There was another luxury better loved on bread than all the jams and jellies ever made, and that was curd-butter, or gruth-im "half butter, half curd, finely mixed. This was very different from the ordinary crowdy, which also is dignified by the same Gaelic name as the other, although there is very little butter in it to make it palatable or nutritious. When the Highlanders dined late, the supper often was a thick gruel, known as "liath-bhrochan." It was made of milk and oatmeal well boiled, with a piece of butter in it, and of a consistency that they spoke of as, "bu tiugh am balgam e, 's bu thana an spàin e." When butter was scarce, a thrifty housewife made a very good substitute with milk and eggs and a little salt stirred together over the fire for a few minutes. This was very pleasant when spread hot on the bread, and it was very useful in the latter end of spring, when the store of butter was exhausted. It was known as "im-eigin." There was a proverb that said that one teat of a cow was better than a boll of white meal-"Is fearr aon sine bò no bolla dhe 'n mhin bhain." And the milk was not only their food, but also to a great extent their medicine, and it had a valuable place in their art of healing as butter. For chest complaints, a cog full of butter was melted down, and after the juices of certain herbs were mixed with it, they placed it to cool, and it was administered in small quantities, as cod liver oil is now. This was called "cuach ghorm." For colds in throat or chest, salt butter, mixed with oatmeal, was laid on wool and applied, and salt butter was considered the most effectual cure for a bruise. It was also applied to a cut, if they feared there was any rust about the weapon that caused the injury. For any eruption on the skin, sulphur mixed with fresh butter was applied, and a little melted butter in its liquid state was taken instead of the castor oil now so common. Fresh butter was melted with bees-wax and the roots of dockens to heal a burn, and this was used freely for chopped hands or lips. In fact, butter was the principal article in a Highland woman's pharmacopia. If even one of her fowls were ill, it was caught and a piece of fresh butter forced into its bill, which was sure to cure it.

Goat's milk was considered the best for restoring lost strength to the sick, owing to the herbage they lived on, and it was considered the most nourishing for even the strong, according to the proverb

"Bainne ghobhar fo chobhar 's e blath,
'S e chuir an spionnadh 's na daoine a bha.”

"It is the milk of the goat, foaming and warm,
That gave the strength to the men that were.

All the goats' milk was turned into cheese, which was considered a luxury, and particularly good for invalids. Goat's milk must also have been considered a good cosmetic, for a proverb sayeth

"Sailchuaich 'us bainne ghobhar,
Suath ri d' aghaidh,

'S cha 'n eil mac righ air an domhan,
Nach bi na d' dheigheadh."

"Rub thy face with violets and goat's milk, and there is not a king's son in the world but will be after thee." The panacea recommended in another proverb is—

"Is leigheas air gach tinn,
"Cneamh 'us im a' Mhaigh,
'Us ol am fochair sid,
Bainne ghobhar ban."

"Garlick and May butter

Will cure all disease,

And drink along with that

A white goat's milk."

The milk of the white goat was considered the richest for an invalid, as also the milk of a red cow. Goat milk whey was considered very wholesome, and the milk of a white goat preferable to that of a black or brown one. The tallow of the goat, next to that of the deer, was considered the most efficacious for rubbing to stiff joints, but even for that the best remedy came from the cow, in the neat foot oil. The proverb that said if the oil of the cow, without and within, would not cure the Highlander, there was no cure for him, was one on which they placed perfect faith-"Uilleadh na ba am mach 's a steach mar leighis sin an Gaidheal, cha 'n eil a leigheas ann." It was a singular habit of the Highlanders to class the cows according to the part of their bodies that happened to be white. The black, red, dun, or grey cow was spoken of as such, but a white-footed cow was "cas-fhionn;" a whitefaced one, "ceann-fhionn;" a white-shouldered one, "gual-fhionn;" white

backed was "druim-fhionn ;" and the white-bellied, "bailg-fhionn," and as such they are frequently spoken of in the old songs, thus-

"Crodh druim-fhionn, crodh gual-fhionn,

Air do bhuaile mar chomhla,

Te eile ga 'n cuallach,

'S do bhean a' fuaigheal na seomar."

And in the bribes that the "great grey hag" offered to Kennedy of Sianachan-" An gille dubh mor Mac Uaraic "—for letting her go free, when he had her bound before him on horseback, threatening to show her to human eyes-she offered him a herd of cattle, giving the different kinds their distinctive names-"buaile de chrodh bailg-fhionn, druim-fhionn, ceann-fhionn, cas-fhionn, agus dubh." And he replied that he had all these already. The term "cas-fhionn" came to be applied latterly to cows that had only the tip of the tail white. I have not found out why the term "cas-fhionn" was applied to the Macintyres, though I often heard them called "Cloinn an t-Saoir chais-fhionn."

