232 Notes oil Sport and Ti-avel i 



' The anecdote soon became known throughout 

 the whole country, and the singularity of Poison's 

 answer (which tells better in Gaelic, the language in 

 which it was spoken) while uncertain of success in a 

 struggle on which his son's life depended, joined 

 with the fact that the wolf killed under such peculiar 

 circumstances was the last seen in Sutherland, gave 

 great celebrity to this exploit, and has preserved the 

 present traditional account of the occurrence among 

 some of the country people to the present day.' ^ 



Mr. Taylor took great pains to make out the 

 time when jMackay and Poison lived, respectively at 

 Helmsdale and Trantlemore, and the time of their 

 deaths, and he decides that these occurrences took 

 place between 1690 and 1700. It gives one a 

 lively hint as to the state of the country, — this wolf- 

 hunting within ten miles of Dunrobin ! 



The boar had probably departed long before the 

 wolf; and I know no other mention of him than that 

 contained in the sad and really beautiful tradition of 

 ' Dermid the Pure and the Boar with the Poisoned 

 Bristles,' of which Mr. Scrope has given an imper- 

 fect condensation from the Taylor MSS. 



When you are at Tongue, and see the castellated 

 crags of Ben Loyal standing out black and sharp 

 against the sky, you may, if you are sentimentally 

 inclined, croon to yourself — 



1 There is no doubt that this is the original of Hogg's storj' of 

 the wild boar. He most probably obtained it from some Sutherland 

 drover, and, as was his wont, appropriated it. 



