THE GAELIC EDEN. 97 



but in a merry mood, with many dexterous feats of poach- 

 ing, and driving the duke's deer to the north, when the 

 wind served, which he did not altogether deny. 



" Well," said Tortoise, " take some more whiskey, and a 

 pinch of snuff from my mull ; but you must not steal the 

 duke's deer, man" 



" Hout-tout ! Ye're a true Sassenach, an' the like o' ye 

 chiels aye ca' liftin' stealin', which is na joost Christian- 

 like." 



" Well, what would you give for such bonny braes and 

 birks and rivers as are in the forest of Atholl, if they could 

 be transferred to your wild country ?" 



" And are there nae bonny braes and birks in Badenoch ? 

 Ye're joost as bad as our minister ; but fat need the man 

 say ony thing mair aboot the matter, fan I tell 'im that I'll 

 prove, frae his ain Bible, ony day he likes, that the Lios- 

 mor, as we ca' the great garden in Gaelic, stood in its day 

 joost far the muir o' Badenoch lies noo, an' in nae ither place 

 aneth the sun; isna there an island in the Loch Lhinne 

 that bears the name o' the Liosmor to this blessed day ? fan 

 I tell you that, an' that I hae seen the island mysel, fa can 

 cloot my word ?" 



" But, Mac, the Bible says the garden was planted east- 

 ward, in Eden." 



" Hout ! aye ; but that disna say but the garden micht 

 be in Badenoch ! for Eden is a Gaelic word for a river, an' 

 am shaire there's nae want o' them there ; an' as for its 

 bein' east o'er, that is, when Adam planted the Liosmor, he 

 sat in a bonny bothan on a brae in Lochaber, an' nae doot 

 lukit east war' to Badenoch, an' saw a'thing sproutin' an 

 growin' atween im an' the sun fan it cam ripplin o'er the 

 braes frae Atholl in the braw simmer mornings." 



o 



" But, Mac, the Bible further says, they took fig leaves 

 and made themselves aprons ; you cannot say that figs ever 

 grew in Badenoch." 



" Hout-tout ! there's naebody can tell fat grew in Bade- 

 noch i' the days of the Liosmor ; an' altho' nae figs grow 

 noo, there's mony a bonny fiag runs yet o'er the braes o' 

 both Badenoch and Lochaber. It was flag's skins, an' no fig 

 blades that they made claes o'. Fiag, I maun tell you, is 



