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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e10900 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #56157 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56157) diff --git a/old/56157-8.txt b/old/56157-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 026cfac..0000000 --- a/old/56157-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14323 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Nether Lochaber, by Alexander Stewart - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Nether Lochaber - The Natural History, Legends, and Folk-lore of the West Highlands - -Author: Alexander Stewart - -Release Date: December 10, 2017 [EBook #56157] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NETHER LOCHABER *** - - - - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - - NETHER LOCHABER: - - THE NATURAL HISTORY, - LEGENDS, AND FOLK-LORE - OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS. - - - BY - The Rev. ALEXANDER STEWART, F.S.A. Scot.; - - MINISTER OF THE PARISH OF BALLACHULISH AND ARDGOUR. - - - EDINBURGH: - WILLIAM PATERSON. - MDCCCLXXXIII. - - - - - - - - - EDINBURGH: BURNESS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY. - - - - - - - - - TO - DONALD CAMPBELL, Esq., M.D., - OF - CRAIGRANNOCH, BALLACHULISH, - IN PLEASANT RECOLLECTION OF HAPPY HOURS AT ONICH AND CRAIGRANNOCH, - AND - OF MANY A DELIGHTFUL MIDSUMMER RAMBLE, - THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED - WITH MUCH AFFECTIONATE REGARD BY HIS FRIEND - THE AUTHOR. - - - - - - - - -PREFATORY NOTE. - - -The contents of this volume made their first appearance in the shape -of a series of papers from "Nether Lochaber" in the Inverness Courier, -a well-known Northern Journal, long and ably conducted by the late -Dr. Robert Carruthers. They are now presented to the public in book -form, in the hope that they may meet with a friendly welcome from -a still larger constituency than gave them kindly greeting in their -original shape, as from fortnight to fortnight they appeared. - -At one time it was the Author's intention to rewrite and rearrange -all, or almost all, these papers, adding, altering, or expunging as -might be considered best. On second thoughts, however--second thoughts, -besides, approved of by many literary and scientific friends, in whose -judgment and good taste the Author has the utmost confidence--it was -resolved to let them retain very much the form in which they first -attracted attention, in the belief that any good that could result -from a rewriting and reconstructing of them would be dearly purchased -if it interfered, as it was almost certain to interfere, with their -prima cura directness of phrase and freshness of local colouring. - -In a volume dealing so largely with the Folk-Lore of the West Highlands -and Hebrides, there are necessarily many Gaelic rhymes and phrases -which at the first blink may tend to startle and repel the southern -reader. These Gaelic quotations, however, the Author has taken care -to translate into fairly equivalent English, so that even in this -regard it is to be hoped the volume may prove equally acceptable to -the Saxon, who is ignorant of the language of the mountains, as to -the Celt, who knows and loves it as his mother tongue. - - -Nether Lochaber, - -June 1883. - - - - - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -CHAPTER I. - - PAGE - - Primroses and Daisies in early March--"The Posie"--Burns--"The - Ancient Mariner"--William Tennant, Author of "Anster - Fair"--Hebridean Epithalamium--A Bard's Blessing--A - Translation--Macleod of Berneray, 1 - -CHAPTER II. - - Autumnal Tints--Solomon and the Queen of Sheba--Sortes - Sacræ--Sortes Virgilianæ--Charles the First and Lord - Falkland--Virgilius the Magician--Thomas of Ercildoune, 8 - -CHAPTER III. - - An old Gaelic MS.--"The Bewitched Bachelor Unbewitched"--Fairy - Lore--Lacteal Libations on Fairy Knowes, 18 - -CHAPTER IV. - - Transit of Mercury--Improperly called an "Eclipse" of--November - Meteors--Mr. Huggins--Spectrum Analyses of Cometary - Light--Translation of a St. Kilda Song, 23 - -CHAPTER V. - - Bird Music--The Skylark's Song--Imitation of, by a French - Poet--Alasdair Macdonald--Scott, 29 - -CHAPTER VI. - - Severe Drought--The Drive by Coach from Fort-William to - Kingussie--Breakfast at Moy--Where did Scott find Dominie Sampson's - "Pro-di-gi-ous!"?--Professor Blackie's Poem on Glencoe, 33 - -CHAPTER VII. - - O the Barren, Barren Shore--Brilliant Auroral Display--Intense - Cold--Birds--Glanders--Scribblings on the Back of One Pound - Notes, 39 - -CHAPTER VIII. - - A Wet February--A Good Time coming--Sir Walter Scott--Mr - Gladstone--Death of Sir David Brewster, 44 - -CHAPTER IX. - - Long-Line Fishing--Scarcity of Fish--Their Fecundity--Large - Specimen of the Raia Chagrinea--The Wolf Fish--The Devil Fish, 50 - -CHAPTER X. - - Birds--Contest between a Heron and an Eel, 54 - -CHAPTER XI. - - Sea-Fishing--Loch and Stream Fishing--"Brindled - Worms"--Rush-Lights--Buckie-Shell Lamps--The Weasel killing a - Hare--Killing a Fallow Deer Fawn, 58 - -CHAPTER XII. - - Extraordinary aspect of the Sun--Sunset from - Rokeby--Mr. Glaisher--"Demoiselle" or Numidian Crane at - Deerness--The Snowy Owl in Sutherlandshire--Does the Fieldfare - breed in Scotland?--The Woodcock, 66 - -CHAPTER XIII. - - Extraordinary Heat and Drought--Plentifulness of Fungi--Cows fond - of Mushrooms--Shoals of Whales--A rippling breeze, and a Sail on - Loch Leven, 70 - -CHAPTER XIV. - - Herrings--Chimæra Monstrosa--Cure for Ringworm--Cold Tea Leaves for - inflamed and blood-shot Eyes--An old Incantation for the cure of - Sore Eyes--A curious Dirk Sheath--A Tannery of Human Skins, 73 - -CHAPTER XV. - - The Ring-Dove--A Pet Ring-Dove--Its Death--Shenstone--The - Belone Vulgaris or Gar-Fish--A Rat and a Kilmarnock - Night-cap--Extraordinary Roebuck's Head at Ardgour, 79 - -CHAPTER XVI. - - The "Annus Mirabilis" of Dryden--1870 a more wonderful Year - in its way than 1666--Winter--Number of Killed and Wounded - in the Franco-Prussian War--Battles of Langside, Tippermuir, - Cappel--Carrier Pigeons--The Velocity with which Birds fly, 86 - -CHAPTER XVII. - - Signs of a severe Winter--The Little Auk or Auklet--The - Gadwall--Falcons being trained by the Prussians to intercept - the Paris Carrier Pigeons--Ballooning--The King of Prussia's - Piety--John Forster--Solar Eclipse of 22d December 1870--The - Government and the Eclipse--Large Solar Spots--Visible to the - naked eye--Rev. Dr. Cumming--November Meteors, 94 - -CHAPTER XVIII. - - November Rains: 1500 tons per Imperial Acre!--Rainfall in Skye--An - old Gaelic Apologue--The Drover and his Minister--Grand Stag's - Head--Scott as a Poet--Mr. Gladstone and Scott--An old Lullaby - from the Gaelic, 99 - -CHAPTER XIX. - - Winter--Auroral Displays in the West Highlands always indicative - of a coming Storm--Corvus Corax--Wonderful Ravens--Edgar Allan - Poe, 106 - -CHAPTER XX. - - Along the Shore after Birds--An Otter in pursuit of a Fish--Tame - Otter at Bridge of Tilt: Employed in Fishing--His hatred of - all sorts of Birds--"The Otter and Fox," a translation from the - Gaelic, 114 - -CHAPTER XXI. - - Storms--An "inch" of Rain--Atherina Presbyter--Lophius - Piscatorius--Mr. Mortimer Collins' misquotation from the Times, 121 - -CHAPTER XXII. - - Aurora Borealis--Unfavourable weather for Birds about - St. Valentine's Day--The Water-Vole in the Rhi--In the Eden in - Fifeshire--In the Black Water, Kinloch Leven--Does it feed - on Salmon Fry and Ova?--The Kingfisher--Character of the - Water-Vole--Note about the Hedgehog, 127 - -CHAPTER XXIII. - - March--The Story of a Spanish Dollar--The Spanish Armada--The - "Florida"--Faire-Chlaidh, or Watching of the Graveyard--Molehill - Earth for Flowers, 133 - -CHAPTER XXIV. - - The Beauty of the West Highland Seaboard--Dr. Aiton of - Dolphinton--Dr. Norman Macleod--Specimen of Turtle-Dove (Columba - Turtur) shot in Ardgour--The belief on the Continent of its - value as a Household Pet--Bechstein--Male Birds dropping Eggs in - confinement, 140 - -CHAPTER XXV. - - Thunderstorm--Potato Field in Bloom--The Hazel Tree--Hazel - Nuts--Potato Shaws for Cattle--Ferns for Bedding - Cattle--Marmion--Scott, 144 - -CHAPTER XXVI. - - Harvest--Scythe and Sickle v. Reaping Machines--Potatoes--Garibaldi - and Potatoes at Caprera--Fishing--Platessa Gemmatus, or Diamond - Plaice--Mushrooms--The Poetry of Fairy Rings--Harvest-Home, 150 - -CHAPTER XXVII. - - The disappearance of the glories of Autumn, and the advent - of Winter--Innovations and Innovators--New Version of the - Scriptures--The Milkmaid and her Fairy Lover, translated from - the Gaelic, 159 - -CHAPTER XXVIII. - - Wild Birds' Nests in early April--Rook stealing Eggs frightened - and almost captured--The Domestic Cock--What he was, and what he - is--Sadly demoralised by intermixture with "Cochin-Chinas" and - "Bramahpootras," 165 - -CHAPTER XXIX. - - The Vernal Equinox--Beauty of Loch Leven--Astronomical Notes--How - an old Woman supposed to possess the Evil Eye escaped a cruel - death, 172 - -CHAPTER XXX. - - Midges and other Bloodsuckers--The Tsetse of South Africa--The - Abyssinian Zimb--Livingstone--Adders and Grass Snakes--Lucan's - Pharsalia--Celsus--Legend of St. John ante Portam Latinam, 178 - -CHAPTER XXXI. - - The Leafing of the Oak and Ash--Splendid Stags' Heads--Edmund - Waller--Old Silver-Plate buried for preservation in the - '45--Mimicry in Birds--An accomplished Goldfinch, 185 - -CHAPTER XXXII. - - Potato Culture--Sensibility of the Potato Shaw to Weather - changes--The Carline Thistle--Burns--The true Carduus - Scotticus--The old Dog-Rhyme, 192 - -CHAPTER XXXIII. - - A non-"Laughing" Summer--Rheumatic Pains--Old Gaelic Incantation - for Cattle Ailments, 199 - -CHAPTER XXXIV. - - Early sowing recommended--Vitality of - Superstitions--Capnomancy--Hazel Nuts: Frequent References to - in Gaelic Poetry--How best to get at the full flavour of a ripe - Hazel Nut, 204 - -CHAPTER XXXV. - - Strength of Insects--Necrophorus Vespillo, or - Burying-Beetle--Foetid smell of--How Willie Grimmond earned an - Honest Penny in Glencoe, 210 - -CHAPTER XXXVI. - - Seaweed as a Fertiliser--Homer, Horace, Virgil--November - Meteors--Gaelic Folk-Lore--A Curfew Prayer--A Bed Blessing--A - Cattle Blessing--Rhyme to be said in driving Cattle to - Pasture--"Luath," Cuchullin's Dog--Notes from the Outer - Hebrides, 217 - -CHAPTER XXXVII. - - The Delights of Beltane Tide--Bishop Gawin Douglas--His - Translation of the Æneid--The Fat of Deer--"Light and Shade" - from the Gaelic--Mackworth Praed--Discovery of an old Flint - Manufactory in the Moss of Ballachulish, 225 - -CHAPTER XXXVIII. - - Warm showery Summer disagreeable for the Tourist, but pastorally - and agriculturally favourable--Xiphias Gladius, or Sword-Fish, - cast ashore during a Mid-summer Gale--Garibaldi dining on Potatoes - and Sword-Fish steaks at Caprera--The General's Drink--Medicinal - virtues of an Onion--Nettle Broth--Translation of a New Zealand - Maori Song, 233 - -CHAPTER XXXIX. - - Mountains--The Lochaber Axe, Ancient and Modern, 238 - -CHAPTER XL. - - Sea-Fowl--Weather Prognostics--Goosander (Mergus Merganser, - Linn.)--Gales of Wind--January Primroses--Lachlan Gorach, the Mull - "Natural"--A Dancing Rhyme, 244 - -CHAPTER XLI. - - Plague of Thistles in Australia and New Zealand--How to deal - with them--Cnicus Acaulis, Great Milk Thistle, or Stemless - Thistle--Fierce Fight between two Seals, "Nelson" and - "Villeneuve," 250 - -CHAPTER XLII. - - Wounds from Stags' Antlers exceedingly dangerous--The old Fingalian - Ballads--Number of Dogs kept for the Chase--Dr. Smith's "Ancient - Lays" of modern manufacture--The Spotted Crake (Crex Prozana) - at Inverness--Its Habits, 258 - -CHAPTER XLIII. - - Whelks and Periwinkles--An Ossianic Reading--The Sea-shore - after a Storm--The Rejectamenta of the deep--An amusing - Story of a Shore-Searcher--Severity of Winter--Wild-Birds' - Levee--Woodcock--Snipe--Blue Jay, 264 - -CHAPTER XLIV. - - A "Blessed Thaw" after a Severe Frost--Longevity in Lochaber--A - ready "Saline draught"--A probatum est Recipe for Catarrh and - Colds--Egg-shell Superstition--Curious old Gaelic Poem, 272 - -CHAPTER XLV. - - "Albert," a famous Labrador Dog--As a Water Dog--His - intelligence--Takes to Sheep-Stealing--Death! 278 - -CHAPTER XLVI. - - An old Fingalian Hero--His keenness of Sight and sharpness of - Ear--Foresters and Keepers--Foxhunters--Donald MacDonald--His - Dogs--Sandy MacArthur the Mole-catcher, 286 - -CHAPTER XLVII. - - Autumnal Night--Meteors--The Spanish Mackerel--Professor Blackie's - Translations from the Gaelic--The "Translations" of the Gaelic - Society of Inverness, 293 - -CHAPTER XLVIII. - - Crops--Potato Slug--Fern Slug--Brackens: How thoroughly to - extirpate them--The Merlin, Falcon, and Tringa, 299 - -CHAPTER XLIX. - - The Hedgehog an Egg and Bird Eater?--Bird-catching--"Old - Cowie"--Mackenzie--Lanius Excubitor--The Butcher-Bird or - Shrike--Tea-Drinking and Sobriety, 305 - -CHAPTER L. - - Superstition amongst the People--Difficulty of dealing - with it--Examples of Superstitions still prevalent in the - Highlands--Cock-crowing at untimely hours--Itching of the - Nose--Ringing in the Ears--The "Dead-Bell"--Sir Walter - Scott--Hogg--Mickle, 313 - -CHAPTER LI. - - Welcome Rain in May--Plague of Mice in Upper Teviotdale--Arvicola - Agrestis--Field-Mice in Ardgour--How exterminated--A Singing - Mouse--Farmers' Mistakes--Mackenzie the Bird-catcher, 319 - -CHAPTER LII. - - Tourist Grumblers; how to deal with them--Sea Fishing--Superstition - about a Gull--Josephus--Story of Mosollam and the Augur, 327 - -CHAPTER LIII. - - Heat in Mid-August--Early Planting and Sowing--Over-ripening of - Crops--Medusæ--Stinging Jelly-Fish--The amount of solid matter - in Jelly-Fish, 334 - -CHAPTER LIV. - - Approach of Winter--Contentedness of the People--Poets and - Wild-Bird Song--Differences in the Colouring and Markings of - Birds' Eggs--Late Nest-building--Anecdote of Provost Robertson - of Dingwall, Mr. Gladstone's Grandfather, 341 - -CHAPTER LV. - - Spring--Hood's Parody of Thomson's Invocation--The excellence - of Nettle-Top Soup--Cock-crowing--Birds'-nesting--Professor - Geikie--Curious Story of an old Pipe-Tune, 348 - -CHAPTER LVI. - - Rain in Lochaber--An Apple Tree in bloom by Candle-light--Mackenzie - the Bird-catcher--A Badenoch "Wise Woman" spitting in a Child's - Face to preserve it from the Fairies, 355 - -CHAPTER LVII. - - Caught in a Squall on Loch Leven--Potatoes and Herrings: How - to cook them--A day in Glen Nevis--A visit to Uaimh Shomhairle, - or Samuel's Cave--The Cave-Men, 361 - -CHAPTER LVIII. - - Showers in Harvest Time--Magnificent Sunset--Night sometimes - seeming not to descend but to ascend--Death of M. Leverrier--The - Discovery of Neptune--Pigeon cooing at Midnight--The Owl at - Noon--Cage-Birds singing at Night, 370 - -CHAPTER LIX. - - October Storms--Cablegram Predictions--Indications of - coming Storms--Geordie Braid, the St. Andrews and Newport - Coach-driver--The Naturalist in Winter--Drowned Hedgehogs: Spines - become soft and gelatinous--Lophius Piscatorius--Disproportion - between head and body in the Devil-Fish a puzzle--An Itinerant - Fiddler, 379 - -CHAPTER LX. - - A Trip to Glasgow--Kelvin Grove Museum--Highland Association--A - run to Rothesay--Rothesay Aquarium, 387 - -CHAPTER LXI. - - Overland from Ballachulish to Oban on a "Pet Day" in - February--Story of Clach Ruric--Castle Stalker: an old - Stronghold of the Stewarts of Appin--James IV.--Charles - II.--Magpies--Dun-Mac-Uisneachan, 394 - -CHAPTER LXII. - - Nest-building--Cunningham's objection to Burns' Song, "O were - my Love yon Lilac fair"--Birds and the Lilac Tree--Rivalries of - Birds--Birds and the Poets--The Nightingale, 402 - -CHAPTER LXIII. - - March Dust--Moons of Mars--Planetoids--Occultation of Alpha - Leonis--Zodiacal Light--Snow Bunting--Old Gaelic Ballad of - "Deirdri:" Its Topography, 410 - - - - - - - - -NETHER LOCHABER. - - -CHAPTER I. - - Primroses and Daisies in early March--"The Posie"--Burns--"The - Ancient Mariner"--William Tennant, Author of Anster Fair--Hebridean - Epithalamium--A Bard's Blessing--A Translation--Macleod of - Berneray. - - -The weather [March 1868] with us here still continues wonderfully -genial and mild: taken all in all, the season may be noted as in this -respect perhaps without precedent in our meteorological annals. The -sun, with nearly eight degrees of southern declination, is not yet -half-way through Pisces; we are still three weeks from the vernal -equinox, and yet on our table before us, as we write these lines, -there is as pretty a posy of wild-flowers as you could wish to see, -consisting of daisies, primroses, and other modest beauties, the -"firstlings of the year," culled from bank and brae at a date when -in ordinary seasons the country, snow-covered or ice-bound, is but -a bleak and barren waste. Older and wiser people than ourselves -confidently predict "a winter in mid-spring" as yet in store for us; -but meliora speramus, we had rather believe that to one of the mildest -winters on record will succeed a genial spring, a splendid summer, -and an abundant harvest. In any case, as somebody said of Scaliger -and Clavius, Mallem cum Scaligero errare quam cum Clavio rectè sapere: -I had rather, that is, be a partaker in the errors of Scaliger, than -a sharer in all the wisdom of Clavius. Even so, we had rather err -with the optimists than be ranked with the pessimists, even when their -predictions turn out the truest. In our forenoon ramble on Friday last -did we not find a merle's nest in the close and well-guarded embrace -of an old thorn root, with its pretty treasure of four brown-spotted, -greyish-green eggs? and with our wild-flower bouquet before us, -are we not better employed in crooning one of Burns' sweetest lyrics -than in predicting evil, even if we were certain that our prediction -should become true?--said lyric being that entitled The Posie, which, -dear reader, if you do not know it already, you should incontinently -get by heart. Here is a verse or two:-- - - - "Oh, luve will venture in where it daurna weel be seen; - Oh, luve will venture in, where wisdom ance has been; - But I will down yon river rove, amang the wood sae green-- - And a' to pu' a posie to my ain dear May. - - "The primrose I will pu', the firstling o' the year, - And I will pu' the pink, the emblem o' my dear; - For she's the pink o' womankind, and blooms without a peer-- - And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May. - - "The lily it is pure, and the lily it is fair, - And in her lovely bosom I'll place the lily there; - The daisy's for simplicity and unaffected air-- - And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May. - - "The hawthorn I will pu', wi' its locks o' siller grey, - Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o' day; - But the songster's nest within the bush I winna tak away-- - And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May." - - -Mark that line in italics, and ponder its exquisite tenderness. How it -must have irradiated, like a sudden flood of sunshine over a mountain -landscape, the poet's heart as he penned it! Here you have the germ -of the doctrine afterwards more broadly taught by Coleridge in the -well-known lines of the Ancient Mariner:-- - - - "Farewell, farewell, but this I tell - To thee, thou Wedding Guest, - He prayeth well, who loveth well - Both man, and bird, and beast. - He prayeth best, who loveth best - All things, both great and small; - For the dear God who loveth us, - He made and loveth all." - - -We love The Posie of Burns for its own sake, but we love it all -the more, perhaps, because our attention was first directed to its -sweet simplicity and tender beauty by one of our earliest and kindest -friends, himself a poet of no mean order, the late Professor William -Tennant, author of Anster Fair, in all its fantastical gaiety and -homely mirth the most original poem, perhaps, to be found in the -literature of our country. - -A gentleman who resides at present in Cheltenham, a cadet of one of -the oldest and most respectable families on the West Coast, and himself -the head of a house not unknown in Highland story, has been so good as -to send us a short Gaelic poem in manuscript, with a request that we -should give an English version of it. With this request we very readily -comply, such a task being to us a labour of love; the poem itself, -besides, being very beautiful, and the history of its composition -extremely interesting, as throwing some light on the manners and -customs of the olden times. The following prefatory note from the -MS. itself sufficiently explains the origin of this quaint and curious -Hebridean Epithalamium:--"It was the custom in the West Highlands of -Scotland in the olden time to meet the bride coming forth from her -chamber with her maidens on the morning after her marriage, and to -salute her with a poetical blessing called Beannachadh Bàird. On the -occasion of the marriage of the Rev. Donald Macleod of Durinish, in the -Isle of Skye, this practice having then got very much into desuetude, -and none being found prepared to salute his bride agreeably to it, -he himself came forward and received her with the following beautiful -address." We present our readers with the original lines verbatim et -literatim, precisely as they stand in the MS., only omitting two lines -that are partly illegible from their falling into the sharp foldings -of the sheet. The sense and tenor of these lines, however, we have -ventured to guess at and to incorporate with our English version:-- - - - Beannachadh Bàird. - - Mìle fàilte dhuit le 'd bhrèid, - Fad' a rè gu'n robh thu slàn, - Moran laithean dhuit as sìth, - Le d' mhaitheas as le d' nì 'bhith fàs. - A chulaidh cheiteas a chaidh suas. - 'S tric a thairin buaidh air mnaoi-- - Bithse gu suilceach, ceiteach, - O thionnseain thu fhein 'san treubh. - An tùs do choiruith 's tu òg, - An tùs gach lò iarr Righ nan Dùl; - Cha'n' eagal nach dean e gu ceart - Gach dearbh-bheachd a bhios 'nad rùn, - Bithsa fialuidh--ach bith glic. - Bith misneachail--ach bith stolt. - Na bith brith'nach, 's na bith balbh, - Na bith mear na marbh 's tu òg; - Bith gleidhteach air do dhea ainm, - Ach na bith duinte 's na bith fuar; - Na labhair fòs air neach gu olc, - 'S ged labhras ort, na taisbean fuath. - Na bith gearannach fo chrois, - Falbh socair le cupan làn; - Chaoidh dh' an olc na tabhair spèis-- - As le 'd bhrèid ort, mìle fàilt! - - -Whether with the sense of the above we have succeeded in catching -anything of its quaint beauty and tenderness in the following lines, -is for the reader to judge:-- - - - A Bard's Blessing. - - Comely and kerchief'd, blooming, fresh and fair, - All hail and welcome! joy and peace be thine; - Of happiness and health a bounteous share - Be shower'd upon thee from the hand divine. - Wearing the matron's coif, thou seem'st to be - Even lovelier now than erst, when fancy-free, - Thou in thy beauty's strength did'st steal my heart from me. - - Though young in years thou 'rt now a wedded wife; - O seek His guidance who can guide aright. - With aid from Him, the rugged path of life - May still be trod with pleasure and delight; - For He who made us bids us not forego - A single, sinless pleasure in this world of woe. - - Be open-hearted, but be eident too, - Be strong and full of courage, but be staid; - Aught like unseemly folly still eschew-- - Be faultless wife as thou wast faultless maid! - Guard against hasty speech and temper violent, - And knowing when to speak, know also to be silent. - - Guard thy good name and mine from smallest stain; - In manner still be kindly, frank, and free; - If thou 'rt reviled, revile not thou again; - In hour of trial calm and patient be; - And when thy cup is full, walk humbly still, - A careless, proud, rash step the blissful cup may spill! - - With this bard's blessing on thy wedded morn, - All at thy bridal chamber-door we greet thee; - May every joy of truth and goodness born - Through all thy life-long journey crowd to meet thee; - And may the God of Peace now richly shed - A blessing on thy kerchief-cinctured head! - - -The word breid in the original, which we have rendered kerchief -and coif, was in the olden times the peculiar head-dress of married -females, while virgins wore their braided locks uncovered, a simple -ribbon to bind the hair, and occasionally a sprig of heather or modest -flower by way of ornament, being the only head-dress that could with -propriety be worn by a maiden in the good old anti-chignon days of -our grandmothers. The Highland maiden's narrow ribbon for binding -the hair was in the south of Scotland called a snood, probably from -the old English snod--"neat, handsome"--a word still in use in the -English border counties. In the south, even more pointedly than in -the north, the emblematical character of the maiden ribbon or snood -was recognised. It was only when a maiden became an honest, lawful -wife that the coif--also called curch and toy--could be worn with -propriety. If a damsel was so unfortunate as to lose pretentions -to the name of maiden, without acquiring a right to that of matron, -she was neither permitted to wear that emblem of virgin purity, the -snood, nor advanced to the graver dignity of the coif or curch. In -old Scottish songs there occur many sly allusions to such misfortunes, -as in the original words of the popular tune of "Ower the muir amang -the heather"-- - - - "Down amang the broom, the broom, - Down among the broom, my dearie, - The lassie lost her silken snood, - That gart her greet till she was wearie." - - -And in a verse of a curious old ballad that we took down some years -ago from the recitation of a grey-headed Paisley weaver-- - - - "And did ye say ye lo'ed me weel? - Then, kind sir, ye maun marrie me; - For that I maunna wear my snood - Aft brings the saut tear to my ee." - - -The reverend author of the above lines was probably born about the -year 1700, or perhaps ten or twenty years earlier, for we find -that he died a man well advanced in years in 1760. In the Scots -Magazine of that year there is the following notice of Mr Macleod's -death:--"Jan. 12th.--At Durinish, in the Isle of Skye, the Rev. Donald -Macleod, minister of that parish, a gentleman, says our correspondent, -who adorned his profession, not so much by a literary merit, of which -he possessed a considerable share, as by a consistent practice of the -most useful and excellent virtues. To do good was the ruling passion -of his heart; in composing differences, in diffusing the spirit of -peace and friendship, in relieving the distressed, in promoting the -happiness of the widow and orphan, his zeal was almost unexampled, -his activity unmeasured, his success remarkable. It is almost -unnecessary to add that he lived with a most amiable character, -and died universally regretted." - -A somewhat curious circumstance is the following:--One of the -Rev. Mr. Macleod's daughters was married to Macleod of Berneray, she -being that gentleman's third wife. Berneray was at the date of this -third marriage seventy-five years of age, notwithstanding which he -became by this lady the father of nine children. He lived a hale and -hearty old man till he was upwards of ninety. He was reckoned in his -day a splendid specimen of the stalwart, sterling, straight-forward, -and chivalrous Highland gentleman, "all of the olden time." - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - Autumnal Tints--Solomon and the Queen of Sheba--Sortes - Sacræ--Sortes Virgilianæ--Charles the First and Lord - Falkland--Virgilius the Magician--Thomas of Ercildoune. - - -With occasional gales of wind and blustering showers [October 1868], -that, from their chilliness and snellness, you suspect to be sleet, -although you don't like as yet exactly to say so--meteorological -phenomena, however, in no way strange or unusual on the back of the -autumnal equinox--the weather with us here continues delightfully -bright and breezy, and the country looks beautiful. Field and -upland are still as freshly green as at midsummer, while the deep, -rich russet hues and golden tints of the declining year, gleaming -in the fitful sunlight, and intermingling their glories with the -still beautifully fresh and unspotted foliage of our hardier trees -and shrubs; with the ripe, ruddy bloom of the heather empurpling the -moorland and the hill, and a perfect sea of "brackens brown" mantling -the mountain side, and fringing, in loving companionship with the -birch, the alder, and the hazel, the torrent's brink, as it leaps -in foam from rock to rock and dashes downwards with its wild music -to the sea,--all this, with a thousand indescribable accessories, -scarcely perceptible indeed in the general effect, but all bearing -their fitting part in the delightful whole, presents at this season, -and never more markedly than this year, a scene that you never tire -of gazing at, and declaring again and again, and with all your heart, -to be "beautiful exceedingly." As you gaze on such a scene as this, -you feel that no painter could paint it; that there is a something -in it all too subtile and spiritual to be transferred to canvas by -any art whatever. An imitation, indeed, of all that is palpable and -tangible about it you may get, and it may be very beautiful perhaps, -and a triumph of art in a way; but, even as you gaze in admiration, -ready to grant the artist all the praise that is his due, are you -not apt, remembering the scene as nature has it, to - - - "Start, for soul is wanting there?" - - -But we must not be misunderstood. Painters and painting we love, -and have always loved, and should be sorry, indeed, to be considered -as in any way dead or indifferent to the power and beauty of the -art. Painting, after all, however, and especially landscape painting, -is but an imitative art, and the longer we live, and the more we are -brought face to face with nature, the more shall we feel that there is -a charm, an attractiveness, and a loveliness about her all her own--a -something that you feel but cannot describe, that the artist as he -gazes feels too, and strives to grasp and instil into his picture, -but cannot charm into interminglement with his colours, "charm he -never so wisely." Viewed æsthetically, nature in sooth consists not of -matter only, but of matter and spirit, and therein is the secret of her -surpassing power over us. You may subtly imitate and reproduce exact -representations of her more prominent features and general outlines, -and the painter, according as he is more or less gifted with the -poetic mens divina, may infuse a moral meaning into his work, and a -subtile beauty entirely independent of the mere manipulation of his -subject--be it landscape, seascape, or cloudscape--and his work may -impart instruction as well as pleasure and delight; but, granting -all this, there shall still be something awanting even in the finest -pictures, that something which we have ventured to call spirit--the -spirit that pervades and permeates nature in all her works, that is -her life, that may be "spiritually discerned" in her, but cannot be -transferred to canvas. - -In the collection of Jewish traditions known as the Talmud there -is a very pretty story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, that will -serve to illustrate our meaning better than the longest dissertation -could be. It is to the following effect:--Attracted by his wealth, and -wisdom, and power--the fame whereof had gone forth into all lands--the -Queen of Sheba, the Beautiful, paid a visit to Solomon, the Wise, -at his own court, that she might there admire the splendour of his -throne and be instructed of his wisdom. Charmed with the courtesy and -gallantry of the accomplished King, delighted with the magnificence -and splendour of his court, and amazed at his surpassing wisdom, -which, indeed, exceeded all that she had heard reported of it, the -Queen still thought that Solomon could be outwitted, and she resolved -to have the glory of puzzling and outwitting one so wise. To this -end she one day presented herself before the King, bearing in one of -her hands a wreath of natural flowers, the most beautiful she could -gather, and in the other a similar wreath of artificial flowers, -the most beautiful and like unto natural flowers that the cunning -of herself and her handmaidens could fashion. Of the two wreaths -the hues were of the brightest, and the flowers of the one wreath -were as if they had been pulled off the same stalks that bore the -flowers of the other. "Tell me now, O King," said the Queen as she -stood at some distance from the throne whereon the monarch sate, -"Tell me now, O King, which of these wreaths I hold in my hands is -fashioned of artificial flowers, for one of them is so fashioned; -and which of them of natural flowers, that grew from out the earth, -and imbibed their beauty and their brightness from the sun, for of -such of a truth is one of them formed?" And, lo, the King was perplexed -and sorely troubled, for he wist not what answer to make, seeing that -the two wreaths were as like one to another as twin sisters at their -mother's breast, or twin lilies on the same stalk. And the courtiers -of the King, and his princes, and his servants, were sorely grieved -that the sagacity of the King should be at fault, and his superhuman -wisdom at last fail. But, lo, the spirit of wisdom came upon the -King in his perplexity. Observing some bees clustering outside, -he ordered the window to be opened, and soon the bees came swarming -into the court, and after hovering for a moment about the one wreath, -they straightway left it and settled upon the other, which observing, -"That," said the King, "that, and not the other, is the wreath of -the flowers that grew from out the earth and in the sun, and were -not fashioned with hands." And the Queen was mightily surprised at -the exceeding wisdom of the King, and did obeisance unto Solomon, -laying the wreaths of flowers upon the steps of the ivory throne that -was overlaid with gold, and of which there was not the like made in -any kingdom. And the courtiers, and the princes, and the servants of -the King clapped their hands and cried, "O King! live for ever." If we -are wise and judge aright, we shall always, like the bees of Solomon, -be attracted by nature rather than by art, however beautiful. Our -doctrine was never, perhaps, so briefly and pithily enforced as by -the Macedonian conqueror on a certain occasion. A courtier one day -asked him to listen to him how well he could, whistling, imitate -the notes of the nightingale. Alexander declined the proffered -musical entertainment with the contemptuous remark, "I have heard -the nightingale herself." No wonder that the would-be melodist slunk -away abashed; and such be the fate of all mere echoers and imitators -when at any time they claim more than is their due, or would have us -appraise their pinchbeck at the value of sterling gold. There is an -amount of truth, and a hidden meaning and beauty, in Byron's lines, -that he was himself perhaps unconscious of in the ribald mood of the -moment, when, alluding to the statuary's art, he exclaimed-- - - - "I've seen much finer women, ripe and real, - Than all the nonsense of their stone ideal." - - -It is astonishing how difficult of thorough eradication are certain -superstitions, if once established amongst a people. Once let the -popular mind become inoculated with error in this shape, and although -times may change and the manners of the people may alter, though a -new tongue even shall have succeeded the language in which the error -was imbibed, and knowledge have spread and civilisation have steadily -progressed, yet there the superstition still lurks, frightened it -may be at the outward light, and, owl-like, ashamed to appear in -the brightness of the blessed sunshine of unclouded truth, but ever -ready, nevertheless, under favourable circumstances, to manifest -itself, and assert its sway over its votaries, like certain fabled -mediæval philters and potions that when administered are said to have -lurked for years and years in the human system, till, under certain -conditions, their subtle properties were called into active operation, -and the desired effect was produced. A short time ago we spent an -evening in the company of a gentleman from the south of Scotland, a -distinguished antiquary and archæologist, and of wonderful skill in -everything connected with the folk-lore of Scotland, whether of the -past or present. In the course of conversation, "over the walnuts and -the wine," our friend surprised us not a little by informing us that -even at this day, in certain parts of the south-western districts of -Scotland, the Sortes Sacræ are frequently resorted to by the people -when they are in doubt or perplexity about anything of sufficient -importance in their opinion to warrant their having recourse to this -ancient mode of divination. The Sortes Sacræ are founded upon the more -ancient Sortes Virgilianæ--Virgilian Lots, a method of divination which -had at least the merit of being extremely simple, and not necessarily -occupying much of the votary's time. What may be called the literary -oracle, as distinguished from vocal oracles, was consulted in this -wise: The operator having before him a copy of Virgil--the sortes were -generally confined to the Æneid--opened the volume ad aperturam libri, -anywhere, at random, when the first passage that accidentally struck -the eye was carefully read and pondered with as little reference as -possible to its immediate context, and a meaning extracted from it -which was supposed to indicate the issue of the event in hand, and -which was to be considered inevitable and irrevocable as the fates -had so decreed. A man with the knowledge thus obtained could not by -any precaution or change of conduct avert the impending doom, good or -evil; he could only put his house in order, and so arrange matters the -best way he could; that if evil came it might be borne with dignity -and patience; if good, that it might be enjoyed with moderation and -devout gratitude to the gods. It is said that at the outbreak of the -troubles that culminated in the Commonwealth, Charles I. and Lord -Falkland found themselves on a certain day in the Bodleian Library -at Oxford, when the latter jocularly proposed that they should inform -themselves of their future fortunes by means of the Sortes Virgiliæ; -and certainly, read by the light of after events, it must be confessed -that the passages stumbled upon seem singularly ominous of the fate -that overtook both. The passage read by the Martyr King was from the -fourth book of the Æneid, and is as follows:-- - - - "At bello audacis populi vexatus et armis, - Finibus extorris, complexu avulsus Iuli, - Auxilium imploret, videatque, indigna suorum - Funera: nec, cum se sub leges pacis iniquæ - Tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur, - Sed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus arena." - - -Which Dryden, if with rather too much amplification, still very -beautifully translates thus:-- - - - "Yet let a race untamed and haughty foes - His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose, - Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal field, - His men discouraged and himself expell'd: - Let him for succour sue from place to place, - Torn from his subjects and his son's embrace. - First let him see his friends in battle slain, - And their untimely fate lament in vain; - And when at length the cruel wars shall cease, - On hard conditions may he buy his peace. - Nor let him then enjoy supreme command, - But fall untimely by some hostile hand, - And lie unburied on the barren sand." - - -Lord Falkland's eye fell on the following lines in the eleventh book:-- - - - "Non hæc, O Palla, dederas promissa parenti. - Cautius ut sævo velles te credere Marti! - Haud ignarus eram, quantum nova gloria in armis, - Et predulce decus primo certamine posset. - Primitiæ juvenis miseræ! bellique propinqui - Dura rudimenta! et nulli exaudita Deorum - Vota, precesque meæ!" - - ---which the same translator has rendered as follows:-- - - - "O Pallas, thou hast failed thy plighted word, - To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword; - I warn'd thee, but in vain, for well I knew - What perils youthful ardour would pursue; - That boiling blood would carry thee too far, - Young as thou wert to dangers, raw to war; - O curs'd essay of arms, disastrous doom, - Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come, - Hard elements of unauspicious war, - Vain vows to heaven and unavailing care." - - -How the most pious man of his age, and one of the best kings that -ever adorned a throne, suffered death at the hands of his rebellious -subjects is well known. Poor Lord Falkland--a young nobleman of the -most estimable character; a poet and man of letters, so fond of books -that he used to say that "he pitied unlearned gentlemen in a rainy -day"--fell gallantly fighting for the royal cause in the battle of -Newbury, before he had yet completed his thirty-fourth year. It is -curious to find the eminent poet Abraham Cowley, a good man too--of -whom at his death Charles II. was heard to say that "Mr. Cowley had -not left a better man behind in England,"--it is curious, we say, to -find him on a certain occasion seriously referring to the Virgilian -Lots, and, what is more, avowing his firm belief in them! During -the Commonwealth, Cowley was in Paris, where he acted as secretary -to the Earl of St. Albans (then Lord Jermyn), and had a good deal to -do with the negotiations that eventually led to the Restoration. In -one of his letters, speaking of the Scotch treaty then in agitation, -he says--seriously, observe, and in an official document--"The Scotch -treaty is the only thing now in which we are vitally concerned. I am -one of the last hopers, and yet cannot now abstain from believing -that an agreement will be made; all people upon the place incline -to that union. The Scotch will moderate something of the rigour of -their demands; the mutual necessity of an accord is visible, the king -is persuaded of it. And, to tell you the truth (which I take to be -an argument above all the rest), Virgil has told the same thing to -that purpose." He had evidently consulted the Virgilian Lots, and a -passage presenting itself that could somehow be twisted so as to point -to a favourable issue to the Scotch business in hand, he accepts the -oracle, and in all seriousness announces his belief in it! When we -find a man of refinement and culture and high moral character like -Cowley crediting such nonsense, can we much wonder at the lengths to -which fanaticism and superstition carried people in those unhappy -times? To understand why Virgil, of all the ancient poets, Roman -or Greek, was selected as the oracle in this mode of divination, -we must remember that the Mantuan bard had the credit amongst his -countrymen of having been a sorcerer or necromancer and prophet as -well as a poet, something like the British Merlin, or our own Thomas -the Rhymer and Michael Scott, only more famous, perhaps. "Would the -reader suppose, for example, that the theory of volcanic action is -all a myth, and that it is to the magic of Virgil, and to nothing -else, that the south of Italy is indebted for all the earthquakes and -subterranean convulsions that have afflicted it for centuries? Yet so -it is, if we are to credit all the stories of "Virgilius the Magician" -that were current during the Middle Ages. The celebrated Benedictine -monk, Bernard de Montfaucon, author of Antiquité Expliquée one of -the most learned and curious works in existence, repeats the story -as it was told and credited in the Dark Ages. The following is from -an old translation, quoted by Scott in his notes to the Lay of the -Last Minstrel, in illustration of the magical spells attributed to -the Ladye of Branksome Tower. Virgil it seems, among other things, -was famous for his gallantries. On one occasion he fell in love with -and carried away the daughter of a certain "Soldan," and the story -proceeds:--"Than he thoughte in his mynde how he myghte marye hyr, and -thoughte in his mynde to founde in the middes of the see a fayer towne, -with great landes belongynge to it; and so he did by his cunnynge, -and called it Napells (Naples). And the foundacyon of it was of egges, -and in that town of Napells he made a tower with iiii. corners, and in -the toppe he set an apell upon an yron yarde, and no man culde pull -away that apell without he brake it; and thoroughe that yren set he -a bolte, and in that bolte set he an egge, and he henge the apell by -the stauke upon a cheyne, and so hangeth it still. And when the egge -styrreth so should the town of Napells quake; and when the egge brake, -then shulde the town sinke. When he made an ende, he lette calls it -Napells." Thomas of "Ercildoune," and he of "Balivearie," and the two -Merlins,--for there were two of them, the Merlin of the Arthurian -legends, and Merdwynn Wylet, or Merlin the Wild, who seems to have -been a Scotchman, and whose grave is still pointed out beneath an aged -thorn-tree at Drumelzier in Tweeddale,--these were accounted great -magicians and "pretty fellows in their day;" but what were they to -Virgilius the earthquaker, who at least attained to such an enviable -state of independence, that he is represented as frequently playing -at pitch and toss with the "devyl," and cheating and outwitting that -crafty potentate as if he were the veriest greenhorn! The Sortes Sacræ -were just the Sortes Virgilianæ, with this difference, that in the -former case, instead of a copy of Virgil, the New Testament was used -in the process of divination. The oracle is consulted in this case, -according to our information, by the introduction at random of the -wards end of a key (some allusion probably to the Apostolic keys) -between the leaves of the closed volume, which is then opened at that -place, and from the first verse that arrests the eye the desired -knowledge is extracted. On inquiry, we find that this superstition -was still occasionally practised in the Highlands of Scotland some -fifty years ago, though we would fain hope and believe that it -is now unknown. It is curious that it should still be frequently -resorted to in the south-western districts. It seems to have been a -very general as well as a very ancient mode of divination. Hoffman, -in his Lexicon Universale, &c., informs us that it was practised by -the Jewish Rabbins with their sacred books, as well as by the Pagans -from very early times, and was common amongst the Christians of the -Middle Ages. We are informed by a gentleman, who spent many years -in the East, that the Mahometans frequently resort to this method of -divination, taking the Koran as their oracle. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - An old Gaelic MS.--"The Bewitched Bachelor Unbewitched"--Fairy - Lore--Lacteal Libations on Fairy Knowes. - - -In looking over some old papers the other day [October 1868] -we stumbled on some sheets of Gaelic MS. that had lain neglected -for years, and every existence of which, indeed, we had well-nigh -forgotten. One of these sheets contained the original of the following -lines. It is in many respects a curious composition, written in a -sort of rhythmical alliterative prose rather than in verse, somewhat -in the manner of the conversational parts of the Gaelic Sgeulachdan -or fireside tales of the olden time. Its tone throughout is gay and -lively, with an occasional admixture of humour and double entendre that -is very amusing, while its allusions to the manners and customs and -superstitious observances of a past age render it, to our thinking, -extremely interesting. The sheet in our possession is only a copy, -the original, taken down from oral recitation, we believe, being in a -MS. collection of Gaelic poems and tales by Rev. Mr. M'Donald, at one -time minister of the parish of Fortingall, in Perthshire. Having only -internal evidence to judge from, it is impossible with any confidence -to assign even an approximate date to such a production as this, -but we are probably not far wrong in placing it as early at least -as the middle or close of the last century. It bears no title in the -original; we may call it-- - - - The Bewitched Bachelor Unbewitched. - - The gudeman mumbled and grumbled full sore - Over the butter-kits, all through the dairy: - Over cheese, over butter, and milk-pails, he swore - "'Tis the work, I'll be bound, of some foul witch or fairy. - - How can I ever be happy or rich, - If robbed and tormented by fairy and witch," - Quoth he; and lo, with a sudden turn - He stumbled and spilt the cream-full churn! - - He went to his mother (she dwelt in the cot - Amid the hazels down by the linn: - Full well the wild birds loved that spot, - And taught its echoes their merry din)-- - He went to his mother, that Bachelor gruff: - He was mild with her, though with others rough. - - "Mother," quoth he, "I have not now - One-half the butter or cheese, I trow, - That loaded my dairy shelves when you - Had charge of my household and dairy too: - Tell me mother, what shall I do? - I vow and declare that some fairy or witch - Is robbing me still and doing me ill--I shall never be rich." - - "My son," the mother mild replied, - "See that you pay the fairies their due; - A tribute due should ne'er be denied-- - Others don't grudge it, and why should you? - Nor thrive their flocks nor kine, I ween, - Who scorn or neglect the shian green." - - "But, mother, the witch that lives down i' the glen?" - "A widow, my son, with a fatherless oe, - Who has seen much sorrow and years of woe; - Give her as heretofore, my son, - Of your curds and whey, and let her alone. - And oh, my son, if you would be rich, - And free from dread of fairy and witch. - And happy and well-to-do through life-- - Go get thee, my son, a winsome wife!" - - The bachelor hied him home full soon-- - He sent to the widow, far down in the glen, - A kebbuck of cheese as round as the moon, - Of oaten cakes he sent her ten, - With a kindly message, "Come when you may - For curds and whey in the good old way." - He sent her withal, 'tis right you should know, - A braw new kilt for her fatherless oe. - - And ever he saw that his maidens paid - To the fairies their due on the Fairy Knowe, - Till the emerald sward was under the tread - As velvet soft, and all aglow - With wild flowers, such as fairies cull, - Weaving their garlands and wreaths for the dance when the moon - is full! - - And lo! at last he took him a wife, - A comely and winsome dame, I trow, - Who shed a sunshine over his life, - And silvered the wrinkles upon his brow. - 'Twas well with the kine, and well with the dairy, - Nor dreaded he ought from witch or fairy; - (He had one of his own--she was hight Wee Mary!) - And often they went to the cot by the linn, - Where mavis and merle made merry din. - - -The English reader will probably require to be informed that oe--the -Gaelic ogha--signifies a grandchild, while shian (Gaelic sithean) is a -fairy knoll. To show what a power fairies were at one time in the land, -and how wide-spread was the belief in them, we have only to consider -that there is perhaps not a hamlet or township in the Highlands or -Hebrides without its shian or green fairy knoll so called. Within -half a mile of our own residence, for example, there is a Sithean -Beag and a Sithean Mor, a Greater and Lesser Fairy Knoll; there is, -besides, a Glacan-t' Shithein, the Fairy Knoll Glade, Tobar-an-t' -Shithein, the Fairy Knoll Well; and a deep chasm, through which -a mountain torrent plunges darkling, called Leum-an-t' Shithiche, -the Fairy's Leap, with which there is probably connected some very -wonderful story, although we have been unsuccessful hitherto in -meeting with any one able or willing to repeat it. The truth is, -that a belief in fairies and fairyland, or faery--faint, no doubt, -and ill-defined now-a-days--still lingers ghost-like, the shadow of its -more substantial former living self, in our straths and glens; and, in -accordance with the old superstition, it is considered that the "good -people" should only be spoken of on rare and unavoidable occasions, -and then only in serious and respectable terms. Hence it is that you -always find old people reluctant to impart such fairy lore as may -be known to them, though garrulous enough on all other subjects; and -hence, also, it happens that in our old Sgeulachdan--the Arabian Nights -Entertainments of our Celtic forefathers--although you find giants, -and dwarfs, and misbegotten beings of every imaginable shape and size; -animals, too, that can speak and reason and lend their superhuman -aid to prince and peasant in extremity, as well as genii, kelpies, -and spirits of flood and fell, you rarely if ever meet with one of -the "good folks," or fairies proper, introduced upon the scene. The -people thoroughly believed in them, believed that they had a veritable -existence, and although invisible to mortal eye, that they might be at -your elbow at any moment; that they disliked being spoken of at all -as a rule, and that a disrespectful word about them especially would -inevitably be followed by some signal punishment, or "mischance," as -it was more cautiously termed in the South--all this they believed, -and therefore they held it wisest to speak of fairies, good folks -though they were, as seldom as possible. The allusion to paying-- - - - "The fairies their due on the fairy knowe," - - -has reference to the custom, common enough on the western mainland -and in some of the Hebrides some fifty years ago, and not altogether -unknown perhaps even at the present day, of each maiden's pouring -from her cumanbleoghain, or milking-pail, evening and morning, on -the fairy knowe a little of the new-drawn milk from the cow, by way -of propitiating the favour of the good people, and as a tribute the -wisest, it was deemed, and most acceptable that could be rendered, and -sooner or later sure to be repaid a thousand-fold. The consequence was -that these fairy knolls were clothed with a richer and more beautiful -verdure than any other spot, howe or knowe, in the country, and the -lacteal riches imbibed by the soil through this custom is even now -visible in the vivid emerald green of a shian or fairy knoll whenever -it is pointed out to you. This custom of pouring lacteal libations -to the fairies on a particular spot deemed sacred to them, was known -and practised at some of the summer shielings in Lochaber within the -memory of the people now living. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - Transit of Mercury--Improperly called an "Eclipse" of--November - Meteors--Mr. Huggins--Spectrum Analyses of Cometary - Light--Translation of a St. Kilda Song. - - -We were early astir on the morning of the 5th November [1868]; -with little thought, be sure, of Guy Fawkes or the Gunpowder Plot, -intent only on witnessing, if we might be so fortunate, the transit -of Mercury over the solar disc. The phenomenon in question we have -seen referred to as an "eclipse" of Mercury, which it certainly was -not. A celestial body is properly said to be eclipsed when, by the -interposition of another and a nearer orb, it is temporarily hid from -view. A star or planet so hidden by the body of the moon, for instance, -is said to be "occulted." The sun is truly said to be eclipsed when -the new moon at a particular conjunction steps in between us and him, -and temporarily intercepts his beams. What again, for convenience sake, -is called an eclipse of the moon, is really not an eclipse at all, -so far at least as the terrestrial spectator is concerned; it would -be more strictly correct to call it simply a lunar obscuration. The -temporary appearance of Venus and Mercury as circular and sharply -defined black spots on the solar disc, has hitherto always, and very -properly, been called in the language of astronomers a "transit" -of the particular planet by name, such as the "transit of Venus," or -the "transit of Mercury;" and there is no reason to change the term, -for it is expressive and true, which the word eclipse, applied to -such a conjunction, certainly is not. - -Be it called what it may, however--eclipse or transit--we were -disappointed in not getting a glimpse of the phenomenon in question on -the present occasion. Although duly at our post from before sunrise -till the minute calculated for the last contact of the planet with -the solar disc, we were unable to obtain anything more than the -most momentary blink even of the larger orb, and, of course, the -detection of the black button-like disc of the planet itself, in such -circumstances, was altogether out of the question. The disappointment, -however, was less annoying to us in this instance from the fact -that we had already been privileged to witness all the phases of a -similar conjunction from first to last on the 12th November 1861. The -next visible transit of Mercury does not take place till the 6th of -May 1878--ten years hence. There are several other transits during -the present century, invisible in our country, however, and on the -continent of Europe; but which will probably afford much delight to -many an eager watcher over the length and breadth of the South American -continent, and generally over the islands of the Pacific Ocean. - -Nor, with us here at least, was the night of the 13-14th instant any -way more favourable for observation than the dull beclouded morning -of the 5th itself. The night was calm and rainless, to be sure, but -a heavy impenetrable mass of dark grey clouds, so low as to envelop -all the mountain summits around, obscured the vault from horizon to -horizon, from sunset to sunrise, so that not a single meteor could -be seen by the keenest eye, even if above that pall of cloud the -display had been the most brilliant and splendid conceivable. From -the fact, however, that in several places widely distant from -each other, from which we have had communications on the subject, -and where the sky was abundantly clear and unclouded throughout, -no unusual display of meteors was seen, the probability is that we -have on this occasion missed them in our country, either because -they came into contact with our atmosphere in the daytime, when, of -course, they would be invisible, or more likely because our contact -this year with the meteorolithic annulus was of the slightest, and -at a segment thereof where the meteoric bodies are least numerous, -and thus we must patiently wait till we again dash through it at its -densest before we can hope for such a magnificent meteor shower as -astonished and delighted us all in 1866. Only at Oxford, as far as our -country is concerned, was there anything like a meteor shower on the -present occasion, and even there the display seems to have been too -faint and uninteresting to have attracted much attention. Intelligence -has reached our country from New York, however, that over that city, -and over the States generally, the meteoric display of the morning -of the 14th was very splendid indeed, though, owing to the morning -being further advanced before it commenced, less of it was seen by the -people at large than on some previous occasions. The weather with our -Transatlantic cousins seems to have been all that could be desired, -as it is stated that "astronomers and others were able to make very -complete observations." The worst thing about our insular position -with respect to matters astronomical is the extreme uncertainty with -which anything like continuous observation can be conducted. The -chances always are twenty to one that in Great Britain, at any -given hour in any given place, the weather should be such as to -render an observation of a celestial phenomenon impossible, or at -the least partial and unsatisfactory. One thing, at least, is now -pretty certain--that annually, and at a date that falls somewhere -between sunset of the 13th and sunrise of the 14th November, we may -confidently look for greater or less displays of these meteoric bodies, -the only thing likely to interfere with the interesting pyrotechnic -exhibition being an unfavourable state of the weather at a moment -when we are most concerned that the sky shall be clear and cloudless. - -Mr. Huggins, whose researches with the spectroscope have already made -his name famous, has recently communicated a most interesting paper -to the Royal Society, giving an account of the spectrum analyses of -one of the smaller and commoner class of comets that was visible for a -short time in the month of June last. Avoiding technical details, which -might be uninteresting to some of our readers, we may simply mention -that on testing the nucleus of this comet with the spectroscope, -Mr. Huggins found that it was resolved into three broad "bands," -precisely similar to the results obtained on examining with the -same wonderful instrument such carbon as follows the transmission of -electric sparks through olefiant gas. The conclusion arrived at by -Mr. Huggins is, that the nucleus of the comet in question consisted -solely of volatilised carbon. This paper of Mr. Huggins is altogether -a most interesting one, and we may have something more to say about -it on a future occasion. - -The following is a translation--somewhat freely rendered--of an old -Irst or St. Kilda song, the solitary island home of a score or two -of hardy inhabitants, and by all accounts a happy and hospitable race -too, who cling with an unquenchable love to their lonely rock, as if -it were a perfect paradise, ocean-girt and storm-beaten though it be-- - - - "Placed far amid the melancholy main." - - -Except another specimen given in a small collection of Gaelic songs, -edited by the late Rev. Mr. M'Callum of Arisaig, the original of -the following is the only St. Kilda song that we have met with. Our -copy was procured in this way: Some years ago we were dining on board -H.M. Revenue cruiser "Harriet," Captain M'Allister. Going ashore on -a fine moonlight night, one of the seamen who rowed our boat sang -the song, which we had no hesitation in at once declaring to be of -St. Kilda origin, which the man admitted was the case, he having -picked it up many years before from an old woman who had spent some -time on the island. Of the air, we can only remember that it was a -wild, irregular sort of chant, very different from the soft low airs -to which our mainland songs are for the most part sung, with the -refrain or burden (represented by our Alexandrines in each stanza) -given in a shrill falsetto that was somewhat disagreeable to the ear, -although abundantly appropriate, probably, in the circumstances in -which the song was composed, and when sung amid all the surroundings -of the scene depicted. - - - The St. Kilda Maid's Song. - - Over the rocks, steadily, steadily; - Down to the clefts with a shout and a shove, O; - Warily tend the rope, shifting it readily, - Eagerly, actively, watch from above, O. - Brave, O brave, my lover true, he's worth a maiden's love: - (And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above!) - - Sweet 'tis to sleep on a well feathered pillow, - Sweet from the embers the fulmar's red egg, O; - Bounteous our store from the rock and the billow; - Fish and birds in good store, we need never to beg, O; - Brave, O brave, my lover true, he's worth a maiden's love: - (And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above!) - - Hark to the fulmar and guillemot screaming: - Hark to the kittiwake, puffin, and gull, O: - See the white wings of solan goose gleaming; - Steadily, men! on the rope gently pull, O. - Brave, O brave, my lover true, he's worth a maiden's love: - (And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above!) - - Deftly my love can hook ling and conger, - The grey-fish and hake, with the net and the creel, O; - Far from our island be plague and be hunger; - And sweet our last sleep in the quiet of the Kiel, O. - Brave, O brave, my lover true, he's worth a maiden's love: - (And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above!) - - Pull on the rope, men, pull it up steadily: - (There's a storm on the deep, see the scart claps his wings, O); - Cunningly guide the rope, shifting it readily; - Welcome my true love, and all that he brings, O! - Now God be praised, my lover's safe, he's worth a maiden's love: - (And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above!) - - -Our song needs but little elucidation. The reader who knows that the -wealth of the St. Kildians mainly consists of the feathers and eggs -of wild-fowl, to procure which they are obliged to hang suspended -from ropes over the most dreadful precipices, in the clefts and -along the otherwise inaccessible ledges of which the sea-fowl breed, -will have no difficulty in understanding the general drift of the -island maid's very spirited and very earnest song. It is, perhaps, -unnecessary to say that as ling, conger, hake, and grey-fish are -certain kinds of sea fish, so fulmar, guillemot, kittiwake, puffin, -and scart are certain kinds of web-footed sea-fowl. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - Bird Music--The Skylark's Song--Imitation of, by a French - Poet--Alasdair Macdonald--Scott. - - -Conscious at last that pouting and inordinate weeping became him not, -and that, being constantly on the "rampage," like Mrs. Joe Gargery, -was hardly consistent with his place in the calendar, April [1869] -betimes resolved to "tak a thocht and mend," and now, like Richard, -is himself again--all sunshine and smiles. The rain-gauge, to be sure, -with stern impartiality, will still show an occasional "inch," or parts -of an inch, if you are very particular in your inquiries, when examined -of a morning, but its readings now at least are in no way appalling, -for they represent the warm and genial rainfall of April showers, -that, after all, are as necessary on the west coast at this moment, -and as refreshing to the soil, as the orthodox cup of mulled port of -an evening was believed to be to the weary traveller in the good old -days of stage-coaches and post-chaises. The country, at all events, -is looking very beautiful just now, everything so green and glad, -so fresh and fair, and full of promise of a yet gladder, and gayer, -and brighter day at hand, when the swallow, twittering, shall dart, -a glossy meteor, in the sunlight, and the cuckoo shall challenge -the truant schoolboy to repeat its well-known notes, correctly if -he can. Now is the time to hear our native song-birds at their best, -warbling their sweetest strains, and to decide, once for all, if it be -possible, which you like best; the loud, clear, silvery tinkle of the -seed-shelling finch's rich and rapid song; the liquid and mellifluous -warblings of the soft-billed tribes; or the soul-entrancing, round, -rich, flute-like piping of the throstle, song-thrush, and merle. How -it may fare with the reader who tries to decide the point we cannot -say. For our own part, no decision that we could ever arrive at could -keep its legs for two days together. No sooner did we decide that the -skylark and its congeners had the best of it, than the goldfinch, with -a score of lively cousins to aid and abet, challenged the verdict, and -forced us to acknowledge his exquisite mastery in song--an admission -made, however, only to be retracted again almost as soon as made, -for in our walk on the evening of that self-same day did we not stand, -and for the life of us couldn't help standing--breathless, and hushed, -and still--to listen to the merle and song-thrush from the neighbouring -copse pouring forth the indescribable riches of their God-taught -vespers as the sun went down; and did we not, then and there, vow, -in utter forgetfulness of finch and skylark, that no music of earth -could for a moment compare, in execution and compass, in distinctness, -and cheeriness, and purity of note, with these matchless twilight -strains? The truth is that no music is equal to bird-music--wild-bird -music, that is--in its season, and amid all its natural surroundings; -and the probability is that we shall give the preference at any -time to the melody of one bird over that of another, not on any -well-defined principles of choice or selection in the matter, but -simply in accordance with our own prevailing mood and temperament -of the moment. Such, at least, has been our own experience; but the -reader has every opportunity at this season of studying the question -for himself and deciding. Except that of the nightingale, perhaps the -music of no bird has attracted so much attention by its beauty and -suggestiveness as the merry trill of the skylark's ascending song. The -poets of every country in which it is to be found have vied with each -other in their praises of the only bird that sings as he soars, and -soars as he sings, scaling on quivering pinions the aerial terraces -of heaven, until he can scarcely be discerned, a music-showering -speck against the background of the blue profound! The other day -we fell in with some curious verses by the French poet Du Bartas, -in which he strives, and not altogether unsuccessfully, to imitate -the merry trill and rhythm of the skylark's song:-- - - - "La gentille aloüette, avec son tire-lire, - Tire-lire, à lire, et tire-liran tire; - Vers la voute du ciel, puis son vol vers ce lieu, - Vire et desire dire adieu Dieu, adieu Dieu!" - - -The last line, if rapidly repeated with the proper beat and -intonation, will be found a really very successful imitation of -the concluding notes of the lark's well-known song. Many of our -readers will remember that the North Uist bard, Ian Mac Codrum, -in his Smeorach Chlann-Domhnuill, manages very happily to imitate -the smeorach or song-thrush's notes in the burden or chorus; while -Alexander Macdonald--Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair--very naturally falls, -like the French poet, into an imitation of the wild-bird music of the -woods and groves in a stanza that may be quoted not inappropriately -at this season:-- - - - "Cha bhi crèutair fo chupan nan spèur - 'N sin nach tiunndaidh ri'n speuràd 's ri'n dreach, - 'S gun toir Phoebus le buadhan a bhlàis - Anam-fas daibh a's caileachdan ceart, - Ni iad ais-eiridh choitcheann on uaigh - Far na mhiotaich am fuachd iad a steach, - 'S their iad--guileag-doro-hidola-hann - Dh-fhalbh an geamhra's tha'n samhradh air teachd!" - - -The lines of Du Bartas have little meaning in themselves, and -are untranslatable, being simply an attempt on the poet's part, -in some odd moment of hilarity and abandon, to embody the notes of -the skylark's song in something like articulate verse. The general -sense of Macdonald's lines describing the irrepressible inclination -of all living creatures to be jubilant and joyous at the return of -spring, cannot better be rendered than in the first part of Scott's -introductory stanza to the second canto of the Lady of the Lake, only -that the return of spring in the one case, instead of the return of -morn in the other, prompts to the outburst of gladness and song:-- - - - "At morn the black-cock trims his jetty wing, - 'Tis morning prompts the linnet's blithest lay, - All Nature's children feel the matin spring - Of life reviving, with reviving day; - And while yon little bark glides down the bay, - Wafting the stranger on his way again, - Morn's genial influence roused a minstrel grey, - And sweetly o'er the lake was heard thy strain, - Mixed with the sounding harp, O white-hair'd Allan-bane!" - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - Severe Drought--The Drive by Coach from Fort-William to - Kingussie--Breakfast at Moy--Where did Scott find Dominie Sampson's - "Pro-di-gi-ous!"?--Professor Blackie's Poem on Glencoe. - - -That the people of Lochaber and the Western Isles should be rejoicing -in the advent of heavy rains [August 1869], and seriously glad at the -reappearance of clouds in the heavens and mists upon the mountain -tops, may seem odd enough to those who know anything of our usual -meteorological characteristics; yet true it is, and of a verity that -so it is, for here, as elsewhere, the heat was for many consecutive -weeks intense, and the parching drought and fierce glare of a summer's -sun from a constantly unclouded sky well nigh unbearable by man or -beast, whether in the sheltered valley, where for days and days no -breath of air shook the tiniest leaflet or ruffled the surface of the -sullen tarn, or on the upland moor, where, if breath of air there was, -it was hot and stifling as the breath of a furnace. Were it not for -the occasional sea breezes, that sometimes of an evening swept over -the almost pulseless deep, and copious falls of blessed night-dews, -we should have been badly off indeed. But, as matters have turned out, -we have much reason to be thankful, for if our crops are not quite so -heavy as in average years, they are at least of excellent quality, -and being ripe sooner than usual, we have a chance of getting them -secured in a condition that will add immensely to their value. So -thorough and persistent was the drought even with us, that springs -failed that never before were known to refuse their waters to the -thirsty; and water-courses that heretofore, even in the driest years, -still presented shady pools connected by purling rivulets, were for -weeks together arid and waterless as the course of an ancient lava -stream. As you wandered among the hills you could set your fusee -alight on a stone in a torrent bed over which in ordinary summers -rolls a volume of foaming waters. The demand for beer wherever you -went was in these circumstances something wonderful; and at times, -on the arrival of coach or steamer with its load of panting tourists, -the bawling from husky throats for a supply--an instant and copious -supply--of the delicious liquid was sufficiently amusing. One of -the happiest illustrations of the proverbial close treading of the -ridiculous on the heels of the sublime, and the wafer-like thinness -of the partition that divides the sentimental from the absurd, was -Dr. Johnson's celebrated parody on the quasi-sentimental style of -poetry so much in vogue in his latter years--and sooth to say too much -in vogue in our day as well--a style as unlike the school of Pope as -you can well imagine, and the very antipodes of the sturdily masculine -and didactic strains which Johnson, an intellectual giant--for there -were giants in these days--alone accounted true poetry:-- - - - "Hermit hoar, in solemn cell, - Wearing out life's evening grey, - Smite thy bosom, sage, and tell - What is bliss? and which the way? - - "Thus I spoke; and speaking sighed; - Scarce repressed the starting tear; - When the smiling sage replied,-- - 'Come, my lad, and drink some beer!'" - - -And very well hit off, you will confess; an arrow shot from an Ulysses' -bow at the puling whimperers of a namby-pamby sentimentalism that they -miscalled poetry; but if we dared for the nonce to take these lines in -a more serious and literal sense than their author intended, we should -say that in such hot and parching weather as we have recently had, and -are still having, there is more "bliss" in a good draught of "Allsopp" -or "Bass" than is dreamt of in the philosophy of the sentimentalists, -and thousands upon thousands of this season's tourists are ready, -we'll be bound, to homologate this statement. - -It was Dr. Johnson, too, if we remember well, who spoke loudly and -dogmatically, as was his wont, of the delightful feeling that one -has in being rapidly whirled along a good road in a post-chaise; -and remembering the unsteadiness of the "Rambler" on his pins, and -his unwieldy corporation, one can readily understand that he found -the means of locomotion referred to the easiest and most enjoyable -possible. Our own experience of post-chaises has, sooth to say, been -somewhat of the slightest, but in lieu thereof we would recommend -a well-appointed public coach, with sound, well-cared-for horses, -a steady and obliging driver and guard, good roads under foot, and a -bright sky above all; and such a conveyance we on a recent occasion -found the mail-coach between Fort-William and Kingussie to be; and -such a driver and guard, the two in one, is the renowned "Davie Jack," -who knows his work, and does it too, in a style that reminds one of the -old "Defiance" in its palmiest days; while the weather, if anything, -was too fine, too bright and cloudless--the best fault it could have, -however, since it is impossible that the weather on any particular -day should be faultless, any more than that any human being should be -perfect. Nothing, indeed, can be finer than the drive through Lochaber -and Badenoch to Kingussie, except perhaps the drive back again. With -mountain scenery on all hands, unsurpassed even in the Highlands for -wild, and savage, and solitary grandeur; with foaming torrents dashing -down the steeps, torrents that at a distance and at this season look -like so many threads of purest silver constantly being absorbed and -inwefted with the river, that, with a voice more hushed, and a quieter, -kindlier step, still gladdens and fertilises the valley as it seeks -the sea; with loch and river scenery the most attractive and lovely; -and all, in short, that you can reasonably look for of the grand or -beautiful from the sea coast to the central Highlands. With all this, -and the redoubted "Davie" to handle the ribbons, as only "Davie" can -handle them--said "Davie" the while as full of anecdote, and joke, -and local tradition as an egg is full of meat--with all this we say, -and much more that might be mentioned, the man who cannot enjoy -such a journey at this season is little to be envied; for, be his -other qualities and qualifications what they may, his non-enjoyment -of such a drive clearly proves one of two things,--either he is -physically unwell, and out of sorts, and had better stay at home; or, -æsthetically, he has no eye for, and no appreciation of, some of the -most splendid scenery in the Highlands, and in that case is less to -be blamed than pitied. Even in winter we should say that this was the -readiest, as well as the most pleasant, line of intercommunication -between the north-western Highlands and the south. It were, finally, -unpardonable in us, who enjoyed it so much, not to mention the very -excellent breakfast on the up-journey, and the equally excellent and -substantial "tea," or tea-dinner rather, on returning, to be had in -the shepherd's house at Moy. It may seem unromantic and prosaic to -say so, but it is a fact nevertheless, that one's appreciation of the -sublime and beautiful--let Mr. Edmund Burke say what he likes--is not -a little enhanced by a due supply of creature comforts pari passû. If -one cannot carry the comforts of home about with him, any more than -honest Bailie Nicol Jarvie could carry about with him the comforts -of the "Sautmarket," it is no small matter to meet with good cheer -off a snow-white cloth, with the attentions of a smart, intelligent -serving girl, in odd and out-of-the-way places, where you least expect -it. Altogether, a trip by the Fort-William and Kingussie mail-coach -during the present fine weather is very enjoyable indeed--superior, -upon the whole, we should say, to the "Rambler's" post-chaise, not -forgetting that the latter is a solitary and somewhat surly sort of -business, whereas in the former you have the chance of pleasant and -agreeable companionship, in addition to its other attractions. - -For one to make a discovery, and to think that oneself has made a -discovery, are two widely different things. We readily acknowledge -the distinction. That we have made a discovery we shall not venture -to affirm, but we think we have. Our discovery, if discovery it be, -is this, that Sir Walter Scott is indebted for Dominie Sampson's -"prodigious!" to Boswell's Life of Johnson. Who can think of the -worthy, kind-hearted, most unsophisticated, and withal most learned, -albeit life-long kirkless parson, without instantly recalling his -favourite exclamation of "Pro-di-gi-ous?" We stumbled on our discovery -in this wise:--A few evenings ago we were reading the third volume of a -very fine edition of Boswell's "Johnson," kindly placed at our disposal -by Lady Riddell of Strontian--and a good edition of a good book is no -small matter to one so far removed from libraries as we are--when we -came to a page that described Johnson's meeting with a gentleman who -had been his companion at Pembroke College, Oxford, some fifty years -previously. Mr. Edwards, for that was the gentleman's name, and Boswell -accompanied Johnson home, where, in course of conversation, Mr. Edwards -said, addressing Johnson, "Sir, I remember you would not let us say -prodigious at college. For even then, sir (turning to Boswell), he was -delicate in language, and we all feared him." Now, can any one doubt -that it was having his attention particularly called to the word in -this passage that made Scott first ponder the absurdity of using a word -of such volume and import on every trifling occasion, and caused him, -possibly at a long subsequent date (for Scott's memory, as we know, -was prodigiously retentive--there the word, you will observe, is pat -and appropriate enough--prodigiously retentive, we say, of words, -phrases, and odd turns of expression)--to put it so frequently as -an exclamation of unspeakable, indescribable import into the mouth -of honest Sampson, whom you can no more help laughing at, at times, -than you can loving him with all your heart always? The matter, after -all, may seem a trifle, and it is a trifle, but such trifles are dear -to the lovers of literature. Were Boswell in the flesh subsequent to -the publication of Guy Mannering, and had his attention drawn to such -a matter, slight as it seems, what a delightful chapter of gossip -he could write about it, with fresh reminiscences of his long and -intimate intercourse with his "illustrious friend," for whom till his -dying day he cherished so much veneration and awe, ever-more mingled -with most pardonable pride that he knew him as no one else knew him, -and loved him as no one else loved him, or perhaps could love him. - -We have just been reading our friend Professor Blackie's poem on -"Glencoe." The manner in which he "goes at" his subject, to use a -sporting phrase, the life, and vigour, and swing, and fervour of -the whole, is most refreshing in these days of poetical (save the -mark!) namby-pambyisms, and eminently characteristic of the learned -Professor when at his best. Here you have him, like a knight of the -Middle Ages, high in his stirrups, with lance in rest, "Dh'aindeoin -co theireadh e!" blazing on his shield, and who shall dare to stop -his fierce career against the perpetrators of the foulest deed -on record? Less polished and less artistic than Aytoun's "Widow of -Glencoe," it is, nevertheless, the better poem, on such a subject, of -the two. Its very ruggedness and stern headlong force are its chief -charm, they best befit the theme. Blackie is terribly in earnest; -with Aytoun you cannot help feeling it was a mere matter of sentiment -and no more. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - O the Barren, Barren Shore--Brilliant Auroral Display--Intense - Cold--Birds--Glanders--Scribblings on the Back of One Pound Notes. - - -During a week's pleasant and gentle thaw [February 1870], we had -hoped that the worst of winter was come and gone; but to our no small -disappointment the genial interregnum has been followed by another -heavy fall of snow, and a wonderfully keen and biting frost, which, -borne on the wings of a surly nor'easter, has again bound up the earth -as if with fetters of iron. Under such circumstances the sea-coast, -we take it, presents the most dreary and desolate-looking winter -picture imaginable; far more so, to our thinking, than either moss, -or moorland, or mountain range. There is a something inexpressibly -dismal and dowie in the black crape-like belt of sea beach which -divides a landscape deeply clad with snow and frost-bound, from the -dull and leaden coloured deep beyond; the dashing of the waves of -said deep upon the shore, uttering the while a sadly funereal and -dirge-like moan. If our inland friends, in view of the wintry waste -around them, take up the cry of "O the dreary, dreary moorland"--we, -dwellers by the sea coast, have the best possible right to finish -the Tennysonian line by exclaiming "O the barren, barren shore." It -must, by the way, have been on some fair summer eve that the Crown -officials first thought of depriving landowners of the sea-shore -privileges hitherto enjoyed by them; had it been in winter, the idea, -it strikes us, would have withered in the bud; they would have fled -the very sight of the dark and dreary "foreshore," and wisely confined -themselves to the shelter of their Woods and Forests! - -It is worthy of record that the present severe snow-storm was -ushered in by a very splendid and in many respects peculiar auroral -display. Shortly after dark on Friday evening, a faint auroral film, -over which an occasional streamer flashed impetuously, over-spread -the northern heavens. All this, however, soon died away, and the -north assumed a cold, clear, frosty aspect. Between seven and eight -o'clock many meteors, some of them of great brilliancy and beauty, -were observed to cross and recross the zenith and its neighbourhood in -all directions. Towards the latter hour, however, these ceased, and -all of a sudden, in a very few seconds at most, the whole celestial -hemisphere from E.N.E. to W.S.W.--from horizon to horizon--appeared -completely spanned by a magnificent auroral arch, eight degrees -in breadth; like a glorious bridge of a single semi-circular span, -with its edges or parapets of a deep blood-red colour, and its centre -part or roadway of frosted silver; the rest of the heavens, in all -directions, being the while of an inky blue, and cold and cloudless, -without the slightest appearance of anything like streamers to be -seen anywhere. Some idea of the brilliancy of this auroral arch may -be formed from the fact that such bright stars as Arcturus, Castor -and Pollux, Aldebaran, Mars, and others, which lay along its path, -became quite dim, and when located near the centre and brightest part -of the stream, almost invisible. Even Venus, which once or twice was -overlapped for a few minutes by the arch's margin only, lost all its -lustre and sheen, and had a burdened anxious aspect, as if the forehead -and "face divine" of a mighty intelligence laboured under the shade -of deep and profound thought. For upwards of an hour did this splendid -auroral arch continue to span the heavens from horizon to horizon, and -undergoing little or no change, until its final disappearance, by what -seemed a process of gradual contraction into itself and towards its -terminus in the east-north-east, whence it started. Such was the very -singular meteoric phenomena by which a severe snow-storm and an amount -of cold almost unparalleled in its intensity was ushered in on the -western sea-board of Scotland in February of the year of grace 1870. - -And how fares it with our feathered favourites, the wild birds, in -these hard times? Fertile as they are in resources, and indefatigable -in providing for the wants of the passing hour, all their little -shifts must frequently prove inadequate to the supply of their daily -wants in such trying times as these. St. Valentine's day has come -and gone, but neither in copse, nor hedgerow, nor ivy-mantled wall, -find we as yet any traces of nidification, nor has the love-prompted -warble, in past years so loud and incessant at this season, been yet -heard around us. The robin only cheeps; the sparrow simply chirps; -the linnet merely twitters; and even the "gay chaffinch" can only give -us a disconsolate "fink, fink," in place of his well-known glad burst -of choicest and cheeriest song. The mellow chaunt of the merle and -song-thrush delights not yet the ear from copse or brake at early morn -or evening-tide. The intense and piercing cold, which, on the wings -of the northern blast, sweeps over the land as we write, and as it -moans, and sighs, and wildly shrieks by starts in its progress over -the deep, causes the lone sea-bird to utter its eeriest and wildest -cry, has succeeded in freezing, not only the rivulet and the pool, -but has actually bound up the voice of gladness and every source -of joyful utterance in all our feathered friends as well. But "nil -desperandum," better times are coming. Fields will yet be green, -trees will yet be leafy, rivers unbound from icy fetters will yet -dance merrily in the sun, and laugh with all their ripples, as they -hasten seawards; and then "again shall flowers appear on the earth; -the time of the singing of birds shall have come, and the voice of -the turtle be heard in our land." - -Are glanders incurable? is a very ugly, but doubtless a very -important question, which is being at present keenly discussed in -the columns of several metropolitan journals. By glanders is meant, -not the equine disease in the equine subject properly so called, -and which comes so frequently under the treatment of the veterinary -surgeon, but the same frightful disease when introduced either by -accident or design into the human system. Is it curable? This is -the question, and the general impression seems to be, that when it -once fairly lays hold of the human system, it is, like hydrophobia, -quite and utterly incurable. We do not pretend to know anything of the -subject, and we allude to it merely to say that we well recollect of -hearing, on undoubted authority, of a patient who was actually cured -of glanders, caught, if we remember rightly, from eating some beans -found in a manger in which a horse having the disease had recently been -feeding. All the circumstances connected with the case and cure were -related in our hearing by the late Dr. John Reid, Professor of Anatomy -in the University of St. Andrews, one evening that we dined at his -house during our attendance at the University. It is now some eighteen -or twenty years ago, and we were then too young and thoughtless to -give that attention to the subject which it deserved. We recollect, -however, that the case was said to have occurred in Edinburgh, and to -have been treated in the infirmary of that city, and that the patient, -on his recovery, having been found shrewd, intelligent, and steady, -was afterwards appointed one of the janitors of that institution. There -must be some medical gentleman still in Edinburgh able to speak to a -case of such importance; and amongst others present on the occasion -that we heard Professor Reid refer to it, were, if we rightly remember, -Principal Sir David Brewster and Professor Martin, now of Aberdeen, and -at that time Mathematical Master in the Madras College of St. Andrews. - -The other evening a one pound note, which a lady friend of ours -had just received by post, was handed to us, with a request that we -should try and decipher some writing which was observed on the back -of it. After some little trouble, we were a good deal amused to find -that the writing in question really consisted of the following lines:-- - - - "I am a note of the British Linen; - I've long been kept by L. Mackinnon; - Where'er you go you'll find them willing - To give for me just twenty shilling.--L. M'K." - - -We have no idea who this poetical L. Mackinnon is or was, but it is -pretty evident, we think, that both he and the British Linen Company's -Bank note had very excellent opinions of themselves. It was Lady Louisa -Stewart, if we rightly recollect, who sent Sir Walter Scott a copy of -the following lines, which she discovered on the back of a battered -bank note which had come into her possession. It will be observed that -they are in all respects immeasurably superior to Mr. L. Mackinnon's:-- - - - "Farewell, my note, and wheresoe'er ye wend, - Shun gaudy scenes, and be the poor man's friend; - You've left a poor one; go to one as poor, - And drive despair and hunger from his door." - - -Let cynics growl and snarl as they list, some people HAVE hearts, -and the author of the above lines, be sure, had a right warm and -kindly one. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - A Wet February--A Good Time Coming--Sir Walter - Scott--Mr. Gladstone--Death of Sir David Brewster. - - -One swallow doesn't make a summer, says the proverb, and unless -one fine day (the 19th) makes a spring, we haven't for the last -six weeks [February 1870] and more had a single hour of a character -to be disassociated from one of the wettest and wildest winters on -record. No sooner has one storm died away, less from any voluntary -cessation on its part than from sheer exhaustion of its forces, than, -after a slushy, sludgy interregnum of brief duration, it has been -succeeded in every instance by another and another still of equal -or greater violence and fury, so that of quiet or calm we have known -little, and of sun or moon or stars we have seen hardly the briefest -glimpse since Old New Year's Day. When Foote, the incomparable comedian -(Johnson said of him that "the dog was irresistible"), after acquiring -and dissipating several fortunes, was at last lucky enough to be able -to set up his carriage in a more dashing style than ever, he selected -as his motto, and emblematical of his career, the words Iterum, -Iterum, Iterumque! (Again, and Again, and Again!) It has struck us -that if the Meteorological Society were to apply to the Herald's -College for a crest and armorial bearings to be displayed on the -title-page of their volume of "Transactions" for the first quarter -of the current year, we, should they do us the honour to consult us, -would suggest a cloud-cumulus, rain-surcharged, proper on the shield, -with Aquarius and the "watery" Hyades as supporters; Eolus ordering -"a fresh hand to the bellows" as a crest, and the Iterum, Iterum, -Iterumque of Foote's chariot as a motto of singular appropriateness -and meaning. How delighted, by the way, must our amphibious friend -Mr. Symons be in the midst of all this rainfall! His crest again -should be a man's head on a fish's body in an overflowed meadow, -natant, and his supporters an anemometer and rain-gauge proper! It is -needless to say that anything like spring work is with us not only in -a very backward state, but has hardly been commenced. Before the end -of February we had our own corn seed and potatoes in the ground last -year. If we get them down this year any time during the next month, -it will be earlier than the weather at the date of the present writing -promises. Our ornithological studies extend over a greater number of -years than we care at this moment very accurately to count; but never -have we known our wild-birds so listless and loveless on Shrovetide Eve -as they are this season. Except an occasional carol from the wren, who -has a soul as big as that of his namesake Sir Christopher, who built -the dome of St. Paul's (the wren also, by the way, is a dome-builder), -and an irregular strophe at rare intervals from the redbreast, our -woods are songless, and of nidification there is not a sign. Meliora -sperare, nevertheless, is sound philosophy. Let us hope for better -things: He is faithful that promised that while the earth remaineth, -seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and -day and night, shall not cease. Scott has few finer passages than the -following, which we are fond of repeating in such a season as this. It -occurs in his epistle to William Stewart Rose, introductory to the -first canto of Marmion, and, though very beautiful, is seldom quoted:-- - - - "No longer Autumn's glowing red - Upon our Forest hills is shed; - No more, beneath the evening beam, - Fair Tweed reflects their purple gleam; - Away hath passed the heather bell - That bloomed so rich on Needpath fell; - Sallow his brow, and russet bare - Are now the sister-heights of Yair. - The sheep, before the pinching heaven, - To sheltered dale and down are driven, - Where yet some faded herbage pines - And yet a watery sunbeam shines: - In meek despondency they eye - The wither'd sward and wintry sky, - And far beneath their summer hill - Stray sadly by Glenkinnon's rill: - The shepherd shifts his mantle's fold, - And wraps him closer from the cold; - His dogs no merry circles wheel, - But, shivering, follow at his heel; - A cowering glance they often cast, - As deeper moans the gathering blast. - "My imps, though hardy, bold, and wild, - As best befits the mountain child, - Feel the sad influence of the hour, - And wail the daisy's vanished flower; - Their summer gambols tell, and mourn, - And anxious ask--Will spring return, - And birds and lambs again be gay, - And blossoms clothe the hawthorn spray? - "Yes, prattlers, yes. The daisy's flower - Again shall paint your summer bower; - Again the hawthorn shall supply - The garlands you delight to tie; - The lambs upon the lea shall bound, - The wild birds carol to the round; - And while you frolic light as they, - Too short shall seem the summer day." - - -On her rich roll of worthies, Scotland has but few names of whom -she has more reason to be proud than that of Walter Scott. If we -had even said not one, an objector might perhaps find the assertion -more difficult to disprove than he wots of. Nor has the star of his -marvellous power and influence for good set or been extinguished; it -has only been clouded for a season by the intervention of exhalations -of the "earth, earthy"--exhalations that the growth of a healthier -and holier taste is already dissipating, and the Wizard's star shall -reappear in undiminished lustre, and young and old will clap their -hands and rejoice in its purity and power. Some years ago arose a -school of poetry that flared and flickered for a season, and found -admirers on the same mysterious principle, we suppose, that Antoinetta -Bourignon and Joanna Southcott found followers. It was happily styled -the "spasmodic" school; and it died and disappeared--the best thing it -could do. A new school has succeeded, that may be called the sensuous, -and, we had almost said, the lascivious, and with a strong tendency -to the reproduction in modern guise of all that was worst and best -in the ancient Greek drama. Of this school, Mr. Swinburne is, facile -princeps, the chief. It also will last but for a season, and will -die and disappear ignominiously, as did its predecessor. There is -yet another school, that has existed for some time longer--full of -missyism, sentimentalism, and languid goodyism--"too good for banning, -too bad for a blessing." It also is slowly dwindling, and dwining, -and dying, and must soon expire, leaving people hardly any better -or worse than it found them. And so with the novels of the day, -with their "sensations," their seductions, murders, and unspeakable -horrors, worse than were mingled in the bubbling cauldron of the -witches in Macbeth: their day is doomed; for purer taste, banished -but for a moment, must reappear--is already reappearing--and people, -awakening as if from a dream, will once again consent to quench their -thirst at healthier fountains, and to wander in less questionable -bye-paths. The poetry and novels of Scott will then resume their -attraction and reassert their influence and power; and whithersoever -he leads, no parent need be ashamed to follow, or feel obliged in the -interests of morality to forbid and forego the companionship of wife -or children through scenes where there is everything to delight and -nothing to offend. It is well that in the world of poetry and fiction, -as in social and political affairs, the maxim holds true that-- - - - "Res nolunt diu male administrari." - - -Of Mr. Gladstone, the politician, there are many more enthusiastic -admirers than ourselves, though we would not willingly be supposed to -yield to any one in our ardent admiration of his ripe scholarship and -unrivalled eloquence; but we shall think better of him while we live, -and have a kindlier and warmer interest in all he says and does, -on account of his recent eulogium on the character and writings of -Sir Walter Scott. - -And who can speak of Scott, or think of Abbotsford and Melrose and -the classic Tweed at the present moment, without also thinking of -Allerly and Sir David Brewster, one of the greatest men of science -that Scotland has ever produced; and greater far, as sometimes happens -in such cases, out of it than in it, for during full forty years, -wherever, throughout the habitable parts of the earth, science had -lit her lamp and could count her votaries, however humble, there -the name of David Brewster was familiar as a household word, and his -discoveries known and applauded. He was the first really distinguished -man of letters and science we ever knew, and it was while writing one -of the earlier chapters of this work, on a subject in which he felt -the keenest interest, and in connection with which we had occasion -to mention his name, that the grand old man, venerable in honours -and in years, was breathing his last, with a Christian resignation -to the Divine will, and a Christian's joyful faith in the Divine -mercy and goodness. Passing through the valley of death, he feared -no evil, for his Lord and Saviour sustained his steps. Through the -first Lady Brewster (née Macpherson), to whom we had the honour of -being known before we had yet seen her distinguished husband, we -were fortunate enough to be admitted, at the very beginning of our -curriculum at college, to a degree of familiarity with the Principal -of our University, that our relative positions would not otherwise have -warranted, and which we have the satisfaction to remember we had sense -enough to value highly and to be proud of even at that early age. It -was by his practised hand that the instrument was adjusted through -which we had our first view of two of the most beautiful sights that -the telescope reveals to us--Jupiter with his belts and retinue of -attendant moons, and Saturn with his rings; and very patient and -good-natured and kindly were his replies to our eager questionings -with regard to the nature of the wonders then first opened to our -gaze. Sir David, if forced into it, could fight, and never turned -his back on an assailant. If you hit him, he hit again, and he always -hit severely; but he was, notwithstanding, a man of kindest heart and -most amiable disposition, and it would be difficult to meet with any -one more cheerful or courteous or pleasant within the circle of his -own family and in his daily intercourse with his acquaintances and -friends. Requiescat in pace: he was in truth a great man. Not often -does it happen that in the same country, and within so short a time -of each other, two such stars so large and lustrous as Faraday and -Brewster have disappeared from the firmament of science. A century may -elapse ere the thrones they have left vacant shall again be adequately -filled. There is something extremely beautiful and affecting in one -of Sir David Brewster's last utterances upon earth. On the morning -of his death, Sir James Simpson, standing by his bedside, remarked -that it had been given to him to show forth much of God's great and -marvellous works; and the dying philosopher solemnly and quietly -replied, "Yes, I have found them to be great and marvellous, and I -have found and felt them to be His." - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - Long-Line Fishing--Scarcity of Fish--Their Fecundity--Large - Specimen of the Raia Chagrinea--The Wolf-Fish--The Devil-Fish. - - -For several years past [March 1870] the spring fishing with "long -lines" in our western lochs has been so unsuccessful as to be hardly -worth the while engaging in it. At our very doors, where with the -hand-line during the summer and autumn months, some ten or twelve -years ago, we could almost always depend on a large basketful of -the finest rock cod, gurnard, haddock, and flounder, as the result -of a couple of hours fishing, more recently very few, and sometimes -none at all, could be caught, with the cunningest exercise of all -the patience and piscatorial skill at our command, while in winter -and spring the long-line fishing of grey cod, skate, and ling, and -eel has been equally disappointing. Why it should be so no one would -venture to say; the utmost you could get out of the oldest fisherman -on the coast was an admission of the fact, with a shake of the head -and a shrug of the shoulders, that if so disposed you could very -readily interpret into the line, albeit unknown to him, that-- - - - "'Twas true 'twas pity, pity 'twas 'twas true," - - -a cautious reticence on the point that was altogether praiseworthy, -for really and truly nobody did know or could say anything satisfactory -in explanation of the mystery. Was it owing to the multiplication of -the number of steamers, screw and paddle, constantly coming and going, -and like Tennyson's "years" at their unamiable meeting, "roaring and -blowing," keeping the waters in perpetual turmoil, and scaring the -fish from their usual haunts? Such an hypothesis could be seriously -entertained for a moment only to be rejected. Could it be owing to -any cyclical meteorological changes, or to anything anomalous in the -order of the seasons? Admitting that something of this kind has been -going on for some time, and is still going on, it was readily seen, -nevertheless, that it was all too inappreciable and remote to have -had the result complained of--to cause that in the waters of "the -great deep" which it had failed to effect in any noticeable way on -the dry land. Or, was it that the fish themselves, by reason of their -numberless enemies, afloat and ashore, were actually diminishing in -numbers, and so necessarily becoming scarcer from year to year? No one, -however, knowing anything of the economy of the fish in question, -could for a moment entertain such an idea. The fecundity of these -fish is something incredible. We once had the roe of a female cod, -that weighed (the fish) six lbs., first boiled hard, and then divided -with tolerable exactness into so many ounces, and counting the number -of eggs in one ounce, and multiplying by the number of ounces in the -entire roe, we found, at a rough calculation, that in that single -fish, of no great size, there were upwards of a million and a half -of eggs--each egg destined to become a fish, and, barring accidents, -to attain to the average age and size of its kind. But however we -may try to account for the scarcity of these fish in our lochs for -several years back, it is an agreeable duty to have to record that -during the past winter and spring there has been a marked improvement -alike in the quantity and quality of the fish caught all along the -western seaboard. Not only have the common fish of our own coasts -been taken in considerable numbers, but several kinds of fish formerly -known only as occasional visitors to our shores have this season been -plentiful in all our lochs, and have well repaid the diligence of their -captors. The long-nosed skate, for example, formerly a rare fish with -us, has this season been common. It is known to ichthyologists as the -Raia chagrinea, and is not only excellent eating, but from its enormous -liver supplies a large quantity of very fine oil, that burns with a -clearer and steadier light than that of any other fish with which we -are acquainted. We are convinced, by the way, that, used medicinally, -it would be found equally efficacious with cod liver oil in all cases -where the latter is recommended, whilst its rather agreeable taste and -flavour would render it a tolerably palatable dose in its purest and -strongest state, which cod oil never becomes, manufacture, and decoct, -and clarify it as you may. A very fine specimen of the Chagrinea -was caught here about ten days ago. It was cut up and disembowelled -before we saw it, but we should guess that its weight when taken off -the hook could not have been less than 70 lbs. All the skates are ugly -brutes, and the long-nosed Chagrinea is at once perhaps the ugliest -and the best of its tribe. Some people don't eat skate, nor can we -say that we are partial to it ourselves, though we once heard a noted -gourmand declare that the "wing of a skate was equal to a shoulder of -a salmon." We should, for our own part, rather have the salmon. While -in Oban about a month ago, an extremely fierce-looking and ugly fish, -the name and character whereof not a little puzzled its captors, was -brought for our inspection. Luckily for our credit as a naturalist, -we had previously seen more than one specimen of the same fish with -the St. Andrews fishermen, it being by no means a rare visitor to -the eastern and north-eastern shores of Scotland. It was the wolf or -cat-fish, closely related to the family of the Gobies (Gobioidæ), -the Anarrhicas lupus of ichthyologists. The head of this curious -and most repulsive-looking fish has some peculiar markings, which, -with the fierce glaring eyes and their position in the face, and the -formidable array of long, sharp-pointed, recurved teeth, give it much -of the expression of an enraged cat, and hence doubtless its common -name. For the same reasons, and on account probably of its character as -a fierce, relentless tyrant among more amiable and less powerful fish, -it is known among the Channel Islands and along the coasts of England -as the wolf-fish. The only fish at all approaching it in ugliness and -repulsiveness of features is the better-known angler or fishing-frog -(Lophius piscatorius), which also, by the way, is not so common of -late years on our western coasts as it used to be. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - Birds--Contest between a Heron and an Eel. - - -With the exception of a slight drizzle on Saturday the last ten days -have been wonderfully fine for the season [February 1870]. Seldom, -indeed, have we been so near realising the "ethereal mildness" of -Thomson's "Spring" so early in the year. And, in sooth, it was high -time that some such pleasant change in the weather should take place, -for no living wight can remember anything so incessant and persistent -as were the rain and the storm of the previous six weeks. - - - "When frost and snow come both together, - Then sit by the fire and save shoe leather," - - -quoth Jonathan Swift, the honest Dean of St. Patrick's, being evidently -no curler, and more given to satire than to snow-balling; but really -for the six weeks above specified nothing less than the direst -necessity could tempt one to any other pastime than the prudential -and prosaic one recommended in the couplet. Grant him but license to -grumble, however, and man can endure, and that scathlessly, much more -than he wots of. And how easily is he after all restored to equanimity -and even cheerfulness! Here we are already, placid and pleased, -enjoying the fine weather; the cold and the wet and the boisterous -gales of January and December altogether forgotten, or, if remembered, -remembered only to give zest to the bright and sunshiny present. And -never, we believe, were song-birds in such free and full song on -St. Valentine's day. Morning and evening (the interval, you must know, -dear reader, is as yet passed in tender dalliance and nest-building), -from copse and woodland, ring out the richest strains of our native -warblers, thrush, redbreast, blackbird, throstle, white-throat, wren -(whom the Germans, on account of his indomitable pluck and pre-eminence -as a songster, term the kingbird), and a score of other "musical -celebrities," vie with each other in the richness and the melody of -their incomparable song. Within a month, should the weather continue -favourable as at present, most of our wild-birds will have finished -their nests, and commenced the labours of incubation. We trust that -our readers will do all they can this season to prevent children and -others from what is called "birds'-nesting," one of the most cruel -pastimes to which any one could turn himself. All good men, and most -great ones, have been remarkable for their attachment to animals, -both domesticated and wild, and particularly to song-birds. Listen to -Virgil's passing allusion to the subject in his Georgics, a magnificent -poem, of itself sufficient to immortalise the name of any one man:-- - - - "Qualis populea moerens Philomela, sub umbra," &c., - - -thus rendered into English:-- - - - "Lo, Philomela from the umbrageous wood, - In strains melodious mourns her tender brood, - Snatch'd from the nest by some rude ploughman's hand, - On some lone bough the warbler takes her stand; - The live-long night she mourns the cruel wrong, - And hill and dale resound the plaintive song." - - -And hear our own matchless "ploughman bard," in one of his sweetest -lyrics, The Posie:-- - - - "The hawthorn I will pu', wi' its locks o' siller grey, - Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o' day, - But the songster's nest within the bush I winna tak away-- - And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May." - - -Verily, dear reader, he who wrote that verse, despite the pious -murmurings of the rigidly righteous, and the cold shudderings of -religious fanaticism at his shortcomings, must have been a man of -largest heart and widest sympathies; and, properly understood, there -is much truth, and no irreverence, in his own finding, that even - - - "The light which led astray - Was light from heaven." - - -We were much amused the other day at seeing a heron, a long-necked, -long-legged bird, doubtless familiar to the reader, for once in -a "fix." We say "for once," for it is a most sagacious bird and -thoroughly master of its own particular rôle, which, it is needless -to say, is principally fish-catching. We were amusing ourselves on -the sea-shore during low-water, watching the habits of periwinkles, -hermit-crabs, star-fish, &c., when we observed a heron at some hundred -yards distance, leaping about, wriggling its body, and performing -other strange and unheron-like antics, as if it had suddenly gone -mad. Knowing the staid and sober habits of the bird in general, -we at once came to the conclusion that something extraordinary "was -up," and determined, if possible, to discover what it was. Making a -slight détour to avoid alarming him--for it was a he, a very handsome, -full-crested male--we easily managed to creep within fifty yards or -so of him, and the cause of his excitement and unwonted posturings -became at once apparent. He had caught an eel (a great dainty with the -heron family) of about two feet in length, and of girth like a stout -walking-stick, notwithstanding which, however, Mr. Heron would soon -have satisfactorily dined upon it, had he not made a slight mistake in -the mode of striking his prey. The eel was held in the heron's bill at -a point only some three or four inches from the extremity of its tail, -the greater part of its body and its head being thus left at liberty -to twist, and wriggle, and wallop about ad libitum. To swallow the -eel in this position the heron knew was impossible, and to let it go, -even for an instant, for the purpose of getting a better "grip" of -his slippery customer was altogether out of the question. The heron -was standing on the very margin of the sea, into which the eel, -if for a moment at liberty, would have shot like an arrow. It was -too large to be tossed into the air and recaught in its descent, as -herons frequently do with other fish; and in short the heron was at -his wit's end, and wist not what to say or do. To make matters worse, -the eel was wriggling and twisting about its captor's legs, breechless -and exposed legs be it observed, and might, for all we or the heron -knew, take one of them at any time between its teeth, and sharp and -cruel, as probably the heron knew, are an eel's teeth when any part -of an enemy has the misfortune to get between them. Apprehensive, -doubtless, of some such danger, the heron danced and shuffled about, -lifting now one leg and now another, as if he had been practising a -new and somewhat complicated hornpipe. He would at one time leap a -foot or two to one side, and immediately after spring into the air -as many inches, attempting the while to strike his prey against the -stones, but always failing in doing this effectually, owing to want of -sufficient "purchase" and the insecurity of his hold. Having watched -this novel combat for some time, we made a rush to the scene of action, -hoping to succeed in surprising, perhaps, both the spoiler and his -prey. We were disappointed. The heron instantly took wing, carrying -the eel for some instance in his sharp-edged and powerful bill, but -finally dropping it into the sea, doubtless confessing to himself, -as he indignantly winged his flight to another fishing ground, that -once in his life at least he had caught a Tartar. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - - Sea-Fishing--Loch and Stream Fishing--"Brindled - Worms"--Rush-Lights--Buckie-Shell Lamps--The Weasel killing a - Hare--Killing a Fallow Deer Fawn. - - -Though by no means everything that we could wish it, the weather of -the last fortnight [July 1870] was a decided improvement on that of -the preceding, and people have managed to get their hay secured in -tolerably good condition after all. No appearance of the much-dreaded -potato blight as yet; pity that it should show its unwished-for -face this year at all, for a finer crop never lay ripening in the -ground. Something has been done in herring fishing, and there is some -prospect of our having enough for local consumption at all events, -and perhaps a little over, which is no small matter in those dear -times. Other kinds of fish are plentiful, and, with sufficient leisure -for the pastime, there is hardly anything of the kind more enjoyable -in fine weather than an afternoon's or early morning's fishing with -rod or hand-line. You never, besides, see the country so well as on -these occasions, or so thoroughly understand the full force of the -poet's beautiful line, that in such scenes - - - "'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view." - - -Any number of trout, too--few of them, however, of any size--may be -caught at present in our inland lochs and mountain streams, and a -dish of these speckled beauties, fresh from the basket, is a very -good thing indeed, though the grilse and salmon eater may turn up -his nose in contempt and derision of such "small deer." Let him; we -shall be always prepared to take over his share along with our own! A -curious request was made to us a short time ago by a well-known book -"deliverer," who frequently passes this way, one of the keenest and -most successful fishers on lake or river we ever knew, and a very quiet -decent man to boot. "Will you allow me, sir, to put down some worms -in your place?" "To put down what?" we exclaimed in surprise. "Worms, -sir, brindled worms for fishing with, when the rivers are swollen after -heavy rains." We begged to have a look at the worms, and they proved -to be a variety of the common earthworm that we had never seen before, -the difference consisting in their being rather smaller in size than -the common earthworm, and prettily speckled and streaked all over -their length, whence, doubtless, their name of brindled worms. A lot -had been sent to him from Alyth, in Perthshire, very cunningly done -up in a bunch of damp moss; and, having a few left over after a week's -most successful fishing, he wished to deposit them in this, a central -part of his peregrinations, that they might multiply and be recoverable -at any time he wanted them. Holding one by the middle, between index -finger and thumb, in a manner that would have delighted the heart of -old Izaak Walton, the worm wriggling and twisting the while with all -the liveliness of an eel in similar circumstances, "There, sir," he -exclaimed, looking at the lively "brindled" as if he loved it, "there, -sir, is a bonny ane! no troot that ever swam could resist having a dash -at that in a brown and swollen stream." In answer to our questions, -he told us that the brindled colour of the worm had, he thought, a -good deal to do with the trout's liking for it, but, in his opinion, -the brisk and lively motions of the worm upon the hook was the main -attraction. The thing was so manifestly alive and active, and likely -to escape, if not caught at once, that the trout made a rush at it, -with his eyes shut, so to speak, and only discovered how thoroughly -he had been done, when, hooked and landed, he lay flopping helplessly -about on the green grass by the burn side. Getting piscator a spade, -he searched about for a suitable spot, and buried his worms beneath -the turf as tenderly as if he were laying babies asleep in their -cradles. "There now, sir," he remarked, as he finished his colonising, -"they will breed fast, and soon be plentiful enough hereabouts, and -they will destroy the common earthworm till not one can be found." So -that you see we had an interesting lesson on bait angling and the -natural history of earthworms very unexpectedly from a very unexpected -quarter. We still watch with interest if the assertion turns out to -be true, that the brindled worm exterminates the common earthworm, -notwithstanding their close relationship. Such a thing we know is -quite possible, a notable case in point being the extermination of -the old well-known black rat by the more modern coloniser, the brown. - -The amount of viva você information that one can pick up, not by going -actually to look for it, but in the most casual and incidental manner, -from all sorts of people with whom one may be brought in contact, -is simply extraordinary. Some, to be sure, will have nothing to -tell; they are as Dead Sea fruit, full of mere ashes, that never -had sap or substance for good to themselves or anybody else. Others, -again, may know much, but they are cautious and reserved, and never -venture beyond the most superficial and commonplace chit-chat; but the -great mass of people, if you approach them courteously and frankly, -will be found communicative enough, and if you go deftly about it, -you seldom work long in such mines without bringing some ore to the -surface. A day or two ago, for instance, we were sitting on a rock by -the roadside on the opposite shore of Appin, having rowed ashore from -our fishing ground to have a smoke and a drink of sparkling water -from one of the many rivulets that, like so many silver threads in -some rich embroidery, twist and twine with a glad music of their own -adown the green slopes of Benavere. An old man passing along the way, -with a bundle of rushes under his arm, saluted us with the quiet and -undemonstrative courtesy so characteristic of his class all over the -Highlands. We invited him to sit down beside us, and at once he sat -down and entered into conversation with us about the weather, crops, -fishing, and other such obvious matters as are seldom overlooked during -the first five minutes of a roadside crack at this season. By-and-by -we asked him about the bundle of rushes. There were too few of them -to be of any use as thatch, and we observed that they were not of the -kind generally used in basket-making--a common amusement for the idle -hours of shepherds, herdboys, and others in the past generation, who -made very pretty rush baskets for carrying eggs, butter, and other such -light goods to the nearest shop, and bringing back the tea, sugar, &c., -usually taken in exchange. What were his rushes for then? He gathered -them, he told us, from time to time, always selecting the largest and -best, for the sake of their pith, which served as wick for his lamp; -and he showed us the process of extracting the pith on the spot. He -first split the rush longitudinally, by running his thumb-nail along -its length, and then pressing his thumb transversely against the pith, -he ran it along until the whole beautifully soft and white substance -was gathered into a bundle free of its skin, the pith still remaining -unbroken by the deftness of the process, and easily extended at will to -its original length. This pith is inserted in the same manner as wick -in the lamp, and answers its purpose admirably. We recollect seeing -the thing before, but it is many years since, and we had thought that -cotton had everywhere, even in the remotest parts of the Highlands, -long since superseded the primitive rush pith as wick for lamps. "All -the people about me," said the old man, "now use paraffin lamps and -cotton wicks, but although perhaps I could afford these as well as -they can, I prefer the good old rush-light of my boyhood. I remember," -he continued, "when all the people in our hamlet gave a day's work -to the tenant of the adjoining farm for leave to gather rushes for -their lamps in the proper season. Fish oil of our own manufacture was -always used, and you will perhaps be surprised to hear, sir, that the -lamp was often a "buckie shell." "A buckie shell!" we exclaimed, "how -did you manage to fix it properly? You probably glued its keel to a -piece of wood or something of that kind?" "No, sir," was the response, -"we did not fix it at all. It was suspended from a cromag or hook of -wood or iron projecting from the wall near the fire-place by a string, -one end of which was firmly tied round the hollow dividing the whorl -at the smaller end of the shell, and the other round the furrow at -its larger circumference near the lip. The loop of the string was -then thrown over the hook, and thus suspended, the shell was filled -with oil and a rush pith inserted as wick, and it made a very good -lamp indeed, at once economical and serviceable. I recollect," said -the old man with a smile, "that my father, God rest him! who was a -very economical man, and hated everything like extravagance or waste, -allowed us just a shellful of oil for the winter's night. When that -much was spent, we had to tell our tales, sing our songs, and go on -with the work we might have in hand by such light as was afforded by -the blazing peat-fire, or let it alone till the next evening, just as -we pleased." Our friend concluded by declaring in very emphatic phrase -that "the people now are less industrious than they were then; have -more money in their hands, but use it less wisely; are less truthful, -less honest, less to be depended upon in every way than were the -people of his boyhood and their immediate predecessors." "Laudator -temporis acti," but there is some truth in it. You should have heard -how grandly and with what an air of dignity the old fellow spoke that -concluding sentence in the most beautiful and rhythmical Gaelic. The -buckie shell referred to above is the Buccinum undatum, or common -whelk, constantly to be met with on almost every shore. It is to be -understood, we suppose, that the larger specimens only would be used -as lamps in the manner described by our venerable friend. - -Of British quadrupeds--perhaps of all existing quadrupeds--the -pluckiest, and, according to its size and weight, by far the strongest, -is the common weasel (Mustela vulgaris). The other day a man in our -neighbourhood brought us a common brown hare, large and in excellent -condition, that had been hunted and killed by a weasel in a very -extraordinary manner. In the evening the man was going up a green glade -on the wooded hill-side in search of his cows, when he heard what he -took to be the screaming of a child on the other side of a small hazel -copse which he was passing at the moment. Supposing it to be a child -searching for cows like himself, that had fallen and hurt itself, -or that had perhaps been attacked by some stirk or quey, angry at -being disturbed in a favourite bit of grazing ground, he ran forward, -and hearing the screaming repeated, was astonished to find that it -proceeded from a hare that toilsomely and with staggering steps was -struggling up the steep. On closer inspection, about which there was -no difficulty, for by this time the poor hare was, in race-course -phrase, about "pumped out," and could barely stagger along, he was -more than astonished to observe that a weasel was extended couchant -along the hare's back, with his muzzle deeply sunk into the vertebræ -of his victim's neck, a position from which no exertion on the hare's -part could possibly dislodge him. Picking up a stone, the man rushed -forward and threw it with all his might, not so much at the hare as -at its lithe and blood-thirsty rider. The hare, however, was hit, and -fell, and with a gasp or two was dead; less from the blow than from -the terrible injuries inflicted by the weasel's teeth, from which, -under any circumstances, it was impossible that the poor animal could -have recovered. Before the man and a dog which accompanied him could -get at the wary weasel, it had with proverbial agility made good -its escape. On examining the hare, we found that it was in truth -dreadfully wounded, the ruthless Mustela having manifestly gone to -work in a very scientific manner, the little red-eyed wretch's motto -being "Thorough!" Once fairly on the back of his victim, he anchored -himself firmly by his teeth right in the centre of the nape of the -neck, just where the head is articulated to the cervical vertebræ; -and as no exertion of the hare could shake him off, he leisurely -dug down, drinking the blood and eating as he dug, until the poor -hare, faint and exhausted, could only stagger about in response to -each cruel dig of the dental spurs of its terrible rider. That a -creature so diminutive--weighing only about as many ounces as a hare -weighs pounds--should be able thus to mount and master an animal -so much bigger than itself, seems extraordinary, and is only to be -accounted for by a lithe agility in the assailant, to be met with -in no other creature perhaps, coupled with indomitable courage and -instinctive blood-thirstiness. We recollect some years ago that an -old man, a James Cameron, belonging to Achintore, near Fort-William, -was savagely assaulted by a colony of weasels, and very severely -wounded before he could get rid of his assailants. He was employed -by a neighbour to remove a cairn of small stones from a grass field, -in which it had long been an eyesore, from the centre of which cairn, -when he had wheeled away several barrows-full, six or seven weasels -rushed out and attacked him. So sudden and unexpected was the attack, -that before he could do anything to defend himself, his hands and -chin and cheeks--for they instinctively flew at his throat, which -was luckily guarded by the thick folds of a homespun cravat--were -severely bitten. One or two he killed by taking them in his hands, -dashing them to the ground, and trampling them under his feet; but the -others stuck to him with the pertinacity and viciousness of angry bees, -and it was only by running into a house that was at hand, for aid and -protection, that they ceased their attack and left him. Happening to -be in Fort-William that day, we recollect examining the man's wounds, -and getting the story of the weasel assault from his own lips. We -remember remarking how astonishingly deep and formidable were the -wounds, to be made by the comparatively small teeth, short though -sharp, of the weasel; and what was worse, they festered again and -again, and gave the man much pain and trouble ere they fully healed -up and disappeared. An old gamekeeper tells us that he once saw a -fallow deer fawn, upwards of six weeks old, killed by a weasel in one -of the Callart parks precisely as this hare was killed, and a fawn at -that age will weigh three times as much as a brown hare in ordinary -condition. In common with most people, we have rather a dislike to -the weasel, though one cannot but view with respect the courage and -pluck that carry him safely through such exploits as these. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - - Extraordinary aspect of the Sun--Sunset from - Rokeby--Mr. Glaisher--"Demoiselle" or Numidian Crane at - Deerness--The Snowy Owl in Sutherlandshire--Does the Fieldfare - breed in Scotland?--The Woodcock. - - -We have just had a week of the finest weather imaginable, dry, bright -and breezy, and with uninterrupted sunshine. The greater part of our -hay crop has, in consequence, been secured in splendid condition, -without a drop of rain, in fact--a piece of rare good fortune in -Lochaber. We do not know if the extraordinary aspect of the sun at -its rising and setting on Monday, the 13th instant [June 1870], was -noticed elsewhere by any of our readers. On the morning of the day in -question it presented a strangely mottled, yellowish copper-coloured -disc, so singularly unusual as to induce an old seaman, nearly -eighty years of age, in our neighbourhood, to call our attention -to the circumstance. In the evening a little before its setting, -it assumed a lurid blood-red colour, which was very remarkable, -and forcibly reminded us at the moment of Scott's lines in Rokeby-- - - - "No pale gradations quench his ray, - No twilight dews his wrath allay; - With disc like battle-target red, - He rushes to his burning bed, - Dyes the wide wave with bloody light, - Then sinks at once--and all is night." - - -We were unanimous in predicting an immediate and violent storm of wind -and rain, but the next morning came in bright, breezy, and cloudless, -and such it has continued ever since. Such phenomena, and the nature -of the weather following them, are always worth recording. Virgil, -in his first Georgic instructs the husbandman to confide in those -indications of the weather afforded by the aspect of the sun, for the -rather curious reason, however, that the obscuration of the solar orb -gave faithful warning of the impending fate of Cæsar! A very striking -instance of a form of sophism, well known to the logician, in which an -accidental circumstance is assumed as sufficient to establish efficient -connection. On the morning of Wednesday last we had a smart touch of -frost here in exposed situations--a strange and anomalous phenomenon -in the dog-days truly! But when we remember that Mr. Glaisher (who -for purely scientific purposes has put his life into greater peril -than any other living man), in his recent aerial ascent met with a -regular snow-storm at the elevation of only about one mile above the -earth's surface, we shall not wonder so much, perhaps, that a frost -current should, under certain circumstances, occasionally penetrate -earthwards even in the dog-days. We should have stated above that -on the 13th we carefully examined the solar disc with an excellent -four-feet telescope belonging to Ardgour, when it presented only two -"spots" or maculæ, and neither of these of remarkable size or form, -situated close together on the orb's south-western limb. - -We are glad to observe that the "Demoiselle" or Numidian crane -recently shot at Deerness has been preserved, and is to fall into -careful keeping. Its feeding on oats, however, is very extraordinary, -and only to be accounted for by the supposition that its natural -food was so scarce, in a locality so unlike its own sunny clime, -that it was fain to fill its crop with the readiest possible edible -that presented itself. The snowy owl, a specimen of which is stated -to have been recently shot in Sutherland, is by no means a rare -visitor in Britain. A pair, male and female, in full plumage, were -shot on the links of St. Andrews, by Captain Dempster, of the Indian -Army, in the winter of 1847, and are now, we believe, to be seen in -the University museum of that city. They have been known to breed -in Shetland, but never, so far as we are aware, on the mainland, -or anywhere, indeed, farther south than 59° or 60° of latitude. Is -the specimen in Mr. M'Leay's possession male or female? What is the -colour of its plumage--pure white, or slightly barred and mottled -with brown? These are important questions, and every account of such -rare visitors should be as minute in such particulars as possible. The -snowy owl, like the Arctic fox, hare, ermine, &c, is supposed to change -its plumage with the season, the immaculate white of its winter dress -being exchanged for a summer garb of mixed, spotted, and barred brown -and white. It is highly important that such a point as this should be -decided. The scientific name given it--Surna nyctea--is incorrect. It -is probably a misprint for Strix nyctea, so styled by Linnæus, and -after him continued as most appropriate by succeeding naturalists -without exception. In Sweden, where it breeds and is very common, -it is said to feed principally upon hares, hence Buffon calls it La -Chouette Harfang, the latter word being the Swedish for the white or -Alpine hare. It was the French naturalists, also, who first gave the -name Demoiselle to the Numidian crane, its symmetry of form, tasteful -disposition of plumage, and elegance of deportment, in their opinion, -fully justifying the complimentary appellation. Its economy was first -carefully studied, and a correct description of it given, about the -beginning of the present century by the naturalists who accompanied -the French expedition to Egypt under Napoleon, who, whatever his -faults were, was at least neither indifferent to, nor neglectful of, -the interests of the arts and sciences. Does the fieldfare breed in -Scotland? We are afraid the reply must still be in the negative. We -have little doubt that the bird seen by Mr. Fraser of Hamilton was the -missel-thrush, and that the nest and egg in his possession belong to -the same bird, that is, the Turdus vixivorus, and not to its congener -the Turdus pilaris. We are led to this opinion by the fact that the -female missel-thrush is very like the fieldfare in plumage, and not -very noticeably different in size. The nest referred to by Mr. Fraser -was, he says, situated in the fork of a tree, about fourteen feet from -the ground, exactly about the height the throstle generally fixes upon -for its nest, whereas, according to our best authorities, the fieldfare -builds at the top, or very near "the top of the tallest pines." We give -but little weight to the shape and markings of the egg as described, -for it frequently happens that the eggs of different birds, even -of the same species, differ in a very remarkable manner. The hint, -however, that the fieldfare may sometimes breed in Scotland is worth -attending to, and we have marked it down for future inquiry and -investigation. It was for long a question of fierce debate whether -or not the well-known woodcock bred in this country. The matter has, -however, been of late years completely set at rest by the researches of -naturalists, clearly bringing out the fact that it not only breeds in -Scotland, but that such an event, instead of being rare, is, on the -contrary, of comparatively frequent occurrence. This very season, -about the middle of May, one of Ardgour's keepers brought us the -wings of a young woodcock, with the quill feathers still pulpy and -soft, which, of the original bird, was all he could secure from the -clutches of a hawk that was breakfasting on the dainty morsel in -the woods of Coirrechadrachan. We also understand that at least two -woodcock's nests, with eggs in them, were known to some parties in -this neighbourhood at the beginning of the season. It is, therefore, -possible that the fieldfare may yet be proved to breed in Scotland, -but the evidence for the establishment of such a fact must be much -stronger than that brought forward by Mr. Fraser. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - - Extraordinary Heat and Drought--Plentifulness of Fungi--Cows fond - of Mushrooms--Shoals of Whales--A rippling Breeze, and a Sail on - Loch Leven. - - -If of late we had to admit--somewhat reluctantly be it confessed--that -it was "wet, very wet," even for Lochaber, we have it in our power -now at length [1st August 1870] to strike a different key-note, -and to say that it is dry, very dry; bright, very bright; hot, very -hot,--so dry, bright, and hot, in fact, that one might as well be on -the banks of the Nile or Niger as on the shores of Loch Leven, were -it not for a delightful sea breeze that never fails to come to cheer -and gladden us evening and morning; and then you may fancy--that is, -if you can swim, dear reader--the unspeakable delight of a headlong -plunge into the cool and sparkling waters of the advancing tide! The -heat is in truth something extraordinary, and if it weren't that you -felt yourself fast retrograding into the same condition, it would be an -amusing study to watch a certain class of people, generally the most -staid and stiff and correct possible, who, as a rule, would rather -die than violate the least of the proprieties, now going about in a -semi-nude state, as if they had just escaped from a lunatic asylum, -panting the while as if they were in the last stage of asthma, and -streaming with perspiration as if they had resolutely made up their -minds to melt away and dissolve like untimely snowballs. - -Crops everywhere are splendid, and, after all the rain of the earlier -part of the season, which gave them growth, this is just the weather -that suits them in their present stage, strengthening and consolidating -their tissues, and bringing them to a rapid and healthy maturity. The -meadow hay crop is unusually heavy everywhere. We saw a field belonging -to Mr. Maclean of Ardgour in the act of being cut the other day, and -we never saw anything finer or heavier fall before a scythe. This is -precisely the weather for securing such a heavy swathe in good order, -although one cannot but feel for the poor scythesman, who, brown as -an Indian and bathed in sweat, wields his glittering weapon under a -burning, blazing sun, such as at a pinch might serve the turn of our -cousins of Jamaica or Demerara. Some idea of the extraordinary heat -and drought of the past week may be gathered from the fact that it -was frequently found possible to stack or carry into the barn in one -day the hay that had only been cut on the day previous--something -hitherto unheard-of, we should say, in Lochaber, or, indeed, in any -part of the Highlands. - -We cannot recollect having ever before seen all kinds of fungi so -plentiful as they are throughout Lochaber this season. You meet -mushrooms of all sizes and of all shapes, both edible and poisonous; -while fairy rings are so common that you may encounter one or more of -them in every bit of old pasture and in every greenwood glade. One -of these rings we had the curiosity to measure a few days ago, -and we found its diameter to be precisely fifteen feet, giving it -a circumference of upwards of fifty feet, as nearly as possible a a -perfect circle, the emerald outline, studded with its peculiar pretty -white, button-like Agaraci, amid the lighter green of the surrounding -herbage, as distinct and easily traceable, even at several hundred -yards distance, as ever was halo round the moon. We noticed that a cow, -happening to come the way while we were examining another of these -fairy rings, ate them all with evident relish, browsing so steadily -along and around, that when she completed the circle she had not left -a single one. We hope that they agreed with her, though we should not -like to have joined in the repast, for we have a salutary horror of -the whole mushroom tribe. The so-called edible mushroom is said to be -delicious when properly cooked: should it ever in any form be a dish -on a table at which we are seated, we promise to give our share of it, -totus, teres atque rotundus, whole and unimpaired, to the first that -will accept it. To the present intense heat, coming so suddenly on -the back of long-continued rains, is probably due the extraordinary -abundance of all kinds of fungi. - -The shoal of whales at present disporting themselves in Lochiel, -intending probably, tourist fashion, to visit Inverness by-and-by, -via the Caledonian Canal, if they can only arrange it with the -authorities, did us the honour to visit Loch Leven, spending an -entire day with us, evidently very much to their own satisfaction, -if one might judge from their lively somersaultings and incessant -gambollings. These whales--a shoal of some five or six hundred, -we should say--were a very interesting sight as they gambolled about -within a hundred yards of us, blowing loudly the while and lashing the -sea with foam, until you might have heard the hurly-burly from the top -of the highest mountain in the neighbourhood. They were of all sizes, -from full growth, and old age perhaps, down to veriest babyhood. In the -shoal, two kinds of whale were mingled together in apparent amity and -good-fellowship: the common bottlenose (Baloenoptera acuto-rostrata of -La Cèpede--the highest authority on cetaceous animals), measuring some -twenty or twenty-five feet in length, and the broad-nosed or rorqual -whale (Baloena musculus, Linn.; B. rorqual, La Cèpede), from fifty to -sixty feet in length, and appearing beside a bottlenose, as they came -to the surface to breathe, like a Clydesdale horse beside a Shetland -pony. It will be strange if our friends at Fort-William do not manage -to bag some of them ere they repass the narrows at Corran Ferry. - -The heat is oppressive within doors; but Loch Leven, we observe, is -darkening under a rippling breeze from the south-east, and we are off -for a sail in our tidy, little craft, that, with lugsail sheeted home, -will go to windward of anything of equal size on the coast. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - - Herrings--Chimæra Monstrosa--Cure for Ringworm--Cold Tea Leaves - for inflamed and blood-shot Eyes--An old Incantation for the cure - of Sore Eyes--A curious Dirk Sheath--A Tannery of Human Skins. - - -However unproductive the herring fishing season may be quoad herrings, -and this has so far been the worst of a series of bad seasons -[September 1870], it rarely fails to provide more or less grist for our -mill in the shape of some rarity in marine life worth chronicling. A -very ugly and repulsive-looking fish, extremely rare too, was sent us -recently for identification. It was caught in Sallachan Bay, in our -neighbourhood, having become entangled in the corner of a drift net -which the fishermen were hauling into their boat in the grey morning, -after a long, wearisome, and profitless night's labours. We had seen -the fish before, though not often, and had therefore no hesitation -in recognising it as the Chimæra monstrosa--a scientific name, by -the way in which its lack of beauty is plainly enough indicated--a -cartilaginous fish, two feet in length, and of somewhat elongated and -hake-like form. The general colour is a dull leaden white, mottled -on the under parts with small spots of rusty brown. On examining -the contents of the stomach, they were found to consist of some very -small herring fry, along with partly digested fragments of the adult -fish, whence it may be concluded that the Chimæra's favourite prey, -when they can be had, is herring; a conclusion at which we might also -easily arrive from the fact that it is seldom or never met with on -our shores, except when herring are more or less plentiful. At one -time the Chimæra must have been a less rare fish than it is now, for -it has a Gaelic name, "Buachaille-an-Sgadain," the Herring Herd or -Herdsman. It was probably comparatively common in the good old times, -when even our more inland western lochs swarmed annually with herring -shoals, and so large was the capture, that the salt to cure them, -on which there was a considerable duty at the time, was frequently -retailed over a vessel's side at a shilling the lippy. The late -Colonel Maclean of Ardgour, who attained a great age, with intellect -clear and unimpaired, and who was most particular and exact in all -his statistics, has repeatedly assured us that, in his younger days, -say a hundred years ago, fifty thousand pounds worth of herring used -to be captured annually in Lochiel alone. We don't suppose that for -many years past herring to the value of a tenth of that sum have been -caught in all the lochs between the Mull of Cantyre and the Point -of Ardnamurchan. - -The reader probably knows what ringworm is--a fungoid eruption on -the skin, not uncommon in the spring and early summer in children -and young people of plethoric habits. There is a very wide-spread -belief over the West Highlands and in the Hebrides that ringworm -can be readily cured by rubbing it over and around once or twice -with a gold-ring--a woman's marriage ring, if it can be had, being -always preferred. In our younger days we recollect seeing the cure -applied on more than one occasion, whether with the desired result, -or ineffectually, we do not know--we probably little thought in those -days of kilts, cammanachd, and barley bannocks, of inquiring. For -many years we had neither seen nor heard anything either of the -disease or of its popular cure, until, by the merest accident, it -came under our notice a few days ago. Riding home one evening last -week, we observed two little girls and a sturdy long-legged haflin -lad sitting patiently in front of a cottage, the door of which was -shut and locked. The youngsters, rather better dressed than usual, -had come from a considerable distance, and we wondered what they could -be doing there. On mentioning the matter next day, we had the story in -full as follows:--The three were suffering from ringworm. The owner of -the cottage has a marriage ring of wonderful efficacy in curing this -epidermic distemper. They had come from one of the inland glens to be -operated upon, but the possessor of the ring was away in Glasgow, and -only returned home by steamer late that evening. When she did arrive, -the young people were duly manipulated and ring-rubbed secundum artem; -and in four and twenty hours thereafter we were gravely assured -they were quite healed. Any gold ring is usually employed, but the -particular ring referred to in this case is much sought after on such -occasions, because, as our informant said, it is of "guinea gold," -by which we suppose very pure gold, with the least possible alloy, -is meant; and because it is the property of a widow who was married -to one husband more than fifty years. A belief in the virtue of gold -rings in cures of ringworm is, as we have said, very wide-spread and -honestly held by many. Whether, in common phrase, there is "anything -in it," or the whole affair is sheer nonsense, we shall not take it -upon us to decide. We merely submit a common and curious article -of popular belief for the consideration of our grave and learned -dermatologists and the faculty at large. One thing is certain,--the -owner of the marvellous ring makes no vulgar profit by her frequent -use of it in such cases. She is in comfortable circumstances, and -the whole affair, as far as she is concerned, is a mere labour of love. - -Another popular cure, which for the first time came under our -notice recently, and which in many cases is really efficacious, as -we have heard averred by those who have been benefited by its use, -is the application of a poultice of cold tea leaves to an inflamed -or blood-shot eye. A handful of the leaves is taken from the pot, and -placed between two folds of thin cotton or muslin, and applied to the -eye at bed-time, kept in its place, of course, by a handkerchief or -other band tied round the head. In cases of weak or inflamed eyes from -any cause, this is reckoned, in this and the surrounding districts, -"the sovereignest thing on earth." And one can quite understand how -tea leaves, at once cooling and astringent, employed in this way, -may benefit a hot and inflamed eye. It is a simple application at -all events, and always at hand; and when more pretentious remedies -are not readily attainable, one would be unwisely prejudiced, if not -actually foolish, to suffer long without giving it a fair trial. - -A less simple and less readily available cure for sore eyes is the -following in old Gaelic verse:-- - - - Leigheas Sul. - - Luidh Challum-Chille agus spèir, - Meannt agus tri-bhilead corr, - Bainne atharla nach do rug laodh; - Bruich iad a's càirich air brèid, - S'cuir sid rid' shùil aig tra-nèin, - Air an Athair, am Mac agus Spiorad nan gràs, - 'S air Ostal na seirce; bi'dh do shùilean slàn - Mu'n eirich a gheallach 's mu'n till an làn. - - -In English, literally-- - - - (Take of) St. Columba's wort and dandelion, - (Of) mint and a perfect plant of marsh trefoil, - (Take of) milk from the udder of a quey - (That is heavy with calf, but that has not actually calved), - Boil, and spread the mixture on a cloth; - Put it to your eyes at noon-tide, - In the name of Father, Son, and the Spirit of Grace, - And in the name of (John) the Apostle of Love, and your eyes - shall be well - Before the next rising of the moon, before the turning of next - flood-tide. - - -We were recently shown a great curiosity--a dirk sheath said to be -made of human skin. Its history, as related to us by the owner, is as -follows:--In the summer of 1746, about two months after the battle of -Culloden, a detachment of Saighdearan Dearge, red (coated) soldiers, -or Government troops, was passing through Lochaber and Appin on its -way to Inveraray, the men amusing themselves, and enlivening the tedium -of the march, by burning and plundering as they had opportunity. When -passing through the Strath of Appin, a young woman was observed in -a field, busily engaged in the evening milking her cow. A sergeant -or corporal of the band leaped over the wall into the field, and -putting his musket to his shoulder, shot the cow dead upon the spot; -after which gallant exploit he began the most brutal ill-treatment -of the woman. She, however, defended herself with great courage, and -as she retreated towards the shore, she picked up a stone, which she -hurled at her persecutor with such good aim that it struck him full -on the forehead, stretching him for the moment senseless upon the -grass. She then fled towards a boat that was afloat on the beach, and -leaping in, rapidly rowed towards Eilean-bhaile-na-gobhar, an island -at a considerable distance from the mainland, where she was safe -from further annoyance. The tradition is so minute and precise that -the heroine's name is given as Silas-Nic-Cholla, or Julia MacColl; -and our informant declared himself to be her great-grandson. The -sergeant, stunned and bleeding, was picked up by his comrades, -and carried to the place of halt for the night, near Tigh-an Ribbi, -where, before morning, he died of his wound. His body was buried in -the old churchyard of Airds, but was not allowed to rest there. On -the disappearance of the soldiers from the district, the body was -exhumed by the people, and cast into the sea; not, however, before a -brother of Silas-Nic-Cholla flayed the right arm from the shoulder -to the elbow, and of the skin thus flayed was made a dirk sheath, -and this sheath we saw and handled with no little curiosity a week or -two ago. The sheath is of a dark brown colour, limp and soft, with no -ornament except a small virle of brass at the point, and a thin edging -of the same metal round the orifice, on which is inscribed the date -"1747," and the initials "D. M. C." There is no reason, we suppose, -to doubt the genuineness of the article, though we hardly expected -to find human skin--if it be human skin--of such thickness. It may, -however, be partly the result of the tanning process which it probably -underwent, and of time. In connection with this strange relic of a -past age may be stated the extraordinary fact--incredible, indeed, -if it were not thoroughly authenticated--that during the horrors of -the French Revolution there was a tannery of human skins for many -months in operation at Meudon. The raw material, so to speak, of -this strange manufacture, was the skins of the scores and hundreds -that were daily guillotined. It is asserted that "it made excellent -wash-leather." Montgaillard, a prominent character of the period, who -had the curiosity to visit the works, and saw the tanning process in -full operation, makes the following curious observation:--"The skin -of the men was superior in toughness and quality to shamoy; that of -the women good for almost nothing, so soft in texture, and easily -torn, like rotten linen!" We have had some rebellious revolutions, -civil wars, and all the rest of it in Great Britain and Ireland, -with their attendant iniquities, bad enough in all conscience, but -the French may fairly boast of having beat us; a tannery of human -skins is a venture and enterprise that no one has been pushing and -patriotic enough yet to undertake amongst us, even when axe and -gallows wrought their hardest in days happily long since passed away. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - - The Ring-Dove--A Pet Ring-Dove--Its Death--Shenstone--The - Belone Vulgaris or Gar-Fish--A Rat and a Kilmarnock - Night-Cap--Extraordinary Roebuck's Head at Ardgour. - - -The weather [October 1870] with us here on the West Coast continues -wonderfully mild and open for the latter end of October. Were it not, -indeed, for an occasional sprinkling of snow along the mountain summits -of an early morning, and finding as you wander about the pathways -everywhere bestrewn with fallen leaves, we might find some difficulty -in persuading ourselves, in weather so bright and summer-like, that -the season was at all so far advanced as it really is, that 1870, -with its immediate predecessor--the anni mirabiles of the century--had -already so nearly run its allotted course. A striking proof of the -exceptional mildness of the weather since mid-August is the fact that -a young wood-pigeon or ring-dove (Columba palumbus), not yet nearly -full fledged, was brought to us a few days ago from a nest in the -woods of Coirrechadrachan. We have kept it with the view of rearing -it as a pet, though the chances are all against us, the produce of -such late incubations having always less robustness and vitality about -them than birds hatched in spring or early summer. There is a little -difficulty, as a rule, in rearing the ring-dove, and getting it to -become even troublesomely tame, until it purrs and kur-doo's about -your feet, and rubs himself against you with all the familiarity and -empressement of a kitten begging for its morning allowance of milk. It -is, however, exceedingly quarrelsome and pugnacious among other pets, -and so jealous of any attention bestowed on any one but itself, that -it will pout and sulk for half a day if it considers itself injured -in this respect; and yet so little grateful is it for any amount -of kindness you may show it, that when full-grown it will take the -first opportunity that offers to escape into its native wild woods, -never more to look near you. One that we reared from the nest several -years ago had one very amusing habit. Every morning after being -fed he would watch the nursery door, which opened off the kitchen, -until he got it ajar, when he would leap upon the dressing-table and -spend a couple of hours in admiring himself in the looking-glass, -preening his feathers and strutting about and kur-dooing to his alter -ego with the most beauish, self-satisfied air imaginable, the poor -bird being evidently under the impression that his own reflection -was a Mademoiselle Ring-dove of irresistible attractions, and whom -he persuaded himself he was on these occasions busily courting in -the manner most approved of amongst the most fashionable circles of -ring-dovedom. His death was a singular one. A large Aylesbury duck, -with whom he used to have constant quarrels, he being invariably -in fault and always the aggressor, got a hold of him one day near -her ducking pond, and in a scuffle, which the ring-dove himself had -causelessly provoked, dragged him into the water, and beat him with -her wings until he was, like Ophelia, "drown'd, drown'd." - -We never see these very handsome wild birds, or hear their soft -melodious cooing of summer eve from the neighbouring woods, but we -think of Shenstone's beautiful lines-- - - - "I have found out a gift for my fair: - I have found where the wood-pigeons breed; - But let me that plunder forbear, - She will say 'twas a barbarous deed: - For he ne'er could be true, she averr'd, - Who could rob a poor bird of its young; - And I lov'd her the more when I heard - Such tenderness fall from her tongue. - - "I have heard her with sweetness unfold - How that pity was due to a dove; - That it ever attended the bold, - And she called it the Sister of Love. - But her words such a pleasure convey, - So much I her accents adore, - Let her speak, and whatever she say, - Methinks I should love her the more." - - -In the same poem--the Pastoral Ballad--occurs this exquisite verse:-- - - - "When forced the fair nymph to forego, - What anguish I felt at my heart! - Yet I thought--but it might not be so-- - 'Twas with pain she saw me depart. - She gazed as I slowly withdrew; - My path I could hardly discern: - So sweetly she bade me adieu, - I thought that she bade me return." - - -But alas, and woe the while! William Shenstone of the Leasowes, with -his many tuneful contemporaries, are forgotten, or at least unread, by -the present generation, and the poetasters of our day claim Parnassus, -its Castalian spring and Temple of Apollo, for their own! All we -can is that in rê poetica the taste of an age tolerant of such an -usurpation is little to be commended. - -A gentleman in the opposite district of Appin sent us a message a -few days ago begging us to go and have a look at what he termed -a rarissimus piscis, a most rare fish that had been caught in a -scringe net along with a lot of sethe and mackerel. In complying -with such messages we can seldom be charged with dilatoriness, -as most of our friends will bear witness. Nor was it otherwise in -this case; Cha be'n ruith ach an leùm, as the Highlanders say--it -was not a run but a rush, with a leap and a bound--when they would -emphatically characterise a person's conduct in going about anything -with extraordinary alacrity. The fish in question we found to be -an old acquaintance of ours, though so rare on the west coast that -we never saw or heard of it before during a twenty years' residence -in the country, and constantly, too, on the out-look for everything -in the shape and semblance of a rara avis, whether encased in fur, -feather, or scales. It was the gar-fish of British zoologists, -known in ichthyological nomenclature as the Belone vulgaris of the -family Scomberesocidæ, having the body, which is covered with minute -scales, elongated to a degree almost conger-like. It is frequently -captured on the east coast, sometimes intermingling with mackerel and -haddock shoals in considerable numbers. We have seen it in the Perth, -Dundee, and Edinburgh fish markets; never, as we have said, on the -west coast. It is said to be excellent eating when in proper season, -although there is a prejudice against its use amongst the fishermen -themselves; and it is a remarkable fact, by the way, that some of -the finest fish in the sea--most in esteem, at all events, with the -fish-eating public--are frequently rejected by their professional -captors for their own eating in favour of what we should call the -coarser and inferior kinds. For a long time we thought this was -entirely a matter of economy, those that brought the largest price -in the market being sold, and the inferior sorts kept for their own -consumption. Subsequently we had abundant opportunities of finding -out that it was far otherwise. An east coast fisherman will give the -preference at any time, for his own eating that is, to a flounder, -however flabby and flaccid, over a whiting or plaice; he will eat the -hake rather than the finest cod or haddock, and considers the wing of -a skate, dried in the smoke until it is of the colour of the darkest -mahogany, with a bouquet the very opposite, be sure, of the ottar of -roses, a tit-bit with which, in his estimation, neither sea-trout, -mackerel, nor turbot can for a moment bear comparison. Fishermen, too, -we have observed with some surprise, seldom eat their fish fresh; -they prefer it salted--salted, moreover, as a rule to a degree that -to other people would render it almost uneatable. For the prejudice -against the gar-fish there is, however, some excuse. In popular -superstition, "lang-nebbed" things have always been in bad odour; -and the gar-fish's snout is greatly elongated, so much so that it -bears no small resemblance to a curlew's bill, giving it a wicked, -vicious look, that its structure otherwise, however, belies; for -it is altogether incapable of hurting anything bigger than the -very small fry and marine insects on which it feeds. The prejudice -against the gar-fish is no doubt to be accounted for in part by the -curious fact that its bones are of a dirty green colour, strange -and perhaps disagreeable to an eye accustomed to the ivory-like -whiteness of the osseous structure of most other fishes that are -brought to table. We have seen specimens of the gar-fish captured by -the St. Andrews fishermen that exceeded three feet in length: the fish -more immediately referred to only measured nineteen inches. Our friend -has since written us a note to say that on being shown to a gentleman, -"professing to know something of ichthyology," he declared it to be -a specimen of the pipe-fish, which is just about as correct as if a -man said that a pelican was a parrot, or a pig was a giraffe. - -In one particular, at least, we resemble Dr. Samuel Johnson. We -have never during our whole lifetime once worn a nightcap. "I -had the custom by chance," replied the "Rambler," with a growl -at Boswell's inquisitiveness on the subject, "and perhaps no man, -sir, shall ever know whether it is best to sleep with or without a -nightcap." But if we don't wear a nightcap, some of our neighbours -do, and to one of these useful articles of nocturnal toilette befell -the following adventure a short time ago. One of our neighbours, a -fine old Highlander, still straight as a pine tree, and strong and -stalwart withal, though already past the grand climacteric, having -had occasion to be in the south in the early summer, bought himself a -speck and span new nightcap, which, neatly folded up along with some -braws for the gudewife, formed a parcel of which, you may be sure, -he was exceedingly careful on the return journey, constantly "keeping -his eye on it" all the way from the Broomielaw to Ballachulish Pier, -and watching over its safety as anxiously as if it contained the wealth -of the Rothschilds in Bank of England notes, or the title-deeds of -an earldom. When at last produced at home, and displayed before the -admiring gaze of a select few in every imaginable angle of light, it -was really a very fine nightcap, a sort of ribbed magenta-coloured -"Kilmarnock," with a tassel at top, in which were intermingled all -the hues of the rainbow, such a splendid tassel as was never before -seen in Lochaber: Cardinal Antonelli might have been proud of it -as a pendant to his hat. Having at last been sufficiently admired, -the nightcap was duly put to its proper use, and was found to answer -its purpose perfectly; but one night, while yet the gay Kilmarnock -retained almost all its pristine bloom, lo! it was amissing at bedtime -from its usual place of honour on the corner of its owner's pillow, -greatly to his annoyance you may believe, and not a little to the -surprise and consternation of his amiable bedfellow. Then, and for -weeks afterwards, all search for the missing nightcap was but so -much fruitless labour; nothing could be seen or heard of it, and it -was finally agreed on all hands that it must have been stolen by some -person whose honesty became weak as water in view of the Kilmarnock's -rare magenta colour and gay pendulous tassel. And the nightcap in very -truth was stolen, though the thief was probably actuated less by the -brilliancy of its colours than the cozy feel of its soft and silken -texture. Some time in mid-autumn the mystery was cleared up in this -wise. The nightcap owner was one day engaged in redding up his barn -preparatory to the ingathering of his crops, when a large rat bolted -from between his feet, and, scuttling across the floor, disappeared, -rat fashion, in a hole in the divot wall. A spade was instantly got, -and the hole dug about until its innermost recess was reached, in -which was found a gigantic dam rat with a litter of a dozen or more -young ones. These were all of them of course straightway despatched, -and the cozy nest of moss, dried grass, and nibbled straw scattered -about, when lo! as its foundation appeared the long missing bonnet de -nuit, the incomparable Kilmarnock, without a rent or tear, and its -colours as bright almost, and its tassel bobbing as coquettishly as -when first displayed on the points of the shopman's distended fingers -over the counter in the Cowcaddens. There was great rejoicing over the -reappearance of the nightcap, which is now again prized as highly and -watched over as carefully as if it were the nightcap of Fortunatus; -and the owner, a wag and humorist in a quiet way, as are most of -our old Highlanders, has composed a song on the subject (Oran do m' -Churrachd-oidhche), which, after some coaxing, we got him to repeat -to us some days ago. It pleased us immensely, and made us laugh until -our sides were sore. For the benefit of our readers we may dash off -a translation of it some evening or other when we are "i' the vein." - -Going to call at Ardgour House one day last week, and taking a short -cut through the woods, we came across the keeper just as he had shot -a roebuck, the largest we think we ever saw, and with the finest -head. The horns were something extraordinary, both as to size and -shape, so much so, indeed, that although we have in our day met with -many fine ones, we never saw anything for a moment to be compared -with these. We have, for instance, a roebuck's head of our own, -kindly given us some years ago by Lochiel, the horns on which are -allowed to be uncommonly good ones; but we find that they are nearly -two inches shorter in the beam, and less by nearly a whole inch in -circumference of root of antler at its junction with the skull than -those of the specimen shot in Ardgour on Tuesday. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - - The "Annus Mirabilis" of Dryden--1870 a more wonderful Year - in its way than 1666--Winter--Number of Killed and Wounded - in the Franco-Prussian War--Battles of Langside, Tippermuir, - Cappel--Carrier Pigeons--The Velocity with which Birds fly. - - -One of Dryden's best poems, and in many respects one of the most -curious poems in the language, is the Annus Mirabilis, an effusion -of historical panegyric, which, after the lapse of two centuries, no -one can read unmoved or undelighted, so beautifully is it written, -so masterly is the versification, and so vividly are its events -portrayed. The year commemorated is 1666, and the "wonders" that -entitled it to such pre-eminence were the naval war with the Dutch -and Danes and the great fire in London. If 1666, however, was an annus -mirabilis, surely 1870 is an annus mirabilior, a more wonderful year -still, nay, an annus mirabilissimus, if you like, for you shall go -back in our annals very far indeed--much farther, if you try it, than -at the outset you might think at all necessary--before you meet its -match. Just consider, first of all, the great Franco-Prussian war, -with its countless hosts of slain; with its sieges of Strasbourg, -Metz, and Paris, not to mention strongholds of less importance; -its capitulation of Sedan and captive Emperor; the Empire ruined, -and a Republic in its place, with all that may yet happen ere peace is -proclaimed and the Germans have recrossed the Rhine. Think, again, of -the promulgation of the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, so speedily, -and let us say unexpectedly, followed by the capture of Rome and -the dethronement of this very infallible Pope as a temporal Prince, -by the Catholic (proh pudor!) King of Italy. At home, a daughter of -the Queen, with the royal consent and concurrence, marries one of -that Queen's subjects, for we suppose we may regard the matter as -a fait accompli, an event so unheard-of and unusual that we must -go back for an exact parallel for more than two hundred years, -when the Duke of York, afterwards James II., "a man of many woes," -married the Lady Anne Hyde, daughter of Lord Chancellor Clarendon, -whose history of the Rebellion is one of the most interesting, and, -on account of its inimitable portraiture, one of the most valuable -works of its kind in the English language. If to all this be added such -events as the loss of the "Captain," built and armed on a principle, -the ultimate adoption or rejection of which will so materially affect -the navy of the future; the revision of the Authorised Version of the -Scriptures; and many other matters, both at home and abroad, that will -readily occur to the reader, this may be regarded as a very wonderful -year indeed. Occupying the centre, as it were, of all these events, -we are too near them at present to appraise either their magnitude -or importance at their legitimate value. Not the man at the base of -a lofty tower, but he who stands at some distance from it can take -its proportions aright, and we may depend upon it that the reader -of the history of our period a hundred years hence will turn to the -page that records the events of 1870 as at once the most interesting -and important in the annals of many centuries. Reverting for a moment -to the Annus Mirabilis of Dryden, it is but fair to acknowledge that -they seem to have had one wonder to boast of in 1666 that we cannot -claim for 1870, to this date at least; the wonder in question being -two blazing comets in the nocturnal sky. Describing the English fleet -advancing to attack the enemy at night, the poet, with a boldness of -hyperbole for which he is always remarkable, says-- - - - "To see that fleet upon the ocean move, - Angels drew down the curtains of the skies; - And Heaven, as if there wanted lights above, - For tapers, made two glaring comets rise!" - - -But if we have no comets to boast of in 1870, let not the reader -forget that the 14th November is nigh at hand, and that he who gets up -betimes on the morning of that day, and watches till the daybreak, will -assuredly witness a sight more startling, and grand and "glaring" than -Dryden's comets, wonderful and startling as they doubtless were. We -must be permitted one other extract from this extraordinary poem. It -describes the state of the contending fleets and the feelings of their -respective crews on their withdrawing for a time from an engagement -that resulted in something like what at the present day we should -call a drawn battle:-- - - - "The night comes on, we eager to pursue - The combat still, and they ashamed to leave - Till the last streaks of dying day withdrew, - And doubtful moonlight did our rage deceive. - - "In th' English fleet each ship resounds with joy, - And loud applause of their great leader's fame; - In fiery dreams the Dutch they still destroy, - And, slumbering, smile at the imagin'd flame. - - "Not so the Holland fleet, who, tired and done, - Stretch'd on their decks, like weary oxen lie; - Faint sweats all down their mighty members run - (Vast hulks which little souls but ill supply). - - "In dreams they fearful precipices tread, - Or, shipwreck'd, labour to some distant shore; - Or in dark churches walk among the dead; - They wake with horror, and dare sleep no more." - - -We do not know whether the reader will agree with us, but we look upon -these verses as wonderfully fine, and upon the Annus Mirabilis as, -of its class, amongst the finest, if not the very finest, poem in -the language. - -Even from a meteorological point of view, this year, in our part of -the country at least, has had not a little of the mirabilis about -it. Byron, we know, awoke one morning and found himself famous, and -we awoke one morning last week and found ourselves in mid-winter, -albeit the previous day had been mild, and calm, and sunny, and -bright as if it were Whitsuntide, rather than the Eve of St. Luke the -Evangelist. Since then we have had incessant storms, shifting about -and sometimes blowing from every point of the compass within the -four-and-twenty hours, with such deluges of rain as Lochaber alone -can supply in season, or sometimes, entre nous, out of season as -well. The mountain summits are, at the moment we write, covered with -a lamb's-wool-like coating of virgin snow, and the air has become -so chill and raw that we were fain some days ago to don our winter -habiliments for the season. We have no right or reason to complain, -however; a finer summer and autumn were never known in the Highlands, -and since winter must come some time or other, it is better that it -should come in season. The fourth week of October is not a bit too -early for snow, and sleet, and storms, so that when we hear the -winds howling over ferry and firth, and the waves breaking with -sullen roar upon the vexed strand, and listen to the rattle and -the dash of rain and sleet upon the window panes, we shall, first -taking care that the shutters are properly closed and the curtains -drawn, just draw our arm-chair a little nearer the fire, which our -"lassie," you may be sure, has trimmed betimes, like Horace's boy, -large reponens peats and coals thereon, and then, with the Courier, -Scotsman, or Standard on our knee, or a stray copy of the Saturday -Review or Spectator, which some distant friend has kindly sent us, -or some fresh volume from Ardgour's library, the worst we shall say -will be in the words of poor old Lear, "Blow wind, and crack your -cheeks! rage! blow!" blessing God the while that if our lot be a -humbler one, it is also a happier one than the poor old king's. - -A good deal has been written about the enormous numbers of killed -and wounded in the present Franco-Prussian war, the fact being -nevertheless, as we learn on competent authority, that notwithstanding -the improvements made of late years in arms of precision, there were, -considering the numbers engaged, quite as many men disabled as in the -good old days of "Brown Bess" in the wars of the first Napoleon and in -our battles in India. Mr. Hill Burton, in one of his recently published -volumes of the History of Scotland, and an admirable and very impartial -history it is, tells us that in the battle of Langside, an historical -combat on the issue of which so much in the after history of England -and Scotland depended, 10,000 men were engaged for three-quarters of -an hour, with a loss to the Queen's party of 300 hors de combat, while -the victors only lost one man! A very extraordinary fact certainly; but -a more wonderful fact still, and neither Mr. Burton nor his reviewers -seem to be aware of it, is that of the battle of Tippermuir, fought -in 1644, between the Covenanters and the famous Marquis of Montrose, -in which Montrose was victorious without the loss of a single man on -his own side, although of the Covenanters between four and five hundred -were killed in the battle and pursuit. Another curious thing connected -with the battle of Tippermuir was this: a body of Highlanders, keen -enough for the fray, were without arms of any kind, when Montrose, -pointing to the stones that thickly strewed the field, advised them -to try these to begin with, and they did, appropriating the arms -of their enemies as they fell, and using them with such effect that -the battle proper was over in less than half an hour. The only other -battle that we can recollect in which such primitive weapons as stones -were employed by the combatants was that of Cappel, fought in 1531, -between the Protestants of Zurich and the Catholics of the neighbouring -cantons. It was in this battle that the celebrated reformer Zwingle, -or Zwinglius, met his death. He was first of all knocked down by a -stone that, fiercely hurled, struck him on the head, and then, with -the exclamation, "Die, obstinate heretic," the sword of Fockinger of -Unterwalden pierced his throat, and the reformer was no more. - -The reader has, of course, seen in the papers how beleaguered Paris -keeps up communication with Belgium and the provinces, by means of -balloons and carrier pigeons. Of balloons and ballooning we have no -practical experience; of carrier pigeons we do know something, the bird -being as well-known to us as is a robin redbreast to a gardener. We -kept them for some time, but were obliged to get quit of them on -account of their ineradicable propensity to purloin our neighbours' -turnip seed from the drill immediately after being sown and before -they got time to sprout. All pigeons have this habit, but the carrier -worse and more persistently than any other. The speed and power of -wing appertaining to the carrier pigeon is extraordinary, and if not -well attested would be deemed incredible. We remember, for instance, -that at the Christmas of 1845, when a student at the University of -St. Andrews (best as well as oldest university in Scotland, gainsay -it who may!) we spent our holidays at Kirkmichael, a pleasant little -village in the Highlands of Perthshire. On leaving St. Andrews we took -with us a carrier pigeon, a magnificent bird. On the 1st of January -1846, at the hour of noon precisely, we gave this bird, with a bit -of narrow blue ribbon tied under his wing, his liberty on the bridge -of Kirkmichael. When let out of his basket he instantly soared up in -a sort of spiral flight, ascending and ascending cork-screw fashion -until he seemed to the eye no bigger than a wren, then straight -and swift as an arrow from a bow he urged his flight southwards, -and became lost to view. On returning to St. Andrews, we found that -our bird had reached his dovecot, eagerly watched and waited for -by his owner, as the College bells were chiming one o'clock on the -same day, so that it must have done the distance, about fifty-four -miles as the crow flies, in about one hour, or very nearly at the -rate of a mile a minute. Now, it must be remembered that this was -the bird's ordinary flight. He doubtless sought his distant home in -what one might call a brisk and business-like manner, nor swerved, -we may be sure, an inch from his course, nor loitered by the way. He -was going well--very well, if you like--throughout, but not going -his best. The probability is that under extraordinary pressure, with -a falcon in chase, for instance, the same bird could and would have -gone twice as fast, or at a rate of something more than a hundred -miles an hour. If the reader likes to experiment in this direction, -he can easily try it with the common domestic pigeon, as we have done -more than once. Years ago we recollect a brother of ours taking, at -our suggestion, a common black and white pigeon from the dovecot here -to Oban, where, at a preconcerted hour on a day agreed upon, he set it -at liberty. The bird took nearly two hours to do the distance, some -twenty-three or twenty-four miles as the crow flies; but it probably -lingered some time by the way to feed, as, instead of being well fed, -which should always be strictly attended to, it received no food -at all on the morning of its liberation at Oban. The house-pigeon, -however, is useless except for comparatively short distances, and -even then is never to be much depended upon. His extreme domesticity -predisposes him to pay a visit to every dovecot on the route, and to -fraternise with every flock of brother pigeons he may happen to fall in -with. His peculiar mode of flight, besides, and his extreme timidity, -mark him out as an easy and desirable prey for any keen-eyed hawk or -falcon that may be at the moment impransus, as Johnson in his early -days once signed a note in London--dinnerless. The common pigeon, -too, wings his flight at a comparatively low altitude, and becomes an -easy shot to any one with a gun ready to hand when it passes by. Not -so the true carrier pigeon, which flies at a great height, far out -of range of needle-gun or artillery--out of range of human sight, -in fact; so that it is never in danger of being brought to grief, -as was poor Gambetta in his balloon when passing above the Prussian -lines the other day. The velocity with which some birds fly is almost -incredible. A hungry falcon, with his blood up and in eager pursuit -of his quarry, will fly at the rate of 150 miles an hour, and keep -it up too until his object is attained; and the tremendous impetus -of the bird at such a speed accounts for the dreadful wounds that -a falcon inflicts when it strikes its prey, sometimes ripping up -a grouse, or blackcock, or mallard, from vent to breastbone, as if -it had been done by the keen edge of a butcher's cleaver. A goshawk -(Falco palumbarius) belonging to Henry of Navarre--the Henri Quatre -of after days--having its royal owner's name engraved on its golden -varvels, made its escape from Fontainebleau in 1574, and was caught -in Malta within four-and-twenty hours afterwards--a distance of 1400 -miles, or at the rate of sixty miles an hour, supposing him to have -been on the wing the whole time. But a hawk never flies by night, -so that, on a fair computation, the bird's speed in winging the -enormous distance must have been at the rate of at least 100 miles an -hour. We have calculated that a snipe, thoroughly alarmed, and going -its best, can fly at the rate of a mile a minute, and there are other -well-known birds equally fleet of wing. Nor must it be supposed that -the velocity of birds is a mere "flash-in-the-pan," so to speak--a -"spurt," as it were--which could not be kept up. The long-sustained -flights of migratory birds proves the contrary--that birds are not -only inconceivably fleet, but, to use a racing term, that they can -stay as well. Of our more familiar birds, we should say that the -common wild duck of our meres flies with greater velocity than any -other bird with which the reader is likely to be well acquainted. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - - Signs of a severe Winter--The Little Auk or Auklet--The - Gadwall--Falcons being trained by the Prussians to intercept - the Paris Carrier Pigeons--Ballooning--The King of Prussia's - Piety--John Forster--Solar Eclipse of 22d December 1870--The - Government and the Eclipse--Large Solar Spots--Visible to the - naked eye--Rev. Dr. Cumming--November Meteors. - - -It must have been in view of some such scene [November 1870] as the -early morning presents to the eye at present that Horace began his -celebrated ode to Augustus-- - - - "Jam satis terris nivis, atque diræ - Grandinis misit Pater"-- - - -Enough, enough of snow and direful hail! Or if you prefer the wintry -scene in the ninth Ode-- - - - "Vides, ut alta stet nive candidum - Soracte, nec jam sustineant onus - Sylvæ laborantes: gelûque - Flumina constiterint acuto?" - - -Which our countryman Theodore Martin thus renders-- - - - "Look out, my Thaliarchus, round! - Soracte's crest is white with snow, - The drooping branches sweep the ground, - And, fast in icy fetters bound, - The streams have ceased to flow." - - -The snow-clad Soracte itself could not wear a colder or wintrier aspect -than does our own Ben Nevis at this moment. We have, in truth, had a -great deal of sleet and snow and rattling hail showers of late, with -bitterly cold winds and frost enough to induce one to don his warmest -habiliments when venturing abroad, and thoroughly to appreciate the -comforts of a bright and blazing fire within doors. Winter, in short, -has fairly set in; and we must just battle with its inclemencies -as best we may until a more genial season has come round. And an -unusually inclement and severe winter is this likely to prove. Our -lochs and estuaries are swarming with Arctic sea-fowl, that already -venture quite close to the shore, and seek their food in the most -sheltered bays, a sure sign that much cold weather, with heavy -gales from the north and north-west, cannot be far away. Among these -web-footed visitors from the far north we have observed two that are -extremely rare on our part of the west coast, even in the severest -winters. One of these is the ratch or auklet (Alca alle, Linn.), -a very pretty little black and white diver, the smallest bird of -the genus with which we are acquainted, a little more rotund in form -and of a robuster frame than the well-known dipper of our streams, -but otherwise very like it. Another is the gadwall (Anas strepera), -a species of duck very rare in our north-western waters--a very -pretty little duck, with a remarkably loud and harsh voice, so loud -that on a calm frosty day it reaches you over a sea surface distance -of several miles. We have only identified the latter at a distance -by the aid of a powerful binocular. It is not a difficult bird to -recognise, however, on account of its distinct markings, and we are -as confident that we have repeatedly seen it during the present month -as if we had it in our cabinet. And talking of birds, what does the -reader think the Prussians are up to now? Annoyed at the ballooning and -pigeon-carrying by means of which beleaguered Paris manages to keep up -communication with the outer world, the Germans are training falcons -to be employed in coursing and capturing such carrier pigeons as may -be observed passing over their outposts and siege works. Such at least -is one item in the last batch of news notes from Versailles. If the -Prussians really mean this, all we can say is that it is "a fine idea, -but impracticable," as Hannibal said of Maharbal's suggestion to push -on to the capture of the Capitol after the battle of Cannæ. In the -first place it is allowed on all hands that a few months at most, -probably a few weeks, must decide the fate of Paris one way or -other, while a hawk, to be employed as proposed, requires years of -carefullest training ere it can be depended upon as an aerial cruiser -in any way subject to human control, nor, even if it were otherwise, -could a sufficient number of falcons for the purpose be procured in -Europe or elsewhere. Such an attempt at an aerial blockade must prove -a failure. Even from a well-trained hawk, under the most favourable -circumstances, a carrier pigeon ought to be able in nine cases out of -ten to make good its escape by reason of the velocity and altitude -of its flight. Depend upon it that in all time to come ballooning -and pigeon carrying will be employed by a besieged city, as Paris -employs them now; and while gas can be had to inflate a balloon, and -a carrier-pigeon is available, there is nothing that a besieging force -can do to prevent the constant voyaging of such aerial messengers. One -result of this war will be that carrier pigeons will be bred in larger -numbers, and more highly valued than ever--carrier pigeon dovecots in -each city at the public expense--while aerial navigation by means of -balloons, having lost much of its terrors, will more and more become -a common and every-day mode of locomotion. There is an "Aeronautical -Society" in England, which boasts the names of many distinguished men -on its roll of members, but which, nevertheless, couldn't in twenty -years have done so much for aerial navigation as the Franco-Prussian -war has done in little more than a month. Most people, by the way, -have been disgusted with the King of Prussia's repeated appeals for -Divine aid and pretended recognition of Divine guidance, while wading -at the head of his forces knee-deep in a mare magnum of bloodshed and -carnage from the Rhine to the Seine. One anecdote, apropos of a king's -pretended piety and close alliance with the Divine powers in all his -undertakings, we have not seen quoted. It is this: some person once -calling on John Forster, took occasion to remark that the Emperor -Alexander (of Russia) was a very pious man. "Very pious, indeed," -observed Forster, with tremendous sarcasm, "Very pious, indeed; -I am credibly informed that he said grace ere he swallowed Poland!" - -Preparations on a large scale are being made on the Continent and in -America for observing the great solar eclipse of the 22d December, -with a care and precision never known in the examination of a similar -phenomenon. Never before, indeed, could a solar eclipse be observed -and analysed in its every phase as this one will be. Aided by the -spectroscope, polariscope, photometer, and photograph, with the most -powerful telescopes, and meteorological and magnetic instruments of -the utmost delicacy and exactness, it will be strange, indeed, if -our knowledge of the chemistry and constitution of the great central -orb is not very largely increased on this occasion. In our country -the eclipse will be a partial one only. At the moment of maximum -obscuration, supposing the sun to consist of twelve digits, about nine -digits, or three-fourths of the disc, will be occulted. According to -Edinburgh mean time the eclipse will begin at 10 h. 54 m. morning; -maximum observation, 0 h. 8 m. afternoon; and of eclipse, 1 h. 22 -m. afternoon. A glass of very moderate powers is sufficient for -observing such partial eclipses. Partial though this eclipse is, -however, no phenomenon of the kind of equal magnitude will be seen -again in our country till August 1887, when the eclipse will be very -nearly, though not quite, total. - -Never, perhaps, has the solar disc been so constantly and so largely -crowded with maculæ, or "spots," as during the present year. Some of -these spots have recently been very large. On the 9th of the present -month, for instance, there was an immense circular spot as nearly -as possible on the centre of the solar disc, like a bull's-eye in a -bright target of living light, which a little before sunset was plainly -visible to the naked eye. It was the evening of the Fort-William market -day, and we drew the attention of several people returning from the -fair to the unusual phenomenon. One jolly old fellow, who had probably -been largely patronising the "tents" on the market stance throughout -the day, would insist upon it that he saw, not one big spot on the sun, -but two or more--and perhaps he did. A few days previously a perfect -stream of maculæ of all sizes might easily be observed along the solar -equator, looking for all the world as if a flock of ravens were at -the moment passing, in struggling order within the telescope's field -of view, between us and the sun. At the moment we write these lines, -there is a very large spot half-way between the solar centre and -its western limb, that towards sunset, if the sky is clear, might, -we think, be discerned by the unaided eye. Auroral displays, too, -still continue to render our nights, though at present moonless, -and frequently cloudy withal, bright and cheerful by their broad and -mysterious effulgence. - -The November meteors of the present year seem to have made little -or no display anywhere. Here it was wet and cloudy, so that we could -not have seen them even if the sky was ablaze with them. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - - November Rains: 1500 tons per Imperial Acre!--Rainfall in Skye--An - old Gaelic Apologue--The Drover and his Minister--Grand Stag's - Head--Scott as a Poet--Mr. Gladstone and Scott--An old Lullaby - from the Gaelic. - - -With the exception of two, or at most three, tolerably fine days at -the beginning of the month, December [1870] has been hardly less -rainy and generally disagreeable than November itself, and this, -although in November a fall of 18 inches--1500 tons of rain water -to the imperial acre--was duly registered. A recent communication -from Skye went to show that in the matter of rainfall that island is -far ahead, not only of Lochaber, but of every other station in the -kingdom--a pluvial pre-eminence which we had really thought belonged -to ourselves, but which, claimed for Skye on the impartial authority -of the rain-gauge, we give up ungrudgingly, simply exclaiming with -Meliboeus in the Virgilian eclogue-- - - - "Non equidem invideo, miror magis." - (In sooth I feel not envy, but surprise.) - - -"With such a rainfall as is claimed for Skye, one only wonders how it -is that the inhabitants of the island seem not to suffer a whit because -of it. As a rule, they are a robust and remarkably long-lived people; -and, what is even more surprising, they are exceedingly good-humoured -and cheerful--the pleasantest people in the world to meet with, -whether at home or abroad. There is an old Gaelic apologue current in -Lochaber, which may perhaps have some bearing on the point:--"It was -long, long ago that, in the grey dawn of an intensely cold January -morning, after a wild night of drift and snow, the heathcock of Ben -Nevis clapped his wings, and, in a loud, prolonged, interrogative crow, -addressed his first cousin by the father's side, the heathcock of Ben -Cruachan--'How do you feel yourself this morning, dear heathcock of -Cruachan?' 'So, so,' with a feeble attempt at wing-clapping, responded -the heathcock of Cruachan; 'So, so; miserable enough, believe me, -after such a night as last night was. And if I am thus miserable -down here, it only puzzles me to understand how you can at all endure -it, and live up there on Ben Nevis.' 'Thanks, my dear fellow,' with -a second vigorous clapping of his wings, quoth the Ben Nevis bird; -'Thanks, my dear fellow, for your kind and cousinly solicitude for my -welfare. Know this, however, that, bad as it doubtless is up here on -Ben Nevis, I am made to it.'" We can only suppose that our friends in -Skye bear this prodigious rainfall with such philosophic equanimity -and impunity because, like the heathcock of Ben Nevis, they are -"made to it." The first time we heard this apologue was many years -ago, in the cabin of one of the Messrs. Hutcheson's steamers. A -rubicund visaged drover--a fine-looking man, of burly frame and -Atlantean shoulders--had just swallowed quite half-a-tumblerful of -potent and unadulterated "Talisker" at a gulp rather than a draught, -when his parish clergyman, who happened to be reclining on a sofa -at the opposite side of the cabin, got up and expostulated with -his parishioner for drinking ardent spirits in such a way as that; -prophesying that unless he stopped it very quickly it would kill him, -and only wondering that it had not killed him long ago. The drover, -who was not aware until then that his minister was on board, and a -witness to his potations, respectfully took off his broad bonnet, and, -with a bow, begged to repeat the apologue, which he did, ore rotundo, -in the most beautiful Gaelic; the application being so manifestly apt -and pertinent to his particular case that we all burst out a laughing, -the venerable clergyman--now, alas, no more!--enjoying it as much as -any one that the tables had been so cleverly turned upon him. Fables -apart, however, the fact of the matter seems to be simply this, that -the humidity of the climate along our western sea-board, and amongst -the Hebrides, is in nowise inimical to robust health or longevity. It -is of course disagreeable enough at times, and frequently a sad -drawback on our agricultural prosperity; but a minute examination -of the vital statistics of the Western Highlands and Islands would -probably go far to show that our superabundance of rain is rather -favourable to health and long life than otherwise. Ach bi'dh sin -mar a chithear da, a beautiful Gaelic phrase literally. But be that -particular matter as it may seem to it,--what would most please us at -this moment would be a month or more of the good old-fashioned winters -of our boyhood, when everything was blanketed for weeks together -in soft and virgin snow, and the earth was at times so braced and -bound with frost that under the rapid tread and multitudinous rush -of all the village schoolboys at play, it rang again like a hollow -globe of iron! It is now, alas, dribble and drip, and splash, slop, -and slush from year's end to year's end. - -We are indebted to our excellent friend Mr. Snowie, of Inverness, -for a very curious and valuable stag's head, admirably stuffed, -which reached us the other day by steamer. It is a splendid trophy, -a veritable Cabar-Féidh, which the Chief of the Mackenzies himself, -when the clan was at its proudest, might be glad to have to adorn the -entrance-hall of Brahan Castle. The antlers are of immense girth and -spread; one, except for the brow tine, what is called a cabar-slat; -the other with two tines, each of them almost big enough for an antler -of itself. We have seen many grand and curious heads in our day, both -cabar-slats and multicornute; but this, which is properly neither the -one nor the other, is, from its size and peculiar style of antlers, -a trophy to be singled out and admired in a collection of the best -heads of the kingdom. It faces us as we write from the opposite -wall of our study, and constantly reminds us of Scott's magnificent -description of the stag that led Fitzjames and his attendants such a -merry dance in the Lady of the Lake. We must be pardoned for quoting -a passage with which every one is familiar:-- - - - "As Chief, who hears his warder call, - 'To arms! the foemen storm the wall,' - The antler'd monarch of the waste - Sprang from his heathery couch in haste. - But, ere his fleet career he took, - The dew-drops from his flanks he shook; - Like crested leader proud and high, - Toss'd his beam'd frontlet to the sky; - A moment gazed adown the dale, - A moment snuff'd the tainted gale, - A moment listened to the cry, - That thicken'd as the chase drew nigh; - Then, as the foremost foes appeared, - With one brave bound the copse he clear'd - And, stretching forward free and far, - Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var." - - -And yet some stupid people will ask if Scott was a poet! Even -Landseer never painted anything finer or truer to the life than that -word-painting of Scott's. Every one admits that Homer was a poet: well, -then, search the Iliad, point out anything better, or anything, entre -nous, quite as good, and when you have found it, please let us know, -and we promise to reperuse the passage, with every attention and care, -in the original of Homer himself, as well as in the translations of -Pope, Cowper, and Blackie; and if you are right and we are wrong, -we shall not hesitate to confess it, and humbly cry peccavi. Meantime -we shall continue steadfast in our belief that Scott is a poet, and -not only a poet, but a poet of the highest order; more "Homeric," -too, than any other poet you can name, either of the present or -past century; and that Mr. Gladstone has had the good sense and -penetration to discover this, and the courage to avow it, is one, -and not the least, of many things which make us have a liking for -that distinguished statesman and scholar. - -A lady, to whom we are indebted for numberless obligations of a like -nature, has sent us a copy of an old Gaelic lullaby or baby-song, -the composition of which must clearly be referred to the days when -cattle-lifting forays and spuilzies of every description were in high -fashion and favour with the gentlemen of the north-- - - - "When tooming faulds, or sweeping of a glen, - Had still been held the deed of gallant men." - - -It is in many respects so curious that we venture on a translation -of it. Attached to it is a very pretty air, low and soft and subdued -as a lullaby air should be, though consisting but of a single part, -as was always the case with such compositions, unlike ordinary songs, -which generally had two parts, and admitted of endless variations, -according to the taste and vocal capabilities of the singer. It is -proper to state that our version is not intended to be sung to the -original air, for which the measure we have selected is unsuitable. Our -only object has been to convey to the English reader the general sense, -with something of the spirit and manner, of the original. - - - A Lullaby. - - "Hush thee, my baby-boy, hush thee to sleep, - Soft in my bosom laid, why should'st thou weep; - Hush thee, my pretty babe, why should'st thou fear, - Well can thy father wield broadsword and spear. - - "Lullaby, lullaby, hush thee to rest, - Snug in my arms as a bird in its nest; - Sweet be thy slumbers, boy, dreaming the while - A dream that shall dimple thy cheek with a smile. - - "Helpless and weak as thou 'rt now on my knee, - My eaglet shall yet spread his wings and be free-- - Free on the mountain side, free in the glen, - Strong-handed, swift-footed, a man among men! - - "Then shall my dalt' bring his muim' a good store - Of game from the mountain and fish from the shore; - Cattle, and sheep, and goats--graze where they may-- - My dalta will find ere the dawn of the day. - - "Thy father and uncles, with target and sword, - Will back each bold venture by ferry and ford; - From thy hand I shall yet drain a beaker of wine, - And the toast shall be--Health and the lowing of kine! - - "Then rest thee, my foster-son, sleep and be still, - The first star of night twinkles bright on the hill; - My brave boy is sleeping--kind angels watch o'er him, - And safe to the light of the morning restore him. - Lullaby, lullaby, what should he fear, - Well can his father wield broadsword and spear!" - - -To the proper understanding of this curious composition, a few words -of comment and elucidation may be necessary. The lullaby must be -understood as sung by a foster-mother to her foster-son, the Gaelic -words from which the exigencies of verse oblige us to retain in our -paraphrase. In lulling her charge to sleep, the foster-mother fondly -anticipates the time when the boy on her knee shall have become a -full-grown and perfect man; her beau-ideal of a perfect man, observe, -being that, like the heroes of ancient song, he should be brawny -limbed, strong of hand, and swift of foot, able and willing at all -risks to seize and appropriate his neighbour's goods, especially his -cattle, whenever necessity--an empty larder--or honour urged him to the -adventure. The coolness with which the old lady commits her foster-son -to the immediate care and guardianship of the heavenly powers, in -the self-same breath in which she hopes and believes that he will, -when he becomes a man, prove an active and expert thief--a stealer of -beeves from the pastures of neighbouring tribes, in utter defiance of -the decalogue--is ludicrous in the extreme. To understand it aright, -we must recollect that in former times it was accounted not only lawful -but honourable among hostile tribes to commit depredations on one -another; and as hostility among the clans was the rule rather than the -exception, every species of depredation was practised,--cattle-lifting -raids, however, being accounted the most honourable of all, and in -the conduct of which the best gentlemen of the clan might without -a blush take an active part. The "lowing of kine," geùmnaich bhà, -occurring in this lullaby, was an old toast of the cattle-lifting -times, that the late Dr. Macfarlane of Arrochar told us, he himself had -often heard when a young man at baptismal feasts and bridals on Loch -Lomond side. The secret of it is this: The geùmnaich, or "lowing," -implied that the cattle were strangers to the glen, whilst those -that belonged to the glen itself, and were the bona fide property of -the clan, if such there were, were quiet and staid and well-behaved, -as decent cattle should be. The cattle "stolen or strayed," as the -advertisements have it, "lowed," and were troublesome; while those -born and bred in the glen were content to graze in peace, and to "low" -only when they deemed it absolutely necessary. "The lowing of kine," -therefore, was a toast that meant neither more nor less than success -to the cattle-lifting trade! As ancient Pistol says-- - - - "'Convey,' the wise it call. 'Steal!' foh, a fico for the phrase." - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - - Winter--Auroral Displays in the West Highlands always indicative - of a coming Storm--Corvus Corax--Wonderful Ravens--Edgar Allan Poe. - - -Snow continues to accumulate on the mountain summits [December 1870], -which all around, from Ben Nevis to Ben Cruachan, and from the peaks -of Glen-Arkaig to Benmore in Mull, now present so many Sierra Nevadas, -while you are conscious at last, and to an extent that admits of no -possible mistake on the subject, that the wind, which, whether it blows -adown the glen or across the sea, has a chill and penetrating edge to -it, is neither the breeze of autumn nor the zephyr of summer, but the -breath of winter itself--the hoary-headed and icicle-bearded season, -that, with all its drawbacks, has its uses in the general economy -as well as its gentler confrères in the annual. With the exception -of one or two pet days, the weather of the past fortnight has been -stormy and wild, with heavy falls of rain on the lowlands, and sleet -and snow among the mountains. In no one season since we first became -a student of the heavens, now more than a quarter of a century ago, -have we had so many splendid exhibitions of aurora borealis as the last -three weeks have presented us with in a series of tableaux vivants, -which, while they charmed and delighted the intelligent observer, -made the vulgar gape in astonishment and alarm. In every instance -these auroral displays have invariably been followed within twelve -hours by heavy gales of wind and much rain, and so constantly have -we noticed this sequence throughout the observations of many years, -that there is perhaps no meteorological prediction on which we should -be disposed to venture with so much confidence and boldness as that -within twelve or fifteen hours of a bright auroral display there -shall be a storm, and that that storm shall be of heavy rain or sleet, -as well as of high wind. We speak principally of the West Highlands, -but we have no doubt that observation would prove the phenomena to -be the same throughout the kingdom. If we were in command of a ship -at sea, we should consider ourselves quite as justified in making all -necessary preparations for a coming storm on the back of a brilliant -aurora, as we should on observing a sudden fall in the barometer, the -only difference being that the "merry dancers" give you longer notice -of the approaching gale than does the mercury. The latter exclaims, -"Look out!" and if you don't look out, and that instantly, calling -all hands and making everything snug, you come to grief, while time -enough generally elapses after the auroral warning, to enable you -to prepare at leisure for the coming storm, and, if it catch you -napping, the fault is all your own. The recent auroral displays seem -to have been very general over the whole of Europe, and are said to -have been unusually brilliant in Canada and the Northern States of -America. A more than ordinarily severe and protracted winter may be -expected after all these aerial perturbations, which, when a French -savant remarked the other day to a compatriot, "Tant pis," replied the -chassepot-bearing mobile, with the invariable shoulder shrug and grin, -"Tant pis pour Messieurs les Prussiens!"