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As the conversation
was not well remembered on this excursion, one of the party was
requested to write an account of a day at Lochnell and its
neighbourhood. They had all heard of Lochiel, but who of Lochnell?
Even the guide-books connect the name with the wrong place, namely,
the land over near Keills, beyond Connel Ferry, instead of with its
own region, surrounded by its own hills, draining its own fields,
and sending its own river Feochan down to the sea at Loch Feochan.
It is a very small lake, not a sea loch, for we may make the
distinction, which, however, is not made in Gaelic, or even by the
English, between lake and loch. The name is poetic, Locla-a-ncala,
the lake of the swans; there may have been many such birds here
once, but they are gone. Still there is left a pleasant memory of
airy life, and the low land where the stream falls out of the lake
is called Dalineun—the valley of birds. Here is the report of the
excursion.
The road from Oban to
the loch itself is steep, but it is good, and only about four miles
long. To go by land to the other side of the loch would make four or
five more round, so that it needs a good walker to traverse in a day
all the ground to be visited. Glen Lonain itself needs some ten
miles of walking to and fro if it is all to be visited. We
preferred, therefore, to have a conveyance to take us to the ground,
and to help us at need. As the party drove out of the glen leading
from Oban south-east, the rugged heights showed themselves more than
on the other side, and the strange shapes of the hills seemed more
and more the playthings of numberless streams and violent submarine
currents. But soon we came to a not extensive moor, and saw before
us the isolated but warm-looking, because wooded valley, with its
couple of good country-seats and the manse of Kilmore. The valley
goes to the right, and below is Loch Feochan, the entrance of the
sea; but we went to the left, and immediately came to a house or
two, poor enough looking, and with a desolate kind of name, Cleigla.
This name signifies a burying-place, and one of the younger of us
naturally asked, "Why do you take us to burying-grounds? We never
visit such at home, unless it be to see the tomb of a relative." The
answer was easy: "We are here to see the memorials of the people who
have long passed; history is among the dead; at home we live among
the active men. Besides, here are our distant forgotten relatives."
And here, certainly, there are few and scattered dwellings to see,
but the name seems to indicate that many persons, living or dead,
were brought here, if they did not live and die here. It is not hard
to imagine all this pleasant valley filled with houses, small of
course ; there is much good grass, and there is still some corn.
People pass the road and see nothing, but Cameron stopped us at the
little farm-house of Molee before arriving at LochnelI, and, walking
to a field on the left, we saw the remains of a great cairn sixty
feet in diameter. Now, it must have been an important person who had
such a burying-place. Who of the men of this century, has such a
great space to rest in? Such cairns are at first a dozen feet high
or more, and yet the stones are gone, probably to build the
neighbouring house and byres. The stones had been gathered from the
fields, probably old rounded boulders, and thus the land was cleared
ages ago, doing good to the living by remembering the dead. And now
we have the benefit, because these fields show a good crop of oats.
The people, probably, were not very irreverent when demolishing the
heap in later years to form habitations for the living. Tradition
has no knowledge of the inmate of this cairn, but an inmate there
was, and, as soon as the stone kist was seen, no more theft was
perpetrated there ; the nearly square box remains in the centre,
formed of the best of the stones. The body had been burnt, and the
urn containing the ashes had been removed and given to a lady living
for the time in the valley lower down. It will go to make up some
unknown collection, and people will say, "It was probably a Celtic
urn." Who knows if the body was not bent up and buried, dissolved
long ago, whilst the urn was only a water or food vessel, deposited
by the friends, according to some ancient custom, and alone
remaining undecayed. The kist or cist is small for this mode of
burial.
There has been only
one burial in this great monument of the Cleigh, and it makes us
dream and express feelings that never can be old and commonplace to
man who is so short-lived. The builders mourned over their friends,
even if they were not so wise as men are now. They had feelings even
more intense than ours, since they laboured so long to perpetuate
the memory of one whom they loved or admired. It has become common
not to mourn much for the dead ; this is a beautiful feeling when it
arises from the hope of a glorious resurrection, but we can only
call it brutalizing when it arises from an intense love of the
present, and a removal of the lost from our minds as mere matter,
the memory of which is an inconvenient interruption to the business
or pleasures of life. In this sense these great cairns are a proof
of a higher life than is led by the men who forget the graves, and
rejoice in the heritage left them by the dead.
