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 THE 
 
 MISTY ISLE OF SKYE 
 
 ITS SCENERY, ITS PEOPLE, ITS STORY 
 
 BY 
 
 J. A. MACCULLOCH 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER 
 
 1905
 
 Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome, 
 I would see them before I die ! 
 
 But I'd rather not see any one of the three, 
 'Plan be exiled for ever from Skye ! 
 
 " Lovest thou mountains great, 
 
 Peaks to the clouds that soar, 
 Corrie and fell where eagles dwell, 
 
 And cataracts dash evermore? 
 Lovest thou green grassy glades. 
 
 By the sunshine sweetly kist, 
 Murmuring waves, and echoing caves? 
 
 Then go to the Isle of Mist." 
 
 Sheriff Nicolson.
 
 DA 
 
 15 
 
 To 
 MACLEOD OF MACLEOD, C.M.G. 
 
 Dear MacLeod, 
 
 It is fitting that I should dedicate this book 
 to you. You have been interested in its making and in its publica- 
 tion, and how fiattering that is to an author s vanity / And what 
 chief is there who is so beloved of his clansmen all over the world 
 as you, or whose fiame is such a household word in dear old Skye 
 as is yours ? A book about Skye should recognise these things, and 
 
 so I inscribe your name on this page. 
 
 Your Sincere Friend, 
 
 THE A UTHOR. 
 
 8G54S7
 
 EXILED FROM SKYE. 
 
 The sun shines on the ocean, 
 
 And the heavens are bhie and high, 
 
 But the clouds hang- grey and lowering 
 O'er the misty Isle of Skye. 
 
 I hear the blue-bird singing, 
 And the starling's mellow cry, 
 
 But t4eve the peewit's screaming 
 In the distant Isle of Skye. 
 
 The trees are grand and lofty, 
 
 And the grass grows sweet and high. 
 
 But I long to see the heather 
 In the purple Isle of Skye. 
 
 The streams are broad and stately, 
 And the meadows fertile lie, 
 
 But I hear the streamlets leaping 
 Down the rocky glens of Skye. 
 
 There's a singing in the cornfields 
 As the breeze goes whispering by, 
 
 But I love the bracken's rustle 
 On the lonely hills of Skye. 
 
 And I'd rather hear the music, 
 WhenVmy time may come to die, 
 
 Of the wind among the corries 
 In the far-off Isle of Skye. 
 
 M. J. M.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THIS book is made up, for the most part, of a 
 series of impressions of places and things in the 
 Isle of Skye, noted down from time to time during 
 the last seven years, and given a connected form in 
 the intervals of leisure snatched from more serious 
 work, I have tried to put into words the impressions 
 formed on the mind of one who is a lover of nature 
 and alive to the spell of a romantic past. The beauty 
 of nature and the romance of history are combined 
 in the Isle of Skye in a way perhaps unequalled in any 
 other part of Britain. There are few who, if they 
 know Skye, do not appreciate its charms, natural and 
 romantic. For them, and for those who care for such 
 charms wherever found, this book has been written. 
 Eilean a Cheo, the Isle of Mist, has been my home 
 for nearly eight years. Each year I have come to 
 love it better ; had it been fated that I should live 
 there much longer, there is no telling to what depths 
 of affection I might not have been brought by this 
 overmastering mistress ! But, alas, as I pen these 
 words, I know that fell circumstance is about to 
 make me an exile from Skye. Soon I shall cry with 
 the greatest of the bards of Skye — 
 
 "My heart is yearning for thee, O Skye, 
 Dearest of islands ! " 
 
 And as I leave its romantic shores and the friends 
 who have helped to make it so dear to me and mine, 
 shall I not also say — 
 
 " Blessings be with j'ou both now and aye, 
 Dear fcUow-Skyemen, 
 Yours is the love that no gold can bii}' 
 
 Nor time can wither, 
 Peace be with thee and thy children, O Skye, 
 Dearest of islands ! " 
 5
 
 6 Preface 
 
 The Isle of Mist, how much more thrilling is this 
 than the better-known "Isle of Skye " ! But why 
 it should be so called, I do not know. Rain there is 
 in plenty, but scarcely any mist, and one is forced to 
 go on the luciis a non lucendo principle in seeking 
 for the reason of this name. But in the early days 
 when it was first applied to this green isle of the 
 west, the whole land was covered with forest, and 
 this, with other changed climatic conditions, must 
 have brought frequent mists over its hills and glens. 
 But the name implies something remote, secret, 
 impenetrable, and I should like my readers to believe 
 that the islands has these qualities. For they are 
 suggestive of mystery, and the island is indeed full 
 of mystery — the mystery of nature's charm and 
 beauty, the spell of ancient and weird story, and 
 here, if anywhere, is that shore of old romance of 
 which the poet sang. 
 
 Those chapters which do not come under the head 
 of "impressions," deal with certain aspects of life 
 in Skye, past and present, and are the result of 
 observation, conversation, and reading. 
 
 In conclusion, I have to record my grateful thanks 
 to many friends in Skye to whose frequent hospitality 
 I owe it that I have been able to visit many of its 
 remoter corners. There, they will remember, we 
 have together spent many a pleasant hour. The 
 poem which precedes this Preface is from the pen 
 of my wife. Some of the illustrations are from my 
 own photographs, but they show sadly beside those 
 others which Miss Margaret MacLeod of MacLeod, 
 the Rev. A. H. Malan, Mr. Inglis Clark, Mr. 
 MacLaine, and Dr. Grant, have been good enough 
 to let me use. 
 
 J. A. MACCULLOCH. 
 
 Portree, Isle of Skye, 
 December 1904.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. Characteristics 9 
 
 II. The Metropolis of Skye 20 
 
 III. Trotternish 31 
 
 IV. Vaternish and the Great North Road . . 53 
 
 V. DUNVEGAN 69 
 
 VI. Loch Bracadale 85 
 
 VII. Strath and the Spar Cave . . . .101 
 
 VIII. Sleat and Armadale 112 
 
 IX. A Skye Industry 123 
 
 X. The Mountains 131 
 
 XI. The Moorland 149 
 
 XII. The Pageant of the Seasons . . . .161 
 
 XIII. The Geology of Skye 172 
 
 XIV. The People 195 
 
 XV. The Crofting System 211 
 
 XVI. The Folk-lore of Skye 234 
 
 XVII. Antiquities 258 
 
 XVIII. Historical and Literary Associations . . 283 
 
 Appendix 313 
 
 Index 318
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 1. On the Tower, Dunvegan Castle. Sunset 
 
 IN June .... 
 
 2. Entrance to Portree Bay . 
 
 3. Quiraing^,-— r-^, . 
 
 4. The Temple of Analits 
 
 5. Dunvegan Castle 
 
 6. The Candlestick Cave, Loch Bracadale 
 
 7. MacLeod's Maidens 
 
 8. Rocks Pierced by the Sea, Loch Braca 
 
 dale 
 
 9. Clach Glas and Blaaven . 
 
 10. DUNTULM AND ArMADALE . 
 
 11. Among the Coolins .... 
 
 12. Sunset on Coruisk .... 
 
 13. A Crofter's House on the Moor 
 
 14. A Stormy Day in Glen Sligachan . 
 
 15. Basaltic Cliffs near Trumpan 
 
 16. Using the Cas-crom 
 
 17. A Crofter's House, Interior 
 
 18. A Crofting Township. 
 
 19. Dun Beag .... 
 
 20. Over the Sea to Skye 
 
 Map of Skye 
 
 Frontispiece 
 Facing page 24 
 36 
 •58 
 70 
 86 
 90 
 
 100 
 106 
 116 
 132 
 140 
 
 154 
 162 
 182 
 214 
 222 
 232 
 266 
 282 
 
 312
 
 THE MISTY ISLE OF SKYE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 "Skye's romantic shore." — Scott. 
 
 THERE are travelled persons, deeply read in 
 Baedeker and Murray, who merely ignore the 
 Isle of Skye. To others, untravelled, it is only a 
 name ; while to both it is dimly suggestive of some- 
 thing remote and savage and windy, a weary land 
 where the comforts of civilisation are not to be had 
 for love or money. Yearly, a few adventurous 
 tourists come as birds of passage, or, if they are 
 sportsmen, armed with rod and gun, stay for a 
 longer period. Their impressions are various, de- 
 pending on the personal equation, still more upon 
 the weather. If it rains, they are ready to curse 
 God and die. If the sun shines and the air is still 
 and the sky blue, they affect to believe themselves 
 the victims of an illusion, and can scarce credit 
 that anything so fine should dare to exist so far 
 away. 
 
 But let them be as open-minded as they please, or 
 as favourably dealt with as can be, they do not enjoy 
 to the full the flavour of the Isle of Skye. The 
 tourist is too much engaged scampering from hotel 
 to hotel, the sportsman too much preoccupied with 
 birds and dogs, to understand the rare charm, or to 
 
 9
 
 lo The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 discover even a tenth part of the beauty of Skye. 
 For that, you must live there, year in, year out, 
 summer and winter, in sunshine and storm ; you 
 must experience the marvellous charm of its spring" 
 and early summer days, w^hen the air is like a fine 
 wine and the landscape seems unreal because it is 
 so beautiful ; you must let the gloom of its winter 
 melancholy pierce your soul to its depths, until some 
 morning you awaken to an enchanted day and the 
 melancholy is routed, and you wonder that it ever 
 could have been. And if you are not a native of 
 Skye, but have come from the settled and common- 
 place landscapes and surroundings of the south, all 
 the more will the magic of the place charm and 
 please you. On the other hand, it is possible that 
 you will merely detest and hate the place, and wish 
 yourself well out of it. You will be hard to please, 
 and not open to magic influences. But you will 
 either hate it or love it, for no via media has yet 
 been discovered. 
 
 The fact that Skye is an island, without railways 
 and with (until lately) only indiff"erent roads, that it 
 is so far removed from the busy centres of civilisation, 
 and that its population is so scattered, has a curious 
 effect. Living in a crowded district, one's interests 
 are local, and one hardly knows what is happening 
 even a few miles off. But here distance is nothing 
 when you may have to go ten miles to visit a 
 neighbour. Everyone is known to you, whether 
 they live east or west, north or south ; and every- 
 thing that goes on becomes almost a personal 
 interest to you. In olden days, when the people 
 of all the larger houses were nearly all related, this 
 was even more striking, and news travelled apace 
 from one corner to another, even when there was no 
 telegraph to carry it. This is all the more surprising 
 when it is considered that the island is fifty miles 
 long and from seven to twenty-five broad, and that 
 every part of it is isolated from another by hills and 
 valleys, streams and winding sea-lochs. For this
 
 Characteristics 1 1 
 
 last reason the length of coast-line is out of all 
 proportion to the area, and measures thousands of 
 miles. The area of the island is, roughly, 350,000 
 acres. 
 
 On the map the Isle of Skye, with its numerous 
 peninsulas (like flying buttresses) starting outwards 
 from a common centre, is suggestive of some 
 strange wild-fowl. Hence travellers from the 
 sixteenth century onwards have derived its native 
 name Eilean Sgiathanach from the Gaelic sgiath, a 
 wing, transformed in the Norse sagas into Skid.^ 
 Whether, without a map, the winged formation 
 would be likely to strike the primitive inhabitant is 
 uncertain. Other learned philologists debate the 
 claims of roots signifying cloud, mist, and sword, 
 or maintain that here stood the winged temple which 
 fable apportioned to Apollo among the Hyper- 
 boreans. But it is a far cry from Hellas to Skye, 
 and only pedantic Celtic antiquaries (the most 
 pedantic of all pedants) will trace the connection. 
 To Oisin (or Macpherson) the island is always 
 Eilean a Cheo, the Isle of Mist. 
 
 These peninsulas are most pronounced to the 
 north and the south, but on the eastern and western 
 sides there is a series of curtailed promontories, 
 divided by narrow lochs. They present a curious 
 variety of surface and seaboard. On the north the 
 peninsulas are formed of wild and tumbled uplands, 
 rising into strangely contorted rocks at Storr and 
 Quiraing, with precipitous cliffs on the eastern coast- 
 line. In the west these uplands mount occasionally 
 into considerable hills with heathery flanks and 
 flattened summits. The southern region resumes 
 the upland country, but is so much more fertile as 
 to be called "the garden of Skye." It is in the 
 centre and running across the island from north-east 
 to south-west that the great mountains are found, 
 
 ^ Ptolemy transliterated the native name into Greek, 2»f^Tty ; 
 in ecclesiastical Latin (Adamnan's, for example) the island is 
 called Scia.
 
 12 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 rounded and massy and huddled together to the 
 north-east ; steep, precipitous, and splintered towards 
 the south-west, where the Coolins dominate the land- 
 scape for many a mile. All these breezy uplands 
 are covered with heather and bent, bracken and 
 bog-myrtle, which, on warm summer days, make 
 the air fragrant with odorous scents such as Keats 
 would have loved. They are given over to sheep, 
 save where in more or less fertile patches the 
 crofting population seek their livelihood from the 
 soil. But they are empty solitudes where one may 
 wander for a whole day and receive no human 
 greeting. As far as eye can reach there are lines 
 of gently swelling hills ; you mount one, and still 
 they deploy to the horizon, or suddenly lose them- 
 selves in a narrow loch or the wider sea. 
 
 Yet in this apparent monotony there is an in- 
 finite variety. The summer glory of these uplands 
 under a sapphire sky, surrounded by azure seas ; 
 their autumn and winter melancholy ; the splintered 
 summits looming grimly in the distance ; here and 
 there steep, windy headlands ; green valleys with 
 burns tinkling down to the sea ; the glorious tang 
 of the breeze ; the ever-changing mystic lights and 
 shadows — these, with the hoary traditions and tales 
 of eld which are suggested by them at every step, 
 are pleasures which do not easily pall. 
 
 Thus the Isle of Skye offers such a bundle of 
 delights as are not easily found in any place even 
 less remote than it is from the busy centres of life 
 and the madding crowd. To the exterior eye it 
 presents so many natural features that the bare 
 catalogue of them bewilders, how much more does 
 the joyous experience of them fascinate. Great 
 basalt cliffs hang their steep castellated fronts above 
 a brilliant green slope, and face the sea. From 
 their top you gaze down a thousand feet into a 
 vast abysmal depth of blue water, or across its 
 sundering tide to the dark summits of the northern 
 counties. Far out to sea on the western side are
 
 Characteristics 13 
 
 purple islands gleaming" on the horizon. Above you 
 are the immeasurable spaces of the sky, across 
 which a seabird now poises itself like some uncertain 
 angel, and now darts off with an incredible swift- 
 ness and dgemonic clamour. Here and there the sea 
 sends long arms far inland, so that the unvoyaged 
 islander (to whom Portree is a metropolis and 
 Glasgow a merely mythical Babylon), confined to 
 his moorland solitudes, can touch the pulse of the 
 unseen and infinite ocean, on which stately ships 
 are hurrying to far lands beyond the sunrise and the 
 sunset, where are busy ports thronged with men and 
 echoing with the hum of endless activity. To speak 
 by the map and the geographer's compass, no part 
 of the island, large as it is, lies four miles from the 
 sea, so much is it broken up by these lochs winding 
 in among the moors and the bases of the hills. This 
 recurring presence of the sea has a strange fascina- 
 tion for the mind. It presents itself in the most 
 unexpected places. The solid masses of the Coolins, 
 or the broad miles of rolling uplands, suggest a land 
 free from these indentations and murmuring waters. 
 But no ; you have scarce proceeded half a league 
 when you skirt the upper reaches of a sea-loch, and 
 in the next mile or two you are walking by the edge 
 of a second. 
 
 Inland and around these lochs the billowy moor- 
 land swells and falls, or mounts up into a con- 
 siderable hill. From these hills the air comes pure 
 from its high elevation and sweet with a hundred 
 rustic odours of upland flowers. Its extent and its 
 mysterious hollows, its black peat-hags, and its 
 strange silence, suggest weird thoughts of ambushes, 
 of hidden deeds, of brooding secrets, until you 
 almost expect some voice, tired of its immemorial 
 silence, to shout them aloud to all the winds. In 
 summer and autumn the moor exhilarates with its 
 omnipresent perfume wafted from bog-myrtle and 
 bracken, while it seems to fling itself to the horizon 
 in a purple garment dappled with emerald green.
 
 14 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 But in winter and early spring- that green has 
 become a wan white, and the purple has turned to 
 a dingy brown, and the sombre landscape seems to 
 speak of still deeper mysteries. Every varying 
 expression of the face of the sky, its summer joy, 
 its April doubt, its winter gloom, is reflected with 
 conscientious exactness on this equally expressive 
 moorland countenance. 
 
 A great part of these uplands forms a rich and 
 happy hunting-ground for the sportsman. Grouse, 
 snipe, woodcock, and hares are found in plenty. 
 Some of the loftier ground gives sanctuary to the 
 red deer, with which the island must have teemed 
 at one time, for in the sixteenth century organised 
 hunts, in which a thousand head were killed, took 
 place among the Red Hills. But the greater part of 
 Skye is let out in sheep-farms, for, like the Homeric 
 Ithaca, it is a pasture -land of sheep, and more 
 pleasant in my sight than one that pastureth horses ; 
 for of all the isles that lie and lean upon the sea, none 
 are fit for the drivitig of horses, or rich in meadow- 
 land, and least of all is Ithaca} The pasture is 
 scanty enough in winter, when the uplands are like 
 a moist sponge with the rains ; and the bulk of the 
 sheep have to be sent to the mainland in autumn, 
 to return in spring, but, like the daffodil, "before 
 the swallow does." Here, too, are none of the 
 active, shaggy, goat-like sheep of Uist and St. 
 Kilda ; only the familiar black-face and Cheviot ; 
 but the flavour of their flesh has gained something, 
 and the fame of Skye mutton has passed into a 
 proverb. The crofters, who covet earnestly the 
 best land and would seize it, if they could, re- 
 gardless of ownership, hate sheep-farms and sheep 
 alike, and, in their native Gaelic, which I translate 
 for the mere Sassenach, describe the animals as 
 " beastly brutes of poll-heads." As for their 
 language towards farmers and lairds, let the rest 
 be silence ! Large fortunes were once amassed 
 ^ Odyssey, iv. 6io, Lang's translation.
 
 Characteristics 1 5 
 
 by Skye farmers, and more than one small tenant- 
 farmer, beginning in a humble way, has found 
 himself in the glorious company of the nouveaux 
 riches before he died. But the day for that is over, 
 and much more modest returns must be looked for. 
 
 Of the hills and mountains of Skye there will be 
 much to say. It is enough here to recall their 
 haunting presence, their magic lights, the solemn 
 grandeur and beauty that is theirs at all times of 
 the year. You look at them across the wide moors, 
 and they touch the last cloud upon the level sky. 
 Steeped in moonlight or clad in glittering snow 
 under a cloudless sky, they seem ethereal, trans- 
 parent. At dawn and sunset, every scaur and 
 hollow, every corrie and precipice, has all the 
 definite clearness of a fine steel engraving. Or 
 when wreaths of mist roll along their flanks, or 
 cloud-masses huddle together around them, they 
 are still grand and impressive. Seeing them under 
 these varied conditions, and with ever- changing 
 miances of light or colour, you would vow there are 
 no such hills elsewhere. Those who have not so 
 seen them will scoff — and no doubt the vow marks 
 the insular mind ; but what is their sneer against 
 the opinion of an eye-witness? 
 
 Again, there is infinite delight in the colours of 
 the landscape. Mostly these are what the indif- 
 ferent would call sad and monotonous. Yet can 
 the keen eye discover something richer. Even in 
 winter there is variety, and there is a gorgeousness 
 about the moors and the hillsides, when late autumn 
 turns the bracken to a rich brown, and the sun 
 casts blue shadows everywhere, which is not to be 
 gainsaid. Often, too, at high summer noontides 
 there comes a blue Italian sky, which is at once 
 discredited by those who do not know the island 
 when they see it reproduced by the artist. Then 
 the sea is turned to a deeper azure, flecked with 
 whitest foam where it swings unceasingly against 
 the cliffs. The seabird, poising itself overhead,
 
 1 6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 has wings of transparent alabaster, through which 
 the blue heaven seems almost visible. Ireland 
 itself cannot have greener valleys than Skye ; nor 
 could the choicest English woodland or meadow 
 boast a richer variety or a greater luxuriance of 
 wildflowers. And if the air is still, and you have 
 risen with the lark, and inhaled the rich odour of 
 the moorland air, you will say that nature looks as 
 fresh and as young as it first did on the seventh 
 morning before Paradise had been lost. As day 
 wears on, the blaze of sunshine touches everything 
 with a dull burnish of gold. The island is indolent 
 as ever was the land of the lotus-eaters, and there 
 is no mountain nor crag but has lost its ruggedness 
 and now seems voluptuous with gentle swellings 
 and softened curves. 
 
 Yet it would be futile to deny the desolation of 
 Skye in some of its aspects. Let the clouds hang 
 low down overhead and everywhere around on a 
 short winter day, as if they would crush the land ; 
 let the rain fall in blinding torrents for weeks, and 
 the morning dawn cheerless over a dripping land- 
 scape ; let the wind rave across the moorland with 
 pitiless incessancy ; and let there be the least 
 melancholy in your heart, and then you will know 
 something of the abomination of desolation. You 
 will understand "that distress" (of which Mau- 
 passant writes so grimly) " which sometimes seizes 
 travellers on certain sad evenings, in certain desolate 
 places. It seems that everything is near its ending 
 — existence and the universe itself. You perceive 
 sharply the dreadful misery of life, the isolation of 
 everyone, the nothingness of all things, and the 
 black loneliness of the heart which nurses itself and 
 deceives itself with dreams until the hour of death." 
 So it is, sometimes, in Skye ; until there comes a 
 day of sunshine, and all is forgotten, and the 
 desolation passes away as if it had never been. 
 
 Throughout the island are many houses, bare, 
 unattractive, but strong stone structures, the homes
 
 Characteristics 17 
 
 of many generations, standing solitary on the moor, 
 or hidden away under the kindly fold of a hill. To 
 live in them is to call up a hundred phantoms of 
 the past, to touch bygone years, to listen unawares 
 to Time's stolen flight. Nor is there wanting a sense 
 of depression as one thinks how these walls once 
 held so many who have now fallen on sleep. No 
 old house is ever without these sad memories and 
 pallid gleams of past years. But the vast solitudes 
 in which these Skye houses are set, the miles of road 
 traversed to approach them, the brooding silence 
 that hangs around their walls, as if pregnant with 
 some mystery which is always on the point of being 
 revealed, intensify this haunting sense of those who 
 made them their caravanserai. There, in years 
 gone by, the gentlemen tacksmen, cadets sometimes 
 of the great houses, dwelt, and their sons went 
 forth to fight the battles of their country. From one 
 of them it is said that more officers came during the 
 Peninsular War than from any other single house in 
 the British Empire. Many of these houses are 
 small, and but little better than cottages. They 
 could have contained but few of the luxuries of life ; 
 yet from them came scores of the brave soldiers and 
 builders of our empire, and they were often lit up 
 by festive occasions, the dance, the cheerful laughter 
 of unencumbered hearts, the smiles of fair women. 
 Boswell's Journal of the famous tour shows at 
 once the comfort in discomfort which prevailed, 
 and contains many a picture of the happy houseful 
 of friends, who were mostly kinsmen, crowded into 
 a few small rooms, where constant good-humour, 
 aided (can we doubt it) by copious drams, prevailed. 
 The grey and brown landscape seems to forbid 
 such prettiness in architecture as the Swiss chalet, 
 hanging on the mountain-side, exhibits. The 
 crofter's hut, with its low, lichen-covered walls, 
 and its roof thatched with the materials of the 
 surrounding moor, seems to have grown out of its 
 surroundings. It is a product of nature, not of
 
 1 8 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 art, or rather of the artificer. It rhymes with 
 the sober landscape, and partakes of its shaggy 
 wildness. Even the larger houses have the same 
 unadorned character, plain grey stone walls, four 
 square gables, built for use not beauty. Such a 
 castle as Dunvegan has the same natural appear- 
 ance as these small unarchitectural attempts at 
 house-building. It forms no break in the landscape, 
 but seems only a more shapely form of the rock on 
 which it stands. No bird-haunted lawns, no terraces 
 and stairways, separate stately decorated walls 
 from the surrounding landscape. Grim keep and 
 ancient tower and worn battlements join hand-in- 
 hand with the brown moorland, the shaggy wood- 
 land, and the lapping waves. They who reared it in 
 centuries gone by "built better than they knew," 
 or else had a true sense of the relation of art and 
 nature to each other. 
 
 But there is a still more remote antiquity than 
 those old stone walls hint of. There are ruined 
 heaps on windy hillocks ; mounds of stone under- 
 neath which lie the ?m'ghty bones of ancient men, old 
 knights ; a few roughly sculptured monuments. 
 They speak silently of old, unhappy, far-off things, 
 and of un remembered wars, which have left no 
 record in history, scarce even has their faint echo 
 been preserved in local tradition. The moor-bird 
 flies around them with its wailing cry, as if regret- 
 ting old mortality, but of the men who placed them 
 there or whose deeds they commemorate, the rest is 
 silence. Norse names, especially in the north and 
 west, testify to raids by these ancient sea-wolves, 
 and of a Scandinavian occupation long enough to have 
 made itself felt in the nomenclature, though it scarcely 
 survives in race. History speaks of Haco and his 
 fleet, and Kyleakin is Haco's Strait ; but tradition is 
 once more silent, leaving to the philologist the 
 task of explaining the place names by Norwegian 
 parallels. 
 
 Of the race earlier than the Celtic — Neolithic,
 
 Characteristics 1 9 
 
 possibly Pictish — there remain still scantier traces, 
 whether of their social life, their manners, or their 
 religion. Yet in these green valleys and along the 
 shores of the sea-lochs they must have formed a 
 dense population. There are to be seen, not plenti- 
 fully but occasionally, " Picts' houses," stone circles, 
 and burial-chambers, and at times the arms and 
 utensils of these early generations are dug out of the 
 peat. They speak dumbly of the manners and customs 
 of a far-distant past, and hint to us moderns that the 
 same human heart beat then, and cherished such 
 hopes and fears, such loves and hates, then, as it 
 does now. 
 
 And the story of the rocks of Skye carries the 
 mind back to an unpeopled and illimitable past. 
 Ice-scratched cliffs, roches-inoutonnees^ beds of 
 boulder clay, tell of the time when vast glaciers 
 crept down these green valleys to the outer sea. 
 The terraced uplands, the purple Coolins, and the Red 
 Hills, carry us over millions of years to the Tertiary 
 period, when great plateaux of lava were laid down, 
 and within and beneath them internal outbursts 
 took place through an enormous period of time. 
 Beneath these lie beds of strata, crowded with 
 fossils, witnessing to ages of submersion when the 
 island lay beneath the midmost sea. 
 
 Thus, in Skye, antiquity accompanies one at every 
 step, and the mind has a liberal choice of bygone 
 ages to revel in, from the romantic days of Prince 
 Charlie back through the voiceless generations to 
 those dim ages when the island was built up, stratum 
 by stratum, out of the unknown deep.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE METROPOLIS OF SKYE 
 
 " If people were aware how slow Time journeyed in that 
 village, and what armfuls of spare hours he gives, over 
 and above the bargain, to its wise inhabitants, I believe 
 there would be a stampede out of ... a variety of large 
 towns, where the clocks lose their heads, and shake the 
 hours out each one faster than the other, as though they 
 were all in a wager." — Stevenson. 
 
 IN Dr. Johnson's time Portree boasted "a tolerable 
 inn," though when Prince Charles visited it 
 twenty-seven years earlier the landlord could not 
 produce more than thirteen shillings in change for 
 a guinea. A parish church served the large district, 
 but there was no village near, only a few scattered 
 huts. When the caustic pedant, Dr. MacCulloch, 
 visited the island, he said that Portree boasted one 
 sign of civilisation, namely, a jail, but even then the 
 houses were few, as appears from a contemporary 
 picture of the place. But for years past its population 
 has increased, and now numbers about a thousand. 
 The tourist traffic has caused several hotels to be 
 built ; the increase of business has erected banks 
 and lawyers' offices ; crime demands a court-house 
 and an improved jail ; and religious differences have 
 filled the place with churches. 
 
 Apart from the beautiful Episcopal church of St 
 Columba, with its gorgeous window dedicated to 
 the memory of Skye's heroine. Flora Macdonald, the 
 town itself has few architectural beauties. Round 
 the harbour sweeps a crescent of houses, and piled 
 
 20
 
 The Metropolis of Skye 21 
 
 above them, in the upper town, mingled with trees, 
 are still more houses. Beyond these is the square ; 
 on the outskirts are more pretentious dwellings ; 
 and round all is the open moorland and the rising 
 hills. The bay lies in a natural basin, surrounded 
 by hills and cliflfs ; across the channel lies Raasay, 
 and beyond it are the hills of Torridon. To say 
 that the town, which occupies one edge of this basin, 
 was a busy centre would be a gross exaggeration. 
 Steamers come and go, bringing mails and cargoes ; 
 these connect the place with the outer world ; carts 
 move leisurely pierwards or countrywards to carry 
 off these cargoes ; the country-folk come in to town 
 with their shaggy ponies bearing panniers to do 
 their shopping ; the place swarms with shops ; yet 
 at any hour of the day you may look upon the square 
 or wander through the streets and fancy yourself in 
 Sleepy Hollow. Business goes slowly and requires 
 much cogitation and lengthy discussion ; as leisurely 
 goes pleasure ; and though now and then some new 
 game or sport is attacked, enthusiasm, never very 
 strong, soon dies down and things become as they 
 were. Yet the game of shinty is played with some- 
 thing approaching to enthusiasm, and if a dance is 
 announced a real frenzy is awakened and the fioochs 
 of the reel-dancers wake the echoes of the assembly 
 room till dawn steals through the windows. Culture 
 is not forgotten : there is a literary society, a library, 
 and a reading-room. The muses haunt the place : 
 report speaks of a dramatic society in the past, and 
 in the present there is a flourishing choral union. 
 Yet all this quiet life, where nothing is done in a 
 hurry and where things still get done in time, has a 
 real attraction for minds innocent and quiet. The 
 stir of existence dies away to an inarticulate murmur. 
 Far off, no doubt, life moves with its wonted bustle 
 and clatter and hurry ; but it is far off, and one has 
 lost taste for it. The years come and go, unmarked 
 by outstanding events ; the lives of all are known 
 and every face is familiar ; there is a conspiracy for
 
 22 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 quietude, and save when the usual strife of village 
 factions becomes too evident, the conspiracy succeeds 
 in its aim. There is something- kindly and ultra- 
 human about this quiet life. You are in a town and 
 yet the moorland comes rolling up into the streets. 
 The hills look down on you at every corner, and 
 below you is the loch with its blue waters. Nature 
 invades you at every step, and forbids your petty 
 humours and feverish ambitions. 
 
 The whole natural surroundings of Portree make 
 it one of the most beautiful spots on the western 
 coast of Scotland. The narrow entrance to the bay 
 is guarded on both sides by lofty cliff formations. 
 On the south side is Ben Tianavaig, a basaltic hill 
 piled on masses of oolite, which at the sea's edge 
 are riddled with caves, the haunt of rock-pigeons. 
 Its sides are curiously contorted and weather-worn, 
 but among its outcropping rocks and boulders are 
 large patches of rich green pasturage. Opposite, on 
 the north side, are the frowning headlands of Creag 
 Mhor or the Beal, and Ben Chracaig, basaltic pre- 
 cipices, from which a long green slope, its base 
 strewn with black boulders, runs down to the sea. 
 Far up on the latter a black slit denotes the entrance 
 to a narrow and lofty cave, the Piper's Cave, which 
 tradition says runs through the island and emerges 
 again at Loch Bracadale. Another name for it and 
 an older one is MacCoitar's Cave. MacCoitar was 
 a brigand in ancient times, who sallied forth from 
 this dark and damp dwelling-place to plunder the 
 neighbourhood, and then returned with the spoil. 
 On the beach below is a boulder which a Raasay 
 man threw at his wife. It missed her, but with 
 such violence was it thrown that it flew across the 
 sound and fell here ! Such tales do the fishermen 
 tell each other as they go sailing out into the west. 
 Past Ben Chracaig is the harbour itself, with the 
 town rising above it, while away beyond are the 
 billowy moors and the ridges of the Storr valley. 
 To the west of the harbour and just above the town
 
 The Metropolis of Skye 23 
 
 is "Fancy Hill" (what a name!), a rounded pro- 
 montory, covered with trees, from which, standing 
 as it does in the centre of the natural basin, a 
 magnificent view of the surrounding country is to 
 be had. Behind it the loch turns inland at a right 
 angle, and becomes gradually shallower, so that it 
 is uncovered at low water. Fingal's Seat, a long 
 ridge-like summit, overlooks the town and the upper 
 part of the loch ; while far away to the south, but yet 
 appearing so near as to form another side of the 
 basin, are the jagged peaks of the Coolins. These, 
 with the rounded Red Hills and the lion-like mass 
 of Glamaig to their left, form a wonderfully over- 
 powering and ever-present feature of the scene. 
 Morning, noon, and night, summer and winter, in 
 storm or sunshine, magic lights and shadows play 
 across these hills, or mist and cloud seem to deepen 
 the sense of mystery which broods around them. 
 The purple rocks of the Coolins seem to defy the 
 efforts of the sun to soften their rugged outlines, 
 save at some high noontide or in the winter sunshine, 
 when the hills are covered with snow. Then they 
 melt away into a semi-transparent cloud, and hang 
 magically against the sky, transmuted almost to its 
 own ethereal beauty. But the Red Hills with their 
 rosy tints seem always bathed in light, and invite 
 the sunshine, even on a cloudy day, to play upon 
 their sides. The bay itself, opening into the Sound 
 of Raasay, is always beautiful. On a calm day it is 
 a mirror reflecting the rocks and summits which 
 enclose it. Or in darker weather it catches the 
 leaden hues of the sky, and deepens the contrast 
 with the purple hills around it. 
 
 Thus it is easy to see that the natural surroundings 
 of Portree make it what it is, and this suggests a 
 closer treatment of some of them. The tourist who 
 makes Portree his headquarters, and from there 
 dashes off to see the Quiraing, or Coruisk, or the 
 Coolins, or Dunvegan, knows little of the charming 
 "bits" so near at hand, where so much variety and
 
 24 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 beauty is spread before and around one. If he be of 
 an independent turn of mind, he may discover some 
 of them for himself, but this seldom happens, and 
 their true value remains known only to those who 
 live year in year out in their midst, and can wander 
 to them at the appropriate season. 
 
 Between the two frowning basaltic cliffs on the 
 north side of the entrance to the bay the oolite which 
 everywhere underlies the basalt is exposed to view. 
 It runs sloping upwards in long yellow strata full of 
 fossils far above the blue waters, and on its top lies 
 a lush green meadow. In one or two places wind 
 and weather have eroded the cliff and left great 
 hollows under a canopy of stone where one may sit 
 in quiet and look down on the placid sea, or watch 
 the lights and shadows changing on the rugged face 
 of Ben Tianavaig across the bay. Here and there 
 a limpid fountain trickles down through a deep 
 crevice lined with thick curtains of moss, where 
 lurk hartstongue ferns and black maiden-hair, or 
 in the drier cracks of the limestone the rare little 
 wall-rue or the glossy sea spleenwort. Thyme 
 overhangs the cliff's edge, and the oolite is every- 
 where channelled and grooved, and in these grooves 
 and channels ivy has taken a firm hold, so that it 
 sometimes completely hides the rock beneath a deep 
 green mantle. Its roots, where they are exposed, 
 are of the thickness of a man's arm. In the meadow 
 which runs inshore grow hemlock, meadow-sweet, 
 and purple vetch, often as high as one's head ; in 
 the more barren patches peep blue violets, masses of 
 eyebright, the green sun-spurge, the golden butter- 
 cup, or, earlier in the year, the pale primrose and the 
 purple hyacinth. 
 
 A little beyond are the crumbling stones of one of 
 those tiny ancient Celtic churches, rude in archi- 
 tecture, in which the voice of praise has long been 
 silent, and where the too luxurious vegetation 
 girdles the long-forgotten graves, and lulls them to 
 a deeper sleep. But not all, for there is one stone
 
 o 
 
 <
 
 The Metropolis of Skye 25 
 
 of recent erection with a touching- epitaph. It tells 
 of a sailor who, weary of life, committed suicide in 
 the loch. He was buried here, not in the parish 
 churchyard, and rumour hints darkly of those who, 
 thinking even this ancient place of graves too sacred 
 for the bones of one who had raised an impious hand 
 against himself, cast him back once more into the 
 sea. Peace be to his soul, wherever his body lies. 
 " He was a faithful servant to his earthly master." 
 A ludicrous story attaches itself to this place. Two 
 solitary trees rise gaunt and high among- the 
 deserted ruins. They mark the graves of the 
 successive wives of an islander who kept their 
 memory green by these memorials, but who, when 
 his time came that men should gird and carry him, 
 found none to do the like for him. 
 
 Above this old churchyard is a narrow glen down 
 which a burn trickles to the sea. It terminates in 
 the precipitous flank of the cliff, over which the 
 water dashes, through masses of birch and hazel, 
 forming- a cool, shadowy grotto with deep recesses 
 where lurk asplenia and holly-fern in plenty. All 
 around are thick clumps of fern and bracken, beds 
 of yellow primroses, blue violets, white anemones, 
 while the air is scented with their perfumes and the 
 aromatic odour of the bracken. Overhead is the 
 black frowning cliff, looking as if it would suddenly 
 dash itself downwards. Beyond it is the ruined 
 heap of Dun Torvaig, and near by the gable of the 
 ancient house of Scorrybreck. Somewhere here 
 Prince Charles hid from his pursuers after having 
 crossed to Skye from Raasay, beyond the sound. 
 Far below are the ruined church, the green meadow, 
 the rolling sea. In front is Creag Mhor, rising 
 skywards ; across the water is Raasay and the steep 
 flanks of Ben Tianavaig, and in the far distance Ben 
 Alligin looks down upon the glories of Loch Torridon. 
 You see all this on an early summer day, when sea 
 and sky are sapphire and a haze hangs over the 
 slopes of Raasay with their variegated surface of
 
 2 6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 brown and grey and green. The lambs are calling, 
 the plovers are shrieking, the gulls poising themselves 
 irresolutely in mid-air, and then, with a wild cry, 
 darting off into the far distance ; some fishing-boats 
 are putting out to sea, their brown sails now bellying, 
 now collapsing, as they tack hither and thither, 
 seeking for a breeze. These are the only signs of 
 life in the joyous landscape, and you feel how good 
 a thing it is to be alive, while the air is full of the 
 tang of the sea and the perfumes of summer, and 
 the eye rests gladly on the beauty of earth and 
 sea. 
 
 Half a mile from Portree on the side of Fingal's 
 Seat is another narrow glen, down which a burn 
 leaps and dashes, swollen in times of rain to a 
 roaring torrent. To wander along its precipitous 
 sides, or climb up its rocky bed, is a lesson in rock- 
 carving and geological lore. At its entrance, just 
 where the banks begin to rise in steep acclivities, 
 you look up through a long green vista of bushes 
 (in which the birch is most prominent, each tiny 
 leaf glittering in the sunshine), and a thick under- 
 growth of bracken and fern, amidst which the water 
 gleams as it courses along. Above it is a piled 
 mass of greenery and shaggy heath-edged cliffs, 
 through which the sky is perceived. At the end of 
 this ravine is an amphitheatre of basalt, forming a 
 cool grotto, shut in from the world. The water 
 shoots over the rock in a white cascade down into a 
 deep brown pool. Brown and green mosses, ferns, 
 wood-sorrel, nestling primroses and violets, grass 
 and heather, fringe the edges of the cascade and the 
 rocky walls. Here, too, in their due season may 
 be found in luxuriance anemones, wild hyacinths, 
 starwort, ladies-fingers, vetches, the cuckoo-flower, 
 orchids, globe-flowers, and grey lichens which make 
 the rocks look hoary with age. Far above this 
 natural cup is the blue sky, flecked with fleecy 
 clouds. The air echoes with the plash of the water 
 into the pool below. And far outside the narrow
 
 The Metropolis of Skye 27 
 
 sides of the glen is seen a background of woodland 
 and moor and bold cliffs which (as we know) look 
 down on the restless sea. The shadow of a cloud 
 moves silently over the moor ; far off is the pre- 
 cipitous front of Storr ; but unless you emerge from 
 the glen to seek it, the town, fringed with shadowy 
 woodlands, is completely hidden. It is a silent land, 
 where the rippling waters and the birds' song and 
 the bleating of the sheep alone invade the ear as the 
 lingering hours go by, and the sun crosses the sky 
 in the remote infinity. 
 
 Farther up the watercourse there is another of 
 these amphitheatres, more open to the day. But 
 here a bold bluff of rock, jutting forward, has split 
 the stream into two channels, down which its waters 
 swiftly course, eager to meet once more. One of 
 these channels is formed by a trap dyke in the 
 basalt, forming, as it has been eroded, a series of 
 steps and stairs over which the water leaps in 
 succession. Higher up, the stream is gradually lost 
 amid a series of lesser burns which well up in the moor- 
 lands and on the slopes of Fingal's Seat, far above. 
 
 Fingal's Seat is easy to climb, for it is not a high 
 hill (it is only 1367 feet in height), but because 
 of the curious conformation of the bay and its 
 surroundings, the landscape, as one ascends, 
 is strangely foreshortened. Ben Tianavaig, the 
 sentinel cliffs, and the miniature jutting promontories 
 have the appearance of a picture-map, as the bay 
 winds among them, while the town is dwarfish and 
 looks no bigger than a child's toy. It is a deceptive 
 hill, for the ridge seen from below is not the summit. 
 After reaching that, some boggy ground must be 
 crossed, in which the winter torrents have made 
 curious islands of black peat, covered on the top 
 with grass and moss. The second top is soon 
 reached, but from there one must ascend for twenty 
 minutes longer to the real top with its large cairn 
 of stones. Here, if the cold winds of March are 
 blowing and cutting like a razor, one is glad to
 
 28 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 shelter behind the cairn, and from that vantage 
 g-round let the glory of the scene sink into the mind. 
 Its general appearance is this. The moor falls away 
 from before the eye, and then on all sides rises and 
 dips again, rolling to the horizon in a hundred 
 fantastic waves. Its colours are distracting at a 
 later time of the year. You note chiefly purple 
 heather, brown mosses, green grasses, yellow 
 lichens, and emerald patches among the waste, but 
 there are scores of intermediate tints, which make the 
 harmony of the picture. And there are glimpses of 
 far-off seas beyond intervening summits, and islands, 
 and capes, and necks of land. 
 
 Then the details of the scene force themselves 
 upon the attention. The Storr, with the Old Man 
 pointing upwards, is the most prominent object to 
 the north, while a great space of moorland rising 
 into prominent ridges stretches to the west and 
 south of it. Bending southwards in a long curve 
 on the horizon is the mainland, with the Torridon 
 Hills capped with snow in winter, purple or pink in 
 summer, the summits of Applecross and Loch 
 Carron, then the great peak of Ben Screel, and the 
 peaks above Loch Hourn. In the middle distance 
 lie the rocky isle of Rona, Raasay, Ben Tianavaig, 
 and Scalpa. And far below our feet the waters of 
 the bay twist in and out among the forelands into 
 the sound, which is again dimly perceived gleaming 
 beyond Scalpa under the shadow of Ben-na-Cailleach. 
 Turning round to the south-west, one sees the 
 mystic Red Hills, Glamaig, Blaaven, the pyramidal 
 granitic mass of Marsco, the small peaks at the end 
 of Glen Sligachan, and then the vast purple range 
 of the Coolins, frowning darkly on the scene, 
 showing innumerable precipices and needle - like 
 points, and dominating the mind like some vision of 
 immensity. Away in the distance to the right are 
 the dark summits of Rum ; then comes the silvery 
 gleam of far Loch Bracadale with its islands and the 
 precipitous cliffs which guard its entrance, the top
 
 The Metropolis of Skye 29 
 
 of Talisker Head, and, farther off, Idrigil Point, with 
 just the heads of MacLeod's Maidens appearing 
 beyond it. Outside Loch Bracadale lies South Uist, 
 and the lofty hills of North Uist are dimly seen 
 athwart bars of golden light which seem to shame 
 the grey hues of this March day. Sweeping round, 
 the eye lights on the flat tops of MacLeod's Tables 
 and Dunvegan Head, then the cones of Harris, and 
 so back to Storr. It is a circle on whose circum- 
 ference rise over a hundred peaks. Immediately to 
 the north is Loch Snizort winding far inland, and just 
 below Storr, like a bright eye piercing the dark 
 moorland, is one of the far-famed trout lochs lying 
 in the deep valley. 
 
 From all sides of the country great clouds of 
 blue smoke, with here and there the flare of red fires, 
 tell where the heather is being burnt. The smoke 
 gives a hazy summer eff"ect to the cold air and to 
 the wan face of the moorland, across which white 
 roads wind to remote parts of the island. There is 
 hardly, in all that vast expanse, a patch which is 
 perfectly flat. All is rugged, broken, diversified ; 
 there deep valleys, here rising mounds, and every- 
 where the grey face of the rock breaking through 
 the heather. 
 
 Thus it is easy to see that Portree has all the 
 advantages of a town in daily touch with the great 
 outer world, conjoined with the attractions of a 
 glorious country which ofl"ers every variety of scenery, 
 and which at once inspires the mind and invigorates 
 the body. On spring evenings and at warm summer 
 noontides, the aromatic odour of the earth and the 
 moor plants is wafted into your room, and at all 
 times the eye is met by the good gigantic S77iile 0' the 
 hro7mi old earthy and looks out upon the great 
 sentinel mountains which engirdle the horizon and 
 are the cause of ceaseless wonder and admiration. 
 A man may stand at his doorstep and, turning his 
 back on the town, gaze on the lonely sea and 
 mountains and the desolate seacliff's, and thus
 
 30 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 imagine himself a thousand miles from the society 
 of his fellows. Yet a swift step round, and there 
 are a dozen ready to talk with him, and he sees the 
 familiar clustered houses, the quay and the banks 
 and offices, the hotels and churches. Here, indeed, 
 is ms in tirbe, if anyone care to seek it !
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 TROTTERNISH 
 
 "follow 
 Shadowlike, o'er hill and hollow, 
 And bend your fancy to my leading-." 
 
 Emerson. 
 
 THE peninsula of Trotternish, which forms the 
 most northerly part of the island, has a back- 
 bone of lofty ridges which, beginning on the rising 
 moorland just above Portree, runs on for sixteen 
 miles till it terminates in Sgurr Mhor, beyond Staffin. 
 On its eastern side this series of ridges presents a 
 precipitous face, of which the most marked features 
 are the cliffs and needles of Storr and the Quiraing. 
 Below them is a deep valley, in which nestle many 
 lochs, and on the other side of which rise lesser 
 slopes, which on their seaward side are equally 
 precipitous. These steep seaward cliffs, as we 
 shall see, are sills, or sheets of lava, immensely 
 thick, intruded between the upper and lower layers 
 of the basalt plateaux, after they were laid down. 
 The upper basalt sheets have been cut back to the 
 ridge, and have left the intrusive sills in a long line 
 from Portree to the Shiant Isles. But the western 
 side of the ridge and backbone is gentler. Long 
 grassy slopes, softer and rounder, run up to its 
 summit, and on their vast surface, as seen from the 
 far distance, the cloud shadows and reflected lights 
 ceaselessly come and go. The loftiest part of the 
 ridge is Storr, which rises in a sheer black precipice 
 2360 feet above the sea. Six miles to the north 
 
 81
 
 32 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Beinn Edra is 2000 feet high, but infinitely less 
 imposing. 
 
 To circumambulate these ridges is a long and 
 difficult task, for at least a third of the way, from 
 Portree to Lealt, is by a rough and, at times, 
 scarcely discoverable track. Beyond that the road 
 begins, and sweeping round the end of the peninsula, 
 passes Duntulm, Kilmuir, Uig, and Kingsburgh, 
 and then returns to Portree. It may be done in two 
 days ; and if the weather is good, your limbs strong, 
 and your heart light, it offers such panoramas of 
 scenery and such a variety of interesting places, as 
 will scarce be found elsewhere within the same 
 distance. 
 
 Advancing up the valley from Portree by the side 
 of a tinkling burn, you come first, after four miles' 
 walking, to Loch Fada, and then, two miles farther 
 on, to Loch Leatham, both stocked with brown 
 trout, with which, at the right time, you may easily 
 fill your basket. In front all the way is Storr, its 
 black face tossed skywards, and facing it, on a high 
 ridge, stand the many pinnacles of which the Old 
 Man is the most prominent. It is a steep climb to 
 the top of this green ridge, but once the summit is 
 gained, you find yourself at what seems a giddy 
 height, and among a series of ghostly pinnacles, 
 broken and weather - worn, standing at various 
 angles, and looking down into a dark ravine below 
 the black precipices which tower grimly high over- 
 head. The Old Man is a curious pillar, in shape 
 like a huge elongated pear, its base cut into, its head 
 150 feet above you. Sitting down below it and 
 facing the precipices, you are struck at first with the 
 weird desolation of the place. The ravine below is 
 full of shattered rocks fallen from the cliffs above ; 
 the hues of the rock, grey and black, are ghastly 
 and repellent ; an eerie wind sobs in its gullies ; 
 wisps of mist floating across its face give it an 
 unearthly appearance, as its summit and bastions 
 and shoulders loom out and then disappear. Here
 
 Trotternish 33 
 
 is a scene for dark tragedies ; here might lurk the 
 fabulous creatures of the Celtic mythology ; here 
 might rise the altars of some horrid and ghastly 
 faith propitiating the gloomy powers with human 
 sacrifice. 
 
 But turning away from this desolation and look- 
 ing seawards and down the valley, the sense ot 
 contrast is relieved by a scene of far-stretching 
 beauty. The valley which has been traversed lies 
 far below, green and inviting, and its lochs seem no 
 larger than and are curiously like the blue spaces 
 which mark them on the map. At its remote end 
 lie Portree and the silvery waters of the bay. Over 
 the eastern ridge in front is the sea, sparkling in the 
 sunshine, and far beyond it on the remote horizon 
 is Gareloch, dim and shadowy. Nearly opposite is 
 Loch Torridon and its encircling mountains. Rona, 
 with its broken succession of red rocks, and Raasay, 
 with its purple hills, lie between the ridges and the 
 mainland, and beyond them one gets a peep at 
 Applecross and the mountains huddled above Loch 
 Carron and Kyle-rhea. There is the narrow sound 
 winding in beneath Ben Tianavaig, and then turning 
 southwards to Broadford, where it is lost under the 
 shadow of Scalpa. But there the rounded summits 
 of the Red Hills attract you, dwarfing the other 
 features of the landscape, and holding you with 
 their spell. The sunlight gleams from their ruddy 
 face, till they seem like glowing masses of light. 
 Then to their right rise the dark Coolins, frowning 
 at you over the silvery face of Portree Loch. 
 
 The vast precipice of Storr^ is flanked on its 
 southern side by a retreating wall of rock, ending 
 in a jutting bastion. Beyond this bastion the 
 ascent of the cliff may be made by climbing up a 
 steep and narrow gully, from which you emerge on 
 the grassy slopes and toil over their lawn -like 
 surface, wind -worn and sheep - cropped, to the 
 
 ^ Storr is derived from Fiacaill storacli — a buck-tooth, the 
 name being suggested by the pinnacles. 
 
 3
 
 34 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 summit. Thence the view to south and east is 
 much as it appears from the Old Man far below ; 
 but look westwards, and a huge expanse of rolling 
 moorland, wandering sea - lochs, the Tables at 
 Dunvegan, open sea, and the islands of the Outer 
 Hebrides, meet the eye. By far the best time to 
 see it is in the clear air of early spring, though the 
 piercing winds from the north will cut you as with 
 a razor. But that vast concourse of country with 
 its diverse features, the far-spreading sea, and the 
 long chain of purple islands stretching from Lewis 
 to Barra, will enchant you. And, looking north- 
 wards, you will follow the line of this mighty 
 backbone on which you are standing as it twists 
 and curves until it ends in the remote distance. 
 Below you are what seem black unfathomed deeps, 
 giddy recesses, gullies filled with hardened snow, 
 and, above the ghastly ravine, the pinnacles 
 curiously foreshortened from this elevation. Sign 
 of life you perceive none ; in all that wide landscape 
 you might be the sole survivor ; silence and immensity 
 fill the soul, and the still small voice speaks and 
 holds you spellbound. Here, with none to witness, 
 and amid this scene of solitary beauty, a demented 
 lover shot himself thirty years ago, his body lying 
 on this Pisgah height for days till a shepherd found 
 it. You shudder as you think of it ; just where you 
 sit the tragedy may have been enacted ! 
 
 On this lofty precipice a darker mystery, says 
 tradition, was once enacted. One of the clergy of 
 Skye wished to find out when Shrovetide should be 
 kept ; he was a magician, skilled in the black art, 
 and the devil was at his service. Standing on the 
 edge of the precipice, he called up his grisly servant, 
 transformed him with a word into a horse, and 
 leaped on his back. Off they set for Rome, the 
 horse trying to get rid of his rider by propounding 
 questions to him which involved his mentioning the 
 name of the Deity in his answer. All in vain ! 
 Next morning Rome was reached ; the Pope hurried
 
 Trotternish 3 5 
 
 in — with a lady's slipper on one foot. He charged 
 our Skye parson with his diabolical craft ; the cleric 
 wagged an accusing finger at the tell-tale slipper, 
 and (let us hope) brought a blush to the papal face. 
 Roman augurs, when they met, says Juvenal, could 
 hardly refrain from smiling ; Pope and cleric were 
 their mediaeval counterparts, and each resolved to 
 keep the other's secret safely. 
 
 Sheriff Nicolson, the Skye poet, has said that 
 
 ** to ascend the Storr and follow the mountain ridge 
 
 the whole way till you come to the highroad near 
 
 the Quiraing, is no doubt one of the grandest 
 
 promenades in Skye, commanding wide views in all 
 
 directions." Sceptics say he never did follow it 
 
 himself, but he who chooses to do so, instead of 
 
 descending again to the valley and toiling through 
 
 its bogs, will be amply satisfied. You go up and 
 
 down as you follow the line of the ridges, dipping 
 
 seven times into as many hollows before you come 
 
 to Beinn Edra, where you come down upon the road, 
 
 tired but delighted. But if you descend from Storr 
 
 you may count for the next four miles on a rough 
 
 walk, or rather a succession of leaps, over the 
 
 shaggy moorland with its bogs and streams at every 
 
 step, until the road at Lealt is reached. But you 
 
 pass the long line of rolling ridges, here dipping 
 
 down, there shooting upwards into peaks and 
 
 sgurrs. At Lealt you are once more among the 
 
 abodes of men, and follow a succession of tiny 
 
 townships and strips of cultivated land. There, 
 
 too, is one of the too few industries of the island — 
 
 the diatomite works at Cuithir, of which more 
 
 presently. The road follows the edge of the cliff, 
 
 and from it one looks down to the glittering sea, 
 
 and across it to the long chain of mountains on 
 
 the mainland. Then at Loch Mealt, which runs 
 
 up close to the cliff's edge, the road takes a turn 
 
 inland till it reaches the beautiful blue bay of Stafiin 
 
 and the shattered front of the Quiraing. 
 
 Here, in stormy weather, the wild rollers of the
 
 ^6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 o 
 
 Minch break In fury on the shore, and all landing 
 or embarking is impossible. But on a still day the 
 water is like glass, and stretches its radiant surface 
 for miles before you. The grassy mounds of Staffin 
 Island, and, a little farther north, Eilean Altavaig, 
 with its precipitous sides, are mirrored in the blue 
 depths, while on the remote horizon are seen the 
 tiny Shiant Isles, and beyond them the dim shadows 
 of the coast-line of Lewis. Eastwards, over the 
 gleaming sea, rise the mountains of Ross-shire, and 
 looking down on the bay are the black cliffs of the 
 Quiraing and the northern summits of the ridge. 
 It is a magnificent bit of varied colour and mingled 
 lights, and all around the bay are scattered crofters' 
 huts and patches of cornland, which add a touch of 
 human interest to nature's beauty. Or, if you look 
 landwards from the bay, you see the wide sweep of 
 its shores, so fertile and inviting, guarded by the 
 vast amphitheatre of basaltic rock and green talus 
 slopes, rising tier above tier to a height of 1800 
 feet to where the long line of the ridge cuts the 
 blue sky. The whole scene dazzles, for not only 
 does the water gleam and sparkle, but the grey rock 
 itself seems to reflect the rays of the sun as if it 
 were composed of millions of precious stones. You 
 see, too, on the terraces, the pinnacles and shattered 
 walls of rock and detached bastions which make 
 the Quiraing so wonderful. Dark shadows fill the 
 ravines and hollows, but they only make the lights 
 by contrast more intense and more dazzling. 
 
 A rough path breaks off the main road, and by 
 clambering over it the traveller is brought up the 
 green talus slopes and among the bewildering series 
 of precipices and pinnacles and hollows of these 
 famous cliffs. Great slices of rock, fissured and 
 cracked, stand apart from the main precipice behind, 
 and through these fissures you look out upon the 
 bay and its shores far below, where the houses are 
 dwarfed to insignificance. These detached masses 
 and the many airy pinnacles of every conceivable
 
 THK «,)I IKAl.NC
 
 Trotternlsh 37 
 
 form have the most weird and fantastic appearance, 
 especially if wisps of summer mist glide through and 
 among them. You feel yourself surrounded by a 
 crowd of mute figures, which seem as if they would 
 fain whisper to you the secret of the ages, and you 
 understand why folk-belief at all times and in every 
 part of the world has described such rocks as these 
 as petrified giants or men. Nay, you begin to 
 understand why animism should have arisen, and 
 why men should have attributed spirits like their 
 own, or even greater than their own, to rocks and 
 precipices and every other object of nature, and 
 should, at last, have been led to fall down and 
 worship them. 
 
 The highest of all the pinnacles is the Needle 
 Rock, a spiry, airy column, 120 feet high. From 
 its base you gaze out upon the beauties of the 
 landscape. Far below, the grassy slopes dip down 
 to the rich cultivated ground which is lapped by 
 the waters of the bay. The sea, jewelled with 
 green or rocky islets, stretches in a wide expanse 
 over to the mainland, of which a glimpse is seen 
 different from that viewed from the Old Man of 
 Storr. The peaks of Ross-shire, the hills of 
 Gareloch, stand mistily beyond the retreating shore 
 line. But from this giddy height it is the sea 
 which attracts you most — the sea which gleams and 
 sparkles in the sunshine, and lies like a vast plain, 
 in successive bands of light and colour, between the 
 nearer and the more distant shores. What a vision 
 of infinite distance it suggests to the mind when it 
 is seen from this lofty height, and amid these weird 
 rock forms, with the awful silence wrapping it 
 around ! Its blithe beauty fills the heart with a 
 hundred joyful thoughts, and a hundred memories 
 of happy days of which only the recollection remains. 
 Like the awe which arises as we gaze on great 
 mountain masses, the joy which comes from the 
 smiling ocean raises in us emotions which we can 
 scarcely understand and which haunt us for days to
 
 38 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 come. Of course, mountain and sea are only diflferent 
 forms of matter, but yet they always suggest more 
 than mere matter can account for, and the eye which 
 looks upon them at once leads the mind from what 
 is seen to think of the splendour of the unseen 
 reflected from them, and pulsing forth in waves to 
 arouse in it thoughts that do often lie too deep for 
 tears. How often must this wild workshop of the 
 Titans, side by side as it were with the peaceful 
 beauty of the far-spreading sea and dim blue 
 mountains on the horizon, have roused such thoughts 
 in the many pilgrims who have come to this lonely 
 shrine of Mother Nature ! 
 
 What alone has the right to the name Quiraing 
 is the extraordinary hollow with its table rock. It 
 may be entered by a narrow rock-strewn crevice, 
 but its vastness is best seen from some coign of 
 vantage overhead. Imagine a huge cup covered 
 with grass and surrounded at its edge by broken 
 crags and boulders. At the bottom of the cup 
 lies a huge oblong mass of rock, 300 feet long, 
 with a flat top, clothed with the greenest of turf, 
 a contrast to its craggy sides. This is the Table 
 Rock, which still awaits its guests. Tradition says 
 that in this huge hidden hollow sheep used to be 
 concealed in times of danger. Here they found 
 safety and green pastures, and could easily be de- 
 fended by their owners against the raiders, if ever 
 they discovered this marvellous hiding-place. 
 
 Whoever visits the Quiraing and remembers 
 Wordsworth's famous description of the mountain 
 forms suddenly seen through the rising mist, will 
 think of them there, especially if he is fortunate 
 enough to see these battlements and crags, pinnacles 
 and spires, with the mist floating round them till it 
 is driven off by the breeze and the sun shines clear 
 on the broken rocks. It may well be quoted here : 
 
 " Oh ! 'twas an unimaginable sight ! 
 Clouds, mists, streams, watery rocks, and emerald turf,
 
 Trotternish 39 
 
 Clouds of all tincture, rocks, and sapphire sky. 
 Confused, commingled, mutually inflamed, 
 Molten together, and composing thus, 
 Each lost in each, that marvellous array j 
 Of temple, palace, citadel, and huge 
 Fantastic pomp of structure without name. 
 In fleecy folds voluminous, enwrapped."^ 
 
 In truth, Wordsworth is the poet to read when you 
 are in Skye. You appreciate him the better on 
 account of all that lies around you, and you under- 
 stand that and its lessons the more as they are 
 interpreted by the poet's vision. I do not know that 
 Wordsworth ever was in Skye, but he, more than 
 any other poet, has the key to the secret of its hills 
 and moors and engirdling- seas. 
 
 From Staffin and the Quiraing the road continues 
 to follow the coast-line, passing under the curious 
 nose-like headlands of Sgurr Mohr — the extremity of 
 the vast backbone. Long slopes and deep gullies 
 run down from the ridge seawards, covered with 
 rich pasture, and the road dips and rises as it crosses 
 the hollows and higher banks. At one point the 
 whole extent of the ridge is seen — a long line of 
 broken summits towering high in air, melting in the 
 far distance into softer outlines, but most prominent 
 of all are the fierce crags of Storr, which not even 
 the power of distance can soften. Then, bending 
 westwards a mile or two to the south of the extreme 
 northern points of Skye — Rudha na h-Aiseig and 
 the peninsula of Rudha Hunish — the road crosses 
 a wide moorland in which lies the township of 
 Kilmaluaig, until it touches the sea once more on 
 the west by the ruined towers of Duntulm. 
 
 " Ged tha thu'n diugh 'a d'aibhcas fliuar, 
 Bha thu uair 'a d'aros righ," - 
 
 may well be applied to the few remaining walls of 
 this ancient house. For centuries it was the chief 
 
 ^ The passage occurs in canto second of the Excursion. 
 ^ Though thou art to-day a ruin cold, 
 Thou wcrt once the dwelling of a king.
 
 40 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 seat of the Macdonalds of the Isles, and here their 
 chiefs reigned as kings, and went forth to contest 
 the sovereignty with the rival kings of Scotland. 
 In earlier times a dun stood here, called Dun 
 Dhaibidh or David, after a Viking who had seized 
 it from the Celts. On its site Duntulm was erected. 
 The castle itself stands on a lofty mound, the 
 summit of a cliff down which its windows looked 
 sheer into the sea. Seawards, it was unapproach- 
 able, and from the land side could scarcely have 
 been less so, for the mound was protected by out- 
 lying walls, and these again by ditches. Secure 
 in this northern fastness, the kings of the Isles 
 could well taunt all their foes, and, summoning 
 their followers, sally forth by sea or land to battle 
 and victory. 
 
 The line of the foundation wall shows what an 
 extent of building once comprised this lordly seat, 
 but now only the mouldering gables of what has 
 the appearance of a chapel with some dark vaults 
 beneath, the remains of a wall pierced by windows 
 on the cliff's edge, and two isolated columns, broken 
 and ruinous, — the last remnants of the ancient keep, 
 — are all that remain to tell the tale of its quondam 
 grandeur. Carved and inscribed stones once adorned 
 the tower, but these have all perished. Seen from 
 the foot of the mound, these ruins stand sheer 
 against the sky. Far below, the sea breaks on the 
 iron cliff, a hummocky island lies in the little bay, 
 the blue waters of the Minch stretch outward until 
 they meet the purple hills of Harris lying in an 
 unbroken line on the horizon. Such was the scene 
 which met the eyes of the chief and his house as 
 they gazed from the battlements, or looked down 
 with pride upon their galleys moored in the bay 
 below them.^ Until far on in the eighteenth century 
 this "stark strength" was the home of the chief, 
 
 ^ A deep groove in the rocks at the edge of the bay is said to 
 have been made by the lieel of the chief's galley when it was 
 drawn up on the shore.
 
 Trotternish 41 
 
 and then it was suddenly deserted and left in 
 isolation to moulder and decay. A nursemaid play- 
 ing- with a child of the house at one of the windows 
 overlooking the grim depths below, let it fall into 
 the sea, where, crushed and lifeless, its body was 
 discovered. This tragic occurrence made the family 
 leave the castle for ever, but not before the wretched 
 woman (as tradition avers) had been set adrift in a 
 boat full of holes to meet a ghastly fate. But not 
 so long' ago there was living an aged woman who 
 had spoken in her childhood to another woman, 
 who in her youth had been a servant in the castle 
 when the last ball was given there, and when a 
 brilliant company had made the ancient walls re- 
 sound with the echoes of their mirth and dancing. 
 One cannot but regret that this ancient house, hang- 
 ing-, like Tantallon and Dunnottar, above the sea, 
 was not preserved to be the roof-tree of the 
 Macdonalds, as Dunvegan is of the MacLeods. Of 
 the many scenes these crumbling walls have witnessed 
 history records only a few. As we shall see. King 
 James v. visited Duntulm and admired its strength 
 and position. Only a few years later, the chief, 
 Donald Gorme, put his treacherous kinsman, Hugh 
 Macghilleasbuig, to a fearful end in the Duntulm 
 dungeon. Hugh was as cruel and vicious as he 
 was strong. A song, composed by the sisters of 
 some of his own male relations whom he had put to 
 death, asks indignantly why his foster-nurse did not 
 crush him in her arms while he was yet a baby. 
 At last, having plotted against Donald Gorme, the 
 detested Hugh was captured and brought to Duntulm, 
 where he was kept starving for some time. By an 
 aggravated cruelty, salt meat was lowered to him. 
 He devoured it greedily, but soon a raging thirst 
 consumed him. None would give him water, and 
 the poor wretch, victim of his own evil life, suffered 
 the most awful agonies, gnawing a pewter dish to 
 pieces, says tradition, before he died. 
 
 Some years after, Donald Gorme took an aversion
 
 42 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 to his wife, a sister of Rory Mor MacLeod, lord of 
 Dunvegan. The truth was that he had fallen in 
 love with a daughter of Mackenzie of Kintail, and 
 resolved to be rid of his lawful wife. The poor lady 
 had the misfortune to have lost an eye, and Donald 
 the Grim added insult to her injuries, by mounting- 
 her on a one-eyed grey horse, led by a one-eyed boy, 
 and followed by a one-eyed dog, when he drove her 
 from Duntulm. Rory Mor was not the man to sit 
 still under an insult of this kind, and when his 
 sister arrived at Dunvegan with her pitiful cavalcade 
 and her story of wrong, he began the work of 
 revenge. Collecting his men, he carried fire and 
 sword through Trotternish, leaving many a smoking 
 hamlet and dead Macdonald behind him. Donald 
 Gorme replied by invading MacLeod's lands in 
 Harris ; Rory Mor at once went to Donald's terri- 
 tories in Uist. So the feud went on, until the 
 respective clans had had their fill of fighting, or at 
 least until the interference of the Government brought 
 about a reconciliation. 
 
 The farm of Duntulm beyond the mound is 
 probably the farm which was once held by the 
 hereditary doctor of the chief — the eldest son in the 
 family being invariably educated at his expense for 
 that profession. . On Ru Meanish, under the shadow 
 of the castle walls, was the " Hill of Pleas," where 
 the chief sat and administered justice, and there, 
 doubtless, many a trembling wretch has heard his 
 doom pronounced and been led off" at once to grace 
 the gallows. An old print of the castle, dating 
 about 1750, shows the keep still intact, with a 
 pinnacled tower, and the descriptive account attached 
 to it tells the gruesome tale that near by the castle 
 an incestuous pair (a brother and sister) were 
 buried alive, by order of the chief. When such 
 powers were in his hands, we cannot doubt that, as 
 the descriptive account says, " to the respect paid 
 to the decisions delivered from the summit of the 
 Hill of Pleas may in some measure be attributed the
 
 Trotternish 43 
 
 strict obedience of a fierce and military race to 
 their chieftain." 
 
 Between Duntulm and Kilmuir the road keeps 
 close to the shore of Score Bay and the great cliffs 
 with their clustered pillars and columns and deep 
 caves which bound it. For miles to come it will 
 pass through romantic and historic ground, begin- 
 ning two miles from Duntulm with the ancient 
 burial-ground of Kilmuir, the church of St. Mary, 
 every vestige of which has gone. To the lover of 
 the romantic, few places in this solitary land could 
 give greater pleasure. It is the Reileag Mhoir 
 Chlonin Donuill, the burial-place of the Macdonalds 
 of the Isles, and here lies the dust of her whose 
 name is best known of all her clan. Flora Macdonald, 
 "a name that will be mentioned in history, and, if 
 courage and fidelity are virtues, mentioned with 
 honour." She died at Peinduin, some miles to the 
 south, in 1790, and now, her shroud one of the 
 sheets in which the Prince slept at Kingsburgh, 
 she rests in this churchyard perched high on the 
 windy seaboard and looking out upon a glorious 
 landscape. A great lona cross and a massive slab 
 of granite cover her mortal remains, and on the 
 latter is inscribed : 
 
 Flora Macdonald, 
 
 Born at Milton, South Uist, 1722. 
 
 Died at Kingsburgh, Skye, March 1790. 
 
 This white cross is visible far out to sea, but it is 
 exposed to the fury of the wild winter storms, and is 
 stayed up by a great bar of iron. An earlier cross 
 was blown down and broken to pieces.^ 
 
 ^ There is another memorial of Flora Macdonald in St. 
 Columba's (Episcopal) Church at Portree, in the shjipe of a 
 stained window and a brass. The subject of the window is 
 Esther delivering her countrymen. The first light shows 
 Esther receiving the news of the king's edict ; the centre light 
 her appeal to the king ; that on the right the king with Esther 
 receiving Mordecai. In the ornamental lights above are figures 
 of angels, the Macdonald arms, and the words from Esther iv.
 
 44 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 The view from this ancient place is grand and 
 beautiful. In front the grassy land slopes down 
 abruptly to the basaltic cliffs which send out huge 
 escarpments into the sea, greatest of which is Ru 
 Bornaskitaigf on the left with its rocky pillar, and, 
 carved into its heart, Uamh Oir, the Cave of Gold. 
 From Rudha Hunish, the northern point of Skye, 
 and Duntulm, whose g'rey ruins are visible from the 
 churchyard gate, the eye follows a wide, winding", 
 semicircular belt of gleaming sea. Beyond it is the 
 massive black line of the Vaternish cliffs bounding 
 Loch Snizort, and the purple hills of Benbecula, 
 North Uist, and Harris. North of Harris lies part 
 of the flat land of Lewis, separated from it by the 
 long Loch Seaforth. Nearer Skye are numerous 
 rocky islets, chief of them Fladdahuan — Fladda of 
 the Ocean, the site of a chapel dedicated to St. 
 Columba, to the ruined altar of which fishermen 
 came to bathe the famous stone which brought 
 them a favourable wind. Everything in Skye is so 
 ancient, so romantic, that it will surprise nobody 
 to learn that this island, or, as some say, Holm 
 Island to the north of Portree, was the famed Tir 
 na h' Oige, the Celtic land of youth and faery, where 
 
 i6, "If I perish, I perish." The words on the brass are as 
 follows: — "To the glory of God and in memory of Flora 
 Macdonald, daughter of Ranald the son of Angus Macdonald 
 the younger, Milton, South Uist. She was born in 1722, and 
 was married November 6th, 1750, at Flodigarry, Isle of Skye, 
 to Allan VII. in descent of the Kingsburgh Macdonalds, Captain, 
 34th Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment. Who served with 
 distinction through the American War of Independence. She 
 died March 5th, 1790, and was buried at Kilmuir, Isle of Skye, 
 She effected the escape of Prince Charles Edward from South 
 Uist after the battle of Culloden in 1746 ; and in 1779, when re- 
 turning from America on board a ship attacked by a French 
 privateer, encouraged the sailors to make a spirited and suc- 
 cessful resistance, thus risking her life for both the Houses o. 
 Stuart and Hanover. This window was dedicated to the 
 memory of Flora Macdonald in the year of our Lord 1896 by 
 one of her great grandchildren, Fanny Charlotte, widow of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel R. E. Henry, and daughter of Captain 
 James Murray Macdonald, grandson of Flora Macdonald."
 
 Trotternish 
 
 falls not haily nor. rain, nor any snow.^ The da)' 
 passed for the dwellers on this happy isle like i 
 beautiful dream ; thither Oisin was sent for a time 
 to prevent the tongue of slander from wagging too 
 freely, for his mother had been transformed into a 
 deer by fairy enchantments. Behind the churchyard 
 lies a hollow tract of land, backed by some of the 
 Trotternish ridges — Sgurr Mor and Meall na Suira- 
 mach. 
 
 The lights and shadows are ever changing on 
 sea and mountains as the face of the sky varies. 
 But whether it smile or frown, it cannot make this 
 wide prospect other than strangely beautiful and 
 fascinating. And she whose dust lies at our feet 
 brought her Prince across these miles of sea from far 
 Benbecula to Vaternish Point, and then down Loch 
 Snizort to Lady Margaret Macdonald's house at 
 Monkstadt. Peace to her brave and dauntless 
 spirit ! There are many nameless graves and 
 ruined vaults and some beautifully incised ancient 
 slabs in this churchyard, but this great granite cross 
 absorbs all our interest. Long may it stand to mark 
 this honoured dust, and to watch the leaping waves 
 and the purple mountains in the far distance ! 
 
 Lying between the sea and the Trotternish ridges, 
 and stretching for six miles southward towards Uig, 
 lies the plain of Kilmuir. It is the most fertile part 
 of the island, and was once known as the granary of 
 Skye or of the Macdonalds of the Isles.- No wonder 
 
 ^ An excellent instance of the manner in which the Irish 
 Feinne legends have been adapted to Hig-liland localities. 
 Much fairy j^flamour would be needed to see in Fladdahuan 
 or in Holm Island, tiny islands both, the Land of Immortal 
 Youth ! As to Oisin, his name is derived from the tuft of fur 
 which grew on his temple, where his mother's tongue had 
 touched him. Oisin would not eat venison, and, being asked 
 the reason, he answered, "When everyone picks his mother's 
 shank-bone, I will pick my own mother's slender shank-bone." 
 Is the legend a dim memory of totemistic customs and restric- 
 tions ? 
 
 ^ The MacLeods, perhaps a little envious of this fair land, 
 called it " Duthaich nam stapag," the country of the stappacks
 
 4.6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 that many of the Macdonald and MacLeod feuds 
 were waged for the possession of this fertile country. 
 In 1598 the Scottish crown let Kilmuir to a lowland 
 company, but the company could not hold its own 
 ag-ainst the contending clans, and was ruined. In 
 1772 the traveller Pennant speaks of its heavy crops 
 and of its fields "laughing with corn." Barley, a 
 crop far to seek in Skye now, was grown as well as 
 oats, and that often without manure for so long a 
 period as twenty years. In the midst of this plain 
 lay a shallow loch called Loch Columcille, with an 
 island on which was a large monastic establish- 
 ment. The loch was one and one-eighth mile 
 long, but had gradually become a marsh before 
 the first draining operations took place in 1715. 
 These were abandoned, to be again attempted in 
 1763, when water filled the bed of the loch once 
 more. Finally, in 1824, after five years' labour and an 
 expenditure of ten thousand pounds, the task was 
 accomplished. 
 
