2,500th catalogue entry created

Friday saw another milestone for the Carmichael Watson Project as the 2,500th item was catalogued (ref. Coll-97/CW116/16 folio 4v). The item relates to a man called Taogai MacCuinn who is said to have been the progenitor of all the MacQueens in Skye and Uist. He is described as being litigious and the item tells how he 'got off' a charge of crop damage.

Taogai MacCuinn from whom descended

the MacCuinns. This Taog was litigious. He had a

g[rea]t law plea about corn damaged. He wa[s] pur[sued] for

this corn & he sug[gested] that the inj[ury] might have been down

to the seals rolling them[elves] over the corn & he got off.

He lived in Trotarnish Skye from him all

the MacCuinns in Skye & Uist.

This nugget of information was collected by Alexander Carmichael on Taransay from a man called Ranald MacDonald (c1834-1913), who was a sheep farmer and the son of John MacDonald, tacksman of Taransay, during his visit there in July 1870.

So far, these 2,500 catalogue entries cover over 500 subjects, 130 families, 800 people and 1,300 places. You won't have too long to wait until you can explore these items for yourself as the online catalogue is due to be made live during our conference "Alexander Carmichael: Collecting Controversy and Contexts" on Thursday 23 June 2011. 

Reference: Coll-97/CW116/16 folio 4v.
Image: Loch na h-Uidhe, Taransay © Copyright Peter Standing and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence via http://www.geograph.org.uk/

No Rats in Taransay

Satires against vermin such as mice and rats were once a fairly common feature of Gaelic tradition. One such satire Aoir nan Radan – which may have been familiar to Alexander Carmichael given that the composer was a farmer called Livingstone from Lismore – appears in the Rev. Alexander Stewart’s ’Twixt Ben Nevis and Glencoe (1885), pp. 3–6. Many examples could be given of this interesting genre but this one should suffice in order to give a taste of the whole. The first verse goes like this: 

Mile marbhaisg ort, a radain!
A shlaideare nam badan arbhair;
Cha leòr leat sop ach an lán sguab dheth,
Dh-fag thu ’m bualadh dhomb nêo-tharbhach.
Rinn thu gradan de’m chuid eòrna,
A mhéirlich gur mōr do cháil dheth;
Na’n robh do cheann agam air innean,
’Smise nach tilleadh mo lámh dhiot!

The minister also gives a rather ‘loose’ translation aiming to keep the rhythm of the piece rather than supplying a literal version of ‘A Rat-Expelling Incantation’:

A thousand ills befall thee, greedy rat!
Expertest thief that ever yet was born!
In barn and stack-yard, maugre trap and cat,
Sad is the state of all my stock of corn;
Nor does a handful serve thee, shameless thief,
Unblushing rogue, thou claimest the whole sheaf!

Although the following anecdote does not explicitly indicate whether a satire was used against the rats it may well be taken to be understood. Donald MacKinnon, mentioned by Carmichael, was a crofter and fisherman from Taransay itself, an isle just off the west coast of Harris:

Rats can[no]t live in Taransay, so says Don[ald] MacInnon my
guide & cont[inued] in Lews when he was much troub[led]
with these pests. He made a wish that they were
anywhere The Cail[l]each Leo[tha]sach asked
him what would he give her to send them
away for him. He pro[mised] her so much but gives
her power. She askt [asked] him if he knew of any
pl[ace] where there were no rats. He told her that
a rat was no in Tar[ansay] & that they c[ou]ld not live
there so she sent them here greatly to his
relief – not none reap[peared?]. In 2 y[ea]rs they left not a
single thing in Tar[ansay] He then entreated her
to take them fr[om] his fr[e]inds & send them else
where which she did obligingly did & not one was left here.
Two rats were taken here by some fish[er]men
& in the course of 3 days 1 & in 4 days the 2 we[re]
found dead over at Aird nan Ceall
Plenty of mice here thou[gh]

References:
CW 116, f. 9v

Morrison, John A, ‘Drumming Tunes: A Study of Gaelic Rat Satires’, Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, LVII (1990–92), pp. 273-364

Image: Rat / Radan