travellers’ tales, but it is certainly startling to realise how exactly
they describe the medicine-lore of our own ancestors, of which traces
survive amongst us even to this day. We know of several cases within
recent years when in the north of Scotland the skull of a suicide was
with great difficulty procured, and used as a drinking-cup for an
epileptic patient. Still surer was it deemed to reduce part of the skull
to powder and swallow it. Even the moss which grew on such skulls was
deemed a certain cure for divers diseases. In the official prescription
of the London College of Physicians, A.D. 1678, the _skull of a man who
has died violent death_, and the horn of a unicorn, appear as highly
approved medicines. In 1724 all human skulls are declared useful, and
multitudes were exported from Ireland to Germany for the manufacture of
a famous ointment.
Equally precious to the British leech of the last century were the ashes
of a burnt witch collected from her funeral-pyre. Such were deemed a
certain cure for gout or for fever, and eagerly were they gathered up
and treasured.
But just as the Chinese doctor sets most store by the animals imported
from foreign lands, so did our ancestors chiefly prize a preparation of
long-deceased Egyptians, or, as they were described among the standard
medicines quoted in the medical books of Nuremberg only two hundred
years ago, “The embalmed bodies of man’s flesh, called _mumia_, which
have been embalmed with costly salves and balsams, and smell strongly of
myrrh, aloes, and other fragrant things.”
The learned doctors of France, Germany, Italy, and Britain all made
great use of mummy, which was pronounced to be an infallible remedy for
many diseases. And so great was the demand for this ingredient, as to
lead to the establishment in Alexandria of a secret factory for
converting all manner of dead bodies into such profitable articles of
trade.
The apothecaries of England found an economical substitute in the bones
of ancient Britons. Thus Dr. Toope of Oxford, writing in 1685, tells
how, at the circles on Hakpen Hill, in Wiltshire, he had discovered a
rare lot of human bones—skeletons—arranged in circles, with the feet
towards the centre. He says, “The bones were large and nearly rotten,
but the teeth extream and wonderfully white.” Undisturbed by any qualms
of reverence for the ancestors of his race, he adds: “_I dug up many
bushells_ WITH WHICH I MADE A NOBLE MEDICINE!”
In truth, the human form divine received small veneration from the
philosophers of those days, when the bait most highly recommended for
the luring of fish was a compound of _man’s fat_, cat’s fat, heron’s
fat, powdered mummy, assafœtida, and various oils. In _The Angler’s Vade
Mecum_, published in 1681, it is stated that man’s fat for this purpose
could readily be obtained from the London chirurgeons concerned in
anatomy!
Referring to the little shops of the old Japanese apothecaries; the most
remarkable point of similarity between these and those of early English
druggists is suggested by the extensive use of calcined animal-matter,
recommended in the prescriptions which were most highly valued in
England before the Norman Conquest, and which are recorded in the
elaborate Saxon manuscripts, carefully preserved in our national
archives.
These “Leechdoms” are written in ancient black-letter characters, and
are curiously illustrated with pictures of the herbs and animals which
are recommended for medicinal use. From these it appears that upwards of
eight hundred years ago the Saxon hairdressers prevented the hair from
falling by applying a wash of dead bees burnt to ashes, and seethed in
oil with leaves of willow; but should hair be too thick, then must a
swallow be burnt to ashes, and these be sprinkled on the hair.
Wood ashes seethed in resin, or goat’s flesh or goat’s horn burnt to
ashes and “smudged on with water,” are recommended for any hard
swelling. For pain in the jowl, burn a swallow to dust, and mingle him
with field-bees’ honey, and give the man to eat frequently. For
erysipelas, failing a plaister of earthworms, take a swallow’s nest and
burn it, with its dung, rub it to dust, mingle with vinegar, and smear
therewith.
But, in truth, all animals were turned to good account in these Saxon
leechdoms, and the wolf seems to have been as highly esteemed as is the
tiger in Japan—a wolf’s head under the pillow was a pleasant cure for
sleeplessness, and the skull of a wolf, when burnt thoroughly and finely
powdered, would heal racking pains in the joints. An ointment made from
the right eye of a wolf was the best prescription the Saxon oculist
could command.
The bite of a mad dog might be cured by laying on the ashes of a swine’s
jaw; while the head of a mad dog, burnt to ashes and spread on the sore,
was a cure for cancer. The ashes of the elder-tree were applied in cases
of palsy, and imperfect sight was improved by an ointment of honey mixed
with the ashes of burnt periwinkles, always provided that certain mystic
words were uttered while gathering this plant (a wort which had special
power to counteract demoniacal possession).
Such “Leechdoms” as these were all very well in the tenth and eleventh
centuries; but it certainly is startling to find how little, if any,
advance medical science had made by the early part of the eighteenth
century, when the medical works most in repute contain numerous
prescriptions of animal substances, so inexpressibly loathsome as to
make it a matter of marvel how any one could be found either to prepare
them or to submit to their application. Salts of ammonia in the crudest
form were a favourite remedy for external or internal use.[89]
By far the least objectionable compounds were those prepared from
carbonised animals in the Japanese or early Saxon manner. We find the
ashes of burnt swallows and of their nests still in high favour for the
cure of dangerous sore-throats, and among the remedies for beautifying
the hair are enumerated, “burnt ashes of little froggs,” “ashes of bees
mixt with oyl,” ashes of goat’s dung, goat’s hoof, and cow’s dung, as
also the blood of a shell-crab. But a preparation of the burnt ashes of
swan’s bones, and the blood of a bat or a little frog, with the milk of
a bitch, is effectual for preventing the growth of hair.
For the disease called lethargie, the whole skin of a hare must be
burnt, also “the smoak of kid’s leather burnt, holden to the nose.” The
burnt hairs of the hare cures erysipelas, ashes of a hare burnt whole,
with ashes of burnt willow or ashes of the bark of the elm-tree cureth
scalding. The burnt hoofs of a cow or ankle-bones of a swine are the
cure for colic. For cancer, nothing better has been discovered than the
ashes of a dog’s head, or burnt human dung. As a valuable styptic to
staunch bleeding of the nose, burn the blood of the patient and snuff up
the powder thereof. Ashes of hen’s feathers burnt, and ashes of nettles
are also beneficial. So likewise were spiders pulverised, or a dried
toad worn round the neck. “Ashes of a burnt frog gleweth veins and
arteries and cures burning.”
The merit of these simple remedies was greatly enhanced by the use of
fine Latin names. Thus the most powerful known remedy in the treatment
of smallpox and dropsy, both for internal and external use, was a
preparation of powdered toad, administered under the name of _Pulvis
Æthiopicus_. In fact, the more nonsensical the remedy, the more need was
there for a high-sounding name!
We may well believe that for convenience sake many of these calcined
plants and animals were prepared at leisure, and stored, ready for use,
in cases of emergency. Consequently (though we can hardly flatter
ourselves that our ancestors were as exquisite in their neatness as the
Japanese) there is no doubt that the little druggist shops in Osaka gave
us a very fair notion of the surroundings, not only of an ancient Saxon
leech, but of the learned, Latin-quoting doctors of the last century, in
whose magician-like laboratories were stored earthenware jars of every
size containing the ashes of goat’s flesh, of dead bees, of wolf’s
skull, or swine’s jaw, of divers shell-fish, of worts and rinds without
number—nay, even of human skulls and bones. On the walls hung bunches of
dried herbs, and remains of birds and lizards, rats, moles, and such
small deer, together with skins of serpents, portions of mummies, horns
of stags, rhinoceros, narwhal, elephants’ tusks, and many another item
of the strange _materia medica_ of our own ancestors.