 This verdant plain lies like a cup between the 
 basaltic ridge — a great wall of broken rock and 
 green talus slopes, and a long line of gently rising 
 ground from which great cliffs overhang the sea. 
 At its northern end it is open, but towards the 
 south it is shut in by the heights of Skudiburg 
 and Idrigill, at the farther side of which Uig lies 
 hidden. Half-way down the ridge which forms 
 the seaboard is Monkstadt — a grey farmhouse 
 with a few sparse trees, — and beyond the ridge 
 is another glimpse of the sea and Vaternish and 
 the outer isles. The loch basin is crossed at right 
 angles to each other by a series of narrow drains 
 and wider canals, crowded with tall equisetum 
 and other marsh plants. It is the home of many 
 wild-fowl — you may perhaps scare a wild-duck 
 from her eggs or startle the water-hen's brood 
 
 (meal and water). Macdonald wit responded by calling' 
 Duirinish " Duthaich nam mogais," the country of the footless 
 stockings.
 
 Trotternish 47 
 
 darting among the plants on the surface of the 
 canals. 
 
 To inspect the ruins of the monastery one must 
 leave the highroad and descend into the plain for a 
 mile and a quarter. The island on which they stand 
 could never have risen high above the water. It is 
 nearly three acres in extent, and its whole surface is 
 covered with rough blocks of grey lichen-covered 
 stones — remains of the monastic cells. There are a 
 few traces of buildings, which may be of any age, so 
 old do they appear, so covered with moss, as well as 
 of a cashel or protecting wall.^ On what was once 
 the western shore of the loch are traces of other 
 buildings, and immediately above, on the height 
 overlooking the sea, is Carn Liath— an ancient 
 burial-mound. Ascending to it one gazes down on 
 the water which fills the air with its noises, and 
 across it to the dark front of the Vaternish cliffs and 
 their verdant tops stretching away to the heart of 
 the peninsula. Southwards down the coast are the 
 great cliffs at Uig, and Dun Skudiburg with its 
 "stack" rising from the sea below. In front are 
 the rocky Ascrib Isles, and on the horizon the chain 
 of the Outer Hebrides. At either end of the plain 
 and on the opposite side below the basalt ridges 
 there are abundant crofts with their fertile patches 
 of cornland smiling in the sunshine. But the place 
 where the loch was seems a deserted solitude, dotted 
 only with rough Highland cattle, and rendered still 
 more solitary by the ruined heaps of stone. Tadmor 
 in the wilderness could scarce seem more desolate. 
 The matin bell rings no longer; the monks no 
 more go forth to pray or to work ; time and change 
 have made a solitude and called it peace. The sea 
 is moaning far below, the ruins of an ancient 
 Christianity are unspeakably sad ; did Columba and 
 his monks labour only for this? But a lark is 
 carolling high in air, it suggests more cheerful 
 thoughts, and one remembers that Columba's work 
 ^ For details of tliosc ruins, see p. 281,
 
 48 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 lives on in the hearts of men, it did not fail when the 
 monastery became a ruin. 
 
 From any point in the plain, or from the road itself, 
 Monkstadt house is seen just below the top of the 
 ridg'e which looks down on Prince Charles's landing-- 
 place. This plain stone house, retired and solitary, 
 seems always to be brooding over the scenes that 
 have happened in it, as other houses give the 
 impression of their mysteriously awaiting some 
 event which will at once cause them to leap into 
 fame. And one remembers that eventful day in the 
 history of this house : Flora Macdonald seeking help 
 at its door. Lady Margaret and Kingsburgh bustling 
 to and fro, yet trying to conceal their tremors from 
 the Hanoverian officer, the arrangements hurriedly 
 made, and, probably calmest of all, the hunted 
 Fugitive, tossing pebbles as he sat on the beach 
 below out of sight. From Monkstadt the little 
 party — Charles as Betty Burke — set out for Kings- 
 burgh, farther to the south, and the house of 
 Monkstadt was left once more to its solitude. 
 
 Just before the road begins to dip down and 
 double upon itself to Uig Bay, it is worth while 
 leaving it again by the path which leads to Dun 
 Skudiburg — an ancient fort perched on a high 
 eminence above the sea. The landward side of this 
 height is steep and rocky. It is crowned by the 
 ruins of the fort — an ancient Celtic place of defence 
 which must have been well-nigh impregnable. On 
 the seaward side between the fort and the cliff's 
 edge is a level piece of greensward completely 
 surrounded by the remains of a wall. The enemy 
 who mounted the cliff had to face the prospect of 
 being hurled backwards down that giddy height 
 when he attempted to scale the wall. The view 
 seawards is much the same as from Carn Liath, but 
 to the left are great cliffs sheltering a little bay, and 
 Idrigil Point, beyond which lies the mouth of Uig 
 Bay itself. It is a lonely spot. Far below, rising 
 upwards to about a fourth of the cliffs height, is the
 
 Trotternish 49 
 
 Stack of Skudiburg^a great pinnacle of basalt, 
 hoary with lichens. Near it are basaltic rocks, 
 black and shattered, looking like some ruined castle, 
 and close by them is a reef of dwarf prismatic 
 columns of the same rock. Down the coast, belov/ 
 Monkstadt, is Prince Charles's Point — a little spit 
 of land jutting outwards, to which the bonny boat 
 came over the sea to Skye one hundred and fifty- 
 seven years ago. The combination of nature's ruins 
 and man's deserted works, the rolling sea and the 
 cliffs and the air of unrecorded history which broods 
 around, almost oppresses the lonely pilgrim. As he 
 gazes down into the depths, he would not be surprised 
 to see a mermaid rise from the waves and lament 
 for her long dead Celtic lover who watched her from 
 the fort on the height, or some strange sea-monster 
 — creature of the vivid Celtic imagination — put its 
 cruel face out of the waves and bellow in baffled 
 fury. The truth is that all such solitary places in 
 Skye — the cliffs seldom trodden by mortal foot and 
 against which the sea is always dashing, and the 
 ruins of long ago which crown so many of them, 
 inspire some minds with a fearful joy— the joy at so 
 much wild beauty, the catching mysterious fear of 
 the unseen forms which must (you feel it) haunt 
 these windswept heights. Unhealthy imagination ! 
 cries sober sense. So be it, but something of that 
 is necessary if one would taste to the full the charm 
 of the Western Isles, and of Eilean a Cheo in 
 particular. But the populous village of Uig will 
 soon chase away all unhealthy imaginings as we 
 pass through it. 
 
 Rounding the high tors of Idrigil, and running 
 down a steep zigzag, the road brings one suddenly 
 in full view of Uig Bay and village far below, with 
 its many crofts, pretty cottages with hedges and 
 gardens, churches, and hotel. The bay is surrounded 
 by an amphitheatre of steep green slopes, ending at 
 either side in high basaltic cliffs. At the upper or 
 northern end of the bay these slopes are less steep 
 
 4
 
 50 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 and are crowded with fertile crofts divided from each 
 other by walls of turf. Towards the centre, two 
 woodland glens, cut into the slopes as with a giant's 
 knife, converge from opposite directions, and through 
 them flow the waters of the Rha and the Conon. I 
 know no prettier glens in Skye — the wide silvery 
 burns flowing down under the trees which crowd 
 their banks and the rocky or green sides of the 
 glens, fringed with all kinds of ferns and wild- 
 flowers, and haunted by furred and feathered creatures 
 innumerable. One might spend a whole summer- 
 tide listening to the chorus of the birds echoing 
 through the perfumed air, and wandering daily up 
 these glens to their higher recesses among the ridges 
 far away, where the waters dash over precipitous 
 rocks or murmur through secret dells. 
 
 The road winds down to nearly the sea-level, and 
 crosses these burns between the sea and the green 
 slopes fringed with woodland. Then it mounts 
 again for 300 feet along the face of the green slopes 
 gashed with many a torrent bed, and from this 
 point the whole extent of the bay is spread out 
 before the eye— the frowning headlands, the grassy 
 precipices, enclosing the dark glens and the bright 
 patches of arable land and the tiny cottages. Far 
 below, the sea swings and heaves continually. 
 Between the bay and the massive line of the Vaternish 
 cliffs opposite are the rocky Ascrib Isles, and far 
 across the Little Minch the cones of Harris. The 
 exquisite beauty of the scene when dazzling sun- 
 light pours down upon it and sea and land seem 
 some strange vision of tremulous beauty, can only 
 be imagined. To the left the upper waters of Loch 
 Snizort (Loch Greshornish) are visible running far 
 inland, and away beyond the rolling moors which 
 enclose them Macleod's Tables stand out against 
 the sky. Then the road dips down again southwards, 
 and the bay and its surroundings are lost to sight. 
 After some miles of bare moorland it comes upon a 
 wilder glen. Through the broken heath-covered
 
 Trotternish 5 1 
 
 surface emerge great bosses of grey basalt, mount- 
 ing up into curiously shaped high tors. At one place 
 these basaltic bosses confine the road to a narrow 
 lane, but mostly the land is more open and is crossed 
 by rushing burns which have cut deep chasms in 
 their rocky bed. One of these comes down from 
 Glen Hinnisdal — a beautiful winding glen running 
 far up into the recesses of the Trotternish ridges. 
 Not far from this point lies Prince Charles's Well, a 
 little spring beyond the burn on the right of the 
 road, where the Prince satisfied his thirst as he 
 journeyed down to Kingsburgh, and where the 
 belated Jacobite will drink a cup of its fair water to 
 his memory. 
 
 Below the ridge which hides the waters of Loch 
 Snizort lie at the sea's edge the ruins of Caisteal 
 Uisdean,^ and three miles farther south Kingsburgh 
 house with its woods and fields. Close by stood the 
 older house where Flora Macdonald lived, and where 
 the Prince and, at a later time. Dr. Johnson and 
 Boswell slept.- The loch itself comes into view 
 farther on — a great stretch of gleaming water. 
 Beyond its mouth the outer islands are seen once 
 more. Opposite are the cliffs of its western shore 
 and Lyndale Point, hiding the entrance to Loch 
 Greshornish. At its head it is divided into three 
 by the peninsulas of the Aird — a fertile tongue of 
 land crowded with crofts, and of Skerinish with 
 its curious tors. The loch lies in a vast cup, its 
 shores stretching to the far distance, diversified by 
 dark moorland and cultivated fields and patches of 
 woodland, over which the shifting lights and shadows 
 come and go. On the remote horizon are the 
 splintered Coolins (looking like a vast saw), Glamaig, 
 and the Red Hills beyond the long line of Fingal's 
 Seat, with its cairn looking down upon Portree. It 
 is a wide and various landscape, made happier in 
 summer with the song of the birds and the sight of 
 innumerable wildflowers. Towards the head of the 
 1 See p. 271. 2 See Chap. XVIII.
 
 52 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 loch nestles the village of Snizort, homelike and 
 cheerful. Beyond you, as you leave it behind, lies 
 the loch, its shore fringed with miles of cultivated 
 land lying snugly beneath the shaggy moorland 
 topped with a long line of basaltic tors. To the 
 left is Glen Haultin — a hollow amid a maze of 
 roughly rounded hills, one of which is seen to be 
 the green back of the precipitous Storr. After 
 traversing a few miles more, the top of the ridge at 
 Drumuie is reached. From it you say good-bye to 
 Harris, whose mountains have been visible all the 
 way down the western side of the peninsula. In 
 front lies Portree above its bay, and surrounded by 
 its successive lines of hills and mountains, and 
 having reached it your pilgrimage is over. 
 
 It is a long journey which has been accomplished 
 when the town once more comes into sight, and 
 whoever performs it will feel as if he had been 
 travelling for unknown ages through a shaggy land, 
 among great cliffs, and purple moorlands, sunlit 
 spaces and leaping seas, with but his thoughts to 
 bear him company. And yet he will have been con- 
 scious of a glad music sounding in his ears — the 
 music of the voice of nature, the flute-notes of the 
 pipes of Pan !
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 VATERNISH AND THE GREAT NORTH ROAD 
 
 "Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, 
 Healthy, free, the world before me. 
 
 The long brown path before me leading wherever I 
 choose." 
 
 Walt Whitman. 
 
 WHAT may be called the Great North Road of 
 Skye begins in distant Ardvasar in the south, 
 passes to Isle Ornsay, and then over the moors and 
 far away to Broadford. From there it plunges into 
 the deep recesses of the Red Hills, winds by lonely 
 sea-lochs to Sligachan beneath the dark shadow of 
 the mighty Sgurr-nan-Gillean, and so on for nine 
 lonely miles to Portree. Leaving Portree it strikes 
 northward, and, after climbing to the top of the ridge 
 at Drumuie, descends again into the valley towards 
 Loch Snizort. Near there, one arm of it branches 
 off to Uig and Staffin ; the other stretches westwards 
 to Fairy Bridge, where it divides again, one sub- 
 branch leading to Vaternish, the other to Dunvegan. 
 This sub-branch, at about two miles from Dunvegan, 
 is once more divided, one part turning off at a right 
 angle, and following the shores of Loch Bracadale 
 and Loch Harport, crosses Skye to Sligachan, where 
 it meets the original Great North Road once more. 
 
 We shall follow the section of this road from 
 Portree to Vaternish. The pleasure of the highway, 
 which to some may be merely monotonous, will 
 depend much on the weather. I have travelled 
 across it when the whole atmosphere seemed a mere
 
 54 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 blinding sheet of water, and, over the undulating- 
 moorland and down the sides of the hills, the wind 
 swept unceasingly and lashed itself into fury. You 
 feel yourself getting colder and colder and wetter 
 and wetter in spite of oilskin and sou'-wester and 
 as many greatcoats as an old-clo' man might be con- 
 ceived to wear. But the very fury of the elements, 
 the pitiless sting of raindrops or hailstones on the 
 face, hold you in a kind of mesmeric stupor, and 
 there is a painful pleasure in listening to the un- 
 wonted atmospheric noises or watching the water 
 rushing in rich brown foaming masses along every 
 river course and down a hundred torrent beds. To 
 most people all this will sound foolish, and they will 
 suppose this road the abomination of desolation. 
 But there are days when it shows to better advantage, 
 when the mysterious moorland and the winding sea- 
 lochs by which it wanders, and the glimpses of 
 distant islands and glimmering horizons, enchant the 
 wayfarer. There are cloudless summer days and 
 soft grey autumnal days revealing most unexpected 
 combinations of light and shadow, when this road 
 would have charmed Hazlitt or Stevenson — these 
 lovers of out of doors, into penning some of their 
 finest descriptive passages. 
 
 From the ridge at Drumuie you look back over 
 leagues of country — moorland valleys, glittering 
 lochs, the tremendous mountain-masses of Skye, 
 the shadowy hills of far-off Ross-shire. You cross 
 the ridge, and on the hillside at your right are the 
 ruins of an ancient dun. Far westwards, peeping 
 over a distant ridge, are MacLeod's Tables, and, 
 swelling away to the ridge, a new aspect of the 
 moorland. In the valley you see Loch Snizort 
 winding from far inland away out into the open sea, 
 beyond which lies Harris with its conical hills. If 
 you are fortunate enough to see the sun setting 
 behind those purple cones, you will never forget 
 what you have seen — billowy waves of colour, lavish 
 fields of gold, sea and land transmuted into the
 
 Vaternish and the Great North Road ^^ 
 
 landscape of faery, and such a longing In your heart 
 for the mystic unknown and unseen as to bring the 
 tears to your eyes. 
 
 A flat valley, unsheltered from the fierce winds of 
 winter, lies below the ridge, and is watered by the 
 winding Snizort river (famous for salmon) and its 
 tributaries. At its mouth, where it joins the loch, 
 here as narrow as the river itself, is the island of 
 St. Columba, with its ancient graveyard and ruined 
 churches. Near by, on the right of the road, is an 
 isolated boulder on which the saint is said to have 
 stood and preached the gospel to the heathen Celts. 
 From this point and for several miles farther, the 
 road is, for Skye, a populous one, with crofters' 
 huts and patches of cornland edging it to right 
 and left. Just beyond the bridge at the loch's head 
 is Skeabost, and here is to be seen a sight almost 
 unique for Skye — a beech hedge with woodlands 
 beyond it running by the roadside for a mile and a 
 half. Appearing suddenly after the naked landscape 
 and the waste moor strewn with boulders, it looks as 
 if a bit of England had been transferred to these 
 moorland solitudes. So accurately is it cut that 
 it undulates and winds with every winding and dip 
 of the road, suggesting a pair of long sinuous green 
 serpents, like the monsters of the romantic Celtic 
 folk-tales. In winter it keeps its russet-brown 
 leaves when all the trees around are bare, and as it 
 catches the hues of the fiery winter sunsets it blazes 
 like burnished bronze. In spring the change from 
 brown to a delicate green is gradual. First one 
 notes the light greenish-white tint dawning amid 
 the russet ; then the mingling of green and brown ; 
 the fading of the brown as the old leaves fall off, 
 until the long winding road is encompassed with 
 walls of emerald. Now the road emerges on the 
 open moorland once more. Below is Loch Snizort ; 
 on its northern shore, beyond where the road dips 
 into a curious cup -like valley at Tayinlone, lies 
 Kingsburgh in a bit of woodland, and there, you
 
 S6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 remember with a thrill, the Wanderer rested and 
 found a kindly welcome. 
 
 A mile beyond this point are the g-ates of Lyndale, 
 which lies hidden in the recesses of a wood down 
 by the sea, and there a daughter of the ancient 
 house of the Lords of the Isles has made her home. 
 From this point Loch Snizort is seen widening out 
 beyond the cliffs of Uig and the headlands of Vater- 
 nish, and enclasping midway between these shores 
 the rocky Ascrib Islands, from whose steep cliffs 
 you may look sheer down into six fathoms of water, 
 clear as glass under the summer sky, and watch 
 the fish swimming amongst the sea forests far below. 
 If the day is clear, this is one of the best points 
 from which to view the hills of Harris. The sea 
 is calm and reflects the rich blue of the sky in a 
 hundred varying belts of shimmering light. Like 
 dazzling gems are the rocky islets far out at the 
 mouth of the loch, while the soft haze on the distant 
 hills beyond the sea invites you to explore their 
 mysteries. For there is always something mysterious 
 and inviting in this road which at every step carries 
 you farther westward. The charm of the Western 
 Isles beckons you onwards like the romantic magic 
 of early Celtic poetry. Your thoughts continually 
 run on summer seas, and rocky islets, and hills of 
 purple heather. Was it this that impelled Columba 
 and his monks to seek a lonelier and yet lonelier isle 
 to fix their home ? We feel, with them, that un- 
 known magic isles lie before us, under a fairer sky. 
 
 '• Yet who would stop, or fear to advance, 
 Though home or shelter he had none, 
 With such a sky to lead him on." 
 
 The road is now crossing the promontory which 
 divides the upper waters of Loch Snizort — Loch 
 Greshornish and Loch Snizort Beag— from each other, 
 and by and by it drops down close to the shore 
 of the former. At its head lies the township of
 
 Vaternlsh and the Great North Road' 
 
 Edinbane, with its patches of corn and potatoes 
 chequering the hillside with a pattern of irregular 
 squares and oblongs of varied hues. Beyond this 
 the road mounts higher and higher until you think 
 it will never stop ascending. You pause to look 
 behind. The steep grassy slopes of the hither 
 side of the ridgy backbone which runs up the 
 peninsula of Trotternish are seen in the distance, 
 and, unless the sky is black with tempests, " shadows 
 dark and sunlight sheen " always rest on their sur- 
 face and in their hollows, as if they had some 
 particular gift of catching the changing face of the 
 sky. In the opposite direction the Coolins, purple and 
 rugged, seem suspended in the air beyond the near 
 ridge of the moor, and the steep escarpment of 
 Talisker Head rises above the gleam of water which 
 you know to be Loch Bracadale. Then you descend 
 a long and easy slope (joy of the bicyclist) to Fairy 
 Bridge, where the road branches off to Dunvegan 
 and to Vaternish. 
 
 After following the Vaternish road for a mile or 
 two through a rough moorland bounded by low- 
 lying slopes, you come opposite to what is called in 
 old antiquarian books the "Temple of Anaitis." 
 The mind flashes to the gorgeous East, to the 
 distant past, when mooned Ashtaroth, heaven^ s queen 
 a7id 7nother both, was worshipped with strange and 
 mystic rites. What has the divine Anaitis of Syria 
 to do with the shaggy Isle of Skye ? Thereby hangs 
 a tale. But let us first explore the ruins. The 
 moor and a burn must be crossed, and the steep 
 bank of the burn ascended, when you find yourselt 
 on a long tongue of land. The burn you have just 
 crossed, and another on the farther side of the 
 peninsula in a deep gorge, whose presence is quite 
 unexpected till you are close to its edge, meet at 
 the point of the tongue and then flow merrily down 
 to the sea. These two burns make this peninsula 
 well-nigh impregnable, for though the side of the 
 burn on the right is not steep it is easily defensible,
 
 58 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 while the gorge on the left is 150 feet deep, 
 with precipitous and narrow sides slightly clad 
 with birch and hazel. A wall connecting the two 
 valleys shows that this has once been a stronghold 
 in the far-off days, when the heather was so often 
 dyed a deeper purple with the blood of the clansmen. 
 But the gorge fascinates one most of all. It is 
 about half a mile in length, but you could easily 
 throw a stone from one side to the other. Far below, 
 the burn rushes along in its rocky boulder-strewn 
 bed ; the sides of the gorge are basaltic, with here 
 and there a dyke cutting them from top to bottom ; 
 and just opposite a waterfall dashes down in four 
 successive leaps. 
 
 The stones which formed the defence of the neck 
 of the peninsula are scattered about ; here and 
 there piled on each other, as they were by their first 
 builders. Outside this again are the traces of an 
 earthen dyke, as the first line of defence. Near 
 what was the gate of the stone wall, on the outside, 
 the old writers saw the remains of two houses, one 
 on either side of the entrance. Inside the wall, 
 stones are scattered about in all directions ; but, 
 beyond the foundations of some beehive cells and 
 possibly of a fort, they give little indication of their 
 primitive purpose. There can be little doubt that 
 this natural strength was occupied by a dun or 
 broch similar to those found in every part of Skye. 
 But when the advent of the Norsemen was no 
 longer feared, it seems to have passed to, or its 
 stones to have been used for, a more peaceful 
 object, as the Gaelic name Tempul-na- Annait 
 suggests. 
 
 The word annoit occurs in Irish Gaelic as signify- 
 ing the church in which the patron saint was 
 educated, or within whose walls his sacred relics 
 were treasured, and this distinction naturally gave 
 it a first rank among all the churches of the 
 district.^ This name, with various combinations, 
 1 See Senchiis Mor, iii. 65, 75.
 
 7, 
 
 < 
 
 o 

 
 Vaternish and the Great North Road 59 
 
 occurs frequently in Celtic regions. At Calligray, 
 Harris, is an ancient ruin called, like the Vaternish 
 ruin, Tempul - na- h- Annait (the Annait Church); 
 Tobar-na-h-Annait (the well of the Annait) is found 
 in Strath ; there is Annatburn in Perthshire, and 
 Annait in Appin. All these signify that a church of 
 the kind mentioned stood where the name remains 
 with a long-forgotten signification. Our Tempul- 
 na-Annait was thus a church, perhaps a monastic 
 establishment, built on the site of the earlier fort ; 
 the monks taking advantage of a natural stronghold 
 as a place of defence from their wild fellow-Christians. 
 Whence, then, all this talk of the Temple of Anaitis, 
 and the worship of the Syrian goddess in Skye? 
 The mare's nest was started by Dr. Johnson's 
 cicerone, the learned Dr. MacQueen, who, thinking 
 that "the meaning of the word Ainnit, in Erse," 
 namely, a water-place, "agrees with all the de- 
 scriptions of the temples of that goddess, which 
 were situated near rivers, that there might be water 
 to wash the statue," concluded that here had once 
 been a famous pagan temple where the early Celts 
 worshipped the renowned goddess of the mysterious 
 East.^ Johnson listened to his arguments and casti- 
 gated him with his customary vehemence: "We 
 have no occasion to go to a distance for what we can 
 pick up under our feet," though (it is to his credit) 
 the learned minister boldly withstood him. Boswell 
 visited the ruins with MacQueen, and was partially 
 convinced when he insisted that " the ruin of a small 
 building, standing east and west, was actually the 
 temple of the goddess Anaitis, where her statue was 
 kept, and from whence processions were made to 
 wash it in one of the brooks." He made copious 
 notes of the divine's learning on the subject, but 
 dared not inflict them on his readers. The whole 
 
 ^ Dr. MacQueen was minister of tho parish of Bracadale, and 
 was an excellent specimen of the scholarly cleric of the old days, 
 a man of culture, if a fanciful theorist, able to discuss questions 
 of scholarship with the best scholar of his day.
 
 6o The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 theory, like that of the Baal-worship of the Celts, 
 rests on the accidental likeness of a Celtic and an 
 Oriental word, and one might as well discover a 
 kinship between Maoris and ancient Egyptians 
 because both worshipped a sun-god called Ra. The 
 fair Anaitis was not even a goddess in exile in Skye, 
 and imagination cannot conjure up her sensuous 
 rites here ; it sees only dim tribes fighting on the 
 moor and white-robed priests chanting their liturgies 
 while their voices mingle with the rush of the stream 
 in the gorge far below. ^ 
 
 Nearer the head of Loch Bay is the land which 
 MacLeod of MacLeod has recently divided into small 
 farms — an experiment proposed by the Government, 
 and loyally responded to by a chief who is beloved 
 by his people and has their welfare ever at heart. 
 The head of Loch Bay is guarded by steep basaltic 
 cliffs, surrounding it like a dark amphitheatre, and 
 pierced by a deep, narrow cleft — the continuation of 
 the gorge at Anaitis. From the road the ground 
 slopes steeply down to the sea, and from this point 
 there is once more a brilliant outlook to the Outer 
 Hebrides. Opposite is the beetling promontory of 
 Dunvegan Head, looo feet in height ; and still 
 nearer, as if floating in a quiet sea, a small group of 
 islands. One of these. Island Isay, was offered to 
 Johnson by MacLeod, on condition that he should 
 reside there for three months in the year. He was 
 to build a house there, fortify it with cannon, sally 
 forth and take the Isle of Muck. But the attractions 
 of Fleet Street proved too strong for this Hebridean 
 dream to be realised. 
 
 Following the coast-line, the eye loses it at the 
 curious L-shaped promontory of Ardmore, of which 
 more will be said presently, and before one is the 
 
 ^ Pennant, of course, connected the place with the Druids. 
 In the houses of which he saw the ruins, " lodg-ed the priests 
 and their families" (Tonr, p. 341). Col. Forbes-Leslie revived 
 MacQueen's learned nonsense {Early Races of Scotland, i. loi 
 seq.).
 
 Vaternish and the Great North Road 6i 
 
 wide sea girt in by Harris and North Uist. Close 
 by is the thriving township of Stein, and, sur- 
 rounded by trees, the house of Captain Macdonald 
 of Vaternish, a keen naturalist and sportsman, who 
 knows more of the furred and feathered creatures of 
 Skye than any man Hving. His otter hounds are 
 famous, and a dozen of them rush out to greet the 
 visitor with shrill barks. Not one of them has a 
 whole body ; the fierce otters have deprived them 
 of a lip, an ear, a paw, or what not, but you may be 
 sure the offending otter did not long survive the 
 combat. The grounds of the house are a sanctuary 
 for birds and beasts. In the pond near by a heron 
 is fishing, wild-duck are swimming about, and there 
 is a moor-hen with her brood. She has three each 
 summer, and the first brood nurse the second, and 
 the second the third — precocious nurses like the 
 little girls who live in the slums. All kinds of 
 animals are moving around — hares, rabbits, pigeons, 
 even a tame deer, and tame otters. A gunboat once 
 visited the loch, and the laird of Vaternish paid the 
 commander a friendly call. As they were sitting in 
 his cabin, a wardroom servant put his head in at the 
 door with, "Please, sir, there's a wild beast swim- 
 ming round the ship ! " All rushed on deck, ex- 
 pecting to see the sea-serpent or perhaps a pretty 
 mermaid. But it was only the deer, which had 
 missed his master, and, like a new Leander, had 
 come swimming out to find him. 
 
 In the garden is a peregrine falcon with clipped 
 wings, hopping clumsily about, and making a meal 
 off a gull. Look at her eye ! What piercing 
 brilliance, what untamed ferocity, what resolution ! 
 Indoors are many stuffed specimens, shot, often 
 after days of watching, by the captain's unerring 
 gun. Most of these are rare occasional visitors to 
 these shores, like the Iceland peregrine, or the 
 glaucous gull — a huge white fellow, with snowy 
 plumage. But rarest of all is a fish of the mackerel 
 species caught in a fisherman's net, and rescued just
 
 62 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 in time from the pot. It is a foot in length, with a 
 curious underhung mouth, and is rare even in the 
 Mediterranean, which is its habitat. The British 
 Museum regards it from afar with hungry eyes, but 
 not the most tempting offers will lure it from its 
 owner. Here, too (passing from natural history to 
 the romantic), may be seen a cupboard full of Flora 
 Macdonald's china, carrying the mind swiftly back 
 to that age of loyalty from which, indeed, one is 
 never far distant in the Isle of Skye. 
 
 Stein is a purely Norse word, and like many 
 another place-name in the island, is found in the saga 
 of King Haco. The Northmen's fleet must often 
 have lain at anchor between Isay Island and the 
 shore, as did the mightier Channel fleet a few years 
 ago. Leaving Stein by the rough road, you soon 
 find yourself on romantic ground, which recalls 
 savage fighting and deeds of darkness. Within the 
 walls of the church whose ruins are seen at Trumpan, 
 the MacLeods of Vaternish were assembled for divine 
 service one Sunday four hundred years ago. Mean- 
 while Macdonalds from Uist had crossed the sea and 
 landed on the promontory of Ardmore, where they 
 left their boats, and, hurrying to the church, burned 
 it with all its worshippers, save one woman who 
 escaped through a window. As the Macdonalds 
 were enjoying the spectacle with savage glee, they 
 forgot that smoke is seen far off and may easily act 
 as a signal. Their galleys, too, had been spied from 
 the towers of Dunvegan, and the fiery cross had been 
 sent round. From every quarter came twos and 
 threes of the Clan MacLeod. The Uist men rushed 
 for their boats ; the tide had left them high and dry. 
 In desperation they tried to pull them down the 
 strand. Their assailants increased in number, and 
 soon a desperate encounter took place, in which the 
 tables were turned, and every Macdonald was slain. 
 Then their bodies were ranged in a long row beneath 
 a turf dyke at the neck of the promontory, and the 
 dyke was overturned upon them. The place is still
 
 Vaternish and the Great North Road 6^ 
 
 known as Blar milleadh garaidh, the battle of the 
 spoiling of the dyke ; the bones of the victims were 
 seen there within living memory. 
 
 This Macdonald raid is believed to have been 
 made out of revenge for the Eigg massacre. Some 
 years later revenge was sought again for this signal 
 defeat. The Macdonalds, as usual, raided the 
 MacLeod's cattle. At daybreak the thieves were 
 overtaken near Trumpan, where a bloody fight took 
 place, and the Macdonalds were killed almost to a 
 man. On each side a blacksmith in full armour 
 remained fighting. The MacLeod blacksmith was 
 failing through loss of blood, when his wife arrived 
 at the scene of conflict. She struck the enemy with 
 her distaff", crying, "Turn to me !" He turned his 
 head involuntarily, and that moment was run 
 through and died. The place of this duel of the 
 smiths is still called Beinn a Ghobha, or the Black- 
 smiths' Hill. At this same fight, Roderick, son of 
 Ian MacLeod of Unish, did great execution with his 
 sword. At last a Macdonald rushed upon him and 
 cut off his legs at the knees. The doughty clansman 
 continued to stand on his stumps cutting down all 
 comers. At last he fell on the knoll named after 
 him, Cnoc Mhic Iain, the knoll of the son of Ian, 
 and Crois Bhan, the white cross, from a wooden 
 cross placed there to his memory. This cross has 
 long since disappeared. 
 
 This district must have been a favourite battle- 
 ground for the rival clans. Another fight occurred 
 here, and is notable because the fairy flag was un- 
 furled when the MacLeods were losing the day. 
 At once it seemed to their adversaries that the 
 MacLeods had increased threefold. Panic seized 
 them, and they fled from the field. Still another 
 dark deed is connected traditionally with Ardmore 
 peninsula. At Cnoc a Chrochaidh, or the Hanging 
 Hill, the son of Judge Morrison of the Lews was 
 hanged on three of his own oars. He had been on 
 a visit to Dunvegan, and, with liberal notions of
 
 64 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 hospitality, he and his men had killed some MacLeods 
 on Isay Island. Some g-alleys followed his boat. 
 Fleeing from them, he landed at Ardmore, where he 
 was caught and hung. Before execution he was 
 bidden to kneel down on the rocks and say his 
 prayers. Long after, silver coins were found in a 
 crevice of these rocks, and were believed to have 
 been dropped there by this thrifty murderer while he 
 was praying. 
 
 The peaceful beauty of the scene almost gives the 
 lie to these savage traditions, but men cared little 
 for such things as natural beauty then, and lived 
 only for the lust of fighting and slaughter. 
 
 At Trumpan, too, close by the ruined church, died 
 the unfortunate Lady Grange in 1745, the year of 
 the Prince's landing. Her story is one of the 
 strangest of the many strange histories current in 
 the Highlands, and it shows how remote these High- 
 lands were in the mid-eighteenth century, — more 
 remote than are the Fiji Islands now, — and what 
 deeds of darkness might be done there unchallenged 
 in a civilised and cultured age. Lady Grange was 
 the wife of a Scottish judge ; his moral character 
 was at least dubious. Her father had been that 
 Chiesley of Dairy who, in a fit of passion and 
 revenge, shot the Lord President Lockhart. She 
 inherited his temper ; her husband was said to be a 
 drunkard ; their married life became intolerable, and 
 a separation was agreed upon after they had been 
 twenty years wedded. Jealousy of his amours, 
 maternal solicitude for her children, may have turned 
 her brain ; it is certain that she taunted the judge 
 in more than one public place, even on the bench. 
 In 1730, Lord Grange was engaged in Jacobite plots 
 with Lovat, Lord Mar, and others. It is said she 
 became aware of this, and now threatened him with 
 discovering everything to the Government. Her 
 "sequestration" was determined upon, and with 
 the aid of the MacLeod of that time — he whose own 
 married life had not been too happy — and possibly
 
 Vaternish and the Great North Road 6^ 
 
 other chiefs, she was kidnapped from Edinburgh by 
 Lovat's followers. Tradition speaks of a mock 
 funeral and a coflfin filled with stones ; on the other 
 hand, it was whispered in Edinburgh that she had 
 been abducted, though her sons, grown to manhood, 
 and her daughter. Lady Kintore, made no attempt 
 to find her. By secret ways, and under pretext that 
 she was insane, her captors carried her to the lonely 
 island of Heiskar, lying to the west of North Uist, 
 and belonging to Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat — 
 a fact which may implicate him. There she was 
 kept for three years in the custody of his tacksman. 
 In 1734 she was carried thence to St. Kilda, 
 MacLeod's still lonelier island in the Atlantic. No 
 one there but the catechist knew English ; 
 MacLeod's factor, who came once a year rent- 
 collecting, dared not help her ; yet it is known that 
 the wretched lady made some heroic attempts to 
 escape. She was treated as kindly as possible under 
 the circumstances. She had a hut of two apartments, 
 and a woman to wait on her ; provisions of a sort 
 were plentiful. Yet such an exile for a woman of 
 her spirit, a woman who had shone among the 
 beauties and wits of Edinburgh, was indeed a 
 diabolical and callous punishment, nor can it be 
 wondered that in a letter still preserved she describes 
 St. Kilda as *'a viled, neasty, stinking poor isle." 
 In 1741, when the catechist left the island, she 
 gave him letters for her law - agent, Hope of 
 Rankeillor, who applied for search-warrants and 
 for the arrest of MacLeod and others. These 
 were refused : the reasons alleged being that the 
 letters were in the handwriting of the catechist, 
 and that he was a scandalous and disreputable 
 person. 
 
 Meanwhile, Hope fitted out a sloop, which set sail 
 for St. Kilda with the catechist and twenty-five 
 armed men on board. Of this movement MacLeod 
 was made aware, and at once removed Lady Grange 
 from St. Kilda to Harris, and from there to Skye. 
 
 5
 
 66 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Despair and exile had worn her out in mind and 
 body ; she became a restless imbecile, wandering 
 freely about from place to place on MacLeod's lands, 
 hospitably entertained by his clansmen for seven 
 weary years. In 1745, exactly fifteen years after 
 her abduction, she died in a cottar's hut, and 
 was buried at Trumpan. Even then her ill fate 
 pursued her, and for some reason unknown a 
 second mock funeral was arranged. A coffin filled 
 with turf and stones was buried in presence of a 
 great crowd of people in the churchyard at 
 Duirinish, the real funeral taking place secretly 
 at Trumpan. 
 
 Here Lord Mar caused a monument to be erected 
 to her memory a few years ago, a tardy act of justice 
 and reparation for his ancestor's part in this tragedy 
 — a part which may even have been deeper than is 
 commonly known, for it is said that he, fearing for 
 his neck, would have had her put to death at 
 once, but that Lord Grange would only consent 
 to "sequestration." It is hard to say whether one 
 should wonder most at the indifference of the powers 
 that be in thi-s matter of the abduction, which 
 certainly from 1741 onwards was of public notoriety, 
 or the shameful callousness of her husband, a man 
 moving during the years of her exile in the most 
 brilliant society without exhibiting the slightest 
 compunction, nay, rejoicing at "the timely notice 
 you gave me of the death of that person ! " Prince 
 Charles might well have said, "Save me from my 
 friends." 
 
 Among the many interesting papers preserved at 
 Dunvegan Castle, few are more pathetic than the 
 yellow, time-worn accounts for Lady Grange's board 
 at St. Kilda, and her funeral (a strangely expensive 
 one) in Skye. They run as follows : —
 
 3 
 
 00 
 00 
 
 00 
 i,^ 
 
 lO 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 09 
 
 10 
 
 03 
 
 £5^ 
 
 II 
 
 02J 
 
 £30 
 
 22 
 
 00 
 1 1 
 
 00 
 024 
 
 £S2 
 
 II 
 
 02i 
 
 Vaternish and the Great North Road 67 
 
 I. 
 
 Debii— The Laird of MacLeod 
 To RoRiE M'Neill. 
 
 To Lady Grang^e board for a year & 
 due the 5th current .... 
 Necessaries provided for her 
 
 To cash to account of this current 
 year from him ..... 
 
 To Mr. James M'Kenzie's board and 
 necessaries for him .... 
 
 By your hon" order upon your factor 
 for ....... 
 
 By my bill upon you to Wm. Tolme for 
 
 DuNVEGAN, 2nd Aug^ust 1744. 
 
 The above is a Just account betwixt the Laird of MacLeod 
 and RoRY MacNeill. 
 
 Acc'T. CuR"^. The hon>^'«- Normand MacLeod of MacLeod and 
 R. MacNeill of Trumpan. 
 
 Z)ei»'r,_MACLEOD. 
 To one particular an'='- of expenses in 
 
 Lady Grange's Interment . . . ^30 15 05 
 Do. her board r: c: for nine months . 22 10 00 
 
 £s3 05 05 
 
 Cr. — By cash from M'Leod per Receipt £\ 00 00 
 By Do. from \Vm. Tolme upon 
 
 MacLeod's an'=f- 21 16 03 
 
 By MacLeod's order upon Baj' for the 
 
 ballance boing [?] . . . . 21 09 02 
 
 £53 OS 05 
 
 DUNVEGAN, l6th Attffltst 1745. 
 
 The above An'=*- is filled and cleared betwixt us, errors & 
 omissions excepted by RoRY M'Neill. 
 
 These documents show that Lady Grang^e was at 
 least tolerably well provided for, while the tradition
 
 68 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 of her wandering proves that she had a certain 
 amount of freedom. But the whole transaction for 
 all concerned in it, is worse than odious, and one 
 cannot but sympathise deeply with the unhappy lady, 
 who endured for fifteen long- years the blackness of 
 despair, and at last died among scenes which, how- 
 ever beautiful, could have brought no ray of hope to 
 her anguished heart in her lonely exile.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 DUNVEGAN 
 
 " Hast thou seen that lordly castle, 
 That castle by the sea? 
 Golden and red above it, 
 The clouds float gorg-eously. 
 
 And fain it would stoop downward 
 To the mirrored wave below ; 
 
 And fain it would soar upward 
 In the evening's crimson glow," 
 
 Longfellow (from Uhland). 
 
 " A NE stark strength biggit on ane craig." So 
 ^^ does Munro, Dean of the Isles, describe the 
 ancient seat of the MacLeods at Dunvegan in 1549. 
 When moat and ditch defended the castle from the 
 land side, and the only approach was by a narrow 
 flight of steps from the loch, guarded by portcullis 
 and flanking towers, the description must have been 
 strictly accurate, and the "stark strength" itself 
 quite impregnable. Even now, modern improve- 
 ments have not destroyed the force of the description, 
 and the most ancient inhabited house in Scotland 
 preserves much of its grim appearance. The name 
 Dunvegan, little dun or fort, suggests that an 
 earlier dun stood on the site of the castle. Tradition 
 gives the tenth century as the date of origin of the 
 keep, the oldest part of the building, perhaps 
 referring to this more primitive dun. Authorities 
 refuse to ascribe an earlier date to the keep than 
 the thirteenth century. Cold criticism and romantic 
 tradition seldom agree, but this much is certain, that 
 
 69
 
 70 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 the descendants of Leod have continued to live there 
 since that time when he married the daughter of 
 Macraild Armuinn the Dane, and thus obtained his 
 ancient patrimony of nearly all that part of Skye 
 north of the Coolins. The date of that marriage was 
 the mid-thirteenth century. 
 
 The keep surrounded by a rampart, part of which 
 may still remain in the fragments of a ruined wall 
 to the north of the lofty tower, must have been all 
 that existed of the castle at that time. Successive 
 generations enlarged it, and some of its varying 
 forms can be seen in drawings made from time to 
 time. The earliest of these drawings represents the 
 castle as it was in the fourteenth century. The rock 
 is surrounded by a circular rampart, pierced by a 
 door where the stair leads down to the sea. The 
 keep stands at one side of a square fortalice, with 
 narrow windows. Nothing can be seen of the 
 ditch on the landward side, but the rock fronting it 
 must have been as steep then as the seaward rock 
 is now. Alasdair Crotach, or the hump-backed, in 
 the sixteenth century, built what is now called the 
 "Fairy Tower," to the south of the keep, a long 
 and high rampart connecting the two and forming a 
 courtyard within protected on the farther side by 
 the sea wall. A contemporary print shows the 
 Fairy Tower much as it is now — within the projecting 
 rampart with its gargoyles rise the crow-stepped 
 gables, as they still do. Keep and fortalice seem to 
 have been left unchanged by Alasdair, and the 
 picturesque architecture of the newer tower contrasts 
 curiously with the bare and grim outlines of the 
 older building. Within this Fairy Tower a room, 
 now used for storing the family documents, bears 
 the name of Alasdair Crotach's room. Rory Mor, 
 knighted by James vi., and Ian Breac both made 
 other alterations in the seventeenth century, prob- 
 ably making the space between the towers habitable. 
 Some time after this the keep must have become 
 more or less ruinous, for so it is represented in
 
 Dun vegan 71 
 
 Grose's Antiquities of 1790. Ian Breac died before 
 he had completed his work, but his purpose outran 
 his accomplishment, and an inscribed stone, still 
 existing, " remains to celebrate what was not done, 
 and to serve as a memento of the uncertainty of life, 
 and the presumption of man." ^ Later chiefs restored 
 the keep, and made the castle assume, as far as was 
 possible to such a grim and venerable structure, the 
 aspect of a modern mansion. A flight of steps gave 
 access from the now useless ditch. These were 
 replaced by a bridge thrown across the moat, while 
 a modern doorway changed the back of the castle to 
 the front, and opens now on a lofty hall hung with 
 trophies of the chase. 
 
 The walls of the more ancient part of the castle 
 are extremely massive. In the cellars which now 
 replace the older arched kitchen with its huge 
 fireplace, they are 1 1 feet thick, and enclosed a 
 huge hall for servants and vassals. Above this they 
 are 9 feet thick, enclosing the hall for the chief 
 and his guests, and what is now the drawing-room. 
 That hall was lit by narrow slits in the walls, but 
 these have been enlarged, and now each window 
 makes a wide recess in the sides of the room, like a 
 series of tiny chapels in some long and lofty church. 
 But who can imagine the scenes which these ancient 
 walls witnessed through the dim centuries since 
 first they were erected — wild revels, deeds of dark- 
 ness, meetings of council, kilted chiefs and fair 
 ladies footing it in merry reels? Of these history 
 has noted only a few, and those of the darkest and 
 bloodiest nature. 
 
 Joined to the keep itself is the modern billiard- 
 room, hung with portraits, and the passage between 
 
 ^ The words are Boswell's. The stone has the date 1586 and 
 the following lines of Latin verse : — 
 
 Quern stabilire juvat proavonim tecta vetusta, 
 
 Omne scelus fugat, jiistitiam colat. 
 Vertit in aerias turres magalia virtus, 
 
 Intjue casas huniilos Iccta superba iicfas.
 
 72 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 It and the ancient hall opens upon a dark and 
 windowless room, in the floor of which a hole, 
 covered by a flagstone, forms the one and only 
 entrance to the dungeon below. Through it 
 prisoners were lowered to that ghastly prison from 
 which there could be no possible escape. This 
 narrow dungeon is cut out of the rock on which 
 the castle stands to a depth of i6 feet. Light is 
 admitted from a narrow loophole facing the north, 
 but high up in the rocky wall, so that the prisoner 
 might have no glimpse of the beautiful world beyond 
 the impenetrable wall. Part of the staircase which 
 led up from the kitchen to the hall still remains, but 
 the old staircase within the keep has long ago 
 disappeared. But in the sixteenth-century tower, 
 the Fairy Tower, as it is called, you can still ascend 
 to the battlements by the narrow, steep, and winding 
 staircase as of old. Use and wont doubtless made 
 things easier for the people of old than for their 
 luxurious descendants, but as you toil upwards, 
 fearful of knocking your head or grazing your shins, 
 you perforce marvel at their agility. And how Dr. 
 Johnson must have puffed and groaned as he toiled 
 upwards to the haunted room in which he slept, and 
 which, later, was given to Scott at his own request, 
 and christened by him the Fairy Room ! Above it 
 is the muniment room, crowded with interesting 
 family letters, documents, and charters black with 
 age and covered with crabbed writing. And above 
 that again you come out on the battlements and 
 look down on the waving boughs of countless 
 trees, the blue loch, and the green islands on its 
 breast. 
 
 The sea-gate still remains, with the worn steps 
 leading up to it, and opens into a narrow passage 
 the walls of which are grooved for the portcullis, 
 and pierced by a hole lo feet deep for the heavy 
 beam which barred the doorway from within. On 
 the right of the passage is the ancient well of the 
 castle, now boarded up, for in its cool depths a
 
 Dunvegan 73 
 
 servant who had tasted somethingf else than its 
 waters was drowned several years ago. 
 
 Before the woods were planted and nothing but 
 the bare moorland surged up to the castle moat, it 
 must have presented a grim and repellent appear- 
 ance. "The great size of the castle," writes 
 Boswell, "which is partly old and partly new, and 
 is built upon a rock close to the sea, while the land 
 around it presents nothing but wild, moorish, hilly, 
 and craggy appearances, gave a rude magnificence 
 to the scene." But now with its modern front and 
 surrounded by woodlands it is only romantic and 
 picturesque, as if it had become the home of the 
 muse of history. Its grimness returns to it when 
 it is viewed from the beach to the north. Then it 
 stands clear of trees ; its lofty tower, and flanking 
 turrets, its outworks and battlements running at 
 every conceivable angle, are seen against the sky, 
 and present a bewildering variety of mediaeval 
 architecture. And all this mass of grey building 
 is " biggit on a craig" greyer and more lichen 
 stained and ever so much more ancient than itself, 
 while the sea laps its base perpetually. Seen on a 
 winter afternoon from the north, its towers look 
 weird and ghostly, and whisper of the strange 
 scenes they have witnessed in bygone days. 
 
 Of those scenes none are more ghastly than the 
 series of tragic events connected with the name of 
 Ian Dubh in the sixteenth century. When William, 
 the ninth chief, died in 1552, his brothers, Donald and 
 Tormod, were absent, and Ian the Fairhaired, a de- 
 scendant of the sixth MacLeod, was hailed as chief. 
 Ian had married Sheila, a daughter of Macdonald of 
 Knock, and had several sons, one of whom, Ian 
 Dubh,i was a man of evil and atrocious deeds, hated 
 and feared. A meeting was held at Lyndale on 
 Donald's arrival to decide the chieftainship, and 
 again Ian the Fairhaired was chosen. Donald re- 
 tired to Kingsburgh, where Ian Dubh visited him, 
 » The Dark or Black.
 
 74 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 pretending friendship, and invited him, with six 
 followers, to meet him at the mirk midnight to 
 make arrangements for enforcing his just claims. 
 Donald, unexpectant of evil, arrived with his men at 
 the rendezvous, where Ian Dubh and his men at 
 once despatched them. Ian the Fairhaired ordered 
 the arrest of Ian the Dark, who at once fled to 
 Castle Uistean to the equally treacherous Hugh 
 MacGhilleasbuig — a Macdonald. Meanwhile Ian 
 the Fairhaired died, and his third son, Donald Breac, 
 was made tutor to his grandson, Tormod. Ian Dubh 
 now began to play his cards. Sallying forth from 
 Castle Uistean, he took Dunvegan Castle, put its 
 warders to the sword, and made a prisoner of his 
 brother Tormod's widow. When Donald Breac and 
 Tormod's three sons returned from the funeral of 
 Ian, they found Dunvegan's gate closed against them 
 and all admittance refused. Ian Dubh appeared in 
 full armour at the head of the narrow stairway 
 above the landing-place. There a hand-to-hand 
 fight took place between him and Donald, and the 
 latter was slain. Tormod's three sons were now 
 slaughtered by this avenging Jehu of Skye, the 
 wives and children of several leaders of the clan 
 were seized, and his remaining brothers shut up in 
 the dungeons of the castle. 
 
 At this point the Campbells of Argyll saw fit to 
 interfere, basing their right on their guardianship of 
 Mary, William's sole child. A large force landed at 
 Roag in Loch Bracadale, and their leaders offered 
 terms to Black Ian. He arranged to meet them at 
 the church of Kilmuir, and there the terms were 
 agreed upon, on lan's part only outwardly. He 
 invited eleven Campbell chieftains to a great feast 
 in Dunvegan Castle. According to the old plan, 
 each Campbell was sandwiched between two Mac- 
 Leods. After the feast a cup of blood was placed 
 before each guest, and at this gory signal each 
 Campbell was stabbed by his neighbour, Ian Dubh 
 selecting the leader for himself. It was probably
 
 Dunvegan 75 
 
 in the present drawing - room that this tragedy 
 occurred. 
 
 The end of Ian was a fitting sequel to his evil 
 life. In 1559, Torquil, William's brother, arrived at 
 Dunvegan to make good his claim. Ian expected 
 help from Hugh MacGhilleasbuig, but it did not 
 come. Treachery was within the walls. A warder, 
 Torquil MacSween, agreed to give up the castle, and 
 secured all the passages save that leading to the 
 entrance and communicating with lan's bedroom, 
 guarded by his foster-brothers. The noise of 
 Torquil MacLeod's entrance alarmed Ian. He 
 reached his galley and sped to Harris. Driven 
 thence, he went to Ireland. His career was over; 
 he became a beggared wanderer, until he was seized 
 by the O'Donnells, whose chief thrust a red-hot 
 iron through his bowels. An equally horrible fate 
 awaited his fellow-traitor on the Macdonald side, 
 MacGhilleasbuig, as we have seen. They were well 
 matched for a couple of quiet ones ! 
 
 The treasures of the castle are many and various. 
 First and foremost is the Fairy Flag, or Bratach Shi. 
 Tradition says that a fairy wife of one of the chiefs 
 presented it to him when she left the land of mortals 
 for ever. She bestowed upon this flag the power of 
 three times succouring the chief or his clan, after 
 which an invisible being would appear and carry 
 off flag and standard-bearer never to be seen again. 
 A family of Clan y Faitter acted as hereditary 
 guardians of the flag, and bore it in battle, holding 
 in return free lands in Bracadale. Twice at least its 
 power was exerted, once when Clan Donald was 
 gaining upon the sons of Leod and the banner made 
 their numbers appear tenfold in the eyes of the 
 former, and once again when it preserved the heir 
 about to be born. Pennant avers that, in his time, 
 it was too tattered for Titania to think it worth 
 sending for. Scott mentions that besides these 
 extraordinary powers it had also the power of en- 
 suring fertility and of bringing herrings to the loch.
 
 76 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 The flag- is of yellow silk, with red spots wrought at 
 intervals on its surface. The material is threadbare, 
 so that it cannot ever be waved a third time, and even 
 a fairy might scarcely touch it without tearing it, 
 while its splendour has faded to a dingy hue. It is 
 not impossible that it was captured from the Saracens, 
 and that the common Norse traditions of magic 
 banners gifted by supernatural beings were later 
 attached to it. It now rests in a glass case in the 
 drawing-room, beside Rory Mor's drinking-horn and 
 the Dunvegan cup. The former is a long ox-horn, 
 with a deep silver band, engraved with animals and 
 an interlaced pattern of Celtic type and of twelfth- 
 century date ; the mouth was firmly grasped in the 
 hand, while the horn twined round the arm ; and 
 each chief, as he came of age, was expected to give 
 proof of his manhood by draining its contents at a 
 draught.! The cup is of Irish origin ; and is made 
 of dark wood, covered with rich ornamental work 
 in silver, possibly of a later date than the cup or 
 " mether." The silver work is of filigree and niello, 
 and was once encrusted with precious stones which 
 have disappeared. On the four sides of the rim are 
 panels containing the following inscription : Katharina 
 Ingen Y Neill Uxor Johannis Meguigir Principis 
 De Firmanae me Fieri Fecit, Anno Domini, 1493. 
 Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine et tu das escam 
 illorum in tempore opportuno.^ The latter part of 
 the inscription and the four times repeated sacred 
 monogram I. H. S. in the interior of the cup, suggest 
 that it may have been used as a chalice. Nothing is 
 known as to how the cup came into the possession 
 of the MacLeods : it may have been the spoil of 
 some fight or the dowry of a bride. 
 
 ^ Armstrong in his Dictionary suggests that it may be the 
 horn of a urus. Urus horns were ornamented with silver, and 
 used as drinking-cups by the ancient Germans. 
 
 - Scott bungled the inscription in a most marvellous way. 
 See his notes to the Lord of the Isles. Johannis Meguigir is 
 John Maguire, whose death is recorded in the Annals of the 
 Four Masters under the year 1503.
 
 Dunvegan 77 
 
 Two other glass cases contain autograph letters 
 from Johnson and Scott, while several other letters 
 of Scott's, as well as some from the Ettrick Shepherd, 
 Pitt, and other notables, are among the family papers. 
 Scott presented to the Lady MacLeod of his time 
 his own Lord of the Isles and his edition of the Rev. 
 Robert Kirk's Secret Commo7iwealth. Both are in 
 the library, and the latter has this characteristic 
 inscription in the faded handwriting of the poet — 
 
 " Mrs. MacLeod of MacLeod 
 
 from her faithful humble servant, 
 
 W. S. 
 ' Of bogles and brownies full is this book.' " 
 
 A case in the dining-room is full of various treasures. 
 There is a lock of Prince Charles's hair — part of that 
 cut by Flora Macdonald at Kingsburgh, and presented 
 by her daughter to the MacLeods. It is golden and 
 silky — s?ie clipped a lock wi' her ahi hands frae his 
 lang yellow hair — and one wonders why it never 
 betrayed him when he was a fugitive. There, too, 
 is his waistcoat (a gift from Flora Macdonald's 
 family) — cream silk, embroidered with brown and 
 yellow, and showing signs of wear ; his drinking- 
 cup ; Flora Macdonald's stays — very worn and frayed 
 and dirty ; her pin-cushion, with the names of those 
 who suffered after Culloden ; some of her lace ; and 
 a variety of interesting odds and ends. 
 
 In the corridor are hung weapons of every age, 
 including Rory Mor's two-handed sword, which 
 Johnson said he would fight against with a dirk, 
 and the claymore of the chief who raised a thousand 
 clansmen and led them with it for the king at 
 Worcester fight in 1652. There too are an ethno- 
 logical collection from Zululand, many skins and 
 heads of big game, brought here by the present 
 chief, and all sorts of native manufactures from St. 
 Kilda. 
 
 Among the many family portraits which look down 
 from the walls are those by Allan Ramsay of the
 
 78 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 so-called " wicked chief" and his second wife. It 
 was he who refused aid to Prince Charles, and, if 
 tradition is to be credited, shut his first wife in the 
 castle dung-eon. Two exquisite Raeburns, of his 
 grandson, the general, and his wife, are the gems 
 of the collection. Their colour is fresh, and no crack 
 has appeared in the canvas to destroy their charming 
 colouring and magic portraiture. But these are 
 only a small part of the interesting contents of this 
 venerable house, always interesting in itself, but 
 tenfold more so when its kindly owner, the twenty- 
 third chief of his line, beloved of his tenants in Skye 
 and of his clansmen " from China to Peru," tells the 
 story and describes the successive changes of this 
 ancient home of his race. 
 
 To live in such an ancient house is to put one's 
 finger upon the pulse of time and feel the vanity of 
 human life. Generations of men and women have 
 lived here ; these grey walls have been the outer 
 casket of ever-recurring hopes and fears and joys and 
 sorrows, which, one and all, died with those who 
 experienced them and gave no sign ; they have 
 witnessed the ceaseless contest of birth and death, 
 and seen ghastly murder done in distant centuries. 
 And away beyond them, in the great world, what 
 wild ecstasy during the course of these generations 
 — all the multiform drama of existence in the 
 crowded years, men and women in countless millions 
 born, dying, and vanishing away, nations rising and 
 being overthrown — and these walls existing all the 
 while, wrapped round by eternal silence ! The 
 thronging highway, the bustling market, forbid such 
 thoughts, for they enlist us perforce in the service of 
 the present, and we think bravely that our puny 
 efforts must have infinite results. But within these 
 ancient and silent walls, surrounded by the solitudes 
 of nature, shadowy woods and changeless moorland, 
 time laughs at our egoism, and sends us in upon 
 ourselves and binds us willing slaves to the service 
 of the past.
 
 Dunvegan 79 
 
 From the castle windows you look down upon the 
 waters of the loch — the haunt of herons and sea-fowl, 
 whose discordant cries alone break the silence. The 
 blue water glitters ceaselessly in the sunlight. 
 Beyond the loch rise the green and fir-clad slopes 
 of Uginish, with bright golden patches of gorse 
 nestling amongst rocks and trees. In the distance 
 rise the purple Tables, Healaval Mor and Healaval 
 Beg, great isolated remnants of the vast basalt 
 plateaux which once covered the island, and flat like 
 the famous Table Mountain half across the world. 
 And over all is the sapphire sky to complete a 
 summer landscape which none could wish to be 
 better. That is on one side of the castle. But you 
 may shift your point of observation, and stand 
 towards evening at the billiard-room window, below 
 the shadow of the ancient keep. There are islands 
 and jutting capes and promontories and rolling 
 waters. Far out at sea is the dark basaltic head- 
 land, 1000 feet high, and on the horizon the dimly 
 descried peaks of Harris. At times all this is 
 magically transfigured by the setting sun, till all is 
 like an eve in a sinless world. The surface of the 
 nearer sea is pink, then crimson, then purple ; and 
 farther away it is covered with a silvery sheen. 
 Islands and capes are incarnadined, or stand black 
 against the glowing background, and are imaged in 
 the still waters across whose glimmering surface the 
 seabirds are skimming, leaving long streamers of 
 light behind them. The light clouds take a hundred 
 tints of gold and crimson and saff"ron, and float like 
 unearthly visitants across the opalescent sky. The 
 sun, like a blazing shield or a globe of crimson fire, 
 sinks lower and lower into the waves and merges 
 itself in its image, sending a last flash on to the 
 castle walls, and making clouds, sky, sea, and islands 
 one crimson picture. The sky clears, the stars come 
 out faintly in the June midnight, and a crescent moon 
 rests over the dark turrets. 
 
 Or, yet again, you may watch from the summit
 
 8o The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 of the tower the whispering woods piled upwards 
 from the moat far below to the heights that edge 
 the moorland far away. Their leaves, in every 
 conceivable shade of green, form a sea that gently 
 undulates in the breeze or tosses tumultuously in the 
 tempest. From its hidden depths well up the music 
 of a thousand joyous birds, and the air is redolent 
 with the odorous fragrance of fir and pine. Amid 
 the nearer skirts of the woodland you see patches of 
 yellow primroses still in flower, and the purple mist 
 which the wild hyacinth makes with its uncounted 
 blossoms above its own bright green leaves in the 
 early summer. 
 
 But it is not always early summer, and there are 
 days even in summer, above all in winter, when the 
 sky vanishes, and becomes a mere dingy waste, 
 across which scud drifting clouds and mist, hiding 
 the Tables. The rain falls in vicious torrents and 
 plunges against the windows behind which you 
 watch the wild commotion as the wind drives the 
 waters of the loch to break angrily in foaming 
 waves on the rock-strewn shore. Over among the 
 islands at Colbost the white foam is continually 
 dashing upwards, and retreating broken and spent 
 from the impassive sea-front. The white horses 
 dance on the horizon by Dunvegan Head, and among 
 the islands, until with hiss and splash they surge 
 below the castle walls. At night the whole train 
 of chiefs with their respective "tails" might parade 
 in the corridors and yet be unheard amid that com- 
 motion of the elements, while doors and windows 
 rattle, and the wind howls eerily in the chim- 
 neys. But ensconced behind walls 9 feet thick, 
 wrapped in the deep spaces of a vast bed, one 
 cares little for the tempest, and sleeps in peace till 
 morning. Then, so swift are the changes, it may 
 be brilliant sunshine when the morning breaks. 
 The sea will be a placid mirror in which every tint 
 of the morning sky is reflected, and the Tables 
 and every knoll and tree on the opposite shore have
 
 Dun vegan 8 1 
 
 their counterfeit presentment in this watery looking- 
 glass. 
 
 Striking northwards from the castle, until you 
 emerge from the shadowy woodland, you follow a 
 road which will lead you to Claigan Farm. It winds 
 between gentle slopes, odorous with the savour of 
 bog-plants, heather and thyme and myrtle ; below 
 the ruined Suardal, where MacLeod's hereditary 
 blacksmith lived, and whence came the old minister 
 of Morven, ancestor of the genial Norman and 
 of other ministers known well in Scotland ; then 
 casually crossing a river and passing a clamorous 
 rookery, it brings the pilgrim at last to a scene of 
 exquisite beauty. The blue loch runs far inland 
 between its grassy shores, which are here and there 
 flecked with patches of the purest white, of which 
 I shall come to speak presently. Beyond the 
 southern shore lies Glendale with its thick crofting 
 population, and in a sheltered cove nestle the white 
 walls of Husabost ; beyond that again is Borreraig, 
 where in days of old the famous school of pipers 
 existed ; where the land ends, Dunvegan Head, a 
 black, massy foreland, precipitates itself into the 
 sea. On the right shore, beyond your point of 
 observation, is a lesser but equally steep cliff, and 
 between the two headlands the loch widens out into 
 the sea, across whose waves, on the far horizon, lie 
 the Outer Hebrides — North Uist and Harris — in a 
 shimmering blue haze. There are the conical peaks 
 of Harris, a dozen and more in number, looking out, 
 on the remote western side, to far St. Kilda and the 
 Atlantic liners steaming to the New World ; and 
 down upon the rocky Sound of Harris, the problem 
 of navigators who may be strangers to its labyrin- 
 thine waters. On a clear day persons gifted with 
 good sight can descry houses on these far islands, 
 but mostly they are vague masses in the blue haze, 
 and are often topped with white clouds. If the 
 pilgrim can consent to turn his back upon this 
 picture, nature is still kind to him. The grey walls 
 6
 
 82 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 of the castle are no longer visible, but there is the 
 loch with its precipitous islands, green as emeralds. 
 On one side of it MacLeod's Tables look down, while 
 the other is clothed with the dark woodlands in 
 which the castle is hidden. Beyond miles of shaggy 
 moorland the waters of Loch Bracadale gleam in 
 the sunshine, and Talisker Head frowns down upon 
 them from its giddy height. Out to sea are the 
 peaks of Rum, and, inland, the Coolins flecked with 
 snow if it is June, or covered with it if it is December. 
 The rookery near by is also a heronry, and the 
 gaunt white herons are perceived sitting on the 
 topmost branches of the firs like spectre birds. 
 Along with a black cloud of clamorous rooks, they 
 fly out heavily as one approaches, and circle in- 
 dignantly through the air. Like Jew and Samaritan, 
 rook has no dealings with heron, but each keeps 
 strictly to its own end of the wood, and lives un- 
 conscious, to all appearance, of the existence of the 
 other. Opposite, the rounded heather-clad slopes 
 which shut out the seaward view are haunted by the 
 cuckoo in spring, and all day long her melancholy 
 flute-notes echo in the valley, where, by good fortune, 
 you may catch a glimpse of the shy bird flying from 
 bank to bank. And thus you realise, with strange 
 minuteness, Wordsworth's lines about 
 
 "the cuckoo-bird 
 Breaking the silence of the seas 
 Among the farthest Hebrides." 
 
 For some miles you may walk along these green 
 undulating slopes by the sea's edge. In early 
 summer they are white with sandwort, mingled 
 here and there with redolent thyme, and blue speed- 
 well, or the yellow tormentil flaunting it among the 
 grass. So you pass on amid these hillocks, musical 
 with the echoes of the sea, over a soft and springy 
 turf, and then to the sea's edge bright with golden 
 iris, by a path leading down a steep cliff". Here is 
 Coral Bay. Above is a great escarpment of basalt,
 
 Dunvegan 83 
 
 with stair-like dykes of dolerite running- vertically 
 through it, and below it is a bed of native coral, 
 many feet in depth, all in broken fragments, some 
 as big as one's fist, but mostly mere tiny pieces, their 
 white brilliance contrasting- vividly with the black 
 boulders which strew the beach. ^ These are the 
 records of many a wild winter's storm, of great 
 waves coming- in from the open sea and breaking 
 violently on the cliff until they have battered great 
 hollows in its base. At the openings of the cliff 
 the greensward runs down to meet the blue sea, 
 and on the rocks grow sea-pinks and sea-campion, 
 yellow trefoil and glossy ivy, while in the pools on 
 the shore are hundreds of anemones, and now and 
 then a piece of pink coral. There is no sound but 
 the lapping of the waves ; the sea is like burnished 
 steel ; you lie on the hot coral and blink at the sun 
 blazing out of the azure sky, or watch a ship travelling 
 slowly on the distant horizon ; you are filled with the 
 ineffable peace of the landscape ; you dream vaguely 
 of piping tempests when the black waters are lashed 
 to fury, and break in foaming cataracts over the spot 
 where you are lying, of desolate days when the scene 
 is blotted out in the whirling vapour and driving rain, 
 and the caves of the wind have let loose some of their 
 worst blasts. 
 
 Or, forsaking these open spaces, you may wind 
 through the shadowed woods, amid larch and pine, 
 fir and sycamore and beech ; cross several rivulets, 
 and, after climbing a hillside, emerge on the top of a 
 lofty knoll, where the scent of the bog-myrtle pervades 
 the air. Beneath and all around are green wooded 
 hollows, with sometimes a yellow laburnum or a red 
 rhododendron peeping through the trees and giving 
 a touch of tropic colour to the sombre woodland. At 
 your left, clear cut against the blue sky, are the 
 Tables in the distance. Beyond the trees, with the 
 loch as a background, rise the ancient grey towers 
 
 ^ The coral is really an algas {Melobesia fasciculata) with the 
 power of secreting a limy frond.
 
 84 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 of the castle. Its grim walls, suggesting the din of 
 war, contrast strangely with the peaceful scene ; but 
 a hundred years ago, before a single tree had been 
 planted, the grey towers must have looked still more 
 grim, when, in the precise Boswell's words, " the land 
 around it presented nothing but wild, moorish, and 
 craggy appearances." Whatever story these walls 
 and towers suggests, no warder or armed sentinel 
 with dirk and claymore paces the battlements now ; 
 no kerchief of maiden in distress waves from turret 
 windows ; no din of clashing blades rises on the 
 breeze. The islands on the loch's surface are like 
 emeralds set in gold, for the seaweed which fringes 
 their shores is of a brilliant yellow colour and gives a 
 luxuriant richness to the landscape. Every indenta- 
 tion and cape and bay of the opposite shore is dis- 
 tinctly visible in the inimitable seaside brightness 
 of the air. Cottages nestle on its side, and the 
 pleasant house of Husabost lies sheltered beneath a 
 fold of the hill. Behind it, a white road gleams 
 through the heather and strikes across the moor to 
 Glendale, of riotous memory. Still farther on is 
 Dunvegan Head, and across leagues of sea the Outer 
 Hebrides once more and the rocky Sound of Harris. 
 Seen across this waving sea of foliage, the castle 
 towers have lost much of their grimness, but before 
 the woods were planted the eye caught sight of them 
 over miles of bare brown moorland, and they seemed 
 indeed those of an enchanter's castle in the waste. 
 All the travellers who reached its hospitable gates 
 speak of the wild romantic effect produced on their 
 minds as they first saw the grey battlements standing 
 midway between moor and sea. But it is still 
 romantic enough in this age of whirling life, and 
 suggests visions of the early centuries, of knights 
 and ladies and kilted clansmen, giants and en- 
 chanters, dragons and monsters, and mermaids 
 singing over the blue waves that break for ever 
 beneath its walls.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 LOCH BRACADALE 
 
 " O'er all the land the sunlight lay, 
 The waters seemed asleep, 
 The blue heavens hungf their azure shield 
 Over the quiet deep." 
 
 AMONG the many sea-lochs of Skye few are so 
 diversified and broken, or offer such a charming- 
 variety of scenery, as Loch Bracadale. It is more 
 than possible to say a good word for all these many 
 lochs, and indeed memory lingers pleasantly over 
 their individual attractions. But there is this about 
 Loch Bracadale that it seems to combine these into 
 one, or rather to offer them separately at different 
 points. Portree Bay is famed for its cliffs, but Loch 
 Bracadale can hold its own there. Loch Dunvegan 
 boasts of its green and purple islands ; Loch Braca- 
 dale has islands too. The Coolins seem to rush 
 tumultuously down into Loch Scavaig ; do they not 
 stand boldly in the background, from whatever point 
 Loch Bracadale is looked at ? And what can equal 
 the emerald slopes of Loch Harport — that long and 
 sinuous arm which it sends far inland ; they have not 
 their like in all Skye. 
 
 This loch of many enchantments lies on the west 
 side of Skye, and opens into the Atlantic. Its 
 mouth, four miles wide, is guarded by lofty basaltic 
 cliffs on either side. On the north these jut out at 
 Idrigil Point ; on the south the frowning headland 
 of Talisker, Rudha-nan-Clach, forms similarly the 
 
 8&
 
 86 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 angle of a line of massive cliffs. From these cliffs 
 the shores bend inwards on either side, thus present- 
 ing a wide front seawards as the background of the 
 loch. Time and tide have carved this background 
 into a rugged and broken coast with jutting 
 peninsulas and smaller lochs twisting inland, while 
 fragments of what was once the shore have been 
 left stranded as rocky islets with steep sides facing 
 seawards. There are the successive peninsulas of 
 Greep, Harlosh, and Uilinish, enclosing Loch Varka- 
 saig, Loch Vatten, and Loch Caroy ; and strewn 
 over the wide surface of the loch are the islands 
 of Wiay, Oransay, Tarner, and Harlosh. Between 
 Uilinish and a finger of land pointing outwards from 
 the peninsula of Talisker, the loch narrows, but 
 again opens and divides into two as Loch Beag and 
 Loch Harport — both carved out between steep banks 
 by glacier and river action until they have become 
 long arms of this great sea-loch. 
 
 Such is Loch Bracadale, and it is easy to believe 
 that from whatever point it is seen — from some lofty 
 site inland, from any of its windy headlands, from 
 one of its islands, or from a boat on its surface — it is 
 always charming. In storm you see the white 
 waves plunging, churned into foam, against its 
 black promontories and headlands and rocky islands, 
 frowning more grimly than ever under a canopy of 
 leaden cloud and driving mist and rain. But under 
 a cloudless summer sky how fair it is ! The calm 
 blue water gleams in the sunshine like burnished 
 gold and silver ; the black crags are softened and 
 mellowed ; the green islands lie placidly on the 
 breast of the sleeping waters ; and the infinite 
 variety of the broken encircling coast-line reflects 
 a thousand changing lights like the facets of a 
 diamond. You cease to wonder, as you gaze upon 
 that dazzling, gleaming picture, why Merlin 
 " followed the gleam." The fascination of it enters 
 your own soul ; you try to analyse its charm, but 
 it is too airy and indefinite ; when you think you
 
 00 
 30 
 
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 Loch Bracadale 87 
 
 have solved it, it is only to find that something has 
 eluded your grasp, to reappear in some new protean 
 disguise till you are bewildered with so much 
 beauty. 
 
 Let us embark on its waters and pay a visit to 
 MacLeod's Maidens, which lie beyond Idrigil Point. 
 The boat is waiting at Harlosh, on one of the 
 peninsulas which run out from the inner shore of 
 the loch. Wishing the Norse- looking boatmen 
 good-morning, we are soon gliding over the surface 
 of the loch, calm in this June weather as a sea of 
 glass. The boatmen do not sing the rowing songs 
 as their ancestors used to do — solemn and slow airs 
 with a rhythmic chorus to regulate the stroke of the 
 oars, but they point out the objects of interest and 
 take us where the wonderful coast scenery can be 
 closely inspected. Half-an-hour's rowing brings us 
 to the neck of Loch Varkasaig, guarded by steep 
 and massy cliffs under the shadow of the greater of 
 MacLeod's Tables. Then, hugging the coast, we 
 make due south for Idrigil Point and the Maidens. 
 
 Just opposite is Harlosh Island, beyond it Tarner 
 Island, and farther south Wiay. All are basaltic, 
 presenting steep escarpments seawards, less steep 
 on the landward side, and covered with rich green 
 verdure. The laird of Uilinish carried Johnson and 
 Boswell to Harlosh to see the great cave which 
 pierces it, and which is said to come out, after a long 
 underground passage, in the cliffs near Portree. It 
 is called Uamh-an-Oir, or the Cave of Gold, because, 
 like a similar cave near Staflfin, a pot of gold is said 
 to be buried there. The usual legend of the piper 
 who entered the cave, pipes sounding in full blast, 
 but, like Macrimmon, never returned, attaches itself 
 to this ajitrum imma?ie, and he is still heard feebly 
 piping, " I doot, I doot, I'll ne'er come oot ! " 
 
 How wonderful is the long coast-line from Varka- 
 saig to Idrigil. The boat glides on beneath the 
 shadow of mighty cliffs, descending sheer into the 
 water ; broken and shattered in places, or cut here
 
 88 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 and there by narrow ravines down which a burn 
 dashes. The successive layers of basalt, betokening- 
 each a new eruption, can be traced easily, piled one 
 above the other. In the crevices of the rocks are 
 clumps of sea-pink or rose-root, ivy trails itself over 
 the lofty edge, or rare ferns g^row in inaccessible 
 places. Sometimes the cliffs recede and leave a 
 little pebbly strand, or at some other place vast 
 heaps of boulders stained with spray and lichens 
 have accumulated beneath them. But most wonder- 
 ful of all are the occasional detached pillars of rock, 
 the numerous caves, and the natural arches, which 
 follow each other in quick succession. Not far from 
 Idrigil Point the cliff sends a bastion out into the 
 sea. Half-way it is split almost to the sea's edge 
 by a wide fissure, and the inner half of the bastion 
 is pierced with a great oval hole through which, on 
 approaching it from either side, the line of cliffs and 
 the water beyond is seen framed as in a picture. 
 The caves are of two kinds. They are formed of a 
 single arch, cut neatly in the basalt, or they pierce 
 the cliff behind a series of broken arches and ledges 
 and columns and great pendants of rock. Into some 
 of them it is quite possible to take a boat in calm 
 weather ; but, rowing into them, one can only 
 imag-ine the fierce clamour and wild revelry of the 
 waves in their gloomy recesses during a storm. In 
 one of these caves near Idrigil Point, Lady Grange 
 is traditionally said to have been imprisoned for a 
 time after having been brought to Skye. 
 
