The peat-fire flame : folk-tales and traditions of the Highlands & Islands

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
Similar demons of the sea are believed to inhabit the channel
separating the north of Scarba and the island called Lnnga.
This area of the ocean is referred to by the Gaelic-speaking
natives of Western Argyll as the Bealach a' Choin Ghlais,
the Pass, or Strait, of the Grey Dog, a kelpie of evil design.
Sometimes, however, it is alluded to as the Little Gulf, so as
to distinguish it from its larger and more turbulent
neighbour, the Gulf of Corrievreckan, which often goes by
the name of the Great Gulf. The former, at its narrowest
part, measures about a cable, whereas the latter at its
narrowest measures roughly six cables.
Corrievreckan is simply a corruption of the two Gaelic
words, coire, meaning a kettle or cauldron, and hrecan,
denoting speckled, or varigated, like tartan. So the name
literally means Cauldron of the Speckled Seas.
Through the Gulf of Corrievreckan sweep the great tides
that converge in this vicinity, and whirl in whirlpools for-
ever. The most noted whirlpool of the Corrievreckan is
that known as the Cailleach, meaning the Old Hag. She is
believed to be a female kelpie ; and her sinister activities are
well recorded in the sea-lore of Western Europe.
This whirlpool is the Charybdis Brecani mentioned by
Adamnan, biographer of St. Columba. " It is the
confluence of many seas, each pouring itself into the place of
the other," says that ancient work known as the
Dinnseanchns, " until they are swallowed down to the
bottom, and until it is like an open cauldron, sucking and
disgorging its draughts, so that its roar is like distant
thunder. And it was into this that Brecan (son of the King
of Norway) was drawn, and was drowned, with his fifty
boats, when he fled out of Erin from his father."
The version given in Cormac's Glossary is as follows :
" The seas whirl round like revolving compasses, each
taking the place of the other, like the paddles of a millwheel,
until they are sucked into the depths, so that the Coire
remains with its mouth wide open ; and it would suck even
the whole of Erin into its yawning gullet. Brecan. son of
Maine, son of Nial Naoighiallach (Neil of the Nine
Hostages), had fifty curraghs trading between Erin and
Alban. They fell afterwards on that Coire, and it
118