6. The Society shall hold its meetings weekly from the beginning of October to the end of March, and fortnightly from the beginning of April to the end of September. The business shall be carried on in Gaelic on every alternate night at least.

7. There shall be an Annual Meeting in the Month of July, the day to be named by the Committee for the time being, when Competitions for Prizes shall take place in Pipe and other Highland Music. In the evening there shall be Competitions in Reading and Reciting Gaelic Poetry and Prose, both original and select. After which there will be a Social Meeting, at which Gaelic subjects shall have the preference, but not to such an extent as entirely to preclude participation by persons who do not understand Gaelic. The expenses of the competition shall be defrayed out of a special fund, to which the general public shall be invited to subscribe.

8. It is a fundamental rule of the Society that no part of the Constitution shall be altered without the assent of two-thirds of the Gaelic speaking Members on the roll; but if any alterations be required, due notice of the same must be given to each member, at least one month before the meeting takes place at which the alteration is proposed to be made. Absent Members may vote by

mandates.

9. The Society shall elect a Bard, a Piper, and a Librarian.

All Papers and Lectures shall be prepared, and all Discussions carried on, with an honest, earnest, and manful desire for truth ; and all proceedings shall be conducted in a pure and gentle spirit, and according to the usually recognised rules.

INTRODUCTION.

WE have had frequently, in presenting our periodical Volume of Transactions, to record that the one then issued was larger than any of its predecessors; and it is our pleasing duty once more to record that this is the largest Volume of Transactions that the Society has ever placed in the hands of its members. We hope that the Volume, if it surpasses in bulk, will also prove equally satisfactory in matter. One novelty it may fairly lay claim to: the paper on "Druid Circles" is illustrated by seven drawings, for the best and most of which we are indebted to the kindness of Mr P. H. Smart, teacher of drawing, Inverness. Mr Smart has not merely put himself to much trouble in making these etchings for the Society's Transactions, but at the reading of this paper and any others that required the exercise of art, he has always given his services freely and kindly to their authors.

The Volume begins with January 1884, and brings the Transactions down to May 1885. The Session of 1884 appears comparatively more barren than in reality it was; it was rather an active session on the whole, for during it were initiated the Gaelic Classes which the Society conducted for its non-Gaelic and junior members and for the public at large, and which were attended with the most gratifying results. The reason why the Session does not bulk more largely in the Volume is simply because some of the gentlemen who delivered discourses before the Society made use of notes, or rough draft copies, which they had not since time to prepare for publication. In this way we have lost the Rev. Mr Cameron's paper on "Original Auslaut n” in Gaelic— a paper that would have been of extreme value to students of historic Gaelic grammar. The Spring Session of 1885 has been one of

almost unequalled success and activity; the number and the quality of the papers read are both matters of congratulation.

In general Gaelic literature there is no work of importance to record since our last Volume appeared. But an event of moment to Gaelic Folk-lore and Tradition took place in the death of Mr J. F. Campbell of Islay. He died on the 17th February of this year, at the age of sixty-three. Next to Macpherson himself, Mr Campbell has done most to make the Highlands and its Gaelic speech known over all the world. His "Popular Tales of the West Highlands was what the Germans call an "epochmaking book" in the general study of Folk-lore; while his "Leabhar na Feinne" is an invaluable contribution to the Ossianic controversy.

The field of general Celtic literature for the last year-anda-half has been comparatively barren. The great activity of the three or four previous years, which produced Windisch's "Irische Texte," the translations of his admirable Old Irish Grammar, M. D'Arbois de Jubainville's various books on the Study of Irish Literature and Celtic Mythology, Mr Elton's excellent "Origins of English History," Professor Rhys' "Celtic Britain," and several others,-this great activity has been succeeded by less effort. But books and pamphlets have been appearing, and we note the names of Thurneysen, Loth, Stokes, and Windisch (more "Irish Texts"), Zimmer, &c. Professor Windisch last year wrote an article for a German Encyclopedia, on the "Celtic Speeches ;" it is an admirable resume of the leading facts connected with the history, literature, and bibliography of the Celtic languages. It is a pity that it is practically shut out from British ken in its German form, and we trust it will soon be given to us in an English form.

One result of the report of the Crofters' Commission (to which reference was made in the introduction to volume X.), was Mr Mundella's sending of Dr Craik to the Highlands last September to report on the subject of Highland Education. He reported on the teaching of Gaelic in terms that deserve our highest praise; he presented every view candidly, and arrived at the conclusion

that Gaelic ought to be taught to the junior children, and might be taught to the senior children as a specific subject. He discussed the causes of the low attendance, and these he found in the natural difficulties of the country-distance from school, bad weather, and bad roads; also in the circumstances of the parents--poverty, appearing in want of clothes, food, and fees; the need of the children for herding and other works of the season; and some apathy or even hostility to education. Attendance, he argued, must be enforced, for the money returns and the education depended on it. For fostering secondary education, he recommended the employment of a graduate in one school in each district, with special facilities for teaching and gaining higher grants for the highest standards and subjects. The Commissioners urged that all rating above 2s. in the £ should be paid by Government, and that the building debts should be cancelled. Dr Craik opposed this recommendation, but suggested a considerable increase of school grants. The Department considered the matter very seriously, and early in May a Highland Minute appeared, making some important additions to the Code in regard to the Highlands, and generally giving effect to Dr Craik's recommendations. In the Highlands, burghs excluded, if a school makes an average attendance of 65 per cent. for the year as compared to the number on the roll (at the year's end), the average attendance grant is raised from 4s. to 5s. per head; if the school makes 70 per cent., 6s. is given; if 75, 7s.; and if 80 per cent. is made, the grant is 8s.-exactly doubled, when further grants are stopped. In regard to Gaelic, Gaelic-speaking pupil-teachers may be employed for the infants and junior children; such a teacher is recognised and paid the pupil-teacher grant, even should the numbers in the school not entitle the school to such; and, further, the pupil-teacher is to be allowed to spend the last year of apprenticeship at a preparatory school for entrance to the training colleges. A grant of 10s. for the infants is promised if such a pupil-teacher is employed. Gaelic is further made a specific subject, like Latin, Greek, and, for the matter of that, English; but the Gaelic schedule could not at the date of the