The party were
pleased when they had only to walk a little farther from the road,
and, near the rising ground, to see the base of another large cairn.
This had been certainly surrounded by a ring of heavier stones, as
probably the other also was. The boulders forming the cairn had been
removed here also, and the stone kist remained; it was elongated,
not square, like the former. This too had been opened not very long
ago, but imperfectly, and on finishing the examination of the kist,
some five or six years ago, a very fine bronze dagger was obtained,
one of a class very rare. It is deposited in the Museum of the
Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh.
It is only of late
that these things have been cared for, and we wonder that Scotland
has been so little known. It is only now being discovered. The men
in the glen did not know that such remains were not everywhere, and
had no idea that these were interesting memories to all men, if not
now foundation of legends for themselves, and usually visitors did
not go over the ground, but stood at one end of a valley and, if
they cared at all, only admired or wondered. Loudoun had been saying
this, but Cameron objected, as he said that it was all well known in
the Highlands once, but books made people lose their memories, so
that this district just behind Oban, like many others, is a new
region to tourists.
Our company had not
far to go to meet another surprise. When on our way to the lake, a
little north of the shortest line, was seen a double cairn. It seems
at least to have been a cairn, and the circle is clearly defined,
but the covering boulders are here also removed, and two stone kists
were found, the greatest being in the centre, each with a megalithic
covering. These are almost like the cromlech, as usually named, but
being low, they are more like stone graves. The larger stone is the
more remarkable. The great granite covering has been broken, and a
part removed to form a millstone some time in this century. The
burying-place is a fine one, both for strength and position, and the
stones must have lasted for centuries, how long, as in other cases,
we cannot say. The cairns just spoken of, made with the smaller
stones, were from the bronze age; this grave being megalithic speaks
of a ruder age, perhaps the polished stone, but everything buried
had been removed. The spot is a pleasant knoll evidently Chosen for
effect, and looking over the lake, as well as over the fine vale of
Feochan, whilst it may be a cheerful spot on which to sit and hear
the music in this "valley of birds." The men who chose it not only
knew what had a fine effect, but they had a love of nature that is
not exceeded now if we may judge from this. This grave is called the
tomb of the giants, and of the Finn ; and people, wishing to be more
exact, add the name of the individual, and even give it that of
Cuchullin ; but it is to be feared that this will not stand, and
will not even find a faint reason for its continuance. See drawing.
There is here a fine
proof that the great stone structures which stand out were once
covered with earth or smaller stones; when we look also on the
monuments at Achnacree, where the debris of the cairn and its
circumference are clearly seen, the same opinion is formed in the
mind of even a careless observer. Still it is not a final proof; the
circle may have been an enclosing ring.
It may be that those
cairns which were seen are only the few remaining monuments of a
great cemetery, and we can readily imagine many small ones to have
long disappeared. Moving a little to the north, on ground a few feet
higher, is again a cairn. In this case care had been taken to seek a
separate elevation, and nature had assisted in the search. It is
not, however, so easily observed as the lower, since it is at the
end of a long ridge. This cairn has of late been opened, and a few
trifles have been found in it—a piece of mica and a piece of flint
were remarkable objects.
