16th APRIL, 1890. At this meeting Mr R. L. Mackintosh, wine merchant, Bridge Street, was elected a member of the Society. Thereafter the Secretary read a paper contributed by the Rev. Archibald Macdonald, Greenock, entitled-" Some Hebridean Singers and their Songs," Part II. Mr Macdonald's paper was as follows: HEBRIDEAN BARDS. PART II. : Besides John Mac Codrum and Archibald Macdonald (Gille na Ciotaig), who, in their own particular vein, were the ablest of the Hebridean bards, there were minor luminaries in these western regions whose poems are worthy of preservation. The Uist bards are characterised by a sly and racy humour, bordering sometimes on the extravagant and grotesque, but always expressed in the happiest diction; and even to this day, Hebrideans who practise the art of versification seem more inspired by the humorous than the sentimental elements of life. A bard of local celebrity in his day, and one who possessed a large fund of humour, was Donald Maclean, or, as he was known among his compeers, "Domhnull Mac Eoghainn," or, from the name of the croft he occupied, "Domhnull Bàn na Camairt," a place in the neighbourhood of Lochmaddy. He was born at Griminish, in North Uist, during the last quarter of last century, and obtained the elements of an English education in the parish school. He could speak English well-an uncommon accomplishment for a Highland peasant in those days-but accounted for in his case by his having been sent as a youth to learn the cooper trade in Greenock, a lucrative occupation in the palmy days of sugar refining. Donald, however, did not long continue to work at the coopering. He pined to exchange the bustling energy of Sugaropolis for the more leisurely life of his beloved island, "far amid the melancholy main," where time need not be measured by the clock, but by those chronometers of nature's provision, which the old Highlander preferred to artificial aids-" mo shuil mo bhrù 's an coileach." Indeed, in those days the means of intercourse between remote Highland districts and the south were so inexpeditious and rare that the journey from Uist to Greenock was far more formidable than that to America in our day, and the Lowlands were generally regarded as terribly far away. This intensified the Scottish Highlander's affection for his native strath or glen or moorland, and the attachment was often in direct ratio to the remoteness and barreness of the natale solum. Only by bearing this in mind can we understand the strong desire expressed by a native of Iochdair, South Uist, when home-sick and far away "Na' feighinn mo leud ann am mointeach an Iochdair 'S cuideachadh siol buntàta ! Donald Maclean left Greenock for North Uist, and took up his residence on the croft of Camairt, where he reared a large family of sons and daughters. To his crofting avocations he added the employment of gamekeeper and kelp officer, and latterly of auctioneer. His wife was a Roman Catholic, and a daughter of "Fear an Dun-Ghaineachaidh," in Benbecula, but notwithstanding the difference of faith, they lived happily together. They first met under circumstances illustrative of how times have changed. Before the days of the prevention of cruelty to animals, it was the custom to have a cock-fighting, "Cath Choileach," in connection with every school, about the Candlemas season. The boys scoured the country in search of the conquering rooster, and the possessor of the victorious bird was king for the nonce. It was on one of these barn-door excursions that Donald first saw his wife. In after years he came back and married her; and, as her voice finds utterance in one of her husband's songs, and she is referred to in another, it is desirable that she should be mentioned here. Humour, which is sometimes fantastic, characterises "Oran na Camairt, but it is apt and clever, and the language is classic in its idiomatic purity. It was composed in dispraise of "Camairt," and the difficulties which its sterility and unproductiveness presented in the support of a large family are graphically told. In the very first verse he breathes an imprecation on the land whose nakedness he exposes, and he refers to periodical expeditions in search of the necessaries of life. His journey to Paible to purchase meal; the niggardliness of the Macaulay from whom it was bought; the indifferent quality of the meal, and the gigantic size of the mites in which it abounded; Donald's altercation with the wife, and, finally, their mutual pledging of one another in mogan, and the discovery of third cousinship under its mellowing influence, are all told. It is sung to the same melody as Mac Codrum's "Oran a Bhonn-a-sia." ORAN DO'N CHAMAIRT. Mile molachd dɔ 'Chamairt Ged a dheanainn a churachd, Chorus-Haoi-o-haoiri, horo-hall, 'S mairg a thachair 's an aite, Tigh 'n as aonais na mine, Cha 'n fhaod gillean bhi meamnach ; 'S gun 's a' bhlar dheth ach meanbhlach: Tha mo cheann-sa air liathadh Sud na fir a bhios moiteal Gheibh iad ochd sgillin deug air: Turus thug mi do Phabuill, Poc' a dh'fhianagan lachdunn! Chuid nach fanadh 's a' bhalg dhiubh. Mile molachd do Ruairi, 'S gu'm a buan sud mu 'Shealbhan ; Air de cheud bhadhar Fhearchair, 'S gu'm be 'n cùineadh 'g a' fhaighneachd, 'N am bhi tomhas bhuntata, Mu'n robh lan anns a' chliabh dheth, 'Nuair bu choir dhuit bhi crionna "Eisd a bhorrasach shalach, 'S maith a b'aithne dhomh riamh thu, "Cum fo riaghailt do theanga 'S gheibh thu barrachd 's a dh'iarr thu ;" 'S bha i ealamh 'gan iarraidh : Dh' ol i sud air mo shlainte, Lom-lan gus an iochdar, 'S nuair a shloinneadh an cairdeas, B' i fein 's mo mhathair an t-iar-ogh In his song to Iain Ruadh Valegui, Donald still complains of the "Camairt," but hopes for better times. His senior in estate employment might drop off, and Donald would succeed him in office. But the proverb about dead men's shoes proved true here also. Maclean Valegui was a man of education and intelligence, and had a good deal to do with the management of the North Uist estate. His subordinate, our bard, a namesake and distant relative, presuming on the other's good nature, exercised his wit sometimes at the worthy man's expense. How he expected the demise of the man who stood in the way of his promotion, how he feared that even death could not prevent such a worldly man from visiting the glimpses of the moon, and disturbing Donald in the enjoyment of his newly acquired possessions and position-all this with the anticipation of coming disappointment-the necessity of scattering the family among the friends, and of sending his wife to the Pope, where she would add no more to the population, comes out in the song ORAN DO IAIN RUADH VALEGUI. 'S mairg a thachair anns an aite Ach tha mi 'n duil nuair thig am Bailidh 'Nuair gheibh Iain Ruadh Mac Eachain bas, 'S leam an Ruchdi, 's leam a Phairce, 'S leam a machair mar a tha e; 'S leam a-huile dad a dh'fhag e, 'S gearrachan Ath-leodair. Gur e mise bhios gu h-uallach, Le mo chruachan mora, H-uile h-aon a thig mu'n cuairt, Their "Bhuinn e Bhuain e Dhomhuill !” Cha bhi punndadh cha bhi fangadh ; Cha bhi sion air bith de aimhreit; H-uile duine riamh an Sannda, Tigh 'n a nall 'ga m' chomhradh |