IN THE HIGHLANDS,

Otago Witness, Issue 1895, 16 March 1888, Page 14

IN THE HIGHLANDS,

"REMINISCENCES OF ISLAY ; OR, HIGHLAND SCENES AND SKETCHES.

The following is a continuation of Mr W. N. Blair's interesting lecture on " Reminiscences of Islay," delivered before the Gaelic Society last month, and re-delivered at old Kiiox Church on Thursday last : —

Campbell of Islay was sometimes called " Shawficld," from his estates of that name in Lanarkshire. Ido not know whether this eif usion was composed under the conditions described by Martin. Referring to the bards of the Western Isles, he says :— " I must not omit to relate their way of study, which is very singular. They shut their doors and windows for a day's time, and lie on their backs with a stone upon their belly and plaids about their heads, and, their eyes being covered, they pump their brains for rhetorical encomiums or panegyric ; and indeed they furnish such a stile from this dark cell as is understood by very few." The historical " chunk of old red sandstone," applied in much the same way, had quite the contrary effect; but judging from the " stile as is understood by very few," one would be inclined to think that the modern editor follows his avocations on the model of the Celtic bard. As already remarked, the principal product of Islay is whisky. There are nine distilleries at work, producing a large quantity of the spirit, which finds its way to the four quarters of the globe, not excluding new Zealand. In the olden times distilling was a perfectly indigenous industry, all the raw materials being native to the soil ; but now most of the fuel and grain is imported; practically the island only contributes the peats that dry the malt, and tho peaty water from whence the whisky is distilled. Speaking of some of the western isles, Martin says that in consequence of the humidity of the climate the natives take frequent doses of a liquor called 11 Usquebaugh." The practice is more or less prevalent to this day ; still drunkenness is not a crying evil in the islands, and the man who indulges immoderately is as much looked down upon as in other parts of the country. In my day the retail price of whisky was 4d a gill, that is, about two and a-half glasses. The Newhaveu fishwife had another way of measuring this quantity: she said, "My mouth just hauds a gill." Martin refers to two kinds of .spirit that are not produced in our day; one is called " trebtarig," three times distilled, " strong and hoi "; and another " Usequebanghbaul," four times distilled. Two spoonfuls of the latter was a full dos>o for a statute si.lulb. Both these liquors were made from oats. Illicit distillation was not altogether unknown even in my day, although tho gangers were nearly ;:s plentiful as the Campbells. I have often scud the liquor and know a cave near Proaig where malting was carried on, but I never came across a "sma' still." There is a certain romance about

