At Raasay, by good fortune, Macleod, so the chief of the clan is called,
was paying a visit, and by him we were invited to his seat at Dunvegan.
Raasay has a stout boat, built in Norway, in which, with six oars, he
conveyed us back to Sky. We landed at Port Re, so called, because James
the Fifth of Scotland, who had curiosity to visit the Islands, came into
it. The port is made by an inlet of the sea, deep and narrow, where a
ship lay waiting to dispeople Sky, by carrying the natives away to
America.
In coasting Sky, we passed by the cavern in which it was the custom, as
Martin relates, to catch birds in the night, by making a fire at the
entrance. This practice is disused; for the birds, as is known often to
happen, have changed their haunts.
Here we dined at a publick house, I believe the only inn of the island,
and having mounted our horses, travelled in the manner already described,
till we came to Kingsborough, a place distinguished by that name, because
the King lodged here when he landed at Port Re. We were entertained with
the usual hospitality by Mr. Macdonald and his lady, Flora Macdonald, a
name that will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be
virtues, mentioned with honour. She is a woman of middle stature, soft
features, gentle manners, and elegant presence.
In the morning we sent our horses round a promontory to meet us, and
spared ourselves part of the day's fatigue, by crossing an arm of the
sea. We had at last some difficulty in coming to Dunvegan; for our way
led over an extensive moor, where every step was to be taken with
caution, and we were often obliged to alight, because the ground could
not be trusted. In travelling this watery flat, I perceived that it had
a visible declivity, and might without much expence or difficulty be
drained. But difficulty and expence are relative terms, which have
different meanings in different places.
To Dunvegan we came, very willing to be at rest, and found our fatigue
amply recompensed by our reception. Lady Macleod, who had lived many
years in England, was newly come hither with her son and four daughters,
who knew all the arts of southern elegance, and all the modes of English
economy. Here therefore we settled, and did not spoil the present hour
with thoughts of departure.
Dunvegan is a rocky prominence, that juts out into a bay, on the west
side of Sky. The house, which is the principal seat of Macleod, is
partly old and partly modern; it is built upon the rock, and looks upon
the water. It forms two sides of a small square: on the third side is
the skeleton of a castle of unknown antiquity, supposed to have been a
Norwegian fortress, when the Danes were masters of the Islands. It is so
nearly entire, that it might have easily been made habitable, were there
not an ominous tradition in the family, that the owner shall not long
outlive the reparation. The grandfather of the present Laird, in
defiance of prediction, began the work, but desisted in a little time,
and applied his money to worse uses.
As the inhabitants of the Hebrides lived, for many ages, in continual
expectation of hostilities, the chief of every clan resided in a
fortress. This house was accessible only from the water, till the last
possessor opened an entrance by stairs upon the land.
They had formerly reason to be afraid, not only of declared wars and
authorized invaders, or of roving pirates, which, in the northern seas,
must have been very common; but of inroads and insults from rival clans,
who, in the plenitude of feudal independence, asked no leave of their
Sovereign to make war on one another. Sky has been ravaged by a feud
between the two mighty powers of Macdonald and Macleod. Macdonald having
married a Macleod upon some discontent dismissed her, perhaps because she
had brought him no children. Before the reign of James the Fifth, a
Highland Laird made a trial of his wife for a certain time, and if she
did not please him, he was then at liberty to send her away. This
however must always have offended, and Macleod resenting the injury,
whatever were its circumstances, declared, that the wedding had been
solemnized without a bonfire, but that the separation should be better
illuminated; and raising a little army, set fire to the territories of
Macdonald, who returned the visit, and prevailed.
Another story may show the disorderly state of insular neighbourhood. The
inhabitants of the Isle of Egg, meeting a boat manned by Macleods, tied
the crew hand and foot, and set them a-drift. Macleod landed upon Egg,
and demanded the offenders; but the inhabitants refusing to surrender
them, retreated to a cavern, into which they thought their enemies
unlikely to follow them. Macleod choked them with smoke, and left them
lying dead by families as they stood.
