The weather grows more moderate; at one o'clock at noon sail from Rum, with a favorable and brisk gale, for the isle of Skie. Soon reach the point of Slate, at the south end, a division of that

great island, a mixture of grass, a little corn and much heath. Leave on the right the point of Arisaig. Pass beneath Ormadale ¹ in Skie, a seat beautifully wooded, gracing most unexpectedly this almost tree-less tract. A little farther to the West opens the mouth of Loch-in-daal, a safe harbour, and opposite to it on the main-land, that of Loch-Jurn, or the lake of Hell, with black mountains of tremendous height impending above. The channel between the shire of Inverness and Skie now contracts; and enlarges again to a fine bay opposite to Glenelk,² between the main-land and Dunan-ruagh, where is good anchorage under Skie. At the north end of this expanse, the two sides suddenly contract and at Kul-ri form a strait bounded by high lands, not a quarter of a mile broad; the flood which runs here at the spring tides at the rate of seven knots an hour, carried us through with great rapidity, into another expanse perfectly land-locked, and very picturesque. We were now arrived amidst an amphitheatre of mountains; the country of Kintail bounded us on the North and East; and Skie (which from Loch-in-daal became more lofty) confined us with its now wooded cliffs to the South. The ruin of an antient castle, seated on the pinnacle of a rock, and some little isles formed our western view.³ The violent squalls of wind darting from the apertures of the hills teized us for an hour, but after various tacks at last Mr. Thompson anchored safely beneath Mac-kinnon's castle,⁴ amidst a fleet of busses,⁵ waiting with anxiety for the appearance of herrings, this year uncommonly late. The hard rains were no small advantage to our scenery. We lay beneath a vast hill called Glais-bhein, cloathed with birch and oaks, inhabited by roes: cataracts poured down in various places amidst the woods, reminding me of the beautiful cascades between Scheideck and Meyringen, in the canton of Underwald. This part is in the district of Strath, another portion of Skie.

Land at a point called the Kyle,⁶ or passage, where about fourscore horses were collected to be transported a la nage ⁷ to the opposite shore, about a mile distant.⁸ They were taken over by fours, by little boats, a pair on each side held with halters by two men, after being forced off a rock into the sea. We undertook the conveyance of a pair. One a pretty grey horse, swam admirably; the other was dragged along like a log; but as soon as it arrived within scent of its companions before landed, revived, disengaged itself, and took to the shore with great alacrity. Some very gentleman-like men attended these animals; and with great politeness offered their services.

Among the crowd was a lad erectis auribus,⁹ his ears had never been swaddled down, and they stood out as nature ordained; and dare say his sense of hearing was more acute by this liberty The horned cattle of Skie are swam over, at the narrow passage of Kul-ri,¹⁰ at low water; six, eight, or twelve are passed over at a time, tied with ropes, fastened from the horn of one to its tail, and so to the next; the first is fastened to a boat, and thus are conveyed to the opposite shore.¹¹ This is the great pass into the island, but is destitute even of a horse-ferry.

At five in the morning quit our situation, and, passing thro a narrow and short sound, arrive in another fine expanse, beautifully land-locked by the mainland (part of Ross-shire) the islands of Rona and Croulin, Rasa, distinguished by the high hillock, called Dun-canna; Scalpa, and the low verdant isle of Pabay, in old times the seat of assassinsⁱ. Skie shews a verdant slope for part of its shore: beyond soar the conic naked hills of Straith, and still farther, the ragged heights of Blaven.

See, behind us, the ruins of the castle, and the entrance of the bay we had left, the openings into the great lochs Kisserne and Carron, and, as a back-ground, a boundless chain of rugged

mountains. The day was perfectly clear, and the sea smooth as a mirrour, disturbed but by the blowing of two whales, who entertained us for a considerable space by the jet d'eaux¹³ from their orifices.

Mr. Mac-kinnon, junior,¹⁴ one of the gentlemen we saw with the horses, overtakes us in a boat, and presses us to accept the entertainment of his father's house of Coire-chattachan, in the neighboring part of Skie. After landing near the isle of Scalpa, and walking about two miles along a flat, arrive at the quarters so kindly provided; directing Mr. Thompson to carry the vessel, to the North part of Skie.¹⁵

The country is divided by low banks of earth,¹⁶ and, like the other islands, has more corn than pasturage. In my walk to Kilchrist, the church of the parish of Strath, saw on the road-side vast strata of limestone and stone-marle, the former grey, the last whiter and in many parts dissolved into an impalpable powder, and ready, to the hands of the farmer. It is esteemed a fine manure, but better for corn than grass.

Near the church are vast strata of fine white marble,¹⁷ and some veined with grey, which I recognized to have been the bed, from whence the altar at Jona had been formed.¹⁸ Observe also great quantities of white granite, spotted with black. Messrs. Lightfoot ¹⁹ and Stuart ascend the high limestone mountain of Beian-shuardal. and find it in a manner covered with that rare plant the Dryas octopela.²⁰

On my return am entertained with a rehearsal I may call it of the Luaghadh, or, walking of cloth, a substitute for the fulling mill:²¹ twelve or fourteen women, divided into two equal numbers, sit down on each side of a long board, ribbed lengthways placing the cloth on it: first they begin to work it backwards and forwards with their hands, singing at the same time as at the

Quern: when they have tired their hands, every female uses her feet for the same purpose, and six or seven pair of naked feet are in the most violent agitation, working one against the other: as by this time they grow very earnest in their labors, the fury of the song rises; at length it arrives to such a pitch, that without breach of charity you would imagine a troop of female dæmoniacs to have been assembled.²²

They sing in the same manner when they are cutting down the corn, when thirty or forty join in chorus.²³ The subject of the songs at the Luaghadh, the Quern, and on this occasion, are sometimes love, sometimes panegyric, and often a rehearsal of the deeds of the antient heroes, but all the tunes slow and melancholy.²⁴

