been so unfortunate as to be absent while we were
at his house.

We were in hopes to get to Sir Allan Maclean's at Inchkenneth, to-night;
but the eight miles, of which our road was said to consist, were so very
long, that we did not reach the opposite coast of Mull till seven at
night, though we had set out about eleven in the forenoon; and when we
did arrive there, we found the wind strong against us. Col determined
that we should pass the night at M'Quarrie's, in the island of Ulva,
which lies between Mull and Inchkenneth; and a servant was sent forward
to the ferry, to secure the boat for us; but the boat was gone to the
Ulva side, and the wind was so high that the people could not hear him
call; and the night so dark that they could not see a signal. We should
have been in a very bad situation, had there not fortunately been lying
in the little sound of Ulva an Irish vessel, the Bonnetta, of
Londonderry, Captain M'Lure, master. He himself was at M'Quarrie's; but
his men obligingly came with their long-boat, and ferried us over.
M'Quarrie's house was mean; but we were agreeably surprized with the
appearance of the master, whom we found to be intelligent, polite, and
much a man of the world. Though his clan is not numerous, he is a very
ancient Chief, and has a burial place at Icolmkill. He told us, his
family had possessed Ulva for nine hundred years; but I was distressed
to hear that it was soon to be sold for payment of his debts.

Captain M'Lure, whom we found here, was of Scotch extraction, and
properly a McLeod, being descended of some of the M'Leods who went with
Sir Normand of Bernera to the battle of Worcester; and after the defeat
of the royalists, fled to Ireland, and, to conceal themselves, took a
different name. He told me, there was a great number of them about
Londonderry; some of good property. I said, they should now resume
their real name. The Laird of M'Leod should go over, and assemble them,
and make them all drink the large horn full[859], and from that time
they should be M'Leods. The captain informed us, he had named his ship
the Bonnetta, out of gratitude to Providence; for once, when he was
sailing to America with a good number of passengers, the ship in which
he then sailed was becalmed for five weeks, and during all that time,
numbers of the fish Bonnetta swam close to her, and were caught for
food; he resolved therefore, that the ship he should next get, should be
called the Bonnetta.