 And now, having rounded the point, the largest 
 of all these curious caverns is found. The cliffs 
 here are 500 feet in height, and this particular 
 cave must be at its entrance at least 150 feet 
 high. The entrance resembles the half of a huge 
 dome, but its sides are far from smooth. They are 
 pierced with crevices, cut into shelves and ledges, 
 and carved into isolated stacks of rock, while just 
 outside the inner mouth is such a pillar on a wide 
 base, called appropriately " the candlestick." Beyond
 
 Loch Bracadale 89 
 
 it all is blackness, but the entrance is a curious 
 mixture of black and white, for the waves and spray 
 have encrusted the dark rocks with salt. On the 
 ledges are crowds of cormorants sitting on their 
 eggs, their long snake-like necks and beaks twist- 
 ing about as they watch the movements of the 
 boat. 
 
 As we leave this magnificent example of water 
 action on solid rock, the Maidens come into sight. 
 They are three isolated pillars of rock standing in 
 the sea just beyond the mighty cliffs. Once they 
 were part of the solid cliff itself, but age-long 
 denudation has sculptured them out, and, like the 
 pillars and pinnacles at Quiraing and Storr, left them 
 standing in isolation. Compared with her two 
 sisters, the Maiden nearest the cliff is a giantess in 
 bulk and height. The other two rise from one 
 foundation, and beyond them is a reef of rock which 
 bears evident trace of having borne a fourth Maiden 
 long ago. We row between them and feel as if at 
 the feet of some of the giantesses of whom Norse 
 story tells. We remember how Sir Walter called 
 them (his mind running on Norse mythology) the 
 Choosers of the Slain and Riders of the Storm, but 
 we marvel to think how he saw them, with the waves 
 lashing in fury around them, from the windows of 
 Dunvegan Castle. How fond the beloved Wizard 
 was of adding a stick and a cocked hat to his remi- 
 niscences ! Locally the Maidens are known as a 
 mother, Nic Cleosgeir Mhor by name, and her two 
 daughters. The mother is the largest of the three, 
 and is said to be continually weaving a web which 
 one of her daughters as continually fulls or thickens. 
 The second daughter apparently is a fine lady, and 
 does nothing. 
 
 Landing on the rocky shore below the cliffs, we 
 have time to explore the innumerable aquaria with 
 their anemones and shells and sea-weeds, and to 
 note the sea -plants and ferns (the sea -spleen- 
 wort, the holly, the hartstongue) which fringe
 
 90 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 every crack and crevice. But most delightful of 
 all is the view, though that is best seen from the 
 dizzy height of the cliff above. ^ Take it from there. 
 The Maidens are curiously foreshortened as we look 
 down upon them ; the giantess has the appearance 
 of an old lady in a high mob-cap seated in an arm- 
 chair. On her sculptured ledges seabirds are sitting, 
 patiently hatching their eggs. But how charming 
 is the wide expanse of sea ! Just beyond the cliff 
 the breeze ruflfles it into a series of ripples mingling 
 with each other, and proving the truth of Tennyson's 
 epithets, so strange to him who has not seen them 
 realised, — " wrinkled sea," and " dappled dimplings 
 of the wave." Then it spreads itself far and wide 
 in a vague gleam of mingled light and shimmering 
 water. The coast-line of Skye extends in a broken 
 line to the jutting point of Sleat, and you note the 
 magnificent unbroken wall of lofty cliffs stretching 
 from Loch Bracadale to the headlands at Glen Brittle. 
 These massive rocks, looo feet high, seem the 
 very essence of everlastingness and stability, and 
 yet we know they once stretched out where the sea 
 now lies, and that at some far distant day they 
 too will have disappeared. Between them and the 
 conical peaks of Rum is a glimpse of the mainland 
 and the mountains of Arisaig. On this side of Rum 
 is Canna, flat and green ; beyond it is the sharp 
 sgurr of Eigg. Then comes a long unbroken horizon 
 on which, but for the summer haze, Coll and Tiree 
 might be seen. Westwards lie Barra and Uist and 
 Benbecula, and with a glass you can make out the 
 fishing-fleet at the first island. Turning back from 
 this wide seascape, the loch in all its ramifications 
 lies at your feet. Its islands seem to float on its 
 calm surface ; its peninsulas stretch long fingers 
 into its waters, and its waters run inland for many a 
 
 ^ The cliff is not climbable, but can be reached by a tough 
 walk of eight miles from Dunvegan, over innumerable hills and 
 hollows and singing burns, through a country empty of all 
 habitation save an occasional shepherd's hut.
 
 Loch Bracadale 91 
 
 mile. Northwards over leagues of moorland is the 
 precipice of Storr, and, finest of all, the extended 
 line of the upheaved mountain masses of the Red 
 Hills and the Coolins. First comes Ben Tianavaig 
 at Portree, then the twin humps of Glamaig, the 
 cones of Marsco and Beinn Dearg, followed by the 
 many shattered peaks of the purple Coolins, ter- 
 minating seawards at Glen Brittle and Loch Scavaig. 
 It is a wonderful picture of land and sea — rolling 
 moor, mountain chains, islands flat and hilly, and 
 moving waters, and all steeped in that magic light 
 which seems peculiar to the glad summer-time in 
 these western isles. 
 
 From the sea the successive layers of basalt in 
 the cliffs and the Maidens are clearly seen. The 
 cliff's are 400 feet high, and in them as many as 
 fourteen beds of lava, averaging nearly 30 feet in 
 thickness, may be counted, and witness to as many 
 outpourings of volcanic energy in long past ages, 
 and at distant intervals, as one may judge by the 
 intervening layer of red which tells of decayed rock 
 surface. In the highest Maiden (she measures 
 150 feet) there are ten such sheets, varying from 
 the massive prismatic basalt to the more amor- 
 phous amygdaloid forms which are mostly in thinner 
 sheets. 
 
 We leave these interesting geological formations 
 with reluctance and return shorewards, marvelling 
 at the strange story which they reveal. 
 
 The road which has been already described as 
 branching off" near Dunvegan from the Great North 
 Road of Skye until it arrives at Sligachan and rejoins 
 it there, runs for three-fourths of its length along 
 the shores of Loch Bracadale and its arms. Lochs 
 Beag and Harport. For well-nigh thirteen miles 
 it offers the traveller a ceaseless succession of new 
 glimpses of loch scenery. As each peninsula is 
 crossed, a new vista of sea and land and sky is gained, 
 so that, if the weather is propitious, the long journey 
 is ffir from tiresome, And besides the view of the
 
 92 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 loch, there are the islands which come into view 
 one by one on the distant horizon — Rum and Canna, 
 Benbecula and Barra and S. Uist, and the bold front 
 of the Red Hills and the Coolins, from this point 
 seen in all their dizzy height, — a long" purple mass 
 with a series of shattered peaks rising from it against 
 the sky. The vast expanse of the sky itself, hang- 
 ing far above the rolling moorland and the gleaming 
 loch, seems to widen the view into infinity, while 
 loch and moor, like receptive mirrors, answer to 
 every variation of this airy curtain. Neither sea nor 
 land are expressionless ; they are full of character, 
 and have their passing moods like the most human 
 of human beings ; and we feel, if we have any skill 
 at reading them, that they speak to us the secret 
 thoughts of nature itself, and that these thoughts 
 are not so far different from the yearnings and 
 fancies of our own soul. 
 
 "All nature is a vast revealing', 
 VVe know our soul's infinity 
 When on still moor or silent sea 
 She sways with the great pulse of feeling." 
 
 To the traveller on this road from Dunvegan the 
 loch first comes in sight a mile or two above the 
 township of Roag, and he will be at once impressed 
 with the puzzling complexity of the numerous penin- 
 sulas and islands, among which and beyond which 
 the waters of the loch appear and disappear and 
 reappear, as well as by the steep angular front of 
 these peninsulas and islands, dipping suddenly into 
 the sea. Their black precipitous fronts contrast 
 curiously with the brilliant green of their rolling 
 surface, and their retreating shores are here and 
 there splatched with rich browns and yellows, where 
 seaware has been flung up by the waves, or has 
 found a foothold on the rocks. To the right, com- 
 manding a wide expanse of country, are MacLeod's 
 Tables, their flat tops and the series of successive 
 steps in their flanks showing how the molten basalt
 
 Loch Bracadale 93 
 
 had flowed out in successive sheets from time to 
 time. These vast sheets have been hewn and carved, 
 and the evidence of this mighty earth sculpture is 
 seen in the shattered cHffs of the loch and the lofty- 
 Tables far above it. 
 
 Passing Roag and crossing the neck of Vatten 
 Peninsula, Loch Caroy comes in sight. Just where 
 the road begins to dip down to the head of the 
 narrow loch, two great heaps of stone are seen on 
 the right, piled high above the brown moorland. 
 Tradition says that on this magnificent site was 
 fought the last battle between the rival clans of 
 Macdonald and MacLeod. It was fought in the 
 mist, like that other last weird battle in the West ; 
 the heather was dyed a deeper purple with the blood 
 of the clansmen, and when the day was done the 
 bodies of the slain chiefs and warriors were buried 
 here, and these vast cairns piled above them. There 
 " lie the mighty bones of ancient men, old knights." 
 Some years ago the late chief of MacLeod began 
 to excavate one of the heaps, but the work proved 
 too laborious, the feeling of the countryside was 
 against all such meddling with the dead, and the 
 work was abandoned. Perhaps, too, the workmen 
 were afraid of encountering the "barrow-dweller," 
 the strong ghost who has so often scared and forced 
 to single combat the robber of ancient Viking graves. 
 
 So runs the local tradition, but an inspection of 
 the mounds proves them to be chambered cairns of 
 the Neolithic age, long anterior to any historic clan 
 feuds. Several other cairns, of a smaller type, are 
 scattered over the moor, and conceivably the place 
 may have been the scene of a prehistoric battle, but 
 much more likely it is a prehistoric cemetery — the 
 large cairns being those of the chiefs ; the smaller, of 
 the common people.^ The cairns are much dilapi- 
 dated, but there is still scope for systematic work 
 
 1 This arrangement of several smaller mounds associated 
 with one or two larger heaps is not uncommon. See Green- 
 well, British Barrows, p. 112.
 
 94 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 with pick and spade, with the inevitable reward of 
 interesting " finds." 
 
 At the head of the loch stands the little Episcopal 
 church of St. John the Baptist, in what is one of the 
 prettiest spots in Skye. A torrent comes rushing 
 down a steep ravine, and passes by the churchyard 
 wall. The churchyard lies sloping to the loch ; its 
 graves nestle below waving trees ; from early spring 
 onwards it is gay with flowers — snowdrops, prim- 
 roses, and wild hyacinths ; the torrent murmurs and 
 the waves break on the shore close by continually. 
 It is a beautiful but lonely place — an oasis in the 
 waste of the moorland, where 
 
 " Amid the ivy, peers the church, and waves 
 Of dreaming seas lap its forgotten graves 
 In deeper rest." 
 
 The silence of the moor is lulled to a deeper stillness 
 in this sacred spot. The church was built sixty 
 years ago for the convenience of a few families living 
 each several miles off in different directions, but its 
 regular use has long ceased, though its churchyard 
 is still kept trim and beautiful. But local legend, 
 averse to prelacy, sees in this peaceful spot a haunted 
 scene. " The people who pass there at night will be 
 seeing things." And if you press for a further 
 explanation of the "things," you are told, "Well, 
 there was no good man ever buried there." Poor 
 suffering Prelacy ! 
 
 At this sacred spot the sea is thought to be fast 
 encroaching on the land, and may in another century 
 have engulfed the lower parts of the churchyard. 
 The space between the church and the loch was 
 formerly much larger ; the grandmother of my 
 informant remembered it as a wide green space 
 which was once the rendezvous of the Clan MacLeod. 
 Here, in 1745, when the fiery cross went round 
 Skye for the last time, the clan mustered eighteen 
 hundred strong. The chief, overcome by the 
 prudent counsels of President Forbes, told his men
 
 Loch Bracadale 95 
 
 he would not lead them for the Chevalier. At this 
 disappointing news two hundred of the clan at once 
 marched off and joined the brave Prince, who might 
 have come to his own had the clans of Skye thrown 
 in their lot with him. But it was not to be ! 
 
 For the next four miles the road rises and falls 
 over the moorland, opening up new views of the 
 loch at every corner, and presenting, at every rise, 
 the vision of the purple-shadowed Coolin and the 
 sunny Red Hills, stretched like a mighty barrier along 
 and above the distant horizon. Talisker Head, too, 
 comes into closer sight — a mighty headland, which 
 once dipped sheer into the waters of the loch, but 
 has now a pile of boulders at its feet, fallen from the 
 cliff above. Between the loch and the road, in a 
 hollow of the moor, stands Uilinish house, where Dr. 
 Johnson passed two cheerful nights, discoursed on 
 many things, decried Ossian, and found (a rarity in 
 Skye then) "a. plentiful garden and several trees." 
 On this occasion, too, Boswell caught a solitary 
 "cuddy" in Loch Bracadale. The rising ground 
 near the road is Knock Uilinish, and, like all place- 
 names in Knock, was an ancient seat of justice. 
 Just below it is one of the few " Erd-houses " in Skye, 
 which will be fully described hereafter. 
 
 Now the loch, bending round the peninsula of 
 Uilinish, divides into two arms. The first of these, 
 Loch Beag, is nearly two miles long, and is very 
 narrow. The road, doubling on itself, winds round 
 its shores at the bottom of a steep glen, and above 
 it rise precipitous hills, which are continued beyond 
 the loch in the ravine through which flows a typical 
 Highland burn. Along the north shore of the loch 
 lies the village of Struan ; in another green glen, 
 parallel with that just mentioned, is the parish kirk 
 of Bracadale ("We are not likely to be prosecuted 
 for ritual practises here," said the minister, satirising 
 its plainness) ; and up the side of this glen climbs a 
 rough road to Portree. This road is worth travelling 
 on, if only to get the impression of the loneliness of
 
 96 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 the Skye moorlands, for you may travel its whole 
 extent and not meet with a fellow-wayfarer. When 
 the head of the glen is reached, you find that you are 
 looking- down into that other glen which opens into 
 Loch Beag. Far below, at the foot of a steep ravine, 
 sings the burn amid walls of rock and beds of fern 
 and flowers. The upper sides are grassy and often 
 slippery as ice : the writer, trying to assist a friend, 
 glissaded down with incredible* swiftness for several 
 yards, but fortunately was fixed fast by a stone just 
 on the edge of a precipice, his camera being shot out 
 of his hand to the depths below, to be picked up later 
 — unbroken. Then the ravine widens and opens 
 upon a green meadow with two or three crofts, and 
 narrows again where the waters of Loch Beag come 
 far inland. 
 
 From the head of this ravine the view on a fine day 
 is one which can never be forgotten. The eye follows 
 the gleaming thread of water in the ravine, through 
 the meadow, into the loch. The steep sides of the 
 hills which hold it attract you next ; its mouth is hid 
 by a knob of land ; beyond that is a gleam of water 
 at the entrance to Loch Harport ; then another jut- 
 ting finger of dark rock with the waters of Loch 
 Bracadale beyond it. Now the full majesty of 
 Talisker Head breaks upon the eye. You see a 
 grass-covered hill jutting out into the sea, and, as 
 if cut with a knife, stop short suddenly in a black 
 face of sheer cliff, 900 feet high, a wonderful head- 
 land which stands dark and threatening against 
 blue sky and glittering water. In the strong sun- 
 shine the waters of the loch and the open sea beyond 
 gleam and sparkle and shimmer in the pulsing light. 
 And on the far horizon lie the south end of South 
 Uist, Barra, and the small islands dotted between 
 them, half hid in a golden haze. This is one view of 
 Loch Bracadale and its horizons ; the other from 
 Idrigil Point, its guardian on the west, has been 
 already described. 
 
 For such a view alone it is worth while walking
 
 Loch Bracadale 97 
 
 or bicycling or driving over this lonely road from 
 Portree, and in addition the pilgrim will have two 
 others — one of the blue hills of Harris on his right, 
 the most extensive of all in Skye, and on the left, 
 high over the valley of Glenmore, the splintered 
 masses of the Coolins. And he will learn something 
 of the secret charm of the lonely moorland, its vast- 
 ness, its detachment, and the infinities of mountains 
 and seas and skies which lie beyond and around and 
 above it. 
 
 The district around Loch Beag, with its green 
 glens, must have been populous even in early times. 
 No less than five duns are in the neighbourhood — 
 a sure sign of a populous, if not congested district. 
 One of these, Dun Beag, to the left of the road 
 before reaching Struan, is the best preserved of the 
 many duns in Skye, though only suggesting what 
 it once was. Either it, or Dun Mhor, was visited 
 by Johnson, and Pennant describes it as it was in his 
 day.^ 
 
 The road is now carried farther inland, and though 
 running parallel to Loch Harport for six miles, low 
 hills hide its waters, until the head of the loch is 
 nearly reached. Then it crosses two successive 
 ravines carved out of the hillside, down which dash 
 brawling torrents to the loch far below. Loch 
 Harport, a long snake-like water, runs south-east- 
 wards for two-thirds of its length, and then bends 
 nearly eastwards. For its whole length it is enclosed 
 by nearly perpendicular green banks, running up into 
 occasional hillocks. At its head is Drynoch, long the 
 home of the MacLeods of Drynoch. A cart-track 
 branches off here from the main road, and, following 
 the southern shore of the loch, leads to the famous 
 Talisker distillery, whose waters, as everyone knows, 
 come over fourteen falls. Down by the loch side is 
 an ancient burying-ground, with a few scanty trees, 
 broken headstones, and rotting stumps covering its 
 irregular surface. Here are buried some of the 
 
 * See p. 266.
 
 98 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 MacLeods of Drynoch, their bones resting- still on the 
 land from which their descendants have long- been 
 exiles. You trace the foundation of an old church ; 
 none knows its name ; the whole place is grisly and 
 gaunt and cheerless, as if a curse rested on it. 
 
 It surprises you in this silent glen, by the lonely 
 loch, to see the signs of a modern distillery, and hear 
 the sounds of mechanical labour. Yet even they 
 cannot detract from the charm of these vast solitudes ; 
 they are enwrapped by them ; and perforce you 
 give them a romantic colouring. Surely they are 
 the scene of some secret enterprise hid, in this remote 
 glen, from human observation ; surely they can never 
 manufacture nothing but whisky here ! Beyond the 
 factory is Fernielea, where Johnson and Boswell 
 landed on their way to Talisker from Uilinish, and 
 the path which strikes over the hill at the back of 
 the distillery is probably the one they traversed. It 
 leaves Loch Harport behind, and, after crossing four 
 miles of rough moorland, arrives at Talisker Bay 
 facing seawards beyond the guardian cliffs of Braca- 
 dale. The green glen facing the bay is one of the 
 most beautiful and fertile in Skye. Perpendicular 
 cliffs, pierced with dark caverns, form the coast-line 
 on either side, and sailing past them, you are scarcely 
 prepared for the vision of this lovely glen, w'ith its 
 farmhouse and yellow fields. And if it is exposed 
 to the vast rollers which break with thunderous 
 crash on the black cliffs, and the fierce south-westerly 
 gales, yet the view outwards and seawards must 
 compensate for many a gloomy day. 
 
 Beyond the head of Loch Harport the green slopes 
 continue and form a narrow winding glen, traversed 
 by a fine salmon stream and by the highroad to 
 Sligachan and Portree. In long-past ages the water 
 of the loch must have bathed the steep sides of this 
 narrow valley, as they do to-day its lower reaches, 
 while glaciers have helped to carve its sides as they 
 pressed onwards to the outer sea. The upper end 
 of this winding valley, where the road bends round
 
 Loch Bracadale 99 
 
 towards Sligachan, marks the former bounds of Loch 
 Harport, while a series of curious rounded eminences 
 in the bottom of the valley, with long ridge-like tails, 
 like some stranded antediluvian monster, were once 
 green islets in the narrow loch. The exquisitely 
 green slopes of this glen are covered with the marks 
 of cultivation, and show that it once was filled with 
 the populous hum of men. Thousands of families 
 must have lived and died along this rich valley, until 
 emigration and sheep - farming restored it to its 
 ancient solitude and brought back the silence of the 
 tnidmost sea which once laved its narrow sides. 
 
 Beyond the southern side of the glen rise the 
 shattered peaks of the Coolins in a long line, and 
 quite near at hand, as if watching over the ridge the 
 intruder in this solitary glen. At the eastern end of 
 the line are three of the five pinnacles of Sgurr-nan- 
 Gillean rising one above the other ; then the great 
 massive bulk of Meall Odhar, with the tooth of 
 Bhasteir peering beyond it ; then Bruach-na-Frithe, 
 Sgurr Madaidh, SgurrThuilm, Sgurr-na-Banachdich, 
 and Sgurr-nan-Gobhar. The names seem as craggy 
 as the mountains themselves ! One winter afternoon 
 when a keen frost had come, it was my fortune to 
 ride down this glen. Not a breath of wind stirred 
 the air, no cloud flecked the intense blue of the sky. 
 The slopes of the valley, no longer green, but grey 
 and fretted with black torrent beds, were tinged 
 with warm hues by the setting sun. The shattered 
 pinnacles and crags of the Coolins cut the sky ; snow 
 filled their dark recesses and was slowly dyed a 
 brilliant red by the sunset. Every sense was ex- 
 hilarated by the intense vividness of the scene and 
 the keenness of the air. One was steeped in silence, 
 broken only by the murmur of the stream gliding 
 over its stony bed in the bottom of the valley. And 
 if an ancient and prehistoric inhabitant of this glen 
 had appeared, it would scarce have been a surprise, 
 for the silence and the remoteness make one oblivious 
 of time and of the lapse of history. Such is part of
 
 loo The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 the ineffable and indescribable charm of the Isle of 
 Skye ! 
 
 As the inn at Sligachan is reached, the massive 
 cones of Glamaig and Marsco and the broken 
 summit of Blaaven become more prominent, and 
 between them and the Coolins lies the wild Glen 
 Sligachan, surrounded by fierce mountain walls, 
 boulder strewn, the workshop of some Titan long 
 weary of his toil. But we have left Loch Bracadale 
 far behind and reached the waters of Loch Sligachan 
 on the east side of Skye, and it is time to draw this 
 chapter to a close.
 
 Cl.IKKS PlEKCr.D RY THK SeA, I.OCH HrACADAT.K 
 
 (see />. 88)
 
 A 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 STRATH AND THE SPAR CAVE 
 
 "Sand-strewn caverns, cool and deep, 
 Where the winds are all asleep ; 
 Where the spent lights quiver and gleam, 
 Where the salt weed sways in the stream." 
 
 Matthew Arnold. 
 
 WIDE sweeping- bay, whose shore is dotted 
 round its whole length by crofts and cottages ; 
 beyond that the moorland undulating far inland till 
 it rises into distant hills ; a long pier stretching out 
 into the water, and at its landward end, nestling 
 among trees, the dainty shooting lodge of Corry ; 
 while over all loom the steep sides and rounded 
 summit of Ben-na-Cailleach, — and you have Broadford 
 in your mind's eye. You look at it from the deck of 
 the steamer, and save on some early summer morning, 
 when it is flooded with the rich light of the dawn, 
 you think it uninteresting. But stand on the shore 
 and look seawards, and your opinion must change. 
 The sea is so shut in by islands, by the Skye coast 
 and the mainland, that it looks like a vast inland 
 loch. The level coast-line of Skye runs down to 
 Kyleakin, where you perceive, in the distance, a 
 raised seabeach. There the mainland seems to join 
 it, for the dividing strait is invisible from this point 
 of view. The eye follows up the mountains of Ross- 
 shire with their various shapes, long-backed hills, 
 broken peaks, cones, pyramids. Far across you see 
 the wooded Applecross, erstwhile the seat of a 
 
 101
 
 102 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 famous monastery, nestling- below the shadows of 
 the brooding hills. Right in front is the flat island 
 of Pabay, its surface covered with boulder clay, 
 and, in Dean Monro's time, three hundred and 
 fifty years ago, clothed with trees to the water's 
 edge. There lurked many robbers, ruffians, and 
 broken men. Not a trace of the trees is left, but 
 there is good grazing for sheep, and the ruins of 
 an ancient chapel prove that the broken men might 
 have had the consolations of religion, did they want 
 them. Farther out to sea are the purple Crowlin 
 Islands, and, closing up the view on the left, is 
 hilly Scalpay. When the sea is like glass, and 
 the world is bathed in sunshine, no scene could 
 be more peaceful, more suggestive of that light 
 that never was on sea or land. And, far above, 
 on the bald summit of the lofty granitic Ben, rests 
 the Norse princess under her cairn of stones, her 
 spirit breathing the winds that come to her from 
 Norroway o'er the faeni. She pined for her home 
 among the fjords, and now she rests beneath the 
 starlit spaces amid the lightning and the tempest. 
 How indomitable was the spirit of these hardy Viking 
 men and women. In thought you people the bay 
 and the sound with Haco's galleys, their huge sails 
 bellying with the wind, and their rowers bending to 
 the oar and singing the songs of the skalds to Odin 
 and Thor. 
 
 From Broadford roads branch off to Kyleakin, to 
 Armadale, to Strathaird, to Sligachan and Portree. 
 Let us follow the road to Strathaird, one of the 
 most romantic and beautiful in the valley, till it 
 brings us to Loch Slapin and the famous Spar 
 Cave. 
 
 The road strikes at once inland, through a long 
 green valley, winding among the hills, and gradually 
 narrowing. Here it is scattered over with blocks of 
 grey stone and patches of quartz, there it is covered 
 with birch. On the right hand of the valley stand 
 Ben-na-Cailleach and the rounded battlements of
 
 Strath and the Spar Cave loj 
 
 the Red Hills, Ben Deargf Mhor, and Ben Dearg 
 Bheag", their steep sides gleaming in the sunshine, or, 
 if it is a wet day, swathed in mist, while the wind 
 sobs and moans in the corries. Under the shadow 
 of the first is the old farm of Corricatachan, where 
 Pennant and Dr. Johnson were entertained with 
 true Highland hospitality ; where Boswell, after 
 a night of Highland whisky, awoke with a head- 
 ache, and the English moralist took a married lady 
 on his knee and "was like a buck indeed," The 
 house was full of people ; " how they were lodged," 
 says Boswell, " I know not. It was partly done 
 by separating man and wife, and putting a number 
 of men in one room, and of women in the other." 
 These were simple times, when hospitality was 
 without affectation, and romance was not wholly 
 dead. 
 
 Close by the road at this point once stood a 
 " Druidical " circle, and beside it is a fairy mound, 
 where the good people still come out on moonlight 
 evenings, and dance to elfin music on the green turf. 
 A mile farther on is the old ruined church of Strath, 
 with its ancient place of graves, and below it the 
 still waters of Loch Cill Chriosd. Hither came St. 
 Maelrubha, a thousand years ago, from Applecross 
 to preach the faith, and hung his bell on a tree, where, 
 we are told, it remained for centuries, till it was 
 removed to the church near by. So long as it hung 
 on the tree it was dumb all the week till sunrise on 
 Sunday morning, when its voice pealed forth of its 
 own accord until sunset. But when they took it 
 from its tree it remained dumb for ever, and the 
 tree soon after withered away. Perhaps the bell 
 still exists in some remote corner, for such relics 
 were seldom destroyed. Nothing now remains of 
 the church but its walls and gables, mantled with 
 ivy, while in the churchyard around sleep the long 
 generations of the nameless and voiceless dead. 
 A few slightly carved and probably very ancient 
 stones are still remaining, but mostly an unhewn,
 
 I04 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 unlettered slab of stone is all that marks their 
 sleepingf-place. 
 
 Do their ghosts people the churchyard in this 
 lonely glen at the mirk midnight? Once, some 
 years ago, a withered soldier came every quarter to 
 Broadford to draw his pension. There his potations 
 were deep, and his tongue wagged to a breathless 
 audience of his wonderful deeds. But some, more 
 critical, doubted, and resolved to test his courage. 
 Slinking off one evening while he held his audience 
 in boastful talk, they marched up the glen to the 
 churchyard, keeping closely together, we may pre- 
 sume, and there, clad in white sheets, awaited their 
 victim. Whether inspired by real or by Dutch 
 courage, he walked straight up to them as soon as 
 he saw them. " Ach ! " he cried, " you have not been 
 long buried ; you are too fresh, whatever." The 
 ghosts squeaked and gibbered and shook their 
 garments. "Ach! ye needn't try to frighten me, 
 for if you do, I'll raise the spirits of my ancestors 
 and they will keep you down." And with that he 
 fell to beating the ghosts till they howled for 
 mercy, and then like Christian he went on his way 
 rejoicing. 
 
 The road sweeps down the glen in a great curve, 
 under birch-clad hills, till at the head of Loch Slapin 
 and under the shadow of Ben Dearg the primitive 
 township of Torran is reached. The cones and bold 
 summits of the Red Hills are clustered like mighty 
 giants round the head of the loch, contrasting in 
 their pinkish hues and in their sweeping curves and 
 unbroken fronts with the purple Blaaven, a seamed 
 and shattered mass of gabbro, which stands as 
 outpost at the end of the amphitheatre. Here, amid 
 the unbroken silence, the lives of these primitive 
 villagers are lived out. What thoughts are aroused in 
 them as they contemplate in all the majesty of sunshine 
 or storm these vast upheaved masses which seem 
 ready to crush them, or listen to the wind as it shrieks 
 and bellows in their hidden recesses? What do the
 
 Strath and the Spar Cave 105 
 
 voices of the sea and of the mountains whisper to 
 them, year in, year out? For countless ages this 
 hidden valley has been the abode of men. It saw 
 pagan rites of an unknown antiquity — the traces 
 of a stone circle are yet to be seen near by. It 
 witnessed the coming of the Cross and the fall of 
 heathendom — side by side with the circle is the 
 site of a chapel dedicated to St. Bridget, beloved 
 of the Celtic people. The web of love and hate, 
 of joy and sorrow, has been woven here in this 
 remote glen through the centuries, but it is hidden 
 by the spirit of Eld, and the mountains and the 
 sea will not betray the secret. Here, surely, might 
 a poet or an artist seek inspiration for picture or 
 lyric ; and here, too, might one, weary with life's 
 battle and haunted by memories of what might 
 have been, seek rest in nature's mysterious 
 sanctuary. 
 
 Such thoughts fill the wayfarer as he looks upon 
 the silent mountains and begins to climb the road 
 above the western shore of the loch. It is steep 
 and narrow, but it opens up ever-changing aspects 
 of the landscape. The whole of the eastern shore 
 of the loch, forming one side of the peninsula of 
 Sleat, stretches outwards in a long line till it ends 
 in the rugged Point of Sleat. And now the road 
 descends rapidly to Strathaird, where fertile fields 
 lie between rising knolls, and some ornamental 
 cottages (part of the improvements of a former laird) 
 give a touch of southern cheerfulness to the rugged 
 landscape with their brilliant white and red walls and 
 doorways. There, too, is the beautiful house and 
 grounds of the present genial proprietor, filled with 
 objects of price, paintings, china, and bronzes, from 
 the gorgeous East. And over all broods the mighty 
 mass of Blaaven, gleaming with rich purple, its clefts 
 white with dazzling snow-wreaths, and wisps of 
 cloud stealing around its secret top. It is a mountain 
 among mountains, a king among them all, whose 
 magic influence fills the heart, and whose secret
 
 io6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Alexander Smith tried to discover in that magic 
 poem of his: 
 
 " O Blaaven, rocky Blaaven, 
 
 How I long" to be with you again, 
 
 To see lashed gulf and gully 
 
 Smoke white in the windy rain — 
 
 To see in the scarlet sunrise 
 
 The mist-wreaths perish with heat, 
 
 The wet rock slide with a trickling gleam 
 
 Right down to the cataract's feet ; 
 
 While towards the crimson islands. 
 
 Where the seabirds flutter and skirl, 
 
 A cormorant flaps o'er a sleek ocean floor 
 
 Of tremulous mother-of-pearl." 
 
 A. 
 
 But there are other objects of natural beauty to be 
 seen in Strathaird, and not the least of these is the 
 famous Spar Cave, the finest of the many caves which 
 pierce the rocky coast of Skye. It is on the farm 
 of Glashnakill, near Rhu-na-Heskan, or the point of 
 the eels. To reach it one must go by boat from some 
 point near Kilmoree, or from the opposite coast of 
 Sleat, but even this is only possible in fine weather 
 and with a favourable wind, for the shore is strewn 
 with boulders and lined with cliffs, against which 
 a boat would have little chance of safety in a heavy 
 sea. Through the courtesy of the proprietor of 
 Kilmoree, I was able to visit the cave on a cold but 
 brilliant April day. The coast-line from Kilmoree 
 to the cave is built up of lofty cliffs of argillaceous 
 sandstone, or oolite, lying piled in thin strata closely 
 arranged like some vast heap of sheets of paper. 
 These horizontal strata of brownish-grey rock are 
 divided, split, and fractured perpendicularly by deep 
 clefts and fissures, some of them so narrow and so 
 close as to appear vertical strata of some darker rock. 
 They were once filled by molten lava which the tooth 
 of Time has long since eaten away, though in other 
 parts of the cliff" the dykes are still remaining — black 
 bands crossing the yellow sandstone strata at right 
 angles. Up these fissures the sea-waves lash, or 
 boom with a hollow reverberation in the numerous
 
 ^a^f!. 
 
 
 
 ■>3 
 
 -i
 
 Strath and the Spar Cave 107 
 
 caves into which the cliffs are hollowed at their base. 
 Where the sandstone is intersected by the dykes or 
 beds of trap, so common in Skye, they seem to rise 
 up the face of the cliff like some steep flight of narrow 
 steps. The cliffs mount ever higher as the coast 
 runs southwards, but occasionally it is less steep, 
 and runs back landwards in a gentle slope, covered 
 with birch and rowan. 
 
 Past a jutting promontory a great gash between 
 two perpendicular walls of oolite suddenly comes 
 into sight. It runs in a narrow lane between these 
 walls, which look as if they had been built by the 
 hand of man, so straight are their sides. The whole 
 floor of this lane is covered with boulders. Here is 
 the landing-place, where, as we walk up the sloping 
 floor of the chasm, it is as if we had entered a stony 
 prison. Far above is a ribbon of blue sky, and the 
 eerie silence of the place, solemn as some deep 
 cathedral aisle, is broken only by the echo of our 
 footsteps on the stones, or by the voices of the boat- 
 men. The gap becomes narrower as we proceed and 
 the floor steeper, until it ends in a barrier of rock in 
 which is the mouth of the cave. Just in front stands 
 a wall built across from cliff" to cliff and pierced by 
 a doorway, which once boasted a door with bolts 
 and bars. It was built by a former proprietor a 
 century ago, to keep out the explorers who robbed 
 the cave of its exquisite stalactites. Here Sir Walter 
 Scott came in 1814, and, with his party, scaled the 
 wall " by the assistance of a rope and some ancient 
 acquaintance with orchard breaking." Alas, some 
 years after, a yachtsman plumped a shot through 
 the door, carrying it clean away, and now only wall 
 and doorway remain to tell the tale. 
 
 The mouth of the cave is high and narrow, and 
 betrays nothing of the beauty which is hidden far 
 within. Yet it is fringed with drooping hartstongue, 
 growing to an immense size in this cool and moist 
 retreat. Within, all is darkness save for the gleam 
 of the candles which each of the party carries. Ad-
 
 io8 The Misty Isle of Skyc 
 
 vancing" over the round masses of white stone which 
 form a floor sloping- gradually upwards for about 
 forty yards, one is suddenly arrested by what seems 
 at first a perpendicular wall, but which turns out to 
 be a frozen cataract of white marble, 30 feet high, 
 filling up the whole space between the white walls 
 which tower overhead till they are lost in the dark- 
 ness. But though this cataract is so steep, its surface 
 is so rough as to afford a convenient foothold to the 
 hardy climber, if he keep close to the wall on the left 
 hand. Nearly two-thirds of the way from the top of 
 the ascent rise on either side lofty columnar pillars, 
 arched over by the roof, their tops seemingly carved 
 into capitals. Beyond the arch the roof expands into 
 a dome, whose height can only be guessed at, as it is 
 soon lost in impenetrable darkness. Our guides stand 
 beyond the arch with candles, and from the darkness 
 below we look forward through pillars and arches. 
 It is as if we were gazing through the dim shadows 
 of a Gothic cathedral, upon its lighted sanctuary 
 where mystic rites are being celebrated. 
 
 Beyond the pillars, a few steps more carry the 
 climber to a flat top under the dome, on the floor of 
 which is a pool of water so limpid and clear and held 
 in so white a basin as to be almost invisible. Over- 
 head are great stalactites hanging in innumerable 
 clusters like pointing fing^ers from the arching roof. 
 The walls are broken up into white masses of every 
 conceivable shape, which it takes little imagination 
 to depict as chairs or pulpits, niches and statuary, or 
 any other suitable human contrivance. From this 
 level floor the cave slopes downward for a few feet to 
 a lower level, where another but larger pool blocks 
 up any further passage. It is about 15 feet in 
 diameter, and, with the extraordinary purity of its 
 waters and the marbly whiteness of its sides, is like 
 a fountain in which the naiads might have disported 
 themselves if ever they had come to Skye, or swan- 
 maidens have left their feather garments on the brink 
 and revelled in its waters. Scott makes Allan in his
 
 Strath and the Spar Cave 109 
 
 Lord of the Isles, while keeping his midnight watch 
 by Coruisk, revisit in fancy the 
 
 "mermaid's alabaster grot, 
 Who bathes her Innbs in sunless well, 
 Deep in Strathaird's enchanted cell. 
 
 His foot is on the marble floor, 
 
 And o'er his head the dazzling spars 
 
 Gleam like a firmament of stars." 
 
 Beyond this pool the cave is said to narrow into a 
 passage which ends soon after, but tradition holds 
 otherwise, and says that MacLeod's piper marched 
 onwards, his pipes in full blast, and was then lost 
 for ever to human ken. 
 
 Even now the white floor and walls of the cave, 
 formed by the dripping water into a hundred fantastic 
 shapes, its great height, its unbroken stillness, convey 
 to the mind a picture of weird beauty. But the 
 countless visitors who, for a century back, have 
 visited the cave, have despoiled it of its greatest 
 charms. The thousands of long pendant stalactites 
 have disappeared ; smoke from candles and torches 
 have dimmed in part the whiteness of walls and roof. 
 Scott has the same story to tell in his day, so that, 
 even then, the work of destruction had begun. But 
 what the earlier glories of the cave were is seen from 
 a glowing description penned in 181 1, which exhausts 
 language in depicting them, and speaks of marble 
 monks and nuns, caryatides and statues, carved 
 columns and a hundred other wonders.^ Though 
 the existence of the cave was well known to the 
 natives, the author says it was first " discovered " or 
 visited by Mrs. Gillespie of Kilmoree. Now it is 
 known as the Spar Cave ; Scott calls it Macallister's 
 Cave ; but in Gaelic it is Slochd Altrimen or the 
 Nursling Cave, and thereby hangs a tale. 
 
 ^ " A Description of the Spar Cave lately discovered in the 
 Isle of Skye, with some Geological Remarks relative to that 
 Island. By K. IMacleay, M.D. To which is subjoined 'The 
 Mermaid,' a Poem. 1811.
 
 iio The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 In the ninth century, MacCairbe, king- of Ulster, 
 sailed for the Hebrides, where, as the native princes 
 were absent with King Anlaive of Norway fighting- the 
 Picts, he was able to devastate the land and commit 
 many wanton cruelties. His fleet had to shelter at 
 Colonsay, whose chief, attached to MacCairbe by 
 relationship, though forced to submit to the North- 
 men, received him kindly and sent his son with him 
 to Ireland. And now the lords of Skye invaded 
 Ulster, defeated MacCairbe, and carried off his 
 daughter as well as young Colonsay. On return- 
 ing- to Skye a fearful storm succeeded a night of 
 calm. Only one galley was left ; it ran for shelter 
 into Loch Slapin, where it was upset. The Princess 
 Dounhuila was watching from her father's tower, and 
 fled to the beach where young Colonsay was washed 
 ashore. He was taken to Dunglass, and kept there 
 for many months. And now to a pitying maiden and 
 a susceptible youth, with her parents the deadly foes 
 of his kin, what was left but secret love ? Dounhuila 
 anticipated certain death as soon as her father dis- 
 covered that she was no more a maiden. But at this 
 time he left Dunglass on a distant expedition, and 
 she persuaded the keepers to let the prisoner g-o. 
 Then she gave birth to a son, who was carried to 
 the cave by a trusty servant, and there he was guarded 
 by Colonsay's dog. From time to time the young 
 mother came thither to nurse her child. At last the 
 feuds of Dunglass and Colonsay were patched up ; 
 the union of the lovers took place ; and the nursling- 
 of the cave was allowed to see the cheerful light of 
 day. 
 
 We, too, returning to daylight and resuming the 
 sea journey, are rewarded by a brilliant landscape 
 after the gloom of the cave. Across the gleaming 
 waters lies the coast of Sleat with low-lying hills 
 sheltering the lonely hamlets of Taskavaig, and 
 Orde, and Gillean, and Daalvil. In front the waters 
 of Loch Slapin divide, and part runs far inland to 
 form Loch Eishort, where far beyond its valley peer
 
 Strath and the Spar Cave 1 1 1 
 
 the hills of Inverness-shire across the plain of Skye. 
 The twin summits of Ben Dearg- look down on the 
 head of the loch, at their side is Ben-na-Chro, and 
 peering down upon us is the wrinkled face of 
 Blaaven once more. Far out to sea lies the coast 
 of Ardnamurchan beyond the Point of Sleat, hazy in 
 the dim distance, and on the horizon are the islands 
 of E'lgg and Rum. A great cloud of smoke rising 
 from Eigg suggests the volcanic upheavals which 
 once formed its lofty sgurr, but really tells of nothing 
 more harmful than the spring heather - burning 
 which, just now, is going on briskly all over the 
 land.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SLEAT AND ARMADALE 
 
 " Sleibhte riabhach nam ban boidheach " 
 (Brindled Sleat of the beautiful women). 
 
 Gaelic Proverb. 
 
 THE different geological formations of Skye affect 
 the nature of the coast-line as one leaves behind 
 the uniform lofty basaltic cliffs which run northwards 
 from Portree Bay to distant Stafifin. From Loch 
 Sligachan to Broadford the Red Hills and the Coolins 
 behind them take the eye and the mind at once 
 captive. The long steep sides of Glamaig plunge 
 straight into the sea, and the whole series of pyramids 
 and cones forms a most imposing mountain mass 
 under whatever atmospheric conditions they are seen. 
 Their massiveness is the more pronounced because 
 their sides are unbroken by projecting bosses and 
 rise straight from the sea-level. Seen from the sea 
 or from the coast of Raasay, they always remind one 
 of the mountains which watched Childe Roland as 
 he came to the Dark Tower — 
 
 "The hills, like giants at a hunting, lay, 
 Chin upon hand, to see the game at bay." 
 
 The whole view from the deck of the steamer as 
 it reaches the narrows of Raasay, always seems to 
 me one of the finest examples of West Highland 
 scenery. Close at hand are the granitic Red Hills, 
 pale red and yellow in colour, their flanks marked 
 by long lines of scree descending from summit to 
 base ; beyond them are the darker and more shat- 
 tered peaks of the Coolins; while, as the eye wanders 
 nortl. vards up the gleaming Sound of Raasay, it 
 
 112
 
 Sleat and Armadale 1 1 3 
 
 sees the long line of basaltic ridges and sills with 
 their green slopes, stretching from Ben Tianavaig 
 up to Staffin. Now it advances a bold escarpment 
 seawards ; now it retreats in a curving line ; and 
 far above the seaward cliffs is the vast ridgy back- 
 bone of the Trotternish peninsula, the most pro- 
 minent object of which is the Storr Rock, with its 
 black precipices and pinnacles and flying buttresses 
 standing out against the sky. 
 
 Then these lofty hills give place after Broadford 
 to a low-lying coast-line, marked, as one reaches 
 Kyleakin, by a raised seabeach running in a straight 
 line above sea-level for nearly half a mile. At 
 Kyleakin, a pretty and growing village, the main- 
 land comes close to our island, and the railway 
 terminus of Kyle of Loch Alsh is seen across the 
 narrow channel. It may be permitted to a lover of 
 nature to hope that it may be many a long day 
 before the iron horse will leap the channel and come 
 shrieking through the valleys and glens of beautiful 
 Skye, disturbing their "ancient, solitary reign." 
 
 Perched on a rock overlooking the Kyle is Castle 
 Maol, a ruined keep of vast strength, whose story 
 will be told in a later chapter, along with that of 
 Haco, who gave his name to the Kyle, and whose 
 galleys lay at anchor here on their way southwards 
 to the fatal battle of Largs. In front lies Loch Alsh 
 beneath a magnificent amphitheatre of mountains. 
 The coast of Skye, meanwhile, turns at a sharp right 
 angle into Kyle Rhea, whose opposite shore is a pro- 
 jecting nose of the mainland. " Kyle Rhea" takes 
 us back to the days of the Feinne. These heroes 
 had ill-luck at the chase for many a day, but as they 
 grew thinner their wives grew fairer and comelier. 
 Conan was set to watch, and discovered that their 
 food was the tops of the hazel trees, boiled, while 
 they w^ashed themselves in the "bree." But they 
 had their revenge on Conan for the discovery of their 
 secret, by tying his hair to stakes while he slept, 
 and then suddenly awaking him. He sprang up and
 
 114 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 left his scalp behind him. Smarting with pain and 
 shame, Conan shut the women up in a hut, piled 
 brushwood and heather around it, and then set the 
 pile on fire. The Feinne, hunting" in Skye, saw the 
 smoke across the strait. With their swords they 
 leaped the strait, but one of their number Mac an 
 Reaidhinn fell short and was drowned. From that 
 day to this his name has been given to this winding 
 strait. The women were saved, but Conan lost his 
 head. 
 
 Precisely at the angle stands Ben-na-Cailleach the 
 second (the first is at Broadford), which is the 
 advance guard of a new line of hills running down 
 towards Isle Ornsay in Sleat. But most striking of 
 all is the narrow strait itself through which the 
 swirling tide-eddies flow with incredible swiftness. 
 Its black surface is marked by whirlpools and the 
 swirling lines of currents and eddies which make 
 one giddy to look at them, until suddenly the boat 
 is swept into the open amid placid and calm waters. 
 
 Woe to the yachtsman or fisher who does not 
 know the condition of the tides in this dangerous 
 channel. He will be swept hither and thither like a 
 cork on the swirling current until he is dashed help- 
 lessly on the rocky shore. On both sides of the 
 narrow strait, looking down into its restless waters, 
 stand high rounded summits, their sides scarred and 
 seamed with torrent beds, and rough with huge 
 bosses of shapeless jutting crags. Their lower front 
 presents a steep face to the sea (into which they dip 
 down suddenly) of precipitous rocks, rounded and 
 ice-worn. At a higher level, their slopes are gentler, 
 affording pasture to many sheep, or purple with beds 
 of heather. Here and there on these uplands are 
 hollow dells, fragrant of thyme in summer days, 
 sheltered and warm, where the rush of the waves is 
 reduced to a low-sounding murmur ; or in places a 
 few scanty birch trees quiver in the breeze, or a 
 clump of hazels shelters a brawling stream eager to 
 throw itself seawards. After a snowfall, few sights
 
 Sleat and Armadale 
 
 115 
 
 could be more pleasing- than the prospect of these 
 hills on a clear winter day. The blue sea rolls and 
 tosses at their feet ; half-way up to their summits 
 they are dressed in a snow veil of spotless purity, 
 glistening in the sun's glow, and sugg^esting (as in 
 childhood's dreams) visions of angels ; the deep 
 torrent-beds are filled with shadow, and appear like 
 long dark ribbons stretching in zigzag fashion across 
 the pure surface of snow. Far above, the rolling 
 line of the hilltops melts away vaguely into the 
 brilliant sky, and gives the impression, in the clear 
 air, of a picture painted against a flat background. 
 
 The narrow strait winds round in a half-circle, 
 and, emerging from its confined channel, widens out 
 into the long Sound of Sleat, down which and between 
 lines of noble hills, broken by numerous sea-lochs 
 and sheltered bays, one may look to the open sea, 
 stretching far beyond to the gleaming horizon, on 
 the right of which lies the island of Kigg with its 
 lofty sgurr. On the Skye side, the hills which bound 
 the shore, now lower, now higher, are divided by 
 green valleys and sheltered hollows, facing south- 
 wards, nestling in the sunshine, and hidden from 
 the bullying north-easters : Kinloch, guarded by 
 the steep, birch-clad slopes of Beinn-na-Seamraig ; 
 Duisdale, where stands a pleasant cottage hidden in 
 rhododendrons and odorous pines, with rich gardens 
 where the flowers seem never to wither, once the 
 home of the kindliest of hostesses, full of charming 
 reminiscences of the old days of Skye ; Isle Ornsay, 
 in whose landlocked bay a fleet of fishing - boats 
 may find shelter from the trumpeting squalls and 
 bursting surges outside ; Knock, where the old ruined 
 castle of the Lords of the Isles perches, toppling, 
 on a crag.^ Beyond the wall of swelling hills which 
 shuts them in, there are glimpses of the Coolins, 
 Blaaven, the Red Hills, and Ben-na-Cailleach, 
 
 ^ Isle Ornsay is St. Oran's Isle, and his name is again com- 
 memorated, though in a corrupted form, in Loch Hourn on the 
 opposite coast.
 
 1 1 6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 towering- high in air, and peering curiously above 
 these less ambitious summits. 
 
 And now the country becomes less rugged and 
 puts on a more fertile and homely aspect. It rises 
 gently from the sea in long undulating slopes, on 
 whose green terraces and folded hollows are in- 
 numerable crofts with their pasture land and corn 
 and potato patches. For miles the coast is dotted 
 with them ; above their brown roof-trees curls blue 
 smoke in wavering columns, and an odour of pungent 
 peat-reek is wafted seawards ; they give an air of 
 cheerful habitation after the lonely hillsides. For 
 Sleat, " brindled Sleat of the beautiful women," is the 
 garden of Skye, hortus inclusus, a garden enclosed, 
 full of fertility and easy to cultivate ; and, in summer, 
 when you see the luxuriant vegetation, flowers of 
 every colour and kind growing in such profusion as 
 you had never dreamed of, green hedgerows, lush 
 meadows, bosky trees, you know that the name is 
 well deserved, that it is as if a slice of rural England 
 had been transported to this land of shaggy moors 
 and solitary hillsides. 
 
 This marrowy country soon loses itself among the 
 dark woods of Armadale, stretching far along the 
 shore and high up on the hillside. Through their 
 leafy branches peer the green lawns and graceful 
 towers of the ancestral home of the Lords of the Isles. 
 Its regular Elizabethan architecture harmonises with 
 its soft and genial surroundings ; it completes the 
 illusion you have cherished that this is a bit of 
 England ; the grim walls of MacLeod's ancient castle 
 would be as much out of place here as Armadale 
 would be on the wild shores of Loch Dunvegan. 
 Armadale Castle was built when the wild unsettled 
 days were over, when the fiery cross had burned 
 itself out, and when the clan fights had ceased to 
 stain the heather a deeper purple and leave red ruin 
 in their train. Its walls are too recent to have rung 
 with the clash of weapons or the echo of murderous 
 cries. It was built for comfort, not defence. The
 
 Dr.xTui.M Casti.e 
 
 The Ancient Seat of the Macdonalds of the Isles {see p. 40) 
 
 Armapaif. Casti-e 
 The Modern Seat of the Macdonalds of the Isles
 
 Sleat and Armadale 1 1 7 
 
 only sugfgestion of past perilous times and of a 
 fabulously ancient line of ancestors who lived clay- 
 more in hand and claimed equal regal rights with 
 the kings of Scotland, are the portraits on the walls 
 and the figure of the founder of the family, Somerled, 
 Rex Insularum, who, clad in chain shirt and battle- 
 axe in hand, looks down from the great painted 
 window above the wide staircase and the lofty hall. 
 But it is a far cry from the twentieth century to the 
 twelfth, in which the first Somerled made his name 
 renowned, and the beautiful fan-tracery of the ceilings 
 and the tall mullioned windows breathe an air of 
 luxurious comfort which Somerled never knew, and 
 to which, had he known it, he would have shown 
 himself supremely indifferent. But his descendants 
 are as hospitable and brave as ever was their far-off 
 ancestor. All Skye mourned the loss of the brave 
 boy who went forth to die for his country, and who 
 now rests in a soldier's grave in Africa, far away 
 from the lochs and hills of Skye which he loved so 
 well. Didce et decorum est pro pntri'Jl mori! 
 
 The castle, with its wide, bird-haunted lawns, 
 edged with tall firs and odorous limes, stands high 
 on the seaboard, so that from its windows the 
 grassy levels seem to dip down suddenly into the 
 waters of the Sound of Sleat, which, running east 
 and west like a broad belt of silver, fills up the 
 foreground. Beyond it and following its whole 
 length, is such a succession of peaks and summits as 
 could hardly be seen from any other single point of 
 observation in all broad Scotland. Far to the left 
 rise the mountains which overshadow Loch Hourn, 
 the bald broad mass of Ben Screel towering high 
 above them and looking over into Glen Shiel, where, 
 in 1719, the forces of the rightful king contended 
 with the redcoats of the usurper, and down which 
 Dr. Johnson travelled fifty-four years later and 
 ** owned he was now in a scene of as wild nature as 
 he could see." The eye follows the range westwards 
 to where, directly opposite, the beautiful Loch Nevis
 
 ii8 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 with its islands opens out to the sea. Guarded at its 
 mouth by the steep beetUng promontory of Creag 
 lasgach on the west side, on the east by broken 
 peninsulas and islands, it retreats far inland amid a 
 huddled crowd of hills crowned in the far distance 
 by the sharp and lofty twin peaks of Ladhar Bheinn. 
 At dawn the morning mists fill the spaces between 
 these summits, and the sun, as it rises, floods them 
 with a weird light and tinges the mist as it disappears 
 with rich hues of gold and crimson, while the solemn 
 peaks look down into the dark and hidden valleys, 
 where the sea makes an unheeded music. Or even 
 if the sun be hidden, yet the lights are ever changing 
 on these "glimmering limits, far withdrawn," which 
 are reflected as in a mirror on the unruffled surface 
 of the sound when the wind has ceased to torment it 
 and there falls a great calm. But, indeed, it would 
 take long to tell of the changing beauties of that 
 opposite shore, seen so often from the windows of 
 the hospitable castle, at dawn, at summer noontides, 
 or when the red light of the dying sun is reflected 
 at late evening on the dim peaks. 
 
 It is again a curious change as you traverse the 
 few miles which separate Armadale from the Point of 
 Sleat. You pass as if into a diff'erent region. You 
 exchange smooth lawns, and shadowy woods, and 
 fertile slopes, for a rough, even savage territory, 
 wind-vexed and sea-salted, rising and falling with 
 fearful abruptness, and, at last, dark and grim as 
 Erebus. You have left the younger basaltic and 
 gabbro and granophyre rocks, and have emerged on 
 a bit of the gneiss formation of the outer isles, laid 
 bare after long ages. The road follows the sea, 
 mostly at a considerable height above it, and, hewn 
 in the mountainous seaboard, now projects into the 
 water, now recedes from it where some ravine is 
 carved deeply into the land. From it you gain a 
 long vista of the sound and the opposite coast-line 
 with its towering mountains and broken reefs. Its 
 long line runs towards Ardnamurchan Point, where
 
 Sleat and Armadale 119 
 
 the Atlantic rollers break in spouting and roaring 
 masses. Beyond the promontories of Ardnamurchan 
 are the rounded hills of Moidart, where 
 
 " Ships o' war ha'e just come in 
 And landed royal Charlie," 
 
 with the shadowy summit of Ben Mhor in distant 
 Mull peering over them. Farther on the horizon, 
 where the open ocean widens outwards, lie the 
 vague outlines of Coll and Tiree, fifty miles away. 
 And it is almost suddenly that the soft fertile land 
 ceases and the road begins to dip and wind among 
 huge mounds or tors of curious shape. At the foot 
 of the first of these, far below on the shore, among 
 birches and pines, nestles Tormore House with its 
 gardens, into which you may look directly from your 
 giddy elevation ; and on the other side of the tor is a 
 huge bastion of basalt, through which, in bygone 
 ages, the sea has pierced a lofty arch, until now it 
 looks like the eastern gable of an ancient cathedral. 
 Now the land descends steeply to the sea in a series 
 of bulging shoulders, between each of which a burn 
 dashes down a steep ravine to the sea. The road 
 climbs up and down these shoulders, the scene 
 becomes wilder at every step you take ; far above 
 the cliff menaces you, far below the sea swirls and 
 foams among black boulders and in rocky coves. 
 And here, on a sudden, as you turn a corner, you 
 come upon the crofting township of Aird, its huts 
 scattered higgledy-piggledy among the shoulders 
 and ravines, and its little patches of cultivated 
 ground reclaimed from the inhospitable soil betoken- 
 ing a hard fight with nature for bare existence. 
 Mercifully, the harvest of the sea yields a greater 
 abundance to these hardy peasants than the harvest 
 of the land. Wild Highland cattle debate the road 
 with the pilgrim ; shaggy collie dogs rush out with 
 wild barks and are recalled by wilder Gaelic curses ; 
 men, women, and children gaze cautiously from 
 cottage doors at the hardy stranger who has
 
 I20 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 disturbed their solitudes ; it is only five miles to the 
 towers of Armadale, yet you feel yourself in a remote 
 and unknown country. There, before you, as the 
 road abruptly ceases by a brawling- torrent rushing 
 below an ivy -covered mass of rock, is a strange 
 scene. A huge foreland, towering upwards to a vast 
 height, its surface presenting the strangest variety 
 of rude disorder and tumbled contours and a hundred 
 fantastic shapes, covered, where the dark rock will 
 allow it a scanty foothold, with decaying heather, 
 forms the peninsula which ends in the jutting Point 
 of Sleat. It is grim and uninviting. Here is Ultima 
 Thule, and the resemblance to Land's End in Corn- 
 wall is most striking. 
 
 A narrow track between rough boulders and across 
 wet peat-hags traverses the vmeven surface, and 
 following its intricacies for a couple of miles through 
 narrow passages amid overhanging bluffs or over the 
 rocky moorland, you come at last upon a prominence 
 and look down upon the most southerly point of 
 Skye. Far below the sea dashes over the weedy 
 reefs ; the air is clamorous with the cries of soaring 
 gulls ; the strong odour of the brine contests with 
 the earthy scents of the bog-plants ; you look far to 
 seaward and a magnificent spectacle greets the eye. 
 Beyond the flat plain of the sea, looking eastwards 
 and southwards, are the retreating hills of Moidart 
 and Ardnamurchan ; there follows an unbroken line 
 of gleaming horizon ; next comes the island of Eigg, 
 at one side rising gradually from the sea, then pre- 
 senting a long, flattened top, which ceases in an 
 abrupt and steep declivity at its northern end. In 
 a cave at its southern end occurred that ghastly 
 tragedy of vengeance wreaked on Clan Donald by 
 the Clan MacLeod, when two hundred men, women, 
 and children were suffocated by a fire of turf and 
 bracken kindled at the cavern's mouth. Overlooking 
 the scene of this "ancient tale of wrong" is the 
 sharp nose of the sgurr of Eigg, w^hose successive 
 strata tell the story of tropical climate, volcanic erup-
 
 Sleat and Armadale 121 
 
 tion, engulphing- sea, and arctic ice. Then comes 
 another unbroken horizon, and again another island 
 — Rum, with its dark mountains climbing suddenly 
 from the sea, and at its northerly point a glimpse of 
 Canna. Lastly, the remote horizon is closed in by 
 the blue shadows of the Outer Hebrides. There are 
 three crofting families living in this barren solitude, 
 but indeed, though their lot must be a hard one, it 
 must have certain compensations in the extraordinary 
 beauty of the scene which stretches far before them. 
 A calm summer day will repay a month of storms ; 
 a glowing sunset the most melancholy day. 
 
 Once on a quiet afternoon in December, I reached 
 the last outlying buttress of the Point, and saw such 
 a sunset as words must fail to give even a halting 
 description of. The unruffled sea, on which the 
 changing colours came and went as at the touch of 
 an enchanter's wand, stretched away into the dim 
 distance. Right in front lay Eigg, like a black 
 lustrous jewel set in a frame of luminous molten gold 
 as the sun sank behind it. Among the mountains 
 of Rum, purple shadows rose and fell. On the 
 mainland the tumbled, solid promontories of Ardna- 
 murchan were changed to transparent mists, so light 
 they seemed in the enchanted air. As the golden 
 glory faded, a rich crimson, deepening every moment, 
 spread over the sky, turning the islands to a gorgeous 
 Tyrian purple, and the sea to blood, and giving a 
 rosy flush to the wan clouds and mist-wreaths which 
 hung threateningly over the mountains of Knoydart. 
 Presently great gaps appeared low down in the 
 crimson sky, revealing silvery lines of light, which 
 lasted until the glow of colour faded away before the 
 fall of the night, and the pageant became a memory. 
 Next day, so swift are the changes in these islands, 
 the whole scene — distant mountains, purple islands, 
 and wide ocean — was blotted out in a swirl of mist 
 and rain, while the wind howled eerily among the 
 cliffs and tors, and was answered only by the moan 
 of the tired waves far below.
 
 122 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 An open' road crosses the moorland from Sleat to 
 Broadford. It runs along the windy seaboard till, 
 at Knock, it turns inland through the scented moors, 
 by many a ferny den, past Loch nan Dubhrachan, 
 haunted (says romantic superstition) by a water-horse 
 or kelpie. It skirts the sea again at Isle Ornsay, 
 which owes its name, like Loch Hourn opposite, to 
 St. Oran of blessed memory, runs through the birch 
 woods of beautiful Duisdale, and then, boldly plunging 
 through miles of heathery moorland, comes down by 
 the wide sweep of Broadford Bay to the sea once 
 more. A few miles above Broadford, close by the 
 Black Lochs, with their hundred tiny islets, covered 
 with juniper bushes, and, in summer, the home of 
 the Osmunda regalis, is to be seen a wide landscape 
 of hills and lochs, islands and sea, surrounding the 
 purple moor like a Titanic circular wall with the 
 spectator for its central point. Beyond Broadford 
 the rolling moor is shut in by Raasay, topped by Dun 
 Caan, with the mountains of Ross-shire peeping at 
 you above it, and by the round island of Scalpa, the 
 surf ringing it with white masses of foam. North 
 and south run the bald summits of Glamaig and Ben- 
 na-Cailleach (where the Norse princess sleeps her last 
 sleep), the pyramid of Marsco, and the broken top 
 of Blaaven, — all rising above a lofty upland, beyond 
 which lies the valley of Strath, into which the long 
 grey ridges look down. Then comes a glimpse of 
 the winding Loch Slapin, while more long uplands 
 carry the eye on to Loch Eishort and Isle Ornsay 
 and the Sound of Sleat. On them look down the 
 peaks of the mainland as we saw them from Armadale. 
 The view is finally shut in on the left by the steep 
 hill above Kinloch, birch clad, and seamed all down 
 its face by a single torrent-bed. This wide horizon 
 is not seen at a single glance ; it sweeps around you 
 in a magnificent circle, vast and roomy, and encloses 
 a wide undulating moorland, purple with heather and 
 green with bracken, on which the solemn hills, far 
 and near, look down by night and by day for ever.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 A SKYE INDUSTRY 
 
 PORTREE boasts a tweed-mill, and Talisker a 
 distillery, but everyone knows how whisky and 
 cloth are made, and until the peat industry is started 
 in Skye it is useless speaking of it. The case is 
 different with the manufacture of diatomite, which 
 goes on in a retired spot on the east side of the 
 Trotternish peninsula, and I shall describe a visit 
 paid to investigate that unique Skye industry with 
 my friend M., the proprietor, and R. 
 
 The curious reader will already be asking himself, 
 what is diatomite? It is a clayey substance found 
 at the bottom of certain fresh-water loclis when 
 drained, and, after it has been dried and pulverised, 
 is used for a variety of commercial purposes — 
 covering boilers, making dynamite, as the basis of a 
 tooth-powder — indeed, I firmly believe there is no 
 manufacture in which it is not used. The clayey sub- 
 stance itself is formed of uncounted millions of micro- 
 scopic siliceous skeletons of certain algae, which 
 everyone knows as exquisitely beautiful if common 
 objects for the microscope. So much for science, 
 now for the journey. 
 
 M.'s launch having failed us, it was necessary to 
 make the journey in a coal vessel which was to carry 
 back a cargo of diatomite to the south. A coal vessel 
 is not the most luxuriant of private yachts, yet when 
 it is a question of getting to your destination or 
 remaining at home altogether, it serves. The whole 
 vessel being used for cargo, there is only standing 
 
 188
 
 124 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 room in the stern beside the skipper at the wheel, 
 close by the engine-house, from which a grimy 
 engineer emerges at intervals to breathe. Mingled 
 smells of oil and cooking greet your nose, you en- 
 counter every wind that blows, and you may be 
 drenched with spray ; but then you see all around 
 you, for there is nothing to obstruct the view. 
 Having made our plans, we started one fine morning 
 in June, with a cool breeze blowing, a clear sky 
 overhead, and amid brilliant sunshine. Beautiful 
 shadows lay on the splintered Coolins ; the crofts 
 round the bay slept in the sunshine ; and Portree 
 town had scarcely awakened to the business of the 
 day. As we stood beside the skipper (in carpet 
 slippers) he beguiled the way with tales of the craft 
 and wickedness of engineers, for whom he had the 
 utmost sneering contempt — a paltry race, only to be 
 tolerated on his noble vessel. But one of their 
 detested race was marked down for his especial 
 hatred, who, coming on board late at night and 
 extremely happy, had in some drunken, frolicsome 
 mood stoked his furnace with his skipper's clothes. 
 But, indeed, it required no words of this honest 
 skipper to beguile the way, when there were the 
 leaping Hebridean seas, the basalt cliffs with their 
 green slopes, the panorama of mountains, the purple 
 islands on the horizon, and all the hundred delights 
 of the Western Isles to charm the senses. The cliff 
 wall of the eastern coast of Trotternish, with the ridgy 
 backbone of the peninsula towering above it, now 
 progresses in a long straight line, now recedes into 
 a bay, now sends out some broken escarpment sea- 
 wards. At intervals, notably at Borreraig, a torrent 
 dashes over the face of the cliff and throws itself 
 downwards into the sea in one mass of foaming 
 water, whose thunderous roar is heard from afar. 
 Or in the oolite strata on which the basalt has over- 
 flowed there are dark caves running far inland, chief 
 of them all Prince Charlie's Cave, fern and moss 
 fringed, with gleaming stalactites and curious fossils.
 
 A Skye Industry 125 
 
 Local legfend, emulous of a similar cave at Strathaird, 
 where the chief of Mackinnon entertained the Prince, 
 says that he slept here. Truth compels us to say 
 that the Royal Fugitive only landed near this spot. 
 
 Past Holm Island, nestling- below the cliffs and 
 famous as a fishing-ground for lythe, the mighty, 
 sheltered precipices of Storr tower beyond the lofty 
 cliff, here appearing like the outlying rampart of 
 this grim central keep. The upper part of the cliff 
 itself is formed of a series of basaltic prisms on a 
 lesser scale than the Kilt Rock farther north, but 
 like it presenting the appearance of a kilt hung out 
 on a flat surface. The black precipices of Storr, 
 though they are a mile and a half from the sea's edge, 
 seem to hang threateningly, so lofty are they, over 
 our noisy craft. They appear like immense cathedral 
 walls and gables, such as De Quincey might have 
 dreamt of, with spires and pinnacles set not above 
 them but in front and around and on their flanks, 
 and at every conceivable angle. And all this weird 
 and fearsome example of nature's architecture is 
 placed on the greenest of green slopes, where sheep 
 are browsing under these spires and precipices as 
 peacefully as in an English meadow. 
 
 Just beyond Storr is the farm of Rigg, a green 
 and fertile spot amid these stony sea-walls ; and on 
 the shore, a little farther north, lies a huge fallen 
 boulder, through which the ravages of time and the 
 sea-waves have pierced a high archway. From its 
 resemblance to a church with an open door, it is 
 called Eaglais Bhreagach, or the False Church, and 
 near by stands the petrified minister, a pillar of rock, 
 never able to enter his pulpit. 
 
 This boulder was the scene of a grisly rite, well 
 known in Celtic folk-lore, but so awful as seldom 
 to be performed — that of Taghairm, or giving the 
 devil his supper. A small sept, the MacQuithens, 
 despised by all men, lived near by, and some of them 
 resolved to perform the ceremony. They caught 
 some cats and roasted them living on a spit. By
 
 126 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 and by they found themselves surrounded by cats, 
 yelling like fiends. "Whatever you see or hear, 
 keep the cat turning," said the leader of the Mac- 
 Quithens to him who held the spit. There came a 
 dread silence ; another cat had joined the company. 
 Him the leader knocked down with the cross of his 
 sword-hilt, and at once the devil appeared in his 
 proper guise, compelled now to grant whatever the 
 men asked for. But earthly prosperity was not theirs 
 for long ; they died, and the devil marked them for 
 his own, and now they are in hell. The leader of 
 the band was the last to die, and was warned of the 
 fate of his comrades. But he was utterly unrepentant, 
 and with much composure announced his intention of 
 joining his companions, saying that if they had 
 " three short swords that would neither break nor 
 bend they would vanquish all the devils in hell and 
 make prisoners of them." 
 
 On the cliff above are the remains of Dun Greanan, 
 and rounding a jutting precipice is a little bay, walled 
 round by what seem perpendicular slopes of grass, 
 pierced by a ravine, and guarded on either side by the 
 outlying basaltic cliffs. In this bay, on which the 
 intolerable glory of the June sunshine blazed down, 
 the steamer cast her anchor ; and with a hamper of 
 provisions, we made for the shore in a coble which 
 had come to meet us. On the shore and on the 
 slopes above the marks of industry were evident. A 
 drying and grinding factory has been erected at the 
 water's edge ; great sheds stand on the upper slopes 
 at a precarious angle ; while a miniature railway, the 
 continuation of one which runs inland to the diatomite 
 beds, connects the edge of the cliff with the landing- 
 stage and factory far below. 
 
 When we arrived, the work-people were all at the 
 loch, and there was scarce a sign of life round this 
 lonely bay. But presently a long train of men and 
 women began to zigzag down the path on the face 
 of the slope, and transformed this solitude into 
 humming activity. They must get the cargo em-
 
 A Skye Industry 127 
 
 barked while the tide served. Each one carried a 
 hag of diatomite from the grinding-house to the boat 
 slip, till the coble was piled up with sacks. Then it 
 made a slow journey to the steamer, where the sacks 
 were transferred to the hold. Meanwhile a second 
 coble was a-filling, and so all day long, for there 
 were hundreds and hundreds of sacks to be removed, 
 the work went steadily on. Leaving these busy 
 people and feeling a mere idler, I explored the ravine 
 near by. Like most Skye ravines, its sides are formed 
 of steep rocky scaurs, ending in an amphitheatre of 
 rock over which a foaming band of water falls into a 
 deep basin and then rushes noisily down to the sea, 
 over which, out of this rock recess, the blue hills of 
 Applecross are visible. When my observations, 
 geological, botanical, and picturesque, were com- 
 pleted, I rejoined my companions — M. up to the 
 ears in business with his manager. It was now 
 time for lunch, which we ate a I fresco, our cheeks 
 fanned by the odorous sea - breeze, our ears 
 greeted by the plangent cries of seabirds, greedy 
 for scraps. 
 
 We ascended the zigzag path leisurely until, at its 
 top, the busy workers far below seemed dwarfed to 
 the size of industrious ants. Inland from the cliff's 
 edge lay miles and miles of undulating moorland, 
 backed by the long ridges dipping and rising from 
 Storr to Quiraing, and, just opposite, one bold pro- 
 montory which overlooks the loch whence the 
 diatomite is taken. This was the landward side. 
 Seawards the water lay like a glassy lake, undisturbed 
 even by a ripple, save where a whale was splashing at 
 the surface far out to sea. Strange to think how, 
 at times and with a northerly wind, this coast be- 
 comes one of the most inhospitable in all Scotland ! 
 In the sound lie the purple Rona and green Raasay. 
 On the mainland are the Ross-shire mountains— Ben 
 Alligin, Leagach, An Teallach, Scour Quran and its 
 Six Sisters, and the rest of the many peaks, steeped 
 in haze, but with gleams of reflected light on their
 
 128 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 slopes, or gfolden red as the day advances and 
 evening comes on. 
 
 Leaving behind us this gorgeous vision, we made 
 ourselves as comfortable as possible on one of the 
 open trolleys used for transporting the diatomite 
 from the loch. They are propelled along the level 
 ground or up the slopes by strong and willing lads, 
 who jump on board as soon as the car begins to go 
 downhill. That it does with terrific speed ; the 
 motion exhilarates and rouses every jaded feeling ; 
 you have all the joys of motoring without breaking 
 the rules of the road. For a brake, the poles with 
 which the lads propel the car, pushed through a hole 
 and pressed against one of the wheels, serve 
 admirably. You are jolted horribly, and have to 
 hold on with your teeth, but not for worlds would 
 you lose the joy of motion or the perfume of the 
 moorland air, heavy with aromatic odours, flung in 
 gusts against your face. The last mile or so is up- 
 hill, and we took a short cut over the moor to lessen 
 the labours of our drivers. 
 
 Under the shadow of Sgurr a Mhadaidh Ruaidh, the 
 Red Fox's Hill, in a silent hollow, lies Loch Cuithir, 
 now mostly drained, leaving a grey mud bottom of 
 diatomite. Men are employed to dig it out, and it 
 is then transferred by girls to open trays of wire 
 netting, set one above another in a staging, so that 
 wind and sun may have free access to dry it. Dry- 
 ing the diatomite is, in fact, the problem of the 
 process, for it is obvious that in a damp climate like 
 that of Skye, the stuff does not lose its moisture in a 
 hurry. M. laughingly off'ers us a thousand pounds 
 for an expeditious and cheap process. Unfortunately 
 the Germans have been before us, and use a simple 
 and easy method of drying in their diatomite fields. 
 When dry the lumps of clay become light and 
 friable, and turn from dingy grey to white, so that 
 the heather and grass all round the loch is dusty 
 with particles of diatomite. The lumps are then 
 placed in sacks and carried by the trolleys to the 
 
 I
 
 A Skye Industry ' 129 
 
 cliff, where they are ground to a fine powder in the 
 mill. 
 
 It is a strangely desolate and remote spot in which 
 such an industry should go on ; you are miles from a 
 house, and there is not a sound to break the silence. 
 The eye rests only on the purple moor and the high 
 ridges to the west. But you rejoice to know that this 
 industry gives regular employment to the men and 
 girls of the district, and that since it was begun 
 eighteen years ago, fourteen thousand pounds have 
 been paid in wages and for expenses by the proprietor. 
 Employment is given to about sixty people during the 
 season in preparing' the five hundred tons of material 
 annually exported from the loch. Pity that there 
 were not several more such industries for the crofters 
 of Skye to work at, without at the same time taking 
 them away altogether from the work of their crofts. 
 It is too soon yet to say what may be made of the peat 
 beds in Skye, but if ever they are made use of as they 
 are now in Germany and Norway, brighter days may 
 dawn for all classes in the island. 
 
 After a leisurely examination of the place and its 
 surroundings we resumed our tramway journey, and 
 were soon flying' along at such a pace that in twenty 
 minutes we had covered the distance to the cliff, in- 
 cluding time spent in toiling up hills. Once more we 
 came in view of sea, and islands, and far mountains, 
 with the evening lights beginning to colour them. 
 Far below, the string of men and girls were still at 
 their work of carrying the sacks. Diatomite, they 
 say, is good for the complexion, and certainly these 
 g"irls have delicate skins, charmingly pink and white. 
 Three very hungry men made their way quickly down 
 the cliff to their camping-ground, and, having induced 
 one of the girls aforesaid to boil a kettle, sat down 
 to tea — a peripatetic meal (like most Skye picnics in 
 autumn), because clouds of midges hung round and 
 stung us like fiends till faces and hands ached and 
 itched and were covered with lumps. 
 
