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328 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
interesting reminiscences connected with this glen. On the ridge
soutli of this glen, which forms the march between the parishes
of Rosskeen and Alness, there is a conspicuous piece of Schist rock
in situ crojiping up, called " Clach-nam-ban," the stone of the
women. The tradition is, that before the Reformation, four
women were in the depth of winter proceeding from Glencalvie,
in the parish of Kincardine, to the Roman Catholic Chapel at
Kildermorie, in the i)arish of Alness, and carrying with them
bundles of hemp. "When near this rock they were overtaken by a
severe stcrm of snow and drift. They took shelter in a cleft of
the rock and perished there Their bodies were not found till the
snow melted several weeks after. The party in search of them
were led to the spot by seeing one of the bundles of hemp suspended
from a stick which the women found there, and erected as
a guide to their friends, who, they knew, would search for their
remains.
At the foot of the same hill, north-east of this rock, is to be
seen a small green patch called " Achadh-a'-bhad-dhuibh," the field
of the black clump, w^hich, about 90 years ago was a little croft,
occupied by an old woman, the solitary resident in the glen. At
the time above stated, in the month of July, a man passing
through the glen observed something like a bundle of clothes in
the potato plot. Curiosity led him to see what it was, and there
he found the old ^voman dead. It would appear that she had no
food, and went to try if she could find a few tubers to the potato
shaws to appease her hunger. A sort of a coffin and a rude bier
were made, and a fev.- peo})le collected to bury her, but going
along the hill-side to the place of burial at Kildermorie, the in-
sufficiency of both coffin and bier shewed itself by the body falling
through to the ground. My informant, who was there, told
me that they turned the coffin upside down and put the body in
again, adding " people were not so proud then as they are now;
they carried stumps of nails in their pockets, and as many nails
were found among the party as made the box secure."
On the side of the glen, opposite to this croft, is to be seen a
portion of the hut, which was occupied by a herd employed by the
Ai'dross tenants when they had this glen as common pastui'e
ground. This man was a notable character, and a careful herd,
for he always retui-ned from the grazing the same number of cattle
as he got to it. Somehow a few of them would have changed
colour, but animals of the same changed colour would be missing
in other quarters, perhaj)s 20 miles or moi'c away. I heard a
great many anecdotes about this man, but I refrain from mention-