Singing at the Quern is now almost out of date since the introduction of water-mills. The laird can oblige his tenants, as in England, to make use of this more expeditious kind of grinding; and empowers his miller to search out and break any Quern he can find, as machines that defraud him of the toll.²⁵ Many centuries past, the legislature attempted to discourage these aukward mills, so prejudicial to the landlords, who had been at the expence of others. In 1284, in the time of Alexander III, it was provided, that 'na man sall presume to grind quheit,²⁶ maishloch,²⁷ or rye, with hand mylne except he be compelled by storm, or be in lack of mills quhilk sould grinde the samen. And in this case gif a man grindes at hand mylnes, he sall gif the threttein measure as multer²⁸ and gif anie man contraveins this our prohibition, he sall tine his hand mylnes perpetuallie.'²⁹

Walk up Beinn-na-caillich, or, the hill of the old hag; one of those picturesque mountains that made such a figure from the sea. After ascending a small part, find its sides covered with vast loose stones, like the paps of Jura, the shelter of ptarmigans: the top flat and naked, with an artificial cairn, of a most enormous size,

reported to have been the place of sepulture of a gigantic woman in the days of Fingal.³⁰ The prospect to the West was that of desolation itself; a savage series of rude mountains, discolored, black and red, as if by the rage of fire.³¹ Nearest, joined to this hill by a ridge, is Beinn-na-grian,³² or, the mountain of the SUN; perhaps venerated in antient times. Mal-more,³³ or, the round mountain, appears on the North. The serrated tops of Blaven affect with astonishment; and beyond them, the clustered height of Quillin,³⁴ or, the mountain of CUCHULLIN, like its antient heroⁱⁱ, stood like a hill that catches the clouds of heaven.³⁶ The deep recesses between these Alps, in times of old, possessed the sons of the narrow vales, the hunters of deer;³⁷ and to this time are inhabited by a fine race of stags.

The view to the N. East and S. West is not less amusing: a sea sprinkled over with various isles, and the long extent of coast soaring into all the forms of Alpine wildness. I must not omit that the point of Camesketel,³⁸ on the South of Skie, was shewed to me at a distance, famous for the cave which gave shelter for two nights to the young adventurer, and his faithful guide, the antient Mac-kinnon.

Leave Coire-chattachan, after experiencing every civility from the family; and from the Rev. Mr. Nicholson, the minister. Wind along the bottoms of the steep hills. Pass by the end of Lochslappan to the South. See a stone dike or fence called Paraicnam fiadh, or the inclosure of the deer,³⁹ which seems once to have been continued up a neighboring hill. In one angle is a hollow, in the days of Ossian, a pitfall covered with boughs for the destruction of the animals which were chased into it. Places of this name are very common, and were very necessary when the food of mankind was the beasts of the field.

Turn towards the northern coast; pass by the end of Loch-sli-

gachan, and soon after by the side of the small fresh water Loch na-caiplich, filled with that scarce plant the Eriocaulon decangulare,⁴⁰ first discovered by Mr. James Robertson.⁴¹ Breakfast at Sconsar, one of the post-offices; an inn opposite to Rasa, an island nine miles long and three broad, divided from Skie by a sound a mile broad. On the shore, the house of Mr. Macleod, the owner of Rasa, makes a pretty figure. The DEAN speaks of this island, 'as having maney deires, pairt of profitable landes inhabit, and manurit, with twa castles, to wit, the castle of Kilmorocht, and the castle of Brolokit, with twa fair orchards at the saids twa castles with ane parish kirke, called Kilmolowocke. In his time, he says, it perteining to Mac-gyllichallan⁴² of Raarsay bethe sword, and to the bishope of the isles be heritage.' This usurper was a vassal of Macleod of Lewis, who probably consigned it to his chieftain, from whom the present proprietor derives his family.⁴³

Continue our journey pointing to the S. West. Meet great droves of fine cattle, on their way to change of pasture. See a small quantity of very poor flax, raised from the seed of the country, a very unprofitable management:⁴⁴ but the greatest part of the land was covered with heath. Leave to the left the mountains of Cuchullin, cullin, or Quillin, which reach to the sea. Come to the end of Loch-Bracadale,⁴⁵ which pierces the island on this side. Skie is so divided by branches of the sea, that there is not a place five mile distant from a port; such numbers of good harbours are there in a place destitute of trade, and without a single town. Near the end of this Loch the ground is more cultivated: but all the corn land is dug with the cas-chrom,⁴⁶ or crooked spade, instead of being ploughed: eight men are necessary to dig as much in a day as a single plough would turn up:⁴⁷ the harrows are commonly tied to the horses tails;⁴⁸ but in very wet land, the men and women break the sods by dragging over them a block of wood with a five teeth and a long handle, called Raachgan.⁴⁹

Descend through a narrow pass, and arrive instantly in a tract flat as any in Holland, opening to the west with a fine distant view of North and South Uist, and other parts of the Long island: bounded on the other three sides by high precipices, enlivened with cataracts, formed by the heavy rains. In a wood in a snug corner lies Talyskir, inhabited by Mr. Macleod,⁵⁰ lieutenant colonel in the Dutch service,⁵¹ who with the utmost hospitality sheltered us from the inclemency of the day. This house belongs to the chief of the name; and in old times was always the portion of a second son: he enjoyed it for life with the view of giving him the means of educating his children; who after that were left to the care of fortune; which custom filled foreign service with a gallant set of officers. Daughters of chieftains were generally portioned with cattle;⁵² and often with a set of stout men, who in feudal times were valuable acquisitions to the husband, who estimated his wealth by the power of his people, for he instantly adopted and incorporated them with his clan.

