CHAPTER XVIII.[465]

Highland Manners, Customs, &c.--Character of ancient Highlanders

--Highland Dress--Superstitions--Kelpies--Urisks--Daoine Shith

--Practices in the Western Islands--_Deis-iuil_--Second-sight

--Weddings--Social duties--Courage--Love of Country--Bards

--Highlanders’ feeling with regard to death--Hospitality--Clans

--Creachs--Cearnachs or Catherans--Chiefs--Relation of the Clans

to their Chiefs--Appendix on Highland Dress.

We shall take advantage of the breathing-space afforded us here,

before entering upon the stirring events of the next century, in

which the Highlanders played a most important part, to notice such

objects connected with the ancient state of the Highlands, and the

character and condition of the inhabitants in former times, as may be

considered interesting either in a local or national point of view.

It will be seen that our observations do not apply to the Highlanders

of the present day, as these have lost many of the peculiarities of

manners, speech, dress, &c., which characterized their ancestors.

The Highlands have undergone considerable change during the last

century and a half, and the alteration, in a social point of view,

has been on the whole for the better. The Highlands now are generally

as accessible as the lowlands; the manners, speech, and occupations

of the inhabitants are becoming more and more assimilated to those

of their lowland neighbours, and to all appearance, in a very

short time, there will remain little or nothing to distinguish the

Scottish Celt from the Saxon. Although this change has by no means

been altogether to the advantage of the Highlander,--although many

of the vices as well as the virtues of civilization have been forced

upon him, still, for the sake of the community at large, the change

cannot be regretted, and it is only to be desired that the lowlanders

in turn may be brought to admire and imitate the noble virtues of

their northern neighbours, their courage, fidelity, reverence,

self-respect, and love of independence.

The early history of the Highlanders presents us with a bold and

hardy race of men, filled with a romantic attachment to their native

mountains and glens, cherishing an exalted spirit of independence,

and firmly bound together in septs or clans by the ties of kindred.

Having little intercourse with the rest of the world, and pent up for

many centuries within the Grampian range, the Highlanders acquired

a peculiar character, and retained or adopted habits and manners

differing widely from those of their lowland neighbours. “The ideas

and employments, which their seclusion from the world rendered

habitual,--the familiar contemplation of the most sublime objects

of nature,--the habit of concentrating their affections within the

narrow precincts of their own glens, or the limited circle of their

own kinsmen,--and the necessity of union and self-dependence in all

difficulties and dangers, combined to form a peculiar and original

character. A certain romantic sentiment, the offspring of deep and

cherished feeling, strong attachment to their country and kindred,

and a consequent disdain of submission to strangers, formed the

character of independence; while an habitual contempt of danger was

nourished by their solitary musings, of which the honour of their

clan, and a long descent from brave and warlike ancestors, formed the

frequent theme. Thus, their exercises, their amusements, their modes

of subsistence, their motives of action, their prejudices and their

superstitions, became characteristic, permanent, and peculiar.

“Firmness and decision, fertility in resources, ardour in friendship,

and a generous enthusiasm, were the result of such a situation,

such modes of life, and such habits of thought. Feeling themselves

separated by Nature from the rest of mankind, and distinguished by

their language, their habits, their manners, and their dress, they

considered themselves the original possessors of the country, and

regarded the Saxons of the Lowlands as strangers and intruders.”[466]

Like their Celtic ancestors, the Highlanders were tall, robust, and

well formed. Early marriages were unknown among them, and it was rare

for a female who was of a puny stature and delicate constitution to

be honoured with a husband. The following observations of Martin

on the inhabitants of some of the western islands may be generally

applied to the Highlanders:--“They are not obliged to art in forming

their bodies, for Nature never fails to act her part bountifully to

them; perhaps there is no part of the habitable globe where so few

bodily imperfections are to be seen, nor any children that go more

early. I have observed several of them walk alone before they were

ten months old: they are bathed all over every morning and evening,

some in cold, some in warm water; but the latter is most commonly

used, and they wear nothing strait about them. The mother generally

suckles the child, failing of which, a nurse is provided, for they

seldom bring up any by hand: they give new born infants fresh butter

to take away the _meconium_, and this they do for several days; they

taste neither sugar, nor cinnamon, nor have they any daily allowance

of sack bestowed on them, as the custom is elsewhere, nor is the

nurse allowed to taste ale. The generality wear neither shoes nor

stockings before they are seven, eight, or ten years old; and many

among them wear no night-caps before they are sixteen years old, and

upwards; some use none all their life-time, and these are not so

liable to headaches as others who keep their heads warm.”[467]

As a proof of the indifference of the Highlanders to cold, reference

has been made to their often sleeping in the open air during the

severity of winter. Burt, who resided among them and wrote in the

year 1725, relates that he has seen the places which they occupied,

and which were known by being free from the snow that deeply covered

the ground, except where the heat of their bodies had melted it. The

same writer represents a chief as giving offence to his clan by his

degeneracy in forming the snow into a pillow before he lay down.

“The Highlanders were so accustomed to sleep in the open air, that

the want of shelter was of little consequence to them. It was usual

before they lay down to dip their plaids in water, by which the cloth

was less pervious to the wind, and the heat of their bodies produced

a warmth, which the woollen, if dry, could not afford. An old man

informed me, that a favourite place of repose was under a cover of

thick overhanging heath. The Highlanders, in 1745, could scarcely be

prevailed on to use tents. It is not long since those who frequented

Lawrence fair, St. Sair’s, and other markets in the Garioch of

Aberdeenshire, gave up the practice of sleeping in the open fields.

The horses being on these occasions left to shift for themselves, the

inhabitants no longer have their crop spoiled, by their ‘upthrough

neighbours,’ with whom they had often bloody contentions, in

consequence of these unceremonious visits.”[468]

As to the antiquity of the picturesque Highland costume, there

has been considerable discussion. Till of late years the general

opinion was that the plaid, philibeg, and bonnet, formed the ancient

garb of the Highlanders, but some writers have maintained that the

philibeg is of modern invention, and that the truis, which consisted

of breeches and stockings in one piece, and made to fit close to

the limbs, was the old costume. That the truis is very ancient

in the Highlands is probable, but it was chiefly confined to the

higher classes, who always used it when travelling on horseback.

At p. 4 of this volume, fig. 2 shows a very early form of Highland

costume; and although rude, it bears a strong resemblance to the more

modern belted plaid. In an appendix to this chapter will be found

a collection of extracts from various writers, reaching back to a

very early period, and containing allusions to the peculiar form and

pattern of the Highland dress, proving that, in its simple form, it

lays claim to considerable antiquity. For these extracts we are

indebted to the admirable publication of the Iona club, entitled

_Collectanea de rebus Albanicis_.

The following is a description of the various parts of the Highland

costume:--The Breacan-feile, literally, the variegated or chequered

covering, is the original garb of the Highlanders, and forms the

chief part of the costume; but it is now almost laid aside in its

simple form. It consisted of a plain piece of tartan from four to

six yards in length, and two yards broad. The plaid was adjusted

with much nicety, and made to surround the waist in great plaits or

folds, and was firmly bound round the loins with a leathern belt in

such a manner that the lower side fell down to the middle of the knee

joint, and then, while there were the foldings behind, the cloth

was double before. The upper part was then fastened on the left

shoulder with a large brooch or pin, so as to display to the most

advantage the tastefulness of the arrangement, the two ends being

sometimes suffered to hang down; but that on the right side, which

was necessarily the longest, was more usually tucked under the belt.

In battle, in travelling, and on other occasions, this added much to

the commodiousness and grace of the costume. By this arrangement,

the right arm of the wearer was left uncovered and at full liberty;

but in wet or very cold weather the plaid was thrown loose, by which

both body and shoulders were covered. To give free exercise for both

arms in case of need, the plaid was fastened across the breast by a

large silver bodkin, or circular brooch, often enriched with precious

stones, or imitations of them, having mottos engraved, consisting of

allegorical and figurative sentences.[469] Macculloch, we think, in

his jaunty off-hand way, has very happily conjectured what is likely

to have been the origin of this part of Highland dress. “It does

not seem very difficult,” he says,[470] “to trace the origin of the

belted plaid; the true and characteristic dress from which the other

modifications have been derived. It is precisely, as has been often

said, the expedient of a savage, unable or unwilling to convert the

web of cloth which he had procured, into a more convenient shape.

