PLACE NAMES.

Achu more-G., achadh-mor, big field.

Allt-na-caillich-G., Rob Donn's birth-place in 1714. (See river names).

Bad-na-guine-G., bad-na-cuingean, bad, thicket; cuingean, narrow channels or straits; the thicket of the straits; bad, croft, or toft.

Bal-na-kill-G., baile, dwelling; na, gen. of the art. an; and cill, cell; Culdee place of worship, or burying; Wel., cyl, kiln; Manx, ceeil, church; Ir., cill; Corn., cil and cel; Latin, cella; Swiss, cilch, church. The Culdees established a place of worship here. In Roman Catholic times there was a kind of monastery at Balnacill, the ruins of which may still be seen. Here was the summer residence of the bishop of Caithness, and here, too, was the summer residence of the Lords of Reay.

Balvolich-G., baile-mhullaich, the higher township, or the township on the height.

Balnamuic-G., baile, and muic, swine, place of swine, or where swine were kept by the inhabitants; muic, gen. of muc, a pig; Manx, muc and muck, pl. mucyn; Wel., mochyn, pl. moch, pigs, swine; Corn., moch; Ir., moc, muc.

Bealach-a-chonnaidh-G., bealach, a pass between two hills, a defile; chonnaidh, gen. of connadh, fuel, firewood. In ancient times wood was abundant; it was the fuel before moss was used. There were large forests every where in Durness in pre-Norse times. Bealach-na-h-imrich-G., bealach, as above; imrich, flitting, change of abode; the pass of the flittings, in reference to the track taken in flitting and carrying away household goods.

Bealach-na-meirlich--G., meirlich, pl. of meirleach; the pass of the thieves, in reference to the track taken by cattle-lifters. Cadha-na-bencaich-G., cadha, a narrow pass; b、ncaich, roaring, bellowing; the pass of the bellowing, in reference to deer.

Carrachan du-G., carrachan, wild liquorice roots, and du, black; the place of the wild black liquorice roots, as Carra-Mheille (Carmel), in Palestine, Carmylie, in Forfar.

Ceanna-bin-G., ceann, head or end, and beinn, end of the mountain; Wel., pen, head, or end; here it is a place name, in reference to its situation at the mountain end.

Cearbhaig-G., carbhaig, dim. of the O.G. word carbh, a small ship; still retained in the Fr. word corvette, a small ship of war, of less size than a frigate; in reference to the Norse ships casting anchor, or at anchor, in the adjoining bay, Bagh-a-Chear bhaig. Within half a mile of the bay and the ancient hamlet, is

Geodba-na-Seamraig and Loch-na-Seamraig (the creek and lake of the shamrocks). Query, which is the proper derivation of one and the other.

Dail—G., a field bounded by a river; very frequently used in Highland topography; Wel., dal, a dale, a meadow through which a river runs; Norse, dalr, dolr, a dale; Swed., Dan., Du., dal; Corn., Arm., dol.

Erribol--Norse, see lake name, Arnaboll; Norse, arnar, pertaining to an eagle; böll, residence, in reference to resorts of the eagle being near.

Durine-G., du-raoin, black plains or fields; said to be in reference to the difference in the appearance of the soil in the west side from that of the east side of the township, the one being sandy, the other being peaty, or black. An excellent Gaelic scholar contends for this definition, or at anyrate suggests it. (See ante, in district names).

Durness-See ante, in district names.

Gob-an-uisgich-G., gob, a point, bill, snout, and uisgidh, plu. of uisge, water; the point of land or water at which the water of streams or rivers conjoin and commingle. This expressive topographical word is found more than once in Sutherland as applied to the meeting of waters at a common point, and is a third way of describing confluence of waters, instead of Aber or Inver, about which so much contention has arisen as to their relative definition and real signification. Gob, beak or bill, here comes in to describe the same aspect and effect, and does not settle the controversy. The gob may apply to the point of land at the meeting of those waters, or may mean the point of the actual confluence of the waters themselves. Gob, in Sutherland, refers to a place name situated on or near the point of land caused by the meeting of waters from different directions.