" The dews of Glen Sheerly That stream in the starlight when kings dinnajkon," But George IV's preference for " poi.oen " notwithstanding, the liquor is poor stuff when compared with the article that pays duty. The last of the Islay smugglers that I knew of was a worthy called Baldy Mhurachaid. When not in seeulsiou for his sins, he always brewed a wee drap at New Year time, just to keep up the traditions of the country. Under a rough exterior, Baldy had an independent^ spirit, he always carried a little oatmeal with him, and at his houses of call his only want was a porridge pot in which to prepare his frugal feed. Baldy has now gone where the gaugers cease from troubling, aud with him died out the race of smugglers whose habitat was the heather. The likeliest place to find a " sma' still " now is i» the heart of a busy town— seclusion in a crowd. Another notable product of Islay is black cattle— those beautiful aniniHl% all life and grace, that are painted by Rosa Bonheur. After red deer, they are perhaps the handsomest creatures in the British Ihks. What a fight ie was to ship them into the ferry boat at Portaskaig on the way to " Faa Kirk " ! What shouting and yelling and strong language ! But strong language in Gaelic is not nearly so objectionable as m English ; in fact, tho language of the Sassenach is resorted to when something particularly emphatic has to be s-,aid. With the exception of whisky, the niantJactures of Islay never rose above the class of do.nestic industries. Leather audlinenweremadoiusmallquautities,bothbeing very coarse ; but wooJlon cloth of good quality was extensively produced. In fact, most of the everyday clothing of aH classes was home-made. In many cases the w.ool was never off the farm till it left as a coat on the farmer's back. When complimented on his attire, Archie Crawford, tho well-known cattle c.Vover, said, " It a' grew on niysel'." Ido not ki ww a blither sight than three or four women sitth ig in a row in a Highland kitchen on a winter M'ght with spinning wheels before them. Tho hum of the wheel sings second to the chant of Hie spinner, and all the surrouudings are in harm r >ny with both. Before a waulk mill was established, tho cloth was fulled or thickened by beatuig with the feefc in a square box. A r.nmber of vomi.n s>at opposite each other in pairs and hi unmoral incessantly at the cloth. They kept t.me by singing " Agus ho mhorag"— one sung the verse and ail the others struck in with the choru* . The blows were heaviest with the full strengtho f the choir— a literal putting on of the pedals. I sr. m; this <-ong inacanoeon the Wanganui river, and the rhythm of the Highland womeu's feefc suited the stroke of the Maori paddles. At the dawn oi authentic history the Hebrides were under Scandinavian rule, which extended from the Isle of M.iv w the Orkneys. The Norsemen settled thr. idamU in much the same way a* we have <lone New inland. First they suit forth advurtvnw «vho dealt with the natives in the way thai; seemed good in each individual's eyes andaftenvanls a rernlar colony was planted ; the pcttlers following such of the peaceful arts as were permissible in those turbulent times. Tho jirincipal difference between the settlement- of tho two places is that the Anglo-Saxon buccaneer was a fe-v degrees less savage and violent than hi-; Scandinavian compeer. The aborigines against \?hojn the power of the Vikings was levelled are believed to have been Picts in the north, and J.visu Scots in the south. But even the Picts are supposed to hare, come originally from Irelanci via Islay. An old chronicle says : —

They (t.he Piets; passed away from us With the f oU'ndour of swiftness To dwell by valour Iv the land beyond lie. In thoae days dwelling by valour was the only sure tenure; Crown grants and sheepskins ol ail kinds being poor security when compared wtih a target of lough bull hide and a trusty phymore. From Barra, as hea.iqnarlcrs, the Norse pirates ssized the islands piecemeal, frying the smalles. first— as there was no general government to resist the invaders, the task was comparatively easy. These depn-da ions began towards the etux of the eighth century and continued for nearly 100 years, when the buccaneer policy merged into a more peaceful form of setlkruent. Independently of historical evidence, the extent, ot the Scandinavian aggression c.m be «sti.fi*i.ed