Nor need we at the beginning of the twentieth century (with all the
amazing progress made by medical science in the last fifty years)
pretend to have altogether extinguished faith in the old superlatively
nasty remedies. Certainly the simple ingredients are now generally so
refined as to be unrecognisable. Who that inhales the fragrance of _eau
de mille fleurs_ remembers that its principal ingredient is the drainage
of the cow-byre? or that the brilliant, transparent gelatine which
enfolds our bonbons is made from the sweepings of the slaughter-house?
But what I allude to is the survival of the old specifics as popular
folk-medicine, in use to this day among the peasantry in various
districts of Great Britain. The catalogue is almost endless, including
divers methods of applying black snails, eels’ blood, the hand of a dead
child or of a suicide, living spiders, hairy caterpillars, and other
strange remedies. For instance, there are places in England where the
country people still believe that the best specific for all complaints
of the human eye is to burn the flesh of a swallow and apply the ashes
to the part affected. The Japanese, who carefully prepared his dried
frogs, toads, and lizards, may learn with interest that the approved
treatment for scrofula at the present day in Devonshire is to dry the
hind leg of a toad and wear it round the neck in a silken bag, while for
rheumatism the toad must be burnt to ashes, and its dust, wrapped in
silk, is to be worn round the throat. Both in Cornwall and Northampton
poor toads are still made to do duty for the cure of nose-bleeding and
quinsy, while in various parts of England “toad-powder,” or even a live
toad or spider shut up in a box, is accounted a charm against contagion.
Frogs are well-nigh as valuable as toads to the sick poor. In
Aberdeenshire it is accounted a sure cure for sore eyes to lick the
bright eyes of a live frog, while the peasants of Donegal find wondrous
comfort in rubbing rheumatic limbs with dissolved frog’s spawn. It is
also believed in Ireland that the tongue which has licked a lizard all
over will thenceforth be endowed with a wondrous gift of healing
whatsoever it touches.
But it is when we come to the mystic serpent that we find the most
startling connection between the folk-medicine-lore of Britain and
Japan. Considering what insignificant little creatures are our British
snakes, it certainly is strange that they should be quite as highly
esteemed as are the great python-skins in the Chinese school of
medicine, wherein the skin of a white spotted snake is valued as the
most efficacious remedy for palsy, leprosy, and rheumatism.
Strange to say, in our old Gaelic legends there is a certain white snake
which receives unbounded reverence as the king of snakes; and another
legend tells of a nest containing six brown adders and _one pure white
one_, which latter, if it can be caught and boiled, confers wondrous
medical skill on the lucky man who tastes of the serpent broth.[90]
In some of the Hebridean Isles, notably that of Lewis, the greatest
faith prevails in the efficacy of water in which a so-called
serpent-stone has been dipped. Should such a charmed stone be
unobtainable, _the head of an adder may be tied to a string and dipped
in the water with equally good result_.
In Devonshire any person bitten by a viper is advised at once to kill
the creature, and rub the wound with its fat. I am told that this
practice has survived in some of the Northern States of America, where
the flesh of a rattlesnake, and especially its oil, are accounted the
best cures for its own bite. Some of the sturdy New Englanders even wear
a snake-skin round their neck, from a firm faith in its power of curing
rheumatism, a faith certainly carried by their fathers from Britain,
where the same remedy is still sometimes applied.
It is not many years since an old man used to sit on the steps of King’s
College Chapel, at Cambridge, and earn his living by exhibiting common
English snakes, and selling their cast-off sloughs to be bound round the
forehead and temples of persons suffering from headache—a valuable
remedy for overworked students!
In Durham an eel’s skin, worn as a garter round the naked leg, is
considered a preventive of cramp, while in Northumberland it is esteemed
the best bandage for a sprained limb.
So, too, in Sussex, the approved cure for a swollen neck is to draw a
snake nine times across the throat of the sufferer, after which
operation the snake is killed, and its skin is sewn in a piece of silk
and worn round the patient’s neck. Sometimes the snake is put in a
bottle, which is tightly corked and buried in the ground, and it is
expected that as the victim decays the swelling will subside.
This, however, relates to a different class of subject to that which has
led me into this long digression—namely the little drug-stores at Osaka,
with all their curious contents. I can only hope that, should these
pages ever meet the eye of my Japanese friend, he will acknowledge that
my interest in the medicine-lore of his ancestors was certainly
justifiable.
NOTE L
_Magazine Articles_
My first experience of writing a magazine article was in 1869, when I
sent a sketch of our “CAMP LIFE IN THE HIMALAYAS” to Dr. Norman Macleod,
who promptly inserted it in _Good Words_.
In subsequent years I contributed many papers to a great variety of
periodicals and newspapers, chiefly on topics which afterwards found a
place in my books of travel, such as one on “OILING THE WAVES,” which
appeared in the _Nineteenth Century_ for April 1882, and contained much
information gleaned from many sea-captains, seamen, and fishers on the
practical value of a very small amount of oil in preventing waves from
breaking in white crests, and so swamping vessels. So many cases were
quoted of ships which were undoubtedly saved by this simple safeguard,
that Lord Cottesloe called the attention of the House of Lords to the
paper, with the result that some small experiment by a lifeboat was
ordered, but the result was _nil_. The principal evidence on the subject
was reproduced in my book, _In the Hebrides_.
Of other oily papers I may mention one on “THE WORLD’S OIL SUPPLY,”
which appeared in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ in September 1884, and some
papers on “WASHING MADE EASY,” which told how some ingenious women in
New Zealand had discovered that by adding a little paraffin to the water
in which they were boiling their dirty linen all the dirt separated, and
scarcely involved any further trouble.
I was told that those papers attracted much attention; and it was
interesting to note how many new soaps straightway came into existence,
and have ever since been enormously advertised. But only one of them
gave any clue to the simple new ingredient to which they owe their
success, and of that one I have never seen a single advertisement,
therefore I have real pleasure in confiding to all my readers that it is
called “Evelyn’s Paraffin Soap,” made by Messrs. Ogston and Sons,
soap-makers, Aberdeen, and I consider it the best of any I know. (Of
course it will be said that this is an advertisement, but it is simply
the statement of a fact.)
In looking over a list of the subjects about which I wrote, not
connected with any of my books, I see that NOW they would be quite
commonplace; but they were by no means so at the time they were
written—as, for instance, my paper on cremation in the _Contemporary
Review_ for June 1883, “DE MORTUIS.”
So also in regard to a paper on “THE LEPER HOSPITALS OF BRITAIN,” which
appeared in _The Gentleman’s Magazine_, September 1884. The subject was
then so old as to be practically new to the current generation, so of
course it was pleasant to have been the one to disinter it. Rather a
curious thing occurred with regard to its publication. I had offered it
to one of the principal periodicals, which detained it for so many
months that I was satisfied that it had been accepted, and so I
abstained from asking troublesome questions. At length, however, I
ventured to do so, and my paper was at once returned to me, and at the
same time I observed that an article on the same subject was advertised
for the next number of the magazine in question. I at once despatched
mine to _The Gentleman’s Magazine_, and by the exceeding courtesy of
Messrs. Chatto and Windus (who at the very last moment managed to
postpone an article and insert mine), it was launched on the same day as
its rival. The similarity of the two was remarkable, all quotations
being identical.
A paper of specially curious interest, and for which I collected a great
number of very telling illustrations from ancient sculptures and from
modern life in many countries, was one to prove the evolution of the
tall pagoda from the original honorific umbrellas carried in procession
before or after a great man, not for use, but as a badge of rank. At
last, as in Burmah, seven or nine came to be placed above one another,
and so doubtless led to these silken umbrellas being reproduced in stone
erections of five, seven, nine, or even thirteen stories in height. This
paper, which I called “UMBRELLAS, AURIOLES, AND PAGODAS,” was published
in the June and July numbers of the _English Illustrated Magazine_ for
1888, and was very well received by the world which cares about such
matters.
Of some interest also were such papers as—
SOME EVENTFUL VOYAGES. _Blackwood’s Magazine_, March 1890.
