, 
 'S e'n t-br thug a dhreach da bian ; 
 Gleidh sid mar sporran, air a cheangal le h-ial, 
 'S cba bhi thu gun bhonn, geal, buidhe no donn, 
 Eadar nollaig 's F6ill-rbid, eadar Feill-rbid a's Feill Brian." 
 
 In English literally thus — 
 
 " Little, yellow, hole-frequenting weasel, 
 From gold is derived the colour of thy coat of fur. 
 Get it for a purse, to be tied with a thong, 
 And thou shalt not be without a coin, white, yellow, or brown, 
 From Christmas till Eood Day, from Rood Day till the feast 
 of St. Brian." 
 
 Ftill-Roid or Feill-an-Roid, Eood Day, is the 
 autumnal equinox ; nollaig is, as we have rendered it, 
 Christmas-tide ; but what exact date is meant by the 
 Feast of Brian, or St. Brian, we are unable to say, not 
 having at the moment a proper book of reference on 
 the subject beside us. The meaning, however, is 
 obvious — that the man who carries a weasel-skin 
 purse shall always have more or less money therein 
 from Christmas to the ensuing autumnal equinox, and 
 from that date to the Feast of Brian, that is, all the 
 year round. The owner of the weasel-skin purse in 
 this instance told us that he had inherited it from his 
 father, who died many years ago, and when we
 
 170 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 remarked that it was in excellent condition still, with 
 a close, silken pile, and that his own son might inherit 
 it in his turn, he nodded approvingly, and added that 
 he meant it to be so. " My father," he went on, 
 "never wanted money in it, nor have I, and I have 
 had my share of losses and bad times too ; nor shall 
 my son after me." " Are weasel-skin purses common'?" 
 we inquired, adding that we had never seen one before. 
 " Well, no, not common exactly," was the reply, " but 
 I think I know half-a-dozen, or more, among my 
 acquaintances in Appin, Lismore, and Morven. There 
 are other lucky purses," he continued, " besides weasel- 
 skins, but none, I think, so good. A sealskin purse is 
 a good and lucky one, and so is one woven of 
 thread made from lint that, in the process of manu- 
 facture, has been ' steeped ' in a loch or pool in which 
 a human being has been drowned (!)." Did he know, 
 we asked, why such purses as he had mentioned were 
 accounted lucky ones, and, particularly, why a weasel- 
 skin should be held in such high estimation ? But he 
 declared that he did not know any more than ourselves, 
 and we believe that he did not, such people rarely 
 troubling themselves about the why and the wherefore 
 of things of that kind. All we can say from our own 
 knowledge is this, and it is so far corroborative of our 
 fellow-passenger's assertion, that a sealskin purse is a 
 good and lucky one. In an old Lusragan MS., or 
 Herbalist Directory, in our possession, written by a 
 Perthshire schoolmaster upwards of sixty years ago, 
 giving the time, place, &c. for properly gathering herbs 
 of virtue and roots of healing, a paragraph frequently 
 concludes with a recommendation that when gathered
 
 THE VIRTUE OF SEALSKIN. 171 
 
 and dried, as directed, these are to be kept folded up 
 and ready for use in a strip of sealskin. A gentleman 
 sitting opposite to us as we write, and to whom we 
 have just read the above, observes with a grim, 
 cynical smile, that some time ago, under considerable 
 persuasion, not to say coercion, he bought for his wife 
 a sealskin jacket, the price of which, he avers, with a 
 painful twist of the facial muscles, was only five-and- 
 twenty guineas ; that this same jacket she has ever 
 since worn, in season and out of season, as often as 
 she could, and that, strange as it may seem, she has 
 not become a bit more economical on that account, but 
 rather the reverse ; and he blandly asks us to be good 
 enough to reconcile that anomaly with our friend's 
 sealskin purse theory. We reply that we cannot, 
 advising him, however, meantime to purchase for his 
 lady a sealskin purse, which she might carry about 
 with her in her sealskin jacket pocket — a lucky purse, 
 in short, which should always have money in it. His 
 smile is grimmer than ever as he ungallantly, and 
 with peculiar emphasis, exclaims, " No ! any money 
 she would carry about in a sealskin purse, or, for that 
 matter of it, in a weasel-skin either, would be pretty 
 certain to come out of my pocket, or purse, in the first 
 instance. No, sir, I have done enough in sealskin." 
 When a man is in that sort of mood, you know it is 
 needless to argue with him. 
 
 When at Fort- William the other day we were told 
 of a curious phenomenon, so rare and mysterious, 
 indeed, as at first sight to seem inexplicable, but 
 which, closely examined, is easily enough accounted 
 for after all. About a week or ten days ago, some
 
 172 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 people living at Garvan, in Arclgour, part of Lord 
 Morton's property on Lochiel-side, were astonished, as 
 they well might be, to find among the heather, quite 
 half a mile from the sea, as our informant assures us, 
 several dozens of half-crown herrings and a lot of 
 herring fry, silvery white and fresh, as if they had just 
 been taken out of the sea. A herring in itself, large 
 or small, is fortunately no rarity with the good 
 people of Lochiel-side ; but a lot of fresh herrings in 
 such a place, in the proper habitat of the grouse and 
 mountain hare, was a rarity and a curiosity of no 
 ordinary kind ; nor need we much wonder if, as they 
 gazed and pondered, they scratched their heads in 
 indication of their state of perplexity and bewilderment 
 over a phenomenon such as the oldest among them 
 had never seen or heard tell of before. Their per- 
 plexity, however, as to the why and wherefore of it all 
 did not prevent them from gathering up the largest 
 and best of the herrings, which, carried home and 
 duly cooked, proved quite as fresh and good to eat as 
 if they had been taken out of their native element in 
 the meshes of their own legitimate nets. On due 
 inquiry, we find that the day was one of the brightest 
 and driest of the season ; a smart breeze of wind 
 blowing from the north-north-east, with now and 
 again large, dark patches of ragged snow-showers 
 coursing each other along the mountain ridges — a good 
 old March day, in short. A gust of wind from out the 
 skirts of one of those upland showers, rotating on its 
 axis, a whirlwind in short, swept downwards, and 
 striking the comparatively placid surface of Lochiel, 
 uplifted in its convolutions a column of water in which
 
 A SHOWER OF HERRINGS. 173 
 
 at the moment those herrings chanced to be swim- 
 ming, and carried the whole across the loch and up 
 the opposite hill-side, until, its force expended, its 
 rotation ceased, the whirlwind collapsed, and the 
 herring fell amongst the heather, where they were 
 very soon afterwards found, their silvery scales un- 
 tarnished, and as fresh and fit for the frying-pan as if 
 they had been fished for and captured in the usual 
 way. That a column of sea-water was taken up with 
 the fish, again to fall along w T ith them in a shower of 
 fine spray, is almost certain ; what raised them must 
 have also raised more or less of the element in which 
 they floated ; and we make no doubt at all that, had 
 it occurred to any of the people to pluck a twig of the 
 heather amongst which they lay, and apply it to the 
 tongue, it would have tasted salt and briny almost as 
 a bit of sea-wrack itself. Whoever, in a season of 
 drought, has seen a cloud of dust raised off the high- 
 way, and carried aloft and along by a gust of whirling 
 wind, or, better still, in the fall of the year, a heap 
 of withered leaves caught up and whirled rapidly and 
 multitudinously along by the same agency, need have 
 no difficulty in understanding how fish, too, are some- 
 times caught up with more or less of the water near 
 the surface of which they happen for the moment to 
 swim, and are afterwards dropped at a longer or 
 shorter distance from the spot at which the wildly 
 rotating gust first found them. Although a rare 
 occurrence, it has happened often enough to have 
 arrested scientific attention long ago, and to have been 
 satisfactorily explained as above.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 The Crozier of St. Fillan — Its Gaelic name Cuigreach — Etymology and mean- 
 ing of term — East Indian Hoopoe — Upupa Longirostris — Arrival of 
 Cuckoo. 
 
 Everybody has heard of what is called the crozier, or 
 more properly the pastoral staff, of St. Fillan, recently 
 recovered from its hereditary custodier, a Scotch Can- 
 adian, one of the Mac-an-Deoirs or Dewars of Glen- 
 dochart, and now safely deposited in the museum of 
 the Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh, a relic of the 
 olden time that no true Scotchman can behold without 
 the liveliest interest, or contemplate, with reference to 
 its past history, without a feeling of reverence and 
 respect such as is felt nowhere else perhaps, unless it be 
 in the presence of the Scottish crown and other regalia 
 in Edinburgh Castle. Early in the seventh century 
 Fillan first appears as an Abbot of Pittenweem, in 
 Fifeshire, a dignity he soon afterwards resigned, in 
 order to lead a more active and laborious life in civilis- 
 ing and converting to Christianity the rude Celts of 
 the wilds of Braedalbine. Here, on the borders of 
 Perthshire, at a place still known as St. Fillan's, he 
 lived an austere and blameless life, and died at a good 
 old age, and in the full odour of sanctity, in the year 
 649. Of all our Scottish saints, Fillan or Faolan seems 
 to have been the most revered, as the many shrines, 
 fountains, &c, dedicated to him testify even to our
 
 PASTORAL STAFF OF ST. FILL AN. 1 75 
 
 own day. For a full account of the life and labours of 
 St. Fillan we must refer our readers to the Acta 
 Sanctorum, or Lives of the Saints, a work of which 
 even Gibbon is obliged to confess that " through the 
 medium of fable and superstition it communicates 
 much historical and philosophical instruction." In the 
 Christian calendar St. Fillan's day is the 9th of Janu- 
 ary. His pastoral staff, with which we are for the 
 moment more immediately concerned, seems to have 
 been known over Celtic Scotland from very early 
 times by a name or distinctive appellation, variously 
 written Quigrich, Quegrieh, Coygarach, Cogerach, 
 &c, a word the true meaning and etymology of which 
 has recently given rise to much learned discussion in the 
 columns of The Scotsman and elsewhere. Dr. John 
 Stuart, of the Antiquarian Society, makes it identical 
 with our common e very-day word coigreach, a stranger, 
 and in this he is supported by the Rev. Dr. Thomas 
 Maclauchlan, no mean authority when the etymology 
 of a Gaelic word is the subject in dispute. And yet 
 one is at a loss to see the force, appropriateness, or 
 meaning of so designating a pastoral staff carried as a 
 symbol of his authority by the servant of the Good 
 Shepherd of the Gospel of Peace and Love. The Rev. 
 Dr. Masson, of the Edinburgh Gaelic Church, suggests 
 that the root may be cagar, a whisper, and that the 
 word is cagaraiche, a whisperer, a revealer, a staff or 
 rod of divination. Laying hold of the tradition that 
 the relics of the saint, including this very staff, perhaps, 
 were present at the battle of Bannockburn, and con- 
 tributed in the popular belief to the victory of that 
 memorable day, a third suggestion is, that the name
 
 176 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 may be a compound term — cogadh, battle ; drach, 
 fosterer, urger — battle -fosterer, battle-urger, battle- 
 victor. A fourth derives it from crog, the whole hand, 
 including palm and fingers : — crdgrach — that which is 
 intended to be held in the hand. Something similar 
 is the suggestion of a fifth, that it may be coig- 
 mheurach, that which is intended to be grasped by 
 the five fingers. These are some of the etymological 
 guesses — and they are no more — adventured upon in the 
 attempt to arrive at a solution of the meaning of the 
 appellation coggarach or cogerach applied to the pas- 
 toral staff of St. Fillan. One or two of these etymo- 
 logies are worth consideration, if it were only for their 
 ingenuity ; all of them, however, as even the non- 
 Celtic outsider must conclude, are unsatisfactory. Our 
 own attention having been called to the subject by one 
 of our most distinguished Scotch arcliEeologists, we had 
 little hesitation in coming to a conclusion satisfactory 
 to ourselves — satisfactory, that is to say, so far as any- 
 thing of the kind can be made satisfactory, and we 
 shall not be in the least surprised if half the Gaelic 
 scholars in the kingdom are instantly up in arms to 
 prove us in the wrong. So be it. Meantime, we 
 start on the supposition that the word is Celtic — of the 
 Gaelic of the West of Scotland and Irish of the period. 
 The word, besides, considering the object to which it 
 was applied, must have had a meaning — a meaning, 
 too, of no doubtful import — complimentary to the 
 staff, and in no sense adverse to the bearer of the staff, 
 or to the religion of order, concord, and peace which 
 he, the missionary of Christianity, had to proclaim, 
 and, if possible, make acceptable to the wild barbarians
 
 PASTORAL STAFF OF ST. FILL AN. 177 
 
 of Braedalbine ; for such, and no other, were the 
 dwellers on the skirts of the Grampians in the seventh 
 century. Fillan taught these barbarians what they 
 did not know before, or what they had only faintly 
 heard of, and whisper-wise. He taught them Christi- 
 anity, a religion of love, and peace, and good order, and 
 he carried a staff as the symbol at once of his autho- 
 rity to preach and teach in the name of the Good 
 Shepherd, and as a constant remembrancer to himself 
 and to them that unity, and peace, and order were of 
 the essentials of that religion. The name, then, by 
 which the staff of St. Fillan was commonly known 
 must have had a meaning, and that meaning, we 
 believe, must be looked for in the direction indicated. 
 The word is manifestly a compound term, and the 
 etymology we take to be this — comh, or coimh, written 
 in abbreviated form co\ or coi, is a preposition syllable 
 of frequent occurrence in Gaelic, as in Latin, English, 
 &c, and the force and import of which are abundantly 
 clear ; eagar means order, discipline, system, and 
 dropping the initial vowels of which, as they would 
 necessarily be in common speech, we have cogerach or 
 coigerach, meaning the staff of order, or discipline, or, 
 retaining the co, the co-orderer, with Fillan, in his 
 office, or co-disciplinarian. We have no desire to in- 
 sist upon the correctness of our etymology, but its 
 manifest reference to the office of the Christian mis- 
 sionary and pastor is at least prima facie evidence in 
 its favour. Another name by which St. Fillan's staff 
 was locally known in more recent times was an 
 Fhaireachd, and the Dewars of Glendochart were 
 commonly distinguished from other families of the 
 
 M
 
 178 'TW7XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 same name as Doirich or Deoirich-na-Faireachd, the 
 Dewars of the Faireachd. The meaning of this word 
 has also given rise to considerable discussion. We 
 believe it to be from Faire, a watch, a vigil. There 
 is a local tradition that, when at one time the chapel in 
 which the relic was kept was burned to the ground, 
 the precious staff itself was rescued from the flames by 
 one of the Dewars, and to him, in reward for his 
 exertions on the occasion, and to his descendants, was 
 committed the custody of the sacred relic. The 
 Dewars being thus highly honoured, and there being 
 certain important privileges attached to the custodier- 
 ship of the staff, they became bound to guard the relic 
 with the greatest care, and thus came to be called 
 Deoirich na Faireachd, Dewars of the guardianship, 
 the vigil, and watch and ward of the pastoral staff of 
 St. FilJan, the famous coi'gerach. And very wonder- 
 ful men, if we can but look at them with unprejudiced 
 eyes, were these same mediaeval monks and mission- 
 aries. That they have been largely misrepresented 
 and vilified only serves to excite the sorrow as well as 
 the surprise of the candid inquirer who has taken the 
 trouble to look into the real state of the case for him- 
 self. They were but men, and as such, of course, had 
 their frailties and their faults ; but they were good and 
 true men all the same, who, in the good providence of 
 God, had a great work to do, and, upon the whole, did 
 that work wisely and well. To the thoughtful mind, 
 St. Fillan's staff, now happily deposited in the museum 
 of national antiquities, is something very much more 
 than an object of mere antiquarian interest. 
 
 A friendly correspondent who, in the far East, has
 
 THE HOOPOE. 179 
 
 for many years been an attentive reader of the Inver- 
 ness Courier, has been kind enough to send us all the 
 way from Moulmein, in Burmah, two preserved speci- 
 mens of the Eastern hoopoe {Upupa longirostris), 
 which, however, differs so little from the Upupa epops, 
 known as an accidental straggler in this country, that 
 they seem to be the same bird. Notwithstanding the 
 long distance these specimens have had to come, their 
 colouring is more brilliant than was exhibited by any 
 home specimen that has come under our examination. 
 The prevailing colours of these beautiful birds are 
 white, buff, and black, with intermixed shades of 
 reddish brown, and reddish grey and orange. A dis- 
 tinguishing ornament is a crest, consisting of a double 
 row of orange feathers, about two inches in length, 
 tipped with black, which the bird can erect or depress 
 at pleasure. From this crest the bird is said to derive 
 its name from the French huppe, a tuft or crest. 
 Others, however, say that the name is derived from 
 certain peculiar notes uttered by the bird in the breed- 
 ing season, which sound like the syllable oop, or up, 
 two or three times repeated. 
 
 A better known bird, of plainer plumage than the 
 hoopoe, but a thousand times dearer to us all, and 
 about the origin and meaning of whose name, at least, 
 there can be no manner of dispute — we mean the com- 
 mon grey cuckoo — was heard and seen here for the first 
 time this spring on Thursday last, the 19th April, 
 which is a little earlier than its usual date. We have 
 said heard and seen, for unless the bird is actually 
 seen by some one competent to recognise it, it is not 
 always safe to believe that the cuckoo has really
 
 t8o 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 arrived on the faith of a mere report that it has been 
 heard. More than a fortnight ago it was reported as 
 having been heard in Ardgour and in the neighbour- 
 hood of Callart House, both warm and well-wooded 
 places, likely enough spots for the cuckoo to put in an 
 early appearance, but we could meet with no one who 
 professed to have seen it so early, and as the idling 
 herd-boy and truant schoolboy can imitate its well- 
 known notes to perfection, and frequently do so amuse 
 themselves when the sun shines bright and the prim- 
 roses are plentiful around, we have long thought it well 
 to wait, until it is both seen and heard, before an- 
 nouncing its actual arrival in the district. With the 
 cuckoo we may now confidently look for really warm, 
 genial weather. Up to this date the season has upon 
 the whole been a cold and sickly one. A very severe 
 form of influenza has been epidemic over the district 
 for several weeks past ; hardly anybody has escaped, 
 and although we have not heard of any fatal cases, the 
 disease, while it lasts, is exceedingly severe, and the 
 after prostration correspondingly great. A fine, warm 
 May month would, however, soon put us all to rights.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Folk-lore from the Hebrides — An Incantation of Increase — A Confabulation in 
 Glencoe — Periphrases as to Death and Dying — A Daughter of Allan Dall, 
 the Bard of Glengarry. 
 
 Our mill is a big one, and always grinding, but it is 
 only fair to confess that hardly any one else has 
 supplied us with so much mealahle grist as our " Long 
 Island " friend and correspondent, Mr. Carmichael of 
 Uist. His knowledge of the folk-lore and giosrogan 
 of the old people is certainly wonderful, so wonderful 
 that we think that, since our good friend Mr. Mac- 
 donald of Plockton left the kingdom for the Antipodes, 
 Mr. Carmichael stands, facile princcps, at the head of 
 this particular branch of archaeology. Mr. Carmichael 
 modestly excuses himself for writing so hurriedly and 
 incorrectly, while the fact is that he writes very well 
 indeed ; and in quoting him one can almost always 
 use his own words, which is no small matter when, in 
 the " dog-days," with unbuttoned waistcoat, you are 
 panting with the heat, and wish to get up your 
 columnful of matter with the least possible trouble — 
 with the smallest possible amount of what the psycho- 
 logists are now-a-days pleased to call " mental 
 evolution." Let Mr. Carmichael tell the story in his 
 own way of the " Eolas an Torranain," or " Wise- 
 woman Wisdom," as to a plant or flower that not only 
 ensures your cow against everything in the shape of
 
 1 82 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 the " evil eye," but makes her give such quantities of 
 milk, rich and good, as soon fills your crock with 
 butter, and makes every one about the house laugh, 
 jubilant and joyous, in the midst of plenty. 
 
 " I beg to send you ' Eolas an Torranain/ a very old 
 .spell or incantation, to be said or sung in order to 
 keep one's cows from the ' evil eye/ and increase their 
 milk. 
 
 ' Eolas an Torranain. 
 
 ' Buainams' thu 'thorranain 
 Le'd uile bheannachd's le 'd uile bhuaidh, 
 Thainig na naoi sonais 
 Leis na naoi earranan 
 Le buaidh an torranain, 
 Lamh Bhride learn ! 
 
 Tha mi 'nis ga'd bhuain. 
 
 ' Buaineams tbu thorranain 
 Le'd 'thorradh mara 's tir, 
 Ri lionadh gun tra'adh 
 Led' lamlisa Bhride mhin, 
 Colum naomh gam sheoladh 
 Odhran caomh 'am dhion, 
 A's Michai] nan steud uaibhreach 
 'Cuir buaidh anns an ni 
 
 Tha mo lus lurach a nis air a bhuain. 
 
 " Thus in English — 
 
 ' Let me pluck thee, Torranan ! 
 With all thy blessedness and all thy virtue, 
 The nine blessings came with the nine parts, 
 By the virtue of the Torranan. 
 The hand of St. Bride with me, 
 I am now to pluck thee. 
 
 ' Let me pluck thee, Torranan ! 
 With thine increase as to sea and land ; 
 With the flowing tide that shall know no ebbing, 
 By the assistance of the chaste St. Bride,
 
 AN INCANTATION OF INCREASE. 183 
 
 The holy St. Columba directing me, 
 And St. Michael, of high-crested steeds, 
 Imparting virtue to the matter the whde, 
 Darling plant of all virtue, 
 
 I am now plucking thee !' 
 
 " One of the two women," continues Mr. Carmicliael, 
 " from whom I got this ' Eolas,' said that the Torranan 
 is a flowering plant which grows among rocky places 
 in the hills, and that the blath or flower is large, and 
 resembles in shape a woman's breast, and that it 
 is snow-white. She said the cuach or crop of the 
 plant gradually fills up, ' le suc/h sonais,' with the dew 
 of bliss, while the tide is flowing, and slowly dries up 
 ap;aiii durinp; the ebbinof of the tide. In order, there- 
 fore, to obtain the bitaidh or virtue of the Torranan, 
 the plant or flower — whether the whole plant, or simply 
 the flower, I could not make out — must be procured 
 during the flow of the tide, or near the time of high 
 water. If you get at them, so my informant assured 
 me only a few days ago, your cow or cows will give 
 foaming quantities of milk, and your cream, butter, 
 and cheese shall be of the richest and best. You 
 have simply to place the Torranan under one of your 
 milk-pails, and while placing it there, you repeat the 
 1 Eolas ' three times, making at the same time a circle 
 sun-wise, or with the sun, also three times, with the 
 plant over the milk vessel, repeating or chanting in a 
 loud voice, but slowly and distinctly, the spell as 
 I have written it. The woman herself never saw the 
 Torranan. It is, she says, a rare plant, and she 
 would give one pound to any one who would show her 
 the plant, and where it grows."
 
 1 84 % TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 What plant the famous Torranan is, we are unable 
 to say, although we have given the matter some con- 
 sideration. The white harebell or Hyacintha alba is 
 the likeliest that we can think of. We have watched 
 it, however, and, unfortunately, it seems just as empty 
 of "the dew of blessedness" during the influx of the 
 tide as during the reflex. The superstition, neverthe- 
 less, is an exceedingly interesting one, and we may 
 yet be able to throw more light upon its raison d'etre. 
 
 While in Glencoe the other day we met a fine old 
 man, whose lyart locks and boldly chiselled features 
 fit him to be a sculptor's model for some aged warrior 
 or legislator of ancient Greece or Rome, a lineal 
 descendant, too, as he very clearly proved himself to 
 be, of one of the Macdonalds of Inverigan, who 
 perished in the celebrated massacre under William 
 and Mary, " the best assorted couple, perhaps, that 
 ever tied lots together in matrimonial bands " (a literal 
 rendering of a line of Ian Lom's). Our venerable 
 companion and ourselves sat for an hour together 
 at the foot of a huge boulder, that ages ago must have- 
 tumbled into the valley from the heights above. Our 
 talk was of many matters, and it was natural that we 
 should speak of some people whom we both knew, 
 though now no longer in life. What struck us as 
 remarkable was how periphrastically beautiful was 
 invariably this old man's reference to the dead, 
 particularly if, when living, he had known and held 
 them in regard. The common words for death and 
 dying (has and bdsaich) were never once in such a 
 case used. Not one of the many whom he and we 
 knew were, in the old man's language, " dead." They
 
 THE DEPARTED. 185 
 
 had not "died ;" they were merely shifted, departed, 
 gone to another glen, as it were, where they were far 
 better off than in this. " Chaocha.il iad ;" " shiubhail 
 iad ;" " am fear nach maireann." They have shifted ; 
 they have departed ; our friend the non-lasting, non- 
 enduring one, — these, or some such delicate and kindly 
 periphrasis, were invariably employed. And this 
 amiable sort of circumlocution in speaking of the 
 dead will, we believe, be found to be practised generally 
 by the older Highlanders who still continue to speak 
 and think in their native language. We can recollect 
 that many years ago we were informed by the Rev. 
 Dr. Macintyre, of Kilmonivaig, that we had grievously 
 offended a daughter of Allan Dall, the famous Glen- 
 garry bard, with whom shortly previously we had had 
 a lon^ and interestins; conversation about her father. 
 She would not tell Dr. Macintyre what we had said to 
 offend her ; she would tell it only to ourselves, if we 
 thought it worth our while to go and make our peace 
 with her. We went, and after a while were informed 
 that our offence lay in this : we had asked when had 
 her father died? — Cain a bhdsaich 'ur rt athairf 
 We were then young, and couldn't exactly see how 
 such a question should offend. " Brutes alone," she 
 angrily exclaimed, " die, and when they die, are dead. 
 Human beings — men, and women, and children — do 
 not die, and are not to be spoken of as dead. They 
 shift from off this scene ; they depart, they go, they 
 shift, they change, they sleep, if you like, or are 
 gathered unto their fathers. They don't die, and can 
 never with propriety be spoken of as dead !" We saw 
 the thing at last, and, of course, there and then made
 
 186 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 our humblest apologies, declaring, what indeed was 
 true enough, that in using the word objected to we did 
 not know that we were offending, and certainly had no 
 intention to offend. Mary Macdougall and ourselves 
 shook hands over it, and a lasting peace ensued, but 
 we never forgot the lesson then taught us. This 
 periphrastic way of speaking of the dead seems to 
 have been common in very ancient times. The Greek 
 periphrasis we forget, but the Roman phrase for 
 expressing that a man had died was Abiit ad plures 
 (he has gone over to the majority), while we are 
 all familiar with the beautiful Scripture expression, 
 that when a man died " he was gathered to his 
 people."
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 A " Slide " on a Frozen Stretch of River in an Upland Glen — Amazement of 
 Black faced Sheep at the Performance — " Lassie " also astonished — All 
 Quadrupeds have a horror of Ice — Intelligence of " Lassie"- — Finds the 
 Cows unaided in a Midnight Storm — Age at which Dogs cease to be 
 useful — Famous Dogs. 
 
 If 1877 was meteorologically, and all over the 
 kingdom from first to last, one of the most disagree- 
 able years of the present century, this, its successor, 
 the year of grace 1878, has, it must be confessed, so 
 far made a good beginning, for up to this date 
 January has been all one could desire, occasionally 
 blustering and rude, but for the most part frosty and 
 cold, with clear and cloudless skies. After a whole 
 twelvemonth of slop and slush, one likes to feel the 
 ground underfoot hard as iron, and it was with a 
 feeling of boyish delight that, in one of the upland 
 glens the other day, we came across a stretch of river 
 on which the ice was so thick and invitingly smooth, 
 that, throwing staff and plaid aside, we determined to 
 have just one good " slide," to see if we had quite 
 forgotten a pastime in which we once excelled. Our 
 slide was a gentle bend in the river some fifty or sixty 
 yards in length, and as with all the impetus of a 
 preliminary race we shot along like a rocket, and as 
 we arrived at the further end upright as a grenadier 
 on parade — heels close together and full front forward 
 — we felt rather proud of ourselves. Once, twice,
 
 1 88 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 thrice, half-a-dozen times, perhaps, we careered from 
 end to end of that slide, each time with an increasing 
 exhilaration of spirits that on that cold January morn- 
 ing hardly anything else could have produced. 
 .Resuming our plaid and staff, we philosophised as we 
 crossed the hills homewards, and our philosophising 
 went clearly in this direction, that a " slide," enjoyed 
 as we had just enjoyed it, is a very good thing 
 indeed, and that we had reason to be thankful that, 
 after a quarter of a century's pretty hard work, we 
 were still fresh and vigorous enough to do it as well, 
 and to enjoy it almost as thoroughly as in the merry 
 days of our youth, consule Planco. We came, 
 furthermore, to this other conclusion, that the art of 
 sliding — if you want to be very fine, you may call it 
 lapsiglacy — like that of swimming, is one that, once 
 fairly mastered, can never be forgotten. The same 
 thing, as we happen to know, cannot be said either of 
 skating or of curling. All ice pastimes are delight- 
 fully exhilarating, but we are not sure that there is 
 anything to beat a good, honest slide, as we enjoyed 
 it that morning. " Weren't you afraid somebody 
 might see you \ " was the remark of a lady to whom 
 we were telling the story in the evening. " Afraid 
 that somebody might see me ! " we exclaimed ; " no, 
 my dear madam, I was not afraid. I was only sorry 
 that half the people in the country wasn't present to 
 see how well, how admirably indeed, I did it ! " And 
 yet we were not without spectators of our lapsiglacial 
 pastime either, though the interest they took in our 
 performance probably partook rather more of astonish- 
 ment and alarm than of mere admiration. On either
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF SLIDING. 189 
 
 bank of the river some black-faced sheep were cropping 
 the heather as best they could, and had we gone past 
 them in anything like ordinary fashion, they were 
 probably too tame and intent upon their feeding to be 
 much disturbed by our presence. But when they saw 
 us come clown at railway speed on the " slide " — a 
 thing they had, perhaps, never seen in their life 
 before — they first gazed in amazement at a phenomenon 
 so new to them, and not understanding it at all, they 
 next crowded together and fled, until they were up the 
 mountains on either hand many hundred yards away. 
 But if the sheep were astonished, much more so was 
 our excellent collie, " Lassie," the wise and intelligent 
 companion of all our rambles. All quadrupeds have a 
 horror of ice because of its slipperiness, but no animals, 
 perhaps, have such a thorough dislike of it as dogs. 
 We had once a noble Newfoundland, bold as a lion, 
 and amphibious as a seal, that would never venture 
 upon ice if he could help it, and if he did venture, the 
 slightest slip and slide was enough to take all the 
 heart out of him, until he howled with horror. 
 " Lassie " has been our constant companion for so 
 many years in our natural history rambles, that she 
 has generally a pretty good idea of everything we do, 
 and in the most extraordinary circumstances rarely 
 evinces any stronger feeling than a pardonable anxiety 
 and a little excitement, perhaps, when the case is 
 critical, — the chase and capture of a rodent, or some- 
 thing of that sort, for example. Had the river on the 
 present occasion, for instance, been in its usual liquid 
 state, and had we waded alon^ the banks looking for 
 birds' nests or water- vole holes, " Lassie " would have
 
 1 90 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 quietly followed in the water or on the bank above as 
 ordered, in case her assistance should be required, and 
 hardly any act of ours, in the water or out of it, 
 would have much surprised her. When in this case, 
 however, she noticed us first throw aside our staff and 
 plaid, and then, after a race, the meaning of which, 
 she could not comprehend, she saw us shoot along the 
 ice like a meteor, her face was for the moment a per- 
 fect study, so visibly could we read in it a mingled 
 expression of astonishment, perplexity, and alarm, 
 astonishment, however, before she had time to think 
 it all over, manifestly predominating. As we were 
 preparing for our third slide, her astonishment had 
 evidently given place to a feeling of anxious and 
 honest solicitude for our welfare, manifested by her 
 eager fawning upon us and plaintive whining when 
 she saw that we did not give it up at once. When at 
 last she saw us take up our staff and plaid, she leapt 
 around us and barked for joy that we were at last 
 done with a performance in which she at least could see 
 nothing but danger, and her barking was proof of her 
 sincerity, for, as a rule, she is perfectly dumb in all 
 our rambles, full well knowing, from experience, that a 
 barking, babbling companion, on such errands as 
 usually take us abroad on such occasions, would be a 
 nuisance and a hindrance rather than any assistance. 
 Honest " Lassie " is now in the tenth year of her age, 
 but lively and active still, and as wise as a human 
 being — in certain circumstances wiser far than ever 
 was any human being of equal age. Some weeks ago 
 our cows, leaving their usual infield pasture, found, 
 unknown to us, their way to the heather on the hills,
 
 CANINE INTELLIGENCE. 191 
 
 and when the evening came they were nowhere to be 
 got. They had been seen about mid-day high up 
 amongst the heather, and that was all that could with 
 certainty be said about them. The night came on wet 
 and wild, and dark as dark could be. What was to 
 be done ! The cows were giving milk, and a single 
 night out at this season would go for to ruin them 
 as milkers for the remainder of the winter. No 
 human being could think of climbing a thickly wooded 
 hill in search of cattle in such a dark and stormy 
 night, and there was nothing for it but to give 
 " Lassie " a trial, though we had but little hopes that, 
 unaided and unattended as she must necessarily be, 
 she would be of much use. But, as somebody 
 remarked, there was no harm at all events in trying ; 
 and first taking " Lassie " to the byre, and showing 
 her the empty stalls, we gave her to understand, as 
 best we could in good Lochaber Gaelic, that the cows 
 were away, and must be got, and that it was 
 clearly her duty to go and find them. With 
 a lantern in our hand, we accompanied her a 
 few yards in the proper direction, and then ordered 
 her, in a decided but cheery tone of voice, to be off 
 and get the cows. She straightway disappeared in 
 the storm and darkness, and we were glad to run to 
 the shelter of the fireside, anxious enough, you may 
 believe, that " Lassie " should succeed for the sake of 
 the cows, but not less anxious, perhaps, that she 
 should succeed for the sake of her own good name 
 and high character for intelligence in the district. 
 And she did succeed. In a little over an hour, 
 " Lassie's " bark, with which we are, of course.
 
 1 92 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 familiar, and uttered purposely, as we knew, in order 
 to warn us that she had returned, was heard in the 
 direction of the byre ; and on proceeding, lantern in 
 hand, to learn the result of her darkling search, we 
 found the cows collected in the square all right, and 
 "Lassie" standing guard over them. You may 
 believe that we patted her kindly, and that her supper 
 that night was as plentiful as it deserved to be. 
 
 As we have already said, "Lassie" is now in her 
 tenth year, and in the discharge of every duty 
 entrusted to her as lively and active as we ever knew 
 her. And yet in a curious old book, one of the first 
 works, indeed, that issued from the English press 
 (1486), there occurs a couplet, according to which she 
 ought to be now growing lazy and stiff of limb and 
 stupid. The work in question, highly prized by the 
 typographical antiquary, is The Bohe of Haivhjng 
 and Huntyng, by Dame Juliana Berners, sister of 
 the Lord Berners who translated the Chronicles of 
 Froissart into such delightfully quaint old English. 
 " Hawkyng and Huntyng" seems a strange subject- 
 matter for a treatise by a lady, and that lady, too, 
 prioress, as she was, of Sopewell Nunnery, near St. 
 Albans. The probability, however, is that the "boke" 
 was written while she was still young and gay — 
 many years, at all events, before she had anything to 
 do with nuns or nunneries. The couplet referred to 
 is to this effect — 
 
 " The best dog that ever bitch had, 
 At eight years is full badde." 
 
 Now, this may have been the experience of people 
 with regard to dogs employed in hawking and
 
 AGE OF DOGS. 193 
 
 hunting, about the middle, say, of the fifteenth 
 century ; nor are we prepared to say that it may 
 not be true of dogs used in hunting, perhaps of 
 sporting dogs generally, in our own day. We should 
 much like to know, however, on really competent 
 authority, if it is the fact that a hunting dog — a 
 fox-hound, for example, or pointer, or deer-hound — is 
 considered old, effete, and, in Lady Berners' words, 
 " fulle badde," by the time it has reached or com- 
 pleted its eighth year. Meantime we should be 
 disposed to doubt the truth of this couplet, even as 
 regards sporting dogs. We are very certain, at all 
 events, that it is not true as regards cattle and sheep 
 dogs. A few days ago we discussed the subject with 
 an old Highland shepherd, a man of much intelli- 
 gence, and he entirely agreed with us, or rather we 
 entirely agreed with him ; for with the cattle and 
 sheep dog — with the collie proper, that is — he has had 
 a long and familiar practical acquaintance, such as it 
 would be mere folly in us to pretend to. Our 
 venerable colloquist having but little English, we had 
 to throw Juliana Berners' couplet into Gaelic thus, 
 that he might thoroughly understand it : — 
 
 " Aig aois ochd bliadhn', 's gle bheag is fkiacb. 
 An cu. 'b'fhearr 'bh'aiij galla riaruh." 
 
 o 0^ 
 
 He instantly and energetically denied the truth of the 
 dictum, in the case at least of the shepherd's dog or 
 collie, with which he was most familiar. A collie, he 
 was prepared to say, was no more than at its prime, 
 or very little indeed beyond it, at eight of years of 
 age, and ought to continue a good and useful dog up 
 
 N
 
 i 9 4 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 to the age of twelve or even fourteen years. A dog 
 
 that is " full badde " before his twelfth year must, in 
 
 his opinion, have been a "fulle badde" one all along. 
 
 As nearly as he could remember, he had in his day 
 
 owned quite a score and a half of different sheep dogs 
 
 of his own, and the very pick of these were at their 
 
 best when they were between five and ten years old. 
 
 Another shepherd, a much younger man, and from 
 
 the south, assured us more recently that few shepherd's 
 
 dogs know all they ought to know till they are 
 
 between five and six years old, and that their first 
 
 noticeable ailment is generally a diminution of activity 
 
 and speed in gathering and " wearing " sheep, which 
 
 most shepherds thought was owing to their getting 
 
 stiff in the joints, but which he maintained was more 
 
 frequently due to laziness, a laziness resulting from 
 
 the cunning that teaches a dog as he advances in 
 
 years that it is foolish to over-exert himself when it 
 
 can at all be avoided. In proof of this last statement, 
 
 he averred that a ten-year-old dog that may be 
 
 generally called lazy, and stiff, and slow, can, " when 
 
 he likes himsel'," and indeed often does, perform his 
 
 hill-side duties with all the vivacity and all the speed 
 
 of his five-year-old "form." But even granting that 
 
 a dog is a little slower in performing his work at and 
 
 after his eighth year, this shepherd was of opinion 
 
 that he is all the surer, that he is still more valuable 
 
 than at any earlier period of his life, because of his 
 
 riper intelligence and general common sense. Our 
 
 own experience of such dogs leads us to a similar 
 
 conclusion, that an eight-year-old collie may be a 
 
 very good and useful dog indeed, and is not necessarily
 
 DOGS CELEBRATED IN POETRY. 195 
 
 " full badde " by reason of either mental or bodily 
 decrepitude till he is several years older. Talking of 
 dogs the other evening, we were asked this rather 
 curious question, " Which would you say were the 
 most celebrated dogs connected with poetry % Sup- 
 pose you had the chance, which of them would you 
 like best to know 1 " It was a somewhat puzzling 
 question ; but after a little reflection, we replied that 
 we thought that of the dogs connected with poets 
 and poetry we should be most glad to have had an 
 opportunity of knowing and kindly patting Ulysses' 
 Argus, the brave old dog who, recognising his master 
 after an absence of so many weary years, crawls to 
 his side, licks his feet, and then 
 
 " Takes a last look, and having seen him, dies ; 
 So closed for ever faithful Argus' eyes : " 
 
 Fingal's Bran, so celebrated in the old Gaelic heroic 
 ballads ; Byron's Boatswain, and Scott's Maida.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Cold January — Pet Days — Rainfall — Highlander's standard in gauging a Fall 
 of Snow — Anecdote of Alasdair Macdonald, the Ardnamurchan Bard — 
 Shoemaking — Shoes sent home unblackened. 
 