Rolling one extremity round his body, the remainder was thrown over

his shoulder, to be used as occasion should require, in covering the

rest of his person.” It indeed appears to be a well authenticated

fact that the _kilt_ or _philibeg_, as distinct from the belted

plaid, is a comparatively modern article of dress in the Highlands,

having been the invention of an Englishman who, while superintending

some works in Lochaber about 1728, induced his workmen to separate

that part of the ancient garment which came over the shoulder, and

which encumbered their movements, from the part which surrounded the

loins, retaining only the latter.

As the _breacan_ was without pockets, a purse, called _sporan_ by the

Highlanders, was fastened or tied in front, and was made of goats’

or badgers’ skin, sometimes of leather, and was neither so large nor

so gaudy as that now in use. People of rank or condition ornamented

their purses sometimes with a silver mouthpiece, and fixed the

tassels and other appendages with silver fastenings; but in general

the mouthpieces were of brass, and the cords employed were of leather

neatly interwoven. The sporan was divided into several compartments.

One of these was used for holding a watch, another money, &c. The

Highlanders even carried their shot in the sporan occasionally, but

for this purpose they commonly carried a wallet at the right side,

in which they also stowed when travelling, a quantity of meal and

other provisions. This military knapsack was called _dorlach_ by the

Highlanders.

The use of stockings and shoes is comparatively of recent date among

the Highlanders. Originally they encased their feet in a piece of

untanned hide, cut to the shape and size of the foot, and drawn close

together with leather thongs, a practice which is observed even at

the present day by the descendants of the Scandinavian settlers in

the Shetland islands, where they are called _rivelins_; but this

mode of covering the feet was far from being general, as the greater

part of the population went barefooted. Such was the state of the

Highlanders who fought at Killiecrankie; and Burt, who wrote in the

early part of the 18th century, says that he visited a well-educated

and polite Laird, in the north, who wore neither shoes nor stockings,

nor had any covering for his feet. A modern writer observes, that

when the Highland regiments were embodied during the French and

American wars, hundreds of the men were brought down without either

stockings or shoes.

The stockings, which were originally of the same pattern with the

plaid, were not knitted, but were cut out of the web, as is still

done in the case of those worn by the common soldiers in the Highland

regiments; but a great variety of fancy patterns are now in use.

The garters were of rich colours, and broad, and were wrought in a

small loom, which is now almost laid aside. Their texture was very

close, which prevented them from wrinkling, and displayed the pattern

to its full extent. On the occasion of an anniversary cavalcade,

on Michaelmas day, by the inhabitants of the island of North Uist,

when persons of all ranks and of both sexes appeared on horseback,

the women, in return for presents of knives and purses given them by

the men, presented the latter “with a pair of fine garters of divers

colours.”[471]

The bonnet, of which there were various patterns, completed the

national garb, and those who could afford had also, as essential

accompaniments, a dirk, with a knife and fork stuck in the side of

the sheath, and sometimes a spoon, together with a pair of steel

pistols.

The garb, however, differed materially in quality and in ornamental

display, according to the rank or ability of the wearer. The short

coat and waistcoat worn by the wealthy, were adorned with silver

buttons, tassels, embroidery, or lace, according to the taste of

the wearer or fashion of the times, and even “among the better and

more provident of the lower ranks,” as General Stewart remarks,

silver buttons were frequently found, which had come down to them

as an inheritance of long descent. The same author observes, that

the reason for wearing these buttons, which were of a large size and

of solid silver, was, that their value might defray the expense of

a decent funeral in the event of the wearer falling in battle, or

dying in a strange country and at a distance from his friends. The

officers of Mackay’s and Munroe’s Highland regiments, who served

under Gustavus Adolphus in the wars of 1626 and 1638, in addition to

rich buttons, wore a gold chain round the neck, to secure the owner,

in case of being wounded or taken prisoner, good treatment, or as

payment for future ransom.[472]

Although shoe buckles now form a part of the Highland costume, they

were unknown in the Highlands 150 years ago. The ancient Highlanders

did not wear neckcloths. Their shirts were of woollen cloth, and as

linen was long expensive, a considerable time elapsed before linen

shirts came into general use. We have heard an old and intelligent

Highlander remark, that rheumatism was almost, if not wholly, unknown

in the Highlands until the introduction of linen shirts.

It is observed by General Stewart, that “among the circumstances

which influenced the military character of the Highlanders, their

peculiar garb was conspicuous, which, by its freedom and lightness,

enabled them to use their limbs, and to handle their arms with ease

and celerity, and to move with great speed when employed with either

cavalry or light infantry. In the wars of Gustavus Adolphus, in

the civil wars of Charles I., and on various other occasions, they

were often mixed with the cavalry, affording to detached squadrons

the incalculable advantage of support from infantry, even in their

most rapid movements.” “I observed,” says the author of ‘Memoirs of

a Cavalier,’ speaking of the Scots army in 1640, “I observed that

these parties had always some foot with them, and yet if the horses

galloped or pushed on ever so forward, the foot were as forward as

they, which was an extraordinary advantage. These were those they

call Highlanders; they would run on foot with all their arms, and all

their accoutrements, and kept very good order too, and kept pace with

the horses, let them go at what rate they would.”

The dress of the women seems to require some little notice. Till

marriage, or till they arrived at a certain age, they went with the

head bare, the hair being tied with bandages or some slight ornament,

after which they wore a head-dress, called the curch, made of linen,

which was tied under the chin; but when a young woman lost her virtue

and character she was obliged to wear a cap, and never afterwards to

appear bare-headed. Martin’s observations on the dress of the females

of the western islands may be taken as giving a pretty correct idea

of that worn by those of the Highlands. “The women wore sleeves of

scarlet cloth, closed at the end as men’s vests, with gold lace round

them, having plate buttons set with fine stones. The head-dress was

a fine kerchief of linen, strait about the head. The plaid was tied

before on the breast, with a buckle of silver or brass, according

to the quality of the person. I have seen some of the former of

one hundred merks value; the whole curiously engraved with various

animals. There was a lesser buckle which was worn in the middle of

the larger. It had in the centre a large piece of crystal, or some

finer stone, of a lesser size.” The plaid, which, with the exception

of a few stripes of red, black, or blue, was white, reached from the

neck almost to the feet; it was plaited, and was tied round the waist

by a belt of leather, studded with small pieces of silver.

The antiquity of the tartan has been called in question by several

writers, who have maintained that it is of modern invention; but they

have given no proofs in support of their assertion. In the appendix

to this chapter it will be seen that, as far back as the years 1538

and 1597, mention is made of this species of cloth; and in the

account of charge and discharge of John, Bishop of Glasgow, Treasurer

to King James III. in 1471, the following entries occur:--

“An elne and ane halve of blue tartane

to lyne his gowne of cloth of gold, £1 10 6

“Four elne and ane halve of tartane for a

sparwurt abun his credill, price ane

elne, 10s., 2 5 0

“Halve ane elne of duble tartane to lyne

collars to her lady the Quene, price

8 shillings.”

It is not at all improbable that Joseph’s well-known “coat of many

colours” may have been somewhat of the same nature as tartan; and

the writer of the article TARTAN in _Chambers’s Encyclopædia_ says,

“this is probably the oldest pattern ever woven; at all events the

so-called shepherd’s plaid of Scotland is known to have a very remote

antiquity amongst the eastern nations of the world.” It has been

proved by Logan, from Diodorus, Pliny, and other ancient writers,

that variegated cloth was in common use for purposes of dress among

the continental Celts.

When the great improvements in the process of dyeing by means of

chemistry are considered, it will appear surprising, that without

any knowledge of this art, and without the substances now employed,

the Highlanders should have been able, from the scanty materials

which their country afforded, to produce the beautiful and lasting

colours which distinguish the old Highland tartan, some specimens

of which are understood still to exist, and which retain much of

their original brilliancy of colouring. “In dyeing and arranging

the various colours of their tartans, they displayed no small art

and taste, preserving at the same time the distinctive patterns (or

sets, as they were called) of the different clans, tribes, families,

and districts. Thus, a Macdonald, a Campbell, a Mackenzie, &c., was

known by his plaid; and, in like manner, the Athole, Glenorchy, and

other colours of different districts, were easily distinguishable.

