mbinn ós Glinn Da Rúadh."-" Sweet is the voice of the cuckoo on the bending tree above Glenn Da Ruadh." We have here pictured a definite tree, whereas it should have been termed "a choille chrom”—“the bending wood," an old forest in Caolghlean, deriving its name from a natural curve over which it extended. About sixty years ago this wood was an impassable jungle, the covert for native vermin, and in the winter a shelter for the red deer from the forest of Benmore. At that date it was levelled to the ground, charred, and conveyed for smelting iron to Furnace on the west banks of Lochfyne. The young shoots when left unenclosed were exterminated by sheep and cattle.

Gillies' fragment of 1786 is a true picture of this locality:

"Gleann Daruaill

An gleann is binne guth cuaich

Is binne guth gaodhair fo'n choille chruim

Os ar ceann ann Gleann Daruaill."

This would indicate that the pleasant voice of the hounds was heard in the forest; and it is yet proverbial among the old natives that the first notes of the cuckoo were expected to be heard in the "coillechrom."

Regarding the name I explained in the Second Part that it was derived from the bloody battle which the Scots and their allies had with the Danes in 918. With the exception of the Glenmasan MS., the oldest form of the name is "Glenrowale," literally, "the glen-of-red-blood." The loch, the river, and other landmarks still retain this name.

Patrick Lamondson was king's crowner for the district in 1445; in his returns we learn that the crown rents of the third part of Glenrowale amounted to £13 6s. 8d., and the king's marts for the other two parts of Glenrowale were 44.

In 1452, King James II. granted to Duncan, Lord Campbell,

20 mark lands in his lordship of Kowale, in the barony of Kanlochrowal. (Or. Par. Scot.)

INmain Draigen is trén traigh,
inmain a uisce ingainimh glain:
nocha ticfuinn eisde anoir

mana tisuinn lem inmain.

Beloved is Draigen over a strong beach:

Dear its water in pure sand;

I would not have come from it, from the east,
Had not I come with my beloved.

In the Highland Society's Report of 1805, "inmain uisge in gainimh glan" is rendered “Inmain Auichd a ghainimh ghlain,” which they translate-" Lovely is Avich of the brightest sand." This mistake of Avich for uisge (water) is followed by Dr. M'Lauchlan and others. The Dublin and Turner versions render the phrase correctly. Dr. Skene says "Inis draigende” is "Inis Strynich on Lochawe." I shall endeavour to shew that "Inis draigende" and the "Draigen is tren traigh" of the Glenmasan MS. is not Inis Strynich on Lochawe, but the vale of Stryne and Lochstryne in Cowal, which still retain their ancient name in Gaelic. In a charter granted by King Robert III., in 1400, for erecting Rothesay into a royal burgh, parts of the boundaries given are "all in the Kyles of Bute and Lochstryne in the north." (Or. Par. Scot.)

The prefix inis has many significations in Gaelic-thus, inis, an island, also a sheltered valley, a field to graze cattle, pastures along a stream, and resting place for cattle-all these definitions except "island" are applicable to the beautiful valley of the Stryne. We find the term inis often applied to inland places, such as Inis-nan-con in Appin, Inis-nan-damh in Sutherland, and Inis-nam-bó in Lochaber. It is probable that the "s" in Stryne is an abbreviation of Inis. Tryne and Dryne are com

mutable terms; in old MSS., the "d" and the "t" are often substituted for each other. The descriptions given in the Glenmasan MS. are not applicable to the sluggish waters about Inis Strynich, which cannot be called the strong beach or the sounding or stormy shore; neither can its mossy silted beach be called the "water o'er the pure sand;" but Lochstryne is well known to be one of the most stormy lochs on the west of Scotland, and is well entitled to be called Draigen of the strong or stormy shore. So also are its waters entitled to be called " uisge a ghainimh ghlan"-" water o'er the pure sand." Whether we view the clear gravelly bottom of the Stryne that meanders through the vale, or that of the large sandbank at the end of the loch, the phrase "Lovely water o'er the pure sand" is suitable to either.

CHAPTER X.

CONCLUSION.

N ending the dissection of "Ossian's Poems," I must observe

IN

that there is one phase of the Ossianic controversy that

has not hitherto been disposed of by either party, viz. :

THE AGE AND ORIGIN OF THE HEROIC TALES AND BALLADS

ASCRIBED TO OSSIAN.

The abettors of "Ossian's Poems" rest much of the proof of their antiquity on the proper names and incidents contained in these ballads, and which are known to have existed before the time of Macpherson; while those denying the genuineness of the poems admit the antiquity of the heroic names in the ballads without attempting to solve their age or origin. This indecision has been the means of continuing the dispute, which serves only to shift the difficulty backward without solving it.

J. F. Campbell, of Islay, in his "Highland Tales," makes reference to Diarmad O'Duin, the mythological progenitor of the Campbells, as being one of the Ossianic heroes of the fifth century. If this name be admitted as a reality, why not admit of all the Ossianic fraternity?

Silvester O'Halloran, who wrote the preface to Miss Brook's Reliques of Irish Poetry" (Dublin, 1789), says: "In the reign of Connor MacNessa, king of Ulster, about the year of the world 3950, A.M., according to our chronology fifty years before the Christian era, Ireland abounded in heroes of the most shining intrepidity, inasmuch that they were all over Europe, by

way of eminence called the HEROES of the WESTERN ISLE. Among these were Cuchullin, the son of Sualthach; Conal Cearnach, master of the Ulster knights, and the sons of Uisneach, Naoise, Ainle, and Ardan, all cousins german." If these heroes ever existed, why not believe in those of Ossian?

Dr. Skene, in his "Introduction to the Book of the Dean of Lismore," proposes the question, "Who were the Feine of tradition, and to what country and period are they to be assigned." To which he replies, "The Feine belonged to the pre-Milesian races, and were connected not only with Erin, but likewise with Alban, Breatan, and Lochlan. They belong to the population which preceded the Germans in Lochlan, and the Scots in Erin and Alban." (Pp. 65-76-77.)

We may fancy how the manes of Macpherson rejoiced after suffering so long the sneers of his critics, to find Islay, O'Halloran, Skene, and others quoting evidence in support of the antiquity of his Fingalian heroes; but unfortunately for him the evidences of the three are based on the monkish romances of Ireland, and they stand or fall together.

If the early history of Scotland had been a blank, any plausible story might be palmed on the credulity of the reader; but unlike other modern nations in Europe, Scotland has an unique early history supported by credible contemporary annals -these evidences might be termed internal and external. The external records are those of other nations which refer to this country and its inhabitants. They extend from the second to the eighth century, while the internal extend from the fifth century to the dawn of modern history.

THE EXTERNAL

references to the history of Scotland are derived from Roman writers, viz. :-Tacitus, 78-84; Trebellius, 85; Hadrian, 120;