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394 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
These craggans are still made in the Lewis, and I show a
specimen, and some cups and saucers.
Tlie oil was mainly used for lighting the " cruiscan," or lamp,
and I show you a specimen of the lamp. These lamj^s superseded
the fir root and in their turn have been superseded by the paraffin
and modern oil lamps. As you will observe, they are constructed
with two bowls or spoons, one to hold the oil and wick, the other
to catch the drip, and by a clever arrangement the upper bowl
or spoon was made by hooking on to a series of pegs to tilt up as
the oil was consumed, and so afford a continuous supply of oil to
the A\ack.
The mode of producing light was by striking a spark from a
piece of flint or quartz, which spark falling on a piece of charred
linen or cotton, set it on fire, and this again was made use of to
light a rude match made of fir and tippetl with brimstone.
The making of these matches, or "spunks" as they were
called, gave occupation in the long evenings to the male part of
the family, who split up fine pieces of fir, and dipped the ends
into melted brimstone or sulphur, and thus produced a rude lucifer
match. Since these " cruiscean" were superseded by the paraffin
and other lamps, they have been genei'ally reduced to the mean
use of melting brimstone or sulphur for smoking of bees, and those
I have recovex'ed were being iised for this purpose by the old
ladies who kept bees.
The provision of wicks for these lamps was of some importance,
and was made of the pith of rushes from the ditches ; and
I have often as a boy earned a luncheon by gathering and peeling
these. They were prepared by strijjping off the outer skin,
and raising by a gentle pressure, the pith in a long piece, very like
Macaroni ; these were tied in bundles and dried for use.
Food.— Following up tliese notes on the Domestic Economy
and Occupation, we naturally come next to the preparation of
food. Thus we have, say, the meal— Oat and here meal was until
recently the staple food of the people in Scotland, and the prepara-
tion of their meal formed an imjiortant industry. Mr ]\Iacgrogor
mentioned, in the paper before referred to, that he recollected a
time Avhen loaf or wheaten bread was unknown in Kilmuir. " I
remember," he says, " when loaves of bread were made at the
manse for a Communion or Sacramental occasion, when crowds of
females resorted to the minister's liouse to see the ' aran
caneach,' that is, the foggy or spongy bread, and on tasting it
they did not at all relish it, as tliey did not consider it to be at
all so substantial as their own oaten cakes.