Nar a rachadh tu t-èididh Ann am breacan caol geugach Bu tu leannan bhan breid-gheala boigheach. Sgeul is ait leis na h-aighin Ann an tìd na Feill-Ian Nach bi thu ga 'n caitheadh air mhointich Sgeul is ait le fiagh du-ghlas Bhios re shiubhal nan stùo-bheann Nach bi thu le d' chùth air a lorgsan Ach a nois o na sguir thu 'S gu'n do libhrig thu 'n guna Cha dhìrich thu mulach na mor-bheann O na chaisg iad am fiagh dhiot Le arsmachd (ardan) an Iarla, (oglach) Cha luidh manntal no sliasaid air h-Fholadh. Cara Chainnich a Brathain Is Mhic Aoidh o Shrathnauir 'S a Mhic Shimidh o amhan nan crodh thu Tha thu Charabh Shiol Aillein 'S a thiagharn og Ghlinneagaradh, Mac Dho'll-duibh 's a Mhac Cailein 's Mhac Dhomhnuill Tha thu Charabh nam Barrach Da 'm bu duchas bhi 'm Farrais, Chuireagh trup nan each meara gu òrdugh. Tha thu Charabh nan Granntach Eidir Spè 's uisge Shamhnadh, Mhac Ill-Eoin nan lann-chreachamh do Tha do dheud air dhreach cailce 'S tha do ghruadhan air lasadh, Tha falt dubh ort 's cha 'n fhacas ni 's boiché. Ach a' chroidhe na fèille Slan thighinn deagh sgeul ort, Gur tu m' aighir is m' eadail 's mo storas. RANN A RINNEADH AIR OI'CHE BAINSE. Brave lads be merry le furan 's le gradh, Come, call the lass, fill the glass, Cuir mu'n seach cumant e; Gad' bhiodh sheachd urrad ann, To the new couple that's buckled an trasa, The wheel of Fortune goes often mu'n cuairt, Gach mulad's gach gruaim a thachair reum ann. I am glad on my bed, fhuair mi cead feadalaich, The Boy called Cupid le bhogha 's le chuibher, [Another stanza follows, which need not be given.-ED.] 24th FEBRUARY, 1898. At the meeting this evening Rev. John Fraser, F.C. Manse, Dores, was elected an ordinary member of the Society. Thereafter a paper by Rev. C. M. Robertson entitled, "Topography and Traditions of Eigg," was read. The paper was as follows: TOPOGRAPHY AND TRADITIONS OF EIGG. The earliest references to the Island of Eigg occur in connection with the name of St Donnan, to whom its church was dedicated. What is known of this saint has been brought together in a note by Dr Reeves in his edition of Adamnan. Donnan of Eigg is one of three Irish saints bearing that name. His commemoration in the “Feilire" of Ængus the Culdee, and the accompanying commentary, give nearly an that is known of him: Donnan of Eig, i.e., Eig is the name of an island which is in Alba, and in it Donnan is [commemorated]; or, in Catt; et ibi Donnan sanctus cum sua familia obiit, id est LII.' [and there died holy Donnan with his community of fifty-two]. This Donnan went to Columcille to make him his soul's friend, upon which Columcille said to him, 'I shall not be soul's friend to a company (heirs) of red martyrdom; for thou shalt come to red martyrdom, and thy people with thee.' And so it was fulfilled. 'Let "Donnan then went with his people to the Hebrides, and they took up their abode there in a place where the sheep of the queen of the country were kept. This was told to the queen. them all be killed,' said she. 'That would not be a religious act,' said her people. But they were murderously assailed. At this time the cleric was at mass. 'Let us have respite till mass is ended,' said Donnan. 'Thou shalt have it,' said they. And when it was over, they were slain every one of them.” The massacre is ascribed to pirates or sea-robbers in the. Calendar of Marian Gorman, and in a quotation in the Acta Sanctorum. The passage in the latter work says that the queen induced certain sea-robbers to slay Donnan. Perhaps her own people's unwillingness to commit the act had proved insuperable. The latter account further relates that when the robbers came they found the monks singing psalms in the Oratory, and were powerless to hurt them there. But Donnan said to his disciples, Let us go to the Refectory where we were wont to live after the flesh, and there we can be slain, for we cannot die so long as we remain where we were in the habit of pleasing God, but where we have been accustomed to nourish the flesh, there we may be loosed from the flesh. And so on Easter night in the Refectory or dining-hall of the monastery they were slain. It is a mistake, however, as Dr Reeves shows, to say that the saint met his death at Easter. The date of his martyrdom was Sunday, the 17th of April, in the vear 617. In that year Easter fell on the 3rd of April. The The island was soon re-occupied as a religious abode. Annals of Ulster record the death of Oan, superior of Eigg, in the year 724. The names and the days of other saints associated with the island are recorded in the Irish Calendars, but the years are omitted. It