THE first care of Columba and his monks on arriving at their destination, was to erect a monastery and build a church. A period of nearly two years seems to have been engrossed in the completion of these undertakings, as well as in the settlement of disciplinary matters connected with the new establishments. When these were arranged, the saint proceeded to execute his purpose of evangelizing the Northern Picts, who occupied all that part of Scotland northward of the Grampian mountains. No missionary had as yet appeared in this inhospitable clime; the formidable barrier which separated its inhabitants from their southern neighbors, hitherto preventing the glad tidings of salvation from being wafted to their coast. The work seemed reserved for our own Columba, and to it he went accompanied only by a few of his disciples, with all the zeal and firmness which ever characterizes the truly apostolic man. The news of his arrival having reached the ears of Brude, the sovereign who held dominion in these parts, he shut himself up within the walls of the royal residence at _Inverness_, hoping there to remain undisturbed from the intrusion of the man of God. Fearing, however, that the solicitude of the latter for his conversion should prove superior to this precaution, he moreover issued orders that if the saint approached, the palace gates should be closed against him. The apprehensions of the prince were realized; for, anxious to obtain the regal sanction, the royal mansion was the first place which Columba visited.