Hope-N. (see lake names). Loch Hope gives its own name to the river issuing from it; to the grand mountain at its upper end; the river to the township situated on its right bank; also to Inver Hope, situated at its confluence with the sea.

Heilim-N., oblique case of, Holmr; N., islet or peninsula in a river, lake, or bay. Farther down, on the same side of Loch Erriboll, is Beinn Heilim, signifying the mountain in the peninsula, formed by Loch Erriboll and Loch Hope and River Hope.

Keoldale-Definition uncertain, whether Gaelic or Norse. N., kaldr, cold, and dalr, dal, or dale, cold dale; G., caol, narrow, and dail, dale, narrow dale; or G., caolas, kyle, strait, and dail, dale, Kyle-dale, thence Kealdale, as it is pronounced by the natives.

Here a difference of opinion may arise. Let it be observed that when the word dal or dale becomes in Highland topography an affix, especially in coast place names, the probability is that the first syllable may be of foreign origin, as in Helmsdale, Armadale, Torrisdale, which are essentially of Norse origin, and when the word dal finds its place as a prefix the whole is of Gaelic origin, as Dalwhinnie (the place of the meeting), Dalmore, Dalbeg, Dalriabhaich, descriptive of known or unknown events, size, and aspect. In this word Keoldale, the dal being an affix, a Norse origin may be assigned to it.

Leirin-G., leth, half, and raoins, fields, plairs, divided into two. Allt-Smoo divides the locality into Leirin bheag and Leirin mhor; leth raoin, half the plain.

Lone-G., lon, meadow, this place is called An Lon, the meadow, from its being alone—a meadow among the mountains near Loch Stack.

Kinloch--G., Ceann-loch, head of the lake, or tide in a bay.
Mhoine-G., see ante, in district names.

Musal-N., from mosi, moss, or moorland, and fiall, or fell, moss-covered highland; mosi-fell, mossfell, Musal, in Strathmore, or anciently Strath-urradal, from a Norse commander, supposed to be one of Haco's captains, having been killed in the Strath with several of his men when on a plundering excursion.

Rispond-See ante, in islands, capes, bays.

Sango-Mor: Sango-beg-Sango, contraction of N., Sandr, Sand, and Gja, geo, creek, Sanda-geo, the sandy shored creek; mor and beag, Gaelic. The two creeks are about a mile apart; the Gaelic adjectives distinguish their relative size.

Whiten-Head-Anglicised from a literal translation of Ceanngeal, a remarkable cape in the parish of Durness, eastside of Loch Erriboll (see cape names, ante). In the description given of Whiten-Head respecting the caves in its face and sides, one deserves particular mention. It is locally named "Uamh Mhor Fhresgill," the great cave of Fresgill. It is said to extend more than half a mile under ground, and to be 50 feet high and 20 feet wide at the entrance, gradually diminishing till at last a man can scarcely creep along it. Its sides are variegated with many colours, lost in each other with a delicacy and softness that no art can excel. Upon entering the cave, the mind is impressed with pleasing awe, heightened by the solemn gloominess of the light, the clang of sea birds that nestle in it, and the mournful dashing of the waves against the adjacent rocks. Numbers of seals are

found in it.

66

EDDRACHILIS.

'Stranger, if e'er thy ardent steps have traced
The northern realm of ancient Caledon,

Where the proud green of wilderness has placed,
By lake and cataract, her lonely throne,
Sublime and stern delight thy soul has known,
Gazing in pathless glens and mountains high,
List'ing where from the cliffs the torrents thrown
Mingle their echoes with the eagle's cry,

With the sounding lake, and with the roaring sky,
"Tis known amid the pathless waste of Reay."

