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II. — Two Historical Fallacies : Heather Beer and Uisge Beithe. 

 By Eobert C. Maclagan, F.R.S.E. 



(Read 8th January 1900.) 



Using Bellenden's translation of Boece, he tells us, "Attoure in all the desertis 

 and muris of this realme growis ane herbe, namit hadder, but any seid, richt nutritive 

 baith to beistis and fowlis ; specialie to beis. This herbe, in the moneth of July, has 

 ane fioure of purpure hew, als sweit as huny. The Pichtis maid this herbe, sum time, 

 ane richt delicus and hailsum drink. Nochtheless, the maner of the making of it is 

 perist, be exterminioun of the said Pichtis out of Scotland ; for they schew nevir the 

 craft of the making of this drink bot to thair awin blud." 



As the Picts left no written records, and as they were exterminated by Kenneth 

 MacAlpin, it may be permitted to wonder how Boece came by his information 

 [Description of Albion, p. 45). When we come down to Martin, about the year 1700, we 

 find [Western Islands, p. 196) that the Picts refused to communicate their information 

 to the Scots, "and so 'tis quite lost." In Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, 1777, we find : 

 " Formerly the young tops of the heather are said to have been used alone to brew a 

 kind of ale, and even now I was informed that the inhabitants of Islay and Jura still 

 continue to brew a very potable liquor by mixing two-thirds of the tops of heather to 

 one-third of malt." 



The tradition of heather ale has stuck closely to Islay, where it says heather was 

 grown for brewing ale. The story in the island is as follows : — 



There are a number of remarkable little plots of ground by the side of the main 

 road leading from Bridgend to Loch Gorm, and the remains of old dykes by which the 

 plots were enclosed. Local tradition says it was here the Fein had a brewery 

 where they made heather ale, and that the small plots were their heather-growing 

 grounds. 



Boece's tradition appears in two forms in the island. One is : — 



A man lived in Balinaby who made heather ale for sale. His profits were so great 

 that the neighbours wanted to find out the secret, which he would not reveal. At last 

 they seized his son and urged him to tell them, but he would not, and they put him to 

 death. They next took the father, but he continued obstinate, and they killed 

 him also. 



The other form of the tradition points out a flat stone in the old churchyard of 



Kildalton (exactly the opposite side of Islay from Balinaby) which is said to cover the 



grave of a father and his son who were both hanged together at the end of the church. 



This man and his sons were engaged making heather ale, which no one but themselves 



VOL. XL. PART I. (NO. 2). C 



