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diff --git a/32858.txt b/32858.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..285d210 --- /dev/null +++ b/32858.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2125 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Cruise of the Elena, by J. Ewing Ritchie + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Cruise of the Elena + or Yachting in the Hebrides + + +Author: J. Ewing Ritchie + + + +Release Date: June 17, 2010 [eBook #32858] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE ELENA*** + + +Transcribed from the 1877 James Clarke & Co. edition by David Price, +email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + THE + CRUISE OF THE + ELENA + + + OR + + _YACHTING IN THE HEBRIDES_ + + * * * * * + + BY + J. EWING-RITCHIE + + _Author of_ "_The Night Side of London_," _&c. &c._ + + * * * * * + + London + JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13, FLEET STREET + 1877 + + * * * * * + + LONDON + W. SPEAIGHT & SONS, PRINTERS, FETTER LANE. + + * * * * * + + TO + JOHN ANDERSON, ESQ., + OF GLEN TOWER, ARGYLESHIRE, + OWNER OF THE ELENA, + This Little Volume is Dedicated + BY THE AUTHOR, + IN MEMORY OF A PLEASANT CRUISE ON BOARD THE ELENA + IN THE AUTUMN OF 1876. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. OFF FOR GREENOCK 3 + II. FROM GREENOCK TO ARDROSSAN 17 + III. A SUNDAY AT OBAN 29 + IV. FROM OBAN TO GLENCOE 39 + V. OFF MULL 49 + VI. FAST DAY AT PORTREE 59 + VII. TO STORNOWAY 73 + VIII. KINTYRE AND CAMPBELTOWN 83 + IX. BACK AGAIN 99 + + + + +CHAPTER I. +OFF FOR GREENOCK. + + +The late--I had almost written the last--Imperial ruler of France was +wont to say--indeed, it was his favourite maxim--"Everything comes to him +who waits." It was not exactly true in his case. Just as he was to have +placed himself at the head of his followers, and make his reappearance in +France, and to have effaced the recollections of Sedan, Death, who waits +for no one, who comes at the appointed time to all, put a stop to his +career. Nevertheless, the saying is more or less true, and especially as +regards my appearance on board the _Elena_. Whether my great great +grandfather was a Viking or no, I am unable to say; all I know is, from +my youth upwards I have longed for a yacht in which I could cruise at my +own sweet will. I am no great hand at singing, but when I do sing it is +always of a + + "Life on the ocean wave, + A home on the rolling deep." + +And thus it happened that, when an invitation was sent to me, just as I +was on the point of giving up the ghost, in consequence of the heat of a +London summer, to leave Fleet Street, and cruise among the Western +Islands of Scotland, I accepted it, as the reader may well suppose, at +once. + +It is somewhat of a journey by the Midland night express from London to +Greenock; but the journey is one well worth taking, even if, as in my +case, you do not get a Pullman car, as that had been already filled, and +was booked full, so the ticket manager said, for at any rate twelve days +in advance. It is really interesting to see that express start. "It is +an uncommon fine sight," said a man to me the other night, as he lit his +pipe at the St. Pancras Station. "I always come here when I've done +work; it is cheaper than a public-house." And so it is, and far better +in awakening the intellect or stimulating the life. It is true I did not +see the express start, as I happened to be in it; but I had another and a +greater pleasure--that of being whirled along the country, from one great +city or hive of industry to another, till I found myself early in the +morning looking down from the heights of Greenock on the busy Clyde +below. It was a grand panorama, not easily to be forgotten. All at once +it opens on you, and you enjoy the view all the more as it comes in so +unexpected a manner. + +Let me pause, and say a good word for the line that bears me swiftly and +safely and pleasantly on. + +The story of railway enterprise as connected with the Midland Railway has +been told in a very bulky volume by Mr. J. Williams. I learn from it +that forty years have elapsed since, originating in the necessity of a +few coal-owners, it has gradually stretched out its iron arms till its +ramifications are to be found in all parts of the land. Actually, up to +the present time it has involved an expenditure of fifty millions, and +its annual revenue reaches five. Daily--hourly, it rushes, with its +heavy load of tourists, or holiday-makers, or men of business, past the +ancient manor-houses of Wingfield, Haddon, and Rousbery; the abbeys of +St. Albans, Leicester, Newstead, Kirkstall, Beauchief, and Evesham; the +castles of Someries, Skipton, Sandal, Berkeley, Tamworth, Hay, Clifford, +Codnor, Ashby, Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln, and Newark; the +battle-fields of St. Albans, Bosworth, Wakefield, Tewkesbury, and +Evesham. + +But it is to that part of the line between Carlisle and Settle that I +would more particularly refer--that boon to the southern tourist who, as +the writer did, takes his seat in a Midland carriage at St. Pancras, and +finds himself, without a change of carriage, the next morning at Greenock +in time for the far-famed breakfasts on board the _Iona_. The ordinary +traveller has no idea of the difficulties which at one time lay between +him and his journey's end. "It is a very rare thing," once said Mr. +Allport, the great Midland Railway manager, a name honoured everywhere, +"for me to go down to Carlisle without being turned out twice. Then, +although some of the largest towns in England are upon the Midland +system, there is no through carriage to Edinburgh, unless we occasionally +have a family going down, and then we make an especial arrangement, and +apply for a special carriage to go through. We have applied in vain for +through carriages to Scotland over and over again." And so the Midland +had no alternative but to have a line of their own. When it was known at +Appleby that their Bill had passed the Commons, the church bells were +rung, and, as was quaintly remarked, the people wrote to the newspapers, +and did all that was proper under the circumstances. No wonder Appleby +rejoiced and was glad; for, though the county town of Westmoreland, it is +not much of a place after all, and the railway must have been a boon to +the natives--especially to the ladies, who otherwise, it is to be feared, +would have wasted their sweetness on the desert air. + +On Monday, the 2nd of August, 1875, after an expenditure of three +millions, the Settle and Carlisle line was opened for goods traffic. It +must have been an awful undertaking, the making of it. "I declare," said +a rhetorical farmer, "there is not a level piece of ground big enough to +build a house upon all the way between Settle and Carlisle." An ascent +had to be made to a height of more than a thousand feet above the level +of the sea, by an incline that should be easy enough for the swiftest +passenger expresses and for the heaviest mineral trains to pass securely +and punctually up and down, not only in the light days of summer, but in +the darkest and "greasiest" December nights. To construct it the men had +to cut the boulder clay--very unpleasant stuff to deal with--to hew +through granite, to build on morasses and dismal swamps. Near the +southernmost end of the valley, watered by the roaring Ribble, the town +of Settle stands among wooded hills, overhung by a lofty limestone rock +called Castlebar; while far beyond on the left and right rise, above the +sea of mountains, the mighty outlines of Whernside and Pennegent, often +hid in the dark clouds of trailing mists. Up the valley the new line +runs, pursuing its way among perhaps the loneliest dales, the wildest +mountain wastes, and the scantiest population of any part of England. +Three miles from Settle we reach Stainforth Force, and just beyond are +the remains of a Roman camp. At Batty Green the navvies declared that +they were in one of the wildest, windiest, coldest, and dreariest +localities in the world. In the old coaching days the journey across +these wilds was most disagreeable and trying. It was no unusual thing, +we read, for rain to come down upon the travellers in torrents; for snow +to fall in darkened flakes or driving showers of powdered ice; for winds +to blow and howl with hurricane force, bewildering to man and beast; for +frost to bite and benumb both hands and face till feeling was almost +gone; and for hail and sleet to blind the traveller's eyes and to make +his face smart as if beaten with a myriad of slender cords. In Dent +Dale, which is almost ten miles in length, the scenery is remarkably +fine. Nearly five hundred feet below, now sparkling in the sunlight, now +losing itself among some clusters of trees, winds the river Dee; while +first on one side and then on the other is the road that leads to +Sedbergh. Leaving the tunnel, we find ourselves in Garsdale, in a milder +clime and amidst more attractive scenery. Some four hundred feet below +us the river may be observed winding over its rocky bed in the direction +of Sedbergh, while we get extensive views on the west. Presently we see +the Moorside Inn, a far-famed hostelry abounding in mountain dew, +standing at the head of the valleys--the Wensleydale, winding eastward +towards Hawes; the Garsdale Valley, going westward towards Sedbergh; and +the Mallerstang, leading northwards towards Kirkby Stephen. + +At Ais Gill Moor the line attains its highest altitude, 1,167 feet above +the sea, from whence it falls uninterruptedly down to Carlisle. The +country here is very wild and rugged. Stone walls mark the division of +the properties, and scarcely any house can be seen. On the west the +grandly impressive form of Wild Boar Fell rises. Still higher on the +east is Mallerstang Edge. In the winter you can well believe that along +this valley sweeps the wind in bitter blasts. Three miles after we have +left the Moor Loch we are in Cumberland, and are reminded of other days +when all the old manor-houses and other edifices were built for defence +against the invasions of the Picts. Though the upper part of the Eden +valley is now occupied by a few industrious farmers and peaceful +shepherds, we instinctively think of the time when the slogan of border +chiefs and their clansmen sent a thrill of terror through Mallerstang, +and when sword and fire did terrible work to man and beast. Here is Wild +Boar Fell, where, says tradition, the last wild boar was killed by one of +the Musgrave family; and there in a narrow dale, overlooked by mountains +and washed by the Eden, are the crumbling ruins of a square tower--all, +alas! that remains of Pendragon Castle. About a mile before we come to +Kirkby Stephen we pass on our right Wharton Hall, the seat of the now +extinct dukes of that name. Near the town are two objects of especial +interest--the Ewbank Scar and Stenkrith Falls. The sight from Ormside +Viaduct is wonderfully fine. Appleby, as seen from the line, has a very +pleasing appearance. The railway runs past Eden Hall, the residence of +Sir Richard Musgrave, the chief of the clan of that name. At the summit +of a hill, near the Eden Lacy Viaduct, we find the remains of a Druid's +temple, known by the name of "Long Meg and her Daughters." Close by is +Lazonby, a village in the midst of interesting historical associations. +As we pass through the ancient forest, we would fain stop and linger, as +the scenery about here is deeply romantic, as much so as that of +Derbyshire. At Armathwaite the beauty of the district culminates; and we +gaze with rapture at its ancient quaint square castle, its picturesque +viaduct of nine arches eighty feet high, its road bridge of freestone, +its cataract, and its elm--said to be the finest in Cumberland. At +Carlisle there is a fine railway hotel, which you enter by a side door +from the platform, and where the traveller may attain such refreshment as +he requires. Indeed, it is open to the public on the same reasonable +terms as the London Tavern when it was the head-quarters of aldermanic +turtle. The town is delightfully clean, and has many interesting +associations; and as I stood upon the ramparts of the castle there on my +return, smoking a cigar, there came to me memories of William Rufus, who +built the wall, and planted in the town the industrious Flemings; of King +David of Scotland; of Wallace, the Scottish hero, who quartered his +troops there; of Cromwell, "our chief of men," as Milton calls him; and +of the Pretenders, father and son. It is with interest I look at the +church of St. Mary, remembering, as I do, that it was there Sir Walter +Scott was married. I am told the interior of the cathedral is very +beautiful, and crowded with memorials of a truly interesting character. +Externally the place looks in good condition, as it was repaired as +lately as 1853-6. Altogether the town appears comfortable, as it ought +to do, considering it has extensive founderies and breweries, +manufactories of woollen, linen, cotton, and other fabrics; communication +with six lines of railway; a canal, two rivers, and two local newspapers. +Nor is Carlisle ungrateful. I find in its market-place a statue to Lord +Lonsdale, who has much property in these parts. One can tarry there +long. Afar off you see the hills of the Lake Country--the country of +Southey and Wordsworth--and, if you but keep your seat, in an hour or two +you may be, according to your taste, "touring it" in the land of Burns, +or in the district immortalised by the genius of Sir Walter Scott. + +As I went one way, and returned another, I enjoyed this privilege and +pleasure. At Dumfries I could not but recollect that there the poet +Burns wrote his + + "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled;" + +that there he died prematurely worn-out in 1796; that there, as he lay +dying, the whole town was convulsed with grief; and that there his +funeral was attended by some ten or twelve thousand of the people whose +hearts he had touched, and who loved him, in spite of his errors, to the +end. "Dumfries," wrote Allan Cunningham, "was like a besieged place. It +was known he was dying, and the anxiety, not of the rich and learned, but +of the mechanics and peasants, exceeded all belief. Wherever two or +three people stood together, their talk was of Burns, and him alone. +They spoke of his history, of his person, of his works, of his family, +and of his untimely and approaching fate, with a warmth and enthusiasm +which will ever endear Dumfries to my remembrance." Thinking of Burns, +the time passed pleasantly, as I mused, half awake and half dreaming, +that early summer morning, till I reached Greenock, where sleeps that +Highland Mary, who died during their courtship, and of whom Burns wrote, +in lines that will last as long as love, and woman, and the grave-- + + "Ah! pale--pale now those rosy lips + I aft hae kissed sae fondly; + And closed for aye the sparkling glance + That dwelt on me sae kindly. + And mouldering now in silent dust + That heart that loved me dearly; + But still within my bosom's core + Shall live my Highland Mary." + + + + +CHAPTER II. +FROM GREENOCK TO ARDROSSAN. + + +I shall never forget my first view of the Clyde from the heights above +Greenock. It is true I had seen the Clyde before, but it was at Glasgow +years ago, and it had left on my mind but a poor impression of its +extent, or utility, or grandeur. What a sight you have of dockyards, +where thousands of men are ship-building! and what a fleet of vessels +laden with the produce of every country under heaven! As I take up a +Scotch paper, I read:--"The cargoes imported during the month included 64 +of grain, &c., 65 of sugar, 22 of timber, 5 of wine, 2 of fruits, 1 of +brandy, 1 of ice, 3 of esparto grass and iron ore, 3 of rosin, 2 of oil, +1 of tar, 1 of guano, 1 of nitrate of soda, and 4 with minerals." And +then how grand is the prospect beyond--of distant watering-places, +crammed during the summer season, not alone with Glasgow and Edinburgh +citizens, but with English tourists, who find in these picturesque spots +a charm they can discover nowhere else. Almost all the way--at any rate, +since I left Leeds--I have had my carriage almost entirely to myself; and +now I am in a crowd greater and busier than of Cheapside at noon, with +knapsacks and carpet-bags and umbrellas, all bent on seeing those +beauties of Nature of which Scotland may well be proud. + +To leave the train and hurry down the pier, and rush on board the _Iona_, +is the work of a minute, but of a minute rich in marvels. The _Iona_ is +a fine saloon steamer, which waits for the train at Greenock, and thence +careers along the Western Coast, leaving her passengers at various ports, +and picking up others till some place or other, with a name which I can +hardly pronounce, and certainly cannot spell, is reached. It must carry +some fourteen or fifteen hundred people. I should think we had quite +that number on board--people like myself, who had been travelling all +night--people who had joined us at such places as Leicester, or Leeds, or +Carlisle--people who had come all the way in her from Glasgow--people who +had come on business--people who were bent on pleasure--people who had +never visited the Highlands before--people who are as familiar with them +as I am with Cheapside or the Strand--people with every variety of +costume, of both sexes and of all ages--people who differed on all +subjects, but who agreed in this one faith, that to breakfast on board +the _Iona_ is one of the first duties of man, and one of the noblest of +woman's rights. Oh, that breakfast! To do it justice requires an abler +pen than mine. Never did I part with a florin--the sum charged for +breakfast--with greater pleasure. We all know breakfasts are one of +those things they manage well in Scotland, and the breakfast on board the +_Iona_ is the latest and most triumphant vindication of the fact. +Cutlets of salmon fresh from the water, sausages of a tenderness and +delicacy of which the benighted cockney who fills his paunch with the +flabby and plethoric article sold under that title by the provision +dealer can have no idea; coffee hot and aromatic, and suggestive of Araby +the blest; marmalades of all kinds, with bread-and-butter and toast, all +equally good, and served up by the cleanest and most civil of stewards. +Sure never had any mother's son ever such a breakfast before. It was +with something of regret that I left it, and that handsome saloon filled +with happy faces and rejoicing hearts. + +In about half-an-hour after leaving Greenock, I was at Kirn, a beautiful +watering-place in Argyleshire, in one of the handsomest villas of which I +was to find my host, and the owner of the _Elena_, one of the finest of +the four or five hundred yachts which grace the lake-like waters of the +Clyde, and which carry the ensign of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club. A +volume might be written of the owner, whose place of business in Glasgow +is one of the real wonders of that ancient town. Morrison, the founder +of the Fore Street Warehouse, and the father of the late M.P. for +Plymouth, was accustomed to say that he owed all his success in life to +the realisation of the fact that the great art of mercantile traffic was +to find out sellers rather than buyers; that if you bought cheap and +satisfied yourself with a fair profit, buyers--the best sort of buyers, +those who have money to buy with--would come of themselves. It is on +this principle the owner of the _Elena_ has acted. It is worth something +to see the Sevres china, the fine oil paintings, the spoils of such +palaces as the Louvre or St. Cloud, the rarest ornaments of such +exhibitions as those of Vienna, all gathered together in the Glasgow +Polytechnic, and to seek which the proprietor is always on the look-out, +and to recollect that all this display has been got together by one +individual, who began the world in a much smaller way, and who is still +in the prime of life. A further interest attaches to the gentleman of +whom I write, inasmuch as it was under his roof that the first article of +the _Christian Cabinet_, swallowed up in the _Christian World_, was +written. It may be to this it is due that at once I am at home with him, +and that here on board the _Elena_ we chat of what goes on in London as +if we had known each other all our lives. By my side is his +son-in-law--one of those well-trained, thoughtful divines who have left +Scotland for the South, and who are doing so much to introduce into +England that Presbyterianism the yoke of which our fathers could not +bear, but on which we, their more liberal sons, have learned to look with +a less jealous eye; and no wonder, for to know such a man as the Doctor +is to love him. And now let me say a word as to the _Elena_, which is a +picture to admire, as she floats calmly on the water, or speeds her way +from one scene of Scottish story and romance to another. It is rarely +one sees a yacht more tastefully fitted-up, and we have a ladies' +drawing-room on board not unworthy of Belgravia itself. She is slightly +rakish in build, but not disagreeably so. Her tonnage is 200 tons, and +her crew consists, including the stoker and steward, of some eight +clever-looking, sailor-like men. As we sleep on board I am glad of this. +With Gonsalo I exclaim, "The wills above be done; but I had rather die a +dry death." + +And now, after skirting the greater and the lesser Cumbraes, and the cave +where Bruce hid himself, &c., &c., we are coaling off Ardrossan, +apparently a busy town on the Ayrshire coast. I have been on shore, and +have seen no end of coal and lumber ships in the docks, and in the +streets are many shops with all the latest novelties from town, and with +ladies lounging in and out. I know I am in Scotland, as I hear the +bagpipes droning in the distance, and stop to judge the beef and mutton +exposed for sale at the shop of the nearest "flesher." On a hill behind +me is a monument which, the natives inform me, is in memory of Dr. +Mac-something, of whom I never heard, and respecting whom no one +apparently can tell me anything. I know further I am in Scotland, as I +see everywhere Presbyterian places of worship, and hear accents not +familiar to an English ear. I know also I am in Scotland, as I see no +gaudy public-house with superfine young ladies to attract my weak-kneed +brethren to the bar, but instead dull and dark houses, in which only sots +would care to go. I know I am in Scotland, because it is only there I +read of "self-contained houses" to let or sell; and as to Ardrossan in +particular, let me say that it is much frequented by the Glasgow +merchants in the season; that it, with its neighbour Saltcoats, supports +a _Herald_, published weekly for a penny; that from it, as a local poet +writes-- + + "We see bold Arran's mountains gray, + In dark sublimity, stand forth in grandeur day by day." + +The poet speaks truly. As I write I see the heights of the Scottish +Alps, whose feet are fringed with the white villas of the Glasgow +merchants for miles, and washed by the romantic waters of the Clyde. + +Anciently Ardrossan was a hamlet of miserable huts, says Mr. Murray--Mr. +Thomas, of Glasgow, not Mr. John, of London--gathered around an old +castle on Castle Hill, the scene of some of Wallace's daring +achievements, and destroyed by Cromwell. It was said to have belonged to +a warlock, known as the Deil of Ardrossan. The present town was +originated in 1806 as a seaport for Glasgow, but, like Port Glasgow, +proved a failure in this respect. It is, however, generally well filled +with shipping. The Pavilion, a residence of the Earl of Eglinton, +adjoins the town. Steamers run thence to Belfast and Newry, and to Ayr +and Arran and Glasgow. + +Let me here remark, as indicating the cultivated character of the +Scotchman, one is surprised at the number of local papers one sees in all +the Scotch towns. They are mostly well written, and have a London +Correspondent. It is beautiful to find how in the Scotch towns there is +still faith left in the London Correspondent. The people swallow him as +they do the Greater and Lesser Catechism, and even the London papers +quote him as with happy audacity he describes the dissensions in the +Cabinet--the hopes and fears of Earl Beaconsfield, the secret purposes of +the garrulous Lord Derby, or the too amiable and communicative Marquis of +Salisbury. When yachting I made a point to buy every Scotch paper I +could, for the express purpose of reading what Our London Correspondent +had got to say. I was both amused and edified. It is said you must go +from home to hear the news. I realised that in Scotland as I had never +done before. On the dull, wet days, when travelling was out of the +question, what a boon was our "Own Special London Correspondent!