It will not be impertinent to mention here the origin of the Scotch regiments in the Dutch Service.⁵³ They were formed out of some independent companies, sent over either in the reign of Elizabeth or James VI. At present the common men are but nominally national, for since the scarcity of men, occasioned by the late war, Holland is no longer permitted to draw her recruits out of North Britain. But the officers are all Scotch, who are obliged to take oaths to our government, and to qualify in presence of our embassador at the Hague.⁵⁴

See here a Cly-more,⁵⁵ or great two-handed sword, probably of the same kind with the ingentes gladii ⁵⁶ of the Caledonians, mentioned by Tacitus: an unwieldy weapon, two inches broad, doubly edged; the length of the blade three feet seven inches; of the handle, fourteen inches; of a plain transverse guard, one

foot; the weight six pounds and a half. These long swords were the original weapons of our country, as appears by a figure of a soldier, found among the ruins of London, after the great fire, A. D. 1666, and preserved at Oxford ⁱⁱⁱ:⁵⁷ his sword is of a vast length, his hair flowing, his legs bare, his lower garment short and fastened by a girdle round his waste; the sagum ⁵⁸ is flung carelessly over his breast and one arm, ready to be flung off, as custom was, in time of action. The same kind of sword, and much the same kind of dress, was preserved in the highlands to this present age:⁵⁹ but the enormous length of weapon has been found useless against the firmness of determined troops, from the battle of the ^iv Mons Grampius, to the recent victory of Culloden. The short swords of the forces of Agricola, and the bayonets of the British regulars, were equally superior.⁶⁰

Col. Macleod favors me with a weapon whose origin appears to be evidently Scandinavian: it is a brazen sword,⁶¹ whose blade is twenty-two inches long; the handle (including a round hollow pummel) five and a half; the middle of the blade swells out on both sides, and the edges very sharp; the end pointed; we are told ^v that the scabbards are of brass, but this was destitute of one. The weapon was found in Skie, and are met with in many parts of Scotland and of Wales, which the Danes have visited. Nothing resembling them is met with among the Roman antiquities. but they have been frequently discovered in tumuli, and other sepulchres, in Denmark and Holsace, deposited there with the urns in honor of the deceased ^vi. Others, similar, have been found in Sweden ^vii.

Walk down the East side of the vale, and see the well of

Cuchullin. Take boat near the lofty insulated rock, Stach in nuchidar,⁶³ or that of the fuller, pyramidal and inclining: am rowed beneath a range of magnificent cliffs, at whose base were lodged plenty of white crystallized zeolite,⁶⁴ and vast rocks of stone, of the appearance of lava, filled with rounded kernels.

Our boat's crew were islanders, who gave a specimen of marine musick, called in the Erse, Jorrams:⁶⁵ these songs, when well composed, are intended to regulate the strokes of the oars, and recalled to mind the customs of classical days.

Mediae stat margine puppis Qui voce alternos nautarum temperet ictus, Et remis dictet sonitum, pariterque relatis, Ad numerum plaudat resonantia cærula tonsis SILIUS, lib. iv. ⁶⁶

But in modern times they are generally sung in couplets, the whole crew joining in chorus at certain intervals: the notes are commonly long, the airs solemn and slow, rarely chearful, it being impossible for the oars to keep a quick time: the words generally have a religious turn, consonant to that of the people.

Visit a high hill, called Briis-mhawl, about a mile South of Talyskir, having in the front a fine series of genuine basaltic columns, resembling the Giant's causeway:⁶⁷ the pillars were above twenty feet high, consisting of four, five and six angles, but mostly of five: the columns less frequently jointed than those of the Irish; the joints being at great and unequal distances, but the majority are entire: even those that are jointed are less concave and convex on their opposite surface than the columns of the former. The stratum that rested on this colonnade was very irregular and shattery, yet seemed to make some effort at form. The ruins of the columns at the base made a grand appearance: these were the ruins of the creation: those of Rome, the work of human art, seem to them but as the ruins of yesterday.⁶⁸

At a small distance from these on the slope of a hill is a tract of some roods entirely formed of the tops of several series of columns, even and close set, forming a reticulated surface of amazing beauty and curiosity. This is the most northern Basaltes I am acquainted with; the last of four in the British dominions, all running from South to North, nearly in a meridian: the Giant's Causeway appears first; Staffa succeeds; the rock Humbla about twenty leagues further, and finally the column of Briis-mhawl: the depth of ocean in all probability conceal the lost links of this chain.⁶⁹

Take leave of Talyskir. See very near to the house the vestiges of some small buildings, and by that a heap of stones, with a basaltic column set erect in the middle. Cross a range of barren lands for four miles: reach Loch-Bracadale. Exchange our horses for a boat. Pass over this beautiful land-locked harbour abounding with safe creeks.⁷⁰ Cod-fish swarm here in the herring season pursuing the shoals: a man with a single hand-line caught in three hours as many as were sold for three guineas, at the rate of twopence apiece. Land after a traject of four miles, and find ready a new set of horses.⁷¹

Proceed: ride by, at Struan, a beautiful Danish fort on the top of a rock, formed with most excellent masonry.⁷² The figure as usual circular. The diameter from outside to outside sixty feet: of the inside forty-two. Within are the vestiges of five apartments, one in the centre, four around: the walls are eighteen feet high.⁷³ The entrance six feet high, covered with great stones. About a furlong north west of this, is another large rock precipitous on all sides but one.⁷⁴ On that is the ruin of a very thick wall, and the traces of a dike quite round, even on the inaccessible parts. Between which and the wall is a large area. This

seems to have been built without regularity, yet probably belonged to the same nation. Each seems designed to cover an assemblage of people who lived beneath their protection in a hostile country, for under both are remains of numbers of small buildings with regular entrances. The last inclosure is supposed to have been designed for the security of the cattle, of which, these free-booters had robbed the natives; and this species is distinguished by the name of Boaghun.⁷⁵

These fortresses are called universally in the Erse, Duns.⁷⁶ I find that they are very rare in the country from whence they took their origin;⁷⁷ no people will give themselves the trouble of fortifying amidst the security of friends. Mr. Frederic Suhm of Copenhagen,⁷⁸ whom I had the pleasure of addressing on this subject, could point out but a single instance, that he knew of a similar tower, and that is to be found on the Suallsberg, a mountain half a norwegian league distant from Drontheim. But we may expect further elucidations from a skilful antiquary now on the tour of the country.

