NOETHEEN SCOTLAND. 359 



tiiiued at the court of Scotland about the middle of the eleventh century, and is 

 doomed to disappear. Far poorer in its literature and less cultivated than AYelsh, 

 its domain diminishes with every decade, for English is now almost universally 

 spoken in the towns, and the Highland valleys are becoming depopulated, or 

 invaded by Saxon sportsmen and graziers. If Caledonia really stands for Gael- 

 Bun, or " Mountain of the Gael," then its limits are becoming narrower every 

 time the meshes of the network of railroads are drawn tighter. But though 

 Celtic may disappear as a spoken language, the geographical nomenclature of 

 Scotland will for all time bear witness to its ancient domination. Those 

 acquainted with Gaelic may obtain a tolerably correct notion of the relief of the 

 ground by merely studying the names upon a map. Names like hen, cam, carr, 

 carragh, cnoc, creag, cniach, dun, mam, meal, monaclh, sguir, sith, sithean, stob, stuc, 

 tolm, torr, tullich, and sliahh will suggest to their minds variously shaped moun- 

 tains ; eye, i, and innis denote islands ; Unne and loch represent lakes or gulfs ; 

 (tbh, abhuinn, uisge, esk, and huinne stand for rivers or torrents. Inver in the 

 west, and Aber in the east, indicate the mouths of rivers. The name Albainn, 

 Albeinn, or Albion, by which the Gaels were formerly designated, is now applied 

 to all Britain. The Gaelic bards spoke of their fellow-countrymen by preference 

 as Albannaich, or " Mountaineers."* The Albannaich of the Grampians and the 

 Albanians of the Pindus are tlius known by a similar name, having in all 

 probability the same meaning. 



The translation of one of John Knox's religious works was the first book printed 

 in Gaelic, and thus, as in Wales, the Reformation conferred upon the language of 

 the people an importance which it had not possessed before. But whilst in Wales 

 religious zeal, through its manifestations in the pulpit and the press, has contributed 

 in a large measure to keep alive the native idiom, the division of the Highlanders into 

 Catholics and Protestants has resulted in a diminution of the collective patriotism 

 of the people, as it reveals itself in language. Catholics are numerous in the 

 county of Inverness, and it merely depended upon the chief of a clan whether 

 his followers remained true to the old faith or embraced the new. Canna and 

 Eigg are the only Hebrides the inhabitants of which remained Catholics. Those 

 of the larger island of Euro, it is said, hesitated what to do, when the chief of 

 the MacLeods, armed with a yellow cudgel, threw himself in the way of a 

 procession marching in the direction of the Bomish church, and drove the faith- 

 ful to the temple which he patronised. Hence Protestantism on that island is 

 known to the present day as the religion of the yellow cudgel.f But notwith- 

 standing these changes of religion, many superstitions survive amongst the people. 

 In Lewis " stone" and " church" are synonymous terms, as they were in the time 

 when all religious ceremonies were performed around sacred megaliths. + 



The fame of the Highlanders had been sung by poets and novelists, until 

 they came to be looked upon as typical for bravery, loyalty, and all manly virtues 



* Forbes Leslie, "Early Eaces of Scotland." 



t Dr. Johnson, " Tour in the "Western Hebrides." 



X Anderson Smith " liewisiana." 