WOLVES AND WERE-WOLVES. _Temple Bar_, November 1890.
UNFATHOMED MYSTERIES. (Spiritualism at Boston.) _Blackwood’s
Magazine_, May 1883.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND THEIR HOMES. _Blackwood’s Magazine_, April
1891.
PROFESSIONS FOR DOGS. _Blackwood’s Magazine_, November 1888.
STRANGE MEDICINES. _Nineteenth Century_, June 1887.
THE LOCUST WAR IN CYPRUS. _Nineteenth Century_, August 1883.
LOCUSTS AND FARMERS OF AMERICA. _Nineteenth Century_, January 1885.
THE WORLD’S WONDERLANDS. (In Wyoming and New Zealand.) _Overland
Monthly_, January 1885.
IN THE OLD MUNIMENT ROOM OF WOLLATON HALL. _New Review_, October and
December 1889.
OUR OLDEST COLONY, BOMBAY. _Macmillan’s Magazine_, January 1887.
SUNNY DAYS IN MALTA. _National Review_, September 1886.
OF FURRED AND FEATHERED FOES. (New Zealand.) _Gentleman’s Magazine_,
May 1882.
REVERED FOOTPRINTS. (Held sacred.) _Time_, July 1886.
FOOTPRINTS OF OLD. (Fossil and other.) _Sun_, March 1891.
PROPHECIES BY A HIGHLAND SEER. (Very remarkable facts in Ross-shire.)
_Belgravia_, September 1884.
A LEGEND OF INVERAWE AND TICONDEROGA. _Atlantic Monthly_, September
1884.
A NIGHT OF HORROR AT A HIGHLAND CASTLE. _Belgravia_, October 1886.
TWO BRITISH PILGRIMAGES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (to Iona and
Lindisfarne). _Cornhill Magazine_, August 1883.
STRIKING “ILE.” (Petroleum springs.) _Atalanta_, July 1889.
EARTH’S FIERY FOUNTAINS OF MOLTEN ROCK. _Atalanta._
EARTH’S BOILING FOUNTAINS. _Atalanta_, February and March 1888.
A FIERY FLOOD IN PENNSYLVANIA. _Atalanta_, August 1892.
DIVINING RODS, ANCIENT AND MODERN. _Quiver_, July 1887.
THE POSTMEN OF THE WORLD. _Cassell’s Family Magazine_, July and August
1885.
THE NEWSPAPERS OF THE WORLD. _Cassell’s Family Magazine_, August 1884.
ON CUTTLE-FISH AS A DAINTY DISH. _Cassell’s Family Magazine_, July
1883.
ON THE SOCIAL POSITION OF DIVERS ANIMALS. _Cassell’s Family Magazine_,
May 1887.
ALLIGATOR-FARMING. _Cassell’s Family Magazine_, June 1883.
DESTRUCTION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. _Good Words_, June 1884.
HOW MOTHER EARTH ROCKED HER CRADLE. (In Japan.) _Newberry House
Magazine_, July and August 1892.
REAL ESTATE IN VOLCANIC REGIONS. (Japan.) _Cornhill Magazine_,
February 1890.
VOLCANIC FROLICS. _Monthly Packet_, September 1886.
THE ERUPTION OF MOUNT TARAWERA. (Destruction of the Pink and White
Terraces, New Zealand.) _Leisure Hour_, October 1886.
THE ENDING OF THE CARNIVAL. (On the Riviera.) _Leisure Hour_, May
1887.
EARTHQUAKES IN DIVERS PLACES. _Leisure Hour_, June 1887.
THE GREAT YELLOW RIVER INUNDATION. _Leisure Hour_, March 1886.
THE HOME OF THE BLIZZARD. _Leisure Hour_, April 1888.
OUR BORROWED PLUMES. (Fine feathers make fine birds in many lands.)
_Leisure Hour_, August 1883.
THE HOT LAKES OF NEW ZEALAND. _Sunday at Home_, October and November
1886.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
INDEX
Abercromby, Louisa, Lady, 31.
Aberlour, 159.
—— Orphanage, 167.
Accident to my father, 124.
Adam’s Peak in Ceylon, 212.
Affectation, 33 and _note_.
Agnostic, 351, _note_.
Airthrie Castle, 151.
ALCOHOL, A DANGEROUS POISON—Evidence of Sir Andrew Clark, Sir William
Gull, Dr. Norman Kerr, Dr. Murchison, Dr. Alfred Carpenter, etc.,
462, 463.
Alexandria, 197.
Allahabad, 202.
Alma, The Battle of, 132.
ALNWICK CASTLE, 107, 141;
school for wood-carving, 142;
electric light even in dungeon, 146.
—— an Italian wedding, 143;
coming of age, 143.
ALTYRE, 1, 6, 53.
—— Gardens, 35.
Anaradhapura, 211.
Anglesea, Marquis of, 16.
Anstruther in Fife, 229.
Ant-hills, 46.
Any Soul to any Body, 377.
Applecross in Ross-shire, 206.
Apprentice, quaint agreement, 80.
Archbishop of Athens, 86.
Archery, Japan, 339.
Ard Patrick, Campbells of, 24.
Argyll, Duke of, 144, 214.
Arndilly, 159.
Ashburton, Lady, 108.
“As it is done in Heaven,” 453.
“At Last,” 378.
Atlantic Cable, 153.
Auchintoul, 207.
Australia, 218.
BADENOCH, Lords of, 1.
Badgers, “Inch-Brock,” 407.
Barnscleugh, 157.
Bass Rock, 123.
Bathing in Japan, 286, 310, 330, 382.
Batticaloa, Ceylon, 174.
Belhaven, Baron, 21, 157.
Ben Agan, 159.
Benares on the Ganges, 201.
Ben Rinnes, 159.
Birdsall House, 205, 206 _note_.
Birnie near Elgin, Culdee Church, 427.
Bishops of ARGYLL AND THE ISLES, Ewing, 33, 45, 156.
—— BRECHIN, Forbes, 31;
Jermyn, 33, 171 _note_, 207.
—— LONDON, Blomfield, 109.
—— MORAY AND ROSS, Eden, 158, 188, 191.
—— SAMOA, Elloi, 227.
Blind Chang of Manchuria, 362–364.
Bonnie Dundee at Duffus, 404.
Bothwell, Countess of, 85.
Boy nurses in Japan, 300.
Braille’s symbols adapted to Chinese, 355.
Brander, Mrs., 228.
Brechin, Forbes, Bishop of, 31.
Breechloaders, 117.
Bridge of Allan, 138.
Bridges, the lack of, 441.
Brief lives, 51.
Buddha’s tooth, 213.
Buddhist Pantheon, 275.
—— sects in Japan, 292.
Burghead, 69, 111, 402.
—— Burning the Clavie, 69.
Burning of New Testaments in Fiji, 224.
CADMAN, The Rev. William, 109.
Cadzow Park, 157.
Calcutta, 198.
California, 230.
Callum’s Hill, Crieff, Legend of, 376.
Campbell, Lady Charlotte, 15, 21;
her daughters, 15;
second marriage to Rev. Edward Bury, 19.
—— Lady Emma, 184.
Carbonised animal medicine, 297.
Castle Grant, 151.
Ceylon, first glimpse, 198.
—— two years in, 207.
Changes, 119.
Charleville, Countess of, 15.
“Chérie,” 43, 48, 103, 105.
Cherry blossom festival, 280.
CHILLINGHAM CASTLE, 107, 154.
—— cattle, 157.
Chrysanthemum shows, 283–286.
Circulating libraries in Japan, 253–263.
Clan Comyn or Cumming, 1.
—— Grant, last rising of, 161.
Claverhouse, 404.
Coaching days, 108, 440.
College House, Crieff, 371–375.
Compiègne, Life at, 154.
Comrie, village of, 192.
Comyn, The Red, 2.
CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY, 443–452.
Consumption, 155, 156.