Both must have come
from a distance, the flint from a great distance; both inserted as
precious things. It had been opened by Mr. Phene, and apparently
also at a previous time. The small boulders have not been removed,
an opening only having been made down to the centre, which contained
the square and small stone kist. This mound seems to be an eskar—a
Celtic name for a small hill, and applied by geologists to a heap
which ice or water has left in a forlorn and desolate way, and in
very remote times, at the foot of hills or even in plains. They are
very various in shape, and sometimes very irregular, winding often
as streams wind, and this specimen has been supposed to resemble a
saurian, and even to be a relic of serpent worship. As we do not
know anything of saurian worship here, it is a fancy that we cannot
accept, and in Glen Lonain there are other eskars far more curved
than this. It is true that the serpent is among the Celts a very
interesting animal, and stories of enormous ones, both on sea and
land, exist among them as well as the Norse. They are found in
carvings on stone and on metal. It was in Lorn, not far from this,
where a man saw an eel passing by as he was fishing in the morning,
and it passed all the time he was there, and when he returned in the
evening there it was still passing, so that it must have been a very
long sea-monster. (See J. F. Campbell's Popular Tales of the West
Highlands.) Campbell thinks the serpent stories were brought from
the Last, and this seems almost—I should say altogether—certain.
This country could furnish nothing interesting about them. People
are very much afraid to bring any traditions from the Fast to
Scotland, although the very language has come thence. I would not
even say that serpent worship has never existed here, but we have no
proofs, and the stories have the appearance of having been old myths
before they left their native Asia.
In relation to this I
must give the substance of a letter from India by Dr. Mapleton,
which would seem, at first sight, to justify some of the ideas
connected with this place.
Copy of a letter from
Dr. Mapleton, 1876:
"Close to the camp of
Deolati is a Hindoo temple on a hill; the entrance faces the east;
in front of the entrance is a stone column, about 8 feet high and
octagonal in form, with one or two raised rings around it. It stands
on a pedestal of four diminishing steps, on the second from the
bottom of which are a number of pits.
"At the eastern side
are several (about 8) very superficial pits, arranged in no order.
At the northern aspect are only 3 or 4 pits, two being very
distinctly jointed by a groove. There is no other mark on the whole
thing. Thirty yards to the west is the temple, in a square court of
burnt brick. This is about 25 yards square and has an entrance at
the eastern side. Within the walls are the temple, a Buddha, a half
Buddha, and also two small dome-topped houses, like dog kennels.
"I went round the
outside of the temple and took a general look at it. I then went
westward along the continuation of the hill, and noticed far away to
the west an arrangement of peaks like this. (The lines are not
reproduced.) I thought of Phend and the Glen Feochan snake, and
really there was the same serpentine form of the hill. It made four
curls, and ended on a hill on which the temple stood. I drew the
attention of a friend to it. He said, with a hasty exclamation, "It
does look like a snake too!" The hill is a hard sandy clay ridge,
running E. and W. nearly. It is to one side of a small river, and is
completely detached from all other hills.
"The snake is
apparently from 10 to 30 feet above the level of the plain, and has
evidently not been fashioned. There may be a backbone, but this I
was unable to determine. I saw the three peaks before I saw the
serpentine form of the mound. There are several hillocks of the same
nature in the neighbourhood, but no other `megatheriums.'"
This letter has an
interest in itself, but the accident of a curved eskar in view of a
hill has no particular interest, neither has a cairn any special
interest because of being here, unless we can show a serpent. When
this was said to be a saurian or a dragon at Lochnell, we preferred
to call it a fancy; we are disinclined even to say a word about it,
since people may imagine there is a something, whereas there is
nothing to reason upon. The spine was said to be indicated by a row
of stones as vertebrae, but this was sought immediately on the
supposed discovery being made, and the conclusion drawn was that
such a line was entirely imaginary. Still dragon myths abound in the
East and in Greece, although we have looked in vain for this mode of
embodiment out of America. The serpents carved on stones in Scotland
are not saurians or dragons, they are more like eels.
Having seen these
cairns, we crossed over to the islands, of which there are two in
Lochnell. One of these is very little and near the outlet of the
loch, with two small trees upon it. No one would think it to have
been inhabited. It is nearly round, not much larger than a
good-sized cottage. It is surrounded by stones large enough to be
difficult to lift, and in some places showing themselves to have
been put together by art. It would appear as if there had been a
pretty firm wall all round—very firm it could not be without mortar
or heavier stones. Three or four feet within the range of stones is
a raised turf mound, as if this had been the wall of the house; the
centre of the space was rather higher than the rest, and there we
expected a fire-place to be found. By digging about three feet and a
half, the ashes of peat were obtained, bones, charcoal, and nuts. A
very small hole was made, as we had not then received liberty to
dig. We were satisfied that this had been a lake-dwelling, and that
it had been defended by a wall. Advantage seems to have been taken
of a shallow place, and stones must have been carried to it. It may
turn out that there is a wooden foundation. It is not easy to see by
what means the covering of earth now over the floor was so much
raised. The water of the lake forms little or no deposit in summer;
art rather than natural circumstances may have raised the soil. The
bones here were split as at the lake-dwelling in the moss.
