GAELIC PLANT NAMES.
STUDY OF THEIR USES AND LORE
I—ROOTS AND STEMS
This paper is not meant to be an exhaustive treatment of the flora of the Highlands, but a study of the outstanding plants and trees known to the Gael for their several virtues—dietetic, medical, and magical. Naturally, therefore, some may be disappointed at a favourite plant or flower of theirg not being mentioned. I have given the Irish synonyms of the Gaelic names, and, where the resemblance is found, the Armoric ones. I shall, at the outset, describe the various parts of plants and trees and how they came to be so called. Beginning then with the root we have—
(1) Freumh. This is the general term. The word Bun is sometimes used, bi t relates rather to the underground stem or rhizome. Examples:—A.s an fhreumh, from the root; eadar bhun is bhàrr, root and branch.
(2) The stem is variously designated in the case of herbs by cas, cuiseag (diminutive); of trees by stoc or bun.
(3) Flowers—Buds are boinnean, gucag -gireag; blossom or bloom, plùr, plùran, guc, barr-guc, blàth.
(4) The leaf is duille. More common, however, is its diminutive, duilleag; duilleagan, leaves; collectively as cladding a tree, duilleach; duilleagach, leafy.
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Bileag is the diminutive of bile or bil, an edge, and generally applied to leaves of grass.
(5) The peel of a plant or tree is rusg.
(6) For the branch there are several terms :—
(a) Meangan, but its variant meanglan is commoner. Meangan Dhaibhidh, meangan fireanta (the branch of David, the righteous branch, respectively), are Bible terms for Messiah.
(b) Geug, which I think rather connotes the shape, or attachment, as the case may be :— " Thig geug a mach o fhreumh Iese," " A branch shall come out of the root of Jesse."
(c) We have also meur, which is used to denote the internal spring from the parent stem as the finger from the palm of the hand.
(7) For the fruit we have several interesting terms :—
(a) The general term is meas. It is the same word in Irish, but in common with other cognate Celtic languages it was used in that tongue at first for acorn. Thus measog is Ir. for acorn; mesa, Early Irish for fruit; Welsh mes, acorns; Cornish meson, glans; Bretonic mesen, acorn. MacBain derives it from messu, root from med and mad, to eat; Greek medomai, to think of. It would seem to be akin to the English word mast, Anglo-Saxon maest, the fruit of the beech, etc.
(b) Then as to more definite terms we have dearc, a berry; Irish same; Old Irish derc (this word has nothing to do with dearc in dearc-luachrach, where the root is really earc, the d at the beginning belonging originally to the article). The cranberry plant is named after its berry, muiZeag, which means little frog. Muilteag is probably a variant. Crow-berry is eidhreag or oidhreag; cloudberry is broidhleag. Caor, plural caoran, is the berry of the mountain ash or fowler's service tree, or rowan tree. MacBain derives it from or identifies it with caor, a blaze, which will naturally appeal as cogent to any one who has feasted his eyes on a clump of rowan trees in the month of August, with their branches bending under their crowded umbels of coral-
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•red berries so beloved of the various ouzel "tribes.
(c) Another word for fruit was subh, sùbhag; in the West Highlands and Islands pronounced -jui'eag. It was at one time applied to the mistletoe, sùbh-daraich, i.e., the fruit of the ¦oak. It is now used only of the strawberry and raspberry, viz., subh-làir and subh-chraobh respectively — that is, in contradistinction (owing to the resemblance of the two to each
•other), earth-fruit and tree-fruit.
The bramble or blackberry is smeur or smiar, sometimes smeurag.
(d) The hawthorn berry or haw is sgeach (Irish same); also sgiach; Early Irish see.   A
•variant is sgitheag. Compare Bible crùn sgitheach, crown of thorns.   As a place-name
•we have Altnasgiach, Hawthorn-burn.
(e) The hip of the rose is mucag, or plural ¦mucan (short for mucagan), little pig. In Skye the hips are mucan-faileag.
(f) Ubhal or abhal is for apple. It was applied in Gaelic to the fruit of the potato, just as in English the word plum is used.
(g) Such fruits as pods and other legumes are "known as cochul, a term that is also applied "to a husk or sac or ca.ul. Chaidh e a cochul a chridhe—He burst the caul of his heart.
(8) A most interesting field of investigation is the ways in which plants are designated and differentiated. The great majority are simply named by a term denoting some quality they possess. All such have similar or nearly similar names in Irish, and can be easily traced to Early Irish, while at the same time they show a family resemblance to the same in the other Celtic group of languages; nay more, a good many can be shown to be related to the cognate terms in the various Aryan tongues.
Again there are many names that are compound. The ordinary botanical classification ii sometimes followed by adding the specific to the generic name; thus, Giuthas geal, G. Lochlannach, white pine. Norway spruce, Feamainn, sea algae, gives F. bhuidhe, F. dubh, _F. dearg, F. bholgan—yellow, black, red, and
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drop tangles respectively. The peculiarity of a plant gives its name often, as Duilleag bhaite, Water-lily (literally the drowned leaf), and. still further differentiated in D. bhàite gheal and D. bhàite bhuidhe, white and yellow water-lily respectively.
So caor, blaze, gives cao.a dearg, rowan berries; caora fitheag, crowberry; caora staoin, caora bad miann, caor thalmhainn. So also meacan, root or bulb, gives meacan each and meacan ruadh, horse parsnip and carrot respectively. Where genera include several species the one is made to precede the other; thus. Glunach, the polygonum or bistort, gives-G. uisge, G. dhearg, G. mòr, G. teth, etc.
Similarly Mionnt, mint, gives M. arbhair, wild mint; M. coille, wood sage, etc., etc.
We find again Plùr, flower, prefixed as more descriptive of certain flowers. Similarly peasair, pea, and pònair, bean, are prefixed before their various species.
The sime usage is followed in the case of Raineach, fern. B. nan creag, rock fern; B. cruaidh, hard fern (blechnum spicant); B. rioghal, royal fern; R. uaine, green spleenwort, and sr> on.
A great term in Gaelic plant nomenclature was praiseag, from the Irish praiseagh, broth, potherb, pottage, thus:—P. na mara, seakale; P. faidh, monk's rhubarb, and many others. MacBain derives it from Latin brassica, cabbage, through Early Irish braiseach; cf. Welsh bresnch, cabbages. Cameron, on the other hand, in his Gaelic names of plants, derives it from vràiseati, which is the diminutive of pràis, a little pot, derived from Mid. Eng. bras, brass.
Càl, cabbage, was generically prefixed to several species :—Càl na mara, seakale; C. colbhairt, colewort; C. cearslach, drumhead; C. gruidheam, cauliflower.
But the word most commonly used as a distinguishing nrefix (more rarely affix) was Lus. Thus L. caitheamh, woodruff; L. nan cnamh briste, comfrey; L. chosgadh na fola, yarrow; L. an t-siapuinn, soapwort; L. a chriibain, gentian; or to point a resemblance, e.g., L. na
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nathrach, viper's bugloss; L. na peighinn, pennywort; L. a chinn chriom, daffodil; or to JiSTiify original habitat, e.g., L. na Frainge, (French) tansy; L. na Spainnte (Spanish) ox-eye daisy; or its personal association, e.g., L. an rìgh, L. na banrigh, L. Phara-liath (Breadalbane term for groundsel, literally Grey Peter's plant).
Let me now go back to the first mode mentioned of naming plants, viz., by some quality. This was done by such affixes as an (masc.) and ag (fern.), and ach or ch. The first two conveyed also the sense of diminution. As examples we have seangan, the least (yellow) clover; sgeallag (in some districts sgeallan), oharlock, probably from geal (the s euphonic), white.
Ach is very expressive. It may mean agency, e.g., darach, oak, the hard, unyielding one, from dor, dur, cf. dour; or more frequently it means abounding in, Gallanach, abounding in "butter-bur, or appertaining to, as in Bealaidh Frangach, Bealaidh Sasunnach, French and Knglish broom respectively. It may also signify a plant's distinguishing characteristic, as Aigheannach, (hearty) corn thistle; Aon-chasach, one-stemmed sea wrack; Beatha carraigeach, knotty birch; Barr-cluigeanach, "bell-flower; Cannach, cotton-gra«s: Miosach and Caolach lus, two names for cathartic flax; Cluaran deilgneach, spear-tliistle; Da-bhileach, twayblade orchis; An fhiodhagach (the woody one), birds' cherry; Seileach, willow; Gluin-each, the gneed one; Meangach, the branched one.; Babhagach, water-lily (the warning one, from its dangerous locale); Dromanach, the common elder; Sobhrach (also Sobhroichean (plural), primrose.
The chief food plants are :—
(1) Cereals, such as oats, core, It. coirce, Mid Ir. corca (which is still the colloquial form on the West Coast and Islands), Welsh ceire, Bret, kerc'h, Lat. ceres (cereal). This may be said to be the national cereal of Scotland, especially in the form of porridge. It was much more so two centuries ago.   John-
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Cruithneachd or cruineachd, wheat, Ir. cruithneachd, O.Ir. cruithnecht. It also has been compared to Lat. ceres (Eng. cereal), Lat. creo and cresco.
Cameron connects the word with the " Cruithne," a tribe or tribes who, traditionally, came from Lochlin to Erin and thence to Albin, where they founded a kingdom which lasted down till the seventh century. Naturally Cameron does not identify the Cruithne with the Picts of Roman writers, seeing that Skene and others who made the discovery wrote their works later. Of course the resemblance is a mere coincidence. Cruithneachd was not cropped in Scotland north of the Forth till comparatively recent times; hence the hardly any traces of it in Gaelic place-names, the only place-name that would seem to be associated with it beinsr Airidh-nan-Cruithneach (in Applecross), which, however, is not " the shieling of the wheat," bait " the shieling of the Cruithneach or Picts," seeing that nan, " of the," is used only of collective or plural no\ms.
Seagal, same in Ir., rye, Mid. Ir. secul, from ¦Lat. secale, Breton segal. " An cruithneachd agus an seagal." " Nach cuir e 'n cruithneachd anns an ait' a's fearr, agus an t-eorna anns an ionad shuidhichte, agus an seagal 'na. chrich fein?" (Isaiah xxviii. 25). This erain was but sparely cultivated in the Highlands, and then only but of recent years, after it was discovered to crop heavily after potatoes. It has never appealed, however, as an article of food on account of its coarse taste and comparatively small nutrient value.
