Blair Collection > Galic antiquities

A POEM, 231
waves, Iniflore :{:, dweller of the fea of whales, lifts through the
low-hung clouds its green head, and beholds with joy our com-
ing. The people fpy our liiils through nilfl, and gladnefs is in
Carric-thura.
But who are thefe with the king, defcending to the fliore to
meet us ? One tall tree is gray ; the other two young oaks are
green, but their fleps are flately. — Hail, Connal, from blue To-
gorma *, is it thou ! Hail, yellow fon of Rinama f, king of plains !
And hail, thou fon of Ruro, from the ifle of boars J
" Let the feall," faid€athula, " be fpread, and the fliell go
round. Let the voice of harps and the fongs of bards arife, that
the joy of my friends may be great in my echoing halls. Cathula,
O bards, is in the midll of his friends. This is the day of his
joy. Let no fliade obfcure its beams ; let no dark cloud,, in ita
wandering courfe, pafs over Carric-thura T"
Such were tiie words of Cathula. But how fliort, fon of the
troubled days §, is the di-eam of thy jo-y ! It is like the ihort cahn
that comes between the inconflant blafts, in the night of the ftorm.
The hunter lays down his head in his booth. His dreams of joy
are beginning to arife : white-handed virgins are coming towards
him with their harps : bards are beginning to give his fame to
the fong : fliields found, and his heart bounds with joy for the
battle :
t Iniftore, properly Innis-orc, or Ore- f ^/'«a otV J^ing of the plains," or
i/mis, " the ifles of whales," or Orkneys. Maiatx. The Highlanders flill call the
The word ore is ufed m this fenfe by ]ow parts of Scotland a rnhJ-thir, the
^"''°"* pl.iin country.
an ifland fait and bare, ;: T„ ^L* n t_ ^i_ ^1
„., ,^,, ,, , y In this apollrophe the poet does not
J ne flaunt of teals and orci and fea-mcws clang. /-. 1 1 •
mean Cathula only, but man in general,
"Tonn-gorma; <' -the ifle of blue whofe chequered life he defctibes thro.
^^*^*' the whole of this beautiful paragraph,.