Conway, Anne Seymour (the Hon. Mrs. John Damer), 102, 422.
Cornish estates, 26.
Cornwall, 209.
Coronach, The Chieftain’s, 189.
Cothall, 6.
Covesea cliffs, 56, 57 _note_.
Craig-Ellachie, 159.
Cremation, 244–252.
CRESSWELL HALL, 102;
old customs, 105, 141;
dialect, 112.
Cresswell, Captain William, 125, 132.
Crieff, 192, 370.
Crimean War, 125.
CRUELTY of telling irreverent, or merely funny stories about sacred
verses, 462 _note_.
Cryptomerias, 289, 313.
Crystal Palace of 1851, 115.
—— at Sydenham, opening ceremony, 127.
Culbyn Sandhills, 55, 387, 395, 398.
Cullen House, 164.
Cumming the Fair, Seventh Bishop of Iona, 13.
Cumming, varied spelling, 2.
CUMMING-BRUCE, 12.
—— Elma, Countess of Elgin, 12.
—— The Rev. Charles, 13.
“DAILY DOSE OF ALCOHOL, the cause of disease,” 463.
Dallas, 6, 70.
Darsie, Mrs., 229.
DEATH _of my mother_, 43;
_of my father_, 136;
_of Captain Cresswell_, 132;
_of Oswin Cresswell_, 147;
_of my sister Seymour Cresswell_, 156;
_of The Master of Grant_, 164;
_of Earl of Seafield_, 166;
_of my sister Alice_, 171;
_of my brother John_, 174;
_of Roualeyn_, 175–181;
_of Penrose_, 183–190;
_of my sister Ida_, 180;
_of my sister Eleanora and George Grant_, 193;
of my half-brother Frederick, 194 _note_;
of the Rev. Fred. and Mrs. Langham, 222–224.
Devie and Dorbach rivers, 53.
Doll festival in Japan, 301.
Dovecots, 73, 97, 98.
Drainie, 87.
—— Dr. Rose, minister of, reminiscence, 70;
his last service in St. Giles’, 434.
Druggists’ shops of old Japan and old England, 296–299.
Duffus Castle, 404, 408.
Dunbar of Northfield and Duffus, 28–30.
Dungeons at Gordonstoun, 74, 94–96.
Dunphail, 8;
old castle of, 9, 10.
Dunrobin, 87, 94.
Duthil, 165.
Dyer, Henry, 232.
Dysart, Countess of, 151.
EARTHQUAKES in Japan, 319–326.
Easter Elchies, 159;
leave, 192.
Easy reading for illiterate Chinese, 359.
Ecclesiastical Censures, 83, 84.
Eddystone Rock, 207.
Elgin, formerly a picturesque old town, 435;
very numerous malt-kilns, 436;
street lamps, 437;
condition of streets, 438;
water-supply, 439;
coals first imported, 439.
—— Church of St. Giles, 431;
seats apportioned, 432;
lighting, 433;
bells, 435.
—— Cathedral built, 427;
burnt, 428;
rebuilt but lead stripped by order of Privy Council, 428.
Election, bitterly contested, 163.
Empress Eugenie and Louis Napoleon, 154.
—— Haruku, 240, 335.
“Enemy of the Human Race,” by Sir Andrew Clark, 463.
FAUTONG, wadded quilt, 315.
Feudal sports revived, 337.
Figure 9 minus a tail!, 383.
Fiji, “At home in,” 216.
—— in 1903, 225.
Findhorn Bay, 395, 401.
—— river, 53.
First Book, 204.
“Fish,” 37, 39.
—— Festival in Japan, 300.
Five o’clock tea an innovation, 115.
Flower festivals in Japan, 276–286.
Flowers, favourite, 136, 156.
—— Camelia trees in Japan, 243.
—— useful selection and packing, 113.
—— wild, 88, 105, 113, 312.
Folklore anent foxes, 290.
Footprint held sacred, 212.
Forres and Elgin, 382.
Fort Augustus, 175.
Fortune-telling, 15.
Forty-seven Rônins, 277.
Fox-god, his shrines, 288.
—— demoniacal possession by, 290.
Fujiyama, 109;
ascent of, 307–330;
view from summit, 318.
Funeral, a double, 164.
—— pall, 76.
GALLOWS HILL, 7, 87.
Garratt, the Rev. Mr., 109.
Geologists at Altyre, 38.
George Gordon, prentice to Robt. Blaikwood, 80.
Gibraltar, 203.
Gipsies, 63, 64.
Glass-works, 82, 153.
Glenelg, Lord, 32, 160.
Glenlee, Lord, 30.
Goodenough, Commodore, 218.
“Goodwill and Blessing,” 400.
Gordon-Cumming, Major Frederick, Note, 194.
—— John, William, and Frank, 42.
—— Henry, 32, 33, 196.
—— Jane, Lady, 107, 196.
—— double surname, Gordon of Gordonstoun, Cumming of Altyre, 26, Note.
—— clan tartans, badges, and mottoes, 14.
GORDONSTOUN, 27, 56, 72.
—— charter-room, 77.
—— lairds of, 85–100.
—— library, 99, note.
—— great picture by Gavin Hamilton, 75.
—— Sir William Gordon’s will, 100.
Gordon Castle, ancient name, 72, 102.
Grant, Field-Marshal Sir Patrick, 161.
—— General Ulysses, 333, 334, 342–346.
Grant, George, 125, 140.
—— of Glen Morriston, 189.
—— Lodge, 162, 159 _note_.
GRANT OF GRANT, Lady Ann and Lady Penuel rouse the clan, 160.
—— —— Earls of Findlater and Seafield, 27, 28.
Grantown on Spey, 159.
Granville, Earl, 16, 18.
_Great Eastern_, s.s., 152.
Gregory, Mrs., 211.
Grey, Sir George, New Zealand, 221.
Gull’s Castle, 65.
Gunning, the three beauties, 20.
HAIR, offerings of, 291, 467;
court hairdressing in Japan, 241.
Hakoni Lake, 311.
Hamilton Gordon, the Hon. Lady, 216.
Handsome Hays, 124.
Hanlin Library burnt, 365.
Hara kiri, 178.
Hardwar on the Ganges, 201.
Harehope, 106, 140, 154.
Harford Battersby of Keswick, 130.
Havelock, Sir Arthur, 222.
Hawaiian Islands, 347.
Hell’s Hole, 63;
seven hells of Buddhism, 331.
Helston in Cornwall, 25.
Hill Murray, the Rev. William, 353;
inventions, 355, 359;
blindness, 368.
Himalayas, 200.
_Hindoo_, s.s., 207;
foundering of, 208.
Historic Festival, Japan, 336.
Hong Kong, 243.
Hooker, Sir Joseph, 350.
Hopeman, 57.
—— “Holy Well” of Brae-mou or Burn-mouth, 70, 416.
Hospitable days, 130.
Hunt, Alfred, R.A., 195.
IDOLS, how punished and rewarded, 303–306.
—— their intestines, 304.
Images under repair, 302.
IMMORTALITY, BY NATURE, NOT TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE, Archbishop Whately,
Martin Luther, Bishop Gore, W. E. Gladstone, 449, 450.
Impenitence, 110.
Imperial College of Engineering, 232.
India, Life in, 198.
Indian Mutiny, 155.
Inkerman, Battle of, 134.
Intercessory Prayer, 454.
Inventor of the numeral-type for China, 353–370.
Inveraray, 214.
INVERNESS Gathering, 131–151;
cathedral, 158.
Islay, Campbell of, 16, 18.
Ivy-leaves, their motto, 14.
JAPAN and China, 231–346;
cremation and earth-burial, 244–252.
_Jessica’s First Prayer_, 186 _note_.
Jin-riki-ya, 236.
Jupp, the Rev. Charles, 168.
KANDY in Ceylon, 211.
Kinsfolk, numerous, 5.