by the prevalence of Norse place names throughout the islands. Islay is full of them ; for example: Eorabus, Robolls, Nereby, Duibker, Skerrols, and Toradale. Many of these occur all over the northern islands and Norway; and Toradale, the last mentioned, occurs in Islay, Shetland, Orkney, and Iceland. According to Captain Thomcs and Mr Mac Lean, the Norse place names in Lewis are three-fourths of the whole, and in Islay one-third. This shows the extent of the Norwegian ilood and its depth at various places. Not only had it shoaled out considerably before reaching L>lay, but hero also it was met by the Celtic cross-current from Ireland. Like many other land transactions ancient and modern, the Norsemen did not always acquire their possessions by means universally recognised as straightforward. Dan O'Connell said that a coach-and-four could be driven through an act of Parliament. Magnus Barefoot, a Norwegian king, pulled a boat through a royal treaty. After one of those drawn battles so common ia the earlj days, the King of Scotland, Malcolm Caumore, agreed to leave Magnus in peaceable possession of all the islar.ds thit could be circumnavigated. If Malcolm's head was big, the Norseman's was long, and he circumvented "our brother of Scotland" by having his galley drawn across tho isthmus of Tarbet, and thereby converted Kin tyre into an island ; and it was so classed as an Island by the Scottish Government till the beginning of the 17th century. Robert Bruce also had his galley dragged across the Isthmus of Tarbet. He did this to fulfil a prophecy to the effect that Scotland would be free when a boat sailed round Kintyre. Like Alexander when he could not untie the Gordian knot, he cut it with his sword. It is now proposed to -cue a canal on tho track of the royal galleys. Kintyre will then be an island in fact as well as law, but whether it will bring greater freedom to the auld kingdom of Scotland than she now enjoys is an open question. Although their usual policy was aggression, the Norsemen are occasionally credited with having done service to the Islesmen. Once upon a time a great dragon — tfei£/uV— laid waste the whole of Islay. So dire was the scourge that only '' three smokes " appeared in the island. His lair was at a place called Imire-Cotohrard. I have often seen it, so the rest of the story must be true. A valiant Scandinavian, Prince Godred Crovan, r], itermined to &lay the monster, and laid his p\ nns accordingly. He anchored his ship in Ia ichindaal, and from it laid a causeway of b p ; ked barrels to the shore. He then took with bit i three horses which were placed at intervals :ilo sg the track, and on a fourth the doughty No rseman rode boldly to tbc dragon's den. Us. /ing made his presence known by throwing a spci vv, Godred galloped off at full spep/< with tho mwi ian in hot pursuit, like Tarn o' Shfintor and the; witches. Horse after horse was knocked up> and left behind to be devoured. In thus wto-i feting his appetite the dragon lost grouud, and" 1 ! only reached the .shore as Godred ru.tchuil his fi hip. The Beithir, nothing daunted, continue* 1 the pursuit on the spiked barrels, and perish cd miserably by the way. Tho last time 1 heard the legend was from an old woman in the Oa, a<si I she believed it so implicitly that no one could 1 aye the heart to express a doubt. The Scanrf™ avian rule continued with more or loss iutensrt\ ' till 1226, when the Western Lslcs were finally a* deil toScofclaudforauannualtribute. But long be-fc >re this a power had arisen in the nation. The nat'r •'c chief Somerled and his descendants multiple 1 and waxed strong, and ultimately asserted i oyal sway over the islauds, Islay being tbwr hea Iquartors. Those island potentates waged wa r or allied themselves v/iih Scotland and Norw ay as occasion offered — a triangular system of love and hate. Although Somerled, Thane of J Vrgyle, had a Scandinavian name, he