Besides those general divisions, industrious housewives had patterns,

distinguished by the set, superior quality, and fineness of cloth, or

brightness and variety of the colours. In those times, when mutual

attachment and confidence subsisted between the proprietors and

occupiers of land in the Highlands, the removal of tenants, except in

remarkable cases, rarely occurred; and, consequently, it was easy to

preserve and perpetuate any particular set or pattern, even among the

lower orders.”[473]

The Highlanders, in common with most other nations, were much

addicted to superstition. The peculiar aspect of their country, in

which nature appears in its wildest and most romantic features,

exhibiting at a glance sharp and rugged mountains, with dreary

wastes--wide-stretched lakes, and rapid torrents, over which

the thunders and lightnings, and tempests, and rains, of heaven,

exhaust their terrific rage, wrought upon the creative powers of

the imagination, and from these appearances, the Highlanders “were

naturally led to ascribe every disaster to the influence of superior

powers, in whose character the predominating feature necessarily was

malignity towards the human race.”[474]

The most dangerous and most malignant creature was the _kelpie_,

or water-horse, which was supposed to allure women and children to

his subaqueous haunts, and there devour them. Sometimes he would

swell the lake or torrent beyond its usual limits, and overwhelm

the unguarded traveller in the flood. The shepherd, as he sat upon

the brow of a rock in a summer’s evening, often fancied he saw this

animal dashing along the surface of the lake, or browsing on the

pasture-ground upon its verge.

The _urisks_, who were supposed to be of a condition somewhat

intermediate between that of mortal men and spirits, “were a sort of

_lubbary_ supernaturals, who, like the _brownies_ of England, could

be gained over by kind attentions to perform the drudgery of the

farm; and it was believed that many families in the Highlands had

one of the order attached to it.”[475] The urisks were supposed to

live dispersed over the Highlands, each having his own wild recess;

but they were said to hold stated assemblies in the celebrated cave

called _Coire-nan-Uriskin_, situated near the base of Ben-Venue, in

Aberfoyle, on its northern shoulder. It overhangs Loch Katrine “in

solemn grandeur,” and is beautifully and faithfully described by Sir

Walter Scott.[476]

The _urisks_, though generally inclined to mischief, were supposed

to relax in their propensity, if kindly treated by the families

which they haunted. They were even serviceable in some instances,

and in this point of view were often considered an acquisition. Each

family regularly set down a bowl of cream for its urisk, and even

clothes were sometimes added. The urisk resented any omission or want

of attention on the part of the family; and tradition says, that

the urisk of _Glaschoil_, a small farm about a mile to the west of

Ben-Venue, having been disappointed one night of his bowl of cream,

after performing the task allotted him, took his departure about

day-break, uttering a horrible shriek, and never again returned.

The _Daoine Shith_, or _Shi’_ (_men of peace_), or as they are

sometimes called, _Daoine matha_ (good men), come next to be noticed.

Dr. Graham considers the part of the popular superstitions of the

Highlands which relates to these imaginary persons, and which is to

this day retained, as he observes, in some degree of purity, as “the

most beautiful and perfect branch of Highland mythology.”

Although it has been generally supposed that the mythology of the

Daoine Shi’ is the same as that respecting the fairies of England, as

portrayed by Shakspeare, in the Midsummer Night’s Dream, and perhaps,

too, of the Orientals, they differ essentially in many important

points.

The Daoine Shi’, or men of peace, who are the _fairies_ of the

Highlanders, “though not absolutely malevolent, are believed to be

a peevish repining race of beings, who, possessing themselves but a

scanty portion of happiness, are supposed to envy mankind their more

complete and substantial enjoyments. They are supposed to enjoy, in

their subterraneous recesses, a sort of shadowy happiness, a tinsel

grandeur, which, however, they would willingly exchange for the

more solid joys of mortals.”[477] Green was the colour of the dress

which these men of peace always wore, and they were supposed to take

offence when any of the mortal race presumed to wear their favourite

colour. The Highlanders ascribe the disastrous result of the battle

of Killiecrankie to the circumstance of Viscount Dundee having been

dressed in green on that ill-fated day. This colour is even yet

considered ominous to those of his name who assume it.

The abodes of the Daoine Shi’ are supposed to be below grassy

eminences or knolls, where, during the night, they celebrate their

festivities by the light of the moon, and dance to notes of the

softest music.[478] Tradition reports that they have often allured

some of the human race into their subterraneous retreats, consisting

of gorgeous apartments, and that they have been regaled with the most

sumptuous banquets and delicious wines. Their females far exceed the

daughters of men in beauty. If any mortal shall be tempted to partake

of their repast, or join in their pleasures, he at once forfeits

the society of his fellow-men, and is bound down irrevocably to the

condition of a Shi’ich, or man of peace.

“A woman,” says a Highland tradition, “was conveyed, in days of

yore, into the secret recesses of the men of peace. There she was

recognised by one who had formerly been an ordinary mortal, but who

had, by some fatality, become associated with the Shi’ichs. This

acquaintance, still retaining some portion of human benevolence,

warned her of her danger, and counselled her, as she valued her

liberty, to abstain from eating or drinking with them for a certain

space of time. She complied with the counsel of her friend; and

when the period assigned was elapsed, she found herself again upon

earth, restored to the society of mortals. It is added, that when she

had examined the viands which had been presented to her, and which

had appeared so tempting to the eye, they were found, now that the

enchantment had been removed, to consist only of the refuse of the

earth.”

Some mortals, however, who had been so unhappy as to fall into the

snares of the Shi’ichs, are generally believed to have obtained a

release from Fairyland, and to have been restored to the society of

their friends. Ethert Brand, according to the legend, was released by

the intrepidity of his sister, as related by Sir Walter Scott in the

fourth Canto of the Lady of the Lake:--

“She crossed him thrice that lady bold:

He rose beneath her hand,

The fairest knight on Scottish mould,

Her brother, Ethert Brand!”

A recent tradition gives a similar story, except in its unfortunate

catastrophe, and is thus related by Dr. Patrick Graham in his

“Sketches of Perthshire.”

The Rev. Robert Kirk, the first translator of the Psalms into Gaelic

verse, had formerly been minister at Balquidder, and died minister

of Aberfoyle, in 1688, at the early age of 42. His gravestone, which

may be seen near the east end of the church of Aberfoyle, bears the

inscription which is given underneath.[479] He was walking, it is

said, one evening in his night-gown, upon the little eminence to the

west of the present manse, which is still reckoned a _Dun_-shi’. He

fell down dead, as was believed; but this was not his fate:--

“It was between the night and day,

When the fairy king has power,

That he sunk down (but not) in sinful fray,

And, ’twixt life and death, was snatched away,

To the joyless Elfin bower.”

Mr. Kirk was the near relation of Mr. Grahame of Duchray. Shortly

after his funeral, he appeared in the dress in which he had sunk

down, to a mutual relation of his own and of Duchray. “Go,” said

he to him, “to my cousin Duchray, and tell him that I am not dead;

I fell down in a swoon, and was carried into Fairy-land, where I

now am. Tell him, that when he and my friends are assembled at the

baptism of my child--for he had left his wife pregnant--I will

appear in the room, and that if he throws the knife which he holds

in his hand over my head, I will be released, and restored to human

society.” The man, it seems, neglected for some time, to deliver the

message. Mr. Kirk appeared to him a second time, threatening to haunt

him night and day till he executed his commission, which at length

he did. The day of the baptism arrived. They were seated at table.

Mr. Kirk entered, but the laird of Duchray, by some unaccountable

fatality, neglected to perform the prescribed ceremony. Mr. Kirk

retired by another door, and was seen no more. It is firmly believed

that he is, at this day, in Fairy-land.

Another legend in a similar strain is also given as communicated by

a very intelligent young lady:--

“A young man roaming one day through the forest, observed a number

of persons, all dressed in green, issuing from one of those round

eminences which are commonly accounted fairy hills. Each of them, in

succession, called upon a person by name, _to fetch his horse_. A

caparisoned steed instantly appeared; they all mounted, and sallied

forth into the regions of the air. The young man, like Ali Baba in

the Arabian Nights, ventured to pronounce the same name, and called

for his horse. The steed immediately appeared; he mounted, and was

soon joined to the fairy choir. He remained with them for a year,

going about with them to fairs and weddings, and feasting, though

unseen by mortal eyes, on the victuals that were exhibited on those

occasions. They had, one day, gone to a wedding, where the cheer

was abundant. During the feast the bridegroom _sneezed_. The young

man, according to the usual custom, said, ‘God bless you.’ The

fairies were offended at the pronunciation of the sacred name, and

assured him, that if he dared to repeat it they would punish him.

