62 NETHER LOGHABER, 



was always used, and you will perhaps be surprised to hear, sir, 

 that the lamp was often a " buckie shell." " A buckie shell ! " we 

 exclaimed, " how did you manage to fix it properly 1 You probably 

 glued its keel to a piece of wood or something of that kind 1 " 

 "No, sir," was the response, "we did not fix it at all. It was 

 suspended from a cromag or hook of wood or iron projecting from 

 the wall near the fire-place by a string, one end of which was 

 firmly tied round the hollow dividing the whorl at the smaller end 

 of the shell, and the other round the furrow at its larger circum- 

 ference near the lip. The loop of the string was then thrown over 

 the hook, and thus suspended, the shell was filled with oil and a 

 rush pith inserted as wick, and it made a very good lamp indeed, at 

 once economical and serviceable. I recollect," said the old man 

 with a smile, " that my father, God rest him ! who was a very 

 economical man, and hated everything like extravagance or waste, 

 allowed us just a shellful of oil for the winter's night. When that 

 much was spent, we had to tell our tales, sing our songs, and go on 

 with the work we might have in hand by such light as was afforded 

 by the blazing peat-fire, or let it alone till the next evening, just as 

 we pleased." Our friend concluded by declaring in very emphatic 

 phrase that " the people now are less industrious than they were 

 then ; have more money in their hands, but use it less wisely ; are 

 less truthful, less honest, less to be depended upon in every way 

 than were the people of his boyhood and their immediate pre- 

 decessors." " Laudator temporis acti," but there is some truth in 

 it. You should have heard how grandly and with what an air of 

 dignity the old fellow spoke that concluding sentence in the most 

 beautiful and rhythmical Gaelic. The buckie shell referred to above 

 is the Buccinum undatum, or common whelk, constantly to be met 

 with on almost every shore. It is to be understood, we suppose, 

 that the larger specimens only would be used as lamps in the 

 manner described by our venerable friend. 



