CHAPTER XIX

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IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLES—SPIRITUALISM IN BOSTON—RETURN TO BRITAIN—INVENTION OF THE SYSTEM OF EASY READING FOR BLIND AND SIGHTED CHINESE 347

APPENDIX. NOTE A. THE WOLF OF BADENOCH 379 B. THE LOWLANDS OF MORAY 381 C. A LEGEND OF VANISHED WATERS 403 D. ELGIN CATHEDRAL AND THE CHURCH OF ST GILES 427 E. ANNE SEYMOUR CONWAY 442 F. CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY 443 G. INTERCESSORY PRAYER 454 H. CHANGE IN SOCIAL DRINKING CUSTOMS 460 I. USE OF THE ROSARY 464 J. HAIR OFFERINGS 467 K. ON THE MEDICINAL USE OF ANIMALS IN CHINA AND BRITAIN 468 L. MAGAZINE ARTICLES 477

INDEX 481

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PHOTOGRAVURES. PAGE THE BEAUTIFUL DUCHESS OF ARGYLL, WITH HER DAUGHTERS LADY AUGUSTA AND LADY CHARLOTTE CAMPBELL _Frontispiece_ By Angelica Kauffman. LADY CHARLOTTE CAMPBELL 16 ELIZA MARIA, LADY GORDON-CUMMING OF ALTYRE 38 By Saunders about 1830. ANDROMACHE BEWAILING THE DEATH OF HECTOR (THE BEAUTIFUL DUCHESS OF HAMILTON AS HELEN OF TROY) 76 By Gavin Hamilton. SIR WILLIAM GORDON GORDON-CUMMING 136 By Saunders about 1830. ELIZABETH GUNNING, DUCHESS OF HAMILTON, AS HELEN OF TROY 158 By Gavin Hamilton. ROUALEYN GEORGE GORDON CUMMING IN 1851 176 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ALTYRE PRIOR TO 1854 52 THE BATHING-PLACE, COVESEA 58 HELL’S HOLE, HOPEMAN 62 THE SCULPTURE CAVE, COVESEA 68 GORDONSTOUN PRIOR TO 1900 72 THE ROUND SQUARE, GORDONSTOUN 74 A CORNER OF THE OLD ROOF, GORDONSTOUN 86 OLD DOVE-COT AT GORDONSTOUN 96 AN ATTIC WINDOW IN THE INNER COURT 100 THE OLD MICHAEL KIRK, 1866 188 MISS C. F. GORDON CUMMING IN 1887 196 SCRIPTURE WHEEL 254 SHRINE CONTAINING THE SCRIPTURE WHEEL AT NIKKO 258 FUJIYAMA FROM THE OTOMITONGA PASS 308 MISS C. F. GORDON CUMMING IN 1904 372 A CAVE AT COVESEA 402 THE PALACE AT SPYNIE, 1860 412

INTRODUCTORY

“THOSE WHO ON GLORIOUS ANCESTORS ENLARGE PRODUCE THE DEBT—WE LOOK FOR THE DISCHARGE.” _Old Chronicle._

In the rush and hurry of this twentieth century, the present generation find themselves so fully occupied with their own contemporaries, that for the most part they can take little or no interest, even in their own immediate predecessors, still less in their progenitors of old generations.

But we, who were born before life’s unsatisfying rush became so great, still like to gather up the traditions of bygone years, and in fancy see our own “forbears” as we know them to have been long ago.

As a daughter of the Chief of Clan Cumming, my home was, of course, at Altyre, in Morayshire, _i.e._ at headquarters—a goodly heritage in truth, and yet a mere fragment of the vast possessions of the Clan in the days of its power. With regard to antiquity, it is said that the Cummings of Altyre are directly descended from the Counts de Comyn who were directly descended from Charlemagne. Robert, who was fifth in descent, was created Earl of Northumberland by his cousin, William the Conqueror. He was killed in Durham in January 1069. Besides broad lands in Northumberland, his family held estates in Yorkshire and Wiltshire. From him the old knights of Altyre (who were also Lords of Badenoch) prove direct descent in the male line.

In the reign of Alexander III. the Comyns were also Earls of Buchan, Earls of Menteith, Lords of Galloway, and Lords of Lochaber, owning vast tracts of country. And besides these great barons, there were then thirty landed knights in the Clan.

Of the Red Comyn who (while alone at prayer in Greyfriars Church in Dumfries) was stabbed in sudden passion by Robert Bruce and murdered by Kirkpatrick, it is recorded that sixty belted knights, with all their vassals, were bound to follow his banner. But in that sacred and unguarded hour, only his uncle, Robert Comyn of Altyre, was near, and shared his fate.

The spelling of surnames in ancient documents is always liable to variation, but probably no other has lent itself so largely to the fancy of scribes. In one old charter of the Altyre family it is spelt in five different ways. Cumeine, Chuimein, Commines, Cumyn, Comyn, Comin, Coming, Cumin, Cummine, Cuming, and the modern form of Cumming, are among these varieties.

The Clan is spoken of by various old writers as the most potent that ever existed in Scotland; and a quaint old atlas, published in Amsterdam in 1654 by Jean Blaeu, quotes a somewhat older Latin work by Sir Robert Gordon of Stralloch, concerning

“Altyr, qui appartenoit à ceux de la maison de Cumines qui estoit, il y a plus de trois cens ans, la plus riche, et la plus puissante de l’Ecosse.”

How it came to pass that this powerful family should, so quickly after the accession of Robert Bruce, have been reduced to the comparatively small proportions of later years, is one of the unsolved mysteries of Scottish history.

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