THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
The pictured stones of ancient Scotland bear eloquent witness of the 
days of sport and storm in which the ancient Celts delighted. On nearly 
all we have representations, some (such as the Meigle stone) being re- 
markably graphic, of hunting as it was then conducted. These relics are 
coincidental with the Bronze Age and the early Roman occupation. The 
spear may have played some small part, but this was more used in battle 
and in sport after the coming of the horse. The chief weapon was the bow 
and arrow, assisted by large and powerful hounds, which not only bayed 
the game, but prevented it from becoming too dangerous after it was 
wounded. No doubt there were many other devices for taking game beside 
the drive and the pitfall already described, but we do not see in the sculp- 
tured stone any such aids as nets and nooses, such as used by the ancient 
Greeks, and were common in Central Europe and the British Isles in 
the Middle Ages. 
Dr John MacPherson thus describes the banquets of the Hebridean 
chiefs : 
“The whole tribe filled the Chieftain’s Hall. The trunks of trees, 
covered with moss, were laid in the order of a table from one end of 
the hall to the other. Whole deer and beeves were roasted and laid 
before them on rough boards or hurdles of rods wove together. Their 
pipers played while they sat at table, and silence was observed 
by all.’’ 
In later times, with the introduction of the long-bow, and afterwards 
the more powerful cross-bow, came skilled organization in deer-driving 
on a much grander scale. This was known as the TaincheU and was literally 
a cordon of men who slowly drove the deer — ^the operation sometimes 
occupying several days, and extending over a great area — to some spot 
where the hunters lay concealed. Great chiefs combined with all their 
vassals and drove immense districts, the results being in proportion 
to the skill of the men and quality of the weapons employed. Very interest- 
ing accounts of these great hunts are to be found in the MS. of Col. James 
Farquharson, of Invercauld, and the writings of John Taylor, the Water 
Poet, William Barclay, and Robert Lindsay, of Pitscottie. 
The last-named has given us an excellent account of the great Tainchel 
organized by the Earl of Athole, in Perthshire, for the entertainment 
of King James V, who was accompanied by the Queen-mother and the 
Papal Ambassador in the year 1529. He writes: 
. “Upon the next summer thereafter, the King, together with his 
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