--thinking, no doubt, of the -disastrous retreat from Moscow, and hoping to see it repeated in a -different direction at no distant day. Except the wren and redbreast, -whose pluck is indomitable, and who are never altogether out of voice, -our singing birds are now songless and silent, or if they do utter a -note, it is but a cheep and a chirp, not a song, another sign that our -winter is to be regarded as having fairly set in. We notice, besides, -that some of our winter visitors from Arctic seas have made their -appearance along our shores, while we observe that the rook and grey -crow have already begun to frequent the beach at low water in search -of what may be picked up in the way of a meal, a sure sign that they -also look upon it as already come, and that their food in more inland -parts has disappeared until a kindlier season has come round. - -A very large raven (Corvus corax), the biggest specimen of this bird -we have ever seen, was trapped at the head of Glencreran a few days -ago by a bird-catcher that annually pays the West Highlands a visit at -this season. It was a female, as fat and plump as a Michaelmas goose, -and weighed within an ounce or two of four pounds. The plumage, as -might be expected in a bird of such high condition, was perfect, -with the exception of two of the upper alar feathers, which were -perfectly white, an abnormality, however, that only rendered the -specimen all the more interesting. The raven is the craftiest and -shyest of birds, never venturing within shot of fowling-piece or rifle, -and more difficult than any other bird, perhaps, to be outwitted or -circumvented in any way. With all his craft and caution, however, -the raven is, when occasion calls, one of the most courageous and -boldest of birds. At the time of nidification, for instance, the -male will fearlessly attack the largest falcon and drive him from -what he considers his own proper territory, nor will he shun the -combat, as we have often observed, even with the osprey or bald -buzzard when they met in mid-air on their predatory excursions, -and a sufficient casus belli has been found or feigned by either -belligerent. We remember seeing an encounter of this kind several -years ago, which continued nearly an hour, and was a very pretty and -interesting sight, the combatants performing the most beautiful aerial -evolutions as they charged, and parried, and soared, and swooped in -fierce and determined conflict. We noticed that the raven frequently -uttered his hoarse and threatening croak, as if to intimidate his -opponent, while the osprey fought in perfect silence. The combat -finally resulted in a drawn battle, the belligerents separating as -if by mutual consent, and slowly winging their flight in opposite -directions. The probability is that the raven's pugnacity was excited -on this occasion (March 1863) by the osprey's cruising about, however -unwittingly, in the vicinity of the precipice in a cleft of which the -female raven was at the time brooding on her nest. At such a time the -raven will boldly attack the passing eagle, and harass and annoy it -until the eagle, pestered and teased by the assault, rather than in -any way alarmed, with great good nature evacuates the territory which -the raven claims as its own. The raven has from the earliest ages -been accounted a bird of evil omen, and an object of superstitious -dread and awe, and allusions to the bird in this connection are to -be met with in the literature of most countries, the raven being as -cosmopolitan as man himself. Its croak, so disagreeable, and dismal, -and hoarse, and startling; its colour, a funereal black; its habitat, -the lonely and demon-haunted mountain peaks, giddy precipices, and -dreary solitudes; its lamb-slaying and carrion-eating propensities; -its shy and suspicious manner, as if he knew that he had done evil and -was apprehensive of well-merited punishment--all combine to render him -in the first instance a noticeable and remarkable bird, and one sure -to be selected for frequent reference in the days of bird divination, -a superstition of which traces may probably be found in the early -history of every country, and thus it would readily be raised to the -"bad eminence" of a bird of evilest omen-- - - - "The hateful messenger of heavy things, - Of death and dolour telling." - - -The Moor of Venice says-- - - - "It comes o'er my memory, - As doth the raven o'er the infected house, - Boding to all." - - -And you remember Macbeth, and cannot fail to catch the allusion-- - - - "The raven himself is hoarse, - That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan - Under my battlements." - - -During his tour in the Highlands with Dr. Johnson, Boswell writes -a highly characteristic letter to David Garrick, and, describing -their visit to Macbeth's Castle, says--"The situation of the old -castle corresponds exactly to Shakspeare's description. While we were -there to-day, it happened oddly that a raven perched upon one of the -chimney tops and croaked. Then I, in my turn, repeated 'The raven -himself,' &c." Now, if a raven in truth did so perch, all we can say -is that it was a very curious place for a raven to be, or ravens, -within a hundred years, must have very much changed their habits -and nature. The explanation probably is that it was a tame raven, -or a rook perhaps, or, likeliest of all, that it was a common jackdaw -(Corvus monedula), a pert, impudent, and garrulous little gentleman -in black--no bigger than a dovecot pigeon--that Mr. Boswell mistook -(proh pudor!) for the grave, stately, and sagacious raven, who is as -much bigger, and weightier, and wiser than his loquacious cousin the -daw, as Samuel Johnson was bigger, and weightier, and wiser than his -travelling companion, James Boswell. It is curious to meet with the -following on the authority of no less renowned a personage than the -valorous and puissant knight Don Quixote de la Mancha, the flower of -chivalry. "Have you not read, sir," proceeds the knight, "the annals -and histories of England, wherein are recorded the famous exploits -of King Arthur, whom in our Castilian tongue we perpetually called -King Artus, of whom there exists an ancient tradition, universally -received over the whole kingdom of Great Britain, that he did not die, -but that by magic art he was transformed into a raven, for which reason -it cannot be proved that from that time to this any Englishman hath -killed a raven." - -We have just called the raven our "friend," nor are we at all ashamed -so to designate a bird whom we have known long, and regarding whom, -if other people speak nothing but evil, we at least can speak a great -deal that is good. There is a well-known proverb to the effect that a -certain potentate of sable hue is not so black as he is painted, nor -is the raven. First of all, he is an apt scholar, and a bird generally -of much sagacity, of long memory, and ready wit. It is on record that -on one occasion when the Emperor Augustus was returning victorious -from a battlefield, a tame raven that had received his lesson, and -remembered it to the letter, alighted on the conqueror's chariot, -and saluted him in these words--Ave Cæsar, Victor, Imperator! The -Emperor was pleased, as he well might be, and ordered the raven a -handsome pension for life. Bechstein, who probably knew more about -the habits and economy of ravens, especially in their tame state, -than any other ornithologist before his day or since, vouches for -the facility with which they may be taught to speak, and for their -sagacity and docility generally. He tells the following amusing -story:--"A very clever raven was kept at a nobleman's residence in -the district of Mannsfeldt. Among other things he could say, 'Well, -who are you?' very strongly and distinctly. One day, as he was walking -about among the grass in the garden, he observed a setter dog which -remained near him, and kept constantly walking after him. Not liking -to be thus watched and followed, the raven turned rapidly round and -sternly exclaimed, 'Well, who are you?' The dog was alarmed at this, -hung his tail, and ran hastily away, and not until he had gained -a considerable distance did he turn round and howl." The raven, -besides, is a thorough anti-Mormonite, and wouldn't live in Utah for -the world. If he visits the polygamist colony at all, it is always -under protest against the institutions of that delectable land, -and to be ready to pick the bones of the first many-wived "elder" -he may catch in articulo mortis. Rather should the raven be elected -to a seat upon the bench of bishops, for he is ever careful to fulfil -the apostolic injunction to be the husband but of one wife; and until -accident or old age deprives him of her, he is the model and pattern -of faithful and affectionate husbands, never violating his conjugal -vows, not even to the extent of the most innocent of flirtations -or the most Platonic of intimacies with a neighbouring raveness, -even though she should be younger, and sleeker, and glossier than -his own. The raven, in short, when he pairs, which he does at the -earliest moment permitted by the laws of ravendom, pairs for life, -and while his first choice is spared to him he will no more think of -paying court to another, be her charms what they may, than he will -of dying of hunger while there is a bone to pick, a tender lamb, or -braxied sheep within a circuit of a hundred miles of his eyrie, in the -most inaccessible cleft of yonder beetling precipice. We might now say -something if we liked of the raven's usefulness in the general economy -as a hard-working and indefatigable inspector of nuisances, and how -putrid animal matter of every description disappears, as if by magic, -wherever he is known and appreciated; but this is a utilitarian age, -and as we hate utilitarianism, we are content merely to hint that -the raven deserves special regard as a sanitary reformer. We prefer -insisting on the fact that the raven is a gentleman of very ancient -descent, being able, in the clearest manner, to trace his pedigree -in unbroken line up to the days of "Captain" Noah himself, as Byron -irreverently styles the patriarch. When any one in our day becomes -distinguished and attracts our special regard, we instantly set to work -to trace his descent, and although he himself can hardly tell who was -his grandfather, we are never satisfied until we have, by hook and by -crook, traced his ancestry to the Ragman Roll or the Norman Conquest, -and, having thus ennobled him to our own entire satisfaction, we cease -not to pet and praise him until he is dead, and then the newspapers -swarm with obituary notices of the distinguished man who has just -departed, and a monument, erected by public subscription, concludes -the farce. The raven's ancestor was unquestionably with Noah in the -ark, and although he has incurred some odium in connection with the -assuaging of the waters, we confess we cannot well tell why, for all -that the ancient, and beautiful, and simple narrative says of him -is this: "And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, -until the waters were dried up from off the earth." On the point -of ancestry, in short, there is no bird that has a better right to -hold up his head than the raven. And just consider: wasn't Dickens' -stuffed raven "Grip" sold the other day for a hundred and twenty -guineas! although if his portrait in the Graphic is to be depended -on, he never was a handsome specimen of the family, or if he was, -then the man who stuffed and "set him up" should have received a -flogging for his pains. Should the reader wish to know more about our -friend Corvus corax, we can confidently recommend him to make the -acquaintance, the intimate acquaintance if he can, of "The Raven" -to be met with in the works of Edgar Allan Poe, the most weird and -wonderful raven that has ever yet appeared in song or story. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - - Along the Shore after Birds--An Otter in pursuit of a Fish--Tame - Otter at Bridge of Tilt: Employed in Fishing--His hatred of all - sorts of Birds--"The Otter and Fox," a translation from the Gaelic. - - -November closed with a week of the most delightful weather one -could wish for at this season [December 1870], cold, but crisp and -clear; nor has December thus far shown any tendency to exceptional -"rampaging" either, though come it must, if we are not much mistaken, -and in a style we fear that will cause it to be remembered. Woodcocks, -fieldfares, redwing thrushes, snow buntings, and starlings are at -this moment more plentiful than we ever saw them before; while -Arctic sea-fowl in great numbers crowd our creeks and bays, and -immense flocks of grallatores, curlews, gedwits, purrs, dunlins, -and oyster-catchers, may be seen all along our shores diligently -attending the sea margin as the tide recedes, or with weird and wild -scream urging their eccentric flights from an exhausted sandbank in -indefatigable search of "fresh fields and pastures new." Creeping among -the rocks on the back of Cuilchenna Point, a quiet, sequestered shore, -seldom visited by anybody but ourselves at this season, one evening -last week, watching a pair of web-feet that we finally decided to -be smews, a species of merganser, we were unexpectedly treated to an -exhibition of aquatic feats that we had never before seen equalled, -and that we thought no animal, biped or quadruped, could accomplish in -an element not properly its own. Squatted on the beach behind two huge -boulders, a narrow opening between which enabled us to look seawards, -and to see without being seen, we were watching the elegant smews as -they preened themselves, floating gracefully the while, without the -movement of a web, on the calm surface of the cold, clear sea, when -right before us, and within less than a dozen fathoms of the shore, -a dark object suddenly dashed to the surface with a flop and a splash, -and as suddenly disappeared. We took it to be a seal in pursuit of -some fish, as is his wont; but on its reappearance a minute or so -afterwards, we were delighted to see that it was not a seal, but a -large otter hard at work in chase of some favourite fish for supper; -and small blame to him for that same, for if one might judge from his -exertions in the pursuit, he was dreadfully hungry and thoroughly -in earnest, not yet having dined, perhaps, nor even broken his -fast since the preceding evening, for your otter (Lutra vulgaris) -is for the most part an evening and nocturnal feeder. Nothing could -exceed the elegance and ease with which the otter performed the most -extraordinary and complicated evolutions in pursuit of his prey, -his long, lithe body, pliant and supple as an eel's, twisting and -twining in every direction as the fish darted hither and thither, or -swept in rapid circles in its efforts to escape. Its tail, we noticed, -seemed to act not merely as a rudder in aid of its owner's incessant -perisaltations, but to be in constant motion like a propeller, as if to -assist the broad and muscular web feet in every act of natation. For -ten minutes or more, perhaps, did the chase continue, the fish, that -seemed to be either a haddock or sea-trout of some three or four -pounds weight, occasionally leaping bodily out of the water in its -efforts to escape from the unfriendly attentions of its stern pursuer, -the said pursuer, like a staunch hound, doubling as the fish doubled, -circling as it circled, and diving as it dived, with a persistency -and perseverance that it was impossible to elude, until at last, -fairly beaten in his own element, the fish was captured in a pool of -shallow water, whither it had darted in its terror and bewilderment, -the otter instantly pouncing upon it and seizing it in his mouth, -as you have seen a terrier deal with a rat. At this moment we rushed -from our concealment with a shout, hoping to frighten the otter and -get hold of the fish, but Monsieur Lutra was too quick for us. With -the fish in his mouth he plunged into the sea, and in a second had -disappeared among some boulders that would probably have afforded him -a secure asylum, even if we had a pack of otter hounds to aid in our -attempt at the dislodgment of a gentleman so cunning. - -With the common otter of our inland rivers and lakes we have been more -or less familiar since our school-boy days; but we cannot recollect -having ever seen a marine otter until this occasion. Our naturalists -seem to be very generally agreed that the sea otter and that of -our rivers and fresh-water lakes are one and the same animal,--an -opinion from which we are not at this moment prepared to dissent, -though the animal referred to above seemed to us to be larger in -size, blacker in colour, with more prominent ears, and a bigger, -bushier tail than any specimen, living or dead, that had hitherto -come under our notice. Certain peculiarities, however, of form and -colouring in the individual are frequently attributable to accidental -circumstances. We remember seeing a very fine dog otter many years ago, -that its owner had succeeded in rendering comparatively tame, and of -some use in the capture of fish for its master's table, as well as for -its own sustenance. The animal belonged to the innkeeper at Bridge -of Tilt, in Athole, and was usually kept chained in an empty stall -in the stable. It was very good-natured and docile, and evinced its -satisfaction on being stroked with the hand and patted by a curious -purring, sort of half whine half bark, altogether unlike the utterance -of any other animal with which we are acquainted. We saw it presented -with a dish of milk, which it readily lapped up, using its tongue -by way of spoon, as a dog does under similar circumstances. With -a collar round its neck, to which a long rope was attached, it was -frequently taken to the river, where it never failed to catch fish, -first driving them, after the manner of a collie with a flock of -sheep, into the nearest pool in which there was a considerable depth -of water, when he pounced upon them with the agility of a wild cat, -and seldom failed to secure two or three of the best and biggest fish -in the shoal ere they could manage to escape. We were assured, however, -that the best place to see the otter at work was not the river, but -one of the moorland lochs, in the depths of which he was perfectly -at home. Here he exhibited the most astonishing feats of agility in -pursuit of his prey; his activity and matchless swimming powers being -backed by a pertinacity and cunning that left neither trout nor pike -much chance of escape. Having marked out and selected the fish to be -captured, it was observed that he stuck to it with the staunchness of -a well-trained hound through all its doublings and windings, as if for -the moment the loch contained none but it, until he had fairly run it -down; the capture generally taking place among the reeds that bordered -the margin of the mere, into which the fish always rushed on becoming -sensible that its adversary was not to be eluded in open water. If -left to himself, it was remarked that the otter was somewhat dainty -and fastidious of taste, rarely eating more of a captured fish than -a little at the back of the head and about the pectoral fins, when, -after a short rest, he was ready to start in pursuit of another. If -this be the habit of otters in their wild state--as there is reason to -believe it is--one can fancy how terribly destructive to fish they must -be, killing ten times more than they actually eat, and these, too, the -best and biggest fish they can meet with in their depredations. Even -a single pair of otters, with a family to rear, must be a terrible -scourge on any river they may select to honour with their attentions -for a season; nor is the marine otter, we may be sure--such as we -saw the other day--less destructive when he takes up his residence in -the vicinity of salmon fishings. Whatever the price of salmon in the -market, depend upon it that the otter's larder is always well supplied. - -The semi-domesticated otter above referred to, after leading a not -unuseful life for a year or two under the careful and always kindly -superintendence of its intelligent owner, managed at last somehow to -break its chain and escape, and was never more seen or heard of. The -only other curious thing about this animal that we can recollect -was his deadly aversion to every feathered creature that came near -him. Whether goose or duck, barn-door fowl or pigeon, he seemed to -detest them all, and would readily, and with every sign of anger, -kill such as he could get hold of, not to eat them, observe, for -that he was never known to do, but just because he disliked them. To -all other animals he could be easily reconciled, and was on good -and even friendly terms with all the dogs, cats, and pigs about the -place, particularly manifesting his love for his stable companions, -the horses, by whining in his strange fashion and straining on his -chain to the utmost, as if he would fain welcome them with a caress, -when after a day's work in the fields they returned to the stable of -an evening. We are not aware that, except milk, which it would readily -lap and seemed to enjoy, this otter was ever known to touch anything in -the shape of food except its natural fish diet. In the old Sgeulachdan, -or fireside tales of the ancient Highlanders, we frequently meet with -the "dun otter" or dobhran donn, as one of the dramatis personæ. He -is generally introduced to us under an amiable character, rescuing -neglected merit from obscurity, relieving distressed damsels, or -succouring the widow and orphans with bountiful supplies of silvery -fish from the tarn amongst the mountains, or the eddying pool beneath -the cascade in the glen. The amiable and friendly otter sometimes -turns out to be an enchanted prince, who, timeously released from -the spell that has doomed him to amphibious habits and quadrupedal -form, assumes his proper shape, and marries the always virtuous and -beautiful, though frequently humble, heroine of the tale. In the -Hebrides to this day the otter is looked upon with some degree of -superstitious reverence, and a bit of otter skin worn by way of charm -is regarded as an antidote against infection in fever and small-pox, -a preservative from death by drowning, and of singular efficacy in -bringing the labours of parturition to a happy issue. A mole on a -person's skin, whatever its place or proportions, is in the Hebrides -never reckoned a deformity. It is regarded rather as a "beauty spot" -than otherwise, and believed to betoken a long life and good luck to -the fortunate possessor. In the West Highlands and Hebrides such a -mark on the skin is called a ball-dobhrain, an otter mark or otter -spot, and is no more accounted a blemish or deformity than was the -mole on the right lip of Dulcinea del Toboso by Don Quixote, though -it looked "like a whisker, and had seven or eight red hairs in it -above a span long!" In some places a piece of otter skin placed on -the head under a woman's coif, and worn inside a man's blue bonnet, -is supposed to relieve the headache and prevent baldness, while -gentle friction along the affected part with the furry side of a -bit of otter skin is esteemed of sovereign efficacy in erysipelas or -"rose." The following is a somewhat free rendering from the Gaelic -of a fable occurring in an old Sgeulachd, with which many of our west -coast readers at least must be acquainted. The moral is obvious. - - - The Otter and Fox. - - The otter had caught in the pool below - A silvery salmon so full of roe, - And clambering bore it over the rocks, - When who should he meet but his cousin the fox. - "Friend," quoth the wily fox, "pray go - And bring me a fish from the pool below-- - I've not tasted fish for a year or mo'. - Leave here thy salmon; go, haste thee back, - We'll dine together and have our crack; - Believe me, dear otter, that over one's food - The face of a friend is always good." - - The otter tumbled into the stream - Where the floating foam was white as cream; - He sought and searched in each cranny and hole, - But not a fish could he find in the pool. - "Well," quoth the otter, "I'll hasten back - To my cousin the fox, and we'll have our crack - Over the salmon I left above; - One fish will go far that is eaten in love; - 'Tis large, and fat, and full of roe, - And, fairly divided, will serve for two." - - Clambering over the rocks in haste - The otter returned to join his guest; - But guess his surprise when he reached the spot; - Where the fox had been--the fox was not, - And nought of the salmon that could be seen - But some silvery scales where the salmon had been! - The otter but said, "'Tis my belief - My cousin the fox should be hanged for a thief; - He'll never again make me his tool, - For myself alone I'll haunt the pool." - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - - Storms--An "inch" of Rain--Atherina Presbyter--Lophius - Piscatorius--Mr. Mortimer Collins' misquotation from the Times. - - -A finer winter [January 1871] never was known all over the West -Highlands and Hebrides. Some tempestuousness is to be looked for -at this season, and some tempestuousness we have had, but of actual -winter rigour and cold we have hardly had a trace. Only twice during -the winter have we had any frost, and even then it was but slight -and of short duration. On several occasions, however, we have had -such terrible rainfalls as are only known perhaps within sight of the -mountain peaks of Jura and Mull and Morven. On the 19th of January, -and again on the 23d, the rainfall within a given time was heavier -than anything known even with us for many years past. In about sixteen -hours on the 19th, 4·19 inches fell, and quite as much, if not more, -on the 23d. Now, does the reader know what an inch of rain means? It -means a gallon of water spread evenly over a surface of something like -two square feet, or, to put it in a more striking and intelligible -form, it means a fall of a hundred tons upon an acre of land; so that -in sixteen hours on the 19th upwards of four hundred tons of rain -fell on every acre of land for miles and miles around us. It will -be confessed that thus the country was for once at least well soaked -and saturated. All our rivers and mountain torrents were, of course, -in full flood, and throughout the night, when it had calmed down a -little, the "noise of many waters," as you lay awake on your pillow -and listened, made wild and eerie music enough, to which the fitting -bass was the boom of the storm-driven rollers as they broke in sullen -thunder along the shore. We had occasion to be across Corran Ferry on -the wettest of these days, bad as it was, and, in spite of waterproofs -and haps of most approved texture and form, we returned in the evening -so soaked and drenched and droukit, to use an expressive Scotticism, -that we might as well have been for half an hour up to our chin, -over head and ears for that matter of it, in the deepest pool of -the Rhi. When changing our clothes in our own room after getting -home, we managed to raise a quiet laugh with ourselves over it all, -by the recollection of the music and words of a favourite Scotch -reel not altogether inapplicable to our then condition. The reel in -question is a well-known one, though we forget at present its proper -distinctive name. It is, we think, one of Neil Gow's. A gudewife, -presumably of Amazonian heart, and also of Amazonian proportions, -makes her husband wince and quail, and conduct himself with becoming -amiability and decorum, as she sings-- - - - "Mur 'bi'dh agam ach trudair bodaich, - Bhogain anns an allt e; - Mur 'bi'dh agam ach trudair bodaich, - Bhogain anns an allt e; - Bhogain agus bhogain agus bhogain th'ar a cheann e, - 'S mur 'bi'dh a glan 'nuair bhidh e tioram, - Bhogain 'rithisd ann e!" - - -Not very easily turned into English, but this is something like it-- - - - "If my gudeman were cross and dour, - I'd dip him in the burn, O! - If my gudeman were cross and sour, - I'd dip him in the burn, O; - I'd dip the dear o'er head and ears until he'd grane and girn, O, - And till he promised better things, he'd get the tother turn, O." - - -While stripping, it struck us that we were quite as wet on the occasion -in question, as if for our sins we had undergone all the "dipping" -threatened by the gudewife in the old reel; and the idea put us into -good humour until tea and other fireside comforts made us forget -all the pelting of the pitiless storm. How the remainder of winter -and early spring may turn out meteorologically, it is impossible to -forecast with any confidence, but meantime our old people, in their -own opinion, at least, weatherwise and shrewd quoad hoc, are gravely -shaking their heads over what they deem an unusual dearth of frost -and snow in mid-winter. - -Our West Coast storms, if in one sense sometimes disagreeable enough, -rarely fail, however, to bring us a good thing in the shape of hundreds -of tons of drift-ware, which, gathered and spread on the land, is -found to be a valuable fertiliser. It is a labour, besides, which -falls to be done in a season when there is little else to occupy the -people's time, and saves an immense deal of trouble when the spring -comes round, for the land is ready for the plough and the immediate -reception of the seed, whatever the crop--thus saving at once the -manure heap for purposes in which farmyard manure is indispensable, -and all the trouble of long cartage afield. In collecting his -share of a huge swathe of this drift-ware the other day, one of our -neighbours found a dead fish, quite fresh and unmutilated, which -being new to him, though a fisherman and sea-shore man all his life, -he thought might be interesting to us. He accordingly brought it to -us, and to us also it was new, and as such, of course, exceedingly -interesting. We puzzled long over it ere we satisfied ourselves that -we had determined its identity. It was a small fish, some six inches -in length, and of smelt-like shape and form and colouring, but it -was not a smelt. After some little trouble, we finally decided that -it was a species of atherine (Atherina) belonging to the Mugilidæ or -mullet family. Our particular specimen was the Atherina presbyter, -a not uncommon visitor on some of the south of England shores, but so -rare in our seas that, as we have already said, we never saw a specimen -before. We are told that the atherine is very good eating, and we can -quite believe it, for it is a pretty, delicate-looking little fish, -that, nicely fried until properly crimp and brown, ought to taste -well. A much commoner fish, but interesting in this instance for the -great size of the specimen, was an angler, fishing-frog, or sea-devil -(Lophius piscatorius), which was cast ashore near Corran Ferry last -week. This was the largest individual of the species--the ugliest, -perhaps, of all fishes--that we ever saw. It measured five feet seven -inches from snout to tip of tail, and weighed fifty-three pounds. It -was poor and fleshless, and had died seemingly of sheer inanition or -atrophy; had it been in full condition, it would have weighed a third -more. Its terrible mouth, with its formidable array of sharp recurved -teeth, was enough to scare a friend that accompanied us to a distance, -though we assured him that the brute was dead and harmless. On opening -out its jaws to a fair extent--that is, as far as we thought the animal -itself would open them easily if need were, we placed a large turnip -from a pit that was conveniently at hand, a turnip nearly as large as -a man's head, easily within the horrid cavern. We would willingly have -taken this specimen home with us, for the purpose of preserving the -skeleton, but we had no conveyance with us, and any idea of carrying -it was out of the question. It had, besides, evidently lain some -time on the beach, and its odour on moving it in the least was, the -reader may believe, the very antipodes of Eau de Cologne or ottar of -roses. We contented ourselves therefore with slitting open its stomach -with our pocket-knife, and found it, as we expected, perfectly empty, -containing nothing in the shape of food, except the tips of two claws -and small bits of the carapace of a not uncommon species of crab, -the velvet fiddler (Portunas puber). The Highlanders of the west coast -and Hebrides call the angler Mac Làmhaich, properly Mac Làthaich--the -son (that is, inhabitant) of the mud or ooze; a very expressive and -appropriate name for it, for it is essentially a mud fish, in which, -half buried and perdu, it hides and watches, tiger-like, for its -prey. The naturalist meets with many things to puzzle him, and it has -always puzzled us to account for the large size of this animal's head -and mouth, altogether disproportioned to the size of the rest of the -body. No matter how insatiable the cravings of the brute's maw--to -use a Miltonic word--no matter how gluttonous soever of appetite, the -head and mouth, and number and size of teeth, do seem unnecessarily -formidable, monstrous indeed, for any conceivable work that they -can be called upon to perform; and yet there is unquestionably good -reason for it all, if we could only find it out. It may interest some -of our readers to know that the sea-devil belongs, ichthyologically, -to the Acanthopterygious family of fishes. Acanthopterygious! what a -staggerer to any one except a learned ichthyologist at a Spelling Bee. - -Mr. Mortimer Collins and others are recently down, somewhat -hypercritically we can't help thinking, on Mr. Tennyson's occasional -natural history references throughout his poems. The fun is -that in almost every instance in which fault is found with him, -Mr. Tennyson is right and his critics wrong! Here is one example of -this hypercriticism in which Mr. Mortimer Collins is fairly hoist -with his own petard. Mr. Tennyson writes-- - - - "In spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast." - - -Upon which Mr. Collins comments--"As a fact, that fuller crimson comes -in autumn, as all know who watch the half-shy, half-familiar bird-- - - - "That ever in the haunch of winter sings." - - -Here Mr. Mortimer Collins is partly right and largely wrong, -while Mr. Tennyson is altogether right. It is true that our native -song-birds, moulting in autumn or early winter, assume at this season a -thicker, warmer, fresher plumage after all the wear and tear consequent -on the labours of nidification, incubation, and love-making throughout -the spring and summer; but it is equally true that it is only in -spring, as Mr. Tennyson correctly asserts, that our wild birds assume -their gaudiest and gayest attire, every colour and shade of colour -in the individual bird's feathering there and then only being at its -best and brightest. And when we remember that spring is the season of -love and incipient song, we should be very much surprised, and with -good reason, if the fact were otherwise. So far as our recollection -serves us, Mr. Mortimer Collins, or any one else, will find it rather -difficult to catch Mr. Tennyson tripping in the direction indicated. We -should say that the Poet Laureate was rather remarkable than otherwise -for his fidelity to nature and truth in all his local colouring. - -Some time ago, by the way, we had occasion to call attention to the -exceeding frequency of misquotation in our current literature, and -in quarters, too, where one would least expect it. Here is a curious -and very unpardonable instance, all things considered. In a review -of the South Kensington Handbooks, in the Times of the 18th January, -a sentence opens thus--"It is well-known that weary lies the head that -wears a crown." Every one will see that the manifest intention here is -to quote from the monologue of the poor harassed and sleepless King -in Shakespeare's Henry IV. (part second), one of the finest things -that even Shakespeare ever wrote, and we had thought too well-known -by every one with any pretensions to literature to be misquoted. The -concluding lines are these:-- - - - "Can'st thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose - To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude; - And in the calmest and most stillest night, - With all appliances and means to boot, - Deny it to a king? Then, happy, low, lie down: - Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - - Aurora Borealis--Unfavourable weather for Birds about - St. Valentine's Day--The Water-Vole in the Rhi--In the Eden in - Fifeshire--In the Black Water, Kinloch Leven--Does it feed - on Salmon Fry and Ova?--The Kingfisher--Character of the - Water-Vole--Note about the Hedgehog. - - -A brilliant display of aurora borealis on the early morning of the 8th -[February 1871] led us to conclude that a change of weather was not -far distant; and before sunset of that same day the wind had gone -round from east by south to south-west, and a drizzling rain, with -a very much milder temperature than we had known for three months, -told us that, for the present at least, King Frost had agreed -to suspension of hostilities. Since then it has been mostly wet, -with occasional hailstone showers, and turbulent withal, if not -actually stormy. The revictualling of Paris under the terms of the -capitulation and armistice was not a more sensible relief to the -starving inhabitants than was the recent thaw to our wild birds on -sea and shore. The moment they became convinced that it was no sham, -but a real, veritable thaw, they revived amazingly. Shaking off the -torpidity in which cold and want had so pitilessly bound them, they -took heart, and bustled about in search of such food as might now -be procured by diligent seeking in copse and hedgerow, by pool and -stream. An occasional strophe, sadly inconsecutive and discordant, -may now again be heard when the sun shines out and the storm has -lulled, from some of our hardier warblers, and we have observed that -in some instances rooks have begun to pair; but our bird-world, upon -the whole, is far from what it should be at this date; more taken up, -like vanquished France, with the thought of the mere necessities of -life and the reestablishment of their exhausted energies, than with -love or music, or the gaiety and abandon so characteristic in ordinary -seasons of our feathered friends on the back of St. Valentine's -Day. The meridian sun, however, is now steadily climbing zenithwards, -and the day perceptibly lengthening apace, so that our wild birds, -rapidly gathering strength, and daily improving in tone and tune, may, -after all, arrive at their day of jollity and joyousness sooner than -we anticipated. We captured a beautiful Scarlet Emperor butterfly -a few days ago, as brisk and lively as possible, on a window pane -in Ardvulin Cottage, Ardgour. How beautiful, by the way, and how -suggestive of spring and vernal delights in a land of plenitude -and peace, is the following from the Song of Solomon:--"For, lo, -the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on -the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice -of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree putteth forth her -green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell." - -Another animal besides the hedgehog has of recent years made its -appearance in Lochaber, though previously unknown, so far as we are -aware, anywhere in the West Highlands. The animal in question is -the water-rat, water-vole, or British beaver. The last is, perhaps, -its most appropriate name, for the animal is neither kith nor kin to -the rat, while very much in its economy and habits, as well as in its -corporeal structure, particularly its dentition, allies it not remotely -to the beaver tribe. In size, the water-vole is more robust in body and -larger in every way than the common rat, with a more silken pile, and -a bigger and brighter eye. It frequents the banks of streams and ponds, -feeding on the more delicate aquatic plants, and on the bark and tender -shoots of the willow, alder, and such other shrubs as love to grow - - - "The quiet waters by." - - -That such an animal inhabited Lochaber was accidentally revealed to us -two years ago, and so unmistakeably that there was no room for doubt -or hesitation in the matter. We were returning from Fort-William on a -beautiful summer afternoon, walking by the hill route through Lundavra, -when having already accomplished more than half the distance at our -best pace, we sat down to rest and solace ourselves with a pipe--not -the Arcadian musical instrument, observe, but the more prosaic article -anathematised in the royal Counterblast--by the side of a canal-like -reach in the River Rhi, as it slowly winds through Glenshelloch, when -our attention was drawn to a splash in the water at a short distance -above us, to which, however, we gave but little heed, taking it for -the lively flop of a half-pound trout engaged in fly-catching for -supper. Another and a louder splash, however, aroused our curiosity, -and induced us to creep cautiously in the direction whence the sound -proceeded, and there, sure enough, disporting themselves round a -gnarled alder stump that projected into the stream from the water-line -on the opposite bank, were a pair of water-voles, full-grown, and brisk -and lively as ever we had seen them in our younger days in the upper -reaches of the beautiful Eden in Fifeshire, a favourite habitat. After -watching their gambols for some time, we threw a pebble into the pool, -when they instantly dived and disappeared, only to emerge in a few -seconds near a large boulder further up the stream, behind which, -and cunningly concealed beneath the overhanging bank, was their hole, -into which they popped as readily as does an alarmed mouse into a wall -crevice. As they dived and pursued their subaqueous flight in the -direction of their hole, the eye could follow their every movement, -for the water was as clear as crystal. Keeping very near the bottom, -it seemed as if they progressed partly by swimming and partly by -running along the gravel, at any rate with amazing celerity and -ease. We noticed that about their necks and shoulders their pile -appeared as if adorned with numberless tiny pearls--air bubbles, in -fact--that adhered to their fur, and that, frequently shifting the -position like quicksilver drops, as the animals moved, had a very -pretty effect. Since that time the water-vole has been repeatedly -seen about the lower reaches of the same river, between the Inchree -Falls and the highway. It has also been seen in some parts of the -Blackwater above Kinlochleven. Ardent disciples of Izaak Walton and -others interested in the preservation of trout and salmon hold the -water-vole in great dislike, under the belief that it feeds largely -on fry and ova. The accusation we believe to be unfounded, as much so -as the egg-eating charge against the hedgehog. We shall not attempt -to prove a negative, the onus probandi of their averments logically -resting with the accusers; but we will say that we have known the -water-vole for many years, and at one time had every opportunity -of studying its habits, and we never had cause to entertain the -slightest suspicion that it was anything else than a vegetable -feeder. We recollect once questioning old John Robertson of Perth, -than whom a better fisher, whether on lake or stream, never cast -a fly or impaled a worm, about the water-vole's alleged liking for -fish-spawn and fry. His reply was in these words, "I dinna believe it, -sir; I have fished in maist feck o' the rivers, burns, and lochs in -Perth, Fife, and Kinross, and other counties forbye, and the fish -were just as plentiful where the splash o' the gleb (a local name -for the water-vole) was heard a'maist at every cast o' the line, -as where none could be seen for days together." We know, besides, -that the late Professor John Reid of St. Andrews, one of the most -distinguished comparative anatomists of his day, and who had dissected -many of them, was of opinion that the water-vole was a vegetable feeder -and nothing else, he having never been able to detect anything to lead -him to the conclusion that it fed on fish or their spawn. Suspicion -of the water-vole's being addicted to the malpractices in question -was first of all grounded on the fact that fish-bones were frequently -found along the banks of the streams he inhabited, and sometimes about -the entrance of, and even in, the hole which was his habitat and home; -and on this evidence alone the water-vole soon got into very bad repute -indeed. As to the finding occasionally of fish bones along a water-vole -inhabited stream, although the fact is indisputable, it really goes -for nothing, suspicious as it looks, for similar relics of defunct -trouts and troutlets may be seen any day on the margin of streams -where a water-vole was never yet known to exist. The real culprits -in such cases are the otter, the common rat (a great fish-eater in -shallow streams and almost as expert a swimmer as the vole itself, -only that it cannot dive so well), the heron, king-fisher, and -grey crow, all of whom are fond of fish, either as an article of -constant diet, or as an occasional make-shift in default of more -legitimate fare. As to the fish bones to be sometimes met with in -the water-vole's holes, the dusky-coated and white-vested dipper and -the beautiful plumaged king-fisher are alone to blame. The castings, -indeed, of a single pair of king-fishers would of itself suffice to -account for all the fish bones one meets with by the banks of ponds -and streams, for the beautiful Alcedo is a voracious fish-devourer, -and his hole going backwards and upwards some three or four feet -into the bank, invariably a perfect charnel-house of bleached fish -bones of minnows and troutlets. The number of small fish that a pair -of king-fishers, with their young, dispose of in a single season -must amount to many thousands, and as the larger bones at least are -always cast or regurgitated, their presence may always be taken as a -sure indication that the spot has recently been the haunt of the most -beautifully coloured of British birds. When the bones of larger fish, -however, are met with, the blame, if blame there be, must be shifted -from the king-fisher to the shoulders of one or other or all of the -animals above mentioned. It is only fair that the spirit of our laws, -which accounts a man innocent until he is proved guilty, should be -extended to beasts and birds as well. In this view of the matter the -water-vole has good reason of complaint that it has been over hastily -and unwarrantably condemned on insufficient evidence, without even -the form of a fair and impartial trial. Unlike Ritson, the antiquary -and balladist, who, although he was a strict vegetarian in diet, -holding all manner of animal food in utter abhorrence, and writing a -volume on the subject, was yet as cross-grained and as irascible as a -wasp, the water-vole, like a true vegetarian, is quiet and unobtrusive -even to timidity, leading an inoffensive life, and in his play hours, -which--in proof of his good sense, let us remark--are very numerous, -as frolicsome and sportive as a kitten. He will show fight, it is -true, if attacked in his hole or otherwise brought to bay, and his -bite, whether on the nose of an over-venturesome terrier, or the hand -that would rashly seize him, is very severe and difficult to heal; -but it is only doing him the merest justice that those who know him -should bear witness that in general character and disposition he is -the most peaceable and harmless of animals. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - - March--The Story of a Spanish Dollar--The Spanish Armada--The - "Florida"--Faire-Chlaidh, or Watching of the Graveyard--Molehill - Earth for Flowers. - - -A fall of snow on Monday, followed by keen frost during three -consecutive nights, rendered the past week [March 1871], as to mere -cold at least, the most wintry of the season; but with a bright sun -circling at mid-March altitude, the frost had no time to penetrate -the soil to any depth, and spring work has been steadily pushed on, -with hardly any retardation. In the upland glens, however, the frost -was for some days intense, and had it continued much longer, weakly -sheep must have suffered severely. But solvitur hiems, the frost is -gone; the weather is now again open, and mild and spring-like, and -our wild birds--scores of them within a stone's cast of our window -as we write--only seem all the more jubilant because of the past -week's temporary dip of temperature to the freezing-point. "Speed -the plough"--one of our very best Scotch reels, by the way--should -now be the cry, at once earnest and cheery, of every one connected -with arable land, for what says the old Gaelic proverb-- - - - "Am fear nach cuir 'sa Mhàrt, - 'Sanmoch a bhuaineas e." - - -He that sows not in March shall have a late ingathering. - -A coin was sent us for identification a few days ago, the history of -which strikes us as interesting. We had no difficulty in determining -it to be a silver Spanish dollar of the time of Philip II. It is -much corroded and worn, but the following letters of the original -inscription are distinctly legible:--Ph. II., D.G. Hisp: et Ind: -Rex. 1585. On the reverse disc is what seems to have been intended -for the prow of a ship between two palm trees. The owner of this coin -tells us that it came into his possession in the following manner:--A -brother of his, who owned and commanded a coasting schooner about -fifty years ago, chancing to be becalmed while passing through the -Sound of Mull, thought it best to come to anchor for the night. Next -morning, when getting under weigh, the anchor, as it came to the -bows, was found to have brought up a large mass of tangle. While -clearing this away, the edge of the coin was observed sticking out -from among a lot of sand and shingle attached to the tangle roots, -and having been secured and handed to the Captain, he ever after -kept it in his purse as a "luckpenny," on which he set a high value, -and all the more so, perhaps, that it happened to be found on the -morning of Easter Sunday, a fact that to him, as a good Catholic, had -a significance and meaning that the rest of the crew took no account -of. Be this as it may, he was from that day an exceedingly prosperous -and lucky man in all his undertakings, and till the day of his death -he carried the coin about him wherever he went, as a "luckpenny" -and talisman of extraordinary virtue. The present owner, too, sets -a very high value on this numismatic talisman, which, he declares, -hardly anything would induce him to part with. During the ten years -that it has been in his possession, he assures us that he has been -prosperous and successful as he never was before, with never a moment's -illness; and although too sensible and shrewd a man actually to assert -that the coin has anything to do with it, it is a fact that he very -seriously looks upon his Spanish dollar as a sort of "lee-penny," -giving its possessor a fair chance of an amount of health and wealth, -that without it he might struggle for in vain. This nonsense apart, -however, the question remains, What business had a Spanish dollar -in the bottom of the Sound of Mull? How came it there? Our theory is -that the coin originally belonged to some one connected with the great -"Invincible Armada" of 1588. It is a well-known historical fact that, -after the defeat of the Armada, the already shattered and discomfited -fleet, in attempting to return to Spain by sailing round Scotland -and Ireland, was overtaken by a dreadful storm, in which many of the -ships were wrecked. One ship, named the "Florida," ran for shelter -into the Sound of Mull, and while at anchor off Tobermory harbour, -was captured and destroyed by a body of Mull and Morvern men, under -the command of Maclean of Duart. This fact is sufficiently attested -by a remission, under the Privy Seal, to that chief for his share in -the somewhat questionable transaction, bearing date the 20th March -1589. The "Florida" was destroyed by being blown up, with all her -armament and stores, and many of her crew--a treacherous and cruel -act, for Scotland at least was then at peace with Spain--and it is -probable that the Spanish dollar so recently examined by us reached -the bottom of the Sound on that occasion, and there remained till -fished up in the curious manner above related, upwards of two centuries -afterwards. Some of the timbers of the submerged "Florida" have from -time to time been brought to the surface, and a casket formed out of -part of her windlass was presented by Sir Walter Scott to George IV., -during his visit to Scotland in 1822. - -An unsuccessful attempt, by means of divers, was made in 1740 to -recover some of a large amount of treasure said to have been sunk -in her; but some very beautiful brass guns were brought up, one of -which is still to be seen at the Castle of Dunstaffnage, near Oban, -and another, we believe, at Inveraray. These were last made to speak -loud and lustily, not against a Queen of England, as was their original -errand to our shores, but in honour of the marriage of the daughter -of a Queen of Great Britain with the son of a Scottish Duke, who now -owns the lands which belonged to the Macleans, by whom the "Florida," -carrying those very guns, was destroyed. Thus does "the whirligig -of time bring about its revenges." Some years ago we were shown by a -gentleman in Glasgow a large ebony-stocked pistol, beautifully carved -and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and silver, which was said to have -been secured from the wreck of the "Florida." We recollect that the -corroded state of the barrel and lock abundantly satisfied us at the -time that, whether it had belonged to the "Florida" or not, it had at -all events long lain in water, and more probably, from the peculiar -form of corrosion, in salt water than in fresh. As to the dollar, -we have only further to state that its owner now thinks more of it -than ever: our suggestion as to its very probable connection with the -Spanish Armada having largely enhanced its value in his estimation. Its -mere intrinsic value as a bit of silver would, we think, be fully -and fairly appraised at something like twenty pence sterling. - -We were the other day accidentally brought into contact with a -curious superstition, which, although not peculiar to this district, -but common, we believe, over all the Highlands, was yet quite new -to us. We were sailing past the beautiful island of St. Mungo, in -Loch Leven, the burial-place for many centuries of the people of -Nether Lochaber and Glencoe, when the following conversation took -place between ourselves and an old man who managed the sails while we -steered. It was all in Gaelic, of course, but we give the substance -in English:--"You were at the funeral on the island the other day, -sir?" interrogatively observed our companion. "I was, indeed," we -replied. "John ----," he continued, naming the deceased, "was a very -decent man." "He was a fine old Highlander, shrewd and intelligent," -we replied, "and, what is more, I believe a very good man." "Donald -----," naming a person we both knew, "is very ill, and not likely -to last long." "I saw him to-day," we observed, "and I fear that -what you say is true: he cannot last long." "Well, sir, it will be -a good thing for John ---- (the person recently buried); his term of -watching will be a short one." "I do not understand what you mean," -we observed, with some curiosity. "The man is dead and buried; what -watching should he have to do?" "Why, sir, don't you know that the -spirit of the last person buried in the island has to keep watch and -ward over the graves till the spirit of the next person buried takes -his place?" "I really did not know that," we replied. "Is it a common -opinion that such is the case, and do you believe it yourself?" "Well, -sir, it is generally believed by the people; and having always heard -that it was so, I cannot well help believing it too. The spirit whose -watch it is, is present there day and night. Some people have seen -them: my mother, God rest her! once pointed out to me, when I was -a little boy, an appearance, as of a flame of light on the island, -slowly moving backwards and forwards, and she assured me it was the -watching spirit going his rounds." "What particular object has the -spirit in watching?" we asked. "Well, I don't exactly know," was -the answer. "He just takes a sort of general charge of the Island -of the Dead, until his successor arrives." We have since found that -a belief in this superstition is common among the old people. The -spirit or ghost is supposed to be to a certain extent unhappy, and -impatient of relief while in the discharge of this office, and thus, -it is considered, that the sooner after a funeral there is occasion -again for the opening of a grave, the better it is for the spirit of -the last person interred, who then, and not till then, passes finally -and fully to his rest. - -We have to warn such of our readers as dwell by the sea, and all -"who go down to the sea in ships, and see His wonders in the deep," -that unusually high tides may be expected in connection with the -new moon of the 18th. The highest tide, however, is not likely to -be exactly coincident with the change of the moon, but at the time -of the second or third flood thereafter. Along our Scottish coasts -the tidal wave will probably be highest on the morning of the 20th, -so that this notice may yet be sufficiently timeous. Much, however, -will depend on the state of wind and weather, as to the height the -tide may attain at any particular place. In any case, it can do no -harm to be prepared. - -To such of our readers as may be engaged in the rearing and tending of -flowers at this season we very willingly communicate a hint that may -be found useful. And it is this. In filling flower-pots or window-sill -boxes, there is frequently considerable difficulty in procuring soil -that will be at once sufficiently rich, free of weed seeds, and finely -pulverised. The despised and sadly persecuted mole provides the very -thing wanted, and in little round heaps, waiting only to be gathered, -commonly called molehills. For flowers, whether in pots or borders, -there is nothing so good as molehill earth. The rationale of the -thing is, as is well-known to every one in the least acquainted with -the natural history of the interesting velvet-coated subterranean -tunnelists, that they live on worms and insect larvæ. These are -always found in the best soil, which is hurled to the surface in round -heaps by the industrious little animal while in pursuit of his prey, -and in so pulverised a state, and so free of weed seeds, as to be -above all others the soil most suitable for all manner of ordinary -floriculture. With such soil we have grown the purest dahlias and -wallflowers we ever saw anywhere. The old Royalist toast, "To the -little gentleman in the black velvet coat!" was in sly allusion to -the death of a high personage from injuries received by his horse -stumbling over an insignificant molehill, and whose name by the -way is disagreeably connected with a dark deed done heretofore in -Glencoe, whose wild gorge and frowning precipices are in view as we -write. But if any of our readers will feel cause of gratitude to the -mole on the hint above given, as they bend over a moss rose or dahlia -which has grown in soil so procured, why, we shall be glad for all -our sakes. For our reader's, in that he or she has been gratified -in such a delightful and holy taste as flower culture; for our own, -that the secret was ours to divulge; and for the mole's sake, poor -persecuted fellow, for he sadly needs a friend. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - - The Beauty of the West Highland Seaboard--Dr. Aiton of - Dolphinton--Dr. Norman Macleod--Specimen of Turtle-Dove (Columba - Turtur) shot in Ardgour--The belief on the Continent of its - value as a Household Pet--Bechstein--Male Birds dropping Eggs - in confinement. - - -If somewhat over-showery for the comfort of tourists, whose season -[June 1871] may now be said to have fairly commenced, the weather -with us on the west coast is at least all that the agriculturist and -sheepowner could wish it to be, for pasture everywhere is rich and -abundant to a degree that has rarely been known even here, while crops -of all kinds never perhaps presented a healthier or more luxuriant -growth. The truth is that a certain amount of rainfall, and that -amount a large one, is absolutely necessary for the wellbeing of our -crops in the West Highlands, and the longer we live the more do we -feel the truth and force of the saying of a shrewd old gentleman, -at his own dinner table many years ago, to the effect that he had -always observed that the season in which there was some difficulty -in getting peats secured in good condition was invariably the best -for Lochaber and the neighbouring districts from a pastoral and -agricultural point of view. This is particularly observable this -year, for while you cannot as yet see a stack of this season's peats -anywhere, the country is clothed in richer, greener verdure, the woods -are leaner, and crops of every description more luxuriant than we can -recollect to have been the case for at least a dozen years past. If -anybody wishes to see the West Highlands in all their magnificence and -beauty, now is the season, for, go where you may, turn whithersoever -you will, wander forth at any hour and in any direction, you cannot -fail to be charmed with the infinite variety of pictures that present -themselves for your admiration, pictures which, while they only charm -and enchant the ordinary beholder, delight at once and distress the -artist--delight him by their marvellous beauties, but distress him -not the less, because he cannot with all his cunning transfer these -beauties in their entirety to canvas. An American gentleman whom we -met the other day candidly confessed that, although he had gone over -most of his native land, and made the tour of Continental Europe and -the East, he had not in all his travels seen anything more beautiful -than the shores of Loch Linnhe, Loch Leven, and Lochiel at sunset on -a fine evening in June. The late Dr. Aiton of Dolphinton told us on -his return from Palestine that he had seen nothing at all to equal -Loch Linnhe on a summer's evening. In all the breadth of his native -Doric, which he always employed in familiar conversation, he declared -there was "naething in a' the Archipelago till touch't," and we have -heard Dr. Norman Macleod on his return from India express himself -very much to the same effect. The Queen says in her Journal that -"the scenery in Loch Linnhe is magnificent--such beautiful mountains." - -A specimen of a very rare bird, shot by the keeper in Ardgour Garden -a few days ago, has been kindly sent to us by Mr. Maclean. It turns -out to be a male in beautiful plumage of the turtle-dove (Columba -turtur, Linn.; La tourterelle of Buffon), a bird rarely seen anywhere -in Scotland, and which, except in this instance, has never, so far as -we are aware, been met with in the West Highlands. We remember seeing -a young bird, a female in immature plumage, that was said to have been -shot somewhere near Falkland Palace in the summer of 1847, from which -it was reasonably concluded that a pair of these beautiful birds had -in that year at least nidified and reared their young somewhere in -the Howe of Fife. Except in the case of the specimen now before us, -we are not aware that it has ever been met with anywhere in the -north or north-western counties. The turtle is, as we have said, -an exceedingly beautiful and handsome bird, the breast of a delicate -vinaceous tint, and a black patch on either side of the neck, each -feather of which is tipped with a crescent of pure white, giving it a -very elegant and striking appearance. It is less bulky and less rotund -in form than the common dove, its shape more nearly resembling that -of the blue jay or throstle cock, which latter it also about equals -in size. We have never seen this bird in confinement, but it is said -to exhibit a remarkable degree of tenderness and sagacity, whether -as a cage or chamber bird. On the Continent it is kept not only for -its tameness and beauty, but because it is a common belief among the -people that it attracts to itself bad humours, and is to a family -in the matter of diseases what a lightning-rod is to a building in a -thunderstorm. Bechstein, a shrewd and intelligent man, seems to think -that the belief in question, absurd as it may appear to us, is not -so ill-founded after all, for he says quietly, "Thus much at least is -certain, that during the illness of men it readily becomes sickly." The -explanation probably is that, being a tender and delicate bird, the -odour and effluvia attendant on certain human ailments affects it as -described. Other birds are occasionally similarly affected; thus, when -our own children were laid up with a very bad kind of scarlatina, our -cage-birds, gold and green finches, were out of sorts for some time, -drooping and dejected and unable to sing as usual, though the month -was April, when they should have been in all respects at their best -and in full and free song. You may be sure, by the way, that we were -not a little pleased with a paragraph which appeared the other day -about the male cockatoo that dropped the egg, very much, no doubt, -to the astonishment of his amiable mistress. When some years ago we -ventured to assert that males of various birds, notably the common -domestic cock, sometimes dropped an egg, the thing was scouted as -ridiculous, and from Dan to Beersheba, from London to John O'Groat's, -the cry was that it couldn't be, that it was impossible; one writer -going so far in his scepticism as plainly to declare that "he would -as soon believe that a bull had given birth to a calf." Much was the -chaffing that we had to endure in connection with the subject, and -our most intimate friends could hardly believe that we were serious -in it at all. And yet we were perfectly in earnest; we had known the -thing happen repeatedly, and since then a very fine cock goldfinch -of our own, one of the best singers, too, we have ever heard, laid an -egg in his cage which is still in our possession, and several of our -correspondents having had their attention directed to the subject, -have assured themselves that, not only is the thing possible, but -in the case of the domestic cock at least, and of many cage-birds, -of rather common occurrence. It is a very odd and curious thing, -no doubt, and difficult of explanation, but there are thousands -of undisputed facts in natural history in the same category, the -existence of which is beyond all question, though the how, and why, -and wherefore is a mystery. - -From our window, as we write these lines, we can see quite a fleet -of herring boats sailing up Loch Linnhe on their return from the -fishing stations at Barra, Lochmaddy, and the Lewis--a very pretty -sight--not less than two hundred or more boats under full sail, -stretching in one long line from Corran Ferry to the Sound of Mull, -looking at this distance for all the world like the notes in a line -of complicated printed music. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - - Thunderstorm--Potato Field in Bloom--The Hazel Tree--Hazel - Nuts--Potato Shaws for Cattle--Ferns for Bedding - Cattle--Marmion--Scott. - - -With an occasional fine day [August 1871], the past fortnight must, -we fear, be characterised as having been upon the whole wet--very -wet, a stranger would say--and not a little stormy withal. We had -a tremendous thunderstorm early on Sunday morning, with the most -magnificent display of forked lightning that we have ever seen, while -the very earth seemed to quake and tremble under the crash of peal -upon peal of thunder, so near and loud at times as to be absolutely -terrible. It is no wonder that the soundest sleepers were awakened -from their midnight slumbers by the hurly-burly. We ourselves got up -for a time, and sat at our window, watching the lightning that darted -incessantly among the mountain summits with startling vividness, -revealing their serrated peaks at times through the very heart of the -thunder-cloud as distinctly as if it were clearest noonday. Rain, too, -fell the while in torrents, that instantly filled river and mountain -stream to overflowing; and as the storm passed away, and we retired -to rest in the grey, uncertain twilight of the early dawn, we were -lulled into a sleep, that lasted well nigh until noon, by the weird -and wild music of "the noise of many waters." We thought, as we sat -alone in the midst of that magnificent storm, of him (was it John -Foster?) who, on a similar occasion, turned round to his companion -and remarked, in a tone of deep solemnity, "It is a fine night; the -Lord is abroad!" Crops, though generally further from maturity than is -usual at this date, continue to grow rapidly, and everywhere present -a strong and healthy appearance,--"a guarantee," as newspaper editors -say, "of their good faith" and honest intentions in the direction of -a bounteous yield when cometh the season of ingathering. Potatoes -are now in full flower; and a very pretty sight, if you deign to -look at it with an unprejudiced eye, is a potato field in blossom -at this season. If the incomparable esculent were not cultivated -for its utility and value as an article of food, it would still -deserve a place in our gardens for its elegance and beauty simply as -a flower. Nothing but its commonness causes its beauty as a flowering -plant to be so constantly overlooked. We are in the midst of our hay -season, and we are only anxious about good weather for securing it in -tolerable order. Eight consecutive days of dry, breezy weather would -be of incalculable value to us at this moment. Anything will grow, -and grow luxuriantly, on the West Coast: our difficulties only begin -with the season of ripening and after preservation. If there be any -truth in the old Scottish saying, that "a year of nuts will also be -a year of corn," then may the grain-growers of the West Highlands at -least already congratulate themselves, for we have seldom seen the -hazel boughs so laden with nut clusters; and a prettier sight than a -hazel wood so laden, either now or when decked in its autumnal robes, -it would be difficult to conceive. It is, besides, a fragrant, cleanly -wood, through which you can at any time dash fearlessly and at will, -all the better of your contact with the leaves, branches, and nut -clusters, when you have reached the open beyond. There is not a leaf -in the woods so thoroughly clean, so fragrant when you have crushed it -in your hand, so soft and pleasant to the touch in its every stage, -as the leaf fresh plucked from the hazel bough. And apropos of hazel -nuts, a gentlemen from the south of England, at present resident in -our neighbourhood, told us something the other day that we did not -know before. "In our part of England," observed our friend, "the -hazel is common, and grows to a larger size, has more pretentions -to the name of tree, in fact, than here with you; and our nuts, I -should say, must be larger, juicier, and in all respects better than -yours." (A "soft impeachment," at which, for the honour of Nether -Lochaber, we took the liberty of gravely shaking our head in token -of dissent). "We seldom, however," he went on, "can get a ripe hazel -nut in autumn, the reason being that in many places they are gathered -while yet in a half-formed and green state. You look surprised, but -the reason is this: the husk of the green, unripe hazel nut is rich, -as you must be aware, in a bitterly sharp and astringent acid, that -must have often made your teeth water when you have essayed to crack -a nut in a state of immaturity. This acid, then, you must know, is -valuable as a mordant (a technical term) in the printing and dyeing of -cotton and other fabrics, and it commands a high price in the market -accordingly. It is a maxim in commerce that demand creates supply; -and the consequence is, that every year in the month of July, when -the nuts are at their greenest, and the acid in their husks at its -acridest, women and children plunder the woods of their hazel nut -clusters, which are sold to the manufacturers, who, by a process of -crushing by machinery, and washing and maceration, extract all the -acid, to be employed, as I have already mentioned, in cotton printing -and dye works." So far in substance, if not in ipsissimis verbis, -our friend. All we could reply was that we should be sorry indeed -to see our own bonny hazel woods similarly despoiled. Another thing -told us by this friend somewhat surprised us. He observed our servant -girl carrying a bundle of potato "shaws" into the byre, and asked -us what they were for. On our replying that these were the shaws of -the potatoes taken up for dinner, and that they were thrown before -the cows, and devoured by them with avidity on their return from -their hill pasture in the evening, he earnestly advised us never to -do so again; that in England it was never done, because it was found -that potato shaws given to milch cows not only lessened the quantity -of milk yielded, but actually vitiated the milk itself, giving it -a disagreeable taste, and making it decidedly unwholesome. All we -could answer was that we had known potato shaws given to milch cows -all over the Highlands since ever we could remember, and that we had -never known or heard any of the evils stated to result from the use -of them. What says the reader? It is true, no doubt, that the potato -belongs botanically to a family of plants many of whom are highly -poisonous--such as the common deadly nightshade of our lanes and -roadsides, for example--and it is averred that, although the tuber -of the potato is healthy and nutritious when cooked, it is a poison -in its raw state, and that its stem, leaves, flower, and "apple" -are all more or less poisonous; and yet we have known boys, while -the blight was yet unheard of, and when potatoes were more prolific -of apples or plums than they have ever been since, eat the large, -soft, full, ripe apples with relish, and they never suffered the -slightest inconvenience in consequence that ever we heard of. As a -boy we have often ate them ourselves, and very saccharine, juicy, -and pleasant flavoured we recollect they were, not at all unlike the -purple plum of our gardens in taste and flavour, and hardly inferior -to it as a pleasant succulent bonne bouche. Cattle, as we know, will -greedily eat the fresh shaws, as they will a decidedly poisonous plant, -the hemlock (Celticè, Iteotha); and it is a well-known fact that in -severe cases of scurvy on board ships that have to go long voyages a -feast of raw potatoes is an immediate and certain cure; so that after -all it would seem that if the potato is originally a poisonous plant, -cultivation has eradicated all, or almost all, traces of the evil. As -to the deleterious effects of the shaws on the milk of cattle we have -our doubts, our amiable and learned friend above mentioned to the -contrary notwithstanding. And while on such subjects let us record a -piece of information received from an old woman in our neighbourhood -a few days ago. We were cutting some green ferns on the hillside, -when the old lady in question, who happened to pass the way at the -time, stood to have a crack with us about the weather and crops and -things in general, said crack concluding somewhat as follows:--"You -are cutting ferns, sir," said the old lady, "what are you to make of -them if you please, sir?" "They are for bedding," we replied, "bedding -for the cows and pony." "Well, sir," she rejoined, "there is no harm -in bedding the pony with them; they will do him no evil; but take an -old woman's advice, and don't put them under your cows." "Why so," we -asked in astonishment. "What can be cleaner, fresher, fragranter for -bedding, whether for horse or cow, than these nice green ferns? Just -look how beautiful and soft they are." "Still, sir," she persisted, -"you must not place them under your cows, particularly your milch -cows; if you do, their udders will assuredly fester, and they will -go wrong in their milk. I have known it happen often, and no sensible -person in the country ever does such a thing now-a-days. Ferns cut in -autumn when brown and ripe make excellent bedding for milch cows as -for all other cattle, but July cut ferns, green, juicy, and unripe, -should never be used for bedding milch cows. I do not pretend to tell -you why they should produce the evils I have mentioned, but I do know -that if I had fifty cows I had rather have them without bedding at all -than put such green, fresh ferns as those under them." We stood for the -moment aghast at this piece of information, which was perfectly new to -us, and from the positive and decided tone of the old lady, a shrewd -intelligent woman of her class, we felt that there must be something -in it. On inquiry we have since found that the old lady's belief in the -evil of ferns--green, unripe ferns, that is--as bedding for milch cows, -is common among the people of this part of the West Highlands. Whether -the whole affair is a mere superstition, the fern having always been -accounted a sacred plant in the Highlands, or whether there is really -some foundation in fact for the belief that a bedding of green ferns -causes the udders of cows to swell and fester as is alleged, we are -not at this moment prepared to say; perhaps some of our readers may be -able to throw light on the subject. It is just possible that green-cut -ferns, when pressed by the recumbent animal, may exude an acrid juice -that, coming in contact with the tender udder, may be absorbed with -the effects alleged. Meantime we doubt it. One thing we know is this, -that cattle are fond of lying down among growing ferns in their every -stage, and that both roe and red deer frequently make their lair among -growing ferns at this season. Do you remember, by the way, Scott's -magnificent description in Marmion of a fern-couched deer roused from -his midnight lair by the awful tolling of the passing-bell over the -living entombment of poor Constance in the monastery of Lindisfarne?-- - - - "Slow o'er the midnight wave it swung, - Northumbrian rocks in answer rung; - To Warkworth cell the echoes roll'd, - His beads the wakeful hermit told. - The Bamborough peasant raised his head, - But slept ere half a prayer he said; - So far was heard the mighty knell, - The stag sprung up on Cheviot Fell, - Spread his broad nostril to the wind, - Listed before, aside, behind, - Then couch'd him down beside the hind, - And quaked among the mountain fern, - To hear that sound so dull and stern." - - -Than the whole of the trial and doom of poor Constance, who "loved -not wisely but too well," in the second canto of Marmion, even Scott -never wrote anything more solemn or terrible. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - - Harvest--Scythe and Sickle v. Reaping Machines--Potatoes--Garibaldi - and Potatoes at Caprera--Fishing--Platessa Gemmatus, or Diamond - Plaice--Mushrooms--The Poetry of Fairy Rings--Harvest-Home. - - -With such fine weather as we enjoy at present, September [1871] is one -of the pleasantest months of the year. Harvest operations are now in -full swing, and the redbreast--having moulted, and proudly conscious -of the splendour of his scarlet vest--has already begun his autumnal -song--more delectable now and more appreciated, because now, with the -exception of an occasional voluntary from the wren, he only sings, -whereas his vernal strains are lost in their amalgamation with the full -chorus of a thousand performers. It is pleasant now, as you saunter -or ride along, to listen to the merry laughter of the reapers afield, -and to their song, as, morê majorum, it floats in chorus on the gale: -pleasant, too, to us at least, and far from unmusical, the frequent -sound of the whetting of scythe and sickle in every direction--the -bloodless weapons--as they are deftly handled in the process, -glancing brightly in the sunlight! Reaping "machines" and "steam" -ploughs may be very good things in their way, but we are not ashamed -to confess that we are glad that, as yet at least, we know nothing -of them in the West Highlands. The utilitarian must be content if we -admit all their value and importance from his point of view, while at -the same time we yet assert that wherever they appear all the poetry -of agriculture incontinently becomes plain prose--Sic transit gloria -Cereris. Very excellent, at all events, are our crops this season, -and very excellently are they being harvested. A good deal has already -been secured in barn and stackyard, and in such condition, too, as -is but rarely possible under the weeping skies of the west coast. The -weather is still so favourable that our people are working with a will, -and making every exertion to have their harvesting concluded while -it lasts. Potatoes still continue sound and untainted, although an -occasional spottiness of the leaf in some fields shows that our old -enemy the "blight" has not yet forgot the time of his coming. The -crop is now, however, about ripe, and may be considered very much -out of danger for the season. In our last, we had a good deal to say -about this invaluable root, and how it should be brought to table; -and to show that such a subject-matter is not quite so infra dig. as -some of our readers might suppose, listen to what the Times says of -Garibaldi's doings at Caprera. After recounting the General's failures -in connection with his orchard, the acclimation of the silk-worm, &c., -the Times proceeds:--"Garibaldi, however, points with exultation to -his potato fields. No species of the favourite root is neglected, and -there is no treat he so heartily enjoys as a dish of his own potatoes, -baked with his own hand under embers, in the open air--a treat which -calls up reminiscences of his camp life on the Tonale or the Stelvis, -or of his pioneer's experience in the backwoods of the Mississippi -or the Plate." We wonder if this "hero in an unheroic age," who yet -disdains not to exult in his potato fields, or to cook his delicious -"earth apples," as the French so happily term them, in the embers -with his own hand--we wonder if he eats his fish with his fingers? We -could lay a wager that he does; that in eating his ember-roasted -potatoes in the open air, with some broiled tunny, let us suppose, -as a fitting accompaniment--(the Thynnus vulgaris, in highest esteem -with the ancients as with the moderns, abundant about Caprera and -all the shores of Provençe, Sardinia, and Sicily, and than which, -indeed, there is hardly any better fish)--we could lay a wager, -we say, that in eating his potatoes and fish al fresco he discards -the use of knife and fork utterly, eating his fish with his fingers, -and using the running brook beside him as a convenient finger-glass. - -There is a lull at present in our herring fishing, rather because, -however, of the paramount claims of harvest operations on the attention -of our people just now, than from any dearth of the fish in our -lochs. In a week or ten days, when all or most of the corn has been -cut, the fishing will be resumed, and it is hoped with success. In -an old Fingalian tale it is very beautifully said--"Rejoice, O my -son, in the gifts of the sea; for they enrich you without making -any one else the poorer." A rather rare fish in our western waters -was caught a few days ago by our excellent neighbour, J. P. Grant, -Esq., who occupies Cuilchenna House this season. Mr. Grant was good -enough to send this odd fish for our inspection, and we determined -it to be a species of plaice (Platessa)--and the handsomest of the -family--the Platessa gemmatus of ichthyologists, commonly called -the diamond or diamond-spotted plaice. This very handsome fish is -quite as good on the table as it is beautiful when fresh from its -native element. Another fish, rare on the west coast, was captured -by ourselves with the rod while mackerel fishing last week. It was -a specimen of the sapphirine gurnard (Trigla hirundo), one of the -family of "hard-cheeked" fishes, of which the common red or cuckoo -gurnard (Trigla cuculus) is a familiar example. A peculiarity in -all the family is the abnormal development of the pectoral fins, -so large in one species as to enable it to fly bird-like for short -distances in the air. All our readers must have heard and read of -the flying-fish (Trigla volitans), even if they have never seen -it. It is of the gurnard family--a very near relation, indeed, of -our common gurnard. All the "hard-cheeked" fishes, without exception, -are excellent eating. Our sapphirine gurnard was delicious. - -We do not know whether any of our readers has observed it to be the -case elsewhere, but in this and the neighbouring districts we have -again and again remarked how very plentiful all kinds of mushrooms--the -whole family of Agarici--are this season. Never have we seen so -many beautiful "fairy rings," many of them almost mathematically -perfect circles. Although they are always interesting and beautiful, -you cannot help being a little startled, and feeling a shade of awe -mingling with your curiosity and admiration, as you suddenly come -upon one of these emerald rings in burnside meadow or upland glade, -and contrast the vivid green and well-defined periphery of the charmed -circle with the general every-day colour of the surrounding verdure. We -are not surprised--on the contrary, we can perfectly understand--how -in the good old times, ere yet the schoolmaster was abroad, or science -had become a popular plaything, people--and, doubtless, very honest, -decent people too--attributed those inexplicable emerald circles to -supernatural agency; if, indeed, anything connected with the "good -folks" or "men of peace" could properly be called super-natural -in times when a belief in fairies, and every sort of fairy freak -and frolic, was deemed the most correct and natural thing in the -world. Didn't these circles, it was argued, appear in the course of a -single night? In the sequestered woodland glade, nor herd nor milkmaid -could see anything odd or unusual as the sun went down, and, lo! next -morning, as they drove their flocks afield, there was the mysterious -circle, round as the halo about the wintry moon. Was not the colour, -too, of these circles green, and not only green, but a deeper, -richer, and more vivid green than natural verdure is ever seen to -be? and whose work, therefore, could it be but that of the fairies, -whose own favourite, peculiar colour was green, that no mere mortal -durst wear but at his peril, and who, it was well known, delighted -to dance hand-in-hand in merry circles round, footing it featly, as -the owl flittered ghost-like by the scene, all by the silvery light -of the moon, until the dawn of day. As Tom D'Urfey has it-- - - - "O how they skipped it, - Capered and tripped it, - Under the greenwood tree!" - - -The popular belief in the origin of these bright green circles, that -they were caused by fairy feet in many a midnight merry-go-round, -is frequently alluded to in the poetry alike of Celt and Saxon. Thus -a fairy song of the time of Charles the First begins-- - - - "We dance on hills above the wind, - And leave our footsteps there behind, - Which shall to after ages last, - When all our dancing days are past." - - -The reader will probably remember Queen Mab's very quaint and beautiful -song in Percy's Reliques of English Poetry:-- - - - "Come, follow, follow me, - You fairy elves that be: - Which circle on the green, - Come follow Mab your queen. - Hand in hand let's dance around, - For this place is fairy ground. - - "Upon a mushroom's head - Our table-cloth we spread; - A grain of rye or wheat, - Is manchet which we eat: - Pearly drops of dew we drink, - In acorn cups fill'd to the brink. - - "The grasshopper, gnat, and fly, - Serve for our minstrelsy: - Grace said, we dance a while, - And so the time beguile; - And if the moon doth hide her head, - The glow-worm lights us home to bed. - - "On tops of dewy grass - So nimbly do we pass, - The young and tender stalk - Ne'er bends when we do walk; - Yet in the morning may be seen - Where we the night before have been." - - -Another poet says-- - - - "O'er the dewy green, - By the glow-worm's light, - Dance the elves of night, - Unheard, unseen. - Yet where their midnight pranks have been, - The circled turf will betray to-morrow." - - -Nor was the superstition unknown to Shakspeare; was there anything -unknown to him? Listen:-- - - - "And nightly meadow-fairies, look you sing, - Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring; - The expressure that it bears, green let it be, - More fertile-fresh than all the field to see; - And, Honi soit qui mal y pense, write - In emerald tufts, flowers, purple, blue, and white: - Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery, - Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee! - Fairies use flowers for their charactery." - - -And if we know better now-a-days than to believe these green circles -to be fairy rings, we also know better than to give the slightest -credence to certain authors of our own day who have gravely asserted -that they are caused by electricity. We prefer the fairy agency theory, -as the more poetical and picturesque of the two, for, as to the truth -of either, why, the one is every whit as true as the other. Fairy -rings, as we continue for convenience sake to call them, are, in truth, -caused by a species of mushroom (Agaricus pratensis), the sporule dust -or seed of which, having fallen on a spot suitable for its growth, -instantly germinates, and constantly propagating itself by sending out -a net-work of innumerable filaments and threads, forms the rich green -rings so common everywhere this season. On the outer edge of this ring, -and sometimes also, though more rarely, on the inner edge, grows the -perfect plant, the fruit, the mushroom proper itself; and if some of -our modern wiseacres had only had half an eye in their heads and the -least particle of gumption, they could easily have gone to the fields -and seen all this for themselves, instead of lazily theorising on the -origin of the apparent mystery in their dressing-gowns and slippers -by the fireside, and sagely ascribing the whole to the agency of -electricity! There was a time, you may remember, when it was the -fashion to ascribe everything that people didn't readily understand -to electricity--very convenient certainly, but if you pushed these -savans a little, and asked them what this electricity itself was, -they were incontinently dumb, or, if they talked, they were bound to -talk nonsense. We can forgive, and even admire, the fairy dance theory, -for it is full of poetry and beauty, and in an age when people seldom -troubled themselves to trace natural phenomena to their source, it was, -upon the whole, a rather happy conjecture; if it was not the actual -vrai, it had of vraisemblance about it enough to recommend it to the -acceptance of the multitude. Grant but the existence of fairies, -and the rest was easy of belief. The "electricity" theory, on the -contrary, was unpardonable: it was not only false in fact, but it had -nothing whatever about it to recommend it either to one's faith or -fancy. Hardly more excusable than the electricity theorists themselves -are those authors who tell us that the West received the first hint of -the existence of fairies from the East at the time of the Crusades, -and that almost all our fairy lore is traceable to the same source; -the fact being, nevertheless, that Celt and Saxon, Scandinavian and -Goth, Lap and Fin, had their "duergar," their "elfen," without number, -such as dun-elfen, berg-elfen, munt-elfen, feld-elfen, wudu-elfen, -sae-elfen, and waeter-elfen--elves, or spirits, of downs, hills, and -mountains, of the fields, of the woods, of the sea, and of the rivers, -streams, and solitary pools--fairies, in short, and a complete fairy -mythology, long centuries before Peter the Hermit was born, or Frank -and Moslem dreamt of making the Holy Sepulchre a casus belli. It is a -curious fact in connection with fairy lore, and we have not seen it -noticed elsewhere, that although these anomalous beings are always -credited with much capriciousness, and are constantly described as -sensitive in the extreme to anything like slight or insult, keenly -vindictive in their dispositions and easily irritated, they are never -represented as encompassing the death of human beings. They tease, -terrify, and torment in a thousand ways where they take a dislike, -but they never kill. Their power is described as great, but it is also -limited--the issues of life and death are beyond their reach. In the -fairy song (temp. Charles I.) first quoted, there are two amusing -verses indicating such pranks as fairies could play on mortals, -if mortals offended them. Thus concludes Queen Mab her song:-- - - - "Next turned to mites in cheese, forsooth, - We get into some hollow tooth; - Wherein, as in a Christmas hall, - We frisk and dance, the devil and all! - - "Then we change our wily features, - Into yet far smaller creatures, - And dance in joints of gouty toes, - To painful tunes of groans and woes."-- - - -A pathology of toothache and gout that we recommend to the attention -of the faculty. The fairy ring agaric is one of the British species of -mushroom that may be eaten with safety. For our own part we abominate -the whole tribe. Our table may be scantier at times than we could -wish, but it will be scantier far than a kind Providence has ever -yet permitted it to be before we shall think of dining or supping on -funguses. Chacun à son goût, however, and if anybody wants mushrooms in -abundance, now is the time, and Nether Lochaber is the place for them. - -The new moon that comes in this morning (the 6th) will be the harvest -moon of the year. It is full on the 20th, and for a few evenings before -and after will be very beautiful, and well worth attention. If you -can command telescopic aid on the occasion, so much the better, but -even without it, it were strange if we could not view with admiration -and delight the silver orb that probably at some such conjunction -as that of the 20th, when walking in her brightness and her beauty, -tempted the patriarch of old to kiss his hand in acknowledgment of -her excellency, and bow before her in adoration. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. - - The disappearance of the glories of Autumn, and the advent - of Winter--Innovations and Innovators--New Version of the - Scriptures--The Milkmaid and her Fairy Lover, translated from - the Gaelic. - - -Ichabod! the glory is departed [November 1871]. The gorgeous autumnal -hues, which were so beautiful when we penned our last, have already -passed away. In the first fierce breath of winter the trees have -shed their golden glories, while the few remaining leaves that still -cling trembling to branch and bough, shrivelled up and blackened at -their edges, present only that pallid, corpse-like hue that betokens -approaching dissolution, making you sad and thoughtful as you gaze, -and reminding you that everywhere, on all hands, last while it may, -the end of all life is death. It is a sad lesson for the moment, -doubtless, but a useful one; and even at its worst, when the thought -bears heaviest upon us, the cloud presents its silver lining, and -a gleam of gladness bursts upon the soul, in the recollection that -as sure as all things are subject to decay and death, so sure are -decay and death themselves but the vassals of a brighter life and -more excellent glory. In one of our Scripture Paraphrases there is a -very beautiful reference to the decay of nature at this season, and -to the hope that gladdens us amidst all the desolation of the scene:-- - - - "All nature dies, and lives again: - The flow'r that paints the field, - The trees that crown the mountain's brow, - And boughs and blossoms yield, - - "Resign the honours of their form - At Winter's stormy blast, - And leave the naked leafless plain - A desolated waste. - - "Yet soon reviving plants and flow'rs - Anew shall deck the plain; - The woods shall hear the voice of Spring, - And flourish green again!" - - -We have no patience with your innovators, whether in matters of -Church or State. We do not deny, indeed, that certain innovations may -be sometimes permissible, even if not absolutely necessary, that by -their adoption things may be done more decently and in order; nor do -we object even to a radical change in a given direction, when such a -change has by common consent become imperative. We believe, in fact, -in development and progress; only let that progress and development -be slow and sure, that they may be lasting; gradual, that they may -be graceful, and fall easily into their place, without unnecessary -jostling or disturbance of the established order of things. Festina -lente--hasten slowly--was the motto of the learned Erasmus, and -quoad hoc it is ours also; and, if you care to know it, is our creed -in affairs political and ecclesiastical. Some people, however, -seem born to be innovators and nothing else, and the innovator, -pure et simple, is surely a pest. He seems to have been born never -to know peace himself, and never, as much as in him lies, to permit -others a moment's rest or peace, or quiet either. Your thoroughbred, -full-blooded innovator always reminds us of our first housekeeper--a -very good woman in her way, too, but who had a perfect craze for -shifting and reshifting, adjusting and readjusting, as well as dusting -and redusting every article of furniture throughout the house, at -all sorts of unseasonable hours, and when to ordinary mortals such -labour seemed utterly uncalled for. When we were at home she went -"at it" in out-of-the-way closets and bedrooms as much and as often -as the immediate calls of the moment permitted. But when she got -us away from home for a day or two, how she did enjoy it! How she -did luxuriate in the power to innovate "at her own sweet will"--the -quotation, by the way, is rather inapt, for her temper was somewhat -of the sourest. Sometimes when we came back after a day or two's -absence, we could hardly believe it to be the same house, so great -was the change in the place and position of everything. At last the -thing became unbearable. One evening, on our return from a walk, -we found our writing-table, at which we had been employed during -the day, carefully placed in the darkest corner of the room, with -its drawers, containing letters, paper, pens, &c., jammed up hard -and fast against the wall, while books and manuscripts were most -artistically arranged in pyramidal form, the ink-bottle representing -the graceful entablature on the top of a book-case, where it must have -cost her no small pains, and a great deal of stretching on tip-toe, -even with the aid of a chair, to place them. The thing was too absurd -for any one to be really angry; but we pretended to be so, and at -last peace was proclaimed, under a sort of compromise that she should -arrange and readjust all the rest of the house at her pleasure, as -often and as radically as she chose, but that that particular room, -having been put to rights to our mutual satisfaction once for all, -must in all time coming be let alone. This treaty being duly ratified, -was upon the whole faithfully observed by the contracting parties. The -mischief, however, with your thoroughbred innovator is that you can -never completely satisfy him, his appetite for change is insatiable, -he will make no compromise with you. Grant him all he asks to-day, -and as sure as to-morrow comes, he is at it anew. If you gave him the -whole world, and his own way everywhere and in everything, he would -be in worse plight than the conqueror who wept because there were no -more worlds to subdue, and fret himself to death that there were no -more changes for him to effect. The probability is that, rather than -be idle, he would, in hunting phrase, "hark back" upon his old track, -and diligently undo all he had spent his life in doing, and without -much regard to the consequences. - -We have been led into these remarks by the recollection, when quoting -the above verses of the Eighth Paraphrase, that there are at this -moment some people busily bestirring themselves in the matter of -a new translation of the Scriptures, to supersede the authorised -version now in use. Now, we most solemnly protest against all this, -as a most rash proposal, ill-advised, and utterly uncalled for. At -present we object very much on the same principle that we should -object to a painting by one of the old masters being cleansed and -retouched by a modern R.A., however eminent in his own person, or -on the same principle that we should feel tempted to kick the ladder -from under the feet of a man we should detect white-washing a stately -pile of the olden time, under the plea, forsooth, that in obliterating -weather stains, and freely applying putty and paint, he was thereby -improving, renovating, and beautifying the whole fabric. That there -are verbal inaccuracies in our authorised version of the Scriptures -is on all hands admitted; let these be rectified, if people please, -and let the corrections so made, under adequate authority, appear in -the form of marginal notes opposite the passage amended, but let the -body of The Book stand as it is--intact. The edifice, as it exists, -is too grand, and stately, and beautiful, and hallowed, not to suffer -under the proposed remodelling, even in the most competent hands. - -But to turn to a different theme. The following is a translation from -the Gaelic, as literal as we could make it, with anything like due -regard to the spirit and manner of the original. It is a fairy song, -if song it can be called, from the manuscript volume referred to in -a former communication. Fairy tales, both in prose and verse, were -common with our Celtic forefathers, and, if we only examine them with -sufficient care, we shall find that, underlying all their quaintness, -there is always to be found a substratum of sound and healthy moral. It -bears no title in the original, but we may call it-- - - - The Milkmaid and her Fairy Lover. - - Gaily the milkmaid came tripping along; - The echoes so loved her, they joined in her song; - The hare and the wild-roe that browsed in the glade, - The bird on the bough swinging high over-head-- - They saw and they heard, but they feared not--they KNEW the - milkmaid. - - Abundant her tresses, bright golden their hue; - And soft as a dove's was her eye in its blue; - Elastic her footstep, and lightsome and free - As a fawn's when in gladness it skips o'er the lea-- - Of the old and the young the delight, and the pride of Glentallon - was she. - - In secret she met with the Hunter in Green, - Beside the lone fountain of Coirre-na-Sheen; - A gallant more gay ne'er did maiden behold, - His manner so gentle, his bearing so bold; - By his side freely dangled, and well could he wind it, a bugle - of gold! - - Full fondly he kissed her--she thought it no sin, - Though she knew not his name, nor his kith, nor his kin; - They plighted their troth by the fount's bubbling stream, - Where oft, it is said, when frail mortals but dream, - The fairies hold revel, and trippingly dance in the moon's - mellow beam. - - On the Eve of St. Agnes the maiden confessed, - As was proper she should, all her sins to the priest; - When she left him, the blush in her check mantled high; - There was care in her step, and a tear in her eye. - Yet pure was the maiden and spotless, I ween, as a star in the - blue of the sky. - - Next day, by the fountain of Coirre-na-Sheen, - The milkmaid again met the Hunter in Green. - As he kissed her she quietly slipped under his vest - A relic she long had worn next to her breast-- - 'Twas a relic in sooth the most sacred--a Cross that the holy - St. Colomb had blessed. - - And lo! in the place of the Hunter in Green - ('Twas all by the fountain of Coirre-na-Sheen), - A brown, withered twig, so elf twisted and dry, - Was all--'twas amazing--the maid could espy! - While the Cross, with a bright burning light round its edges, - beside it did lie. - - And the maid grasped the Cross, which devoutly she kissed, - And hid it again in the snow of her breast; - Homewards she turned her with pensive steps slowly, - But her heart was at peace--meek, submissive, and lowly, - As maid and as mother (the Cross at her breast) she passed a - life holy. - - Often still wake the echoes of Coirre-na-Sheen, - At the blast of thy bugle, O Hunter in Green! - Go get thee a mate from the green fairy knowe-- - A cross-bearing maid dare not wed such as thou: - Let fairy wed fey, and let mortal wed mortal. Come, Annabel, - stir up the fire till it blaze in a lowe! - - -The moral of the fairy song is instantly apparent. A young lady--miss -or milkmaid--is not to hold clandestine appointments with any young -gentleman, however lovable and attractive, until at least she knows -who and what he is, whence he cometh and whither he goeth. Having met -and loved, however, she is instantly to consult those who are older -and wiser than herself, and, under their friendly care and direction, -she is to be sure that, on her own part and on that of her lover, all -shall be pure and holy. The touch at the end is admirable. We must -suppose a mother telling the story, herself and sons and daughters -sitting round the fire, which, in the absorbing interest of the tale, -has been for the time neglected. "Annabel," addressed at the close, we -must fancy to be the eldest daughter, just entering upon womanhood. The -whole moral of the story, flung obliquely at her head in the command -to stir the fire and make it blaze, is exquisite, and we can fancy -the gentle "Annabel" quietly smiling to herself the while--she also -having a secret--as she cheerily obeys the maternal mandate. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII. - - Wild Birds' Nests in early April--Rook stealing Eggs frightened - and almost captured--The Domestic Cock--What he was, and what he - is--Sadly demoralised by intermixture with "Cochin-Chinas" and - "Bramahpootras." - - -After a month's cold, clear weather, with dry, parching, northerly -winds--the finest heather-burning season that ever was seen--a -considerable rainfall during the past week has been welcomed as a boon -rather than otherwise, and the country around is all the greener and -gladder because of it [April 1872.] During an afternoon's ramble on -Saturday we found a redbreast's nest, a blackbird's, and a chaffinch's, -all with their full complement of eggs in them; while the nests of -several other species, some completed and some still abuilding, were -to be found by diligent searching in almost every likely locality. For -many years past there has been no such favourable season for wild -birds. An amusing scene a day or two ago was the following:--One of -our hens, disregarding the companionship of the rest, and desirous of -more freedom of action, in a matter so important, than the hen-house -could supply, took to laying her eggs in a hole she had scratched -out under an old hazel root in a neighbouring copse. Complaints were -by-and-by brought into the house that although this hen regularly -dropped her quotidian egg in the spot selected, it was found that, -unless immediately taken away from her, the egg was sure to be sucked -by some sly thief who doubtless enjoyed such a delicacy at this season -amazingly, and all the more so, we daresay, that his pilferings had -hitherto passed undetected, despite the strictest vigilance on the -part of those more immediately interested. It was very annoying, as -you may believe, morning after morning to find the fresh and pearly -shell at the nest's side, its contents abstracted through a gaping -hole in its bulge, instead of the snowy treasure, totus, teres atque -rotundus, as it should be. Appealed to for such assistance as we could -render in detecting and punishing the culprit, whoever he might be, -we began by setting a trap for ground vermin, properly baited, and as -cunningly as possible placed, but without result. Determined, however, -to discover the petty larcenist, if possible, we took advantage of -an idle forenoon last week to sit and watch the nest from a distance, -our object in the first instance being to find out who the depredator -really was; we could afterwards and at our leisure take such steps as -we might deem advisable for his capture. Selecting a convenient spot -whence we could see without being seen, and provided with a powerful -binocular, we watched and waited with the most exemplary diligence -and patience, and were rewarded, after some time, by discovering the -culprit to be neither rat, stoat, nor weasel, nor other quadrupedal -marauder, but a common crow, or rook rather--Corvus frugilegus, Linnæus -calls him, though Corvus omnivorus would be nearer the mark--a large -old male bird, as he afterwards proved to be, who had doubtless in -his day sucked many an egg and sacked many a homestead of its callow -fledglings. We first observed him alighting on the branch of a large -ash tree, whence he had a full view of the nest, and there he sat with -much patience, preening his feathers, and uttering an occasional craa, -as if to encourage the hen in her labours. No sooner did the latter, -having deposited her egg, leave the nest with the usual cackle of -self-congratulation, than Monsieur Corvus glided from his perch, -and in a twinkling, by the dexterous use of head and bill, had the -egg rolled out on the grass by the nest's side. Turning it round and -round, and rolling it over and over, stepping back at times as if the -better to contemplate its pearly whiteness and handsome proportions, -and already in imagination rolling the sweet morsel under his tongue, -he finally stepped forward, and with his pick-axe-like bill delivered -a stroke at the egg's bigger end, which made a sufficiently large -hole for him to suck away at comfortably. And how he did seem to enjoy -it! Removing his bill now and again as if to draw breath, and looking -up and around with an air of innocence and self-satisfaction that was -exceedingly comical. Meanwhile, so intent was Corvus on his egg-flip, -that we managed to creep quite close to the scene unperceived by -him, resolved to give him a good fright at least, if we could do no -more. We took advantage of a moment when he had his head buried in -the egg up to the eyes to start to our feet, uttering at the instant -a favourite shout of ours in such circumstances--a sort of war-whoop, -a legacy, we suppose, from our Fingalian ancestors--and the happiness -of Corvus, sucking his egg in such fancied security, vanished like -a dream. With a prolonged cra-a-a he made a sudden dig into the egg -in his fright, his bill passing clean through it, and spreading his -wings he fluttered upwards, the egg sticking over his bill and eyes -like a mask, and preventing him from seeing anything, and causing him -to perform the most ridiculous evolutions ever exhibited perhaps by a -bird on wing. Fluttering along obliquely, with many a dolorous cra-a, -he came to the ground like a collapsed balloon in a neighbouring field, -where we hoped to capture him, but just as we ran up to him he managed -to shake the egg from his head, and in an instant was up and away and -out of sight at a rate that must have brought him to Culloden Moor -within the hour if he stopped not by the way. A bird rarely fails to -profit by experience, least of all a crow, and we have no hesitation -in saying that the particular rook in question will remember his -egg-shell mask and our unearthly war whoop till his dying hour. - -And while on such subjects, let us ask the reader by the way if he has -noticed that cocks don't crow now-a-days as they used to do? We refer -of course to the common barndoor fowl--Gallus domesticus, the domestic -cock. He, we assert, does not now-a-days crow with the same regularity -and timeousness, nor with the clear, clarion notes with which he did - - - "Salutation to the morn," - - -say a score of years ago. This may seem a startling assertion, but any -one who deigns to turn his attention to the subject will find that it -is true. The cock-crowing and wing-clapping of the House of Commons -when in the humour is no doubt highly creditable to that august -assembly. (It was Boswell, if we recollect well, who imitated the -lowing of a cow to admiration, and was naturally very proud of so rare -an accomplishment.) But the march of civilisation, and cross-breeding, -which you may call "internationalism" if you like, have been the ruin -of our cocks, so far as crowing is concerned. They may weigh more than -they did a score of years ago, and present a plumper form on the table, -but their crowing is gone: at the best it is but a harsh, spasmodic, -unmusical half-scream half-wheeze, altogether unlike the loud and -lusty, the clear, ringing notes of the cock-crowing of our boyhood -days. Our cocks are no longer chanticleers, but chantiqueers. If you -have occasion to sit up at night, or to start on a journey betwixt -midnight and morning, the cock no longer lends you any countenance or -aid in the matter--he sleeps on his perch in utter oblivion of the -passing hours, and as heedless of the "watches of the night" as the -brooding hen in the coop beneath him. The day may dawn, and the sun -may flood the mountain peaks with light, glad and golden, without a -note of welcome or recognition on the part of the bird that, from the -earliest ages until recent years, was known as the herald of the dawn, -and deservedly held in high honour and esteem as the vigilant sentinel -of the homestead throughout the midnight and early morning hours. Any -convivial "Willie" whom it so pleases may now brew his "peck o' maut," -if the Inland Revenue will let him, and sit down to enjoy it with -his boon companions into all the hours of the night and morning, -unwarned of the flight of time by anything like a cock-crow. The -moon may fill her silver horn, and shine bright as aforetime, "to -wile them hame," and the day may "daw," but the cock's "crawing" -will no longer convey its notes of warning and expostulation. If the -bird crows at all, it is sometime throughout the day, generally, -we have noticed, in the afternoon, when nobody thanks him for it, -and then in notes so discordant as to make your teeth water, as if -you had suddenly bitten deep into an unripe apple, with the chance -of a headache for the rest of the evening. The last time we heard -a cock crow in the good old fashion was in an out-of-the-way corner -of Arisaig, some three years ago. Being a stranger in the place, and -having to sleep on a "shake-down" on the floor of our room, our sleep -was less sound than usual, but throughout the night we were cheered by -the companionship of a cock that was roosting in an out-house not far -from our window. Shortly after midnight he announced the first watch -of the night as ended, and afterwards at intervals, of as nearly as -possible two hours, his clear, clarion notes, repeated two or three -times, startled the stillness of the glen, until at last the rising -sun invited him to the labours of the day, and called us to boot and -saddle. Nor is the degeneracy and demoralisation of the modern domestic -cock less apparent in another direction. Surrounded by his harem, he -used to be considered the beau-ideal by common consent of all that is -gallant, and courteous, and brave. With proud step and stately bearing -he led his dames about, finding for them the sunniest spots wherein to -bask and dust themselves when the day was at its height. He diligently -searched for, and rarely failed to find, the particular corner wherein -food was most abundant, scratching with might and main that the ladies -of his court might have as little unnecessary trouble as possible, -rarely eating anything himself until they had first of all picked the -best and biggest share; and if he came across any dainty titbit that -his followers had overlooked, he took it up in his bill, and by certain -peculiar notes reserved for such occasions, called them around him, -dropping the toothsome morsel with strict impartiality at his feet, -to be picked up by the first to respond to his summons. Now all this is -changed. They may sun and dust themselves when and where they please, -or not at all, for all he cares. Instead of being the active leader -and gallant protector in feeding excursions, he is content to be no -more than as any other of the band, exhibiting the utmost selfishness -and greed in gobbling up the first grain-pickle or earthworm that -comes in the way, nor is he, proh pudor! ashamed even to cuff and -drive away his decidedly better halves, when the mean wretch has, -by accident rather than by any diligence of his own, fallen on a good -scratching-place. Neither do you find in the cock of the present day -the pugnacity and pluck, the indomitable courage and love of warfare, -once so characteristic of the genus, from the tiniest bantam to the -lordliest gamecock, that would rather die than cry quarter or show -the white feather to an opponent. We don't suppose that the reader, -any more than ourselves, has seen a cock-fight for years; not from any -elevation of morals, we submit, in Monsieur Gallus, or increase at -all of amiability, but from sheer poltroonery and want of pluck. He -will still bully about among his hens, and fight with them, and we -have seen some of them turn upon him and give him a good drubbing, -as he deserved; but a fair stand-up fight with another cock--oh no, -we never mention it!--he has still the spurs, but no longer the heart -for it. When afield at the head of his following; if the shadow of a -suspicious bird on wing, as likely to be a crow as a gled or hawk, -or other bird of prey, passes along, instead of the old warning -note to his wives, with preparation on his own part to receive the -enemy à l'outrance, be he who he may, he is the first himself, in -Yankee phrase, to skedaddle and make tracks for a place of security -and shelter, leaving his hens to their fate. Our bill of indictment -contra gallum, the reader may say, is a heavy one, but it is in the -main very true, as any one who chooses may satisfy himself when he -has the opportunity. How, then, do we account for it? Well, it is very -difficult satisfactorily to account for it in any way. We are inclined -to the belief that the demoralisation of our domestic cock is to be -traced to the introduction into our country of such splay-footed, -loutish, awkward fowls as the "Cochin China," "Bramahpootra" et hoc -omne genus, whose brains seem to have subsided into the feathers on -their feet, and whose only good quality is their size, and even that -is dearly purchased, we suspect, when the immense feeding they require -is taken into account. These fowls have spread everywhere, so that, -except in some out-of-the-way localities, a cock or hen of the old -native breed, of blood pure and uncontaminated by foreign intermixture, -is very rarely to be met with, while cross-breeds and mongrels of -every shape and size are abundant in all directions. Whatever the -good qualities of these latter in other respects, courage, gallantry, -and pluck are not of the number. Just inquire into the subject for -yourself, good reader, and you will find that, neither physically, -intellectually, nor morally is the cock of the present day to be -compared for a moment with the gallant, handsome, proud-stepping -biped of your boyhood. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX. - - The Vernal Equinox--Beauty of Loch Leven--Astronomical Notes--How - an old Woman supposed to possess the Evil Eye escaped a cruel - death. - - -The vernal equinox has come and gone, unaccompanied this year -[April 1872], as it was unheralded and unannounced, by anything -like the storms that from the earliest times have been observed to -be attendant on the sun's crossing the equator. It is by no means -certain, however, that these storms may not even now be a-brewing, -to make themselves yet felt in all their fierceness, for we have -noticed in recent years particularly that what are called the -"equinoctial gales" quite as frequently follow, as accompany or -precede, the exact equality of day and night. We have just had a -fortnight of genuine March weather--clear, cold days, and frosty -nights--the air snell and biting, to be sure, and keen of edge, as -might be expected on the uplands; but in places sheltered from the -east and north it is delightfully bright and sunny, the incessant -song of birds, the hum of wild bees, and the gay fluttering of early -butterflies, making one think of Whitsuntide rather than All Fools' -Day; the twittering of swallows and the cheery notes of the cuckoo -alone are wanting to make the illusion perfect, and these, unless -the weather should undergo some extraordinary and unexpected change, -must certainly soon be heard, much earlier this year, we should think, -than usual. We are particularly favoured in this respect along the -northern shores of Loch Leven. Here, to quote Burns-- - - - "Simmer first unfaulds her robe, and here the langest tarry;" - - -and as we wander afield we often apply the words of Horace to our -own little spot, as from some neighbouring height we view it cozily -nestling in the sunlight-- - - - Ille terrarum mihi præter omnes - Angulus ridet; - - -which may be rendered-- - - - Whate'er the beauties others boast, - This spot of ground delights me most. - - -Or, as we prefer putting it in our own case-- - - - Of brighter skies and sunnier climes let others boast and jabber, - Give me the sunny, southern shores of mountain-girt Lochaber! - - -Or yet again, if you will have it still more literally in Gaelic-- - - - 'S anns' leam na spot eil' fo 'a ghréin, - M' oisinneag bheag, ghrianach féin. - - -During the present clear, cold spring nights the starry heavens are -very beautiful. Jupiter, just below Castor and Pollux, is at his -brightest, and very favourably situated for observation, his cloudy -belts and bright diamond-point-like satellites being visible in an -instrument of very moderate powers. If between nine and ten o'clock the -reader will turn to the north-east, he will find a constellation pretty -high up in the heavens, and consisting of five or six principal stars, -none of them, however, of the first magnitude, opening towards the -pole star in the form of a widely spread-out W. This constellation -will be an object of more than usual interest during the present -year. It is Cassiopeia, or The Lady in her Chair, the scene of a -very startling and strange phenomenon in 1572, which, it has been -asserted with some confidence, is not at all unlikely to be repeated -in 1872. In 1572 a new star of great splendour appeared in Cassiopeia, -occupying a place that had hitherto been blank. It was first observed -on the 6th August, by Schuler, of Wittemburg, shortly after which it -arrested the attention of the celebrated Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, -who watched its rapid increase of brilliancy night after night with -the liveliest interest. Its magnitude at last rivalled, if it did not -even exceed, that of Jupiter, with an effulgence equally bright and -vivid. After shining with great splendour some time, and attracting -the earnest gaze of the most distinguished astronomers of the period, -its brilliancy began steadily to decline, changing its colour in a very -remarkable manner as it became fainter and fainter, until finally it -became invisible in March 1574, and has never been seen since. Sir John -Herschel and other astronomers have suggested that its reappearance in -1872 is by no means an improbable event; and towards no constellation -in the northern heavens, in consequence, will the observer's eye be -so constantly turned throughout the present year as to Cassiopeia. The -reappearance of such a star would be certain to give rise to the most -startling theories. With the spectroscope in our possession, however, -and the marvellous telescopic power at our command now-a-days, we could -not fail to arrive at more intimate terms with such a stranger than -was possible in the days of Tycho Brahe. The interest and excitement -in the astronomical world in connection with the sudden burst of -splendour in the star in Corona a year or two ago was very great, -but would be still greater in the event of the reappearance of the -long absent stranger in Cassiopeia. In the one case it was only a -remarkable increase of light and lustre in the star already existent -and visible; but the reappearance of a new orb in a spot blank and -starless in the most powerful telescopes for three hundred years, would -be almost equal to the sudden creation of a new sun. Here, by the way, -good reader, if you are ambitious, is a chance for fame. Be but the -first to detect the reappearance of this remarkable star-stranger, -and your immortality into all time shall be more secure than if you -wrote an epic to rival the Iliad, or a tragedy equal to Hamlet or -Othello. The name and memory of George Palitch, the amateur peasant -astronomer, who was so fortunate as to obtain the earliest glimpse of -Halley's Comet on its first return to perihelion after its periodicity -had been so boldly, and as some thought so rashly asserted, is more -secure in that connection than if, either as king or conqueror, -he had all the honours of the most imperishable brass or marble. - -A hundred years ago or more, when Highlanders were more superstitious -than they are now, or when, to be more correct, they took less pains to -conceal their superstitious beliefs than at the present day, a certain -hamlet in a remote part of the country was sadly troubled by an "evil -eye," whose unhallowed powers wrought "mickle woe," to the manifest -loss and discomfort of the good people around. The cows no longer -yielded their lacteal treasures in the desired abundance, nor did the -calves grow and thrive, as calves in good keeping should. Churns, -however shaken and jolted, refused to turn out their hebdomadal -pot of butter; or if, after much weary labour, they did reluctantly -yield any, it was found to be pale and rancid as unsalted suet in the -dog-days. Stirks and other young "beasts," though the rents depended -on them, sickened and dwined and died, without apparent reason; -and even children, hitherto in rude and ruddy health enough, were -frequently prostrated by sudden and unaccountable illnesses. That an -"evil eye" of more than ordinary virulence and power was at work was -at last conceded even by the most sceptical as to such influences, -and suspicion straightway fell upon a lone old woman, who lived in -a hut on the outskirts of the township. Originally a stranger to -the district, and of a taciturn and retiring disposition, she had -long been looked upon with suspicion and dislike, and now a number -of young men resolved to be revenged on her as the secret author of -all that was amiss in the hamlet. At a late hour one dark night they -proceeded to the poor old woman's hut, with the intention of setting -fire to the roof and burning it about her ears, not caring very much -either even if the "evil-eyed witch" herself, as they called her, -should be buried under the burning rafters of her cottage. As the -young men noiselessly surrounded the hut, they found that the old -woman was just about retiring for the night, and as some of them -stood at her window, and looked and listened, they could see her, -by the light of a bog pine fire, kneel at her bedside, and after a -little they heard her repeat the following prayer:-- - - - "Tha 'n la nis air falbh ùainn, - Tha 'n oidhche 'tighinn orm dlùth; - 'S ni mise luidhe gu dion - Fo dhubhar sgiath mo rùin. - O gach cunnart 's o gach bàs, - 'S o gach nàmhaid th'aig Mac Dhe, - O nàdur dhaoine borba, - 'S o choirbteachd mo nàduir fèin, - Gabhaidh mis' a nis armachd Dhe, - Gun bhi reubta no brisd', - 'Sge b'oil leis an t'sàtan 's le phàirt - Bi'dh mis' air mo gheàrd a nis." - - -Which, literally rendered into English, will read thus:-- - - - "The day has now departed from us; - Dark night gathers around, - And I will lay me safely down (to sleep) - Under shadow of my Beloved One's wing. - Against all dangers, and death in every form, - Against each enemy of God's good Son, - Against the anger of the turbulent people, - And against the corruption of my own nature, - I will take unto me the armour of God-- - That shall protect me from all assaults: - And in spite of Satan and all his following, - I shall be well and surely guarded." - - -The old woman's confidence in the Divine protection was not misplaced; -the heart of youth is generous, and the beauty and solemnity of the -scene carried it captive. The young men felt that one who could thus, -on retiring to rest, commend herself to God and God's Son, could not -be the "evil" old woman they had thought her. Awed and impressed, -silently and on tip-toe, they departed for their homes, leaving the -old woman in peace. By-and-by things went well again with the cattle of -the hamlet, sickness disappeared from the district, and the old woman -continued to live the same quiet, unobtrusive life a few years longer, -and was as much respected and loved latterly, the story says, as she -was at one time hated and feared. Nor did she ever know of the young -men's midnight visit to her hut on an errand so happily frustrated. - -The following are a couple of very excellent "toimhseachan" that were -sent us a few days ago. Finding the correct solutions will afford -some amusement to our Gaelic readers during the first idle half-hour-- - - - Chi mi, chi mi thar an eas, - Fear cruaidh, colgarra glas, - Cirb do léine sios mu leis, - 'S ceum an cirinnaich fo choïs. - - A mhuc a mharbh mi 'n uiridh - Bha uirceanan aice am bliadhna. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXX. - - Midges and other Bloodsuckers--The Tsetse of South Africa--The - Abyssinia Zimb--Livingstone--Adders and Grass Snakes--Lucan's - Pharsalia--Celsus--Legend of St. John ante Portam Latinam. - - -Along the west coast the weather is now [May 1872] as mild and May-like -as you could wish; the swallow twitters gaily in the sunlight, and -when he ceases his zig-zag flight for a moment to rest on chimney-top -or house-ridge, he sings a gladsome song, low and faint indeed, and -frequently lost on that account in the general chorus, but exceedingly -sweet and musical, as you will find if you give it the attention it -merits; while in the distance you hear the cheery notes of the cuckoo, -wild and startling as yet, as they burst suddenly upon the ear from -out the woodland glade or from the old rowan tree that finds root -room, you wonder how, in yonder crevice in the rock above the foaming -waterfall, but soon to become familiar as the season advances, and -pressed upon your notice whether you will or no, and at all sorts of -impossible times and places, by the truant schoolboy's oft-repeated, -though rarely successful, attempts at imitation. For the first week -in May the temperature is unusually high, and we do not recollect -ever before having seen insect life so plentiful so early in the -season. Midges, gadflies, and other bloodsuckers are already astir -in their thousands, their taste for their favourite fluid keen and -unabated, as they fail not abundantly to manifest by an activity that -one cannot help admiring, even while wishing that it could possibly be -directed to a more legitimate and less personally annoying end. But -"'tis their nature to," as the hymn-book says, and we must grin and -bear it, protecting ourselves from their assaults as best we may, -thankful the while that the evil is no worse. Our winged pests are -innocence itself compared with their congeners in other lands. Our -midge, for instance, is to the mosquito as the dog-fish is to the -shark, as the domestic cat is to the tiger; while our gadflies and -Æstri, though sufficiently annoying to our cattle at certain seasons, -are to be regarded as absolutely harmless if we compare them with the -venomous Zimb of Abyssinia, or the still deadlier Tsetse of Southern -Africa. The Abyssinian insect, by the way--the Zimb--is probably -the Zebub of the Hebrew Scriptures, the estimation in which it was -held from the earliest ages being clearly enough indicated by its -place in the word Beelzebub, "the prince of devils." Livingstone's -account of the Tsetse is one of the most interesting chapters in his -Travels. Shall the intrepid explorer be restored to us? We are afraid -not. It is only too probable that, as Scott said of his protegé and -friend, the author of the Scenes of Infancy-- - - - "A distant and a deadly shore - Has Leyden's cold remains!" - - -The districts of Ardgour and Sunart have always had an unenviable -notoriety for the great numbers of adders and grass snakes to be -found in them, the reptiles frequently attaining to a size unknown, -we believe, anywhere else in the West Highlands. Within the last -two or three years we have noticed that they are rapidly becoming -numerous in Lochaber, much more so than they used to be, though the -general opinion, in which we heartily concur, is that we were getting -on very well without them. During an ornithological ramble among the -hills a few days ago, we knelt to drink at a fountain that we fell in -with, welling up cool and sparkling beside a large moss-covered drift -boulder among the heather, when we were not a little startled by the -presence of no less than three adders that lay coiled together in a -sort of Gordian knot on a patch of green moss close by the fountain's -brink. The day was hot and dry, and they had probably come there -to drink and bathe; but we were very thirsty, having just smoked a -pipe on the top of the hill, and there being no appearance of water -anywhere else for miles around, and knowing, besides, that there -could be really no danger, even if the vipers had been ten times -larger and more venomous than they were, we drank a long draught of -the pure sweet water, and then proceeded with the stick in our hand to -attack the enemy, and soon had the satisfaction of knocking them into -wriggling, writhing bits, and crushing their heads under our heel. Our -assault was so sudden and unexpected that they had no time to show -fight; otherwise an adder, when his blood is up and thoroughly on -his guard, is an ugly customer to attack with no better weapon than a -walking-stick, and nothing can be imagined more deadly, wicked-looking, -and savage than such an animal, as with erected crest and flashing eye -he steadies himself in act to strike. It is curious that the poison -of these reptiles, though certain death if commingled in sufficient -quantity with the blood through an abrasion or wound, is perfectly -innocuous if taken into the stomach--a fact, by the way, that has been -known from very early times. On taking our drink, for instance, from -yonder viper-guarded fountain, we recollected that Lucan had something -on a somewhat similar circumstance in his Pharsalia. Describing Cato -and his soldiers coming to a fountain of water in the desert, and -how horrified they were to find innumerable serpents of the deadliest -kind--asps and dipsades--disporting themselves in and around the pool, -he has the following fine passage, the finest indeed in the poem, -which we took care to turn up when we reached home:-- - - - "Jam spissior ignis, - Et plaga, quam nullam superi mortalibus ultra, - A medio fecere die calcatur, et unda - Rarior; inventus mediis fons unus arenis - Largus aquæ; sed quem serpentum turbat tenebat - Vix capiente loco; stabant in margine siccæ - Aspides, in mediis sitiebant Dipsades undis. - Ductor, ut aspexit perituros fonte relicto - Alloquitur: Vana specie conterrite leti - Ne dubita miles tutos haurire liquores; - Noxia serpentum est admisto sanguine pestis; - Morsu virus habent et fatum dente minantur; - Pocula morte carent. Dixit dubuumque venenum - Hausit." - - -Which has been elegantly rendered into English as follows:-- - - - "And now with fiercer heat the desert glows, - And mid-day sun-darts aggravate their woes; - When, lo! a spring amid the sandy plain - Shows its clear mouth to cheer the fainting train; - But round the guarded brink in thick array, - Dire aspics roll'd their congregated way, - And thirsting in the midst the deadly dipsas lay. - Black horror seized their veins, and at the view - Back from the fount the troops recoiling flew; - When, wise above the crowd, by cares unquell'd, - Their trusted leader thus their dread dispell'd-- - 'Let not vain terrors thus your minds enslave, - Nor dream the serpent brood can taint the wave; - Urged by the fatal fang their poison kills, - But mixes harmless with the bubbling rills.' - Dauntless he spoke, and, bending as he stood, - Drank with cool courage the suspected flood." - - -Celsus, an older writer still, and styled the "Roman Hippocrates," -tells us in his great work, De Medicinâ, that the poison of serpents -may be safely enough sucked by the mouth from the wound, warning the -operator, however, to be careful that the lips and palate are free from -any cut or excoriation by which the venom might find its way into the -blood, in which case it might be just as dangerous as if introduced -into the circulation by the fang itself. It should be stated that the -grass or ringed snake spoken of above is not in the least poisonous, -though ugly enough to look at, and ready enough to assume a threatening -attitude if rudely disturbed. Nor, by the way, is the date of the -present writing inappropriate to the discussion of such a subject, as -we have at this moment discovered by the merest accident. The 6th of -May you will find is a Saint's day in the Calendar, being dedicated -to St. John ante Portam Latinam, the legend connected with which -is as follows:--The Beloved Disciple, after preaching the Gospel in -various parts of the world, was in his old age taken to Rome by the -Emperor Domitian, and because he refused to renounce the religion -of Christ, was put into a cauldron of boiling oil before the Latin -Gate--Porta Latina--which, however, did him no more harm than did -Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; -on the contrary, John came out of the cauldron rejuvenated, younger, -fairer, and more beautiful than before. Afterwards a cup of deadliest -poison was given him to drink, but as he was putting it to his lips, -the poison, assuming the appropriate shape of a venomous serpent, -glided from the cup, leaving the draught harmless and pure. He was -finally banished to Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse. - -Old Fingalian rhymes and proverbs having reference to dogs and the -hunting of the stag, as it was then pursued, are very common in -the Highlands, and show how devoted to the chase were our Celtic -ancestors. Our neighbour, the Rev. Mr. Clerk of Kilmallie, in his -splendid edition of Ossian, gives some of these old rhymes in his -very interesting and learned notes on Fingal. The following was -sent us a short time ago, and as it has never appeared in print, we -present it to the reader with a liberal translation. We are always -glad to be able to rescue from oblivion even the smallest shred of -the folk-lore of the olden time. The story goes that this rhyme was -first of all taught by a fairy to a gay young hunter "of the period," -under the following circumstances:--Once upon a time, a sprightly, -green-robed fairy, a sort of princess in her way, fell in love with -a young Fingalian hunter, who had frequent occasion, on his way to -and from the chase, to pass the shian or green knoll in which the -fairy band of the glen had taken up their abode. The fairy and her -hunter lover had frequent opportunities of meeting in secret, until -some evil-disposed sister fairy divulged Brianag's--for that was the -fairy's name--imprudent and unfairy-like conduct to the powerful fairy -prince Aërlunn, who was himself over head and ears in love with the -beautiful Brianag, though she gave him no encouragement at all; on -the contrary, she flatly told him that, great and powerful as he was, -she did not love him in the least, and would have nothing to do with -him. On hearing how things were going on, Aërlunn was very jealous and -very angry, just as a mortal might be under similar circumstances, and -he issued an edict, as Prince of the Fairies of that glen, by which, -after reflecting severely on the unfairy-like conduct of Brianag and -others of the band, he prohibited Brianag from leaving the shian on -any pretence whatever, except for the one hour before midnight on the -night when the moon completed her first quarter--perfect liberty to -do as they like during this one hour in the month is every fairy's -birthright, and no power can deprive them of it. He would have done -something very dreadful to Brianag's lover, only the latter was -protected from any evil a fairy enemy could do to him by a talisman -of extraordinary value, which his uncle, a priest of the Druids, -had given him, and which he always carried on his person. Brianag -and her lover were thus able to meet for one hour in every month, -despite the opposition of the angry Aërlunn, whose jealousy became at -last so insupportable, that he resolved to shift his court and people -from that glen to another at a great distance. To this arrangement, -much as she regretted it, as it separated herself and her lover, -Brianag dare not object. It is a prerogative appertaining to the -Princes of Fairyland that they can shift their court at will, when -and whither they please. The fairy palace thus forsaken is still -to be seen in Glen Etive, and has ever since been called An Sithean -Samhach--the Quiet or Deserted Fairy Knoll. On parting with her lover -at their last interview, Brianag presented him with a silver horn, -whose blast could be heard, loud and clear, over the Seven Hills and -across the Seven Glens; and knowing that it was his ambition to excel -all others in the chase, she instructed him as to the best kind of -dog to have and hunt withal as follows:-- - - - Cuilean bus-dubh, buidhe, - Ceud mhac na saidhe, - Air àrach air meog 's air bainne ghabhar, - Cha deach' air sliabh air nach beireadh. - - -Which may stand in English thus:-- - - - Get a yellow brindled dog, - First-born of his dam's first litter, - With a muzzle black as jet, - Reared on whey and milk of goats; - No stag in forest can escape him. - - -Those who rear deer-hounds, et juvenes qui gaudent canibus, might do -worse than experiment a little according to the fairy's receipt; we -shouldn't wonder at all if a splendid dog was the result, for these -old rhymes are rarely devoid of reason. There is no reason at all -events why such a dog might not turn out well. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI. - - The Leafing of the Oak and Ash--Splendid Stags' Heads--Edmund - Waller--Old Silver-Plate buried for preservation in the - '45--Mimicry in Birds--An accomplished Goldfinch. - - -While mild and May-like enough in the valleys and along the coast line, -the weather [May 1872] is reported as having more of March than May -about it on the uplands, owing to the prevalence of north-easterly -winds, that are at once exceedingly piercing and unseasonably snell. It -is pleasant at the same time to have to report that, so far, crops of -all kinds look extremely well, and have seldom been seen so forward -in mid-May. Potatoes have been distinguishable from field's end to -field's end in regular drills for ten days past, and in some instances -are already undergoing their first weeding and hoeing. Oats show a -strong, healthy braird, and nothing but a deficiency of moisture in -its present stage can prevent ryegrass from being the best crop that -has been known in the West Highlands for many years. Much, however, -will depend on the nature of the weather for the next fortnight: those -who should know best say that the country would be all the better -of more or less rain on every day for the remainder of the month, -and we daresay they are right. The lambing season has hitherto been a -highly favourable one, though the drought and the keen-edged easterly -winds are beginning to be complained of by shepherds in charge of -upland hirsels. As we write, however, there is appearance of rain, -which cannot fail to be attended by a change of wind to a more genial -airt, and it is hoped it may fall abundantly. The summer, by the way, -is likely to be a hot and dry one, if there be any truth in the popular -belief that when the oak takes precedence of the ash in presenting its -rich green foliage to the light, a cloudless, rainless summer is sure -to follow. We observe that everywhere the oak is now in leaf, while -the ash is yet budless and bare to its topmost bough, manifesting -an unwonted dulness and drowsiness for mid-May, as if it was loth, -even at the call of summer, to be roused from its hybernal repose. - -We are indebted to the monks of the middle ages for the introduction -into our country, and successful cultivation, of some of our choicest -fruits and most beautiful flowers; nor is it any wonder that in -times when herbalism and the culling of simples was universally -practised and believed in, numberless shrubs and plants of real or -supposed efficacy in the cure of particular ailments should also be -imported and assiduously cultivated by the same benefactors. In some -cases, however, the supposed plants of virtue then introduced have -in our day turned out to be no better than noisome weeds, extremely -difficult of eradication, and one of these--how it found its way into -this district it would be difficulty to say--is becoming a perfect -pest in some parts of Lochaber. We refer to the plant commonly known -as Bishopweed, Goatweed, or Herb Gerard, which the botanists have -honoured by the high-sounding name Ægropodium podagraria. Gout, as -its botanical name implies, was the disease in which this rank and -foul-smelling weed was supposed to be of extraordinary virtue, and -for anything we know to the contrary, it may still possess all the -virtues at one time so confidently ascribed to it; but then you see -gout is altogether unknown in Lochaber--we are too poor, and perforce -live too soberly, to be visited by such aristocratic ailments--and -what business therefore this weed has to grow and spread amongst us, -and become unto us a nuisance and a plague, we cannot imagine: not -knowing the disease, we could get on very well without the unsavoury -antidote. Bishopweed, if allowed free growth in suitable soil, will -quickly cover the ground, to the destruction of everything else, -its innumerable stalks, crowned with pinnated ash-like leaves, -attaining to the height of a foot or more. When a single plant once -gets root-hold in pasture land, it spreads with amazing rapidity, -damaging and crowding out the grass in all directions, so that whenever -and wherever it appears its utter and thorough extirpation, whatever -the labour and cost, should be insisted upon with the least possible -delay. When plucked by the hand the plant emits a foetid, sickening -smell, all trace of which is only effaced from the fingers by a very -thorough washing indeed. We have observed that neither horse, nor ox, -nor sheep will of choice touch it, though its being in many places -called goatweed would seem to indicate that it is no more rejected -by that animal than many other acrid and poisonous plants and herbs -which our other ruminants will not touch even if starving. Of all the -ground pests with which we are acquainted, bishopweed is the worst, -and we warn our readers, if ever they meet with it in any neglected -corner of garden or field, to show it no mercy at all, for it is of -an unmerciful nature itself, killing every blade of grass it comes -in contact with, and choking unto the death every other vegetable -that it can surmount and master. - -The finest stag's head and antlers that we have ever seen form a -trophy in the possession of our neighbour, Mr. Bill, Kilmalieu, the -magnificent "monarch of the waste" that bore them having fallen to -that gentleman's own rifle in Glengour two or three years ago. The -other day, however, we were shown a set of larger horns, though not -quite so handsome perhaps, or so faultless in spread and curve, -and unfortunately imperfect from the loss of one of the tines, -which was picked up by a shepherd in the Black Mount Forest many -years ago. The size of beam throughout was something extraordinary, -and one could not help regretting that it had not the head and neck -attached, that it might be set up in the style for which the good city -of Inverness has of recent years become so famous. Such a trophy of -the chase, complete in all its parts, would have deserved the place -of honour amid a thousand such trophies in the noblest hall in the -kingdom. As we handled these antlers, and poised them at arm's length -with admiration, the thought suddenly struck us that Edmund Waller, -the poet, must have had some such magnificent trophy before him when -he burst into the following apostrophe, in which a well-known fact -in the natural history of the animal is so happily interwoven with -the old mythological legend:-- - - - "O fertile head! which every year - Could such a crop of wonder bear! - The teeming earth did never bring - So soon so hard, so huge a thing: - Which, might it never have been cast, - Each year's growth added to the last, - These lofty branches had supplied, - The earth's bold sons' prodigious pride; - Heaven with these engines had been scal'd - When mountains heaped on mountains failed." - - -Lines, by the way, that would form a most happy and appropriate -inscription for any really fine trophy of this kind. - -Calling upon the Misses Macdonald of Achtriachtan the other day at -Fort-William, we were shown some very fine old silver-plate, having -a history of its own, to the recital of which we listened with no -small interest. After the battle of Culloden, a party of "red-coat" -soldiers entered Lochaber, and employed themselves in pillaging and -plundering in all directions. Hearing that visitors so unwelcome -were in the neighbourhood, Mrs. Cameron of Glenevis, a lady of great -spirit and decision of character, had all her silver-plate, china, -and other valuables buried deep in the ground outside the garden wall, -after which she removed, with her children and personal attendants, -to a spacious cave called Uaimh Shomhairle (Samuel's Cave), far up -the glen, in the south-western shoulder of Ben Nevis. Meanwhile the -soldiers visited Glenevis House, but, disappointed at not finding -the valuables they looked for in such a residence, they burned and -plundered the glen without mercy, the terrified inhabitants taking -to the mountains, only too glad to escape with their lives, while -their homesteads were in flames, and their cattle either driven away -or slaughtered on the spot. Lady Glenevis was at last discovered in -her cave by a party of soldiers, who had somehow heard of her place -of retreat, and had to undergo much rude treatment at their hands, -because, in defiance of all their threats, she refused to tell where -the valuables of which they were in search had been hidden away. As -they were about to leave the cave, one of the soldiers, observing -that she had something bulky in her breast, of which she seemed very -careful, and over which her plaid, fastened with a silver brooch, -was carefully drawn, made a snatch at the trinket, and, when the -lady resisted, drew his sword and made a thrust, which cut open the -plaid at its point of fastening, wounding her infant son at the same -moment in the neck; for the hidden treasure in her bosom, though the -soldier doubtless thought it might turn out to be something of more -marketable value, was a child only a few months old. The soldiers at -last departed, carrying with them the brooch and plaid as the only -trophies of their victory over the defenceless lady of the cave. The -wounded child recovered, though he bore the mark of the sword-thrust -to his dying day. He lived to be laird of Glenevis, was father of the -late much-respected Mrs. Macdonald of Achtriachtan, and grandfather of -the ladies above mentioned. We remember hearing our friend, the late -Dr. Macintyre of Kilmonivaig, repeating some very fine Gaelic lines to -a waterfall, something in the style of Southey's address to Lodore, -which he said was by the Mrs. Cameron of Glenevis above mentioned, -and composed by her while in hiding in the cave. When quieter times -came round, the buried valuables were of course exhumed, and were -found to be none the worse of their temporary interment. - -Most birds are endowed with considerable powers of mimicry, the -exercise of which, under favourable circumstances, seems, we have -observed, to afford them great delight. The bird most celebrated in -this respect is, perhaps, the mocking-thrush of America, the singularly -expressive and appropriate name of which, among the Mexican aborigines, -is Cencontlatlolli, which means four hundred tongues or languages, -conferred upon it in honour and acknowledgment of the fact that, -with a rich and varied song of its own, it correctly imitates all -other songs and sounds as well. Though we have nothing equal to the -four-hundred-tongued wonder of America, many of our native British -birds are in truth excellent mimics, particularly after they have -been some time in confinement, the tedium and irksomeness of their -imprisonment being probably alleviated by a constant exercise of their -gifts in this way, until individuals sometimes attain to a mastery in -the art that is perfectly astonishing. Amongst our pets at present is a -goldfinch cock, a very fine bird, still perfect at all points, though -he must be at least a dozen years old, during ten of which he has -been in our possession as a favourite cage-bird. He is a magnificent -singer, and the wisest little fellow in the world; you only wonder, -indeed, how such a rich flood of song, clear and long sustained, can -issue from such a tiny throat, and how such a little scarlet-capped -head can contain so much intelligence and sagacity. "Cowie"--for so -he is called, after the bird-catcher from whom we purchased him--is -above all things an extraordinary mimic. We have never, indeed, -known any bird to equal him in this respect. The chirping of the -sparrow in the hedge opposite the window at which usually hangs his -cage; the twittering of swallows, as they flit past on their zigzag -insect cruise; the fink, fink of the lively chaffinch; the chirr -of the ox-eye tit; the bell-like jingle of the blackbird scolding -a prowling cat; the lugubrious notes of the corn bunting's evening -plaint; the love-cheep of the lesser white-throat; and the quick -rasping utterances of the excited wren, into whose proper territories -a rival has dared to intrude;--these are each and all imitated by our -little pet with marvellous exactness of note, emphasis, and tone. The -querulous cheeping of a chicken that has met with some little accident, -or for the moment lost sight of its mother, he mimics to the life; -and he will on such occasions stand on tip-toe, stretch his neck to -the utmost, or cling parrot-like to the topmost wire of his cage, in -order to catch a glimpse of the victim of his ridicule. When tired -of this, the commoner and coarser part of his art, he will burst -suddenly into song, which he will continue sometimes for an hour on -end, introducing voluntaries and variations without number, in which -you can readily distinguish longer or shorter strophes from the songs -of almost all the birds he has ever had a chance of hearing. Any one, -indeed, thoroughly familiar with bird-music could easily name the -principal songsters in the district immediately around us solely -from the singing of our talented little polyglot, so faultless is -his imitation of the songs as well as "conversational utterances," -so to speak, of all such birds as he is in the habit of hearing and -seeing from his cage at the frequently open window. You may be sure -that "Cowie" is an immense favourite with us all, and that his weight -in diamonds would hardly induce us to part with him. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII. - - Potato Culture--Sensibility of the Potato Shaw to Weather - changes--The Carline Thistle--Burns--The true Carduus - Scotticus--The old Dog-Rhyme. - - -Of no place in existence, perhaps, is the old adage, in its most -literal sense, truer than of Lochaber, that "it never rains but -it pours" [June 1872]. When we last wrote rain was much needed; -no mid-March could be dustier or colder than was our mid-May; -rain, rain was the cry on all hands; the birds, as they alighted -on the branches or flew overhead, cheeped it querulously; the ducks -quacked it energetically; the hens cackled and gaped for it; while -the cattle afield lowed for it in a manner the meaning of which there -was no mistaking; and at last the change of weather, so universally -wished for, came--came first of all in the shape of hail, the dira -grando of Horace, the downright pea-size genuine article, which -left the hills around as white as if, in questionable taste, they -had whitewashed themselves for the season. Hail! fellow, well met, -was the natural and appropriate greeting. Then came sleet, a milder -form of the same visitation, not very pleasant, perhaps, but we were -grateful; then with the wind from the west, soft and pleasant as the -breath of a child, came warm, genial summer rain; the tiniest blade -of grass felt the benign influence, and, in the beautiful language -of oriental imagery, "the mountains and the hills broke forth before -us into singing, and the trees and fields clapped their hands." It -is now mild and beautiful exceedingly, with just enough of rain from -time to time to keep everything fresh and green, and at full stretch -of growth, so that crops of all kinds are everywhere making the most -satisfactory progress; and although the unseasonable hail and intense -cold of ten days ago was very trying to the young potato plants in -exposed situations, we are glad to say that no serious damage has -resulted, the change from cold to milder weather having been very -gradual. The damage in such cases always depends on the suddenness, -or the contrary, of the transition from a low to a high temperature; -a night of frost, followed by a hot sun next day, being most dangerous -to vegetable life, while frost, followed by rain and cloud, and so -on gradually to heat and sunshine again, rarely does any more harm -than merely to give a slight check to what might otherwise prove an -unhealthy rapidity of growth. In the same way it is found that in -the case of animals generally, and in man particularly, it is not the -actual and immediate amount of cold undergone at any time that kills -or maims, but the too sudden transition from a very low temperature -to a comparatively high one. It is probably well enough known to the -reader that very many of our flowers and plants are hygrometric, some -of them very sensitively so. By hygrometric we mean that they spread -out or expand their parts when the sun is bright and the weather is -dry, while they contract or close them on the approach of moisture -and cloud. We would at present draw attention to the fact that the -potato plant, in its earlier stages of growth, is very sensitive in -this respect, more so in some years than in others perhaps, according -as the plants have come up, strong and vigorous and healthy, or the -reverse; for we think our observations during many years warrant us -in saying that the more vigorous and healthier the plant, the more -sensitive will it be found to weather changes--its very sensitiveness -in this respect, observe, helping forward its growth and preserving its -vitality, by enabling it to avail itself of every favourable influence, -just as it enables it to protect itself against such influences as -are unfavourable or adverse. We were particularly struck with this -hygrometric sensitiveness in the potato plant a day or two ago. We -have an early planted field, more forward, perhaps, than anything -else of the kind in the West Highlands, over which we took a friend -who happened to call upon us. It was about mid-day, with a bright, -hot sun overhead, and our friend agreed with us that he had never -seen potatoes that had come up more regularly, or that looked more -healthy and vigorous at the same stage of growth, the fully expanded -plants already showing leaves broad and beautiful as those of a hazel -tree in June. In an hour or two afterwards we had occasion to pass -the same field, and the change in the appearance of the plants was -extraordinary. They seemed to have actually grown a couple of inches -since mid-day, and our friend exclaimed, "Well, your potatoes are -wonderful! look at them now." And we did look, not so much, however, -at the potato field as our friend did; we looked upwards and saw that -clouds were rapidly forming in the west, one black, finger-like stripe -of which had already nearly mounted to the zenith, and looking at that -and at our potato field, we assured our friend that a heavy fall of -rain, with possibly a gale of wind, was at hand. Our companion was -astonished; the sun was yet shining brightly, and the greater part -of the heavens was clear and cloudless; but within little more than -an hour afterwards the rain fell in torrents, and a smart gale from -the south-west was blowing. Our potatoes, however, had foreseen it -all; were sensible of its approach, while our friend and ourselves -thought ourselves in the midst of fine weather that might, perhaps, -last unbroken for days; and what struck our companion as a sudden -and mysterious addition to the height of the plants was merely the -effect of their having gathered themselves together--contracted all -their parts into the least possible compass--thus assuming an upright -pyramidal form, as best enabling them to withstand the assaults of the -approaching storm. Plants of less health and vigour would, according -to our theory, have shown the same sensitiveness in the circumstances, -but in a manner not so immediate, and to a degree less marked and -striking. Our companion of that day, who got a thorough drouking, -as we say in Scotland, on his way home that afternoon, writes us with -some humour that "as he has always had a great regard for potatoes on -the table, both mashed and 'balled,' in their 'jackets,' so in future -will he, in acknowledgment of their infallibility in the matter of -weather changes, view them with respect even in the field." It should -be stated, by the way, that this hygrometrical property in the potato -plant rapidly diminishes in sensitiveness as the haulm increases in -height and strength, as if it felt that when approaching its full -growth it could afford very much to disregard such weather changes -as are incident to the mid-summer season; but the reader who has the -opportunity may verify all we have said upon the subject for himself. - -Another plant still more remarkable for hygrometric properties -is the common carline, or carlen thistle, the Carlina vulgaris of -botanists. It is common enough in some districts of Scotland, though -those who do not know it already need not be in the least ambitious of -the honour of its acquaintance, unless indeed from a purely scientific -point of view, for the carline, wherever it appears, is almost always -the infallible sign of a poor soil, miserably farmed. The species -receives its name of Carlina from an old story that Charlemagne -introduced it into Europe on account of some valuable medicinal -qualities attributed to it; its virtues in this respect having been -revealed, it was said, to Carolus Magnus by an angel in a vision of the -night during the prevalence of a deadly plague. Certain preparations -of its roots and leaves were for centuries afterwards held of great -virtue in such internal complaints as demanded violent purgatives for -their removal; and to this day it is, we believe, held in great repute -by herbalists for the cure of vertigo, headache, and other cerebral -diseases. As a weather prognosticator, it is perhaps unequalled by -any other British plant, the sensitiveness of its involucral scales to -the slightest weather changes being so extraordinary as to have from -very early times attracted the attention and aroused the wonderment -of those unacquainted with the fact that similar properties, in a -greater or less degree, are common to all plants and flowers--to the -whole vegetable kingdom indeed. The carline has a stem of some eight -or ten inches in height, and bears many pretty purple flowerets set -in the midst of straw-coloured rays. The carline's sensitiveness -to weather changes continues long after it has been cut or pulled, -provided the heads have not been much hurt or bruised in the process; -on the same principle, we suppose, that some animals are known to -manifest unmistakeable signs of muscular irritability long after they -are otherwise, as we should say, to all intents and purposes dead. We -have generally met with the carline thistle among sickly-growing oats, -on poor, thin soil, and sometimes among other luxuriant weeds in a -neglected potato field. It is amusing, by the way, sometimes to see -bonnet-badges and pictorial representations of what you are supposed to -believe is the Scottish thistle, evidently copied to the life from one -of the carline family! which are but pigmies in stature and absolutely -harmless in the matter of prickliness compared with the grand stately -fellow bristling with prickles strong as darning needles, and sharp -and venomous as the sting of a bee, with "Nemo me impune lacessit" in -the very look of him--the true national emblem! You remember Burns' -reference to it in a very fine stanza that has been often quoted, -that indeed everybody has by heart-- - - - "Even then, a wish (I mind its power)-- - A wish that to my latest hour - Shall strongly heave my breast-- - That I for poor auld Scotland's sake - Some usefu' plan or book could make, - Or sing a sang at least. - - The rough burr-thistle, spreading wide - Amang the bearded bear, - I turn'd the weeder-clips aside, - And spared the symbol dear: - No nation, no station, - My envy e'er could raise; - A Scot still, but blot still, - I knew nae higher praise." - - --(Epistle to the Guidwife of Wauchope House.) - - -The true Carduus Scotticus is not fond of cultivated land, but is -a tremendous fellow when he gets hold of a waste outlying corner to -himself, sometimes attaining a height of four or five, or even six -feet, with a stem as thick as your wrist, and prickles--no, spikes -is the word--with spikes, then, as formidable as the bayonets of a -kilted regiment going into action. - -An anonymous lady correspondent in London sent us a manuscript sheet of -paper of the last century, containing a very old dog-rhyme. "The paper -has been in our family as long as I can remember, and I have heard my -grandfather repeat the lines often before we left the Highlands fifty -years ago. The Ronald Mac Ronald Vic John mentioned in the rhyme was, -I believe, one of the Glencoe family, a celebrated hunter of deer -in his day. He was killed, as I have heard my grandfather relate, -at the battle of Philiphaugh. It was the fairy dog-rhyme in one of -your recent letters that brought to my mind that such a thing was in -my possession." Owing to the faded state of the writing, and a very -peculiar orthography, we had some difficulty in deciphering the lines; -but, modernising the spelling a little, the following we believe to -be an accurate transcript:-- - - - An cù 'bh'aig Raonull-mac-Raonuil-'ic-Iain, - Bheiradh e sithionn a beinn: - Ceann leathan eadar 'dha shuil, ach biorach 's bus dubh air - gu shroin. - Uchd gearrain, seang-leasrach; 's bha fhionnadh - Mar fhrioghan tuirc nimheil nan còs. - Donn mar àirneag bha shuil; speir luthannach lùbta, - 'S faobhar a chnamh mar ghein. - An cù sud 'bh'aig Raonull-mac-Raonuil-'ic-Iain, - 'S tric thug e sithionn a beinn. - - -Which, rendered as literally as possible, many stand thus in English-- - - - Ronald-son of Ronald-son of John's good dog, - He could bring venison from the mountain. - He was broad between the eyes; otherwise sharp and black-muzzled - to the tip of his nose. - With a horse-like chest, he was small flanked, and his pile - Was like the bristles of the den frequenting boar. - Brown as a sole was his eye; - Supple-jointed (was he), with houghs bent as a bow; - All his bones felt sharp and hard as the edge of a wedge. - Such was Ranald Mac Ranald vic John's good dog, - That often brought venison from the mountain. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII. - - A non-"Laughing" Summer--Rheumatic Pains--Old Gaelic Incantation - for Cattle Ailments. - - -The best thing, perhaps, that can be said of our summer up to this -date [July 1872], is that it has, upon the whole, been amiable and -summer-like; has, after the manner of a love-lorn maiden, wept much -and often smiled, although, until within the last day or two, it has -never actually laughed. You loved it, and couldn't help yourself, -but your love wanted warmth and fervour, just because of its want of -jocundity and joyousness. Even in our climate, summer is not summer by -the mere reading of the thermometer, however sensitive and delicate its -mercurial indications; one wants brilliant sunshine, with cloudless, -or almost cloudless skies, to make up a summer as a summer proper -ought to be. The poets of the East and South always speak of summer -and summer scenes as "laughing," while in more northern and less -favoured lands your poet is content to describe otherwise exactly -similar scenes and situations as simply "smiling," "gentle," "sweet," -"quiet," and so forth, so that an acute critic, by attending to this -alone, could tell, were other proofs entirely wanting, whether a poet -was born under northern skies, or lived and loved, soared and sang, -in sunnier and more southern climes. Horace has-- - - - --"mihi angulus ridet." - - -His "corner," observe, does not merely smile; it "laughs" under the -bright blue Italian sky. Lucretius has-- - - - --"tibi rident æquora ponti;" - - -which Creech and Dryden, bards of a colder clime, have rendered -"smiles," but which literally and truly is honest, open, joyous -"laughter" in the southern bard. Metaetasio has-- - - - "A te fioriscono - Gli erbosi prati; - E i flutti ridono - Nel mar placati." - - -"Ridono," observe--laughter again--like his earlier countrymen, -Horace and Lucretius. Our British poets rarely venture to make spring -or summer do more than smile; they are afraid of the laughter of the -south, as being quoad hoc an over-bold hyperbole. We can only quote -at this moment two instances in which the laughter of more favoured -lands is boldly introduced. John Langhorne, a poet and miscellaneous -writer of the last century, author of the Fables of Flora, very -beautifully says-- - - - "Where Tweed's soft banks in liberal beauty lie, - And Flora laughs beneath an azure sky." - - -And Chaucer, the father of English poetry, has the following:-- - - - "The busy larkë, messager of daye, - Salueth in hire song the morwe gray; - And fyry Phebus ryseth up so brighte, - That al the orient laugheth of the light."-- - - -Very finely modernised by Dryden thus:-- - - - "The morning lark, messenger of day, - Saluted in her song the morning grey; - And soon the sun arose with beams so bright - That all the horizon laughed to see the joyous sight." - - -Our summer, then, thus far, has not been a "laughing," but, at the -best, a merely smiling summer. There has been but little actual -sunshine, rarely such a thing as a blue, unclouded sky; but, if we -do not err, if the wish be not altogether father to the thought, a -splendid autumn, glad and golden--summer and autumn in one, like the -companion scenes in a stereoscope, in close and kindly combination--is -in store for us. Even as it is, the country is very beautiful, and the -rains of the west, if superabundant, are at least perfectly harmless -to any one in ordinary health, no matter how often you get drenched -through and through, as the saying is, provided always you do not idly -saunter or sit down for any length of time in wet clothes; neglect this -precaution, however, and you may look out for an attack of rheumatism, -and the taste of pains to which the tortures of the rack were but -a joke--pains as fiery and intense as those threatened against the -foul-mouthed Caliban in the Tempest. You recollect what Prospero says-- - - - "Hag-seed hence! - Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou wert best - To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice? - If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly - What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps; - Fill all thy bones with aches; make thee roar - That beasts shall tremble at thy din!" - - -Get wet, then, as often and as much as you like, in the West Highlands, -but don't sit down or idle about in wet clothes, is a friend's advice; -otherwise, you will soon have a pretty correct idea of the nature -of the cramps and aches of which even the brutal Caliban had such a -horror that he exclaims:-- - - - "No, 'pray thee!-- - I must obey: his art is of such power, - It would control my dam's god, Setebos, - And make a vassal of him." - - -Supplementary to our last paper on the spells and incantations of the -Highlands, the following has been sent to us by our kind correspondent, -Mr. Carmichael, of the Inland Revenue, Island of Uist, a gentleman -of whom highly honourable mention is made in Mr. Campbell's West -Highland Tales, and in some of the notes to the Rev. Dr. Clerk's -Ossian. Mr. Carmichael is more conversant, perhaps, than anybody -else with the antiquities and folk-lore of the Outer Hebrides. The -incantation that follows was taken down by Mr. Carmichael from the -recitation of "an honest, unsophisticated old Banarach, or dairymaid, -in North Uist, who is even yet occasionally consulted about sickly -cows":-- - - - Rann Leigheas Galar Cruidh. - - Crìosd' 'us Ostail 'us Eoin - An triuir sin is binne gloir - A dh-èirich a dheanada na h-òra, - Roimh dhorus na Cathrach, - No air glún deas De Mhic. - Air na mnathan múr-shuileach, - Air na feara geur shuileach, - 'Sair na saighdean sitheadach; - Dithis a lasachadh alt agus ga 'na adhachadh - Agus triuir a chuireas mi 'an urra rin sin, - An t-Athair, 'sar Mac 'san Sprorad Naomh, - Ceithir ghalara fichead 'an aoraibh duine 's beathaich, - Dia ga sgriobanh, Dia ga sguabadh, - As t-fhail, as t-fheoil, 'sad 'chnàimh 'sad 'smuais; - 'Smar a thog Crìosd' meas air bharra gach crann, - Gum b'ann a thogas Edhiotsa - Gach sùil, gach gnù 'sgach farmad, - On 'là u dingh gu latha deireannach do shaoghail. Amen. - - -In English-- - - - A Healing Incantation for Diseases in Cattle. - - Christ and His Apostle and John, - These three of most excellent glory, - That ascended to make supplication - Through the gateway of the city, - Fast by the right knee of God's own Son. - As regards evil-eyed women; - As regards blighting-eyed men; - As regards swift-speeding elf-arrows; - Two to strengthen and renovate the joints, - And three to back (these two) as sureties-- - The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. - To four-and-twenty diseases are the reins of man and beast - (subject); - God utterly extirpate, sweep away, and eradicate them - From out thy blood and flesh, thy bones and marrow, - And as Christ uplifted its proper foliage - To the extremities of the branches on each tree-top, - So may He uplift from off and out of thee - Each (evil) eye, each frowning look, malice and envy-- - From this day forth to the world's last day. Amen. - - -"It is not always an easy task," writes our correspondent, "to -write from the dictation of partially deaf and toothless old women," -and we perfectly agree with him. "Ostail," in the first line of the -above spell, we take to be an insular form of Abstol, voc.--Abstoil -or Abstail--the Apostle par excellence, namely, Paul. Mr. Carmichael -appends the following elucidatory note:--"This òra or spell can be -used for either man or beast, and is guaranteed to effect a cure -in any case! In the case of a four-footed animal a worsted thread -is tied round the tail, and the òra or incantation repeated. The -"snàthaile" (snàthainn, a thread), as this charm is called, undergoes -much mysterious spitting, handling, and incantation by the woman from -whom it is got. The rann or spell is muttered over it at the time of -"consecration." Usually two threads (dà shnathaile) are given, and if -the first is not quite successful, the second is sure to be effectual!" - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV. - - Early sowing recommended--Vitality of - Superstitions--Capnomancy--Hazel Nuts: Frequent References to - in Gaelic Poetry--How best to get at the full flavour of a ripe - Hazel Nut. - - -A fortnight's incessant rain [September 1872]--rain descending -at times in solid sheets--not only wets the ground and puddles -the roads, but makes one's very brains feel soft and sloppy -and mashed-turnip-wise. You take up a book only to lay it down -again. You fill your pipe and set it alight, but with less than -half a dozen whiffs you are more than satiated. The weed has lost -its flavour. You sit down to write "doggedly," as Johnson says, -but with all your doggedness the pen totters over the sheet with -pace uncertain and listless, as if even he felt disinclined for the -task, and the sentences, like a squad of raw recruits, refuse to -fall gracefully into their places, and stumble against each other in -ludicrous confusion, to the consternation and grief of the most patient -of drill-sergeants. You will not, perhaps, believe it, but it is true, -nevertheless, that so persistent, penetrating, and inter-penetrating -has been the last fortnight's rain, that in nineteen cases out of -twenty a lucifer match, "vesuvian," or fusee will obstinately refuse -to ignite by any other process than putting it into actual contact -with fire, and in that case, why, a slip of paper is just as easily -dealt with, as well as more efficacious for your purpose. Hay and corn -luckily stand a good deal of rain without being completely spoiled, -but we are afraid to estimate the amount of damage that another week's -wet weather will cause over the West Highlands. All our own hay and -corn has been snugly housed more than three weeks ago. Why shouldn't -everybody sow in February or early March as we do, and have their -ingathering in August, generally our best and driest month? In a -climate so treacherous and inconstant as ours is, it is the greatest -folly in the world to run the smallest risk that you can possibly -avoid. We have been preaching this particular doctrine for a dozen -years past, and it has had some effect in our immediate neighbourhood; -but it is sad to see the country at large at this moment--corn and -hay rotting in the fields, that might, with ordinary prudence and a -little effort, be long ere now snug and safe under "thack and rape." - -The more one inquires the truer does he find the dictum of a -philosopher of the last century to be, that "the superstitions, -as well as the languages, of all lands and ages are linked together -by mysterious bonds, which neither time nor distance seem able to -destroy." In our immediate neighbourhood an instance of a very old -superstition was brought under our notice a few days ago, such as, -with all our knowledge of such matters, we had hitherto never dreamt -of as existing in the Western Highlands. A man went to market at a -considerable distance to sell a good strong two-year-old colt. He did -not return on the day his wife expected him, and she became uneasy, -not so much for the well-being of her laggard liege lord and master--he -had often gone the same errand before, and had always returned safe -and sound, even if a little later than his better half had a right to -expect--but as to whether he had sold the colt, and if for anything -like the price settled between the twain as being his fair price -before he left home. She put on a large fire on her hearth, placing, -when it had reached a certain stage of ignition, a bundle of green -alder boughs atop. When the whole was fully ablaze, she went outside -and watched the direction of the smoke issuing from her chimney. The -smoke was carried in an easterly direction, a lucky quarter, and she -returned to the house and told her daughter that, whatever had come -over the father--and she threatened to tell him a bit of her mind -as to his doings on his return--the colt at least had been sold, and -well sold, for the alder smoke had gone in the best and luckiest of -all directions, towards the east, in the direction of the rising sun; -and she had never known the omen fail. The curious thing is that within -an hour or so on that very evening the man returned, and counted into -his wife's lap two pounds and four shillings sterling over and above -the expected price of the colt, as agreed upon at home. The only other -curious thing that we could gather in connection with the superstition -is that the alder branches must be cut specially for the occasion, and -by a virgin. It was so in this case; and we are gravely assured that, -if it had been otherwise, the ascending smoke would either have drifted -hither and thither without a purpose, unsteadily, or have uselessly -intermingled with that of the neighbouring cottages. The superstition, -you must know, is a very old one; the Greeks and Romans practised -it, and from them it spread widely over the European Continent. In -books on magic and divination it is called Capnomancy, derived, as -our friend Professor Blackie could tell you better than anybody else, -from the Greek Capnos, smoke, and manteia, divination, witchcraft. The -ancients paid attention principally to the smoke of sacrifices, as well -as to the briskness with which the fire burned. If the smoke ascended -in a straight columnar body zenithwards, it was a favourable omen; -if it was violently blown aside, or fell back over the altar and the -sacrificers, it was of evil augury. Our Highland dame's notion of its -taking an easterly course, towards the direction of the breaking day, -of the dawn, and the morning sun, seems to us full of a rough and rude -poetry such as you frequently meet with in carefully examining into the -details of even the grossest superstitions. Having had occasion to be -of some little service to the priestess in this rare act of divination, -we had the whole from her own lips, though she was averse at first, -as is generally the case when a clergyman is the inquirer, to entering -upon the subject at all. How these practices root themselves among -a people, defying eradication, is very extraordinary. - -Did you ever, reader, crack a nut? Not the aristocratic walnut or -filbert over your wine, but the far superior, rich, ripe hazel nut -in its season from off the hazel bough, when the bright autumnal sun -was overhead, and the autumnal breeze stirred the leaves around you, -their multitudinous murmur resembling the far-heard music of the -restless sea. A ripe hazel nut is good anywhere, but best of all when -gathered by your own hand in its native wild wood from the overhanging -branch, whence the beautiful cluster nods at you as if soliciting -your attention, now and again, as you approach to pull it, seeming -to delight in playing a game of bo-peep with you among the leaves, -like as you have seen the Pleiades at times when, though the night -be clear, many blanket-like clouds are chasing each other in wild -career athwart the starry blue. Throughout the whole range of poetry, -the hazel nut, though often mentioned, has never perhaps had so much -justice done to it as by the Gaelic bard Duncan Bàn Macintyre. In -his Coire-Cheathaich, one of his finest poems, he says:-- - - - Bha cus ra' fhaotainn de chnothan caoine, - 'S cha b' iad na cacohagan aotrom gann, - Ach bagailt mhaola, bu taine plaoisge, - 'Toirt brigh á laoghan na' maoth-shlat fann: - 'S rath nan caochan 'na dhosaibh caorainn, - 'S na phreasaibh caola, làn chraobh a's mhearg; - Na gallain ùra, 's na faillein dhlùtha, - 'S am barrach dùinte mu chùl nan crann. - - -Ewen Maclachlan, commonly styled "of Aberdeen," because he taught the -Grammar School there, and there died, but who was, in truth, a Lochaber -man--nay, a Nether Lochaber man, born and bred, and whose ashes rest -in Killevaodain of Ardgour, without, we are ashamed to confess it, -"One gray stone to mark his grave;" he, born at Tarrachalltuinn--the -Height of Hazel Trees--in our parish, knew something of hazel nuts, -and thus happily describes them in their season:-- - - - 'S glan fàile nan cno gaganach, - Air ard-Shlios nan cròc bad-dhuilleach; - 'S trom fàsor am por bagailteach, - Air bharr nam fad-gheug sòlasach; - Theid brìgh nam fiuran slat-mheurach, - 'An cridhe nam ùr-chnap blasadach; - Gur brisg-gheal sùgh a chagannaich, - Do neach a chaguas dòrlach dhin. - - 'S clann bheag a ghnà le'm pocannan, - A streup ri h-ard nan dos-chrannabh, - A bhuain nan cluaran mog-mheurach, - Gu lùgh'or, docoir, luath-lamhach; - 'Nuair dh'fhaoisgear as na mogail iad, - 'S a bhristear plaoisg nan cochall diu, - Gur caoin am maoth-bhlas fortanach - Bhios air an fhros neo-bhruaileanach. - - -Our nuts are unusually plentiful this year, and of a size and flavour -that we do not recollect ever to have seen equalled. They are now -at that stage of ripeness when they are most delicious to the taste, -and one may indulge in any amount of them with perfect safety. Most -people are fond of nuts, but if the reader wants to enjoy the full -flavour, to get out of a nut all that is in it, let him take the -following recipe:--"First of all, let the nut be cracked, if possible, -between your own molars, for these are, after all, the first and -most natural and best of all nut-crackers, better quoad hoc than -an instrument of the purest silver or steel; and there is besides, -remember, something pleasant to the palate in the feel and flavour -even of an uncracked nut. Having cracked your nut, then--and fairly -placed between the grinders, a really good nut is not difficult to -crack, the worst nuts being always the most difficult to deal with, -for the more insignificant the kernel the thicker and dourer the -shell--having cracked your nut and extracted the kernel, whole if -possible, introduce it into your mouth, not per se, by itself, as -is commonly done, but with a small fragment of the shell,--a bit -of pin's head size will do. Proceed now to masticate the delicious -morsel, and confess that there is a delicacy and flavour about a hazel -nut that you knew not how to extract in full, although in your day -you had cracked your bushels of them, until you were taught it from -Nether Lochaber. The philosophy of the thing is that the particle of -shell introduced with the kernel causes the act of mastication to be -performed more thoroughly than it otherwise would be, setting free -the full flavour and aroma--all, in short, that a nut has to give. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV. - - Strength of Insects--Necrophoris Vespillo, or - Burying-Beetle--Foetid smell of--How Willie Grimmond earned an - Honest Penny in Glencoe. - - -The strength of insects, proportionably to their weight and size, -was probably the first characteristic in the minor world to arrest -the attention and call forth the admiration of entomologists; and soon -afterwards, we may believe, the ingenuity, patience, and perseverance -displayed by these pigmies in dealing with any self-imposed piece of -labour, must have made the intelligent observer feel and acknowledge, -even if he could not repeat and had never heard of the mad-wise -Hamlet's dictum, that-- - - - "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, - Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - - -Take an example of something wonderful in insect life, as it chanced -to come under our notice a few days ago [September 1872]. We were -raking hay--raking hay, too, after others had raked the same ground -shortly before us, for we are most particular that, both for the look -of the thing, as well as for the profit, not a wisp, not a strawlet -shall be left upon the ground--when, as we raked, we came across a -dead mole. No rare or wonderful thing, the reader may exclaim, but -rare enough when you come to think of it, and wonderful enough, too, -to attract the attention of any one even less observant of natural -history than Nether Lochaber. Lying on its side was the mole, already -half-hidden by the swiftly growing aftermath. Touching it with the -corner of our rake, and moving it slightly, we got a glimpse of a -yellow-banded beetle busy underneath; and at once understanding what -was going on, we called our bairns, a couple of girls and a boy, who -were raking and laughing a la Madame de Sévigné in the field beside -us, to give them a lesson on entomology; and as our lesson was fresh -and to the point, and interesting, though we say it ourselves, and -rather out of the common track of entomological experience, we give -it to the reader, that he may know and believe, and reverently ponder, -a truth that has never been so well expressed as by St. Augustine, the -sturdy, old, bellicose Bishop of Hippo, who of all the Fathers had the -most sensitive nose for the out-ferreting of a heretic, and who, when -he got hold of one, treated him very much as a Scotch terrier does a -rat--but who could say and do good things notwithstanding. Deus magnus -in magnis, maximus in minimis. God is great, that is, in great things, -but greatest of all in least things. The mole, as we have said, was -lying on his side on a grassy patch of fast-growing aftermath, and our -glimpse of the beetle beneath showed us that it was the Necrophorus -vespillo, or burying-beetle, rare anywhere in Britain, and so rare -in Lochaber and the west coast, that this was only the third or -fourth instance in which we had met with it. It is a black beetle, -rather more than an inch in length, with two bright orange-coloured -bands across the back, and more active in all its movements than any -of its congeners. There were just two beetles, observe--a pair, male -and female--engaged upon the mole, and the "mole" of Adrianus, when -a-building, showed not more labour and not half the mechanical skill -or indomitable perseverance on the part of its constructors exhibited -by these tiny but thoroughly skilled excavators in the case of their -mole. "You see that mole," we said to our attentive audience, leaning -upon our rake for the moment, as if it were a sceptre of prerogative -and power, as in truth it was. "It is almost as big as an ordinary -sized rat--bigger, you will confess, than three full-grown mice. It -has only been dead, say, a dozen of hours; his sleek and still glossy -coat proves it. This pair of beetles, then, a single pair remember, -have discovered him by an instinct and sense of smell which must be -wonderfully delicate and keen. They are now, as you may see, busy -digging under and around him, and after breakfast to-morrow morning we -shall come and see the result." "Suppose, papa," said one of the girls, -with a demure look, though with a merry twinkle in her eye the while, -"Suppose, sir, that this afternoon a passing kestrel or owl should -pick up our mole and make a meal of him, what then could we see in -the morning?" "What you suggest is, no doubt, possible enough," was -our rejoinder, "but we believe the mole will be here to-morrow morning -all the same, provided you take example from the animal's proverbial -wakefulness, and are up and have breakfast ready for us all in good -time." Meantime, that they might know it again, should they ever come -across it, we took up the male beetle, distinguishing the sex from -his being somewhat smaller and rather more active than his mate, on -the palm of our left hand, and with the fingers of the right turned -him on his back to show him properly, the delicate markings of his -abdomen, his muscular thorax and cas-chrom shaped antennæ. We soon -wished we had not done it; it was a thoughtless proceeding on our part, -and we should have known better. We nearly fainted, and our children -started back in horror and alarm at the foul and foetid smell of the -carrion-eating Vespillo. It was horrible; never in all our experience -were our olfactory nerves so offended. A pot of stale assafoetida from -a druggist's shop, all the proverbial many dozen stinks of Cologne in -combination, would have been a joke to it, a bouquet of roses compared -with our Vespillo. It made us quite sick and ill for the moment; but -we had the presence of mind to lay down our malodorous beetle beside -his beloved mole ere we followed our audience, who were by this time -scampering in all directions across the field, with their fingers -tightly compressing their nostrils, and vowing that they would have no -more to do with dead moles or burying-beetles, be they ever so brightly -banded or interesting from papa's point of view. A message now came -forth that tea was ready; but no tea could we drink, nor bread could -we handle, on account of the horrible smell that still adhered to our -fingers and palm. Washing with soap and water had no effect upon it, -for it seemed to have instantly and thoroughly penetrated and permeated -skin, flesh, and muscle, and to have reached and lodged in the very -bone itself, whence it refused to be extirpated. It was only late -at night, sitting by a briny rock-pool, and using the viscous clay -of the beach after the manner of soap, that we managed to get quit -of the foul odour; and even after a final washing with hot water -and scented soap, as we retired for the night, we still persuaded -ourselves that the loathsome smell had not altogether departed. All -the carrion beetles, without exception, and most of the ground beetles -proper, have always more or less of a disagreeable, sickening smell -about them, but in this respect the burying-beetle is worse than all -the rest put together; seeming to have centered in his own person a -combination of the essences of all possible stenches in their worst and -foulest form. In the case of the Vespillo, it is to be noted that the -foetid smell, though always there, and easily perceptible, is bearable -enough while the animal is quiescent and undisturbed, and you do not -approach it too closely. Tease it, however, in any way; touch it with -the point of a switch, or take it up, as we foolishly did, in your -hand, and the stench, emitted probably in self-defence, as in the -case of the skunk and polecat, is of all others the most abominable -in itself, and the most difficult to get rid of. Next morning, then, -on visiting the mole, as proposed, we found it completely buried, -with at least half an inch depth of earth neatly shovelled over it, -with a slight ridge in the centre, and sloping sides, showing that -the Vespillones are practised grave-diggers. Averse to disturbing -a work that had cost the tiny excavators so much labour, we only -removed the earth sufficiently to bring a small patch of the mole's -fur to view, in proof to those accompanying us that the animal had -really been buried by the beetles, as we had said it would be. A -full-grown elephant buried by a pair of field mice would hardly be a -more wonderful labour. The rationale and raison d'être of the whole -labour thus carried out with so much diligence and engineering skill -is this: the carrion of the dead mole, mouse, or bird thus operated -upon, serves in the first instance partly as food for the beetles -themselves (and they richly deserve a feast, such as it is, in reward -for their arduous labours), after which the female lays her eggs in -the fast-rotting carcase, and it is then left as the doubtless savoury -banquet of the larvæ, while the parent pair cruise about in search -of another dead bird or quadruped of the proper size, whereupon to -bestow similar attentions. It is principally owing to the labours of -these beetles that it happens that although you may see a dead mole, -mouse, or bird lying in the corner of a field to-day, you shall look -for it in vain next morning elsewhere than in a beetle-dug grave, -as in the above instance. That a single pair of these comparatively -small insects should be able to perform such a gigantic task in so -short a time is, in truth, very wonderful, and must seem incredible -to any one unacquainted with the habits and economy of the order. - -There are doubtless many odd and curious ways of earning even an -honest livelihood in this world, but the oddest, and to us, while -uninitiated, the most puzzling we have met with for a long time, was -the following:--On a fine day lately, we took our boat to the mouth -of the Coe, and were leisurely proceeding up the far-famed glen, -when we saw, a little before us, a diminutive but still active old -man, whom, from his peculiar style of dress, we had no difficulty -in recognising as a peripatetic vendor of ballads, letter-paper, -steel pens, and other knick-knacks, who frequently pays us a visit in -Lochaber, and with whom, in lieu of better company, we have had many a -far from uninteresting roadside crack. As, with a longer and livelier -stride than his, we were rapidly overtaking him, we noticed that he -frequently stopped and picked up something, now from the middle of -the road, now from the footpath at the side, and occasionally from -the grass beyond, which something he instantly deposited in a sort -of canvas side-pouch, or wallet slung at his side. "Well, Willie," -we exclaimed, as we came up with him, "what in the world are you -doing in the glen to-day, and where's your pack? I wish to have a -look at your bundle of ballads?" "Weel, sir," was Willie's response, -"my pack is laid by at Duror just now; my present wark"--here he made -a dart at something on the grass that looked to us uncommonly like a -big black beetle, and transferred it to his wallet,--"my present wark," -he went on to say, "pays far better, and is mair pleasant, besides, in -this dreadfu' hot weather." "But what is your present work, Willie?" we -inquired, "what are you so industriously picking up along the road and -transferring to your wallet? Snails? beetles? what?" "No mony snails, -or beetles either, sir," said Willie, with more entomological good -sense than we gave him credit for, "abroad in such hot and dry weather -as this is. I'm no very fond of telling what I am doing to everybody; -and when I see anybody coming, I generally sit down and let them pass; -but I saw you coming, sir, and I kent ye brawly, and didn't mind. And -now I'll show ye what I'm gathering." With this he put his hand in his -capacious pouch, and took out a handful of cigar and cheroot stumps, -of all shapes and sizes. Some had been "smoked out," that is, till only -an inch or so remained; others were only half smoked, and a few had -only afforded the smoker a whiff or two, when, from a disinclination to -smoke any further, or, perhaps, from some defect in the cigar itself, -it was thrown away as of no further use. Of these cigar stumps "Willie" -had at that moment nearly a pound weight in his wallet, the result -of his forenoon's labours. We daresay we looked, as we really were, -very much puzzled, which, Willie observing, he politely asked us for -a light for his pipe, and invited us to sit on a ledge of rock by -the roadside, and he would "tell us a' aboot it." Our pipes alight, -we sat down accordingly, and Willie proceeds as follows:--"Weel, sir, -I doubt if ever there was such a number of strangers--tourists, as -they ca' them--day after day in Glencoe as there are this year. And -a' the gentlemen that goes up the glen smoke, and I have seen some -of the ladies--forrenders, I suspect--smoking too, the mair shame to -them. They a' maistly smoke cigars, and they throw them from them when -they're done with them; sometimes only a short stump, and sometimes -almost a hail ane, as I have shown ye; and I pick them up and sell -them in Greenock or Glasgow for three ha'pence or tuppence the ounce, -and that's a' aboot it." "But what," we inquired, "do they make of -them in Glasgow?" "Weel, sir," he replied, "I believe some of them, -the cleanest, langest, and best bits, are unrolled, and made up anew -into cigars, and the shorter and dirtier stumps are dried and broken -down to mix with other tobacco, in making the mixtures called 'bird's -eye,' 'shag,' exetry, exetry." We ordered Willie a glass of beer -at Clachaig, and went on our way with a bit of curious information, -till that particular date undreamt of in all our philosophy. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI. - - Seaweed as a Fertiliser--Homer, Horace, Virgil--November - Meteors--Gaelic Folk-Lore--A Curfew Prayer--A Bed Blessing--A - Cattle Blessing--Rhyme to be said in driving Cattle to - Pasture--"Luath," Cuchullin's Dog--Notes from the Outer Hebrides. - - -From a utilitarian point of view, at least, the ancients seem -to have looked upon the sea and all its products--exclusive, of -course, of its myriad inhabitants of finny tribes--as absolutely -worthless. Homer in the Iliad constantly speaks of the sea as -"unfertile," alòs atrugétoio,--literally, the ocean where no harvest -can be gathered; and Horace in one of his satires says that a man -may be possessed of all the virtues, and all the accomplishments, -&c. to boot, but if yet sine rê--without means, moneyless, or to use, -perhaps, the best equivalent that our language can afford, without -substance--he shall be accounted "vilior algâ," viler than seaweed, -or, as we should say, viler than the dust on which he treads. Even -Virgil in the Georgics has no good word for the sea as in any sense, -directly or indirectly, subservient to husbandry, or an ally to the -tiller of the ground. Had these master-poets of Greece and Rome, -gentle reader, lived with us here in Nether Lochaber, in the seventh -decade of the nineteenth century, they would have thought and said -differently. Homer would have probably selected a more appropriate -epithet than that constantly employed by him; Horace would have -cast about for some other fitting dissyllable as a substitute for -"algâ;" and Virgil would have written, as he alone could write, a -score or two of unexceptionable hexameters in praise of seaweed as -an excellent manure and fertiliser of the soil. "It is an ill wind," -quoth the proverb, "that blows nobody good;" and disastrous in many -a place as was the dreadful storm of the first week of this month -[November 1872], here along the western seaboard it only blew us -good, in the very tangible and tangly shape of thousands of tons of -drift-ware, that, laid on the soil in fair abundance just now, prepares -it without any more trouble for the reception of seed, when, ushered -in by the vernal equinox, the jocund, jolly spring comes round. For -the last fortnight, wherever you wandered about the coast, you found -the people in every direction--men, women, and children--busy as busy -could be gathering and carting afield this really valuable product -of the sea--Homer and Horace to the contrary notwithstanding. We draw -attention to the subject at present by reason of its timeousness, and -because within recent years we have had it made clear to us beyond all -cavil, and in the most practical manner possible, that for potatoes -at least there is no manure for a moment to be compared with a heavy -blanketing of drift-ware laid on the ground in early winter. On our -own land this year a field of potatoes thus treated was a third at -least better than another of equal size manured from the farmyard -"heap" in the usual orthodox manner. The soil, observe, was the same, -the seed the same, the date of planting the same--the only difference -being in the manure. In the experience of such of our neighbours, too, -as have tried it, the result has been precisely the same. The salts and -other essential ingredients of seaware seem to be really antagonistic -to the spread of "blight" among the tubers; and we would strongly -advise as many of our readers as have the opportunity to experiment -for themselves in the direction indicated during the present winter and -spring, and we are ready to wager our good porcupine-shafted "Pickwick" -steel pen against the vilest crow-quill, that, on the ingathering of -the crop this time twelve months, our advice, in nineteen cases out -of twenty, will have been found to be a sound and good one. - -Since the cessation of the terrible gales of the early part of -the month, the weather has been bright, bracing, and breezy, -with occasional snow showers along the uplands, that have already -converted the many mountain ridges around each into a veritable Sierra -Nevada. On the nights of the 13-14th and 14-15th we sat up till a late, -or rather an early hour, keenly on the watch for a meteoric display, -in railway nomenclature, then due, but which, up to the date of the -present writing, has not yet put in an appearance. Meteors there were, -but they were the mere phosphorescent streaks rarely looked for in -vain by the student of the heavens on a fairly cloudless night at -this season. The lunar eclipse of the early morning of the 15th was -well seen, the beautiful orb, like a shield of burnished silver, -riding serene in the unclouded blue; but the obscuration was too -partial to be in any way interesting or striking to any one who had -gazed on the phenomenon in its grander phases as often as we have done. - -To our good friend Mr. Carmichael of South Uist we are indebted for -the following contributions to our stock of ancient Celtic folk-lore, -a subject much neglected, but of very great interest notwithstanding:-- - - - Urnuigh Smalaidh Teine. - - A prayer to be said at covering up the fire at bedtime. - - (Taken down from the recitation of a man living at Iocar of Uist.) - - - Smàlaidh mise an teine; - Mar a smàlas Mac Moire. - Gu'm bu slàn an tigh 's an teine, - Gu'm bu slàn do 'n chuideachd uile. - Co sid air an làr? - Peadair agus Pàl, - Co air a bhith's an aire 'nochd? - Air Moire geal 's air a Mac. - Beul De a dh'innseas, - Aingeal geal a lann'ras, - Aingeal 'an dorus gach taighe - Gu solus gael a maireach. - - -Which may be rendered into English as follows:-- - - - I will cover up the fire aright, - Even as directed by the Virgin's own Son. - Safe be the house, and safe the fire, - And safe from harm be all the indwellers. - Who is that that I see on the floor? - Even Peter himself and Paul. - Upon whom shall this night's vigil rest? - Upon the blameless Virgin Mother and her Son. - God's mouth has spoken it. - A white-robed angel shall gleam in the darkness, - An angel (to keep watch and ward) at the door of each house - Till the return of the morrow's blessed light. - - -Having thus duly covered up the fire, and committed the house and -its inhabitants to the Divine protection during the watches of the -night, the following "Bed Blessing" was repeated by each as the people -retired to rest:-- - - - Altachadh Leapa'. - - Laidhidh mise 'nochd - Le Moire's le 'Mac, - Le mathair mo Righ, - 'Ni mo dhion 'o dhroch-bheairt, - Cha laidh mise leis an olc, - 'S cha laidh an t'olc leam; - Ach laidhidh mi le Dia, - 'S laidhidh Dia ma' rium. - Lamh dheas Dhe fo'm cheann, - Crois nan naoi aingeal leam. - 'O mhullach mo chinn - Gu craican mo bhonn. - Guidheam Peadair, guidheam Pòl, - Guidheam Moir-Oigh' 'sa Mac. - Guidheam an da ostal deug, - Gun mise 'dhol eug le'n cead. - 'Dhia 'sa Mhoire na gloire. - 'S a Mhic na oighe cubhraidh - Cumabh mise o na piantan dorcha, - 'S Micheal geal' an cò'ail m'anama. - - -Which, fairly translated into English, will stand thus:-- - - - A Blessing to be said at Bedtime. - - This night I will lay me down to sleep - In the companionship of the Virgin and her Son, - Even with the mother of my King, - Who protects me from all evil. - I will not lie down to sleep with evil, - Nor shall evil lie down to sleep with me; - But I shall sleep with God. - And with me shall God lie down. - His good right arm be under my head; - The cross of the Nine Angels be about me, - From the top of my head - Even to the soles of my feet. - I supplicate Peter, I supplicate Paul, - I supplicate Mary the Virgin and her Son, - And I supplicate the twelve Apostles, - That evil befall me not this night, with their consent. - Good and ever glorious Mary, - And Thou, Son of the sweet-savoured Virgin, - Protect me this night from all the pains of darkness! - And thou, Michael, ever beneficent, be about for the safe keeping - of my soul! - - -Apart from the appropriateness and almost absolute faultlessness -of the rhythm and language in which they are couched, nothing -about these old Hebridean "Blessings" seems to us so beautiful and -striking as the nearness with which they bring Heaven and its active, -ceaseless beneficence, to the very firesides and commonest affairs -of men. Nothing is too small or insignificant to be placed, not in -a general way observe, but in the most literal particular sense, -under the Divine guardianship. With these old people, in their -ocean-girt and storm-swept islands, God was not merely the creator, -but the ever present, ever near father, protector, and friend, -while to them His angels were in very truth "ministering spirits, -sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation"--not -merely in spiritual matters, we are to remark, but in all the affairs -of common, every-day life. Since the days of the ancient Hebrews, -nowhere shall we find so firm and fixed a belief in a direct and -constant intercourse and communion for good between Heaven and Earth. - -The following "Blessing," to be said over cattle when being led to -pasture of a morning, is exceedingly interesting:-- - - - Rann Buachailleachd. - - Siubhal beinne, siubhal coille, - Sinbhal gu rèidh fada, farsuinn, - Banachag Phadruig ma 'n casan, - 'S gu faic mise slàn a rithisd sith. - An seun a chuir Moire mu 'buar, - Moch 'us anmoch 'sa tigh'n bhuaidh', - Ga'n gleidheadh o pholl, o eabar. - O fheithe, o adh'rcean a cheile, - O liana' na Craige-Ruaidhe, - 'S o Luaths na Féinne. - Banachag Phadruig ma'r casan, - Gu'm bu slàn a thig sibh dhachaidh. - - -In English thus-- - - - A Rhyme to be said in driving Cattle to Pasture. - - Wandering o'er uplands, wandering through woods, - Hither and far away wander ye still, - St. Patrick's own milkmaid attend your steps - Till safe I see you return to me again. - The charm that Mary made to her cattle, - Early and late, going and coming from pasture, - Still keep you safe from quagmire and marsh, - From pitfalls and from each other's horns, - From the sudden swelling (of the torrent about) the Red Rock - And from Luath of the Fingalians. - St. Patrick's milkmaid attend your feet, - Safe and scaithless come ye home again. - - -The reference to "Luath," Cuchullin's matchless dog, so celebrated -in the Ossianic poems and old Fingalian tales, is curious. The ghosts -of the Fingalian heroes, existing in a sort of middle state--not yet -exactly saved nor wholly lost--with those of their famous dogs, were -believed to visit at times the scenes of their former exploits for the -sake of the hunting, in which they so much delighted, and a cow or -other animal, running about excitedly and wildly, and, to all human -investigation, causelessly, was supposed to be the work of a passing -Fingalian hunting party, invisible to mortal eyes, Luath, unmatched -in spirit-land as upon earth, still leading the chase as of old. On -the lines about St. Patrick's dairymaid or milkmaid Mr. Carmichael -has the following note, which will be read with interest, and which -we give in his own words:-- - - - "'Banachag Phadriug mu'r casan.' - (St. Patrick's dairymaid be around your feet.) - - -Banachag is the Hebridean form of the Banarach of the mainland, and -Banachogach or Banacach is the Hebridean term for the smallpox. You -will observe the close resemblance between the Gaelic word for -a dairymaid and that for the smallpox. I think the explanation is -obvious. Dairymaids were wont to get the cow-pox, and people confounded -the cow-pox with the smallpox. Hence, in the Highlands old people will -tell you that effects of the cow-pox were known long before Jenner's -celebrated discovery. Hence, also, you will rarely meet with a woman -in the Highlands disfigured from the effects of smallpox. Not so the -men, however. In England, again, in the rural parishes, the case is -reversed. There you will see women pox-marked, but seldom men. The -reason I take it to be is this:--In the Highlands it is the woman who -milk the cattle, and in doing so they get the cow-pox off the cows -in milking them. A Highlander would consider it unmanly to milk a -cow. I have never seen or heard of one who could or would do this, -except a young man in Lismore. Three or four young men, brothers, -had a small farm among them. Their mother died and their two sisters -married, and probably remembering Calum-Cille's celebrated saying-- - - - 'Far am bi bò bith'dh bean, - S' far am bi bean bithidh buaireadh.' - (Where there is a cow there will be a woman, - And where there is a woman there will be mischief.) - - -They resolved to do without a woman in their house at all; and they -succeeded for a time, but not for long, for-- - - - 'Man, the hermit, sighed, till woman smiled.' - - -One of them ultimately brought home a wife, who soon became a cause -of discord and ill-will among the previously happy and affectionate -brothers. But this is digressing. In England it is the men who -milk the cows. Most men in rural parishes can milk, and but few -women. Consequently in the agricultural districts of England you -hardly ever see an elderly man disfigured by the smallpox, but you -can see many women so disfigured. These suggestions are simply the -results of my own observations in England and in the Highlands. They -may be to the purpose or not, I don't know." - -We think they are to the purpose, and we are very much obliged to our -correspondent for his many interesting contributions from the Outer -Hebrides to our stock of "auld-world" folk-lore. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVII. - - The Delights of Beltane Tide--Bishop Gawin Douglas--His - Translation of the Æneid--The Fat of Deer--"Light and Shade" - from the Gaelic--Mackworth Praed--Discovery of an old Flint - Manufactory in the Moss of Ballachulish. - - -In the poetry and proverbs of our country you constantly meet with -references which go to prove that alternations of sunshine and -shower [April 1873] have for ages been held to be the meteorological -characteristics of an April day throughout the British Islands, -and most of all, perhaps, in Scotland. To go no further, you will -remember Scott's concluding lines in Rokeby-- - - - "Time and Tide had thus their sway, - Yielding, like an April day, - Smiling noon for sullen morrow, - Years of joy for hours of sorrow." - - -This, however, has been the driest April known in the West Highlands -for at least a score of years past. Hardly any rain has fallen during -the month, and with a bright sun overhead, and drying north-easterly -winds, rivers and streams have seldom been at a lower ebb even in -midsummer, while in some places you hear complaints of an absolute -scarcity of water even for ordinary household purposes--a very rare -thing, indeed, in the West Highlands at this season of the year, -or for that matter of it at any season. There was, however, such a -superabundance of moisture in the ground, from the heavy rains of the -past winter, that vegetation has as yet suffered little or nothing -from the drought, and the country is beautiful exceedingly in all -its greenery of leaf and gaiety of expanding blossom and bursting -bud. Our wild-birds never had a finer nesting season, and they are -now literally as merry as the day is long, for with the first flush -of dawn in the east they begin their rich and varied song, which, with -a short interval of quiescence and repose about mid-day, is continued -without interruption until long after the sun has set and the earlier -stars are already twinkling through the twilight gloom. April will -be succeeded by the "merry month of May," which, with the exception -of two, or at most three, cold days, with frost at night, about the -10th, is pretty sure to be an unusually fine month even for May. It -was an article of belief in the hygienic code of the old Highlanders, -and which you come across occasionally even at the present day, that -the invalid, suffering under no matter what form of internal ailment, -upon whom the sun of May once fairly shed its light, was pretty sure -of a renewed lease of life until at least the next autumnal equinox, -and how fine, by the way, and lightsome and cheery withal, Bishop -Gawin Douglas' apostrophe (circa 1512):-- - - - "Welcum the lord of licht, and lamp of day, - Welcum fosterare of tender herbis grene, - Welcum quickener of flurest flouris schene, - Welcum supporte of every rute and vane, - Welcum comfort of all kind frute and grane, - Welcum the birdis beild upon the brier, - Welcum maister and ruler of the yeare, - Welcum weilfare of husbands at the plewis, - Welcum repairer of woddis, treis, and bewis, - Welcum depainter of the blomyt medis, - Welcum the lyf of every thing that spedis, - Welcum storare of all kind bestial, - Welcum be thy bricht beams gladand all!" - - -(Prologue to "xii. Buke of Eneados of Virgill.") - - -The Æneid has been often translated into English, both in prose and -verse, since the days of Gawin Douglas, but we doubt if the Mantuan -bard has ever been more happily rendered than by the good Bishop of -Dunkeld. The following is his rendering of perhaps the best known -and perhaps the most frequently quoted passage in Virgil:-- - - - "Facilis descensus Averni, - Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis; - Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras - Hoc opus, hic labor est," &c. - - "It is richt facill and sith gate, I thè tell, - For to descend and pass on doun to hell: - The black yettis of Pluto and that dirk way, - Standis evir open and patent nycht and day: - But therefra to return agane on hicht, - And bere aboue recouir this airis light, - That is difficill werk, there labour lyis; - Full fewe there bene quhom heich aboue the skyis, - Thare ardent vertew has rasit and upheit, - Or yet quhame squale Jupiter deifyit, - Thay quhilkis bene gendrit of goddis may thidder attane. - All the midway is wilderness vnplane, - Or wilsum forrest; and the laithly flude - Cocytus with his dresy bosom vnrude - Flowis enuiron rounde about that place." - - -Warton (History of English Poetry) says of Bishop Douglas' Æneid, -that "it is executed with equal spirit and fidelity, and is a proof -that the Lowland Scotch and English languages were then nearly the -same." We may state that Douglas' Æneid, irrespective of its many -and great intrinsic merits, is especially interesting, as being the -first translation of a Roman classic into the English language either -in verse or prose. We have quoted above an old Highland belief in the -exceeding efficacy, even in the most serious ailments, of the kindly -beams of a May-day sun. Another belief of theirs was this-- - - - "Geir fèidh air a ghabhail 'n ad bhroinn, 's air a shuathadh ri d' - dhruim 's ri d' thaobh-- - Am fear nach leighis sid, cha'n 'eil leagheas ann." - - -That is--the fat of deer applied internally and externally, the -invalid whose sickness that does not heal, why, then, there is no -healing for him. The old Highlanders, you see, knew the value of deer: -they hadn't a good word to say of sheep. - -A few days ago we went into a cottage where a woman was sitting -spinning, and singing a song we had not heard for many years, though we -recollect hearing it frequently sung in boyhood. The soft and plaintive -air was an old favourite, and her style of singing pleasing. With a -very sweet voice and much feeling, she sang it all on requesting her to -do so; and after tea in the evening we threw the verses into English, -as follows. It is, however, rather an imitation than a translation. The -original, which is probably known to many of our readers, beginning-- - - - "Tha'n oidhche dorcha, dubh, gun reult - Tha aibh's na speur fo ghruaman," &c. - - -is old; how old we know not. Nor have we any clue to the name of the -author, or more probably authoress. Of the authors, indeed, of many -of our very finest Gaelic songs may be said what was said of the old -nameless border-bard, that they-- - - - "Nameless as the race from whence they sprung, - Saved other names and left their own unsung." - - -The song in Gaelic has no particular title. It is known by the two -first lines quoted above, just as we say, "Of a' the airts the wind -can blaw," and "Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon." In default of -anything better, our English version may perhaps appropriately enough -be entitled-- - - - Light and Shade. - - Dark and dreary is the world to me, - No sun, no moon, no star; - Vainly I struggle on my midnight sea, - No beacon gleams afar; - A wilderness of winter, frost and snow, - Sad and alone I hang my head in woe. - - 'Tis vain to strive against the will of fate - (No sun, no moon, no star); - Where I had looked for love, I found but hate - (No beacon gleams afar); - I gave my heart, my all, to one who cares - Now nought for me--no one my sorrow shares. - - Cares not my love though I were dead and gone - (No sun, no moon, no star!) - God help me, I am weak and all alone - (No beacon shines afar): - I dare not reveal my grief, I dare not tell; - The fire that burns my heart no tears can quell. - - Traveller that passest o'er hill - (May thy night have its star!) - Acquaint my love that you have left me ill, - And seen my bleeding scar; - 'Twere better to have killed than maimed me thus-- - A bird with broken wing in the lone wilderness. - - I once was happy, and how bright was then - Sun, moon, and every star! - Spotless and pure I laughed along the glen; - When, swift to mar - This happiness and peace, the spoiler came - And left me all bereft--the child of shame. - - And yet I do not hate him, woe is me - (No sun, no moon, no star!) - But shun him, O ye maidens frank and free! - 'Twere better far - That you were lifeless laid in the cold tomb, - In all your virgin pride and beauty's bloom. - - But God is good, and He will mercy have; - (How bright the morning star!) - Even the weary-laden find a grave-- - (The beacon shines afar!) - Bless, Father of our Lord so meek and mild, - An erring mother and a helpless child. - - -The moral of our song is obvious, though you will observe the story is -told with all possible delicacy and good taste, a characteristic, by -the way, of our best Gaelic poetry. The reader may easily understand -that, sung in proper time and place, and with proper feeling, such -a song is calculated to have a good effect, and convey a healthy -lesson in its own indirect way, when a sermon or moral exhortation, -however well meant, would be altogether out of the question. There -is much sound sense in Mackworth Praed's Chaunt of the Brazen Head, -the first verse of which is this-- - - - "I think, whatever mortals crave - With impotent endeavour, - A wreath--a rank--a throne--a grave-- - The world goes round for ever; - I think that life is not too long, - And, therefore, I determine, - That many people read a song, - Who will not read a sermon." - - -At a bridal, baptism, or other merry-making, such a song as the above -is calculated to do more good than the most laboured, well-meant, -and goody-goody sermon that ever was preached. As we rode away from -yonder cottage door, the woman resuming her task, and chanting a gay -and lively air in accompaniment, we were reminded of a verse quite -apropos to the occasion:-- - - - "Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound: - All at her work the village maiden sings; - Nor while she turns the giddy wheel around, - Revolves the sad vicissitude of things." - - -And we also thought of the simple and beautiful epitaph on the tomb -of a nameless Roman matron:-- - - - "Domum mansit, lanam fecit," - - -which old Robertson of Strowan has so admirably rendered into our -Scottish Doric:-- - - - She keepit weel the house, and birlt at the wheel! - - -A discovery of considerable archæological interest has recently been -made by some people employed in trenching the moss of Ballachulish -in our neighbourhood. At a depth of ten feet in the "drift" subsoil, -underlying six or seven feet of moss, only removed within recent years -in the ordinary course of peat-cutting, was found the remains of what, -in the far past, must have been a flint instrument manufactory on -a large scale. Within an area of twenty or thirty square yards was -disclosed several cartloads of flint chippings, manifestly broken -off in the manufacture of flint instruments, for we have been able -to secure several arrow heads, two roughly finished chisels, and -a hammer head of curious shape, with a hole in the centre, which -must have cost the maker no small amount of time and trouble in the -manipulation. What renders this "find" more interesting is the fact -that the material must have been brought to the place of manufacture -from a considerable distance, flint being of rare occurrence anywhere -in Nether Lochaber. Underlying such a depth of solid moss and drift, -such a discovery necessarily carries us back to a race of men who -lived in a very remote period indeed; how remote, even geology is -as yet unable absolutely to say. We were unfortunately from home -at the time the discovery was made, and were thus prevented from -examining the whole in sitû. This much, however, is certain, that -under a diluvial bed of drift, gravel, and sand of upwards of two -feet in thickness, underlying a thickness of at least six feet of -solid moss, a flint instrument manufactory is found, the work of -a people who lived before the deposit of that drift and the growth -of that moss. How many thousands and thousands of years ago lived -that flint-working race, who, in view of the extreme slowness of -geological changes, can say? We know that in the celebrated case of -the discovery of flint weapons at Abbeville and elsewhere in France -the remains of extinct species of elephant, rhinoceros, and other -mammals were found at an immense depth in the drift alongside of -flint instruments unquestionably fashioned by human hands. Whether -our Ballachulish discovery is to be held as a connecting link with -a people of an antiquity as remote as those of Abbeville, it would -be rash positively to assert; but the flint workers, some remains of -whose labours have, as we have stated, been recently brought to light -in our neighbourhood, must have lived at a period when the face of -the country was geologically very different from what it is now; and -remembering how slowly as a rule geological changes are brought about, -we shall probably be still within the mark, if approximately we fix -the era of the earliest flint workers at something like ten thousand -years ago, and in the case of Abbeville, Continental archæologists -have had no hesitation in suggesting a still remoter antiquity. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVIII. - - Warm showery Summer, disagreeable for the Tourist, but pastorally - and agriculturally favourable--Xiphias Gladius, or Sword-Fish, - cast ashore during a Midsummer Gale--Garibaldi dining on Potatoes - and Sword-Fish steaks at Caprera--The General's Drink--Medicinal - virtues of an Onion--Nettle Broth--Translation of a New Zealand - Maori Song. - - -"Rather showery, sir," exclaims the pleasure-seeking butterfly tourist -as he stands at his hotel window, or settles himself as comfortably -as may be on the box-seat of the coach in the morning. "Not a bit of -it, sir," responds the sturdy agriculturist or well-to-do drover; -"not a bit of it, sir, the finest growing weather we could have: -cattle and sheep getting into condition famously!" [July 1873]. In -such a case it is best to avoid declaring positively for either -party. In medio tutissimus ibis. Both are right from their individual -standpoint; that of the agriculturist and drover being the utilitarian -and anti-poetic, while the sentimental tourist, bent on sight-seeing -and recreation, very pardonably grumbles that instead of clear skies -and refreshing breezes he is as often as not enveloped in mist and -small rain. In any case the country is at present most beautiful, -and despite the grumblings of a few, who foolishly expect to have "a' -the comforts of the Sautmarket" about them whithersoever they wander, -such batches of tourists as we forgather with from time to time are -in raptures with our glens, and bens, and lochs, and richly wooded -shores, as well they may. And never before in the West Highlands -were all the conveniences for "touristing" with ease and comfort, -and all reasonable despatch, so perfect and so varied. - -A tolerably perfect, though not very large specimen of the sword-fish, -the Xiphias gladius of ichthyologists, was cast ashore in our -neighbourhood during an unusually heavy midsummer gale from the -south-west last week. The length of the elongated snout, commonly -called the sword or dagger, was two feet seven inches, a really -formidable weapon, with which it has been known, whether willingly -or unwillingly it would be difficult to say, to perforate the bottom -timbers of the stoutest ships, the sword in such cases luckily breaking -off as a rule, and thus becoming an immediate as well as an efficient -plug or stop-gap to the perforation. It is a more frequent visitor to -our shores than our natural history books would lead one to believe, -hardly a summer passing but you hear of one or more being caught -or cast ashore somewhere. This is the fourth specimen that within -twenty years has come under our personal inspection here on the west -coast. The largest and finest we ever saw was captured by a well-known -Fort-William fisherman, Iack Crùbach, or Lame Jack. If we well -remember, we think he told us that somebody gave him a sovereign for -it. Its flesh is said to be excellent eating, while its liver affords -an oil equal to eel oil in transparency, and of marvellous virtue, -it is said, as a medicament. The favourite habitats of the sword-fish -are the Sicilian and the Italian shores of the Mediterranean, where, -at certain seasons of the year, it is caught in great numbers, -the average weight being quite a hundred, and sometimes two hundred -pounds or more. We have it in our Common-Place Book that Major Healy, -of the yacht "Wildbird," informed us in Fort-William (August 1869) -that he had just returned from the Mediterranean; had called on -Garibaldi at Caprera, and dined with him on potatoes and sword-fish -steaks, which the gallant Major pronounced excellent. We may state, as -something curious, that while the Major at said dinner had his choice -of very good wines, with lots of capital bottled "Bass" from England, -the General himself drank a funny decoction composed of Marsala and -water--half-and-half--in which a large onion, sliced lemon-wise, -had been steeping for the whole previous night--a drink which the -Major tasted, and in very emphatic phrase declared to be "beastly," -but which he shrewdly guessed had something to do with the General's -rheumatism and gout. Any of our readers having a tendency thitherwards -might do worse than take the hint. There may be something in it, -for we recollect, when a little boy in Morven, that an onion was -somehow considered a panpharmacon, a perfect panacea--good for any -and every ailment. That the mediæval herbalist, like the mediæval -alchemist, was often a quack is very likely. In many instances he -could hardly be otherwise when his profession was in such repute; but -it is a question if our revulsion has not gone too far; if our modern -medicinists do not rather much overlook, too contemptuously ignore, -the inherent virtues, as to human ailments, of roots and herbs and -"flowers of the field." An old lady in our neighbourhood, shrewd -and intelligent beyond most of her class, told us not long ago as -she was cutting nettles by the roadside, as an evening bonne bouche -for her cow, that Stewart of Invernahyle, Sir Walter Scott's friend, -made it a point every spring to have nettle broth or soup on three -consecutive days about the season of the vernal equinox, which he -religiously believed acted as a safe and efficient diuretic for the -remainder of the year. From Mairi Bhàn, Invernahyle's sister, the - - - "Mhairi Bhàn gur barrail thu" - - -of Macintyre's well-known song, are descended at least two -Presbyterian clergymen, though the Invernahyles themselves were -strongly Episcopalian--ourselves, namely, and the Rev. Mr. Cameron, -Free Church minister of Ardersier. And the writing of the word -"Episcopalian" above reminds us of the fact that the titular dignity -of the Bishopric of Argyll and the Isles is at present vacant. The -late Bishop, Dr. Ewing, with whom we had the honour of being on most -intimate and friendly terms, was an unostentatiously pious, thoroughly -good, and really very able man, whom nine-tenths of the clergy of his -own Church would not or could not understand. Thank God that in the -enumeration of the good men whom we have known, the fingers of both -hands do not suffice; and of the really good men whom we have been -privileged to know and honour with affectionate regard was the late -Bishop Ewing. - -Some months ago we wrote to an old college chum, now farming in -New Zealand, advising him, as some occupation for his idle hours, -to pick up and send us such scraps of songs and poems as he might -find among the Maori race around him. No uncivilised people that -we had read or heard of seemed to us, in many respects, so like our -ancient Highlanders--the Fingalians, so called, of our older ballad -poetry--and we thought that so much of their poetry and folk-lore as -could be gathered could not fail to be interesting. Our correspondent -says:--"The Maoris, as you so shrewdly guessed, have a good deal -of poetry among them; short songs, however, for the most part, -and rhymed proverbs, and "wisdom words," as they call them, very -much like the Welsh "Triads," for they generally teach some three -particular doctrines, or state historically some three particular -facts. A few weeks ago I got an old man who came this way to sing me -some aboriginal songs, and the one that most struck my fancy I now -send to you. It is perfectly literal, for I know the native language -well, and as you are fond of rhyming, you may put it into verse if -you like. I can only send a true translation, line for line. - - - Maori Song.--(Translation.) - - Fish in the pool? No fish in the pool; - And the women are sad because of it. - The men, too, are sad; but to-morrow - The fish will be big, and fat, and many. - - I heard the bird singing a pleasant song. - He sang of food; he also sang of love. - The name of this bird is known to me, - But I will not tell it till we meet under the moon. - - The stranger, with his face so ugly and pale, - Has come from far over the sea. - He loves us, he says; but a Maori maid - Will not listen to his love. - - The mountains and vales of our own land - Are pleasant to see and live among. - And the sun at his setting is very red-- - Red with love to the Maori; angry at the stranger. - - My father lived here long ago; - He lived here, and here also lived the paraipa (a kind of bird). - The paraipa is not here, and my father is dead: - Woe is me, I wander among strangers. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIX. - - Mountains--The Lochaber Axe, Ancient and Modern. - - -"With occasional gales, by no means out of place or untimeous at this -date [October 1873], with the sun already in its retrogression, almost -half-way back through Scorpio, the weather is upon the whole mild and -more autumn-like than was any portion of autumn proper itself. Winter, -as yet, has hardly descended lower than the highest summits of our -mountain ranges, and how beautiful in the golden after-glow, even at -this season, are these same mountain peaks, impending over us like -so many living presences! Tutelary divinities we sometimes fancy -them, interested in all that belongs to the dwellers at their feet, -with living hearts under their rocky ribs, loving us even as we love -them, if we only knew it, and speaking to us in their own solemn and -mysterious language, as at midnight, in our communings with the stars, -we are startled now and again by the weird, inexplicable sighs and -sounds, and deep-toned murmurings that seem to rise from glen and -corry and frowning gorge--sounds of much meaning, doubtless, if one -only knew the language, and could respond, as the sea seems to do, -in the palpitation of its heaving waves, and the boom of its billows -upon the beach. Pantheism and atheism are the very antithesis and -antipodes of each other--errors both, just as blind credulity is -the antithesis of stubborn unbelief--but, if forced to decide in -favour of either, give us pantheism for choice, as the more poetical, -at least, and pardonable error of the two; for the recognition of a -Divine intelligence pervading and dwelling lovingly in all things is -surely preferable to the cold and bloodless anti-creed that professes -to have searched the universe for a God, but failed to find Him. For -our own part, we have dwelt so long among the mountains, and within -sight and sound of the sea, that we have learned to love them with a -strange, undefinable affection, such as one bestows only on what is -at once weird and mysterious, as well as intelligent and potent, and, -upon the whole, beneficent and friendly. So impressed are we with this -feeling at times, that we fear that, however weighty the advantages -otherwise, a city life for us would now be irksome and unenjoyable, -and anything like a lengthened sojourn in a mountainless land, far -from the sight of ocean waves, well-nigh unendurable. There is some -meaning, however wild and improbable it may seem at first sight, -in the theory that accounts for the Egyptian pyramids as erected by -a nomade people, who finally settled along the valley of the Nile, -in remembrance of the mountains of their native land, and to serve -instead of these mountains in making the astronomical observations -for which the ancient Assyrians and Chaldeans were so famous. Be these -things as they may, we dearly love the mountains by which our humble -home is surrounded, whether basking in jubilant sunshine or wrapt -in sorrowing cloud, whether robed in midsummer green, in autumnal -purple, in brown and gold, or snow-covered and ice-bound to their -base; what time the day is shortest, and the sun, almost shorn of -his beams, shines but faint and far down at its farthest point of -southern declination. It is recorded of Queen Mary, of sanguinary, -or rather igneous memory, that so affected was she by the loss of -Calais, that had been in the possession of England since the victory -at Cressy under the gallant Edward III., upwards of two hundred years -previously, that she declared in her last moments that, if her body -was opened after death, the name of the lost city would be found -written upon her heart; probably the nearest approach to anything -like poetry to be found in any word or act of her dark and bigoted and -wholly unhappy life. If such things were possible--and the ancients, -at least, believed they were--we should be apt to say the same in our -own case of the mountain ranges and sea views around us, with which -we have held such intimate fellowship for upwards of twenty years. - -If one asked us where he could get coals, we should without hesitation -be disposed, were it but to keep the well-known proverb in countenance, -to direct him to Newcastle-on-Tyne. If he consulted us as to where -he could best procure a serviceable and trustworthy sword-blade -of finest workmanship and highest value, we should probably direct -him to Damascus or Toledo. If slings and slingers, we should send -him to the Balearic Isles; if bows and arrows, and how to use them -with perfectest dexterity, to the Parthians; and in so advising the -anxious inquirer for coals, or the warlike weapons in question, we -should probably be disposed to feel that we had advised him wisely -and well. And suppose one wanted a "Lochaber axe," where would he -most naturally look for it but in Lochaber? And yet, in all Lochaber -there is probably at this moment not a single specimen of a weapon -at one time so common and so peculiar to the district as to have -been called after it. The Secretary of the Royal Institution of -a seaport city of England wrote us lately, begging us to procure -for them a Lochaber axe, to be placed in a collection of shafted -weapons in their museum. He wrote as if he thought there need be no -difficulty about the matter; living as we do in Lochaber, he seemed -to think that we could lay our hands upon such a weapon as easily -as upon a tuft of heather or a twig of birch. We were, of course, -obliged to write him in reply that neither in Lochaber proper, nor, -so far as we knew, in any of the neighbouring districts, was there to -be found a single specimen of the formidable weapon in question. There -should be a good many Lochaber axes in the country however, though -not in Lochaber. We wonder if such a thing as a "Jeddart staff" -could be had to-day in its proper locality? We recollect that during -Her Majesty's first visit to Scotland in 1842, when she was received -by such a splendid gathering of the Clans at Dunkeld, there was a -company of a hundred men, commanded by the Honourable Captain James -Murray, brother of Lord Glenlyon, the biggest men that could be got in -Athole and the surrounding districts, all armed with Lochaber axes, -and a very fine sight they were as they poised and swung about their -ponderous and terrible weapons. We were then but a boy at school, -just entering upon our teens, but the appearance of these kilted -giants, with their dreadful battle-axes, is as fresh and vivid as if, -since that bright and beautiful September noon, hardly thirty days -had elapsed, instead of upwards of thirty years. We doubt, however, -if the Lochaber axe, so called, as seen at Dunkeld on the occasion -referred to, and as usually shown in our collections of weapons, is at -all a true representative of the ancient arm so formidable in many a -dour conflict in the hands of the Camerons, Macmartins, Macmillans, -and Macphees of Lochielside, Glenarkaig, and Glenlochy, and of the -Macdonalds of the Braes, and Mackenzies of Lochlevenside. The weapon -as now shown is decidedly too big, too ponderous and unwieldy ever to -have been used in actual fight. Only a Clan Samson or Clan Goliath, -and all of them of ancestral stature and strength, could hope to -wield such an arm in the heat and hurry of conflict with anything -like dexterity and ease. Like the immense two-handed "Wallace" style -of sword that is sometimes shown to you as having been the favourite -weapon of some celebrated warrior of the middle ages and subsequent -centuries, but which it is simply impossible that any mere man could -ever have wielded with effect in actual fight, the modern Lochaber -axe is too gigantic for use, and must have been manufactured, a big -pattern of a lesser weapon, merely for parade and show. That a weapon -of the kind, however, once existed, and was a favourite arm with the -men of Lochaber, is unquestionable, and a truly formidable weapon it -must have been. With a crescent axe face to cut with, it had a hook at -the back by which horsemen could be caught hold of and dragged from -their saddles, to be despatched at leisure as they lay helpless upon -the ground. The shaft was necessarily of considerable length, about -six feet, of ash or other tough wood, and of no greater girth than -a common hay-fork handle. The shaft of the modern weapon, however, -is between seven and eight feet long, and of a girth that an ordinary -hand does not suffice to grasp. The axe proper, too, or head of the arm -usually shown as a Lochaber axe, is nearly twice the weight of that -of the older and more business-like weapon. An Indian tomahawk with -a six-foot shaft, or a mediæval knight's battle-axe with a six-foot -handle, such as that with which the Bruce cleft the skull of Henry de -Boune at Bannockburn, would probably be nearer to the pattern of the -original Lochaber axe than the ridiculously big and cumbrous modern -article. You remember the scene in Scott's Lord of the Isles-- - - - "Of Hereford's high blood he came, - A race renown'd for knightly fame. - He burn'd before his Monarch's eye, - To do some deed of chivalry. - He spurr'd his steel, he couched his lance, - And darted on the Bruce at once. - - "As motionless as rocks, that bide - The wrath of the advancing tide, - The Bruce stood fast. Each breast beat high, - And dazzled was each gazing eye. - The heart had hardly time to think, - The eyelid scarce had time to wink, - While on the King, like flash of flame, - Spurr'd to full speed the warhorse came! - The partridge may the falcon mock, - If that slight palfrey stand the shock; - But, swerving from the knight's career, - Just as they met, Bruce shunn'd the spear. - - Onward the baffled warrior bore - His course--but soon his course was o'er! - High in his stirrups stood the King, - And gave his battle-axe the swing. - Right on De Boune, the whiles he pass'd, - Fell that stern dint--the first--the last! - Such strength upon the blow was put, - The helmet crush'd like hazel nut; - The axe shaft, with its brazen clasp, - Was shiver'd to the gauntlet grasp. - Springs from the blow the startled horse, - Drops to the plain the lifeless corse. - First of that fatal field, how soon, - How sudden fell the fierce De Boune!" - - -A real Lochaber axe-head we have seen, never the complete weapon -properly shafted, though surely real and genuine specimens of the -old and famous war-arm must be found in some of our museums. At what -period the Lochaber axe ceased to be carried as a battle-arm by the -Highlanders it is impossible to say; probably soon after the general -introduction of fire-arms into the northern half of the kingdom, -for it was certainly not used in the '45, nor, so far as we know, -in the '15, nor even in the wars of Montrose; so that for upwards of -two hundred years at least it has not been used in actual combat. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XL. - - Sea-Fowl--Weather Prognostics--Goosander (Mergus Merganser, - Linn.)--Gales of Wind--January Primroses--Lachlan Gorach, the Mull - "Natural"--A Dancing Rhyme. - - -When a prophet's vaticinations are verified by the event, the world -rarely fails to be reminded of it; when it is otherwise, however; -when the vaticinations turn out to be the very reverse of true, -people are rarely ever troubled with a note on the matter, least of -all on the part of the disappointed vaticinator himself. The fact -is that everything like vaticination had better, as a rule, be let -alone; sooner or later, and in nine cases out of ten, or oftener, -the prophet never fails to come to grief. So convinced, for our own -part, are we of this, that while reserving our right to vaticinate -and predict as much and as recklessly as anybody else, when it so -pleased us, yet, as a matter of fact, we never do venture further -into the treacherous territories of vaticination than the mere -outskirts, so to speak, of what may well be called the debateable -land of weather prognostics; and even there we tread as gingerly and -cautiously as if at this moment we were on the banks of the Prah, in -constant dread of a lurking ambuscade of fierce and fetish-valorous -Ashantees. Our weather prophecies from time to time have often, -as the courteous reader may remember, been fully justified by the -event; but if the whole truth is to be told, we fear we must confess -that they have almost as frequently turned out to be wrong, and it -is not every weather prophet who will confess so much. It requires -a larger share of magnanimity than the reader is perhaps aware of, -to be able to confess one's errors with anything like complaisance, -even in such a matter as weather prognostics, and we therefore trust -that the following confession will be valued as it ought. Some time -ago the number of Arctic sea-fowl in our creeks and bays, and the near -approach of a rather early fall of snow to the sea line, justified us, -as we thought, in predicting an early and severe winter, meaning by -"severe"--for we scorn to be disingenuous in the matter--that it -was likely to be excessively cold as well as unusually stormy. The -experience of upwards of twenty years, during which we have been a -keen and close student of meteorological phenomena and wild-bird life, -seemed to us to warrant the conclusion at which we had arrived. But -how at mid-winter stands the fact? Why, thus: that up to this date -[January 1874], it has been, upon the whole, the "openest" and mildest -season for at least a quarter of a century! How, then, about your -Arctic sea-birds? the reader may exclaim, and we can only answer -that their presence so early and in such numbers is to be accounted -for by the almost incessant gales that have been sweeping over the -Atlantic and northern seas, with such disastrous effects, for nearly -two months past. Feeling the first blast of the approaching tempest, -and assured of its prolonged continuance by a marvellous instinct, -further and more correctly prescient of such matters than man, with -all his boasted science, they fled to the shelter of our, to them -in such cases, Friendly Islands; for an Arctic web-foot dreads an -unusual severity of hyperborean storms, long continued, quite as much -as it dreads an excessive intensity of hyperborean cold, and for the -same reason--both equally interfere with the allotted comforts of its -economy and due supply of food. The winter, besides, is not yet past; -whistling before one is fairly out of the wood is proverbially foolish, -and there is, after all, time enough yet betwixt this and the vernal -equinox for the advent of any amount of cold, so that there is still -a chance for our wild-bird friends and ourselves standing higher in -the reader's estimation as weather prophets, ere the winter is ended, -than we do at present. Our web-foot visitors from the far north, at -all events, are still with us, and in large numbers, and a very pretty -sight a flock of them is as you quietly approach them congregated in -some sheltered bay, and with a good binocular watch their graceful -motions, now disporting themselves and chasing each other in many -a merry round over the surface of the water; now, as if by common -consent and in obedience to some, to you inaudible, word of command, -they seem to leap rather than dive into the blue depths beneath -them, until not one is to be seen, then as suddenly reappearing, -again to chase each other, and disport and dive, as if they knew you -were looking at them, and admired and loved them, and would as soon -cut off your finger as think of levelling a murder-dealing weapon at -creatures so beautiful and harmless. - -A bird generally rare in our inland waters is this year quite common -on all our shores. We refer to the goosander (Mergus merganser, -Linn.), one of the handsomest and most interesting of sea-fowl. Of the -Merganser family the goosander is the largest, and the whole order -is remarkable for their serrated mandibles, the nearest approach to -anything like teeth to be met with among birds, and admirably adapted -for retaining firm hold, when seized, of their slippery prey, which -mainly consists of eels, lampreys, &c., in dealing with which "kittle -cattle" in deep water an ordinary unarmed duck-bill would be a very -inefficient weapon. Once in the firm grip of the Merganser's serrated -bill, however, the chance of such comparatively small fish as it can -alone feed upon must be very small indeed. We saw a very fine male -specimen a few days ago, which a young man had shot, believing it to -be a "wild duck," as he termed it, and necessarily good for eating. We -told him that he had been guilty of a piece of very unnecessary and -indefensible cruelty, for that the bird in his hand was in truth a -Merganser, and no more fit to be eaten than a ten-year-old herring -gull or an octogenarian guillemot. He looked at us with a smile, -in which we thought we detected a considerable shade of incredulity, -and we do believe that the thought passed through his mind at that -moment that we only spoke so disparagingly of the bird because we -wanted to get hold of it ourselves, either by its being given to us -as a present, or for the smallest possible money payment, and then -what a jolly feed we should have at the expense of his ornithological -ignorance and juvenile simplicity! Perhaps we do him injustice; but, -at all events, he carried the bird away with him, observing that he -"would try it at any rate." We met his sister a day or two afterwards, -and on inquiring if they had cooked the "wild duck," and how they -liked it, we confess that it was with an inward chuckle of intense -satisfaction that we listened as she told us that, after having duly -boiled and cooked it secundum artem, until it ought to have been good -and tender, it turned out to be so rank, and fishy, and tough, that no -one could eat a morsel of it, and it had to be thrown into the dinner -refuse basket as worthless! These birds, though necessarily hardy, and -able to outlive a vast amount of cold and storm, are exceedingly fond -of still water, rarely resting or fishing when there is any surface -disturbance beyond a slight ripple; and hence it is that you so seldom -meet with them elsewhere than in the most sheltered bays, creeks, -and estuaries, where the water is least liable to the surface turmoil -and commotion of a storm. The finest stuffed specimen of the Merganser -we ever saw is at Achnacarry Castle, Lochiel's seat in Lochaber. - -We have said above that the winter has thus far been almost -unprecedentedly open and mild, by which we mean only that the -temperature throughout has been unusually high, not, by any means, -that it has been calm. The very contrary is the case. It has been -one continued storm, with an occasional breathing time, so to speak, -of a fine day at rare intervals, for upwards of eight consecutive -weeks. But the storms have, as to temperature, been rather the -storms of early summer or autumn, than the boisterously cold and burly -shriekings of the lone winter "Storm King," as we used to know and fear -him. The reader will best understand what we mean, when we say that, -notwithstanding the storminess, anemometrically, of the season, not -a single snowflake has fallen in the lowlands of Nether Lochaber this -winter, except a little which fell last night, but of which there are -no traces again this morning; nor, except twice, and then only for an -hour or so, has the thermometer touched the freezing-point. We much -doubt if the thickness of a sixpenny piece of ice could be gathered -at any one moment from pool or puddle in our district of Lochaber -during the present winter. The consequence is, that in all our gardens -flowers are at this moment in bloom that perhaps were never known -to be in bloom at the same date before. Our privet and elder hedges -bear quite a close green vesture of young leaves; the columbine has -already reached an April altitude of growth, and a woman who happened -to walk from Fort-William early last week brought us a small bouquet -of primroses that she had picked up while passing through the woods of -Coirrechaorachan, as beautiful and perfect as if it were in truth the -proper season of these favourite flowers, instead of the last days of -the first month of the year. We shouldn't wonder, however, if we have -to pay for it all yet, ere the truant schoolboy again begins to imitate -the cuckoo's note, or "the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." - -There is at this moment sitting in our kitchen a poor, half-witted -natural, "Lachlan Gorach," from Mull, whose conversation is always -garnished with "Davie Gelletly"-like snatches of quaint song. Sometimes -the rhyme is in English, and sometimes in Gaelic, and frequently -has no connection whatever with what may be the immediate subject -of conversation. On going up to have a crack with him a few moments -ago--for poor Lachlan is, in a way, a great favourite of ours--he -returned our friendly greeting of "Well, how are you, Lachlan?" with -a hearty shake of the hand, and a bow that, for close proximity of -forehead to the ground and duration, might have graced the court of -Louis the Fourteenth, and immediately on regaining the erect position, -struck, to an air that was probably original, into the following verse, -which we took down on the spot:-- - - - "First the heel and then the toe, - That's the way the polka goes; - First the toe and then the heel, - That's the way to dance a reel; - Quick about and then away, - Lightly dance the glad Strathspey. - Jump a jump, and jump it big, - That's the way to dance a jig; - Slowly, smiling as in France, - Follow through the country dance. - And we'll meet Johnny Cope in the morning." - - -It was very amusing. Where he picked up the uncouth rhyme we do not -know, and it was bootless to inquire. Having ordered him some dinner, -we bade him good-bye, when we caught hold of the following verse of -Lachlan's favourite ditties as we disappeared:-- - - - "Kilt your coaties, bonnie lassie, - As you wade the burnie through; - Or your mother will be angry - If you wet your coaties now." - - -Poor Lachlan, always cheerful and perfectly harmless, is a welcome -guest at every fireside throughout the many districts which he -periodically peregrinates. We may have something more to say of -himself and his quaint scraps of songs on a future occasion. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XLI. - - Plague of Thistles in Australia and New Zealand--How to deal - with them--Cnicus Acaulis, Great Milk Thistle, or Stemless - Thistle--Fierce Fight between two Seals, "Nelson" and "Villeneuve." - - -It is true to a proverb that one may have too much even of a good -It is true to a proverb that one may have too much even of a good -thing. It was the most natural thing in the world, for instance, that -our countrymen should have introduced the thistle, the national emblem, -into the fertile plains and straths of Australia and New Zealand, -to remind them of home, and to speak to them, even at the Antipodes, -of memories and traditions that patriotism will in nowise "willingly -let die." The inevitable result of such introduction, however, was -not foreseen, or rather was never thought of. A correspondent in the -province of Otago, in a very pleasant letter by last mail [August -1874] informs us that the "symbol dear" of Burns has so flourished -and spread over large tracts of land in New Zealand as to be already -an intolerable nuisance; so much so, that legislative enactments are -being passed, in view, if possible, to its total extirpation. "You -may think I exaggerate," says our friend, "but I positively do not, -when I tell you that in the course of a fifty miles ride the other day -I saw whole paddocks containing many hundred acres of splendid land -quite overrun with thistles, so close, and thick, and formidable, -that neither man nor horse could force a way through them. And such -thistles, too! I measured several that were quite eight feet in height, -and as thick in the stem as my wrist, with spikes on them as large -as horse-shoe nails, and as sharp-pointed as the sharpest needle. The -proprietor of one of the paddocks thus overgrown with thistles swore -at them awfully--and most unpatriotically, too, you will say, for he -was a Scotchman--when I spoke to him on the subject. I assure you it -is a very serious matter, for unless the obnoxious weed is somehow got -rid of, many places will soon be uninhabitable, and, as you can easily -understand, the evil is daily and rapidly becoming worse. The thistles -are at present ripe, with large heads like cauliflowers, and when a -smart breeze is blowing, where they are plentiful, the air is filled -with thistle-down like a heavy snow-storm. If you, who know so many -things, could only suggest some effectual way of ridding ourselves -of this pest, you would be doing us a very real service." At home, -too, thistles, if not more plentiful, are at least of larger growth -than usual. In a corner of our own garden, for instance, there is -still growing at the present moment a splendid fellow, nearly six -feet in height, to which we pay a daily visit in admiration of its -lusty growth, and the rich emerald green of its imbricated involucral -leaves. We have purposely preserved it unhurt till now, as something of -a curiosity, but in a day or two it must be cut down, for the seeds -are fast ripening, and it were unwise, if not actually criminal, -to allow them to escape on downy wings only to fall and germinate -after their kind, a very nuisance, elsewhere. Most herbaceous plants -will bleed to death if cut down two years running, just as they have -about attained half their growth; and we can only suggest to our New -Zealand friends that they should treat their thistle fields after a -similar fashion. Let them be mowed down when about half, or rather -more than half-grown, with the scythe for two consecutive seasons, -and we believe the roots will infallibly die and disappear. We -have known bracken, ragwort, and burr-dock, &c. very effectively -disposed of in this way, and have some confidence that thistles, -too, might be thoroughly eradicated by a similar process of vital -wounding at the hastiest stage of growth. From our correspondent's -description of them, we should say that the New Zealand thistles, so -loudly complained of, are of the same species as that in our garden, -the Carduus marianus of botanists, or Great Milk Thistle, a biennial -common over all Europe, but nowhere so plentiful as in Scotland, -whence it is probable that it is so frequently pointed to by poets, -painters, and patriots as the Scotch Thistle, though its claims to -the high honour of being the actual and real national emblem are -somewhat questionable. The tradition in the south and south-west, -where the true story, if ever there was a true story in the matter, -is most likely to have rooted itself in its perfectest form, is to the -effect that, during an invasion of the Norsemen, the Danes advancing -against the Scots on a dark night, one of their barefooted scouts, -when prowling about the Scottish encampment, chanced to tread on a -thistle, the sharp prickles of which piercing his foot, caused him -to utter a loud imprecation, which reaching the ears of the Scots, -hitherto lying in fancied security, warned them that the enemy was at -hand, and enabled them, instantly standing to their arms, to take their -foes at such disadvantage that the fierce Norsemen were totally routed -and driven to their ships with immense slaughter. The thistle that -thus opportunely prevented the Scots being taken unawares is still -pointed out, not, however, as being any of the large, formidable, -long-stemmed varieties, but the stemless thistle that spreads out -its leaves and spikes quite close to the ground, common enough in old -pastures and waste grass lands. The stemless thistle is botanically -known as the Cnicus acaulis, and lowly and unpretending as it may -seem at first sight, there is, we make bold to assert, no species -of thistle so well entitled to bear and boast the grand old legend, -Nemo me impune lacessit. Its spines are as fine, and quite as tough -and piercing withal, as the finest cambric needle; impossible, too, -of extraction, once it has fairly penetrated the flesh, except by -a surgical operation; and we have a shrewd suspicion that it is to -some extent poisonous, for, from the moment one pierces the flesh -till its expulsion by suppuration of the part, the pain is keen and -excruciating beyond conception. Barefooted Dane, Saxon, or Celt, -unexpectedly treading on a nearly ripe and full-formed Cnicus, might -well be excused an oath, however lusty and loud, in acknowledgment -and hearty execration of such an impediment. We can say something -of a Cnicus spike wound from personal experience. Several years ago, -when we were younger and lighter than we are to-day, we were vaulting -over a wall that divided an infield of corn from an outfield of old -pasture. Safely over, but alighting awkwardly, we slipped forward and -fell, instinctively stretching out our hands to secure ourselves as -we came almost headlong to the ground. The fall was nothing, but one -of our hands had, as ill-luck would have it, alighted, with all our -weight upon it, in the very bosom of a full-armed, irate Cnicus. The -palm of the hand somehow escaped, but one of the prickles entered our -wrist, and the pain was at once intense--stinging, sharp, and burning, -as if the spike was the point of a red-hot needle from the fire. It -could not be extracted, for it could not be seen; and there was nothing -for it but patience and such local applications as might best aid the -inevitable suppuration by which alone, after fourteen days' acute pain, -relief was finally obtained. Upon the whole, then, and keeping the -barefooted Danish scout tradition in view, we are disposed to consider -the stemless Cnicus as the true national emblem. If there be any doubt, -the honour, at all events, must be left between itself and the burly, -big-stemmed Marianus. Of a certainty, in any case, the cotton thistle -(Onopordon acanthium), though frequently spoken of by horticulturists -and amateur gardeners as the Scotch thistle, cannot be the species -indicated, for this last is not properly a Scotch plant at all, -it being rarely, if ever, found growing wild anywhere north of the -Tweed, though comparatively common in England. The first public and -properly authenticated mention of the thistle as the national badge -is, we believe, in an inventory of the jewels and wardrobe effects of -James III., about the year 1467. Whether there was an "ancient" Order -of the Thistle seems doubtful; what is commonly called the revival -of the order dates from the reign of James the Seventh of Scotland, -Second of England, in 1687. - -A more natural and less apocryphal combat than the recent dwarf and -bulldog business at Hanley is the following. Be not alarmed; ours is -simply a brief account of a fight, fierce and furious enough to be -sure, but very natural--for of the Phocidæ, we suppose, as of the -"bears and lions" in the well-known hymn, it may be predicted that -"'tis their nature to"--a fight, then, between a pair of dog-seals in -the bay under our house a few evenings ago. In nothing else are the -results of the Gun Tax Act so pleasantly manifest as in the increased, -and still increasing, confidence and friendly relations now so happily -established between seals and sea-birds of every kind and the sea-side -naturalist, as, throwing books and papers for the time aside, he -takes his evening walk abroad within sight and sound of the setting -sunlit sea, that gently murmurs the while, as if for very gladness, -in response to the rosy smile of the departing god. Ever since the -beginning of summer, a large dog-seal, recognisable as such by his -immense, square, bulldog-like head and fierce hirsute beard, has -made our beautiful Onich Bay his favourite evening fishing-ground, -until we have come to know him perfectly; no difficult matter either, -for he has a curious grey patch, larger than one's hand, on his left -cheek, and, unlike most seals, sinks, not log-like, when he disappears -under water, but almost always with a lively "header," in which the -whole back, arched and shining, is brought to view, as if for our -special delectation, as we sit and watch his graceful motions with -a glass powerful enough to detect the wary and intelligent glance of -his beautiful dark-brown eye, and count, if need were, every separate -bristle in his moustache. He is a big and powerful animal, and when -in our bay doubtless accounts himself lord of all he surveys, for, -of the hundreds of seals in Loch Leven, he alone constantly frequents -this particular semi-oval, sandy-bottomed inlet, his size and strength -probably ensuring it to him as a sort of reserve, in which woe unto -the interloping poacher caught sight of flagrante delicto by the -bright eye of "Lord Nelson," as we have long since called him, and -all the people about call him, for he is now known to everybody in the -hamlet, and frequently spoken about with all the interest attached to -a wild animal, actually suspicious and shy, but perfectly harmless, -when, with a confidence extremely rare in animals of its kind, -it approaches human habitations. On the afternoon of Friday last, -"Nelson" was fishing, as usual, in our bay, which at the time was -mirror-smooth and calm as calm could be. We had watched him for some -time through our glass, and seen him come to the surface more than -once, and dispose of a flounder in his usual quiet and leisurely -way, when, somewhat to our surprise, we caught sight of another -seal, seemingly as large as "Nelson" himself, and about a hundred -yards from him; and at the same moment his "lordship" evidently saw -him too! There could be no mistake about it, for he, first raising -himself half-way out of the water, and gazing excitedly around, with a -splendid header and a very significant flourish of his hind flippers, -instantly dived; the stranger seal also, who probably knew what was -coming, diving immediately afterwards. What happened below is only -known to such subaqueous spectators as might be about at the moment; -we can only bear witness to what followed, and that was, that in -about two minutes there was wild splashing and violent commotion of -the waters near the spot at which the stranger seal had disappeared, -from the centre of which turmoil the two seals soon emerged, fighting -in fierce grip like a pair of enraged bulldogs. For several minutes -this wild combat continued; Greek had met Greek; the belligerents -hugging each other, bear-like, with their anterior flippers, and -tearing at each other's heads and throats with their terrible fangs, -for the canine teeth of seals are exceedingly formidable, and their -strength of jaw enormous. All this time they wrestled and rolled -over and over each other in deadly and desperate encounter, the sea -for yards around them one sheet of boiling, hissing foam, here and -there streaked with blood, as we could plainly discern by the aid of -the glass, for we had, in the meantime, advanced to the very margin -of the sea, and were standing within some thirty yards of them. In -the wild hurly-burly of the conflict, it was impossible to see or -say whether "Nelson" or "Villeneuve" was winning--for by the latter -name had our son, who was along with us, already dubbed the stranger -seal, as, with true boy-like interest and eagerness, he watched the -fight. Had there been any betting on the event, we, knowing "Nelson," -and believing in his prowess--for it was impossible to be impartial -in such a case--would probably have laid two to one freely on our -favourite; remembering, too, the pithy Gaelic adage, "'S laidir cù air -a dhùnan fein:" Strong is the dog that has his own home knoll for a -battle-field! As it was, the battle was fought out and finished under -water, so that we were not privileged to see the last of it. After -a final fierce worry, in which the combatants reared their bodies -more than half-way out of the water, and much surface splashing and -somersaulting, the belligerents, as if by common consent, disappeared, -still fighting, however, as the hundreds of bursting bubbles that for -a time kept coming to the surface clearly testified. In about a couple -of minutes the stranger seal came to the surface, swimming rapidly -seawards; he had evidently had enough of it; and shortly afterwards, -"Nelson," known at once by the grey patch on his cheek, reappeared in -the centre of the bay, quietly floating about, as if thoroughly tired -of the tussle, and shaking his head dog-fashion now and again, from -which we gathered that "Villeneuve," though beaten, had left his mark -upon the victor, and the victor was in this wise very significantly -acknowledging the fact. It is worthy of remark, that throughout the -whole of this curious fight, though from first to last it was as fierce -and furious as anything of the kind could be, not a sound was uttered -by either combatant, except an occasional heavy, sigh-like breathing, -which was probably involuntary, and merely the natural result of -unwonted physical exertion. And yet seals are by no means dumb, for -their curious bleatings--we can find no better word for it--in the -breeding season, must be known to every sea-side naturalist. "Nelson," -the reader will perhaps be glad to hear, is all right again, and, as -yet, sole admiral of our bay, in which at this moment, as we write, -he is busy fishing for supper. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XLII. - - Wounds from Stags' Antlers exceedingly dangerous--The old Fingalian - Ballads--Number of Dogs kept for the Chase--Dr. Smith's "Ancient - Lays" of modern manufacture--The Spotted Crake (Crex Prozana) - at Inverness--Its Habits. - - -It is not generally known, we believe, that a wound from a stag's -antlers, however slight--the merest scratch or abrasion of the skin, -if only blood is drawn--is exceedingly dangerous. A short time ago -[December 1874], on ascending from the cabin of a steamer, we went -forward in order to enjoy an uninterrupted smoke in the fresh breeze -that swept across the vessel, when we noticed a fine-looking young -man, closely wrapped up in cape and plaid seated, in the shelter of -the capstan, as if the breeze, to him at least, was, if anything, -too brisk and keen. Glancing at him once and again, we observed -that he was pale and sickly looking; and concluding from his dress -and caste of features that he must be a Highlander, we went over to -him and addressed him in Gaelic. It turned out that although we did -not know him, he knew something of us, and we were soon on friendly -terms. He told us he was going to Glasgow to consult the doctors -about a stag's horn wound in the thigh that was daily, in spite of -all the salves, ointments, and healing applications that he and all -the "wise" people of his glen could think of, getting worse instead -of better. About two months ago he was helping to take a stag off -a hill pony's back, when, by some accident, the sharp point of one -of the tines penetrated the thigh for a short distance, and then, -by the force of the falling weight of the head, rasped downwards for -about an inch and a half, leaving an ugly, ragged gash, though of no -great depth. He thought but little of it, he told us, having often -had more serious wounds before, though not from a stag's horn, that -gave hardly any trouble, and soon healed of themselves--of the first -intention, as the surgeons have it. How it may fare with him among -the Glasgow doctors we do not know: well, poor fellow, we sincerely -hope, though we shouldn't wonder if the wound continued to trouble -him all his life long. The subject of stag-horn wounds having thus -been brought before us in a way that could not fail to interest us, -we took the matter to avizandum, as the sheriffs say; and, in dearth -of anything better at this dull season, we present our readers with -the result of our inquiries in every direction whence there was the -least chance of enlightenment. Dogs wounded by stags' horns usually -die from mortification or gangrene of the wound; and even if the wound -heals, and they recover, it is only in an unsatisfactory sort of way, -for they are almost always afterwards paralytic in the wounded limb, -or they are epileptic. An old forester, who knows more about deer and -deerhounds than anybody else we ever met, tells us that in very few -instances has he ever known a dog that has actually bled at the touch -of a stag's horn, recover in such wise as to be fairly serviceable -again. With the least drop of blood in such cases, they seem to -lose all their courage. Another man, a shepherd near us, says that -a very fine collie dog of his was once severely wounded by a stag in -Glenarkaig, on Lochiel's estate, and that although the wound healed -satisfactorily enough, and to the eye of an ordinary observer there -was nothing the matter with the dog, it was, in fact, ever afterwards -perfectly useless. "Chaidh e gòrach, le'r cead." A good dog before, -"he became perfectly stupid, sir!" said the man. The above-mentioned -forester says that the poisonous character of stag-horn wounds is well -known to every one in the least acquainted with deer-stalking, as the -sport was followed in the good old ante-breech-loading rifle days, -when explosive bullets were yet unknown; and that rough contact with -the tines of the animal, whether living or dead, was, in his younger -days, avoided as one would avoid the tooth of a rabid dog or a viper's -fang. A stag antler's wound, he avers, is dangerous at all times, -but most so in the end of autumn--the rutting season--or, as he put -it, "an àm dhaibh 'bhi dol 'san damhair," when they take to their -"wallowing pools." Curiously enough, and by the merest accident, we -have fallen in with the following proverbial distich from an old volume -on Venerie, or Hunting of the Buck, published in London in 1622:-- - - - "If thou art hurt by boar's tooth, the leech thy life may save; - If thou art hurt by buck's horn, 'twill bring thee to thy grave." - - -So that the venom of a stag's horn wound seems to have been quite as -well known two hundred years ago as it is now; better, indeed, for -those who followed the chase in the olden time were more liable to -such hurts than is possible in the case of the modern deer-stalker, -when the aid of dogs and the "gillie's" knife to give the coup de -grace to the "stag at bay," are matters of comparatively little -moment. It was a much more serious and risky affair in the days of -the old "flint"-bearing musket. There was a paragraph a short time -ago about a serious attack by a stag on some men in the island of -Raasay. It would be interesting to know whether blood was drawn on -the occasion, and if so, how the wounds have healed. - -Hardly anything in our old Ossianic ballads, of which we have such -an interesting and ably edited collection in Mr. J. F. Campbell of -Islay's Leabhar-na-Feinne, is so curious as the great number of dogs -employed by the Fingalians in their huntings,--that is, if we are to -read the ballads with anything like literalness. Fifty, a hundred, -two hundred, and even five hundred dogs are spoken about as freely -as a modern sportsman speaks of couples. In one ballad, for instance, -recovered by ourselves, ten men, one of them the balladist himself, the -last remnant of the Fingalian host, are represented as going to hunt -in the "Glen of Mist," attended by fifty dogs a piece, or five hundred -in all--surely an unnecessary, if not an impossible number. In these -ballads, besides, you find frequent reference to scarcity of food, -and the shifts the "heroes" were often put to, to provide for the -barest wants of the passing day; and yet, if such an army of dogs was -necessary, it also had to be fed, which one conceives must have been -a matter of some difficulty, when the heroes themselves were, as the -ballads inform us, frequently reduced to the necessity of splitting -"marrow bones," when all the flesh that covered them had already been -used up. The whole question of the natural history of these old ballads -is well worth more attention than has yet been bestowed on it. Some -day or other we shall devote a special chapter to it. Meantime, let -us merely say that we decided many years ago against the authenticity -and genuineness of one at least of Dr. Smith's so-called Ancient Lays, -because of the incorrectness of a reference to the natural history -of a well-known bird, the common pigeon. Here are the lines in Gaul -which first made us shake our head in dubiety over the genuineness -of the composition-- - - - "Mar cholum an carraig na h-Ulacha, - 'S i solar dhearca da h-àl beag, - 'S a' pilltinn gu tric, gun am blasad i fein, - Tra dh'eireas an t-seabhag 'na smuainte." - - As a dove on the rock of Ulla, - That gathereth berries for her young; - Oft she returns, nor tastes herself the food, - When rises the hawk within her thoughts. - - -On which passage we would first of all remark that pigeons are not -berry eaters, and even if they were, they would not carry them to -their young in such wise as the poet clearly implies. A pigeon itself -eats the food meant for its young, and only after undergoing a certain -process of maceration and digestion in the parent's crop, is it again -regurgitated in form suitable for the young. In genuine Gaelic poetry, -the natural history is in a very remarkable manner almost invariably -correct. Here it was not, and we recollect tossing the volume aside, -and remarking that while much of Gaul might certainly be "ancient," -quite as much was modern, and that, wittingly or unwittingly, Dr. Smith -had been dealing in patch-work. Dr. Smith cites a parallel passage -to the above from Thomson's Spring-- - - - "Away they fly, - Affectionate, and, undesiring, bear - The most delicious morsel to their young." - - -But the context shows that Thomson is not referring to doves, but to -Turdi and warblers that build - - - "Among the roots - Of hazel pendent o'er the plaintive stream." - - -And these do feed their callow young as represented in the poem, -though the Columbidæ certainly do not. - -We observe that Mr. T. B. Snowie, of Inverness, has recently been so -fortunate as to secure a specimen of the spotted crake or Crex porzana, -a very rare bird indeed, of which we never saw a living specimen. It -seems, however, to be a more regular visitor to our shores than is -imagined, specimens having from time to time been met with in almost -all parts of Scotland. Our friend Mr. Robert Gray, in his excellent -volume on The Birds of the West of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, -writes of the spotted crake as follows:--"So far as I have observed, -the spotted crake is a very uncommon species in the western counties; -it is, however, more numerously distributed throughout the eastern -counties, extending from Orkney to Berwickshire. In Aberdeen and Forfar -shires, according to Macgillivray, it can scarcely be called very -rare. 'In Scotland,' says Mr. More in the Ibis, 'the nest has been -found only in Perth, Aberdeen, and at Loch Spynie, in Elgin; but as -birds have been repeatedly taken in the breeding season in Banffshire, -Fife, East Lothian, and Berwick, it is not unreasonable to infer that -the species nest in these counties also. In the west of Scotland, -the spotted crake has been taken in Wigtonshire, Renfrewshire, and -Argyllshire; but I have no authentic instance of its occurrence north -of the last-named district. In its habits this bird closely resembles -its congener the water-rail, and, like it, is not easily flushed from -its haunts. Although a migratory species, the spotted crake appears -to come early, specimens being occasionally taken about the beginning -of April; as a rule, it also lingers much later than other migratory -birds, stray examples having been shot in November, December, and even -January, so that it is absent not more than two or three months. It -may, indeed, be yet found to be, in some of the southern districts, -permanently resident. From its shy and unobtrusive habits, and its -life of seclusion and silence in marshy places, from which it but -rarely issues, it is much less frequently seen than birds which try -to escape by flight when disturbed. Rather than take wing, it will -thrust itself, when molested, into any hole or tuft of grass, and -remain concealed until quiet is restored; and on this account the -comparative numbers of the species cannot readily be ascertained.'" - -The bird is, however, unquestionably a rara avis, a rarissima avis -even, in the north of Scotland, and to have seen the bird as Mr. Snowie -was privileged to see and handle it, we should cheerfully have walked -ten miles, were it the coldest day in mid-winter. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XLIII. - - Whelks and Periwinkles--An Ossianic Reading--The Sea-shore - after a Storm--The Rejectamenta of the Deep--An amusing - Story of a Shore-Searcher--Severity of Winter--Wild-Birds' - Levee--Woodcock--Snipe--Blue Jay. - - -It has been our habit for many years [January 1875] to take our -morning walk along our beautiful sea-beach, one of the coziest and -prettiest silver-sanded bays on the West Coast, descending now and -again, when the tide is at ebb, to search for objects of interest in -marine animal and vegetable life, in every likely spot along what -Ossian calls "tràigh na faoch,"--the periwinkled shore. Our friend -and neighbour Dr. Clerk, by the way, in his admirable edition of the -great Celtic bard, renders it "the shore of whelks," and in a note -gives us to understand that he thinks the expression so unpoetical, -infra dig., and every way inappropriate, as almost to warrant its -rejection as a corruption of the text. As a conjectural emendation, -he suggests "tràigh na faobh," the shore of spoils, as probably the -true reading. Faoch, however, is not the whelk, but the periwinkle or -wilk. The whelk is the Buccinum undatum, the cnogag or cnocag of the -Gaels of the Western seaboard and Hebrides. The wilk or periwinkle -is the faoch or faochag; and to it and not to the whelk the passage -clearly refers. The whelk or cnogag rarely allows itself to be left -behind on the beach by the receding waters, even in spring tides, -when ebbs are at their lowest. The periwinkle, on the contrary, -sticks, regardless of the receding waves, to its place or stone or -algae stem and frond, until the ebbing waters have returned, as return -he knows full well they shall; so that at any time after half ebb, -a suitable shore, rich in algæ, presents a most interesting sight, -every stone and smallest bit of sea-weed covered with millions of -periwinkles at all stages of growth. It is to a scene of this kind -that the poet refers, and very happily we think: "the periwinkled -shore" is a thousand times better than the "barren, barren shore" -of Tennyson. No one objects to "daisied mead" or "daisied lea," and -"periwinkled shore," as we have seen it, and as hundreds, we make -no doubt, of our readers have also seen it, is, to our thinking, -every whit as poetical, and in no sense inconsistent even with -epic dignity. Wilks having within recent years become an article -of considerable marketable value, being carefully gathered on every -beach, the "periwinkled shore" of Ossian is, of course, a rarer sight -now-a-days than it used to be. Nearly as plentiful on our shores as -the common periwinkle itself is its first cousin, the Purpura lapillus -of conchologists, or yellow periwinkle, one of those creatures that -furnished the famous purple dye of the ancients. It has a bitter, -astringent taste, and is in consequence not eaten like its congener, -the wilk. We have said that our favourite morning walk is invariably, -if we can accomplish it, along the sea-beach; and hardly a day passes -but we can show something interesting and new, picked up in these our -littoral perambulations. After a storm particularly, we endeavour, -whatever our other engagements, to devote an hour at least to a ramble -along the shore, and it is rarely we return empty-handed: some curious -waif or other, cast up by the storm, seldom fails to be forthcoming as -the reward of our matutinal diligence. After a severe gale one morning -last week, we found a dead kittiwake, but perfectly plump and fresh, -lying on the top of a mass of drift tangle. The bird itself was no -great rarity, for the kittiwake (Larus rissa, Linn.), a very pretty -little gull, is common on all our shores, even in winter. The curious -thing was that, on taking up the bird in our hand, we found that one -of its feet was firmly held in the vice-like grasp of a large mussel, -the mussel in its turn being anchored by its byssus to a tangle root -(Laminaria digitata) of immense size. The poor kittiwake had evidently -been fairly trapped: the case was clear. Walking along the beach -at low-water, in search of food, it must have stepped inadvertently -and unwittingly into the jaws, so to speak, of the open, or rather -half-open, mussel, which, in resentment of the intrusion, instantly -closing with a steel trap-like snap, held the poor bird firm and -fast. There was no chance or hope of escape, and the unfortunate -little gull, thus anchored to the bottom, was miserably drowned by the -advancing tide. Its body would, to a certain extent, act as a float or -buoy to the mussel and tangle root, which, thus loosened, the storm -would readily dislodge, and cast up on the beach, even as we found -it. Web-feet of all kinds are, of course, as liable to death in all -its forms, natural and accidental, as any other animals, but we dare to -say that in any accurate return of the vital statistics of sea-birds, -death by drowning, Ophelia-like, would be found about the rarest. In -more ways than one, therefore, was our dead kittiwake a curiosity of -no every-day occurrence, though, in nineteen cases out of twenty, the -passer-by would probably be content to kick it aside as a dead gull, -and no more, if, indeed, he condescended to notice it at all. We were -lately told an amusing story about a Fort-William man who lived some -fifty years ago, and was in his day a great shore-searcher after -storms, incited thereto, not exactly in the interests of science, -but by more mundane and prosaic considerations. Summer and winter, -all the year round, he searched the shores (Bhi'dh e g'iarraidh nan -cladaichan, was the phrase) of Achintore and Drumarbin after every -gale of wind, wandering ghost-like in the grey dawn by the margin -of the sea, and diligently picking up every conceivable article -of flotsam and jetsam that came in his way. In all this there was -perhaps nothing to object to; but this mild specimen of a Cornish -wrecker had the habit of appropriating, without compunction, such -oars, thwarts, baling-dishes, and other articles of boat gearing -as came in his way, even though he knew that they belonged to his -neighbours, and had only been carried away from their proper places -by an unusually high tide or a gale of wind. This was a breach of the -etiquette and good-neighbourhood prevailing among boatmen that could -not be tolerated. A Drumarbin man, therefore, who had lost some oars -in a storm, and suspected that the Fort-William shore-searcher had -found and kept them, determined on reprisal, and in hope of curing -him of such shabby peculations, to give him a good fright, which -could be done the more easily, as the shore-searcher was a nervous, -timid creature, brimful of belief in apparitions, ghosts, and ghost -stories of the wildest and most improbable character. Getting up one -morning after a storm, the Drumarbin man put on a pair of new shoes, -and slipping to the shore, unobserved by the wrecker, whom he could see -wandering along the beach, as was his custom, in the grey day-break, -he lay down at length on the shingle, and covered his head and body -down to his ankles with the drift-ware that had been cast up by the -storm. All he left exposed was his feet, on which we have said there -was a pair of good substantial new shoes. Meanwhile the "wrecker" was -advancing along the beach, carefully searching about, and stooping from -time to time, oyster-catcher or curlew-wise, in order to pick up such -waifs and strays as he fancied worth the while. At last he reached -the recumbent and sea-ware-covered Drumarbin man. The shoes at once -caught his eye, and as he gazed wistfully on what he considered the -most fortunate and valuable jetsam that had fallen to his luck for a -long time, he was heard to soliloquise,--"A drowned man! Poor fellow; -but he has good shoes on, and as he can have no more use for them, -I may as well take them now as anybody else later in the day." No -sooner said than done. Throwing down his bundle of gatherings, he -pulled the shoes evenly and steadily off the supposed "body's" feet, -and was moving away with them, when a smothered sepulchral voice from -under the sea-ware struck his ear--an ear painfully acute under the -circumstances,--"Gabh mo chomhairl' 's fàg na brògan sin!" "Take -my advice, and leave these shoes alone!" At the same time he saw -the mass of drift-weed heaving and moving. Dropping the shoes as if -they had suddenly become each a mass of red-hot iron in his hand, -he started off with a yell that frightened the sea-birds all the way -to Camus-na-Gall, and ran a terrible race without once halting or -looking over his shoulder, till, penitent and breathless, he reached -his own fireside. He was completely cured of shore-wandering, for, -as our informant told us, he soon after sickened and took to his bed, -from which he never rose again. Told in excellent Gaelic, and with a -large admixture of the serio-comic quiet humour so characteristic of -an old Highlander, the story made us laugh heartily; and not the less -so that it was told in sly reference to our own frequent sea-shore -perambulations. - -It is many years since our wild birds have had to encounter a winter -of such unmitigated severity as the present. Dead rooks, blackbirds, -chaffinches, and hedge sparrows are only too common in copse, hedgerow, -and open field, stiffened and starved all of them, nothing but the -bones, skin, and feathers remaining as you take them up and handle -them, so that one only wonders how it is they did not drop and die -long before reaching such a sad state of utter fleshlessness and -emaciation. A whole month, however, of intense frost, making every one -exposed to its direct influence, even for a moment, put their fingers -to their mouths with a "poor Tom's a-cold" attitude and grin--of -intense frost, in which the earth became hard and resonant as iron, -clearly accounts for it all. Some idea of the keenness of the frost at -times may be gathered from the following facts:--On Friday afternoon -we had occasion to go to look if our boat on the beach was all right, -for the darkening heavens threatened an immediate storm, a not uncommon -end to such rare meteorological phenomena as long continued frosts -on the West Coast. Sitting on the end of a log of wood that lay on -the beach, a little above high-water mark, was a rook or crow, which, -as we approached, attempted to fly away, but could not. It stretched -itself, and strained, and flapped its wings frantically as we drew -near, but there it was, tethered firm and fast, manifestly unable to -budge an inch, unless it carried the immense log bodily along with -it. We wondered for a moment what in the world could be the matter, -for we could not recollect ever seeing a rook, of all our birds the -most knowing, perhaps, and self-possessed, act so absurdly. Running -forward and laying hold of the bird, we had a ready solution of the -mystery in the fact that the poor, struggling creature's feet were -firmly frozen to the log--more firmly than the best bird-lime or -glue could have held them. Thawing the frozen feet with some little -trouble by the warmth of our hand, we had the pleasure of setting the -poor bird at liberty. He--for it was a male--did not certainly weigh -more, as we poised him in our hand, than six or seven ounces, though -the ordinary weight of a rook in fair condition is nearly a couple of -pounds. Even within doors the frost was unusually intense. In a small -room off our own kitchen--and in the latter there is, of course, -always a fire, and generally a large fire, burning--the night's -milk was frequently found frozen into a hard and solid mass in the -morning; so thoroughly frozen that the servant girl could, by tilting -up the vessel and smartly tapping its bottom get the solid contents -of frozen milk into her hand, and carry it, for the amusement of the -youngsters, about the house, from one room to another, as if it were -a Dunlop cheese. Such a frost we have not had on the West Coast for -at least a score of years. Our wild-bird levee of a morning is a -most interesting scene--the most pleasant episode, perhaps, in the -necessarily dull routine of a winter's day in the country. On these -occasions we can depend on the presence of such birds as redbreasts, -wrens, finches of all kinds, the lively and ubiquitous chaffinch, -however, being most numerous; coral-billed blackbirds, shy at -first, but easily made familiar and friendly enough; ox-eye tits, -very pretty birds, but nervous and fidgety always; house and hedge -sparrows, with a self-assertion and impudence that is most amusing, -and a bold familiarity that would always place them in the front rank -of bread-crumb recipients, if the redbreasts, seldom otherwise than -quarrelsome and testy, did not drive them back. Most of those birds, -when they found an open door or window, would boldly venture into -the house, and eagerly pick up the bread crumbs from off the floor -or table, undisturbed by anything one said or did, provided only you -refrained from any attempt to lay hold of them; in that case they -were off and out instantly, and in a manifest pet at your rudeness and -inhospitality, shy to trust you again until the matter was forgotten, -or perhaps only overlooked perforce of the inexorable logic of intense -cold and gnawing hunger. All the birds that we have handled for more -than a month past were but the merest skin and bone, emaciated to a -degree altogether unknown in less severe winters. Curiously enough, -however, we had a brace of woodcocks a few days ago which were as -plump and fat as one could wish them; and some brace of snipe, shot -in the neighbourhood of Inverness, kindly sent to us as a Christmas -present, were in excellent condition, and good in every way. Why -these long-billed, sucking birds should be fat, when all other birds -are unnaturally lean, is to be accounted for by the fact that the -intense frost drives the worms and minute animals which constitute -their food into the open "eyes" and rivulets, which never freeze, -like sheep in a fank; and thus the woodcock and snipe have their food -with rather less trouble in frost than in more open weather. Some ten -days ago, a very fine specimen of the jay (Corvus glandarius, Linn.; -the Scriachan-Coille of the Gael) was sent us. This is one of our -handsomest birds, and we are glad to say that it has within recent -years become comparatively common in Lochaber. Like its congener the -magpie, it is looked upon with considerable suspicion as an enemy to -game; eating up, it is alleged, grouse, and partridge, and pheasant -eggs as a favourite bonne bouche, and even devouring the newly hatched -young. It is a shy and solitary bird, even where it is common, and we -do not know its habits and economy sufficiently to entitle us, much as -we are inclined, to enter on its defence under such an indictment; -but, from all we have been enabled to gather on the subject, we -should meantime be disposed to record the tertium quid verdict of -"Not proven." - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XLIV. - - A "Blessed Thaw" after a Severe Frost--Longevity in Lochaber--A - ready "Saline draught--A probatum est Recipe for Catarrh and - Colds--Egg-shell Superstition--Curious old Gaelic Poem. - - -How intense was the recent frost [January 1875], and how hyperborean -all our surroundings, may be judged of from the fact that on coming out -of church yesterday, one of our people, a greyheaded, pious old man, -spoke of the happy change to open weather and "westlan' breezes" very -solemnly as "the blessed thaw"--an t'aiteamh beannaichte. Before any -one else north or south of the Tweed made any reference to the coming -winter, our readers may remember that we did, and that we inculcated -on every one the wisdom of keeping themselves warm and comfortable, by -means of good fires and otherwise, as the best way of being jolly in -the best and truest sense of that much misapprehended and frequently -misapplied term. It was, in truth, a trying season; but sensibly and -thickly clad in many a fold of honest home-spun cùrain, or plaiding, -our people for the most part got over it without any very serious -ailments. Influenzas, catarrhs, and colds in every form were of course -common, and, for a time, one was met on every side by an uncomfortable -and sometimes disagreeable amount of coughing, expectoration, -sniftering, sneezing, and nose-blowing; but now all this has almost -or altogether passed away, and people are again going about as usual, -clad no otherwise than ordinarily, and as becometh the inhabitants -of a temperate zone: plaids, comforters, double-ply mittens, and -"bosom-friends," having been laid aside as unnecessary incumbrances in -weather that is now actually warm and spring-like, as compared with -that dreadful month or six weeks of Baffin's Bay-like temperature, -that, when it got fairly at you, and off your guard, seemed capable of -making the very blood freeze in one's veins, even as it froze the water -in our subterranean and best guarded lead pipes. Nothing, perhaps, -could more pointedly illustrate the healthy vigour and vitality of -our people generally than the fact that, although we have amongst us -many who have arrived at extreme old age, and some who have been more -or less valetudinarian for years, there has not been a single death -in the district--a district which, as we look around us, contains -some two or three thousand inhabitants--since the beginning of last -December; a fact which, considering the inclemency of the weather, -and the high death-rate everywhere else, is something surely worthy -chronicling. We are probably correct in believing that the worst at -least of winter is already past, but much cold and stormy weather -may be still in store for us, and as colds and coughs may return, -we beg to make friendly offer of the following probatum est recipe, -quite a popular cure in this part of the country for every form of -winter influenza. Cure or no cure, the recipe has at all events the -merit of being extremely simple, and to thousands of our readers very -readily available at any time. Take a pint--say a tumblerful--of sea -water that has been heated to the boiling-point, without having been -allowed actually to boil. Sprinkle over it some pepper, rather more -plentifully than you do in your soup; drink this as hot as you can -bear it as you step into bed at night. Next day your cold and cough -will have disappeared like an unpleasant dream. You may be weak, -but you will, upon the whole, be well! We cannot personally vouch -for the efficacy of this draught, but we find that many people here -invariably resort to it as a ready and popular cure for their colds, -and they speak highly of its virtues, and, contrary to what one would -expect, of its comparative pleasantness and palatability as well. A -sensible old man whom we questioned on the subject a few days ago, -and a firm believer in the efficacy of this "saline" draught, told -us in confidence that the rationale of the thing consisted in the -fact that it immediately acted as a powerful sudorific; and that to -this, he thought, was to be attributed the thoroughness as well as the -rapidity of the cure. Probably he was right. It is a simple, cheap, and -readily available remedy at all events, and dwellers by the sea-side -might do worse than give it a trial at a pinch, when more orthodox -remedies have failed, or are not ready to hand. One grand thing about -it is the certainty that, if it does no good, it cannot possibly do -harm. Another old man in our neighbourhood, still hale and active, -though in his eighty-fourth year, told us lately that he never took -a dose, not a ha'penny's worth, of medicine, druggist's or doctor's -stuff in his life. "Whenever I felt out of sorts," he continued, -"I just went down to the sea and drank a good large draught of salt -water; that was always my medicine, and it never once failed to do me -good." So that there may be more virtue in sea water as a curative -agent in bronchial and stomachic ailments than the world generally -wots. And if so, how consoling the thought that this druggist's shop -is never shut; the supply is exhaustless, and no charge! - -A curious bit of popular superstition is the following, which a -gentleman in a neighbouring district was good enough to bring recently -under our notice. After breakfast, at which, among other good things, -we had some excellent fresh eggs, he suggested that we should go into -the kitchen to smoke, "and watch," he said, "what my housekeeper will -do with the empty egg-shells as the breakfast things are brought -up from the parlour." We went and stood and watched accordingly, -and this is what we saw, chatting with our host the while, that the -housekeeper might not suspect that we took any particular interest -in her doings. We noticed that when the girl came into the kitchen -and laid the tray upon the table, the housekeeper, a staid and -respectable-looking woman, well advanced in years, walked over and -took the egg-shells--there were four or five of them--and, placing -them one after another into an egg-cup, she took a small knife, and -passed it with a smart tap through the bottoms or hitherto unbroken -ends of the lot, and then turned away to some other employment. This -was all, for our host immediately suggested that we should visit the -stables. We were a good deal puzzled, having seen so little, where -we expected to have seen a great deal, and that little so seemingly -without meaning and purposeless. When we got to the stables, our host -asked if we understood the meaning of the old lady's manner of dealing -with the egg-shells. We confessed our profound ignorance, having never -seen--never, at least, seen so as seriously to notice--anything of this -kind before. "My housekeeper, you must know," continued our friend, -"is a most excellent woman, but much given to little superstitious -observances and harmless giosragan. She will not allow a single -egg-shell to go out of her sight without first making a hole through -it, knocking out its bottom in short, in case, as she has more than -once seriously told me, a witch should get hold of it and use it -as a boat, in which to set to sea in order to raise violent storms, -in which the ablest seamanship could not possibly save hundreds of -vessels from being miserably wrecked!" "You may smile," he went on, -"for it is supremely absurd, to be sure, that an otherwise sensible -woman should give credence to such nonsense; but, after all, if you -make inquiry, you will find that the superstition in question is quite -a common one. Few middle-aged women, brought up in the Highlands, -but will act as you saw my housekeeper act with the empty egg-shells, -knocking a hole through their unbroken ends before throwing them aside, -or frequently even more effectually providing against the possibility -of their being used as witched life-boats, by crushing the whole -shell into a crumpled mass bodily in the hand." We haven't as yet had -many opportunities of making inquiry into the matter, but from all we -can gather from some old women in our neighbourhood, we believe empty -egg-shells are, or perhaps we should say were, frequently treated after -the fashion stated, and for the reason assigned. Some of our readers -in the north-west Highlands and Hebrides may perhaps know something -more about a very odd and curious superstition to be met with in the -latter half of the nineteenth century. For obvious reasons, it is a -superstition more likely to be prevalent among islanders and dwellers -by the sea-shore than in the more inland parts of the country. - -The following fragment of a curious old poem we picked up about -ten days ago from the recitation of Alexander Maclachlan, shepherd, -Dalness. It is unfortunately but a fragment, as we have said, but -we give it here in the hope that some of our friends of the Gaelic -Society, or of our many readers throughout the Hebrides, may be able -to supply more or less of the remainder. Maclachlan heard the entire -poem from a Glenetive forester, a very old man, some years ago, but -this man is now unfortunately dead, and the reciter could not direct us -to any one likely to be able to repeat the poem at length. Perhaps our -friend Mr. J. F. Campbell of Islay, so indefatigable and marvellously -successful in his search after Celtic song and story, "all of the olden -time," may have met with it in a more or less complete form; if so, -he would very much oblige us all in the north by giving us a version -of it and its history, as far as he knows it. We may state that it does -not appear in Leabhar-na-Feinne, which we have searched for it, though -unquestionably a production of considerable antiquity. Maclachlan -told us that the old forester, in reciting it, called it Conaltradh -nan Ian, or The Parliament of Birds. The following were evidently the -opening lines of the poem, and likeliest to be remembered by one who -only heard it repeated once or twice:-- - - - Conaltradh nan Ian--(Fragment). - - "Nuair 'bha Gaelig aig na h'eoin, - 'Sa 'thuigeadh iad glòir nan dàn, - Bu tric an comhradh anns a choill - Air iomad pong, ma's fhior na Bàird. - Thainig piàid luath na gleadhraich, - 'S shuidh i air grod mheur còsach fearna, - Ma choinneamh cò'chaig a ghuib chruinn, - 'Sa caog-shuil dhonn na ceann mar àirnaig. - 'N so dh'èirich a phiaid gu grad, - 'S thubhairt i 's i 's tailceadh a bonn, - 'An tusa sin a'd mheall air stop - Nuair a bhi's do cheod-cheann trom? - Am bi do theanga 'ghnath fo ghlais - 'S tu gun luaidh air reach na ùi, - 'S tu cho duinte ri cloich bhric - 'Bhi's air meall a chnaip gun bhri." - - "Bu treis dhaibh mar so a còmhstri, - Gearradh, 'bearradh glòir a cheile, - Ach gus an d'leum a nois an glas-eun; - 'S rinn esan gach cùis a rèiteach, - 'S crog a phiaid air a ceann - 'S dh-fhag e i gu fuar, fann, - 'N sin bh'èirich firèun nan gléus - A shinbhlas an spèur ga luath." - - [Cætera desunt.] - - -This curious poem seems to have been throughout of a dramatic -form. Maclachlan says that, as he heard it repeated, almost all our -better known wild-birds were introduced, and had appropriate speeches -and parts assigned to them. He particularly referred to a very funny -speech by the wren, who finally quarrels with the wagtail, by whom -he had been insulted, and gives him a good licking. The end of it -all is that the eagle is unanimously elected king of birds, with -the glas-eun or falcon-kite as his lieutenant. The throstle cock is -elected bard of birds, and the dipper admiral and commander-in-chief -of the wild-bird fleet. Any one recovering the whole poem would be -conferring no small boon on Gaelic literature. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XLV. - - "Albert," a famous Labrador Dog--As a Water-Dog--His - intelligence--Takes to Sheep-stealing--Death! - - -In a recent number of Land and Water, Mr. Frank Buckland, in -writing about the Ophiophagus elaps, a serpent-eating serpent -lately introduced into the Zoological Gardens, London, with all the -honours due to a visitor so choice and curious in its diet, remarks -that "the saying that 'Dog will not eat dog' is proverbial amongst -us." North of the Tweed, neither in Gaelic nor in guid braid Scotch, -is any such proverb known. The nearest approach to it that we can -think of at this moment [April 1875] is the saying that "Hawks winna -pick oot hawks' een," and this is applied in a sense very different -from that suggested by Mr. Buckland's proverb, if such a proverb -exists. At all events the saying that dog will not eat dog is not -true; dog will eat dog, ravenously and greedily enough, when he is -hungry and gets the chance. Notwithstanding his domestication and -long acquaintance with the usages of civilised life, the dog is, -under certain circumstances, as thorough a cannibal and savage as -ever was Fiji islander in the days when that worthy Polynesian would -give the best finger of his right hand for a prime haunch of full-fed -and fat "missionary." Out of many instances that had come under our -own observation of cannibalism in dogs, take the following, all the -circumstances connected with which, although it is somewhat of an old -story now, are for many reasons as fresh in our recollection as if -they had occurred but yesterday. When we came to Lochaber, upwards -of twenty years ago (Eheu! fugaces labuntur anni), we had a large -Labrador dog, a present, when a three-months-old pup, from one of the -best and kindliest men we have ever known, the late Rev. Dr. Macnair, -of the Abbey Church, Paisley. He grew to be a magnificent animal, the -largest and most powerful dog, perhaps, ever seen in the Highlands, and -as sagacious and good-tempered as he was big and bold and strong. The -late Mr. Campbell of Monzie, an excellent judge of dogs, used to say -that he was the finest dog he ever saw, and made it a point every -year to call once or twice during the shooting season purposely to -have "a friendly talk," as he termed it, with "Albert," for such was -our canny Goliath's name. As a water-dog, he was simply perfect, -as amphibious almost as a seal. Any stone that you took in your -hand and threw into twelve, fifteen, or even twenty feet of water, -he instantly dashed after, and took from the bottom, and laid at your -feet, seldom making a mistake, though how he was able to select from -a stony bottom the very stone that had been handled and thrown in by -you was then, and is still, a puzzle to us: not by scent, one would -think, for all traces of contact with the hand must surely have been -lost in passing through such a depth of salt water. He probably was -able to recognise the proper stone partly from its colour and shape, -and from its being in a less saturated state, and less in contact with -the bottom than were those that always lay there. On one occasion we -had left our boat on the beach, neglecting to tie the painter, as we -intended returning immediately. Something came in the way, however, -that occupied us longer than we expected, and on returning to the -shore, our boat was off and away, drifting before a land breeze that -had already carried it quite a quarter of a mile from the beach. There -was no other boat at hand in which to overtake the runaway, and to -go round by the ferry, to meet it on the opposite side of the loch, -was a longer walk than one cared about just then, and the boat, -besides, was likely to be considerably damaged if it reached the -rocks on the other side, as the chances were it would, before we could -arrive. While thus in a state of anxiety and indecision, our eye fell -upon "Albert," then our constant companion, afloat and ashore. "Albert, -old fellow," we remarked, "the boat, you see, is adrift; what's to -be done?" With a grand, deep bass bark in response, he dashed into -the water, and ere we could well understand it all, he was a hundred -yards away, swimming hastily and rapidly in the direction of the -truant yawl. We could only sit down on a rock to watch and wait the -upshot of the adventure. Soon overtaking the runaway boat, "Albert" -swam once or twice round it, and then observing that the painter was -dragging in the water over the bow, he seized the rope in his mouth, -and strongly and steadily towed the boat towards us, against a stiff -breeze and a considerable ripple of a sea, until he reached the beach, -and dropped the painter on the shingle at our feet, and with a jolly, -self-approving bark, in response to our words of hearty welcome, that -made the mountain echoes ring again, he shook a perfect shower-bath -of brine from his shaggy coat, and scampered away along the sands to -dry himself. He was manifestly proud, as he well ought to be, of an -exploit so timeously and sagaciously performed, and so, be sure, were -we. "Albert's" readiness to take to the water was, on one occasion at -least, attended by rather awkward circumstances. One beautiful summer -afternoon, a young Oxford friend and ourselves were in the same boat, -with "Albert," as usual, for a companion. It was too calm for sailing, -and we were too lazy to row, so we allowed the boat to drift about at -"its own sweet will," while we lounged on the thwarts and read the -papers, of special interest then on account of the Crimean war. We -were half a mile from land, and our friend by-and-by suggested that -a swim in the invitingly cool, clear sea would be a good thing before -returning home to dinner. As he was an excellent swimmer, with whom, -for a small wager, we had the day before done a considerable distance, -we readily agreed. We had long known, however, how difficult it is to -get into a buoyant, floating boat of such a comparatively small size -as ours was, without any purchase to aid but such as is afforded by the -unstable water, and it was arranged that he should have his dip first, -and when he was tired of it, and we had helped him on board, that we -should have a plunge in our turn. "Albert," who had not been consulted -in our arrangement, was stretched the while at length, half or wholly -asleep, along the bottom of the boat. When he had stripped, our young -friend stood up in the bow, with one foot on the foremost thwart and -the other on the gunwale, and with a loud shout took a splendid header -into the cool, green depths, disappearing like an arrow, with a clean, -clear cut, that hardly left a ripple on the surface. "Albert," who -clearly thought it an accident, and that the young man's life was -in danger, with one brave bound, and before we could prevent him, -was instantly over the side, and, diving after the swimmer, met him -as he was returning to the surface, and laid hold of him awkwardly, -though with the best intention, by the fleshy part of the left arm -near the shoulder. When they appeared on the surface, the swimmer, -who had manifestly lost all his self-possession, struggled violently -to free himself from the dog, and would certainly have been drowned by -his own struggles and the very exertions intended by the noble animal -to save his life, if we had not quickly rowed the boat alongside, -and taking our friend very unceremoniously by his "Hyperion curls," -dragged him on board, panting and sputtering as only the half-drowned -and wholly frightened can pant and sputter in such circumstances. On -examination, his arm was found to be less hurt by the dog's teeth -than we expected it to be; a firm and friendly grip with such kindly -intentions as actuated the honest would-be rescuer being a very -different thing from a bite and worry in good earnest. His back and -shoulders, however, were seriously scratched in livid lash-like weals -by the dog's nails, while they were hugging each other and struggling -in the water. "Albert" was of course very little if at all to blame -in the adventure, and his only punishment--if what indeed was to him -always a delight could be called a punishment--was that, refusing -to take him back into the boat, he was obliged to swim a full half -mile to the beach; which, however, he easily reached before us. Our -friend felt sore and uncomfortable for a day or two, but was soon all -right again; and both he and we had got a lesson which we were not -likely to forget in a hurry, that a powerful dog, no matter how well -meaning and kindly his intentions, is rather a dangerous companion -to a swimmer in puris naturalibus in deep water. - -But what has all this, it may be asked, to do with Mr. Frank Buckland -and his proverb that "Dog will not eat dog"? A little patience, -as is your wont, courteous reader, and we shall come to the point -without much more ado. When "Albert" was about four years old, -and as powerful, and perfect, and pleasant a dog as ever growled in -anger or barked with glee, it began to be rumoured abroad that he was -fast falling into bad habits--whether from following evil example, or -instinctively and proprio motû, was never determined. He was accused, -in fact, of sheep-worrying, and of course we couldn't and wouldn't -believe a bit of it. Other dogs might be guilty of such vulgar -misconduct; in the case of our dog the thing was impossible. Wasn't -he regularly and well fed? Didn't he sleep every night at our own -bedroom door? All this, of course, we said, and urged, and argued, -and furthermore we urged a fact which seemed to us to be conclusive of -our dog's innocence of the great misdemeanour laid to his charge--we -had sheep of our own, and there were sheep belonging to others in -our immediate neighbourhood, and with none of these, we pointed out, -had our dog ever been known to make or meddle in any way further than -by an occasional deep bow-wow! which, though it sometimes made them -scamper, was uttered more in rollicking fun and merry make-believe -than in anything like anger or earnest. Precisely so, answered a host -of crook-carrying shepherds from farms five, seven, ten miles away: -"Your dog is too knowing to kill sheep at your own doors; he goes to a -considerable distance on his raids, the better to escape detection, -slipping away at night or early in the morning unknown to you, -and returning as innocent-seeming as the last sheep he has worried, -before you appear in your breakfast parlour!" It was not alleged that -he had ever been caught in the act, or actually seen eating forbidden -mutton or lamb, minus the "mint sauce;" but more than one shepherd -averred that he had more than once been seen wandering at improper -hours on hill-sides, where he had no good right or reason to be, -on which occasions, too, he exhibited the stealthy, prowling pace, -and all the hang-dog looks and other signs of an evil-doer. Half -afraid that it was too true, but irritated by their strenuousness of -assertion, and defiant to the last, "Catch him, then!" we exclaimed, -"shoot him, kill him, if he is harming you; but I am not going to put -away or kill my dog--and such a dog, too! worth the best hirsel in -your charge!--simply to please you." And thus the matter rested for a -time, but not for long. Early one Monday morning, about a fortnight -afterwards, our good neighbour Mr. Linton, of the farm of Coruanan, -seven or eight miles away, drove up to our door in his gig, and asked -to see us. After the usual civilities, "Your big dog is killing my -sheep, Mr. S.!" was the charge, straightforward and unqualified. We -argued, of course, that it couldn't be, &c., as above, but Mr. Linton -soon brought the matter to a very practical issue. "What is the value -of your dog?" We couldn't say; he was very valuable, a great favourite, -and we declined to put a price upon him. "Well," continued Mr. Linton, -"say that he is worth £5, or £10, or £20. I charge him with killing -two of my sheep this very morning. I have my gun here in the gig: let -me shoot him, and if I don't find and show you wool and mutton-flesh -taken from his stomach, I will gladly pay over the dog's price; if I -show you what I am certain I can show, his still undigested morning -meal of mutton-flesh and wool, we are quits. That's surely fair!" And -there was no denying that it was perfectly fair, but we declined, -nevertheless, bringing the matter to the arbitrament suggested. We -parted good friends, however, for we promised that whether he was to -be shot or drowned, or sent out of the country, the dog would never -again be allowed a chance of killing another sheep in Lochaber, -and our friend Mr. Linton is, we are glad to say, still in life to -bear testimony to the fact that we were as good as our word. On due -consideration of the case in all its aspects, we decided that it -was best, in the interest of peace and good neighbourhood, to have -the dog shot forthwith, and shot he was accordingly within an hour -of the interview above described. We directed the executioner of -the sad sentence to open him, that we might examine the contents of -the stomach, and sure enough, intermixed with wool enough to stuff -a small cushion, it was found to contain many pounds of recently -killed and undigested mutton. It was clear that some at least of the -many grave charges against him were true. Anxious to preserve the -skin for stuffing, the eviscerated body was placed in the fork of -an apple tree in the garden, until we could procure the services of -some one expert in flaying to do the job handsomely. Next morning, -on going into the garden to have a look at all that remained of poor -"Albert," what was our astonishment and horror at finding the corpus -vile--vile, indeed, at last!--dragged from the tree to the ground, -and almost entirely devoured by some half-dozen jackal looking curs, -that were having what was manifestly to them a jolly banquet on the -remains of the gallant animal whose single bark when in lusty life -was sufficient to scatter a whole score of such sorry mongrels, as if -each had a firebrand at his tail. Except a few ragged shreds of skin -and the larger bones, they had devoured every particle of him; and -so much for Mr. Frank Buckland and his proverb that "Dog will not eat -dog." Won't he just, when he has the chance! Nor is this by any means -the only instance of canine cannibalism that might be adduced from our -common-place book in disproof of any proverb or saying whatever to the -contrary. Poor "Albert!" we are ashamed to confess how much grieved -we were for his death, his ovicidal tendencies notwithstanding. His -upper jaw, showing a development of dentition of which a Bengal tiger -need not have been ashamed, is the only relic of our gallant dog now -remaining to us; and on the ex pede Herculem principle, we point to -that with a melancholy satisfaction in telling how big and brave, -afloat and ashore, was our matchless Labrador. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XLVI. - - An old Fingalian Hero--His keenness of Sight and sharpness of - Ear-- Foresters and Keepers--Foxhunters--Donald MacDonald--His - Dogs--Sandy MacArthur the Mole-catcher. - - -The hero of one of our most popular old Fingalian tales is described as -very marvellously gifted. In order to secure the hand of a beautiful -Scandinavian princess, whose locks are as the beams of the setting -sun, about the time the summer sea is flecked and barred with gold, -and with whom he has long been in love, he has to undertake the most -strange and startling adventures; and not the least important of his -qualifications for combating the frequent difficulties of his position -is a preternatural acuteness of eye and ear, of sight and hearing. His -keenness of sight, for instance, is indicated by his being able to -count the beats of the swallow's wings in all the gyrations of its -flight over the summer grove; and as for his acuteness of ear, enough -is said when the veracious chronicler does not hesitate to assert that -his hero could hear the grass grow? We, in our unheroic and degenerate -day, cannot boast of anything like this. We are content to know that -the swallow skims the pool with a swiftness due to a motion of wing -too rapid to be detected in its separate beats by the acutest eye, -and that the grass does grow, and at times with marvellous rapidity, -albeit the stir and tumult of its upward rush is inaudible to human -ears. But if we cannot hear the grass grow, we can safely aver that -in such exceptionally splendid seasons as this [July 1875], and -without fear of being charged with any very culpable exaggeration, -we can see it grow, not only from day to day, but almost literally -from hour to hour--so rapid, so marked, and visibly perceptible is -the progress towards a large and lusty maturity of grass and grain -and every green herb of the field. Anything, indeed, to equal the -sturdy vigour and upward rush of vegetation during the month of June -last past we never did see before, and had it not come immediately -under our own observation, we could hardly have believed it possible -anywhere outside the tropics. The harvest must necessarily be a late -one, though not quite so late as it was at one time feared must be -the case. If we say that the season of ingathering will be later than -usual by ten days, or a fortnight at the most, we are probably not -far from the mark. But, late or early, it is sure to be an exceedingly -abundant harvest, there being at present all over the West Highlands -every promise of very heavy returns, the heaviest, perhaps, that, -under any circumstances whatever, the land could safely bear, with -the hope of an eventually fully ripe and lusty maturity. - -Readers of our Nether Lochaber papers will in nowise be surprised to -hear that we have all our lifetime made it a point to cultivate the -confidence and friendly goodwill of keepers, foresters, and their -followers, wherever we chanced to meet with them; nor would it be -proper to suppress our grateful acknowledgment of the fact that to -them we have been largely indebted in all our zoological studies for -a long quarter of a century. We look upon foresters and gamekeepers -as at the head of their profession, what the French call "princes of -the game," and we have ever found them exceedingly courteous and kind, -highly intelligent almost without exception, and not merely willing but -well pleased to be examined, and cross-examined when occasion calls, -on anything and everything appertaining to, or at all connected with, -their office. With their humbler brethren of the craft, too, we have -long been thoroughly en rapport; these humbler brethren being the -fox-hunters, mole-catchers, and vermin-killers generally, by whatever -name or designation known from the Moray Firth, to the Clyde. Most -readers of poetry will remember how Pope, in one of his finest poems -(Prologue to the Satires), apostrophises his friend Dr. Arbuthnot as - - - "Friend to my life! which did not you prolong, - The world had wanted many an idle song." - - -And if one dared to parody any couplet from a poem so beautiful, we -should be disposed to address the first fox-hunter or mole-catcher of -our numerous acquaintances among them who are deacons of their craft, -we chanced to meet, in some such words as these-- - - - "Friend to my mill! which did not you supply - With frequent grist, I'd wither, wane, and die." - - -A few days ago the Ardgour fox-hunter, Donald Macdonald by name, a -Moidart man, and an excellent specimen of his class, called upon us -with his quarterly budget of news from glen and upland, from hill and -scaur, and den and corrie; and a wonderful season in his particular -line he vows it has been. Since the middle of April last he has killed -and bagged no fewer than fifty-one foxes all told, besides a number, -both young and old, that were worried to the death by his terriers -in the deepest recesses of their saobhies or dens, whence, when the -turmoil of battle had ceased, and his dogs had emerged bearing very -visible marks of the deadly conflict within, it was impossible to dig -them out. All these foxes were got on the borders of three conterminous -farms--Aryhuelan (Dr. Simpson's), Conaglen and Inverscaddle (the Earl -of Morton's), and Glennahuirich (Mr. Milligan's). Donald, who has been -a fox-hunter for upwards of thirty years, never before knew foxes so -numerous, and this not in one or more favourite haunts within a given -district, but generally over the country. He couldn't himself in any -way satisfactorily account for the fox fecundity of 1874-75, and we -could only regret that we were unable to enlighten him in the least, -for he avowedly came for enlightenment on a subject that was very -naturally exceedingly interesting to him. We were obliged to confess -that the matter was as much a puzzle to us as to himself, but promised -to think it over. Account for it as we may, it is in truth a fact -that has attracted attention everywhere, that not for many years, -if indeed ever before, have foxes been so numerous all over the -Highlands. In the three adjoining districts of Badenoch, Lochaber, -and Ardgour, the last including a part of Sunart, we are assured -that no less a number than two hundred and forty-three foxes have -been killed or captured since mid-April, besides, as already stated, -a considerable number worried in the recesses of their big rock dens -which could not be actually "bagged" or charged for after the fashion -of the craft by brush or pad, though there was no doubt at all of their -having succumbed after, in each case, a more or less desperate battle, -to the assaults of their terrier assailants. And here, good reader, you -must permit us, en parenthese, a slight disgression, not altogether, we -hope, uninteresting. We wonder if in the great family of dogs anywhere -throughout the world there is anything to equal in hardihood, pluck, -and all endurance the Highland fox-hunter's canine following? They are -invariably a rough and ragged lot enough, and seemingly at sixes and -sevens as to anything like assortment; no two of them exactly alike in -colour, size, or breed; and they are usually low in stature, though -of considerable bone and well developed muscle what there is of it; -but be what they may in these respects, when you fall in with one of -our fox-hunter's packs, six, seven, eight, or a dozen in number, as -the case may be, be sure you have before you the gamest, varmintest -little beggars to tackle otter, fox, or badger that the whole world -can show. Our visitor of the other day had only one little fellow -of his pack along with him. "What's his name, Donald?" we asked, -pointing to his wiry follower, that we could easily see was, from the -ink-black tip of his nose to the extremity of his tail, a "varmint" -of the first order. "What do you call him?" "Speach," he replied, and -speach, our non-Gaelic readers must be told, means a wasp or hornet, -and, even like a wasp, we knew that that little fellow with his dander -up in the labyrinthine recesses of a fox's den or a badger's garaidh, -would fight against any odds until he was torn into ribbons, and on -each and every occasion would prove himself - - - "Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer," - - -which old Robertson of Struan admirably rendered into our native Doric, -without the loss of a particle of meaning or force-- - - - "A fiery ettercap, a fractious chiel, - As het as ginger, and as stieve as steel!" - - -"And is 'Speach' good, then, Donald?" we inquired. "Yes, sir," was the -reply, "a very good little dog. He is but small, you see, and light; -the smallest, indeed, at present in my pack, but he will take hold -of fox or badger or otter at the readiest spot that offers, and, -having once got hold, will never let go again while his antagonist -is in life; at every dig only burying his muzzle deeper into his -opponent." We quite agreed with him that a dog that did that must be -good indeed; and we are perfectly satisfied that he did not in the -least exaggerate the indomitable pluck and never-say-die tenacity of -his tiny favourite. Two very good things remain to be said in praise of -our Highland fox-hunters' dogs. They are never known to bite, and very -rarely even to bark at human beings; and no fox-hunter's dog was ever -known to be affected with hydrophobia or canine madness. The exemption -from canine madness may, perhaps, be largely due to their open air -and natural mode of life, but it is difficult to understand why they -should be so entirely free from any propensity to bite or otherwise -annoy a human being, a vice common enough to dogs of unexceptionable -character and breeding otherwise, and from which even the highly -intelligent and much-lauded collie is by no means so free as his many -admirers seem to suppose. Even a collie is always prepared to bark, -and oftentimes to bite on very little provocation, or no provocation -at all. The fox-hunter's terrier, whether he is pure or a nondescript -cross, very rarely indeed barks at a stranger, and never under any -circumstances offers to bite. We question if there is a human being -to-day in life who can honestly assert that he has ever been bitten -by a fox-hunter's dog. With Macdonald we had a long and interesting -crack, in the course of which we touched on some matters of sufficient -importance to be introduced to the reader on a future occasion. - -We had also a visit some little time ago from Sandy Macarthur, a -well-known mole-catcher in Lochaber and the neighbouring districts; -a very intelligent and civil man, whose only fault is that when -you have collared him there is no spontaneity in his crack. Even -when you have got firm hold enough of him, you have to extract his -frequently very valuable information from him by a process akin to -that which an ingenious and learned counsel employs in the case of a -recalcitrant and unwilling witness at an important jury trial. Sandy, -however, is a good fellow all the same, slow but sure; and his -quiet unobtrusiveness and reticence is perhaps to be attributed to -the exigencies of his profession; a "rattling, roaring Willie" of a -mole-catcher, with, to use a Gaelic phrase, his tongue constantly -on his shoulder, would probably prove but an unsuccessful hunter -of the velvet-coated quick-eared, and timid subterranean family of -the Mac Talpa. Sandy, on the contrary, goes to work in dead silence -and a-tiptoe, and bags his mole as quietly as an angler baskets his -trout from out the glassy pool, over which, if but his shadow moved, -he would angle long in vain. Sandy assures us that moles are to be -found this season where they were never seen before, and where he was -at first a good deal puzzled to account for their appearance. On a full -consideration of the case Macarthur's theory is briefly to this effect: -Moles are mainly underground dwellers, and even their travelling and -migrating from place to place are done subterraneously. If, however, -they find themselves, as in the Highlands they must frequently do, -in a district or part of district separated from other parts in -which they have never been by rocky spurs and ridges, they will not -venture over these latter unless they carry sufficient earth to hide -their tunnelling, which, it is needless to say, they frequently do -not. The mole in such a case remains insulated, a prisoner, so to -speak, within his present domain. Last winter and spring, however, -according to Sandy's theory, the snow lay so deep and lay so long, -that the moles took advantage of the fact, and making their tunnels -under the snow, where it lay on spur and ridge, just as if it had been -so much superincumbent soil, they easily got into fresh fields and -pastures new. In this way alone can Sandy account for the appearance -of moles this summer in places into which hitherto they had no means of -ready access; and he may be right, though it is a point in the natural -history of the Talpa well deserving further investigation. Sandy -further avers that moles sometimes swim across rivers, fresh-water -lakes, and even arms of the sea in their migrations; and this is just -possible, though we took the liberty of expressing ourselves slightly -incredulous. Sandy, however, ought to know; he has spent the best part -of a life already approaching its grand climacteric in the careful and -close and constant study of, as one may say, a single animal--to wit, -the mole--and it is always hazardous gravely to doubt or contradict -the deliberately expressed opinion of such a man on a matter strictly -within his proper province. All the same we still venture to question -the assertion that the mole ever voluntarily enters water deep enough -to swim in, or ever dims the velvety sheen of its glossy pile even -by such a luxury as a voluntary bath in the shallows, till we have -some stronger proof for it than has yet been adduced. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XLVII. - - Autumnal Night--Meteors--The Spanish Mackerel--Professor Blackie's - Translations from the Gaelic--The "Translations" of the Gaelic - Society of Inverness. - - - "On the Rialto, every night at twelve, - I take my evening's walk of meditation." - - -So says the love-sick knight in Venice Preserved. We have never, much -as we should like it, had an opportunity of enjoying a Rialto midnight -meditation ramble. There is poetry and romance in the very thought of -it; but we know something more poetical and in every way better still, -namely, a midnight meditative stroll along our own beautiful silvery -sanded beach, what time the sea is so calm that its breathings are low -and soft as the respirations of a child whose sleep is undisturbed -save by angel-whispered dreams; the cloudless sky above, with its -waning moon and thousands of sparkling stars, each star a living -intelligence; its sparkling speech, and no sound to disturb the solemn -silence, except now and again the wakeful sea-bird's eerie scream, -and the voice of many waters, as the mountain torrents leap adown -their channels to the sea, a voice so mellowed by the distance that -it becomes solemn and musical as the fast-falling concluding notes -of a grand organ hymn--the Pentecostal "Veni, Creator Spiritus, -for example. During the fine weather of this exceptionally fine -season [August 1875] we have rarely gone to bed before midnight, -more frequently, indeed, long after, and our last thing at night -has been a sea-shore stroll, a half or quarter hour so thoroughly -enjoyable that we have come to miss it sadly, if by adverse weather, -absence from home, or any other cause, we are obliged to forego it. In -addition to all the other attractions of a midnight sea-side stroll in -such weather as the tropics themselves might be proud of, the reader -must remember that August is one of our meteor months--the second -week particularly being remarkable for the number and brilliancy of -the Perseides, so called from their seeming mainly to radiate from -the direction of the constellation Perseus. Never was there a finer -season to observe them than this; and although they have, perhaps, -been less numerous than usual, the brilliancy of many of them was so -remarkable, and their paths throughout so easily followed, that their -very infrequency only added to the eagerness and interest with which -one watched and waited for them. The finest display of the season was -from midnight on to nearly two A.M. on the night of the 11th and 12th, -in which time we counted thirty-three noticeable meteors--of which -seven were what might be called first-class meteors of a nucleus -brilliancy equal to or exceeding that of first magnitude stars, -with broad, bright, well-defined trains, that wholly or in part, in -three or four instances, remained in sight, mapping out the meteor's -trajectory for several seconds after the disappearance or extinction -of the parent orb or meteor proper itself. Mr. W. B. Symington, -who was among the Hebrides at the time on a yachting cruise, writes -on the subject as follows:--"Notwithstanding your injunction to be -on the qui vive as to the August meteors, I am sorry to say that -I forgot all about it on the nights of the 9th and 10th, although -the weather was beautifully clear. On the 11th, 12th, and 13th, -however, the sailing-master and myself were sharply on the look-out, -and our watchfulness was rewarded by the sight of some really very -splendid examples. There were on each night scores and scores of the -more common, lesser, and fainter meteors, but our attention was of -course principally directed to the more brilliant ones. Of these -latter we had, during about an hour and a quarter's observation, -four very fine ones, with long bright tails, on the 11th; nine on -the 12th; and one magnificent fellow, that lighted up the deck, -sails, and rigging of the yacht with a strange greenish glare, on -the 13th. This last was at 11.5 P.M. One of the men said that before -daybreak on the 12th there were some very large and bright meteors. As -far as my observations went, the course of these meteors seemed to -be mainly to the west and south-west, although two at least of the -larger ones rushed in a directly opposite path, namely, to east and -north-east. As I am likely to be at sea in November, though in a very -different kind of craft, I will endeavour to give you a more careful -and satisfactory account of the meteor display of that month. I may -tell you that one of the men caught a scad of large size, the biggest, -I believe, I ever saw. It weighed nearly four pounds. I thought it not -bad eating, though the rest of them in the cabin said it was coarse -and tasteless. It was caught by a long line and herring baited hook, -that was allowed to drag after the ship in a breeze that gave us at -the time a speed of at least eight knots an hour." - -The fish referred to by our correspondent is also called the Spanish -mackerel, it being very common on some parts of the Spanish coast. It -belongs to the order Scomberidæ, and is a cousin of our own better -known mackerel proper, though a considerably larger fish, and not -nearly so good for the table as its beautiful congener. The Spanish -differs from the mackerel proper in one very remarkable particular; -it has an air bladder which the true mackerel of our shores has not, -and yet the latter is one of the readiest and swiftest swimmers, -and at all depths, of any fish in the sea. The fact is that the real -use of the air bladder in the economy of fish still continues an -unresolved and seemingly an unresolvable puzzle. - -Lovers of living, healthy poetry--healthy as the mountain breeze, -and free and sparkling as the mountain stream, and more especially -our Celtic friends who have been taught to honour and reverence -the "kilted" muse--will be glad to know that Professor Blackie -has in preparation the materials of what cannot fail to prove a -very interesting volume, consisting of translations of some of the -most admired compositions of our modern Gaelic bards. Macintyre's -Ben. Dorain, Alasdair Macdonald's Berliun, with many of such lesser -popular lyrics, as Am Breacan Wallach, Failte na Mor-Thir, A Bhanarach -Dhoun a Cruidh, &c., will thus appear for the first time in a becoming -Saxon garb; not--to use the milliner's phrase--too tight a fit, -observe, but natural and easy, though "made to measure," and we venture -to predict that our English readers, who as yet know them not at all, -and our Gaelic friends, who know them well and have long known them, -will alike be pleased with the results of the learned Professor's -gallant raid into bard-land. The Professor has been visiting us -here lately, and we can honestly say that such specimens of his -work as he was good enough to read to us--and there are few better -readers than Professor Blackie--seemed to us admirably done. His -version of Ben. Dorain particularly, which we had an opportunity of -hearing twice, and of which we can thus speak most positively, is -thoroughly well done; so well, so faithfully, and with such spirit -and verve as must delight not only the ordinary reader, but the very -"ghost" of the original author--Macintyre himself--if, like the -Ossianic departed heroes, he is permitted to know and appreciate -sublunary affairs from out the bosom of "his cloud." The Professor -translates these Gaelic poems into English verse just as, in our -opinion, they should be translated; not too literally, but with all -necessary freedom and elbow room, and yet so literally that any one -knowing the English version may rest assured that he knows also the -original quite as intimately and correctly as it is possible in the -circumstances for any mere outsider to know it. Johnson, in his Life -of Dryden, referring to the latter's version of the Æneid, &c., has a -paragraph which is worth quoting in this connection:--"When languages -are formed upon different principles, it is impossible that the same -modes of expression should always be elegant in both. While they -run on together, the closest translation may be considered the best; -but when they divaricate, each must take its natural course. Where -correspondence cannot be obtained, it is necessary to be content -with something equivalent. 'Translation, therefore,' says Dryden, -'is not so loose as paraphrase, nor so close as metaphrase.'" With all -this we entirely concur, more especially when such widely different -languages as the English and Gaelic have to be dealt with. We do not -know that Professor Blackie ever read the paragraph quoted, or, even -if he did read it, that he now remembers it; but to his translations -from the Gaelic, to so much of them, at all events, as were submitted -to our notice, Dryden's dictum is entirely applicable--they are not -so loose as paraphrase, nor so close as metaphrase. They strike a -golden mean very difficult of attainment in such efforts; and on -the appearance of the volume itself, we shall be disappointed if -nine-tenths at least of the many readers it is sure to command do -not entirely agree with us. But nous verrons, if we live we shall see. - -The Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness for 1873-4 and -1874-5, have reached us. The Secretary's paper on "Coinneach Odhar," -the Brahan seer, is most interesting, containing as it does the best -account that we have met with of that uncanny Ross-shire worthy. That -he was an impostor, and a vulgar impostor too, there can be no doubt; -but the story of a man--clever, shrewd rascal as he was--in whom the -people so thoroughly believed, is worth the telling, and Mr. Mackenzie -tells it very well. He should, we think, give us, if possible, -a second paper, containing the many other wonderful vaticinations -attributed to his hero, who seems to have latterly been too clever -by half; for he who could foresee the misfortunes of others--the -death even of a cow--couldn't evidently foresee the well-merited fate -that awaited himself; for he was hanged, and we have no doubt at all -that he richly deserved that species of exaltation. What Thomas the -Rhymer--him of Ercildoune--was in the south of Scotland at a much -earlier period, this Coinneach Odhar, comparing small things with -great, seems to have been in the North-West Highlands during the -latter half of the seventeenth century. "True Thomas," however, was -a gentleman and a scholar; whereas Coinneach was, of course, utterly -illiterate, conducting his scheme of imposture solely by the aid of -natural talents, which must have been considerable, and a large and -ever-ready stock of impudence and cunning, nicely calculated to impose -upon the vulgar. He made his grand mistake when he flew at such high -game as Lady Seaforth and her domestic affairs. She was too clever, -too intelligent and well-educated to be imposed upon. She ordered -him to be hanged, a doom to which many were led at that period -who probably less richly deserved it than such a prying, meddling, -mischief-maker as was Kenneth the Seer. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XLVIII. - - Crops--Potato Slug--Fern Slug--Brackens: How thoroughly to - extirpate them--The Merlin--Falcon and Tringa. - - -We have had a full fortnight of magnificent summer weather [August -1875], a bright sun over-head from morning till night, with brisk -breezes, a leanachd na gréine, following the sun; that is, beginning -in the morning at east, and gradually wearing round pari passû with -the solar march, till at sunset it is north-west, and so on round -and round the compass day after day, a phenomenon usually attendant -upon the very finest weather in our northern latitudes. Under these -circumstances it will not surprise those who care for such matters -to hear that our hay crop, about which we were in such anxiety, -has been secured in splendid condition, in such condition, indeed, -as we can rarely boast of in the West Highlands. Our meadow hay crop, -too, is this year unusually heavy, and already, in obedience to the -adage which teaches that it is well and wise to make one's hay while -the sun shines, we are all busy getting it cut down and secured, -although the old, orthodox season is not yet for a fortnight to -come--about old Lammastide. Oats with us here are generally a light -crop, but it will as such be easier to secure in good condition than -a heavier crop would be, and, upon the whole, may thus turn out quite -as profitable. Potatoes are not so heavy haulmed as usual, but in -other respects they promise well, and there is no appearance of our -old enemy the "blight." We hear, however, a good deal of complaint in -some districts on account of the prevalence this year of yellow shaw, -or bar-buidhe as our Highlanders term it, the work of a small grey -slug that attacks the main-stem shaw just at its point of junction -with the soil, and eating and tunnelling it through and through until -the leaves first assume a yellow and withered appearance, and the -whole shaw finally falls down paralysed, and practically useless and -inoperative as to its proper functions, though not actually rotten -or dead, as in the case of the "blight." Many such shaws in a field -give it an unsightly appearance, but beyond this there is no great -harm done after all, for as the slug seldom begins its work until the -plant is large and well forward, the tubers underground, though they -may be of smaller size than their neighbours that have escaped the -slug's attentions, are yet sound and wholesome food enough either for -man or beast. We have observed that this particular slug, or a closely -allied species, is also much given to feeding on the stem of the common -fern or bracken, dealing with it just as it does with the potato shaw, -though, to be sure, it finds the fern a rather harder nut to crack; -for the brave bracken, with its firmer contexture of stem, refuses -to bend its head to the ground, no matter the number or direction -of the slug's insidious tunnellings and perforations. If you glance -at a fern clump as you ride along the road or climb the mountain -steep, the yellow, withered fronds of an occasional plant, here and -there painfully conspicuous amid the rich, dark, emerald green of -its healthy companions, tell you where the grey slug--and a nasty, -slimy little wretch it is--is busy at its evil work, drinking up, -like consumption among the human race, the very heart's blood, so to -speak, of the fairest and finest plants it can find. We have found -in our own experience that the best protection of the potato from -its ravages is to give the ground a sprinkling of lime just as the -plants are appearing above ground, about the end of April or beginning -of May. For the early varieties usually planted in our gardens, a -sprinkling of soot is less unsightly and equally efficacious with lime. - -And speaking of the bracken, let us observe that, while it is a -magnificent and beautiful plant, it is, like everything else of -beauty, most beautiful in its proper place. Meet it on mountain slope, -in copsewood covert, or greenwood glade, and you cannot admire it -sufficiently. In the end of autumn, particularly when its graceful -fronds have assumed a certain indescribable tinge of mingled brown -and ruby and gold, a bracken covert is beyond measure lovely. At such -a stage, and in the warm and mellow light of the setting September -sun, it is to ourselves all that an ocean of broom in flower was to -the great Linnæus. If, however, you live in the near neighbourhood -of brackens, you will find that it is apt to creep down from its -proper wild and upland habitat, and to encroach unduly upon your -old grass lands, wherever it can get an undisturbed footing. If you -consult books on the subject, they will tell you that if you cut them -down for a season or two running before they ripen, they will die -away and disappear. With our large, soft-stemmed herbaceous plants, -this method of eradication is sometimes effectual enough; with the -bracken, as we know to our cost, it avails nothing. The roots are so -curiously ramified and intertwined that they will live on and put -forth a new growth year after year, no matter how constantly and -closely you cut and crop them. We gave up trying a plan so futile, -and only hit upon the right way of dealing with them by the merest -accident. Walking along the edge of one of our old grass parks about -mid-June some few years ago, we wished to get hold of a switch or -something similar, wherewith to drive a fractious pony on before us -to the park gate. There was no switch just then at hand, and, without -thinking of it, we bent down, and with both hands pulled steadily and -straight upwards at one of the largest of a luxuriant bracken patch -that skirted the path beside us. To our surprise the plant came up -easily and from the very root, or we should rather say with the very -root attached, long, dark-brown, and something cigar-like in shape -and size. That particular plant, a slight examination satisfied us, -was fairly or literally and for ever eradicated, extirpated. When you -get hold of plant and root, you get all; no other plant can grow in its -stead; no plant, at all events, can honestly call it progenitor. The -thing now was clear; we knew what we had to do, and how simple it -was! One afternoon soon afterwards we called all our people into -that field along with us. In all such cases best lead yourself, -if you would have the thing done right. We pulled a bracken or two -straight up and steadily in their presence, and showed them how it -was extracted, even as a practised dentist, "deacon of his craft," -deals with an offending tooth--root and all complete. They then -set to work along with us, and in an hour or so we had the whole -field cleared of ferns--quite a large cart-load of them--each plant -with its black root attached, all of which were afterwards found -useful as bedding for the pony, and the largest and least broken for -thatch. In that field no brackens have since shown themselves. So, if -you are troubled with ferns, the proper way is not to cut them down, -for they will grow again, but to deal with them as we did, and they -will trouble you no more. There is some trouble about it, no doubt, -though far less than you would suppose, and then, you see, we really -know nothing at this moment worth the having to be had without trouble; -so take the trouble and the good together, and be wise. - -In your sea-shore wanderings, good reader, you must many a time and -oft have witnessed the graceful flight of the tern or sea-swallow, -the handsomest bird, perhaps, that ever saw its own image reflected in -the glassy surface of a waveless sea; and you must have noticed its -sudden dart and dip, now and again, after its prey into the bosom of -the green, unbroken waves. This, of course, you have seen and admired -a thousand times. But have you ever seen the merlin or merlin falcon -(Falco æsalon), perform the same feat? No! Well, we did a few evenings -ago; albeit the momentary immersion in the briny blue was probably, -nay certainly, what the merlin would have avoided if it could. It -happened in this wise: We were engaged on the beach painting our -boat--there are few things but we can put our hand to with more or -less success, always barring shooting, of our deficiency in which we -recently made full and honest confession--when we suddenly heard that -curious and indescribable half-scream, half-cheep, so well-known to -the ornithologist, and which tells him so plainly that the utterer -is a bird--usually a small bird--in dire distress, in constant fear -and danger of its life. Looking round, we saw a merlin in hot chase -of a sandpiper (Tringa hypoleucus), pursuer and pursued circling and -wheeling in their arrow-like flight over the bent some hundred yards -from the margin of the sea. Were it not for the manifest distress of -the poor sandpiper, evidenced by its frequent scream, as if invoking -all the kindly powers of heaven and earth to its aid, we should have -considered it a most beautiful and interesting sight. The merlin was -evidently hungry and in earnest, and we made no doubt at all, for -there was no possible way that we could aid it, that the sandpiper -was distined to be the fiery little falcon's evening meal. But Diis -aliter visum--the gods had otherwise ordered it. All of a sudden -it seemed to occur to the Tringa that if there was the slightest -chance of escape for it, it must be in closer relationship with its -favourite and familiar element, the sea; and to the sea accordingly in -one rapid dart the poor bird betook itself. The merlin, as if aware -that there was now at least a possibility that its prey might after -all escape its clutches, made a magnificent dash after, and just as -the sandpiper was over the sea, reached it, and pounced to strike, -but missed; by the smallest fraction of a single second, a sharp -zig-zag in the Tringa's flight kept it clear of the stroke, and the -merlin, by the force and impetus of its flight, plunged head over -ears into the sea, whence, with draggled plumage and brine-blinded -eyes, it arose with difficulty, and betook itself to a rock ledge -at hand to preen and dry itself, with no other consolation in its -disappointment, probably, than a sotto voce merlin-wise muttering of -the adage, "Better luck next time." The sandpiper, it is needless -to say, was soon a mile away, winging its terrified flight to the -opposite Appin shore. We were glad that the sandpiper had escaped, -that the merlin was disappointed. It is always pleasant to see an -evil-doer baulked in the accomplishment of his evil intentions. And -yet we don't know either. We have called the merlin an evil-doer: -are we entitled so to call him? Was he not as much entitled, could -he have secured it, to have that Tringa for his evening meal, as -we the delicious red rock cod that in an hour or two afterwards we -enjoyed so heartily to our own supper? Let the reader think it over, -and answer the question to himself at his leisure. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XLIX. - - The Hedgehog an Egg and Bird Eater?--Bird-catching--"Old - Cowie"--Mackenzie--Lanius Excubitor--The Butcher-Bird or - Shrike--Tea drinking and Sobriety. - - -Audi alteram partem is a sensible maxim, so reasonable in itself, -and mild and deprecatory of tone, that it rarely fails to commend -itself to our sense of right and candour; for if we would arrive -at a right conclusion on any matter in dispute, we must learn to -listen without prejudice to both sides of a question. We can only -hold our own convictions wisely and well, by knowing all that can -be said in antagonism and per contra. The following letter from a -correspondent in London, who writes under the pseudonym of "Observer," -tells rather in favour of those who entertain grave suspicions as to -the morality and harmlessness of our prickly friend the hedgehog, -and, of course, against Mr. Frank Buckland and ourselves. We are -honest enough, however, to give "Observer's" communication in full, -meanwhile merely remarking that, obliged as we are to our correspondent -for his attention, and really interesting note, we are by no means -convinced that the hedgehog is either oviphagous or a bird-killer and -bird-eater. At this date [February 1876], and with all our knowledge -of the animal, we fear that nothing less than the catching of him -in the very act would convince us, any number of uncompromising -and hard-hearted gamekeepers, with "Observer" to back them, to the -contrary notwithstanding. - -"While perusing your interesting article on the hedgehog, some -slight personal experiences of this animal recurred to my mind, and -I therefore thought it might be as well to communicate them to you, -to show that, according to my limited experience, the hedgehog is not -quite such a harmless and innocent creature as you endeavour to make -him, and further, that your practical experiments with the hungry -animals and the eggs are not sufficiently satisfactory to establish -and set at rest once and for ever the hedgehog's innocency. To be -brief: two or three summers ago, while living in the Highlands of -Scotland, and within one hundred and fifty miles of the Highland -capital, about ten o'clock on a beautiful Sunday evening in the -month of June, and shortly after a most genial shower of rain had -fallen to refreshen the young crops, my attention was attracted by -the most alarming and violent cackling of a hen that had just begun -to incubate on two or three addled eggs, or 'nest eggs' as they are -called. Wondering what would be the cause of this noisy demonstration -on the part of the hen, and thinking that probably a thief might be -at hand, I at once repaired to where the hen was. I could see no one -about, but there the hen was, as noisy as ever, looking towards her -nest, advancing apparently to charge some unseen enemy, and then -suddenly making a retrograde movement in the most frantic manner, -without attacking her enemy. On stooping down and peeping into the -corner where the nest was (for by this time it was almost dark), I -observed a round dark object in comfortable possession of the nest; -this was a hedgehog. If I remember well, one of the eggs was broken, -and there was very little of the contents left. This, I am almost -sure, was the case, though I would hardly go so far as to swear to -it at this distance of time. Probably in these circumstances you -will say, 'Then, if you can't actually swear to it, your information -deserves no attention.' However, bear with me a little longer. On -another occasion, on a similar fine evening, about the same hour, -and about four weeks after the above, I heard another hen, which, -with a brood of some eight or ten fine young chickens, had taken up -its night quarters quite near the scene of the first row, making a like -noise. Thinking a cat might be about, and therefore must be the enemy -now, I went up to see what was doing. There the hen was, standing a -short distance from the nest, with only two chickens by her side; the -others could not be seen. On going nearer the nest, there was another -hedgehog in quiet possession. Below him in the nest were one or two -dead chickens; their little heads were crushed quite flat and wet, -as if some animal had been trying to chew the heads. Outside the nest -were two more dead chickens, their heads being in the same flat and -wet condition. The chickens were about a week old, and, so far as I -can recollect, there was no other disfigurement. In the morning two -more live chickens turned up, and the poor hen had to be content with -a reduced brood of four or five instead of eight or ten. The hedgehog -had been sentenced to a violent death, but, fortunately for himself, -made his escape while search was being made for any of the surviving -chickens. During the next summer a duck had laid a number of eggs--more -than a dozen--in a quiet secluded spot at the root of a birch tree, -and which were not discovered by human eye until they were rather -far on in a state of incubation to be fit for use; so the duck was -allowed to keep her eggs in order to hatch them. One night, about 11 -or 11.30 P.M., some of the inmates of the house were disturbed by the -duck coming to one of the doors, making a great noise, and would not -leave. So, to save further annoyance, the servant rose and locked -up poor duck with the other ducks. In the morning the prisoner was -released, and allowed to go to resume possession of the nest, which, -on examination, was found undisturbed, except that two or three of the -eggs were amissing; but this was thought nothing of, and allowed to -pass unnoticed. However, a few nights after this occurrence, the duck -repeated her visit to the house, was in a greatly disturbed state, -and would on no account whatever be pacified; so, as the night was -dark, a light was procured, and the writer, along with a friend, -went to the nest, and found a hedgehog sitting on the eggs. Some of -them were broken, and the nest in a great mess. Outside there was -an empty shell, and a large round hole in it. On this occasion the -hedgehog had to pay the extreme penalty. Mentioning these things -to the people about, the writer was informed that it was understood -generally that hedgehogs destroyed eggs, but it had never been known -to them that they attacked young chickens. However, they had never -given the matter any attention. Perhaps these facts I have related -may be of some use to you in making further inquiries about the -hedgehog. At any rate, you may rely on the truth of my statements, -as they are no hearsay stories, but facts that took place before my -own eyes. Query--Granted that the hedgehog does not eat eggs, then -what was he doing in possession of these three different nests? How -were the eggs broken? What animal killed the chickens, if it was not -the hedgehog? Perhaps a weasel would have done it, but in that case, -would the weasel not have inflicted some serious wound about the -throat, and which would have left some bloody marks?" - -Of some half-dozen bird-catchers, or bird-fanciers, as they prefer -calling themselves, that visit the West Highlands professionally -from time to time, our favourite is Mackenzie, a north countryman, -we believe, as one indeed might readily guess from his surname, -and well enough known, we daresay, in and about Inverness, where -during our last visit we noticed with pleasure--for it is a good -sign of a people--that birds in cages were exceedingly common. "Old -Cowie," another of the fraternity, is a respectable man, with -more knowledge, perhaps, of things in general than any of his -brethren that have chanced to come our way; but for a knowledge -of our native wild-birds, their favourite haunts, food, song, and -individual habits--idiosyncrasies--for a knowledge, we say, precise -and accurate to the most astonishing degree on all those matters, you -may trust Mackenzie, for he is far and away at the head of his class, -positively unrivalled by any one else that we ever met with. Of the -ornithology of books, of ornithology as a science, with its systems, -classifications, genera, and species, he knows nothing, of course, but -he knows every bird you can refer to under some favourite provincial -cognomen, and he knows it so thoroughly that no one could possibly -know it better. It is true that he knows little or nothing but birds, -but he knows them so well (the birds of Scotland), so intimately, from -constant intercourse with them in their native haunts and homes, that -a "crack" with him about them, when once you get him fairly started, -is no ordinary treat to any one so interested in all that concerns -our wild-birds as we are, and have been for well-nigh a quarter of -a century. Remembering that bird-catching is a sort of profession or -trade, by which a livelihood, however precarious, is encompassed, an -affair of demand and supply, with the usual prosaic result of pounds, -shillings, and pence--or rather of shillings and pence without the -pounds, these last seldom tickling the palms or troubling the purses -of the order--one would expect to find the bird-catcher a dull, -mechanical rogue, a mere bird-trapper and bird-seller in the dearest -market, with no more of poetry or sentiment about him than about a -white-aproned poulterer. This, however, is far from being the case, -at least not always nor even frequently, for Mackenzie, "Old Cowie," -and others that we could name, really and truly love birds for their -own sakes, without a thought frequently of their market value, and you -can gather as you converse with them from their frequent references -to the delights as well as the désagréments of their profession, -that they are by no means either unconscious of or indifferent to the -poetry of birds and bird life in their native haunts, whether on moor -or mountain side, by solitary tarn or stream, in copse and wildwood, -amid the wildernesses of inland mountains or by the margin of the -sea. We never knew any one so correctly and minutely conversant with -the language of birds as Mackenzie is. By the language of birds, we -do not mean their song, for song is no more the ordinary speech of -birds, though most people think it is, than it is the ordinary speech -of men. Mackenzie, it is true, can imitate the songs of our different -species of warblers with great taste and exactness, but when we say -that he is conversant with the language of birds, we mean not their -song, but their little notes, abrupt chirpings, and faint whisperings, -indicative to the initiated of the particular thought or motif at the -moment predominant in the feathered breast, whether love or terror, -or mere apprehension of danger, or envy, or rivalry, or combativeness, -or notes of warning, or call of invitation to its kind--all these, -and for every separate species, Mackenzie imitates with such consummate -skill, exactness, and dexterity, that he not only deceives an ordinary -listener when off his guard--he has more than once deceived us, though -familiar with birds and bird-notes all our life--but he deceives the -very birds themselves, as we have often witnessed with no little -admiration and delight. That much of this imitatory work is done -ventriloquistically renders it all the more effective, as well as -more difficult of attainment by others of the fraternity ambitious of -catching and cultivating on their own behalf so desirable a gift. This -knowledge of bird language is, of course, of great value to him as -a bird-catcher, and accounts for his success at seasons seemingly -the most inopportune, and in localities the most unlikely, that an -ordinary bird-catcher would probably search in vain for a single -specimen of goldfinch or aberdevine, linnet or redpole, or anything -else in the shape of a valuable song-bird. In passing and repassing -our place, this wonderful bird-man, as our servant girl styles him, -always calls with such bird news and rare specimens as he thinks -most likely to interest us. The other day he came in a state of great -excitement to inform us that just as he had got several siskins on his -limed twigs, a bird--not a hawk of any kind, he was certain--dashed -out of a copse at hand, pounced upon one of the siskins, and bore -it off and away before his very eyes, ere he could do anything--so -sudden and unexpected was the attack--to prevent it! Momentary as -was his glimpse of it, however, Mackenzie's quick and practised -eye enabled him to take in the marauder's predominant colouring, -its shape and size, and mode of flight; and on describing these to -us, we at once exclaimed, a butcher-bird--a shrike! The description -could apply to no other British bird-killer that we could think of; -and that we were right we have no more doubt than if we had the culprit -already in our cabinet. Mackenzie was in a rage. "You are right, sir; -it must have been a butcher-bird, for now I recollect having once seen -a specimen in Ayrshire. I'm bound, however, to lay salt on yon chap's -tail before I am done with him; and you, sir, shall have him, dead or -living. I swear it by all my illustrious ancestors, the Mackenzies of -Kintail!" he exclaimed, with a melodramatic air that was very amusing; -and shouldering his cages and other paraphernalia of his craft, he -departed with a touch of his cap and a bow that showed that amongst -birds he had learned good manners and politeness to an extent that -as a navvy or hired labourer he would probably be all his lifetime -very much a stranger. He has not returned to us as yet, so we suppose -he is still in pursuit, detective-wise, of the shrike; and it had -better look out, for Mackenzie is just the man to succeed sooner or -later in laying salt upon its tail, as threatened. The butcher-bird, -or shrike, is the Lanius excubitor of Linnæus, an exceeding rare bird -in the West Highlands--in Scotland, indeed--so rare that we never -saw a living bird of the order, only stuffed or otherwise preserved -cabinet specimens. It preys on small birds, mice, insects, &c., -which it does not tear up from under its feet like the hawk tribe, -but fixes it on a thorn-prickle, or in the fork of a small branch, -and then tears it to pieces with its bill, which is very strong, and -toothed and hooked at the point. When Mackenzie catches the offender -he is now in search of, we shall have something more to say about -the butcher-bird, if butcher-bird it proves to be. - -We have noticed, by the way, that all bird-catchers--all at least -with whom we have had any acquaintance--are prodigious tea-drinkers, -not sipping the grateful beverage from cups, observe, but literally -drinking it in bowls'-full. They have assured us that they find it -the best thing they can take, not merely as a refresher, but as a long -sustaining element in their dietary throughout their many wanderings by -flood and field. And like all large tea-drinkers, bird-catchers are a -very sober class of men; that they should be so is indeed a necessity -of their craft, for a knock-kneed, shaky-handed, blear-eyed, nerveless -bird-catcher would be as unfit for the successful prosecution of the -labours incident to his profession, as would a similar physical wreck -be for the successful manipulation of his tools in the more minute -and delicate departments of mathematical instrument making. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER L. - - Superstition amongst the People--Difficulty of dealing - with it--Examples of Superstitions still prevalent in the - Highlands--Cock-crowing at untimely hours--Itching of the - Nose--Ringing in the Ears--The "Dead-Bell"--Sir Walter - Scott--Hogg--Mickle. - - -We live in an age of intense literary and intellectual activity; the -tendency of the highest culture of our time [March 1876], however, -it is complained, being towards materialism and scepticism, the -latter either in the form of indifferentism or absolute negation. The -great mass of our people, however--the uneducated or only partially -educated--stand at the other extreme; for whilst it is complained that -those of the highest culture believe too little, or don't believe at -all, the common people, it is averred, believe too much. And it is -perfectly true that the latter are indeed superstitious to an extent -of which the mere outsider can have no adequate conception; and yet, -philosophically pondered, there can be no difficulty, we think, -in arriving at the conclusion that of the two evils over-belief -is better than its opposite; that it is better, upon the whole, -to believe too much than too little. A man with any form of creed, -even if it be false, may be led in time to believe aright, whereas -the case of the utterly creedless man is well-nigh hopeless. For -our own part, therefore, we do not look upon the superstitions of -our people with such horror and alarm as many well-meaning persons, -clerical or lay, feel or feign when brought in contact with an evil -which, let the philosophers say what they will, has its good as well -as its bad side. We greatly doubt if, under present circumstances, and -in their present stage of civilisation, the inhabitants of Scotland -generally, and of the Highlands, with which we are best acquainted, -in particular, would be at all so religious and devout a people as -they are confessedly allowed to be, were it not for the substratum -of superstition that underlies their better founded beliefs and -religious aspirations. Constantly en rapport with the supernatural -and the unseen, they are more disposed than they might otherwise be -to believe in and shape the conduct of their daily lives in accordance -with the doctrine of a future world, with its rewards and punishments, -feeling and acknowledging in a very remarkable manner, even through -the medium of their superstitions--if erroneous, yet not always -degrading--the full force and meaning of what the apostle speaks of in -a general way as "the powers of the world to come." An interesting -paper might be written in support of the theory here indicated, -a theory that to some may seem a paradox, but meanwhile it must lie -over for some more fitting occasion. Such a task requires time; for of -all the delicate tasks that the philosophic mind can concern itself -with, the most delicate is the endeavour to discover and recognise -the spirit of good things in things evil, and of reason in things -unreasonable. Meanwhile, it is the truth, account for it as we may, -that notwithstanding the multiplication of ministers and churches, -schoolmasters and school boards, "Increase of Episcopate" Bill, and all -the rest of it, there is still a lively undercurrent of superstition -amongst our people, do what you can to stamp it out or otherwise; -and that those who believe in it most implicitly are by no means -the worst people either. An example of a very common superstition -is the following:--A few evenings ago, at an accidental gathering -of some half-dozen families in a house in our neighbourhood, the -subjoined conversation took place with regard to a recent death in the -parish. Mrs. B.--"I suppose you have all heard of the death of X. L., -poor fellow. It was reported he was better yesterday, but I knew last -night that I should hear of a death some time to-day, and knowing of -no one else at present unwell, I decided that it must be X. L.'s death -that was foretold me." Mrs. C.--"Foretold you! how?" Mrs. B.--"Why, -thus: long after dark last night, as I was busy getting the children's -supper, the cock, that had gone to roost as usual, suddenly stood -up on his perch, and crowed a long and loud crow that startled us -all; and I made Katie say the Lord's Prayer, for I knew that a cock -crowing at an hour so untimeous meant a death in our neighbourhood, -and nothing else. On inquiry, I find that X. L. died just about that -time." Mrs. D.--"I knew it too, that there was to be a death in our -neighbourhood. My nose itched so much all last evening, and the itching -was on the left nostril side, and I was certain that it was to be the -death of a male that I should hear of. I had not, however, heard that -X. L. was so very poorly." Mrs. F.--"While at breakfast this morning, -I could hardly eat anything, so loud and persistent was the ringing -in my ears. It was just like the tolling of the church bell." Now, -the reader must remember that these were highly respectable women, -of some education, and in every way of good repute; and yet they had -no idea at all that there was anything silly or wrong about their -superstition, of which they made no secret, and which was reported to -us immediately afterwards by one who was present. Now, we ask, if one -was present and heard it all, how could he best deal with the believer -in this superstition, a superstition so wide-spread that it may be said -to be universal. Any attempt at getting angry and driving it out of -them by the mere force and weight of your superior enlightenment would -be a false move, sure to be attended by no good results. Laughing at -the whole affair might perhaps be a more successful way of dealing -with the nonsense, but in neither way would you be likely to make -them look at the matter from your particular light and point of -view. Admitting that it was rank superstition and sheer nonsense, -there was this one good thing attending it; it led to much moralising -on the shortness and uncertainty of human life, and the unabidingness -generally of all sublunary things; and the superstition was perhaps -more effectual in this direction than would be the most carefully -composed sermon. But the philosophic aspect of the case apart, let -us inquire why the facts mentioned should be held as premonitory of -death. The crowing of the cock has probably some connection with the -denial of St. Peter, and in it, too, may perhaps be traced a faint -remnant of the bird divination of the ancients. As to the itching -of the nose, we confess our inability to say anything satisfactory, -beyond the fact that in old times anything unusual and difficult to -be reasonably accounted for in man's physical economy, as well as -in his mental, was at once attributed to a supernatural cause. Of -this the ringing in the ears, as well as the itching in the nose, -must be held to be an example. The well-known ringing in the ears -does come with extraordinary suddenness, as we have all experienced, -and when it comes makes the most staid philosopher look foolish and -out of sorts for the moment. Its connection with death is perhaps to -be traced to the passing bell of early and mediæval times, and to the -tolling of bells at funerals even in our own day. Sir Walter Scott, -who knew the peasantry of Scotland so well, and sympathised so much -even with their superstitions, has a happy reference to the death-bell -in a passage in Marmion:-- - - - "For soon Lord Marmion raised his head, - And, smiling, to Fitz-Eustace said-- - 'Is it not strange, that, as ye sung, - Seem'd in mine ear a death-peal rung, - Such as in nunneries they toll - For some departing sister's soul? - Say, what may this portend?' - Then first the Palmer silence broke - (The livelong day he had not spoke), - 'The death of a dear friend.'" - - -On this passage there is an interesting note very apropos to our -subject:--"Among other omens to which faithful credit is given among -the Scottish peasantry is what is called the 'dead-bell,' explained by -my friend James Hogg to be that tinkling in the ears which the country -people regard as the secret intelligence of some friend's decease." He -tells a story to the purpose in the "Mountain Bard," p. 26-- - - - "O lady, 'tis dark, an' I heard the dead-bell, - An' I darena gae younder for gowd nor fee." - - -"By the dead-bell," says Hogg, "is meant a tinkling in the ears, -which our peasantry in the country regard as a secret intelligence -of some friend's decease. Thus this natural occurrence strikes many -with superstitious awe. This reminds me of a trifling anecdote which -I will relate as an instance. Our two servant girls agreed to go an -errand of their own one night after supper, to a considerable distance, -from which I strove to persuade them, but could not prevail. So, after -going to the apartment in which I slept, I took a drinking-glass, -and coming close to the back of the door, made two or three sweeps -round the lips of the glass with my fingers, which caused a loud, -shrill sound. I then overheard the following dialogue:--B.--"Ah, -mercy! the dead-bell went through my head just now with such a knell -as I never heard." C.--"I heard it too." B.--"Did you indeed? That -is remarkable. I never knew of two hearing it at the same time -before." C.--"We will not go to Midgehope to-night." B.--"No! I -wouldn't go for all the world! I warrant it is my poor brother, Wat; -who knows what these wild Irishes may have done to him?" Tinkling, -however, which both Scott and Hogg use, is not the word. It is more -of a ringing, so clear and loud at times, that we once heard a little -girl say "there was a bell in her head." Our authorities above confess -that it is called the "dead-bell" amongst the peasantry, and by bell -they mean not a tinkling but a loud and very pronounced sound, as if -of solid metal striking hollow metal, and causing the bell-sound with -which we are all so familiar. Mickle, in his fine ballad Cumnor Hall, -has a reference to the same superstition:-- - - - "The death-bell thrice was heard to ring, - An aerial voice was heard to call, - And thrice the raven flapp'd its wing - Around the towers of Cumnor Hall." - - -To sneer at such beliefs, and pooh-pooh them superciliously and -from a philosophical stand-point, is easy; it has been tried -with but little satisfactory result. The true philosopher will -be more and more disposed, the more he deals with such matters, -and the closer he examines them, to fall back on Hamlet's dictum, -"That there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of -in our philosophy." So ineradicable is superstition of this sort, -that you may battle with it long enough--we have battled with it for -years--and find it at last by no means the weaker of your assaults, -no matter how cautiously and circuitously you select to deal with it. - -After an unusually mild and open season, we have just had a taste of -downright winter in the bitterly cold gales and drifting snow-storms of -the last few days. Our weatherwise old folks are of course delighted -that winter in proper dress and form has come at long last; better -late than never, is the cry, and a bright and warm spring in due -course is confidently predicted. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LI. - - Welcome Rain in May--Plague of Mice in Upper Teviotdale--Arvicola - Agrestis--Field-Mice in Ardgour--How exterminated--A Singing - Mouse--Farmers' Mistakes--Mackenzie the Bird-Catcher. - - -After rather more than six consecutive weeks of weather so hot and dry -and parching [May 1876], that we were all rapidly becoming hide-bound, -brown-skinned, and sapless as so many Egyptian mummies, the rain -came at last; came, too, not deluge-wise, and with a splash and a -roar as is generally the case after such long-continued droughts, -but calmly and softly as falls the dew of sleep on infant eyelids, -and without a breath of accompanying wind. The earth, long agape -with thirst, drank it in greedily, and vegetable and animal life -alike rejoiced in the grateful quiet as well as in the copiousness -of the blessed rainfall. You should have heard how, when the first -drop began to fall, our wild-birds welcomed it. All at once, in wood, -and copse, and hedgerow, they burst out into loud and gladsome song; -nor did they cease when the rainfall was heaviest, as they usually do, -but kept it up far into the night, the merle and song-thrush now and -again breaking out afresh as if they couldn't sufficiently express -their joy, even after we had retired to rest, and well pleased lay -listening to the music of the raindrops as they fell plashing and -pattering from the eaves. Even our least accomplished songsters took -their share in this concert, and if they did not, simply because -they could not, sing as well as their more gifted companions, they -made at least, as the Ancient Mariner has it, a pleasant "jargoning," -therein, dear reader, teaching us all this lesson, that if our gifts -prevent us from playing any great or prominent part in the orchestra -of life, we are yet all the same to perform the parts assigned us as -best we may, and always cheerily and with a will. Next morning again -was calm and mild and beautiful as a summer morning could be, while -the country already looked so fresh and green and lovely that one -could hardly believe that such a marvellous change had taken place -in the course of a single night; so potent, in such circumstances, -is the kindly touch of the Rain King's-magic wand. - -The plague of mice in Upper Teviotdale is a very serious matter indeed, -and the most energetic steps should at once be taken in order to -check and, if possible, stamp out the evil. These little rodents -multiply with incredible rapidity, and if they are to be fought -à l'outrance and conquered, the sooner the campaign is opened, -and the more vigorously it is conducted, the easier and speedier -will be the victory. The short-tailed field-mouse is fortunately a -rare animal in the Highlands, though we have occasionally met with -it in the districts of Lorne, Lochaber, and Badenoch. We have also -seen it on the lands of Drumfin, near Tobermory, in the island of -Mull. Once seen, it is easily recognised again. Its colour, instead -of being of the ordinary "mouse" shade of grey or brown, is red, -or reddish; its head is more bullet-like and rounder, and its snout -blunter than in any of its congeners; and its tail ends abruptly, -giving that appendage a docked and stumpy look, as if by accident or -design one-third of its proper length had been cut off in early life; -and hence its common designation of short-tailed field-mouse. Every one -who has tried to capture a common domestic mouse with the bare hand, -knows to his cost how quickly and sharply it can bite; but the little -field-mouse never once attempts to bite the hand that holds it. If -pounced upon while running about in the rough bent grass in which it -usually shelters, it no sooner feels itself fairly enclosed in your -hand than it seems to become paralysed through sheer excess of terror, -and you may handle it for a time and turn it about in all directions -as if it were a stuffed specimen, without its once offering to escape -or defend itself in any way. If, however, you let it slip from your -hand to the ground, it is at once off and away, and, search for it -as you may, you are never likely to see it again. For its size the -Arvicola agrestis is a very powerful little animal, particularly -strong in the neck, shoulder, and fore-arm, a provision whereby it -is enabled to dig and burrow its way underground when necessary, with -all the ease and rapidity almost of the mole itself. It is very fond -of water, which it drinks often and greedily, and hence it is that -it is never found at any great distance from a plentiful supply of -its favourite beverage. One that a lady friend of ours kept for some -months in a cage, drank, more or less, she assures us, during every -half-hour of the day, and if its supply at any time happened to fail -by any neglect or oversight of its mistress, the thirsty little toper -squeaked querulously and nibbled angrily at the bars and wood-work -of its cage until its water-dish was replenished. When it had drank -enough, it frequently stepped into the dish, and frisked about in such -a manner as to wet its breast and lower parts of its body thoroughly, -when it would retire to a corner of its cage in which was a little -raised platform, and, sitting up on its quarters, squirrel-wise, -rub and cleanse its head and face with both paws in a very comical -manner. It was fed on succulent grasses and lettuce leaves and endive -from the garden, of which latter it was very fond. It also ate bread -steeped in milk, and apples, both raw and boiled. It finally met the -fate of most cage pets; the cat got at it and killed it. We have only -heard of one instance in which the Arvicola became so numerous in the -West Highlands as to become a pest that was only got rid of with great -trouble and no little expense. This was on the estate of Ardgour, in -our own parish. About seventy years ago, the late Colonel Maclean, -grandfather of the present proprietor, planted the greater part of -the woods that now make the place so beautiful--at this moment one -of the loveliest spots in all the Highlands. Shortly after the young -trees were planted, the field-mouse made its appearance, and in a -few months so rapidly increased its numbers, that they were on all -hands declared a nuisance that must be got rid of at any cost. Their -favourite food in this instance seemed to be the tender rootlets -and bark of the smaller trees, thousands of which straightway -shrivelled up and died away owing to the little rodent's unkindly -attentions. Colonel Maclean, who was eminently a man of action, -vowed that such a state of things was beyond all bearing, and must -be put a stop to at all hazards. With a host of willing workers, -he straightway set about what for a time appeared a hopeless task, -employing every conceivable means that wit or ingenuity could devise -in order to check, and if possible stamp out the mouse plague. Having -heard of a plan adopted under similar circumstances in the Dean and -New Forests in England, holes and trenches were dug in all directions, -and pitfalls ingeniously constructed, in which very soon scores of -the marauders were caught and killed every morning. The cats in every -house in the hamlet, purposely kept for the time on short commons at -home, were locked out at night and allowed to cater for themselves; -and they fell upon the rodents tooth and nail, doing such execution -that they soon became sleek and fat as cats were never known in -Ardgour before or since. At convenient spots large fires were kindled, -on which cauldrons of water were boiled, kettles of which, as hot -as hot could be, were poured into such burrows as showed signs of -habitation, with a view to scalding the inmates to death. This was -generally done in the early morning, to make sure of finding the enemy -at home, for the field-mouse, like most of the rodents, is mainly a -nocturnal feeder. The keepers had orders for the time to cease annoying -vermin--so-called--of any kind, the result being that in a short time -stoats, weasels, ravens, grey crows, hawks, and owls abounded, and -these, you may believe, did yeoman service in the campaign; they were -the cavalry that swept off the scattered fugitives. By such active -measures the enemy was exterminated in a single season, and never -again, so far as we know, showed face on Loch-Linnhe-side. It was -Colonel Maclean's opinion that the mice were imported; that the first -pair, or more, perhaps, were brought from the south in the straw and -moss and matting in which the roots of the more valuable and delicate -plants and trees were packed. From the above our Teviotdale friends -may perhaps gather some wrinkles that may be of use to them in their -efforts to relieve themselves from their field-mouse invasion. - -And writing of the field-mouse reminds us that amongst our own domestic -mice there is at present what is generally, if somewhat erroneously, -called a "singing mouse." About a fortnight ago it attracted the -attention of a young lady, who heard it at midnight, and thought at -the time it was the twittering of some bird at her bedroom window. It -was afterwards heard by others, and finally by ourselves, as we sat up -late one night writing. That it was not a bird we were certain, and -guessing the truth--for years ago we had become acquainted with the -notes--we watched and waited until the "jargoning" seemed to proceed -from a closed press immediately behind our chair, which we gently -opened, and had a glimpse of the performer, who vanished, of course, -but soon again began its voluntary, or involuntary rather, behind the -wainscoting in another corner of the room. It was, in short, a "singing -mouse;" an involuntary music, however, with which the poor mouse would -gladly dispense if it could. Birds, as we know, are sometimes incited -to song by sheer rivalry and rage; sometimes by poignant sorrow for -the loss of a mate, or the despoliation of a nest of its treasure of -eggs or callow young; but as a rule a bird sings from pure joyousness -of heart and exhilaration of spirits. When a mouse "sings" it is owing -to a laryngeal disease, a sort of fungoid growth in the throat, which -obstructs the breathing, causing the animal to emit the notes which -have been foolishly called "singing," and which, the clearer and more -bird-like they become, only in truth indicate the more advanced stages -of a malady which invariably ends in death. Our attention was first -directed to this matter by a distinguished comparative anatomist, -the late Professor John Reid of St. Andrews, whose curiosity as a -naturalist was unbounded, only equalled by the untiring patience -and care and caution with which, step by step, he wrought out his -conclusions. It is difficult to describe the "singing" of a mouse thus -affected to those who have not heard it for themselves. It may be said -to be in the main a half-whistle half-wheeze, now and again interrupted -by some rapid clicking notes of a somewhat metallic ring, as if a small -bit of stick was being smartly and rapidly, but very lightly, struck -on the very extremity of the treble string of a guitar or violin. Our -"singing mouse," in whom, poor thing, we were all much interested, -has not been heard for a night or two; it has probably gone the way -all mice, as well as men, must go when respiration becomes impossible. - -An amusing paragraph is at present going the round of the papers -about a farmer who, having ordered a hogshead of nitrate of soda for -agricultural purposes, got hold somehow of a hogshead of sugar instead, -which latter, in ignorance of its quality, he sowed broadcast over his -land. Now, at length aware of the mistake, he is said to be waiting -and watching with much curiosity as to how the saccharine crystals -turn out as fertilisers. The story, which may be true enough, reminds -us of an amusing mistake of a somewhat similar nature into which one -of the crofters in our neighbourhood very innocently fell some years -ago. He had attended the Fort-William June market, and amongst other -things brought home with him, on his return in the evening, two small -parcels, one containing one pound of turnip seed, the other the same -quantity red clover seed. Next morning he was up bright and early, -and as an exercise that might perhaps help to drive away a headache, -not uncommon on such occasions, he resolved, the day being favourable, -to sow his turnip and clover seeds. He commenced, and, very unwittingly -you may believe, sowed the turnip seed broadcast among the barley -braird, and the red clover seed in the drills prepared for the -turnips! The blunder was only discovered several days afterwards, -when the seeds began to sprout after their kind, and matters were -rectified as the case best allowed; but poor Donald never heard the -last of the joke, which, when followed beyond certain limits, used -to make him exceedingly angry. - -Mackenzie the bird-catcher, facile princeps the king and head of his -order, called upon us to-day, and made us a present of the bonniest -little redpole we ever set eyes upon. Its colouring is exquisitely -beautiful, differing from the usual plumage of the species in having -several little snow-white spots irregularly sprinkled over the coverts -of either wing, and its neck and breast of a mingled shade of pink -and crimson of exceeding richness, that makes it far and away the -handsomest bird of the order we ever saw. At first we took it for a -foreign bird, or a bird that had been artificially painted in order to -deceive us, and it was only on handling and thoroughly examining him -that we became convinced that the bird was a genuine, though curiously -coloured, specimen of its species, and that we had it before us just -as it was captured some days ago in Glentarbet, near Strontian. Of all -our cage-birds, the redpole (Fringalla linaria, Linn.) is perhaps the -soonest reconciled to loss of liberty and prolonged captivity. Our -little pet, whose cage hangs almost within arm's length of us as we -write, seems perfectly happy, and is already singing with all his -might, a goldfinch in another cage beside him busily scolding him all -the time for having the impudence to sing so well, or sing at all, in -interruption of his own louder and clearer notes. Cage-birds properly -treated are a great amusement, and, if you pay them due attention, -evince in a very short time a degree of intelligence so remarkable -that you only wonder, philosophising craniologically, how so much of -it can find lodging-room within their little heads. - -Mackenzie is commissioned to go to Norway and Sweden this summer in -search of a lot of crossbills, grossbeaks, and other birds, for a -wealthy gentleman in the south, who is a great bird-fancier. Let him -only once get to their habitat, and Mackenzie is just the man to lay -salt on the tail of any bird that flies. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LII. - - Tourist Grumblers; how to deal with them--Sea Fishing--Superstition - about a Gull--Josephus--Story of Mosollam and the Augur. - - -With a bright sun overhead, at noon as nearly vertical as it can -ever be in our latitudes, and a steady, kindly warmth, and no lack -now of genial showers, our West Highlands are now [June 1876] -beautiful exceedingly, almost at the height and heyday of their -summer loveliness, while crops of all kinds are at their present -stage all that we could wish them. Tourists in considerable numbers -are already on the move; and coaches and steamers alike are beginning -to carry daily increasing crowds of passengers, so delighted with the -attention paid them, and the elegance and comfort of their surroundings -whether afloat or ashore, that a crack with them, as you chance to -forgather of an evening, is always pleasant, for the essentials of -a pleasant conversation are there to begin with; they are pleased, -and you are glad that it is so; the rest is all smooth sailing. You -meet an occasional grumbler of course; a wretch, miserable himself, -and anxious to make every one else miserable also. An extraordinary -curiosity, in truth, is your thorough grumbler. The faculty would -probably explain it all away by a reference to dyspepsia or some -serious derangement of liver. From frequent and close study, however, -of a not uninteresting phenomenon, we are rather inclined to think -otherwise. In the genuine grumbler the disposition to look at things -obliquely, and from a false or foreshortened point of view, seems -ingrained in and interwoven with his very nature. In everything he says -and does you detect a perverseness of disposition and a thrawnness -of temper that you cannot believe to be temporary or accidental, but -a veritable part and portion of the man's being from the first. The -old dictum about the poet, which after all is only true in a sense, -is true of the grumbler absolutely. Grumblerus nascitur, non fit; he -was born a grumbler, and if you put his mother in the witness box, -and she chose to entertain you with reminiscences of his infancy, -her testimony, we venture to say, would go to show that he kicked -and screamed at existence and all the surroundings of his nursery at -the earliest moment possible for such an exhibition, and that this -disposition to hit out right and left indiscriminately at every one and -everything, grew with his growth and strengthened with his strength, -till in fulness of time he became the thoroughbred grumbler who sat -opposite you at the table d'hôte a week ago, or rode with you atop -of the coach yesterday. With spur on heel, and once fairly in the -stirrups, your grumbler is ready to tilt, in dearth of anything more -substantial, at his own shadow. Any attempt to mollify him, however -well-meant and carefully worded, only makes him worse. Do what you -can, he remains a grumbler still--implacable, unappeasable. As we -generally meet with him here, his grievances for the most part are as -to the steamer or coach by which he has travelled, and the food that -he has had to eat. Try to put him right according to your view of it, -and you are sure to catch it hot and heavy for your interference in -a matter which he declares concerns him alone, and yet with which he -has been pestering everybody that would for a moment listen to him all -the way from Oban to Staffa, or from Ballachulish to Tyndrum. Give -a man of this kind the softest cushion in the coziest corner of -Cleopatra's barge; the box seat in the victor's own chariot in a -triumphal procession; a first and full supply of all the delicacies -at the table of Apicius of De rê Culinaria fame, and he would still -be the same fault-finder and grumbler. One way of shutting up the -inveterate grumbler, very effectual in most cases, is to fool him to -the top of his bent--to give him line, in the piscatorial sense. If -he complains that his seat on the coach is hard and the rails behind -hurt his spine, assure him at once, in a confidential sort of way, -that you believe the axle is horribly twisted, and is as likely as -not to snap in twain just about half-way down the next incline. If he -complains of the dust, give it as your candid opinion that the Road -Trustees should be heavily fined for not allaying the nuisance by a -properly arranged water-cart service all over the Black Mount. If he -complains that the steamer trembles in all her timbers, and the steam, -as it escapes at the calling-places, makes a horrible noise, agree -with him at once, hinting that an explosion of the boiler is by no -means an unlikely event through the carelessness of the coal-begrimed -stoker, who is just then cooling himself at an open air-hole, and -wiping his brow with a wisp of tow. If at dinner he abuses the soup, -ask him how it could possibly be good, seeing that the water whereof -it is made was taken a week ago, by means of a tarry bucket, from -the third lock of the Crinan Canal? Does he abuse his salmon? Shake -your head sadly, and point with your fork towards the round of beef, -hinting that at this season cattle sometimes die a natural death, and -then their carcasses are to be had for a third of the market price -of good beef. Go with him and beyond him in this sort of way for a -little, and he will soon see that you are only poking your fun at him, -and the chances are that he will cease troubling you at all events -with his complaints for the rest of the day. After all, however, -it is but justice to observe that even your inveterate grumbler is -not infrequently a much more amiable person than he seems; kind, too, -after a fashion, and amazingly liberal when a proper occasion offers. - -Fish are now becoming plentiful along our shores, and with a little -trouble in selecting a very early or a very late hour, and watching -the state of the tides, they may be caught in considerable numbers -with rod and line; and irrespective of their value as an article of -food, the pastime is by no means contemptible even as a matter of -sport, though, sooth to say, many people live within sight of the -sea for years, and know little or nothing of the amusement that may -be had so readily and cheaply in this way. Those caught at present -are principally whitings, lythes, and seths, or coal-fish, with an -occasional sea-bream. This last is reckoned a somewhat coarse fish, -but it is by no means bad eating when properly cooked and served, -and you recollect as you eat that the price of mutton is something -like a shilling the pound, and frequently not to be had even at that. - -More prone, perhaps, to superstition in every form than their more -inland brethren, our maritime population have quite a number of freits, -forms, fancies, and superstitious observances, most of them only -silly and harmless enough, in connection with all their sea-fishing -adventures, whether with rod, net, or line. A few evenings ago, as a -party of four, douce and decent men enough, were preparing to launch -their boat to go a-fishing, we chanced to pass along the beach, -joining them, as has long been our habit in such circumstances, -for a few minutes' conversation. Suddenly, as we were speaking, -a large black-backed gull (Larus marinus) wheeled towards us out of -a flock that were lazily circling about at a considerable distance -seawards. Right towards us, as if on some express and special errand, -came the gull, one of the largest and most beautiful of sea-birds, -until he was within less than fifty yards of us, when by a change of -poise, and a scarcely perceptible movement of wing, he slowly swept -round our heads, screaming the while as only a black-backed gull can -scream--a wild and eerie note that may be heard for a league. The -gull's business, whatever it might be, was so manifestly connected -with one or all of us, or with the boat, perhaps, round which we -were standing on the beach, that it could not but attract attention -and provoke comment from the most unobservant. After circling some -half-dozen times round and round and right above our heads, the bird, -with one loud parting scream--and yet scream is not the word either; -the Gaelic guileag is nearer it--and with an upward oblique sweep, so -beautifully easy and effortless that it seemed the result of a simple -act of volition rather than a grand pas in volitation, flew away to -join his companions, who were now heard clamouring over a coal-fish -goil or boil, as the Highlanders call the ebullition of the surface -play of a shoal of sea-fish. The men looked at each other and at us -meaningly; and at last out it came. "Small chance," said one of them, -"have we of anything like a good fishing this evening: better for -us to stay at home." "Why so?" we quietly inquired. "Well, sir," -was the response, "I never knew a gull act in that sort of way but it -meant bad luck in fishing, and the non-accomplishment of one's errand -afloat, whatever it might be." The rest agreed with the speaker, but we -persuaded them, after some trouble, to proceed to their fishing-ground, -to give it a trial at least; and when, at a much later hour, they -returned, we were on the beach to meet them, and found that after -all they had made an excellent fishing. There and then we sat down -beside them as they were dividing their fish into equal shares, and -told them the following story from Josephus, Against Apion. Quoting -from Hecatæus, the great Jewish historian proceeds:--"As I was myself -going to the Red Sea, there followed us a man, whose name was Mosollam; -he was one of the Jewish horsemen who conducted us. He was a person -of great courage, of a strong body, and by all allowed to be the most -skilful archer that was either among the Greeks or barbarians. Now, -this man, as people were in great numbers passing along the road, -and a certain augur was observing an augury by a bird, and requiring -them all to stand still, inquired what they staid for. Hereupon the -augur showed him the bird from whence he told his augury, and told him -that if the bird staid where he was, they ought all to stand still; -but that if he got up and flew onward, they must go forward; but that -if he flew backward, they must retire again. Mosollam made no reply, -but drew his bow and shot at the bird, and hit him and killed him; and -as the augur and some others were very angry, and wished imprecations -upon him, he answered them thus:--'Why are you so mad as to take this -most unhappy bird into your hands? for how can this bird give us any -true information concerning our march, which could not foresee how -to save himself? For had he been able to foreknow what was future, -he would not have come to this place, but would have been afraid lest -Mosollam the Jew would shoot him as he has done, and kill him.'" The -men, who had listened most attentively, smiled as we concluded, and -agreed that Mosollam must have been a very sensible man; and vowed -that for the future they would attach no more meaning or importance -to a circling, screaming gull, than to the chirping of a wren in the -elder bushes at the cottage doors. And what after all, the reader -may ask, brought the black-backed gull circling and screaming over -your heads? Well, from its great and immense spread of wing, it was -probably the leader and guardian of its own particular flock, and as -such thought it his duty to reconnoitre in person, in case the five -men about the boat on the beach should have sinister intentions as -to him or his. His scream or guileag was just his way of telegraphing -the results of his observations to his distant companions; or he may -have been scolding us in his own manner for our manifest intention -of leaving the land, and invading what he considered his own proper -element and territory, the sea. A more prosaic explanation, if it -please you better, is perhaps to be found in the fact that the boat -was internally largely incrusted with fish scales, and smelt strongly -of fish, and that that, to one of his sensitive olfactory nerves, was -the only or main attraction, the rest being mere idle curiosity, from -which birds are no more exempt than men. One thing only is certain, -if difficult to be accounted for, and that is, that individual gulls -frequently act as this gull acted when a boat is about to put off from -the shore in the fishing season, which being occasionally connected, -as must sometimes happen, however accidentally, with an unsuccessful -fishing adventure, gave rise to the silly superstition which, by -the aid of Flavius Josephus, we were able in this instance at least -successfully to combat. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LIII. - - Heat in Mid-August--Early Planting and Sowing--Over-ripening of - Crops--Medusæ--Stinging Jelly-Fish--The amount of solid matter - in Jelly-Fish. - - -The unprecedented heat of mid-August lasted with us here precisely -a fortnight [September 1876]. Beginning on the 10th, it continued -with little intermission or mitigation till the 24th, when the wind -suddenly chopped round to the south-west, our rainy quarter; the sky -assumed the threatening aspect, an ugly interminglement of black and -dark grey, with which we are only too familiar, and rain began to fall -with that dour, persistent pattering, and aimless horizontal drift, -which sufficed to convince the most careless and unobservant student -of our West Highlands meteorology that it was neither a thunder-plump -nor a mere passing shower, but a determined and regular "set-in" of -probably some days, or, it might be, of some weeks' duration. The -last ten days have accordingly been more or less wet, and as the -corn over the country generally is about ripe for scythe and sickle, -many an anxious eye is cast heavenwards with wistfullest glance, -morning, noon, and night, in hopes of a change of wind and a return -to fair weather. We are about tired of advocating the advantages of -early sowing to our friends of the West Highlands. We are content -with once again stating the fact that, having sown early, our own -corn was cut in ripe and good condition on the 17th August, and -safely housed without having once been touched by a single drop of -rain. A single armful of such well-preserved provender is worth a -whole back-burden of the washed-out and sapless stuff that usually -goes by the name of "wintering" and "winter keep" in this and the -neighbouring districts. It is proper to say, however, that, though -so difficult to move to an earlier date in corn-sowing, our people -here have of recent years been more amenable to good advice in the -matter of potato culture. This year a large breadth of potatoes -was planted in March and early April, and the consequence is that -these are now nearly ripe, and of the best quality, stronger too, -and in every way better able to resist the attacks of blight--absit -omen!--should it unfortunately come their way, as we hope it won't; -while the still green and half-ripe tubers of later plantings would -probably suffer largely under a similar visitation. Not even when -it is quite ready for the sickle do people generally cut their corn -timeously. Too often it is allowed to ripen overmuch, till the straw -is over-dry and sapless, besides the inevitable loss of grain in the -stooking and subsequent ingathering. It is very much the same with -hay. As a rule, it is left too long uncut, by which its quality is -sadly deteriorated. Nor is this mistake in haymaking peculiar to -the west coast, but much too common over all the country. Even in -Morayshire and about Inverness the hay crop is, as a rule, allowed -to ripen over-much. If it were cut ten days or a fortnight earlier -it would weigh more, smell sweeter, be more nutritious, and better -every way than under the present system, which allows it not merely -to ripen, but to more than ripen, to wither up and lose most of its -sap and seed before it is cut and secured. It may, perhaps, be laid -down as an axiom that root crops cannot be allowed to ripen over-much; -cereals and grasses most certainly may. - -Cavill's recent attempt to swim the Channel, in rivalry of Captain -Webb's feat, was a failure, and had medical aid not been so opportunely -at hand when the swimmer, comatose and unconscious, was lifted out -of the water by his friends in the attendant lugger, the venture, -noteworthy, though unsuccessful, for its pluck and daring, would -probably have resulted in something far more serious than mere -failure. In accounting for his non-success, and his state of extreme -exhaustion when taken out of the water, Cavill largely blames the -jelly-fish or sea-blubber, through perfect shoals of which he had -once and again to force his way; and although he wore a thin jersey, -which must have been some protection, enough of the bare skin was -exposed to contact with the cold, clammy, slimy Medusæ, to make him -exceedingly nervous and generally uncomfortable throughout a full third -of the distance covered. The number of these Medusæ to be met with at -certain seasons all along the British shores is enormous; and towards -the close of summer and early autumn they are more abundant, perhaps, -in our western lochs than anywhere else. Looking over the boat's side -on a fine day, we have seen them in our own Loch Leven in incalculable -numbers, thick as autumnal leaves in Vallambrosa, or the stars in the -Milky Way--of all shapes and sizes too, swimming about aimlessly by -a slow but constant contraction and expansion, regular as the beat -of a pendulum, of their umbrella-like bodies, fringed like a lady's -parasol, with a close edging of thread-like cilia, and frequently -having long, pendulous tentaculæ attached to their under surface, -giving the healthy animal, when busy in its proper element, a very -curious appearance. Though the jelly-fish is in constant motion--in -perpetual motion, so to speak, for it never rests, that ever we could -discover, either by night or day--its progress in the sea is rather -due to the set of the wind and the tide-drift than its own exertions, -its incessant labours of contraction and expansion being performed -not so much for the purpose of shifting its place in the water, as -for the purpose of grasping and sucking in at each contraction such -microscopic organisms as form its food. It is true that in a calm and -tideless sea its motions cause it to be carried in the direction of -the contracting beat an inch or thereby at a time, but this progress -is clearly accidental and unintentional, so far as it is concerned, -the great object of the incessant contraction and expansion being, as -we have said, not so much change of place as the capture and insuction -of its ordinary food. The Medusæ swim at all depths in the sea, but -as a rule they seem to prefer feeding within a fathom or two of the -surface, particularly if the sun is bright and the sea is perfectly -calm. The mouth of the Medusa is in the centre of the under concave -surface, and the animal's modus operandi in sweeping in its food -towards this orifice is not difficult to understand. Stretch out your -right hand, with its back or knuckle surface uppermost. First expand -the hand and fingers to their full extent, then contract so as almost, -but not quite, to close the hand, not quickly, but very firmly and -decidedly. Continue in this way opening out and closing the hand and -fingers, not quite so fast as a second's beating pendulum oscillates, -and you have the perfect analogue, or more properly the homologue, -of the Medusa's action. If you can fancy an orifice or mouth in the -centre of your palm, and your fingers to be the fringe surrounding -the jelly-fish disc, and if you perform the action indicated in a -tub or pool of water, into which a little flour or fine oatmeal has -been thrown to represent the animalculæ forming the Medusa's food, -so much the better: you will at once understand how the animalculæ -and food particles are swept and sucked in by the current created -towards the animal's mouth, or gastric cavity, as it might be more -properly termed. When one or more of these animals comes in contact -with a swimmer's skin, the sensation is anything but agreeable, a -feeling of indescribable loathing and horror being engendered by the -touch of the cold, gelatinous mass, that you are yet conscious is not -dead matter, but an animated pulsating organism. But though contact -with the ordinary Medusa is bad enough, there is another species -of jelly-fish not uncommon in British waters at certain seasons, -accidental contact with which is a very serious matter indeed. These -are known to naturalists as Acalephæ, from a Greek word signifying -a nettle. They are not so numerous on our shores as the true Medusa, -but they grow to a much larger size, some of them measuring eighteen, -twenty, or even twenty-four inches across the disc, and thick and heavy -in proportion, large enough, when fresh from the sea, to fill a tub -of considerable size. If one of these wretches comes in contact with -the human skin, it is found to sting like a nettle, only much more -severely, and hence its scientific name. A swimmer stung by contact -with an acaleph feels not only the cruel smarting of the nettle-like -and burning stinging, but he is in a few minutes frequently overcome -by a feeling of languor and sickness, that lasts for a considerable -time, and is sometimes only relieved by a violent fit of vomiting, -just as if he was a sufferer for the moment under the influence of -a powerful emetic. We have more than once been stung by an acaleph, -and can speak feelingly on the subject. Only last season a boy on -the opposite coast of Appin was, while bathing, so severely stung -by one or more acalephs that he was for some days confined to bed, -seriously ill, and under medical treatment. This power of stinging -seems to be a wise provision in the economy of the animal, for the -purpose of rendering helpless and numbing its prey, to make them easier -of capture and subsequent deglutition, just as the Mysotis, or electric -eel, with like purpose puts to a very important and practical use its -electro-battery shocks. The true acaleph may generally be distinguished -from the more harmless jelly-fish by having a good deal of colour in -its tissues, being striated with red, pink, and pale green, which -gives it a very beautiful appearance as under the bright sunlight -it floats about, contracting and expanding with the regularity of -a pendulum beat, near the surface of the calm, unruffled sea. The -amount of solid matter in a jelly-fish of any kind, however large, -is amazingly small. Within a thin, filmy skin, they are entirely made -up of water, with a few threads spider-net-wise running through it to -keep it in shape, like the ropes on which was stretched the immense -velarium of an ancient amphitheatre. After a summer storm we have seen -the sea-beach covered with a considerable wall of jelly-fish that had -been cast ashore, a yard in breadth, perhaps, and a couple of feet in -height; and before the evening of the next day, during which the sun -shone out hot and clear, the whole had melted away like so much snow, -leaving only a thin film of gelatinous matter, which, if gathered -together in a single heap, wouldn't have filled our venerable but still -useful "Clachnacuddin" hat. There is a good story told of a farmer, -somewhere from the altitudes of Druimuachdar, who took some land by -the sea, not a hundred yards from our own neighbourhood. One morning -he saw the beach covered with a deep ring of jelly-fish as above, -and being an eident body, he got his horses and carts in order, and -commenced to cart them afield, in the belief that they could not but -prove excellent manure for the land. After working at the job nearly -half a day, a naturalist, who chanced to pass the way, astonished the -farmer not a little by assuring him that some hogsheads of sea-water, -and a single pocket-handkerchief full of manure from the nearest -dung-heap, would fitly and fully represent all that he had on his -land in the fifty odd carts of jelly-fish that had cost him so much -labour! The story goes on to say that that particular farmer looked -askance at jelly-fish ever afterwards, and didn't care much to have -their natural history discussed in his presence at kirk or market, -at bridal or funeral, all his life long. The fact is, that a mass of -jelly-fish sufficient to load the "Great Eastern" wouldn't probably -yield a peat creelful of solid serviceable matter for any purpose -or purposes whatever. The jelly-fish is known to the Gaels of the -Hebrides and West Coast by a curious name--Sgeith an Róin for the -smaller ones, that is, the seal's vomit, and for the larger ones, -Sgeith na Muicamara, the whale's vomit, in the absurd belief that -they were the vomits respectively of the uncanny Sealchs, of whom -the Highlander had always a superstitious dread, and of the largest -of marine monsters, after they had gorged themselves to repletion on -a shoal of extra-oleaginous herring or mackerel. These names for the -jelly-fish are doubtless absurd enough, and yet, in defence of the -good old Gaelic name-givers, let us observe that they are not a whit -more absurd than the Caprimulgus (goat-sucker) of Linnæus as applied -to the night-jar, or the Frugilegus (corn-gatherer) of the same high -authority as applied to the common rook. