Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 2

THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 55
the authorities of Baile Chail to Dingwall pier. They may feel disposed
to thus aid the great prophet of their county to secure the position as a
great man, which we now claim in his behalf. Another prediction
is, that concerning the Canonry of Ross, Avhich is stiU standing — " The
day ■will come when, fuU of the Mackenzies, it will fall Avith a fearful
crash." This may come to pass in several ways. The Canonry is the
principal burying-place of the Clan, and it may be full of dead Mac-
kenzies, or it may fall when a large concourse of the Clan is present at
the funeral of a great chief.
" When two false teachers come across the seas, who will revolutionize
the religion of the land, and when nine bridges will span the river Ness,
the Highlands will be overrun with ministers without grace and women
without shame," is a prediction which some maintain has all the appear-
ance of being rapidly fulfilled at this moment. It has been suggested
that the two false teachers are no other than the great evangelists, Messrs
Moody and Sankey, who, no doubt, from Coinneach Odhar's stand-point
of orthodoxy, attempted to revolutionize the religion of the High-
lands. If this be so, the other portions of the prophecy are looming not
far off in the immediate future. We have already seven bridges on the
Ness, the eighth is being completed, and the funds with which to build the
ninth are almost already in hand. If we are to accept the opinions of cer-
tain of the clergy themselves, " ministers without grace" are becoming the
rule, and as for a plenitude of " women without shame," ask any ancient
matron, and she wiU at once tell you that Kenneth's prophecy may be
held to have been fulfilled in that particular any time within the last
half century. Gleidh sinne ! I
It is possible the follomng may have something to do with the same
revolution in the Highlands. Mr Maclennan says : — " With reference to
some great revolution which sliould take place in the country, Coinneach
Odhar said that ' before that event shall happen, the water of the river
Beauly will tlirice cease to run. On one of these occasions a salmon,
having shells instead of scales, wiU be found in the bed of the river.'
This prophecy has been in part fulfilled, for the Beauly has on two
occasions ceased to run, and a salmon of the kind mentioned has been
found in the bed of the river," Mr Macintyre gives another version of
this one ; — " When the river Beauly is dried up three times, and a
• scaly salmon' (or royal sturgeon) is caught in the river, that will be a
time of great trial." Nuair a thraoghas ahhainti na Manachain tri
uairean, agus a ghlacair Bradan Sligeach air grunnd na h-aihhm, '«• ann
a sin a]hhitheas an deuchainn ghoirt. Tlie river has been already dried
up twice, the last time in 1826, and a Bradan Sligeach, or royal sturgeon,
measuring nine feet in length, has been caught in the estuary of the Beauly
about two years ago.
We have yet to see the realization of the following : — " A dun, hornless,
cow (supposed to mean a steamer) will appear in the Minch (off Carr Point,
in Gairloch), and make a * geum,' or bellow, which will knock the six chim-
neys off Gairloch House." " Thig bo mhaol odhar a steaeh an t-Aite mar
agtu leigeas i geum uiste 'chuircas na se hcannagan dheth an I'igh Dhige."
Gairloch House, or the 'Jigh Dige of C'oinneach's day, would be the old