Historical Tales and Legends of the Highlands

Historical Tales and Legends of the Highlands

These Tales and Legends were very favourably received by a wide circle of readers, and by the Press generally, as they appeared from month to month in the Celtic Magazine. They are now published in a collected form at the request of many who have previously perused them. I would like to present the public with the names of their authors; but as one of themthe Norman and Torquil of the Celtic Magazineobjects to have his name made public, although he has written the greater number of them, I must content myself now by taking advantage of this opportunity to thank him, Mac Iain, and the others who supplied the Tales and Legends, the merits of whichespecially those for which I may be held personally responsibleI propose to leave to the tender mercies of an indulgent public. We are in a West Coast village or township, cut off from all communication with the outer world, without Steamers, Railways, even Roads. We grow our own corn, produce our own beef, our mutton, our butter, our cheese, and our wool. We do our own carding, our spinning, and our weaving. We marry and are taken in marriage by, and among, our own kith and kin. In short, we are almost entirely independent of the more civilized and more favoured South. The few articles we do not producetobacco and teaour local merchant, the only one in a district about forty square miles in extent, carries on his back, once a month or so, from the Capital of the Highlands. We occasionally indulge in a little whisky at Christmas and the New Year, at our [Pg 2] weddings and our balls. We make it, too, and we make it well. The Salmon Fishery Acts are, as yet, not strictly enforced, and we can occasionally shootsometimes even in our gardensand carry home, without fear of serious molestation, the monarch of the forest. We are not overworked. We live plainly but well, on fresh fish, potatoes and herring, porridge and milk, beef and mutton, eggs, butter, and cheese. Modern pickles and spices are as unknown as they are unnecessary. True, our houses are built not according to the most modern principles of architecture. They are, in most cases, built of undressed stone and moss (coinneach), thatched with turf or divots, generally covered over with straw or ferns held on by a covering of old herring nets, straw, and rope, or siaman. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 58578
Author: Mackenzie, Alexander
Release Date: Dec 31, 2018
Format: eBook
Language: English