T a c h a i r m .
Mr. Macqueen * to have been an emblem of Apollo, or the Sun ; and
to correfpond with the epithet A ftone was dug uj
near MuJJelburgh, dedicated A p o l l i n i G r a n n o , Grianich the Sunny!
an epithet probably borrowed 'from th^Caledonians. The fame deitJ
might alfo receive the title of Galaxius from the libation of milk f t i l j
retained in thofe parts *.
A wild fpecies of magic was praitifed in the diftrift o i Trottemfm
that was attended with a horrible folemnity. A family who prel
tended to oracular knowlege praitifed thefe ceremonies. In this
country is a vail catarail, whofe waters falling from a high rockl
jet fo'far as to form a dry hollow beneath, between them and tha
precipice. One o f thefe impoftors was fowed up in the hide of atfl
ox, and to add terror to the ceremony, was placed in this concavity«
the trembling enquirer was brought to the place, where the (had®
and the roaring o f the .waters, encreafed the dread of the oc-
cafion. The queftion is put, and the perfon in the hide de-1
livers his anfwer, and fo ends this Ipecies o f divination fty le c l
Taghairm.
.But all thefe idle tales are totally exploded, and good-fenfe and
polifhed manners prevale, inftead of that barbarity which in 1598J
induced James VI. to fend here a new colony to civilize tin«
¡natives •, who were fo little difpofed to receive their inftrudors, that«
ihis majefty was in the end obliged to defift from his defign f . Atl
prefent the ifland forms part of the ihire of Invernefs. The Iheriffi
,pf that county appoints a fubftitute who refides here, and takes!
• See Mr. Macqueen’ s curious account in the Appendix to the third volume* j
f Jonftoni rerum Britan. hill, lib, viii. p. 249.
cognizance]
cognizance of fmall difputes about property, and petty crimes; but,
o n account of the diftance, avoids harraffing the inhabitants, by
r e q u i r in g their attendance on the Lords of Seffions and Jtifticiary
Courts at Invernefs, the juryme^ being feleded from among the
gentry and inhabitants of the mainland.
After a moil tempeftuous night, loofe from our harbour at two
o’clock at noon. Go through a narrow channel at the North end,
a rock lying in the middle. Have to the weft a view of Fijber's
'mk-, and to the North a ftrange chain of rocky ifles, very Angular
» their appearance ; and varying in their forms m the procefs of
our courfe The higheft is called Bordh-mor-mhic-kod, or Macleod s
neat tabte *. Another is called Flada. On the firft Mr. Fhom pfon
took in our abfence the little Petrel, which with numbers of others
were lurking beneath the loofe ftones, and betrayed themfelves
by their loud twittering. Thefe are the left o f palmipeds *, the
dread of mariners, who draw a certain prefage of,a ftorm from their
appearance ; for they always colled in numbers at the approach of
atempeft beneath the ftern ; running along the waves in the wake
Of the fhip, with a fwiftnefs incredible. This bird is the Camilla of
the ocean : like her,
She iwept the feas, and as Ihe flam’d along,
? Her flying feet unbath’d on billows hung.
The feamen call them Mother Cary’s chickens : fome devotees ftyled
• Two views o f thefe wild rocks (2) as they appeared from Dun-Tuilm; the
other (3) as they appeared from the Ball in our paffage, are engraved at the bot-
tom of the view in Ltth-jum,
A a a Aetn-
J u l y 24.
L it t l e P e t r e l .
s1.;