Gairloch in North-West Ross-Shire / Its Records, Traditions, Inhabitants, and Natural History, with a Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree, and a Map and Illustrations

by John H. Dixon

The great contest which has so long raged over Macpherson's "Ossian" does not concern us here. The unwritten poems of Ossian have been handed down by the bards through many generations. Possibly Macpherson's were partly fictitious; they do not correspond to the actual traditional forms of the poems, as published by Mr John F. Campbell of Islay (brother of the present Lady Mackenzie of Gairloch), who has passed to his rest whilst I write; he took down the poems from the mouths of the old men who had become the receptacles of them, and collected them in a book entitled "Leabhar na Feinne," perhaps the most valuable contribution to the Ossianic controversy.

The bard of old was called the "seannachie," properly "seannachaidh,"—almost synonymous with "antiquarian" or "historian,"—a name appropriately signifying that he was the repository and remembrancer of the history, achievements, and genealogy of his clan or sept. It was the bard's office to sing or recite the valorous deeds of the chiefs and heroes, and to cheer on his kinsmen in battle by inspiring songs or war cries, chaunted, shouted, or sung.

Later on, when clan contests became less frequent, some of the bards found congenial berths as family retainers of the great chiefs and proprietors, who generously rewarded their poetic talents. These family bards recited or sang in the halls of their patrons songs of their own or others' composition, and frequently repeated some of the poems of Ossian. They were also the poets-laureate of the great families, composing poems to celebrate their chief events and personages.

Captain Burt gives a list of the officers who in his day (1730) attended every chief when he went a journey or paid a formal visit. Among them are the bard, the piper, and the piper's gillie. The last bard of the Gairloch family was Alexander Campbell, who died in the first half of the present century. A short memoir of him is given further on.

Other bards and poets were found in the more private walks of life, and they are even now to be met with, still the receptacles of the treasured traditions and legends of their ancestors and country, still the composers of Gaelic songs and poems, and still the reciters or singers of their own compositions or of those of other bards, ancient or modern. Family traditions and genealogies possess more historical value in the Highlands than in other parts of Britain, from their having been preserved and handed down by means of the trained memories of the bards. In most cases, every word put in the mouths of the traditional heroes is accurately repeated on each occasion of the story being told.

Meetings, called "ceilidh," used to be frequently held during the long winter nights of this northern region, when the people gathered in each others' houses to be entertained by songs, poems, traditions, legends, and tales of all kinds. At the "ceilidh" the bards, in their character of "seannachaidhean," were in much request, and we can well imagine how the popular applause fostered the spirit of the bards and helped to preserve the old traditions of the Highlands. They say these "ceilidh" are not yet altogether given up in Gairloch parish.

Pipe music dates back at least as far as the fourteenth century, and probably much farther. Mr Robertson Macdonald of Kinloch-moidart wrote to the Scotsman a few years ago, stating that he had the chanter and blowpipe of bagpipes which he believed to be older than a bagpipe reported at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland to bear the date of 1409. Mr Macdonald's relics were given in the end of last century to his maternal uncle, Donald Macdonald of Kinloch-moidart, by the Macintyres, who were the hereditary pipers to the Clanranald branch of the Macdonalds, as they were on the point of emigrating to America; they said the Macdonalds had followed the inspiring strains of these bagpipes into the battle of Bannockburn, 24th June 1314.

The vocation of the pipers, who had gradually displaced the more ancient harpers, corresponded very closely with that of the bards. Like the bards, they accompanied their clansmen to battle. On all social occasions they played their stately pibrochs, or thrilling marches, or lively reels and jigs; weddings and funerals were always attended by pipers, who moved the assembled companies with their stirring strains. Most of the chiefs had their family pipers, and the office was often hereditary. The Mackays were the hereditary pipers of the lairds of Gairloch (see [next chapter]) during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and were well rewarded by their patrons. The MacCrimmons of Dunvegan, Skye, were the great teachers of pipe music in the north up to a recent period; they held their lands from Macleod of Macleod, in return for their attendance on his person and family.

In these modern days pipers are still numerous in Gairloch, and still enliven many a wedding party with their music. The Gairloch volunteers have their efficient pipers, who in tartan array play many a lively air as their comrades move in column, and who accompany the march-past on review days to the favourite tune of "Highland Laddie." Highlanders march with lighter tread, more spirited step, and more accurate time, to the music of the bagpipes than to any other.

The strains of the great Highland bagpipes, when played indoors, often sound harsh and shrill to the unaccustomed ear, but they never do to the Highlander, who to this day prefers the pipes to all other music. Their effect on the Highland soldier, in the presence of the foe, is too well known to need description here.