As it is probable
that these lake-dwellings existed till a very late date, we may find
some clue to the inhabitants of this lower one, as we supposed
ourselves to have done in the case of Somerled's Loch.
Stories had been told
us of a buried city which was submerged by the floods that made the
lake, and of which parts could be seen on a clear day. It was also
said that there, on the larger of the islands of this loch, the
Campbells of Lochnell lived in former times. Their estate has the
name of Lochnell, and from it they take their present territorial
name always used in the Highlands. This island is at the upper end
of the lake, and cannot be approached without a boat. The number and
size of the stones upon it show that some building had been there,
but there is no surface proof that a large well-constructed house
existed. There are trees upon it. The stones must have been carried
to the island and they are all too similar to be natural. However,
there was a natural island there or a shallow place, as the depth
and distance from the shore prevent us thinking of such a great
undertaking as the manufacture of one from the average lake bottom
upwards, whilst some of the rocks seem in situ.
There is no boat to
be hired on the loch, but as we were fortunate enough to get the use
of the private one, a visit was made to this old haunt of the
Campbells, on the way to Glen Lonain, instead of going round by the
road, which involves a very steep climb and a very deep descent.
Passing from the island we crossed to the upper end of the lake, and
landed upon a very flat piece of ground, which rises gradually among
knolls of a shape peculiar to the Oban district.
Legends of
Diarrnid—As the weather and season favoured we came amongst
pleasant corn fields on the farm of Sron-t-Soillear. One might
expect romance in this upper end of Lochnell, as it was abundant at
the lower, and there we saw a tall pillar—one of the finest in
Scotland. But our party preferred to go straight on to the
farm-house to ask questions and to learn the way. It was melancholy
to think that no native guide was to be had; all the inhabitants
around were strangers lately come; not a soul was found to belong to
the land. Before coming to the house a great circle was seen made of
boulder stones, as all those of this district are. The stones are
doubled irregularly on the west side. In Aberdeen and Kincardine the
custom is to lay a great stone on the southerly side. There are said
to have been other circles destroyed here, and indeed this isolated
valley of Lochnell is the very place for men to have enjoyed peace
when commotions existed on the shores, when the "black Danes"
harried the land or the fair Norse came for plunder. Every mound
here has an artificial look, and one almost expects to find history
at every step. This circle, which remains entire, is 6o feet in
diameter, a very favourite size, and one that seems to have been
chosen for a reason. We saw it lonely among hay, itself enough to
give interest to the whole valley even had the sun been absent. (See
drawing.)
A couple of fields
off, after passing along graceful mounds and good grass, was seen
Diarmid's pillar (Clash Dhiarmaid or Carrach Dhiarmaid). And now we
were in the very midst of a land of legends. No story is more
persistently told than the story of Diarmid; no story has the places
connected with every transaction more minutely given ; but,
unfortunately, some half dozen places claim the originals. The story
itself is told in Irish literature, and some old MSS. give it at
great length, but the writing is modern compared with the events
which go back to Finn or Fingal, a little before the arrival of St.
Patrick in Ireland.
Grainne was the
daughter of Cormac MacArt, the splendid king, the judge, warrior,
and philosopher, who reigned at Tara, and who was the grandson of
Conn of the hundred battles, and in whose time the world was all
goodness, the land fat and fruitful, the sea productive—no killings,
no plunderings — everywhere peace and happiness. Grainne was
espoused to Fingal, but compelled Diarmid to run away with her; this
seems to have been according to usage in Old Ireland; Deirdre, the
great beauty, did the same. Fingal pursued them, and the adventures
make a long story; however, when they met, it was agreed to have a
boar hunt on I3en Gulbain, as if the offence had not been deadly.