 In the philosophy of the old people here, the best 
 winter weather that we can have is storm and cold — 
 cold in the honest, tangible form, so to speak, of frost 
 and snow, so intense that, after a few minutes' exposure 
 to it, you are unable for the moment to make a 
 crubhan-cait (a cat's claw), that is, to bring together 
 the points of your fingers and thumb, by reason of the 
 benumbment of the muscles that are necessary to the 
 act ; and storm so violent that the hardiest sea-birds 
 are fain to scud before the gale, and, like so many 
 disabled ships, to seek the shelter of the best protected 
 creeks and bays along the seaboard. In the folk-lore 
 of the Highlanders, it is a maxim, founded on a long 
 experience, that the severer the winter, the more 
 likely are the succeeding seasons to be all they ought 
 to be. So much storm and cold, they argue, is due in 
 every twelve months, and when should the storm and 
 cold come most opportunely but in winter, the season 
 expressly set apart for it ? Better and more natural, 
 they say, to have all the inclemency of the year 
 collected within the compass of three or four consecutive 
 months, than scattered irregularly, untimeously, and 
 at random over the area of the twelve. So impressed
 
 WEATHER PHILOSOPHY OF HIGHLANDERS. 197 
 
 are they with the truth of this philosophy, that it is 
 rare, even in the severest winters, to hear a Highlander 
 complain of storm or cold, no matter how violent and 
 intense. He will put on one or more extra articles of 
 clothing, and give his cattle an extra sheaf at feeding 
 time ; he will come into his cottage so benumbed that 
 he can hardly take firm enough hold of the horn spoon 
 with which he is to sup his " kail " or porridge, but 
 not a word of complaint shall you hear from him as to 
 the over-inclemency of the weather. If you make a 
 remark in that direction, he replies that the weather is 
 seasonable and natural, and that there is reason to be 
 thankful that it is so rather than otherwise. Meet an 
 aged Highlander on one of these pet days that some- 
 times occur in mid-winter, when it is clear, and calm, 
 and mild, as if it were a day in early summer. You 
 remark in a cheery, congratulatory tone of voice that 
 it is a fine, warm day, beautiful, summer-like, or some- 
 thing to that effect, and you naturally expect that he 
 will be as much pleased with the bright, warm, sun 
 above, and the peaceful calm around, as you are 
 yourself. Far from it, however. He doesn't like, he 
 will tell you, " fine " days out of their proper season. 
 It is the middle of December or January, and he will 
 remind you that the proper weather for those months 
 is intense frost, drifting snow, or wild, impassioned 
 storms ; and, if you understand his language, he will 
 quote you old meteorological proverbs and weather 
 " wisdom- words " by the score, in corroboration of the 
 soundness of his views of the matter, and the utter 
 fallacy and untenableness of yours, if you venture to 
 differ from him. The reader, therefore, will under-
 
 198 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 stand the meteorological character of the month of 
 January just past, when we say that the people were 
 upon the whole highly pleased with it. It was cold 
 enough, and stormy enough, to be characterised by 
 them as the most seasonable and "natural" January 
 month for several years past. If the present month of 
 February, or even the first half of it, only proves cold 
 and wintry enough, our weather-wise people promise 
 us a bright and pleasant spring. 
 
 Within a comparatively recent period, when meteoro- 
 logical science was still in its infancy, and the honest 
 rain-gauge yet a rarity, people always exaggerated, 
 though for the most part unwittingly perhaps, the 
 amount of rainfall for any given period. Now-a-days, 
 however, it is pretty widely known that a single 
 " inch " of rain in four-and-twenty hours is really 
 a large quantity, and held in check by the unbiassed 
 testimony of a very simple and useful instrument, one 
 or more of which is to be found in every district ; 
 people have learned that it is wise to speak of rain 
 generally, and even of "heavy falls" of rain when 
 they occur, with circumspection and caution. In 
 speaking of a fall of snow, however, people still talk 
 loosely ; for, unchecked by anything like a s^ot^-gauge, 
 they almost invariably exaggerate the quantity on the 
 ground. With regard to last week's fall of snow, for 
 example, you read in the newspapers that in this or 
 that particular locality it was " six inches," " between 
 six inches and a foot," "two feet," and on the hills and 
 uplands " several feet " in depth, the truth being, 
 nevertheless, that a fair, undrifted fall of six inches in 
 depth is of extremely rare occurrence — so rare that it
 
 A HIGHLAND SNOW-GAUGE. 199 
 
 does not occur once in twice as many years. Drifted 
 snow, of course, may accumulate to almost any depth, 
 but a snowfall that clothes the country generally with 
 a covering of three or four inches in depth may safely 
 be called a "heavy" one, and such a fall is rarely 
 exceeded in this country. With such a fall, it is of 
 course to be understood that there may be wreaths 
 and drifts of many feet in depth, according to the 
 conformation of any particular area of country, and the 
 force and direction of the wind. You are always 
 pretty safe in taking a Highlander's estimate of a 
 snowfall, for unless he wilfully exaggerates, his standard 
 of measurement is always at hand, and always in use 
 wherever he wanders, on the lower lying lands or on 
 the mountains. That standard is none other than his 
 own leg, and by the constant use of that gauge, 
 his estimate of the depth of snow at any time and 
 anywhere may be accepted as fairly accurate and 
 approximately correct. Thus, if you ask a man about 
 the depth of snow on the ground after a fall, he will 
 tell you that in the particular direction in which he 
 has had occasion to travel it reached to the opening of 
 his shoe (gu heal na broig), or to the ankle (gu ruig 
 an t'aobran), or to the small of the leg (gu caol na 
 coise), or to the calf of the leg (gu ruig an calpa), or 
 to the knee (gu ruig an gliiu), or to the thigh (gu 
 ruig an t'sliasaid), or to the waist or girdle (gu ruig 
 an crios). Beyond that he does not go, rarely, 
 indeed, so far, and for two good reasons — first, because 
 a greater depth of snow than reaches to one's girdle is 
 rarely encountered, and, secondly, when it does occur, 
 it is not difficult to understand that a wise man is not
 
 2oo 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 particularly anxious to gauge it. We asked a shep- 
 herd the day after the last snowfall what might be the 
 depth on his beat, and he answered at once, and 
 we believe honestly, that it reached to between the 
 ankle and the small of the leg Reader an t'aobran 's 
 caol na coise, were his own words), some three or 
 four inches, that is, which in the West Highlands is 
 a large fall. 
 
 Everybody having any acquaintance at all with 
 Celtic literature must have heard of Alexander 
 Macdonald, commonly called Alasdair MacMhaighstir 
 Alasdair, the Ardnamurchan bard, the Tyrtseus of the 
 '45. He stands in the very front rank of modern 
 Gaelic poets, almost without an equal, indeed, whether 
 the subject be the impassioned war-song or the peace- 
 ful pastoral, the varied scenery of mountain, glen, and 
 peopled valley, or the wild tumult of ocean waves in a 
 storm. To Highlanders, at least, anything connected 
 with such a man must be of interest, and we make 
 therefore no apology for introducing the following 
 anecdote. Bailie John Cameron, of West End House, 
 Fort- William, happening to call upon us, took occasion, 
 in the course of conversation, to quote some Gaelic 
 lines, a sort of epigram, which we could not recollect to 
 have ever heard before. On our expressing a desire 
 to know all he could tell us about the origin and 
 occasion of the lines in question, Mr. Cameron gave 
 the history of the curious jingle as follows. The 
 epigram, he said, was by the celebrated Alasdair 
 Macdonald, when he was quite a young man. The 
 bard's father was, as is well known, an Episcopalian 
 clergyman, and happening once on a time to have
 
 A HIGHLAND BARD'S REVENGE. 201 
 
 occasion to go to the district of Rannoch, in Perth- 
 shire, his son, not yet known as a bard, accompanied 
 him. Alexander, while in Rannoch, found it necessary 
 to order a pair of new shoes from the shoemaker of the 
 hamlet in which his father and himself were tem- 
 porarily resident. The shoes came home in due time 
 and were paid for ; and though the price charged was 
 considered high, it was not grudged, the shoemaker 
 assuring the young man that they were in the height 
 of fashion, and sole and welting and uppers of the best 
 material and most substantial workmanship. The 
 shoes had not, however, been worn many days when 
 they became leaky and generally out of sorts, and a 
 close examination of the materials and workmanship 
 convinced the embryo bard that the shoemaker was 
 neither more nor less than a rascally cheat. The 
 young man was of course indignant, and determined 
 to have his revenge, and as publicly too as possible, 
 when an opportunity should offer. On the following 
 Sunday the bard's father called the people of the 
 hamlet together to worship, and as they were at 
 a considerable distance from their ow T n stated place of 
 worship, all the people of the place collected to hear 
 him. Amongst the rest was the shoemaker, who, 
 it should be observed, was an exceedingly tall man, 
 long, lank, and lean. The young bard acted on the 
 occasion as reader and precentor to his father, and at 
 a certain stage of the service, to the consternation 
 of the worthy minister, and the amusement of the 
 rest of the congregation, with whom the shoemaker 
 was no favourite, he chanted the following lines, 
 which, like so many barbed arrows, went so straight
 
 202 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 to the mark that the luckless shoemaker was covered 
 with shame and confusion of face : — 
 
 " Ailein, 'Tc Ailein, 'Ic Uilleim, 
 Fhir-dhubhaidh nam br6g ; 
 Fhir a dh-fhuaigheas le sn6d na gearr bhuinn ; 
 Ailein, 'Ic Ailein, 'Ic Uilleim, 
 Fhir-dhubhadh nam br6g, 
 'Stu 'n rogaire 's m6 a tha 'n'a Albninn. 
 Ailein, 'Ic Ailein, 'Ic Uilleim ; 
 Gur a fad' eadar t'uileann 's do shealbban ; 
 'Snam bithinn a'm gliurrach air mullach do cbinn, 
 Gum faicinn Cillfhinn a's Braidalbainn !" 
 
 We give a translation, though the point and pith is 
 almost entirely lost in an English rendering. 
 
 " Allan, son of Allan, son of William, 
 Thou that art the blackener of shoes ; 
 
 Thou that sevvest the inner shoe-soles with unrosined thread. 
 Allan, son of Allan, son of William, 
 Thou blackener of shoes, 
 
 Thou art the biggest rogue in all broad Scotland. 
 Allan, son of Allan, son of William, 
 
 Far is the distance from thy elbow-joint to thy wind-pipe ; 
 If I were but perched on the top of thy head, 
 I could see hence all the way to Killin and over Breadalbane." 
 
 That the general reader may have some idea at 
 least of the pith and point of these lines, some little 
 elucidation is absolutely necessary. It will be observed 
 that the shoemaker is addressed not by his name and 
 surname — the latter, we believe, was Campbell — but 
 patronymically, after the manner of the Highlands. 
 He is reproached with being a " blackener " of shoes, 
 because in old times it was the custom of the craft to 
 send new boots and shoes home to their owners 
 unblackened on the welt, and altogether unpolished
 
 TRADE CUSTOM IN THE HIGHLANDS. 203 
 
 and unvarnished, that the sewing of the seam, and 
 workmanship generally, might be seen and examined 
 in its naked reality, and approved or disapproved of, 
 as the case mio-ht be. There is no doubt that it was 
 an honest, w T ell-meant custom, calculated to check 
 badly finished or " scamped " work, as it is called ; 
 and Mr. Euskin, we daresay, would be glad to devote, 
 if the thing were suggested to him, a whole number 
 of his Fors Clavigera to the advocacy of a return to 
 so healthy and honest a custom in other crafts as w T ell 
 as in shoemaking. It would seem, however, that even 
 in Macdonald's time the custom was getting into 
 disuse, for his shoes were sent home in such a polished, 
 and " blackened," and non-naked condition, that they 
 could not be minutely examined, and the maker's 
 word had to be taken that they were all they ought to 
 be, which a few days' wearing proved they were not. 
 How improper it was to sew, welt, and sole together 
 with " unrosined thread " will be readily understood. 
 The reference to the distance between Crispin's elbow 
 and throat is meant to lead, by a ludicrous step, up to 
 the concluding hit at the lank longitude of the entire 
 man, from the top of whose head, if only he could 
 manage to get perched upon it, the young bard 
 declares he could have a most extensive view — all the 
 way to the village of Killin, and over the heights of 
 Breadalbane. The unlucky shoemaker soon found 
 that he had made a bad job of it in more ways than 
 one. The rhyme was in everybody's mouth, and as 
 often as he heard it, it ceased not to vex him till his 
 dying day.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Safe from East and North-East Storms under the Lee of Ben Nevis — Story of 
 a Ballad of the Maritime Highlands — A Fragment — Translation. 
 
 We may now look, and with some confidence, to a 
 continuance of bright, dry weather, and any one hav- 
 ing land to deal with deserves to be called a sluggard, 
 and nothing less, if he doesn't get everything into the 
 ground with all possible speed. The old Highlanders 
 of the West Coast and Hebrides, wiser in their day 
 than their School Board-patronised descendants, had 
 this saying — 
 
 " Biodh e fuar no biodh e bla, 
 Bi glic a's cuir do shiol 'sa Mhart," 
 
 which, being interpreted, may run something like 
 this — 
 
 " Weather cold or weather warm, 
 March-sown seed ne'er met with harm." 
 
 And although, according to the Gregorian calendar, 
 the present writing is correctly dated in April, it is to 
 be remembered that it is still the Mhdrt or March of 
 the old people who computed the months and seasons 
 according; to the Julian calendar. Another agricultural 
 saying of the old people, founded on practical ex- 
 perience, and well deserving the attention of their 
 descendants, is this — 
 
 " 'S fhearr aon la le surd Earraich, 
 JNa tri latha le surd Samhna,"
 
 STORY OF AN OLD GAELIC SONG. 205 
 
 which may be rendered thus — 
 
 " Better in spring, the work of one good day, 
 Than three at Hallowmas, work as you may." 
 
 Reverting to the recent storm, it is proper to say that 
 it was but comparatively little felt here. Nestled as 
 we are under the broad lee of Ben Nevis and his 
 brother mountains, such storms as come from the 
 north and north-east pass high over our heads. In the 
 case of such a storm, we " hear the sound thereof," and 
 see the mad scud of its clouds as they tumble along in 
 wild and ragged confusion Atlantic- wards ; it never 
 harms, and rarely even incommodes us, except in the 
 way of a little delay, perhaps, and occasionally a wet 
 jacket, if one has to cross a ferry. 
 
 It is many years since we became acquainted with 
 an old and exceedingly interesting Gaelic song, for a 
 complete and correct copy of which we had inquired 
 and searched everywhere with but indifferent success. 
 In the Hebrides, and all over the Maritime Highlands, 
 no production of the Celtic race is better known than 
 the composition in question, though, so far as we are 
 aware, it has never yet appeared in print, nor, although 
 almost everybody knows the beautiful air and the 
 argument or story in its minutest details, is it easy to 
 meet with any one who can repeat more than two, or 
 at most three, verses of the song itself. The song in 
 which we have so Ion 2: been interested has no dis- 
 tinctive title or name by which it can be referred to ; 
 like many similar compositions in other languages, it 
 is best known by a single line, which indicates the key- 
 note of the tragedy — 
 
 " Nach truagh leat bean bg 's i ga hathadh ? "
 
 2o6 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 The story is briefly this : — A young woman happily 
 married, and already the mother of two children — one, 
 as the song itself relates, two years old, and the other 
 three months — invites her younger unmarried sister to 
 visit them. In a short time a criminal connection is 
 formed between the husband and this young woman, 
 his sister-in-law, a state of matters of which the poor 
 wife, devoted to her children, and believing herself 
 happy in her husband's love, has no suspicion ; how 
 could she possibly suspect, asks the story, her own 
 born sister of such wickedness 1 The guilty husband 
 and his guiltier paramour resolve to rid themselves of 
 the deeply wronged and unsuspecting wife on the first 
 favourable opportunity. This opportunity soon pre- 
 sents itself. One day in the spring of the year, during 
 the low tides of the vernal equinox, the wife, leaving 
 her children in charge of her sister, descended to the 
 big ebb-shore in order to gather dulse and the rarer 
 shell-fish only to be got at such seasons. Venturing 
 seawards as far as possible, she fills her creel with 
 shell-fish, and then directs her steps to a sgeir-mhara, 
 or rock of the sea, that at low ebbs is exposed and dry, 
 but is usually covered by the tide, in order to gather 
 dulse, the largest and best that could be got. The 
 dulse gathered, the woman sits down to rest, for the 
 day is bright and warm, and she is tired with her 
 exertions ; her head droops ; she turns on her side, and 
 falls asleep. Her husband and her sister calling her, 
 and getting no answer, go to the sgeir-mhara, and 
 finding her sound asleep, they weave and plait her 
 long and abundant locks with the tough grass-wrack 
 and tangle that grew luxuriantly and as conveniently
 
 STOR Y OF AN OLD GAELIC SONG. 207 
 
 for their purpose as possible, around the shapely arm 
 on which rested the sleeper's cheek. Their evil work 
 done, the man fled from the scene, but his accomplice 
 only removed to the opposite shore, there to wait and 
 watch, in order to be able to convey to her companion 
 in guilt certain and sure tidings of their victim's death. 
 The woman on the rock awakes from her sleep to find 
 herself already encompassed by the fast rising tide, 
 while her hair is so firmly interwoven with the wrack 
 and tangle that she can only raise her head a very 
 little ; but that little suffices to show her her sister 
 seated above high-water mark on the opposite shore. 
 She calls aloud and supplicates for aid in her terrible 
 distress, only to be jeered and laughed at by her cruel 
 sister, who avows that she has no pity for her, and 
 will give her no help. It is at this point that the song, 
 as we have been able to recover it, begins. 
 
 " Oran Ciaxail. 
 
 " ' A phiuthar ud thall, no hug 6, 
 'An cois na traghad, hug b, 
 Thig a nail, no hu, hoirinn b, 
 'Sin do lamli dhomh, hug b. 
 
 " ' Xach truagh leat bean bg, no hug b, 
 'S i ga bathadh, hug b ; ' 
 ' Cha truagh, cha truagh, no hu hoirinn b, 
 Is beacr mo chas dhiot hui^ b.' 
 
 " ' Nach truagh leat fein, no hug b 
 Cor mo phaisdean, hug b 1 
 'Bhios a nise, no hu hoirinn b 
 'Caoidh am mathar, hug 6 1 
 
 " ' Fear da bhliadhna, hug, 6, 
 Fear 'na raithe, hug, b ;
 
 208 TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 Cha'n fhaigh e 'nochd, no hu hoirinn 6, 
 Cioch a nihathar, hug, 6. 
 
 " ' Iarraidh esan, no hug 6, 
 Cioch a mhathar, hug 6, 
 Ach cha'n 'fhaigh e, no hu. hoirinn 6, 
 Ach an saile, hug o. 
 
 " ' Cuir fios uamsa, no hug o, 
 Gu 'm thriuir bhraithrean, hug 6, 
 Ach dean a cheileadh, no hoirinn 6, 
 Air mo mhathair, hug, 6. 
 
 " ' Mo thruaighe mise, no hug 6, 
 'S fuar-fhliuch sleamhuinn, hiig b, 
 'Tha mo leabaidh, no hu hoirinn 6, 
 Air bad feamainn, hug b. 
 
 " l 'S fliuch mo chluasag, no hug 6, 
 'S fliuch, 's cha nair dhi, hiig 6, 
 Fliuch le 'm dheoir, no hu hoirinn 6, 
 Fliuch le saile, hug 6. 
 
 " ' An easgann fhuar no hiig 6, 
 'Na glas-laimh dhomh, hiig b ; 
 'S am partan donn, no hii hoirinn 6, 
 'A streap ri'm bhraghad, hiig, o,' " &c. 
 
 The following, though not a literal translation, is a 
 sufficiently faithful rendering to give the general reader 
 a good idea of the manner and matter of the original : — 
 
 " A Very Tragical Ballad : From the Gaelic. 
 (A Fragment.) 
 
 " ' Sister that sittest safe on land 
 (Alas, and woe is me !) 
 Come hither, and reach me a friendly hand 
 (Cruel and cold is the sea).
 
 A TRAGICAL BALLAD. 209 
 
 " ' For a drowning wretch some pity have 
 (Alas, and woe is me ! ') 
 1 No pity have I, nor help to save, 
 Tho' cruel and cold is the sea.' 
 
 " ' For my children's sake, have pity, I pray 
 (Alas, and woe is me !) 
 They'll hreak their hearts that their mother's away 
 (Cruel and cold is the sea). 
 
 " ' Two years and a day is the age of one 
 (Alas, and woe is me !) 
 Of my babe's life not three months have run 
 (Cruel and cold is the sea). 
 
 " ' For his mother's breast he'll weep and pine 
 (Alas, and woe is me !) 
 'Twill yield him to-night but the salt sea brine 
 (Cruel and cold is the sea). 
 
 " ' tell my sad and woful case 
 To my darling brothers three ; 
 But hide it from my mother dear, 
 Who nursed me on her knee ! 
 
 " ' Sad my heart and low my head 
 (Alas, and woe is me !) 
 Wet and slimy my grass-wrack bed, 
 In the cold and cruel sea. 
 
 " ' Wet, indeed, my sea-wrack pillow 
 (Alas, and woe is me !) 
 Wet with my tears and wet with the billows 
 (Cruel and cold is the sea). 
 
 " ' Manacled fast are my hands in the tightening folds 
 Of the slimy eel ; 
 The great brown crab as it crawls and crawls 
 On my breasts L feel ! ' "
 
 2 to 'TW1XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 The remainder of the ballad, which we have "been un- 
 able to recover, but which we can well remember hear- 
 ing sung in our boyhood, tells how the tide slowly- 
 rose until it reached and covered the lips of the poor 
 victim, who continued to the last, until her accents 
 became but a sound of bubbling indistinctness, to 
 plead and pray for mercy in language so touching and 
 beautiful, that it rarely failed to move the listeners to 
 tears. We forget whether the ballad tells that retribu- 
 tion, speedy and terrible, overtook the guilty accom- 
 plices ; the elucidatory prose narrative, which was 
 always told in connection with the subject, certainly 
 does. On a midsummer night lightning from heaven 
 struck the cottage as they slept. In the morning the 
 neighbours found the end of it in which slept the 
 guilty pair shattered and burnt, their bodies reduced 
 to a foul and fetid mass of cinder. In the other end, 
 which was untouched by the fire, the children were 
 found clasped in each other's arms, and sound asleep — 
 " unharmed," says the narrative, " because of their 
 innocence, by the wrath-fire of God." 
 
 For the best and completest version in our posses- 
 sion of the above fragment we are indebted to our 
 neighbour, the Rev. Dr. Clerk of Kilmallie. How old 
 this ballad maybe we cannot positively say. Very old 
 men recently in life knew it in their childhood from 
 old people, whose story was that they too knew it in 
 their childhood. We should therefore say that it is 
 as- old at least as the middle or even the beginning of 
 last century — perhaps much older — and from internal 
 evidence it seems to belong to one of the Hebrides or 
 to the sea coast of Argyllshire. It is proper to say,
 
 A TRAGICAL BALLAD. 211 
 
 however, that the people of Uist and Skye, as well as 
 those of Mull and Morven, and some other places, claim 
 it each for their own, generally pointing out in cor- 
 roboration of their claims the very rock on which the 
 woman perished, and the spot on which sat the sister 
 whose hard and cruel heart could not be moved to 
 pity. From the prose narrative, and from a still un- 
 recovered verse of the ballad itself, the day was warm 
 and bright, and it was in the heat of the day that the 
 shell-fish gatherer, at low ebb, found her way to the 
 rock on which she fell asleep. It must have been low 
 water then about mid-day at the scene of the ballad 
 tragedy, and this fact so far localises the story, for such 
 a state of tide at that hour in the West Highlands only 
 occurs in some of the inner Hebrides, and alonsf the 
 Argyllshire coast, say from the Sound of Jura to the 
 Point of Ardnamurchan.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Demons of the Dust-Cloud and Spindrift — Gaelic Rhyme — Demons some- 
 times visible in form of Lambent Flame — Wit-Word Combats — Meaning 
 of a Gaelic Phrase. 
 
 Easterly winds, cold and keen, frequently intensify- 
 ing into such squalls as sent the Earydice to her fate ; 
 squalls that sent the spindrift careering adown Loch 
 Linnhe in huge columns of comminuted spray, half-a- 
 dozen or more together, very pretty to look at from a 
 distance as they swirl and gyrate in their mad waltz 
 Mull and Morven-wards — such, with a bright sun 
 overhead by day, and a slight touch of frost by night, 
 has been the sort of weather prevalent here for the last 
 twenty days ; capital working weather, as you may 
 understand, with dust enough, too, taking the familiar 
 proverb in its literal sense, to counterpoise in value 
 the ransom of all sovereigns of Europe, as sovereigns 
 are appraised now-a-days, ten times over. A neigh- 
 bour of ours, an old man, who has for many years been 
 a dabbler in occult philosophy and thaumaturgy, will 
 have you believe that at this season in each and every 
 dust whirlwind on land and spindrift column at sea 
 there is present an invisible spirit of evil animating 
 and, when a special disaster has to be brought about, 
 intensifying all their gyrations. These evil spirits, he 
 says, are let loose for seventeen days and nights to- 
 gether at the season of the vernal equinox, with the 
 power to do much mischief, though not nearly so 
 much as they have a mind to. Their busiest time is
 
 DEMONS OF THE DUST-CLOUD. 213 
 
 in Annunciation week. At sea they take the form of 
 sudden squalls, waterspouts, and spindrift columns, 
 which cause wrecks and drowning, driving, besides, 
 the fish from the shallows into deep water, so that the 
 fisherman baits his lines in vain. On land their object 
 is to check and crush back vegetation into its state of 
 mid-winter torpidity ; but failing in this, they swirl 
 about in clouds of dust, which, being inhaled, causes 
 grievous sickness in man and beast. Against the 
 demon of the dust-cloud, as it swirls along the high- 
 way, a wise man will take this precaution : as it ap- 
 proaches, you are instantly to close your eyes and mouth 
 as tightly as possible, at the same time turning your 
 back upon it until it has swept by, mentally repeating 
 — for you are not to open your mouth, nor as much as 
 breathe, as long as you can help it— this rhyme : — 
 
 " Gach cuman a's mias a's meadar, 
 Gu Pol, gu Peadair 'sgu Bride ; 
 Dion, a's seun a's gleidh mi 'o olc 'so chunnart, 
 Air a bheallach, 's air a mhullack 
 'Sair an tullaich ud thall ; 
 P51 a's Peadair a's Bride caomh ! " 
 
 These old rhymes and incantations, abrupt and incon- 
 secutive as they frequently are, and with such re- 
 condite allusions, are extremely difficult to translate, 
 though to the competent Gaelic scholar and antiquary 
 the general drift and meaning may be plain and patent 
 enouo-h. The above lines are something; like this : — 
 
 o o 
 
 " Be the care of milk-pail, and bowl, and cog 
 Given to Peter and Paul and Saint Bride : 
 Wherever I wander protect me, ye Saints ! 
 Let not evil or harm me betide ; 
 Hear me, Peter and Paul, and gentle Saint Bride ! "
 
 214 >TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 We have spoken of the demons of the dust-cloud 
 and spindrift as invisible, and invisible they will 
 always remain to the incredulous and uninitiated ; but 
 our informant says that under certain conditions, 
 which he declined to explain to us, the spirits may be 
 seen as they swirl past in their vehicles of dust or 
 spray, generally in the form of a blue lambent flame, 
 that, to prove its spiritual and unearthly character, 
 is always inclined backwards — in a direction, that is, 
 directly opposite to the wind, however fiercely it may 
 blow at the moment. These , flame demons he has 
 often seen himself. There is also a rhyme to be said 
 by mariners in spindrift season at sea. He had for- 
 gotten it except a few words, and could not therefore 
 repeat it, but he promised to procure it for us from a 
 brother thaumaturgist in a neighbouring district when 
 next they chance to foregather. This man, we beg our 
 readers to understand, is a person of more than 
 average intelligence and shrewdness in the ordinary 
 conduct of life, and yet he spoke as to this matter with 
 a gravity, and an evident reluctance to speak at all, 
 that satisfied us that he was perfectly and seriously in 
 earnest, and really believed his own averments. Can 
 it be possible that under certain electrical conditions 
 of the atmosphere a visible flame is sometimes 
 generated in the dust whirlwinds of March ? If so, 
 one can readily understand how such a superstition 
 should in time gather round a nucleus of fact so 
 remarkable and rare. We may depend upon it, that, 
 interwoven with most superstitions, and more especially 
 with those that are connected, as in this case, with 
 natural phenomena, there is always more or less of
 
 " WIT- WORD" COMBATS. 215 
 
 fact and truth to be detected, if we could only lay oufr 
 hands upon it. 
 
 Last week we spent two or three days very 
 pleasantly in Badenoch amongst a highly intelligent 
 and hospitable people. The only drawback was the 
 intense cold, which, borne on the edge of keen, 
 easterly winds, seemed to pierce one through and 
 through, and that, too, although there was a bright 
 sun overhead, and the lark on quivering wings, at a 
 height that made it seem no larger than a bee, trilled 
 forth his best and blithest lay. There is a great deal in 
 Badenoch that one would like to see, but our time on 
 this particular occasion was fully occupied with matters 
 of too much importance to be neglected in favour of 
 antiquarian or folk-lore research, however interesting 
 and enticing. All that we picked up worth the 
 chronicling in this column was the following : — The 
 reader must understand that in the old time it was a 
 custom in the Highlands — a custom in the remoter 
 midland districts not yet entirely extinct — for the 
 shrewder and more intelligent inhabitants of neigh- 
 bouring districts, and sometimes of neighbouring glens 
 and hamlets, to engage, when they chanced to meet at 
 kirk or market, fair or funeral, in "wit-word" combats, 
 a sort of epigram matical duello, in which the people at 
 large took a lively iuterest, the charge and counter- 
 charge, the attack and repartee, being repeated from 
 district to district, and remembered, if they contained 
 anything particularly good, long after the wit-word 
 combatants themselves were gathered to their fathers. 
 It seems that some generations ago a wit-word war 
 of this kind had long existed between the people of
 
 2 i6 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 Bohuntin, in Brae-Loch aber, and those of Killiechonate 
 and Insh, on the south of the Spean, and so evenly 
 were the wit-wordmongers matched, that it was im- 
 possible to say positively that either party had had 
 the best of it. The victory was finally decided for 
 Bohuntin in this wise. One day there was a meeting 
 of some sort at High Bridge, where all the Brae-Loch- 
 aber people were assembled. In the course of the day 
 the good man of Killiechonate [Fear Chillechonaite) 
 came up to Donald Bane of Bohuntin (Domhnull 
 Ban Bhohuntuin) and launched this wit-word shaft : 
 — " A Dhomhnull Bhdin Bholiuntin tha buttle agam 
 ort " (" Donald Bane of Bohuntin, I have to launch a 
 wit-word shaft at thee !"). " Cuir i mata" (" Launch 
 it, then "), quoth Donald Bane. " 'Sleamsa na h-nile 
 nl athair an fsaoghal " (" Everything that is on the 
 world is mine"), said the good man of Killiechonate. 
 " 'Sleamsa," retorted Donald Bane, " 'sleamsa 'a 
 saoghal fein : Tog thusa do cliuid 's hi 'falbh ! " 
 (" Mine is the world itself. Take up, therefore, your 
 property, and be off with you, bag and baggage ! ") 
 And, by the unanimous vote of the assembly, it was 
 allowed that Donald Bane had the best of it, that the 
 superiority of wit and ready repartee was with 
 Bohuntin ; and there, continued our colloquist, him- 
 self a Bohuntin man, it remains to this day. We 
 picked up this on the top of the Fort- William and 
 Kingussie royal mail coach, — a most useful institution,' 
 by the way, and a great boon to the districts of Lochaber 
 and Badenoch, admirably conducted by the proprietor, 
 Mr. Hugh Macdonald, and driven in excellent style 
 by John Warren, an exceedingly attentive man, and 
 our whilonvneifThbour, honest Donald " Frenchman."
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Splendid Wild-Bird Season — Sea-fowl at Work — Following in the wake of 
 Steamers — Sharpness of Eye. 
 
 Such a splendid wild-bird season this has been ! Hardly 
 a single instance of a deserted nest, of abortive in- 
 cubation or addled eggs, has come under our notice this 
 year. Throughout it has been all our feathered friends 
 could wish, and they, to their credit be it recorded, 
 made the most of it. At this moment the wealth of 
 bird-life everywhere is something wonderful — mavis 
 and merle, chaffinch and greenfinch, and yellow- 
 hammer, linnet, goldfinch, blackcap, and whitethroat, 
 pipit and lark, and tit and bunting, in hundreds upon 
 hundreds, whithersoever, evening or morning, you select 
 to direct your ornithological ramble. Sea-fowl, too, are 
 exceedingly numerous this year ; and nothing can be 
 more graceful and beautiful than the evolutions of a 
 flock of black-backed gulls, greater and lesser, black- 
 heads, kittiwakes, terns, and skuas, at this season, as 
 they gather over a shoal of herring fry that has been 
 hunted to the surface by their invaluable allies, the 
 web -foot divers. The graceful buoyancy of flight 
 and perfect mastery of wing exhibited by gulls, terns, 
 and skuas in such circumstances, is something wonder- 
 ful. They poise and shiver, and dip and dart ; they 
 wheel and glide hither and thither, upwards and down- 
 wards, zig-zag and aslant, in the most beautiful and
 
 2i8 "TW1XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 graceful curves, and all so easily that their most com- 
 plicated evolutions seem to be the merest matter of 
 course, and to be no more a matter of effort or exertion 
 than it is for them to float, lighter than the foam itself, 
 when with folded wings they settle on the waveless 
 surface of the summer sea. The stridulous clang and 
 scream of a single gull, or of two or more gulls when 
 they fall out and quarrel over a stranded fish, or other 
 ejectamentum of the deep, is decidedly harsh and 
 unpleasant to the ear — about as discordant, perhaps, as 
 any notes that bird or beast can utter. It is otherwise, 
 however, when hundreds are collected, keen .and 
 excited, and upon the whole it is to be understood 
 pleased, over the murmur and ripple of a fish shoal 
 " aboil." Then the notes of the different species, as 
 they poise and dart and wheel, become blended into a 
 wild harmony, admirably in keeping with all the 
 surroundings, and musical enough, after a fashion, to 
 be heard not merely with interest, but with pleasure. 
 Before parting with these graceful and beautiful birds, 
 let us draw attention to the marvellous quickness of 
 sight possessed by the sea-gull, a quickness of sight, 
 too, no less remarkable for the immense distances over 
 which it is constantly exercised to good purpose, than 
 for its unerring accuracy and keenness when brought 
 to bear on objects of almost microscopical minuteness. 
 Let the surface of the summer sea — of the Linnhe 
 Loch, suppose — be calm and placid as the deep blue 
 sky that overarches it ; if on a sudden you notice the 
 mirror-like sheet gently darkening with the gurgling 
 ebullition of a fish fry shoal " aboil " (the Highlanders 
 of the West Coast and Hebrides say goil eisg ; bruchd
 
 KEEN-SIGHTED WILD- FOWL. 219 
 
 Sisg air ghoil, a shoal of fish aboil, or aboiling — that 
 is, breaking to the surface as if in play ; in English 
 we use ebullition, a word borrowed from the Latin, 
 and of precisely similar meaning, in the same sense), 
 then, in less than two minutes by the watch in your 
 hand, half a dozen or more gulls have already arrived, 
 and are screaming excitedly, and dipping, and darting, 
 and diving over the shoal, while others with strong 
 and powerful beats are to be seen winging their flight 
 from all directions towards the centre of attraction. 
 And yet. before that shoal broke to the surface aboil, 
 you could safely have sworn that there was not a wing 
 of gull or tern in sight within miles and miles of you. 
 Coming from Fort- William the other evening we had 
 an opportunity of putting the quickness of sight in 
 sea-gulls to a very practical test, for the edification of 
 a companion who was somewhat sceptical as to all we 
 had just been saying on the subject. The steamer 
 was going very fast, in the rapid " race " of a spring- 
 tide ebb, something like twenty miles an hour, and yet 
 a baker's dozen of gulls were following in her wake — 
 following easily and lazily, so to speak, without 
 apparent effort, and with but little beat of wing, 
 circling and wheeling in graceful curves over the boil- 
 ing waters just escaped from the torture of paddles 
 and keel, as they spread in a broad belt of hissing, 
 gurgling foam astern of us. The gulls, we saw, were 
 keenly on the watch for anything worth picking up 
 that might be thrown overboard. Running down into 
 the cabin, we got hold of a small water-biscuit, with 
 which we returned to the quarter-deck, prepared to 
 overwhelm our sceptical friend with proof positive
 
 220 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 and practical, immediate and direct, that there is 
 perhaps no other bird of land or sea so exact, sharp, 
 and keen of sight as the common gull of our own 
 shores. Breaking the biscuit into four parts, the 
 largest of which was less than an inch square, for it 
 was a very small biscuit, we handed one of the frag- 
 ments to our companion, directing him to drop it 
 quietly into the surging, seething waters just abaft the 
 starboard paddle-wheel. The bit of biscuit, be it 
 understood, was of the same colour as the hissing foam 
 into which it was dropped, and by which, slightly 
 submerged, it was of course rapidly carried astern. 
 Once dropped, it is needless to say that it was utterly 
 invisible to our eyes ; we could only at the best guess 
 its whereabouts, and yet, before it had dropped thirty 
 yards astern, a large black-backed gull, though it must 
 have been somewhat incommoded at the moment by 
 the steamer's smoke, in the centre of which it was 
 sailing, detected the flotsam at once, and dipping with 
 headlong dart into the foam, secured it ! It detected 
 and picked up the other bits of biscuit, one by one, as 
 they were dropped into the sea, with equal dexterity, 
 venturing up at last so close to the stern of the 
 steamer, that with its large bright eye it seemed to be 
 keenly watching all our movements. The biscuit dis- 
 posed of, we put our hand into our pocket and taking 
 out some old letters, we tore off the " Queen's head " 
 corner of an envelope, and slipped it overboard, in 
 order to see what Mr. Gull would say to it. The 
 beautiful bird detected the waif at once, and made a 
 dart at it as if to pick it up : but, no ! when within a 
 yard or so of it he became aware that, whatever it
 
 KEEN-SIGHTED WILD-FOWL. 221 
 
 might be, it was nothing in his way, and he glided 
 upwards again in graceful curves to his favourite 
 station on a line with the topmast truck. As a final 
 experiment, we dropped a small chip of wood right 
 over the steamer's bows, over which, the instant it 
 appeared astern, the gull, making a slight stoop, 
 hovered for a moment, but straightway shot upwards 
 and away, clearly showing that it took in at a glance 
 the not unimportant fact to it, that whatever the 
 flotsam might be, it was certainly nothing of which 
 even a hungry gull could make any use, although the 
 race is almost omnivorous, and with the digestion of 
 ostriches.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Puss-Moth Caterpillar — The Astronomy of Buddhist Priests — Galileo — 
 Chinese Encylopsedia in 5020 Volumes ! 
 
 A few days ago there came to us from Alness a small 
 box which contained what there was no difficulty in 
 recognising as the caterpillar of the puss-moth, one of 
 the largest and handsomest of the order, and remark- 
 able for the soft downy fur with which its body is 
 covered, feeling to the touch like the fur of the cat, 
 and hence its common name of puss-moth. It is some- 
 times also called the sphinx or sphinx-moth, because of 
 its caterpillar or larva. When it has ceased feeding, 
 it has a habit of reposing in the attitude of the 
 Egyptian sphinx — erect, and solemn, and grave — an 
 attitude which it manages to assume by firmly grasp- 
 ing the twig on which it may happen to find itself for 
 the moment, with the claspers with which the posterior 
 segments of its body are furnished, thus enabling it to 
 raise the fore part of its body into an almost upright 
 attitude, which is maintained until, under the calls of 
 hunger, it again desires to feed, when it lets itself down 
 again on the twig, and crawls along in usual cater- 
 pillar fashion. The puss-moth caterpillar is usually 
 found on the willow and poplar, though we have also 
 met with it on the cherry and privet. It is by no 
 means an uncommon larva in localities where natural 
 woods abound, and this year has been quite plentiful
 
 THE PUSS-MOTH CATERPILLAR. 223 
 
 in our immediate neighbourhood. Though sometimes 
 prettily coloured, the sphinx larva is of rather formid- 
 able and even repulsive aspect. The head is heavy 
 and bulldog-like, looking as if it could bite hard, if it 
 only could get hold of one. But to the uninitiated its 
 chief terrors would seem to lie in the tail, which is 
 armed, earwig-wise, with a couple of suspicious-looking 
 tentacles or darts, long and pointed, as if they were 
 meant to sting. The creature, however, is perfectly 
 harmless, and can neither bite nor sting ; and wanting 
 the power to do harm, it almost certainly wants the 
 will. The use of the bifurcated caudal appendage 
 seems to be to brush away the ichneumon fly, that is, 
 the deadly enemy of all caterpillars, piercing their 
 bodies with its needle-like ovipositor, and laying an 
 egg which in due time produces a larva after its kind 
 that slowly feeds on the viscera and other internals of 
 its living home, until it shrivels up and dies. The 
 caudal tentacles of the sphinx are, in short, defensive 
 weapons against the attacks of parasites, and are used 
 in brushing these away when they attempt to settle on 
 its body, j ust as a horse uses its tail to whisk away the 
 flies that tickle and torment it. 
 