The bridegroom _sneezed_ a second time. He repeated his _blessing_;

they threatened more than tremendous vengeance. He _sneezed_ a third

time; he _blessed_ him as before. The fairies were enraged; they

tumbled him from a precipice, but he found himself unhurt, and was

restored to the society of mortals.”

The Shi’ichs, or men of peace, are supposed to have a design

against new-born children, and women in childbed, whom, it is still

universally believed, they sometimes carry off into their secret

recesses. To prevent this abduction, women in childbed are closely

watched, and are not left alone, even for a single moment, till the

child is baptized, when the Shi’ichs are supposed to have no more

power over them.[480]

The following tradition will illustrate this branch of the popular

superstition respecting the Shi’ichs: A woman whose new-born child

had been conveyed by them into their secret abodes, was also carried

thither herself, to remain, however, only until she should suckle

her infant. She one day, during this period, observed the Shi’ichs

busily employed in mixing various ingredients in a boiling cauldron;

and as soon as the composition was prepared, she remarked that they

all carefully anointed their eyes with it, laying the remainder

aside for future use. In a moment when they were all absent, she

also attempted to anoint her eyes with the precious drug, but had

time to apply it to one eye only, when the Daoine Shi’ returned. But

with that eye, she was henceforth enabled to see every thing as it

really passed in their secret abodes; she saw every object, not as

she had hitherto done, in deceptive splendour and elegance, but in

its genuine colours and form. The gaudy ornaments of the apartment

were reduced to the naked walls of a gloomy cavern. Soon after,

having discharged her office, she was dismissed to her own home.

Still, however, she retained the faculty of seeing with her medicated

eye, every thing that was done, any where in her presence, by the

deceptive art of the order. One day, amidst a throng of people, she

chanced to observe the Shi’ich, or man of peace, in whose possession

she had left her child, though to every other eye invisible. Prompted

by maternal affection, she inadvertently accosted him, and began to

inquire after the welfare of her child. The man of peace, astonished

at thus being recognised by one of mortal race, sternly demanded how

she had been enabled to discover him. Awed by the terrible frown of

his countenance, she acknowledged what she had done. He spat into her

eye, and extinguished it for ever.

The Shi’ichs, it is still believed, have a great propensity for

attending funerals and weddings, and other public entertainments, and

even fairs. They have an object in this; for it is believed that,

though invisible to mortal eyes, they are busily employed in carrying

away the substantial articles and provisions which are exhibited, in

place of which they substitute shadowy forms, having the appearance

of the things so purloined. And so strong was the belief in this

mythology, even till a recent period, that some persons are old

enough to remember, that some individuals would not eat any thing

presented on the occasions alluded to, because they believed it to be

unsubstantial and hurtful.

As the Shi’ichs are supposed to be present on all occasions, though

invisible, the Highlanders, whenever they allude to them, do so in

terms of respect. This is, however, done as seldom as possible;

and when the Shi’ichs are casually mentioned, the Highlanders add

some propitiatory expression of praise to avert their displeasure,

which they greatly dread. This reserve and dread on the part of the

Highlanders, is said to arise from the peevish envy and jealousy

which the Shi’ichs are believed to entertain towards the human race.

Although believed to be always present, watching the doings of

mortals, the Shi’ichs are supposed to be more particular in their

attendance on Friday, on which day they are believed to possess very

extensive influence. They are believed to be especially jealous of

what may be said concerning them; and if they are at all spoken of

on that day, which is never done without great reluctance, the

Highlanders uniformly style them the _Daoine matha_, or _good men_.

According to the traditionary legends of the Highlanders, the

Shi’ichs are believed to be of both sexes; and it is the general

opinion among the Highlanders that men have sometimes cohabited with

females of the Shi’ich race, who are in consequence called Leannan

Shi’. These mistresses are believed to be very kind to their mortal

paramours, by revealing to them the knowledge of many things both

present and future, which were concealed from the rest of mankind.

The knowledge of the medicinal virtues of many herbs, it is related,

has been obtained in this way from the Leannan Shi’. The Daoine Shi’

of the other sex are said, in their turn, to have sometimes held

intercourse with mistresses of mortal race.

This popular superstition relating to the Daoine Shi’, is supposed,

with good reason, to have taken its rise in the times of the Druids,

or rather to have been invented by them after the overthrow of their

hierarchy, for the purpose of preserving the existence of their

order, after they had retreated for safety to caves and the deep

recesses of the forest. This idea receives some corroboration from

the Gaelic term, _Druidheachd_, which the Highlanders apply to the

deceptive power by which the men of peace are believed to impose

upon the senses of mankind, “founded, probably, on the opinion

entertained of old, concerning the magical powers of the Druids.

Deeply versed, according to Cæsar’s information, as the Druids were,

in the higher departments of philosophy, and probably acquainted with

electricity, and various branches of chemistry, they might find it

easy to excite the belief of their supernatural powers, in the minds

of the uninitiated vulgar.”[481] The influence of this powerful order

upon the popular belief was felt long after the supposed era of its

extinction; for it was not until Christianity was introduced into

the Highlands, that the total suppression of the Druids took place.

Adamnan mentions in his life of St. Columba, the _mocidruidi_, (or

sons of Druids,) as existing in Scotland in the time of Columba; and

he informs us, “that the saint was interrupted at the castle of the

king (of the Picts), in the discharge of his religious offices, by

certain _magi_;” a term, by the bye, applied by Pliny to the order of

the Druids. The following passage from an ancient Gaelic MS.[482] in

the possession of the Highland Society of Scotland, supposed to be

of the 12th or 13th century, is conjectured to refer to the incident

noticed by Adamnan. “After this, St. Columba went upon a time to

the king of the Picts, namely, Bruidhi, son of Milchu, and the gate

of the castle was shut against him; but the iron locks of the town

opened instantly, through the prayers of Columb Cille. Then came the

son of the king, to wit, Maelchu, and his Druid, to argue keenly

against Columb Cille, in support of paganism.”

Martin relates, that the natives of South-Uist believed that a valley

called Glenslyte, situated between two mountains on the east side of

the island, was haunted by spirits, whom they called the Great Men,

and that if any man or woman entered the valley without first making

an entire resignation of themselves to the conduct of the great

men, they would infallibly grow mad. The words by which they gave

themselves up to the guidance of these men are comprehended in three

sentences, wherein the glen is twice named. This author remonstrated

with the inhabitants upon this “piece of silly credulity,” but they

answered that there had been recently an instance of a woman who

went into the glen without resigning herself to the guidance of the

great men, “and immediately after she became mad; which confirmed

them in their unreasonable fancy.” He also observes, that the people

who resided in the glen in summer, said, they sometimes heard a loud

noise in the air like men speaking.[483]

The same writer mentions a universal custom among the inhabitants of

the Western Islands, of pouring a cow’s milk upon a little hill, or

big stone, where a spirit they called Brownie, was believed to lodge,

which spirit always appeared in the shape of a tall man, with very

long brown hair. On inquiring “from several well-meaning women, who,

until of late, had practised it,” they told Martin that it had been

transmitted to them by their ancestors, who believed it was attended

with good fortune, but the most credulous of the vulgar had then laid

it aside.

It was also customary among the “over-curious,” in the Western

Islands, to consult an invisible oracle, concerning the fate of

families, battles, &c. This was done three different ways; the

first was by a company of men, one of whom being chosen by lot, was

afterwards carried to a river, the boundary between two villages:

four of the company seized on him, and having shut his eyes, they

took him by the legs and arms, and then tossing him to and fro,

struck his posteriors with force against the bank. One of them then

cried out, What is it you have got here? Another answered, A log of

birch wood. The other cried again, Let his invisible friends appear

from all quarters, and let them relieve him, by giving an answer

to our present demands; and in a few minutes after, a number of

little creatures came from the sea, who answered the question, and

disappeared suddenly. The man was then set at liberty, and they all

returned home to take their measures according to the prediction of

their false prophets. This was always practised at night.

