The North Uist Seal Hunt - Part 2

The Inverness Advertiser was founded in June 1849 as a weekly newspaper representing crofter and Free Church interests, a radical alternative to the long-established, and establishment supporting, Inverness Courier. In its first few months, the Advertiser needed a cause to champion. The violent evictions carried out by Sheriff-Substitute and his officers, accompanied by police from Inverness, on behalf of the Macdonald estates against the people of Sollas in North Uist had made newspaper headlines throughout Britain, and the Advertiser reported them in detail. Towards the end of August the editor despatched as a special reporter the controversial and volatile Anglo-Irish campaigning writer Thomas Mulock (1789–1869), shortly to become its editor, in order to interview the people of Sollas and, in a series of letters, to communicate their grievances to the wider world.

The Advertiser also had a local correspondent on North Uist, who not only wrote about the Sollas evictions, but compiled for the 6 November issue a wonderfully mordant account of the chaotic end to the celebrations arranged by the local gentry at a ball held in Macaulay’s Inn, Taigh a’ Ghearraidh, to mark the birth of Somerled (1849–74), the new heir to the Macdonald estate: ‘Not a few telling blows were exchanged to the effusion of blood…’ We might print it in a future blog.

It is tempting to identify the Advertiser’s correspondent as the local Free Church minister, the Rev. Norman MacLeod (1801–81). Having been ‘[d]riven from post to pillar’ [CW133A fo.86] after leaving the Established Church at the Disruption of 1843, he was living at Cille Pheadair, by then incorporated into Baile an Lòin between Taigh a’ Ghearraidh and Griminis. This tack was farmed by his father-in-law, Dr Alexander MacLeod (1788–1854), well-known in Uist tradition as the land improver an Dotair Bàn. At Cille Pheadair the Rev. MacLeod ‘built a pretty house there with bow windows in the roof.’ In his manuscript history of North Uist, the Rev. Angus MacDonald of Killearnan (1860–1932) voices, as so often, a rather sardonic opinion:

The poor man struggled on all his life amid many difficulties which he seemed never to overcome. Always in financial straits he suffered great privations.

   Mr Norman was not a popular preacher, not possessing the gift, much valued in his time, of declamation. He could never get up steam. He was, what the folks often called him, ‘sgagach’ [cracked, split]. [CW133B fos.183^v, 183^v–184]

It is probable that it was the Rev. Norman MacLeod who composed the account of the seal-hunting expedition that appeared in the Inverness Advertiser of 18 December.

The North Uist seal hunt was not simply a colourful local peculiarity. Note how precisely the shares of the hunt were allotted: we’ll return to this point later on this week. North Uist estate accounts testify to how significant seal oil was to the local economy on the west of the island, a lucrative commodity sold far and wide not only for lamps but as a valuable medicine and embrocation for man and beast. According to the report in the Inverness Advertiser, the seal hunt of 1849 was a difficult one: much later in the year than usual, and attended by little success. Bad weather was clearly a factor in delaying the expedition, although the upheavals earlier in the year in Sollas might also have hindered its taking place. But one wonders also if a lack of tenantry assisting with the hunt might have been the cause of so many seals ‘effecting their escape’. Was it the case that disaffected tenants were unwilling to lend a hand?

The tacksman of Griminis at the time, the man who would have got the lion’s share of the profit from the seal hunt, was none other than the Established Church of Scotland minister of North Uist, the Rev. Finlay MacRae (1792–1858), originally from Lochcarron. In 1829 MacRae had acquired the recently cleared tack of Griminis to go with the island of Bhàlaigh, given him in lieu of a glebe. Six years before the expedition described above, at the time of the Disruption of 1843, much of MacRae's congregation outwith the immediate environs of his church at Cille Mhuire near Baile Raghnaill had deserted him, much to his chagrin, for the breakaway Free Church.

