Snamhuiche taobh gheal na stuaidh thu, 'S cairdeach thu do Chaisteal Tioram, 'S cairdeach thu Dhuntuilm nam baideal, I must now bid farewell to the Hebridean singers, but I hope it is not for long. In the preparation of this paper I have received material assistance from my father-Rev. Roderick Macdonald, minister of South Uist-especially as regards the information I have given about "Gille na Ciotaig" and the "Dall Mor," with reference to whom I have almost given his ipsissima verba. I have also had valuable aid from him in the explanatory notes appended. I would trust on a future occasion to submit to your notice another, if a smaller, galaxy of poetical stars in the Western firmament, with some snatches of song, worthy of remembrance, which I have picked up in the course of a few flying visits to "Uidhist bheag riabhach nan cradh-gheadh." 1st MAY, 1889. At this meeting Mr Angus J. Beaton, C.E., London and NorthWestern Railway, Bangor, North Wales, was elected a member of the Society. Thereafter the Secretary read a paper contributed by Mr Chas. Fergusson, The Gardens, Cally, Gatehouse, entitled "The Early History, Legends, and Traditions of Strathardle." Mr Fergusson's paper was as follows: SKETCHES OF THE EARLY HISTORY, LEGENDS, AND TRADITIONS OF STRATHARDLE AND ITS GLENS. At a meeting of the Gaelic Society, about a dozen years ago, when I was a resident member in Inverness, the subject of collecting the early history, legends, traditions, folk-lore, &c., &c., of the Highlands, was brought forward, and, after discussion, it was agreed that every member then present should collect, in their respective native districts, whatever old lore they could find for the Society; and as I was the only Perthshire man present, I was specially asked to do what I could for my native Athole, to which I readily agreed, as I had been for many years previously engaged in collecting material for a proposed history of my native Strathardle, a work in which I am now well advanced, and from which I now give some short sketches. I am very glad to see that other two members who were present at that meeting have already redeemed their promise— Mr Colin Chisholm and Mr William Mackay, who are doing such good work for their native Glens of Strathglass and Urquhart; and I hope the other members will be to the front next session with what they have collected in their several districts. The writing of the history of many districts of the Highlands, such as Athole, Breadalbane, Braemar, or Strathspey, is comparatively easy, as, in general, it is simply the history of the great families who ruled there, and whose deeds and doings are part of Scotland's history, and, as such, are preserved in public and private records. But in Strathardle, as in some other districts, it is more difficult, not from want of material, as I do not think there is another district of the same extent in the Highlands where so many historic scenes can be pointed out; but from the fact that no great historic family ever ruled there as lords supreme, for though most of the district is in the ancient Earldom of Athole, and the Duke of Athole bears the title of Earl of Strathardle, yet the native clans-the Robertsons, Fergussons, Rattrays, Smalls, Spaldings, and M'Thomas or M'Combies--always followed their different chiefs, who generally took opposite sides. Owing also to its position on the Lowland border, and as one of the great passes into the Highlands, it was generally in a state of war and turmoil, from that famous day in 84, when the defeated Caledonians fled for shelter to the woods of Strathardle from the conquering Romans, after the battle of Mons Grampus, till 1746, when Lord Nairne and other defeated Jacobites sought shelter in its caves and woods after Culloden. So most of its lands very often changed owners, and many of the old families are extinct, and their histories mostly forgotten and their records lost, so that its history has to be collected from many scattered sources. The M'Leans of Mull, claim to have been so far advanced at the time of the flood, as to have started opposition to Noah, in "having each a boat of their own." I will, however, be more modest for Strathardle, and only go back to the year 1, when we find it inhabited by the great tribe of the Vagomogi, as we are told by that old geographer Ptolemy. In the year 84 was fought the great battle of Mons Grampus, between the Caledonians and the Romans, the site of which has caused so much controversy amongst various writers, some placing it near Ardoch, in south Perthshire, and others as far east as Stonehaven ; but when all the evidence has been duly weighed, I think most of our authorities now agree that it was fought about midway between those places, in the Stormont, at the lower end of Strathardle. That site in every way agrees better with the account given by Tacitus than any other, and from the vast number of very large tumili and sepulchral cairns found in that district, it must have been the scene of great slaughter and carnage at some very early date, and I think the number of Roman weapons, spurs, coins, &c., found there place the matter beyond doubt. In the old statistical account of the parish of Bendochy we read-"The battle of Mons Grampus happened in the heart of the Stormont, upon ascending ground in the parishes of Kinloch, Cluny, and Blairgowrie, at the places called Cairns, Upper Balcairn, Nether Balcairn, Cairnbutts, and Craig Roman, on the side of the Grampian ridge. The Haer or Here Cairns of Gormack, below and immediately contiguous lying close together, about 80 in number, and about 15 ft. each by 5 ft. high, mark the contest that followed. The flight is still to be traced by numerous tumili through Mause, in the parish of Blairgowrie, along the track that lies between the River Ericht and the Moss of Cochridge. The great Cairn of Mause lies in the tract not far from the wooded banks of the Ericht; it is 81 ft. wide and 4 ft. high. It was opened in the centre by the writer hereof, and found to contain human teeth, sound, and a great quantity of human bones much reduced, which