The second way of consulting the oracle was by a party of men, who

first retired to solitary places, remote from any house, and then

singling out one of their number, wrapt him in a large cow’s hide,

which they folded about him, covering all but his head, in which

posture they left him all night until his invisible friends relieved

him by giving a proper answer to the question put; which answer he

received, as he fancied, from several persons he found about him all

that time. His companions returned to him at break of day when he

communicated his news to them, which it is said “often proved fatal

to those concerned in such unlawful inquiries.”[484]

The third way of consulting the oracle, and which consultation was to

serve as a confirmation of the second, was this: The same company who

put the man into the hide, took a live cat and put him on a spit. One

of the company was employed to turn the spit, and when in the act of

turning, one of his companions would ask him, what are you doing? He

answered, I roast this cat, until his friends answer the question,

the same as that proposed to the man inclosed in the hide. Afterwards

a very large cat was said to come, attended by a number of lesser

cats, desiring to relieve the cat turned upon the spit, and answered

the question. And if the answer turned out to be the same that was

given to the man in the hide, then it was taken as a confirmation of

the other, which in this case was believed infallible.[485]

A singular practice called _Deis-iuil_ existed in the Western

Islands, so called from a man going round carrying fire in his right

hand, which in the Gaelic is called _Deas_. In the island of Lewis

this fiery circuit was made about the houses, corn, cattle, &c.,

of each particular family, to protect them from the power of evil

spirits. The fire was also carried round about women before they

were churched after child-bearing, and about children till they

were baptized. This ceremony was performed in the morning and at

night, and was practised by some of the old midwives in Martin’s

time. Some of them told him that ‘the fire-round was an effectual

means of preserving both the mother and the infant from the power

of evil spirits, who are ready at such times to do mischief, and

sometimes carry away the infant; and when they get them once in their

possession, return them poor meagre skeletons; and these infants are

said to have voracious appetites, constantly craving for meat. In

this case it was usual with those who believed that their children

were thus taken away, to dig a grave in the fields upon quarter-day,

and there to lay the fairy skeleton till next morning; at which

time the parents went to the place, where they doubted not to find

their own child instead of this skeleton. Some of the poorer sort of

people in these islands long retained a custom of performing rounds

sun-wise, about the persons of their benefactors three times, when

they blessed them, and wished good success to all their enterprises.

Some were very careful, when they set out to sea, that the boat

should be first rowed about sun-wise; and if this was neglected, they

were afraid their voyage would prove unfortunate.’

A prevailing superstition also existed in the Western Islands, and

among the inhabitants of the neighbouring coast, that women, by

a certain charm or by some secret influence, could withdraw and

appropriate to their own use the increase of their neighbour’s cow’s

milk. It was believed, however, that the milk so charmed did not

produce the ordinary quantity of butter usually churned from other

milk, and that the curds made of such milk were so tough that they

could not be made so firm as other cheese, and that it was also much

lighter in weight. It was also believed that the butter produced

from the charmed milk could be discovered from that yielded from

the charmer’s own milk, by a difference in the colour, the former

being of a paler hue than the latter. The woman in whose possession

butter so distinguished was found, was considered to be guilty. To

bring back the increase of milk, it was usual to take a little of the

rennet from all the suspected persons, and put it into an egg shell

full of milk, and when the rennet taken from the charmer was mingled

with it, it was said presently to curdle, but not before. Some women

put the root of groundsel among their cream as an amulet against such

charms.

In retaliation for washing dishes, wherein milk was kept, in streams

or rivulets in which trouts were, it was believed that they prevented

or took away an increase of milk, and the damage thus occasioned

could only be repaired by taking a live trout and pouring milk into

its mouth. If the milk curdled immediately, this was a sure sign of

its being taken away by trouts; if not, the inhabitants ascribed the

evil to some other cause. Some women, it was affirmed, had the art to

take away the milk of nurses.

A similar superstition existed as to malt, the virtues of which were

said to be sometimes imperceptibly filched, by some charm, before

being used, so that the drink made of this malt had neither strength

nor good taste, while, on the contrary, the supposed charmer had very

good ale all the time. The following curious story is told by Martin

in relation to this subject. “A gentleman of my acquaintance, for

the space of a year, could not have a drop of good ale in his house;

and having complained of it to all that conversed with him, he was

at last advised to get some yeast from every alehouse in the parish;

and having got a little from one particular man, he put it among his

wort, which became as good ale as could be drank, and so defeated

the charm. After which, the gentleman on whose land this man lived,

banished him thirty-six miles from thence.”[486]

A singular mode of divination was sometimes practised by the

Highlanders with bones. Having picked the flesh clean off a

shoulder-blade of mutton, which was supposed to lose its virtue

if touched by iron, they turned towards the east, and with looks

steadily fixed on the transparent bone they pretended to foretell

deaths, burials, &c.

The phases or changes of the moon were closely observed, and it

was only at particular periods of her revolution that they would

cut turf or fuel, fell wood, or cut thatch for houses, or go upon

any important expedition. They expected better crops of grain

by sowing their seed in the moon’s increase. “The moon,” as Dr.

Johnson observes, “has great influence in vulgar philosophy,” and

in his memory it was a precept annually given in one of the English

almanacs, “To kill hogs when the moon was increasing, and the bacon

would prove the better in boiling.”

The aid of superstition was sometimes resorted to for curing

diseases. For hectic and consumptive complaints, the Highlanders

used to pare the nails of the fingers and toes of the patient,--put

these parings into a bag made from a piece of his clothes,--and after

waving their hand with the bag thrice round his head, and crying,

_Deis-iuil_, they buried it in some unknown place. Pliny, in his

natural history, says that this practice existed among the Magi of

his time.

To remove any contagious disease from cattle, they used to extinguish

the fires in the surrounding villages, after which they forced fire

with a wheel, or by rubbing one piece of dry wood upon another,

with which they burned juniper in the stalls of the cattle that

the smoke might purify the air about them. When this was performed,

the fires in the houses were rekindled from the forced fire. Shaw

relates in his history of Moray, that he personally witnessed both

the last-mentioned practices.

Akin to some of the superstitions we have noticed, but differing from

them in many essential respects, is the belief--for superstition it

cannot well be called--in the Second Sight, by which, as Dr. Johnson

observes, “seems to be meant a mode of seeing, super-added to that

which nature generally bestows,”[487] and consists of “an impression

made either by the mind upon the eye, or by the eye upon the mind,

by which things distant or future are perceived, and seen as if they

were present.”[488] This “deceptive faculty” is in Gaelic called

_Taibhse_, i.e. a spectre, or a vision, and is neither voluntary nor

constant, but consists “in seeing an otherwise invisible object,

without any previous means used by the person that sees it for that

end; the vision makes such a lively impression upon the seer, that

they neither see nor think of any thing else, except the vision,

as long as it continues: and then they appear pensive or jovial,

according to the object which was represented to them.”[489]

It has been observed by lookers-on, that those persons who saw, or

were supposed to see, a vision, always kept their eye-lids erect,

and that they continued to stare until the object vanished. Martin

affirms that he and other persons that were with them, observed

this more than once, and he mentions an instance of a man in Skye,

the inner part of whose eye-lids was turned so far upwards during a

vision, that after the object disappeared he found it necessary to

draw them down with his fingers, and would sometimes employ others to

draw them down, which he indeed, Martin says, “found from experience

to be the easier way.”

The visions are said to have taken place either in the morning, at

noon, in the evening, or at night. If an object was seen early in

the morning, its accomplishment would take place in a few hours

thereafter. If at noon, that very day. If in the evening, perhaps

that night; if after the candles were lighted, the accomplishment

would take place by weeks, months, and sometimes years, according to

the time of night the vision was seen.

As the appearances which are said to have been observed in visions

and their prognostics may prove curious to the general reader, a few

of them shall be here stated, as noted by Martin.

When a shroud was perceived about one, it was a sure prognostic of

death. The time was judged according to the height of it about the

person. If not seen above the middle, death was not to be expected

for the space of a year, and perhaps some months longer; and as it

was frequently seen to ascend higher towards the head, death was

concluded to be at hand within a few days, if not hours.

If a woman was seen standing at a man’s left hand, it was a presage

that she would be his wife, whether they were married to others, or

unmarried at the time of the apparition.

