CASTLE STALKER. 397 



largest trees in its course snapped before the boulder like reeds : 

 when it came into momentary contact with a rock, the sparks flew 

 heavenward as if from an exploded meteor ! In a dozen of bounds 

 it reached the tents of the Norsemen, crushing, mangling, grinding 

 into pulp or powder (a pronnadh agus a bruanadh, are the Gaelic 

 words) everything it touched, and finally stopping where it now 

 stands, to be long regarded by the people of the district with a 

 feeling akin to superstitious awe, and to be known by the name of 

 Clach Ruric. In the morning, the Norsemen could only know by 

 the mangled fragments of their bodies that their Prince, with his 

 two sons, and many of those next to him in power, had met with a 

 terrible death. Before the Appin men could gather in sufficient 

 force to attack them, the Norsemen unmoored their galleys, chant- 

 ing the death-song of their chief as they unmoored, and set sail for 

 Lochlin, never more to trouble the mainland of the West Highlands 

 with their invasions. The venerable seanachie from whom we 

 picked up this tradition, added that Castle Ccefin, or Cyffin, in 

 Lismore, is so called after a Danish prince of that name, who also 

 was connected with Ruric's expedition, though in what manner he 

 was unable to say. 



Not far from Clach Euric, on an island rock in the entrance to 

 the Sound of Shuna, are the ruins of another castle, of a later date, 

 however, and more recent interest than can be attached to the 

 many strongholds of the Viking period perched on the rocks and 

 promontories of this part of the West Highlands. This is Castle 

 Stalker, or, in the language of the district itself, Caisteal-an-Stalcaire, 

 the Castle of the Falconer or Fowler. The small rock-island on 

 which it is built is Sgeir-an-Sgairbh (the sea-rock, or skerry of the 

 cormorant), from very early times the gathering cry at once and 

 rendevous of the Stewarts of Appin in all then- maritime expedi- 

 tions. Castle Stalker dates from about the beginning of the reign 

 of James IV., for whose convenience and accommodation, when, 