(2) Of root plants we naturally give the premier place to the potato, which, like the Gaelic buntàta (and indeed all European forms of the word), is from the Spanish batata. This, in turn, must be from some S. American dialect, seeing that the tuber was introduced by the Spaniards from Chile. Sir John Mac-grcgor has humorously derived its Gaelic name from bun-taghte, choice root. The potato belongs to the e-reat family Solanàceai, which include some 1000 species of herbaceous plants and shrubs, and which are found distributed
son, in his bias against Scotland, defined in. his dictionary oats as the food of horses in England, and of men in Scotland, which called forth Lord Jeffrey's retort, " And where will you find such horses and such men?" When the famous Edinburgh Review wa^ started a century and a half ago, its founders chose as its motto, Incolunvus litteras parvo-avenae—" We cultivate literature on a pickle-oatmeal." '
The primitive mode of preparing oats for food is not so very long extinct. I well remember seeing the quern or hand-mill at work. In my early days people occasionally might be-compelled to resort to the wasteful method of gradanadh (from grad, quick, sudden), when a. sheaf would be held over a flame, and the grain-thus parched was winnowed and then directly ground in the quern. Our forefathers largely) subsisted on this grain in various forms of preparation—e.g., porridge, lite, or brochan. Brochan, however, might be of several consistencies, thus:—Brochan tiugh (thick), and brochan tana (thin porridge); gruel was sifted brochan mixed with milk, butter, and salt, and known as seasan. Oatcake was bonnach (alsoi bannag) or araji. A hired hand would think it beneath him to accept aran eorna (barley cake) as his food. " Cumte 'n t-aran rium fhad 's is earrach e "—" Feed me on oatcake during the spring."
Eorna,   barley,   probably   connected   with-.j Latin hordeum.     Some see a resemblance in i Lat. horreo, to bristle, from the beard of the-cereal.   This is less widely grown in Oaeldom than the preceding.    It is cropped chiefly for distilling purposes.   Our ancestors used it fortius purpose, whisky being termed by the noets* as ilfac na braiche (son of the malt), Subh an eorna (barley-bree).     As a food grain it isl cultivated in the Outer Hebrides and northwest Sutherland more than elsewhere in the Highlands because it is better adapted to the light soil there than the ordinary oats.     In-Uist it is very much so.   The isle is poetically-known as Uist an Eorna.   The only oats thata succeeds there is the thin, snndy kind.
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over most parts of the world except the coldest, and are most abundant within the Tropics. The prevailing property of its members is narcotic, hence many of them are highly poisonous. In others certain parts of the plant have poisonous properties, the rest of it being harmless, and some even containing a large quantity of nutritious matter. The genus Solatium, to which our tuber belongs, contains species of either of the foregoing description. Por while it includes the Woody Nightshade or Bitter-sweet and Black Nightshade (Sol. dulcamara and Sol. nigrum respectively), both dangerously narcotic in all its parts, it contains the Potato (Solanum tuberosum), which, though its leaves and fruit are narcotic, in its tubers has nothing noxious, but abounds in a:i almost tasteless starch; on which account it is less liable to clog on the ipalate than any other vegetable food except bread. " It was introduced into Spain between 1580 and 1585, and into Ireland by Thomas Heriott, who brought it from Virginia in 1586, when Sir Walter Raleigh planted it on his estate at Youghal, Co. Cork. It was cultivated in the Emerald Isle for food long before its value was known in England. The first mention we have of it there is by John Gerard, the famous herbalist, who grew it in his garden prior to 1597, the year in which his Herbal was published. The frontispiece of thig book represents the author holding a flowering branch of the potato. It was nearly two hundred years after, before the plant was known in Scotland : a fact which, as we think of the V'lace it has made for itself as an article of food, makes us wonder what our forefathers previous to that time did without it." But of course they could not miss what they did not know.
The next root food in order of importance is the turnip, sneap (cf. " neep "). tuimeap. from tlie English, and swede, sneap shuaineach. These, while used for the table, are mainly grown for cattle and sheep, which soon condition well on them. Rape is also srrown for stock-feeding.   All three belong botanically to
the same genus (Brassica) as the various forms of cabbages, the difference being that the one set developed, through cultivation, more in the root, and the other in the leaves.
The common carrot (Carota daucus) is known os carran buidhe, and grows wild in most parts of the Highlands, while the radish (Baphanus raphinistrum) is known as curan dearg (red carrot), or meacan dearg (red root). The common parsnip was called meacan-an-righ (the king's root), Peucadenium sativa, also curran geal (white carrot).
We see these two terms, meacan and curran, t-ì be interchangeable for several root plants in use. Gaelic with its love for an, when forming a name from any root, to signify sometimes an offshoot, sometimes a dimininutive. Thus meacan is from root mek, probably male or mac, little son, and curran from cors, corr, head. Cf. carrot, from Gr. karota, from kara, head. Thus curran=little head.
(3) The cabbage entered largely into the food of the Gael. The general name is càl. Thus the various kinds :—
Càl traghad, seakale, literally (beach kale) crambe maritinus, also praiseag tragha. Càl colbhairt (colbh, stalk + art, flesh), the kale with the stout flesh stalk. (Pehaps Brussels sprouts). Praiseach bhaidhe is given by Cameron for sea-cabbage (brassica oleracea).
Càl-cearslach, globular (that is, drumhead), and Càl-gruidheam, curds-cabbage (that is, cauliflower).
Gàradh-càil, a cabbage—or kitchen-garden.
II—IN DIETETIC USE.
The adaptability of Gaelic is seen in the secondary use of terms like praiseag and càl. Both came to be employed for any pot-herb or pottage in general. Thus càl dheanntag, nettle-broth, and càl-duileaisg, dulse-broth. In Spring the first tender shoots of the common nettle were minced and boiled. Sometimes a little fine oatmeal was mixed with it. It wag ever regarded as one of the  best  Spring
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diuretics, and also nourishing. Duileasg, while it could be eaten raw (and indeed warded off hunger for men about the shore), was much more palatable and digestible when cooked. It also was regarded as a valuable asset by our martitime ancestors, both as a food and diuretic.
There were other edible plants that, while not strictly regarded as food, were used to either allay the pangs of hunger when nothing better was to hand, or else as a soothing pleasure. Among such were the various species of sorrel (rumex), called sealbhag ^some hold the word originally was searbhag, from its acid taste). The commonest was sealbhag, or sealbhag nan con (dog's sorrel). It was (and perhaps still is) used in other countries, as well as ours, as a salad. There wag S. nan caorach, sheep's Borrel, less succulent than the preceding. They are classified in the natural order as JR. acetosa and B. acetosella respectively. Closely allied to these is Oxyria reniformis, Sealbhag nam fiadh (literally, deer's sorrel), mountain sorrel. It is both saltish as well as acid in taste. As its name implies, it is confined to high ground. It is not widely distributed. During many years' research I found it but in one locality, viz., in Grlendhu, on the West Coast of Sutherland.
Despite its name, the wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) does not belong to the foregoing, being allied to the Gerania, or cranebills. In Gaelic it is seamrag (old name samh), also biadh nan eoinean (in Skye this becomes big-an-eoinean), which means the little bird's food. It is a dainty little thing; and the whole plant a perfect hydroscope, the delicate trifoliate leaf folding into a triangular pyramid, and the exquisitely veined, lilac-coloured corolla closing up before rain, or whenever the sun goes down. It grows in sheltered situations in woods and under bushes, being copious in its habits. Children like to munch the leaves, which have a very agreeably acid taste, grateful on a hot day. As the leaves, however, are very small, it was usual
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¦to gather a goodly bunch to make it worth while, and get the full benefit. This we used "to call Greim saighdear, a soldier's mouthful. I suppose, however, it would take many such mouthfuls to produce the minimum of salts of sorrel (extracted from the plant) that would be fatal. Yet we were often warned that eating too generously of the leaves had been known to be followed by ill-effects. But little heed will children give to such; witness their "habit of suckiug the honey-bags of the Foxglove flowers.   Wonderful is their immunity!
The roots of the creeping cinquefoil, or silver weed (Potentilla anserina), were known as Brisgean, or barr brisgean. They were tuberous. Raw, they had a slightly nutty taste, but much harsher. When roasted, however, "they had a somewhat pleasant mealy flavour.
Children also used to dig up the earth- or pig-nut, breconan (Bunium flexiosus), the bulbous root of an umbelliferous plant, with a slender stem topped by a number of small white flowers. The nut-like root is covered by a dark-brown skin, which by a •slight pressure slips off. It also has a somewhat nut-like flavour, but so wersh and unpalatable that the very memory of it makes one marvel at the primitiveness of the child taste. May it not be a harking' back to savage taste.   Pigs are very fond of it.
Leguminous plants furnished their quota, though a small one, to our food regime, both for man and beast. Peas were crown at one 'time in some parts of the Highlands for meal —Min pheasrach. Beans (Ponair) were less widely used. Some of the wild vetches and vetch-lings were encouraged to grow among corn and grass as valuable adjuncts to cattle fodder. Among such were :—Peasair-nan-Uich, tufted vetch (Vicia cracca); Peasair nam preas (Vicia sepium), bush vetch; Peasair fiadhain, or Peasair chapull (Vicia sativa), common vetch; Peasair bhuidhe (Lathyrus pratense), yellow meadow vetchling; Peasair an arbhair (Ervum hirsutum), tare, or hairy vetch.
The clovers were:—White (Trifolium repens), seamrag, or seamrag bàn, a plant whose introduction to our damp, unproductive
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soils, has been of untold benefit; Hop trefoil, seamrag bhuidhe (Trifolium procumbens); and Red clover (T. pratense), seamar chapull, or tri-bhilean.
Furze, whin, or gorse (Vlex Europmus) is Conas g (also Guinnis, from whins), from conas, inciting to anger, because of its prickly aspect. It has spread over most of the Highlands, though not common in the Hebrides. In olden days it was pounded for fodder, especially when straw was scarce. I am told that one at least of the mills so used is still extant in the near neighbourhood.