Kite-flying in Japan, 302.
Kobu-dai-Gakko, 232.
Kwan-non, Goddess of Mercy, 275–6, 296.
LADY’S Cruise on a French Man-of-War, 227.
Langford Brooke of the Mere, 16.
Langham, The Rev. Fred., 219, 222.
Larks in Moray, fewer, 393.
Le Hunte, Sir George Ruthven, 221.
Lennox, Lady Arthur, 16.
—— Lady Walter Gordon, 193.
Le Seignelay, 227.
Letters, old, 3, 40–43.
“Letters of horning,” 83, 84.
Liddill, The Honble. Misses, 154.
Liddon, Canon, 205.
Lindisfarne, 140.
—— Archdeacon of, 141–148.
Longfellow, 348.
Lord Lovat’s cold bath, 79.
—— Scouts, 78.
“Lords of Regality,” 405.
Lotus blossom festival, 282.
—— emblem of Buddha, 253.
Lucifer matches, a recent blessing, 433.
Lyndhurst in 1854, 129.
MACDOWAL GRANT of Arndilly, 167.
M‘Gregor, Sir William, 221.
Macleod, Dr. Norman, 107.
Madame de Staël, 103.
Magazine Articles, 477–480.
Malta, 197, 202.
Manchuria, first copy of the Bible, 361.
—— 25,000 staunch Christians, 362.
Mandarin dialects in China, 361.
Maple, scarlet foliage, 286.
Mar and Kellie, Earl of, 31.
Marianne North, Miss, 350.
Martyrs, the noble army of, 366.
Medicines, quaint, 96, 290 _note_, 310, 468–477.
Medwyn, Lord (Forbes of), 30.
Menzies of Menzies, Sir Robert, 28, 192.
MICHAEL KIRK, 44 _note_, 92, 137, 182, 188.
Middleton, Lord, 205.
—— Lady, 455.
Mikado, the, 234, 239, 335.
Minton, the Rev. Samuel, 205 _note_.
Mission to the Blind in China, 352.
_Montana_, s.s., 209.
Monto, or Shin-shiû, reformed Buddhism, 292–295.
Montebello, Duc de, 22.
Monument over 5000 pairs of Korean ears, 276.
Moray Floods, 49, 421.
—— fertility, 385.
—— province of, 381.
Morrison, Lady Mary, 19.
Moy, The Moy Aunts, 31.
—— my first journey, 34.
Murray, The Rev. Will. Hill, 353;
inventions, 355–359;
blindness, 368.
NAVVIES on Speyside, 167.
Noel Paton (Sir), 188.
“Nô,” or Mythological Plays, 271.
North, Miss Marianne, 350.
Northern Meeting, 131, 151.
Northumberland, 102, 105, 140.
—— Dukes of, 141, 144.
‘Not so bad as that,’ 437.
Notes of a Naturalist, 175 (Roualeyn).
Numeral-type for China, 353.
Nurses, my, 48.
OAK FORESTS (Burghead), 415.
Ochtertyre, “God’s-acre,” 193, 376.
Ogilvie, Grant of Grant, 193.
Old Nan, 48.
Old Red Sandstone fossils, 38–39.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, 348.
Opera, crude criticism of, 121.
Ossulston, Lady Olivia, 154.
Otomitonga Pass, Japan, 311.
Oysters and Lobsters, no more, 410.
PARENTAGE, 5.
Parkes, Sir Harry, 333–334.
Penrose of Penrose, Grace Pearce, 25.
—— 209.
“Pen’s sylvania,” 158.
Perthshire, kind neighbours, 192, 193.
Percy, Earl, 144.
Pibroch, the last, 187.
Pigeons, superstitions concerning, 97.
“Pigs” of jam, school stores, 115.
Pilgrims in Japan, 309.
Pillows in Japan, etc., 292.
Pit and gallows, 87.
Pitgaveny, 414, 419.
Pittyvaich, 33, 196.
Planting Forests, 52.
Plymouth, 207.
Poetic heroes in Japan, 276.
Pollanarua, 211.
Portfolios, a wearisome possession, 203, 213, 351.
—— of China, 352.
Portland, Dukes of, 92.
Posting, 40, 103.
Prayer, a remarkable answer to, 365.
—— Wheels, 253–266.
Primitive Plays, 272.
Prisons, as reformatories in Japan, 239.
Punishment of obdurate idols, 303.
QUIRANG, 194.
RABBITS in Morayshire, 388;
Protection Act, 393.
Raigmore, Mackintosh of, 28, 131.
Railway, first line completed in the north, 408 _note_.
—— Highland, 441.
Randolph’s Leap, 10.
Relugas, 10, 130.
Rheumatic Fever, 149.
Rheumatism, cure for, 149 _note_.
Rivers of Morayshire, 10.
Robinson (Clifford), 33.
Rosaries, 267–269, 309, 464–467.
Rose-isle, 6.
Roualeyn, 5, 36, 37, 42, 116–119, 152;
his name, 41.
Round Square, 73.
_Royal Albert_, launch of, 126.
Russell, Lord William, 16.
—— Sir George, 16.
—— Mrs. William, 124.
Ruthven, Mary Lady, 22.
Ruyter, 116, 119.
SACRED BOOK WHEELS, 253–266.
Salisbury system of diet, 149 _note_.
Salt superstitions, 252.
Samuel Pepys, 89.
Samurai of Japan, 236, 238.
Sandhills, 55, 387, 395.
Sandwich Isles, 347.
“Says Tweed to Till,” 107.
School-days, 108.
Sculpture Cave, 59, 68.
Seafield, Earls of, 151 _note_, 159.
Seals, 395.
Sebastopol, 133.
_Sequoia Gigantea_, 230.
Sergison of Cuckfield Park, 191, 195.
Seventy-eighth Highlanders’ Welcome Home, 169.
Shawfield, Campbell of, 16, 18.
Shinto Worship, 270, 313.
Siege of the Legations, 367.
Simla, 200.
Sinclair, Jamie, Prince Worenzow’s Crimean gardener, 36.
Singapore, 217.
Sir Robert’s Stable, 66, 93.
Skipness, Campbells of, 24, 157.
Skye, Isle of, 194.
Slaginnan, Legend of, 9.
Sligachan in Skye, 194.
Smugglers, 67.
Social drinking customs, 461.
“Spate” on the Findhorn, 39.
Spey river, 159, 384.
Spiritualism, at Boston, 349.
Sporting trophies dispersed, 174 _note_.
Sportsman’s paradise, 407.
Sportsmen, true, 42, 117, 173.
Spurgeon, 152.
Spynie, Loch of, 87, 384, 403.
—— Lord, title created, 424;
killed, 425.
—— Palace of, 384, 406, 413, 427.
Squirrel foes, 389–392.
Stanmore, Lord, 216.
Star-grass, 413.
Starlings in Moray, 393.
—— in Banff, 393.
Straw shoes, 329.
Stuart, Randolph, 9.
—— Alexander, Wolf of Badenoch, 9, 379.
St. Columba, Legend of, 376.
St. Margaret’s College, Crieff, _now_ College House, 373.
St. Quintin, Geoffrey, 193.
Sutherland, Earls of, 85, 87.
—— Duchess of, 124.
Sutledge river, 201.
Sutors of Cromarty, 60.
Swans, wild, 384, 395, 407, 412.
Sydney, 218.
TANKERVILLE, Earl, 157.
Tarbat, Viscount, 81.
TEETOTALERS IN JUDEA, COMMENDED, 464.
“The Lion Hunter,” 42, 116.
The _Te Deum_, 366.
Theatres in Japan, 270–274.
—— at Trincomalee, 272.
Titaua, 228.
Tonga, Taheiti, and Samoa, 227, 230.
TOTAL ABSTINENCE made difficult, 461.
—— commended by wise physicians, 462, 463.