were mixed with charcoal and lodged amongst loose earth, and having undergone the fire which contributes to preserve the bones. This is the grave of the 340 Romans who fell. In the New Statistical Account we are told that a Roman spear was found in the Moss of Cochridge, and another near the bed of the River Ericht; also a bronze Roman coin close to one of the Cairns. In the Old Statistical Account of the parish of Cluny we read"The scene of the engagement at Heer Cairns is at no great distance from the mouth of the Tay, where the Roman army in case of defeat would have easy access to their ships. On the west it is defended by the steep banks of the Tay, and on the southeast and north-east by the banks of the Isla and Lunnan. "It commands a distinct view of the upper grounds of the Stormont, and looks directly westwards on the entrance into the Highlands by Dunkeld, which was then the capital of the Caledonians, and in the vicinity of which it would be natural for them on this occasion to hold a general rendezvous. In several parts of this neighbourhood the surface of the ground exhibits a singular appearance of long hilly ridges or drums, answering very well to the "colles" of Tacitus, running parallel from west to east, and rising above one another like the seats of a theatre. This appearance is remarkably exemplified at the Guard Drums, which are partly enclosed by the Buzzard Dyke or Vallum, which is still in many places 8 or 10 ft. high. If the line of battle was formed at Balcairn, then Agricola's right wing might extend to the hill still called Craig Roman, where several Roman urns and spears were dug up by the proprietor of the ground about 1750; and Tacitus informs us that the wings of the army consisted of 3000 cavalry. "The Caledonians in their retreat northwards over the Guard Drums, seemed to have faced about on the summit of each Drum, and there to have made a resolute and bloody stand against their pursuers. This appears presumable from the number and position of the tumili on each of these Drums. It likewise appears from the disposition of the tumili along the neighbouring hills that the flight of the Caledonians, previous to their final dispersion, was principally by two distinct routes, one north-west to the woods of Strathardle, and the other north-east to those of Mause, where there is also a number of cairns in which Mr Playfair has lately dug up cinders and some bits of human bones, and where some have thought it probable that Aulus Atticus and some of the thirty-three Romans who fell with him were burnt together in one funeral pile at the Great Cairn, which is about 80 to 90 yards in circumference, and in the centre of which we had occasion to see cinders turned up last summer" (1792). Much more could be said on this very interesting subject, but as space is limited, I must now pass on from Roman to Druidical Cairns and Relics, which are even more interesting, and for which Strathardle stands pre-eminent over all other districts in Britain for the number and variety of its Druidical remains. Chalmers in his "Caledonia" says, at page 72-"The number and variety of the Druid remains in North Britain are almost endless. The principal seat of Druidism seems to have been the recesses of Perthshire, near the Grampian range." And again, he says, in a note, at page 75—“In Kirkmichael Parish, Strathardle, Perth shire, the distinguished site of Druid remains in North Britain,' there are a number of Druid Cairns in the vicinity of Druidical Circles and other remains." The Rev. Dr Marshall, in his "Historic Scenes in Perthshire," says "Cairns and Druid Circles abound in the Parish of Kirkmichael more than in any other of which we have written. It has also a Rocking Stone, which was, no doubt, used for the purposes of priesteraft.' In the Old Statistical Account of the Parish of Kirkmichael, by the Rev. Allan Stewart (the famous Maighister Allain), we read-"In the middle of a pretty extensive and heathy moor stands a large heap of stones or cairn, 270 feet in circumference, and about 25 feet in height. The stones of which it is composed are of various sizes, but none of them, as far as they are visible, large, and appear to have been thrown together without order. They are in a good measure covered with moss, and in some parts overgrown with weeds. Round this cairn are scattered, at different distances, a great number of smaller cairns. They are generally formed in groups of eight or ten together. About a furlong to the west of the great cairn are found vestiges, quite distinct, of two concentric circular fences of stones, the outer circle being about 50 feet, the inner 32 feet in diameter. There are also the vestiges of six, perhaps more, single circular inclosures of stone, from 32 to 36 feet in diameter, lying at different distances in the neighbourhood of the cairn. Two parallel stone fences extend from the east end of the cairn, nearly in a straight line, to the southward, upwards of 100 yards. These fences are bounded at both extremities by small cairns, and seem to form an avenue or approach to the great cairn of 32 feet in breadth. be but little doubt that all these cairns are reliques of Druidism; that the great cairn is one of these at which they celebrated their solemn festivals in the beginning of summer and the beginning of winter, when they offered sacrifice, administered justice, &c., and that these circles and lesser cairns must have been the scenes of some other religious rites, of which the memory and knowledge are now lost. Similar cairns are to be seen in the neighbouring parishes, but this parish has to boast of a more uncommon and remarkable monument of Druidical superstition. About a mile north-east from the above-mentioned great cairn, on a flat topped eminence, surrounded at some distance with rocky hills of considerable height, and rocky ascent, stands one of these Rocking Stones which the Druids are said to have employed as a kind of ordeal for detecting guilt in doubtful cases. This stone is placed on the plain surface of a rock level with the ground. Its shape is There can |