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. +A SUNDAY AT OBAN. + + +Taking advantage of a fine day, we left Ardrossan, with its coal and +timber ships, early one Saturday, and were soon tossing up and down that +troubled spot known as the Mull of Kintyre. It was a glorious sight, and +one rarely enjoyed by tourists, who make a short cut across a canal, and +lose a great deal in the way of beautiful effects of earth, and sea, and +sky. On our left was the Irish coast, here but fifteen miles across, and +far behind were the dark forms of the mountains of Arran. Islay, famed +for its whisky in modern and for its romantic history in ancient times, +next rises out of the waters. Jura, with its three Paps, as its hills +are called, comes next, and then, in the narrow sound between Jura and +Scarba, there is the terrible whirlpool of Corrybrechan, the noise and +commotion of whose whirling waves are often, writes the local Guide-book, +audible from the steamer. The tradition is, as referred to in Campbell's +"Gertrude of Wyoming," that there a Danish prince, who was foolhardy +enough to cast anchor in it, lost his life. To-day it is silent and at +rest, and it requires some stretch of imagination to believe, as the poet +tells us, that "on the shores of Argyleshire I have often listened with +delight to the sound of the vortex at the distance of many leagues." At +length we reach Scarba, Mull is swiftly gained, and there, on the other +side of us, not, however, to be visited now, are Staffa and Iona. +Altogether, we seem in a deserted district. It is only now and then we +see a house, or gentleman's residence, and, except where we pass some +slate works on our right, the rocks and hills around seem utterly +unutilised. Occasionally we see a few sheep or cattle feeding, and once +or twice we are cheered with arable land, and crops growing on it; but +the rule is to leave Nature pretty much to herself. It is the same on +the water. We on board the fairy _Elena_, and the gulls following in our +wake, are almost entirely monarchs of all we survey. On we glide up the +Frith of Lorne, which seems to narrow as we come near to Kerrera, which +has on its lofty sea-cliff the ancient Castle of Glen; and there before +us lies Oban, or the white bay, in all its charms of wood and hill and +water. Oban is a growing place, and we land where the steamer which +brings on the tourists from Iona has just put down its passengers, +amongst whom I see Dr. Charles Mackay, who, in the evening of his days, +much affects this delightful retreat--a place, I imagine, quiet enough in +winter, but now seemingly the head-quarters of the human race. There are +yachts all round, but none equalling the _Elena_. The hotels which line +the bay are handsome, beautifully fitted up, and the proprietors are +looking forward to the 12th of August and the advent of the English. All +the shops are doing a roaring trade, and as to eggs, not one has been +seen in Oban these four days. Here come the coaches, something of a +cross between omnibuses and wagonettes, which run to Glencoe and Fort +William, and other spots more or less famed in Scottish story; and here +is the band to remind one of watering-places nearer home. I find here +the original Christy's Minstrel (I never thought of finding him so far +North), and the proprietor of an American bazaar, who tells me that he +has been taking his 40 pounds a night, but who finds himself too well +known to the natives, and intimates that he will have to move off +shortly; and last, but not least, a gentleman who modestly enters himself +in the fashionable announcements as Smith, of London! I should like to +see that Smith. I dare say I should know him; but at present I have not +succeeded in running him down. If he is going to stay long at Oban, it +strikes me he should have plenty of money in his pocket. I don't blame +the Oban hotel-keepers. They have a very short summer, and are bound to +make hay while the sun shines; but they do stick it on. The Doctor tells +me of a Scotchman who came to London, and who, to illustrate the +costliness of his visit, remarked to his friend that he had not been +half-an-hour in the place but bang went sixpence. That economical Scot +would find money go quite as quickly here. At any rate, such are my +reflections as I turn into my little cot after, one by one, the lights in +Oban have been put out, and the last of the pleasure-seekers has retired +to roost. + +On Sunday morning I wake to find that it has rained steadily all night, +and that it is raining still. Mrs. Gamp intimates that life "is a wale +o' tears." Oban seems to be such emphatically. This is awkward, as I +hear the refined and accomplished lady who shares with us the perils and +the dangers of the deep intimates that in Scotland people are not +expected to laugh on the Sabbath-day. It rains all breakfast; it rains +as we descend the _Elena's_ side, and are rowed ashore; it rains as we +make our way to the Established Church, in which that popular minister, +the Rev. Mr. Barclay, of Greenock, is to preach. His sermon is on the +death of Moses. He glides lightly over the subject, telling us that his +text, which is Deut. xxxv. 5, teaches the incompetency of the noblest +life, the penal consequences of sin, the mercy mingled with the Divine +judgment, and the uniformity of God's method of dealing. Mr. Barclay is +listened to with attention. In his black gown, his tall, dark figure +looks well in the pulpit, and there must be some eight or nine hundred +people present. There is a collection after, but I see no gold coin in +the plate, though the bay is full of yachts, and there must be many +wealthy people there. Perhaps, however, they patronise the small +Episcopalian church close by. After the sermon, we are rowed back in the +heavy rain to the yacht, and "it is regular Highland weather" is all the +consolation that I get, as I dry myself in the stoke-hole, while the +Doctor philosophically smokes. + +In the evening we are rowed again on shore, and seek out the Free Church, +where Professor Candlish, the son of the far-famed Doctor of that name, +is to preach. He has the reputation of being a remarkably profound +divine, and certainly reputation has not done him injustice in this +respect. His sermon is a great contrast to that I heard in the morning. +It is full fifty minutes long, and is an argumentative defence of the +text, "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is +in Christ Jesus." The preacher proposed to deal with the objection, +which he admitted might be fairly made, that if Jesus paid the debt, our +salvation was not a matter of grace at all; and for this purpose we had +line upon line in thoroughly old Scotch fashion, the hearers all the +while looking out the passages of Scripture referred to in their Bibles. +The sermon was old-fashioned as to thought, but the language was modern. +I was glad I went to hear it. The congregation was not above half the +size of that which appeared in the Established Church, and a great deal +less fashionable. There you saw a good deal of the tourist element. +Here we had the real natives, as it were; and I must own that I saw more +men than I should have seen in a congregation of the same size at home. +At the church in the morning we had, in addition to the Scotch Psalms, +such hymns as "I lay my sins on Jesus," and "Lord of the worlds above." +In the evening we had no novelties of that kind. Indeed, the whole +service was dry and severe to a degenerate Southern. Mr. Barclay quoted +a good deal of Mrs. Alexander's fine poem on the death of Moses. +Professor Candlish did nothing of the kind. His sermon was, in fact, +quite in accordance with the day and the _genius loci_. I felt it was +such a sermon as I had a right to expect. As I leave the church, I +wonder to myself how the tourists manage. It is too wet to walk, and if +they do take a walk it is not considered the correct thing in these +northern latitudes, where, to make matters worse, the Sunday is nearly an +hour longer than it is in London. I am afraid, however, some of the +townsfolk find the time hang heavily on their hands. It seemed to me +that there was an unusually large number of female faces at the window, +and when the boat comes to fetch us on board the _Elena_ all the windows +are full of, I fear, frivolous spectators. It is true that I am adorned +with a genuine Highland bonnet, and would make my fortune in London as a +Guy on the fifth of November; but here Highland bonnets are common. It +is true my companion is a great divine from town, and one well known in +Exeter Hall; but here you would take him for a skipper, and nautical men +are as common as Highland bonnets. I fear it is for very weariness that +Oban ladies sit staring out of the windows on the empty streets and +silent bay this dull and watery Sabbath night. I can almost fancy I hear +them sing-- + + "I am a-weary, a-weary; + Oh! would that I were dead!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +FROM OBAN TO GLENCOE. + + +A couple of days' heavy rain quite exhausted the gaieties of Oban, and it +was with no little pleasure that I heard the orders given to weigh the +anchor and get up steam. I shed no tears as I saw the last of the long +line of monster hotels, which rejoice when the Englishman, who has, +perhaps, never been up St. Paul's, and who certainly has never visited +Stratford-on-Avon, makes up his mind to turn his face northwards and do +the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland. I believe the hotels are +excellent. I am sure one of them is--that kept by Mr. McArthur, who is +an artist, and whose son, a little lad of ten years, paints in a way to +remind one of similar achievements by Sir Thomas Lawrence; but it is much +to be regretted that so many of the best spots for pleasant views above +the town are marked off as private, and so shut out from the tourist +altogether. As possibly these brief notes may be read in Oban, I refer +to the fact, in order that the authorities of the place, ere it be too +late, may be reminded of the impolicy of killing the goose for the sake +of the eggs. There ought to be an abundance of pleasant walks and seats +around Oban to tempt the tourist to linger there. It is related of +Norman Macleod, as he stood on the esplanade, pointing to the town, the +bay crowded with yachts, the Kerrera reflected on the sea as in a mirror, +with the distant hills of Morven and Mull behind, that he exclaimed, +"Where will you find in the whole world a scene so lovely as this?" and +this was said after he had visited America, and India, and Palestine, and +the whole continent of Europe. I am not prepared exactly to endorse that +statement, but the language is natural to a Scotchman, who can see +nowhere a land so romantic as his own. Oban, with its fine hotels on the +front, with its beautiful bay, with its wooded or bare hills behind, +looks well from the water; but nevertheless I had tired of it, after +spending a couple of days contemplating its features from the deckhouse +of the yacht, bathed as they were in what in London we should call +unmitigated rain, but which here poetically is termed Scottish mist. + +Well, as I have said, there was a shaking amongst the dry bones when it +became known that the morning was bright and fine, or, in other words, +that it did not rain. A noble peer, who had been shut up in his yacht +two whole days, came up on deck and looked out. A great Birmingham man, +anchored on the other side of us, hoisted his sails and cleared off. +With the aid of the glass I could see the tourists turn out of the +hotels, without mackintoshes and with umbrellas furled. Away flew the +_Elena_ past the ancient Castle of Dunollie, the seat in former ages of +the powerful Lords of Lorn, and still the property of their lineal +descendant, Colonel Macdougall. Rounding Dunollie Point, and passing the +Maiden Island, the steamer enters on the broad waters of Loch Linnie, and +here a magnificent scene opens on us. To the left are seen the lofty +mountains of Mull, the Sound of Mull, the green hills of Morven, the +rugged peaks of Kingairloch, and the low island of Lismore, where MacLean +of Duart left his wife, a sister of the Earl of Argyll, to perish on a +rock, whilst he pretended to solemnise her funeral with a coffin filled +with stones. Fortunately, the lady was rescued, and the rest of the +story may be read in Joanna Baillie's "Tragedy of Revenge." On our right +stretches the picturesque coast of the mainland, revealing fresh beauties +at every turn, with a splendid back-ground of towering mountains, such as +the noble Ben Cruachan, who only a week since had his head covered with +snow, and the rugged hills of Glen Etive and Glencreran. Lismore itself +is well worthy of a short stay, as one of the earliest spots visited by +the missionary, St. Maluag, from Iona, whose chair and well are yet +shown. There are also in the island the remains of an ancient +Scandinavian fortress, and many other objects of interest. We pass +another old castle, that of Stalker, on a small island, a stronghold of +the ancient and powerful Stewarts of Appin, who, though now extinct, +anciently ruled over this region, and, connected with the royal family of +that name, occupied a distinguished place in Scottish story. In the +sunlight our trip is immensely enjoyable. The air has healing in its +wings. You feel younger and lighter every mile. On the left are the +splendid mountains of Kingairloch and Ardour, and on the right those of +Appin and Glencoe. The view of the pass is very fine, and to enjoy it +more we land at Ballachulish, and take such a drive as I may never hope +to enjoy again. Ballachulish itself is an interesting place. Here a son +of a King of Denmark was drowned, and at the adjacent slate quarry some +six hundred men are employed at wages averaging about three pounds +a-week. It is their dinner hour as we pass, and I am struck with