Matheson Collection > Gaelic songs of Mary MacLeod

INTRODUCTION xvii
at the accession of his brother Norman. This is certainly
in harmony with the tone of Cumha do Mhac Leoid and
An Crònan. It would place her exile late in life, for
Roderick succeeded in 1693 and died in 1699.
Both John and Alexander Mackenzie give Mull as the
place of her exile; the truth seems rather that she made
a cuairt. A tradition which is still extant recounts that
she was at first in Scarba, a barren islet which at present
contains two families, and this is reinforced by the head-
ing and contents of the Tuireadh. Besides this, a tradition
known to Dr. Carmichael and still strong in Harris tells
us that the poem " Ri fuaim an taibh ", which is called
Crònan an Taibh, was composed during her exile on the
isle of Pabba}^in Harris, where Mary's brother Neil,
MacLeod's factor for St. Kilda, is said to have lived.
Bard Phabaidh, born a bout i8ia , refers to her in one of «» *?*fe
his poems:
Chaidh roimhe ban-Leòdach
Chur air fògradh do'n kite so; . . ^
Rinn i l uinneag an 's crònain t*-**^^ >■-**'<?- *^ o«rv\,^>*\
Chur air dòigh ann am bàrdachd ann. J
Bhiodh i gearan a cluasan
lomadh uair 's cha bu nàir di e,
Ag èisdeachd gàirich a' chuain _ ., ^
Bha cho cruaidh ris na ^ tàimeanaich. "*^
Pabbay is now uninhabited save for two shepherds. The
evidence of tradition, however, makes it clear that she
was also in Mull, and v/e can gather with tolerable cer-
tainty from her own words that this was at the end of
her exile, and that it was to Mull that the boat came to
fetch her home; if we read Aros and not àros in 1. 905
(v. note) it appears that she embarked from that place
upon her homeward voyage.
The poetess is still known to tradition as Màiri mhor
' See also Henderson Leabhar nan Gleann, p. 56.
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