第28章 RAASAY(1)

At the first intermission of the stormy weather we were informed,that the boat,which was to convey us to Raasay,attended us on the coast.We had from this time our intelligence facilitated,and our conversation enlarged,by the company of Mr.Macqueen,minister of a parish in Sky,whose knowledge and politeness give him a title equally to kindness and respect,and who,from this time,never forsook us till we were preparing to leave Sky,and the adjacent places.

The boat was under the direction of Mr.Malcolm Macleod,a gentleman of Raasay.The water was calm,and the rowers were vigorous;so that our passage was quick and pleasant.When we came near the island,we saw the laird's house,a neat modern fabrick,and found Mr.Macleod,the proprietor of the Island,with many gentlemen,expecting us on the beach.We had,as at all other places,some difficulty in landing.The craggs were irregularly broken,and a false step would have been very mischievous.

It seemed that the rocks might,with no great labour,have been hewn almost into a regular flight of steps;and as there are no other landing places,I considered this rugged ascent as the consequence of a form of life inured to hardships,and therefore not studious of nice accommodations.But I know not whether,for many ages,it was not considered as a part of military policy,to keep the country not easily accessible.The rocks are natural fortifications,and an enemy climbing with difficulty,was easily destroyed by those who stood high above him.

Our reception exceeded our expectations.We found nothing but civility,elegance,and plenty.After the usual refreshments,and the usual conversation,the evening came upon us.The carpet was then rolled off the floor;the musician was called,and the whole company was invited to dance,nor did ever fairies trip with greater alacrity.The general air of festivity,which predominated in this place,so far remote from all those regions which the mind has been used to contemplate as the mansions of pleasure,struck the imagination with a delightful surprise,analogous to that which is felt at an unexpected emersion from darkness into light.

When it was time to sup,the dance ceased,and six and thirty persons sat down to two tables in the same room.After supper the ladies sung Erse songs,to which I listened as an English audience to an Italian opera,delighted with the sound of words which I did not understand.

I inquired the subjects of the songs,and was told of one,that it was a love song,and of another,that it was a farewell composed by one of the Islanders that was going,in this epidemical fury of emigration,to seek his fortune in America.What sentiments would arise,on such an occasion,in the heart of one who had not been taught to lament by precedent,I should gladly have known;but the lady,by whom I sat,thought herself not equal to the work of translating.

Mr.Macleod is the proprietor of the islands of Raasay,Rona,and Fladda,and possesses an extensive district in Sky.The estate has not,during four hundred years,gained or lost a single acre.He acknowledges Macleod of Dunvegan as his chief,though his ancestors have formerly disputed the pre-eminence.

One of the old Highland alliances has continued for two hundred years,and is still subsisting between Macleod of Raasay and Macdonald of Sky,in consequence of which,the survivor always inherits the arms of the deceased;a natural memorial of military friendship.At the death of the late Sir James Macdonald,his sword was delivered to the present laird of Raasay.

The family of Raasay consists of the laird,the lady,three sons and ten daughters.For the sons there is a tutor in the house,and the lady is said to be very skilful and diligent in the education of her girls.More gentleness of manners,or a more pleasing appearance of domestick society,is not found in the most polished countries.

Raasay is the only inhabited island in Mr.Macleod's possession.

Rona and Fladda afford only pasture for cattle,of which one hundred and sixty winter in Rona,under the superintendence of a solitary herdsman.

The length of Raasay is,by computation,fifteen miles,and the breadth two.These countries have never been measured,and the computation by miles is negligent and arbitrary.We observed in travelling,that the nominal and real distance of places had very little relation to each other.Raasay probably contains near a hundred square miles.It affords not much ground,notwithstanding its extent,either for tillage,or pasture;for it is rough,rocky,and barren.The cattle often perish by falling from the precipices.It is like the other islands,I think,generally naked of shade,but it is naked by neglect;for the laird has an orchard,and very large forest trees grow about his house.Like other hilly countries it has many rivulets.One of the brooks turns a corn-mill,and at least one produces trouts.

In the streams or fresh lakes of the Islands,I have never heard of any other fish than trouts and eels.The trouts,which I have seen,are not large;the colour of their flesh is tinged as in England.Of their eels I can give no account,having never tasted them;for I believe they are not considered as wholesome food.

It is not very easy to fix the principles upon which mankind have agreed to eat some animals,and reject others;and as the principle is not evident,it is not uniform.That which is selected as delicate in one country,is by its neighbours abhorred as loathsome.The Neapolitans lately refused to eat potatoes in a famine.An Englishman is not easily persuaded to dine on snails with an Italian,on frogs with a Frenchman,or on horseflesh with a Tartar.The vulgar inhabitants of Sky,I know not whether of the other islands,have not only eels,but pork and bacon in abhorrence,and accordingly I never saw a hog in the Hebrides,except one at Dunvegan.