Eddrachilis is reputed to be the wildest and most rugged parish in Scotland. Its inland parts are the haunts of the deer and the eagle. Its aspect from the sea is a vast group of mountains, whose summits are enveloped in clouds, divided from one another by deep and narrow glens, whose declivities are so steep and rugged as to be dangerous to the traveller unattended by a guide. The mountains are giants. Such a magnificent panorama of mountains can hardly be surpassed. Ben Stack looks like an enormous pyramid rising to a point. Like Assynt, its lakes are innumerable, a veritable network, covering nearly 8000 acres, out of an area of 144,600 acres. Its rivers abound with salmon. Its lakes, with trout of various kinds.

Anciently the district was divided into three parts, Eddrachilis, between the Kyle Sku and Loch Laxford; the Ceathramh Garbh, between the Laxford and the river Inchard; and Ashir, or Fasthir, beyond the Inchard.

The parish name, as to its origin and definition, is, to the Gaelic student, self-evident.

Eddra-chilis-G., cadar-da-chaolais, between two kyles.

Ceathramh-garbh-G., rough quarter, the district between the lakes and rivers Laxford and Inchard. It is rightly so named from its physical aspect, unfit for the habitation of man, except on the south shore of the Inchard.

Ashir, mhor-G., contracted from Fás-thir, meaning productive, or cultivable land, in contradistinction to the "Ceathramh-garbh," rough quarter, adjoining. It lies to the north of the Inchard lake and river. The district has cultivable land in it. The Ceathramhgarbh has none beyond the strip bordering on the Inchard south shore. Ashir has been variously spelled in charters, as Aslar, Astlair, Ashlair. It is now corrupted into "Old shore" more, "Old shore" beg.

MOUNTAIN NAMES.

Beinn-a-bhutha-G., butha, & cot, or bothy, or hut. Mountain of the hut, no doubt, for deer-hunting; 1777 feet high.

Beinn Hee-G., hee, oblique case of sith, tranquility, solitude, mountain of the solitude; 2864 feet high.

Beinn leoid-G., from Leoid, a man's name, who frequented it for the chase and hunting, or from leothad-leud, breadth; 2597 feet high.

Beinn stack-G. and N., stakkr, like a stack, appropriate to the aspect of this mountain; G., stac, high hill, rising like a pyramid. In Ireland such aspect is compared to cruach, Ir., croagh, stack of corn-like mountain; 2365 feet high.

Beinn dearg Mor-G., dearg, red, and mor, big; the big red mountain; 1527 feet high.

Beinn auskaird-G., ausk, asca, snake, and airde, a quarter ; the quarter or district of the snakes; 1265 feet high.

Beinn Strome-G. and W., takes its name from the adjoining strait; N., stromr, a stream or current; 1374 feet high. strome, post; Eng. equivalent, stream.

See KyleCreag-riabhach-G., riabhach, brindled, the brindled rock; 1592 feet high; the summit has rocky brindled cliffs, hence the

name.

Cnoc-na-glaic-tarsuinn-C., cnoc, hill; glaic, defiles; tarsuinn, across, hill of the cross defiles; 1000 feet high.

Cnoc-odhar-G., the dun bill.

Cnoc-gorm-mor-G., the big blue hill.

Farr mheall-G., faire, watching, and meall, round-shaped hill, the watch or sentinel hill; 1709 feet high.

Meall-na-moine-G., meal, as above, and moine, moss, bog; Wel., mawn; Arm., mawdew, the mossy hill, or the hill in the moss; 1592 feet high.

Meallan-liath G., Meallan, dim. of meall, and liath, grey; Wel., lluyd, grey; the little grey hill.

Sail-mhor-G., sàil, keel, and mor, the big heel, of the Arcuil (arkle) mountain; Arcuil, G., earrgheal, the white-tailed falcon or eagle, the mountain of the white-tailed eagle. It is said the deer on this mountain have white forked tails.

LAKE NAMES.

Loch Mor-G., the big lake.

Loch-na-claise carnach-G., clais, hollow; carnach, rocky, lake of the rocky hollow.