Blair Collection > Carmina gadelica > Volume 2

238 NOTES
In the Roman Catholic isles of the West the Sunday is more
observed, and the Saints' Days are less observed than was the
case some years ago.
A Protestant girl from South Uist married a miller in South
Harris. Some time after the marriage a Roman Catholic companion
of the young wife came to visit them. On Sunday the miller and
his wife went to church, and, there being no Roman Catliolic
service in Harris, the friend stayed at home. On their return from
church the young couple found their guest busily baking. The
young wife chided her friend, who replied, in much astonishment :
' O Mhoire ! Mhoire ! nach tu tha gun doigh a nighean ! A Righ !
chunna mise mnathan <a bhail againn fhein a fuinne La Feile gun
ghuth air La Domhnach ! ' O Mary ! Mary ! art not thou the
girl without reason ! King ! I saw the women of oiu* own townland
baking on a Saint's Day, to say nothing of the Lord's Day ! '
Broth, breast, breast-bone, stem of ' brollach,' breast. Cf. ' broth,'
eruption, rash, pimples, swollen, projecting ; hence 'duine brothach,'
a man swollen up with anger, pride, or from some other cause.
Bwi-dearg, red swelling ; ' burn dearg,' red water ; ' galar dearg,' red
disease ; ' earna dhearg,' ' earnach dhearg,' red murrain ; ' earna
dhubh,' ' earnach dhubh,' black murrain. The red and the black
murrain are two stages of this disease, which is produced by several
causes. On the mainland it is generally caused by the cattle eating
the young leaves of shrubs and trees, especially the bog myrtle, the
alder, and the birch, and by drinking water impregnated with
them. In the Isles the disease is caused chiefly by eating the
sundew {drosera rotiindifolid). Wherever sundew prevails red
pleura is common. A place in South Uist is known as ' Bogach na
fala,' marsh of blood, from the |irevalence of sundew and its
deadly effects.
Bun-Jeann, hun-feam, buii-feainiin, rumj>-tail, root of the rump. A wolf
was destroying the sheep of the crofters of Kintail. Two old men
went to kill it. One entered the den of the wolf, while the other
stood guarding the entrance. When the wolf came home the man
at the entrance seized him by the tail as he was entering his den
and held him fast. The man within called out : —
' 'lUeChriost chaim. One-eyed Gillchrist,
Co dhruid an toll ? ' Who closed the hole ?
The other answered : —
' Ma bhriseas am bun-feann, If the rurap-tail should break,
Bith fios sin aig do sgall. ' Thy skull shall know that.