A Legacy of the Highland Clearances | |
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| Gaelic | English |
| Thog sinn seol a mach a cala Steornabhaigh Bha ar cuirs air Canada Co-labhairt air ar dochais nuair a sheol sinn thar a chuan Leigheas lotain 's craidh ar cridh' An t-slighe air a bheil sinn Eadar dhealaicht ri mar bha Tha e gun chrioch 'Us gun ni mar a bha Seol air falbh null thar an uisge Seol air falbh null thar a chuain Seol air falbh dh'iarraidh saorsa Dol mun cuairt air rudha Arnish Bha sinn tinn le cuir na mara 's bron Le sileadh trom 'us e air bhoile thar an t-sal Mo mhiann air a charoit bheag ri taobh a chuain An t-slighe air a bheil sinn Eadar dhealaicht ri mar bha Tha e gun chrioch 'Us gun ni mar bha Seol air falbh null thar an uisge Seol air falbh null thar a chuain Seol air falbh dh'iarraidh saorsa Seol air falbh null thar an uisge Seol air falbh dh'iarraidl saorsa |
We set sail out of Stornoway Harbour We were bound for Canada And the hopes we shared as we sailed across the water Helped to ease our hearts so raw The path we take now is nothing like before It lasts forever, nothing like before Sail away across the ocean Sail away across the sea Sail away to be free As we sailed out round Arnish Point We were sick from ocean and from grief And the rain came down and it raged across the water and I longed for the little croft by the sea The path we take now is nothing like before It lasts forever, nothing like before Sail away across the ocean Sail away across the sea Sail away to be free Sail away across the ocean Sail away to be free |
| Background Mid Borve |
The old village of Mid Borve on the isle of Lewis' west side now lies in ruins, mounds of rocks and rubble mark where three families eked out a living prior to the 1851 evictions. The estate chamberlain had instructed his ground officers to tear down the emigrants' houses immediately upon the crofters' departure; the piles of stone - a blatant message to those tenants entertaining second thoughts about leaving. Mid Borve was home to my great, great grandfather and his family before they departed Lewis on board a white sailed emigrant ship. The chamberlain, who kept a detailed diary, entered the following after identifying the village for clearance: "The people of Mid Borve are destitute of all means of support and also much in arrears of rent." Under a column titled Willing (to go) he recorded 0. |
| Background Sail Away |
Some say it was voluntary. But there was a great deal of forcing and these people were sent away very much against their will. - Rev. Angus Maciver, testifying before the Napier Commission in 1883. Yet it was not in the character of the stoic Lewis Islanders to board the emigrant ships, kicking and screaming. When one of the ships, the Barlow, still hadn't arrived a month after expected; Mackenzie was mobbed by desperate emigrants who were "very ill off' having sold their worldly possessions. However, when the ship finally departed three weeks later the chamberlain noted that these same emigrants seemed "happy and contented." Perhaps the estate factor had confused happiness with the resignation expressed in a poem by Lewis emigrant Malcolm MacLeod: We have seen the day of parting at the church there, bidding farewell to the stones and the well-known ground. If we are going Let us go and let God be our help. |
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