There is, perhaps, no country in Europe which possesses so great a
variety of territory and social condition as our own. Between the
plains of Cambridgeshire and the wilds of Sutherland--between the
toiling, densely-packed multitudes of Lancashire and the idle,
scattered cotters of the Hebrides, how vast a difference! The Land we
Live in, as Charles Knight has called it, in a very delightful
descriptive book, is a much more interesting study to its own people
than is generally supposed; and we somewhat wonder that comparatively
so few of our tourists go in search of what is picturesque, romantic,
and novel within our own seas. These ideas arise in our mind in
perusing a few pages of the new edition of the _Guide to the Highlands
and Islands of Scotland_,[2] by the Messrs Anderson of Inverness. In
this book we have the benefit of remarkable fulness of knowledge on
the part of the authors, and the accuracy of their statements is only
rivalled by their judicious brevity. The account of some of the more
out-of-the-way parts of the country brings before us not merely
physical conditions highly peculiar, but, as it were, a totally
peculiar set of historical associations. As an example, take a few
swatches of the Island of Islay.
It is about thirty miles long by twenty-four in breadth, composed
chiefly of elevated, but not Alpine ground, much of it moorish and
bleak, but a great and constantly increasing space cultivated and
sheltered. The finest island in the Hebrides, it belonged almost
wholly to one proprietor, whose dignity of course was great. Within
the last few years, he came to greet the Queen at Inverary, with a
gallant following of men clothed in the Highland garb at his own
expense. The island is now, however, in the hands of trustees, for the
benefit of creditors, whose claims amount to upwards of L.700,000.
There are lead-mines on the island, now unwrought, but from which it
is understood silver had been derived, wherewith some of the family
plate of the proprietor was formed. Whisky is distilled to such an
amount, as to return L.30,000 per annum of revenue to the government.
The Gaelic-speaking people, the fine shooting-grounds, the romantic
cliffs and caves, the lonely moors and lochs of this island,
altogether give it a degree of romantic interest calculated strongly
to attract the regard of the intelligent stranger.
To pursue the narration of Messrs Anderson--'Islay is not a little
interesting from the historical associations connected with the
remains of antiquity which it presents, in the ruins of its old
castles, forts, and chapels. It was a chief place of residence of the
celebrated lords, or rather kings, of the Isles, and afterwards of a
near and powerful branch of the family of the great Macdonald. The
original seat of the Scottish monarchy was Cantyre, and the capital is
supposed to have been in the immediate vicinity of the site of
Campbelltown. In the ninth century, it was removed to Forteviot, near
the east end of Strathearn, in Perthshire. Shortly afterwards, the
Western Isles and coasts, which had then become more exposed to the
hostile incursions of the Scandinavian Vikingr, were completely
reduced under the sway of Harold Harfager, of Denmark. Harold
established a viceroy in the Isle of Man. In the beginning of the
twelfth century, Somerled, a powerful chieftain of Cantyre, married
Effrica, a daughter of Olaus or Olave, the swarthy viceroy or king of
Man, a descendant of Harold Harfager, and assumed the independent
sovereignty of Cantyre; to which he added, by conquest, Argyle and
Lorn, with several islands contiguous thereto and to Cantyre. Somerled
was slain in 1164, in an engagement with Malcolm IV. in Renfrewshire.