The Rev. Angus MacDonald had little good to say about the Rev. Finlay MacRae:

As a matter of fact Mr Finlay devoted most of his time to his farm and secular duties generally, neglecting as he was bound to do his duties as a minister. He by no means lacked ability, and his preaching when he chose to exert himself was above par, but he was vain glorious and would fain be the big man of the parish in all secular matters. He became more and more worldly and drank whisky to excess. All men considered him very imperfectly sanctified. In the day of the Church’s trial this was not the kind of man to represent her, or defend her, and accordingly Mr Norman Macleod who was by no means too aggressive had it all his own way. [CW133B fos.176^r–v]

The standing of the Rev. Finlay MacRae in the island did not flourish during the time of the Sollas evictions. A report in the Inverness Advertiser of 21 August 1849 states that as soon as the minister heard that the sheriff-officers and police were on their way to eject the tenants, he made a panicky midnight ride to the villages concerned, roused the people from their sleep, and forcefully demanded that they remain peaceful. If they resisted, they would be carried by the police, ‘bound in fetters, to the jail of Inverness’. The correspondent continues: ‘[h]is conduct on the succeeding days was flippant and officious in the extreme.’ An island song composed after the Sollas evictions suggests how Maighstir Fionnlagh’s reputation was by now bound up with the estate authorities:

Mo mhallachd dhan t-Siorram

’S dhan Chilleadair Ruadh,

Cùbair is Fionnlagh,

’S iad suarach dhan t-sluagh.

My curse on the Sheriff

And on the Red-haired Trustee,

Cooper and Finlay,

Contemptuous of the people.

 [[Rev. Dr Roderick MacLeod], Kilmuir Church, North Uist, 1894–1994 (Inverness, 1994), 11–12]

The ‘Red-haired Trustee’ is James MacDonald of Balranald (d. 1855), Seumas Ruadh, the Factor of North Uist; ‘Cooper’ is Patrick Cooper, Commissioner to the Macdonald Estates.

The Rev. Finlay MacRae was best known for giving rise to the phrase ‘searmon beag na tràghad’, ‘the little sermon of the beach’, referring to the short sermons he would dash off before his congregation when he was in a hurry to return home to the island of Bhàlaigh before the tide covered the ford. The Rev. MacRae’s reputation is no better respected in the community memory of North Uist as recorded from John MacIsaac, Iain an Rubha, Taigh a’ Ghearraidh; Angus MacKenzie (1897–1984), Aonghas mac Anndra, Hogha Gearraidh (twice), and William Boyd (1912–66), Uilleam a’ Bhoidich, Sollas. See also a note by Alexander Carmichael in CW116/104 fo.32^v.

In passing, the mention of ‘Britannia bridges’ alludes to Robert Stephenson’s extraordinary tubular wrought-iron railway bridge then being built over the Menai Strait: the Inverness Advertiser of the previous week, 11 Dec 1849, had carried a brief report detailing ‘the successful floating of the second great tube of the Britannia Bridge’. ‘Mr Macdonald of Scalpeg’ who headed the party is John MacDonald of Scolpaig, later of Newton (1824–88), the popular factor of North Uist from 1855 until his death, who would be the best friend of Alexander Carmichael and his family during the years they spent in the islands.

Image: The old church of Cille Mhuire, North Uist, built 1764 (RCAHMS).

Who else was collecting Gaelic charms?

Alexander Carmichael was by no means the only Gaelic speaker collecting and publishing charms at the end of the nineteenth century. In the next few blogs we’d like to take a brief look at Carmichael’s contemporaries – all of them men – who took an interest in Gaelic charms and incantations, in order to give readers an idea of what they gathered and how they presented their finds to the public. Carmichael may well have collected the lion’s share of these fascinating items, but there is much more to Gaelic charm collection than Alexander Carmichael alone.