—— commended in the Bible, 464.
Travel, wearisome, 13, 46, 86, 103, 170.
Trespass, 95.
Triangular Shadow of Adam’s Peak, 212.
—— of Fujiyama, 317.
Tulli Duvie (Relugas), 10 _note_.
Ugadale, Macneal of, 24.
Uxbridge, Countess of, 16, 102.
VANISHED WATERS, 383, 403.
Varna Bay, 133.
Volcanic activity in Japan, 319–326.
Von Hügel, Baron Anatole, 227.
Voyages, my first, 111, 123.
WAR-CRY of the Grants, 159.
Warkworth, Lord, coming of age, 144.
Wasp’s nests, 46.
WEDDINGS, my sisters: Seymour, 192;
Eleanora, 141;
Ida, 134;
Emilia, 191;
my brother William, 193.
Wemyss, Earl of, 21.
Wheels, sacred symbols, 260.
—— for images, 265.
White terraces, New Zealand, 221.
—— wild cattle, 157.
Wig, cost of a, 386 _note_.
“Wild men and wild beasts,” 155.
Willoughby, 205 _note_.
—— The Hon. Mrs., 454.
Winchester College, founder’s kin, 14.
Window-tax, 73, 99.
Winthrop, Mrs., 348.
Winton Castle, 22.
Wishaw, 157.
Wistaria blossom, 281.
Witch-burning, 91.
Wizard, Sir Robert, 89–92.
Woodhorne Church, 148, 156, 171.
Wood-pigeons in Moray, 392.
Wolf of Badenoch, Alexander Stuart, 9, 379.
Wollaton Hall, 206 _note_.
Worcester, climb the beacon, 150.
Worship by machinery, 253–269, and 464–467.
YEDDO, 235.
ZURICK, marriage at, 15.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
-----
Footnote 1:
See Notes A and D in Appendix.
Footnote 2:
Sir Thomas Dick Lauder owned Relugas (formerly called Tulli Duvie) by
right of his marriage with its heiress, Miss Cumming.
Footnote 3:
Truly, it is flesh!
Footnote 4:
In the very popular _Memoirs of a Highland Lady_ (Miss Grant of
Rothiemurchus), there are on pp. 284–5 and 387 some statements and
misstatements, which should be read by the light of pp. 163–4—namely
the author’s own reference to Sir William’s fleeting attraction to
herself in his early days.
No shadow ever marred the perfect love and happiness of this noble
couple. The wonderfully gifted and beautiful woman was justly idolised
by her husband and very large family, as well as by a wide outer
circle, rich and poor.
Footnote 5:
In the magnificent Church of the old Knights of St. John in Malta,
there is a beautiful monument to his memory.
Footnote 6:
So many misstatements have been unscrupulously published concerning
these beauties, that I may be forgiven for quoting a few paragraphs
from an excellent article on “THE BEAUTIFUL MISSES GUNNING,” which
appeared in the _Cornhill Magazine_ for 1867.
“The Gunnings were a branch of an old English family, which had
settled in Ireland in the reign of James I., their estate being Castle
Coote, in Roscommon.
“In 1731, Mr. Gunning married the Honourable Bridget Bourke, daughter
of Lord Mayo—‘a lady of most elegant figure.’ In the two following
years were born their daughters Maria and Elizabeth. At this time they
were living at Hemingford Gray, in Huntingdonshire, but on the death
of Mr. Gunning’s father, the family was transplanted to the wilds of
Connaught, where two other beautiful daughters and a son were born.
One of these daughters died as a child. Kitty married Mr. Travers in
Ireland. The son distinguished himself in the American war, and became
a General and K.C.B.
“In 1748, the family removed to Dublin, and (at the ages of fifteen
and sixteen) the beauties appeared at the Vice-Regal Court, Lord
Harrington being Lord Lieutenant.
“In 1750, they removed to London, and were presented at Court.
Thenceforward they carried society by storm. Horace Walpole declared
of ‘those goddesses’ that ‘they make more noise than any of their
predecessors since the days of Helen of Troy.’ They could not walk in
the parks on account of the crowds that surrounded them in sheer
admiration. When travelling through the country, crowds lined the
roads to gaze at them, and hundreds of people stayed up all night
round the inns where they halted, on the chance of getting a peep at
them in the morning. Imagine a shoemaker realising three guineas in
one day by the exhibition, at a penny a head, of one of their shoes!
“In February 1752, Elizabeth married the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon.
When she next appeared at Court, the excitement was so great that the
highest ladies in the land climbed on chairs and tables to look at
her. Her marriage with this proud but dissipated duke was not very
happy. He died in 1758.
“At five-and-twenty she was handsomer than ever. The Duke of
Bridgewater was among her suitors, and it was after her refusal that
he devoted himself to the making of the Bridgewater Canal and other
useful public works.
“In March 1759, she married Lord John Campbell, afterwards Duke of
Argyll. After her second marriage she almost entirely disappeared from
the fashionable world.
“In 1760, she was created Baroness Hamilton of Hambeldon, in
Leicestershire. She was then in attendance upon Queen Charlotte. She
died in 1790, aged fifty-seven.”
Footnote 7:
My happy memories of Machrihanish Bay were recorded in my first book,
_In the Hebrides_, published by Chatto and Windus.
Footnote 8:
Quoted in the aforesaid book, page 299.
Footnote 9:
The double surname resulting from the union of these two estates was
assumed only by my grandfather, and his son Sir William, consequently
it belongs exclusively to my father’s direct descendants.
The only survivors of the last generation who bear it are myself and
my brother Colonel William Gordon-Cumming, now living at Forres House.
Of my other brothers, only three married, namely, Sir Alexander,
Henry, and Frank; their only two daughters married respectively Lord
Middleton and the Honourable Claude Portman. They, however, left nine
sons, who are the fathers of my four little grand-nephews, and of ten
little grand-nieces, four in Scotland, five in New Zealand, and one in
Texas. These are the only members of the family who in 1904 own our
name.
I mention this because we are so frequently asked, “What relation to
you is So-and-so Gordon Cumming?” mentioning one of the many bearers
of the name, unknown to us.
This seems to have arisen from the fact, that when my brother Roualeyn
returned from his wonderful South African hunting expeditions, many
members of Clan Cumming christened a son Gordon in his honour.
When these grew up, and the use of double names without any reference
to property became the fashion, the families of these “namesakes”
assumed the father’s Christian name as a surname.
Imitation is said to be the truest flattery, but it has its
inconveniences, and in the case of names is liable to produce
confusion.
Footnote 10:
See Appendix, Note H.
Footnote 11:
I do not know whether to class as affectation, or sheer vulgarity, a
very offensive innovation which I have heard in some Scottish
churches, whose choirs have been carefully taught to pronounce
Jerusalem as Jerry-you-salem!
Footnote 12:
These quarries have long since been closed.
Footnote 13:
_Five Years of a Hunter’s Life in South Africa._ By R. Gordon-Cumming.
Published by John Murray.
Footnote 14:
_Wild Men and Wild Beasts._ By Colonel W. G. Gordon-Cumming. Published
by David Douglas.
Footnote 15:
The window of the room in which fifteen of my father’s children were
born, and from which we saw first my mother, then my father, pass
away. My sister Alice was born in London.
Footnote 16:
Her eldest son, Penrose, was at that time in Canada with his regiment,
the 71st Highlanders. He wrote from Montreal, 27th May 1842: “I feel
as if crushed to the earth. She was too young and beautiful, and too
necessary to her family to be taken from them.... Oh may we, her
children, profit by every advice and the example she showed us
daily.... There never was a mother who loved her children more than
she, or who thought of the absent ones with such affection, as her own
letters show.”
Footnote 17:
St. Michael’s Chapel was erected in 1705 on the site of the ancient
vicarage kirk of Ogston. The present small chapel, with a fine Gothic
window at each end, was built simply as a mortuary chapel for the
family of Gordonstoun.
