The Adventures of Prince Charles. 153 The story of the hardships he went through, and the privations endured by one who, so short a time before, had been an idolized hero at Holyrood, victorious, hopeful, and adored, is a romance in itself. Before beginning to tell it, however (in another chapter), the history of those devoted Highland clans, whose sons and daughters sheltered their prince in his hour of need, must be also told, the better to explain the devoted love that they bore to their 'ain prince, bonnie Prince Charlie.' CHAPTER IV. THE HIGHLANDS AND HIGHLANDERS. 'The Lowland lads, they think they're fine; And manly looks of my Highland laddie !' OLD SONG. HE 'Highlands' of Scotland are the northwest portion of that kingdom, and are separated from the 'Lowlands' by a long line of hills, which form a natural boundary between the two countries. These hills stretch from the northern side of the river Don, in Aberdeenshire, across to Dumbartonshire, and are called (from a Gaelic word, signifying 'the rugged mountains') the Grampians. The character of the inhabitants of these two divisions is totally unlike each other, as well as all their manners and ideas; though now, of course, far less so than in Charles Edward's day, before good roads, the introduction of railroads and Origin of the Highlanders. 155 penny postage, made the inhabitants of the south better acquainted with a people whom, in 1745, they looked upon as little removed from savages. The Highlanders are a peculiar and original race. Their habits and customs are distinct, and totally unlike those of their Lowland neighbours. Their devotion to the exiled family, and fidelity to Prince Charles Edward, are prominent features in his story; but before I commence the account of his wanderings, I must tell you something about the Highlanders themselves and their clans. The mountaineers took peculiar pride in the idea that they were descended from the Celtic race. Even in the present day a likeness to many of the rites of that ancient tribe (a remnant of whom migrated to the Highlands) may be traced in Gaelic customs; and antiquarians may well imagine the Druids worshipping in the secluded glens and valleys of the Highlands their god Bel (or Bealdin, in Gaelic) on May-day, administering justice in the open air on the top of heather-covered hills, or practising by huge fires, after dusk, mysterious rites and ceremonies, while they contemplated the stars, alleging that, by the study of astronomy, they could predict the future. The conquest of the Caledonians (or Gaels, as the ancient Highlanders were also called) was a formidable task for the Roman conquerors of Britain. At the time of the first Roman invasion of North Britain, which was A.D. 81, the Scottish tribes appear, from the annals of that remote time, to have been twenty-one in number; but it would be too tedious to tell you all their names, which have been handed down by maps made by the monks of the fourteenth century. The Romans found North Britain a land almost wholly uncultivated; and it was covered by huge forests and bogs. Thirteen of the twenty-one tribes, discovered by Agricola, inhabited the northwestern part of Scotland, which we now call the Highlands. The lofty mountains that divided their land from the plain countries were broken by straths and glens, and the latter were also called passes, which were very difficult to penetrate, and which successfully defied, by the means of defence that they afforded the ancient inhabitants of Caledonia, any inroads into their country. The principal straths were on the rivers Leven, Ern, Tay, and Dee; and the most renowned passes were those of Beal-macha on Loch Lomond, Aberfoyle in Monteith, Glen Almond, Killiecrankie, and others formed through the mountain boundary by the natural passage of the rivers Ardle, Islay, South and North Esk. While the country behind the Grampians was grandly picturesque, with mountains so high that their summits seemed lost in the clouds, its coast was bold and rocky, and broken by bays Religion of the Gaels. 157 and promontories. The earliest Romans found the tribes who inhabited Caledonia existing amid beautiful and romantic scenes, in a state of semibarbarism, half clothed, living principally upon milk and the flesh of their flocks, or on mountain deer or wild-fowl. Fish they never ate, till they were converted to the Christian religion, as it was forbidden by Druidical law. They had very few towns, and those that they had were composed of rough tents, covered over with turf from the mountain side, or the skins of beasts of prey killed in the chase. As the thirteen tribes were very disunited, these huts were erected for security in the middle. of woods or marshes, which the Gaels barricaded against their enemies by ramparts made of earth, or the trunks of trees out of their vast forests. They were a hardy race, and defied the severity of their climate, although living in such a savage state of nudity. They defended themselves in battle with spears, broadswords, and small daggers; covering their breasts with round shields, while fighting on foot, or in cars drawn by small horses, which had iron scythes projecting from the axles of the chariots. Their religion was Druidism, whose doctrines were to worship God, to abstain from evil, to be brave, and to believe in the immortality of the soul. The Druids considered it wrong to write their tenets. |