and Buachaill Eite (the Shepherd of Etive), the hill watching over Glen Etive. These are but names chosen at random, yet they will be seen to show the æsthetic appreciation of natural circumstances in a marked degree. These Highland names cannot be less ancient than the works of Ossian. Obviously, therefore, poetic names like Struthmor (roaring stream) or Comala (maid of the pleasant brow), used by Ossian, are exactly such as might be expected in compositions of early Celtic times. If a parallel be desired, it may be found in the Indian names translated by Longfellow in his "Hiawatha." The American tribes exhibit to-day in some respects the state of society existing in the Celtic Scotland of Fingal's time. They are a people living by the chase, knowing little of the arts of husbandry, and without a literature. Yet the Indian chiefs harangue their warriors in rhetoric glowing with splendid metaphor, and the names they use are full of poetic feeling. Names like Minnehaha (Laughing Water) or Chibiabos (the Blessed Islands) are of similar character and origin with the names in Ossian.
The Gaelic bard, like Homer himself, was by no means the earliest singer of his race. He confesses that he had models to work upon, referring to compositions regarding Trathal, Trenmor, and other ancestors of Fingal, as familiar in his day.