I must not forget another leguminous plant, viz., the tuberous or everlasting bitter vetch (Orobus tuberosus), known as cairmeille, or coirmeille (in Skye carachan). It has long, branching, underground roots, strung with nodulous lumps at frequent intervals. These, after they are dried, are chewed as wild liquorice. For chewing purpose I consider them superior to and far less deleterious than common chewing gum. The taste continues in the mouth for hours after the last shred is chewed. They are said to ward off hunger for a long time. The taste is both acid and sweet, and never palls. Most of the eighteenth century travellers to the Highlands, such as Martin, Pennant, and Lightfoot, dilate on the fact that the carmeil (by the way, is it not related to caramel?) was in times of scarcity used by the people for food. Thus the last named :—" The Highlanders have a great esteem for the tubercules of the roots; they dry and chew them to give a better taste to their whisky (sic). They also affirm that they are good against most diseases of the thorax, and that by the use of them they are enabled to repel hunger and thirst for a long time. In Breadalbane and Ross-shire they sometimes bruise and steep them in water, and make an agreeable, fermented liquor with them, called Cairm. They have a sweet taste like the roots of liquorice, and when boiled are well-flavoured and nutritive, and in times of scarcity have served as a substitute for bread."
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III.—PLANTS USED IN HEALING.
It may be questioned if there were any of the great races of mankind so widely versed in the curative virtues of plants and herbs as the Celts, except the American Indians. Primitive man in his savage state had not only to subsist for a good deal of his food on the vegetal world, but also to find there the remedies for his ailments. In the course of ages the healing properties of certain herbs came (by chance to begin with) to be commonly used. With the advance of learning, all such came to be classified into a materia medica, which, in course of time, was made to include remedies from the animal and mineral kingdoms. But the vegetable element in medicine persisted as the most important; and notwithstanding that many of the simples in use for centuries are now largely discredited, yet many of the most valuable herbal remedies in the modern pharmacopias of the civilized world have been known and used as such from the earliest dawn of history. Among the nations earliest distinguished in the art of healing were the Greeks, with such ¦exponents as Aristotle, Galen, and Hippocrates. It must be confessed, however, that they owed a lot of their skill to the Arabs and Moors, as also did the Spanish and, through them, the French physicians.
In our own country the most famous herbalists of England were Gerard and Cul-peper, who flourished, the former in the last quarter of the 16th century, and the latter in the first and second quarters thereof. In Scotland the great exponents of medical skill were the Beatons or Bethunes or Mac-Beths. They flourished in the Western Highlands and Islands from the beginning of the 14th century. Through' the courtesy of one of the oldest members of the Gaelic Society, I was able to trace their genealogy back to their progenitor, James de
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Bethune, who was killed at the battle of Dupplin Moor iu 1339. His son married a, daughter of the Laird of Balfour in Fifeshire. James, the 5th laird of Balfour, had six sons, of whom David was first laird of Creiche and minister of James IV.; James was Archbishop of St Andrews and Chancellor of Scotland; while Archibald had lands in Pitlochry. He was the father of Peter, the first of the line of famous physicians who settled in Skye early in the sixteenth century. This family tree gives Angus, M.D., his great-grandson, as the author of the famous treatise, Lilium Medicine. But there is a well-authenticated document, of date 1408, being a charter of certain lands in Islay granted by Donald, Lord of the Isles, to Brian Vicar Mackay, and written,, not as was usual for such documents in Latin, but in Gaelic. Now the writer was Fergus MacBeth or Beaton, one of the famous family under review and hereditary physicians to the Lord of the Isles, so that they must have-emigrated to the Western Highlands earlier than the family tree already mentioned sets forth. Keltie in his History of the Highlands mentions, among a list of MSS. in Gaelic, the fore-mentioned Lily of Medicine as written and translated at the foot of Mt. Peliop by one of the famous Beaton physicians of Skye. In the family tree there are various members of the family who qualified as M.D. Three hundred years after the charter of 1408 was drawn up, men of the same race are found occupying the same position. " Hereditary physicians might seem to offer but poor prospects to their patients, and that especially at a time when schools of medicine were almost if not altogether unknown in the country, but the fact is that this was the only mode in which medical knowledge could be maintained at all. If such knowledge were not transmitted from father to son, the probability was that it would perish, just as was the case with the genealogical lore of the Seannachies. This transmission, however, was provided for in the Celtic system, and, while there was no doubt-considerable difference between individuals in
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the succession in point of mental endowment, they would all possess a certain measure of skill and acquirement as the result of family experience. These men were students of their art as it existed at the time. As I've mentioned before, the Moors were then the chief writers on Medicine. Averroes and Avicenna were men whose names were distinguished, and whose works, though little known now, extended to folios. Along with their real and substantial scientific acquirements they dived deep into the secrets of Astrology, and our Celtic students, while ready disciples of them in the former study, followed them most faithfully and zealously in the latter likewise. There are numerous medical and astrological treatises still existing written in the Gaelic language, and taken chiefly from the works of Moorish and Arabian writers" (Keltie).
A perusal of these MSS. shows how the language has declined, and to what a high degree it was cultivated at an early period. The most abstract ideas in metaphysics and medicine are expressed in the Gaelic of the late Middle Ages, in terms that would be utterly unintelligible to any ordinary present-day speaker of Gaelic; a fact which proves that our forefathers were far from the state of barbarism that modern historians ascribe to them, and that the language is not, as many hold, incapable of technical and scientific expression. Gaelic-speaking Scotland could boast of a race of learned lawyers, skilled physicians, as well as able poets and theologians, while the rest of the country was largely without such. It is a well-known fact that a chestful of the Beaton MSS. were destroyed in one of those sackings accompanying the internecine feuds between the MacLeans of Mull and MacDonalds of Islay.
We fifad that although the Beatons filled other professions, such as history, law, and theology, there was never a generation of them without physicians, and several contemporary doctors of the same name and kin could be found ii different parts of the West Highlands and Islands, though the most were resident in
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Skye and Mull. Martin in his Western Islands makes mention of them, and incidentally of the Lily of Medicine. He shows that when the Spanish Armada treasure ship, " the Florida, was blown up in Tobermory harbour, Dr Beaton, the famous physician of Mull, was then sitting on the upper deck, which was blown up entire, and thrown a great way off; yet the doctor was saved, and lived several years after."
In his description of Skye, the same writer mentions the wonderful cures wrought by an " illiterate empiric," Neil Beaton in Skye, " who of late is so well-known in the isles and continent [Scotland] for his gTeat success in curing several distempers, though he never appeared in the quality of a physician until he arrived at the age of forty years, and then also without the advantage of education. He pretends to judge of the various qualities of plants and roots by their different tastes; he has likewise a nice observation of the colour of their flowers from which he learns their astringent and loosening qualities; he extracts the juices of plants and roots after a chemical way peculiar to himself, and with little or no charge. He considers his patient's constitution before any medicine is administered unto them; and he has formed such a system for curing diseases as serves for a rule to him upon all occasions of this nature. He treats Riverius' Lilium Medicinr and some other practical pieces that he has heard of with contempt; since in several instances it appears their method of curing has failed when his has succeeded " (through, perhaps, jealousy of his college-bred relatives).
He then proceeds to mention some marvellous cures, well vouched for, that this " empiric " had wrought; one being the bold essay of " cutting a piece out of a woman's skull broader than half a crown, and which restored her to perfect health." (Truly trepanning is not so modern, then, as is generally supposed). " The success attending this man's cures was so extraordinary that several people thought his performances to have proceeded
17
from a compact with the devil " (a natural supposition in an age when witches were still burnt) " rather than from the virtue of simples. To obviate this Mr Bearon pretends to have had .some education from his father, though he died when he himself was but a boy. I have discoursed him seriously at different times, and am fully satisfied he has no unlawful (sic) means for obtaining his end. His discourse of the several constitutions, the qualities of plants, &c, was more solid than could be expected from one of his education. Several sick people from remote isles came to him, and some from the shire of Ross at 70 miles distance sent for his advice. I left him very successful, but can give no further account of him since then."
Now it is very curious that the family tree of the Beatons gives Angus Beaton, M.D., as the author of the Lilium Medicine:. He lived about the last decade of the 16th and second quarter of the 17th centuries. He had, among other sons, Parquhar and Neil. Parquhar had a son Angus who, like his grandfather, was M.D., and another son, Neil. Though no date is given, I rather think that this Neil would be contemporary with Martin, and of course he resided in Skye. There is nothing recorded in the family tree about him. A nephew of his is set down as M.D., and a Neil is found in almost every succeeding generation, as well as Farquhar and Angus. Now, if a man who in all likelihood was a near relative wrote the said medical treatise, why should Martin's Neil Beaton belittle his work? Of course, where there would be more than one son in the physician's family, it could not be exipected that in those times he could afford to send more than one to college. But, all the same, a son that stayed at home might hive more of the hereditary healing predilection and skill than his college bred brother ; besides having the advantage of paternal instruction, and seeing and hearing about the work of healing; seeing the plants and herbs prepared as medicines; in fact, he was in a position to breathe in all the lore of leechcraft from his childhood.   It is all very
18
well to call him an " empiric "; but that was because he was without the magic imprimatur of the School of Medicine. But think of the hundreds of years that this art of medicine (always being improved upon) was in the family. Surely that of itself for a man with the natural gifts, and all the stored-up knowledge, as well as seeing it practised, was as sound and efficient a training as could be found in our country. Of course we must allow for a little professional jealousy of his college-bred brother and other relatives, who in all likelihood disdained his methods; yet who will dare to say that Neil was not right in asserting that he succeeded where they failed? He had his system of studying, and extracting from plants, as also of the constitutions of his patients—a system probably as safe to go by as theirs—a system so long established and practised by his ancestors; and Martin, in speaking of him as he does, shows his narrow pedantic spirit, even though he has said things that rank this Neil as one of the worthiest of his famous tribe.
We see, then, that plants were regarded by our Gaelic forbears, from the earliest ages, from the practical point of view, not so much for their artistic and decorative as for their utilitarian qualities; it was a case of "handsome is as handsome does." Of course, while saying this, we do not forget that the Gael had an eye for the beautiful in the matter of flowers, much as his Anglo Saxon brother; indeed, perhaps, more so. Por no poetry is richer in the imagery (e.g., in describing female charms) drawn from flowers than Gaelic. But in the main plants and trees were employed for utilitarian purposes, such as food and drink and medicine, and useful utensils and implements.
I hav* already described plants used for food; ist me now endeavour to set before vou some of the outstanding ones used in healing. These may be divided into vulneraries, febrifuges, emetics, and cathartics, irritants and tonics.  .
(1) Vulneraries, e.g. :—
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Lus an rois, sometimes called Lus-an-Eallan (Cancer - wort), Herb - Robert (Geranium Bobertum); widespread; in waste, stony places. Notable for its reddish tinge of stems, which are also swollen, and small pink flowers. The fern-like leaves become crimson in autumn. It was supposed at one time to be a potent remedy in skin affections like erysipelas; as also cancer. I know of one man in this district who still prescribes it, and maintains he has cured several people by its means.