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LIV. - - Approach of Winter--Contentedness of the People--Poets and - Wild-Bird Song--Differences in the Colouring and Markings of - Birds' Eggs--Late Nest-Building--Anecdote of Provost Robertson - of Dingwall, Mr. Gladstone's Grandfather. - - -The meteorological vaticinations of our weather-wise octogenarian -neighbours have met with abundant and speedy verification in the -storms and heavy rains of the past ten days [October 1876]. For the -month of October, however, the weather continues wonderfully mild; -even with wind and rain the temperature is higher than it usually -is at this date; an occasional fine day, besides, encouraging us in -the hope that winter proper, winter with its thousand discomforts, -its snow and sleet, its cold and cheerlessness and gloom, may be -checked in his advance for some weeks to come, by the uncompromising -attitude of an autumn so lusty of life and bright of eye, but, -despite an occasional overclouding of countenance, it seems yet but -only little past its prime. Agriculturally the season is being wound -up satisfactorily enough; crops have, upon the whole, been secured in -very fair condition, and although the herring fishing in our lochs -as elsewhere has proved a failure, our people are prepared to meet -the coming winter in comparative abundance, and with a cheerfulness -calculated to disarm the gloomy season of more than half its -terrors. The poet has philosophically observed that man - - - "Wants but little here below, - Nor wants that little long"-- - - -where "wants," you will observe, has to be read in a restricted and -peculiar sense: the plain prose of it being, that for all his essential -needs man requires but little, that merely to live a little suffices, -and that, on account of the shortness and certainty of human life, even -that "little" is soon dispensed with--is no longer required. Granted, -O Poet! but not the less true is it that during man's allotted time -the "little," however small, is indispensable all the same, and any -sensible diminution or curtailment of his "little" will make a man, -however abstemious and sober of life, just as miserable as his fellow -who has to bewail the diminution, not of his "little," but of his -abundance. Nothing pleases us in our people here more than their -constant cheerfulness in the enjoyment of their "little." They would -doubtless take more if they could get it, and rejoice exceedingly if -their "little" could be converted into an abundance; but meantime they -have the good sense to be contented, and even happy with what they -have, and that, too, to a degree that no one perhaps less intimate -with them than we are could believe possible in the circumstances. - -Our "Indian summer," that seems still to linger, as if loth to -leave us to the tender mercies of a winter that is likely to prove -unusually inclement, has been a season of unwonted jubilation to our -wild-birds; for, guided by an instinct that is a monitor sufficiently -to be depended upon in ordinary circumstances, they had already, -each after his kind, prepared themselves, not for equinoctial -warmth and sunshine, but for equinoctial storms. All the more, -then, from its very unexpectedness, did they feel bound to rejoice -in the incalculable blessing of twenty free days of midsummer warmth -and calm at a time when, in the usual course of events, the tempest -should have been howling through the woods and careering over moss and -moorland, they the while glad to cower for shelter and safety in such -crevices and corners as might be best suited to their purpose. At -and after the autumnal equinox, in ordinary seasons, the only one -of our native wild-birds that sings, or attempts to sing, a fairly -finished song, is the redbreast; though, to be sure, the wren also -sometimes strikes up an occasional voluntary when we least expect it; -the lively Lilliputian in his song, as in everything else, being a -creature of unbridled impulse, guided solely by the whim and caprice -of the moment, as if in utter contempt and disregard of the method and -order by which other birds are fain to regulate the conduct of their -lives. Not the redbreast alone, however, backed by the intermittent -melodies of the wren, who, Sims Reeves-like, only sings when the -humour seizes him, obstinately silent when you would expect him -to sing, and as obstinately singing when you would expect him to -be silent; but the blackbird also, and chaffinch, the corn bunting -and goldfinch, have been of late delighting us with their music, in -volume and compass and exquisite finish hardly inferior, though so -out of season, to their most successful performances in spring and -early summer, which, be it noted, is the season for wild-bird song -at its best. Our poets, as if by tacit arrangement and preconcert, -do all in their power to impress us with the notion that June is not -only the month of flower and leaf, but the great bird music month as -well, a mistake partly owing, no doubt, to their ignorance of bird -life, but mainly, we suspect, arising from the fact that "June" and -"tune" are such pat and perfect rhymes, that the poet dealing with -summer glories and summer joys never fails to pounce upon them for -instant use, without a thought of their inappropriateness, so far -at least as bird music is concerned. It is true that with reference -to bird song our poets are also liberal enough with their "May" and -"lay," which, as nearer to the mark, is somewhat better. Better still, -however, would be April, if our poets would be correct, to which we -might perhaps suggest "trill" as a rhyme; not a good rhyme to be sure, -even if "April" could be decently placed at the end of a line (as in -the old "valentines") without being misaccented; but we ornithologists -could forgive the halting rhyme and barbarous accent for the sake of -the correctness of the "colouring" otherwise. The truth is that our -best wild-bird music time may be set down as properly belonging to the -eight weeks between the 15th March and the 15th May. Let our poets, -then, look out for and find appropriate rhymes for "March," "April," -and "May." It is their business and not ours; but for any sake, in -dealing with wild-bird music and summer joys, let them beware of the -fatal facility of the rhymes of "June" and "tune." Poets and poetry -apart, however, it was extremely interesting to watch the conduct of -our wild-birds during our late "Indian summer." For the first few days -they fluttered about and chirped interrogatively amongst themselves, as -if in a state of doubt and indecision, if not of actual bewilderment, -evidently puzzled what to say to it, but, upon the whole, of opinion -that it was too good to last. Last, however, it did, longer than -either they or we thought at all likely, and before the end of the -week the chirping had developed into actual song, and the fluttering -into a business-like activity, as if they had fully thought it over, -and had decided that it was best, proverb wise, to be making some -hay while the sun shone. Our attention was first of all attracted -by a pair of house sparrows passing and repassing our study window, -now with a stray feather, now with a bit of straw in their bills, -with which they disappeared in a clump of ivy high up on a corner of -the garden wall. On climbing by the aid of a small ladder to inquire -what they were about, we found that they were repairing a nest, -in which they had already reared a brood this season, and which the -youngsters, in their unfledged and awkward babyhood, had considerably -damaged and generally knocked out of shape--"into a cocked hat," in -fact, as they say across the Atlantic. With a care and painstaking, -however, which our "featherless biped" architects, in executing their -repairs on our stone and lime habitations would do well to imitate, -the sparrows in a surprisingly short time got their house in order, -and in a few days thereafter we found a couple of eggs in it. These -eggs we took away, for it would only be cruel to allow a brood to -be hatched at this season, only to starve and die before they could -possibly be strong enough of wing to shift for themselves. And here, -in connection with these same sparrow eggs, let us record a fact -that seems to have hitherto escaped the notice of our oologists -(egg-students), even the most lynx-eyed and observant of them, -and it is this: that in the case of such of our wild-birds as breed -more than once in a single season, the eggs of the second laying, -and of the third, if third laying there is--of all eggs, in short, -dropped after the first laying--are, as a rule, either entirely free -from spots, or, if they have the spots, they are so faint as to -be scarcely distinguishable. In the case of the sparrow eggs, for -example, taken from the nest as just related, they were perfectly -spotless, pearl-white and clean as they could be. Even under a -lens of considerable power they presented hardly a trace of spot or -colouring in any form. And yet take an egg from a sparrow's nest in -early spring--from the first laying that is--and you will invariably -find it to be spotted or blotched with a perfect constellation, so -to speak, round its larger end of greyish and dusky brown dots and -markings. On due examination, we suspect it will be found to be the -same in the case of all our "spotted" egg layers; and to this fact, -that has been so unaccountably overlooked hitherto, is to be mainly -attributed, we make no doubt, the many dissensions and disagreements -that so frequently have set our best, and otherwise good-natured, -oologists by the ears. In another particular, too, the eggs of later -laying differ from those of the first--in the thickness, namely, of -the shell; that of the later laying being thinner and more fragile in -the handling. On account of their fragility, indeed, it is extremely -difficult to blow without damaging an egg of this kind, taken from -one of our smaller bird's nests towards the close of the season. All -which, the faintness of colouring in or total absence of the spots, -with the thinness, transparency, and general fragility of the shell, -is doubtless due to an impaired vitality, quoad hoc, consequent upon -the prodigality of energy thrown into the loves and labours of rearing -the first or spring brood. - -On this occasion, too, a pair of blackbirds began a nest de novo, -either despising the labours of mere repairing, or having no old -nest, perhaps, to repair. The blackbirds, however, wiser than the -sparrows, left off before a third--the lower flat, so to speak--of -their building was finished; as if they had duly thought it all over -again, and had wisely concluded that it was better to wait till spring, -it being manifestly too late to finish a nest and attempt to rear a -brood any more this season. We fully expected to see the redbreast, -and wren perhaps, also attempt the rearing of an "Indian summer" -brood; and had they tried, they might, perhaps, have succeeded, -for both birds in such circumstances select cozy corners about open -sheds and out-houses, where they are pretty safe from the assaults -of the weather, and can always find suitable food in more or less -abundance. So far as we could see, however, they never once thought -of anything like love-making or nidification, contenting themselves -with thoroughly enjoying the calm and sunshine while it lasted, as -was abundantly, and, so far as we were concerned, very delightfully -evidenced by the frequency of their loud and lightsome song. - -A recent paragraph in the newspapers about Provost Robertson of -Dingwall, whose daughter was Mr. Gladstone's mother, reminds us of an -anecdote which was told us some years ago by the late Mrs. Morrison of -Salachan, in Ardgour, an old lady whose reminiscences of the people -of the Hebrides and mainland of Ross-shire, about the beginning of -the present century, were extremely interesting. Provost Robertson -of Dingwall--Mr. Gladstone's grandfather by the mother's side--on -one occasion paid a visit to London, for the first, and, we believe, -the only time in his life. His friends in the metropolis put him under -the charge of a gentleman, a far-away cousin of his own, who undertook -to show him all the wonders of the great city, and look after him -generally. The worthy Provost was thoroughly Scotch, and dressed after -a somewhat outré fashion, à la Dingwall of the period. Walking one day -along one of the streets of London, a little in advance of his guide, -the worshipful Provost's appearance and tout ensemble attracted the -attention of some half-dozen street arab boys, who, always ready for -a "lark," desired no better pastime for the present than to chaff -and poke their fun at the Chief Magistrate of one of Scotland's -most distinguished northern burghs. The Provost, indignant at the -impudence and rudeness of the young rascals, at last turned round, and, -shaking his silver-headed cane at the offending gamins, exclaimed, -in tones loud enough to be heard by his guide, who was almost choked -with laughter at the scene, "Ah, you young vagabonds; if I had you -in Dingwall, wouldn't I make you pay for your davayrshon!" The term -"diversion" was then used, both in English and Gaelic, all over the -Highlands, as indeed it still is to some extent, in the sense of -fun with a backbone of mischief to it; rough horse-play, in fact, -accompanied by what is now-a-days commonly called chaff. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LV. - - Spring--Hood's Parody of Thomson's Invocation--The excellence - of Nettle-Top Soup--Cock-crowing--Birds'-nesting--Professor - Geikie--Curious Story of an old Pipe-Tune. - - -This is the 1st of May [1877], sacred in the ecclesiastical calendar to -St. Philip and St. James the Apostles. In ordinary speech we may now -call it summer, we suppose, and it is to be hoped that it may prove -summer indeed, not in name merely, or astronomically, but veritably, -that is, meteorologically as well; such a summer as delighted our -boyhood with its bright sun and cloudless skies, or with such clouds -only as served to modify and temper a brilliancy and heat that might -otherwise have been excessive; the earth verdant and flower-bespangled -under foot and around, the very floods and trees of the forest, in -the grand hyperbole of Scripture, "clapping their hands for joy:" -the singing of birds the while, jubilant and joyous, in copse and -wild-wood, its fitting bass, the murmur of innumerable bees; while the -fluttering of splendidly coloured butterflies, as they danced along -in many a lawless zig-zag and merry-go-round, constantly verified -and bore witness to the beauty of the Roman poet's famous line, -which may be rendered-- - - - "Lo! fluttering past, flowers swimming in liquid air!" - - -However the summer may turn out, of the spring at least but little -good--speaking of course meteorologically--can be said. It was, -quoad hoc, an imposture, and nothing else, and always reminding us -of Hood's wicked parody on the opening lines of Thomson's big and -bow-wow invocation to the season:-- - - - "'Come, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, come!' - O, Thomson, void of sense as well as reason; - Why in our ears such arrant nonsense drum? - There's no such season!" - - -To housewives in rural districts we offer a "wrinkle" that may be -found of use at the present season, when most vegetable gardens may -be ransacked in vain for delicacies that shall be common enough at -a later period. While rambling through the district a few days ago, -we chanced to drop in upon a widow lady and daughter, who occupy a -nice little cottage. They were going to sit down to an early dinner, -and although we were not very hungry, and could have fasted till -a later hour, not merely without inconvenience, but from choice, -yet on their earnest invitation we sat down along with them. The -fare consisted of soup and a boiled fowl, the latter fat, tender, -and good as a fowl should always be, and the soup was simply -delicious. A green vegetable of some kind floating thickly in it, -gave it a relish and gout that was very remarkable, and we asked what -it was. "Nettle-tops, sir," was the answer, and had we not been told, -it is probable that we should have guessed and blundered long ere -we could hit upon it. But not only can nettle-tops be thus utilised -as an admirable condiment in soup at this season, but they may also -be served up asparagus-wise, and, to our taste, are every whit as -good. In this latter form we have eaten them often, and, as Johnson -said, after swallowing several platefuls of Scotch broth, in reply -to Boswell's observation--"You never ate it before?" "No, sir, but -I don't care how soon I eat it again." And so say we invariably when -we have finished a dish of nettle-top asparagus. After our nettle-top -soup it occurred to us that there might be more truth in Goldsmith's -remark about the French than he was perhaps aware of, for he meant -it as satire, that they can roast a sirloin if they only had beef, -and prepare "ten different dishes from nettle-tops." - -We had occasion to be up and about very early this morning, not, -however, for the purpose of washing our face in May dew, although -the morning was very beautiful, and the dew lay plentiful enough, -and pearl-like on grass and birchen bough, but in order to go on what -some may think an even sillier errand, to wit, a birds'-nesting. For -this sort of thing the earlier the hour the better at this season, -and as we mounted the coppiced slopes which we proposed searching, -the sun was beginning to gild the loftiest peaks of Glencoe with -purple and amber and gold, and all the cocks in the hamlet, as if at -a preconcerted signal, were cheerily greeting the rising god, or if -their thoughts were more mundane and prosaic, as perhaps they were, -you may interpret the crowing of each individual chanticleer as some -one else did before you in some such lines as these-- - - - "The cock rose in the morning; - He called his favourite hen, - With a cockle-do-doo, and a how-d'ye-do, - And how-d'ye-do again." - - -In the economy of birds, the most important labours are those of -nest-building and incubation; and owing to the wintriness of the -spring, we were quite prepared this morning to find matters in -a decidedly backward state throughout the length and breadth of -bird-land, wherever we might wander. We were not, however, prepared -to find things in anything like the sad plight in which we actually -found them; for in no district of the remotest Highlands, we venture -to say, are the agricultural labours proper to man at this season so -backward as are their own proper labours this year amongst our native -wild-birds. Usually at this date nine-tenths of our birds have already -completed the labours of nidification, and with some species even -incubation is far advanced, if not actually completed. The results -of our morning's ornithological ramble may be very briefly stated. Of -thirteen nests discovered, four only contained eggs, and even of these -four only one had its proper complement, that of a song-thrush, namely, -which contained five bonny blue eggs, spotted with black at the larger -end, a number rarely, if ever, exceeded. In a merle or blackbird's nest -there were only two eggs, instead of the usual complement of four or -five. A chaffinch's nest had only one egg, whereas four is the proper -number; while in the nest of a greenfinch, there was also only one -egg instead of five, and that one, from certain signs known only to -the initiated, we decided had only been laid yesterday, or even early -this morning--perhaps shortly before our visit. Of the remaining nests, -a few were fairly completed, and ready for their egg treasures at any -time, but the greater number were only partially finished, and in their -unfinished state had suffered so much from sleet and wind and rain, -that we much doubt if their builders will have anything more to do -with them, for it is a curious fact, that with such rare exceptions -as only serve to accentuate and emphasise the rule, all birds prefer -building a new nest from the very foundation to occupying an old one, -or making the slightest repairs on one that has met with any serious -injury. And this, too, you will please observe--a bird never improves -in his architecture and never declines. He builds to-day neither -better nor worse than did his ancestors a thousand or five thousand -years ago. The sense or instinct that taught him to build of certain -materials and of a certain form, long before Homer was born or Troy -was besieged, is the same sense or instinct still. Nothing added; -nothing subtracted. From all we have seen, we should say that the -annual addition to bird life in our country will be considerably -smaller than the average. Even first broods will be so late that -second hatching is out of the question. Bird-song, however, will -last longer into the summer, and begin again earlier in autumn than -in ordinary seasons. - -On a dull day last week we were routed out of our study by a visit -from Professor Geikie, who, accompanied by some half-dozen others, was -geologising in the districts of Appin and Lochaber. In such a place as -this, it was impossible but that they should find much to interest them -geologically and otherwise; and we were glad to hear them all say that -they were much delighted with their wanderings. An occasional invasion -of this kind, sometimes, too, when you least expect it, never fails to -do one good. It makes you, nolens volens, shake yourself clear, as best -you may, of the accumulated cobwebs of months, and you return to your -ordinary work not a little invigorated and refreshed by having had an -opportunity of comparing notes, rubbing shoulders, and even crossing -blades--in all friendship of course--with foemen worthy of your steel. - -A lady correspondent writes us from London as follows:--"I was much -pleased with your reference to the old pipe tune. The music I have -long known, but the origin and history of the piece was unknown to -me, nor had I ever heard any of the words attached to it. I agree -with you that all such scraps of information should be collected and -preserved, adding so largely as they do to the interest with which -we Highlanders must always regard our national melodies. I need not, -of course, ask you if you know the very fine pipe tune 'Macrimmon's -Lament,' Cha till mi tuilleadh. When I was a girl in the Hebrides--I -am afraid to say how many years ago--I often heard the following -story associated with this tune. In the island of Mull there is a -large cave which in popular belief reaches right across the island -from the east shore to the west. This cave, in the old times, was -inhabited, so ran the tradition, by a colony of wolves and other wild -animals. No man in consequence had ever the courage to explore its dark -labyrinthine windings. At a wedding party assembled in a hamlet in the -neighbourhood of the cave, its vastness and many dangers became the -subject of conversation. All agreed that no human being could possibly -pass through it and live. The piper of the district was a very brave -man as well as an admirable piper, and in an evil hour for himself, as -it proved, he offered for some slight wager to traverse the cave from -side to side of the island, with a pine torch stuck in the front of his -bonnet to give him light, and playing the pipes all the time. The piper -thereupon entered the cave, playing a lively march, while most of the -wedding guests followed above, led in the proper course by the music, -which could be heard faintly from below. More than half the cave was -traversed, when suddenly the music changed from a brisk march to a -doleful lament. This lament, duly interpreted, told the people above -that things were becoming uncomfortable with the piper; first, that -the pine torch was almost burnt out, and again that his breath was -failing him, while the boldest of the wolves slowly retired before -him, only kept at bay by the flickering of the torch and the sound -of the pipes, but ready to spring upon and devour him the instant -the torch should be extinguished and the music of the pipes should -cease. It was then that the doomed piper played Cha till mi tuilleadh' -so mournfully--'I will return no more!' And this too-- - - - 'Mo dhìth, mo dhìth, gun trì lamhan; - Dà làmh 's a phiob, 's làmh 's a chlaidheamh.' - - ('Alas, and my great want, that I have not three hands, - Two for (playing) the pipes, and one to wield my sword.') - - -If he had only a third hand he thought he could manage to kill the -wolves that were every instant becoming bolder, as if they knew he -must fall into their jaws at last. The last notes caught by the people -above were known to mean-- - - - ''Si ghall' uaine 'shàraich mi, - 'Si ghalla' uaine 'shàraich mi!' - - ('It is the green bitch wolf that most harasses me!') - - -And then the music ceased, and they knew that the poor piper had been -torn to pieces by the wolves. Such is something like the story I used -to hear in connection with the big cave in Mull and the well-known -lament, more than fifty years ago." - -The cave referred to is on the estate of Lochbuy. So far as it has -been explored, its length is over 500 feet, with a breadth of some 25 -feet, and a height of 40. It is proper to say that the people of Skye -claim the whole story as belonging to their island. The piper was a -Macrimmon; the cave is pointed out near Dunvegan, and the story of -the wolves and the piper's sad fate is just as likely to be true of -the one island as of the other. Our own opinion is, that so far as -there is any truth in the story, it must be located in Skye rather -than in Mull, although our friends in the latter island will perhaps -be angry with us for saying so. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LVI. - - Rain in Lochaber--An Apple Tree in bloom by Candle-light--Mackenzie - the Bird-Catcher--A Badenoch "Wise Woman" spitting in a Child's - Face to preserve it from the Fairies! - - -"It never rains but it pours," and nowhere is the familiar adage -in its utmost literalness truer than in Lochaber. During a long -protracted drought of nearly a couple of months' duration [June -1877], we were constantly calling for rain; and no wonder, for the -earth was hard and hide-bound as an Egyptian mummy; sheep and cattle -finding little more to gather on the parched uplands than if they -were nibbling at the bulge of an ironclad laid up in ordinary. For -full five and twenty years--so far back, eheu and alas! do our own -individual meteorological records extend--we have had no May month so -persistently ungenial and cold; nor, when one comes to think of it, -is it much matter of surprise, for we have just been reading that -in the North Atlantic, within a few hundred leagues of the British -shores, and up to the very margin of the Gulf Stream, a ship recently -arrived in port had to fight her way through quite a continent of -drift ice, with occasional icebergs "from two to three hundred feet -in height." With such grim, hyperborean neighbours on the one hand, -and a keen-edged east wind on the other, it was impossible that it -should be otherwise than cold and uncomfortable all round. On the 26th, -however, came the long-looked-for change, the wind came slowly round -to S.S.W., rain began to fall, and the effect was magical. There -was instantly a blanket-like kindliness and a balminess in the air -that was delicious. The birds, that a little before could only chirp -dolorously, burst out into loud and jubilant song, the cattle lowed -in their pastures, wild-flowers seemed to laugh with quiet delight, -and the very boom of the big waves as they broke on the beach had a -pleasant music in it. It has continued to rain more or less ever since, -so that with regard to mere personal comfort one is ready to cry "Hold, -enough!" but so far as the interests of agriculture and pasturage -are concerned, not a drop too much has fallen. The fact is that, -frequent as is the complaint about what people are pleased to speak -about as our superabundant rainfall, we require it all. We question -if a diminution of our annual rainfall by a third, say, or even by -a fifth of its amount, would, from a practical and utilitarian point -of view, be any improvement, but the reverse. A shrewd south country -shepherd, with whom we had a long crack on Saturday, was right when, -speaking of the rain, he remarked that "it would be a puir country -for sheep at ony rate, if we had much less o't frae year's end -to year's end." How ill the drought of April and May agreed with -us here may be understood from the fact that there was an unusual -amount of sickness amongst the people; while the leanness of sheep -and kine bore sad and emphatic witness to the scarcity of succulent -pasture, and the general backwardness of the season is to this moment -noticeable from our window as we write, for neither the lilac nor the -hawthorn is yet in bloom, nor are potatoes, even the earliest planted, -any more than just becoming discernible in regular drills. We should -say that vegetation is generally quite a fortnight later than usual, -and only an exceptionally fine summer and early autumn can bring -about a fairly seasonable harvest-time. Dum spiro, spero, however, -is a good maxim, and we shall hope that, even if harvest is late, the -ingathering may be all the more pleasant and abundant. The drought, -however, and persistent east wind, it is but fair to confess, were -rather favourable than otherwise to the fruit trees of all kinds in -garden and orchard. Bud and blossom were, to use a military term, held -in check until after the middle of May, thus escaping the night frosts -usual in the early part of the month. All sorts of fruit trees and -berry bushes are consequently only now in full bloom, and a large fruit -crop may very confidently be looked for, though it may be a little -later than usual in attaining to perfect ripeness. Did you ever, by -the way, good reader, look at an apple tree in full blossom on a calm, -dewy night by candle-light? Recently we had occasion to go into our -garden towards midnight in search of a bird that had escaped from his -cage during the day. Coming under a large apple tree in full bloom, -we held up the open lantern in our hand and peered a-tiptoe among -the branches in hopes of getting a sight of the foolish runaway. Him -we did not find then, but the apple tree, bending under its weight of -blossoms "dew besprent," was the most beautiful thing we ever saw, and -we called everybody about the place to come and look at it, and they -all agreed that the sight was as beautiful as it was new to them. If -you have an opportunity try it for yourself, and you will thank us -all your life long for calling your attention to a thing of beauty, -which the poet is not wrong in assuring you "is a joy for ever." - -We didn't get our bird in the apple tree, but we were in great good -luck notwithstanding, for who chanced to come the way next morning -but Mackenzie the bird-catcher, who soon discovered the runaway's -whereabouts in a neighbouring copse, and whistled him back to hand -as easily as a shepherd whistles back his truant collie. It is a -goldfinch, a magnificent singer, whom we have long had as a cage-bird; -and being unaccustomed to liberty, it was all the easier enticing him -back to his cage, although we much doubt if any man in the kingdom -could have done it so immediately and with such unfaltering confidence -in his own power to do it as Mackenzie, who knows wild-bird music -better than any one else we ever met, and can imitate it in its every -twist and turn, chirp or cheep or chant, so deftly and unmistakeably as -to deceive the birds themselves, each after his kind, the severest test -to which such an accomplishment could be put. If there be any truth in -the old doctrine of metempsychosis, Mackenzie, having shaken off the -"mortal coil" of his present form, is pretty sure to reappear as a -rock-linnet, redpole, or goldfinch. Like an honest man, who knows and -acknowledges the value and force of an Act of Parliament, he hadn't -on this occasion much to show us, but what he had was in part at least -interesting, and captured in early spring. One curiosity was a linnet -with one wing pure white, which he would insist upon was a different -species from the ordinary linnet, because he had caught so many with a -sinister or dexter, one or other, wing white or variegated. We fought -a hard battle in trying to convince him that it was a mere accidental -bit of colouring, due probably to some hurt received in its downy -days, or at all events before its first moult; and made it no more a -different species than an accidental hurt, which causes a man to go -lame, makes him anything else than a specimen of homo sapiens all the -same. Arguing, however, with men of Mackenzie's stamp is rather uphill -work. He listened, to be sure, with a politeness and attention which -seems to us to be inseparable from the character of the true practical -naturalist, and seemed to give acquiescence in all we asserted, but -we shouldn't wonder a bit if he remained of his own opinion still. A -rather rare bird was a specimen, in excellent condition and feather, -of the grey crow, at one time quite a common bird along the shores -of the West Highlands, but owing to the incessant war waged against -them by shepherds, gamekeepers, and vermin-trappers, now become so -rare that we stopped our pony to have a good look at a pair that we -saw the other day near Strontian, at the head of Loch Sunart. If you -want a specimen of any British bird, just commission Mackenzie to get -it for you. He will only bring you a specimen that is perfect of its -kind, and if you only give him time he will succeed in getting it, -even if he walked a thousand miles in the pursuit. - -With reference to our explanation of the term study applied to a small -plateau, a well-known spot at the top of Glencoe, a correspondent -writes as follows:--"You do not seem to be aware that study is the -word in common use in Lowland Scotland for an anvil as well as amongst -the unlisping Celts. I wonder you forgot Burns' well-known lines-- - - - 'Nae mercy, then, for airn or steel; - The brawnie, bainie, ploughman chiel, - Brings hard owrehip, wi' sturdy wheel - The strong forehammer, - Till block and studdie ring and reel - Wi' dinsome clamour.'" - - -We are much obliged to our friendly correspondent. The quotation -proves that the Lowland Scotch as well as the Highlanders have a -difficulty with the lisping sound of th, preferring the simpler and -more natural sound of d. - -A gentleman from Badenoch greatly amused us the other day by his -account of a certain superstitious observance on the part of a "wise -woman" in his neighbourhood. The gentleman's wife was sitting with -her baby, only a few weeks old, in her lap. It was of course a marvel -of a baby; for bigness and beauty the finest baby, like all babies, -that ever was seen, and of which its parents were naturally and very -excusably as proud as proud could be. The "wise woman" of the place had -called to see the child, and congratulated the parents on their good -luck. The crone got a chair opposite to that occupied by the happy -mother, while the father looked on and smiled with becoming dignity -and pride. As the old woman was looking at the child, it chanced to -yawn, bored probably by the amount of attention paid to it, and getting -sleepy. As it yawned, the old woman got up from the chair, and walking -over to the "infant phenomenon," coolly and deliberately spat in its -face! The mother was horrified; the father in a rage asked what the -deuce she meant by spitting in his son's face? The old lady quietly -answered that the yawn was owing to an evil influence at that moment -at work with the child, and her spitting in its face was the readiest -and most effectual way of saving it from one or more of the mischievous -tricks which ill-natured fairies are so fond of playing off on babies -that are "beautiful exceedingly," and more especially when they are -overmuch petted and bepraised by their parents and friends. The "wise -woman" was at once liberally supplied with the refreshments usual -on such occasions, and as soon as possible dismissed, care being -taken the while not to offend her, which might have been a serious -matter for baby and all concerned. It is not a little curious that -although in all countries to spit at one is expressive of the utmost -detestation and contempt, yet in the superstitions of the Lowlands -of Scotland, as well as in the Highlands, to spit on a person or -thing, under certain conditions and circumstances, is supposed to be -counteractive of evil influences, and therefore a highly commendable -act. We have seen a woman spit on the nets in a boat as it left the -shore, to ensure a successful fishing; and when hand-line fishing, -a man who has had little luck and is getting impatient, as he baits -his hook afresh, spits on it before dropping it again into the sea, -in the belief that good luck attends the act. An old woman who has -just bound up a bruised or broken limb, whether of man or beast, -will sometimes finish the operation by spitting on the bandage. In -the superstitions of most countries, such involuntary and apparently -causeless acts as sneezing and yawning are attributed to supernatural -agencies, and spitting at the sneezer or yawner is still sometimes -practised as a counter-charm by the oldest and most learned professors -of such lore, an older superstition probably than the more common -practice of invoking the Divine blessing on the subjects in such -cases. Questionable, therefore, and rude as at first sight seemed -the act, we assured our Badenoch friend that the "wise woman," in -acting as she did, meant his bairn no evil or disrespect at all, -but the very contrary. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LVII. - - Caught in a Squall on Loch Leven--Potatoes and Herrings: How - to cook them--A day in Glen Nevis--A visit to Uaimh Shomhairle, - or Samuel's Cave--The Cave-Men. - - -The reader may remember that we concluded our last with a hopeful and -jubilant note, believing that really fine weather--a long track of -it, perhaps--was just at hand. We much regret having to say that our -meteorological vaticinations proved utterly incorrect. It still rains -[July 1877], not constantly, indeed, but with sufficient persistence -to make everybody miserable, and to reduce our hopes of a good harvest -almost to zero. Yesterday, for example, we had occasion to cross the -Loch in our boat. It was a nice bright day enough at starting, with a -fresh breeze from N.W., which carried us along at racing pace. All of -a sudden the heavens became black and threatening; a terrible squall -almost capsized us ere we had time to sing out to our companion to let -go "everything by the run." He did, fortunately, let go just in time, -and grasping an oar ourselves, and calling on him to take another, -we had her head turned to the wind and waves as quietly but as quickly -as possible. Thus we held her, just like a horse by the reins, while -the squall lasted, and cunningly took advantage of its drift to get to -the Appin shore. We managed to reach it, but in very sorry plight, as -you shall hear. With the squall had come rain, literally the heaviest -we ever saw, which drenched us to the skin; every drop big enough to -fill as it fell the largest of thimbles, and driven by the squall, -remember, it fell with the force of a spent bullet. As "drookit" and -drenched we landed, and crawled with all the miserable, and woebegone, -and shambling gait of the really and thoroughly through-and-through -wet, you would have laughed in the teeth of all the rain had you -only met us; and we much doubt if any one who did not know us would -just then have been disposed to appraise ourselves and our whole -belongings at the value of a much bigger coin of the realm than a -shabby florin. And this is just the sort of weather it continues to -be. You cannot depend upon it for an hour. It is sunshine and blue -above just for five minutes; it is all of a sudden gloomy and black -as Erebus, and raining so multitudinously that you are fain to draw -the skirts of your coat anyhow over your head and run for the nearest -shelter. When we are to have better weather let the meteorologists, -who ought to know, say. - -There is an old and frequent proverb, though rarely heard now-a-days, -to the effect that "there goes reason to the roasting of eggs," -the meaning of which, as we apprehend it, is that the smallest -culinary operation is of importance, and should be gone about with -judgment and care. If the proverb, however, in its actual words, -as a mere popular saw, is very much forgotten, it is a good sign of -our time that its spirit at least is in this our own day claiming -no little attention, as the establishment of "cookery classes," and -the praiseworthy attempts to disseminate culinary lore amongst the -people, abundantly testify. It has been said that the man who makes -two blades of grass to grow where only one blade grew before is a -benefactor to his species, and equally so, would we venture to assert, -is he a benefactor to the human race who shows how any single article -of food, usually cooked and served in an unsatisfactory and tasteless -fashion, may, with no extra expense and little extra trouble, be made -palatable and savoury. The other day, landing from our boat, we went -into a cottar's house close by the sea, in a neighbouring district, -just as the gudewife was preparing the family dinner. A pot of new -potatoes was boiling on the fire, and as she knew that it would take -us still some time to get home, she very good-naturedly invited us -to wait a little and take a share with herself and her husband of the -dinner about to be served, a bit of hospitality as frankly accepted as -it was kindly offered. Looking now and again into the boiling potato -pot, and listening with inclined ear to the sound, actually musical -in such a case, of its boil and bubbling, she was ready at the proper -instant to snatch it off the fire, and, carrying it to a corner of the -kitchen, she poured off the water, and immediately re-hung it over -the fire again, shortening the chain by which it was suspended by a -link or two, that the fire might not, now that it was waterless, have -too much effect upon it. She then got some half-dozen fresh herrings, -caught early that morning--herrings large, and beautiful, and silvery -scaled as a salmon--and drying them nicely with a cloth, she placed -them flat-wise side by side on the top of the potatoes in the pot, -the lid of which she was careful to make fit tightly by means of a -coarse kitchen towel, which served at once to cover the contents, and -to cause the lid to fit so tightly that all the steam was effectually -retained. For the time being, in short, the pot by this ready expedient -may be said to have been hermetically sealed. During a quarter of -an hour, perhaps, and while the gentleman and ourselves carried on -a lively conversation, the wife kept an attentive eye on the pot, -never once lifting the lid, however, but from time to time raising or -lowering a link of the chain as in her judgment was necessary. All -being ready at last, she took the pot off the fire, and set it on a -low stool in the middle of the floor. She then lifted the lid and -the cloth, and the room was instantly filled with a savoury steam -that made one's mouth water merely to inhale it. Occupying each a -low chair, we were invited to fall to, to eat without knife, or fork, -or trencher, just with our fingers out of the pot as it stood. It was -a little startling, but only for a moment. After a word of grace we -dipped our hand into the pot, and took out a potato hot and mealy, -and with the other we took a nip out of the silvery flank of the -herring nearest us. It was a mouthful for a king, sir! We have in our -day a thousand times dined well and heartily both at home and abroad, -but we greatly question if we ever enjoyed a dinner half so much as -that. The savouriness of that potato and herring feast will haunt -us till our dying day. What struck us was simply this: A new potato -and fresh herring as usually served is something terribly insipid; -as we got it that day it was a meal for an emperor. We actually felt -inclined to lick our fingers after every mouthful, than which surely -there could be no higher praise of any food whatever. Let such of our -readers as have the opportunity just try a potato and herring cooked in -the manner stated, eating it digitally, with their own proper fingers, -and they will thank us, if they are honest, for bringing so savoury -and delicious a dish to their knowledge. - -One of the finest glens in all the West Highlands is Glen Nevis, -which, opening out in the direction of the old Castle of Inverlochy, -extends eastwards and inland, the valley gradually narrowing into -glen and gorge as you proceed, for nine or ten miles, presenting at -every turn and standpoint throughout its many windings a succession -of the most striking and beautiful pictures imaginable, so striking -and startling at times, and new at least in some of their details, -that a genuine lover of mountain scenery wishes that he could devote -an entire day to every separate mile of its extent, rather than have to -hurry through it all in something like half a dozen hours, which is the -way the thing is usually done. It is like being dragged, as happened to -us once, by a nervous and impatient lady friend of ours, at a sort of -half trot through a picture gallery, where, if you had your own way, -you would gladly lounge and linger till the custodier of the place, -perhaps, came respectfully to hint that the afternoon was far advanced, -and that shutting-up time was at hand. With the entrance to Glen Nevis, -as far as the mansion-house, we had long been familiar, and once at -least we had a bird's-eye glance into the glen proper itself, from -the summit of Dundearduil, which we had approached from the south in -order to examine its curious and still inexplicable vitrifications. It -was not, however, till Friday last, that we had an opportunity of -thoroughly exploring the glen through all its windings, and coming -with little difficulty to the conclusion already expressed, that of -all our West Highland glens, it is, perhaps, the most beautiful and -(Glencoe always apart) the most deserving of a thorough and leisurely -examination. We were fortunate in having hit upon a highly favourable -day--not too bright, for glaring sunshine and unclouded brightness -amongst mountain scenery is a great mistake--and no less fortunate in -our companions, each one of them blessed with eyes that, open, could -really see, and hearts that, duly appealed to, could truly feel; who -knew full well what they had come to do, and from first to last did -it admirably. Barely, we should say, has the noble glen exposed its -stern grandeur and innumerable beauties under favourable skies, to the -glad and earnest gaze of more intelligently appreciative spectators; -and more rarely still, perhaps, have the splendid falls of the Nevis -borne burden to peals of honester or merrier laughter than we indulged -in as over the well-plenished luncheon basket we fortified ourselves -for the ascent of the upper gorges,--a somewhat "stiff" climb, but -neither really difficult nor dangerous. When we say that at Glen Nevis -House our party was joined by Mr. Macpherson--fear a ghlinne e féin, -the goodman of the glen himself, as the Highlanders say--who kindly -accompanied us throughout, and to whom every foot of the glen was -as familiar as the floor of his own dining-room, many of our readers -will understand how really pleasant and enjoyable, coeteris paribus, -must have been our upland wanderings on that delightful day. - -We have no intention of entering on anything like a minute -or photographic description of Glen Nevis, for which, indeed, -half-a-dozen Nether Lochaber columns would hardly suffice; we can -only hurriedly glance at what most instantly and indelibly struck -us in the day's excursion. First of all, we were all struck by the -exceeding pellucidity and crystal clearness of the waters of the -Nevis. Nowhere else did we ever see a mountain stream so beautifully -transparent. Standing on the brink of any selected pool, many feet -in depth, you distinguished the smallest pea-sized pebble, its veins, -scratches, and striations, as distinctly as if you had it on the palm -of your hand, under a lens, and within less than a foot focus of -your eyeball! And all this remarkable pellucidity, observe, not in -one particular pool, or in any one particular stretch of the river, -but throughout all its beautiful windings. Another remarkable feature -of the glen is the manner in which its natural birch woods grow. They -occupy a pretty broad belt almost half-way up the mountains, leaving a -still broader belt between themselves and the river banks comparatively -bare and treeless. In all the other Highland glens with which we -have any acquaintance, whatever of wood there is always begins, -as seems most natural, at the river banks, where it is thickest and -most luxuriant, growing away and upwards on either side to a greater -or less altitude, according to the nature of the soil and the shelter -to be had from the prevailing winds. And speaking of winds, this is -the place to observe that of all our glens Glen Nevis is perhaps the -stormiest, the wind in a gale not blowing steadily, but in fitful -gusts and whirlwind-wise, striking in from the corries right and -left, and meeting in the centre with a force and fury unimaginable by -non-residenters. How do you know, the reader may ask, for it was calm -and quiet enough during your visit on Friday? True, and yet we failed -not to notice a very striking proof of the storminess at times of Glen -Nevis notwithstanding. As you pass the forester's house at Auchreoch, -lift up your eyes, and please observe how carefully, how thoroughly, -closely, compactly, and painstakingly it is thatched; and observe -further and over all a network of wire as thick and strong as that -used in our overland telegraphy, and to the end of each wire as it -almost reaches the ground in front and at the back of the house, -please notice suspended a large stone, water-worn boulders from the -river below, each of a hundredweight or more, and you will not fail, -we think, to understand how we so confidently decided that Glen Nevis -at times must be an exceedingly stormy place. If you assert that -other Highland glens may be quite as stormy in the season of storms, -we shall not contradict you; what we do say is this, that never did a -house-roof speak to us so eloquently of furious and frequent storm and -whirlwind as did the roof of that house at Auchreoch, and a very good -house it is, and a very pretty place to the bargain. A little beyond -Auchreoch, and to the left of the path, there is a bit of wild and -rugged rock scenery well worth attention. Here and there, over the -face of what seems the hard impenetrable rock, many trees grow and -flourish as if through the very heart of the granite. The explanation -of course is, that the rock which seems so homogeneous and solid at -a distance is in reality fissured and fractured in all directions, -and that in these fissures the trees find soil and food enough to -sustain a wonderfully luxuriant growth and opulence of foliage for -such a situation. About a mile further up the glen, we separated from -our companions for a while, we having determined to cross the Nevis -at this point in order to visit Uaimh Shomhairle, or Samuel's Cave, -the entrance to which was pointed out to us by Mr. Macpherson in -the face of the opposite steep. To get across the river we had to -strip until in a state of almost puris naturalibus, and even then it -was somewhat dangerous, a single false step might have been attended -by very serious consequences. With a little circumspection and care, -however, we got safely over, and half-dressed and barefooted we climbed -the rock like a chamois, and in less than ten minutes we were standing -at the mouth of the celebrated cave. Samuel's Cave is in fact two -caves, the outer and smaller one, with a broad portal that admits -abundant light and air, forming a sort of vestibule or antechamber -to the inner cave. Provided with one or two old newspapers and some -wax vestas, we improvised a couple of rude torches which we carried -with us as we crept through a narrow opening by which alone access -is obtained into the inner antrum. Lighting one of these torches, -which answered our purpose quite well enough, we explored the cave at -leisure, closely scrutinising the walls and roof as high as we could -reach, in the hope of perhaps finding some scratch or sculptures, -however rude, to prove that the place had been inhabited in the times -of the "cave-men." Nothing of the kind, however, was discernible. The -cave in its every part is exceedingly damp and cold, with green, slimy -roof and walls, where not even the hardiest wild beast of mountain or -forest would think of taking up its abode, far less any human being -with the faintest notion of the value of warmth and comfort. There -are scores of lesser caves and fissures in the rocks around where -one would elect to live by reason of their dryness, in preference -to the big and pretentious Samuel's Cave, which, as a mere cave, -is perhaps interesting enough, and not unworthy of a visit; otherwise -it is a "sell," in exploring which no one can spend more than the -shortest five minutes to any good purpose. In the times of civil -wars and clan feuds it is conceivable that one or more outlawed and -"broken" men might find the outer cave a secure and not altogether -unpleasant place of shelter to pass a night in where no better might -be. As a place also to hide one's more valuable goods and chattels in -an emergency, the cave may at times have had its value and use. It -never, depend upon it, was inhabited for any length of time by -any human being. A week of it would kill the stoutest, robustest -savage that ever trod the Caledonian wilds. An additional proof, if -additional proofs are wanting, that Samuel's Cave can never have been -"inhabited" in any proper sense of that term, or even much frequented -for any purpose whatever, is to be found in the fact that there is -not a vestige of a path either from the river bank below or from the -hill above leading towards it. Had it at any time been much in use -for any purpose, there must have been a path leading to it either -from above or from below, and some traces at least, however faint, -of such a path, must still exist. We searched and searched, above and -below, and round and round, and no trace or vestige at all of such -a path could we find. Go, good reader, and see the cave by all means -when you have the opportunity; it is a fair enough cave as caves go; -but take our word for it that the attempt to invest the vast dark, -damp, slimy antrum with any archæological interest is the greatest -delusion in the world. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LVIII. - - Showers in Harvest Time--Magnificent Sunset--Night sometimes - seeming not to descend but to ascend--Death of M. Leverrier--The - Discovery of Neptune--Pigeon cooing at Midnight--The Owl at - Noon--Cage-Birds singing at Night. - - -The weather continues wonderfully fine for the season [October 1877], -and with the exception of the potato-lifting, all our harvest labours -are at length concluded. The ingathering has upon the whole been -highly satisfactory, far more so than any one could have had the -courage to predict up to the very advent of this our autumnal summer, -which has already lasted just thirty days, uninterruptedly sunny -and dry, without any more serious break than a mere passing shower, -which invariably did more good than harm. More good? the reader -exclaims interrogatively, how can a shower do good, how can it be -otherwise than harmful in harvest time? Patience, courteous reader, -and we shall explain. It is a case of something of this kind. You are -driving along the road; the horse in the shafts before you is upon -the whole a steady-going and willing animal enough, but you have let -him have it just his own way for the last half hour, and dreaming, -perhaps, of fresh fields and pastures green, he has for the moment -forgotten your existence, and begins to lag. His usual pace of a good -eight miles an hour is now hardly over five, and what in such a case -shall you do? You drop the lash gently across his flank, as light and -gently as falls the angler's cast on the waveless pool; you are too -much of a Christian and a gentlemen--the terms are or ought to be -synonymous--to do otherwise until it is absolutely necessary. Your -horse forgets his dream; becomes instantly alive to the work before -him; gathers himself together, and with a responsive toss of his head -and a lively play of ears, goes along at rather more than his average -speed until the next stage is reached; knowing full well that the -hand that laid on that serpent-like lash so tenderly, can lay it on in -very different fashion, hot and heavy enough when occasion calls. Or, -dropping metaphor, let us state the matter plainly, thus:--Here in -Lochaber, and we suppose it is just the same over all the Highlands, -when really fine weather comes, we are for the first few days up and -doing, busy enough. But as one fine day succeeds another, we are very -ready to fall into the error that after all it is best to take things -leisurely. Where's the need, we ask ourselves, for so much hurry and -bustle? The fine weather has lasted a week; it may last a month, -is indeed likely so to last; it is no more like rain to-day than -it was yesterday; and thus we lapse, often unconsciously, perhaps, -into a spirit of dilatoriness and procrastination, out of which only -a lowering sky, and a shower that for all we know may become a flood, -can fairly rouse us. You slept long, for instance, this morning; -you dawdled over your porridge and milk at breakfast time, and it -is now noonday. But see! the heavens yonder in the north-west are -suddenly overcast; an ominous gloom creeps over the Outer Hebrides; -a few drops of rain have already fallen, one on the back of your left -hand, on which placing the index finger of your right, you can find -that it is wet, that it is rain; a second on your cheek with a soft, -tepid thud; and a third right into your open, uplifted eye, and you -straightway start into activity and life. All hands on deck! is the -cry. You rush into the field amongst the stooks; you bustle about -cheerily, and calling all hands into your service, for idlers are now -out of place, you cart and carry away as fast as you can into your -barn or stack-yard, and by sunset, so expeditiously have you worked, -that the field from head-rig to head-rig is but bare and stookless -stubble. It was after all but a passing shower; the gloom has given -place to cloudless blue; you have been cheated, so to speak. But what -matters it? Your crop is safely stacked or housed, and were it not for -the passing shower and temporary mid-day gloom, your stooks were still -afield, running a risk there was no reason they should run; and so, -good reader, you will understand how a slight shower in the season of -ingathering may not always be an evil, but a very good thing indeed; -and only a few such passing, labour-inciting showers have we known -here for a whole month, and that is much to say when the month is to -be counted from mid-September to mid-October. - -And, O gentle reader, we only wish you were with us here to see for -yourself, propriis oculis, for no pen can describe it, one or more -of the many magnificent sunsets we have had in the course of this -same bypast month of fine weather. The sunsets of the equinoctial -seasons, both vernal and autumnal, are almost always beautiful, -more particularly those of the autumnal equinox; but never before, -we think, have we seen them so startling, gloriously beautiful, so -gorgeously magnificent, as on several occasions lately. A few evenings -ago, as we were busy in our study, a young lady burst in upon us in -a state of great excitement, begging us to throw aside our pen for a -little, and come out to see the exceeding glory of the setting sun. We -readily complied of course, and taking the young lady by the hand we -made a race of it till we reached our "coigne of vantage," a grassy -green knoll, a favourite standpoint when any celestial phenomenon -of importance to the W. or S.W. of us is to be observed. The scene, -in truth, was indescribably beautiful, and we stood in speechless -admiration, not unmingled with awe, in sight of the most glorious -sunset our eyes ever beheld. Before us lay the whole expanse of the -Linnhe Loch, shimmering as if gently aboil in a flood of pale golden -light. Beyond, rose what seemed the one vast unbroken range of the -mountains of Ardgour, Kingerloch, and Morven, bathed in a rich dark -purple hue, that for the moment so thoroughly obliterated every trace -of their native ruggedness, that our companion prettily observed, -"Haven't you the idea, sir, as I have, that if one were only near -enough these beautiful mountains to pat them lovingly with the hand, -they would feel to the touch soft and warm as a roll of velvet?" a -thought, unconsciously perhaps, tinged with poetry, though the -woman pure and simple comes out very unmistakeably in the reference -to the "roll of velvet." In the far background, thirty miles away, -rose the glory and pride of Mull (Blackie's favourite island of all -the Hebrides), the huge mountains of Benmore and Ben-na-Bairnich, -their base and middle zones ink-black, their shoulders dark orange, -here and there curiously streaked with threads of pearly light, their -summits and sloping ridges fringed with living fire. Above, the whole -western heavens was full of vast continents, peninsulas, isthmuses, -and islands of cloud, all afire at their edges, with firths, ferries, -and Mediterraneans of liquid gold between. As the full-orbed sun, fiery -and red, slowly sank to the horizon, the clouds were rent asunder as -if by the very excellency of the glory that beat upon them; some of -them assuming fantastic shapes, in which a lively imagination had no -difficulty in tracing striking resemblances to the hugest animals of -our own and past ages, a monster saurian in sharply defined silhouette, -being so marvellously outlined that our fair companion sketched it on -the spot, as a memento of a sunset that neither of us is likely ever -to forget. As the sun's lower limb seemed just to touch and rest an -instant on the highest peak of the Kingerloch range, a large mass -of cloud immediately above him rapidly assumed a columnar shape, -perpendicular to the plane of the horizon, and, as the splendid orb -dipped and disappeared, this huge "pillar of cloud" became a perfect -Ionic column, sharply outlined, and admirably correct in all its -proportions from base to entablature, and all aglow with living fire; -shaft and pediment with richest crimson; frieze and architrave and -cornice with the glow of molten mettle at "white heat" as it issues -from a blast furnace. There was, truth to say, something terrible -about the scene, a wild and weird combination of the sublime and -beautiful such as Edmund Burke never beheld even in his dreams. It was -impossible, in the presence of the "terrible majesty" of that glory, -to avoid thinking of the awfulness that must appertain to a scene of -which all of us shall one day be spectators, when the "elements shall -melt with fervent heat," and the "earth also, and the works that are -therein," shall be consumed with fire. The succeeding afterglow of -that same evening was singularly beautiful. The mountains of Appin and -Glencoe were for a time bathed from their summits to their shoulders -in the richest purple and gold, making them look so soft and warm, -that for the moment their actual ruggedness was utterly forgotten, and -one felt towards them a far stronger and tenderer sentiment than mere -admiration. And very curiously, as we gazed, did the night immediately -succeed the afterglow, for of twilight there was none--there rarely -is indeed in autumn, as the old Highlanders were too observant not -to notice, for what saith the old and well-known rhyme?-- - - - "Mar chlorich a ruith le gleann, - Tha feasgar fann, fogharaidh." - - -The meaning of which is, that no longer lasts the autumnal twilight -than it takes a stone to roll adown the mountain steep into the glen -below. We generally speak of the night's descending; we say the falling -night, the darkness fell, &c., as if the darkness came down from above, -and sometimes, doubtless, it does seem so to fall--to descend like a -curtain. On this occasion, however, and frequently, we have noticed, -in the autumnal season, the night did not seem so much to descend -as to ascend, like an exhalation from out the entrails of the earth; -the blackness of gorge and corrie and glen slowly creeping upwards, -banishing the gold and purple as it ascended, just as you have seen -the earth's shadow in an eclipse of the moon obliterate the silvery -radiance of the lunar disc--finally reaching ridge and summit and -loftiest peak, and lo, it was night, the ruddy orb of Mars over the now -ink-black top of Buachaille-Etive putting the fact beyond all question; -and, while our fair companion went for a stroll along the beach, gaily -singing a merry roundelay as became her innocence and her years, we -retired in a mood of mind that, while it was pleasant upon the whole, -had yet a tinge of sadness about it, to our study and our books. - -France has recently lost one of her greatest men by the death of -M. Leverrier, her distinguished astronomer, the most distinguished -astronomer, it is not too much to say, of the present century. Many, -indeed, achieved greater triumphs with the telescope, for with the -telescope Leverrier did comparatively little; it was as a mathematical -astronomer that he was unrivalled. He came first prominently into -notice while still a young man, with his cometary investigations, and -his researches into the motions of the planet Mercury, constructing -tables by which transits of the latter can be predicted with such -absolute correctness that the mean error never exceeds sixteen -seconds of time. But it is with the discovery of the planet Neptune -that Leverrier's name is imperishably associated. The case briefly -stated was this:--It was found, after a time, that the planet Uranus, -discovered by Sir William Herschel, did not actually follow the orbit -which theory had assigned to it. It had a mysterious trick of leaving -the computed track, and describing a greater orbit, if the law of -gravitation was to hold good, than the tables founded on that law -warranted. Astronomers were puzzled to account for the vagaries of an -orbit that, according to their theory, ought to be well-behaved, and -staid and steady-going as any other member of the solar system. What -could the perturbations of Uranus mean? was the question asked; and -at the suggestion of his friend the distinguished Arago, Leverrier -undertook to answer it, and in due time did answer it in such wise -as filled the world with astonishment and admiration. Resolutely -grasping with his task, Leverrier laboured long and laboured hard to -resolve the mystery, and as a first step with this result, that the -problem was utterly unresolvable on any other conceivable theory or -conjecture than that another planet, albeit unknown to astronomers, -and hitherto as unsuspected as it was unseen, existed exterior to -Uranus, and that it was to the attraction or disturbing influence of -this hitherto undreamt-of orb that the perturbations and mysterious -vagaries of Uranus could alone be ascribed. A memoir stating the -conclusion arrived at, and all the calculations leading towards it, -was read before the Royal Academy of Sciences in June 1846, and the -young and daring astronomer straightway resumed his labours, of which -the aim was now to determine the elements of the orbit of the unknown -planet, in the existence of which he now believed as firmly as in -that of the visibly perturbed orb Uranus itself. The astronomical -world shook its head dubiously, and waited. Did such a planet really -exist, and if it did, could this daring Frenchman find it? M. Leverrier -meantime laboured on, and finally mastering every difficulty, he gave -the computed plans of orbit, the mass and natural position of his -constructed world, if in truth, that is, such a world existed. This -was in a second memoir to the Academy of Sciences on the last day -of August 1846. Towards the end of the following month (September -1846), Leverrier wrote to M. Galle, of Berlin, requesting him to -level the powerful telescope under his charge at a particular point -of the heavens, and there, in effect, said the wonderful Frenchman, -you will find the cause of the perturbations of Uranus, a new and -distant world, hitherto undreamt of and unseen by mortal eye, but -existing all the same. M. Galle, on the first favourable opportunity, -directed his telescope as requested, and there, within less than a -single degree of its computed place, and flinging back its light from -the enormous distance of more than three billions of miles, was the -planet of Leverrier's analysis, with a diameter, magnitude, and orbit -all as calculated and predicted. It was a glorious triumph, the most -wonderful achievement in the annals of a science where all is wonder. - -Publicly and privately has this query been put to us--Is it -unusual to hear a pigeon cooing at midnight, and the owl hooting in -bright noonday? We answer very unhesitatingly that it is unusual, -so unusual in the case of the owl at least, that in a quarter of -a century's familiar and friendly intercourse with our wild-birds -under all possible circumstances, we have never heard an owl hoot -except "darkling," as Milton has it, that is, from out the darkness -or sombre shade. Even at night, if the moon is shining bright, it -never hoots from a spot on which the moonbeams fall in full flood; -it selects the deepest shadow even in faint moonlight when uttering -its eerie notes. It will hoot in twilight, and it will hoot when -the heavens are bright ablaze with the most brilliant coruscations -of the aurora, but never, so far as our experience has extended, -does it hoot in honest daylight or even in moonlight, except when, -as we have said, it is itself in deep shade. We have kept pets of all -our native species of owls, and most interesting pets they make, and -though, when angry or in any way out of sorts, it will utter a ready -hiss, ending in a curious rasping guttural, we have never known it to -hoot except in the darkness of night, and, more rarely, in the dim, -uncertain light of evening or morning twilight. The cooing of a pigeon -at midnight, while it may be said to be unusual, is yet a thing that, -under certain circumstances, may be heard at any time. Many birds, -captives in cage or aviary, frequently sing short and incomplete -strophes of their special song in the warm stillness of summer nights, -evidently in their dreams. Others, in their natural state of freedom, -about the time of the longest day, when there is hardly any night -in our latitudes, may be heard singing, generally unconnectedly, -and in a faint, uncertain key. The pigeon will coo at any time when -brooding, if rudely disturbed in any way, just as a brooding hen will -purr and scold if you annoy her or her nest at any hour of the day or -night. The cooing of a pigeon, therefore, at midnight is nothing very -wonderful. The hooting of an owl at noonday, however, is surprising, -and a thing which, although we live in a district where owls are -plentiful, is altogether unknown in our experience. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LIX. - - October Storms--Cablegram Predictions--Indications of - coming Storms--Geordie Braid, the St. Andrews and Newport - Coach-driver--The Naturalist in Winter--Drowned Hedgehogs: Spines - become soft and gelatinous--Lophius Piscatorius--Disproportion - between head and body in the Devil-Fish a puzzle--An Itinerant - Fiddler. - - -The storms of the latter days of October [November 1877] were -exceedingly severe along our western seaboard, and terribly so, as -more than one correspondent assures us, amongst the Hebrides. It is -worth noting with what marvellous punctuality these Trans-atlantically -telegraphed storms reach our shores. They are "up to time," with -all the precision almost of our best appointed mail trains; quite as -punctual, at all events, to their predicted time on several occasions -lately as our ocean mail-carrying steam ships to their appointed dates -of arrival. This last October storm, for example, was telegraphed as -being due on our British shores on or about Saturday, the 27th, and -so correct, considering all the difficulties of such meteorological -vaticinations, was the prediction, that the storm actually reached us -here on the evening of the 26th, increasing in intensity throughout -the night and until mid-day of the 27th, the very day fixed upon, -when it blew with all the force of a hurricane, and the rain fell in -torrents, accompanied, too--that none of the essentials of a great -storm might be wanting--by vivid lightning, and thunder peals loud -enough to make the deafest hear, or at all events feel, for it is no -exaggeration to say that the very ground seemed at times to thrill -responsive to the aërial concussion. The 26th had dawned bright and -clear, and so continued throughout the day; one of those "pet days," -in short, not uncommon at this season,--the sea, too, calm and glassy -as a mirror. In the afternoon, however, we were called out from the -tea-table to look at a phenomenon which had already attracted the -attention of some of our more observant neighbours, and about which -they wanted our opinion, as they had some thoughts of going a herring -fishing. The phenomenon in question was this: Not a breath of air -was stirring, Loch Linnhe was unruffled by the slightest zephyr, and -yet a heavy surge quite suddenly began to break along the beach with -a sudden boom that was remarkable in such a calm. A somewhat similar -phenomenon, lasting but for a short time, however, is observed in our -lochs when, on a calm summer evening, one of the Messrs. Hutcheson's -paddle steamers--the "Chevalier," for instance--passes at full speed -close in shore. What could this swell and surge, troubling a loch -otherwise calm as a mill-pond, mean? You might have safely carried -a lighted candle exposed and lanternless along the beach on which -that heavy swell with hollow boom was breaking--breaking in great -green waves that showed not a bell or fleck of foam on their crests -until they thundered on the shingle. It was, in a word, a phenomenon -for which there was no apparent adequate cause. The sea, had it been -in keeping with all its visible surroundings, should have been calm -and still; on the contrary, it was restless and perturbed, and there -lay the mystery. Even had we recollected nothing of the telegraphed -storm, it was easy of solution, and our instant interlocutor, as -the law courts have it, was this: "A storm in the Atlantic, my good -friends. Calm as it is here, there is a storm, and a wild one, depend -upon it, outside yonder island of Mull, for all it basks so peacefully -in the golden sunset. Nothing else can adequately account for such -a swell on our calm inland waters on an evening so summer-like and -warm; and when I tell you that a storm likely to reach our shores -to-morrow has been telegraphed from America several days since, I -conclude that it is that very storm fast approaching us that causes -this swell upon our shore. It must be just at hand; so haul up your -boats high and dry; take down your nets from the drying-poles, and -put them in a place of safety. Stay thankfully at home, and let the -herring fishing stand over till the predicted gales have come and -gone. Many a gallant fellow at this moment afloat would be glad to -have his foot like you on terra firma: a chas air talamh tioram were -the words,--his foot on dry land." With some such remarks as these, -we sent the men home, still wondering, however; and within a couple of -hours the storm was upon us with a loud prolonged shriek, that showed -how thoroughly in earnest it was. Timeously warned, no danger was -done in our district, and we are now unanimous in speaking with the -utmost respect of the Atlantic cable in connection with storm warnings -from the Western Continent. These telegraphic warnings from America, -by the way, of coming storms are of the utmost importance and value, -more particularly to the western shores of the British Islands. We -have no doubt at all that on the western seaboard of Scotland alone -many valuable lives were saved, as well as much valuable property, -by the submarine cable notice that put us all on our guard with -reference to the gale that raged on the 27th of October, and for -several days subsequently. We wonder if from Britain or the Continent -any of the terrible easterly storms of last winter were telegraphed -to America--timeously and purposely telegraphed, that is--so as to -be of benefit to our Transatlantic cousins, as their recent telegrams -have been to us. We fear not. But now at least it is surely a matter -of the merest courtesy and cousinly goodwill that we be prepared and -ready to send them betimes telegraphic messages of all our easterly -storms, in return for similar favours on their part in respect to -those that are westerly. - -Reading over the foregoing paragraph, which the reader may see was -written currente calamo--at a gallop, as it were, and without a check, -as the foxhunter says--we find that we have used the often-quoted Latin -phrase terra firma; words which rarely fail to make us smile in their -connection with an anecdote current in St. Andrews in our early college -days. It was to this effect: The driver of a two-horse coach that ran -at that time between St. Andrews and Newport was a George Braid, a -respectable old man, familiarly known to everybody, and notably to the -University students, as "Geordie," a liberty with his Christian name -which Mr. Braid in nowise resented, for he was intelligent and shrewd, -and knew that he was thus spoken of and addressed out of goodwill -and kindly regard rather than otherwise. Frequently patronised on his -route by learned professors and lively students, Geordie had picked -up many big words and learned phrases, which he was fond of using in -his family, and, as the Catechism says, amongst his "inferiors and -equals." In connection with frequent storm and shipwreck on the wild -east coast, it was the most natural thing in the world that Geordie -should often have heard from the lips of some of his learned "fare" -the words terra firma, with which he associated a general idea of -protection, comfort, and safety. One terrible night of snow and storm, -having driven a large coachful from Newport to the city, Geordie, when -he had duly seen to his cattle, and paid a short visit to the bar of -the "Cross Keys" hostelry, wended his way by the West Port to his home, -which lay beyond the old city walls. His wife, a brisk and eident bit -body, had a roaring fire and a cheery welcome for her goodman on his -entrance, while his children gathered round him to help him off with -caps, coats, leggings, and all the other belongings of the outer man of -a driver in the good old coaching days. Reduced at last to something -like his natural dimensions, Geordie, having sufficiently rubbed his -purple hands before the fire, looked benignantly around and exclaimed, -"Ah! Meg, my woman, you and the bairns hae muckle cause to be thankful -to your Maker that ye hae terra firma abune your heads this night! Its -just awfu' out yonder by the Guard Brig and Strathtyrum." We have met -with not a few in our day with a strange craze for using words and -phrases of which they evidently knew as little of the real meaning -and proper application as honest Geordie Braid with his terra firma. - -The new moon of the 5th, aided by a wind that at times almost amounted -to a gale, gave us along the western seaboard three very high tides -in succession; that of the afternoon of the 6th, however, being the -highest. The naturalist who is fairly diligent on such occasions -is pretty sure to meet with more or less interesting matter for -thoughtful study; nor, so far as our own experience extends, need -the entries in one's note-book, even for what is called the "dead" -season of mid-winter, be fewer in number, or less interesting or -instructive than those of the pages devoted to the summer season -itself. We have known naturalists whose note-books presented little -but a dreary succession of blank pages for the winter half-year, -and who thought it odd that we should be surprised at it. It has been -said that the laws of disease are as beautiful as those of health, and -that peace has its victories as well as war, and we have no hesitation -in saying that to the true naturalist the winter season, if fairly -and diligently encountered, is in its way just as interesting as -the summer, and that the observer who has all his wits about him, -and who goes to work with a will, may have his "victories" even in -the season of the winter solstice--victories as important in their -way and gratifying as are those of midsummer itself, when the days -are at their longest, when summer seas are calm and summer woods are -green. In the course of half an hour's ramble on the beach the other -day, we fell in with some curious waifs, each of which might be made -the text of an interesting monograph. Three drowned hedgehogs, for -example, was a somewhat startling "find" to turn up in a swathe of -seaware that the advancing tide was slowly rolling up the shingle. One -was full-grown, a female; the other two, both males, were but half or -three parts grown. What brought them there? was the natural question; -for a hedgehog, dead or living, on the sea-shore under high-water mark, -is as odd and out-of-place an object as would be a mackerel far up the -hills amongst the heather. The following is probably a satisfactory -enough explanation of the mystery:--Hedgehogs, which twenty years ago -were quite unknown in Lochaber, are now plentiful. A pair, captured -on Lord Abinger's lands at Torlundy, were sent to us some dozen or -fifteen years ago as a great curiosity; and in this district then -they were a curiosity, so much so, that we can recollect that during -the time they remained in our possession as exceedingly tame and most -interesting pets, people from all parts of the country used to come -in order to have a close look at the black-snouted, spine-armoured -hedge pigs, as Shakespeare calls them, the graineag or repulsive -one of the midland Highlanders of Athole and Strathspey, where the -animal has always been plentiful. They have now become so common in -this district that a hedgehog is no more accounted a rarity than is -a stoat or a weasel. Hedgehogs are fond of making their cozy nests -of moss, grass fibres, and fallen leaves, near the roots of trees and -bushes growing on the banks of rivers and mountain streams. These last -have of late been frequently swollen beyond their usual bounds by the -heavy rains; and in a spate of this kind poor Mrs. Hedgehog and her -youngsters were caught napping, and carried away by the torrent to -the sea, and ultimately cast ashore by the wind and waves, where we -found them in their winding-sheet of slimy sea-wrack, and for a moment -wondered how it came to pass that they lay there, like poor Ophelia, -"drown'd, drown'd." One remarkable circumstance connected with these -drowned hedgehogs was this: we found to our surprise that we could -handle them with impunity; their spines, so formidable in the living -animal, being quite soft and gelatinous to their very tips. This is -by no means the case with the spines of such hedgehogs as are killed -by trap, or otherwise on land. In this latter case the spines retain -their point and prickliness, as in the living animal, till in the -process of decay they separate from their sockets in the skin, and -drop in brittle, broken fragments to the ground. A question, then, for -future investigation is this,--Do the spines of all drowned hedgehogs -lose their prickliness and point, and become soft and gelatinous? If -so, has fresh water alone this effect, or is it necessary that the -animal should be some time immersed in salt water? - -Within a short distance of the drowned hedgehogs, lay a large -angler or fishing-frog, the Lophius piscatorius of ichthyologists, -and a frequent waif on our shores after a gale. It had evidently been -caught by the storm in shallow water, and been beaten to death by the -weight and force of the waves, for it was in excellent condition, -and there was nothing to indicate death in any other way. Why in -this fish such a huge head, with its formidable array of recurved -teeth, and such a cavernous, capacious gullet, should be joined to a -body comparatively so diminutive, is a puzzle that has never yet been -satisfactorily solved; nor can we ourselves, up to this present moment, -advance even a plausible conjecture in explanation of an anomaly that -must have attracted the attention of thousands. The disproportion -between the immense head and the small and slender body is as great -as if you erected a porch lofty and wide enough to serve as the main -entrance to a cathedral, and vestibule to correspond, in order to -enter a dwelling consisting after all but of a single bedroom. Or, -to put it in another way, it is as if you built a large mill, with -the most powerful machinery possible, in order to grind sufficient -meal for the daily consumption of a single dyspeptic customer. The -fishing-frog, has, we believe, been of late successfully introduced -into more than one of our many aquaria, but we are not aware that any -satisfactory explanation of the difficulty which we are considering -has as yet been arrived at. A full and sufficient explanation, however, -you may be sure there must be, if we only know enough of the animal's -economy to get at it. - -But we must stop; for hark! an itinerant fiddler has this moment -struck up "Bob of Fettercairn" just in front of our study window. He -plays admirably too, lovingly caressing the polished base of his -instrument--his bread-winner, poor fellow--with his wan and withered -cheek, and wielding a powerful, yet light and delicate, bow-hand; -and we must go and have a crack with him. Nor must you sneer at us -for so doing, gracious reader. The arrival even of a peripatetic, -out-at-elbows fiddler is an event of some importance in such a place -as this on a cold, grey November afternoon. We shall order him a big -bowl of tea, with something to eat, satisfied that if in so doing we -are not entertaining an angel unawares (though there is no reason that -we know of why an angel should not appear in peripatetic fiddler guise, -as well as in any other form), we are at all events entertaining one -who by his appearance manifestly needs something warm and comfortable, -and a little rest by a cheerful fireside at this season, not forgetting -the while that he is a capital fiddler--of some intelligence, too, -and full of capital stories we warrant him. Depend upon it that Homer, -who was after all but an inspired gaberlunzie, has many a time and oft -appeared in quite as sorry a plight, and with as little externally to -recommend him as this same itinerant fiddler; and think how proud and -glad you and we should be to have a chance of entertaining the blind -old Chian, wandering ballad-singer as he was! You must, therefore, -let us have our way with this poor old man, who, by the way, in not -blind, but, on the contrary, has a good large dark brown eye of his -own, so common, we have noticed, in people musically inclined, that -it may be called the musical eye; and if he is all we take him for, -and he and we got on well together, you may perhaps hear of him again. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LX. - - A Trip to Glasgow--Kelvin Grove Museum--Highland Association--A - run to Rothesay--Rothesay Aquarium. - - -Favoured by the most splendid Christmas weather [January 1878], -piercingly cold, indeed, but beautifully bright and clear, a run -from Lochaber to Clydesdale on an agreeable errand is exceedingly -enjoyable. Our first day in Glasgow was devoted to the Kelvin -Grove Museum, which we had now an opportunity, for the first time, -of examining thoroughly and at leisure, and with which, as the -reader may believe, we were very much delighted. On handing our -card to Mr. Paton, the curator, we were received by himself and his -assistant, Mr. Campbell--the latter, of course, a Highlander--in -the friendliest manner; and a couple of hours were very pleasantly -and profitably spent in examining a really curious and valuable -collection, so admirably catalogued and arranged, that we believe -we saw and minutely studied everything to be seen as leisurely and -satisfactorily as was possible in the time at our disposal. Our friend -Mr. Snowie, of Inverness, had written us before leaving home that he -was sending some contributions to the museum, of which he begged us -to undertake the formal delivery, and see properly placed; and this -of course we had much pleasure in doing. These contributions are a -valuable acquisition to the museum, and are as follows:--(1.) Hoopoe -(Upupa epops, Linn.), a female, in fine plumage, and admirably set -up. This bird was captured by the boys at the Inverness Reformatory -School, and dying, notwithstanding it received all the attention -and kindly care that could be bestowed upon it, it passed into -Mr. Snowie's hands. (2.) Wild cat, stuffed, an excellent specimen, -with very prominent markings, trapped at Fasnakyle, on The Chisholm's -estate. (3.) A white blackbird, and an albino bunting, both shot -by Mr. T. B. Snowie near Inverness. (4.) Snipe and other marsh-bird -skins, shot by the same. (5.) Two small hares preserved in a bottle; -taken out of an unusually large-sized female shot at Dochfour in -September 1875; a very interesting preparation. (6.) Head of otter, -trapped on the River Peffer in 1876. (7.) Owl (Strix flammea, Linn.), -shot in October 1877 by Mr. T. B. Snowie. (8.) Egg of golden eagle; -this last, perhaps, the most welcome gift of all, as eagles' eggs -are now become so rare as readily to command prices ranging from £5 -to £10 each. Attached to the museum proper there is a fresh-water -aquarium. In one of the tanks, in which several fine pike are -"interned," we noticed that one of the largest, who advanced to the -front of the tank, in order to examine as closely as possible a slip -of paper which we were trailing along the glass by way of bait, had -his muzzle, more particularly the anterior part of the upper jaw, -seriously disfigured by a fungoid growth of jelly-like appearance; -and calling the curator's attention to the fact, we made the remark -that the poor pike seemed too seriously diseased to live long. We -were surprised when told that the fish was none the worse for his -fungoid moustache; that it had been long in that way, and that all -that was needed was an occasional cleansing of the muzzle, as you -would wipe away a clot of jelly that had accidentally fallen on your -knife-handle at dessert, and the fish then seemed all right enough -until it grew again to such a size as to be an inconvenience. - -Leaving the museum, we had but barely sufficient time for dress and -dinner before proceeding to take the chair at the Gathering of the -Clans in the City Hall, and a very splendid and enthusiastic gathering -it was. From floor to ceiling the huge building was crammed, and as -we took our seat and bowed in acknowledgment of the truly Highland -welcome that greeted us in the shape of round upon round of loud and -lusty cheers, we could not help feeling a little nervous and out of -sorts in realising the fact that we were for the moment "the observed -of all observers," and, by the kind partiality of the Highlanders -of Glasgow, made to occupy a position of which any one might well be -proud. We were soon at our ease, however, and found no difficulty in -discharging our duties in connection with a meeting which was from -first to last, and in all its belongings, a great success. The dancing -was excellent; the singing could hardly have been better; while the -pipe music was of itself well worth going a much longer distance to -hear than that which separates Nether Lochaber from the City Hall of -Glasgow. No other living man, perhaps, can play reels and strathspeys -as Donald Macphee can play them; and we do not think we ever heard -anything more admirably played than was Malcolm Macpherson's port -mòr or piobaireachd proper, Fhuair mi pòg's laimh mo righ, composed -at Holyrood in 1745 by Ewen Macdhomhnuil Bhuidhe, a Macmillan from -Glendessary and piper to Lochiel, on seeing his chief kiss Charles -Edward's hand at a levee held in the palace of his ancestors by -that Prince a day or two after the victory at Gladsmuir. Macpherson -played this piobaireachd so exquisitely that some of us felt our -eyes grow moist, and were in no wise ashamed of it, long ere he -had reached the difficult but beautifully managed fingering of the -concluding urlar. We have always had a warm regard for James Boswell, -Johnson's biographer, for this amongst other reasons, that, on his -own confession, music frequently affected him as it affected many of -us on this occasion. "Sir," growled Johnson, "I should never hear it -if it made me such a fool." But then a man, however great, cannot be -everything; and Johnson was not only not a Scotchman, but the very -antipodes of a Scotchman--he was an Englishman, proud and prejudiced, -and deaf and dead as a stone to the charms of music, whether vocal or -instrumental. When at Sleat, in Skye, many years afterwards, he made -the confession that "he knew a drum from a trumpet, and a bagpipe from -a guitar, which was about the extent of his knowledge of music." We -parted with our friends of the Highland Association on the best terms; -they were good-natured enough to say that they were pleased with us; -we certainly had every reason to be pleased with them. - -We were astir betimes next morning, in order to fulfil an engagement -undertaken at the request of some naturalist friends in London--a -visit, namely, to the Aquarium at Rothesay, an admirably conducted -institution, one of the best in the kingdom. We expected to see a -great deal that could not well fail to interest us, and we did see a -great deal that pleased us very much indeed; the best proof of which -is that after several hours' wandering from tank to tank, it was with -a sigh of regret that our attention was called to the fact that it -was already time for us to put up our note-book and find our way as -quickly as possible to the pier, if we would overtake the Mountaineer -for Greenock, in order to reach Glasgow again that evening. Of all -the tanks, that which we lingered longest before, perhaps, was that -set apart for sea anemones, of which the collection is exceedingly -curious and interesting. All the specimens seemed perfectly healthy -and well-to-do, though, owing to the fact that the afternoon had now -become wet and dull, they were disinclined to display their beauties -in full. In another of the tanks, of which the most distinguished -inhabitant is a conger eel of a large size, we were much amused -with the conduct of a seven or eight pound cod, that seemed as if he -would willingly have spoken to us if he could. As soon as he became -aware of our presence, he came sailing out of a dark recess behind -a rocky promontory--a sort of Mull of Kintyre in miniature--which -is his usual howf, and advancing straight to the front of the tank, -put his nose to the glass, wagging his tail, and staring at us with -an expression of countenance so queer and comical, that it made us -laugh outright. "Well, Nether Lochaber, my boy," he seemed inclined -to say, "how are you? This is all very fine, but on the word of a -cod, believe me that I'd far rather be cruising about the shores -and shallows of Loch Linnhe, down yonder in your own neighbourhood, -than be confined here from year's end to year's end, to be stared at -by a lot of people who may pretend some interest in me from a purely -scientific point of view, but who, between ourselves, if the truth -were known, never see me but they straightway think of how I should -be boiled and served with sauce. Only the other day, for instance, a -lady visitor from Glasgow asked one of the attendants what he thought -might be my weight, and if he was of opinion that a cod out of an -aquarium tank would be quite as good eating as one direct from the -sea? When I hear talk of that kind, it hurts my feelings, I can tell -you." All this, and a great deal more, we fancied the cod would have -said if he could; and as we tapped the glass at his nose and bade him -a friendly good-bye, we almost persuaded ourselves that he responded -with a knowing wink, as with a single sweep of his tail he put about -and joined the conger in a brisk constitutional round and athwart the -tank--a tank so crystal clear, and clean and comfortable, as indeed -are all the tanks, that the inmates, abundantly and regularly fed, -ought to be happy enough, were it not that, like Sterne's starling, -they probably find the great drawback on their happiness in the fact -that after all they are prisoners, that they can't get out. We were -much delighted with the seal-house and its lively and intelligent -occupants. The shape of a seal's head is sufficient to convince -the most careless observer that it must contain a great deal of -brains; while its full and lively eye bespeaks a high and active -order of intelligence. Those at present in the Rothesay Aquarium, -three in number, are most interesting animals, and almost as tame as -lapdogs. It so happened that we entered their house at a time when they -were exceedingly active and lively, for they were well aware that a -large basket, which had just been carried to the side of their tank, -contained fresh fish of some kind or other for their dinner; and they -raced and leaped about in eager expectation of the treat, for they -were evidently hungry--always a good sign of an aquarium inmate. The -fish consisted of small flounders; and the agility and graceful ease -of the motions of these seals, as they dived and dashed after a fish, -which, while they were begging dog-like before us at one end of the -tank, we suddenly tossed to the other end, was so admirable that we -continued a long time to play at a sort of pitch-and-toss game that -was quite as agreeable to them as it could possibly be interesting to -us. We only ceased our part of the performance when we thought that -for the time they must have had enough, the seal being probably as -liable to indigestion as the result of a surfeit as is any other -animal. When, however, they found that they had nothing more to -expect from us, they showed their intelligence and nous by at once -commencing to climb out of their tank, at the very spot, too, where -it was easiest of accomplishment, on the side on which they knew -the fish-basket was placed. What could they now be after? was the -question we asked ourselves. One after another they got out and waddled -along the pavement, awkwardly indeed, but as quickly as they could, -past us, keeping their big and beautiful eyes steadily fixed on ours, -till they reached the basket, and in a moment each had seized a fish, -with which he instantly tumbled heels-over-head into the tank again -at the point nearest him, evidently afraid that we might try and -intercept him, and deprive him of a bonne bouche, which all of them -seemed perfectly well somehow to understand they had no right to take -in such reiving fashion. We noticed that when we threw a fish into -the tank, and one of them got hold of it, the other two endeavoured -to snatch it from him, and for the moment there was a wild tumult and -tumble, in which the water was lashed into foam. In this, however, -as far as we could judge, there was no manifestation of anything like -anger, or the slightest attempt to hurt or injure each other. It -was more like the rough and tumble play of children after a ball, -or something of that sort, which all may strongly desire to possess, -but which only one can have for the moment. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LXI. - - Overland from Balluchulish to Oban on a 'Pet Day' in - February--Story of Clach Ruric--Castle Stalker: an Old - Stronghold of the Stewarts of Appin--James IV.--Charles - II.--Magpies--Dun-Mac-Uisneachan. - - -With all their tendency, in their every reference to the past, -to become laudatores temporis acti, the sturdy upholders of the -superiority of all that was, in comparison with anything and everything -that is, our weather-wise octogenarian friends here are all agreed that -so summer-like a February [1878] month they never knew before. It is -true that in making this admission they shake their heads sapiently, -and hint that no good can come of such an unnatural commingling of -the times and seasons. It will be well, they add, if before cuckoo day -(mun d'thig latha na cuaig) we haven't to pay for it all in the shape -of storm and cold at a time when these are as unseasonable and out -of place as is summer calm and summer sunshine now. It was amusing -to see these honest old croakers selecting the coziest nooks air chùl -gaoithe's air aodain gréine, as the Fingalian tale has it,--that is, -at the back of the wind and in the face of the sun--and thoroughly -enjoying the calm and sunshine at the very moment that they would -impress upon us the unnaturalness and unseasonableness of it all. The -first fortnight of February was, indeed, wonderfully fine; from the -beginning of the month up to the evening of St. Valentine's Day, more -like the close of April or early May than anything usually looked -for while the sun is still in Aquarius. Driving overland to Oban on -the 11th, and, by the ferries of Ballachulish, Shian, and Connel, -a very beautiful drive it is, hardly to be equalled elsewhere even -in the West Highlands; the day was so bright, and calm, and clear, -that while mavis and merle, and hedge-accenter and chaffinch greeted -us from copse and hedgerow with their rich and mellow song, the driver, -sitting beside us, couldn't help observing as we passed by Appin House, -"Na 'n robh chuag again a nis, bha 'n samhradh fhein ann!" "If we had -but the cuckoo now, it would be summer its very self!" On the beach, -a little above high-water mark, just under Appin House, and within an -easy stone's cast of the public road, there is an immense spherical -boulder of granite, to which there is attached a curious old story, -which invests with additional interest an object deserving enough of -attention for its own sake--for the sake, that is, of its huge size -and almost perfect spherical form, this latter peculiarity, in the -huge solid mass, making it the most remarkable thing of the kind on -the mainland, at least of the West Highlands. The story of the Appin -House boulder, or Clach Ruric as it is called, is, dropping minor -and unessential details, to the following effect:--Long, long ago -a Prince of Lochlin or Scandinavia, with a formidable fleet of war -galleys, made a descent upon the Hebrides, killing and plundering -everywhere with a ruthlessness known only, even in those days of -rude lawlessness, to the Vikings of the north. Having thoroughly -devastated the islands, Ruric--for such was the Prince's name--steered -for the mainland of Morven, and took up his residence in the castle -of Mearnaig, in Glensanda. In this stronghold, the ruins of which -still exist, he resolved to pass the winter, with the intention of -over-running and plundering the adjoining districts in the spring, -and afterwards sailing homewards in the calm of summer seas, for his -galleys were so deeply laden with booty that he feared to encounter -the turbulence of the North Sea at any other season. In the early -spring the cruel Northman was betimes astir, killing and plundering -with but little opposition throughout the districts of Kingerloch, -Sunart, and Ardgour, to the head of Lochiel. While of his numerous -fleet a single galley showed more than a foot and a span (troidh agus -rèis were the words of the narrator) of gunwale unsubmerged, Ruric was -unsatisfied, and to complete his ill-gotten freight he resolved on the -plunder of the opposite district of Appin, the smoke of whose dwellings -could be seen, and the lowing of whose numerous herds could be heard -(when the summer morning was still and the Linnhe Loch was calm) by -the pirate prince from the battlements of the castle of Mearnaig. One -morning Ruric anchored his galleys in the Sound of Shuna, and landing, -erected his tents on the green knoll now occupied by Appin House. With -this spot as his head-quarters, it was his intention to plunder -the district north and south of him at his leisure, believing that -he would meet with as little opposition here as he had already met -with elsewhere. The inhabitants of Appin, however, were partly on -their guard, and determined to resist, and if possible chastise, the -invader. And first conveying their old men, women, and children, with -their flocks and herds, into the fastnesses of the upland glens, they -resolved to watch the movements of the Norsemen, ready to fall upon -them whenever a favourable opportunity should offer. That same night, -as some cattle herds, acting as scouts, were on the hill immediately -above the tents of the invaders, one of them directed the attention -of his companions to a huge granite boulder with so slight a hold of -the hill crest, that, with some little labour, it might be let loose -at any time--a terrible messenger of wrath--amongst the tents of the -enemy below, whose shouts of laughter at that moment, and snatches -of rude song, proved that they had feasted plentifully and had no -apprehension of immediate death or danger in any form. After much -labour, the herdsmen managed so to dig about and undermine and loosen -the boulder in its bed on the hill-face, that, on a given signal, -their united strength sufficed to tilt it headlong over the steep, -leaping and thundering on its terrible path. The largest trees in -its course snapped before the boulder like reeds: when it came into -momentary contact with a rock, the sparks flew heavenward as if -from an exploded meteor! In a dozen of bounds it reached the tents -of the Norsemen, crushing, mangling, grinding into pulp or powder (a -pronnadh agus a bruanadh, are the Gaelic words) everything it touched, -and finally stopping where it now stands, to be long regarded by the -people of the district with a feeling akin to superstitious awe, and -to be known by the name of Clach Ruric. In the morning, the Norsemen -could only know by the mangled fragments of their bodies that their -Prince, with his two sons, and many of those next to him in power, -had met with a terrible death. Before the Appin men could gather in -sufficient force to attack them, the Norsemen unmoored their galleys, -chanting the death-song of their chief as they unmoored, and set sail -for Lochlin, never more to trouble the mainland of the West Highlands -with their invasions. The venerable seanachie from whom we picked up -this tradition, added that Castle Coefin, or Cyffin, in Lismore, is -so called after a Danish prince of that name, who also was connected -with Ruric's expedition, though in what manner he was unable to say. - -Not far from Clach Ruric, on an island rock in the entrance to the -Sound of Shuna, are the ruins of another castle, of a later date, -however, and more recent interest than can be attached to the many -strongholds of the Viking period perched on the rocks and promontories -of this part of the West Highlands. This is Castle Stalker, or, in the -language of the district itself, Caisteal-an-Stalcaire, the Castle of -the Falconer or Fowler. The small rock-island on which it is built is -Sgeir-an-Sgairbh (the sea-rock, or skerry of the cormorant), from very -early times the gathering cry at once and rendezvous of the Stewarts -of Appin in all their maritime expeditions. Castle Stalker dates from -about the beginning of the reign of James IV., for whose convenience -and accommodation, when, as frequently happened, he extended his -hunting expeditions to this district, it was built. Stewart of Appin, -who was a great favourite with the king, was appointed hereditary -keeper, and the castle continued in the possession of the family until, -about the year 1645, the Mac Ian Stewart of that date, in a moment of -drunken folly, made it over to his wily neighbour, Donald Campbell of -the Airds, receiving in return the handsome and adequate equivalent -of an eight-oared birlinn, or small wherry! Stewart, when sober, would -have gladly cancelled so manifestly one-sided a barter-bargain at any -sacrifice, but Campbell, having got possession, kept it; while the -disgraceful transaction so stung the pride of the Stewarts that they -practically deposed the Baothaire (the silly one), as they nicknamed -the chief, from his chieftainship, by unanimously electing his cousins -of Invernahyle and Ardsheal to be their leaders in the subsequent -wars of Montrose. For a short time during Montrose's ascendancy in -the Highlands, and for a longer period towards the close of the reign -of Charles II., Castle Stalker was again in the possession of the -Stewarts; but at the Revolution the Campbells had it all their own way; -they repossessed themselves of the castle, and it has remained theirs -ever since. About forty years ago a gentleman of the family of Ailein -'Ic Rob of Appin, who had amassed a considerable fortune in the West -Indies, offered the then proprietor a large sum for the bare rock -and ruins of Castle Stalker, but the offer was refused. - -From the wooded knoll to the left, as we entered the village -of Portnacroish, we heard some notes that, harsh as they were, -delighted us, for we had not heard them for many years; and the -reader will perhaps smile when we confess delight in association -with what was neither more nor less than the chattering of a pair -of magpies! Knowing that it must be magpie chattering and nothing -else, though the lively confabulators were for the moment invisible, -we got out of our conveyance, and on reaching an open glade we got -sight of a pair of these beautiful birds perched on the topmost -bough of an old ash tree; and so busy were they in the discussion -of what must have been a matter of grave and immediate importance, -that the usually shy and wary birds did not notice our approach till -we were quite close upon them, when, with a scream of alarm and an -indignant flirt of their tails, they glided in graceful curve, rather -than flew, over the tree tops and disappeared. So rare has the magpie -become in Lochaber and the immediately surrounding districts, that -a sight of a pair of these handsome and sagacious birds delighted -us exceedingly. We had little difficulty in concluding that their -lively chattering on that bright and beautiful morning was about no -less important a matter than the propriety of at once putting their -house in order and setting about the labours of incubation. If there -were any truth in popular superstition, that particular day ought to -have afterwards turned out a disagreeable one to us; for had we not -seen two magpies together, and what is more, did we not go out of our -way to see them, when we might have easily passed on unseen of them, -as they were invisible to us? In the south of Scotland the old pyet -rhyme is something like this-- - - - "One's joy, - Two's grief, - Three a wedding, - Four death." - - -In the old sgeulachd the Gaelic rhyme is of similar import-- - - - "Chunnaic mi pioghaid a's dh-éirich leam; - Chunnaic mi dhà 'sgum b'iargain iad; - Chunnaic mi tri a's b'aighearach mi; - Ach ceithir ri'm linn chan iarrainn iad." - - -In our own case, on that particular occasion, the superstition -could not have been more completely falsified by the event, for, -maugre the magpies, our trip to Oban was in its every circumstance as -agreeable and pleasant as it could well be. What a pity it is that -these beautiful birds, whose favourite residence, too, if they were -only permitted to live in peace, is the immediate vicinity of human -dwellings, should be of such evil repute that gamekeepers everywhere -consider themselves justified in accomplishing their utter destruction -by every means in their power. Their utter destruction we have said; -and it is only as to their total extirpation that we would venture on -a word of expostulation with gamekeepers and their employers. It is -true that the magpie is an enemy to winged game, being a cunning and -persistent nest-robber, an adroiter sucker of eggs than the proverbial -"grandmother" herself. That the gamekeeper should therefore dislike -them is the most natural thing in the world, and that, in gamekeeper's -own phrase, they should "be kept down" is proper enough. But we -cannot agree that it is necessary that the bird should be utterly -destroyed. Here and there on a wide estate an occasional pair of -magpies might surely be tolerated for the sake of their beauty and -amusingly lively manners, and on the divine principle of "live and -let live." For our own part, in approaching a gentleman's residence, -the sight of a pair of these birds flitting about "the old ancestral -elms" always intensifies our respect for the place and the owner. - -Crossing Loch Creran, by the Ferry of Shian, we are in -Benderloch--classic ground, and archæologically the most interesting -spot, perhaps, in all the West Highlands. "Everything here is -beautiful," says Dr. Macculloch. "The distance between the ferries -of Shian and Connel is but five miles; but it is a day's journey for -a wise man." About half-way is Dùn-Mac-Uisneachain (the Fort of the -Son of Uisneach), one of the most interesting of our vitrified forts, -quâ such, and supposed to be the Beregonium of Hector Boethius, and -the site of the still older Selma, the "Hall of Swords" of Ossianic -song. That it was a place of importance long before the time of -the Dalriad Scots seems very certain; and, leaving Macpherson's -"Ossian" altogether out of the question, there occur in the old -Fingalian ballads, and tales of the Féinne, about the antiquity -of which there has never been dispute; numberless local references -which seem in a very remarkable manner to point to this spot as the -principal stronghold in Scotland (for they were of Ireland also) of -the Fingalians at one period, and that the most important, perhaps, -in their history. Within a short distance of Dun-Mac-Uisneachain, -and commanding it, is a steep, rocky eminence of considerable -height, called Dunvallary or Dunvallanry, the etymology of which -may be Dùn-bhail'-n-righ, the Fortified Place of the King's Town; -or Dùn-bhail' n 'fhrìth, the Fort of the Town on the verge of the -Hunting Forest. Stretching away towards Connel and Loch Etive is the -wide moorland flat of Achnacree, which, with its numerous cairns, -Druidical circles, monoliths, and other relics of the olden time, may -very well be the ancient "plains of Lora;" Lora itself, frequently -mentioned in Ossianic poetry, and meaning Luath shruth, the loud, -swift current, par excellence, meeting us face to face, so to speak, -in the turbulently impetuous rapids of Connel. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LXII. - - Nest-building--Cunningham's Objection to Burns' Song, "O were - my Love yon Lilac fair"--Birds and the Lilac-Tree--Rivalries of - Birds--Birds and the Poets--The Nightingale. - - -A finer February month from first to last was never known in the West -Highlands. With an amount of sunshine that April might be glad of, -it was mild and open throughout; the sort of weather, in short, -that Thomson must have been dreaming about, when he invoked the -season of bursting bud and wildflower as "Gentle Spring, ethereal -mildness." March [1878], too, has come in, not lion-like, as the -meteorological proverb would have it, but "like a lamb," as it is -hoped it may continue and end. Everybody is now astir, and "speed the -plough" is the order of the day, as well, indeed, it may, for the bud -has already opened into leaf, and primroses are plentiful--so plentiful -that they may be gathered in handfuls from the hazel copse and woodland -glade. As for our wild-bird friends, they are in ecstasies with it all, -everywhere in full and fluent song, and making love with an ardour and -directness of purpose that rarely fails of its reward. Nest-building, -the most important and serious labour of their lives, but a labour of -love all the same, is being rapidly proceeded with, the God-taught -architects knowing not only to labour, but how best to labour, -frequently resting a space to refresh themselves with song:-- - - - "Song sweetens toil, however rude the sound, - All at her work the village maiden sings; - Nor while she turns the giddy wheel around, - Revolves the sad vicissitudes of things." - - -And while speaking of birds, this is, perhaps, the proper place to -refer to a paragraph that appeared recently:-- - -"The Lilac Tree and Birds.--Burns has a song, 'Oh, were my love yon -lilac fair,' &c. Cunningham has remarked that Burns had made an unhappy -selection of a tree for sheltering his little bird; for the feathered -songsters are found to avoid the lilac when in flower, owing to its -peculiar smell. We confess we are not skilled enough in natural history -to attest the accuracy of Cunningham's assertion."--Paterson's Burns, -vol. iii. - - -Fully to appreciate Cunningham's objection, it is proper that we quote -the song in full; but before doing so, it may be observed that it is -founded on an older version, of which the best lines are retained, -as is the case with not a few of Burns' finest love-songs. Writing -to George Thomson in the summer of 1793, the poet says-- - -"Do you know the following beautiful little fragment in Witherspoon's -Collection of Scots Songs?-- - - - "'Oh, gin my love were yon red rose, - That grows upon the castle wa.'" - - -"This thought is inexpressibly beautiful, and quite, so far as I -know, original. It is too short for a song, else I would forswear you -altogether, unless you give it a place. I have often tried to make -a stanza to it, but in vain. After balancing myself for a musing -five minutes on the hind legs of my elbow-chair, I produced the -following. The verses are far inferior to the original, I frankly -confess; but if worthy of insertion at all, they might be first in -place; as every poet who knows anything of his trade will husband -his last thought for a concluding stroke:-- - - - "Oh, were my love yon lilac fair, - Wi' purple blossoms to the spring; - And I a bird to shelter there, - When wearied on my little wing. - - How I wad mourn when it was torn - By autumn wild, and winter rude! - But I wad sing on wanton wing - When youthfu' May its bloom renew'd. - - Oh, gin my love were yon red rose, - That grows upon the castle wa', - And I mysel' a drap o' dew, - Into her bonnie breast to fa'! - - Oh! there, beyond expression blest, - I'd feast on beauty a' the night; - Seal'd on her silk-saft faulds to rest, - Till fleyed awa' by Phoebus' light." - - -Cunningham's ornithological objection to the song we believe to be -well founded; and it is not a little to his credit, as proving what -a close and clear observer of the habits of our song-birds he must -have been, that he was the first, so far as we know, to notice, -how reluctant they are to have anything to do with the lilac while -in flower, though at other seasons they perch upon it as freely as -upon other shrubs. We are not as sure, however, that our song-birds -object to the lilac because of anything disagreeable to them in the -perfume of its flowers. Except in the case of some of the Raptores, -birds as a rule are neither acute nor delicate of smell, our little -song-birds least of all perhaps. We rather think the reason of -their dislike to it is to be found, partly at least, if not wholly, -in the fact that while it is in flower, its bark, particularly along -the smaller branches and twigs, is covered with a slimy secretion or -exudation at once viscid and acrid; and if there is one thing more -than another which our wild-birds unanimously and with all their hearts -detest, it is to have their legs or toes come in contact with anything -glutinous or "sticky." Every bird-fancier knows how uncomfortable and -generally miserable is a bird just upon being taken off a limed twig; -not, observe, because he is a captive--thoughts of that may trouble -him afterwards--but immediately and in the first instance because -of the bird-lime about his toes. The first thing, therefore, that -the bird-catcher does is to cleanse the captive's feet and toes by -rubbing them gently between his finger and thumb with fine sand, and -afterwards washing them with water; an operation no sooner performed -and the bird restored to its cage, than it evinces its satisfaction -at being relieved from its state of intolerable discomfort in many -little ways that cannot well escape the notice of even the most -unobservant. We have known a newly captured chaffinch, placed in a -cage directly on being taken off the limed twig, and inadvertently -left uncared for till the evening, peck its toes until red flesh -appeared, in his attempts to rid them of the bird-lime attached to -them. But whether the song-bird's dislike to the lilac when in flower -be owing to its perfume or to the disagreeably glutinous exudations -of its bark in early summer, or to both combined, it is simply the -fact that such an aversion exists; and Allan Cunningham's objection -to the lilac in this connection is perfectly well founded. And even -if this particular objection had not been well founded, it would -have been better, we think, if Burns had selected some one or other -of our native flowering shrubs, such as the hawthorn, for example, -rather than a comparatively rare exotic like the lilac--rare now, -and rarer still a hundred years ago. If those who give any heed at all -to these matters will only consider the question, they will be ready, -we think, to confess that they never yet knew an instance of a bird's -nest in a lilac tree. About our own place here, where the lilac grows -to a large size, and flowers splendidly, we ourselves have never known -or heard of such a thing. Within the shelter of every other tree and -shrub of any consequence about the place, we have known our song-bird -friends to build at some time or other--never once in the lilac, nor, -it may be added, in the fuchsia, which in the warm shelter of this -genial spot grows to the dimensions of a tree, all the year round -too, without the slightest petting or special protection of any kind, -as hardy and self-reliantly as its companion hawthorns, hollies, and -hazels. The fuchsia is probably avoided for the same reason as the -lilac. It also exudes in spring and early summer a viscid secretion -almost as "sticky" and disagreeable, if you run your hand along a twig, -as that of the lilac itself; and, as we have already said, anything -of this kind is an utter abomination to the Insessores or perchers, -who are as particular about their feet and toes as ever was dainty -and delicate belle about the state of her hands and fingers. - -Such of our readers as care about these things, and have the -opportunity, may very profitably and pleasantly give an occasional -half-hour to the doings of our song-birds at this season. Their little -love quarrels and rivalries are very amusing. All this forenoon a pair -of cock chaffinches have been bickering and quarrelling after their -fashion along the hedgerows and amongst the trees immediately opposite -our study window. The casus belli is of course a female, handsome -and coy, and fully conscious, you may believe, of her own value, -who keeps flitting about at a little distance, proud and pleased, -doubtless, to be the object of rivalry between a pair of such gay and -lively chaffinch beaux. Varium et mutabile, she has evidently great -difficulty in making up her mind as to which of the suitors she shall -select; her state of indecision being probably akin to that of the -renowned Captain Macheath in the Beggar's Opera:-- - - - "How happy could I be with either, - Were t'other dear charmer away! - But while you thus tease me together, - To neither a word will I say." - - -The rival birds are in their gayest spring plumage; and when tired -of mere vulgar scolding and abuse, they try to sing each other down; -and then it is that they are well worth not merely the listening to, -but the looking at. Directly opposite the gean-tree near the top of -which the lady chaffinch sits preening her feathers, and occasionally -uttering a twink-twink of self-admiration, is an aged hawthorn, -on which the rivals select to hold their tournament of song; and -the energy and heart with which a bird sings in such a case must be -seen and quietly studied to be fully appreciated. Swaying lightly -each on his own bough, the rivals begin to sing as if their very -lives depended upon it; their throats swollen almost to bursting; -the feathers on their polls erected into a crest, and their whole -bodies tremulous to the very tips of the quill feathers of their wings, -as they pour forth a torrent of song so rapid, clear, and loud, that -all the other birds in the neighbourhood are for the moment silent, -as if they had purposely ceased their own aimless melodies to listen -to the impassioned strains of the competitors in the thorn. Of human -eloquence, Quintilian says, "Pectus, id est quod disertum facit"--the -heart (and not the brain) is that which makes a man eloquent; and even -more than of eloquence, with all the might of its "winged words," is -the same thing true of song. To be all it ought to be, and be at its -best, it must well up a living stream from the hot, impassioned heart; -not from the marble fountain of mere intellect, which, if always clear, -is not the less always cold. If ever song came, in Quintilian's phrase, -direct a pectore--from the heart, it is the song at this moment of -the rival competitors in yonder thorn. It is only when one has seen -and studied a bird singing after this fashion that the full force -and meaning of a line in Gray's Ode to Spring can be understood and -appreciated. Under the lens of a cold, critical analysis, the line -is sheer nonsense; in sight of the bird itself, as at this moment, -singing with all his might, heart and soul in every note, its truth -and beauty are at once apparent. The line is this-- - - - "The Attic warbler pours her throat, - Responsive to the cuckoo's note." - - -Had not the poet seen, and closely and intelligently observed, a bird -in the act of loud and excited song, he would never have ventured -on an assertion that at first sight seems so curiously extravagant, -that a warbler "pours her throat." It is to be observed, however, -that the really beautiful and expressive phrase is not original, but -second-hand as regards Gray. He borrows it from Pope, in whose Essay -on Man (Ep. iii.), published ten or a dozen years before Grays ode, -occurs this line-- - - - "Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat?" - - -But it is a pity to separate the line from its context, and as the -passage is not too well known, we may be pardoned for quoting it:-- - - - "Has God, thou fool! worked solely for thy good, - Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food? - Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn, - For him as kindly spread the flowery lawn; - Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings? - Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings. - Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat? - Loves of his own, and raptures swell the note. - The bounding steed you pompously bestride - Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride. - Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain? - The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain. - Thine the full harvest of the golden year? - Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer: - The hog, that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call, - Lives on the labours of this Lord of all." - - -It will be seen that Gray makes his nightingale--his "Attic -warbler"--feminine, "pours her throat," while Pope, more correctly, -makes his linnet songster a mate, "pours his throat;" and Pope who, -indeed, from his habits of life, must have known more about birds than -Gray, is right, for it is the males of song-birds that sing, and not -the females. Milton makes the same mistake as Gray, and adds to the -blunder by saying that the nightingale sings "the summer long," which -it does not. It is curious that our English poets should so frequently -err, as Gray did, in attributing the melodies of song-birds to the -females instead of to the males. The explanation, we suppose, is that, -as amongst ourselves women as a rule are more musically inclined, and -usually have sweeter voices than men, even so the poets, knowing no -better, rashly conclude that the rule must hold good amongst song-birds -also. The very contrary, however, is the fact. It is the male bird -that always sings; the female attempts at song being extremely rare, -and when attempted always a failure, never for a moment to be compared -with the rich and long-sustained melodies of the male. Of all our -song-birds, the most frequently mentioned by the poets is, of course, -the nightingale, and almost invariably they make it a "she" instead of -a "he." One of the finest passages in English poetry is a reference to -the nightingale in The Lover's Melancholy of the dramatist John Ford -(d. 1639). We are fond of reciting this passage when "i' the vein" -for such things, but we always take the liberty of changing the -"she," "hers," and "her" of Ford, into the "he," "his," and "him" -of ornithological fact. - - - - - - - - -CHAPTER LXIII. - - March Dust--Moons of Mars--Planetoids--Occultation of Alpha - Leonis--Zodiacal Light--Snow Bunting--Old Gaelic Ballad of - "Deirdri:" Its Topography. - - -If for the first few days March [1878] seemed inclined to emulate -the peaceful calm and sunshine of its predecessor, it very suddenly -assumed a more warlike aspect; a change came over the spirit of its -dream; it became boisterous and rude; snow, and sleet, and rain, and -storm battling in wild comminglement. It still continued what is called -"open" weather, however; there was no frost, no razor-edged and biting -winds, and vegetation was rather temporarily checked than seriously -hurt or hindered. After this wild burst, in vindication, it is to -be presumed, of the month's right to be called after the bellicose -Mars, things slowly but steadily improved, and the weather is now -such as permits us to get on with our spring work uninterruptedly and -pleasantly enough. We have not yet, however, had a sufficiency of the -"March dust," so proverbially invaluable at seed-time; and nowhere -perhaps so invaluable, so absolutely essential indeed, in its proper -season, as in the West Highlands. The day, however, is now lengthening -apace, and with a bright warm sun overhead, and brisk north-easterly -breezes, we shall doubtless soon have dust enough and to spare. - -Our reference to Mars the war-god, reminds us that Mars the planet, -with whose fiery effulgence every one is familiar, has recently -had an accession of dignity such as the old-world star-gazers never -dreamt of in connection with the ruddy orb. It is found to have at -least two attendant moons, small, and so exceedingly difficult of -detection even by the aid of the best instruments, that it is only -under the most favourable circumstances that they can be observed. It -is more than suspected that a third, and even a fourth satellite, -exists, and the planet will in consequence be subjected to the -closest possible scrutiny at all the observatories at home and -abroad for some time to come, in order to determine with certainty -the number of its attendant moons, and whether they be two or more, -to decide their sidereal revolutions, their diameters, masses, -and inclinations of orbits. By reason of his retinue of satellites, -Mars is now exalted to equal dignity with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, -and Neptune; and by the discovery another point is scored in favour of -the nebular hypothesists. It was on the night of the 1st January 1801 -that the first of the planetoids, Ceres, was discovered by Piazzi of -Palermo. Next year Olbers of Bremen discovered the second planetoid, -Pallas, and so constant and searching has been the scrutiny to -which the planetoidal zone, situated between the orbits of Mars and -Jupiter, has been subjected, that the number of these minor worlds -is now no less than 182, the last three in the series, Nos. 180, -181, and 182, having been discovered since the beginning of February -last. Of these three, two were discovered by French observers; the -third by Professor Peters of Hamilton College, U.S., America. This -last, however, is suspected to be only a rediscovery, so to speak; -to be identical with Antigone, discovered five years ago by the same -indefatigable observer. If this be so, the asteroidal series amounts -at present date to 181. In favour of the ingenious hypothesis that -accounted for the existence of these minor orbs by suggesting that -they might be the fragments of a large disrupted world--of a large -planet rent asunder by some terrible internal convulsion--a great deal -could be said while the number of fragments was under half a dozen -or even double that number, but when the fleet of orblets began to -be counted by the score, the disrupted world theory was dropped as -no longer tenable in the circumstances. The hypothesis of Olbers, -however--for it originated with the discoverer of Pallas--led to a -great deal of curious research that resulted in no little gain to -astronomical science; and if it had to be given up as insufficient -in the case of a planetoidal zone, it left us a legacy that may yet -be turned to good account, that such a catastrophe, namely, as the -disruption of a planetary world into fragments that in the shape of -minor orbs would continue to revolve in orbits coincident with that -of the parent globe, is not only possible, but, under certain easily -enough conceivable circumstances, a probable enough occurrence. - -Occultations by the moon of planets and first magnitude stars are -always interesting phenomena, and for many years we have rarely -missed observing such conjunctions as they became due, even if -the hour was otherwise inconvenient, if only the weather chanced -to be favourable. Last week there were two occultations, which for -particular reasons we were very anxious to observe, and as the weather -was clear and bright we had but little fear of disappointment. The -stars to be occulted were Alpha and Delta Leonis, the one on the -night of the 16th, the other on the night succeeding. Alpha Leonis -is of the first magnitude, distinguished, like some others of its -class, from the mere alphabetical order of stars by its proper name -of Regulus. Up to within a quarter of an hour of the computed moment -of occultation or disappearance of the star behind the moon's disc, -the sky was clear; and as we stood at our post everything promised -a highly satisfactory and successful observation; but alas, as the -moon and star, in nautical phrase, were close aboard each other, -a huge bank of cloud, driven by a north-westerly breeze, swept over -the scene, effectually occulting moon and stars alike from the most -penetrating gaze. It was provoking enough, but there was no help -for it. An observer in our climate must make up his mind to frequent -disappointments of this kind. We were still in hopes that although the -immersion was thus hidden from us we might be more fortunate in the -case of the emersion--the reappearance, that is--of the star on the -moon's western limb. But it was no use. Two or three times, indeed, -the moon shone forth for a minute or two together from through an old -cathedral porch-like rent in the intervening wall of cloud, but only to -be again obscured; and thus it continued so tantalisingly promising, -that we stood to our post until a glance at the clock showed that -the moment of emersion was already past, and it was useless waiting -or watching any longer. The great object in closely watching these -occultations is to observe, with all possible certainty, if there -is any distortion or momentary projection on the moon's disc of the -planet or star occulted at the instant of immersion and emersion, -in order to decide if the moon has an atmosphere or not. We have seen -enough, we think, from our own observations during the last five and -twenty years, to lead us to the conclusion that such distortion and -projection is occasionally to be seen, and that therefore, contrary to -the general belief of astronomers, a lunar atmosphere very probably -exists, though it may be of greatly less weight and density than -our own. Looking over our astronomical note-book, we find that the -winter just past--let us hope that at this date we may so speak of -it--was remarkable for two things--the almost total absence, namely, -of auroral displays, and the exceeding brilliancy of the zodiacal -light. We have only two recorded instances of the occurrence of -the aurora borealis, both in December, and both but partial, faint, -and ill-defined. The zodiacal light, on the contrary, was remarkably -bright and noticeable on almost every evening in February and early -March, its apex reaching up to and beyond the Pleiades, and with an -outline clear and sharply defined as ever was sheaf of the brightest -auroral light. So noticeable was it on several occasions, that all -the people of the hamlet began to speak about it, and inquire what -it could mean, for its perfect quiescence, its appearance night after -night in the same quarter of the heavens, and the absence of anything -like accompanying storms or aerial disturbance, satisfied even them -that it was not the fir-chlis or "merry-dancers" as they used to know -them. Let us assure our Celtic readers that an attempt on our part to -explain the nature of the zodiacal light in Gaelic was no easy task; -and if the truth were known, we fear our prelection quoad hoc was a -sad failure. - -We have received the following note from "A Constant Reader:"-- - - -"Nether Lochaber. - -"Sir--Would you kindly let us know, through the columns of the -Inverness Courier, the proper name of the accompanying little bird, -and what part of this country it is properly a native of. It is never -seen in Ross-shire but during very heavy snow, and then they fly about -in large flocks, and disappear again as soon as the snow is gone.--I -am, yours respectfully, - -"A Constant Reader." - - -Neatly packed in a couple of lucifer match-boxes ingeniously conjoined, -the bird reached us, and the locale of its being shot or captured we -can only approximately indicate by the fact that the package bore the -post-mark "Garve." There was no difficulty in at once recognising -the bird as the snow-fleck or snow bunting, the Emberiza nivalis -of Linnæus, a common enough bird in early winter over the whole of -Scotland. Although it has been known to breed in Scotland, a few -being found all the year round along the summits of the Grampians, -and other mountain ranges to the north and north-west, it is probably -a bird of considerably higher latitudes than ours; visiting our shores -as a migrant in October or November, according as the winter is early -and severe or otherwise, and leaving us again in March or April. It -is a hardy little bird, of plain and rather sombre plumage, prettiest -in the act of flight, when the white on the edges and tips of the -tail-feathers, and quills, and secondaries, comes out in pretty bars, -contrasting pleasantly with the dark and chestnut brown, which may -be said to be the prevailing colour. The snow-fleck has hardly any -song beyond a tremulous twittering, and a few call-notes so loud and -shrill that in the strange and solemn calm that sometimes precedes a -snow-storm, they may be heard at a great distance. Our correspondent -should have stated where, when, and how the bird was got, a knowledge -of such matters vastly enhancing the interest and value of a specimen, -especially if it has any claims to be accounted a rara avis. - -We are indebted to our excellent Celtic friend, Mr. William Mackay, -Inverness, for a copy of his exceedingly interesting monograph on -The Glen and Castle of Urquhart, one of the most interesting spots -in the Highlands. Mr. Mackay attempts to make Glen Urquhart classic -ground by associating the story of Dearduil and Clann-Uisneachean, -as related in the mediæval Gaelic ballads, with the locality, by -pointing out that there is a Dun Dearduil in the neighbourhood--a -place so called after the hapless heroine of the ballad story. But in -the old and unquestionably authentic ballads her name is not Dearduil -but Deirdri; Deirdir and Daordir. Dearduil is a much later form of -the name, not older, Mr. J. F. Campbell hints, than the Darthula of -"Ossian" Macpherson. But there are other Dun Dearduils besides that -referred to by Mr. Mackay; one, for instance, near us in Glenevis; -and it is to be observed that all the places so called are vitrified -forts. An old man in our neighbourhood, one of our best seannachies, -always speaks of the Glenevis vitrified fort as Dun Dearsail -or Dearsuil, and this is probably the correct form of the term, -closely connecting it with dears and dearsadh, to shine, a shining; -to beam and be effulgently aglow like flame of fire. Remembering -that all the places so called present more or less marked traces -of vitrifaction, in the formation of which fire and flame, on a -large scale, must have been the chief and most remarkable agents, -the name comes to have a fitting and appropriate enough meeting, -without the necessity of taking in the name of Deirdri or Dearduil -at all. Mr. Mackay next gives a translation of a couple of quatrains -from the oldest known version of the Clann-Uisneachan ballad; that, -namely, of the vellum manuscript in the Advocates' Library, bearing -the date 1238, and quoted in the Highland Society's Report on Ossian:-- - - - "Beloved land, that eastern land, - Alba, with its lakes; - Oh, that I might not depart from it; - But I go with Naois. - Glen Urchain, O Glen Urchain, - It was the straight glen of smooth ridges: - Not more joyful was a man of his age - Than Naois in Glen Urchain." - - -Mr. Mackay will have it, of course, that this "Glen-Urchain" is his -Glen Urquhart. The Gaelic name of Urquhart, however, is invariably a -trisyllable; but this apart, the Glen-Urchain of Mr. Mackay has no -existence in the ballad from which he professes to translate. The -quatrain stands thus in the original:-- - - - "Mo chen Glen Urchaidh, - Ba hedh in Glen direach dromchain; - Uallcha feara aoisi - Ma Naise an Glend Urchaidh." - - -It is Glen Urchaidh, observe, not Urchain; the Glenurchay -of Argyllshire, in short, not the Glen Urquhart or Urchadan of -Inverness-shire. This is further proved by the context, the immediately -preceding and succeeding stanzas, which speak of Glen Mason and -Glendaruel in Cowal; of Duntroon; of Innisstrynich on Loch Awe; of Eite -or Etive, &c. In so far, in short, as this story of Clann-Uisneachan of -Ireland has to do with Scotland, we find it connected with Argyllshire, -where indeed we should most naturally look for it; and chiefly with -Glen Etive and Loch Etive, where we have Dun-Mhac-Uisneachan; Grianan -Dheirdir; Caoille Naois; Eilean Uisneachan, &c. &c. In Argyllshire, -too, it was that the Clann-Uisneachan ballads were preserved till -discovered and taken down from oral recitation by the collectors. And -if Dun-Dearduil and "Glen-Urchain" must be given up as having no -connection with the ballads in question, so would it seem to follow -that some other etymology than any connection with the name of Naois, -must be found for Loch Ness, Inverness, &c. - - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nether Lochaber, by Alexander Stewart - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NETHER LOCHABER *** - -***** This file should be named 56157-8.txt or 56157-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/1/5/56157/ - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Nether Lochaber - The Natural History, Legends, and Folk-lore of the West Highlands - -Author: Alexander Stewart - -Release Date: December 10, 2017 [EBook #56157] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NETHER LOCHABER *** - - - - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<div class="front"> -<div class="div1 cover"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#toc">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first"></p> -<div class="figure cover-imagewidth"><img src="images/new-cover.jpg" -alt="Newly designed Front Cover." width="480" height="720"></div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 frenchtitle"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#toc">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first xd26e121">NETHER LOCHABER.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 frontispiece"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#toc">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first"></p> -<div class="figure frontispiecewidth"><img src= -"images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="WEASEL KILLING A HARE.—(Page 63.)" -width="543" height="720"> -<p class="figureHead">WEASEL KILLING A HARE.—(<span class= -"sc">Page 63.</span>)</p> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 titlepage"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#toc">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first"></p> -<div class="figure titlepage-imagewidth"><img src= -"images/titlepage.png" alt="Original Title Page." width="467" height= -"720"></div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="titlePage"> -<div class="docTitle"> -<div class="mainTitle">NETHER LOCHABER:</div> -<div class="subTitle">THE NATURAL HISTORY, LEGENDS, AND FOLK-LORE OF -THE WEST HIGHLANDS.</div> -</div> -<div class="byline">BY<br> -The Rev. <span class="docAuthor">ALEXANDER STEWART</span>, F.S.A. -Scot.;<br> -MINISTER OF THE PARISH OF BALLACHULISH AND ARDGOUR.</div> -<div class="docImprint">EDINBURGH:<br> -WILLIAM PATERSON.<br> -<span class="docDate">MDCCCLXXXIII.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="div1 imprint"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#toc">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first xd26e165">EDINBURGH: BURNESS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS TO -HER MAJESTY. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd26e167" href="#xd26e167" -name="xd26e167">v</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 dedication"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#toc">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first xd26e169">TO<br> -<span class="sc">DONALD CAMPBELL, Esq., M.D.</span>,<br> -OF<br> -CRAIGRANNOCH, BALLACHULISH,<br> -IN PLEASANT RECOLLECTION OF HAPPY HOURS AT ONICH AND CRAIGRANNOCH,<br> -AND<br> -OF MANY A DELIGHTFUL MIDSUMMER RAMBLE,<br> -THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED<br> -WITH MUCH AFFECTIONATE REGARD BY HIS FRIEND<br> -THE AUTHOR. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd26e193" href="#xd26e193" -name="xd26e193">vii</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 preface"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#toc">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">PREFATORY NOTE.</h2> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The contents of this volume made their first -appearance in the shape of a series of papers from “Nether -Lochaber” in the <i>Inverness Courier</i>, a well-known Northern -Journal, long and ably conducted by the late Dr. <span class= -"sc">Robert Carruthers</span>. They are now presented to the public in -book form, in the hope that they may meet with a friendly welcome from -a still larger constituency than gave them kindly greeting in their -original shape, as from fortnight to fortnight they appeared.</p> -<p>At one time it was the Author’s intention to rewrite and -rearrange all, or almost all, these papers, adding, altering, or -expunging as might be considered best. On second thoughts, -however—second thoughts, besides, approved of by many literary -and scientific friends, in whose judgment and good taste the Author has -the utmost confidence—it was resolved to let them retain very -much the form in which they first attracted attention, in the belief -that any good that could result from a rewriting and reconstructing of -them would be dearly purchased if it <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"xd26e207" href="#xd26e207" name="xd26e207">viii</a>]</span>interfered, -as it was almost certain to interfere, with their <i lang="la">prima -cura</i> directness of phrase and freshness of local colouring.</p> -<p>In a volume dealing so largely with the Folk-Lore of the West -Highlands and Hebrides, there are necessarily many Gaelic rhymes and -phrases which at the first blink may tend to startle and repel the -southern reader. These Gaelic quotations, however, the Author has taken -care to translate into fairly equivalent English, so that even in this -regard it is to be hoped the volume may prove equally acceptable to the -Saxon, who is ignorant of the language of the mountains, as to the -Celt, who knows and loves it as his mother tongue.</p> -<p class="signed"><span class="sc">Nether Lochaber</span>,</p> -<p class="dateline"><i>June 1883</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"xd26e222" href="#xd26e222" name="xd26e222">ix</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="toc" class="div1 contents"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#toc">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first tocChapter"><a href="#ch1" id="xd26e227" name= -"xd26e227">CHAPTER I.</a> -<span class="tocPageNum">PAGE</span></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Primroses and Daisies in early -March—“The Posie”—Burns—“The -Ancient Mariner”—William Tennant, Author of “Anster -Fair”—Hebridean <i>Epithalamium</i>—A Bard’s -Blessing—A Translation—Macleod of Berneray, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">1</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch2" id="xd26e242" name= -"xd26e242">CHAPTER II.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Autumnal Tints—Solomon and the Queen of -Sheba—<i lang="la">Sortes <span class="corr" id="xd26e249" title= -"Source: Sacra">Sacræ</span></i>—<i lang="la">Sortes -Virgilianæ</i>—Charles the First and Lord -Falkland—Virgilius the Magician—Thomas of Ercildoune, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">8</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch3" id="xd26e259" name= -"xd26e259">CHAPTER III.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">An old Gaelic MS.—“The Bewitched -Bachelor Unbewitched”—Fairy Lore—Lacteal Libations on -Fairy Knowes, <span class= -"tocPageNum">18</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch4" id="xd26e268" name= -"xd26e268">CHAPTER IV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Transit of Mercury—Improperly called an -“Eclipse” of—November Meteors—Mr. -Huggins—Spectrum Analyses of Cometary Light—Translation of -a St. Kilda Song, <span class= -"tocPageNum">23</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch5" id="xd26e277" name= -"xd26e277">CHAPTER V.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Bird Music—The Skylark’s -Song—Imitation of, by a French Poet—Alasdair -Macdonald—Scott, -<span class="tocPageNum">29</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch6" id="xd26e287" name= -"xd26e287">CHAPTER VI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Severe Drought—The Drive by Coach from -Fort-William to Kingussie—Breakfast at Moy—Where did Scott -find Dominie Sampson’s -“Pro-di-gi-ous!”?—Professor Blackie’s Poem on -Glencoe, <span class= -"tocPageNum">33</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd26e295" href= -"#xd26e295" name="xd26e295">x</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch7" id="xd26e297" name= -"xd26e297">CHAPTER VII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">O the Barren, Barren Shore—Brilliant -Auroral Display—Intense -Cold—Birds—Glanders—Scribblings on the Back of One -Pound Notes, <span class= -"tocPageNum">39</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch8" id="xd26e306" name= -"xd26e306">CHAPTER VIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">A Wet February—A Good Time -coming—Sir Walter Scott—Mr Gladstone—Death of Sir -David Brewster, <span class= -"tocPageNum">44</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch9" id="xd26e315" name= -"xd26e315">CHAPTER IX.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Long-Line Fishing—Scarcity of -Fish—Their Fecundity—Large Specimen of the <i lang= -"la">Raia Chagrinea</i>—The Wolf Fish—The Devil Fish, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">50</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch10" id="xd26e327" name= -"xd26e327">CHAPTER X.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Birds—Contest between a Heron and an Eel, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">54</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch11" id="xd26e336" name= -"xd26e336">CHAPTER XI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Sea-Fishing—Loch and Stream -Fishing—“Brindled -Worms”—Rush-Lights—Buckie-Shell Lamps—The -Weasel killing a Hare—Killing a Fallow Deer Fawn, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">58</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch12" id="xd26e346" name= -"xd26e346">CHAPTER XII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Extraordinary aspect of the Sun—Sunset -from <i>Rokeby</i>—Mr. Glaisher—“Demoiselle” or -Numidian Crane at Deerness—The Snowy Owl in -Sutherlandshire—Does the Fieldfare breed in Scotland?—The -Woodcock, <span class= -"tocPageNum">66</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch13" id="xd26e358" name= -"xd26e358">CHAPTER XIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Extraordinary Heat and -Drought—Plentifulness of <i>Fungi</i>—Cows fond of -Mushrooms—Shoals of Whales—A rippling breeze, and a Sail on -Loch Leven, <span class= -"tocPageNum">70</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch14" id="xd26e370" name= -"xd26e370">CHAPTER XIV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Herrings—<i lang="la">Chimæra -Monstrosa</i>—Cure for Ringworm—Cold Tea Leaves for -inflamed and blood-shot Eyes—An old Incantation for the cure of -Sore Eyes—A curious Dirk Sheath—A Tannery of Human Skins, - <span class="tocPageNum">73</span> -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd26e381" href="#xd26e381" name= -"xd26e381">xi</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch15" id="xd26e383" name= -"xd26e383">CHAPTER XV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">The Ring-Dove—A Pet Ring-Dove—Its -Death—Shenstone—The <i lang="la">Belone Vulgaris</i> or -Gar-Fish—A Rat and a Kilmarnock Night-cap—Extraordinary -Roebuck’s Head at Ardgour, -<span class="tocPageNum">79</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch16" id="xd26e395" name= -"xd26e395">CHAPTER XVI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">The “Annus Mirabilis” of -Dryden—1870 a more wonderful Year in its way than -1666—Winter—Number of Killed and Wounded in the -Franco-Prussian War—Battles of Langside, Tippermuir, -Cappel—Carrier Pigeons—The Velocity with which Birds fly, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">86</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch17" id="xd26e405" name= -"xd26e405">CHAPTER XVII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Signs of a severe Winter—The Little Auk or -Auklet—The Gadwall—Falcons being trained by the Prussians -to intercept the Paris Carrier Pigeons—Ballooning—The King -of Prussia’s Piety—John Forster—Solar Eclipse of 22d -December 1870—The Government and the Eclipse—Large Solar -Spots—Visible to the naked eye—Rev. Dr. -Cumming—November Meteors, -<span class="tocPageNum">94</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch18" id="xd26e414" name= -"xd26e414">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">November Rains: 1500 tons per Imperial -Acre!—Rainfall in Skye—An old Gaelic Apologue—The -Drover and his Minister—Grand Stag’s Head—Scott as a -Poet—Mr. Gladstone and Scott—An old Lullaby from the -Gaelic, <span class= -"tocPageNum">99</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch19" id="xd26e423" name= -"xd26e423">CHAPTER XIX.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Winter—Auroral Displays in the West -Highlands always indicative of a coming Storm—<i lang="la">Corvus -Corax</i>—Wonderful Ravens—Edgar Allan Poe, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">106</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch20" id="xd26e435" name= -"xd26e435">CHAPTER XX.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Along the Shore after Birds—An Otter in -pursuit of a Fish—Tame Otter at Bridge of Tilt: Employed in -Fishing—His hatred of all sorts of Birds—“The Otter -and Fox,” a translation from the Gaelic, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">114</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd26e443" href= -"#xd26e443" name="xd26e443">xii</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch21" id="xd26e445" name= -"xd26e445">CHAPTER XXI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Storms—An “inch” of -Rain—<i lang="la">Atherina Presbyter</i>—<i lang= -"la">Lophius Piscatorius</i>—Mr. Mortimer Collins’ -misquotation from the <i>Times</i>, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">121</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch22" id="xd26e463" name= -"xd26e463">CHAPTER XXII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Aurora Borealis—Unfavourable weather for -Birds about St. Valentine’s Day—The Water-Vole in the -Rhi—In the Eden in Fifeshire—In the Black Water, Kinloch -Leven—Does it feed on Salmon Fry and Ova?—The -Kingfisher—Character of the Water-Vole—Note about the -Hedgehog, <span class= -"tocPageNum">127</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch23" id="xd26e473" name= -"xd26e473">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">March—The Story of a Spanish -Dollar—The Spanish Armada—The -“Florida”—<i lang="gd">Faire-Chlaidh</i>, or Watching -of the Graveyard—Molehill Earth for Flowers, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">133</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch24" id="xd26e485" name= -"xd26e485">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">The Beauty of the West Highland -Seaboard—Dr. Aiton of Dolphinton—Dr. Norman -Macleod—Specimen of Turtle-Dove (<i lang="la">Columba Turtur</i>) -shot in Ardgour—The belief on the Continent of its value as a -Household Pet—Bechstein—Male Birds dropping Eggs in -confinement, <span class= -"tocPageNum">140</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch25" id="xd26e497" name= -"xd26e497">CHAPTER XXV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Thunderstorm—Potato Field in -Bloom—The Hazel Tree—Hazel Nuts—Potato Shaws for -Cattle—Ferns for Bedding Cattle—<i>Marmion</i>—Scott, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">144</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch26" id="xd26e509" name= -"xd26e509">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Harvest—Scythe and Sickle <i>v.</i> -Reaping Machines—Potatoes—Garibaldi and Potatoes at -Caprera—Fishing—<i lang="la">Platessa Gemmatus</i>, or -Diamond Plaice—Mushrooms—The Poetry of Fairy -Rings—Harvest-Home, -<span class="tocPageNum">150</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch27" id="xd26e524" name= -"xd26e524">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">The disappearance of the glories of Autumn, and -the advent of Winter—Innovations and Innovators—New Version -of the Scriptures—The <i>Milkmaid and her Fairy Lover</i>, -translated from the Gaelic, -<span class="tocPageNum">159</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"xd26e535" href="#xd26e535" name="xd26e535">xiii</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch28" id="xd26e538" name= -"xd26e538">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Wild Birds’ Nests in early -April—Rook stealing Eggs frightened and almost captured—The -Domestic Cock—What he was, and what he is—Sadly demoralised -by intermixture with “Cochin-Chinas” and -“Bramahpootras,” -<span class="tocPageNum">165</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch29" id="xd26e547" name= -"xd26e547">CHAPTER XXIX.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">The Vernal Equinox—Beauty of Loch -Leven—Astronomical Notes—How an old Woman supposed to -possess the Evil Eye escaped a cruel death, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">172</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch30" id="xd26e556" name= -"xd26e556">CHAPTER XXX.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Midges and other Bloodsuckers—The -<i>Tsetse</i> of South Africa—The Abyssinian -<i>Zimb</i>—Livingstone—Adders and Grass -Snakes—Lucan’s <i>Pharsalia</i>—Celsus—Legend -of St. John <i lang="la">ante Portam Latinam</i>, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">178</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch31" id="xd26e577" name= -"xd26e577">CHAPTER XXXI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">The Leafing of the Oak and Ash—Splendid -Stags’ Heads—Edmund Waller—Old Silver-Plate buried -for preservation in the ’45—Mimicry in Birds—An -accomplished Goldfinch, -<span class="tocPageNum">185</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch32" id="xd26e586" name= -"xd26e586">CHAPTER XXXII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Potato Culture—Sensibility of the Potato -Shaw to Weather changes—The Carline Thistle—Burns—The -true <i lang="la">Carduus Scotticus</i>—The old Dog-Rhyme, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">192</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch33" id="xd26e598" name= -"xd26e598">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">A non-“Laughing” -Summer—Rheumatic Pains—Old Gaelic Incantation for Cattle -Ailments, <span class= -"tocPageNum">199</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch34" id="xd26e608" name= -"xd26e608">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Early sowing recommended—Vitality of -Superstitions—Capnomancy—Hazel Nuts: Frequent References to -in Gaelic Poetry—How best to get at the full flavour of a ripe -Hazel Nut, <span class= -"tocPageNum">204</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd26e616" href= -"#xd26e616" name="xd26e616">xiv</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch35" id="xd26e618" name= -"xd26e618">CHAPTER XXXV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Strength of Insects—<i lang= -"la">Necrophorus Vespillo</i>, or Burying-Beetle—Fœtid -smell of—How Willie Grimmond earned an Honest Penny in Glencoe, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">210</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch36" id="xd26e630" name= -"xd26e630">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Seaweed as a Fertiliser—Homer, Horace, -Virgil—November Meteors—Gaelic Folk-Lore—A Curfew -Prayer—A Bed Blessing—A Cattle Blessing—Rhyme to be -said in driving Cattle to Pasture—“Luath,” -Cuchullin’s Dog—Notes from the Outer Hebrides, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">217</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch37" id="xd26e639" name= -"xd26e639">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">The Delights of Beltane Tide—Bishop Gawin -Douglas—His Translation of the <i>Æneid</i>—The Fat -of Deer—“Light and Shade” from the -Gaelic—Mackworth Praed—Discovery of an old Flint -Manufactory in the Moss of Ballachulish, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">225</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch38" id="xd26e651" name= -"xd26e651">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Warm showery Summer disagreeable for the -Tourist, but pastorally and agriculturally favourable—<i lang= -"la">Xiphias Gladius</i>, or Sword-Fish, cast ashore during a -Mid-summer Gale—Garibaldi dining on Potatoes and Sword-Fish -steaks at Caprera—The General’s Drink—Medicinal -virtues of an Onion—Nettle Broth—Translation of a New -Zealand Maori Song, <span class= -"tocPageNum">233</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch39" id="xd26e664" name= -"xd26e664">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Mountains—The Lochaber Axe, Ancient and -Modern, <span class= -"tocPageNum">238</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch40" id="xd26e673" name= -"xd26e673">CHAPTER XL.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Sea-Fowl—Weather -Prognostics—Goosander (<i lang="la">Mergus Merganser</i>, -Linn.)—Gales of Wind—January Primroses—<i>Lachlan -Gorach</i>, the Mull “Natural”—A Dancing Rhyme, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">244</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd26e687" href= -"#xd26e687" name="xd26e687">xv</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch41" id="xd26e689" name= -"xd26e689">CHAPTER XLI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Plague of Thistles in Australia and New -Zealand—How to deal with them—<i lang="la">Cnicus -Acaulis</i>, Great Milk Thistle, or Stemless Thistle—Fierce Fight -between two Seals, “Nelson” and “Villeneuve,” - <span class= -"tocPageNum">250</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch42" id="xd26e701" name= -"xd26e701">CHAPTER XLII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Wounds from Stags’ Antlers exceedingly -dangerous—The old Fingalian Ballads—Number of Dogs kept for -the Chase—Dr. Smith’s “Ancient Lays” of modern -manufacture—The Spotted Crake (<i lang="la">Crex Prozana</i>) at -Inverness—Its Habits, -<span class="tocPageNum">258</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch43" id="xd26e713" name= -"xd26e713">CHAPTER XLIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Whelks and Periwinkles—An Ossianic -Reading—The Sea-shore after a Storm—The <i lang= -"la">Rejectamenta</i> of the deep—An amusing Story of a -Shore-Searcher—Severity of Winter—Wild-Birds’ -Levee—Woodcock—Snipe—Blue Jay, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">264</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch44" id="xd26e725" name= -"xd26e725">CHAPTER XLIV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">A “Blessed Thaw” after a Severe -Frost—Longevity in Lochaber—A ready “Saline -draught”—A <i lang="la">probatum est</i> Recipe for Catarrh -and Colds—Egg-shell Superstition—Curious old Gaelic Poem, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">272</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch45" id="xd26e738" name= -"xd26e738">CHAPTER XLV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">“Albert,” a famous Labrador -Dog—As a Water Dog—His intelligence—Takes to -Sheep-Stealing—Death! -<span class="tocPageNum">278</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch46" id="xd26e747" name= -"xd26e747">CHAPTER XLVI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">An old Fingalian Hero—His keenness of -Sight and sharpness of Ear—Foresters and -Keepers—Foxhunters—Donald MacDonald—His -Dogs—Sandy MacArthur the Mole-catcher, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">286</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch47" id="xd26e756" name= -"xd26e756">CHAPTER XLVII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Autumnal Night—Meteors—The Spanish -Mackerel—Professor Blackie’s Translations from the -Gaelic—The “Translations” of the Gaelic Society of -Inverness, <span class= -"tocPageNum">293</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id="xd26e764" href= -"#xd26e764" name="xd26e764">xvi</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch48" id="xd26e766" name= -"xd26e766">CHAPTER XLVIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Crops—Potato Slug—Fern -Slug—Brackens: How thoroughly to extirpate them—The Merlin, -Falcon, and Tringa, <span class= -"tocPageNum">299</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch49" id="xd26e775" name= -"xd26e775">CHAPTER XLIX.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">The Hedgehog an Egg and Bird -Eater?—Bird-catching—“Old -Cowie”—Mackenzie—<i lang="la">Lanius -Excubitor</i>—The Butcher-Bird or Shrike—Tea-Drinking and -Sobriety, <span class= -"tocPageNum">305</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch50" id="xd26e788" name= -"xd26e788">CHAPTER L.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Superstition amongst the People—Difficulty -of dealing with it—Examples of Superstitions still prevalent in -the Highlands—Cock-crowing at untimely hours—Itching of the -Nose—Ringing in the Ears—The -“Dead-Bell”—Sir Walter Scott—Hogg—Mickle, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">313</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch51" id="xd26e797" name= -"xd26e797">CHAPTER LI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Welcome Rain in May—Plague of Mice in -Upper Teviotdale—<i lang="la">Arvicola -Agrestis</i>—Field-Mice in Ardgour—How exterminated—A -Singing Mouse—Farmers’ Mistakes—Mackenzie the -Bird-catcher, <span class= -"tocPageNum">319</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch52" id="xd26e809" name= -"xd26e809">CHAPTER LII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Tourist Grumblers; how to deal with -them—Sea Fishing—Superstition about a -Gull—Josephus—Story of Mosollam and the Augur, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">327</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch53" id="xd26e818" name= -"xd26e818">CHAPTER LIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Heat in Mid-August—Early Planting and -Sowing—Over-ripening of Crops—Medusæ—Stinging -Jelly-Fish—The amount of solid matter in Jelly-Fish, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">334</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch54" id="xd26e827" name= -"xd26e827">CHAPTER LIV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Approach of Winter—Contentedness of the -People—Poets and Wild-Bird Song—Differences in the -Colouring and Markings of Birds’ Eggs—Late -Nest-building—Anecdote of Provost Robertson of Dingwall, Mr. -Gladstone’s Grandfather, -<span class="tocPageNum">341</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"xd26e835" href="#xd26e835" name="xd26e835">xvii</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch55" id="xd26e837" name= -"xd26e837">CHAPTER LV.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Spring—Hood’s Parody of -Thomson’s <i>Invocation</i>—The excellence of Nettle-Top -Soup—Cock-crowing—Birds’-nesting—Professor -Geikie—Curious Story of an old Pipe-Tune, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">348</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch56" id="xd26e850" name= -"xd26e850">CHAPTER LVI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Rain in Lochaber—An Apple Tree in bloom by -Candle-light—Mackenzie the Bird-catcher—A Badenoch -“Wise Woman” spitting in a Child’s Face to preserve -it from the Fairies, <span class= -"tocPageNum">355</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch57" id="xd26e859" name= -"xd26e859">CHAPTER LVII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Caught in a Squall on Loch Leven—Potatoes -and Herrings: How to cook them—A day in Glen Nevis—A visit -to <i lang="gd">Uaimh Shomhairle</i>, or Samuel’s Cave—The -Cave-Men, <span class= -"tocPageNum">361</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch58" id="xd26e871" name= -"xd26e871">CHAPTER LVIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Showers in Harvest Time—Magnificent -Sunset—Night sometimes seeming not to descend but to -<i>ascend</i>—Death of M. Leverrier—The Discovery of -Neptune—Pigeon cooing at Midnight—The Owl at -Noon—Cage-Birds singing at Night, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">370</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch59" id="xd26e883" name= -"xd26e883">CHAPTER LIX.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">October Storms—Cablegram -Predictions—Indications of coming Storms—Geordie Braid, the -St. Andrews and Newport Coach-driver—The Naturalist in -Winter—Drowned Hedgehogs: Spines become soft and -gelatinous—<i lang="la">Lophius -Piscatorius</i>—Disproportion between head and body in the -Devil-Fish a puzzle—An Itinerant Fiddler, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">379</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch60" id="xd26e895" name= -"xd26e895">CHAPTER LX.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">A Trip to Glasgow—Kelvin Grove -Museum—Highland Association—A run to -Rothesay—Rothesay Aquarium, -<span class="tocPageNum">387</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"xd26e903" href="#xd26e903" name="xd26e903">xviii</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch61" id="xd26e906" name= -"xd26e906">CHAPTER LXI.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Overland from Ballachulish to Oban on a -“Pet Day” in February—Story of <i lang="gd">Clach -Ruric</i>—Castle Stalker: an old Stronghold of the Stewarts of -Appin—James IV.—Charles -II.—Magpies—Dun-Mac-Uisneachan, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">394</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch62" id="xd26e918" name= -"xd26e918">CHAPTER LXII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">Nest-building—Cunningham’s objection -to Burns’ Song, “O were my Love yon Lilac -fair”—Birds and the Lilac Tree—Rivalries of -Birds—Birds and the Poets—The Nightingale, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">402</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch63" id="xd26e927" name= -"xd26e927">CHAPTER LXIII.</a></p> -<p class="tocArgument">March Dust—Moons of -Mars—Planetoids—Occultation of <i lang="la">Alpha -Leonis</i>—Zodiacal Light—Snow Bunting—Old Gaelic -Ballad of “Deirdri:” Its Topography, - <span class= -"tocPageNum">410</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb1" href="#pb1" -name="pb1">1</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="body"> -<div id="ch1" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e227">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="super">NETHER LOCHABER.</h2> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER I.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Primroses and Daisies in early March—“The -Posie”—Burns—“The Ancient -Mariner”—William Tennant, Author of <i>Anster -Fair</i>—Hebridean <i>Epithalamium</i>—A Bard’s -Blessing—A Translation—Macleod of Berneray.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The weather [March 1868] with us here still continues -wonderfully genial and mild: taken all in all, the season may be noted -as in this respect perhaps without precedent in our meteorological -annals. The sun, with nearly eight degrees of southern declination, is -not yet half-way through <i>Pisces</i>; we are still three weeks from -the vernal equinox, and yet on our table before us, as we write these -lines, there is as pretty a posy of wild-flowers as you could wish to -see, consisting of daisies, primroses, and other modest beauties, the -“firstlings of the year,” culled from bank and brae at a -date when in ordinary seasons the country, snow-covered or ice-bound, -is but a bleak and barren waste. Older and wiser people than ourselves -confidently predict “a winter in mid-spring” as yet in -store for us; but <i lang="la">meliora speramus</i>, we had rather -believe that to one of the mildest winters on record will succeed a -genial spring, a splendid summer, and an abundant harvest. In any case, -as somebody said of Scaliger and Clavius, <i lang="la">Mallem cum -Scaligero errare quam cum Clavio rectè sapere</i>: I had rather, -that is, be a partaker in the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb2" href= -"#pb2" name="pb2">2</a>]</span>errors of Scaliger, than a sharer in all -the wisdom of Clavius. Even so, we had rather err with the optimists -than be ranked with the pessimists, even when their predictions turn -out the truest. In our forenoon ramble on Friday last did we not find a -merle’s nest in the close and well-guarded embrace of an old -thorn root, with its pretty treasure of four brown-spotted, -greyish-green eggs? and with our wild-flower bouquet before us, are we -not better employed in crooning one of Burns’ sweetest lyrics -than in predicting evil, even if we were certain that our prediction -should become true?—said lyric being that entitled <i>The -Posie</i>, which, dear reader, if you do not know it already, you -should incontinently get by heart. Here is a verse or two:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Oh, luve will venture in where it daurna weel be -seen;</p> -<p class="line">Oh, luve will venture in, where wisdom ance has -been;</p> -<p class="line">But I will down yon river rove, amang the wood sae -green—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And a’ to pu’ a posie to my ain -dear May.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“The primrose I will pu’, the firstling -o’ the year,</p> -<p class="line">And I will pu’ the pink, the emblem o’ my -dear;</p> -<p class="line">For she’s the pink o’ womankind, and blooms -without a peer—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And a’ to be a posie to my ain dear -May.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“The lily it is pure, and the lily it is -fair,</p> -<p class="line">And in her lovely bosom I’ll place the lily -there;</p> -<p class="line">The daisy’s for simplicity and unaffected -air—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And a’ to be a posie to my ain dear -May.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“The hawthorn I will pu’, wi’ its -locks o’ siller grey,</p> -<p class="line">Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o’ -day;</p> -<p class="line"><i>But the songster’s nest within the bush I -winna tak away</i>—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And a’ to be a posie to my ain dear -May.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">Mark that line in italics, and ponder its exquisite -tenderness. How it must have irradiated, like a sudden flood of -sunshine over a mountain landscape, the poet’s heart as he penned -it! Here you have the germ of the doctrine afterwards more broadly -taught by Coleridge in the well-known lines of the <i>Ancient -Mariner</i>:— <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb3" href="#pb3" -name="pb3">3</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Farewell, farewell, but this I tell</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">To thee, thou Wedding Guest,</p> -<p class="line">He prayeth well, who loveth well</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Both man, and bird, and beast.</p> -<p class="line">He prayeth best, who loveth best</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">All things, both great and small;</p> -<p class="line">For the dear God who loveth us,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">He made and loveth all.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">We love <i>The Posie</i> of Burns for its own sake, -but we love it all the more, perhaps, because our attention was first -directed to its sweet simplicity and tender beauty by one of our -earliest and kindest friends, himself a poet of no mean order, the late -Professor William Tennant, author of <i>Anster Fair</i>, in all its -fantastical gaiety and homely mirth the most original poem, perhaps, to -be found in the literature of our country.</p> -<p>A gentleman who resides at present in Cheltenham, a cadet of one of -the oldest and most respectable families on the West Coast, and himself -the head of a house not unknown in Highland story, has been so good as -to send us a short Gaelic poem in manuscript, with a request that we -should give an English version of it. With this request we very readily -comply, such a task being to us a labour of love; the poem itself, -besides, being very beautiful, and the history of its composition -extremely interesting, as throwing some light on the manners and -customs of the olden times. The following prefatory note from the MS. -itself sufficiently explains the origin of this quaint and curious -Hebridean <i>Epithalamium</i>:—“It was the custom in the -West Highlands of Scotland in the olden time to meet the bride coming -forth from her chamber with her maidens on the morning after her -marriage, and to salute her with a poetical blessing called <i lang= -"gd">Beannachadh Bàird</i>. On the occasion of the marriage of -the Rev. Donald Macleod of Durinish, in the Isle of Skye, this practice -having then got very much into desuetude, and none being found prepared -to salute <i>his</i> bride <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb4" href= -"#pb4" name="pb4">4</a>]</span>agreeably to it, he himself came forward -and received her with the following beautiful address.” We -present our readers with the original lines <i lang="la">verbatim et -literatim</i>, precisely as they stand in the MS., only omitting two -lines that are partly illegible from their falling into the sharp -foldings of the sheet. The sense and tenor of these lines, however, we -have ventured to guess at and to incorporate with our English -version:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">Beannachadh Bàird.</span></h4> -<p class="line">Mìle fàilte dhuit le ’d -bhrèid,</p> -<p class="line">Fad’ a rè gu’n robh thu -slàn,</p> -<p class="line">Moran laithean dhuit as sìth,</p> -<p class="line">Le d’ mhaitheas as le d’ nì -’bhith fàs.</p> -<p class="line">A chulaidh cheiteas a chaidh suas.</p> -<p class="line">’S tric a thairin buaidh air mnaoi—</p> -<p class="line">Bithse gu suilceach, ceiteach,</p> -<p class="line">O thionnseain thu fhein ’san treubh.</p> -<p class="line">An tùs do choiruith ’s tu òg,</p> -<p class="line">An tùs gach lò iarr Righ nan -Dùl;</p> -<p class="line">Cha’n’ eagal nach dean e gu ceart</p> -<p class="line">Gach dearbh-bheachd a bhios ’nad rùn,</p> -<p class="line">Bithsa fialuidh—ach bith glic.</p> -<p class="line">Bith misneachail—ach bith stolt.</p> -<p class="line">Na bith brith’nach, ’s na bith balbh,</p> -<p class="line">Na bith mear na marbh ’s tu òg;</p> -<p class="line">Bith gleidhteach air do dhea ainm,</p> -<p class="line">Ach na bith duinte ’s na bith fuar;</p> -<p class="line">Na labhair fòs air neach gu olc,</p> -<p class="line">’S ged labhras ort, na taisbean fuath.</p> -<p class="line">Na bith gearannach fo chrois,</p> -<p class="line">Falbh socair le cupan làn;</p> -<p class="line">Chaoidh dh’ an olc na tabhair -spèis—</p> -<p class="line">As le ’d bhrèid ort, mìle -fàilt!</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Whether with the sense of the above we have succeeded -in catching anything of its quaint beauty and tenderness in the -following lines, is for the reader to judge:— <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb5" href="#pb5" name="pb5">5</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">A Bard’s Blessing.</span></h4> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Comely and <i>kerchief’d</i>, blooming, fresh and -fair,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">All hail and welcome! joy and peace be -thine;</p> -<p class="line">Of happiness and health a bounteous share</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Be shower’d upon thee from the hand -divine.</p> -<p class="line">Wearing the matron’s coif, thou seem’st to -be</p> -<p class="line">Even lovelier now than erst, when fancy-free,</p> -<p class="line">Thou in thy beauty’s strength did’st steal -my heart from me.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Though young in years thou ‘rt now a wedded -wife;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">O seek His guidance who can guide aright.</p> -<p class="line">With aid from Him, the rugged path of life</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">May still be trod with pleasure and -delight;</p> -<p class="line">For He who made us bids us not forego</p> -<p class="line">A single, sinless pleasure in this world of woe.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Be open-hearted, but be <i>eident</i> too,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Be strong and full of courage, but be -staid;</p> -<p class="line">Aught like unseemly folly still eschew—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Be faultless wife as thou wast faultless -maid!</p> -<p class="line">Guard against hasty speech and temper violent,</p> -<p class="line">And knowing when to speak, know also to be silent.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Guard thy good name and mine from smallest stain;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">In manner still be kindly, frank, and -free;</p> -<p class="line">If thou ‘rt reviled, revile not thou again;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">In hour of trial calm and patient be;</p> -<p class="line">And when thy cup is full, walk humbly still,</p> -<p class="line">A careless, proud, rash step the blissful cup may -spill!</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">With this bard’s blessing on thy wedded morn,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">All at thy bridal chamber-door we greet -thee;</p> -<p class="line">May every joy of truth and goodness born</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Through all thy life-long journey crowd to -meet thee;</p> -<p class="line">And may the God of Peace now richly shed</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">A blessing on thy kerchief-cinctured head!</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">The word <i>breid</i> in the original, which we have -rendered <i>kerchief</i> and <i>coif</i>, was in the olden times the -peculiar head-dress of married females, while virgins wore their -braided locks uncovered, a simple ribbon to bind the hair, and -occasionally a sprig of heather or modest flower by way of ornament, -being the only head-dress that could <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb6" -href="#pb6" name="pb6">6</a>]</span>with propriety be worn by a maiden -in the good old anti-chignon days of our grandmothers. The Highland -maiden’s narrow ribbon for binding the hair was in the south of -Scotland called a <i>snood</i>, probably from the old English -<i>snod</i>—“neat, handsome”—a word still in -use in the English border counties. In the south, even more pointedly -than in the north, the emblematical character of the maiden ribbon or -snood was recognised. It was only when a maiden became an honest, -lawful wife that the coif—also called <i>curch</i> and -<i>toy</i>—could be worn with propriety. If a damsel was so -unfortunate as to lose pretentions to the name of maiden, without -acquiring a right to that of matron, she was neither permitted to wear -that emblem of virgin purity, the snood, nor advanced to the graver -dignity of the coif or curch. In old Scottish songs there occur many -sly allusions to such misfortunes, as in the original words of the -popular tune of “Ower the muir amang the -heather”—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Down amang the broom, the broom,</p> -<p class="line">Down among the broom, my dearie,</p> -<p class="line">The lassie lost her silken snood,</p> -<p class="line">That gart her greet till she was wearie.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">And in a verse of a curious old ballad that we took -down some years ago from the recitation of a grey-headed Paisley -weaver—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“And did ye say ye lo’ed me weel?</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Then, kind sir, ye maun marrie me;</p> -<p class="line">For that I maunna wear my snood</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Aft brings the saut tear to my ee.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The reverend author of the above lines was probably -born about the year 1700, or perhaps ten or twenty years earlier, for -we find that he died a man well advanced in years in 1760. In the -<i>Scots Magazine</i> of that year there is the following notice of Mr -Macleod’s death:—“<i>Jan. 12th.</i>—At -Durinish, in the Isle of Skye, the Rev. Donald Macleod, minister of -that parish, a gentleman, says our correspondent, <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb7" href="#pb7" name="pb7">7</a>]</span>who adorned -his profession, not so much by a literary merit, of which he possessed -a considerable share, as by a consistent practice of the most useful -and excellent virtues. To do good was the ruling passion of his heart; -in composing differences, in diffusing the spirit of peace and -friendship, in relieving the distressed, in promoting the happiness of -the widow and orphan, his zeal was almost unexampled, his activity -unmeasured, his success remarkable. It is almost unnecessary to add -that he lived with a most amiable character, and died universally -regretted.”</p> -<p>A somewhat curious circumstance is the following:—One of the -Rev. Mr. Macleod’s daughters was married to Macleod of Berneray, -she being that gentleman’s <i>third</i> wife. Berneray was at the -date of this third marriage seventy-five years of age, notwithstanding -which he became by this lady the father of <i>nine children</i>. He -lived a hale and hearty old man till he was upwards of ninety. He was -reckoned in his day a splendid specimen of the stalwart, sterling, -straight-forward, and chivalrous Highland gentleman, “all of the -olden time.” <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb8" href="#pb8" name= -"pb8">8</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch2" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e242">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER II.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Autumnal Tints—Solomon and the Queen of -Sheba—<i lang="la">Sortes Sacræ</i>—<i lang= -"la">Sortes Virgilianæ</i>—Charles the First and Lord -Falkland—Virgilius the Magician—Thomas of Ercildoune.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">With occasional gales of wind and blustering showers -[October 1868], that, from their chilliness and <i>snellness</i>, you -suspect to be sleet, although you don’t like as yet exactly to -say so—meteorological phenomena, however, in no way strange or -unusual on the back of the autumnal equinox—the weather with us -here continues delightfully bright and breezy, and the country looks -beautiful. Field and upland are still as freshly green as at midsummer, -while the deep, rich russet hues and golden tints of the declining -year, gleaming in the fitful sunlight, and intermingling their glories -with the still beautifully fresh and unspotted foliage of our hardier -trees and shrubs; with the ripe, ruddy bloom of the heather empurpling -the moorland and the hill, and a perfect sea of “brackens -brown” mantling the mountain side, and fringing, in loving -companionship with the birch, the alder, and the hazel, the -torrent’s brink, as it leaps in foam from rock to rock and dashes -downwards with its wild music to the sea,—all this, with a -thousand indescribable accessories, scarcely perceptible indeed in the -general effect, but all bearing their fitting part in the delightful -whole, presents at this season, and never more markedly than this year, -a scene that you never tire of gazing at, and declaring again and -again, and with all your heart, to be “beautiful -exceedingly.” As you gaze on such a scene as this, you feel that -no painter could paint it; that there is a something in it all too -subtile and spiritual to be transferred <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb9" href="#pb9" name="pb9">9</a>]</span>to canvas by any art -whatever. An imitation, indeed, of all that is palpable and tangible -about it you may get, and it may be very beautiful perhaps, and a -triumph of art in a way; but, even as you gaze in admiration, ready to -grant the artist all the praise that is his due, are you not apt, -remembering the scene as nature has it, to</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Start, for <i>soul</i> is wanting -there?”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">But we must not be misunderstood. Painters and -painting we love, and have always loved, and should be sorry, indeed, -to be considered as in any way dead or indifferent to the power and -beauty of the art. Painting, after all, however, and especially -landscape painting, is but an <i>imitative</i> art, and the longer we -live, and the more we are brought face to face with nature, the more -shall we feel that there is a charm, an attractiveness, and a -loveliness about her all her own—a <i>something</i> that you feel -but cannot describe, that the artist as he gazes feels too, and strives -to grasp and instil into his picture, but cannot charm into -interminglement with his colours, “charm he never so -wisely.” Viewed æsthetically, nature in sooth consists not -of matter only, but of matter and <i>spirit</i>, and therein is the -secret of her surpassing power over us. You may subtly imitate and -reproduce exact representations of her more prominent features and -general outlines, and the painter, according as he is more or less -gifted with the poetic <i lang="la">mens divina</i>, may infuse a moral -<i>meaning</i> into his work, and a subtile beauty entirely independent -of the mere manipulation of his subject—be it landscape, -seascape, or cloudscape—and his work may impart instruction as -well as pleasure and delight; but, granting all this, there shall still -be something awanting even in the finest pictures, that something which -we have ventured to call spirit—the spirit that pervades and -permeates nature in all her works, that is her life, that may be -“spiritually discerned” <i>in her</i>, but cannot be -transferred to canvas. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb10" href="#pb10" -name="pb10">10</a>]</span></p> -<p>In the collection of Jewish traditions known as the <i>Talmud</i> -there is a very pretty story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, that -will serve to illustrate our meaning better than the longest -dissertation could be. It is to the following effect:—Attracted -by his wealth, and wisdom, and power—the fame whereof had gone -forth into all lands—the Queen of Sheba, the Beautiful, paid a -visit to Solomon, the Wise, at his own court, that she might there -admire the splendour of his throne and be instructed of his wisdom. -Charmed with the courtesy and gallantry of the accomplished King, -delighted with the magnificence and splendour of his court, and amazed -at his surpassing wisdom, which, indeed, exceeded all that she had -heard reported of it, the Queen still thought that Solomon could be -outwitted, and she resolved to have the glory of puzzling and -outwitting one so wise. To this end she one day presented herself -before the King, bearing in one of her hands a wreath of natural -flowers, the most beautiful she could gather, and in the other a -similar wreath of artificial flowers, the most beautiful and like unto -natural flowers that the cunning of herself and her handmaidens could -fashion. Of the two wreaths the hues were of the brightest, and the -flowers of the one wreath were as if they had been pulled off the same -stalks that bore the flowers of the other. “Tell me now, O -King,” said the Queen as she stood at some distance from the -throne whereon the monarch sate, “Tell me now, O King, which of -these wreaths I hold in my hands is fashioned of artificial flowers, -for one of them is so fashioned; and which of them of natural flowers, -that grew from out the earth, and imbibed their beauty and their -brightness from the sun, for of such of a truth is one of them -formed?” And, lo, the King was perplexed and sorely troubled, for -he wist not what answer to make, seeing that the two wreaths were as -like one to another as twin sisters at their mother’s breast, or -twin lilies on the same stalk. And the courtiers of the King, and his -princes, and his servants, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb11" href= -"#pb11" name="pb11">11</a>]</span>were sorely grieved that the sagacity -of the King should be at fault, and his superhuman wisdom at last fail. -But, lo, the spirit of wisdom came upon the King in his perplexity. -Observing some bees clustering outside, he ordered the window to be -opened, and soon the bees came swarming into the court, and after -hovering for a moment about the one wreath, they straightway left it -and settled upon the other, which observing, “<i>That</i>,” -said the King, “<i>that</i>, and not the other, is the wreath of -the flowers that grew from out the earth and in the sun, and were not -fashioned with hands.” And the Queen was mightily surprised at -the exceeding wisdom of the King, and did obeisance unto Solomon, -laying the wreaths of flowers upon the steps of the ivory throne that -was overlaid with gold, and of which there was not the like made in any -kingdom. And the courtiers, and the princes, and the servants of the -King clapped their hands and cried, “O King! live for -ever.” If we are wise and judge aright, we shall always, like the -bees of Solomon, be attracted by nature rather than by art, however -beautiful. Our doctrine was never, perhaps, so briefly and pithily -enforced as by the Macedonian conqueror on a certain occasion. A -courtier one day asked him to listen to him how well he could, -whistling, imitate the notes of the nightingale. Alexander declined the -proffered musical entertainment with the contemptuous remark, -“<i>I have heard the nightingale herself.</i>” No wonder -that the would-be melodist slunk away abashed; and such be the fate of -all mere echoers and imitators when at any time they claim more than is -their due, or would have us appraise their pinchbeck at the value of -sterling gold. There is an amount of truth, and a hidden meaning and -beauty, in Byron’s lines, that he was himself perhaps unconscious -of in the ribald mood of the moment, when, alluding to the -statuary’s art, he exclaimed—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“I’ve seen much finer women, ripe and -real,</p> -<p class="line">Than all the nonsense of their stone ideal.”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb12" href="#pb12" name= -"pb12">12</a>]</span></p> -<p>It is astonishing how difficult of thorough eradication are certain -superstitions, if once established amongst a people. Once let the -popular mind become inoculated with error in this shape, and although -times may change and the manners of the people may alter, though a new -tongue even shall have succeeded the language in which the error was -imbibed, and knowledge have spread and civilisation have steadily -progressed, yet there the superstition still lurks, frightened it may -be at the outward light, and, owl-like, ashamed to appear in the -brightness of the blessed sunshine of unclouded truth, but ever ready, -nevertheless, under favourable circumstances, to manifest itself, and -assert its sway over its votaries, like certain fabled mediæval -philters and potions that when administered are said to have lurked for -years and years in the human system, till, under certain conditions, -their subtle properties were called into active operation, and the -desired effect was produced. A short time ago we spent an evening in -the company of a gentleman from the south of Scotland, a distinguished -antiquary and archæologist, and of wonderful skill in everything -connected with the <i>folk-lore</i> of Scotland, whether of the past or -present. In the course of conversation, “over the walnuts and the -wine,” our friend surprised us not a little by informing us that -even at this day, in certain parts of the south-western districts of -Scotland, the <i lang="la">Sortes Sacræ</i> are frequently -resorted to by the people when they are in doubt or perplexity about -anything of sufficient importance in their opinion to warrant their -having recourse to this ancient mode of divination. The <i lang= -"la">Sortes Sacræ</i> are founded upon the more ancient <i lang= -"la">Sortes Virgilianæ</i>—Virgilian Lots, a method of -divination which had at least the merit of being extremely simple, and -not necessarily occupying much of the votary’s time. What may be -called the literary oracle, as distinguished from vocal oracles, was -consulted in this wise: The operator having before him a copy of -Virgil—the <i lang="la">sortes</i> were generally confined to the -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb13" href="#pb13" name= -"pb13">13</a>]</span><i lang="la">Æneid</i>—opened the -volume <i lang="la">ad aperturam libri</i>, anywhere, at random, when -the first passage that accidentally struck the eye was carefully read -and pondered with as little reference as possible to its immediate -context, and a meaning extracted from it which was supposed to indicate -the issue of the event in hand, and which was to be considered -inevitable and irrevocable as the fates had so decreed. A man with the -knowledge thus obtained could not by any precaution or change of -conduct avert the impending doom, good or evil; he could only put his -house in order, and so arrange matters the best way he could; that if -evil came it might be borne with dignity and patience; if good, that it -might be enjoyed with moderation and devout gratitude to the gods. It -is said that at the outbreak of the troubles that culminated in the -Commonwealth, Charles I. and Lord Falkland found themselves on a -certain day in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, when the latter -jocularly proposed that they should inform themselves of their future -fortunes by means of the <i lang="la">Sortes Virgiliæ</i>; and -certainly, read by the light of after events, it must be confessed that -the passages stumbled upon seem singularly ominous of the fate that -overtook both. The passage read by the Martyr King was from the fourth -book of the Æneid, and is as follows:—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“At bello audacis populi vexatus et armis,</p> -<p class="line">Finibus extorris, complexu avulsus Iuli,</p> -<p class="line">Auxilium imploret, videatque, indigna suorum</p> -<p class="line">Funera: nec, cum se sub leges pacis iniquæ</p> -<p class="line">Tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur,</p> -<p class="line">Sed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus -arena.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Which Dryden, if with rather too much amplification, -still very beautifully translates thus:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Yet let a race untamed and haughty foes</p> -<p class="line">His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose,</p> -<p class="line">Oppress’d with numbers in th’ unequal -field,</p> -<p class="line">His men discouraged and himself expell’d: -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb14" href="#pb14" name= -"pb14">14</a>]</span></p> -<p class="line">Let him for succour sue from place to place,</p> -<p class="line">Torn from his subjects and his son’s embrace.</p> -<p class="line">First let him see his friends in battle slain,</p> -<p class="line">And their untimely fate lament in vain;</p> -<p class="line">And when at length the cruel wars shall cease,</p> -<p class="line">On hard conditions may he buy his peace.</p> -<p class="line">Nor let him then enjoy supreme command,</p> -<p class="line">But fall untimely by some hostile hand,</p> -<p class="line">And lie unburied on the barren sand.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Lord Falkland’s eye fell on the following lines -in the eleventh book:—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Non hæc, O Palla, dederas promissa -parenti.</p> -<p class="line">Cautius ut sævo velles te credere Marti!</p> -<p class="line">Haud ignarus eram, quantum nova gloria in armis,</p> -<p class="line">Et predulce decus primo certamine posset.</p> -<p class="line">Primitiæ juvenis miseræ! bellique -propinqui</p> -<p class="line">Dura rudimenta! et nulli exaudita Deorum</p> -<p class="line">Vota, precesque meæ!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">—which the same translator has rendered as -follows:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“O Pallas, thou hast failed thy plighted -word,</p> -<p class="line">To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword;</p> -<p class="line">I warn’d thee, but in vain, for well I knew</p> -<p class="line">What perils youthful ardour would pursue;</p> -<p class="line">That boiling blood would carry thee too far,</p> -<p class="line">Young as thou wert to dangers, raw to war;</p> -<p class="line">O curs’d essay of arms, disastrous doom,</p> -<p class="line">Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come,</p> -<p class="line">Hard elements of unauspicious war,</p> -<p class="line">Vain vows to heaven and unavailing care.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">How the most pious man of his age, and one of the best -kings that ever adorned a throne, suffered death at the hands of his -rebellious subjects is well known. Poor Lord Falkland—a young -nobleman of the most estimable character; a poet and man of letters, so -fond of books that he used to say that “he pitied unlearned -gentlemen in a rainy day”—fell gallantly fighting for the -royal cause in the battle of Newbury, before he had yet completed his -thirty-fourth year. It is curious to find the eminent poet Abraham -Cowley, a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb15" href="#pb15" name= -"pb15">15</a>]</span>good man too—of whom at his death Charles -II. was heard to say that “Mr. Cowley had not left a better man -behind in England,”—it is curious, we say, to find him on a -certain occasion seriously referring to the <i>Virgilian Lots</i>, and, -what is more, avowing his firm belief in them! During the Commonwealth, -Cowley was in Paris, where he acted as secretary to the Earl of St. -Albans (then Lord Jermyn), and had a good deal to do with the -negotiations that eventually led to the Restoration. In one of his -letters, speaking of the Scotch treaty then in agitation, he -says—seriously, observe, and in an official -document—“The Scotch treaty is the only thing now in which -we are vitally concerned. I am one of the last hopers, and yet cannot -now abstain from believing that an agreement will be made; all people -upon the place incline to that union. The Scotch will moderate -something of the rigour of their demands; the mutual necessity of an -accord is visible, the king is persuaded of it. <i>And, to tell you the -truth (which I take to be an argument above all the rest), Virgil has -told the same thing to that purpose.</i>” He had evidently -consulted the <i>Virgilian Lots</i>, and a passage presenting itself -that could somehow be twisted so as to point to a favourable issue to -the Scotch business in hand, he accepts the oracle, and in all -seriousness announces his belief in it! When we find a man of -refinement and culture and high moral character like Cowley crediting -such nonsense, can we much wonder at the lengths to which fanaticism -and superstition carried people in those unhappy times? To understand -why Virgil, of all the ancient poets, Roman or Greek, was selected as -the oracle in this mode of divination, we must remember that the -Mantuan bard had the credit amongst his countrymen of having been a -sorcerer or necromancer and prophet as well as a poet, something like -the British <i>Merlin</i>, or our own <i>Thomas the Rhymer</i> and -<i>Michael Scott</i>, only more famous, perhaps. “Would the -reader suppose, for example, that the theory of volcanic action is all -a myth, and that it is to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb16" href= -"#pb16" name="pb16">16</a>]</span>the magic of Virgil, and to nothing -else, that the south of Italy is indebted for all the earthquakes and -subterranean convulsions that have afflicted it for centuries? Yet so -it is, if we are to credit all the stories of “Virgilius the -Magician” that were current during the Middle Ages. The -celebrated Benedictine monk, <i>Bernard de Montfaucon</i>, author of -<i lang="fr">Antiquité Expliquée</i> one of the most -learned and curious works in existence, repeats the story as it was -told and credited in the Dark Ages. The following is from an old -translation, quoted by Scott in his notes to the <i>Lay of the Last -Minstrel</i>, in illustration of the magical spells attributed to the -Ladye of Branksome Tower. Virgil it seems, among other things, was -famous for his gallantries. On one occasion he fell in love with and -carried away the daughter of a certain “Soldan,” and the -story proceeds:—“Than he thoughte in his mynde how he -myghte marye hyr, and thoughte in his mynde to founde in the middes of -the see a fayer towne, with great landes belongynge to it; and so he -did by his cunnynge, and called it Napells (Naples). And the foundacyon -of it was of egges, and in that town of Napells he made a tower with -iiii. corners, and in the toppe he set an apell upon an yron yarde, and -no man culde pull away that apell without he brake it; and thoroughe -that yren set he a bolte, and in that bolte set he an egge, and he -henge the apell by the stauke upon a cheyne, and so hangeth it still. -And when the egge styrreth so should the town of Napells quake; and -when the egge brake, then shulde the town sinke. When he made an ende, -he lette calls it Napells.” Thomas of “Ercildoune,” -and he of “Balivearie,” and the two -<i>Merlins</i>,—for there were two of them, the Merlin of the -Arthurian legends, and <i>Merdwynn Wylet</i>, or Merlin the Wild, who -seems to have been a Scotchman, and whose grave is still pointed out -beneath an aged thorn-tree at Drumelzier in Tweeddale,—these were -accounted great magicians and “pretty fellows in their -day;” but what were they to Virgilius the earthquaker, who at -least <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb17" href="#pb17" name= -"pb17">17</a>]</span>attained to such an enviable state of -independence, that he is represented as frequently playing at pitch and -toss with the “devyl,” and cheating and outwitting that -crafty potentate as if he were the veriest greenhorn! The <i lang= -"la">Sortes Sacræ</i> were just the <i lang="la">Sortes -Virgilianæ</i>, with this difference, that in the former case, -instead of a copy of Virgil, the New Testament was used in the process -of divination. The oracle is consulted in this case, according to our -information, by the introduction at random of the wards end of a key -(some allusion probably to the Apostolic keys) between the leaves of -the closed volume, which is then opened at that place, and from the -first verse that arrests the eye the desired knowledge is extracted. On -inquiry, we find that this superstition was still occasionally -practised in the Highlands of Scotland some fifty years ago, though we -would fain hope and believe that it is now unknown. It is curious that -it should still be frequently resorted to in the south-western -districts. It seems to have been a very general as well as a very -ancient mode of divination. Hoffman, in his <i lang="fr">Lexicon -Universale, &c.