An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Gaidheal > Volume 43, October 1947--December 1948

96
AN GAIDHEAL.
ORAN A’ CHOIRNEIL CHAMSHROIN.
Form:—0 hi’s na ho ro hu o,
0 hi’s na hi ri hiu o ;
Smehrach mis’ air a’ bhliadhn’ iiir seo,
Seinn mo chihil air Ihths an treun-fhir.
1. Theid mi air mo cheum gun tilleadh,
A shealltainn ceannard nan gillean ;
Far an cleachdte 61 is iomain
’S gloine lan ’ga traghadh tioram.
2. Coimeal Camshron bho thaobh Ailleart,
Toirt misneach dhuinn, ceol is dannsa ;
Piob ’ga seinn le seisd an t-siunnsair,
’S na dois mhor’ le sioda srannraich.
3. Cuid de d’ chleachdainnean a fhuair sinn—
lomain grad le neart ’ga bualadh ;
’S nuair a theid a’ chuis gu cruadal,
Am fear as glice a’ fuireach bhuaipe.
4. Dh’innsinn dhuibh coltas na feirge
’N am dol sios ri uchd na targaid ;
Gaoth tuath air uachdar fairge,
’S fadadh cruaidh ’ga bhuain le soirbheas.
5. Bho’n a thainig thu m’ar coinneamh.
Chaidh an cairdeas ud a shloinneadh,
Fhuair thu’m Barrasdail bho Cholla,
Geug cho ard’s a dh’fhas an coille.
6. Tha t’aitreach gu dluthar, daingeann ;
Cha ruig fuachd air no buan-ghaillionn ;
Uaislean mu d’bhord le 61-chaithream,
Is tuath gun eisdeadh tu ri’n gearan.
7. Cridhe ciallach, fialaidh, cairdeil,
Inntinn riaraicht’ an deagh nadur ;
Mala chaol air aodann hlainn,
As boidhche fiamh na grian a’ dearrsadh.
8. Muineal geal mar shneachd a’ sior-chur,
Deud mar chailc air dreach nan disnean,
Dearg ad ghruaidh le uaisle lionmhor,
Beul as boidhch’ thug pog bho ribhinn.
9. Masa duine fada bed mi,
’S gu faigh mi smachd air na dh’cMam
Togaidh mi deoch-slaint’ a’ Choirneil
’Gan robh ckirdeas ri Clann Dbmhnaill.
The above song was composed by a native of Ardnish,
Arisaig, in praise of Colonel Duncan Cameron of Inverailort,
whose memorial cairn stands near the public road on Loch
Eiltside. The author’s name is unknown. He was probably a
crofter at Ardnish. There were then twenty-five families there,
but to-day there is but one, a man from Harris.
So far as is known, this song has not previously been
written down or printed. Last summer Mr. Donald MacPhail,
Northern Organiser, got it from an old man in the Lochailort
district, probably the only person who now knows the song.
Colonel Duncan Cameron, known as “ Donnchadh an
t-Seanalair,” was the grandfather of the present laird of
Inverailort, F. S. Cameron-Head, Esq., who, of course, is an
active member of the Executive Council of An Comunn and
generously provides facilities for the Comunn na h-Oigridh
Camp. According to our esteemed contributor, “ North
Argyll,” who knows so intimately the history and traditions
of that district, the customary designation for the laird of this
estate is not “ Fear Inbhir-Ailleart” but “ Fear Cheann-a-
chreagain,” the latter being the name of the estate in Colonel
Cameron’s time.
The reference in the fifth verse is to Coll Macdonell
of Barisdale, Colonel Cameron’s great-great-grandfather, or
perhaps his grandfather who was also a “ Coll,” although not
so well known as the first toll.
An Ceitein, 1948.
Barisdale is beautifully situated in Knoydart on the
southern shore of Loch Hourn. The first Macdonell of Baris¬
dale, Archibald, was the fifth son of Reginald, 17th of Glen¬
garry. He was an erudite man who could ‘ ‘ argue in Greek with
the learned divines ” of his time. He fought at Killiecrankie
and was still living in 1736.