The dishes they carried to the hill grazings were-wooden basins, "measraichean ;" milking cogs, "cuachan bleoghain," or "cummain ;" the churn, "muigh," or "imideal;" the cheese press, "fiodhan;" the sieve, "siolachan;" the cheese salter, "sailleir caise ;" and the butter tubs. It was customary when salting the butter to put a cross of rushes here and there, to keep evil influences from spoiling it. The skimmers they had were generally the deeper shell of the scallop, which was also the ancient drinking cup

"Fair a nall an t-slige chreachainn,

O'n 's ann aisd is blasd' an dram,

'S math an t-ainm dhi 'n t-slige chreachainn,

'S i 'n t-slige 'chreach sinn a bh'ann."

The shallow shell of the scallop, which was the badge of the pilgrim of old, was the one used to slice the butter, and its lamillibranchiate formation gave the butter a pretty ribbed appearance on the plate, or on the large scallop shell that served as a plate.

The life at the hill grazing, or shieling, was a free and a jolly one. The change of air was good for man and beast, and although they carried human passions in their breasts, there was very little in the circumstances of their surroundings to develop them. things tended to calm and gladden; their strongest emotions were called forth by the voices of love, devotion, and sympathy. They were a pious people. They were devoted to their chief, who was

both their father and friend, and they loved their wives and children, and came as near to the loving of their neighbour as themselves, as is possible for frail humanity. The township might almost be said to have a family life at the shieling, for each bore the other's burdens; they rejoiced in each other's joy, and when tears had to be shed, they mingled them in brotherly fashion. As far as the children were concerned, although the schoolmaster was abrcad, their winter education at the "ceilidh” was carried on in a most effectual manner. They romped among the calves, the kids, and the lambs, laying in large stores of the health and strength to be required in the future. And as they lay on the hillside, at the feet of their sires, they learned the songs of their country, and listened to the tales of the chase and of love and war. The boys learned to make and repair the milking and dairy utensils, to tend the flocks, shear the sheep, make and mend their own shoes; and to thatch, and make the heather and hair ropes so largely used by them; and perhaps the most desired part of their education was the shooting of a blackcock, the stalking of a deer, and the spearing of a salmon.

The girls learned to emulate their mothers in skill of the dairy work, as well as in spinning wool for future webs on the distaff, and knitting stockings and hose of brilliant hues and rare patterns. They learned to know the herbs that were medicinal for man and beast, and the different plants used in dyeing the colours of their tartans. They learned to become useful wives, following in the footprints of their mothers, as helpmates in the struggle for existence, neither fearing the snows and storms of winter, nor ashamed of the tawning of the summer sun. They danced and flirted and sang their sweet lyrics, and forgot amidst their labour that sorrow had an existence, or that pain was awaiting them.

The old manner of going to the sheilings belongs to the history of the past. Where such summer grazings are had still, as in some parts of the Hebrides, only some of the daughters of the families go with their cows, and in Lewis I have seen them carry the milk home twice a-week, all sour, of course. And I have seen the girls, on their return to the hill, carrying with them creels of seaware for their cows to eat. I have seen in Mr Carmichael's house in Edinburgh a small stool used in one of these sheilings, probably a milking stool, and Prince Charles Stuart sat on it. When wandering about, after Culloden, he entered a sheiling in which three girls were, and sat down, and got a drink of milk. They did not know who he was, and after he left they knew, and then they playfully fought for possession of what they called the throne, "An

righ-chaithir." In the course of the struggle, one of them lost a tooth, and the others generously let her have the stool, as she had suffered most in the cause of their beloved Prince. A descendant of hers gave it to its present appreciative owner, in whose hospitable house it has a place of honour in the drawing-room.

I have given here but little of what I meant to write on this subject, but if it will embalm any of the ancient usages of our noble-hearted and pure-natured forefathers, it will fulfil a good purpose, and make my heart glad.

15th FEBRUARY, 1888.

At this meeting the following gentlemen were elected members of the Society, viz. :—Mr D. H. Macfarlane, 46 Portman Square, London, life member, and Mr A. J. Stewart, grocer, Union Street, Inverness, ordinary member. Thereafter Mr Alex. Macbain, M.A., read a paper contributed by Mr W. J. N. Liddall, advocate, Edinburgh, entitled, "Kinross-shire Place Names." Mr Liddall's paper was as follows:

KINROSS-SHIRE PLACE NAMES.

The elucidation of the topography of a district where the language which produced the names has ceased for centuries to be spoken, is possible only by an exact comparative study of the earliest forms as ascertained from historical documents. Personal associations led me to attempt such a task for the little county of Kinross, and the following notes-for this paper claims no higher description-will, I would hope, show results not altogether disappointing.

The topography of Kinross-shire is practically entirely Celtic, and purely Goidelic. In view of Skene's remarks in his analysis of the names in the list of Pictish kings,* one might have hoped to find a Brythonic trace, but there is but slight ground for even being suspicious of one or two names belonging to that division of the Celtic dialects. True it is, a tribe termed the Danmonii dwelt between the Forth and Tay, as well as in Cornwall, to which a parallel is suggested by the river Devon in the one region, and the county of Devon in the other, but not much more can be said. "Celtic Scotland," Vol. I., P.

211.