Chapter I: Front Matter

FROM THE HEBRIDES
TO
THE HIMALAYAS.
=A Sketch of Eighteen Months’ Wanderings in Western Isles and Eastern
Highlands.=

BY

CONSTANCE F. GORDON CUMMING.

“Come o’er the green hills to the sunny sea,
The boundless sea that washes many lands;
Where shells unknown to England, fair and free,
Lie brightly scattered on the gleaming sands.
There, ’mid the hush of slumb’rous ocean’s roar,
We’ll sit and watch the silver tissued waves
Creep languidly along the basking shore,
Kissing thy gentle feet like eastern slaves.”

_IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. I._

LONDON:

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, AND RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.
1876.

[_All Rights Reserved._]

_DEDICATION._

_To the Sister, whose loving care preserved such rough “Notes of a Wanderer” as from time to time reached her from over the sea, I dedicated the same, when at her suggestion, I strung them together in their present form._

_These pages have lain by for a little while, and in that interval she, at whose bidding they were penned, has passed away from earth._

_To her loving Memory I now Dedicate them, ere sending them forth to meet the eyes of less sympathizing critics._

_CRESSWELL, NORTHUMBERLAND._

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.

In the unavoidable absence of Miss GORDON CUMMING from England during the progress of her work through the press, the Publishers have to acknowledge their indebtedness to Miss ISABELLA L. BIRD, the accomplished authoress of _The Hawaiian Archipelago_, who at much personal inconvenience has undertaken the revision of the proof sheets on behalf of her friend. Miss BIRD wishes it to be known that, with the exception of certain omissions and verbal alterations, the text remains as originally written.

PREFATORY NOTE.

As these volumes were compiled mainly from letters to near relatives, and from journals intended for their perusal, a few allusions to family memories occur which may not be of interest to the general reader. In the absence of the author, who sailed unexpectedly for Fiji as the first sheets went to press, the editor has thought it best to leave these allusions as they stand.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE MULL OF CANTYRE.

PAGE

Its Early History—Its Ruined Churches and Lonely
Churchyards—Sundry Legends of Saints and Warriors—Kelp Burners 1

CHAPTER II.

THE INNER HEBRIDES.

Why the Mull of Cantyre is included—Islay, Scarba, and Jura—Legend
of the Whirlpool of Corrievreken—Oban—The Serpent Mound—Serpent
Legends—Dunstaffnage—Legend of the Coronation Stone—Iona—Legends
of St. Colomba and his Druidic Predecessors—The 360 Crosses—360
Sacred Stones of Mecca—Traces of Heathen Customs—Staffa—Mull—Ben
Cruachan—Legends—Rum—Canna—Isle of Muck or Wild Boar—Traces of
Animals now Extinct in Great Britain—Legend of the Scuir of
Eigg—Reach Portree 29

CHAPTER III.

THE QUIRAING. ISLE OF SKYE.

Old Church Customs—Lack of Timber—Encroachments of the Sea—Dr.
Johnson in Skye—Legend of Hugh’s Castle—The Rock Wilderness of
Quraing—Duntulm Castle—Plague of Midges—Great Sacramental
Gathering on the Hillside—Island Customs 101

CHAPTER IV.

A STRING OF QUAINT BEADS FROM MANY LANDS.

A Concert Room—Duntulm Castle—Chapel of Fladda—Magic Stones and
Crystals—Summer Yachting—Fairy-like Caves—Legends of Water
Kelpies and Brownies—Of Divers Superstitions still prevalent,
and of others now obsolete, common to Britain and India, such as
Planet Worship; Ordeal by Fire and Water; Belief in
Transmigration; the Fiery Cross; Unclean Meats; Distinction
between Wild Boar and Domestic Swine; the Sacred Goose; Sacred
Fish; Sacrifice of Cocks in Illness; Magic Circles; of Spilling
Salt; of Sneezing—Geology of the Coast—The Storr Rock—A Dismal
Walk Home—Sacrifices of Bulls to St. Malruba—Fishers Starting
for the Season—Seals and Cormorants—Fish without Scales deemed
Unclean—An Eel in a Ball-room—Drawing the Salmon
Nets—Transformations of the Jelly-fish and Barnacle Goose—Belief
in Existence of Mermaids 128