About two miles farther, see near the road-side, two large conoid Cairns: pass near the end of Loch-ca-roy, a branch of the noble Loch-Bracadale, and soon after reach the castle of

DUN-VEGAN,⁷⁹ the seat of Mr. Macleod,⁸⁰ a gentleman descended from one of the norwegian vice-roys, governors of the isles while they bore a foreign yoke.⁸¹ But the antiquity of his descent is an accident that would convey little honor to him; had he not a much more substantial clame; for to all the milkiness of human nature usually concomitant with his early age, is added, the sense and firmness of a more advanced life.⁸² He feels for the distresses of his people, and insensible of his own, with uncommon disinterestedness has relieved his tenants from their oppresive rents;⁸³ has received instead of the trash of gold, the treasure of

warm affections, and unfeigned prayer. He will soon experience the good effects of his generosity; gratitude, the result of the sensibility still existing among those accustomed to a feudal government, will shew itself in more than empty words; and in time they will not fail exerting every nerve to give his virtue the due reward.⁸⁴ Feudal goverments like that of unmixed monarchy has its conveniences and its blessings. The last rarely occur from the imperfection of human nature: One BEING only can lay clame to that: therefore it is the business of every honest man to resist the very appearance of undivided power in a prince or the shadow of independency in a subject. The highlanders may bless the hand that loosened their bonds:⁸⁵ for tyranny more often than protection was the attendance on their vassalage. Yet still from long habitude, and from the gleams of kindness that darted every now and then amidst the storms of severity, was kindled a sort of filial reverence to their chieftain:⁸⁶ this still is in a great degree retained, and may by cherishing, return with more than wonted vigor. The noxious part of the feudal reign is abolished; the delegated rod of power is now no more. But let not the good part be lost with the bad: the tender relation that patriarchal government experiences, should still be retained: and the mutual inclination to benificence preserved.⁸⁷ The chieftain should not lose, with the power of doing harm, the disposition of doing good. Such are the sentiments of Mr. Macleod, which ripen into actions that, if persisted in, will bring lasting comfort into his own bosom, and the most desired of blessing amongst a numerous clan.⁸⁸

The castle of Dun-vegan is seated on a high rock, over a loch of the same name, a branch of Loch Falart.⁸⁹ Part is modernized, but the greatest portion is antient: the oldest is a square tower which with a wall round the edge of the rock, was the original

strength of the place.⁹⁰ Adjacent is a village and the post-office;⁹¹ for from hence a pacquet-boat, supported by subscription, sails every fortnight for the Long-island.

Here is preserved the Braolauch shi,⁹² or fairy-flag of the family bestowed on it by Titania the Ben-shi,⁹³ or wife to Oberon king of the fairies. She blessed it at the same time with powers of the first importance, which were to be exerted on only three occasions: but on the last, after the end was obtained, an invisible Being is to arrive and carry off standard and standard-bearer, never more to be seen.⁹⁴ A family of Clan y Faitter ⁹⁵ had this dangerous office, and held by it, three⁹⁶ lands in Bracadale.

The flag has been produced thrice. The first time in an unequal engagement against the Clan-Ronald,⁹⁷ to whose sight the Macleods were multiplied ten-fold. The second preserved the heir of the family, being then produced to save the longings of the lady of the family:⁹⁸ and the third time, to save my own; but it was so tattered, that Titania did not seem to think it worth sending for.⁹⁹

This was a superstition derived from the Norwegian ancestry of the house: the fable was caught from the country, and might be of use to animate the clan. The Danes had their magical standard, Reafan, or, the raven, embroidered in an instant by the three daughters of Lodbroke, and sisters of Hinguar, Hubba, or Ivar ^viii. Sigurd had an enchanted flag given him by his mother with circumstances somewhat similar to the Dun-vegan colors: whosoever bore it in the day of battle was to be killed; accordingly in one of his battles three standard-bearers were succssively slain; but on the death of the last he obtained the victory ^ix.

Here is preserved a great ox-horn, tipped with silver: the arm was twisted round its spires, the mouth brought over the elbow,

and then drank off. The Northern nations held this species of cup in high esteem, and used the capacious horns of the great Aurochs ^x. They graced the hospitable halls of kings^xi, and out of them the antient heroes quenched their thirst: Haquin ^xii, weary with slaughter, calls aloud for the mighty draught.

Heu labor immensus, fessos quam vellicat artus. Quis mihi jam præebet cornua plena mero?¹⁰¹

In this castle is also preserved, a round shield,⁶² made of iron, that even in its decayed state weighs near twenty pounds; itself a load in these degenerate days: yet they were in use no longer ago than the beginning of the last century. Each chieftain had his armour-bearer, who preceded his master in time of war, and, by my author's ^xiii account, in time of peace; for they went armed even to church, in the manner the N. Americans do at present in the frontier settlement, and for the same reason, the dread of savages.

In times long before those, the antient Scotch used round targets, made of oak, covered with the hides of bulls; and long shields, narrow below and broad above, formed of pieces of oak or willow, secured with iron: I guess them to be of the same kind with the Norwegian shields figured by Wormius ^xiv, and probably derived from the same country. They had also a guard for their shoulders, called ^xv Scapul; and for offensive weapons had the bow, sword, two-handed sword, and Lochaber ax, a weapon likewise of Norwegian origin. But the image-tombs of antient warriors are the best lectures on this subject.

¹⁰³Proceed on the journey; pass over a black and pathless tract of moor and bog for about fifteen miles; dine on a soft spot of

heath, with that appetite that exercise and the free air never fair to create. Arrive on the banks of Loch-Grisernis, a branch of Loch-snisart: take boat; observe that the ropes for the fishingnets are made of the purple melic grass,¹⁰⁴ the pund-glas ¹⁰⁵ of the highlanders, remarkable for lasting long without rotting. After a passage of a mile land at KINGS-BURGH;

Immortalized by its mistress, the celebrated FLORA MAC-DONALD,¹⁰⁶ the fair protectress of a fugitive adventurer; who, after some days concealing himself from pursuit, in the disguise of the lady's maid, here flung off the female habit.