Footnote 18:
See Note B in Appendix.
Footnote 19:
See Note C in Appendix.
Footnote 20:
“The lands of Ettles and fyshing, called the Coissey,” were granted to
Thomas Innes of Pethrick by Patrick, Bishop of Moray, in a charter
dated at Elgin and Drainie, the 8th and 18th May 1561, and signed by
the bishop and twelve of the canons of Elgin cathedral, their seals
being also appended. In 1638 these lands and fishings were sold to Sir
Robert Gordon by the grandson of the said Thomas Innes.
Footnote 21:
Fisher’s basket.
Footnote 22:
Ancestor of the present Duke of Fife.
Footnote 23:
Forbears, _i.e._ ancestors.
Footnote 24:
Easter Day.
Footnote 25:
Curia vitæ et membrorum furca et fossa.
Footnote 26:
The library, which numbered about three thousand volumes, was sold in
Edinburgh in the year 1801 for a small sum, but some years later the
vendor—Mr. Constable—bought it back for £1000 and a pipe of port wine.
It was finally dispersed in 1814 by J. G. Cockburn, when it realised
£1530. But from the catalogue of that sale it is obvious that books of
most curious interest had all been withdrawn.
Footnote 27:
Market.
Footnote 28:
See Appendix, Note E.
Footnote 29:
Kirn, a few, a handful. Perthshire and Morayshire.
Footnote 30:
I believe that many more owners of gardens would of their abundance
send flowers to friends and hospitals in cities, were it not from the
imaginary necessity of providing boxes. To such may I give some simple
suggestions? Carefully select flowers scarcely half-blown. Remove all
superfluous green from their stalks. _Tie them in bunches with a long
strip of wet newspaper about three inches wide, tied round the ends,
that they may drink on the journey. Leave them all in water for at
least an hour before packing._
Spread on the floor a sheet of brown paper, and on that a stout
newspaper. Then sprays of green things to protect the flowers and
gladden the recipient. If you have long ferns, and iris buds, a stick
of the same length is good protection. Then lay in your bunches of
flowers and roll all up securely in the newspapers, and then in the
brown paper, when your parcel will resemble a well-packed salmon, and
will travel by parcel-post for a very moderate sum.
If you leave this to your gardener to do, he will probably supply as
green useless prunings of Portugal and common laurels and unlovable
mahonia, sadly tantalising to the recipient.
Here is a list of desirable out-of-door green things that will live.
Sprays of beech-tree not too young; small trails of ivy. Most ferns,
especially _Felix-mas_, provided old fronds are selected, free from
seed; but not the lovely _Lastrea Dilatata_ or _Lastrea Felix Femina_,
which invariably die. Sprigs of _Rosa Rugosa_, boxwood, Solomon’s
seal, carrot-leaves, periwinkle, a few bits of glossy rhododendron,
all varieties of _Aber-vitæ_, sprays of _Diodera_. Most precious of
all are bits of _Retinospora Plumosa_ and _Thuyopsis Dolobrata_, which
will live for months.
For home use, _where water is at once available_, I would add sprays
of wild raspberry, and leaves of wild cow-parsley, strawberry and
potentilla leaves, bishop’s weed, leaves of large lupins, of
columbine, of blue delphinium, of _Dialitra Spectabilis_, of
pyrethrium; and daintiest of all is the fumitory (_Fumaria
officinalis_), which gardeners ruthlessly hoe up as a worthless weed,
unless specially bidden to spare some for pet vases.
Perhaps many friends who have no gardens could, if they realised the
above simple method of packing, send parcels of real Scotch heather
(ling, NOT purple bell heather, which dies at once). Also yellow
cornflowers, and Scottish bluebells: the latter carry very well, and
all the buds will bloom. All they crave is a minute’s attention to
their morning “toilette,” just to nip off the dead bells. But in
remote districts, mercy to the walking postman must limit his parcels.
Footnote 31:
Appendix, Note F.
Footnote 32:
In Parker Gillmore’s letters on “The Game of South Africa” I find this
passage:—“In many parts of this remote portion of Africa, I have come
across natives who knew well the mighty Nimrod, Gordon-Cumming—some
even that have hunted with him—and one and all agreed that he was the
bravest and most daring white man they ever knew. To them I have
recounted the principal episodes which he narrates in his work, and
which have been condemned by many of his countrymen as utterly
improbable, nay, impossible, but one and all, without a single
dissenting voice, attested to their truth.
“Sicomey, the father of Khama, now King of Bamangwato, told me of
deeds performed by Gordon-Cumming, which, if possible, outrivalled
those he has recounted in his work, and I have often thought that
these were withheld from the British public for the reason that he had
not authentic witnesses to produce who could endorse his statements.”
Footnote 33:
Shoes.
Footnote 34:
“Shrieking in that style.”
Footnote 35:
For the benefit of possible sufferers, I may mention that if I ever do
have a suggestion of rheumatism, I at once attribute it to unsuspected
indigestion, and for a short while adopt Dr. Salisbury’s system of
diet, which consists in refraining from all foods most liable to
fermentation, _i.e._ all vegetables, milk, sugar, fish, alcohol in any
form, and limiting the “menu” to three good meals daily of _very
finely minced_ and _well-cooked beef_, with no accompaniment except
some crisp toast, and if necessary a little strong meat-soup or black
coffee.
But the less fluid with meals the better, as it weakens the gastric
juices, and fluid is supplied by a good drink of hot water four times
a day, _i.e._ on first awakening, in the middle of the forenoon and
afternoon, and the last thing at night, always about an hour and a
half before or after eating. This supplies a bath for the internal
machinery, and acts on the same principle as washing the plate you
have used at one meal before it is required for the next meal.
_N. B._—Always ask for a small jug of boiling water, a bottle of cold
water, and a cup, that you may prepare your drink to suit your own
taste, otherwise you are apt to get a tumbler of scalding water all
ready poured out. By mixing for yourself and sipping slowly you can
probably manage to swallow a double allowance, and soon learn to enjoy
it. Some people think that a pinch of salt makes it more palatable. I
may mention that I know of hundreds of people once martyrs to the many
phases of indigestion, dyspepsia, and their _effects_ (called by many
names, but all due to the same _cause_), who attribute their
restoration to health to this simple course of dieting, as taught in
this country by the late Mrs. Elma Stuart (daughter of a Cumming of
Logie).
Footnote 36:
The principal home of the Earls of Seafield.
Footnote 37:
Published by David Douglas, Edinburgh.
Footnote 38:
This historic house has recently been purchased by Colonel Cooper, who
on August 19, 1903, presented it, with forty-five acres of land,
henceforth to be known as Cooper Park, to the city of Elgin. The
boundary-wall, which separated the grounds from the ruins of the
beautiful cathedral, has been removed, and the house itself adapted to
the purposes of a public library, as also for the exhibition of a loan
collection of pictures, curios, etc.
Footnote 39:
Amongst other old Highland customs which Lady Ann kept up at Castle
Grant was dining in the great hall with “the salt” in the middle of
the long table, and the diners placed above or below the salt
according to their social standing.
Footnote 40:
Until the Reform Bill was passed, the burghs of Banff, Cullen, Elgin,
Inverury and Kintore, were represented by one Member of Parliament,
the town council of each burgh selecting a delegate to represent the
community at the election, which took place at each town in rotation.
Footnote 41:
Lady Jane afterwards married General Sir Edward Forestier-Walker.
Footnote 42:
Hugh Willoughby Jermyn was subsequently Bishop of Colombo, in Ceylon,
where for two delightful years his house was my headquarters, till
total breakdown of health compelled his return to Britain, where in
1876 he was appointed to succeed our cousin, Alexander Forbes, as
Bishop of Brechin. In 1886, on the death of Bishop Eden at Inverness,
he was unanimously elected Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. He
entered into rest, September 17th, 1903, aged eighty-three.