Here Fingal sought some new cause of quarrel. Diarmid killed the
boar, and was asked to measure it; he did so from snout to tail, but
he was desired to measure it from tail to snout ; he did so, and the
bristles went into the vulnerable part in his heel and poisoned him.
Some say the bristles were poisoned; but the longer account mentions
Diarmid as having leapt up on the boar and sat upon it looking
backwards, whilst the beast ran clown the hill, jumping over streams
rapidly, and trying to throw him off, putting the hero in a not very
dignified position. It then turned up Ben Gulbain again, and at last
succeeded in tossing and also wounding Diarmid, whilst soon he
killed it. And now he was dying of his wound and nothing but fresh
water could help him. Fingal pretended to bring some, but always
spilt it, and Diarmid died.
The account we got at
Lochnell was that the magic water must be brought in the hands of
the most beautiful women, to make the cure certain ; but the ladies
could not manage to bring any—the way was long and rough and the day
was hot, so that before they arrived their hands were empty.
It is said in Ireland
that Diarmid was buried on the Boyne. The Irish account does not say
that he came to Scotland: the publication of the Ossianic Society
chiefly is alluded to. Here at Lochnell is a pillar called after him
and a grave beside it. The pillar is about 12 feet high, rough, and
seems as if squared artificially. The grave or small stone circle
has twelve stones—boulders. None of the farmers cared much for
Diarmid, since all were strangers; but when some persons lately were
looking for a stone kist in this place which is called his grave, a
poor woman going by said, in great anxiety, "Oh, oh, they are
lifting Diarmid." He is not forgotten yet. (See Fig.)
There are many names
here connected with the great boar hunt. The parish itself has been
called Muckairn, as if meaning the Boar's Cairn, but Mr. Duncan
Clerk tells me that it really was Magh Chuirn—the field of
cairns—from the great number that were at the eastern part of it,
not far from Taynuilt. The farm next the pillar is Tor an Tuirc—the
boar's hill. A shepherd coming down the hill and asking for sheep
was told in our hearing to take them up Ben Gulbain; so here is the
classic name in common use. Up this hill is a well called Tobair
nant bas toll—the well of the empty palms. This is a memory of the
hands coming down dry to poor Diarmid. On the slope is Gleann nain
Fuath—tile glen of spirits. Fuath, in the singular, also means hate
or spite, and Gleann na Fuath would be the glen of spite, referring
to Finn's conduct here: his proverbial nobleness did not shine at
the death of Diarmid.
We were troubled
about the name Glenlonain. One of us wished it to mean the meadow of
blackbirds—is not Ion a blackbird? and this fits beautifully in with
the vale of birds; another of us laughed at this, because the plural
could not be loran, and laughed for the same reason at lone, which
means anger; rejecting the word loran — a prattler, and giving
loinain—a passage for cattle. This is probably correct. But, says a
third, here is the farm Sron-t-Soillear—the nose of light, just at
the opening of the glen, which is narrow at first, and might once
have been dark with woods, from which the travellers emerging would
better see the light of day. This led to another opinion—viz., that
as the Dun beyond Cleinamacree had a beacon or light upon it, and
Dun Tanachan had fires upon it, as the name would indicate, the nose
of light would be the first point of seeing the former, whilst the
valley itself would be called Gleann Lonnain—the vale of
brightness—a word in the Irish dictionaries, if left out of the
Scottish. The vale is not so very bright now, but the mystic fires
might brighten it to the heart. If any one sneers, let him better
explain these concurring names, said our comrade thoughtfully.
Loinean means
also a little meadow. The glen opens into the plain by a narrow
passage little wider than the stream that rushes through. Drum na
Sheilg—the height of the hunt, is, we suppose, a part of lien
Gulbain, and Alit-ath-Cormaic reminds us that Cormac mac Airt was
the father of Grainne, concerning whom the dispute was. But we may
be met again by some one saying that there was a St. Cormac in
Argyll. Even with this fact, the proximity makes the name telling.
