J. F. Campbell Collection > Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the poems of Ossian

OF PASSAGES. IQ^
Ì'he howl of dogs, and the growling of wplyes from their
caverns,
Are heard at a distance on every side :
The green mount quakes around.
They stood assembled on the hill
Like mist on the lofty monntains
When it is touched by the strength of air.
[The chief] thus addressed his hunters,
^^ Hail, heroes of the narrow vales, aud waving standards
The sport of spears is drawing nigh.
Which excells the chasing of deer on the heights.
Our foes are advancing by hundreds.
To spoil us of our dominion ;
Like the gathering of rainy clouds from the west.
When they fly to destroy before the flashing wind.
Shall Erin, from wave to wave.
Yield to their one yoke ?
** O Conal, sound of judgment, I greet thee !
Thou who breakest each shield in danger I
fight, my heart is for the peace of Erin. Behold, thou firs:t
in Cormac's war, the sable fleet of Swaran. His masts are
many on our coasts, like reeds in the lake of Lego. His
ships are forests cloathed with mist, when the trees yield
by turns to the squally wind.. Many are his chiefs in
battle. lb. p. 221, — 224.
and the groiillug of wolves, cannot be applied In ^ny sense to a wild cat-
Though f.jJhchoin be now an obsolete expression, it ^vas familiar to the more
ancient bards. 'I'hus, in Laoidb Chla'mn Uijnùh, communicated to tlie Com-
mittee by Mr. Malcolm Mac Donald, Tarbert, from tl^e recital of Donald
M'Callum in Kilcakuonell -of Kintyre, we find (stanza 7. 1. 3.) 'S air chuilen
■ «a fiadhchoii : Aud in the CoHection published by John Gillies, Perth, 178C,
see read (p. i^o'l. 1. 5.) " Is air chuilcinibh na'm fiadhchor."
M.\DA AJ.LAiDU, v,]iich ìktiraìly oieztii zvi/J or jav.ige dog, is the common
term for a wolt. Faol, which occurs in ancient MSS. and poems, has longsince
fallen into disuse; but is still preserved in Faoilteach, pr Faoiltmiii, the
itilf-moiitlj, which includes the last fortnight of winter, and the first of spring.
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