JUNE 143 



where none of the present generation has seen them, 

 their names still indicate their pristine haunts. A 

 picturesque waterfall is known at Lingat the cat's 

 pool, and a lonely glen on the mountain side as Corrie- 

 fecklach that is, coire fecolaich the corrie of the 

 stinking one, foul mart, or polecat. 



Many another glimpse of life and scenery in a by- 

 gone age is obtained through names coined by races 

 long since passed away. Much of our landscape, 

 especially in the north, is treeless now, but two 

 thousand years ago most of the country below the 

 thousand feet level was dense forest from sea to sea. 

 The names remain in many places whence the verdure 

 has disappeared. I have in mind a bleak wind-swept 

 moorland whereof the name Derry, our rendering of 

 the Gaelic doire, proves that it was once umbrageous 

 with oaks. Not far distant is a farm bearing the 

 quaint title of Inshanks, which it requires but a slight 

 acquaintance with Gaelic to recognise as uinseann, the 

 ash wood. So Loch Goosie, a tarn in the same district, 

 with nothing taller than a rush bush within sight of it, 

 bears in its name no reference to fowl, wild or tame, 

 but declares that it was once sequestered in a pine 

 forest giuthesach. 



It may be thought that one might be more profitably 

 occupied than in unravelling the significance of these 

 well-worn titles. Possibly, but experto credite, a little 

 understanding of them adds vastly to the pleasure of a 

 country ramble. 