We saw in the previous blog how, in January 1842, the Rev. Norman MacLeod, ‘Caraid nan Gàidheal’, printed a seun or battle charm in the periodical he was then editing, Cuairtear nan Gleann. The article, entitled ‘Saobh-chràbhadh nan Gàidheal anns na lìnntibh a chaidh seachad’ (‘Superstition of the Gaels in ages past’), allowed the minister to have his cake and eat it: both to print an item which he knew would be of great interest to his readers, while at the same time giving him an opportunity to inveigh against the ‘saobh-chràbhadh’ and ‘nithe faoine’ (foolish or vain things) of an earlier generation of supposedly less enlightened Gaels.

‘Caraid nan Gàidheal’ didn’t have long to wait for some feedback. Two issues later he printed a five-page letter from ‘G— C—’, again on ‘Saobh-chràbhadh nan Gàidheal’. I see, stated G. C., that you write that ‘gach ni mu shèun, mu ghisreagan, mu gheasan, agus mu dhruidheachd’ (‘everything about seun, enchantments, spells, and druidism’) has now been forgotten.

Bu ro thaitneach leam so a chluinntinn, nam b’urrainn domh a chreidsinn gu’n robh e fìor; ach tha dearbh-chinnte agam gu’m bheil mòran de na nithean faoin agus peachdach so fathast air an cleachduinn air feadh na Gàidhealtachd, agus gu’m bheil sluagh lionmhor a toirt làn ghéill dhoibh.

I should be very pleased to hear this, if I could believe it were true; but I am absolutely certain that many of these vain and sinful things are still in use throughout the Highlands, and that numerous people believe in them totally.

In his letter, G. C. plays the same game as MacLeod, going into fascinating detail about charms and folk cures for cattle and horses then current – indeed apparently exceptionally common – in the Isle of Skye, as well as giving an example of silver water used to quench bleeding. The final page is devoted to a tirade, not just against practitioners of witchcraft, but against those who pay them:

Tha iadsan, mar an ceudna ag àicheadh freasdail agus maitheas an Tighearna. Tha iad a dol airson còmhnuidh agus dìon chum a nàimhdean. Tha iad a cur an làmh ris gach barail mhearachdaich, bhreugaich, mhì-dhiadhaidh, a tha aig luchd nan gisreagan: agus an aon seadh, ’s iad is coireach ann am peacaidhean na muinntir eile; oir mar biodh iadsan a toirt duais seachad airson upagan a’s eòlais, cha b’fhada gus an sguirte dhaibh. Cha’n eil buidseach ’san dùthaich a bhiodh air an dragh dol troimh cleasan mar faigheadh i pàigheadh air a shon.

They also deny God’s dispensation and mercy. They go to His enemies for help and protection. They add their hand to every mistaken, lying, irreligious opinion held by the charmers: in one way, they are responsible for the sins of the others; for if they didn’t reward charms and incantations, it wouldn’t be long before they’d cease. There isn’t a witch in the country who’d be bothered going through her tricks unless she received payment for it.

G. C. ends the letter by urging MacLeod to continue his campaign in demonstrating the foolishness and sinfulness of these customs.

Who then was G. C.? In a brief but important article in the Review of Scotttish Culture about seuntan entitled ‘Lead hearts and runes of protection’, Professor Hugh Cheape makes the astute suggestion that the writer was Gilleasbaig Cléireach or the Rev. Archibald Clerk (1813–87), none other than the Rev. Norman MacLeod’s son-in-law [Review of Scottish Culture, 18 (2006), 155n.5]. Like MacLeod’s correspondent, Clerk had recently been in the Isle of Skye: he had served as minister of Duirinish between March 1840 and November 1841, and had written a description of the parish for the New Statistical Account. When we compare G. C.’s Gaelic letter in Cuairtear nan Gleann with Clerk’s English report in the NSA about the prevalence of charms in his parish, it’s clear from both tone and subject matter that they were written by the same man.

Yet the people generally are unacquainted both with the letter and the spirit of true religion, and there is much superstition, the sure concomitant of ignorance, still lingering among them. Our limits forbid us to enter at any length on this subject, but we may remark, that while it is now rare, though not unknown, to use charms or incantations for curing the diseases of the human frame, these means are daily resorted to for curing the diseases of cattle. ‘Silver water,’ as it is called, ‘fairy arrows,’ and ‘charmed stones,’ are still held to be possessed of much efficacy, and they who have power to call forth their virtues are held in high estimation. [NSA, 14, 348]

Four months later another ‘Saobh-chràbhadh nan Gàidheal’ article appeared in Cuairtear nan Gleann.

