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Coll of the Waves
Dugald MacEchern was the seventeenth minister of the Church of Scotland on Coll. He followed in the footsteps of such men as Hector MacLean whom Dr Johnson visited while on his way to Grishapol. The doctor describes the scene.
We called by the way on Mr Hector McLean, the minister of Col, whom we found in a hut, that is, a house of only one floor, but with windows and a chimney; and not inelegantly furnished. Mr MacLean has the reputation of great learning: he is seventy-seven years old, but not infirm, with a look of venerable dignity, excelling what I remember in any other man.
It is to be hoped that the Reverend MacEchern had rather better accommodation when appointed to Coll on 20th April 1898.
Dugald was born in Edinburgh on 25th October 1867, his father Charles being minister of St Mary's (Gaelic) Church, Inverness. He was educated in Canada, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness and attended the University of Edinburgh attaining his B.D in 1890. He started as an assistant at Birsay, Acharacle and Kyleakin and was minister at Lochranza in 1891 after which he was transferred to Coll in 1898.
He seems to have fallen deeply in love with the island and expressed this appreciation in his poetry. Coll of the Waves was written in 1907 and published in the Celtic Monthly in 1918 by which time he was minister at Bower in Caithness.
Dugald was obviously well known in literary circles since he was Bard to the Gaelic Society of Inverness for many years and Chief of that Society in 1945, the year before he died. Added to this he won the Highland Mod prize for Gaelic poetry on no less than nine occasions one of his compositions being The Harp and the Gael. This is a long poem about his admiration for the harp and he even mentions Coll in it:
Coll of the Waves! Eilean Chola,
Musical were thy children,
Thine was the last of the line
Of the old-time harpers of Albyn,
Sad was thy heart, oh Murdoch! ...
This was a reference to Murdoch, the Harper to MacLean of Coll, who is said to be the last professional harper in Scotland, i.e. He was paid for his services.
Dugald had a number of poems published in the Celtic Monthly and he also presented two papers to the Gaelic Society of Inverness, one entitled Second Sight in which he refers to his poem Angel of Mons, and the other on the subject of place names of Coll and their derivations. He seems to have been a prolific author in both Gaelic and English, often writing English versions of his poems which were not direct translations of the Gaelic. He is author of a book The Sword in the North: Highland Memories of the Great War, in which he served as a lieutenant in the 5th Seaforth Highlanders on special service under the Admiralty and railway military officer on lines of communication 1914-17.
Not a lot is heard of Dugald MacEchern considering his contribution to the literature of the Highlands, although some of it is rather sentimental, but he certainly seems to have left his heart in Coll when he left, since the island is mentioned in a number of his poems.
Laura Gloag
Details of the Rev MacEchern's life from the Annals of the Church of Scotland. Poems reprinted from Celtic Monthly.
New Year's Eve in the Island of Coll
The old year is dying; Ben Feall and Ben Hough
Are white as a maiden's pure bosom of snow,
The ice-blast sweeps keen through the pass of the Wind;
But our pulses glow warm and our greetings are kind.
Can the waves of the ocean twin spirits e'er part?
Can an Islesman forget the dear Isle of his heart,
The old folks, the youths, and the maidens who miss
The warmth of his greeting, his hand-clasp and kiss?
Tomorrow's New Year! You'll not come as of yore
Full-hearted, full-handed, first footing our door.
But at night by the fire, while ocean-storm raves,
It's of you we'll be thinking in Coll of the Waves.
Dugald MacEchern
And for those who have the Gaelic:
Bliadhna mhath ur dhuibh
Tha sneachd geal na Nollaig 'air mullach Beinn Hough,
Air Muile nam ṃr-bheann, 's air Eilean-a-Cheo,
Bithidh stoirm na bliadn 'ùir' ann am Bealach-na-gaoith'
Ach blàths 'n ar cridhe, a chàirdean mo ghaoil!
Ged tha sinne 's an eilean, 'us sibhse thar sàil',
Na leigibh air di-chuimhne Eilean Chola bhur gràidh,
Och! Na leigibh air di-chiumhne fior-chàirdean bhur n-̣ig,
'Us na nionagan dileas 'tha 'g ionndrainn bhur p̣g.
Air là bliadhna ùir bithidh sinn uile mar b'abhaist
'Cur fàilt air na càirdean tha dileas dhuinn fhathast,
Cur fàilt' air a cheile le aoibhneas 's le ceol,
Clann Illeathain, Clan Phàidean, Clann Fhionghain 's Clan Dhomhnuill. |
