THE EDITOR IN CANADA. II. AFTER sending off my last letter, I met several North country gentlemen in Pictou, who hold high positions in the Dominion. One of these is a gentleman from Castle Street, Inverness, now Senator Grant. I enjoyed his hospitality, and obtained from him what I enjoyed even more than his very fine Scotch whisky, viz., two recent numbers of the Inverness Courier, in one of which, I read a well-written and sensible article, showing up the anti-Highland members of the Town Council who oppose the decoration of the New Town Hall Windows with the Arms of the Highland Clans. Another Highlander I met in Pictou was Colin Mackenzie, a gentleman possessed of considerable property, including the principal Hotel in the town-the St Lawrence,-kept by another Highlander, Malcolm Morrison, originally from the Island of Lewis. Mackenzie's grandfather emigrated soon after the arrival of the ship Hector, in 1773, and came from a place then pretty thickly populated, but now without a house in it, the district of Andrary, in Gairloch. Another Mackenzie, in good circumstances, whom I met here was a Murdo Mackenzie, also from Gairloch, and a first cousin of the late Captain John Mackenzie, Telford Road, Inverness. He is over 80 years of age, and his father only died a few years ago, 99 years of age. Among this coterie, who came a long distance to see me, was a Captain Carmichael Mackay, whose grandfather, Roderick Mackay, a native of Beauly, was imprisoned in the old Tolbooth of Inverness many years ago for smuggling. I received the following account of Roderick, who, with his family, came out in the ship Hector to Pictou, where many of his descendants are now in prosperous circumstances. He was a blacksmith by trade, and some time after he came to Nova Scotia, secured the important position of chief of the blacksmith works in Halifax dockyard. In going to Halifax, he and his wife had to travel on foot, through the forest, the journey being made more difficult of accomplishment owing to the fact that they had to carry two young children with them. Under his direction, while holding this position, was made the great chain, which, during the war, was stretched across the harbour of Halifax to keep hostile ships from entering. Roderick was a thick-set, strongly-built Celt, distinguished for activity, determination, and fertility of invention. An interesting story is related of his quondam sojourn in Inverness prison on the occasion above referred to. The gaugers seized some of Rory's illicit whisky, upon which he "gave a good account of them," and liberated his "barley bree." For this he was captured, and lodged in the old prison of Inverness. His free-born spirit, naturally chafed under such indignities and restraints, especially in such a good cause as the hero considered himself engaged in, protecting his own property, and he soon set about concocting means of exit. He soon ingra tiated himself with his gaoler, and one day he managed to send him out for a supply of ale and whisky, such things being freely admitted into such places in the good old days-and the gaoler could take his glass too from all accounts. Returning with the ale in one hand and the whisky in the other, Rory discovered his opportunity, slipped out smartly behind him, closing the door after him, locking it outside, at the same time carrying off the key, which is still preserved by his descendants in Pictou. These feats secured for Rory an honourable place in the hearts of his countrymen here, and made him a perfect idol amongst them, though probably the Inverness gaoler and his friends looked upon the affair in a very different light. Several other feats of great prowess, which he performed in his adopted country, are still told of the famous Rory Mackay; but my space does not at present admit of further record. Some of these fine old fellows came nine miles to see a Highlander from the old country. The place is full of men whose ancestors left their homes in Kintail, Lochbroom, Gairloch, Poolewe, and Lochcarron, in impoverished circumstances, but who themselves are now in comfort and even affluence, possessing lands and means of their own. Having parted with these warm-hearted fellows, I was driven out several miles into the country, by Captain David Crerar, to see the largest Tannery in Nova Scotia, owned and carried on by John Logan, a Highlander from Sutherlandshire. His grandfather was a stone mason at Bonar Bridge, and came out here in 1806. His father, when very young, worked at the Cotton Mills, the ruins of which are still to be seen at the roadside as you go from Bonar Bridge to Dornoch. He became a plasterer and small farmer in this country, and had four sons, all of whom are in good positions. One of these, John, started the Pictou Tannery in 1849, with only two pits. It has since grown to one hundred and twenty, and is a sight well worth going a long way to see. He turns out an average of 3,200 hides of sole leather per annum, representing over £40,000 in value. One pile of bark which I saw, alone cost over £2,600, while an equal quantity lay in smaller piles about the building; and this quantity, value over £5,000, is consumed annually in the works. All the leather manufactured is sold in the Dominion at from 10d to 1s per lb. The engine, 25 horse power, is kept going by the spent bark, which is carried to the furnace from distant parts of the building by a most ingenious, self-acting contrivance. The whole place is a perfect model of convenience and neatness, and the arrangements do great credit to the ingenuity and enterprise of this self-made, well-to-do Celt, whose place of business has become the centre of a great industry. I have seen, during the short time I was there, dozens of farmers