 By the time the meal was finished and a peaceful 
 
 9
 
 130 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 pipe smoked, the workers had done their task. The 
 coble was waiting for us, and, bidding the men and 
 girls good-bye, we made for the steamer, with its 
 hold crammed full of sacks of diatomite. In the 
 growing twilight we steamed down the sound. Far 
 behind us, on the remote horizon, were the lonely 
 Shiant Isles, and in front of us stood eleven of the 
 marvellous peaks of the Coolins and the Red Hills — 
 great opaque masses clear cut against first a crimson 
 and then an opalescent sky as the ,sun sunk behind 
 the unseen outer islands. After such a glorious day 
 in the open air it was an appropriate ending to sail 
 home over the waveless sea, with such a peaceful 
 prospect around us. The long summer twilight kept 
 off the shadows of the night, and though it was nine 
 o'clock when we reached Portree, it was still light. 
 After much ordering and counter-ordering, the skipper 
 got his boat moored to the mail steamer at the quay, 
 and we bade each other good-night, charmed with 
 the success of the day's outing.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE MOUNTAINS 
 
 "The fountain-pregnant mountains riven 
 To shapes of wildest anarchy, 
 By secret fire and midnight storms 
 That wander round their windy cones." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 THE Isle of Skye, alone among- the isles of the 
 west, boasts fifteen peaks over 3000 feet 
 in height. It is to the existence of the Coolins^ 
 — a great mass of weird, shattered summits — that 
 Skye owes this proud pre-eminence. The highest 
 peak in the group is Sgurr Alasdair, the south-west 
 pinnacle of which is 3275 feet in height, while the 
 lowest of the fifteen is Bhasteir — to the right of Sgurr- 
 nan-Gillean as seen from Portree, with its curious 
 "tooth" jutting out prominently on one side. Its 
 height is 3020 feet. Sgurr-nan-Gillean, commonly 
 called the highest, is really fifth in the series, sharing 
 the honour with Sgurr-na-Banachdich, both 3167 feet. 
 These fifteen peaks are far from exhausting the 
 summits of the Coolins, but those others, like the 
 neighbouring Red Hills, are all under the 3000 feet 
 limit. 
 
 ^ The name "Cuchullin Hills," as the late Sheriff Nicolson 
 pointed out, is due to the guide-books. "The Coolin" is the 
 English equivalent of the Gaelic name A Chuilionn (of. the 
 Himalaya, the Caucasus), and the older writers, Boswell, Scott, 
 etc., use it so, spelling it Quillin. I have, however, called these 
 mountains by the name which is now popular and known to 
 everyone — the Coolins. They have nothing lo do with the 
 Ossianlc hero.
 
 132 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 It is true that no less a person than Ruskin has 
 depreciated the Coolins, calling them "inferior 
 mountains " in his Modem Painters. Ruskin was 
 an authority on mountains, and perhaps, like 
 Wordsworth who thought he had a special mono- 
 poly therein, disliked hearing anyone even speak of 
 them. But from whatever point of view the Coolins 
 are looked at, Ruskin's disparaging epithet must be 
 waved aside. The geologist finds in them the most 
 remarkable group of volcanic rocks in Britain. They 
 tax the mountaineer's strength and foot and eye, as 
 much as do the Alps. And to the mere lover of 
 nature they are eternally wonderful. To one who 
 has lived within sight of them for years there can be 
 nothing inferior in them. He sees the lights and 
 shadows on their peaks and sides vary with every 
 hour. In summer sunshine, or on a clear frosty day 
 in winter, every corrie, every pinnacle, every ridge is 
 seen in microscopic detail, and the brilliant light 
 bathes the grey stone masses till they seem to glow 
 again. Or again, when the sky is overcast with 
 clouds after rain, but the evening light is falling in 
 slanting rays upon their flanks, they still stand out 
 boldly. The lower slopes are clothed in vivid green, 
 but above them frown rocky splintered precipices, 
 with their broken tops and innumerable crevices like 
 gashes in their sheer faces. Deep shadows lie in the 
 ravines, but the outstanding masses are ruddy or 
 golden. At dawn or sunset a rosy light streams over 
 them from base to summit, and stains them with every 
 shade of colour from pink to blood red. Or, when a 
 brilliant winter sun shines on the snowy mantle which 
 descends upon them so easily, the massive peaks 
 shimmer away into the opalescent sky and lose all 
 their ruggedness and all their weirdness. Or yet 
 again, on moonlight nights, when the atmosphere is 
 full of pearly, silvery light, they seem to hang like 
 vague, dark curtains against the brilliant heaven. 
 But there are other aspects of the Coolins, when, if 
 more terrible, they are also grander. They are hidden
 
 •n 
 
 J 
 
 D 
 O 
 
 i5 
 
 o
 
 The Mountains 133 
 
 from view by clouds and mists, until the wind springs 
 up and the wrack of clouds is driven among the peaks, 
 to be torn and shattered by the serrated edges, which 
 emerge black and frowning out of the whirling cloud 
 masses. Indeed, to those who watch them in summer 
 and winter, every conceivable cloud effect is seen 
 among and around their summits — snow-clouds touch 
 them and disappear, leaving them clothed in white ; 
 dark rain clouds settle steadily upon them for weeks 
 together, and are lit by wild colours as some stray 
 sun rays touch them at morning or evening ; lighter 
 wisps of mist, white as snow, weave themselves in 
 and out of ravines and pinnacles, are dissipated, form 
 again in new shapes, and are again dissolved. Skye 
 without the Coolins would have many attractions, 
 but it would be like the play of Hamlet without its 
 hero. With them, it is nature's masterpiece in the 
 Hebrides — a thing of beauty, a joy for ever. 
 
 These mountains are unique in Britain. The 
 fifteen great peaks and the many smaller ones stand 
 closely packed together in an area which is little 
 more than six miles long and six miles broad. The 
 broken flanks of each peak are inextricably mingled 
 with those of the surrounding heights. They fit 
 into each other, they rise out of each other, sweeping 
 up skywards as if to breathe more freely ; and nature 
 could not get another in if she tried. Two great 
 corries, Harta Corrie and Coire Uisg, with Loch 
 Coruisk^ at its lower end, run right up into the heart 
 of this mass of mountains, and are separated by the 
 long and massive ridge of Druim-nan-Ramh, which 
 terminates in the high peaks of Bidein Druim-nan- 
 Ramh. In these wild corries silence reigns, and '■'■mi 
 awful hush is felt tjiaudibly,'^ save when the tempests 
 boom among the peaks, or a fall of stones, loosened 
 by rain and frost, crashes down some precipice, 
 wakening thundering echoes as they go. Round 
 them the hills with their sphinx-like stony faces are 
 
 ^ Coruisk means "the water cauldron," — coirc, a corrie or 
 cauldron, and iiisge, water.
 
 134 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 huddled disorderly, each one gfazing down upon you, 
 as it seems, half-pityingly, half-threateningly. 
 
 The outer summits of this great mountain group 
 
 are clothed with coarse vegetation up to a certain 
 
 height. Beyond that they are mere broken faces of 
 
 stone, made up of precipices gashed with deep 
 
 ravines, boulder-strewn slopes, jagged pinnacles and 
 
 crags. Within that outer ring, the desolation is 
 
 complete. Save for a few rare Alpine plants, or an 
 
 occasional patch of brilliant green which makes you 
 
 wonder how it came there, all is sheer rock, black, 
 
 wrinkled, chaotic, torn and shattered into every 
 
 conceivable shape. You seem to stand in nature's 
 
 primeval workshop ; here are the very bones of the 
 
 old earth. And yet these weird mountain masses 
 
 are the most recent, geologically speaking, of all 
 
 the British mountains, instead of being the earliest 
 
 and oldest. Compared with Snowdon they are in 
 
 their infancy ; and dark Lochnagar is a patriarch, 
 
 hoary with age, who laughs at their comparative 
 
 inexperience ! The lower flanks of all the mountains 
 
 in the group are more or less smooth, and exhibit 
 
 those rounded forms which tell of the passage of 
 
 glaciers over them long ago. They are everywhere 
 
 marked by grooves and scratches. But higher up 
 
 the glacier limit is reached, and beyond that the 
 
 polishing process has stopped, and all is craggy and 
 
 rough and broken. I have spoken elsewhere of the 
 
 contrast between the Coolins and the other hill 
 
 formations of Skye, but it is never so well marked 
 
 as when you gaze from some peak or ridge into the 
 
 shattered chaos around you, and then let your eye 
 
 rest on the smooth domes of the Red Hills across 
 
 the Sligachan valley to the east, or on the green 
 
 terraces of the basaltic plateaux which stretch away 
 
 northwards and eastwards from this mountain region. 
 
 It is a striking lesson in physiography, which, when 
 
 once seen, and its causes understood, is never 
 
 forgotten. 
 
 But if the Coolins are the chief wonder of Skye,
 
 The Mountains 
 
 ^3S 
 
 Loch Coruisk is the weird gem which lies hidden 
 away in their stony recesses. There are many ways 
 of reaching it. The easiest is to land at Loch Scavaig 
 by the tourist steamer, proceed leisurely over the rocks, 
 and stand wonderingly on the margin of Coruisk for 
 fifteen minutes, while the steamer's solitary gun 
 awakes the thunderous echoes of the mountains. 
 There is nothing romantic in that. Others, more 
 venturesome, come round the cliffs by Camasunary, 
 past the Bad Step, where a false move will precipitate 
 you from the ledge into the sea far below. Or, at the 
 expense of a sum agreed upon, stalwart rowers and 
 a boat may be hired from Camasunary. But the best 
 way by which to let the grandeur of the mountains 
 and the loch be impressed by degrees upon one, is 
 to proceed from Portree by Sligachan. Then every 
 step of the way takes you into a wilder country ; 
 the savage mountains draw nearer ; at last you walk 
 under their shadow ; you penetrate their depths ; 
 and for reward, after tough walking and some hard 
 but not dangerous climbing, the strange grandeur 
 of Coruisk breaks full upon your prepared spirit. 
 
 The road from Portree to Sligachan, nine miles 
 long, runs through a lonely moorland, by the side of 
 the Varragill river, while the moor mounts up into 
 tablelands whose sides are seamed with many a 
 torrent. From the bridge just beyond the head of 
 Portree Loch, there is not a single house all the way 
 to Sligachan, and you are not likely to meet with any 
 wayfarer. Behind you lie the bay, and the cliffs, 
 and the town with its woods, steeped in sunshine, 
 and far beyond them the great precipices of Storr 
 and the Old Man, diminishing at every step which 
 carries one onward. But in front are the massive 
 Coolins, Sgurr-nan-Gillean ^ dominating the left of 
 the line, and the other peaks tailing away to the 
 right, and all increasing in majesty as you proceed. 
 Soon you are in a region covered with heather-clad 
 hummocks, which give a strange air of loneliness to 
 ^ The sgurr (Norse sgor, a ridg^e) of the young men.
 
 136 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 this lonely road. They are the ddbris left by one of 
 the glaciers which issued from the mountains. And 
 then, while the road is still winding among these 
 hummocks, it takes a turn, and Glen Sligachan with 
 its surrounding mountains comes fully and suddenly 
 into view. 
 
 That lonely glen is always fascinating, in sunshine 
 or by moonlight, or when rain and mist and wind 
 fill the valley and play in and out among the peaks. 
 But when the sky is blue and the sun pours down 
 its beams, and a haze of heat fills the glen, its stern 
 ruggedness is softened. The great hill masses seem 
 less massive ; their fissured sides are dimly perceived ; 
 soft blue shadows fill their hollows ; the snow on 
 their summits glistens and sparkles. The mountains 
 seem asleep, and have less the air of crouching 
 monsters watching for their prey. To the left is 
 the sheer steep front of Glamaig, covered with rocky 
 bosses, like huge warts ; then the humpy summits 
 of Beinn Dearg ; next a corner of Blaaven's dented 
 crest peers over the shoulders of the pyramidal mass 
 of Marsco as it dips suddenly into the middle of the 
 glen, the upper end of which is blocked in front by 
 the ridge beyond which Coruisk lies. Immediately 
 to the right the great serrated peak of Sgurr-nan- 
 Gillean with its many pinnacles guards the entrance 
 to the glen. The contrast of the rock formations 
 strikes one at this point more than ever. Sgurr- 
 nan-Gillean and Blabhein are black and shattered, 
 because the gabbro of which they are composed has 
 had a tougher fight with the elements, unlike the 
 more yielding greyish-pink granophyre of Glamaig 
 and Beinn Dearg and Marsco, which have an air of 
 cheerfulness compared with the sombre Coolins, and 
 present the form of rounded domes or cones with 
 flowing outlines. 
 
 From the inn at Sligachan you look down Loch 
 Sligachan to distant Raasay, and then, leaving the 
 firm highway, you are traversing the boulder-strewn 
 glen by a path rough and ill-defined.
 
 The Mountains 137 
 
 Throug-h the glen rushes the Sligachan river ; 
 its waters beautifully clear ; the stones of its bed 
 variously coloured and shining like jewels in the 
 sunshine below the limpid water. Every step 
 forward in the glen seems to take one farther from 
 human life and nearer the mysterious recesses of 
 nature's workshop. The way lies among huge 
 boulders — fallen from the heights above or stranded 
 by the glacier that forced its way, ages ago, down 
 this glen, — moss-covered stones, clumps of heather, 
 and stretches of peaty bog. It seems impossible 
 to get rid of the great mass of Sgurr-nan-Gillean. 
 There it is constantly on the right hand, black and 
 frowning, its lower slopes deeply furrowed by ravines 
 and corries, its upper heights shattered and broken, 
 with perhaps an eagle poised above them. You 
 have passed Beinn Dearg and Marsco, which rises 
 like a perpendicular wall on your left, covered with 
 stones and gravel and sand, and still it is there. 
 But at last you are beyond it, and the mouth of 
 Harta Corrie is reached. This corrie runs for a mile 
 and a half into the mountains, until its upper end is 
 barred by a great wall of stone. In the glen, in 
 front of its entrance, are two tiny lochs, infinitely 
 solitary, and beyond it the track grows still more 
 stony, and the sense of solitude increases. Sgurr 
 Dubh dominates the glen to the right, and to the 
 left Blaaven towers up, a single precipice, from 
 the depths of the glen. After some further walk- 
 ing-, the ridge is reached and the climb begins. 
 Towards the summit of the ridge you find yourself 
 toiling over absolutely smooth and polished rock, 
 worn by the glacier which once swept over it into 
 Coruisk. 
 
 Before reaching the top let us pause and look back. 
 Right in front, a huge wall of black gabbro, with a 
 splintered crest and deeply fissured face, stands 
 Blaaven, with mist curling about and around it. 
 It is over 3000 feet in height, and this front is 
 probably less precipitous than it looks, but from
 
 138 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 this point of view it appears one sheer descent, with 
 two lochs and the narrow glen leading to Camasunary 
 at its feet. We have seen the other side of Blaaven 
 from Strathaird, and found it fascinating ; this side 
 is equally attractive, and recalls Alexander Smith's 
 eulogy more than ever as you see among its crags 
 " the mist-wreaths perish with heat," and "the wet 
 rock slide with a trickling gleam, right down to the 
 cataract's feet." 
 
 From the top of the ridge the three great parts of 
 the scene at once arrest the eye. There is Loch 
 Scavaig opening into the outer sea, and surrounded 
 by the steep spurs of the Coolins. It seems at first 
 to dwarf Coruisk itself, which like a dark gem lies 
 at what seems an interminable depth far below. 
 The ridge slopes down steeply to it, at one place 
 holding in a small basin the tiny Loch a Coire Ria- 
 bhaich whose waters dash downwards into Coruisk. 
 The waters of Coruisk, itself surrounded by the dark 
 mountains, are black and gloomy, a contrast to the 
 blue waves of Scavaig, and it has with more realism 
 than poetry been aptly compared to a huge ink-pot. 
 The unbroken mountain wall which hems it in, 
 leaves only the narrowest strip of shore covered 
 with boulders and rock-fragments, and though the 
 winds ruffle its surface or the sun glints upon its 
 cheerless waters, it seems like a prisoned creature, 
 dead and helpless, overcome by the mighty giants 
 which have held it there for untold ages. A few 
 tiny islets, heath-clad or with some sparse birch trees 
 struggling for existence, rest on its cold bosom. 
 And then there are the wild hills, thronging each 
 other, their broken crests rising high in air from the 
 ridges which connect their lower sides. These lower 
 flanks, which enclose the loch, are bare, polished 
 precipices, but above them all is rugged and broken. 
 Spires, pinnacles, crags, buttresses, broken battle- 
 ments, shattered peaks — every variety of mountain 
 form is there, but all of naked rock, black, grisl}^ 
 uninviting. The eye is led on from one to another.
 
 The Mountains 
 
 39 
 
 and wanders in and out of the maze of peaks, each 
 black as Erebus. 
 
 It is a scene of utter desolation, as if the elements 
 had just ended their ancient strife and left nothing 
 but chaos and terror behind them. Even on the 
 brightest day this fearful solitude strikes upon the 
 mind with awe : what then must it be in the depths 
 of winter, when the heavens are darkened and the 
 winds roar through the crags, driving the rain in 
 cataract sheets through the glen ? Then the vapours 
 sweep and swirl above the loch as in a vast devil's 
 cauldron, and foaming streams dash with hiss and 
 roar down every gully. Far and wide among the 
 peaks crashes the thunder, as if its echoes would 
 never cease, and the lightning flares through mist 
 and cloud along the grisly slopes of the mountains. 
 And then the winds die away ; the great banks of 
 mist, some darker, som.e lighter, roll up the valley ; 
 and every precipice and corrie and peak is once more 
 unveiled out of the inky blackness. 
 
 Even now as these solemn peaks surround you, 
 and every sound of wind or torrent is dying away 
 to a whisper, they seem to be intently listening to 
 catch your very thoughts. You feel that these great 
 stone giants are living things ; you have come upon 
 them unawares and surprised their secret, and what 
 is there to hinder them leaping forth and crushing 
 you ? Your heart leaps within you, but reason over- 
 comes emotion, and you remember that, after all, they 
 are only mountains. Yet even when the soul is 
 calmed they speak silently to it with their lesson of 
 vastness and eternal repose. The elements have 
 crashed around them in fury for ages ; ice and water 
 and atmosphere have waged war against them, and 
 yet they take no part in it all. They are unmoved. 
 And their very vastness (the vastness, however, of 
 mere matter) speaks of a vastness greater still — the 
 infinity of spirit — the aspiring spirit of man, the 
 eternal Spirit of God. The immensities of nature at 
 once repel and attract the soul of man. Superstitious
 
 I40 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 terrors, offspring of those long generations when 
 men worshipped what most terrified them, are 
 aroused, but deeper still are the comforting thoughts 
 which come into the mind as it is led on from the 
 work to the Worker. Then the words of the Psalmist 
 are inevitably recalled, and their truth is flashed in 
 upon the soul : " / iioill lift tip 7mne eyes unto the hills, 
 from whence cometh my help. My help cometh even 
 from the Lord, who hath made heavefi and earth." 
 
 The descent to the shore of Coruisk is a series 
 of jumps and slides, through heather, breast-high, 
 among boulders, and over ledges of rock. But at 
 last it is accomplished, and you stand by the great 
 boulder near the southern end of the loch, brought 
 there by the last glacier which filled the valley. The 
 waters of the loch dash over the rocks into Loch 
 Scavaig, about an eighth of a mile away. It is at this 
 point that Scott makes the Bruce land with Ronald 
 in the Lord of the Isles, and exclaim — 
 
 "A scene so rude, so wild as this, 
 Yet so sublime in barrenness, 
 Ne'er did my wandering footsteps press 
 Where'er I happ'd to roam." 
 
 Scott himself landed here ; and here, too, all those 
 who have tried to describe the scene with pen or 
 pencil have taken their stand. Dr. MacCulloch's is 
 one of the earliest and most complete ; ^ Scott's has 
 all a poet's liberty, and the description in his Jourtia I 
 is vivid and exact ; Lord Cockburn's is critical, but 
 impressive ; - Robert Buchanan's is passionate and 
 grand. ^ Yet every description leaves something 
 wanting : all the details are there, but the soul of the 
 scene is still to seek. Only Dante or Shelley could 
 have done it justice. So of all the artists — Thomson, 
 Daniell, Horatio MacCulloch, Turner, MacWhirter, 
 and the rest — Turner has succeeded best in giving the 
 
 1 Highlands and Western Isles, iii. 473 seq. 
 - Circuit fourneys, p. 114. 
 5 The Hebrid Isles, p. 287.
 
 o 
 
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 u 
 
 s 
 ■■J 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
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 z 
 
 o 
 
 z 
 
 c55
 
 The Mountains 141 
 
 spirit of the scene, because he paid no attention to 
 the details, and probably his picture would not be 
 recognised as a representation of Coruisk. 
 
 Proceeding along the north shore of the loch, 
 beneath the shadows of the enclosing summits, one 
 is reminded of Dante's journey by the Stygian lake — 
 
 " Far murkier was the wave 
 Than sablest grain ; and we, in company 
 Of the inky waters, journeying- by their side;" 
 
 as well as of the search for the Water of Life in 
 Sclavonic folk-tales. The seeker had to penetrate a 
 dark mountain gorge until he came to a face of rock 
 barring the way. At certain times it swung into two, 
 and at that moment the hero must boldly plunge in, 
 fill his flask at the fountain which was suddenly 
 revealed, and then dash back ere the clanging rocky 
 gates should close again and shut him in for ever. 
 The mountain mass which appears to bar the end of 
 the loch might pass for the clanging gates, but as 
 one approaches the upper waters, it recedes, and we 
 see that where the leaden waters of the loch end 
 they are fed by a river running through a little green 
 glen, a welcome oasis among these sombre mountains. 
 Looking back, the loch with its islands occupies the 
 foreground with the great stone mass of Sgurr-na-Stri 
 filling the whole horizon. The loch itself is held in 
 the cup formed by the ridge of Druim-nan-Ramh to 
 the left, and Sgurr Dubh to the right. Behind is the 
 great amphitheatre of the watching hills looking 
 down for ever upon this dark corrie and green glen 
 and hidden loch. Here may be seen the remains of 
 a camp, that of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, 
 some of whom lived here for five weeks. What an 
 opportunity for poet, or artist, or dreamer ; for, as 
 one of their number says, "to live for five weeks 
 in the heart of Coruisk ; to see Ghreadaidh slowly 
 forming out of the gloom of the morning mists ; to 
 see, when some storm had passed, the wet slabs of 
 the Coolins glistening in the sunlight ; to see, when
 
 142 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 the sun had set, shafts of light darting through every 
 cleft on the Banachdich ridge and thrusting golden 
 streamers into the darkness of the corries, and to 
 feel continually the near presence of the immense 
 black peaks that crowded our lonely camp — these, 
 and many other sights that we daily witnessed, it is 
 hardly in the power of words properly to express." ^ 
 
 From the head of the loch it is possible to climb or 
 scramble up the Drumhain ridge and descend into 
 Harta Corrie. The way is difficult, unless one hits 
 upon the exact route, but from the top of the ridge 
 the view of the loch is probably the finest possible, 
 with the river feeding it at the head, and, far off, its 
 waters falling into wild Loch Scavaig; and all round, 
 corries and mountains in strange confusion. The great 
 peaks lie around in a semicircle — Sgurr-nan-Eag, 
 Sgurr Dubh, Sgurr Alasdair, Sgurr Mhic Connaich, 
 Sgurr Dearg, Sgurr Banachdich, Sgurr Ghreadaidh, 
 Sgurr Mhadaidh, Druim-nan-Ramh, Bidein Carstael, 
 Bruach-na-Frithe, Sgurr a Bhasteir, and Sgurr-nan- 
 Gillean, taking them in turn from left to right. 
 Blaaven and Marsco and Glamaig, too, are once 
 more visible, and add their number to the surging 
 waves of stone which toss their broken crests on 
 every side, while the mysterious depths of that 
 most barren and fearsome of all corries. Lota Corrie, 
 under the shadow of Sgurr-nan-Gillean, and Harta 
 Corrie at our feet, tempt one to explore them. The 
 descent into the latter should bring one to the famous 
 Bloody Stone, from which the way to Sligachan 
 presents no difficulties. This dark gorge, surrounded 
 by walls of gabbro down which white streams of 
 water gleam and foam in a hundred torrent beds, is a 
 place of dread. The ghosts of the slain haunt it ; 
 the fairy folk dance in it, and, if all tales be true, make 
 their elfin bolts of the bones of the dead. Here, 
 where the silence is so sacred that it weighs upon 
 you like a heavy load, a great clan fight was fought, 
 
 ^ W. Douglas, in the Scottisfi Mountaineering Chib Jozirnal, 
 January 1898.
 
 The Mountains 143 
 
 grim and great, a whole summer day ; the blood of 
 Macdonalds and MacLeods ran like water ; and round 
 this massive red boulder, named so appropriately, 
 were piled the heaps of the slain. You shudder as 
 you pause by the stone ; in fancy the g'len rings with 
 the fierce shouts of the clansmen and the shrieks of 
 the dying ; you see the eagles at their ghastly feast, 
 — and you hurry away lest some shape of dread 
 should confront you. 
 
 Sgurr-nan-Gillean is the most prominent and the 
 best known of all the peaks of the Coolins, and 
 though not the highest, it is the one which most 
 people seek to climb. ^ Looked at from Sligachan, 
 Sgurr-nan-Gillean appears to be one peak or cone, 
 but in reality there are four pinnacles in descending 
 order in front of the highest, but, being all of one 
 dark hue, their individuality is lost except in a profile 
 view, when they stand out clear and distinct. 
 Sporting climbers and Alpine Club-men ascend the 
 peak by the "pinnacle route," though why they 
 should risk life and limb when there is an easier 
 way, is a mystery to a non-climber. Readers, ac- 
 cording to their temperament, will judge whether 
 'tis nobler to break the record (and possibly one's 
 neck) or to seek the picturesque quietly and easily. 
 In general, climbing in the Coolins offers plenty of 
 sport to the professional mountaineer. There are 
 dangerous chimneys, ledges, couloirs, and drops. 
 There are abundance of puzzling obstacles with dizzy 
 precipices beneath them. There are inaccessible 
 peaks and gendarmes, inaccessible to all but a 
 monkey or a skilled mountaineer. The Alps and the 
 Dolomites offer nothing more sporting, if that is 
 what you are seeking. There are no glaciers, it is 
 true, save embryo ones in winter, but there is deep 
 snow in winter and spring, and wind and hail to 
 satisfy the keenest lover of out of doors. There are 
 plently of loose stones to dodge, and these constitute 
 
 ^ The highest peak is Sgurr Alasdair (3275 feet) ; Sgurr-nan 
 Gillean is 3167 feet.
 
 144 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 one of the chief and frequent dangers in the Coolins. 
 Another, and, to those who go without a guide, 
 almost fatal danger, is found in the mists which wrap 
 one round with fearful suddenness, and hide every 
 landmark. One experienced climber slipped over a 
 precipice in mist one August day in 1903 ; another met 
 the same fate in 1902 ; and a third some years before. 
 This last victim had left his card in the bottle at 
 the summit of Sgurr-nan-Gillean, telling how he had 
 ascended it "without a guide." He did not return 
 to the inn, and two days after his mangled body was 
 discovered below a precipice near the peak. On the 
 whole, however, the gabbro rock of the Coolin offers 
 a firm foothold, "while the large crystals of augite 
 that weather out in relief from the softer matrix 
 produce a nutmeg-grater-like surface in contact with 
 which the human body may almost defy the laws of 
 gravity." This is the unanimous record of geologists 
 and climbers alike. 
 
 But to return to Sgurr-nan-Gillean. With the 
 exception of a narrow ledge near the summit, with 
 precipices on either hand, it may be climbed by any- 
 one with a steady head, but it is safer to ascend with 
 a guide. One girl crossed the ledge with her guide 
 in a mist, not knowing what she had done. She 
 reached the summit ; the mist cleared off, and when 
 she returned, fainted at sight of this " brig o' dreid " 
 as expeditiously as any of Jane Austen's heromes. 
 Fortunately for her, the guide, her father, and a 
 friend of the writer's were able to carry her across, 
 else she might have spent the term of her natural 
 life on the summit. The whole climb is toilsome 
 and steep, involving much scrambling, and in some 
 places slipping and sliding among debris, while the 
 ridge aforesaid, broken and stony, must be crossed 
 with care. But there is a magnificent view of the 
 pinnacles as one ascends, and from the narrow 
 summit a wonderful panorama stretches before one. 
 From this dizzy height, with precipices over a 
 thousand feet deep, falling away from it on three
 
 The Mountains 145 
 
 sides, you see the great peaks of the range huddled 
 around and closing up the view southwards. But 
 again you look down into the dark recesses of Lota 
 and Harta corries ; you see the long Glen Sligachan, 
 with Blaaven, Marsco, and Glamaig. Northwards 
 the terraced heights of Skye stretch to the Minch, 
 and on the mainland are the hundred peaks of the 
 northern counties, which, if you have time and skill, 
 you may identify one by one. The vast height, the 
 immense tract of country, the brooding silence, are 
 all strangely impressive and solemn. Like one 
 whose soul has left his body to journey through the 
 far depths of space, the world seems to fall away 
 from you, and you feel that you are ascending 
 upwards into the unknown. 
 
 After climbing Sgurr-nan-Gillean, the chances are 
 that, having toiled up its sides and seen the wild sea 
 of peaks all around, one will think enough has been 
 done and will be content to have that first magnificent 
 impression remain unaltered by any fresh ones. On 
 the other hand, the temptation may come to a rest- 
 less spirit to assail other peaks and reach " a height 
 that is higher." Again, therefore, the warning may 
 be uttered — Do nothing without a guide. A local 
 guide will take the unpractised climber by easy routes, 
 where these are available. Still better, perhaps, is 
 it to go with some member of the Scottish Mountain- 
 eering Club to whom all the peaks of the Coolins are 
 known, — unless the would-be climber has not a good 
 head, for he will then probably find himself hung up 
 between heaven and earth in a prayerful mood. In 
 any case, he should study the many Coolin articles, 
 photographs, and the magnificent map in the Journal 
 of that club, and he will then see what he must 
 expect to overcome or leave undone. 
 
 Since Professor Forbes made the first recorded 
 ascent of Sgurr-nan-Gillean in 1836, all the peaks of 
 the Coolins have been climbed, not excepting the 
 Inaccessible Pinnacle on Sgurr Dearg, first conquered 
 by the Messrs. Pilkington in 1880. This pinnacle on 
 10
 
 146 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Sgurr Dearg is one of the most striking objects in 
 this striking group of mountains. It stands out from 
 the summit of the mountain, taking different shapes 
 according to the point of view — a chimney-can, a 
 great horn, "a slate stuck vertically into the top of 
 a wall." The pinnacle is a great dyke which runs 
 up the eastern slope of Sgurr Dearg until it reaches the 
 summit, where the softer rock of the mountain having 
 weathered away, it is left jutting into the air — a 
 solitary column of rock. Inaccessible as it looks, 
 this pinnacle may be surmounted by experienced 
 climbers who love to do what no one else has done 
 and to boast thereof for ever after. Apart from 
 the pinnacle, Sgurr Dearg is easily climbed from 
 Glen Brittle, and affords a grand view of Skye with 
 its moors and winding lochs, and of the Outer Isles. 
 
 For those who prefer to look at mountain peaks 
 from below rather than from their hoary summits, 
 the walk to Coruisk from Sligachan, and a second 
 walk from Sligachan to Glen Brittle, will suffice. 
 By taking these two journeys, they will have skirted 
 the feet of a group of mountains which have no 
 parallel in Britain, and seen peaks and precipices and 
 corries and crevices enough to satisfy completely 
 their hunger for the sublime. The western spurs of 
 the Coolins, enclosing dark corries, project one by 
 one in a curving line into Glen Brittle. At the north 
 end of the curve is Coire-na-Creiche, its upper part 
 divided into two smaller recesses by a projecting 
 ridge, and guarded north and south by Bruach-na- 
 Frithe and by Sgurr Thuilm respectively. Rounding 
 Sgurr Thuilm, Coire a Ghreadaidh is reached, with 
 Sgurr a Ghreadaidh looking down into its depths. 
 Then comes Coire-na-Banachdich between Sgurr-nan- 
 Gobhar and Sgurr Dearg, and Coire Labain, and 
 beyond these corries is a maze of peaks, of which the 
 cones of Sgurr Alasdair, peering above Sgumain, are 
 the most mysterious and inviting. 
 
 In Coire-na-Creiche (Corry of the Spoil) another 
 battle took place between the Macdonalds and
 
 The Mountains 147 
 
 MacLeods in 1601 — probably the last of all the great 
 clan fights which had been waged in Skye for 
 centuries past. The chief of the MacLeods, the 
 famous Rory Mor, was absent when Macdonald 
 with his clan invaded his lands. MacLeod's brother, 
 Alexander, collected his clansmen and encamped near 
 this corrie. Next day the Macdonald men arrived, 
 and then began a battle which only ended when the 
 night had fallen. The Macdonalds were victorious, 
 but not without suffering great loss, and they took 
 Alexander and thirty leading men of the MacLeods 
 prisoners. Perhaps had Rory Mor been there in 
 person with his great two-handed sword, the fortunes 
 of the day might have been different. Like Harta 
 Corrie on the eastern side, this corrie on the west 
 has rung with the shouts of war. As if these 
 solitudes were not wild enough in themselves, the 
 wild passions of men have raged among them. But 
 this very wildness has given rise to many super- 
 stitious terrors and weird tales. A grisly shape 
 haunts the lonely Coire-nan-Uraisg. The mortal 
 eye which has gazed on this horrid monster with 
 impunity will not quail at the Cave of the Ghost 
 near Coruisk, where sits the spectre of a shepherd, 
 his legs crossed, branding a sheep dripping with 
 gore, which struggles on his knee and utters unearthly 
 cries. 
 
 And the Coolins, desolate as they are, have their 
 treasures of gold, like the troll's hoards in the Norse 
 bergs, if the following tale be true. Long ago it 
 was noticed by the good folk of Dunvegan that one 
 of their number was in the habit of leaving home 
 without saying a word to anyone, and remaining 
 away for days together. Then he would return with 
 gold and precious stones, which he sold to those 
 who could afford to buy them. The people believed 
 him a sure victim of the devil, to whom, they said, 
 he had sold himself. One day he returned after a 
 long absence, weary and ill. Stumbling into his 
 cottage, he bade the priest be sent for, and when the
 
 148 
 
 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 holy man came he told him that the gold he had 
 found had made him a wicked man, and now that 
 he was dying he was afraid. Pressed to tell how 
 he gained the gold, he said that one night he had 
 lost his way among the sgurrs of the Coolins, and, 
 coming upon a cave, had lain down in it to pass 
 the night. Morning came, and he awoke. Then it 
 seemed to him that the walls of the cave were 
 covered with curious marks, which a closer inspection 
 showed to be nuggets of gold and gleaming gems. 
 Trembling, he took as many as he dared, and left the 
 cave. But as he left he saw that an unknown visitor 
 had been there before him. At the entrance of the 
 cave were some human bones and a pair of worn 
 brogues. At sight of them he fled for fear, but 
 cupidity had impelled him to return to the solitudes 
 of the mountain and the mysterious cave more than 
 once. Nothing had molested him, but his spirit had 
 changed and evil had perverted his soul. With the 
 ending of his story the wretched man died, and 
 though many sought from that day for the cave it 
 was never found. The mountains still guard their 
 secret, and perhaps that is why they seem to nod and 
 whisper mysteriously to one another whenever human 
 foot disturbs their ancient solitary reign. ^ 
 
 ^ I append the height of some of the peaks : 
 Sgurr Alasdair . 
 Sgurr Dearg 
 Sgurr Tearlach 
 Sgurr Ghreadaidh 
 Sgurr Mhic Cohincach 
 Sgurr-nan-Gillean 
 Blaaven 
 Glamaig . 
 Marsco 
 
 3275 feet. 
 
 3255 .. 
 
 3230 M 
 
 3190 M 
 
 3180 ,, 
 
 3167 M 
 
 3042 „ 
 
 2537 n 
 
 2414 ..
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE MOORLAND 
 
 " I know a stretch of wine-red moor, 
 The great domed heaven's resplendent floor, 
 The sun shines o'er it all day long ; 
 There larks trill out their matin song, 
 While bees respond with droning hum ; 
 But human footsteps rarely come, 
 Though 'tis a land of all delights, 
 Sweet scents, rich sounds, and magic lights." 
 
 I CAN never wander on the moors of Skye without 
 recalling that passage of Tacitus which describes 
 the aspect of a land made desolate by war. Vasiitm 
 ubique silenimm ; secreti colles ; fumantia procul iecta ; 
 7iemo exploratoribus obviiis. The vast silence, the 
 lonely hill ridges, the lack of wayfarers, are every- 
 where in evidence, only it is nature's influence, not 
 the desolation of war, which has made them so ; while 
 the smoking roof-trees afar off are suggested by the 
 blue peat-reek rising from some shepherd's or crofter's 
 hut. But besides this impression of loneliness which 
 the moorlands give, they have many aspects, which 
 they who drive across them, cursing the slowness of 
 the Skye ponies, can hardly even guess at. But they 
 are there, and greet one according to the season of 
 the year, the hour of day or night, or the state of the 
 weather ; and as they have been noted, so will they 
 be found recorded here. 
 
 Their most joyous, though far from their most 
 luxurious aspect, is in spring, when the sadness of 
 
 their sombre winter dress is giving place to a livelier 
 
 14;*
 
 150 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 covering. The fragrant, earthy smell of the moor 
 has returned, and is as welcome as the perfume of 
 the fresh air after long pining in a sickroom. The 
 face of the moor is still dusky, save where it is inter- 
 spersed with great staring patches of wan, withered 
 grass. But by peering down, one sees the tiny shoots 
 of fresh green grass, and notes that the woody stalks 
 of the bog-myrtle are already in bud. No longer a 
 dripping sponge, the earth of the moors is becoming 
 dry and brown. There are glints of warm sunshine, 
 lighting up the shadowy hollows which, all winter, 
 seemed so desolate. The clouds, too, are higher in 
 the air, and no more oppress the earth with their 
 nearness, while there is a corresponding increase of 
 light shed over the wide landscape. A lark is trying 
 his notes, and a stray bee comes droning past. There 
 is everywhere an air of expectancy, as if some vast 
 door were about to be opened throvigh which the 
 pageant of Spring will pass and dance across the 
 moor like Bacchus and his train. 
 
 On the first dry days of spring, moor-fires, lit to 
 burn down the exuberant heather and allow of the 
 growth of fresh pasturage for the sheep, are seen 
 blazing and smoking in all directions. If the day is 
 clear and bright, the rolling clouds of blue smoke, 
 seen from a height, give a curiously unreal effect to 
 the landscape, and fill the air with a delightfully 
 pungent odour. It is strange to come upon one of 
 those fires blazing by itself on the silent moor or the 
 lonely hillside. The flames make a ruddy glow of 
 leaping tongues of fire, travelling from clump to 
 clump of heather, while the pungent smoke rises in 
 dense blue masses swept to the far distance by the 
 breeze. The heather crackles and frizzles and hisses, 
 and there is a dull roar in the air as of subterranean 
 thunder. All over the moor for miles around you see 
 similar canopies of smoke, or at night a red glow of 
 distant fire. There is something demoniac in these 
 leaping flames and smoke columns seen among those 
 vacant solitudes. At night the uplands seem so
 
 The Moorland 151 
 
 many blazing volcanoes, fiery red against the dark- 
 ness, the flames waxing or waning as the breeze fans 
 them or dies away. The question of the amount 
 of surface which should be burned produces much 
 searching of heart. Crofter and farmer both want 
 as much pasture as they can get ; while the landlord, 
 with an eye to sporting tenants, thinks heavily of 
 roasted grouse eggs "shrivelled in a fruitless fire." 
 For the farmer will not greatly mourn if an additional 
 hundred square yards become the prey of the flames. 
 Some sapient ones maintain that the fires are good 
 for the interests of sportsman and farmer alike. 
 Others, no less sapient, are of a different mind. Let 
 the gentle reader decide as it please him ! 
 
 As the days grow longer and warmer, the moor- 
 land folk go out to cut the peats in family parties. 
 A spot is selected by the ground-officer, and from it, 
 for the small payment of half a crown, the crofter may 
 take as much peat as his natural laziness or his fore- 
 sight (never too keen where hard work is concerned) 
 will permit of. The husband carrying the spade, the 
 wife with provisions for the day, and the children 
 each with a smouldering peat (from which sparks 
 dropping occasionally kindle a chance fire) form a 
 procession and proceed leisurely to the scene of action. 
 Of the smouldering peats a fire is made, with a view 
 to later culinary arrangements, and all set to work. 
 Lifting the upper green turf at the peat-hag and 
 laying it aside, the digger uncovers the black slimy 
 peat underneath. The spade is long and narrow, 
 with a shorter blade set at right angles to the other, 
 so that forcing it downwards into the exposed peat, 
 it cuts out an oblong piece of about a foot in length. 
 These pieces are laid out in rows on the turf, so as 
 to free them from their excessive moisture ; after- 
 wards they are stacked in little heaps until the sun 
 has dried them, and they are then ready for use or 
 for storage against the winter. It is a cheerful sight, 
 after traversing miles of lonely moorland, to come 
 upon a place dotted with these little parties. All
 
 152 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 stop work to gaze at you, or to shout a kindly 
 greeting in Gaelic or English, and remain gazing 
 after you till you are out of sight and discussing who 
 the chance stranger may be. 
 
 Few people realise the importance of these fields 
 of inexhaustible peat to the crofting population in a 
 country so destitute of wood, and to which it is so 
 expensive to bring coal. They, at least, are freed 
 from the shivering terrors of the poor in great cities, 
 for, be the weather as cold and wet as it will, they 
 have abundance of fuel, and the fire on the hearth, 
 like the sacred fire of the Mazdeans, never goes out. 
 The act of "smooring," or (as a Sassenach would 
 call it) laying the fire before retiring to rest, so that 
 it might be found still burning next morning, was 
 formerly a semi - religious ceremony, and, in the 
 Roman Catholic islands, is so still. One way was 
 to spread the embers on the hearth in a circle, which 
 was then divided into three parts, with a small heap 
 in the centre. A peat was then laid along the space 
 between each section, its inner end resting on the 
 central heap. The first was laid down in the name 
 of the God of life, the second in the name of the God 
 of peace, and the third in the name of the God of 
 grace. Sufficient ashes were piled over the whole to 
 lessen without quenching the fire, and a rune was 
 said^ 
 
 The sacred Three, 
 
 To save, 
 
 To shield, 
 
 To surround, 
 
 The hearth, 
 
 The house, 
 
 The household, 
 
 This eve, 
 
 This night ; 
 
 Oh, this eve, 
 
 This night, 
 
 And every night, 
 
 Each single night. 
 Amen.^ 
 
 ^ Carmichael, Carmina Gcedelica, i, 236-237.
 
 The Moorland 153 
 
 Spring- advances, and the surface of the moor be- 
 comes brighter with the lig^ht green hues of unfolding 
 bracken and fern, the darker green of grass and 
 heather, and the early flowers of spring. Every- 
 where the lambs are skipping round their mothers, 
 plaintively calling, and then butting" wildly at the 
 maternal fountains, only to dash off again with a hop, 
 skip, and jump, in all the uncontrolled jollity of 
 youth and spring. The air is full of delicious per- 
 fumes, and musical with the voices of birds ; while 
 overhead the sky is seldom clouded, but brilliant 
 with a rich sapphire colour, rivalled only by the deep 
 azure of the sea, running far inland into the heart of 
 the moorland. Here and there the rising ground on 
 these moors is topped with the ruins of an ancient fort, 
 and from there, as from a coig^n of vantage, one 
 surveys a wide tract of these upland reg^ions in the 
 clear spring air. For miles and miles it heaves and 
 swells to the far horizon, where a slight haze shimmers 
 in the sunlight. Perhaps down in the valley a 
 babbling brook strays through the heather, or far 
 southwards the jagged Coolins tower grimly into 
 the sky, or to the north Storr upheaves its huge 
 broken face, and the Old Man of Storr stands with 
 mute appeal in front of the black precipice. Save 
 for the bleating of the lambs and the voice of the 
 birds, all is still. You lose touch with your age ; 
 the years roll by ; it is the eleventh century, and you 
 are an ancient Celt sheltering behind stone walls 
 against the Norse invader. For the natural features 
 of the land cannot have changed much since then ; 
 the lower slopes are cultivated, but the shaggy moor 
 remains the same ; and on its impassive face you 
 discover no hint of date. 
 
 As summer glides on the moors become richer in 
 wildflowers ; the air that blows across their surface 
 is more heavily perfumed with their fragrant odours ; 
 and, save on rainy days, which will intervene now 
 and then, their loveliness increases. Their rolling- 
 surface is too brilliant even to suggest the " pastoral
 
 154 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 melancholy" of the same green braes of Yarrow. It 
 is a place for lovers, a place for Pan and the nymphs 
 of glen and meadow ; but men and maids appear but 
 seldom, still more seldom a divinity. The oracles 
 are dumb ! But on a clear summer day, with the 
 blue sky overspreading all like a soft translucent 
 curtain, the wide spaces of the moor (like some 
 vision of infinite distance) haunt the mind with a 
 strange fascination. Every sense is appealed to. 
 The perfume of the vast earthy surface, of bog- 
 myrtle, of heather and moor flowers, is seductive to 
 smell and taste, as if one smelt the bouquet of a 
 rich wine which was presently to be tasted. There 
 is the strange solitary piping of secret birds, the 
 rushing music of the lark, the hum of bees and of 
 more querulous insects, the noise of unseen waters 
 in some hollow valley, the sighing winds among the 
 bent and heather. The eye rests satisfied on the 
 medley of colour, seas of purple heather, of saffron 
 moor grasses, of green mosses, of russet bracken ; 
 soft lights and softer shadows ; gleaming cataracts 
 on the far hillsides. Ranges of mountains, in Skye, 
 on the mainland, or in more remote islands, block 
 up the horizon, their retreating peaks giving an 
 inexpressible air of distance, or, where their rounded 
 summits tell of another formation, huddled together 
 like unwieldy cattle. 
 
 There follows the rainy season of August and 
 September, of which the less said the better. The 
 sky is murky, the rain falls with a sad persistence, 
 and the moor is a dripping sponge. Yet there are 
 few days when there is no glimpse of blue sky, no 
 possibility of going out of doors. On the heels of 
 that comes the Indian summer, and again the wide 
 spaces of the moor, pastonwi loca vasia, rejoice and 
 are glad. Over the billowy surface, here flat as a 
 table, there tossed into curious hillocks, or again 
 rising precipitously and showing an outcrop of 
 weather-beaten rock, the renewed harmonies of light 
 and colour appear most rare, most generous. All
 
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 The Moorland 155 
 
 around save to the west, where, beyond the shining 
 Minch, the peaks of Harris tower in a long Hne be- 
 hind a pearly mist, is an amphitheatre of hills, their 
 rounded summits blending gently with the blue sky. 
 To the east is Dun Caan in Raasay, on which the 
 lively Boswell, determined to taste life to the lees, 
 danced a jig. Over these northern slopes a Royal 
 Prince wandered, homeless and fugitive, hunted like 
 a partridge on the mountains. So the unstoried 
 moor joins hands for a brief moment with history! 
 Its tints are more uniform than those of the hills ; 
 saffron, light brown, or pale green, as bracken, or 
 heather, or grass, make up the surface, broken in 
 places where a peat-hag lies open, or dotted by 
 chocolate-coloured stacks of peat for winter fuel. But 
 all these colours are made richer by the generous 
 sunlight. 
 
 On the hills there is greater variety and much more 
 of a curiously chequered pattern of colours and 
 shadows. Where tiny crofts nestle in a fold of the 
 hill, there are yellow spots of fallow ground and 
 bright green patches where turnips are still growing. 
 But round them are gorgeous russets and browns 
 and reds and purples, streaked by zigzag lines of 
 dark shadow where some torrent has scarred the 
 face of the hill. Just behind is the gleam of a water- 
 fall stealing down the hillside through a birch wood ; 
 now hidden, now shining like the glint of light on 
 polished steel. And the birch wood with its rich 
 autumn hues might ravish the soul of an artist as 
 the sun's rays gleam through the tracery of the 
 branches, from which scarce a golden leaf has yet 
 fallen. There is no sign of life in these moorland 
 solitudes, save where some lads are building a peat- 
 stack, and, far off, a group of crofters are moving 
 slowly to the town, walking beside their shaggy 
 ponies with their laden panniers. Their harsh voices, 
 with the curious Gaelic intonation, are borne far 
 across the still moorland. 
 
 The upland roads, on either side of which the
 
 156 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 ditches were, in summer, a mass of luxuriant flowers, 
 are decked with fringes of fern, some green as in the 
 earlier year, some hanging in rusty-brown festoons 
 where the night-frosts have dried them up for their 
 winter sleep. A leaf flutters gently down from the 
 hazels on the slopes above ; a rabbit darts to its 
 cover ; a robin flutters lazily with cheerful chirp 
 from branch to branch. 
 
 Again follows the sad time of the year, when the 
 grey sky rests on the surrounding hills, and clouds 
 hurry from the south-west, or huddle black and 
 leaden on the horizon. Beneath, the wide spaces 
 of the moor are cheerless and repellent and cold. 
 The peat-hags speak of death in their mournful 
 black recesses ; the surface of the moor is wan in its 
 sad colours, with withered heath and bent, though 
 one now and then stumbles upon heath-bells still 
 red but fading fast. The mountains are fierce and 
 threatening, or already white with snow. The rich 
 colours of the Indian summer have gone. Chill 
 frosts have reduced them to cheerlessness, and the 
 moor is more secret and solitary than ever. 
 
 And here I shall strike a more intimate and per- 
 sonal note, and describe the aspect of the moors 
 of Skye, with their attendant horizons, as I saw 
 them on the last day of the nineteenth century. The 
 day itself had been calm, scarcely cold ; the sky 
 flecked with grey clouds tending to mass themselves 
 together in a fashion prophetic of a coming storm ; 
 but beyond them were patches of sapphire sky, while 
 bars of a ruddier hue burned in the west. As one 
 mounts the road above Portree, the wide face of the 
 moor, with its ridges and hollows and gradually 
 rising hills, is seen to perfection. To the left is the 
 wide sweep of Fingal's Seat ; to the right the moor 
 rises, now almost imperceptibly, and again suddenly 
 where, towards the north, the Storr ridges come into 
 view. Everywhere, on this winter day, the wan 
 hues of bleached grass and heath were apparent. 
 Patches of a livelier green indicated a crofter's tiny
 
 The Moorland 157 
 
 fields, while darker yellows and chocolate browns 
 spoke of tracts of withered bracken and lichen- 
 covered rocks. On the open moor the shadow of 
 death seemed to brood, where the black peat-hags, 
 with their shiny waters, loomed up in funeral array. 
 All these sad tints and hues blended into one pattern, 
 which seemed to harmonise with the silence which 
 hung around and the solitude inviting to meditation. 
 Toiling upwards and looking back to the town hid 
 by the leafless trees, one saw the pale gleam of the 
 loch, with St. Columba's Isle resting on its glassy 
 surface, and, miles beyond, the great unbroken 
 masses of the Red Hills and of Glamaig, and the 
 shattered crags of Blaaven, 
 
 " Each precipice keen and purple 
 Against the yellow sky." 
 
 Between the Red Hills and Ben Tianavaig, the 
 sentinel that ever watches the approach to the bay, 
 there was a glimpse of the far-oft" mountains of Ross- 
 shire, veiled in snow, and, farther to the left, the 
 lonely Dun-Caan of Raasay. Now, having gained 
 the crest of the ridge, a new vista of wide-spreading 
 moorland fell on the eye, while, far beyond the swell- 
 ing western ridges, the flat tops of Macleod's Tables 
 gave the lie to the assertion that there are no straight 
 lines in nature. Immediately in front, and looking 
 so near that one might almost have cast a stone into 
 its waters, lay Loch Snizort Beg, widening out into 
 the open sea, and showing at its farthest extremity 
 a corner of Loch Greshornish — a tiny silver patch — 
 guarded by its lofty cliff's. Beyond the sound the 
 round purple hills of Harris rose far above the 
 horizon line. Almost while one gazed, the short- 
 lived day died into night. MacLeod's Tables were 
 hidden in a bank of clouds ; the Red Hills and 
 Blaaven became indistinct blurred masses as the 
 evening shadows wrapped them round. The great 
 dark hollow of the moor was filled with light, drift-
 
 158 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 ing- mist, swaying hither and thither as the breeze 
 caught it and swept it onwards. Moaning voices 
 came sounding out of its dim recesses ; the wind, 
 suddenly rising, whistled in many keys through the 
 bent and heather, and shrieked wildly down some 
 hidden corrie ; 
 
 " vapours rolling down the valleys made 
 A lonely scene more lonesome." 
 
 Time and the hour peopled, to the imagination, 
 these moorland solitudes with ghosts, until the 
 mist, swirling to and fro, seemed a mighty army 
 of the dying century's dead men and women. A 
 hundred years ago the moor was as it is to-day, 
 save for the roads which cross its wide surface, nor 
 is it likely to change when, within a hundred years, 
 a new century will dawn, and a new army of misty 
 ghosts fleet amidst its shadows till the surging 
 winds scatters them and they are seen no more. 
 
 In midwinter, after a heavy snowfall, the moors 
 present themselves in a new aspect. The white 
 monotony of their rolling surface is broken by the 
 tufts of withered grass and heath which emerge, a 
 dirty yellow, from the stainless snow, or by some 
 outstanding boulder, black and grim against the 
 white surface. Towards evening, the hilltops in the 
 distance are lost in banks of leaden clouds, which 
 become darker and more threatening as the night 
 closes in. These white solitudes are tenantless, save 
 for some crofter trudging homewards, and voiceless, 
 save for a collie barking in the distance. There is a 
 gleam of fading light on a sea-loch, stretching its 
 long arm far inland, over which a mountain stands 
 like a dim ghost in the solemn eventide. The 
 hollows of the moor fall away in gloomy shadows 
 from the snow-covered road, which runs, like a long 
 white ribbon, into the far distance. 
 
 For miles you may follow it, hearing nothing but 
 the monotonous beat of your horse's hoofs on the
 
 The Moorland 159 
 
 stones. Darker falls the night ; more mysterious 
 grows the white-shrouded moor ; the clouds close in ; 
 a flurry of wind, and you are in the thick of a driving 
 snow blast which shuts out even the shadows of the 
 night, closing you into a deeper darkness, and makes 
 you think eagerly of the chimney-corner. It passes 
 away. Once more the moorland uplands are seen on 
 the horizon ; across the sound twinkle the lights of a 
 cottage on the remote mainland. You come to the 
 sea's edge, and hear the beat of the waves on the 
 shingle. A turn of the road, and a township with its 
 cheerful lights is reached, and the steaming horses 
 draw up at the door of the post-office. Then on 
 again into the darkness. A voice comes sounding 
 and hallooing from far behind ; the driver pulls up ; 
 and a drunken shepherd flings himself into the mail- 
 cart with a shower of Gaelic vocables. The spell of 
 brooding quiet is broken ; it is as if you had heard 
 " strains of glad music at a funeral." Headdresses 
 you loudly in a tongue you scarcely comprehend ; he 
 shouts Gaelic songs, tuneless, in a guttural and 
 raucous voice: how are you to help yourself but by 
 shrugging your shoulders and meditating on the evils 
 of Highland whisky ! Suddenly there comes another 
 flurry of wind, in which the fellow's cap disappears. 
 Nothing daunted, he ties a white handkerchief over 
 his head with much fumbling, and is chaff"ed by the 
 driver for putting up the white flag and being an 
 emissary of " Krooger." At this he flourishes his 
 stick and gesticulates with drunken ardour, and 
 addresses you once more in unintelligible Gaelic. 
 
 " Ach !" cries the driver, with that polite apology 
 in which none excels the true Celt, "he will have 
 lost his English with his cap." 
 
 "Aye, and his manners too," adds another 
 passenger. 
 
 Plunging into an opposite excess of politeness, the 
 shepherd pulls out a big bottle of whisky and off"ers 
 it all round. Then, making up for refusals, he takes 
 a long pull at it himself, and, with the swiftness of
 
 i6o The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 thought, it takes effect. His Gaelic songs take a 
 deeper colour, and you listen, unwillingly, to a broken 
 stream of poetic erotics. At last, he reaches his 
 destination, tumbles off, rids you of his noisy 
 company, and, once more, the silence of the moor 
 wraps you round. It fringes the edge of the sound, 
 where the waves are lapping round black reefs or 
 dashing on the shingle. The white, wan moorland 
 is suddenly lost in the dark waters, under the shadow 
 of the night. Then you dash through a fragrant pine 
 wood, and suddenly find yourself at home. A cheer- 
 ful fire of good sea-coal, a welcome meal, await you. 
 Then to bed, to sleep or to lie awake listening to the 
 gusts moaning in the chimney, or to dream of inter- 
 minable ghostly spaces, through which echo the 
 hoarse cries of a Gaelic shepherd.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE PAGEANT OF THE SEASONS 
 " So forth issued the Seasons of the year." — Spenser. 
 
 SKYE has many bad days during- the year, days 
 which for wild, unrelenting fury of wind and 
 rain almost baffle description, but there can be no 
 doubt that it has, year in, year out, the best climate 
 in Britain. People cry out at its rain ; a picture of 
 the deluge in an art gallery was described to a short- 
 sighted old lady as " a summer day in Skye " ; but 
 the truth is that while more rain falls in a given time, 
 there are no more rainy days than in any part of the 
 country where the rainfall is moderate. It is com- 
 forting in the Lucretian suave niari magno manner to 
 note, on bad days, the worse state of the weather 
 elsewhere as described in the newspaper reports, or 
 to read of wild storms when Skye is enjoying- 
 sunshine. The midges, it is true, are worse than the 
 ten plagues of Egypt together, and I am willing to 
 make a present of them to the man who sneers at 
 Skye, provided he takes them all off like a new Pied 
 Piper. But the calm beauty of countless days through 
 the year is unrivalled. It is a mild country, not 
 given to great extremes ; health-giving, inspiring ; 
 there are clear frosty days in winter of peerless 
 beauty, just as in spring and summer the glory of 
 sunlight and the gorgeous hues of the landscape 
 suggest Italy at its best. But a few impressions, 
 sketched rapidly in various aspects of climate and 
 atmosphere, will best convey the nature of the 
 climate. 
 
 II 161
 
 1 62 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 I. 
 
 Still ailing wind, will be appeased or no ? For over 
 a week now the storm has raved ; the lowering sky 
 has hung like a black banner far down the hillside, 
 while the clouds have scudded persistently through 
 the dim air. The rain has scarcely ceased, but, 
 lashed by the pitiless wind, has driven in sleety blasts 
 through the air, and flung itself against walls and 
 windows. The wind itself has been like a furious 
 madman, bullering and roaring in wild anger, seeming 
 to throw itself bodily against the house till it has 
 shaken it to its very foundations, and then, in bafiled 
 fury, moaning eerily in chimney and keyhole, and 
 anon rolling and bellowing, never ceasing its clamour. 
 The hillsides, dimly perceived through sheets of 
 driving rain and mist, are covered with hundreds of 
 foaming torrents rushing madly down their beds. 
 The moor is a mere lake, where what is not black 
 spongy peat is sheer water, while the wind whistles, 
 like some vast ^olian music, through bleached grass 
 and withered bracken. With the fury of the tempest 
 the loch is forced into sympathy. White waves foam 
 wildly on its slate-green surface ; the shore is flecked 
 with spongy masses of foam ; breakers and spray 
 dash with hiss and splash on the black basaltic 
 boulders which strevi^ the shore ; or opposite some 
 funnel in the hills the spindrift is blown along in 
 clouds of white mist. On days like these the shaggy 
 encircling hills and the ghastly hues of the lochs, with 
 the white horses dancing and foaming over them, give 
 an impression of weird desolation and of infinite 
 distance. High up on the edge of a cliff a column 
 of smoke is seen rising for several feet into the air, 
 and then, caught by the wind, is blown back, 
 shattered and broken. But it is not smoke ; it is a 
 waterfall, which by the force of the blast is forced 
 high into the air above, and then dashed hither and 
 thither in clouds of spray.
 
 
 — c 
 
 in 
 
 p
 
 The Pageant of the Seasons 163 
 
 At this time of the year, when everywhere the days 
 are short, in these northern latitudes and in valleys 
 so much shut in by hills it is shorter still, and in 
 these stormy days it is shortest of all. One dresses 
 by candlelight, and breakfasts (none so early either) 
 in a half daylig-ht, while what is called daylight is 
 rapidly retreating by three in the afternoon. But 
 while these stormy winds do blow, and sun and sky 
 are hidden all day long by a waste of clouds, the 
 light is grudging and refuses to be bountiful even 
 within the compass of its brief sway. To go out of 
 doors is to be buffeted beyond all measure, to feel 
 the driving rain on the cheek like needles, to walk 
 through mire and water, and yet withal to taste the 
 joy of the storm, to feel the tang of life, and to be 
 exhilarated by winds that have blown across four 
 thousand miles of unbroken sea and have been 
 suffused with its healthful breath. Yet a little of 
 this boisterous health-giving goes a long way, and 
 one gladly returns home. There, with the curtains 
 drawn, the lamps lit, a cheerful fire burning in the 
 hearth, with books and leisure and cheerful talk, the 
 wind may bellow, the rain beat on the pane, and the 
 floods lift up their voice, they cannot hurt us. Yet 
 one thinks with a shudder of the night and the wild 
 storm raging among the lonely corries of the Coolins, 
 or by the ghostly shores of Coruisk, or round the 
 weird Maidens, and in many another grim Skye 
 solitude. 
 
 But all at once in the evening the tempest has 
 fallen, and there has come a great calm and a silence 
 whose '■'■awful hush is felt inaudibly.'^ After this long 
 continuance of crashing, howling winds, of hissing 
 rain and foaming waters, the quiet comes as a sweet 
 relief. No breath of wind stirs ; only the noise of 
 the torrents' rush is heard ; only the night with its 
 dark curtain holds everything in a hidden silence. 
 
 Such is a winter storm in Skye. Reader, would 
 you care to experience it, and know at once its 
 savage melancholy and its boisterous exhilaration ?
 
 164 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 11. 
 
 Snow falls in Skye as it does elsewhere, but there 
 is less of it, and it seldom lies long". A fall of six or 
 seven inches will disappear in a single night with a 
 mild south-west wind laden with rain and moisture. 
 But sometimes, when the whole landscape is shrouded 
 in white, there come magic days when the sun shines 
 warmly out of a cloudless blue sky, when the air 
 is still and marvellously clear, when a pearly light 
 suffuses everything, and a purity and mellow softness 
 unimaginable enwraps the land. The waters of the 
 lochs are without a ripple, and on their glassy surface 
 and in their hidden depths the mountains and the 
 sky are depicted anew. Here and there a black 
 precipitous scaur looms out of the hillside, but the 
 hills themselves in their white dresses are folded 
 softly against the sky, and the snowy peaks of the 
 Coolins shimmer away like some ethereal phantasy 
 into the sapphire heaven. For there is little differ- 
 ence of tint between the glistening" snow on their 
 tops and the light sapphire of the sky on which, 
 as on a background, they appear to be painted. It 
 is only overhead that the sky is so intensely blue. 
 Were it not for the shadows cast on the hills by their 
 outstanding rocks and bluffs, they might be fleecy 
 clouds, forming" and dispersing and reforming in the 
 dreamy air. Nearer parts of the landscape are 
 strangely near ; the farther parts are as strangely 
 remote. The sheep, far up the near hillside, are not 
 dwarfed as at other times ; they, with their yellow 
 fleeces, stand out with curious exactness against the 
 white background. A hare scuttles from its form 
 in search of food, hard to get from beneath the 
 snowy surface. The ear catches sounds from hidden 
 and far-off places, so hushed and still is the air. 
 Everywhere there is the dazzling intensity of brilliant 
 light, radiant beauty, purity which is felt rather 
 than seen. And at evening when the red sun sinks 
 beyond the hills of Harris, the white landscape is
 
 The Pageant of the Seasons 165 
 
 bathed in crimson light, which, as it dies off the wide 
 scene, leaves the hills like grey and wan ghosts 
 against the darkening sky. 
 
 Often, too, in winter there are quiet grey days 
 when it neither snows nor rains. The sun's rays 
 now and then emerge from the bars of intervening 
 cloud, but most of it is hidden, and these various 
 strata are each a separate plane of light — the nearer, 
 bright and mellow, the farther, dark and shadow-y. 
 Then the hills, far and near, stand out prominently ; 
 every crag and fissure is plainly seen ; and in the 
 varying lights of the upper air, they yield all their 
 colours and tints more readily to the eye. On such 
 a day, calm and still (monotonous, some will call 
 it, but that I cannot), the genuis loci reveals itself and 
 whispers to the attentive ear the dreams of eld, the 
 secret of the magic song which the sirens sing on 
 the rocks of Eilean a Cheo. 
 
 III. 
 
 There follows the time of the awakening of nature 
 in spring, when the light increases, the clouds are 
 in full retreat to the higher regions of the atmosphere, 
 and you look forward to a more consistent out-of- 
 doors life. There is a strange opaqueness in the 
 atmosphere on some of these spring days, as if with 
 a heat haze. It resembles the opaqueness which 
 takes place when a few drops of milk are let fall into 
 a glass of water. The winds may still be cold, but 
 the air is soft, and there is a healthy tang of the 
 brown old earth everywhere. The face of the moor- 
 land is yet wan, with clumps of dirty brown where 
 the heather is. There are forlorn patches of snow 
 in the folded hollows of the hills, and the withered 
 grass and heath on their sides gives them still a 
 curious streaky appearance, the result of these brown 
 and white-green zigzagging belts of last year's 
 vegetation. 
 
 The awakening of nature is almost feline in its
 
 1 66 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 stealthiness, it comes upon you at unexpected 
 moments and in out-of-the-way corners. In that 
 pool there is a constant hubbub and animation, where 
 the frogs are spawning and masses of blobby jelly 
 are half-hidden in the muddy water. On the moor 
 you meet with fresh green stag-moss, stealing up 
 serpent-like through the withered heath. Bright red 
 pointed buds cover the bog-myrtle, and clumps of 
 velvety-green young ferns {Aspleniuin) are seen in 
 the crevices of every dyke and bank. A bumble-bee 
 drones past, with a vivid suggestion of drowsy 
 summer days and perfumed flowers. Overhead 
 copper-coloured and lilac clouds are stretched out 
 in thin strata beneath a sky of palest green. 
 
 Of the primroses which cover the cliffs and moors 
 and hillsides and woodlands in April, I can never 
 say enough. They form a yellow carpet ; they are 
 of immense size ; their number is truly legion ; they 
 fill the air with a faint delicious perfume as the 
 afternoon sun strikes full upon them. And scattered 
 everywhere among them are pale windflowers, pink 
 butterburs, yellow celandines, white wild-strawberry 
 blossoms. Hard ferns and polypodys are unfolding 
 themselves. You hear the cuckoo after his long 
 absence, and always with afresh surprise, as you heard 
 it first long ago in childhood. Chaffinches, robins, 
 thrushes, blackbirds, yellow-hammers, and tomtits 
 are singing all day long ; rock-pigeons wheel above 
 the cliffs ; jackdaws chatter on the rocks. The days 
 are growing long ; the light is more intense ; the 
 air mellower. 
 
 During May the crosiers of the bracken are 
 peering up through the moss and grass, and gradually 
 rising and unfolding, till innumerable long straight 
 stems with several cross branches erect themselves 
 on moor and hillside. Clumps of milkwort, purple, 
 blue, pink, and white, contest the surface with violets 
 and the pale primrose. Ferns are everywhere un- 
 curling, in stony places, on river edges, on the moor, 
 in the woods, in crannies. There is the stalwart
 
 The Pageant of the Seasons 167 
 
 male fern curving downwards and outwards at the 
 top, like a shepherd's crook, in soft brown curls as 
 it unfolds. There is the slenderer lady-fern in thick 
 masses ; here the hard fern with its brown and green 
 fronds side by side ; there the polypody, tinted with 
 so soft and tender a green that you regret it will 
 soon lose its softness ; tiny woodsias ; mountain 
 bucklers, with a fringe of white lace all down the 
 stem ; the black maiden-hair peeping out from cracks 
 in the cliflF ; the holly-fern ; the beech-fern ; the oak- 
 fern in hidden recesses ; and here and there among 
 the limestone down by the sea, the hard sea spleen- 
 wort. Anemones, with their white stars and tender 
 leaves, cover the sides of glen and moor ; the air is 
 full of the rich perfume of the bog-myrtle ; vetches 
 are found in flower here and there, but their true 
 brilliance comes later. Tiny leaves are unfolding 
 themselves on the barren heather. On wet places 
 in the moorland the starry leaves of the Pinguiculse 
 are fully formed, and out of their midst the flower 
 stalk crowned with a purple bud is beginning to 
 erect itself. Only in a few favoured places is the 
 flower open and fully formed. It is of a rich purple 
 hue, but if you are lucky you may find the rare 
 yellow variety. There, too, in the marsh are 
 sundews, bright green and red, attracting the 
 swarming insect life, and the curious bog-bean with 
 its trailing stem, fleshy leaves, and its head of pink 
 flowers covered with delicate lace-work. On over- 
 hanging banks is displayed the golden banner of the 
 gorse, making the air faint with its honeyed sweet- 
 ness. How intensely yellow are the cups of the 
 marsh-marigold, flaunting it in ditches by the way- 
 side, and the spheres of the globe-flower on their tall 
 stems ! And who would not fancy himself in dream- 
 land as he saw the endless purple mist of the wild 
 hyacinth which carpets every woodland glade, or 
 mingles with the primroses on the slopes ? 
 
 During this month the life of the seabirds is worth 
 watching as you drift among the islands in your
 
 1 68 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 boat, or, landing, arouse their clamorous cries and 
 indignant shrieks. The terns have not come yet, 
 but eider-ducks, divers, the black -backed, the 
 herring, and the common gull, mergansers, and 
 oyster-catchers have already laid their eggs among 
 the rocks and sea-pinks, and you can hardly walk 
 over the little rocky islands where they build without 
 stepping on their eggs. The scarts prefer to build 
 on high cliffs, where they sit solemnly, their plumage 
 glistening in the sunlight, or for a change bob up 
 and down in companies on the water below. Little 
 care is taken by most of these birds to build a nest : 
 a few wisps of grass, some crumbling, withered twigs 
 — that is all ; and on that, or in a hollow of the rock, 
 the eggs are placed, and fall an easy spoil to the 
 collector. Most of the gull's eggs are difficult to 
 see at first, so much do they approximate to the 
 colour of the ground. They are of a dingy brown, 
 with darker spots ; the oyster-catcher's are cream- 
 coloured with dark black or brown patches and 
 streaks and zigzags. Mergansers and eider-ducks 
 build more elaborately, and lay three times the 
 number of eggs in their larger nests. Here is an 
 eider-duck sitting on her eggs — a picture of patient 
 maternity. There is her dark head with a yellowish 
 sheen in the sunlight ; her back is grey, with brown 
 spots. She will sit quite still while you photograph 
 her a few paces off, but as you approach her she 
 flies off with a whirr to join her mate who is swim- 
 ming about in the water near by. The nest is a foot 
 in diameter, and its sides are three inches thick. Its 
 basis is withered heather and grass, on which the 
 sides are built up of a thick ring of fluffy grey down, 
 and the whole is carefully placed in a clump of 
 withered bracken so like the mother-bird in colour 
 that you may pass quite close to her and not see her. 
 Close at hand are other two nests, one a grouse's, 
 the other a sandpiper's, with four tiny eggs. And 
 there is the mother running along the ground as if 
 with a broken wing, before she flies off for safety,
 
 The Pageant of the Seasons 169 
 
 A few weeks later, passing this island, you will see 
 the eider-duck with her brood — tiny fluffy balls, 
 swimming on the water and diving out of sight as 
 you approach. But now as you leave the islands, a 
 few seals follow the boat, their grey faces appearing 
 above the surface with a weird humanness. A vivid 
 imagination might easily transform them to mermaids 
 tired of the sea and seeking for a human mate, as 
 they do so often in the folk-tales of the Celt. 
 
 June follows when the bracken is already two feet 
 high, filling the air with a richly aromatic perfume. 
 Every foot of ground is rich with colour and covered 
 with abundant flowers. Clumps of sea-pink give a 
 touch of colour to the black rocks at the sea's edge. 
 A little higher there is a richer vegetation — vivid 
 blue milkworts, white stitchworts, white garlic 
 flowers — too beautiful by far for their acrid odours. 
 In shadowy glens great masses of honeysuckle cover 
 the rocks and fill the warm air with odorous perfumes. 
 There, in a shady recess, yellow pimpernels hide 
 their tiny flowers modestly from sight, pink vetch 
 and yellow potentilla trail among the grass ; rich 
 golden patches of bird's-foot trefoil meet one at 
 every step ; while among the marshy flats, beds of 
 iris, with yellow flowers, wave in the air. How pre- 
 dominant is that key of yellow among the flowers of 
 Skye ! The moors are a mere carpet of flowers, 
 brilliant, above all, with the blue veronica, but scores 
 of other flowers are found in rich abundance. Skye 
 roads are edged on either side, for purposes of drainage, 
 with deep ditches, full of vegetation, and brimming 
 with glowing flowers. They are a constant pleasure 
 to the eye of the wayfarer, like the roadside ditches of 
 the flat country around Venice, and seem to form a 
 fringe of gaudy colour to a long ribbon of dingy grey. 
 
 These aspects of the landscape continue through 
 July and August, but now the whole country is 
 covered with a royal mantle of rich purple. The 
 heather is in bloom, and the hills and moorlands seem 
 ever steeped in the gorgeous hues of glowing sunsets.
 
 lyo The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 A careful eye observes many tints, pink, crimson, 
 and purple, and there are besides the more vivid 
 colours of the bell-shaped heath {Erica ciliaris) and 
 the delicate waxen blush of its cross-leaved sister, 
 but the general effect of the moor is that of some 
 vast Titan resting under the folds of his purple 
 cloak. Happy, too, is he who finds the luck-bringing' 
 white heather — not so rare, perhaps, as is imagined, 
 when it is looked for carefully ; but its influence, like 
 that of most magic herbs, is only powerful to him 
 who comes upon it accidentally. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Enough has been said of the glowing summer 
 weather in the previous chapter. It remains to 
 describe certain atmospheric effects, and certain 
 aspects of the sunset. 
 
 At times in early summer a bluish mist, strangely 
 suggestive in these remote solitudes of the smoke 
 of some populous town, drifts for days down the 
 narrow sea- passages, with a majestic and slow 
 motion, or hangs indefinitely about the hollows of 
 the hills, or folds itself over the edge of the cliffs like 
 snow projecting from the eaves of a house ; while, 
 through its semi-transparent shifting mass, reaches 
 of the sea or patches of heath are dimly descried. 
 