</i>, informs us that it was practised by the Jewish -Rabbins with their sacred books, as well as by the Pagans from very -early times, and was common amongst the Christians of the Middle Ages. -We are informed by a gentleman, who spent many years in the East, that -the Mahometans frequently resort to this method of divination, taking -the Koran as their oracle. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb18" href= -"#pb18" name="pb18">18</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch3" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e259">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER III.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">An old Gaelic MS.—“The Bewitched Bachelor -Unbewitched”—Fairy Lore—Lacteal Libations on Fairy -Knowes.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">In looking over some old papers the other day [October -1868] we stumbled on some sheets of Gaelic MS. that had lain neglected -for years, and every existence of which, indeed, we had well-nigh -forgotten. One of these sheets contained the original of the following -lines. It is in many respects a curious composition, written in a sort -of rhythmical alliterative prose rather than in verse, somewhat in the -manner of the conversational parts of the Gaelic <i lang= -"gd">Sgeulachdan</i> or fireside tales of the olden time. Its tone -throughout is gay and lively, with an occasional admixture of humour -and <i>double entendre</i> that is very amusing, while its allusions to -the manners and customs and superstitious observances of a past age -render it, to our thinking, extremely interesting. The sheet in our -possession is only a copy, the original, taken down from oral -recitation, we believe, being in a MS. collection of Gaelic poems and -tales by Rev. Mr. M’Donald, at one time minister of the parish of -Fortingall, in Perthshire. Having only internal evidence to judge from, -it is impossible with any confidence to assign even an approximate date -to such a production as this, but we are probably not far wrong in -placing it as early at least as the middle or close of the last -century. It bears no title in the original; we may call it—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">The Bewitched Bachelor Unbewitched.</span></h4> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">The gudeman mumbled and grumbled full sore</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Over the butter-kits, all through the -dairy:</p> -<p class="line">Over cheese, over butter, and milk-pails, he swore</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">“’Tis the work, I’ll be -bound, of some foul witch or fairy.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb19" href="#pb19" name= -"pb19">19</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">How can I ever be happy or rich,</p> -<p class="line">If robbed and tormented by fairy and witch,”</p> -<p class="line">Quoth he; and lo, with a sudden turn</p> -<p class="line">He stumbled and spilt the cream-full churn!</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">He went to his mother (she dwelt in the cot</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Amid the hazels down by the linn:</p> -<p class="line">Full well the wild birds loved that spot,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And taught its echoes their merry -din)—</p> -<p class="line">He went to his mother, that Bachelor gruff:</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">He was mild with her, though with others -rough.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Mother,” quoth he, “I have not -now</p> -<p class="line">One-half the butter or cheese, I trow,</p> -<p class="line">That loaded my dairy shelves when you</p> -<p class="line">Had charge of my household and dairy too:</p> -<p class="line">Tell me mother, what shall I do?</p> -<p class="line">I vow and declare that some fairy or witch</p> -<p class="line">Is robbing me still and doing me ill—I shall -never be rich.”</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“My son,” the mother mild replied,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">“See that you pay the fairies their -due;</p> -<p class="line">A tribute due should ne’er be denied—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Others don’t grudge it, and why should -you?</p> -<p class="line">Nor thrive their flocks nor kine, I ween,</p> -<p class="line">Who scorn or neglect the <i>shian</i> green.”</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“But, mother, the witch that lives down i’ -the glen?”</p> -<p class="line">“A widow, my son, with a fatherless oe,</p> -<p class="line">Who has seen much sorrow and years of woe;</p> -<p class="line">Give her as heretofore, my son,</p> -<p class="line">Of your curds and whey, and let her alone.</p> -<p class="line">And oh, my son, if you would be rich,</p> -<p class="line">And free from dread of fairy and witch.</p> -<p class="line">And happy and well-to-do through life—</p> -<p class="line">Go get thee, my son, a winsome wife!”</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">The bachelor hied him home full soon—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">He sent to the widow, far down in the -glen,</p> -<p class="line">A kebbuck of cheese as round as the moon,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Of oaten cakes he sent her ten,</p> -<p class="line">With a kindly message, “Come when you may</p> -<p class="line">For curds and whey in the good old way.”</p> -<p class="line">He sent her withal, ’tis right you should -know,</p> -<p class="line">A braw new kilt for her fatherless oe.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb20" href="#pb20" name= -"pb20">20</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">And ever he saw that his maidens paid</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">To the fairies their due on the <i>Fairy -Knowe</i>,</p> -<p class="line">Till the emerald sward was under the tread</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">As velvet soft, and all aglow</p> -<p class="line">With wild flowers, such as fairies cull,</p> -<p class="line">Weaving their garlands and wreaths for the dance when -the moon is full!</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">And lo! at last he took him a wife,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">A comely and winsome dame, I trow,</p> -<p class="line">Who shed a sunshine over his life,</p> -<p class="line">And silvered the wrinkles upon his brow.</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">’Twas well with the kine, and well with -the dairy,</p> -<p class="line">Nor dreaded he ought from witch or fairy;</p> -<p class="line">(He had one of his own—she was hight <i>Wee -Mary</i>!)</p> -<p class="line">And often they went to the cot by the linn,</p> -<p class="line">Where mavis and merle made merry din.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">The English reader will probably require to be -informed that oe—the Gaelic <i lang="gd">ogha</i>—signifies -a grandchild, while <i lang="gd">shian</i> (Gaelic <i lang= -"gd">sithean</i>) is a fairy knoll. To show what a power fairies were -at one time in the land, and how wide-spread was the belief in them, we -have only to consider that there is perhaps not a hamlet or township in -the Highlands or Hebrides without its <i lang="gd">shian</i> or green -fairy knoll so called. Within half a mile of our own residence, for -example, there is a <i lang="gd">Sithean Beag</i> and a <i lang= -"gd">Sithean Mor</i>, a Greater and Lesser Fairy Knoll; there is, -besides, a <i lang="gd">Glacan-t’ Shithein</i>, the Fairy Knoll -Glade, <i lang="gd">Tobar-an-t’ Shithein</i>, the Fairy Knoll -Well; and a deep chasm, through which a mountain torrent plunges -darkling, called <i lang="gd">Leum-an-t’ Shithiche</i>, the -Fairy’s Leap, with which there is probably connected some very -wonderful story, although we have been unsuccessful hitherto in meeting -with any one able or willing to repeat it. The truth is, that a belief -in fairies and fairyland, or faery—faint, no doubt, and -ill-defined now-a-days—still lingers ghost-like, the shadow of -its more substantial former living self, in our straths and glens; and, -in accordance with the old superstition, it is considered that the -“good people” should only be spoken of on <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb21" href="#pb21" name="pb21">21</a>]</span>rare and -unavoidable occasions, and then only in serious and respectable terms. -Hence it is that you always find old people reluctant to impart such -fairy lore as may be known to them, though garrulous enough on all -other subjects; and hence, also, it happens that in our old <i lang= -"gd">Sgeulachdan</i>—the <i>Arabian Nights Entertainments</i> of -our Celtic forefathers—although you find giants, and dwarfs, and -misbegotten beings of every imaginable shape and size; animals, too, -that can speak and reason and lend their superhuman aid to prince and -peasant in extremity, as well as genii, kelpies, and spirits of flood -and fell, you rarely if ever meet with one of the “good -folks,” or fairies proper, introduced upon the scene. The people -thoroughly <i>believed</i> in them, believed that they had a veritable -existence, and although invisible to mortal eye, that they might be at -your elbow at any moment; that they disliked being spoken of at all as -a rule, and that a disrespectful word about them especially would -inevitably be followed by some signal punishment, or -“mischance,” as it was more cautiously termed in the -South—all this they believed, and therefore they held it wisest -to speak of fairies, good folks though they were, as seldom as -possible. The allusion to paying—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The fairies their due on the fairy -knowe,”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">has reference to the custom, common enough on the -western mainland and in some of the Hebrides some fifty years ago, and -not altogether unknown perhaps even at the present day, of each -maiden’s pouring from her <i lang="gd">cumanbleoghain</i>, or -milking-pail, evening and morning, on the fairy knowe a little of the -new-drawn milk from the cow, by way of propitiating the favour of the -good people, and as a tribute the wisest, it was deemed, and most -acceptable that could be rendered, and sooner or later sure to be -repaid a thousand-fold. The consequence was that these fairy knolls -were clothed with a richer and more beautiful verdure than <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb22" href="#pb22" name="pb22">22</a>]</span>any -other spot, howe or knowe, in the country, and the lacteal riches -imbibed by the soil through this custom is even now visible in the -vivid emerald green of a <i lang="gd">shian</i> or fairy knoll whenever -it is pointed out to you. This custom of pouring lacteal libations to -the fairies on a particular spot deemed sacred to them, was known and -practised at some of the summer shielings in Lochaber within the memory -of the people now living. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb23" href= -"#pb23" name="pb23">23</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch4" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e268">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER IV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Transit of Mercury—Improperly called an -“Eclipse” of—November Meteors—Mr. -Huggins—Spectrum Analyses of Cometary Light—Translation of -a St. Kilda Song.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">We were early astir on the morning of the 5th November -[1868]; with little thought, be sure, of Guy Fawkes or the Gunpowder -Plot, intent only on witnessing, if we might be so fortunate, the -transit of Mercury over the solar disc. The phenomenon in question we -have seen referred to as an “eclipse” of Mercury, which it -certainly was not. A celestial body is properly said to be eclipsed -when, by the interposition of another and a nearer orb, it is -temporarily hid from view. A star or planet so hidden by the body of -the moon, for instance, is said to be “occulted.” The sun -is truly said to be eclipsed when the new moon at a particular -conjunction steps in between us and him, and temporarily intercepts his -beams. What again, for convenience sake, is called an eclipse of the -moon, is really not an eclipse at all, so far at least as the -terrestrial spectator is concerned; it would be more strictly correct -to call it simply a lunar obscuration. The temporary appearance of -Venus and Mercury as circular and sharply defined black spots on the -solar disc, has hitherto always, and very properly, been called in the -language of astronomers a “transit” of the particular -planet by name, such as the “transit of Venus,” or the -“transit of Mercury;” and there is no reason to change the -term, for it is expressive and true, which the word <i>eclipse</i>, -applied to such a conjunction, certainly is not.</p> -<p>Be it called what it may, however—eclipse or transit—we -were disappointed in not getting a glimpse of the phenomenon in -question <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb24" href="#pb24" name= -"pb24">24</a>]</span>on the present occasion. Although duly at our post -from before sunrise till the minute calculated for the last contact of -the planet with the solar disc, we were unable to obtain anything more -than the most momentary blink even of the larger orb, and, of course, -the detection of the black button-like disc of the planet itself, in -such circumstances, was altogether out of the question. The -disappointment, however, was less annoying to us in this instance from -the fact that we had already been privileged to witness all the phases -of a similar conjunction from first to last on the 12th November 1861. -The next visible transit of Mercury does not take place till the 6th of -May 1878—ten years hence. There are several other transits during -the present century, invisible in our country, however, and on the -continent of Europe; but which will probably afford much delight to -many an eager watcher over the length and breadth of the South American -continent, and generally over the islands of the Pacific Ocean.</p> -<p>Nor, with us here at least, was the night of the 13–14th -instant any way more favourable for observation than the dull beclouded -morning of the 5th itself. The night was calm and rainless, to be sure, -but a heavy impenetrable mass of dark grey clouds, so low as to envelop -all the mountain summits around, obscured the vault from horizon to -horizon, from sunset to sunrise, so that not a single meteor could be -seen by the keenest eye, even if above that pall of cloud the display -had been the most brilliant and splendid conceivable. From the fact, -however, that in several places widely distant from each other, from -which we have had communications on the subject, and where the sky was -abundantly clear and unclouded throughout, no unusual display of -meteors was seen, the probability is that we have on this occasion -missed them in our country, either because they came into contact with -our atmosphere in the daytime, when, of course, they would be -invisible, or more likely because our contact this year with the -meteorolithic <i lang="la">annulus</i> <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb25" href="#pb25" name="pb25">25</a>]</span>was of the slightest, and -at a segment thereof where the meteoric bodies are least numerous, and -thus we must patiently wait till we again dash through it at its -densest before we can hope for such a magnificent meteor shower as -astonished and delighted us all in 1866. Only at Oxford, as far as our -country is concerned, was there anything like a meteor shower on the -present occasion, and even there the display seems to have been too -faint and uninteresting to have attracted much attention. Intelligence -has reached our country from New York, however, that over that city, -and over the States generally, the meteoric display of the morning of -the 14th was very splendid indeed, though, owing to the morning being -further advanced before it commenced, less of it was seen by the people -at large than on some previous occasions. The weather with our -Transatlantic cousins seems to have been all that could be desired, as -it is stated that “astronomers and others were able to make very -complete observations.” The worst thing about our insular -position with respect to matters astronomical is the extreme -uncertainty with which anything like continuous observation can be -conducted. The chances always are twenty to one that in Great Britain, -at any given hour in any given place, the weather should be such as to -render an observation of a celestial phenomenon impossible, or at the -least partial and unsatisfactory. One thing, at least, is now pretty -certain—that annually, and at a date that falls somewhere between -sunset of the 13th and sunrise of the 14th November, we may confidently -look for greater or less displays of these meteoric bodies, the only -thing likely to interfere with the interesting pyrotechnic exhibition -being an unfavourable state of the weather at a moment when we are most -concerned that the sky shall be clear and cloudless.</p> -<p>Mr. Huggins, whose researches with the <i>spectroscope</i> have -already made his name famous, has recently communicated a most -interesting paper to the Royal Society, giving an account of the -spectrum <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb26" href="#pb26" name= -"pb26">26</a>]</span>analyses of one of the smaller and commoner class -of comets that was visible for a short time in the month of June last. -Avoiding technical details, which might be uninteresting to some of our -readers, we may simply mention that on testing the nucleus of this -comet with the spectroscope, Mr. Huggins found that it was resolved -into three broad “bands,” precisely similar to the results -obtained on examining with the same wonderful instrument such carbon as -follows the transmission of electric sparks through olefiant gas. The -conclusion arrived at by Mr. Huggins is, that the nucleus of the comet -in question consisted solely of volatilised carbon. This paper of Mr. -Huggins is altogether a most interesting one, and we may have something -more to say about it on a future occasion.</p> -<p>The following is a translation—somewhat freely -rendered—of an old Irst or St. Kilda song, the solitary island -home of a score or two of hardy inhabitants, and by all accounts a -happy and hospitable race too, who cling with an unquenchable love to -their lonely rock, as if it were a perfect paradise, ocean-girt and -storm-beaten though it be—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Placed far amid the melancholy main.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Except another specimen given in a small collection of -Gaelic songs, edited by the late Rev. Mr. M’Callum of Arisaig, -the original of the following is the only St. Kilda song that we have -met with. Our copy was procured in this way: Some years ago we were -dining on board H.M. Revenue cruiser “Harriet,” Captain -M’Allister. Going ashore on a fine moonlight night, one of the -seamen who rowed our boat sang the song, which we had no hesitation in -at once declaring to be of St. Kilda origin, which the man admitted was -the case, he having picked it up many years before from an old woman -who had spent some time on the island. Of the air, we can only remember -that it was a wild, irregular sort of chant, very different from the -soft low airs to which our mainland songs are for the most part sung, -with the refrain or burden <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb27" href= -"#pb27" name="pb27">27</a>]</span>(represented by our -<i>Alexandrines</i> in each stanza) given in a shrill falsetto that was -somewhat disagreeable to the ear, although abundantly appropriate, -probably, in the circumstances in which the song was composed, and when -sung amid all the surroundings of the scene depicted.</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">The St. Kilda Maid’s Song.</span></h4> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Over the rocks, steadily, steadily;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Down to the clefts with a shout and a shove, -O;</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Warily tend the rope, shifting it -readily,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Eagerly, actively, watch from above, O.</p> -<p class="line">Brave, O brave, my lover true, he’s worth a -maiden’s love:</p> -<p class="line">(<i>And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is -high above!</i>)</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Sweet ’tis to sleep on a well feathered -pillow,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Sweet from the embers the fulmar’s red -egg, O;</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Bounteous our store from the rock and the -billow;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Fish and birds in good store, we need never to -beg, O;</p> -<p class="line">Brave, O brave, my lover true, he’s worth a -maiden’s love:</p> -<p class="line">(<i>And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is -high above!</i>)</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Hark to the fulmar and guillemot -screaming:</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Hark to the kittiwake, puffin, and gull, -O:</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">See the white wings of solan goose -gleaming;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Steadily, men! on the rope gently pull, O.</p> -<p class="line">Brave, O brave, my lover true, he’s worth a -maiden’s love:</p> -<p class="line">(<i>And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is -high above!</i>)</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Deftly my love can hook ling and conger,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The grey-fish and hake, with the net and the -creel, O;</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Far from our island be plague and be -hunger;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And sweet our last sleep in the quiet of the -Kiel, O.</p> -<p class="line">Brave, O brave, my lover true, he’s worth a -maiden’s love:</p> -<p class="line">(<i>And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is -high above!</i>)</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Pull on the rope, men, pull it up -steadily:</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(<i>There’s a storm on the deep, see the -scart claps his wings, O</i>);</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Cunningly guide the rope, shifting it -readily;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Welcome my true love, and all that he brings, -O!</p> -<p class="line">Now God be praised, my lover’s safe, he’s -worth a maiden’s love:</p> -<p class="line">(<i>And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is -high above!</i>)</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">Our song needs but little elucidation. The reader who -knows that the wealth of the St. Kildians mainly consists of the -feathers and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb28" href="#pb28" name= -"pb28">28</a>]</span>eggs of wild-fowl, to procure which they are -obliged to hang suspended from ropes over the most dreadful precipices, -in the clefts and along the otherwise inaccessible ledges of which the -sea-fowl breed, will have no difficulty in understanding the general -drift of the island maid’s very spirited and very earnest song. -It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that as ling, conger, hake, and -grey-fish are certain kinds of sea fish, so fulmar, guillemot, -kittiwake, puffin, and scart are certain kinds of web-footed sea-fowl. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb29" href="#pb29" name= -"pb29">29</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch5" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e277">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER V.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Bird Music—The Skylark’s -Song—Imitation of, by a French Poet—Alasdair -Macdonald—Scott.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">Conscious at last that pouting and inordinate weeping -became him not, and that, being constantly on the -“rampage,” like Mrs. Joe Gargery, was hardly consistent -with his place in the calendar, April [1869] betimes resolved to -“tak a thocht and mend,” and now, like Richard, is himself -again—all sunshine and smiles. The rain-gauge, to be sure, with -stern impartiality, will still show an occasional “inch,” -or parts of an inch, if you are very particular in your inquiries, when -examined of a morning, but its readings now at least are in no way -appalling, for they represent the warm and genial rainfall of April -showers, that, after all, are as necessary on the west coast at this -moment, and as refreshing to the soil, as the orthodox cup of mulled -port of an evening was believed to be to the weary traveller in the -good old days of stage-coaches and post-chaises. The country, at all -events, is looking very beautiful just now, everything so green and -glad, so fresh and fair, and full of promise of a yet gladder, and -gayer, and brighter day at hand, when the swallow, twittering, shall -dart, a glossy meteor, in the sunlight, and the cuckoo shall challenge -the truant schoolboy to repeat its well-known notes, correctly if he -can. Now is the time to hear our native song-birds at their best, -warbling their sweetest strains, and to decide, once for all, if it be -possible, which you like best; the loud, clear, silvery tinkle of the -seed-shelling finch’s rich and rapid song; the liquid and -mellifluous warblings of the soft-billed tribes; or the -soul-entrancing, round, rich, flute-like <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb30" href="#pb30" name="pb30">30</a>]</span>piping of the throstle, -song-thrush, and merle. How it may fare with the reader who tries to -decide the point we cannot say. For our own part, no decision that we -could ever arrive at could keep its legs for two days together. No -sooner did we decide that the skylark and its congeners had the best of -it, than the goldfinch, with a score of lively cousins to aid and abet, -challenged the verdict, and forced us to acknowledge <i>his</i> -exquisite mastery in song—an admission made, however, only to be -retracted again almost as soon as made, for in our walk on the evening -of that self-same day did we not stand, and for the life of us -couldn’t help standing—breathless, and hushed, and -still—to listen to the merle and song-thrush from the -neighbouring copse pouring forth the indescribable riches of their -God-taught vespers as the sun went down; and did we not, then and -there, vow, in utter forgetfulness of finch and skylark, that no music -of earth could for a moment compare, in execution and compass, in -distinctness, and cheeriness, and purity of note, with these matchless -twilight strains? The truth is that no music is equal to -bird-music—wild-bird music, that is—in its season, and amid -all its natural surroundings; and the probability is that we shall give -the preference at any time to the melody of one bird over that of -another, not on any well-defined principles of choice or selection in -the matter, but simply in accordance with our own prevailing mood and -temperament of the moment. Such, at least, has been our own experience; -but the reader has every opportunity at this season of studying the -question for himself and deciding. Except that of the nightingale, -perhaps the music of no bird has attracted so much attention by its -beauty and suggestiveness as the merry trill of the skylark’s -ascending song. The poets of every country in which it is to be found -have vied with each other in their praises of the only bird that sings -as he soars, and soars as he sings, scaling on quivering pinions the -aerial terraces of heaven, until he can scarcely be discerned, a -music-showering speck against <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb31" href= -"#pb31" name="pb31">31</a>]</span>the <span class="corr" id="xd26e1853" -title="Source: back ground">background</span> of the blue profound! The -other day we fell in with some curious verses by the French poet Du -Bartas, in which he strives, and not altogether unsuccessfully, to -imitate the merry trill and rhythm of the skylark’s -song:—</p> -<div lang="fr" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“La gentille aloüette, avec son -<i>tire-lire,</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>Tire-lire, à lire, et tire-liran -tire</i>;</p> -<p class="line">Vers la voute du ciel, puis son vol vers ce lieu,</p> -<p class="line"><i>Vire et desire dire adieu Dieu, adieu -Dieu</i>!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The last line, if rapidly repeated with the proper -beat and intonation, will be found a really very successful imitation -of the concluding notes of the lark’s well-known song. Many of -our readers will remember that the North Uist bard, Ian Mac Codrum, in -his <i lang="gd">Smeorach Chlann-Domhnuill</i>, manages very happily to -imitate the <i lang="gd">smeorach</i> or song-thrush’s notes in -the burden or chorus; while Alexander Macdonald—Mac Mhaighstir -Alasdair—very naturally falls, like the French poet, into an -imitation of the wild-bird music of the woods and groves in a stanza -that may be quoted not inappropriately at this season:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Cha bhi crèutair fo chupan nan -spèur</p> -<p class="line">’N sin nach tiunndaidh ri’n speuràd -’s ri’n dreach,</p> -<p class="line">’S gun toir <i>Phoebus</i> le buadhan a -bhlàis</p> -<p class="line">Anam-fas daibh a’s caileachdan ceart,</p> -<p class="line">Ni iad ais-eiridh choitcheann on uaigh</p> -<p class="line">Far na mhiotaich am fuachd iad a steach,</p> -<p class="line">’S their -iad—<i>guileag-doro-hidola-hann</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>Dh-fhalbh an geamhra’s tha’n samhradh -air teachd</i>!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The lines of Du Bartas have little meaning in -themselves, and are untranslatable, being simply an attempt on the -poet’s part, in some odd moment of hilarity and <i>abandon</i>, -to embody the notes of the skylark’s song in something like -articulate verse. The general sense of Macdonald’s lines -describing the irrepressible inclination of all living creatures to be -jubilant and joyous at the return of spring, cannot better be rendered -than in the first part of Scott’s introductory stanza to the -second canto of the <i>Lady of the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb32" -href="#pb32" name="pb32">32</a>]</span>Lake</i>, only that the return -of spring in the one case, instead of the return of morn in the other, -prompts to the outburst of gladness and song:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“At morn the black-cock trims his jetty wing,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">’Tis morning prompts the linnet’s -blithest lay,</p> -<p class="line">All Nature’s children feel the matin spring</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Of life reviving, with reviving day;</p> -<p class="line">And while yon little bark glides down the bay,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Wafting the stranger on his way again,</p> -<p class="line">Morn’s genial influence roused a minstrel -grey,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And sweetly o’er the lake was heard thy -strain,</p> -<p class="line">Mixed with the sounding harp, O white-hair’d -Allan-bane!”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb33" href="#pb33" name= -"pb33">33</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch6" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e287">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER VI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Severe Drought—The Drive by Coach from -Fort-William to Kingussie—Breakfast at Moy—Where did Scott -find Dominie Sampson’s -“Pro-di-gi-ous!”?—Professor Blackie’s Poem on -Glencoe.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">That the people of Lochaber and the Western Isles -should be rejoicing in the advent of heavy rains [August 1869], and -seriously glad at the reappearance of clouds in the heavens and mists -upon the mountain tops, may seem odd enough to those who know anything -of our usual meteorological characteristics; yet true it is, and of a -verity that so it is, for here, as elsewhere, the heat was for many -consecutive weeks intense, and the parching drought and fierce glare of -a summer’s sun from a constantly unclouded sky well nigh -unbearable by man or beast, whether in the sheltered valley, where for -days and days no breath of air shook the tiniest leaflet or ruffled the -surface of the sullen tarn, or on the upland moor, where, if breath of -air there was, it was hot and stifling as the breath of a furnace. Were -it not for the occasional sea breezes, that sometimes of an evening -swept over the almost pulseless deep, and copious falls of blessed -night-dews, we should have been badly off indeed. But, as matters have -turned out, we have much reason to be thankful, for if our crops are -not quite so heavy as in average years, they are at least of excellent -quality, and being ripe sooner than usual, we have a chance of getting -them secured in a condition that will add immensely to their value. So -thorough and persistent was the drought even with us, that springs -failed that never before were known to refuse their waters to the -thirsty; and water-courses that heretofore, even in the driest years, -still presented shady pools <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb34" href= -"#pb34" name="pb34">34</a>]</span>connected by purling rivulets, were -for weeks together arid and waterless as the course of an ancient lava -stream. As you wandered among the hills you could set your fusee alight -on a stone in a torrent bed over which in ordinary summers rolls a -volume of foaming waters. The demand for beer wherever you went was in -these circumstances something wonderful; and at times, on the arrival -of coach or steamer with its load of panting tourists, the bawling from -husky throats for a supply—an instant and copious supply—of -the delicious liquid was sufficiently amusing. One of the happiest -illustrations of the proverbial close treading of the ridiculous on the -heels of the sublime, and the wafer-like thinness of the partition that -divides the sentimental from the absurd, was Dr. Johnson’s -celebrated parody on the quasi-sentimental style of poetry so much in -vogue in his latter years—and sooth to say too much in vogue in -our day as well—a style as unlike the school of Pope as you can -well imagine, and the very antipodes of the sturdily masculine and -didactic strains which Johnson, an intellectual giant—for there -were giants in these days—alone accounted true poetry:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Hermit hoar, in solemn cell,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Wearing out life’s evening grey,</p> -<p class="line">Smite thy bosom, sage, and tell</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">What is bliss? and which the way?</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Thus I spoke; and speaking sighed;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Scarce repressed the starting tear;</p> -<p class="line">When the smiling sage replied,—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">‘<i>Come, my lad, and drink some -beer</i>!’ ”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">And very well hit off, you will confess; an arrow shot -from an Ulysses’ bow at the puling whimperers of a namby-pamby -sentimentalism that they miscalled poetry; but if we dared for the -nonce to take these lines in a more serious and literal sense than -their author intended, we should say that in such hot and parching -weather as we have recently had, and are still having, there is more -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb35" href="#pb35" name= -"pb35">35</a>]</span>“bliss” in a good draught of -“Allsopp” or “Bass” than is dreamt of in the -philosophy of the sentimentalists, and thousands upon thousands of this -season’s tourists are ready, we’ll be bound, to homologate -this statement.</p> -<p>It was Dr. Johnson, too, if we remember well, who spoke loudly and -dogmatically, as was his wont, of the delightful feeling that one has -in being rapidly whirled along a good road in a post-chaise; and -remembering the unsteadiness of the “Rambler” on his pins, -and his unwieldy corporation, one can readily understand that he found -the means of locomotion referred to the easiest and most enjoyable -possible. Our own experience of post-chaises has, sooth to say, been -somewhat of the slightest, but in lieu thereof we would recommend a -well-appointed public coach, with sound, well-cared-for horses, a -steady and obliging driver and guard, good roads under foot, and a -bright sky above all; and such a conveyance we on a recent occasion -found the mail-coach between Fort-William and Kingussie to be; and such -a driver and guard, the two in one, is the renowned “Davie -Jack,” who knows his work, and does it too, in a style that -reminds one of the old “Defiance” in its palmiest days; -while the weather, if anything, was too fine, too bright and -cloudless—the best fault it could have, however, since it is -impossible that the weather on any particular day should be faultless, -any more than that any human being should be perfect. Nothing, indeed, -can be finer than the drive through Lochaber and Badenoch to Kingussie, -except perhaps the drive back again. With mountain scenery on all -hands, unsurpassed even in the Highlands for wild, and savage, and -solitary grandeur; with foaming torrents dashing down the steeps, -torrents that at a distance and at this season look like so many -threads of purest silver constantly being absorbed and inwefted with -the river, that, with a voice more hushed, and a quieter, kindlier -step, still gladdens and fertilises the valley as it seeks the sea; -with loch and river scenery the most <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb36" href="#pb36" name="pb36">36</a>]</span>attractive and lovely; -and all, in short, that you can reasonably look for of the grand or -beautiful from the sea coast to the central Highlands. With all this, -and the redoubted “Davie” to handle the ribbons, as only -“Davie” <i>can</i> handle them—said -“Davie” the while as full of anecdote, and joke, and local -tradition as an egg is full of meat—with all this we say, and -much more that might be mentioned, the man who cannot enjoy such a -journey at this season is little to be envied; for, be his other -qualities and qualifications what they may, his non-enjoyment of such a -drive clearly proves one of two things,—either he is physically -unwell, and out of sorts, and had better stay at home; or, -æsthetically, he has no eye for, and no appreciation of, some of -the most splendid scenery in the Highlands, and in that case is less to -be blamed than pitied. Even in winter we should say that this was the -readiest, as well as the most pleasant, line of intercommunication -between the north-western Highlands and the south. It were, finally, -unpardonable in us, who enjoyed it so much, not to mention the very -excellent breakfast on the up-journey, and the equally excellent and -substantial “tea,” or tea-dinner rather, on returning, to -be had in the shepherd’s house at Moy. It may seem unromantic and -prosaic to say so, but it is a fact nevertheless, that one’s -appreciation of the sublime and beautiful—let Mr. Edmund Burke -say what he likes—is not a little enhanced by a due supply of -creature comforts <i lang="la">pari passû</i>. If one cannot -carry the comforts of home about with him, any more than honest Bailie -Nicol Jarvie could carry about with <i>him</i> the comforts of the -“Sautmarket,” it is no small matter to meet with good cheer -off a snow-white cloth, with the attentions of a smart, intelligent -serving girl, in odd and out-of-the-way places, where you least expect -it. Altogether, a trip by the Fort-William and Kingussie mail-coach -during the present fine weather is very enjoyable -indeed—superior, upon the whole, we should say, to the -“Rambler’s” post-chaise, not forgetting that the -latter is a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb37" href="#pb37" name= -"pb37">37</a>]</span>solitary and somewhat surly sort of business, -whereas in the former you have the chance of pleasant and agreeable -companionship, in addition to its other attractions.</p> -<p>For one to make a discovery, and to <i>think</i> that oneself has -made a discovery, are two widely different things. We readily -acknowledge the distinction. That we have made a discovery we shall not -venture to affirm, but we think we have. Our discovery, if discovery it -be, is this, that Sir Walter Scott is indebted for Dominie -Sampson’s “prodigious!” to Boswell’s Life of -Johnson. Who can think of the worthy, kind-hearted, most -unsophisticated, and withal most learned, albeit life-long kirkless -parson, without instantly recalling his favourite exclamation of -“<i>Pro-di-gi-ous</i>?” We stumbled on our discovery in -this wise:—A few evenings ago we were reading the third volume of -a very fine edition of Boswell’s “Johnson,” kindly -placed at our disposal by Lady Riddell of Strontian—and a good -edition of a good book is no small matter to one so far removed from -libraries as we are—when we came to a page that described -Johnson’s meeting with a gentleman who had been his companion at -Pembroke College, Oxford, some fifty years previously. Mr. Edwards, for -that was the gentleman’s name, and Boswell accompanied Johnson -home, where, in course of conversation, Mr. Edwards said, addressing -Johnson, “Sir, I remember you would not let us say -<i>prodigious</i> at college. For even then, sir (turning to Boswell), -he was delicate in language, and we all feared him.” Now, can any -one doubt that it was having his attention particularly called to the -word in this passage that made Scott first ponder the absurdity of -using a word of such volume and import on every trifling occasion, and -caused him, possibly at a long subsequent date (for Scott’s -memory, as we know, was <i>prodigiously</i> retentive—there the -word, you will observe, is pat and appropriate -enough—prodigiously retentive, we say, of words, phrases, and odd -turns of expression)—to put it so frequently as an exclamation of -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb38" href="#pb38" name= -"pb38">38</a>]</span>unspeakable, indescribable import into the mouth -of honest Sampson, whom you can no more help laughing at, at times, -than you can loving him with all your heart <i>always</i>? The matter, -after all, may seem a trifle, and it <i>is</i> a trifle, but such -trifles are dear to the lovers of literature. Were Boswell in the flesh -subsequent to the publication of <i>Guy Mannering</i>, and had his -attention drawn to such a matter, slight as it seems, what a delightful -chapter of gossip he could write about it, with fresh reminiscences of -his long and intimate intercourse with his “illustrious -friend,” for whom till his dying day he cherished so much -veneration and awe, ever-more mingled with most pardonable pride that -he knew him as no one else knew him, and loved him as no one else loved -him, or perhaps could love him.</p> -<p>We have just been reading our friend Professor Blackie’s poem -on “Glencoe.” The manner in which he “goes at” -his subject, to use a sporting phrase, the life, and vigour, and -<i>swing</i>, and fervour of the whole, is most refreshing in these -days of poetical (save the mark!) namby-pambyisms, and eminently -characteristic of the learned Professor when at his best. Here you have -him, like a knight of the Middle Ages, high in his stirrups, with lance -in rest, “<i lang="gd">Dh’aindeoin co theireadh -e!</i>” blazing on his shield, and who shall dare to stop his -fierce career against the perpetrators of the foulest deed on record? -Less polished and less artistic than Aytoun’s “Widow of -Glencoe,” it is, nevertheless, the better poem, <i>on such a -subject</i>, of the two. Its very ruggedness and stern headlong force -are its chief charm, they best befit the theme. Blackie is terribly in -earnest; with Aytoun you cannot help feeling it was a mere matter of -sentiment and no more. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb39" href="#pb39" -name="pb39">39</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch7" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e297">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER VII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">O the Barren, Barren Shore—Brilliant Auroral -Display—Intense Cold—Birds—Glanders—Scribblings -on the Back of One Pound Notes.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">During a week’s pleasant and gentle thaw -[February 1870], we had hoped that the worst of winter was come and -gone; but to our no small disappointment the genial interregnum has -been followed by another heavy fall of snow, and a wonderfully keen and -biting frost, which, borne on the wings of a surly nor’easter, -has again bound up the earth as if with fetters of iron. Under such -circumstances the sea-coast, we take it, presents the most dreary and -desolate-looking winter picture imaginable; far more so, to our -thinking, than either moss, or moorland, or mountain range. There is a -something inexpressibly dismal and <i>dowie</i> in the black crape-like -belt of sea beach which divides a landscape deeply clad with snow and -frost-bound, from the dull and leaden coloured deep beyond; the dashing -of the waves of said deep upon the shore, uttering the while a sadly -funereal and dirge-like moan. If our inland friends, in view of the -wintry waste around <i>them</i>, take up the cry of “O the -dreary, dreary moorland”—we, dwellers by the sea coast, -have the best possible right to finish the Tennysonian line by -exclaiming “O the barren, barren shore.” It must, by the -way, have been on some fair <i>summer</i> eve that the Crown officials -first thought of depriving landowners of the sea-shore privileges -hitherto enjoyed by them; had it been in <i>winter</i>, the idea, it -strikes us, would have withered in the bud; they would have fled the -very sight of the dark and dreary “foreshore,” and wisely -confined themselves to the shelter of their Woods and Forests! -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb40" href="#pb40" name= -"pb40">40</a>]</span></p> -<p>It is worthy of record that the present severe snow-storm was -ushered in by a very splendid and in many respects peculiar auroral -display. Shortly after dark on Friday evening, a faint auroral film, -over which an occasional streamer flashed impetuously, over-spread the -northern heavens. All this, however, soon died away, and the north -assumed a cold, clear, frosty aspect. Between seven and eight -o’clock many meteors, some of them of great brilliancy and -beauty, were observed to cross and recross the zenith and its -neighbourhood in all directions. Towards the latter hour, however, -these ceased, and all of a sudden, in a very few seconds at most, the -whole celestial hemisphere from E.N.E. to W.S.W.—from horizon to -horizon—appeared completely spanned by a magnificent auroral -arch, eight degrees in breadth; like a glorious bridge of a single -semi-circular span, with its edges or parapets of a deep blood-red -colour, and its centre part or roadway of frosted silver; the rest of -the heavens, in all directions, being the while of an inky blue, and -cold and cloudless, without the slightest appearance of anything like -streamers to be seen anywhere. Some idea of the brilliancy of this -auroral arch may be formed from the fact that such bright stars as -Arcturus, Castor and Pollux, Aldebaran, Mars, and others, which lay -along its path, became quite dim, and when located near the centre and -brightest part of the stream, almost invisible. Even Venus, which once -or twice was overlapped for a few minutes by the arch’s margin -only, lost all its lustre and sheen, and had a burdened anxious aspect, -as if the forehead and “face divine” of a mighty -intelligence laboured under the shade of deep and profound thought. For -upwards of an hour did this splendid auroral arch continue to span the -heavens from horizon to horizon, and undergoing little or no change, -until its final disappearance, by what seemed a process of gradual -contraction into itself and towards its terminus in the -east-north-east, whence it started. Such was the very singular meteoric -phenomena by which a severe snow-storm and an amount <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb41" href="#pb41" name="pb41">41</a>]</span>of cold -almost unparalleled in its intensity was ushered in on the western -sea-board of Scotland in February of the year of grace 1870.</p> -<p>And how fares it with our feathered favourites, the wild birds, in -these hard times? Fertile as they are in resources, and indefatigable -in providing for the wants of the passing hour, all their little shifts -must frequently prove inadequate to the supply of their daily wants in -such trying times as these. St. Valentine’s day has come and -gone, but neither in copse, nor hedgerow, nor ivy-mantled wall, find we -as yet any traces of nidification, nor has the love-prompted warble, in -past years so loud and incessant at this season, been yet heard around -us. The robin only cheeps; the sparrow simply chirps; the linnet merely -twitters; and even the “gay chaffinch” can only give us a -disconsolate “fink, fink,” in place of his well-known glad -burst of choicest and cheeriest song. The mellow chaunt of the merle -and song-thrush delights not yet the ear from copse or brake at early -morn or evening-tide. The intense and piercing cold, which, on the -wings of the northern blast, sweeps over the land as we write, and as -it moans, and sighs, and wildly shrieks by starts in its progress over -the deep, causes the lone sea-bird to utter its eeriest and wildest -cry, has succeeded in freezing, not only the rivulet and the pool, but -has actually bound up the voice of gladness and every source of joyful -utterance in all our feathered friends as well. But “<i lang= -"la">nil desperandum</i>,” better times are coming. Fields will -yet be green, trees will yet be leafy, rivers unbound from icy fetters -will yet dance merrily in the sun, and laugh with all their ripples, as -they hasten seawards; and then “again shall flowers appear on the -earth; the time of the singing of birds shall have come, and the voice -of the turtle be heard in our land.”</p> -<p>Are glanders incurable? is a very ugly, but doubtless a very -important question, which is being at present keenly discussed in the -columns of several metropolitan journals. By <i>glanders</i> is -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb42" href="#pb42" name= -"pb42">42</a>]</span>meant, not the equine disease in the equine -subject properly so called, and which comes so frequently under the -treatment of the veterinary surgeon, but the same frightful disease -when introduced either by accident or design into the <i>human -system</i>. Is <i>it</i> curable? This is the question, and the general -impression seems to be, that when it once fairly lays hold of the human -system, it is, like hydrophobia, quite and utterly incurable. We do not -pretend to know anything of the subject, and we allude to it merely to -say that we well recollect of hearing, on undoubted authority, of a -patient who was actually cured of glanders, caught, if we remember -rightly, from eating some beans found in a manger in which a horse -having the disease had recently been feeding. All the circumstances -connected with the case and cure were related in our hearing by the -late Dr. John Reid, Professor of Anatomy in the University of St. -Andrews, one evening that we dined at his house during our attendance -at the University. It is now some eighteen or twenty years ago, and we -were then too young and thoughtless to give that attention to the -subject which it deserved. We recollect, however, that the case was -said to have occurred in Edinburgh, and to have been treated in the -infirmary of that city, and that the patient, on his recovery, having -been found shrewd, intelligent, and steady, was afterwards appointed -one of the janitors of that institution. There must be some medical -gentleman still in Edinburgh able to speak to a case of such -importance; and amongst others present on the occasion that we heard -Professor Reid refer to it, were, if we rightly remember, Principal Sir -David Brewster and Professor Martin, now of Aberdeen, and at that time -Mathematical Master in the Madras College of St. Andrews.</p> -<p>The other evening a one pound note, which a lady friend of ours had -just received by post, was handed to us, with a request that we should -try and decipher some writing which was observed on <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb43" href="#pb43" name="pb43">43</a>]</span>the back -of it. After some little trouble, we were a good deal amused to find -that the writing in question really consisted of the following -lines:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“I am a note of the British Linen;</p> -<p class="line">I’ve long been kept by L. Mackinnon;</p> -<p class="line">Where’er you go you’ll find them -willing</p> -<p class="line">To give for me just twenty shilling.—L. -M’K.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">We have no idea who this poetical L. Mackinnon is or -was, but it is pretty evident, we think, that both he and the British -Linen Company’s Bank note had very excellent opinions of -themselves. It was Lady Louisa Stewart, if we rightly recollect, who -sent Sir Walter Scott a copy of the following lines, which she -discovered on the back of a battered bank note which had come into her -possession. It will be observed that they are in all respects -immeasurably superior to Mr. L. Mackinnon’s:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Farewell, my note, and wheresoe’er ye -wend,</p> -<p class="line">Shun gaudy scenes, and be the poor man’s -friend;</p> -<p class="line">You’ve left a poor one; go to one as poor,</p> -<p class="line">And drive despair and hunger from his door.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Let cynics growl and snarl as they list, some people -<span class="sc">HAVE</span> hearts, and the author of the above lines, -be sure, had a right warm and kindly one. <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb44" href="#pb44" name="pb44">44</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch8" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e306">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER VIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">A Wet February—A Good Time Coming—Sir -Walter Scott—Mr. Gladstone—Death of Sir David Brewster.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">One swallow doesn’t make a summer, says the -proverb, and unless one fine day (the 19th) makes a spring, we -haven’t for the last six weeks [February 1870] and more had a -single hour of a character to be disassociated from one of the wettest -and wildest winters on record. No sooner has one storm died away, less -from any voluntary cessation on its part than from sheer exhaustion of -its forces, than, after a slushy, sludgy interregnum of brief duration, -it has been succeeded in every instance by another and another still of -equal or greater violence and fury, so that of quiet or calm we have -known little, and of sun or moon or stars we have seen hardly the -briefest glimpse since Old New Year’s Day. When Foote, the -incomparable comedian (Johnson said of him that “the dog was -irresistible”), after acquiring and dissipating several fortunes, -was at last lucky enough to be able to set up his carriage in a more -dashing style than ever, he selected as his motto, and emblematical of -his career, the words <i lang="la">Iterum, Iterum, Iterumque</i>! -(Again, and Again, and Again!) It has struck us that if the -Meteorological Society were to apply to the Herald’s College for -a crest and armorial bearings to be displayed on the title-page of -their volume of “Transactions” for the first quarter of the -current year, we, should they do us the honour to consult us, would -suggest a cloud-cumulus, rain-surcharged, proper on the shield, with -Aquarius and the “watery” Hyades as supporters; Eolus -ordering “a fresh hand to the bellows” as a crest, and the -<i lang="la">Iterum, Iterum, Iterumque</i> <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb45" href="#pb45" name="pb45">45</a>]</span>of -Foote’s chariot as a motto of singular appropriateness and -meaning. How delighted, by the way, must our amphibious friend Mr. -Symons be in the midst of all this rainfall! <i>His</i> crest again -should be a man’s head on a fish’s body in an overflowed -meadow, <i>natant</i>, and his supporters an <i>anemometer</i> and -<i>rain-gauge</i> proper! It is needless to say that anything like -spring work is with us not only in a very backward state, but has -hardly been commenced. Before the end of February we had our own corn -seed and potatoes in the ground last year. If we get them down this -year any time during the next month, it will be earlier than the -weather at the date of the present writing promises. Our ornithological -studies extend over a greater number of years than we care at this -moment very accurately to count; but never have we known our wild-birds -so listless and loveless on Shrovetide Eve as they are this season. -Except an occasional carol from the wren, who has a soul as big as that -of his namesake Sir Christopher, who built the dome of St. Paul’s -(the wren also, by the way, is a dome-builder), and an irregular -strophe at rare intervals from the redbreast, our woods are songless, -and of nidification there is not a sign. <i lang="la">Meliora -sperāre</i>, nevertheless, is sound philosophy. Let us hope for -better things: He is faithful that promised that <i>while the earth -remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and -winter, and day and night, shall not cease</i>. Scott has few finer -passages than the following, which we are fond of repeating in such a -season as this. It occurs in his epistle to William Stewart Rose, -introductory to the first canto of <i>Marmion</i>, and, though very -beautiful, is seldom quoted:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line xd26e978">“No longer Autumn’s glowing -red</p> -<p class="line">Upon our Forest hills is shed;</p> -<p class="line">No more, beneath the evening beam,</p> -<p class="line">Fair Tweed reflects their purple gleam;</p> -<p class="line">Away hath passed the heather bell</p> -<p class="line">That bloomed so rich on Needpath fell; <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb46" href="#pb46" name="pb46">46</a>]</span></p> -<p class="line">Sallow his brow, and russet bare</p> -<p class="line">Are now the sister-heights of Yair.</p> -<p class="line">The sheep, before the pinching heaven,</p> -<p class="line">To sheltered dale and down are driven,</p> -<p class="line">Where yet some faded herbage pines</p> -<p class="line">And yet a watery sunbeam shines:</p> -<p class="line">In meek despondency they eye</p> -<p class="line">The wither’d sward and wintry sky,</p> -<p class="line">And far beneath their summer hill</p> -<p class="line">Stray sadly by Glenkinnon’s rill:</p> -<p class="line">The shepherd shifts his mantle’s fold,</p> -<p class="line">And wraps him closer from the cold;</p> -<p class="line">His dogs no merry circles wheel,</p> -<p class="line">But, shivering, follow at his heel;</p> -<p class="line">A cowering glance they often cast,</p> -<p class="line">As deeper moans the gathering blast.</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">“My imps, though hardy, bold, and -wild,</p> -<p class="line">As best befits the mountain child,</p> -<p class="line">Feel the sad influence of the hour,</p> -<p class="line">And wail the daisy’s vanished flower;</p> -<p class="line">Their summer gambols tell, and mourn,</p> -<p class="line">And anxious ask—Will spring return,</p> -<p class="line">And birds and lambs again be gay,</p> -<p class="line">And blossoms clothe the hawthorn spray?</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">“Yes, prattlers, yes. The daisy’s -flower</p> -<p class="line">Again shall paint your summer bower;</p> -<p class="line">Again the hawthorn shall supply</p> -<p class="line">The garlands you delight to tie;</p> -<p class="line">The lambs upon the lea shall bound,</p> -<p class="line">The wild birds carol to the round;</p> -<p class="line">And while you frolic light as they,</p> -<p class="line">Too short shall seem the summer day.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">On her rich roll of worthies, Scotland has but few -names of whom she has more reason to be proud than that of Walter -Scott. If we had even said <i>not one</i>, an objector might perhaps -find the assertion more difficult to disprove than he wots of. Nor has -the star of his marvellous power and influence for good set or been -extinguished; it has only been clouded for a season by the intervention -of exhalations of the “earth, earthy”—exhalations -that the growth of a healthier and holier taste is already dissipating, -and the Wizard’s <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb47" href="#pb47" -name="pb47">47</a>]</span>star shall reappear in undiminished lustre, -and young and old will clap their hands and rejoice in its purity and -power. Some years ago arose a school of poetry that flared and -flickered for a season, and found admirers on the same mysterious -principle, we suppose, that Antoinetta Bourignon and Joanna Southcott -found followers. It was happily styled the “spasmodic” -school; and it died and disappeared—the best thing it could do. A -new school has succeeded, that may be called the sensuous, and, we had -almost said, the lascivious, and with a strong tendency to the -reproduction in modern guise of all that was worst and best in the -ancient Greek drama. Of this school, Mr. Swinburne is, <i lang= -"la">facile princeps</i>, the chief. It also will last but for a -season, and will die and disappear ignominiously, as did its -predecessor. There is yet another school, that has existed for some -time longer—full of <i>missyism</i>, sentimentalism, and languid -<i>goodyism</i>—“too good for banning, too bad for a -blessing.” <i>It</i> also is slowly dwindling, and dwining, and -dying, and must soon expire, leaving people hardly any better or worse -than it found them. And so with the novels of the day, with their -“sensations,” their seductions, murders, and unspeakable -horrors, worse than were mingled in the bubbling cauldron of the -witches in <i>Macbeth</i>: <i>their</i> day is doomed; for purer taste, -banished but for a moment, must reappear—is already -reappearing—and people, awakening as if from a dream, will once -again consent to quench their thirst at healthier fountains, and to -wander in less questionable bye-paths. The poetry and novels of Scott -will then resume their attraction and reassert their influence and -power; and whithersoever <i>he</i> leads, no parent need be ashamed to -follow, or feel obliged in the interests of morality to forbid and -forego the companionship of wife or children through scenes where there -is everything to delight and nothing to offend. It is well that in the -world of poetry and fiction, as in social and political affairs, the -maxim holds true that—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“<i>Res nolunt diu male -administrari.</i>”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb48" href="#pb48" name= -"pb48">48</a>]</span></p> -<p>Of Mr. Gladstone, the politician, there are many more enthusiastic -admirers than ourselves, though we would not willingly be supposed to -yield to any one in our ardent admiration of his ripe scholarship and -unrivalled eloquence; but we shall think better of him while we live, -and have a kindlier and warmer interest in all he says and does, on -account of his recent eulogium on the character and writings of Sir -Walter Scott.</p> -<p>And who can speak of Scott, or think of Abbotsford and Melrose and -the classic Tweed at the present moment, without also thinking of -Allerly and Sir David Brewster, one of the greatest men of science that -Scotland has ever produced; and greater far, as sometimes happens in -such cases, <i>out</i> of it than <i>in</i> it, for during full forty -years, wherever, throughout the habitable parts of the earth, science -had lit her lamp and could count her votaries, however humble, -<i>there</i> the name of David Brewster was familiar as a household -word, and his discoveries known and applauded. He was the first really -distinguished man of letters and science we ever knew, and it was while -writing one of the earlier chapters of this work, on a subject in which -he felt the keenest interest, and in connection with which we had -occasion to mention his name, that the grand old man, venerable in -honours and in years, was breathing his last, with a Christian -resignation to the Divine will, and a Christian’s joyful faith in -the Divine mercy and goodness. Passing through the valley of death, he -feared no evil, for his Lord and Saviour sustained his steps. Through -the first Lady Brewster (<i><span class="corr" id="xd26e2268" title= -"Source: nèe">née</span></i> Macpherson), to whom we had -the honour of being known before we had yet seen her distinguished -husband, we were fortunate enough to be admitted, at the very beginning -of our curriculum at college, to a degree of familiarity with the -Principal of our University, that our relative positions would not -otherwise have warranted, and which we have the satisfaction to -remember we had sense enough to value highly and to be proud of even at -that early age. It was by his <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb49" href= -"#pb49" name="pb49">49</a>]</span>practised hand that the instrument -was adjusted through which we had our first view of two of the most -beautiful sights that the telescope reveals to us—Jupiter with -his belts and retinue of attendant moons, and Saturn with his rings; -and very patient and good-natured and kindly were his replies to our -eager questionings with regard to the nature of the wonders then first -opened to our gaze. Sir David, if forced into it, could fight, and -never turned his back on an assailant. If you hit him, he hit again, -and he always hit severely; but he was, notwithstanding, a man of -kindest heart and most amiable disposition, and it would be difficult -to meet with any one more cheerful or courteous or pleasant within the -circle of his own family and in his daily intercourse with his -acquaintances and friends. <i lang="la">Requiescat in pace</i>: he was -in truth a great man. Not often does it happen that in the same -country, and within so short a time of each other, two such stars so -large and lustrous as Faraday and Brewster have disappeared from the -firmament of science. A century may elapse ere the thrones they have -left vacant shall again be adequately filled. There is something -extremely beautiful and affecting in one of Sir David Brewster’s -last utterances upon earth. On the morning of his death, Sir James -Simpson, standing by his bedside, remarked that it had been given to -him to show forth much of God’s great and marvellous works; and -the dying philosopher solemnly and quietly replied, “Yes, I have -found them to be great and marvellous, and I have found and felt them -to be <i>His</i>.” <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb50" href= -"#pb50" name="pb50">50</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch9" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e315">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER IX.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Long-Line Fishing—Scarcity of Fish—Their -Fecundity—Large Specimen of the <i lang="la">Raia -Chagrinea</i>—The Wolf-Fish—The Devil-Fish.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">For several years past [March 1870] the spring fishing -with “long lines” in our western lochs has been so -unsuccessful as to be hardly worth the while engaging in it. At our -very doors, where with the hand-line during the summer and autumn -months, some ten or twelve years ago, we could almost always depend on -a large basketful of the finest rock cod, gurnard, haddock, and -flounder, as the result of a couple of hours fishing, more recently -very few, and sometimes none at all, could be caught, with the -cunningest exercise of all the patience and piscatorial skill at our -command, while in winter and spring the long-line fishing of grey cod, -skate, and ling, and eel has been equally disappointing. Why it should -be so no one would venture to say; the utmost you could get out of the -oldest fisherman on the coast was an admission of the fact, with a -shake of the head and a shrug of the shoulders, that if so disposed you -could very readily interpret into the line, albeit unknown to him, -that—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“’Twas true ’twas pity, pity -’twas ’twas true,”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">a cautious reticence on the point that was altogether -praiseworthy, for really and truly nobody did know or could say -anything satisfactory in explanation of the mystery. Was it owing to -the multiplication of the number of steamers, screw and paddle, -constantly coming and going, and like Tennyson’s -“years” at their unamiable meeting, “roaring and -blowing,” keeping the waters in <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb51" href="#pb51" name="pb51">51</a>]</span>perpetual turmoil, and -scaring the fish from their usual haunts? Such an hypothesis could be -seriously entertained for a moment only to be rejected. Could it be -owing to any cyclical meteorological changes, or to anything anomalous -in the order of the seasons? Admitting that something of this kind has -been going on for some time, and is still going on, it was readily -seen, nevertheless, that it was all too inappreciable and remote to -have had the result complained of—to cause that in the waters of -“the great deep” which it had failed to effect in any -noticeable way on the dry land. Or, was it that the fish themselves, by -reason of their numberless enemies, afloat and ashore, were actually -diminishing in numbers, and so necessarily becoming scarcer from year -to year? No one, however, knowing anything of the economy of the fish -in question, could for a moment entertain such an idea. The fecundity -of these fish is something incredible. We once had the roe of a female -cod, that weighed (the fish) six lbs., first boiled hard, and then -divided with tolerable exactness into so many ounces, and counting the -number of eggs in one ounce, and multiplying by the number of ounces in -the entire roe, we found, at a rough calculation, that in that single -fish, of no great size, there were upwards of <i>a million and a -half</i> of eggs—each egg destined to become a fish, and, barring -accidents, to attain to the average age and size of its kind. But -however we may try to account for the scarcity of these fish in our -lochs for several years back, it is an agreeable duty to have to record -that during the past winter and spring there has been a marked -improvement alike in the quantity and quality of the fish caught all -along the western seaboard. Not only have the common fish of our own -coasts been taken in considerable numbers, but several kinds of fish -formerly known only as occasional visitors to our shores have this -season been plentiful in all our lochs, and have well repaid the -diligence of their captors. The long-nosed skate, for example, formerly -a rare fish with us, has this <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb52" href= -"#pb52" name="pb52">52</a>]</span>season been common. It is known to -ichthyologists as the <i lang="la">Raia chagrinea</i>, and is not only -excellent eating, but from its enormous liver supplies a large quantity -of very fine oil, that burns with a clearer and steadier light than -that of any other fish with which we are acquainted. We are convinced, -by the way, that, used medicinally, it would be found equally -efficacious with cod liver oil in all cases where the latter is -recommended, whilst its rather agreeable taste and flavour would render -it a tolerably palatable dose in its purest and strongest state, which -cod oil never becomes, manufacture, and decoct, and clarify it as you -may. A very fine specimen of the <i lang="la">Chagrinea</i> was caught -here about ten days ago. It was cut up and disembowelled before we saw -it, but we should guess that its weight when taken off the hook could -not have been less than 70 lbs. All the skates are ugly brutes, and the -long-nosed <i lang="la">Chagrinea</i> is at once perhaps the ugliest -and the best of its tribe. Some people don’t eat skate, nor can -we say that we are partial to it ourselves, though we once heard a -noted <i>gourmand</i> declare that the “wing of a skate was equal -to a shoulder of a salmon.” We should, for our own part, rather -have the salmon. While in Oban about a month ago, an extremely -fierce-looking and ugly fish, the name and character whereof not a -little puzzled its captors, was brought for our inspection. Luckily for -our credit as a naturalist, we had previously seen more than one -specimen of the same fish with the St. Andrews fishermen, it being by -no means a rare visitor to the eastern and north-eastern shores of -Scotland. It was the wolf or cat-fish, closely related to the family of -the Gobies (<i lang="la">Gobioidæ</i>), the <i lang= -"la">Anarrhicas lupus</i> of ichthyologists. The head of this curious -and most repulsive-looking fish has some peculiar markings, which, with -the fierce glaring eyes and their position in the face, and the -formidable array of long, sharp-pointed, recurved teeth, give it much -of the expression of an enraged cat, and hence doubtless its common -name. For the same reasons, and on account <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb53" href="#pb53" name="pb53">53</a>]</span>probably -of its character as a fierce, relentless tyrant among more amiable and -less powerful fish, it is known among the Channel Islands and along the -coasts of England as the <i>wolf</i>-fish. The only fish at all -approaching it in ugliness and repulsiveness of features is the -better-known angler or fishing-frog (<i lang="la">Lophius -piscatorius</i>), which also, by the way, is not so common of late -years on our western coasts as it used to be. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb54" href="#pb54" name="pb54">54</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch10" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e327">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER X.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Birds—Contest between a Heron and an Eel.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">With the exception of a slight drizzle on Saturday the -last ten days have been wonderfully fine for the season [February -1870]. Seldom, indeed, have we been so near realising the -“ethereal mildness” of Thomson’s “Spring” -so early in the year. And, in sooth, it was high time that some such -pleasant change in the weather should take place, for no living wight -can remember anything so incessant and persistent as were the rain and -the storm of the previous six weeks.</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“When frost and snow come both -together<span class="corr" id="xd26e2344" title= -"Source: .">,</span></p> -<p class="line">Then sit by the fire and save shoe leather,”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">quoth Jonathan Swift, the honest Dean of St. -Patrick’s, being evidently no curler, and more given to satire -than to snow-balling; but really for the six weeks above specified -nothing less than the direst necessity could tempt one to any other -pastime than the prudential and prosaic one recommended in the couplet. -Grant him but license to grumble, however, and man can endure, and that -scathlessly, much more than he wots of. And how easily is he after all -restored to equanimity and even cheerfulness! Here we are already, -placid and pleased, enjoying the fine weather; the cold and the wet and -the boisterous gales of January and December altogether forgotten, or, -if remembered, remembered only to give zest to the bright and sunshiny -present. And never, we believe, were song-birds in such free and full -song on St. Valentine’s day. Morning and evening (the interval, -you must know, dear <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb55" href="#pb55" -name="pb55">55</a>]</span>reader, is as yet passed in tender dalliance -and nest-building), from copse and woodland, ring out the richest -strains of our native warblers, thrush, redbreast, blackbird, throstle, -white-throat, wren (whom the Germans, on account of his indomitable -pluck and pre-eminence as a songster, term the <i>kingbird</i>), and a -score of other “musical celebrities,” vie with each other -in the richness and the melody of their incomparable song. Within a -month, should the weather continue favourable as at present, most of -our wild-birds will have finished their nests, and commenced the -labours of incubation. We trust that our readers will do all they can -this season to prevent children and <i>others</i> from what is called -“birds’-nesting,” one of the most cruel pastimes to -which any one could turn himself. All good men, and most great ones, -have been remarkable for their attachment to animals, both domesticated -and wild, and particularly to song-birds. Listen to Virgil’s -passing allusion to the subject in his <i>Georgics</i>, a magnificent -poem, of itself sufficient to immortalise the name of any one -man:—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Qualis populea mœrens Philomela, sub -umbra,” &c.,</p> -</div> -<p class="first">thus rendered into English:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Lo, Philomela from the umbrageous wood,</p> -<p class="line">In strains melodious mourns her tender brood,</p> -<p class="line">Snatch’d from the nest by some rude -ploughman’s hand,</p> -<p class="line">On some lone bough the warbler takes her stand;</p> -<p class="line">The live-long night she mourns the cruel wrong,</p> -<p class="line">And hill and dale resound the plaintive -song.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">And hear our own matchless “ploughman -bard,” in one of his sweetest lyrics, <i>The -Posie</i>:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The hawthorn I will pu’, wi’ its -locks o’ siller grey,</p> -<p class="line">Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o’ -day,</p> -<p class="line"><i>But the songster’s nest within the bush I -winna tak away</i>—</p> -<p class="line">And a’ to be a posie to my ain dear -May.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Verily, dear reader, he who wrote <i>that</i> verse, -despite the pious murmurings of the rigidly righteous, and the cold -shudderings of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb56" href="#pb56" name= -"pb56">56</a>]</span>religious fanaticism at his shortcomings, must -have been a man of largest heart and widest sympathies; and, properly -understood, there is much truth, and no irreverence, in his own -finding, that even</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The light which led astray</p> -<p class="line">Was light from heaven.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">We were much amused the other day at seeing a heron, a -long-necked, long-legged bird, doubtless familiar to the reader, for -once in a “fix.” We say “for once,” for it is a -most sagacious bird and thoroughly master of its own particular -<i>rôle</i>, which, it is needless to say, is principally -fish-catching. We were amusing ourselves on the sea-shore during -low-water, watching the habits of periwinkles, hermit-crabs, star-fish, -&c., when we observed a heron at some hundred yards distance, -leaping about, wriggling its body, and performing other strange and -unheron-like antics, as if it had suddenly gone mad. Knowing the staid -and sober habits of the bird in general, we at once came to the -conclusion that something extraordinary “was up,” and -determined, if possible, to discover what it was. Making a slight -<i>détour</i> to avoid alarming him—for it was a -<i>he</i>, a very handsome, full-crested male—we easily managed -to creep within fifty yards or so of him, and the cause of his -excitement and unwonted posturings became at once apparent. He had -caught an eel (a great dainty with the heron family) of about two feet -in length, and of girth like a stout walking-stick, notwithstanding -which, however, Mr. Heron would soon have satisfactorily dined upon it, -had he not made a slight mistake in the mode of striking his prey. The -eel was held in the heron’s bill at a point only some three or -four inches from the extremity of its tail, the greater part of its -body and its head being thus left at liberty to twist, and wriggle, and -wallop about <i lang="la">ad libitum</i>. To swallow the eel in this -position the heron knew was impossible, and to let it go, even for an -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb57" href="#pb57" name= -"pb57">57</a>]</span>instant, for the purpose of getting a better -“grip” of his slippery customer was altogether out of the -question. The heron was standing on the very margin of the sea, into -which the eel, if for a moment at liberty, would have shot like an -arrow. It was too large to be tossed into the air and recaught in its -descent, as herons frequently do with other fish; and in short the -heron was at his wit’s end, and wist not what to say or do. To -make matters worse, the eel was wriggling and twisting about its -captor’s legs, <i>breechless and exposed legs</i> be it observed, -and might, for all we or the heron knew, take one of them at any time -between its teeth, and sharp and cruel, as probably the heron knew, are -an eel’s teeth when any part of an enemy has the misfortune to -get between them. Apprehensive, doubtless, of some such danger, the -heron danced and shuffled about, lifting now one leg and now another, -as if he had been practising a new and somewhat complicated hornpipe. -He would at one time leap a foot or two to one side, and immediately -after spring into the air as many inches, attempting the while to -strike his prey against the stones, but always failing in doing this -effectually, owing to want of sufficient “purchase” and the -insecurity of his hold. Having watched this novel combat for some time, -we made a rush to the scene of action, hoping to succeed in surprising, -perhaps, both the spoiler and his prey. We were disappointed. The heron -instantly took wing, carrying the eel for some instance in his -sharp-edged and powerful bill, but finally dropping it into the sea, -doubtless confessing to himself, as he indignantly winged his flight to -another fishing ground, that once in his life at least he had caught a -Tartar. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb58" href="#pb58" name= -"pb58">58</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch11" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e336">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Sea-Fishing—Loch and Stream -Fishing—“Brindled -Worms”—Rush-Lights—Buckie-Shell Lamps—The -Weasel killing a Hare—Killing a Fallow Deer Fawn.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">Though by no means everything that we could wish it, -the weather of the last fortnight [July 1870] was a decided improvement -on that of the preceding, and people have managed to get their hay -secured in tolerably good condition after all. No appearance of the -much-dreaded potato blight as yet; pity that it should show its -unwished-for face this year at all, for a finer crop never lay ripening -in the ground. Something has been done in herring fishing, and there is -some prospect of our having enough for local consumption at all events, -and perhaps a little over, which is no small matter in those dear -times. Other kinds of fish are plentiful, and, with sufficient leisure -for the pastime, there is hardly anything of the kind more enjoyable in -fine weather than an afternoon’s or early morning’s fishing -with rod or hand-line. You never, besides, see the country so well as -on these occasions, or so thoroughly understand the full force of the -poet’s beautiful line, that in such scenes</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“’Tis distance lends enchantment to the -view.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Any number of trout, too—few of them, however, -of any size—may be caught at present in our inland lochs and -mountain streams, and a dish of these speckled beauties, fresh from the -basket, is a very good thing indeed, though the grilse and salmon eater -may turn up his nose in contempt and derision of such “small -deer.” Let him; we shall be always prepared to take over -<i>his</i> share along with our own! A curious request was made to us a -short time ago by a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb59" href="#pb59" -name="pb59">59</a>]</span>well-known book “deliverer,” who -frequently passes this way, one of the keenest and most successful -fishers on lake or river we ever knew, and a very quiet decent man to -boot. “Will you allow me, sir, to put down some worms in your -place?” “To put down what?” we exclaimed in surprise. -“Worms, sir, brindled worms for fishing with, when the rivers are -swollen after heavy rains.” We begged to have a look at the -worms, and they proved to be a variety of the common earthworm that we -had never seen before, the difference consisting in their being rather -smaller in size than the common earthworm, and prettily speckled and -streaked all over their length, whence, doubtless, their name of -<i>brindled</i> worms. A lot had been sent to him from Alyth, in -Perthshire, very cunningly done up in a bunch of damp moss; and, having -a few left over after a week’s most successful fishing, he wished -to deposit them in this, a central part of his peregrinations, that -they might multiply and be recoverable at any time he wanted them. -Holding one by the middle, between index finger and thumb, in a manner -that would have delighted the heart of old Izaak Walton, the worm -wriggling and twisting the while with all the liveliness of an eel in -similar circumstances, “There, sir,” he exclaimed, looking -at the lively “brindled” as if he loved it, “there, -sir, is a bonny ane! no troot that ever swam could resist having a dash -at <i>that</i> in a brown and swollen stream.” In answer to our -questions, he told us that the brindled colour of the worm had, he -thought, a good deal to do with the trout’s liking for it, but, -in his opinion, the brisk and lively motions of the worm upon the hook -was the main attraction. The thing was so manifestly <i>alive</i> and -active, and likely to escape, if not caught at once, that the trout -made a rush at it, with his eyes shut, so to speak, and only discovered -how thoroughly he had been done, when, hooked and landed, he lay -flopping helplessly about on the green grass by the burn side. Getting -piscator a spade, he searched about for a suitable spot, and buried his -worms beneath <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb60" href="#pb60" name= -"pb60">60</a>]</span>the turf as tenderly as if he were laying babies -asleep in their cradles. “There now, sir,” he remarked, as -he finished his colonising, “they will breed fast, and soon be -plentiful enough hereabouts, and they will destroy the common earthworm -till not one can be found.” So that you see we had an interesting -lesson on bait angling and the natural history of earthworms very -unexpectedly from a very unexpected quarter. We still watch with -interest if the assertion turns out to be true, that the brindled worm -exterminates the common earthworm, notwithstanding their close -relationship. Such a thing we know is quite possible, a notable case in -point being the extermination of the old well-known black rat by the -more modern coloniser, the brown.</p> -<p>The amount of <i lang="la">viva você</i> information that one -can pick up, not by going actually to look for it, but in the most -casual and incidental manner, from all sorts of people with whom one -may be brought in contact, is simply extraordinary. Some, to be sure, -will have nothing to tell; they are as Dead Sea fruit, full of mere -ashes, that never had sap or substance for good to themselves or -anybody else. Others, again, may know much, but they are cautious and -reserved, and never venture beyond the most superficial and commonplace -<i>chit-chat</i>; but the great mass of people, if you approach them -courteously and frankly, will be found communicative enough, and if you -go deftly about it, you seldom work long in such mines without bringing -some ore to the surface. A day or two ago, for instance, we were -sitting on a rock by the roadside on the opposite shore of Appin, -having rowed ashore from our fishing ground to have a smoke and a drink -of sparkling water from one of the many rivulets that, like so many -silver threads in some rich embroidery, twist and twine with a glad -music of their own adown the green slopes of Benavere. An old man -passing along the way, with a bundle of rushes under his arm, saluted -us with the quiet and undemonstrative courtesy so characteristic of his -class all over <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb61" href="#pb61" name= -"pb61">61</a>]</span>the Highlands. We invited him to sit down beside -us, and at once he sat down and entered into conversation with us about -the weather, crops, fishing, and other such obvious matters as are -seldom overlooked during the first five minutes of a roadside crack at -this season. By-and-by we asked him about the bundle of rushes. There -were too few of them to be of any use as thatch, and we observed that -they were not of the kind generally used in basket-making—a -common amusement for the idle hours of shepherds, herdboys, and others -in the past generation, who made very pretty rush baskets for carrying -eggs, butter, and other such light goods to the nearest shop, and -bringing back the tea, sugar, &c., usually taken in exchange. What -were his rushes for then? He gathered them, he told us, from time to -time, always selecting the largest and best, for the sake of their -<i>pith</i>, which served as wick for his lamp; and he showed us the -process of extracting the pith on the spot. He first split the rush -longitudinally, by running his thumb-nail along its length, and then -pressing his thumb transversely against the pith, he ran it along until -the whole beautifully soft and white substance was gathered into a -bundle free of its skin, the pith still remaining unbroken by the -deftness of the process, and easily extended at will to its original -length. This pith is inserted in the same manner as wick in the lamp, -and answers its purpose admirably. We recollect seeing the thing -before, but it is many years since, and we had thought that cotton had -everywhere, even in the remotest parts of the Highlands, long since -superseded the primitive rush pith as wick for lamps. “All the -people about me,” said the old man, “now use paraffin lamps -and cotton wicks, but although perhaps I could afford these as well as -they can, I prefer the good old rush-light of my boyhood. I -remember,” he continued, “when all the people in our hamlet -gave a day’s work to the tenant of the adjoining farm for leave -to gather rushes for their lamps in the proper season. Fish oil of our -own manufacture <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb62" href="#pb62" name= -"pb62">62</a>]</span>was always used, and you will perhaps be surprised -to hear, sir, that the lamp was often a “<i>buckie -shell</i>.” “A buckie shell!” we exclaimed, -“how did you manage to fix it properly? You probably glued its -keel to a piece of wood or something of that kind?” “No, -sir,” was the response, “we did not fix it at all. It was -suspended from a <i>cromag</i> or hook of wood or iron projecting from -the wall near the fire-place by a string, one end of which was firmly -tied round the hollow dividing the whorl at the smaller end of the -shell, and the other round the furrow at its larger circumference near -the lip. The loop of the string was then thrown over the hook, and thus -suspended, the shell was filled with oil and a rush pith inserted as -wick, and it made a very good lamp indeed, at once economical and -serviceable. I recollect,” said the old man with a smile, -“that my father, God rest him! who was a very economical man, and -hated everything like extravagance or waste, allowed us just a shellful -of oil for the winter’s night. When that much was spent, we had -to tell our tales, sing our songs, and go on with the work we might -have in hand by such light as was afforded by the blazing peat-fire, or -let it alone till the next evening, just as we pleased.” Our -friend concluded by declaring in very emphatic phrase that “the -people now are less industrious than they were then; have more money in -their hands, but use it less wisely; are less truthful, less honest, -less to be depended upon in every way than were the people of his -boyhood and their immediate predecessors.” “<i lang= -"la">Laudator temporis acti</i>,” but there is some truth in it. -You should have heard how grandly and with what an air of dignity the -old fellow spoke that concluding sentence in the most beautiful and -rhythmical Gaelic. The <i>buckie</i> shell referred to above is the -<i lang="la">Buccinum undatum</i>, or common <i>whelk</i>, constantly -to be met with on almost every shore. It is to be understood, we -suppose, that the larger specimens only would be used as lamps in the -manner described by our venerable friend. <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb63" href="#pb63" name="pb63">63</a>]</span></p> -<p>Of British quadrupeds—perhaps of all existing -quadrupeds—the pluckiest, and, according to its size and weight, -by far the strongest, is the common weasel (<i lang="la">Mustela -vulgaris</i>). The other day a man in our neighbourhood brought us a -common brown hare, large and in excellent condition, that had been -hunted and killed by a weasel in a very extraordinary manner. In the -evening the man was going up a green glade on the wooded hill-side in -search of his cows, when he heard what he took to be the screaming of a -child on the other side of a small hazel copse which he was passing at -the moment. Supposing it to be a child searching for cows like himself, -that had fallen and hurt itself, or that had perhaps been attacked by -some stirk or quey, angry at being disturbed in a favourite bit of -grazing ground, he ran forward, and hearing the screaming repeated, was -astonished to find that it proceeded from a hare that toilsomely and -with staggering steps was struggling up the steep. On closer -inspection, about which there was no difficulty, for by this time the -poor hare was, in race-course phrase, about “pumped out,” -and could barely stagger along, he was more than astonished to observe -that a weasel was extended <i>couchant</i> along the hare’s back, -with his muzzle deeply sunk into the vertebræ of his -victim’s neck, a position from which no exertion on the -hare’s part could possibly dislodge him. Picking up a stone, the -man rushed forward and threw it with all his might, not so much at the -hare as at its lithe and blood-thirsty rider. The hare, however, was -hit, and fell, and with a gasp or two was dead; less from the blow than -from the terrible injuries inflicted by the weasel’s teeth, from -which, under any circumstances, it was impossible that the poor animal -could have recovered. Before the man and a dog which accompanied him -could get at the wary weasel, it had with proverbial agility made good -its escape. On examining the hare, we found that it was in truth -dreadfully wounded, the ruthless <i>Mustela</i> having manifestly gone -to work in a very scientific manner, <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb64" href="#pb64" name="pb64">64</a>]</span>the little red-eyed -wretch’s motto being “Thorough!” Once fairly on the -back of his victim, he anchored himself firmly by his teeth right in -the centre of the nape of the neck, just where the head is articulated -to the cervical vertebræ; and as no exertion of the hare could -shake him off, he leisurely dug down, drinking the blood and eating as -he dug, until the poor hare, faint and exhausted, could only stagger -about in response to each cruel dig of the dental spurs of its terrible -rider. That a creature so diminutive—weighing only about as many -ounces as a hare weighs pounds—should be able thus to mount and -master an animal so much bigger than itself, seems extraordinary, and -is only to be accounted for by a lithe agility in the assailant, to be -met with in no other creature perhaps, coupled with indomitable courage -and instinctive blood-thirstiness. We recollect some years ago that an -old man, a James Cameron, belonging to Achintore, near Fort-William, -was savagely assaulted by a colony of weasels, and very severely -wounded before he could get rid of his assailants. He was employed by a -neighbour to remove a cairn of small stones from a grass field, in -which it had long been an eyesore, from the centre of which cairn, when -he had wheeled away several barrows-full, six or seven weasels rushed -out and attacked him. So sudden and unexpected was the attack, that -before he could do anything to defend himself, his hands and chin and -cheeks—for they instinctively flew at his throat, which was -luckily guarded by the thick folds of a homespun cravat—were -severely bitten. One or two he killed by taking them in his hands, -dashing them to the ground, and trampling them under his feet; but the -others stuck to him with the pertinacity and viciousness of angry bees, -and it was only by running into a house that was at hand, for aid and -protection, that they ceased their attack and left him. Happening to be -in Fort-William that day, we recollect examining the man’s -wounds, and getting the story of the weasel assault from his own lips. -We remember remarking how astonishingly <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb65" href="#pb65" name="pb65">65</a>]</span>deep and formidable were -the wounds, to be made by the comparatively small teeth, short though -sharp, of the weasel; and what was worse, they festered again and -again, and gave the man much pain and trouble ere they fully healed up -and disappeared. An old gamekeeper tells us that he once saw a fallow -deer fawn, upwards of six weeks old, killed by a weasel in one of the -Callart parks precisely as this hare was killed, and a fawn at that age -will weigh three times as much as a brown hare in ordinary condition. -In common with most people, we have rather a dislike to the weasel, -though one cannot but view with respect the courage and pluck that -carry him safely through such exploits as these. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb66" href="#pb66" name="pb66">66</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch12" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e346">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Extraordinary aspect of the Sun—Sunset from -<i>Rokeby</i>—Mr. Glaisher—“Demoiselle” or -Numidian Crane at Deerness—The Snowy Owl in -Sutherlandshire—Does the Fieldfare breed in Scotland?—The -Woodcock.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">We have just had a week of the finest weather -imaginable, dry, bright and breezy, and with uninterrupted sunshine. -The greater part of our hay crop has, in consequence, been secured in -splendid condition, without a drop of rain, in fact—a piece of -rare good fortune in Lochaber. We do not know if the extraordinary -aspect of the sun at its rising and setting on Monday, the 13th instant -[June 1870], was noticed elsewhere by any of our readers. On the -morning of the day in question it presented a strangely mottled, -yellowish copper-coloured disc, so singularly unusual as to induce an -old seaman, nearly eighty years of age, in our neighbourhood, to call -our attention to the circumstance. In the evening a little before its -setting, it assumed a lurid blood-red colour, which was very -remarkable, and forcibly reminded us at the moment of Scott’s -lines in <i>Rokeby</i>—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“No pale gradations quench his ray,</p> -<p class="line">No twilight dews his wrath allay;</p> -<p class="line">With disc like battle-target red,</p> -<p class="line">He rushes to his burning bed,</p> -<p class="line">Dyes the wide wave with bloody light,</p> -<p class="line">Then sinks at once—and all is night.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">We were unanimous in predicting an immediate and -violent storm of wind and rain, but the next morning came in bright, -breezy, and cloudless, and such it has continued ever since. Such -phenomena, and the nature of the weather following them, are -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb67" href="#pb67" name= -"pb67">67</a>]</span>always worth recording. Virgil, in his first -<i>Georgic</i> instructs the husbandman to confide in those indications -of the weather afforded by the aspect of the sun, for the rather -curious reason, however, that the obscuration of the solar orb gave -faithful warning of the impending fate of Cæsar! A very striking -instance of a form of sophism, well known to the logician, in which an -accidental circumstance is assumed as sufficient to establish efficient -connection. On the morning of Wednesday last we had a smart touch of -frost here in exposed situations—a strange and anomalous -phenomenon in the dog-days truly! But when we remember that Mr. -Glaisher (who <i>for purely scientific purposes</i> has put his life -into greater peril than any other living man), in his recent aerial -ascent met with a regular snow-storm at the elevation of only about one -mile above the earth’s surface, we shall not wonder so much, -perhaps, that a frost current should, under certain circumstances, -occasionally penetrate earthwards even in the dog-days. We should have -stated above that on the 13th we carefully examined the solar disc with -an excellent four-feet telescope belonging to Ardgour, when it -presented only two “spots” or <i lang= -"la">maculæ</i>, and neither of these of remarkable size or form, -situated close together on the orb’s south-western limb.</p> -<p>We <span class="corr" id="xd26e2556" title= -"Source: are are">are</span> glad to observe that the -“Demoiselle” or Numidian crane recently shot at Deerness -has been preserved, and is to fall into careful keeping. Its feeding on -oats, however, is very extraordinary, and only to be accounted for by -the supposition that its natural food was so scarce, in a locality so -unlike its own sunny clime, that it was fain to fill its crop with the -readiest possible edible that presented itself. The <i>snowy owl</i>, a -specimen of which is stated to have been recently shot in Sutherland, -is by no means a rare visitor in Britain. A pair, male and female, in -full plumage, were shot on the links of St. Andrews, by Captain -Dempster, of the Indian Army, in the winter of 1847, and are now, we -believe, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb68" href="#pb68" name= -"pb68">68</a>]</span>to be seen in the University museum of that city. -They have been known to breed in Shetland, but never, so far as we are -aware, on the mainland, or anywhere, indeed, farther south than 59° -or 60° of latitude. Is the specimen in Mr. M’Leay’s -possession male or female? What is the colour of its plumage—pure -white, or slightly barred and mottled with brown? These are important -questions, and every account of such rare visitors should be as minute -in such particulars as possible. The snowy owl, like the Arctic fox, -hare, ermine, &c, <span class="corr" id="xd26e2564" title= -"Source: his">is</span> supposed to <span class="corr" id="xd26e2567" -title="Source: cange">change</span> its plumage with the season, the -immaculate white of its winter dress being exchanged for a summer garb -of mixed, spotted, and barred brown and white. It is highly important -that such a point as this should be decided. The scientific name given -it—<i lang="la">Surna nyctea</i>—is incorrect. It is -probably a misprint for <i lang="la">Strix nyctea</i>, so styled by -Linnæus, and after him continued as most appropriate by -succeeding naturalists without exception. In Sweden, where it breeds -and is very common, it is said to feed principally upon hares, hence -Buffon calls it <i lang="fr">La Chouette Harfang</i>, the latter word -being the Swedish for the white or Alpine hare. It was the French -naturalists, also, who first gave the name <i lang="fr">Demoiselle</i> -to the Numidian crane, its symmetry of form, tasteful disposition of -plumage, and elegance of deportment, in their opinion, fully justifying -the complimentary appellation. Its economy was first carefully studied, -and a correct description of it given, about the beginning of the -present century by the naturalists who accompanied the French -expedition to Egypt under Napoleon, who, whatever his faults were, was -at least neither indifferent to, nor neglectful of, the interests of -the arts and sciences. Does the <i>fieldfare</i> breed in Scotland? We -are afraid the reply must still be in the negative. We have little -doubt that the bird seen by Mr. Fraser of Hamilton was the -missel-thrush, and that the nest and egg in his possession belong to -the same bird, that is, the <i lang="la">Turdus vixivorus</i>, and not -to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb69" href="#pb69" name= -"pb69">69</a>]</span>its congener the <i lang="la">Turdus pilaris</i>. -We are led to this opinion by the fact that the female missel-thrush is -very like the fieldfare in plumage, and not very noticeably different -in size. The nest referred to by Mr. Fraser was, he says, situated in -the fork of a tree, about fourteen feet from the ground, <i>exactly -about the height the throstle generally fixes upon for its nest</i>, -whereas, according to our best authorities, the fieldfare builds at the -top, or very near “the top of the tallest pines.” We give -but little weight to the shape and markings of the egg as described, -for it frequently happens that the eggs of different birds, even of the -same species, differ in a very remarkable manner. The hint, however, -that the fieldfare may sometimes breed in Scotland is worth attending -to, and we have marked it down for future inquiry and investigation. It -was for long a question of fierce debate whether or not the well-known -woodcock bred in this country. The matter has, however, been of late -years completely set at rest by the researches of naturalists, clearly -bringing out the fact that it not only breeds in Scotland, but that -such an event, instead of being rare, is, on the contrary, of -comparatively frequent occurrence. This very season, about the middle -of May, one of Ardgour’s keepers brought us the wings of a young -woodcock, with the quill feathers still pulpy and soft, which, of the -original bird, was all he could secure from the clutches of a hawk that -was breakfasting on the dainty morsel in the woods of Coirrechadrachan. -We also understand that at least two woodcock’s nests, with eggs -in them, were known to some parties in this neighbourhood at the -beginning of the season. It is, therefore, possible that the fieldfare -may yet be proved to breed in Scotland, but the evidence for the -establishment of such a fact must be much stronger than that brought -forward by Mr. Fraser. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb70" href="#pb70" -name="pb70">70</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch13" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e358">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Extraordinary Heat and Drought—Plentifulness of -<i>Fungi</i>—Cows fond of Mushrooms—Shoals of -Whales—A rippling Breeze, and a Sail on Loch Leven.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">If of late we had to admit—somewhat reluctantly -be it confessed—that it was “wet, <i>very</i> wet,” -even for Lochaber, we have it in our power now at length [1st August -1870] to strike a different key-note, and to say that it is dry, -<i>very</i> dry; bright, <i>very</i> bright; hot, <i>very</i> -hot,—so dry, bright, and hot, in fact, that one might as well be -on the banks of the Nile or Niger as on the shores of Loch Leven, were -it not for a delightful sea breeze that never fails to come to cheer -and gladden us evening and morning; and then you may fancy—that -is, if you can swim, dear reader—the unspeakable delight of a -headlong plunge into the cool and sparkling waters of the advancing -tide! The heat is in truth something extraordinary, and if it -weren’t that you felt yourself fast retrograding into the same -condition, it would be an amusing study to watch a certain class of -people, generally the most staid and stiff and correct possible, who, -as a rule, would rather die than violate the least of the proprieties, -now going about in a semi-nude state, as if they had just escaped from -a lunatic asylum, panting the while as if they were in the last stage -of asthma, and streaming with perspiration as if they had resolutely -made up their minds to melt away and dissolve like untimely -snowballs.</p> -<p>Crops everywhere are splendid, and, after all the rain of the -earlier part of the season, which gave them <i>growth</i>, this is just -the weather that suits them in their present stage, strengthening and -consolidating their tissues, and bringing them to a rapid and healthy -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb71" href="#pb71" name= -"pb71">71</a>]</span>maturity. The meadow hay crop is unusually heavy -everywhere. We saw a field belonging to Mr. Maclean of <span class= -"corr" id="xd26e2629" title="Source: Argdour">Ardgour</span> in the act -of being cut the other day, and we never saw anything finer or heavier -fall before a scythe. This is precisely the weather for securing such a -heavy swathe in good order, although one cannot but feel for the poor -scythesman, who, brown as an Indian and bathed in sweat, wields his -glittering weapon under a burning, blazing sun, such as at a pinch -might serve the turn of our cousins of Jamaica or Demerara. Some idea -of the extraordinary heat and drought of the past week may be gathered -from the fact that it was frequently found possible to stack or carry -into the barn in one day the hay that had only been cut on the day -previous—something hitherto unheard-of, we should say, in -Lochaber, or, indeed, in any part of the Highlands.</p> -<p>We cannot recollect having ever before seen all kinds of fungi so -plentiful as they are throughout Lochaber this season. You meet -mushrooms of all sizes and of all shapes, both edible and poisonous; -while fairy rings are so common that you may encounter one or more of -them in every bit of old pasture and in every greenwood glade. One of -these rings we had the curiosity to measure a few days ago, and we -found its diameter to be precisely fifteen feet, giving it a -circumference of upwards of fifty feet, as nearly as possible a a -perfect circle, the emerald outline, studded with its peculiar pretty -white, button-like <i>Agaraci</i>, amid the lighter green of the -surrounding herbage, as distinct and easily traceable, even at several -hundred yards distance, as ever was halo round the moon. We noticed -that a cow, happening to come the way while we were examining another -of these fairy rings, ate them all with evident relish, browsing so -steadily along and around, that when she completed the circle she had -not left a single one. We hope that they agreed with her, though we -should not like to have joined in the repast, for we have a salutary -horror of the whole mushroom tribe. The so-called edible mushroom is -said to be delicious when properly cooked: should it <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb72" href="#pb72" name="pb72">72</a>]</span>ever in -any form be a dish on a table at which we are seated, we promise to -give our share of it, <i lang="la">totus, teres atque rotundus</i>, -whole and unimpaired, to the first that will accept it. To the present -intense heat, coming so suddenly on the back of long-continued rains, -is probably due the extraordinary abundance of all kinds of fungi.</p> -<p>The shoal of whales at present disporting themselves in Lochiel, -intending probably, tourist fashion, to visit Inverness by-and-by, -<i>via</i> the Caledonian Canal, if they can only arrange it with the -authorities, did us the honour to visit Loch Leven, spending an entire -day with us, evidently very much to their own satisfaction, if one -might judge from their lively somersaultings and incessant gambollings. -These whales—a shoal of some five or six hundred, we should -say—were a very interesting sight as they gambolled about within -a hundred yards of us, blowing loudly the while and lashing the sea -with foam, until you might have heard the hurly-burly from the top of -the highest mountain in the neighbourhood. They were of all sizes, from -full growth, and old age perhaps, down to veriest babyhood. In the -shoal, two kinds of whale were mingled together in apparent amity and -good-fellowship: the common bottlenose (<i lang="la">Balœnoptera -acuto-rostrata</i> of La Cèpede—the highest authority on -cetaceous animals), measuring some twenty or twenty-five feet in -length, and the broad-nosed or rorqual whale (<i lang="la">Balœna -musculus</i>, Linn.; <i lang="la">B. rorqual</i>, La Cèpede), -from fifty to sixty feet in length, and appearing beside a bottlenose, -as they came to the surface to breathe, like a Clydesdale horse beside -a Shetland pony. It will be strange if our friends at Fort-William do -not manage to bag some of them ere they repass the narrows at Corran -Ferry.</p> -<p>The heat is oppressive within doors; but Loch Leven, we observe, is -darkening under a rippling breeze from the south-east, and we are off -for a sail in our tidy, little craft, that, with lugsail sheeted home, -will go to windward of anything of equal size on the coast. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb73" href="#pb73" name= -"pb73">73</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch14" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e370">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XIV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Herrings—<i lang="la">Chimæra -Monstrosa</i>—Cure for Ringworm—Cold Tea Leaves for -inflamed and blood-shot Eyes—An old Incantation for the cure of -Sore Eyes—A curious Dirk Sheath—A Tannery of Human -Skins.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">However unproductive the herring fishing season may be -<i lang="la">quoad</i> herrings, and this has so far been the worst of -a series of bad seasons [September 1870], it rarely fails to provide -more or less grist for our mill in the shape of some rarity in marine -life worth chronicling. A very ugly and repulsive-looking fish, -extremely rare too, was sent us recently for identification. It was -caught in Sallachan Bay, in our neighbourhood, having become entangled -in the corner of a drift net which the fishermen were hauling into -their boat in the grey morning, after a long, wearisome, and profitless -night’s labours. We had seen the fish before, though not often, -and had therefore no hesitation in recognising it as the <i lang= -"la">Chimæra monstrosa</i>—a scientific name, by the way in -which its lack of beauty is plainly enough indicated—a -cartilaginous fish, two feet in length, and of somewhat elongated and -hake-like form. The general colour is a dull leaden white, mottled on -the under parts with small spots of rusty brown. On examining the -contents of the stomach, they were found to consist of some very small -herring fry, along with partly digested fragments of the adult fish, -whence it may be concluded that the <i lang= -"la">Chimæra’s</i> favourite prey, when they can be had, is -herring; a conclusion at which we might also easily arrive from the -fact that it is seldom or never met with on our shores, except when -herring are more or less plentiful. At one time the <i lang= -"la">Chimæra</i> must have been a less <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb74" href="#pb74" name="pb74">74</a>]</span>rare -fish than it is now, for it has a Gaelic name, “<i lang= -"gd">Buachaille-an-Sgadain</i>,” the Herring Herd or Herdsman. It -was probably comparatively common in the good old times, when even our -more inland western lochs swarmed annually with herring shoals, and so -large was the capture, that the salt to cure them, on which there was a -considerable duty at the time, was frequently retailed over a -vessel’s side at a shilling the lippy. The late Colonel Maclean -of Ardgour, who attained a great age, with intellect clear and -unimpaired, and who was most particular and exact in all his -statistics, has repeatedly assured us that, in his younger days, say a -hundred years ago, <i>fifty thousand pounds</i> worth of herring used -to be captured annually in Lochiel alone. We don’t suppose that -for many years past herring to the value of a tenth of that sum have -been caught in all the lochs between the Mull of Cantyre and the Point -of Ardnamurchan.</p> -<p>The reader probably knows what <i>ringworm</i> is—a fungoid -eruption on the skin, not uncommon in the spring and early summer in -children and young people of plethoric habits. There is a very -wide-spread belief over the West Highlands and in the Hebrides that -ringworm can be readily cured by rubbing it over and around once or -twice with a gold-ring—a woman’s marriage ring, if it can -be had, being always preferred. In our younger days we recollect seeing -the cure applied on more than one occasion, whether with the desired -result, or ineffectually, we do not know—we probably little -thought in those days of kilts, <i>cammanachd</i>, and barley bannocks, -of inquiring. For many years we had neither seen nor heard anything -either of the disease or of its popular cure, until, by the merest -accident, it came under our notice a few days ago. Riding home one -evening last week, we observed two little girls and a sturdy -long-legged <i>haflin</i> lad sitting patiently in front of a cottage, -the door of which was shut and locked. The youngsters, rather better -dressed than usual, had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb75" href= -"#pb75" name="pb75">75</a>]</span>come from a considerable distance, -and we wondered what they could be doing there. On mentioning the -matter next day, we had the story in full as follows:—The three -were suffering from ringworm. The owner of the cottage has a marriage -ring of wonderful efficacy in curing this epidermic distemper. They had -come from one of the inland glens to be operated upon, but the -possessor of the ring was away in Glasgow, and only returned home by -steamer late that evening. When she did arrive, the young people were -duly manipulated and ring-rubbed <i lang="la">secundum artem</i>; and -in four and twenty hours thereafter we were gravely assured they were -quite healed. Any gold ring is usually employed, but the particular -ring referred to in this case is much sought after on such occasions, -because, as our informant said, it is of “guinea gold,” by -which we suppose very pure gold, with the least possible alloy, is -meant; and because it is the property of a widow who was married to one -husband more than fifty years. A belief in the virtue of gold rings in -cures of ringworm is, as we have said, very wide-spread and honestly -held by many. Whether, in common phrase, there is “anything in -it,” or the whole affair is sheer nonsense, we shall not take it -upon us to decide. We merely submit a common and curious article of -popular belief for the consideration of our grave and learned -dermatologists and the faculty at large. One thing is -certain,—the owner of the marvellous ring makes no vulgar profit -by her frequent use of it in such cases. She is in comfortable -circumstances, and the whole affair, as far as she is concerned, is a -mere labour of love.</p> -<p>Another popular cure, which for the first time came under our notice -recently, and which in many cases is really efficacious, as we have -heard averred by those who have been benefited by its use, is the -application of a poultice of <i>cold tea leaves</i> to an inflamed or -blood-shot eye. A handful of the leaves is taken from <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb76" href="#pb76" name="pb76">76</a>]</span>the pot, -and placed between two folds of thin cotton or muslin, and applied to -the eye at bed-time, kept in its place, of course, by a handkerchief or -other band tied round the head. In cases of weak or inflamed eyes from -any cause, this is reckoned, in this and the surrounding districts, -“the sovereignest thing on earth.” And one can quite -understand how tea leaves, at once cooling and astringent, employed in -this way, may benefit a hot and inflamed eye. It is a simple -application at all events, and always at hand; and when more -pretentious remedies are not readily attainable, one would be unwisely -prejudiced, if not actually foolish, to suffer long without giving it a -fair trial.</p> -<p>A less simple and less readily available cure for sore eyes is the -following in old Gaelic verse:— <span class="sc">Leigheas -Sul.</span></p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">Luidh Challum-Chille agus spèir,</p> -<p class="line">Meannt agus tri-bhilead corr,</p> -<p class="line">Bainne atharla nach do rug laodh;</p> -<p class="line">Bruich iad a’s càirich air -brèid,</p> -<p class="line">S’cuir sid rid’ shùil aig -tra-nèin,</p> -<p class="line">Air an Athair, am Mac agus Spiorad nan gràs,</p> -<p class="line">’S air Ostal na seirce; bi’dh do -shùilean slàn</p> -<p class="line">Mu’n eirich a gheallach ’s mu’n till -an làn.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">In English, literally—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">(Take of) St. Columba’s wort and dandelion,</p> -<p class="line">(Of) mint and a perfect plant of marsh trefoil,</p> -<p class="line">(Take of) milk from the udder of a quey</p> -<p class="line">(That is heavy with calf, but that has not actually -calved),</p> -<p class="line">Boil, and spread the mixture on a cloth;</p> -<p class="line">Put it to your eyes at noon-tide,</p> -<p class="line">In the name of Father, Son, and the Spirit of -Grace,</p> -<p class="line">And in the name of (John) the Apostle of Love, and your -eyes shall be well</p> -<p class="line">Before the next rising of the moon, before the turning -of next flood-tide.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">We were recently shown a great curiosity—a dirk -sheath said to be made of human skin. Its history, as related to us by -the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb77" href="#pb77" name= -"pb77">77</a>]</span>owner, is as follows:—In the summer of 1746, -about two months after the battle of Culloden, a detachment of <i lang= -"gd">Saighdearan Dearge</i>, red (coated) soldiers, or Government -troops, was passing through Lochaber and Appin on its way to Inveraray, -the men amusing themselves, and enlivening the tedium of the march, by -burning and plundering as they had opportunity. When passing through -the Strath of Appin, a young woman was observed in a field, busily -engaged in the evening milking her cow. A sergeant or corporal of the -band leaped over the wall into the field, and putting his musket to his -shoulder, shot the cow dead upon the spot; after which gallant exploit -he began the most brutal ill-treatment of the woman. She, however, -defended herself with great courage, and as she retreated towards the -shore, she picked up a stone, which she hurled at her persecutor with -such good aim that it struck him full on the forehead, stretching him -for the moment senseless upon the grass. She then fled towards a boat -that was afloat on the beach, and leaping in, rapidly rowed towards -<i lang="gd">Eilean-bhaile-na-gobhar</i>, an island at a considerable -distance from the mainland, where she was safe from further annoyance. -The tradition is so minute and precise that the heroine’s name is -given as <i lang="gd">Silas-Nic-Cholla</i>, or Julia MacColl; and our -informant declared himself to be her great-grandson. The sergeant, -stunned and bleeding, was picked up by his comrades, and carried to the -place of halt for the night, near <i lang="gd">Tigh-an Ribbi</i>, -where, before morning, he died of his wound. His body was buried in the -old churchyard of Airds, but was not allowed to rest there. On the -disappearance of the soldiers from the district, the body was exhumed -by the people, and cast into the sea; not, however, before a brother of -<i lang="gd">Silas-Nic-Cholla</i> flayed the right arm from the -shoulder to the elbow, and of the skin thus flayed was made a dirk -sheath, and this sheath we saw and handled with no little curiosity a -week or two ago. The sheath is of a dark brown colour, limp and soft, -with no ornament <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb78" href="#pb78" name= -"pb78">78</a>]</span>except a small virle of brass at the point, and a -thin edging of the same metal round the orifice, on which is inscribed -the date “1747,” and the initials “D. M. C.” -There is no reason, we suppose, to doubt the genuineness of the -article, though we hardly expected to find human skin—if it be -human skin—of such thickness. It may, however, be partly the -result of the tanning process which it probably underwent, and of time. -In connection with this strange relic of a past age may be stated the -extraordinary fact—incredible, indeed, if it were not thoroughly -authenticated—that during the horrors of the French Revolution -there was a tannery of human skins for many months in operation at -Meudon. The raw material, so to speak, of this strange manufacture, was -the skins of the scores and hundreds that were daily guillotined. It is -asserted that “it made excellent wash-leather.” -Montgaillard, a prominent character of the period, who had the -curiosity to visit the works, and saw the tanning process in full -operation, makes the following curious observation:—“The -skin of the men was superior in toughness and quality to shamoy; that -of the women good for almost nothing, so soft in texture, and easily -torn, like rotten linen!” We have had some rebellious -revolutions, civil wars, and all the rest of it in Great Britain and -Ireland, with their attendant iniquities, bad enough in all conscience, -but the French may fairly boast of having beat us; a tannery of human -skins is a venture and enterprise that no one has been pushing and -patriotic enough yet to undertake amongst us, even when axe and gallows -wrought their hardest in days happily long since passed away. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb79" href="#pb79" name= -"pb79">79</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch15" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e383">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">The Ring-Dove—A Pet Ring-Dove—Its -Death—Shenstone—The <i lang="la">Belone Vulgaris</i> or -Gar-Fish—A Rat and a Kilmarnock Night-Cap—Extraordinary -Roebuck’s Head at Ardgour.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The weather [October 1870] with us here on the West -Coast continues wonderfully mild and open for the latter end of -October. Were it not, indeed, for an occasional sprinkling of snow -along the mountain summits of an early morning, and finding as you -wander about the pathways everywhere bestrewn with fallen leaves, we -might find some difficulty in persuading ourselves, in weather so -bright and summer-like, that the season was at all so far advanced as -it really is, that 1870, with its immediate predecessor—the -<i lang="la">anni mirabiles</i> of the century—had already so -nearly run its allotted course. A striking proof of the exceptional -mildness of the weather since mid-August is the fact that a young -wood-pigeon or ring-dove (<i lang="la">Columba palumbus</i>), not yet -nearly full fledged, was brought to us a few days ago from a nest in -the woods of Coirrechadrachan. We have kept it with the view of rearing -it as a pet, though the chances are all against us, the produce of such -late incubations having always less robustness and vitality about them -than birds hatched in spring or early summer. There is a little -difficulty, as a rule, in rearing the ring-dove, and getting it to -become even troublesomely tame, until it purrs and -<i>kur-doo’s</i> about your feet, and rubs himself against you -with all the familiarity and <i>empressement</i> of a kitten begging -for its morning allowance of milk. It is, however, exceedingly -quarrelsome and pugnacious among other pets, and so jealous of any -attention bestowed on any one but itself, that it will pout and sulk -for half a day if it considers itself injured in this respect; and yet -so little grateful is it for any amount of kindness you may -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb80" href="#pb80" name= -"pb80">80</a>]</span>show it, that when full-grown it will take the -first opportunity that offers to escape into its native wild woods, -never more to look near you. One that we reared from the nest several -years ago had one very amusing habit. Every morning after being fed he -would watch the nursery door, which opened off the kitchen, until he -got it ajar, when he would leap upon the dressing-table and spend a -couple of hours in admiring himself in the looking-glass, preening his -feathers and strutting about and <i>kur-dooing</i> to his <i lang= -"la">alter ego</i> with the most beauish, self-satisfied air -imaginable, the poor bird being evidently under the impression that his -own reflection was a Mademoiselle Ring-dove of irresistible -attractions, and whom he persuaded himself he was on these occasions -busily courting in the manner most approved of amongst the most -fashionable circles of ring-dovedom. His death was a singular one. A -large Aylesbury duck, with whom he used to have constant quarrels, he -being invariably in fault and always the aggressor, got a hold of him -one day near her ducking pond, and in a scuffle, which the ring-dove -himself had causelessly provoked, dragged him into the water, and beat -him with her wings until he was, like Ophelia, “drown’d, -drown’d.”</p> -<p>We never see these very handsome wild birds, or hear their soft -melodious cooing of summer eve from the neighbouring woods, but we -think of Shenstone’s beautiful lines—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“I have found out a gift for my fair:</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">I have found where the wood-pigeons breed;</p> -<p class="line">But let me that plunder forbear,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">She will say ‘twas a barbarous deed:</p> -<p class="line"><i>For he ne’er could be true, she -averr’d,</i></p> -<p class="line xd26e978"><i>Who could rob a poor bird of its -young;</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>And I lov’d her the more when I heard</i></p> -<p class="line xd26e978"><i>Such tenderness fall from her -tongue.</i></p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“I have heard her with sweetness unfold</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">How that pity was due to a dove;</p> -<p class="line">That it ever attended the bold,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And she called it the Sister of Love. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb81" href="#pb81" name= -"pb81">81</a>]</span></p> -<p class="line">But her words such a pleasure convey,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">So much I her accents adore,</p> -<p class="line">Let her speak, and whatever she say,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Methinks I should love her the -more.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">In the same poem—the <i>Pastoral -Ballad</i>—occurs this exquisite verse:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“When forced the fair nymph to forego,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">What anguish I felt at my heart!</p> -<p class="line">Yet I thought—but it might not be so—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">’Twas with pain she saw me depart.</p> -<p class="line">She gazed as I slowly withdrew;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">My path I could hardly discern:</p> -<p class="line">So sweetly she bade me adieu,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">I thought that she bade me return.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">But alas, and woe the while! William Shenstone of the -Leasowes, with his many tuneful contemporaries, are forgotten, or at -least unread, by the present generation, and the poetasters of our day -claim Parnassus, its Castalian spring and Temple of Apollo, for their -own! All we can is that <i lang="la">in rê poetica</i> the taste -of an age tolerant of such an usurpation is little to be commended.</p> -<p>A gentleman in the opposite district of Appin sent us a message a -few days ago begging us to go and have a look at what he termed a -<i lang="la">rarissimus piscis</i>, a most rare fish that had been -caught in a scringe net along with a lot of sethe and mackerel. In -complying with such messages we can seldom be charged with -dilatoriness, as most of our friends will bear witness. Nor was it -otherwise in this case; <i lang="gd">Cha be’n ruith ach an -leùm</i>, as the Highlanders say—it was not a run but a -rush, with a leap and a bound—when they would emphatically -characterise a person’s conduct in going about anything with -extraordinary alacrity. The fish in question we found to be an old -acquaintance of ours, though so rare on the west coast that we never -saw or heard of it before during a twenty years’ residence in the -country, and constantly, too, on the out-look for everything in the -shape and semblance of a <i lang="la">rara avis</i>, whether -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb82" href="#pb82" name= -"pb82">82</a>]</span>encased in fur, feather, or scales. It was the -gar-fish of British zoologists, known in ichthyological nomenclature as -the <i lang="la">Belone vulgaris</i> of the family <i lang= -"la">Scomberesocidæ</i>, having the body, which is covered with -minute scales, elongated to a degree almost conger-like. It is -frequently captured on the east coast, sometimes intermingling with -mackerel and haddock shoals in considerable numbers. We have seen it in -the Perth, Dundee, and Edinburgh fish markets; never, as we have said, -on the west coast. It is said to be excellent eating when in proper -season, although there is a prejudice against its use amongst the -fishermen themselves; and it is a remarkable fact, by the way, that -some of the finest fish in the sea—most in esteem, at all events, -with the fish-eating public—are frequently rejected by their -professional captors for their own eating in favour of what we should -call the coarser and inferior kinds. For a long time we thought this -was entirely a matter of economy, those that brought the largest price -in the market being sold, and the inferior sorts kept for their own -consumption. Subsequently we had abundant opportunities of finding out -that it was far otherwise. An east coast fisherman will give the -preference at any time, for his own eating that is, to a flounder, -however flabby and flaccid, over a whiting or plaice; he will eat the -hake rather than the finest cod or haddock, and considers the wing of a -skate, dried in the smoke until it is of the colour of the darkest -mahogany, with a <i lang="fr">bouquet</i> the very opposite, be sure, -of the ottar of roses, a tit-bit with which, in his estimation, neither -sea-trout, mackerel, nor turbot can for a moment bear comparison. -Fishermen, too, we have observed with some surprise, seldom eat their -fish fresh; they prefer it salted—salted, moreover, as a rule to -a degree that to other people would render it almost uneatable. For the -prejudice against the gar-fish there is, however, some excuse. In -popular superstition, “<i>lang-nebbed</i>” things have -always been in bad odour; and the gar-fish’s snout is greatly -elongated, so much so that it bears <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb83" -href="#pb83" name="pb83">83</a>]</span>no small resemblance to a -curlew’s bill, giving it a wicked, vicious look, that its -structure otherwise, however, belies; for it is altogether incapable of -hurting anything bigger than the very small fry and marine insects on -which it feeds. The prejudice against the gar-fish is no doubt to be -accounted for in part by the curious fact that its bones are of a dirty -green colour, strange and perhaps disagreeable to an eye accustomed to -the ivory-like whiteness of the osseous structure of most other fishes -that are brought to table. We have seen specimens of the gar-fish -captured by the St. Andrews fishermen that exceeded three feet in -length: the fish more immediately referred to only measured nineteen -inches. Our friend has since written us a note to say that on being -shown to a gentleman, “professing to know something of -ichthyology,” he declared it to be a specimen of the pipe-fish, -which is just about as correct as if a man said that a pelican was a -parrot, or a pig was a giraffe.</p> -<p>In one particular, at least, we resemble Dr. Samuel Johnson. We have -never during our whole lifetime once worn a nightcap. “I had the -custom by chance,” replied the “Rambler,” with a -growl at Boswell’s inquisitiveness on the subject, “and -perhaps no man, sir, shall ever know whether it is best to sleep with -or without a nightcap.” But if we don’t wear a nightcap, -some of our neighbours do, and to one of these useful articles of -nocturnal <i>toilette</i> befell the following adventure a short time -ago. One of our neighbours, a fine old Highlander, still straight as a -pine tree, and strong and stalwart withal, though already past the -grand climacteric, having had occasion to be in the south in the early -summer, bought himself a speck and span new nightcap, which, neatly -folded up along with some braws for the gudewife, formed a parcel of -which, you may be sure, he was exceedingly careful on the return -journey, constantly “keeping his eye on it” all the way -from the Broomielaw to Ballachulish Pier, and watching over its -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb84" href="#pb84" name= -"pb84">84</a>]</span>safety as anxiously as if it contained the wealth -of the Rothschilds in Bank of England notes, or the title-deeds of an -earldom. When at last produced at home, and displayed before the -admiring gaze of a select few in every imaginable angle of light, it -was really a very fine nightcap, a sort of ribbed magenta-coloured -“Kilmarnock,” with a tassel at top, in which were -intermingled all the hues of the rainbow, such a splendid tassel as was -never before seen in Lochaber: Cardinal Antonelli might have been proud -of it as a pendant to his hat. Having at last been sufficiently -admired, the nightcap was duly put to its proper use, and was found to -answer its purpose perfectly; but one night, while yet the gay -Kilmarnock retained almost all its pristine bloom, lo! it was amissing -at bedtime from its usual place of honour on the corner of its -owner’s pillow, greatly to his annoyance you may believe, and not -a little to the surprise and consternation of his amiable bedfellow. -Then, and for weeks afterwards, all search for the missing nightcap was -but so much fruitless labour; nothing could be seen or heard of it, and -it was finally agreed on all hands that it must have been stolen by -some person whose honesty became weak as water in view of the -Kilmarnock’s rare magenta colour and gay pendulous tassel. And -the nightcap in very truth <i>was</i> stolen, though the thief was -probably actuated less by the brilliancy of its colours than the cozy -feel of its soft and silken texture. Some time in mid-autumn the -mystery was cleared up in this wise. The nightcap owner was one day -engaged in redding up his barn preparatory to the ingathering of his -crops, when a large rat bolted from between his feet, and, scuttling -across the floor, disappeared, rat fashion, in a hole in the divot -wall. A spade was instantly got, and the hole dug about until its -innermost recess was reached, in which was found a gigantic dam rat -with a litter of a dozen or more young ones. These were all of them of -course straightway despatched, and the cozy nest of moss, dried grass, -and nibbled <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb85" href="#pb85" name= -"pb85">85</a>]</span>straw scattered about, when lo! as its foundation -appeared the long missing <i lang="fr">bonnet de nuit</i>, the -incomparable Kilmarnock, without a rent or tear, and its colours as -bright almost, and its tassel bobbing as coquettishly as when first -displayed on the points of the shopman’s distended fingers over -the counter in the Cowcaddens. There was great rejoicing over the -reappearance of the nightcap, which is now again prized as highly and -watched over as carefully as if it were the nightcap of Fortunatus; and -the owner, a wag and humorist in a quiet way, as are most of our old -Highlanders, has composed a song on the subject (<i lang="gd">Oran do -m’ Churrachd-oidhche</i>), which, after some coaxing, we got him -to repeat to us some days ago. It pleased us immensely, and made us -laugh until our sides were sore. For the benefit of our readers we may -dash off a translation of it some evening or other when we are -“i’ the vein.”</p> -<p>Going to call at Ardgour House one day last week, and taking a short -cut through the woods, we came across the keeper just as he had shot a -roebuck, the largest we think we ever saw, and with the finest head. -The horns were something extraordinary, both as to size and shape, so -much so, indeed, that although we have in our day met with many fine -ones, we never saw anything for a moment to be compared with these. We -have, for instance, a roebuck’s head of our own, kindly given us -some years ago by Lochiel, the horns on which are allowed to be -uncommonly good ones; but we find that they are nearly two inches -shorter in the beam, and less by nearly a whole inch in circumference -of root of antler at its junction with the skull than those of the -specimen shot in Ardgour on Tuesday. <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb86" href="#pb86" name="pb86">86</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch16" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e395">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XVI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">The “Annus Mirabilis” of Dryden—1870 -a more wonderful Year in its way than 1666—Winter—Number of -Killed and Wounded in the Franco-Prussian War—Battles of -Langside, Tippermuir, Cappel—Carrier Pigeons—The Velocity -with which Birds fly.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">One of Dryden’s best poems, and in many respects -one of the most curious poems in the language, is the <i lang= -"la">Annus Mirabilis</i>, an effusion of historical panegyric, which, -after the lapse of two centuries, no one can read unmoved or -undelighted, so beautifully is it written, so masterly is the -versification, and so vividly are its events portrayed. The year -commemorated is 1666, and the “wonders” that entitled it to -such pre-eminence were the naval war with the Dutch and Danes and the -great fire in London. If 1666, however, was an <i lang="la">annus -mirabilis</i>, surely 1870 is an <i lang="la">annus mirabilior</i>, a -more wonderful year still, nay, an <i lang="la">annus -mirabilissimus</i>, if you like, for you shall go back in our annals -very far indeed—much farther, if you try it, than at the outset -you might think at all necessary—before you meet its match. Just -consider, first of all, the great Franco-Prussian war, with its -countless hosts of slain; with its sieges of Strasbourg, Metz, and -Paris, not to mention strongholds of less importance; its capitulation -of Sedan and captive Emperor; the Empire ruined, and a Republic in its -place, with all that may yet happen ere peace is proclaimed and the -Germans have recrossed the Rhine. Think, again, of the promulgation of -the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, so speedily, and let us say -unexpectedly, followed by the capture of Rome and the dethronement of -this very infallible Pope as a temporal Prince, by the <i>Catholic</i> -(<i>proh pudor!</i>) King of Italy. At home, a daughter of the Queen, -with the royal consent and concurrence, marries one of that -Queen’s subjects, for <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb87" href= -"#pb87" name="pb87">87</a>]</span>we suppose we may regard the matter -as a <i lang="fr">fait accompli</i>, an event so unheard-of and unusual -that we must go back for an exact parallel for more than two hundred -years, when the Duke of York, afterwards James II., “a man of -many woes,” married the Lady Anne Hyde, daughter of Lord -Chancellor Clarendon, whose history of the Rebellion is one of the most -interesting, and, on account of its inimitable portraiture, one of the -most valuable works of its kind in the English language. If to all this -be added such events as the loss of the “Captain,” built -and armed on a principle, the ultimate adoption or rejection of which -will so materially affect the navy of the future; the revision of the -Authorised Version of the Scriptures; and many other matters, both at -home and abroad, that will readily occur to the reader, this may be -regarded as a very wonderful year indeed. Occupying the centre, as it -were, of all these events, we are too near them at present to appraise -either their magnitude or importance at their legitimate value. Not the -man at the base of a lofty tower, but he who stands at some distance -from it can take its proportions aright, and we may depend upon it that -the reader of the history of our period a hundred years hence will turn -to the page that records the events of 1870 as at once the most -interesting and important in the annals of many centuries. Reverting -for a moment to the <i lang="la">Annus Mirabilis</i> of Dryden, it is -but fair to acknowledge that they seem to have had one wonder to boast -of in 1666 that we cannot claim for 1870, to this date at least; the -wonder in question being two blazing comets in the nocturnal sky. -Describing the English fleet advancing to attack the enemy at night, -the poet, with a boldness of hyperbole for which he is always -remarkable, says—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“To see that fleet upon the ocean move,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Angels drew down the curtains of the -skies;</p> -<p class="line">And Heaven, as if there wanted lights above,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">For tapers, made two glaring comets -rise!”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb88" href="#pb88" name= -"pb88">88</a>]</span></p> -<p>But if we have no comets to boast of in 1870, let not the reader -forget that the 14th November is nigh at hand, and that he who gets up -betimes on the morning of that day, and watches till the daybreak, will -assuredly witness a sight more startling, and grand and -“glaring” than Dryden’s comets, wonderful and -startling as they doubtless were. We must be permitted one other -extract from this extraordinary poem. It describes the state of the -contending fleets and the feelings of their respective crews on their -withdrawing for a time from an engagement that resulted in something -like what at the present day we should call a drawn battle:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“The night comes on, we eager to pursue</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The combat still, and they ashamed to -leave</p> -<p class="line">Till the last streaks of dying day withdrew,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And doubtful moonlight did our rage -deceive.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“In th’ English fleet each ship resounds -with joy,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And loud applause of their great -leader’s fame;</p> -<p class="line">In fiery dreams the Dutch they still destroy,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And, slumbering, smile at the imagin’d -flame.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Not so the Holland fleet, who, tired and -done,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Stretch’d on their decks, like weary -oxen lie;</p> -<p class="line">Faint sweats all down their mighty members run</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(Vast hulks which little souls but ill -supply).</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“In dreams they fearful precipices tread,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Or, shipwreck’d, labour to some distant -shore;</p> -<p class="line">Or in dark churches walk among the dead;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">They wake with horror, and dare sleep no -more.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">We do not know whether the reader will agree with us, -but we look upon these verses as wonderfully fine, and upon the -<i lang="la">Annus Mirabilis</i> as, of its class, amongst the finest, -if not the very finest, poem in the language.</p> -<p>Even from a meteorological point of view, this year, in our part of -the country at least, has had not a little of the <i lang= -"la">mirabilis</i> about it. Byron, we know, awoke one morning and -found himself famous, and we awoke one morning last week and found -ourselves <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb89" href="#pb89" name= -"pb89">89</a>]</span>in mid-winter, albeit the previous day had been -mild, and calm, and sunny, and bright as if it were Whitsuntide, rather -than the Eve of St. Luke the Evangelist. Since then we have had -incessant storms, shifting about and sometimes blowing from every point -of the compass within the four-and-twenty hours, with such deluges of -rain as Lochaber alone can supply in season, or sometimes, <i lang= -"fr">entre nous</i>, out of season as well. The mountain summits are, -at the moment we write, covered with a lamb’s-wool-like coating -of virgin snow, and the air has become so chill and raw that we were -fain some days ago to don our winter habiliments for the season. We -have no right or reason to complain, however; a finer summer and autumn -were never known in the Highlands, and since winter must come some time -or other, it is better that it should come in season. The fourth week -of October is not a bit too early for snow, and sleet, and storms, so -that when we hear the winds howling over ferry and firth, and the waves -breaking with sullen roar upon the vexed strand, and listen to the -rattle and the dash of rain and sleet upon the window panes, we shall, -first taking care that the shutters are properly closed and the -curtains drawn, just draw our arm-chair a little nearer the fire, which -our “lassie,” you may be sure, has trimmed betimes, like -Horace’s boy, <i>large reponens</i> peats and coals thereon, and -then, with the <i>Courier</i>, <i>Scotsman</i>, or <i>Standard</i> on -our knee, or a stray copy of the <i>Saturday Review</i> or -<i>Spectator</i>, which some distant friend has kindly sent us, or some -fresh volume from Ardgour’s library, the worst we shall say will -be in the words of poor old <i>Lear</i>, “Blow wind, and crack -your cheeks! rage! blow!” blessing God the while that if our lot -be a humbler one, it is also a happier one than the poor old -king’s.</p> -<p>A good deal has been written about the enormous numbers of killed -and wounded in the present Franco-Prussian war, the fact being -nevertheless, as we learn on competent authority, that notwithstanding -the improvements made of late years in arms of <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb90" href="#pb90" name= -"pb90">90</a>]</span>precision, there were, considering the numbers -engaged, quite as many men disabled as in the good old days of -“Brown Bess” in the wars of the first Napoleon and in our -battles in India. Mr. Hill Burton, in one of his recently published -volumes of the <i>History of Scotland</i>, and an admirable and very -impartial history it is, tells us that in the battle of Langside, an -historical combat on the issue of which so much in the after history of -England and Scotland depended, 10,000 men were engaged for -three-quarters of an hour, with a loss to the Queen’s party of -300 <i lang="fr">hors de combat</i>, while the victors only lost <i>one -man</i>! A very extraordinary fact certainly; but a more wonderful fact -still, and neither Mr. Burton nor his reviewers seem to be aware of it, -is that of the battle of <i>Tippermuir</i>, fought in 1644, between the -Covenanters and the famous Marquis of Montrose, in which Montrose was -victorious without the loss of a single man on his own side, although -of the Covenanters between four and five hundred were killed in the -battle and pursuit. Another curious thing connected with the battle of -Tippermuir was this: a body of Highlanders, keen enough for the fray, -were without arms of any kind, when Montrose, pointing to the stones -that thickly strewed the field, advised them to try these to begin -with, and they did, appropriating the arms of their enemies as they -fell, and using them with such effect that the battle proper was over -in less than half an hour. The only other battle that we can recollect -in which such primitive weapons as stones were employed by the -combatants was that of <i>Cappel</i>, fought in 1531, between the -Protestants of Zurich and the Catholics of the neighbouring cantons. It -was in this battle that the celebrated reformer Zwingle, or Zwinglius, -met his death. He was first of all knocked down by a stone that, -fiercely hurled, struck him on the head, and then, with the -exclamation, “Die, obstinate heretic,” the sword of -Fockinger of Unterwalden pierced his throat, and the reformer was no -more. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb91" href="#pb91" name= -"pb91">91</a>]</span></p> -<p>The reader has, of course, seen in the papers how beleaguered Paris -keeps up communication with Belgium and the provinces, by means of -balloons and carrier pigeons. Of balloons and ballooning we have no -practical experience; of carrier pigeons we do know something, the bird -being as well-known to us as is a robin redbreast to a gardener. We -kept them for some time, but were obliged to get quit of them on -account of their ineradicable propensity to purloin our -neighbours’ turnip seed from the drill immediately after being -sown and before they got time to sprout. All pigeons have this habit, -but the carrier worse and more persistently than any other. The speed -and power of wing appertaining to the carrier pigeon is extraordinary, -and if not well attested would be deemed incredible. We remember, for -instance, that at the Christmas of 1845, when a student at the -University of St. Andrews (<i>best</i> as well as <i>oldest</i> -university in Scotland, gainsay it who may!) we spent our holidays at -Kirkmichael, a pleasant little village in the Highlands of Perthshire. -On leaving St. Andrews we took with us a carrier pigeon, a magnificent -bird. On the 1st of January 1846, at the hour of noon precisely, we -gave this bird, with a bit of narrow blue ribbon tied under his wing, -his liberty on the bridge of Kirkmichael. When let out of his basket he -instantly soared up in a sort of spiral flight, ascending and ascending -cork-screw fashion until he seemed to the eye no bigger than a wren, -then straight and swift as an arrow from a bow he urged his flight -southwards, and became lost to view. On returning to St. Andrews, we -found that our bird had reached his dovecot, eagerly watched and waited -for by his owner, as the College bells were chiming one o’clock -on the same day, so that it must have done the distance, about -fifty-four miles as the crow flies, in about one hour, or very nearly -at the rate of a mile a minute. Now, it must be remembered that this -was the bird’s ordinary flight. He doubtless sought his distant -home in what one might <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb92" href="#pb92" -name="pb92">92</a>]</span>call a brisk and business-like manner, nor -swerved, we may be sure, an inch from his course, nor loitered by the -way. He was going well—<i>very</i> well, if you -like—throughout, but not going his best. The probability is that -under extraordinary pressure, with a falcon in chase, for instance, the -same bird could and would have gone twice as fast, or at a rate of -something more than a hundred miles an hour. If the reader likes to -experiment in this direction, he can easily try it with the common -domestic pigeon, as we have done more than once. Years ago we recollect -a brother of ours taking, at our suggestion, a common black and white -pigeon from the dovecot here to Oban, where, at a preconcerted hour on -a day agreed upon, he set it at liberty. The bird took nearly two hours -to do the distance, some twenty-three or twenty-four miles as the crow -flies; but it probably lingered some time by the way to feed, as, -instead of being well fed, which should always be strictly attended to, -it received no food at all on the morning of its liberation at Oban. -The house-pigeon, however, is useless except for comparatively short -distances, and even then is never to be much depended upon. His extreme -domesticity predisposes him to pay a visit to every dovecot on the -route, and to fraternise with every flock of brother pigeons he may -happen to fall in with. His peculiar mode of flight, besides, and his -extreme timidity, mark him out as an easy and desirable prey for any -keen-eyed hawk or falcon that may be at the moment <i>impransus</i>, as -Johnson in his early days once signed a note in -London—dinnerless. The common pigeon, too, wings his flight at a -comparatively low altitude, and becomes an easy shot to any one with a -gun ready to hand when it passes by. Not so the true carrier pigeon, -which flies at a great height, far out of range of needle-gun or -artillery—out of range of human sight, in fact; so that it is -never in danger of being brought to grief, as was poor Gambetta in his -balloon when passing above the Prussian lines the other day. The -velocity with which some birds fly is almost incredible. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb93" href="#pb93" name="pb93">93</a>]</span>A hungry -falcon, with his blood up and in eager pursuit of his quarry, will fly -at the rate of 150 miles an hour, and keep it up too until his object -is attained; and the tremendous impetus of the bird at such a speed -accounts for the dreadful wounds that a falcon inflicts when it strikes -its prey, sometimes ripping up a grouse, or blackcock, or mallard, from -vent to breastbone, as if it had been done by the keen edge of a -butcher’s cleaver. A goshawk (<i lang="la">Falco palumbarius</i>) -belonging to Henry of Navarre—the Henri Quatre of after -days—having its royal owner’s name engraved on its golden -<i>varvels</i>, made its escape from <span class="corr" id="xd26e3101" -title="Source: Fontainbleau">Fontainebleau</span> in 1574, and was -caught in Malta within four-and-twenty hours afterwards—a -distance of 1400 miles, or at the rate of sixty miles an hour, -supposing him to have been on the wing the whole time. But a hawk never -flies by night, so that, on a fair computation, the bird’s speed -in winging the enormous distance must have been at the rate of at least -100 miles an hour. We have calculated that a snipe, thoroughly alarmed, -and going its best, can fly at the rate of a mile a minute, and there -are other well-known birds equally fleet of wing. Nor must it be -supposed that the velocity of birds is a mere -“flash-in-the-pan,” so to speak—a -“spurt,” as it were—which could not be kept up. The -long-sustained flights of migratory birds proves the -contrary—that birds are not only inconceivably fleet, but, to use -a racing term, that they can <i>stay</i> as well. Of our more familiar -birds, we should say that the common wild duck of our meres flies with -greater velocity than any other bird with which the reader is likely to -be well acquainted. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb94" href="#pb94" -name="pb94">94</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch17" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e405">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XVII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Signs of a severe Winter—The Little Auk or -Auklet—The Gadwall—Falcons being trained by the Prussians -to intercept the Paris Carrier Pigeons—Ballooning—The King -of Prussia’s Piety—John Forster—Solar Eclipse of 22d -December 1870—The Government and the Eclipse—Large Solar -Spots—Visible to the naked eye—Rev. Dr. -Cumming—November Meteors.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">It must have been in view of some such scene [November -1870] as the early morning presents to the eye at present that Horace -began his celebrated ode to Augustus—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Jam satis terris nivis, atque diræ</p> -<p class="line">Grandinis misit Pater”—</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Enough, enough of snow and direful hail! Or if you -prefer the wintry scene in the ninth Ode—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Vides, ut alta stet nive candidum</p> -<p class="line">Soracte, nec jam sustineant onus</p> -<p class="line">Sylvæ laborantes: gelûque</p> -<p class="line">Flumina constiterint acuto?”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Which our countryman Theodore Martin thus -renders—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Look out, my Thaliarchus, round!</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Soracte’s crest is white with snow,</p> -<p class="line">The drooping branches sweep the ground,</p> -<p class="line">And, fast in icy fetters bound,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The streams have ceased to flow.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The snow-clad Soracte itself could not wear a colder -or wintrier aspect than does our own Ben Nevis at this moment. We have, -in truth, had a great deal of sleet and snow and rattling hail showers -of late, with bitterly cold winds and frost enough to induce one to don -his warmest habiliments when venturing abroad, and thoroughly -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb95" href="#pb95" name= -"pb95">95</a>]</span>to appreciate the comforts of a bright and blazing -fire within doors. Winter, in short, has fairly set in; and we must -just battle with its inclemencies as best we may until a more genial -season has come round. And an unusually inclement and severe winter is -this likely to prove. Our lochs and estuaries are swarming with Arctic -sea-fowl, that already venture quite close to the shore, and seek their -food in the most sheltered bays, a sure sign that much cold weather, -with heavy gales from the north and north-west, cannot be far away. -Among these web-footed visitors from the far north we have observed two -that are extremely rare on our part of the west coast, even in the -severest winters. One of these is the ratch or auklet (<i lang= -"la">Alca alle</i>, Linn.), a very pretty little black and white diver, -the smallest bird of the genus with which we are acquainted, a little -more rotund in form and of a robuster frame than the well-known -<i>dipper</i> of our streams, but otherwise very like it. Another is -the gadwall (<i lang="la">Anas strepera</i>), a species of duck very -rare in our north-western waters—a very pretty little duck, with -a remarkably loud and harsh voice, so loud that on a calm frosty day it -reaches you over a sea surface distance of several miles. We have only -identified the latter at a distance by the aid of a powerful binocular. -It is not a difficult bird to recognise, however, on account of its -distinct markings, and we are as confident that we have repeatedly seen -it during the present month as if we had it in our cabinet. And talking -of birds, what does the reader think the Prussians are up to now? -Annoyed at the ballooning and pigeon-carrying by means of which -beleaguered Paris manages to keep up communication with the outer -world, the Germans are training falcons to be employed in coursing and -capturing such carrier pigeons as may be observed passing over their -outposts and siege works. Such at least is one item in the last batch -of news notes from Versailles. If the Prussians really mean this, all -we can say is that it is “a fine idea, but impracticable,” -as Hannibal <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb96" href="#pb96" name= -"pb96">96</a>]</span>said of Maharbal’s suggestion to push on to -the capture of the Capitol after the battle of Cannæ. In the -first place it is allowed on all hands that a few months at most, -probably a few weeks, must decide the fate of Paris one way or other, -while a hawk, to be employed as proposed, requires years of carefullest -training ere it can be depended upon as an aerial cruiser in any way -subject to human control, nor, even if it were otherwise, could a -sufficient number of falcons for the purpose be procured in Europe or -elsewhere. Such an attempt at an aerial blockade must prove a failure. -Even from a well-trained hawk, under the most favourable circumstances, -a carrier pigeon ought to be able in nine cases out of ten to make good -its escape by reason of the velocity and altitude of its flight. Depend -upon it that in all time to come ballooning and pigeon carrying will be -employed by a besieged city, as Paris employs them now; and while gas -can be had to inflate a balloon, and a carrier-pigeon is available, -there is nothing that a besieging force can do to prevent the constant -voyaging of such aerial messengers. One result of this war will be that -carrier pigeons will be bred in larger numbers, and more highly valued -than ever—carrier pigeon dovecots in each city at the public -expense—while aerial navigation by means of balloons, having lost -much of its terrors, will more and more become a common and every-day -mode of locomotion. There is an “Aeronautical Society” in -England, which boasts the names of many distinguished men on its roll -of members, but which, nevertheless, couldn’t in twenty years -have done so much for aerial navigation as the Franco-Prussian war has -done in little more than a month. Most people, by the way, have been -disgusted with the King of Prussia’s repeated appeals for Divine -aid and pretended recognition of Divine guidance, while wading at the -head of his forces knee-deep in a <i lang="la">mare magnum</i> of -bloodshed and carnage from the Rhine to the Seine. One anecdote, -<i lang="la">apropos</i> of a king’s pretended piety and close -alliance with the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb97" href="#pb97" -name="pb97">97</a>]</span>Divine powers in all his undertakings, we -have not seen quoted. It is this: some person once calling on John -Forster, took occasion to remark that the Emperor Alexander (of Russia) -was a very pious man. “Very pious, indeed,” observed -Forster, with tremendous sarcasm, “Very pious, indeed; I am -credibly informed that he said grace ere he swallowed -Poland!”</p> -<p>Preparations on a large scale are being made on the Continent and in -America for observing the great solar eclipse of the 22d December, with -a care and precision never known in the examination of a similar -phenomenon. Never before, indeed, could a solar eclipse be observed and -analysed in its every phase as this one will be. Aided by the -spectroscope, polariscope, photometer, and photograph, with the most -powerful telescopes, and meteorological and magnetic instruments of the -utmost delicacy and exactness, it will be strange, indeed, if our -knowledge of the chemistry and constitution of the great central orb is -not very largely increased on this occasion. In our country the eclipse -will be a partial one only. At the moment of maximum obscuration, -supposing the sun to consist of twelve digits, about nine digits, or -three-fourths of the disc, will be occulted. According to Edinburgh -mean time the eclipse will begin at 10 h. 54 m. morning; maximum -observation, 0 h. 8 m. afternoon; and of eclipse, 1 h. 22 m. afternoon. -A glass of very moderate powers is sufficient for observing such -partial eclipses. Partial though this eclipse is, however, no -phenomenon of the kind of equal magnitude will be seen again in our -country till August 1887, when the eclipse will be very nearly, though -not quite, total.</p> -<p>Never, perhaps, has the solar disc been so constantly and so largely -crowded with <i lang="la">maculæ</i>, or “spots,” as -during the present year. Some of these spots have recently been very -large. On the 9th of the present month, for instance, there was an -immense circular spot as nearly as possible on the centre of the solar -disc, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb98" href="#pb98" name= -"pb98">98</a>]</span>like a bull’s-eye in a bright target of -living light, which a little before sunset was plainly visible to the -naked eye. It was the evening of the Fort-William market day, and we -drew the attention of several people returning from the fair to the -unusual phenomenon. One jolly old fellow, who had probably been largely -patronising the “tents” on the market stance throughout the -day, would insist upon it that he saw, not one big spot on the sun, but -two or more—and perhaps he did. A few days previously a perfect -stream of <i lang="la">maculæ</i> of all sizes might easily be -observed along the solar equator, looking for all the world as if a -flock of ravens were at the moment passing, in struggling order within -the telescope’s field of view, between us and the sun. At the -moment we write these lines, there is a very large spot half-way -between the solar centre and its western limb, that towards sunset, if -the sky is clear, might, we think, be discerned by the unaided eye. -Auroral displays, too, still continue to render our nights, though at -present moonless, and frequently cloudy withal, bright and cheerful by -their broad and mysterious effulgence.</p> -<p>The November meteors of the present year seem to have made little or -no display anywhere. Here it was wet and cloudy, so that we could not -have seen them even if the sky was ablaze with them. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb99" href="#pb99" name="pb99">99</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch18" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e414">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">November Rains: 1500 tons per Imperial -Acre!—Rainfall in Skye—An old Gaelic Apologue—The -Drover and his Minister—Grand Stag’s Head—Scott as a -Poet—Mr. Gladstone and Scott—An old Lullaby from the -Gaelic.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">With the exception of two, or at most three, tolerably -fine days at the beginning of the month, December [1870] has been -hardly less rainy and generally disagreeable than November itself, and -this, although in November a fall of 18 inches—1500 tons of rain -water to the imperial acre—was duly registered. A recent -communication from Skye went to show that in the matter of rainfall -that island is far ahead, not only of Lochaber, but of every other -station in the kingdom—a pluvial pre-eminence which we had really -thought belonged to ourselves, but which, claimed for Skye on the -impartial authority of the rain-gauge, we give up ungrudgingly, simply -exclaiming with Melibœus in the Virgilian eclogue—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p lang="la" class="line">“Non equidem invideo, miror -magis.”</p> -<p class="line">(In sooth I feel not envy, but surprise.)</p> -</div> -<p class="first">“With such a rainfall as is claimed for Skye, -one only wonders how it is that the inhabitants of the island seem not -to suffer a whit because of it. As a rule, they are a robust and -remarkably long-lived people; and, what is even more surprising, they -are exceedingly good-humoured and cheerful—the pleasantest people -in the world to meet with, whether at home or abroad. There is an old -Gaelic apologue current in Lochaber, which may perhaps have some -bearing on the point:—“It was long, long ago that, in the -grey dawn of an intensely cold January morning, after a wild night of -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb100" href="#pb100" name= -"pb100">100</a>]</span>drift and snow, the heathcock of Ben Nevis -clapped his wings, and, in a loud, prolonged, interrogative crow, -addressed his first cousin by the father’s side, the heathcock of -Ben Cruachan—‘How do you feel yourself this morning, dear -heathcock of Cruachan?’ ‘So, so,’ with a feeble -attempt at wing-clapping, responded the heathcock of Cruachan; -‘So, so; miserable enough, believe me, after such a night as last -night was. And if I am thus miserable down here, it only puzzles me to -understand how you can at all endure it, and live up there on Ben -Nevis.’ ‘Thanks, my dear fellow,’ with a second -vigorous clapping of his wings, quoth the Ben Nevis bird; -‘Thanks, my dear fellow, for your kind and cousinly solicitude -for my welfare. Know this, however, that, bad as it doubtless is up -here on Ben Nevis, <i>I am made to it</i>.’ ” We can -only suppose that our friends in Skye bear this prodigious rainfall -with such philosophic equanimity and impunity because, like the -heathcock of Ben Nevis, they are “made to it.” The first -time we heard this apologue was many years ago, in the cabin of one of -the Messrs. Hutcheson’s steamers. A rubicund visaged -drover—a fine-looking man, of burly frame and Atlantean -shoulders—had just swallowed quite half-a-tumblerful of potent -and unadulterated “Talisker” at a gulp rather than a -draught, when his parish clergyman, who happened to be reclining on a -sofa at the opposite side of the cabin, got up and expostulated with -his parishioner for drinking ardent spirits in such a way as that; -prophesying that unless he stopped it very quickly it would kill him, -and only wondering that it had not killed him long ago. The drover, who -was not aware until then that his minister was on board, and a witness -to his potations, respectfully took off his broad bonnet, and, with a -bow, begged to repeat the apologue, which he did, <i lang="la">ore -rotundo</i>, in the most beautiful Gaelic; the application being so -manifestly apt and pertinent to his particular case that we all burst -out a laughing, the venerable clergyman—now, alas, no -more!—enjoying <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb101" href="#pb101" -name="pb101">101</a>]</span>it as much as any one that the tables had -been so cleverly turned upon him. Fables apart, however, the fact of -the matter seems to be simply this, that the humidity of the climate -along our western sea-board, and amongst the Hebrides, is in nowise -inimical to robust health or longevity. It is of course disagreeable -enough at times, and frequently a sad drawback on our agricultural -prosperity; but a minute examination of the vital statistics of the -Western Highlands and Islands would probably go far to show that our -superabundance of rain is rather favourable to health and long life -than otherwise. <i lang="gd">Ach bi’dh sin mar a chithear da</i>, -a beautiful Gaelic phrase literally. But be that particular matter -<i>as it may seem to it</i>,—what would most please us at this -moment would be a month or more of the good old-fashioned winters of -our boyhood, when everything was blanketed for weeks together in soft -and virgin snow, and the earth was at times so braced and bound with -frost that under the rapid tread and multitudinous rush of all the -village schoolboys at play, it rang again like a hollow globe of iron! -It is now, alas, dribble and drip, and splash, slop, and slush from -year’s end to year’s end.</p> -<p>We are indebted to our excellent friend Mr. Snowie, of Inverness, -for a very curious and valuable stag’s head, admirably stuffed, -which reached us the other day by steamer. It is a splendid trophy, a -veritable <i lang="gd">Cabar-Féidh</i>, which the Chief of the -Mackenzies himself, when the clan was at its proudest, might be glad to -have to adorn the entrance-hall of Brahan Castle. The antlers are of -immense girth and spread; one, except for the brow tine, what is called -a <i lang="gd">cabar-slat</i>; the other with two tines, each of them -almost big enough for an antler of itself. We have seen many grand and -curious heads in our day, both <i lang="gd">cabar-slats</i> and -multicornute; but this, which is properly neither the one nor the -other, is, from its size and peculiar style of antlers, a trophy to be -singled out and admired in a collection of the best heads of the -kingdom. It faces <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb102" href="#pb102" -name="pb102">102</a>]</span>us as we write from the opposite wall of -our study, and constantly reminds us of Scott’s magnificent -description of the stag that led Fitzjames and his attendants such a -merry dance in the <i>Lady of the Lake</i>. We must be pardoned for -quoting a passage with which every one is familiar:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“As Chief, who hears his warder call,</p> -<p class="line">‘To arms! the foemen storm the wall,’</p> -<p class="line">The antler’d monarch of the waste</p> -<p class="line">Sprang from his heathery couch in haste.</p> -<p class="line">But, ere his fleet career he took,</p> -<p class="line"><i>The dew-drops from his flanks he shook;</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>Like crested leader proud and high,</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>Toss’d his beam’d frontlet to the -sky</i>;</p> -<p class="line">A moment gazed adown the dale,</p> -<p class="line">A moment snuff’d the tainted gale,</p> -<p class="line">A moment listened to the cry,</p> -<p class="line">That thicken’d as the chase drew nigh;</p> -<p class="line">Then, as the foremost foes appeared,</p> -<p class="line">With one brave bound the copse he clear’d</p> -<p class="line">And, stretching forward free and far,</p> -<p class="line">Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">And yet some stupid people will ask if Scott was a -poet! Even Landseer never painted anything finer or truer to the life -than that word-painting of Scott’s. Every one admits that Homer -was a poet: well, then, search the <i>Iliad</i>, point out anything -better, or anything, <i lang="fr">entre nous</i>, quite as good, and -when you have found it, please let us know, and we promise to reperuse -the passage, with every attention and care, in the original of Homer -himself, as well as in the translations of Pope, Cowper, and Blackie; -and if you are right and we are wrong, we shall not hesitate to confess -it, and humbly cry <i>peccavi</i>. Meantime we shall continue steadfast -in our belief that Scott <i>is</i> a poet, and not only a poet, but a -poet of the highest order; more “Homeric,” too, than any -other poet you can name, either of the present or past century; and -that Mr. Gladstone has had the good sense and penetration to discover -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb103" href="#pb103" name= -"pb103">103</a>]</span>this, and the courage to avow it, is one, and -not the least, of many things which make us have a liking for that -distinguished statesman and scholar.</p> -<p>A lady, to whom we are indebted for numberless obligations of a like -nature, has sent us a copy of an old Gaelic lullaby or baby-song, the -composition of which must clearly be referred to the days when -cattle-lifting forays and <i>spuilzies</i> of every description were in -high fashion and favour with the gentlemen of the north—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“When tooming faulds, or sweeping of a glen,</p> -<p class="line">Had still been held the deed of gallant men.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">It is in many respects so curious that we venture on a -translation of it. Attached to it is a very pretty air, low and soft -and subdued as a lullaby air should be, though consisting but of a -single part, as was always the case with such compositions, unlike -ordinary songs, which generally had two parts, and admitted of endless -variations, according to the taste and vocal capabilities of the -singer. It is proper to state that our version is not intended to be -sung to the original air, for which the measure we have selected is -unsuitable. Our only object has been to convey to the English reader -the general sense, with something of the spirit and manner, of the -original.</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">A Lullaby.</span></h4> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Hush thee, my baby-boy, hush thee to sleep,</p> -<p class="line">Soft in my bosom laid, why should’st thou -weep;</p> -<p class="line">Hush thee, my pretty babe, why should’st thou -fear,</p> -<p class="line">Well can thy father wield broadsword and spear.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Lullaby, lullaby, hush thee to rest,</p> -<p class="line">Snug in my arms as a bird in its nest;</p> -<p class="line">Sweet be thy slumbers, boy, dreaming the while</p> -<p class="line">A dream that shall dimple thy cheek with a smile.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Helpless and weak as thou ’rt now on my -knee,</p> -<p class="line">My eaglet shall yet spread his wings and be -free—</p> -<p class="line">Free on the mountain side, free in the glen,</p> -<p class="line">Strong-handed, swift-footed, a man among men!</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb104" href="#pb104" name= -"pb104">104</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Then shall my <i>dalt’</i> bring his -<i>muim’</i> a good store</p> -<p class="line">Of game from the mountain and fish from the shore;</p> -<p class="line">Cattle, and sheep, and goats—graze where they -may—</p> -<p class="line">My <i>dalta</i> will find ere the dawn of the day.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Thy father and uncles, with target and -sword,</p> -<p class="line">Will back each bold venture by ferry and ford;</p> -<p class="line">From thy hand I shall yet drain a beaker of wine,</p> -<p class="line">And the toast shall be—<i>Health and the lowing -of kine</i>!</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Then rest thee, my foster-son, sleep and be -still,</p> -<p class="line">The first star of night twinkles bright on the -hill;</p> -<p class="line">My brave boy is sleeping—kind angels watch -o’er him,</p> -<p class="line">And safe to the light of the morning restore him.</p> -<p class="line">Lullaby, lullaby, what should he fear,</p> -<p class="line">Well can his father wield broadsword and -spear!”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">To the proper understanding of this curious -composition, a few words of comment and elucidation may be necessary. -The lullaby must be understood as sung by a foster-mother to her -foster-son, the Gaelic words from which the exigencies of verse oblige -us to retain in our paraphrase. In lulling her charge to sleep, the -foster-mother fondly anticipates the time when the boy on her knee -shall have become a full-grown and perfect man; her <i>beau-ideal</i> -of a perfect man, observe, being that, like the heroes of ancient song, -he should be brawny limbed, strong of hand, and swift of foot, able and -willing at all risks to seize and appropriate his neighbour’s -goods, especially his cattle, whenever necessity—an empty -larder—or honour urged him to the adventure. The coolness with -which the old lady commits her foster-son to the immediate care and -guardianship of the heavenly powers, in the self-same breath in which -she hopes and believes that he will, when he becomes a man, prove an -active and expert thief—a stealer of beeves from the pastures of -neighbouring tribes, in utter defiance of the decalogue—is -ludicrous in the extreme. To understand it aright, we must recollect -that in former times it was accounted not only lawful but honourable -among hostile tribes to commit depredations <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb105" href="#pb105" name="pb105">105</a>]</span>on -one another; and as hostility among the clans was the rule rather than -the exception, every species of depredation was -practised,—cattle-lifting raids, however, being accounted the -most honourable of all, and in the conduct of which the best gentlemen -of the clan might without a blush take an active part. The -“lowing of kine,” <i lang="gd">geùmnaich -bhà</i>, occurring in this lullaby, was an old toast of the -cattle-lifting times, that the late Dr. Macfarlane of Arrochar told us, -he himself had often heard when a young man at baptismal feasts and -bridals on Loch Lomond side. The secret of it is this: The <i lang= -"gd">geùmnaich</i>, or “lowing,” implied that the -cattle were strangers to the glen, whilst those that belonged to the -glen itself, and were the <i lang="la">bona fide</i> property of the -clan, if such there were, were quiet and staid and well-behaved, as -decent cattle should be. The cattle “stolen or strayed,” as -the advertisements have it, “lowed,” and were troublesome; -while those born and bred in the glen were content to graze in peace, -and to “low” only when they deemed it absolutely necessary. -“The lowing of kine,” therefore, was a toast that meant -neither more nor less than success to the cattle-lifting trade! As -ancient Pistol says—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“ ‘Convey,’ the wise it call. -‘Steal!’ foh, a fico for the phrase.”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb106" href="#pb106" name= -"pb106">106</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch19" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e423">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XIX.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Winter—Auroral Displays in the West Highlands -always indicative of a coming Storm—<i lang="la">Corvus -Corax</i>—Wonderful Ravens—Edgar Allan Poe.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">Snow continues to accumulate on the mountain summits -[December 1870], which all around, from Ben Nevis to Ben Cruachan, and -from the peaks of Glen-Arkaig to Benmore in Mull, now present so many -<i>Sierra Nevadas</i>, while you are conscious at last, and to an -extent that admits of no possible mistake on the subject, that the -wind, which, whether it blows adown the glen or across the sea, has a -chill and penetrating edge to it, is neither the breeze of autumn nor -the zephyr of summer, but the breath of winter itself—the -hoary-headed and icicle-bearded season, that, with all its drawbacks, -has its uses in the general economy as well as its gentler -<i>confrères</i> in the annual. With the exception of one or two -pet days, the weather of the past fortnight has been stormy and wild, -with heavy falls of rain on the lowlands, and sleet and snow among the -mountains. In no one season since we first became a student of the -heavens, now more than a quarter of a century ago, have we had so many -splendid exhibitions of <i lang="la">aurora borealis</i> as the last -three weeks have presented us with in a series of <i lang="fr">tableaux -vivants</i>, which, while they charmed and delighted the intelligent -observer, made the vulgar gape in astonishment and alarm. In every -instance these auroral displays have invariably been followed within -twelve hours by heavy gales of wind and much rain, and so constantly -have we noticed this sequence throughout the observations of many -years, that there is perhaps no meteorological prediction <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb107" href="#pb107" name="pb107">107</a>]</span>on -which we should be disposed to venture with so much confidence and -boldness as that within twelve or fifteen hours of a bright auroral -display there shall be a storm, and that that storm shall be of heavy -rain or sleet, as well as of high wind. We speak principally of the -West Highlands, but we have no doubt that observation would prove the -phenomena to be the same throughout the kingdom. If we were in command -of a ship at sea, we should consider ourselves quite as justified in -making all necessary preparations for a coming storm on the back of a -brilliant aurora, as we should on observing a sudden fall in the -barometer, the only difference being that the “merry -dancers” give you longer notice of the approaching gale than does -the mercury. The latter exclaims, “Look out!” and if you -don’t look out, and that instantly, calling all hands and making -everything snug, you come to grief, while time enough generally elapses -after the auroral warning, to enable you to prepare at leisure for the -coming storm, and, if it catch you napping, the fault is all your own. -The recent auroral displays seem to have been very general over the -whole of Europe, and are said to have been unusually brilliant in -Canada and the Northern States of America. A more than ordinarily -severe and protracted winter may be expected after all these aerial -perturbations, which, when a French <i lang="fr">savant</i> remarked -the other day to a compatriot, “<i lang="fr">Tant pis</i>,” -replied the chassepot-bearing <i>mobile</i>, with the invariable -shoulder shrug and grin, “<i lang="fr">Tant pis pour Messieurs -les Prussiens!</i>”—thinking, no doubt, of the disastrous -retreat from Moscow, and hoping to see it repeated in a different -direction at no distant day. Except the wren and redbreast, whose pluck -is indomitable, and who are never altogether out of voice, our singing -birds are now songless and silent, or if they do utter a note, it is -but a cheep and a chirp, not a song, another sign that our winter is to -be regarded as having fairly set in. We notice, besides, that some of -our winter visitors from <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb108" href= -"#pb108" name="pb108">108</a>]</span>Arctic seas have made their -appearance along our shores, while we observe that the rook and grey -crow have already begun to frequent the beach at low water in search of -what may be picked up in the way of a meal, a sure sign that they also -look upon it as already come, and that their food in more inland parts -has disappeared until a kindlier season has come round.</p> -<p>A very large raven (<i lang="la">Corvus corax</i>), the biggest -specimen of this bird we have ever seen, was trapped at the head of -Glencreran a few days ago by a bird-catcher that annually pays the West -Highlands a visit at this season. It was a female, as fat and plump as -a Michaelmas goose, and weighed within an ounce or two of four pounds. -The plumage, as might be expected in a bird of such high condition, was -perfect, with the exception of two of the upper alar feathers, which -were perfectly white, an abnormality, however, that only rendered the -specimen all the more interesting. The raven is the craftiest and -shyest of birds, never venturing within shot of fowling-piece or rifle, -and more difficult than any other bird, perhaps, to be outwitted or -circumvented in any way. With all his craft and caution, however, the -raven is, when occasion calls, one of the most courageous and boldest -of birds. At the time of nidification, for instance, the male will -fearlessly attack the largest falcon and drive him from what he -considers his own proper territory, nor will he shun the combat, as we -have often observed, even with the osprey or bald buzzard when they met -in mid-air on their predatory excursions, and a sufficient <i lang= -"la">casus belli</i> has been found or feigned by either belligerent. -We remember seeing an encounter of this kind several years ago, which -continued nearly an hour, and was a very pretty and interesting sight, -the combatants performing the most beautiful aerial evolutions as they -charged, and parried, and soared, and swooped in fierce and determined -conflict. We noticed that the raven frequently uttered his hoarse and -threatening croak, as if to intimidate his opponent, <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb109" href="#pb109" name= -"pb109">109</a>]</span>while the osprey fought in perfect silence. The -combat finally resulted in a drawn battle, the belligerents separating -as if by mutual consent, and slowly winging their flight in opposite -directions. The probability is that the raven’s pugnacity was -excited on this occasion (March 1863) by the osprey’s cruising -about, however unwittingly, in the vicinity of the precipice in a cleft -of which the female raven was at the time brooding on her nest. At such -a time the raven will boldly attack the passing eagle, and harass and -annoy it until the eagle, pestered and teased by the assault, rather -than in any way alarmed, with great good nature evacuates the territory -which the raven claims as its own. The raven has from the earliest ages -been accounted a bird of evil omen, and an object of superstitious -dread and awe, and allusions to the bird in this connection are to be -met with in the literature of most countries, the raven being as -cosmopolitan as man himself. Its croak, so disagreeable, and dismal, -and hoarse, and startling; its colour, a funereal black; its habitat, -the lonely and demon-haunted mountain peaks, giddy precipices, and -dreary solitudes; its lamb-slaying and carrion-eating propensities; its -shy and suspicious manner, as if he knew that he had done evil and was -apprehensive of well-merited punishment—all combine to render him -in the first instance a noticeable and remarkable bird, and one sure to -be selected for frequent reference in the days of bird divination, a -superstition of which traces may probably be found in the early history -of every country, and thus it would readily be raised to the “bad -eminence” of a bird of evilest omen—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The hateful messenger of heavy things,</p> -<p class="line">Of death and dolour telling.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The Moor of Venice says—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“It comes o’er my memory,</p> -<p class="line">As doth the raven o’er the infected house,</p> -<p class="line">Boding to all.”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb110" href="#pb110" name= -"pb110">110</a>]</span></p> -<p>And you remember <i>Macbeth</i>, and cannot fail to catch the -allusion—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The raven himself is hoarse,</p> -<p class="line">That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan</p> -<p class="line">Under my battlements.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">During his tour in the Highlands with Dr. Johnson, -Boswell writes a highly <span class="corr" id="xd26e3476" title= -"Source: characterestic">characteristic</span> letter to David Garrick, -and, describing their visit to <i>Macbeth’s</i> Castle, -says—“The situation of the old castle corresponds exactly -to Shakspeare’s description. While we were there to-day, it -happened oddly that a raven perched upon one of the chimney tops and -croaked. Then I, in my turn, repeated ‘The raven himself,’ -&c.” Now, if a raven in truth did so perch, all we can say is -that it was a very curious place for a raven to be, or ravens, within a -hundred years, must have very much changed their habits and nature. The -explanation probably is that it was a <i>tame</i> raven, or a rook -perhaps, or, likeliest of all, that it was a common jackdaw (<i lang= -"la">Corvus monedula</i>), a pert, impudent, and garrulous little -gentleman in black—no bigger than a dovecot pigeon—that Mr. -Boswell mistook (<i>proh pudor!</i>) for the grave, stately, and -sagacious raven, who is as much bigger, and weightier, and wiser than -his loquacious cousin the daw, as Samuel Johnson was bigger, and -weightier, and wiser than his travelling companion, James Boswell. It -is curious to meet with the following on the authority of no less -renowned a personage than the valorous and puissant knight Don Quixote -de la Mancha, the flower of chivalry. “Have you not read, -sir,” proceeds the knight, “the annals and histories of -England, wherein are recorded the famous exploits of King Arthur, whom -in our Castilian tongue we perpetually called King Artus, of whom there -exists an ancient tradition, universally received over the whole -kingdom of Great Britain, that he did not die, but that by magic art -<i>he was transformed into a raven</i>, for which reason it cannot be -proved that from that time to this any Englishman hath killed a -raven.” <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb111" href="#pb111" name= -"pb111">111</a>]</span></p> -<p>We have just called the raven our “friend,” nor are we -at all ashamed so to designate a bird whom we have known long, and -regarding whom, if other people speak nothing but evil, we at least can -speak a great deal that is good. There is a well-known proverb to the -effect that a certain potentate of sable hue is not so black as he is -painted, nor is the raven. First of all, he is an apt scholar, and a -bird generally of much sagacity, of long memory, and ready wit. It is -on record that on one occasion when the Emperor Augustus was returning -victorious from a battlefield, a tame raven that had received his -lesson, and remembered it to the letter, alighted on the -conqueror’s chariot, and saluted him in these -words—<i lang="la">Ave Cæsar, Victor, Imperator</i>! The -Emperor was pleased, as he well might be, and ordered the raven a -handsome pension for life. Bechstein, who probably knew more about the -habits and economy of ravens, especially in their tame state, than any -other ornithologist before his day or since, vouches for the facility -with which they may be taught to speak, and for their sagacity and -docility generally. He tells the following amusing -story:—“A very clever raven was kept at a nobleman’s -residence in the district of Mannsfeldt. Among other things he could -say, ‘Well, who are you?’ very strongly and distinctly. One -day, as he was walking about among the grass in the garden, he observed -a setter dog which remained near him, and kept constantly walking after -him. Not liking to be thus watched and followed, the raven turned -rapidly round and sternly exclaimed, ‘Well, who are you?’ -The dog was alarmed at this, hung his tail, and ran hastily away, and -not until he had gained a considerable distance did he turn round and -howl.” The raven, besides, is a thorough anti-Mormonite, and -wouldn’t live in Utah for the world. If he visits the polygamist -colony at all, it is always under protest against the institutions of -that delectable land, and to be ready to pick the bones of the first -many-wived “elder” he may catch <i lang="la">in articulo -mortis</i>. Rather should the raven <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb112" href="#pb112" name="pb112">112</a>]</span>be elected to a seat -upon the bench of bishops, for he is ever careful to fulfil the -apostolic injunction to be the husband but of one wife; and until -accident or old age deprives him of her, he is the model and pattern of -faithful and affectionate husbands, never violating his conjugal vows, -not even to the extent of the most innocent of flirtations or the most -Platonic of intimacies with a neighbouring raveness, even though she -should be younger, and sleeker, and glossier than his own. The raven, -in short, when he pairs, which he does at the earliest moment permitted -by the laws of ravendom, pairs for life, and while his first choice is -spared to him he will no more think of paying court to another, be her -charms what they may, than he will of dying of hunger while there is a -bone to pick, a tender lamb, or braxied sheep within a circuit of a -hundred miles of his eyrie, in the most inaccessible cleft of yonder -beetling precipice. We might now say something if we liked of the -raven’s <i>usefulness</i> in the general economy as a -hard-working and indefatigable inspector of nuisances, and how putrid -animal matter of every description disappears, as if by magic, wherever -he is known and appreciated; but this is a utilitarian age, and as we -hate utilitarianism, we are content merely to hint that the raven -deserves special regard as a sanitary reformer. We prefer insisting on -the fact that the raven is a gentleman of very ancient descent, being -able, in the clearest manner, to trace his pedigree in unbroken line up -to the days of “Captain” Noah himself, as Byron -irreverently styles the patriarch. When any one in our day becomes -distinguished and attracts our special regard, we instantly set to work -to trace his descent, and although he himself can hardly tell who was -his grandfather, we are never satisfied until we have, by hook and by -crook, traced his ancestry to the Ragman Roll or the Norman Conquest, -and, having thus ennobled him to our own entire satisfaction, we cease -not to pet and praise him until he is dead, and then the newspapers -swarm with obituary notices of the distinguished <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb113" href="#pb113" name="pb113">113</a>]</span>man -who has just departed, and a monument, erected by public subscription, -concludes the farce. The raven’s ancestor was unquestionably with -Noah in the ark, and although he has incurred some odium in connection -with the assuaging of the waters, we confess we cannot well tell why, -for all that the ancient, and beautiful, and simple narrative says of -him is this: “And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and -fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.” On the -point of ancestry, in short, there is no bird that has a better right -to hold up his head than the raven. And just consider: wasn’t -Dickens’ stuffed raven “Grip” sold the other day for -a hundred and twenty guineas! although if his portrait in the -<i>Graphic</i> is to be depended on, he never was a handsome specimen -of the family, or if he was, then the man who stuffed and “set -him up” should have received a flogging for his pains. Should the -reader wish to know more about our friend <i lang="la">Corvus -corax</i>, we can confidently recommend him to make the acquaintance, -the intimate acquaintance if he can, of “The Raven” to be -met with in the works of Edgar Allan Poe, the most weird and wonderful -raven that has ever yet appeared in song or story. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb114" href="#pb114" name="pb114">114</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch20" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e435">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XX.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Along the Shore after Birds—An Otter in pursuit -of a Fish—Tame Otter at Bridge of Tilt: Employed in -Fishing—His hatred of all sorts of Birds—“The Otter -and Fox,” a translation from the Gaelic.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">November closed with a week of the most delightful -weather one could wish for at this season [December 1870], cold, but -crisp and clear; nor has December thus far shown any tendency to -exceptional “rampaging” either, though come it must, if we -are not much mistaken, and in a style we fear that will cause it to be -remembered. Woodcocks, fieldfares, redwing thrushes, snow buntings, and -starlings are at this moment more plentiful than we ever saw them -before; while Arctic sea-fowl in great numbers crowd our creeks and -bays, and immense flocks of <i>grallatores</i>, curlews, gedwits, -purrs, dunlins, and oyster-catchers, may be seen all along our shores -diligently attending the sea margin as the tide recedes, or with weird -and wild scream urging their eccentric flights from an exhausted -sandbank in indefatigable search of “fresh fields and pastures -new.” Creeping among the rocks on the back of Cuilchenna Point, a -quiet, sequestered shore, seldom visited by anybody but ourselves at -this season, one evening last week, watching a pair of web-feet that we -finally decided to be <i>smews</i>, a species of <i>merganser</i>, we -were unexpectedly treated to an exhibition of aquatic feats that we had -never before seen equalled, and that we thought no animal, biped or -quadruped, could accomplish in an element not properly its own. -Squatted on the beach behind two huge boulders, a narrow opening -between which enabled us to look seawards, and to see without being -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb115" href="#pb115" name= -"pb115">115</a>]</span>seen, we were watching the elegant smews as they -preened themselves, floating gracefully the while, without the movement -of a web, on the calm surface of the cold, clear sea, when right before -us, and within less than a dozen fathoms of the shore, a dark object -suddenly dashed to the surface with a flop and a splash, and as -suddenly disappeared. We took it to be a seal in pursuit of some fish, -as is his wont; but on its reappearance a minute or so afterwards, we -were delighted to see that it was not a seal, but a large otter hard at -work in chase of some favourite fish for supper; and small blame to him -for that same, for if one might judge from his exertions in the -pursuit, he was dreadfully hungry and thoroughly in earnest, not yet -having dined, perhaps, nor even broken his fast since the preceding -evening, for your otter (<i lang="la">Lutra vulgaris</i>) is for the -most part an evening and nocturnal feeder. Nothing could exceed the -elegance and ease with which the otter performed the most extraordinary -and complicated evolutions in pursuit of his prey, his long, lithe -body, pliant and supple as an eel’s, twisting and twining in -every direction as the fish darted hither and thither, or swept in -rapid circles in its efforts to escape. Its tail, we noticed, seemed to -act not merely as a rudder in aid of its owner’s incessant -perisaltations, but to be in constant motion like a propeller, as if to -assist the broad and muscular web feet in every act of natation. For -ten minutes or more, perhaps, did the chase continue, the fish, that -seemed to be either a haddock or sea-trout of some three or four pounds -weight, occasionally leaping bodily out of the water in its efforts to -escape from the unfriendly attentions of its stern pursuer, the said -pursuer, like a staunch hound, doubling as the fish doubled, circling -as it circled, and diving as it dived, with a persistency and -perseverance that it was impossible to elude, until at last, fairly -beaten in his own element, the fish was captured in a pool of shallow -water, whither it had darted in its terror and bewilderment, the otter -instantly pouncing upon it <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb116" href= -"#pb116" name="pb116">116</a>]</span>and seizing it in his mouth, as -you have seen a terrier deal with a rat. At this moment we rushed from -our concealment with a shout, hoping to frighten the otter and get hold -of the fish, but Monsieur Lutra was too quick for us. With the fish in -his mouth he plunged into the sea, and in a second had disappeared -among some boulders that would probably have afforded him a secure -asylum, even if we had a pack of otter hounds to aid in our attempt at -the dislodgment of a gentleman so cunning.</p> -<p>With the common otter of our inland rivers and lakes we have been -more or less familiar since our school-boy days; but we cannot -recollect having ever seen a marine otter until this occasion. Our -naturalists seem to be very generally agreed that the sea otter and -that of our rivers and fresh-water lakes are one and the same -animal,—an opinion from which we are not at this moment prepared -to dissent, though the animal referred to above seemed to us to be -larger in size, blacker in colour, with more prominent ears, and a -bigger, bushier tail than any specimen, living or dead, that had -hitherto come under our notice. Certain peculiarities, however, of form -and colouring in the individual are frequently attributable to -accidental circumstances. We remember seeing a very fine dog otter many -years ago, that its owner had succeeded in rendering comparatively -tame, and of some use in the capture of fish for its master’s -table, as well as for its own sustenance. The animal belonged to the -innkeeper at Bridge of Tilt, in Athole, and was usually kept chained in -an empty stall in the stable. It was very good-natured and docile, and -evinced its satisfaction on being stroked with the hand and patted by a -curious purring, sort of half whine half bark, altogether unlike the -utterance of any other animal with which we are acquainted. We saw it -presented with a dish of milk, which it readily lapped up, using its -tongue by way of spoon, as a dog does under similar circumstances. With -a collar round its neck, to which a long rope <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb117" href="#pb117" name="pb117">117</a>]</span>was -attached, it was frequently taken to the river, where it never failed -to catch fish, first driving them, after the manner of a collie with a -flock of sheep, into the nearest pool in which there was a considerable -depth of water, when he pounced upon them with the agility of a wild -cat, and seldom failed to secure two or three of the best and biggest -fish in the shoal ere they could manage to escape. We were assured, -however, that the best place to see the otter at work was not the -river, but one of the moorland lochs, in the depths of which he was -perfectly at home. Here he exhibited the most astonishing feats of -agility in pursuit of his prey; his activity and matchless swimming -powers being backed by a pertinacity and cunning that left neither -trout nor pike much chance of escape. Having marked out and selected -the fish to be captured, it was observed that he stuck to it with the -staunchness of a well-trained hound through all its doublings and -windings, as if for the moment the loch contained none but it, until he -had fairly run it down; the capture generally taking place among the -reeds that bordered the margin of the mere, into which the fish always -rushed on becoming sensible that its adversary was not to be eluded in -open water. If left to himself, it was remarked that the otter was -somewhat dainty and fastidious of taste, rarely eating more of a -captured fish than a little at the back of the head and about the -pectoral fins, when, after a short rest, he was ready to start in -pursuit of another. If this be the habit of otters in their wild -state—as there is reason to believe it is—one can fancy how -terribly destructive to fish they must be, killing ten times more than -they actually eat, and these, too, the best and biggest fish they can -meet with in their depredations. Even a single pair of otters, with a -family to rear, must be a terrible scourge on any river they may select -to honour with their attentions for a season; nor is the marine otter, -we may be sure—such as we saw the other day—less -destructive when he takes up his residence in the vicinity of -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb118" href="#pb118" name= -"pb118">118</a>]</span>salmon fishings. Whatever the price of salmon in -the market, depend upon it that the otter’s larder is always well -supplied.