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THE population of this
parish has been dwindling for some years, but it may be reasonably
expected that with the opening of the railway to Aviemore, so
unhappily delayed for so many years, a new era of life and
prosperity will arise.
The parish has been
essentially Mackintosh, the Chief alone having nearly 70,000 acres,
including not only the upper and highest portion of the Findhorn and
its tributaries, where the four parishes of Laggan, Boleskine,
Kingussie, and Dalarossie meet, but also both sides of the Findhorn
downwards, where the counties of Inverness and Nairn meet.
I will deal first
with the small estate of Pollochaig, long the possession of a branch
of the Macqueens of Corrybrough. The Macqueens were not only great
sportsmen, but were supposed to be on familiar terms and intimate
with witches and fairies. "Macqueen's candles" are old acquaintances
of Strathdearn children. The following story about the origin of the
decay of the Macqueens may be given :-
"John Dhu Macqueen of
Pollochaig, generally called lain Dhu vic Coul (son of Dougal) was a
famous sportsman and excellent marksman. It is said that he was upon
a friendly footing with all the witches, fairies, and warlocks of
his day, but more especially those in his own neighbourhood. He
lived in the beginning of the 18th century, and had married Anne,
sister of Laird Lachlan Mackintosh.
"At one time John
went out to enjoy his favourite sport with the view if possible of
killing a deer or mountain roe, and had gone a considerable way
before he fell in with any. At last a roe appeared within easy shot.
John tired, and down came the object of his day's work. He quickly
vent up to the spot where the roe fell but it could not be found.
Tho' he searched for several hundred yards round the place, the
supposed dead roe was nowhere to be seen.
When John got home in
the evening he told at his fireside what had happened him, and the
hearers marvelled much, John being confident that he had killed the
animal. Next morning he set off again to search at the place for the
dead roe, but when at the very spot he met an old woman, who at once
said to him, speaking in Gaelic, 'Black John, son of Dougall, take
the lead out of my foot which you put into it yesterday. This he did
accordingly and then asked her for a wish or blessing, which she
pronounced in Gaelic, translated thus—'Your best day will be your
worst day, and your worst day will be your best day.' Naturally
disappointed, John asked for another, but she said she could not
alter it. Had he requested it before he took out the lead it would
have been different. It is said that no sooner had she finished than
she vanished into air, and that it was one of the fairies or witches
who had turned into the shape of a roe that John shot at and thought
he had killed.
"From that time the
family of Macqueen of Pollochaig began to fall off in their
circumstances, and writing in Moy writer records that it is not
long since they sold the estate, the paternal inheritance which had
been in the family for nearly 300 years. Pollochaig, it is further
noticed by the same writer, is a pretty Highland place. It lies at
the top of the Streens on the river Findhorn, and from 3 to 5 miles
below the inn of 1"reeburn. Some of John's successors are still
alive (1820), and tell the story."
At one time the whole
of Strathdearn in Inverness-shire was possessed by members of Clan
Chattan, excepting Daltomich, belonging to the Earl of Moray, but
even it was wadsetted to the Kellachie family.
The upper portion of Strathdearn, the home of the famous "pipers,"
even in these modern days, is occasionally tuned up with shrill
effect. The great davoch of "Schevin," commonly called "Coignafearn,"
or the "Monalia," runs at the back of the parishes of Alvie,
Kingussie, and Laggan, and of old the habitat of the red deer,
famous when most modern forests were unknown, has again become a
forest. It was let at the end of last century to the Black Officer
of Ballochroan for fifty shillings of grazing rent. The last Duke of
Gordon, when Marquis of Huntly, Lord Saltoun, and Fraser of
Culduthel rented Coignafearn at £80 as shooting quarters. This
nowadays would be laughed at, but at the time (1824) it exhilarated
Alexander, then laird of Mackintosh, so much that he exclaimed in
Gaelic, "A big rent for hens." The present rent of Coignafearn is
£1000 per annum.
Strathdearn since the
Highland road has been practically closed remained stagnant, with
its population decaying, but is now certain to awake to vitality and
prosperity. It is full of romance and interesting story, on which I
do not at present enlarge. With the exception of Pollochaig, all
Mackintosh's great possessions in the parish hold of the Crown
properly, or as in the right of the Bishops of Moray. The rest of
the parish holds of the Earl of Moray, Lord of Stratherne and of
Petty.
The following
anecdote, relating to one of the Borlums connected by marriage with
Strathdearn, shows that expatriation did not quench the "native
fires." Benjamin Mackintosh, natural son of Brigadier Mackintosh,
emigrated with his wife, daughter of Mackintosh of Holm, and his
family to America, where he became a distinguished officer, and
conducted himself highly and honourably in the service of some of
the American States. At one time he had occasion to go against a
party of Red Indians, who annoyed Georgia. The Indians made their
appearance at the edge of a wood, ready for the attack. Being much
more numerous than Benjamin Mackintosh and his men, his negro
servant called out, "Massa, massa, run or you will be killed by
these savages." Benjamin Mackintosh merely said in reply, "You may
run, but I come of a race that never ran." Assistance coming, the
Indians decamped.
A further anecdote
connected with Dalarossie. On one occasion eleven Camerons were
passing down Strathdearn on a thieving expedition, travelling on the
south or east side of the river Findhorn. The valley at this spot is
narrow, and the sides of the river and neighbouring haughs were then
covered with wood. A man named Mackintosh, living at Daltomich, on
the north or west side of the river, an excellent bowman, observed
them going along on the opposite side, and having a grudge against
them for a previous injury, went down to ft wooded haughs near the
river and killed three of them with the arrow at Craig Allister, and
the survivors could not see, with the wood, from whence the arrows
came, he being on the north side of the river. He fired his arrows
generally through every opening in the wood he could find, and in
this manner he alone killed the whole eleven. The last fell at a
small well in the bank of the river below the new house of
Dalmigavie, since known by the name of "Fuaran Cameronich." All were
killed within the space of two miles. |
