Untitled

IV
Barnes which I have been collecting for a period of thirty
years.
This is
for all Scotland.
the first general list of the kind published
I must not omit my great obligation to
the Press both at home and abroad, for the detailed
reviews they have given of the parts as they appeared,
and for their hearty appreciation of my labours.
The Highland Society of London kindly contributed
25 towards the cost of publication.
No one who has always spoken a language like
Gaelic from the cradle can ever realize the extraordinary
difficulties presented to a stranger who wishes to acquire
it. First, the majority of Gaelic speakers only a very
few years ago could neither read nor write it, so when
one heard an unfamiliar word or phrase and the first
instinct was of course to write it down lest it should be
forgotten, the question was how to spell
it of course
the speaker could not tell ! I was baulked in this way
times without number, and my progress with the language
immensely retarded in consequence. Next, the great
difficulty of inducing a Gael to engage in a Gaelic con-
versation if he thinks he can make himself understood at
all by means of indifferent English, or even if there is
anyone present who cannot understand Gaelic, makes the
acquisition of a knowledge of colloquial Gaelic much more
difficult than is the case with other modern tongues, for
it is only by posing as a Highlander and one who knows
Gaelic that one can ever hope to hear it spoken habitually
and without restraint. These are real difficulties, but
they may be overcome by scheming and perseverance as
I have proved.
This Dictionary is of especial value to the beginner.
Many who did not learn the language in infancy, but acquired
it in later life through the medium of books, have
notified me of the difficulties of grammar and idiom they
.met with. Such difficulties are likely to puzzle other
novices, and have therefore been explained under their
appropriate headings. Grammatical difficulties have been