THE WESTERN ISLES

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 13, 16 January 1926, Page 17

THE WESTERN ISLES

"Behold the Hebrides!" By Alasflair Alpin MacGregor. Edinburgh : B. and W. Chambers. This is a book which it is impossible to criticise, and difficult to review. It may not be read with (Jeep, interest, by the many,;, but. those #ho' love" aatura I!,' vivid, and refresh'

ing prose; those who "still in dreams behold the Hebrides"; those who have never seen the Western Isles, and yet in whose veins is some trickle of wildgfcGaelic blood; these will read it with avidity. "Behold the Hebrides!" No better title could have been devised by Mr. MacGregor. One can liter- • ally "see" the people of these barren lands; see the peat gatherers and the reapers; feel sorrow at their many hardships, and rejoice in their few pleasures; and stand mutely gazing at such a scene as this:— There was a wonderful sunset across the water, and behind the purple mountains of Barvas; there was a stillness upon the sea, and in the .purpling the women from, the crofts around were busy in the harvest fields. And out to sea e*me the echo of many voices, and tEe laughter of many children, and the "swish of many scythes, and the sound of many whetstones. And through the cornfields dawdled many groups of brown and speckled hens, and across the stookdotted skyline one solitary shawlclad figure, with a sheaf under one arm and a sickle in her hand, moved against a deep sunset background. Then there are the Gaelic customs, superstitions, and traditions which have been on the one hand such hindrances to modern improvements on the islands, and on the other such factors in stamping the characters of the hardy Hebrideans. The persistence of old beliefs in the Isles seems almost incredible. Mr. MacGregor tells how the fishing boats are blessed before putting to sea to ensure a good harvest and a safe return, and how, if the wind changes its direction "when nearing the shore, there is no thought of attempting to land. He concludes:— In parts of the Hebrides superstition is so much a second nature with some people that everyday oc- , curences are recognised as the handiwork of the arch-fiend himself. A well-known and much-respected Islesman of my own acquaintance was returning home slightly under the influence of Highland dew, and fell asleep near a farm where a number of goats were kept. Some time afterwards he was radely awakened by a bearded billy-goat butting at him; and the poor man was discovered utterly -out of his wits, and conld not be convinced that the devil had not come to claim his own.

A particularly interesting chapter, is devoted to Dnnvegan, an ancient and historic castle on the misty isle of Skye, and which for more than ten centuries has been the residence of MacLeods of MaeLeod. Sir Walter Scott, Dr. Johnson, and Mr. Boswell all visited Dunyegan, where they saw the famous drinking cup referred to by Scott in "The Lord of the Isles." "Fill me the mighty cup," he ■aid, "Erst owned by royal Somerled." There vu atoovthil "faery flag," "the hinge on which MacLeod's fortune turns," and the silver-tipped horn of Bnairaidh Mor, mentioned by Burns. One could spend much time, in writing of the historic spots noted by the author, and of the many phases of Hebridean life he so vividly portrays, Mr! MaeGregor has known the island folk in war as well as peace, for during hostilities his platoon in the Seaforths was chiefly composed of Lewismen ("reputed the ,braySst and most reliable unit in the battalion"), and bis work shows an unusual retention of the enthusiastic idealism of youth together with tfie more mature perspective gained by war service. "Behold the Hebrides" has a-strong undercurrent of blent mysticism and "sea-fever," and must prove a moving reminder to those who "are far from the land," and an inspiration to their younger generation.