Meoir Mhuire (or Cas-an-Z7atn, Lamb's foot), Lady's Fingers is the kidney-vetch, with its twin-tufts of hairy, yellow papillae, and was from of old held to be efficacious in healing (as its Latin name, Anthillus vulneraria, implies) cuts and bruises. It grows in late sum-. mer on hard, dry pastures and by road-sides.
Fuinnseag coille, Golden-rod, was supposed -to possess the virtue of healing and joining broken bones.   Its botanical name also (Soli-dago virgaurea) signifies this.
Buine, Wood sanicle (SantcuJa Europaus), was regarded as efficacious in healing green wounds and ulcers. It grows in shady places, about 1 ft. high, slender stem, broad tripartite leaves, dark green and glossy, with sparse white flowers.
Vrbhallach, Devil's-bit scabious (Scabiosa succisa), às its name suggests, was said to cure the itch. It got its English rpecific name from the legend that the devil, envying the good it might do to mankind, scotched it of its remedial sovereignty by biting off most of the root. Of course the legend, as in many other cases, was monkishly invented to explain what, at that stage of botanical knowledge, was a K mystery, viz., the 6tem immediately below the surface of the eround being almost detached from the root, apparently as if sliced or bitten off by the teeth. Of course the real explanation is that in the first year of the plant's existence the root is very like a diminutive carrot or radish in shape. Jt then becomes woody and dies away, the upper part excepted; as it decays and falls away„ the gnawed or broken look appears.   The portion left throws
20
out numerous lateral roots wlrch compensate
for the decayed portion.
Grunnasg   (also   Bualan),   Groundsel,   was
at one time made into cataplasms to produce
suppurations.
Earr-thalmhainn (or Lus chasgadh na fola),
Yarrow; or Milfoil (Millefolium Europceum),
was,.and indeed is, a potent styptic, as I know
by experience.
Oragan (or Lus Mharsalaidh), Marjoram (Origanum Marjoram). This member of the labiate or Thyme family was at one time in considerable demand to make fomentations for stitches and pains in horses.
Iath-shlat thalmhainn, Ground-ivy (Nepeta glechoma), was said to be efficacious against serpent-bite.
Lus - a- chrùbain, Common field gentian (Gentiana campestris), so called because largely used once in the cattle ailment called An CHiban. This word means " croodling," that is, the feet of the animal are so affected that the hind-feet and the fore-feet are drawn towards each other. I have seen one ingenious scribe writing to the Press lately, to the effect that it is the foot element in the foot-and-mouth disease, the mouth phase being the Gailleach. As a boy I remember seeing several cases of An Criiban, but in no such case did I hear of its being associated with the mouth trouble.
Lus-nan-Cnap, Pig-wort (Scrofularia nodosa), was supposed to cure Scrofula or King's Evil; hence its name.
Seilisdear, Yellow flag or Marsh Iris (Irt's pseudacorus). In colds, snuff made from its r ots wan used ti induce salvia by a ting on the mucous membrane.
Meacan dubh, Comfrey (Symphytum officinalis). Old Culpeper says of it:—" Yea it is said to be so powerful to consolidate and knit together that, if they but boiled with dissevered pieces of flesh in a pot, it will join them together again.
Muisean (little low rascal), Cowslip (Primula vera), was distilled into a cosmetic in great vogue two centuries ago;     Though said by
21
botanists to be unknown in the Highlands, I have found it growing abundantly in North Sutherland.
(2) Febrifuges.—Febrifuges becomes Feverfew, applied to several species of Pyrethrums, which in original Greek means " expeller of fever."
Brog-cuthaig, Wood violet (Viola canina); a decoction boiled in whey was used to allav fevers.
Ealabor gheal, White helleborine (Epipactis latifolia). Snuff made from it was supposed to cure colds in the head.
Biolair ghriagain, Cuckoo-flower (Cardamine pratense), and Biolair, Watercress (Nasturtium officinalis), were largely used to reduce fevers; as was also
Lus-na-Spainnte, Pellitory of Spain (Anthemis pyrethum), as its botanical name implies.
Lus-na'm-braoileag, Blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillus and Vac. vitis idcea), were infused to soothe pain.
Lus-nan-cluas, as its name implies, was used, mixed with cream, to put away earache. Its English name is House-leek; its Lat. Semper-vivum tectorum.
(3). There were many herbs used by our Gaelic forefathers^ as counter-irritants in thè reduction of stubborn local pains. Among the best known of such were:—
Glas-leum (also Lasair-theine), Spear-wort, a species of Ranunculus or Buttercup. It had to be employed with caution on account of its violent action, and attended with dangerous effect when administered inwardly. Martin tells us that the best healer of the blisters thus raised was a plaster of the sea-plant Linarich, a species of Confervae.
Grunnasg (also Bualan), Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), used to be made into cataplasms to produce suppurations.
Cearban feoir, Grass rag, (Ranunculus acris), Upright Meadow-crowfoot or Buttercup, similarly used, though less drastic than its congener the Spearwort (R. flammula).
Lus nan Cnap, Figwort, (Scrofularia nodosa),
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¦was supposed to cure scrofula or King's evil.
(4) Emetics.—There are many such :—
Lìon na mna sìthe (Fairy Queen's flax), Cathartic flax (Linum catharticum), also Lus miosach, Lus caolach. It was used thus periodically. Lightfoot gives Stewart of Killin's compacting the last two into Caol miosachan.
Garbhag-an-t-sleibhe, Fir club-moss (Lyco-¦podium selago). An infusion of this plant given as a purgative; but always required to be used with caution.
Am maraich, Scurvy grass (Cochlearia Officinalis). It has doubtless valuable medical properties of a corrective nature. Its other Gaelic names (Carra and Plaigh na carra— the thing for scurvy, the plague of scurvy), like its English name, show how widespread was the faith in its antiscorbutic virtue.
Lus Glinn Bhràcadail, Dog's mercury (Mer-curialis perennis). This plant must have got its name from the glens of the parish of Braca-dale in Skye. Dogs were said to resort to it as a medicine. It is a curious plant in more ways than one. It haunts woods and shady places, and is evergreen. Its green flowers are dioecious. The plant will in a short time drive out all other plants in its vicinity, giving one a curious impression of its isolated dense patches, no grass even growing among it.
Rù beag, Lesser meadow-rue (Thalictrum minus), a powerful cathartic.
(4) Tonics and appetizers :—
Siunas, Lovage (Ligusticum Scoticum). Martin writes a lot about it (Shunnis) as being very much used in his time as a tonic and a prompter of sluggish appetite. Another such plant was
Lus-a-chraois (Gorge-plant or Gluttony-plant, known as Dwarf cornel (Cornus succisa).
Am bearnan Brìghde (literally, the notched plant of St Bridget—the beloved Saint of Gael-dom and patron of young maids), Dandelion (Taraxacum leontodon—this second or specific name being from the Greek word which is the exact meaning of dandelion, which is from the Latin (through French), viz., lion's tooth). This is still one of the most valuable ingredi-
23
ents in tonic and other medicines. Our forefathers were familiar with its use. Thus Macintyre lauds its virtues, coupled with another wall-known medicine—^penny-royal— in one of his poems :— " Am bearnan Brìghde 'sa pheighinn-rioghail."
Camoohil (or Camobhaidh), Common chamomile (Anthemis nobilis); used both for sluggish liver and indigestion. I remember as a boy seeing a packet procured from a herbalist in the south by a relative. He little knew that it grew as a common weed in the fields at home.
Athar-liath (Grey father), Slàn-lus (healing plant, also name of ribwort).
Saisde, a corruption of the English name Sage, or Garden-sage (Salvia officinalis). Armstrong renders a Latin saw about the plant's healing powers thus :—*,' Carson a gheibheadh duine bàs aig am bheil saisde fàs na garadh?" —" Why should a man die that has sage growing in his garden?"
Lus-an-righ (also Mac Righ Bhreatunn), King's herb (and King of Britain's Son). Its habit is humble, hugging the ground it closely covers; yet few plants give rarer pleasure. In the month of June you see its dense patches of brown leaves and calyces, but shortly after this is diversified by the lovely heliotrope flowers which, though minute, yet through their copiousness variegate the ground-tone of brown. And if its colours gladden the eye, no less does its aroma refresh the wayfarer's jaded olfactories. Indeed the legend goes that it got its name thymos from the fact that it imparted " courage and strength through its bracing fragrance, virtues essential to kings and princes in olden times." It retains this sweet odour for a long time; ladies tied bunches of it among clothes and linen laid away, as others did lavender, and carried a sprig of it in their handkerchiefs •to church. It was at one time in universal •use in the Highlands for making tea.
Dubhan ceann-dubh (hook with the black head), Self-heal, or Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris), supposed to remove all obstructions of "the liver, spleen, and kidneys.
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Tri bhileach (three-leaved one), also Ponair-chapull, trefoil or Bog-bean. One of the most potent of tonics and stomachics. This plant, known botanically as Menyanthes trifoliata, is one of the hadsomest of our wild-flowers, its frilly,' hairy, pinkish-white petals flattened against its rose-pink sepals captivating the eye as a set-off against the wet bogs it grows in. Another of its Gaelic names was Milsean monaidh, i.e., the sweet plant of the moor. MacLauchlan immortalizes it with two of its congeners thus :—" Millseineach, biolaireach, sobhrach," abounding in bog-bean, cress, and primroses. Our old minister, who was looked up to as a bit of a physician, was fond of prescribing a decoction or tea made of it. Indeed, the formula became a frequent bon-mot :— " Toisich air òl subh na tri-bhilich "—Begin to drink the bree of bog-bean.
Samhan, Sabine (Juniperus Sabinus), used for a stimulant, also for making lotions and ointments. The berries of the common juniper (Juniperus communis) aitinn or aituinn, were also employed for flavouring drinks and for astringents.
(5) Plants used in healing disorders of the respiratory organs:—
Lus - na - caitheamh Woodruff (Asperula odorata), (belongs to the important family, Rubiacese, madder or bedstraw. As its name implies, it was much used for alleviating, if not curing, consumption and other chest troubles.