came of O( Itic forbears. His first appearance in history is £ Jjhting with his future father-in-law, Olave tho Red, a Norwegian king. He got the best of it; t hat time, but Olave with his superior forces was />onnd to win in the long run. Sornerled therefore laid court tf- the kiny'o daughter, hoping thisivby to establish permanent peace. Whether ther o was love ia the question is a point on which history is silent. Somerled offered to on a certain expedition with Olave for the Kuerdon of the fair lady's band, but the Norseman did not consider the terms good enough. I-/.o w- quite-, willing to accept the services of the Ceit, bus not to givo the stipulated reward. Finding his offer refused, Somerled next suborned, a. follower of the king— one Maurice M'Neill. Maurice undertook to make up (he match. He bored holes in the king's galley and plugged tihem up with tallow. No sooner did the royal craft iret into rough water than she sprung ale ak. Olave in sore distress called to Somerled for assistance, but the island chief would not hold o ut a helping hand to tho king till he was promised the hand of the king's daughter; and thus the marriage settlements were concluded. Maurice , vfho was apparently the ship's carpenter, is the progenitor of the Maclntyres — perhaps 1-hn ancestor of John, who cheated the Laird of Islay in tho matter of the axe-handles. Somerled was the first of 10 Celtic kings, or lords, who held sway over the Western Isles. The third m the 'jno was " Donald of 151r.," from whom all that f oli.ow ed took their surname. The Macdonalds were, pee-eminently a warlike race, and they could fi *bi. equally well by sea and land, sj their'border.s ; gradually extended all along the west coast, of Scotland and well into the interior ; they nVo had possessions in the north of Ireland. Alt hough much given to rapine and pluiider, the 10 .'acuonalds were generally fair lighters, dealing blows rather than bribes; aud after a .specially successful raid, when plunder was plentiful, tb.e chiefs frequently gave a handsome grant to the church — an entry on the credit side in tb eir account with Heaven. They louiidoJ no less than 14 <-kn.psls in Islay rJoue. Apparently the y believed in this account keeping, fnr'Anmi'S the son of the last lord, having on a certain" occ-asit n robbed a church, his galleys' v.i -re swimped in returning from the expedition. He, however, expiated the offence by special acts of penitence and piety ; and having thus appeased the wrath of Heaven for past transgressions, he forthwith proceeded to transgress "anew. The last, appearance, ot th'i Scandinavians in Scotland wa- in Donald of Ibla's time, when Haco, at the request of the isliind chiefs, came to help them against the Kiug of Scotland. Haco was not the Pacran pirate that h? is usually called, out a peaceloving Christian princu, who cum., lortli 1o help the weak and oppressed; for the. Kinj; of Scotland was re illy I,h"y£<Tressor iv T.liese early H'j'uridean war;,. Neither was the battle of Largs the decisive victory that is clr.injed ior it; although the Norw^ians were jvpuKed^ with a loss of 000 men, the general result was 'in their favovi.*. Tlvjy je-.toved Arrun ami Bulo to the 'lu'iv chrlV, imC laid w.i.fe lh.; or.ncvv of Le:iooc. Audits Mol, son oi! Mncclor..:!dol * •-«!.», wa- o.i ILijo'b bine in. *hu war, ami the Norwegian ships were initkr his charge after the batik: of Lar^, v.ai-ii > u '~ raid on Lennox was carried out. Alexander, the next island lord, was ;il?o an p:.»:u;- of tho. Scottish King. H^ was conL.'oieii b.- r.iarri.ic:' with rhd Macdougalls, of L">rn,an-l ff>u<;ht against Bruce at th-j Pass of Awe, when thi- Mac-iou^U? got the King's brooch in exchange for thrvt cleft, skulls. Alexander's brother. Angus Og, was not, however, an enemy of the King. On the contrary, he sheltered and befriended Bruco in his exile, am] feught by his side all through the war by

