36 COLONSAY 



the holy ground of Oransay. The criminal who got 

 here before he was overtaken by his pursuers, and after- 

 wards remained a year and a day in Oransay, was safe. 

 Three dunans or small forts Dunan-na-Fidean, Dunan 

 lochdar-na-Garbhaird, and Dunan-nan-Nighean, the last- 

 named on the Ardskenish side beside Port-na-Patharlinn are 

 within view of one another on the southern shore ; a fourth, 

 Dunan-nan-Con, being situated close to the roadside farther 

 north. Dun Cholla is a conspicuous green debris-covered 

 hill on the Balaromin side, and was probably one of the 

 larger, though at the same time one of the less easily 

 defended, of the forts. A church had been situated at Cill-a- 

 Choinnich, and a muileann-dubh stood beside the burn that 

 has since borne its name on the Balaromin side of the strand. 

 Cnoc Eibrigin, a conspicuous green knoll, is topped by a 

 standing-stone of comparatively modern erection. It is said 

 to have been the place where local questions and disputes 

 used to be settled. 



Two farms Balaromin-dubh and Balaromin-mor lie on 

 the eastern side of the road that leads from Scalasaig to the 

 strand. The dark heather-covered hills through which the 

 road carries its winding, undulating way give place, towards 

 the shore, to green slopes and fertile glades fringed here 

 and there between projecting rocky points with pretty 

 bays of white sand. Sycamore-trees, forming a rectangular 

 square which surrounds the garden attached to the residence 

 at Balaromin-dubh, have developed into fair-sized specimens, 

 notwithstanding the open situation. 



Leana-na-h-Eaglais, or the Plain of the Church, is a flat 

 of greensward near the farm-house of Balaromin-mor, with 

 the remains of an enclosure surrounding the ruins of an old 

 church. A short distance to the east there is a standing- 

 stone to which Donald Ballach is said to have been bound 

 before he was shot by the followers of Angus, son of the 

 famous Coll Ciotach. At that time Colonsay was in the 



