WOLF SLAIN BY A WOMAN u 



she thrust the knife down his throat, the towel 

 shielding her hand from his teeth when he 

 closed his jaws.' 



The custom, so common in the Highlands, 

 of interring the dead on islands is said, by con- 

 stant tradition, to have prevailed in order that 

 the graves should not be despoiled by the 

 wolves. Such, for example, is the story of the 

 graveyard in the island of Handa, 1 and of those 

 on Innishail on Loch Awe, and on the island 

 of St. Munda on Loch Leven, at Glencoe. 

 With regard to the last, the writer once asked 

 a native if he knew why an inconvenient island 

 on a stormy loch was chosen for that purpose, 

 his reply was that it was ' on account of the 

 tigers.' He admitted, however, that the 'tiger' 

 had never been indigenous in these parts, and 

 that the wolf, * Madadh-galla,' as he called it 

 was doubtless meant. It was formerly the 

 custom in Atholl to inter the dead in coffins 

 formed of five flag -stones, for the same 

 purpose. 



4 Madadh-allaidh,' wild hound, seems to be 

 the correct Gaelic name for the wolf; in ordi- 

 nary conversation usually ' Madadh-galla/ which 

 appears to be merely a euphonic alteration. 

 ' Faol' or ' Faol-chu,' with the same significa- 



1 Harvie- Brown, Fauna of Sutherland, Caithness, and Cromarty. 