 The etymology, by the way, of caterpillar — a word 
 used more than once in the foregoing paragraph — is 
 curious. According to Bailey, and he seems to be 
 right, it is a compound term from the old French Chate 
 peluse — the cat-far red worm — applied to all hairy 
 caterpillars, though the reference with us is only found 
 in connection with one species, and that not in its 
 larva, but in its perfect state — pwss-rnoth. We speak 
 of hairy caterpillars, to be sure, but without a thought
 
 224 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 of the cat in the connection ; and we are assuredly 
 right, for the hair of most of our hairy caterpillars is 
 rather in the form of tooth-brush tufts than like the 
 soft, sleek, silken fur of, for example, our favourite 
 tabby " Bella," as she sits on our shoulder crooning low 
 and soft in our ear even as we write these lines. 
 
 An anonymous correspondent, with whose hand- 
 writino; we are familiar, and to whom we have often 
 been indebted for friendly aid in the course of our 
 folk-lore and antiquarian gleanings, sends us a news- 
 paper cutting containing the following bit of news 
 from Japan : — 
 
 " The Buddhist priests in Yokohama recently declared that the 
 sun moves and the earth stands still. Some students ridiculed the 
 assertion, and were attacked by a mob and mortally wounded. 
 Japanese only were concerned in the affair." 
 
 What our correspondent meant us to say about this, 
 for the slip bears his usual nota bene mark for close 
 attention, we are at a loss even to guess. We can only 
 meantime observe that it very naturally reminded us 
 of what occurred at Eome, in the Convent of Minerva, 
 on the 22d June 1633, two hundred and forty-five 
 years ago, when, before the "Most Eminent and Most 
 Reverend Lords Cardinals, General Inquisitors of the 
 Universal Christian Republic against Heretical De- 
 pravity," Galileo Galilei, " son of the late Vincenzo 
 Galilei, of Florence," only escaped a worse fate even 
 than that of the Japanese Copernicans, by publicly re- 
 embracing the errors, knowing that they were errors, 
 which they had ridiculed, and solemnly abjuring the 
 truths for which they suffered. The two propositions 
 of the stability of the sun and the motion of the earth
 
 GALILEO AND THE INQUISITION. 225 
 
 were thus condemned by the " Theological Qualifiers " 
 of the Inquisition — 
 
 " 1. The proposition that the sun is the centre of the world, and 
 immoveable from its place, is absurd, philosophically false, and 
 formally heretical, because it is expressly contrary to the Holy 
 Scriptures. 
 
 " 2. The proposition that the earth is not the centre of the world, 
 nor immoveable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, 
 is also absurd, philosophically false, and, theologically considered, 
 equally erroneous in faith." 
 
 To these propositions Galileo, on his knees before the 
 Holy Inquisition, solemnly assented, abjuring and cur- 
 sing as damnable heresy and error anything and every- 
 thing that disturbed, or had a tendency to disturb, the 
 Ptolemaic system of astronomy as then accepted by 
 the Church and the world at large. It is a sad and 
 sombre picture enough ; humiliating, too, and painful 
 to contemplate, the shadows of it all the darker, in- 
 tensified rather than relieved, by the solitary beam of 
 light that flashes across the gloom when the old man, 
 rising from his knees, stood erect, and, with a stamp of 
 his heel on the ground, was heard to mutter, " E pur 
 se muove/" ("For all this it does move ! ") ; as if he had 
 said, " Notwithstanding my abjuration, the earth has a 
 diurnal motion on its own axis, and an annual motion 
 round the sun. Copernicus is right ; Ptolemy and 
 the Inquisition are wrong ! " Our early friend Sir 
 David Brewster, under whose guidance we first voyaged 
 to the stellar spheres, in his Life of Newton, thus refers 
 to the scene : — 
 
 " At the age of seventy, on his bended knees, and with his right 
 hand resting on the holy evangelists, did this patriarch of science
 
 226 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 avow his present and past belief in the dogmas of the Romish 
 Church, abandon as false and heretical the doctrine of the earth's 
 motion and of the sun's immobility, and pledge himself to denounce 
 to the Inquisition any other person who was ever suspected of 
 heresy. He abjured, cursed, and detested those eternal and im- 
 mutable truths which the Almighty had permitted him to be the 
 first to establish. Had Galileo but added the courage of the martyr 
 to the wisdom of the sage, had he carried the glance of his indig- 
 nant eye round the circle of his judges, had he lifted his hands to 
 heaven and called the living God to witness the truth and immuta- 
 bility of his opinions, the bigotry of his enemies would have been 
 disarmed, and science would have enjoyed a memorable triumph." 
 
 No fear, let our correspondent rest assured, but that 
 matters will come right — slowly, perhaps, but surely — 
 in Japan, as in the fullness of time they came right in 
 the western world. The truth is great, and. must pre- 
 vail in the end. 
 
 From Japan to China is but a leap ; and as a sort of 
 counterpoise to the Ptolemaic-Copernican tragedy at 
 Yokohama, here is a bit of very extraordinary and 
 curious news about China and the Chinese. Lately there 
 reached London for the British Museum a copy of 
 what may be called the encylopsedia of Chinese 
 literature, from 1100 B.C. down to 1700 a.tx, in 5020 
 volumes ! — certainly and far and away the most volu- 
 minous work the world has ever seen, or is likely ever to 
 see. It is supposed to contain, as well it may, every- 
 thing of any consequence in Chinese literature for 
 2800 years, and an extraordinary omnium gatherum of 
 celestial wit and wisdom it must be. Even if one 
 knew the language thoroughly, what a task it were to 
 wade and flounder through this prodigious dead sea of 
 Eastern literature, for all the pearls and coral it can 
 possibly contain ! The work, it seems, is one of only a
 
 A GIGANTIC ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 227 
 
 hundred copies printed, and was obtained and in a 
 manner smuggled out of the Celestial empire only at 
 great trouble and not a little danger by Mr. Mayer, 
 Secretary of Legation at Pekin. It reaches the British 
 Museum at a cost of some £1500, by no means a large 
 sum for a work of such unparalleled magnitude and 
 vast importance. A literary friend in London, who 
 mentions the subject in a recent communication, asks, 
 " How, my dear fellow, would you like, supposing you 
 knew the language, to read — honestly and studiously, 
 mind — these 5020 volumes ? " We reply we shouldn't 
 like it at all ! "Naviget A nticyram" would soon be the 
 cry of our best friends. We should probably be mad 
 as a March hare, and fit only to be consigned to the 
 care of our friend Dr. Arthur Mitchell, long ere we had 
 voyaged half-way across so difficult and dark a sea !
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 The Pearl Mussel in Highland Rivers and Streams — Story of a Pearl belonging 
 to Stewart of Appin — Byssus of Mya Margaritifera a Specific in Affec- 
 tions of the Eye — Pearls in the Common Mussel — Mussel sometimes 
 poisonous. 
 
 While at Banavie the other day we were shown some 
 very pretty, pea-size, pinkish pearls, the nacreous 
 secretions of the fresh-water pearl-bearing mussel of 
 our Scottish streams, the Mytilus aquarias or Mya 
 margaritifera of conchologists. The mussels in 
 which these pearls were found were taken out of some 
 of the semi-stagnant pools in the upper waters of the 
 Tay and its tributaries, which, owing to the dryness 
 of the season, yielded to the mussel fisher a readier 
 and richer harvest during the summer of 1878 than 
 for many years past. The two finest pearls in the 
 collection were of a slightly oval form, and of a delicate, 
 slightly striated, pink hue. A third, equally large, 
 would have been quite as valuable but for a slight 
 depression in the bulge of one side, which somewhat 
 marred its symmetry. The fresh- water Margaritifera 
 is a much more common bivalve than is generally 
 supposed, for by diligent search it is to be found in 
 many of our Highland rivers and streams, in which its 
 existence has perhaps never been suspected. We were 
 once shown here at our own door a small collection of 
 very pretty pearls found in mussels picked up in one
 
 THE PEARL MUSSEL. 229 
 
 Or more of the Moor of Rannoch streams. The late 
 Mr. Maclean of Ardgour once sent us three large 
 mussels that were taken out of the Sanda on his pro- 
 perty, which, however, on being opened and carefully 
 examined, contained no pearls. Nor, though slightly 
 disappointing, was this surprising, for it is not to be 
 supposed that a pearl is to be found in every mussel, 
 one in three or four being considered a fair average 
 even for the best localities. The largest and finest 
 Scottish pearl we ever saw was worn as a pendant by 
 an attachment of golden wire to a very fine old silver 
 fibula or brooch of exquisite workmanship, at one 
 time an heirloom in the family of Stewart of Appin. 
 There was a curious tradition connected with this 
 pearl, — that it was found in the stomach of a huge 
 salmon, killed with the leister on the River Awe, in the 
 reign of one of the Scottish Jameses, and that the king 
 himself was present when the fish was struck and 
 landed. There is, of course, nothing really impossible 
 in such a story, though the probability is that the 
 pearl was in truth taken out of a margaritiferous mussel 
 found in a pool of the Awe, or in one or other of the 
 many streams that fall into the loch of that name. The 
 bijssus or silken beard of the Margaritifera, by which 
 it anchored itself to rock, gravel, or stone in its native 
 stream, was at one time in great request in the High- 
 lands as a specific in affections of the eye. Properly 
 dried, it became a soft and silken tuft, which, if 
 gently rubbed over the eyelids, cured them of inflam- 
 mation and sty. Toasted before the fire until brittle, 
 and ground into a fine powder, a small pinch of it 
 blown by the operator's breath into the eyes was a
 
 230 'TW1XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE.. 
 
 certain cure in all forms of ophthalmia. The burnt 
 and pounded shell of the Mya itself was, according to 
 one of our authorities, given in milk as a cure for colic ; 
 according to another authority, it was rather given as 
 a cure for heart-burn and glas-shile, a sort of painful 
 gastric salivation, an ailment fortunately less common 
 now-a-days than formerly. It is perhaps not generally 
 known that pearls are frequently to be found in the 
 common mussel of our shores — the Mytilus edulis — 
 more rarely, however, in the larger kinds sometimes 
 eaten — hence the specific edulis in its scientific name 
 — than in the smaller variety generally found on stony 
 beaches where a streamlet falls into the sea. These 
 small pearl-bearing mussels are not uncommon along 
 our Nether Lochaber shores. We have often collected 
 dozens of these pearls in a single season ; but, unfortun- 
 ately, they are so small as to be of little, if of any 
 value — mere " seedlings," bearing about the same pro- 
 portion as to size to the larger and really valuable Mya 
 pearl that " sparrow-hail " shot, in the language of 
 sportsmen, bears to " buck " or " swan " shot. The 
 common mussel, though styled edulis or the eatable, 
 is at certain seasons more or less poisonous, whether 
 owing to certain circumstances of locality, or to a certain 
 peculiarity of constitution in the eater, is not easily 
 determined. The smaller variety, the pearl-bearing 
 musselet just mentioned, which, in default of a distinc- 
 tive scientific name, we may venture to style the 
 Mytilus margaritifera minor, may be eaten by every- 
 body with perfect safety, perhaps because it is chiefly 
 found on stony beaches constantly washed by the 
 limped waters of mountain streams.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Weather Rrognosticators sometimes " out in their reckoning " — Magnificent 
 Double Rainbow over Glencoe — Cats — A One-Eared Cat a Treasure — 
 How it came about — Rival Rhymes — Cat's Whiskers. 
 
 It will readily be admitted that navigation is an 
 exacter science than meteorology, and yet we all know 
 that even the best of seamen may at times be " out in 
 his reckoning ;" otherwise that very expressive phrase 
 of such constant and happy application in the conduct 
 of every-day life had never been received into the 
 currency of our familiar phraseology. And if a navi- 
 gator may sometimes be out in his reckoning, much 
 more, afortiore, may the meteorologist, whose science, 
 as a science, is but yet in its infancy, and who, still 
 enveloped in the Newfoundland fogs of uncertainty 
 and haphazard conjecture, can meantime only grope 
 his way as best he can in the direction of opener 
 waters and clearer skies. Therefore it is that, for our 
 own part, when at any time we make a weather fore- 
 cast that is not duly verified by the event, we have 
 no difficulty at all in frankly admitting that we were 
 in error — that, by any number of degrees you please, 
 we were "out in our reckoning." In our last paper 
 we ventured, very guardedly it is true, but still we 
 did venture, to predict fine weather for the greater 
 part of October and up to the middle of November, 
 and it is only honest now to confess that, instead of
 
 232 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 fine weather, we have had it, up to this date at least, 
 very much the reverse — >wet and slush, and the fretful 
 sputterings of veering winds, never long enough in any 
 one quarter to enable them to blow an honest, down- 
 right gale. And yet, had the weather turned out all 
 we ventured to predict, we could not have seen what 
 we saw the other evening — a sig;ht, the magnificence 
 and splendour of which must haunt us till our dying 
 day. It was a double rainbow, both perfect arches of 
 glory, of the vividest and most brilliant colouring, 
 spanning the dark gorge of Glencoe ! It was about 
 five o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun being then 
 on the horizon, the rainbow arches were as nearly as 
 possible perfect semicircles, spanning the entrance to 
 the glen, with their northern limbs resting (from our 
 particular standpoint) on a field near Invercoe House, 
 and their southern limbs in the garden plots of the 
 hamlet of Carnach. We happened to be crossing the 
 ferry of Ballachulish at the time, and even the ferry- 
 men rested on their oars for a moment to admire a 
 spectacle such as neither they nor we had ever before 
 seen anything of the kind to equal in brilliancy and 
 beauty. Under the bright and glorious arches the 
 gorge of Glencoe itself was one ink-black sea of surg- 
 ing cloud and rain, while from the rapid shiftings of 
 the cloud masses higher up it was evident that a 
 mighty storm was at the moment raging along the 
 summits. A third, or " supernumerary " bow, as they 
 are termed, was for a short time visible in the interior 
 of or within the " primary " arch, a phenomenon of 
 extremely rare occurrence, and never seen except 
 when, as in this case, the primary and secondary bows
 
 ONE-EARED CATS. 233 
 
 are of exceeding vividness and brilliancy of colouring. 
 Coleridge, or somebody else, has said, and very finely 
 said, that "the savage is a poet when he paints his 
 idol with blood ; the countryman returning from the 
 labours of the field, when he stands to gaze on the 
 rainbow ; " and if this be true, all the people about the 
 ferry of Ballachulish during a particular quarter of an 
 hour that evening were poets for the nonce, even if 
 they knew it not. Neither in poetry nor in prose that 
 we know of is there any reference to the rainbow 
 equal to the beautiful words of the author of JEcclesias- 
 ticus, or the Book of Wisdom, the sage and eloquent 
 Son of Sirach: — " Look upon the rainbow, and praise 
 Him that made it ; very beautiful it is in the bright- 
 ness thereof. It compasseth the heaven about with a 
 glorious circle, and the hands of the Most High have 
 bended it." 
 
 In our last paper we had something to say about 
 rats, and here is something which may not be unin- 
 teresting to our readers about cats, the antipodes and 
 born antagonists of the marauding; rodent. The other 
 day, while Bailie John Cameron of Fort- William was 
 sitting with us in our study, our favourite cat " Bella" 
 leapt with a friendly purr upon his knee, and meeting 
 with the desired recognition in the shape of a word of 
 kindness and some soft stroking, not against the grain 
 — remembering the homely adage and the motto of 
 the great Clan Chattan, there might be some danger 
 in that, even with " Bella " — but with the fur ; and 
 " Bella " was soon stretched at length on the Bailie's 
 knee, with half-shut eyes, contentedly crooning her 
 siestal song. Pleased with the friendliness of the cat,
 
 234 % TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 and admiring the glossy sleekness of her fur, Mr. 
 Cameron observed that he supposed she was not much 
 of a thief; that she did not at least meddle much 
 with the milk and cream, seeing that her ears were 
 evidently of the normal length, intact and uncurtailed. 
 Like a long-forgotten dream it instantly dawned upon 
 us that there was some connection between cats' ears 
 and cream, though what that connection was we could 
 not at the moment remember, and we begged the 
 Bailie — to whom we acknowledge our indebtedness for 
 much curious folk-lore — to explain. All cats, Mr. 
 Cameron observed, are fond of milk, but, like their 
 betters, fonder still of cream, when they can get it, 
 and a cat that has fairly gone in for cream will manage 
 to get at it, do what you will to prevent him. In 
 utter neglect of mice and rats, and such " small deer," 
 its legitimate and proper game, a real cream-loving 
 cat will sit and watch and wait about the milk-house 
 door and window for a wdiole day and night, if 
 necessary, until sooner or later his chance comes, and 
 he slips in like a shadow to regale himself with " a 
 deep, deep draught " of something more delicious to his 
 taste than the best Rhine wine ; and how heartily he 
 has fared may be detected by the observant eye in his 
 protuberance of bulge and somnolent tendencies in 
 " rest and be thankful " attitudes for hours thereafter. 
 When cats take to these disreputable courses, two evils 
 are inevitable — mice and rats superabound, and butter 
 becomes a scarcer commodity than it need otherwise 
 be, and of inferior quality what there is of it. The 
 easiest and most effectual way to put a stop to such 
 feline depredations would, of course, be to kill the
 
 ONE-EARED CATS. 235 
 
 cats, and have done with them ; but the old saw holds 
 good in the case of a cat as of a dog, that the very 
 worst use you can put him to is " to hang him." 
 Long, long ago, then, in the Highlands, the problem to 
 be solved was how a cream-stealing cat was to be 
 turned from its evil ways without actually killing him, 
 or so maiming him as to render him worthless in his 
 legitimate feline pursuits. From sad experience they 
 were aware that hardly anything short of this would 
 do, and yet they were loath on many considerations 
 to proceed to extremities if in anywise it could be 
 avoided. They had a proverb in which was neatly 
 rolled up, as within a cigarette, much sound philosophy, 
 a proverb by which they were largely guided in their 
 dealings with criminals of all sorts, and equally ap- 
 plicable to quadrupeds as to bipeds, and the proverb 
 was this — 'Sfe&irde brdth a breacadh gun a brisdeadh. 
 Literally, a quern (hand meal-mill) stone is the better 
 of being pitted and indented (with many blows of a 
 hammer), so that you do not break it. The proverb is 
 an old one, of a date long before the age of water- 
 driven grinding mills, and when hand querns were in 
 common e very-day use over all the Highlands. The 
 meaning is that a criminal or evil-doer of any sort was 
 to be punished with all necessary severity where the 
 case required it ; the end always in view, however, 
 was to be the reformation of the culprit, not his utter 
 ruin from over-severity of bodily punishment, and 
 least of all his death. The question, then, was how a 
 cat, in this case a convicted cream -stealer, was to be 
 deterred from evil, and if possible reformed, without 
 putting him to death, and with as little interference as
 
 236 TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 possible with his acknowledged usefulness as a rat and 
 mouse hunter ? After, we may be sure, much thought- 
 ful study and experimenting, the plan finally hit upon 
 as at once the most efficacious, deterrent, and least 
 harmful to the culprit himself, was to cut off his left 
 ear as close to the roots as it could be cropped. A 
 cat once so treated never had the courage to look a 
 dish of cream in the face again, while as a mouse-killer 
 he was, wonderful to relate, vastly sharpened and im- 
 proved by the operation. Thenceforward a one-eared 
 cat about a house was indeed a treasure. He never 
 under any circumstances would touch cream ; in the 
 language of the East, " his heart was hardened " 
 against it ; nor dare a rat or mouse peep out of its 
 hole where a cat that had undergone the aural opera- 
 tion was on the premises. But how was the dis- 
 covery made 1 Who first tried or suggested the lop- 
 ping off of a cat's left ear as likely to cure him of 
 cream-stealing ? Know, then, good reader, that, like 
 many other great and wonderful discoveries and in- 
 ventions, this also was due to the merest accident. 
 The tradition is, that on a Sunday morning in the 
 long ago ante-Reformation times, a stalwart Highlander 
 was left in charge of a shieling, with all its treasure of 
 milk and cream, and butter and cheese, while the 
 females of the establishment went to confession at the 
 chapel several miles adown the glen. The Highlander, 
 whose name, according to the tradition, was Beathean, 
 anciently a Christian name, but now a surname under 
 the form of Bethune, Beaton, Mac- Fecm, &c, was 
 strictly enjoined by the women folks to keep a sharp 
 eye on everything, and more particularly on the cats
 
 ONE-EARED CATS. 237 
 
 and cream dishes, the churning of the week promising 
 to be excellent, if only these two could be kept sepa- 
 rate until the churning day came round. For some 
 time after the departure of the females Beathean was 
 a most wary sentinel, keeping watch and ward, and 
 going his rounds with the most praiseworthy vigilance. 
 For a moment only did he sit down to rest him on the 
 turf seat close by the shieling door ; but in that moment 
 one of the cats, the biggest and blackest of the lot, and 
 an inveterate thief, slipped past him unseen, while 
 Beathean, with his eyes directed to the heavens, was 
 mentally forecasting the likely weather for the morrow. 
 On his next round he thought it well to peep through 
 the milk-closet window, and there, to his horror and 
 shame, was the black cat sitting by the best of all the 
 cream dishes, and up to the whiskers in the delicious 
 fluid ! Beathen was wroth, as was no wonder. He 
 then and there drew his dirk, in a rage, and through 
 the open window hurled it at the whiskered delinquent, 
 intending, in the words of Burns, to " spit him like a 
 pliver." The aim, however, was too hurried to be 
 exactly true. The keen-edged weapon shore off the 
 cat's left ear, but the animal was otherwise uninjured. 
 With a spit and a hiss, that appalled even Beathean, 
 the cat flew past him through the open window, as if 
 on win os, but Beathean could show that cat's left ear 
 as a trophy of his valour and a proof of his vigilance, 
 and was content. When his wounds got healed, the 
 cat went about the place as usual, but it was noticed 
 that he never on any account would go near the milk- 
 closet, never meddled with cream even when he could 
 get at it easily, and even refused to taste it when it 
 was offered him ex gratia. It came thus to be known
 
 238 'TJVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 that cats could be cured of cream-stealing by simply 
 depriving them of their left ears ; and it was long the 
 custom so to treat cream-stealing cats all over the 
 Highlands, a custom not quite unknown even at the 
 present day. Mr. Cameron remembers seeing one- 
 eared cats in Ardnamurchan in his younger days, and 
 these were unquestionably mutilated in the interests 
 of the cream dish. In Lochaber, too, we find on 
 inquiry that, within the recollection of many people 
 who are as yet but on the borderland of their grand 
 climacteric, two, or three, or more one-eared cats 
 might be found in every hamlet. Mr. Cameron 
 quoted a rhyme, with which many of our readers must 
 be familiar, in which the custom is very pointedly 
 referred to. In the olden days the bards of different 
 clans and different districts frequently exercised their 
 wit in chaffing and satirising each other, and many of 
 the " wit-word " rhymes of such contests are still 
 repeated as Parthian shafts with which to wound an 
 antagonist in argument when more legitimate weapons 
 fail. A Lochaber bard, who had some real or fancied 
 grievance against the people of Uist, once attacked 
 them in a pungent satire, of which the following stanza 
 survives : — 
 
 " Ged 'bhitbinn cbo sean ris a charraig, 
 'S m'aodan air preasadh le aois, 
 Cba pbbsairm bean 6g a Uist, 
 Cba toir mo chridhe dbi gaol." 
 
 To which the Uist bard replied as follows : — 
 
 " A rabic a bhodaicbain cbabaicb, 
 O bhun Locbabar nan craobh. 
 Cleas a chait a dli-bl an Vuachdar ; 
 Bheirinn dhiot a chluas on mhaoil."
 
 RIVAL RHYMES. 239 
 
 The point and sting of these epigrammatic rhymes are 
 apt to be lost in a translation, but the following 
 is about as good an English version as we can 
 supply :— 
 
 The Lochaber bard loq. : — 
 
 u Though I -were old and grey as is the lichened rock, 
 With many years ray face all furrow'd o'er, 
 An Uist maid tor wife I'd shun and mock — 
 I could not love a maid from that dull shore." 
 
 Uist bard responds : — 
 
 " Of worthless, toothless father, worthless son ! 
 Spawn of Lochaher's dismal woods and meres. 
 Silence ! or, as to lewd, cream-stealing cats is done. 
 Close by the roots Til crop off thy long ears ! " 
 
 The Lochaber bard having been the aggressor, and his 
 attack on the females of Uist being deemed as un- 
 gallant as it was gratuitous, we have noticed that when 
 at any time the above rhymes are repeated, it is on 
 the understanding that the Uist bard has by much the 
 best of it, the threat to cut off one's ears being con- 
 sidered the most galling insult that can be offered to 
 an opponent. 
 
 The other day an old woman, whom we were 
 questioning on the subject of cats, gave us another 
 curious bit of popular lore regarding them. It has 
 long been known, she assured us, that if you cut off 
 the whiskers of a cat, he will, ipso facto, be utterly 
 spoiled as a mouce-hunter until they grow to their 
 proper length again ; and even then, a cat with a 
 second growth of whiskers is never so good a mouser 
 as he was with his original moustache. She recol-
 
 240 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 lected that long ago, when two persons quarrelled in 
 a hamlet, it was not an uncommon thing for one of 
 the parties to cut off his neighbour's cat's whiskers, 
 with the view of ruining him as a mouse-hunter. A 
 spiteful and shabby thing to do, she confessed, but 
 it was occasionally done, and she promised to try 
 and remember an old song in which the thing was 
 referred to.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Meteorological Observatory to be erected on Ben Nevis — Electric Discharges 
 on top — Curious Story. 
 
 What Mont Blanc is to the Continent of Europe, Ben 
 Nevis is to Great Britain — its loftiest and lordliest 
 mountain. It is true that Ben Macdhui for a time, 
 erecting itself as it were a-tiptoe in the eagerness of its 
 rivalry, disputed pre-eminence of altitude with our own 
 grand old Ben, but the last Ordnance Survey knocked 
 the Aberdeenshire mountain's pretensions finally and 
 for ever on the head, and, on the strictest scientific 
 calculations, declared Ben Nevis to be, facile princeps, 
 the lord and king of British mountains ; not merely 
 p>rimus inter paves, observe, like a moderator of a 
 synod or assembly of the kirk, but primus altissimus 
 literally and absolutely ; fully, besides, and curiously 
 enough corroborating the correctness of the local 
 traditions that, by a sort of infallible instinct, not 
 uncommon in such matters, had without question or 
 doubt so regarded it for many ages. We may now, 
 then, adopt as applicable to our own burly Ben the 
 chant of the Spirit in Manfred : — 
 
 " Ben Nevis is monarch of mountains : 
 They crown'd him long ago 
 On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds, 
 With a diadem of snow." 
 
 Now, on the top of this the highest of British moun- 
 
 Q
 
 242 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 tains, we are to have a meteorological observatory, 
 and that a set of meteorological instruments at such 
 an altitude from year's end to year's end will, after a 
 while, tell us many an interesting and curious story of 
 weather shif tings and changings is unquestionable ; 
 but who is to be resident keeper of the instruments 1 
 quis custodiet ipsos custodes f He must, in a very 
 literal sense indeed, be up to his work. He must be 
 sound in lungs and limbs, and all the rest of it, and 
 even when, after careful selection, you have got him 
 up there, it is not of every one, mind you, that it can 
 with confidence be said that he is the right man in the 
 right place. Let us suppose, however, that after 
 some little seeking the right man is got, with the mens 
 sana (et meteorologica) in corpore sano, we have still 
 one little hint to offer to the patrons of the exalted 
 undertaking before they send their man to do battle at 
 such an altitude with the demons of fog, and frost, 
 and cloud, and rain, and snow, and storm, and 
 solitude. And the hint that we would venture to offer 
 is this — they shall insist upon it that the observer, 
 for his own personal comfort, and in view of certain 
 not improbable eventualities, shall, before his ascent, 
 have his hair cropped, as closely cropped, please, as 
 scissors can crop it, and be clean shaved, without a 
 vestige of moustache or beard on lip, or cheek, or chin 
 — all hirsute and capillary appendages, in short, 
 however ornamental at the sea level, are to be 
 eschewed as highly inconvenient and de trop on a 
 mountain summit of such altitude as Ben Nevis. 
 
 What do you mean \ the reader will very naturally 
 ask, and in order to make ourselves fully understood
 
 ELECTRICAL DISCHARGES ON BEN NEVIS. 243 
 
 in the matter, we must beg to be allowed to briefly 
 summarise a story which will be found told at length, 
 and very admirably told, in a letter to Sir David 
 Brewster, published in the third volume of the 
 Edinburgh Journal of Science. Know, then, good 
 readers, that some forty-five or fifty years ago the late 
 Rev. Dr. Macvicar of Moffat, a gentleman of many 
 and varied accomplishments, as well as a sound and 
 popular preacher, while yet a young man, and 
 accompanied by Sir Walter Trevelyan, who still 
 survives, and some other friends, made an ascent of 
 Ben Nevis. It was on a hot and somewhat hazy day 
 in June, about the worst month in the year, let us 
 observe par parenthese, for the ascent of any Scottish 
 mountain. About mid-day, and only a little while 
 •after they had got to the top, a snow-shower from the 
 south-west swept angrily over the mountain. While 
 this shower lasted a singular noise was heard on ail 
 sides, a sort of hissing and crackling such as proceeds 
 from a point on an excited prime conductor or a 
 strongly charged Leyden jar. This hissing and crack- 
 ling in all directions continued for upwards of an 
 hour and a half, and clearly indicated the emission of 
 pencils of electric light, which very probably would 
 have been visible to the eye had the day been only a 
 little cloudier and darker than it was. The electric 
 discharge was noticed on an umbrella belonging to 
 one of the party, as well as on almost all the sharp- 
 pointed rocks around. Sir Walter Trevelyan, who 
 seems to have lagged behind in the ascent, happened 
 to reach the summit just as the electric phenomena 
 were most pronounced. He was carrying his hat in
 
 244 'TJVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 his hand at the moment, and his companions were not 
 a little astonished to see his hair and beard standing 
 stiff and erect on end — an additional evidence, if 
 additional evidence were needed, of the activity of 
 the electric emission. Standing round the cairn, the 
 other gentlemen of the party also uncovered, and the 
 beautiful phenomena of electric attraction and repul- 
 sion were at once perceived on their hair and beards as 
 well as on Trevelyan's. The hissing noise indicated 
 that the electric fluid was positive, and was streaming 
 from the mountain in pencil-jets characteristic of that 
 state. 
 
 Now let the reader imagine, as best he can, the 
 unenviable condition of a poor man subjected for 
 weeks and months to the active electric currents that 
 in some form or other are probably in everlasting play 
 about the summit of our monarch Ben. If a long- 
 haired and full-bearded man, just fancy what his 
 appearance must be when the electric jets are at their 
 liveliest. He is a married man, let us suppose, and 
 on some fine day his wife ascends to pay him a visit 
 at his giddy observatory. Hearing her voice outside 
 his hut of solid and Cyclopean architecture — and solid 
 and Cyclopean it must needs be if it is to stand at all 
 — he rushes forth to meet her, and as in his ardour he 
 advances to embrace her, she stares in horror and 
 aghast at the aspect of a man more like a raving 
 maniac just escaped from tlie tortures of some cruel 
 asylum than the sane and sedate husband of their 
 sea-level home. 
 
 Of his whilom petted and well-kempt locks that 
 were wont to carry their " shed " so evenly and to lie
 
 ELECTRIC A L DISCHARGES ON BEN NE VIS. 2 4 5 
 
 so smoothly, lo ! each particular hair now stands stiff 
 on end, "like quills upon the fretful porcupine," 
 while of his moustache and beard, once so glossy and 
 flowing, and of which, in happier if less exalted days, 
 both were wont to be so proud, each separate hair 
 stands out stiff and strong, and sharp of point, as was 
 the bristle on the back of the Caledonian boar that, as 
 he measured its length from tail to snout with naked 
 foot, wounded the great Fingalian Diarmaid to the 
 death. As he still advances, and bends his head in 
 order to salute her, she screams in terror, as well she 
 may, for there is about his head and face a crackling 
 and kissing as of thorns aburning, with now and 
 again a shower of sparks and miniature jets of vivid 
 fire, such as leap from the glowing bar that the smith, 
 with brawny arm and heavy hammer, beats upon his 
 anvil ! He would, nevertheless, probably still en- 
 deavour to clasp the wife of his bosom in his arms, 
 despite her terror and screams ; but suddenly he halts, 
 stammering and staggering in utter amazement, for 
 the electric currents have by this time found their 
 way into her as well as into him, and there she stands 
 before him a living Lej^den jar, surcharged with the 
 subtle fluid, until at all points she is neither more nor 
 less than a hissing, crackling, spark-emitting electric 
 machine ! Her hair, too, erst so sleek and silken, now 
 stands up stiff and erect as a tuft of heather, while 
 her jaunty little hat, with its ostrich-plume adorn- 
 ment, trembles atop a full yard above the head it 
 was meant — partially at least — to cover ! The dis- 
 tracted husband but no ! let us drop the curtain, a 
 
 curtain of Lochaber mist, on a scene which may be
 
 246 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 imagined without much mental effort, but which no 
 pen can adequately describe. Of this, one thing, 
 however, you may be sure enough — before that loving 
 pair can embrace in anything like comfort, they must 
 descend half-way down the mountain, so as to be 
 somewhat out of the way of the direct action of the 
 electric currents. 
 
 But expunging so heart-rending a picture (there is 
 at present a protest against what is called " dismal " 
 art — a protest in which we heartily join) from the 
 mental retina, let us suppose that the Ben Nevis top 
 meteorological observer is not a married man at all, 
 but a full-bearded bachelor, ambitious of scientific 
 honours and ennuye with the humdrum convention- 
 alities of sea-level life. Your observer then is, we 
 shall suppose, a bachelor, and, if a bachelor, the 
 chances are any number of hundreds to one that he 
 has left behind him, for the present, on a lower level, 
 some one whom he delights to think of, even on that 
 sterile mountain top, as his " little bunch of roses," 
 and who, in her turn, ceases not day nor night to 
 think with fond and affectionate regard of her lover 
 up there in his cloudy altitudes, chained, so to speak, 
 to the rocky summit of Britain's highest mountain by 
 his devotion to science, like Prometheus on Caucasus, 
 with, however, not a love-sent vulture gnawing at his 
 liver, but rather a Venus-commissioned dove, emblem 
 of love ! gently pecking at — tickling rather than 
 really hurting — a far more interesting organ, his 
 heart. Can anything be more certain than that in 
 such a case his ladye-love, or some complaisant 
 matron in her behalf, gets up a picnic party of half-a-
 
 ELECTRICAL DISCHARGES ON BEN NEVIS. 247 
 
 dozen of their mutually most intimate and particular 
 friends to visit the interesting hermit in his lonely 
 solitude ? Some fine morning shouts of merry laughter, 
 sweet and. musical as the chime of silver bells, startle 
 the hermit as, resting on his left knee, he is in the 
 act of blowing the fire in order to get his morning 
 pannikin of coffee aboil. His heart responds to the 
 silveriest chord in that laughter peal with a bound ; 
 he throws the Laodicean pannikin into the dark 
 shadow of one of the foundation boulders of his hut ; 
 he rushes forth to receive his visitors, and as these 
 gather in an admiring circle round him, the echoes of 
 that mountain altitude, that never before responded 
 to anything cheerier than the scream of the eagle, are 
 now startled into glad reverberation of the clapping of 
 a dozen lily hands, and the silvery laughter of half-a- 
 dozen of the prettiest girls in Lochaber, now prettier 
 than ever with their cheeks aglow with their morning 
 climb, and their own Ben Nevis for a pedestal ! After 
 a while some of the party scatter among the boulders 
 to collect rare lichens, or such other curiosities as 
 may fall in their way ; others make bold enough 
 to enter the hut to have a look at the display of 
 Negretti and Zambra's instruments, ranged along the 
 walls ; while in a few minutes, and by the merest 
 accident, of course, the observer finds himself close by 
 the side of one young lady of the party, " themselves, 
 by themselves two," as the Spaniards phrase it, and 
 separated from the rest by the whole height and 
 breadth of the cairn. Meantime, however, unknown 
 to them all and unthought of, mons parturiit, the 
 mountain is in labour, and the birth is neither a
 
 248 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 "ridiculous mouse " on the one hand, nor a volcanic 
 eruption on the other, but an active discharge of 
 streams and pencil jets of positive electricity, and as 
 the faces of the pair behind the cairn approach each 
 other by an attraction not electrical, there is, ere their 
 lips have met, a crack as of an exploded percussion 
 cap, and from the tip of the observer's nose right into 
 the tip of the same organ (of delicate and Grecian 
 outline) on the face of his companion, there darts with 
 a hiss and a crackling a vivid spark of fire that 
 makes the young lady draw back her head with a 
 little scream and a shudder as if she had been shot. 
 With a terrified glance at her lover, whose hair and 
 
 beard But halte Id ! and again no ! we cannot 
 
 finish this picture any more than the other. The 
 imaginative reader, giving free play to his fancy, must 
 finish it for himself.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Comfortable condition of the People at Term-time — The old Quern Hand- 
 mill or Bralh — The Cnotag or Edmachan, the Knockin'-Stane or Pot- 
 Barley Preparer — Knockin'-Stane Stick and Sword Combat. 
 
 Although November, up to this date, lias been 
 abundantly cold. and. stormy, with frequent snow 
 showers on the mountains and over the moorland 
 wilds, it has' been fairly bright and dry along the sea- 
 board. ; the winds having been mainly from the east, a 
 quarter whence at this season of the year we may 
 safely enough look for storm and cold and snow, but 
 which as a rule does not give us that wintry rain 
 which, in the form of sleet and slush, makes every- 
 thing so disagreeable, and which rarely fails to bring 
 influenza, " colds " in every form, and catarrh — that 
 last, by the way, good reader, being to our thinking 
 the very ugliest word to look at that can be printed, 
 as what it means is one of the most trying ailments, 
 short of mortal disease, that a human being can suffer 
 under. Under meteorological conditions, which must 
 be set clown as exceedingly favourable, when com- 
 pared with the state of matters elsewhere over the 
 kingdom, people have been able to wind up their 
 harvest operations satisfactorily enough ; and for the 
 winter, come as it may, it is pleasant to know that 
 everybody is fairly well prepared ; for, adverse, and 
 even hopeless at times, as was the state of matters
 
 250 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 during the season of growth, things turned out latterly 
 so much better than was expected, that the land in 
 due time largely yielded her increase, and now, thank 
 God, instead of anything like dearth, there is abun- 
 dance. Matters assumed a still brighter aspect when it 
 was found that at Fort-William market on Wednesday 
 last the price of all kinds of cattle, instead of being 
 largely " down," as was expected, was on the contrary 
 high and well sustained throughout. With abundant 
 and well secured crops, therefore, followed by good 
 local markets, our people are about as well off this 
 year as ever we knew them. They will pay their 
 rents not only without complaint or murmur, but 
 with the greatest good humour and cheerfulness, 
 having wherewithal besides to pay their honest debts 
 otherwise, and to pass the winter in comparative 
 comfort and ease, grateful to a beneficent Providence 
 the while, like the sensible and pious people they un- 
 questionably are. 
 
