I have now got the only copy that ever was written, so far as I know, and I shall be glad to get more. But we must all take what we can get. As far as fixing the king or the country and the date, that is perfectly hopeless. I have about 16 versions of one story in Gaelic, and no two have the same name. I suppose that there must be sixty versions of it known in other languages, and no two are alike. The oldest I know is scattered in ejaculations and separate lines through the Rigveda Sanhitâ, which is a collection of hymns in Sanscrit, and the oldest things known. St. George and the Dragon is a form of the story. Perseus and Andromeda is another. In Gaelic it is generally _Mac an Iasgair_, or _Iain Mac_ somebody, or _Fionn Mac a’ Bhradain_, a something to do with a mermaid or a dragon, the herding of cows and the slaying of giants. The stories to which I referred were told me by John Ardfenaig as facts (the Duke of Argyll’s factor in the Ross of Mull). A man built a boat. Another, to spite him, said that the death of a man was in that boat--no one would go to sea in it, and at last the boat was sold by the builder to an unbeliever in ghosts and dreams. The other was how the turnips were protected in Tiree. If you know these you have got far, but if not you have a good deal to learn in Tiree. I wish you success anyhow, Yours truly, J. F. CAMPBELL. NIDDRY LODGE, KENSINGTON, March 28, 1871. MY DEAR SIR, I have been too busy about festivities and work to be able to get the book which I promised to seek for you. I got your letter of the 20th, yesterday, and I am much obliged by your promise to put some one to write for me. If he writes from dictation will you kindly _beg him to follow the words spoken_ without regard to his own opinion, or to what they ought to be. I speak English, but when I come to read Chaucer I find words that I am not used to. So it is when men who speak Gaelic begin to write old stories. Our argument is an illustration. You speak Gaelic and you believe that Sàil means heel and nothing else. You told me that Sàil Dhiarmaid ought to be Sìol. Now I speak Gaelic, but I profess to be a scholar, not a teacher. I happen to know that the man who signed Sàil Dhiarmaid, which was printed _Sàil_ didn’t mean _Sìol_. I have the following quotation,-- “_Eisdibh beag ma ’s àill leibh laoidh_ * * * * * _Chaidh am bior nimh’ bu mhòr cràdh An Sàil an laoich nach tlàth ’s an trod-- ’S e ri sior chall na fala Le lot a’ bhior air a bhonn._” [Illustration] In this old lay as sung in the outer isles these would mean the spot which an old Mull man pointed to as sàil.[34] If you are sceptical I hold to my creed of the people. But creed or no creed I want to get the tradition as it exists and I would not give a snuff for “cooked” tradition. Tuesday, Oct. 10, 1871. CONAN HOUSE, DINGWALL. MY DEAR SIR,