the +fineness of their _physique_. Though they speak mostly Gaelic, and are +shut out from English literature, they must, from their appearance, be a +decent set. In an English mining village of the same size I should see a +Wesleyan and a Primitive Methodist Chapel, and a goodly array of +public-houses and beer-shops. Here I see neither the one nor the other. +At this end of the village is an Episcopalian place of worship, with its +graveyard filled with slate stones. At the other end is the Free Church, +and then, separated from it by a rocky stream, are the Established Church +and the Roman Catholic Chapel. The village street is, I fancy, nearly a +mile long, and the cottages, which are well built and whitewashed, seem +to me crammed with children and poultry--the former, especially, very +fine, with their unclad feet, and with hair streaming like that of Mr. +Gray's bard. How they rush after our carriage like London arabs! I am +sorry I don't carry coppers. Late as the season is, a few women are +hay-making. What sunburnt, weather-beaten, wrinkled faces they have! +Plump and buxom at eighteen, they are old women when they have reached +twice that age. + +As to Glencoe, what can I say of it that is not already recorded in the +guide-books, and familiar to the reader of English history? The road is +carried along the edge of Loch Leven, and is really romantic, with the +rocks on one side, the winding glen in front, and the loch beneath. It +is very narrow, and as we meet two four-horse cars returning with +tourists we have scarce room to pass. Another inch would send us howling +over into the loch below, but our steeds and our driver are trustworthy, +and no such accident is to be feared. In the loch beneath we see St. +Mungo's Isle, marked by the ruins of a chapel, and long used as a +burial-place, the Lochaber people at one end, the Glencoe people at the +other, as their dust may no more intermingle than may that of Churchmen +and Dissenters in some parts of England. A little further on is the +gable wall, still standing, of the house of M'Ian, the unfortunate chief, +who was shot down by his own fireside on that memorable morning of +February, 1690. Is it for this the Glasgow people erected a statue to +William III.? Further on we see the stones still remaining of what were +once houses in which lived and loved fair women and brave men. One +sickens now as we read the story of that atrocious massacre. A little +more on our right is a rocky knoll, from which, it is said, the signal +pistol-shot was fired. Happily, such atrocities are now out of date, but +the blot remains to sully the fair fame of our great Protestant hero, and +to stain to all eternity the memories of such men as Argyll and Stairs. +Independently of the massacre, the spot is well worthy of a visit. There +is no more rocky and weird a glen in all Scotland, and when the sun is +hidden the aspect of the place is sombre in the extreme, and the further +you advance the more does it become such. The larch and fir disappear +from the sides of the hills, the river Coe dashes angrily and noisily at +their feet, and before us is the waterfall which, here they tell us, was +Ossian's shower-bath. Close by, Ossian himself is reported to have been +born, and what more natural than that he should thus have utilised the +stream? On the south is the mountain of Malmor, and to the north is the +celebrated Car Fion, or the hill of Fingal. I gather a thistle as a +souvenir of the place. Of course it is a Scotch thistle, therefore to be +honoured, but for the credit of my native land, I must say it is a pigmy +to such as I have seen within a dozen miles of St. Paul's. As a Saxon, I +am especially interested in the horned sheep in these parts, which at +first sight naturally you take for goats; with the Highland cattle, +though by no means the fine specimens you see at the Agricultural Hall, +and with the exquisite aroma (when taken in moderation) of the Ben Nevis +"mountain dew." Returning, we pass the entrance to the Caledonian +Canal--called by the natives the cana_w_l--along which we were to have +made our way to Nairn; but the _Elena_ scorns the narrow confines of the +canal, and claims to be a free rover of the sea. + + + + +CHAPTER V. +OFF MULL. + + +As I sit musing in the dining-saloon of the _Elena_, it occurs to me that +a Scotchman is bound to be a better educated man than an Englishman; for +these simple reasons--in the first place, he does not drink beer--and +beer is fatal to the intellect, inasmuch as it magnifies and fattens the +body; and secondly, because the climate compels him to lead the life of a +student. In the south, we Englishmen have fine weather. In this world +everything is comparative. We in Middlesex may not have the warm +sunshine and blue skies of France or Italy, but we have weather which +admits of garden parties, and country sports, and pastimes; up in this +region of mountain, rock, and river, it is perpetually blowing big guns +or raining cats and dogs, and the Scotchman, as he can't go out, must sit +at home and improve his mind. In dull weather Oban is not a lively spot, +but here at Tobermory dulness fails adequately to express the thorough +stagnation of the place. Few of my readers have ever heard of Tobermory; +yet Tobermory is the principal town--indeed, the only one that is to be +found in all Mull. It rose to its present height of greatness as far +back as the year 1788, when it was developed under the auspices of the +Society for the Encouragement of British Fisheries. But the place was +founded before then, as three or four miles off there are the remains of +a monastery, and in a niche in the wall of one of the hotels there was, +evidently, a crucifix or an image of the Virgin Mary, whose name seems to +be connected with the town. Tobermory means Well of St. Mary, and up at +the top of the town there is shown to you the well of that name. The +_Florida_, one of the ships of the Spanish Armada, was sunk off +Tobermory, and some of her timbers and her brass and iron guns have +occasionally been fished up. The place must be valuable, as the present +proprietor gave 90,000 pounds for the estate, which had been bought by +the former owner for about a third of that sum. The house and ground are +on the left, and his yacht lies in the bay as we enter. By our side are +a few trading vessels which have entered the harbour for shelter. On the +right, at the entrance of the harbour, is a rock, on which some one has +had painted, in large red letters, "God is love." In rough seas, on this +rock-bound coast, where the wind howls like a hurricane as it rushes down +the gorges of the hills, and where the Atlantic seems to gather up its +strength, here and there, at fitful intervals, ere it becomes still and +tame--under the soothing influence of Scotch bag-pipes--it is well to +remind the traveller on the deep that He, who holds the waters in the +hollow of His hands, is love. Tobermory is, I imagine, a very religious +place; on a Sunday night the Sheriff preaches in the Court House, and +there, on our left, is a Baptist chapel--where, once upon a time, the +Doctor preached, and in his warmth upset the candle over the head and +shoulders of his colleague sitting below--and up on the hill is a kirk +and a churchyard; the latter, as is the case with all the churchyards in +this part of the world, in a truly disgraceful state of neglect, with the +graves, which are but a few inches deep, covered with long grass and +weeds. At one corner is what evidently was a receptacle for holy water, +and all around the place there is an antiquity--in the grass growing in +many of the streets, in the deserted walls of houses crumbling to decay, +in the weather-beaten, ancient look of the people, certainly by no means +suggestive of gaiety or life. Tobermory reminds me, says the Doctor, of +what the auld woman said of the sermon--that it was neither amusing nor +edifying. The Doctor's lady, overcome by her feelings, writes verses, +which I transcribe for the benefit of my readers who may not enjoy the +honour of her acquaintance. + + "Off Mull + 'Tis rather dull. + Hope is vain, + Down pours the rain; + The wind howls + Like groans of ghouls." + +But the subject is too much for her, and we land to have a chat with the +natives. A deal we get out of them, as we wander, something like the +river of the poet-- + + "Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow." + +They seem to me suspicious and reserved, as the Irishman when at home. +We meet one of the natives--an ancient mariner, with a long, grey beard, +and glistening eye. He can tell us all about the legends connected with +the Well of St. Mary, we are told. + +"You have lived here all your life? + +"Oh, yes," replies he, thoughtfully, picking the lower set of left +grinders in his mouth. + +"And you know the place well?" + +"Oh, yes," says he, commencing picking on the other side of his mouth. + +"And you can tell us all about it?" + +"Oh, yes, sure," says he, as he calmly proceeds to pick the remainder of +his teeth individually and collectively. + +"What about the well--you know that?" + +"Yes, it is up there," pointing to the spot we had just left. + +"What do the people call it?" + +"The Well of St. Mary." + +"Can you tell us why?" said we, thinking that at last the secret which +had been hidden from the policeman of the district and the inn-keeper (I +beg his pardon, in these parts every little cabin in which you can buy +whisky or get a crust of bread is an hotel), and every man we met. "Can +you tell me why the place is so called?" + +"Yes," says he, "the Well of St. Mary--that is the question." And then +he shut up--the oracle was dumb. I need not describe my feelings of +disappointment. I could have punched that man's head. + +I learn that Mull is a cheap place--as it ought to be--to live in. In +Tobermory, butter--beautiful in its way--is eighteenpence a-pound; +mutton, tenpence; eggs, eightpence a dozen; and, says my informant, +things are now very dear. The people are agricultural, and each one +cultivates his little crop. The women are fearfully and wonderfully +made; they seem born for hard work, and a large number of the young ones +leave yearly for Glasgow, where, as maids-of-all-work, they are much in +request. In the mud and rain, children, barefooted, come out to stare. +The girls have no bonnets on, the boys mostly wear kilts, but they have +all the advantages of a school, and the steamers from Oban now and then +bring batches of the Glasgow papers. One of the things that most strikes +a stranger in these Western isles is the astonishing number of +sweetshops. Every one is born, it is said, with a sweet tooth in his +head, but here every islander must have a dozen at least. Tobermory is +no exception to the general rule. The lower part of the town, at the far +end of the bay, is chiefly devoted to trade, and at every other shop I +see sweets exposed for sale. It is the same at Portree, the capital of +Skye, and it is the same at the still more important town of Stornoway, +in the island of Lewis. At Tobermory, one sees in the shop windows, +besides ship stores, mutton--you never see beef either in the Inner or +Outer Hebrides; articles symptomatic of feminine love for +fashion--actually a skating-rink hat being one of the attractions at one +of the leading shops, though I can't hear of a skating-rink on this side +of the world at all. In the interior of the island are farmers and +farmers' wives, who evidently have cash to spare. As we skirt along the +coast we see here and there a grey castle in ruins, telling of a time and +manners and customs long since passed away. At one castle--that of Moy, +for instance--the laird was a real knight and chief, and behaved as such. +One part of the castle was built over a precipice, and in the wall was a +niche in which a man could just stand, and barely that; a man or woman +charged with a crime was placed in that niche; after a certain time the +door was opened, and if he or she was still standing the result was a +verdict of "Not guilty." Had strength or nerve failed, the unhappy +individual was considered guilty and had received the punishment due to +his or her crime. It was rather hard, this, for weak brethren, and +perhaps it is as well that the system is in existence no longer. There +was a good deal of the right that is born of might in Scotland then; it +is to be hoped that the land is happier now with its castles in ruins, +and its sons and daughters wanderers on the face of the earth, farming in +Canada, climbing to wealth and power in the United States, governing in +India, growing wool in Natal, coming to the front with true Scotch +tenacity and instinct everywhere. At the same time, when we need men for +our armies and our fleets, and remember that the flower of them come from +such islands as Mull, one may regret the forced exile of these hardy sons +of the Celt or the Norseman. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +FAST DAY AT PORTREE. + + +In rough weather it requires no little courage to make one's way in a +steamer from Tobermory to Portree, the capital of the Isle of Skye. Our +noble-hearted owner is very careful on this point. The _Elena_ is a +beautiful yacht, and he treats her tenderly. It is true, off +Ardanamurchan Point we tumble about on the troubled waves of the +Atlantic, and are glad to shelter in the quiet harbour of Oronsay, where +we pass the night, after the Doctor's lady has gone on shore in search of +milk, whilst the Doctor smokes his cigar on the top of the highest spot +he can find, and I interview the one policeman of the district, who is +unable to put on his official costume, as he tells me it rained heavily +yesterday, and his clothes are hung by the fire to dry. At Oronsay there +are some six houses, including what is called an hotel. Here and there +are some old tubs about us which would cause Mr. Plimsoll's hair to stand +on an end, and which seek in this stagnant spot shelter from the gale. +Next morning we resume our voyage, leaving Oronsay with a very light +heart--to quote a celebrated phrase--and in a few hours are at Portree, +after passing the residence of the Macdonald who is a descendant of the +Lord of the Isles, and such islands as Rum and Muck, and others with +names equally unpoetical in English ears. From afar we watch the giant +hills of the Isle of Skye, their summits wreathed in clouds. Mr. Black +and Mr. Smith have between them much to answer for. They write of fine +weather when the sun shines, when you may see ocean and heaven and earth +all alike, serene and beautiful, when the novelty and the beauty of the +scene excite wonder and praise and joy. It is then people are glad to +come to the Isle of Skye, and find a charm in its lonely and rustic life, +in its tranquil lochs and its purple hills; but I fancy in Skye it is as +often wet as not; and when we were there the rain was in the ascendant, +and one would, except for the name of the thing, have been often just as +soon at home. Mr. Spurgeon once said to a Scotchman, as he was pointing +out the grandeur of a Highland scene, that it seemed as if God, after He +had finished making the world, got together all the spare rubbish, and +shot it down there. Apparently something similar has been done with +regard to Skye. You are bewildered with their number and variety--rocks +to the right, rocks to the left, rocks before, rocks behind, rocks rising +steep out of the sea with all sorts of rugged outlines, rocks sloping +away into wide moors where no life is to be seen, or into lochs where the +fish have it almost all to themselves. It is as well that it should be +so. The land does not flow with milk and honey. The hut of a Skye +peasant, with its turf walls, its bare and filthy floor, not the sweeter +for the fact that the cow--if the owner is rich enough to have +one--sleeps behind, its peat fire, with no chimney for the escape of +smoke, its bare-legged boys and girls, its sombre men, its gaunt women, +seemed to me the climax of human wretchedness. + +It is with no common pleasure we get in our boat and are rowed ashore. +It is a secular day with us in England. Here, in Portree, it is fast +day, and all the shops are closed, and if we had not laid in a stock of +mutton at Oronsay, it would have been fast day with us on board the +_Elena_ as well as with the pious people ashore. It seems to me there +are services in the churches, either in English or in Gaelic, all day +long. Of course I attend the Gaelic sermon. It is recorded of an old +Duke of Argyll that on one occasion he was heard to declare that if he +wanted to court a young lady he would talk French, as that was the +language of flattery; that if he wished to curse and swear, he would have +recourse to English; but that if he wanted to worship God, he would +employ the Gaelic tongue. It may be that I heard a bad specimen, as the +sermon or service did not seem to be particularly impressive; and as the +preacher took a whole hour in which to expound and amplify his text, it +must be admitted that, considering I did not understand a word of it, it +was not a little wearying. I must, however, own that the people listened +with the utmost attention, and that even such of them as were asleep all +the time, slept in a quiet, subdued, and reverential manner. Indeed, +they think much of religion in this Isle of Skye, and have a profound +respect for the clergy. "Sure," said an island guide one day, as he was +speaking of a distinguished divine, whom he had attended during a summer +tour--"sure he's a verra godly man, he gave me a drink out o' his ain +flask." And yet Portree is not a drinking place. There are two or three +good hotels for the tourists, and little more. I saw no sign of +intoxication on the evening of the fast day, but I did see churches +filled, and all business suspended, and the sight of the Gaelic +congregation was extremely interesting. The men in good warm home-spun +frieze, the women with clean faces, and plaid shawls, and white caps, the +younger ones with the last new thing in bonnets, looking as unlike the +big, bare-footed damsels of the streets, and the old withered women whom +you see coming in from the wide and dreary moor, as it is possible to +imagine. In London heresy may prevail--sometimes, it is said, it crosses +the Scottish border; but here, at any rate, since the Reformation has +flourished the sincere milk of the Word. These men and women have their +Gaelic Bible, and that they cling to as their guide in life, their +comfort in adversity, their stay and support in death, and as the +foundation of their hopes of immortal life and joy. An old gossiping +writer, who died a year or two since, relates how a Presbyterian +clergyman confessed to him that his congregation, who only used the +Gaelic, were so well versed in theology, that it was impossible for him +to go beyond their reach in the most profound doctrines of Christianity. +Perhaps it is as well for some ministers whom I have heard, but should be +sorry to name, that they have not Gaelic hearers. They must be terrible +fellows to preach to, these men, fed on the Shorter Catechism, the +Proverbs of Solomon, and the rest of the Old and New Testaments. It is +little to them what the philosophers think. Mill, and Spencer, and +Tyndall, and Huxley they ignore. Dark-eyed, black-haired, with heads +which you might knock against a rock without cracking, and with arms and +legs that one would fancy could stop the Flying Dutchman,--evidently +these are not the men to be tossed about with every wind of doctrine or +cunning craftiness of men who lie in wait to deceive. Little pity would +they have for the imperfect, weak-kneed brother, who, in the pulpit or +out of it, could presume to doubt what they had learnt at their mothers' +knees. Up here in Skye, the religion known is bright and clear. The +shops are of the poorest description, merely one room in a common +dwelling, with a stone or earth floor. There is no paper published in +all the Isle of Skye, but the people believe. You man of the nineteenth +century, the heir of all the ages underneath the sun, would think little +of the peasant of that wintry region. I believe he thinks as little of +you as you do of him. You mock, and he believes; you scorn, and he +worships; you stammer about Protoplasms and Evolutions, he says in his +old Gaelic tongue, "God said, Let there be light, and there was light." +There are many in London who would give all that they have if they could +believe as these men and women of the North. + +There were sermons again in the afternoon, sermons at night, sermons +again next day, sermons on the coming Sunday, and to them came the fisher +from the sea, the little tradesman from his shop, the ploughman from his +croft, the milkmaid from her dairy, and the child from school; and it +must further be remembered that these fasts are voluntary, and not in +accordance with Acts of Parliament. Remember, also, that nothing is done +to make the service attractive. It is simply the usual form of +Presbyterian worship that is followed. The chapel was as plain as could +be, and the singing was almost funereal. But, after all, the chapel was +to be preferred to the empty streets, along which the wind raged like a +hurricane, or to the contemplation of bleak rocks and angry seas. I can +quite believe at Skye it is more comfortable to go to kirk than stay at +home. Indeed, more than once on the night after, I felt perhaps my +safest place would have been the kirk, as the wind came rushing in +through a gully in the mountains, and kept the water in a constant fury. +Really, from the deck of the _Elena_, Portree looked a very comfortable +place, with the bay lined with buildings, and conspicuous among them all +the Imperial Hotel, where the Empress of the French stayed while +travelling in these parts. There is a good deal of excitement here as +steamers rush in and out, and yachts lazily drop their anchors. It seems +to me that the people quite appreciate the charms of their rocky island. +Coming down the cliff, I saw a notice--"Furnished Apartments to Let"--and +the price asked was quite conclusive on that head. Down by the harbour +an enterprising Scot, who had been a gentleman's servant in London, had +established a store for the sale of bottled beer and such pleasant +drinks, and seemed quite satisfied with the result of his experiment. At +any rate, he preferred Portree to residence further inland, where he said +even the very eggs were uneatable, so strongly did they taste of peat. +My lady friend--rather, I should say, "our lady"--is as much affected by +the gale that dolorous night as myself, and writes, plaintively begging +me to excuse the irregularity of the metre on account of the rolling of +the vessel, as follows:-- + + "Here off Skye, + The tide runs high; + Through hill and glen + Wind howls again. + The Coolan hills + No more we see, + Save through the mists + Of memory. + The sea birds float, + And seem to gloat, + With loud, shrill note, + Above our boat; + For they, like us, + Are forced to stay + For shelter in this friendly bay; + And now I seek, in balmy sleep, + Oblivion of the perils of the deep, + And wishing rocks and hills good night, + Let's hope to-morrow's log will be more bright." + +A cottage in the Hebrides is by no means a cottage _ornee_. Its walls +are made of stone and clay of a tremendous thickness. On this wall, on a +framework of old oars or old wood, are laid large turfs and a roof of +thatch. In this roof the fowls nestle, and lay an infinite number of +eggs; but all things inside and out are tainted with turf in a way to +make them disagreeable. There is no chimney, and but one door, and the +floor is the bare earth, with a bench for the family formed of earth or +peat or stone. Beds and bedding are unknown. If the family keeps a cow, +that has the best corner, for it is what the pig is to the Irishman, the +gentleman that pays the rent. Small sheep, almost as horned and hardy as +goats, may be met with, but never pigs. Pork seems an abomination in the +eyes of the natives. Every cotter has a portion of the adjacent moor in +which to cut peat sufficient to supply his wants. Out of the homespun +wool the women make good warm garments--and they need them. Fish and +porridge seem their principal diet, and it agrees with them. The girls +are wonderfully fat and healthy; and consumption is utterly unknown. +While I was at Stornoway, an old woman had just died in the workhouse +considerably over a century old. As to agricultural operations, they are +conducted on a most primitive scale. A few potatoes may here and there +be seen struggling for dear life; and as the hay is cut when the sun +shines, it is often in August or September that the farmer reaps his +scanty harvest. You miss the flowers which hide the deformity of the +peasant's cottage in dear old England. It seems altogether in these +distant regions, where the wild waves of the Atlantic dash and roar; +where the days are dark with cloud; where you see nothing but rock, and +glen, and moorland; where forests are an innovation, that man fights with +the opposing powers of nature for existence under very great +disadvantage. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +TO STORNOWAY. + + +A fine day came at last, and we steered off from Portree, leaving the +grand Cachullin Mountains, rising to a height of 3,220 feet, and the +grave of Flora Macdonald, and the cave where Prince Charles hid himself +far behind. On the right were the distant mountains of Ross-shire, and +on our left Skye, and the other islands which guard the Western Highlands +against the awful storms of the ever-restless Atlantic. Here, as +elsewhere, was to be noticed the absence of all human life, whether at +sea or on land. It was only now and then we saw a sail, but, as if to +compensate for their absence, the birds of the air and the fishes of the +sea seemed to follow in a never-ending crowd. More than once we saw a +couple of whales spouting and blowing from afar, and the gulls, and +divers, and solan-geese at times made the surface of the water absolutely +white, like snow-islands floating leisurely along. Just before we got up +to Stornoway, at a great distance on our right, Cape Wrath, more than a +hundred miles off, lifted up its head into the clear blue sky, the +protecting genius, as it were, of the Scottish strand. It was perfectly +delightful, this; one felt not only that in Scotland people had at rare +intervals fine weather, but that by means of steamers and yachts and +sailing vessels of all kinds, the people of Scotland knew how to improve +the shining hour. It was beautiful, this floating on a glassy sea, clear +as a looking-glass, in which were reflected the clouds, and the skies, +and the sun, and the birds of the air, and the rocks, with a wonderful +fidelity. It seemed that you had only to plunge into that cool and +tempting depth, and to be in heaven at once. At Stornoway we spent a +couple of days. The town stands in a bay, perhaps not quite so romantic +as some in which we have sheltered, but very picturesque, nevertheless. +The first object to be distinctly seen as we entered was the fine castle +which Sir James Mathieson has erected for himself, at a cost altogether +of half a million, and the grounds of which are in beautiful order; them +we had ample time to inspect that evening, as in Stornoway the daylight +lasted till nearly ten o'clock. Happily, Sir James was at home, and we +on board the yacht had an acceptable present of vegetables, and cream, +and butter, very welcome to us poor toilers of the sea. Stornoway is a +very busy place, and has at this time of the year a population of 2,500. +In May and June it is busier still, as at that time there will be as many +as five hundred fishing boats in the harbour, and a large extra +population are employed on shore in curing and packing the fish. In the +country behind are lakes well stocked with fish, and mountains and moors +where game and wild deer and real eagles yet abound. But a great +drawback is the climate. An old sportsman writes:--"The savagery of the +weather in the Lewes, the island of which Stornoway is the capital, is +not to be described. A gentleman from the county of Clare once shot a +season with me, and had very good sport, which he enjoyed much. I asked +him to come again. 'Not for five thousand pounds a year,' he replied, +'would I encounter this climate again. I am delighted I came, for now I +can go back to my own country with pleasure, since, bad as the climate +is, it is Elysium to this.'" Let me say, however, the weather was superb +all the time the _Elena_ was at Stornoway. + +As a town, Stornoway is an immense improvement on Portree. It rejoices +in churches, and the shops are numerous, and abound with all sorts of +useful articles. The chief streets are paved. It has here and there a +gas lamp, and the proprietor of the chief hotel boasted to me that so +excellent were his culinary arrangements, that actually the ladies from +the yachts come and dine there. Stornoway has a Freemasons' Hall, and, +wandering in one of the streets, I came to a public library, which I +found was open once a week. On Saturday night the shops swarmed with +customers, chiefly peasant women--who put their boots on when they came +into the town, and who took them off again and walked barefoot as soon as +they had left the town behind--and ancient mariners, with a very +fish-like smell. On Sunday the churches were full, and at the Free +Church, where the service was in Gaelic, the crowd was great. In a +smaller church I heard a cousin of Norman Macleod--a fine, burly +man--preach a powerful sermon, which seemed to me made up partly of two +sermons--one by the late T. T. Lynch, and the other by the late Alfred +Morris. I strayed also into a U. P. church, but there, alas! the +audience was small. In Stornoway, as elsewhere, the couplet is true-- + + "The free kirk, the poor kirk, the kirk without the steeple, + The auld kirk, the rich kirk, the kirk without the people." + +On the Monday morning we turned our faces homeward, and as the weather +was fine, we passed outside Skye, and saw Dunvegan Bay, of which +Alexander Smith writes so much; passing rocky islands, all more or less +known to song, and caves with dark legends of blood, and cruelty, and +crime. One night was spent in Bunessan Bay, where some noble sportsmen +were very needlessly, but, _con amore_, butchering the few peaceful seals +to be found in those parts; and a short while we lay off Staffa, which +rises straight out of the water like an old cathedral, where the winds +and waves ever play a solemn dirge. In its way, I know nothing more +sublime than Staffa, with its grey arch and black columns and rushing +waves. No picture or photograph I have seen ever can give any adequate +idea of it. "Altogether," writes Miss Gordon Cumming, "it is a scene of +which no words can convey the smallest idea;" and for once I agree with +the lady. It is seldom the reality surpasses your expectations. As +regards myself, in the case of Staffa I must admit it did. + +The same morning we land at Columba, or the Holy Isle. The story of St. +Columba's visit to Iona is laid somewhere in the year A.D. 563. He, it +seems, according to some authorities, was an Irishman, and from Iona he +and his companions made the tour of Pagan Scotland; and hence now +Scotland is true blue Presbyterian and always Protestant. Here, as at +Staffa, we miss the tourists, who scamper and chatter for an hour at each +place, and then are off; and I was glad. As Byron writes:-- + + "I love not man the less, but nature more, + From these our interviews, in which I steal + From all I may be or have been before, + To mingle with the universe, and feel + What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal." + +The history of Iona is a history of untold beauty and human interest. +Druids, Pagans, Christian saints, have all inhabited the Holy Isle. +Proud kings, like Haco of Norway, were here consecrated, and here-- + + "Beneath the showery west, + The mighty kings of three fair realms were laid." + +All that I could do was to visit the ruins of the monastery and the +cathedral, and one of the stone crosses, of which there were at one time +360, and to regret that these beautiful monoliths were cast into the sea +by the orders of the Synod as "monuments of idolatrie." St. Columba, +like all the saints, was a little ungallant as regards the fair sex. +Perhaps it is as well that his rule is over. He would not allow even +cattle on the sacred isle. "Where there is a cow," argued the saint, +"there must be a woman; and where there is a woman there must be +mischief." Clearly, the ladies have very much improved since the +lamented decease of the saint. From Iona we made our way to the very +prosperous home of commerce and whisky known as Campbeltown. Actually, +the duty on the latter article paid by the Campbeltown manufacturers +amounts to as much as 60,000 pounds a year. At one time it was the very +centre of Scottish life. For three centuries it was the capital of +Scotland. It is still a very busy place, and it amused me much of a +night to watch the big, bare-footed, bare-headed women crowding round the +fine cross in the High Street, which ornaments what I suppose may be +called the Parochial Pump. Close to the town is the church and cave of +St. Kieran, the Apostle of Cantyre, the tutor of St. Columba. At present +the chief boast of Campbeltown is that there were born the late Norman +Macleod and Burns' Highland Mary. When Macleod was a boy the days of +smuggling were not yet over in that part of the world. Here is one of +his stories:--"Once an old woman was being tried before the Sheriff, and +it fell to his painful duty to sentence her. 'I dare say,' he said +uneasily to the culprit, 'it is not often you have fallen into this +fault.' 'No, indeed, shura,' was the reply; 'I hae na made a drap since +yon wee keg I sent yoursel'.'" Let me remark, _en passant_, that my +friend, the Doctor, was born here, and that is proof positive that at +Campbeltown the breed of great men is not yet exhausted. I mention this +to our lady, and she is of the same opinion. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +KINTYRE AND CAMPBELTOWN. + + +In my wanderings in the latter town I pick up the last edition of a +useful and unpretending volume called "The History of Kintyre," by Mr. +Peter M'Intosh--a useful citizen who carried on the profession of a +catechist, and who is now no more. The book has merits of its own, as it +shows how much may be done by any ordinary man of average ability who +writes of what he has seen and heard. Kintyre is a peninsula on the +extreme south of the shire of Argyle, in length about forty geographical +miles. That the Fingalians occasionally resided at Kintyre is without +doubt, and a description of their bravery and generosity is graphically +given in some of the poems of Ossian. At one time there was much wood in +its lowlands, and in them were elk, deer, wild boars, &c., and the rivers +abounded with fish. There were clans who gathered together with the +greatest enthusiasm around their chiefs, who repaired to a high hill, and +set up a large fire on the top of it, in full view of the surrounding +district, each unfolding his banner, ensign, or pennant, his pipers +playing appropriate tunes. The clan got into motion, repaired to their +chief like mountain streams rushing into the ocean. He eloquently +addressed them in the heart-stirring language of the Gael, and, somewhat +like a Kaffir chief of the present day, dwelt at length on the heroism of +his ancestors. The will of the chief instantly became law, and +preparations were soon made; the chief in his uniform of clan tartan +takes the lead, the pipers play well-known airs, and the men follow, +their swords and spears glittering in the air. + +Up to very recent times there were those who remembered this state of +things. An old man who died not a century ago told my informant, writes +Mr. M'Intosh, that the first thing he ever recollected was a great +struggle between his father and his mother in consequence of the father +preparing to join his clan in a bloody expedition. The poor wife exerted +all her strength, moral and physical, but in vain. He left her never to +return alive from the battlefield. The proprietors of Kintyre were wise +in their generation, and mustered men in their different districts to +oppose Prince Charles, partly on account of his religion, and partly to +retain their lands. On one occasion they marched to Falkirk, but not in +time to join in the battle, it being over before they reached there. +Prince Charles being victorious, they went into a church, which the +Highlanders surrounded, coming in with their clothes dyed with blood, and +crying out "Massacre them"; but they were set at liberty on the ground +that their hearts were with the Prince, and had been compelled by their +chiefs to take arms on the side of the House of Hanover against their +will. But even the chiefs were not always masters, and men often did +that which was right in their own eyes alone. An instance of this kind +is traditionally told about the Black Fisherman of Lochsanish. The loch, +which is now drained, was a mile in length and half-a-mile in breadth, +and contained a great number of salmon and trout. The Black Fisherman +would not suffer any person to live in the neighbourhood, but claimed, by +the strength of his arm, sole dominion over the loch. The Chief Largie, +who lived eighteen miles north of the loch, kept a guard of soldiers, +lest the Fisherman should make an attack on him. He sent his soldiers +daily to Balergie Cruach to see if the Fisherman was on the loch fishing, +and if they saw him fishing they would come home, not being afraid of an +attack on that day. A stranger one day coming to Largie's house asked +him why he kept soldiers. The answer was, it was on account of the +Fisherman. When he saw him sitting he went and fought the Fisherman, +bidding the soldiers wait the result on a neighbouring hill. When the +battle was over, the Fisherman was minus his head. We read the head, +which was very heavy, was left at Largie's door. These old men were +always fighting. The number of large stones we see erected in different +parts of Kintyre have been set up in memory of battles once fought at +these places. On one occasion two friendly clans prepared to come and +meet. They met somewhere north of Tarbert, but did not know each other, +and began to ask their names, which in those days it was considered +cowardice to answer. They drew swords, fought fiercely, and killed many +on both sides. At last they found out their mistake, were very, very +sorry, and, after burying their dead, returned to their respective +places. The