62 A HUNDRED YEARS IN THE HIGHLANDS 



the home of the laird of Gruinord. The lady of Gruinord, 

 the BantigJiearna hhuidh (the Yellow Lady), was at the 

 time very keen to get a commission for her son. This 

 could be managed if she provided a certain number of 

 so-called recruits, so she turned her ground ofHcers into 

 a press-gang; they kidnapped a number of lads, sons 

 of her numerous small tenants, and these she had safely 

 confined in a black hole under the Aird House staircase. 

 It has always been said that she greased the soles of the 

 feet of these lads and semi-roasted them opposite the 

 fire until they were so tender that even if they escaped 

 from the black hole, they could not go far ! And it was 

 to fetch these unfortunates that my grand-uncle was 

 sent as a boy with his armed force. They made a very 

 early start from Aird House, and he breakfasted with our 

 relatives, the Lochend Mackenzies, at Inverewe, where 

 they then lived in a long, low house thatched with 

 heather. I give the menu of his breakfast, which he 

 distinctly remembered. It consisted of a roast leg of 

 mutton and a big wooden bowl of raspberries and cream. 

 And he finished up his story by saying: *' And if you, 

 Osgood, make a garden there, I guarantee you will grow 

 good raspberries in it.'' 



We were not very expert at flowers in those days in the 

 Baile Mor garden, but Lios na cathracJia hige (the Kerry s- 

 dale garden) was more up to date, my grand-uncle being, 

 like most of the Gairlochs, keen on flowers and trees. 

 I shall always remember the smell of Daphne and Ribes 

 there, and the big clumps of Gladiolus cardinalis, which 

 was not common in those days, and the lines of Christmas 

 roses, which flourished and bloomed in winter and early 

 spring and formed edgings to the garden walks. 



