THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES c.'^.cjy- U^';' D Cfi < 2 H O THE MISTY ISLE OF SKYE ITS SCENERY, ITS PEOPLE, ITS STORY BY J. A. MACCULLOCH EDINBURGH AND LONDON OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER 1905 Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome, I would see them before I die ! But I'd rather not see any one of the three, 'Plan be exiled for ever from Skye ! " Lovest thou mountains great, Peaks to the clouds that soar, Corrie and fell where eagles dwell, And cataracts dash evermore? Lovest thou green grassy glades. By the sunshine sweetly kist, Murmuring waves, and echoing caves? Then go to the Isle of Mist." Sheriff Nicolson. DA 15 To MACLEOD OF MACLEOD, C.M.G. Dear MacLeod, It is fitting that I should dedicate this book to you. You have been interested in its making and in its publica- tion, and how fiattering that is to an author s vanity / And what chief is there who is so beloved of his clansmen all over the world as you, or whose fiame is such a household word in dear old Skye as is yours ? A book about Skye should recognise these things, and so I inscribe your name on this page. Your Sincere Friend, THE A UTHOR. 8G54S7 EXILED FROM SKYE. The sun shines on the ocean, And the heavens are bhie and high, But the clouds hang- grey and lowering O'er the misty Isle of Skye. I hear the blue-bird singing, And the starling's mellow cry, But t4eve the peewit's screaming In the distant Isle of Skye. The trees are grand and lofty, And the grass grows sweet and high. But I long to see the heather In the purple Isle of Skye. The streams are broad and stately, And the meadows fertile lie, But I hear the streamlets leaping Down the rocky glens of Skye. There's a singing in the cornfields As the breeze goes whispering by, But I love the bracken's rustle On the lonely hills of Skye. And I'd rather hear the music, WhenVmy time may come to die, Of the wind among the corries In the far-off Isle of Skye. M. J. M. PREFACE book is made up, for the most part, of a THISseries of impressions of places and things in the Isle of Skye, noted down from time to time during the last seven years, and given a connected form in the intervals of leisure snatched from more serious work, I have tried to put into words the impressions formed on the mind of one who is a lover of nature and alive to the spell of a romantic past. The beauty of nature and the romance of history are combined in the Isle of Skye in a way perhaps unequalled in any other part of Britain. There are few who, if they know Skye, do not appreciate its charms, natural and romantic. For them, and for those who care for such charms wherever found, this book has been written. Eilean a Cheo, the Isle of Mist, has been my home for nearly eight years. Each year I have come to I love it better ; had it been fated that should live there much longer, there is no telling to what depths of affection I might not have been brought by this overmastering mistress ! But, alas, as I pen these words, I know that fell circumstance is about to make me an exile from Skye. Soon I shall cry with the greatest of the bards of Skye— heart is for thee, O Skye, "My yearning " Dearest of islands ! And as I leave its romantic shores and the friends who have helped to make it so dear to me and mine, shall I not also say— " Blessings be with j'ou both now and aye, Dear fcUow-Skyemen, Yours is the love that no gold can bii}' Nor time can wither, Peace be with thee and thy children, O Skye, " Dearest of islands ! 5 6 Preface The Isle Mist, how much more thrilling is this of " than the better-known "Isle of Skye ! But why it should be so called, I do not know. Rain there is in plenty, but scarcely any mist, and one is forced to go on the luciis a non lucendo principle in seeking for the reason of this name. But in the early days when it was first applied to this green isle of the west, the whole land was covered with forest, and this, with other changed climatic conditions, must have brought frequent mists over its hills and glens. But the name implies something remote, secret, impenetrable, and I should like my readers to believe that the islands has these qualities. For they are suggestive of mystery, and the island is indeed full of mystery—the mystery of nature's charm and beauty, the spell