feuds and broils among the clans were frequent, and really +for the most trifling causes, as the whole clans always stood by their +chiefs, and were ready at a moment's notice to fight on account of any +insult, real or imaginary. It appears that in this distant part of the +Empire, though the whole district is not far from Glasgow, with its +commerce and manufactures, and university and newspapers, and the modern +Athens, with its great literary traditions, there still linger many old +Druid superstitions. + +Some are particularly interesting. Old M'Intosh thus writes of May-day +and the first of November, called in Gaelic Bealtuinn, or Beil-teine, +signifying Belus fire, and Samhuinn, or serene time. + +On the first of May the Druids kindled a large fire on the top of a +mountain, from which a good view of the horizon might be seen, that they +might see the sun rising; the inhabitants of the whole country +assembling, after extinguishing their fire, in order to welcome the +rising sun and to worship God. The chief Druid, blessing the people and +receiving their offerings, gave a kindling to each householder. If the +Druid was displeased at any of the people, he would not give him a +kindling; and no other person was allowed to give it, on pain of being +cursed, and being unfortunate all the year round. This superstition is +observed by some to this day. On the first of November the Druids went +nearly through the same ceremony. + +The superstition of wakes in Kintyre is nearly worn out. The origin of +this superstition is, that when one died the Druid took charge of his +soul, conveying it to Flath-innis, or heaven; but the friends of the +deceased were to watch, or wake, the body, lest the evil spirits should +take it away, and leave some other substance in its place. When +interred, it could never be removed. + +An old man named John M'Taggart, who died long ago, was owner of a fine +little smack, with which he trafficked from Kintyre to Ireland and other +places. Being anxious to get a fair wind to go to Ireland, and hearing +of an old woman who pretended to have the power to give this, he made a +bargain with her. She gave him two strings with three knots on each; +when he undid the first, he got a fine fair breeze; getting into +mid-channel he opened the second, and got a strong gale; and when near +the Irish shore he wished to see the effect of the third knot, which, +when he loosed, a great hurricane blew, which destroyed some of the +houses on shore. With the other string he came back to Kintyre, only +opening two of the knots. The old man believed in this superstition. + +On the island of Gigha is a well with some stones in it, and it is said +that if the stones be taken out of it a great storm will arise. Two or +three old men told M'Intosh that they opened the well, and that a fearful +storm arose, and they would swear to it if pressed to confirm their +belief; they would affirm also to the existence of the Brunie in Cara. + +In Carradale is a hill called Sroin-na-h-eana-chair, in which it is said +an old creature resides from generation to generation, who makes a great +noise before the death of individuals of a certain clan. An old man with +whom M'Intosh conversed on the subject declared that he had heard the +cries himself, which made the whole glen tremble. + +A little dwarf, called the "Caointeach," or weeper, is said to weep +before the death of some persons. Some people thought this supernatural +creature very friendly. An old wife affirmed that she saw the little +creature, about the size of a new-born infant, weep with the voice of a +young child, and shortly afterwards got notice of the death of a friend. +Others affirmed that they heard the trampling of people outside of the +house at night, and shortly after a funeral left the house. Many stories +are told about apparitions in the hearing of the young, making an +impression which continues all their days. Peter the Catechist +deprecates such conduct. He writes: "I have seen those who would not +turn on their heel to save their life on the battle-field, who would +tremble at the thought of passing alone a place said to be frequented by +a spirit." + +Very provokingly he next observes, "It would be ridiculous to speak of +the charms, omens, gestures, dreams, &c." Now, the fact is, it is just +these things which are matters of interest to an inquiring mind. They +are absurdities to us, but they were not so once; and then comes the +question, Why? He does, however, add a little to our fund of information +relative to the second sight. + +"An old man who lived at Crossibeg, four generations ago, saw visions, +which were explained to him by a supernatural being, descriptive of +future events in Kintyre. An account of them was printed, and entitled +'Porter's Prophecies,' which I have perused, but cannot tell if any of +them have come to pass as yet, but some people believed them. + +"The Laird of Caraskie, more than a century ago, is said to have had a +familiar spirit called Beag-bheul, or little mouth, which talked to him, +and took great care of him and his property. The spirit told him of a +great battle which would be fought in Kintyre, and that the magpie would +drink human blood from off a standing stone erected near Campbeltown. +The stone was removed, and set as a bridge over the mill water, over +which I have often traversed; but the battle has not been fought as yet, +and perhaps never will be. + +"The Rev. Mr. Boes, a minister of Campbeltown, more than a century ago, +was said to have the second sight. One time being at the Assembly, and +coming home on Saturday to preach to his congregation, he was overtaken +by a storm, which drove the packet into Rothesay. He went to preach in +the church on the Sabbath. The rafters of the church above not being +lathed, in the middle of his sermon he looked up, and with a loud voice +cried, 'Ye're there, Satan; ye kept me from preaching to my own +congregation, but ye cannot keep me from preaching for all that,' and +then went on with his sermon. At another time, his congregation having +assembled on the Sabbath as usual, the minister was walking rapidly on +the grass after the time of meeting, the elders not being willing to +disturb him by telling him the time was expired. At last he clapped his +hands, exclaiming, 'Well done, John;' the Duke of Argyle being at that +moment at the head of the British army in Flanders fighting a battle in +which he was victorious. The minister, by the power of the second sight, +witnessed the battle, and exclaimed, when he saw it won, 'Well done, +John.' He went afterwards and preached to his congregation. + +"Another Sabbath, when preaching, a member of the congregation having +fallen asleep, he cried to him 'Awake.' In a short time the man fell +asleep again. The minister bade him awake again and hear the sermon. +The man fell asleep the third time, when the minister cried, with a loud +voice, 'Awake, and hear this sermon, for it will be the last you will +ever hear in this life.' Before the next Sabbath the man was dead. On +the morning of a Communion Sabbath, Mr. Boes got up very early, convinced +that something was wrong about the church. He examined it, and found +that the beams of the gallery were almost sawn through by the emissaries +of Satan, in order that the congregation, by the falling of the gallery, +might be killed. He got carpenters and smiths employed till they put the +church in a safe state, and proceeded with the solemn service of the day +with great earnestness. Mr. Boes was sometimes severely tried with +temptations, having imaginary combats with Satan, and, being very +ill-natured, he would not allow any person to come near him. On one of +these occasions he shut himself up in his room for three days. His wife +being afraid he would starve with hunger, sent the servant-man with food +to him, but the minister scattered it on the floor. The servant-man +exclaimed, 'The devil's in the man!' In a moment the minister, becoming +calm, answered, 'You are quite right,' then partook of the food, and +returned to his former habits." + +The following is a good illustration of an olden chief:--We have many +traditional stories about Saddell Castle, in which Mr. M'Donald or "Righ +Fionghal" resided. He claimed despotic power over the inhabitants of +Kintyre. It is said he knew the use of gunpowder, and often made a bad +use of it. He would for sport shoot people, though they did him no harm, +with his long gun, which was kept in Carradale for a long time after his +death. His character is represented as being very tyrannical. Being +once in Ireland, he saw a beautiful married woman, whom he fancied, and +took away from her husband to Saddell. Her husband followed; but +M'Donald finding him, intended to have starved him to death without his +wife knowing it. He was put in a barn, but he kept himself alive by +eating the corn which he found there. M'Donald removed him to another +place, but a hen came in every day and kept him alive with her eggs. +M'Donald was anxious that the poor man should die, and placed him in +another place, where he got nothing to eat, and it is said the miserable +prisoner ate his own hand, then his arm to the elbow, before he died, and +said, in Gaelic, "Dh'ith mi mo choig meoir a's mo lamh gu'm uilleann. Is +mor a thig air neach nach eiginu fhulang." When they were burying him, +his wife was on the top of the castle, and asked whose funeral it was; +she was told it was Thomson's. "Is it my Thomson?" she inquired. "Yes," +they replied. She then said they might stop for a little till she would +be with them. She immediately threw herself over the castle wall, and +was carried dead with her husband to the same grave. + +Perhaps, after all, Saxon rule has not been such an injury to the Western +Isles of Scotland as some people think. At Kintyre there are plenty of +schools, and parsons and policemen instead of robber chiefs; and if there +are few freebooting expeditions to Ireland and elsewhere, it is quite as +well that people have taken to a more decent mode of life. + +Alas! my "to-morrow"--unlike that of the poet, which "never comes"--is at +hand. Under a smiling sky, and on a summer sea, we thread our way past +Arran, or the Land of Sharp Pinnacles, down the Kyles of Bute, where the +scenery is of exquisite beauty; past Rothesay, the Hastings of the West, +and with an aquarium said to be the finest in the world, and almost as +flourishing as that Hastings of the South which rejoices in a yatchsman +for M.P. of unrivalled fame; past Dunoon, till we drop anchor at Hunters' +Quay. We seem all at once to have come into the world again. On every +side of us there are steamers bearing tourists, and holiday-makers, and +health-seekers to the crowded bathing-places and health resorts. As we +approach our journey's end, the Clyde seems covered with rowing-boats, +and music and laughter echo along its waters. I feel a little sad to +think that my brief holiday is over. The Doctor and the Doctor's lady +tell me we shall meet in London, and that is a consolation. Yes, we +shall meet, but no more as equals on deck. He will be in the pulpit or +on the platform, I beneath. There is no equality when a man puts on the +black gown, and begins lecturing to the pew. The mutual standpoint +vanishes like a dream. But when, oh, when shall I sail in such a model +yacht as the _Elena_ again, or meet with such hospitality as I enjoyed at +its worthy owner's hands? His sons, amphibious as are all the Scotchmen, +apparently, in these parts, row out to meet us. The greeting is as +affectionate as mostly the greetings of the British race are. "What did +you come back for? We were getting on very well without you," were the +first words I heard. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +BACK AGAIN. + + +As next morning I crossed the Clyde, and took my seat in a crowded and +early train, it seemed to me that rain was not far off, and that at +Edinburgh Royalty might be favoured with a sight of what in England is +known as Scotch mist. Nor were my forebodings wrong. The modern Athens +was under a cloud, and many were the heavy-hearted who had come from far +and near to do honour to the day. The Glasgow men have but a poor +opinion of the citizens of Edinburgh. They took a very unfavourable view +of the matter. If Edinburgh desired to have a statue of Albert the Good, +why not? If the Queen liked to be present at its inauguration, there was +no harm in that; if there were a little fuller ceremonial on the +occasion, it was only what was to be expected; but that Edinburgh should +hasten to wash her statues and decorate her streets; that she should +clean up her shop-fronts, and drape her balconies; that she should devote +a day to holiday-making; that she should go to the expense of Venetian +masts and scarlet cloth--in short, that in this way Edinburgh should +attempt to rival a London Lord Mayor's Show, was one of those things no +Glasgow fellow could understand. + +And I own at first sight there seemed to be a good deal in the Glasgow +criticism. Few cities have so fair a site as the noble metropolis of our +northern brethren; few cities less require ornamentation. Hers +emphatically is that beauty which unadorned is adorned the most. To +stand in Princes Street, with the castle frowning on you on one side, and +with the Calton Hill in front; to loiter under the fair memorial to Sir +Walter Scott (by the side of which I am pleased to see a statue of +Livingstone has just been placed); to look from the bridge which connects +the New Town with the Old--on the distant hills and the blue sea +beyond--is a pleasure in itself. With its far-reaching associations, +with its memories of Wilson and Brougham, and Jeffery and Walter Scott, +with its dark churches, in which John Knox thundered away at the fair and +frail Mary, with its ancient palaces grim and venerable with stirring +romance or startling crime, it seemed almost profane to send for the +upholsterer, and to bid him deck out the streets and squares with gaudy +colours and gay flowers. When on Thursday the morning opened cloudily on +the scene, it seemed as if all this preparation had been thrown away; and +bright eyes were for awhile dark and sad, and refusing to be comforted. +However, the thing went on, nevertheless. The crowd turned out into the +streets, the railways brought their tens of thousands from far and near; +balconies were full, and all the windows; and the sight was one such as +has not feasted the eyes of the oldest inhabitant for many a year. There +were the soldiers to line the streets, there were the archers to guard +the dais, there were the Town Council and Lord Provost in their scarlet +robes, there were the men whom Edinburgh delights to honour all before +them, and, above all, the Duke of Connaught, the Princess Beatrice, +Prince Leopold, Brown--the far-famed Highlander--and the Queen. The +ceremony itself was not long. When Charlotte Square was reached, Her +Majesty took the place assigned to her, and the work was speedily +performed. As Her Majesty went back by Princes Street, an additional +interest was created, and Princes Street looked very well; its hotels and +fashionable shops rejoiced in crimson and yellow banners, and the Walter +Scott memorial even broke out in honour of the day. It was decorated +with flags, which waved gaily in the sun--for the sun did come out, after +all. But Princes Street was not the chief route. It was down George +Street that Royalty drove, and it was there that the efforts of the +decorative artist had been most effective. Some of them were very +beautiful, and full of taste; but the lettering was rather small. Nor +did the inscriptions display much ingenuity. They were mostly +"Welcomes," or invitations to "Come again." It was the advertising +tradesmen who were most ingenious in that way, and it was in the papers +that their efforts appeared. As, for instance, an enterprising shoemaker +writes:-- + + "Welcome, Victoria! Queen of Scottish hearts! + In many a breast the loyal impulse starts"-- + +and then finishes with a recommendation of his boots and shoes. As a +crowd, also, it must be noted that the mob was far graver than a London +one, and that little attempt was made either to relieve the tedium of +waiting the arrival of the procession, or to turn a penny by the sale of +the various articles which seem invariably to be required by a London +mob. The boys who sell the evening papers, one would have thought, would +have had correct programmes of the procession, and portraits of the Queen +and Prince Albert to dispose of. As it was, all that was hawked about +was an engraving of the statue itself. + +As to the statue, it will be one of the many for which Edinburgh is +famous, and at present, as the latest, is considered one of the best. It +is in a good position in Charlotte Square--the finest of the Edinburgh +squares--and stands by itself. Afar off is William Pitt; and, further +off still, unfortunately for the morals of Albert the Good, who is placed +just by, is George the Magnificent, swaggering in his cloak, in tipsy +gravity, as it were; and at St. Andrew's Square, at the other end, +proudly towers above all the Melville Monument. That was utilised on the +day in question in an admirable manner--Venetian masts were erected at +the end of the grass-plat which surrounds it. Ropes rich with bunting +were suspended between them and the statue, which was gaily decked with +flags. It was in this neighbourhood, and as you went on to Holyrood, +that the ornaments were of the richest character. Of the sixty designs +submitted to the committee, the preference was given to that of Mr. John +Steell, R.S.A., who was subsequently knighted by Her Majesty. It was on +the occasion of the great Volunteer review in the Queen's Park, in 1861, +that Prince Albert was seen by the largest number of Scotch people; and +it has evidently been the aim of the artist to represent him as he was +then--in his uniform of field-marshal, with his cocked hat in his right +hand, while he holds the reins in his left. The princely rank of the +wearer is indicated by an order on the left breast. In order that the +representation might be as perfect as possible, Her Majesty lent the +artist the very uniform worn on the occasion referred to. The modelling +of the busts was also done at Windsor Castle, under Royal supervision. +The horse was modelled from one lent by the Duke of Buccleugh. On the +pedestal are bas-reliefs indicative of the character and pursuits of His +Royal Highness. On one side his marriage is represented; on another his +visit to the International Exhibition. Again we see him peacefully happy +at home in the bosom of his family; then again as a rewarder of the merit +he was ever anxious to discover and befriend. In one part of the design +are quotations from the Prince's speeches, and classical emblems; rank +and wealth and talent, in all phases of society, down to the very lowest, +are represented as uniting to do honour to the dead. In this varied work +Mr. Steell was assisted, at his own request, by Mr. William Brodie, Mr. +Clark Stanton, and the late Mr. MacCallum, whose unfinished work was +completed by Mr. Stevenson. The equestrian figure is upwards of fourteen +feet high, and weighs about eight tons. The pedestal is of five blocks +of Peterhead granite. According to a contemporary, the Queen's emotion +was manifest when the statue was unveiled. The Scotch are a cautious +people, and are very slow in expressing an opinion on the memorial. All +I can say is, that I prefer it very much to that statue at the +commencement of the Holborn Viaduct, on which Mr. Meeking's young men +look down every day. + +It was on the next day that you saw the statue and the preparations to +the most advantage, and such seemed to be the opinion of all Edinburgh +and the surrounding country. A cloudless sky and an Indian sun tinted +everything with gold, and a smart breeze set all the flags of the +Venetian masts waving all along the line in a way at once effective and +bewildering. Fashionable people filled up the streets, dashing equipages +drove rapidly past, shops were crammed, waiters at the hotels were tired +to death. I never saw so many hungry Scots as I did at a celebrated +restaurant, and a hungry Scot is not a pleasant sight; and at the railway +station I question whether half the people got into their right carriages +after all. Porters and guards seemed alike confused; and the people +walked up and down the platform of the Waverley Station as sheep without +a shepherd. However, wearied and hungry and bewildered as they were, +they had had a day's pleasure, and that was enough. + +As for myself I took the Waverley route, and gliding past the ruins of +Craig Millar Castle--the prison-house of James the Fifth, and the +favourite residence of Queen Mary--and vainly trying to catch a view of +Abbotsford, of which one can see but the waving woods, was gratified with +a glimpse of Melrose, where rests the heart of Bruce, which the Douglas +had vainly striven to carry to Palestine. All round me are names and +places connected with border tradition and song. Dryburgh Abbey is not +far off, nor Hazeldean, nor Minto House. Passing along the banks of the +Teviot, by the frowning heights of Rubertslaw on the left, I reach +Hawick, whose history abounds in heroic tale and legendary lore, although +the present town is now only known as an important and flourishing +emporium of the woollen manufactures. Passing up the vale of the +Slitrig, famous in legendary story, we come to Stobs Castle and +Branxholme House, celebrated in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel." Close by +is Hermitage Castle, founded by Comyn, Earl of Monteith, where Lord de +Soulis was boiled as a reputed sorcerer at a Druidical spot, named the +Nine Stane Rig, at the head of the glen. At Kershope Foot the railway, +having passed through the land of the Armstrongs, renowned in border +warfare, enters England. Once more I am at home, thankful to have seen +so much of beauty and blessedness, of wonders in heaven above, and on the +earth beneath, and in the waters underneath the earth; thankful also for +improved health and power of work acquired by yachting among the islands +of the Western Coast. + + + + +MIDLAND RAILWAY. + + + * * * * * + + Improved and Accelerated Service of + NEW EXPRESS TRAINS + BETWEEN + ENGLAND & SCOTLAND + BY THE + SETTLE AND CARLISLE ROUTE. + +The SUMMER SERVICE of EXPRESS TRAINS between LONDON (St. Pancras) and +SCOTLAND is now in operation, and Express Trains leave St. Pancras for +Scotland at 5.15 and 10.30 a.m., and at 8.0 and 9.15 p.m. on Week-Days, +and at 9.15 p.m. only on Sundays. + +A new NIGHT EXPRESS TRAIN now leaves St. Pancras for Edinburgh and Perth +at 8 p.m. on Week-Days, arriving at Perth at 8.40 a.m., in connection +with Trains leaving Perth for Montrose and Aberdeen at 9.20 a.m., and for +Inverness and Stations on the Highland Railway at 9.30 a.m. + +A new Night Express in connection with the Train leaving Inverness at +12.40 p.m., Aberdeen at 4.5 p.m., and Dundee at 6.30 p.m., leaves Perth +at 7.25 p.m., and Edinburgh at 10.30 p.m. on Week-Days, arriving at St. +Pancras at 8.30 a.m. + +A PULLMAN SLEEPING CAR is run between ST. PANCRAS and PERTH in each +direction by these Trains. + +Pullman Sleeping Cars are also run from St. Pancras to Edinburgh and +Glasgow by the Night Express leaving London at 9.15 p.m.; and from +Edinburgh and Glasgow to St. Pancras by the Express leaving Edinburgh at +9.20 p.m., and Glasgow at 9.15 p.m. on Week-Days and Sundays. Pullman +Drawing-Room Cars are run between the same places by the Day Express +Trains leaving St. Pancras for Edinburgh and Glasgow at 10.30 a.m., and +Glasgow at 10.15 a.m., and Edinburgh at 10.30 a.m. for St. Pancras. + +These Cars are well ventilated, fitted with Lavatory, &c., accompanied by +a special attendant, and are _unequalled for comfort and convenience_ in +travelling. + +The 9.15 p.m. Express from St. Pancras reaches Greenock in ample time for +passengers to join the "Iona" steamer. + +Tourist Tickets, available for two months, are issued from St. Pancras +and all principal stations on the Midland Railway to Edinburgh, Glasgow, +Greenock, Oban (by "Iona" steamer from Greenock), and other places of +tourist resort in all parts of Scotland. + +The Passenger Fares and the Rates for Horses and Carriages between +stations in England and stations in Scotland have been revised and +considerably reduced by the opening of the Midland Company's Settle and +Carlisle Route. + +Guards in charge of the Through Luggage and of Passengers travelling +between London and Edinburgh and Glasgow by the Day and Night Express +Trains in each direction. + +_Derby_, _August_, 1877. + + JAMES ALLPORT, _General Manager_. + + * * * * * + + GLASGOW and the HIGHLANDS. + + * * * * * + + THE ROYAL MAIL STEAMERS, + (_Royal Route via Crinan and Caledonian Canals_) + +Iona, Linnet, Islay, +Chevalier, Cygnet, Clydesdale, +Gondolier, Plover, Clansman, +Mountaineer, Staffa, Lochawe, +Pioneer, Glencoe, Lochiel, +Glengarry, Inverary Castle, Lochness, + and Queen of the Lake, + +Sail during the season for Islay, Oban, Fort-William, Inverness, Staffa, +Iona, Lochawe, Glencoe, Tobermory, Portree, Gairloch, Ullapool, +Lochinver, and Stornoway; affording Tourists an opportunity of visiting +the magnificent scenery of Glencoe, the Coolin Hills, Loch Coruisk, Loch +Maree, and the famed Islands of Staffa and Iona. + +Time Bill with Maps free by post on application to DAVID HUTCHESON & CO., +119, Hope-street, Glasgow. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE ELENA*** + + +******* This file should be named 32858.txt or 32858.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/8/5/32858 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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