With all these names
we might say, "surely this was the real spot of the hunt.'' Can so
many coincidences be possible when it is not the actual place? And
yet we go to Lochgilphead and we are shown a hill with a claim of a
very decided kind; we go also to Glenshee in Perthshire and find
another Ben Gulbain and stones of Diarmid; and Ireland has at least
one claim—Ben Boolban in Sligo. So what are we to say? We can only
say that we cannot account for so many places claiming to have been
the scene of the boar hunt ; but it may be that, like children at
play, inhabitants of several places chose representative spots for
the names. Nothing is more probable than a quarrel at a boar hunt.
J. F. Campbell, of
Isla, would lead us to think of an Aryan myth, and we, remembering
one of our early favourites, think of that beautiful lamentation of
Bion-
"I lament, I lament
for Adonis, the beautiful Adonis is dead—
The beautiful Adonis is dead, and the Loves call, Ai, ai."
These words are a
more refined expression of sorrow than we have in our story; but why
go so far for a hunt when boars were as common here as in Greece?
And yet there are coincidences—the extreme beauty of Diarmid, for
example, and the only spot where lie could be wounded being on the
heel where the bristle entered, suggest ideas which might be
originally importations from Greek. But even these ideas might rise
in thousands of minds. Still there is another curious fact: Diarmid
is called O'Duibhne, said to be after his father, but this word is
pronounced Odoonye by some, and it is very like Adonis.
Nevertheless, with
all these possibilities, there is no reason to doubt the existence
of a Celtic Diarmid, simply because all the incidents are human, and
most of them occur very frequently. When two somewhat similar
stories are told, the circumstances of one are apt to become mixed
with those of the other, a very common occurrence in daily life.
This would readily account for Greek ideas being added to the Celtic
story, which has become much more complex. There is also found a
warning to those who too easily indulge in the theory of the single
origin of ideas, since man's constitution and the phenomena of
nature produce of necessity the elements of many tales in repetition
in a continuous stream.
The Campbells are
said to have descended from Diarmid. They are called the race of
Diarmid, whose sons are rather mysteriously disposed of in the
story. The Campbells are by others said to be named from "Campo
belle"; but this Italian origin is less probable than a French one
would be. It is certainly curious that whilst their name means, as
sounded in Gaelic, crooked month, Cam bcul, their neighbours should
be Camerons, cam (s)hron (the s is not sounded), crooked nose. These
look like two nicknames of rivals given by some contemptuous
enemies. The coincidence is remarkable, and tells strongly, but not
decisively, against the Italian origin.
The Campbells have a
boar's head with a stone in the mouth as crest. A writer in The
Highlander, of December Est, 1877, by nom de plume Coire na Sith,
says that, it arose from an incident in the life of
Donnachadh-an-aigh, Duncan the happy, a son of Campbell of Lochow,
in the time of James the Second. This man chose as a hiding place a
cave near Lochlomond: not far from him the road became impassable
because of a wild boar which troubled so many people that the king
offered a pardon to the man who would kill it. Campbell threw a
stone into its mouth and then stabbed it. This procured his pardon,
and along with the lady with whom he had eloped, and with whom he
was hiding, he went as ambassador to Rome. lie never returned, but
he founded an abbey at Kilmun in honour of St. Mun, and for the
soul's health of the donor and his family. At Kilmun is the burying
place of the chiefs of the Campbells, the Dukes of Argyle.
The most romantic and
interesting explanation of the origin of the crest with the boar's
head is certainly that connected with Diarmid O'Duibhne.
Campbell says (p. 54,
vol. III. of West Highland Tales), "I am inclined to believe that
there was a real Diarmid, in whose honour poems have been composed
by many bards, and sung by generations of Scottish Highlanders, and
that to him the attributes of some mythic Celtic Diarmid have been
attributed." This seems a reasonable conclusion, after careful
weighing of all the evidence. Perhaps it would be better to say that
every story becomes mythic when the fancies or reasonings of men are
applied to it long, and the mythic quality is no proof of
non-reality, but only proves age and the play of tradition.