Mr. Mac-donald did me the favor of presenting me with three very curious pieces of antiquity: an urn, a Glain-naidr, or serpent-bead, and a Denarius; found not remote from his house. The first is an urn of elegant workmanship, found in a stone chest, formed of six flags, as before described: this urn was filled with ashes; was placed not prone, as that mentioned in the former volume, but with the mouth up, and covered with a light thin stone. This was discovered beneath an immense cairn.¹⁰⁷

The Glain naidr,¹⁰⁸ or Druidical bead, as it is vulgarly called, is an unique in its kind, being of a triangular shape; but, as usual, made of glass, marked with figures of serpents coiled up. The common people in Wales and in Scotland retain the same superstitions relating to it as the antients, and call it by the name of Serpent-stone.¹⁰⁹ The Gauls, taught by their priests, believed the strangest tales of their serpents, described from the prose of Pliny,¹¹⁰ in a most spirited manner, by the ingenious Mr. Mason,¹¹¹ who thus makes his Druid demand of a sapient brother.

But tell me yet From the grot of charms and spells, Where our matron sister dwells; Brennus, has thy holy hand Safely brought the Druid wand, And the potent adder-stone, Gender'd fore the autumnal moon ? When in undulating twine The foaming snakes prolific join; When they hiss, and when they bear Their wond'rous egg aloof in air; Thence, before to earth it fall, The Druid in his holy¹¹² pall, Receives the prize, And instant flies, Follow'd by the envenom'd brood, 'Till he cross the silver flood.¹¹³

The antients and moderns agree in their belief of its powers; that good fortune attends the possessor wherever he goes. The stupid Claudius,¹¹⁴ that Ludibrium aulæ AUGUSTI,¹¹⁵ put to death a Gaulish ^xvi knight, for no other reason than, that he carried an ovum anguinum, a serpent-stone, about him.¹¹⁶ The vulgar of the present age attribute to it other virtues; such as its curing the bite of the adder, and giving ease to women in child-birth, if tied about the knee.¹¹⁷ Such length of time does it require to root out follies that have the sanction of antiquity.

The last favor that I was indebted to Mr. Mac-donald for, is a Denarius, of the Emperor Trajan, found on a moor near the shore of Loch-Grisernis;¹¹⁸ a probable but not a certain evidence that the Romans had landed in this island. We have no lights from history to enable us to say what was done during the reign of that emperor: in the succeeding, Adrian reduced the bounds of the empire to the place still called his wall, and lost all communication with the islands; but in the following reign they were extended to their antient bounds, and the isles might be visited

from the Glota estuarium,¹¹⁹ the station of the fleet, and the money in question lost at that time in Skie. But its being found there may be accounted for by another supposition: that of its having been the booty of an island soldier, taken from the Romans in some of the numberless skirmishes in one of the following reigns and brought here as a mark of victory.

Observe that the great scallop-shell is made use of in the dairies of this country for the skimming of milk. In old times it had a more honorable place, being admitted into the halls of heroes, and was the cup of their festivity. As Doctor Mac-pherson expresses it, 'The whole tribe filled the hall of the chieftain; trunks of trees covered with moss were laid in form of tables from one end to the other; whole beeves or deer were roasted and laid before them on rough boards, or hurdles of rods woven together: the pipers played while they sat at table, and silence was observed by all. After the feast was over, they had ludicrous entertainments; a practice still continued in part of the highlands: the females retired, and the old and young warriors sat in order down from the chieftain, according to their proximity in blood to him; the harp was then touched, the song was raised, and the Sliga-crechin, or the drinking-shell, went round.'¹²⁰

Am lodged this night in the same bed that formerly received the unfortunate Charles Stuart.¹²¹

Leave Kingsburgh, travel on a good horse road, pass by a cairn, with a great stone at the top, called, the high-stone of Ugg. I must remark, that the Danes left behind them in many places the names of their deities, their heroes, and their bards: thus in the rock Humbla is perpetuated the name of Humblus ^xvii, one of their antient kings; the ille of Gunna ^xviii assumed the title of one of the Valkyriæ,¹²² the fatal sisters; Ulva ¹²³ takes its name from the bear-

begotten hero, Ulvo ^xix; and the stone of Ugg; seems to have been erected in memory of the poet Uggeras ^xx.¹²⁴

Beneath is the fertile bottom of Ugg,¹²⁵ laughing with corn: ascend a hill, and on the other side descend into the parish of Kilmore, the granary of Skie. Leave, on the left, Muggastot, the principal house of Sir Alexander Mac-donald, lineally descended from the lords of the isles: all the estates at present possessed by that gentleman were bestowed by John, the last Regulus, and Earl of Ros, on his brother Hugh, and confirmed by a charter dated at Aros, in the year 1449, and afterwards by James IV. at Sterling, in 1495.

Beneath the house was the lake of St. Columba, now drained; once noted for a monastery of great antiquity, placed in an island. The ruins evince its age, being built with great stones, without mortar, in the manner customary in the times of Druidism. The cells and several rooms are still very distinguishable. The chapel is of a later date, and built with mortar, as are all the other chapels in Skie, and in the little islands along its shores:¹²⁶ these chapels were served by the monks: the place they landed on, in order to discharge these religious duties, was called Pein-orah, or the land of prayer; for after solemnly recommending themselves, and the object of their journey, to the MOST HIGH, they separated, and took their respective routes.¹²⁷

Pursue our journey. A minister, who gave us the pleasure of his company, observed to us, that a couple were in pursuit of him in order to have their nuptials celebrated: unwilling to be the cause of deferring their happiness, I begged he would not of my account delay the ceremony: we took possession of a cottage; the minister laid before them the duties of the marriage state, asked, whether they took each other willingly? joined their hands,

and concluded with a prayer.¹²⁸ I observed that the bridegroom put all the powers of magic to defiance, for he was married with both shoes tied with their latchet.¹²⁹

Not many years have elapsed since it was customary in some parts of the N. of Scotland for the lairds to interfere in the marriages of their vassals, and direct the pairing of their people.¹³⁰ These strange tyrannies, these oppressions of inclination, seem to have occasioned the law of Alexander the Ist, to prevent such a foundation for domestic misery: it is indeed the case of the widow only that he took into consideration, Na widow, says the statute, sould be compelled to marie gif sche please to live without ane husband, but sche sould give securitie that sche sall not marie without consent of hir lord, gif sche holds of ane other than the king.¹³¹

Take a repast at the house of Sir Alexander Mac-donald's piper.¹³² who, according to antient custom, by virtue of his office, holds his lands free. His dwelling, like many others in this country consists of several apartments; the first for his cattle during winter, the second is his hall, the third for the reception of strangers, and the fourth for the lodging of his family; all the rooms within one another.

