The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-10-19

authorities as the scene of King Duncan's
murder. Then later castle, where the
shire buildings now stand on the crown of
picturesque hill in the heart of the city,
was afterward in the hands OF Macduff 1t
also became the prison of Sir John Lovat.
In 1903 it was seized for Edward !. Its
capture by friends of Robert Bruce, then a
pennies fugitive in the Western Isles,
prompted that valiant adventurer to the
course OF enterprise which finally gave him
the throne, and Scotland noble line OIL
patriot kings. James l when in the North.
in 1927, TO castigate its turbulent chiefs,
held a Parliament within it. Forty years
later James III occupied it. In lob Queen
regent Mary of GuiSe was here to summon
courts and punish Highland robbers, then
termed "cateranS and seven years
later. when Queen. Mary was driven
from the castle gate and was compelled to
lodge in a comfortable thatrhed haoitation
of the time some of whose walls still
stand down there by the site of the old
bridge. Just at the harbor-edge ara the
remains Of tremendous fort built by
Cromwell, among Others, to over-awe the
north. And it was from here, that after
that most brilliant series of accomplish
mantS in the face of hopeless perjury known
to the annals of British warfare, the broken
remnants of Prince Charles Edwards little
army went forth on that fatal 10th of April,
Cunlberland'S army, and in that slaughter
to forever bury on dreary CullOden Moor.
just over that near ridge of hills there, the
hopes of the valiant Stuart cause.
Standing upon Castle Hill, around which
the fair city is built, with the river Ness
beneath you, this old northern capital and
its surroundings are rich with interest and
beauty. Around the base OF the hill are
winding streets, full of curious old Struc-
lures with gable ends, arched gateways.
hanging balconies, projecting towers and
ROUND TURNPIKE STAIRS,
Thanked by vennels, closes and alleys,
quaint as those of old Edinburgh itself.
1t was at the old Courier Office,
just below there that rare Hugh
Miller, while chiseing Inverness grave
stones and p0:hering along the old coaStllne
TO trace pre-Adamite periods, got out his
little volume of twenty poems, which,
if you have one handy now, you can sell
for twenty guineas to the book collectors.
Where YOU stand, once came and dwelt
Pictish and Scottish Kings. The blue river
sweeps past from the southwest, after re-
ceiying the waters of that majestic chain
of lakes which. boIdered by the greatest
mountains of Scotland, stretches straight
as an arrow from the German Ocean to the
Western Sea. In the opposite direction
city and valley basin sweep to the hGrbor-
edge in graceful circles. There and be-
yOnd where once rode the Dutch and In
=
OF tide-fretted shore; then the splendid
bay, dotted by the lazy sails Of east-coast
fishers; then the opaiine shimmering of
the Firth of Inverness, expanding and
finally narrowing where FOrtroSe stood at
the north, and Cromwell S grim menace,
stupendous Fort George, jutted from the
headland at the south; and then vast Mo
ray Firth with its fierce far headlands; and
at last the blue sea. just across the river
there, NJ the northern edge Of the city,
stands Craig PhadriC, lifting its parachute
like GROWING forest above the city, and
hiding within it one of those most curious of
antiquarian enigmaS a vitrified Tort of Pagan
construction, the most extensive and perfect
one still existing IN Britain Down behind
you, in the maZes of ancient, streets are the
remains of an ancient market-cross, nobody
knows how many centuries old and in its
base is embedded blue, l0Zense-shaped
stone, the palladium of the Old burgh,
and called Chac-na-cudden, or stone
of the Tubs" for having been for untold
generations the resting place for women
with their tubs, as they halted a
moment for gossip on their way to
and from the Ness for water. Just a mile
from where you stand, at the mouth of the
CALIFORNIAN Canal, is one of the most pic
turesQue little fishing villages in Scotland.
1t is in reality part of the ancient city. 1t
is called Clachnaharry. 1t clusters about
the base of high. bold headland rock. In
Olden times sentlnelS were stationed upon
THE rock to give notice of the approach of
caterans and other marauders. Clach-na-
berry, Rock of the Waterman" was its
Gaelic name 1000 years ago and Clachna-
harry it remains to this day. Just there in
the southwestern edge of the town rises
from the plain bogle-haunted Tomnahurich.
Tom-a-churach, or Knoll of the Canoe"
was its Gaelic name, because it resembles
AN INVERTED ANCIENT CURACH,
The hide bottOmed canoe of the ancients.
e
Scottish tomhanS." Tradition says the
mighty carn is the tomb OF Thomas the
Rhymer, prophet bard of ErciIdoune-a
tomb as eternal and almost as mighty as the
pyramid of Cheops Fairy lore peoples it
with colonies and legions of the wee folk
SaYant and servant quicken their pace by it
at night, and all Highlanders hold it in ven
Grafton.
Not four miles from where you stand, on
the great Moor Of CullOden, which sweeps
in dreary ridges aud scrubby plantations OF
frs around Cuil0den House, then, when the
headquarters of bonnie Prince Charlie"
and now, with its modern restoration, the
property of the Forbes family, Cumberland's
10000 trained men butchered all the fierce
and devoted band who remained to stand
with sword in hand for the line of Stuart.
Where all the different clans fell can be as
clearly traced by the tiny headStOnes as we
can follow the old wrath lines of our own
blue and gray on the field OF Gettysburg.
A step beyond CuilOden Moor just across
the little river Nairn, is another mystic
city of the dead. In tiny valley
dominated by two hills called Dun Evan
and Dun Davi0t, on which can still
be traced the outlines and walls of stu
pendOus prehistoric forts, you VIII find the
most extensive and impressive series of
cairns and stone circles anywhere existing
in Scotland. If ancient Inverness was the
capital of Pictayia, here was the place of in
cineratiOn and sculpture of all those mighty
northern hosts from remotest mist-hidden
time But tuning from contemplation of
bogle-haunted cairns, ancient slaughter
pens and wondTous Fagan metropolis,
how fair the valley smiles back, with
cleaning river, shimmering bay, CLASSY
lake, and beauteous city, TO the Sep
TENDER sun. Myriad upon myriad gOssa-
mer lines sweep across it from mountain
to cairn, from carn to spire, from spire to
headl nd, from headand 10 mountain again;
and along the serrated edges of northern
and southern horizon these blend with the
tender mists which wreatne the peaks above.
Those TO the south disclose and hide the
Grampian range. Those TO the north glow
in the face of their king, mighty Ben Wyvis,
ana Ben Wyyis hints OF unknown Highland
straths and glens, of mystic crags and
waterfalls, eagles and bridle-paths. of red
deer and pOachers, of crOitS and sheelngs,
of Gaelic and grandeur. And to these, as
we may, we shall 60.
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