If two or three women were seen at once standing near a man’s left

hand, she that was next to him would undoubtedly be his wife first,

and so on, whether all three, or the man, were single or married at

the time of the vision or not.

It was usual for the Seers to see any man that was shortly to arrive

at the house. If unknown to the Seer he would give such a description

of the person he saw as to make him to be at once recognised upon his

arrival. On the other hand, if the Seer knew the person he saw in the

vision, he would tell his name, and know by the expression of his

countenance whether he came in a good or bad humour.

The Seers often saw houses, gardens, and trees, in places where there

were none, but in the course of time these places became covered with

them.

To see a spark of fire fall upon one’s arm or breast, was a

forerunner of a dead child to be seen in the arms of those persons.

To see a seat empty when one was sitting on it, was a presage of that

person’s immediate death.

There are now few persons, if any, who pretend to this faculty,

and the belief in it is almost generally exploded. Yet it cannot

be denied that apparent proofs of its existence have been adduced

which have staggered minds not prone to superstition. When the

connexion between cause and effect can be recognised, things which

would otherwise have appeared wonderful and almost incredible, are

viewed as ordinary occurrences. The impossibility of accounting

for such an extraordinary phenomenon as the alleged faculty, on

philosophical principles, or from the laws of nature, must ever

leave the matter suspended between rational doubt and confirmed

scepticism. The strong-minded but superstitious Dr. Johnson appears,

from the following passage, to have been inclined to believe in the

genuineness of the faculty. “Strong reasons for incredulity,” says

Dr. Johnson, “will readily occur. This faculty of seeing things out

of sight is local, and commonly useless. It is a breach of the common

order of things, without any visible reason or perceptible benefit.

It is ascribed only to a people very little enlightened; and among

them, for the most part, to the mean and ignorant. To the confidence

of these objections it may be replied, that by presuming to determine

what is fit, and what is beneficial, they presuppose more knowledge

of the universal system than man has attained; and therefore depend

upon principles too complicated and extensive for our comprehension;

and that there can be no security in the consequence, when the

premises are not understood: that the Second Sight is only wonderful

because it is rare, for, considered in itself, it involves no more

difficulty than dreams, or perhaps than the regular exercises of

the cogitative faculty; that a general opinion of communicative

impulses, or visionary representations, has prevailed in all ages and

all nations; that particular instances have been given, with such

evidence as neither Bacon, nor Bayle, has been able to resist; that

sudden impressions, which the event has verified, have been felt by

more than own or publish them; that the Second Sight of the Hebrides

implies only the local frequency of a power which is no where totally

unknown; and that where we are unable to decide by antecedent reason,

we must be content to yield to the force of testimony.”[490]

Among the various modes of social intercourse which gladdened the

minds and dissipated the few worldly cares of the Highlanders,

weddings bore a distinguished part, and they were longed for with a

peculiar earnestness. Young and old, from the boy and girl of the

age of ten to the hoary-headed sire and aged matron, attended them.

The marriage invitations were given by the bride and bridegroom, in

person, for some weeks previous, and included the friends of the

betrothed parties living at the distance of many miles.

When the bride and bridegroom had completed their rounds, the custom

was for the matrons of the invited families to return the visit

within a few days, carrying along with them large presents of hams,

beef, cheese, butter, malt, spirits, and such other articles as they

inclined or thought necessary for the approaching feast. To such an

extent was this practice carried in some instances in the quantity

presented, that, along with what the guests paid (as they commonly

did) for their entertainment at the marriage, and the gifts presented

on the day after the marriage, the young couple obtained a pretty

fair competence, which warded off the shafts of poverty, and even

made them comfortable in after-life.

The joyous wedding-morning was ushered in by the notes of the

bagpipe. A party of pipers, followed by the bridegroom and some of

his friends, commenced at an early hour a round of morning calls

to remind the guests of their engagements. These hastened to join

the party, and before the circuit, which sometimes occupied several

hours, had ended, some hundreds, perhaps, had joined the wedding

standard before they reached the bridegroom’s house. The bride made

a similar round among her friends. Separate dinners were provided;

the bridegroom giving a dinner to his friends, and the bride to

hers. The marriage ceremony was seldom performed till after dinner.

The clergyman sometimes attended, but the parties preferred waiting

on him, as the appearance of a large procession to his house gave

additional importance and eclat to the ceremony of the day, which

was further heightened by a constant firing by the young men, who

supplied themselves with guns and pistols, and which firing was

responded to by every hamlet as the party passed along; “so that,

with streamers flying, pipers playing, the constant firing from all

sides, and the shouts of the young men, the whole had the appearance

of a military army passing, with all the noise of warfare, through a

hostile country.”

On the wedding-day, the bride and bridegroom avoided each other till

they met before the clergyman. Many ceremonies were performed during

the celebration of the marriage rites. These ceremonies were of an

amusing and innocent description, and added much to the cheerfulness

and happiness of the young people. One of these ceremonies consisted

in untying all the bindings and strings about the person of the

bridegroom, to denote, that nothing was to be bound on the marriage

day but the one indissoluble knot which death only can dissolve. The

bride was exempted from this operation from a delicacy of feeling

towards her sex, and from a supposition that she was so pure that

infidelity on her part could not be contemplated.

To discontinue practices in themselves innocent, and which contribute

to the social happiness of mankind, must ever be regretted, and it

is not therefore to be wondered at, that a generous and open-hearted

Highlander, like General Stewart, should have expressed his regret

at the partial disuse of these ceremonies, or that he should have

preferred a Highland wedding, where he had himself “been so happy,

and seen so many blithe countenances, and eyes sparkling with

delight, to such weddings as that of the Laird of Drum, ancestor

of the Lord Sommerville, when he married a daughter of Sir James

Bannatyne of Corehouse.”[491]

The festivities of the wedding-day were generally prolonged to a

late hour, and during the whole day the fiddlers and pipers never

ceased except at short intervals, to make sweet music. The fiddlers

performed in the house, the pipers in the field;[492] so that the

company alternately enjoyed the pleasure of dancing within and

without the house, as they felt inclined, provided the weather

permitted.

No people were more attached to the fulfilment of all the domestic

duties, and the sacred obligation of the marriage vow, than the

Highlanders. A violation thereof was of course of unfrequent

occurrence, and among the common people a separation was almost

unknown. Rarely, indeed, did a husband attempt to get rid of his

wife, however disagreeable she might be. He would have considered

his children dishonoured, if he had driven their mother from

the protection of his roof. The punishment inflicted by the

ecclesiastical authority for an infringement of the marriage vow

was, that “the guilty person, whether male or female, was made to

stand in a barrel of cold water at the church door, after which, the

delinquent, clad in a wet canvas shirt, was made to stand before the

congregation, and at close of service the minister explained the

nature of the offence.”[493] Illicit intercourse before marriage

between the sexes was also of rare occurrence, and met with condign

punishment in the public infamy which attended such breaches against

chastity.

This was the more remarkable, as early marriages were discouraged,

and the younger sons were not allowed to marry until they obtained

sufficient means to keep a house and to rent a small farm, or were

otherwise enabled to support a family.

The attachment of the Highlanders to their offspring, and the

veneration and filial piety which a reciprocal feeling produced on

the part of their children, were leading characteristics in the

Highland character, and much as these mountaineers have degenerated

in some of the other virtues, these affections still remain almost

unimpaired. Children seldom desert their parents in their old age,

and when forced to earn a subsistence from home, they always consider

themselves bound to share with their parents whatever they can save

from their wages. But the parents are never left alone, as one of

the family, by turns, remains at home for the purpose of taking

care of them in terms of an arrangement. “The sense of duty is not

extinguished by absence from the mountains. It accompanies the

Highland soldier amid the dissipations of a mode of life to which he

has not been accustomed. It prompts him to save a portion of his pay,

to enable him to assist his parents, and also to work when he has an

opportunity, that he may increase their allowance, at once preserving

himself from idle habits, and contributing to the comfort and

happiness of those who gave him birth. I have been a frequent witness

of these offerings of filial bounty, and the channel through which

they were communicated, and I have generally found that a threat of

informing their parents of misconduct, has operated as a sufficient

check on young soldiers, who always received the intimation with a

sort of horror. They knew that the report would not only grieve their

relations, but act as a sentence of banishment against themselves,

as they could not return home with a bad or blemished character.