The owner was quite master of his instrument, and treated us with several tunes. In feudal times the Mac-donalds had in this island a college of pipers; and the Macleods had the like:¹³³ these had regular appointments in land, and received pupils from all the neighboring chieftains. The Mac-karters were chief pipers to the first; the Mac-krumens to the last.¹³⁴

The bagpipe has been a favorite instrument with the Scots, and has two varieties: the one with short pipes, played on with the fingers; the other with long pipes, and sounded with the mouth:¹³⁵ this is the loudest and most ear-piercing of all musick, is the genuine highland pipe,¹³⁶ and suited well the warlike genius of the

people, rouzed their courage to battle,¹³⁷ alarmed them when secure and collected them when scattered; solaced them in their long and painful marches, and in times of peace kept up the memory of the gallantry of their ancesters, by tunes composed after signal victories; and too often kept up the spirit of revenge, by airs expressive of defeats or massacres from rival clans. One of the tunes, wild and tempestuous, is said to have been played at the bloody battle of Harlaw,¹³⁸ when Donald, lord of the isles, in 1410, opposed the powers of James I. under the conduct of Alexander Stuart, Earl of Mar.

Neither of these instruments were the invention of the Danes, or, as is commonly supposed, of any of the Northern nations; for their antient writers prove them to have been animated by the clangor tubarum.¹³⁹ Notwithstanding they have had their sæck-pipe ¹⁴⁰ long amongst them, as their old songs^xxi prove, yet we cannot allow them the honor of inventing this melodious instrument; but must assert, that they borrowed it from the invaded Caledonians. We must still go farther, and deprive even that antient race of the credit; and derive its origin from the mild climate of Itay, perhaps from Greece.¹⁴¹

There is now in Rome a most beautiful Bas-relievo, a Grecian sculpture of the highest antiquity; of a bagpiper playing on his instrument, exactly like a modern highlander.¹⁴² The Greeks had their Ασκανλης, or instrument, composed of a pipe and blown up skin:¹⁴³ the Romans in all probability borrowed it from them, and introduced it among their swains, who still use it under the names, of piva and cornu-musa ^xxii.¹⁴⁴

That master of musick, Nero,¹⁴⁵ used one ^xxiii; and had not the empire been so suddenly deprived of that great artist, he would (as he graciously declared his intention) have treated the people

with a concert; and, among other curious instruments, would have introduced the Utricularius, or bagpipe.¹⁴⁶ Nero perished, but the figure of the instrument is preserved on one of his coins, but highly improved by that great master: it has the bag and two of the vulgar pipes, but was blown with a bellows, like an organ, and had on one side a row of nine unequal pipes, resembling the syrinx of the god Pan ^xxiv.¹⁴⁷ The bagpipe, in the unimproved state, is also represented in an antient sculpture, and appears to have had two long-pipes or drones^xxv, and a single short pipe for the fingers.¹⁴⁸ Tradition says, that the kind played on by the mouth was introduced by the Danes: as theirs was wind musick, we will admit that they might have made improvement, but more we cannot allow: they were skilled in the use of the trumpet; the highlanders in the Piobh, or bagpipe.

Non tuba in usu illis, conjecta at tibia in utrem Dat belli signum, et martem vocat horrida in arma^xxvi.¹⁴⁹

Proceed two miles farther; pass under a high hill, with a precipitous front, styled Sgor-more, or, the great projection; and immediately after reach Dun-tuilm castle,¹⁵⁰ or, the castle of the round grassy eminence,¹⁵¹ placed at the verge of a high precipice over the sea; the ground adjacent formed of fine verdant turf.

Find our vessel at anchor under the little rocky Elan-tuilm, lofty, and of a picturesque form.

Take leave of several gentlemen, who, according to the worthy custom of these islands, convoyed us from place to place, and never left us till they had delivered us over to the next hospitable roof, or seen us safely embarked.¹⁵²

Dun-Tuilm castle is a ruin, but was inhabited as late as 1715.

It was the original seat of the Mac-donalds, in Skie:¹⁵³ near it, a hill called Chock an eirick, or, the hill of pleas:¹⁵⁴ such eminences are frequent near the houses of all the great men, for on these, by the assistance of their friends, they determined all differences between their people: the place was held sacred, and to the respect paid to the decisions delivered from the summit, may in some measure be attributed the strict obedience of a fierce and military race to their chieftain.

Near this place was pointed to me the spot where an incestuous pair (a brother and sister) had been buried alive, by order of the chieftain.¹⁵⁵

In the rocks are abundance of small compressed Ammonitæ, and on the shores saw fragments of white Quart, the hectic stone so often mentioned by Martin.¹⁵⁶

SKIE is the largest of the Hebrides, being above sixty measured miles long; the breadth unequal, by reason of the numbers of lochs, that penetrate far on both sides.¹⁵⁷ It is supposed by some to have been the Eastern Ebudæ of the antients; by others, to have been the Dumna. The modern name is of Norwegian origin, derived from Ski, a mist; and from the clouds (that almost constantly hang on the tops of its lofty hills) was styled, Ealand skianach, or, the cloudy island ^xxvii.¹⁵⁸ No epithet could better suit the place, for, except in the summer season, there is scarcely a week of fair weather: the summers themselves are also generally wet and seldom warm.

