The Scots Highlander who settled in Canada’s Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. 17/8/25
Chullum Ruaidh or red hairs in Gaelic. Families and the nature of love and loyalty, and the ways in which rural people, in a kind of primitive tribalism, will help and nurture one another through the unexpected griefs of life in a harsh climate.
When an American cousin arrives, dodging his Vietnam draft, it becomes apparent that loyalty can become destructive when pointed in the wrong direction. " All of us are better when we are loved." is the key phrase in the book. The good relations between the French-Canadian workers and those of Scottish descent – will not last. You have to read the book to find out what the title means: it’s a quotation from the 18th century General Wolfe of Quebec. Talking about the Scottish highlanders in his army. “no great mischief if they fall.” old family maxim, “You will get used to almost anything, except a nail in your shoe.”
The narrator Alexander is for a time the youngest of the family, is a Southern Ontario orthodontist, on a visit to a frail, alcoholic older brother. The original Calum their ancestor tried to leave the dog behind in Scotland but that beast just jumped in and swam to their boat, how his wife died on the passage, and how his grave now occupies an outcropping that is falling bit by bit into the sea:
Easier for the families to get together in winter when the bodies of water froze and it became easier to travel.
1314 Battle of Bannockburn this lasted 14 years and Robert Bruce led a victory and Scottish Independence in the Treaty of Edinburgh. .
1689,Battle of Killiecrankie Jacobite rising Viscount Dundee led and died in this, causing the victory not to achieve anything. It was the Highlanders who were the fighters. The Battle of Dunkeld 1689 supported King James 7th.
1692 In Glencoe the Mac Donalds were massacred in their beds by government troops that they had given shelter to.
1746 The Battle of Culloden led by Charles Edward Stuart or Bonnie Prince Charlie, who also had red hair. Here the Mc Donalds had fought against Wolfe This followed the Jacobite uprising of 1745 it put an end to the Stuart claim to the British throne.Duke of Cumberland led English forces. The Mac Donalds fled to France and learned French. They were pardoned and returned and fought under Wolfe and because they spoke French were able to fool the sentries. If not for this the history of Canada might have been different.
1759 General James Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham , near Quebec City. This battle was a key moment in the Seven Years War. This led to British control of North America with the death of both Wolfe and Metcalfe. resulting in a British victory over the French and ultimately leading to the capture of Quebec and the end of French colonial power in North America. Metcalf was from France and did not understand the people under his command who were French Canadian and Indians.
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----The book begins with him going to an old building of single flat mostly men with bathroom at the end of the common corridor to meet his eldest brother Culem an alcoholic., brings him some booze there is no food in the flat. The narrator was born in 1955 and is 15 years younger than his brother.
He tells the story of his ancestors who left the Highlands a place with few trees a man with 6 children from his first wife, his daughter gave birth on the ship "Catherine of the sea." Thus the original Culem arrived a widower and a grandfather by the end of the journey.
1784 in Colony Cape Breton he walked 100 miles to Sydney and got a document of deed for his land.
1820 This was now part of Nova Scotia and he died in 1834.The decedents of Culem family spread out along the island her and you could recognise as part of Mc Donald family by their red hair and kept up the Gailic speech.
1867 Confederation of Canada was formed.
The narrators Alexander's father ran the lighthouse on an island and in winter they could walk across the ice. The also used a sulkies and a horse sharpshod would pull a sleigh over the ice.The parents and son Colin were walking across the ice when the sea opened up and just a lamp was left on shore and they died. So Alexander and his twin sister who had been at the grandparents remained there and they brought them up. "Always look after your blood"
After the parents died none of the brothers returned to school 2 returned to the farm and were given back all the equipment by their neighbours or family who had taken it over temporarily. The grandparents gave the twins more than they were able to give their own children and some other grandchildren were jealous of them. If they had meat they would lower it into the well in a bucket as a form of refrigeration for a short period.
His other grandpa was always reading history and talked to him about Highland history or tutored him in chess.
He was working on the brothers farm and brought the cows in to milk when he saw a dead whale on the beach and polluting the area. The waves were rising and they pulled the fishing boat up to the highest point. After the storm the whale was hundred of metres on land.
Alexander was a student of dentistry at the Halifax university. Later as an orthodontist he improved on "god's work" Making people looks improve.In this area most people never went to a dentist till it was too late and then in their early 20s got dentures.
At Barney's River Nova Scotia his father had done logging.
The day he graduated from school they got a message that his cousin Alexander had died in a work accident in the mine. Some said he was not academically inclined but the narrator believes he went to help out his family. The whole MacDonald team had flown home for the funeral. They were contacted by the manager and offered a better bonus and all returned to work earning by the footage of the tunnel they cut out of the mine. The narrator joined them to make a full team. Many of the workers who had families far away would send international money orders to them.
They would meet Irish speakers and compare their languages and heard that in Ireland there is an effort to revive Irish.
The sister wanted to be an actress and they said to her why did she want to spend her life acting as somebody else. Is it not easier being yourself?
Their sister was married to an oil engineer and they went off to Aberdeen where off shore oil had been found in the late 1960s. She took a car and drove to a small town and someone saw her and said something in Gaelic and she answered, even their dog recognized she was one of them from "the land of the trees" It is as if you never left said the old man. In this area they had heard the story of a dog swimming after the boat to the ship and was watch from the hill. She said that a lot of people had gone there in those days and they were the lucky ones and thought is strange that in Canada houses are made of wood.
Fruit pickers Jamaicans , Mexicans and French Quebecers families some from New Brunswick arrive. They would pick from dawn till there was not enough light. For their children, school was considered a luxury. The foreigners have a 9 month visa to stay in Canada and make their way back home some in cars.
Culem thinks back that he had an argument with Fern Picard. Later Alexander was asked to clean the sump between shifts and was keen on the extra money. When they returned after the funeral Culem went to look for the hoistman who had a very poor English. He had left his job and returned to Quebec. Had Alexander asked Culem would have told him not to take that job.
Another cousin Alexander McDonald flies in from San Francisco to Sudbury airport, Ontario to evade the Vietnam War. The narrator lived with his grandparents who knew more about the family that others. They make him one of their team and he is a good worker. However he does not show blood loyalty like the rest of the Canadian family.
The hoist had broken down and they all came out many by climbing up a long step ladder up the shaft, sit around and and start drinking .There is a brawl between the Quebecois workers and the MacDonalds and the French groups leader Fern Pecard gets killed and Cullum ends up in jail for murder. Both they and the Quebious had lost their leaders.
The US Alexander immediately leaves as he does not want to be part of this. Later they find Ferns wallet in Alexanders locker with $1000. Fern had accused the Scots of stealing from him. The posted the money back to Quebec. Les pays des Laurentides a specific part of Quebec. It did arrive as he received a message of thanks.
The story ends with him taking Culem for a ride to Cape Breton and even though the causeway is flooded Calum drives through counting the 3rd wave and they get to the island 1968 Pierre Tradeau replaced Lester Pearson as PM at the time this story takes place.
Note- there is mentioned that Zulu's came to work on the mines and this is an error perhaps S African white miners .
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