The walls of the now roofless chapel of Kildonan are still intact, with the exception of the eastern gable. According to tradition, the chapel was burned twice by the Norse rovers. is now the burial-place of the Roman Catholic inhabitants, whose remains are carried sunwise round the outside ere being laid in their last resting-place. Buried under ground some 60 or 80 yards north of the chapel is a hollow stone, containing human bones, and covered with a thin slab of redstone. The hollow stone is popularly believed to have been the burial-place of St Donnan. It has been described by Martin and subsequent writers. Professor Macpherson gives a full and exact account of it in his "Notes on Antiquities from the Island of Eigg" (Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. Xií., p. 577 et seq.). He brings forward evidence that this basin, which is made of whitish sandstone, and also another which was made of the Scuirr stone, and contained many more bones, were dug up some time not long after the year 1818, and, being removed to the edge of the field, lay exposed there for many months. "In these circumstances," he adds, "it can hardly be considered as certain that the place where we now found it was the place of its original deposit." His reason for making that remark is, that in digging round the stone they found some charcoal, a few small shells, and sea-rolled pebbles. He has, however, overlooked the statement in the Old Statistical Account (published 1796), that the stone having been exposed by the plough some years previously, was taken up and examined, and then buried at a distance of a few yards from the place where it had formerly lain. The indications are that the bones are simply such as had been turned up, and deposited in this hollow stone as a convenient receptacle when graves were being dug. Even at the time of Martin's visit no skull was found. About fifty years ago the covering slab was so exposed that it could be raised and the cavity underneath exposed to view, but the desecration, it was believed, was always followed by foul weather. The The islands of "Iuist and Egyn" (Uist and Eigg) are mentioned in A Letter of the King of Norway," among the documents found in the King's treasury at Edinburgh in 1282. islands of "Egge and Rume were among the lands erected in 1292 into the sheriffdom of Skye. In 1309 certain lands, including "Egis and Rum," which had been resigned by Christian of Marr, the daughter of the deceased Alan, the son of Roderic, were granted by King Robert Bruce to Roderic, the son of Alan, for service of a ship of twenty-six oars, with its complement of men and victual. Eigg remained intermittently in the possession of the Clanranald family from that time down to the present century. Owing to its convenient situation in relation to both the island and the mainland possessions of the family, and to its advantages of navigation and harbourage, the island was often used as a rallying place for the clan, both for peaceful and for warlike purposes. It was here that Ranald, the eldest son of John of the Isles, handed over the chiefship to Donald, the eldest son of his father by his second wife, Margaret Stuart, daughter of Robert II. The Red Book of Clanranald gives this account of the ceremony observed: Do bhi Raghnall mac Eoin na ard stiubhord ar Innsibhgall an aimsir bas athair do beith na aois arsuigh agus ag riaghladh os a cionn do ar neg do athair do chur tionol ar uaislibh Innsibhgall agus ar bhraithribh go haoinionadh agus tug se slat an tighearnais do bhrathair a ccil Donnin an Eige agus do goireadh mac Domhnuil de agus a Hile an aghuidh baramhla fhear Innsigall": Ranald, the son of John, was the high steward of Innsigall (i.e., the Isles) at the time of his father's death. He being in his old age and ruling over them when his father died, called a meeting of the gentlemen of the Isles and of his brothers to one place, and gave the wand of lordship to his brother at Kildonan in Eigg, and he was proclaimed MacDonald, and of Islay, contrary to the opinion of the men of the Isles." A translation of the passage is given by Sir Walter Scott in the notes to the "Lord of the Isles." Of a different character was the meeting of Sir James Macdonald, after his escape from Edinburgh Castle, with Coll Mac Gillespick before their invasion of Islay and Cantyre in 1615. This is Gregory's account: At the Isle of Eigg he met with Coll Mac Gillespick and such of the Clandonald as followed that pirate leader. The reception given to Sir James by his clansman was very enthusiastic. He and those who had come with him |