His son, Coll, possibly the person referred to in the song, was
known as “ Colla nam B6” and “ Colla Ban.” He was a
contemporary of Rob Roy, and, like the latter, was mixed up
in the “ Blackmail ” enterprise of the time. Tales of him still
linger in the Knoydart and Glenelg area. One tradition is that
the pipe-tune, “ Colla mo Ruin,” was composed in his honour
by his piper when the latter was confined in Castle Moil,
Kyleakin, but another tradition associated the tune with Colla
Ciotach. Colla nam Bo, who was a tall and handsome man,
is said to have been the original of Scott’s “ Fergus Maclvor ”
in “ Waverley.”
In the Forty-five Coll was a colonel in the Jacobite forces,
and his son, Archibald, then a youth of twenty, was a Major.
Coll, however, is suspected of having had a foot in each camp.
On the day of the battle of Culloden he and MacLeod of Raasay
were far enough from the battlefield : they dined in Dingwall,
with a baillie of the burgh, although they were still wearing
white cockades.
However, Coll and his son, Archibald, surrendered at Fort
Augustus, and were discharged. Later they were seized and
sent to France. On their return they found the house at
Barisdale destroyed. In 1749 Coll was again arrested and in the
following year he died in Edinburgh Castle of a fever at the
age of fifty-two. Six soldiers could scarcely lift his coffin.
Archibald was tried and sentenced to death in 1754, but was
reprieved, and survived to 1787. His wife was Flora, daughter
of Norman MacLeod of Drynoch and Eileanreach, Glenelg,
known as “ Tormod nam Mart.” She survived to 1814, and her
funeral to Glenelg Churchyard was the occasion of an affray
between the Lochalsh men and the Glenelg men, in the course
of which Dr. Downie, minister of Lochalsh, was injured, as
were a number of others.
Archibald’s son, the second Coll, who is referred to in Knox’s
Tour in the Highlands and Hebrides (1787), also lived at
Barisdale and was a magistrate, his chief concern being super¬
vision of the large number of fishermen engaged in the Loch
Hourn herring fishery, then in its heyday. In 1790 the family
residence was removed to Auchertyre, Lochalsh. The second
Coll died in 1826, and his son, Archibald, who died in 1862,
was the fifth and last of the Macdonell lairds of Barisdale.
This Archibald’s sister was the mother of Colonel Duncan
Cameron of Inverailort. T. M. M.
0
SEALLAIBH RIS AN AM RI TEACHD.
Is trie a bheir mi fainear cho buailteach agus a tha luchd-
sgrxobhaidh is gu sonraichte luchd-bruidhne na Gaidhlige air
a’ Bheurla a thoirt a steach do an cainnt an uair a tha am
facal cothromach Gaidhlig a dhith orra. Cumaidh moran a
mach gur math an gnothach sin agus gu bheil e riatanach dhuinn
facail 4 cknainean eile a ghabhail an iasad; agus an tomhas
beag is maith dh’fhaoidte nach ’eil an nos sin chum dolaidh
sam bith ; ach tha mor-eagal orm nach beag an tomhas agus
uime sin gur mor an dolaidh.
0 chionn mios no dha bha mi an eaglais araidh agus chuala
mi am briathrachas a leanas: “Gun chobhair Dhe chan
urrainn surgeon a bhith a’ deanamh operation aim an hospital
idir! ” Faodaidh sin gaire a chur oirbh, agus gun teagamh
chan ’eil e ach airidh air sin, ach tha ceacht fheumail r’a
faghail ann mar an ceudna, agus is c6ir dhuinn a fbghlum. Tha
na facail sin a’ taisbeanadh a’ bhaoghail dhuinn, agus gu
cinnteach is mor an cunnart do ar canain.
Air tus, tha fuaimnean nan canainean Ceilteach eadar-
dhealaichte ri fuaimnean canain eile air bith, agus uime sin
cha ghabh e deanamh facal air chor-eigin a dhinneadh a steach
do’n Ghaidhlig gun suim a ghabhail air co-dhiubh a bhitheas
’fhuaim freagarrach air fuaimneachd na Gaidhlige.
Mur cuinglichear an cleachdadh a dh’ainmich mi caillidh
a’ Ghaidhlig an comh-sheirm sin a tha cho binn, cedlmhor agus
a tha ’na sgeadachadh nach beag.