第31章 DUNVEGAN(1)

At Raasay,by good fortune,Macleod,so the chief of the clan is called,was paying a visit,and by him we were invited to his seat at Dunvegan.Raasay has a stout boat,built in Norway,in which,with six oars,he conveyed us back to Sky.We landed at Port Re,so called,because James the Fifth of Scotland,who had curiosity to visit the Islands,came into it.The port is made by an inlet of the sea,deep and narrow,where a ship lay waiting to dispeople Sky,by carrying the natives away to America.

In coasting Sky,we passed by the cavern in which it was the custom,as Martin relates,to catch birds in the night,by making a fire at the entrance.This practice is disused;for the birds,as is known often to happen,have changed their haunts.

Here we dined at a publick house,I believe the only inn of the island,and having mounted our horses,travelled in the manner already described,till we came to Kingsborough,a place distinguished by that name,because the King lodged here when he landed at Port Re.We were entertained with the usual hospitality by Mr.Macdonald and his lady,Flora Macdonald,a name that will be mentioned in history,and if courage and fidelity be virtues,mentioned with honour.She is a woman of middle stature,soft features,gentle manners,and elegant presence.

In the morning we sent our horses round a promontory to meet us,and spared ourselves part of the day's fatigue,by crossing an arm of the sea.We had at last some difficulty in coming to Dunvegan;for our way led over an extensive moor,where every step was to be taken with caution,and we were often obliged to alight,because the ground could not be trusted.In travelling this watery flat,Iperceived that it had a visible declivity,and might without much expence or difficulty be drained.But difficulty and expence are relative terms,which have different meanings in different places.

To Dunvegan we came,very willing to be at rest,and found our fatigue amply recompensed by our reception.Lady Macleod,who had lived many years in England,was newly come hither with her son and four daughters,who knew all the arts of southern elegance,and all the modes of English economy.Here therefore we settled,and did not spoil the present hour with thoughts of departure.

Dunvegan is a rocky prominence,that juts out into a bay,on the west side of Sky.The house,which is the principal seat of Macleod,is partly old and partly modern;it is built upon the rock,and looks upon the water.It forms two sides of a small square:on the third side is the skeleton of a castle of unknown antiquity,supposed to have been a Norwegian fortress,when the Danes were masters of the Islands.It is so nearly entire,that it might have easily been made habitable,were there not an ominous tradition in the family,that the owner shall not long outlive the reparation.The grandfather of the present Laird,in defiance of prediction,began the work,but desisted in a little time,and applied his money to worse uses.

As the inhabitants of the Hebrides lived,for many ages,in continual expectation of hostilities,the chief of every clan resided in a fortress.This house was accessible only from the water,till the last possessor opened an entrance by stairs upon the land.

They had formerly reason to be afraid,not only of declared wars and authorized invaders,or of roving pirates,which,in the northern seas,must have been very common;but of inroads and insults from rival clans,who,in the plenitude of feudal independence,asked no leave of their Sovereign to make war on one another.Sky has been ravaged by a feud between the two mighty powers of Macdonald and Macleod.Macdonald having married a Macleod upon some discontent dismissed her,perhaps because she had brought him no children.Before the reign of James the Fifth,a Highland Laird made a trial of his wife for a certain time,and if she did not please him,he was then at liberty to send her away.

This however must always have offended,and Macleod resenting the injury,whatever were its circumstances,declared,that the wedding had been solemnized without a bonfire,but that the separation should be better illuminated;and raising a little army,set fire to the territories of Macdonald,who returned the visit,and prevailed.