This time two charms were printed, a Eòlas nan Sùil [sic], for sore eyes, and a Eòlas an t-Snìomh to be recited by the practitioner while massaging a sprained ankle. The first one, to be recited over a vessel of water (with which to wash the affected eye) containing a silver coin, was obtained:

o sheann duine còir a chleachd e fad iomadh bliadhna, ’sa tha nis a’ tuigsinn nach ’eil ann ach amaideachd pheacach.

from a decent old man who used it for many years, but who now understands it’s nothing but sinful foolishness.

Eòlas nan Sùil.

Obie nan geur shùl,
An obie ’s feàrr fo’n ghréin;
Obie Dhé, an uile-mhòr.
Féile Mhàiri, féile Dhé,
Féile gach sagairt ’s gach cléir;
Féile Mìchael nam feart,
’Chàirich anns a’ ghréin a neart.

The Charm of the Eyes

Charm of the sharp eyes,
The best charm under the sun;
The charm of God, the great.
Feast of Mary, feast of God,
Feast of every priest and every cleric;
Feast of virtuous Michael,
Who laid in the sun his strength.

The second charm is an example of the very common bone-to-bone charm, known throughout Europe and far beyond. The writer, probably once more the Rev. Norman MacLeod, apparently gets the gender of St Brìde wrong!

Eòlas an t-Snìomh

Chaidh Brìde mach
Air maduinn mhoich
Le càraid each.
Bhris fear ac’ a chas.
Chuir e glùn ri glùn,
A’s cnàimh ri cnàimh,
A’s feith ri feith.
Mar leighis esan sin,
Cha leighis mise so.

The Charm of the Sprain

Bride went out
In the early morning
With a pair of horses.
One of them broke his leg.
He put knee to knee,
And bone to bone,
And sinew to sinew.
Unless he healed that,
I shall not heal this.

Thirty years later, on 20 June 1872, these two charms were reprinted in one of the many remarkable columns which the Rev. Alexander Stewart compiled under the pen-name ‘Nether-Lochaber’ for the Inverness Courier. As Alexander Macbain rather acerbically notes in one of his folklore notebooks, Stewart presented ‘these Cuairtear charms cooly as his own, even their errors’ [CW511D, fo.79^v]. We can, however, forgive ‘Nether’ his creative pilfering: as a hook to intrigue his readers, it certainly worked. After coming across Stewart’s ‘charms’ column, Alexander Carmichael was inspired to despatch to his friend some similar items which he himself had recently written down in Uist, and then to collect some more: these were the kernel of what was to become, three decades later, Carmina Gadelica i–ii.

References:
Hugh Cheape, ‘Lead hearts and runes of protection’, ROSC: Review of Scottish Culture, 18 (2006), 149–55.
Clerk, Rev. Archibald, ‘Duirinish’, New Statistical Account of Scotland (1834–45), vol. 14, 322–60.
G. C. [‘Gilleasbaig Cléireach’, i.e. Rev. Archibald Clerk], ‘Saobh-chràbhadh nan Gàidheal’, Cuairtear nan Gleann, 25 (1 March 1842), 9–14.
[Rev. Norman MacLeod], ‘Saobh-chràbhadh nan Gàidheal anns na lìnntibh a chaidh seachad’, Cuairtear nan Gleann, 23 (8 January 1842), 309–12, edited and reprinted in Rev. Norman MacLeod, Caraid nan Gàidheal (Glasgow: William MacKenzie, 1867), 338–43.
_____. ‘Saobh-chràbhadh nan Gàidheal’, Cuairtear nan Gleann, 29 (1 July 1842), 137.