Cluas liath (Grey ear), Colt's foot; also Gorm-liath, Grey-green, and Gallan-greann-chair, from its resemblance to Gallan mòr (Petasites vulgare, or Butter-burr). Both are saturated through all their parts with mucilage. The Coltsfoot has been, and still is, used as a demulcent in coughs and other lung ailments. The leaves and flowers are-made into a decoction or syrup. It is often prepared in conjunction with Horehound, G. grafan or gràban (which has the same effect), and honey to allay the harshness of the latter.
(6) Noxious and poisonous plants:—
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Fuath mhadaidh (Wolf's aversion), Monkshood (Aconitum napellus), belongs to the order Ranunculacece. All i ts partsare highly poisonous. Its dingy blue-and-purple flowers would indicate that, as in the case of several other noxious plants. Some years ago, through its roots having been served as a table vegetable in mistake for beetroot (which it somewhat resembles), three people were-poisoned in the town of Dingwall.
Codolian (from codal, sleep), Opium poppy (Papaverum somniferum).
Bealaidh frangach, French broom (Laburnum); highly poisonous in all its parts.
Minmhear (smooth or small fingered, i.e., branched); Minbhar (fine topped), Mongach mhear (glossy mane), Iteodha and Iteotha (plumed or feathery)—all these names, and perhaps some more, each suggesting some aspect of the plant, are bestowed on the Hemlock (Coniinn maculatum). Antipathy to it is of long standing and classical. What schoolboy does not know that among the Greeks of old to have to drink the hemlock was to carry out one's sentence of capital punishment himself like Socrates. " Mar so tha breitheanas a fàs a nìos mar an iteotha ann an claisibh na mncharach "—" Thus judgment springeth up like a hemlock in the furrows of the field" (Hos. x. 4). " Is codach e measg chàich ri iteodha an garadh"—" Among others he is like a hemlock in a garden " (Macintyre). Children have often been inadvertently poisoned by it.
Searbhag mhilis, Fuath gorm (Bitter-sweet and Blue demon respectively); also Slat-ghorm (Blue wand), Woody-nightshade (Solanum dulcamara).
Lus na h-oidhche (Night-weed, because of its large black berries and their somniferous qualities. G. Buchanan in his history relates that, when Sweno the Dane invaded Scotland a truce was declared during the campaign, one of the conditions being that the Scots were to-supply the Danes with drink, but that having mxed it with the berries of this plant, the invaders were so intoxicated that the Scots
26
27
ing everything dead or living placed under their protection; while the cantrips of witches and fairies have always been associated with certain trees and plants that grow under their shade.   Let us consider a few of each : —
Ranunculus auricomus, Goldilocks. One of its Gaelic names is gruag Mhuire, Mary's locks (Marigold).
Caltha palustris, Marsh marigold. Just coming into bloom. Gaelic, Lus bhuidhe Bealtuinn, Yellow plant of Beltane or May (Beltane from Bel- or Baal and teine, fire). The name survives in many Gaelic names, e.g., • Tullibeltane, Tulli for tullach, high place (of fire of Baal). It is also called Lus Mairi, probably rendered from Marigold. ' Sisymbrium sophia, Virgin Mary's fennel, fineal Mhuire.
Linum catharticum, Lìon na mna sìthe, Fairy flax.
Hypericum perforatum, Perforated St John's Wort. It was St Columba's favourite flower (Caol aslachan Chalum Chille), who reverenced it and carried it in his arms because it was dedicated to his favourite among the four evangelists, St John. It was in great vogue in former times as a charm against witchcraft and enchantment. Another name for the plant was Alias Muire, alias being probably for image or semblance—the image of the Virgin Mary; altogether, then, a very sacred plant. It grows commonly on roadside banks and in woods; its stiff, straight, branching stems ciad at the joints with pretty reflexed-edged glossy leaves which, when held to the light, seem to be perforated all over; this being, of course, ou account of the resinous oil-glaitds which permeate the whole plant. Its handsome dull-'" old flowers with their long anthers projecting far above the petals do not appear till the middle of June. Its Welsh name signifies the blessed plant; and its French (La tovte-saine), all holy.
Broom (Sarothamnus scoparius), Bealaidh or Bealuidh. probably from beal, Baal, and uidh; favour : the plant that Bel favoured.   Yellow
killed the greater number of them in their drunken sleep.
Gafann, Gabhann (the dangerous one), Henbane (Hyascyamus niger). This is literally translated into Caoch-nan-cearc, that which sets the hens mad. It is well known that its seeds are exceedingly obnoxious to hens.
Geur-neimh (severe sting or poison), Petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus). Its poisonous milky juice was so caustic that it was used to ¦destroy warts.
Conan (a hound or hero or rabbit), Quaking-grass, was regarded as deleterious. Some think this name is from the famous, or rather infamous, " Conan Maol " of the Feinne, who gained the sobriquet " Aimlisg na Feinne " (the Marplot of the Fingalians) for his -thoughtless impetuosity. The grass is also called " Feur gortach," or hungry, starving grass, or " Feur sithean sithe " (a phantom fairy). It has been observed by some that " a weakness, the result of sudden hunger, is said to •come on persons during a long journey, or in particular places, in consequence of treading •on the fairy grass."
IV -THEIR USES IN MAGIC AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS.
Our pagan ancestors invested many herbs and trees with magical powers, either for blessing or blasting; and the Christian Church of the Early and Middle Ages humoured them in this as in so many other of their superstitious "beliefs, by transferring such plants and trees of blessing from the patronage of their pagan deities to that of the Virgin and Saints. Thus the former had a great many plants under her patronage, with St Bridget or Bride a good second; St Patrick and St Columba favoured each a few, and so did several saints of other lands. Nevertheless, side by side with this change of tutelage, the magical belief persisted till quite recent times, maugre the efforts of the Church to eradicate it, in certain herbs and trees safeguarding and prosper-
28
was the favourite colour of the Druids as well as of the bards.
Vetch, Kidney, or Lady's fingers, Meoij-Mhuire, Mary's fingers.
Meadow-sweet, or Queen of the Meadow (Spircea ulmaria).
Crios (or Cneas) Chu-chulainn, Cu-chullin'e belt.  It is also called " My lady's belt."
Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). One of its Gaelic names is Cuig mheur Mhuire, Mary's five fingers, from its leaflets being so many.
Agrimony (Agrimonia rupatoria) Mur-dhruidhean; mur, sorrow, affliction; dhruidh-ean, of Druids or magicians, which may refer to its supposed magical effects on troubles as well as diseases. It was used to heal various diseases.
Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla vulqaris), Falluing Mhuire, Mary's mantle. Irish, dhearna Mhuire, Mary's palm. The satiny underside of the leaves gave it this name.
Mountain ash, Fowler's service-tree, Bowan (Pyrus aucuparia). Known by various names in Gaelic, e.g., luis (drink), luis-reog, a charm (used to be distilled into a spirit). Fuinnseag coille, the wood enchantress (a name also given to Circcea lutetiana, Enchantress' nightshade, a small stiff-stemmed plant, tapering both in stem and leaves like a pyramid, and having minute white flowers. It grows in shady places. The ancients ascribed it, as its name shows, to Circe). Craobh chaoran, the berry tree; this is its commonest name. Its presence by homesteads signified its protective powers, and also made it convenient for the aforesaid distilling of its berries. To-day, however, they are only made into an agreeable conserve. The erstwhile popularity of the rowan may be gauged from its presence (sometimes hedging all round) in gardens of cottages where only the crumbling or grass-worn walls are left behind. Lightfoot (1772) says that the Highlanders believed "that any part of the tree carried about with them prove a sovereign remedy against all the dire effects of enchantment or witchcraft." The poets, from Ossian downwards, as might have been expected, have
29
drawn upon the exquisite coral-red of the berry as a symbol of the ruddy cheeks of beauty. Thus Ossian : " Bu dhèirge a ghruaidh na caoran "—" His cheeks were ruddier than the rowan." " Gruaidhean mar na caoran fo 'n aodann tha leam ciuin," from the song " An cailin dileas donn." Professor Blackie has -rendered it, " Thy cheeks shall blush like the rowans on a mellow autumn day"—a rather free rendering.
Wood sanicle (Sanicula Europma). Among other Gaelic names, it had buine " an ulcer." It was ascribed to Venus, and supposed to cure " either wounds or whatever other mischiefs Mars inflicteth upon the body of man."
Parsley (Petroselinum sativum), Pearsal (corrupt rendering of the generic botanical name). A better name was Muinean Mhuire (Mary's sprouts).
Samphire (Cnthmum maritimum), Saimbhir. Both the English and Gaelic are corruptions of the French name of the plant, viz., St Pierre (St Peter), to whom it was dedicated.
Mistletoe (Viscum album), Gaelic and Irish Vile-ice, heal-all—a panacea. This is the ancient Druidical name for the plant. Pliny tells us: " The Druids (so they call their Magi) hold nothing in such sacred respect as the mistletoe, and the tree upon which it grows, provided it be an oak. They call it by a word signifying in their own language Allheal, and having prepared sacrifices, and feast under the trees, they bring up two white bullB, whose horns are then first bound; the priest in a white robe ascends the tree, and cuts it off with a golden knife; it is received in a white sheet. Then, and not till then, they sacrifice the victims, praying that God would render His gift prosperous to those on whom He had bestowed it. When mistletoe is given as a potion, ihey are of opinion that it can remove animal barrenness, and that it is a remedy against all poisons." It is also called Druidh-lus, the Druid's weed or herb. The origin of the word is the Celtic dm, an oak, cognate with the Greek drus, oak. It is also called Subh dharaich, the sap or substance of
30
the oak, because it derives ite substance from the oak, though it is a parasite of some other trees also.
In the last instalment mention was made of dandelion (Taraxacum leontodon, bearnan Brìghde—the notched-leaved plant of St Bridget.
Nipple-wort (Lapsana communis), duilleag mhaith (the good leaf); Irish, duilleog Bhrìghid, probably St Bridget's leaf, the-patron saint who, according to Gaelic superstition, had the power of revealing to girls their future husbands. The probability of this origin of the name is strengthened by the fact that the plant is copiously iu flower on Latha Fhèill-Bhrìghde (Candlemas Day). It was also called duilleag bhraghad, breast leaf. The French called it herbe aux mamelles, which means the same thing; the reference being to its having formerly been applied to-the breasts of women to allay the irritation caused by nursing.
Mary'6 thistle (Carduus Maria:), fothannan beannuichte, Ir. fothannan beanduighte (bene-dictus), the blessed thistle (so called from the superstition that its leaves are stained with the Virgin Mary's milk).
