J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

RHYMES ON PLACES. 63
classical appellation of the island, since it was adopted by
Dr Johnson, signifies in Gaelic, The Island of Waves— w\i^t
must appear a most appropriate etymolog-y to all who have
seen the massy and frequent waves of the Atlantic break
upon its shore.
Another prophecy, still more flattering" to lona than the
above, affirms that ' seven years before the end of the
world, the sea at one tide shall cover the "Western Islands,
and the g-reen-headed Isla, while the Island of Columba
shall swim,' or continue afloat : —
Seachd bliadlina roimh'n bhra a
Thig muir thar Eirinn re aon tra'
'S thar ile ghuirm ghlais
Ach snamhaidh I cholum chleirich !
Dr Smith of Campbeltown has translated this prophecy,
with peculiar elegance, though with latitudinarian freedom,
in two English ballad verses : —
Seven years before that awful day,
When time shall be no more,
A dreadful deluge shall o'ersweep
Hibernia's mossy shore.
The green-clad Isla, too, shall sink ;
While, with the great and good,
Columba's happier isle shall rear
Her towers above the flood.
' Eirinn,' the word in the Gaelic rhyme for ^ Hibernia's
mossy shore' in Dr Smith's version, signified, anciently,
the Western Islands in general, Ireland included, though
now the popular and poetical name of the sister island alone.
In its more extended ancient sense, there is good reason for
believing that it also included that part of the mainland of
Scotland — namely, Argyleshire and its adjacent territory —
which was certainly peopled from Ireland at an early period
by the tribes whose sovereign eventually extirpated the
Picts, extended his dominion over the Lowlands, and was
the founder of the Scottish monarchy.
The island of lona is separated from Mull by a strait
about a mile broad. An islet close to the Mull shore, im-
mediately opposite to the ruins of lona, is called Eilean
nam ban; that is. The Womeii's Island. The name gives
some countenance to a tradition of Columba, that he would