</p> -<p>The semi-domesticated otter above referred to, after leading a not -unuseful life for a year or two under the careful and always kindly -superintendence of its intelligent owner, managed at last somehow to -break its chain and escape, and was never more seen or heard of. The -only other curious thing about this animal that we can recollect was -his deadly aversion to every feathered creature that came near him. -Whether goose or duck, barn-door fowl or pigeon, he seemed to detest -them all, and would readily, and with every sign of anger, kill such as -he could get hold of, not to eat them, observe, for that he was never -known to do, but just because he disliked them. To all other animals he -could be easily reconciled, and was on good and even friendly terms -with all the dogs, cats, and pigs about the place, particularly -manifesting his love for his stable companions, the horses, by whining -in his strange fashion and straining on his chain to the utmost, as if -he would fain welcome them with a caress, when after a day’s work -in the fields they returned to the stable of an evening. We are not -aware that, except milk, which it would readily lap and seemed to -enjoy, this otter was ever known to touch anything in the shape of food -except its natural fish diet. In the old <i lang="gd">Sgeulachdan</i>, -or fireside tales of the ancient Highlanders, we frequently meet with -the “<i lang="gd">dun</i> otter” or <i lang="gd">dobhran -donn</i>, as one of the <i lang="la">dramatis personæ</i>. He is -generally introduced to us under an amiable character, rescuing -neglected merit from obscurity, relieving distressed damsels, or -succouring the widow and orphans with bountiful supplies of silvery -fish from the tarn amongst the mountains, or the eddying pool beneath -the cascade in the glen. The amiable and friendly otter sometimes turns -out to be an enchanted prince, who, timeously released from the spell -that has doomed him to amphibious habits and quadrupedal form, -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb119" href="#pb119" name= -"pb119">119</a>]</span>assumes his proper shape, and marries the always -virtuous and beautiful, though frequently humble, heroine of the tale. -In the Hebrides to this day the otter is looked upon with some degree -of superstitious reverence, and a bit of otter skin worn by way of -charm is regarded as an antidote against infection in fever and -small-pox, a preservative from death by drowning, and of singular -efficacy in bringing the labours of parturition to a happy issue. A -mole on a person’s skin, whatever its place or proportions, is in -the Hebrides never reckoned a deformity. It is regarded rather as a -“beauty spot” than otherwise, and believed to betoken a -long life and good luck to the fortunate possessor. In the West -Highlands and Hebrides such a mark on the skin is called a <i lang= -"gd">ball-dobhrain</i>, an otter mark or otter spot, and is no more -accounted a blemish or deformity than was the mole on the right lip of -Dulcinea del Toboso by Don Quixote, though it looked “like a -whisker, and had seven or eight red hairs in it above a span -long!” In some places a piece of otter skin placed on the head -under a woman’s coif, and worn inside a man’s blue bonnet, -is supposed to relieve the headache and prevent baldness, while gentle -friction along the affected part with the furry side of a bit of otter -skin is esteemed of sovereign efficacy in erysipelas or -“rose.” The following is a somewhat free rendering from the -Gaelic of a fable occurring in an old <i lang="gd">Sgeulachd</i>, with -which many of our west coast readers at least must be acquainted. The -moral is obvious.</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">The Otter and Fox.</span></h4> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">The otter had caught in the pool below</p> -<p class="line">A silvery salmon so full of roe,</p> -<p class="line">And clambering bore it over the rocks,</p> -<p class="line">When who should he meet but his cousin the fox.</p> -<p class="line">“Friend,” quoth the wily fox, <span class= -"corr" id="xd26e3589" title="Source: ‘">“</span>pray go</p> -<p class="line">And bring me a fish from the pool below—</p> -<p class="line">I’ve not tasted fish for a year or mo’. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb120" href="#pb120" name= -"pb120">120</a>]</span></p> -<p class="line">Leave here thy salmon; go, haste thee back,</p> -<p class="line">We’ll dine together and have our crack;</p> -<p class="line">Believe me, dear otter, that over one’s food</p> -<p class="line">The face of a friend is always good.”</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">The otter tumbled into the stream</p> -<p class="line">Where the floating foam was white as cream;</p> -<p class="line">He sought and searched in each cranny and hole,</p> -<p class="line">But not a fish could he find in the pool.</p> -<p class="line">“Well,” quoth the otter, “I’ll -hasten back</p> -<p class="line">To my cousin the fox, and we’ll have our -crack</p> -<p class="line">Over the salmon I left above;</p> -<p class="line">One fish will go far that is eaten in love;</p> -<p class="line">’Tis large, and fat, and full of roe,</p> -<p class="line">And, fairly divided, will serve for two.”</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Clambering over the rocks in haste</p> -<p class="line">The otter returned to join his guest;</p> -<p class="line">But guess his surprise when he reached the spot;</p> -<p class="line">Where the fox had been—the fox was not,</p> -<p class="line">And nought of the salmon that could be seen</p> -<p class="line">But some silvery scales where the salmon had been!</p> -<p class="line">The otter but said, “’Tis my belief</p> -<p class="line">My cousin the fox should be hanged for a thief;</p> -<p class="line">He’ll never again make me his tool,</p> -<p class="line">For myself alone I’ll haunt the pool.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb121" href="#pb121" name= -"pb121">121</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch21" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e445">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Storms—An “inch” of -Rain—<i lang="la">Atherina Presbyter</i>—<i lang= -"la">Lophius Piscatorius</i>—Mr. Mortimer Collins’ -misquotation from the <i>Times</i>.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">A finer winter [January 1871] never was known all over -the West Highlands and Hebrides. Some tempestuousness is to be looked -for at this season, and some tempestuousness we have had, but of actual -winter rigour and cold we have hardly had a trace. Only twice during -the winter have we had any frost, and even then it was but slight and -of short duration. On several occasions, however, we have had such -terrible rainfalls as are only known perhaps within sight of the -mountain peaks of Jura and Mull and Morven. On the 19th of January, and -again on the 23d, the rainfall within a given time was heavier than -anything known even with us for many years past. In about sixteen hours -on the 19th, 4·19 inches fell, and quite as much, if not more, -on the 23d. Now, does the reader know what an inch of rain means? It -means a gallon of water spread evenly over a surface of something like -two square feet, or, to put it in a more striking and intelligible -form, it means a fall of a <i>hundred tons</i> upon an acre of land; so -that in sixteen hours on the 19th upwards of <i>four hundred</i> tons -of rain fell on every acre of land for miles and miles around us. It -will be confessed that thus the country was for once at least well -soaked and saturated. All our rivers and mountain torrents were, of -course, in full flood, and throughout the night, when it had calmed -down a little, the “noise of many waters,” as you lay awake -on your pillow and listened, made wild and eerie music enough, to which -the fitting bass was the boom of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb122" -href="#pb122" name="pb122">122</a>]</span>the storm-driven rollers as -they broke in sullen thunder along the shore. We had occasion to be -across Corran Ferry on the wettest of these days, bad as it was, and, -in spite of waterproofs and haps of most approved texture and form, we -returned in the evening so soaked and drenched and <i>droukit</i>, to -use an expressive Scotticism, that we might as well have been for half -an hour up to our chin, over head and ears for that matter of it, in -the deepest pool of the Rhi. When changing our clothes in our own room -after getting home, we managed to raise a quiet laugh with ourselves -over it all, by the recollection of the music and words of a favourite -Scotch reel not altogether inapplicable to our then condition. The reel -in question is a well-known one, though we forget at present its proper -distinctive name. It is, we think, one of Neil Gow’s. A gudewife, -presumably of Amazonian heart, and also of Amazonian proportions, makes -her husband wince and quail, and conduct himself with becoming -amiability and decorum, as she sings—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line xd26e3677">“Mur ’bi’dh agam ach -trudair bodaich,</p> -<p class="line xd26e3679">Bhogain anns an allt e;</p> -<p class="line xd26e3677">Mur ’bi’dh agam ach trudair -bodaich,</p> -<p class="line xd26e3679">Bhogain anns an allt e;</p> -<p class="line">Bhogain agus bhogain agus bhogain th’ar a cheann -e,</p> -<p class="line">’S mur ’bi’dh a glan ’nuair -bhidh e tioram,</p> -<p class="line xd26e3679">Bhogain ’rithisd ann e!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Not very easily turned into English, but this is -something like it—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line xd26e3677">“If my gudeman were cross and dour,</p> -<p class="line xd26e3679">I’d dip him in the burn, O!</p> -<p class="line xd26e3677">If my gudeman were cross and sour,</p> -<p class="line xd26e3679">I’d dip him in the burn, O;</p> -<p class="line">I’d dip the dear o’er head and ears until -he’d grane and girn, O,</p> -<p class="line">And till he promised better things, he’d get the -tother turn, O.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">While stripping, it struck us that we were quite as -wet on the occasion in question, as if for our sins we had undergone -all the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb123" href="#pb123" name= -"pb123">123</a>]</span>“dipping” threatened by the gudewife -in the old reel; and the idea put us into good humour until tea and -other fireside comforts made us forget all the pelting of the pitiless -storm. How the remainder of winter and early spring may turn out -meteorologically, it is impossible to forecast with any confidence, but -meantime our old people, in their own opinion, at least, weatherwise -and shrewd <i>quoad hoc</i>, are gravely shaking their heads over what -they deem an unusual dearth of frost and snow in mid-winter.</p> -<p>Our West Coast storms, if in one sense sometimes disagreeable -enough, rarely fail, however, to bring us a good thing in the shape of -hundreds of tons of drift-ware, which, gathered and spread on the land, -is found to be a valuable fertiliser. It is a labour, besides, which -falls to be done in a season when there is little else to occupy the -people’s time, and saves an immense deal of trouble when the -spring comes round, for the land is ready for the plough and the -immediate reception of the seed, whatever the crop—thus saving at -once the manure heap for purposes in which farmyard manure is -indispensable, and all the trouble of long cartage afield. In -collecting his share of a huge swathe of this drift-ware the other day, -one of our neighbours found a dead fish, quite fresh and unmutilated, -which being new to him, though a fisherman and sea-shore man all his -life, he thought might be interesting to us. He accordingly brought it -to us, and to us also it was new, and as such, of course, exceedingly -interesting. We puzzled long over it ere we satisfied ourselves that we -had determined its identity. It was a small fish, some six inches in -length, and of smelt-like shape and form and colouring, but it was not -a smelt. After some little trouble, we finally decided that it was a -species of atherine (<i lang="la">Atherina</i>) belonging to the -<i lang="la">Mugilidæ</i> or mullet family. Our particular -specimen was the <i lang="la">Atherina presbyter</i>, a not uncommon -visitor on some of the south of England shores, but so rare in our seas -that, as we have already said, we never saw a specimen <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb124" href="#pb124" name= -"pb124">124</a>]</span>before. We are told that the atherine is very -good eating, and we can quite believe it, for it is a pretty, -delicate-looking little fish, that, nicely fried until properly crimp -and brown, ought to taste well. A much commoner fish, but interesting -in this instance for the great size of the specimen, was an angler, -fishing-frog, or sea-devil (<i lang="la">Lophius piscatorius</i>), -which was cast ashore near Corran Ferry last week. This was the largest -individual of the species—the ugliest, perhaps, of all -fishes—that we ever saw. It measured five feet seven inches from -snout to tip of tail, and weighed fifty-three pounds. It was poor and -fleshless, and had died seemingly of sheer inanition or atrophy; had it -been in full condition, it would have weighed a third more. Its -terrible mouth, with its formidable array of sharp recurved teeth, was -enough to scare a friend that accompanied us to a distance, though we -assured him that the brute was dead and harmless. On opening out its -jaws to a fair extent—that is, as far as we thought the animal -itself would open them easily if need were, we placed a large turnip -from a pit that was conveniently at hand, a turnip nearly as large as a -man’s head, easily within the horrid cavern. We would willingly -have taken this specimen home with us, for the purpose of preserving -the skeleton, but we had no conveyance with us, and any idea of -carrying it was out of the question. It had, besides, evidently lain -some time on the beach, and its odour on moving it in the least was, -the reader may believe, the very antipodes of Eau de Cologne or ottar -of roses. We contented ourselves therefore with slitting open its -stomach with our pocket-knife, and found it, as we expected, perfectly -empty, containing nothing in the shape of food, except the tips of two -claws and small bits of the carapace of a not uncommon species of crab, -the velvet fiddler (<i lang="la">Portunas puber</i>). The Highlanders -of the west coast and Hebrides call the angler <i lang="gd">Mac -Làmhaich</i>, properly <i lang="gd">Mac -Làthaich</i>—the son (that is, <i>inhabitant</i>) of the -mud or ooze; a very expressive and appropriate name for it, for it is -essentially a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb125" href="#pb125" name= -"pb125">125</a>]</span><i>mud</i> fish, in which, half buried and -<i>perdu</i>, it hides and watches, tiger-like, for its prey. The -naturalist meets with many things to puzzle him, and it has always -puzzled us to account for the large size of this animal’s head -and mouth, altogether disproportioned to the size of the rest of the -body. No matter how insatiable the cravings of the brute’s -maw—to use a Miltonic word—no matter how gluttonous soever -of appetite, the head and mouth, and number and size of teeth, do seem -unnecessarily formidable, monstrous indeed, for any conceivable work -that they can be called upon to perform; and yet there is -unquestionably good reason for it all, if we could only find it out. It -may interest some of our readers to know that the sea-devil belongs, -ichthyologically, to the Acanthopterygious family of fishes. <i lang= -"la">Acanthopterygious!</i> what a staggerer to any one except a -learned ichthyologist at a Spelling <i>Bee</i>.</p> -<p>Mr. Mortimer Collins and others are recently down, somewhat -hypercritically we can’t help thinking, on Mr. Tennyson’s -occasional natural history references throughout his poems. The fun is -that in almost every instance in which fault is found with him, Mr. -Tennyson is right and his critics wrong! Here is one example of this -hypercriticism in which Mr. Mortimer Collins is fairly hoist with his -own petard. Mr. Tennyson writes—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“In spring a fuller crimson comes upon the -robin’s breast.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Upon which Mr. Collins comments—“As a -fact, that fuller crimson comes in autumn, as all know who watch the -half-shy, half-familiar bird—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“That ever in the haunch of winter -sings.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Here Mr. Mortimer Collins is partly right and largely -wrong, while Mr. Tennyson is altogether right. It is true that our -native song-birds, moulting in autumn or early winter, assume at this -season a thicker, warmer, fresher plumage after all the wear and -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb126" href="#pb126" name= -"pb126">126</a>]</span>tear consequent on the labours of nidification, -incubation, and love-making throughout the spring and summer; but it is -equally true that it is only in spring, as Mr. Tennyson correctly -asserts, that our wild birds assume their gaudiest and gayest attire, -every colour and shade of colour in the individual bird’s -feathering there and then only being at its best and brightest. And -when we remember that spring is the season of love and incipient song, -we should be very much surprised, and with good reason, if the fact -were otherwise. So far as our recollection serves us, Mr. Mortimer -Collins, or any one else, will find it rather difficult to catch Mr. -Tennyson tripping in the direction indicated. We should say that the -Poet Laureate was rather remarkable than otherwise for his fidelity to -nature and truth in all his local colouring.</p> -<p>Some time ago, by the way, we had occasion to call attention to the -exceeding frequency of misquotation in our current literature, and in -quarters, too, where one would least expect it. Here is a curious and -very unpardonable instance, all things considered. In a review of the -<i>South Kensington Handbooks</i>, in the <i>Times</i> of the 18th -January, a sentence opens thus—“It is well-known that -<i>weary</i> lies the head that wears a crown<span class="corr" id= -"xd26e3782" title="Source: ?">.</span>” Every one will see that -the manifest intention here is to quote from the monologue of the poor -harassed and sleepless King in Shakespeare’s Henry IV. (part -second), one of the finest things that even Shakespeare ever wrote, and -we had thought too well-known by every one with any pretensions to -literature to be misquoted. The concluding lines are these:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Can’st thou, O partial sleep, give thy -repose</p> -<p class="line">To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude;</p> -<p class="line">And in the calmest and most stillest night,</p> -<p class="line">With all appliances and means to boot,</p> -<p class="line">Deny it to a king? Then, happy, low, lie down:</p> -<p class="line"><i>Uneasy</i> lies the head that wears a -crown.”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb127" href="#pb127" name= -"pb127">127</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch22" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e463">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Aurora Borealis—Unfavourable weather for Birds -about St. Valentine’s Day—The Water-Vole in the -Rhi—In the Eden in Fifeshire—In the Black Water, Kinloch -Leven—Does it feed on Salmon Fry and Ova?—The -Kingfisher—Character of the Water-Vole—Note about the -Hedgehog.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">A brilliant display of aurora borealis on the early -morning of the 8th [February 1871] led us to conclude that a change of -weather was not far distant; and before sunset of that same day the -wind had gone round from east by south to south-west, and a drizzling -rain, with a very much milder temperature than we had known for three -months, told us that, for the present at least, King Frost had agreed -to suspension of hostilities. Since then it has been mostly wet, with -occasional hailstone showers, and turbulent withal, if not actually -stormy. The revictualling of Paris under the terms of the capitulation -and armistice was not a more sensible relief to the starving -inhabitants than was the recent thaw to our wild birds on sea and -shore. The moment they became convinced that it was no sham, but a -real, veritable thaw, they revived amazingly. Shaking off the torpidity -in which cold and want had so pitilessly bound them, they took heart, -and bustled about in search of such food as might now be procured by -diligent seeking in copse and hedgerow, by pool and stream. An -occasional strophe, sadly inconsecutive and discordant, may now again -be heard when the sun shines out and the storm has lulled, from some of -our hardier warblers, and we have observed that in some instances rooks -have begun to pair; but our bird-world, upon the whole, is far from -what it should be at this date; more taken up, like vanquished -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb128" href="#pb128" name= -"pb128">128</a>]</span>France, with the thought of the mere necessities -of life and the reestablishment of their exhausted energies, than with -love or music, or the gaiety and <i>abandon</i> so characteristic in -ordinary seasons of our feathered friends on the back of St. -Valentine’s Day. The meridian sun, however, is now steadily -climbing zenithwards, and the day perceptibly lengthening apace, so -that our wild birds, rapidly gathering strength, and daily improving in -tone and tune, may, after all, arrive at their day of jollity and -joyousness sooner than we anticipated. We captured a beautiful -<i>Scarlet Emperor</i> butterfly a few days ago, as brisk and lively as -possible, on a window pane in Ardvulin Cottage, Ardgour. How beautiful, -by the way, and how suggestive of spring and vernal delights in a land -of plenitude and peace, is the following from the Song of -Solomon:—“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and -gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds -is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree -putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give -a good smell.”</p> -<p>Another animal besides the hedgehog has of recent years made its -appearance in Lochaber, though previously unknown, so far as we are -aware, anywhere in the West Highlands. The animal in question is the -water-rat, water-vole, or British beaver. The last is, perhaps, its -most appropriate name, for the animal is neither kith nor kin to the -rat, while very much in its economy and habits, as well as in its -corporeal structure, particularly its dentition, allies it not remotely -to the beaver tribe. In size, the water-vole is more robust in body and -larger in every way than the common rat, with a more silken pile, and a -bigger and brighter eye. It frequents the banks of streams and ponds, -feeding on the more delicate aquatic plants, and on the bark and tender -shoots of the willow, alder, and such other shrubs as love to grow</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The quiet waters by.”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb129" href="#pb129" name= -"pb129">129</a>]</span></p> -<p>That such an animal inhabited Lochaber was accidentally revealed to -us two years ago, and so unmistakeably that there was no room for doubt -or hesitation in the matter. We were returning from Fort-William on a -beautiful summer afternoon, walking by the hill route through Lundavra, -when having already accomplished more than half the distance at our -best pace, we sat down to rest and solace ourselves with a -pipe—not the Arcadian musical instrument, observe, but the more -prosaic article anathematised in the royal <i>Counterblast</i>—by -the side of a canal-like reach in the River Rhi, as it slowly winds -through Glenshelloch, when our attention was drawn to a splash in the -water at a short distance above us, to which, however, we gave but -little heed, taking it for the lively flop of a half-pound trout -engaged in fly-catching for supper. Another and a louder splash, -however, aroused our curiosity, and induced us to creep cautiously in -the direction whence the sound proceeded, and there, sure enough, -disporting themselves round a gnarled alder stump that projected into -the stream from the water-line on the opposite bank, were a pair of -water-voles, full-grown, and brisk and lively as ever we had seen them -in our younger days in the upper reaches of the beautiful Eden in -Fifeshire, a favourite habitat. After watching their gambols for some -time, we threw a pebble into the pool, when they instantly dived and -disappeared, only to emerge in a few seconds near a large boulder -further up the stream, behind which, and cunningly concealed beneath -the overhanging bank, was their hole, into which they popped as readily -as does an alarmed mouse into a wall crevice. As they dived and pursued -their subaqueous flight in the direction of their hole, the eye could -follow their every movement, for the water was as clear as crystal. -Keeping very near the bottom, it seemed as if they progressed partly by -swimming and partly by running along the gravel, at any rate with -amazing celerity and ease. We noticed that about their necks and -shoulders their pile <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb130" href="#pb130" -name="pb130">130</a>]</span>appeared as if adorned with numberless tiny -pearls—air bubbles, in fact—that adhered to their fur, and -that, frequently shifting the position like quicksilver drops, as the -animals moved, had a very pretty effect. Since that time the water-vole -has been repeatedly seen about the lower reaches of the same river, -between the Inchree Falls and the highway. It has also been seen in -some parts of the Blackwater above Kinlochleven. Ardent disciples of -Izaak Walton and others interested in the preservation of trout and -salmon hold the water-vole in great dislike, under the belief that it -feeds largely on fry and ova. The accusation we believe to be -unfounded, as much so as the egg-eating charge against the hedgehog. We -shall not attempt to prove a negative, the <i lang="la">onus -probandi</i> of their averments logically resting with the accusers; -but we will say that we have known the water-vole for many years, and -at one time had every opportunity of studying its habits, and we never -had cause to entertain the slightest suspicion that it was anything -else than a vegetable feeder. We recollect once questioning old John -Robertson of Perth, than whom a better fisher, whether on lake or -stream, never cast a fly or impaled a worm, about the -water-vole’s alleged liking for fish-spawn and fry. His reply was -in these words, “I dinna believe it, sir; I have fished in maist -feck o’ the rivers, burns, and lochs in Perth, Fife, and Kinross, -and other counties forbye, and the fish were just as plentiful where -the splash o’ the <i>gleb</i> (a local name for the water-vole) -was heard a’maist at every cast o’ the line, as where none -could be seen for days together.” We know, besides, that the late -Professor John Reid of St. Andrews, one of the most distinguished -comparative anatomists of his day, and who had dissected many of them, -was of opinion that the water-vole was a vegetable feeder and nothing -else, he having never been able to detect anything to lead him to the -conclusion that it fed on fish or their spawn. Suspicion of the -water-vole’s being addicted to the malpractices in question was -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb131" href="#pb131" name= -"pb131">131</a>]</span>first of all grounded on the fact that -fish-bones were frequently found along the banks of the streams he -inhabited, and sometimes about the entrance of, and even in, the hole -which was his habitat and home; and on this evidence alone the -water-vole soon got into very bad repute indeed. As to the finding -occasionally of fish bones along a water-vole inhabited stream, -although the fact is indisputable, it really goes for nothing, -suspicious as it looks, for similar relics of defunct trouts and -troutlets may be seen any day on the margin of streams where a -water-vole was never yet known to exist. The real culprits in such -cases are the otter, the common rat (a great fish-eater in shallow -streams and almost as expert a swimmer as the vole itself, only that it -cannot dive so well), the heron, king-fisher, and grey crow, all of -whom are fond of fish, either as an article of constant diet, or as an -occasional make-shift in default of more legitimate fare. As to the -fish bones to be sometimes met with in the water-vole’s holes, -the dusky-coated and white-vested dipper and the beautiful plumaged -king-fisher are alone to blame. The castings, indeed, of a single pair -of king-fishers would of itself suffice to account for all the fish -bones one meets with by the banks of ponds and streams, for the -beautiful <i>Alcedo</i> is a voracious fish-devourer, and his hole -going backwards and upwards some three or four feet into the bank, -invariably a perfect charnel-house of bleached fish bones of minnows -and troutlets. The number of small fish that a pair of king-fishers, -with their young, dispose of in a single season must amount to many -thousands, and as the larger bones at least are always cast or -regurgitated, their presence may always be taken as a sure indication -that the spot has recently been the haunt of the most beautifully -coloured of British birds. When the bones of larger fish, however, are -met with, the blame, if blame there be, must be shifted from the -king-fisher to the shoulders of one or other or all of the animals -above mentioned. It is only fair that <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb132" href="#pb132" name="pb132">132</a>]</span>the spirit of our -laws, which accounts a man innocent until he is proved guilty, should -be extended to beasts and birds as well. In this view of the matter the -water-vole has good reason of complaint that it has been over hastily -and unwarrantably condemned on insufficient evidence, without even the -form of a fair and impartial trial. Unlike Ritson, the antiquary and -balladist, who, although he was a strict vegetarian in diet, holding -all manner of animal food in utter abhorrence, and writing a volume on -the subject, was yet as cross-grained and as irascible as a wasp, the -water-vole, like a true vegetarian, is quiet and unobtrusive even to -timidity, leading an inoffensive life, and in his play hours, -which—in proof of his good sense, let us remark—are very -numerous, as frolicsome and sportive as a kitten. He will show fight, -it is true, if attacked in his hole or otherwise brought to bay, and -his bite, whether on the nose of an over-venturesome terrier, or the -hand that would rashly seize him, is very severe and difficult to heal; -but it is only doing him the merest justice that those who know him -should bear witness that in general character and disposition he is the -most peaceable and harmless of animals. <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb133" href="#pb133" name="pb133">133</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch23" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e473">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">March—The Story of a Spanish Dollar—The -Spanish Armada—The “Florida”—<i lang= -"gd">Faire-Chlaidh</i>, or Watching of the Graveyard—Molehill -Earth for Flowers.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">A fall of snow on Monday, followed by keen frost -during three consecutive nights, rendered the past week [March 1871], -as to mere cold at least, the most wintry of the season; but with a -bright sun circling at mid-March altitude, the frost had no time to -penetrate the soil to any depth, and spring work has been steadily -pushed on, with hardly any retardation. In the upland glens, however, -the frost was for some days intense, and had it continued much longer, -weakly sheep must have suffered severely. But <i lang="la">solvitur -hiems</i>, the frost is gone; the weather is now again open, and mild -and spring-like, and our wild birds—scores of them within a -stone’s cast of our window as we write—only seem all the -more jubilant because of the past week’s temporary dip of -temperature to the freezing-point. “Speed the -plough”—one of our very best Scotch reels, by the -way—should now be the cry, at once earnest and cheery, of every -one connected with arable land, for what says the old Gaelic -proverb—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Am fear nach cuir ’sa Mhàrt,</p> -<p class="line">’Sanmoch a bhuaineas e.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">He that sows not in March shall have a late -ingathering.</p> -<p>A coin was sent us for identification a few days ago, the history of -which strikes us as interesting. We had no difficulty in determining it -to be a silver Spanish dollar of the time of Philip II. It is much -corroded and worn, but the following letters of the <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb134" href="#pb134" name= -"pb134">134</a>]</span>original inscription are distinctly -legible:—<span lang="la"><abbr title= -"Philippus II, Dei gratia Hispaniarum et Indiarum rex">Ph. II., D.G. -Hisp: et Ind: Rex.</abbr> 1585</span>. On the reverse disc is what -seems to have been intended for the prow of a ship between two palm -trees. The owner of this coin tells us that it came into his possession -in the following manner:—A brother of his, who owned and -commanded a coasting schooner about fifty years ago, chancing to be -becalmed while passing through the Sound of Mull, thought it best to -come to anchor for the night. Next morning, when getting under weigh, -the anchor, as it came to the bows, was found to have brought up a -large mass of tangle. While clearing this away, the edge of the coin -was observed sticking out from among a lot of sand and shingle attached -to the tangle roots, and having been secured and handed to the Captain, -he ever after kept it in his purse as a “luckpenny,” on -which he set a high value, and all the more so, perhaps, that it -happened to be found on the morning of Easter Sunday, a fact that to -him, as a good Catholic, had a significance and meaning that the rest -of the crew took no account of. Be this as it may, he was from that day -an exceedingly prosperous and lucky man in all his undertakings, and -till the day of his death he carried the coin about him wherever he -went, as a “luckpenny” and talisman of extraordinary -virtue. The present owner, too, sets a very high value on this -numismatic talisman, which, he declares, hardly anything would induce -him to part with. During the ten years that it has been in his -possession, he assures us that he has been prosperous and successful as -he never was before, with never a moment’s illness; and although -too sensible and shrewd a man actually to assert that the coin has -anything to do with it, it is a fact that he very seriously looks upon -his Spanish dollar as a sort of “lee-penny,” giving its -possessor a fair chance of an amount of health and wealth, that without -it he might struggle for in vain. This nonsense apart, however, the -question remains, What business had a Spanish <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb135" href="#pb135" name= -"pb135">135</a>]</span>dollar in the bottom of the Sound of Mull? How -came it there? Our theory is that the coin originally belonged to some -one connected with the great “Invincible Armada” of 1588. -It is a well-known historical fact that, after the defeat of the -Armada, the already shattered and discomfited fleet, in attempting to -return to Spain by sailing round Scotland and Ireland, was overtaken by -a dreadful storm, in which many of the ships were wrecked. One ship, -named the “Florida,” ran for shelter into the Sound of -Mull, and while at anchor off Tobermory harbour, was captured and -destroyed by a body of Mull and Morvern men, under the command of -Maclean of Duart. This fact is sufficiently attested by a remission, -under the Privy Seal, to that chief for his share in the somewhat -questionable transaction, bearing date the 20th March 1589. The -“Florida” was destroyed by being blown up, with all her -armament and stores, and many of her crew—a treacherous and cruel -act, for Scotland at least was then at peace with Spain—and it is -probable that the Spanish dollar so recently examined by us reached the -bottom of the Sound on that occasion, and there remained till fished up -in the curious manner above related, upwards of two centuries -afterwards. Some of the timbers of the submerged “Florida” -have from time to time been brought to the surface, and a casket formed -out of part of her windlass was presented by Sir Walter Scott to George -IV., during his visit to Scotland in 1822.</p> -<p>An unsuccessful attempt, by means of divers, was made in 1740 to -recover some of a large amount of treasure said to have been sunk in -her; but some very beautiful brass guns were brought up, one of which -is still to be seen at the Castle of Dunstaffnage, near Oban, and -another, we believe, at Inveraray. These were last made to speak loud -and lustily, not against a Queen of England, as was their original -errand to our shores, but in honour of the marriage of the daughter of -a Queen of Great <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb136" href="#pb136" -name="pb136">136</a>]</span>Britain with the son of a Scottish Duke, -who now owns the lands which belonged to the Macleans, by whom the -“Florida,” carrying those very guns, was destroyed. Thus -does “the whirligig of time bring about its revenges.” Some -years ago we were shown by a gentleman in Glasgow a large ebony-stocked -pistol, beautifully carved and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and silver, -which was said to have been secured from the wreck of the -“Florida.” We recollect that the corroded state of the -barrel and lock abundantly satisfied us at the time that, whether it -had belonged to the “Florida” or not, it had at all events -long lain in water, and more probably, from the peculiar form of -corrosion, in salt water than in fresh. As to the dollar, we have only -further to state that its owner now thinks more of it than ever: our -suggestion as to its very probable connection with the Spanish Armada -having largely enhanced its value in his estimation. Its mere intrinsic -value as a bit of silver would, we think, be fully and fairly appraised -at something like twenty pence sterling.</p> -<p>We were the other day accidentally brought into contact with a -curious superstition, which, although not peculiar to this district, -but common, we believe, over all the Highlands, was yet quite new to -us. We were sailing past the beautiful island of St. Mungo, in Loch -Leven, the burial-place for many centuries of the people of Nether -Lochaber and Glencoe, when the following conversation took place -between ourselves and an old man who managed the sails while we -steered. It was all in Gaelic, of course, but we give the substance in -English:—“You were at the funeral on the island the other -day, sir?” interrogatively observed our companion. “I was, -indeed,” we replied. “John ——,” he -continued, naming the deceased, “was a very decent man.” -“He was a fine old Highlander, shrewd and intelligent,” we -replied, “and, what is more, I believe a very good man.” -“Donald ——,” naming a <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb137" href="#pb137" name= -"pb137">137</a>]</span>person we both knew, “is very ill, and not -likely to last long.” “I saw him to-day,” we -observed, “and I fear that what you say is true: he cannot last -long.” “Well, sir, it will be a good thing for John -—— (the person recently buried); his term of watching will -be a short one.” “I do not understand what you mean,” -we observed, with some curiosity. “The man is dead and buried; -what watching should he have to do?” “Why, sir, don’t -you know that the <i>spirit</i> of the last person buried in the island -has to keep watch and ward over the graves till the spirit of the next -person buried takes his place?” “I really did not know -that,” we replied. “Is it a common opinion that such is the -case, and do you believe it yourself?” “Well, sir, it is -generally believed by the people; and having always heard that it was -so, I cannot well help believing it too. The spirit whose watch it is, -is present there day and night. Some people have seen them: my mother, -God rest her! once pointed out to me, when I was a little boy, an -appearance, as of a flame of light on the island, slowly moving -backwards and forwards, and she assured me it was the watching spirit -going his rounds.” “What particular object has the spirit -in watching?” we asked. “Well, I don’t exactly -know,” was the answer. “He just takes a sort of general -charge of the Island of the Dead, until his successor arrives.” -We have since found that a belief in this superstition is common among -the old people. The spirit or ghost is supposed to be to a certain -extent unhappy, and impatient of relief while in the discharge of this -office, and thus, it is considered, that the sooner after a funeral -there is occasion again for the opening of a grave, the better it is -for the spirit of the last person interred, who then, and not till -then, passes finally and fully to his rest.</p> -<p>We have to warn such of our readers as dwell by the sea, and all -“who go down to the sea in ships, and see His wonders in the -deep,” that unusually high tides may be expected <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb138" href="#pb138" name="pb138">138</a>]</span>in -connection with the new moon of the 18th. The highest tide, however, is -not likely to be exactly coincident with the change of the moon, but at -the time of the second or third flood thereafter. Along our Scottish -coasts the tidal wave will probably be highest on the morning of the -20th, so that this notice may yet be sufficiently timeous. Much, -however, will depend on the state of wind and weather, as to the height -the tide may attain at any particular place. In any case, it can do no -harm to be prepared.</p> -<p>To such of our readers as may be engaged in the rearing and tending -of flowers at this season we very willingly communicate a hint that may -be found useful. And it is this. In filling flower-pots or window-sill -boxes, there is frequently considerable difficulty in procuring soil -that will be at once sufficiently rich, free of weed seeds, and finely -pulverised. The despised and sadly persecuted mole provides the very -thing wanted, and in little round heaps, waiting only to be gathered, -commonly called molehills. For flowers, whether in pots or borders, -there is nothing so good as molehill earth. The <i>rationale</i> of the -thing is, as is well-known to every one in the least acquainted with -the natural history of the interesting velvet-coated subterranean -tunnelists, that they live on worms and insect larvæ. These are -always found in the best soil, which is hurled to the surface in round -heaps by the industrious little animal while in pursuit of his prey, -and in so pulverised a state, and so free of weed seeds, as to be above -all others the soil most suitable for all manner of ordinary -floriculture. With such soil we have grown the purest dahlias and -wallflowers we ever saw anywhere. The old Royalist toast, “To the -little gentleman in the black velvet coat!” was in sly allusion -to the death of a high personage from injuries received by his horse -stumbling over an insignificant molehill, and whose name by the way is -disagreeably connected with a dark deed done heretofore in Glencoe, -whose wild <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb139" href="#pb139" name= -"pb139">139</a>]</span>gorge and frowning precipices are in view as we -write. But if any of our readers will feel cause of gratitude to the -mole on the hint above given, as they bend over a moss rose or dahlia -which has grown in soil so procured, why, we shall be glad for all our -sakes. For our reader’s, in that he or she has been gratified in -such a delightful and holy taste as flower culture; for our own, that -the secret was ours to divulge; and for the mole’s sake, poor -persecuted fellow, for he sadly needs a friend. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb140" href="#pb140" name="pb140">140</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch24" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e485">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">The Beauty of the West Highland Seaboard—Dr. -Aiton of Dolphinton—Dr. Norman Macleod—Specimen of -Turtle-Dove (<i lang="la">Columba Turtur</i>) shot in Ardgour—The -belief on the Continent of its value as a Household -Pet—Bechstein—Male Birds dropping Eggs in confinement.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">If somewhat over-showery for the comfort of tourists, -whose season [June 1871] may now be said to have fairly commenced, the -weather with us on the west coast is at least all that the -agriculturist and sheepowner could wish it to be, for pasture -everywhere is rich and abundant to a degree that has rarely been known -even here, while crops of all kinds never perhaps presented a healthier -or more luxuriant growth. The truth is that a certain amount of -rainfall, and that amount a large one, is absolutely necessary for the -wellbeing of our crops in the West Highlands, and the longer we live -the more do we feel the truth and force of the saying of a shrewd old -gentleman, at his own dinner table many years ago, to the effect that -he had always observed that the season in which there was some -difficulty in getting peats secured in good condition was invariably -the best for Lochaber and the neighbouring districts from a pastoral -and agricultural point of view. This is particularly observable this -year, for while you cannot as yet see a stack of this season’s -peats anywhere, the country is clothed in richer, greener verdure, the -woods are leaner, and crops of every description more luxuriant than we -can recollect to have been the case for at least a dozen years past. If -anybody wishes to see the West Highlands in all their magnificence and -beauty, now is the season, for, go where you may, turn whithersoever -you will, wander forth <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb141" href= -"#pb141" name="pb141">141</a>]</span>at any hour and in any direction, -you cannot fail to be charmed with the infinite variety of pictures -that present themselves for your admiration, pictures which, while they -only charm and enchant the ordinary beholder, delight at once and -distress the artist—delight him by their marvellous beauties, but -distress him not the less, because he cannot with all his cunning -transfer these beauties in their entirety to canvas. An American -gentleman whom we met the other day candidly confessed that, although -he had gone over most of his native land, and made the tour of -Continental Europe and the East, he had not in all his travels seen -anything more beautiful than the shores of Loch Linnhe, Loch Leven, and -Lochiel at sunset on a fine evening in June. The late Dr. Aiton of -Dolphinton told us on his return from Palestine that he had seen -nothing at all to equal Loch Linnhe on a summer’s evening. In all -the breadth of his native Doric, which he always employed in familiar -conversation, he declared there was “naething in a’ the -Archipelago till touch’t,” and we have heard Dr. Norman -Macleod on his return from India express himself very much to the same -effect. The Queen says in her <i>Journal</i> that “the scenery in -Loch Linnhe is magnificent—such beautiful mountains.”</p> -<p>A specimen of a very rare bird, shot by the keeper in Ardgour Garden -a few days ago, has been kindly sent to us by Mr. Maclean. It turns out -to be a male in beautiful plumage of the turtle-dove (<i lang= -"la">Columba turtur</i>, Linn.; <i lang="fr">La tourterelle</i> of -Buffon), a bird rarely seen anywhere in Scotland, and which, except in -this instance, has never, so far as we are aware, been met with in the -West Highlands. We remember seeing a young bird, a female in immature -plumage, that was said to have been shot somewhere near Falkland Palace -in the summer of 1847, from which it was reasonably concluded that a -pair of these beautiful birds had in that year at least nidified and -reared their young somewhere in the Howe of Fife. Except in the case of -the specimen now before us, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb142" href= -"#pb142" name="pb142">142</a>]</span>we are not aware that it has ever -been met with anywhere in the north or north-western counties. The -turtle is, as we have said, an exceedingly beautiful and handsome bird, -the breast of a delicate vinaceous tint, and a black patch on either -side of the neck, each feather of which is tipped with a crescent of -pure white, giving it a very elegant and striking appearance. It is -less bulky and less rotund in form than the common dove, its shape more -nearly resembling that of the blue jay or throstle cock, which latter -it also about equals in size. We have never seen this bird in -confinement, but it is said to exhibit a remarkable degree of -tenderness and sagacity, whether as a cage or chamber bird. On the -Continent it is kept not only for its tameness and beauty, but because -it is a common belief among the people that it attracts to itself bad -humours, and is to a family in the matter of diseases what a -lightning-rod is to a building in a thunderstorm. Bechstein, a shrewd -and intelligent man, seems to think that the belief in question, absurd -as it may appear to us, is not so ill-founded after all, for he says -quietly, “Thus much at least is certain, that during the illness -of men it readily becomes sickly.” The explanation probably is -that, being a tender and delicate bird, the odour and effluvia -attendant on certain human ailments affects it as described. Other -birds are occasionally similarly affected; thus, when our own children -were laid up with a very bad kind of scarlatina, our cage-birds, gold -and green finches, were out of sorts for some time, drooping and -dejected and unable to sing as usual, though the month was April, when -they should have been in all respects at their best and in full and -free song. You may be sure, by the way, that we were not a little -pleased with a paragraph which appeared the other day about the male -cockatoo that dropped the egg, very much, no doubt, to the astonishment -of his amiable mistress. When some years ago we ventured to assert that -males of various birds, notably the common domestic cock, sometimes -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb143" href="#pb143" name= -"pb143">143</a>]</span>dropped an egg, the thing was scouted as -ridiculous, and from Dan to Beersheba, from London to John -O’Groat’s, the cry was that it couldn’t be, that it -was impossible; one writer going so far in his scepticism as plainly to -declare that “he would as soon believe that a bull had given -birth to a calf.” Much was the chaffing that we had to endure in -connection with the subject, and our most intimate friends could hardly -believe that we were serious in it at all. And yet we were perfectly in -earnest; we had known the thing happen repeatedly, and since then a -very fine cock goldfinch of our own, one of the best singers, too, we -have ever heard, laid an egg in his cage which is still in our -possession, and several of our correspondents having had their -attention directed to the subject, have assured themselves that, not -only is the thing possible, but in the case of the domestic cock at -least, and of many cage-birds, of rather common occurrence. It is a -very odd and curious thing, no doubt, and difficult of explanation, but -there are thousands of undisputed facts in natural history in the same -category, the existence of which is beyond all question, though the -how, and why, and wherefore is a mystery.</p> -<p>From our window, as we write these lines, we can see quite a fleet -of herring boats sailing up Loch Linnhe on their return from the -fishing stations at Barra, Lochmaddy, and the Lewis—a very pretty -sight—not less than two hundred or more boats under full sail, -stretching in one long line from Corran Ferry to the Sound of Mull, -looking at this distance for all the world like the notes in a line of -complicated printed music. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb144" href= -"#pb144" name="pb144">144</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch25" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e497">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Thunderstorm—Potato Field in Bloom—The -Hazel Tree—Hazel Nuts—Potato Shaws for Cattle—Ferns -for Bedding Cattle—<i>Marmion</i>—Scott.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">With an occasional fine day [August 1871], the past -fortnight must, we fear, be characterised as having been upon the whole -wet—<i>very</i> wet, a stranger would say—and not a little -stormy withal. We had a tremendous thunderstorm early on Sunday -morning, with the most magnificent display of forked lightning that we -have ever seen, while the very earth seemed to quake and tremble under -the crash of peal upon peal of thunder, so near and loud at times as to -be absolutely terrible. It is no wonder that the soundest sleepers were -awakened from their midnight slumbers by the hurly-burly. We ourselves -got up for a time, and sat at our window, watching the lightning that -darted incessantly among the mountain summits with startling vividness, -revealing their serrated peaks at times through the very heart of the -thunder-cloud as distinctly as if it were clearest noonday. Rain, too, -fell the while in torrents, that instantly filled river and mountain -stream to overflowing; and as the storm passed away, and we retired to -rest in the grey, uncertain twilight of the early dawn, we were lulled -into a sleep, that lasted well nigh until noon, by the weird and wild -music of “the noise of many waters.” We thought, as we sat -alone in the midst of that magnificent storm, of him (was it John -Foster?) who, on a similar occasion, turned round to his companion and -remarked, in a tone of deep solemnity, “It is a fine night; -<i>the Lord is abroad</i>!” Crops, though generally further from -maturity than is usual at this date, continue <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb145" href="#pb145" name="pb145">145</a>]</span>to -grow rapidly, and everywhere present a strong and healthy -appearance,—“a guarantee,” as newspaper editors say, -“of their good faith” and honest intentions in the -direction of a bounteous yield when cometh the season of ingathering. -Potatoes are now in full flower; and a very pretty sight, if you deign -to look at it with an unprejudiced eye, is a potato field in blossom at -this season. If the incomparable esculent were not cultivated for its -utility and value as an article of food, it would still deserve a place -in our gardens for its elegance and beauty simply as a flower. Nothing -but its commonness causes its beauty as a flowering plant to be so -constantly overlooked. We are in the midst of our hay season, and we -are only anxious about good weather for securing it in tolerable order. -Eight consecutive days of dry, breezy weather would be of incalculable -value to us at this moment. Anything will grow, and grow luxuriantly, -on the West Coast: our difficulties only begin with the season of -ripening and after preservation. If there be any truth in the old -Scottish saying, that “a year of nuts will also be a year of -corn,” then may the grain-growers of the West Highlands at least -already congratulate themselves, for we have seldom seen the hazel -boughs so laden with nut clusters; and a prettier sight than a hazel -wood so laden, either now or when decked in its autumnal robes, it -would be difficult to conceive. It is, besides, a fragrant, cleanly -wood, through which you can at any time dash fearlessly and at will, -all the better of your contact with the leaves, branches, and nut -clusters, when you have reached the open beyond. There is not a leaf in -the woods so thoroughly clean, so fragrant when you have crushed it in -your hand, so soft and pleasant to the touch in its every stage, as the -leaf fresh plucked from the hazel bough. And <i>apropos</i> of hazel -nuts, a gentlemen from the south of England, at present resident in our -neighbourhood, told us something the other day that we did not know -before. “In our part of England,” observed our friend, -“the hazel is common, and grows to a <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb146" href="#pb146" name= -"pb146">146</a>]</span>larger size, has more pretentions to the name of -tree, in fact, than here with you; and our nuts, I should say, must be -larger, juicier, and in all respects better than yours.” (A -“soft impeachment,” at which, for the honour of Nether -Lochaber, we took the liberty of gravely shaking our head in token of -dissent). “We seldom, however,” he went on, “can get -a ripe hazel nut in autumn, the reason being that in many places they -are gathered while yet in a half-formed and green state. You look -surprised, but the reason is this: the husk of the green, unripe hazel -nut is rich, as you must be aware, in a bitterly sharp and astringent -acid, that must have often made your teeth water when you have essayed -to crack a nut in a state of immaturity. This acid, then, you must -know, is valuable as a <i>mordant</i> (a technical term) in the -printing and dyeing of cotton and other fabrics, and it commands a high -price in the market accordingly. It is a maxim in commerce that demand -creates supply; and the consequence is, that every year in the month of -July, when the nuts are at their greenest, and the acid in their husks -at its acridest, women and children plunder the woods of their hazel -nut clusters, which are sold to the manufacturers, who, by a process of -crushing by machinery, and washing and maceration, extract all the -acid, to be employed, as I have already mentioned, in cotton printing -and dye works.” So far in substance, if not in <i lang= -"la">ipsissimis verbis</i>, our friend. All we could reply was that we -should be sorry indeed to see our own bonny hazel woods similarly -despoiled. Another thing told us by this friend somewhat surprised us. -He observed our servant girl carrying a bundle of potato -“shaws” into the byre, and asked us what they were for. On -our replying that these were the shaws of the potatoes taken up for -dinner, and that they were thrown before the cows, and devoured by them -with avidity on their return from their hill pasture in the evening, he -earnestly advised us never to do so again; that in England it was never -done, because it was found that potato shaws given to milch cows -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb147" href="#pb147" name= -"pb147">147</a>]</span>not only lessened the quantity of milk yielded, -but actually vitiated the milk itself, giving it a disagreeable taste, -and making it decidedly unwholesome. All we could answer was that we -had known potato shaws given to milch cows all over the Highlands since -ever we could remember, and that we had never known or heard any of the -evils stated to result from the use of them. What says the reader? It -is true, no doubt, that the potato belongs botanically to a family of -plants many of whom are highly poisonous—such as the common -<i>deadly nightshade</i> of our lanes and roadsides, for -example—and it is averred that, although the tuber of the potato -is healthy and nutritious when <i>cooked</i>, it is a poison in its raw -state, and that its stem, leaves, flower, and “apple” are -all more or less poisonous; and yet we have known boys, while the -blight was yet unheard of, and when potatoes were more prolific of -apples or plums than they have ever been since, eat the large, soft, -full, ripe apples with relish, and they never suffered the slightest -inconvenience in consequence that ever we heard of. As a boy we have -often ate them ourselves, and very saccharine, juicy, and pleasant -flavoured we recollect they were, not at all unlike the purple plum of -our gardens in taste and flavour, and hardly inferior to it as a -pleasant succulent <i lang="fr">bonne bouche</i>. Cattle, as we know, -will greedily eat the fresh shaws, as they will a decidedly poisonous -plant, the hemlock (<i>Celticè, Iteotha</i>); and it is a -well-known fact that in severe cases of scurvy on board ships that have -to go long voyages a feast of <i>raw</i> potatoes is an immediate and -certain cure; so that after all it would seem that if the potato is -originally a poisonous plant, cultivation has eradicated all, or almost -all, traces of the evil. As to the deleterious effects of the shaws on -the milk of cattle we have our doubts, our amiable and learned friend -above mentioned to the contrary notwithstanding. And while on such -subjects let us record a piece of information received from an old -woman in our neighbourhood a few days ago. We were <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb148" href="#pb148" name= -"pb148">148</a>]</span>cutting some green ferns on the hillside, when -the old lady in question, who happened to pass the way at the time, -stood to have a crack with us about the weather and crops and things in -general, said crack concluding somewhat as follows:—“You -are cutting ferns, sir,” said the old lady, “what are you -to make of them if you please, sir?” “They are for -bedding,” we replied, “bedding for the cows and -pony.” “Well, sir,” she rejoined, “there is no -harm in bedding the pony with them; they will do <i>him</i> no evil; -but take an old woman’s advice, and don’t put them under -your cows.” “Why so,” we asked in astonishment. -“What can be cleaner, fresher, fragranter for bedding, whether -for horse or cow, than these nice green ferns? Just look how beautiful -and soft they are.” “Still, sir,” she persisted, -“you must not place them under your cows, particularly your milch -cows; if you do, their udders will assuredly fester, and they will go -wrong in their milk. I have known it happen often, and no sensible -person in the country ever does such a thing now-a-days. Ferns cut in -autumn when brown and ripe make excellent bedding for milch cows as for -all other cattle, but July cut ferns, green, juicy, and unripe, should -never be used for bedding milch cows. I do not pretend to tell you why -they should produce the evils I have mentioned, but I do know that if I -had fifty cows I had rather have them without bedding at all than put -such green, fresh ferns as those under them.” We stood for the -moment aghast at this piece of information, which was perfectly new to -us, and from the positive and decided tone of the old lady, a shrewd -intelligent woman of her class, we felt that there must be something in -it. On inquiry we have since found that the old lady’s belief in -the evil of ferns—green, unripe ferns, that is—as bedding -for milch cows, is common among the people of this part of the West -Highlands. Whether the whole affair is a mere superstition, the fern -having always been accounted a sacred plant in the Highlands, -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb149" href="#pb149" name= -"pb149">149</a>]</span>or whether there is really some foundation in -fact for the belief that a bedding of green ferns causes the udders of -cows to swell and fester as is alleged, we are not at this moment -prepared to say; perhaps some of our readers may be able to throw light -on the subject. It is just possible that green-cut ferns, when pressed -by the recumbent animal, may exude an acrid juice that, coming in -contact with the tender udder, may be absorbed with the effects -alleged. Meantime we doubt it. One thing we know is this, that cattle -are fond of lying down among growing ferns in their every stage, and -that both roe and red deer frequently make their lair among growing -ferns at this season. Do you remember, by the way, Scott’s -magnificent description in <i>Marmion</i> of a fern-couched deer roused -from his midnight lair by the awful tolling of the passing-bell over -the living entombment of poor Constance in the monastery of -Lindisfarne?—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Slow o’er the midnight wave it swung,</p> -<p class="line">Northumbrian rocks in answer rung;</p> -<p class="line">To Warkworth cell the echoes roll’d,</p> -<p class="line">His beads the wakeful hermit told.</p> -<p class="line">The Bamborough peasant raised his head,</p> -<p class="line">But slept ere half a prayer he said;</p> -<p class="line">So far was heard the mighty knell,</p> -<p class="line">The stag sprung up on Cheviot Fell,</p> -<p class="line">Spread his broad nostril to the wind,</p> -<p class="line">Listed before, aside, behind,</p> -<p class="line">Then couch’d him down beside the hind,</p> -<p class="line"><i>And quaked among the mountain fern,</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>To hear that sound so dull and stern</i>.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Than the whole of the trial and doom of poor -Constance, who “loved not wisely but too well,” in the -second canto of <i>Marmion</i>, even Scott never wrote anything more -solemn or terrible. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb150" href="#pb150" -name="pb150">150</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch26" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e509">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Harvest—Scythe and Sickle <i>v.</i> Reaping -Machines—Potatoes—Garibaldi and Potatoes at -Caprera—Fishing—<i lang="la">Platessa Gemmatus</i>, or -Diamond Plaice—Mushrooms—The Poetry of Fairy -Rings—Harvest-Home.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">With such fine weather as we enjoy at present, -September [1871] is one of the pleasantest months of the year. Harvest -operations are now in full swing, and the redbreast—having -moulted, and proudly conscious of the splendour of his scarlet -vest—has already begun his autumnal song—more delectable -now and more appreciated, because now, with the exception of an -occasional voluntary from the wren, he only sings, whereas his vernal -strains are lost in their amalgamation with the full chorus of a -thousand performers. It is pleasant now, as you saunter or ride along, -to listen to the merry laughter of the reapers afield, and to their -song, as, <i lang="la">morê majorum</i>, it floats in chorus on -the gale: pleasant, too, to us at least, and far from unmusical, the -frequent sound of the whetting of scythe and sickle in every -direction—the bloodless weapons—as they are deftly handled -in the process, glancing brightly in the sunlight! Reaping -“machines” and “steam” ploughs may be very good -things in their way, but we are not ashamed to confess that we are glad -that, as yet at least, we know nothing of them in the West Highlands. -The utilitarian must be content if we admit all their value and -importance from <i>his</i> point of view, while at the same time we yet -assert that wherever they appear all the poetry of agriculture -incontinently becomes plain prose—<i lang="la">Sic transit gloria -Cereris</i>. Very excellent, at all events, are our crops this season, -and very excellently <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb151" href="#pb151" -name="pb151">151</a>]</span>are they being harvested. A good deal has -already been secured in barn and stackyard, and in such condition, too, -as is but rarely possible under the weeping skies of the west coast. -The weather is still so favourable that our people are working with a -will, and making every exertion to have their harvesting concluded -while it lasts. Potatoes still continue sound and untainted, although -an occasional <i>spottiness</i> of the leaf in some fields shows that -our old enemy the “blight” has not yet forgot the time of -his coming. The crop is now, however, about ripe, and may be considered -very much out of danger for the season. In our last, we had a good deal -to say about this invaluable root, and how it should be brought to -table; and to show that such a subject-matter is not quite so <i>infra -dig.</i> as some of our readers might suppose, listen to what the -<i>Times</i> says of Garibaldi’s doings at Caprera. After -recounting the General’s failures in connection with his orchard, -the acclimation of the silk-worm, &c., the <i>Times</i> -proceeds:—“Garibaldi, however, points with exultation to -his potato fields. No species of the favourite root is neglected, and -there is no treat he so heartily enjoys as a dish of his own potatoes, -baked with his own hand under embers, in the open air—a treat -which calls up reminiscences of his camp life on the Tonale or the -Stelvis, or of his pioneer’s experience in the backwoods of the -Mississippi or the Plate.” We wonder if this “hero in an -unheroic age,” who yet disdains not to exult in his potato -fields, or to cook his delicious “earth apples,” as the -French so happily term them, in the embers with his own hand—we -wonder if he eats his fish with his fingers? We could lay a wager that -he does; that in eating his ember-roasted potatoes in the open air, -with some broiled <i>tunny</i>, let us suppose, as a fitting -accompaniment—(the Thynnus vulgaris, in highest esteem with the -ancients as with the moderns, abundant about Caprera and all the shores -of Provençe, Sardinia, and Sicily, and than which, indeed, there -is hardly any better fish)—we could lay a wager, we say, that -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb152" href="#pb152" name= -"pb152">152</a>]</span>in eating his potatoes and fish <i lang="it">al -fresco</i> he discards the use of knife and fork utterly, eating his -fish with his fingers, and using the running brook beside him as a -convenient finger-glass.</p> -<p>There is a lull at present in our herring fishing, rather because, -however, of the paramount claims of harvest operations on the attention -of our people just now, than from any dearth of the fish in our lochs. -In a week or ten days, when all or most of the corn has been cut, the -fishing will be resumed, and it is hoped with success. In an old -Fingalian tale it is very beautifully said—“Rejoice, O my -son, in the gifts of the sea; for they enrich you without making any -one else the poorer.” A rather rare fish in our western waters -was caught a few days ago by our excellent neighbour, J. P. Grant, -Esq., who occupies Cuilchenna House this season. Mr. Grant was good -enough to send this odd fish for our inspection, and we determined it -to be a species of <i>plaice</i> (<i lang="la">Platessa</i>)—and -the handsomest of the family—the <i lang="la">Platessa -gemmatus</i> of ichthyologists, commonly called the diamond or -diamond-spotted plaice. This very handsome fish is quite as good on the -table as it is beautiful when fresh from its native element. Another -fish, rare on the west coast, was captured by ourselves with the rod -while mackerel fishing last week. It was a specimen of the sapphirine -gurnard (<i lang="la">Trigla hirundo</i>), one of the family of -“hard-cheeked” fishes, of which the common red or cuckoo -gurnard (<i lang="la">Trigla cuculus</i>) is a familiar example. A -peculiarity in all the family is the abnormal development of the -pectoral fins, so large in one species as to enable it to fly bird-like -for short distances in the air. All our readers must have heard and -read of the flying-fish (<i lang="la">Trigla volitans</i>), even if -they have never seen it. It is of the gurnard family—a very near -relation, indeed, of our common gurnard. All the -“hard-cheeked” fishes, without exception, are excellent -eating. Our sapphirine gurnard was delicious.</p> -<p>We do not know whether any of our readers has observed it -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb153" href="#pb153" name= -"pb153">153</a>]</span>to be the case elsewhere, but in this and the -neighbouring districts we have again and again remarked how very -plentiful all kinds of mushrooms—the whole family of <i lang= -"la">Agarici</i>—are this season. Never have we seen so many -beautiful “fairy rings,” many of them almost mathematically -perfect circles. Although they are always interesting and beautiful, -you cannot help being a little startled, and feeling a shade of awe -mingling with your curiosity and admiration, as you suddenly come upon -one of these emerald rings in burnside meadow or upland glade, and -contrast the vivid green and well-defined periphery of the charmed -circle with the general every-day colour of the surrounding verdure. We -are not surprised—on the contrary, we can perfectly -understand—how in the good old times, ere yet the schoolmaster -was abroad, or science had become a popular plaything, -people—and, doubtless, very honest, decent people -too—attributed those inexplicable emerald circles to supernatural -agency; if, indeed, anything connected with the “good -folks” or “men of peace” could properly be called -<i>super</i>-natural in times when a belief in fairies, and every sort -of fairy freak and frolic, was deemed the most correct and natural -thing in the world. Didn’t these circles, it was argued, appear -in the course of a single night? In the sequestered woodland glade, nor -herd nor milkmaid could see anything odd or unusual as the sun went -down, and, lo! next morning, as they drove their flocks afield, there -was the mysterious circle, round as the halo about the wintry moon. Was -not the colour, too, of these circles green, and not only green, but a -deeper, richer, and more vivid green than natural verdure is ever seen -to be? and whose work, therefore, could it be but that of the fairies, -whose own favourite, peculiar colour was green, that no mere mortal -durst wear but at his peril, and who, it was well known, delighted to -dance hand-in-hand in merry circles round, footing it featly, as the -owl flittered ghost-like by the scene, all by the silvery light of the -moon, until the dawn of day. As Tom D’Urfey has it— -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb154" href="#pb154" name= -"pb154">154</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“O how they skipped it,</p> -<p class="line">Capered and tripped it,</p> -<p class="line">Under the greenwood tree!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The popular belief in the origin of these bright green -circles, that they were caused by fairy feet in many a midnight -merry-go-round, is frequently alluded to in the poetry alike of Celt -and Saxon. Thus a fairy song of the time of Charles the First -begins—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“We dance on hills above the wind,</p> -<p class="line">And leave our footsteps there behind,</p> -<p class="line">Which shall to after ages last,</p> -<p class="line">When all our dancing days are past.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The reader will probably remember Queen Mab’s -very quaint and beautiful song in Percy’s <i>Reliques of English -Poetry</i>:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">“Come, follow, follow me,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">You fairy elves that be:</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Which circle on the green,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Come follow Mab your queen.</p> -<p class="line">Hand in hand let’s dance around,</p> -<p class="line">For this place is fairy ground.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">“Upon a mushroom’s head</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Our table-cloth we spread;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">A grain of rye or wheat,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Is manchet which we eat:</p> -<p class="line">Pearly drops of dew we drink,</p> -<p class="line">In acorn cups fill’d to the brink.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">“The grasshopper, gnat, and fly,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Serve for our minstrelsy:</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Grace said, we dance a while,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And so the time beguile;</p> -<p class="line">And if the moon doth hide her head,</p> -<p class="line">The glow-worm lights us home to bed.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">“On tops of dewy grass</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">So nimbly do we pass,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The young and tender stalk</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Ne’er bends when we do walk;</p> -<p class="line">Yet in the morning may be seen</p> -<p class="line">Where we the night before have been.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb155" href="#pb155" name= -"pb155">155</a>]</span></p> -<p>Another poet says—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“O’er the dewy green,</p> -<p class="line">By the glow-worm’s light,</p> -<p class="line">Dance the elves of night,</p> -<p class="line">Unheard, unseen.</p> -<p class="line">Yet where their midnight pranks have been,</p> -<p class="line">The circled turf will betray to-morrow.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Nor was the superstition unknown to Shakspeare; was -there anything unknown to <i>him</i>? Listen:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“And nightly meadow-fairies, look you sing,</p> -<p class="line">Like to the Garter’s compass, in a ring;</p> -<p class="line">The expressure that it bears, green let it be,</p> -<p class="line">More fertile-fresh than all the field to see;</p> -<p class="line">And, <i lang="fr">Honi soit qui mal y <span class= -"corr" id="xd26e4218" title="Source: pensè">pense</span></i>, -write</p> -<p class="line">In emerald tufts, flowers, purple, blue, and white:</p> -<p class="line">Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,</p> -<p class="line">Buckled below fair knighthood’s bending knee!</p> -<p class="line">Fairies use flowers for their charactery.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">And if we know better now-a-days than to believe these -green circles to be fairy rings, we also know better than to give the -slightest credence to certain authors of our own day who have gravely -asserted that they are caused by electricity. We prefer the fairy -agency theory, as the more poetical and picturesque of the two, for, as -to the truth of either, why, the one is every whit as true as the -other. Fairy rings, as we continue for convenience sake to call them, -are, in truth, caused by a species of mushroom (<i lang="la">Agaricus -pratensis</i>), the sporule dust or seed of which, having fallen on a -spot suitable for its growth, instantly germinates, and constantly -propagating itself by sending out a net-work of innumerable filaments -and threads, forms the rich green rings so common everywhere this -season. On the outer edge of this ring, and sometimes also, though more -rarely, on the inner edge, grows the perfect plant, the fruit, the -mushroom proper itself; and if some of our modern wiseacres had only -had half an eye in their <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb156" href= -"#pb156" name="pb156">156</a>]</span>heads and the least particle of -gumption, they could easily have gone to the fields and seen all this -for themselves, instead of lazily theorising on the origin of the -apparent mystery in their dressing-gowns and slippers by the fireside, -and sagely ascribing the whole to the agency of electricity! There was -a time, you may remember, when it was the fashion to ascribe everything -that people didn’t readily understand to electricity—very -convenient certainly, but if you pushed these <i>savans</i> a little, -and asked them what this electricity <i>itself</i> was, they were -incontinently dumb, or, if they talked, they were bound to talk -nonsense. We can forgive, and even admire, the fairy dance theory, for -it is full of poetry and beauty, and in an age when people seldom -troubled themselves to trace natural phenomena to their source, it was, -upon the whole, a rather happy conjecture; if it was not the actual -<i>vrai</i>, it had of <i lang="fr">vraisemblance</i> about it enough -to recommend it to the acceptance of the multitude. Grant but the -existence of fairies, and the rest was easy of belief. The -“electricity” theory, on the contrary, was unpardonable: it -was not only false in fact, but it had nothing whatever about it to -recommend it either to one’s faith or fancy. Hardly more -excusable than the electricity theorists themselves are those authors -who tell us that the West received the first hint of the existence of -fairies from the East at the time of the Crusades, and that almost all -our fairy lore is traceable to the same source; the fact being, -nevertheless, that Celt and Saxon, Scandinavian and Goth, Lap and Fin, -had their “duergar,” their “elfen,” without -number, such as <i>dun-elfen</i>, <i>berg-elfen</i>, <i>munt-elfen</i>, -<i>feld-elfen</i>, <i>wudu-elfen</i>, <i>sae-elfen</i>, and -<i>waeter-elfen</i>—elves, or spirits, of downs, hills, and -mountains, of the fields, of the woods, of the sea, and of the rivers, -streams, and solitary pools—fairies, in short, and a complete -fairy mythology, long centuries before Peter the Hermit was born, or -Frank and Moslem dreamt of making the Holy Sepulchre a <i lang= -"la">casus belli</i>. It is a curious fact in connection with fairy -lore, and we have not seen <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb157" href= -"#pb157" name="pb157">157</a>]</span>it noticed elsewhere, that -although these anomalous beings are always credited with much -capriciousness, and are constantly described as sensitive in the -extreme to anything like slight or insult, keenly vindictive in their -dispositions and easily irritated, they are never represented as -encompassing the <i>death</i> of human beings. They tease, terrify, and -torment in a thousand ways where they take a dislike, but they never -<i>kill</i>. Their power is described as great, but it is also -limited—the issues of life and death are beyond their reach. In -the fairy song (<i>temp.</i> Charles I.) first quoted, there are two -amusing verses indicating such pranks as fairies <i>could</i> play on -mortals, if mortals offended them. Thus concludes Queen Mab her -song:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Next turned to mites in cheese, forsooth,</p> -<p class="line">We get into some hollow tooth;</p> -<p class="line">Wherein, as in a Christmas hall,</p> -<p class="line">We frisk and dance, the devil and all!</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Then we change our wily features,</p> -<p class="line">Into yet far smaller creatures,</p> -<p class="line">And dance in joints of gouty toes,</p> -<p class="line">To painful tunes of groans and woes.”—</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">A pathology of toothache and gout that we recommend to -the attention of the faculty. The fairy ring agaric is one of the -British species of mushroom that may be eaten with safety. For our own -part we abominate the whole tribe. Our table may be scantier at times -than we could wish, but it will be scantier far than a kind Providence -has ever yet permitted it to be before we shall think of dining or -supping on funguses. <i lang="fr">Chacun à son goût</i>, -however, and if anybody wants mushrooms in abundance, now is the time, -and Nether Lochaber is the place for them.</p> -<p>The new moon that comes in this morning (the 6th) will be the -harvest moon of the year. It is full on the 20th, and for a few -evenings before and after will be very beautiful, and well worth -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb158" href="#pb158" name= -"pb158">158</a>]</span>attention. If you can command telescopic aid on -the occasion, so much the better, but even without it, it were strange -if we could not view with admiration and delight the silver orb that -probably at some such conjunction as that of the 20th, when walking in -her brightness and her beauty, tempted the patriarch of old to kiss his -hand in acknowledgment of her excellency, and bow before her in -adoration. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb159" href="#pb159" name= -"pb159">159</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch27" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e524">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">The disappearance of the glories of Autumn, and the -advent of Winter—Innovations and Innovators—New Version of -the Scriptures—<i>The Milkmaid and her Fairy Lover</i>, -translated from the Gaelic.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">Ichabod! the glory is departed [November 1871]. The -gorgeous autumnal hues, which were so beautiful when we penned our -last, have already passed away. In the first fierce breath of winter -the trees have shed their golden glories, while the few remaining -leaves that still cling trembling to branch and bough, shrivelled up -and blackened at their edges, present only that pallid, corpse-like hue -that betokens approaching dissolution, making you sad and thoughtful as -you gaze, and reminding you that everywhere, on all hands, last while -it may, the end of all life is death. It is a sad lesson for the -moment, doubtless, but a useful one; and even at its worst, when the -thought bears heaviest upon us, the cloud presents its silver lining, -and a gleam of gladness bursts upon the soul, in the recollection that -as sure as all things are subject to decay and death, so sure are decay -and death themselves but the vassals of a brighter life and more -excellent glory. In one of our Scripture Paraphrases there is a very -beautiful reference to the decay of nature at this season, and to the -hope that gladdens us amidst all the desolation of the -scene:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“All nature dies, and lives again:</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The flow’r that paints the field,</p> -<p class="line">The trees that crown the mountain’s brow,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And boughs and blossoms yield,</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb160" href="#pb160" name= -"pb160">160</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Resign the honours of their form</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">At Winter’s stormy blast,</p> -<p class="line">And leave the naked leafless plain</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">A desolated waste.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Yet soon reviving plants and flow’rs</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Anew shall deck the plain;</p> -<p class="line"><i>The woods shall hear the voice of Spring,</i></p> -<p class="line xd26e978"><i>And flourish green again</i>!”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">We have no patience with your innovators, whether in -matters of Church or State. We do not deny, indeed, that certain -innovations may be sometimes permissible, even if not absolutely -necessary, that by their adoption things may be done more decently and -in order; nor do we object even to a radical change in a given -direction, when such a change has by common consent become imperative. -We believe, in fact, in development and progress; only let that -progress and development be slow and sure, that they may be lasting; -gradual, that they may be graceful, and fall easily into their place, -without unnecessary jostling or disturbance of the established order of -things. <i>Festina lente</i>—hasten slowly—was the motto of -the learned Erasmus, and <i>quoad hoc</i> it is ours also; and, if you -care to know it, is our creed in affairs political and ecclesiastical. -Some people, however, seem born to be innovators and nothing else, and -the innovator, <i>pure et simple</i>, is surely a pest. He seems to -have been born never to know peace himself, and never, as much as in -him lies, to permit others a moment’s rest or peace, or quiet -either. Your thoroughbred, full-blooded innovator always reminds us of -our first housekeeper—a very good woman in her way, too, but who -had a perfect craze for shifting and reshifting, adjusting and -readjusting, as well as dusting and redusting every article of -furniture throughout the house, at all sorts of unseasonable hours, and -when to ordinary mortals such labour seemed utterly uncalled for. When -we were at home she went “at it” in out-of-the-way closets -and bedrooms as much and as often as the immediate calls of the moment -permitted. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb161" href="#pb161" name= -"pb161">161</a>]</span>But when she got us away from home for a day or -two, how she did enjoy it! How she did luxuriate in the power to -innovate “at her own sweet will”—the quotation, by -the way, is rather inapt, for her temper was somewhat of the sourest. -Sometimes when we came back after a day or two’s absence, we -could hardly believe it to be the same house, so great was the change -in the place and position of everything. At last the thing became -unbearable. One evening, on our return from a walk, we found our -writing-table, at which we had been employed during the day, carefully -placed in the darkest corner of the room, with its drawers, containing -letters, paper, pens, &c., jammed up hard and fast against the -wall, while books and manuscripts were most artistically arranged in -pyramidal form, the ink-bottle representing the graceful entablature on -the top of a book-case, where it must have cost her no small pains, and -a great deal of stretching on tip-toe, even with the aid of a chair, to -place them. The thing was too absurd for any one to be really angry; -but we pretended to be so, and at last peace was proclaimed, under a -sort of compromise that she should arrange and readjust all the rest of -the house at her pleasure, as often and as radically as she chose, but -that <i>that</i> particular room, having been put to rights to our -mutual satisfaction once for all, must in all time coming be let alone. -This treaty being duly ratified, was upon the whole faithfully observed -by the contracting parties. The mischief, however, with your -thoroughbred innovator is that you can never completely satisfy him, -his appetite for change is insatiable, he will make no compromise with -you. Grant him all he asks to-day, and as sure as to-morrow comes, he -is at it anew. If you gave him the whole world, and his own way -everywhere and in everything, he would be in worse plight than the -conqueror who wept because there were no more worlds to subdue, and -fret himself to death that there were no more changes for him to -effect. The probability is that, rather than be <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb162" href="#pb162" name= -"pb162">162</a>]</span>idle, he would, in hunting phrase, “hark -back” upon his old track, and diligently undo all he had spent -his life in doing, and without much regard to the consequences.</p> -<p>We have been led into these remarks by the recollection, when -quoting the above verses of the Eighth Paraphrase, that there are at -this moment some people busily bestirring themselves in the matter of a -new translation of the Scriptures, to supersede the authorised version -now in use. Now, we most solemnly protest against all this, as a most -rash proposal, ill-advised, and utterly uncalled for. At present we -object very much on the same principle that we should object to a -painting by one of the old masters being cleansed and retouched by a -modern R.A., however eminent in his own person, or on the same -principle that we should feel tempted to kick the ladder from under the -feet of a man we should detect white-washing a stately pile of the -olden time, under the plea, forsooth, that in obliterating weather -stains, and freely applying putty and paint, he was thereby improving, -renovating, and beautifying the whole fabric. That there are verbal -inaccuracies in our authorised version of the Scriptures is on all -hands admitted; let these be rectified, if people please, and let the -corrections so made, under adequate authority, appear in the form of -marginal notes opposite the passage amended, but let the body of The -Book stand as it is—intact. The edifice, as it exists, is too -grand, and stately, and beautiful, and hallowed, not to suffer under -the proposed remodelling, even in the most competent hands.</p> -<p>But to turn to a different theme. The following is a translation -from the Gaelic, as literal as we could make it, with anything like due -regard to the spirit and manner of the original. It is a fairy song, if -song it can be called, from the manuscript volume referred to in a -former communication. Fairy tales, both in prose and verse, were common -with our Celtic forefathers, and, if we only examine them with -sufficient care, we shall find that, underlying all their quaintness, -there is always to be found a substratum of <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb163" href="#pb163" name= -"pb163">163</a>]</span>sound and healthy moral. It bears no title in -the original, but we may call it—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">The Milkmaid and her Fairy Lover.</span></h4> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">Gaily the milkmaid came tripping along;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The echoes so loved her, they joined in her -song;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The hare and the wild-roe that browsed in the -glade,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The bird on the bough swinging high -over-head—</p> -<p class="line">They saw and they heard, but they feared not—they -<span class="sc">KNEW</span> the milkmaid.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">Abundant her tresses, bright golden their -hue;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And soft as a dove’s was her eye in its -blue;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Elastic her footstep, and lightsome and -free</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">As a fawn’s when in gladness it skips -o’er the lea—</p> -<p class="line">Of the old and the young the delight, and the pride of -Glentallon was she.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">In secret she met with the <i>Hunter in -Green</i>,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Beside the lone fountain of -Coirre-na-Sheen;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">A gallant more gay ne’er did maiden -behold,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">His manner so gentle, his bearing so bold;</p> -<p class="line">By his side freely dangled, and well could he wind it, -a bugle of gold!</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">Full fondly he kissed her—she thought it -no sin,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Though she knew not his name, nor his kith, -nor his kin;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">They plighted their troth by the fount’s -bubbling stream,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Where oft, it is said, when frail mortals but -dream,</p> -<p class="line">The fairies hold revel, and trippingly dance in the -moon’s mellow beam.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">On the Eve of St. Agnes the maiden -confessed,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">As was proper she should, all her sins to the -priest;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">When she left him, the blush in her check -mantled high;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">There was care in her step, and a tear in her -eye.</p> -<p class="line">Yet pure was the maiden and spotless, I ween, as a star -in the blue of the sky.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">Next day, by the fountain of -Coirre-na-Sheen,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The milkmaid again met the <i>Hunter in -Green</i>.</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">As he kissed her she quietly slipped under his -vest</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">A relic she long had worn next to her -breast—</p> -<p class="line">’Twas a relic in sooth the most sacred—a -<i>Cross</i> that the holy St. Colomb had blessed.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">And lo! in the place of the <i>Hunter in -Green</i></p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(’Twas all by the fountain of -Coirre-na-Sheen),</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">A brown, withered twig, so elf twisted and -dry,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Was all—’twas amazing—the -maid could espy!</p> -<p class="line">While the <i>Cross</i>, with a bright burning light -round its edges, beside it did lie.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb164" href="#pb164" name= -"pb164">164</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">And the maid grasped the <i>Cross</i>, which -devoutly she kissed,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And hid it again in the snow of her -breast;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Homewards she turned her with pensive steps -slowly,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">But her heart was at peace—meek, -submissive, and lowly,</p> -<p class="line">As maid and as mother (the <i>Cross</i> at her breast) -she passed a life holy.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">Often still wake the echoes of -Coirre-na-Sheen,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">At the blast of thy bugle, O <i>Hunter in -Green</i>!</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Go get thee a mate from the green fairy -knowe—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">A cross-bearing maid dare not wed such as -thou:</p> -<p class="line">Let fairy wed fey, and let mortal wed mortal. Come, -<i>Annabel</i>, stir up the fire till it blaze in a lowe!</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">The moral of the fairy song is instantly apparent. A -young lady—miss or milkmaid—is not to hold clandestine -appointments with any young gentleman, however lovable and attractive, -until at least she knows who and what he is, whence he cometh and -whither he goeth. Having met and loved, however, she is instantly to -consult those who are older and wiser than herself, and, under their -friendly care and direction, she is to be sure that, on her own part -and on that of her lover, all shall be pure and holy. The touch at the -end is admirable. We must suppose a mother telling the story, herself -and sons and daughters sitting round the fire, which, in the absorbing -interest of the tale, has been for the time neglected. -“Annabel,” addressed at the close, we must fancy to be the -eldest daughter, just entering upon womanhood. The whole moral of the -story, flung obliquely at her head in the command to stir the fire and -make it blaze, is exquisite, and we can fancy the gentle -“Annabel” quietly smiling to herself the while—she -also having a secret—as she cheerily obeys the maternal mandate. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb165" href="#pb165" name= -"pb165">165</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch28" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e538">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Wild Birds’ Nests in early April—Rook -stealing Eggs frightened and almost captured—The Domestic -Cock—What he was, and what he is—Sadly demoralised by -intermixture with “Cochin-Chinas” and -“Bramahpootras.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">After a month’s cold, clear weather, with dry, -parching, northerly winds—the finest heather-burning season that -ever was seen—a considerable rainfall during the past week has -been welcomed as a boon rather than otherwise, and the country around -is all the greener and gladder because of it [April 1872.] During an -afternoon’s ramble on Saturday we found a redbreast’s nest, -a blackbird’s, and a chaffinch’s, all with their full -complement of eggs in them; while the nests of several other species, -some completed and some still abuilding, were to be found by diligent -searching in almost every likely locality. For many years past there -has been no such favourable season for wild birds. An amusing scene a -day or two ago was the following:—One of our hens, disregarding -the companionship of the rest, and desirous of more freedom of action, -in a matter so important, than the hen-house could supply, took to -laying her eggs in a hole she had scratched out under an old hazel root -in a neighbouring copse. Complaints were by-and-by brought into the -house that although this hen regularly dropped her quotidian egg in the -spot selected, it was found that, unless immediately taken away from -her, the egg was sure to be sucked by some sly thief who doubtless -enjoyed such a delicacy at this season amazingly, and all the more so, -we daresay, that his pilferings had hitherto passed undetected, despite -the strictest vigilance on the part of those more immediately -interested. It <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb166" href="#pb166" name= -"pb166">166</a>]</span>was very annoying, as you may believe, morning -after morning to find the fresh and pearly shell at the nest’s -side, its contents abstracted through a gaping hole in its bulge, -instead of the snowy treasure, <i lang="la">totus, teres atque -rotundus</i>, as it should be. Appealed to for such assistance as we -could render in detecting and punishing the culprit, whoever he might -be, we began by setting a trap for ground vermin, properly baited, and -as cunningly as possible placed, but without result. Determined, -however, to discover the petty larcenist, if possible, we took -advantage of an idle forenoon last week to sit and watch the nest from -a distance, our object in the first instance being to find out who the -depredator really was; we could afterwards and at our leisure take such -steps as we might deem advisable for his capture. Selecting a -convenient spot whence we could see without being seen, and provided -with a powerful binocular, we watched and waited with the most -exemplary diligence and patience, and were rewarded, after some time, -by discovering the culprit to be neither rat, stoat, nor weasel, nor -other quadrupedal marauder, but a common crow, or rook -rather—<i lang="la">Corvus frugilegus</i>, Linnæus calls -him, though <i lang="la">Corvus omnivorus</i> would be nearer the -mark—a large old male bird, as he afterwards proved to be, who -had doubtless in his day sucked many an egg and sacked many a homestead -of its callow fledglings. We first observed him alighting on the branch -of a large ash tree, whence he had a full view of the nest, and there -he sat with much patience, preening his feathers, and uttering an -occasional <i>craa</i>, as if to encourage the hen in her labours. No -sooner did the latter, having deposited her egg, leave the nest with -the usual cackle of self-congratulation, than Monsieur Corvus glided -from his perch, and in a twinkling, by the dexterous use of head and -bill, had the egg rolled out on the grass by the nest’s side. -Turning it round and round, and rolling it over and over, stepping back -at times as if the better to contemplate its pearly whiteness and -handsome <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb167" href="#pb167" name= -"pb167">167</a>]</span>proportions, and already in imagination rolling -the sweet morsel under his tongue, he finally stepped forward, and with -his pick-axe-like bill delivered a stroke at the egg’s bigger -end, which made a sufficiently large hole for him to suck away at -comfortably. And how he did seem to enjoy it! Removing his bill now and -again as if to draw breath, and looking up and around with an air of -innocence and self-satisfaction that was exceedingly comical. -Meanwhile, so intent was <i lang="la">Corvus</i> on his egg-flip, that -we managed to creep quite close to the scene unperceived by him, -resolved to give him a good fright at least, if we could do no more. We -took advantage of a moment when he had his head buried in the egg up to -the eyes to start to our feet, uttering at the instant a favourite -shout of ours in such circumstances—a sort of war-whoop, a -legacy, we suppose, from our Fingalian ancestors—and the -happiness of <i lang="la">Corvus</i>, sucking his egg in such fancied -security, vanished like a dream. With a prolonged <i>cra-a-a</i> he -made a sudden dig into the egg in his fright, his bill passing clean -through it, and spreading his wings he fluttered upwards, the egg -sticking over his bill and eyes like a mask, and preventing him from -seeing anything, and causing him to perform the most ridiculous -evolutions ever exhibited perhaps by a bird on wing. Fluttering along -obliquely, with many a dolorous <i>cra-a</i>, he came to the ground -like a collapsed balloon in a neighbouring field, where we hoped to -capture him, but just as we ran up to him he managed to shake the egg -from his head, and in an instant was up and away and out of sight at a -rate that must have brought him to Culloden Moor within the hour if he -stopped not by the way. A bird rarely fails to profit by experience, -least of all a crow, and we have no hesitation in saying that the -particular rook in question will remember his egg-shell mask and our -unearthly war whoop till his dying hour.</p> -<p>And while on such subjects, let us ask the reader by the way if -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb168" href="#pb168" name= -"pb168">168</a>]</span>he has noticed that cocks don’t crow -now-a-days as they used to do? We refer of course to the common -barndoor fowl—<i lang="la">Gallus domesticus</i>, the domestic -cock. He, we assert, does not now-a-days crow with the same regularity -and timeousness, nor with the clear, clarion notes with which he -did</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Salutation to the morn,”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">say a score of years ago. This may seem a startling -assertion, but any one who deigns to turn his attention to the subject -will find that it is true. The cock-crowing and wing-clapping of the -House of Commons when in the humour is no doubt highly creditable to -that august assembly. (It was Boswell, if we recollect well, who -imitated the lowing of a cow to admiration, and was naturally very -proud of so rare an accomplishment.) But the march of civilisation, and -cross-breeding, which you may call “internationalism” if -you like, have been the ruin of our cocks, so far as crowing is -concerned. They may weigh more than they did a score of years ago, and -present a plumper form on the table, but their crowing is gone: at the -best it is but a harsh, spasmodic, unmusical half-scream half-wheeze, -altogether unlike the loud and lusty, the clear, ringing notes of the -cock-crowing of our boyhood days. Our cocks are no longer chanticleers, -but chantiqueers. If you have occasion to sit up at night, or to start -on a journey betwixt midnight and morning, the cock no longer lends you -any countenance or aid in the matter—he sleeps on his perch in -utter oblivion of the passing hours, and as heedless of the -“watches of the night” as the brooding hen in the coop -beneath him. The day may dawn, and the sun may flood the mountain peaks -with light, glad and golden, without a note of welcome or recognition -on the part of the bird that, from the earliest ages until recent -years, was known as the herald of the dawn, and deservedly held in high -honour and esteem as the vigilant sentinel of the homestead throughout -the midnight and early morning <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb169" -href="#pb169" name="pb169">169</a>]</span>hours. Any convivial -“Willie” whom it so pleases may now brew his “peck -o’ maut,” if the Inland Revenue will let him, and sit down -to enjoy it with his boon companions into all the hours of the night -and morning, unwarned of the flight of time by anything like a -cock-crow. The moon may fill her silver horn, and shine bright as -aforetime, “to wile them hame,” and the day may -“daw,” but the cock’s “<i>crawing</i>” -will no longer convey its notes of warning and expostulation. If the -bird crows at all, it is sometime throughout the day, generally, we -have noticed, in the afternoon, when nobody thanks him for it, and then -in notes so discordant as to make your teeth water, as if you had -suddenly bitten deep into an unripe apple, with the chance of a -headache for the rest of the evening. The last time we heard a cock -crow in the good old fashion was in an out-of-the-way corner of -Arisaig, some three years ago. Being a stranger in the place, and -having to sleep on a “shake-down” on the floor of our room, -our sleep was less sound than usual, but throughout the night we were -cheered by the companionship of a cock that was roosting in an -out-house not far from our window. Shortly after midnight he announced -the first watch of the night as ended, and afterwards at intervals, of -as nearly as possible two hours, his clear, clarion notes, repeated two -or three times, startled the stillness of the glen, until at last the -rising sun invited him to the labours of the day, and called us to boot -and saddle. Nor is the degeneracy and demoralisation of the modern -domestic cock less apparent in another direction. Surrounded by his -harem, he used to be considered the <i>beau-ideal</i> by common consent -of all that is gallant, and courteous, and brave. With proud step and -stately bearing he led his dames about, finding for them the sunniest -spots wherein to bask and dust themselves when the day was at its -height. He diligently searched for, and rarely failed to find, the -particular corner wherein food was most abundant, scratching with might -and main that the ladies of his <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb170" -href="#pb170" name="pb170">170</a>]</span>court might have as little -unnecessary trouble as possible, rarely eating anything himself until -they had first of all picked the best and biggest share; and if he came -across any dainty titbit that his followers had overlooked, he took it -up in his bill, and by certain peculiar notes reserved for such -occasions, called them around him, dropping the toothsome morsel with -strict impartiality at his feet, to be picked up by the first to -respond to his summons. Now all this is changed. They may sun and dust -themselves when and where they please, or not at all, for all he cares. -Instead of being the active leader and gallant protector in feeding -excursions, he is content to be no more than as any other of the band, -exhibiting the utmost selfishness and greed in gobbling up the first -grain-pickle or earthworm that comes in the way, nor is he, <i>proh -pudor!</i> ashamed even to cuff and drive away his decidedly better -halves, when the mean wretch has, by accident rather than by any -diligence of his own, fallen on a good scratching-place. Neither do you -find in the cock of the present day the pugnacity and pluck, the -indomitable courage and love of warfare, once so characteristic of the -genus, from the tiniest bantam to the lordliest gamecock, that would -rather die than cry quarter or show the white feather to an opponent. -We don’t suppose that the reader, any more than ourselves, has -seen a cock-fight for years; not from any elevation of morals, we -submit, in Monsieur Gallus, or increase at all of amiability, but from -sheer poltroonery and want of pluck. He will still bully about among -his hens, and fight with them, and we have seen some of them turn upon -him and give him a good drubbing, as he deserved; but a fair stand-up -fight with another cock—oh no, we never mention it!—he has -still the spurs, but no longer the heart for it. When afield at the -head of his following; if the shadow of a suspicious bird on wing, as -likely to be a crow as a gled or hawk, or other bird of prey, passes -along, instead of the old warning note to his wives, with preparation -on his own part <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb171" href="#pb171" -name="pb171">171</a>]</span>to receive the enemy <i lang= -"fr"><span class="corr" id="xd26e4590" title= -"Source: á">à</span> l’outrance</i>, be he who he -may, he is the first himself, in Yankee phrase, to skedaddle and make -tracks for a place of security and shelter, leaving his hens to their -fate. Our bill of indictment <i lang="la">contra gallum</i>, the reader -may say, is a heavy one, but it is in the main very true, as any one -who chooses may satisfy himself when he has the opportunity. How, then, -do we account for it? Well, it is very difficult satisfactorily to -account for it in any way. We are inclined to the belief that the -demoralisation of our domestic cock is to be traced to the introduction -into our country of such splay-footed, loutish, awkward fowls as the -“Cochin China,” “Bramahpootra” <i lang="la">et -hoc omne genus</i>, whose brains seem to have subsided into the -feathers on their feet, and whose only good quality is their size, and -even that is dearly purchased, we suspect, when the immense feeding -they require is taken into account. These fowls have spread everywhere, -so that, except in some out-of-the-way localities, a cock or hen of the -old native breed, of blood pure and uncontaminated by foreign -intermixture, is very rarely to be met with, while cross-breeds and -mongrels of every shape and size are abundant in all directions. -Whatever the good qualities of these latter in other respects, courage, -gallantry, and pluck are not of the number. Just inquire into the -subject for yourself, good reader, and you will find that, neither -physically, intellectually, nor morally is the cock of the present day -to be compared for a moment with the gallant, handsome, proud-stepping -biped of your boyhood. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb172" href= -"#pb172" name="pb172">172</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch29" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e547">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">The Vernal Equinox—Beauty of Loch -Leven—Astronomical Notes—How an old Woman supposed to -possess the Evil Eye escaped a cruel death.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The vernal equinox has come and gone, unaccompanied -this year [April 1872], as it was unheralded and unannounced, by -anything like the storms that from the earliest times have been -observed to be attendant on the sun’s crossing the equator. It is -by no means certain, however, that these storms may not even now be -a-brewing, to make themselves yet felt in all their fierceness, for we -have noticed in recent years particularly that what are called the -“equinoctial gales” quite as frequently follow, as -accompany or precede, the exact equality of day and night. We have just -had a fortnight of genuine March weather—clear, cold days, and -frosty nights—the air snell and biting, to be sure, and keen of -edge, as might be expected on the uplands; but in places sheltered from -the east and north it is delightfully bright and sunny, the incessant -song of birds, the hum of wild bees, and the gay fluttering of early -butterflies, making one think of Whitsuntide rather than All -Fools’ Day; the twittering of swallows and the cheery notes of -the cuckoo alone are wanting to make the illusion perfect, and these, -unless the weather should undergo some extraordinary and unexpected -change, must certainly soon be heard, much earlier this year, we should -think, than usual. We are particularly favoured in this respect along -the northern shores of Loch Leven. Here, to quote Burns—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Simmer first unfaulds her robe, and here the -langest tarry;”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb173" href="#pb173" name= -"pb173">173</a>]</span></p> -<p>and as we wander afield we often apply the words of Horace to our -own little spot, as from some neighbouring height we view it cozily -nestling in the sunlight—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line"><i>Ille terrarum mihi præter omnes</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>Angulus ridet;</i></p> -</div> -<p class="first">which may be rendered—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">Whate’er the beauties others boast,</p> -<p class="line">This spot of ground delights me most.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Or, as we prefer putting it in our own case—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">Of brighter skies and sunnier climes let others boast -and jabber,</p> -<p class="line">Give me the sunny, southern shores of mountain-girt -Lochaber!</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Or yet again, if you will have it still more literally -in Gaelic—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">’S anns’ leam na spot eil’ fo -’a ghréin,</p> -<p class="line">M’ oisinneag bheag, ghrianach féin.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">During the present clear, cold spring nights the -starry heavens are very beautiful. Jupiter, just below Castor and -Pollux, is at his brightest, and very favourably situated for -observation, his cloudy belts and bright diamond-point-like satellites -being visible in an instrument of very moderate powers. If between nine -and ten o’clock the reader will turn to the north-east, he will -find a constellation pretty high up in the heavens, and consisting of -five or six principal stars, none of them, however, of the first -magnitude, opening towards the pole star in the form of a widely -spread-out W. This constellation will be an object of more than usual -interest during the present year. It is <i>Cassiopeia</i>, or <i>The -Lady in her Chair</i>, the scene of a very startling and strange -phenomenon in 1572, which, it has been asserted with some confidence, -is not at all unlikely to be repeated in 1872. In 1572 a new star of -great splendour appeared in Cassiopeia, occupying a place that had -hitherto been blank. It was first observed on the 6th August, by -Schuler, of Wittemburg, shortly after which it arrested the -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb174" href="#pb174" name= -"pb174">174</a>]</span>attention of the celebrated Danish astronomer -Tycho Brahe, who watched its rapid increase of brilliancy night after -night with the liveliest interest. Its magnitude at last rivalled, if -it did not even exceed, that of Jupiter, with an effulgence equally -bright and vivid. After shining with great splendour some time, and -attracting the earnest gaze of the most distinguished <span class= -"corr" id="xd26e4655" title="Source: astromomers">astronomers</span> of -the period, its brilliancy began steadily to decline, changing its -colour in a very remarkable manner as it became fainter and fainter, -until finally it became invisible in March 1574, and has never been -seen since. Sir John Herschel and other astronomers have suggested that -its reappearance in 1872 is by no means an improbable event; and -towards no constellation in the northern heavens, in consequence, will -the observer’s eye be so constantly turned throughout the present -year as to Cassiopeia. The reappearance of such a star would be certain -to give rise to the most startling theories. With the spectroscope in -our possession, however, and the marvellous telescopic power at our -command now-a-days, we could not fail to arrive at more intimate terms -with such a stranger than was possible in the days of Tycho Brahe. The -interest and excitement in the astronomical world in connection with -the sudden burst of splendour in the star in <i>Corona</i> a year or -two ago was very great, but would be still greater in the event of the -reappearance of the long absent stranger in Cassiopeia. In the one case -it was only a remarkable increase of light and lustre in the star -already existent and visible; but the reappearance of a new orb in a -spot blank and starless in the most powerful telescopes for three -hundred years, would be almost equal to the sudden creation of a new -sun. Here, by the way, good reader, if you are ambitious, is a chance -for fame. Be but the first to detect the reappearance of this -remarkable star-stranger, and your immortality into all time shall be -more secure than if you wrote an epic to rival the <i>Iliad</i>, or a -tragedy equal to <i>Hamlet</i> or <i>Othello</i>. The name and memory -of George Palitch, the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb175" href= -"#pb175" name="pb175">175</a>]</span>amateur peasant astronomer, who -was so fortunate as to obtain the earliest glimpse of Halley’s -Comet on its first return to perihelion after its periodicity had been -so boldly, and as some thought so rashly asserted, is more secure in -that connection than if, either as king or conqueror, he had all the -honours of the most imperishable brass or marble.</p> -<p>A hundred years ago or more, when Highlanders were more -superstitious than they are now, or when, to be more correct, they took -less pains to conceal their superstitious beliefs than at the present -day, a certain hamlet in a remote part of the country was sadly -troubled by an “evil eye,” whose unhallowed powers wrought -“mickle woe,” to the manifest loss and discomfort of the -good people around. The cows no longer yielded their lacteal treasures -in the desired abundance, nor did the calves grow and thrive, as calves -in good keeping should. Churns, however shaken and jolted, refused to -turn out their hebdomadal pot of butter; or if, after much weary -labour, they did reluctantly yield any, it was found to be pale and -rancid as unsalted suet in the dog-days. Stirks and other young -“beasts,” though the rents depended on them, sickened and -dwined and died, without apparent reason; and even children, hitherto -in rude and ruddy health enough, were frequently prostrated by sudden -and unaccountable illnesses. That an “evil eye” of more -than ordinary virulence and power was at work was at last conceded even -by the most sceptical as to such influences, and suspicion straightway -fell upon a lone old woman, who lived in a hut on the outskirts of the -township. Originally a stranger to the district, and of a taciturn and -retiring disposition, she had long been looked upon with suspicion and -dislike, and now a number of young men resolved to be revenged on her -as the secret author of all that was amiss in the hamlet. At a late -hour one dark night they proceeded to the poor old woman’s hut, -with the intention of setting fire to the roof and <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb176" href="#pb176" name= -"pb176">176</a>]</span>burning it about her ears, not caring very much -either even if the “evil-eyed witch” herself, as they -called her, should be buried under the burning rafters of her cottage. -As the young men noiselessly surrounded the hut, they found that the -old woman was just about retiring for the night, and as some of them -stood at her window, and looked and listened, they could see her, by -the light of a bog pine fire, kneel at her bedside, and after a little -they heard her repeat the following prayer:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Tha ’n la nis air falbh ùainn,</p> -<p class="line">Tha ’n oidhche ’tighinn orm -dlùth;</p> -<p class="line">’S ni mise luidhe gu dion</p> -<p class="line">Fo dhubhar sgiath mo rùin.</p> -<p class="line">O gach cunnart ’s o gach bàs,</p> -<p class="line">’S o gach nàmhaid th’aig Mac -Dhe,</p> -<p class="line">O nàdur dhaoine borba,</p> -<p class="line">’S o choirbteachd mo nàduir -fèin,</p> -<p class="line">Gabhaidh mis’ a nis armachd Dhe,</p> -<p class="line">Gun bhi reubta no brisd’,</p> -<p class="line">’Sge b’oil leis an t’sàtan -’s le phàirt</p> -<p class="line">Bi’dh mis’ air mo gheàrd a -nis.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Which, literally rendered into English, will read -thus:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The day has now departed from us;</p> -<p class="line">Dark night gathers around,</p> -<p class="line">And I will lay me safely down (to sleep)</p> -<p class="line">Under shadow of my Beloved One’s wing.</p> -<p class="line">Against all dangers, and death in every form,</p> -<p class="line">Against each enemy of God’s good Son,</p> -<p class="line">Against the anger of the turbulent people,</p> -<p class="line">And against the corruption of my own nature,</p> -<p class="line">I will take unto me the armour of God—</p> -<p class="line">That shall protect me from all assaults:</p> -<p class="line">And in spite of Satan and all his following,</p> -<p class="line">I shall be well and surely guarded.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The old woman’s confidence in the Divine -protection was not misplaced; the heart of youth is generous, and the -beauty and solemnity of the scene carried it captive. The young men -felt that one who could thus, on retiring to rest, commend herself to -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb177" href="#pb177" name= -"pb177">177</a>]</span>God and God’s Son, could not be the -“evil” old woman they had thought her. Awed and impressed, -silently and on tip-toe, they departed for their homes, leaving the old -woman in peace. By-and-by things went well again with the cattle of the -hamlet, sickness disappeared from the district, and the old woman -continued to live the same quiet, unobtrusive life a few years longer, -and was as much respected and loved latterly, the story says, as she -was at one time hated and feared. Nor did she ever know of the young -men’s midnight visit to her hut on an errand so happily -frustrated.</p> -<p>The following are a couple of very excellent “<i lang= -"gd">toimhseachan</i>” that were sent us a few days ago. Finding -the correct solutions will afford some amusement to our Gaelic readers -during the first idle half-hour—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e978">Chi mi, chi mi thar an eas,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Fear cruaidh, colgarra glas,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Cirb do léine sios mu leis,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">’S ceum an cirinnaich fo choïs.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">A mhuc a mharbh mi ’n uiridh</p> -<p class="line">Bha uirceanan aice am bliadhna.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb178" href="#pb178" name= -"pb178">178</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch30" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e556">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXX.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Midges and other Bloodsuckers—The <i>Tsetse</i> -of South Africa—The Abyssinia -<i>Zimb</i>—Livingstone—Adders and Grass -Snakes—Lucan’s <i lang= -"la">Pharsalia</i>—Celsus—Legend of St. John <i lang= -"la">ante Portam Latinam</i>.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">Along the west coast the weather is now [May 1872] as -mild and May-like as you could wish; the swallow twitters gaily in the -sunlight, and when he ceases his zig-zag flight for a moment to rest on -chimney-top or house-ridge, he sings a gladsome song, low and faint -indeed, and frequently lost on that account in the general chorus, but -exceedingly sweet and musical, as you will find if you give it the -attention it merits; while in the distance you hear the cheery notes of -the cuckoo, wild and startling as yet, as they burst suddenly upon the -ear from out the woodland glade or from the old rowan tree that finds -root room, you wonder how, in yonder crevice in the rock above the -foaming waterfall, but soon to become familiar as the season advances, -and pressed upon your notice whether you will or no, and at all sorts -of impossible times and places, by the truant schoolboy’s -oft-repeated, though rarely successful, attempts at imitation. For the -first week in May the temperature is unusually high, and we do not -recollect ever before having seen insect life so plentiful so early in -the season. Midges, gadflies, and other bloodsuckers are already astir -in their thousands, their taste for their favourite fluid keen and -unabated, as they fail not abundantly to manifest by an activity that -one cannot help admiring, even while wishing that it could possibly be -directed to a more legitimate and less personally annoying end. But -“’tis their nature to,” as the hymn-book says, and we -must grin and bear it, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb179" href= -"#pb179" name="pb179">179</a>]</span>protecting ourselves from their -assaults as best we may, thankful the while that the evil is no worse. -Our winged pests are innocence itself compared with their congeners in -other lands. Our midge, for instance, is to the mosquito as the -dog-fish is to the shark, as the domestic cat is to the tiger; while -our gadflies and <i>Æstri</i>, though sufficiently annoying to -our cattle at certain seasons, are to be regarded as absolutely -harmless if we compare them with the venomous <i>Zimb</i> of Abyssinia, -or the still deadlier <i>Tsetse</i> of Southern Africa. The Abyssinian -insect, by the way—the <i>Zimb</i>—is probably the -<i>Zebub</i> of the Hebrew Scriptures, the estimation in which it was -held from the earliest ages being clearly enough indicated by its place -in the word Beelzebub, “the prince of devils.” -Livingstone’s account of the <i>Tsetse</i> is one of the most -interesting chapters in his <i>Travels</i>. Shall the intrepid explorer -be restored to us? We are afraid not. It is only too probable that, as -Scott said of his <i>protegé</i> and friend, the author of the -<i>Scenes of Infancy</i>—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“A distant and a deadly shore</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Has Leyden’s cold remains!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The districts of Ardgour and Sunart have always had an -unenviable notoriety for the great numbers of adders and grass snakes -to be found in them, the reptiles frequently attaining to a size -unknown, we believe, anywhere else in the West Highlands. Within the -last two or three years we have noticed that they are rapidly becoming -numerous in Lochaber, much more so than they used to be, though the -general opinion, in which we heartily concur, is that we were getting -on very well without them. During an ornithological ramble among the -hills a few days ago, we knelt to drink at a fountain that we fell in -with, welling up cool and sparkling beside a large moss-covered drift -boulder among the heather, when we were not a little startled by the -presence of no less than three adders that lay coiled together in -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb180" href="#pb180" name= -"pb180">180</a>]</span>a sort of Gordian knot on a patch of green moss -close by the fountain’s brink. The day was hot and dry, and they -had probably come there to drink and bathe; but we were very thirsty, -having just smoked a pipe on the top of the hill, and there being no -appearance of water anywhere else for miles around, and knowing, -besides, that there could be really no danger, even if the vipers had -been ten times larger and more venomous than they were, we drank a long -draught of the pure sweet water, and then proceeded with the stick in -our hand to attack the enemy, and soon had the satisfaction of knocking -them into wriggling, writhing bits, and crushing their heads under our -heel. Our assault was so sudden and unexpected that they had no time to -show fight; otherwise an adder, when his blood is up and thoroughly on -his guard, is an ugly customer to attack with no better weapon than a -walking-stick, and nothing can be imagined more deadly, wicked-looking, -and savage than such an animal, as with erected crest and flashing eye -he steadies himself in act to strike. It is curious that the poison of -these reptiles, though certain death if commingled in sufficient -quantity with the blood through an abrasion or wound, is perfectly -innocuous if taken into the stomach—a fact, by the way, that has -been known from very early times. On taking our drink, for instance, -from yonder viper-guarded fountain, we recollected that Lucan had -something on a somewhat similar circumstance in his <i lang= -"la">Pharsalia</i>. Describing Cato and his soldiers coming to a -fountain of water in the desert, and how horrified they were to find -innumerable serpents of the deadliest kind—asps and -dipsades—disporting themselves in and around the pool, he has the -following fine passage, the finest indeed in the poem, which we took -care to turn up when we reached home:—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line xd26e4819">“Jam spissior ignis,</p> -<p class="line">Et plaga, quam nullam superi mortalibus ultra,</p> -<p class="line">A medio fecere die calcatur, et unda <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb181" href="#pb181" name="pb181">181</a>]</span></p> -<p class="line">Rarior; inventus mediis fons unus arenis</p> -<p class="line">Largus aquæ; sed quem serpentum turbat -tenebat</p> -<p class="line">Vix capiente loco; stabant in margine siccæ</p> -<p class="line">Aspides, in mediis sitiebant Dipsades undis.</p> -<p class="line">Ductor, ut aspexit perituros fonte relicto</p> -<p class="line">Alloquitur: Vana specie conterrite leti</p> -<p class="line">Ne dubita miles tutos haurire liquores;</p> -<p class="line">Noxia serpentum est admisto sanguine pestis;</p> -<p class="line">Morsu virus habent et fatum dente minantur;</p> -<p class="line">Pocula morte carent. Dixit dubuumque venenum</p> -<p class="line">Hausit.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Which has been elegantly rendered into English as -follows:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“And now with fiercer heat the desert glows,</p> -<p class="line">And mid-day sun-darts aggravate their woes;</p> -<p class="line">When, lo! a spring amid the sandy plain</p> -<p class="line">Shows its clear mouth to cheer the fainting train;</p> -<p class="line">But round the guarded brink in thick array,</p> -<p class="line">Dire aspics roll’d their congregated way,</p> -<p class="line">And thirsting in the midst the deadly dipsas lay.</p> -<p class="line">Black horror seized their veins, and at the view</p> -<p class="line">Back from the fount the troops recoiling flew;</p> -<p class="line">When, wise above the crowd, by cares -unquell’d,</p> -<p class="line">Their trusted leader thus their dread -dispell’d—</p> -<p class="line">‘Let not vain terrors thus your minds -enslave,</p> -<p class="line">Nor dream the serpent brood can taint the wave;</p> -<p class="line">Urged by the fatal fang their poison kills,</p> -<p class="line">But mixes harmless with the bubbling rills.’</p> -<p class="line">Dauntless he spoke, and, bending as he stood,</p> -<p class="line">Drank with cool courage the suspected flood.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first"><i>Celsus</i>, an older writer still, and styled the -“Roman Hippocrates,” tells us in his great work, <i lang= -"la">De Medicinâ</i>, that the poison of serpents may be safely -enough sucked by the mouth from the wound, warning the operator, -however, to be careful that the lips and palate are free from any cut -or excoriation by which the venom might find its way into the blood, in -which case it might be just as dangerous as if introduced into the -circulation by the fang itself. It should be stated that the grass or -ringed snake spoken of above is not in the least poisonous, though ugly -enough to look at, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb182" href= -"#pb182" name="pb182">182</a>]</span>ready enough to assume a -threatening attitude if rudely disturbed. Nor, by the way, is the date -of the present writing inappropriate to the discussion of such a -subject, as we have at this moment discovered by the merest accident. -The 6th of May you will find is a Saint’s day in the Calendar, -being dedicated to St. John <i lang="la">ante Portam Latinam</i>, the -legend connected with which is as follows:—The Beloved Disciple, -after preaching the Gospel in various parts of the world, was in his -old age taken to Rome by the Emperor Domitian, and because he refused -to renounce the religion of Christ, was put into a cauldron of boiling -oil before the Latin Gate—<i lang="la">Porta -Latina</i>—which, however, did him no more harm than did -Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace to Shadrach, Meshach, and -Abednego; on the contrary, John came out of the cauldron rejuvenated, -younger, fairer, and more beautiful than before. Afterwards a cup of -deadliest poison was given him to drink, but as he was putting it to -his lips, the poison, assuming the appropriate shape of a venomous -serpent, glided from the cup, leaving the draught harmless and pure. He -was finally banished to Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse.</p> -<p>Old Fingalian rhymes and proverbs having reference to dogs and the -hunting of the stag, as it was then pursued, are very common in the -Highlands, and show how devoted to the chase were our Celtic ancestors. -Our neighbour, the Rev. Mr. Clerk of Kilmallie, in his splendid edition -of <i>Ossian</i>, gives some of these old rhymes in his very -interesting and learned notes on <i>Fingal</i>. The following was sent -us a short time ago, and as it has never appeared in print, we present -it to the reader with a liberal translation. We are always glad to be -able to rescue from oblivion even the smallest shred of the folk-lore -of the olden time. The story goes that this rhyme was first of all -taught by a fairy to a gay young hunter “of the period,” -under the following circumstances:—Once upon a time, a sprightly, -green-robed fairy, a sort of princess in her way, fell in <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb183" href="#pb183" name="pb183">183</a>]</span>love -with a young Fingalian hunter, who had frequent occasion, on his way to -and from the chase, to pass the <i>shian</i> or green knoll in which -the fairy band of the glen had taken up their abode. The fairy and her -hunter lover had frequent opportunities of meeting in secret, until -some evil-disposed sister fairy divulged Brianag’s—for that -was the fairy’s name—imprudent and unfairy-like conduct to -the powerful fairy prince Aërlunn, who was himself over head and -ears in love with the beautiful Brianag, though she gave him no -encouragement at all; on the contrary, she flatly told him that, great -and powerful as he was, she did not love him in the least, and would -have nothing to do with him. On hearing how things were going on, -Aërlunn was very jealous and very angry, just as a mortal might be -under similar circumstances, and he issued an edict, as Prince of the -Fairies of that glen, by which, after reflecting severely on the -unfairy-like conduct of Brianag and others of the band, he prohibited -Brianag from leaving the <i>shian</i> on any pretence whatever, except -for the one hour before midnight on the night when the moon completed -her first quarter—perfect liberty to do as they like during this -one hour in the month is every fairy’s birthright, and no power -can deprive them of it. He would have done something very dreadful to -Brianag’s lover, only the latter was protected from any evil a -fairy enemy could do to him by a talisman of extraordinary value, which -his uncle, a priest of the Druids, had given him, and which he always -carried on his person. Brianag and her lover were thus able to meet for -one hour in every month, despite the opposition of the angry -Aërlunn, whose jealousy became at last so insupportable, that he -resolved to shift his court and people from that glen to another at a -great distance. To this arrangement, much as she regretted it, as it -separated herself and her lover, Brianag dare not object. It is a -prerogative appertaining to the Princes of Fairyland that they can -shift their court at will, when and whither they please. The fairy -palace thus forsaken is <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb184" href= -"#pb184" name="pb184">184</a>]</span>still to be seen in Glen Etive, -and has ever since been called <i lang="gd">An Sithean -Samhach</i>—the Quiet or Deserted Fairy Knoll. On parting with -her lover at their last interview, Brianag presented him with a silver -horn, whose blast could be heard, loud and clear, over the Seven Hills -and across the Seven Glens; and knowing that it was his ambition to -excel all others in the chase, she instructed him as to the best kind -of dog to have and hunt withal as follows:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">Cuilean bus-dubh, buidhe,</p> -<p class="line">Ceud mhac na saidhe,</p> -<p class="line">Air àrach air meog ’s air bainne -ghabhar,</p> -<p class="line">Cha deach’ air sliabh air nach beireadh.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Which may stand in English thus:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">Get a yellow brindled dog,</p> -<p class="line">First-born of his dam’s first litter,</p> -<p class="line">With a muzzle black as jet,</p> -<p class="line">Reared on whey and milk of goats;</p> -<p class="line">No stag in forest can escape him.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Those who rear deer-hounds, <i lang="la">et juvenes -qui gaudent canibus</i>, might do worse than experiment a little -according to the fairy’s receipt; we shouldn’t wonder at -all if a splendid dog was the result, for these old rhymes are rarely -devoid of reason. There is no reason at all events why such a dog might -<i>not</i> turn out well. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb185" href= -"#pb185" name="pb185">185</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch31" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e577">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">The Leafing of the Oak and Ash—Splendid -Stags’ Heads—Edmund Waller—Old Silver-Plate buried -for preservation in the ’45—Mimicry in Birds—An -accomplished Goldfinch.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">While mild and May-like enough in the valleys and -along the coast line, the weather [May 1872] is reported as having more -of March than May about it on the uplands, owing to the prevalence of -north-easterly winds, that are at once exceedingly piercing and -unseasonably <i>snell</i>. It is pleasant at the same time to have to -report that, so far, crops of all kinds look extremely well, and have -seldom been seen so forward in mid-May. Potatoes have been -distinguishable from field’s end to field’s end in regular -drills for ten days past, and in some instances are already undergoing -their first weeding and hoeing. Oats show a strong, healthy braird, and -nothing but a deficiency of moisture in its present stage can prevent -ryegrass from being the best crop that has been known in the West -Highlands for many years. Much, however, will depend on the nature of -the weather for the next fortnight: those who should know best say that -the country would be all the better of more or less rain on every day -for the remainder of the month, and we daresay they are right. The -lambing season has hitherto been a highly favourable one, though the -drought and the keen-edged easterly winds are beginning to be -complained of by shepherds in charge of upland hirsels. As we write, -however, there is appearance of rain, which cannot fail to be attended -by a change of wind to a more genial <i>airt</i>, and it is hoped it -may fall abundantly. The summer, by the way, is likely to be a hot and -dry one, if there be <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb186" href="#pb186" -name="pb186">186</a>]</span>any truth in the popular belief that when -the oak takes precedence of the ash in presenting its rich green -foliage to the light, a cloudless, rainless summer is sure to follow. -We observe that everywhere the oak is now in leaf, while the ash is yet -budless and bare to its topmost bough, manifesting an unwonted dulness -and drowsiness for mid-May, as if it was loth, even at the call of -summer, to be roused from its hybernal repose.</p> -<p>We are indebted to the monks of the middle ages for the introduction -into our country, and successful cultivation, of some of our choicest -fruits and most beautiful flowers; nor is it any wonder that in times -when herbalism and the culling of simples was universally practised and -believed in, numberless shrubs and plants of real or supposed efficacy -in the cure of particular ailments should also be imported and -assiduously cultivated by the same benefactors. In some cases, however, -the supposed plants of virtue then introduced have in our day turned -out to be no better than noisome weeds, extremely difficult of -eradication, and one of these—how it found its way into this -district it would be difficulty to say—is becoming a perfect pest -in some parts of Lochaber. We refer to the plant commonly known as -<i>Bishopweed</i>, <i>Goatweed</i>, or <i>Herb Gerard</i>, which the -botanists have honoured by the high-sounding name <i lang= -"la">Ægropodium podagraria</i>. Gout, as its botanical name -implies, was the disease in which this rank and foul-smelling weed was -supposed to be of extraordinary virtue, and for anything we know to the -contrary, it may still possess all the virtues at one time so -confidently ascribed to it; but then you see gout is altogether unknown -in Lochaber—we are too poor, and perforce live too soberly, to be -visited by such aristocratic ailments—and what business therefore -this weed has to grow and spread amongst us, and become unto us a -nuisance and a plague, we cannot imagine: not knowing the disease, we -could get on very well without the unsavoury antidote. Bishopweed, if -allowed free growth in suitable <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb187" -href="#pb187" name="pb187">187</a>]</span>soil, will quickly cover the -ground, to the destruction of everything else, its innumerable stalks, -crowned with pinnated ash-like leaves, attaining to the height of a -foot or more. When a single plant once gets root-hold in pasture land, -it spreads with amazing rapidity, damaging and crowding out the grass -in all directions, so that whenever and wherever it appears its utter -and thorough extirpation, whatever the labour and cost, should be -insisted upon with the least possible delay. When plucked by the hand -the plant emits a fœtid, sickening smell, all trace of which is -only effaced from the fingers by a very thorough washing indeed. We -have observed that neither horse, nor ox, nor sheep will of choice -touch it, though its being in many places called goatweed would seem to -indicate that it is no more rejected by that animal than many other -acrid and poisonous plants and herbs which our other ruminants will not -touch even if starving. Of all the ground pests with which we are -acquainted, bishopweed is the worst, and we warn our readers, if ever -they meet with it in any neglected corner of garden or field, to show -it no mercy at all, for it is of an unmerciful nature itself, killing -every blade of grass it comes in contact with, and choking unto the -death every other vegetable that it can surmount and master.</p> -<p>The finest stag’s head and antlers that we have ever seen form -a trophy in the possession of our neighbour, Mr. Bill, Kilmalieu, the -magnificent “monarch of the waste” that bore them having -fallen to that gentleman’s own rifle in Glengour two or three -years ago. The other day, however, we were shown a set of larger horns, -though not quite so handsome perhaps, or so faultless in spread and -curve, and unfortunately imperfect from the loss of one of the tines, -which was picked up by a shepherd in the Black Mount Forest many years -ago. The size of beam throughout was something extraordinary, and one -could not help regretting that it had not the head and neck attached, -that it might be set up in the style for which <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb188" href="#pb188" name="pb188">188</a>]</span>the -good city of Inverness has of recent years become so famous. Such a -trophy of the chase, complete in all its parts, would have deserved the -place of honour amid a thousand such trophies in the noblest hall in -the kingdom. As we handled these antlers, and poised them at -arm’s length with admiration, the thought suddenly struck us that -Edmund Waller, the poet, must have had some such magnificent trophy -before him when he burst into the following apostrophe, in which a -well-known fact in the natural history of the animal is so happily -interwoven with the old mythological legend:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“O fertile head! which every year</p> -<p class="line">Could such a crop of wonder bear!</p> -<p class="line">The teeming earth did never bring</p> -<p class="line">So soon so hard, so huge a thing:</p> -<p class="line">Which, might it never have been cast,</p> -<p class="line">Each year’s growth added to the last,</p> -<p class="line">These lofty branches had supplied,</p> -<p class="line">The earth’s bold sons’ prodigious -pride;</p> -<p class="line">Heaven with these engines had been scal’d</p> -<p class="line">When mountains heaped on mountains failed.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Lines, by the way, that would form a most happy and -appropriate inscription for any really fine trophy of this kind.</p> -<p>Calling upon the Misses Macdonald of Achtriachtan the other day at -Fort-William, we were shown some very fine old silver-plate, having a -history of its own, to the recital of which we listened with no small -interest. After the battle of Culloden, a party of -“red-coat” soldiers entered Lochaber, and employed -themselves in pillaging and plundering in all directions. Hearing that -visitors so unwelcome were in the neighbourhood, Mrs. Cameron of -Glenevis, a lady of great spirit and decision of character, had all her -silver-plate, china, and other valuables buried deep in the ground -outside the garden wall, after which she removed, with her children and -personal attendants, to a spacious cave called <i lang="gd">Uaimh -Shomhairle</i> (Samuel’s Cave), far up the glen, in the -south-western shoulder of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb189" href= -"#pb189" name="pb189">189</a>]</span>Ben Nevis. Meanwhile the soldiers -visited Glenevis House, but, disappointed at not finding the valuables -they looked for in such a residence, they burned and plundered the glen -without mercy, the terrified inhabitants taking to the mountains, only -too glad to escape with their lives, while their homesteads were in -flames, and their cattle either driven away or slaughtered on the spot. -Lady Glenevis was at last discovered in her cave by a party of -soldiers, who had somehow heard of her place of retreat, and had to -undergo much rude treatment at their hands, because, in defiance of all -their threats, she refused to tell where the valuables of which they -were in search had been hidden away. As they were about to leave the -cave, one of the soldiers, observing that she had something bulky in -her breast, of which she seemed very careful, and over which her plaid, -fastened with a silver brooch, was carefully drawn, made a snatch at -the trinket, and, when the lady resisted, drew his sword and made a -thrust, which cut open the plaid at its point of fastening, wounding -her infant son at the same moment in the neck; for the hidden treasure -in her bosom, though the soldier doubtless thought it might turn out to -be something of more marketable value, was a child only a few months -old. The soldiers at last departed, carrying with them the brooch and -plaid as the only trophies of their victory over the defenceless lady -of the cave. The wounded child recovered, though he bore the mark of -the sword-thrust to his dying day. He lived to be laird of Glenevis, -was father of the late much-respected Mrs. Macdonald of Achtriachtan, -and grandfather of the ladies above mentioned. We remember hearing our -friend, the late Dr. Macintyre of Kilmonivaig, repeating some very fine -Gaelic lines to a waterfall, something in the style of Southey’s -address to <i>Lodore</i>, which he said was by the Mrs. Cameron of -Glenevis above mentioned, and composed by her while in hiding in the -cave. When quieter times came round, the buried valuables were of -course exhumed, and were found to be none the worse of their temporary -interment. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb190" href="#pb190" name= -"pb190">190</a>]</span></p> -<p>Most birds are endowed with considerable powers of mimicry, the -exercise of which, under favourable circumstances, seems, we have -observed, to afford them great delight. The bird most celebrated in -this respect is, perhaps, the mocking-thrush of America, the singularly -expressive and appropriate name of which, among the Mexican aborigines, -is <i>Cencontlatlolli</i>, which means <i>four hundred tongues or -languages</i>, conferred upon it in honour and acknowledgment of the -fact that, with a rich and varied song of its own, it correctly -imitates all other songs and sounds as well. Though we have nothing -equal to the four-hundred-tongued wonder of America, many of our native -British birds are in truth excellent mimics, particularly after they -have been some time in confinement, the tedium and irksomeness of their -imprisonment being probably alleviated by a constant exercise of their -gifts in this way, until individuals sometimes attain to a mastery in -the art that is perfectly astonishing. Amongst our pets at present is a -goldfinch cock, a very fine bird, still perfect at all points, though -he must be at least a dozen years old, during ten of which he has been -in our possession as a favourite cage-bird. He is a magnificent singer, -and the wisest little fellow in the world; you only wonder, indeed, how -such a rich flood of song, clear and long sustained, can issue from -such a tiny throat, and how such a little scarlet-capped head can -contain so much intelligence and sagacity. -“Cowie”—for so he is called, after the bird-catcher -from whom we purchased him—is above all things an extraordinary -mimic. We have never, indeed, known any bird to equal him in this -respect. The chirping of the sparrow in the hedge opposite the window -at which usually hangs his cage; the twittering of swallows, as they -flit past on their zigzag insect cruise; the <i>fink, fink</i> of the -lively chaffinch; the <i>chirr</i> of the ox-eye tit; the bell-like -jingle of the blackbird scolding a prowling cat; the lugubrious notes -of the corn bunting’s evening plaint; the love-cheep of the -lesser white-throat; and the quick rasping utterances <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb191" href="#pb191" name="pb191">191</a>]</span>of -the excited wren, into whose proper territories a rival has dared to -intrude;—these are each and all imitated by our little pet with -marvellous exactness of note, emphasis, and tone. The querulous -cheeping of a chicken that has met with some little accident, or for -the moment lost sight of its mother, he mimics to the life; and he will -on such occasions stand on tip-toe, stretch his neck to the utmost, or -cling parrot-like to the topmost wire of his cage, in order to catch a -glimpse of the victim of his ridicule. When tired of this, the commoner -and coarser part of his art, he will burst suddenly into song, which he -will continue sometimes for an hour on end, introducing voluntaries and -variations without number, in which you can readily distinguish longer -or shorter strophes from the songs of almost all the birds he has ever -had a chance of hearing. Any one, indeed, thoroughly familiar with -bird-music could easily name the principal songsters in the district -immediately around us solely from the singing of our talented little -polyglot, so faultless is his imitation of the songs as well as -“conversational utterances,” so to speak, of all such birds -as he is in the habit of hearing and seeing from his cage at the -frequently open window. You may be sure that “Cowie” is an -immense favourite with us all, and that his weight in diamonds would -hardly induce us to part with him. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb192" -href="#pb192" name="pb192">192</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch32" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e586">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Potato Culture—Sensibility of the Potato Shaw to -Weather changes—The Carline Thistle—Burns—The true -<i lang="la">Carduus Scotticus</i>—The old Dog-Rhyme.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">Of no place in existence, perhaps, is the old adage, -in its most literal sense, truer than of Lochaber, that “it never -rains but it pours” [June 1872]. When we last wrote rain was much -needed; no mid-March could be dustier or colder than was our mid-May; -rain, rain was the cry on all hands; the birds, as they alighted on the -branches or flew overhead, cheeped it querulously; the ducks quacked it -energetically; the hens cackled and gaped for it; while the cattle -afield lowed for it in a manner the meaning of which there was no -mistaking; and at last the change of weather, so universally wished -for, came—came first of all in the shape of hail, the <i lang= -"la">dira grando</i> of Horace, the downright pea-size genuine article, -which left the hills around as white as if, in questionable taste, they -had whitewashed themselves for the season. <i>Hail!</i> fellow, well -met, was the natural and appropriate greeting. Then came sleet, a -milder form of the same visitation, not very pleasant, perhaps, but we -were grateful; then with the wind from the west, soft and pleasant as -the breath of a child, came warm, genial summer rain; the tiniest blade -of grass felt the benign influence, and, in the beautiful language of -oriental imagery, “the mountains and the hills broke forth before -us into singing, and the trees and fields clapped their hands.” -It is now mild and beautiful exceedingly, with just enough of rain from -time to time to keep everything fresh and green, and at full stretch of -growth, so that <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb193" href="#pb193" -name="pb193">193</a>]</span>crops of all kinds are everywhere making -the most satisfactory progress; and although the unseasonable hail and -intense cold of ten days ago was very trying to the young potato plants -in exposed situations, we are glad to say that no serious damage has -resulted, the change from cold to milder weather having been very -gradual. The damage in such cases always depends on the suddenness, or -the contrary, of the transition from a low to a high temperature; a -night of frost, followed by a hot sun next day, being most dangerous to -vegetable life, while frost, followed by rain and cloud, and so on -gradually to heat and sunshine again, rarely does any more harm than -merely to give a slight check to what might otherwise prove an -unhealthy rapidity of growth. In the same way it is found that in the -case of animals generally, and in man particularly, it is not the -actual and immediate amount of cold undergone at any time that kills or -maims, but the too sudden transition from a very low temperature to a -comparatively high one. It is probably well enough known to the reader -that very many of our flowers and plants are hygrometric, some of them -very sensitively so. By hygrometric we mean that they spread out or -expand their parts when the sun is bright and the weather is dry, while -they contract or close them on the approach of moisture and cloud. We -would at present draw attention to the fact that the potato plant, in -its earlier stages of growth, is very sensitive in this respect, more -so in some years than in others perhaps, according as the plants have -come up, strong and vigorous and healthy, or the reverse; for we think -our observations during many years warrant us in saying that the more -vigorous and healthier the plant, the more sensitive will it be found -to weather changes—its very sensitiveness in this respect, -observe, helping forward its growth and preserving its vitality, by -enabling it to avail itself of every favourable influence, just as it -enables it to protect itself against such influences as are -unfavourable or adverse. We were particularly struck with this -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb194" href="#pb194" name= -"pb194">194</a>]</span>hygrometric sensitiveness in the potato plant a -day or two ago. We have an early planted field, more forward, perhaps, -than anything else of the kind in the West Highlands, over which we -took a friend who happened to call upon us. It was about mid-day, with -a bright, hot sun overhead, and our friend agreed with us that he had -never seen potatoes that had come up more regularly, or that looked -more healthy and vigorous at the same stage of growth, the fully -expanded plants already showing leaves broad and beautiful as those of -a hazel tree in June. In an hour or two afterwards we had occasion to -pass the same field, and the change in the appearance of the plants was -extraordinary. They seemed to have actually grown a couple of inches -since mid-day, and our friend exclaimed, “Well, your potatoes are -wonderful! look at them now.” And we did look, not so much, -however, at the potato field as our friend did; <i>we</i> looked -upwards and saw that clouds were rapidly forming in the west, one -black, finger-like stripe of which had already nearly mounted to the -zenith, and looking at <i>that</i> and at our potato field, we assured -our friend that a heavy fall of rain, with possibly a gale of wind, was -at hand. Our companion was astonished; the sun was yet shining -brightly, and the greater part of the heavens was clear and cloudless; -but within little more than an hour afterwards the rain fell in -torrents, and a smart gale from the south-west was blowing. Our -potatoes, however, had foreseen it all; were sensible of its approach, -while our friend and ourselves thought ourselves in the midst of fine -weather that might, perhaps, last unbroken for days; and what struck -our companion as a sudden and mysterious addition to the height of the -plants was merely the effect of their having gathered themselves -together—contracted all their parts into the least possible -compass—thus assuming an upright pyramidal form, as best enabling -them to withstand the assaults of the approaching storm. Plants of less -health and vigour would, according to our theory, have <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb195" href="#pb195" name= -"pb195">195</a>]</span>shown the same sensitiveness in the -circumstances, but in a manner not so immediate, and to a degree less -marked and striking. Our companion of that day, who got a thorough -<i>drouking</i>, as we say in Scotland, on his way home that afternoon, -writes us with some humour that “as he has always had a great -regard for potatoes on the table, both mashed and ‘balled,’ -in their ‘jackets,’ so in future will he, in acknowledgment -of their infallibility in the matter of weather changes, view them with -respect even in the field.” It should be stated, by the way, that -this hygrometrical property in the potato plant rapidly diminishes in -sensitiveness as the haulm increases in height and strength, as if it -felt that when approaching its full growth it could afford very much to -disregard such weather changes as are incident to the mid-summer -season; but the reader who has the opportunity may verify all we have -said upon the subject for himself.</p> -<p>Another plant still more remarkable for hygrometric properties is -the common carline, or carlen thistle, the <i lang="la">Carlina -vulgaris</i> of botanists. It is common enough in some districts of -Scotland, though those who do not know it already need not be in the -least ambitious of the honour of its acquaintance, unless indeed from a -purely scientific point of view, for the carline, wherever it appears, -is almost always the infallible sign of a poor soil, miserably farmed. -The species receives its name of <i lang="la">Carlina</i> from an old -story that Charlemagne introduced it into Europe on account of some -valuable medicinal qualities attributed to it; its virtues in this -respect having been revealed, it was said, to Carolus Magnus by an -angel in a vision of the night during the prevalence of a deadly -plague. Certain preparations of its roots and leaves were for centuries -afterwards held of great virtue in such internal complaints as demanded -violent purgatives for their removal; and to this day it is, we -believe, held in great repute by herbalists for the cure of vertigo, -headache, and other cerebral diseases. As a weather prognosticator, -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb196" href="#pb196" name= -"pb196">196</a>]</span>it is perhaps unequalled by any other British -plant, the sensitiveness of its involucral scales to the slightest -weather changes being so extraordinary as to have from very early times -attracted the attention and aroused the wonderment of those -unacquainted with the fact that similar properties, in a greater or -less degree, are common to all plants and flowers—to the whole -vegetable kingdom indeed. The carline has a stem of some eight or ten -inches in height, and bears many pretty purple flowerets set in the -midst of straw-coloured rays. The carline’s sensitiveness to -weather changes continues long after it has been cut or pulled, -provided the heads have not been much hurt or bruised in the process; -on the same principle, we suppose, that some animals are known to -manifest unmistakeable signs of muscular irritability long after they -are otherwise, as we should say, to all intents and purposes dead. We -have generally met with the carline thistle among sickly-growing oats, -on poor, thin soil, and sometimes among other luxuriant weeds in a -neglected potato field. It is amusing, by the way, sometimes to see -bonnet-badges and pictorial representations of what you are supposed to -believe is the Scottish thistle, evidently copied to the life from one -of the carline family! which are but pigmies in stature and absolutely -harmless in the matter of prickliness compared with the grand stately -fellow bristling with prickles strong as darning needles, and sharp and -venomous as the sting of a bee, with “<i lang="la">Nemo me impune -lacessit</i>” in the very look of him—the true national -emblem! You remember Burns’ reference to it in a very fine stanza -that has been often quoted, that indeed everybody has by -heart—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Even then, a wish (I mind its power)—</p> -<p class="line">A wish that to my latest hour</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Shall strongly heave my breast—</p> -<p class="line">That I for poor auld Scotland’s sake</p> -<p class="line">Some usefu’ plan or <span class="corr" id= -"xd26e5101" title="Source: beuk">book</span> could make,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Or sing a sang at least.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb197" href="#pb197" name= -"pb197">197</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line"><i>The rough burr-thistle, spreading wide</i></p> -<p class="line xd26e978"><i>Amang the bearded bear,</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>I turn’d the weeder-clips aside,</i></p> -<p class="line xd26e978"><i>And spared the symbol dear</i>:</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">No nation, no station,</p> -<p class="line xd26e3677">My envy e’er could raise;</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">A Scot still, but blot still,</p> -<p class="line xd26e3677">I knew nae higher praise.<span class="corr" -id="xd26e5132" title="Source: ’">”</span></p> -</div> -<p class="first xd26e5134">—(<i>Epistle to the Guidwife of -Wauchope House.</i>)</p> -<p>The true <i lang="la">Carduus Scotticus</i> is not fond of -cultivated land, but is a tremendous fellow when he gets hold of a -waste outlying corner to himself, sometimes attaining a height of four -or five, or even six feet, with a stem as thick as your wrist, and -prickles—no, <i>spikes</i> is the word—with spikes, then, -as formidable as the bayonets of a kilted regiment going into -action.</p> -<p>An anonymous lady correspondent in London sent us a manuscript sheet -of paper of the last century, containing a very old dog-rhyme. -“The paper has been in our family as long as I can remember, and -I have heard my grandfather repeat the lines often before we left the -Highlands fifty years ago. The Ronald Mac Ronald Vic John mentioned in -the rhyme was, I believe, one of the Glencoe family, a celebrated -hunter of deer in his day. He was killed, as I have heard my -grandfather relate, at the battle of Philiphaugh. It was the fairy -dog-rhyme in one of your recent letters that brought to my mind that -such a thing was in my possession.” Owing to the faded state of -the writing, and a very peculiar orthography, we had some difficulty in -deciphering the lines; but, modernising the spelling a little, the -following we believe to be an accurate transcript:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">An cù ’bh’aig -Raonull-mac-Raonuil-’ic-Iain,</p> -<p class="line">Bheiradh e sithionn a beinn:</p> -<p class="line">Ceann leathan eadar ’dha shuil, ach biorach -’s bus dubh air gu shroin.</p> -<p class="line">Uchd gearrain, seang-leasrach; ’s bha -fhionnadh</p> -<p class="line">Mar fhrioghan tuirc nimheil nan còs. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb198" href="#pb198" name= -"pb198">198</a>]</span></p> -<p class="line">Donn mar àirneag bha shuil; speir luthannach -lùbta,</p> -<p class="line">’S faobhar a chnamh mar ghein.</p> -<p class="line">An cù sud ’bh’aig -Raonull-mac-Raonuil-’ic-Iain,</p> -<p class="line">’S tric thug e sithionn a beinn.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Which, rendered as literally as possible, many stand -thus in English—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">Ronald-son of Ronald-son of John’s good dog,</p> -<p class="line">He could bring venison from the mountain.</p> -<p class="line">He was broad between the eyes; otherwise sharp and -black-muzzled to the tip of his nose.</p> -<p class="line">With a horse-like chest, he was small flanked, and his -pile</p> -<p class="line">Was like the bristles of the den frequenting boar.</p> -<p class="line">Brown as a sole was his eye;</p> -<p class="line">Supple-jointed (was he), with houghs bent as a bow;</p> -<p class="line">All his bones felt sharp and hard as the edge of a -wedge.</p> -<p class="line">Such was Ranald Mac Ranald vic John’s good -dog,</p> -<p class="line">That often brought venison from the mountain.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb199" href="#pb199" name= -"pb199">199</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch33" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e598">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">A non-“Laughing” Summer—Rheumatic -Pains—Old Gaelic Incantation for Cattle Ailments.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The best thing, perhaps, that can be said of our -summer up to this date [July 1872], is that it has, upon the whole, -been amiable and summer-like; has, after the manner of a love-lorn -maiden, wept much and often smiled, although, until within the last day -or two, it has never actually laughed. You loved it, and couldn’t -help yourself, but your love wanted warmth and fervour, just because of -<i>its</i> want of jocundity and joyousness. Even in our climate, -summer is not summer by the mere reading of the thermometer, however -sensitive and delicate its mercurial indications; one wants brilliant -sunshine, with cloudless, or almost cloudless skies, to make up a -summer as a summer proper ought to be. The poets of the East and South -always speak of summer and summer scenes as “laughing,” -while in more northern and less favoured lands your poet is content to -describe otherwise exactly similar scenes and situations as simply -“smiling,” “gentle,” “sweet,” -“quiet,” and so forth, so that an acute critic, by -attending to this alone, could tell, were other proofs entirely -wanting, whether a poet was born under northern skies, or lived and -loved, soared and sang, in sunnier and more southern climes. Horace -has—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">—“<i>mihi angulus ridet</i>.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">His “corner,” observe, does not merely -smile; it “<i>laughs</i>” under the bright blue Italian -sky. Lucretius has—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">—“<i>tibi rident æquora -ponti</i>;”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb200" href="#pb200" name= -"pb200">200</a>]</span></p> -<p>which Creech and Dryden, bards of a colder clime, have rendered -“smiles,” but which literally and truly is honest, open, -joyous “<i>laughter</i>” in the southern bard. Metaetasio -has—</p> -<div lang="it" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“A te fioriscono</p> -<p class="line">Gli erbosi prati;</p> -<p class="line">E i flutti ridono</p> -<p class="line">Nel mar placati.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">“<i lang="it">Ridono</i>,” -observe—laughter again—like his earlier countrymen, Horace -and Lucretius. Our British poets rarely venture to make spring or -summer do more than smile; they are afraid of the laughter of the -south, as being <i lang="la">quoad hoc</i> an over-bold hyperbole. We -can only quote at this moment two instances in which the laughter of -more favoured lands is boldly introduced. John Langhorne, a poet and -miscellaneous writer of the last century, author of the <i>Fables of -Flora</i>, very beautifully says—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Where Tweed’s soft banks in liberal beauty -lie,</p> -<p class="line">And Flora <i>laughs</i> beneath an azure -sky.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">And Chaucer, the father of English poetry, has the -following:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The busy larkë, messager of daye,</p> -<p class="line">Salueth in hire song the morwe gray;</p> -<p class="line">And fyry Phebus ryseth up so brighte,</p> -<p class="line">That al the orient <i>laugheth</i> of the -light.”—</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Very finely modernised by Dryden thus:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The morning lark, messenger of day,</p> -<p class="line">Saluted in her song the morning grey;</p> -<p class="line">And soon the sun arose with beams so bright</p> -<p class="line"><i>That all the horizon laughed</i> to see the joyous -sight.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Our summer, then, thus far, has not been a -“laughing,” but, at the best, a merely smiling summer. -There has been but little actual sunshine, rarely such a thing as a -blue, unclouded sky; but, if we do not err, if the wish be not -altogether father to the thought, a splendid autumn, glad and -golden—summer and autumn <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb201" -href="#pb201" name="pb201">201</a>]</span>in one, like the companion -scenes in a stereoscope, in close and kindly combination—is in -store for us. Even as it is, the country is very beautiful, and the -rains of the west, if superabundant, are at least perfectly harmless to -any one in ordinary health, no matter how often you get drenched -through and through, as the saying is, provided always you do not idly -saunter or sit down for any length of time in wet clothes; neglect this -precaution, however, and you may look out for an attack of rheumatism, -and the taste of pains to which the tortures of the rack were but a -joke—pains as fiery and intense as those threatened against the -foul-mouthed Caliban in the <i>Tempest</i>. You recollect what Prospero -says—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Hag-seed hence!</p> -<p class="line">Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou wert best</p> -<p class="line">To answer other business. Shrug’st thou, -malice?</p> -<p class="line">If thou neglect’st, or dost unwillingly</p> -<p class="line">What I command, <i>I’ll rack thee with old -cramps;</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>Fill all thy bones with aches</i>; make thee -roar</p> -<p class="line">That beasts shall tremble at thy din!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Get wet, then, as often and as much as you like, in -the West Highlands, but don’t sit down or idle about in wet -clothes, is a friend’s advice; otherwise, you will soon have a -pretty correct idea of the nature of the cramps and aches of which even -the brutal Caliban had such a horror that he exclaims:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“No, ‘pray thee!—</p> -<p class="line">I must obey: his art is of such power,</p> -<p class="line">It would control my dam’s god, Setebos,</p> -<p class="line">And make a vassal of him.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Supplementary to our last paper on the spells and -incantations of the Highlands, the following has been sent to us by our -kind correspondent, Mr. Carmichael, of the Inland Revenue, Island of -Uist, a gentleman of whom highly honourable mention is made in Mr. -Campbell’s <i>West Highland Tales</i>, and in some of the notes -to the Rev<span class="corr" id="xd26e5327" title= -"Not in source">.</span> Dr. Clerk’s <i>Ossian</i>. Mr. -Carmichael is more conversant, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb202" -href="#pb202" name="pb202">202</a>]</span>perhaps, than anybody else -with the antiquities and folk-lore of the Outer Hebrides. The -incantation that follows was taken down by Mr. Carmichael from the -recitation of “an honest, unsophisticated old <i>Banarach</i>, or -dairymaid, in North Uist, who is even yet occasionally consulted about -sickly cows”:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">Rann Leigheas Galar Cruidh.</span></h4> -<p class="line">Crìosd’ ’us Ostail ’us -Eoin</p> -<p class="line">An triuir sin is binne gloir</p> -<p class="line">A dh-èirich a dheanada na h-òra,</p> -<p class="line">Roimh dhorus na Cathrach,</p> -<p class="line">No air glún deas De Mhic.</p> -<p class="line">Air na mnathan múr-shuileach,</p> -<p class="line">Air na feara geur shuileach,</p> -<p class="line">’Sair na saighdean sitheadach;</p> -<p class="line">Dithis a lasachadh alt agus ga ’na adhachadh</p> -<p class="line">Agus triuir a chuireas mi ’an urra rin sin,</p> -<p class="line">An t-Athair, ’sar Mac ’san Sprorad -Naomh,</p> -<p class="line">Ceithir ghalara fichead ’an aoraibh duine -’s beathaich,</p> -<p class="line">Dia ga sgriobanh, Dia ga sguabadh,</p> -<p class="line">As t-fhail, as t-fheoil, ’sad -’chnàimh ’sad ’smuais;</p> -<p class="line">’Smar a thog Crìosd’ meas air bharra -gach crann,</p> -<p class="line">Gum b’ann a thogas Edhiotsa</p> -<p class="line">Gach sùil, gach gnù ’sgach -farmad,</p> -<p class="line">On ’là u dingh gu latha deireannach do -shaoghail. Amen.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">In English—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">A Healing Incantation for Diseases in -Cattle.</span></h4> -<p class="line">Christ and His Apostle and John,</p> -<p class="line">These three of most excellent glory,</p> -<p class="line">That ascended to make supplication</p> -<p class="line">Through the gateway of the city,</p> -<p class="line">Fast by the right knee of God’s own Son.</p> -<p class="line">As regards evil-eyed women;</p> -<p class="line">As regards blighting-eyed men;</p> -<p class="line">As regards swift-speeding elf-arrows;</p> -<p class="line">Two to strengthen and renovate the joints,</p> -<p class="line">And three to back (these two) as sureties—</p> -<p class="line">The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.</p> -<p class="line">To four-and-twenty diseases are the reins of man and -beast (subject);</p> -<p class="line">God utterly extirpate, sweep away, and eradicate them -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb203" href="#pb203" name= -"pb203">203</a>]</span></p> -<p class="line">From out thy blood and flesh, thy bones and marrow,</p> -<p class="line">And as Christ uplifted its proper foliage</p> -<p class="line">To the extremities of the branches on each -tree-top,</p> -<p class="line">So may He uplift from off and out of thee</p> -<p class="line">Each (evil) eye, each frowning look, malice and -envy—</p> -<p class="line">From this day forth to the world’s last day. -Amen.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">“It is not always an easy task,” writes -our correspondent, “to write from the dictation of partially deaf -and toothless old women,” and we perfectly agree with him. -“Ostail,” in the first line of the above spell, we take to -be an insular form of <i>Abstol</i>, voc.—<i>Abstoil</i> or -<i>Abstail</i>—<i>the</i> Apostle <i lang="fr">par -excellence</i>, namely, Paul. Mr. Carmichael appends the following -elucidatory note:—“This <i>òra</i> or spell can be -used for either man or beast, and is guaranteed to effect a cure in any -case! In the case of a four-footed animal a worsted thread is tied -round the tail, and the <i>òra</i> or incantation repeated. The -“snàthaile” (<i lang="gd">snàthainn</i>, a -thread), as this charm is called, undergoes much mysterious spitting, -handling, and incantation by the woman from whom it is got. The -<i>rann</i> or spell is muttered over it at the time of -“consecration.” Usually two threads (<i lang="gd">dà -shnathaile</i>) are given, and if the first is not quite successful, -the second is sure to be effectual!” <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb204" href="#pb204" name="pb204">204</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch34" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e608">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Early sowing recommended—Vitality of -Superstitions—Capnomancy—Hazel Nuts: Frequent References to -in Gaelic Poetry—How best to get at the full flavour of a ripe -Hazel Nut.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">A fortnight’s incessant rain [September -1872]—rain descending at times in solid sheets—not only -wets the ground and puddles the roads, but makes one’s very -brains feel soft and sloppy and mashed-turnip-wise. You take up a book -only to lay it down again. You fill your pipe and set it alight, but -with less than half a dozen whiffs you are more than satiated. The weed -has lost its flavour. You sit down to write “doggedly,” as -Johnson says, but with all your doggedness the pen totters over the -sheet with pace uncertain and listless, as if even he felt disinclined -for the task, and the sentences, like a squad of raw recruits, refuse -to fall gracefully into their places, and stumble against each other in -ludicrous confusion, to the consternation and grief of the most patient -of drill-sergeants. You will not, perhaps, believe it, but it is true, -nevertheless, that so persistent, penetrating, and inter-penetrating -has been the last fortnight’s rain, that in nineteen cases out of -twenty a lucifer match, “vesuvian,” or fusee will -obstinately refuse to ignite by any other process than putting it into -actual contact with fire, and in that case, why, a slip of paper is -just as easily dealt with, as well as more efficacious for your -purpose. Hay and corn luckily stand a good deal of rain without being -completely spoiled, but we are afraid to estimate the amount of damage -that another week’s wet weather will cause over the West -Highlands. All our own hay and corn has been snugly housed more than -three weeks ago. Why <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb205" href="#pb205" -name="pb205">205</a>]</span>shouldn’t everybody sow in February -or early March as we do, and have their ingathering in August, -generally our best and driest month? In a climate so treacherous and -inconstant as ours is, it is the greatest folly in the world to run the -smallest risk that you can possibly avoid. We have been preaching this -particular doctrine for a dozen years past, and it has had some effect -in our immediate neighbourhood; but it is sad to see the country at -large at this moment—corn and hay rotting in the fields, that -might, with ordinary prudence and a little effort, be long ere now snug -and safe under “thack and rape.”</p> -<p>The more one inquires the truer does he find the dictum of a -philosopher of the last century to be, that “the superstitions, -as well as the languages, of all lands and ages are linked together by -mysterious bonds, which neither time nor distance seem able to -destroy.” In our immediate neighbourhood an instance of a very -old superstition was brought under our notice a few days ago, such as, -with all our knowledge of such matters, we had hitherto never dreamt of -as existing in the Western Highlands. A man went to market at a -considerable distance to sell a good strong two-year-old colt. He did -not return on the day his wife expected him, and she became uneasy, not -so much for the well-being of her laggard liege lord and -master—<i>he</i> had often gone the same errand before, and had -always returned safe and sound, even if a little later than his better -half had a right to expect—but as to whether he had sold the -colt, and if for anything like the price settled between the twain as -being his fair price before he left home. She put on a large fire on -her hearth, placing, when it had reached a certain stage of ignition, a -bundle of green alder boughs atop. When the whole was fully ablaze, she -went outside and watched the direction of the smoke issuing from her -chimney. The smoke was carried in an easterly direction, a lucky -quarter, and she returned to the house and told her daughter that, -whatever had come over the father—<span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb206" href="#pb206" name="pb206">206</a>]</span>and she threatened to -tell him a bit of her mind as to his doings on his return—the -colt at least had been sold, and well sold, for the alder smoke had -gone in the best and luckiest of all directions, towards the east, in -the direction of the rising sun; and she had never known the omen fail. -The curious thing is that within an hour or so on that very evening the -man returned, and counted into his wife’s lap two pounds and four -shillings sterling over and above the expected price of the colt, as -agreed upon at home. The only other curious thing that we could gather -in connection with the superstition is that the alder branches must be -cut specially for the occasion, and by a virgin. It was so in this -case; and we are gravely assured that, if it had been otherwise, the -ascending smoke would either have drifted hither and thither without a -purpose, unsteadily, or have uselessly intermingled with that of the -neighbouring cottages. The superstition, you must know, is a very old -one; the Greeks and Romans practised it, and from them it spread widely -over the European Continent. In books on magic and divination it is -called <i>Capnomancy</i>, derived, as our friend Professor Blackie -could tell you better than anybody else, from the Greek <i>Capnos</i>, -smoke, and <i>manteia</i>, divination, witchcraft. The ancients paid -attention principally to the smoke of sacrifices, as well as to the -briskness with which the fire burned. If the smoke ascended in a -straight columnar body zenithwards, it was a favourable omen; if it was -violently blown aside, or fell back over the altar and the sacrificers, -it was of evil augury. Our Highland dame’s notion of its taking -an easterly course, towards the direction of the breaking day, of the -dawn, and the morning sun, seems to us full of a rough and rude poetry -such as you frequently meet with in carefully examining into the -details of even the grossest superstitions. Having had occasion to be -of some little service to the priestess in this rare act of divination, -we had the whole from her own lips, though she was averse at first, as -is generally the case when a clergyman is the <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb207" href="#pb207" name= -"pb207">207</a>]</span>inquirer, to entering upon the subject at all. -How these practices root themselves among a people, defying -eradication, is very extraordinary.</p> -<p>Did you ever, reader, crack a nut? Not the aristocratic walnut or -filbert over your wine, but the far superior, rich, ripe hazel nut in -its season from off the hazel bough, when the bright autumnal sun was -overhead, and the autumnal breeze stirred the leaves around you, their -multitudinous murmur resembling the far-heard music of the restless -sea. A ripe hazel nut is good anywhere, but best of all when gathered -by your own hand in its native wild wood from the overhanging branch, -whence the beautiful cluster nods at you as if soliciting your -attention, now and again, as you approach to pull it, seeming to -delight in playing a game of bo-peep with you among the leaves, like as -you have seen the Pleiades at times when, though the night be clear, -many blanket-like clouds are chasing each other in wild career athwart -the starry blue. Throughout the whole range of poetry, the hazel nut, -though often mentioned, has never perhaps had so much justice done to -it as by the Gaelic bard Duncan Bàn Macintyre. In his <i lang= -"gd">Coire-Cheathaich</i>, one of his finest poems, he says:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">Bha cus ra’ fhaotainn de chnothan caoine,</p> -<p class="line">’S cha b’ iad na cacohagan aotrom gann,</p> -<p class="line">Ach bagailt mhaola, bu taine plaoisge,</p> -<p class="line">’Toirt brigh á laoghan na’ -maoth-shlat fann:</p> -<p class="line"><span class="corr" id="xd26e5505" title= -"Source: S">’S</span> rath nan caochan ’na dhosaibh -caorainn,</p> -<p class="line">’S na phreasaibh caola, làn chraobh -a’s mhearg;</p> -<p class="line">Na gallain ùra, ’s na faillein -dhlùtha,</p> -<p class="line">’S am barrach dùinte mu chùl nan -crann.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Ewen Maclachlan, commonly styled “of -Aberdeen,” because he taught the Grammar School there, and there -died, but who was, in truth, a Lochaber man—nay, a Nether -Lochaber man, born and bred, and whose ashes rest in Killevaodain of -Ardgour, without, we are ashamed to confess it, “One gray stone -to mark his grave;” <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb208" href= -"#pb208" name="pb208">208</a>]</span>he, born at -Tarrachalltuinn—the Height of Hazel Trees—in our parish, -knew something of hazel nuts, and thus happily describes them in their -season:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">’S glan fàile nan cno gaganach,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Air ard-Shlios nan cròc -bad-dhuilleach;</p> -<p class="line">’S trom fàsor am por bagailteach,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Air bharr nam fad-gheug sòlasach;</p> -<p class="line">Theid brìgh nam fiuran slat-mheurach,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">’An cridhe nam ùr-chnap -blasadach;</p> -<p class="line">Gur brisg-gheal sùgh a chagannaich,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Do neach a chaguas dòrlach dhin.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">’S clann bheag a ghnà le’m -pocannan,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">A streup ri h-ard nan dos-chrannabh,</p> -<p class="line">A bhuain nan cluaran mog-mheurach,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Gu lùgh’or, docoir, -luath-lamhach;</p> -<p class="line">’Nuair dh’fhaoisgear as na mogail iad,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">’S a bhristear plaoisg nan cochall -diu,</p> -<p class="line">Gur caoin am maoth-bhlas fortanach</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Bhios air an fhros neo-bhruaileanach.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">Our nuts are unusually plentiful this year, and of a -size and flavour that we do not recollect ever to have seen equalled. -They are now at that stage of ripeness when they are most delicious to -the taste, and one may indulge in any amount of them with perfect -safety. Most people are fond of nuts, but if the reader wants to enjoy -the full flavour, to get out of a nut all that is in it, let him take -the following recipe:—“First of all, let the nut be -cracked, if possible, between your own <i>molars</i>, for these are, -after all, the first and most natural and best of all nut-crackers, -better <i lang="la">quoad hoc</i> than an instrument of the purest -silver or steel; and there is besides, remember, something pleasant to -the palate in the feel and flavour even of an uncracked nut. Having -cracked your nut, then—and fairly placed between the grinders, a -really good nut is not difficult to crack, the worst nuts being always -the most difficult to deal with, for the more insignificant the kernel -the thicker and <i>dourer</i> the shell—having cracked your nut -and extracted the kernel, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb209" href= -"#pb209" name="pb209">209</a>]</span><i>whole</i> if possible, -introduce it into your mouth, not <i>per se</i>, by itself, as is -commonly done, but with a small fragment of the shell,—a bit of -pin’s head size will do. Proceed now to masticate the delicious -morsel, and confess that there is a delicacy and flavour about a hazel -nut that you knew not how to extract in full, although in your day you -had cracked your bushels of them, until you were taught it from Nether -Lochaber. The philosophy of the thing is that the particle of shell -introduced with the kernel causes the act of mastication to be -performed more thoroughly than it otherwise would be, setting free the -full flavour and aroma—all, in short, that a nut has to give. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb210" href="#pb210" name= -"pb210">210</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch35" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e618">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Strength of Insects—<i lang="la">Necrophoris -Vespillo</i>, or Burying-Beetle—Fœtid smell of—How -Willie Grimmond earned an Honest Penny in Glencoe.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The strength of insects, proportionably to their -weight and size, was probably the first characteristic in the minor -world to arrest the attention and call forth the admiration of -entomologists; and soon afterwards, we may believe, the ingenuity, -patience, and perseverance displayed by these pigmies in dealing with -any self-imposed piece of labour, must have made the intelligent -observer feel and acknowledge, even if he could not repeat and had -never heard of the mad-wise Hamlet’s <i lang="la">dictum</i>, -that—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“There are more things in heaven and earth, -Horatio,</p> -<p class="line">Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Take an example of something wonderful in insect life, -as it chanced to come under our notice a few days ago [September 1872]. -We were raking hay—raking hay, too, after others had raked the -same ground shortly before us, for we are most particular that, both -for the look of the thing, as well as for the profit, not a wisp, not a -strawlet shall be left upon the ground—when, as we raked, we came -across a dead mole. No rare or wonderful thing, the reader may exclaim, -but rare enough when you come to think of it, and wonderful enough, -too, to attract the attention of any one even less observant of natural -history than Nether Lochaber. Lying on its side was the mole, already -half-hidden by the swiftly growing aftermath. Touching it with the -corner of our rake, and moving it slightly, we got a glimpse of a -yellow-banded beetle busy underneath; and <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb211" href="#pb211" name="pb211">211</a>]</span>at once understanding -what was going on, we called our <i>bairns</i>, a couple of girls and a -boy, who were raking and laughing <i lang="fr">a la Madame de -Sévigné</i> in the field beside us, to give them a lesson -on entomology; and as our lesson was fresh and to the point, and -interesting, though we say it ourselves, and rather out of the common -track of entomological experience, we give it to the reader, that he -may know and believe, and reverently ponder, a truth that has never -been so well expressed as by St. Augustine, the sturdy, old, bellicose -Bishop of Hippo, who of all the Fathers had the most sensitive nose for -the out-ferreting of a heretic, and who, when he got hold of one, -treated him very much as a Scotch terrier does a rat—but who -could say and do good things notwithstanding. <i lang="la">Deus magnus -in magnis, maximus in minimis.</i> God is great, that is, in great -things, but greatest of all in least things. The mole, as we have said, -was lying on his side on a grassy patch of fast-growing aftermath, and -our glimpse of the beetle beneath showed us that it was the <i lang= -"la">Necrophorus vespillo</i>, or burying-beetle, rare anywhere in -Britain, and so rare in Lochaber and the west coast, that this was only -the third or fourth instance in which we had met with it. It is a black -beetle, rather more than an inch in length, with two bright -orange-coloured bands across the back, and more active in all its -movements than any of its congeners. There were just two beetles, -observe—a pair, male and female—engaged upon the mole, and -the “mole” of Adrianus, when a-building, showed not more -labour and not half the mechanical skill or indomitable perseverance on -the part of its constructors exhibited by these tiny but thoroughly -skilled excavators in the case of <i>their</i> mole. “You see -that mole,” we said to our attentive audience, leaning upon our -rake for the moment, as if it were a sceptre of prerogative and power, -as in truth it was. “It is almost as big as an ordinary sized -rat—bigger, you will confess, than three full-grown mice. It has -only been <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb212" href="#pb212" name= -"pb212">212</a>]</span>dead, say, a dozen of hours; his sleek and still -glossy coat proves it. This pair of beetles, then, a single pair -remember, have discovered him by an instinct and sense of smell which -must be wonderfully delicate and keen. They are now, as you may see, -busy digging under and around him, and after breakfast to-morrow -morning we shall come and see the result.<span class="corr" id= -"xd26e5614" title="Not in source">”</span> “Suppose, -papa,” said one of the girls, with a demure look, though with a -merry twinkle in her eye the while, “Suppose, sir, that this -afternoon a passing kestrel or owl should pick up our mole and make a -meal of him, what then could we see in the morning?” “What -you suggest is, no doubt, possible enough,” was our rejoinder, -“but we believe the mole will be here to-morrow morning all the -same, provided you take example from the animal’s proverbial -wakefulness, and are up and have breakfast ready for us all in good -time.” Meantime, that they might know it again, should they ever -come across it, we took up the male beetle, distinguishing the sex from -his being somewhat smaller and rather more active than his mate, on the -palm of our left hand, and with the fingers of the right turned him on -his back to show him properly, the delicate markings of his abdomen, -his muscular thorax and <i>cas-chrom</i> shaped antennæ. We soon -wished we had not done it; it was a thoughtless proceeding on our part, -and we should have known better. We nearly fainted, and our children -started back in horror and alarm at the foul and fœtid smell of -the carrion-eating <i lang="la">Vespillo</i>. It was horrible; never in -all our experience were our olfactory nerves so offended. A pot of -stale assafœtida from a druggist’s shop, all the proverbial -many dozen stinks of Cologne in combination, would have been a joke to -it, a bouquet of roses compared with our <i lang="la">Vespillo</i>. It -made us quite sick and ill for the moment; but we had the presence of -mind to lay down our malodorous beetle beside his beloved mole ere we -followed our audience, who were by this time scampering <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb213" href="#pb213" name="pb213">213</a>]</span>in -all directions across the field, with their fingers tightly compressing -their nostrils, and vowing that they would have no more to do with dead -moles or burying-beetles, be they ever so brightly banded or -interesting from papa’s point of view. A message now came forth -that tea was ready; but no tea could we drink, nor bread could we -handle, on account of the horrible smell that still adhered to our -fingers and palm. Washing with soap and water had no effect upon it, -for it seemed to have instantly and thoroughly penetrated and permeated -skin, flesh, and muscle, and to have reached and lodged in the very -bone itself, whence it refused to be extirpated. It was only late at -night, sitting by a briny rock-pool, and using the viscous clay of the -beach after the manner of soap, that we managed to get quit of the foul -odour; and even after a final washing with hot water and scented soap, -as we retired for the night, we still persuaded ourselves that the -loathsome smell had not altogether departed. All the carrion beetles, -without exception, and most of the ground beetles proper, have always -more or less of a disagreeable, sickening smell about them, but in this -respect the burying-beetle is worse than all the rest put together; -seeming to have centered in his own person a combination of the -essences of all possible stenches in their worst and foulest form. In -the case of the <i lang="la">Vespillo</i>, it is to be noted that the -fœtid smell, though always there, and easily perceptible, is -bearable enough while the animal is quiescent and undisturbed, and you -do not approach it too closely. Tease it, however, in any way; touch it -with the point of a switch, or take it up, as we foolishly did, in your -hand, and the stench, emitted probably in self-defence, as in the case -of the <i>skunk</i> and polecat, is of all others the most abominable -in itself, and the most difficult to get rid of. Next morning, then, on -visiting the mole, as proposed, we found it completely buried, with at -least half an inch depth of earth neatly shovelled over it, with a -slight ridge in the centre, and sloping <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb214" href="#pb214" name="pb214">214</a>]</span>sides, showing that -the <i lang="la">Vespillones</i> are practised grave-diggers. Averse to -disturbing a work that had cost the tiny excavators so much labour, we -only removed the earth sufficiently to bring a small patch of the -mole’s fur to view, in proof to those accompanying us that the -animal had really been buried by the beetles, as we had said it would -be. A full-grown elephant buried by a pair of field mice would hardly -be a more wonderful labour. The <i>rationale</i> and <i lang= -"fr">raison d’être</i> of the whole labour thus carried out -with so much diligence and engineering skill is this: the carrion of -the dead mole, mouse, or bird thus operated upon, serves in the first -instance partly as food for the beetles themselves (and they richly -deserve a feast, such as it is, in reward for their arduous labours), -after which the female lays her eggs in the fast-rotting carcase, and -it is then left as the doubtless savoury banquet of the larvæ, -while the parent pair cruise about in search of another dead bird or -quadruped of the proper size, whereupon to bestow similar attentions. -It is principally owing to the labours of these beetles that it happens -that although you may see a dead mole, mouse, or bird lying in the -corner of a field to-day, you shall look for it in vain next morning -elsewhere than in a beetle-dug grave, as in the above instance. That a -single pair of these comparatively small insects should be able to -perform such a gigantic task in so short a time is, in truth, very -wonderful, and must seem incredible to any one unacquainted with the -habits and economy of the order.</p> -<p>There are doubtless many odd and curious ways of earning even an -honest livelihood in this world, but the oddest, and to us, while -uninitiated, the most puzzling we have met with for a long time, was -the following:—On a fine day lately, we took our boat to the -mouth of the Coe, and were leisurely proceeding up the far-famed glen, -when we saw, a little before us, a diminutive but still active old man, -whom, from his peculiar style of dress, we had no difficulty in -recognising as a peripatetic vendor of ballads, letter-paper, -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb215" href="#pb215" name= -"pb215">215</a>]</span>steel pens, and other knick-knacks, who -frequently pays us a visit in Lochaber, and with whom, in lieu of -better company, we have had many a far from uninteresting roadside -crack. As, with a longer and livelier stride than his, we were rapidly -overtaking him, we noticed that he frequently stopped and picked up -something, now from the middle of the road, now from the footpath at -the side, and occasionally from the grass beyond, which something he -instantly deposited in a sort of canvas side-pouch, or wallet slung at -his side. “Well, Willie,” we exclaimed, as we came up with -him, “what in the world are you doing in the glen to-day, and -where’s your pack? I wish to have a look at your bundle of -ballads?” “Weel, sir,” was Willie’s response, -“my pack is laid by at Duror just now; my present -wark”—here he made a dart at something on the grass that -looked to us uncommonly like a big black beetle, and transferred it to -his wallet,—“my present wark,” he went on to say, -“pays far better, and is mair pleasant, besides, in this -dreadfu’ hot weather.<a id="xd26e5651" name= -"xd26e5651"></a>” “But what is your present work, -Willie?” we inquired, “what are you so industriously -picking up along the road and transferring to your wallet? Snails? -beetles? what?” “No mony snails, or beetles either, -sir,” said Willie, with more entomological good sense than we -gave him credit for, “abroad in such hot and dry weather as this -is. I’m no very fond of telling what I am doing to everybody; and -when I see anybody coming, I generally sit down and let them pass; but -I saw you coming, sir, and I kent ye brawly, and didn’t mind. And -now I’ll show ye what I’m gathering.” With this he -put his hand in his capacious pouch, and took out a handful of <i>cigar -and cheroot stumps</i>, of all shapes and sizes. Some had been -“smoked out,” that is, till only an inch or so remained; -others were only half smoked, and a few had only afforded the smoker a -whiff or two, when, from a disinclination to smoke any further, or, -perhaps, from some defect in the cigar itself, it was thrown away as of -no further <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb216" href="#pb216" name= -"pb216">216</a>]</span>use. Of these cigar stumps “Willie” -had at that moment nearly a pound weight in his wallet, the result of -his forenoon’s labours. We daresay we looked, as we really were, -very much puzzled, which, Willie observing, he politely asked us for a -light for his pipe, and invited us to sit on a ledge of rock by the -roadside, and he would “tell us a’ aboot it.” Our -pipes alight, we sat down accordingly, and Willie proceeds as -follows:—“Weel, sir, I doubt if ever there was such a -number of strangers—tourists, as they ca’ them—day -after day in Glencoe as there are this year. And a’ the gentlemen -that goes up the glen smoke, and I have seen some of the -ladies—forrenders, I suspect—smoking too, the mair shame to -them. They a’ maistly smoke cigars, and they throw them from them -when they’re done with them; sometimes only a short stump, and -sometimes almost a hail ane, as I have shown ye; and I pick them up and -sell them in Greenock or Glasgow for three ha’pence or tuppence -the ounce, and that’s a’ aboot it.” “But -what,” we inquired, “do they make of them in -Glasgow?” “Weel, sir,” he replied, “I believe -some of them, the cleanest, langest, and best bits, are unrolled, and -made up anew into cigars, and the shorter and dirtier stumps are dried -and broken down to mix with other tobacco, in making the mixtures -called ‘bird’s eye,’ ‘shag,’ <i>exetry, -exetry</i>.” We ordered Willie a glass of beer at Clachaig, and -went on our way with a bit of curious information, till that particular -date undreamt of in all our philosophy. <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb217" href="#pb217" name="pb217">217</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch36" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e630">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Seaweed as a Fertiliser—Homer, Horace, -Virgil—November Meteors—Gaelic Folk-Lore—A Curfew -Prayer—A Bed Blessing—A Cattle Blessing—Rhyme to be -said in driving Cattle to Pasture—“Luath,” -Cuchullin’s Dog—Notes from the Outer Hebrides.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">From a utilitarian point of view, at least, the -ancients seem to have looked upon the sea and all its -products—exclusive, of course, of its myriad inhabitants of finny -tribes—as absolutely worthless. Homer in the <i>Iliad</i> -constantly speaks of the sea as “unfertile,” -<i>ălòs atrugétoio</i>,—literally, the ocean -where no harvest can be gathered; and Horace in one of his satires says -that a man may be possessed of all the virtues, and all the -accomplishments, &c. to boot, but if yet <i lang="la">sine -rê</i>—without means, moneyless, or to use, perhaps, the -best equivalent that our language can afford, without -<i>substance</i>—he shall be accounted “<i>vilior -algâ</i>,” viler than seaweed, or, as we should say, viler -than the dust on which he treads. Even Virgil in the <i>Georgics</i> -has no good word for the sea as in any sense, directly or indirectly, -subservient to husbandry, or an ally to the tiller of the ground. Had -these master-poets of Greece and Rome, gentle reader, lived with us -here in Nether Lochaber, in the seventh decade of the nineteenth -century, they would have thought and said differently. Homer would have -probably selected a more appropriate epithet than that constantly -employed by him; Horace would have cast about for some other fitting -dissyllable as a substitute for “<i>algâ</i>;” and -Virgil would have written, as he alone could write, a score or two of -unexceptionable hexameters in praise of seaweed as an excellent manure -and fertiliser of the soil. “It is <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb218" href="#pb218" name="pb218">218</a>]</span>an ill wind,” -quoth the proverb, “that blows nobody good;” and disastrous -in many a place as was the dreadful storm of the first week of this -month [November 1872], here along the western seaboard it only blew us -good, in the very tangible and <i>tangly</i> shape of thousands of tons -of drift-ware, that, laid on the soil in fair abundance just now, -prepares it without any more trouble for the reception of seed, when, -ushered in by the vernal equinox, the jocund, jolly spring comes round. -For the last fortnight, wherever you wandered about the coast, you -found the people in every direction—men, women, and -children—busy as busy could be gathering and carting afield this -really valuable product of the sea—Homer and Horace to the -contrary notwithstanding. We draw attention to the subject at present -by reason of its timeousness, and because within recent years we have -had it made clear to us beyond all cavil, and in the most practical -manner possible, that for potatoes at least there is no manure for a -moment to be compared with a heavy blanketing of drift-ware laid on the -ground in early winter. On our own land this year a field of potatoes -thus treated was a third at least better than another of equal size -manured from the farmyard “heap” in the usual orthodox -manner. The soil, observe, was the same, the seed the same, the date of -planting the same—the only difference being in the manure. In the -experience of such of our neighbours, too, as have tried it, the result -has been precisely the same. The salts and other essential ingredients -of seaware seem to be really antagonistic to the spread of -“blight” among the tubers; and we would strongly advise as -many of our readers as have the opportunity to experiment for -themselves in the direction indicated during the present winter and -spring, and we are ready to wager our good porcupine-shafted -“Pickwick” steel pen against the vilest crow-quill, that, -on the ingathering of the crop this time twelve months, our advice, in -nineteen cases out of twenty, will have been found to be a sound and -good one. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb219" href="#pb219" name= -"pb219">219</a>]</span></p> -<p>Since the cessation of the terrible gales of the early part of the -month, the weather has been bright, bracing, and breezy, with -occasional snow showers along the uplands, that have already converted -the many mountain ridges around each into a veritable <i>Sierra -Nevada</i>. On the nights of the 13–14th and 14–15th we sat -up till a late, or rather an early hour, keenly on the watch for a -meteoric display, in railway nomenclature, then due, but which, up to -the date of the present writing, has not yet put in an appearance. -Meteors there were, but they were the mere phosphorescent streaks -rarely looked for in vain by the student of the heavens on a fairly -cloudless night at this season. The lunar eclipse of the early morning -of the 15th was well seen, the beautiful orb, like a shield of -burnished silver, riding serene in the unclouded blue; but the -obscuration was too partial to be in any way interesting or striking to -any one who had gazed on the phenomenon in its grander phases as often -as we have done.</p> -<p>To our good friend Mr. Carmichael of South Uist we are indebted for -the following contributions to our stock of ancient Celtic folk-lore, a -subject much neglected, but of very great interest -notwithstanding:—</p> -<p lang="gd"><span class="sc">Urnuigh Smalaidh Teine.</span></p> -<p><i>A prayer to be said at covering up the fire at bedtime.</i></p> -<p>(Taken down from the recitation of a man living at <i>Iocar</i> of -Uist.)</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">Smàlaidh mise an teine;</p> -<p class="line">Mar a smàlas Mac Moire.</p> -<p class="line">Gu’m bu slàn an tigh ’s an -teine,</p> -<p class="line">Gu’m bu slàn do ’n chuideachd -uile.</p> -<p class="line">Co sid air an làr?</p> -<p class="line">Peadair agus Pàl,</p> -<p class="line">Co air a bhith’s an aire ’nochd?</p> -<p class="line">Air Moire geal ’s air a Mac.</p> -<p class="line">Beul De a dh’innseas,</p> -<p class="line">Aingeal geal a lann’ras,</p> -<p class="line">Aingeal ’an dorus gach taighe</p> -<p class="line">Gu solus gael a maireach.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb220" href="#pb220" name= -"pb220">220</a>]</span></p> -<p>Which may be rendered into English as follows:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">I will cover up the fire aright,</p> -<p class="line">Even as directed by the Virgin’s own Son.</p> -<p class="line">Safe be the house, and safe the fire,</p> -<p class="line">And safe from harm be all the indwellers.</p> -<p class="line">Who is that that I see on the floor?</p> -<p class="line">Even Peter himself and Paul.</p> -<p class="line">Upon whom shall this night’s vigil rest?</p> -<p class="line">Upon the blameless Virgin Mother and her Son.</p> -<p class="line">God’s mouth has spoken it.</p> -<p class="line">A white-robed angel shall gleam in the darkness,</p> -<p class="line">An angel (to keep watch and ward) at the door of each -house</p> -<p class="line">Till the return of the morrow’s blessed -light.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Having thus duly covered up the fire, and committed -the house and its inhabitants to the Divine protection during the -watches of the night, the following “Bed Blessing” was -repeated by each as the people retired to rest:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">Altachadh Leapa’.</span></h4> -<p class="line">Laidhidh mise ’nochd</p> -<p class="line">Le Moire’s le ’Mac,</p> -<p class="line">Le mathair mo Righ,</p> -<p class="line">’Ni mo dhion ’o dhroch-bheairt,</p> -<p class="line">Cha laidh mise leis an olc,</p> -<p class="line">’S cha laidh an t’olc leam;</p> -<p class="line">Ach laidhidh mi le Dia,</p> -<p class="line">’S laidhidh Dia ma’ rium.</p> -<p class="line">Lamh dheas Dhe fo’m cheann,</p> -<p class="line">Crois nan naoi aingeal leam.</p> -<p class="line">’O mhullach mo chinn</p> -<p class="line">Gu craican mo bhonn.</p> -<p class="line">Guidheam Peadair, guidheam Pòl,</p> -<p class="line">Guidheam Moir-Oigh’ ’sa Mac.</p> -<p class="line">Guidheam an da ostal deug,</p> -<p class="line">Gun mise ’dhol eug le’n cead.</p> -<p class="line">’Dhia ’sa Mhoire na gloire.</p> -<p class="line">’S a Mhic na oighe cubhraidh</p> -<p class="line">Cumabh mise o na piantan dorcha,</p> -<p class="line">’S Micheal geal’ an cò’ail -m’anama.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb221" href="#pb221" name= -"pb221">221</a>]</span></p> -<p>Which, fairly translated into English, will stand thus:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">A Blessing to be said at Bedtime.</span></h4> -<p class="line">This night I will lay me down to sleep</p> -<p class="line">In the companionship of the Virgin and her Son,</p> -<p class="line">Even with the mother of my King,</p> -<p class="line">Who protects me from all evil.</p> -<p class="line">I will not lie down to sleep with evil,</p> -<p class="line">Nor shall evil lie down to sleep with me;</p> -<p class="line">But I shall sleep with God.</p> -<p class="line">And with me shall God lie down.</p> -<p class="line">His good right arm be under my head;</p> -<p class="line">The cross of the Nine Angels be about me,</p> -<p class="line">From the top of my head</p> -<p class="line">Even to the soles of my feet.</p> -<p class="line">I supplicate Peter, I supplicate Paul,</p> -<p class="line">I supplicate Mary the Virgin and her Son,</p> -<p class="line">And I supplicate the twelve Apostles,</p> -<p class="line">That evil befall me not this night, with their -consent.</p> -<p class="line">Good and ever glorious Mary,</p> -<p class="line">And Thou, Son of the sweet-savoured Virgin,</p> -<p class="line">Protect me this night from all the pains of -darkness!</p> -<p class="line">And thou, Michael, ever beneficent, be about for the -safe keeping of my soul!</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Apart from the appropriateness and almost absolute -faultlessness of the rhythm and language in which they are couched, -nothing about these old Hebridean “Blessings” seems to us -so beautiful and striking as the nearness with which they bring Heaven -and its active, ceaseless beneficence, to the very firesides and -commonest affairs of men. Nothing is too small or insignificant to be -placed, not in a general way observe, but in the most literal -particular sense, under the Divine guardianship. With these old people, -in their ocean-girt and storm-swept islands, God was not merely the -creator, but the ever present, ever near father, protector, and friend, -while to them His angels were in very truth “<i>ministering</i> -spirits, sent forth to <i>minister</i> for them who shall be heirs of -salvation”—not merely in spiritual matters, we are to -remark, but in all the affairs of common, every-day life. Since the -days of the ancient Hebrews, nowhere shall we find so firm and fixed a -belief in a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb222" href="#pb222" name= -"pb222">222</a>]</span>direct and constant intercourse and communion -for good between Heaven and Earth.</p> -<p>The following “Blessing,” to be said over cattle when -being led to pasture of a morning, is exceedingly -interesting:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">Rann Buachailleachd.</span></h4> -<p class="line">Siubhal beinne, siubhal coille,</p> -<p class="line">Sinbhal gu rèidh fada, farsuinn,</p> -<p class="line">Banachag Phadruig ma ’n casan,</p> -<p class="line">’S gu faic mise slàn a rithisd sith.</p> -<p class="line">An seun a chuir Moire mu ’buar,</p> -<p class="line">Moch ’us anmoch ’sa tigh’n -bhuaidh’,</p> -<p class="line">Ga’n gleidheadh o pholl, o eabar.</p> -<p class="line">O fheithe, o adh’rcean a cheile,</p> -<p class="line">O liana’ na Craige-Ruaidhe,</p> -<p class="line">’S o Luaths na Féinne.</p> -<p class="line">Banachag Phadruig ma’r casan,</p> -<p class="line">Gu’m bu slàn a thig sibh dhachaidh.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">In English thus—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">A Rhyme to be said in driving Cattle to -Pasture.</span></h4> -<p class="line">Wandering o’er uplands, wandering through -woods,</p> -<p class="line">Hither and far away wander ye still,</p> -<p class="line">St. Patrick’s own milkmaid attend your steps</p> -<p class="line">Till safe I see you return to me again.</p> -<p class="line">The charm that Mary made to her cattle,</p> -<p class="line">Early and late, going and coming from pasture,</p> -<p class="line">Still keep you safe from quagmire and marsh,</p> -<p class="line">From pitfalls and from each other’s horns,</p> -<p class="line">From the sudden swelling (of the torrent about) the Red -Rock</p> -<p class="line">And from Luath of the Fingalians.</p> -<p class="line">St. Patrick’s milkmaid attend your feet,</p> -<p class="line">Safe and scaithless come ye home again.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The reference to “Luath,” -Cuchullin’s matchless dog, so celebrated in the Ossianic poems -and old Fingalian tales, is curious. The ghosts of the Fingalian -heroes, existing in a sort of middle state—not yet exactly saved -nor wholly lost—with those of their famous dogs, were believed to -visit at times the scenes of their former exploits for the sake of the -hunting, in which they so much <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb223" -href="#pb223" name="pb223">223</a>]</span>delighted, and a cow or other -animal, running about excitedly and wildly, and, to all human -investigation, causelessly, was supposed to be the work of a passing -Fingalian hunting party, invisible to mortal eyes, Luath, unmatched in -spirit-land as upon earth, still leading the chase as of old. On the -lines about St. Patrick’s dairymaid or milkmaid Mr. Carmichael -has the following note, which will be read with interest, and which we -give in his own words:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p lang="gd" class="line">“ ‘Banachag Phadriug -mu’r casan.’</p> -<p class="line">(St. Patrick’s dairymaid be around your -feet.)</p> -</div> -<p class="first"><i>Banachag</i> is the Hebridean form of the -<i>Banarach</i> of the mainland, and <i>Banachogach</i> or -<i>Banacach</i> is the Hebridean term for the smallpox. You will -observe the close resemblance between the Gaelic word for a dairymaid -and that for the smallpox. I think the explanation is obvious. -Dairymaids were wont to get the cow-pox, and people confounded the -cow-pox with the smallpox. Hence, in the Highlands old people will tell -you that effects of the cow-pox were known long before Jenner’s -celebrated discovery. Hence, also, you will rarely meet with a woman in -the Highlands disfigured from the effects of smallpox. Not so the men, -however. In England, again, in the rural parishes, the case is -reversed. There you will see women pox-marked, but seldom men. The -reason I take it to be is this:—In the Highlands it is the woman -who milk the cattle, and in doing so they get the cow-pox off the cows -in milking them. A Highlander would consider it unmanly to milk a cow. -I have never seen or heard of one who could or would do this, except a -young man in Lismore. Three or four young men, brothers, had a small -farm among them. Their mother died and their two sisters married, and -probably remembering Calum-Cille’s celebrated saying—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p lang="gd" class="line xd26e1751">‘Far am bi bò -bith’dh bean,</p> -<p lang="gd" class="line xd26e1751">S’ far am bi bean bithidh -buaireadh.’</p> -<p class="line">(Where there is a cow there will be a woman,</p> -<p class="line">And where there is a woman there will be mischief.)</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb224" href="#pb224" name= -"pb224">224</a>]</span></p> -<p>They resolved to do without a woman in their house at all; and they -succeeded for a time, but not for long, for—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">‘Man, the hermit, sighed, till woman -smiled.’</p> -</div> -<p class="first">One of them ultimately brought home a wife, who soon -became a cause of discord and ill-will among the previously happy and -affectionate brothers. But this is digressing. In England it is the men -who milk the cows. Most men in rural parishes can milk, and but few -women. Consequently in the agricultural districts of England you hardly -ever see an elderly man disfigured by the smallpox, but you can see -many women so disfigured. These suggestions are simply the results of -my own observations in England and in the Highlands. They may be to the -purpose or not, I don’t know.”</p> -<p>We think they are to the purpose, and we are very much obliged to -our correspondent for his many interesting contributions from the Outer -Hebrides to our stock of “auld-world” folk-lore. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb225" href="#pb225" name= -"pb225">225</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch37" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e639">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">The Delights of Beltane Tide—Bishop Gawin -Douglas—His Translation of the <i>Æneid</i>—The Fat -of Deer—“Light and Shade” from the -Gaelic—Mackworth Praed—Discovery of an old Flint -Manufactory in the Moss of Ballachulish.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">In the poetry and proverbs of our country you -constantly meet with references which go to prove that alternations of -sunshine and shower [April 1873] have for ages been held to be the -meteorological characteristics of an April day throughout the British -Islands, and most of all, perhaps, in Scotland. To go no further, you -will remember Scott’s concluding lines in -<i>Rokeby</i>—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Time and Tide had thus their sway,</p> -<p class="line">Yielding, <i>like an April day,</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>Smiling noon for sullen morrow</i>,</p> -<p class="line">Years of joy for hours of sorrow.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">This, however, has been the driest April known in the -West Highlands for at least a score of years past. Hardly any rain has -fallen during the month, and with a bright sun overhead, and drying -north-easterly winds, rivers and streams have seldom been at a lower -ebb even in midsummer, while in some places you hear complaints of an -absolute scarcity of water even for ordinary household purposes—a -very rare thing, indeed, in the West Highlands at this season of the -year, or for that matter of it at any season. There was, however, such -a superabundance of moisture in the ground, from the heavy rains of the -past winter, that vegetation has as yet suffered little or nothing from -the drought, and the country is beautiful exceedingly in all its -greenery of leaf and gaiety of expanding <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb226" href="#pb226" name="pb226">226</a>]</span>blossom and bursting -bud. Our wild-birds never had a finer nesting season, and they are now -literally as merry as the day is long, for with the first flush of dawn -in the east they begin their rich and varied song, which, with a short -interval of quiescence and repose about mid-day, is continued without -interruption until long after the sun has set and the earlier stars are -already twinkling through the twilight gloom. April will be succeeded -by the “merry month of May,” which, with the exception of -two, or at most three, cold days, with frost at night, about the 10th, -is pretty sure to be an unusually fine month even for May. It was an -article of belief in the hygienic code of the old Highlanders, and -which you come across occasionally even at the present day, that the -invalid, suffering under no matter what form of internal ailment, upon -whom the sun of May once fairly shed its light, was pretty sure of a -renewed lease of life until at least the next autumnal equinox, and how -fine, by the way, and lightsome and cheery withal, Bishop Gawin -Douglas’ apostrophe (<i>circa</i> 1512):—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Welcum the lord of licht, and lamp of day,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum fosterare of tender herbis grene,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum quickener of flurest flouris schene,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum supporte of every rute and vane,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum comfort of all kind frute and grane,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum the birdis beild upon the brier,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum maister and ruler of the yeare,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum weilfare of husbands at the plewis,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum repairer of woddis, treis, and bewis,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum depainter of the blomyt medis,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum the lyf of every thing that spedis,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum storare of all kind bestial,</p> -<p class="line">Welcum be thy bricht beams gladand all!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first xd26e5134">(Prologue to “<i>xii. Buke of Eneados -of Virgill</i>.”)</p> -<p>The <i>Æneid</i> has been often translated into English, both -in prose and verse, since the days of Gawin Douglas, but we doubt if -the Mantuan bard has ever been more happily rendered than by the good -Bishop of Dunkeld. The following is his rendering of perhaps -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb227" href="#pb227" name= -"pb227">227</a>]</span>the best known and perhaps the most frequently -quoted passage in Virgil:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div lang="la" class="lg"> -<p class="line xd26e3679">“Facilis descensus Averni,</p> -<p class="line">Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis;</p> -<p class="line">Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras</p> -<p class="line">Hoc opus, hic labor est,” &c.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“It is richt facill and sith gate, I thè -tell,</p> -<p class="line">For to descend and pass on doun to hell:</p> -<p class="line">The black yettis of Pluto and that dirk way,</p> -<p class="line">Standis evir open and patent nycht and day:</p> -<p class="line">But therefra to return agane on hicht,</p> -<p class="line">And bere aboue recouir this airis light,</p> -<p class="line">That is difficill werk, there labour lyis;</p> -<p class="line">Full fewe there bene quhom heich aboue the skyis,</p> -<p class="line">Thare ardent vertew has rasit and upheit,</p> -<p class="line">Or yet quhame squale Jupiter deifyit,</p> -<p class="line">Thay quhilkis bene gendrit of goddis may thidder -attane.</p> -<p class="line">All the midway is wilderness vnplane,</p> -<p class="line">Or wilsum forrest; and the laithly flude</p> -<p class="line">Cocytus with his dresy bosom vnrude</p> -<p class="line">Flowis enuiron rounde about that place.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">Warton (<i>History of English Poetry</i>) says of -Bishop Douglas’ <i>Æneid</i>, that “it is executed -with equal spirit and fidelity, and is a proof that the Lowland Scotch -and English languages were then nearly the same.” We may state -that Douglas’ <i>Æneid</i>, irrespective of its many and -great intrinsic merits, is especially interesting, as being the first -translation of a Roman classic into the English language either in -verse or prose. We have quoted above an old Highland belief in the -exceeding efficacy, even in the most serious ailments, of the kindly -beams of a May-day sun. Another belief of theirs was this—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“<i>Geir fèidh air a ghabhail ’n ad -bhroinn, ’s air a shuathadh ri d’ dhruim ’s ri -d’ thaobh—</i></p> -<p class="line"><i>Am fear nach leighis sid, cha’n ’eil -leagheas ann.</i>”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">That is—the fat of deer applied internally and -externally, the invalid whose sickness <i>that</i> does not heal, why, -then, there is no <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb228" href="#pb228" -name="pb228">228</a>]</span>healing for him. The old Highlanders, you -see, knew the value of deer: they hadn’t a good word to say of -sheep.</p> -<p>A few days ago we went into a cottage where a woman was sitting -spinning, and singing a song we had not heard for many years, though we -recollect hearing it frequently sung in boyhood. The soft and plaintive -air was an old favourite, and her style of singing pleasing. With a -very sweet voice and much feeling, she sang it all on requesting her to -do so; and after tea in the evening we threw the verses into English, -as follows. It is, however, rather an imitation than a translation. The -original, which is probably known to many of our readers, -beginning—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Tha’n oidhche dorcha, dubh, gun reult</p> -<p class="line">Tha aibh’s na speur fo ghruaman,” -&c.</p> -</div> -<p class="first">is old; how old we know not. Nor have we any clue to -the name of the author, or more probably authoress. Of the authors, -indeed, of many of our very finest Gaelic songs may be said what was -said of the old nameless border-bard, that they—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Nameless as the race from whence they -sprung,</p> -<p class="line">Saved other names and left their own unsung.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The song in Gaelic has no particular title. It is -known by the two first lines quoted above, just as we say, “Of -a’ the airts the wind can blaw,” and “Ye banks and -braes o’ bonnie Doon.” In default of anything better, our -English version may perhaps appropriately enough be entitled—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">Light and Shade.</span></h4> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Dark and dreary is the world to me,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">No sun, no moon, no star;</p> -<p class="line">Vainly I struggle on my midnight sea,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">No beacon gleams afar;</p> -<p class="line">A wilderness of winter, frost and snow,</p> -<p class="line">Sad and alone I hang my head in woe.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb229" href="#pb229" name= -"pb229">229</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">’Tis vain to strive against the will of fate</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(No sun, no moon, no star);</p> -<p class="line">Where I had looked for love, I found but hate</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(No beacon gleams afar);</p> -<p class="line">I gave my heart, my all, to one who cares</p> -<p class="line">Now nought for me—no one my sorrow shares.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Cares not my love though I were dead and gone</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(No sun, no moon, no star!)</p> -<p class="line">God help me, I am weak and all alone</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(No beacon shines afar):</p> -<p class="line">I dare not reveal my grief, I dare not tell;</p> -<p class="line">The fire that burns my heart no tears can quell.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Traveller that passest o’er hill</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(May <i>thy</i> night have its star!)</p> -<p class="line">Acquaint my love that you have left me ill,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And seen my bleeding scar;</p> -<p class="line">’Twere better to have killed than maimed me -thus—</p> -<p class="line">A bird with broken wing in the lone wilderness.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">I once was happy, and how bright was then</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Sun, moon, and every star!</p> -<p class="line">Spotless and pure I laughed along the glen;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">When, swift to mar</p> -<p class="line">This happiness and peace, the spoiler came</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And left me all bereft—the child of -shame.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">And yet I do not hate him, woe is me</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(No sun, no moon, no star!)</p> -<p class="line">But shun him, O ye maidens frank and free!</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">’Twere better far</p> -<p class="line">That you were lifeless laid in the cold tomb,</p> -<p class="line">In all your virgin pride and beauty’s bloom.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">But God is good, and He will mercy have;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(How bright the morning star!)</p> -<p class="line">Even the weary-laden find a grave—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">(The beacon shines afar!)</p> -<p class="line">Bless, Father of our Lord so meek and mild,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">An erring mother and a helpless child.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">The moral of our song is obvious, though you will -observe the story is told with all possible delicacy and good taste, a -characteristic, by the way, of our best Gaelic poetry. The reader may -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb230" href="#pb230" name= -"pb230">230</a>]</span>easily understand that, sung in proper time and -place, and with proper feeling, such a song is calculated to have a -good effect, and convey a healthy lesson in its own indirect way, when -a sermon or moral exhortation, however well meant, would be altogether -out of the question. There is much sound sense in Mackworth -Praed’s <i>Chaunt of the Brazen Head</i>, the first verse of -which is this—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“I think, whatever mortals crave</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">With impotent endeavour,</p> -<p class="line">A wreath—a rank—a throne—a -grave—</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">The world goes round for ever;</p> -<p class="line">I think that life is not too long,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">And, therefore, I determine,</p> -<p class="line"><i>That many people read a song,</i></p> -<p class="line xd26e978"><i>Who will not read a sermon.</i>”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">At a bridal, baptism, or other merry-making, such a -song as the above is calculated to do more good than the most laboured, -well-meant, and goody-goody sermon that ever was preached. As we rode -away from yonder cottage door, the woman resuming her task, and -chanting a gay and lively air in accompaniment, we were reminded of a -verse quite <i>apropos</i> to the occasion:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound:</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">All at her work the village maiden sings;</p> -<p class="line">Nor while she turns the giddy wheel around,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Revolves the sad vicissitude of -things.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">And we also thought of the simple and beautiful -epitaph on the tomb of a nameless Roman matron:—</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">”<i>Domum mansit, lanam fecit</i>,”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">which old Robertson of Strowan has so admirably -rendered into our Scottish Doric:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line"><i>She keepit weel the house, and birlt at the -wheel!</i></p> -</div> -<p class="first">A discovery of considerable archæological -interest has recently been made by some people employed in trenching -the moss of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb231" href="#pb231" name= -"pb231">231</a>]</span>Ballachulish in our neighbourhood. At a depth of -ten feet in the “drift” subsoil, underlying six or seven -feet of moss, only removed within recent years in the ordinary course -of peat-cutting, was found the remains of what, in the far past, must -have been a flint instrument manufactory on a large scale. Within an -area of twenty or thirty square yards was disclosed several cartloads -of flint chippings, manifestly broken off in the manufacture of flint -instruments, for we have been able to secure several arrow heads, two -roughly finished chisels, and a hammer head of curious shape, with a -hole in the centre, which must have cost the maker no small amount of -time and trouble in the manipulation. What renders this -“find” more interesting is the fact that the material must -have been brought to the place of manufacture from a considerable -distance, flint being of rare occurrence anywhere in Nether Lochaber. -Underlying such a depth of solid moss and drift, such a discovery -necessarily carries us back to a race of men who lived in a very remote -period indeed; how remote, even geology is as yet unable absolutely to -say. We were unfortunately from home at the time the discovery was -made, and were thus prevented from examining the whole <i lang="la">in -sitû</i>. This much, however, is certain, that under a diluvial -bed of drift, gravel, and sand of upwards of two feet in thickness, -underlying a thickness of at least six feet of solid moss, a flint -instrument manufactory is found, the work of a people who lived before -the deposit of that drift and the growth of that moss. How many -thousands and thousands of years ago lived that flint-working race, -who, in view of the extreme slowness of geological changes, can say? We -know that in the celebrated case of the discovery of flint weapons at -Abbeville and elsewhere in France the remains of extinct species of -elephant, rhinoceros, and other mammals were found at an immense depth -in the drift alongside of flint instruments unquestionably fashioned by -human hands. Whether our Ballachulish discovery is to be held as a -connecting <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb232" href="#pb232" name= -"pb232">232</a>]</span>link with a people of an antiquity as remote as -those of Abbeville, it would be rash positively to assert; but the -flint workers, some remains of whose labours have, as we have stated, -been recently brought to light in our neighbourhood, must have lived at -a period when the face of the country was geologically very different -from what it is now; and remembering how slowly as a rule geological -changes are brought about, we shall probably be still within the mark, -if approximately we fix the era of the earliest flint workers at -something like ten thousand years ago, and in the case of Abbeville, -Continental archæologists have had no hesitation in suggesting a -still remoter antiquity. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb233" href= -"#pb233" name="pb233">233</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch38" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e651">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Warm showery Summer, disagreeable for the Tourist, but -pastorally and agriculturally favourable—<i lang="la">Xiphias -Gladius</i>, or Sword-Fish, cast ashore during a Midsummer -Gale—Garibaldi dining on Potatoes and Sword-Fish steaks at -Caprera—The General’s Drink—Medicinal virtues of an -Onion—Nettle Broth—Translation of a New Zealand Maori -Song.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">“Rather showery, sir,” exclaims the -pleasure-seeking butterfly tourist as he stands at his hotel window, or -settles himself as comfortably as may be on the box-seat of the coach -in the morning. “Not a bit of it, sir,” responds the sturdy -agriculturist or well-to-do drover; “not a bit of it, sir, the -finest growing weather we could have: cattle and sheep getting into -condition famously!” [July 1873]. In such a case it is best to -avoid declaring positively for either party. <i lang="la">In medio -tutissimus ibis.</i> Both are right from their individual standpoint; -that of the agriculturist and drover being the utilitarian and -anti-poetic, while the sentimental tourist, bent on sight-seeing and -recreation, very pardonably grumbles that instead of clear skies and -refreshing breezes he is as often as not enveloped in mist and small -rain. In any case the country is at present most beautiful, and despite -the grumblings of a few, who foolishly expect to have “a’ -the comforts of the Sautmarket” about them whithersoever they -wander, such batches of tourists as we forgather with from time to time -are in raptures with our glens, and bens, and lochs, and richly wooded -shores, as well they may. And never before in the West Highlands were -all the conveniences for “touristing” with ease and -comfort, and all reasonable despatch, so perfect and so varied. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb234" href="#pb234" name= -"pb234">234</a>]</span></p> -<p>A tolerably perfect, though not very large specimen of the -sword-fish, the <i lang="la">Xiphias gladius</i> of ichthyologists, was -cast ashore in our neighbourhood during an unusually heavy midsummer -gale from the south-west last week. The length of the elongated snout, -commonly called the sword or dagger, was two feet seven inches, a -really formidable weapon, with which it has been known, whether -willingly or unwillingly it would be difficult to say, to perforate the -bottom timbers of the stoutest ships, the sword in such cases luckily -breaking off as a rule, and thus becoming an immediate as well as an -efficient plug or stop-gap to the perforation. It is a more frequent -visitor to our shores than our natural history books would lead one to -believe, hardly a summer passing but you hear of one or more being -caught or cast ashore somewhere. This is the fourth specimen that -within twenty years has come under our personal inspection here on the -west coast. The largest and finest we ever saw was captured by a -well-known Fort-William fisherman, <i lang="gd">Iack -Crùbach</i>, or Lame Jack. If we well remember, we think he told -us that somebody gave him a sovereign for it. Its flesh is said to be -excellent eating, while its liver affords an oil equal to eel oil in -transparency, and of marvellous virtue, it is said, as a medicament. -The favourite habitats of the sword-fish are the Sicilian and the -Italian shores of the Mediterranean, where, at certain seasons of the -year, it is caught in great numbers, the average weight being quite a -hundred, and sometimes two hundred pounds or more. We have it in our -<i>Common-Place Book</i> that Major Healy, of the yacht -“Wildbird,” informed us in Fort-William (August 1869) that -he had just returned from the Mediterranean; had called on Garibaldi at -Caprera, and dined with him on potatoes and sword-fish steaks, which -the gallant Major pronounced excellent. We may state, as something -curious, that while the Major at said dinner had his choice of very -good wines, with lots of capital bottled “Bass” from -England, the General himself <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb235" href= -"#pb235" name="pb235">235</a>]</span>drank a funny decoction composed -of Marsala and water—half-and-half—in which a large onion, -sliced lemon-wise, had been steeping for the whole previous -night—a drink which the Major tasted, and in very emphatic phrase -declared to be “beastly,” but which he shrewdly guessed had -something to do with the General’s rheumatism and gout. Any of -our readers having a tendency thitherwards might do worse than take the -hint. There may be something in it, for we recollect, when a little boy -in Morven, that an onion was somehow considered a <i>panpharmacon</i>, -a perfect <i>panacea</i>—good for any and every ailment. That the -mediæval herbalist, like the mediæval alchemist, was often -a quack is very likely. In many instances he could hardly be otherwise -when his profession was in such repute; but it is a question if our -revulsion has not gone too far; if our modern medicinists do not rather -much overlook, too contemptuously ignore, the inherent virtues, as to -human ailments, of roots and herbs and “flowers of the -field.” An old lady in our neighbourhood, shrewd and intelligent -beyond most of her class, told us not long ago as she was cutting -nettles by the roadside, as an evening <i lang="fr">bonne bouche</i> -for her cow, that Stewart of Invernahyle, Sir Walter Scott’s -friend, made it a point every spring to have nettle broth or soup on -three consecutive days about the season of the vernal equinox, which he -religiously believed acted as a safe and efficient diuretic for the -remainder of the year. From <i lang="gd">Mairi Bhàn</i>, -Invernahyle’s sister, the</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“<i>Mhairi Bhàn gur barrail -thu</i>”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">of Macintyre’s well-known song, are descended at -least two Presbyterian clergymen, though the Invernahyles themselves -were strongly Episcopalian—ourselves, namely, and the Rev. Mr. -Cameron, Free Church minister of Ardersier. And the writing of the word -“Episcopalian” above reminds us of the fact that the -titular dignity of the Bishopric of Argyll and the Isles is at present -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb236" href="#pb236" name= -"pb236">236</a>]</span>vacant. The late Bishop, Dr. Ewing, with whom we -had the honour of being on most intimate and friendly terms, was an -unostentatiously pious, thoroughly good, and really very able man, whom -nine-tenths of the clergy of his own Church would not or could not -understand. Thank God that in the enumeration of the good men whom we -have known, the fingers of both hands do not suffice; and of the really -good men whom we have been privileged to know and honour with -affectionate regard was the late Bishop Ewing.</p> -<p>Some months ago we wrote to an old college <i>chum</i>, now farming -in New Zealand, advising him, as some occupation for his idle hours, to -pick up and send us such scraps of songs and poems as he might find -among the Maori race around him. No uncivilised people that we had read -or heard of seemed to us, in many respects, so like our ancient -Highlanders—the Fingalians, so called, of our older ballad -poetry—and we thought that so much of their poetry and folk-lore -as could be gathered could not fail to be interesting. Our -correspondent says:—“The Maoris, as you so shrewdly -guessed, have a good deal of poetry among them; short songs, however, -for the most part, and rhymed proverbs, and “wisdom words,” -as they call them, very much like the Welsh -“<i>Triads</i>,” for they generally teach some <i>three</i> -particular doctrines, or state historically some <i>three</i> -particular facts. A few weeks ago I got an old man who came this way to -sing me some aboriginal songs, and the one that most struck my fancy I -now send to you. It is perfectly literal, for I know the native -language well, and as you are fond of rhyming, you may put it into -verse if you like. I can only send a true translation, line for -line.</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">Maori -Song.</span>—(<i>Translation.</i>)</h4> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Fish in the pool? No fish in the pool;</p> -<p class="line">And the women are sad because of it.</p> -<p class="line">The men, too, are sad; but to-morrow</p> -<p class="line">The fish will be big, and fat, and many.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb237" href="#pb237" name= -"pb237">237</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">I heard the bird singing a pleasant song.</p> -<p class="line">He sang of food; he also sang of love.</p> -<p class="line">The name of this bird is known to me,</p> -<p class="line">But I will not tell it till we meet under the moon.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">The stranger, with his face so ugly and pale,</p> -<p class="line">Has come from far over the sea.</p> -<p class="line">He loves us, he says; but a Maori maid</p> -<p class="line">Will not listen to his love.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">The mountains and vales of our own land</p> -<p class="line">Are pleasant to see and live among.</p> -<p class="line">And the sun at his setting is very red—</p> -<p class="line">Red with love to the Maori; angry at the stranger.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">My father lived here long ago;</p> -<p class="line">He lived here, and here also lived the <i>paraipa</i> -(a kind of bird).</p> -<p class="line">The <i>paraipa</i> is not here, and my father is -dead:</p> -<p class="line">Woe is me, I wander among strangers.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb238" href="#pb238" name= -"pb238">238</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch39" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e664">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Mountains—The Lochaber Axe, Ancient and -Modern.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">“With occasional gales, by no means out of place -or untimeous at this date [October 1873], with the sun already in its -retrogression, almost half-way back through <i>Scorpio</i>, the weather -is upon the whole mild and more autumn-like than was any portion of -autumn proper itself. Winter, as yet, has hardly descended lower than -the highest summits of our mountain ranges, and how beautiful in the -golden after-glow, even at this season, are these same mountain peaks, -impending over us like so many living presences! Tutelary divinities we -sometimes fancy them, interested in all that belongs to the dwellers at -their feet, with living hearts under their rocky ribs, loving us even -as we love them, if we only knew it, and speaking to us in their own -solemn and mysterious language, as at midnight, in our communings with -the stars, we are startled now and again by the weird, inexplicable -sighs and sounds, and deep-toned murmurings that seem to rise from glen -and corry and frowning gorge—sounds of much meaning, doubtless, -if one only knew the language, and could respond, as the sea seems to -do, in the palpitation of its heaving waves, and the boom of its -billows upon the beach. Pantheism and atheism are the very antithesis -and antipodes of each other—errors both, just as blind credulity -is the antithesis of stubborn unbelief—but, if forced to decide -in favour of either, give us pantheism for choice, as the more -poetical, at least, and pardonable error of the two; for the -recognition of a Divine intelligence pervading and dwelling lovingly in -all things is <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb239" href="#pb239" name= -"pb239">239</a>]</span>surely preferable to the cold and bloodless -anti-creed that professes to have searched the universe for a God, but -failed to find Him. For our own part, we have dwelt so long among the -mountains, and within sight and sound of the sea, that we have learned -to love them with a strange, undefinable affection, such as one bestows -only on what is at once weird and mysterious, as well as intelligent -and potent, and, upon the whole, beneficent and friendly. So impressed -are we with this feeling at times, that we fear that, however weighty -the advantages otherwise, a city life for us would now be irksome and -unenjoyable, and anything like a lengthened sojourn in a mountainless -land, far from the sight of ocean waves, well-nigh unendurable. There -is some meaning, however wild and improbable it may seem at first -sight, in the theory that accounts for the Egyptian pyramids as erected -by a nomade people, who finally settled along the valley of the Nile, -in remembrance of the mountains of their native land, and to serve -instead of these mountains in making the astronomical observations for -which the ancient Assyrians and Chaldeans were so famous. Be these -things as they may, we dearly love the mountains by which our humble -home is surrounded, whether basking in jubilant sunshine or wrapt in -sorrowing cloud, whether robed in midsummer green, in autumnal purple, -in brown and gold, or snow-covered and ice-bound to their base; what -time the day is shortest, and the sun, almost shorn of his beams, -shines but faint and far down at its farthest point of southern -declination. It is recorded of Queen Mary, of sanguinary, or rather -<i>igneous</i> memory, that so affected was she by the loss of Calais, -that had been in the possession of England since the victory at Cressy -under the gallant Edward III., upwards of two hundred years previously, -that she declared in her last moments that, if her body was opened -after death, the name of the lost city would be found written upon her -heart; probably the nearest approach to anything like poetry to be -found in any word or act of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb240" href= -"#pb240" name="pb240">240</a>]</span>her dark and bigoted and wholly -unhappy life. If such things were possible—and the ancients, at -least, believed they were—we should be apt to say the same in our -own case of the mountain ranges and sea views around us, with which we -have held such intimate fellowship for upwards of twenty years.</p> -<p>If one asked us where he could get coals, we should without -hesitation be disposed, were it but to keep the well-known proverb in -countenance, to direct him to Newcastle-on-Tyne. If he consulted us as -to where he could best procure a serviceable and trustworthy -sword-blade of finest workmanship and highest value, we should probably -direct him to Damascus or Toledo. If slings and slingers, we should -send him to the Balearic Isles; if bows and arrows, and how to use them -with perfectest dexterity, to the Parthians; and in so advising the -anxious inquirer for coals, or the warlike weapons in question, we -should probably be disposed to feel that we had advised him wisely and -well. And suppose one wanted a “Lochaber axe,” where would -he most naturally look for it but in Lochaber? And yet, in all Lochaber -there is probably at this moment not a single specimen of a weapon at -one time so common and so peculiar to the district as to have been -called after it. The Secretary of the Royal Institution of a seaport -city of England wrote us lately, begging us to procure for them a -Lochaber axe, to be placed in a collection of shafted weapons in their -museum. He wrote as if he thought there need be no difficulty about the -matter; living as we do in Lochaber, he seemed to think that we could -lay our hands upon such a weapon as easily as upon a tuft of heather or -a twig of birch. We were, of course, obliged to write him in reply that -neither in Lochaber proper, nor, so far as we knew, in any of the -neighbouring districts, was there to be found a single specimen of the -formidable weapon in question. There should be a good many Lochaber -axes in the country however, though not in Lochaber. We wonder if such -a thing as a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb241" href="#pb241" name= -"pb241">241</a>]</span>“Jeddart staff” could be had to-day -in its proper locality? We recollect that during Her Majesty’s -first visit to Scotland in 1842, when she was received by such a -splendid gathering of the Clans at Dunkeld, there was a company of a -hundred men, commanded by the Honourable Captain James Murray, brother -of Lord Glenlyon, the biggest men that could be got in Athole and the -surrounding districts, all armed with Lochaber axes, and a very fine -sight they were as they poised and swung about their ponderous and -terrible weapons. We were then but a boy at school, just entering upon -our teens, but the appearance of these kilted giants, with their -dreadful battle-axes, is as fresh and vivid as if, since that bright -and beautiful September noon, hardly thirty days had elapsed, instead -of upwards of thirty years. We doubt, however, if the Lochaber axe, so -called, as seen at Dunkeld on the occasion referred to, and as usually -shown in our collections of weapons, is at all a true representative of -the ancient arm so formidable in many a dour conflict in the hands of -the Camerons, Macmartins, Macmillans, and Macphees of Lochielside, -Glenarkaig, and Glenlochy, and of the Macdonalds of the Braes, and -Mackenzies of Lochlevenside. The weapon as now shown is decidedly too -big, too ponderous and unwieldy ever to have been used in actual fight. -Only a Clan Samson or Clan Goliath, and all of them of ancestral -stature and strength, could hope to wield such an arm in the heat and -hurry of conflict with anything like dexterity and ease. Like the -immense two-handed “Wallace” style of sword that is -sometimes shown to you as having been the favourite weapon of some -celebrated warrior of the middle ages and subsequent centuries, but -which it is simply impossible that any mere man could ever have wielded -with effect in actual fight, the modern Lochaber axe is too gigantic -for use, and must have been manufactured, a big pattern of a lesser -weapon, merely for parade and show. That a weapon of the kind, however, -once existed, and was a favourite arm with the <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb242" href="#pb242" name="pb242">242</a>]</span>men -of Lochaber, is unquestionable, and a truly formidable weapon it must -have been. With a crescent axe face to cut with, it had a hook at the -back by which horsemen could be caught hold of and dragged from their -saddles, to be despatched at leisure as they lay helpless upon the -ground. The shaft was necessarily of considerable length, about six -feet, of ash or other tough wood, and of no greater girth than a common -hay-fork handle. The shaft of the modern weapon, however, is between -seven and eight feet long, and of a girth that an ordinary hand does -not suffice to grasp. The axe proper, too, or head of the arm usually -shown as a Lochaber axe, is nearly twice the weight of that of the -older and more business-like weapon. An Indian tomahawk with a six-foot -shaft, or a mediæval knight’s battle-axe with a six-foot -handle, such as that with which the Bruce cleft the skull of Henry de -Boune at Bannockburn, would probably be nearer to the pattern of the -original Lochaber axe than the ridiculously big and cumbrous modern -article. You remember the scene in Scott’s <i>Lord of the -Isles</i>—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Of Hereford’s high blood he came,</p> -<p class="line">A race renown’d for knightly fame.</p> -<p class="line">He burn’d before his Monarch’s eye,</p> -<p class="line">To do some deed of chivalry.</p> -<p class="line">He spurr’d his steel, he couched his lance,</p> -<p class="line">And darted on the Bruce at once.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“As motionless as rocks, that bide</p> -<p class="line">The wrath of the advancing tide,</p> -<p class="line">The Bruce stood fast. Each breast beat high,</p> -<p class="line">And dazzled was each gazing eye.</p> -<p class="line">The heart had hardly time to think,</p> -<p class="line">The eyelid scarce had time to wink,</p> -<p class="line">While on the King, like flash of flame,</p> -<p class="line">Spurr’d to full speed the warhorse came!</p> -<p class="line">The partridge may the falcon mock,</p> -<p class="line">If that slight palfrey stand the shock;</p> -<p class="line">But, swerving from the knight’s career,</p> -<p class="line">Just as they met, Bruce shunn’d the spear.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb243" href="#pb243" name= -"pb243">243</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Onward the baffled warrior bore</p> -<p class="line">His course—but soon his course was -o’er!</p> -<p class="line">High in his stirrups stood the King,</p> -<p class="line">And gave his battle-axe the swing.</p> -<p class="line">Right on De Boune, the whiles he pass’d,</p> -<p class="line">Fell that stern dint—the first—the -last!</p> -<p class="line">Such strength upon the blow was put,</p> -<p class="line">The helmet crush’d like hazel nut;</p> -<p class="line">The axe shaft, with its brazen clasp,</p> -<p class="line">Was shiver’d to the gauntlet grasp.</p> -<p class="line">Springs from the blow the startled horse,</p> -<p class="line">Drops to the plain the lifeless corse.</p> -<p class="line">First of that fatal field, how soon,</p> -<p class="line">How sudden fell the fierce De Boune!”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">A real Lochaber axe-head we have seen, never the -complete weapon properly shafted, though surely real and genuine -specimens of the old and famous war-arm must be found in some of our -museums. At what period the Lochaber axe ceased to be carried as a -battle-arm by the Highlanders it is impossible to say; probably soon -after the general introduction of fire-arms into the northern half of -the kingdom, for it was certainly not used in the ’45, nor, so -far as we know, in the ’15, nor even in the wars of Montrose; so -that for upwards of two hundred years at least it has not been used in -actual combat. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb244" href="#pb244" name= -"pb244">244</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch40" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e673">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XL.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Sea-Fowl—Weather Prognostics—Goosander -(<i lang="la">Mergus Merganser</i>, Linn.)—Gales of -Wind—January Primroses—<i lang="gd">Lachlan Gorach</i>, the -Mull “Natural”—A Dancing Rhyme.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">When a prophet’s vaticinations are verified by -the event, the world rarely fails to be reminded of it; when it is -otherwise, however; when the vaticinations turn out to be the very -reverse of true, people are rarely ever troubled with a note on the -matter, least of all on the part of the disappointed vaticinator -himself. The fact is that everything like vaticination had better, as a -rule, be let alone; sooner or later, and in nine cases out of ten, or -oftener, the prophet never fails to come to grief. So convinced, for -our own part, are we of this, that while reserving our right to -vaticinate and predict as much and as recklessly as anybody else, when -it so pleased us, yet, as a matter of fact, we never do venture further -into the treacherous territories of vaticination than the mere -outskirts, so to speak, of what may well be called the debateable land -of weather prognostics; and even there we tread as gingerly and -cautiously as if at this moment we were on the banks of the Prah, in -constant dread of a lurking ambuscade of fierce and fetish-valorous -Ashantees. Our weather prophecies from time to time have often, as the -courteous reader may remember, been fully justified by the event; but -if the whole truth is to be told, we fear we must confess that they -have almost as frequently turned out to be wrong, and it is not every -weather prophet who will confess so much. It requires a larger share of -magnanimity than the reader is perhaps aware of, to be able to confess -one’s errors with anything <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb245" -href="#pb245" name="pb245">245</a>]</span>like complaisance, even in -such a matter as weather prognostics, and we therefore trust that the -following confession will be valued as it ought. Some time ago the -number of Arctic sea-fowl in our creeks and bays, and the near approach -of a rather early fall of snow to the sea line, justified us, as we -thought, in predicting an early and severe winter, meaning by -“severe”—for we scorn to be disingenuous in the -matter—that it was likely to be excessively <i>cold</i> as well -as unusually stormy. The experience of upwards of twenty years, during -which we have been a keen and close student of meteorological phenomena -and wild-bird life, seemed to us to warrant the conclusion at which we -had arrived. But how at mid-winter stands the fact? Why, thus: that up -to this date [January 1874], it has been, upon the whole, the -“openest” and mildest season for at least a quarter of a -century! How, then, about your Arctic sea-birds? the reader may -exclaim, and we can only answer that their presence so early and in -such numbers is to be accounted for by the almost incessant gales that -have been sweeping over the Atlantic and northern seas, with such -disastrous effects, for nearly two months past. Feeling the first blast -of the approaching tempest, and assured of its prolonged continuance by -a marvellous instinct, further and more correctly prescient of such -matters than man, with all his boasted science, they fled to the -shelter of our, to them in such cases, Friendly Islands; for an Arctic -web-foot dreads an unusual severity of hyperborean storms, long -continued, quite as much as it dreads an excessive intensity of -hyperborean cold, and for the same reason—both equally interfere -with the allotted comforts of its economy and due supply of food. The -winter, besides, is not yet past; whistling before one is fairly out of -the wood is proverbially foolish, and there is, after all, time enough -yet betwixt this and the vernal equinox for the advent of any amount of -cold, so that there is still a chance for our wild-bird friends and -ourselves standing higher in the reader’s estimation as weather -prophets, ere <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb246" href="#pb246" name= -"pb246">246</a>]</span>the winter is ended, than we do at present. Our -web-foot visitors from the far north, at all events, are still with us, -and in large numbers, and a very pretty sight a flock of them is as you -quietly approach them congregated in some sheltered bay, and with a -good binocular watch their graceful motions, now disporting themselves -and chasing each other in many a merry round over the surface of the -water; now, as if by common consent and in obedience to some, to you -inaudible, word of command, they seem to leap rather than dive into the -blue depths beneath them, until not one is to be seen, then as suddenly -reappearing, again to chase each other, and disport and dive, as if -they knew you were looking at them, and admired and loved them, and -would as soon cut off your finger as think of levelling a -murder-dealing weapon at creatures so beautiful and harmless.</p> -<p>A bird generally rare in our inland waters is this year quite common -on all our shores. We refer to the goosander (<i lang="la">Mergus -merganser</i>, Linn.), one of the handsomest and most interesting of -sea-fowl. Of the <i lang="la">Merganser</i> family the goosander is the -largest, and the whole order is remarkable for their serrated -mandibles, the nearest approach to anything like <i>teeth</i> to be met -with among birds, and admirably adapted for retaining firm hold, when -seized, of their slippery prey, which mainly consists of eels, -lampreys, &c., in dealing with which “kittle cattle” in -deep water an ordinary unarmed duck-bill would be a very inefficient -weapon. Once in the firm grip of the <i lang="la">Merganser’s</i> -serrated bill, however, the chance of such comparatively small fish as -it can alone feed upon must be very small indeed. We saw a very fine -male specimen a few days ago, which a young man had shot, believing it -to be a “wild duck,” as he termed it, and necessarily good -for eating. We told him that he had been guilty of a piece of very -unnecessary and indefensible cruelty, for that the bird in his hand was -in truth a <i lang="la">Merganser</i>, and no more fit to be eaten than -a ten-year-old herring <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb247" href= -"#pb247" name="pb247">247</a>]</span>gull or an octogenarian guillemot. -He looked at us with a smile, in which we thought we detected a -considerable shade of incredulity, and we do believe that the thought -passed through his mind at that moment that we only spoke so -disparagingly of the bird because we wanted to get hold of it -ourselves, either by its being given to us as a present, or for the -smallest possible money payment, and then what a jolly feed we should -have at the expense of his ornithological ignorance and juvenile -simplicity! Perhaps we do him injustice; but, at all events, he carried -the bird away with him, observing that he “would try it at any -rate.” We met his sister a day or two afterwards, and on -inquiring if they had cooked the “wild duck,” and how they -liked it, we confess that it was with an inward chuckle of intense -satisfaction that we listened as she told us that, after having duly -boiled and cooked it <i lang="la">secundum artem</i>, until it -<i>ought</i> to have been good and tender, it turned out to be so rank, -and fishy, and tough, that no one could eat a morsel of it, and it had -to be thrown into the dinner refuse basket as worthless! These birds, -though necessarily hardy, and able to outlive a vast amount of cold and -storm, are exceedingly fond of still water, rarely resting or fishing -when there is any surface disturbance beyond a slight ripple; and hence -it is that you so seldom meet with them elsewhere than in the most -sheltered bays, creeks, and estuaries, where the water is least liable -to the surface turmoil and commotion of a storm. The finest stuffed -specimen of the <i lang="la">Merganser</i> we ever saw is at Achnacarry -Castle, Lochiel’s seat in Lochaber.</p> -<p>We have said above that the winter has thus far been almost -unprecedentedly open and mild, by which we mean only that the -temperature throughout has been unusually high, not, by any means, that -it has been <i>calm</i>. The very contrary is the case. It has been one -continued storm, with an occasional breathing time, so to speak, of a -fine day at rare intervals, for upwards of eight <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb248" href="#pb248" name= -"pb248">248</a>]</span>consecutive weeks. But the storms have, <i>as to -temperature</i>, been rather the storms of early summer or autumn, than -the boisterously cold and burly shriekings of the lone winter -“Storm King,” as we used to know and fear him. The reader -will best understand what we mean, when we say that, notwithstanding -the storminess, <i>anemometrically</i>, of the season, not a single -snowflake has fallen in the lowlands of Nether Lochaber this winter, -except a little which fell last night, but of which there are no traces -again this morning; nor, except twice, and then only for an hour or so, -has the thermometer touched the freezing-point. We much doubt if the -thickness of a sixpenny piece of ice could be gathered at any one -moment from pool or puddle in our district of Lochaber during the -present winter. The consequence is, that in all our gardens flowers are -at this moment in bloom that perhaps were never known to be in bloom at -the same date before. Our privet and elder hedges bear quite a close -green vesture of young leaves; the columbine has already reached an -April altitude of growth, and a woman who happened to walk from -Fort-William early last week brought us a small bouquet of primroses -that she had picked up while passing through the woods of -Coirrechaorachan, as beautiful and perfect as if it were in truth the -proper season of these favourite flowers, instead of the last days of -the first month of the year. We shouldn’t wonder, however, if we -have to pay for it all yet, ere the truant schoolboy again begins to -imitate the cuckoo’s note, or “the voice of the turtle is -heard in our land.”</p> -<p>There is at this moment sitting in our kitchen a poor, half-witted -natural, “<span class="sc">Lachlan Gorach</span>,” from -Mull, whose conversation is always garnished with “Davie -Gelletly”-like snatches of quaint song. Sometimes the rhyme is in -English, and sometimes in Gaelic, and frequently has no connection -whatever with what may be the immediate subject of conversation. On -going up to have a crack with him a few moments ago—for poor -Lachlan is, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb249" href="#pb249" name= -"pb249">249</a>]</span>in a way, a great favourite of ours—he -returned our friendly greeting of “Well, how are you, -Lachlan?” with a hearty shake of the hand, and a bow that, for -close proximity of forehead to the ground and duration, might have -graced the court of Louis the Fourteenth, and immediately on regaining -the erect position, struck, to an air that was probably original, into -the following verse, which we took down on the spot:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line xd26e978">“First the heel and then the toe,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">That’s the way the polka goes;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">First the toe and then the heel,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">That’s the way to dance a reel;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Quick about and then away,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Lightly dance the glad Strathspey.</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Jump a jump, and jump it big,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">That’s the way to dance a jig;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Slowly, smiling as in France,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Follow through the country dance.</p> -<p class="line">And we’ll meet Johnny Cope in the -morning.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">It was very amusing. Where he picked up the uncouth -rhyme we do not know, and it was bootless to inquire. Having ordered -him some dinner, we bade him good-bye, when we caught hold of the -following verse of Lachlan’s favourite ditties as we -disappeared:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Kilt your coaties, bonnie lassie,</p> -<p class="line">As you wade the burnie through;</p> -<p class="line">Or your mother will be angry</p> -<p class="line">If you wet your coaties now.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Poor Lachlan, always cheerful and perfectly harmless, -is a welcome guest at every fireside throughout the many districts -which he periodically peregrinates. We may have something more to say -of himself and his quaint scraps of songs on a future occasion. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb250" href="#pb250" name= -"pb250">250</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch41" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e689">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XLI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Plague of Thistles in Australia and New -Zealand—How to deal with them—<i lang="la">Cnicus -Acaulis</i>, Great Milk Thistle, or Stemless Thistle—Fierce Fight -between two Seals, “Nelson” and -“Villeneuve.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">It is true to a proverb that one may have too much -even of a good thing. It was the most natural thing in the world, for -instance, that our countrymen should have introduced the thistle, the -national emblem, into the fertile plains and straths of Australia and -New Zealand, to remind them of home, and to speak to them, even at the -Antipodes, of memories and traditions that patriotism will in nowise -“willingly let die.” The inevitable result of such -introduction, however, was not foreseen, or rather was never thought -of. A correspondent in the province of Otago, in a very pleasant letter -by last mail [August 1874] informs us that the “symbol -dear” of Burns has so flourished and spread over large tracts of -land in New Zealand as to be already an intolerable nuisance; so much -so, that legislative enactments are being passed, in view, if possible, -to its total extirpation. “You may think I exaggerate,” -says our friend, “but I positively do not, when I tell you that -in the course of a fifty miles ride the other day I saw whole paddocks -containing many hundred acres of splendid land quite overrun with -thistles, so close, and thick, and formidable, that neither man nor -horse could force a way through them. And such thistles, too! I -measured several that were quite eight feet in height, and as thick in -the stem as my wrist, with spikes on them as large as horse-shoe nails, -and as sharp-pointed as the sharpest needle. The proprietor of one of -the paddocks thus overgrown <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb251" href= -"#pb251" name="pb251">251</a>]</span>with thistles swore at them -awfully—and most unpatriotically, too, you will say, for he was a -Scotchman—when I spoke to him on the subject. I assure you it is -a very serious matter, for unless the obnoxious weed is somehow got rid -of, many places will soon be uninhabitable, and, as you can easily -understand, the evil is daily and rapidly becoming worse. The thistles -are at present ripe, with large heads like cauliflowers, and when a -smart breeze is blowing, where they are plentiful, the air is filled -with thistle-down like a heavy snow-storm. If you, who know so many -things, could only suggest some effectual way of ridding ourselves of -this pest, you would be doing us a very real service.” At home, -too, thistles, if not more plentiful, are at least of larger growth -than usual. In a corner of our own garden, for instance, there is still -growing at the present moment a splendid fellow, nearly six feet in -height, to which we pay a daily visit in admiration of its lusty -growth, and the rich emerald green of its imbricated involucral leaves. -We have purposely preserved it unhurt till now, as something of a -curiosity, but in a day or two it must be cut down, for the seeds are -fast ripening, and it were unwise, if not actually criminal, to allow -them to escape on downy wings only to fall and germinate after their -kind, a very nuisance, elsewhere. Most herbaceous plants will bleed to -death if cut down two years running, just as they have about attained -half their growth; and we can only suggest to our New Zealand friends -that they should treat their thistle fields after a similar fashion. -Let them be mowed down when about half, or rather more than half-grown, -with the scythe for two consecutive seasons, and we believe the roots -will infallibly die and disappear. We have known bracken, ragwort, and -burr-dock, &c. very effectively disposed of in this way, and have -some confidence that thistles, too, might be thoroughly eradicated by a -similar process of vital wounding at the hastiest stage of growth. From -our correspondent’s description of <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb252" href="#pb252" name="pb252">252</a>]</span>them, we should say -that the New Zealand thistles, so loudly complained of, are of the same -species as that in our garden, the <i lang="la">Carduus marianus</i> of -botanists, or Great Milk Thistle, a biennial common over all Europe, -but nowhere so plentiful as in Scotland, whence it is probable that it -is so frequently pointed to by poets, painters, and patriots as the -Scotch Thistle, though its claims to the high honour of being the -actual and real national emblem are somewhat questionable. The -tradition in the south and south-west, where the true story, if ever -there was a true story in the matter, is most likely to have rooted -itself in its perfectest form, is to the effect that, during an -invasion of the Norsemen, the Danes advancing against the Scots on a -dark night, one of their barefooted scouts, when prowling about the -Scottish encampment, chanced to tread on a thistle, the sharp prickles -of which piercing his foot, caused him to utter a loud imprecation, -which reaching the ears of the Scots, hitherto lying in fancied -security, warned them that the enemy was at hand, and enabled them, -instantly standing to their arms, to take their foes at such -disadvantage that the fierce Norsemen were totally routed and driven to -their ships with immense slaughter. The thistle that thus opportunely -prevented the Scots being taken unawares is still pointed out, not, -however, as being any of the large, formidable, long-stemmed varieties, -but the <i>stemless</i> thistle that spreads out its leaves and spikes -quite close to the ground, common enough in old pastures and waste -grass lands. The stemless thistle is botanically known as the <i lang= -"la">Cnicus acaulis</i>, and lowly and unpretending as it may seem at -first sight, there is, we make bold to assert, no species of thistle so -well entitled to bear and boast the grand old legend, <i lang="la">Nemo -me impune lacessit</i>. Its spines are as fine, and quite as tough and -piercing withal, as the finest cambric needle; impossible, too, of -extraction, once it has fairly penetrated the flesh, except by a -surgical operation; and we have a shrewd suspicion <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb253" href="#pb253" name="pb253">253</a>]</span>that -it is to some extent poisonous, for, from the moment one pierces the -flesh till its expulsion by suppuration of the part, the pain is keen -and excruciating beyond conception. Barefooted Dane, Saxon, or Celt, -unexpectedly treading on a nearly ripe and full-formed <i lang= -"la">Cnicus</i>, might well be excused an oath, however lusty and loud, -in acknowledgment and hearty execration of such an impediment. We can -say something of a <i lang="la">Cnicus</i> spike wound from personal -experience. Several years ago, when we were younger and lighter than we -are to-day, we were vaulting over a wall that divided an infield of -corn from an outfield of old pasture. Safely over, but alighting -awkwardly, we slipped forward and fell, instinctively stretching out -our hands to secure ourselves as we came almost headlong to the ground. -The fall was nothing, but one of our hands had, as ill-luck would have -it, alighted, with all our weight upon it, in the very bosom of a -full-armed, irate <i lang="la">Cnicus</i>. The palm of the hand somehow -escaped, but one of the prickles entered our wrist, and the pain was at -once intense—stinging, sharp, and burning, as if the spike was -the point of a red-hot needle from the fire. It could not be extracted, -for it could not be seen; and there was nothing for it but patience and -such local applications as might best aid the inevitable suppuration by -which alone, after fourteen days’ acute pain, relief was finally -obtained. Upon the whole, then, and keeping the barefooted Danish scout -tradition in view, we are disposed to consider the stemless <i lang= -"la">Cnicus</i> as the true national emblem. If there be any doubt, the -honour, at all events, must be left between itself and the burly, -big-stemmed <i lang="la">Marianus</i>. Of a certainty, in any case, the -cotton thistle (<i lang="la">Onopordon acanthium</i>), though -frequently spoken of by horticulturists and amateur gardeners as the -Scotch thistle, cannot be the species indicated, for this last is not -properly a Scotch plant at all, it being rarely, if ever, found growing -wild anywhere north of the Tweed, though comparatively <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb254" href="#pb254" name= -"pb254">254</a>]</span>common in England. The first public and properly -authenticated mention of the thistle as the national badge is, we -believe, in an inventory of the jewels and wardrobe effects of James -III., about the year 1467. Whether there was an “ancient” -Order of the Thistle seems doubtful; what is commonly called the -revival of the order dates from the reign of James the Seventh of -Scotland, Second of England, in 1687.</p> -<p>A more natural and less apocryphal combat than the recent dwarf and -bulldog business at Hanley is the following. Be not alarmed; ours is -simply a brief account of a fight, fierce <span class="corr" id= -"xd26e6700" title="Source: and and">and</span> furious enough to be -sure, but very natural—for of the <i lang="la">Phocidæ</i>, -we suppose, as of the “bears and lions” in the well-known -hymn, it may be predicted that “’tis their nature -to”—a fight, then, between a pair of dog-seals in the bay -under our house a few evenings ago. In nothing else are the results of -the Gun Tax Act so pleasantly manifest as in the increased, and still -increasing, confidence and friendly relations now so happily -established between seals and sea-birds of every kind and the sea-side -naturalist, as, throwing books and papers for the time aside, he takes -his evening walk abroad within sight and sound of the setting sunlit -sea, that gently <span class="corr" id="xd26e6706" title= -"Source: murmers">murmurs</span> the while, as if for very gladness, in -response to the rosy smile of the departing god. Ever since the -beginning of summer, a large dog-seal, recognisable as such by his -immense, square, bulldog-like head and fierce hirsute beard, has made -our beautiful Onich Bay his favourite evening fishing-ground, until we -have come to know him perfectly; no difficult matter either, for he has -a curious grey patch, larger than one’s hand, on his left cheek, -and, unlike most seals, sinks, not log-like, when he disappears under -water, but almost always with a lively “header,” in which -the whole back, arched and shining, is brought to view, as if for our -special delectation, as we sit and watch his graceful motions with a -glass powerful enough to detect the wary and intelligent <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb255" href="#pb255" name= -"pb255">255</a>]</span>glance of his beautiful dark-brown eye, and -count, if need were, every separate bristle in his moustache. He is a -big and powerful animal, and when in our bay doubtless accounts himself -lord of all he surveys, for, of the hundreds of seals in Loch Leven, he -alone constantly frequents this particular semi-oval, sandy-bottomed -inlet, his size and strength probably ensuring it to him as a sort of -reserve, in which woe unto the interloping poacher caught sight of -<i lang="la">flagrante delicto</i> by the bright eye of “Lord -Nelson,” as we have long since called him, and all the people -about call him, for he is now known to everybody in the hamlet, and -frequently spoken about with all the interest attached to a wild -animal, actually suspicious and shy, but perfectly harmless, when, with -a confidence extremely rare in animals of its kind, it approaches human -habitations. On the afternoon of Friday last, “Nelson” was -fishing, as usual, in our bay, which at the time was mirror-smooth and -calm as calm could be. We had watched him for some time through our -glass, and seen him come to the surface more than once, and dispose of -a flounder in his usual quiet and leisurely way, when, somewhat to our -surprise, we caught sight of another seal, seemingly as large as -“Nelson” himself, and about a hundred yards from him; and -at the same moment his “lordship” evidently saw him too! -There could be no mistake about it, for he, first raising himself -half-way out of the water, and gazing excitedly around, with a splendid -header and a very significant flourish of his hind flippers, instantly -dived; the stranger seal also, who probably knew what was coming, -diving immediately afterwards. What happened below is only known to -such subaqueous spectators as might be about at the moment; we can only -bear witness to what followed, and that was, that in about two minutes -there was wild splashing and violent commotion of the waters near the -spot at which the stranger seal had disappeared, from the centre of -which turmoil the two seals soon emerged, fighting in fierce grip like -a pair of enraged <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb256" href="#pb256" -name="pb256">256</a>]</span>bulldogs. For several minutes this wild -combat continued; Greek had met Greek; the belligerents hugging each -other, bear-like, with their anterior flippers, and tearing at each -other’s heads and throats with their terrible fangs, for the -canine teeth of seals are exceedingly formidable, and their strength of -jaw enormous. All this time they wrestled and rolled over and over each -other in deadly and desperate encounter, the sea for yards around them -one sheet of boiling, hissing foam, here and there streaked with blood, -as we could plainly discern by the aid of the glass, for we had, in the -meantime, advanced to the very margin of the sea, and were standing -within some thirty yards of them. In the wild hurly-burly of the -conflict, it was impossible to see or say whether “Nelson” -or “Villeneuve” was winning—for by the latter name -had our son, who was along with us, already dubbed the stranger seal, -as, with true boy-like interest and eagerness, he watched the fight. -Had there been any betting on the event, we, knowing -“Nelson,” and believing in his prowess—for it was -impossible to be impartial in such a case—would probably have -laid two to one freely on our favourite; remembering, too, the pithy -Gaelic adage, “<i lang="gd">’S laidir cù air a -dhùnan fein</i>:” Strong is the dog that has his own home -knoll for a battle-field! As it was, the battle was fought out and -finished under water, so that we were not privileged to see the last of -it. After a final fierce worry, in which the combatants reared their -bodies more than half-way out of the water, and much surface splashing -and somersaulting, the belligerents, as if by common consent, -disappeared, still fighting, however, as the hundreds of bursting -bubbles that for a time kept coming to the surface clearly testified. -In about a couple of minutes the stranger seal came to the surface, -swimming rapidly seawards; <i>he</i> had evidently had enough of it; -and shortly afterwards, “Nelson,” known at once by the grey -patch on his cheek, reappeared in the centre of the bay, quietly -floating about, as if thoroughly <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb257" -href="#pb257" name="pb257">257</a>]</span>tired of the tussle, and -shaking his head dog-fashion now and again, from which we gathered that -“Villeneuve,” though beaten, had left his mark upon the -victor, and the victor was in this wise very significantly -acknowledging the fact. It is worthy of remark, that throughout the -whole of this curious fight, though from first to last it was as fierce -and furious as anything of the kind could be, not a sound was uttered -by either combatant, except an occasional heavy, sigh-like breathing, -which was probably involuntary, and merely the natural result of -unwonted physical exertion. And yet seals are by no means dumb, for -their curious bleatings—we can find no better word for -it—in the breeding season, must be known to every sea-side -naturalist. “Nelson,” the reader will perhaps be glad to -hear, is all right again, and, as yet, sole admiral of our bay, in -which at this moment, as we write, he is busy fishing for supper. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb258" href="#pb258" name= -"pb258">258</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch42" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e701">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XLII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Wounds from Stags’ Antlers exceedingly -dangerous—The old Fingalian Ballads—Number of Dogs kept for -the Chase—Dr. Smith’s “Ancient Lays” of modern -manufacture—The Spotted Crake (<i lang="la">Crex Prozana</i>) at -Inverness—Its Habits.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">It is not generally known, we believe, that a wound -from a stag’s antlers, however slight—the merest scratch or -abrasion of the skin, if only blood is drawn—is exceedingly -dangerous. A short time ago [December 1874], on ascending from the -cabin of a steamer, we went forward in order to enjoy an uninterrupted -smoke in the fresh breeze that swept across the vessel, when we noticed -a fine-looking young man, closely wrapped up in cape and plaid seated, -in the shelter of the capstan, as if the breeze, to him at least, was, -if anything, too brisk and keen. Glancing at him once and again, we -observed that he was pale and sickly looking; and concluding from his -dress and caste of features that he must be a Highlander, we went over -to him and addressed him in Gaelic. It turned out that although we did -not know him, he knew something of us, and we were soon on friendly -terms. He told us he was going to Glasgow to consult the doctors about -a stag’s horn wound in the thigh that was daily, in spite of all -the salves, ointments, and healing applications that he and all the -“wise” people of his glen could think of, getting worse -instead of better. About two months ago he was helping to take a stag -off a hill pony’s back, when, by some accident, the sharp point -of one of the tines penetrated the thigh for a short distance, and -then, by the force of the falling weight of the head, rasped downwards -for about an inch and a half, leaving an ugly, ragged gash, though of -no great depth. He <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb259" href="#pb259" -name="pb259">259</a>]</span>thought but little of it, he told us, -having often had more serious wounds before, though not from a -stag’s horn, that gave hardly any trouble, and soon healed of -themselves—of the first intention, as the surgeons have it. How -it may fare with him among the Glasgow doctors we do not know: well, -poor fellow, we sincerely hope, though we shouldn’t wonder if the -wound continued to trouble him all his life long. The subject of -stag-horn wounds having thus been brought before us in a way that could -not fail to interest us, we took the matter to avizandum, as the -sheriffs say; and, in dearth of anything better at this dull season, we -present our readers with the result of our inquiries in every direction -whence there was the least chance of enlightenment. Dogs wounded by -stags’ horns usually die from mortification or gangrene of the -wound; and even if the wound heals, and they recover, it is only in an -unsatisfactory sort of way, for they are almost always afterwards -paralytic in the wounded limb, or they are epileptic. An old forester, -who knows more about deer and deerhounds than anybody else we ever met, -tells us that in very few instances has he ever known a dog that has -actually bled at the touch of a stag’s horn, recover in such wise -as to be fairly serviceable again. With the least drop of blood in such -cases, they seem to lose all their courage. Another man, a shepherd -near us, says that a very fine collie dog of his was once severely -wounded by a stag in Glenarkaig, on Lochiel’s estate, and that -although the wound healed satisfactorily enough, and to the eye of an -ordinary observer there was nothing the matter with the dog, it was, in -fact, ever afterwards perfectly useless. “Chaidh e gòrach, -le’r cead.” A good dog before, “he became perfectly -stupid, sir!” said the man. The above-mentioned forester says -that the poisonous character of stag-horn wounds is well known to every -one in the least acquainted with deer-stalking, as the sport was -followed in the good old ante-breech-loading rifle days, when explosive -bullets were yet unknown; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb260" href= -"#pb260" name="pb260">260</a>]</span>and that rough contact with the -tines of the animal, whether living or dead, was, in his younger days, -avoided as one would avoid the tooth of a rabid dog or a viper’s -fang. A stag antler’s wound, he avers, is dangerous at all times, -but most so in the end of autumn—the rutting season—or, as -he put it, “an àm dhaibh ’bhi dol ’san -damhair,” when they take to their “wallowing pools.” -Curiously enough, and by the merest accident, we have fallen in with -the following proverbial distich from an old volume on <i>Venerie, or -Hunting of the Buck</i>, published in London in 1622:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“If thou art hurt by boar’s tooth, the -leech thy life may save;</p> -<p class="line">If thou art hurt by buck’s horn, ’twill -bring thee to thy grave.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">So that the venom of a stag’s horn wound seems -to have been quite as well known two hundred years ago as it is now; -better, indeed, for those who followed the chase in the olden time were -more liable to such hurts than is possible in the case of the modern -deer-stalker, when the aid of dogs and the “gillie’s” -knife to give the <i lang="fr">coup de grace</i> to the “stag at -bay,” are matters of comparatively little moment. It was a much -more serious and risky affair in the days of the old -“flint”-bearing musket. There was a paragraph a short time -ago about a serious attack by a stag on some men in the island of -Raasay. It would be interesting to know whether blood was drawn on the -occasion, and if so, how the wounds have healed.</p> -<p>Hardly anything in our old <i>Ossianic</i> ballads, of which we have -such an interesting and ably edited collection in Mr. J. F. Campbell of -Islay’s <i lang="gd">Leabhar-na-Feinne</i>, is so curious as the -great number of dogs employed by the Fingalians in their -huntings,—that is, if we are to read the ballads with anything -like literalness. Fifty, a hundred, two hundred, and even five hundred -dogs are spoken about as freely as a modern sportsman speaks of -couples. In one ballad, for instance, recovered by ourselves, ten men, -one of them <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb261" href="#pb261" name= -"pb261">261</a>]</span>the balladist himself, the last remnant of the -Fingalian host, are represented as going to hunt in the “Glen of -Mist,” attended by fifty dogs a piece, or five hundred in -all—surely an unnecessary, if not an impossible number. In these -ballads, besides, you find frequent reference to scarcity of food, and -the shifts the “heroes” were often put to, to provide for -the barest wants of the passing day; and yet, if such an army of dogs -was necessary, it also had to be fed, which one conceives must have -been a matter of some difficulty, when the heroes themselves were, as -the ballads inform us, frequently reduced to the necessity of splitting -“marrow bones,” when all the flesh that covered them had -already been used up. The whole question of the natural history of -these old ballads is well worth more attention than has yet been -bestowed on it. Some day or other we shall devote a special chapter to -it. Meantime, let us merely say that we decided many years ago against -the authenticity and genuineness of one at least of Dr. Smith’s -so-called <i>Ancient Lays</i>, because of the incorrectness of a -reference to the natural history of a well-known bird, the common -pigeon. Here are the lines in <i>Gaul</i> which first made us shake our -head in dubiety over the genuineness of the composition—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div lang="gd" class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Mar cholum an carraig na h-Ulacha,</p> -<p class="line">’S i solar dhearca da h-àl beag,</p> -<p class="line">’S a’ pilltinn gu tric, gun am blasad i -fein,</p> -<p class="line">Tra dh’eireas an t-seabhag ’na -smuainte.”</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">As a dove on the rock of Ulla,</p> -<p class="line">That gathereth berries for her young;</p> -<p class="line">Oft she returns, nor tastes herself the food,</p> -<p class="line">When rises the hawk within her thoughts.</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">On which passage we would first of all remark that -pigeons are not berry eaters, and even if they were, they would not -carry them to their young in such wise as the poet clearly implies. A -pigeon itself eats the food meant for its young, and only after -undergoing a certain process of maceration and digestion in the -parent’s crop, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb262" href="#pb262" -name="pb262">262</a>]</span>is it again regurgitated in form suitable -for the young. In genuine Gaelic poetry, the natural history is in a -very remarkable manner almost invariably correct. Here it was not, and -we recollect tossing the volume aside, and remarking that while much of -<i>Gaul</i> might certainly be “ancient,” quite as much was -modern, and that, wittingly or unwittingly, Dr. Smith had been dealing -in patch-work. Dr. Smith cites a parallel passage to the above from -Thomson’s <i>Spring</i>—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line xd26e6800">“Away they fly,</p> -<p class="line">Affectionate, and, undesiring, bear</p> -<p class="line">The most delicious morsel to their young.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">But the context shows that Thomson is not referring to -doves, but to <i>Turdi</i> and warblers that build</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line xd26e3679">“Among the roots</p> -<p class="line">Of hazel pendent o’er the plaintive -stream.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">And these do feed their callow young as represented in -the poem, though the <i lang="la">Columbidæ</i> certainly do -not.</p> -<p>We observe that Mr. T. B. Snowie, of Inverness, has recently been so -fortunate as to secure a specimen of the <i>spotted crake</i> or -<i lang="la">Crex porzana</i>, a very rare bird indeed, of which we -never saw a living specimen. It seems, however, to be a more regular -visitor to our shores than is imagined, specimens having from time to -time been met with in almost all parts of Scotland. Our friend Mr. -Robert Gray, in his excellent volume on <i>The Birds of the West of -Scotland and the Outer Hebrides</i>, writes of the spotted crake as -follows:—“So far as I have observed, the spotted crake is a -very uncommon species in the western counties; it is, however, more -numerously distributed throughout the eastern counties, extending from -Orkney to Berwickshire. In Aberdeen and Forfar shires, according to -Macgillivray, it can scarcely be called very rare. ‘In -Scotland,’ says Mr. More in the <i>Ibis</i>, ‘the nest has -been found only in Perth, Aberdeen, and at Loch Spynie, in Elgin; but -as <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb263" href="#pb263" name= -"pb263">263</a>]</span>birds have been repeatedly taken in the breeding -season in Banffshire, Fife, East Lothian, and Berwick, it is not -unreasonable to infer that the species nest in these counties also. In -the west of Scotland, the spotted crake has been taken in Wigtonshire, -Renfrewshire, and Argyllshire; but I have no authentic instance of its -occurrence north of the last-named district. In its habits this bird -closely resembles its congener the water-rail, and, like it, is not -easily flushed from its haunts. Although a migratory species, the -spotted crake appears to come early, specimens being occasionally taken -about the beginning of April; as a rule, it also lingers much later -than other migratory birds, stray examples having been shot in -November, December, and even January, so that it is absent not more -than two or three months. It may, indeed, be yet found to be, in some -of the southern districts, permanently resident. From its shy and -unobtrusive habits, and its life of seclusion and silence in marshy -places, from which it but rarely issues, it is much less frequently -seen than birds which try to escape by flight when disturbed. Rather -than take wing, it will thrust itself, when molested, into any hole or -tuft of grass, and remain concealed until quiet is restored; and on -this account the comparative numbers of the species cannot readily be -ascertained.’ ”</p> -<p>The bird is, however, unquestionably a <i lang="la">rara avis</i>, a -<i lang="la">rarissima avis</i> even, in the north of Scotland, and to -have seen the bird as Mr. Snowie was privileged to see and handle it, -we should cheerfully have walked ten miles, were it the coldest day in -mid-winter. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb264" href="#pb264" name= -"pb264">264</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch43" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e713">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Whelks and Periwinkles—An Ossianic -Reading—The Sea-shore after a Storm—The <i>Rejectamenta</i> -of the Deep—An amusing Story of a Shore-Searcher—Severity -of Winter—Wild-Birds’ -Levee—Woodcock—Snipe—Blue Jay.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">It has been our habit for many years [January 1875] to -take our morning walk along our beautiful sea-beach, one of the coziest -and prettiest silver-sanded bays on the West Coast, descending now and -again, when the tide is at ebb, to search for objects of interest in -marine animal and vegetable life, in every likely spot along what -<i>Ossian</i> calls “tràigh na faoch,”—the -periwinkled shore. Our friend and neighbour Dr. Clerk, by the way, in -his admirable edition of the great Celtic bard, renders it “the -shore of <i>whelks</i>,” and in a note gives us to understand -that he thinks the expression so unpoetical, <i>infra dig.</i>, and -every way inappropriate, as almost to warrant its rejection as a -corruption of the text. As a conjectural emendation, he suggests -“<span lang="gd">tràigh na <i>faobh</i></span>,” the -shore of <i>spoils</i>, as probably the true reading. <i>Faoch</i>, -however, is not the whelk, but the periwinkle or <i>wilk</i>. The whelk -is the <i lang="la">Buccinum undatum</i>, the <i>cnogag</i> or -<i>cnocag</i> of the Gaels of the Western seaboard and Hebrides. The -wilk or periwinkle is the <i>faoch</i> or <i>faochag</i>; and to it and -not to the whelk the passage clearly refers. The whelk or <i>cnogag</i> -rarely allows itself to be left behind on the beach by the receding -waters, even in spring tides, when ebbs are at their lowest. The -periwinkle, on the contrary, sticks, regardless of the receding waves, -to its place or stone or algae stem and frond, until the ebbing waters -have returned, as return he knows full well they shall; so that at any -time after half ebb, a suitable shore, rich in algæ, presents a -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb265" href="#pb265" name= -"pb265">265</a>]</span>most interesting sight, every stone and smallest -bit of sea-weed covered with millions of periwinkles at all stages of -growth. It is to a scene of this kind that the poet refers, and very -happily we think: “the periwinkled shore” is a thousand -times better than the “barren, barren shore” of Tennyson. -No one objects to “daisied mead” or “daisied -lea,” and “periwinkled shore,” as we have seen it, -and as hundreds, we make no doubt, of our readers have also seen it, -is, to our thinking, every whit as poetical, and in no sense -inconsistent even with epic dignity. Wilks having within recent years -become an article of considerable marketable value, being carefully -gathered on every beach, the “periwinkled shore” of Ossian -is, of course, a rarer sight now-a-days than it used to be. Nearly as -plentiful on our shores as the common periwinkle itself is its first -cousin, the <i lang="la">Purpura lapillus</i> of conchologists, or -yellow periwinkle, one of those creatures that furnished the famous -purple dye of the ancients. It has a bitter, astringent taste, and is -in consequence not eaten like its congener, the wilk. We have said that -our favourite morning walk is invariably, if we can accomplish it, -along the sea-beach; and hardly a day passes but we can show something -interesting and new, picked up in these our littoral perambulations. -After a storm particularly, we endeavour, whatever our other -engagements, to devote an hour at least to a ramble along the shore, -and it is rarely we return empty-handed: some curious waif or other, -cast up by the storm, seldom fails to be forthcoming as the reward of -our matutinal diligence. After a severe gale one morning last week, we -found a dead <i>kittiwake</i>, but perfectly plump and fresh, lying on -the top of a mass of drift tangle. The bird itself was no great rarity, -for the kittiwake (<i lang="la">Larus rissa</i>, Linn.), a very pretty -little gull, is common on all our shores, even in winter. The curious -thing was that, on taking up the bird in our hand, we found that one of -its feet was firmly held in the vice-like grasp of a large mussel, the -mussel in its turn <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb266" href="#pb266" -name="pb266">266</a>]</span>being anchored by its <i>byssus</i> to a -tangle root (<i lang="la">Laminaria digitata</i>) of immense size. The -poor kittiwake had evidently been fairly trapped: the case was clear. -Walking along the beach at low-water, in search of food, it must have -stepped inadvertently and unwittingly into the jaws, so to speak, of -the open, or rather half-open, mussel, which, in resentment of the -intrusion, instantly closing with a steel trap-like snap, held the poor -bird firm and fast. There was no chance or hope of escape, and the -unfortunate little gull, thus anchored to the bottom, was miserably -drowned by the advancing tide. Its body would, to a certain extent, act -as a float or buoy to the mussel and tangle root, which, thus loosened, -the storm would readily dislodge, and cast up on the beach, even as we -found it. Web-feet of all kinds are, of course, as liable to death in -all its forms, natural and accidental, as any other animals, but we -dare to say that in any accurate return of the vital statistics of -sea-birds, death by <i>drowning</i>, Ophelia-like, would be found about -the rarest. In more ways than one, therefore, was our dead kittiwake a -curiosity of no every-day occurrence, though, in nineteen cases out of -twenty, the passer-by would probably be content to kick it aside as a -dead gull, and no more, if, indeed, he condescended to notice it at -all. We were lately told an amusing story about a Fort-William man who -lived some fifty years ago, and was in his day a great shore-searcher -after storms, incited thereto, not exactly in the interests of science, -but by more mundane and prosaic considerations. Summer and winter, all -the year round, he searched the shores (<i lang="gd">Bhi’dh e -g’iarraidh nan cladaichan</i>, was the phrase) of Achintore and -Drumarbin after every gale of wind, wandering ghost-like in the grey -dawn by the margin of the sea, and diligently picking up every -conceivable article of <i>flotsam</i> and <i>jetsam</i> that came in -his way. In all this there was perhaps nothing to object to; but this -mild specimen of a Cornish wrecker had the habit of appropriating, -without compunction, such oars, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb267" -href="#pb267" name="pb267">267</a>]</span>thwarts, baling-dishes, and -other articles of boat gearing as came in his way, even though he knew -that they belonged to his neighbours, and had only been carried away -from their proper places by an unusually high tide or a gale of wind. -This was a breach of the etiquette and good-neighbourhood prevailing -among boatmen that could not be tolerated. A Drumarbin man, therefore, -who had lost some oars in a storm, and suspected that the Fort-William -shore-searcher had found and kept them, determined on reprisal, and in -hope of curing him of such shabby peculations, to give him a good -fright, which could be done the more easily, as the shore-searcher was -a nervous, timid creature, brimful of belief in apparitions, ghosts, -and ghost stories of the wildest and most improbable character. Getting -up one morning after a storm, the Drumarbin man put on a pair of new -shoes, and slipping to the shore, unobserved by the wrecker, whom he -could see wandering along the beach, as was his custom, in the grey -day-break, he lay down at length on the shingle, and covered his head -and body down to his ankles with the drift-ware that had been cast up -by the storm. All he left exposed was his feet, on which we have said -there was a pair of good substantial new shoes. Meanwhile the -“wrecker” was advancing along the beach, carefully -searching about, and stooping from time to time, oyster-catcher or -curlew-wise, in order to pick up such waifs and strays as he fancied -worth the while. At last he reached the recumbent and sea-ware-covered -Drumarbin man. The shoes at once caught his eye, and as he gazed -wistfully on what he considered the most fortunate and valuable -<i>jetsam</i> that had fallen to his luck for a long time, he was heard -to soliloquise,—“A drowned man! Poor fellow; but he has -good shoes on, and as he can have no more use for them, I may as well -take them now as anybody else later in the day.” No sooner said -than done. Throwing down his bundle of gatherings, he pulled the shoes -evenly and steadily off the supposed “body’s” feet, -and was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb268" href="#pb268" name= -"pb268">268</a>]</span>moving away with them, when a smothered -sepulchral voice from under the sea-ware struck his ear—an ear -painfully acute under the circumstances,—“<span lang= -"gd">Gabh mo chomhairl’ ’s fàg na brògan -sin!</span>” “Take my advice, and leave these shoes -alone!” At the same time he saw the mass of drift-weed heaving -and moving. Dropping the shoes as if they had suddenly become each a -mass of red-hot iron in his hand, he started off with a yell that -frightened the sea-birds all the way to <i>Camus-na-Gall</i>, and ran a -terrible race without once halting or looking over his shoulder, till, -penitent and breathless, he reached his own fireside. He was completely -cured of shore-wandering, for, as our informant told us, he soon after -sickened and took to his bed, from which he never rose again. Told in -excellent Gaelic, and with a large admixture of the serio-comic quiet -humour so characteristic of an old Highlander, the story made us laugh -heartily; and not the less so that it was told in sly reference to our -own frequent sea-shore perambulations.</p> -<p>It is many years since our wild birds have had to encounter a winter -of such unmitigated severity as the present. Dead rooks, blackbirds, -chaffinches, and hedge sparrows are only too common in copse, hedgerow, -and open field, stiffened and starved all of them, nothing but the -bones, skin, and feathers remaining as you take them up and handle -them, so that one only wonders how it is they did not drop and die long -before reaching such a sad state of utter fleshlessness and emaciation. -A whole month, however, of intense frost, making every one exposed to -its direct influence, even for a moment, put their fingers to their -mouths with a “poor Tom’s a-cold” attitude and -grin—of intense frost, in which the earth became hard and -resonant as iron, clearly accounts for it all. Some idea of the -keenness of the frost at times may be gathered from the following -facts:—On Friday afternoon we had occasion to go to look if our -boat on the beach was all right, for the darkening heavens threatened -an immediate storm, a not uncommon end to <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb269" href="#pb269" name="pb269">269</a>]</span>such rare -meteorological phenomena as long continued frosts on the West Coast. -Sitting on the end of a log of wood that lay on the beach, a little -above high-water mark, was a rook or crow, which, as we approached, -attempted to fly away, but could not. It stretched itself, and -strained, and flapped its wings frantically as we drew near, but there -it was, tethered firm and fast, manifestly unable to budge an inch, -unless it carried the immense log bodily along with it. We wondered for -a moment what in the world could be the matter, for we could not -recollect ever seeing a rook, of all our birds the most knowing, -perhaps, and self-possessed, act so absurdly. Running forward and -laying hold of the bird, we had a ready solution of the mystery in the -fact that the poor, struggling creature’s feet were firmly frozen -to the log—more firmly than the best bird-lime or glue could have -held them. Thawing the frozen feet with some little trouble by the -warmth of our hand, we had the pleasure of setting the poor bird at -liberty. He—for it was a male—did not certainly weigh more, -as we poised him in our hand, than six or seven ounces, though the -ordinary weight of a rook in fair condition is nearly a couple of -pounds. Even within doors the frost was unusually intense. In a small -room off our own kitchen—and in the latter there is, of course, -always a fire, and generally a large fire, burning—the -night’s milk was frequently found frozen into a hard and solid -mass in the morning; so thoroughly frozen that the servant girl could, -by tilting up the vessel and smartly tapping its bottom get the solid -contents of frozen milk into her hand, and carry it, for the amusement -of the youngsters, about the house, from one room to another, as if it -were a Dunlop cheese. Such a frost we have not had on the West Coast -for at least a score of years. Our wild-bird levee of a morning is a -most interesting scene—the most pleasant episode, perhaps, in the -necessarily dull routine of a winter’s day in the country. On -these occasions we can depend on the presence of <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb270" href="#pb270" name="pb270">270</a>]</span>such -birds as redbreasts, wrens, finches of all kinds, the lively and -ubiquitous chaffinch, however, being most numerous; coral-billed -blackbirds, shy at first, but easily made familiar and friendly enough; -ox-eye tits, very pretty birds, but nervous and fidgety always; house -and hedge sparrows, with a self-assertion and impudence that is most -amusing, and a bold familiarity that would always place them in the -front rank of bread-crumb recipients, if the redbreasts, seldom -otherwise than quarrelsome and testy, did not drive them back. Most of -those birds, when they found an open door or window, would boldly -venture into the house, and eagerly pick up the bread crumbs from off -the floor or table, undisturbed by anything one said or did, provided -only you refrained from any attempt to lay hold of them; in that case -they were off and out instantly, and in a manifest pet at your rudeness -and inhospitality, shy to trust you again until the matter was -forgotten, or perhaps only overlooked perforce of the inexorable logic -of intense cold and gnawing hunger. All the birds that we have handled -for more than a month past were but the merest skin and bone, emaciated -to a degree altogether unknown in less severe winters. Curiously -enough, however, we had a brace of woodcocks a few days ago which were -as plump and fat as one could wish them; and some brace of snipe, shot -in the neighbourhood of Inverness, kindly sent to us as a Christmas -present, were in excellent condition, and good in every way. Why these -long-billed, sucking birds should be fat, when all other birds are -unnaturally lean, is to be accounted for by the fact that the intense -frost drives the worms and minute animals which constitute their food -into the open “eyes” and rivulets, which never freeze, like -sheep in a fank; and thus the woodcock and snipe have their food with -rather less trouble in frost than in more open weather. Some ten days -ago, a very fine specimen of the jay (<i lang="la">Corvus -glandarius</i>, Linn.; the <i>Scriachan-Coille</i> of the Gael) was -sent us. This is one <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb271" href="#pb271" -name="pb271">271</a>]</span>of our handsomest birds, and we are glad to -say that it has within recent years <span class="corr" id="xd26e6962" -title="Source: becoming">become</span> comparatively common in -Lochaber. Like its congener the magpie, it is looked upon with -considerable suspicion as an enemy to game; eating up, it is alleged, -grouse, and partridge, and pheasant eggs as a favourite <i lang= -"fr">bonne bouche</i>, and even devouring the newly hatched young. It -is a shy and solitary bird, even where it is common, and we do not know -its habits and economy sufficiently to entitle us, much as we are -inclined, to enter on its defence under such an indictment; but, from -all we have been enabled to gather on the subject, we should meantime -be disposed to record the <i lang="la">tertium quid</i> verdict of -“Not proven.” <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb272" href= -"#pb272" name="pb272">272</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch44" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e725">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">A “Blessed Thaw” after a Severe -Frost—Longevity in Lochaber—A ready “Saline -draught—A <i lang="la">probatum est</i> Recipe for Catarrh and -Colds—Egg-shell Superstition—Curious old Gaelic Poem.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">How intense was the recent frost [January 1875], and -how hyperborean all our surroundings, may be judged of from the fact -that on coming out of church yesterday, one of our people, a -greyheaded, pious old man, spoke of the happy change to open weather -and “westlan’ breezes” very solemnly as “the -blessed thaw”—<i lang="gd">an t’aiteamh -beannaichte</i>. Before any one else north or south of the Tweed made -any reference to the coming winter, our readers may remember that we -did, and that we inculcated on every one the wisdom of keeping -themselves warm and comfortable, by means of good fires and otherwise, -as the best way of being jolly in the best and truest sense of that -much misapprehended and frequently misapplied term. It was, in truth, a -trying season; but sensibly and thickly clad in many a fold of honest -home-spun <i>cùrain</i>, or plaiding, our people for the most -part got over it without any very serious ailments. Influenzas, -catarrhs, and colds in every form were of course common, and, for a -time, one was met on every side by an uncomfortable and sometimes -disagreeable amount of coughing, expectoration, sniftering, sneezing, -and nose-blowing; but now all this has almost or altogether passed -away, and people are again going about as usual, clad no otherwise than -ordinarily, and as becometh the inhabitants of a temperate zone: -plaids, comforters, double-ply mittens, and -“bosom-friends,” having been laid aside as unnecessary -incumbrances in weather that is now actually warm <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb273" href="#pb273" name="pb273">273</a>]</span>and -spring-like, as compared with that dreadful month or six weeks of -Baffin’s Bay-like temperature, that, when it got fairly at you, -and off your guard, seemed capable of making the very blood freeze in -one’s veins, even as it froze the water in our subterranean and -best guarded lead pipes. Nothing, perhaps, could more pointedly -illustrate the healthy vigour and vitality of our people generally than -the fact that, although we have amongst us many who have arrived at -extreme old age, and some who have been more or less valetudinarian for -years, there has not been a single death in the district—a -district which, as we look around us, contains some two or three -thousand inhabitants—since the beginning of last December; a fact -which, considering the inclemency of the weather, and the high -death-rate everywhere else, is something surely worthy chronicling. We -are probably correct in believing that the worst at least of winter is -already past, but much cold and stormy weather may be still in store -for us, and as colds and coughs may return, we beg to make friendly -offer of the following <i lang="la">probatum est</i> recipe, quite a -popular cure in this part of the country for every form of winter -influenza. Cure or no cure, the recipe has at all events the merit of -being extremely simple, and to thousands of our readers very readily -available at any time. Take a pint—say a tumblerful—of sea -water that has been heated to the boiling-point, without having been -allowed actually to boil. Sprinkle over it some pepper, rather more -plentifully than you do in your soup; drink this as hot as you can bear -it as you step into bed at night. Next day your cold and cough will -have disappeared like an unpleasant dream. You may be weak, but you -will, upon the whole, be well! We cannot personally vouch for the -efficacy of this draught, but we find that many people here invariably -resort to it as a ready and popular cure for their colds, and they -speak highly of its virtues, and, contrary to what one would expect, of -its comparative pleasantness and palatability <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb274" href="#pb274" name="pb274">274</a>]</span>as -well. A sensible old man whom we questioned on the subject a few days -ago, and a firm believer in the efficacy of this “saline” -draught, told us in confidence that the <i>rationale</i> of the thing -consisted in the fact that it immediately acted as a powerful -sudorific; and that to this, he thought, was to be attributed the -thoroughness as well as the rapidity of the cure. Probably he was -right. It is a simple, cheap, and readily available remedy at all -events, and dwellers by the sea-side might do worse than give it a -trial at a pinch, when more orthodox remedies have failed, or are not -ready to hand. One grand thing about it is the certainty that, if it -does no good, it cannot possibly do harm. Another old man in our -neighbourhood, still hale and active, though in his eighty-fourth year, -told us lately that he never took a dose, not a ha’penny’s -worth, of medicine, druggist’s or doctor’s stuff in his -life. “Whenever I felt out of sorts,” he continued, -“I just went down to the sea and drank a good large draught of -salt water; <i>that</i> was always <i>my</i> medicine, and it never -once failed to do me good.” So that there may be more virtue in -sea water as a curative agent in bronchial and stomachic ailments than -the world generally wots. And if so, how consoling the thought that -<i>this</i> druggist’s shop is never shut; the supply is -exhaustless, and no charge!</p> -<p>A curious bit of popular superstition is the following, which a -gentleman in a neighbouring district was good enough to bring recently -under our notice. After breakfast, at which, among other good things, -we had some excellent fresh eggs, he suggested that we should go into -the kitchen to smoke, “and watch,” he said, “what my -housekeeper will do with the empty egg-shells as the breakfast things -are brought up from the parlour.” We went and stood and watched -accordingly, and this is what we saw, chatting with our host the while, -that the housekeeper might not suspect that we took any particular -interest in her doings. We noticed that when the girl came into the -kitchen and laid the tray upon <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb275" -href="#pb275" name="pb275">275</a>]</span>the table, the housekeeper, a -staid and respectable-looking woman, well advanced in years, walked -over and took the egg-shells—there were four or five of -them—and, placing them one after another into an egg-cup, she -took a small knife, and passed it with a smart tap through the bottoms -or hitherto unbroken ends of the lot, and then turned away to some -other employment. This was all, for our host immediately suggested that -we should visit the stables. We were a good deal puzzled, having seen -so little, where we expected to have seen a great deal, and that little -so seemingly without meaning and purposeless. When we got to the -stables, our host asked if we understood the meaning of the old -lady’s manner of dealing with the egg-shells. We confessed our -profound ignorance, having never seen—never, at least, seen so as -seriously to notice—anything of this kind before. “My -housekeeper, you must know,” continued our friend, “is a -most excellent woman, but much given to little superstitious -observances and harmless <i lang="gd">giosragan</i>. She will not allow -a single egg-shell to go out of her sight without first making a hole -through it, knocking out its bottom in short, in case, as she has more -than once seriously told me, a witch should get hold of it and use it -as a boat, in which to set to sea in order to raise violent storms, in -which the ablest seamanship could not possibly save hundreds of vessels -from being miserably wrecked!” “You may smile,” he -went on, “for it is supremely absurd, to be sure, that an -otherwise sensible woman should give credence to such nonsense; but, -after all, if you make inquiry, you will find that the superstition in -question is quite a common one. Few middle-aged women, brought up in -the Highlands, but will act as you saw my housekeeper act with the -empty egg-shells, knocking a hole through their unbroken ends before -throwing them aside, or frequently even more effectually providing -against the possibility of their being used as witched life-boats, by -crushing the whole shell into a crumpled mass bodily in the -hand.” <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb276" href="#pb276" name= -"pb276">276</a>]</span>We haven’t as yet had many opportunities -of making inquiry into the matter, but from all we can gather from some -old women in our neighbourhood, we believe empty egg-shells are, or -perhaps we should say were, frequently treated after the fashion -stated, and for the reason assigned. Some of our readers in the -north-west Highlands and Hebrides may perhaps know something more about -a very odd and curious superstition to be met with in the latter half -of the nineteenth century. For obvious reasons, it is a superstition -more likely to be prevalent among islanders and dwellers by the -sea-shore than in the more inland parts of the country.</p> -<p>The following fragment of a curious old poem we picked up about ten -days ago from the recitation of Alexander Maclachlan, shepherd, -Dalness. It is unfortunately but a fragment, as we have said, but we -give it here in the hope that some of our friends of the Gaelic -Society, or of our many readers throughout the Hebrides, may be able to -supply more or less of the remainder. Maclachlan heard the entire poem -from a Glenetive forester, a very old man, some years ago, but this man -is now unfortunately dead, and the reciter could not direct us to any -one likely to be able to repeat the poem at length. Perhaps our friend -Mr. J. F. Campbell of Islay, so indefatigable and marvellously -successful in his search after Celtic song and story, “all of the -olden time,” may have met with it in a more or less complete -form; if so, he would very much oblige us all in the north by giving us -a version of it and its history, as far as he knows it. We may state -that it does not appear in <i lang="gd">Leabhar-na-Feinne</i>, which we -have searched for it, though unquestionably a production of -considerable antiquity. Maclachlan told us that the old forester, in -reciting it, called it <i lang="gd">Conaltradh nan Ian</i>, or <i>The -Parliament of Birds</i>. The following were evidently the opening lines -of the poem, and likeliest to be remembered by one who only heard it -repeated once or twice:— <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb277" -href="#pb277" name="pb277">277</a>]</span></p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<h4><span class="sc">Conaltradh nan Ian</span>—(Fragment).</h4> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Nuair ’bha Gaelig aig na h’eoin,</p> -<p class="line">’Sa ’thuigeadh iad glòir nan -dàn,</p> -<p class="line">Bu tric an comhradh anns a choill</p> -<p class="line">Air iomad pong, ma’s fhior na Bàird.</p> -<p class="line">Thainig piàid luath na gleadhraich,</p> -<p class="line">’S shuidh i air grod mheur còsach -fearna,</p> -<p class="line">Ma choinneamh cò’chaig a ghuib -chruinn,</p> -<p class="line">’Sa caog-shuil dhonn na ceann mar -àirnaig.</p> -<p class="line">’N so dh’èirich a phiaid gu -grad,</p> -<p class="line">’S thubhairt i ’s i ’s tailceadh a -bonn,</p> -<p class="line">’An tusa sin a’d mheall air stop</p> -<p class="line">Nuair a bhi’s do cheod-cheann trom?</p> -<p class="line">Am bi do theanga ’ghnath fo ghlais</p> -<p class="line">’S tu gun luaidh air reach na ùi,</p> -<p class="line">’S tu cho duinte ri cloich bhric</p> -<p class="line">’Bhi’s air meall a chnaip gun -bhri.”</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Bu treis dhaibh mar so a còmhstri,</p> -<p class="line">Gearradh, ’bearradh glòir a cheile,</p> -<p class="line">Ach gus an d’leum a nois an glas-eun;</p> -<p class="line">’S rinn esan gach cùis a -rèiteach,</p> -<p class="line">’S crog a phiaid air a ceann</p> -<p class="line">’S dh-fhag e i gu fuar, fann,</p> -<p class="line">’N sin bh’èirich firèun nan -gléus</p> -<p class="line">A shinbhlas an spèur ga luath.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first xd26e5134">[<i lang="la">Cætera desunt.</i>]</p> -<p>This curious poem seems to have been throughout of a dramatic form. -Maclachlan says that, as he heard it repeated, almost all our better -known wild-birds were introduced, and had appropriate speeches and -parts assigned to them. He particularly referred to a very funny speech -by the wren, who finally quarrels with the wagtail, by whom he had been -insulted, and gives him a good licking. The end of it all is that the -eagle is unanimously elected king of birds, with the glas-eun or -falcon-kite as his lieutenant. The throstle cock is elected bard of -birds, and the dipper admiral and commander-in-chief of the wild-bird -fleet. Any one recovering the whole poem would be conferring no small -boon on Gaelic literature. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb278" href= -"#pb278" name="pb278">278</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch45" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e738">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XLV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">“Albert,” a famous Labrador Dog—As a -Water-Dog—His intelligence—Takes to -Sheep-stealing—Death!</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">In a recent number of <i>Land and Water</i>, Mr. Frank -Buckland, in writing about the <i lang="la">Ophiophagus elaps</i>, a -serpent-eating serpent lately introduced into the Zoological Gardens, -London, with all the honours due to a visitor so choice and curious in -its diet, remarks that “the saying that ‘Dog will not eat -dog’ is proverbial amongst us.” North of the Tweed, neither -in Gaelic nor in guid braid Scotch, is any such proverb known. The -nearest approach to it that we can think of at this moment [April 1875] -is the saying that “Hawks winna pick oot hawks’ een,” -and this is applied in a sense very different from that suggested by -Mr. Buckland’s proverb, if such a proverb exists. At all events -the saying that dog will not eat dog is not true; dog will eat dog, -ravenously and greedily enough, when he is hungry and gets the chance. -Notwithstanding his domestication and long acquaintance with the usages -of civilised life, the dog is, under certain circumstances, as thorough -a cannibal and savage as ever was Fiji islander in the days when that -worthy Polynesian would give the best finger of his right hand for a -prime haunch of full-fed and fat “missionary.” Out of many -instances that had come under our own observation of cannibalism in -dogs, take the following, all the circumstances connected with which, -although it is somewhat of an old story now, are for many reasons as -fresh in our recollection as if they had occurred but yesterday. When -we came to Lochaber, upwards of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb279" -href="#pb279" name="pb279">279</a>]</span>twenty years ago (<i lang= -"la">Eheu! fugaces labuntur anni</i>), we had a large Labrador dog, a -present, when a three-months-old pup, from one of the best and -kindliest men we have ever known, the late Rev. Dr. Macnair, of the -Abbey Church, Paisley. He grew to be a magnificent animal, the largest -and most powerful dog, perhaps, ever seen in the Highlands, and as -sagacious and good-tempered as he was big and bold and strong. The late -Mr. Campbell of Monzie, an excellent judge of dogs, used to say that he -was the finest dog he ever saw, and made it a point every year to call -once or twice during the shooting season purposely to have “a -friendly talk,” as he termed it, with “Albert,” for -such was our canny Goliath’s name. As a water-dog, he was simply -perfect, as amphibious almost as a seal. Any stone that you took in -your hand and threw into twelve, fifteen, or even twenty feet of water, -he instantly dashed after, and took from the bottom, and laid at your -feet, seldom making a mistake, though how he was able to select from a -stony bottom the very stone that had been handled and thrown in by you -was then, and is still, a puzzle to us: not by scent, one would think, -for all traces of contact with the hand must surely have been lost in -passing through such a depth of salt water. He probably was able to -recognise the proper stone partly from its colour and shape, and from -its being in a less saturated state, and less in contact with the -bottom than were those that always lay there. On one occasion we had -left our boat on the beach, neglecting to tie the painter, as we -intended returning immediately. Something came in the way, however, -that occupied us longer than we expected, and on returning to the -shore, our boat was off and away, drifting before a land breeze that -had already carried it quite a quarter of a mile from the beach. There -was no other boat at hand in which to overtake the runaway, and to go -round by the ferry, to meet it on the opposite side of the loch, was a -longer walk than one cared about just then, and the boat, besides, was -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb280" href="#pb280" name= -"pb280">280</a>]</span>likely to be considerably damaged if it reached -the rocks on the other side, as the chances were it would, before we -could arrive. While thus in a state of anxiety and indecision, our eye -fell upon “Albert,” then our constant companion, afloat and -ashore. “Albert, old fellow,” we remarked, “the boat, -you see, is adrift; what’s to be done?” With a grand, deep -bass bark in response, he dashed into the water, and ere we could well -understand it all, he was a hundred yards away, swimming hastily and -rapidly in the direction of the truant yawl. We could only sit down on -a rock to watch and wait the upshot of the adventure. Soon overtaking -the runaway boat, “Albert” swam once or twice round it, and -then observing that the painter was dragging in the water over the bow, -he seized the rope in his mouth, and strongly and steadily towed the -boat towards us, against a stiff breeze and a considerable ripple of a -sea, until he reached the beach, and dropped the painter on the shingle -at our feet, and with a jolly, self-approving bark, in response to our -words of hearty welcome, that made the mountain echoes ring again, he -shook a perfect shower-bath of brine from his shaggy coat, and -scampered away along the sands to dry himself. He was manifestly proud, -as he well ought to be, of an exploit so timeously and sagaciously -performed, and so, be sure, were we. “Albert’s” -readiness to take to the water was, on one occasion at least, attended -by rather awkward circumstances. One beautiful summer afternoon, a -young Oxford friend and ourselves were in the same boat, with -“Albert,” as usual, for a companion. It was too calm for -sailing, and we were too lazy to row, so we allowed the boat to drift -about at “its own sweet will,” while we lounged on the -thwarts and read the papers, of special interest then on account of the -Crimean war. We were half a mile from land, and our friend by-and-by -suggested that a swim in the invitingly cool, clear sea would be a good -thing before returning home to dinner. As he was an excellent swimmer, -with whom, for a small wager, we had <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb281" href="#pb281" name="pb281">281</a>]</span>the day before done a -considerable distance, we readily agreed. We had long known, however, -how difficult it is to get into a buoyant, floating boat of such a -comparatively small size as ours was, without any purchase to aid but -such as is afforded by the unstable water, and it was arranged that he -should have his dip first, and when he was tired of it, and we had -helped him on board, that we should have a plunge in our turn. -“Albert,” who had not been consulted in our arrangement, -was stretched the while at length, half or wholly asleep, along the -bottom of the boat. When he had stripped, our young friend stood up in -the bow, with one foot on the foremost thwart and the other on the -gunwale, and with a loud shout took a splendid header into the cool, -green depths, disappearing like an arrow, with a clean, clear cut, that -hardly left a ripple on the surface. “Albert,” who clearly -thought it an accident, and that the young man’s life was in -danger, with one brave bound, and before we could prevent him, was -instantly over the side, and, diving after the swimmer, met him as he -was returning to the surface, and laid hold of him awkwardly, though -with the best intention, by the fleshy part of the left arm near the -shoulder. When they appeared on the surface, the swimmer, who had -manifestly lost all his self-possession, struggled violently to free -himself from the dog, and would certainly have been drowned by his own -struggles and the very exertions intended by the noble animal to save -his life, if we had not quickly rowed the boat alongside, and taking -our friend very unceremoniously by his “Hyperion curls,” -dragged him on board, panting and sputtering as only the half-drowned -and wholly frightened can pant and sputter in such circumstances. On -examination, his arm was found to be less hurt by the dog’s teeth -than we expected it to be; a firm and friendly grip with such kindly -intentions as actuated the honest would-be rescuer being a very -different thing from a bite and worry in good earnest. His back and -shoulders, however, were seriously scratched <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb282" href="#pb282" name="pb282">282</a>]</span>in -livid lash-like weals by the dog’s nails, while they were hugging -each other and struggling in the water. “Albert” was of -course very little if at all to blame in the adventure, and his only -punishment—if what indeed was to him always a delight could be -called a punishment—was that, refusing to take him back into the -boat, he was obliged to swim a full half mile to the beach; which, -however, he easily reached before us. Our friend felt sore and -uncomfortable for a day or two, but was soon all right again; and both -he and we had got a lesson which we were not likely to forget in a -hurry, that a powerful dog, no matter how well meaning and kindly his -intentions, is rather a dangerous companion to a swimmer <i lang= -"la">in puris naturalibus</i> in deep water.</p> -<p>But what has all this, it may be asked, to do with Mr. Frank -Buckland and his proverb that “Dog will not eat dog”? A -little patience, as is your wont, courteous reader, and we shall come -to the point without much more ado. When “Albert” was about -four years old, and as powerful, and perfect, and pleasant a dog as -ever growled in anger or barked with glee, it began to be rumoured -abroad that he was fast falling into bad habits—whether from -following evil example, or instinctively and <i lang="la">proprio -motû</i>, was never determined. He was accused, in fact, of -sheep-worrying, and of course we couldn’t and wouldn’t -believe a bit of it. Other dogs might be guilty of such vulgar -misconduct; in the case of our dog the thing was impossible. -Wasn’t he regularly and well fed? Didn’t he sleep every -night at our own bedroom door? All this, of course, we said, and urged, -and argued, and furthermore we urged a fact which seemed to us to be -conclusive of our dog’s innocence of the great misdemeanour laid -to his charge—we had sheep of our own, and there were sheep -belonging to others in our immediate neighbourhood, and with none of -these, we pointed out, had our dog ever been known to make or meddle in -any way further than by an occasional deep <i>bow-wow!</i> which, -though it sometimes made <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb283" href= -"#pb283" name="pb283">283</a>]</span>them scamper, was uttered more in -rollicking fun and merry make-believe than in anything like anger or -earnest. Precisely so, answered a host of crook-carrying shepherds from -farms five, seven, ten miles away: “Your dog is too knowing to -kill sheep at your own doors; he goes to a considerable distance on his -raids, the better to escape detection, slipping away at night or early -in the morning unknown to you, and returning as innocent-seeming as the -last sheep he has worried, before you appear in your breakfast -parlour!” It was not alleged that he had ever been caught in the -act, or actually seen eating forbidden mutton or lamb, <i>minus</i> the -“mint sauce;” but more than one shepherd averred that he -had more than once been seen wandering at improper hours on hill-sides, -where he had no good right or reason to be, on which occasions, too, he -exhibited the stealthy, prowling pace, and all the hang-dog looks and -other signs of an evil-doer. Half afraid that it was too true, but -irritated by their strenuousness of assertion, and defiant to the last, -“Catch him, then!” we exclaimed, “shoot him, kill -him, if he is harming you; but I am not going to put away or kill my -dog—and such a dog, too! worth the best <i>hirsel</i> in your -charge!—simply to please you.” And thus the matter rested -for a time, but not for long. Early one Monday morning, about a -fortnight afterwards, our good neighbour Mr. Linton, of the farm of -Coruanan, seven or eight miles away, drove up to our door in his gig, -and asked to see us. After the usual civilities, “Your big dog is -killing my sheep, Mr. S.!” was the charge, straightforward and -unqualified. We argued, of course, that it couldn’t be, &c., -as above, but Mr. Linton soon brought the matter to a very practical -issue. “What is the value of your dog?” We couldn’t -say; he was very valuable, a great favourite, and we declined to put a -price upon him. “Well,” continued Mr. Linton, “say -that he is worth £5, or £10, or £20. I charge him -with killing two of my sheep this very morning. I have my gun here -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb284" href="#pb284" name= -"pb284">284</a>]</span>in the gig: let me shoot him, and if I -don’t find and show you wool and mutton-flesh taken from his -stomach, I will gladly pay over the dog’s price; if I show you -what I am certain I can show, his still undigested morning meal of -mutton-flesh and wool, we are quits. That’s surely fair!” -And there was no denying that it was perfectly fair, but we declined, -nevertheless, bringing the matter to the arbitrament suggested. We -parted good friends, however, for we promised that whether he was to be -shot or drowned, or sent out of the country, the dog would never again -be allowed a chance of killing another sheep in Lochaber, and our -friend Mr. Linton is, we are glad to say, still in life to bear -testimony to the fact that we were as good as our word. On due -consideration of the case in all its aspects, we decided that it was -best, in the interest of peace and good neighbourhood, to have the dog -shot forthwith, and shot he was accordingly within an hour of the -interview above described. We directed the executioner of the sad -sentence to open him, that we might examine the contents of the -stomach, and sure enough, intermixed with wool enough to stuff a small -cushion, it was found to contain many pounds of recently killed and -undigested mutton. It was clear that some at least of the many grave -charges against him were true. Anxious to preserve the skin for -stuffing, the eviscerated body was placed in the fork of an apple tree -in the garden, until we could procure the services of some one expert -in flaying to do the job handsomely. Next morning, on going into the -garden to have a look at all that remained of poor -“Albert,” what was our astonishment and horror at finding -the <i lang="la">corpus vile</i>—<i lang="la">vile</i>, indeed, -at last!—dragged from the tree to the ground, and almost entirely -devoured by some half-dozen jackal looking curs, that were having what -was manifestly to them a jolly banquet on the remains of the gallant -animal whose single bark when in lusty life was sufficient to scatter a -whole score of such sorry mongrels, as if each had a firebrand at his -tail. Except a few ragged shreds <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb285" -href="#pb285" name="pb285">285</a>]</span>of skin and the larger bones, -they had devoured every particle of him; and so much for Mr. Frank -Buckland and his proverb that “Dog will not eat dog.” -Won’t he just, when he has the chance! Nor is this by any means -the only instance of canine cannibalism that might be adduced from our -common-place book in disproof of any proverb or saying whatever to the -contrary. Poor “Albert!” we are ashamed to confess how much -grieved we were for his death, his ovicidal tendencies notwithstanding. -His upper jaw, showing a development of dentition of which a Bengal -tiger need not have been ashamed, is the only relic of our gallant dog -now remaining to us; and on the <i lang="la">ex pede Herculem</i> -principle, we point to that with a melancholy satisfaction in telling -how big and brave, afloat and ashore, was our matchless Labrador. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb286" href="#pb286" name= -"pb286">286</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch46" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e747">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">An old Fingalian Hero—His keenness of Sight and -sharpness of Ear— Foresters and -Keepers—Foxhunters—Donald MacDonald—His -Dogs—Sandy MacArthur the Mole-catcher.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The hero of one of our most popular old Fingalian -tales is described as very marvellously gifted. In order to secure the -hand of a beautiful Scandinavian princess, whose locks are as the beams -of the setting sun, about the time the summer sea is flecked and barred -with gold, and with whom he has long been in love, he has to undertake -the most strange and startling adventures; and not the least important -of his qualifications for combating the frequent difficulties of his -position is a preternatural acuteness of eye and ear, of sight and -hearing. His keenness of sight, for instance, is indicated by his being -able to count the beats of the swallow’s wings in all the -gyrations of its flight over the summer grove; and as for his acuteness -of ear, enough is said when the veracious chronicler does not hesitate -to assert that his hero could hear the grass grow? We, in our unheroic -and degenerate day, cannot boast of anything like this. We are content -to know that the swallow skims the pool with a swiftness due to a -motion of wing too rapid to be detected in its separate beats by the -acutest eye, and that the grass does grow, and at times with marvellous -rapidity, albeit the stir and tumult of its upward rush is inaudible to -human ears. But if we cannot <i>hear</i> the grass grow, we can safely -aver that in such exceptionally splendid seasons as this [July 1875], -and without fear of being charged with any very culpable exaggeration, -we can <i>see</i> it grow, not only from day to day, but almost -literally <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb287" href="#pb287" name= -"pb287">287</a>]</span>from hour to hour—so rapid, so marked, and -visibly perceptible is the progress towards a large and lusty maturity -of grass and grain and every green herb of the field. Anything, indeed, -to equal the sturdy vigour and upward rush of vegetation during the -month of June last past we never did see before, and had it not come -immediately under our own observation, we could hardly have believed it -possible anywhere outside the tropics. The harvest must necessarily be -a late one, though not quite so late as it was at one time feared must -be the case. If we say that the season of ingathering will be later -than usual by ten days, or a fortnight at the most, we are probably not -far from the mark. But, late or early, it is sure to be an exceedingly -abundant harvest, there being at present all over the West Highlands -every promise of very heavy returns, the heaviest, perhaps, that, under -any circumstances whatever, the land could safely bear, with the hope -of an eventually fully ripe and lusty maturity.</p> -<p>Readers of our <i>Nether Lochaber</i> papers will in nowise be -surprised to hear that we have all our lifetime made it a point to -cultivate the confidence and friendly goodwill of keepers, foresters, -and their followers, wherever we chanced to meet with them; nor would -it be proper to suppress our grateful acknowledgment of the fact that -to them we have been largely indebted in all our zoological studies for -a long quarter of a century. We look upon foresters and gamekeepers as -at the head of their profession, what the French call “princes of -the game,” and we have ever found them exceedingly courteous and -kind, highly intelligent almost without exception, and not merely -willing but well pleased to be examined, and cross-examined when -occasion calls, on anything and everything appertaining to, or at all -connected with, their office. With their humbler brethren of the craft, -too, we have long been thoroughly <i lang="fr">en rapport</i>; these -humbler brethren being the fox-hunters, mole-catchers, and -vermin-killers generally, by whatever name or designation <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb288" href="#pb288" name= -"pb288">288</a>]</span>known from the Moray Firth, to the Clyde. Most -readers of poetry will remember how Pope, in one of his finest poems -(<i>Prologue</i> to the <i>Satires</i>), apostrophises his friend Dr. -Arbuthnot as</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Friend to my life! which did not you -prolong,</p> -<p class="line">The world had wanted many an idle song.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">And if one dared to parody any couplet from a poem so -beautiful, we should be disposed to address the first fox-hunter or -mole-catcher of our numerous acquaintances among them who are deacons -of their craft, we chanced to meet, in some such words as -these—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Friend to my mill! which did not you supply</p> -<p class="line">With frequent <i>grist</i>, I’d wither, wane, and -die.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">A few days ago the Ardgour fox-hunter, Donald -Macdonald by name, a Moidart man, and an excellent specimen of his -class, called upon us with his quarterly budget of news from glen and -upland, from hill and scaur, and den and corrie; and a wonderful season -in his particular line he vows it has been. Since the middle of April -last he has killed and bagged no fewer than <i>fifty-one</i> foxes all -told, besides a number, both young and old, that were worried to the -death by his terriers in the deepest recesses of their <i>saobhies</i> -or dens, whence, when the turmoil of battle had ceased, and his dogs -had emerged bearing very visible marks of the deadly conflict within, -it was impossible to dig them out. All these foxes were got on the -borders of three conterminous farms—Aryhuelan (Dr. -Simpson’s), Conaglen and Inverscaddle (the Earl of -Morton’s), and Glennahuirich (Mr. Milligan’s). Donald, who -has been a fox-hunter for upwards of thirty years, never before knew -foxes so numerous, and this not in one or more favourite haunts within -a given district, but generally over the country. He couldn’t -himself in any way satisfactorily account for the fox fecundity of -1874–75, and we could only regret that we were unable to -enlighten him in the least, for he avowedly came for enlightenment on a -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb289" href="#pb289" name= -"pb289">289</a>]</span>subject that was very naturally exceedingly -interesting to him. We were obliged to confess that the matter was as -much a puzzle to us as to himself, but promised to think it over. -Account for it as we may, it is in truth a fact that has attracted -attention everywhere, that not for many years, if indeed ever before, -have foxes been so numerous all over the Highlands. In the three -adjoining districts of Badenoch, Lochaber, and Ardgour, the last -including a part of Sunart, we are assured that no less a number than -<i>two hundred and forty-three</i> foxes have been killed or captured -since mid-April, besides, as already stated, a considerable number -worried in the recesses of their big rock dens which could not be -actually “bagged” or charged for after the fashion of the -craft by brush or pad, though there was no doubt at all of their having -succumbed after, in each case, a more or less desperate battle, to the -assaults of their terrier assailants. And here, good reader, you must -permit us, <i lang="fr">en parenthese</i>, a slight disgression, not -altogether, we hope, uninteresting. We wonder if in the great family of -dogs anywhere throughout the world there is anything to equal in -hardihood, pluck, and all endurance the Highland fox-hunter’s -canine following? They are invariably a rough and ragged lot enough, -and seemingly at sixes and sevens as to anything like assortment; no -two of them exactly alike in colour, size, or breed; and they are -usually low in stature, though of considerable bone and well developed -muscle what there is of it; but be what they may in these respects, -when you fall in with one of our fox-hunter’s packs, six, seven, -eight, or a dozen in number, as the case may be, be sure you have -before you the gamest, <i>varmintest</i> little beggars to tackle -otter, fox, or badger that the whole world can show. Our visitor of the -other day had only one little fellow of his pack along with him. -“What’s his name, Donald?” we asked, pointing to his -wiry follower, that we could easily see was, from the ink-black tip of -his nose to the extremity of his tail, a “varmint” -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb290" href="#pb290" name= -"pb290">290</a>]</span>of the first order. “What do you call -him?” “Speach,” he replied, and <i>speach</i>, our -non-Gaelic readers must be told, means a wasp or hornet, and, even like -a wasp, we knew that that little fellow with his dander up in the -labyrinthine recesses of a fox’s den or a badger’s -<i>garaidh</i>, would fight against any odds until he was torn into -ribbons, and on each and every occasion would prove himself</p> -<div lang="la" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, -acer,”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">which old Robertson of Struan admirably rendered into -our native Doric, without the loss of a particle of meaning or -force—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“A fiery ettercap, a fractious chiel,</p> -<p class="line">As het as ginger, and as stieve as steel!<span class= -"corr" id="xd26e7240" title="Not in source">”</span></p> -</div> -<p class="first">“And is ‘Speach’ good, then, -Donald?” we inquired. “Yes, sir,” was the reply, -“a very good little dog. He is but small, you see, and light; the -smallest, indeed, at present in my pack, but he will take hold of fox -or badger or otter at the readiest spot that offers, and, having once -got hold, will never let go again while his antagonist is in life; -<i>at every dig only burying his muzzle deeper into his -opponent</i>.” We quite agreed with him that a dog that did -<i>that</i> must be good indeed; and we are perfectly satisfied that he -did not in the least exaggerate the indomitable pluck and never-say-die -tenacity of his tiny favourite. Two very good things remain to be said -in praise of our Highland fox-hunters’ dogs. They are never known -to bite, and very rarely even to bark at human beings; and no -fox-hunter’s dog was ever known to be affected with hydrophobia -or canine madness. The exemption from canine madness may, perhaps, be -largely due to their open air and natural mode of life, but it is -difficult to understand why they should be so entirely free from any -propensity to bite or otherwise annoy a human being, a vice common -enough to dogs of unexceptionable character and breeding otherwise, and -from which even the highly intelligent and much-lauded <i>collie</i> is -by <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb291" href="#pb291" name= -"pb291">291</a>]</span>no means so free as his many admirers seem to -suppose. Even a collie is always prepared to bark, and oftentimes to -bite on very little provocation, or no provocation at all. The -fox-hunter’s terrier, whether he is pure or a nondescript cross, -very rarely indeed barks at a stranger, and never under any -circumstances offers to bite. We question if there is a human being -to-day in life who can honestly assert that he has ever been bitten by -a fox-hunter’s dog. With Macdonald we had a long and interesting -crack, in the course of which we touched on some matters of sufficient -importance to be introduced to the reader on a future occasion.</p> -<p>We had also a visit some little time ago from Sandy Macarthur, a -well-known mole-catcher in Lochaber and the neighbouring districts; a -very intelligent and civil man, whose only fault is that when you have -collared him there is no spontaneity in his crack. Even when you have -got firm hold enough of him, you have to extract his frequently very -valuable information from him by a process akin to that which an -ingenious and learned counsel employs in the case of a recalcitrant and -unwilling witness at an important jury trial. Sandy, however, is a good -fellow all the same, slow but sure; and his quiet unobtrusiveness and -reticence is perhaps to be attributed to the exigencies of his -profession; a “rattling, roaring Willie” of a mole-catcher, -with, to use a Gaelic phrase, his tongue constantly on his shoulder, -would probably prove but an unsuccessful hunter of the velvet-coated -quick-eared, and timid subterranean family of the Mac <i>Talpa</i>. -Sandy, on the contrary, goes to work in dead silence and a-tiptoe, and -bags his mole as quietly as an angler baskets his trout from out the -glassy pool, over which, if but his shadow moved, he would angle long -in vain. Sandy assures us that moles are to be found this season where -they were never seen before, and where he was at first a good deal -puzzled to account for their appearance. On a full <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb292" href="#pb292" name= -"pb292">292</a>]</span>consideration of the case Macarthur’s -theory is briefly to this effect: Moles are mainly underground -dwellers, and even their travelling and migrating from place to place -are done subterraneously. If, however, they find themselves, as in the -Highlands they must frequently do, in a district or part of district -separated from other parts in which they have never been by rocky spurs -and ridges, they will not venture over these latter unless they carry -sufficient earth to hide their tunnelling, which, it is needless to -say, they frequently do not. The mole in such a case remains insulated, -a prisoner, so to speak, within his present domain. Last winter and -spring, however, according to Sandy’s theory, the snow lay so -deep and lay so long, that the moles took advantage of the fact, and -making their tunnels under the snow, where it lay on spur and ridge, -just as if it had been so much superincumbent soil, they easily got -into fresh fields and pastures new. In this way alone can Sandy account -for the appearance of moles this summer in places into which hitherto -they had no means of ready access; and he may be right, though it is a -point in the natural history of the <i>Talpa</i> well deserving further -investigation. Sandy further avers that moles sometimes swim across -rivers, fresh-water lakes, and even arms of the sea in their -migrations; and this is just possible, though we took the liberty of -expressing ourselves slightly incredulous. Sandy, however, ought to -know; he has spent the best part of a life already approaching its -grand climacteric in the careful and close and constant study of, as -one may say, a single animal—to wit, the mole—and it is -always hazardous gravely to doubt or contradict the deliberately -expressed opinion of such a man on a matter strictly within his proper -province. All the same we still venture to question the assertion that -the mole ever voluntarily enters water deep enough to swim in, or ever -dims the velvety sheen of its glossy pile even by such a luxury as a -voluntary bath in the shallows, till we have some stronger proof for it -than has yet been adduced. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb293" href= -"#pb293" name="pb293">293</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch47" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e756">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Autumnal Night—Meteors—The Spanish -Mackerel—Professor Blackie’s Translations from the -Gaelic—The “Translations” of the Gaelic Society of -Inverness.</p> -</div> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“On the Rialto, every night at twelve,</p> -<p class="line">I take my evening’s walk of -meditation.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">So says the love-sick knight in <i>Venice -Preserved</i>. We have never, much as we should like it, had an -opportunity of enjoying a Rialto midnight meditation ramble. There is -poetry and romance in the very thought of it; but we know something -more poetical and in every way better still, namely, a midnight -meditative stroll along our own beautiful silvery sanded beach, what -time the sea is so calm that its breathings are low and soft as the -respirations of a child whose sleep is undisturbed save by -angel-whispered dreams; the cloudless sky above, with its waning moon -and thousands of sparkling stars, each star a living intelligence; its -sparkling speech, and no sound to disturb the solemn silence, except -now and again the wakeful sea-bird’s eerie scream, and the voice -of many waters, as the mountain torrents leap adown their channels to -the sea, a voice so mellowed by the distance that it becomes solemn and -musical as the fast-falling concluding notes of a grand organ -hymn—the Pentecostal “<i lang="la">Veni, Creator -Spiritus</i>, for example. During the fine weather of this -exceptionally fine season [August 1875] we have rarely gone to bed -before midnight, more frequently, indeed, long after, and our last -thing at night has been a sea-shore stroll, a half or quarter hour so -thoroughly enjoyable that we have come to miss it sadly, if by adverse -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb294" href="#pb294" name= -"pb294">294</a>]</span>weather, absence from home, or any other cause, -we are obliged to forego it. In addition to all the other attractions -of a midnight sea-side stroll in such weather as the tropics themselves -might be proud of, the reader must remember that August is one of our -meteor months—the second week particularly being remarkable for -the number and brilliancy of the <i>Perseides</i>, so called from their -seeming mainly to radiate from the direction of the constellation -<i>Perseus</i>. Never was there a finer season to observe them than -this; and although they have, perhaps, been less numerous than usual, -the brilliancy of many of them was so remarkable, and their paths -throughout so easily followed, that their very infrequency only added -to the eagerness and interest with which one watched and waited for -them. The finest display of the season was from midnight on to nearly -two <span class="sc">A.M.</span> on the night of the 11th and 12th, in -which time we counted thirty-three <i>noticeable</i> meteors—of -which seven were what might be called first-class meteors of a nucleus -brilliancy equal to or exceeding that of first magnitude stars, with -broad, bright, well-defined trains, that wholly or in part, in three or -four instances, remained in sight, mapping out the meteor’s -trajectory for several seconds after the disappearance or extinction of -the parent orb or meteor proper itself. Mr. W. B. Symington, who was -among the Hebrides at the time on a yachting cruise, writes on the -subject as follows:—“Notwithstanding your injunction to be -on the <i lang="fr">qui vive</i> as to the August meteors, I am sorry -to say that I forgot all about it on the nights of the 9th and 10th, -although the weather was beautifully clear. On the 11th, 12th, and -13th, however, the sailing-master and myself were sharply on the -look-out, and our watchfulness was rewarded by the sight of some really -very splendid examples. There were on each night scores and scores of -the more common, lesser, and fainter meteors, but our attention was of -course principally directed to the more brilliant ones. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb295" href="#pb295" name="pb295">295</a>]</span>Of -these latter we had, during about an hour and a quarter’s -observation, four very fine ones, with long bright tails, on the 11th; -nine on the 12th; and one magnificent fellow, that lighted up the deck, -sails, and rigging of the yacht with a strange greenish glare, on the -13th. This last was at 11.5 <span class="sc">P.M.</span> One of the men -said that before daybreak on the 12th there were some very large and -bright meteors. As far as my observations went, the course of these -meteors seemed to be mainly to the west and south-west, although two at -least of the larger ones rushed in a directly opposite path, namely, to -east and north-east. As I am likely to be at sea in November, though in -a very different kind of craft, I will endeavour to give you a more -careful and satisfactory account of the meteor display of that month. I -may tell you that one of the men caught a <i>scad</i> of large size, -the biggest, I believe, I ever saw. It weighed nearly four pounds. I -thought it not bad eating, though the rest of them in the cabin said it -was coarse and tasteless. It was caught by a long line and herring -baited hook, that was allowed to drag after the ship in a breeze that -gave us at the time a speed of at least eight knots an hour.”</p> -<p>The fish referred to by our correspondent is also called the Spanish -mackerel, it being very common on some parts of the Spanish coast. It -belongs to the order <i lang="la">Scomberidæ</i>, and is a cousin -of our own better known mackerel proper, though a considerably larger -fish, and not nearly so good for the table as its beautiful congener. -The Spanish differs from the mackerel proper in one very remarkable -particular; it has an <i>air bladder</i> which the true mackerel of our -shores has not, and yet the latter is one of the readiest and swiftest -swimmers, and at all depths, of any fish in the sea. The fact is that -the real use of the air bladder in the economy of fish still continues -an unresolved and seemingly an unresolvable puzzle.</p> -<p>Lovers of living, healthy poetry—healthy as the mountain -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb296" href="#pb296" name= -"pb296">296</a>]</span>breeze, and free and sparkling as the mountain -stream, and more especially our Celtic friends who have been taught to -honour and reverence the “kilted” muse—will be glad -to know that Professor Blackie has in preparation the materials of what -cannot fail to prove a very interesting volume, consisting of -translations of some of the most admired compositions of our modern -Gaelic bards. Macintyre’s <i>Ben. Dorain</i>, Alasdair -Macdonald’s <i>Berliun</i>, with many of such lesser popular -lyrics, as <i lang="gd">Am Breacan Wallach</i>, <i lang="gd">Failte na -Mor-Thir</i>, <i lang="gd">A Bhanarach Dhoun a Cruidh</i>, &c., -will thus appear for the first time in a becoming Saxon garb; -not—to use the milliner’s phrase—too tight a fit, -observe, but natural and easy, though “made to measure,” -and we venture to predict that our English readers, who as yet know -them not at all, and our Gaelic friends, who know them well and have -long known them, will alike be pleased with the results of the learned -Professor’s gallant raid into bard-land. The Professor has been -visiting us here lately, and we can honestly say that such specimens of -his work as he was good enough to read to us—and there are few -better readers than Professor Blackie—seemed to us admirably -done. His version of <i>Ben. Dorain</i> particularly, which we had an -opportunity of hearing twice, and of which we can thus speak most -positively, is thoroughly well done; so well, so faithfully, and with -such spirit and <i>verve</i> as must delight not only the ordinary -reader, but the very “ghost” of the original -author—Macintyre himself—if, like the Ossianic departed -heroes, he is permitted to know and appreciate sublunary affairs from -out the bosom of “his cloud.” The Professor translates -these Gaelic poems into English verse just as, in our opinion, they -should be translated; not too literally, but with all necessary freedom -and elbow room, and yet so literally that any one knowing the English -version may rest assured that he knows also the original quite as -intimately and correctly as it is possible in the circumstances for any -mere outsider <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb297" href="#pb297" name= -"pb297">297</a>]</span>to know it. Johnson, in his <i>Life of -Dryden</i>, referring to the latter’s version of the -<i>Æneid</i>, &c., has a paragraph which is worth quoting in -this connection:—“When languages are formed upon different -principles, it is impossible that the same modes of expression should -always be elegant in both. While they run on together, the closest -translation may be considered the best; but when they divaricate, each -must take its natural course. Where correspondence cannot be obtained, -it is necessary to be content with something equivalent. -‘Translation, therefore,’ says Dryden, ‘is not so -loose as paraphrase, nor so close as metaphrase.’ ” -With all this we entirely concur, more especially when such widely -different languages as the English and Gaelic have to be dealt with. We -do not know that Professor Blackie ever read the paragraph quoted, or, -even if he did read it, that he now remembers it; but to his -translations from the Gaelic, to so much of them, at all events, as -were submitted to our notice, Dryden’s dictum is entirely -applicable—they are not so loose as paraphrase, nor so close as -metaphrase. They strike a golden mean very difficult of attainment in -such efforts; and on the appearance of the volume itself, we shall be -disappointed if nine-tenths at least of the many readers it is sure to -command do not entirely agree with us. But <i lang="fr">nous -verrons</i>, if we live we shall see.</p> -<p>The <i>Transactions</i> of the Gaelic Society of Inverness for -1873–4 and 1874–5, have reached us. The Secretary’s -paper on “Coinneach Odhar,” the Brahan seer, is most -interesting, containing as it does the best account that we have met -with of that uncanny Ross-shire worthy. That he was an impostor, and a -vulgar impostor too, there can be no doubt; but the story of a -man—clever, shrewd rascal as he was—in whom the people so -thoroughly believed, is worth the telling, and Mr. Mackenzie tells it -very well. He should, we think, give us, if possible, a second paper, -containing the many other wonderful vaticinations attributed to his -hero, who seems to have <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb298" href= -"#pb298" name="pb298">298</a>]</span>latterly been too clever by half; -for he who could foresee the misfortunes of others—the death even -of a cow—couldn’t evidently foresee the well-merited fate -that awaited himself; for he was hanged, and we have no doubt at all -that he richly deserved that species of exaltation. What Thomas the -Rhymer—him of Ercildoune—was in the south of Scotland at a -much earlier period, this <i lang="gd">Coinneach Odhar</i>, comparing -small things with great, seems to have been in the North-West Highlands -during the latter half of the seventeenth century. “True -Thomas,” however, was a gentleman and a scholar; whereas <i lang= -"gd">Coinneach</i> was, of course, utterly illiterate, conducting his -scheme of imposture solely by the aid of natural talents, which must -have been considerable, and a large and ever-ready stock of impudence -and cunning, nicely calculated to impose upon the vulgar. He made his -grand mistake when he flew at such high game as Lady Seaforth and her -domestic affairs. She was too clever, too intelligent and well-educated -to be imposed upon. She ordered him to be hanged, a doom to which many -were led at that period who probably less richly deserved it than such -a prying, meddling, mischief-maker as was Kenneth the Seer. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb299" href="#pb299" name= -"pb299">299</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch48" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e766">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Crops—Potato Slug—Fern -Slug—Brackens: How thoroughly to extirpate them—The -Merlin—Falcon and Tringa.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">We have had a full fortnight of magnificent summer -weather [August 1875], a bright sun over-head from morning till night, -with brisk breezes, <i lang="gd">a leanachd na gréine</i>, -following the sun; that is, beginning in the morning at east, and -gradually wearing round <i lang="la">pari passû</i> with the -solar march, till at sunset it is north-west, and so on round and round -the compass day after day, a phenomenon usually attendant upon the very -finest weather in our northern latitudes. Under these circumstances it -will not surprise those who care for such matters to hear that our hay -crop, about which we were in such anxiety, has been secured in splendid -condition, in such condition, indeed, as we can rarely boast of in the -West Highlands. Our meadow hay crop, too, is this year unusually heavy, -and already, in obedience to the adage which teaches that it is well -and wise to make one’s hay while the sun shines, we are all busy -getting it cut down and secured, although the old, orthodox season is -not yet for a fortnight to come—about old Lammastide. Oats with -us here are generally a light crop, but it will as such be easier to -secure in good condition than a heavier crop would be, and, upon the -whole, may thus turn out quite as profitable. Potatoes are not so heavy -haulmed as usual, but in other respects they promise well, and there is -no appearance of our old enemy the “blight.” We hear, -however, a good deal of complaint in some districts on account of the -prevalence this year of yellow shaw, or <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb300" href="#pb300" name="pb300">300</a>]</span><i lang= -"gd">bar-buidhe</i> as our Highlanders term it, the work of a small -grey slug that attacks the main-stem shaw just at its point of junction -with the soil, and eating and tunnelling it through and through until -the leaves first assume a yellow and withered appearance, and the whole -shaw finally falls down paralysed, and practically useless and -inoperative as to its proper functions, though not actually rotten or -dead, as in the case of the “blight.” Many such shaws in a -field give it an unsightly appearance, but beyond this there is no -great harm done after all, for as the slug seldom begins its work until -the plant is large and well forward, the tubers underground, though -they may be of smaller size than their neighbours that have escaped the -slug’s attentions, are yet sound and wholesome food enough either -for man or beast. We have observed that this particular slug, or a -closely allied species, is also much given to feeding on the stem of -the common fern or bracken, dealing with it just as it does with the -potato shaw, though, to be sure, it finds the fern a rather harder nut -to crack; for the brave bracken, with its firmer contexture of stem, -refuses to bend its head to the ground, no matter the number or -direction of the slug’s insidious tunnellings and perforations. -If you glance at a fern clump as you ride along the road or climb the -mountain steep, the yellow, withered fronds of an occasional plant, -here and there painfully conspicuous amid the rich, dark, emerald green -of its healthy companions, tell you where the grey slug—and a -nasty, slimy little wretch it is—is busy at its evil work, -drinking up, like consumption among the human race, the very -heart’s blood, so to speak, of the fairest and finest plants it -can find. We have found in our own experience that the best protection -of the potato from its ravages is to give the ground a sprinkling of -lime just as the plants are appearing above ground, about the end of -April or beginning of May. For the early varieties usually planted in -our gardens, a sprinkling of soot is less unsightly and equally -efficacious with lime. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb301" href= -"#pb301" name="pb301">301</a>]</span></p> -<p>And speaking of the bracken, let us observe that, while it is a -magnificent and beautiful plant, it is, like everything else of beauty, -most beautiful in its proper place. Meet it on mountain slope, in -copsewood covert, or greenwood glade, and you cannot admire it -sufficiently. In the end of autumn, particularly when its graceful -fronds have assumed a certain indescribable tinge of mingled brown and -ruby and gold, a bracken covert is beyond measure lovely. At such a -stage, and in the warm and mellow light of the setting September sun, -it is to ourselves all that an ocean of broom in flower was to the -great Linnæus. If, however, you live in the near neighbourhood of -brackens, you will find that it is apt to creep down from its proper -wild and upland habitat, and to encroach unduly upon your old grass -lands, wherever it can get an undisturbed footing. If you consult books -on the subject, they will tell you that if you cut them down for a -season or two running before they ripen, they will die away and -disappear. With our large, soft-stemmed herbaceous plants, this method -of eradication is sometimes effectual enough; with the bracken, as we -know to our cost, it avails nothing. The roots are so curiously -ramified and intertwined that they will live on and put forth a new -growth year after year, no matter how constantly and closely you cut -and crop them. We gave up trying a plan so futile, and only hit upon -the right way of dealing with them by the merest accident. Walking -along the edge of one of our old grass parks about mid-June some few -years ago, we wished to get hold of a switch or something similar, -wherewith to drive a fractious pony on before us to the park gate. -There was no switch just then at hand, and, without thinking of it, we -bent down, and with both hands pulled steadily and straight upwards at -one of the largest of a luxuriant bracken patch that skirted the path -beside us. To our surprise the plant came up easily and from the very -root, or we should rather say with the very root attached, long, -dark-brown, and something cigar-like <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb302" href="#pb302" name="pb302">302</a>]</span>in shape and size. -That particular plant, a slight examination satisfied us, was fairly or -literally and for ever <i>eradicated</i>, <i>extirpated</i>. When you -get hold of plant and root, you get all; no other plant can grow in its -stead; no plant, at all events, can honestly call <i>it</i> progenitor. -The thing now was clear; we knew what we had to do, and how simple it -was! One afternoon soon afterwards we called all our people into that -field along with us. In all such cases best lead yourself, if you would -have the thing done right. We pulled a bracken or two straight up and -steadily in their presence, and showed them how it was extracted, even -as a practised dentist, “deacon of his craft,” deals with -an offending tooth—root and all complete. They then set to work -along with us, and in an hour or so we had the whole field cleared of -ferns—quite a large cart-load of them—each plant with its -black root attached, all of which were afterwards found useful as -bedding for the pony, and the largest and least broken for thatch. In -that field no brackens have since shown themselves. So, if you are -troubled with ferns, the proper way is not to cut them down, for they -will grow again, but to deal with them as we did, and they will trouble -you no more. There is some trouble about it, no doubt, though far less -than you would suppose, and then, you see, we really know nothing at -this moment worth the having to be had <i>without</i> trouble; so take -the trouble and the good together, and be wise.</p> -<p>In your sea-shore wanderings, good reader, you must many a time and -oft have witnessed the graceful flight of the tern or sea-swallow, the -handsomest bird, perhaps, that ever saw its own image reflected in the -glassy surface of a waveless sea; and you must have noticed its sudden -dart and dip, now and again, after its prey into the bosom of the -green, unbroken waves. This, of course, you have seen and admired a -thousand times. But have you ever seen the merlin or merlin falcon -(<i lang="la">Falco æsalon</i>), perform the same feat? No! Well, -we did a few evenings ago; albeit the <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb303" href="#pb303" name="pb303">303</a>]</span>momentary immersion -in the briny blue was probably, nay certainly, what the merlin would -have avoided if it could. It happened in this wise: We were engaged on -the beach painting our boat—there are few things but we can put -our hand to with more or less success, always barring <i>shooting</i>, -of our deficiency in which we recently made full and honest -confession—when we suddenly heard that curious and indescribable -half-scream, half-cheep, so well-known to the ornithologist, and which -tells him so plainly that the utterer is a bird—usually a small -bird—in dire distress, in constant fear and danger of its life. -Looking round, we saw a merlin in hot chase of a sandpiper (<i lang= -"la">Tringa hypoleucus</i>), pursuer and pursued circling and wheeling -in their arrow-like flight over the bent some hundred yards from the -margin of the sea. Were it not for the manifest distress of the poor -sandpiper, evidenced by its frequent scream, as if invoking all the -kindly powers of heaven and earth to its aid, we should have considered -it a most beautiful and interesting sight. The merlin was evidently -hungry and in earnest, and we made no doubt at all, for there was no -possible way that we could aid it, that the sandpiper was distined to -be the fiery little falcon’s evening meal. But <i lang="la">Diis -aliter visum</i>—the gods had otherwise ordered it. All of a -sudden it seemed to occur to the <i lang="la">Tringa</i> that if there -was the slightest chance of escape for it, it must be in closer -relationship with its favourite and familiar element, the sea; and to -the sea accordingly in one rapid dart the poor bird betook itself. The -merlin, as if aware that there was now at least a possibility that its -prey might after all escape its clutches, made a magnificent dash -after, and just as the sandpiper was over the sea, reached it, and -pounced to strike, but missed; by the smallest fraction of a single -second, a sharp zig-zag in the <i lang="la">Tringa’s</i> flight -kept it clear of the stroke, and the merlin, by the force and impetus -of its flight, plunged head over ears into the sea, whence, with -draggled plumage and brine-blinded eyes, it arose <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb304" href="#pb304" name="pb304">304</a>]</span>with -difficulty, and betook itself to a rock ledge at hand to preen and dry -itself, with no other consolation in its disappointment, probably, than -a <i lang="it">sotto voce</i> merlin-wise muttering of the adage, -“Better luck next time.” The sandpiper, it is needless to -say, was soon a mile away, winging its terrified flight to the opposite -Appin shore. We were glad that the sandpiper had escaped, that the -merlin was disappointed. It is always pleasant to see an evil-doer -baulked in the accomplishment of his evil intentions. And yet we -don’t know either. We have called the merlin an evil-doer: are we -entitled so to call him? Was he not as much entitled, could he have -secured it, to have that <i lang="la">Tringa</i> for <i>his</i> evening -meal, as we the delicious red rock cod that in an hour or two -afterwards we enjoyed so heartily to our own supper? Let the reader -think it over, and answer the question to himself at his leisure. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb305" href="#pb305" name= -"pb305">305</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch49" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e775">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER XLIX.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">The Hedgehog an Egg and Bird -Eater?—Bird-catching—“Old -Cowie”—Mackenzie—<i lang="la">Lanius -Excubitor</i>—The Butcher-Bird or Shrike—Tea drinking and -Sobriety.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first"><i lang="la">Audi alteram partem</i> is a sensible -maxim, so reasonable in itself, and mild and deprecatory of tone, that -it rarely fails to commend itself to our sense of right and candour; -for if we would arrive at a right conclusion on any matter in dispute, -we must learn to listen without prejudice to both sides of a question. -We can only hold our own convictions wisely and well, by knowing all -that can be said in antagonism and <i lang="la">per contra</i>. The -following letter from a correspondent in London, who writes under the -pseudonym of “Observer,” tells rather in favour of those -who entertain grave suspicions as to the morality and harmlessness of -our prickly friend the hedgehog, and, of course, against Mr. Frank -Buckland and ourselves. We are honest enough, however, to give -“Observer’s” communication in full, meanwhile merely -remarking that, obliged as we are to our correspondent for his -attention, and really interesting note, we are by no means convinced -that the hedgehog is either oviphagous or a bird-killer and bird-eater. -At this date [February 1876], and with all our knowledge of the animal, -we fear that nothing less than the catching of him in the very act -would convince us, any number of uncompromising and hard-hearted -gamekeepers, with “Observer” to back them, to the contrary -notwithstanding.</p> -<p>“While perusing your interesting article on the hedgehog, some -slight personal experiences of this animal recurred to my mind, and I -therefore thought it might be as well to communicate them to you, to -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb306" href="#pb306" name= -"pb306">306</a>]</span>show that, according to my limited experience, -the hedgehog is not quite such a harmless and innocent creature as you -endeavour to make him, and further, that your practical experiments -with the hungry animals and the eggs are not sufficiently satisfactory -to establish and set at rest once and for ever the hedgehog’s -innocency. To be brief: two or three summers ago, while living in the -Highlands of Scotland, and within one hundred and fifty miles of the -Highland capital, about ten o’clock on a beautiful Sunday evening -in the month of June, and shortly after a most genial shower of rain -had fallen to refreshen the young crops, my attention was attracted by -the most alarming and violent cackling of a hen that had just begun to -incubate on two or three addled eggs, or ‘nest eggs’ as -they are called. Wondering what would be the cause of this noisy -demonstration on the part of the hen, and thinking that probably a -thief might be at hand, I at once repaired to where the hen was. I -could see no one about, but there the hen was, as noisy as ever, -looking towards her nest, advancing apparently to charge some unseen -enemy, and then suddenly making a retrograde movement in the most -frantic manner, without attacking her enemy. On stooping down and -peeping into the corner where the nest was (for by this time it was -almost dark), I observed a round dark object in comfortable possession -of the nest; this was a hedgehog. If I remember well, one of the eggs -was broken, and there was very little of the contents left. This, I am -almost sure, was the case, though I would hardly go so far as to swear -to it at this distance of time. Probably in these circumstances you -will say, ‘Then, if you can’t actually swear to it, your -information deserves no attention.’ However, bear with me a -little longer. On another occasion, on a similar fine evening, about -the same hour, and about four weeks after the above, I heard another -hen, which, with a brood of some eight or ten fine young chickens, had -taken up its night quarters quite near the scene of the first row, -making a like <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb307" href="#pb307" name= -"pb307">307</a>]</span>noise. Thinking a cat might be about, and -therefore must be the enemy now, I went up to see what was doing. There -the hen was, standing a short distance from the nest, with only two -chickens by her side; the others could not be seen. On going nearer the -nest, there was another hedgehog in quiet possession. Below him in the -nest were one or two dead chickens; their little heads were crushed -quite flat and wet, as if some animal had been trying to chew the -heads. Outside the nest were two more dead chickens, their heads being -in the same flat and wet condition. The chickens were about a week old, -and, so far as I can recollect, there was no other disfigurement. In -the morning two more live chickens turned up, and the poor hen had to -be content with a reduced brood of four or five instead of eight or -ten. The hedgehog had been sentenced to a violent death, but, -fortunately for himself, made his escape while search was being made -for any of the surviving chickens. During the next summer a duck had -laid a number of eggs—more than a dozen—in a quiet secluded -spot at the root of a birch tree, and which were not discovered by -human eye until they were rather far on in a state of incubation to be -fit for use; so the duck was allowed to keep her eggs in order to hatch -them. One night, about 11 or 11.30 <span class="sc">P.M.</span>, some -of the inmates of the house were disturbed by the duck coming to one of -the doors, making a great noise, and would not leave. So, to save -further annoyance, the servant rose and locked up poor duck with the -other ducks. In the morning the prisoner was released, and allowed to -go to resume possession of the nest, which, on examination, was found -undisturbed, except that two or three of the eggs were amissing; but -this was thought nothing of, and allowed to pass unnoticed. However, a -few nights after this occurrence, the duck repeated her visit to the -house, was in a greatly disturbed state, and would on no account -whatever be pacified; so, as the night was dark, a light was procured, -and the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb308" href="#pb308" name= -"pb308">308</a>]</span>writer, along with a friend, went to the nest, -and found a hedgehog sitting on the eggs. Some of them were broken, and -the nest in a great mess. Outside there was an empty shell, and a large -round hole in it. On this occasion the hedgehog had to pay the extreme -penalty. Mentioning these things to the people about, the writer was -informed that it was understood generally that hedgehogs destroyed -eggs, but it had never been known to them that they attacked young -chickens. However, they had never given the matter any attention. -Perhaps these facts I have related may be of some use to you in making -further inquiries about the hedgehog. At any rate, you may rely on the -truth of my statements, as they are no hearsay stories, but facts that -took place before my own eyes. <i>Query</i>—Granted that the -hedgehog does not eat eggs, then what was he doing in possession of -these three different nests? How were the eggs broken? What animal -killed the chickens, if it was not the hedgehog? Perhaps a weasel would -have done it, but in that case, would the weasel not have inflicted -some serious wound about the throat, and which would have left some -bloody marks?”</p> -<p>Of some half-dozen bird-catchers, or bird-fanciers, as they prefer -calling themselves, that visit the West Highlands professionally from -time to time, our favourite is Mackenzie, a north countryman, we -believe, as one indeed might readily guess from his surname, and well -enough known, we daresay, in and about Inverness, where during our last -visit we noticed with pleasure—for it is a good sign of a -people—that birds in cages were exceedingly common. “Old -Cowie,” another of the fraternity, is a respectable man, with -more knowledge, perhaps, of things in general than any of his brethren -that have chanced to come our way; but for a knowledge of our native -wild-birds, their favourite haunts, food, song, and individual -habits—idiosyncrasies—for a knowledge, we say, precise and -accurate to the most astonishing degree on all those matters, you may -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb309" href="#pb309" name= -"pb309">309</a>]</span>trust Mackenzie, for he is far and away at the -head of his class, positively unrivalled by any one else that we ever -met with. Of the ornithology of books, of ornithology as a science, -with its systems, classifications, genera, and species, he knows -nothing, of course, but he knows every bird you can refer to under some -favourite provincial cognomen, and he knows it so thoroughly that no -one could possibly know it better. It is true that he knows little or -nothing <i>but</i> birds, but he knows <i>them</i> so well (the birds -of Scotland), so intimately, from constant intercourse with them in -their native haunts and homes, that a “crack” with him -about them, when once you get him fairly started, is no ordinary treat -to any one so interested in all that concerns our wild-birds as we are, -and have been for well-nigh a quarter of a century. Remembering that -bird-catching is a sort of profession or trade, by which a livelihood, -however precarious, is encompassed, an affair of demand and supply, -with the usual prosaic result of pounds, shillings, and pence—or -rather of shillings and pence without the pounds, these last seldom -tickling the palms or troubling the purses of the order—one would -expect to find the bird-catcher a dull, mechanical rogue, a mere -bird-trapper and bird-seller in the dearest market, with no more of -poetry or sentiment about him than about a white-aproned poulterer. -This, however, is far from being the case, at least not always nor even -frequently, for Mackenzie, “Old Cowie,” and others that we -could name, really and truly love birds for their own sakes, without a -thought frequently of their market value, and you can gather as you -converse with them from their frequent references to the delights as -well as the <i lang="fr">désagréments</i> of their -profession, that they are by no means either unconscious of or -indifferent to the poetry of birds and bird life in their native -haunts, whether on moor or mountain side, by solitary tarn or stream, -in copse and wildwood, amid the wildernesses of inland mountains or by -the margin of the sea. We never knew any one <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb310" href="#pb310" name="pb310">310</a>]</span>so -correctly and minutely conversant with the language of birds as -Mackenzie is. By the language of birds, we do not mean their song, for -song is no more the ordinary speech of birds, though most people think -it is, than it is the ordinary speech of men. Mackenzie, it is true, -can imitate the songs of our different species of warblers with great -taste and exactness, but when we say that he is conversant with the -language of birds, we mean not their song, but their little notes, -abrupt chirpings, and faint whisperings, indicative to the initiated of -the particular thought or <i>motif</i> at the moment predominant in the -feathered breast, whether love or terror, or mere apprehension of -danger, or envy, or rivalry, or combativeness, or notes of warning, or -call of invitation to its kind—all these, and for every separate -species, Mackenzie imitates with such consummate skill, exactness, and -dexterity, that he not only deceives an ordinary listener when off his -guard—he has more than once deceived <i>us</i>, though familiar -with birds and bird-notes all our life—but he deceives the very -birds themselves, as we have often witnessed with no little admiration -and delight. That much of this imitatory work is done -ventriloquistically renders it all the more effective, as well as more -difficult of attainment by others of the fraternity ambitious of -catching and cultivating on their own behalf so desirable a gift. This -knowledge of bird language is, of course, of great value to him as a -bird-catcher, and accounts for his success at seasons seemingly the -most inopportune, and in localities the most unlikely, that an ordinary -bird-catcher would probably search in vain for a single specimen of -goldfinch or aberdevine, linnet or redpole, or anything else in the -shape of a valuable song-bird. In passing and repassing our place, this -wonderful bird-man, as our servant girl styles him, always calls with -such bird news and rare specimens as he thinks most likely to interest -us. The other day he came in a state of great excitement to inform us -that just as he had got several siskins on his limed twigs, a -bird—<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb311" href="#pb311" name= -"pb311">311</a>]</span>not a hawk of any kind, he was -certain—dashed out of a copse at hand, pounced upon one of the -siskins, and bore it off and away before his very eyes, ere he could do -anything—so sudden and unexpected was the attack—to prevent -it! Momentary as was his glimpse of it, however, Mackenzie’s -quick and practised eye enabled him to take in the marauder’s -predominant colouring, its shape and size, and mode of flight; and on -describing these to us, we at once exclaimed, a -<i>butcher-bird</i>—a <i>shrike</i>! The description could apply -to no other British bird-killer that we could think of; and that we -were right we have no more doubt than if we had the culprit already in -our cabinet. Mackenzie was in a rage. “You are right, sir; it -must have been a butcher-bird, for now I recollect having once seen a -specimen in Ayrshire. I’m bound, however, to lay salt on yon -chap’s tail before I am done with him; and you, sir, shall have -him, dead or living. I swear it by all my illustrious ancestors, the -Mackenzies of Kintail!” he exclaimed, with a melodramatic air -that was very amusing; and shouldering his cages and other -paraphernalia of his craft, he departed with a touch of his cap and a -bow that showed that amongst birds he had learned good manners and -politeness to an extent that as a navvy or hired labourer he would -probably be all his lifetime very much a stranger. He has not returned -to us as yet, so we suppose he is still in pursuit, detective-wise, of -the shrike; and it had better look out, for Mackenzie is just the man -to succeed sooner or later in laying salt upon its tail, as threatened. -The butcher-bird, or shrike, is the <i lang="la">Lanius excubitor</i> -of Linnæus, an exceeding rare bird in the West Highlands—in -Scotland, indeed—so rare that we never saw a living bird of the -order, only stuffed or otherwise preserved cabinet specimens. It preys -on small birds, mice, insects, &c., which it does not tear up from -under its feet like the hawk tribe, but fixes it on a thorn-prickle, or -in the fork of a small branch, and then tears it to pieces with its -bill, which is very strong, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb312" -href="#pb312" name="pb312">312</a>]</span>toothed and hooked at the -point. When Mackenzie catches the offender he is now in search of, we -shall have something more to say about the butcher-bird, if -butcher-bird it proves to be.</p> -<p>We have noticed, by the way, that all bird-catchers—all at -least with whom we have had any acquaintance—are prodigious -tea-drinkers, not sipping the grateful beverage from cups, observe, but -literally drinking it in bowls’-full. They have assured us that -they find it the best thing they can take, not merely as a refresher, -but as a long sustaining element in their dietary throughout their many -wanderings by flood and field. And like all large tea-drinkers, -bird-catchers are a very sober class of men; that they should be so is -indeed a necessity of their craft, for a knock-kneed, shaky-handed, -blear-eyed, nerveless bird-catcher would be as unfit for the successful -prosecution of the labours incident to his profession, as would a -similar physical wreck be for the successful manipulation of his tools -in the more minute and delicate departments of mathematical instrument -making. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb313" href="#pb313" name= -"pb313">313</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch50" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e788">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER L.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Superstition amongst the People—Difficulty of -dealing with it—Examples of Superstitions still prevalent in the -Highlands—Cock-crowing at untimely hours—Itching of the -Nose—Ringing in the Ears—The -“Dead-Bell”—Sir Walter -Scott—Hogg—Mickle.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">We live in an age of intense literary and intellectual -activity; the tendency of the highest culture of our time [March 1876], -however, it is complained, being towards materialism and scepticism, -the latter either in the form of indifferentism or absolute negation. -The great mass of our people, however—the uneducated or only -partially educated—stand at the other extreme; for whilst it is -complained that those of the highest culture believe too little, or -don’t believe at all, the common people, it is averred, believe -too much. And it is perfectly true that the latter are indeed -superstitious to an extent of which the mere outsider can have no -adequate conception; and yet, philosophically pondered, there can be no -difficulty, we think, in arriving at the conclusion that of the two -evils over-belief is better than its opposite; that it is better, upon -the whole, to believe too much than too little. A man with any form of -creed, even if it be false, may be led in time to believe aright, -whereas the case of the utterly creedless man is well-nigh hopeless. -For our own part, therefore, we do not look upon the superstitions of -our people with such horror and alarm as many well-meaning persons, -clerical or lay, feel or feign when brought in contact with an evil -which, let the philosophers say what they will, has its good as well as -its bad side. We greatly doubt if, under present circumstances, and in -their present stage of civilisation, the inhabitants of Scotland -generally, and of the Highlands, with which we are <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb314" href="#pb314" name="pb314">314</a>]</span>best -acquainted, in particular, would be at all so religious and devout a -people as they are confessedly allowed to be, were it not for the -substratum of superstition that underlies their better founded beliefs -and religious aspirations. Constantly <i lang="fr">en rapport</i> with -the supernatural and the unseen, they are more disposed than they might -otherwise be to believe in and shape the conduct of their daily lives -in accordance with the doctrine of a future world, with its rewards and -punishments, feeling and acknowledging in a very remarkable manner, -even through the medium of their superstitions—if erroneous, yet -not always degrading—the full force and meaning of what the -apostle speaks of in a general way as “the powers of the world to -come.” An interesting paper might be written in support of the -theory here indicated, a theory that to some may seem a paradox, but -meanwhile it must lie over for some more fitting occasion. Such a task -requires time; for of all the delicate tasks that the philosophic mind -can concern itself with, the most delicate is the endeavour to discover -and recognise the spirit of good things in things evil, and of reason -in things unreasonable. Meanwhile, it is the truth, account for it as -we may, that notwithstanding the multiplication of ministers and -churches, schoolmasters and school boards, “Increase of -Episcopate” Bill, and all the rest of it, there is still a lively -undercurrent of superstition amongst our people, do what you can to -stamp it out or otherwise; and that those who believe in it most -implicitly are by no means the worst people either. An example of a -very common superstition is the following:—A few evenings ago, at -an accidental gathering of some half-dozen families in a house in our -neighbourhood, the subjoined conversation took place with regard to a -recent death in the parish. Mrs. B.—“I suppose you have all -heard of the death of X. L., poor fellow. It was reported he was better -yesterday, but I knew last night that I should hear of a death some -time to-day, and knowing of no one else at present <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb315" href="#pb315" name= -"pb315">315</a>]</span>unwell, I decided that it must be X. L.’s -death that was foretold me.” Mrs. C.—“Foretold you! -how?” Mrs. B.—“Why, thus: long after dark last night, -as I was busy getting the children’s supper, the cock, that had -gone to roost as usual, suddenly stood up on his perch, and crowed a -long and loud crow that startled us all; and I made Katie say the -Lord’s Prayer, for I knew that a cock crowing at an hour so -untimeous meant a death in our neighbourhood, and nothing else. On -inquiry, I find that X. L. died just about that time.” Mrs. -D.—“I knew it too, that there was to be a death in our -neighbourhood. My nose itched so much all last evening, and the itching -was on the left nostril side, and I was certain that it was to be the -death of a male that I should hear of. I had not, however, heard that -X. L. was so very poorly.” Mrs. F.—“While at -breakfast this morning, I could hardly eat anything, so loud and -persistent was the ringing in my ears. It was just like the tolling of -the church bell.” Now, the reader must remember that these were -highly respectable women, of some education, and in every way of good -repute; and yet they had no idea at all that there was anything silly -or wrong about their superstition, of which they made no secret, and -which was reported to us immediately afterwards by one who was present. -Now, we ask, if one was present and heard it all, how could he best -deal with the believer in this superstition, a superstition so -wide-spread that it may be said to be universal. Any attempt at getting -angry and driving it out of them by the mere force and weight of your -superior enlightenment would be a false move, sure to be attended by no -good results. Laughing at the whole affair might perhaps be a more -successful way of dealing with the nonsense, but in neither way would -you be likely to make them look at the matter from your particular -light and point of view. Admitting that it was rank superstition and -sheer nonsense, there was this one good thing attending it; it led to -much moralising on the shortness and <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb316" href="#pb316" name="pb316">316</a>]</span>uncertainty of human -life, and the unabidingness generally of all sublunary things; and the -superstition was perhaps more effectual in this direction than would be -the most carefully composed sermon. But the philosophic aspect of the -case apart, let us inquire why the facts mentioned should be held as -premonitory of death. The crowing of the cock has probably some -connection with the denial of St. Peter, and in it, too, may perhaps be -traced a faint remnant of the bird divination of the ancients. As to -the itching of the nose, we confess our inability to say anything -satisfactory, beyond the fact that in old times anything unusual and -difficult to be reasonably accounted for in man’s physical -economy, as well as in his mental, was at once attributed to a -supernatural cause. Of this the ringing in the ears, as well as the -itching in the nose, must be held to be an example. The well-known -ringing in the ears does come with extraordinary suddenness, as we have -all experienced, and when it comes makes the most staid philosopher -look foolish and out of sorts for the moment. Its connection with death -is perhaps to be traced to the passing bell of early and mediæval -times, and to the tolling of bells at funerals even in our own day. Sir -Walter Scott, who knew the peasantry of Scotland so well, and -sympathised so much even with their superstitions, has a happy -reference to the death-bell in a passage in <i>Marmion</i>:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“For soon Lord Marmion raised his head,</p> -<p class="line">And, smiling, to Fitz-Eustace said—</p> -<p class="line">‘Is it not strange, that, as ye sung,</p> -<p class="line">Seem’d in mine ear a death-peal rung,</p> -<p class="line">Such as in nunneries they toll</p> -<p class="line">For some departing sister’s soul?</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Say, what may this portend?’</p> -<p class="line">Then first the Palmer silence broke</p> -<p class="line">(The livelong day he had not spoke),</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">‘The death of a dear -friend.’ ”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">On this passage there is an interesting note very -<i>apropos</i> to our subject:—“Among other omens to which -faithful credit is given <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb317" href= -"#pb317" name="pb317">317</a>]</span>among the Scottish peasantry is -what is called the ‘dead-bell,’ explained by my friend -James Hogg to be that tinkling in the ears which the country people -regard as the secret intelligence of some friend’s -decease.” He tells a story to the purpose in the “Mountain -Bard,” p. 26—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“O lady, ’tis dark, an’ I heard the -dead-bell,</p> -<p class="line">An’ I darena gae younder for gowd nor -fee.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">“By the dead-bell,” says Hogg, “is -meant a tinkling in the ears, which our peasantry in the country regard -as a secret intelligence of some friend’s decease. Thus this -natural occurrence strikes many with superstitious awe. This reminds me -of a trifling anecdote which I will relate as an instance. Our two -servant girls agreed to go an errand of their own one night after -supper, to a considerable distance, from which I strove to persuade -them, but could not prevail. So, after going to the apartment in which -I slept, I took a drinking-glass, and coming close to the back of the -door, made two or three sweeps round the lips of the glass with my -fingers, which caused a loud, shrill sound. I then overheard the -following dialogue:—B.—“Ah, mercy! the dead-bell went -through my head just now with such a knell as I never heard.” -C.—“I heard it too.” B.—“Did you indeed? -That is remarkable. I never knew of two hearing it at the same time -before.” C.—“We will not go to Midgehope -to-night.” B.—“No! I wouldn’t go for all the -world! I warrant it is my poor brother, Wat; who knows what these wild -Irishes may have done to him?” Tinkling, however, which both -Scott and Hogg use, is not the word. It is more of a ringing, so clear -and loud at times, that we once heard a little girl say “there -was a bell in her head.” Our authorities above confess that it is -called the “dead-<i>bell</i>” amongst the peasantry, and by -bell they mean not a tinkling but a loud and very pronounced sound, as -if of solid metal striking hollow metal, and causing the <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb318" href="#pb318" name= -"pb318">318</a>]</span>bell-sound with which we are all so familiar. -Mickle, in his fine ballad <i>Cumnor Hall</i>, has a reference to the -same superstition:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The death-bell thrice was heard to ring,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">An aerial voice was heard to call,</p> -<p class="line">And thrice the raven flapp’d its wing</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Around the towers of Cumnor Hall.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">To sneer at such beliefs, and pooh-pooh them -superciliously and from a philosophical stand-point, is easy; it has -been tried with but little satisfactory result. The true philosopher -will be more and more disposed, the more he deals with such matters, -and the closer he examines them, to fall back on Hamlet’s dictum, -“That there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt -of in our philosophy.” So ineradicable is superstition of this -sort, that you may battle with it long enough—we have battled -with it for years—and find it at last by no means the weaker of -your assaults, no matter how cautiously and circuitously you select to -deal with it.</p> -<p>After an unusually mild and open season, we have just had a taste of -downright winter in the bitterly cold gales and drifting snow-storms of -the last few days. Our weatherwise old folks are of course delighted -that winter in proper dress and form has come at long last; better late -than never, is the cry, and a bright and warm spring in due course is -confidently predicted. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb319" href= -"#pb319" name="pb319">319</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch51" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e797">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Welcome Rain in May—Plague of Mice in Upper -Teviotdale—<i lang="la">Arvicola Agrestis</i>—Field-Mice in -Ardgour—How exterminated—A Singing -Mouse—Farmers’ Mistakes—Mackenzie the -Bird-Catcher.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">After rather more than six consecutive weeks of -weather so hot and dry and parching [May 1876], that we were all -rapidly becoming hide-bound, brown-skinned, and sapless as so many -Egyptian mummies, the rain came at last; came, too, not deluge-wise, -and with a splash and a roar as is generally the case after such -long-continued droughts, but calmly and softly as falls the dew of -sleep on infant eyelids, and without a breath of accompanying wind. The -earth, long agape with thirst, drank it in greedily, and vegetable and -animal life alike rejoiced in the grateful quiet as well as in the -copiousness of the blessed rainfall. You should have heard how, when -the first drop began to fall, our wild-birds welcomed it. All at once, -in wood, and copse, and hedgerow, they burst out into loud and gladsome -song; nor did they cease when the rainfall was heaviest, as they -usually do, but kept it up far into the night, the merle and -song-thrush now and again breaking out afresh as if they couldn’t -sufficiently express their joy, even after we had retired to rest, and -well pleased lay listening to the music of the raindrops as they fell -plashing and pattering from the eaves. Even our least accomplished -songsters took their share in this concert, and if they did not, simply -because they could not, sing as well as their more gifted companions, -they made at least, as the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> has it, a pleasant -“jargoning,” therein, dear reader, teaching us all this -lesson, that if our gifts <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb320" href= -"#pb320" name="pb320">320</a>]</span>prevent us from playing any great -or prominent part in the orchestra of life, we are yet all the same to -perform the parts assigned us as best we may, and always cheerily and -with a will. Next morning again was calm and mild and beautiful as a -summer morning could be, while the country already looked so fresh and -green and lovely that one could hardly believe that such a marvellous -change had taken place in the course of a single night; so potent, in -such circumstances, is the kindly touch of the Rain King’s-magic -wand.