Elecampane (inula Helenium). The Greek name Helenus is said to be from the name of the famous beauty, Helen of Troy, who is said to have availed herself of it6 cosmetic properties. Its Gaelic name is àillean, from àille, beauty, handsomeness.
Ash (Fraxinus excelsior), Gaelic and Irish craobh uinnseann; Irish alternatives, uinscann, uimhseann. By a phonetic usage of Irish, namely, of a noun beginning with a vowel adopting the final consonant of its inseparable-article or adjective or adjectival noun as its initial letter, the / (value of bh in craobh) is prefixed to uinsean, so as to become fuinsean, also fuinse and fuinseag. like another similarly named, fuinnseag coille (already referred to), it seems to have been in widespread and frequent use in the charms and enchantments-so common in olden times, especially against serpent bite (spiritually as well as materially).
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Pennant (1772) says : " In many parts of the Highlands, at the birth of a child, the nurse puts the end of a green stick of ash into the fire, and, while it is burning, receives into a spoon the sap or juice which oozes out at the other end, and administers this to the newborn babe." Serpents were supposed to have a special horror of its leaves. " Theid an nathair troimh an teine dhearg mu 'n teid, troimh dhuilleach an uinnsinn " " The serpent will go through the red blazing fire rather than through the leaves of the ash." These superstitions about the ash were not confined to the Highlands of course.
Mullein (Verbasciim thapsus), Gaelic and Irish cttineal, or cuingeal Mhuire, Mary's healing for asthma (cuing).
Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea). Several of ite Gaelic names associate it with the fairies, e.g.: Lus-nam-ban-sith, fairy women's plant; meuran sith, fairy thimble, from the shape of itB flowers; Sìthich, a fairy, the most mischievous sprite in Gaelic mythology. Wherever a clump of this handsome plant grew, there the fairies, " the little folk in green," were to be seen at their cantrips " 'neath glimpses of the moon." Foxglove of course is folks' (i.e. fairies') glove.
Vervain (Verbena officinalis), Gael, and Ir. trombhòd, from trom, a corruption of drum from Sanscrit dru, wood, Lat. drus, oak, and bòd or bòid, oath vow. The Druids used the plant in their religious ceremonies. We are told that vows were made and treaties ratified over this little plant. Indeed other plants employed in religious ceremonies, sacred evergreens like laurels and holly: and aromatic herbs, such as rosemary, used in adorning the altar, came to he included under the general name Verbena.
Wood Loosestrife, or Yellow Pimpernel (L'ysimachia nemorum), Gaelic and Irish Seamhair Mhuire, supposed to bo from sèamh, sweet, and feur, grass: Mary's sweet grass. This lovely gem of the woods is now (April—September) in flower. The starry blossoms are of a dull tint and glossy of surface, points which distinguish the plant from the tormentil, which is often found in itg
32
vicinity. It is alsa named after Iona's saint, Lus Ckolumchille. One of its Irish names is Rosòr, golden rose.
Greater Plantain, or Broad-leaved Ribwort (Plantago major), G. and Ir. Cuach Phadraig, Patrick's bowl or cup; variant, Cruach Ph., Patrick's knoll or hill. I do not know the connection of the plant with the name of the saint. The Welsh call it Llydain y jford, Spread on the way. One of its local English names is Way bred.
The Laurel or Bay-tree (Laurus nobilis), G. and Ir. Labhras, the symbol of triumph and victory. Poets and victorious generals were always crowned with it. It also came to be a symbol of massacre and slaughter, which explains another of its Gaelic names, Casgair, slayer. Its name Vr-uaine means the green palm or bay-tree; hence, in the Gaelic church calendar, Palm Sunday was Domhnach an ùir.
The Spotted PeTsecaria (Polygonum perse-caria), G. and Ir. Oluineach mhòr, large-jointed plant; also Am boinne-fola (Ferguson), the spot of blood, and Lus-a-Chroinn-cheusaidh, herb of the crucifying tree (MacLellan). Both the last two names refer to the legend that this plant grew at the foot of the cross, and drops of blood fell upon the leaves, causing them to be spotted for ever after.
Hazel (Corylus avellance), G. and Ir. Càll-tuinn, Càlldainn, Càllduinn, Cailtin, Colluinn; Welsh callen, Corn. Colwiden. Perhaps from Armoric càil, G. and Ir. coill, a wood, a grove. New-Tear's time used to be called Coille, and New-Tear's night Oidhche Coille, when the hazel is in bloom. Who is not glad to see the hazel grove covered with catkins then? The first night in the New Tear when the wind blows from the west used to be called Bàir na coille, time of trees' fecundation. Two conflicting superstitions anent the hazel were to be found in the Highlands. In general belief the hazel was considered unlucky, and associated with loss or damage. It makes one speculate as to any possible connection between the name of the tree and càil, loss. Two nuts found together,   however, boded  good  luck.
33
This was knwn as Cnò chòmhlaich. This was why two nuts were burnt together in the fire for lovers at Halloween, and their marital prosperity was augured from the brightness of the " lowe." The bards, however, regarded the hazel more auspiciously. It inspired them with poetic fancies. " They believed that there were fountains in which the principal rivers had their source; over each fountain grew wise hazel trees (cail crinnon) (crina, modern crionna, wise, sagacious), which produced beautiful red nuts, which fell into the fountain and floated on its surface, and that the salmon of the river came up and swallowed the nuts. It was believed that the eating of the nuts caused the red spots on the salmon's belly, and whoever took and ate one of those salmon was inspired with the sublimest poetical idea. Hence the expressions ' Nuts of science,' * The salmon of knowledge ' " (O'Curry).
Poplar (Populus alba), Pobhuill; Germ. Pappel, Welsh and Amioric Pobl, Persian PuZ-pul. Prom the common resemblance between these various Indo-European names of the tree it is supposed to be from the Sanscrit pul, which meanB great, high, and that the fact that its Persian name being a reduplication of this word, viz., pul-pul (a primitive mode of word-building to signify excess), was given to the tree from its unusual height—the very high tree. This usage is still common to Gaelic (and no doubt other languages too), as when we say mòr mòr, big big, for very big.
Aspen (Populus tremula), G. and Ir. Critheann, trembling. The leaves are so slenderly attached to the twigs as to catìse a constant movement, even when there's no breath of wind. In unscientific times this phenomenon -vas monkishly accounted for by saying that the wood of the Cross was made from this tree, and that ever since the tree cannot cease from trembling.
Willow (Salix), G. Seileach, also Salach. The priests of Jupiter and Mars who attended to their rites in the Viminal Grove on one of the Sev«n Hills of Rome were called Sa'ii becnuse it was a grove of willow osiers.   As this worship
34
was frequently of a sensual nature, the willow-came to he associated with lust, fìlthiness; hence Salam, lustful, salacious; and Gaelic salach (sal na feola, lust of the flesh),polluted. The Babylonian willow (S. babylonica), seileach an t-srutha, i.e., thè willow of the stream or brook. " Agus gabhaidh sibh dhuibh fhèin air a cheud là meas chraobh àluinn . . . agus seileach an t-srutha " (Lev. xxiii. 40)—" And take unto yourselves on the first day of goodly trees and willows of the brook."
Garlic (Allium). The genus includes such' species as the onion (A. cepa), G. ceap, head. Ceap Maol, etc. Common Gaelic term uinnean, corruption of the English word; the garden leek (A. porrum), G. and Ir. leigis, leicis. leiceas.
Wild Garlic (A. ursinum), G. and Ir. gar-leag, but more common is creamh.
Rocombale (A. scorodoprasum), G. and Ir. Creamh na crag.
Chives (A. schcenoprasum), Gaelic Creamh ghàraidh; Welsh Cenin Pedr, Peter's leek.
Shallot (A. ascalonium), Gael. Sgalaid.
Crow Garlic (A. vineale), G. Garleag Mhuire, Mary's garlic.
Great Reedmace or Cat's-tail (Typha lati-folia), Cuigeal nam ban-sìthe, the Fairy-woman's spindle.
The Bush (Juncus), G. and Ir. Luachar. Tlie pith of several species was from ancient times used to make rush-lights, the most primitive process being to strip the stalks of their outer skin all except one narrow stripe, and they were then drawn through melted grease and laid across a stool to set. Thus the name luachar was extended to mean light, splendour, and no doubt it is connected with the Latin lucerna, a lamp, and Sanscrit root luach, light. Probably also that was the significance of the title Luachra, chief Druid and magician, borne by the man who opposed St Patrick at Tara in presence of the King-and his nobles composing the convention. Lady-fern (Athyrium filix fosmina), G and Ir.
35
Raineach Mhuire, Our Lady's (Virgin Mary's) fern.
Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis), Gaelic Tor-dan, the thunderer, the Celtic Jove, hence torrdhun, thunder.
Moonwort (Botrychium lunaria); lunaria from luna, moon; Gaelic luan, hence Di-luan, Monday (i.e., Moon-day). This plant was held in superstitious reverence among all ancient nations. Horses were supposed to lose their shoes where it grew. The plant is a small qne, growing inconspicuously in pasture, and therefore liable to be cropped by sheep and cattle ere it can outgrow the grass. It being one of the three British ferns that do not have their seed capsules (indusia) spread on the leaf surface or margin, but on separate branches, it is well worth searching for by those botanically inclined, and the merrv month is the time when it is sure to be found in flower, if the term will be allowed. Ferns frequently formed component parts of charms, as the following couplet shows:—
" Faigh naoi gasan rainich <~ir an gearradh le tuaigh,
A's tri chnaimhean seann duine air an tarr-uinn a uaigh " (Get nine branches of fern cut with an axe, And  an old man's bones pulled from   the grave).
" Fern seeds were regarded as magical, and must be gathered on Midsummer Eve." Mushrooms of various kinds (Agaricus) : — Balg-bhuachaill, Shepherd's bag; Balg losg-ainn, Frog's bag. The large fuz-ball (Lyco-perdon giganteum), Gae1. and Irish Beac, beacan, from beach, a bee, was formerly used for smothering bees. Mushrooms held a conspicuous place in Celtic mythology from their connection with the fairies. Wherever after a warm, moisty summer night in a wood-glade a ring of mushrooms was found, there the good folks were supposed to have their revelries, the large flat ones forming their tables.