Here the violence of the weather confined us for some time, not at all to
our discontent or inconvenience. We would indeed very willingly have
visited the Islands, which might be seen from the house scattered in the
sea, and I was particularly desirous to have viewed Isay; but the storms
did not permit us to launch a boat, and we were condemned to listen in
idleness to the wind, except when we were better engaged by listening to
the ladies.
We had here more wind than waves, and suffered the severity of a tempest,
without enjoying its magnificence. The sea being broken by the multitude
of islands, does not roar with so much noise, nor beat the shore with
such foamy violence, as I have remarked on the coast of Sussex. Though,
while I was in the Hebrides, the wind was extremely turbulent, I never
saw very high billows.
The country about Dunvegan is rough and barren. There are no trees,
except in the orchard, which is a low sheltered spot surrounded with a
wall.
When this house was intended to sustain a siege, a well was made in the
court, by boring the rock downwards, till water was found, which though
so near to the sea, I have not heard mentioned as brackish, though it has
some hardness, or other qualities, which make it less fit for use; and
the family is now better supplied from a stream, which runs by the rock,
from two pleasing waterfalls.
Here we saw some traces of former manners, and heard some standing
traditions. In the house is kept an ox's horn, hollowed so as to hold
perhaps two quarts, which the heir of Macleod was expected to swallow at
one draught, as a test of his manhood, before he was permitted to bear
arms, or could claim a seat among the men. It is held that the return of
the Laird to Dunvegan, after any considerable absence, produces a
plentiful capture of herrings; and that, if any woman crosses the water
to the opposite Island, the herrings will desert the coast. Boetius
tells the same of some other place. This tradition is not uniform. Some
hold that no woman may pass, and others that none may pass but a Macleod.
Among other guests, which the hospitality of Dunvegan brought to the
table, a visit was paid by the Laird and Lady of a small island south of
Sky, of which the proper name is Muack, which signifies swine. It is
commonly called Muck, which the proprietor not liking, has endeavoured,
without effect, to change to Monk. It is usual to call gentlemen in
Scotland by the name of their possessions, as Raasay, Bernera, Loch Buy,
a practice necessary in countries inhabited by clans, where all that live
in the same territory have one name, and must be therefore discriminated
by some addition. This gentleman, whose name, I think, is Maclean,
should be regularly called Muck; but the appellation, which he thinks too
coarse for his Island, he would like still less for himself, and he is
therefore addressed by the title of, Isle of Muck.
This little Island, however it be named, is of considerable value. It is
two English miles long, and three quarters of a mile broad, and
consequently contains only nine hundred and sixty English acres. It is
chiefly arable. Half of this little dominion the Laird retains in his
own hand, and on the other half, live one hundred and sixty persons, who
pay their rent by exported corn. What rent they pay, we were not told,
and could not decently inquire. The proportion of the people to the land
is such, as the most fertile countries do not commonly maintain.
The Laird having all his people under his immediate view, seems to be
very attentive to their happiness. The devastation of the small-pox,
when it visits places where it comes seldom, is well known. He has
disarmed it of its terrour at Muack, by inoculating eighty of his people.
The expence was two shillings and sixpence a head. Many trades they
cannot have among them, but upon occasion, he fetches a smith from the
Isle of Egg, and has a tailor from the main land, six times a year. This
island well deserved to be seen, but the Laird's absence left us no
opportunity.
Every inhabited island has its appendant and subordinate islets. Muck,
however small, has yet others smaller about it, one of which has only
ground sufficient to afford pasture for three wethers.
At Dunvegan I had tasted lotus, and was in danger of forgetting that I
was ever to depart, till Mr. Boswell sagely reproached me with my
sluggishness and softness. I had no very forcible defence to make; and
we agreed to pursue our journey. Macleod accompanied us to Ulinish,
where we were entertained by the sheriff of the Island.