however, in good order, and with the courage of despair. Once on this rock they could get nearer their boats than was otherwise possible. The contest now raged with terrific fury in the water. Many of the Lewismen fell here, as did some of their opponents also. The retiring party, once they gained a footing on the rock, regained courage and galled the boldest of their pursuers; but, alas! though they fought like demons, and, for a considerable time kept the enemy at bay, yet their numbers were so woefully reduced that they could only look to being cut off to a man. The last half-dozen of them scorned to ask for quarter—probably because they thought it would be in vain—and, with the exception of one of their number, shared the same fate with their comrades. The rock upon which this action terminated has, from this circumstance, been ever since called Sgeir a Bhualt, that is, the rock of strokes or blows. It is to be presumed that those of the invading crew who fell on land were treated with a decent burial (some of them indeed fell in a burying-ground, and all fell within bowshot of it), but of those who fell in the water it is said that their bodies were disposed of in shallow pits—graves they could hardly be called—among the sand and shingle in the very spots where they were found when the tide receded.
NOTES
Notes on the Study of Gaelic—concluded
It will serve as a useful conclusion to these notes to give a list of Bursaries, Grants, and other encouragements to the study of Gaelic. The list is doubtless incomplete, and the writer will be obliged for a note of any omissions.
University of Edinburgh—Bursaries in Arts. Argyllshire Bursary.—One of £20 for 3 years. Candidates (male or female) must be natives of Argyllshire, Bute, or Western Islands. Examinations in English, Latin, Mathematics, and any one of the following:—French, German, Greek, Gaelic. Application to George A. Munro, Esq., S.S.C., 6 Rutland Square, Edinburgh.
Ardvorlich Bursary.—One of £15, 12s. for 4 years. Open to students of Arts, natives of the parishes of Comrie, Balquhidder, Callander, or Killin; failing whom, to natives of Perthshire; failing such, to the best qualified