 The gradual passing away of rainy weather, again, 
 Is often accompanied by the phenomenon of a dark 
 heavy curtain of grey mist hanging half-way down 
 the hillsides and blotting out the sky. This fall of 
 mist gives the curious impression of some vast 
 covering which has been let down from the higher 
 reaches of the atmosphere, to cramp and shut in the 
 never very vital energies of the islanders. As it 
 hangs irresolute, now lifting, now dropping, or, 
 where a breath of warm wind touches it on a single 
 hillside, scattering into gleaming wisps of smoke, 
 unaccustomed colours are given to the landscape as 
 the lights shift and change. Here a hill or a cliff
 
 The Pageant of the Seasons 171 
 
 will loom up black as ink, like some vision of the 
 Inferno, and give the onlooker the feeling- of being 
 on the edge of some catastrophe and convulsion of 
 nature. There a grassy slope will be changed to 
 indigo, and, near by, an island will be bathed in a 
 glow of vivid purple. But the absolute stillness and 
 peace of such days give the mind a feeling of serenity. 
 Presently the wind has dispersed the canopy of cloud, 
 and the sun shines out on its retreating and broken 
 columns. Then the lights are still more beautiful. 
 Dark shadows make the peaks solemn, but in places 
 the grassy slopes ontheirflanksarebrightandcheerful, 
 like sun-steeped meadows where you might surprise a 
 nymph resting and rejoicing in the thought of summer. 
 At evening, you will see the pink light on the 
 Coolins changing to a dark purple, till at last that 
 also fades away, until there is only a lustrous saffron 
 sky beyond the dark peaks. The full moon shines 
 out, making a golden gleam on the water. There is 
 a warm glow in the air, not a silvery light, and each 
 crag and spire stands clearly outlined against the 
 luminous background of the sky. Or again, it is a 
 still evening ; the water is placid ; the green hillsides 
 are moist after days of summer rain ; great banks 
 of white mist lie on the tops of the hills, and are lit 
 up by the setting sun. A crimson glow is thrown 
 into their vapoury recesses, till they look like molten 
 brass. The effect is indescribable : the warm light 
 gives the touch of life to the vast slowly moving 
 masses of cold grey mist. Then they resume the 
 grey hues of death as the sun disappears. They 
 move slowly behind the peaks, leaving them also 
 cold and grey against a background of shifting 
 vapour. On one hill only is there a thin shroud of 
 mist, moulding itself to the shape of the summit like 
 a covering of newly fallen snow. Your mind is full 
 of solemn thoughts, and they are set to music, for 
 far off a bagpipe is playing a dirge. It gives place 
 to a lively reel ; you are enlivened, and remember 
 that, after all, to-morrow is a new day, and that it is 
 still summer-time in Skyc.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE GEOLOGY OF SKYE 
 
 " They say, 
 The solid earth whereon we tread 
 In tracts of fluent heat beg-an 
 And grew to seeming random forms, 
 The seeming prey of cyclic storms, 
 Till at the last arose the man." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 THE whole island of Skye is built upon a series 
 of sedimentary rocks, — gneissose and schistose, 
 and dark red sandstone found in Sleat ; various 
 members of the Jurassic series, full of fossils, as in 
 Strathaird and at the base of the long line of cliffs 
 stretching northwards from Loch Sligachan to Staffin. 
 Above these lie the great volcanic series of Skye, 
 produced in the Tertiary age, and forming one of the 
 most interesting group of rocks in Britain. 
 
 The earliest rocks are the pre-Cambrian, consist- 
 ing of Lewisian gneiss, various gneissose and 
 schistose rocks, full of mica flakes and garnets, and 
 the red Torridonian sandstones. They form the 
 peninsula of Sleat, and must once have been covered 
 by the later sedimentary series, as well as by the lava 
 sheets which are so prominent in every other part of 
 the island. These having been removed by denuda- 
 tion, no longer afforded a protecting covering to the 
 secondary strata, which have therefore entirely dis- 
 appeared. The only exception to this occurs at Ru- 
 Geur, north of the Point of Sleat. There a bed of 
 Poikilitic strata (fine and coarse conglomerates 
 composed of Torridonian sandstone fragments, and 
 
 172
 
 The Geology of Skye 173 
 
 quartzite and limestone pebbles in a matrix full of 
 calcareous matter) is preserved between the Torrid- 
 onian sandstone and an isolated patch of Tertiary 
 basalts. 
 
 The Cambrian series is represented at Ord on the 
 west side of the peninsula of Sleat, and in the district 
 of Strath, by quartzite and limestone beds, much 
 affected by thrusts. At Ord the limestone appears 
 to be destitute of fossils ; the beds of fucoid shales 
 which belong to the same system contain Olenellus 
 and other fossils, while the quartzites yield various 
 kinds of worm-burrows or "pipes" {Scoliihus lin- 
 earis). In the Strath district the intrusion of the 
 great granophyre masses has caused considerable 
 metamorphism in the limestones, converting it into 
 marble. The fossils in this area are very numerous, 
 at least eighteen species having been discovered. ^ 
 
 Red sandstone rocks, lying at the base of the 
 secondary rocks in different parts of Skye, are now 
 identified with members of the Triassic system. 
 They consist mainly of micaceous shaly marls, red 
 and greenish sandstone, and conglomerates largely 
 made up of Torridon sandstone and quartz. They 
 occur at Lussay Bay, notably where the Allt-an- 
 Daraich falls over the face of a rock, below the 
 
 ^ These are as follows : — 
 
 Archasoscyphia minganensis. 
 Calathiuni. 
 Sponge rods. 
 Sponge. 
 Planolites. 
 Solenopleura. 
 Orthisina pestinata. 
 ,, striatula. 
 Orthis. 
 
 Euchasma blumcnbachia. 
 Holopea Ophelia. 
 Ophileta complanata. 
 Trocholites. 
 Maclurea crenulata. 
 
 * See the Geological Survey Report for i 
 
 Maclurea Emmonsi. 
 
 ,, Oceana. 
 
 ,, Peachi. 
 Murchisonia Adelina. 
 
 ,, gracilis. 
 
 ,, (Eunenia) pagoda. 
 Oriostoma Calpiiurnia. 
 Pleurotomaria calcifera. 
 Endoceras. 
 
 ,, (Piloceras)invaginatuin. 
 Orthoccras durinum. 
 
 ,, niendax. 
 
 ,, pertineas.*
 
 174 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Lower Lias series. The same group of strata occur 
 in Sleat, north-west of Tarskavaig ; and again, 
 between the Torridonian sandstones and the over- 
 lying bedded basalts, a patch of the same rocks 
 has been discovered in the form of reddish breccia 
 passing upwards into a sandy limestone. Nowhere 
 are these strata very thick, nor have any fossil 
 remains been found in them. 
 
 Of much more importance to the geologist are 
 the Jurassic rocks which can be traced in cliff 
 sections or in some of the deep valleys farther 
 inland throughout the region occupied by the 
 plateaux basalts. These strata, once they were 
 exposed, suffered much from denudation, and must 
 eventually have disappeared altogether had not 
 the basaltic lavas overwhelmed them and at the 
 same time protected them from further surface 
 denudation. These Jurassic beds may be best 
 studied on the east coast of Trotternish, where, 
 capped by the Tertiary basalts, they rise far above 
 sea-level. On the west coast of Skye they occur 
 less frequently, and are only exposed to the thickness 
 of a few feet above sea-level, as at Uig and Stein. 
 They are found again in greater thickness on the 
 shores of Loch Slapin and in the district round 
 Broadford. But everywhere they owe their pre- 
 servation to the fact that they were sealed up by 
 the basaltic lavas which were poured out over their 
 denuded floor, and even in the districts where these 
 have most completely disappeared, their isolated 
 patches are still found to preserve portions of the 
 Jurassic series beneath them. 
 
 During the whole period from the Carboniferous 
 to the Cretaceous age, a large part of the Highlands 
 must have been submerged and have formed areas 
 of deposition. The great thickness of the beds of 
 Jurassic rocks — individual members of the series 
 attaining as much as 200 feet — show the length of 
 time necessary for their deposition. Though marine 
 fossils are numerous, many of the fossiliferous
 
 The Geology of Skye 175 
 
 deposits show that estuarine conditions prevailed at 
 recurring intervals in the Jurassic sea. Most of the 
 strata of the series are well represented in Skye, 
 beginning- with the Infra-Lias, and ending with tlie 
 Oxford Clay. 
 
 The Infra-Lias series is well represented in the 
 shore-reefs between Lusa and Ob-Breakish, east of 
 Broadford. Immediately below them is a thin bed 
 of Poikilitic strata. Above these are the lower 
 members of the Infra-Lias group — sandstones and 
 limestones with a coral reef formed of Isastrcea 
 Mtcrchisonce. These beds, about 20 feet in thick- 
 ness, contain also casts of Cardinia coyicinna and a 
 few traces of Ostrcea irregularis. The next series, 
 150 feet thick, consists of limestones and shales 
 with conglomerate bands. The limestones are 
 made up of masses of Ostrcea irregularis, while 
 Ostrcea ai-ictis, a huge Pifina, also occur. One of 
 the higher beds is crowded with Thecosmilia Martini, 
 forming a true coral reef. Next in the series are 
 beds of coarse white sandstone, containing quartz 
 pebbles, apparently unfossiliferous, and, as the 
 false bedding shows, deposited under estuarine 
 conditions. 
 
 The Lower Lias limestones and shales of Skye are 
 frequently of a sandy character, with intercalations 
 of sandstone and quartzose conglomerate devoid of 
 fossils but containing fragments of wood. They 
 must, therefore, have been deposited near an ancient 
 shore line. They are well exposed between Ob- 
 Breakish and Broadford, beginning with a series of 
 beds of black micaceous shales deposited on a lime- 
 stone floor, and attaining a thickness of 125 feet.^ 
 
 ^ The fossils are abundant, and consist mainly of — 
 
 Ammonites Bucklandi. 
 ,. Conybeari. 
 
 Pleurotomaria similis. 
 Gryphaea arcuata. 
 Unicardium cardioides. 
 Lima gigantea. 
 
 Cardinia Listeri. 
 Pecten textorius. 
 Pinna Hartmanni. 
 Avicula sinemuriensis. 
 Spirifcrina Walcotti.
 
 176 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 These beds are continued upwards in a series of 
 the same character, but with fossils of a differing 
 type. Gryphcea arcuata occurs, but with a less 
 notably sulcated shell. Lima gigantea also assumes 
 a less typical form. Ammonites are abundant, 
 especially Aninionites semicostahis and sauzeanus. 
 The shales and limestones of the Lower Lias occur 
 in Strathaird, and at the shores of Lochs Slapin and 
 Eishort, but much altered by the intrusion of molten 
 granophyre rocks. 
 
 The Middle Lias series in Skye is represented by 
 beds of sandy shales, micaceous, with limestone 
 nodules (Pabba shales), and above them beds of 
 calcareous sandstone, also micaceous. In the 
 lower strata Ammonites capricornis and Jamesoni 
 are abundant ; while Ammojiites spinatus and 7nar- 
 garitatus, Gryphcea gigantea and Gtyphcea cymbium, 
 are found in the upper strata, which are usually of 
 great thickness. 
 
 The Middle Lias formation is well represented 
 on the east side of the Trotternish coast, especially 
 at Prince Charlie's Cave and in the cliffs of 
 Ben Tianavaig, south of Portree Bay and facing 
 Raasay. Frequently, however, they are hidden by 
 talus and rock falls, as well as broken up by 
 intrusive lavas. The Pabba shales are also exposed 
 on the coast north-west of Corry, near Broadford ; 
 but generally round this district, as well as in 
 Strathaird, the Middle Lias series has suffered 
 great metamorphosis as the result of volcanic 
 action, and are changed into quartzites and 
 burnt shales with nearly every trace of fossils 
 obliterated. 
 
 The Upper Lias series, made up of finely laminated 
 blue clays, containing argillaceous nodules, and, in 
 some places, pyrites and jet, is found also on the 
 east coast of Skye and in the district of Strath, 
 where, like the Lower and Middle Lias, it has 
 undergone the usual metamorphism. The thickness 
 of the sheets is often difficult to ascertain, because of
 
 The Geology of Skye 177 
 
 the slipped masses, talus, and the interruption of the 
 strata by dolerite sills. ^ 
 
 In the Lower Oolite group the following series are 
 found: — i. Limestones, made up of shell fragments 
 in which various species of Brachiopoda and Lamelli- 
 branchiata have been found. 2. White sandstones 
 with bands of shale, containing carbonaceous matter 
 and plant remains (Ferns and Cycads). This group 
 is of estuarine origin. 3. Alternate beds of calciferous 
 sandstone and shale, with plant remains, and occa- 
 sional marine fossils, especially in the upper beds. 
 The fossils are Belemnites giganteus, aalensis, Am- 
 monites Htnnphriesianus Blagdeni and coronatus, etc. 
 4. Sandy micaceous shales with calciferous sand- 
 stones, and occasional beds of shelly limestone. 
 The fossils are all marine, and include Ammonites 
 Mtirchisonce, corrugaitcs, Iceviuscaliis, Belemnites, 
 Brachiopods, and Lamellibranchiates. All these 
 groups are found together in the Trotternish cliffs, 
 especially at Prince Charlie's Cave and opposite 
 Holm Island, and in part at Beal, near Portree, and 
 in the cliffs south of Portree. In the Strathaird 
 district the Lower Oolite series immediately under- 
 lies the basaltic sheets, but is again much altered 
 by metamorphosis. 
 
 Succeeding the Lower Oolite are members of the 
 Great Estuarine series, consisting of (i) black shales 
 and argillaceous limestone, (2) beds of sandstone 
 containing quartz pebbles, and showing ripple-marks, 
 sun cracks, and worm tracks. Cypris, Cyrena, 
 Cyclas, Paltidina, Mela?iia, Ostrcva Hebridica occur 
 in the upper beds, and a few casts of Cyclas, various 
 imperfect shells and plant - remains in the lower. 
 This series is found, like the Lias and Oolite, on the 
 east side of the Trotternish coast, at Aird and 
 Duntulm, and also inland round the Storr lochs. 
 
 ' In this series the following fossils occur : — 
 
 Ammonites communis. 
 ,, serpentinus. 
 ,, radians. 
 
 12 
 
 Ammonites elegans. 
 Belemnites. 
 Posidonomya Bronni,
 
 178 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 The intrusion of Tertiary lavas has altered the sandy 
 beds into quartzite and chert, the limestones into 
 marble, the clays into a brittle material resembling 
 Lydian stone. The beds occur again on the coast at 
 Loch Bay, Vaternish, and at Gob-na-Hoe on the west 
 side of Duirinish, beneath the basalt sheets. 
 
 The last member of the Jurassic system found in 
 Skye is the Oxford Clay series. This consists of 
 beds of blue clay or shale containing pyrites and jet, 
 and occasional bands of argillaceous limestone. On 
 the east coast it occurs at great elevation, but, like 
 the other members of the Jurassic series, it dips away 
 towards the west below the sea-level. Capped by 
 the basaltic sheets, it has formed an insecure founda- 
 tion for these rocks, which have therefore slipped 
 over it in large masses — a circumstance which in 
 par.t has given rise to the broken masses of Storr 
 and Quiraing. It occurs notably at Staffin, and can 
 be traced at Duntulm, and Monkstadt, and at Uig 
 Bay. These beds of Oxford Clay are believed to 
 have extended over the whole British area and to 
 have been deposited in a sea of great depth. 
 
 The characteristic physiographical features of Skye 
 are not derived from these earlier rocks, interesting 
 as they are, but from the later volcanic series of the 
 Tertiary period. These divide themselves roughly 
 into three classes : (i) the plateaux basalts; (2) the 
 gabbro rocks ; (3) the granophyre rocks. Ages of 
 denudation have altered these, but they still pre- 
 serve their characteristic forms, and are well seen in 
 the terraced tablelands of northern Skye, the jagged 
 Coolins, and the rounded Red Hills respectively. 
 
 At the beginning of the Tertiary period it cannot 
 be supposed that Skye was a separate island. It 
 must have formed part of one continuous tract of 
 country with the mainland and the group of the 
 Inner Hebrides, if that tract did not extend even 
 farther towards Antrim. The Jurassic strata of the 
 island had suffered much denudation, and had been 
 removed altogether from what is now the district of
 
 The Geology of Skye i 79 
 
 Sleat, laying' bare the Torridonian sandstone and 
 gneissose rocks. Over the whole district of the 
 British Isles there had been a cessation of volcanic 
 activity since the last outbreak of Permian time. The 
 long ages of the Mesozoic period had come and gone, 
 and as no trace remains in its rocks of any eruption, 
 we must suppose that it was a time of volcanic rest. 
 With the dawn of the Tertiary age volcanic activity 
 again set in on a gigantic scale, over a district em- 
 bracing forty thousand square miles, and including 
 such widely separated places as the Faroe Islands, 
 the Inner Hebrides, and Antrim in the north-east of 
 Ireland. This volcanic activity lasted for a long 
 period, with many intervals of quiescence followed 
 by times of renewed activity on a greater or less 
 scale. Thus the plateaux basalts have been laid 
 down in successive sheets with long intervals between, 
 as is proved from their appearance and from the 
 sedimentary materials and even animal and plant 
 remains found between them. Again, the gabbro of 
 the Coolins represents a new period of activity, when 
 vast masses of molten rock were upheaved and 
 intruded among the basalt sheets. A similar sub- 
 terranean upflow which also never reached the 
 surface, gave rise to what are now the Red Hills. 
 What are known as "sills" — sheets of molten rock 
 injected between successive planes of other rock — 
 intruded themselves among the basaltic sheets, or 
 between them and the Jurassic strata below. P'inally, 
 during the whole period volcanic activity gave rise to 
 a great system of dykes, which break through not 
 only the earlier plateaux basalts, but also the gabbros 
 and the granophyres of the Coolins and the Red 
 Hills, proving that the upheaval of the acid grano- 
 phyres was not the last phenomenon of the Tertiary 
 volcanic system. Some of these dykes never reached 
 the surface; others probably did. But, as we shall 
 see, the plateaux basalts took their origin from just 
 such fissure eruptions on a more gigantic scale than 
 that exemplified in the dykes.
 
 i8o The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 I shall take each of these kinds of Tertiary volcanic 
 activity in turn, and, after showing how the Isle of 
 Skye was affected by them, shall point out the re- 
 markable physiographical differences to which they 
 have given rise throughout the island. 
 
 I . The Plateaux Basalts. 
 
 The plateaux basalts of Skye are only part of a 
 volcanic series of which we have traces from Antrim 
 to Iceland, where indeed similar volcanic activity to 
 that which produced these plateaux still goes on. 
 North of a line drawn from Loch Eynort to Loch 
 Sligachan, nothing is more striking than the 
 similarity of the land structure. Along great parts 
 of the coast, lofty cliffs, often looo feet high, 
 are piled up in a series of parallel bands. In the 
 glens and valleys this parallel structure is again seen, 
 and it is also most marked in the uplands, whose 
 green terraces with outstanding layers of grey rock 
 show that the lavas were laid down in successive 
 sheets. Where these uplands mount up into high 
 hills, like MacLeod's Tables (1600 feet high), their 
 sloping sides exhibit that structvire admirably, while 
 their flattened tops give evidence of the surface level 
 of one of these horizontal sheets. Of how many 
 others have been removed from these lofty summits 
 nothing remains to tell. In the Trotternish district 
 the basaltic sheets stand above the eastern seaboard 
 in a long ridge over 2000 feet high, with an abrupt 
 face formed of parallel bands. On the westward side 
 they dip in long grassy slopes to the horizon, but in 
 these slopes the parallel band formation is occasion- 
 ally seen in a long outcrop of rock amidst the verdure. 
 Even from a long way off the banded structure of the 
 eastward precipitous face is plainly seen. After a 
 light fall of snow the precipice of Storr shows long 
 bands of black rock with lines of white between, 
 where the snow has rested in grooves or on cornices 
 between the successive sheets.
 
 The Geology of Skye 1 8 1 
 
 The orig-in of these basaltic plateaux is to be found, 
 not in outpouring- of lava from vast volcanic cones 
 on a scale greater than that of Vesuvius or Etna,^ 
 but in a tranquil outflow from great fissures opened 
 in the underlying rocks and communicating with the 
 mighty reservoirs of molten magma beneath. The 
 lavas welled upwards and outwards on all sides over 
 the surface of the land. That surface, in Skye, was 
 mainly of the Jurassic age, for on the east and west 
 coasts the basalt sheets are seen to overlie it immedi- 
 ately, though towards Sleat, as at Loch Scavaig, all 
 the intervening strata had been removed and left the 
 Red Torridonian sandstone to be covered immediately 
 with lava. The lava, as it flowed out, filled valleys 
 and circled first round and then over the lesser slopes. 
 As new fissures were opened and new^ outflows took 
 place during the period, new beds were laid down, 
 until all underlying rocks were covered, and a flat 
 surface formed. That surface extended far beyond 
 the limits of the present island, and probably was 
 connected with similar lava sheets found in the 
 adjacent islands. The abrupt precipitous face of the 
 coast cliffs shows that the sheets, of basalt have been 
 reduced to an inconceivable extent during the course 
 of ages. 
 
 The length of time which intervened between the 
 outflow of the successive sheets is well seen by the 
 fact that they enclose beds of clay and shale and 
 sand, containing leaves of plants, pieces of fossil 
 wood, and even wing-cases of beetles. In certain 
 places seams of lignite and even of coal have been 
 formed, as at Camas-ban, near Portree ; at Scori- 
 breck, Talisker, Loch Greshornish, and at An 
 Ceannaich, south of Dunvegan Head. Five or six 
 hundred tons of coal are said to have been obtained 
 at Portree. The existence of these sedimentary 
 
 ' This is Professor Judd's theory, and in his view the Red 
 Hills and the Coolins represent the roots of the vast volcano 
 from whirh tiie basalts were ejected. See Quarterly Journal uf 
 the Geological Socictj', vol. xxx. p. 233 setj. ""
 
 1 82 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 deposits and vegetable remains suggests that rivers 
 ran over the basalt sheets, soil was formed, and 
 vegetation flourished. Then that pleasant landscape 
 was overwhelmed by a new outflow which, when it 
 consolidated, formed a new land surface, to be in 
 turn buried beneath later molten sheets. 
 
 Evidence exists to show that during the whole 
 period volcanic vents also pierced the surface of the 
 ground and threw out molten matter. Some of these 
 may have existed before the plateaux basalts issued 
 from their fissures ; some were formed in these con- 
 solidated sheets themselves ; but of others it may be 
 concluded that, like the cones of Iceland, they arose 
 in connection with the fissure disturbances. These 
 vents are now filled with broken fragments of rock 
 or agglomerate. A great mass of agglomerate in 
 the valley of Strath between Loch Kilchriosd and 
 Beinn Dearg Beg, covering an area of several square 
 miles, points to the existence of one or more vents of 
 volcanic discharge in that region. Others exist near 
 this district, greatly reduced owing to the intrusion 
 of the Coolins and Red Hills among them. An 
 excellent opportunity for examining such an ancient 
 vent is off"ered at Camas Garbh, on the south side of 
 Portree Bay. 
 
 2. The Sills. 
 
 When the plateaux basalts had been finally laid 
 down, they must have attained a thickness of not 
 less than 3000 feet. Even now some of the ruins 
 of this plateau, which extended not only over its 
 present area, but over the mountainous belt and 
 into the peninsula of Sleat (where only the merest 
 traces of it remain), are over 2000 feet in height. 
 Probably after this period a new outburst of vol- 
 canic activity, confined underground, however, gave 
 rise to the "sills" or intrusive sheets which are 
 found throughout the whole region covered by the 
 basaltic sheets, but nowhere more prominently than 
 in Skye.
 
 < 
 
 cu 
 
 S 
 
 ■04 
 
 H 
 
 
 u 
 
 -J 
 < 
 
 <
 
 The Geology of Sky e 183 
 
 We are to conceive an enormous mass of molten 
 material being- forced upwards from the depths of the 
 earth. But it cannot get egress to the surface for 
 lack of a vent and on account of the g^reater resisting 
 force of the surface crust. It therefore seeks the lines 
 of least resistance, and finds these between the basaltic 
 sheets and the underlying strata which these cover, 
 and with inconceivable uplifting- power raises these 
 sheets from their foundation and intrudes in thicker 
 or thinner masses far and wide between them, and 
 then solidifies. One such intrusive sheet may be 
 traced from the Shiant Isles in the north of Skye, all 
 down the Trotternish coast to Loch Sligachan — a 
 distance of over forty miles ; while it is possible that 
 once it ran continuously southwards to Eigg and 
 Mull, where a similar sheet appears, — in all a distance 
 of over a hundred miles. In the Trotternish district 
 this sill is now laid bare, and remains as the lofty 
 escarpment of steep cliffs which, based on the 
 Jurassic strata here also visible, form a vast wall of 
 frowning- precipices northwards from Loch Sligachan 
 to Staffin. The overlying^ basalt sheets have been 
 denuded from the intrusive sill, and cut backwards 
 to the massive ridge in which the precipices of Storr 
 and Quiraing occur. Nothing can be more impress- 
 ive than this coast-line seen from the sea. At the 
 base extend the yellow stratified sandstone rocks ; 
 above them are the dark mural escarpments which 
 the sill has formed. They are hundreds of feet thick, 
 and for the most part have solidified into a prismatic 
 structure, seen notably at the famous Kilt Rock, 
 resembling the basaltic pillars of Staflfa. Over this 
 marvellous rock face great waterfalls dash seawards 
 from the moorland which stretches backwards from 
 its edge, while at the distance of a mile or more 
 inland, and mainly following the course of the coast- 
 line, is the massive ridge — the ruins of the basaltic 
 sheets which once covered this exposed face of sill, 
 and stretched out far seawards. 
 
 The force necessary to inject this thick intrusive
 
 1 84 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 sheet of molten lava underneath the vast series of 
 basaltic sheets is inconceivable, yet the evidence of it 
 is undeniable. In some cases, how^ever, the intrusive 
 layers have been injected in thin sheets betw^een the 
 Jurassic sandstones themselves, or into the shales 
 which occur between the basaltic sheets. Thus in 
 the shales at Ach-na-Hannait, south of Portree, as 
 many as twelve thin sills from i to 4 inches thick 
 are found between the layers of shale here about 
 3 feet in height. Similarly, veins and dykes have 
 forced their way into the basalts from the intrusive 
 sheets. All down the west coast of Skye, wherever 
 the junction of the plateaux basalts and the Jurassic 
 strata or Torridonian sandstones has been laid bare, 
 similar sills are found, either as thick or thin sheets, 
 and accompanied with the usual phenomena of dykes. 
 The lavas which compose the plateaux and the 
 sills are mainly basalts, dolerites, andesites, and 
 trachytes, but they have consolidated in various 
 forms. Sometimes columnar prismatic basalts occur, 
 as at the Kilt Rock ; mostly the formation is in sheets 
 of coarse crystalline rock, more or less jointed ; 
 elsewhere there are amygdaloidal beds, full of 
 vesicles containing mineral matter. Such beds tend 
 to decay into mere debris, and have always an 
 amorphous appearance, which contrasts vividly with 
 the more crystalline and prismatic layers. This 
 contrast is well marked in the successive sheets in the 
 highest of the three MacLeod's Maidens off Loch 
 Bracadale. In some instances, due to the texture of 
 the lavas, they assume a stratified form, resembling 
 that of sedimentary rocks. 
 
 3. The Gahhro Area. 
 
 This area is confined to the Coolin Hills, the 
 weirdest mountain group in Britain. They are 
 mainly composed of gabbro — a basic rock, coarsely 
 grained, though occasionally of a banded structure — 
 or of dolerite. This curiously isolated group of
 
 The Geology of Skye 185 
 
 peaks, angular, shattered, spiry, and precipitous, is 
 the result of the upheaval and intrusion of molten 
 lavas into the overl3'ing" basaltic beds during- the 
 Tertiary epoch. From several pipes or vents still 
 buried far underground, the igneous material was 
 shot up among the basaltic sheets in a series of 
 mighty masses. These, though they could not reach 
 the surface, must have upheaved the basalts into a 
 great dome, and have been injected among the sheets 
 themselves all around. After solidifying, and when 
 this series of underground upheavals was at an end, 
 we are to imagine a great core of gabbro beneath the 
 dome of basalt, with sheets extending outwards from 
 it in all directions into the basaltic layers. 
 
 How thick the plateaux basalts may have been in 
 this district it is now impossible to say. But they 
 have been completely stripped off the underlying core, 
 which also, after suffering extensive denudation, has 
 been left as the shattered and splintered group of the 
 Coolins. Wherever the lower basaltic beds approach 
 these hills, they are found to be interbanded with 
 gabbro and dolerite — remnants of the intrusive sheets 
 just referred to. But the structure of the hills them- 
 selves, the evidence of protrusion of molten matter 
 among them, the existence of veins and dykes, prove 
 that they did not result from one isolated upheaval, 
 but from a continuous series over a long period of 
 time. The region, as is proved by the Red Hills 
 near by, similarly formed, was a weak spot on the 
 earth's crust, and its lower portions were easily dis- 
 rupted by the molten magma underneath. Similar 
 upheavals of gabbro took place in Rum, Mull, and 
 Ardnamurchan, where the work of denudation has 
 also left them in their characteristic forms among the 
 surroundinir hills. 
 
 4. The Granophyre Area. 
 
 At some period after the gabbro masses had been 
 upheaved into the plateaux basalts, a new series of
 
 1 86 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 volcanic outbreaks occurred beneath the basaltic 
 sheets which lay east and south-east of the region 
 now occupied by the Coolins. From different channels 
 or pipes, and at different intervals, masses or bosses of 
 acid rock were protruded into the overlying rocks 
 and among the gabbros, but, like the gabbro masses, 
 never reached the surface. These molten acid rocks 
 took the form of solid bosses of greater or less mass, 
 but they are found also as sills and veins underneath 
 and throughout the sedimentary strata, the basalts, 
 and the gabbros in the surrounding districts. These 
 bosses exist now as the Red Hills, and their extent 
 and size, like those of the neighbouring Coolin Hills, 
 prove the magnitude and force of the internal up- 
 heavals which produced them. 
 
 The Red Hills proper lie in a group between 
 Broadford and Loch Ainort. Blaaven and its outliers 
 belonging to the gabbro series, separate them from 
 the chain of similar hills which, consisting of the 
 peaks of Glamaig, Beinn Dearg, and Marsco, run 
 southwards from Loch Sligachan towards the Coolins. 
 In form and colour they exhibit a striking contrast to 
 these splintered masses of dark rock so near them. 
 Besides the groups of peaks, lesser masses of similar 
 shape are found around them, some of quite small 
 size, but all belonging to the same volcanic series. 
 
 As in the case of the Coolins, the complete denuda- 
 tion of the overlying plateaux basalts has left these 
 curious cones and pyramidal masses, with their steep, 
 straight sides. The worn aspect of these sides and 
 their lines of screes show that they, too, have 
 suffered denudation, but yet possibly on such a 
 regular scale as, while reducing the separate bosses 
 in size, to leave them in much the same form as that 
 in which they were protruded and solidified. The 
 removal of the basalt sheets around the granophyre 
 masses has been more complete on the southern side 
 than elsewhere, leaving exposed the Cambrian lime- 
 stone, the Jurassic sandstones and shales. The 
 isolated granophyre mass of Beinn-an-Dubhaich,
 
 The Geology of Skye 187 
 
 south of Torran, rises directly out of the Cambrian 
 limestone of the district which is seen around its 
 sides. It also forms an interesting example of the 
 metamorphism caused in the surrounding rocks by 
 masses of molten rock being forced through them, 
 for it has changed the limestone into marble of a 
 workable quality.^ Such isolated masses also prove 
 that the granophyre extends beneath the surface far 
 beyond the actual area visible. The basalt sheets 
 are found around Glamaig, Beinn-na-Cailleach, Beinn- 
 na-Cro, and other peaks, abutting against their 
 lower slopes, and altered in form by the contact 
 with these later molten protrusions. The junction of 
 the granophyre and gabbro rocks is often plainly 
 marked, but in certain cases the gabbro overlies the 
 granophyre in such a way as to have led observers 
 to suppose that it is the later of the two. Professor 
 Archibald Geikie's careful investigations may be said 
 to have set the matter at rest, and to have proved 
 the later date of the granophyre rocks. 
 
 Sills of acid rock are found in such positions as 
 show that they, like the dolerite sills, sought the 
 lines of least resistance, and were intruded at the 
 base of the plateaux basalts. One such sill is seen 
 beginning near Suishnish on Loch Eishort, and 
 running for about five miles in a long line towards 
 Skulamus. The same sheet reappears in Scalpa, 
 and in Raasay. Veins and dykes of acid rock 
 belonging to the same eruptive series occur both in 
 the basalts and gabbros. Sometimes they are seen, 
 as it were, escaping from a neighbouring boss of 
 granophyre and protruding into a mass of basic 
 rock. C)r, again, their connection with the parent 
 mass is nowhere visible. 
 
 The rocks of which these acid bosses are composed 
 may be roughly described as granophyre, which 
 
 ' The marble is found near Kilchrist niansc, and was quarried 
 within recent years. Some beautiful slabs of it were used for 
 the interior decoration of Armadale Castle. The high altar of 
 lona Cathedral is said to have been made of this stone.
 
 1 88 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 resembles granite in form and composition. True 
 granites occasionally occur, as well as occasional 
 felsites. The general aspect of the rocks, their 
 rounded forms, their pink and yellow colours, 
 separate them clearly from the other rock masses of 
 the island, and give them an isolated appearance 
 which only makes them the more striking under 
 whatever conditions they may be seen. 
 
 5. Veins and Dykes. 
 
 It has been seen that the basaltic plateaux were 
 formed by the welling up of molten matter from 
 great fissures formed in the earth's crust. Such 
 fissures are now buried deep below the plateaux, or 
 the evidence of them has been removed by denuda- 
 tion. But traces of phenomena of a similar character 
 still exist in the system of dykes by which the whole 
 area of Britain was traversed during the Tertiary 
 age. 
 
 A dyke is a wall-like mass of solidified lava rising 
 up through earlier rocks. It may be of varying 
 length and thickness ; sometimes when it is composed 
 of harder material, than the rocks through which it 
 rose, it projects like a ruined wall from the escarp- 
 ments and corries ; again, where it has been of 
 softer material, it has been eaten away, and has left 
 a fissure opening between walls of solid rock. This 
 latter form is well illustrated in the stratified cliffs 
 of Loch Slapin in Skye. 
 
 Outside Skye and the Hebrides generally isolated 
 dykes of great length and thickness are found, but 
 in Skye several dykes, short and narrow, with a 
 parallel direction usually occur together. They 
 rise up through all the underlying strata, to the 
 highest levels of the plateaux basalts ; in the highest 
 cliffs running south from Dunvegan Head they may 
 be traced continuously from top to bottom — a height 
 of 1000 feet. They occur in the gabbro masses of 
 the Coolins and the granophyres of the Red Hills,
 
 The Geology of Skye 189 
 
 and may be followed in certain cases from the 
 recesses of the lowest glens up to the summit of 
 the shattered peaks — a known vertical extension of 
 over 3000 feet. 
 
 The origin of this vast series of dykes can only be 
 found in the protracted formation of vertical fissures 
 in the earth's crust as the result of enormous 
 horizontal tension, followed by the filling of these 
 fissures with molten lava from the great reserVoir 
 which must have existed below the whole area in 
 which these dykes occur. It existed at a depth of 
 at least three miles, and here again we are amazed 
 at the enormous force necessary to produce a series 
 of regular cracks in solid rocks of such thickness 
 and of such wide variety. The lava which uprose 
 in these fissures must have now and then reached 
 the surface and flowed outwards, as in the case of the 
 plateaux basalts ; sometimes it is seen to have given 
 rise to sills ; at other times its termination upwards 
 is distinctly seen in the overlying rock-masses. But 
 what is undoubtedly proved is that the system of 
 dykes did not originate in one disturbance but in 
 many. Dykes had been formed before the gabbros 
 and granophyrcs were upheaved ; and they were 
 formed long after these had solidified. The proof of 
 this is strikingly exhibited when one dyke is seen to 
 cross another, or even two others as at Harrabol, a 
 little to the east of Broadford ; or when a dyke- 
 fissure has been reopened and a fresh intrusion of 
 lava has occurred alongside of the earlier. Many of 
 these exist in Strathaird. Still another proof is 
 found in the fact that a dyke of basic rock has itself 
 been split by and encloses a later dyke of granophyre, 
 or two parallel basic dykes have similarly been dis- 
 rupted by a band of acid rock. At Corry, and near 
 the market stance at Broadford, examples of these 
 types are to be found. 
 
 The general direction of the dykes in Skye and 
 over the whole British area is north - westerly, 
 though a more directly north and south trend is not
 
 190 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 infrequently met with in Skye. In general, too, the 
 fissure walls descend vertically through the crust, 
 only occasionally deviating from the perpendicular. 
 Of the basic dykes the chief constituents are basalt, 
 dolerite, and andesite, those of later date containing 
 porphyry. Many of the latest dykes are found to 
 include fragments of the gabbros and granophyres 
 derived from the rocks in which the fissures were 
 formed. As a result of cooling within a constricted 
 area, the margins of a dyke are of a finer crystalline 
 grain (sometimes even glassy) than the coarser 
 central part. Acid dykes of granophyre, felsite, or 
 rhyolite usually occur near the granophyre masses, 
 but are also found in cases at some considerable 
 distance from them. The weathering of the dykes 
 is usually greater or less than the rocks which enclose 
 them, as these are harder or softer than they. They 
 show as long narrow clefts in the harder gabbro of 
 the Coolins, or stand out as prominent dark bands 
 on the sides and crests of the softer granophyres. 
 
 Even while the series of eruptions were in progress 
 the work of erosion had set in — rivers cutting their 
 way across the plateaux, and the Atlantic rollers 
 shattering their seaward edges. But its chief 
 manifestations were due to agencies at work at the 
 close of the long chain of volcanic outbursts. The 
 overlying sheets of basalt have been removed from 
 the Coolins and Red Hills, and they also have been 
 wrought upon and carved and reduced. Again, 
 glens and valleys several miles long, sometimes two 
 or three in breadth, and not infrequently over 
 2000 feet in depth, have been hollowed out of the 
 plateaux. The sea covers an unknown extent of 
 the lower series of the plateaux, whose edges, 
 disrupted and broken, have been eaten back and 
 now face its waters as frowning escarpments. 
 
 The time involved in working such mighty changes 
 has been calculated by Professor Archibald Geikie to 
 be not less than twelve millions of years. Its causes 
 must be sought not only in the ceaseless work of
 
 The Geology of Skye 191 
 
 chemical disintegration, but in the grinding force of 
 the vast ice-fields which covered the whole region 
 during the glacial age, in the erosive power of the 
 rivers which flowed across it, in the subsidence of 
 the land for several hundreds of feet below the 
 present level, and in the ceaseless action of the 
 waves then and ever since. All these have cut down 
 the surface and made the island of Skye what it now 
 is. Everywhere there are deep glens and lofty 
 ridges where once there was a more or less level 
 surface. The rocks show the plain marks of ice- 
 action in scratches and furrows, and the raised sea- 
 beach near Kyleakin shows how the land subsided 
 and was again elevated. The rivers which flow 
 through glens and valleys, the burns which course 
 down their sides, are those which, during those long 
 ages, have carried on this gigantic work of destruc- 
 tion. The sea-waves aided by rain and frost are 
 still shattering the cliff's and promontories, and great 
 falls of rock from their faces no less than the silent 
 and unseen process of denudation, bear witness even 
 now to the fact that the plateaux are still being 
 diminished. 
 
 During the glacial period the great ice-sheets moved 
 across Skye eastwards and south-eastwards, leaving 
 boulders in the valleys and covering the hillsides 
 with abundant striae. In the Coolin region glaciers 
 arose independently of the main ice-sheets, and 
 moved in various directions, according to the trend of 
 the valleys of the district. One ice-stream, issuing 
 from Harta Corrie, divided, part going northwards 
 towards Portree, part southwards, over Druim-an- 
 Eidhne and along the eastern side ofCoire Riabhach. 
 Anotherice-sheet, issuing from the hills round Marsco, 
 also turned northwards and southwards, each part 
 joining v^^ith the subdivisions of the other. The 
 north-going glacier spread out in fan shape at 
 Sligachan. On the left it joined with smaller 
 glaciers from Coir-a-'Bhasteir and Fionn Coire, and 
 crossing the ridge north of Bruach-na-Frithe, flowed
 
 192 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 into Glen Brittle. The main part of this north- 
 moving" ice-sheet moved onwards over the moor, and 
 then sent two glaciers at right angles, one into the 
 Drynoch valley, the other into Glen Varragill, towards 
 Portree. Loch Sligachan was probably blocked by 
 the main ice-sheet from the mainland, hence this 
 deflection. The moorland at the junction of Glens 
 Sligachan, Drynoch, and Varragill is covered with 
 hummocky drift or "kettle moraines" in large 
 numbers, full of boulders and smaller debris, and 
 covering the ground with a confused series of little 
 hillocks from 10 to 60 feet in height. These 
 represent the material thrown down by stranded 
 portions of glaciers cut off from their main supply 
 and left to melt in situ.^ 
 
 The southward moving glacier filled the Cama- 
 sunary valley, reaching to nearly the top of Blaaven 
 and covering the lower heights on the right hand, 
 which are smooth and polished as a result. Part of 
 this glacier passed over the ridge into Coruisk, 
 already occupied by a huge glacier from the heart of 
 the Coolins which poured itself outwards into Loch 
 Scavaig". 
 
 Besides the hummocky drift which is never found 
 at any great altitude, a smooth-surfaced drift occurs 
 in the valleys, and imparts a flowing outline to the 
 hills. It is occasionally as much as 100 feet 
 in thickness, and is most developed in the plateaux- 
 basalt region, where it consists of a reddish sandy 
 clay, with small boulders and occasional largfer ones, 
 frequently striated. 
 
 In spite of all these changes, the physiographical 
 types produced by the nature of the successive and 
 varied volcanic upheavals still remain constant, and 
 give much variety to the different parts of the island. 
 All over the northern parts of Skye, the lofty table- 
 lands with their steep seaward crags, or long green 
 
 ^At a later period this glacier found access into Loch 
 Sligachan, and the ice-sheet covering' the moor here was con- 
 sequently left stranded.
 
 The Geology of Skye 193 
 
 slopes dipping down into the valleys or winding- sea- 
 lochs, are the remnants of the ancient plateaux. 
 On the cliffs the horizontal sheets, on the green 
 slopes continuous parallel ribs of jutting- rocks amid 
 g-rass and heather and bracken, show the remains 
 of the successive outflows of lava. To some these 
 uplands may be monotonous, because of the sameness 
 of their contours. Yet, whether carved into gentle 
 slopes or steep frowning crags, they have an un- 
 doubted charm. Far inland they look down upon 
 romantic sea -lochs; at every mile burns plunge 
 down their sides or murmur in their hollows ; nothing 
 can be greener or more luxuriant than the grass 
 which grows on their soil ; their silence is broken by 
 no ruder sound than the cries of sheep and cattle 
 which feed in thousands on their rich pastures ; they 
 are haunts of ancient peace. In the valleys and on 
 the margins of the lochs are many crofting townships, 
 whose inhabitants cultivate the rich soil formed by 
 the decaying lavas, or find a livelihood on the sea 
 which has carved its way through the plateaux so 
 far inland. 
 
 Dividing the northern from the southern part of 
 the island is that tract of land covered by the Coolins 
 and Red Hills. The rolling uplands come up to its 
 edges, but within it we pass to an entirely different 
 region, or rather two. There is first the district 
 covered by the gabbros of the Coolins. Here are no 
 tablelands nor gentle green slopes, but vast masses 
 of black rock torn, broken, and shattered into every 
 conceivable irregularity of form. Human foot rarely 
 treads their recesses ; cultivation is impossible in a 
 region where there are only fissured mountain sides 
 and serrated peaks too steep and dangerous except 
 for the most experienced climber. 
 
 Over-against them is the region of the Red Hills, 
 rounded cones and pyramids which contrast at once 
 with the rolling uplands and the broken Coolins. 
 The only point they have in common with the latter 
 is the absence of vegetation. Their slopes are too 
 
 13
 
 194 T^he Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 steep, too much covered with ddbris, to permit of 
 any but the hardiest plant finding- a footing there. 
 Their rocks are of a bright colour, on which the sun's 
 rays seem to love to linger, and which separates 
 them sharply from the black and purple masses of 
 gabbro so near at hand. A deeper silence than 
 that of the tablelands wraps both round, and when 
 it is broken it is with wilder clamour and uproar, as 
 the storm blasts howl and thunder in their ghostly 
 and eerie recesses. The wild creatures of the land 
 have here made their last stand, and are found in all 
 their natural conditions — red deer, wild cats, eagles, 
 ravens. Strange that volcanic outbursts of such 
 similar nature should have produced such different 
 landscapes within so constricted an area as that of 
 the Isle of Skye ! 
 
 These volcanic rocks dominate the landscape so 
 much that the sedimentary strata count for little 
 where they have been laid bare. In the cliffs they 
 are seen buried beneath piles of lava, but they are 
 most prominent in the Strathaird district, and on the 
 shore of Loch Slapin themselves form lofty cliffs, 
 pierced by many regular recesses and caves, and 
 darkened by dykes and veins of basalt and dolerite. 
 Still older rocks have been laid bare in Sleat, where 
 dark red sandstone forms the northern part of the 
 peninsula, and rises into rounded heights covered 
 with birch, through which great faces of naked rock, 
 polished smooth by ice action, obtrude at intervals. 
 The other side of the peninsula is mainly gneissose 
 and schistose, and differs little in appearance from 
 the sandstone region save that it has made this part 
 of the country the garden of Skye. ^ 
 
 ^ Besides personal observation, my authorities for this chapter 
 are Professor Judd's series of papers on the "Secondary 
 Rocks of Scotland," in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological 
 Society, vols. xxx. and xxxiv. ; Sir Archibald Geikie's Ancient 
 Volcanoes of Britain ; while, thoug-h the Survey map for Skye 
 is not yet published, much information is found in the annual 
 reports of the Survey for the last few years, and in the Memoir 
 on the Tertiary Rocks of Skye (1904).
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE PEOPLE 
 
 "Still our hearts are true, our hearts are Highland, 
 And we in dreams behold the Hebrides." 
 
 WHEN Skye was first inhabited, and whether 
 there was a pre-Celtic population, are, like 
 the song" the sirens sung", mere matters of conjecture. 
 But hundreds of years after Skye had become an 
 island of the Celts, there came an alien race of 
 Norsemen, overrunning the island, as they had done 
 the greater part of Scotland, conquering" the people 
 to some extent, forming colonies, and, no doubt, 
 mixing with the Celtic population and exchanging 
 ideas with them. But though they have left tokens 
 of their presence in scores of place-names (three to 
 two as compared with Celtic names) and in numerous 
 Scandinavian descendants, these conquerors were 
 mere birds of passage, and, on the whole, left the 
 island as Celtic as they found it. Or rather the 
 Celtic element was too strong- to disappear before 
 the Norse element ; the two commingled, but, in 
 the end, after profiting by the new alien life, the 
 Celtic element found itself still in possession. The 
 first chief of the MacLeods was a Norseman, and 
 Somerled, Lord of the Isles, had a Norse mother. 
 But who can think of Macdonalds or MacLeods as 
 other than Celtic? Certainly no Skyeman could, 
 and the present representatives of these ancient 
 families would, in spite of Scandinavian descent and 
 numerous intermarriages with the Sassenach, refuse 
 to think of themselves as other than Celtic. For 
 
 195
 
 196 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 when Alexander defeated Haco's army at Largs, and 
 his fleet was scattered before the wild autumn blasts 
 among the Hebridean seas which his race had ruled 
 over so long, the day of the Scandinavian was over. 
 Many of the Skye place-names are identical with 
 those yet found in Norway, and the predominance 
 of the name Nicholson in the island is directly due 
 to Norse descent.^ So side by side with the short, 
 swarthy, large-mouthed, high cheek-boned Celt you 
 will see the tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed Scandinavian 
 in Skye and all the islands to this day. Yet the 
 latter hold themselves as Celts and speak the Celtic 
 tongue, and would deem themselves the direct 
 antipodes of their kinsmen by race and blood in 
 Caithness or Orkney. Hence, when we think of 
 Skye, it must inevitably be as of an island of the 
 Celts governed by Celtic ideals from first to last. 
 And (if a certain Scandinavian professor is to be 
 believed) the Western Isles aroused the poetic fire of 
 the Norsemen, so that they wrote all their early poetry 
 there and obtained all their local colour from the windy 
 headlands and tumbling seas of the Hebrides !^ 
 
 Of the life of the people during these long silent 
 ages little that is definite emerges. Probably the 
 Skyeman of a hundred years ago differed but little 
 from his far-off ancestor in early times, pagan or 
 
 ^ A Norse derivation is easily found for many place-names 
 in Skye. Thus host, a farm, occurs in many names, Calbost, 
 cold farm, Nisabost, ness farm ; dalr, a dale, is found in 
 Suardal, the sward or tuft dale ; setr, a seat or residence, or 
 a mountain pasture, is changed into shader, and is frequently 
 met with, as in Sulishader, Flashader, etc.; tunga, a tongue 
 of land, gives Teangue ; gardr, an enclosed space, occurs in 
 Oshmigarry, which is Osmund's garth ; ogr, a bay, gives its 
 name to Uig. There are hundreds of other examples, affording 
 an interesting study in philology. In some cases personal 
 names like MacLeod had the Gaelic Mac prefixed to a Scandi- 
 navian name. 
 
 " No Celt has 5'et put forward such a claim. But it is con- 
 fusing to a Sassenach like myself to be told b)' my friends in 
 Skye that Burns was a Highlander, through some remote 
 great-grandmother who came from Skye, and, ergo, became the 
 national bard.
 
 * The People 1 9 7 
 
 Christian. Certain new ideals were introduced by 
 Christianity, but, on the whole, in spite of changing 
 creeds, altered dynasties, and advancing civilisation, 
 the circumstances of the people did not alter much. 
 Theirs was the life of the countryman wherever 
 found, who battles with a shaggy world and with 
 the wild elements for a livelihood. Fishing, a 
 certain degree of rough-and-ready agriculture, and 
 the pastoral calling gave the chief means of living 
 when the Romans were trying in vain to pierce the 
 frontier of Caledonia, as they do now in our own day. 
 For the higher side of life, there were the religious 
 rites, pagan or Christian, to which the Celt has 
 always been so devotedly and superstitiously attached. 
 Art had its place in the lives of the people, and 
 though they are now forgotten and have long since 
 died out of use, the peculiarly Celtic designs repre- 
 sent a school of art which must have been known 
 far and wide throughout the Hebrides. Round the 
 evening fire the people gathered and listened to 
 those charming folk-tales, so full of a weird beauty, 
 which are still recited in similar circumstances in 
 remote places, or joined in the plaintive songs of 
 nameless bards, which if they never attained to the 
 lyric beauty of the lowland ballads, were as dear to 
 the Celt as these to the Sassenach. And during 
 those forgotten years, dimly remembered wars, clan 
 feuds, and cattle raids gave an outlet to the activities 
 of the Skyeman, and supplied a zest to his otherwise 
 monotonous existence. A document of one of the 
 early Scottish parliaments says that "the Hieland 
 men commonly reft and slew ilk uther," a sentence 
 which sums up centuries of history, and suggests, 
 to the imaginative, wailing widows, ravished women, 
 bloody wounds, fierce slogans, the heather dyed a 
 deeper purple, and homesteads smoking on the 
 windy moor. Little wonder that another document 
 inveighs fiercely against " the wicked blood of the 
 Isles " ! And though the Skyeman might resent 
 Gildas's description of the Celts of the sixth century
 
 198 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 as "a set of bloody freebooters with more hair on 
 their faces than clothes to cover their nakedness," 
 it is odd if this is not a fair account of one aspect 
 of a race who never could get enough of fighting. 
 Macdonalds raided MacLeods, and Mackinnonsfought 
 with both, and, on the whole, life in the small island 
 of Skye must have offered unending excitement in 
 those days as it still does wherever barbaric tribes 
 exist together without cultivating friendly relations. 
 The Skyemen of yore, sallying forth to raid the 
 cattle of another clan, would have agreed with the 
 African tribe who declare that Heaven gave all 
 cattle to them, and therefore wherever there is any 
 it is their duty to go and seize it. 
 
 On the whole, the Celts of Skye as a people strike 
 the stranger with a certain melancholy. The world 
 is not even now really converted, says Mr. Andrew 
 Lang, and the Skyeman has preserved beneath his 
 Christianity and in spite of the Free Kirk, many 
 strains of paganism, like the Tuscan peasantry with 
 their Vecchia religione, ten times more dear to them 
 than Roman Catholicism. ^ He believes in witches 
 and the evil-eye, in fairies and the second sight, in 
 warlocks and water-kelpies and mermaidens. Lucky 
 and unlucky times cause him to be select in his 
 periods of work, never very exhausting, it is true, 
 and he will try to avert evil by all manner of fanciful 
 practices. He is intensely superstitious, and his 
 superstition rises from the early pagan instincts and 
 memories still uneradicated. 
 
 But it is not a Hellenic paganism which masters 
 him ; the gloomy and savage side of an ancient 
 religion, common to the Celtic and Scandinavian 
 races, has remained, while its blither aspects have 
 passed away. The Skyeman has a certain, sly 
 humour, and, like our brother Boer, he is intensely 
 slim. Yet it is sad to see a whole race of people 
 deprived so largely of those simple joys which once 
 
 ^ For which see Mr. Charles Godfrey Leland's delightful 
 book, Etruscan Roman Remains.
 
 The People 199 
 
 Inspired to merriment. You see them on "Sabbath," 
 journeying- to the kirk or returning- from its sleep- 
 inviting atmosphere after being- stormed at in guttural 
 and gusty Gaelic, with faces set to gloom, and scarce 
 illumined by a smile. Or if a smile should flicker 
 over the faces of the younger people, it is at once 
 subdued, for remembrance tells of a black mark set 
 against the name of the frivolous Sabbath-breaker 
 in the books of Heaven. It is sad that ministers 
 who might teach the people more hopeful and gener- 
 ous views of life, should go on insisting on "the 
 gloomy gospel of damnation." Presbyterianism, 
 or at least the straiter portion of it, condemns 
 bagpipe music, dancing, and the numerous innocent 
 amusements which once made the life of the people 
 so happy, and, if truth be told, is harder upon those 
 who cherish these things than upon the more guilty 
 sinner. The minister has much to answer for, and 
 religion, as taught to these people, has much to do 
 with this gloomy character.^ Yet it would be less 
 than just not to say that an earlier Calvinism than 
 that of Presbyterianism moulded the Celt and made 
 him the melancholy creature that he is. The primi- 
 tive religion which the countless generations, who 
 were the forgotten forefathers of the crofters, cherished, 
 must also have been stern and savage, as, in truth, 
 it is known to have been. The old gods delighted 
 in human sacrifices, and their Celtic worshippers 
 loved to pay them due respect, and reeked of blood 
 and slaughter. Their acquaintance with the rough 
 Norseman did not teach them a gentle creed. 
 
 Nor has the environment in which the people live 
 been without its depressing effects upon their char- 
 acter. It is true that on a glorious summer day, 
 when the sun shines out of a cloudless Italian sky, 
 when ocean is calm, save for its "many-twinkling 
 smile," when the moor is decked with flowers and 
 
 1 Stewart, in his Sketches of the H!ghla?ids, i. 135 (1825), has 
 justly noted the effects of fanaticism in religion on the Highland 
 character.
 
 200 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 redolent with fragrant scents, when the lark sings 
 blithely overhead, and all nature invites the beholder 
 with a subtly seductive charm, the landscape is as 
 joyful and inspiring as could be wished for. Then 
 the blithe gods of Greece might conceivably disport 
 themselves on the flowery moorland, or the nymphs' 
 wild, careless laughter be heard from the hollows as 
 they sported with the fauns, or the white arms of a 
 naiad flash from the dark pools of the mountain 
 torrent, while the rustics praised these light divinities 
 with careless song and dance. But "it is not always 
 May," and though it would be disloyal to say that 
 Skye has not its due share of summer weather, yet 
 the gloom of the short winter days, the howling 
 winds, the pitiless lashing rain and hail, above all, 
 the savage grandeur of mountain or towering cliff" 
 or raging sea, and the fixed melancholy of the wide 
 moorlands with their sober hues, all have a depress- 
 ing eff"ect on the islander who lives without change 
 among them. He strives with unsympathetic nature 
 for a scant livelihood — cultivating scanty patches 
 between the bare stone ribs of the earth, or braving 
 the perils of the sea for fish.^ He perceives himself 
 condemned to the same monotonous life from year 
 to year, shut in among his moorlands from the 
 bravery of the outer world, shut out, too, from all 
 those joyful merry-makings and amusements, which 
 temper the monotony of other men's lives in cities. 
 All winter he must sit perforce in his gloomy little 
 hut, with its earthen floor and peaty atmosphere, 
 debarred utterly from work or diversion. The gossip 
 of the township, the deadly ecclesiastical feuds of 
 the narrow sects of Presbyterianism, the political 
 situation as it is set forth by the local newspapers 
 from Dingwall or Inverness, and the delinquencies 
 of these betes huniahies, the landlords, keep his mind 
 from becoming quite a blank, and so winter wears 
 round to spring-time and work. All these things 
 
 ^ This hardly applies to Skye, for the Skyeman is no great 
 fisherman.
 
 The People 201 
 
 tend to make the islesman what he is, and thoug-h 
 to the laudator tetnporis acti the life of the Skyeman 
 may seem bHssful through ignorance, one can but 
 regret that it is not more open to the more generous 
 vistas along which other men perceive the things of 
 the wider life. 
 
 Yet the life of the crofter has its compensations. 
 A living is secure, if it be but a scanty one, and he 
 has but few wants. Herrings, meal, and tea are 
 easily procured, and if they do not make a banquet 
 of the gods, yet, with an occasional braxy sheep, 
 they satisfy the Skyeman. He lives, too, save in his 
 hut (where, however, the peat reek does him no real 
 harm and acts as a disinfectant), amidst an atmo- 
 sphere which invigorates like a tonic and is a thousand 
 times more delightful. And, incredible as it may 
 seem, he manages to save money, and stories are 
 current of this and the other crofter having- a long- 
 bank account. One good man came to participate 
 in the gift of seed potatoes given by a benevolent 
 Government. He pulled out of his pocket not his 
 form of application, as he thought, but a deposit 
 receipt for two hundred pounds ! How do they 
 manage it ? asks the stranger. But that is a 
 question which only the crofter can answer, and one 
 which he is not the least likely to reply to, not even 
 though his minister should ask it. 
 
 Again, if he is prone to certain diseases, like con- 
 sumption, or to insanity out of all proportion to the 
 population, that is because he subsists now so largely 
 on boiled tea, and also because years and years of 
 inbreeding have enfeebled the vital powers. For, 
 when all is said, we cannot but feel that the race is 
 one which, in its present surroundings, is enfeebled 
 and dying. If it is tenacious of its hold on life, the 
 elements of strength have little to back them up. 
 Habits of procrastination denote a feeble vitality, 
 and the customary submission to fate suggests that 
 the fires of energy are burning low. "It will do 
 to-morrow," or " time enough," are common sayings
 
 202 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 in a Skyeman's mouth when work presses, uttered 
 in Gaelic with an incredibly and amusingly bored 
 intonation ; and, to tell the truth, he is incredibly 
 lazy. An active outsider is sore put to it when he 
 employs a man who dawdles hopelessly through the 
 day, and it takes years before he learns patience, nor 
 indeed is the lesson ever thoroughly acquired. This 
 procrastination or laziness is humorously illustrated 
 by the following verse which a crofter was moved 
 to utter : — 
 
 "Oh, that the peats would cut themselves, 
 The fish shump on the shore, 
 And that we all in bed might lie 
 For aye and evermore, och, och ! " 
 
 As in all savage communities, the women are the 
 more active, walking miles to sell eggs or fowls, 
 carrying up heavy creels of sea-ware for manure, 
 and in general taking much the greater pains to 
 accomplish something, while the men merely loaf 
 about smoking. In spite of these excessive toils, 
 they preserve an erect carriage, even to old age, and 
 though not comely, preserve a certain freshness of 
 appearance which is not unpleasing. Yet much of 
 this labour seems unwomanly, and it is more than 
 doubtful whether the emancipated women of our 
 time would approve of these masculine labours. It 
 is no uncommon sight to see two women with a rope 
 round their chests drawing a harrow across the fields, 
 just as Arthur Young saw a woman and an ox 
 harnessed to the plough in France before the 
 Revolution. 
 
 Ages ago the Celtic art was justly celebrated over 
 Europe. Carved stones, ruined fanes, silver work, 
 and illuminated manuscripts all survive to attest its 
 curious beauty, its intricate patterns, and the delicacy 
 of the artist's hand. Like all social art it had sprung 
 from a close imitation of natural forms, which in time 
 became conventionalised, but, in its later stages, it 
 reblossomed into a very luxuriance of new conven-
 
 The People 203 
 
 tionalism, in which both the orig-inal pattern and the 
 earher conventional rendering could barely be traced. 
 The practice of this native art has long ago perished, 
 nor, in spite of its long existence, can the Celts be 
 called an artistic people, as were the Greeks, Only 
 a few in each generation and over a wide district 
 preserved the artistic tradition, but the bulk of the 
 people must have been dull to its refining influence. 
 You will see more artistic and highly decorated 
 houses in Fiji than you will in Skye. Even the 
 wigwam of the Red Indian shows greater refine- 
 ment than the black houses of Skye and the rest of 
 the Hebrides. If it were not for the fact that the 
 people are now, in most cases, within daily touch 
 of civilisation, and have access to newspapers and 
 to luxuries which to their grandfathers were not even 
 a name, you would say, seeing these ugly, dwarfish 
 black houses for the first time, that they belonged to 
 a savage race remote from every refining influence. 
 The eff"orts of the people, never, perhaps, very great, 
 are frustrated by their natural surroundings and the 
 moist climate, and, on the whole, the struggle for 
 life is too keen for them to be careful of its merely 
 ornamental side. So far as that exists it is seen in 
 the art of dyeing and of blending colours to form 
 the tartans of the clans. Its lack, again, is revealed 
 in the absence of those small gardens which are the 
 pride of southern cottagers, and beautify to an extra- 
 ordinary extent the little landscape in which they 
 are set. 
 
 There can be no doubt that it is precisely those 
 factors, responsible for the want of any widespread 
 love of beauty, which are to blame for the excessive 
 whisky-drinking so common in Skye and all over the 
 Highlands. In days gone by it must have run like 
 water, and it was no uncommon thing for a man to 
 drink a bottle of whisky daily. Lairds and tacksmen 
 had a dram brought to their bedsides before getting 
 up, as their degenerate successors nowadays have 
 a cup of tea — both customs bad, but the former
 
 204 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 probably the lesser evil of the two. Under the old 
 regime, say forty or fifty years ago, the drinking 
 customs in Skye were notorious. All the tacksmen 
 drank heavily, and a whole bottle of whisky only 
 made them mellow. The real man only appeared 
 under the influence of liquor ; hence in any business 
 transaction the parties to it urged each the other on 
 to fresh exertions, each hoping thus to come in time 
 to the true opinion of his opponent and so get the 
 better of him. On market-days in Portree, the 
 farmers all joined in the ordinary at the village inn, 
 where they sat eating and drinking till they were 
 quite tipsy, afterwards sallying out to play shinty. 
 No shame was attached to these proceedings, and 
 indeed they were quite en regie. Nowadays things 
 have changed for the better ; the farmers are sober 
 men, content with an occasional glass, and conscious 
 that modern competition makes drunken habits spell 
 ruin. Formerly every event was made an occasion 
 . for drinking. If it was raining, it was *' we'll have a 
 dram to keep out the wet" ; if it was cold, "we'll 
 have a dram to keep out the cold " ; and if it was a 
 fine day, why then "we'll drink its health." Yet it 
 would be foolish optimism to say that drinking has 
 really entirely ceased, else why do so many scores 
 of travellers for whisky firms come to Skye ? Every- 
 body, in fact, drinks, and the crofter, though he has 
 given up the private manufacture of whisky, can buy 
 it so cheaply (and badly) that he consumes a good 
 deal of it. As one of them once said in my hearing, 
 " Och ! I will never think I have a dram until I have 
 two." It is not unlikely that wise and not fanatical 
 dealing with this terrible Highland curse would 
 eflfect much good ; for instance, a temperance society 
 lately started at Dunvegan by MacLeod and Mrs. 
 MacLeod now numbers over a hundred members. 
 But drinking in Skye is an old story. An act of the 
 Privy Council in 1616 restricted Mackinnon to one 
 tun of wine, and MacLeod and Donald Gorme to four 
 tuns yearly, the act alleging as a reason for this pro-
 
 The People 205 
 
 hibition that "the beastlie and barbarous cruelties 
 and inhumanities that fallis out amang- the Islesmen " 
 are caused by " the grite and extraordinar excesse in 
 drinking- of wyne." 
 
 I have referred already to the Highland Presby- 
 terianism. I shall describe one of its most quaint 
 features, an out-of-doors Communion, or "occasion," 
 as it is called. With the straitest sect it begins on 
 the Thursday, or fast day. The evening before that 
 day the various ministers are down betimes to aw^ait 
 the steamer and escort those brethren who have 
 come to assist at this most solemn time to their 
 respective manses. Groups of "holy women" — old 
 creatures whose religious profession and (we shall 
 hope) practice has bestowed upon them the name — 
 clad in decent black, with sober bonnets edged neatly 
 with white, emerge from the steamer's recesses and 
 step on shore radiant with anticipation. To attend 
 these wearisome and needlessly long services is the 
 one joy of their lives, and indeed it speaks much 
 for the cheerlessness of their lives, or (should I say) 
 for the intensity of their faith, that they should be 
 able to extract so much joy from these tedious pro- 
 ceedings. Each day the services in church begin at 
 early morning and are carried on at intervals through 
 the day. Friday forenoon is given up to the old men, 
 the "bodachs," who, as the spirit moves them, ex- 
 pound a passage w'ith solemn simplicity and (so it is 
 said) to the intense amusement of the ministers — 
 who must enjoy this rest in the midst of their labours. 
 
 Sunday, or, I should say. Sabbath, at last arrives, 
 and long before the hour of service crowds are 
 collecting in the field or on the hillside, where a pulpit 
 like a large sentry-box is set up, and in front of 
 it a long table with seats on which the intending 
 communicants sit. These, so strictly are the tables 
 fenced, so extreme is the reverence attached to the 
 sacrament, will seldom amount to two score out 
 of four or five hundred worshippers. At last the 
 congregation is gathered and the service of the day
 
 2o6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 begins. There will be three or four ministers to take 
 part in it, and psalm-singing, Bible-reading, prayers 
 of an hour in length, two or three sermons of as many 
 hours long, and the sacred rite itself, carry it on from 
 eleven in the morning till five in the afternoon. With 
 bent heads hid in shawls, the communicants sit during 
 the long service. Around them, on chairs or sitting 
 on the grass, are family parties, for the "occasion" 
 means the reunion of relatives from a distance. 
 These, perhaps three hundred strong, form the 
 devouter part of the congregation, yet to one accus- 
 tomed to the decencies of worship even they seem 
 restless and occasionally inattentive. Beyond them 
 (to represent the worldly element) are numbers of 
 less interested persons, constrained to be present 
 through fear of "the hangman's whip," as well as 
 groups of children. They loll on the grass, stretch 
 themselves, yawn, and (if I am not mistaken) long 
 for the end of the day. 
 
 But (to an outsider) the music is the quaintest part 
 of the service. The Gaelic tune progresses leisurely, 
 swaying up and down, now slowly, now in sudden 
 turns or grace-notes, as some supple tree might sway 
 in an uncertain wind, and giving the effect of some 
 exaggerated plain-song melody. The ear accustomed 
 to lowland Scots' psalm-tunes seems now and then 
 to catch some familiar tune or phrase. Martyrs or 
 Dundee or what not, but it is presently lost in a 
 multiplicity of turns and sudden flats and weird skirls. 
 The precentor intones each line by himself — a remi- 
 niscence of the day when psalm-books were few and 
 most people could not read — then the whole congre- 
 gation take up the line in a swaying cadence. As to 
 the preaching, the earnest Boanerges from his box 
 will quickly have the attentive ear of the people if he 
 is a popular man, and will rub in his points with fiery 
 gesture and fierce declamation. Hell-fire (there is 
 no doubt) is freely threatened, and Sabbath-breaking 
 vigorously condemned, and the elect with grave, set 
 faces are grimly satisfied as each point is made, or
 
 The People 207 
 
 some telling phrase or ludicrous metaphor is pressed 
 home. The whole proceeding has a certain romantic 
 quaintness, at once in keeping and out of keeping 
 with its surroundings, suggesting both the grim 
 austerities of the most narrow of Puritanic sects and 
 the barbaric chant of some forgotten but indigenous 
 paganism. The still air is full of the strident echoes 
 of the minister's voice, rising and falling in a 
 monotonous swing, exhorting, admonishing, and, 
 doubtless, denouncing. And meanwhile God's good 
 sunshine glows upon good and evil alike, and knows 
 nothing of sectarian divisions, but only gladdens the 
 heart of man. 
 
 Chateaubriand, in his Rene, describes how he 
 travelled to Scotland to live in the memory of the 
 heroes of Morven, and found only herds of cattle 
 grazing on the spots where Ossian sang and Fingal 
 conquered. It was a world dispeopled of its drea?ns. 
 But one may moralise to a deeper strain and ask 
 what attraction there can be in the austerities of 
 sectarianism to the race which cherished Fingal 
 and Cuchullainn, Selma and Bragela, and a host of 
 graceful and poetic heroes and heroines? Romance 
 there is none in it ; culture is banished ; and the 
 cheerful day and the smiling hillsides seem to give 
 the lie to its dismal forebodings. 
 
 But in spite of these things the simple life of the 
 people has an attractive side for those who are weary 
 of the many unnatural ways of modern life, and who 
 sigh for Wordsworth's plain living and high thinking. 
 The people live close to nature, and, in spite of the 
 evident discomfort of much in their lives, have virtues 
 and courtesies which would be often looked for in 
 vain in higher classes of society. Their speech is 
 deprecatory but not servile ; they fear to offend your 
 sensibilities by an injudicious word ; their manners 
 have natural refinement, and this causes them to do 
 and say what is the right thing at the right moment. 
 Much has been written on these qualities of the Celt, 
 and there is the less need to dwell upon them here,
 
 2o8 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 save to note the truth of such statements in passing-, 
 and to say how much of pleasantness it lends to a 
 stranger's intercourse with the crofters. 
 
 Not only their independent condition as, in effect, 
 peasant proprietors suggests the primitive state of 
 their life, but many incidental aspects of it do so too, 
 and strike the stranger with the sense of living in 
 some primitive foreign land. You see the crofter 
 leading his horse with panniers slung on its back, 
 crammed with the stuff which the steamer has 
 brought him from smoky Glasgow. Where else 
 in broad Scotland can that be seen? Or, at times, 
 even when a journey of several miles has to be taken 
 with the mare, her foal keeps her company, walking 
 demurely by her side, or seeking nutriment at every 
 halt. Crofter women toil along the roads in winter 
 or summer with baskets of eggs or even live fowls, 
 clucking in a resentful fashion, which they mean to 
 sell in Portree or elsewhere. On market-day you 
 will see large family parties who have brought in 
 stirks or horses to sell ; possibly they started from 
 home when other people were going to bed, and 
 even rested for a while in some sheltered nook of 
 the moor to sleep beneath the stars. On such 
 occasions friend greets friend with mighty hand- 
 shakings, prolonged kisses, smiling faces, and a 
 flow of Gaelic. There is a heartiness in such 
 friendship which shows the warm nature which, 
 after all, underlies the usually solemn exterior of 
 the Celt. 
 
 Such foreign and primitive aspects of Skye life 
 were, of course, far more common before the advent 
 of MacBrayne's steamers, opening up the markets of 
 the south, and bringing meal, oil, tea, and a hundred 
 other things which the people either produced for 
 themselves, or, not knowing the need of them, did 
 without. Tea-drinking is now one of the most 
 fruitful sources of ill-health in Skye, but in 1823 
 the Rev. A. MacGregor says there were only three 
 teapots known among the crofters of the large
 
 The People 209 
 
 parish of Kilmuir. Excessive tea -drinking- was 
 unknown, as was also the use of wheaten or loaf 
 bread. Porridge was frequently made directly from 
 the standing- grain in the following manner. A 
 woman cut a certain quantity with a sickle. The 
 straw and husks were consumed by setting fire to 
 the ears, while the grain dropped into the quern. 
 Within a wooden frame the lower stone of the 
 quern, with a slightly concave surface, was fixed. 
 The upper stone revolved in it by another woman 
 giving a circular motion to a peg fixed in a hole 
 near its outer edge. The first woman fed it with 
 grain, and the action was accompanied by a chant 
 in Gaelic. When the grain was sufficiently ground 
 it was made into porridge, the whole operation 
 occupying not much more than an hour. 
 
 Plates, knives, and forks were mostly unknown. 
 A square board with an outer frame held the mixture 
 of potatoes and herring cooked together. All the 
 members of the family sat round this board, each 
 with his or her horn spoon, though sometimes one 
 spoon had to suffice for the family. Paraffin lamps 
 did not exist for the islanders. A cruisie was used 
 instead, the oil being made mostly from the livers of 
 fish, extracted by means of heat. "Not light, but 
 rather darkness visible," might justly characterise 
 the illumination given by the cruisie. Such earthen- 
 ware vessels as were in use were called "craggans," 
 and were of home manufacture. They were usually 
 made by the most tasteful of the family group, from 
 a certain kind of clay. A circular bottom was first 
 made on which the vessel itself was built up and 
 shaped as required. It was then smoothed with a 
 knife, and after being dried in the sun, was burned 
 in a peat fire, where it not infrequently fell to pieces. 
 
 Not the least touching part of what a stranger sees 
 of the life of the islander, are the funeral processions. 
 The coffin is laid on a bier which is borne by six 
 men, three on each side. In front, a longer or 
 shorter column of friends and acquaintances walks
 
 a 10 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 two abreast. At intervals the first six halt and let 
 the column proceed between them, then, when the 
 bier is abreast of them, they relieve the bearers, who 
 now take their place immediately in front of it. 
 Thus, as each relay of men take their turn, the 
 original bearers find themselves at last in the front of 
 the column, ready again to act. The whole thing 
 works smoothly, and in this simple way each man 
 has the honour of bearing the dead to the last 
 resting-place. On these solitary roads, amid the 
 silent moor, such a procession touches the deepest 
 chords of feeling in the eye-witness. He who strove 
 with nature in these noiseless valleys for a scanty 
 livelihood, is at last committed to the keeping of old 
 mother earth by those who must still resume the 
 conflict. 
 
 "What traveller — who — 
 (How far soe'er a stranger) does not own 
 The bond of brotherhood, when he sees them go 
 A mute procession on the houseless road ? 
 
 Oh ! blest are they who live and die like these, 
 
 Loved with such love and with such sorrow mourned."
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE CROFTING SYSTEM 
 
 " Here may he hardy, sweet, gigantic grow, here tower 
 
 proportionate to Nature, 
 Here cHnib the vast pure spaces unconfin'd, uncheck'd by 
 
 wall or roof, 
 Here laugh with storm or sun, here joy, here patiently 
 
 inure, 
 Here heed himself, unfold himself (not others' formulas 
 
 heed), here fill his time. 
 To duly fall, to aid, unreck'd at last. 
 To disappear, to serve." 
 
 Walt Whitman. 
 
 THE crofting township system in Skye and else- 
 where is the direct outcome of a primitive land 
 tenure which was once common all over Europe, and 
 may be traced in many far-separated lands throughout 
 the world. That tenure is known as the village com- 
 munity system. Apart altogether from all theories 
 of its origin, or from the primitive relation of the 
 community to its chief, the system was mainly that 
 of a common proprietorship or use of land under 
 cultivation and pasture. The land under cultivation 
 was divided among the members of the community 
 according to fixed rules ; the pasture land might be 
 held in common, or might similarly be divided. The 
 chief received more shares or allotments than his 
 people, who looked up to him as their father, and 
 usually helped to cultivate his land. With the 
 manner in which the land came to be actually 
 possessed by patriarchal chiefs or feudal lords, from 
 whom the people held their allotments as serfs or as 
 tenants, we are happily not concerned here. But in 
 
 211
 
 212 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 the Western Hig-hlands the remnants of the village 
 community system — the land, however, being held 
 from its owner by the tenants for a fixed rent, for 
 service, or for payment in kind — are not far to seek. 
 
 Taking the division of the arable land by lot at 
 regularly recurring periods among the members of 
 the township and the use of the hill pasture in 
 common, as the characteristic features of the village 
 community system, we can trace its existence in the 
 islands sometimes in an unchanged, usually in a 
 modified manner. The division by lot is known as 
 the runrig system, perhaps a corruption of the 
 Gaelic Roinn Ruith, division run, or division in 
 common. This division pure and simple existed 
 in the island of Heisgeir up to at least 1884. The 
 land was held by ten tenants and was divided into 
 twelve portions, two tenants receiving each two 
 shares. Every three years the tenants met, and 
 one of their number, called the "constable," duly 
 elected for that purpose, proceeded to divide the 
 land into six parts. Lots were then drawn by six 
 members of the community ; those who held double 
 shares kept each a sixth, the remaining four then 
 also by lot subdivided each his sixth with the four 
 who had not drawn. Thus each person had a sub- 
 division or rig. The township herdsman then 
 received a rig, lying outside the others and next 
 the grazing land ; obviously the cattle could not 
 stray on to the common land if the herdsman took 
 care to keep them off his own land. Other small 
 rigs were then set apart for the poor, squatters or 
 cottars. At the end of three years this series of rigs 
 was let out as grazing land, and new ground was 
 allotted for cultivation. Each tenant had the right 
 to pasture so many sheep or cattle on the grazing 
 land according to a definite arrangement limiting 
 the number — a souming, as it is called. 
 