For another article about charms and folk cures (despite the reference to himself in the third person, it was probably also written by the Rev. Archibald Clerk), see:
‘Cas air Allaban’, ‘Buidseachd sa’ Ghàidhealtachd’, Cuairtear nan Gleann, 37 (1 March 1843), 13–16.

Image:
Duirinish Parish Church, built 1832, where the Rev. Archibald Clerk preached 1840–1.

Gaelic Battle Charms - 1

Here is Alexander Carmichael describing the genre of protective charm or seun in Carmina Gadelica ii, 26:

‘Sian’ or ‘seun is occult agency, supernatural power used to ward away injury, and to protect invisibly. Belief in the charm was common, and examples of its efficacy are frequently told.

Carmichael gives various examples of seuntan, for protecting cattle and ensuring long life, but the most spectacular instances are those which protect in battle.

A woman at Bearnasdale, in Skye, put such a charm on Macleod of Bearnaray, Harris, when on his way to join Prince Charlie in 1745. At Culloden the bullets showered upon him like hail, but they had no effect. When all was lost, Macleod threw off his coat to facilitate his flight. His faithful foster-brother Murdoch Macaskail was close behind him and took up the coat. When examined it was found to be riddled with bullet-holes. But not one of these bullets had hurt Macleod!

The battle seun was not just well-known in Gaelic tradition because of its remarkable effects. It was one of the very few charms which had found its way into print, and as a result it must have been a curio discussed in Highland céilidh houses. This printed version was collected about 1800 from an old man – probably an army veteran – in Glen Forsa in Mull and printed by the Rev. Norman MacLeod (1783–1862). Here is what the minister, under his pen-name Caraid nan Gàidheal, wrote about the seun in the periodical he edited, Cuairtear nan Gleann, in January, 1842:

   Bha aon seòrsa do shaobh-chràbhadh cumanta bho shean sa’ Ghàidhealtachd, ris an abradh iad sèun – seòrsa do rann air a cur suas ann an criomanan anairt, agus air uairibh saighead-shìth, air am fuaigheal gu teann san aona bhréid. Bha so air a ghiùlan fo’n léine, dlùth do’n chridhe; agus bha earbsa mhòr aig daoine gòrach gu’n robh cumhachd mòr aige an dìon o gach olc agus gàbhadh.
   Fhuair sinn sèun do’n t-seòrsa so, bha air a chleachdadh ann am Muile bho chionn fhada. Cha’n eil dùil againn gu bheil cailleach, no bodach, no balachan beag, co amaideach a nis san dùthaich sin, ’s gu’n tugadh iad creideas air bith d’a leithid. Mar chuimhneachan air na làithibh a thréig, tha sinn a nis ’ga thoirt seachad; agus le so crìochnaichidh sinn na bha againn ri ràdh air an àm mu na nithe faoine so.

   There was one type of superstition which was once common in the Gàidhealtachd called a ‘seun’ – a sort of verse put [or set] up in fragments of linen, and sometimes [?with] a fairy-arrow, sewn tightly into a single piece of cloth. This was carried under the shirt, close to the heart: and silly folk strongly trusted that it had a great power to protect them from every evil and danger.
   We acquired a seun of this kind which was used in Mull a long time ago. We don’t expect that any old woman, old man, or little boy in that country is now so foolish as to believe anything of the sort. In remembrance of bygone days, we give it here; and with this we’ll finish what we had to say at this juncture about these vain things.

Despite the minister’s pious hopes, it seems that in some parts of the Highlands belief in the seun remained strong long after the days of Caraid nan Gàidheal. We’ll finish this blog by reprinting the charm itself with a translation. Note how it looks as if Alexander Carmichael has adapted the text for his Sian a Bheatha Bhuan in CG ii, 28–31.

