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396 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
myself comfortable for the night, hut I vesumod my boots and
started over the hill, and after stumbling over rocks and bogs
for a mile or so, we came to the cottage where the operation was
being carried on. We were just in time. The grain was being
separated from the straw very much as described by IVIr ^lacgregor,
and the husks were being taken ott'the grain by stirring the parched
corn in a pot, the fire still kept burning the grain, and the husking
and kiln drying were one and tlie same operation. After the grain
had been thoroughly husked and dried, it was winnowed and ready
for grinding. The woman who did this took the grains and dropped
them gently into the centre hole of the upper stone, while she
turned it with the other hand, and the meal was thrown out round
the outer rim of the stones. After preparing about a peck of it
she gathered it up, and with a sieve separated the meal from any
seeds and impurities. She then proceeded to bake the cake in the
ordinary way, and when shaped she spread over the upper surface
some melted sugar and carroway seeds. The baking and firing was
done in the ordinary way on a flat disc of metal, and when
sufficiently fired it was cut up and handed round to the members
of the family and visitors. When warm and fresh, it was very
palatable, and I enjoyed a portion. Being much interested in the
custom and operation, I begged a bit of the cake to take home.
I was presented with a goodly portion, which I brought home on
trial, and a day or two after my arrival I was describing to some
friends the opei-ation, and ottered to allow them taste of my fare.
But I reckoned without my host, for on ordering in the bread I was
informed by the serving maid that my wife had ordered the precious
cake to be thrown out to the pigs, it smelt the house so, and I
must confess that however i)leasing and attractive the cake was
partaken of in a Highland bothy, fresh, and with all the romance
of the situation, yet in our refined condition it had lost its sweet-
ness, and became absolutely ofiensive. So much for our early
tastes and romantic ideas of Highland life.
Jamieson, in his work on popular songs and ballads, gives the
following graphic picture of Highland life in the beginning of the
present century, and though a little coloured it fairly enough
describes the amount of home resources of old country life, which,
alas ! is a thing of the past, and the Highlander now depends too
much on foreign produce and the regular A'isits of the Glasgow
steamers for his comforts. He says— " On a very hot day in the
beginning of autumn, tlie author, when a stripling, was travelling
afoot over the mountains of Lochaber, from Fort-Augustus to
Inverness, and when he came to the place where he was to have