 This represents the village community system 
 practically unchanged, and there is little doubt that 
 it once prevailed generally in this form in the West
 
 The Crofting System 213 
 
 Highlands. But it tended to disintegration in various 
 ways. Thus what is called "the intermediate run- 
 rig system "' represents the next stage. Here the 
 grazing land is held as before ; part of the arable 
 land only is held in common and by lot ; the re- 
 mainder is divided up into fixed allotments. Lastly, 
 the runrig system disappears where the allotments 
 or crofts are unchanged and each man holds his 
 own ; the pasture land, however, being still common 
 ground. 
 
 Each township regulated its affairs and appointed 
 its officials according to settled rules. Of these 
 officials the most important was the "constable." 
 On a fixed day the people met at a place called Cnoc- 
 na-Comhairle, the Council Hill, and proceeded to 
 elect their constable. Having been elected, he took 
 off shoes and stockings, and, uncovering his head, 
 bowed low, and promised before God and men to be 
 faithful to his trust. His duties included the allot- 
 ment of the land ; the watching of roads and their 
 repairs ; engaging a herdsman ; seeing that the 
 number of fixed days' labour was duly paid ; and 
 various other matters, e.g. arranging the circuit of 
 the townland crops. This last was a most im- 
 portant matter in days when fences were unknown, 
 and cattle, not to speak of wilder animals, were too 
 ready to come down and eat the produce of the land. 
 The herdsman performed this duty by day ; by night 
 two men, chosen by rotation, perambulated the lands, 
 and if they were negligent had to make good the 
 loss. 
 
 In summer the whole township migrated to the 
 hill pasture with their sheep and cattle. Nothing 
 could equal the luxuriant verdure which clothes the 
 West Highland hillsides in early summer, affording 
 the richest food for stock. A procession of all the 
 inhabitants, their horses, sheep, and cattle, was 
 formed on May-day, the men carrying the necessary 
 implements, the women bedding and food. Arrived 
 at the high pasture land, the huts were repaired and
 
 214 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 made ready for habitation ; the cattle turned out to 
 graze ; and a simple " shieling feast " was prepared. 
 Then hymns were sung-, for in the Highlands, as 
 among all primitive people, all work was done to 
 music. The shieling life continued until the crops 
 were ripening, and it afforded to these simple 
 islanders a prolonged picnic under rough condi- 
 tions, and provided a welcome change in the 
 monotony of their lives. When the work of the 
 day was done, the long summer evenings were spent 
 in music and dancing on the soft turf, the older 
 people looking on and recalling the days when they 
 too were young. The calm evening air among the 
 lonely hills was filled with simple merriment, and 
 echoed to the strains of sweet love-songs, plaintive 
 airs, and stirring ballads in the swinging Gaelic 
 rhythm. 
 
 The shieling huts were made of turf with a roof of 
 branches turf-covered, or were actual beehive dwell- 
 ings of stone, the roof tapering to a cone and sur- 
 mounted by a flat stone pierced with a hole to let 
 the peat smoke out. The floor space was never more 
 than 6 feet by 9, though several huts were sometimes 
 joined together, accommodating several families. 
 The sleeping places were nothing but low narrow 
 recesses in the thickness of the wall, and called 
 crupa, from cnipadh, to crouch. In these huts, 
 whether of stone or turf, we are taken back to a 
 very early period in human history ; the structural 
 features differ little from those of the houses of the 
 Stone Age. But as the shieling life was almost 
 entirely an out-of-doors one, little harm could have 
 resulted from these confined dwellings. Indeed, old 
 people who remember the bygone shieling days, 
 look back to them with regret. They were a 
 pleasant holiday, spent in charming surroundings, 
 in health-giving air, and to many of the young lads 
 and lasses they must have awakened the primitive 
 passion of love such as we know it, simple and 
 beautiful, among the herdsmen and fair girls in
 
 o 
 
 at. 
 
 u 
 
 ■■fi 
 
 < 
 u 
 
 'J 
 z. 
 
 35 
 
 D
 
 The Crofting System 215 
 
 the Idyls of Theocritus.^ With the introduction of 
 sheep-farms and the limitation of the hill pasture 
 this chapter in the island life was closed, but it is 
 one which touches the heart, and awakens the 
 primitive pastoral strain which is dormant some- 
 where in the being of us all. 
 
 The method of cultivating- the ground was (and 
 still is) simple enough. No plough was used ; 
 instead of it the cas-croni or crooked spade — an 
 instrument with a long shaft, a blade about a foot 
 and a half long set obliquely at the end of the shaft, 
 and a rest for the foot. With this primitive instru- 
 ment (which is still in common use) a man could cut 
 the sod with wonderful speed. The manure used 
 was mainly sea-ware, scattered on the ground and 
 covered with each heap of earth turned over by the 
 spade. Oats were grown for oatmeal ; now they 
 are grown only for fodder. But even in the golden 
 age of crofting (which one fears is entirely sup- 
 posititious) there could scarcely have been a large 
 harvest of oats, and we know that grain was often 
 imported into the country. Potatoes were then as 
 now a staple food. Many of the crofters were fisher- 
 men, and the herring industry supplied them at once 
 with money and food. Cloth was spun and woven 
 from the wool of their sheep, and an interesting 
 chapter might be written on this home industry, the 
 dyes used and the methods of using them, and the 
 weaving songs sung by the women. 
 
 Up till the year 1843 there was one industry which 
 was the source of much money being brought into 
 the country, but which has now disappeared. This 
 was the manufacture of kelp, ruined utterly by the 
 introduction of barilla and free trade. The industry 
 was started by Rory Macdonald, a tacksman in 
 North Uist, in 1735. With the Celtic love of nick- 
 names he was at once rechristened Rory of the 
 
 ' Here and there among the hills mounds of turf and stone 
 may be seen, puzzling to antiquaries, but really the remains ot 
 the shielings.
 
 2i6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Ashes. The industry soon spread, and by Pennant's 
 time (1770) it was found in all the islands. The 
 process of manufacture was simple if toilsome. Sea- 
 ware was collected in larg-e quantities and spread 
 out to dry. It was then reduced to ashes in rude 
 kilns — twenty tons of sea-ware yielding only a ton 
 of kelp. The work was hard ; the kelp-burners 
 were often not crofters, but the poorest cottars, ill- 
 clad, ill-fed, and miserable. In the best seasons 
 these hardy labourers might be paid -(^2 a ton, 
 but they could not expect to make during a 
 single season more than five tons of kelp with the 
 utmost labour. Landlord and tacksman, like the 
 modern capitalist, profited by this labour, and during 
 the best years cleared £8 per ton. Incomes of 
 ;^20,ooo a year were made by the kelp industry : 
 naturally, when Spanish barilla was introduced, it 
 spelt ruin to more than one landlord, and starvation 
 to cottars and to the crofters who had neglected 
 their land for the sake of making a little money. This 
 department of Highland peasant life, after lasting 
 for a century, completely disappeared, and is now 
 practically forgotten ; yet it cannot be omitted in 
 any picture of crofter life, past and present. 
 
 Besides the crofter pure and simple, there were 
 cottars, who lived mostly by labour, and paid rent, 
 if any, to a tenant, though they occasionally possessed 
 a small bit of land which afforded them and their 
 families a meagre subsistence. As we have seen, this 
 class was largely occupied in the kelp industry, and 
 no doubt was much increased by it. 
 
 Almost entirely up to the eighteenth century, and 
 to a considerable extent after that time, crofters did 
 not hold their land directly from the owner, but from 
 the tacksman, to whom they were subtenants at 
 will, paying rent in money, in kind, and in service. 
 These tacksmen were for the most part what would 
 be called gentlemen farmers elsewhere, and in many 
 cases were representatives of collateral branches of 
 the chiefs own house, and of course, mot'e Scoitico,
 
 The Crofting System 217 
 
 related to him more or less nearly. They were well 
 educated ; in many cases they were officers living on 
 half-pay ; and as we see them in the pages of 
 Johnson and other eighteenth-century travellers, 
 were shrewd, capable men, living roughly but 
 bountifully ; hard drinkers, but long livers ; ac- 
 quainted with the manners of good society, but 
 perfectly at home among the peasantry. They were 
 invariably called after the name of their farm — 
 Uilinish, Kingsburgh, Corrie, Gesto, or what not, 
 while their wives were known as " the mistress of 
 Kingsburgh," or whatever the farm might be called. 
 " In this scheme of society much would, of course, 
 depend on the individual character of the tacksmen. 
 Some would be careless, some would be benevolent, 
 some intelligent and enterprising, votaries of innova- 
 tion and improvement."^ But on the whole the 
 system was far from being an agreeable one for the 
 crofter. The tacksman frequently kept the best part 
 of the land to himself, and rented out the worse 
 parts to the subtenants at exorbitant rates out of all 
 proportion to the value of the land. Besides this he 
 exacted so many days' labour from his crofters, 
 according to the size of their holdings, and, as human 
 nature naturally rebels at enforced labour, while the 
 tenants were more often driven than led, bitter 
 feeling was all too common between tacksman and 
 tenant. This is frequently alluded to in terse Gaelic 
 proverbs, which put the state of matters with a 
 bluntness excusable under the circumstances. Thus, 
 " Gille ghille is meas na' n diobhaW'' (The servant of 
 the servant is worse than the devil) ; while a well- 
 known rhyme may be rendered in English — 
 
 " The tenancy is bad enough, 
 But tlic devil's own business 
 Is in the subtenancy." 
 
 It is only fair to add that the worst features of the 
 
 system, which made the subtenants little better 
 
 ' Crofters Commission Report, 1884, p. 5.
 
 21 8 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 than cring-ing- slaves, were introduced by interlopers 
 who had no connection with the old families, and no 
 kindly feeling of kinship for the peasantry. 
 
 With the growth of our colonies in the eighteenth 
 century, the people began to seek refuge from these 
 evils in emigration. It is a curious fact that, while 
 at a later time the enforced emigration caused by 
 the wholesale evictions in the Highlands naturally 
 became a crying grievance and produced a great 
 outcry through the country, at that time the people 
 emigrated in such numbers, and often so secretly, 
 that the Government of the day sought to prevent it, 
 but in vain. Emigration had then all the glamour 
 of a new idea, and was palatable when the people 
 resorted to it of their own free will. An emigrant 
 ship would come in to one of the lochs by night, and 
 next morning a whole township would be found 
 tenantless, its inhabitants having embarked to seek 
 their fortunes beyond the sea in lands where they 
 should only again in dreams behold the Hebrides. 
 Numerous letters which passed between the Govern- 
 ment and the chief of the MacLeods, beseeching him 
 to take steps to prevent the emigration if he could, 
 still exist in the muniment room of Dunvegan Castle. 
 Probably the Government was prompted to take 
 action rather from hatred of the Americans, so lately 
 revolted from the mother-country, than from dis- 
 interested love of the crofters. Even so late as 1830 
 a petition was sent up to London, signed by over 
 three hundred crofters in Bracadale district, praying 
 for means to remove them to America. 
 
 America was the chosen field of the emigrants, and 
 Lord Selkirk, writing in 1822, quotes a saying that 
 there were as many Skyemen there as in Skye itself. 
 North Carolina, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward's 
 Island were much sought after. At a later time 
 many went to Australia, where a district on Hunter's 
 River, colonised by Skyemen, was called Skye. 
 
 Meanwhile during the course of the eighteenth 
 century the subtenants were more and more brought
 
 The Crofting System 219 
 
 into direct relationship with the proprietors. In 
 some cases leases were granted to them ; the holdings 
 were made more secure ; the scheme of payments and 
 services was arranged with greater definiteness and 
 with much less harshness. Thus the evils of the sub- 
 tenant system to a great extent disappeared with the 
 disappearance of the system itself. 
 
 Meanwhile the sheep-farming mania began, and 
 was soon in full progress all through the Highlands. 1 
 It had been discovered that the immense tracts of 
 hill land afforded the finest pasturage for sheep, and 
 the temptation to turn these into large sheep-farms 
 could scarcely be resisted. These were the days 
 when sheep-farming produced large fortunes, and, 
 given the land, it was easy to find tenants ready to 
 pay a large rent to the owners. But, as we have 
 already seen, much of the hill pasture had been 
 assigned to the dense crofting population throughout 
 the Highlands and islands. To remedy this and get 
 rid of them, or of the bulk of them, clearances on a 
 large scale were resorted to ; ^ whole glens were 
 depopulated ; the people were sent off" to America ; 
 and pasture of less value and much curtailed was 
 assigned to those who remained. 
 
 The cry was raised then as now that the people 
 had an inalienable right to the land of which they 
 were deprived. It is easier to assert this than to 
 prove it. Doubtless, while the clan system prevailed, 
 a chief would scarcely have ventured to deprive any 
 of his clan of their patch of ground without strong 
 reasons. But that did not argue any vested right 
 in a clansman to his land ; still more, when the clan 
 system as such had come to an end, did any ground 
 
 ^ History repeats itself, for in the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries much arable land in Yorkshire was formed into sheep- 
 farms, because of the extension of the wool trade resulting- 
 from commercial relations with the Low Countries. As a 
 direct consequence, many villages were absolutely deserted. 
 Their sites may still be traced on the wolds. 
 
 'This statement refers to the Highlands generally, not to 
 Skye, where it is doubtful how far clearances were resorted to.
 
 220 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 for such an imaginary right cease with it. On the 
 other hand, in many Highland districts the clearances 
 were carried out with great harshness, unpardon- 
 able in the circumstances. Moreover, as human 
 nature is full of sentiment, it is easy to see that, 
 however kindly the clearance of a whole glen might 
 be effected, the mere fact that fifty or a hundred 
 families were evicted in a single district at once takes 
 the colour of a crying evil, which it would not have 
 done had only one family received notice to quit. 
 Yet we have also to bear in mind that the increase of 
 population was already the cause of great hardships 
 in itself — starvation and misery in every form. And, 
 taking this into account along with the fact that 
 voluntary emigration was already being resorted to, 
 there is reason to believe that, sentiment apart, many 
 of the people were only too glad to find a home else- 
 where in lands where nature responded more readily 
 to their labours. Events proved that they and their 
 descendants have prospered to an extent which could 
 never have been possible for them at home. For it 
 is a curious circumstance that the Highlander works 
 better and is more prosperous out of the Highlands 
 than in them. New surroundings, a less enervating 
 climate, and the positive need of exertion, bring out 
 in him (as in most people) his best qualities and make 
 him what our colonies know him to be. 
 
 If the gradual diminution of the subtenant system 
 relieved the crofting population of many evils, it is 
 as certain that the root of the later grievances which 
 culminated in the risings of 1882, followed by the 
 Crofters' Commission and a series of new enactments, 
 is to be found mainly in the reduction of the pasture 
 lands due to sheep-farming. From this root, other 
 grievances, real or imaginary, soon sprung up. 
 Rents were frequently raised ; compensation for 
 improvements were seldom granted ; there came 
 years of depressed values ; on some estates payments 
 for peats, sea-ware, and heather for thatching were 
 demanded ; it was alleged (often with truth) that the
 
 The Crofting System 221 
 
 arable ground was subject to the ravages of game — 
 deer, grouse, etc. At the same time the opening up 
 of the Highlands showed their peasant population, 
 so long shut up in their own glens, wider vistas of 
 life. Better systems of education were called for ; 
 new wants were created which could hardly be sup- 
 plied out of their scanty means of livelihood ; more 
 roads, more means of communication, piers, harbours, 
 steamers, were in demand. The growing discontent 
 of the people was easily fanned by agitators, who 
 omitted invariably to paint the better side of the 
 crofting life, dwelt extravagantly on grievances, and 
 brought reckless charges on proprietors, many of 
 whom had no power or means to help their tenants, 
 with whom they were in sympathy, and some of 
 whom, like the late chief of MacLeod, had ruined 
 themselves in trying to help the crofters in a 
 succession of bad years. Real grievances, agitation, 
 the example of Ireland, all had a natural effect on 
 an emotional but ignorant people. Imagination lent 
 a rosy colour to the past, and it was easy to draw 
 the picture of their forefathers, prosperous and paying 
 a moderate rent for a large extent of land ; blessed 
 with abundant harvests and many cattle, and free 
 access to the rivers and the sea for their produce. 
 These were the days of plenty, of contentment.^ 
 Witness after witness examined before the Com- 
 mission in 1884 showed that some such picture was 
 fixed in his mind as to the days of old. How little 
 reason there was for its existence has already been 
 shown, and is amply confirmed by the sordid misery 
 of the Highland peasantry in those days, as depicted 
 by careful but independent observers like Pennant, 
 
 ^ There is no doubt that before the Highlands became avail- 
 able to sporting' tenants, the peasantry had more or less free 
 access to the rivers, lochs, and moors, and subsisted largely 
 on the produce found therein. But of course game was not 
 then preserved, and probably there was less of it. Raiding 
 each other's cattle must also have provided both sport and food ! 
 See Stewart's Sketches of the Character, Manners, etc., of the 
 Highlanders, i. 87 seq.
 
 2 22 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Buchanan, and the writers of the Old Statistical 
 Account. We know, too, as a mere matter of 
 history, what fearful destitution existed at recurring 
 periods during the first half of the nineteenth century, 
 and the kindness and leniency shown by the MacLeods 
 and Macdonalds to their tenants. In 1837 Lord 
 Macdonald gave _;^2ooo worth of provisions to his 
 tenants, and the self-sacrifice of MacLeod in the bad 
 season of 1845 will not soon be forgotten in Skye. 
 Such benefits as may have existed under the old 
 system — greater extent of land, the kelp industry, 
 and the ignorance of the outer world which kept 
 the people from envy, natural or unnatural — were 
 counterbalanced, if not outweighed, by the exactions 
 under which they suffered. The exactions removed 
 were soon forgotten ; the benefits lost were unduly 
 enlarged upon. To say, however, that the crofters 
 had no grievances, would be to show scant sympathy 
 for them as a class, and though we may regret the 
 methods which led to the risings and the blame so 
 foolishly cast on the landlords as a class, no one 
 who knows the crofter can be sorry that things did 
 come to a head, and that the Government took the 
 matter in hand. 
 
 Anyone who has read the detailed examination of 
 witnesses before the Royal Commission of 1883, the 
 appendices in the first volume of the Report of 1884, 
 and the Report itself, knows how difficult a thing it 
 is to arrive at a conclusion which will do justice all 
 round. Of the demands of the crofter, however, 
 two very plainly emerge — more land and fixity of 
 tenure. Similarly, those who live in the midst of a 
 crofting population know how very easy it is for 
 outsiders, seeing the life of the crofter en passant^ to 
 make the most grievous mistakes about it. For 
 example, there are the black houses. The visitor 
 sees their low stone walls pierced by one or two tiny 
 windows ; their thatched roofs held down by ropes 
 weighted with stones, or by old fishing -nets; 
 occasionally he sees a chimney, more often the
 
 A Ckoi n.k's I lof.^r.— Im kkior
 
 The Crofting System 223 
 
 smoke streams out at the door or at a hole in the 
 roof. He enters, and out of the darkness and peat 
 smoke, things begin to emerge to his vision. There 
 is the rough earthen floor ; the peat fire burning on a 
 flat stone in the middle of the floor ; box beds are 
 ranged down one side of the hut ; a partition separates 
 one end from the other ; on the rafters, blackened 
 with smoke, some hens are perched. It seems to 
 him the very abomination of desolation. He goes 
 off, cursing the landlords who would allow such 
 dwellings as these. He forgets that they may be 
 dear to the people who dwell in them ; that they 
 are not necessarily insanitary ; that their inhabitants 
 exhibit none of the savagery which he inevitably 
 attributes to them in such surroundings ; they are 
 refined, courteous, kindly, and from these houses 
 have come many whose names are honoured and 
 beloved in Scotland and in many quarters of the 
 world. Moreover, he does not see that these houses 
 may, to the people, have associations with the 
 romantic past which is so dear to them, and are, 
 indeed, in true harmony with the rugged and shaggy 
 moorland on which they stand. 
 
 Or he sees their scanty patches of arable ground ; 
 or themselves working out of doors in wet weather, 
 which is nothing to them but is abominable to him. 
 All this spells misery in his eyes. But the crofter is 
 contented with it ; he is not overdriven with work ; 
 the work is congenial ; he is a son of the soil ; he can 
 turn to many other occupations ; and, compared with 
 the lot of slum-dwellers in towns, his is a pleasant one. 
 
 So easy is it to form false impressions out of a 
 little knowledge, joined with a vast ignorance of 
 surrounding circumstances and atmosphere ! How 
 few men can say what is true of the crofter so long 
 as he pays his rent and observes the rules of his 
 township, that he is independent and his own 
 master? Besides this, he is pursuing a business 
 which somehow seems to be bound up with the truer 
 life of man. Nature and he understand each other :
 
 224 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 from her he learns many virtues ; his ambitions are 
 few and easily attained. Happy crofter, who knows 
 nothing of sturm tind drang^ and has enough to live 
 on of simple food, and has learned contentment 
 apart from ease and luxury. 
 
 With the passing of the Crofters' Holdings Act of 
 1886 most of the worst grievances were removed, 
 and the position of the crofter became one of security, 
 while a moderate prosperity was brought within the 
 reach of all who were active enough to strive for it. 
 The one measure of the Act which produced the 
 greatest satisfaction was the granting of fixity of 
 tenure. What a vast improvement this was on the 
 earlier days, when the tenant " had not even a formal 
 verbal promise for any fixed time, but relied on the 
 character of his landlord and the fashion of the 
 country."! Now, no crofter can be removed from 
 his holding except for breach of certain conditions. 
 He must pay his rent regularly, must not injure his 
 holding or subdivide or sublet it, must not violate 
 any written condition for the protection of either 
 landlords or neighbouring crofters. For certain 
 reasons, to be approved of by the Crofters' Com- 
 mission, a holding may be resumed by the landlord, 
 but adequate compensation must be made by letting 
 to the crofter land of equal value or by compensation 
 in money. The Act also provides that the rent agreed 
 upon shall not be altered save by fresh agreement 
 entered into by both parties, or by appeal to the 
 Commission to fix a " fair rent." A crofter may 
 renounce his tenancy at a year's notice, but in such 
 a case, or where he is removed from his holding for 
 breach of the statutory conditions, he is entitled to 
 compensation for permanent improvements made by 
 him. Enlargement of holdings is also made com- 
 pulsory on landlords when application is made for 
 this by five or more crofters, provided that land is 
 available and after due inquiry and hearing of parties 
 by the Commission. The land liable to be used for 
 
 ^ MacCuUoch, Description of tlieWestern Isles, iii. 102 (1824).
 
 The Crofting System 225 
 
 enlargement is strictly defined by the Act in fairness 
 to the proprietor. The right of bequest of a croft 
 is also fully provided for. 
 
 The working of this Act has proved its beneficial 
 nature, and though it does not relieve poverty where 
 poverty exists, it makes it possible for a diligent 
 crofter to obtain a sufficient livelihood with the 
 consciousness that he, like the large landowner, has 
 a stake in the country, and is, in effect, himself a 
 proprietor. At the same time the Act provided that 
 sums might be lent on due security by the Fishery 
 Board (acting on behalf of the Treasury) to crofters 
 engaged in the fishing industry. Such loans might 
 be used in building, purchasing, or repairing vessels 
 and fishing gear. 
 
 In 1897 a new measure was passed providing for 
 the administration of sums available for the improve- 
 ment of congested districts in the Highlands. This 
 Act allows the expenditure of ;^i 5,000 annually by 
 the Commissioners, together with other sums which 
 may be voted by Parliament. This money may be 
 expended — (i) in developing agriculture, dairy - 
 farming, breeding of live stock and poultry ; (2) 
 in providing seed potatoes, seed oats, and imple- 
 ments for agriculture and dairy work ; (3) in pro- 
 viding land for subdivision among the crofters and 
 cottars of a congested district, or for the enlargement 
 of their present holdings ; (4) in aiding the migra- 
 tion and settling of crofters and cottars to other 
 parts of Scotland ; {5) in the development of fishing ; 
 (6) in making or improving lighthouses, piers, roads, 
 bridges, footpaths, and meal-mills, and providing 
 guarantees for telegraphic and postal facilities ; (7) 
 in developing spinning, weaving, and similar home 
 industries ; and (8) in providing or improving 
 harbours. Such assistance in congested areas is 
 given by way of gift or loan, or by sale at cost price. 
 During the short time in which the Commissioners 
 have administered the provisions of this Act, enough 
 has been done to show that it will be invaluable in time 
 
 15
 
 226 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 to come, if only the people themselves will rise to the 
 occasion, and engage in the industries which it tries 
 to develop. Practical lessons have been given in im- 
 proved agricultural methods, e.g., spraying potatoes 
 to prevent disease ; stud animals have been provided 
 in numerous districts to improve the breed of horses, 
 cattle, and sheep ; bee-keeping has been experimented 
 with, as well as the improvement of the methods of 
 poultry-keeping. The making of new roads and of 
 piers and boat-slips has gone on with great speed, 
 and has offered to isolated districts such means of 
 reaching the busier centres as must prove an immense 
 benefit to the crofters of these districts. As a rule, 
 in making a new road or pier, the Commissioners 
 offer to defray the bulk of the cost, provided the 
 remainder is raised locally, or, in some cases, the 
 work is carried on by the crofters themselves. The 
 reports of this Congested Districts Board and of the 
 Crofters' Commission itself show what has been done, 
 and should be studied carefully by all who wish to 
 understand the problems of crofter life in the 
 Highlands. 
 
 Crofters, however, are not always alive to what is 
 best for them. They are affected deeply by senti- 
 mental reasons, they do not always exercise fore- 
 thought, and they too often seize upon a present 
 good (which is easily obtained) to avoid the trouble 
 involved in obtaining a future greater good. In 
 1901 the township of Sconser, one of the poorest 
 in Skye, infected periodically by typhus, and seldom 
 visited by sunlight, was offered by the Board the 
 opportunity of removal to two farms on Loch 
 Eishort, where houses would be built for them, 
 roads and fences made, stock improved, and various 
 other privileges supplied. The offer was refused ; 
 and though many of the reasons alleged for the 
 refusal seem sound enough, they are somewhat 
 discounted by the fact that the new land was said 
 to be under a ban and therefore "impossible of 
 profitable occupancy." No better offer could have
 
 The Crofting System 227 
 
 been made, but, as far as Sconser is concerned, 
 the opportunity is gone, as the land in question is 
 at present in process of being- subdivided into small 
 crofts to relieve congestion elsewhere.^ 
 
 Since the formation of the Crofters' Commission 
 a fair rent has been fixed over all the crofting areas, 
 and, working out the average on the Macdonald 
 and MacLeod estates in Skye, I find that on the 
 former there are 861 crofts paying an average rent 
 of p^2, i8s. 5d., and on the latter 196 crofts with an 
 average rent of £2i'~ O" both estates the rents vary 
 from 2s. 6d. to £10 or £11, but the greater bulk of 
 the crofters pay a rent of £2 or £2, los. A ;£io 
 croft will usually mean about 7 acres of arable 
 ground, besides the hill pasture, but the real extent 
 of such a croft will depend largely on the nature 
 of the ground itself. 
 
 As examples of the extent of ground held by 
 the crofters of a township and of the rent paid by 
 them, I shall take three townships which may be con- 
 sidered fairly representative, and give the necessary 
 details. 
 
 The township of Peinchorran in the Braes district, 
 
 1 Both the Crofters' Holdings and the Cong-ested Districts 
 Acts refer to cottars as well as crofters. Technically a cottar 
 is the occupier of a dweirmg--house situated in a crofting- dis- 
 trict, with or without land, who pays no rent to the landlord 
 {i.e. a squatter), or the tenant from year to year of a dwelling- 
 place, situated in a crofting parish, who pays an annual 
 rent not exceeding £6, but who has no arable or pasture 
 land. The position of such cottars is obviously a poor one. 
 They depend for a livelihood on casual work, fishing, etc. 
 Fortunately they are a decreasing quantity. On the MacLeod 
 estate there are seventy-seven cottars, paying an average rent 
 of £i ; on the Macdonald estate there are fifty-five, with an 
 average rent of 6s. MacLeod has recently assigned land at 
 Carbostvore in Glen Brittle to ten landless cottars. The higher 
 average of cottar rental on the MacLeod estate is due to the 
 fact that many of these cottars have land. 
 
 * Taking five as the average number in a crofting family, this 
 would give 4305 of a crofting population on ,the Macdonald 
 estate, and 980 on the MacLeod estate.
 
 228 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 near Portree, contains eighteen crofts.^ The rents of 
 these crofts vary from ;^4, i6s. to ;£i, 12s., giving- an 
 averagerent of ;^3, 7s. 8d. The smallest of the crofts 
 has 2 acres of arable land, and i rood 30 poles of 
 outrun. For this a rent of ;^2, 9s. is paid. Most 
 of the others have, roughly, 4 acres of arable, and 
 I of outrun. The largest has 5;^ acres of arable, and 
 I of outrun, with a rent of ^^5. The rent of the 
 whole township is ;;^6o, 19s. Outrun, it should be 
 explained, is the strip of ground between what is 
 strictly arable and the wall bounding the hill pasture. 
 To this township is allotted 3732 acres of common 
 hill pasture, part of which is held in common with 
 two smaller townships. The number of cattle and 
 sheep which each crofter may put on the hill grazing 
 must not exceed his just allowance, and so affect the 
 fair exercise of the joint rights of his fellow-crofters 
 on the township. An Act passed in 1891 allows the 
 crofters of a township to appoint a committee out of 
 their own number triennially to regulate all matters 
 concerning the hill grazing. 
 
 This township has the advantage of being situated 
 close to the sea, unlike our second example — the 
 township of Mugeary, which lies inland, behind 
 Fingal's Seat, near Portree. The crofts here are of 
 a higher value in proportion to their size, as the 
 ground is richer in quality. Of the seven crofts 
 which make up the township, the smallest contains 
 4 acres i rood 30 poles of arable, and i acre 2 roods 
 of outrun, and the largest 6 acres 3 roods 38 poles 
 of arable, 2 acres 2 roods 10 poles of outrun. The 
 rents of these two crofts are ;^g, 15s. and ;^io, 12s. 
 respectively, and of the whole township ;^66, 7s. 
 To this township are allotted 1630 acres of hill 
 pasture. 
 
 As a third example I shall take the township of 
 Roag on the MacLeod estate. The area of this 
 
 ^ In reality only thirteen, but, as frequently happens, some of 
 these are subdivided, and the subdivisions made into separate 
 crofts.
 
 The Crofting System 229 
 
 township is 99 acres 2 roods 21 poles of arable, and 
 54 acres 3 poles of outrun, while the hill pasture 
 extends to 1688 acres. There are twenty-two crofts 
 paying- a gross rental of ;^6^, 4s., giving an average 
 rent of £2, i8s. 4d. The largest croft has an area 
 of 5 acres 2 roods 6 poles of arable, and 4 acres 
 I rood II poles of outrun, with a rent of ;^3, los. 
 The smallest croft, for which a rent of £2, 4s. is 
 paid, contains 4 acres i rood 8 poles of arable, and 
 3 acres 26 poles of outrun. 
 
 It is interesting to inquire whether a large or a 
 small croft is better for the majority of crofters. 
 Some light would be thrown on this question by the 
 division of the farm of Bay by MacLeod of MacLeod 
 into five small farms, each valued at ;^2i annually, 
 but though these farms have been taken up by 
 crofters, their occupancy is too recent (only since 
 1901) to say whether the experiment will prove an 
 unqualified success. MacLeod has informed me that, 
 on the whole, such small farms probably do better on 
 the mainland than in Skye. The fishing in Skye is 
 always more or less doubtful, and the extra hands 
 employed by such a small farmer would find them- 
 selves idle for part of the year at least. 
 
 The answer to the whole question seems to be 
 (paradoxical as it may seem) that a small croft, say 
 of _;^3 rent, is probably better for the crofter than 
 one of ;^io. On a large croft or small farm, a family 
 can be supported without much exertion, and 
 certainly without bringing the crofter into touch 
 with those wider views of things which keep life 
 wholesome. He gets a sufficient living from his 
 croft, and therewith he is content. Men of a less 
 easy-going temperament, and with more vital energy, 
 would do otherwise : they would try to do the very 
 utmost for their farm and to get the very utmost out 
 of it, and for them the large croft or small farm would 
 be the one thing needful. Again, in no case does 
 the crofter do the best by his land. There is little 
 rotation of crops ; the manuring is done by using
 
 230 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 sea-ware, or, where a township is far from the sea- 
 board, is mainly neglected. But since a small croft 
 of itself cannot support a family, the crofter or his 
 sons must perforce employ their energies in supple- 
 menting their crofting work by other employments. 
 Thus they are compelled to go fishing ; some of them 
 find lucrative wages as yachtsmen during the season ; 
 others go as navvies or get occasional occupation in 
 the large towns. 
 
 From the holding itself the gain can never be 
 great, nor is any crofter ever likely to make his 
 fortune as a crofter. But an industrious man, work- 
 ing his croft to the best advantage, and getting such 
 occasional labour as has just been referred to, will 
 not fail of a plain yet certain livelihood. His potato 
 crop makes a staple article of diet for himself and 
 his family all the year round. He will always have 
 one or two stirks and horses to sell at the market. 
 His wife can always obtain a price for her fowls and 
 eggs. His sheep can be sold as mutton, and their 
 fleeces provide good rough homespun for himself and 
 his family. Family affection is very strong among 
 the crofters, and the croft always offers a home for 
 the daughters who are in service or the sons employed 
 in Glasgow, when they have a holiday. They know 
 that they are always welcome there, and that the 
 homestead will never be wanting to them. To those 
 who have studied the crofter nature, this is known to 
 be a priceless boon. These and the advantages of an 
 open air and natural life make the crofting system 
 an attractive one. There are always plenty of appli- 
 cants when a croft falls vacant, and the lot of the 
 crofter would be envied by many a hard-driven slave 
 in our large cities. As he thought over all these 
 advantages, and considered the trouble of working a 
 small farm, one crofter exclaimed, "We don't want 
 your farms ; all we want is a croft, whether it is ten 
 shillings or a pound, we don't care. It's always a 
 home, and we know that it is our own." 
 
 Social reformers have always and rightly desired
 
 The Crofting System 231 
 
 that the people of a country should have the oppor- 
 tunity of working on the land as a foil to the evils 
 of society, and as a means of obtaining a livelihood in 
 the manner of all our primitive ancestors for long 
 generations. Whether this is likely to come about is 
 still doubtful, but to all who are interested in such 
 matters, as well as to all who love the simple life for 
 itself, the crofting system offers a wide field for study 
 and observation. Its disadvantages may seem great, 
 but on the whole its benefits are much greater, and 
 the recent measures of Parliament in its favour have 
 at least set it on a firm basis. 
 
 The crofting township is familiar to all who have 
 travelled through Skye, but for the sake of those 
 who have not seen it, it is worth describing. 
 Scattered along the roadside, or through the valley, 
 or by the shore of a sea-loch, are a number of 
 houses. Some of these are the low, thatched black 
 houses already described. But, where the spirit of 
 progress is active, many of them may be two storied 
 cottages, with slate or iron roofs, large windows, 
 chimneys, etc. If they are less picturesque than the 
 more primitive structures, they are more in keeping 
 with modern ideas of comfort. Where these have 
 been built, they usually have an enclosed patch of 
 garden in front, where vegetables and even flowers 
 are growing. This is almost entirely wanting in the 
 case of a black house, though one meets now and 
 then with a tiny garden patch, sheltered by elder 
 trees or rowans, planted there to keep off the spirits 
 of evil. On the ground close by the township, 
 usually on some sloping hillside, are the patches of 
 arable ground, each patch belonging to an individual 
 crofter. They are planted with oats or potatoes, 
 the latter carefully weeded, the former not at all, 
 and therefore almost always covered by yellow corn 
 marigolds with which the stunted oats struggle for 
 existence. Perhaps inherent conservatism may ex- 
 plain this. It never had been the custom to weed 
 oats, and such a new-fangled invention as weeding
 
 232 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 would be a reflection upon the spirit of the past ; 
 but potatoes, being themselves of modern growth, 
 might be submitted to modern treatment ! The 
 various oblong or square patches, with different 
 shades of green or yellow or gold, make up a kind 
 of huge variegated carpet when seen from a distance, 
 and lend an air of cheerfulness to the bare hillside 
 or moorland. Beyond and around the township 
 stretches the hill-grazing land, where the sheep and 
 cattle are seen feeding. The old shieling system is 
 a thing of the past, and the township no longer 
 migrates to the uplands in summer to pasture their 
 flocks. These are now consigned to the township 
 herd, whose duty it is to see that they do not stray 
 beyond the limits or to the patches of corn and 
 potatoes. 
 
 As you pass through the township, quiet Celtic 
 faces gaze at you or politely wish you "good-day." 
 The men in rough homespun, the women in a short 
 petticoat, with enormous boots, and, frequently, 
 wearing a man's jacket, will be working in their 
 patches, or gossiping in or out of doors, or strug- 
 gling with an unruly colt or stirk. White-haired 
 children are playing, barefooted and bareheaded ; 
 collie dogs rush after you with fiendish barks. Each 
 crofter may keep one without paying a tax, and (it is 
 said) usually keeps two or even three on the strength 
 of this relaxation of the law. It may not be a very 
 animated scene, but it has its own suggestion of 
 quiet life and work, of industry after nature's heart. 
 You are among people who depend almost entirely 
 on old mother-earth for food and fuel. This is 
 borne in upon you as you see the potato patches, or 
 the cattle and sheep ; above all, when you notice that 
 each house has standing close by it a great stack of 
 dried peats, cut by the crofter out of the moor, and 
 supplying heat and, to a certain extent, light to his 
 home. And all around the peaceful township (which 
 no doubt knows its troubles and sorrows and heart- 
 burnings like other communities, as well as its hopes
 
 X 
 
 •J 
 y. 
 
 o 
 
 '3
 
 The Crofting System 233 
 
 and joys) stretches the silent moor to the distant 
 hills or the blue sea.^ 
 
 ^ The statements made in this chapter have been based on my 
 own inquiries, as well as the following- indispensable works : — 
 the volumes of the evidence taken before the Royal Commis- 
 sion, the Report of that Commission, the annual reports of the 
 Crofters' Commission and the Congested Districts Board, the 
 text of the Crofters' Holdings Acts from 1886 to 1891 (these will 
 be found in a convenient form in a volume by Mr. C. N. 
 Johnston, advocate, with introduction and notes). For the 
 earlier history. Pennant's Tour, Stewart's Sketches of the 
 Highlanders, MacCulloch's Highlmids and Western Isles, Lord 
 Selkirk's Emigration, the Statistical Account, Old and New, 
 are also useful. I am also indebted to MacLeod of MacLeod 
 and Mr. A. Hugh Douglas for facts relative to the MacLeod 
 and Macdonald estates.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE FOLK-LORE OF SKYE 
 
 " There is a natural sentiment and prepossession in favour 
 of ag-e, of ancestors, of barbarous and aboriginal usages, 
 which is a homage to the element of necessity and divinity 
 which is in them. " — Emerson. 
 
 THERE are always two elements in every religion. 
 There are the higher divinities, and there are 
 the multitude of lesser spirits, whom the mass of the 
 people worship far more than they do the others. 
 When a new religion is introduced, the higher gods 
 disappear as such, but mostly the lesser spirits 
 remain and are still worshipped by the people in 
 spite of all that the new faith has taught them. 
 Higher minds easily progress and readily accept and 
 practise the tenets of the newer creed. Lower minds, 
 representing the unchanging conservative element in 
 every race, never do assimilate them, but go on 
 pinning their faith to these ancient and primitive 
 rituals and spirits as much as ever. In this way the 
 Christianised Celts have continued to practise many 
 of their ancient pagan customs, or have transformed 
 the gods and spirits into demons or brownies, or 
 have attributed to witches the powers once possessed 
 by the Druids. Much of the folk-lore and many of 
 the folk customs are directly borrowed from the 
 religion of their pagan ancestors, or they belong to 
 that still deeper stratum of belief in magic, which is 
 to us so irrational, but which is the heritage of 
 humanity from the most distant and primitive ages. 
 The folk-lore of the Celts has much the same 
 
 284
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 235 
 
 features, whether it is found in the Outer or Inner 
 Hebrides, on the mainland, in Ireland or Wales, or 
 in Brittany ; but authentic instances of it collected 
 in the Isle of Skye cannot fail to have their own 
 value. In many of them we shall see trace of that 
 primitive pagan element of which I have just spoken. 
 The ancient worship of the Sun is still com- 
 memorated in the common practice of circumambul- 
 ating" anything three times in the direction of the 
 sun, the beneficent power, or by taking water to be 
 used in charming and turning it three times round 
 a lighted candle. This imitation of the action of the 
 sun, called Deasil, is supposed to bring good-fortune 
 as a matter of course. The ancient sun-god of the 
 Celts was named Grannos, or sometimes Gruagach, 
 the fair-haired. At one time this divinity must have 
 been represented by rude stones of a certain size. 
 Such stones still exist, and are called Gruagach 
 stones. Two of them stand near the manse at 
 Snizort, others at Holm, at Scorrybreck, and at 
 Braes (MacQueen's Rock) ; while a writer on the Isle 
 of Skye, in 1795, asserts that such stones are to be 
 met with in every district. Not only so, but the 
 people then were in the habit of pouring libations of 
 milk upon these stones as an offering to Gruagach. 
 It is not improbable that they may do so still. But 
 in popular belief the fair-haired Gruagach was no 
 longer the great sun-god, but a kindly brownie who 
 helped, invisibly, in the work of farm or croft. Truly 
 a god in exile, like Jupiter, Bacchus, and the rest in 
 Heine's exquisite phantasy. But as the ancient gods 
 had frequent amours with the daughters of men, so, 
 as late as 1794, Gruagach was credited with being 
 the father of a child born at Shulista, near Dunlulm ! ^ 
 
 ^ The name Gruagach is sometimes applied to the Glaistigf or 
 Fairy Woman who haunts dairies. Indeed, the folk-lore of the 
 two is inextricably mixed up. Both were doubtless divinities 
 of pag'an Celtdom, perhaps consorts. The Glaistig used to be 
 seen at the ruined castle of Knock. There, and at Braes, 
 libations of milk were poured out for her.
 
 236 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Another Gruagach at Tottrome, near Storr, killed a 
 woman who had cursed him for his pranks. Certain 
 superstitions seem to point to ancient moon-worship, 
 or perhaps only to sympathetic magic. During the 
 fortnight beginning with the new moon in June, no 
 peats are stacked, because unless stacked with a 
 waning moon they will give neither light nor heat, 
 only "a power of smoke." Sheep and cows should 
 always be killed at new moon, because they would 
 shrink in the pot if killed under a waning moon. 
 
 In pagan times, wells and springs were believed to 
 be inhabited by a spirit or divinity, who caused the 
 waters to have healing properties to those who drank 
 of them or bathed in them, at the same time pro- 
 pitiating the divinity with an offering. In Christian 
 times, such useful properties could not be discarded, 
 and the spirit of the well was still vaguely believed 
 in, or his power was transferred to some local saint 
 in whose charge the well was supposed to be. The 
 ritual observed, the offering made, and the benefit 
 expected are the same for the Christian Celt as for 
 his pagan ancestors. Generally speaking, the invalid 
 went round the well sunwise ; then he drank of the 
 waters, bathed in them, or washed his wound with 
 them. Next he threw a small offering into the well 
 — usually a piece of money, a pin, or some such 
 trifling offering — and attached to a bush near by 
 either some article of clothing or a rag. Perhaps 
 these may represent more costly offerings made to 
 the divinity of the well in earlier times ; possibly 
 they were left because they had once been in contact 
 with the invalid, and now, being in touch with the 
 spirit of the well, they would be a continual link 
 between it and him, thus ensuring a blessing. Many 
 such wells exist in Skye. Some are still resorted to 
 secretly, and it is only a few years ago that some 
 bush near by might have been seen covered with 
 rags fluttering in the wind. A curious instance of 
 a relic of combined tree and water worship is noted 
 by the careful Martin. He refers to Loch Slant in
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 237 
 
 Kilmuir — a loch which I have, after much investiga- 
 tion, failed to discover, though possibly it may be 
 Loch Sneosdal, a few miles north of Uig. Near it 
 was a sacred well round which the invalids went 
 three times after drinking its waters, leaving behind 
 them scraps of clothing, coloured threads, coins, or 
 pins. Beside this well was a copse, regarded with 
 such awe that none would cut even the smallest 
 twig from it, while the fish in the loch and the loch 
 itself were both sacred. Well, loch, and copse were 
 doubtless the relics of some ancient pagan place of 
 worship, taboo to the pagan Celt, except under strict 
 conditions, and whose sacredness has still remained 
 after centuries of Christianity. This loch is referred 
 to in an unpublished description of the Isle of Skye 
 in the Advocates' Library, which tells how, if any 
 ventured to cut the copse, he sickened or was visited 
 " with some signal inconvenience." 
 
 This statement about the copse at Loch Slant 
 shows the persistence of the belief in the sacredness 
 of trees. They were themselves worshipped as the 
 abode of spirits, or were sacred to certain divinities, 
 just as a multiplicity of plants and herbs were. This 
 belief is illustrated in the frequent occurrence of 
 the elder, less frequently the rowan, growing beside 
 crofters' huts in Skye. They afford protection to the 
 home, to men, and to cattle, from the evil powers 
 ever ready to injure humanity and their belongings. 
 Parts of the rowan have the occult powers of the 
 whole growing tree. A rowan wand placed over 
 the door of barn or byre keeps off witches and evil 
 spirits ; a twig bound in a circlet and placed beneath 
 a vessel of milk prevents its being spirited away ; 
 while a fire of rowan-wood is three times sacred. 
 From classical sources we know that the Celts 
 ascribed magical powers to certain plants, e.g. the 
 mistletoe and the club-moss, when gathered with 
 attention to an ordered ritual. The club-moss is 
 still regarded in Brittany with awe, and the ancient 
 ritual in gathering it also survives. We need not
 
 238 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 wonder, then, that many plants are still sacred to 
 the Celt. Among" others which have both medical 
 and occult powers are the water-cress (biolair), the 
 ivy, the bramble, the figwort, St. John's wort, the 
 bog-violet. The figwort has the power of ensuring 
 a supply of milk when placed in the byre ; St. John's 
 wort wards off enchantments, the evil-eye, even 
 death itself, besides bringing plenty to house and 
 field and fold. But it must be accidentally found, 
 and ought to be placed secretly in a woman's bodice 
 or a man's waistcoat under the armpit to ensure 
 luck, for did not the blessed Columcille himself carry 
 it thus ? 
 
 Traces of agricultural magic, of the ancient 
 worship of the powers of life and growth, are seen 
 in the custom of taking the last sheaf cut at harvest 
 and hanging it within the house over the doorway to 
 ensure luck for the coming year. This corn-maiden, 
 Maighdean-Bhuana, was once believed to hold the 
 divine life of the corn. Hence it was of the utmost 
 importance to secure it and all its life and luck- 
 bringing powers, so that, at next sowing time, the 
 precious grains of this sheaf might be mixed with 
 the bulk of the seed-corn as an invigorating force. 
 Another custom at harvest has less obvious connec- 
 tion with the ancient creed. The crofter who first 
 completes the cutting of his fields makes a sheaf into 
 the fanciful likeness of an old woman, and places 
 it in the unfinished field of his neighbour. This 
 Ghobhar Bhacach, or lame goat, is naturally the 
 cause of much shame and humiliation to the crofter 
 who is unlucky enough to have it set up in his land. 
 Perhaps the custom arose from some gradual mis- 
 understanding of the purpose of the Maighdean- 
 Bhuana. 
 
 So far these customs are relics of the more whole- 
 some side of the ancient religion. But the hated 
 demons, the spirits who brought storm and dark- 
 ness and evil, who were feared and detested, have 
 also remained, probably little changed, and hardly
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 239 
 
 even associated with or transformed into the devil and 
 his imps, as has so often happened elsewhere. We 
 may see traces of them in the water-bulls, water- 
 horses, and kelpies which are said to haunt so 
 many lochs and streams. The two former have 
 the ordinary animal appearance, but are of a vast 
 size, and naturally are very terrifying- to the scared 
 beholder. They pursue him, and when they catch 
 him, carry him beneath the waters to satisfy their 
 hunger. Foals and calves of a highly spirited 
 temper are known to owe their male parentage 
 to these demoniac animals. But they could also 
 change their shape, appearing even in human guise, 
 and luring the unwary traveller to the loch-side, 
 where they resumed their awful form when it was 
 too late for him to flee. The nearer of the two 
 Storr lochs. Loch Fada, is known to be haunted 
 by a water-bull ; it was also the haunt of a water- 
 horse, slaughtered with a knife after it had killed 
 a man. Loch nan Dubhrachan, between Isle Ornsay 
 and Knock, was also tenanted by a water-horse. As 
 this latter loch is close to the high road, which here 
 runs through a lonely part of the island, it is not 
 to be wondered at that it is an object of local terror. 
 The water-horse had 3. penchant for pretty girls, but 
 they did not like his attentions. No young woman 
 would venture near Loch Sgubaidh in Strath (where 
 dwelt a water-horse), lest he should rush out and 
 carry her off. In the wild Coolin Hills is a wilder 
 corrie called Coire- nan - Uraisg, or corrie of the 
 monster — a fearful shape, half-human, half-goat, 
 with long hair, long teeth and claws. Fortunately 
 for the Skyemen, this corrie is too far removed 
 from the haunts of men for its grisly inhabitant to 
 do much harm. 
 
 It is but seldom, as has been said, that such 
 beings are connected with the devil, but of him 
 some curious stories are told. In old days a certain 
 officer in Skye make a compact with Satan, who, at 
 the time appointed, was to meet his victim at a
 
 240 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 certain place. In order to prevent his being- carried 
 off, the wise soldier took with him a dozen others, 
 armed with guns and swords, hoping to beat off 
 the arch-enemy. One of them, scenting danger in 
 the enterprise, loitered behind, pretending to be 
 ill, and when the others were out of sight, quietly 
 returned home. But as for the soldier and his 
 friends, nothing was ever heard or seen of them 
 again. It takes a long spoon to sup with the 
 devil ! 
 
 In the fairies (in whom the Skyeman, like his 
 fellow - Celts, believes so strongly, proving their 
 existence, like that of witches, from the Bible) we 
 may see a set of beings standing midway between 
 the survivals of the beneficent and those of the 
 harmful powers, and partaking part of the nature 
 of both. The Skye fairies do not differ much from 
 the fairies of other places. They are a small race, 
 dressed always in green ; they live in knolls known 
 by the greenness of their grass, or (as in Ireland) in 
 duns ; and from these they emerge at night to 
 dance and sport to the music of the pipes on the 
 sward and heath. Fortunate persons, like a certain 
 man at Staffin, have listened to their ravishing 
 music. He heard it at Flodigarry, ''and och, it 
 was beautiful, whatever!" nor, as he said, was he 
 ever so jolly in his life. Another man, less wise, 
 was enticed by them to take part in their dance. 
 Probably it was the irresistible reel. But at the 
 end of it, though it had seemed to be no more 
 than a day, he found he had danced for a whole 
 year.^ The fairies in a kindly mood will do all 
 the work of a house in a single night. But he for 
 whom they work must provide employment for them 
 
 1 I have recently heard of a boy who saw a lot of people, 
 little and big, dancing near Dunvegan manse. Next moment 
 all had vanished. He and those to whom he told the tale had 
 no doubt they were fairies. Hallucinatory appearances are 
 often suggested by, or take form from, preconceived ideas and 
 beliefs. This is probably a case in point.
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 241 
 
 continually, as, like Michael Scott's familiar spirits, 
 they do their work so swiftly that they are always 
 asking" for more. Another man at Flodigarry was 
 troubled with their assiduous attentions, and went 
 to an old crofter, a wise man, to take his advice. 
 He bade him give the fairies a sieve, and tell them 
 to scoop up the sea with it — a task which they have 
 not completed yet, and thus he got rid of them. 
 The fairies who lived in Dun Borve, near Portree, 
 were g-ot rid of by their bored host crying, "Dun 
 Borve is on fire," and away they rushed to put out 
 the flames. This is a tale with many local variants 
 all through the Highlands. 
 
 The usual stories are told of grown people being- 
 carried off into the fairy hill, where time lapsed as 
 in a dream, of thefts from fairyland, and of infants 
 stolen away, and an ugly changeling like a withered 
 old man, with a giant's appetite, left behind. To 
 prevent an unbaptized infant being stolen (for they 
 were in especial danger), the tongs were set upright 
 by the cradle and an oatcake put across the child's 
 feet.^ The reason alleged was that the fairies 
 would think the tongs were a human being — a 
 curious distortion of the well-known fairy taboo 
 against the use of iron. In addition to this, no 
 child should be taken out of doors before baptism. 
 
 Several places in Skye are noted as haunts of the 
 fairy folk : Fairy Bridge on the way to Dunvegan ; 
 a fairy knowe close by the inn at Broadford ; Dun 
 Gharsainn overlooking the head of Loch Beag at 
 Totardair, in Struan ; the Sithein (fairy dwelling) of 
 the Pretty Hill at Braes, from which sounds of 
 ravishing music have been heard ; and the Piper's 
 Hollow at Borreraig. Dun Gharsainn is the seat of 
 an ancient fort which afterwards became, or perhaps 
 always was, a fairy bower. From it the fairies 
 sallied forth to dance on the hillside in the moon- 
 
 ^ A similar practice was used in Scandinavia to prevent 
 children being stolen by dwarfs. Thorpe, Noilhern Mythology^ 
 il. 2. 
 
 16
 
 242 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 light. One day a foolish fellow destroyed their 
 bower when they were absent helping the queen of 
 Blaaven to make a tartan suit for her son, who 
 was to wed a king's daughter. Only one fairy 
 woman remained at home ill, when the fellow began 
 to take away the stones of the bower to build a fold 
 for his cattle. Then an unearthly light shone forth 
 and mysterious voices were heard, threatening- this 
 mortal with dire vengeance. But the fairies were 
 never seen again, save one who returned at intervals 
 to weep over this once happy bower. The site of 
 this fairy home had been well chosen : far below is 
 the meadow land and the winding loch, opening into 
 fair Loch Bracadale, and presenting to the view 
 lofty headlands, gleaming seas, and purple islands 
 on the horizon. And all this was lost to the fairies 
 for the sake of a few stones ! 
 
 The Macrimmons of Borreraig were the hereditary 
 pipers of MacLeod, and possessed a celebrated 
 chanter, which was known far and wide as "the 
 silver chanter of the fairy woman." Once upon a 
 time, Ian Og Macrimmon was practising his music 
 in the Piper's Hollow (Slochd nam Piobairean) in 
 Borreraig. There, as he played, the fairy queen 
 appeared from a knoll near by, and addressed him 
 in poetry — 
 
 "Thy manly beauty and the sweetness of thy pipe music 
 Have brought thee a fairy sweetheart ; 
 Now I give thee this silver chanter, 
 
 Which, touched by thy finger, will never lack sweetest 
 music." 
 
 Thus Ian Og won the love of the fairy queen, and 
 blew such strains from his pipes as had never been 
 heard in the Isle of Skye. 
 
 There are particular kinds of fairies, like the 
 Bean-nigh, or washer of the ford, who appears when 
 someone is about to die, washing his shroud and 
 singing his woeful dirge. So much is she taken up 
 with this work, that she may be captured, and then
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 243 
 
 must grant her captor three wishes. A g-hilHe of 
 Macdonald of the Isles saw her washing a shroud in 
 Benbecula. He held her tightly, and forced her to 
 tell him whose shroud it was, to grant him that 
 he should marry whoever his heart desired, and to 
 promise that there should always be plenty of sea- 
 ware in the loch by his house. When he heard that 
 it was his chief's shroud, and that he would never 
 leave nor return to Benbecula, he threw it far into 
 the loch, and rushed off with the dreaded informa- 
 tion. When his chief heard the news, he had a 
 cow slaughtered (perhaps as a propitiatory sacrifice), 
 and his galley got ready. Then, hasting to Skye, he 
 never again returned to the fatal island, and thus 
 broke the fairy spell. 
 
 The fairies, here as elsewhere, keep herds of cattle, 
 which, however, will only graze on certain spots. 
 Thus the cows which lived with their fairy mistress 
 in the ruined Dun Ghearra-Sheader, a mile from 
 Portree, went all the way to pasture at Achnahannait, 
 in Braes. The fairy has been seen at twilight, 
 standing on the dun and calling them home in a 
 rhyme still recited among the people. Other fairy 
 cattle live under the waves in 
 
 " Sand-strewn caverns, cool and deep, 
 Where the winds are all asleep, 
 Where the sea-beasts, ranged all round, 
 Feed in the ooze of their pasture-ground," 
 
 but occasionally emerge to improve the breed of the 
 common or land cow ! To prevent their return, 
 earth, and especially earth from a churchyard, is 
 thrown between them and the sea. This was done 
 to the cattle which came ashore at MacNicol's Rock 
 on Scorrybreck farm, and a voice was heard at night 
 calling them home in vain. 
 
 On the whole, fairies are now seldom seen, though 
 people may be still afraid of seeing them. They 
 have gradually disappeared on account of the spread 
 of gospel truth, as one old woman suggested ; the
 
 244 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Bible is a well-known charm against fairies, just as 
 iron is ! ^ Fairy Bridge is no longer haunted by the 
 people of peace since the well-known minister, who is 
 still remembered as the Apostle of the North, held 
 a preaching there. But if fairies do not abound, 
 stories about them do, and are firmly believed in. 
 
 The mermaid, like the sea-serpent, is still seen by 
 the credulous islesmen. She is called Maighdean 
 na Tuinne, maid of the wave. A Skyeman said to 
 me, " Ach ! I believe there will be such creatures 
 myself, as there are horses with men's heads in 
 distant lands. I will have seen a picture of them, 
 whatever." He had seen a drawing of the classical 
 centaur probably. One of MacLeod's retainers, 
 resting on the steep cliff above the Maidens, near 
 which a reef of rock runs out into the sea, saw a 
 mermaid combing her tresses. " I lifted my gun," 
 said he, "meaning to shoot her, for I thought if I 
 got her I could carry her round the country, and 
 myself would be a rich man. And then I put down 
 the gun, for I thought she's so humanlike that if I 
 shoot her I will be hanged. And so I kept lifting it 
 and putting it down, until, plop, the merry-maid 
 took one dive and disappeared into the sea." 
 Another islesman at Kyle-rhea gave out that he saw 
 the sea-serpent. "Yes, yes, one day I saw the 
 fearful head of the beast go down the Kyle, and 
 indeed it was a week after before his tail had 
 passed ! " 
 
 So much for supernatural beings. There are 
 human beings also with supernatural powers, and 
 in these witches we may see the lineal descendants 
 of the Druids and Druidesses whose magical powers 
 kept the pagan Celts in awe. There are white 
 witches, for the most part harmless, and there are 
 black witches, feared almost like the plague. I 
 know one of either sort. The white witch confines 
 
 ^ An Ulsterman alleged the same reason — the spreading 
 abroad of so much Scripture, for the disappearance of the 
 fairies. Wood-Martin, Elder Faiths of Ireland, ii. 4.
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 245 
 
 herself to telling fortunes, and my friend will heartily 
 scold the luckless servant-girl who is frivolous 
 enough to laugh at her when she is reading the 
 leaves in a teacup. Black witches have darker 
 powers, and of these some account must be given. 
 It is commonly believed, of course, that they are in 
 league with the devil, who gave them their power ; 
 but, as one informant told me, there are but few of 
 them now and their power is going from them, i.e. 
 education is driving superstition away. Of all their 
 powers none is so widely known and feared as that 
 of the evil-eye. With it they can " overlook " cattle, 
 horses, and human beings, so that they pine and 
 die, or, in the case of cows, their milk goes from 
 them. But others besides witches are credited with 
 this dire gift. Envious persons, strongly desiring 
 something of their neighbours, can harm it through 
 the very strength of their desire. A man was 
 ploughing when a passer-by stopped and admired 
 his horse. By ill-fortune the horse soon after began 
 to shiver, and dropped down dead, and nothing 
 could persuade the crofter that this other man, 
 through envy, had not overlooked his horse. This 
 crofter is still living, and is not an old man. When 
 a man or woman has been overlooked, he or she 
 feels uncomfortable, shivers, yawns, and is very 
 sick. The face is drawn and pinched. Cows, as 
 we have seen, lose their milk. The cure is 
 traditionally handed down, from male to female, 
 and from female to male, so it is said ; and, as my 
 informant remarked, '* I have seen it done many a 
 time." Water is taken from a stream dividing two 
 properties, in some districts only in a wooden not a 
 metal dish. It is poured into a vessel containing 
 seven cutting implements, as well as gold or silver, 
 or both ; a charm is said over it ; sometimes it is 
 passed deasil round the flame of a candle. Then the 
 human patient must drink the water ; in the case of 
 the cow, it suffices to throw it over its body, and 
 put some in its mouth, the operator saying, " In the
 
 246 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Name of Jesus Christ." What remains over is care- 
 fully thrown out on some fixed stone. Certain 
 plants, as we have seen, are also herbs of grace 
 against the power of the evil-eye. Such witches are 
 naturally too much feared for any revenge to be 
 taken upon them, but as late as 1775 a remnant of 
 the frightful legal witch persecutions is found in 
 Skye. Prosecutions were attempted before the kirk 
 session against witches for carrying off milk from 
 cows by the fascination of the evil-eye. Even in 
 1881 a Free Church elder at Uig tried to induce a 
 justice of the peace to issue a warrant against a 
 woman whom he accused of the same crime. Super- 
 stition does die hard, and has more lives than a cat ! 
 
 The evil-eye is a species of cursing and malediction 
 which in itself may come from several causes — e.g., 
 some unholy deed having been enacted will lay a 
 whole district under a curse. Only in 1900, when it 
 was sought to remove the crofters of Sconser to 
 better land in the south of Skye, among the printed 
 reasons alleged by them for remaining in their 
 unhealthy township, and presented by their agent to 
 the Crofters' Commission, was this, that the ground 
 was cursed because of former evictions which had 
 taken place there, and therefore it was impossible 
 to expect them to settle on it. 
 
 The witch, or indeed any evilly disposed person, 
 like the sorcerers of every age and race, used sym- 
 pathetic magic to destroy their victims. An image 
 of the victim was made of clay, and because it had 
 a certain resemblance to him (likeness denoting real 
 connection), it was believed that whatever was done 
 to the image would produce a similar effect on the 
 person whom it represented. Having been stuck 
 full of pins (to produce real aches and pains), it was 
 laid in running or dropping water, and as it gradually 
 wasted away, so it was hoped would the victim. He, 
 doubtless, as credulous as his enemy, would actually 
 be affected by dint of suggestion, did he hear of 
 the image having been made and treated thus, just
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 247 
 
 as the West African negro, as Miss Kingsley says, 
 will die through fear of a poisonous idea as well as 
 from real poison. Recent instances of this in Skye 
 are well known. Lord Macdonald's factor, Mac- 
 kinnon of Corrie, had such an image of himself made 
 by a crofter with a grievance. It was found in a 
 barn near his house. A friend, to whom I owe this 
 instance, told me that when he was resident in the 
 West Indies such an image of himself was made by 
 a negro. So do the ends of the earth meet together ! 
 Sympathetic magic is again found in the method 
 employed by some witches (notably a very " wicked " 
 one who lived forty years ago near Portree) to 
 destroy offending fishermen. Pieces of egg-shell, 
 representing each a boat, were set floating in a cup 
 of water. Then the witch, with what malicious leer 
 and curse as we may imagine, thrust one or more of 
 the pieces below the surface in order that the sea 
 might similarly swallow up her enemies. Black 
 magic this, in good sooth, but again it is curious to 
 note that a method exactly like this, save that the 
 egg-shell was replaced by models of ships, w-as used 
 by the ancient Egyptians to destroy an enemy's 
 fleet ! 1 
 
 The Skye witches, like the ancient Druids and 
 the Celtic priestesses of the Isle of Sena, whom 
 Pytheas saw, and like witches everywhere, had the 
 power of shape-shifting cr transformation, and many 
 are the stories told of this strange gift — some 
 ancient, some modern. Two hundred years ago, 
 a MacLeod of Raasay had made himself particularly 
 obnoxious to the Skye and Raasay witches by his 
 severe penalties dealt out to them. When he was 
 crossing the narrow channel between Portree Bay 
 and Raasay, one of them, in the shape of a cat, 
 with a number of her fellows similarly transformed, 
 clambered on the lee gunwale and stays. Their 
 weight upset the boat, and the chief was drowned, 
 while they swam triumphantly to shore. A cat was, 
 ' Budge, Egyptian Magic, p. 91 seq.
 
 248 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 in fact, a common shape for a witch to take. A 
 crofter in Sleat was much annoyed by a black cat 
 which sneaked into his house and stole the cream — 
 never a very plentiful dainty in Skye. It was caught, 
 and one of its ears cut oflf. A few days after, it was 
 noticed that an old woman, living- near by, had lost 
 an ear. She it was who had suffered in cat form, 
 and ever after, to hide her shame, she kept her head 
 covered with a shawl. One of Lord Macdonald's 
 gamekeepers believed firmly that witches could take 
 the shape of a hare, and always prophesied ill-luck 
 when a shooting-party saw one on setting out for 
 the hill.^ Another story of shape-shifting has its 
 locale in Vaternish. Some fishermen there were 
 much troubled by a whale which used to come 
 dashing among their nets, so that they lost their 
 fish and had their nets torn. After enduring its 
 depredations for a time, they determined to take 
 steps to destroy it. Armed with various weapons, 
 they gave chase when next it appeared. One of 
 them hurled a three-pronged potato fork at the 
 whale, wounding it severely. It disappeared. Next 
 morning news went round that a certain woman, 
 reputed to be a witch, and to whom these very 
 fishermen had done some injury, was lying in great 
 agony, and soon afterwards she died. Her body 
 was examined, and three ugly wounds were found in 
 her side. It was never doubted that she had trans- 
 formed herself into a whale, and in that form had 
 tormented her enemies and met her death at their 
 hands. Post hoc, propter hoc I Only a few years 
 ago a distinguished anthropologist was told by one 
 of the guides at Sligachan that a friend of his, going 
 home one night, saw a foal standing on a dyke. It 
 
 ^ I heard a story of this kind from Sutherland the other day. 
 The father of the ghillie who told it saw a hare which never 
 could be shot. Keeping his own counsel, he melted down a 
 shilling- into a bullet. Poor puss was hit bj' this coin of vantage, 
 and disappeared into a cottage. There an old woman was 
 found in bed with a sore leg. The conclusion was obvious.
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 249 
 
 attacked him and knocked him down. In vain he 
 struggled with it, until his dog bit it. Now to draw 
 a witch's blood makes her harmless, and compels 
 her to speak to you. The foal spoke to the man 
 with a human voice. It was a girl whom he had 
 first courted and then neglected, and now she up- 
 braided him for his fickleness. Mon tne parle, et 
 m^me il parle Men/ History does not tell the 
 sequel ; let us hope that the course of true love ran 
 smooth at last. 
 
 But the witch could also exert her powers in a 
 beneficent direction, though still by magical means. 
 It is commonly believed that the adder, when it 
 wishes to change its skin, bores a hole in a stone, 
 and then drags its body through, leaving the skin 
 behind. Such stones are as rare as they are valu- 
 able, and the people believe that they are powerful 
 amulets in the witches' hands for purposes of healing. 
 Certain stones of a pyramidal shape found near 
 sacred wells are useful, when "infused" in water, 
 for curing horses of worms. Such a stone long lay 
 in the ruined altar of the chapel on Fladdahuan, an 
 island off the north of Skye. It was always moist, 
 and fishermen seeking a favourable wind would walk 
 round the chapel sunwise, and then pour water 
 over the stone, when they obtained the wind they 
 sought. This stone had also the usual disease- 
 curing properties. 
 
 It was also possible for a witch to put what may 
 be best described as an invisible magic armour round 
 a person in order to ward off all injury from him. 
 This occult armour was called "sian," and it is said 
 that a woman in Bernisdale put it on MacLeod of 
 Berneray, in Harris, when he passed through Skye on 
 his way to join the Prince. At Culloden the bullets 
 showered on him like hail, yet he was uninjured. 
 Having thrown off his coat in the flight from the 
 fatal field, he was told by his foster-brother, who 
 picked it up, that it was riddled with holes made 
 by the bullets.
 
 250 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Others beside the witch had supernatural powers 
 of different kinds. Divination by means of a sheep's 
 shoulder-blade was one of these. It is a practice 
 used everywhere, e.g., by Red Indians and by Arabs. 
 The custom was to scrape the bone, not with metal ; 
 then it was held at arm's length against the light, 
 and the seer divined the unknown from certain marks 
 which his practised eye saw in it. A person in Skye 
 thus saw and described the defeat of the Prince's 
 army at CuUoden at the very hour when it took 
 place, and many other instances of less historical 
 note are known. 
 
 The gift of healing resides in a seventh son. Quite 
 recently some children were "healed" in Portree. 
 The healer, a man from the Long Island, obtained 
 some water from a holy well ; took the children into 
 a darkened room ; went through some mysterious 
 ritual known to himself alone ; and then dismissed 
 the children to their expectant parents. They re- 
 covered soon after ; probably they would have done 
 so in any case. But the healer's reputation is made, 
 and he will have many cases in time to come. 
 
 Of all occult qualities that of the *'taisch" or 
 second-sight is the most widely known. The gifted 
 person found it a painful quality, but he was an 
 agent powerless to help himself against the coming 
 of the vision, like Alan Macaulay in A Legend of 
 Montrose. Generally speaking, it was believed to be 
 an inborn gift which could not be taught, but opinions 
 differed as to this, and a correspondent of the seven- 
 teenth-century folk-lorist, Aubrey, told him that in 
 Skye anyone could be taught the second-sight for 
 the remuneration of a pound of tobacco. The 
 visions seen were of different kinds ; mostly they 
 were concerned with the immediate future ; usually 
 the person whose wraith was seen by the clairvoyant 
 died soon after. 
 
 A woman in Skye frequently saw a double of 
 herself walking close by her. To make sure that 
 it was her own double, she went out on different
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 251 
 
 days in different articles of dress, which she found to 
 be exactly copied by her spectral companion. This 
 was, of course, regarded as a warning of her speedy 
 death. The same thing happened, many years ago, 
 to a dairy-maid at Greshornish. She tested the appari- 
 tion by reversing part of her dress, and when next 
 she saw it, the same change was visible. Soon after 
 she sickened of fever and died. Many instances 
 occur of the appearance of some person's double to 
 the seer, followed by that person's death. A poor 
 woman had a vision of her son falling over one of 
 the high seacliffs at Uig with a lamb, and heard 
 him exclaim, "This is a fatal lamb for me." She 
 warned her son against going near Uig, for they 
 lived at some distance from that village. But one 
 day he went there and helped a farmer to separate 
 the lambs from their mothers. A lamb ran away ; 
 the young man rushed after it. Before he caught it 
 he had reached the edge of a cliff, where he slipped 
 with the lamb in his grasp. The farmer ran to his 
 assistance, and heard him call out, as he disappeared, 
 the very words his mother had heard a month before. 
 Before he could help him, the lad had rolled down 
 the cliff to the ravine below and was killed. In this 
 instance the seer heard as well as saw, and her 
 auditory and visual experience was noted down by 
 the parish minister at once, and before the fulfilment. 
 This minister was at first a sceptic on the subject of 
 second-sight, but after noting many such visions 
 which afterwards came to pass as real events, he 
 was driven to admit that some people had the gift.^ 
 In every case the vision was unsought, and the gift 
 was unwelcome. 
 
 Cases are known in which there was no spectral 
 vision. John MacLeod saw a former minister of 
 Duirinish dwindle away to the size of a child, and 
 then recover his natural size, like Alice in Wonderland. 
 It is not said whether John had been drinking, but 
 
 ' See a paper in the Journnl ofihe Caledonian Medical Society 
 for 1897 by his son, Dr. Alaslair Macgregor.
 
 252 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 soon after the minister sickened and died. In other 
 cases a dream foretold an event yet unheard of. 
 The same John dreamt that a man came and told 
 him of the death of George 11., which news was 
 corroborated by the same day's post. Perhaps John 
 had received prior information. An old man, well 
 educated and well read, who lived near Portree, and 
 died in 1902, maintained that he saw a coffin lying 
 near the house of an old woman, where no coffin 
 should be. He tapped it with his stick. It sounded 
 hollow. Next day the coffin was gone, and soon 
 after the woman died. 
 
 The treatise on the second-sight by Theophilus 
 Insulanus (the pseudonym of MacLeod of Hamera, in 
 Glendale) was published in 1763, and is full of alleged 
 instances of clairvoyance in Skye. The author was 
 very credulous, but to the psychologist and folk-lorist 
 his book is a rich treasure. The cases he mentions 
 resolve themselves mainly into five groups: — i. 
 visions of a winding-sheet wrapped round a person 
 to whom the seer is talking ; 2. visions of the corpse 
 of someone known or unknown ; 3. visions of a 
 person drowning or dying by some accidental means ; 
 4. auditory hallucinations, as hearing a carpenter 
 hammering at a coffin in a room where no carpenter 
 is visible {QucBre, How did the clairaudient know it 
 was a coffin?) ; 5. someone is seen to dwindle to the 
 size of a child, and then resume his usual height. 
 All these instances are followed by the death of the 
 person seen, sometimes by that of the seer. One 
 case mentioned by Theophilus is worth quoting for 
 its local colour: — Lieutenant Keith and some other 
 guests staying at Dunvegan Castle had gone down 
 to the change-house (its ruins stand half a mile 
 north of the castle), like Baron Bradwardine and 
 his friends, to make a night of it. There Keith 
 was taken ill and died in his chair. The inn-keeper 
 declared he had seen him dead three hours before 
 the event — the first time he had been aware of his 
 powers as a seer, while Donald MacLeod of Feorlig
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 253 
 
 had seen the poor lieutenant dwindle to the size of a 
 boy. " Both seers are still willing to make oath to 
 the premises," says Theophilus, and no doubt they 
 were. 
 
 A well-known story in Skye is that of the minister 
 who, not long ago, walking on a lonely road, saw a 
 phantasmal funeral. It presaged his own decease, 
 which took place a few days later. Here is an 
 interesting case which I heard from the friend of 
 the woman who had the gift. " It was very trying 
 to her." One day, visiting a neighbour, she fainted. 
 On coming to, she was pressed to tell the reason, 
 but refused. Subsequently she acknowledged that 
 she had seen the corpse of a boy, who was then 
 ploughing in a field near by. This boy died within 
 the week. The woman had many such visions, but 
 they were disliked by her, a not uncommon trait in 
 the seer wherever found, just as even the willing 
 mystic had to undergo the dread pains of " the dark 
 night of the soul." But it is possible to get rid of 
 the gift if it is coped with in due time. When the 
 seer has had his first vision, let him tell it to a friend 
 who meanwhile turns the leaves of a Bible rapidly 
 over before his face. He will be troubled with no 
 further visions. My informant had herself some 
 curious experiences. She had often heard, in her 
 little shop, the mysterious sound of scissors cutting 
 cotton, as if for a shroud, before a death in the 
 neighbourhood. Two men saw an oilskin coat lying 
 on her counter begin to move up and down in a 
 mysterious manner ; they watched its movements 
 in awed silence. Presently all was explained : a 
 girl came in saying that so-and-so was dead, and 
 she wanted cotton for his shroud. The dead man's 
 spirit had acted on the coat a distance, by way of 
 giving notice of his death (his procedure was a 
 failure), or was it simply — rats? 
 
