86 CAIThE 



herb given to kiiu* af'ti'i' their n'nioval from the siihihk r jj.i^tiirit 

 in the mountains :- 



Deantar lus do na buaibh 

 lar an teachd doibh as an t-sliabh 

 Cread e bheir air fear na ni-bo 

 Gun lus do bhuan da fein. 



Let the herb be made (or given) to the cattle 

 On coming from the hill 

 What hinders the man of cows 

 To gather the herb for himself? 



The "leader" among cattle is termed ccannahha, ceannabhoin, 

 boinneacheann, ceann-ni or nith. The word ni is used by Gillies 

 as follows : — 



'Nuair thig an droch earrach 



'S nuair a chaillear an ni 's a ghleann. 



When the bad (inclement) spring comes 

 And the cattle will be lost in the glen. 



Another term for herd or flock is used in : — 



Thigeadh tu dhachaidh air toiseach an t-sealbhain. 

 Thou would'st come home at the head of the flock. 



The word "tain" used generally for cattle or herds, also means 

 spoils, mental endowments, so much did cattle represent all that 

 was good. Prime cattle are " cleite " or " cleithe," and " dul, dula " 

 in the sense of property ; while a term in old Celtic writings for 

 the choicest or best is " forggu-dine." A prayer said to be by 

 a Lewisman runs somewhat as follows, " Blioch'd 'us dair air an 

 Ni, 's meadar blathaich anns gach aite 's an tachair sin." Milk 

 and rutting to the cattle, and a measure of buttermilk in every 

 place where that happens. 



For the famous song of "Crodh Chailein," or Colin's cattle, see 

 under article Deer. 



Cattle " lifting," as is well known, was in great favour in both 

 the Highlands and the Lowlands of Scotland in the days of yore, 

 being looked on, at least in the Highlands, as a creditable and 

 gentlemanly practice. "Scaumer" was a term given in the 

 Lowlands to one of these "lifting" gentry. Seumas-an-Tuim, 

 alias James Grant of Carron, who went out on an occasion to lift 

 a spreach, spreadh, or creach, was the subject of the well-known 

 song composed about the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the 

 seventeenth century, " Mnathan a ghlinne so," or Bodach nam 

 briogais. 



