MARCH 4D 



north, and amassed a vast amount of Highland tradi- 

 tion that must otherwise have faded into oblivion. As 

 they justly observe, it is natural that 'the last wolf 

 should be commemorated in many districts as the last 

 in Scotland ; but they give pretty good evidence that 

 no strath can prove a later date than 1743, when a 

 famous hunting took place in the romantic valley of 

 the Findhorn. 



The Monadh-liath, a desolate upland whence the 

 Findhorn takes its rise, was haunted by packs of wolves 

 long after their kind had been killed out in more acces- 

 sible regions. Only in summer did the crofters drive 

 their herds to this distant pasture ; in winter the shiel- 

 ings stood empty; the hills were abandoned to deer, 

 and the deer to the wolves. But as the eighteenth 

 century wore on, even this wilderness ceased to be 

 sanctuary ; and before it was half sped, a wolf became 

 a rare sight. The most noted carnach in destroying 

 wolves was MacQueen of Pall-a'-chrocain, a massive 

 duine-uasail, who stood six feet seven inches in his 

 brogues. To this famous hunter one winter day in 

 1743 came word from Macintosh of Moy x that a great 

 black beast had come off the hill and carried away a 



1 The Stuarts, who are my authority for this story, protest vigor- 

 ously against the modern usage in speaking of the chief of the second 

 house of Clan Chattan as The Mackintosh. There is no instance in 

 Gaelic, they declare, of the definite article an being prefixed to Mac, 

 the proper term of filiation. It has come into use through false 

 analogy with The Chisholm, a title which appears rightly enough in 

 the Gaelic An Siosalach, the definite article indicating the race of 

 Chisholm, originally Norman, and, it is alleged, of" common descent 

 with the Cecils. Macintosh means 'Son of the Chief,' and to speak 

 or write of 'The Mackintosh,' or, as has been done lately, 'The Mac- 

 kintosh of Mackintosh,' is sheer parody of Gaelic nomenclature. 

 D 