 The explanation of such widespread phenomena, 
 or perhaps of the underlying delusion (or reality if 
 you will) which has everywhere produced similar
 
 2 54 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 phenomena, is, like many another occult affair, still 
 to seek, and baffles the psychologist and psychical 
 researcher. Well may Dante Rossetti sing of "the 
 bitterness of things occult ! " 
 
 Connected with such visual premonitions are the 
 more material omens of death. It is not uncommon, 
 when there is not enough wood for a coffin, to take 
 some of the boards from the wooden partition which 
 divides every crofter's house in two, in order to 
 supply the deficiency. Before the death occurs, or 
 is even thought of, these very boards are seen to 
 shake. Then it is known that death will soon seek 
 
 out a victim from that house. Mrs. M herself 
 
 told me that she ascribed pains in her hands to the 
 fact that within a few days after she had to carry 
 into the church the trestles on which a coffin was to 
 rest. In this case the effect preceded the cause, 
 contrary to all rules of philosophy ! But more 
 curious still is the persistence of taboos in connec- 
 tion with touching the dead which must have pre- 
 vailed among the pagan Celts, and which are 
 common among all races, e.g. , to mention no others, 
 the ancient Jews and the modern Polynesians. 
 When the coffin has been carried out of a house, it 
 is usual for anything on which it has rested, or 
 which it has touched, to be taken outside, washed, 
 and then turned upside down. By this means the 
 contagion of death, or any possibility of the spirit 
 clinging to its old home, is removed. Here, again, 
 is an authentic ghost story : — A fisherman's recently 
 made widow in Sleat one stormy night saw her 
 husband enter their cottage in dripping oilskins, 
 go to the fireplace, and from it remove a brick. 
 Then with a gesture of farewell he disappeared. 
 Underneath the brick his savings, of which she 
 knew nothing, had been hidden. He had returned 
 from the unknown to reveal them to her. 
 
 Another venerable custom still holds good. When 
 anyone is found dead, a cairn is secretly erected on 
 the spot, nor is it ever known who erects it. There
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 255 
 
 is such a cairn on the road near Struan, where a 
 woman was found dead from exposure to a storm 
 four years ago, and another stands on the road to 
 Vaternish, beyond Fairy Bridge. We know that 
 the ancient Celts had a similar practice, in the case 
 of someone dying who was much admired, while 
 every passer-by added a stone to his cairn. ^ In 
 Skye it has dwindled down to the commemoration 
 of persons found dead, and perhaps there is some 
 underlying idea of preventing the ghost haunting 
 the spot by appeasing it with this monument. 
 
 I shall conclude this chapter with a few uncon- 
 sidered trifles of Skye folk-lore. 
 
 Some curious taboos are found. You should 
 never row in front of the fishing-boats when they 
 are going out. They will have no luck, or some- 
 thing worse may happen. Women especially caused 
 ill-luck to the fishing when they crossed from Skye 
 to Harris. This was limited to those times when 
 MacLeod returned after a long absence to Dunvegan 
 Castle, when, as a result of his return, there were 
 always plenty of herrings in the loch. On the other 
 hand, you should never give a woman a needle 
 without the thread in it, because that would cause 
 her, when she marries, never to have any children. 
 
 It is commonly believed that when anyone commits 
 suicide by drowning, fish at once leave the loch for 
 two or three years. The lack of fish in more than 
 one Skye loch is attributed to suicides which have 
 taken place in them recently. Again, it is con- 
 sidered ominous for a shrew-mouse to run over a 
 cow or sheep, for the animal will soon turn ill and 
 die. The idea has passed into a proverb, and it is 
 common to say of anyone who has failed in some 
 undertaking, "A shrew-mouse has crossed him." 
 Deformity is not considered unlucky, however much 
 it may detract from personal beauty, for it is thought 
 that a deformed child will bring fortune to his family. 
 
 ^ Cf. the Kafir custom of depositing a stone at certain places 
 connected with ancestor worship.
 
 256 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 So a child, born with two teeth, will certainly 
 become a bard.^ 
 
 When a knife falls or a feather is seen adhering" 
 to a dog's nose, that means that a stranger is 
 coming to pay you a visit. 
 
 The following beliefs concerning the chiefs of the 
 MacLeods are curious. Fish were supposed to be 
 plentiful in Dunvegan Loch when the chief took up 
 his residence in the castle. But the luck must have 
 changed, for now the chief's fisherman will frequently 
 toil all day and take nothing save a little flounder or 
 whiting ! The St. Kildans believe that the cuckoo 
 only appears in their remote island when their laird 
 dies. The factor who arrived there by the first 
 steamer which touched at St. Kilda in the season of 
 1895, was eagerly greeted with the question, " Is 
 MacLeod dead, for we have heard the cuckoo?" 
 This was in May ; the chief died in February, and 
 no news had reached the islanders from the outer 
 world since the previous summer. Again, when the 
 chief is in trouble, balls of light are seen dancing 
 high in air on the shore near Dunvegan Castle. 
 
 The aborigines of most lands are popularly believed 
 by the peasantry to have been giants. So it is 
 thought in Skye, and at Kilmuir is a wide space of 
 ground, formerly enclosed, and known as Fingal's 
 Graves. The graves, which may really be Norse 
 barrows, are about 14 feet long, and were made 
 for the "big people." And as my informant, an 
 old man full of folk-lore, said: "Nobody will be 
 knowing when these big people came to Skye, and 
 before they came there was nobody here at all. And 
 they were the big people ! " It is commonly believed 
 that underneath the cairn on the top of Ben-na- 
 Cailleach at Broadford, rests a Norse princess. 
 Now Pennant, in his Tour, mentions a legend current 
 then, which approximates to the old man's story of 
 Kilmuir, to the effect that the cairn covers the place 
 
 ^ On the Gold Coast such a child and his mother would be 
 put to death as uncanny.
 
 The Folk-lore of Skye 257 
 
 of sepulture of a gigantic woman of the days of 
 Fingal.^ "There were giants in those days," as 
 the Hebrew writer says of the times before the Flood, 
 and the Skyeman is in entire accord with him on this 
 subject. 
 
 As a rule, the younger people give a doubtful 
 assent to these folk-customs and folk-beliefs. Some 
 they believe more or less ; others they dismiss with, 
 " It used to be so in the old days, but it does not 
 happen now." And usually they preface any item 
 of folk-belief with the words, "The old people say 
 it." The march of education and the School Board 
 system have deprived the world of much of the 
 romantic. Das Aberglauhe ist die Poesie des Lebens. 
 But many of the superstitions of the past were as 
 cruel as they were romantic, and if we regret the 
 advent of the radical newspaper, cheap finery, 
 shallow ambitions, and twentieth-century ways in 
 these glens of Skye, the haunts of ancient peace, we 
 may console ourselves by thinking that they have 
 driven off evils quite as bad. 
 
 * Tour in Scotland, p. 329. 
 
 17
 
 , CHAPTER XVII 
 
 - ANTIQUITIES 
 "Old, unhappy, far-off things." — WORDSWORTH. 
 
 SKYE has so much the air of antiquity in itself, 
 its shag'gy moorlands and wrinkled rocks and 
 venerable hills give it such an air of hoary eld, of 
 old, unhappy, far-off things, that it seems needless 
 to speak of its professed antiquities. Yet there they 
 are, and they give to this grey old island just that 
 link of connection with the forgotten generations of 
 humanity who have dwelt within it, which is necessary 
 to complete its charm. Like the unnumbered waves 
 which have beaten on its rocky shores and left their 
 mark on broken cliff and battered headland, or like 
 the glaciers of long past ages which grooved and 
 furrowed the mountain sides as they came and went, 
 so the generations of men who knew Skye as their 
 home through the dim centuries have left some tokens 
 of their lives, of their doings, of their wars, of their 
 aspirations. The story of these may be spelt out 
 in the crumbling ruins of house and dun, castle and 
 church, and in the unconsidered trifles found from 
 time to time in the earth. Hardly any competent 
 antiquary has taken the trouble to investigate the 
 old relics of Skye. I add this chapter to my book 
 in the hope that from it some of them may learn what 
 treasures Skye contains, and may visit and examine 
 them before time has finally destroyed them. 
 
 I. Stone Circles. 
 
 There have been several stone circles in Skye, but 
 time and the hand of man have contrived to destroy 
 
 258
 
 Antiquities 259 
 
 them. The sites remain known, and in a few cases 
 part of the stones themselves are left, but one seeks 
 in vain here for the perfection of such remains as are 
 found in Argyllshire. Such insignificant remains are 
 still to be found at Uig, and at Kilbride and Borreraig, 
 both in Strath. The two latter are within a few 
 miles of each other, and close by the former stood an 
 early Celtic church ; here as elsewhere the Christian 
 temple occupied the sacred site of paganism. 
 
 Monoliths are only occasionally met with. There 
 is one in the churchyard at Trumpan, 5 feet in 
 height. On one side and near the top is a 
 small hole ij inch in diameter, to which people 
 were led blindfolded. If they succeeded in putting 
 their finger in the hole, they would go straight 
 to heaven at death ; otherwise they would be kept 
 a long time in purgatory. The stone is locally 
 known as the Priest's Stone. Two stones stand 
 on the shore opposite Snizort manse. Once they 
 were three in number, and on them, says legend, was 
 set the cauldron in which was cooked Finn Mac- 
 Coul's (Fingal's) supper ! A little beyond Uilinish 
 House are three similar stones, and tradition has 
 connected them with the burning of the dead in early 
 times. Recently a crofter dug up a small urn con- 
 taining ashes near one of them. Other stones are 
 referred to by earlier writers, but they have mostly 
 disappeared.^ Circles and monoliths alike mark the 
 last resting-places of the dead ; and as the dead were 
 worshipped, we may see in them, without accepting 
 all the nonsense written about the Druids, places of 
 primitive worship and sacrifice. 
 
 2. Tumuli. 
 
 Tumuli are more numerous, but they have mostly 
 been opened, recklessly one fears, and they are now 
 
 * See Martin, Western Isles, p. 152, for one at Uig, and 
 Origines Parothiales, p. 344, for Clach na h Annait at Kilchrist, 
 an "obelisk" close by the well of the same name, and evidently 
 of sacred character.
 
 iSo The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 little but rough heaps of stone, with little trace of their 
 original form. Carn Liath, on the high seaboard 
 above St. Columba's Loch in Kilmuir, is a large heap of 
 stones, 15 yards in diameter. In the centre is a pit, 
 6 feet in depth, and on one side what looks like the 
 remains of another chamber. In these the urns were 
 placed, and we must suppose them covered with slabs 
 of stone, over which smaller stones were piled. 
 
 Remains of a cairn of the more usual chambered type 
 exist near Uilinish House. Part of a passage formed 
 of low walls covered with slabs or blocks of stone is 
 exposed to view. It probably led to an inner vaulted 
 chamber. This has disappeared, as well as the 
 srreat bulk of the stones which formed the actual 
 cairn. 
 
 Several tumuli which seem to be more of the type 
 of Carn Liath are to be found on the peninsula of 
 Vatten, south of the highroad between Caroy and 
 Roag. Three of these are of considerable size, and 
 give evidence of containing several chambers ; the 
 others are smaller, but are numerous. Here must have 
 been a burial-place of the early inhabitants, though 
 tradition (wrongly) speaks of it as marking the site 
 of a battle between Macdonalds and MacLeods, where 
 the slain were covered with heaps of stone. Such 
 clan fights belong to a later date, when the art of 
 tumulus-building had long become extinct.^ 
 
 Some of the articles found in other cairns have 
 been recorded. Urns were discovered in cairns at 
 Snizort, and in the same parish a cairn contained a 
 coffin, formed of slabs of stone, within which was an 
 urn of burnt clay with "carving." On the topmost 
 slab lay the handle of a weapon and a pin, 7 inches 
 long.- A similar urn of red clay, notched and 
 scalloped, was found near the parish church of 
 Duirinish;^ while another, containing burnt bones 
 and a copper coin, came to light in digging the 
 
 1 See p. 93. 
 
 " Old Statisiical Accounf, s.v. Snizort. 
 
 3 /\^ew Siatistical Account^ p. 336.
 
 Antiquities 261 
 
 foundations of the manse at Kilbride. The tumuli 
 in the same parish (of Strath) are known to have 
 contained urns, while near Broadford a cairn has an 
 arched vault or chamber, 6 feet deep, the top of 
 which was covered by a flat stone. In this lay a 
 buckle and a dark green polished stone, now in the 
 Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh.^ 
 
 3. Beehive Cells and other Small Dwellings. 
 
 The beehive hut consists of " a circular or oval 
 building constructed of uncemented stones, and so 
 arranged that each layer overlaps the one beneath 
 it, till the opening becomes so small, at the apex, as 
 to be closed in by one stone." - Such single rude 
 dwellings were often made more complex by connect- 
 ing two or more by means of low passages, or by 
 surrounding the circular chamber with a gallery. 
 In their rudest form they are frequently found in 
 Celtic Britain ; the highest examples of this primitive 
 form of architecture are the tombs of Mycenae. I 
 have noticed several remains of such structures in 
 Skye. It is doubtless to these that Martin refers 
 when he speaks of stone houses in Skye, "above 
 ground, capable of only one person, and round in 
 form. . . . They are called Teig-uin-Druinich, or 
 Druids' houses " ; druinich, he says, meaning a retired 
 person given to contemplation.'' The Gaelic term, 
 whatever its meaning, is applied loosely, for it is 
 more usually given to the earth-houses of which I 
 shall speak presently. These beehive cells formed 
 the residences of monks in primitive Celtic com- 
 munities, and there is little doubt that the abundant 
 stones on the site of the monastery at Kilmuir are 
 the ddbris of many huts of this kind.'* 
 
 Immediately west of the monastery, on what was 
 once the shore of the loch, and underneath Carn 
 
 ' The positions of these .and other cairns' are marked on the 
 Ordancc Survey maps. 
 
 " Munro, Prehistoric Scotland, p. 336. 
 
 •^ Western Isles, p. 154. ■• See p. 277.
 
 262 The Misty Isle of Skyc 
 
 Liath, is a rudely circular building about 5 yards 
 in diameter, made of large uncemented blocks 
 rudely squared. At the south-west side is a 
 smaller chamber, built on to the larger and con- 
 nected with it by an opening in the wall of the 
 latter. It probably served as a sleeping -place. 
 The ruined walls of the structure are only 4 
 feet high. Buildings of this type, occasionally 
 oblong, occur in proximity to many of the duns. 
 At a dun, west of Dunvegan, there is a circular 
 chamber 2^ yards in diameter ; another, ot 
 an oval shape, is 4 yards long at its widest 
 diameter, with a smaller chamber opening out of 
 it. This chamber is not built on to the other, but 
 is formed by the bulging out of the enclosing wall. 
 The foundation of another hut is seen close by. 
 
 At this dun and also below Dun Beag, near 
 Struan, are small circular or oval structures 3 
 to 4 feet in diameter, and, as they remain, no more 
 than 4 feet in height. Their purpose is an enigma. 
 The one at Struan stands within the walls of an 
 oblong building. 
 
 In other cases, as at Dun Torvaig and Dun 
 Ghearra-Sheader, near Portree, there are remains of 
 structures built against the face of a rock. These 
 doubtless served as dwellings, possibly after the 
 duns had become tenantless. 
 
 All such buildings denote a primitive type or 
 civilisation, and though in many cases they survived 
 until comparatively recent times, their origin dates 
 from the pre-Christian age, as has been proved in 
 the case of Irish buildings of this type.^ 
 
 4. Earth-hotises. 
 
 An earth-house may be described as a long and 
 narrow passage, running underneath the ground for 
 
 ^ " Primitive " is a word which is loosely used. The crofter's 
 hut is almost as primitive looking as these beehive cells must 
 have been, though it is larger, yet it is in actual use in the 
 twentieth century.
 
 Antiquities 263 
 
 some distance, occasionally expanding as it goes on, 
 or opening into a chamber. In some cases passages 
 lead off from the main passage into other chambers. 
 The walls of the passage are made of blocks of stone 
 uncemented (they are exactly like a perfectly formed 
 dry-stone dyke), and over these are laid long slabs 
 of flat stone. They usually occur in the face of a 
 bank, and must have been formed by digging out 
 the earth from the surface, and then piling it over 
 the finished structure, or by a process of actual 
 tunnelling. In some cases the passage is in the 
 form of a curve. 
 
 As they occur in Skye, earth-houses are mostly of 
 a simple type, being little more than an underground 
 passage widening out occasionally into a terminal 
 chamber. As they are found now, they are usually 
 blocked up with debris, and only the entrance can be 
 traced. This is usually found between two parallel 
 banks of earth, which when covered with turf would 
 completely hide it. The most elaborate house is 
 found near the school at Vatten, in the parish of 
 Duirinish. It is now choked up, but, as described 
 in the New Statistical Accou7it, it was an interesting 
 example of such structures. The entrance is in a 
 precipitous bank overhanging the burn. The 
 passage, 3 feet high and 70 feet long, led into 
 a central chamber, arched with overlapping stones, 
 5 feet high, while other narrow galleries branched 
 off the main passage. Another on the farm of 
 Claigan, near Dunvegan, has wails 3 feet high, 
 covered with slabs of stone 3^ x i§ x i^ feet, 
 but after proceeding several yards the passage is 
 blocked by earth. A third near Uilinish House is 
 3 feet in breadth and 4 feet high. About 6 yards 
 from the entrance the roof of the passage has fallen 
 in, and beyond this it is blocked. A fourth occurs 
 at Colbost, Glendale, and is interesting as having at 
 least two side chambers still intact ; beyond them 
 the gallery is choked up. Two others are found 
 at Loch Duagraich, one at Uadairn under Ben
 
 264 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Tianavaig", one on the Beal cliff, near Portree. 
 Others have been destroyed through the stones 
 being taken for building purposes, as at Braes, 
 where the existence of the earth-house was not 
 known till a plough struck against the roof. It 
 consisted of a long passage curving round to form 
 nearly a semicircle. Another at Peinfiler, near 
 Portree, has been destroyed within the last two 
 years. When opened, peat ashes were found on 
 the floor at the end of the passage. 
 
 The name of Druids' houses applied locally to 
 these structures explams nothing. More useful is 
 the tradition that they were used as places of retreat 
 in time of invasion. This agrees with the opinion 
 of competent antiquaries, with the statement of 
 Tacitus that the Germans used subterranean places 
 for this purpose and also as winter -houses and 
 granaries, and with the fact that in Skye, as else- 
 where, traces of surface dwellings are usually found 
 in connection with the earth-houses.^ There could 
 have been little comfort in these subterranean 
 galleries and chambers, and nothing exists to show 
 how a fresh supply of air was provided. We know, 
 however, that the Esquimaux live underground in 
 winter, and "the clartier the cosier" was doubtless 
 as comforting a belief in Scotland then as now. 
 Were the builders Celts or an earlier race? Prob- 
 ably the former, as the structure of the passages 
 is identical with that of the galleries in the brochs, 
 unless they, too, were the work of an earlier people 
 than the Celts. Indeed, all these various structures 
 suggest a small people as their inhabitants, and the 
 Celts proper could scarcely be described as small. 
 
 5. Duns. 
 
 The word "dun" originally meant in Gaelic a 
 hillock or eminence, then it was applied to the 
 fort which crowned the hillock, then to any fort no 
 
 ^ Notably at Vatten, and ag-ain at Uilinish, where there is the 
 foundation of a beehive hut.'
 
 Antiquities 265 
 
 matter where situated.^ There are over fifty duns 
 in Skye, but in nearly every case they are so dis- 
 mantled and ruinous that it is well-nigh impossible 
 to tell what their original structure was. As far 
 as my examination of their unsatisfactory condition 
 goes, I seem to trace three types: (i) duns which 
 may have been brochs, properly so called ; (2) duns 
 of a " semi-broch " type ; (3) duns which are evidently 
 little more than ordinary hill forts. 
 
 Brochs are found over a wide Celtic area, and in 
 structure consist of a solid dry-stone wall, circular 
 in form, averaging 13 feet in thickness. At the 
 height of 10 feet the wall is divided into an outer and 
 inner wall, enclosing a series of galleries formed by 
 traversing the walls horizontally by tiers of flag- 
 stones, which thus form the roof of one gallery and 
 the floor of the one above. A narrow entrance in the 
 thickness of the wall, guarded by a door or doors, 
 gives access to the central court. At one side of this 
 entrance there is a "guard-chamber, "z.e. abeehive cell 
 in the thickness of the wall, while usually two or more 
 
 ^ I append a list, following the districts : 
 
 Trotternish, East side, Duns Vannarain, Mlior, Vallerain, 
 
 Greanan, Raisaburg', Connabern, Greanan, Borvc, 
 
 Ghearra-Sheadcr, Torvaig;. 
 Trotternish, West side. Duns Liath, Skudiburg-, ? (near 
 
 Peinduin), Eyre. 
 Braes, Dun an Aird. 
 Lyndale, Duns na h'Airdhe, Borvc, Flasliader, Suledale, 
 
 ?(near Edinbane). 
 Vatemish, Duns Cearymorc, Borrafiach, Hallin. 
 Duirinish, Dun ? (north of Dunvegan), Duns Borreraig, 
 
 Colbost, Osdale, ?(near Orbost), Feorlig-, Elireach, Ncill. 
 BracadaJe and Minginish, Duns Arkaig, Mhor, Beag', Diar- 
 
 maid, Taimh, Merkadale, ?(ncar Loch Eynort), two 
 
 others near Fiskavaig. 
 Strath, Duns Borrcraig, Liath, Ringill, Mhor, Beag, Grugaig, 
 Kearstach. 
 
 Sleat, Duns Bhan, a Chelelrich, Chio, Faich, Bhan, Ruaige. 
 
 These will all be found on the Survey maps. 
 
 Dun Dugan, near Portree, in Christison's list, is only a hill. 
 His Duns Garsin, Geilbt, and Hasan, I have not been able to 
 identify; they may represent some of the nameless duns in my list.
 
 266 The Misty Isle ot Skye 
 
 such cells are entered from the inner court, one of them 
 giving access to the galleries above by a staircase. 
 
 (i) As far as I can judge, certain duns in Skye may 
 have been brochs. The best example of this type 
 is Dun Beag, near Struan. Part of the wall on 
 the outside is 13 feet high, and this wall, 9 feet 
 thick, is solid. Traces of the entrance remain on the 
 south face of the dun. To the right of this entrance 
 is the "guard chamber," clearly of the beehive type, 
 and apparently opening to the interior. All trace of 
 the upper galleries has long disappeared. The 
 interior court shows the foundation walls of a 
 central chamber, and of others surrounding it, but 
 these may be the work of a later time. The diameter 
 of the court is 36 feet.^ 
 
 (2) A dun of the "semi-broch " type stands on a 
 peninsula two miles north-west of Dunvegan Castle. 
 The wall, which is very ruinous, is 10 feet thick, 
 but it contains, close to the ground, part of an 
 interior gallery which can be followed for about 
 6 yards. It is nearly 3 feet broad, and is covered 
 with rough-hewn slabs of stone resting on the inner 
 and outer walls. What may have been a beehive 
 cell or " guard-chamber " at the entrance, is found in 
 another part of the structure. Another fort of this 
 type is Dun Greanan, which is interesting as stand- 
 ing on a tiny peninsula in Loch Mealt, near Staffin, 
 approached by a narrow neck of land. The founda- 
 tions of the inner and outer walls alone remain. 
 
 (3) The simple hill fort consists of an outer wall 
 or walls, covering sometimes a considerable area. 
 Dun Torvaig, near Portree, suggests this type of 
 dun. It consists of a wall, roughly oval, 84 x 45 
 feet, crowning a rocky knoll. Across their 
 narrowest diameter the walls are connected by two 
 parallel walls, forming a kind of inner fort, 45 x 21 
 feet in size. The entrance is 2 feet wide. 
 
 ^ In Pennant's time the walls were 18 feet high, and the 
 entrance was in excellent preser\^ation. Dun Mhor, near by, is 
 traditionally said to have been unfinished by its builders.
 
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 Antiquities 267 
 
 As a rule, all these duns occupy only part of the 
 hilltop, either the centre, or more usually one side, 
 and that the most precipitous. An outer wall 
 encloses the central structure and guards the summit. 
 They command an extensive view, and generally 
 speaking are within sight of each other, so that the 
 approach of an enemy could be quickly made known 
 over a wide district by signalling. This, as ancient 
 poems describe, was done by kindling a fire on the 
 top of the wall. It is noticeable that the duns are 
 built mainly along the seacoast, or in the fertile 
 valleys, where, of course, the population would be 
 thickest. If the builders were not an earlier race, 
 then they were Celts, and the Celts built them as 
 places of refuge and defence against the Norse 
 invaders. The duns, though often ascribed to the 
 "Danes" or Northmen, are never found in 
 Scandinavia, and are confined to Celtic districts. 
 That many of them bear Norse names is no argument 
 against their Celtic origin, as doubtless the Norsemen 
 used them after conquering the country, and probably 
 translated the earlier Gaelic name into Norse. ^ 
 
 Round the duns a few fairy stories have clustered ; 
 one of them, Dun Scaith, figures in the Ossianic saga, 
 as we shall see, and in the heroic tales of CuchuUainn. 
 But, like the magnificent subterranean castle of the 
 Elf-king in Childe Roiulcuid, glittering with gold 
 and silver and jewels, itself but a transmuted earth- 
 house, the dun has become a marvellous structure, 
 with "seven great doors and seven great windows 
 between every two doors of them, and thrice fifty 
 couches between every two windows of them, and 
 thrice fifty handsome marriageable girls in scarlet 
 cloaks and in beautiful and blue attire." It was 
 built on a rock " of appalling height," and approached 
 by a bridge like the weird " brig of dreid, na braider 
 
 ' The Skye duns have never been dealt with in detail. For 
 brochs generally, see Dr. Joseph Anderson, Scotland in Ptij^nn 
 Times; and for hill forts, Dr. David Christison, Ancient Foriijica- 
 iions of Scotland, who gives a list of thirty-six Skye duns.
 
 268 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 than a threid," and from its magic casement 
 Cuchullainn saw the beautiful face of Uathach, the 
 daughter of the princess of the dun, and straightway 
 fell in love with her. So folk-tale and saga every- 
 where have adorned the prosaic facts of life and made 
 them exceeding magnifical. Where life is simple 
 man inevitably thinks in poetry. 
 
 6. Castles. 
 
 A date posterior to the departure of the Norsemen 
 must be assigned to the ruined fortalices of Skye 
 perched on rocks round the coast, and in some cases, 
 if not in all, occupying the site of an earlier dun. 
 They are of one type, with stony central keep and 
 flanking outworks, pointing to an early mediceval 
 origin. They were the strongholds of the chiefs of 
 Skye, guarding different parts of their lands, but 
 liable, with the varying fortunes of clan fights, to 
 pass with part of these lands from one to another, 
 only to be recaptured with more inevitable bloodshed. 
 Of these ruined strongholds, omitting Duntulm and 
 Dunvegan (which is inhabited), already described, 
 there are traces more or less complete of five of these 
 castles. They are Caisteall Uisdean on the shore of 
 Loch Snizort, south of Uig ; the foundation stones of 
 a nameless castle on one of the islands of Dunvegan 
 Loch ; Dunakyne or Castle Maoil, near Kyleakin ; 
 Dunskaith on the southern shore of Loch Slapin, near 
 Ord ; Knock Castle on the Sound of Sleat, some- 
 times called Castle Camus. 
 
 Like all Hebridean castles, they stand on some 
 commanding height by the sea, which formed at once 
 a protection and a means of retreat, when necessary, 
 in the galleys moored beneath the walls. The keep 
 and outworks were surrounded by a strong wall, 
 and all perched on a rock made inaccessible if it were 
 not naturally so, and surrounded by a ditch. There, 
 except driven to desperation by hunger, a chief 
 could bid defiance to his enemies. The few traditions 
 which have been handed down give us some idea of
 
 Antiquities 269 
 
 the wild and dark deeds which their mouldering' 
 walls have seen through the dim centuries, of the 
 sieges and attacks, sallies and onslaughts, which 
 went on around them. In peaceful hours they could 
 never have been comfortable dwellings ; but a lavish 
 if rude hospitality was the rule, bagpipe and harp, 
 song and dance resounded within them ; and brave 
 men and fair women lived out their lives there, and 
 cherished the same hopes and resolves and met with 
 the same disappointments as we. In the romantic 
 Isle of Skye, these grey ruins quicken the thoughts 
 of the imaginative, and fancy reconstructs them, and 
 sees them in all the glory of their past history. 
 
 Of Castle Maoil, whose ruined keep is so 
 prominent an object in the beautiful channel at 
 Kyleakin, and whose walls are 11 feet thick, tradi- 
 tion says that a Norse king's daughter, married 
 to a Macdonald and still remembered as "Saucy 
 Mary," built it in order to prevent vessels from 
 passing without paying toll. Whether she did this 
 by having a chain stretched across the sound may 
 be doubted, but it is not improbable that such a tax 
 would be levied by the owner of the castle. It, with 
 Dunringill, belonged to the Mackinnons of Strath. 
 Dunskaith and Castle Camus belonged to the Mac- 
 donalds, and of the first many romantic stories are told. 
 
 Little now remains of Dunskaith, but once it was 
 an extensive building. Its surroundings are grand 
 and inspiring. Loch Slapin winds past its walls, and 
 beyond its waters the long range of the Coolins, 
 Blaaven, and the Red Hills, seem to mount to a 
 giddy height from the sea, splintered and jagged 
 and gashed with ravines and torrent-beds. Behind, 
 the ground rolls upwards into rounded hills, covered 
 with birch-wood. In this romantic spot, Dunskaith, 
 or an earlier building, was raised by Cuchullainn and 
 his heroes, like Aladdin's palace, in a single night. 
 
 " All night the witch sang-, and the castle grew 
 
 Up from the rock, with tower and turrets crowned ; 
 All night she sang— when fell the morning dew, 
 "Twas finished round and round."
 
 270 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 It stands on an isolated rock separated from the 
 land by a deep ravine once crossed by a drawbridge, 
 and the existing ruins show traces of the ancient 
 dungeon and draw-well. Here Cuchullainn left his 
 fair wife, Bragela, to pine in his absence, and to gaze 
 with eager eyes from its ramparts for the white sail 
 that never came over the sea to Skye. 
 
 / " He Cometh not, she said ; 
 
 She said, I am a-weary, a-weary, 
 I would that I were dead." 
 
 In 1449, when the lands of Skye passed formally 
 into the hands of the Macdonalds, Dunskaith became 
 the property of Hugh of Sleat, son of John, Lord 
 of the Isles. Years after, when it had passed into 
 the hands of his collateral descendant, Donald 
 Gruamach or the grim (after a series of rapid 
 changes of owners, sieges, and treacherous murders), 
 his cousin Ranald came on a visit to Dunskaith 
 from North Uist. The Gruamach's wife was a 
 Clanranald, and was entertaining twelve of her clans- 
 men on Ranald's arrival. Perhaps he had a private 
 feud with Clanranald, perhaps he was of a morbidly 
 touchy nature, but disgust seized his soul, and early 
 one morning he slew the twelve and hung them up 
 on a wall opposite the lady's window. Then he 
 sought his cousin and told him he must go. Donald 
 pressed him to stay until his wife could bid him 
 farewell. "No, I must go; for she will not thank 
 me for my morning's work when she looks out of 
 her bedroom window." Nor did she ; and some time 
 after, Ranald was assassinated by her steward, and 
 at her order. 
 
 The other fortress in Sleat, Castle Camus, which 
 a seventeenth-century writer speaks of as standing 
 " upon the east or south-east over-against Knoydart," 
 may be identified with the ivy-covered ruins at 
 Knock, perched on a crag above the sandy inlet, 
 commanding a magnificent view of the Sound of 
 Sleat and the mountains of the mainland. It
 
 Antiquities 271 
 
 belongfcd to the barons of Sleat, and between 1488 
 and 1 5 13 is traditionally said to have been besieged 
 by the MacLeods. A brave defence was offered by 
 a heroine known as Mary of the Castle, who, like 
 another Joan of Arc, inspired her people to hold out 
 against and defeat the rival clan. At a later date, 
 in 1617, the famous Donald Gorme was bound by 
 the terms on which he iield his lands from the Crown, 
 to have Castle Camus always ready to receive the 
 king or his lieutenants. 
 
 Nearly half-way between Kingsburgh and Uig, on 
 a rock near the sea, are the ruins of Castle Uisdean 
 or Hugh's Castle, of which a romantic story is told. 
 Hugh was a relative and next-of-kin of Donald 
 Gorme, and by all accounts was only too ready to 
 hasten his death by fair means or foul. He was a 
 man who had reason to fear vengeance from more 
 than one, if the story of the building of Castle Uisdean 
 be true. The tower contained no windows ; the 
 only entrance was a little door high up in the wall, 
 reached by a ladder which the wary Hugh pulled up 
 after him, and then bade defiance to the world until 
 his supplies ran short. After entering into a second 
 plot against Donald, Hugh expressed penitence in 
 a letter, but unfortunately sent it by mistake to a 
 fellow-conspirator, while his intended victim received 
 another describing the arrangements for his own 
 murder. Unaware of this, Hugh accepted an invita- 
 tion to Duntulm, where Donald Gorme rid himself of 
 this relentless enemy in the horrible manner already 
 described. 
 
 7. Churches. 
 
 In Dean Monro's time there were twelve parishes 
 and parish churches, now there are nine, and in no 
 case is the ancient church used. These have either 
 disappeared altogether, or stand, a mouldering ruin, 
 near the barn-like structure, which the heritors in 
 Scotland so often built because it was cheaper to do 
 so than to restore the beautiful earlier building. At
 
 272 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Duirinlsh, and in the romantic valley of Strath alone, 
 the remains of the old parochial churches show what 
 they formerly were. Both are remarkably alike. 
 Walls and pointed gables, lancet windows, and a 
 remarkable lack of carved stones sufficiently charac- 
 terise them. Within the walls the dead are buried, 
 while attached to each is a modern family vault with 
 pillared balustrade, in Duirinish the burial-place of 
 the MacLeods, at Strath of the Mackinnons. The 
 site of both is beautiful. Duirinish church, dedi- 
 cated to the Virgin, stands on the edge of the moor 
 near the head of the loch, in full view of MacLeod's 
 Tables and a wide tract of country. A little burn 
 courses down by the edge of the teeming churchyard. 
 The scenery round the remote and quiet ruins of 
 Kilchrist has been already described. In the church- 
 yard at Duirinish stands a curious obelisk, on a 
 square base. It is much decayed, and the inscribed 
 marble slab has fallen out and is broken. But the 
 inscription can still be read as Johnson and Boswell 
 read it, with a sneer at him whom it commemorates. 
 This was Thomas, Lord Lovat, father of the infamous 
 Simon, by whose piety the monument was erected. 
 Having married MacLeod's sister, he was on a visit 
 to Dunvegan Castle, where he died in 1699. "And 
 for the great love he bore to the family of MacLeod, 
 he desired to be buried near his wife's relations, in 
 the place where two of her uncles lay." 
 
 The old parish church of Kilconan at Trumpan is 
 interesting as the scene of that grim tragedy when 
 the Macdonalds fired it while the MacLeods were 
 worshipping within. It stands on high ground 
 overlooking the sea and the outer isles. The church, 
 of which the north wall and the east gable are still 
 intact, is built of cemented stone. In the north wall 
 is the doorway with a rudely pointed arch, and in 
 this wall, at the chancel end, and in the east gable, 
 are windows — little more than narrow slits on the 
 outside, but widening out to rather more than 
 3 feet within. The walls are 3 feet in thickness.
 
 Antiquities 273 
 
 The font, or perhaps the holy water stoup, is made 
 out of a block of basalt hollowed out roughly without 
 any attempt at ornamentation or even symmetry. 
 It lies on the ruined south wall, and is said to be 
 always full of water no matter how often it is emptied. 
 Experiment has proved this to be true, but as the 
 stone is porous and full of moisture, the phenomenon 
 is explained easily. In the interior of the building- 
 is a carved stone, with a sword and the usual Celtic 
 interlaced tracery. 
 
 In Kilmuir the earlier parish church at Kilmoluag 
 was dedicated to St. Moluac ; after the Reformation 
 another church dedicated to the Virgin was used. 
 Its graveyard still remains, but the church itself is 
 replaced by the present parish church, built in 1810. 
 Uig was formerly a separate parish, but is now 
 united to Snizort. The church stood at Clachan, 
 at the head of the bay. Its dedication is unknown. 
 Snizort parish now also includes Lyndale, whose 
 church, dedicated to St. Donnan, stood at the town- 
 ship still called Kildonnan. 
 
 The old parish church of Sleat, which has now 
 entirely disappeared, was dedicated to the Virgin, 
 and stood at Kilmore, where there is still the ruin 
 of a seventeenth-century church. 
 
 These churches in most cases probably did not 
 date beyond the fourteenth century. But there are 
 many others, scattered throughout the island, of a 
 much more ancient date. They are very small, 
 usually not more than 22 feet long, consist 
 only of one oblong chamber without chancel, and 
 have one door and one window, the latter in the 
 eastern gable above the altar. They are built of 
 roughly hewn stone, sometimes cemented with lime, 
 in a few cases not, and must have been erected at an 
 early period of Celtic Christianity. Their structure 
 is perfectly plain, and even with their internal orna- 
 ments, which could never have been very grand, 
 they must always have been so. They could never 
 have held a large congregation, but they are very 
 18
 
 274 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 numerous, and may have each served as the church 
 of a township in these far-off times, before the 
 parishes were formed and parish churches erected. 
 This is not unlikely, as will presently appear. They 
 would be served by a few Columban monks, who 
 lived in cells near by. Most of these tiny buildings 
 have quite disappeared. Thus of thirty in the three 
 parishes of Kilmuir, Portree, and Snizort, about one 
 hundred and twenty years ago, traces of only six 
 can now be found. Of others only the foundations 
 remain, as in the case of St. Columba's Island in 
 Portree Bay, and at the old burying-ground on the 
 meadow between the lofty cliffs on the north side of 
 the same bay. At Skeabost, on an island in the 
 river just where it joins the loch, and accessible only 
 •by stepping-stones, the remains are more complete. 
 The walls and gables might easily be roofed over ; 
 the pointed window is not quite in the middle of the 
 east gable. The whole length of the building is onlv 
 21 feet 4 inches. It has been built with lime, but 
 the stones are rough and of all sizes. Now their 
 interstices are crowded with wall-rue and spleen- 
 wort, which cover the walls with delicate green 
 drapery. The island is still used as a place of burial, 
 as it has been for untold generations, no doubt even 
 in pre-Christian times, and the graves are marked 
 by slabs of unlettered stone, which bear no tribute 
 to the nameless dead. This chapel, like the other 
 in Portree Loch, is dedicated to St. Columba, and per- 
 haps both were erected in his time if not by himself. 
 Similar churches, showing often no more than the 
 mere foundation stones, are found in various parts 
 of the island. In other cases they have entirely 
 disappeared, and only the local name perpetuates 
 their memory. In nearly every locality the dedication 
 was to some Celtic saint. In the parish of Kilmuir 
 stood a church dedicated to St. Martin (either St. 
 Martin of Tours, a popular saint in Scotland, or a 
 Celtic saint of that name) at the township called 
 Kilmartin, where the ancient burial-ground is still
 
 Antiquities 275 
 
 used. At Kilvaxter, near the old monastery on St. 
 Columba's Loch, stood another of these cells, under 
 the rule of the nuns of lona. Kildorais, near 
 Flodig-arry, and Kilbride, north of Dig, may mark 
 the sites of chapels dedicated to these saints. 
 
 In the parish of Bracadale, where St. Assint was the 
 patron saint, Maelrubha seems to have been equally 
 popular. Formerly the annual tryst was at the end 
 of August or the beginning- of September, when St. 
 Maelrubha's day occurs, and a chapel dedicated to 
 him stood near the head of the lonely Loch Eynort. It 
 was rebuilt after the Reformation, but has been ruinous 
 since the end of the eighteenth century. Of the font 
 belonging to this church I shall have something to 
 say later. The parish church of St. Assint must 
 have stood in the beautiful ravine at the head of Loch 
 Beag, where the present modern building is. To it 
 an old record says that the Bishop of Argyll presented 
 Master John Mackinnon in 1632. 
 
 The parish of Strath must at an early date have 
 been a strong ecclesiastical centre, and the district 
 was the scene of St. Maelrubha's labours in the eighth 
 century. A little church dedicated to him stood 
 at Kilmarie, which, like Loch Maree in Ross-shire, 
 might at first sight seem to denote the Virgin, but 
 is in reality merely a corruption of the Celtic saint's 
 name. Half-way between Broadford and Kyle is a 
 burial-ground called Kil Ashig. At this place St. 
 Maelrubha is known to have preached and hung his 
 bell on a tree, from which it was subsequently taken 
 to Kilchrist in Strath Suardal, a legend to which I 
 have already referred. Here, too, stood a chapel 
 dedicated to St. Ashig or Asaph, and his name is 
 again found at Tobar Ashig, where there is a beautiful 
 spring, and in the little loch of the same name, a 
 mile south-east of the churchyard. The names of 
 the two saints are joined together in the place-name 
 of Askemourey. In the same parish there is Kilbride, 
 west of Kilchrist, with the site of a chapel dedicated 
 to St. Bride or Bridget — a popular Celtic saint ;
 
 276 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 while Teampuill Choan and Teampuill Frangaig, 
 both in Borreraig, point to chapels dedicated to St. 
 Congan or Coan and St. Francis. 
 
 Besides the chapels on St. Columba's Island and 
 on the meadow near the Beal in Portree parish, 
 there was still another a little to the north of the 
 town at Kiltaraglan with a place of burial which 
 was used until the present churchyard was formed 
 over a hundred years ago. Chapel and burying- 
 ground have both disappeared, and only a ploughed 
 field bears the name of the saint. Who he was is 
 open to question. The name may be a corruption 
 of Talorgan, but Dr. Reeves conjectures that this 
 old chapel may rather have been St. Maelrubha's, 
 whose fair was held at Portree on the first Tuesday 
 in September under the name of Samarive's fair. 
 
 What seems to demonstrate that these little 
 churches were of an earlier date than the typical 
 parish church, is the fact of the occasional existence 
 of a larger ruined church close beside them. This 
 occurs at Kirkapoll in Tiree, and notably on the 
 island at Skeabost where the river joins Loch 
 Snizort Beag. The island is the parish burying- 
 ground, and this ruined building served as the 
 parish church for many centuries, devotion to St. 
 Columba who visited the island overcoming the 
 difficulty (very slight after all) of reaching it. Little 
 of the building now remains ; just enough to show 
 that it was 82 feet long, and of a chancelled type, 
 which in itself proves it to be of later date than the 
 smaller building near by. 
 
 On this island, as well as in the churchyard at 
 Kilmuir, are some interesting carved stones, bearing 
 deeply incised figures of armed knights. These 
 closely resemble the lona stones, and are usually 
 believed to have been stolen from lona by a piratical 
 Skyeman. This is far from unlikely, as the primitive 
 Celt had no illusions about property. But it is just 
 as likely that the stones may be of local origin, as 
 Celtic art, though confined to typical forms, was not
 
 Antiquities 277 
 
 necessarily confined to one particular district. The 
 stones are exposed to wind and weather, and the 
 carving is being rapidly destroyed. 
 
 Among the ecclesiastical remains of Skye, not 
 the least interesting are the ruins of the monastic 
 establishment on the island in the drained moss 
 which was formerly covered by the waters of Loch 
 Columcille. They were ruins in the seventeenth 
 century, when they were described as " a tower and 
 a town and the remains of a chapel built with 
 mortar." On the north side of the island is a 
 roughly circular enclosure, 16 yards in its greatest 
 diameter, and containing the foundations of three 
 chambers or cells of varying size. These may have 
 been of the beehive type. The wall of this enclosure 
 is broken down, but what is left shows it to have 
 been built of large blocks, roughly but securely placed 
 together, and in places fully 9 feet thick. Traces of 
 what may have been the entrance are found on its 
 south side, and there may have been little cells in the 
 thickness of the wall. Probably this is the "tower" 
 referred to by the seventeenth-century writer.^ 
 
 Immediately to the south of this building are two 
 small quadrilateral buildings, one of which measures 
 30 X 10 feet, and has been divided in two across its 
 breadth, while still farther to the south-west is the 
 church or "temple," dedicated to St. Columba. 
 Its walls are now only 8 feet high ; its length is 
 21 feet 10 inches ; its breadth 12 feet 2 inches. The 
 stones have been cemented, and more pains have 
 been taken with squaring and fitting them than in 
 the case of the other buildings. 
 
 The whole ground surrounding the remains of 
 these buildings is covered with the debris of the 
 "town," i.e. the beehive cells, in each of which 
 dwelt a monk, but not one of them remains entire. 
 
 ' A rectangular enclosure, surrounded by a wall 4 feet high 
 and 22 yards long and broad, stands to the north of the tower. 
 It may be as old as the other buildings, but is probably of more 
 recent date.
 
 278 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Traces of a wall which enclosed all the buildings 
 and cells are seen here and there. 
 
 This group of ruins, lichen and moss covered, and 
 rude in structure, has a most venerable appearance. 
 St. Columba may have founded the establishment ; 
 at least, it must date from near his time, and there 
 are few earlier ecclesiastical remains in Scotland. 
 The whole group has the character of similar 
 monasteries of early Celtic age in Ireland. These, 
 with their church or churches, cells and oratories, 
 and other buildings, were surrounded by an outer 
 wall which served for a protection in a rough age.^ 
 Simplicity, even to rudeness, characterises all these 
 structures, and connects them and this unique 
 " cashel " in Skye with the first preaching of the 
 Faith in Scotland by those brave missionaries for 
 whom neither man nor nature had any terrors. 
 
 8. General. ' 
 
 Besides the urns discovered in burial cairns, many 
 other articles of great interest have been found from 
 time to time in Skye, dating from the Stone Age 
 onwards. Most of these are now preserved in the 
 museum of the Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh, 
 while notices of some of them occur in the Proceed- 
 ings of that society. 
 
 Arrow-heads of flint have been met with from time 
 to time ; the writer found one in his own garden. 
 But on the whole the relics date from a later age, 
 and are largely of bronze. As is natural in a 
 district where the people "could never get eneugh 
 o' fechtin'," bronze swords have been repeatedly 
 discovered. They are of one type — that which is 
 met with commonly in other parts of Scotland — 
 leaf-shaped, with a sharp point and a flat projection 
 at the hilt with rivet holes, by means of which the 
 handle was fastened on. They were probably used 
 for thrusting rather than for striking, though the 
 edges bear traces of sharpening. One of the swords 
 ' See Lord Dunraven's Notes on Irish Arcliitecture,
 
 Antiquities 279 
 
 was found in 1851 along with two spear-heads and a 
 pin, in the moss between the farms of Gillean and 
 Ach-na-Cloich in Sleat. It is 22^ inches long and 
 if inch broad at the broadest part of the blade. 
 Another of similar type was found in the moss 
 near Trumpan. It is 23^ inches long and if inch 
 broad. It was discovered on the site of the battle 
 fought between the Macdonalds and the MacLeods 
 (p. 62), and if it is a relic of that fight, bronze 
 swords must have continued in use long after the 
 introduction of iron. Captain Macdonald of Vater- 
 nish has a third in his possession, found by a crofter 
 while digging peats in the same locality. Others 
 have been found at Lyndale (this one is 2 feet long), 
 at Rigg, and elsewhere, and Pennant describes one 
 in his Tour. 
 
 The bronze spear-heads found at Sleat along with 
 the sword have blades of a leaf shape with long 
 cylindrical sockets which are continued up the centre 
 of the blade, tapering towards its point. Towards 
 the end of the socket are rivet holes on either side 
 for fixing the head to the shaft. The heads are 
 7I inches long and i^ inch broad. 
 
 The bronze pin found along with these weapons is 
 10^ inches in length — too long for wear, says one 
 antiquary, forgetting the fearful weapons with which 
 women of a later age affix their bonnets to their heads. 
 A cup-shaped head, \ inch deep and \ inch in diameter, 
 is fixed to the upper part of the pin, and probably held 
 an ornamental stone or piece of amber. Similar pins, 
 with disc-shaped heads highly ornamented, have been 
 found elsewhere in Britain and on the Continent. 
 
 Associated with these bronze articles in the Sleat 
 find was a bent leaf-shaped instrument of bronze, 
 socketed, 4 inches in length. Its use is unknown, 
 but others like it have been found at Invergordon. 
 Some fragments of oaken boards were found in situ 
 with these instruments, and may have formed part of 
 a box originally enclosing them. 
 
 A socketed bronze axe or celt of a common type
 
 28o The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 was found at Strath. It is wedge shaped, and the 
 socket opening is more or less oval. The sides curve 
 outward slightly towards the blade, which is 2|iinches 
 broad. On one side is a loop, used for fastening the 
 weapon to the L-shaped shaft by a cord. There 
 is a moulding round the socket, just above the loop, 
 and the whole length of the weapon is 3f inches. 
 
 In a moss at Kyleakin, below 7^ inches of peat, was 
 discovered a bronze cauldron, of a type rare though 
 not unknown in Scotland. Its diameter is 18 inches, 
 its depth 12 inches ; and it is made of one single 
 sheet of metal beaten into the required shape. It is 
 patched on the bottom, the patches being put on 
 with clippings of bronze. The rim and handles are 
 gone, but the holes for the rivets of the latter are 
 still visible in the vessel. 
 
 Near this cauldron was a keg of "butter." The 
 keg was barrel shaped, but hollowed out of a single 
 piece of wood 14 x 13 inches. On either side were 
 slight projections with holes bored in them apparently 
 by a red-hot instrument. An analysis of the butter 
 showed it to be of similar composition to that found 
 elsewhere in Scotland. Another barrel was also 
 discovered at Sleat. 
 
 In the Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh, are three 
 iron padlocks of oblong shape, with spring hook, 
 dug out of a peat moss in Skye, locality unknown. 
 There also is an ornamented stone ball, 2f inches in 
 diameter, of a type frequently found in Scotland but 
 nowhere else. This ball is peculiar in being covered 
 with a series of rounded projections ^ inch in height. 
 It weighs lyf ounces, and is made of pale coloured 
 claystone. Swung by thongs or attached to a 
 handle and used as a mace, these balls must have 
 proved formidable weapons in the chase or war. 
 Still more interesting is the collection of coins 
 forming a Viking hoard, and discovered by a keeper 
 in a rabbit hole beside a boulder above Holm Island 
 on the Trotternish coast. The boulder and island 
 were intended as guide-posts for the owner, who,
 
 Antiquities 281 
 
 probably killed in a sea-fight, never returned to 
 claim them. The coins number several hundreds, 
 and are of all ages, some of the more recent being 
 Saxon, with the head and title of Ethelred 11. (?) 
 figured on them. Another hoard opened in 1850 
 contained six arm-rings of silver. 
 
 A once highly ornamented spur was found in the 
 draining operations at Monkstadt. It is jewelled 
 and chased, and has once been gilded. The shanks 
 are 4 inches long and curved to fit the ankle ; the 
 neck terminates in a prick i inch long. The chasing 
 is of interlaced ribbons, enclosing quatrefoils, and in 
 each shank are three oval sockets for gems, which 
 on one side are filled with stones. Only one of the 
 sockets on the other shank contains a stone, of a 
 blue colour. Another socket is placed on the neck. 
 One shank is bent and shows three indentations, 
 while the centre gem is cracked, suggesting blows 
 made by a sword and the tearing of the spur from 
 the foot in some long-forgotten fight. 
 
 Two canoes were also found at Monkstadt, the 
 first in 1763, the second in 1874. The earlier one 
 had disappeared at an early date, but was described 
 to the writer of the Statistical Accotait by the son of 
 a man who helped to dig it up. It was formed out 
 of one piece of oak, and at either end were iron rings 
 of great thickness, three at one end, two at the 
 other. Local conjecture supposed it to be the ferry- 
 boat employed by the monks in passing from the 
 monastery to the shore. The other was discovered 
 by some crofters while digging out a ditch near the 
 loch. It was hollowed out of a single trunk, of pine 
 or perhaps some foreign wood floated ashore. When 
 found, the wood was quite spongy. The stem was well 
 rounded ; no signs of fire in hollowing the canoe were 
 noticeable; and inside and outside were smoothed with 
 great care. The depth of this canoe was little more 
 than 6 inches. Both canoes seem to have resembled 
 others of prehistoric date found in Scotland, though 
 the iron rings of the first suggest later origin.
 
 282 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 The last antiquarian relic from Skye which I shall 
 mention is the ancient font from St. Maelrubha's chapel 
 at Loch Eynort, now in the Antiquarian Museum. 
 It is made of hornblendic gneiss, and is bowl shaped. 
 Across the brim it measures i^ foot, and is i foot in 
 height. The exterior is sculptured in relief in six 
 panels. The first panel, surrounded by an interlaced 
 pattern, contains a crucifix, with the head inclined 
 to the right and the legs crossed. The figures in 
 the other panels are St. Michael slaying the dragon 
 and planting a limb of the cross in its mouth ; the 
 Virgin and Child ; a mitred bishop with crozier ; 
 while in the remaining two panels defaced inscriptions 
 occur. The lower part of the font has four sloping 
 panels with carved floral devices. A clustered pillar 
 of four divisions on which the font stood, still remains 
 in the ruined chapel. A curious story is told of the 
 removal of the font. Some Roman Catholic fisher- 
 men from South Uist, having put into Loch Eynort 
 under stress of weather, discovered the font, and 
 deeming it too sacred for the Protestants of Skye, 
 resolved to carry it to their priest. When they put 
 out to sea with their spoil, the weather rapidly 
 grew worse, and the boat was forced to put back. 
 An angry discussion now arose as to whether they 
 dared provoke the saint by removing his font. A 
 minority suggested its replacement, but the others 
 refused, and again put out to sea. Once more the 
 storm descended ; once more they returned, and now 
 in terror restored the font to its pillar. The weather 
 improved, and the voyage to Glasgow was safely 
 made. The fishermen took heart and made for 
 Loch Eynort on their return. With much misgiving 
 they carried the coveted font on board, but this time 
 Maelrubha was propitious and nothing happened. 
 The font was duly presented to their priest, his 
 successor gave it to Mr. Carmichael, whose Celtic 
 enthusiasm and knowledge are unbounded, and he, 
 in turn, presented it to the Society of Antiquaries.
 
 a 
 
 
 
 O
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 
 
 "They are like a mist on the coming' of night, 
 That is scattered away by a Hg-ht breath of wind." 
 
 Old Gaelic Poem. 
 
 THE muse of history has not been forgetful of 
 the Isle of Skye, and lifts the curtain of the 
 past in successive ages to show a series of vivid 
 tableaux in which great names have found a part. 
 The history of Skye is merged in the general history 
 of the Highlands. Racial wars, clan battles fought 
 on the windy moors, opposition to the Scottish 
 kings, fill up the tale of the centuries, followed by 
 more peaceful ages, though not less romantic, out 
 of which the Highlands, as we now know them, 
 gradually emerge. 
 
 But at certain turning-points in history, Skye 
 comes out of the general vagueness of the past, 
 and stands clearly before our eyes, to fall back again 
 into the dimness once more. Each new appearance 
 marks, more or less definitely, an epoch in history, 
 and it is to these successive appearances that this 
 chapter will be devoted. Histories of the Highlands 
 there are in abundance, but from the study of them 
 the reader rises with a confused idea of warring 
 chiefs, bearing similar names from generation to 
 generation, and clan hordes mingling in confused 
 and confusing mel^e, like the phantoms of some 
 dim phantasmagoria. It will be enough for our 
 purpose to depict the occasions when the Isle of 
 Skye emerges clearly out of the dark backward and 
 
 283
 
 284 The Misty Isle or Skyc 
 
 abysm of time. Each appearance, as has just been 
 said, marks a historic epoch. The Christianising- 
 of Celtic heathendom is suggested by St. Columba's 
 missionary efforts in the island ; the Scandinavian 
 conquest by the connection of Haco with Skye ; the 
 long battle between feudal chiefs and Scottish kings 
 by King James's visit ; the dynastic struggles, in 
 which the Highlands were so largely interested, by 
 the wanderings of Prince Charles Edward through 
 the island ; the dawn of a more peaceful age and 
 the opening up of the Highlands, by the visits of 
 Dr. Johnson and, forty years later. Sir Walter Scott. 
 And in the dim ages before Columba many mythic 
 heroes of the Celts played their part in the Isle of 
 Skye, where their names are yet remembered. Of 
 these I shall speak first. 
 
 I. 
 
 Whether CuchuUainn was a culture -hero and 
 divinity of the pagan Celts, whose mythical story 
 became in later days a saga, or whether a real 
 personage called CuchuUainn did exist, whose fame, 
 as years went on, attracted to itself the myths of 
 an earlier divine being of the same name, it is now 
 quite impossible to say. But whoever he was, the 
 CuchuUainn of the Ossianic poems is brought into 
 close relationship with Skye. He was the chief of 
 the Isle of Mist, and his seat was Dunskaith, near 
 Ord in Sleat. To a stone near by the ruins of the 
 castle he is said to have tied up his dog Luath when 
 he returned from the chase. CuchuUainn went to 
 the Irish wars, leaving his fair wife Bragela, "the 
 lonely sunbeam of Dunskaith," behind him. Long 
 she mourned him, but he never returned. Long she 
 looked across the waves for the first glimpse of his 
 sail. 
 
 Ossian describes her watching and Cuchullainn's 
 death. " Dost thou raise thy fair face from the rock 
 to find the sails of CuchuUainn ? The sea is rolling
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 285 
 
 far distant, and its white foam shall deceive thee for 
 my sails. Retire, for it is night, my love, and the 
 dark wind sighs in thy hair. Retire to the halls of 
 my feasts, and think of the times that are past, for I 
 will return not till the storm of war is past." ^ 
 
 "Spread now thy white sails for the Isle of Mist, 
 and see Bragela leaning on her rock. Her tender 
 eye is in tears, and the winds lift her long hair from 
 her heaving breast. She listens to the winds of 
 night to hear the voice of thy rowers ; to hear the 
 song of the sea, and the sound of thy distant harp. 
 And long shall she listen in vain : CuchuUainn will 
 never return." ^ 
 
 " Hills of the Isle of Mist ! when will ye listen to 
 his hounds ? But ye are dark in your clouds, and 
 sad Bragela calls in vain. Night comes rolling 
 down; the face of ocean fails. The heathcock's head 
 is beneath his wing ; the hind sleeps with the hart 
 of the desert. They shall rise with morning's light, 
 and feed on the mossy stream. But my tears return 
 with the sun ; my sighs come on with the night." ^ 
 
 Poetry and pathos brood round lonely Dunskaith, 
 though the dim centuries separate us from brave 
 CuchuUainn and lovely Bragela. And how often 
 since then have passionate lovers in Skye known the 
 bitterness of fruitless love and endless separation ! 
 
 Another Ossianic hero, Fingal, is made to visit 
 Skye. Ossian depicts a great deer drive organised 
 by him, which took place in Strath, and at which 
 six thousand deer were slain. The numbers need 
 not be exaggerated ; at a much later time, when 
 Skye still swarmed with deer, it was possible to get 
 a thousand head. The northern shoulder of Beinn- 
 na-Greine, above Portree, is called Suidh Fhinn, or 
 Fingal's Seat, where, according to tradition, the hero 
 used to sit directing the chase in the valley below. 
 He and his followers regaled themselves on the 
 venison, cooked in a huge cauldron which was set 
 
 ' Fingal, bk. i. •' Ibid. bk. vi. 
 
 ' Death of CuchuUainn.
 
 286 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 on three stones on the shore of Loch Snizort at 
 Kensalyre. Two of these stones still remain to 
 prove the truth of the story. These were the heroic 
 ages of the Celt, when men lived on an opulent scale 
 and held communion with the earlier gods.^ 
 
 II. 
 
 A more definitely historical figure is that of St. 
 Columba, with whose coming the paganism of the 
 Celtic regions of the Hebrides and northern High- 
 lands was doomed. That paganism consisted of a 
 worship of the powers of nature, of life and growth. 
 These powers, more or less personified, had each his 
 separate department of life and of the world to govern. 
 Some were gods of the nation, others of the tribe, 
 and there were spirits of every place — hill and grove 
 and stream. They were propitiated by sacrifices, 
 often of human victims, and there are dim traces of 
 orgiastic rites. In return, they gave life and increase 
 to their worshippers, their fields and flocks. Magic 
 rites mingled with religious worship, but both were 
 under the control of a priesthood, the famous Druids, 
 but little removed from the medicine-men of savage 
 races. 
 
 All this St. Columba and his monks had to combat 
 with, and it is certain that, though down to this day 
 
 ^ I have already referred in a note (p. 45) to the local 
 application of the Irish Feinne legends in the Highlands. I 
 add some other instances. When Feinne was in Skye, the 
 chase was lost. Caoilte, who was swiftest, was sent to look 
 for the deer while Feinne and his men gathered limpets on 
 Loch Snizort. Caoilte found deer at Lynecan, an unknown 
 locality, and gave a shout, which the heroes heard. One of 
 them squirted some limpets and the grey-cheeked cow's milk 
 on a rock still called Creagan a' Bhalguinn, the Rock of the 
 Mouthful. It is discoloured to this day. The bed of this cow 
 is a Creag nam Meann, the Kid Rock, behind Kingsburgh. 
 Hiniosdail was one of her grazing places. Others were 
 Eisgeadal, Toisgeadal, Carn a' Choin, Braigh Bhran, Uisge- 
 seader, Suilseader, Bheann Mhoraig, Achachoirc, and Malagan. 
 Some of these places are on the maps ; all are north of 
 Portree.
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 287 
 
 the Celtic mind is full of the ideas of that earlier 
 paganism, and that its rites arc still practised in a 
 more or less altered form, the mission of the beloved 
 Columba of the churches was wonderfully successful. 
 From lona, where he arrived in 565 a.d., he wandered 
 over the wild regions beyond the seas. How the 
 tiny coracles of framework and skins withstood the 
 seething waters, it is hard even to guess. But the 
 faith of these early missionaries was a robust one, 
 and wherever they went they planted cells and 
 churches and primitive monastic establishments, and 
 gained the hearts of those barbarous chiefs and 
 their people, who heard with wonder of the true 
 Druid, the Christ.^ And thus, as years went by, 
 
 "They heard, across the howling' seas, 
 Chime convent bells on wintry nig-hts ; 
 They saw, on spray-swept Hebrides, 
 Twinkle the monastery lights." 
 
 Among his wanderings the saint came to the Isle 
 of Skye. Adamnan, his biographer, tells how he 
 prophesied that, when in Skye, an aged chief would 
 come, seeking baptism. This chief, it is pleasing 
 to know, had kept all the precepts of the natural 
 law. Soon after the prophecy was uttered, a boat 
 was seen approaching the shore of the loch, with 
 an old man sitting in the prow. He was known to 
 be Artbrannan, chief of a neighbouring tribe, or, as 
 Adamnan says, of the " Geona cohort." Two of his 
 companions brought him to the saint, who instructed 
 him in the faith of the gospel. Then the chief 
 sought baptism, which the saint administered to 
 him. Almost immediately he died, and was buried 
 just where he had landed, under a cairn of stones. 
 Adamnan gives no note of the scene of this incident 
 which can now let us identify it, but it is traditionally 
 said to have been the shore of Loch Snizort. On 
 the moor to the right of the highway as the river 
 
 1 "Christ is my Druid," says St. Columba, in a poem 
 attributed to him.
 
 288 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Snizort is approached, is a boulder on which the 
 saint is believed to have stood and preached to the 
 people. His balancing powers must have been as 
 great as his powers of persuasion, unless the stone 
 has altered considerably since then. 
 
 St. Columba was a favourite in Skye, to judge by 
 the number of dedications to his memory, mostly, 
 however, in the northern half of the island. First, in 
 the upper half of Portree Bay, which was formerly 
 called Loch Columcille, is a tiny island which bears 
 the saint's name, and on which the foundations of a 
 small church, perhaps erected by Columba himself, 
 may still be traced. The next place where we find 
 a dedication is in the island at the head of Loch 
 Snizort ; while a third is found at St. Columba's 
 Loch, now drained, near Monkstadt.^ Others prob- 
 ably exist ; there are two, on Troda Island and 
 Fladdahuan respectively. 
 \^ Skye was a wooded island in St. Columba's time, 
 
 for he miraculously destroyed a wild boar in a dense 
 forest, and we learn from Adamnan that the ordinary 
 hunter slew the boars with spears whose shafts 
 "still kept the untrimmed bark." The saint had 
 gone to pray alone in the wood, when the boar 
 attacked him. He looked at it intently, and invoked 
 God to help him, saying to the boar, "Thou shalt 
 proceed no farther in this direction ; perish in the 
 spot which thou hast now reached." And the animal, 
 it is said, immediately fell dead. 
 
 Of the exact itinerary of the saint's wanderings in 
 Skye, or of the number of visits he paid, we know 
 nothing. But the influence of this wonderful man, 
 of the gentle nature and the strong persuasive will, 
 must have affected the Skyemen of that day deeply. 
 He and his monks were true Celts. Their holy rites 
 replaced those of the Druids. Their chants made 
 the magic runes die away. They held out a true 
 hope to those whose light, in religious matters, had 
 been so largely darkness. And in Skye, as in all 
 1 See Chap. XVII.
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 289 
 
 the Western Isles, the echoes of their holy liturgies 
 sounded in many a green glen, and mingled with 
 the noise of dashing waves and the long wash of 
 Hebridean seas. 
 
 It was well. The Celtic islanders needed all the 
 faith and comfort they could obtain to uphold them 
 in the coming years, when the long snake-like galleys 
 of the Norsemen were to come gliding over the sea, 
 carrying fire and slaughter, rapine and havoc, into 
 the glens and valleys of the Isle of Mist; To that 
 era our attention must now be turned. 
 
 III. 
 
 Before the year 794 a.d. , as the Annals of Ulster 
 tells us, " the islands of Britain were ravaged by the 
 Gentiles." The Gentiles were Danes and Norsemen, 
 or, as the Celts called them, Lochlanaich, and the 
 King of Lochlann is a frequent character in Celtic 
 folk-tales. For the next century the Western Isles, 
 the Sudereys of the Norsemen, were the scene of 
 raids and fights, burnings, ravagings, and killings. 
 The Norsemen were born adventurers, filled with the 
 lust of fighting and plunder, and doubtless they 
 found in the Celts worthy opponents, and in the 
 monasteries abundance of rich and costly things. 
 They gave the Islesmen no rest: — 
 
 "When watch-fires burst across the main 
 From Rona, and Uist, and Skye, 
 To tell tiiat the ships of the Dane 
 And the rod-haired slayer were nigfh ; 
 Our Islesmen rose from their slumbers, 
 And buckled on their arms, 
 But few, alas, were their numbers 
 To Lochlann's mailed swarms ; 
 And the blade of the bloody Norse 
 Has filled the shores of the Gael 
 With many a floating corse. 
 And many a widow's wail." 
 
 The permanent occupation of the Isles did not 
 take place till the end of the ninth century, and the 
 
 19
 
 290 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 immediate occasion of it was a political revolution in 
 Norway. Harold Haarfager, or the Fairhaired, say 
 the sagas, made himself master of the whole of 
 Norway in 875, driven thereto by the ambition of the 
 maiden Gyda, who refused to become his wife save 
 on these terms. The independent princelets or jarls 
 resented his ambition, and fled to the Western Isles, 
 from which they sallied forth and harassed Harold 
 and his sworn men and territories. A man of 
 Harold's untamed disposition would not sit still 
 under these provocations, and, collecting a fleet, he 
 set sail for the Hebrides. Rebellious Norsemen and 
 native Celts alike were reduced to submission, and 
 the Isle of Man, the Hebrides, and the Orkneys 
 became for three long centuries Norse dominions. 
 Not that the occupation was an easy one. The 
 Celts gave continual trouble, and the Northmen 
 were at perpetual feud among themselves ; but, on 
 the whole, the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries 
 were centuries of Norse domination in the Hebrides. 
 The bays and winding sea-lochs of Skye and the 
 other isles formed natural harbours for the galleys 
 of the conquerors, and from them they set sail on 
 many a distant conquering expedition, returning to 
 their green shores with rich plunder. On the shores 
 of the lochs lay their settlements, and some have 
 seen in the many duns of the Hebrides Norse strong- 
 holds. But if these were used by the Norsemen, it 
 could only have been after they had been captured 
 from their Celtic builders. They must have inter- 
 married with the Celts to some extent, but the 
 persistence of the autochthonous type has, save in 
 a few marked instances, suppressed the traces of 
 Norse descent. Nor has the Celtic tongue been 
 affected by the Norse occupation. Norse place- 
 names there are in plenty, bosts and shaders and 
 vaigs, Holm and Stein and Hamara, but it is 
 always possible that these may be mere Scandinavian 
 equivalents of earlier Celtic place-names. Some 
 influence has been seen in an altered system of land
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 291 
 
 tenures and rents, but, on the whole, the occupation 
 was too short, the union of conquered and conquerors 
 too vague, to produce any lasting impression. 
 
 Into the succession of Norse princes, their wars, 
 and their ups and downs, it is not our purpose to 
 enter. The appearance of a strong Celtic element 
 and the expulsion of the Norsemen must, however, 
 be noticed. Gillebride, the Celtic lord of Argyll, had 
 a son called Somerled, whose ambitious plans and 
 growing strength caused much uneasiness to Olave 
 the Red, King of Man and the Isles. This " devout 
 and voluptuous prince," as he is quaintly called in 
 an old chronicle, gave his daughter Ragnhildis to 
 Somerled in marriage in 1140. This might have 
 cemented friendship between the Norse kingdom and 
 the overlord of Argyll, but it did not. Somerled 
 soon fell to fighting with Olave's son and successor, 
 Godred, whose Celtic subjects helped Somerled in 
 his schemes. In a sea-fight, grim and great, in 1 156, 
 Godred's force was defeated off Isla, and after a 
 second defeat in 1158, he had to cede his territories 
 to Somerled, whom these victories made master of 
 the Hebrides and Man. He thus became in eff'ect 
 the first Lord or King of the Isles, a title which his 
 descendants still hold. In Somerled the Norsemen 
 had found their master, and their power began to 
 totter to its final fall. He emerges from that dim 
 period as a mighty hero, strong and fearless, filled 
 with ambitions which he carried out, for he had 
 brains and could use them, as well, as thews and 
 sinews. In him we see the saviour of the Celts 
 from foreign domination, and his traditional scheme 
 of making himself master of broad Scotland, mythical 
 though it may be, shows what the Celts believed of 
 him, and animated his later descendants in their 
 hostility to the Scottish kings. 
 
 After Somerled's death in 1164, his sons could not 
 hold their own, and the Norsemen were once more in 
 the ascendant. But now the struggle for Celtic or 
 Scandinavian domination continued to run its course,
 
 292 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 and soon the Scottish kings began to take note of 
 their Norse rivals, for they, naturally, claimed to be 
 overlords of the Western Isles. One incident shows 
 the fury of the Celtic and Scandinavian struggle. 
 Ferchar Maclntaggart, first Earl of Ross, a friend 
 of Alexander 11., made a descent on the Norsemen in 
 Skye, where, says the saga, "they burned villages 
 and churches (the Norsemen were by this time 
 Christians), and they killed great numbers of men 
 and women. The Scots even took the small children, 
 and, raising them on the points of their spears, shook 
 them till they fell down to their hands, when they 
 threw them away lifeless." It was a cruel time, and 
 Celt and Norseman vied with each other in savagery. 
 The Hebridean lords appealed for assistance to 
 Haco, already annoyed by the negotiations of 
 Alexander iii. for the purchase of the sovereignty 
 of the Isles from him. In July 1263, having collected 
 a mighty fleet and armament, he set sail to punish 
 the Celtic princes and to ravage the dominions of 
 the Scottish king. He arrived first at Lewis, where 
 new galleys joined his fleet. And now these galleys, 
 a hundred strong, manned by sturdy rowers and 
 mighty warriors, and led by Haco's own ship, built 
 of oak overlaid with gold, with the Norse dragon at 
 the prow, swept in glittering array down the Sound 
 of Raasay, past Portree Bay, where the people watched 
 in awe the mighty fleet sail past the warder cliffs of 
 their bay. The brown sails were furled, and anchor- 
 age was made at Kyleakin (Haco's Kyle or Strait) 
 by the Cailleach Stone, where new reinforcements 
 met Haco. The Norse dominion seemed about to 
 be re-established in the islands ; rebellious subjects 
 were punished ; Argyll and Lennox knew the Norse- 
 man's blade and brand, and were laid waste with fire 
 and slaughter. But Alexander iii. had also been 
 mustering his forces, and the great if doubtful battle 
 of Largs was fought on a September day. Haco, if 
 not defeated, was checked, and he and his men took 
 refuge in their galleys. But the end of the Norse
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 293 
 
 plague, like that of the Armada, was due to the 
 elements. A fierce tempest drove the galleys from 
 the coast ; such as were not broken on the shore fled 
 before the blast, to be wrecked, many of them, on 
 Lome and Mull and Skye. Haco and his remaining 
 force made for Wester Fjord in Skye, in other words, 
 Loch Bracadale, "where he levied food of the isles- 
 men." Then they set sail, broken and dispirited, 
 for home. 
 
 "And thine oaken g-alley, Haco, 
 That sailed with kingfly pride, 
 Came shorn and shattered, Haco, 
 Through the foaming Pentland tide." 
 
 Poor Haco, old and broken-hearted, landed at 
 Kirkwall to die, and with his death the days of the 
 triumphant Norse domination in the Isles were over. 
 
 IV. 
 
 If the Scottish kings had rid themselves of the 
 Norsemen, they found they could not hold their over- 
 lordship of the Isles in absolutely undisputed sway. 
 Technically, the Lords of the Isles and the Celtic 
 chiefs held their lands from the kings of Scotland 
 as feudal superiors. They seldom acknowledged 
 their vassalage, or, when they did, resolved also to 
 give as much trouble as possible. For the next two 
 hundred years internal feuds among the Islesmen 
 and rebellion against the Scottish throne fill the 
 chronicles of the Highlands. Skye, which became 
 gradually the chief seat of the Lords of the Isles, 
 saw the fiery cross sent round to summon Macdonalds 
 and MacLeods to war with the Scots, as often as to 
 bloody feuds with each other. We have seen what 
 Somcrled's ambitions were. He founded a kingdom 
 which was purely Celtic, as against Norsemen and 
 Scots, and it became a tradition with his descendants, 
 when there were no more Norsemen to subdue, to 
 afflict the Scots, or Southrons, as much as possible,
 
 294 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 and to preserve an anti-Scottish, Celtic kingdom. 
 "We have been auld enemies to the realm of 
 Scotland," said the Lord of the Isles to Henry 
 VIII., in 1545, when seeking- an alliance with that 
 enemy of the Scots for purposes of his own. The 
 Scottish crown had always difficulty in reducing this 
 Celtic kingdom. Scotland was a poor country ; it 
 had no standing army ; and the Highland mountains 
 barred the way to the Scots, as they had done to the 
 Romans long before. The Celts, like the Boers, 
 knew their wild country, and could make themselves 
 invisible at will, or at the worst could retire to some 
 " stark strength biggit on a craig " as often as need 
 be. 
 
 In the wars of Bruce and the Scots with England 
 for national independence, the Celtic influence was, 
 for once, against England, but soon after he had to 
 organise an expedition against the islesmen, when, 
 having «'dawntyt the His," he tried to pacify their 
 people with popular measures. But he never quite 
 trusted them, and left as a legacy to his successors 
 the advice never to let the Lordship of the Isles get 
 into the hand of one man. Under succeeding kings 
 the Lords of the Isles continued their policy of harass- 
 ing their dominions, and carrying fire and slaughter 
 far and wide. One of the fiercest incidents of the 
 struggle was the battle of Harlaw, which arose out 
 of the claim of Albany, regent of Scotland, to dispose 
 of the earldom of Ross when it should have passed 
 to Donald of the Isles. Every glen, strath, and 
 island was soon aflame, and with an immense army 
 Donald landed at Strome Ferry and swept across the 
 mainland. At Harlaw the Earl of Mar met them. 
 Donald of the Isles, with Macdonalds and MacLeods 
 from Skye and Lewis and Harris, formed the main 
 body on that dreadful day, which left few Lowland 
 families out of mourning, though the battle decided 
 the struggle but little. 
 
 So for years it went on. Raids and forays ; an 
 occasional pitched battle when the kings penetrated
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 295 
 
 to the Highlands ; enforced or pretended submis- 
 sions followed by renewed revolt, made up the story 
 of these bygone years. But time and the superior 
 qualities of the Scottish forces were bound to work 
 their way. The Celtic armies were too loosely 
 combined ever to remain a compact force after 
 either a defeat or a victory. Moreover, the chiefs 
 of clans were not always inclined to be loyal to the 
 Lord of the Isles. In such directions lay signs of 
 weakness. These causes, for example, led the proud 
 Alasdair of the Isles, clad only in shirt and drawers, 
 to appear suddenly before King James i. at Holyrood, 
 to do penance. But this humiliation, of course, 
 only led the clan to new activities. Meanwhile, the 
 increasing consolidation of the Scottish kingdom, 
 and the growing power of the Earls of Argyll and 
 AthoU as rivals of the Lords of the Isles, led to their 
 doom. The heroic age of the House of Somerled 
 passed away in 1493 with the forfeiture of its chief, 
 his title and lands. This forfeiture resulted in new 
 attempts of the crown to force the clans to acknow- 
 ledge its claim, and in struggles between rival scions 
 of the family of the Isles to gain the honours of the 
 ancient house. 
 
