Clan Hatreds and the Campbells

     George Sassoon, the son of Siegfried Sassoon, takes us to the lair of the hated Campbells. He says:
     Inveraray is the HQ of the Campbells. [It is in the headwaters of Loch Fyne in the northwest. RH] We drove past their castle there the day before yesterday. The road goes over a narrow bridge, with a view of the edifice. When crossing it, one must extend one's hand towards it, with the forefinger and little finger extended and the middle fingers curled into the palm. This is the devil's horns sign. Then, you say "buitseach"(= curse in Gaelic) three times and spit between the fingers three times. Some time ago I met a young MacMillan, a grandson of the prime minister Harold. He told me that he had done this at Inveraray Castle, and not three weeks later, the roof was burnt off it!
     One must remember that the highlands were a savage place until not much over 200 years ago. After the failed 1745 revolution, the MacGregor clan was outlawed en masse and it was decreed that they were to be shot on sight.
     At about that time too, the chief of the Lochbuie Maclaines (where I live) imprisoned a man in the dungeon of his castle, for having passed remarks about the virtue (or lack of it) of his (the chief's) daughter. The dungeon is still there - there is a stone in the middle of it surrounded by water, on which it is very difficult to rest comfortably without falling in.
     Finally the man got out and sued Maclaine in the Edinburgh courts. The judge explained patiently to the chief that one just couldn't do that sort of thing these days, clan chiefs no longer owned their vassals body and soul, and ordered him to pay substantial damages. Maclaine said in mitigation that he had at least had the man out and entertained him to dinner every night before putting him back!
     This judge was the father (I think) of James Boswell, who later visited Maclaine in Lochbuie with Dr. Johnson. Boswell was somewhat nervous at having to meet him, but by that time feelings over the matter had subsided.
     In one of Compton Mackenzie's books about the highlands, he has a character who trained his dogs to attack at the command "Campbells!". It wouldn't surprise me if this were based on a real person.
     My comment: I'm losing my eyesight poring over detailed maps of Scotland. I found Lochbuie and then lost it again. I think it is near Oban. Anyhow, WAISers have learned a useful curse which would bewilder the target. WAIS dog lovers have also learned a useful trick to teach their dogs.

Ronald Hilton - 10/2/99