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Bha mi ag innse dhuibh an t-seachdain sa chaidh mu Niall MacLeòid à Leòdhas. ’S e murtair a bha ann. Ach sheas e an aghaidh nam Fìobhach a bha a’ feuchainn ri Leòdhas a ghabhail thairis. Do chuid bha e na ghaisgeach. Ann am beachd an riaghaltais ’s e eucoireach a bha ann.

A-nise, bha e air beulaibh croiche ann an Dùn Èideann. Bha e an dòchas gun robh òrdugh maitheanais a’ tighinn. Ach cha robh. Bha Niall air a chrochadh. Agus chaidh a cheann a ghearradh dheth.

ÌýAch thug e rùn-dìomhair leis. Bha stòras mòr aige de dh’ionmhas. Fhuair e sin bhon spùinneadair Shasannach, Peter Love. Chaidh Love a chrochadh ann an Lìte. Bha sin trì bliadhna roimhe, ann an sia ceud deug is deich (1610). Chùm MacLeòid ionmhas an t-Sasannaich. Bha seudan ann, agus òr is airgead. Cha robh sgeul air an ionmhas às dèidh bàs Love. Cha do dh’inns MacLeòid dè rinn e leis. Agus chan eil sgeul air chun an latha an-diugh. Chan eil fios aig duine dè thachair don ionmhas. Saoil a bheil e – cleas nam Fear-tàilisg – fon ghainmhich ann an Sgìre Ùige?!

Dh’fheuch na Fìobhaich ri tuineachas a dhèanamh ann an Leòdhas. Dh’fhàilnich orra. Faisg air ceud bliadhna às dèidh sin, dh’fheuch Albannaich ri tuineachas a dhèanamh ann an Darien. Bha sin ann am Meadhan Ameireagaidh. Dh’fhàilnich orrasan cuideachd.

Agus, còrr is ceud bliadhna às dèidh Darien, thàinig fear Albannach dhachaigh à Meadhan Ameireagaidh. Bha e làn stòiridhean mu dhùthaich a bha beartach is fàbharach. B’ esan Griogair MacGriogair. Bha e cho làn dheth fhèin ’s a tha an t-ugh de bhiadh. Agus bha e làn bhreugan.

ÌýDh’inns e do dhaoine ann am Breatainn gun robh tiotal aige – His Serene Highness Gregor I, Prince of Poyais. Cha robh dùthaich coltach ri Poyais. Bha i làn choilltean. Bha i torrach. Bha i a’ feitheamh ri Albannaich a dhol a dh’fhuireach innte. Seadh – Albannaich a bha ro dheònach a bhith a’ creidsinn bhreugan. Innsidh mi tuilleadh mun ghnothach an-ath-sheachdain.

I was telling you last week about Neil MacLeod of Lewis. He was a murderer. But he stood against the Fifers who were trying to take Lewis over. To some he was a hero. In the government’s opinion he was a criminal.

Ìý

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Now he was in front of a gibbet in Edinburgh. He was hoping that an order of clemency was coming. But it wasn’t. Neil was hanged. And his head was cut off.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý But he took a secret with him. He had a big store of treasure. He got that from the English pirate, Peter Love. Love was hanged in Leith. That was three years before, in 1610. MacLeod kept the Englishman’s treasure. There were jewels, and gold and silver. There was no sign of the treasure after Love’s death. MacLeod didn’t say what he did with it. And there is no sign of it to this day. Nobody knows what happened to the treasure. Do you think it might be – like the Lewis Chessmen – under the sand in Uig [parish in Lewis]?!

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý The Fifers tried to establish a colony in Lewis. They failed. Nearly a hundred years after that, Scots tried to create a colony in Darien. That was in Central America. They also failed.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý And, more than a hundred years after Darien, a Scotsman came home from Central America. He was full of stories about a country that was rich and favour-able. He was Gregor MacGregor. He was as full of himself as the egg is of food [Gaelic saying]. And he was full of lies.