 We are old enough to remember ha vino; seen the 
 old and venerable quern or hand-mill — the Gaelic 
 Brctth — in actual use on more than one occasion in 
 our early boyhood. This was in Morven upwards of 
 forty long years ago. Very many of our readers con- 
 nected with the Hebrides, and with those districts of 
 the mainland remotest from direct communication 
 with the south, must perfectly recollect seeing the 
 same little machine in daily use for the supply of that 
 famous graddaned meal, which was so sweet to the 
 taste, and on a plentiful allowance of which, in various 
 forms, was reared a peasantry remarkable for their 
 symmetry and strength, and not less remarkable for
 
 THE OLD QUERN OR HAND-MILL. 251 
 
 a state of robust health that seldom knew any serious 
 ailment even into the decrepitude of extreme old age. 
 It was only when meal-mills driven by water-power 
 became sufficiently numerous over the country, with 
 their " thirlage," their " multures," and their " sequels," 
 firmly secured to them under order of the lairds and 
 others in authority, that the quern fell first into dis- 
 repute, and quickly into total disuse, partly because, 
 under the mill and thirlage " customs," its use became 
 in a manner illegal, but mainly because the graddan 
 quern meal, although abundantly palatable and sweet 
 to the taste, was nevertheless both darker in colour 
 and coarser in grain than was the produce from the 
 self-same corn as turned out by the water-mill, with 
 its greater power and more complicated machinery. 
 Quern stones only survive in our days as objects of 
 some antiquarian interest, and just rare enough to be 
 worth a few shillings in the archaeological market. 
 AVe have recently had brought under our notice a 
 very handsome specimen of an implement of allied use 
 with the quern in the shape of a knockin'-stane, as it 
 was called in the south and east of Scotland — the 
 Gaelic cnotao- of the mainland — the eornachan of the 
 Hebrides. This particular specimen of the knockin'- 
 stane is an almost square block of the Syenite of the 
 district, some sixteen inches in length, fifteen inches 
 in breadth, and about the same in thickness. The 
 centre is hollowed out to a depth of some twelve 
 inches, in the shape of an inverted truncated cone, 
 about ten inches in diameter at the mouth, and very 
 gradually lessening downwards, until its bottom 
 diameter is something like six or seven inches. This
 
 252 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 Syenite mortar must weigh considerally over a 
 hundredweight. It was used in the old times for 
 husking barley in, so as to make it fit for pleasant 
 comminglement with other materials in the prepara- 
 tion of broth, a dish for which the people of Scotland 
 have always had a huge liking, and which they delight 
 to have presented to them " thick and slab." The 
 Gaelic verb signifying to husk or shell pulse or corn is 
 cnot, so that the appellation cnotag, by which the 
 " knockin'-stane " was known to the Gaels of the 
 mainland, signifies the husker or husking machine. 
 The eornachan of the Hebrides is of course from 
 eorna, barley, and, more pointedly than cnotag, 
 indicates the proper use of the implement, the (pot) 
 barley preparer. In preparing their pot-barley, a hand- 
 ful or two of the thrashed out grain was first hand- 
 dried and browned on a thin sheet of iron over the 
 fire, or, more simply, before the red embers of a brisk 
 fire on the hearthstone. When sufficiently hard and 
 brown, it was thrown into the cavity of the cnotag, 
 and smartly poked at, and rapidly swirled about with 
 a short, stout cnotag-stick — maide cnotaig — until in a 
 few minutes the grain was separated from its husks, 
 which, having been fannered or winnowed in small 
 quantities by the breath of the operator, until the 
 husks were all blown aside, and nothing but the grain 
 remained, it was ready for use as one of the most im- 
 portant ingredients in the preparation of a broth that 
 must be of considerable substantiality and " body," as 
 the wine merchants say, or it is worthless. The weak, 
 watery soups of the modern dinner-table, " white " or 
 " brown," your genuine Highlander of the past (and,
 
 THE C NOT AG OR KNOCKIN'-STANE. 253 
 
 entre nous, perhaps of the present) would turn up his 
 nose as at a thing of nought, because of its too much 
 fluidity, and deficiency in honest weight and sub- 
 stantiality. The cnotag or husking mortar was some- 
 times of wood, necessarily a large block, round or 
 square, which, when not in use, was usually turned 
 upside down, and made a capital winter night's seat in 
 some cozy corner by the ingle. A specimen of a 
 genuine wooden block cnotag would be very interest- 
 ing, and, archaeological ly, extremely valuable, as they 
 were much less common than the stone mortars, stone 
 being preferred not only as the more lasting material, 
 and that did not require to be of such bulk as the 
 wooden implement, but because the husking operation 
 was quicker, and easier, and more perfect in every 
 way when the work was done, not as between wood 
 and wood, but as between wood and stone. It may 
 easily be understood how the working of a wooden 
 pestle in a wooden mortar must be less satisfactory in 
 the husking of any kind of grain, than the same work 
 as done by a wooden pestle in a mortar of stone. 
 Hence it is that wooden block cnotags were less 
 common than those of stone, and are now so extremely 
 rare, that we have ourselves never seen even a single 
 specimen, although we have had a description of them 
 from old people who had seen them in proper use, and 
 had sat upon them when, bottom upwards, they were 
 used as stools by the winter fire. The place for the 
 cnotag of stone, on the contrary — also turned upside 
 down when not in use — was close by the door outside, 
 a convenient support for the gudewife's washing-boyne, 
 or in the summer a ready seat for " granny," when,
 
 254 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 in the words of Pliny, " taking the benefit of the 
 sun," her grandchildren meanwhile romping about 
 her knees. Quern stones are comparatively common, 
 because, be it remembered, there were necessarily two 
 stones to each quern, and because every family having 
 corn to grind required its own especial quern. 
 Wooden cnotags are, for the reasons above stated, 
 extremely rare, if, indeed, there is at this moment 
 any known specimen in existence. Nor are even 
 stone cnotags at all common, for the reason mainly 
 that they never were common in any broad sense of 
 that term. Instead of each family having a cnotag 
 of its own, as was the case with a bit of rude machinery 
 in almost constant use like the quern, the cnotag w r as 
 usually the property in common of a whole hamlet, 
 one amply sufficing for the pot-barley wants of a 
 score, or twice a score, of neighbouring families. Why, 
 nevertheless, it may be asked, do we not meet with 
 them more frequently than we do ? for even if we 
 allow only a single cnotag to each hamlet, they ought 
 to turn up often er than they do. The secret of their 
 almost total disappearance lies in the fact that, being 
 usually squared blocks of granite or whinstone, neces- 
 sarily of considerable size and weight, they were used 
 for building purposes, when shops having multiplied 
 throughout the land, and the pot-barley of commerce 
 could be had — a month's supply of it — for a few pence, 
 or in exchange for a couple of dozen of eggs, then, 
 indeed, was Othello's occupation gone, the cnotag 
 was no longer required for its original purpose, and it 
 was readily utilised, quantum valeat, for building 
 purposes, for which, from its size and shape, it was
 
 THE CNOTAG-STICK AS A WEAPON. 255 
 
 admirably adapted. We have no doubt at all that in 
 the corners or lower tiers of the front or gable of at 
 least one cottage in most hamlets there is hidden away 
 a granite or whinstone cnotag, if we only knew where 
 to look for them. The cnotag-stick, or pestle, seems 
 to have been peculiarly shaped, and must have been a 
 formidable weapon ; for in one of the old sgeulachds 
 or fireside tales of the West Highlands, the hero of 
 the story is represented as on one occasion bravely 
 encountering a giant who had invaded his dwelling 
 the giant, after a fierce fight, getting the worst of it at 
 the hands of the Gille Maol Ciar, as the hero was 
 called, although his only weapon, so suddenly was he 
 attacked, was the maide-cnotaig, or husking-mortar 
 pestle, which fortunately at the moment lay ready 
 to his hand. A somewhat more modern story describes 
 a celebrated witch " of the period " as riding from 
 Knoidart to Harris on an " E6rnachan-stick " (eadar 
 Cnoidart, 's na h-Erradh a marcachd air maid' 
 Eornachain), — and why not ? There is no good reason 
 that we know of why a husking-mortar pestle with a 
 witch astride should not be quite as swift and willing 
 a steed for the nonce as the conventional broomstick 
 itself. In an MS. collection of old Gaelic poems in 
 our possession there is a very ludicrous song all about 
 a laird who, in the days when lairds still wore their 
 native garb, with the indispensable sword and dagger, 
 had occasion to confess that a " cnotag-stick," wielded 
 by a brawny arm, was no contemptible weapon, 
 whether of offence or defence. 
 
 The song tells how the laird, having had to find 
 fault with one of his smaller tenants, resolved to visit
 
 256 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 him at his house, and give such a blowing-up for some 
 misdemeanour of which he was supposed to be guilty 
 as might deter him from ever doing the like again. 
 The man was at home, occupied at the moment in 
 weaving a peat creel. He bluntly disavowed all 
 knowledge of or participation in the alleged mis- 
 demeanour, and gesticulated wildly in confirmation of 
 his innocence. The laird got very angry at what he 
 believed to be sheer contumacy and defiance, and in 
 his wrath drew his sword. The man laid hold in self- 
 defence of the weapon readiest to hand, which chanced 
 to be the " maid' eornachan " or cnotag-stick. A 
 furious combat ensued, most ludicrously described, the 
 result being that the laird had to turn his back in- 
 2;loriously, and take to his heels; the cnotag-stick 
 warrior shouting after him in derision : — 
 
 " Theich thu, 's cha b' fhiach thu, 
 A shiochaire ghiugaich ! 
 Taire, faire ort a ghaisgich ! 
 
 Gus am paisg mi thu a'm spliucan ! " 
 
 (" Thou hast had to run ingloriously, thou worthless one ; 
 
 Thou splay-footed starveling ! 
 Better stop, thou most doughty one ! 
 
 That I may wrap thee up, tobacco-wise, in my spleuchan !") 
 
 The idea of calling upon his frightened laird to stop in 
 order that he might twist him up like an ounce of 
 tobacco, and lay him so twisted in the odoriferous 
 recesses of his sealskin spleuchan, is admirable for its 
 grim humour and utter contempt for everything like 
 lairdic dignity and authority. This very amusing 
 composition seems, from internal evidence, to be con- 
 nected with the island of Mull.
 
 THE C NO TAG OF THE MACKENZIES. 257 
 
 The particular cnotag which has thus formed the 
 text for a lono;er dissertation than we had intended 
 was discovered here during the early summer of the 
 present year. Its history has been easily traced as 
 the cnotag or husking-mortar of the Mackenzies of 
 North Ballachulish for many generations. Its age 
 cannot well be less than two hundred years, and it 
 may very possibly be much older. It has recently 
 found its way, through our distinguished friend Sir 
 Robert Christison, Bart., to the National Antiquarian 
 Museum.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 November Meteor Showers — Occupation of Stars — Superstition — Old-Wife 
 Herbalist — How a Cow was rescued from the effects of the Evil Eye — 
 Virtue of an Oatmeal Bannock — Fox caught sleeping — Badgers. 
 
 There is no longer any doubt about it : "winter is 
 down upon us in snell and surly earnest. The hills 
 are covered with snow down to the water line, while 
 sleet and snow showers, fierce and furious, descend 
 upon us from the north-west with all the intensity of 
 cold derivable from recent contact with the glacier 
 mountains of Greenland and the thick-ribbed ice-fields 
 of the palseocrystic sea. We were duly at our post on 
 the night of the 13th or 14th, and a bitterly cold 
 night it was, but the drift of clouds was too wide- 
 spread and too continuous to permit us to see any- 
 thing of the meteor showers due on that date, if, 
 indeed, meteor showers there were to be seen. About 
 midnight it cleared up a little in the south-east, and 
 two or three " falling stars" of average brilliancy were 
 recorded, but they were only such falling stars as may 
 be seen on any winter night that the stars are visible 
 at all, and the probability is that there was no meteoric 
 display of any consequence to be seen, even if the 
 weather bad been as favourable for observation as it 
 was very much the contrary. On the night of the 
 10th there was an occnltation by the moon of the 
 Pleiades, or, to speak more correctly, of some of the
 
 HIGHLAND SUPERSTITION. 259 
 
 more notable stars in that beautiful group. The sky 
 was fortunately clear from about nine o'clock till mid- 
 night, so that, by the aid of a fairly good telescope, a 
 very satisfactory observation was made of the immer- 
 sion and emersion of the occulted stars. Almost as 
 interesting as the occupations themselves was the near 
 approach of several other stars to the edge of the moon, 
 as full-orbed and round she hung like a shield of bur- 
 nished silver in the midnight sky. There will be no 
 other occultation of any consequence during the 
 present year. 
 
 A friendly correspondent — a Lochaber man born 
 and bred — sends us an interesting letter about the 
 Cailleach Lusraigean, or old-wife herbalist, of whom, 
 as our readers will recollect, we had occasion to make 
 " honourable mention," as they say at the agricultural 
 shows, in a "Nether Lochaber" of recent date. Our 
 correspondent is old enough to remember her as a. 
 personage of wide and somewhat uncanny reputation 
 throughout Lochaber and the neiMibourino- districts, 
 though it is but justice to her memory to state that if 
 at times she encouraged and promoted what seemed to 
 her to be suitable and likely enough love-matches by 
 ways and means that, closely examined, were of but 
 questionable propriety, she also frequently used her 
 influence and skill in preventing such alliances as she 
 was persuaded were undesirable, if not improper, and 
 likely only to lead the parties concerned into an after- 
 time of misery and want. According to our corre- 
 spondent's recollection of her reputation throughout the 
 country in his boyhood, he is inclined to believe thai, 
 she was an exceedingly shrewd and clever old dame,
 
 2 6o 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 who had many good points about her, and was more 
 useful than people will now-a-days readily believe, in 
 the happy adjustment of many little matters in which 
 nobody else, perhaps, could interfere to any good pur- 
 pose. Our correspondent tells us the following bit of 
 curious superstition, of which he himself was an eye- 
 witness, and of which the cailleacli herbalist was the 
 hierophant. It happened on a certain occasion that a 
 cow belonging to his uncle yielded but little milk, and 
 that little so wersh and watery as to be of little or no 
 value. It was clear enough that something was wrong, 
 though what that something was it was difficult for 
 the uninitiated to discover, for the cow was abundantly 
 fed, and apparently in lusty enough health. It was at 
 last suggested by a " wise " neighbour that the animal 
 was probably under the spell of an " evil eye," and it 
 was resolved to apply to Main 'n Eitinnich (the 
 Irishman's Mary — so called because she had been 
 married to an Irishman ; she was herself a native of 
 the island of Barra) for advice and aid as to the best 
 way of counteracting and neutralising the evil influence 
 at work in the case of a cow that up to that occasion 
 had borne the character of being one of the best 
 milkers in the country. Mary, like our learned 
 sheriffs when the cause before them is of more than 
 ordinary gravity and importance, took the case to 
 avizandum, and it was only after full and careful con- 
 sideration of the matter in all its bearings that she 
 decided what was best to be done. She sent for our 
 correspondent's aunt, who usually attended upon and 
 milked the cow, and to her she gave the following 
 directions. She was to knead a large circular bnrinock
 
 HIGHLAND SUPERSTITION. 261 
 
 of oatmeal bread, and in the centre of this bannock, 
 when duly baked and fired, she was to knock a circu- 
 lar hole of a given diameter. Holding the bannock 
 
 © © 
 
 thus centrally perforated in her left hand at milking 
 time, she was to direct the stream of milk from the 
 teats in succession into the pail through the central 
 hole, and this she was instructed to do for nine days 
 consecutively ; and our correspondent has a perfect 
 recollection of seeing his aunt milking the cow, ban- 
 
 © o 
 
 nock in hand, in the curious manner stated. He is 
 unfortunately unable to say positively whether Main' 
 'n Eirinnictis cure was successful or otherwise in 
 neutralising the evil spell, or how the matter ended ; 
 but he thinks it probable that the cow gradually 
 recovered her character as a bountiful milker, and that 
 the herb-wife got the credit of it all. From inquiries 
 made in various likely places since the receipt of the 
 above communication, we find that, in the popular 
 superstition of the Highlands, an oatmeal bannock was 
 deemed of sovereign efficacy in the prevention of many 
 such evils as people were supposed to be liable to 
 from across the dim and shadowy borderlands of the 
 mysterious and supernatural. Thus, a bannock sus- 
 pended above the door of the apartment in which 
 a recently born babe and mother lay was accounted a 
 safeguard against such pranks as the Men of Peace, or 
 fairies, might be disposed to play with both or either. 
 The pungent odour of a bit of oatcake toasted close to 
 the fire, until it smoked and burned, was supposed to 
 be so disagreeable to evil spirits of every kind, that 
 they cleared out of a dwelling en masse under the 
 force of this very simple and very easy rite of purifica-
 
 262 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 tion. An unbroken oatcake bannock laid on the 
 pillow beside a sleeper was a sure and certain preven- 
 tion of nightmare and evil dreams, while a ship at sea 
 was considered tolerably safe from lightning-stroke 
 and fire-bolt if only, when the thunder-storm came 
 on, an oaten cake was suspended somewhere in the 
 rigging. Up to the present day it is accounted unwise 
 to leave any kneaded dough in the lump unbaked. 
 Whatever is once kneaded must be made into ban- 
 nocks, and, if possible, fired before the family retire for 
 the night, otherwise evil spirits, with more or less 
 power for mischief, will make themselves busy about 
 the dwelling till sunrise. A highly intelligent old 
 lady in a neighbouring district tells us that when she 
 was a girl — some seventy years ago — her grandmother 
 was in the habit of sewing a small bit of oat-cake into 
 the breasts of the bodices of herself and sisters four 
 times in the year, namely, on Beltane Eve, Midsum- 
 mer Eve, Hallowe'en, and on Candlemas Eve. The 
 cake, our informant said, was in this case specially 
 baked for the occasion, and always with some " carvy " 
 (caraway) seeds intermixed with the oatmeal. It was 
 meant as a safeguard and charm against " evil," but 
 what particular form of evil she doesn't know. She 
 thinks it was probably meant as a safeguard against 
 evil in every shape — gach seors' uilc. These bits of 
 oatcakes were left sewed up in each girl's bodice till 
 their return from church on the Sunday following, 
 when they were taken out and burned in the fire. 
 These superstitions as to the sanctity and virtue of 
 bread and fire are very curious, and deserving more 
 particular consideration than we can at present bestow
 
 A FOX CAUGHT NAPPING. 263 
 
 upon them. To the thoughtful student they speak of 
 very remote times, and of other and far distant lands, 
 for they point very nnmistakeably, as we think, to the 
 ancient worship of Ceres and the fire-worshippers of 
 the East. 
 
 To catch a weasel asleep is proverbially an impossi- 
 bility, and one would think that to catch a cunning 
 hill fox napping might be set down as something 
 equally unlikely. No instance of the capture of a 
 somnolent weasel is, we suppose, on record, but that a 
 fox may be caught fairly off his guard, however rarely, 
 is abundantly testified by the following story, recently 
 communicated to us by a gentleman in Badenoch. 
 We had better let our friend tell the story in his own 
 way : — " While a shepherd of the name of Alexander 
 Campbell, from Dalwhinnie, was on his rounds on the 
 20th October (Sunday, which was a very windy day), 
 he came on a full-grown fox asleep, and, after a hand- 
 to-hand struts! e, managed to secure him. He was a 
 very fine specimen of the male fox, in exceedingly 
 fine coat, and very fat, which perhaps accounts for 
 his drowsiness. It may perhaps be urged that he 
 was wounded, but no such thing ; his four pads were 
 as whole as possible, and his being in good condition 
 shows that he was otherwise all right. He was lying 
 in a bed of dry moss, in the shelter of a little tuft of 
 heather. This, as nearly as possible, takes the pith 
 out of our old Scotch proverb, ' Catch a w r easel asleep.' 
 I am sorry to say that the man gave him such a beat- 
 ing with his stick before he captured him that he 
 died soon afterwards. How do you acccount for his 
 sleeping so soundly, and being so taken off his guard ? "
 
 264 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 Our correspondent himself has about hit the right nail 
 on the head. The fox was in comfortable condition, 
 fat, and of course all the more tired with his early 
 morning wanderings, in which he had doubtless fared 
 sumptuously ; a case oifurtum grave, depend upon it, 
 though it probably lay light enough on his conscience. 
 The spot in which he was caught napping is, we may 
 be sure, though our correspondent does not say so, 
 rarely trodden by human foot — never before, perhaps, 
 by that shepherd himself. The day was stormy, and 
 the wind over heather and bent made wild music. 
 The shepherd probably advanced not with but against 
 the wind, and his trusty stick was in lively contact 
 with the sleeper s head while poor Reynard was still 
 revelling in all the joys of an imaginary chase and 
 stalk through the fair fields of happy dreamland. 
 A curious proof, by the way, how common badgers 
 were at one time in the Highlands, and how compara- 
 tively rare were foxes, is to be found in the fact that 
 we have no proper specific word for foxhunter in 
 Gaelic, for the man, that is, whose profession and 
 business it is to trap, and kill, and keep down foxes on 
 our sheep farms as best he may. Such a man is to this 
 day called a Brocair, literally the badgcr-maii or 
 badger-killer, though now-a-days and for long his 
 business is to kill foxes, which are common, not 
 badgers, which are rare.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Intense cold — Bird-Pensioners in frost and snow — Their tameness — Fond of 
 Scraps of Flesh and picking Bones — Stupidity of Cochin-China Cock — 
 Cochin-Chinas and Bantams — Ninth Ode of First Book of Horace done 
 into English. 
 
 Not for upwards of a quarter of a century has there 
 been a winter of equal severity in the West Highlands. 
 So intense has been the frost, and so continuous, that 
 not only has "the owl, for all his feathers," been 
 acold, but all our wild-birds, even the hardiest and 
 most active, such as the thrushes and finches, have 
 suffered terribly, hundreds having already died miser- 
 ably from sheer cold and hunger, while the survivors 
 can only limp about in sad and sorry plight, mere 
 skin and bone, so perfectly stupid, too, as to be 
 utterly heedless of danger from prowling cat or 
 circling hawk. And when a bird is brought to that 
 state, that cat or hawk, or stoat or weasel may have 
 him if they like, and he will make little or no effort 
 to escape, there is no more to be said ; then may you 
 believe, beyond all question or doubt, that his case is 
 desperate indeed. We certainly never did see our 
 feathered friends and favourites in such a plight 
 before. We have on several successive mornings 
 picked them up off the ground in our own high-walled 
 and well- sheltered garden, as well as in a neighbouring 
 copse, in which, some time during the night, they had 
 dropped down dead off their perch ; and we have, in 
 quite a score of instances, found them dead on the
 
 266 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 branch, to which their feet were frozen hard and fast, 
 in which case, however, death was to them a real 
 mercy, for it probably reached them as they slept the 
 profound and dreamless sleep of those whose blood is 
 curdled in their veins by intensity of cold. Had they 
 awakened to the cold grey light of the morning, with 
 their feet frozen to the bough, they must have died 
 a still more miserable, because a more painfully 
 conscious and lingerino; death. We notice that in 
 hundreds of cases the survivors are limping about 
 lame from frost-bitten feet and toes ; many of these, 
 too, must die, while those that see the spring and 
 early summer will see it crippled and deformed, and 
 have but little chance in the battles of love and life 
 with those that have the good fortune to survive the 
 winter without hurt or loss of limb. 
 
 If we bring our meteorological tables under minute 
 inspection, we shall no doubt find that once or twice, 
 or even thrice, during the past five-and-twenty years 
 the cold, thermometrically appraised, has been quite 
 as intense as during the present winter; but the 
 severest winter, be it understood, is beyond all 
 question that which is most detrimental to animal 
 and vegetable life — that which bears hardest on the 
 well-being of living organisms ; and, looking at it 
 from this stand-point, it is questionable, from all the 
 inquiries we have been able to make on the subject, 
 if we have had a winter of equal severity — in the 
 West Highlands at least — for upwards of fifty years. 
 A winter is severe when the fall of snow is universal 
 over a district or kingdom — not necessarily of great 
 depth, but to be found everywhere from the highest 
 mountain summits down to the sea level, and to the
 
 A COLD WINTER. 267 
 
 last tide-mark of the sea itself. When this snow is 
 instantly caught and fixed and bound down by intense 
 and long-continued frost down to or below zero, then 
 the earth becomes hard and cruel of heart, as if it had 
 been turned into one mass of solid iron ; and it 
 matters little — less at all events than might be 
 supposed — whether the average reading of the thermo- 
 meter is 5° or 35° below the freezing-point, for with a 
 frost-bound earth and temperature long-continued at 
 and below freezing-point, animal life must instantly 
 begin to suffer, and where the vitality is weakest, 
 death, ccetevis paribus, will first ensue. Usually, in 
 ordinary winters in the West Highlands, the feeling 
 of cold is rather to be characterised as the negative of 
 heat than anything else. It is as if you had been 
 sittino- in a room in which the fire had almost or 
 altogether gone out, and you felt it uncomfortable in 
 consequence. It is a feeling of a something that was 
 pleasant being now amissing, rather than the actual 
 presence of a something else of a totally different 
 character and essence. The cold of this winter has 
 been of a very different sort, not a mere negative of 
 heat, but a positive, palpable, tangible cold, keen and 
 cutting as a sword-blade ; or, as a man had on Handsel 
 Monday morning observed to us, it was sharp-pointed, 
 and seemed, on the swirl of a north-east wind, as 
 determined to penetrate as a gimlet (Air chuairtaig 
 na gaoith tuaithe, iha-mfuachd an dia, le'r cead, cho 
 biorach ris a ghimleid !) It is with cold of this kind 
 that animal vitality finds it so difficult to combat 
 successfully. We notice that on a calm, or compara- 
 tively calm day, no matter how really cold it is, some 
 scores of feathered pensioners whom we feed twice
 
 268 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 a day with bread crumbs and table scraps, although 
 they pick up our largesse eagerly enough, are yet a 
 little shy of us, scattering on the slightest alarm, and 
 taking refuge [ n the neighbouring trees and hedges 
 
 ■DO CD O O 
 
 until they begin to think that the clanger is past, and 
 that they may return in safety. When, however, it is 
 a day of intense and piercing cold, that is, a cold day 
 with high winds, razor-edged and keen, our feathered 
 friends act very differently. The cold then seems so 
 to penetrate and interpenetrate their very being, heart 
 and brain and marrow, that they lose all sense of fear ; 
 they will pick the crumbs from between our feet and 
 off our open palm, and if we walk outside, and for a 
 moment cease feeding them, they will follow us in 
 all directions, the boldest — that is, the coldest and 
 hungriest — alighting on our head and shoulders, as if 
 to expostulate with us on the impropriety and cruelty 
 of keeping our dole in our pockets, instead of scatter- 
 ing it around with a liberal hand as usual. These 
 pensioners consist of blackbirds, thrushes, chaffinches, 
 grey wagtails, wrens, ox-eye tits, and hedge and house 
 sparrows, and occasional stragglers of other and rarer 
 species. That all of these should greedily pick up 
 bread crumbs and other table scraps in these hard 
 times is not wonderful, but we were not a little 
 surprised the other day to see them all, without 
 exception, pounce upon a shoulder of mutton bone 
 which we had just thrown out upon the frozen snow, 
 believing that it would be esteemed a bonne bouche 
 only by the blackbirds and thrushes. The bone had 
 still a good deal of flesh adhering to it, which, how- 
 ever, we were careful to cut and carve into as rough
 
 P UGNA CITY OF FO WLS. 269 
 
 and ragged a state as possible, that the birds might 
 the more easily manage the picking of it. All of 
 them, finches and buntings as well as the more 
 carnivorous insect-eaters, instantly fastened upon it 
 like a pack of famished hounds, wrestling and 
 tumbling over each other in their eagerness to share 
 in what must have been to them a really delicious 
 feast, for in less than an hour the bone was picked 
 clean — as devoid of every shred and particle of flesh 
 and cartilage as the parlour poker. In feeding these 
 birds from day to day, one curious thing we observed 
 was how stupid in some respects are domesticated 
 animals as compared with their wild congeners. A 
 hu«;e feather-legged Cochin-China cock sometimes 
 found its way to the parlour window as we were in 
 the act of feeding our wild-bird pensioners. When 
 we threw out a plateful of crumbs and scraps, all the 
 other birds gobbled up their food very fast by going 
 shrewdly and sensibly to work, each selecting bit 
 after bit of a suitable size, to be instantly swallowed 
 with little or no trouble, wrens, finches, and thrushes 
 only taking up such bits as they very plainly judged 
 were suitable to their individual powers of deglutition. 
 It was amusing, however, to see the stupidity of the 
 big Cochin-China. He greedily pounced upon a big 
 bit, so big that he could not swallow it, and rather 
 than let it drop in order to pick up a more suitable 
 and sizeable bit, he invariably stuck to it, like a fool 
 as he was, and is, and will be to the end of the 
 chapter ; straining and striving to swallow it until 
 you feared he would inevitably choke himself in the 
 attempt, all the time walking about on the snow
 
 270 'TW1XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 with uncertain steps, and his eyes as if they would 
 start out of his head, like a bagpiper who would fain 
 strike up a merry lilt, but who finds his drones and 
 chanter at sixes and sevens in defiance of all the wind 
 with which he can supply their ear-splitting dis- 
 cordance. The idea never seemed once to enter the 
 head of the stupid Cochin, that by taking up smaller 
 and more manageable bits he would be much the 
 gainer in the long run ; for when, after terrible 
 straining and striving the bit in his throat had 
 become at length compressed and lubricated enough 
 to be swallowed outright, and he looked round for 
 more, there was no more for him ; the wiser wild- 
 birds had, by a very different process to his, finished 
 it all up even to the smallest crumb, so that there 
 was none remaining, and the Cochin-China had to 
 stalk about in the snow, looking very disconsolate and 
 foolish, and yet manifestly unable to see wherein his 
 foolishness lay, for the next time he got the chance 
 he acted in a precisely similar and ecpally stupid 
 way. The fact seems to be that, while many animals 
 gain in nous and intelligence by domestication, others, 
 notably of birds the gallinaceous tribe, become 
 stupider and less sagacious every way than in their 
 wild state ; and of all feathered creatures the male 
 Cochin China, and his first cousin, the Brahmapootra, 
 are, we take it, far and away the most absurdly 
 stupid and least intelligent, the most cowardly, too, 
 and the most ungallant, their most prominent charac- 
 teristic being a stupid, awkward selfishness, that 
 frequently receives its just reward, when the very 
 hens of their own particular species, provoked by their
 
 NINTH ODE OF HORACE. 271 
 
 loutishness and general incapacity, turn round upon 
 them and give them a sound thrashing. It is not a 
 little curious that the Bantam, also from the East 
 Indies, and a compatriot and countryman, so to speak, 
 of these same " feckless loons," should be, on the con- 
 trary, a remarkably intelligent bird, and as gallant and 
 plucky as it is intelligent. We had one of these little 
 fellows some years ago, weighing but a pound and a 
 half, and if Cochin or Pootra, of five times his weight, 
 dare even to look at him otherwise than submissively 
 and respectfully, he was at the offender like a flash of 
 lightning, drubbing him round and round the yard, 
 until the cowardly lout crouched down exhausted by 
 his splay-footed gallopade, with only strength and 
 sense enough left in him to thrust his head into a wall 
 crevice, under the bottom of a shut door, or into a 
 bunch of nettles, so as to save it from further punish- 
 ment, while the plucky little Bantam marched back to 
 the ladies of the harem with a lofty step and air of 
 self-importance and pride such as Napoleon may have 
 worn on the eve of Austerlitz. The reader will, 
 perhaps, laugh at us for making the confession, but it 
 is the truth all the same, that even on the table the 
 flesh of these big louts is less palatable to us than that 
 of other fowls, mainly, we do believe, because we have 
 so often been annoyed at the cowardice, ungallantry, 
 and other demerits of the living bird. 
 
 None of the Odes of Horace has, perhaps, been so 
 frequently quoted as the famous Ninth Ode of the 
 First Book, beginning — 
 
 " Vides, ut alta stet nive candidum 
 
 Soracte, nee jam sustineant onus 
 
 Sylvae laborantes," &c.
 
 2 72 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 In severe winters, when the snow lies deep and the 
 frost is keen, it is almost impossible to avoid quoting 
 more or less of this charming lyric, a polished gem, 
 with a raison d'etre and a philosophy that concerns 
 all, and that all can understand ; so exquisitely perfect 
 as a lyric that no amount of quoting, the severest of 
 all tests, perhaps, in the case of such compositions, 
 can render it commonplace or vulgar. The Ninth Ode 
 has been rendered into English verse by some of our 
 best poets and most successful translators ; but in all 
 such renderings with which we have any acquaintance, 
 much of the subtle humour and charming naivete of 
 the original is lost. It is one of those lyrical gems 
 so absolutely perfect that it cannot be adequately 
 translated into another language — certainly not into 
 English. The nearest approach that we have seen to 
 the exquisite Horatian touches so characteristic of the 
 original, is curiously enough in the letter of a sporting 
 correspondent of the Field, in a recent number of that 
 popular journal. It is, however, rather a paraphrase 
 than a translation, but the following lines are Horatian 
 all over : — 
 
 " Behold with rime Soracte's top is crown'd, 
 The woods are bending with their weight of snow : 
 The rivers in an icy trance are bound 
 
 And cease to flow. 
 Come, thaw the cold : pile logs of wood on high 
 Upon the blazing hearth — with liberal hand, 
 Old wine, my friend, from cobwebb'd bins supply — 
 The choicest brand ! "
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Old Gaelic Rhyme, Meaning of— Golden Eagle at Kelvingrove Museum, 
 Glasgow — Golden Eagle on the wing — Circling Sguir-na-Ciche of 
 Glencoe— The Epithet Chrysactos first applied to it by Aristotle— Its pre- 
 dominant Colour — Professor Geddes of Aberdeen — His Problem of the 
 Homeric Poems. 
 
 Although not quite so hyperborean as it was, the 
 weather is still cold enough and stormy enough for the 
 last week in January, usually a mild period with us 
 here on the shores of the Linnhe Loch. The pleasant 
 thaw of the middle of the month came not a moment 
 too soon, for things were beinmiino; to look serious 
 even in our part of the West Highlands, where, as a 
 rule, we are more familiar with winter as, in the words 
 of the old sea-song, a "blustering railer," than as the 
 implacable and ruthless tyrant of intense frost and 
 marrow-piercing north-east winds. Our lochs are still 
 swarming with Arctic sea-fowl, and a return to a 
 longer or shorter period of very decided cold and 
 storm is not improbable. But, come as it may, the 
 worst at least is past ; a cold and stormy day when 
 the sun, on his return journey northwards, is back 
 again half-way through Aquarius, must always be 
 more endurable and better every way than a cold and 
 stormy day while the sun is still in the heart of Capri- 
 corn. On this subject the old Highlanders had a 
 curious rhyme worth quoting, for they were a remark- 
 ably shrewd people in their reading and interpretation 
 
 s
 
 274 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 of meteorological, and indeed of all natural pheno- 
 mena : — 
 
 " Ei fuaclid Calluinn 
 Math cl6 olainn ; 
 Ei fuachd Feile-Bride 
 Eogh'naidh cisf heart." 
 
 Cisf heart, or closart, was a particular kind of woollen 
 cloth, what we should call now-a-days a light tweed. 
 The meaning of the rhyme we take to be that, whereas 
 the thickest and heaviest woollen cloth is necessary to 
 protect one from the cold of New- Year time (12th 
 January, or Old Style), a lighter sort will suffice in 
 the case of any possible cold at Candlemastide, 12th 
 February. So marked and decided, the old High- 
 landers desired by means of this rhyme to intimate, 
 was the increase of temperature, and under a higher 
 sun and rapidly lengthening day, so easily combated was 
 any degree of cold that could possibly befall at Candle- 
 mastide, or the Feast of Saint Bride, as they termed 
 it, as compared with the intenser and more persistent 
 cold of the short and sunless days of New-Year time. 
 
 Last year a distinguished French naturalist wrote 
 us asking if it was true that the golden eagle was 
 extinct in the Highlands of Scotland. He was induced 
 to make the inquiry, he said, by having recently seen 
 a statement to that effect in a German zoological 
 journal. It was a startling, and for the moment even 
 a puzzling question ; but on due consideration we 
 replied to the effect that we thought it was not true ; 
 that we hoped and believed the noble bird was not 
 extinct ; that, on the authority of shepherds, foresters, 
 gamekeepers, and others, we had good reason to believe
 
 THE CAPTIVE GOLDEN EAGLE. 275 
 
 the golden eagle still exists, and is occasionally to be 
 met with in the more inaccessible mountain solitudes 
 of some of the Outer Hebrides, as well as on the main- 
 land. We were obliged to write less confidently on 
 the subject than we could have wished, for the truth 
 is, that since the spring of 1869 we have not recognised 
 a single specimen of this magnificent Raptor in the 
 unfettered freedom of his mountain home. For nine 
 years, in short, the only living eagle of this species 
 (Aquila chrysaetos) we had seen was that at the 
 entrance to the Glasgow Kelvingrove Museum, a 
 chained captive ! still, indeed, with some remains of 
 " pride in his port," and not a little of " defiance in 
 his eye," but, quoad ultra, no more to be compared 
 with the same bird in the unfettered freedom of his 
 native wilds than the Napoleon of St. Helena could be 
 said to be the Napoleon of the Pyramids, Austerlitz, 
 and Jena, Had it been possible by an effort of mere 
 volition on our part then and there to snap the chain 
 that tied that captive to his perch, and instantly 
 transport him to the freedom and protection of the up- 
 land solitudes of Glenevis or Lochtreig, take our word 
 for it, it had certainly been done. As it was, we 
 could only contemplate the captive — sullen and savage, 
 as was no wonder — for a moment with a feeling of 
 sympathy so intense that it amounted to actual pain, 
 and we hurried on, the proud and indignant glance, 
 however, of an eye fiery and fearless, that reflected a 
 spirit not to be subdued by imprisonment while life 
 lasted, haunting us for days afterwards. You may 
 believe, then, good reader, that we were not a little 
 delighted on Thursday last — proud, if you can under-
 
 276 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 stand it, as well as pleased — when by the merest 
 accident we had the good fortune to see not one, but 
 a pair of these noble birds hunting over the corries 
 and along the mountain slopes of Caolas-na-Cone and 
 Glencoe. Thursday was one of the finest days of the 
 season, cold, but calm and clear, without a wisp of 
 cloud iu all the blue. About three p.m. we were 
 walking along the beach under Callart Cottage, where 
 Lochleven begins rapidly to contract, until, a couple of 
 miles beyond, at Caolas-na-Cone, it becomes so narrow 
 that a Fingalian hero of the " swift-footed Achilles " 
 order, once in the ardour of the chase is fabled to have 
 leapt across at a bound, and thought little of the 
 exploit. As we strolled along the shore we had all 
 our e)^ about us, less, indeed, from any expectation 
 of seeing anything new or wonderful than from a 
 habit from which an ornithologist finds it difficult to 
 divest himself, when the surroundings are at all such 
 that something in the way of his favourite science 
 may turn up in any direction and at any moment. 
 Glancing along the mountain sky-line to the right, the 
 eye was arrested by a black speck over the great 
 corrie of Caolas-na-Cone, a speck almost immediately 
 joined by a second speck, the two slowly circling and 
 zig-zagging in the direction of Sguir-na-CicJie, the 
 Pap of Glencoe, directly opposite the spot on which 
 we stood. That they were birds, and big birds, was 
 certain ; and finding a convenient hiding-place at hand, 
 we stretched ourselves on a bed of silvery sand, be- 
 tween two large granite boulders, and waited patiently 
 in the hope that the birds might come near enough to 
 be identified. While lying thus, we bethought our-
 
 THE GOLDEN EAGLE ON TLLE WING. 277 
 
 selves of an old ruse of ours, which has already stood 
 us iu good stead in many an ornithological ramble. 
 We filled our pocket-handkerchief with dry drift-weed, 
 abundance of which lay within our reach, and tying 
 the four corners together, we threw it up on the grass 
 above high-water mark, some twenty yards from where 
 we were lying. We took care, however, not to tie 
 our handkerchief so tightly but that some of the dark- 
 brown sea-weed could be seen protruding through the 
 openings, in order that it should appear in as strong 
 and startling a contrast as possible with the whiteness 
 of the handkerchief in which it was bundled. All 
 birds are amazingly inquisitive, and a hungry Raptor 
 is inquisitive and bold beyond all others ; and hence 
 it is that we have found that placing somewhere along 
 their beat anything odd-looking in size and shape out 
 of the ordinary, and that may have life in it, though 
 for the moment it seems lifeless and immoveable, will 
 " fetch " a bird, to use an expressive Americanism — 
 that is, attract his attention — and, if you are concealed 
 in the neighbourhood of the object of attraction, bring 
 him nearer to you than you could possibly manage by 
 any amount of stalking and circumvention otherwise. 
 In a few minutes the birds, moving in graceful circles, 
 and occasionally crossing each other's paths like yachts 
 in a trial to windward, were right over the Pap, along 
 the shoulders and skirts of which they hunted in the 
 most beautiful manner, quartering their ground, in 
 sportsman's phrase, like a couple of well-bred pointers. 
 That they were golden eagles we were alread} 7 certain ; 
 their immense spread of wing, their easy and graceful 
 flight and manner of hunting, placed their identity
 
 278 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 beyond all question. As we hoped, however, and ex- 
 pected, we had soon a nearer look at them. Gliding 
 adown the northern shoulder of the Pap, with a single 
 beat of their huge wings they had crossed the loch, 
 and were circling right above us at an altitude of five 
 hundred feet, perhaps, looking black as ravens against 
 the blue background of the heavens. It was only for 
 a minute or two. Too keen of sight not to discern 
 that the stuffed handkerchief was a sham, and sus- 
 picious that it might also be a snare, very likely 
 aware of our presence also, well hidden as we thought 
 ourselves, and quiet as we lay, by a simple and 
 scarcely perceptible dip of the point of one wing, and 
 a corresponding elevation of the other, the magnificent 
 birds were in an instant half a mile away, hunting 
 over the green slopes of Mam Challairt and Camusna- 
 heiroe, where, however, they found nothing worth the 
 picking up, for, as we were leaving the shore, they 
 were disappearing over the mountains to the north, 
 looking for a ptarmigan along the summits, failing 
 which, they were pretty sure of a hare in Laroch Mor 
 beyond. We question if Dr. Schliemann was better 
 pleased on the eve of his most successful day at the 
 archaeological " diggings " of Ilium or Mycenae than 
 we were as we drove home that evening, in the know- 
 ledge that not only was the golden eagle not extinct 
 in the Highlands, but that a pair of the lordly birds 
 had their home and huntin^-o-round among our own 
 magnificent mountains of Lochaber and Glencoe. 
 
