He died in the month of May, 1699, in the 63rd
year of his age, in Dunvegan, the house of the LAIRD of MAC LEOD, whose
sister he had married: by whom he had the above SIMON LORD FRASER, and
several other children. And, for the great love he bore to the family of
MAC LEOD, he desired to be buried near his wife's relations, in the
place where two of her uncles lay. And his son LORD SIMON, to shew to
posterity his great affection for his mother's kindred, the brave MAC
LEODS, chooses rather to leave his father's bones with them, than carry
them to his own burial-place, near Lovat.'
I have preserved this inscription[645], though of no great value,
thinking it characteristical of a man who has made some noise in the
world. Dr. Johnson said, it was poor stuff, such as Lord Lovat's butler
might have written.
I observed, in this church-yard, a parcel of people assembled at a
funeral, before the grave was dug. The coffin, with the corpse in it,
was placed on the ground, while the people alternately assisted in
making a grave. One man, at a little distance, was busy cutting a long
turf for it, with the crooked spade which is used in Sky; a very aukward
instrument. The iron part of it is like a plough-coulter. It has a rude
tree for a handle, in which a wooden pin is placed for the foot to press
upon. A traveller might, without further enquiry, have set this down as
the mode of burying in Sky.
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