It was thought well
to walk up from the more interesting pillar of Diarmid to a knoll on
the side of the hill, a place called Cleidh-na-h-annait. It is an
old burying-ground, walled round, and remarkable for having two
small cairns in it, as if it were a meeting of heathen and Christian
habits, that is to say, if cairns were always heathen. The proverb
of "adding a stone to his cairn " shows the custom to have come down
to the later times ; and the habit really does exist, we are
assured, in the west of Ireland now. It is not certain that it has
gone out of Scotland. A man now living told one of us that when a
boy he used to throw a stone on a cairn, by his father's wish.
Annoit, in O'ReiIly's Irish Dictionary, is explained to be "one's
parish church." Mr. Duncan Clerk, of Oban, says the word is always
connected with sacred places. Mr. Skene (vol. II., Histo;y of
Ancient Alban, p. 70) says, " The Annoit is the parent church or
monastery, which is presided over by the patron saint, or which
contains his relics." Perhaps there was a church here, and these
memorials would point to a very early one. Indeed, we may be sure
that there was one, and we were sorry that we could not find any
special name. If we go up the narrow mouth of Glen Lonain we come to
a small knoll with a stone, on one side of which is a cross, on the
other a floral ornament, with an elongation below not very
definitely seen. This suggests mixed Christian times. The late Dr.
Charlton (Newcastle-on-Tyne), to whom a drawing was shown, thought
it of the eleventh century at the earliest. The mound is called
Cnoc-na-Croise—knoll of the cross. (See Fig. facing p. 225.)
Going farther on we
come to a mound on the right, which is called Cnoc-an-t-sagairt, or
knoll of the priest, and beside it there is one called
Cnoc-an-t-scomar, or knoll of the chamber; why so we could not tell,
it seemed to contain a rock in its natural position instead of a
chamber. These three mounds are nearly opposite Cleigh-na-mac-Righ (Clcinamacry)
farmhouse.
Glen Lonain grows
grass and corn and peat, and Lochnell may be said to be the lower
part, or rather the middle, since we must follow it along the
Feochan before we reach the sea. It was once full of little houses,
but now it has only a couple of farms and one cottar, an old woman.
The old inhabitants have been the victims of improvement. Cameron
said that if Maghcarn or Chuirn—meaning the field of cairns —is not
the origin of the name of the parish, and if it is not called from
the muc or boar which Diarmid slew, this similarity of sound may be
only one of the curious coincidences of which we have so many in the
strangely supple Gaelic tongue. (The old woman is now dead.)
Although the muc
was a famous animal among the Celts, eaten, and it is said
worshipped as well as hunted, its use as food went out of fashion in
Scotland, probably in Puritan times, for reasons derived from the
Old Testament, and with it also went the eating of "things strangled
and of blood."
Passing the house of
Cleinamacry we come to an elongated rectangular enclosure with signs
of a circular mound having been round it 6o feet in diameter. The
rectangle is about 30 feet long and 10 wide; little more than an
outline remains. The rectangular form may denote a certain advance
in building. It is said that the king's children from Dunstaffnage
were buried there. Cleinamacry means the burial place of the king's
children. But referring to Mr. Skene we read of no kings at that
place. Still, king was a word that was used more readily in earlier
times, and there might be many chiefs who would like the spot. I do
not know if the chiefs of the Macdougalls were ever called Righ.
We decided not to go
down Glen Feochan this year, even to see Dun Mac Raoul on the shore
of Loch Feochan South, just as it begins to join the sea, or to see
Dun Eidin, which must be mentioned as a very curious part of a name,
in a district by no means connected with Saxons, and yet having the
same name in it as Edinburgh. Is this a memorial of Aidan the
Dalriad, whilst Edinburgh is of Aeduin the Northumbrian king?
Store Cist at (Avile)
Athbhile.—At Athbhile, about a mile above Cleinamacry in Glen Lonain,
there is a bridge over the stream; as the name shows, there was a
ford there. A short distance from the bridge, and in a field higher
up the stream, is a mound which appears to be natural. We were shown
a flat stone there ; it was discovered not long ago by Donald
Sinclair, who, as his son avers, took good care not to disturb it.
