Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 1, 1893

I UK CELTIC MONTHLY.
Machaire, Leargariabhoighe, Ciontragha, Graf-
ts], Tocamol, Ogasgoc, the two Glennastol,
Cracobus, Oornabus, and Baile-Neaghtoin. And
in order thai there may be meaning, force, and
effect, in this granl I give from mo, I again bind
myself and my heirs for ever under covenant,
this to uphold and fulfil to the aforesaid Brian
and his heirs after him to the end of the world,
by putting my band and my seal down here, in
presence of these witnesses here below, and the
sixth day of the month of the Beltane, and this
year of the birth of Christ, one thousand, four
hundred, and eight.
McDonald.
John Mac Donald.
Pat: Mac aBrian.
Fergus Mac Beth.
Hugh Mc Cei.
It may be stated that the lands granted to the
Vicar have passed through the hands of more
than one family since, and now, neither a
MacKay nor a Mac Donald owns any land in
Islay.
FlONN.
THE HOOPED BOULDER.
On the beach, near the glebe of Farr, there
might have been seen about the year 1759, an
object not unlike a piece of rock overgrown with
seaweed. It was only at very low tides that it
was wholly visible.
One afternoon, Betty — the minister's niece,
went with two or three other women from the
manse to the shore to gather sea-ware for man-
ure; a part of the farm drudgery which the lords
of the croft rarely assisted at.
It was neap-tide, and Betty was enabled to go
further out than usual, and was in the act of
pulling the seaweed off the supposed rock, when
she thought she saw something like hoops, similar
to those she had seen around casks at the village
store, only much blacker; the tide was. however,
rapidly rising, and a closer examination could
not be made.
That evening, when the household were
gathered round the peat lire in the roomy kit-
chen, she told what she hail seen on the little
rock ; how it had "girrs" or "hoops" on it;
but she was only laughed at.
The minister — the Rev. George Munro, who
was sitting quietly in a greal arm chair in the
corner, <>\ ei heard her queer story, and remarked
thai the boulder stone was there before he was
born, and would be there long after they were
all away, so Betty was silenced.
The goodman, however, continued to think-
about it till his curiosity was aroused, and he
secretly resolved that he would make a thorough
examination o< the boulder. NY\t day, a1 the
ebb of the tide, he proceeded to the shore, where
he found Betty and her women again busy
gathering the harvest of sea-ware. Calling her
to accompany him, they went to the rock, and
set to work to strip off the luxuriant growth of
seaweed by which it was thickly covered and
securely anchored. To their surprise, hoop after
hoop began to appear, then it yielded to a
vigorous push, and when completely stripped of
its marine coating, the supposed '•everlasting
boulder" was seen to be a real well hooped cask
of about fifty gallons capacity. It only remained
now to get it up to the manse, which the other
women soon accomplished, rolling it with the
greatest care.
It was quite an event in the evening to watch
the cask being tapped, when out flowed a rich
amber coloured liquid, the very smell of which
made their teeth water. A jug-full was handed
to the minister, who reverently offered up a
blessing, and cautiously tasting it, pronounced it
to be "small beer." The jug then went the
round, and no one dared to dispute his dictum,
nor his imperative order that it was only to be
drawn with his permission ; but all pronounced
it the best " small beer " they had ever tasted.
Soon afterwards, a distinguished visitor who
had seen a great deal of the world, called at the
manse, and was given a cup-full of the beer as a
special mark of hospitality, atthe same time being
told the story of the find. Judge of his surprise,
when, on putting it to his lips, lie discovered that
he was being treated in that remote district of the
far north, to a delicate Malaga wine of the finest
vintage. As might be supposed, special super-
vision was henceforth exercised over the cask
while its contents lasted.
Dr. Richard Pococke,* bishop of Ossory, tells
in his " Tours in Scotland" that when in
Sutherland, in 1760, he was on more than one
occasion presented with Malaga wine, and as he
also records that he was entertained to dinner
by the Rev. Mr. Munro, the inference is tolerably
strong thai In: must have been the distinguished
visitor referred to, who first discovered the real
nature of the contents of the "hooped boulder."
It is very probable that the wine formed part of
the cargo of some vessel lost on the north coast.
The venerable Free Church minister of Creich
the Rev. Gustavus Aird. I >. I>., a grand-
nephew of the Farr minister, corroborated the
facts of this story to me, thus linking a curious
tradition of nca rl\ a century-and-a-half ago, with
the present day.
D. W. Kemp.
* Dr. Pococke's •'Tours in Scotland" were recently
published for the first time, from the original MS. in
the British Museum, by the Scottish BiBtorj Society,
under the editorship oi Mr. Kemp (Ed.)