Generals M’Kenzie, Fraser, and M’Kenzie of Suddie, who successively

commanded the 78th Highlanders, seldom had occasion to resort to any

other punishment than threats of this kind, for several years after

the embodying of that regiment.”[494]

Nor were the Highlanders less alive to the principles of honesty

and fair dealing, in their transactions with one another. Disgrace

was the usual consequence of insolvency, which was considered _ex

facie_ criminal. Bankrupts were compelled to undergo a singular

punishment. They “were forced to surrender their all, and were clad

in a party-coloured clouted garment, with the hose of different sets,

and had their hips dashed against a stone, in presence of the people,

by four men, each taking a hold of an arm or a leg. This punishment

was called _Toncruaidh_.”[495]

Such was the confidence in their honour and integrity, that in

the ordinary transactions of the people, a mere verbal obligation

without the intervention of any writing, was held quite sufficient,

although contracted in the most private manner,[496] and there were

few instances where the obligation was either unfulfilled or denied.

Their mode of concluding or confirming their money agreements or

other transactions, was by the contracting parties going out into

the open air, and with eyes erect, taking Heaven to witness their

engagements, after which, each party put a mark on some remarkable

stone or other natural object, which their ancestors had been

accustomed to notice.

Accustomed, as the Highlanders were, to interminable feuds arising

out of the pretensions of rival clans, the native courage which they

had inherited from their Celtic progenitors was preserved unimpaired.

Instances of cowardice were, therefore, of rare occurrence, and

whoever exhibited symptoms of fear before a foe, was considered

infamous and put under the ban of his party. The following anecdote,

as related by Mrs. Grant, shows, strongly, the detestation which the

Highlanders entertained towards those who had disgraced themselves

and their clan by an act of poltroonery: “There was a clan, _I must

not say what clan it is_, who had been for ages governed by a series

of chiefs, singularly estimable, and highly beloved, and who, in

one instance, provoked their leader to the extreme of indignation.

I should observe, that the transgression was partial, the culprits

being the inhabitants of one single parish. These, in a hasty

skirmish with a neighbouring clan, thinking discretion the best

part of valour, sought safety in retreat. A cruel chief would have

inflicted the worst of punishments--banishment from the bounds of

his clan,--which, indeed, fell little short of the curse of Kehama.

This good laird, however, set bounds to his wrath, yet made their

punishment severe and exemplary. He appeared himself with all the

population of the three adjacent parishes, at the parish church of

the offenders, where they were all by order convened. After divine

service, they were marched three times round the church, in presence

of their offended leader and his assembled clan. Each individual, on

coming out of the church door, was obliged to draw out his tongue

with his fingers, and then cry audibly, ‘Shud bleider heich,’ (i.e.)

‘This is the poltroon,’ and to repeat it at every corner of the

church. After this procession of ignominy, no other punishment was

inflicted, except that of being left to guard the district when the

rest were called out to battle.... It is credibly asserted, that no

enemy has seen the back of any of that name (Grant) ever since. And

it is certain, that, to this day, it is not safe for any person of

another name to mention the circumstance in presence of one of the

affronted clan.”[497]

The Highlanders, like the inhabitants of other romantic and

mountainous regions, always retain an enthusiastic attachment to

their country, which neither distance of place nor length of time

can efface. This strong feeling has, we think, been attributed

erroneously to the powerful and lasting effect which the external

objects of nature, seen in their wildest and most fantastic forms and

features, are calculated to impress upon the imagination.

No doubt the remembrance of these objects might contribute to endear

the scenes of youth to the patriotic Highlander when far removed

from his native glens; but it was the recollection of home,--sweet

home!--of the domestic circle, and of the many pleasing associations

which arise from the contemplation of the days of other years, when

mirth and innocence held mutual dalliance, that chiefly impelled

him to sigh for the land of his fathers. Mankind have naturally an

affection for the country of their birth, and this affection is

felt more or less according to the degree of social or commercial

intercourse which exists among nations. Confined, like the Swiss,

for many ages within their natural boundaries, and having little or

no intercourse with the rest of the world, the Highlanders formed

those strong local attachments for which they were long remarkably

distinguished; but which are now being gradually obliterated by the

mighty changes rapidly taking place in the state of society.

Firmly attached as they were to their country, the Highlanders had

also a singular predilection for the place of their birth. An amusing

instance of this local attachment is mentioned by General Stewart.

A tenant of his father’s, at the foot of the mountain Shichallion,

having removed and followed his son to a farm which the latter had

taken at some distance lower down the country, the old man was

missing for a considerable time one morning, and on being asked on

his return where he had been, replied, “As I was sitting by the

side of the river, a thought came across me, that, perhaps, some of

the waters from Shichallion, and the sweet fountains that watered

the farm of my forefathers, might now be passing by me, and that

if I bathed they might touch my skin. I immediately stripped, and,

from the pleasure I felt in being surrounded by the pure waters of

Leidna-breilag (the name of the farm) I could not tear myself away

sooner.” But this fondness of the Highlander was not confined to

the desire of living upon the beloved spot--it extended even to the

grave. The idea of dying at a distance from home and among strangers

could not be endured, and the aged Highlander, when absent from his

native place, felt discomposed lest death should overtake him before

his return. To be consigned to the grave among strangers, without

the attendance and sympathy of friends, and at a distance from their

family, was considered a heavy calamity; and even to this day,

people make the greatest exertions to carry home the bodies of such

relations as happen to die far from the ground hallowed by the ashes

of their forefathers.[498] This trait was exemplified in the case

of a woman aged ninety-one, who a few years ago went to Perth from

her house in Strathbrane in perfect health, and in the possession

of all her faculties. A few days after her arrival in Perth, where

she had gone to visit a daughter, she had a slight attack of fever.

One evening a considerable quantity of snow had fallen, and she

expressed great anxiety, particularly when told that a heavier fall

was expected. Next morning her bed was found empty, and no trace of

her could be discovered, till the second day, when she sent word

that she had slipt out of the house at midnight, set off on foot

through the snow, and never stopped till she reached home, a distance

of twenty miles. When questioned some time afterwards why she went

away so abruptly, she answered, “If my sickness had increased, and

if I had died, they could not have sent my remains home through the

deep snows. If I had told my daughter, perhaps she would have locked

the door upon me, and God forbid that my bones should be at such

a distance from home, and be buried among _Gall-na-machair_, The

strangers of the plain.”[499]

Among the causes which contributed to sustain the warlike character

of the Highlanders, the exertions of the bards in stimulating them

to deeds of valour in the field of battle, must not be overlooked.

One of the most important duties of the bard consisted in attending

the clans to the field, and exhorting them before battle to emulate

the glories of their ancestors, and to die if necessary in defence

of their country. The appeals of the bards, which were delivered and

enforced with great vehemence and earnestness, never failed to arouse

the feelings; and when amid the din of battle the voices of the bards

could no longer be heard, the pipers succeeded them, and cheered on

their respective parties with their warlike and inspiring strains.

After the termination of the battle, the bard celebrated the praises

of the brave warriors who had fallen in battle, and related the

heroic actions of the survivors to excite them to similar exertions

on future occasions. To impress still more deeply upon the minds of

the survivors the honour and heroism of their fallen friends, the

piper was employed to perform plaintive dirges for the slain.