The Westerly wind blows here more regularly than any other, and arriving charged with vapour from the vast Atlantic, never fails to dash the clouds it wafts on the lofty summits of the hills of Cuchullin, and their contents deluge the island in a manner unknown in other places.¹⁵⁹ What is properly called the rainy

season commences in August: the rains begin with moderate winds; which grow stronger and stronger till the autumnal equinox, when they rage with incredible fury.¹⁶⁰

The husbandman then sighs over the ruins of his vernal labors: sees his crops feel the injury of climate: some laid prostrate; the more ripe corn shed by the violence of the elements. The poor foresee famine, and consequential disease: the humane tacksmen agonize over distresses, that inability, not want of inclination, deprive them of the power of remedying. The nearer calls of family and children naturally first excite their attention: to maintain and to educate are all their hopes, for that of accumulating wealth is beyond their expectation: so the poor are left to Providence's care: they prowl like other animals along the shores to pick up limpets and other shell-fish, the casual repasts of hundreds during part of the year in these unhappy islands. Hundreds thus annually drag through the season a wretched life: and numbers, unknown, in all parts of the western highlands (nothing local is intended) fall beneath the pressure, some of hunger, more of the putrid fever,¹⁶¹ the epidemic of the coasts, originating from unwholesome food, the dire effects of necessity. Moral and innocent victims! who exult in the change, first finding that place where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest.¹⁶²

The farmer labors to remedy this distress to the best of his power, but the wetness of the land late in spring prevents him from putting into the ground the early seed of future crops, bear and small oats: the last are fittest for the climate: they bear the fury of the winds better than other grain, and require less manure, a deficiency in this island. Poverty prevents him from making experiments in rural oeconomy:¹⁶³ the ill success of a few made by the more opulent, determines him to follow the old tract, as attended with more certainty, unwilling, like the dog in the

fable, to grasp at the shadow and lose the substance, even poor as it is.

The produce of the crops very rarely are in any degree proportioned to the wants of the inhabitants: golden seasons have happened, when they have had superfluity; but the years of famine are as ten to one. The helps of the common years are Potatoes: it is difficult to say whether the discovery of America by the Spaniards has contributed to preserve more lives by the introduction of this vegetable; or to have caused more to perish by the insatiable lust after the pretious metals of the new world.¹⁶⁴

The difficulties the farmer undergoes in this bad climate are unknown in the South: there he sows his seed, and sees it flourish beneath a benign sun and secured from every invasion. Here a a wet sky brings a reluctant crop^xxviii: the ground, inclosed only with turf mounds, accessible to every animal: A continual watch employs numbers of his people: some again are occupied in repairing the damages sustained by their houses from storms the preceding year: others are laboring at the turberies,¹⁶⁶ to provide fuel to keep off the rigor of the severe season: or in fencing the natural (the only) grasses of the country to preserve their cattle from starving; which are the true and proper staple of these islands.

The quantity of corn raised in tolerable seasons in this island is esteemed to be about nine thousand bolls. The number of mouths to consume them near thirteen thousand:¹⁶⁷ migrations, and depression of spirit, the last a common cause of depopulation, having since the year 1750 reduced the number from fifteen thousand to between twelve and thirteen: one thousand having crossed the Atlantic, others sunk beneath poverty, or in despair, ceased to obey the first great command, ENCREASE and MULTIPLY.¹⁶⁸

In that year the whole rent of Skie was three thousand five hundred pounds. By an unnatural force some of the rents are now doubled and trebled.¹⁶⁹ People long out of all habit of industry, and used to the convivial tables of their chieftain, were unable instantly to support so new a burden: in time not very long preceding that, they felt the return of some of their rents: they were enabled to keep hospitality; to receive their chieftain with a well covered board; and to feed a multitude of poor. Many of the greater tackmen were of the same blood with their chieftains; they were attached to them by the ties of consanguinity as well as affection: they felt from them the first act of oppression, as Cæsar did the wound from his beloved Brutus.¹⁷⁰

The high advance of the price of cattle is a plea for the high advance of rents;¹⁷¹ but the situation of the tackman¹⁷² here is particular: he is a gentleman, and boasts the same blood with his laird: (of five hundred fighting men that followed Macleod in 1745 in his Majesty's army, four hundred were of his kindred)¹⁷³ has been cherished by him for a series of years often with paternal affection: has been used to such luxuries as the place affords; and cannot instantly sink from a good board to the hard fare of the common farmer.¹⁷⁴ When the chieftain riots in all the luxuries of South Britain, he thinks himself entitled to share a due degree of the good things of this life, and not to be for ever confined to the diet of Brochan ¹⁷⁵ or the compotation of Whisky. During the feudal reign their love for their chieftain induced them to bear many things, at present intolerable.¹⁷⁶ He was their pride and their glory: they strained every nerve in support of him, in the same manner as the French through vanity, refuse nothing to aggrandize their Grand Monarque.

Resentment drove many to seek a retreat beyond the Atlantic: they sold their stock, and in numbers made their first essay.¹⁷⁷ They found, or thought they found, while their passions were warm, an

happy change of situation: they wrote in terms savouring of romance, an account of their situation: their friends caught the contagion: and numbers followed; and others were preparing to follow their example. The tacksmen from a motive of independency: the poor from attachment; and from excess of misery. Policy and humanity, as I am informed, have of late checked this spirit so detrimental to the public.¹⁷⁸ The wisdom of legislature may perhaps fall on some methods to conciliate the affections of a valuable part of the community: it is unbecoming my little knowlege of the country to presume to point out the methods. It is to be hoped the head will, while time permits, recollect the use of the most distant members.¹⁷⁹

The proper products of this and all the Hebrides, are men and cattle: the use of the first in an island which the late war felt at last its deficiency, need not be insisted on.¹⁸⁰ In respect to cattle, this in particular bears the pre-eminence of having the largest breed of all the highlands.¹⁸¹ The greater tenants keep their cattle during winter in what are called winter-parks, the driest and best ground they have: here they are kept till April, except the winter proves very hard when they are foddered with straw: in April the farmer turns them to the moor-grass (cotton-grass) which springs first, and at night drives them into the dry grounds again.¹⁸²

The poorer tenants, who have no winter parks, are under the necessity of keeping the cattle under the same roof with themselves during night; and often are obliged to keep them alive with the meal designed for their families.¹⁸³ The cows are often forced, through want of other food, to have recourse to the shores, and feed on the sea-plants at low water: by instinct they will, at ebb of tide, hasten from the moors, notwithstanding they are not within sight of the sea.¹⁸⁴

