Section IL, 1903 [ 49 ] Trans. R. S. C. 



V. — 21ie Gaelic Folk-Songs of Canada. 

 By Alexander Fraser, Toronto, Ont. 



(Comimunicated by W. W. Campbell and read May 20, 1903.) 



" Cànain àigh nam buadhan oirdheare, 

 A b' fharsaiing cliù air feadh na h-Eôrpa; 

 Bithidh i fathast mar a thoisich, 

 Os ceann g-ac'h cainnt 'na h-iuchair eôlais." 



Translated: — 



" Strange mystic powers lie in that tongue, 

 Whose praise through Europe wide has rung; 

 As 'twas of yore in school and college. 

 It shall be first — the key of knowledge." 



Two explanatory words may be allowed. 



1. By Gaelic is meant only that branch of the Keltic language 

 whose home and chief habitat are the Highlands of Scotland. 



2. The field. It has been estimated that there is about a quarter 

 of a million people in Canada who understand and speak the Gaelic 

 language. 



No people are more devoted to their native language than the Scot- 

 tish Kelts. They have cherished it and retained it through centuries of 

 struggle and vicissitude, ais a precious heritage, and in the freer atmos- 

 phere of to-day, the old vernacular holds its own against the encroach- 

 ments of the language of commerce with equal success as in the olden 

 time it did against the prejudices of alien educators aild hostile law- 

 givers. It has come down from sire to son on the plains of Canada with 

 almost equal purity as in the glens and straths of Caledonia. 



" 'Si labhair Padric 'n innise Fail na Riogh, 

 'S an faig*he caomh sin Colum nàomtha 'n I." 

 Translated: — 



" 'Twas it that Patrick s>poke in Inis-Fayle, 

 And saintly Calum in lona's Isle." 



The printed literature of the Scottish Gael is not extensive, but a 

 Gaelic literature there is, which will compare favourably with the litera- 

 ture of many other countries, and, if taken with that of its kindred 

 branches, is of very respectable proportions indeed. Probably four- 

 fifths of it is poetry. The Kelts are a poetical people; the clansman 

 lived in an atmosphere of poetry and romance; every village had its 

 bard, every family its ready singer. The very vicissitudes of the people 



Sec. II., 1908. 4. 