His possessions on the mainland, excepting Cantyre, were bestowed on
his younger son Dugal, from whom sprung the Macdougals of Lorn, who
are to this day lineally represented by the family of Dunolly; while
the islands and Cantyre descended to Reginald, his elder son. For more
than three centuries, Somerled's descendants held these possessions,
at times as independent princes, and at others as tributaries of
Norway, Scotland, and even of England. In the sixteenth century they
continued still troublesome, but not so formidable to the royal
authority. After the battle of the Largs in 1263, in which Haco of
Norway was defeated, the pretensions of that kingdom were resigned to
the Scottish monarchs, for payment of a subsidy of 100 merks. Angus
Og, fifth in descent from Somerled, entertained Robert Bruce in his
flight to Ireland in his castle of Dunaverty, near the Mull of
Cantyre, and afterwards at Dunnavinhaig, in Isla, and fought under his
banner at Bannockburn. Bruce conferred on the Macdonalds the
distinction of holding the post of honour on the right in battle--the
withholding of which at Culloden occasioned a degree of disaffection
on their part, in that dying struggle of the Stuart dynasty. This
Angus's son, John, called by the Dean of the Isles "the good John of
Isla," had by Amy, great-granddaughter of Roderick, son of Reginald,
king of Man, three sons--John, Ronald, and Godfrey; and by subsequent
marriage with Margaret, daughter of Robert Stuart, afterwards Robert
II. of Scotland, other three sons--Donald of the Isles, John Mor the
Tainnister, and Alexander Carrach. It is subject of dispute whether
the first family were lawful issue or illegitimate, or had merely been
set aside, for they were not called to the chief succession, as a
stipulation of the connection with the royal family, to whom the
others were particularly obnoxious; or, as has been conjectured, from
the relationship of the parents being thought too much within the
forbidden degrees. The power of John seems to have been singularly
great. By successive grants of Robert Bruce to his father, and of
David II., Baliol, and Robert II., to himself, he appears to have been
in possession or superior of almost the whole western coasts and
islands....
'The inordinate power of these island princes was gradually broken
down by the Scottish monarchs in the course of the fifteenth and early
part of the sixteenth century. On the death of John, Lord of the Isles
and Earl of Ross, grandson of Donald, Hugh of Sleat, John's nearest
brother and his descendants became rightful representatives of the
family, and so continue. Claim to the title of Lord of the Isles was
made by Donald, great-grandson of Hugh of Sleat; but James V. refused
to restore the title, deeming its suppression advisable for the peace
of the country.'
At the close of the sixteenth century, when Bacon was writing his
_Essays_, and Shakspeare his _Hamlet_, this remote part of the country
was the scene of bloody feuds between semi-barbarous chieftains. A
battle, with from one to two thousand men on each side, took place in
Islay in 1598. The power of the Islay Macdonalds ultimately passed
into the hands of the Campbells, who have since been the ascendant
family in these insular regions.
'The remains of the strongholds of the Macdonalds in Islay are the
following:--In Loch Finlagan, a lake about three miles in
circumference, three miles from Port Askaig, and a mile off the road
to Loch-in-Daal, on the right hand, on an islet, are the ruins of
their principal castle or palace and chapel; and on an adjoining
island the Macdonald council held their meetings. There are traces of
a pier, and of the habitations of the guards on the shore. A large
stone was, till no very distant period, to be seen, on which Macdonald
stood, when crowned, by the Bishop of Argyle, King of the Isles. On an
island, in a similar lake, Loch Guirm, to the west of Loch-in-Daal,
are the remains of a strong square fort, with round corner towers; and
towards the head of Loch-in-Daal, on the same side, are vestiges of
another dwelling and pier.
'Where are thy pristine glories, Finlagan?
The voice of mirth has ceased to ring thy walls,
Where Celtic lords and their fair ladies sang
Their songs of joy in Great Macdonald's halls.
And where true knights, the flower of chivalry,
Oft met their chiefs in scenes of revelry--
All, all are gone, and left thee to repose,
Since a new race and measures new arose.