 Aristotle was the first to apply the epithet chrysaetos 
 — golden— to distinguish this species of eagle, a species 
 of very wide geographical distribution — 
 
 " The bird of Jove, of every bird the king ! "
 
 THE COLOUR OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 279 
 
 from its immediate congeners. That lie meant the 
 epithet to be interpreted in its natural sense is evident 
 from his description of the bird, in other words, as 
 being <: } T ellow in colour." Exception, however, has 
 been taken to the appropriateness of the epithet 
 chrysaetos, because, according to the observations of 
 some very distinguished ornithologists, the prevailing 
 colour is not golden or yellow, but a very dark brown ; 
 and it is certainly the fact — a very significant fact, too, 
 in this discussion — that the bird is known in the High- 
 lands of Scotland as An Iolair Dhubh, or the Black 
 Eagle. Others, again, affirm that Aristotle is perfectly 
 right, for that the bird has quite enough of yellow 
 about him to make the epithet fairly fit and appro- 
 priate. The truth, we should say, is that both parties 
 are right. The plumage of the bird while compara- 
 tively young — up to its tenth year, say— has quite 
 enough of russet yellow about it to justify Aristotle's 
 epithet in the opinion of most people who are not 
 " particular to a shade," while, as the bird advances in 
 life, the plumage grows darker and darker, until it 
 attains a tawny rust-colour, which quite as much 
 justifies the Gaelic epithet dhubh or black as the more 
 juvenile plumage justifies the chrysaetos of Aristotle. 
 We have seen specimens of both colours. The Iolair 
 Dhubh, however, is known in the Highlands by 
 another and much more poetical name, Iolair Suit na 
 Greine, namely, the eagle, that is, with an eye bright 
 and fiery as that of the sun itself, or with an eye that 
 can stare the sun out of countenance, so to speak ; 
 that can look into the burning heart of the solar orb 
 without winking — a feat impossible to any other 
 creature of air, or earth, or sea.
 
 2 So '2WIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 By the kind attention of Professor Geddes of Aber- 
 deen we have for some time had beside us his recently 
 published, very learned, and very remarkable work, 
 The Problem of the Homeric Poems, a book written 
 by a scholar for scholars, a work not to be merely 
 read, but to be thoughtfully studied by the light which 
 is in itself, augmented or modified from time to time, 
 as occasion may arise, by the many side-lights bearing 
 upon the problem, the most interesting of all literary 
 questions, from the labours of other workers, ancient 
 and modern, in the same field. It is a work, indeed, 
 that the general reader of average culture may read 
 with no little interest, and pleasure, and profit ; but 
 the reader who would thoroughly appreciate the pro- 
 digious learning and wide research of this remarkable 
 volume, and, in the quaint language of an old author, 
 " eat with delight of its very marrow," must be of 
 academical training, and conversant with the language 
 and literature of ancient Greece in such wise as is very 
 much the exception rather than the rule even among 
 people of superior education and culture otherwise. 
 The raison d'etre of Professor Geddes' work is briefly 
 this. The traditional and orthodox view of the two 
 great Homeric poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, is that 
 they are both the work of one man, an ancient Greek 
 bard, whose name was Homer ; but as to when he 
 lived, where he was born, and how he composed these 
 wonderful epics, there is no certain knowledge, only 
 vague and valueless conjecture. This is the view 
 regarding these poems and their authorship that 
 obtained among the Greeks themselves, and the view 
 that, up to a comparatively recent date, was adopted
 
 THE PROBLEM OF THE HOMERIC POEMS. 281 
 
 by the most distinguished Homeric scholars in all 
 lands, with hardly a whispered doubt or murmur of 
 dissent. It is proper to observe, however, that even 
 in Greece some two thousand years ago there was a 
 small party of scholars, the " Chorizontes," or Sepa- 
 ratists, as they were called, who held that the two 
 great Greek epics were of different ages, and of course 
 by different authors— the earlier or older poem, the 
 Iliad, by Homer ; the later or more recent poem, the 
 Odyssey, by some nameless minstrel, of great poetic 
 power indeed, but upon the whole only an imitator of, 
 and second and subsiduary to, the great original 
 Homer after all. For some twenty centuries, then, 
 Homeric scholars and critics were divided into two 
 camps, the one containing a numerous and well-dis- 
 ciplined army of orthodox Traditionalists ; the other, 
 a mere handful, the heterodox Separatists, whose in- 
 fluence was so small, for they spoke with bated breath, 
 that they may be said to have existed only as the 
 heretical exception that went to prove the orthodox 
 rule. Towards the close of the last century, however, 
 arose the Wolfian school of heretics, so called after 
 their distinguished leader, Frederick Augustus Wolf, 
 Professor of Classical Literature in the University of 
 Halle. Wolf, a profound scholar, and a man of mar- 
 vellous critical acumen, found, or thought he found, so 
 many discrepancies in the Homeric epics, such 
 " mighty gaps and commissures," so much to be 
 accounted for and adjusted in various directions, for 
 which the Traditional and Separatist theories were 
 utterly insufficient, that he had no hesitation in turn- 
 ing his back on both camps, and boldly propounding
 
 2S2 'TIV7XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 a theory of his own — a theory on which alone, he was 
 of opinion, all the difficulties of the great Homeric 
 question could be satisfactorily explained. The one 
 Homer of the Traditionalists was not enough, nor 
 even the two Homers (or Homer and later minstrel) of 
 the Separatists. He held that the Homeric epics were 
 built up of many ballads and martial songs, the com- 
 position of many Homers, so to speak- — of many 
 different bards, that is — belonging to the great epic 
 cycle of Grecian song. This startling theory Wolf 
 proceeded to substantiate with so much critical in- 
 genuity and learning, that it straightway found favour 
 with many of the most distinguished scholars, not 
 only in Germany, but generally over the Continent, 
 and even in England. The Wolfian camp, in short, 
 w r as soon filled with many willing and able recruits, and 
 on the Hellenic field, on which there were formerly 
 but two camps, there were now three — the Tradition- 
 alists, the Separatists or Chorizontes, and the Wolfians. 
 What Professor Geddes tries to do in the volume 
 before us, and does so well that he will assuredly have 
 many followers, some of whom have even already 
 intimated their allegiance, is to point out a via media, 
 a middle way, towards a full and final settlement, if 
 possible, of the great Homeric problem. In the great 
 epic known as the Iliad, he finds a certain number 
 of books so closely associated with Achilles and his 
 exploits, so clearly the outcome of the " wrath " of 
 the godlike hero, that he calls the group so dis- 
 tinguished the Achilleid. These Achilleid cantos, too, 
 he finds pervaded by an archaic tone, an air of eld, 
 not so noticeable, if it exists at all, in the cantos
 
 THE PROBLEM OF THE HOMERIC POEMS. 283 
 
 outside the Achilleid group. This Achilleid Professor 
 Geddes believes to be the oldest part, the kernel, so to 
 speak, of the Iliad so called, and to be the production 
 of an old Thessalian bard, who lived a thousand years, 
 perhaps, or more, before the Christian era, and whose 
 name has perished, though his work survives. The 
 remaining cantos of the Iliad not included in the 
 Achilleid group are the composition, along with the 
 Odyssey, of a later minstrel, and this later minstrel is 
 none other than Homer, the Homer with whose name 
 is associated so much of all that the world has for 
 thirty centuries agreed to hold in highest honour as 
 the pride and glory of epic song. It is impossible, 
 within the space at our disposal here, to do anything 
 like justice to the ingenuity and learning with which 
 Professor Geddes works his way, step by step, through 
 the many difficulties that beset him in laying out and 
 macadamising his via media solution of the Plomeric 
 problem. He has not, indeed, convinced us that lie 
 is right. After as honest and careful a study of his 
 work as the long and stormy nights of the last fortnight 
 of the old year and the first fortnight of the new enabled 
 us to bestow upon it, we still cling to the unity of the 
 Iliad, believing that one minstrel, even Homer, "father 
 of verse," was the author of it all from first to last, 
 from the opening invocation to the Muse in the first 
 canto to the closing line of the twenty-fourth : 
 
 " Such honours I] ion to her hero paid, 
 And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade." 
 
 And all this, discrepancies, " gaps and commissures " 
 admitted, and to the contrary notwithstanding. As 
 to the Odyssey, we believe that it, too, is the work of
 
 284 'TJVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 the same bard that sung " the tale of Troy divine." 
 We cannot believe in two Homers, far less in many 
 Homers : Nature is not so lavish of her great poets. 
 All the difficulties and discrepancies in both poems, 
 all the gaps and commissures visible under the micro- 
 scopic lens of Wolf, are to be accounted for, we think, 
 partly by the admission that Homer sometimes nods ; 
 that he is at times, nay, very often, impar sibi, wing- 
 ing a lower and more devious flight than when, filled 
 with all the divine afflatus, he soars aloft in the full 
 plenitude of his poetic powers, and partly by ascrib- 
 ing all the more glaring faults and flaws, of whatever 
 nature, to the interpolations and omissions of the 
 raphsodists while the poems were still in an unwritten 
 state, and to the carelessness or dishonesty of collectors 
 and transcribers after they began to appear in a 
 written form. Be this, however, as it may, what 
 there can be no doubt at all about is that the Professor 
 of Greek in the University of Aberdeen has written 
 one of the most scholarly and learned books of the 
 century in any language ; and henceforward no one 
 who has not read and thoughtfully studied The 
 Problem of the Homeric Poems, as discussed and 
 sifted by Professor Geddes, can pretend to a know- 
 ledge of the question in all its bearings. It is such a 
 book, as to its subject-matter, as only a scholar of the 
 very first order could have written, while among 
 scholars of the highest order it is rare to find a literary 
 style so perfectly lucid and logical throughout, so 
 entirely free from the obscurity and paradox that too 
 often make the books of very learned men a hard task 
 to read, and a harder still to comprehend. The pub- 
 lishers are Macmillan & Co.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Meteors — Professor Blackie — Homer — The Descent as a Meteor of Pallas 
 Minerva — A sparkling swift-descending Fireball Meteor ought to lie 
 called a Minervalite — -The " Dreag" of the Gaels — An exploding 
 Dreag'm. 1746 — -The great Meteor Shower of 1866. 
 
 February has come in, even as January went out, 
 cold and calm and clear, with enough of brilliant sun- 
 shine to counterpoise all the frost and chill of the 
 hours of twilight and darkness. Of late, indeed, we 
 have had no such thing as darkness properly so called, 
 for even when the last moon was but a faint and 
 pallid fragment of an ill-defined and sickly orb in 
 rapid wane, and while the present moon was still but 
 a thin and sharp-horned crescent in the west, the 
 nights were brilliantly starlit and clear, the practised 
 eye, otherwise unaided, being able to detect and 
 identify small magnitude stars — in Taurus, for ex- 
 ample, and Orion and Leo as they culminated — with 
 a readiness and ease that indicated a remarkable trans- 
 parency of atmosphere, rare in this country at any 
 time, and rarest of all, perhaps, at this particular 
 season of the year. 
 
 One niojit last week, as we were observiuo- an 
 occultation by the moon of a star in Taurus, a fiery 
 meteor of large size and exceeding brilliancy lit up the 
 south-western heavens with a surging wave of pale 
 green light of such dazzling intensity, that for a few
 
 286 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 seconds the moon and stars were but the shivering 
 ghosts of themselves, so tremblingly pallid and deathly 
 was their hue in the presence of the fierce and fiery 
 stranger. The meteor, as we saw it, seemed to issue 
 from the left shoulder of Orion, then on the meridian, 
 and thence to drop, or rather to dart, obliquely west- 
 wards, until, somewhere over Duart Castle in Mull, it 
 burst into a thousand brilliant fragments, a reddish 
 green luminous train that marked its track remaining 
 visible for several seconds after the disruption and 
 extinction of the meteor proper itself. Similar meteors 
 of the fireball exploding order we have frequently 
 seen, but never, perhaps, an example so splendid in all 
 its belongings as this one ; for it was not only of in- 
 tense and almost blinding brilliancy in itself, but at 
 the moment of explosion it was splendid in the number 
 and exceeding brilliancy of its disrupted fragments, as 
 well as in the broad train of light, like a strip of con- 
 fused and ill-defined rainbow, that marked out its 
 path adown the heavens from Orion to within the 
 horizon line over the ancient stronghold of the chief 
 of the Macleans. We wished exceedingly that, of all 
 living men, our excellent friend Professor Blackie had 
 been beside us at the moment, that he might see this 
 meteor for himself even as we saw it. Why, it may 
 be asked, of all men Professor Blackie ? why in the 
 particular circumstances should his presence, rather 
 than that of any one else, be so desirable ? Well, 
 courteous reader, if you grant us your patient attention 
 for a few minutes, you shall be made to understand 
 the connection between the learned Professor and this 
 same fiery meteor of ours. In the Fourth Book of the
 
 THE METEOR-LIKE DESCENT OF PALLAS. 2S7 
 
 Iliad Homer tells how Jove, at the urgent request 
 and incessant " nagging " of ox-eyed Juno, sent Pallas 
 Minerva to incite the Trojans to a breach of the peace — 
 to a breach, that is, of the league, truce, armistice, or 
 whatever it may be called, into which the contending 
 hosts had entered shortly before, in order that the 
 quarrel might be settled by single combat, after a 
 fashion with which we are so familiar in the history 
 of chivalric ages. The blue-eyed goddess, nothing 
 loth, darts from the heights of Olympus on an errand, 
 about the morality of which the less said the better. 
 Literally translated, Homer's description of the descent 
 of Pallas is as follows : — " Thus having spoken, he 
 (Jove) urged on Minerva already inclined ; she, hasten- 
 ing, descended the heights of Olympus ; such as the 
 star which the son of wily Saturn sends as a sign 
 either to mariners or to a wide host of nations, and 
 from it many sparks are emitted. Like unto this 
 Pallas Minerva hastened to the earth, and leaped into 
 the midst (of the neutral space between the armies) ; 
 and astonishment seized upon the horse-breaking 
 Trojans and the well-greaved Greeks, looking on." 
 Now, it is clear that although Homer here employs the 
 usual word for star (aster), he cannot of course mean 
 a star in the ordinary sense . of the term in his own 
 language any more than in ours — he cannot, that is, 
 mean a fixed star or a planet. He must mean a celestial 
 something, not exactly a star, but at the same time of 
 so much of the nature of a star as to make the term 
 upon the whole apt and proper enough, and sufficiently 
 intelligible to those primitive peoples for whose delight 
 and edification he sung his matchless epos, Com-
 
 288 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 mentators have been a good deal puzzled as to what is 
 really meant. Pope thinks that a comet is the thing, 
 and translates accordingly : — 
 
 " Fir'd with the charge, she headlong urg'd her flight, 
 And shot like lightniDg from Olympus' height, 
 As the red comet, from Saturn ius sent 
 To fright the nations with a dire portent 
 (A fatal sign to armies on the plain, 
 Or trembling sailors on the wintry main), 
 With sweeping glories glides along in air, 
 And shakes the sparkles from its shining hair ; 
 Between both armies thus, in open sight, 
 Shot the bright goddess in a trail of light ; 
 With eyes erect the gazing hosts admire 
 The power descending, and the heavens on fire ! " 
 
 But it is very certain that Homer in this passage can- 
 not mean a comet, for it is only to the astronomer of 
 comparatively modern times that a comet is known as 
 a fact to move swiftly ; to the ordinary eye it moves 
 slowly, and is besides visible, when visible at all, for 
 weeks and months together ; whereas what Homer 
 means is something that moves with exceeding swift- 
 ness, something that darts with extraordinary velocity, 
 even for a heavenly body, and which, in some part or 
 other of its course, emits sparks. Professor Blackie 
 in his translation avoids the danger of being too par- 
 ticular, for he is confessedly in doubt, and translates 
 " a meteor-star" which, although not sufficiently pre- 
 cise, is yet by any number of millions of miles nearer 
 the mark than Pope's " comet." Blackie's lines have 
 much of the true Homeric ring in them, and are worth 
 quoting : — 
 
 " Thus he ; and spurred with needless words Athene's eager bent, 
 Down from Olympus' lofty brow with rapid swoop she went :
 
 PROFESSOR BLA OKIE'S RENDERING. 289 
 
 As when the ' Thunderer ' from the sky hath shot a meteor-star 
 
 To sailors toiling through the seas, and soldiers camped in war. 
 A flaring sign • and thick the trailing sparks are scattered far ; 
 So in a trail of light to earth down shoots the maid divine, 
 And leaps between the hosts ; while strange amazement held 
 
 the eyne 
 Of horse-subduing Trojans, and the stout well-greaved Greeks." 
 
 The compound " meteor-star " of this passage is so 
 good, so sufficiently suggestive, that we should never 
 have dreamt that the learned Professor had the 
 slightest doubt or difficulty in the matter, were it not 
 for a note in which he confesses to be much puzzled 
 by the " sparks" which his "meteor-star" is described 
 by Homer as emitting. The Professor sees clearly 
 enough that Pope's " comet," even if supplied with a 
 tail the broadest and brightest you can imagine, will 
 never do ; it is too slow, its course is not sufficiently 
 earthwards, and it does not emit sparks. He thinks a 
 " shooting star " is meant, though he frankly confesses 
 that he never saw shooting stars casting out sparks in 
 the way described. But a shooting star of the ordinary 
 type, with which we are all so familiar, will not do any 
 more than Pope's comet. The course of shooting stars 
 is not necessarily earthwards ; they move in all direc- 
 tions, up (speaking for the moment unscientifically) as 
 well as down, and are far too common to be a wonder 
 or a terror either to soldiers or sailors. Let us see 
 what is really wanted. Pallas darts from the top of 
 Thessalian Olympus, the serene abode of the Im- 
 mortals, a mountain 9000 feet high, nearly double the 
 height of our own Ben Nevis, and her course must 
 from such a height be a swiftly descending one, a 
 downward "swoop," to use the Professor's own word, 
 
 T
 
 290 'TIV7XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 for she has only to cross the iEgean in order .to alight 
 on the Trojan plains at the foot of Ida, — a few seconds, 
 in the case of a goddess urged to do Jove's errand 
 quickly, clearly sufficing. Such a " star," then, as will 
 serve Homer's purpose in the connection must be a 
 brightly luminous body, that seeks the earth swiftly, 
 and by an almost perpendicular descent ; it must be 
 visible but for a brief moment, just long enough to 
 impress the spectator with a due sense of the magni- 
 ficence of its fiery splendour ; it must emit sparks, a 
 sign of rapid extinction and dissolution (in the case of 
 a goddess, simply of invisibility under that particular 
 form) ; and, finally, it must be of comparatively rare 
 occurrence, so rare as to be always more or less an 
 object of wonder and terror, and a "portent dire" to 
 the beholders. Now, it is evident enough that neither 
 comet nor shooting star, properly so called, will serve 
 our purpose under all the conditions stated. But as the 
 Fingalian proverb has it, mur e Bran, 'se 'bhrathair — 
 if it be not Bran, it is Bran's brother ; if it be not a 
 shooting star proper that Homer means, he means Avhat 
 is only a variety of the same phenomenon. What the 
 grand old bard, who, depend upon it, was not always 
 blind, refers to is beyond all question what is known 
 to modern science as an Aerolite or Fireball, that, as 
 it approaches the earth at a point somewhere within 
 the visible horizon, so frequently explodes into hundreds 
 of brilliant fragments and disappears. Occasionally 
 it begins to emit sparks for a second or two before it is 
 ripe for the act of final disruption — a disruption some- 
 times accompanied by a noise like thunder :c heard re- 
 mote," or the discharge of a distant park of artillery,
 
 THE "DREAG" OF THE GAELS. 291 
 
 the loudness of the noise, or whether it is heard at all, 
 depending on our distance at the moment from the ex- 
 ploding meteor. These exploding, spark-emitting 
 aerolites are not indeed common, but they are of fre- 
 quent enough occurrence to make us wonder that the 
 many learned commentators on Homer should have so 
 long missed clutching at them with eager grasp as the 
 only possible kind of " star " fit for all the requirements 
 of the passage quoted. And in order to obviate betimes 
 a possible enough objection in the case, it may be 
 stated that these exploding aerolites have been 
 frequently seen in broadest, brightest daylight, as well 
 as at night. The reader will now understand why we 
 so much desired the presence of Professor Blackie the 
 other night, as the Minervalite — for so have we deter- 
 mined to call these exploding meteors in all time com- 
 ing — burst upon our sight, and, after running its swift 
 and fiery course, dissolved into a shower of bright and 
 beautiful miniature stars. 
 
 The fireball or aerolite is known to the people of 
 the Highlands as a Dreag (Scot. Dreg) or Driug, a 
 compound term from Draoidh, a Druid, and eug, death, 
 because in the old Druidical times it was believed that 
 such a meteor was the soul or spirit of one of these 
 philosopher-priests just released from its tenement of 
 clay, and fast urging its flight to the shores of a dim 
 and distant ghost-land, the geography of which was 
 uncertain. Our own researches, however, into the 
 folk-lore of this particular question rather lead us to 
 the conclusion that the dreag or meteor was not 
 believed to be itself the visible soul or spirit of the 
 deceased Druid, but only the psychopompal vehicle, the
 
 2 9 2 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 "fiery chariot," in which the spirit was conveyed in 
 fiery splendour into the happiness and " higher life " 
 of a new form of existence. It is to be observed that 
 by the dreag proper was always meant the ticw- ex- 
 ploding meteor that rushes athwart the heavens for a 
 few seconds, an intensely luminous globe of fire, and 
 seems to vanish simply by being swallowed up in dark- 
 ness. The exploding dreag, or Minervalite, as we 
 have called it, is known in the Highlands as dreag- 
 shradagach, or the spark-emitting dreag, and has 
 always been held as a portent not of such a compara- 
 tively small matter as the death of any single indi- 
 vidual, however exalted, but of some widespread 
 calamity, such as we should call now-a-days a national 
 disaster, always indeed connected with death, but with 
 death on a laro;e scale, and of a violent or sudden 
 nature. Thus, shortly after sunset on the evening of 
 the 15th April 1 746, and while it was still daylight, a 
 large fiery meteor passed over Upper Strathspey and 
 Badenoch, its course being from south-east to north-west. 
 It finished its course by exploding into a thousand 
 brilliant sparks, and with loud and terrible detonations, 
 " more awful," said the old man who related to us the 
 tradition as it had been handed down to him — "more 
 awful than any thunder." This meteor was of course 
 intimately associated in the popular superstition with 
 the sad disaster of the following day on the bleak, black 
 moor of Culloden. The same portentous meteor is men- 
 tioned in an old poem of the period taken down many 
 years ago from the recitation of a Badenoch man by 
 the late distinguished Gaelic scholar James Munro of 
 Blarour, in Brae-Lochaber, who kindly handed to us
 
 THE METEOR A PORTENT. 293 
 
 the original copy for publication in a work which we 
 meditated at the time, and which may yet see the 
 light. Similarly, some three-and-twenty years ago, as 
 we were informed at the time by some cattle-drovers 
 who had just returned from the island, a brilliant 
 meteor that finished its course by exploding into a 
 shower of fiery stars passed over the island of Barm, 
 one of the Outer Hebrides, and this meteor was by the 
 inhabitants believed to have been portentous of, and 
 specially connected with, the wreck shortly afterwards 
 of a large emigrant ship on Barra Head, with the loss 
 of almost all the passengers and crew. So that it would 
 seem that in the popular superstitions of modern times 
 these brilliant, spark-emitting meteors are held to be 
 still as portentous of disaster to soldiers and sailors as 
 they were in the days of Homer on the shores of the 
 iEgean Sea three thousand years ago. The commoner 
 non-exploding aerolite, too, is still associated, where 
 possible, with the death of some distinguished person- 
 age in the district over which it urges its fiery flight, 
 Not many years ago, while the proprietor of a large 
 estate in a neighbouring county, that has been in the 
 possession of the family for at least five centuries, was 
 lying sick unto death, a large and brilliant meteor, the 
 passage of which we ourselves happened to observe, was, 
 by the common consent of more than a thousand people, 
 associated with the death of the " Laird," a most ex- 
 cellent man, although the two events were separated 
 from each other by an interval of several days. When 
 one of these meteors is associated with the death of any 
 particular individual, it is usually in a good sense ; 
 the meteor, that is, in most cases, is accepted in its old
 
 294 'TIJIXT BEN NEVIS AND GIENCOE. 
 
 Druidical aspect, a true dreag, in short, with which in 
 some mysterious manner the spirit of the departed is 
 associated in its passage to a brighter and better world. 
 If the meteor, however, were to appear synchronously 
 with the death of a man at once " big " and had, of 
 exalted station, but of evil repute, we are not quite so 
 sure but that the meteor would be held as heralding 
 his passage to a very different, though still fitting, 
 abode ; while in the case of a laird who was a novus 
 homo, a man with neither ancestral name nor holding 
 in the Highlands, and who had but recently entered 
 upon this property by purchase, the meaning of a 
 meteor as regards him, if indeed he was allowed to be 
 honoured with the attention of a meteor at all, would 
 probably be very much the same as in the case of the 
 man of evil repute aforesaid. 
 
 But the reader must not run away with the idea 
 that these superstitions are confined to the Highlands. 
 We have abundance of evidence beside us to prove 
 that they are quite as widespread, and are held quite 
 as firmly, in the southern and midland counties as in 
 the north ; only that in the northern counties, perhaps, 
 their existence is acknowledged with less reserve than 
 among the longer- visaged and more puritanical peoples 
 of the old wdiigamore counties of the south and south- 
 west. 
 
 Finally, let us state that the most magnificent dis- 
 play of meteors we ever beheld was that of the 13-1 4th 
 November 1866, when, from eight or nine o'clock at 
 night until the dawning day, the whole firmament 
 seemed literally on fire with every conceivable kind of 
 luminous meteor-shooting stars, aerolites, and fireballs,
 
 A METEORIC DISELA Y. 295 
 
 exploding and non-exploding, with frequent lightning 
 flashes to intensify the awful magnificence of the scene, 
 the whole, too, projected on a background of weird 
 auroral light, like the glare you have seen and been 
 affrighted at in a madman's eye. As we sat on, hour 
 after hour, watching the really terrible though mag- 
 nificent spectacle, the like of which we have but little 
 hopes of ever seeing again, more than once we caught 
 ourselves repeating the fine verse of the Apocalypse — 
 " And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as 
 a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken 
 of a mighty wind."
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Cold out of Season — Its effects on the Nidification of Birds — The Golden 
 Eagle in the Hebrides and on the Mainland — Letter about Golden Eagle 
 from Kintail — Story of an Eagle from Loch Lomond — Ben Lomond and 
 Ben Nevis — Best View of the latter from Ardgour and Banavie. 
 
 Here, as elsewhere, with a heavy fall of snow and 
 keen frost, winter is again supreme, a state of matters, 
 however, not likely to last long, for within the last few 
 clays we have noticed that almost all our winter 
 wild-fowl have left, or are leaving, our inland lochs 
 and estuaries, as if they foresaw the speedy advent of 
 fine weather, and were no longer afraid of facing the 
 unsheltered waters of the open sea. Never before 
 have we seen the country wear so dismal an aspect in 
 the last days of February, an aspect the dismal wintri- 
 ness of which is only intensified by the altitude and 
 mid-day brilliancy of a sun already fast hastening to 
 the starry borders of primrose-eyed Aries. For a 
 whole fortnight up to the 14th the weather with us 
 here was bright and warm, and our wild-birds, true to 
 their instincts, were celebrating St. Valentine-tide with 
 all the love-making and all the song that the many 
 hardships of a winter so exceptional left them capable 
 of, when, all of a sudden, the cold returned with 
 almost all its New- Year time intensity ; the snow 
 began to fall in such multitudinous and thick and 
 solid flakes as is rarely seen in the West Highlands,
 
 THE GOLDEN EAGLE LN TILE HIGHLANDS. 297 
 
 while the north-east wind blew in fierce and fitful 
 gusts, that, as it shrieked adown the glens, and howled 
 over ferry aud firth, drove us all, "beast and body," 
 and trembling wee bird, into such shelters, each after 
 his kind, as were readiest at hand, and most suitable 
 in all the circumstances of our hyperborean surround- 
 ings. Our poor birds were instantly and of course 
 made dumb and dowie enough, the old mid-winter 
 chirp at once replacing the voice of song, while the 
 love instinct, like a sensitive flower unable to bear the 
 darkness and the cold, was straightway driven into a 
 second hybernation. The old saw that " Sine Cerere 
 et Bacclio frigit Venus'" is, to a certain extent per- 
 haps, physiologically true ; but as regards our wild-bird 
 friends, at least, Venus, depend upon it, has no such 
 formidable enemy as cold out of season, cold at once 
 intense and untimeous. Even as we write, however, 
 there are some signs of a coming thaw, and there is no 
 unpardonable daring in the prognostication that we 
 shall have a bright and pleasant spring after all. 
 
 We have had some very interesting communications 
 with reference to a paragraph on the golden eagle in 
 one of our recent papers. The noble bird, we are 
 pleased to find, is very far from being extinct in the 
 Highlands, many well authenticated reports having 
 reached us of its recent occurrence in the Hebrides, as 
 well as within the Garbh-chriochan, or "rough 
 bounds " of the mainland, and some of these in locali- 
 ties far enough apart to justify us in coming to the 
 conclusion that, on the most moderate computation, 
 there must be at least a dozen pairs of the true Aquila 
 chryseatos still in possession of their favourite haunts
 
 298 TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 in the more inaccessible mountain fastnesses of the 
 eastern and midland Highlands, as well as in the 
 north-west. We are very much pleased to find, as 
 the reader may believe, that proprietors everywhere, 
 with hardly an exception, as well as the lessees of 
 grouse moors and deer forests, are beginning to regard 
 the golden eagle with feelings of admiration and 
 respect rather than of hostility, and have in many 
 cases instructed their keepers and gillies to abstain 
 from molesting the kingly birds, unless caught in some 
 indefensible act of red-handed raid and onslaught, and 
 in such cases oifurtum grave as in the interests of fair 
 sport and good neighbourhood cannot in any wise be 
 permitted even in the case of so magnificent a 
 marauder. The following, from a correspondent in 
 Boss-shire, is of sufficient interest to be reproduced 
 here : — 
 
 "Lochalsh, 4th February 1879. 
 " Last autumn, through the kindness of him who is heir to what 
 we in Eoss-shire look upon as the classic region of Kintail, the 
 writer was privileged to go at will through its magnificent corries 
 and up to the highest points of its unsurpassed hills — mountains if 
 you like, for Ben Attow is one, and Scourouran is another. One 
 beautiful day, when the sun was bright and there was enough of 
 wind to make things pleasant after a steep brae had been sur- 
 mounted, as I, accompanied by my old friend Cattanach, the 
 famous deerstalker of Kintail, and Duncan Macrae, the energetic 
 and skilful foxhunter of the same district, was cautiously proceed- 
 ing through Corra Chat, all of a sudden I was conscious of a con- 
 siderable shadow appearing very near, but in motion. Looking up 
 from the effect to see the cause, there I saw one of your favourites 
 in all its majesty sailing past, and it certainly was not eighty yards 
 away. It was a grand bird, in fullest plumage, and, with the sun 
 shining so brightly on it, it looked more golden than any eagle I 
 ever saw before. I fear you will be ineffably disgusted when I 
 remark that my first thought was how much I should like to knock
 
 THE GOLDEN EAGLE LN TLLE HIGHLANDS. 299 
 
 it over, send it to the sportsman's guide, philosopher, and friend — 
 Mr. Snowie — to be preserved in his admirable way, thence to Mr. 
 Mackenzie, on whose estate it was pursuing its deadly avocation ! 
 However, your correspondent is a most miserable shot, and your 
 friend's great strong wings soon took it far from me Avithout 
 smelling powder, or even hearing the report of a gun. Lavs Deo ! 
 you say, no doubt. But I wish you could have seen the bird of 
 Jove so near you, so unconscious of danger to itself, and yet so 
 vengeful in its intentions to others, as it went hunting along close 
 to the ground, ready for action should some of the ptarmigan you 
 value so little in comparison appear. You, who are so distin- 
 guished a naturalist, would have enjoyed the opportunity which 
 was vouchsafed me, and you would have been able to do justice to 
 the occasion in that happy manner which is natural to you. As 
 for myself, the destruction to more useful birds — pray pardon 
 the vulgar idea, and probably the ignorance — caused by golden 
 eagles would induce me at any time to try my hand as a marksman, 
 for I would rather see them well stuffed than well fed on grouse 
 and ptarmigan ! 
 
 " On another occasion, when Duncan Macrae, my good friend 
 Allie Ruadh (Alex. Maclennan) and I were in the vicinity of ' The 
 Cnap,' we saw another specimen of the same bird performing most 
 extensive evolutions in the air; and what a gathering of grey crows 
 there was in attendance on his majesty ! If it had just pounced 
 upon the crows, and broken every bone in their bodies, I think 
 that for the rest of my life my admiration of that feat would 
 induce me to spare the life of any member of their destroyer's 
 family ! The golden eagle has better taste, however, for, so far as 
 my information goes, it appreciates game, and will not condescend 
 to vermin — crows at all events. Is this not the case % 
 
 " Pray pardon the long screed. I fear it is a poor return, indeed, 
 for many a pleasant hour's reading received from ' Nether Lochaber.' 
 
 " P. Campbell Eoss." 
 
 From another correspondent, a lady in Dumbarton- 
 shire, we have had a very pleasant letter, from which 
 we are permitted to make the following extract : — 
 
 "In 1876, and again in the autumn of last year, a huge bird, 
 which my son, a keen sportsman, and not likely to be deceived in
 
 300 'TJFIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 such a matter, felt convinced was a golden eagle, was on several 
 occasions seen about the eastern slopes of Ben Lomond — a finer 
 mountain, by the by, than your Ben Nevis, though not so high, at 
 least to my thinking. As it was crossing the loch (Loch Lomond) at 
 an early hour one morning in 1876, 1 had an opportunity of looking 
 at it with a good glass, Avhich reduced the height at which it was 
 soaring sufficiently to enable me to notice that its colour was yel- 
 lowish or yellowish brown, and in the bright sunlight that at the 
 moment prevailed, I should not have thought any one far wrong 
 that called it golden. In a stuffed specimen, however, that has 
 stood for some years in my staircase window, the prevailing colour 
 is a very dark brown, of a slightly lighter shade on the sides of 
 the breast, and for a small space above the folding of the wings at 
 the shoulder." 
 
 We are much obliged to our correspondent for her 
 most interesting communication, although she must 
 not be angry if we say that we cannot agree with her 
 that Ben Lomond is in any sense whatever a finer 
 mountain than Ben Nevis. Of its particular type Ben 
 Lomond is doubtless very fine — one of the first, indeed, 
 of Scottish mountains, but it is only one mountain, 
 view it from what standpoint you may ; while our 
 maoiiificent Ben Nevis is rather three or four moun- 
 tains, each equal to Ben Lomond in bulk, and exceed- 
 ing it in altitude, roughly rolled together into a huge 
 irregular mass, colossal and vast, whose rugged out- 
 lines and terrible precipices and headlong steeps 
 impress one with a sense of sublimity and grandeur 
 such as is only partially felt, if felt at all, in the 
 presence of any other mountain in the kingdom. As 
 you make the circuit of its base, a good thirty miles 
 in circumference, and halt to gaze at some selected 
 standpoint in, say, each five miles of the round, the 
 mighty Ben confronts you at each such step under a
 
 BEN NEVIS AND BEN LOMOND. 301 
 
 totally different aspect, and you finish with the impres- 
 sion, which such a circuit left indelibly with ourselves, 
 that Ben Nevis is not a single mountain at all, but a 
 colossal bundle of the hu^est of Scotland's mountains 
 rolled into one mighty mass, and surpassing all others 
 even more in mass and magnitude and prodigiousness 
 of bulk than in altitude. It is the Olympus of Britain, 
 on whose summit, if anywhere, all the hidden mys- 
 teries of ancient Celtic Baalism and Druidical worship 
 may be supposed still to linger, and in whose mists 
 and clouds, whether rolling a surging sea before the 
 tempest, or in detached masses reposing in the golden 
 calm of evening, the poetical eye may even yet discern 
 the shadowy ghosts of the demigods and heroes of the 
 old Fino-alian sono 1 ! Ben Nevis is in truth the Char- 
 
 o o 
 
 lemaome of British mountainland, the loftiest and 
 proudest of his companion Bens — Ben Lomond in- 
 cluded — being but his paladins ; great, indeed, in 
 themselves, but still only subsidiary and second to 
 him, monarch of all he surveys, and every inch a 
 
 king ! No, no ! dear Mrs. C , your Ben Lomond is 
 
 a " fine " mountain enough, and a beautiful mountain, 
 and you do well to be proud of it, but you really 
 must not compare it with Ben Nevis. Your Loch 
 Lomond, too, is unquestionably a fine sheet of water, 
 but neither must you boast of it, a mere skating pond 
 after all, as against us, when we remind you that ours 
 is the matchless Limine Loch, with its fitting continua- 
 tions of Loch Aber and Loch Eil, not to speak of its 
 winding offshoot, our own beautiful Loch Leven, with 
 its magnificent impending mountains, the home of the 
 osprey and the eagle, and its clear and limpid waters,
 
 3 o2 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 a harbour of refuge to thousands of grateful sea-fowl, 
 a harbour of refuge in every wind that blows. 
 
