Hi everyone, Before I get my teeth into the new "Book of Islay", I wanted to finish another that I started earlier, called "The Crofter and the Laird" by John McPhee. ISBN 0-374-51465-8, published by Farrar Straus Giroux, New York. What a lovely read! John McPhee's ancestors left the Island of Colonsay in the mid 1850's, and although his American ancestors and relatives never returned, "just the name of the island seems to set off in virtually all these people, who now live anywhere between the oceans, some sort of atavistic vibration, and all they really have in common is the panoptic glaze that will appear in their eyes at the mention of the word "Colonsay." He decided to take his family from the comforts of New York City to live for a while on Colonsay. He writes humourously about the characters he encounters, the myths and legends of old, the situation that the dwindling population are finding themselves in, their complaints and criticisms of the laird, and vice versa. Both sides have merit! [The laird was then the 4th Baron Strathcona, the 1st being Donald Smith, a Scot of lowly birth who made a big name for himself in Canada, first with the Hudson's Bay Company, later becoming High Commissioner for Canada, and a founding director of the Canadian Pacific Railway [he drove the famous final spike that linked east and west]. By that time he was the richest man in Canada, and sought a peerage back in the UK, bought Glencoe, and later acquired Colonsay in much the same way that Campbell of Shawfield acquired Islay from the Cawdors.] As to the history of his surname, he writes "In its earliest Gaelic form, my own name - McPhee, that of Colonsay's original clan - was Mac Dubh Sith (pronounced like 'she'). The word 'dubh' means 'black,' and referred in part, to the characteristically swarthy skin of these early people of the island.....The parliaments of the isles were held on a small island in Loch Finlagan, on Islay, and at these councils - attended by the clan chiefs of the Hebrides and presided over by the Lord of the Isles - the chief from Colonsay [McPhee] kept a journal of what went on. He was the traditional secretary, recorder, scribe." I peeked into "The Book of Islay", and this claim is confirmed on page 450 "...MacFinnon was obliged to see weights and measures adjusted; and MacDuffie, or MacPhie of Colonsay, kept the records of the Isles." Any of you who are McPhee descendants, or have Colonsay in your history, or just want to know what life was like in the Hebrides around 1970, this is a must-read. Now, on to The Book of Islay! Toni _________________________________________________________________ 30 days of prizes to be won with Hotmail. Enter Here. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9729709