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400 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
carded, and dressed, it was the duty of the females to spin it
into worsted or threads, and the doing so gave occupation to
the old and infirm as well as the young, and grannie at the
spinning wheel has always been a favourite subject for Scottish
painters and jioets. Tlie distaff was a more ancient form of
spinning, and had the advantage of being done on the hillside,
and I have met the girls herding on the hillside and busily
spinning with the distaff. The working of the distaff is very
simple and picturesque, viz.—A bundle of wool is held under
the arm and also a staff about 4- feet long, which is allowed to pro-
ject in front, and over the projecting end passes the thread of
worsted. The end hangs down a foot or two, and on a spindle
is hung the whorl or ring of stone, which is the fly-wheel, and which
is sjmn round from time to time and twists the wool ; gradually
the thread is fed out from the store under the arm, and as spun it
is rolled into a ball above the whorl. In almost all cairns and pre-
historic dwellings, these whorls are to be found, often made of
steatite, but any soft stone will suit.
The preparation of the wool for weaving, and also the dyeing
of it, was a matter which gave scope for much ingenuity, and I
have made a list of the different dyes used, which may be interest-
ing. Now the mineral dyes have superseded the native, wliich
were as a rule vegetable, but alum, copperas, and urine were used to
clean the wool and fix the colours.
Many of tha colours were extremely bright and pretty, though
it was at all times difficult to produce the bright scarlets of the
regular dyester, and amongst the home-made cloths we find certain
quantities of the brightest dyes creeping in from the regular manufacturers.
The following is, however, a list of such dyes and their
results as I have been able to procure, viz.:
Dyes.
1. Heather, witli Alum Dark Green.
The Heather must he pulled before flowering,
and from a durk, shady place.
2. Ci 0' tie, a coarse kind of Lichen {ParmcUa scixalili^) Philamot — Yellowish
]5ro\vw (colour
of a dead leaf).
3. Crottle Corkir (white and ground, and mixed with
urine) ( Lecanora (artarea) Scarlet or Crimson.
4. Common Yell) w Wall lAchcnf PanncUa parietina ) Brown.
5. \\QQV.\^itih{ii\ ( liamalnia iirojndoruni) Red.
fi. White Crottle (Lecanora paUc'icrnx) Re'l.
7. Limestone Lichen ('f7?Tfo/(t^irt calc.arca) Scarlet.
Used liy the peasantry in linu stone districts
(Shetland, &c.)
8. I^ark Crottle (ParmcUa ceratophylla) Brown.
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