Here was an opportunity, then, of seeing a place opened up for the
very first time. It goes by the name of Kist a-Chlachan. The slab
was raised with great difficulty by the strength of at least three
pairs of strong arms, but the hole was found nearly filled with
earth, in which were the skeletons of several rabbits. There was a
small hole in the side under the slab affording entrance. The kist
was 36 inches long, 20 broad, and 25 deep. There were a few small
pieces of bone mingled with the earth, but merely such as weighed
only a few grains. The mound was probably an eskar to begin with, a
deposit caused by earth and floods. Double burials, one over
another, arc not found in these regions, to account for the height.
Although nothing artificial was found within the kist, it was large
and important looking, and the spot itself interesting.
We may go up Glen
Lorain. We may pass Duntanachan, and up to Lairg and down again to
Taynuilt, from which we may, if we wish, return to Oban; or we may
turn back past Diarmid's pillar, and onward till we reach the strait
road to Connel Ferry; this we did and enjoyed a pleasant and varied
scene, neither very rich nor wild, but one that certainly was once
richer in man and joyful life. The curse of wealth has come over the
country, the little crops have been despised as trifles, and the men
who fed upon them have not been considered. One civilization refuses
to tolerate another; and ours is slightly Roman, we make a desert to
produce refinement. These men would have suffered less had they been
expelled in fighting, but they were often smoothly turned away from
their own; they were betrayed with a kiss.
Mr. Clerk, of Oban,
mentions that there are several names in the upper part of Glen
Lonain connected with the hero Gaul or rather Guill. We did not
follow the fortunes of the Fingalian heroes; their story is
difficult to disentangle, and we have no history of them except from
Ireland; but we must look, by Mr. Clerk's desire, at a very
beautiful poem given in Galic Antiquities by Dr. Smith, of
Campbelton, in which Gaul's death is described. It is curiously
entitled in Gaelic, Tiomnadh Ghuill, the testament of Gaul, but it
is generally called the Death of Gaul. At the top of Glen Lonain is
a wooded height called Bar Ghuil, or the height of Gaul, or
Barguillan, an for river being added. A little to the north is
another wooded height, which is called Barran-a-chuil, between them
is Tomghuil called Tom-na-Guille. These latter two have the same
meaning as the former. Mr. Clerk puts Gaul's first battle at
Ichrachan, between the Awe and the Nant, outside of Glen Lonain, but
not far off, and mentions the numerous cairns that used to be there
before they were levelled by the "iron" company from England. These
are the cairns alluded to as having given the parish its name. Morni
is said to have been Gaul's father, and Mr. Clerk considers that his
dwelling was at Strumonadh at the top of Glen Lonain. This word,
meaning a mountain stream, is not very precise.
The valley in the
poem keeps up its character for birds we have seen that swans gave a
name to the lake below, and birds to a farm, or part of the valley,
if not to the valley itself; and in the "Death of Gaul" it is
beautifully said: "The birds of summer from their distant land shall
first perch on Strumon's oak; far away they shall behold its green
beauty. The ghost of Gaul shall hear in his cloud their song, and
the virgins of the race to come shall praise Evirchoma."
Many would be glad to
fight and risk their lives like Gaul if they had the hope of
receiving the land which contains the valley of birds, the lake of
swans, and the glen of "the summer fowl from the distant land."
The bards thought more of Gaul than their successors have helped us
to do. The poem finishes thus: "When thou, O stone, shalt crumble
into dust, and thou, O tree, shalt moulder with age away; when thou,
mighty stream, shalt cease to run, and the mountain spring shall no
more supply thy course; when your songs, oh bards, in the dark flood
of time shall be lost, and the memory of yourselves, with those you
sing, in its vast current be swept away and forgotten; then perhaps
may cease to be heard the fame of Gaul; and the stranger may ask,
'Who was Morni's son, and who was Strumon's chief?'" |
