Chapter I: Front Matter

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.