Ulva in literature and the arts

Dr Johnson and Boswell visited The MacQuarrie on Ulva in October 1773, the year after Sir Joseph Banks brought Staffa to the English-speaking world's attention.

[2]Boswell said: We were in hopes to get to Sir Allan Maclean's at Inchkenneth, to-night; but the eight miles [13 km], 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.

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.

For fear of being overheard in the small Highland houses, I often talked to him in such Latin as I could speak, and with as much of the English accent as I could assume, so as not to be understood, in case our conversation should be too loud for the space.

I have a prospect of a nice jaunt to the Hebrides with a light sloop & eight men belonging to Staffa, MacDonald, who would be delighted to receive you at Ulva — The ladies could remain at Oban if they were afraid of the Sea.

But you must wipe your minds eye pull up the breeches of your resolution and set forth as soon as possible for we must get to the Hebrides early in July unless we mean to encounter long nights & tempestuous weather [5] Scott was struck by the contrast between Ulva and the nearby island of Inchkenneth: "... a most beautiful islet of the most verdant green, while all the neighbouring shore of Greban, as well as the large islands of Colinsay and Ulva, are as black as heath can make them.

[7] The famous Scottish missionary and explorer of Africa, David Livingstone recounted how his ancestors had originally come from Ulva.

As a boy I remember listening to him with delight, for his memory was stored with a never-ending stock of stories, many of which were wonderfully like those I have since heard while sitting by the African evening fires.

Our grandmother, too, used to sing Gaelic songs, some of which, as she believed, had been composed by captive islanders languishing hopelessly among the Turks [i.e. Moroccan pirates].

"Grandfather could give particulars of the lives of his ancestors for six generations of the family before him; and the only point of the tradition I feel proud of is this: One of these poor hardy islanders was renowned in the district for great wisdom and prudence; and it is related that, when he was on his death-bed, he called all his children around him and said,Livingstone also recorded the religion of the yellow stick, which is more connected with the Small Isles.

This event took place at a time when the Highlanders, according to Macaulay, were much like the Cape Caffres [kaffirs], and any one, it was said, could escape punishment for cattle-stealing by presenting a share of the plunder to his chieftain.

Our ancestors were Roman Catholics; they were made Protestants by the laird coming round with a man having a yellow staff, which would seem to have attracted more attention than his teaching, for the new religion went long afterward, perhaps it does so still, by the name of “the religion of the yellow stick”.Like many Gaels in the 19th century, Livingstone's grandfather was forced to emigrate to the Lowlands for work: "Finding his farm in Ulva insufficient to support a numerous family, my grandfather removed to Blantyre Works, a large cotton manufactory on the beautiful Clyde, above Glasgow; and his sons, having had the best education the Hebrides afforded, were gladly received as clerks by the proprietors, Monteith and Co.

He himself, highly esteemed for his unflinching honesty, was employed in the conveyance of large sums of money from Glasgow to the works, and in old age was, according to the custom of that company, pensioned off, so as to spend his declining years in ease and comfort.

Allen writes: The MacCrimmons and the MacArthurs were said to have been the finest pipers and exponents of the piobaireachd and history relates great rivalry between the families for supremacy.

Both the MacCrimmons and the MacArthurs had colleges for piping students; the former on the farm of Boreraig, eight miles [13 km] south west of Dunvegan Castle on Skye, the latter at Ulva near Mull.

The pupils had a solitary designated area of open space in which to practice the scales and tunes on the chanter, the Small Pipes and Piob Mhòr before being allowed to perform for their Master Tutor.

[12]The most famous commemoration of Ulva in literature is Thomas Campbell's poem, Lord Ullin's Daughter, written after the writer had visited the region.

In Zhukovsky's translation, Lord Ullin's daughter, who is left unnamed in Campbell's original, is given the name Malvina, which the Russian poet borrowed from James Macpherson's Ossian.

[13] Moladh Ulbha (In Praise of Ulva) is a song written by the Ulbhach Bard, Colin Fletcher (Cailean Mac an Fhleisdeir).