One of the greater farms in Skie is thus stocked

Fifty cows, and their followers, viz. 20 young heifers, fit for bull; 30 ditto, three years old; 35 ditto, two years old; 40 yearlings, or sturks. Of these the owner can sell only twenty cows at forty-five shillings each at an average; can make butter and cheese for his family, but none for sale, for their best cow will not yield above three English quarts of milk at a meal. Such a farm was formerly rented for sixteen pounds a year, at present is raised to fifty. The greatest rent in the island is eighty pounds, but the medium from thirty to forty.¹⁸⁵

There is certainly much ill management in the direction of the farms: a tacksman of fifty pounds a year often keeps twenty servants;¹⁸⁶ the laziest of creatures, for not one will do the lest thing that does not belong to his department. Most of them are married, as in Ilay. Their common food is Brochan, a thick meal-pudding, with milk, butter or treacle; or a thinner sort, called Easoch, taken with their bannocs. This number of servants seemed to answer the retainers in great families before that pernicious custom was abolished by Henry VII; in feudal times they were kept here for the same bad end. The cause is now no more, but the habit cannot suddenly be shaken off: charity forbids one to wish it, till some employ is thought of for them; otherwise like the poor cottagers before-mentioned, starving must be their portion.

Cattle is at present the only trade of the island: about four thousand are annually sold, from forty shillings to three pounds a head.¹⁸⁷ The loss sustained in Skie by the severity of the last winter, and the general failure of the crops the preceding season amounted to five thousand; perhaps in some measure owing to the farms being over-stocked.¹⁸⁸

About two hundred and fifty horses are purchased from hence every year.¹⁸⁹

Here are no sheep but what are kept for home consumption, or for the wool for the cloathing of the inhabitants. Hogs are not introduced here yet, for want of proper food for those animals.¹⁹⁰

About three hundred tuns of kelp are made here annually. but it is thought not to answer, as it robs the land of so much manure.¹⁹¹

There are not above two or three slated houses in the island; the general thatch is fern, root and stalk, which will last above twenty years.¹⁹²

The roots of the orobus tuberosus,¹⁹³ the cor-meile or carmel of the highlanders, are in high esteem in this and the other islands; they sometimes chew them, at others make a fermented liquor with them. They imagine that they promote expectoration, and that they are very efficacious in curing any disorders of the breast or lungs: they also use it as a remedy against hunger, chewing it as some of our poorest people do tobacco^xxix to put off that uneasy sensation.

Ligusticum scoticum,¹⁹⁵ Scotch parsley, or the shunis of this island, is also much valued; in medicine, the root is reckoned a good carminative¹⁹⁶ and an infusion of the leaves is thought a good purge for calves. It is besides used as a food, either as a sallad, raw, or boiled as greens.

Very few superstitions exist here at present: pretenders to second-sight are quite out of repute, except among the most ignorant, and at present are very shy of making boast of their faculties.¹⁹⁷

Poor Browny,¹⁹⁸ or Robin Good-fellow,¹⁹⁹ is also put to flight. This

serviceable sprite was wont to clean the houses, helped to churn, thrashed the corn and would be labor²⁰⁰ all that pretended to make a jest of him. He was represented as stout and blooming, had fine long flowing hair, and went about with a wand in his hand. He was the very counter-part of MILTON's Lubbar fiend, who

Tells how the drudging goblin sweat To earn his cream-bowl duly set, When in one night, e'er glimpse of morn, His shadowy flale hath thrash'd the corn That ten day-lab'rers could not end; Then lies him down the lubbar fiend, And stretch'd along the chimney's length, Basks at the fire his hairy strength.²⁰¹

I do not understand who the Ghruagich is, to whom the milkmaids make a libation of milk, pouring it on a certain flat round stone, four or five feet in circumference.²⁰²

A wild species of magic was practised in the district of Trotter ness, that was attended with a horrible solemnity: a family who pretended to oracular knowlege practised these ceremonies. In this country is a vast cataract, whose waters falling from a high rock, jet so far as to form a dry hollow beneath, between them and the precipice. One of these impostors was sowed up in the hide of an ox, and, to add terror to the ceremony, was placed in this concavity: the trembling enquirer was brought to the place, where the shade, and the roaring of the waters, encreased the dread of the occasion. The question is put, and the person in the hide delivers his answer, and so ends this species of divination styled Taghairm.²⁰³

But all these idle tales are totally exploded, and good sense and polished manners prevale, instead of that barbarity which in 1598 induced James VI. to send here a new colony to civilize the na-

tives;²⁰⁴ who were so little disposed to receive their instructors, that his majesty was in the end obliged to desist from his design^xxx.²⁰⁵

After a most tempestuous night, loose from our harbour at two o'clock at noon. Go through a narrow channel at the North end, a rock lying in the middle. Have to the West a view of Fisher's rock; and to the North a strange chain of rocky isles, very singular in their appearance; and varying in their forms in the process of our course. The highest is called Bordh-mor-mhic-leod, or Macleod's great table ^xxxi.²⁰⁷ Another is called Flada. On the first Mr. Thompson took in our absence the little Petrel,²⁰⁸ which with numbers of others were lurking beneath the loose stones, and betrayed themselves by their loud twittering. These are the lest of of palmipeds;²⁰⁹ the dread of mariners who draw a certain presage of a storm from their appearance; for they always collect in numbers at the approach of a tempest beneath the stern; runing along the waves in the wake of the ship, with a swiftness incredible.²¹⁰ This bird is the Camilla of the ocean: like her,

She swept the seas and as she skim'd along Her flying feet unbathed on billows hung.²¹¹

the seamen call them mother Cary's chickens:²¹² some devotees styled them, Petrels, from the attempt of the apostle St. Peter to tread the water. They are seen in all parts of the ocean;²¹³ and were not over-looked by the antients, who named them Cypselli, and take notice of this remarkable particular.²¹⁴

Mr. Thompson also shot one of those enormous seals, or the great seal syn. quad. No. 266;²¹⁵ but to my great regret it sunk as soon as killed.

Have a full view of the isle of Lewis, the Lodhus of the Norwegians: and off it a groupe of little isles called Siant, or Schant, and somewhat to the north of those is the fine harbour, and town of Stornaway. It was my intention to have steered for that port, but was dissuaded from it by the accounts I had from the gentlemen of Skie, that a putrid fever²¹⁶ raged there with great violence.