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On the Dialects of Scottish Gaelic 349
[n my own Isluiul home the people pronounce sin and uis as if
the proper spelling were sean and neis : seem thu ueis being tlie
local phrase for " there you are now." Their neighbours in Mull
and Islay twit the natives of Colonsay for their vulgarism
in this particular, but it so happens that sin is spelled in the
" Book of Deer " sain and sen — a very gratifying discovery
to nie, who can in consequence make a jilausible claim to being a
countryman of the author of the Gaelic entries on the margin of
that Aenerable dociiment. In the Scottish Highlands, the geographical
configuration of the country and the tribal organisation
that prevailed would help to accentuate the difl'erentiating tendency
inlierent in all languages. The country was but thiidy
peopled. It was Avithout roads, and frequent communication
between different districts, especially on the mainland, was impos-
sible. Between difierent tribes friendly intercourse was possible
only when they were at peace, which, in the case of neighbouring
clans, did not always happen. Perhaps amid the storms of the
far past, more than one sub-dialect may have sunk in northern
waters ; but the wonder is how our Gaelic language in the Highlands
has escaped the fate of so many languages in similar circumstances
elsewhere— of being broken up into several widely -divergent
dialects, and finally disappearing altogether. Paradoxical as it
may appear, jierhaps the very system of clanship which in ordinary
circumstances weuld tend to disintegration, helped, as it
existed in the Highlands, to preserve the unity of the language.
We had few readers and fewer books ; but there was a considerable
mass of traditional literature \i\ prose and verse which was
the common property of the Goidelic race, and which, there is
reason to believe, was extensively known among the people. The
clan, whether large or small, formed a society in itself. It contained
all the elements, civil and social, which make up a community.
It had its chief or ruler, its upper and lower classes
with their distinctive rights and privileges, but bound together
by ties of blood and common interest. It had its bard and
historian, men who received more or less of a literary training,
and whose duty it was to know the traditional literature of
the race, as well as to preserve the history and sing the praises
of the clan. There wouhl undoubtedly be rivalry between the
bards, as well as between the chiefs, of neighbouring clans. The
unity of the language was preserved l)y this literary caste or
guild. The constant intercourse between the various members of
the clan, rendered necessary by their small numbers and common
interests, was a literary education of no small value. In the pre-