 James iv. and James v. were the hammers of the 
 Celtic chiefs and their clans, and under them we 
 see their final defeat and subjection to the Scottish 
 crown. Both made repeated journeys into the 
 Highlands, and in the last of these, when the sub- 
 mission of the chiefs was most complete, the Isle of 
 Skye comes into prominence once more. James v. 
 resolved to make such a pageant and progress 
 through the Isles as would impress the chiefs with 
 the might of the crown and the forces which it could 
 summon in its defence. Twelve magnificent ships 
 were got ready, all armed with artillery. Six of 
 them were appropriated to the king, his retinue, 
 and his army ; Cardinal Beaton, the Earl of Huntly, 
 and the Earl of Arran, had each one ; and the 
 remaining three carried provisions, baggage, and
 
 296 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 pavilions. In May this large and splendidly 
 equipped armament set sail from the Firth of 
 Forth, and going- northwards, touched at the 
 Orkneys and Caithness, and doubled Cape Wrath. 
 The Hebrides were next visited, and at various 
 places courts of justice were held and punishments 
 meted out. Magnificent sport occupied the atten- 
 tion of the king and his courtiers, and doubtless the 
 glory of the Western Isles in that early summer 
 time was not lost upon some of them. Having 
 visited the outer isles, the fleet entered Loch 
 Dunvegan, where the castle yielded to superior 
 force, and Alexander, chief of the clan, and some 
 others, were made prisoners. From Dunvegan the 
 ships sailed round to Score Bay, where they dropped 
 anchor. Here the king visited Duntulm Castle, 
 and was impressed with its magnificent situation 
 and strong fortifications. It had lately been 
 occupied by the MacLeods till they were driven 
 from it by Donald Gorme, Lord of the Isles de facto 
 though not de jure, who was shortly after killed 
 before Ellandonan. At this time the chief of the 
 clan, his son, was only a child. 
 
 The fleet then sailed down Raasay Sound, as 
 Haco's galleys had done three hundred years before, 
 under the shadow of Storr and the basaltic cliffs of 
 the east coast of Skye. Sweeping round the Beal, 
 they entered Portree Bay and dropped anchor there. 
 The army landed on the rocky shore by the present 
 Scorrybreck House, which shore was afterwards 
 known as Creag-na-mor-Shluagh, the rock of the 
 great multitude, while the king with his court 
 landed at the burn a little to the east. It was hence 
 called Port-an-Righ, and this name the bay and 
 village have since retained instead of the earlier 
 name of Loch Columcille. There was then no 
 town where Portree now stands ; the hillsides were 
 covered with wood, which has long since dis- 
 appeared ; but the main features of the landscape 
 are otherwise unchanged. James saw the Coolins
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 297 
 
 and the ridge of Storr, Ben Tianavaig- and Fing-al's 
 
 Seat, as we see them to-day. Imagination, as we 
 
 stand on the " Lump," can depict for us the fleet at 
 
 anchor in the blue bay, decked with bunting-, and on 
 
 the flat ground where the square now stands, the 
 
 canvas town, tents and pavilions without end, snowy 
 
 white pennons and banners fluttering in the breeze ; 
 
 the royal standard high over all ; richly dressed 
 
 courtiers and men-at-arms moving about in crowds. 
 
 It was a royal pageant, and no more fitting stage 
 
 for it could have been prepared by nature. Here 
 
 as elsewhere the island chiefs and their principal 
 
 followers came down to prove their submission to 
 
 such a superior force, among others the chiefs of 
 
 Clanranald and Glengarry, and the guardian of the 
 
 young chief of Clan Donald. Clanranald was made 
 
 prisoner, and doubtless he and MacLeod cursed 
 
 their hard fate in company. The eyes of the wild 
 
 islanders who flocked to Portree must have stared 
 
 "lang and sair " at the exhibition of pomp and 
 
 power. James v., like most of the Stuarts, knew 
 
 human nature well, and doubtless his expedition 
 
 eff'ected what centuries of fighting had failed to do. 
 
 Like that great and loyal servant of his successors, 
 
 Claverhouse, he understood and could manage the 
 
 Highland chief as few Lowlanders have ever done. 
 
 He returned homewards by Kyle-rhea, touching at 
 
 Glenelg, and so to Kintyre and the Firth of Clyde. 
 
 Some of the many prisoners were then released on 
 
 providing hostages, but the bolder spirits were kept 
 
 in durance until after the king's death in 1542. 
 
 From this date onwards, for the most part, the 
 island chiefs were warm supporters of the House of 
 Stuart which had conquered them. A Mackinnon 
 of Strath was knighted by James vi. in 1604, and 
 so was the famous Rory Mor of Dunvegan (whose 
 sword still hangs on the wall of the castle) in 1610, 
 while Donald Macdonald of Sleat was created a 
 Nova Scotia baronet by Charles i. Macdonalds of 
 the Isles and Mackinnons of Strath fought under
 
 298 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Montrose for the Royal Martyr against his enemies ; 
 and when Charles 11. made the abortive attempt to 
 win the kingdom in 165 1, the Clan MacLeod 
 mustered for him in full force, as did the Mac- 
 donalds. At the battle of Worcester, Norman 
 MacLeod led his clan in person, and there so many 
 of their number were killed that the northern clans 
 agreed to let them have respite from military 
 service until their full strength had been regained. 
 Under Dundee, Macdonald of Sleat fought with 
 seven hundred of his clansmen at Killiecrankie, for 
 which his house in Sleat was burned by some of 
 William's troops, who afterwards were defeated by 
 him in a skirmish. His son fought with his clans- 
 men in the '15 at SheriflFmuir, and was forfeited, 
 the forfeiture being soon after removed. And in 
 the '45, though the chiefs themselves did not go out, 
 their clans were not found wanting in support of 
 King James vii. and his son the Prince of Wales. 
 That eventful time invested the Isle of Skye with 
 such a garb of romantic human interest as it has 
 never since lost. An outlawed Prince, a protecting 
 maiden ; it is the case of chivalry inverted, and 
 makes up such a story as time cannot wither, nor 
 custom stale. 
 
 V. 
 
 When Prince Charles raised his standard at 
 Glenshiel, he expected aid from the great chiefs of 
 Skye and their clans. He therefore sent young 
 Clanranald to find out from them what they were 
 prepared to do. Clanranald met Sir Alexander 
 Macdonald and MacLeod at the inn of Sconser, 
 and there learned that they would do nothing. 
 Unhappily for the Prince's cause (and there is 
 little doubt that had they joined him with the full 
 muster of their clans the king would have had his 
 own again). President Forbes had moved them from 
 their rightful allegiance, and both thenceforth 
 supported the Hanoverian. MacLeod sent round
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 299 
 
 the fiery cross ; his clansmen mustered at Caroy, 
 a thousand strong ; but when they found that their 
 chief, like Macdonald, had accepted a commission 
 from the German lairdie, and that they were to 
 fight against the Prince, most of them went off 
 on their own account to join him. MacLeod found 
 he could only muster two hundred for the other side. 
 
 Sir Alexander Macdonald fared little better. He 
 went to Trotternish to muster for George. As he 
 mounted the hill above Portree, he was met at 
 Drumuie by his tenant and clansman, Macdonald 
 of Kingsburgh, who roundly told him the clan 
 would not gather, and in fact he only got fifty 
 followers. 
 
 With the history of the '45 we need not concern 
 ourselves here. It was, alas, a lost cause, and after 
 CuUoden our sympathies are equally divided between 
 the victims of the butcher Cumberland's cruelty and 
 the Prince as he wandered, hunted and homeless, 
 with a price on his head which tempted nobody. 
 After CuUoden he made his way to Glenboisdale ; 
 thence under the guidance of a Skyeman, Donald 
 MacLeod of Gualtergill, he was carried in an eight- 
 oared boat to Benbecula, and then to Lewis and South 
 Uist. After months of wandering, in which it is a 
 pleasure to know that Lady Margaret Macdonald 
 sent him newspapers, the Prince and his party 
 found themselves being gradually hemmed in on 
 land by the Hanoverian soldiers and at sea by 
 men-of-war. It was in this hour of extremity that 
 Flora Macdonald came to the rescue. She was 
 then on a visit to her brother in South Uist, and it 
 was proposed to her that she should conduct the 
 Prince to her mother's house at Armadale in Skye. 
 To her the affair seemed hopeless, but loyalty kept 
 her spirit undaunted. She was brought to the 
 Prince in a hut on the night of 21st June 1746, 
 and arrangements were duly made. A letter was 
 sent by her stepfather to his wife at Armadale 
 stating that Flora was returning home with an
 
 300 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Irish servant, Betty Burke (the Prince), under the 
 charge of Neil MacEachan. 
 
 Meanwhile Lady Clanranald and Flora prepared 
 a suitable dress for the Prince, who, disguised in 
 a flowered linen gown, a quilted petticoat, white 
 apron, and mantle with a hood, embarked with 
 the heroine in a six-oared boat from Rossinish in 
 South Uist on the night of 28th June. June nights 
 are never dark in the Hebrides, but it was no 
 summer sea which" they crossed, for a storm had 
 arisen. After eight hours' rowing on a tumultuous 
 sea, Vaternish Point was reached, but a landing was 
 impossible, for the redcoats were posted there and 
 greeted them with a volley. Crossing the mouth of 
 Loch Snizort, the party landed close by Monkstadt, 
 the seat of Sir Alexander Macdonald. 
 
 The Prince waited on the hillside ; Flora went 
 forward to acquaint Lady Margaret, who had then 
 as a guest in her house an officer of the militia 
 regiment encamped near by. She, with Kingsburgh, 
 who was then at Monkstadt, arranged the plan for 
 the rest of the journey, but in great fear and trem- 
 bling. While Flora dined with Lady Margaret and 
 the militia officer, Kingsburgh went out with pro- 
 visions for the Prince. He started up, ready to 
 strike the intruder with his heavy knotted stick, 
 when the latter cried, " I am Macdonald of Kings- 
 burgh, come to serve your Highness." 
 
 In a short time the Prince (as Betty Burke), Flora, 
 Kingsburgh, and a servant, started off for Kings- 
 burgh House, intending there to pass the night. 
 They followed the course of the present highroad 
 by Uig. Betty could not manage her petticoats ; 
 "Your enemies call you a pretender," said Kings- 
 burgh, "but if you be, you are the worst at your 
 trade I ever saw." Now they were held up too 
 high ; now left to trail in the water as a burn was 
 crossed. Some passers-by were shocked, or, as 
 others thought, suspected the disguise. But all 
 went well, and Kingsburgh was reached without
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 301 
 
 mishap. Here the Prince had a good meal and 
 the luxury of an excellent bed, enjoying the latter 
 so much that he slept till one next day. 
 
 Though the whole party knew the danger that 
 threatened them, they could afford to find subject 
 for merriment in the Prince's disguise as they gave 
 it the finishing touches on his departure. A new 
 pair of shoes was presented to him, Kingsburgh 
 preserving his tattered brogues as a relic. To 
 Flora he gave permission to "cut a lock frae his 
 lang yellow hair." Then Flora and Neil set out, 
 followed soon after by the Prince and Kingsburgh, 
 in a drenching rain. In a wood at some distance 
 from the house Charles changed his dress, and, 
 taking leave of his host, went on towards Portree 
 with a boy as his guide, probably following the 
 present road thither from Kingsburgh. 
 
 The arrangement had meanwhile been made that 
 the Prince should be taken to Raasay. Young 
 Raasay (his father was then in hiding) was at 
 Eyre House, the home of Dr. MacLeod, his brother 
 (who had been wounded at Culloden), six miles 
 from Portree. Donald Macdonald had been sent 
 thither to inform them and to beg them to obtain 
 a boat. This was no easy matter, as to ask for a 
 boat in Portree was bound to arouse suspicion. 
 But, remembering that there was a small boat on 
 Loch Fada in the Storr valley, they proceeded 
 thither to carry it to sea. What a laborious task 
 this must have been ! The boat had to be carried 
 to the top of the cliff two miles off, and then 
 brought down the precipitous face to the sea. All 
 succeeded well ; the boat was taken to Raasay, 
 there Malcolm MacLeod and two boatmen joined 
 the party, who then made for Portree, where the 
 Prince was expected to be waiting. By this time 
 Charles had reached the inn at Portree (the room 
 where he sat is still shown in the Royal Hotel), and 
 here Donald Macdonald met him. At the inn, after 
 having obtained food, a dram (it had been raining
 
 302 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 heavily), and tobacco, he tried, unsuccessfully, to 
 get silver for a guinea. Then, having taken leave 
 of Flora Macdonald, whom he said he trusted to see 
 at St. James's yet, he slipped out and met the 
 Raasay men. 
 
 It was by this time nearly midnight. The 
 embarkation was made near the spot where the 
 Prince's ancestor, James v., had landed with all 
 the pomp of a king, and the boat's head was turned 
 to Raasay. Here the Prince remained in hiding for 
 two days in a hut, after which it was arranged that 
 he should return to Skye. The whole party again 
 embarked in a rough sea, Charles singing a Gaelic 
 song to keep up the spirits of the rowers. A landing 
 was effected under the cliffs at Nicolson's Rock, 
 though with difficulty, as the east coast of Skye is 
 no agreeable place in a storm. They toiled up the 
 cliff, and camped, wet and weary, in a byre near the 
 old house of Scorrybreck on the moor above Portree.^ 
 After a wretched meal of crumbled oatcakes and 
 cheese, the Prince fell asleep, frequently starting up 
 and crying, " Oh, poor England ! oh, poor England ! " 
 All the party except Malcolm MacLeod now left him, 
 and at seven the Prince and his faithful follower 
 set out for Strath. Charles took the character of 
 MacLeod's servant, but announced his intention of 
 fighting to the death if they met any redcoats. 
 
 It was a long and tedious journey, over the 
 roughest ground in Skye, and the travellers had 
 only a bottle of brandy to sustain them. When it 
 was finished, MacLeod hid the bottle under a bush, 
 where he found it three years afterwards. It is 
 difficult now to follow the route taken, as the 
 fugitives went through byways to avoid notice ; 
 but they seem to have gone from Portree to 
 Sligachan, walked up Glen Sligachan, crossed the 
 
 ' The site of the byre is still pointed out, and is called in 
 Gaelic, "the hollow of the byre." Prince Charlie's Cave, 
 beautiful as it is, was never tenanted by the Prince. His well- 
 ascertained movements allow no time for a stay there.
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 303 
 
 ridgfe between Glamaig and Marsco, dropped down 
 on Loch Ainort, and then made their way by 
 Strathmore to Elgol. Among the lonely Red Hills 
 Charles said, truly enoug-h, "I am sure the devil 
 cannot find us now ! " They thought it best to keep 
 away from the house of the chief of the Mackinnons, 
 and therefore made for Elgol beyond Kilmoree, 
 where a sister of MacLeod's lived, married to a kins- 
 man of the chief's. Thirty miles had been covered 
 since the byre at Scorrybreck was left. At Elgol 
 the fugitives were received by Mrs. Mackinnon, and 
 there they had breakfast and a long rest in bed. 
 When MacLeod awoke he found the Prince dandling 
 his nephew in his arms and singing to him. By 
 this time Mackinnon, who had been absent, was 
 approaching the house. MacLeod ran to meet him, 
 and told him whom he had for a guest, but cautioned 
 him to take no notice of the Prince. The good man 
 had all the emotion of a Celt, and he had no sooner 
 entered his house and looked at his Prince than he 
 burst into tears. Concealment was no longer possible 
 before such tried devotion. 
 
 Mackinnon was now sent for a boat, and, meeting 
 his chief, informed him of the Prince's arrival. He 
 sent back his clansman, arranged to provide a boat, 
 and presently arrived at the house, where, after doing 
 homage, the aged chief led Charles to a cave, where 
 Lady Mackinnon had carried a supply of food and 
 wine. The chief, being on his own territory, now 
 took control of affairs, and Malcolm, after an 
 affectionate farewell, returned to his friends with 
 messages from the Prince. Ten days later he was 
 arrested. 
 
 The cave, which still bears the royal name, and 
 lies near the south-east end of Loch Scavaig, was left 
 at eight o'clock in the evening of Friday, 4th July, 
 and the Prince and the two Mackinnons made for the 
 mainland, although two ships of war were in sight. 
 After a rough voyage, they reached Mallaig, thirty 
 miles off, where Charles once more proceeded on his
 
 304 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 wanderings, which lasted till 20th September, when 
 he was able to embark for France ! Thus ended his 
 wanderings in Skye and the Highlands. 
 
 Many princes have fought and failed, but surely 
 none ever failed with so good a grace as this 
 Wanderer, the most fascinating and romantic of his 
 romantic and fascinating line. In Skye, the story of 
 his journeyings through the island is still preserved, 
 for Skyemen can never forget the Prince's gratitude 
 for their loyalty, nor the memory of their ancestors 
 who fought and bled for his cause. They saw their 
 beloved hills and glens no more, and now to-day 
 
 " Lonely cairns are o'er the men 
 That fought and died for Charlie." 
 
 VI. 
 
 After Culloden many interesting and romantic 
 aspects of Highland life died away, but the country 
 was no more subject to clan raids, and, becoming 
 peaceful, was gradually opened up to the knowledge 
 of the Southron. There is much to regret in what 
 has for ever passed away — the patriarchal clan 
 system had many merits which no other system can 
 quite restore, but it was inevitable that the march 
 of progress should touch the glens and islands and 
 transform the life of the people as far as was possible. 
 The visit of Dr. Johnson, the English moralist, to 
 the Highlands in 1773, is symbolic of the welding 
 together of the Southron and the Celt, and the 
 growing consolidation of the Highlands with the 
 other parts of the empire from which, in spirit at 
 least, they had so long stood aloof. 
 
 The feeling with which this journey was regarded 
 by Johnson and his faithful Boswell, as well as by 
 their friends, shows that, for the most part, the 
 Highlands were only then beginning to be regarded 
 as other than barbarous. But there can be little 
 doubt that the publication of } ohnson^ s /ot<r/iey and
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 305 
 
 Boswell's Tour brought about a revolution in regard 
 to the ideas entertained about this region. It was 
 seen that the journey had been easily accompHshed, 
 that civilisation existed in the Highlands, that the 
 travellers had been treated en prince^ and from that 
 time onwards a gradually increasing stream of 
 visitors penetrated to the wild north-west. 
 
 We are only concerned with that part of the 
 journey which led the travellers through the Isle of 
 Skye, and shall follow their footsteps through the 
 island from day to day. On 2nd September they 
 left Glenelg, opposite the coast of Sleat, by boat, and 
 were rowed across the sound to Armadale. Here 
 they were met by Sir Alexander Macdonald and his 
 wife, and entertained by them in a house belonging 
 to one of their tenants. The pilgrims "were now 
 full of the Highland spirit," and tried in vain to rouse 
 the English-bred chief to fitting feudal and patriarchal 
 feelings.^ Johnson was moved to compose his Latin 
 ode to Skye, of which, if the Latinity is perfect, the 
 sentiment is too much in the style of the bewigged 
 Augustan age to do justice to the Green Isle of the 
 West. After a four days' visit at Armadale, they set 
 out on the 6th along the shore, then struck inland, 
 probably near Knock, through the moorland to 
 Broadford and the sea. Bending inland again, they 
 reached the old house of Corricatachin, under the 
 mighty shadow of Ben-na-Cailleach. 
 
 A large company was here assembled under the 
 hospitable roof of Mackinnon and his wife, to meet 
 the distinguished strangers and to show them some- 
 thing of "the joyous social manners of the High- 
 lands." Johnson heard much of the second-sight, 
 and indited an ode to his Thrale, " Let the shores of 
 
 ^ For some reason, Johnson and BoswcU were filled with the 
 idea that their host and hostess did not do all they might for 
 them, and afterwards satirised them bitterly. But, judging 
 from their report of the visit, they themselves did not keep to 
 the politeness which is expected of a guest, and were as boorish 
 as Sir Alexander was cold. The chief, in fact, seems to have 
 been bored by his guests. 
 
 20
 
 3o6 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Skye learn the sweet name of Thrale." After break- 
 fast on the 8th, they rode over to Sgianadan, a little 
 north of Broadford, where the boat of the laird of 
 Raasay was waiting them. They sailed up the 
 narrow channel between Scalpa and Skye, Johnson 
 perched high on the stern, " like a magnificent 
 Triton," and the crew singing the stirring chorus of 
 " Hachen foam." Johnson proposed to buy Scalpa, 
 build a school and an Episcopal church on it, and 
 set up a printing-press for the publication of Gaelic 
 literature. They soon landed at Raasay, where the 
 laird, who had been out in the '45, the chief of 
 MacLeod, and many other lairds, met them, and 
 there several days were spent in the pleasantest 
 manner possible. 
 
 On Sunday the 12th they sailed from Raasay to 
 Portree, and in that beautiful sound, beneath high 
 mountains and cliffs, with the sea stretching to the 
 remote northern horizon, Johnson solemnised his 
 friends by speaking of death — that subject which 
 at once fascinated and terrified him. They dined 
 at the inn at Portree, where letters awaited them 
 from the south, and then set out in a downpour, 
 which irritated the moralist, for Kingsburgh. They 
 followed, for the most part, the modern road thither, 
 and were received by Macdonald of Kingsburgh and 
 his wife, who was no less a person than Flora 
 Macdonald. Boswell says with truth: *'To see 
 Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great champion of the 
 English Tories, salute Miss Flora Macdonald in the 
 Isle of Skye, was a striking sight." She had heard 
 of their coming, but understood that the elephantine 
 doctor was an English buck ! Johnson slept in the 
 bed in which the Prince had lain, but "had no 
 ambitious thoughts about it," and in the course of 
 his stay heard from Flora's lips the story of his 
 wanderings. 
 
 Sending their horses by land to avoid the diffi- 
 culties of the way, Kingsburgh conducted the 
 pilgrims by boat to Greshornish ; from there they
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 307 
 
 rode on to Dunvegan, reaching- it in the afternoon 
 of the 13th, by the track which still exists on the 
 moorland above the present highroad. Here Johnson 
 "tasted lotus," saw the wonders of the castle, dis- 
 coursed in his ex cathedrd way on all things, and 
 spoke of keeping a harem. This so overcame the 
 flighty Boswell, that he burst into a loud guffaw, 
 and was at once castigated with such biting wit and 
 variety of degrading images, as shamed him. The 
 party visited Rory Mor's Cascade, which still 
 splashes over the rocks as it did when they admired 
 it, the temple of Anaitis, the old church with its 
 pyramid in memory of Lord Lovat, and all the other 
 lions of the place, and probably Johnson was as 
 happy here in the company of MacLeod, his mother 
 and sisters, as ever he had been in his life. 
 
 Tuesday, 21st September, saw the travellers on 
 
 their way to Uilinish, eight miles from Dunvegan, 
 
 and they must have followed the line of route which 
 
 the present highroad now takes. Uilinish was then 
 
 tenanted by a MacLeod who was sheriff-substitute 
 
 for Skye, and whose daughter, as Boswell explains, 
 
 though well bred, had never been out of the island. 
 
 Several interesting antiquities were visited, the 
 
 earth-house (over which Johnson and Dr. MacQueen 
 
 had, as usual, a controversy). Dun Beag, and the 
 
 cave in Harlosh Island, and these visits, with much 
 
 cultured conversation, occupied two days. Johnson's 
 
 knowledge and style of talking impressed Uilinish, 
 
 as they did most people : " He is a great orator, sir ; 
 
 it is music to hear this man speak." Setting out by 
 
 boat, the travellers, with MacQueen (who seems to 
 
 have let his parochial duties slip during the visit), 
 
 crossed Loch Bracadale, and entering Loch Harport, 
 
 landed at Fernielea after a pleasant sail over the 
 
 waters. From there they rode across the hill to the 
 
 green vale of Talisker, where they were entertained 
 
 by Colonel MacLeod and met the young laird of Col, 
 
 "a little lively young man," who planned much of 
 
 their future journeying. They set out from Talisker
 
 3o8 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 on the 25th, recrossed the hill, and following the 
 valley of Glen Drynoch, passed Glen Sligachan, and, 
 coming under Glamaig, arrived at Sconser inn, where, 
 twenty-eight years before, the island chiefs had met 
 Clanranald, the Prince's messenger. Sending their 
 horses over Drum-na-Cloich, they came by boat out 
 of Loch Sligachan and through the channel between 
 Scalpa and Skye to Strolimus, whence they rode 
 once more to hospitable Corricatachin. 
 
 They arrived at midnight ; Johnson went to bed, 
 Boswell sat up drinking, and it was five in the 
 morning before he got to bed. He awoke at noon 
 on Sunday with a headache, only to be told by his 
 governor, as MacQueen called him, that he, drunken 
 dog, had kept the others up. When Boswell did 
 come downstairs, he took up Mrs. Mackinnon's 
 prayer-book, and his eyes lighted on the words, " And 
 be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess." His 
 surroundings were too strong for him, and on the 
 whole it was a merry party assembled at Corri- 
 catachin, and we are scarcely surprised that next 
 evening Johnson took one of the ladies on his knee 
 and kissed her. From Mrs. Mackinnon he got 
 many details of the Prince's wanderings, and his 
 whispering with her amused the guests. Seeing 
 their nods and smiles, she cried out, "I am in love 
 with him! What is it to live and not to love?" 
 On all these convivial Celts, Johnson made a lively 
 impression. "Honest man," they one and all said 
 as he left Corricatachin on Tuesday. 
 
 Ostaig, in Sleat, was the last house in which the 
 wanderers were entertained, and here Johnson wrote 
 the famous letter to MacLeod, which is preserved at 
 Dunvegan. Bad weather detained them "on the 
 margin of the sea," and it was not till Sunday, 
 3rd October, that they finally left Skye, not without 
 some heaviness of heart, the natural result of paying 
 adieu to the kindness they had met with. For them 
 the visit had been charming, and to a Johnsonian no 
 pilgrimage could be more delightful than to follow
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 309 
 
 their footsteps in Skye, the Tour and Journey in 
 hand. Skye is much as it was then ; the hills and 
 lochs and moors are as Johnson and Boswell saw 
 them ; and of the houses where they stayed some at 
 least remain. Dunvegan Castle may be haunted 
 with the portly form of the doctor ; his portrait, by 
 Reynolds, hangs on the wall ; near it is his Ostaig 
 letter ; some of the books in the library his scholarly 
 eye must have glanced at. 
 
 By the time that Scott visited Skye in the light- 
 house yacht, it had become well known to visitors 
 from the south. He saw but little of it, though of 
 that little he made excellent use in the Lord of the 
 Isles. Having sailed round the north of Scotland, 
 the yacht, after visiting Harris, arrived in Dunvegan 
 Loch on the 23rd of August 1814. Scott saw the 
 lions, as Johnson had done, made a mistake, equal 
 to Oldbuck's, over the famous cup, and slept in the 
 Fairy Room, where he felt duly eerie. The yacht 
 sailed again on the 25th, following the coast of Skye 
 southwards to Loch Scavaig, where the famous visit 
 to Coruisk was paid, and to the loch Scott did due 
 justice in his diary and poem. The same day the 
 yacht reached Loch Slapin ; a landing was made at 
 the Spar Cave, not then shorn of its finest beauty ; 
 and here Scott's descriptive powers were taxed to 
 the full. From thence sail was made for the island 
 of Eigg. 
 
 From the visit to Dunvegan sprang up a friend- 
 ship with the family of MacLeod, witnessed to by 
 a number of charming letters, and presentation 
 copies of the Secret Commowwealth and the Lord of 
 the Isles. With the latter the poet sent a poet's 
 letter, which is worth quoting. 
 
 "Dear Madam, — I have been postponing from 
 day to day requesting your kind acceptance of my 
 best thanks for the beautiful purse of your workman- 
 ship with which I was some time since honoured. 
 The hospitality of Dunvegan will long live in my
 
 3IO The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 recollection, and I am not a little flattered by a token 
 which infers that my visit was not forgotten by the 
 Lady of the castle. I venture to send (what has 
 long delayed this letter) a copy of a poem which 
 owes its best passages to MacLeod's kindness and 
 taste in directing me to visit the extraordinary 
 scenery between his country and Strathaird, which 
 rivals in grandeur and desolate sublimity anything 
 that the Highlands can produce. The volume should 
 have reached you in a quarto shape, but while I 
 sought an opportunity of sending it, behold the 
 quartos disappeared, and I was obliged to wait for 
 the second impression, of which I now send a copy. 
 I shall be proud and happy if it serves to amuse a 
 leisure hour at Dunvegan. It has had one good 
 consequence to the author, that it has served to 
 replenish the purse with which the Lady MacLeod 
 presented him. Yet he has so much the spirit of 
 the old Bard, that he values the purse more than the 
 contents. Should MacLeod and you ever come to 
 Edinburgh, I will scarce forgive you unless you let 
 such a hermit as I am know of your living in the 
 neighbourhood of his recess, and I would have 
 particular pleasure in endeavouring to show you 
 anything that might interest you. I do not despair 
 of (what would give me the most sincere pleasure) 
 again being a guest at Dunvegan. My eldest girl 
 sings Cathail gu la — excuse Saxon spelling — and I 
 hope to send you in a few weeks a very curious 
 treatise on the second sight, published (not for sale) 
 from a manuscript in 169 1 which fell into my hands. ^ 
 Hector Macdonald has promised me the means to 
 send it. 
 
 "I beg my respectful compliments to Miss Mac- 
 Leod, my kindest remembrances to the chieftain, 
 and my best wishes to the little tartan chief and 
 nursery. — Believe me, with much respect. Dear 
 
 ^ This is the famous work by Theophilus Insulanus, a 
 Skyeman, which forms an appendix to Scott's edition of the 
 Secret Commowwealth.
 
 Historical and Literary Associations 311 
 
 Madam (for I will not say Mrs. MacLeod, and Lady 
 MacLeod is out of fashion), Your honoured and 
 obliged and truly grateful, Walter Scott." 
 
 "Edinburgh, ■^rd March 1815." 
 
 Probably no more characteristic or genial letter 
 of* Scott's exists. He never visited the castle again, 
 but his friendship with the MacLeods is borne 
 witness to by many letters at Dunvegan, preserved 
 with pious care. 
 
 Since Scott's day Skye has been visited and praised 
 by many men of letters. Tennyson came here in his 
 young days, but wrote nothing about it. Alexander 
 Smith, having married a daughter of the island, did 
 it more justice. Everybody knows, or should know, 
 his poem on Blaaven ; he wrote the racy Summer in 
 Skyc (three summer holidays, if truth be told) ; and 
 introduced his wife's home at Ord into Alfred 
 Hagarfs Household. Robert Louis Stevenson met 
 Edmund Gosse on the steamer at Portree, and was 
 duly fascinated with the charms of the island which 
 his father had loved so well. And has he not told 
 us how "some of the brightest moments of my life 
 were passed over tinned mulligatawny in the cabin 
 of a 16-ton schooner storm-stayed in Portree Bay " ? 
 
 The island itself has had many bards of its own, 
 who have sung its praises in Gaelic. They are 
 known and revered by the people, who can recite and 
 sing their poems for hours together. And for the 
 ignorant Sassenach who, poor being, has no Gaelic, 
 the late Sheriff Nicolson, himself a Skyeman and 
 beloved by all who knew him, made many a 
 beautiful and ringing line descriptive of its charms. 
 Did he not sing — 
 
 " Dunedin is queenly and fair, 
 None feels it more than I ; 
 But in the prime of summer-time, 
 Give me the Isle of Skye ! " 
 
 From the days of Cuchullainn and Fingal to the
 
 312 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 present time, many a dim century has come and 
 gone ! But one well-known figure after another 
 links the centuries together, and as we wander by 
 blue loch and purple moorland many ghosts rise and 
 glide before us. There are the gigantic forms of 
 the mythic heroes of past time ; there is blessed 
 Columba preaching the gospel of peace. We see 
 Haco's fleet gliding down the dark blue sound, with 
 brazen shields and golden prows flashing in the sun. 
 We see the brilliant array of the Scottish court 
 assembled at Portree, and that kingly figure, who 
 loved not wisely but too well, coming out of his 
 splendid pavilion, clad in all the glory of a king. 
 And here is one, who bears a royal presence, clad in 
 torn and stained tartans, tramping bravely over the 
 heather, smiling and singing, though he knows 
 himself hunted and a price set on his head. And 
 who is this florid and stout gentleman, so slovenly 
 in his dress, who rallies his elegant friend with 
 notebook and pencil, or in a grumbling tone says, 
 "Sir, it is very disagreeable riding in Skye",^ 
 We need not give him a name, nor that other 
 kindly ghost with the broad lowland face, who 
 ambles past with animated voice and gesture. 
 Honest Johnson and dear Sir Walter, it adds to 
 our love for Skye to know that you have trod her 
 shores and appreciated her beauties and her people. 
 In their traditions you are enshrined along with 
 these royal and saintly and mythic figures of the 
 voiceless past.
 
 THE ISLE OF SKYE 
 
 To Illustrate "THE MISTY ISLE OF SKYE" by J. A. MacCulloch. 
 
 
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 APPENDIX 
 
 LIST OF THE FLORA OF SKYE. 
 
 Achillea tnille/olium , Yarrow. 
 
 ptartnica, Sneezewort. 
 Aegopodiuvt podagraria^ Bishopweed. 
 Ajuga reptans, Common bugle. 
 Alchemilla a///«a;, Alpine lady's-mantle. 
 argentea, Silver lady's-mantle. 
 arvensis, p'ield lady's-mantle. 
 vulgaris. Common lady's-mantle. 
 Allium ursinum, Broad-leaved garlic. 
 Anchusa sempervirens, Evergreen 
 alkanet (at Ose, probably a garden 
 escape). 
 Anemone nemorosa, Wood anemone. 
 Angelica syh'estris, Wild angelica. 
 Antennaria dioica, Mountain ever- 
 lasting. 
 Anthyllis vulneraria, Lady's-fingers. 
 Apium graveolens. Wild celery. 
 Arabis alpitia, Alpine rock-cress. 
 hirsuta, Hairy rock-cress. 
 petrcea, Mountain rock-cress. 
 Arenaria peploides, Sea purslane. 
 serpylli/olia. Thyme - leaved sand- 
 wort. 
 Amteria »iaritima. Sea-pink. 
 Asperula odorata, Sweet woodruff. 
 Aster tripolium, Sea starwort. 
 
 Balloia nigra. Black horehound. 
 Barisia odontites, Red bartsia. 
 Bellis perennis. Common daisy. 
 Brassica campestris, Navew. 
 sinapistrum, Wild mustard. 
 
 Calluna erica, Ling or heather (white 
 and purple). 
 
 Caltha palustris. Marsh marigold. 
 
 Cardamine pratensis, Lady's-smock. 
 
 Carduus pycnocephalus, Slender- 
 flowered thistle. 
 
 Carum verticillatum, Whorlcd cara- 
 way. 
 
 Centaurea nigra. Black knapweed. 
 scatiosa. Great knapweed. 
 
 Cerastium triviale, Wayside mouse- 
 ear chickweed. 
 
 Chenopodium polyspermum, Many- 
 seeded goose-foot. 
 
 Chrysanthemum leucanthemum. Ox- 
 eye daisy. 
 parthenium. Feverfew. 
 segetum, Yellow o.\-eye. 
 
 Chrysopienium opposito/oliutn. Com- 
 mon golden saxifrage. 
 Circa-a lutetiana. Enchanter's night- 
 shade. 
 Cnicus ar-vensis, Creeping plume- 
 thistle. 
 heterophyllus. Melancholy plume- 
 thistle. 
 lanciolatus. Spear plume-thistle. 
 pahistris. Marsh plume-thistle. 
 Cochlcaria alpina, Alpine scurvy- 
 grass. 
 anglica, English scurvy-grass. 
 danica, Danish scurvy-grass. 
 officinalis. Common scurvy-grass. 
 Conopodium denudaiu>n. Pignut. 
 Cytisus scoparius. Broom. 
 
 Daucas caroia. Wild carrot. 
 Digitalis purpurea. Foxglove. 
 Drosera anglica. Great-leaved sundew 
 
 intermedia. Intermediate sundew. 
 
 longifolia. Long-leaved sundew. 
 
 protundi/olia. Round-leaved sundew. 
 
 Square - stalked 
 smooth • leaved 
 leaved marsh 
 
 Epilo/iittm adnatum, 
 willow herb. 
 ?>ionianum, Broad 
 
 willow herb. 
 palustre. Narrow 
 willow herb. 
 Erica cinerea. Fine-leaved heath. 
 
 tetralix. Cross-leaved heath. 
 Eriocaulon septangulare, Pipewort. 
 Eriophorum angusti/olium. Common 
 cotton-grass. 
 vaginatum, Hare's-tail cotton-grass. 
 Erophila zmlgaris, Long - podded 
 
 Whitlow-grass. 
 Erythrtra centaurium. Common 
 
 centaury. 
 Euphorbia helioscopia. Sun-spurge. 
 Euphrasia officinalis, Eyebright. 
 
 Fragaria vesca, Wood strawberry. 
 
 Galeopsis anscusti/olia. Common red 
 hemp-nettle. 
 
 telrahit, Common hemp-nettle. 
 Galium aparinc. Goose-grass. 
 
 boreale. Cross-leaved bedstraw. 
 
 mollugo. Hedge bedstraw. 
 
 palustre. Water bedstraw. 
 Gentiana campestris. Field gentian. 
 
 313
 
 3H 
 
 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 
 Geranium molU, Dove's foot crane's 
 bill. 
 pusillvm. Small-flowered crane's bill. 
 robertianurn. Herb Robert. 
 Geum dryas octopetala. Limestone 
 mountain avens. 
 interniediutn. 
 rivale. Water avens. 
 ■urbamim, Herb-benet. 
 Glau.x marititna, Sea milkwort. 
 Gnaphalhun norvegicum. Highland 
 cudweed 
 superium. Dwarf cudweed. , 
 ttliginosum, Marsh cudweed. 
 
 Habenaria albida. Small white 
 Habenaria. 
 bi/olia, Lesser butterfly orchis. 
 chloroleuca, Greater butterfly orchis. 
 conopsea. Sweet-scented orchis. 
 viridis. Frog orchis. 
 H eracleum sphondyliutn, Cow parsnip. 
 Hippuris vulgaris. Mare's-tail. 
 Hychceris radiata, Long-rooted cat's- 
 
 ear. 
 Hypericum dubium. Imperforate St. 
 John's wort. 
 pulchrum. Small upright St. John's 
 
 wort. 
 perforatum. Common St. John's 
 wort. 
 
 Iris pseudacorus, 'Yellow iris. 
 Juniperus nana. Dwarf juniper. 
 
 Lactuca virosa, Acrid lettuce. 
 Lamium intermedium. Intermediate 
 dead-nettle. 
 pitrpureit>f:. Purple dead-nettle. 
 Lathyrus montanus. Tuberous bitter 
 vetch. 
 pratensis. Meadow vetchling. 
 Lapsana coinmunis. Nipplewort. 
 Leontodon autumnalis. Autumn hawk- 
 bit. 
 hirtus. Hairy hawk-bit. 
 hispidus. Rough hawk-bit. 
 Limu>n catharticum. Cathartic flax. 
 Listera cordata. Heart-leaved t way- 
 blade. 
 ovata, Tway-blade. 
 Lobelia dortmanna. Water lobelia. 
 Loiseleuria procuinbens. Trailing 
 
 azalea. 
 Lonicera periclymenum , Honey-suckle. 
 Lotus corniculatus, Bird's-foot trefoil. 
 Lychnis dioica. Red campion. 
 
 flos-cuculi. Ragged-robin. 
 Lysitnackia nemorum. Yellow pim- 
 pernel. 
 
 Malva roiundi/olia. Dwarf mallow. 
 
 sylvestris, Common mallow. 
 Mentha arz'ensis. Corn-mint. 
 Menyanthes tri/oliata, Buck-bean. 
 
 Mimulus luteus. Yellow monkey -flower. 
 Myosotis arziensis. Field scorpion-grass. 
 
 cespitosa. Tufted water scorpion-grass. 
 
 collina. Early field scorpion-grass. 
 
 palustris. Forget-me-not. 
 
 repens, Creeping water scorpion-grass. 
 
 sylvatica. Wood forget-me-not. 
 
 versicolor. Parti-coloured scorpion- 
 grass. 
 Myosurus viinimis. Mouse-tail. 
 Myrica gale. Bog-myrtle. 
 
 Narthecuvi ossi/ragutn , Bog asphodel. 
 Nasturtium officinale. Water-cress. 
 Nepeta cataria. Catmint. 
 glechotna. Ground ivy. 
 
 Onobrychis vicicefolia. Common sain- 
 foin. 
 Orchis incarnata, Crm^OTi marsh orchis. 
 
 latifolia, Marsh orchis. 
 
 maculata, Spotted orchis. 
 
 mascula, Early purple orchis. 
 Orobanche rubra. Red broom-rape. 
 Oxalis acetosella, Wood sorrel. 
 Oxyria digyna. Mountain sorrel. 
 
 Parnassia palustris, Grass of Parnassus. 
 Pedicularis palustris, Marsh red-rattle. 
 
 silvatica. Dwarf red -rattle (also a 
 white variety). 
 Petasites officinalis, Butter-bur. 
 Pinguiciila alpina, Alpine butterwort. 
 
 lusitanica. Pale butterwort. 
 
 vulgaris. Common butterwort. 
 Planiago lanceolata, Ribwort plantain. 
 
 major. Greater plantain. 
 Polygala vulgaris. Milkwort. 
 Polygonatum multijlorum, Solomon's 
 
 seal (garden escape ?). 
 Polygonutn aviculare, Common knot- 
 grass. 
 
 convolvulus. Black bindweed. 
 
 cuspidatxan, Japanese knotweed (?). 
 
 lapathi/oliuvj. Pale - flowered Per- 
 sicaria. 
 
 persicaria, Common Persicaria. 
 Potentilla anserina, Silverweed. 
 
 palustris, Marsh cinquefoil. 
 
 reptans. Creeping cinquefoil. 
 
 silvestris, Tormentil. 
 Primula acaulis, Primrose. 
 Prunella vulgaris. Self-heal (also a 
 
 white variety). 
 Pyrola minor. Lesser winter-green. 
 
 Ranunculus acris. Buttercup. 
 aquatitis. Water crowfoot. 
 bulbosus. Bulbous buttercup. 
 Jicaria, Lesser celandine. 
 Jlammula, Lesser spear wort. 
 parvijlorus. Small-flowered crowfoot. 
 petiolaris. 
 
 repens. Creeping buttercup. 
 sardous. Pale hairy buttercup. 
 Rhinanthus crista-galli. Yellow rattle. 
 
 I 
 
 (
 
 Appendix 
 
 315 
 
 Rosa canina, Dog-rose. 
 
 Jrintpinelli/olia, Burnet rose. 
 
 rubiginosa. Sweet briar. 
 Rubvs fruticosus. Bramble. 
 
 idceus, Raspberry. 
 Rumex acetosa. Sorrel. 
 
 sanguineus, Bloody-veined dock. 
 
 Sangina apeiala, Annual pearlwort. 
 
 LinTiaiy Alpine pearlwort. 
 
 niaritima. Sea pearlwort. 
 
 procutnhens. Procumbent pearlwort. 
 Salex herhacea, Least willow. 
 
 repens. Dwarf silky willow. 
 Sanicula europtea. Wood sanicle. 
 Saussurea alpina, Alpine saussurea. 
 Saxi/raga aizoiiies. Yellow mountain 
 saxifrage. 
 
 hirculus. Yellow marsh saxifrage. 
 
 hypnoicUs^ Mossy saxifrage. 
 
 stellaris, Starry saxifrage. 
 
 uttibrosa, London pride (garden 
 escape ?). 
 Scabiosa amensis. Field scabious. 
 
 succisa, Devil's bit scabious. 
 Scilla Jestalis, Wild hyacinth (also a 
 
 white variety). 
 Scrophularia aquatica, Water figwort. 
 
 nodosa, Knotted figwort. 
 Scutellaria galericulata. Greater 
 
 skull-cap. 
 Sedum anglicuni, English stonecrop. 
 
 <!'<ijrj'/)/!_y//Kw, Thick-leaved stone-crop. 
 
 roseuni, Rose-root. 
 
 villosum. Hairy stonecrop. 
 Scnecio Jacobira, Common ragwort. 
 
 vulgaris. Common groundsel. 
 Sherardia arvensis. Field madder. 
 Silent acaulis. Moss campion 
 
 cucubalus, Bladder campion. 
 
 ntaritima, Sea campion. 
 
 Solidago virgaurea. Golden-rod. 
 Spergula arvensis. Corn spurrey. 
 Sfiirce tilmaria. Meadow-sweet. 
 Stachys betonica. Wood betony. 
 
 pabistris. Marsh woundwort. 
 
 silvatica. Hedge woundwort. 
 Stellaria media, Chickweed. 
 
 Taraxacum officinale. Dandelion. 
 Teucrium scorodonia, Woodsage. 
 Thyfnus serpyllutn. Mountain thyme. 
 Tofieldia palustris, Bogasphodel. 
 Tri/oliutn dubium. Lesser yellow 
 trefoil. 
 
 pratense. Red clover. 
 
 repens. White clover. 
 Trollius europieus, Globeflower, 
 Tussilago far/ara. Coltsfoot. 
 
 Ulex europiFus, Common furze. 
 Urtica dioica. Great nettle. 
 urens, Small nettle. 
 
 Vacciniutn ntyrtillus. Blaeberry. 
 
 uliginosu}>i. Bog whortleberry. 
 Valeriatia dioica. Marsh valerian. 
 Veronica ckamadrys, Germander 
 speedwell. 
 
 iHontana, Mountain speedwell. 
 
 officinalis. Common speedwell. 
 
 serpyllifolia. Thyme-leaved speedwell. 
 Vicia cracca. Tufted vetch. 
 
 orobus, Wood vetch. 
 
 sativa. Common vetch. 
 
 sepiuiii. Bush vetch. 
 Viola ericctoruin. Dog violet. 
 
 palustris. Marsh violet. 
 
 raziiniana. Dark wood violet. 
 
 silvestris, Pale wood violet. 
 
 tricolor, Heartsease. 
 Volvulus sepium. Great bindweed. 
 
 FERNS. 
 
 AUosorus crispns. Parsley fern. 
 Asplenium adiantuin nigrum. Black 
 maidenhair spleenwort. 
 tnarinuiii. Sea spleenwort. 
 ruta muraria, Wall-rue. 
 trichomanes. Common maidenhair 
 spleenwort. 
 Athyrium /ilix fietnina, Ladyfern 
 (several varieties). 
 
 Blechnum spicant. Hard fern (a bifur- 
 cated variety is found). 
 Botrychium lunaria, Moonwort. 
 
 Cysopteris tnontana, Mountain bladder 
 fern. 
 
 Hymenophylliuttt iunbridgense. Tun- 
 bridge filmy fern. 
 
 Lastraa dilatata. Broad buckler fern. 
 tnontana. Mountain buckler fern. 
 cristata, Crested buckler fern. 
 /elix-tnas, Male fern (several varieties). 
 
 Osmunda regalis. Royal fern. 
 
 Polypodium dryopteris. Oak fern. 
 
 phegopteris. Beech fern. 
 
 vuigarc. Common polypody. 
 Polystichum aculcatum. Hard prickly 
 shield. 
 
 angulare. Soft prickly shield. 
 
 lonchitis. Holly fern. 
 PteHs aquilina. Bracken. 
 
 Scolopendriutn tmlgart, Hartstongue 
 (two varieties). 
 
 Woodsia alpina, Alpine woodsia.
 
 3i6 
 
 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 ■ 
 
 THE FAUNA OF SKYE. 
 
 Abbreviations, O. V. = Occasional visitant ; S.V.= Summer visitant ; 
 VV. V. = Winter visitant. 
 
 I. Mammals. 
 
 Arvicola agrestis. Field vole. 
 amphibia. Water vole. 
 
 Bos taurus. Ox (domestic). 
 
 Canis /atniliaris, Dog (domestic). 
 Skye is famed for its terriers (otter 
 hounds). 
 Caprceolus capma. Roe deer. 
 Cervus elaphus, Red deer. 
 Equus caballa, Horse (domestic). 
 ErinaciFus eurotceus, Hedgehog. 
 
 Felis catus. Wild cat. 
 
 Lepus ctiKtculuSi Rabbit. 
 
 europieus, Brown hare. 
 
 variabilis, Varying hare. 
 Lutra vulgaris. Otter. 
 
 Mus deciimanus. Brown rat. 
 
 jitinutus. Harvest mouse. 
 
 tnusculus. Common mouse. 
 
 rattus. Black rat. 
 
 sylvaticus. Wood mouse. 
 Mustela erviinca. Stoat. 
 
 vulgaris, Weasel. 
 
 Ovis aries, Sheep (domestic). 
 
 Phoca vitulina. Seal. 
 Phocana connnunis. Porpoise. 
 
 Sorex vulgaris, Shrew. 
 
 Talpa europcea, Mole. 
 
 Walrus has been seen off the coast. 
 The sperm, rorqual, bottle-nose, 
 thrasher, and white whale are ob- 
 served from time to time. 
 
 2. Birds. 
 
 Accentor tnodularis, Hedge-sparrow. 
 Accipiter nisus, Sparrow-hawk. 
 Acredula caudata. Long-tailed tit. 
 Aegiatalus hiaticula, Winged plover. 
 Alauda atvensis. Skylark, s.v. 
 A lea tarda, Razorbill, s.v. 
 Alcedo ispida, Kingfisher, o.v. 
 Anipelis garrulus. Wax wing, o v. 
 Anas boschas. Mallard. 
 Anser cinereus. Greylag goose, w.v. 
 Anthus obscu7-us. Rook. 
 pratensis. Meadow-pipit, s.v. 
 
 Aguilo chryscetos. Golden eagle. 
 Archibuteo vulgaris, R.L. Buzzard, o.v. 
 Ardea cinerea. Heron. 
 Asia accipitrinus. Short-eared owl. 
 
 otus, Long-eared owl. 
 Astur palumharius. Goshawk, o.v. 
 
 Bernicla brenta. Brent goose, w.v. 
 
 leucopsis. Barnacle goose, w.v. 
 Botaurus stellaris. Bittern goose, o.v. 
 Buteo vulgaris. Buzzard. 
 
 Caprimulgus europteus. Swift, s.v. 
 Carduclis elegaus, Goldfinch, o.v. 
 Certhia/atniliaris, Creeper. 
 Charad7-ius pluviaiis. Gold plover. 
 Chelidon urbica. House-martin, s.v. 
 Cinclus aquaticus. Water-ouzel. 
 Circus ieruginosus. Marsh harrier, o.v. 
 
 cyaneus. Hen harrier. 
 C langula glaucion. Golden eye, w.v. 
 Columba livia. Rock-dove. 
 
 palttmbus. Wood-pigeon. 
 Colymbus arcticus, Black-throated diver, 
 o.v. 
 
 glacialis. Great northern diver, w.i'. 
 
 septentrionalis. Red-throated diver, 
 w.v. 
 Corvus corax. Raven. 
 
 corone. Carrion crow. 
 
 comix. Hooded crow. 
 
 /rugilegus. Rook. 
 
 monedula, Jackdaw. 
 Crex pratensis. Landrail. 
 Cueulus canorus. Cuckoo, s.v. 
 Cygnus musicus, Whooper swan, 7v.v. 
 Cypselus apus. Swift, o.v. 
 
 Emberiza citrinella. Yellow-hammer. 
 
 miliaria. Corn-bunting. 
 
 schoeniclus. Reed-bunting. 
 Erythaca rubecula, Robin. 
 
 Falco tFsalon, Merlin. 
 
 eandieans, Greenland falcon, o.v. 
 
 islandus, Iceland falcon, o.v. 
 
 peregrinus. Peregrine falcon. 
 Fraiercula arctiea, Puffin, s.v. 
 Fringilla eoelebs. Chaffinch. 
 Fulica atra. Coot. 
 Fubnarus glacialis. Fulmar, o.v. 
 
 Gallinago coelestis. Snipe. 
 
 gallinula. Jack-snipe, w.v. 
 
 jnajor. Great snipe. 
 Gallinula chloropus. Water-hen. 
 
 \ 
 
 ! 
 
 \
 
 Appendix 
 
 317 
 
 Httmetopus osirahgus, Oyster-catcher. 
 Halieetus albicilla, White-tailed eagle. 
 Harelda glacialis, Long-tailed duck, a/. 7'. 
 Hirundo rustzca, Swallow, s.v. 
 
 Lagopus mutus. Ptarmigan. 
 
 scoticus, Grouse. 
 Larus argentatus. Herring-gull. 
 
 canus. Common gull. 
 uscus, Lesser black-backed gull. 
 
 glaucus, Glaucous gull, Rare lu.v. 
 
 kucopterus, Iceland gull. Rare. 
 
 marinus, Great black-backed gull, o.i\ 
 
 minutus, Little gull, o.v. 
 
 ridihundus, Black-headed gull, o.v. 
 Linota cannabina, Linnet. 
 
 flavirostris. Twite. 
 
 ru/escens. Lesser redpoll, s.t'. 
 Locustelta noevia. Grasshopper warbler, 
 
 S.TK 
 
 Lontvia troile. Common guillemot, s.v. 
 
 Mareca penelope, Widgeon, w.v. 
 Mergulus alle, Little auk. Rare w.v. 
 Alergus merganser. Goosander, iv.v. 
 
 serrator. Red-breasted merganser. 
 Milvus ictinus, Kite. 
 Motacillc lugubris. Pied wagtail, s.v. 
 
 melanope, Grey wagtail, s.v. 
 Musicapa grisola. Spotted fly-catcher, 
 s.v. 
 
 Numenius arquata. Curlew. 
 
 plufopus, Whimbrel, s.v. 
 Nyciea scandiaca, Snowy owl, o.v. 
 
 Oedemia nigra. Common scoter. 
 
 Pandion halitrtus, Osi>rey. o.v. 
 Parus ater. Coal-tit. 
 
 Cteruleus, Blue-tit. 
 
 major, Great tit, o.v. 
 Passer domesticus. House-sparrow. 
 
 niontanus, Tree-sparrow. 
 Pastor roseus. Rose pastor, o.v. 
 Perdrix cinerea, Partridge. 
 Phalacrocora.x carbo. Cormorant. 
 
 graculus. Shag. 
 Pltalaropus hyperboreus, Red-necked 
 
 phalarope. 
 Phasianus colchicus. Pheasant. 
 Phylloscopus trochilus. Willow-wren, s.v. 
 Pica nistica, Magpie, o.v. 
 PUctrophanes nivalis. Snow -bunting, 
 
 w.v. 
 Podiceps auritus, Sclavonian grebe, o.v. 
 
 fliiviatilis, Dabchick, w.v. 
 
 griseigena, Red-necked grebe, o.v. 
 Pratincola rubetra, Whinchat, s.v. 
 
 rubicola, Stonechat, s.v. 
 Procellaria pelagica. Stormy petrel, s.v. 
 Pujinus anglorum, Manx shearwater, 
 s.v. 
 
 tnajor, Greater shearwater, o.v. 
 Pyrrhocorax graculus, Chough. 
 Pyrrhula europtta. Bullfinch. 
 
 Querguedula crecca, Teal, w.v. 
 
 Rallusaquaticus, Water-rail. 
 Regulus cristatus, Goldcrest. 
 Rissa tridactyla, Kittiwake. 
 
 Saxicola cpnanthe, Wheatear, s.v. 
 Scolopax ruiticula, Woodcock, w.v. 
 Sitta ccEsia, Nuthatch, o.v. 
 Sontateria mollissima. Eider, w.v. 
 Stercorarius crepidatus, Richardson's 
 
 skua, o.v. 
 Sterna fluviatilis. Common tern, s.v. 
 
 macmra, Arctic tern, s.v. 
 Strepsilas interprcs, Turnstone, s.v. 
 Strix flainviea. Barn owl. 
 Sturnus vulgaris, Starling. 
 Sula bassana, Gannet, s.v. 
 Syhia misoria. Barred warbler, o.v. 
 
 )-u/a, Whitethroat, s.v. 
 
 Tadoma comuta. Sheldrake. 
 Tetrao parz'ulus, Blackcock. 
 Tinnunculus alaudarius, Kestrel. 
 Totanus calidris, Redshank, s.v. 
 
 canescens, Greenshank, s.v. 
 
 hypoleucos. Common sandpiper, s.v. 
 Tringa alpina. Dunlin, o.v. 
 
 canutus. Knot, o.v. 
 
 striata. Purple sandpiper, s. 
 Troglodytus parvulus. Common wren. 
 Turdus iliacus. Redwing, w.v. 
 
 nterula. Blackbird. 
 
 tnusicus. Song-thrush. 
 
 pilaris. Fieldfare, zu.v. 
 
 torquatus , Ring-ouzel, s.v. 
 
 viscivorus. Missel-thrush. 
 Ttirtur communis, Turtle-dove. 
 
 Uria grylle. Black guillemot. 
 
 Vannellus vulgaris. Lapwing, s.v. 
 
 In compiling this list of birds, I have 
 made some use of a paper on " The 
 Birds of Skye, " by the late Rev. 
 H. A. MacPherson, M.A., of Glen- 
 dale (Proceedings, Royal Physical 
 Society, i886). 
 
 3. Reptii,ia. 
 Anguis/ragilis, Blind worm. 
 Lacerta viviparia. Common lizard. 
 Vipera vcrtts, Common adder. 
 
 4. Amphibia. 
 
 Bu/o vulgaris. Toad. 
 
 Rana temporaria. Frog. 
 
 Triton punctatus. Common newt. 
 
 Among the fresh-water fish the sal- 
 mon, sea, brown, and rainbow trout 
 are the best known.
 
 INDEX 
 
 AiRD, 51, 119. 
 Alasdair Crotach, 70. 
 Anaitis, Temple ot, 57, 307. 
 Antiquities, 18, 39, 44, 47, 
 
 51. 55. 58, 62, 93, 103, 
 
 258 seq. 
 Ardmore, 60, 62-3. 
 Ardvasar, 53. 
 Armadale, 116, 187, 305. 
 Arrowheads, stone, 278. 
 Artbrannan, 287. 
 Ascrib Isles, 47, 56. 
 Atmospheric phenomena, 
 
 170 seq. 
 Autumn, 156 seq. 
 
 Bad Step, 135. 
 Banachdich, 142. 
 Beal, 22, 264, 276. 
 Bean-nigh, 242. 
 Beehive cells, 261. 
 Beinn Edra, 32, 35. 
 a Ghobha, 63. 
 na • Cailleach, 28, 101-2, 
 
 114, 122, 156. 
 Greine, 285. 
 Seamraig, 115. 
 Ben Chracaig, 22. 
 
 Dearg, 91, 103-4, "i. 
 
 136. 
 na-Chro, m. 
 Tianavaig, 22, 24, 25, 28, 
 33. "3. 157. 264. 
 Bernisdale, 249. 
 Betty Burke, 48. 
 Bidein Carstael, 142. 
 Blaaven, 32, 100, 104, 105- 
 106, 122, 137, 142, 145, 
 157, 242, 269. 
 Black houses, 222. 
 Bloody Stone, 142. 
 Bornaskitaig, 48. 
 Borreraig, 81, 241-2. 
 
 (Strath), 259. 
 Boswell, 17, 51, 71, 73, 84, 
 87, 95. 98, 103. 155, 
 304 J^v. 312. 
 Braes, 235, 241, 243, 264. 
 Bragela, 207, 270, 284. 
 
 Bridget, St., 105. 
 Broadford, 53, 101-2, 122. 
 Brochs, 265. 
 Bronze age, relics of, 278 
 
 seq. 
 Bruach-na-Frithe, 142. 
 Burial-grounds, old, 24, 25, 
 
 43. 55, 66, 98, 103. 
 
 Cairns, chambered, 93, 260. 
 
 Memorial, 254. 
 Caisteal Uisdean, 51, 74, 
 
 268, 271. 
 Camasunary, 135. 
 Canoes, 281. 
 Cam Liath, 47, 260. 
 Caroy, 94. 
 Carved stones, 276. 
 Cas-crom, 215. 
 Castles, ancient, 113, 268 
 
 seq. 
 Caves, 88, 124, 147, 176. 
 Celtic art, 197, 202. 
 Folk-tales, 197. 
 Paganism, 234, 286. 
 Poetry, 56, 197. 
 Changelings, 241. 
 Charles, Prince, 19, 25, 43, 
 45. 48, 56, 66, 77, 95, 
 298 seq., 308, 312. 
 Cave, 124, 176, 303. 
 Point, 49. 
 Well, 51. 
 Churches, ancient, 24, 44, 
 55. 271 seq., 274 seq., 
 277-8. 
 Monastic, 273 seq. 
 St. Columba's, Portree, 
 20. 
 memorial window in, 
 
 43- 
 St. John Baptist, Caroy, 
 
 ^ .94- 
 
 Claigan, 81, 263. 
 
 Clan feuds, 62 seq., 93, 143, 
 
 . 146, 197- 
 Cliff scenery, 13, 88, 50, 
 
 106. 
 Climate, 161. 
 313 
 
 Cnoc a Chrocaidh, 63. 
 
 Mhiclain, 63. 
 Coal, 181. 
 Coast-line of Skye, 112, 114- 
 
 IIS, 124. 
 Coire-a-Greadaidh, 146. 
 Labain, 146. 
 na- Banachdich, 146. 
 na-Creiche, 146. 
 nan Uraisg, 147, 239. 
 Uisg, 133. 
 Columba, St., 47, 56, 238, 
 286 seq., 312. 
 Island, 55. 
 
 Island, Portree, 157, 28S. 
 Colbost, 80, 263. 
 Coll, 90, 119. 
 Colours of landscape, 15. 
 Communion, 205. 
 Congested Districts Board, 
 
 225. 
 Conon, 50. 
 
 Coolins, 12, 13, ig, 23, 33, 
 
 51.57. 82, 91, 92, 95,99, 
 
 112, 130, 131 seq., 153, 
 
 184, 269. 
 
 and Red Hills contrasted, 
 
 134. 193- 
 derivation of name, 131. 
 Coral Bay, 82. 
 Corp creidh, 246. 
 Corry, loi. 
 Corricatachan, 103, 305, 
 
 308. 
 Creag Mhor, 22, 25. 
 Crofter's Commission, 220 
 
 seq. 
 Holdings Act, 224. 
 Crofting life, 230. 
 Crois Ban, 63. 
 Crowlin Islands, 102. 
 Cuchullainn, 207, 267, 269, 
 
 _ 284 seq., 311. 
 Cuithir, 35, 128. 
 
 Daalvil, no. 
 Death, folk-lore of, 254. 
 Deer, 14, 194, 285. 
 Diatomite, 35, 123.
 
 Index 
 
 * Divination, 250. 
 
 Donald Gorme, 41, 271. 
 
 Gruamach, 271. 
 Druids, 244. 
 
 Houses, 261. 
 Druim-nan-Ramh, 133, 141- 
 
 142. 
 Drumhain, 142. 
 Drumuie, 52-4, 299. 
 Drynoch, 98. 
 Duirinish, 66. 
 Duisdale, 115, 122. 
 Dun, derivation of, 264. 
 Duns, 40, 47, 48, 97, 126, 
 
 241, 243, 262, 266-7, 
 
 269, 284, 290, 307. 
 Dunnottar, 41. 
 Duntulm, 39, 42, 271, 296. 
 Dunvegan Castle, 66, 69 
 
 seq., 252, 266, 296, 307, 
 
 309- 
 Head, 29, 60. 
 
 Earth-houses, 95, 262, 307. 
 Edinbane, 57. 
 Eigg, 63, 90, III, IIS, i2°- 
 Eilean Altavaig, 36. 
 
 a Cheo, 49. 
 Elgol, 303. 
 Emigration, 218. 
 Eruptive rocks, history of, 
 
 Es'ictions, 219. 
 Evil-eye, 245 seq. 
 
 Fairies, 240 seq. 
 Fairy Bridge, 53, 57, 241, 
 244. 255. 
 
 Flag, 63, 67. 
 
 Mounds, 103, 241. 
 
 Room, 72, 309. 
 
 Tower, 70, 72. 
 Fancy Hill, 23, 297. 
 Farms, small, 229. 
 Feinne, legends of, 45, 113, 
 
 286. 
 Fernielea, 98, 307. 
 Ferns, 166-7. 
 Fingal, 207, 257, 259, 285, 
 
 . 3"- 
 Fingal's Seat, 16, 23, 27, 51, 
 
 156, 285. 
 Fladdahuan, 44, 249, 288. 
 Floddigarry, 240-1, 275. 
 Font, ancient, 273, 282. 
 Forts, hill, 266. 
 Fossils, 173 seq. 
 Funerals, 210. 
 
 Gabbro area, 184. 
 Geology, lo, 91, 172 seq. 
 Ghobhar Bhacach, 238. 
 Ghost story, 254. 
 Giants, 256. 
 
 Gillean, no, 279. 
 Glacial period, 19, 191. 
 Glaistig, 235. 
 Glamaig, 28, 51, 100, 122, 
 
 136, 142, 145. 
 Glashnakill, 106. 
 Glen Brittle, 90, 146. 
 
 Haultin, 52. 
 
 Hinnisdal, 51. 
 Glendale, 81, 84. 
 Glenmore, 97. 
 Grange, Lady, 64, S8. 
 Grannos, 235. 
 Granophyre area, 185. 
 Greadaidh, 141. 
 Greep, 86. 
 Gruagach, 235. 
 
 Haco, 18, 102, 113, 292, 312. 
 
 Harlosh, 86-7. 
 
 Harta Corrie, 133, 137, 142, 
 
 MS- . 
 Healing, gift of, 250. 
 Heather-burning, 29, 150. 
 Heronry at Dunvegan, 82. 
 Holm Island, 44, 125, 235, 
 
 280. 
 Houses, old, in Skye, 16, 
 
 18. 
 Hugh Macghilleasbuig, 41, 
 
 75, 271. 
 Husabost, 81, 84. 
 
 Ian Breac, 70. 
 
 Dubh, 73. 
 
 Fairhaired, 73. 
 Idrigil Point, 29, 85-6, 87, 
 
 (U^g), 48-9. . 
 Inaccessible Pinnacle, 145. 
 Island Isay, 60, 62. 
 Isle Ornsay, 53, 114-5, 122. 
 
 James v., 295 seq., 312. 
 Johnson, Dr., 21, 51, 59, 60, 
 
 87. 95, 97, 103. "7, 
 304 seq., 312. 
 
 Kelp, 215. 
 Kelpie, 122, 239. 
 Kensalyre, 286. 
 Kilbride, 259. 
 Kilmaluag, 39. 
 Kilmoree, 106. 
 Kilniuir, 43, 45, 256. 
 Kilt Rock, I2S, 183-4. 
 Kingsburgh, 43, 51, 55, 300, 
 
 306. 
 Kinloch, 115, 122. 
 Knock, 115, 268, 270. 
 Knock Uilinish, 95. 
 Kyleakin, 18, 101, 113, 270, 
 
 292. 
 Kyle-rhea, 33, 113, 244. 
 
 319 
 
 Leak, 32, 35. 
 Loch Bay, 60. 
 
 Beag, 86, 91, 95, 97, 241. 
 
 Bracadale, 28, 57, 82, 85, 
 96, 293, 307. 
 
 Caroy, 86. 
 
 Cill Chriosd, 103. 
 
 Columcille, 46, 277. 
 
 Coruisk, 133, 135 stq., 
 138, 309. 
 
 Cuithir, 128. 
 
 Duagraich, 263. 
 
 Dunvegan, 85. 
 
 Eishort, no, 122. 
 
 Fada, 32. 
 
 Greshornish, 50, 56, 157. 
 
 Harport, 85, 91, 96, 98, 
 
 307- 
 Leatham, 32. 
 Mealt, 35, 266. 
 nan Dubhrachan, 122, 
 
 239- 
 Scavaig, 85, 91, 135, 138, 
 
 140,. 303, 309- 
 
 Sgubaidh, 239. 
 
 Slant, 236. 
 
 Slapin, 104, no, 309, 
 
 Sligachan, 100. 
 
 Sneosdal, 237. 
 
 Snizort, 29, 44, 45, 50, 
 53 Jf^., 151, 287-8. 
 
 Varkasaig, 86-7. 
 
 Vatten, 86. 
 Lota Corrie, 142, 145. 
 Lyndale, 51, 73, 273, 279. 
 
 MacCoitar's Cave, 22. 
 Macdonald, Flora, 20, 43, 
 
 45. 48. 5', 62, 77, 299 
 
 seq. 
 Macdonalds of the Isles, 
 
 40, 45, 48- 
 MacLeod of MacLeod, 78. 
 MacLeod's Maidens, 29, 87, 
 
 89. 
 Tables, 29, 34, 50, 54, 79, 
 
 82, 92, 157, 180. 
 MacQueen, Dr., 59. 
 MacQuithens, 125. 
 Macraild, 70. 
 Macrimmon, 87, 242. 
 Maelrubha, St., 103. 
 Maighdeann-Buanna, 238. 
 
 na-Tuinne, 244. 
 Martin, M., 261. 
 Marsco, 28, 91, 100, ijj, 
 » ij6, 142, 145. 
 Mary of the Castle, 271. 
 Meall-na-Suiraniach, 45. 
 Mermaid, 244. 
 Midges, 129, 161. 
 Monxstery, 57, 261, 377. 
 Monoliths, 359.
 
 320 
 
 The Misty Isle of Skye 
 
 Monkstadt, 46, 48, 281, 
 
 288, 300. 
 Moon superstitions, 236. 
 Moorland scenery, 13, 149. 
 Moraines, 135, 192. 
 Mountain scenery, 15, gg, 
 
 104, I3g seq. 
 Mugeary, 228. 
 
 Needle Rock, 37. 
 Neolithic age, 18, g3. 
 Nic Cleosgeir Mhor, 8g. 
 Nicolson, Sheriff, 35, 311. 
 Norsemen, 18, 58, 62, 102, 
 19s, 267, 289 seq. 
 
 Oisin, II, 45, 95, 207, 267, 
 
 284. 
 Omens, 254. 
 Oran, St., 122. 
 Ord, no, 284, 311. 
 
 Peat-cutting, 151. 
 
 Peinchorran, 227. 
 
 Peinduin, 43. 
 
 Peinfiler, 264. 
 
 Pennant, 46, 75, 97, 103, 
 
 256, 27g, 
 Picts' houses, ig. 
 Piper's Cave, 22, 87, 
 Place-names, 195. 
 Plants, folk-lore of, 237. 
 Plateaux basalts, 180. 
 Portree, 20, 23, 51, 53, 96, 
 
 i3S> 156, 3oi> 306, 311. 
 Loch, 35, 85, 156, 288, 
 
 292, 296, 311. 
 
 Quiraing, 11, 31, 35-6. 
 
 Rain, 16, 54, 154, 161, 200. 
 Red Hills, 14, 19, 23, 28, 33, 
 
 51. 53. 9°. 92. 95. 103. 
 
 112, 130, 157, 185 seq., 
 
 269. 
 and Coolins, 134, 193. 
 Reileag MhoirChloninDon- 
 
 uill, 43- 
 Rigg. 125, 279- 
 Roag, 92, 228. 
 Rory Mor, 42, 70, 76-7, 147, 
 
 297. 
 Rudha Hunish, 39, 44. 
 nan h-Aiseig, 39. 
 nan Clach, 85. 
 Ru Meanish, 42. 
 Runrig, 212. 
 
 Sconser, 226, 298, 308. 
 Score Bay, 43, 259. 
 Scorrybreck, 25, 235, 243, 
 
 302. 
 Scott, 72, 75, 77. 89. 107-8, 
 
 140, 309 xr^., 312. 
 
 Seabirds, 168. 
 
 Sea-serpent, 244. 
 
 Second-sight, 250 seq. 
 
 Sedimentary rocks, 172 seq. 
 
 Selma, 207. 
 
 Sgumain, 146. 
 
 Sgurr a Bhasteir, 142. 
 
 Alasdair, 131, 142, 146. 
 
 Dearg, 142, 145-6. 
 
 Dubh, 137, 141-2. 
 
 Greadaidh, 141-2. 
 
 Mhadaidh, 142. 
 
 Mhic Connaich, 142. 
 
 Mhor, 31, 39, 45. 
 
 na-Banachdich, 131, 142. 
 
 na Stri, 141. 
 
 nan Gobhar, 146. 
 
 nan-Gillean, 53, 131, 135- 
 136, 142. 
 
 Thuilm, 146. 
 Sheep-farming, 14, ii^seq. 
 Shielings, 213. 
 Shrew-mouse, 255. 
 Shulista, 235. 
 Sian, 249. 
 Sills, 182, 187. 
 Skeabost, 59. 
 Skerinish, 51. 
 Skudiburg, 46 seq. 
 Skye, derivation of, 11. 
 
 Garden of, 11, 116, 194. 
 
 Granary of, 45. 
 
 History of, 283 seq. 
 
 Life in old days, 196 seq., 
 209. 
 
 Physiography of, 192 seq. 
 
 Scandinavian element in, 
 195 seq. 
 
 Size of, II. 
 Skyeman, life and character 
 
 of, 200. 
 Sleat, 90, 105, 116, iiZseq., 
 
 \ii, 270, 279. 
 Sligachan, 53, 100, 135, 248. 
 
 Glen, 28, 136 seq., 145, 
 302. 
 Slochd Altrimen, 109. 
 Smith, Alexander, 106, 138, 
 
 311- 
 Snizort, 52, 55, 235. 
 Snow, 158, 164. 
 Somerled, 117, 195, 291. 
 Spar Cave, 106 seq., 309. 
 Spring, 150, 165. 
 Staffin, 31, 35, S3, 87, 
 
 H2. 
 Stein, 61-2. 
 Stevenson, 54, 311. 
 Stone ball, 280. 
 Stone circles, ig, 103, 105, 
 
 258. 
 Storr, II, 27-8, 2g, 30, 33, 
 
 34. 9'. "3. 125, 1381 
 
 153- 
 
 Storr lochs, 239. 
 
 Old Man of, 32, 153. 
 Strath, 103, 122, 285. 
 Strathaird, 105, 194. 
 Struan, 95, 97, 241, 255. 
 Suardal, 8i. 
 Subtenant system, 217. 
 Suicide, folk-lore of, 255. 
 Summer, 153. 
 Sunsets, 130, 171. 
 Sun worship, 235. 
 Superstitions, 198. 
 
 Taboos, 255. 
 Tacksmen, 216 seq. 
 Taghairm, 125. 
 Talisker, 97-8, 307. 
 
 Head, 29, 57, 82, 85, 95. 
 Tamer, 86-7. 
 Tayinlone, 55. 
 Teampuill-na-Annait, 58. 
 
 Choan, 276. 
 
 Frangaig, 276. 
 Temple of Anaitis, 57 seq. 
 Tertiary rocks, ig, 178. 
 Tir na h'Oige, 44. 
 Tormore, iig. 
 Torran, 104. 
 Torvaig, 25. 
 Township, 213. 
 Traditions, 22, 34, 41, 44-5, 
 
 93. 94. 103. i°9. "3. 
 
 122, 125, 142, 147, 23g, 
 
 241 seq., 26g. 
 Trees, folk-lore of, 237. 
 Troda, 288. 
 Trotternish, 31, 57. 
 Trumpan, 62, 64 seq., 259, 
 
 272, 279. 
 Tumuli, 19, 259. 
 
 Uamh, Oir, 44, 87. 
 
 Uginish, 79. 
 
 Uig, 45, 47. 49, 53. 251. 258. 
 
 Bay, 48-9. 
 Uilinish, 86-7, 95, 239-60, 
 263. 
 
 Varragil, 135. 
 
 Vaternish, 44-5, 5°, S3, 6', 
 
 96. 
 Vatten, 93, 260, 263. 
 Viking hoards, 280. 
 Volcanic rocks, 178 seq. 
 Vents, 182. 
 
 Water bull, 239. 
 
 Horse, 239. 
 Wells, folk-lore of, 236. 
 Whisky-drinking, 203. 
 Wiay, 86-7. 
 Wildflowers, 166 seq. 
 Winter, 156, 162. 
 Witches, 244 seq.
 
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