DERMID AND THE WILD BOAR. 287 



fought in it. Cairn-Bran stands there, the place where 

 Fingal's dog, Bran, was buried, and the holy waters of 

 Tober Massan rise from its mosses, which are supposed to 

 have cured many diseases. The upright stones of Carriken- 

 Chligh also stand there, which, as the name denotes, mark 

 the graves of great men. Nor must we neglect to mention 

 that stone, of many tons weight, called Clach-macmeas, 

 hurled to this spot from a distance of some miles by a young 

 giant of the tender age of two months. 



It is well known to all who are aware of the Macpherson 

 controversy, that poetical notices of Fingal and his warriors 

 have descended by oral tradition, from an unknown age to 

 the present generation, amongst persons unable to read or 

 write, and that such traditions are scattered over the whole 

 extent of the Highlands. They are recollected only in 

 fragments, and, even in this broken condition, are known 

 only to a few of the oldest inhabitants, who imbibed them 

 in their infancy. 



Dermid, says one of these traditions, was beloved by the 

 wife of one of his friends, but he honourably repelled her 

 advances. Whilst travelling with Fingal's party through 

 the forest of Ben-hope, she accidentally splashed herself 

 with some muddy water : and being piqued at the slight 

 she had met with, " Behold," said she, " the foul water of 

 the bog has more spirit than Dermid." This taunt rankled 

 in his bosom, and made him reckless of danger. 



The party soon afterwards roused a wild boar, who was 

 of such large dimensions, and of so fierce an aspect, that 

 none of them dared to encounter him singly. Dermid 

 rushed alone upon the furious brute, and, with the assist- 

 ance of his dogs, transfixed him with his spear. " Loud 

 roared the boar in the midst of his rocks and woods," but 

 Dermid alone had the fame of his slaughter. 



In those days it was a test of innocence, if a person sus- 

 pected of crime, measured with his bare legs and feet, and 

 with impunity, the bristled back of a dead boar, proceeding 

 from the tail to the head, against the sharp points of the 

 bristles. To this ordeal Dermid cheerfully agreed to sub- 

 mit, to satisfy his friends that he had never injured any of 

 them. But some invidious person dexterously sprinkled 