 For the passing tourist, by the way, one of the very 
 finest views of the grand old Ben is to be had from 
 Aryhualan, in Ardgour, on the afternoon, say, and on 
 till the twilight of a day in March or September. If 
 a nearer standpoint be desired, the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of the hotel at Banavie is perhaps as good 
 as any for the spectator, who would take in at one 
 long, deep draught, so to speak, an abiding impression 
 of the rugged massiveness and majestic grandeur of 
 our noble mountain.
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Storm— Stormy Petrel— Rare Birds— Red-necked Phalarope— Wild-Bird Notes 
 from Mull and Stranraer — Antique Silver Brooch found on the top of 
 Benvere, in Appin — Appin an old Hunting-Ground of the Stuart Kings. 
 
 Relying on our wild-bird friends, we predicted that 
 December was likely to be a stormy month, and very 
 stormy it has unquestionably proved. Nor, if we 
 judge correctly, are we by any means quite done with 
 unsettled weather and heavy gales. Ocean and Arctic 
 wild-fowl are at this moment more numerous than 
 ever in all our creeks and bays, and while they 
 remain with us, w r e may confidently look either for 
 very stormy or for intensely cold weather. Even the 
 stormy petrels, a small flock of which were driven to 
 our shores by the great November storm, may still be 
 seen urging their zig-zag and swallow-like flight over 
 the Linnhe Loch waves, dipping into the hollows and 
 tipping the crests after the fashion so familiar to 
 those whose fortune it has been to go down to the sea 
 in ships, doing business in "great waters ; " and very 
 interesting it is to watch the confidence and ease with 
 which these restless little fellows dash into the surge 
 and hurly-burly of the waves when at their worst and 
 wildest. We never before saw these birds on our 
 shores except once, and that was while crossing 
 Corran Ferry on a Sunday morning many years ago. 
 We at that time drew attention to the presence of the
 
 3 o4 TJV/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 stormy petrel in the Limine Loch as a rare occurrence, 
 venturing to predict that a great storm, or a succession 
 of great storms, must be close at hand, a prediction 
 fully verified by the event, for, immediately after- 
 wards, we had a full fortnight of the stormiest and 
 wildest weather ever known along the western sea- 
 board. In the way of further weather forecast, suffice 
 it meanwhile to say that, if we interpret our wild-bird 
 friends aright, January, too, will contribute his own 
 full share of heavy gales and wild unsettled weather 
 to the meteorology of a season already so remarkable 
 for the force and fierceness of its eddying winds. 
 
 As a consequence of the late storms, we have had 
 several consignments of rare birds for identification, 
 and some very interesting ornithological notes from 
 competent observers in various parts of the country, 
 and on both coasts, from Galloway to Caithness. Our 
 correspondents everywhere have the same story to 
 tell — a large increase over ordinary seasons of wild- 
 fowl, Arctic and Pelagic, some of them of extremely 
 rare occurrence in the British Islands. After the 
 great November gale, the shores in many places were 
 strewn with the bodies of dead sea-fowl, that, in spite 
 of web and wing, were utterly helpless in the storm, 
 and so were overwhelmed and drowned by the sheer 
 force and fury of wind and waves. Of the birds 
 sent to us for identification, the rarest, perhaps, is a 
 specimen in excellent plumage of the red-necked 
 phalarope (the Phalaropus glacialis of Latham), from 
 the island of Mull. The lady who sends us this bird 
 says in an accompanying note — 
 
 " After the hurricane of the 22d November one could pick up 
 any number of all sorts of sea birds along the north-western shores
 
 EFFECTS OF A STORM ON WILD-BIRDS. 305 
 
 of Mull, and it was probably the same on all our shores. It was 
 not so surprising, perhaps, to find many dead birds of the smaller 
 ' doucker ' genus, for once they were caught in the huge rollers 
 within a certain distance of the shore, there was clearly no escape 
 for them ; but it was a striking proof of the violence of the 
 tempest to meet with dead gulls, gannets, cormorants, and various 
 species of curlews, that seem to have been dashed upon the rocks 
 and killed, or driven headlong into the sea and drowned, so extra- 
 ordinary was the fury of the tempest on that dreadful morning. 
 We have been calculating that the sea rose to a height of eleven 
 feet higher than it was ever known to reach before in the memory 
 of the ' oldest inhabitant.' " 
 
 Another rare bird comes from a gentleman in 
 Sutherlandshire, and its satisfactory identification 
 gave us a good deal of trouble. It was only when 
 a distinguished ornithological friend in the south 
 fully corroborated our own finding that we were 
 satisfied that the bird in hand was none other than 
 the black-tailed godwit (Limosa melanura), a rare 
 species of Tringa. It was shot while feeding with a 
 flock of redshanks (Scolopax calidris) on the sea 
 beach somewhere in the neighbourhood of Helmsdale. 
 A correspondent who lives near Stranraer sends us the 
 following, which we very willingly reproduce, for he 
 is an exceedingly shrewd, intelligent man : — 
 
 "The big storm on the 22d November was very violent all along 
 the south coasts ; quite as bad, I should think, if not even worse, 
 than with you in the north-west. You ask about the birds. 
 Well, they suffered a great deal, as you may believe, in such a 
 dreadful tempest. A great number were dead on the shores of 
 Loch Ryan — some killed by being dashed by the waves on the shore 
 and rocks, and some, by being unable to fly in the hurricane, were 
 overwhelmed by the ' yeasty waves,' and drowned. The survivors 
 were for some days quite tame ; they had been so much frightened 
 by the storm, that they seemed not to be at all afraid of human 
 
 U
 
 3 o6 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 beings. You could get quite near to them, for they were almost 
 as tame as ducks or hens, until they recovered their strength and 
 courage, and then they began to grow shyer. 
 
 " The land birds suffered a great deal too. Thrushes, finches, 
 and robins were found dead in many places. Even hens and 
 ducks, in some cases, were killed by being dashed against walls 
 and fences by the strength of the gale. A very strong and power- 
 ful man, and very active, too, told me that when the storm was at 
 the worst he faced it on a piece of level ground, and tried to go 
 against it by bending well down and trying with all his might, but 
 could not advance a single step. I never in all my life before saw 
 Loch Ryan in such a state of wild commotion, The waves were 
 the highest ever seen, and the screaming of the wind was enough 
 to frighten any one. John Jamieson." 
 
 We have succeeded in procuring for our Antiquarian 
 Museum a beautiful and, archaeologically, most in- 
 teresting and valuable specimen of the old mediaeval 
 Celtic brooch. It was found in a very curious place 
 and in a very curious way. One day in autumn a 
 shepherd in the opposite district of Appih, while in 
 the honest discharge of his proper duties, happened to 
 sit down to rest himself on the shoulder of the highest 
 peak of Benvere, a mountain overhanging the waters 
 of Loch Leven, and, although not the highest, 
 certainly the most beautiful of Scottish mountains. 
 While restinp* here at an elevation of more than three 
 thousand feet, the shepherd chanced to poke his stick 
 in an idle sort of way, and quite undesignedly, into the 
 mossy sward at his feet, and in so doing brought up on 
 the point of his crook what, when it came under our 
 inspection, we discovered to be a very beautiful shoulder- 
 brooch of solid silver, exquisitely chased and graved, 
 and arch geologically extremely interesting. It is an 
 annular brooch of solid silver, three and a half inches
 
 THE BENVERE BROOCH. 307 
 
 in diameter. The acus, or pin, or " tongue " is wanting, 
 the probability being that it was of baser metal than 
 the annulus, — iron, perhaps silver-gilt or bronze, and 
 that it consequently crumbled away from rust and 
 oxidation, while the annulus, or brooch proper, itself 
 remained as fresh and beautiful as it was on the day 
 when it was lost or laid where it was found. It is 
 graven with many beautiful devices in slight alto 
 relievo, in the highest style of mediaeval Celtic art, 
 and with griffins or other fabulous monsters in 
 attitudes natural or grotesque, — so beautifully executed, 
 even in the minutest details, that one is constrained to 
 wonder if a modern artist could do it better, or do it 
 at all so well. It is by far the most beautiful thing 
 of the kind we have ever had an opportunity of 
 closely studying. The ornamentation of this brooch, 
 in character, order, and style, is in some respects so 
 peculiar that we gave much close study to the devices, 
 alternating in compartments round the face of the 
 annulus, with griffins and other fabulous monsters, in 
 the hope that they might perhaps be symbolical, and 
 have a meaning of their own, which would add largely 
 to the interest and value of the relics if they were 
 found to admit of any plausible interpretation. In 
 this direction, however, we could arrive at nothing- 
 satisfactory ; and except a well-defined Greek cross at 
 the part of the annulus on which the point of the acus 
 or pin rested, we suspect that the contents of all the 
 other compartments are mere arbitrary ornaments, with- 
 out any hidden meaning or message admitting of rational 
 interpretation. The brooch, by the way, is to be 
 known henceforward as the Benvere Brooch.
 
 308 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 A very natural inquiry in connection with this 
 brooch is, how came such an article of personal 
 ornament to be lost on the top of Benvere % The 
 brooch itself bears unmistakeable evidence, in the 
 partial obliteration of the outer and inner edges of 
 some of its ornamentation and otherwise, that it must 
 have lain for a very long time in the spot whence, 
 by the merest accident, it was so strangely recovered. 
 We know that Appin was at one time so famous for 
 its stags and wild-fowl, that two at least of the 
 Stuart kings, James IV. and James V., frequently 
 visited Duncan Stewart, the chief of the clan — dilectus 
 consanguineus — our well-beloved blood relation, as in 
 the charters his royal cousins always styled him — in 
 his stronghold of Castle Stalker, for the purpose of 
 hunting the stag and hawking. Eilean-an-Stalcaire, 
 or the Falconer's Island, on which the castle is built, 
 is so called because it was long occupied by a gentle- 
 man of the clan, who held what was considered a 
 highly honourable office by the title of Stalcaire'a 
 Righ, or the King's Falconer. We may therefore 
 easily fancy a hunting party, consisting of James IV. 
 and something like a score of favourite noblemen, 
 attended by the Chief of Appin and the " duinne 
 wassels" of the Clan, following the stag in Glen- 
 Duror and Glen-a-Chaolais, and the brooch being 
 dropped and lost, as in the evening the party were 
 crossing- the mountains homewards from Benbhan 
 and Glen-a-Chaolais to Castle Stalker. The Chief of 
 Appin himself, or one of his " duinne wassels," may 
 have lost the brooch ; for it is an article not likely to 
 have belonged to any one of meaner birth, or, for that
 
 THE BENVERE BROOCH. 309 
 
 matter of it, may not this beautiful brooch have 
 adorned the royal shoulder of the king himself? 
 There is nothing outrageous or 'prima facie improbable 
 in such a supposition, and if we believe that it was 
 worn by the gallant king whilst hunting the stag 
 amongst the green hills of Appin, how vividly it 
 recalls that monarch's eventful reign, and the fatal 
 fight of Flodden Field ! The Benvere Brooch is, in 
 any case, a most beautiful and interesting relic of old 
 Celtic art of the fourteenth century, and we are glad 
 to say that, by our intermediation, it is now by 
 purchase the property of the Society of Antiquaries ot 
 Scotland.
 
 CHAPTER XLIL 
 
 Mild Winter — A Crubhan-Cait — Wild-Flowers — Birds singing — Bats" abroad 
 — An Egg in a Sparrow's Nest at New- Year Time. 
 
 This is in very truth an extraordinary winter, with 
 a temperature almost constantly so much above the 
 average, that we question very much if there has been 
 a single daylight hour since this year of grace 1882 
 came in, in which, even in the open air, anybody, if 
 directly challenged to it, could not make a crubhan- 
 cait at will. And what, you will ask, is a crubhan- 
 cait ? And we reply that a crubhan-cait, literally 
 translated, is just a cat's claw. And what, you will 
 wonder, can a cat's claw liave to do in this connection; 
 what can the mildness or severity of a winter have to 
 do with a cat's claw, or what, for that matter of it, 
 can a cat's claw have to do with the meteorology of 
 winter ? You must know, then, that in the good old 
 Parochial and Society School times the scholars 
 in the winter season sometimes quarrelled amongst 
 themselves as to the order in which, in pairs, or 
 threes, or fours, as there was room for them around the 
 hearth, they were entitled to the privilege of warming 
 themselves for a few minutes close to the school-room 
 fire. The work of the school usually commenced 
 with the " copies " or writing lessons, and a scholar, 
 with fingers benumbed with cold, was, ipso facto, it 
 was evident, the least fit to wield a pen with any hope
 
 A " CRUBHAN-CAIT:' 31 1 
 
 of being able to master the caligraphical niceties of 
 text, half-text, or small hand. The numb-fingered 
 scholar, it was clear, must get his hands thoroughly 
 warmed into flexibility before he could hope to do 
 his " copy " anything like justice, and the teacher, 
 thoughtfully impartial and paternal, gave the privilege 
 of a good warm at the fire first to such scholars as, 
 at the word of command, visibly manifested their 
 inability to do a crubhan-cait even when they tried 
 their utmost. To do a crubhan-cait is to draw all 
 the fingers and thumb into close contact at their tips, 
 as a cat's claws lie close together when sheathed. If 
 the hand was really numbed with cold, no boy or girl 
 could do this, and their inability to do it was a clear 
 proof that they were really very cold, and that a few 
 minutes' close and kindly benefit of the fire was 
 absolutely necessary before they sat down to their 
 writing lessons. Others might complain of cold, and 
 might, in truth, be cold enough, but while they could 
 do a crubhan-cait, while they had the command of 
 their finders manifested in that act, it was held that 
 as yet they were in a large degree better off than those 
 who had so completely lost all control over the flexor 
 muscles of the hand, that by no exertion of the will 
 could they bring their numbed fingers into crubhan- 
 cait form. Some scholars, in their eagerness to get to 
 the fire, might perhaps try to cheat the master into a 
 belief that they were unequal to a crubhan-cait, when 
 they really could do it well enough if they liked. 
 These " malingerers," however, to use an army term, 
 hardly ever succeeded in the attempt, for the master's 
 eye was usually sharp enough and practised enough to
 
 3i2 "TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 prevent imposition in such a case. There is a some- 
 thing sui generis in the numb and nerveless fingers 
 really incapable of doing a crubhan-cait, easily 
 distinguishable from a mere make-believe in such a 
 matter, and scholars attempting to cheat the dominie 
 in that direction were almost always detected in the 
 act, and a brisk application of a stout three-tailed 
 taws on the palms of the rascally "malingerers" never 
 failed to render them incapable of anything but a very 
 queer crubhan-cait for some time afterwards, because 
 of the hot and pungent dirl that in such a case ran 
 lightning-like along and into the tips of every 
 individual digit. It will thus be understood what we 
 mean by a crubhan-cait, a digital conformation 
 perfectly possible, from the mildness of the season, 
 for every one on each and every day of the last three 
 months, but utterly impossible in the cold and frost of 
 ordinary winters to people who have been for any 
 length of time in the open air. The next time the 
 reader is willing to persuade himself that he is very, 
 very cold, let him try a crubhan-cait. If he cannot 
 do it, his hands are really cold and numb, and by 
 brisk rubbing or stout clapping of them sub axillis, 
 an immediate effort should be made to restore the 
 circulation ; but if he finds that he can still gather 
 together his finders into the crubhan-cait form, he is as 
 yet fairly well off, and has no great reason to complain. 
 But our present winter is not only remarkable for its 
 mildness as tested by the crubhan-cait performance ; 
 its exceptional mildness is also very markedly mani- 
 fested in other directions. Daisies, primroses, and 
 other wild-flowers are at this moment as common on
 
 EARL Y AD VENT OF SPRING. 3 1 3 
 
 bank and brae, and almost as full blown and beautiful 
 as one expects to find them in the early April of 
 ordinary seasons. And what is perhaps more sur- 
 prising still, some of our hardier, early breeding wild- 
 birds have already built nests, and, in some cases at 
 least, these nests have eggs in them. We know an 
 old thorn tree in a neighbouring copse, in the bushy, 
 well-fenced heart of which a pair of blackbirds had in 
 the early days of last week almost finished a carefully 
 constructed nest of the usual well-rounded coffee-cup- 
 like pattern, and by this time, although we have not 
 had an opportunity of going to look at them, we have 
 no doubt at all that it contains its proper complement 
 of beautiful greyish-green eggs, so charmingly mottled 
 and marbled with pale liver and ferruginous brown. 
 On Monday evening last, noticing the liveliness and 
 activity of our own particular colony of sparrows, we 
 climbed a ladder in order to look into a sparrow's 
 nest in a clump of ivy that grows luxuriantly — so 
 luxuriantly that we have to be constantly pruning it 
 — along the south-eastern corner of our humble 
 hermitage, and there, sure enough, were two eggs of 
 a quartz whiteness, spotted as if from a pepper-box 
 containing a mixture of ordinary pepper and cayenne, 
 one of which we took away and pierced and " blew," 
 in order to test its freshness. It was just possible, 
 observe, that it might be a deserted nest of last season 
 with two unhatched eggs still surviving, because so 
 snugly domiciled in the cosy depths of a feather- 
 lined structure so dry and comfortable. The egg, 
 however, proved perfectly fresh and sweet, and there 
 could be no doubt at all that it was laid by some
 
 3 i4 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 precocious lady-sparrow during the week immediately 
 preceding Handsel Monday. That same evening bats 
 were flying and fluttering about in abrupt zig-zags 
 and lively merry-go-rounds, as brisk and busy as ever 
 we saw them, when performing at their best in 
 warmest, stillest, gloaming of mildest Beltane-tide. 
 Hens are " clocking " in all directions, and almost 
 every hamlet can already boast of its brood or broods 
 of January chickens, all of which, please to observe, 
 have come into existence, not by the assistance of any 
 cunning extraneous aid, or in any way at all artifi- 
 cially, but in the most matter of fact and rational way 
 possible, so that this year, instead of eating our spring 
 chickens in early summer, we may very confidently 
 look forward to eating our winter chickens in early 
 spring. For some days past the song-thrush, black- 
 bird, hedge accentor, robin, wren, and chaffinch have 
 been delighting us all, evening and morning, with 
 their song. Privet and quickset hedges, gooseberry 
 and currant bushes, blackthorn, birch, and wild brier, 
 are already rich with a marvellous opulence of living 
 buds swollen to the bursting, and of the most delicate 
 and beautiful green. Grass, too, exhibits an active 
 vitality and upward rush that is simply wonderful at 
 this season ; meadows, woodland glades, and sheltered 
 brae faces being in many places richer and greener 
 now, in mid-January, than in ordinary seasons you 
 expect to find them in mid-April. What it is all to 
 come to we do not know. The probability, however, 
 is that a period of cold, with much genuine winter 
 weather en attendant, must come our way ere long, 
 and with an anti-crubhan-cait severity that shall
 
 EARL Y AD VENT OF SPRING. 3 1 5 
 
 make us shiver in our shoes once and again ere yet 
 the Ides of March have come and gone. And in this 
 case, all our pretty little wild-flowers, so sweetly 
 beautiful and fragrant, must shrivel up and die ; and 
 if the present exceptionally mild weather only lasts for 
 another fortnight, there will be callow young in many 
 a wild-bird nest — downy little gapers, always pain- 
 fully naked, as you may have observed, about the 
 lower part of the neck in their first stage of blind 
 helplessness, and these poor little things, in the face of 
 even a single day of intense frost or sleet and snow, 
 must also shiver miserably, and drop and dwine and 
 die. Winter in mid-spring, according to the Gaelic 
 adage, throws summer into the lap of autumn. In 
 any case, our present winter is meteorologically the 
 most extraordinary that has come about since meteoro- 
 logy first formally assumed the functions and designa- 
 tion of a regular science ; and whatever are to be the 
 results, pastorally, agriculturally, and otherwise, of a 
 season so abnormal, there can be no doubt that the read- 
 ings, barometrically and thermometrically, of 1881-82 
 will, in some six months hence, be well worth the 
 most careful and attentive perusal, with a view to the 
 intelligent recognition of the lessons which they shall 
 be found to teach. And this is, perhaps, the proper 
 time and place to repeat with some emphasis what we 
 said for the first time some five-and-twenty years ago 
 — that meteorology, in order to attain to [something 
 like assured success in the direction of weather prog- 
 nostics, must closely ally itself with living, practical 
 natural history, and more especially with botany and 
 littoral ornithology.
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 The Cuckoo on February loth — Willie Drummond, Pearl Fisher 
 and Herbalist. 
 
 We met a man the other day whom we have known 
 for many years as an herbalist or culler of simples, an 
 avocation which he varies in the proper season by 
 doing a little pearl fishing in the deep and almost 
 currentless reaches of many of our rivers near their 
 sources in the mossy solitudes of the distant uplands, 
 and he assured us very solemnly that on the previous 
 day — -10th February — about eleven o'clock in the 
 forenoon, he heard the cuckoo, and afterwards saw the 
 bird itself winging its hawk-like flight from one birch- 
 wood clump to another, just as he had descended the 
 last steps of the Devil's Staircase, on his way from the 
 Moor of Rannoch to Kinlochleven. Was he telling 
 the truth ? We believe he was, for he is an intelli- 
 gent, and, so far as we have been able to appraise his 
 character, a respectable man ; and in this case our 
 cunningest cross-examination failed to lead him into self- 
 contradiction in the slightest degree, or to make him 
 vary his account of that particular morning's adventures, 
 even in their minutest particulars, by a hairs-breadth. 
 Nor, startling as it seems at first sight, is there after 
 all much to wonder at such an encounter in a season 
 otherwise so exceptional. The cuckoo may well have
 
 « WILLIE DRUMMONDr 317 
 
 come, and already given utterance to its minor third 
 melody, so easy of execution, when many of our native 
 wild-birds are already in full song, and others well 
 advanced with the labours of incubation, and when in 
 our walks abroad we find the flowers of April and 
 early May already plentiful on bank and brae. When 
 butterflies, too, are on the wing, and humble-bees 
 already humming their vernal song, it is not so much 
 a wonder, when you come to think of it, that the 
 cuckoo should also be seen and heard in the well- 
 sheltered birchen solitudes, which, on its first arrival 
 in our country, it so loves to haunt, and so enlivens 
 with its song that the wilderness and solitary place are 
 glad for it, and straightway the desert, with its 
 thousand wild -flowers, is made to rejoice and blossom 
 as the rose. We have since noticed in the newspapers 
 that the cuckoo has also been heard in the south of 
 Scotland, which makes it all the more likely that 
 "Willie Drummond," the herbalist, may have seen 
 and heard it at Kinlochleven. Meteorologists will, 
 perhaps, tell us that there have been instances of quite 
 as mild and warm and open winters as this has been, 
 even within the memory of living men, but we do not 
 suppose that any one will venture to say that until 
 1882 the cuckoo was ever heard before in early Febru- 
 ary on the skirts of the Grampians. 
 
 Willie Drummond, pearl fisher and herbalist, repre- 
 sents a class of peripatetic philosophers, with whom, 
 under circumstances otherwise favourable, we dearly 
 love to have a confidential roadside crack, all about 
 their solitary wanderings in odd and out-of-the-way 
 places, when for days and days together they have no
 
 318 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 other companions than the ferce natures proper to the 
 locality whose stream is being duly fished for the pearl- 
 bearing mussel, and whose remotest nook and cranny 
 is being closely searched for some rare plant whose 
 leaves or root, duly prepared, is in certain ailments 
 believed to be potent for good in the form of embroca- 
 tion, draught, or salve. It is curious that, even if you 
 try your best, you will find it a very difficult matter 
 to discover the particular town, village, or parish to 
 which one of this peripatetic fraternity really belongs. 
 Ask Willie Drummond, for example, where he belongs 
 to, and the reply is never more definite or precise than 
 that he belongs " doon Dundee way ;" while in reply 
 to the same query last autumn, another man of this 
 class, a dealer in the rarer kinds of ferns, would come 
 no nearer the mark than to say that his proper home 
 was " awa' Dumfriesshire way." Willie Drummond 
 does not pretend to be an herb-doctor himself ; all he 
 does is to gather the herbs most in request in their 
 proper localities, at the proper season, and these he 
 conveys in assorted bundles to the herb-doctors proper, 
 who duly prepare them in various ways for ready 
 administration to their patients, in the form that may 
 be judged best for any particular ailment. Willie 
 assures us that within his own circuit there is no town 
 of any consequence without its herb-doctor ; and some- 
 times, in the larger manufacturing towns, there will be 
 as many as five or six herb -doctors, all in busy and 
 fairly well-paying practice from year's end to year's 
 end. Willie frequently gets as much as £5 for a 
 month's successful herb-gathering ; and of the herbs 
 most in request he gave us a list, which on many
 
 " WILLIE DRUMMONDP 319 
 
 accounts is extremely interesting. Willie visits, when 
 his stock of herbs is abundant, some of the manufactur- 
 ing towns of the north of England, where he has 
 never any difficulty in disposing at a good price of as 
 many herbs " of the right sort," to use his own phrase, 
 as he can carry in the huge waterproof bolster-slip-like 
 bag which serves him for wallet, wardrobe, and general 
 storehouse. Willie is upwards of sixty years of age, 
 and under the middle height, but as active as a weasel 
 and as tough as a bit of ash tree root. Except for a 
 couple of months in summer, he constantly wears two 
 suits of clothes, one over the other, and a short water- 
 proof cape over all. When amongst the upland wilds 
 he sleeps in the best shelter he can find — on the lee of 
 a large boulder, in the cleft of a rock, within the walls 
 of a sheep-fank or deserted bothy — anywhere ! and he 
 never has rheumatism, or toothache, or neuralgia, or a 
 cold or cough, or anything of that sort. Never even a 
 headache, he assured us with a chuckle, except some- 
 times of a morning, after realising handsomely on his 
 herb sales in some large town in the south, when he 
 invites his patrons, the herb-doctors, and a few of his 
 more intimate friends to a supper and gaudeamus. 
 When expostulated with for spending his earnings so 
 foolishly, he replied that it couldn't be avoided ; that 
 it was the custom of the herb trade, and that he must 
 be like other people. In reply to our inquiry as to 
 how he managed for food in his wanderings amongst 
 the solitudes of the thinly peopled uplands, Willie 
 assured us that, in the matter of food, he was much 
 better off than we might suppose. When he leaves 
 the bearen track and takes to the mountains, he carries
 
 3 2o 'TJVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 a large flask of cold tea, which he can always make 
 hot when he wants it. He has in his wallet a small 
 supply of bread, cold boiled sausage, cheese, and 
 " a bit butter," he added, " when I can get it fresh 
 and good ; for I canna thole the butter sold in the 
 shop now-a-days ; it's no butter ava." He gratefully 
 acknowledges that he is always well treated in the 
 houses of the foresters, shepherds, and herdsmen of the 
 uplands. " I whiles bring them a dozen or twa o' 
 guid burn trout, for which, in mony ways, they pay me 
 ten times over ; and, trout or no trout, I am always 
 sure o' my share o' what's going." Willie Drummond 
 is a bachelor, having no particular home anywhere, 
 living a strange, nomadic life, harming nobody, and 
 harmed by none ; and from year's end to year's end 
 probably enjoying quite as much genuine happiness in 
 his own way as is arrogated to themselves by the 
 thousands who, if they noticed him at all, would only 
 notice him as something to be greatly pitied — a waif, 
 a wanderer upon the earth. Little as one would think 
 it, Willie is a philanthropist in his way ; not, indeed, 
 in his character of herb-gatherer, for that is simply his 
 profession — a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence 
 — but in another and rather curious direction. It has 
 been finely said that the man who, by his forethought 
 and industry, causes two blades of grass to grow 
 where only one grew before, is a benefactor to his 
 species ; and if the multiplication of trees is to be 
 taken as a step in the same direction, and therefore 
 also commendable, then is our friend Willie, waif as 
 he may seem, beyond all doubt a benefactor to his 
 kind. One afternoon, many years ago, Willie was
 
 " WILLIE DRUMMOND." 321 
 
 sitting on a brae face in Glen-Ogle, munching a large 
 and rosy-checked apple, of which he happened to have 
 some in his wallet. When he came to the core, and 
 saw the dark-brown pips snugly nestling in their 
 cells, he recollected, for the first time in his life, he 
 said, what they meant and were intended for, and 
 looking about him for suitable and sheltered spots, he 
 scraped a bed for the seeds, and covering them in with 
 earth, he marked the spot with a little cairn, so that if 
 he came the way again he might easily find it, and 
 have a look at the buried seeds, if they were dead, or 
 had made a start with the intention of growing into 
 actual trees. It was some two or three years after- 
 wards before Willie had an opportunity of revisiting 
 the spot, and lie was delighted beyond measure to 
 find two pretty little plants, very juvenile apple trees, 
 that had grown from the pips in a sheltered spot where 
 they were likely to do well. Always since then Willie 
 has been quietly planting apple, pear, cherry, and 
 other trees from the seeds in odd and out-of-the-way 
 places, and lie is delighted on revisiting these localities 
 to find that even a few out of the many put into the 
 Ground have germinated and begun to show signs of 
 lusty vitality and general well-doing. Upon the. 
 whole, one cannot help looking upon Willie with 
 respect. He gathers herbs to be used in the allevia- 
 tion of human sufferings and the cure of human ail- 
 ments. He fishes pearls for the delectation and adorn- 
 ment of beauty, and he plants the seeds of trees of all 
 kinds because it affords him real pleasure to see these 
 seeds germinate into all the promise of a growth that 
 shall at once be ornamental and useful. This tree-
 
 322 'TJV/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 planting trait in Willie Drummond's character we 
 thought it proper to mention as something very much 
 in his favour, but mainly because it is well to leave 
 on record the fact itself, in order that the botanist of a 
 future generation may be saved from utter bewilder- 
 ment when he may come to wonder how certain trees 
 could possibly get a footing in localities so unlikely, 
 so far removed from human dwellings and the usual 
 aboricultural amenities and surroundings. 
 
 To no other living man, perhaps, is the topography 
 of Scotland so minutely known as to Willie. The 
 topography, that is, of the mainland, for AVillie has 
 never been in the Hebrides. Away from the beaten 
 tracks, he knows every inch of the country in its 
 remotest and least frequented nooks and corners as 
 familiarly as a shepherd who has been years in the 
 same employment knows his own particular beat. He 
 has for years been gathering officinal herbs in the 
 loneliest solitudes of remotest glen and mountain, 
 from Duncansbay Head to the Mull of Galloway, 
 while with the sources, as well as with the many wind- 
 ings of every river and stream and " burn " of any 
 consequence north of the Tweed, he is as familiar as 
 w T e are with the source and windings of the purling 
 streamlet that waters our own glebe. His description 
 of the upland solitudes which he visits so often, and of 
 which he speaks as if in some mysterious way they 
 were his own property, and in a sense in which they 
 could belong to nobody else, always reminds us of the 
 " Polyolbion " of Michael Drayton. Even Drayton's 
 enthusiasm is tepid, and his praise of Charnwood 
 Forest tame, when compared with Willie's glowing
 
 " WILLIE DRUMMOND." 323 
 
 description of the summer and autumnal delights of 
 the mountain solitudes of Braemar, Badenoch, and 
 Breadalbane. As may readily be believed, Willie has 
 had some curious adventures in his many perigrina- 
 tions amongst the upland wilds. Meanwhile, we may 
 state that a very respectable man told us on Saturday 
 that he, too, had heard the cuckoo in Lettermore of 
 Appin on the 11th February, which goes so far to 
 buttress Willie Drummond's assertion that he heard 
 and saw it on the 10th.
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 April Drought — Early Nesting Birds — Survival of the Fittest — Rival Song 
 Thrushes singing at Midnight — Ian Mac Roanuill Oig of Glencoe — 
 Singing Mice. 
 
 It is not easy pleasing people in matters meteoro- 
 logical. We were all agrowl with the exceeding 
 wetness of March, and now we are even more 
 querulously agrowl with the exceeding dryness of 
 April. (N.B. — Written before the storm of Saturday- 
 Monday.) It is perfectly true that all over the West 
 Highlands March was exceedingly wet, as well as 
 persistently stormy, having given us more rain, perhaps, 
 and soaking sleet, than any other March for upwards 
 of twenty years past ; and it is not the less true that 
 April has up to this date been much too parching] y 
 dry — a bright, burning sun overhead by day, a touch 
 of frost by night, with a keen north-east wind con- 
 stantly blowing across the Grampians, sharp of edge 
 and biting as a newly honed razor — a fierce euroclydon 
 that makes it uncomfortable all round, although 
 favourable enough for such agricultural operations 
 as were simply impossible during the wet and storm 
 of March. Fortunately, however, cattle and sheep are 
 in first-rate condition, owing to the exceptionally mild 
 and open character of the winter, while provender is 
 sufficiently abundant to last until genial rain, succeed- 
 ing this parching drought, make the grass of early
 
 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. 325 
 
 May to spring up with a rush that shall straightway 
 afford a full and succulent mouthful to the ruminants 
 that then, with paunch abulge, shall low with very 
 gladness in their pastures, as if in acknowledgment of 
 the bounteous care and goodness of Him whose are the 
 cattle upon a thousand hills. Adverse also to our 
 wild-bird friends, and unkindly throughout as was 
 the month of March, they battled it out bravely. Our 
 early nesting birds, many of whom had already 
 hatched out their first broods whilst it was yet 
 February, got through it all much better than could 
 have been expected, for the number of young now on 
 the wing seems to indicate that only the weaklings of 
 these early broods succumbed to the wet and cold of 
 March. And here it is worth observing, what seems 
 to have escaped the notice of most ornithologists, that, 
 in one particular at least, it is precisely the same with 
 our wild-birds as with our domestic poultry. In every 
 brood there is a weakling, a chick weaklier from the 
 first, and less robust than its fellows — a " shott " bird, 
 to use a pastoral term — which under sufficiently favour- 
 able circumstances may live and thrive after a sort, 
 but which in an unkindly season of cold and scarcity 
 is pretty sure to dwine and die, even when the rest do 
 fairly well and thrive — a very practical illustration, 
 by the way, of the doctrine of the survival of the 
 fittest, of which the student of wild-bird life may find 
 abundant verification if he only looks close enough 
 into the economics and vital statistics of our feathered 
 favourites, year after year, as the breeding season 
 comes round. All our best feathered musicians are 
 now in full song ; their every note at its pcrfectest
 
 326 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND. GLENCOE. 
 
 and purest, without hitch or halt in strophe or anti- 
 strophe, and thrown off apparently with so little of 
 effort or premeditation, that to sing seems as easy to 
 them as to breathe. Having occasion to be abroad at 
 a late hour on Sunday last, we were a good deal 
 surprised, and not a little pleased, to find that in 
 a thickly wooded dell, near which we had to pass on 
 our way home, a pair of rival song-thrushes were in 
 loud and fluent song, when it must have been within 
 less than half an hour of midnight, for Jupiter had 
 lono; since set, and Arcturus was almost in the 
 zenith. They sang splendidly under the brilliant 
 starlight, the noise of a distant waterfall, as it rose 
 and fell in varying cadence on the breeze, blending 
 not inharmoniously with the midnight melody of the 
 competing songsters in the dell. At this season 
 of the year, indeed, and under favourable circum- 
 stances, the song-thrush, with but a very short interval 
 of silence just before the dawn, and for half an hour 
 perhaps about noon, may be said to sing all the day 
 through and all the night long — a fact, by the way, 
 which did not escape the attention of a seventeenth 
 century Gaelic bard of some note in his day, Ian Mac 
 Raonuill Oig, of the Glencoe Macdonalds, who, in 
 a very sweet pastoral, apostrophising the smeorach or 
 mavis, says — 
 
 " 'S binn leam an smeorach a sheinneas, 
 Gu loinneil 'an coille ran crann ; 
 Smeorach a bhroillich bliric, riahhaich, 
 'S mil air ghob dhi 'n am 'fiachain nan rann ; 
 'S math a sheinnneas i 6ran 
 'N am do 'n ghrein a bhi g' oradh nam beann, 
 'Sann 's an oidhche cha start i 
 'Chuir nan smuid dhifeadh bhadan nan gleann /"
 
 A GLENCOE BARD. 327 
 
 (" Delightful to me the mavis that sings 
 
 Her sweetly musical lay in the multitudinous wood ; 
 
 The mavis, with its hrown and speckled breast, 
 
 And with honey on his bill what time it lists it to sing ! 
 
 Full well can it trill forth its lay, 
 
 What time the sun is bathing the uplands with gold, 
 
 Nor icill she even in the night-time 
 
 Cease to sing in the wooded gimlets amongst the hills") 
 
 Ian Mac Raonuill Oig, the author of the really 
 beautiful pastoral from which the above is quoted, 
 and which has never been printed, was an old man at 
 the time of the massacre in 1692, from which, after 
 beholding some of its horrors, he only escaped by the 
 gallantry of his only son, who, folding the old man in 
 his plaid, carried him on his back, as the pious iEneas 
 of old did Anchises, until by a difficult and round- 
 about way they reached a boat on the beach of Loch 
 Leven, in which they crossed to their cousins at 
 Callart, where they found friendly shelter, until the 
 departure ^of the Government troops from the district 
 made it safe for them to return to their ruined and 
 blood-stained home at Achtriachtan. Farther on in 
 the season, the whitethroat, too, and hedge accentor 
 and reed wren, may frequently be heard singing at 
 midnight, when the weather is fine, and the nights 
 are dewy and still. These last, however, always in a 
 subdued tone, tremulous and broken, as if they were 
 singing in their sleep, which not improbably may 
 really be the case ; whereas the song-thrush, when he 
 sings, be it morning, noon, or midnight, always seems 
 to sing with all his might his beautiful melody, so 
 mellifluously sweet, and rich, and round. 
 
 From singing birds, by the way, to singing mice, the
 
 328 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 transition is easy. The singing, so called, of a mouse 
 is due to a kind of bronchial disease, to which the 
 little rodent seems to be more liable than any of its 
 congeners — a disease of the same nature as the "whist- 
 ling " of a broken-winded horse, and the wheezing of 
 asthma in the human subject. The "singing" of a 
 mouse, in short, is caused by a contracted state of the 
 bronchial tubes in a paroxysm of asthma, and usually 
 ceases, as do the gasping and wheezing in the case of 
 the human subject, when for the time the paroxysm 
 is over. If a singing mouse is caught alive and 
 unhurt, as by means of the " Mouse Lobster Trap," for 
 example, it will be seen to be breathing rapidly and 
 spasmodically, with half-open mouth, and when after a 
 time the paroxysm returns, the cheeping, musical 
 notes called its singing are sure to recur, the little 
 sufferer in such a case usually assuming a couchant 
 position, and with dilated eyes almost bursting from 
 their sockets, and a rapid heaving of the flanks, 
 exhibiting; all the signs of extreme suffering and 
 distress. The kindest thing to do with a singing 
 mouse, therefore, is to trap and kill it, for when 
 caught it is usually a mere skeleton, and must lead a 
 very miserable life. It has been noticed that singing 
 mice are commoner in meal and flour stores than 
 anywhere else — than, for instance, in grain, cheese, or 
 bacon stores, the reason probably being that their 
 constant breathing of the finely comminuted and 
 almost impalpable dust of such places brings on the 
 asthmatic ailment, which in its paroxysms gives rise to 
 the stridulous cheepings and quasi-musical notes, 
 whence the term " singing " mouse. Singing, as a
 
 SINGING MICE. 329 
 
 rule, implies a sense of joy, realised or expectant, in 
 the singer, or it may be the expression and outcome of 
 self-conscious pride and rivalry in love. The so-called 
 singing of a mouse, on the contrary, is always to be 
 interpreted as an expression for the moment of intense 
 suffering and pain on the part of the poor little 
 panting rodent.
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 Heavy Snowfall in April — Snow at Culloden Moor on the day of the Battle, 
 1 6th April 1746 — Flora Macdonald. 
 