coming in from all parts of the country, with cart-loads of bark, for which they get the cash in return from Mr Logan, to take home with them; and, although he has no competition worth mentioning, he pays them a sufficient sum to make it worth their while to work at it, else he would have to go without what is, of course, an absolute necessity for his successful enterprise. A brother, Dougall, keeps a large shop close to the tannery, and is in a good position, worth a considerable sum of money. Parting with my good friends in Pictou, who, even in the short time I was there, became numerous, I took train to New Glasgow, with one of the leading barristers of that town, a Gaelic-speaking Highlander, named Duncan C. Fraser, whose ancestors came from the county of Inverness. Having spent a few days with him, he introduced me to several good Celts, and drove me through some fine Highland settlements in the country. My friend had been in Parliament, and was a Member of the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia, and is, altogether, a worthy representative of his clan and country. Here I also met an Invernessian, Daniel M. Fraser, son of Hugh Fraser, farmer, Clunes, Strathdearn, who, I was glad to find, occupied the responsible position of agent in New Glasgow, for the Pictou Bank, a prosperous and thriving institution. Mr Fraser had also charge of the agency at Stellarton, an important branch, among the great coal mines, a few miles away. Indeed, the Frasers are at the same time, numerous and prosperous in New Glasgow, and any Highlander coming among them will meet with a hearty and very warm reception. But more interesting to me than all my other discoveries as yet on this Continent, was finding a representative of the famous pipers and poets of Gairloch, in the person of John Mackay, who occupies the most honourable and prominent position in this thriving town-that of Stipendiary Magistrate. His great-grandfather was the celebrated blind piper of Gairloch, a sketch of whose life, with specimens of his poetry, is given by the late John Mackenzie in the "Beauties of Gaelic Poetry." About four years ago a paragraph appeared in the Celtic Magazine making enquiries as to whether any members of this distinguished family of pipers were yet alive, but no answer was received. The only thing known about them was that one of them, the grandson of the famous Piobaire Dall, and the last male representative of the race in Gairloch, emigrated to some part of America, in 1805, and carried with him more Ceol mor or Piobaireachd, than he left behind him among all the pipers of Scotland. At this time, John, who is now in his 86th year, was 12 years of age, and even now he remembers almost every prominent stone and tree in the parish, to say nothing of the lakes, rivers, mountains, and valleys. His father continued to play the national instrument all his life, and died a very old man. His elder brother, Angus, also played marches, reels, and strathspeys, but piobaireachd not being appreciated in the land of his adoption, he practised that higher class music but little, and was not, therefore, up to the family standard of excellence in that department. He died a few years ago, when nearly one hundred years of age. John himself also learned to play; but at the age of eighteen he finally gave it up, so that now not one of this celebrated family keeps up the name and reputation of the family, though several of the descendants of this fine race still exist-many of them in good circumstances-on this Continent. I spent a whole evening with this fine old Highlander, who still speaks the purest Gaelic, while his English strongly smacks of the peat and the heather. His intellect is quite unimpaired, and he is admitted on all hands to be the ablest and most independent judge in the whole Province of Nova Scotia. He was in a perfect ecstasy of joy when talking over his recollections of his native parish and of the people he remembered, but of whom hardly a soul now survives. The whole thing seemed as if a ghost had risen from the grave. He talked of things long ago as if they were but of yesterday; and I parted with him with very mixed emotions. I must now carry you with me on a visit to a Highlander of a v different but equally genuine stamp, and better known to the reader, the Rev. A. Maclean Sinclair, who lives at Springville, ten miles from New Glasgow. Having heard that I was there, he sent up his machine on Saturday to take me down to his place. I was only too glad to have the opportunity of visiting this excellent Celt and Gaelic scholar, though it happened to be his communion week, which made it more inconvenient for him, and, in all the circumstances, less attractive for me. On my arrival, I found him well housed, in a most beautiful locality, in the centre of a wide district, all settled by Highlanders, most of whom, I found, came from the parish of Urquhart, in the county of Inverness, while a few families of Macleans, Mackinnons, and Macquarries, I found to be descendants of emigrants from the Island of Rum-in all about 200 wellto-do families. I attended divine service on Sabbath, and found at the English service about 700 of a congregation, in a neat, comfortable church listening to a well-reasoned, neatly-delivered sermon. Of these, about 300 were communicants; but, after the sermon was over, I left and went to a contiguous hall, where a neighbouring minister, the Rev. Alex. Maclean, was preaching to a large Gaelic congregation, in the purest and most unctuous vernacular. I felt how great a pity it was that we could not have such a fine preacher, getting a good stipend at home, in place of some of those mongrel, so called Gaelic preachers we have in many places in the Highlands of