Watercress (Nasturtium officinalis), Biolaire. It is said to be one of the plants used to facili-
36
tate milk stealing from the cow, common at one time in Scotland and Ireland. This was called in Gaelic " Toirt an toraidh bho na ¦chrodh "—Depriving the cattle of their fruit (that is, milk). The manner of doing it was as follows :—The witch or spaewife, or any one who had the eolas (the power of the charm), cut the tops of the plant with a pair of scissors, while the incantation was muttered along with the names of the owners of the cows, and the pregnant words, " 'S leamsa leth do chuidsa"— half (or whatever share was wanted) thine is mine. Other plants, again, were employed as counter agents, e.g., Groundsel, Grunnasg, by putting them amongst the milk or cream. I remember, as a boy, an old woman who was said to have the power of stealing the toradh, or cream, from her neighbours' milk, and was actually caught pulling a certain plant that grew among the thatch of a neighbour's house, and muttering some such charm as the above.
Common Flax (Linum usitatissimum), Lìon. Sheriff Nicolson in his book of Gaelic Proverbs gives the following quatrain as illustrating the great value attached to salt and lint, especially among a fishing population at a time when the duty on salt was excessive, and lint was cultivated in the Hebrides :—
" Mèirle salainn 's mèirle frois, Mèirle o nach faigh anam clos; Gus an teid an t-iasg air tìr. Cha 'n fhaigh mèirleach an lìn clos."
Theft of salt and theft of seed
Are thefts that leave no soul in peace;
Until the fish jump on dry land,
For the stealer of lint there is no rest.
Shamrock, Wood-sorrel, and White Clover. The reason given for the Irish " wearing of the green " little shamrock on St Patrick's Day is as follows :—When the saint preached the Gospel to the pagan Irish, he illustrated the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity by showing them a trefoil, which was ever afterwards worn upon his anniversary.
37
Blackberries or Brambles, Smeuran, Smeur-agan (Kubus fruticostis). A one-time popular belief—probably to prevent children eating them when unripe—was that the fairies defiled them at Michaelmas and Hallowe'en.
The Gooseberry (Bibes grossularia), grosaid. Its prickles were used as charms to cure warts and sty. A wedding ring laid over the wart and pricked through the ring with a gooseberry thorn will remove the wart. Ten such thorns are plucked, nine are pointed at the part affected, and the tenth thrown over the shoulder.
Meum spignel or Baldmoney (Meum athaman-ticum), Muilceann. Cameron says the Inverness local name for this plant, " Bricin," is probably called after St Bricin, who flourished about a.d. 637. Yet it seems strange that this local name should be confined to Inverness and be unknown in Ireland, of which country Bricin was a saint.
The Elder (Sambucus). An old writer says the common people of the Highlands gathered the leaves of the elder—druman, drumanach— on the first day of April for the purpose of disappointing the charms of witches, affixing them to their doors and windows.
Yarrow, Milfoil (Achillea millefolium), Earr-thalmhainn.     The young women cut it by moonlight with a black-handled knife,  and pronounced certain mystic words as follows:— " Good morrow, good morrow, fair yarrow, And thrice good morrow to thee; Come tell me before to-morrow Who my true love shall be."
The plant is brought home, put into the right stocking, placed under the pillow, and the mystic dream is expected; but if she opens her lips after she has pulled the yarrow the charm is broken.
Gun d' èirich mi moch air maduinn an dè 'S ghearr mi 'n earr-thalmhainn do bhri mo sgeil:
An duil gu'm faicinn rùn mo chleibh, Ochoin ! gu'm facas 'sa chùl rium fèin.
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39
the last in cutting was fined in some way or another.
There was also the ancient ceremony of St Bridget's Sheaf on February 2nd. The mistress and servant of each family take a sheaf of oats and dress it in woman's apparel, put it in a large basket with a wooden ciub by it, and this they call Brièd's bed. They cry three times, " Brièd is come and welcome." This they do before going to bed, and when they rise in the morning they look at the ashes for the impress of Brièd's ciub there; if seen a prosperous year will follow.
Martin, who records the above custom, is responsible also for our knowledge of another religious ceremony, connected this time with the product of the sea instead of that of the land.   The custom, which he says had survived in Lewis until some years previous to his visit  to  the   island,  was   as  follows:—The inhabitants of the island gathered at Hallow-tide to the little church of St Mulvay, each person carrying provisions with him.   One of their number was selected to wade out into the sea up to the middle, and carrying a cup of ale in his hand.   Standing still in that position, and crying out with a loud voice, he invoked some kind of sea-deity as follows :—" Shony, I give you this cup of ale hoping you will be so kind as to send us plenty of sea-ware for enriching our ground in the ensuing yrar." and he then threw the cup into the sea.    This was performed in the night time.    Cameron says this Shony was the Scandinavian Neptune— Sj'oni.   If that be so, the survival of such a pagan rite can be well understood, considering how  complete the  Norwegian   conquest and settlement was in the Western Isles during the tenth century, and which completely effaced the Celtic Church culture for a long time.
It is wonderful the extent to which magic entered into the life of people of old, and how it persisted even after the Gospel came to be universally preached in its purity, and continued to influence the beliefs and habits of those who would be the last to admit it and "the first to condemn such beliefs in others.
Yester morn I rose betimes. And cut the yarrow with wonted rhymes. Hoping my heart's beloved to see : Alas! I did, but his back was to me.
Broad - leaved Pondweed (Potamogeton natans), Duileasg na h-aibhne (Biver dulse). At one time in the Highlands this plant was gathered in small bundles iu summer and autumn and kept until New-Year's Day (old style), when it was put for a time in a tub of hot water and the infusion mixed with the first drink given to milch cows on New-Year's Day morning. This was supposed to guard them from witchcraft and the evil eye for the rest of the year; as also to increase the supply of milk.
Reed-grass (Arundo phragmites), G. Seasgan; from seasg, a reed, which also means barren; crodh seasg, yeld cattle; Irish cruisg-iornach (from cruisigh, music, song). Great reed mace (Typha latifolia) (Cuigeul nam ban-sit he), the Fairy women's distaff, is usually represented by painters in the hand of our Lord as supposed to be the reed with which He was smitten by the Roman soldiers, and on which the sponge filled with vinegar was reached to Him. This reed is in Gaelic cuilc. A chuile bhriste, the broken reed.
Reeds have played no inr ignificant part in the advancement of human progress. Tlie ancient Greeks used to say that this was seen in three well-marked stages. They tended to subjugate nations by furnishing arrows for war; they softened their manners by means of
music (e.g., the pipes of Pan; aye they lent their very name to the larynx of various musical instruments); and, finally, lightened
their understandng by supplying instruments
for writing.
Oats (Avena), Coirc. The superstitious customs of A Mhaighdean Bhuana (the harvest maiden) and A Ghabhar Bhacach (the lame goat) are not very long extinct. They were both pretty much the same thing, but known by these different names in different parts of Gaeldom. The purpose was to avoid being the last in cutting the year's corn.   Whoever was
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Medicaments that were proved by long experi ence to be efficacious, whether for man or beast by mere administration; yet could not be given by some " skeely ones" without the accompaniment of pagan, or Christianly-glossed pagan, charms; and I will conclude this section by quoting a quatrain by that strange compound of pagan and Christian sentiments, John Roy Stewart—known to his fellow-Highlanders as Iain Buadh nam blàr—a quatrain he is said to have composed after spaining his ankle when hiding after the battle of Culloden :— " Ni mi 'n ubhaidh rinn Peadar do Phàl 'Sa luighean air fàs leum bruaich, Seachd paidir 'n ainm Sagairt a's Pàp 'Ga chuir ris mar phlasd mu 'n cuairt." I'll make the incantation that Peter made for Paul
With the herbs that grew on the ground : Seven paternosters in the name of priest and Pope,
Applied like a plaster around.
V.—INDUSTRIAL.
These included many plants that furnished1 dyes; trees that were used for making agricultural implements, fences, machinery, and domestic utensils.
(1) Plants for dyeing. There were hundreds-of such used more or less throughout Gaeldom, and the beauty and harmony of blending the colours is shewn by the various cian tartans. I can only mention a few of the best known ones.
Glas-lus, or Guirmean, Woad (Isatis tinctoria). Now extinct in Britain, though cultivated on the Continent for its high value in dyeing broadcloth. Tacitus tells that the ancient Britons used to stain their bodies with the juice of the plant to give them a warlike appearance.
Lus-bhuidhe mòr, Dyer's Rocket (JReseda-luteola) was at one time famed for its beauti-
41
ful yellow dye. So also was Bealaidh, broom ^Sarothamnus scoparius).
Leannartach, or Cairt leanna, common tormentil (Potentilla tormentilla), was used largely in the Hebrides both as a dye and for barking cordage and nets.
Liath-lus, Mugwort (Artemisium vulgaris), made a lovely yellow dye. Fraoch, Ling heather (Calluna vulgaris), was used for various purposes as well as for dyeing. Brewed into ale, made into ropes, used for thatch and for bedding.
Crò, Crodh, Cròch, Saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), much cultivated in ancient times for several uses, but, above all, for dyeing. Leine Chròic, Saffron shirt, was a habit of distinction.
Ruamh, Lady's Bedstraw (Galium verum), furnished a red dye.
Seileasdar, Yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus) was used everywhere for dyeing purposes.
Dearcfithich, fiannag, fithag, Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum). Boiled with alum they make a dark purple dye. There were two lichens that figured extensively in dyeing in the Highands viz., Corcur (cudbear) and Crotal.
Corcur or Corcar, Cudbear (Lecanora tar-tared), as the word conveys, was used for purple and crimson dyes. First dried in the sun, then pulverized and steeped in the common mordant, the vessel rendered airtight; it was left thus for three weeks, when it was boiled with the yarn it was to colour. In many parts of the Highlands the people eked out their livelihood partly by the proceeds they got for the supplies of this lichen they sent to the Glasgow dyers. I suppose this is auite forgotten now, as the industry has ceased long r'xo. Not so, however, the other, Hz., Crotal, Stone parmelia (parmelia saxatilis). which gives a reddish brown colour, for which there is hardly any substitute. It is a favourite dye, in various shades, for Harris tweed.
