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The Parish of Rossheen. 327
Knocknavie.— "Cnocanfheitli bhuidhe," tlieliill of the yellow
bog. The bog is now dniiiuHl, Init yellow fog still grows there.
AcnNACLOiCH, named after a large granite boulder. There
is a loch here in which, when low, the remains of a Crannaig or
lake dwelling can be seen, and about 200 yai'ds east of the loch
the Cfxstle of the lairds of Achnacloich stood, now all removed
except a portion of the dungeon. Hugh Ross of Achmicloich got
a Charter of the lands of Tollie from Charles I. in 1635. Ardross
Castle now stands on the site of Tollie House— " Cnoc an doire
leathain," " The hill of the broad oak clump." This name indicates
that oak trees grew here, and at an elevation of over 1 200
feet. On the south-east face of the same hill there can be traced
the remains of a croft at the elevation of over 1100 feet. Old
men told me that 80 years ago the rigs could be traced. Now,
except in good seasons, we cannot get corn to come to maturity at
600 feet, so much has the climate changed, and so much for the
physical knowledge of a few of our legislators and (though perhaps
well meaning) blind leaders of the blind.
Preas-a'-miiadaidii, the wolf's bush. The name of a clump of
hazel and birch bushes which was removed about thirty-four years
ago. It was situated about three-quarters of a mile north-eastofArd-
ross Castle. The last wolf in Scotland was killed here. When I
was a young lad I got the information of the killing of this wolf with
that degree of freshness which convinced me of the circumstance
not having been far back. The story is that an old maid at foiu-
o'clock on a New-Year's morning going to a neighbour's house for
tiie loan of a girdle to cook a bannock for herself, took a path
through this clump. At a sharp curve in the path, for some
natural cause she stooped. On her return by the same path she
suddenly espied the wolf scraping the ground where she stooped,
and in her desperation struck him with the edge of the girdle in
the small of the back, and bolted to the house she came from.
The alarm was raised, and all who could wield bludgeons or other
weapons of destruction hastened to the place, when they found
the brute spiawling, trying to escape. He was soon dispatched,
and thus " the last of his race " in Scotland ignominiously fell
under the hands of an old woman. As far as I could trace, this
occiuTed about the beginning of the last century. She was the
sister of a man whose great-great-grandson is now employed as a
carpenter at Ardross. A hill about four miles noilli-west of this
place is called " Cnoc-a'-mhadaidh," where the wolf had his den.
Glaicksiiellach, the sauchy glen. Not a tree or bush exists
here now, and even the heather is stinted. There ai-e several