130 Mr. Hardy on the Wolf in Scotland. 



Staircase in Argyle, on the borders of Invernessshire) and 

 over the " Speckled Mountains," and found, and slew him, 

 and there never was a wolf in Scotland more. The narrator 

 also gave me these bits of traveller's lore. Wolves, he said, 

 are the best of companions (they don't hurt one, he meant,) 

 walking alongside, if you let them alone, and are not sus- 

 picious of them ; but if you lose confidence they will seize 

 you instantly. If a pack of wolves come on you, and you 

 carry a stick, if you trail the stick behind you, they will all 

 turn tail and flee. This is worth knowing — if true. 



" There are two races of McDonalds in Braemar," says 

 Miss Taylor, " each with its own distinctive legend. One 

 of them states that a little boy of the name of McDonald 

 was carried away by a wolf from Glen Cluny ; — wolves being 

 at that time very plentiful. After carrying him off, the wolf 

 did not destroy him, but treated him, instead, as one of her 

 own cubs. So he grew up a veritable wild man of the woods, 

 and not unfrequently joined the wolves in their predatory 

 expeditions. With such companionship and designs he often 

 visited the house of his mother, and was hounded off by the 

 dogs. By some means it was discovered who he was ; and 

 his relations, having traced him out to his lair, succeeded in 

 communicating the circumstances of his birth and abduction. 

 They prevailed on him also to leave his sylvan life, and settle 

 down in a somewhat tamer manner. He never would return 

 to his mother, however, being apparently unable to get over 

 the fact that she had hounded him off with dogs ; and he 

 often reproached her, it is said, in some Gaelic rhyme, which 

 is a little too coarse for translation. He married at length, 

 and from him proceeded the race known as the ' Sliochd a' 

 Mhadaidh Alluidh,' i.e. ' the Race of the Wolf.' "* 



" Between Brabster and Freswick, in Caithness, at a 

 hollow called Wolfs-burn, there is a tradition that the last 

 wolf in the country was killed. "f Dr. Robert Brown, who 

 called my attention to this passage, has also informed me, 

 that in connection with a tradition of great woods having 

 once existed in Caithnessshire (as indeed the endless re- 

 mains in the bogs abundantly prove) ; — that those in the 

 vicinity of Wick were said to have been cut down by the en- 

 raged inhabitants, on account of their harbouring wolves. 



* "Tales and Traditions of the Braemar Highlands," p. 71, HO, 111. 

 t "New Statist, Ace. of Scotland," vol. xv., p. 24. 