From the associations raised in the mind by the great respect thus

paid to the dead, and the honours which awaited the survivors who

distinguished themselves in the field of battle, by their actions

being celebrated by the bards, and transmitted to posterity,

originated that magnanimous contempt of death for which the

Highlanders are noted. While among some people the idea of death

is avoided with studious alarm, the Highlander will speak of it

with an easy and unconcerned familiarity, as an event of ordinary

occurrence, but in a way “equally remote from dastardly affectation,

or fool-hardy presumption, and proportioned solely to the inevitable

certainty of the event itself.”[500]

To be interred decently, and in a becoming manner, is a material

consideration in the mind of a Highlander, and care is generally

taken, even by the poorest, long before the approach of death, to

provide sufficient articles to insure a respectable interment. To

wish one another an honourable death, _crioch onarach_, is considered

friendly by the Highlanders, and even children will sometimes express

the same sentiment towards their parents. “A man well known to the

writer of these pages was remarkable for his filial affection, even

among the sons and daughters of the mountains, so distinguished for

that branch of piety. His mother being a widow, and having a numerous

family, who had married very early, he continued to live single, that

he might the more sedulously attend to her comfort, and watch over

her declining years with the tenderest care. On her birth-day, he

always collected his brothers and sisters, and all their families, to

a sort of kindly feast, and, in conclusion, gave a toast, not easily

translated from the emphatic language, without circumlocution,--_An

easy and decorous departure to my mother_, comes nearest to it. This

toast, which would shake the nerves of fashionable delicacy, was

received with great applause, the old woman remarking, that God had

been always good to her, and she hoped she would die as decently as

she had lived, for it is thought of the utmost consequence to die

decently. The ritual of decorous departure, and of behaviour to be

observed by the friends of the dying on that solemn occasion, being

fully established, nothing is more common than to take a solemn leave

of old people, as if they were going on a journey, and pretty much in

the same terms. People frequently send conditional messages to the

departed. _If you are permitted, tell my dear brother, that I have

merely endured the world since he left it, and that I have been very

kind to every creature he used to cherish, for his sake._ I have,

indeed, heard a person of a very enlightened mind, seriously give a

message to an aged person, to deliver to a child he had lost not long

before, which she as seriously promised to deliver, with the wonted

salvo, if she was permitted.”[501]

In no country was “the savage virtue of hospitality” carried to a

greater extent than in the Highlands, and never did stranger receive

a heartier welcome than was given to the guest who entered a Highland

mansion or cottage. This hospitality was sometimes carried rather too

far, particularly in the island of Barra, where, according to Martin,

the custom was, that, when strangers from the northern islands went

there, “the natives, immediately after their landing, obliged them to

eat, even though they should have liberally eat and drank but an hour

before their landing there.” This meat they called _Bieyta’v_, i.e.

Ocean meat. Sir Robert Gordon informs us that it was a custom among

the western islanders, that when one was invited to another’s house,

they never separated till the whole provision was finished; and that,

when it was done, they went to the next house, and so on from one

house to another until they made a complete round, from neighbour to

neighbour, always carrying the head of the family in which they had

been last entertained to the next house along with them.[502]

The removal of the court by Malcolm Canmore to the Lowlands was an

event which was followed by results very disastrous to the future

prosperity of the Highlands. The inhabitants soon sunk into a state

of poverty, and, as by the transference of the seat of government

the administration of the laws became either inoperative or was

feebly enforced, the people gave themselves up to violence and

turbulence, and revenged in person those injuries which the laws

could no longer redress. Released from the salutary control of

monarchical government, the Highlanders soon saw the necessity of

substituting some other system in its place, to protect themselves

against the aggressions to which they were exposed. From this state

of things originated the great power of the Chiefs, who attained

their ascendancy over the different little communities into which

the population of the Highlands was naturally divided, on account

of their superior property, courage, or talent. The powers of the

chiefs were very great. They acted as judges or arbiters in the

quarrels of their clansmen and followers, and as they were backed by

resolute supporters of their rights, their property, and their power,

they established within their own territories a jurisdiction almost

independent of the kingly authority.

From this division of the people into clans and tribes under separate

chiefs, arose many of those institutions, feelings, and usages which

characterised the Highlanders. “The nature of the country, and the

motives which induced the Celts to make it their refuge, almost

necessarily prescribed the form of their institutions. Unequal to

contend with the overwhelming numbers, who drove them from the

plains, and, anxious to preserve their independence, and their blood

uncontaminated by a mixture with strangers, they defended themselves

in those strongholds which are, in every country, the sanctuaries of

national liberty, and the refuge of those who resist the oppressions

and the dominion of a more powerful neighbour. Thus, in the absence

of their monarchs, and defended by their barrier of rocks, they did

not always submit to the authority of a distant government, which

could neither enforce obedience nor afford protection.”[503]

The various little societies into which the Highland population

was, by the nature of the country, divided, having no desire to

change their residence or to keep up a communication with one

another, and having all their wants, which were few, supplied within

themselves, became individually isolated. Every district became

an independent state, and thus the Highland population, though

possessing a community of customs and the same characteristics, was

divided or broken into separate masses, and placed under different

jurisdictions. A patriarchal[504] system of government, “a sort

of hereditary monarchy founded on custom, and allowed by general

consent, rather than regulated by laws,” was thus established over

each community or clan in the persons of the chiefs.

As a consequence of the separation which was preserved by the

different clans, matrimonial alliances were rarely made with

strangers, and hence the members of the clan were generally related

to one another by the ties of consanguinity or affinity. While this

double connexion tended to preserve harmony and good will among the

members of the same clan, it also tended, on the other hand, to

excite a bitter spirit of animosity between rival clans, whenever

an affront or injury was offered by one clan to another, or by

individuals of different clans.

Although the chief had great power with his clan in the different

relations of landlord, leader, and judge, his authority was far from

absolute, as he was obliged to consult the leading men of the clan

in matters of importance--in things regarding the clan or particular

families, in removing differences, punishing or redressing injuries,

preventing lawsuits, supporting declining families, and declaring war

against, or adjusting terms of peace with other clans.

As the system of clanship was calculated to cherish a warlike spirit,

the young chiefs and heads of families were regarded or despised

according to their military or peaceable disposition. If they

revenged a quarrel with another clan by killing some of the enemy,

or carrying off their cattle and laying their lands waste, they were

highly esteemed, and great expectations were formed of their future

prowess and exploits. But if they failed in their attempts, they were

not respected; and if they appeared disinclined to engage in hostile

rencontres, they were despised.[505]

The military ranks of the clans were fixed and perpetual. The chief

was, of course, the principal commander. The oldest cadet commanded

the right wing, and the youngest the rear. Every head of a distinct

family was captain of his own tribe. An ensign or standard-bearer was

attached to each clan, who generally inherited his office, which had

been usually conferred on an ancestor who had distinguished himself.

A small salary was attached to this office.

Each clan had a stated place of rendezvous, where they met at the

call of their chief. When an emergency arose for an immediate meeting

from the incursions of a hostile clan, the cross or tarie, or

fiery-cross, was immediately despatched through the territories of

the clan. This signal consisted of two pieces of wood placed in the

form of a cross. One of the ends of the horizontal piece was either

burnt or burning, and a piece of linen or white cloth stained with

blood was suspended from the other end. Two men, each with a cross

in his hand, were despatched by the chief in different directions,

who kept running with great speed, shouting the war-cry of the tribe,

and naming the place of rendezvous, if different from the usual

place of meeting. The cross was delivered from hand to hand, and as

each fresh bearer ran at full speed, the clan assembled with great

celerity. General Stewart says, that one of the latest instances of

the fiery-cross being used, was in 1745 by Lord Breadalbane, when

it went round Loch Tay, a distance of thirty-two miles, in three

hours, to raise his people and prevent their joining the rebels, but

with less effect than in 1715 when it went the same round, and when

500 men assembled in a few hours, under the command of the Laird of

Glenlyon, to join the Earl of Mar.

Every clan had its own war-cry, (called in Scottish _slogan_,) to

which every clansman answered. It served as a watch-word in cases

of sudden alarm, in the confusion of combat, or in the darkness of

the night. The clans were also distinguished by a particular badge,

or by the peculiar arrangements or sets of the different colours of

the tartan, which will be fully noticed when we come to treat of the

history of the clans.

When a clan went upon any expedition they were much influenced

by omens. If they met an armed man they believed that good was

portended. If they observed a deer, fox, hare, or any other

four-footed beast of game, and did not succeed in killing it, they

prognosticated evil. If a woman barefooted crossed the road before

them, they seized her and drew blood from her forehead.

The _Cuid-Oidhche_, or night’s provision, was paid by many tenants to

the chief; and in hunting or going on an expedition, the tenant who

lived near the hill was bound to furnish the master and his followers

a night’s entertainment, with brawn for his dogs.

There are no sufficient data to enable us to estimate correctly the

number of fighting men which the clans could bring at any time into

the field; but a general idea may be formed of their strength in

1745, from the following statement of the respective forces of the

clans as taken from the memorial supposed to be drawn up by the Lord

President Forbes of Culloden, for the information of government. It

is to be observed, however, that besides the clans here mentioned,

there were many independent gentlemen, as General Stewart observes,

who had many followers, but being what were called broken names, or

small tribes, are omitted.