Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 1, 1893

154
THE CELTIC MONTHLY
knowledge of the genius and construction of the
Gaelic language.
Personally. Mr. Macfarlane is the most retir-
ing and unpretentious of mortals, preferring
rather to listen than to speak; nevertheless he
likes a «ood Gaelic story, and can full}' appre-
ciate and enjoy the wit and humour of the Gael.
Henry Whyte.
THE SWEDISH PRINCE.
A Reay Country Tradition.
f;N the year 1683, a Swedish vessel cast
') anchor at a place called Pol-ghaun, near
— ■ the mouth of Kylescow, an arm of the sea
which divides Edderachillis from Assynt. The
vessel was boarded in the night time by a set of
ruffians, who murdered the crew and plundered
the ship. The money which they took they
wrapped in a plaid; but in transferring the plaid
with it precious contents from the ship to their
boat, a corner slipped, and most of the treasure
fell into the sea and was lost. That a dreadful
ciiine hail been committed was soon known, and
great efforts were made by Lord Reay and
others to discover the perpetrators of the horrid
deed ; but although several persons were sus-
pected, no proof could be led against them, and
no one was punished. It was generally observed,
however, that the suspected persons afterwards
came to great poverty and misery. " The year
in which the Swedes were killed " was long a
me rable era in that part of the country.
This is the substance of a story given by
Robert Mackay in his History ; and in order to
show how lie arrived at the date, he added a
fool hole (see [Jistory of the linns*' anil Clan of
Mackay, p. 379), explaining that he had a school
in Edderachillis in the year 1783; that the
story was then .inn nt ; that its date was
accounted for from the events having happened
in the year in which Duncan Mackenzie, in
Ethiroy, was born; and thai ihis Duncan was
living in L783, and was then in his hundredth
year. He added further that the country people
(■who are generally fond of the marvellous) had
ulso a tradition that the Swedish captain, before
setting out on his voyage, consulted a fortune-
teller regarding his success; and was told to
beware of Whitciihcad, of Cape Wrath, and of
I'ol ghaun ; and thai when he was forced by
contrary winds to take shelter in the latter
place, and learned its name, ho exclaimed,
"Then, I am gone ! "
Hut :l more detailed version of (his story was
given 1>V the late Rev. Mackintosh -Mackay,
LL.D. Writing to a relative describing a visit
he had made to an old friend in Kdderachillis,
he said (the letter is dated September 18, 186G),
— I will now^tell you of a tradition that had long
been current, of a revolting deed of assassina-
tion and piracy, which had been committed in
that part of the country. A Swedish ship had
come to the coast, and remained for several
days at an anchorage in a very gloomy locality
near Kylescow. The ship was said to have had
a Royal Swedish person on board— according to
tradition, a son of the King of Sweden. He
landed at various places on the coast, and mingled
with the people, — a man of most princely ap-
pearance and manners, and of princely courtesy
and affability. A baud of ruffians conspired to
take his life, and possess themselves of his
treasure, which was said to be immense. In
the dead of the night, with blackened faces,
they boarded the ship, overpowered the crew,
found the prince in his cabin, and murdered him.
They then rilled the cabin, and found the
treasure. They put the gold into a tartan plaid,
ami carried it upon deck ; but while iu the act
of handing it over the ship's side iuto their boat
the plaid slipped, aud the greater part of the
treasure went to the bottom !
The tradition also said that the crew decided
to cany the remains of the murdered prince
back to Sweden for honourable interment. They
accordingly disembowelled the body, and coffined
the intestines, which they buried iu the imme-
diate vicinity of their ill-fated anchorage. Then
they sailed away.
A year passed; and the ringleader of the
assassins changed his residence to the neigh-
bourhood of Badcol, iu the same parish, where
there is a cluster of small islands. One summer
evening this miscreant went out fishing with
some of his neighbours. When they were about
two miles out, they saw a fine ship in the oiling,
standing towards the coast. Approaching closer,
she landed a boat well manned at one of the
islands, and evidently on some business of im-
portance, for two officers were seated in the
stern. The ship's boat was next seen making
for i he fishing boat in which was the miscreant.
lie became alarmed, and pulled for the shore;
but the ship's boat pulled better. It was a
chase: and on Hearing the fishing boat a shot
was tired from the ship's boat. The ball struck
the head of the miscreant, who fell dead, ex-
claiming, " If it was 1 who deserved it, I have
got it!" [This, Dr. Mackay wrote, is the
literal translation of what the man was said to
have uttered, but he did not give the Gaelic
expression in his letter.] The ship's boat im-
mediately put about, and pulled back to the
ship, which shortly afterwards sailed away.
The people of the district would not permit the
assassin's body to have Christian burial, so a
hole was dug in a small islet of the cluster, and