Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 5, 1897

156
THE OELTIO MONTHLY
* * * *
When morning broke the gale had spent
itself. The wind was full of the smell of fresh
seaweed. The skies were breaking into great
banks of white clouds, and the sun was shining
cheerily on the dancing blue waters, above
which the sea birds were whirling in delight.
But what was that at the point ? A group
of black figures — all women — gathered round
something that lay on the beach, and a sound
of lamentation was borne across the sunlit bay,
for when young Ailasa Macleod was wandering
along the beach at the break of day, she was
heard to utter a wild cry when she came upon
a bit of wreckage on which was written in
white letters the name ' Waterwitch!' Further
out by the point another of the women had
been attracted by something white among the
seaweed. On drawing nearer she turned
deadly pale. It was the shape of a human
hand floating above the water, and when the
next wave rolled in it turned up the scared
face of Ewan Mackenzie ! He had kept his
tryst, but the light of the Evening Star had
failed !
ToKQun, Macleod.
DUNCAN MACRAE, QUEENSLAND.
THE HIGHLAND BAGPIPES.
^J\ij WAY with your fiddles and tlutes,
W% J As music for wedding or ball ;
^M- Pianofortes, clarionets, lutes,
The bagpipe surpasses them all.
For polkas, the waltz, the quadrille,
There's naught with the pipes can coi)i]iare,
An anchorite torpid 'twould thrill,
Such glorious sounds in the air.
So tuneful, harmonious, and sweet, —
The very perfection of art ;
Lend wings to the tardiest feet,
And joy to the sorrowing heart.
Upheaved the fair dancers with feet
Like birds, poising light on the wing.
As nimbly they trip in the reel.
And roll off the steps of the Hing.
No requiems grand I assail,
Like Handel's Dead March, played in "Saul'
But yet I maintain that the Gael
In coronachs, vanquishes all.
In music, in warfare, in song, —
With bagpipes, and banners unfurled ;
Like a torrid simoom borne along.
The Highlanders lighten the world.
York. Patrick MAcrnERSoN.
^■fiR. DUNCAN MACRAE, of Strath-
^mMp garve, S. Queensland, is a son of the
^J^ late Duncan MacRae, who occupied
the sheej) farms of Kemasary and Toultrie, near
Poolewe, Ross-shire, where he acquired a good
practical knowledge of sheep farming which has
proved of great value to him in his subsequent
career. His mother was also a MacRae, a
native of Lochbroom. In 1853, when only
seventeen years of age, Mr. MacRae left his
home for Australia, where he has since engaged
extensively in pastoral pursuits, and is now one
of the oldest living pioneers and leading Over-
landers in the colonies. Some of Mr. MacRae's
business undertakings have been on a gigantic
scale. For instance, in 1861 he succeeded in
bringing ovei'laod from N. Australia to S. W.
Queensland '25,000 breeding ewes, an operation
which occupied 12 months, and established his
reputation as a skilful manager and a practical
bush man.
Two years later, the Government of New
South Wales passed a stringent act prohibiting
sheep from Victoria passing into that colony
owing to disease being prevalent in Victoria.
Mr. MacRae, with his usual enterprise, purchased
18,000 ewes in Victoria, took them overland
through S. Australia, and entered New South
Wales, where he sold the sheep at the high
])rice then ruling. This hazardous undertaking
occupied 18 months. Subsequently lie made
several trips, the last being in 188(i, when he.
took 17,000 store wedders from Queensland to
Victoria, a distance of 1,000 miles.
Desirous of retiring from the Overlander's
life he accepted the managership of extensive
stations in New South Wales, the stock consisting
of 170,000 sheep, 10,000 cattle, and 700 horses.
Three years later he resigned, and married a
daughter of Mr. Louden Hastings MacLeod, of
Hylang Station, S. A. He purchased several
good station properties, and carried on squatting
extensively. A few years ago he held on lease
in Australia and New South Wales 27,00,000
acres of land.
Mr. MacRae is a magistrate in Queensland
and New South Wales. Stratligarve is chiefly a
freehold, and is capable of wintering all the
year round 10,000 sheep, and 700 cattle: it is
situated in a beautiful valley in the Darling
Downs district, which is allowed to be the
Garden of Queensland.
He has a family of two daughters, and one
sou called Louden Hastings Duncan.
Although absent from his native Highlands
for so many years, Mr. MacRae has never lost
touch with, or interest in, the afliairs of the old
country.