Having waited some days at Armidel, we were flattered at last with
a wind that promised to convey us to Mull. We went on board a boat
that was taking in kelp, and left the Isle of Sky behind us. We
were doomed to experience, like others, the danger of trusting to
the wind, which blew against us, in a short time, with such
violence, that we, being no seasoned sailors, were willing to call
it a tempest. I was sea-sick and lay down. Mr. Boswell kept the
deck. The master knew not well whither to go; and our difficulties
might perhaps have filled a very pathetick page, had not Mr.
Maclean of Col, who, with every other qualification which insular
life requires, is a very active and skilful mariner, piloted us
safe into his own harbour.
COL
In the morning we found ourselves under the Isle of Col, where we
landed; and passed the first day and night with Captain Maclean, a
gentleman who has lived some time in the East Indies; but having
dethroned no Nabob, is not too rich to settle in own country.
Next day the wind was fair, and we might have had an easy passage
to Mull; but having, contrarily to our own intention, landed upon a
new Island, we would not leave it wholly unexamined. We therefore
suffered the vessel to depart without us, and trusted the skies for
another wind.
Mr. Maclean of Col, having a very numerous family, has, for some
time past, resided at Aberdeen, that he may superintend their
education, and leaves the young gentleman, our friend, to govern
his dominions, with the full power of a Highland Chief. By the
absence of the Laird's family, our entertainment was made more
difficult, because the house was in a great degree disfurnished;
but young Col's kindness and activity supplied all defects, and
procured us more than sufficient accommodation.
Here I first mounted a little Highland steed; and if there had been
many spectators, should have been somewhat ashamed of my figure in
the march. The horses of the Islands, as of other barren
countries, are very low: they are indeed musculous and strong,
beyond what their size gives reason for expecting; but a bulky man
upon one of their backs makes a very disproportionate appearance.
From the habitation of Captain Maclean, we went to Grissipol, but
called by the way on Mr. Hector Maclean, the Minister of Col, whom
we found in a hut, that is, a house of only one floor, but with
windows and chimney, and not inelegantly furnished. Mr. Maclean
has the reputation of great learning: he is seventy-seven years
old, but not infirm, with a look of venerable dignity, excelling
what I remember in any other man.
His conversation was not unsuitable to his appearance. I lost some
of his good-will, by treating a heretical writer with more regard
than, in his opinion, a heretick could deserve. I honoured his
orthodoxy, and did not much censure his asperity. A man who has
settled his opinions, does not love to have the tranquillity of his
conviction disturbed; and at seventy-seven it is time to be in
earnest.
Mention was made of the Earse translation of the New Testament,
which has been lately published, and of which the learned Mr.
Macqueen of Sky spoke with commendation; but Mr. Maclean said he
did not use it, because he could make the text more intelligible to
his auditors by an extemporary version. From this I inferred, that
the language of the translation was not the language of the Isle of
Col.
He has no publick edifice for the exercise of his ministry; and can
officiate to no greater number, than a room can contain; and the
room of a hut is not very large. This is all the opportunity of
worship that is now granted to the inhabitants of the Island, some
of whom must travel thither perhaps ten miles. Two chapels were
erected by their ancestors, of which I saw the skeletons, which now
stand faithful witnesses of the triumph of the Reformation.
The want of churches is not the only impediment to piety: there is
likewise a want of Ministers. A parish often contains more Islands
than one; and each Island can have the Minister only in its own
turn. At Raasa they had, I think, a right to service only every
third Sunday. All the provision made by the present ecclesiastical
constitution, for the inhabitants of about a hundred square miles,
is a prayer and sermon in a little room, once in three weeks: and
even this parsimonious distribution is at the mercy of the weather;
and in those Islands where the Minister does not reside, it is
impossible to tell how many weeks or months may pass without any
publick exercise of religion.
GRISSIPOL IN COL
After a short conversation with Mr. Maclean, we went on to
Grissipol, a house and farm tenanted by Mr. Macsweyn, where I saw
more of the ancient life of a Highlander, than I had yet found.
Mrs. Macsweyn could speak no English, and had never seen any other
places than the Islands of Sky, Mull, and Col: but she was
hospitable and good-humoured, and spread her table with sufficient
liberality. We found tea here, as in every other place, but our
spoons were of horn.
The house of Grissipol stands by a brook very clear and quick;
which is, I suppose, one of the most copious streams in the Island.
This place was the scene of an action, much celebrated in the
traditional history of Col, but which probably no two relaters will
tell alike.
Some time, in the obscure ages, Macneil of Barra married the Lady
Maclean, who had the Isle of Col for her jointure.