of ancient and weird story, and here, if anywhere, is that shore of old romance of which the poet sang. Those chapters which do not come under the head of "impressions," deal with certain aspects of life in Skye, past and present, and are the result of observation, conversation, and reading. In conclusion, I have to record my grateful thanks to many friends in Skye to whose frequent hospitality I owe it that I have been able to visit many of its remoter corners. There, they will remember, we have together spent many a pleasant hour. The poem which precedes this Preface is from the pen of my wife. Some of the illustrations are from my own photographs, but they show sadly beside those others which Miss Margaret MacLeod of MacLeod, the Rev. A. H. Malan, Mr. Inglis Clark, Mr. MacLaine, and Dr. Grant, have been good enough to let me use. J. A. MACCULLOCH. Portree, Isle of Skye, December 1904. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. Characteristics 9 II. The Metropolis of Skye 20 III. Trotternish 31 IV. Vaternish and the Great North Road . 53 V. DUNVEGAN 69 VI. Loch Bracadale 85 VII. Strath and the Spar Cave . .101 VIII. Sleat and Armadale 112 IX. A Skye Industry 123 X. The Mountains 131 XI. The Moorland 149 XII. The Pageant of the Seasons . .161 XIII. The Geology of Skye 172 XIV. The People 195 XV. The Crofting System 211 XVI. The Folk-lore of Skye 234 XVII. Antiquities 258 XVIII. Historical and Literary Associations . 283 Appendix 313 Index 318 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. On the Tower, Dunvegan Castle. Sunset IN June .... Frontispiece 2. Entrance to Portree Bay . Facing page 24 3. Quiraing^,-—r-^, . 36 4. The Temple of Analits •58 5. Dunvegan Castle 70 6. The Candlestick Cave, Loch Bracadale 86 7. MacLeod's Maidens 90 8. Rocks Pierced by the Sea, Loch Braca dale 100 9. Clach Glas and Blaaven . 106 10. DUNTULM AND ArMADALE . 116 11. Among the Coolins .... 132 12. Sunset on Coruisk .... 140 13. A Crofter's House on the Moor 154 14. A Stormy Day in Glen Sligachan . 162 15. Basaltic Cliffs near Trumpan 182 16. Using the Cas-crom 214 17. A Crofter's House, Interior 222 18. A Crofting Township. 232 19. Dun Beag .... 266 20. Over the Sea to Skye 282 Map of Skye 312 THE MISTY ISLE OF SKYE CHAPTER I CHARACTERISTICS "Skye's romantic shore."—Scott. are travelled persons, deeply read in THEREBaedeker and Murray, who merely ignore the Isle of Skye. To others, untravelled, it is only a name while to both it is of some- ; dimly suggestive thing remote and savage and windy, a weary land where the comforts of civilisation are not to be had for love or money. Yearly, a few adventurous tourists come as birds of passage, or, if they are sportsmen, armed with rod and gun, stay for a longer period. Their impressions are various, de- pending on the personal equation, still more upon the weather. If it rains, they are ready to curse God and die. If the sun shines and the air is still and the sky blue, they affect to believe themselves the victims of an illusion, and can scarce credit that anything so fine should dare to exist so far away. But let them be as open-minded as they please, or as favourably dealt with as can be, they do not enjoy to the full the flavour of the Isle of Skye. The tourist is too much engaged scampering from hotel to hotel, the sportsman too much preoccupied with birds and dogs, to understand the rare charm, or to 9 lo The Misty Isle of Skye discover even a tenth part of the beauty of Skye. For that, you must live there, year in, year out, in summer and winter, sunshine and storm ; you must experience the marvellous charm of its spring" and early summer days, w^hen the air is like a fine wine and the landscape seems unreal because it is so beautiful must let the of its winter ; you gloom melancholy pierce your soul to its depths, until some morning you awaken to an enchanted day and the melancholy is routed, and you wonder that it ever could have been. And if you are not a native of Skye, but have come from the settled and common- place landscapes and surroundings of the south, all the more will the magic of the place charm and please you. On the other hand, it is possible that you will merely detest and hate the place, and wish yourself well out of it. You will be hard to please, and not open to magic influences.