It’s interesting that Carmichael ascribes this text on CG ii, 378 to Duncan Cameron (c. 1818–1900), the policeman from Morvern whom Carmichael so respected for his knowledge of old lore. It might just be possible (a big if!) that Cameron had heard the text from the Rev. Norman MacLeod himself, who had been brought up in Morvern, or from his youngest brother John (1801–82), who had succeeded his father as minister of the parish. It might even be the case that the minister was given the charm by one of Cameron’s family. Here is the text as published in Cuairtear nan Gleann:

Seun

a fhuaradh o chionn da-fhichead bliadhna o sheann duine

ann an gleann-forsa, ann an eilean mhuile.

 Air a shon, ’s air a shealbhadh,

An sèun a chuir Brìde mu nighean Dhordheal –
An sèun a chuir Muire mu ’mac
Eadar a buinn ’s a bràghad,
Eadar a cìoch ’s a glùn,
Eadar a sùil ’s a falt.
Claidheamh Mhìcheil air a thaobh;
Sgiath Mhìcheil air a shlinnein.
Cha’n eil eadar nèamh a’s làr
Na bheir buaidh air Rìgh nan gràs.
Cha sgoilt ruinn thu,
’S cha bhàth muir thu.
Bratach Chriosd umad;
Sgail Chriosd tharad.
O mhullach do chinn gu bonn do choise,
Tha sèun an àigh orsa nis.
Falbhaidh tu an ainm an Righ,
’S thig thu ’n ainm do Cheanntaird.
’S le Dia, ’s na cumhachdan còmhla, thu.
Cuiridh mi an sèun Di-luain
An astar cumhann biorach droighin.
Falbh a mach ’s an sèun mu d’ chóm,
’S na biodh bonn do eagal ort!
Dìridh tu mullach nan siùchd [sic: stùchd],
’S cha leagar thu taobh do chùil.
’S tu mac Eala chiùin sa’ bhlàr;
Seasaidh tusa ’measg an àir;
Ruithidh tusa troimh chòig ceud,
’S bi ’idh fear d’eucorach an sàs.
Sèun Dhè umad!
Sluagh dol far riut!

A Seun

acquired forty years ago from an old man

in glen forsa, in the isle of mull

For him and for his prosperity,

The seun which St Bride put about the daughter of Dordheal –
The seun which Mary put about her Son,
Between [i.e. including] the soles of her feet and her throat,
Between her breast and her knee,
Between her eye and her hair.
St Michael’s sword by his side;
St Michael’s shield on his shoulder-blades.
There is nothing between heaven and earth
Which will overcome the King of grace.
No blades shall cleave you,
Sea shall not drown you.
The mantle of Christ about you,
The shadow of Christ over you.
From the top of your head to the sole of your foot,
The seun of luck is now on you.
You shall go in the name of the King,
And you shall come in the name of your Master.
With God and the powers together are you.
I will make the seun on Monday
On a narrow, sharp, thorny path.
Go out with the seun about your body,
And don’t be at all afraid;
You shall climb to the summit of the rocky mountains,
And you won’t be knocked down from behind.
You are the son of the calm Swan in the battle;
You shall stand amidst the slaughter;
Your shall run through five hundred,
And your enemy shall be caught in distress.
The seun of God about you!
A host going with you!

As well as giving another English translation of the charm, the Rev. John Gregorson Campbell MacLean in his Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1902), 69, supplies the following anecdote:

A charm of this kind was given to a smith in Torosay, Mull, by his father. Afterwards he entered the army and engaged in thirty battles. On his return home without a wound he said, he had often wished he was dead, rather than be bruised as he was by bullets. He was struck by them, but on account of the charm they could not pierce him.

References:

CG ii, 26–31.

Rev. John Gregorson Campbell (ed. Ronald Black), The Gaelic Otherworld (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2006), 212–13, 466–7 nn.724–36.

[Rev. Norman MacLeod], ‘Saobh-chràbhadh nan Gàidheal anns na lìnntibh a chaidh seachad’, Cuairtear nan Gleann, 23 (8 January 1842), 309–12, edited and reprinted in Rev. Norman MacLeod, Caraid nan Gàidheal (Glasgow: William MacKenzie, 1867), 338–43.

Image:

The Black Watch at Ticonderoga, 1758