'The Macdonalds had a body-guard of 500 men, of whose quarters there
are marks still to be seen on the banks of the loch. For their
personal services they had lands, the produce of which fed and clothed
them. They were formed into two divisions. The first was called
Ceatharnaich, and composed of the very tallest and strongest of the
islanders. Of these, sixteen, called Buannachan, constantly attended
their lord wheresoever he went, even in his rural walks; and one of
them, denominated "Gille 'shiabadh dealt," headed the party. This
piece of honourable distinction was conferred upon him on account of
his feet being of such size and form as, in his progress, to cover the
greatest extent of ground, and to shake the dew from the grass
preparatory to its being trodden by his master. These Buannachan
enjoyed certain privileges, which rendered them particularly obnoxious
to their countrymen. The last gang of them was destroyed in the
following manner by one Macphail in the Rinns:--Seeing Macdonald and
his men coming, he set about splitting the trunk of a tree, in which
he had partly succeeded by the time they had reached. He requested the
visitors to lend a hand. So, eight on each side, they took hold of the
partially severed splits; on doing which, Macphail removed the wedges
which had kept open the slit, which now closed on their fingers,
holding them hard and fast in the rustic man-trap. Macphail and his
three sons equipped themselves from the armour of their captives,
compelled them to eat a lusty dinner, and then beheaded them, leaving
their master to return in safety. Macphail and his sons took shelter
in Ireland. The other division of these 500 were called
Gillean-glasa, and their post was within the outer walls of their
fastnesses. These forts were so constructed that the Gillean-glasa
might fight in the outer breach, whilst their lords, together with
their guests, were enjoying themselves in security within the walls,
and especially within the impenetrable fortifications of Finlagan.
'On Freuch Isle, in the Sound, are the ruins of Claig Castle--a square
tower, defended by a deep ditch, which at once served as a prison and
a protection to the passage. At Laggavoulin Bay, an inlet on the east
coast, and on the opposite side to the village, on a large peninsular
rock, stands part of the walls of a round substantial stone burgh or
tower, protected on the land side by a thick earthen mound. It is
called Dun Naomhaig, or Dunnivaig (such is Gaelic orthography.) There
are ruins of several houses beyond the mound, separated from the main
building by a strong wall. This may have been a Danish structure,
subsequently used by the Macdonalds, and it was one of their strongest
naval stations. There are remains of several such strongholds in the
same quarter. The ruins of one are to be seen on an inland hill, Dun
Borreraig, with walls twelve feet thick, and fifty-two feet in
diameter inside, and having a stone seat two feet high round the area.
As usual, there is a gallery in the midst of the wall. Another had
occupied the summit of Dun Aidh, a large, high, and almost
inaccessible rock near the Mull. Between Loch Guirm and Saneg, and
south of Loch Gruinart, at Dun Bheolain (Vollan), there are a series
of rocks, projecting one behind another into the sea, with precipitous
seaward fronts, and defended on the land side by cross dikes; and in
the neighbourhood numerous small pits in the earth, of a size to admit
of a single person seated. These are covered by flat stones, which
were concealed by sods.
'There are also several ruins of chapels and places of worship in
Islay, as in many other islands. The names of fourteen founded by the
Lords of the Isles might be enumerated. Indeed, most of the names,
especially of parishes of the west coast, have some old ecclesiastical
allusion. In the ancient burying-ground of Kildalton, a few miles
south-west of the entrance of the Sound, are two large, but
clumsily-sculptured stone-crosses. In this quarter, near the Bay of
Knock, distinguished by a high sugar-loaf-shaped hill, are two large
upright flagstones, called the two stones of Islay, reputed to mark
the burying-place of Yula, a Danish princess, who gives the island its
name. In the church-yard of Killarrow, near Bowmore, there was a
prostrate column, rudely sculptured; and, among others, two
grave-stones, one with the figure of a warrior, habited in a sort of
tunic reaching to the knees, and a conical head-dress. His hand holds
a sword, and by his side is a dirk. The decoration of the other is a
large sword, surrounded by a wreath of leaves; and at one end the
figures of three animals. This column has been removed from its
resting-place, and set up in the centre of a battery erected near
Islay House some years ago. Monumental stones, as well as cairns and
barrows, occur elsewhere; and there is said to be a specimen of a
circular mound, with successive terraces, resembling the tynewalds, or
judgment-seats, of the Isle of Man, and almost unique in the Western
Islands. Stone and brass hatchet-shaped weapons or celts, elf-shots or
flint arrow-heads, and brass fibulæ, have been frequently dug up.'