52 The Kelpie. 



planation is that families bearing the name of Durham settled 

 in the district. Durham was not an uncommon name in Scotland 

 in the 17th century. James Durham, for instance, was a well- 

 known minister in Glasgow about 1650, and so, by a process of 

 assimilation from the unknown to the known — a process which 

 goes on every day in colloquial speech, Durand the forgotten 

 became Durham the known. 



Chronologically the change may be arranged as follows, 

 though it is only a rough and general way of putting it : — 



1273. Dorand. 



1300. Duraunt. 



1305. Durand and Duraund. 



1341. Durant. 



1587. Durane. 



1590. Durame. 



1595. Durham. 



The Kelpie. By R. J. Arnott, M.A. 



" Do you think, ' ' said the old Irish retainer to the new- 

 comers, " that the Banshee would wail for the likes of ye !" 



Similarly, not of everyone, especially to-day, can it be said, 

 as of Brian in " The Lady of the Lake ' ' — 



"Where with black cliffs the torrents toil, 

 He watched the wheeling eddies boil. 

 Till, from their foam, his dazzled eyes 

 Beheld the river-demon rise." 



What wonder that in Scotland the vivid imagination of the 

 Celt and the more sombre fancy of the Lowlander alike should 

 have pictured in the Kelpie a spirit dwelling in the waters, and 

 having dominion over river and stream, and loch and pool 

 and ford, and that that spirit should be of evil disposition ? At 

 times, indeed, it is with a peaceful murmur the waters fill the 

 air, and there is a merry ripple and a sparkle as of laughter on 

 the sun-kissed surface. But oftener in this grey land of ours the 

 depths are dark and gloomy, and the swollen currents swirl 

 onward with an angry rush or sullen roar. It is sometimes not 

 easy to believe that these mysterious, uncanny sounds can have 

 anv but a supernatural source. And what less strange than that 



