第34章 ULINISH(2)

Those,said he,are the walls of a place of refuge,built in the time of James the Sixth,by Hugh Macdonald,who was next heir to the dignity and fortune of his chief.Hugh,being so near his wish,was impatient of delay;and had art and influence sufficient to engage several gentlemen in a plot against the Laird's life.

Something must be stipulated on both sides;for they would not dip their hands in blood merely for Hugh's advancement.The compact was formerly written,signed by the conspirators,and placed in the hands of one Macleod.

It happened that Macleod had sold some cattle to a drover,who,not having ready money,gave him a bond for payment.The debt was discharged,and the bond re-demanded;which Macleod,who could not read,intending to put into his hands,gave him the conspiracy.

The drover,when he had read the paper,delivered it privately to Macdonald;who,being thus informed of his danger,called his friends together,and provided for his safety.He made a public feast,and inviting Hugh Macdonald and his confederates,placed each of them at the table between two men of known fidelity.The compact of conspiracy was then shewn,and every man confronted with his own name.Macdonald acted with great moderation.He upbraided Hugh,both with disloyalty and ingratitude;but told the rest,that he considered them as men deluded and misinformed.Hugh was sworn to fidelity,and dismissed with his companions;but he was not generous enough to be reclaimed by lenity;and finding no longer any countenance among the gentlemen,endeavoured to execute the same design by meaner hands.In this practice he was detected,taken to Macdonald's castle,and imprisoned in the dungeon.When he was hungry,they let down a plentiful meal of salted meat;and when,after his repast,he called for drink,conveyed to him a covered cup,which,when he lifted the lid,he found empty.From that time they visited him no more,but left him to perish in solitude and darkness.

We were then told of a cavern by the sea-side,remarkable for the powerful reverberation of sounds.After dinner we took a boat,to explore this curious cavity.The boatmen,who seemed to be of a rank above that of common drudges,inquired who the strangers were,and being told we came one from Scotland,and the other from England,asked if the Englishman could recount a long genealogy.

What answer was given them,the conversation being in Erse,I was not much inclined to examine.

They expected no good event of the voyage;for one of them declared that he heard the cry of an English ghost.This omen I was not told till after our return,and therefore cannot claim the dignity of despising it.

The sea was smooth.We never left the shore,and came without any disaster to the cavern,which we found rugged and misshapen,about one hundred and eighty feet long,thirty wide in the broadest part,and in the loftiest,as we guessed,about thirty high.It was now dry,but at high water the sea rises in it near six feet.Here Isaw what I had never seen before,limpets and mussels in their natural state.But,as a new testimony to the veracity of common fame,here was no echo to be heard.

We then walked through a natural arch in the rock,which might have pleased us by its novelty,had the stones,which incumbered our feet,given us leisure to consider it.We were shown the gummy seed of the kelp,that fastens itself to a stone,from which it grows into a strong stalk.

In our return,we found a little boy upon the point of rock,catching with his angle,a supper for the family.We rowed up to him,and borrowed his rod,with which Mr.Boswell caught a cuddy.

The cuddy is a fish of which I know not the philosophical name.It is not much bigger than a gudgeon,but is of great use in these Islands,as it affords the lower people both food,and oil for their lamps.Cuddies are so abundant,at sometimes of the year,that they are caught like whitebait in the Thames,only by dipping a basket and drawing it back.

If it were always practicable to fish,these Islands could never be in much danger from famine;but unhappily in the winter,when other provision fails,the seas are commonly too rough for nets,or boats.