So much did the Highlanders believe in the virtue of Crotal that when they were to start on a journey they sprinkled it on their hose, as they thought it saved their feet from get-
42
ting inflamed during their journey. 80 much has it been employed in the Outer Isles for' dyeing that it has become extinct, and the people there come for supplies of it to Skye and the adjacent mainland. How valuable these stone lichens were regarded is shown in a proverb :—" Is fearr a chlach gharbh air am faighear rud-eigin na chlach mhìn air nach faighear dad idir " (Better the rough stone-that yields something than the smooth stone that yields nothing "); and in the poet Mac-Codrum's • line— " Spreigh air mòinteach òr air clachan " (Cattle on the hills, gold on the stones). Garbh'ag-an-t-sleibhe, Fir ciub moss (Lyco-podium selago), used for fixing dyes.
(2) The only plant used in the Highlands for-fabrics was Lion, Flax (Linum usitattisimum). It was at one time grown extensively for home-use, as many place-names still show :—Lag-an-lion,   Cnoc-an-lin,   Innis-nan-Kon   (Bosehall), Strath-lìn, Lion-dail, and many others.
Gaineab, hemp (Cannabis sativa), was extensively used in the spinning of cordage.
(3) Implements were made for outside and insile use :—
Crann-àraidh or Cranntreabhaidh, plough made of oak or ash. So was the amal, or¦• swingle-tree.
Cuing, yoke, for oxen, could be made from almost any kind of wood.
Braighd, horse collar, was made of straw, but in the Outer Isles of Muran, sea-marram (Psamma arenaria), and is so still.
Sàc, pannier and Sonnag, armchair, were-also made of straw or rushes, the latter being re-inforced by stays of birchwood.
Sùisde. flail, with its two pieces— lorq, heft, and buailtan, beater—was made of hard wood.
Gad, withy, was the willow osier, which being toueh and feasible, was used for ties and to string things together for carriage, especially for fish. Thus the word became the equivalent for a fish-carrier, as shewn in the proverb—
43
" Cha robh agam ach an gad air an robh an t-iasg" (All 1 had left was the withe that bore the fish). These withes were wont to get hard when * not in use, and had to be steeped occasionally. This occasioned the saying, when a man needed to hurry with his preparation for a journey,
" Tha   'n   t-tàn   a   bhi    'bogadh   nan   r/ad,"' meaning It is time I was steeping the withes, much the same as " laying a rod in pickle."
Our Gaelic forefathers were deft hands at: wicker-work. Barns were at one time everywhere made with willow and hazel wicker sides,, and they may still be seen on the West Coast.'
IIaois, Cliabh, a bag, creel. The former was of standard size, to contain, say, five hundred herring; and usually made of straw or rushes, with hazel stays. The latter was-all of hazel, or else willow oziers woven over hazel stays.. They are still in use all over the-West Coast and Hebrides, for carrying peats, manure, &c.; sometimes in a pair strung pannier-wise on a horse's back.
In hilly districts in the Highlands large wicker frames, shaped like an inverted cone, were put on improvised bogies for carrying-manure    into,    or    potatoes,    &c,    from, the   fields.      They   can   still   be   seen   in operation on some of the slopes above Loch Ness, and are known as Lòbain  (plural  of" Lòban).   In Sutherlandshire it is Logan.   The names  Lobban  and  Logan   are held to  be-derived from them respectively.
Cliath was harrow.
Bacan, rake.
Speal, scythe.   .
Beairt bhuain, reaper.
Sùgan, a straw or rushen rope.
Sìoman, a heather rope.
Lìon-eudach was linen; Anart might be of" other material as well.
Lìodan (or Leadan) an fhùcadair, Teasel, (Dipsacus fullonum) Fuller's teasel, so called' because it was used to raise the nap on woollen cloth by means of the strong hooked scales^ upon the spherical calyces.
Cliath was a generic term for any flat frame; hence Cliath luaidh, the fulling or waulking frame.
Crann, on the other hand, was the machine on which a thing was designed, as Crann-deilbh, the upright frame on which the Inneach, or weft, was laid.
Dluth was the warp.
Crois-iarna was the simple frame, composed of a central piece, to either end of which a cross-piece was attached, like letter T, but with their planes at right angles to each other. The iarna, or hank, was formed on this as it was unwound (tachras) off the reel of the spinning wheel (Cuibhil shnìomha).
In more primitive times the common machine for spinning was the distaff and spindle (Cuigedl agus fearsaid). But with the advent o* the spinning wheel it did not fall into disuse, though now, alas! the latter as well is almost unknown, except as ornamental relics in museums and entrance halls.
Beairt-fhighe (weaving frame) was the loom. At one time hardly a well-to-do, thrifty household in Caeldom was without its loom. In Harris, once that its woollen cloth came to be in demand elsewhere, there might be two and even three looms found in one cottage.
(4) Household Utensils :—
Buarach, milking-fetter, made of rushes or straw, though sometimes of horse-hair.
Cuman, small wooden pail, Scottice cogie, for milking.
Meadar or Miodair, in Skye Measar or Miosar, the wooden basin in which the milk was set.
Muidhe, churn.
Cuinneag, water or milk-pail.
Ladar, ladle or spoon.
All the above were made of hard-woods for obvious reasons; so also were supping dishes —e.g., Cuach, bowl; C6p or Copan, cup.
For boat-uilding several kinds of wood were used. Yew did not grow either plentifully or universally in the Highlands, and so great was it in vogue for boat-building, as well as for bow-making, that it became almost  extinct
45
as a native tree. In the Middle Ages there was a law that in very parish burial-place a clump of yews must be grown to be in readiness to furnish arrows in times of war. Latterly boats were built of Scotch pine and larch, with oak for cross-beams and ash for oars. Fiodh, timber.
Fiorach-tarsuinn, cross beams.
Bacan, thole-pins.
Sgrog, the stern and stem posts.
Ràmh, oar.   A Lewis bard happily sang—
" Cuir giuthas agus larag innte 'S fiodh de 'n darach chruaidh "
(Put to the making of her pine and larch And timber of the hard oak).
Taoman, bailer, a scooped-out chunk of wood. Tota, the boat-seat or rowers' bench.
VI—PLANTS AND TREES  USED AS CLAN BADGES.
Of course many of the following badges are doubtful, and several, as might be expected, are claimed by more than one cian, but the most of them are firmly established as proper to the cian they have been identified with. Mackinnon—Eala-bhuidhe, perforated St John's
Wort (Hypericum perfoliata).   Some say it
is the Pine.
Oliphant—Sice, or Malpais, or Craobh phlant-rainn, Sycamore (Acer pseudo-platanus).
Forbes—Bealaidh, Broom (Sarothamnus sco-parius).
Sinclair—Seamar-bàn, Seamrag, White Clover (Trifolium repens).
Macfarlane—Oidhreag or Foighreag, Cloudberry (Bubus chamaimorus).
MacLean—Dreas (pi. drts), Smeur, Bramble (Rtibus fruticosus).
MacNab—Preas nan gorm dhearc, Blueberry bush (B. c&sius).
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Lamont—Craobh-abhall, or Craobh-ubhall, Crab-apple (Pyrus malus).
MacLachlan—Craobh chaoran, Mountain Ash (P. aucuparius).
Gunn—Lus nan laoch, Rose - root (Sedum rhodiola).
Gordon— Eidheann-mu-chrann,  Iath-shlat, Ivy
(Hedera helix). Stewart — Fodhannan,   Fothannan,   Cluaran,
Thistle (Carduus marianus). Macdonald—Fraoch, Fraoch bhadain, Smooth-leaved Heath (Erica cinerea). MacLeod — Braoighleag,   Bo-dhearc,  Cow-  or
Whortleberry (Vaccinium vitis—Ideal). Menzies—Craobh   uinnseann,   Ash   (Fraxinus
excelsior).   Some say Menzies' heath. MacPherson and Macintosh—Bocsa, Box;  an
approximation  of   Greek   Buxos   (Buxus
sempervirens). Colquhoun—Calltainn,   Hazel   (Corylus  avell-
ana); others say Grainnseag, Bear-berry. Buchanan—Beatha,   Beithe,   Birch   (Betulus
alba); others say Oak. Ferguson — Critheann,      Aspen      (Populus
tremula); others say Grian-ros, Sunflower
(Cistus).
Campbell—Roid, Rideag, Bog-myrtle, Sweet gale (Myrica gale).
MacGregor and MacAlpine — Giuthas or Giubhas, Scotch Pine (Pinus silvestris).
Murray, Ross, MacLeod, and Athole Highlanders—All lay claim to Juniper, Aitinn, or Aitiunn, or Aiteil (Juniper communis).
Fraser—luthar, Iubhar, or Iughar, Tew (Taxtis baccata).
Mackenzie—Cìob, Cìob a chinn duibh, Tufted Scirpus, or Deer's hair (Scirpus cosspi-tosus).
Mackay—Gobhal-Luachair, Bulrush (Scirpus lacustris).
Sutherland—Canach, Canach an t-sleibhe (fr.
Celtic   can,   white),   Cotton-grass   (Erio-
phorum vaginatum). MacEàe—Garbhag, Garbhag an t-sleibhe, Fir
Club-moss (Lycopodium selago). MacDoupall—Some   authorities   hold   it   is
Craobh bhroin, Cypress (Cupressus semper-
47
virens);   others   maintain   it  is   Fraoch frangach, Bell-heather (Ertco tetralix). MacAulay—Giuthas, Scotch Pine  (Pinus silvestris) .
MacNeill—Feamainn, Sea-ware  (Fucus). Robertson—Raineach, Brake, Bracken (Pteris aquilina).
Cameron—Darach, Oak (Quercus robur); some say Caora-fiathag, Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum).
MacNaughton—Fraoch, Heath (Erica).
Munro—Garbhag, Garbhag an t-sleibhe, Fir Club-moss (Lycopodium selago).
Grant—According to some Giuthas, Pine, or others Muileag, Cranberry heath (Vaccinium oxycoccus).
MacQuarrie—Giuthas, Pine (Pinus silvestris).
MacLaren—Labhras, Craobh laoibhreìs, Laurel (Laurel nobilis).
Nicolson—Aitiunn or Aitinn, Juniper (Juniper communis).
Urquhart — Lus leth-an-t-Samhraidh, Wallflower (Cheiranthus cheirt).
Chisholm—Raineach, Brake, Bracken (Pteris aquilina).
Murray (Atholl)—Calg-bhrudhainn, Butcher's broom (Ruscus aculatus).
Drummond—Lus Mhic Rìgh Breatunn, Thyme (Thymus serpyllum).
Graham—Lus leusaidh, Petty Spurge (Euphorbia peplus).
dimming—Lus    Mhic    Chuimein,    Carraway
(Carum carui). Ogilvie—Alkanet (no Gaelic), Lat. Anchusa.