His life for the last fifty years had been one long struggle of a
brave, determined spirit for victory over a very frail body, which
sorely hampered him.
Doubtless that ever brave, bright nature was in some mysterious manner
being “made perfect through suffering,” but there we touch on one of
the mysteries for the solution of which we must be content to wait.
Footnote 43:
Strange to say, ere one brief year had elapsed, his brother Roualeyn’s
noble hunting-trophies were conveyed to London, there to be likewise
sold by auction at a strangely ill-attended sale. Thus were scattered
to the winds the treasures of two of the most successful hunters of
dangerous wild beasts. Almost all Roualeyn’s trophies were purchased
by Barnum, and, sad to say, were burnt in his great fire.
Footnote 44:
The grim grey fort has now been swept away, and on its site stands the
large Roman Catholic Monastery and Church of St. Benedict.
Footnote 45:
Meadow pipit (_Anthus pratensis_).
Footnote 46:
See Appendix, Note G.
Footnote 47:
A few weeks later Sandy was enrolled as a police-constable in
Liverpool, where for a brief period he worked well, then caught a
fever and died.
Footnote 48:
He was generally acknowledged to be the most graceful reel-dancer, and
to throw the lightest fly in salmon fishing, of any man in Scotland.
Footnote 49:
Lady Middleton.
Footnote 50:
I have just learnt that the sale of this pathetic little story by
Hesba Stretton has reached the amazing figure of 1,747,000 copies.
Footnote 51:
He served in the 71st Highlanders, and the 4th Light Dragoons, and
took a prominent part in the volunteer movement from its beginning.
Footnote 52:
Bishop of Moray and Ross. For many years Primus of the Episcopal
Church in Scotland.
Footnote 53:
Major Frederick Gordon-Cumming of the Cheshire Regiment was shot dead
while on convoy-duty against the Chins, a hill-tribe in Burmah, 23rd
March 1890. Peace had actually been signed, and he was marching back
to Fort White, when he was mortally wounded by a hill-man lying
concealed among the rocks.
Footnote 54:
The Rev. S. Minton was one of the first who had courage to declare his
own belief in CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY. See Appendix, Note F.
Footnote 55:
Though I cannot give accurate details of Willoughby history, it is
interesting to me, now that my headquarters are near some of the
Willoughby D’Eresby estates (Drummond Castle and Glen Artney
deer-forest), to know that at some period this great family divided
itself and its numerous estates, one branch being now represented by
the Earl of Ancaster, the other by Lord Middleton.
Although by far the most interesting Middleton property is the
magnificent and quite unique old Wollaton Hall, near Nottingham, the
family have lived chiefly at Birdsall as being the most convenient
hunting-centre, the expensive honour of being M.F.H. being virtually
hereditary. Lord Middleton’s hounds, kennels, hunters, stud-farm, and
home-farm are all objects of keen interest in the hunting and
agricultural world, the latter being especially interested in his
splendid shire horses.
Footnote 56:
Afterwards Sir William Gregory.
Footnote 57:
In July 1904 he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of
Newfoundland.
Footnote 58:
See _In the Himalayas_, C. F. Gordon-Cumming (published by Chatto and
Windus).
Footnote 59:
See _In the Hebrides_, C. F. Gordon-Cumming (published by Chatto and
Windus).
Footnote 60:
Ezekiel i. 16, 20, 21; x. 2, 10, 13, 16, 17, 19; xi. 22.
Footnote 61:
See Appendix, Note I.
Footnote 62:
Any one interested in Japanese rosaries can see some very remarkable
specimens in the collection of Japanese treasures presented to the
British Museum by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, K.C.B.
Footnote 63:
_Wistaria sinensis._
Footnote 64:
Very remarkable is the place assigned to the fox in the medicine
folklore both of Britain and Japan. The Early English prescription for
disease of the joints was to take _a living fox_ and seethe him till
the bones alone be left, and then bathe repeatedly in this foxy
essence. “Wonderfully it healeth!” says the old chronicler. The fox’s
liver possessed special curative powers, and indeed each portion of
the fox—his gall, the fat of his loin, his lung sodden, etc.—each had
special virtues, while those who suffered from foot-addle, _i.e._
gout, were recommended to wear shoes lined with vixen hide.
Footnote 65:
See _Wanderings in China_, by C. F. Gordon-Cumming, chapter xii.
Footnote 66:
See Appendix, Note J.
Footnote 67:
See Appendix K.
Footnote 68:
The Prince Imperial was born in 1879.
Footnote 69:
My nephew, A. Gordon-Cumming.
Footnote 70:
Published by Blackwood.
Footnote 71:
See Appendix, Note L.
Footnote 72:
Her life-story has been sketched by her sister in _Recollections of a
Happy Life_.
Footnote 73:
I cannot refrain from quoting a comment by Dr. Alexander, Archbishop
of Armagh, on Agnosticism: “Agnostic, ah! a very high-sounding word.
It’s Greek, you know. It is not quite so fine when you render it in
Latin—Ignoramus!”
Footnote 74:
From _Corn and Poppies_, by Cosmo Monkhouse, published by Elkin
Matthews.
Footnote 75:
The Champion Medal and Breeder’s Medal for the best beast in the
Smithfield Show, 1881, were awarded to Sir W. G. Gordon-Cumming, of
Altyre and Gordonstoun, who for many successive years carried off
first prizes, his factor, Mr. Robert Walker, being one of the most
successful cattle-breeders in Britain.
Footnote 76:
“Loons”—lads.
Footnote 77:
We hear of forty guineas being paid for a handsome periwig, which,
moreover, entailed continual care and expense to keep it in curl and
beauty.
Footnote 78:
This singular payment of a portion of an animal seems to have been
common. I find that the rental of the Bishop’s Mills (or as they are
described “The Bischopis Mylne,” near Elgin Cathedral), in A.D. 1565,
included, amongst other items, three fowls, four dozen of capons,
three sheep, three lambs, one pig, and _three quarters of a mart_ (or
bullock)!
Footnote 79:
Rhind’s _Sketches of Moray_, 1839.
Footnote 80:
The inhabitants of Lossiemouth tell with pride that their railway
across the lake to Elgin was _the first line completed in the north_!
It was opened for traffic in 1852. The coast-line of rail from London
to Inverness, _viâ_ Aberdeen, was opened in 1858. The Highland line
_viâ_ Perth was opened in 1863.
Footnote 81:
Lobster-chests.
Footnote 82:
Probably of Hugh de Moravia, Lord of Duffus.
Footnote 83:
_Annals of Elgin._ By Robert Young.
Footnote 84:
While thus referring to one unintentional source of evil, I would
venture to plead against another, by which grave harm is too often
done, namely, the thoughtless repeating of rather irreverent stories
connected with favourite hymns and verses of Scripture. A slight touch
of wit, or mere absurdity, causes such to stick to the memory of the
hearer, never to be eradicated, destroying the sanctity of what has
hitherto been a purely sacred association. I grieve to say that too
often the clergy are themselves the sowers of these evil tares.
Footnote 85:
The Tulasi (or basil) is deemed very sacred, because Sita, the wife of
Rama, once assumed the form of this humble shrub.
Footnote 86:
_Elæocarpus Ganitrus._
Footnote 87:
_Monodon monoceros._
Footnote 88:
In my _Wanderings in China_, chapter viii., amongst other very
“strange medicines,” I have described how the hot blood of a newly
decapitated criminal is secured as a valuable cure for a disease
supposed to be consumption.
Footnote 89:
See the _Collection of Useful Remedies_, by John Moncrief of
Tippermalluch; a person of extraordinary skill and knowledge in the
Art of Physick. Printed in the Cowgate of Edinburgh in A.D. 1712.
Footnote 90:
See _In the Hebrides_. C. F. Gordon-Cumming. London: Chatto and
Windus.
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