The blue ocean moved in great gladness;
The foam-covered waves were tumbling opposite
Round a bare rock which rose at a great distance.

It was thought proper to say something here respecting Taura, being so often mentioned in the Poems of Ossian, as one of Fingal's places of residence. The descriptions given of it in these poems, place it in Cona, on a green hill impending over the sea, where it had a view of the hills of Cona, of the sea and islands. It is not improbable, therefore, that Taura was but another name of Selma; for what Ossian says of the one place, is equally applicable to the other. He had seen it when the generous shell went round, and the voice of the bard sounded in its halls; and had also witnessed its fall, which he imputes to fire.

The following passages are descriptive of Taura, and also of Selma:

Thaineas o Arda le buaidh,

Gu h uallach air steuda nan coigreach,

'S ar gean mar ghathaibh na greine
'S i luidhe siar air sleibhte Thaura.

Chiteadh am fè na fairge
Coillte le 'n carraigibh eighinn,
'S clann ag amharc le ioghnadh,
Air smuidean Thaura fuidhe.

Mar bhogh na fraois air sleibhte,
Bha oighean aoibhinn nar cò ail,
A' seinn caithream nan ceud clàr
Le manran binn an orain.

Dr. Smith's Ancient Poems. Fall of Taura, v. 43, &c.

Translation.

We came from Arda with victory,
Lofty on the steeds of the strangers,

And our joy was like the beams of the sun
On the hills of Taura when setting in the west.
There were seen in the calm face of the sea
Woods with their ivy-covered rocks,

And children looking with wonder

At the smoke of Taura below.

Like the rainbow on the hills

Our joyful virgins came forth to meet us,
Singing triumph with a hundred harps,
Accompanied by the sweet voice of the song.

The above mentioned Arda, from which the Fingalians returned victorious, is probably Ardach, a place well known at this day, which lies about half way between Stirling and Crief, and where are vestiges of one of the greatest Roman camps to be seen in Scotland. That the Romans were the enemies, whom the Fingalians completely defeated and dispersed at Arda, appears evident from part of the same poem, being the song of triumph, which the maids of Morven sang when they came forth to congratulate their heroes on their return.

The Song.

Co so liomhaidh na eide

Le mharc uaibhreach, ard-cheumach,
Glas-mhuinneach, le smuidre ceathaich

O shroin mar dheathach Thaura?

-Co so air an each steudach

Las-shuileach, chobhar-bheulach,

Amhach mar bhogha-catha

Lubta grinn san ard-adhar?

-Co ach Fionn nam faintai feachd Mharcaicheas am bras each srianach ? Tha do chliu, a righ na Feinne, Mu'n cuairt duit, mar ghathaibh greine. Na sholus tha miltean aoibhneach 'S an gnùis mar an lear is fè air; An gean mar Chòthan sa cheituin, Tra bhios iasg ri cuilean ag eiridh. Ach na laoich co ciuin an sìth, Tha mar dhoininn ri am na strì. -Theich sibh, a choigrich o chein, gu leir;

'Sa righrean an domhain

Theich sibh gun eide, gun each,

D'fhag sibh nur deigh iad 'san fheachd.
-"C'ait' a bheil ur 'n airm, 's ur 'n eide?"
-"Feoruichibh de shiol nan sleibhte."
Theich ur daoine fein gu nàrach,

Cha bhi 'n ainm am feasd 'sna dànaibh.
Oigh cha tig am feasd nan còail
Nan teach uaigneach tha iad brònach.
-Brònach bithibhs oighean aineil,

'S ball-chrith biodh air righe' 'n domhain; Le clàr a's ceol bidh sinne aoibhinn,

A' cuir failt air sliogh na Feinne.

'Sni 'm b'fhois do chlàraibh nam bàrd

An Taura ard san uair sin,

Le 'n crith ghuth ait 'san talla aoibhinn,
Chluinnt' ann an cein am-fuaimneach.

Tha 'n darag dhearg na lasair,

A solus gu farsuing a' sgaoile
Gu ciar imeachd an aineil

Air sliabh na falluinge doirche.

Translation.

Who is this bright in his armour,
With his proud high-bounding,

Grey-maned steed, emitting a misty vapour
From his nostrils like the smoke of Taura?
-Who is this on the coursing steed

With flaming eyes, and foaming mouth,
His neck like the bow of the battle

Raised high with an elegant bend?

-Who but the chief of the Feinnian forces,

It is Fingal that rides the rapid steed of the reins.

Thy fame, O king of the Feinni,

Is around thee, like the beams of the sun,

In its light thousands are glad,

And their faces like the sea under a calm:

Their joy is like Cona in the early part of summer,

When the fishes rise to catch the flies.

But the heroes so mild in peace,

Are like a storm in the time of strife.

-Ye have fled, O strangers from afar,

And ye kings of all the world;

Ye have fled without arms, or horses,

Ye have left them behind you in the field of battle! -"Where are your arms and your coats of mail ?”

'Inquire of the sons of the mountains."

Your own men have shamefully fled,

Their name shall never be in the songs.

No virgin will come with a harp to meet them;
In their secret dwellings they are sad.

-Sad let the virgins of the strangers be,

And trembling fear seize the kings of the world;
With harp and song we will rejoice,

And hail the heroes of the Feinni.

Nor rested the harps of the bards

At that time in lofty Taura,

[the delightful hall,

Accompanied by their own quivering joyful voice in Their sound was heard at a great distance.

The red oak is in a blaze,

Its light spreading itself wide

To the dusky path of the stranger,

Who travels on the dark-clad heath.

The reader will observe, that the last eight lines in the preceding passage, is the same in substance with a foregoing one quoted from Carthon, page 148, both of which set forth the great joy of the Feinni, on account of the victory they had obtained over their enemies at Ardach; with this difference only, that in the one Selma is made the scene of their rejoicing, in the other Taura; which makes it highly probable, that both the names were applied to the same place. The dark heath, mentioned in the last line, to which the light of the oak reached from Taura, answers exactly to the heath of Lora.

Seasuidh righ nan laithe nar deigh,

Air tulaich an t-sleibh an robh Taura;
Chi e Còthan gu leug-shruthach