which the independence of Scotland was secured, Angus is the original of Sir Walter Scott's « Lord of the Isles " :— The heir of mighty Somerled, Konald from many a hero sprung, The fair, the vaiiant, and the young.

Angus Og had 7000 or 8000 men with him at I Bannockburn, and in no small degree contributed to the success of the day. As recorded by Scott, the King, addressing Angus at the critical moment, said : One effort nrnre aud Scotland's free. Lord of the Isles my trust in thee Is firm as Ailsa Rock ; Hush on with Highland sword and targe. The Islesmeti heartily responded, and on that occasion at anyrate the English found to their cost that " an Iblayman is worse than the devil." The Macdonalda occupied the right flank of the royal army at Bannockburn, and in recognition of their achievements on that memorable day Bruce assigned to Angus and his descendants tbe same honourable post in perpetuity. Their right to this distinction was never denied or ' disregarded till Cullodon, when the Macdonalds were placed on the left. This offended their amour jwopre, aud they refused to fight ; and the refusal contributed as much to defeat as their prowess at Bannockburn had contributed to victory. As in duty bound, Bruce rewarded Angus liberally for his loyal assistance. Alexander, the hostile Lord of the Isles, was conquered and deposed, and Angus put in his place, with extended power and boundaries. Angus was equally fortunate in his matrimonial relations. He did not marry the Maid of Lorn on the field of Bauoekburn, which is a pure romance on the part of Scott, but a well-to-do Irish damsel, the daughter of a powerful chief of Ulster, called -O'Cathan or O'Kane. Her dowry was " seven score men out of every surname under O'Kane." In those days, when might alone was right, it would be difficult to find a lass with a more acceptable "tocher." About the time of Angus Og an effort \ras made to govern the Isles in peace. Macdonald had a council of sixteen, drawn from different ranks of the people, who sat with him at Island Tirlaggan in Islay. This council made and administered laws, and had the general conduct of the dominion. There wa 5J5 J also a judge or resident magistrate in each of the islands, "who decided minor causes subject to an appeal to the council. I do not, however, know that the rule of peace was a success. The bane of the Higlands iv all ages has been private and tiibal feuds and dissensions. With th'/ir warlike proclivities and prowess, the Highlanders would over and over again havo conquered and held the British Isles against all comers had they only possessed the simple property of cohesion. The world-renowned motto " Clanna rteiu Gaidheal a guaillibh achiele" ("Clans of the Gael shoulder to shoulder") was never applicable to the Highlanders as a nation, hence their decay and fall. The loyalty of Angus Og to the Crown of Scotlaud did not descend to his son John, who succeeded him, and who was the first legally constituted Lord of the Isles. John allied himself with England, aud for a long time worried the Scottish monarch. Peace was, however, restored after a while, and the turbulent Celt married the King's daughter,' n having divorced his first wife for the purpose. John was proud and haughty as well as turbulent. Before the royal alliance oame off', some of his friends tried to school him .is to his behaviour, saying that he would require to uucover his head in the King's presence. John demurred ou the ground that as all men reverenced him he could not bemean himself to reverence anybody else, and he solved the difficulty by throwing away his bonnet altogether. This island potentate was called " the good John of Isla " simply because he gave liberally to the church. Charity covereth a multitude of sins. The next two Lords of the Isles, Donald and Alexander, followed the fighting policy of their ancestors, and frequently went forth "to plunder and to ravish." Donald defeated the Royal troops in a pitched batfclo at a place in Aberdeenshire called Harlr.w, and on this account is best known as " Donald of Harlaw." Mr Maclean has sent me a copy of a charter of certain lands in Islay granted by Donald of Harlaw to one Brian Vicar Mackay. The charter is in Gaelic, but drawn up in the form usually adopted in English and Latin deeds. The tand, which comprises 12 well-known farms, was granted for services rendered to Macdonald and his father before him, and on condition that Brian should givo him yearly four cows fit for slaughter, or an equivalent m cash. Macdonald further bound himself and his heirs|" to the cud of the world " to defend and maintain these lands for Mackay, " together with their produce of sea and land." The hero of Harlaw signs the deed like a nobleman as he was, " McDombnaill." One of the witnesses also signs his own name, but four others sign with that well-known mark which is not an indication cl high literary attainments. In those days the sword was mightier than the pen. Donald of Harlaw had a brother called John Mor of Islay, who was the father of the famous Donald Balloch of Islay. Donald of Harlaw died before his son Alexander came of age, and the King of Scotland seized tho opportunity to sow dissension among the island chiefs. He scut one James Campbell with the olive branch *o John Mor and offered to confer on him the young heir's territories in return for his allegiance. But John would not be bribed, and the King's offer was unconditionally declined. Campbell then and there, without further parley, seized and killed John Mor. Finding that popular opinion was decidedly against him in the matter, the King ordered the murderer to be prosecuted. Campbell was accordingly tried, convicted, and executed, although he swore to the last that he had not exceeded his authority. Incensed at the murder of his iV.ther and thirsting for revenge, Donald Ballocb, though only 13 years of age, put himself ar the head of the clau aud defeated the King's army at Inverlochy. Although opposed by "a superior, well-disciplined force under the Earls of March and Caithncos and other notables, the. young Highland chief gained a complete victory. About 1000 of the Royal army were left dead on the field, while the Macdonalds' loss was only 27. Balloch is the original of Sir Walter Scott's Donald Dhu, and the famous pibroch refers to the gathering of the clan before the battle of Inverlochy : Conic as the winds come when forests are vended, Citme as the waves come when navies arn,ptrandecl, Fnsfpf come, faster come, faster and (aster. Gome va3s.il, page and groom, tenant and master. Fast fchev come, tasL they come, ace how they gather ; Widfi w?*ves the oigle plume.-, blended with heather ; Cast your plaids, draw yonr blades, forward each man.

setPibroch of Donuil Dhu knell for the onset. Thac onset is the Highland whirlwind of steel .uui cartan which has carried all before it on every field of battle from Bannockburn to TJ-ci-Kebir. (To he continued.)

Archibald Douglas, aged 71, was committed for trial at Waipu on charges or indecent assault on a young woman, aud of supplying a drug to procure abortion.

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