 Snow-showers in mid-April are not uncommon, but 
 such a prodigious fall of snow as that of Sunday, the 
 16th inst., is a phenomenon so rare, that one of the 
 oldest and most intelligent men in our parish solemnly 
 assured us the other day that, in a vivid retrospect of 
 the seasons, extending over half a century at least, he 
 has no recollection of such a fall of snow — aig am breth 
 nan uan, as he phrased it ; that is, in the lambing sea- 
 son. Fortunately, here, as elsewhere, the fall, though 
 universal, and quite as heavy in the valleys and by 
 the sea-shore as upon the mountains, was a most gentle 
 fall throughout, unaccompanied by a breath of wind of 
 sufficient energy to deflect from a plumb descent the 
 multitudinous flakes by an hand's-breadth. There was 
 consequently no drifting, each individual flake seem- 
 ing to come direct and undeflected from the zenith, in 
 order to rest itself, as if awearied with its wanderings 
 in space, on the bosom of a world attractive to the 
 chilled and homeless wanderer, by reason of its vernal 
 greenery and wealth of vernal flowers. The snow 
 commenced to fall at seven o'clock on Sunday morning, 
 and on our return from church in the afternoon we 
 found that on a field in our own glebe, and but a few 
 feet above the level of the sea, the depth already was
 
 A HE A VY SNO WFALL IN APRIL. 3 3 1 
 
 as nearly as possible fourteen inches. Had such a pro- 
 digious fall of snow at this season of the year been 
 accompanied by the wild, wayward winds so frequently 
 attendant on such phenomena, the consequences to 
 sheep-farmers everywhere must have been disastrous ; 
 nor less so if a sudden frost supervening had bound 
 down for a time the vast mass of snow that for the 
 moment covered the face of the country to such a 
 depth. Fortunately, however, as has been said, there 
 was no drift, nor did frost supervene. After the snow 
 ceased falling, a quiet, steady thaw set in, and by the 
 following morning the low-lying lands were clear of it, 
 and under a bright warm sun even the uplands had 
 by the early afternoon parted with their unseasonable 
 burden. On Wednesday heavy westerly rains set in, 
 which soon washed away the snow, even from the 
 mountain heights, so that under the bright sun and 
 cloudless skies of Thursday morning very little snow 
 was to be seen, except the usual corrie and gorge wreaths, 
 which year after year are there in any case, seldom 
 disappearing entirely before midsummer. It was, in 
 fact, a big snowfall, that, if it came unseasonably and 
 unexpectedly, departed quickly and quietly, as if 
 ashamed of itself, and without doing the slightest harm 
 either to animal or vegetable life. The lambing 
 season, shepherds assure us, goes on famously, and none 
 the worse perhaps because of the seasonable moisture 
 supplied to the thirsty uplands by the snowfall that 
 melted so opportunely. Wild-birds are singing mer- 
 rily in bosque and brake, while of wild-flowers the 
 name is legion, and bright, blooming, and fragrant 
 as the most passionate lover of floral beauty could
 
 332 TIV/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 desire. We would, by the way, call the reader's atten- 
 tion to the fact that our big snow-storm day of 1882 
 was the 16th of April, the anniversary of the battle 
 of Culloden ; and it is interesting to know that on that 
 memorable day, one hundred and thirty-six years ago, 
 heavy snow-showers from the north-west swept over 
 Drumossie Moor, largely interfering at the most critical 
 moment with the evolutions of the Highland army. 
 When the most important charge of the day took place, 
 the Highlanders in their advance were so blinded and 
 impeded by a swirling snow-shower, that they were put 
 to great disadvantage in attacking the enemy. Our 
 knowledge of this fact is not due to any contemporary 
 meteorological record, nor to any of the many histories 
 of the '45 that have been published, but to an old 
 Gaelic song. One of the combatants who was severely 
 wounded, but who escaped, and survived to sing his 
 coronach or lament over the deaths and disasters of 
 that fateful day, gives the blinding snow-showers as one 
 of the many reasons why the Highlanders were less 
 successful at Culloden than at Prestonpans and Falkirk. 
 It will often be found that a careful study of the 
 popular poetry, the songs and ballads of any particular 
 era in our annals, will in many directions afford us 
 valuable information not to be gathered from any other 
 source, and information, too, so far as it goes, almost 
 always to be depended upon for its accuracy. 
 
 The story of the amiable and gallant Flora Mac- 
 donald, by the late Rev. Alexander Macgregor, Inver- 
 ness, is "a plain, unvarnished tale," stripped of every 
 shred of sensational fiction, and yet more interesting to 
 the thoughtful reader, and even more genuinely romantic
 
 ZLORA MACDONALD. 333 
 
 as a simple narrative of well authenticated facts, than 
 if presented to our attention with all the embellish- 
 ments of ballad poetry and romance. Flora was in 
 truth neither more or less than a young lady, very fair 
 to look upon, with a wise head and warm heart, rather 
 small in stature, of quiet and self-possessed yet pleasing 
 manners, who from youth to old age, as maid, wife, 
 and mother, conducted herself so properly, and dis- 
 charged all the duties of her station so admirably, that 
 she was constantly looked up to for kindly guidance 
 and advice, and greatly respected and beloved by all 
 who knew her. She was the daughter of highly respect- 
 able parents, and connected more or less directly with all 
 the best families of the Outer Hebrides and of Skye. 
 Although it is beyond question that the unfortunate 
 Charles Edward owed his life to her marvellous courage 
 and devotion, their acquaintance was much briefer and 
 less intimate than is generally supposed. They met 
 for the first time in the Lone; Island on the 26th of 
 June 1746, and parted at Portree, in Skye, on the 
 30th of the same month ; nor during the few days and 
 nights they were thus more or less in company were 
 they once, even for a single moment, solus cum sola, 
 alone together. There was in truth not a particle of 
 love, in the romantic sense of the term, in the con- 
 nection. She was as pure and modest as she was 
 brave and true, and in all she did actuated solely by 
 loyalty to the Prince whom she believed to be the 
 rightful heir to the throne of his ancestors. He w T as 
 to her — as in truth he really was de jure — the Prince 
 of Wales ; by the demission of his brother, and on the 
 death of his father, whenever that event should happen,
 
 334 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 the only rightful heir to what may be called the triple 
 crown of James the First. She resolved to save him, 
 when, without her aid, and with a price of £30,000 set 
 upon his head by a Government whom, with a hand- 
 ful of Highlanders, he had frightened out of its senses, 
 his capture and execution were almost matters of 
 certainty. She resolved to save him, and she did save 
 him, counting the captivity and sufferings to which she 
 was subjected in consequence as but of little moment 
 compared with the approbation of her own heart, and 
 the consciousDess of having performed a duty the most 
 sacred in such a way as to secure for herself the 
 respect and admiration of the friends of legitimacy, 
 loyalty, and right throughout the world. Many years 
 ago the late Angus Macdonell of Insh, in Brae-Loch- 
 aber, a genuine Highlander, and one of the best 
 sennachies of his day, told us of an affecting little 
 incident in the life of Flora Macdonald ; and we have 
 often thought that, in the hands of a competent artist, 
 it might be made the subject-matter of an admirable 
 picture. Shortly after her release from imprisonment, 
 and on the eve of her marriage, Flora, while on a visit 
 to some friends near Inverness, went to Strathglass in 
 order to see a Father James Cameron, a priest, who 
 was distantly related to her. Father Cameron, who 
 had been many years abroad, was now a very old man, 
 and so frail and feeble as to be unable to move from 
 his arm-chair without assistance. He had never seen 
 Flora before, although the story of her undaunted 
 courage and devotion in the cause of the Prince was 
 well known to him. After a long confidential inter- 
 view, Flora rose to depart, when Father Cameron, out
 
 FLORA MACDONALD. 335 
 
 of respect for her, made an effort to rise from his chair 
 in order to bid her a becoming farewell. Taking her 
 hand in his, he kissed it fervently, then, solemnly 
 blessing her, the venerable old man dismissed her with 
 these words, "Benedicta tu inter mulieres ; et quod hcec 
 fecisti beatam te prcedicabunt omnes estates" ("Blessed 
 art thou among women ; and because of the things 
 that thou hast done, all generations shall call thee 
 blessed"). Mr. Macdonell added that his grandaunt, 
 who was present at this meeting between Flora and 
 Father Cameron, used to talk of it in long after years 
 as altogether one of the most solemn and affecting scenes 
 she had ever witnessed.
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 Sailing on Loch Leven — Mackerel — Porpoises — Argus in the Odyssey — 
 ''Lassie" — Age of Dogs — Dame Juliana Berners — Lassie's Grave. 
 
 While sailing up Loch Leven the other day, we saw 
 a very pretty sight, and so uncommon as to be worth 
 the chronicling. It was a bright afternoon, with just 
 enough of wind over the quarter to set our lugsail well 
 abulge, and make our little " Penguin " dance merrily 
 over the rippling wavelets. When just entering the 
 narrows of Ballachulish, the sea right ahead of us 
 became suddenly aboil with the frolicsome play to the 
 surface of quite a shoal of mackerel. It was only for a 
 minute or so, for the surface play of mackerel is always 
 of the briefest, but it was a minute into which was 
 crowded a great deal that was interesting and beauti- 
 ful. The shoal, which must have numbered many 
 thousands, was in liveliest action, leaping about and 
 dashing along the surface with a splash and incessant 
 flap of fin and tail that might have been heard a 
 quarter of a mile away, the beautiful iridescent hues 
 
 and metallic lustre of the dancing scombers forming 
 
 © © 
 
 in the brilliant sunshine a play of prismatic colours 
 that was gorgeously splendid. It was at times as if a 
 score of tiny rainbows of the most brilliant hues were 
 being rapidly interwoven, only to be instantly un- 
 twisted again, in order to be rewoven into a newer and 
 still brighter pattern, in and over an acre of sea, all
 
 BEAUTY OF WEST HIGHLAND LOCHS. 337 
 
 abubble and aboil with the gambols of the frolicsome 
 shoal. We have hinted that, when thus leaping bodily 
 out of the water, and wildly gambolling, the mackerel 
 must have been in frolicsome mood ; and that fish do 
 frequently leap in the air, and dash along the surface 
 of the water all in frolic and play, is unquestionable ; 
 but on this particular occasion the lively action of the 
 shoal may have been owing to terror rather than to 
 exuberance of joy. As we were returning by the 
 same spot shortly afterwards, we noticed a troop of 
 porpoises tumbling outwards with the first of ebb, and 
 they, perhaps in their eagerness for a mackerel supper, 
 may very possibly have been at the bottom of all the 
 liveliness of action and sunlit splendour of iridescence 
 in the shoal which, not dreaming of the true state of 
 matters, had so delighted us only half an hour before. 
 Be this, however, as it may, what we wish to impress 
 upon the tourist is, that if he is thoroughly to 
 appreciate and enjoy the West Highlands, he must, if 
 he is wise, be frequently afloat, paddling his own 
 canoe, or having somebody else paddling it for him. 
 The studies of sea-bird life and motion that come 
 under one's notice in such circumstances are alone 
 worth all the trouble and expense attendant on an 
 occasional afternoon's boating on as many of our 
 beautiful western lochs as the intelligent tourist may 
 find time to visit. Our own favourite lochs are the 
 Linnhe Loch and Loch Leven ; but the tourist can 
 hardly go wrong, or be much disappointed whitherso- 
 ever he turns his face, for all our western lochs are 
 beautiful exceedingly, and their beauty is never so 
 striking and impressive as when quietly studied from
 
 338 'TJY/XT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 a boat, which, whether moving by force of oars or 
 sails, is constantly changing one's point of view. 
 
 Beautiful and touching as is the story of Argus in 
 the Odyssey, captious critics have long since been 
 pointing to it as an episode in which honest Homer 
 nods in assigning to a dog too great an age. The 
 reader will remember how, after an interval of twenty 
 years, Argus recognises his long absent master. Pope's 
 translation of the passage is excellent, and not too 
 long to quote at length. The disguised Ulysses and 
 Eumaeus are at the palace gates : — 
 
 " Thus, near the gates, conferring as they drew, 
 Argus, the dog, his ancient master knew ; 
 He, not unconscious of the voice and tread, 
 Lifts to the sound his ear, and rears his head : 
 Bred by Ulysses, nourished at his hoard, 
 But ah ! not fated long to please his lord ! 
 To him, his swiftness and his strength were vain ; 
 The voice of glory called him o'er the main. 
 Till then in every sylvan chase renown'd 
 With Argus, Argus ! rung the woods around ; 
 With him the youth pursued the goat or fawn, 
 Or traced the mazy leveret o'er the lawn. 
 
 " Now left to man's ingratitude he lay, 
 Unhoused, neglected in the public way, 
 And where on heaps the rich manure was spread, 
 Obscene with reptiles, took his sordid bed. 
 
 " He knew his lord ; he knew and strove to meet ; 
 In vain he strove to crawl and kiss his feet ; 
 Yet (all he could) his tail, his ears, his eyes, 
 Salute his master, and confess his joys. 
 Soft pity touched the mighty master's soul, 
 Adown his cheek a tear unbidden stole — 
 Stole unperceived ; he turned his head and dried 
 The drop humane : then thus impassioned cried —
 
 THE STORY OF ARGUS. 339 
 
 " ' What noble beast in this abandoned state, 
 Lies here all helpless at Ulysses' gate 1 
 His bulk and beauty speak no vulgar praise ; 
 If, as he seems, he was in better days, 
 Some care his age deserves ; or was he prized 
 For worthless beauty 1 therefore now despised ! 
 Such dogs, and men, there are, mere things of state, 
 And always cherished by their friends, the great.' 
 
 " ' Not, Argus, so (Eumaeus thus rejoined) ; 
 But served a master of a nobler kind, 
 Who never, never shall behold him more, 
 Long, long since perished on a distant shore ! 
 O, had you seen him, vigorous, bold, and young, 
 Swift as a stag, and as a lion strong ! 
 Him no fell savage on the plain withstood, 
 None 'scaped him, bosom'd in the gloomy wood ; 
 His eyes how piercing, and his scent how true, 
 To winde the vaypour in the tainted dew ! 
 Such when Ulysses left his natal coast ; 
 Now years unnerve him, and his lord is lost ! 
 The women keep the generous creature bare, 
 A sleek and idle race is all their care : 
 The master gone, the servants what restrains 1 
 Or dwells humanity where riot reigns 1 
 Jove fixed it certain, that whatever day 
 Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.' 
 This said, the honest herdsman strode before ; 
 The musing monarch pauses at the door ; 
 The dog whom fate had granted to behold 
 His lord, when twenty tedious years had roll'd, 
 Takes a last look, and having seen him, dies ; 
 So closed for ever faithful Argus' eyes ! " 
 
 Dogs, say the objectors, do not attain to twenty years 
 of age ; their allotted span of life is considerably less 
 than that, and Homer therefore is wrong. But, 
 curiously enough, it seems to have escaped the notice 
 of the critics that a close study of the text leads
 
 34Q 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 inevitably to the conclusion that Argus, at the time of 
 his death, must have been not twenty, but at the least 
 five-and-twenty years of age, so that the objection as 
 usually stated is in truth less forcible than it might 
 easily be made on a full and fair interpretation of the 
 narrative as written. Ulysses was absent twenty 
 years, but to this has to be added the age attained by 
 Argus before his master's departure from Ithaca for 
 Troy. He cannot have been a mere pup, or even a 
 very young dog at the time of Ulysses' departure, for 
 he had proved himself a right good dog, swift and 
 valiant in the chase, whilst also in him all the canine 
 faculties had already reached their full development 
 and strength, as is abundantly evidenced by his re- 
 tentive memory and sagacity in so quickly, after a 
 twenty years' interval, recognising his master even in his 
 beggar's disguise. An old forester and gamekeeper of 
 much experience with dogs, and great love for all the 
 canine race, told us last night that, in his opinion, a 
 sporting dog, duly broken to his work, and under 
 proper management and mastery, was at its best when 
 about four years old ; and if we admit that Argus had 
 attained this age before the departure of Ulysses for 
 Troy, his age when he died, under circumstances so 
 affecting, cannot, on a fair interpretation of the text, 
 be put down at less than four-and-twenty, or even 
 five-and-twenty years ; and it is simply the truth to 
 say, even if Homer should suffer by the confession, 
 that not one dog in ten thousand attains to such a 
 lengthened age. A dog at twenty years of age is 
 relatively about as old as a man at one hundred, and 
 we know how extremely rare are well authenticated
 
 THE DEATH OF "LASSIE." 341 
 
 instances of that age among human beings. But when 
 we gather from the text, not indeed directly, but 
 clearly enough notwithstanding, that Argus attained 
 to the age of four or five-and-twenty years, it is very 
 much the same as if Homer had so distributed events 
 in the history of one of his most prominent characters 
 — of Nestor, for example, or of Ulysses himself — that, 
 putting everything together, he must at his death have 
 attained to the age of something like one hundred and 
 fifteen or one hundred and twenty years ; and in such 
 a case we should none of us have any hesitation in 
 saying that 'although such an age, with intellect still 
 unimpaired, is perhaps possible, and not absolutely 
 incredible, yet it is so extremely improbable as to 
 come within the category of unwarranted exaggera- 
 tions, even in an epic where supernaturalism and exag- 
 geration are confessedly part and parcel of the plot. 
 
 Now, if the reader asks what all this dissertation is 
 apropos of, we reply that it has to do in more ways 
 than one with the death of our dear, good, faithful, 
 brown-eyed collie " Lassie," who looked upon us her 
 last loving look of absolute trust and affectionate 
 regard on the morning of Thursday last. Poor 
 " Lassie " has often had " honourable mention " in our 
 Nether Lochaber papers, and, liberal as was our praise 
 of her, she more than deserved it all. She was beyond 
 question one of the truest, steadfastest, and wisest 
 dogs that ever barked at heel ; and, what does not 
 always happen either in the case of dogs or men, she 
 was as merry and playful when the game was " romp 
 and run — the ball," as she was honest and earnest, 
 and good and true when serious business claimed her
 
 342 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 undivided attention. If men and dogs would only- 
 take a leaf out of "Lassie's" book in the direction of 
 their intertwisting fun and frolic in fair proportion 
 with the serious business of life, intermingling their 
 seria cumjocis, the inevitable gravities and solemnities 
 of life, with a due proportion of " weel-timed daffing," 
 all the chances were in favour of brighter, happier, 
 and longer lives, both for men and dogs, than is at 
 present the rule. Despite and notwithstanding all 
 the intertwisted vitality of his " nine lives," the pro- 
 verb solemnly assures us, as the result of a careful 
 post-mortem, that " care killed the cat," and a truer 
 proverb, whether as regards man, or dog, or cat, never 
 was uttered. " Lassie " was in truth the wisest dog 
 we ever knew, and despite all her wisdom, or rather 
 because of it, she was, as we have said, and almost to 
 the last hour of her life, as fond of a bit of frolic and 
 fun as any six months' old scapegrace pup in the 
 parish ; always ready, however, to be serious and 
 staid enough when occasion called. We believe that 
 we are within six months either way of the truth in 
 the matter when we say that she had attained the 
 very great age for a dog of nineteen years, a con- 
 clusion that we arrive at in the following way. It 
 was in the summer of 1866 — just sixteen years ago — 
 that " Lassie " first found shelter under our roof, 
 during a violent storm of thunder and lightning and 
 heavy rain, which doubtless drove her to seek the 
 readiest refuge from the elemental turmoil available at 
 the moment. She first entered our house, in short, as 
 a stray dog, and never afterwards left us. Whence 
 she came, or who previously owned her, we could
 
 THE DEATH OF "LASSIE." 343 
 
 never discover, although we made every possible 
 inquiry with a view to her restoration to her proper 
 master if he could be found. She was then decidedly 
 a youug dog, as her lithe and graceful form, great 
 speed, and magnificent set of teeth, white as ivory and 
 sharp as darning needles, very abundantly proved ; and 
 yet she was not so very young but that she had already 
 been taught almost all a well-bred collie's duties in 
 connection with the management, both outfield and in- 
 field, of sheep and cattle. We conclude, therefore, 
 that when she first found shelter under our roof she 
 was not less than two, and not more than three years 
 old, which, added to the sixteen years she lived with 
 us, make up what we maintain is a very great age for 
 a dog — nineteen years, with a possible error of not 
 more than six months either way. It will be under- 
 stood that all the circumstances of her surroundings 
 
 were in the first degree favourable to long life. She was 
 © © 
 
 by her extraordinary sagacity and affectionate disposi- 
 tion a great favourite in the district ; everybody knew 
 and spoke a kind word to " Lassie."* Never pampered, 
 she was always well fed and thoroughly comfortable, 
 with just enough of work to keep her always in a state 
 of perfect health. We cannot fancy any dog more favour- 
 ably placed for attaining to a great age, and therefore 
 we have come to the conclusion that from eighteen to 
 twenty years may be confidently set down as about 
 the very greatest age ever attained by a dog, and 
 that even at fifteen years of age a dog may safely be 
 scheduled as already very old. The Lady Juliana 
 Berners, Prioress of Sopewell Nunnery, who in the 
 fourteenth century wrote the Boke of Hawhyng and
 
 344 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 Huntyng, a curious subject, by the way, for a lady in 
 her position to write about, says — 
 
 " The beste dogge that ever bitche hadde, 
 At nyne yeres is full badde." 
 
 Her reference, of course, being to the sporting dog of 
 the period, and meaning that at nine years of age 
 a sporting dog is well nigh useless. Let sportsmen 
 say whether this holds true of the staghound, grey- 
 hound, pointer, setter, and other sporting dogs of our 
 own time. Aristotle af$rms that dogs frequently live 
 till they are two-and-twenty years old ; but, for our 
 own part, we would rather agree with Pliny, who says 
 of the dogs of Laconia what is probably near the truth 
 as to the age of dogs at all times and in all countries, 
 " Canes Laconici vivant annis-denis,femince duodenis, 
 ccetera genera quindecim annos, aliquando viginti " 
 (" The dogs of Laconia live ten years, the bitches live 
 twelve ; other kinds, fifteen years, and sometimes, 
 though rarely, till twenty.") 
 
 We dug a grave for poor old ' ' ' Lassie " beneath a 
 silver birch, beside a pool at which she often slaked 
 her thirst, and left her to sleep under an emerald 
 green coverlet of gowan-besprent sod — the truest, best, 
 and wisest dog that ever erected an intelligent ear to 
 the shout or whistle of him whose slightest behest it 
 was her pride and pleasure, willingly and with all her 
 heart, instantly to obey.
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 A Visit to the Oval Brochs of the Island of Luing — Their Position and 
 Dimensions — The Hiding Craigs near Easdale. 
 
 About this time last year we made a pleasant pilgrim- 
 age to the so-called Castle of Tirefoor, on the Island of 
 Lismore, and found it to be, not in truth a castle at 
 all, in any proper sense of that term, but a veritable 
 broch, with its concentric double walls, galleries, and 
 all the other architectural characteristics of such 
 edifices. Our paper on the Tirefoor Broch largely 
 helped to draw intelligent attention to many such old 
 ruins that had hitherto escaped particular notice, 
 chiefly on the islands and along the mainland sea- 
 board of Argyllshire. Our excellent friend Dr. Allan 
 Macnaughton of Bailechuain, near Easdale, on reading 
 about the Tirefoor Broch, instantly wrote us to say 
 that on the Island of Luing — and therefore within 
 the area of his many peregrinations, as medical officer 
 of a very extensive district, insular and peninsular — 
 there were two old ruins, fortified places in their day 
 manifestly, and very possibly brochs, at the same 
 time suo-gestino; that we should come down to have a 
 look at them, and kindly offering us every aid and 
 facility for so doing as pleasantly and comfortably as 
 the circumstances of the case permitted. Before we 
 could accomplish it, however, winter, wild and stormy, 
 was coming on apace, and we decided meanwhile
 
 346 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 that it was best simply to take a note of the fact that 
 
 on the Island of Luing there were some ruins which, 
 
 upon a sufficiently close and careful examination, 
 
 might prove interesting, postponing our visit of 
 
 exploration to the island until we were joined by our 
 
 archaeological friends from the south here in autumn. 
 
 It was not until last week, therefore, that we could 
 
 make up a sufficiently formidable broch-hunting party 
 
 to go to Luing with. We left Ballachulish Pier by 
 
 the " Iona," and after a swift and pleasant run, reached 
 
 our port of disembarkation, which was Black Mill 
 
 Bay, in Luing, before it was yet ten o'clock in the day. 
 
 We had telegraphed to Dr. Macnaughton that we were 
 
 coming, and he having joined us at Easdale Pier, we 
 
 landed in Luing, a party now augmented to five in 
 
 number, Dr. Macnaughton straightway assuming his 
 
 proper position as guide and leader of our expedition 
 
 over ground with which all the rest of us were utterly 
 
 unacquainted, but with which he was sufficiently 
 
 familiar. A walk of something over half an hour 
 
 along a rough, undulating ridge, which may be called 
 
 the backbone of the island, brought us to the first or 
 
 southern ruin. Although in a state of extreme 
 
 dilapidation, most of its best and biggest stones having 
 
 been taken away, and probably long ago, to build a 
 
 march dyke between the lands of two neighbouring 
 
 farms, enough remains to prove that this, if not 
 
 actually a broch proper, was at all events a broch-like 
 
 structure of commanding position and great strength. 
 
 What startled us all exceedingly, and puzzled us not a 
 
 little, was to find that, instead of being circular, this 
 
 broch (if broch it really ought to be called) was in
 
 THE OVAL BROCHS OF LUING. 347 
 
 truth very much of an oval, measuring 63 feet along 
 its longer, and 36 feet along its shorter axis ; or, add- 
 ing a thickness of wall of about 12 feet, its dimensions 
 may be set down at 75 feet by 48 feet. Double walls, 
 gallery, scarcement, and other characteristics of a genuine 
 broch were in parts easily enough traceable, and we, 
 for our own part, had very little hesitation in boldly 
 announcing our belief, then and there, that the 
 structure was indeed and veritably a broch, though of 
 a form hitherto unrecognised by Scottish archseologists 
 — an oval broch. It is proper to state, however, that 
 our companions were more cautious and guarded in 
 coming to any very definite verdict in the matter, 
 although they were willing enough to agree with us 
 that, meanwhile, to call it an oval broch, and to speak 
 of it as an oval broch, was in no sense to misname it. 
 When we had very closely and carefully examined the 
 southern fort, we started for the northern fort, already 
 visible through our glasses on the top of a conical 
 knoll at the extreme end of the ridge on which we 
 stood, and some two miles away. As we were pro- 
 gressing en zig-zag along the ridge, Mr. Willison of 
 Ardlarach House, whom we had already met when 
 landing from the steamer in the morning, made his 
 appearance in the pretty grass-green valley below, and 
 shouted to us to descend for a moment. It was now 
 high noon of a bright, hot day, and when we 
 descended half-way down the steep, Mr. Willison con- 
 ducted us to a little moss-lipped well of delightfully 
 cool and clear water, of which we drank abundantly. 
 The little nameless well round which we sat is 
 constantly supplied from a crevice in the rock above,
 
 348 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 the water falling in a silvery thread, with pleasant and 
 perennial trickle, into a partly natural and partly 
 artificial rock basin. It is situated at the foot of the 
 steep, some three hundred yards in a direction north- 
 north-west of the broch ; and of its limpid waters the old, 
 bare-] egged brochmen of the island, quite a thousand 
 years ago, have doubtless often drank gladly and 
 abundantly. Happening to be the first to bend down 
 and drink largely from its basin with cunningly con- 
 tracted and hollowed palm, for we were much athirst, 
 Dr. Macnaughton did us the honour to call it " Nether 
 Lochaber's Well," a name which we hope will make its 
 waters none the less palatable and refreshing to the 
 naturalist and archaeologist in the West Highlands. 
 
 The northern fort — nameless, like the other — is in a 
 state of extreme dilapidation, even more so than its 
 southern fellow, although there is fortunately enough 
 of it still remaining inproprio sit'd to show that it was 
 a fortified place of precisely the same style as the 
 other, almost certainly of the same age, built for the 
 same purpose, and by the same people. On the same 
 data as in the case of the other, we pronounced this, 
 too, to have been an oval broch of immense strength 
 and great size, the thickness of the walls being, 
 approximately, some 15 feet, and the dimensions inter- 
 nally 96 feet by 56 feet, or, including thickness of wall, 
 something like 110 feet by 70 feet over all. Whether we 
 are right as to their being brochs can only be decided 
 with certainty by the clearing away of tons upon tons 
 of fallen stones and debris, and such excavations in 
 various directions as must entail a considerable 
 expenditure of time and intelligent labour. We have
 
 THE OVAL BROCHS OF LUING. 349 
 
 long had a habit of jumping instantly and instinctively, 
 so to speak, to conclusions in such matters, even when 
 to others the immediately come-at-able data seemed 
 insufficient to warrant our verdict. A very un- 
 scientific thing, doubtless, to do ; but still we have 
 done it so often, and, upon the whole, with so 
 large a share of success, that here again we are 
 content to stake any little archaeological reputation 
 that may be ours on the ultimate truth or other- 
 wise, as evidenced by intelligent excavation, of our 
 conclusion that these Luing forts are in truth brochs, 
 and of a kind new to Scottish archaeology — oval brochs 
 — whether of a date anterior or slightly posterior to 
 the age of the better known circular broch projDer, it 
 would in the meantime be rash to say. The surface of 
 Luing over all may be described as strongly undulated, 
 with a main ridge or backbone, frequently springing 
 into knolls of considerable altitude ; and on the two 
 highest of these knolls, some four hundred feet above the 
 level of the sea, the forts are placed, the southern one 
 commanding a wide and beautiful view of the Scarban 
 archipelago, with its many isles and islets, all the way 
 to Colonsay in the one direction, and to the western- 
 most promontories of Mull in the other, while the 
 northern fort has an equally commanding view of the 
 narrows and channels dividing the islands of Seil, 
 Luing, Torsay, and Shuna from each other, and in 
 many a sinuous, river-like curve and bend from the 
 mainland of Craignish, Melfort, and Nether Lome. 
 Neither friend nor enemy could approach Luing except 
 by boat, and no boat could approach its shores without 
 being seen from one or other of these forts, if only the 
 watchmen were keen-eyed enough and faithful to
 
 35o 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 their duty. Broch towers, oval or circular, an interest- 
 ing inquiry concerning them, a question not easily 
 answered, is who built them 1 They are manifestly 
 places of defence, admirably constructed after their 
 kind ; but erected by whom ? against what enemy ? 
 in what age ? An attempt to find a satisfactory reply 
 to these queries has given rise to much interesting and 
 learned discussion amongst archaeologists. The only 
 thing freely admitted on all hands is that they are not 
 prehistoric, as was for a long time supposed, but of the 
 time of the Norsemen in Scotland ; all of them were 
 built some time during the five hundred years between 
 the fifth and eleventh centuries. Dr. Ferguson, the dis- 
 tinguished writer on architecture, and a very com- 
 petent authority in a matter of this kind, is convinced 
 that they were built by the Norsemen, " by a people 
 possessing command of the sea, to hold a conquered 
 country against the restlessness of its imperfectly 
 subdued aboriginal inhabitants." This view of the 
 origin of brochs Dr. Ferguson advances and upholds 
 with much ingenuity of learning. Dr. Joseph Ander- 
 son, of our Antiquarian Society, will have it, on the 
 contrary, that the brochs were built, not by the Norse- 
 men, but by the aboriginal Celts, as places of refuge 
 and defence against the frequent invasions of the 
 marauding Vikings, a theory which, upon the whole, 
 seems to us the most likely to be true, although there 
 remains, when all is said, one strong objection to it 
 extremely difficult to get over. If the broch was 
 built by the people of its district as a place of refuge 
 and defence, how comes it that they are so small as to 
 be incapable of accommodating only some thirty or
 
 THE OVAL BROCHS OF LUING. 351 
 
 forty individuals, and even then only for a short time, 
 and in a condition very "cabin'd, cribb'd, confined," 
 indeed ? These two Luing brochs, for example (if 
 brochs they shall be proved to be), might have tempo- 
 rarily and very uncomfortably accommodated some 
 hundred or hundred and twenty individuals, but the 
 population of the island must have been at least 
 double, or even triple, that number; and how were 
 those who could not find refuge in the brochs to 
 escape the sword of the invader ? If they were 
 partly a pastoral and partly a piscatorial people, as 
 they most probably were, even if it be insisted on that 
 the brochs could contain them at all, they were in any 
 case too small to afford shelter to their boats or to their 
 cattle ; and if these were left outside for the invader to 
 do with as he pleased, the broch refugees must have 
 been reduced to utter want, even if they managed 
 somehow to sustain life within their brochs until the 
 invader had departed from the island. This seems to 
 us a formidable objection to Dr. Anderson's contention 
 that the brochs were built as places of refuge by the 
 aboriginal Brochland Celts, an objection which, until 
 .it is met more satisfactorily than it has yet been, will 
 always give Dr. Ferguson a large and influential 
 following in his counter-contention that the brochs 
 were erected, not by the Celts, but by the Norsemen, 
 for the accommodation of their scattered garrisons, 
 in order to keep in subjection a people ready at any 
 moment to rise against the tyranny of their oppressors. 
 From the northern fort we made for the Ferry of Cuan 
 or Kilbrandon Sound, and, once across, were soon 
 under Dr. Macnaughton's hospitable roof at Bailechuain.
 
 352 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 We had still two miles to walk, in order to meet the 
 " Iona " at Easdale, and Dr. Macnaughton took us along- 
 the sea-shore, which here, at a distance well back from 
 the present high-water mark, rises into beetling 
 precipices, frequently of great height and grandeur. 
 Our main object, however, in going this way rather 
 than by the road was to examine two curious " hiding 
 cliffs" or "hiding craigs," of a kind not uncommon 
 alons; the shores of the Hebrides and Western Main- 
 land. These are usually high, and flat or slightly 
 hollow-topped cliffs, inaccessible as to their summits 
 except by one approach, and that as a rule very steep 
 and difficult of ascent, and not readily noticed by a 
 stranger to the locality. The flat summit is usually 
 surrounded by a rough rampart or wall, never so high 
 as to attract attention from below, and merely erected, 
 as it should seem (always a little inwards from the 
 actual face of the rock), as a sort of parapet or safety 
 fence to those who might be obliged to temporarily 
 occupy the place. These refuge rocks are beyond all 
 question as old at least as the time of the brochs. 
 When a hostile galley was seen approaching the land, 
 the women and children probably, and more valuable 
 portable goods of the community, were placed out of 
 sight, and out of any immediate danger, on these hid- 
 ing craigs ; while the men either offered battle to the 
 invaders, or, scattering over the country inlands, hid 
 themselves and their flocks as best they could, until 
 the enemy set sail and steered for some other island. 
 A refuge rock of this kind was appropriately termed 
 by the native Celts a Creag Falaich, or hiding craig ; 
 and we find occasional mention made of them in old
 
 HIDING CRAIGS. 353 
 
 Gaelic songs and sgeulachdan, or fireside tales. Thus, 
 in old Mull song, sung by a girl whose misfortune it 
 seems to have been that she loved not wisely but too 
 well, and who, in her state of wretchedness and shame, 
 is cruelly forsaken by her lover, occurs this verse — 
 
 " Ma threig thu mi, 'leannain, mo thruaighe mi • 
 Mo naire 's mo mhulad mar dh-fhag thu mi ; 
 Nach truagh leat mi, 'leannain, gun dachaidh air thalamh, 
 Mur d'theid mi 'n Chreig Fhalaich a'm mhagaran." 
 
 (" Since thou hast forsaken me, once fond lover ! sad is my case : 
 Oh ! the shame and wretchedness to which thou hast brought me ! 
 Do you not pity me, and no home for me now on earth, 
 Unless, creeping wearily, I betake me to the Hid inn Craig ? ") 
 
 The Creag Falaich referred to in this song is at Loch- 
 buy, in Mull ; and we recollect seeing a very curious 
 old brooch that was found in a crevice of its parapet 
 wall by a sportsman who, whilst bird-nesting amongst 
 the cliffs, chanced accidentally to discover the place. 
 These hiding craigs are, we believe, new to Scottish 
 archaeologists, and we beg to draw particular attention 
 to them. The two near Easdale are admirable speci- 
 mens, and well worth visiting.
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 Pied Swallows — 18S2 remarkable for Albinoism and Abnormal Colouring in 
 Birds — Kestrel neatly plucking a Partridge Poult, that it might be the 
 more easily carried against the wind. 
 
 To the ornithologist, this year of grace, 1882, is 
 remarkable for the frequency of albinoism amongst 
 certain species of birds usually given to any very 
 marked aberrations from normal colouring-. From a 
 paragraph in a recent Courier, we learn that our 
 excellent friends the Messrs Snowie of Inverness 
 have lately had in their hands "a white swallow" 
 to stuff and set up secundum artem, a bit of 
 really difficult and delicate work, to which we are 
 very confident nobody could do more perfect justice 
 in the way of thoroughly sufficient taxidermical 
 manipulation and accuracy of pose. Here, in our 
 particular section of the West Highlands, white, 
 canary coloured, and pied swallows have been so 
 common this season, as latterly to be seen and passed 
 by with comparative indifference. A score at least of 
 these abnormally coloured birds have been flying about 
 within a radius of a couple of miles from our own 
 residence all summer, while very reliable information 
 has reached us of the occurrence of white swallows also 
 in the neighbouring districts of Appin, Ardgour, and 
 Strontian. When these beautiful birds were first 
 noticed, we caused it to be made known as widely as
 
 ALBINOISM IN BIRDS. 355 
 
 possible that anybody caught shooting or attempting 
 to shoot them should be held guilty of a mean and 
 cowardly act, which we should be quite prepared to 
 resent by gibbetting the culprit to the execration of 
 all bird-lovers in this column, and otherwise as we 
 might judge it best. These threatenings were, we 
 daresay, quite unnecessary, for an intelligent interest 
 in and love of birds is now very general over the 
 West Highlands. In any case, we are glad to say 
 that, so far as it has come to our knowledge, not a 
 single albino swallow has been shot in this district; 
 and it will be interesting to watch if, on the return of 
 the swallows next year, any of these beautiful albinos 
 have survived to revisit our western shores. Albino 
 sparrows, too, have been comparatively common this 
 season, and we have heard of what we take to have 
 been an albino corn-bunting, while a note reaches us 
 from a trustworthy and keen observer certifying to 
 the existence at this moment of a pure white hoodie, 
 crow, somewhere along the upper reaches of Lochiel- 
 side. The cognoscenti assure us that albinoism is 
 more or less directly the result of disease, and that 
 albinos are sterile — frequently at all events, if not as a 
 rule. If any of our this season's white swallow friends 
 survive to return to us next year, it will be curious to 
 watch their nidification and the result, with a view to 
 the corroboration or otherwise of this the commonly 
 accepted theory of albinoism. 
 
 We have the following little story illustrative of the 
 reasoning powers and sagacity of the kestrel hawk 
 from one of the keepers on a nobleman's estate in our 
 neighbourhood. One day in July the keeper in
 
 356 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 question, happening to be out after vermin with his 
 gun, saw a bird coming his direction, which he knew 
 to be some kind of hawk, but whose manner of flight 
 puzzled him extremely. It was beating up the wind 
 towards him as if with a sorely wounded wing, 
 manifestly impeded in some way that caused it to 
 zig-zag and struggle strangely in its flight. Seeing 
 that if it kept its course it was likely to pass within 
 easy shot, the keeper quietly subsided into a clump of 
 ferns, on one knee, and with his gun ready for action. 
 He had, however, to wait longer than he had bargained 
 for, for the hawk had meanwhile alighted on the top 
 of a large, grey boulder, a hundred yards away, and 
 seemed very busy about something, though what it was 
 the keeper at that distance could not well make out. 
 In some five minutes, however, the hawk took wing 
 again, this time with a much more steady and even 
 flight, and was soon overhead and near enough to drop 
 to the keeper's gun. On going up to his prize, the 
 keeper found that it was indeed a hawk (from his 
 description of it, we should say the pretty little kestrel 
 falcon — Falco tinnunculus, Linn.), and beside it was 
 lying a plump partridge poult, well grown, but, to the 
 keeper's surprise, almost altogether denuded of feathers. 
 On examining the boulder on which the kestrel had 
 rested for a while, all the missing feathers of the 
 juvenile partridge were found scattered about, and 
 the very intelligent keeper instantly took in the state 
 of matters from first to last, and explained it thus : 
 the kestrel, having struck down the partridge poult, 
 was carrying the dainty bonne bouche to his curve- 
 beaked and greedy fledglings in their nest. The wind,
 
 SAGACITY OF A KESTREL. 357 
 
 however, was strong and gusty, and, adverse to the 
 kestrel's line of flight and of the wind, the wings and 
 tail, limp and pendent, of the partridge caught so 
 much, that it was only with great difficulty and a 
 constant struggle that for a time the plucky little 
 raptor could make any satisfactory headway. Getting 
 tired of it at last, he must have reasoned with him- 
 self somewhat after this fashion. — " My partridge 
 burden is more difficult to get along with than, after 
 all, it really needs be. I am heartily ashamed of 
 myself, acting thus more like a Palmipede booby than 
 the wise little falcon I ought to be, and, when all is 
 said, I really and truly am ! I will take a rest on 
 yonder boulder, and pluck away all the wing and tail 
 feathers from my dainty bit of game, an operation 
 which, while it leaves my partridge quite as big and 
 as good to eat as before, will enable me to bear it up 
 and carry it against the wind with comparative ease." 
 In some such a way as this the little kestrel really 
 seems to have thought it out, and in the direction 
 thus resolved upon he was acting when the contents of 
 the keeper's gun so rudely ordered it otherwise, and 
 put an end for ever to all the fights and fancies of one 
 of the most graceful and beautiful of British birds. 
 We endeavoured to persuade the keeper that it was 
 wrong to shoot the kestrel, who in killing the partridge 
 poult was only acting according to his instincts, and 
 who in supplying his young with food was engaged in 
 the discharge of a high and holy duty incumbent 
 upon us all. We furthermore endeavoured to impress 
 upon our gun-carrying friend that the indiscriminate 
 slaughter of birds of prey is a mistake even from
 
 358 ' TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. ■ 
 
 a utilitarian point of view, and talked very learnedly 
 and convincingly, as we supposed, of the balance of 
 nature, &c. &c. ; but all our preaching in this direction 
 was, we fear, to little good purpose. Gamekeepers, 
 as a rule, only know that birds of prey sometimes 
 destroy game, and that being admitted, birds of prey, 
 they argue, ought to be killed without mercy, on the 
 same principle that poachers are, on conviction, fined 
 and imprisoned — from the keeper's standpoint, far too 
 lenient a sentence for such misdemeanours !
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 Stormy October — Birds taking shelter — Superstition — The Oxeye Tit a Bird 
 of good omen. 
 