Scotland, Mr Maclean is really a first-class Gaelic preacher, and uses the language with great fluency and power. born where he is now settled, but was for several years in charge of a Highland congregation in Prince Edward Island. His father emigrated from Glen Strathfarrar, in Strathglass-now as celebrated for its deer as it was of yore for the fine fellows it sent to the Church, and to the defence of king and country. Having seen these meetings of my countrymen, I would not have missed them for a great deal. Imagine nearly 200 carriages, fourwheeled, scattered all about outside the church. It was such a sight as I never saw, and never could have seen in the Highlands; yet here there is hardly a family which does not drive to church, and market, in a nice light "waggon" or carriage; but, in spite of all this, mistaken people at home, will advise the poor crofter not to emigrate to a country where such things are possible to those who came out here a few years ago in a state of penury and want. He was The Rev. A. Maclean Sinclair is really most happy and comfortable in his surroundings, and all he seems to want to make him as completely happy as this world can, is to have at the head of his household gods, a better half, congenial to his cultivated tastes; though at present his mother, a fine old lady, the daughter of the Bard of Coll, and a walking Celtic Encyclopædia, keeps house for him, and presides at his hospitable table. But while I envied him the beautiful situation of his manse, the happy concord of the large Highland congregation over which he presides, and the respect paid to him by every one in the district, I envied him his magnificent and valuable library ten times more. It is almost impossible to conceive that such a rare collection of valuable books could be met with in such an out-of-the-way place. I believe his collection of Celtic works is the best private one on the American Continent, and very few indeed can surpass it even at home. Among the works of the Gaelic Poets on his shelves, I found the first edition of Alexander Macdonald's Poems, which contains several pieces not suited for modern ears, and not included in the later editions; Ronald Macdonald's Collection, published in 1776, the first collection of Gaelic poems ever published; Gillies's Collection-now very rare-published in 1786; Smith's Sean Dana, 1787; John MacGregor's Poems, 1801; Robert Stewart's, 1802; a rare collection, published at Inveraray, without date, and containing "An Duanag Ullamh "; Stewart's Collection, 1804; the first Inverness Collection, 1806; Donald Macleod's, 1811; Turner's, 1813; P. Macfarlane's, in the same year; Ossian; Leabhar na Feinne; Sàr Obair nam Bard; and all the more modern collections down to the "Oranaiche," as well as the modern bards from Duncan Ban down to the present day. In the Gaelic prose department, I noticed "An Teachdaire"; an "Čuairtear"; an "Gaidheal"; "Bratach na Firinn"; "Adhamh agus Eubh"; "Bliadhna Thearlaich"; Campbell's Tales of the West Highlands; all the Gaelic Dictionaries; and several Gaelic Grammars; while among English works on Celtic subjects there were Dr John Macpherson's Critical Dissertation, published in 1768, a rare and valuable work; the American Edition of Logan's Scottish Gael, published in Boston in 1833, and with which I was not previously acquainted; General Stewart's Sketches of the Highlanders; Pattison's Gaelic Bards; Campbell's Language, Poetry, and Music of the Highlands; Dr Maclauchlan's Celtic Gleanings; Laing's Dissertation on Ossian; Robertson's Historical Proofs; Fullarton's Highland Clans and Regiments; Professor Blackie's Language and Literature of the Highlands; and numberless others, down to the "Prophecies of the Brahan Seer"; the "Historical Tales and Legends of the Highlands"; and the Celtic Magazine. Many people, possessing good libraries, know very little of their contents, but Mr Sinclair knows every word, and is a thorough master of every idea in his splendid collection. The only pity is that he does not give the benefit of his vast stores of Celtic learning to his fellow-countrymen. But I have not, as yet, exhausted the reverend gentleman's treasures, the best of which still fall to be noticed. He showed me a rare collection of Gaelic poems made by a Dr Maclean, in the Island of Mull, as early as the year 1768, eight years before Ronald Macdonald's, the first collection ever published. John Maclean, the Bard of Coll (Mr Sinclair's grandfather), obtained this rare MS. Collection about 1816, from the collector's daughter, Mairi Nighean an Doctair. The majority of the poems in it are nowhere else to be found, and those in it which have appeared in printed collections are, Mr Sinclair informs me, far superior and more correct in the MS. This is natural enough; for the earlier a poem or song is taken down, the more likely it is to be correct, and as the original composer finally left it. The MS. contains about forty-eight pieces of considerable length, and several shorter pieces. Many of the songs are by Iain Lom, Eachainn Bacach, Iain MacAilein, and other well-known Gaelic bards, Another valuable Collection in MS. is one made by the bard, John Maclean, who travelled extensively over the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, between the years 1812 and 1816. During this tour he took down one hundred and ten Gaelic songs, forming the extensive MS. under notice. It contains pieces by Iain Lom, Eachainn Bacach, Mairearad nigh'n Lachainn, and some by Mairi nigh'n Alastair Ruaidh, while there are several songs by Alexander Mackinnon, the warrior bard. Only a small portion of the valuable pieces preserved in this MS. have ever been published. My friend has yet a third MS, of Gaelic poems and songs F |