</p> -<p>The plague of mice in Upper Teviotdale is a very serious matter -indeed, and the most energetic steps should at once be taken in order -to check and, if possible, stamp out the evil. These little rodents -multiply with incredible rapidity, and if they are to be fought -<i lang="fr"><span class="corr" id="xd26e7608" title= -"Source: a">à</span> l’outrance</i> and conquered, the -sooner the campaign is opened, and the more vigorously it is conducted, -the easier and speedier will be the victory. The short-tailed -field-mouse is fortunately a rare animal in the Highlands, though we -have occasionally met with it in the districts of Lorne, Lochaber, and -Badenoch. We have also seen it on the lands of Drumfin, near Tobermory, -in the island of Mull. Once seen, it is easily recognised again. Its -colour, instead of being of the ordinary “mouse” shade of -grey or brown, is red, or reddish; its head is more bullet-like and -rounder, and its snout blunter than in any of its congeners; and its -tail ends abruptly, giving that appendage a <i>docked</i> and stumpy -look, as if by accident or design one-third of its proper length had -been cut off in early life; and hence its common designation of -short-tailed field-mouse. Every one who has tried to capture a common -domestic mouse with the bare hand, knows to his cost how quickly and -sharply it can bite; but the little field-mouse never once attempts to -bite the hand that holds it. If pounced upon while running about in the -rough bent grass in which it usually shelters, it no sooner feels -itself fairly enclosed in <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb321" href= -"#pb321" name="pb321">321</a>]</span>your hand than it seems to become -paralysed through sheer excess of terror, and you may handle it for a -time and turn it about in all directions as if it were a stuffed -specimen, without its once offering to escape or defend itself in any -way. If, however, you let it slip from your hand to the ground, it is -at once off and away, and, search for it as you may, you are never -likely to see it again. For its size the <i lang="la">Arvicola -agrestis</i> is a very powerful little animal, particularly strong in -the neck, shoulder, and fore-arm, a provision whereby it is enabled to -dig and burrow its way underground when necessary, with all the ease -and rapidity almost of the mole itself. It is very fond of water, which -it drinks often and greedily, and hence it is that it is never found at -any great distance from a plentiful supply of its favourite beverage. -One that a lady friend of ours kept for some months in a cage, drank, -more or less, she assures us, during every half-hour of the day, and if -its supply at any time happened to fail by any neglect or oversight of -its mistress, the thirsty little toper squeaked querulously and nibbled -angrily at the bars and wood-work of its cage until its water-dish was -replenished. When it had drank enough, it frequently stepped into the -dish, and frisked about in such a manner as to wet its breast and lower -parts of its body thoroughly, when it would retire to a corner of its -cage in which was a little raised platform, and, sitting up on its -quarters, squirrel-wise, rub and cleanse its head and face with both -paws in a very comical manner. It was fed on succulent grasses and -lettuce leaves and endive from the garden, of which latter it was very -fond. It also ate bread steeped in milk, and apples, both raw and -boiled. It finally met the fate of most cage pets; the cat got at it -and killed it. We have only heard of one instance in which the <i lang= -"la">Arvicola</i> became so numerous in the West Highlands as to become -a pest that was only got rid of with great trouble and no little -expense. This was on the estate of Ardgour, in our own parish. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb322" href="#pb322" name= -"pb322">322</a>]</span>About seventy years ago, the late Colonel -Maclean, grandfather of the present proprietor, planted the greater -part of the woods that now make the place so beautiful—at this -moment one of the loveliest spots in all the Highlands. Shortly after -the young trees were planted, the field-mouse made its appearance, and -in a few months so rapidly increased its numbers, that they were on all -hands declared a nuisance that must be got rid of at any cost. Their -favourite food in this instance seemed to be the tender rootlets and -bark of the smaller trees, thousands of which straightway shrivelled up -and died away owing to the little rodent’s unkindly attentions. -Colonel Maclean, who was eminently a man of action, vowed that such a -state of things was beyond all bearing, and must be put a stop to at -all hazards. With a host of willing workers, he straightway set about -what for a time appeared a hopeless task, employing every conceivable -means that wit or ingenuity could devise in order to check, and if -possible stamp out the mouse plague. Having heard of a plan adopted -under similar circumstances in the Dean and New Forests in England, -holes and trenches were dug in all directions, and pitfalls ingeniously -constructed, in which very soon scores of the marauders were caught and -killed every morning. The cats in every house in the hamlet, purposely -kept for the time on short commons at home, were locked out at night -and allowed to cater for themselves; and they fell upon the rodents -tooth and nail, doing such execution that they soon became sleek and -fat as cats were never known in Ardgour before or since. At convenient -spots large fires were kindled, on which cauldrons of water were -boiled, kettles of which, as hot as hot could be, were poured into such -burrows as showed signs of habitation, with a view to scalding the -inmates to death. This was generally done in the early morning, to make -sure of finding the enemy at home, for the field-mouse, like most of -the rodents, is mainly a nocturnal feeder. The keepers had orders for -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb323" href="#pb323" name= -"pb323">323</a>]</span>the time to cease annoying -vermin—so-called—of any kind, the result being that in a -short time stoats, weasels, ravens, grey crows, hawks, and owls -abounded, and these, you may believe, did yeoman service in the -campaign; they were the cavalry that swept off the scattered fugitives. -By such active measures the enemy was exterminated in a single season, -and never again, so far as we know, showed face on Loch-Linnhe-side. It -was Colonel Maclean’s opinion that the mice were imported; that -the first pair, or more, perhaps, were brought from the south in the -straw and moss and matting in which the roots of the more valuable and -delicate plants and trees were packed. From the above our Teviotdale -friends may perhaps gather some wrinkles that may be of use to them in -their efforts to relieve themselves from their field-mouse -invasion.</p> -<p>And writing of the field-mouse reminds us that amongst our own -domestic mice there is at present what is generally, if somewhat -erroneously, called a “singing mouse.” About a fortnight -ago it attracted the attention of a young lady, who heard it at -midnight, and thought at the time it was the twittering of some bird at -her bedroom window. It was afterwards heard by others, and finally by -ourselves, as we sat up late one night writing. That it was not a bird -we were certain, and guessing the truth—for years ago we had -become acquainted with the notes—we watched and waited until the -“jargoning” seemed to proceed from a closed press -immediately behind our chair, which we gently opened, and had a glimpse -of the performer, who vanished, of course, but soon again began its -voluntary, or involuntary rather, behind the wainscoting in another -corner of the room. It was, in short, a “singing mouse;” an -involuntary music, however, with which the poor mouse would gladly -dispense if it could. Birds, as we know, are sometimes incited to song -by sheer rivalry and rage; sometimes by poignant sorrow for the loss of -a mate, or the despoliation of a nest <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb324" href="#pb324" name="pb324">324</a>]</span>of its treasure of -eggs or callow young; but as a rule a bird sings from pure joyousness -of heart and exhilaration of spirits. When a mouse “sings” -it is owing to a laryngeal disease, a sort of fungoid growth in the -throat, which obstructs the breathing, causing the animal to emit the -notes which have been foolishly called “singing,” and -which, the clearer and more bird-like they become, only in truth -indicate the more advanced stages of a malady which invariably ends in -death. Our attention was first directed to this matter by a -distinguished comparative anatomist, the late Professor John Reid of -St. Andrews, whose curiosity as a naturalist was unbounded, only -equalled by the untiring patience and care and caution with which, step -by step, he wrought out his conclusions. It is difficult to describe -the “singing” of a mouse thus affected to those who have -not heard it for themselves. It may be said to be in the main a -half-whistle half-wheeze, now and again interrupted by some rapid -clicking notes of a somewhat metallic ring, as if a small bit of stick -was being smartly and rapidly, but very lightly, struck on the very -extremity of the treble string of a guitar or violin. Our -“singing mouse,” in whom, poor thing, we were all much -interested, has not been heard for a night or two; it has probably gone -the way all mice, as well as men, must go when respiration becomes -impossible.</p> -<p>An amusing paragraph is at present going the round of the papers -about a farmer who, having ordered a hogshead of nitrate of soda for -agricultural purposes, got hold somehow of a hogshead of sugar instead, -which latter, in ignorance of its quality, he sowed broadcast over his -land. Now, at length aware of the mistake, he is said to be waiting and -watching with much curiosity as to how the saccharine crystals turn out -as fertilisers. The story, which may be true enough, reminds us of an -amusing mistake of a somewhat similar nature into which one of the -crofters in our neighbourhood very innocently fell some years ago. He -had attended the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb325" href="#pb325" -name="pb325">325</a>]</span>Fort-William June market, and amongst other -things brought home with him, on his return in the evening, two small -parcels, one containing one pound of turnip seed, the other the same -quantity red clover seed. Next morning he was up bright and early, and -as an exercise that might perhaps help to drive away a headache, not -uncommon on such occasions, he resolved, the day being favourable, to -sow his turnip and clover seeds. He commenced, and, very unwittingly -you may believe, sowed the turnip seed broadcast among the barley -braird, and the red clover seed in the drills prepared for the turnips! -The blunder was only discovered several days afterwards, when the seeds -began to sprout after their kind, and matters were rectified as the -case best allowed; but poor Donald never heard the last of the joke, -which, when followed beyond certain limits, used to make him -exceedingly angry.</p> -<p>Mackenzie the bird-catcher, <i lang="la">facile princeps</i> the -king and head of his order, called upon us to-day, and made us a -present of the bonniest little redpole we ever set eyes upon. Its -colouring is exquisitely beautiful, differing from the usual plumage of -the species in having several little snow-white spots irregularly -sprinkled over the coverts of either wing, and its neck and breast of a -mingled shade of pink and crimson of exceeding richness, that makes it -far and away the handsomest bird of the order we ever saw. At first we -took it for a foreign bird, or a bird that had been artificially -painted in order to deceive us, and it was only on handling and -thoroughly examining him that we became convinced that the bird was a -genuine, though curiously coloured, specimen of its species, and that -we had it before us just as it was captured some days ago in -Glentarbet, near Strontian. Of all our cage-birds, the redpole -(<i lang="la">Fringalla linaria</i>, Linn.) is perhaps the soonest -reconciled to loss of liberty and prolonged captivity. Our little pet, -whose cage hangs almost within arm’s length of us as we write, -seems perfectly happy, and is already singing with all his might, a -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb326" href="#pb326" name= -"pb326">326</a>]</span>goldfinch in another cage beside him busily -scolding him all the time for having the impudence to sing so well, or -sing at all, in interruption of his own louder and clearer notes. -Cage-birds properly treated are a great amusement, and, if you pay them -due attention, evince in a very short time a degree of intelligence so -remarkable that you only wonder, philosophising craniologically, how so -much of it can find lodging-room within their little heads.</p> -<p>Mackenzie is commissioned to go to Norway and Sweden this summer in -search of a lot of crossbills, grossbeaks, and other birds, for a -wealthy gentleman in the south, who is a great bird-fancier. Let him -only once get to their habitat, and Mackenzie is just the man to lay -salt on the tail of any bird that flies. <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb327" href="#pb327" name="pb327">327</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch52" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e809">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Tourist Grumblers; how to deal with them—Sea -Fishing—Superstition about a Gull—Josephus—Story of -Mosollam and the Augur.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">With a bright sun overhead, at noon as nearly vertical -as it can ever be in our latitudes, and a steady, kindly warmth, and no -lack now of genial showers, our West Highlands are now [June 1876] -beautiful exceedingly, almost at the height and heyday of their summer -loveliness, while crops of all kinds are at their present stage all -that we could wish them. Tourists in considerable numbers are already -on the move; and coaches and steamers alike are beginning to carry -daily increasing crowds of passengers, so delighted with the attention -paid them, and the elegance and comfort of their surroundings whether -afloat or ashore, that a crack with them, as you chance to forgather of -an evening, is always pleasant, for the essentials of a pleasant -conversation are there to begin with; they are pleased, and you are -glad that it is so; the rest is all smooth sailing. You meet an -occasional grumbler of course; a wretch, miserable himself, and anxious -to make every one else miserable also. An extraordinary curiosity, in -truth, is your thorough grumbler. The faculty would probably explain it -all away by a reference to dyspepsia or some serious derangement of -liver. From frequent and close study, however, of a not uninteresting -phenomenon, we are rather inclined to think otherwise. In the genuine -grumbler the disposition to look at things obliquely, and from a false -or foreshortened point of view, seems ingrained in and interwoven with -his very nature. In everything he says and does you <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb328" href="#pb328" name= -"pb328">328</a>]</span>detect a perverseness of disposition and a -<i>thrawnness</i> of temper that you cannot believe to be temporary or -accidental, but a veritable part and portion of the man’s being -from the first. The old dictum about the poet, which after all is only -true in a sense, is true of the grumbler absolutely. <i lang= -"la">Grumblerus nascitur, non fit</i>; he was born a grumbler, and if -you put his mother in the witness box, and she chose to entertain you -with reminiscences of his infancy, her testimony, we venture to say, -would go to show that he kicked and screamed at existence and all the -surroundings of his nursery at the earliest moment possible for such an -exhibition, and that this disposition to hit out right and left -indiscriminately at every one and everything, grew with his growth and -strengthened with his strength, till in fulness of time he became the -thoroughbred grumbler who sat opposite you at the <i lang="fr">table -d’hôte</i> a week ago, or rode with you atop of the coach -yesterday. With spur on heel, and once fairly in the stirrups, your -grumbler is ready to tilt, in dearth of anything more substantial, at -his own shadow. Any attempt to mollify him, however well-meant and -carefully worded, only makes him worse. Do what you can, he remains a -grumbler still—implacable, unappeasable. As we generally meet -with him here, his grievances for the most part are as to the steamer -or coach by which he has travelled, and the food that he has had to -eat. Try to put him right according to your view of it, and you are -sure to catch it hot and heavy for your interference in a matter which -he declares concerns <i>him</i> alone, and yet with which he has been -pestering everybody that would for a moment listen to him all the way -from Oban to Staffa, or from Ballachulish to Tyndrum. Give a man of -this kind the softest cushion in the coziest corner of -Cleopatra’s barge; the box seat in the victor’s own chariot -in a triumphal procession; a first and full supply of all the -delicacies at the table of Apicius of <i lang="la">De rê -Culinaria</i> fame, and he would still be the same fault-finder and -grumbler. One way of shutting up the <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb329" href="#pb329" name="pb329">329</a>]</span>inveterate grumbler, -very effectual in most cases, is to fool him to the top of his -bent—to give him line, in the piscatorial sense. If he complains -that his seat on the coach is hard and the rails behind hurt his spine, -assure him at once, in a confidential sort of way, that you believe the -axle is horribly twisted, and is as likely as not to snap in twain just -about half-way down the next incline. If he complains of the dust, give -it as your candid opinion that the Road Trustees should be heavily -fined for not allaying the nuisance by a properly arranged water-cart -service all over the Black Mount. If he complains that the steamer -trembles in all her timbers, and the steam, as it escapes at the -calling-places, makes a horrible noise, agree with him at once, hinting -that an explosion of the boiler is by no means an unlikely event -through the carelessness of the coal-begrimed stoker, who is just then -cooling himself at an open air-hole, and wiping his brow with a wisp of -tow. If at dinner he abuses the soup, ask him how it could possibly be -good, seeing that the water whereof it is made was taken a week ago, by -means of a tarry bucket, from the third lock of the Crinan Canal? Does -he abuse his salmon? Shake your head sadly, and point with your fork -towards the round of beef, hinting that at this season cattle sometimes -die a natural death, and then their carcasses are to be had for a third -of the market price of good beef. Go with him and beyond him in this -sort of way for a little, and he will soon see that you are only poking -your fun at him, and the chances are that he will cease troubling -<i>you</i> at all events with his complaints for the rest of the day. -After all, however, it is but justice to observe that even your -inveterate grumbler is not infrequently a much more amiable person than -he seems; kind, too, after a fashion, and amazingly liberal when a -proper occasion offers.</p> -<p>Fish are now becoming plentiful along our shores, and with a little -trouble in selecting a very early or a very late hour, and watching the -state of the tides, they may be caught in considerable <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb330" href="#pb330" name= -"pb330">330</a>]</span>numbers with rod and line; and irrespective of -their value as an article of food, the pastime is by no means -contemptible even as a matter of sport, though, sooth to say, many -people live within sight of the sea for years, and know little or -nothing of the amusement that may be had so readily and cheaply in this -way. Those caught at present are principally whitings, lythes, and -seths, or coal-fish, with an occasional sea-bream. This last is -reckoned a somewhat coarse fish, but it is by no means bad eating when -properly cooked and served, and you recollect as you eat that the price -of mutton is something like a shilling the pound, and frequently not to -be had even at that.</p> -<p>More prone, perhaps, to superstition in every form than their more -inland brethren, our maritime population have quite a number of -<i>freits</i>, forms, fancies, and superstitious observances, most of -them only silly and harmless enough, in connection with all their -sea-fishing adventures, whether with rod, net, or line. A few evenings -ago, as a party of four, douce and decent men enough, were preparing to -launch their boat to go a-fishing, we chanced to pass along the beach, -joining them, as has long been our habit in such circumstances, for a -few minutes’ conversation. Suddenly, as we were speaking, a large -black-backed gull (<i lang="la">Larus marinus</i>) wheeled towards us -out of a flock that were lazily circling about at a considerable -distance seawards. Right towards us, as if on some express and special -errand, came the gull, one of the largest and most beautiful of -sea-birds, until he was within less than fifty yards of us, when by a -change of poise, and a scarcely perceptible movement of wing, he slowly -swept round our heads, screaming the while as only a black-backed gull -can scream—a wild and eerie note that may be heard for a league. -The gull’s business, whatever it might be, was so manifestly -connected with one or all of us, or with the boat, perhaps, round which -we were standing on the beach, that it could not but attract -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb331" href="#pb331" name= -"pb331">331</a>]</span>attention and provoke comment from the most -unobservant. After circling some half-dozen times round and round and -right above our heads, the bird, with one loud parting scream—and -yet scream is not the word either; the Gaelic <i>guileag</i> is nearer -it—and with an upward oblique sweep, so beautifully easy and -effortless that it seemed the result of a simple act of volition rather -than a grand <i>pas</i> in volitation, flew away to join his -companions, who were now heard clamouring over a coal-fish <i>goil</i> -or boil, as the Highlanders call the ebullition of the surface play of -a shoal of sea-fish. The men looked at each other and at us meaningly; -and at last out it came. “Small chance,” said one of them, -“have we of anything like a good fishing this evening: better for -us to stay at home.” “Why so?” we quietly inquired. -“Well, sir,” was the response, “I never knew a gull -act in that sort of way but it meant bad luck in fishing, and the -non-accomplishment of one’s errand afloat, whatever it might -be.” The rest agreed with the speaker, but we persuaded them, -after some trouble, to proceed to their fishing-ground, to give it a -trial at least; and when, at a much later hour, they returned, we were -on the beach to meet them, and found that after all they had made an -excellent fishing. There and then we sat down beside them as they were -dividing their fish into equal shares, and told them the following -story from Josephus, <i>Against Apion</i>. Quoting from Hecatæus, -the great Jewish historian proceeds:—“As I was myself going -to the Red Sea, there followed us a man, whose name was Mosollam; he -was one of the Jewish horsemen who conducted us. He was a person of -great courage, of a strong body, and by all allowed to be the most -skilful archer that was either among the Greeks or barbarians. Now, -this man, as people were in great numbers passing along the road, and a -certain augur was observing an augury by a bird, and requiring them all -to stand still, inquired what they staid for. Hereupon the augur showed -him the bird from whence he told his augury, and told him that if -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb332" href="#pb332" name= -"pb332">332</a>]</span>the bird staid where he was, they ought all to -stand still; but that if he got up and flew onward, they must go -forward; but that if he flew backward, they must retire again. Mosollam -made no reply, but drew his bow and shot at the bird, and hit him and -killed him; and as the augur and some others were very angry, and -wished imprecations upon him, he answered them thus:—‘Why -are you so mad as to take this most unhappy bird into your hands? for -how can this bird give us any true information concerning our march, -which could not foresee how to save himself? For had he been able to -foreknow what was future, he would not have come to this place, but -would have been afraid lest Mosollam the Jew would shoot him as he has -done, and kill him.’ ” The men, who had listened most -attentively, smiled as we concluded, and agreed that Mosollam must have -been a very sensible man; and vowed that for the future they would -attach no more meaning or importance to a circling, screaming gull, -than to the chirping of a wren in the elder bushes at the cottage -doors. And what after all, the reader may ask, brought the black-backed -gull circling and screaming over your heads? Well, from its great and -immense spread of wing, it was probably the leader and guardian of its -own particular flock, and as such thought it his duty to reconnoitre in -person, in case the five men about the boat on the beach should have -sinister intentions as to him or his. His scream or <i lang= -"gd">guileag</i> was just his way of telegraphing the results of his -observations to his distant companions; or he may have been scolding us -in his own manner for our manifest intention of leaving the land, and -invading what he considered his own proper element and territory, the -sea. A more prosaic explanation, if it please you better, is perhaps to -be found in the fact that the boat was internally largely incrusted -with fish scales, and smelt strongly of fish, and that that, to one of -his sensitive olfactory nerves, was the only or main attraction, the -rest being mere idle curiosity, from which <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb333" href="#pb333" name= -"pb333">333</a>]</span>birds are no more exempt than men. One thing -only is certain, if difficult to be accounted for, and that is, that -individual gulls frequently act as this gull acted when a boat is about -to put off from the shore in the fishing season, which being -occasionally connected, as must sometimes happen, however accidentally, -with an unsuccessful fishing adventure, gave rise to the silly -superstition which, by the aid of Flavius Josephus, we were able in -this instance at least successfully to combat. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb334" href="#pb334" name="pb334">334</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch53" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e818">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Heat in Mid-August—Early Planting and -Sowing—Over-ripening of Crops—Medusæ—Stinging -Jelly-Fish—The amount of solid matter in Jelly-Fish.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The unprecedented heat of mid-August lasted with us -here precisely a fortnight [September 1876]. Beginning on the 10th, it -continued with little intermission or mitigation till the 24th, when -the wind suddenly chopped round to the south-west, our rainy quarter; -the sky assumed the threatening aspect, an ugly interminglement of -black and dark grey, with which we are only too familiar, and rain -began to fall with that <i>dour</i>, persistent pattering, and aimless -horizontal drift, which sufficed to convince the most careless and -unobservant student of our West Highlands meteorology that it was -neither a thunder-plump nor a mere passing shower, but a determined and -regular “set-in” of probably some days, or, it might be, of -some weeks’ duration. The last ten days have accordingly been -more or less wet, and as the corn over the country generally is about -ripe for scythe and sickle, many an anxious eye is cast heavenwards -with wistfullest glance, morning, noon, and night, in hopes of a change -of wind and a return to fair weather. We are about tired of advocating -the advantages of early sowing to our friends of the West Highlands. We -are content with once again stating the fact that, having sown early, -our own corn was cut in ripe and good condition on the 17th August, and -safely housed without having once been touched by a single drop of -rain. A single armful of such well-preserved provender is worth a whole -back-burden of the washed-out and sapless stuff <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb335" href="#pb335" name="pb335">335</a>]</span>that -usually goes by the name of “wintering” and “winter -keep” in this and the neighbouring districts. It is proper to -say, however, that, though so difficult to move to an earlier date in -corn-sowing, our people here have of recent years been more amenable to -good advice in the matter of potato culture. This year a large breadth -of potatoes was planted in March and early April, and the consequence -is that these are now nearly ripe, and of the best quality, stronger -too, and in every way better able to resist the attacks of -blight—<i lang="la">absit omen!</i>—should it unfortunately -come their way, as we hope it won’t; while the still green and -half-ripe tubers of later plantings would probably suffer largely under -a similar visitation. Not even when it is quite ready for the sickle do -people generally cut their corn timeously. Too often it is allowed to -ripen overmuch, till the straw is over-dry and sapless, besides the -inevitable loss of grain in the stooking and subsequent ingathering. It -is very much the same with hay. As a rule, it is left too long uncut, -by which its quality is sadly deteriorated. Nor is this mistake in -haymaking peculiar to the west coast, but much too common over all the -country. Even in Morayshire and about Inverness the hay crop is, as a -rule, allowed to ripen over-much. If it were cut ten days or a -fortnight earlier it would weigh more, smell sweeter, be more -nutritious, and better every way than under the present system, which -allows it not merely to ripen, but to more than ripen, to wither up and -lose most of its sap and seed before it is cut and secured. It may, -perhaps, be laid down as an axiom that root crops cannot be allowed to -ripen over-much; cereals and grasses most certainly may.</p> -<p>Cavill’s recent attempt to swim the Channel, in rivalry of -Captain Webb’s feat, was a failure, and had medical aid not been -so opportunely at hand when the swimmer, comatose and unconscious, was -lifted out of the water by his friends in the attendant lugger, the -venture, noteworthy, though unsuccessful, for its pluck and -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb336" href="#pb336" name= -"pb336">336</a>]</span>daring, would probably have resulted in -something far more serious than mere failure. In accounting for his -non-success, and his state of extreme exhaustion when taken out of the -water, Cavill largely blames the jelly-fish or sea-blubber, through -perfect shoals of which he had once and again to force his way; and -although he wore a thin jersey, which must have been some protection, -enough of the bare skin was exposed to contact with the cold, clammy, -slimy <i>Medusæ</i>, to make him exceedingly nervous and -generally uncomfortable throughout a full third of the distance -covered. The number of these Medusæ to be met with at certain -seasons all along the British shores is enormous; and towards the close -of summer and early autumn they are more abundant, perhaps, in our -western lochs than anywhere else. Looking over the boat’s side on -a fine day, we have seen them in our own Loch Leven in incalculable -numbers, thick as autumnal leaves in Vallambrosa, or the stars in the -Milky Way—of all shapes and sizes too, swimming about aimlessly -by a slow but constant contraction and expansion, regular as the beat -of a pendulum, of their umbrella-like bodies, fringed like a -lady’s parasol, with a close edging of thread-like <i>cilia</i>, -and frequently having long, pendulous tentaculæ attached to their -under surface, giving the healthy animal, when busy in its proper -element, a very curious appearance. Though the jelly-fish is in -constant motion—in perpetual motion, so to speak, for it never -rests, that ever we could discover, either by night or day—its -progress in the sea is rather due to the set of the wind and the -tide-drift than its own exertions, its incessant labours of contraction -and expansion being performed not so much for the purpose of shifting -its place in the water, as for the purpose of grasping and sucking in -at each contraction such microscopic organisms as form its food. It is -true that in a calm and tideless sea its motions cause it to be carried -in the direction of the contracting beat an inch or thereby at a time, -but this progress is clearly accidental and unintentional, so far as it -is concerned, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb337" href="#pb337" name= -"pb337">337</a>]</span>the great object of the incessant contraction -and expansion being, as we have said, not so much change of place as -the capture and insuction of its ordinary food. The Medusæ swim -at all depths in the sea, but as a rule they seem to prefer feeding -within a fathom or two of the surface, particularly if the sun is -bright and the sea is perfectly calm. The mouth of the Medusa is in the -centre of the under concave surface, and the animal’s <i lang= -"la">modus operandi</i> in sweeping in its food towards this orifice is -not difficult to understand. Stretch out your right hand, with its back -or knuckle surface uppermost. First expand the hand and fingers to -their full extent, then contract so as almost, but not quite, to close -the hand, not quickly, but very firmly and decidedly. Continue in this -way opening out and closing the hand and fingers, not quite so fast as -a second’s beating pendulum oscillates, and you have the perfect -analogue, or more properly the homologue, of the Medusa’s action. -If you can fancy an orifice or mouth in the centre of your palm, and -your fingers to be the fringe surrounding the jelly-fish disc, and if -you perform the action indicated in a tub or pool of water, into which -a little flour or fine oatmeal has been thrown to represent the -animalculæ forming the Medusa’s food, so much the better: -you will at once understand how the animalculæ and food particles -are swept and sucked in by the current created towards the -animal’s mouth, or gastric cavity, as it might be more properly -termed. When one or more of these animals comes in contact with a -swimmer’s skin, the sensation is anything but agreeable, a -feeling of indescribable loathing and horror being engendered by the -touch of the cold, gelatinous mass, that you are yet conscious is not -dead matter, but an animated pulsating organism. But though contact -with the ordinary Medusa is bad enough, there is another species of -jelly-fish not uncommon in British waters at certain seasons, -accidental contact with which is a very serious matter indeed. These -are known to naturalists as <i lang="la">Acalephæ</i>, from a -Greek word signifying a nettle. They <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb338" href="#pb338" name="pb338">338</a>]</span>are not so numerous -on our shores as the true Medusa, but they grow to a much larger size, -some of them measuring eighteen, twenty, or even twenty-four inches -across the disc, and thick and heavy in proportion, large enough, when -fresh from the sea, to fill a tub of considerable size. If one of these -wretches comes in contact with the human skin, it is found to sting -like a nettle, only much more severely, and hence its scientific name. -A swimmer stung by contact with an acaleph feels not only the cruel -smarting of the nettle-like and burning stinging, but he is in a few -minutes frequently overcome by a feeling of languor and sickness, that -lasts for a considerable time, and is sometimes only relieved by a -violent fit of vomiting, just as if he was a sufferer for the moment -under the influence of a powerful emetic. We have more than once been -stung by an acaleph, and can speak <i>feelingly</i> on the subject. -Only last season a boy on the opposite coast of Appin was, while -bathing, so severely stung by one or more acalephs that he was for some -days confined to bed, seriously ill, and under medical treatment. This -power of stinging seems to be a wise provision in the economy of the -animal, for the purpose of rendering helpless and numbing its prey, to -make them easier of capture and subsequent deglutition, just as the -<i lang="la">Mysotis</i>, or electric eel, with like purpose puts to a -very important and practical use its electro-battery shocks. The true -acaleph may generally be distinguished from the more harmless -jelly-fish by having a good deal of colour in its tissues, being -striated with red, pink, and pale green, which gives it a very -beautiful appearance as under the bright sunlight it floats about, -contracting and expanding with the regularity of a pendulum beat, near -the surface of the calm, unruffled sea. The amount of solid matter in a -jelly-fish of any kind, however large, is amazingly small. Within a -thin, filmy skin, they are entirely made up of water, with a few -threads spider-net-wise running through it to keep it in shape, like -the ropes on which was stretched the immense <i lang="la">velarium</i> -of an ancient amphitheatre. After <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb339" -href="#pb339" name="pb339">339</a>]</span>a summer storm we have seen -the sea-beach covered with a considerable wall of jelly-fish that had -been cast ashore, a yard in breadth, perhaps, and a couple of feet in -height; and before the evening of the next day, during which the sun -shone out hot and clear, the whole had melted away like so much snow, -leaving only a thin film of gelatinous matter, which, if gathered -together in a single heap, wouldn’t have filled our venerable but -still useful “<i>Clachnacuddin</i>” hat. There is a good -story told of a farmer, somewhere from the altitudes of -<i>Druimuachdar</i>, who took some land by the sea, not a hundred yards -from our own neighbourhood. One morning he saw the beach covered with a -deep ring of jelly-fish as above, and being an <i>eident</i> body, he -got his horses and carts in order, and commenced to cart them afield, -in the belief that they could not but prove excellent manure for the -land. After working at the job nearly half a day, a naturalist, who -chanced to pass the way, astonished the farmer not a little by assuring -him that some hogsheads of sea-water, <i>and a single -pocket-handkerchief full of manure</i> from the nearest dung-heap, -would fitly and fully represent all that he had on his land in the -fifty odd carts of jelly-fish that had cost him so much labour! The -story goes on to say that that particular farmer looked askance at -jelly-fish ever afterwards, and didn’t care much to have their -natural history discussed in his presence at kirk or market, at bridal -or funeral, all his life long. The fact is, that a mass of jelly-fish -sufficient to load the “Great Eastern” wouldn’t -probably yield a peat creelful of solid serviceable matter for any -purpose or purposes whatever. The jelly-fish is known to the Gaels of -the Hebrides and West Coast by a curious name—<i lang="gd">Sgeith -an Róin</i> for the smaller ones, that is, the seal’s -vomit, and for the larger ones, <i lang="gd">Sgeith na Muicamara</i>, -the whale’s vomit, in the absurd belief that they were the vomits -respectively of the uncanny <i lang="gd">Sealchs</i>, of whom the -Highlander had always a superstitious dread, and of the largest of -marine monsters, after they had gorged themselves <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb340" href="#pb340" name="pb340">340</a>]</span>to -repletion on a shoal of extra-oleaginous herring or mackerel. These -names for the jelly-fish are doubtless absurd enough, and yet, in -defence of the good old Gaelic name-givers, let us observe that they -are not a whit more absurd than the <i lang="la">Caprimulgus</i> -(goat-sucker) of Linnæus as applied to the night-jar, or the -<i lang="la">Frugilegus</i> (corn-gatherer) of the same high authority -as applied to the common rook. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb341" -href="#pb341" name="pb341">341</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch54" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e827">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LIV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Approach of Winter—Contentedness of the -People—Poets and Wild-Bird Song—Differences in the -Colouring and Markings of Birds’ Eggs—Late -Nest-Building—Anecdote of Provost Robertson of Dingwall, Mr. -Gladstone’s Grandfather.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The meteorological vaticinations of our weather-wise -octogenarian neighbours have met with abundant and speedy verification -in the storms and heavy rains of the past ten days [October 1876]. For -the month of October, however, the weather continues wonderfully mild; -even with wind and rain the temperature is higher than it usually is at -this date; an occasional fine day, besides, encouraging us in the hope -that winter proper, winter with its thousand discomforts, its snow and -sleet, its cold and cheerlessness and gloom, may be checked in his -advance for some weeks to come, by the uncompromising attitude of an -autumn so lusty of life and bright of eye, but, despite an occasional -overclouding of countenance, it seems yet but only little past its -prime. Agriculturally the season is being wound up satisfactorily -enough; crops have, upon the whole, been secured in very fair -condition, and although the herring fishing in our lochs as elsewhere -has proved a failure, our people are prepared to meet the coming winter -in comparative abundance, and with a cheerfulness calculated to disarm -the gloomy season of more than half its terrors. The poet has -philosophically observed that man</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Wants but little here below,</p> -<p class="line">Nor wants that little long”—</p> -</div> -<p class="first">where “wants,” you will observe, has to be -read in a restricted and peculiar sense: the plain prose of it being, -that for all his essential <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb342" href= -"#pb342" name="pb342">342</a>]</span>needs man requires but little, -that merely to live a little suffices, and that, on account of the -shortness and certainty of human life, even that “little” -is soon dispensed with—is no longer required. Granted, O Poet! -but not the less true is it that during man’s allotted time the -“little,” however small, is indispensable all the same, and -any sensible diminution or curtailment of his “little” will -make a man, however abstemious and sober of life, just as miserable as -his fellow who has to bewail the diminution, not of his -“little,” but of his abundance. Nothing pleases us in our -people here more than their constant cheerfulness in the enjoyment of -their “little.” They would doubtless take more if they -could get it, and rejoice exceedingly if their “little” -could be converted into an abundance; but meantime they have the good -sense to be contented, and even happy with what they have, and that, -too, to a degree that no one perhaps less intimate with them than we -are could believe possible in the circumstances.</p> -<p>Our “Indian summer,” that seems still to linger, as if -loth to leave us to the tender mercies of a winter that is likely to -prove unusually inclement, has been a season of unwonted jubilation to -our wild-birds; for, guided by an instinct that is a monitor -sufficiently to be depended upon in ordinary circumstances, they had -already, each after his kind, prepared themselves, not for equinoctial -warmth and sunshine, but for equinoctial storms. All the more, then, -from its very unexpectedness, did they feel bound to rejoice in the -incalculable blessing of twenty free days of midsummer warmth and calm -at a time when, in the usual course of events, the tempest should have -been howling through the woods and careering over moss and moorland, -they the while glad to cower for shelter and safety in such crevices -and corners as might be best suited to their purpose. At and after the -autumnal equinox, in ordinary seasons, the only one of our native -wild-birds that sings, or attempts to sing, a fairly finished song, is -the redbreast; though, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb343" href= -"#pb343" name="pb343">343</a>]</span>to be sure, the wren also -sometimes strikes up an occasional voluntary when we least expect it; -the lively Lilliputian in his song, as in everything else, being a -creature of unbridled impulse, guided solely by the whim and caprice of -the moment, as if in utter contempt and disregard of the method and -order by which other birds are fain to regulate the conduct of their -lives. Not the redbreast alone, however, backed by the intermittent -melodies of the wren, who, Sims Reeves-like, only sings when the humour -seizes him, obstinately silent when you would expect him to sing, and -as obstinately singing when you would expect him to be silent; but the -blackbird also, and chaffinch, the corn bunting and goldfinch, have -been of late delighting us with their music, in volume and compass and -exquisite finish hardly inferior, though so out of season, to their -most successful performances in spring and early summer, which, be it -noted, is <i>the season</i> for wild-bird song at its best. Our poets, -as if by tacit arrangement and preconcert, do all in their power to -impress us with the notion that June is not only the month of flower -and leaf, but the great bird music month as well, a mistake partly -owing, no doubt, to their ignorance of bird life, but mainly, we -suspect, arising from the fact that “June” and -“tune” are such pat and perfect rhymes, that the poet -dealing with summer glories and summer joys never fails to pounce upon -them for instant use, without a thought of their inappropriateness, so -far at least as bird music is concerned. It is true that with reference -to bird song our poets are also liberal enough with their -“<i>May</i>” and “<i>lay</i>,” which, as nearer -to the mark, is somewhat better. Better still, however, would be April, -if our poets would be correct, to which we might perhaps suggest -“<i>trill</i>” as a rhyme; not a good rhyme to be sure, -even if “April” could be decently placed at the end of a -line (as in the old “valentines”) without being -misaccented; but we ornithologists could forgive the halting rhyme and -barbarous accent for the sake of the correctness of the <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb344" href="#pb344" name= -"pb344">344</a>]</span>“colouring” otherwise. The truth is -that our best wild-bird music time may be set down as properly -belonging to the eight weeks between the 15th March and the 15th May. -Let our poets, then, look out for and find appropriate rhymes for -“March,” “April,” and “May.” It is -their business and not ours; but for any sake, in dealing with -wild-bird music and summer joys, let them beware of the fatal facility -of the rhymes of “June” and “tune.” Poets and -poetry apart, however, it was extremely interesting to watch the -conduct of our wild-birds during our late “Indian summer.” -For the first few days they fluttered about and chirped interrogatively -amongst themselves, as if in a state of doubt and indecision, if not of -actual bewilderment, evidently puzzled what to say to it, but, upon the -whole, of opinion that it was too good to last. Last, however, it did, -longer than either they or we thought at all likely, and before the end -of the week the chirping had developed into actual song, and the -fluttering into a business-like activity, as if they had fully thought -it over, and had decided that it was best, proverb wise, to be making -some hay while the sun shone. Our attention was first of all attracted -by a pair of house sparrows passing and repassing our study window, now -with a stray feather, now with a bit of straw in their bills, with -which they disappeared in a clump of ivy high up on a corner of the -garden wall. On climbing by the aid of a small ladder to inquire what -they were about, we found that they were repairing a nest, in which -they had already reared a brood this season, and which the youngsters, -in their unfledged and awkward babyhood, had considerably damaged and -generally knocked out of shape—“into a cocked hat,” -in fact, as they say across the Atlantic. With a care and painstaking, -however, which our “featherless biped” architects, in -executing <i>their</i> repairs on our stone and lime habitations would -do well to imitate, the sparrows in a surprisingly short time got their -house in order, and in a few days thereafter we found a couple of eggs -in it. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb345" href="#pb345" name= -"pb345">345</a>]</span>These eggs we took away, for it would only be -cruel to allow a brood to be hatched at this season, only to starve and -die before they could possibly be strong enough of wing to shift for -themselves. And here, in connection with these same sparrow eggs, let -us record a fact that seems to have hitherto escaped the notice of our -oologists (egg-students), even the most lynx-eyed and observant of -them, and it is this: that in the case of such of our wild-birds as -breed more than once in a single season, the eggs of the second laying, -and of the third, if third laying there is—of all eggs, in short, -dropped after the <i>first</i> laying—are, as a rule, either -entirely free from spots, or, if they have the spots, they are so faint -as to be scarcely distinguishable. In the case of the sparrow eggs, for -example, taken from the nest as just related, they were perfectly -spotless, pearl-white and clean as they could be. Even under a lens of -considerable power they presented hardly a trace of spot or colouring -in any form. And yet take an egg from a sparrow’s nest in early -spring—from the <i>first</i> laying that is—and you will -invariably find it to be spotted or blotched with a perfect -constellation, so to speak, round its larger end of greyish and dusky -brown dots and markings. On due examination, we suspect it will be -found to be the same in the case of all our “spotted” egg -layers; and to this fact, that has been so unaccountably overlooked -hitherto, is to be mainly attributed, we make no doubt, the many -dissensions and disagreements that so frequently have set our best, and -otherwise good-natured, oologists by the ears. In another particular, -too, the eggs of later laying differ from those of the first—in -the thickness, namely, of the shell; that of the later laying being -thinner and more fragile in the handling. On account of their -fragility, indeed, it is extremely difficult to <i>blow</i> without -damaging an egg of this kind, taken from one of our smaller -bird’s nests towards the close of the season. All which, the -faintness of colouring in or total absence of the spots, with the -thinness, transparency, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb346" href= -"#pb346" name="pb346">346</a>]</span>and general fragility of the -shell, is doubtless due to an impaired vitality, <i lang="la">quoad -hoc</i>, consequent upon the prodigality of energy thrown into the -loves and labours of rearing the first or spring brood.</p> -<p>On this occasion, too, a pair of blackbirds began a nest <i>de -novo</i>, either despising the labours of mere repairing, or having no -old nest, perhaps, to repair. The blackbirds, however, wiser than the -sparrows, left off before a third—the lower flat, so to -speak—of their building was finished; as if they had duly thought -it all over again, and had wisely concluded that it was better to wait -till spring, it being manifestly too late to finish a nest and attempt -to rear a brood any more this season. We fully expected to see the -redbreast, and wren perhaps, also attempt the rearing of an -“Indian summer” brood; and had they tried, they might, -perhaps, have succeeded, for both birds in such circumstances select -cozy corners about open sheds and out-houses, where they are pretty -safe from the assaults of the weather, and can always find suitable -food in more or less abundance. So far as we could see, however, they -never once thought of anything like love-making or nidification, -contenting themselves with thoroughly enjoying the calm and sunshine -while it lasted, as was abundantly, and, so far as we were concerned, -very delightfully evidenced by the frequency of their loud and -lightsome song.</p> -<p>A recent paragraph in the newspapers about Provost Robertson of -Dingwall, whose daughter was Mr. Gladstone’s mother, reminds us -of an anecdote which was told us some years ago by the late Mrs. -Morrison of Salachan, in Ardgour, an old lady whose reminiscences of -the people of the Hebrides and mainland of Ross-shire, about the -beginning of the present century, were extremely interesting. Provost -Robertson of Dingwall—Mr. Gladstone’s grandfather by the -mother’s side—on one occasion paid a visit to London, for -the first, and, we believe, the only time in his life. His friends -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb347" href="#pb347" name= -"pb347">347</a>]</span>in the metropolis put him under the charge of a -gentleman, a far-away cousin of his own, who undertook to show him all -the wonders of the great city, and look after him generally. The worthy -Provost was thoroughly Scotch, and dressed after a somewhat -<i>outré</i> fashion, <i>à la</i> Dingwall of the period. -Walking one day along one of the streets of London, a little in advance -of his guide, the worshipful Provost’s appearance and <i lang= -"fr">tout ensemble</i> attracted the attention of some half-dozen -street arab boys, who, always ready for a “lark,” desired -no better pastime for the present than to chaff and poke their fun at -the Chief Magistrate of one of Scotland’s most distinguished -northern burghs. The Provost, indignant at the impudence and rudeness -of the young rascals, at last turned round, and, shaking his -silver-headed cane at the offending <i>gamins</i>, exclaimed, in tones -loud enough to be heard by his guide, who was almost choked with -laughter at the scene, “Ah, you young vagabonds; if I had you in -Dingwall, wouldn’t I make you pay for your -<i>davayrshon!</i>” The term “diversion” was then -used, both in English and Gaelic, all over the Highlands, as indeed it -still is to some extent, in the sense of fun with a backbone of -mischief to it; rough horse-play, in fact, accompanied by what is -now-a-days commonly called <i>chaff</i>. <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb348" href="#pb348" name="pb348">348</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch55" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e837">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LV.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Spring—Hood’s Parody of Thomson’s -<i>Invocation</i>—The excellence of Nettle-Top -Soup—Cock-crowing—Birds’-nesting—Professor -Geikie—Curious Story of an old Pipe-Tune.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">This is the 1st of May [1877], sacred in the -ecclesiastical calendar to St. Philip and St. James the Apostles. In -ordinary speech we may now call it summer, we suppose, and it is to be -hoped that it may prove summer indeed, not in name merely, or -astronomically, but veritably, that is, meteorologically as well; such -a summer as delighted our boyhood with its bright sun and cloudless -skies, or with such clouds only as served to modify and temper a -brilliancy and heat that might otherwise have been excessive; the earth -verdant and flower-bespangled under foot and around, the very floods -and trees of the forest, in the grand hyperbole of Scripture, -“clapping their hands for joy:” the singing of birds the -while, jubilant and joyous, in copse and wild-wood, its fitting bass, -the murmur of innumerable bees; while the fluttering of splendidly -coloured butterflies, as they danced along in many a lawless zig-zag -and merry-go-round, constantly verified and bore witness to the beauty -of the Roman poet’s famous line, which may be rendered—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Lo! fluttering past, <i>flowers</i> swimming in -liquid air!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">However the summer may turn out, of the spring at -least but little good—speaking of course -meteorologically—can be said. It was, <i lang="la">quoad hoc</i>, -an imposture, and nothing else, and always reminding <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb349" href="#pb349" name="pb349">349</a>]</span>us -of Hood’s wicked parody on the opening lines of Thomson’s -big and bow-wow invocation to the season:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“ ‘Come, gentle Spring, ethereal -mildness, come!’</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">O, Thomson, void of sense as well as -reason;</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Why in our ears such arrant nonsense drum?</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">There’s no such season!”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">To housewives in rural districts we offer a -“wrinkle” that may be found of use at the present season, -when most vegetable gardens may be ransacked in vain for delicacies -that shall be common enough at a later period. While rambling through -the district a few days ago, we chanced to drop in upon a widow lady -and daughter, who occupy a nice little cottage. They were going to sit -down to an early dinner, and although we were not very hungry, and -could have fasted till a later hour, not merely without inconvenience, -but from choice, yet on their earnest invitation we sat down along with -them. The fare consisted of soup and a boiled fowl, the latter fat, -tender, and good as a fowl should always be, and the soup was simply -delicious. A green vegetable of some kind floating thickly in it, gave -it a relish and <i>gout</i> that was very remarkable, and we asked what -it was. “Nettle-tops, sir,” was the answer, and had we not -been told, it is probable that we should have guessed and blundered -long ere we could hit upon it. But not only can nettle-tops be thus -utilised as an admirable condiment in soup at this season, but they may -also be served up asparagus-wise, and, to our taste, are every whit as -good. In this latter form we have eaten them often, and, as Johnson -said, after swallowing several platefuls of Scotch broth, in reply to -Boswell’s observation—“You never ate it -before?” “No, sir, but I don’t care how soon I eat it -again.” And so say we invariably when we have finished a dish of -nettle-top asparagus. After our nettle-top soup it occurred to us that -there might be more truth in Goldsmith’s remark about the French -than he was perhaps aware of, for he meant it as <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb350" href="#pb350" name= -"pb350">350</a>]</span>satire, that they can roast a sirloin if they -only had beef, and prepare “ten different dishes from -nettle-tops.”</p> -<p>We had occasion to be up and about very early this morning, not, -however, for the purpose of washing our face in May dew, although the -morning was very beautiful, and the dew lay plentiful enough, and -pearl-like on grass and birchen bough, but in order to go on what some -may think an even sillier errand, to wit, a birds’-nesting. For -this sort of thing the earlier the hour the better at this season, and -as we mounted the coppiced slopes which we proposed searching, the sun -was beginning to gild the loftiest peaks of Glencoe with purple and -amber and gold, and all the cocks in the hamlet, as if at a -preconcerted signal, were cheerily greeting the rising god, or if their -thoughts were more mundane and prosaic, as perhaps they were, you may -interpret the crowing of each individual chanticleer as some one else -did before you in some such lines as these—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The cock rose in the morning;</p> -<p class="line">He called his favourite hen,</p> -<p class="line">With a cockle-do-doo, and a how-d’ye-do,</p> -<p class="line">And how-d’ye-do again.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">In the economy of birds, the most important labours -are those of nest-building and incubation; and owing to the wintriness -of the spring, we were quite prepared this morning to find matters in a -decidedly backward state throughout the length and breadth of -bird-land, wherever we might wander. We were not, however, prepared to -find things in anything like the sad plight in which we actually found -them; for in no district of the remotest Highlands, we venture to say, -are the agricultural labours proper to man at this season so backward -as are their own proper labours this year amongst our native -wild-birds. Usually at this date nine-tenths of our birds have already -completed the labours of nidification, and with some species even -incubation is far advanced, if not actually <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb351" href="#pb351" name= -"pb351">351</a>]</span>completed. The results of our morning’s -ornithological ramble may be very briefly stated. Of thirteen nests -discovered, four only contained eggs, and even of these four only one -had its proper complement, that of a song-thrush, namely, which -contained five bonny blue eggs, spotted with black at the larger end, a -number rarely, if ever, exceeded. In a merle or blackbird’s nest -there were only two eggs, instead of the usual complement of four or -five. A chaffinch’s nest had only one egg, whereas four is the -proper number; while in the nest of a greenfinch, there was also only -one egg instead of five, and that one, from certain signs known only to -the initiated, we decided had only been laid yesterday, or even early -this morning—perhaps shortly before our visit. Of the remaining -nests, a few were fairly completed, and ready for their egg treasures -at any time, but the greater number were only partially finished, and -in their unfinished state had suffered so much from sleet and wind and -rain, that we much doubt if their builders will have anything more to -do with them, for it is a curious fact, that with such rare exceptions -as only serve to accentuate and emphasise the rule, all birds prefer -building a new nest from the very foundation to occupying an old one, -or making the slightest repairs on one that has met with any serious -injury. And this, too, you will please observe—a bird never -improves in his architecture and never declines. He builds to-day -neither better nor worse than did his ancestors a thousand or five -thousand years ago. The sense or instinct that taught him to build of -certain materials and of a certain form, long before Homer was born or -Troy was besieged, is the same sense or instinct still. Nothing added; -nothing subtracted. From all we have seen, we should say that the -annual addition to bird life in our country will be considerably -smaller than the average. Even first broods will be so late that second -hatching is out of the question. Bird-song, however, will last longer -into the summer, and begin again earlier in autumn than in ordinary -seasons. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb352" href="#pb352" name= -"pb352">352</a>]</span></p> -<p>On a dull day last week we were routed out of our study by a visit -from Professor Geikie, who, accompanied by some half-dozen others, was -geologising in the districts of Appin and Lochaber. In such a place as -this, it was impossible but that they should find much to interest them -geologically and otherwise; and we were glad to hear them all say that -they were much delighted with their wanderings. An occasional invasion -of this kind, sometimes, too, when you least expect it, never fails to -do one good. It makes you, <i lang="la">nolens volens</i>, shake -yourself clear, as best you may, of the accumulated cobwebs of months, -and you return to your ordinary work not a little invigorated and -refreshed by having had an opportunity of comparing notes, rubbing -shoulders, and even crossing blades—in all friendship of -course—with foemen worthy of your steel.</p> -<p>A lady correspondent writes us from London as -follows:—“I was much pleased with your reference to the old -pipe tune. The music I have long known, but the origin and history of -the piece was unknown to me, nor had I ever heard any of the words -attached to it. I agree with you that all such scraps of information -should be collected and preserved, adding so largely as they do to the -interest with which we Highlanders must always regard our national -melodies. I need not, of course, ask <i>you</i> if you know the very -fine pipe tune ‘Macrimmon’s Lament,’ <i lang="gd">Cha -till mi tuilleadh</i>. When I was a girl in the Hebrides—I am -afraid to say how many years ago—I often heard the following -story associated with this tune. In the island of Mull there is a large -cave which in popular belief reaches right across the island from the -east shore to the west. This cave, in the old times, was inhabited, so -ran the tradition, by a colony of wolves and other wild animals. No man -in consequence had ever the courage to explore its dark labyrinthine -windings. At a wedding party assembled in a hamlet in the neighbourhood -of the cave, its vastness and many dangers became <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb353" href="#pb353" name="pb353">353</a>]</span>the -subject of conversation. All agreed that no human being could possibly -pass through it and live. The piper of the district was a very brave -man as well as an admirable piper, and in an evil hour for himself, as -it proved, he offered for some slight wager to traverse the cave from -side to side of the island, with a pine torch stuck in the front of his -bonnet to give him light, and playing the pipes all the time. The piper -thereupon entered the cave, playing a lively march, while most of the -wedding guests followed above, led in the proper course by the music, -which could be heard faintly from below. More than half the cave was -traversed, when suddenly the music changed from a brisk march to a -doleful lament. This lament, duly interpreted, told the people above -that things were becoming uncomfortable with the piper; first, that the -pine torch was almost burnt out, and again that his breath was failing -him, while the boldest of the wolves slowly retired before him, only -kept at bay by the flickering of the torch and the sound of the pipes, -but ready to spring upon and devour him the instant the torch should be -extinguished and the music of the pipes should cease. It was then that -the doomed piper played <i lang="gd">Cha till mi tuilleadh’</i> -so mournfully—‘I will return no more!’ And this -too—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div lang="gd" class="lg"> -<p class="line">‘Mo dhìth, mo dhìth, gun trì -lamhan;</p> -<p class="line">Dà làmh ’s a phīob, -<span class="corr" id="xd26e7961" title="Source: s">’s</span> -làmh ’s a chlaidheamh.’</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">(‘Alas, and my great want, that I have not -<i>three</i> hands,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Two for (playing) the pipes, and one to wield -my sword.’)</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">If he had only a third hand he thought he could manage -to kill the wolves that were every instant becoming bolder, as if they -knew he must fall into their jaws at last. The last notes caught by the -people above were known to mean—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div lang="gd" class="lg"> -<p class="line">‘’Si ghall’ uaine -’shàraich mi,</p> -<p class="line">’Si ghalla’ uaine ’shàraich -mi!’</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">(‘It is the green bitch wolf that most harasses -me!’)</p> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb354" href="#pb354" name= -"pb354">354</a>]</span></p> -<p>And then the music ceased, and they knew that the poor piper had -been torn to pieces by the wolves. Such is something like the story I -used to hear in connection with the big cave in Mull and the well-known -lament, more than fifty years ago.”</p> -<p>The cave referred to is on the estate of Lochbuy. So far as it has -been explored, its length is over 500 feet, with a breadth of some 25 -feet, and a height of 40. It is proper to say that the people of Skye -claim the whole story as belonging to their island. The piper was a -Macrimmon; the cave is pointed out near Dunvegan, and the story of the -wolves and the piper’s sad fate is just as likely to be true of -the one island as of the other. Our own opinion is, that so far as -there is any truth in the story, it must be located in Skye rather than -in Mull, although our friends in the latter island will perhaps be -angry with us for saying so. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb355" href= -"#pb355" name="pb355">355</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch56" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e850">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LVI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Rain in Lochaber—An Apple Tree in bloom by -Candle-light—Mackenzie the Bird-Catcher—A Badenoch -“Wise Woman” spitting in a Child’s Face to preserve -it from the Fairies!</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">“It never rains but it pours,” and nowhere -is the familiar adage in its utmost literalness truer than in Lochaber. -During a long protracted drought of nearly a couple of months’ -duration [June 1877], we were constantly calling for rain; and no -wonder, for the earth was hard and hide-bound as an Egyptian mummy; -sheep and cattle finding little more to gather on the parched uplands -than if they were nibbling at the bulge of an ironclad laid up in -ordinary. For full five and twenty years—so far back, <i>eheu</i> -and alas! do our own individual meteorological records extend—we -have had no May month so persistently ungenial and cold; nor, when one -comes to think of it, is it much matter of surprise, for we have just -been reading that in the North Atlantic, within a few hundred leagues -of the British shores, and up to the very margin of the Gulf Stream, a -ship recently arrived in port had to fight her way through quite a -continent of drift ice, with occasional icebergs “from two to -three hundred feet in height.” With such grim, hyperborean -neighbours on the one hand, and a keen-edged east wind on the other, it -was impossible that it should be otherwise than cold and uncomfortable -all round. On the 26th, however, came the long-looked-for change, the -wind came slowly round to S.S.W., rain began to fall, and the effect -was magical. There was instantly a blanket-like kindliness and a -balminess in the air that was delicious. The birds, that a little -before could only chirp dolorously, burst out into loud and jubilant -song, the cattle lowed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb356" href= -"#pb356" name="pb356">356</a>]</span>in their pastures, wild-flowers -seemed to laugh with quiet delight, and the very boom of the big waves -as they broke on the beach had a pleasant music in it. It has continued -to rain more or less ever since, so that with regard to mere personal -comfort one is ready to cry “Hold, enough!” but so far as -the interests of agriculture and pasturage are concerned, not a drop -too much has fallen. The fact is that, frequent as is the complaint -about what people are pleased to speak about as our superabundant -rainfall, we require it all. We question if a diminution of our annual -rainfall by a third, say, or even by a fifth of its amount, would, from -a practical and utilitarian point of view, be any improvement, but the -reverse. A shrewd south country shepherd, with whom we had a long crack -on Saturday, was right when, speaking of the rain, he remarked that -“it would be a puir country for sheep at ony rate, if we had much -less o’t frae year’s end to year’s end.” How -ill the drought of April and May agreed with us here may be understood -from the fact that there was an unusual amount of sickness amongst the -people; while the leanness of sheep and kine bore sad and emphatic -witness to the scarcity of succulent pasture, and the general -backwardness of the season is to this moment noticeable from our window -as we write, for neither the lilac nor the hawthorn is yet in bloom, -nor are potatoes, even the earliest planted, any more than just -becoming discernible in regular drills. We should say that vegetation -is generally quite a fortnight later than usual, and only an -exceptionally fine summer and early autumn can bring about a fairly -seasonable harvest-time. <i lang="la">Dum spiro, spero</i>, however, is -a good maxim, and we shall hope that, even if harvest is late, the -ingathering may be all the more pleasant and abundant. The drought, -however, and persistent east wind, it is but fair to confess, were -rather favourable than otherwise to the fruit trees of all kinds in -garden and orchard. Bud and blossom were, to use a military term, held -in check until after <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb357" href="#pb357" -name="pb357">357</a>]</span>the middle of May, thus escaping the night -frosts usual in the early part of the month. All sorts of fruit trees -and berry bushes are consequently only now in full bloom, and a large -fruit crop may very confidently be looked for, though it may be a -little later than usual in attaining to perfect ripeness. Did you ever, -by the way, good reader, look at an apple tree in full blossom on a -calm, dewy night by candle-light? Recently we had occasion to go into -our garden towards midnight in search of a bird that had escaped from -his cage during the day. Coming under a large apple tree in full bloom, -we held up the open lantern in our hand and peered a-tiptoe among the -branches in hopes of getting a sight of the foolish runaway. Him we did -not find then, but the apple tree, bending under its weight of blossoms -“dew besprent,” was the most beautiful thing we ever saw, -and we called everybody about the place to come and look at it, and -they all agreed that the sight was as beautiful as it was new to them. -If you have an opportunity try it for yourself, and you will thank us -all your life long for calling your attention to a thing of beauty, -which the poet is not wrong in assuring you “is a joy for -ever.”</p> -<p>We didn’t get our bird in the apple tree, but we were in great -good luck notwithstanding, for who chanced to come the way next morning -but Mackenzie the bird-catcher, who soon discovered the runaway’s -whereabouts in a neighbouring copse, and whistled him back to hand as -easily as a shepherd whistles back his truant collie. It is a -goldfinch, a magnificent singer, whom we have long had as a cage-bird; -and being unaccustomed to liberty, it was all the easier enticing him -back to his cage, although we much doubt if any man in the kingdom -could have done it so immediately and with such unfaltering confidence -in his own power to do it as Mackenzie, who knows wild-bird music -better than any one else we ever met, and can imitate it in its every -twist and turn, chirp or cheep or chant, so deftly and unmistakeably as -to deceive the birds themselves, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb358" -href="#pb358" name="pb358">358</a>]</span>each after his kind, the -severest test to which such an accomplishment could be put. If there be -any truth in the old doctrine of metempsychosis, Mackenzie, having -shaken off the “mortal coil” of his present form, is pretty -sure to reappear as a rock-linnet, redpole, or goldfinch. Like an -honest man, who knows and acknowledges the value and force of an Act of -Parliament, he hadn’t on this occasion much to show us, but what -he had was in part at least interesting, and captured in early spring. -One curiosity was a linnet with one wing pure white, which he would -insist upon was a different species from the ordinary linnet, because -he had caught so many with a sinister or dexter, one or other, wing -white or variegated. We fought a hard battle in trying to convince him -that it was a mere accidental bit of colouring, due probably to some -hurt received in its downy days, or at all events before its first -moult; and made it no more a different species than an accidental hurt, -which causes a man to go lame, makes him anything else than a specimen -of <i lang="la">homo sapiens</i> all the same. Arguing, however, with -men of Mackenzie’s stamp is rather uphill work. He listened, to -be sure, with a politeness and attention which seems to us to be -inseparable from the character of the true practical naturalist, and -seemed to give acquiescence in all we asserted, but we shouldn’t -wonder a bit if he remained of his own opinion still. A rather rare -bird was a specimen, in excellent condition and feather, of the grey -crow, at one time quite a common bird along the shores of the West -Highlands, but owing to the incessant war waged against them by -shepherds, gamekeepers, and vermin-trappers, now become so rare that we -stopped our pony to have a good look at a pair that we saw the other -day near Strontian, at the head of Loch Sunart. If you want a specimen -of any British bird, just commission Mackenzie to get it for you. He -will only bring you a specimen that is perfect of its kind, and if you -only give him time he will succeed in getting it, even if he walked a -thousand miles in the pursuit. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb359" -href="#pb359" name="pb359">359</a>]</span></p> -<p>With reference to our explanation of the term <i>study</i> applied -to a small plateau, a well-known spot at the top of Glencoe, a -correspondent writes as follows:—“You do not seem to be -aware that <i>study</i> is the word in common use in Lowland Scotland -for an anvil as well as amongst the unlisping Celts. I wonder you -forgot Burns’ well-known lines—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">‘Nae mercy, then, for airn or steel;</p> -<p class="line">The brawnie, bainie, ploughman chiel,</p> -<p class="line">Brings hard owrehip, wi’ sturdy wheel</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">The strong forehammer,</p> -<p class="line"><i>Till block and studdie ring and reel</i></p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Wi’ dinsome -clamour.’ ”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">We are much obliged to our friendly correspondent. The -quotation proves that the Lowland Scotch as well as the Highlanders -have a difficulty with the lisping sound of <i>th</i>, preferring the -simpler and more natural sound of <i>d</i>.</p> -<p>A gentleman from Badenoch greatly amused us the other day by his -account of a certain superstitious observance on the part of a -“wise woman” in his neighbourhood. The gentleman’s -wife was sitting with her baby, only a few weeks old, in her lap. It -was of course a marvel of a baby; for bigness and beauty the finest -baby, like <i>all</i> babies, that ever was seen, and of which its -parents were naturally and very excusably as proud as proud could be. -The “wise woman” of the place had called to see the child, -and congratulated the parents on their good luck. The crone got a chair -opposite to that occupied by the happy mother, while the father looked -on and smiled with becoming dignity and pride. As the old woman was -looking at the child, it chanced to yawn, bored probably by the amount -of attention paid to it, and getting sleepy. As it yawned, the old -woman got up from the chair, and walking over to the “infant -phenomenon,” coolly and deliberately spat in its face! The mother -was horrified; the father in a rage asked what the deuce she meant by -spitting in <i>his</i> son’s face? The old <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb360" href="#pb360" name="pb360">360</a>]</span>lady -quietly answered that the yawn was owing to an evil influence at that -moment at work with the child, and her spitting in its face was the -readiest and most effectual way of saving it from one or more of the -mischievous tricks which ill-natured fairies are so fond of playing off -on babies that are “beautiful exceedingly,” and more -especially when they are overmuch petted and bepraised by their parents -and friends. The “wise woman” was at once liberally -supplied with the refreshments usual on such occasions, and as soon as -possible dismissed, care being taken the while not to offend her, which -might have been a serious matter for baby and all concerned. It is not -a little curious that although in all countries to spit at one is -expressive of the utmost detestation and contempt, yet in the -superstitions of the Lowlands of Scotland, as well as in the Highlands, -to spit on a person or thing, under certain conditions and -circumstances, is supposed to be counteractive of evil influences, and -therefore a highly commendable act. We have seen a woman spit on the -nets in a boat as it left the shore, to ensure a successful fishing; -and when hand-line fishing, a man who has had little luck and is -getting impatient, as he baits his hook afresh, spits on it before -dropping it again into the sea, in the belief that good luck attends -the act. An old woman who has just bound up a bruised or broken limb, -whether of man or beast, will sometimes finish the operation by -spitting on the bandage. In the superstitions of most countries, such -involuntary and apparently causeless acts as sneezing and yawning are -attributed to supernatural agencies, and spitting at the sneezer or -yawner is still sometimes practised as a counter-charm by the oldest -and most learned professors of such lore, an older superstition -probably than the more common practice of invoking the Divine blessing -on the subjects in such cases. Questionable, therefore, and rude as at -first sight seemed the act, we assured our Badenoch friend that the -“wise woman,” in acting as she did, meant his bairn no evil -or disrespect at all, but the very contrary. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb361" href="#pb361" name="pb361">361</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch57" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e859">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LVII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Caught in a Squall on Loch Leven—Potatoes and -Herrings: How to cook them—A day in Glen Nevis—A visit to -<i lang="gd">Uaimh Shomhairle</i>, or Samuel’s Cave—The -Cave-Men.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The reader may remember that we concluded our last -with a hopeful and jubilant note, believing that really fine -weather—a long track of it, perhaps—was just at hand. We -much regret having to say that our meteorological vaticinations proved -utterly incorrect. It still rains [July 1877], not constantly, indeed, -but with sufficient persistence to make everybody miserable, and to -reduce our hopes of a good harvest almost to zero. Yesterday, for -example, we had occasion to cross the Loch in our boat. It was a nice -bright day enough at starting, with a fresh breeze from N.W., which -carried us along at racing pace. All of a sudden the heavens became -black and threatening; a terrible squall almost capsized us ere we had -time to sing out to our companion to let go “everything by the -run.” He did, fortunately, let go just in time, and grasping an -oar ourselves, and calling on him to take another, we had her head -turned to the wind and waves as quietly but as quickly as possible. -Thus we held her, just like a horse by the reins, while the squall -lasted, and cunningly took advantage of its drift to get to the Appin -shore. We managed to reach it, but in very sorry plight, as you shall -hear. With the squall had come rain, literally the <i>heaviest</i> we -ever saw, which drenched us to the skin; every drop big enough to fill -as it fell the largest of thimbles, and driven by the squall, remember, -it fell with the force of a spent bullet. As “drookit” and -drenched we landed, and crawled with all the miserable, and woebegone, -and shambling gait of the really <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb362" -href="#pb362" name="pb362">362</a>]</span>and thoroughly -through-and-through wet, you would have laughed in the teeth of all the -rain had you only met us; and we much doubt if any one who did not know -us would just then have been disposed to appraise ourselves and our -whole belongings at the value of a much bigger coin of the realm than a -shabby florin. And this is just the sort of weather it continues to be. -You cannot depend upon it for an hour. It is sunshine and blue above -just for five minutes; it is all of a sudden gloomy and black as -Erebus, and raining so multitudinously that you are fain to draw the -skirts of your coat anyhow over your head and run for the nearest -shelter. When we are to have better weather let the meteorologists, who -ought to know, say.</p> -<p>There is an old and frequent proverb, though rarely heard -now-a-days, to the effect that “there goes reason to the roasting -of eggs,” the meaning of which, as we apprehend it, is that the -smallest culinary operation is of importance, and should be gone about -with judgment and care. If the proverb, however, in its actual words, -as a mere popular saw, is very much forgotten, it is a good sign of our -time that its spirit at least is in this our own day claiming no little -attention, as the establishment of “cookery classes,” and -the praiseworthy attempts to disseminate culinary lore amongst the -people, abundantly testify. It has been said that the man who makes two -blades of grass to grow where only one blade grew before is a -benefactor to his species, and equally so, would we venture to assert, -is he a benefactor to the human race who shows how any single article -of food, usually cooked and served in an unsatisfactory and tasteless -fashion, may, with no extra expense and little extra trouble, be made -palatable and savoury. The other day, landing from our boat, we went -into a cottar’s house close by the sea, in a neighbouring -district, just as the gudewife was preparing the family dinner. A pot -of new potatoes was boiling on the fire, and as she knew that it would -take us still some time to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb363" href= -"#pb363" name="pb363">363</a>]</span>get home, she very good-naturedly -invited us to wait a little and take a share with herself and her -husband of the dinner about to be served, a bit of hospitality as -frankly accepted as it was kindly offered. Looking now and again into -the boiling potato pot, and <i>listening</i> with inclined ear to the -sound, actually <i>musical</i> in such a case, of its boil and -bubbling, she was ready at the proper instant to snatch it off the -fire, and, carrying it to a corner of the kitchen, she poured off the -water, and immediately re-hung it over the fire again, shortening the -chain by which it was suspended by a link or two, that the fire might -not, now that it was waterless, have too much effect upon it. She then -got some half-dozen fresh herrings, caught early that -morning—herrings large, and beautiful, and silvery scaled as a -salmon—and drying them nicely with a cloth, she placed them -flat-wise side by side on the top of the potatoes in the pot, the lid -of which she was careful to make fit tightly by means of a coarse -kitchen towel, which served at once to cover the contents, and to cause -the lid to fit so tightly that all the steam was effectually retained. -For the time being, in short, the pot by this ready expedient may be -said to have been hermetically sealed. During a quarter of an hour, -perhaps, and while the gentleman and ourselves carried on a lively -conversation, the wife kept an attentive eye on the pot, never once -lifting the lid, however, but from time to time raising or lowering a -link of the chain as in her judgment was necessary. All being ready at -last, she took the pot off the fire, and set it on a low stool in the -middle of the floor. She then lifted the lid and the cloth, and the -room was instantly filled with a savoury steam that made one’s -mouth water merely to inhale it. Occupying each a low chair, we were -invited to fall to, to eat without knife, or fork, or trencher, just -with our fingers out of the pot as it stood. It was a little startling, -but only for a moment. After a word of grace we dipped our hand into -the pot, and took out a potato hot and mealy, and with <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb364" href="#pb364" name="pb364">364</a>]</span>the -other we took a nip out of the silvery flank of the herring nearest us. -It was a mouthful for a king, sir! We have in our day a thousand times -dined well and heartily both at home and abroad, but we greatly -question if we ever enjoyed a dinner half so much as <i>that</i>. The -savouriness of that potato and herring feast will haunt us till our -dying day. What struck us was simply this: A new potato and fresh -herring as usually served is something terribly insipid; as we got it -that day it was a meal for an emperor. We actually felt inclined to -lick our fingers after every mouthful, than which surely there could be -no higher praise of any food whatever. Let such of our readers as have -the opportunity just try a potato and herring cooked in the manner -stated, eating it digitally, with their own proper fingers, and they -will thank us, if they are honest, for bringing so savoury and -delicious a dish to their knowledge.</p> -<p>One of the finest glens in all the West Highlands is Glen Nevis, -which, opening out in the direction of the old Castle of Inverlochy, -extends eastwards and inland, the valley gradually narrowing into glen -and gorge as you proceed, for nine or ten miles, presenting at every -turn and standpoint throughout its many windings a succession of the -most striking and beautiful pictures imaginable, so striking and -startling at times, and <i>new</i> at least in some of their details, -that a genuine lover of mountain scenery wishes that he could devote an -entire day to every separate mile of its extent, rather than have to -hurry through it all in something like half a dozen hours, which is the -way the thing is usually done. It is like being dragged, as happened to -us once, by a nervous and impatient lady friend of ours, at a sort of -half trot through a picture gallery, where, if you had your own way, -you would gladly lounge and linger till the custodier of the place, -perhaps, came respectfully to hint that the afternoon was far advanced, -and that shutting-up time was at hand. With the entrance to Glen Nevis, -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb365" href="#pb365" name= -"pb365">365</a>]</span>as far as the mansion-house, we had long been -familiar, and once at least we had a bird’s-eye glance into the -glen proper itself, from the summit of <i>Dundearduil</i>, which we had -approached from the south in order to examine its curious and still -inexplicable vitrifications. It was not, however, till Friday last, -that we had an opportunity of thoroughly exploring the glen through all -its windings, and coming with little difficulty to the conclusion -already expressed, that of all our West Highland glens, it is, perhaps, -the most beautiful and (Glencoe always apart) the most deserving of a -thorough and leisurely examination. We were fortunate in having hit -upon a highly favourable day—not too bright, for glaring sunshine -and unclouded brightness amongst mountain scenery is a great -mistake—and no less fortunate in our companions, each one of them -blessed with eyes that, open, could really see, and hearts that, duly -appealed to, could truly feel; who knew full well what they had come to -do, and from first to last did it admirably. Barely, we should say, has -the noble glen exposed its stern grandeur and innumerable beauties -under favourable skies, to the glad and earnest gaze of more -intelligently appreciative spectators; and more rarely still, perhaps, -have the splendid falls of the Nevis borne burden to peals of honester -or merrier laughter than we indulged in as over the well-plenished -luncheon basket we fortified ourselves for the ascent of the upper -gorges,—a somewhat “stiff” climb, but neither really -difficult nor dangerous. When we say that at Glen Nevis House our party -was joined by Mr. Macpherson—<i lang="gd">fear a ghlinne e -féin</i>, the goodman of the glen <i>himself</i>, as the -Highlanders say—who kindly accompanied us throughout, and to whom -every foot of the glen was as familiar as the floor of his own -dining-room, many of our readers will understand how really pleasant -and enjoyable, <i lang="la">cœteris paribus</i>, must have been -our upland wanderings on that delightful day.</p> -<p>We have no intention of entering on anything like a minute or -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb366" href="#pb366" name= -"pb366">366</a>]</span>photographic description of Glen Nevis, for -which, indeed, half-a-dozen Nether Lochaber columns would hardly -suffice; we can only hurriedly glance at what most instantly and -indelibly struck us in the day’s excursion. First of all, we were -all struck by the exceeding pellucidity and crystal clearness of the -waters of the Nevis. Nowhere else did we ever see a mountain stream so -beautifully transparent. Standing on the brink of any selected pool, -many feet in depth, you distinguished the smallest pea-sized pebble, -its veins, scratches, and striations, as distinctly as if you had it on -the palm of your hand, under a lens, and within less than a foot focus -of your eyeball! And all this remarkable pellucidity, observe, not in -one particular pool, or in any one particular stretch of the river, but -throughout all its beautiful windings. Another remarkable feature of -the glen is the manner in which its natural birch woods grow. They -occupy a pretty broad belt almost half-way up the mountains, leaving a -still broader belt between themselves and the river banks comparatively -bare and treeless. In all the other Highland glens with which we have -any acquaintance, whatever of wood there is always begins, as seems -most natural, at the river banks, where it is thickest and most -luxuriant, growing away and upwards on either side to a greater or less -altitude, according to the nature of the soil and the shelter to be had -from the prevailing winds. And speaking of winds, this is the place to -observe that of all our glens Glen Nevis is perhaps the stormiest, the -wind in a gale not blowing steadily, but in fitful gusts and -whirlwind-wise, striking in from the corries right and left, and -meeting in the centre with a force and fury unimaginable by -non-residenters. How do you know, the reader may ask, for it was calm -and quiet enough during <i>your</i> visit on Friday? True, and yet we -failed not to notice a very striking proof of the storminess at times -of Glen Nevis notwithstanding. As you pass the forester’s house -at Auchreoch, lift up your eyes, and please observe how <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb367" href="#pb367" name= -"pb367">367</a>]</span>carefully, how thoroughly, closely, compactly, -and painstakingly it is thatched; and observe further and over all a -network of wire as thick and strong as that used in our overland -telegraphy, and to the end of each wire as it almost reaches the ground -in front and at the back of the house, please notice suspended a large -stone, water-worn boulders from the river below, each of a -hundredweight or more, and you will not fail, we think, to understand -how we so confidently decided that Glen Nevis at times must be an -exceedingly stormy place. If you assert that other Highland glens may -be quite as stormy in the season of storms, we shall not contradict -you; what we do say is this, that never did a house-roof speak to us so -eloquently of furious and frequent storm and whirlwind as did the roof -of that house at Auchreoch, and a very good house it is, and a very -pretty place to the bargain. A little beyond Auchreoch, and to the left -of the path, there is a bit of wild and rugged rock scenery well worth -attention. Here and there, over the face of what seems the hard -impenetrable rock, many trees grow and flourish as if through the very -heart of the granite. The explanation of course is, that the rock which -seems so homogeneous and solid at a distance is in reality fissured and -fractured in all directions, and that in these fissures the trees find -soil and food enough to sustain a wonderfully luxuriant growth and -opulence of foliage for such a situation. About a mile further up the -glen, we separated from our companions for a while, we having -determined to cross the Nevis at this point in order to visit <i lang= -"gd">Uaimh Shomhairle</i>, or Samuel’s Cave, the entrance to -which was pointed out to us by Mr. Macpherson in the face of the -opposite steep. To get across the river we had to strip until in a -state of almost <i lang="la">puris naturalibus</i>, and even then it -was somewhat dangerous, a single false step might have been attended by -very serious consequences. With a little circumspection and care, -however, we got safely over, and half-dressed and barefooted we climbed -the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb368" href="#pb368" name= -"pb368">368</a>]</span>rock like a chamois, and in less than ten -minutes we were standing at the mouth of the celebrated cave. -Samuel’s Cave is in fact <i>two</i> caves, the outer and smaller -one, with a broad portal that admits abundant light and air, forming a -sort of vestibule or antechamber to the inner cave. Provided with one -or two old newspapers and some wax vestas, we improvised a couple of -rude torches which we carried with us as we crept through a narrow -opening by which alone access is obtained into the inner <i>antrum</i>. -Lighting one of these torches, which answered our purpose quite well -enough, we explored the cave at leisure, closely scrutinising the walls -and roof as high as we could reach, in the hope of perhaps finding some -scratch or sculptures, however rude, to prove that the place had been -inhabited in the times of the “cave-men.” Nothing of the -kind, however, was discernible. The cave in its every part is -exceedingly damp and cold, with green, slimy roof and walls, where not -even the hardiest wild beast of mountain or forest would think of -taking up its abode, far less any human being with the faintest notion -of the value of warmth and comfort. There are scores of lesser caves -and fissures in the rocks around where one would elect to live by -reason of their dryness, in preference to the big and pretentious -Samuel’s Cave, which, as a mere cave, is perhaps interesting -enough, and not unworthy of a visit; otherwise it is a -“sell,” in exploring which no one can spend more than the -shortest five minutes to any good purpose. In the times of civil wars -and clan feuds it is conceivable that one or more outlawed and -“broken” men might find the outer cave a secure and not -altogether unpleasant place of shelter to pass a night in where no -better might be. As a place also to hide one’s more valuable -goods and chattels in an emergency, the cave may at times have had its -value and use. It never, depend upon it, was <i>inhabited</i> for any -length of time by any human being. A week of it would kill the -stoutest, robustest savage that ever trod the <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb369" href="#pb369" name= -"pb369">369</a>]</span>Caledonian wilds. An additional proof, if -additional proofs are wanting, that Samuel’s Cave can never have -been “inhabited” in any proper sense of that term, or even -much frequented for any purpose whatever, is to be found in the fact -that there is not a vestige of a path either from the river bank below -or from the hill above leading towards it. Had it at any time been much -in use for any purpose, there must have been a path leading to it -either from above or from below, and some traces at least, however -faint, of such a path, must still exist. We searched and searched, -above and below, and round and round, and no trace or vestige at all of -such a path could we find. Go, good reader, and see the cave by all -means when you have the opportunity; it is a fair enough cave as caves -go; but take our word for it that the attempt to invest the vast dark, -damp, slimy <i>antrum</i> with any archæological interest is the -greatest delusion in the world. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb370" -href="#pb370" name="pb370">370</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch58" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e871">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LVIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Showers in Harvest Time—Magnificent -Sunset—Night sometimes seeming not to descend but to -<i>ascend</i>—Death of M. Leverrier—The Discovery of -Neptune—Pigeon cooing at Midnight—The Owl at -Noon—Cage-Birds singing at Night.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The weather continues wonderfully fine for the season -[October 1877], and with the exception of the potato-lifting, all our -harvest labours are at length concluded. The ingathering has upon the -whole been highly satisfactory, far more so than any one could have had -the courage to predict up to the very advent of this our autumnal -summer, which has already lasted just thirty days, uninterruptedly -sunny and dry, without any more serious break than a mere passing -shower, which invariably did more good than harm. More good? the reader -exclaims interrogatively, how can a shower do good, how can it be -otherwise than harmful in harvest time? Patience, courteous reader, and -we shall explain. It is a case of something of this kind. You are -driving along the road; the horse in the shafts before you is upon the -whole a steady-going and willing animal enough, but you have let him -have it just his own way for the last half hour, and dreaming, perhaps, -of fresh fields and pastures green, he has for the moment forgotten -your existence, and begins to lag. His usual pace of a good eight miles -an hour is now hardly over five, and what in such a case shall you do? -You drop the lash gently across his flank, as light and gently as falls -the angler’s cast on the waveless pool; you are too much of a -Christian and a gentlemen—the terms are or ought to be -synonymous—to do otherwise until it is absolutely necessary. Your -horse forgets his dream; becomes instantly alive to the work -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb371" href="#pb371" name= -"pb371">371</a>]</span>before him; gathers himself together, and with a -responsive toss of his head and a lively play of ears, goes along at -rather more than his average speed until the next stage is reached; -knowing full well that the hand that laid on that serpent-like lash so -tenderly, can lay it on in very different fashion, hot and heavy enough -when occasion calls. Or, dropping metaphor, let us state the matter -plainly, thus:—Here in Lochaber, and we suppose it is just the -same over all the Highlands, when really fine weather comes, we are for -the first few days up and doing, busy enough. But as one fine day -succeeds another, we are very ready to fall into the error that after -all it is best to take things leisurely. Where’s the need, we ask -ourselves, for so much hurry and bustle? The fine weather has lasted a -week; it may last a month, is indeed likely so to last; it is no more -like rain to-day than it was yesterday; and thus we lapse, often -unconsciously, perhaps, into a spirit of dilatoriness and -procrastination, out of which only a lowering sky, and a shower that -for all we know may become a flood, can fairly rouse us. You slept -long, for instance, this morning; you dawdled over your porridge and -milk at breakfast time, and it is now noonday. But see! the heavens -yonder in the north-west are suddenly overcast; an ominous gloom creeps -over the Outer Hebrides; a few drops of rain have already fallen, one -on the back of your left hand, on which placing the index finger of -your right, you can find that it is wet, that it is rain; a second on -your cheek with a soft, tepid thud; and a third right into your open, -uplifted eye, and you straightway start into activity and life. All -hands on deck! is the cry. You rush into the field amongst the stooks; -you bustle about cheerily, and calling all hands into your service, for -idlers are now out of place, you cart and carry away as fast as you can -into your barn or stack-yard, and by sunset, so expeditiously have you -worked, that the field from head-rig to head-rig is but bare and -stookless stubble. It was after all but a <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb372" href="#pb372" name="pb372">372</a>]</span>passing shower; the -gloom has given place to cloudless blue; you have been cheated, so to -speak. But what matters it? Your crop is safely stacked or housed, and -were it not for the passing shower and temporary mid-day gloom, your -stooks were still afield, running a risk there was no reason they -should run; and so, good reader, you will understand how a slight -shower in the season of ingathering may not always be an evil, but a -very good thing indeed; and only a few such passing, labour-inciting -showers have we known here for a whole month, and <i>that</i> is much -to say when the month is to be counted from mid-September to -mid-October.</p> -<p>And, O gentle reader, we only wish you were with us here to see for -yourself, <i lang="la">propriis oculis</i>, for no pen can describe it, -one or more of the many magnificent sunsets we have had in the course -of this same bypast month of fine weather. The sunsets of the -equinoctial seasons, both vernal and autumnal, are almost always -beautiful, more particularly those of the autumnal equinox; but never -before, we think, have we seen them so startling, gloriously beautiful, -so gorgeously magnificent, as on several occasions lately. A few -evenings ago, as we were busy in our study, a young lady burst in upon -us in a state of great excitement, begging us to throw aside our pen -for a little, and come out to see the exceeding glory of the setting -sun. We readily complied of course, and taking the young lady by the -hand we made a race of it till we reached our “coigne of -vantage,” a grassy green knoll, a favourite standpoint when any -celestial phenomenon of importance to the W. or S.W. of us is to be -observed. The scene, in truth, was indescribably beautiful, and we -stood in speechless admiration, not unmingled with awe, in sight of the -most glorious sunset our eyes ever beheld. Before us lay the whole -expanse of the Linnhe Loch, shimmering as if gently aboil in a flood of -pale golden light. Beyond, rose what seemed the one vast unbroken range -of the mountains of Ardgour, Kingerloch, and Morven, bathed in a rich -dark purple <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb373" href="#pb373" name= -"pb373">373</a>]</span>hue, that for the moment so thoroughly -obliterated every trace of their native ruggedness, that our companion -prettily observed, “Haven’t you the idea, sir, as I have, -that if one were only near enough these beautiful mountains to pat them -lovingly with the hand, they would feel to the touch soft and warm as a -roll of velvet?” a thought, unconsciously perhaps, tinged with -poetry, though the woman pure and simple comes out very unmistakeably -in the reference to the “roll of velvet.” In the far -background, thirty miles away, rose the glory and pride of Mull -(Blackie’s favourite island of all the Hebrides), the huge -mountains of Benmore and Ben-na-Bairnich, their base and middle zones -ink-black, their shoulders dark orange, here and there curiously -streaked with threads of pearly light, their summits and sloping ridges -fringed with living fire. Above, the whole western heavens was full of -vast continents, peninsulas, isthmuses, and islands of cloud, all afire -at their edges, with firths, ferries, and Mediterraneans of liquid gold -between. As the full-orbed sun, fiery and red, slowly sank to the -horizon, the clouds were rent asunder as if by the very excellency of -the glory that beat upon them; some of them assuming fantastic shapes, -in which a lively imagination had no difficulty in tracing striking -resemblances to the hugest animals of our own and past ages, a monster -saurian in sharply defined <i>silhouette</i>, being so marvellously -outlined that our fair companion sketched it on the spot, as a memento -of a sunset that neither of us is likely ever to forget. As the -sun’s lower limb seemed just to touch and rest an instant on the -highest peak of the Kingerloch range, a large mass of cloud immediately -above him rapidly assumed a columnar shape, perpendicular to the plane -of the horizon, and, as the splendid orb dipped and disappeared, this -huge “pillar of cloud” became a perfect Ionic column, -sharply outlined, and admirably correct in all its proportions from -base to entablature, and all aglow with living fire; shaft and pediment -with richest <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb374" href="#pb374" name= -"pb374">374</a>]</span>crimson; frieze and architrave and cornice with -the glow of molten mettle at “white heat” as it issues from -a blast furnace. There was, truth to say, something terrible about the -scene, a wild and weird combination of the sublime and beautiful such -as Edmund Burke never beheld even in his dreams. It was impossible, in -the presence of the “terrible majesty” of that glory, to -avoid thinking of the awfulness that must appertain to a scene of which -all of us shall one day be spectators, when the “elements shall -melt with fervent heat,” and the “earth also, and the works -that are therein,” shall be consumed with fire. The succeeding -afterglow of that same evening was singularly beautiful. The mountains -of Appin and Glencoe were for a time bathed from their summits to their -shoulders in the richest purple and gold, making them look so soft and -warm, that for the moment their actual ruggedness was utterly -forgotten, and one felt towards them a far stronger and tenderer -sentiment than mere admiration. And very curiously, as we gazed, did -the night immediately succeed the afterglow, for of twilight there was -none—there rarely is indeed in autumn, as the old Highlanders -were too observant not to notice, for what saith the old and well-known -rhyme?—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Mar chlorich a ruith le gleann,</p> -<p class="line">Tha feasgar fann, fogharaidh.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The meaning of which is, that no longer lasts the -autumnal twilight than it takes a stone to roll adown the mountain -steep into the glen below. We generally speak of the night’s -<i>descending</i>; we say the <i>falling</i> night, the darkness -<i>fell</i>, &c., as if the darkness came down from above, and -sometimes, doubtless, it does seem so to fall—to descend like a -curtain. On this occasion, however, and frequently, we have noticed, in -the autumnal season, the night did not seem so much to descend as to -<i>ascend</i>, like an exhalation from out the entrails of the earth; -the blackness of gorge and corrie and glen slowly creeping upwards, -banishing the gold and purple <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb375" -href="#pb375" name="pb375">375</a>]</span>as it ascended, just as you -have seen the earth’s shadow in an eclipse of the moon obliterate -the silvery radiance of the lunar disc—finally reaching ridge and -summit and loftiest peak, and lo, it was night, the ruddy orb of Mars -over the now ink-black top of <span class="corr" id="xd26e8195" title= -"Source: Buachaill-Etive">Buachaille-Etive</span> putting the fact -beyond all question; and, while our fair companion went for a stroll -along the beach, gaily singing a merry roundelay as became her -innocence and her years, we retired in a mood of mind that, while it -was pleasant upon the whole, had yet a tinge of sadness about it, to -our study and our books.</p> -<p>France has recently lost one of her greatest men by the death of M. -Leverrier, her distinguished astronomer, the most distinguished -astronomer, it is not too much to say, of the present century. Many, -indeed, achieved greater triumphs with the telescope, for with the -telescope Leverrier did comparatively little; it was as a -<i>mathematical</i> astronomer that he was unrivalled. He came first -prominently into notice while still a young man, with his cometary -investigations, and his researches into the motions of the planet -Mercury, constructing tables by which transits of the latter can be -predicted with such absolute correctness that the mean error never -exceeds <i>sixteen seconds</i> of time. But it is with the discovery of -the planet <i>Neptune</i> that Leverrier’s name is imperishably -associated. The case briefly stated was this:—It was found, after -a time, that the planet <i>Uranus</i>, discovered by Sir William -Herschel, did not actually follow the orbit which theory had assigned -to it. It had a mysterious trick of leaving the computed track, and -describing a greater orbit, if the law of gravitation was to hold good, -than the tables founded on that law warranted. Astronomers were puzzled -to account for the vagaries of an orbit that, according to their -theory, ought to be well-behaved, and staid and steady-going as any -other member of the solar system. What could the perturbations of -Uranus mean? was the question asked; <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb376" href="#pb376" name="pb376">376</a>]</span>and at the suggestion -of his friend the distinguished Arago, Leverrier undertook to answer -it, and in due time <i>did</i> answer it in such wise as filled the -world with astonishment and admiration. Resolutely grasping with his -task, Leverrier laboured long and laboured hard to resolve the mystery, -and as a first step with this result, that the problem was utterly -unresolvable on any other conceivable theory or conjecture than that -another planet, albeit unknown to astronomers, and hitherto as -unsuspected as it was unseen, existed <i>exterior</i> to Uranus, and -that it was to the attraction or disturbing influence of this hitherto -undreamt-of orb that the perturbations and mysterious vagaries of -Uranus could alone be ascribed. A memoir stating the conclusion arrived -at, and all the calculations leading towards it, was read before the -Royal Academy of Sciences in June 1846, and the young and daring -astronomer straightway resumed his labours, of which the aim was now to -determine the elements of the orbit of the unknown planet, in the -existence of which he now believed as firmly as in that of the visibly -perturbed orb Uranus itself. The astronomical world shook its head -dubiously, and waited. Did such a planet really exist, and if it did, -could this daring Frenchman find it? M. Leverrier meantime laboured on, -and finally mastering every difficulty, he gave the computed plans of -orbit, the mass and natural position of his constructed world, if in -truth, that is, such a world existed. This was in a second memoir to -the Academy of Sciences on the last day of August 1846. Towards the end -of the following month (September 1846), Leverrier wrote to M. Galle, -of Berlin, requesting him to level the powerful telescope under his -charge at a particular point of the heavens, and there, in effect, said -the wonderful Frenchman, you will find the cause of the perturbations -of Uranus, a new and distant world, hitherto undreamt of and unseen by -mortal eye, but existing all the same. M. Galle, on the first -favourable opportunity, directed his <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb377" href="#pb377" name="pb377">377</a>]</span>telescope as -requested, and there, within less than a <i>single degree</i> of its -computed place, and flinging back its light from the enormous distance -of more than three <i>billions</i> of miles, was the planet of -Leverrier’s analysis, with a diameter, magnitude, and orbit all -as calculated and predicted. It was a glorious triumph, the most -wonderful achievement in the annals of a science where all is -wonder.</p> -<p>Publicly and privately has this query been put to us—Is it -unusual to hear a pigeon cooing at midnight, and the owl hooting in -bright noonday? We answer very unhesitatingly that it is unusual, so -unusual in the case of the owl at least, that in a quarter of a -century’s familiar and friendly intercourse with our wild-birds -under all possible circumstances, we have never heard an owl hoot -except “darkling,” as Milton has it, that is, from out the -darkness or sombre shade. Even at night, if the moon is shining bright, -it never hoots from a spot on which the moonbeams fall in full flood; -it selects the deepest shadow even in faint moonlight when uttering its -eerie notes. It will hoot in twilight, and it will hoot when the -heavens are bright ablaze with the most brilliant coruscations of the -aurora, but never, so far as our experience has extended, does it hoot -in honest daylight or even in moonlight, except when, as we have said, -it is itself in deep shade. We have kept pets of all our native species -of owls, and most interesting pets they make, and though, when angry or -in any way out of sorts, it will utter a ready hiss, ending in a -curious rasping guttural, we have never known it to hoot except in the -darkness of night, and, more rarely, in the dim, uncertain light of -evening or morning twilight. The cooing of a pigeon at midnight, while -it may be said to be unusual, is yet a thing that, under certain -circumstances, may be heard at any time. Many birds, captives in cage -or aviary, frequently sing short and incomplete strophes of their -special song in the warm stillness of summer nights, evidently in their -dreams. Others, in their <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb378" href= -"#pb378" name="pb378">378</a>]</span>natural state of freedom, about -the time of the longest day, when there is hardly any night in our -latitudes, may be heard singing, generally unconnectedly, and in a -faint, uncertain key. The pigeon will coo at any time when brooding, if -rudely disturbed in any way, just as a brooding hen will <i>purr</i> -and scold if you annoy her or her nest at any hour of the day or night. -The cooing of a pigeon, therefore, at midnight is nothing very -wonderful. The hooting of an owl at noonday, however, is surprising, -and a thing which, although we live in a district where owls are -plentiful, is altogether unknown in our experience. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb379" href="#pb379" name="pb379">379</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch59" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e883">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LIX.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">October Storms—Cablegram -Predictions—Indications of coming Storms—Geordie Braid, the -St. Andrews and Newport Coach-driver—The Naturalist in -Winter—Drowned Hedgehogs: Spines become soft and -gelatinous—<i lang="la">Lophius -Piscatorius</i>—Disproportion between head and body in the -Devil-Fish a puzzle—An Itinerant Fiddler.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">The storms of the latter days of October [November -1877] were exceedingly severe along our western seaboard, and terribly -so, as more than one correspondent assures us, amongst the Hebrides. It -is worth noting with what marvellous punctuality these -Trans-atlantically telegraphed storms reach our shores. They are -“up to time,” with all the precision almost of our best -appointed mail trains; quite as punctual, at all events, to their -predicted time on several occasions lately as our ocean mail-carrying -steam ships to <i>their</i> appointed dates of arrival. This last -October storm, for example, was telegraphed as being due on our British -shores on or about Saturday, the 27th, and so correct, considering all -the difficulties of such meteorological vaticinations, was the -prediction, that the storm actually reached us here on the evening of -the 26th, increasing in intensity throughout the night and until -mid-day of the 27th, the very day fixed upon, when it blew with all the -force of a hurricane, and the rain fell in torrents, accompanied, -too—that none of the essentials of a great storm might be -wanting—by vivid lightning, and thunder peals loud enough to make -the deafest hear, or at all events <i>feel</i>, for it is no -exaggeration to say that the very ground seemed at times to thrill -responsive to the aërial concussion. The 26th had dawned bright -and clear, and so continued throughout the day; one of those “pet -days,” in short, not uncommon at this season,—the sea, -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb380" href="#pb380" name= -"pb380">380</a>]</span>too, calm and glassy as a mirror. In the -afternoon, however, we were called out from the tea-table to look at a -phenomenon which had already attracted the attention of some of our -more observant neighbours, and about which they wanted our opinion, as -they had some thoughts of going a herring fishing. The phenomenon in -question was this: Not a breath of air was stirring, Loch Linnhe was -unruffled by the slightest zephyr, and yet a heavy surge quite suddenly -began to break along the beach with a sudden boom that was remarkable -in such a calm. A somewhat similar phenomenon, lasting but for a short -time, however, is observed in our lochs when, on a calm summer evening, -one of the Messrs. Hutcheson’s paddle steamers—the -“Chevalier,” for instance—passes at full speed close -in shore. What could this swell and surge, troubling a loch otherwise -calm as a mill-pond, mean? You might have safely carried a lighted -candle exposed and lanternless along the beach on which that heavy -swell with hollow boom was breaking—breaking in great green waves -that showed not a bell or fleck of foam on their crests until they -thundered on the shingle. It was, in a word, a phenomenon for which -there was no apparent adequate cause. The sea, had it been in keeping -with all its visible surroundings, should have been calm and still; on -the contrary, it was restless and perturbed, and there lay the mystery. -Even had we recollected nothing of the telegraphed storm, it was easy -of solution, and our instant interlocutor, as the law courts have it, -was this: “A storm in the Atlantic, my good friends. Calm as it -is here, there is a storm, and a wild one, depend upon it, outside -yonder island of Mull, for all it basks so peacefully in the golden -sunset. Nothing else can adequately account for such a swell on our -calm inland waters on an evening so summer-like and warm; and when I -tell you that a storm likely to reach our shores to-morrow has been -telegraphed from America several days since, I conclude that it is that -very storm fast approaching us that causes this swell upon our -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb381" href="#pb381" name= -"pb381">381</a>]</span>shore. It must be just at hand; so haul up your -boats high and dry; take down your nets from the drying-poles, and put -them in a place of safety. Stay thankfully at home, and let the herring -fishing stand over till the predicted gales have come and gone. Many a -gallant fellow at this moment afloat would be glad to have his foot -like you on <i lang="la">terra firma</i>: <i lang="gd">a chas air -talamh tioram</i> were the words,—his foot on dry land.” -With some such remarks as these, we sent the men home, still wondering, -however; and within a couple of hours the storm was upon us with a loud -prolonged shriek, that showed how thoroughly in earnest it was. -Timeously warned, no danger was done in our district, and we are now -unanimous in speaking with the utmost respect of the Atlantic cable in -connection with storm warnings from the Western Continent. These -telegraphic warnings from America, by the way, of coming storms are of -the utmost importance and value, more particularly to the western -shores of the British Islands. We have no doubt at all that on the -western seaboard of Scotland alone many valuable lives were saved, as -well as much valuable property, by the submarine cable notice that put -us all on our guard with reference to the gale that raged on the 27th -of October, and for several days subsequently. We wonder if from -Britain or the Continent any of the terrible easterly storms of last -winter were telegraphed to America—timeously and purposely -telegraphed, that is—so as to be of benefit to our Transatlantic -cousins, as their recent telegrams have been to us. We fear not. But -now at least it is surely a matter of the merest courtesy and cousinly -goodwill that we be prepared and ready to send them betimes telegraphic -messages of all our <i>easterly</i> storms, in return for similar -favours on their part in respect to those that are <i>westerly</i>.</p> -<p>Reading over the foregoing paragraph, which the reader may see was -written <i lang="la">currente calamo</i>—at a gallop, as it were, -and without a check, as the foxhunter says—we find that we have -used the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb382" href="#pb382" name= -"pb382">382</a>]</span>often-quoted Latin phrase <i lang="la">terra -firma</i>; words which rarely fail to make us smile in their connection -with an anecdote current in St. Andrews in our early college days. It -was to this effect: The driver of a two-horse coach that ran at that -time between St. Andrews and Newport was a George Braid, a respectable -old man, familiarly known to everybody, and notably to the University -students, as “Geordie,” a liberty with his Christian name -which Mr. Braid in nowise resented, for he was intelligent and shrewd, -and knew that he was thus spoken of and addressed out of goodwill and -kindly regard rather than otherwise. Frequently patronised on his route -by learned professors and lively students, Geordie had picked up many -big words and learned phrases, which he was fond of using in his -family, and, as the Catechism says, amongst his “inferiors and -equals.” In connection with frequent storm and shipwreck on the -wild east coast, it was the most natural thing in the world that -Geordie should often have heard from the lips of some of his learned -“fare” the words <i lang="la">terra firma</i>, with which -he associated a general idea of protection, comfort, and safety. One -terrible night of snow and storm, having driven a large coachful from -Newport to the city, Geordie, when he had duly seen to his cattle, and -paid a short visit to the bar of the “Cross Keys” hostelry, -wended his way by the West Port to his home, which lay beyond the old -city walls. His wife, a brisk and <i>eident</i> bit body, had a roaring -fire and a cheery welcome for her goodman on his entrance, while his -children gathered round him to help him off with caps, coats, leggings, -and all the other belongings of the outer man of a driver in the good -old coaching days. Reduced at last to something like his natural -dimensions, Geordie, having sufficiently rubbed his purple hands before -the fire, looked benignantly around and exclaimed, “Ah! Meg, my -woman, you and the bairns hae muckle cause to be thankful to your Maker -that ye hae <i>terra firma abune your heads</i> this night! Its just -awfu’ out yonder by the Guard <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb383" href="#pb383" name="pb383">383</a>]</span>Brig and -Strathtyrum.” We have met with not a few in our day with a -strange craze for using words and phrases of which they evidently knew -as little of the real meaning and proper application as honest Geordie -Braid with his <i lang="la">terra firma</i>.</p> -<p>The new moon of the 5th, aided by a wind that at times almost -amounted to a gale, gave us along the western seaboard three very high -tides in succession; that of the afternoon of the 6th, however, being -the highest. The naturalist who is fairly diligent on such occasions is -pretty sure to meet with more or less interesting matter for thoughtful -study; nor, so far as our own experience extends, need the entries in -one’s note-book, even for what is called the “dead” -season of mid-winter, be fewer in number, or less interesting or -instructive than those of the pages devoted to the summer season -itself. We have known naturalists whose note-books presented little but -a dreary succession of blank pages for the winter half-year, and who -thought it odd that we should be surprised at it. It has been said that -the laws of disease are as beautiful as those of health, and that peace -has its victories as well as war, and we have no hesitation in saying -that to the true naturalist the winter season, if fairly and diligently -encountered, is in its way just as interesting as the summer, and that -the observer who has all his wits about him, and who goes to work with -a will, may have <i>his</i> “victories” even in the season -of the winter solstice—victories as important in their way and -gratifying as are those of midsummer itself, when the days are at their -longest, when summer seas are calm and summer woods are green. In the -course of half an hour’s ramble on the beach the other day, we -fell in with some curious waifs, each of which might be made the text -of an interesting monograph. Three drowned hedgehogs, for example, was -a somewhat startling “find” to turn up in a swathe of -seaware that the advancing tide was slowly rolling up the shingle. One -was full-grown, a female; the other two, both males, were but half or -three parts grown. What <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb384" href= -"#pb384" name="pb384">384</a>]</span>brought them there? was the -natural question; for a hedgehog, dead or living, on the sea-shore -under high-water mark, is as odd and out-of-place an object as would be -a mackerel far up the hills amongst the heather. The following is -probably a satisfactory enough explanation of the -mystery:—Hedgehogs, which twenty years ago were quite unknown in -Lochaber, are now plentiful. A pair, captured on Lord Abinger’s -lands at Torlundy, were sent to us some dozen or fifteen years ago as a -great curiosity; and in this district then they were a curiosity, so -much so, that we can recollect that during the time they remained in -our possession as exceedingly tame and most interesting pets, people -from all parts of the country used to come in order to have a close -look at the black-snouted, spine-armoured hedge pigs, as Shakespeare -calls them, the <i lang="gd">graineag</i> or <i>repulsive</i> one of -the midland Highlanders of Athole and Strathspey, where the animal has -always been plentiful. They have now become so common in this district -that a hedgehog is no more accounted a rarity than is a stoat or a -weasel. Hedgehogs are fond of making their cozy nests of moss, grass -fibres, and fallen leaves, near the roots of trees and bushes growing -on the banks of rivers and mountain streams. These last have of late -been frequently swollen beyond their usual bounds by the heavy rains; -and in a spate of this kind poor Mrs. Hedgehog and her youngsters were -caught napping, and carried away by the torrent to the sea, and -ultimately cast ashore by the wind and waves, where we found them in -their winding-sheet of slimy sea-wrack, and for a moment wondered how -it came to pass that they lay there, like poor Ophelia, -“drown’d, drown’d.” One remarkable circumstance -connected with these drowned hedgehogs was this: we found to our -surprise that we could handle them with impunity; their spines, so -formidable in the living animal, being quite soft and gelatinous to -their very tips. This is by no means the case with the spines of such -hedgehogs as are killed by trap, or otherwise <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb385" href="#pb385" name="pb385">385</a>]</span>on -land. In this latter case the spines retain their point and -prickliness, as in the living animal, till in the process of decay they -separate from their sockets in the skin, and drop in brittle, broken -fragments to the ground. A question, then, for future investigation is -this,—Do the spines of <i>all</i> drowned hedgehogs lose their -prickliness and point, and become soft and gelatinous? If so, has fresh -water alone this effect, or is it necessary that the animal should be -some time immersed in salt water?</p> -<p>Within a short distance of the drowned hedgehogs, lay a large angler -or fishing-frog, the <i lang="la">Lophius piscatorius</i> of -ichthyologists, and a frequent waif on our shores after a gale. It had -evidently been caught by the storm in shallow water, and been beaten to -death by the weight and force of the waves, for it was in excellent -condition, and there was nothing to indicate death in any other way. -Why in this fish such a huge head, with its formidable array of -recurved teeth, and such a cavernous, capacious gullet, should be -joined to a body comparatively so diminutive, is a puzzle that has -never yet been satisfactorily solved; nor can we ourselves, up to this -present moment, advance even a plausible conjecture in explanation of -an anomaly that must have attracted the attention of thousands. The -disproportion between the immense head and the small and slender body -is as great as if you erected a porch lofty and wide enough to serve as -the main entrance to a cathedral, and vestibule to correspond, in order -to enter a dwelling consisting after all but of a single bedroom. Or, -to put it in another way, it is as if you built a large mill, with the -most powerful machinery possible, in order to grind sufficient meal for -the daily consumption of a single dyspeptic customer. <span class= -"corr" id="xd26e8320" title="Source: The-fishing frog">The -fishing-frog</span>, has, we believe, been of late successfully -introduced into more than one of our many aquaria, but we are not aware -that any satisfactory explanation of the difficulty which we are -considering has as yet been arrived at. A full and sufficient -explanation, however, you may be sure <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb386" href="#pb386" name="pb386">386</a>]</span>there must be, if we -only know enough of the animal’s economy to get at it.</p> -<p>But we must stop; for hark! an itinerant fiddler has this moment -struck up “Bob of Fettercairn” just in front of our study -window. He plays admirably too, lovingly caressing the polished base of -his instrument—his bread-winner, poor fellow—with his wan -and withered cheek, and wielding a powerful, yet light and delicate, -bow-hand; and we must go and have a crack with him. Nor must you sneer -at us for so doing, gracious reader. The arrival even of a peripatetic, -out-at-elbows fiddler is an event of some importance in such a place as -this on a cold, grey November afternoon. We shall order him a big bowl -of tea, with something to eat, satisfied that if in so doing we are not -entertaining an angel unawares (though there is no reason that we know -of why an angel should <i>not</i> appear in peripatetic fiddler guise, -as well as in any other form), we are at all events entertaining one -who by his appearance manifestly needs something warm and comfortable, -and a little rest by a cheerful fireside at this season, not forgetting -the while that he is a capital fiddler—of some intelligence, too, -and full of capital stories we warrant him. Depend upon it that Homer, -who was after all but an inspired <i>gaberlunzie</i>, has many a time -and oft appeared in quite as sorry a plight, and with as little -externally to recommend him as this same itinerant fiddler; and think -how proud and glad you and we should be to have a chance of -entertaining the blind old Chian, wandering ballad-singer as he was! -You must, therefore, let us have our way with this poor old man, who, -by the way, in not blind, but, on the contrary, has a good large dark -brown eye of his own, so common, we have noticed, in people musically -inclined, that it may be called the musical eye; and if he is all we -take him for, and he and we got on well together, you may perhaps hear -of him again. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb387" href="#pb387" name= -"pb387">387</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch60" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e895">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LX.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">A Trip to Glasgow—Kelvin Grove -Museum—Highland Association—A run to -Rothesay—Rothesay Aquarium.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">Favoured by the most splendid Christmas weather -[January 1878], piercingly cold, indeed, but beautifully bright and -clear, a run from Lochaber to Clydesdale on an agreeable errand is -exceedingly enjoyable. Our first day in Glasgow was devoted to the -Kelvin Grove Museum, which we had now an opportunity, for the first -time, of examining thoroughly and at leisure, and with which, as the -reader may believe, we were very much delighted. On handing our card to -Mr. Paton, the curator, we were received by himself and his assistant, -Mr. Campbell—the latter, of course, a Highlander—in the -friendliest manner; and a couple of hours were very pleasantly and -profitably spent in examining a really curious and valuable collection, -so admirably catalogued and arranged, that we believe we saw and -minutely studied everything to be seen as leisurely and satisfactorily -as was possible in the time at our disposal. Our friend Mr. Snowie, of -Inverness, had written us before leaving home that he was sending some -contributions to the museum, of which he begged us to undertake the -formal delivery, and see properly placed; and this of course we had -much pleasure in doing. These contributions are a valuable acquisition -to the museum, and are as follows:—(1.) Hoopoe (<i lang= -"la">Upupa epops</i>, Linn.), a female, in fine plumage, and admirably -set up. This bird was captured by the boys at the Inverness Reformatory -School, and dying, notwithstanding it received all the attention and -kindly <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb388" href="#pb388" name= -"pb388">388</a>]</span>care that could be bestowed upon it, it passed -into Mr. Snowie’s hands. (2.) Wild cat, stuffed, an excellent -specimen, with very prominent markings, trapped at Fasnakyle, on The -Chisholm’s estate. (3.) A <i>white</i> blackbird, and an albino -bunting, both shot by Mr. T. B. Snowie near Inverness. (4.) Snipe and -other marsh-bird skins, shot by the same. (5.) Two small hares -preserved in a bottle; taken out of an unusually large-sized female -shot at Dochfour in September 1875; a very interesting preparation. -(6.) Head of otter, trapped on the River Peffer in 1876. (7.) Owl -(<i lang="la">Strix flammea</i>, Linn.), shot in October 1877 by Mr. T. -B. Snowie. (8.) Egg of golden eagle; this last, perhaps, the most -welcome gift of all, as eagles’ eggs are now become so rare as -readily to command prices ranging from £5 to £10 each. -Attached to the museum proper there is a fresh-water aquarium. In one -of the tanks, in which several fine pike are “interned,” we -noticed that one of the largest, who advanced to the front of the tank, -in order to examine as closely as possible a slip of paper which we -were trailing along the glass by way of bait, had his muzzle, more -particularly the anterior part of the upper jaw, seriously disfigured -by a fungoid growth of jelly-like appearance; and calling the -curator’s attention to the fact, we made the remark that the poor -pike seemed too seriously diseased to live long. We were surprised when -told that the fish was none the worse for his fungoid moustache; that -it had been long in that way, and that all that was needed was an -occasional cleansing of the muzzle, as you would wipe away a clot of -jelly that had accidentally fallen on your knife-handle at dessert, and -the fish then seemed all right enough until it grew again to such a -size as to be an inconvenience.</p> -<p>Leaving the museum, we had but barely sufficient time for dress and -dinner before proceeding to take the chair at the Gathering of the -Clans in the City Hall, and a very splendid <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb389" href="#pb389" name="pb389">389</a>]</span>and -enthusiastic gathering it was. From floor to ceiling the huge building -was crammed, and as we took our seat and bowed in acknowledgment of the -truly Highland welcome that greeted us in the shape of round upon round -of loud and lusty cheers, we could not help feeling a little nervous -and out of sorts in realising the fact that we were for the moment -“the observed of all observers,” and, by the kind -partiality of the Highlanders of Glasgow, made to occupy a position of -which any one might well be proud. We were soon at our ease, however, -and found no difficulty in discharging our duties in connection with a -meeting which was from first to last, and in all its belongings, a -great success. The dancing was excellent; the singing could hardly have -been better; while the pipe music was of itself well worth going a much -longer distance to hear than that which separates Nether Lochaber from -the City Hall of Glasgow. No other living man, perhaps, can play reels -and strathspeys as Donald Macphee can play them; and we do not think we -ever heard anything more admirably played than was Malcolm -Macpherson’s <i>port mòr</i> or <i lang= -"gd">piobaireachd</i> proper, <i lang="gd">Fhuair mi pòg’s -laimh mo righ</i>, composed at Holyrood in 1745 by <i lang="gd">Ewen -Macdhomhnuil Bhuidhe</i>, a Macmillan from Glendessary and piper to -Lochiel, on seeing his chief kiss Charles Edward’s hand at a -levee held in the palace of his ancestors by that Prince a day or two -after the victory at Gladsmuir. Macpherson played this <i lang= -"gd">piobaireachd</i> so exquisitely that some of us felt our eyes grow -moist, and were in no wise ashamed of it, long ere he had reached the -difficult but beautifully managed fingering of the concluding -<i>urlar</i>. We have always had a warm regard for James Boswell, -Johnson’s biographer, for this amongst other reasons, that, on -his own confession, music frequently affected <i>him</i> as it affected -many of us on this occasion. “Sir,” growled Johnson, -“I should never hear it if it made me such a fool.” But -then a man, however great, cannot be everything; and Johnson was not -only not a Scotchman, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb390" href= -"#pb390" name="pb390">390</a>]</span>but the very antipodes of a -Scotchman—he was an Englishman, proud and prejudiced, and deaf -and dead as a stone to the charms of music, whether vocal or -instrumental. When at Sleat, in Skye, many years afterwards, he made -the confession that “he knew a drum from a trumpet, and a bagpipe -from a guitar, which was about the extent of his knowledge of -music.” We parted with our friends of the Highland Association on -the best terms; they were good-natured enough to say that they were -pleased with us; we certainly had every reason to be pleased with -<i>them</i>.</p> -<p>We were astir betimes next morning, in order to fulfil an engagement -undertaken at the request of some naturalist friends in London—a -visit, namely, to the Aquarium at Rothesay, an admirably conducted -institution, one of the best in the kingdom. We expected to see a great -deal that could not well fail to interest us, and we <i>did</i> see a -great deal that pleased us very much indeed; the best proof of which is -that after several hours’ wandering from tank to tank, it was -with a sigh of regret that our attention was called to the fact that it -was already time for us to put up our note-book and find our way as -quickly as possible to the pier, if we would overtake the -<i>Mountaineer</i> for Greenock, in order to reach Glasgow again that -evening. Of all the tanks, that which we lingered longest before, -perhaps, was that set apart for sea anemones, of which the collection -is exceedingly curious and interesting. All the specimens seemed -perfectly healthy and well-to-do, though, owing to the fact that the -afternoon had now become wet and dull, they were disinclined to display -their beauties in full. In another of the tanks, of which the most -distinguished inhabitant is a conger eel of a large size, we were much -amused with the conduct of a seven or eight pound cod, that seemed as -if he would willingly have spoken to us if he could. As soon as he -became aware of our presence, he came sailing out of a dark recess -behind a rocky promontory—a sort of Mull of Kintyre in -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb391" href="#pb391" name= -"pb391">391</a>]</span>miniature—which is his usual <i>howf</i>, -and advancing straight to the front of the tank, put his nose to the -glass, wagging his tail, and staring at us with an expression of -countenance so queer and comical, that it made us laugh outright. -“Well, Nether Lochaber, my boy,” he seemed inclined to say, -“how are you? This is all very fine, but on the word of a cod, -believe me that I’d far rather be cruising about the shores and -shallows of Loch Linnhe, down yonder in your own neighbourhood, than be -confined here from year’s end to year’s end, to be stared -at by a lot of people who may pretend some interest in me from a purely -scientific point of view, but who, between ourselves, if the truth were -known, never see me but they straightway think of how I should be -boiled and served with sauce. Only the other day, for instance, a lady -visitor from Glasgow asked one of the attendants what he thought might -be my weight, and if he was of opinion that a cod out of an aquarium -tank would be quite as good eating as one direct from the sea? When I -hear talk of that kind, it hurts my feelings, I can tell you.” -All this, and a great deal more, we fancied the cod would have said if -he could; and as we tapped the glass at his nose and bade him a -friendly good-bye, we almost persuaded ourselves that he responded with -a knowing wink, as with a single sweep of his tail he put about and -joined the conger in a brisk constitutional round and athwart the -tank—a tank so crystal clear, and clean and comfortable, as -indeed are all the tanks, that the inmates, abundantly and regularly -fed, ought to be happy enough, were it not that, like Sterne’s -starling, they probably find the great drawback on their happiness in -the fact that after all they are prisoners, that they can’t get -out. We were much delighted with the seal-house and its lively and -intelligent occupants. The shape of a seal’s head is sufficient -to convince the most careless observer that it must contain a great -deal of brains; while its full and lively eye bespeaks a high and -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb392" href="#pb392" name= -"pb392">392</a>]</span>active order of intelligence. Those at present -in the Rothesay Aquarium, three in number, are most interesting -animals, and almost as tame as lapdogs. It so happened that we entered -their house at a time when they were exceedingly active and lively, for -they were well aware that a large basket, which had just been carried -to the side of their tank, contained fresh fish of some kind or other -for their dinner; and they raced and leaped about in eager expectation -of the treat, for they were evidently hungry—always a good sign -of an aquarium inmate. The fish consisted of small flounders; and the -agility and graceful ease of the motions of these seals, as they dived -and dashed after a fish, which, while they were begging dog-like before -us at one end of the tank, we suddenly tossed to the other end, was so -admirable that we continued a long time to play at a sort of -pitch-and-toss game that was quite as agreeable to them as it could -possibly be interesting to us. We only ceased our part of the -performance when we thought that for the time they must have had -enough, the seal being probably as liable to indigestion as the result -of a surfeit as is any other animal. When, however, they found that -they had nothing more to expect from us, they showed their intelligence -and <i lang="fr">nous</i> by at once commencing to climb out of their -tank, at the very spot, too, where it was easiest of accomplishment, on -the side on which they knew the fish-basket was placed. What could they -now be after? was the question we asked ourselves. One after another -they got out and waddled along the pavement, awkwardly indeed, but as -quickly as they could, past us, keeping their big and beautiful eyes -steadily fixed on ours, till they reached the basket, and in a moment -each had seized a fish, with which he instantly tumbled heels-over-head -into the tank again at the point nearest him, evidently afraid that we -might try and intercept him, and deprive him of a <i lang="fr">bonne -bouche</i>, which all of them seemed perfectly well somehow to -understand they had no right to take in such <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb393" href="#pb393" name= -"pb393">393</a>]</span>reiving fashion. We noticed that when we threw a -fish into the tank, and one of them got hold of it, the other two -endeavoured to snatch it from him, and for the moment there was a wild -tumult and tumble, in which the water was lashed into foam. In this, -however, as far as we could judge, there was no manifestation of -anything like anger, or the slightest attempt to hurt or injure each -other. It was more like the rough and tumble play of children after a -ball, or something of that sort, which all may strongly desire to -possess, but which only one can have for the moment. <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb394" href="#pb394" name="pb394">394</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch61" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e906">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LXI.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Overland from Balluchulish to Oban on a ‘Pet -Day’ in February—Story of <i lang="gd">Clach -Ruric</i>—Castle Stalker: an Old Stronghold of the Stewarts of -Appin—James IV.—Charles -II.—Magpies—Dun-Mac-Uisneachan.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">With all their tendency, in their every reference to -the past, to become <i lang="la">laudatores temporis acti</i>, the -sturdy upholders of the superiority of all that <i>was</i>, in -comparison with anything and everything that <i>is</i>, our -weather-wise octogenarian friends here are all agreed that so -summer-like a February [1878] month they never knew before. It is true -that in making this admission they shake their heads sapiently, and -hint that no good can come of such an unnatural commingling of the -times and seasons. It will be well, they add, if before cuckoo day -(<i lang="gd">mun d’thig latha na cuaig</i>) we haven’t to -pay for it all in the shape of storm and cold at a time when these are -as unseasonable and out of place as is summer calm and summer sunshine -<i>now</i>. It was amusing to see these honest old croakers selecting -the coziest nooks <i lang="gd">air chùl gaoithe’s air -aodain gréine</i>, as the Fingalian tale has it,—that is, -at the back of the wind and in the face of the sun—and thoroughly -enjoying the calm and sunshine at the very moment that they would -impress upon us the unnaturalness and unseasonableness of it all. The -first fortnight of February was, indeed, wonderfully fine; from the -beginning of the month up to the evening of St. Valentine’s Day, -more like the close of April or early May than anything usually looked -for while the sun is still in <i>Aquarius</i>. Driving overland to Oban -on the 11th, and, by the ferries of Ballachulish, Shian, and Connel, a -very beautiful drive it is, hardly to be equalled elsewhere even in -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb395" href="#pb395" name= -"pb395">395</a>]</span>the West Highlands; the day was so bright, and -calm, and clear, that while mavis and merle, and hedge-accenter and -chaffinch greeted us from copse and hedgerow with their rich and mellow -song, the driver, sitting beside us, couldn’t help observing as -we passed by Appin House, “Na ’n robh chuag again a nis, -bha ’n samhradh fhein ann!” “If we had but the cuckoo -now, it would be summer its very self!” On the beach, a little -above high-water mark, just under Appin House, and within an easy -stone’s cast of the public road, there is an immense spherical -boulder of granite, to which there is attached a curious old story, -which invests with additional interest an object deserving enough of -attention for its own sake—for the sake, that is, of its huge -size and almost perfect spherical form, this latter peculiarity, in the -huge solid mass, making it the most remarkable thing of the kind on the -mainland, at least of the West Highlands. The story of the Appin House -boulder, or <i lang="gd">Clach Ruric</i> as it is called, is, dropping -minor and unessential details, to the following effect:—Long, -long ago a Prince of Lochlin or Scandinavia, with a formidable fleet of -war galleys, made a descent upon the Hebrides, killing and plundering -everywhere with a ruthlessness known only, even in those days of rude -lawlessness, to the Vikings of the north. Having thoroughly devastated -the islands, Ruric—for such was the Prince’s -name—steered for the mainland of Morven, and took up his -residence in the castle of Mearnaig, in Glensanda. In this stronghold, -the ruins of which still exist, he resolved to pass the winter, with -the intention of over-running and plundering the adjoining districts in -the spring, and afterwards sailing homewards in the calm of summer -seas, for his galleys were so deeply laden with booty that he feared to -encounter the turbulence of the North Sea at any other season. In the -early spring the cruel Northman was betimes astir, killing and -plundering with but little opposition throughout the districts of -Kingerloch, Sunart, and Ardgour, to the head of <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb396" href="#pb396" name= -"pb396">396</a>]</span>Lochiel. While of his numerous fleet a single -galley showed more than a foot and a span (<i lang="gd">troidh agus -rèis</i> were the words of the narrator) of gunwale unsubmerged, -Ruric was unsatisfied, and to complete his ill-gotten freight he -resolved on the plunder of the opposite district of Appin, the smoke of -whose dwellings could be seen, and the lowing of whose numerous herds -could be heard (when the summer morning was still and the Linnhe Loch -was calm) by the pirate prince from the battlements of the castle of -Mearnaig. One morning Ruric anchored his galleys in the Sound of Shuna, -and landing, erected his tents on the green knoll now occupied by Appin -House. With this spot as his head-quarters, it was his intention to -plunder the district north and south of him at his leisure, believing -that he would meet with as little opposition here as he had already met -with elsewhere. The inhabitants of Appin, however, were partly on their -guard, and determined to resist, and if possible chastise, the invader. -And first conveying their old men, women, and children, with their -flocks and herds, into the fastnesses of the upland glens, they -resolved to watch the movements of the Norsemen, ready to fall upon -them whenever a favourable opportunity should offer. That same night, -as some cattle herds, acting as scouts, were on the hill immediately -above the tents of the invaders, one of them directed the attention of -his companions to a huge granite boulder with so slight a hold of the -hill crest, that, with some little labour, it might be let loose at any -time—a terrible messenger of wrath—amongst the tents of the -enemy below, whose shouts of laughter at that moment, and snatches of -rude song, proved that they had feasted plentifully and had no -<span class="corr" id="xd26e8453" title= -"Source: apprehenson">apprehension</span> of immediate death or danger -in any form. After much labour, the herdsmen managed so to dig about -and undermine and loosen the boulder in its bed on the hill-face, that, -on a given signal, their united strength sufficed to tilt it headlong -over the steep, leaping and thundering on its terrible path. The -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb397" href="#pb397" name= -"pb397">397</a>]</span>largest trees in its course snapped before the -boulder like reeds: when it came into momentary contact with a rock, -the sparks flew heavenward as if from an exploded meteor! In a dozen of -bounds it reached the tents of the Norsemen, crushing, mangling, -grinding into pulp or powder (<i lang="gd">a pronnadh agus a -bruanadh</i>, are the Gaelic words) everything it touched, and finally -stopping where it now stands, to be long regarded by the people of the -district with a feeling akin to superstitious awe, and to be known by -the name of <i lang="gd">Clach Ruric</i>. In the morning, the Norsemen -could only know by the mangled fragments of their bodies that their -Prince, with his two sons, and many of those next to him in power, had -met with a terrible death. Before the Appin men could gather in -sufficient force to attack them, the Norsemen unmoored their galleys, -chanting the death-song of their chief as they unmoored, and set sail -for Lochlin, never more to trouble the mainland of the West Highlands -with their invasions. The venerable <i lang="gd">seanachie</i> from -whom we picked up this tradition, added that Castle <i>Cœfin</i>, -or Cyffin, in Lismore, is so called after a Danish prince of that name, -who also was connected with Ruric’s expedition, though in what -manner he was unable to say.</p> -<p>Not far from Clach Ruric, on an island rock in the entrance to the -Sound of Shuna, are the ruins of another castle, of a later date, -however, and more recent interest than can be attached to the many -strongholds of the Viking period perched on the rocks and promontories -of this part of the West Highlands. This is Castle Stalker, or, in the -language of the district itself, <i>Caisteal-an-Stalcaire</i>, the -Castle of the Falconer or Fowler. The small rock-island on which it is -built is <i>Sgeir-an-Sgairbh</i> (the sea-rock, or skerry of the -cormorant), from very early times the gathering cry at once and -<span class="corr" id="xd26e8478" title= -"Source: rendevous">rendezvous</span> of the Stewarts of Appin in all -their maritime expeditions. Castle Stalker dates from about the -beginning of the reign of James IV., for whose convenience and -accommodation, when, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb398" href="#pb398" -name="pb398">398</a>]</span>as frequently happened, he extended his -hunting expeditions to this district, it was built. Stewart of Appin, -who was a great favourite with the king, was appointed hereditary -keeper, and the castle continued in the possession of the family until, -about the year 1645, the Mac Ian Stewart of that date, in a moment of -drunken folly, made it over to his wily neighbour, Donald Campbell of -the Airds, receiving in return the handsome and adequate equivalent of -an eight-oared <i>birlinn</i>, or small wherry! Stewart, when sober, -would have gladly cancelled so manifestly one-sided a barter-bargain at -any sacrifice, but Campbell, having got possession, kept it; while the -disgraceful transaction so stung the pride of the Stewarts that they -practically deposed the <i>Baothaire</i> (the silly one), as they -nicknamed the chief, from his chieftainship, by unanimously electing -his cousins of Invernahyle and Ardsheal to be their leaders in the -subsequent wars of Montrose. For a short time during Montrose’s -ascendancy in the Highlands, and for a longer period towards the close -of the reign of Charles II., Castle Stalker was again in the possession -of the Stewarts; but at the Revolution the Campbells had it all their -own way; they repossessed themselves of the castle, and it has remained -theirs ever since. About forty years ago a gentleman of the family of -<i lang="gd">Ailein ’Ic Rob</i> of Appin, who had amassed a -considerable fortune in the West Indies, offered the then proprietor a -large sum for the bare rock and ruins of Castle Stalker, but the offer -was refused.</p> -<p>From the wooded knoll to the left, as we entered the village of -Portnacroish, we heard some notes that, harsh as they were, delighted -us, for we had not heard them for many years; and the reader will -perhaps smile when we confess delight in association with what was -neither more nor less than the chattering of a pair of magpies! Knowing -that it must be magpie chattering and nothing else, though the lively -confabulators were for the moment invisible, we got out of our -conveyance, and on reaching <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb399" href= -"#pb399" name="pb399">399</a>]</span>an open glade we got sight of a -pair of these beautiful birds perched on the topmost bough of an old -ash tree; and so busy were they in the discussion of what must have -been a matter of grave and immediate importance, that the usually shy -and wary birds did not notice our approach till we were quite close -upon them, when, with a scream of alarm and an indignant flirt of their -tails, they glided in graceful curve, rather than flew, over the tree -tops and disappeared. So rare has the magpie become in Lochaber and the -immediately surrounding districts, that a sight of a pair of these -handsome and sagacious birds delighted us exceedingly. We had little -difficulty in concluding that their lively chattering on that bright -and beautiful morning was about no less important a matter than the -propriety of at once putting their house in order and setting about the -labours of incubation. If there were any truth in popular superstition, -that particular day ought to have afterwards turned out a disagreeable -one to us; for had we not seen <i>two</i> magpies together, and what is -more, did we not go out of our way to see them, when we might have -easily passed on unseen of them, as they were invisible to us? In the -south of Scotland the old pyet rhyme is something like this—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“One’s joy,</p> -<p class="line">Two’s grief,</p> -<p class="line">Three a wedding,</p> -<p class="line">Four death.<span class="corr" id="xd26e8509" title= -"Source: ’">”</span></p> -</div> -<p class="first">In the old <i lang="gd">sgeulachd</i> the Gaelic rhyme -is of similar import—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Chunnaic mi pioghaid a’s dh-éirich -leam;</p> -<p class="line">Chunnaic mi dhà ’sgum b’iargain -iad;</p> -<p class="line">Chunnaic mi tri a’s b’aighearach mi;</p> -<p class="line">Ach ceithir ri’m linn chan iarrainn -iad.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">In our own case, on that particular occasion, the -superstition could not have been more completely falsified by the -event, for, maugre the magpies, our trip to Oban was in its every -circumstance as agreeable and pleasant as it could well be. What a pity -it is that <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb400" href="#pb400" name= -"pb400">400</a>]</span>these beautiful birds, whose favourite -residence, too, if they were only permitted to live in peace, is the -immediate vicinity of human dwellings, should be of such evil repute -that gamekeepers everywhere consider themselves justified in -accomplishing their utter destruction by every means in their power. -Their <i>utter</i> destruction we have said; and it is only as to their -total extirpation that we would venture on a word of expostulation with -gamekeepers and their employers. It is true that the magpie is an enemy -to winged game, being a cunning and persistent nest-robber, an adroiter -sucker of eggs than the proverbial “grandmother” herself. -That the gamekeeper should therefore dislike them is the most natural -thing in the world, and that, in gamekeeper’s own phrase, they -should “be kept down” is proper enough. But we cannot agree -that it is necessary that the bird should be utterly destroyed. Here -and there on a wide estate an occasional pair of magpies might surely -be tolerated for the sake of their beauty and amusingly lively manners, -and on the divine principle of “live and let live.” For our -own part, in approaching a gentleman’s residence, the sight of a -pair of these birds flitting about “the old ancestral elms” -always intensifies our respect for the place and the owner.</p> -<p>Crossing Loch Creran, by the Ferry of Shian, we are in -Benderloch—classic ground, and archæologically the most -interesting spot, perhaps, in all the West Highlands. “Everything -here is beautiful,” says Dr. Macculloch. “The distance -between the ferries of Shian and Connel is but five miles; but it is a -day’s journey for a wise man.” About half-way is -<i>Dùn-Mac-Uisneachain</i> (the Fort of the Son of -<i>Uisneach</i>), one of the most interesting of our vitrified forts, -<i>quâ</i> such, and supposed to be the Beregonium of Hector -Boethius, and the site of the still older Selma, the “Hall of -Swords” of Ossianic song. That it was a place of importance long -before the time of the Dalriad Scots seems very certain; and, leaving -Macpherson’s “Ossian” altogether out of the question, -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb401" href="#pb401" name= -"pb401">401</a>]</span>there occur in the old Fingalian ballads, and -tales of the Féinne, about the antiquity of which there has -never been dispute; numberless local references which seem in a very -remarkable manner to point to this spot as the principal stronghold in -Scotland (for they were of Ireland also) of the Fingalians at one -period, and that the most important, perhaps, in their history. Within -a short distance of Dun-Mac-Uisneachain, and commanding it, is a steep, -rocky eminence of considerable height, called Dunvallary or -Dunvallanry, the etymology of which may be <i lang= -"gd">Dùn-bhail’-n-righ</i>, the Fortified Place of the -King’s Town; or <i lang="gd">Dùn-bhail’ n -’fhrìth</i>, the Fort of the Town on the verge of the -Hunting Forest. Stretching away towards Connel and Loch Etive is the -wide moorland flat of Achnacree, which, with its numerous cairns, -Druidical circles, monoliths, and other relics of the olden time, may -very well be the ancient “plains of Lora;” Lora itself, -frequently mentioned in Ossianic poetry, and meaning <i>Luath -shruth</i>, the loud, swift current, <i>par excellence</i>, meeting us -face to face, so to speak, in the turbulently impetuous rapids of -Connel. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb402" href="#pb402" name= -"pb402">402</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch62" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e918">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LXII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Nest-building—Cunningham’s Objection to -Burns’ Song, “O were my Love yon Lilac -fair”—Birds and the Lilac-Tree—Rivalries of -Birds—Birds and the Poets—The Nightingale.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">A finer February month from first to last was never -known in the West Highlands. With an amount of sunshine that April -might be glad of, it was mild and open throughout; the sort of weather, -in short, that Thomson must have been dreaming about, when he invoked -the season of bursting bud and wildflower as “Gentle Spring, -ethereal mildness.” March [1878], too, has come in, not -lion-like, as the meteorological proverb would have it, but “like -a lamb,” as it is hoped it may continue and end. Everybody is now -astir, and “speed the plough” is the order of the day, as -well, indeed, it may, for the bud has already opened into leaf, and -primroses are plentiful—so plentiful that they may be gathered in -handfuls from the hazel copse and woodland glade. As for our wild-bird -friends, they are in ecstasies with it all, everywhere in full and -fluent song, and making love with an ardour and directness of purpose -that rarely fails of its reward. Nest-building, the most important and -serious labour of their lives, but a labour of love all the same, is -being rapidly proceeded with, the God-taught architects knowing not -only to labour, but <i>how best</i> to labour, frequently resting a -space to refresh themselves with song:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“<i>Song</i> sweetens toil, however rude the -sound,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">All at her work the village maiden sings;</p> -<p class="line">Nor while she turns the giddy wheel around,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Revolves the sad vicissitudes of -things.”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb403" href="#pb403" name= -"pb403">403</a>]</span></p> -<p>And while speaking of birds, this is, perhaps, the proper place to -refer to a paragraph that appeared recently:—</p> -<blockquote> -<p class="first">“<span class="sc">The Lilac Tree and -Birds.</span>—Burns has a song, ‘Oh, were my love yon lilac -fair,’ &c. Cunningham has remarked that Burns had made an -unhappy selection of a tree for sheltering his little bird; for the -feathered songsters are found to avoid the lilac when in flower, owing -to its peculiar smell. We confess we are not skilled enough in natural -history to attest the accuracy of Cunningham’s -assertion.”—Paterson’s <i>Burns</i>, vol. iii.</p> -</blockquote> -<p>Fully to appreciate Cunningham’s objection, it is proper that -we quote the song in full; but before doing so, it may be observed that -it is founded on an older version, of which the best lines are -retained, as is the case with not a few of Burns’ finest -love-songs. Writing to George Thomson in the summer of 1793, the poet -says—</p> -<p>“Do you know the following beautiful little fragment in -Witherspoon’s <i>Collection of Scots Songs</i>?—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“ ‘Oh, gin my love were yon red -rose,</p> -<p class="line">That grows upon the castle wa.’<span class="corr" -id="xd26e8607" title="Source: ’">”</span></p> -</div> -<p class="first">“This thought is inexpressibly beautiful, and -quite, so far as I know, original. It is too short for a song, else I -would forswear you altogether, unless you give it a place. I have often -tried to make a stanza to it, but in vain. After balancing myself for a -musing five minutes on the hind legs of my elbow-chair, I produced the -following. The verses are far inferior to the original, I frankly -confess; but if worthy of insertion at all, they might be first in -place; as every poet who knows anything of his trade will husband his -last thought for a concluding stroke:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">“Oh, were my love yon lilac fair,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Wi’ purple blossoms to the spring;</p> -<p class="line">And I a bird to shelter there,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">When wearied on my little wing.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb404" href="#pb404" name= -"pb404">404</a>]</span></p> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">How I wad mourn when it was torn</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">By autumn wild, and winter rude!</p> -<p class="line">But I wad sing on wanton wing</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">When youthfu’ May its bloom -renew’d.</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Oh, gin my love were yon red rose,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">That grows upon the castle wa’,</p> -<p class="line">And I mysel’ a drap o’ dew,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Into her bonnie breast to fa’!</p> -</div> -<div class="lg"> -<p class="line">Oh! there, beyond expression blest,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">I’d feast on beauty a’ the -night;</p> -<p class="line">Seal’d on her silk-saft faulds to rest,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Till fleyed awa’ by Phœbus’ -light.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<p class="first">Cunningham’s ornithological objection to the -song we believe to be well founded; and it is not a little to his -credit, as proving what a close and clear observer of the habits of our -song-birds he must have been, that he was the first, so far as we know, -to notice, how reluctant they are to have anything to do with the lilac -while in flower, though at other seasons they perch upon it as freely -as upon other shrubs. We are not as sure, however, that our song-birds -object to the lilac because of anything disagreeable to them in the -perfume of its flowers. Except in the case of some of the -<i>Raptores</i>, birds as a rule are neither acute nor delicate of -smell, our little song-birds least of all perhaps. We rather think the -reason of their dislike to it is to be found, partly at least, if not -wholly, in the fact that while it is in flower, its bark, particularly -along the smaller branches and twigs, is covered with a slimy secretion -or exudation at once viscid and acrid; and if there is one thing more -than another which our wild-birds unanimously and with all their hearts -detest, it is to have their legs or toes come in contact with anything -glutinous or “sticky.” Every bird-fancier knows how -uncomfortable and generally miserable is a bird just upon being taken -off a limed twig; not, observe, because he is a captive—thoughts -of <i>that</i> may trouble him afterwards—but immediately and in -the first instance because of the bird-lime about his toes. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb405" href="#pb405" name= -"pb405">405</a>]</span>The first thing, therefore, that the -bird-catcher does is to cleanse the captive’s feet and toes by -rubbing them gently between his finger and thumb with fine sand, and -afterwards washing them with water; an operation no sooner performed -and the bird restored to its cage, than it evinces its satisfaction at -being relieved from its state of intolerable discomfort in many little -ways that cannot well escape the notice of even the most unobservant. -We have known a newly captured chaffinch, placed in a cage directly on -being taken off the limed twig, and inadvertently left uncared for till -the evening, peck its toes until red flesh appeared, in his attempts to -rid them of the bird-lime attached to them. But whether the -song-bird’s dislike to the lilac when in flower be owing to its -perfume or to the disagreeably glutinous exudations of its bark in -early summer, or to both combined, it is simply the fact that such an -aversion exists; and Allan Cunningham’s objection to the lilac in -this connection is perfectly well founded. And even if this particular -objection had <i>not</i> been well founded, it would have been better, -we think, if Burns had selected some one or other of our native -flowering shrubs, such as the hawthorn, for example, rather than a -comparatively rare exotic like the lilac—rare now, and rarer -still a hundred years ago. If those who give any heed at all to these -matters will only consider the question, they will be ready, we think, -to confess that they never yet knew an instance of a bird’s nest -in a lilac tree. About our own place here, where the lilac grows to a -large size, and flowers splendidly, we ourselves have never known or -heard of such a thing. Within the shelter of every other tree and shrub -of any consequence about the place, we have known our song-bird friends -to build at some time or other—never once in the lilac, nor, it -may be added, in the fuchsia, which in the warm shelter of this genial -spot grows to the dimensions of a tree, all the year round too, without -the slightest petting or special protection of any kind, as hardy and -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb406" href="#pb406" name= -"pb406">406</a>]</span>self-reliantly as its companion hawthorns, -hollies, and hazels. The fuchsia is probably avoided for the same -reason as the lilac. It also exudes in spring and early summer a viscid -secretion almost as “sticky” and disagreeable, if you run -your hand along a twig, as that of the lilac itself; and, as we have -already said, anything of this kind is an utter abomination to the -<i>Insessores</i> or perchers, who are as particular about their feet -and toes as ever was dainty and delicate <i>belle</i> about the state -of her hands and fingers.</p> -<p>Such of our readers as care about these things, and have the -opportunity, may very profitably and pleasantly give an occasional -half-hour to the doings of our song-birds at this season. Their little -love quarrels and rivalries are very amusing. All this forenoon a pair -of cock chaffinches have been bickering and quarrelling after their -fashion along the hedgerows and amongst the trees immediately opposite -our study window. The <i lang="la">casus belli</i> is of course a -female, handsome and coy, and fully conscious, you may believe, of her -own value, who keeps flitting about at a little distance, proud and -pleased, doubtless, to be the object of rivalry between a pair of such -gay and lively chaffinch beaux. <i lang="la">Varium et mutabile</i>, -she has evidently great difficulty in making up her mind as to which of -the suitors she shall select; her state of indecision being probably -akin to that of the renowned Captain Macheath in the <i>Beggar’s -Opera</i>:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“How happy could I be with either,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">Were t’other dear charmer away!</p> -<p class="line">But while you thus tease me together,</p> -<p class="line xd26e978">To neither a word will I say.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">The rival birds are in their gayest spring plumage; -and when tired of mere vulgar scolding and abuse, they try to sing each -other down; and then it is that they are well worth not merely the -listening to, but the looking at. Directly opposite the gean-tree near -the top of which the lady chaffinch sits preening her feathers, -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb407" href="#pb407" name= -"pb407">407</a>]</span>and occasionally uttering a <i>twink-twink</i> -of self-admiration, is an aged hawthorn, on which the rivals select to -hold their tournament of song; and the energy and heart with which a -bird sings in such a case must be seen and quietly studied to be fully -appreciated. Swaying lightly each on his own bough, the rivals begin to -sing as if their very lives depended upon it; their throats swollen -almost to bursting; the feathers on their polls erected into a crest, -and their whole bodies tremulous to the very tips of the quill feathers -of their wings, as they pour forth a torrent of song so rapid, clear, -and loud, that all the other birds in the neighbourhood are for the -moment silent, as if they had purposely ceased their own aimless -melodies to listen to the impassioned strains of the competitors in the -thorn. Of human eloquence, Quintilian says, “<i lang="la">Pectus, -id est quod disertum facit</i>”—the heart (and not the -brain) is that which makes a man eloquent; and even more than of -eloquence, with all the might of its “winged words,” is the -same thing true of song. To be all it ought to be, and be at its best, -it must well up a living stream from the hot, impassioned heart; not -from the marble fountain of mere intellect, which, if always clear, is -not the less always cold. If ever song came, in Quintilian’s -phrase, direct <i lang="la">a pectore</i>—from the heart, it is -the song at this moment of the rival competitors in yonder thorn. It is -only when one has seen and studied a bird singing after this fashion -that the full force and meaning of a line in Gray’s <i>Ode to -Spring</i> can be understood and appreciated. Under the lens of a cold, -critical analysis, the line is sheer nonsense; in sight of the bird -itself, as at this moment, singing with all his might, heart and soul -in every note, its truth and beauty are at once apparent. The line is -this—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“The Attic <i>warbler pours her throat</i>,</p> -<p class="line">Responsive to the cuckoo’s note.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Had not the poet seen, and closely and intelligently -observed, a bird in the act of loud and excited song, he would never -have <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb408" href="#pb408" name= -"pb408">408</a>]</span>ventured on an assertion that at first sight -seems so curiously extravagant, that a warbler “<i>pours her -throat</i>.” It is to be observed, however, that the really -beautiful and expressive phrase is not original, but second-hand as -regards Gray. He borrows it from Pope, in whose <i>Essay on Man</i> -(Ep. iii.), published ten or a dozen years before Grays ode, occurs -this line—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Is it for thee the linnet <i>pours his -throat</i>?”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">But it is a pity to separate the line from its -context, and as the passage is not too well known, we may be pardoned -for quoting it:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Has God, thou fool! worked solely for thy -good,</p> -<p class="line">Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food?</p> -<p class="line">Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn,</p> -<p class="line">For him as kindly spread the flowery lawn;</p> -<p class="line">Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings?</p> -<p class="line">Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.</p> -<p class="line"><i>Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat?</i></p> -<p class="line">Loves of his own, and raptures swell the note.</p> -<p class="line">The bounding steed you pompously bestride</p> -<p class="line">Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride.</p> -<p class="line">Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain?</p> -<p class="line">The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain.</p> -<p class="line">Thine the full harvest of the golden year?</p> -<p class="line">Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer:</p> -<p class="line">The hog, that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call,</p> -<p class="line">Lives on the labours of this Lord of all.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">It will be seen that Gray makes his -nightingale—his “Attic warbler”—feminine, -“pours <i>her</i> throat,” while Pope, more correctly, -makes his linnet songster a mate, “pours <i>his</i> -throat;” and Pope who, indeed, from his habits of life, must have -known more about birds than Gray, is right, for it is the males of -song-birds that sing, and not the females. Milton makes the same -mistake as Gray, and adds to the blunder by saying that the nightingale -sings “the summer long,” which it does not. It is curious -that our English poets should so frequently err, as Gray did, in -attributing the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb409" href="#pb409" -name="pb409">409</a>]</span>melodies of song-birds to the females -instead of to the males. The explanation, we suppose, is that, as -amongst ourselves women as a rule are more musically inclined, and -usually have sweeter voices than men, even so the poets, knowing no -better, rashly conclude that the rule must hold good amongst song-birds -also. The very contrary, however, is the fact. It is the male bird that -always sings; the female attempts at song being extremely rare, and -when attempted always a failure, never for a moment to be compared with -the rich and long-sustained melodies of the male. Of all our -song-birds, the most frequently mentioned by the poets is, of course, -the nightingale, and almost invariably they make it a “she” -instead of a “he.” One of the finest passages in English -poetry is a reference to the nightingale in <i>The Lover’s -Melancholy</i> of the dramatist John Ford (d. 1639). We are fond of -reciting this passage when “i’ the vein” for such -things, but we always take the liberty of changing the -“she,” “hers,” and “her” of Ford, -into the “he,” “his,” and “him” of -ornithological fact. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb410" href="#pb410" -name="pb410">410</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch63" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href= -"#xd26e927">Contents</a>]</span> -<div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CHAPTER LXIII.</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">March Dust—Moons of -Mars—Planetoids—Occultation of <i>Alpha -Leonis</i>—Zodiacal Light—Snow Bunting—Old Gaelic -Ballad of “Deirdri:” Its Topography.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">If for the first few days March [1878] seemed inclined -to emulate the peaceful calm and sunshine of its predecessor, it very -suddenly assumed a more warlike aspect; a change came over the spirit -of its dream; it became boisterous and rude; snow, and sleet, and rain, -and storm battling in wild comminglement. It still continued what is -called “open” weather, however; there was no frost, no -razor-edged and biting winds, and vegetation was rather temporarily -checked than seriously hurt or hindered. After this wild burst, in -vindication, it is to be presumed, of the month’s right to be -called after the bellicose Mars, things slowly but steadily improved, -and the weather is now such as permits us to get on with our spring -work uninterruptedly and pleasantly enough. We have not yet, however, -had a sufficiency of the “March dust,” so proverbially -invaluable at seed-time; and nowhere perhaps so invaluable, so -absolutely essential indeed, in its proper season, as in the West -Highlands. The day, however, is now lengthening apace, and with a -bright warm sun overhead, and brisk north-easterly breezes, we shall -doubtless soon have dust enough and to spare.</p> -<p>Our reference to Mars the war-god, reminds us that Mars the planet, -with whose fiery effulgence every one is familiar, has recently had an -accession of dignity such as the old-world star-gazers never dreamt of -in connection with the ruddy orb. It is found to have at least two -attendant moons, small, and so exceedingly difficult of detection even -by the aid of the best instruments, <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb411" href="#pb411" name="pb411">411</a>]</span>that it is only under -the most favourable circumstances that they can be observed. It is more -than suspected that a third, and even a fourth satellite, exists, and -the planet will in consequence be subjected to the closest possible -scrutiny at all the observatories at home and abroad for some time to -come, in order to determine with certainty the number of its attendant -moons, and whether they be two or more, to decide their sidereal -revolutions, their diameters, masses, and inclinations of orbits. By -reason of his retinue of satellites, Mars is now exalted to equal -dignity with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; and by the discovery -another point is scored in favour of the nebular hypothesists. It was -on the night of the 1st January 1801 that the first of the planetoids, -<i>Ceres</i>, was discovered by Piazzi of Palermo. Next year Olbers of -Bremen discovered the second planetoid, <i>Pallas</i>, and so constant -and searching has been the scrutiny to which the planetoidal zone, -situated between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, has been subjected, -that the number of these minor worlds is now no less than 182, the last -three in the series, Nos. 180, 181, and 182, having been discovered -since the beginning of February last. Of these three, two were -discovered by French observers; the third by Professor Peters of -Hamilton College, U.S., America. This last, however, is suspected to be -only a rediscovery, so to speak; to be identical with <i>Antigone</i>, -discovered five years ago by the same indefatigable observer. If this -be so, the asteroidal series amounts at present date to 181. In favour -of the ingenious hypothesis that accounted for the existence of these -minor orbs by suggesting that they might be the fragments of a large -disrupted world—of a large planet rent asunder by some terrible -internal convulsion—a great deal could be said while the number -of fragments was under half a dozen or even double that number, but -when the fleet of orblets began to be counted by the score, the -disrupted world theory was dropped as no longer tenable in the -circumstances. The hypothesis <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb412" -href="#pb412" name="pb412">412</a>]</span>of Olbers, however—for -it originated with the discoverer of <i>Pallas</i>—led to a great -deal of curious research that resulted in no little gain to -astronomical science; and if it had to be given up as insufficient in -the case of a planetoidal zone, it left us a legacy that may yet be -turned to good account, that such a catastrophe, namely, as the -disruption of a planetary world into fragments that in the shape of -minor orbs would continue to revolve in orbits coincident with that of -the parent globe, is not only possible, but, under certain easily -enough conceivable circumstances, a probable enough occurrence.</p> -<p>Occultations by the moon of planets and first magnitude stars are -always interesting phenomena, and for many years we have rarely missed -observing such conjunctions as they became due, even if the hour was -otherwise inconvenient, if only the weather chanced to be favourable. -Last week there were two occultations, which for particular reasons we -were very anxious to observe, and as the weather was clear and bright -we had but little fear of disappointment. The stars to be occulted were -<i>Alpha</i> and <i>Delta</i> Leonis, the one on the night of the 16th, -the other on the night succeeding. <i>Alpha</i> Leonis is of the first -magnitude, distinguished, like some others of its class, from the mere -alphabetical order of stars by its proper name of <i>Regulus</i>. Up to -within a quarter of an hour of the computed moment of occultation or -disappearance of the star behind the moon’s disc, the sky was -clear; and as we stood at our post everything promised a highly -satisfactory and successful observation; but alas, as the moon and -star, in nautical phrase, were close aboard each other, a huge bank of -cloud, driven by a north-westerly breeze, swept over the scene, -effectually occulting moon and stars alike from the most penetrating -gaze. It was provoking enough, but there was no help for it. An -observer in our climate must make up his mind to frequent -disappointments of this kind. We were still in hopes that although the -immersion <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb413" href="#pb413" name= -"pb413">413</a>]</span>was thus hidden from us we might be more -fortunate in the case of the emersion—the reappearance, that -is—of the star on the moon’s western limb. But it was no -use. Two or three times, indeed, the moon shone forth for a minute or -two together from through an old cathedral porch-like rent in the -intervening wall of cloud, but only to be again obscured; and thus it -continued so tantalisingly promising, that we stood to our post until a -glance at the clock showed that the moment of emersion was already -past, and it was useless waiting or watching any longer. The great -object in closely watching these occultations is to observe, with all -possible certainty, if there is any distortion or momentary projection -on the moon’s disc of the planet or star occulted at the instant -of immersion and emersion, in order to decide if the moon has an -atmosphere or not. We have seen enough, we think, from our own -observations during the last five and twenty years, to lead us to the -conclusion that such distortion and projection is occasionally to be -seen, and that therefore, contrary to the general belief of -astronomers, a lunar atmosphere very probably exists, though it may be -of greatly less weight and density than our own. Looking over our -<span class="corr" id="xd26e8831" title= -"Source: astonomical">astronomical</span> note-book, we find that the -winter just past—let us hope that at this date we may so speak of -it—was remarkable for two things—the almost total absence, -namely, of auroral displays, and the exceeding brilliancy of the -zodiacal light. We have only two recorded instances of the occurrence -of the aurora borealis, both in December, and both but partial, faint, -and ill-defined. The zodiacal light, on the contrary, was remarkably -bright and noticeable on almost every evening in February and early -March, its apex reaching up to and beyond the Pleiades, and with an -outline clear and sharply defined as ever was sheaf of the brightest -auroral light. So noticeable was it on several occasions, that all the -people of the hamlet began to speak about it, and inquire what it could -mean, for its perfect quiescence, its appearance <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb414" href="#pb414" name= -"pb414">414</a>]</span>night after night in the same quarter of the -heavens, and the absence of anything like accompanying storms or aerial -disturbance, satisfied even them that it was not the <i>fir-chlis</i> -or “merry-dancers” as they used to know them. Let us assure -our Celtic readers that an attempt on our part to explain the nature of -the zodiacal light in <i>Gaelic</i> was no easy task; and if the truth -were known, we fear our prelection <i lang="la">quoad hoc</i> was a sad -failure.</p> -<p>We have received the following note from “A Constant -Reader:”—</p> -<blockquote> -<p class="first">“<span class="sc">Nether Lochaber.</span></p> -<p>“Sir—Would you kindly let us know, through the columns -of the <i>Inverness Courier</i>, the proper name of the accompanying -little bird, and what part of this country it is properly a native of. -It is never seen in Ross-shire but during very heavy snow, and then -they fly about in large flocks, and disappear again as soon as the snow -is gone.—I am, yours respectfully,</p> -<p>“<span class="sc">A Constant Reader</span>.”</p> -</blockquote> -<p>Neatly packed in a couple of lucifer match-boxes ingeniously -conjoined, the bird reached us, and the <i>locale</i> of its being shot -or captured we can only approximately indicate by the fact that the -package bore the post-mark “Garve.” There was no difficulty -in at once recognising the bird as the snow-fleck or snow bunting, the -<i lang="la">Emberiza nivalis</i> of Linnæus, a common enough -bird in early winter over the whole of Scotland. Although it has been -known to breed in Scotland, a few being found all the year round along -the summits of the Grampians, and other mountain ranges to the north -and north-west, it is probably a bird of considerably higher latitudes -than ours; visiting our shores as a migrant in October or November, -according as the winter is early and severe or otherwise, and leaving -us again in March or April. It is a hardy little bird, of plain and -rather sombre plumage, prettiest in the act of flight, when the white -on the edges and tips of the tail-feathers, and <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb415" href="#pb415" name= -"pb415">415</a>]</span>quills, and secondaries, comes out in pretty -bars, contrasting pleasantly with the dark and chestnut brown, which -may be said to be the prevailing colour. The snow-fleck has hardly any -song beyond a tremulous twittering, and a few call-notes so loud and -shrill that in the strange and solemn calm that sometimes precedes a -snow-storm, they may be heard at a great distance. Our correspondent -should have stated where, when, and how the bird was got, a knowledge -of such matters vastly enhancing the interest and value of a specimen, -especially if it has any claims to be accounted a <i lang="la">rara -avis</i>.</p> -<p>We are indebted to our excellent Celtic friend, Mr. William Mackay, -Inverness, for a copy of his exceedingly interesting monograph on -<i>The Glen and Castle of Urquhart</i>, one of the most interesting -spots in the Highlands. Mr. Mackay attempts to make Glen Urquhart -classic ground by associating the story of Dearduil and -Clann-Uisneachean, as related in the mediæval Gaelic ballads, -with the locality, by pointing out that there is a Dun <i>Dearduil</i> -in the neighbourhood—a place so called after the hapless heroine -of the ballad story. But in the old and unquestionably authentic -ballads her name is not Dearduil but <i>Deirdri</i>; <i>Deirdir</i> and -<i>Daordir</i>. Dearduil is a much later form of the name, not older, -Mr. J. F. Campbell hints, than the Darthula of “Ossian” -Macpherson. But there are other Dun Dearduils besides that referred to -by Mr. Mackay; one, for instance, near us in Glenevis; and it is to be -observed that all the places so called are vitrified forts. An old man -in our neighbourhood, one of our best <i>seannachies</i>, always speaks -of the Glenevis vitrified fort as Dun <i>Dearsail</i> or -<i>Dearsuil</i>, and this is probably the correct form of the term, -closely connecting it with <i>dears</i> and <i>dearsadh</i>, to shine, -a shining; to beam and be effulgently aglow like flame of <i>fire</i>. -Remembering that <i>all</i> the places so called present more or less -marked traces of vitrifaction, in the formation of which <i>fire</i> -and <i>flame</i>, on a large scale, must <span class="pagenum">[<a id= -"pb416" href="#pb416" name="pb416">416</a>]</span>have been the chief -and most remarkable agents, the name comes to have a fitting and -appropriate enough meeting, without the necessity of taking in the name -of Deirdri or Dearduil at all. Mr. Mackay next gives a translation of a -couple of quatrains from the oldest known version of the -Clann-Uisneachan ballad; that, namely, of the vellum manuscript in the -Advocates’ Library, bearing the date 1238, and quoted in the -Highland Society’s Report on <i>Ossian</i>:—</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line xd26e1751">“Beloved land, that eastern land,</p> -<p class="line xd26e3677">Alba, with its lakes;</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Oh, that I might not depart from it;</p> -<p class="line xd26e3677">But I go with <i>Naois</i>.</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Glen Urchain, O Glen Urchain,</p> -<p class="line">It was the straight glen of smooth ridges:</p> -<p class="line">Not more joyful was a man of his age</p> -<p class="line xd26e1751">Than Naois in Glen Urchain.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">Mr. Mackay will have it, of course, that this -“Glen-Urchain” is his Glen Urquhart. The Gaelic name of -Urquhart, however, is invariably a trisyllable; but this apart, the -Glen-<i>Urchain</i> of Mr. Mackay has no existence in the ballad from -which he professes to translate. The quatrain stands thus in the -original:—</p> -<div lang="gd" class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Mo chen Glen Urchaidh,</p> -<p class="line">Ba hedh in Glen direach dromchain;</p> -<p class="line">Uallcha feara aoisi</p> -<p class="line">Ma Naise an Glend Urchaidh.”</p> -</div> -<p class="first">It is Glen <i>Urchaidh</i>, observe, not -<i>Urchain</i>; the Glenurchay of Argyllshire, in short, not the Glen -Urquhart or Urchadan of Inverness-shire. This is further proved by the -context, the immediately preceding and succeeding stanzas, which speak -of Glen Mason and Glendaruel in Cowal; of Duntroon; of Innisstrynich on -Loch Awe; of Eite or Etive, &c. In so far, in short, as this story -of Clann-Uisneachan of Ireland has to do with Scotland, we find it -connected with Argyllshire, where indeed we should most naturally look -for it; and chiefly with Glen Etive and Loch <span class= -"pagenum">[<a id="pb417" href="#pb417" name= -"pb417">417</a>]</span>Etive, where we have Dun-Mhac-Uisneachan; -Grianan Dheirdir; Caoille Naois; Eilean Uisneachan, &c. &c. In -Argyllshire, too, it was that the Clann-Uisneachan ballads were -preserved till discovered and taken down from oral recitation by the -collectors. And if Dun-Dearduil and “Glen-Urchain” must be -given up as having no connection with the ballads in question, so would -it seem to follow that some other etymology than any connection with -the name of <i>Naois</i>, must be found for Loch <i>Ness</i>, -Inver<i>ness</i>, &c.</p> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="back"> -<div class="transcribernote"> -<h2 class="main">Colophon</h2> -<h3 class="main">Availability</h3> -<p class="first">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no -cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give -it away or re-use it under the terms of the <a class="seclink xd26e45" -title="External link" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/license" rel= -"license">Project Gutenberg License</a> included with this eBook or -online at <a class="seclink xd26e45" title="External link" href= -"https://www.gutenberg.org/" rel="home">www.gutenberg.org</a>.</p> -<p>This eBook is produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at <a class="exlink xd26e45" title="External link" href= -"http://www.pgdp.net/">www.pgdp.net</a>.</p> -<p>Scans for this book are available from the Internet Archive (copy -<a class="seclink xd26e45" title="External link" href= -"https://archive.org/details/netherlochaberna00stewiala">1</a>), as wel -as from the Biodiversity Libary (copy <a class="seclink xd26e45" title= -"External link" href= -"https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/title/22286#page/13/mode/1up">1</a>). -An alternative text version is available from <a class="exlink xd26e45" -title="External link" href= -"http://www.electricscotland.com/history/lochaber/">Electric -Scotland</a>.</p> -<h3 class="main">Metadata</h3> -<table class="colophonMetadata"> -<tr> -<td><b>Title:</b></td> -<td>Nether Lochaber: The Natural History, Legends, and Folk-lore of the -West Highlands</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Author:</b></td> -<td>Alexander Stewart</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Language:</b></td> -<td>English</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Original publication date:</b></td> -<td>1883</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Keywords:</b></td> -<td>Folklore</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td></td> -<td>Highlands</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td></td> -<td>Natural history</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td></td> -<td>Scotland</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -</table> -<h3>Catalog entries</h3> -<table class="catalogEntries"> -<tr> -<td>Related Library of Congress catalog page:</td> -<td><a href="https://lccn.loc.gov/03009671" class= -"seclink">03009671</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>Related WorldCat catalog page:</td> -<td><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4345913" class= -"seclink">4345913</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>Related Open Library catalog page (for source):</td> -<td><a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7050276M" class= -"seclink">OL7050276M</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>Related Open Library catalog page (for work):</td> -<td><a href="https://openlibrary.org/works/OL7875272W" class= -"seclink">OL7875272W</a></td> -</tr> -</table> -<h3 class="main">Revision History</h3> -<ul> -<li>2017-12-04 Started.</li> -</ul> -<h3 class="main">External References</h3> -<p>This Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. These -links may not work for you.</p> -<h3 class="main">Corrections</h3> -<p>The following corrections have been applied to the text:</p> -<table class="correctiontable" summary= -"Overview of corrections applied to the text."> -<tr> -<th>Page</th> -<th>Source</th> -<th>Correction</th> -<th>Edit distance</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e249">ix</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Sacra</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Sacræ</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e1853">31</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">back ground</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">background</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e2268">48</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">nèe</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">née</td> -<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e2344">54</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">.</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">,</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e2556">67</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">are are</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">are</td> -<td class="bottom">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e2564">68</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">his</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">is</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e2567">68</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">cange</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">change</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e2629">71</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Argdour</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Ardgour</td> -<td class="bottom">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e3101">93</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Fontainbleau</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Fontainebleau</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e3476">110</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">characterestic</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">characteristic</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e3589">119</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">‘</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">“</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e3782">126</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">?</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">.</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e4218">155</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">pensè</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">pense</td> -<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e4590">171</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">á</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">à</td> -<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e4655">174</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">astromomers</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">astronomers</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e5101">196</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">beuk</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">book</td> -<td class="bottom">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e5132">197</a>, -<a class="pageref" href="#xd26e8509">399</a>, <a class="pageref" href= -"#xd26e8607">403</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">’</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">”</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e5327">201</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">.</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e5505">207</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">S</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">’S</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e5614">212</a>, -<a class="pageref" href="#xd26e7240">290</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Not in source</i>]</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">”</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e5651">215</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">’</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">[<i>Deleted</i>]</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e6700">254</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">and and</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">and</td> -<td class="bottom">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e6706">254</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">murmers</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">murmurs</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e6962">271</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">becoming</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">become</td> -<td class="bottom">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e7608">320</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">a</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">à</td> -<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e7961">353</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">s</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">’s</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e8195">375</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Buachaill-Etive</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Buachaille-Etive</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e8320">385</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">The-fishing frog</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">The fishing-frog</td> -<td class="bottom">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e8453">396</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">apprehenson</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">apprehension</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e8478">397</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">rendevous</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">rendezvous</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd26e8831">413</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">astonomical</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">astronomical</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -</table> -<h3 class="main">Abbreviations</h3> -<p>Overview of abbreviations used.</p> -<table class="abbreviationtable" summary= -"Overview of abbreviations used."> -<tr> -<th>Abbreviation</th> -<th>Expansion</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="bottom">Ph. II., D.G. Hisp: et Ind: Rex.</td> -<td class="bottom">Philippus II, Dei gratia Hispaniarum et Indiarum -rex</td> -</tr> -</table> -</div> -</div> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nether Lochaber, by Alexander Stewart - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NETHER LOCHABER *** - -***** This file should be named 56157-h.htm or 56157-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/1/5/56157/ - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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