 Like other would-be weather-wise people, we some- 
 times venture, as our readers are aware, on meteoro- 
 logical prognostications, which, instead of being 
 verified, are utterly put to shame by the event. Not 
 only does what is predicted not happen, but the very 
 opposite does happen, and in such a case it only 
 remains for us to shrug our shoulders, feel very small, 
 and say as little about it as possible. Sometimes, 
 however, our prognostications turn out creditably 
 enough ; and, very curiously, it is almost always 
 when the data for our prognostics are no more 
 than our observations on the increase or decrease of 
 wild-fowl in our estuaries and bays, the predominant 
 species at any particular moment, as well as the move- 
 ments of our land birds, whether they most frequent 
 the woods or open fields, and whether they seem brisk 
 and cheerful or nervously anxious, with querulous 
 chirp and constant shiftings from copse to copse, and 
 from hedgerow to hedgerow. While it was yet 
 September, we predicted with considerable positiveness 
 our belief that October must turn out a very cold, and 
 probably a very stormy month, our prognostication 
 being founded solely on the fact that all our summer 
 migrants were already off and away, and that our
 
 360 ' TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 lochs were swarming with wild -fowl, many of them 
 oceanic and Arctic, quite a month earlier than usual, 
 showing that to the north of us, at all events, the cold 
 and storm of winter had already set in, and that 
 similar meteorological conditions were more than 
 probably fast winging their flight to our own shores. 
 And very cold as well as very stormy, it will be 
 confessed, October proved — colder and stormier, indeed, 
 than any other October month within our recollection. 
 Since the dreadful Tay Bridge storm of a couple of 
 years ago, we have had nothing to equal the fierce 
 intensity of the gale of the 13th and 14th October. 
 Fortunately, however, in this last gale the wind was not 
 from the west upon our shores, but from the east and 
 north-east off our shores ; a big wind battery of largest 
 calibre, that seemed for the nonce to be served by the 
 arch storm-fiend himself from off his thousand stations 
 along the Grampian peaks and the heights of Drum- 
 albin, blowing great guns adown the glens, and over 
 our heads across the Hebrides, south-westerly and 
 seawards. At midnight it was terrific, from the 
 inmates of most dwellings utterly banishing all 
 thoughts of sleep, for, as it swept aclown gully and 
 gorge in fitful o-usts, the air w r as filled as if with 
 shrieks of agony, that evermore seemed to be fiercely 
 battling with eldritch laughter wild and weird, and 
 all intensified by the long-drawn wail, and sob, and 
 sigh, and moan of the succeeding lulls. It was the 
 same, or even worse, on to the following mid-day, 
 the Linnhe Loch and our own Loch Leven, usually so 
 placid, presenting a terrible scene of hurrying, hustling 
 waves, and shrieking, swirling spindrift. Nor was it
 
 A STORMY OCTOBER. 361 
 
 only stormy, but intensely cold as well; the mountains 
 covered with a thick coating of snow almost to their 
 base, followed a few days afterwards by a frost so 
 keen, that on the pools in our immediate neighbour- 
 hood, and almost at the level of the sea, ice formed to 
 the thickness of a quarter of an inch. During the 
 many years that we have given some attention to the 
 meteorology of our district, we have no record of a 
 mid-October month so wintry at once and wild. 
 
 What that mid-October storm was may be partly 
 understood from the following incident, anything 
 exactly similar to which we do not remember in all 
 our ornithological experience. It was half an hour 
 after midnight, on the morning of the 14th, all our 
 people were in bed except ourselves, and we were busy 
 scribbling, when suddenly at our study window-panes 
 came a rattling and rasping and rustling which we 
 could not understand, and which therefore startled us 
 extremely, for that window, mind you, was not 
 exposed to, but to leeward of the gale. Instantly 
 remembering, however, that that storm, as to us, was 
 altogether abnormal : that instead of blowing some- 
 what steadily, direct, and horizontal, from any 
 particular quarter, it was oblique, vertical, rotatory, 
 swirling, anyhow, fulfilling all the conditions, and more 
 if possible, of the children's playground rhyme — 
 
 " Here we go with merry shout, 
 Up and down and round about, 
 And dance a merry-ma-tandy !" 
 
 Eemembering all this, we thought that a branch of a 
 Lauristina, of good tree size, growing quite close by our 
 window, must have snapped in one of the many
 
 362 ' TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 swirling gusts that shook our humble hermitage, 
 though very substantially built of solid granite, as if 
 it were no more than a wooden shanty ; and fearing 
 that the broken branch might in the next gust smash 
 in the window, we determined to venture out in order 
 to cut it altogether away. Armed with a hand-saw, 
 therefore, and with a lantern, we opened our front 
 door, when there was instantly a rushing and a 
 rustling about our ears that astonished us ; even when 
 we recognised, as we did at once, that it was owing to 
 a flock of quite a score of birds, that fluttered into the 
 lobby the moment the door was opened, and as we 
 stood there in the midst of so many circling flutterers, 
 we could only compare ourselves to the archaeologists 
 who, torch in hand, so frequently encounter flights of 
 bats when exploring the rock tombs and catacombs of 
 the Nile. Instead of fluttering bats, however, in all 
 ages, rightly or wrongly, accounted loathsome and 
 unclean, we were the centre for the moment of a flock 
 of pretty little birds, chaffinches chiefly, with a few 
 sparrows and redbreasts. We had fortunately shut 
 the inner lobby door before opening the main door ; 
 and leaving our unexpected midnight visitors to flutter 
 about and perch as they liked, we went to the window, 
 against the panes of which a few chaffinches were 
 still fluttering and scrambling, and these we easily 
 captured, taking them into the lobby and letting them 
 go among their companions. We then locked the 
 front door, and left our fluttering friends prisoners in 
 the lobby till the morning, knowing that in the dark- 
 ness they would very soon settle down quietly, and 
 satisfied that for the present at least they were safe
 
 BIRDS OF GOOD OMEN. 363 
 
 from all their enemies, and sheltered enough and snu£ 
 from swirling sleet and storm. In the early morning 
 we gave them their liberty, and a plateful of crumbs 
 for their breakfast, sitting down to our own 'morning 
 meal immediately afterwards, with all the heartier 
 appetite that we had been able to help, however 
 slightly, the frightened flutterers in their distress, for 
 we remembered that although these birds, in human 
 estimation, may be accounted of so little value, that 
 " five of them are sold for two farthings," yet it is 
 true, on the authority of Him who spake as never man 
 spake, and taught as never man taught, that " not one 
 of them is forgotten before God." 
 
 In the superstition of the Highlands, a superstition 
 in many directions rather dormant than dead, and 
 even less dormant, perhaps, than hidden and concealed 
 from sight, because of the sneers and incredulity of 
 philosophical outsiders, the voluntary entrance into 
 human dwellings of finchy warblers or thrushes is 
 always regarded as an omen of good luck. If in a 
 dwelling thus visited there is any one sick, there is 
 instantly entertained by his friends a strong hope of 
 his recovery ; or should he die, the sorrowing friends 
 find consolation, in a stronger belief because of the 
 bird visit than could otherwise reasonably be enter- 
 tained, that he is gone only to enjoy the unutterable 
 felicity of a better and a brighter world. If, how- 
 ever, in the dwelling visited by the bird or birds 
 everybody is in good health, then the voluntary 
 presence of the feathered stranger is held to indicate 
 a bit of good luck in some unknown direction, or of 
 good news at an early date from absent friends. Not
 
 3 6 4 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 many months ago we happened to call upon a respect- 
 able old woman, a widow, in a distant part of the 
 parish, and, on inquiring for her daughter "Jean," 
 who was away at service in the south, and from whom 
 nothing had been heard for a long time, the mother 
 answered, "It is nearly two years, sir, since I had her 
 last letter, but I have great confidence that I shall 
 somehow have good tidings of her very soon, or that 
 she will more affectionately make amends for her long 
 silence by coming herself to see me, and that before 
 the lapse of many days." " I am very glad to hear 
 you say so," was our rejoinder; "but what, please tell 
 me, makes you so hopeful in the matter?" "Well, 
 sir," returned the widow, " this morning a bird, a 
 pretty little bird, a Cailleacliag-Ceann-Dubh, came 
 into the kitchen by the open door, and perched on the 
 cupboard shelf there for a little while, after which it 
 flew out by the open window. It came in again by 
 the window, and after fluttering about the room, flew 
 out by the door ; and I cannot but think that 
 according to the wisdom of the Seann daoine (the 
 ' old' or wise people of a past age), it bodes me good 
 luck of some kind ; and what good luck to an aged, 
 lone widow as I am, like happy tidings of my only 
 child, or better still, a visit from her own self, to bring 
 once again a gleam of sunshine and joy into a cottage 
 that has been dark and joyless enough since she left 
 it." It was worth while going a long way to hear the 
 old woman refer to the incident on which she founded 
 her confident hope of soon getting good news of her 
 absent daughter, in her own beautiful Gaelic, and now 
 and again, as she described the joys and sorrows, the
 
 BIRDS OF GOOD OMEN. 365 
 
 lights and shadows of a long and chequered life, easily 
 rising into a strain of unconscious poetry that was 
 exceeding musical and captivating. The Cailleachag- 
 Ceann-Dubh (lit. the little old woman with the black 
 hood), the reader must know, is the prettily plumaged 
 little oxeye tit, with its black head and beautiful 
 olive green back, that at certain seasons becomes 
 exceedingly tame, and cheeky enough to enter by 
 open door or window into any dwelling for which he 
 may take a fancy, generally, however, j3ref erring 
 thatched cottages — pauperum tabernce — in the wall 
 crevices, and round the mossy, lichened eaves of 
 which it usually finds its favourite insect food in 
 abundance. We have noticed that it rarely ap- 
 proaches large and slated dwellings, and never enters 
 these even when every facility is afforded in the way 
 of frequently open doors and almost constantly open 
 windows all the summer through. The amusing part 
 of the story is that, having had to pass again by the 
 old lady's cottage on our return home in the evening, 
 we were pleasantly startled by her rushing out in a 
 state of great excitement, jubilant and joyous, with 
 the intimation that she had just received a letter 
 which she was sure must contain good tidings, and 
 which she begged we would be good enough to open 
 and read for her. It was in very truth an affection- 
 ate letter from her long-silent daughter, satisfactory 
 in every way, and containing a post-office order for 
 a considerable sum, with the promise of an early visit, 
 a promise which has since been fulfilled. " Nach 
 d'thubhairt miribh !" ("Didn't I tell you !") exclaimed 
 the old lady triumphantly. " Beannaclid Dhia air
 
 366 ' TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 Cailleachag-bheag-a-chinn-duibh, teachdaire an aoibh- 
 neis 'bha tigh'n orm ; ged 'their sibhse mo lamhsa 'a 
 geall, gur gdrach mi " (" God's blessing on the black- 
 hooded little old wifie that brought early tidings of 
 the joy that was coming home to me; although you, 
 sir, I warrant it, will only say how foolish I am "). We 
 contented ourselves with heartily congratulating the 
 old lady on her good news, not deeming it incumbent 
 upon us to attempt, by any arguments within our 
 reach, to reason her out of her belief that the occa- 
 sional visits of harmless little birds to her humble 
 dwelling were ominous of some bit of good fortune in 
 store for her. Confident that she was sound enough 
 in the faith otherwise, and knowing her to be of per- 
 fectly blameless life, the reader will possibly agree 
 with us in thinking that this little bit of harmless 
 superstition added to her creed could not do her 
 much harm in the here or hereafter.
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 Meteorology and Weather Forecasts — Ornithology in aid of. 
 
 It was in the middle of October, that, relying on the 
 movements of our wild-bird friends, we predicted the 
 immediate advent on the British shores of a longer or 
 shorter period of cold and storms, and almost there- 
 after, sure enough, there was a fall of temperature so 
 sudden and abnormal as to astonish and surprise even 
 our oldest meteorologists, a fall of temperature almost 
 instantly followed by disastrous floods and storms of 
 such force and fury as caused much shipwreck and 
 loss of life. The conduct of sea-fowl, when, because 
 of their mysterious prescience of coming storms, they 
 seek the shelter and safety of our western inlets, so 
 admirably barricaded against storm assaults by the 
 friendly intervention of the whole breadth of the main- 
 land, with its lofty mountain chains to the east, and 
 of those great natural breakwaters, the Inner and 
 Outer Hebrides, to the north and west — the conduct, 
 we say, of sea-fowl who have thus run for shelter and 
 safety is a most interesting and curious study to the 
 philosophic naturalist. It is the sense, it may be 
 believed, of a common danger about to fall upon them 
 that causes them to congregate in flocks, and although 
 these flocks may sometimes consist of many species of 
 birds only distantly allied, if allied at all, and differing
 
 368 ' TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 greatly in disposition and mode of life, it is doubtless 
 the same sense of a common danger close at hand that 
 makes them for the present forget all their jealousies 
 and rivalries, and live together in friendliest com- 
 panionship, without a thought of assault or injury in 
 any direction, the timidest and weakest for the time 
 paddling alongside and under the wing, so to 
 speak, of the fiercest and strongest. In these circum- 
 stances they seem to have forgotten not only all the 
 ferocity, but all the voracity as well, usually so 
 characteristic of sea-birds, being apparently content 
 with very little food, or no food at all, until the 
 expected storm, the mere anticipation of which has so 
 depressed them, having done its worst and wildest 
 athwart their sheltered inlet, has carried its destructive 
 forces fast and far either inland or seaward, and in 
 any case has quoad them altogether subsided. Until 
 the storm has come and gone, they maintain a dull 
 and listless attitude, the divers seldom diving, the 
 flyers rarely taking wing, while along the shores the 
 waders, with bent and slightly reverted heads, and 
 often on one leg, are motionless and silent, as if they 
 were carved in stone. If after a storm these wild-bird 
 flocks instantly scatter and disappear, a period of com- 
 paratively fine weather, . with easterly and south- 
 easterly winds, may very confidently be looked for ; 
 but if they merely break up into small parties, paddling 
 along the shore, and still content to fish in sheltered 
 inlets, and manifestly afraid to venture into the open 
 sea, in such a case either another stormy period must 
 be close at hand, or intense cold is about to set in. 
 We have closely studied wild-bird life in connection
 
 ORNITHOLOGY AND METEOROLOGY. 369 
 
 with weather changes for five-and-thirty years, and the 
 meteorologists must not be angry with us if we say that 
 we have much greater faith in the prescience of our 
 feathered friends as prognosticators of coming storms 
 and cold than in all the wisdom and accumulated 
 statistics of all the meteorologists and meteorological 
 stations from John o' Groat's to Land's End. About the 
 big storms of the last six weeks, for example — some of 
 them storms of the first magnitude, too, be it remembered 
 — our meteorologists, with all their wisdom and acuteness, 
 and all the machinery at their command, were unable 
 to speak a single word of warning. An examination 
 of our western inlets, however, would have shown that 
 whilst it was yet September, and the weather open 
 and mild, large flocks of sea-birds had already arrived 
 on all our shores a full month earlier than they ought 
 to have come, and many of them birds never seen in 
 our waters except as companions or precursors of intense 
 cold or storms of exceeding violence. The thoughtful 
 student of bird-life therefore knew that something 
 exceptional in the way of storms must be close at 
 hand. The meteorologist knew nothing at all about 
 it, and, to do him justice, made no pretension to any 
 forecast in the matter. The truth is, that, so far as 
 weather forecasts are concerned, meteorology is at this 
 moment the most inexact and useless of sciences. 
 That it is gradually becoming more exact, extending 
 and strengthening its grasp over the laws of atmo- 
 spheric perturbations, is true, but its progress is ex- 
 ceedingly slow, and slower than, we think, it need be. 
 A permanent meteorological observatory on the top of 
 Ben Nevis, under the superintendence of our indefatig- 
 
 2 A
 
 370 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 able and accomplished friend Mr. Wragge, will be an 
 immense step in the right direction, and from which 
 great and important results may very confidently be 
 expected. For the erection and maintenance of such 
 a high level meteorological station as is proposed, and 
 which, when completed and in full working order, will 
 be the most interesting and important thing of the 
 kind in Europe, the Government ought most assuredly 
 to provide the necessary funds ; for it is a matter not 
 of individual or local, but of national, importance. If, 
 however, a " liberal " Government prove illiberal, and 
 unwisely economical and stingy quoad Inoc — if, in a 
 word, the Government will do nothing — let the Scottish 
 Meteorological Society only make a bold appeal to the 
 country at large, and we are confident that the neces- 
 sary funds for the Ben Nevis Meteorological Observatory 
 will be forthcoming from private sources. Meanwhile, 
 what we are particularly anxious to impress upon the 
 scientific world is the immense importance and value 
 of close and keen zoological observation in the matter 
 of weather forecasts, not as being sufficient per se, 
 observe, but as invaluable in constant and close 
 alliance with meteorology proper. An intelligent 
 shepherd will frequently foretell a coming storm, and 
 its probable direction, a day or even days in advance, 
 and this simply from the movement of his flock on 
 their pastures. On the same data he will also often 
 predict with absolute certainty a longer or shorter 
 period of heat and drought. What can be done in 
 this direction by a close attention to the habits of 
 birds readers of this column need not now be told. If 
 the observer at every meteorological station in the
 
 ORNITHOL OGY AND ME TEOROLOGY. 371 
 
 kingdom would only also become the intelligent 
 zoologist of his district, with a keen eye for the move- 
 ments of beasts and birds, as well as for the " read- 
 ings " of his formidable array of instruments, we are 
 persuaded that reliable weather forecasts, for circum- 
 scribed areas at least, .would very soon become much 
 more the rule, and less the exception, than as matters 
 are at present.
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 Cold and Stormy Winter — Transit of Venus — Dr. Tait, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury. 
 
 Hurrah for our wild-bird friends as weather prog- 
 nosticators ! On this, as on many previous occasions, 
 our feathered biped friends foretold, after their own 
 fashion, indeed, and in a somewhat roundabout sort of 
 way, but intelligibly enough to the initiated, what 
 their more pretentious brother bipeds in broadcloth 
 and tweeds, with all the machinery and appliances of 
 their boasted meteorological science, were confessedly 
 unable either to foresee or foretell. Nor will it in the 
 least serve the sceptical to say that it was a chance hit, 
 for it was nothing of the kind, our readers themselves 
 bearing witness. In September, and again in October, 
 and a third time in November, we predicted, and 
 with the utmost confidence, it will be remembered, 
 first, that we were going to have storms, and the storms 
 came, and latterly, that an exceptionally severe period 
 of cold — winter with more than its usual inclemency 
 — must be close at hand ; and close at hand it 
 assuredly was, for lo ! it has come, and in such form 
 from Land's End to Cape Wrath as will cause it to 
 be long remembered as one of the coldest and 
 stormiest winters of our century. Meanwhile, we 
 have only further to observe that there are still daily 
 arrivals of Arctic sea-birds on our shores, which are
 
 TRANSIT OF VENUS. 373 
 
 now swarming with all sorts of web-feet and waders, 
 and it is best to be prepared for a continuance of cold 
 and storm of exceptional severity, during the present 
 month at least, and probably on till Candlemas Day. 
 
 Nowhere else could the transit of Venus on the 6th 
 instant be better seen or more satisfactorily than from 
 our little observatory here in Nether Lochaber. After 
 a night of keen frost, the sky from earliest dawn was 
 cold and clear as a sheet of polished steel, and without 
 a shred or filmiest wisp of cloud that the keenest eye 
 could detect in all the vast circumference of illimitable 
 blue. With instruments in thoroughest order and 
 carefully adjusted, it will be believed that we were at 
 our post betimes, so keenly expectant, indeed, of what 
 was coming, that we had the solar disc under closest 
 scrutiny half a dozen times at least, even when we well 
 knew that quite half an hour had yet to elapse ere the 
 computed first moment of external contact could come 
 round. At last, at 2 hours 24 min. 13 sec. local 
 time, as nearly as with the instruments at our 
 command we could make it, came the first faint touch 
 of the planet's overlapment on the sun's eastern limb, 
 or, in astronomical language, the first external contact 
 at ingress, in the shape of an ink-black convex stripe, 
 narrow and thin and elongated, as if a schoolboy, in a 
 moment of carelessness, had laid too much weight on 
 his broad-nibbed pen while describing the left hand 
 limb of his big text 0. Slowly, and one fancied as 
 if with difficulty, and somewhat against its will, the 
 planet crept onwards and inwards upon the solar disc, 
 until planet and orb were again edge to edge, and it 
 was the moment of internal contact at ingress, just
 
 374 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 19 min. 57 sec. from first external contact ; and thus 
 the only two astronomically important phases of the 
 conjunction, as visible in our country, were seen 
 under conditions the most favourable possible, and 
 altogether in a way that could not fail to gratify and 
 delight exceedingly every intelligent observer. Whilst 
 the transit was still in this its second phase, we were 
 joined by our friend Dr. Maccalman of Glencoe, who 
 took his turn at the telescope, and set us at liberty in 
 order to jot down such particulars, meteorological, 
 horal, and spectacular, as we thought most worthy of 
 record. Presently a thin ribbon of brightest light, a 
 mere thread of in tensest luminosity, separated the 
 edges of planet and primary, and Venus, round as a 
 cannon ball, and black as ink, was fairly afloat on the 
 mare magnum of the broad, bright solar sea. After 
 this our observations were constant and by turns, at 
 intervals of five and ten minutes, until the glorious 
 orb, with its fairest planet, the Star of Evening and of 
 Love, nestling at its heart, a huge resplendent shield 
 of golden light, dipped and disappeared behind Ben-a- 
 Barnich — the Limpet Ben- — in Mull. With a power 
 of 170 there was not the faintest trace of the 
 appearances supposed to have been seen in former 
 transits of Venus, and familiarly called the " ligature 
 band " and " black drop ; " nor was there any trace of 
 a satellite of Venus, which, because of certain per- 
 turbations and anomalies in its orbital motion, was at 
 one time suggested as at least a possible explanation 
 of the difficulty. If the planet really had a satellite, 
 it mast have been seen on this occasion with the 
 power at our command, and under our exceptionally
 
 TRANSIT OF VENUS. 375 
 
 favourable condition of long, and keen, and careful 
 observation. It may therefore be set down for a 
 certainty that Venus has no satellite. Nor does the 
 splendid planet need a satellite. Whether as the Star 
 of the Evening or of the Morning, and from earliest 
 times the Star of Love, she is bright and beautiful 
 enough without such an attendant, always delighting, 
 not in services rendered to her by subordinates, but in 
 her nearness to and constant service to her ma<mi- 
 ficently grand and glorious primary. Although for 
 several days immediately preceding the conjunction 
 sun spots were common, and often of great magnitude, 
 it is worth notice that during the transit there was not 
 a vestige of these phenomena, the solar disc presenting 
 a splendid circumference of living light, undimmed 
 and spotless as necessarily, you will believe, was the 
 object-glass of the telescope with which we viewed it. 
 One very curious and pretty appearance, purely 
 accidental of course, attracted the attention of Dr. 
 Maccalman and ourselves during our last, loner, 
 lingering look at the solar shield, as the lower limb of 
 the magnificent orb rested for an instant on the 
 conical peak of beautiful Ben-a-Barnich. This was a 
 large St. Andrew's cross, composed of two bright 
 threads of orange-golden cloud, that chanced to meet 
 and assume a form of cross so dear to every Scottish 
 heart, transversely across the solar disc, and having 
 the jet-black body of the transiting planet at the 
 point of intersection of its arms. It was a very 
 pretty and a very striking sight, and not an unfitting 
 finale to one of the most interesting and delightful 
 astronomical observations we have ever made. Shortly
 
 376 "TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 after the sun went down, the night came on cold and 
 clear, with about as intense and keen; a frost as we 
 have ever known in Lochaber, the stars sparkling and 
 burning on the hither shores of the immeasurable, 
 illimitable profound, with a brilliancy that seemed to 
 throb and pulsate with a consciousness of mysterious 
 intelligence and of a higher life than is dreamt of in 
 the philosophy of our mundane sphere. Our instru- 
 ments being in most perfect possible adjustment, we 
 devoted the night to astronomical observation, finish- 
 ing off with belted Will Jupiter (you remember 
 " belted Will Howard " of the old border ballad) and 
 his attendant moons on the meridian at one o'clock in 
 the morning, when, although duly mufflered and 
 heavily ulstered from the heels to the ears, five 
 consecutive minutes in the open air so benumbed our 
 hands — so keenly did it freeze, and so intense was the 
 cold — that our fingers became " a' thumbs," in Scottish 
 phrase, and we could not hold the pen to make the 
 necessary jottings in our interleaved "Whitaker" 
 until we had drunk off a huge bowl of very hot and 
 very potent tea at a draught, and comfortably, and 
 round and round, warmed ourselves at a fire, the 
 exceeding gas-like clearness of whose flame and white- 
 heat brightness of whose every ember sufficiently 
 attested the keenness of the frost without. 
 
 Much has already been written in kindly appraise- 
 ment of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, a good 
 man, and, from a wordly point of view, an eminently 
 successful man, to whom, for a wonder, nobody 
 begrudged his success. He was essentially a safe 
 man, cautious, self-possessed, and calm and prudent ;
 
 ARCHBISHOP TAIT. 377 
 
 never in extremes ; a most " kindly Scot," and always 
 a " canny " man, in the best Northumbrian sense of 
 that term. The following little story is very 
 characteristic of him, and will be interesting to all 
 who knew him well. Shortly after his election to 
 the Primacy he was in Scotland, and paid a short 
 visit to a West Highland laird, who was distantly 
 related to him. The laird, one of the most hospitable 
 of men, invited the parish minister to meet the 
 Archbishop at a little dinner party, which went off 
 very pleasantly, for " over the walnuts and the wine " 
 the Archbishop, besides saying much that was wise 
 and good, said also a great deal that was keenly 
 humorous and entertaining — all, of course, in a quiet- 
 episcopal way. It had been arranged that the 
 minister was to stay all night, and when the proper 
 time came, the laird addressed his clerical guests in 
 some such words as these — " Gentlemen, you are both 
 aware that I have always family worship in my house. 
 Before I ring the bell, I wish you would arrange it 
 between yourselves which of you is to conduct the 
 service this evening. Perhaps the best way will be 
 for one of you to officiate to-night, and the other, God 
 willing, to-morrow morning." " Not so," quietly and 
 at once replied Dr. Tait. " I am Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, our friend the minister here is Bishop of 
 his own parish, and you, sir, are Bishop of your own 
 house and family. Please conduct worship as you are 
 wont to do, just in the usual way, and remember us both 
 in your prayers." The laird having called his house- 
 hold together, read the beautiful fourteenth chapter of 
 the Gospel of St. John, and prayed a short extempore
 
 378 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 prayer, recommending himself, his household, and his 
 guests to the Divine Protector, and finishing with the 
 Lord's Prayer, — " the prayer of all prayers," as the old 
 divine hath it — " always appropriate, always fitting." 
 The Archbishop, on rising from his knees, shook hands 
 with all in the room, and expressed the pleasure it 
 gave him to be privileged thus to join his Presbyterian 
 friends in their homely and simple act of evening- 
 sacrifice to the Most High. On his return south, the 
 Archbishop, when passing through Edinburgh, ordered 
 twenty volumes of well-known and popular Presby- 
 terian books to be sent as his gift to the theological 
 section of the parish library.
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 Winter in the Country — Wild-Fowl — Flock of " Hooper " Swans {Anas 
 cygnus, Linn.) — Wild-Swan Notes — Letter from Perthshire — The Eagle 
 — Fox — Curious Egg — Alpine Hares on the Low Lands a sign of 
 severe Winter. 
 
 Intensely cold, with frequent alternations of frost, and 
 sleet, and snow, and always more or less of a gale, 
 loud and blustering, or sharp of edge as a scythe's 
 blade, one is fain to confess that it is really winter at 
 last — winter, with a day so short, and eke so dark, and 
 dull, and dim, as to be scarcely day at all, but rather 
 a cold, grey afternoon from pallid dawn till nightfall. 
 At this season of the year the night is, as a rule, much 
 more enjoyable than the day, whether abroad, if need 
 be, under the frosty starlight, or by the fireside in 
 slippered ease, with lamps alit and curtains closely 
 drawn, while without the elemental battle 
 
 " Eages loud and long, 
 And the stormy winds do blow." 
 
 Under these latter conditions, with a really good book 
 to read, or one of the monthlies, or even a newspaper, if 
 of the right sort, and well abreast of the stirring topics 
 of the hour, one can get on very comfortably indeed ; 
 the howling of the storm without, and the rattle of the 
 multitudinous hail upon the window-panes, only in- 
 tensifying the delights of the calm, and quiet, and com- 
 fort of the bright fireside and all one's cozy surround- 
 ings within — 
 
 o 
 
 " The storm without might rain and rustle, 
 Tarn didna mind the storm a whistle."
 
 380 'TWIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 The truth is, that with something to read and a fair 
 share of home comforts, a winter in the country, " far 
 from the madding crowd," is very much more enjoyable 
 than those constantly engulfed in the turmoil of 
 bustling cities will readily believe. That we are to 
 have a winter of more than usual severity, both as to 
 cold and storms, seems certain enough. Our lochs are 
 still swarming with sea-fowl, the flocks everywhere 
 being daily augmented by new arrivals from the north 
 and north-west. On Tuesday last, while driving home 
 from Fort- William, a well-known clang and trumpet- 
 ing overhead caused us suddenly to pull up, in order 
 the more easily to give all our attention for the 
 moment to an always interesting and beautiful sight. 
 It was a flock of " Hooper " wild swans (Anas cygnus, 
 Linn.), eleven in number, rapidly winging their flight 
 from the far north-west, and across Ardgour and 
 Lochaber to the south-east, probably making for the 
 many linns and lakes of Rannoch and Breadalbane. 
 Their flight was in wedge form, as usual, and at a great 
 altitude, some 2000 feet, as we guessed ; the leader, a 
 magnificent male, with long neck, stiff and out- 
 stretched like the carved tiller of a yacht, and grand 
 spread of wing, trumpetting now and again with loud, 
 clear notes, not unlike the ring of a hammer on a bar 
 of iron as you drive rapidly past a roadside smithy. 
 Whether it was that a sight of Loch Llundavra was 
 sufficiently attractive to make them think for a 
 moment of honouring it with a visit en passant, or in 
 the mere wantonness of conscious power of wing and 
 easy volition, it is impossible to say, but when over 
 the heights of Coruanan and Llundavra, they suddenly 
 wheeled to the left, and swept round and round in
 
 THE GOLDEN EAGLE TRAPPED. 381 
 
 easy circles, as if they meant to alight. Id the course 
 of the third wheel, however, the leader trumpeted a 
 loud, decisive note, that seemed to settle the matter; and 
 again the living, beautiful, snow-white wedge was off 
 and away, heading south-eastwards as before, and was 
 soon lost to sight behind the heights of Mamore. It 
 is long since we had occasion to come to the conclusion 
 that, when at this season of the year flocks of our 
 larger wild-birds, web-feet swans, geese, and cormorants, 
 pass high overhead inland, a period of intense cold 
 must be close at hand — intense cold almost sure to be 
 heralded by swirling snow-showers and fierce gales 
 from the north and north-west. 
 
 We have received a long and very interesting com- 
 munication from a large sheep-farmer in the Highlands 
 of Perthshire. We have only room for the following- 
 extract : — 
 
 " On the 11th inst.," says our correspondent, "one of my shep- 
 herds and myself had a close interview with a golden eagle — a 
 splendid bird, I assure you, it was — under the following circum- 
 stances : — Having reason to believe that an old hill fox, a very 
 blood-thirsty rascal, and the cunningest of his tribe, was paying 
 frequent visits to his hirsel, the shepherd in charge determined, if 
 possible, to outwit the fox, with all his cunning. For some time 
 he carried a gun, and frequently hid himself in likely places and at 
 likely hours, in order to get a shot at the bushy-tailed evil-doer. 
 In this, however, he failed, and at last he thought it a good plan 
 to try what a well-baited trap would do. A strong spring trap, 
 baited with rabbit, was accordingly placed near a cluster of large 
 rocks and boulders, which was, with good reason, supposed to be 
 the fox's saobhaidh or den ; and next day I resolved to accompany 
 the shepherd myself on his visit to the trap. When, after a stiff 
 climb, we came in sight of the trap, there was no fox in it, but, 
 instead of what we wanted, there was in it a large golden eagle, a 
 splendid big bird, squatting, quiet and motionless, as if sitting on 
 eggs. Knowing how strong an eagle is, and how frequently it will
 
 382 ' TWIXT BEN NE VIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 fight at close quarters with beak and claws, I took off my coat 
 (neither the shepherd nor myself had a plaid), and made a rush at 
 the eagle, intending to throw my coat over him, and thus, if 
 possible, secure him alive, without any hurt to myself or to him ; 
 but when I was within a few yards of him, he suddenly spread his 
 wings, and struggling violently, he got free and flew away ! At 
 first my idea was that he must have carried the trap bodily along 
 - with him, but the trap, I found, was too firmly attached to a strong 
 peg in the ground by a new dog chain to be carried away even by 
 so strong a bird as an eagle, and the trap itself told how the thing 
 was done. Between the firmly-closed steel teeth I found almost 
 half a toe of the eagle, with its strong, hooked talon more than an 
 inch in the curve, which was all the trap had a hold of him by, and 
 which, in his last violent struggle, as he saw me approach, he broke 
 off and left behind him. On the spring table of the trap there 
 was a little blood — not nearly so much as I should have expected 
 — but there was a touch of frost all the previous night, and the 
 cold may very likely have stopped the bleeding. The amputated 
 toe is, I think, the hind toe, but of this I am not sure. One of the 
 Duke's keepers, however, says that ' it is either the hind toe or one 
 of the fore toes' (!), a very valuable bit of information, no doubt, for 
 which I am obliged to him. Hind toe or fore toe, however, I have 
 sent it to a jeweller to be mounted in gold as a pin, and I hope 
 if you come this way in any of your rambles you will call and see it. 
 " I may tell you that, although unsuccessful with the fox on this 
 occasion, the thief was shot by the shepherd a few days afterwards, 
 one afternoon as he was slinking home to his den. He proved to 
 be a large dog fox with very black pads. One of his teeth was 
 wanting, and the rest stumpy and yellow to their tips. He had 
 also a good deal of grey about the muzzle. I therefore conclude 
 that he was a very old fox — ten years old, if he was a day. From 
 first to last, I dare say, the rascal must have killed at least a hundred 
 pounds worth of my sheep and lambs. One comfort is that he will 
 kill no more. Dugald (the shepherd who shot him) was as proud 
 of his feat as ever was an Englishman of his first stag, or an Anglo- 
 Indian of his first tiger. Do you think the eagle will be much the 
 worse of the loss of his toe 1 Like yourself, I have a great respect 
 for eagles, and should be sorry to think that this noble bird should 
 starve and be miserable by reason of his contact with my trap."
 
 A DOUBLE EGG. 383 
 
 We are much obliged to our correspondent, who writes 
 so well, that we hope to hear from him soon again. 
 The eagle is, we dare say, all right again. The loss of 
 a toe in such a case is " rather an inconvenience than 
 a loss." The eagle can doubtless get on without his 
 toe quite as well as many a skilled handicraftsman 
 whom accident at bench or forge has deprived of a 
 finger. It is simply marvellous how nature accommo- 
 dates herself to such accidents. 
 
 We have also received the following note : — 
 
 " Inverness, l%th November 1882. 
 
 " A friend of mine has in his possession a natural curiosity — a 
 very large goose egg, which had outwardly the appearance an egg 
 ought to have, but which, on being broken, was found to contain 
 the usual white and yolk, and in the centre of the latter another 
 complete egg, shell and all I 
 
 " Double yolks had been seen before, but this was rather 
 unusual, so it was resolved to preserve this egg as a curiosity, and 
 the yolk, &c. having been removed, the inner egg within the outer 
 shell was left intact. 
 
 " To assure you of the fact, I may mention that the aperture in 
 the outer shell is far too small to allow of the inner egg being 
 introduced through it." 
 
 Egg monstrosities are exceedingly common, particularly 
 in the case of domestic fowls, though the special form 
 of abnormality referred to by our correspondent is 
 rare — so rare that we ourselves have never met with an 
 instance of it. In the natural history columns, how- 
 ever, of Land and Water and The Field, instances of 
 precisely the same oological abnormality have often 
 been mentioned. If our correspondent can get his 
 friend to send us the specimen referred to in his note, 
 we should be glad to submit it to a close and careful
 
 384 'TIVIXT BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE. 
 
 examination, with a view to treating the subject on 
 some future occasion more at large. 
 
 A gamekeeper from one of the neighbouring districts 
 has just been calling upon us, in order to put us in 
 possession of his views, betimes, of the sort of weather 
 likely to prevail for some time to come. He is a man 
 of high intelligence, shrewd and observant, and we 
 have often had occasion to acknowledge his nous and 
 keen foresight in matters meteorological. His story is 
 to this effect :— Whilst out shooting hares one afternoon 
 last week, he bagged eleven, of whom no less than 
 seven were Alpine or mountain hares. They were all 
 killed on low, level lands, close by the sea, and in the 
 immediate vicinity of a couple of populous hamlets. 
 The fact of so many Alpine hares being met with so 
 low down, goes, in his opinion, to prove that already 
 on the uplands the weather is very severe, and is likely 
 to be of exceptional severity by the time the day is at 
 its shortest. In his forty years' experience as game- 
 keeper he has found that the appearance of mountain 
 hares on the low-lying crofters' lands by the sea has 
 invariably been followed by a period of intense cold 
 and storms. The proper home of the Alpine hare, he 
 remarked, is the mountain crest and the wide moor- 
 land solitudes of the uplands. Neither dogs nor guns, 
 nor any amount of persecution, will drive them from 
 their beloved haunts amongst the upland wildernesses. 
 Nothing will do this except the hunger and general 
 discomfort attendant on the intense cold of an excep- 
 tionally severe winter ; and therefore it is that he feels 
 himself justified in predicting a period of intense cold 
 and storms betwixt this and Gandlemastide. 
 
 Xi
 
 jntf
 
 Date Due 
 
 ., 
 
 , u,a2 . 
 
 ♦•v 
 
 
 NOV 2 6 
 
 1962 
 
 
 
 QP.T 9.fi 
 
 1971 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Library Bureau Cat No. 1137