An unsuccessful attempt, by means of divers, was made in 1740 to recover some of a large amount of treasure said to have been sunk in her; but some very beautiful brass guns were brought up, one of which is still to be seen at the Castle of Dunstaffnage, near Oban, and another, we believe, at Inveraray. These were last made to speak loud and lustily, not against a Queen of England, as was their original errand to our shores, but in honour of the marriage of the daughter of a Queen of Great Britain with the son of a Scottish Duke, who now owns the lands which belonged to the Macleans, by whom the "Florida," carrying those very guns, was destroyed. Thus does "the whirligig of time bring about its revenges." Some years ago we were shown by a gentleman in Glasgow a large ebony-stocked pistol, beautifully carved and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and silver, which was said to have been secured from the wreck of the "Florida." We recollect that the corroded state of the barrel and lock abundantly satisfied us at the time that, whether it had belonged to the "Florida" or not, it had at all events long lain in water, and more probably, from the peculiar form of corrosion, in salt water than in fresh. As to the dollar, we have only further to state that its owner now thinks more of it than ever: our suggestion as to its very probable connection with the Spanish Armada having largely enhanced its value in his estimation. Its mere intrinsic value as a bit of silver would, we think, be fully and fairly appraised at something like twenty pence sterling.
We were the other day accidentally brought into contact with a curious superstition, which, although not peculiar to this district, but common, we believe, over all the Highlands, was yet quite new to us. We were sailing past the beautiful island of St. Mungo, in Loch Leven, the burial-place for many centuries of the people of Nether Lochaber and Glencoe, when the following conversation took place between ourselves and an old man who managed the sails while we steered. It was all in Gaelic, of course, but we give the substance in English:--"You were at the funeral on the island the other day, sir?" interrogatively observed our companion. "I was, indeed," we replied. "John ----," he continued, naming the deceased, "was a very decent man." "He was a fine old Highlander, shrewd and intelligent," we replied, "and, what is more, I believe a very good man." "Donald ----," naming a person we both knew, "is very ill, and not likely to last long." "I saw him to-day," we observed, "and I fear that what you say is true: he cannot last long." "Well, sir, it will be a good thing for John ---- (the person recently buried); his term of watching will be a short one." "I do not understand what you mean," we observed, with some curiosity. "The man is dead and buried; what watching should he have to do?" "Why, sir, don't you know that the spirit of the last person buried in the island has to keep watch and ward over the graves till the spirit of the next person buried takes his place?" "I really did not know that," we replied. "Is it a common opinion that such is the case, and do you believe it yourself?" "Well, sir, it is generally believed by the people; and having always heard that it was so, I cannot well help believing it too. The spirit whose watch it is, is present there day and night. Some people have seen them: my mother, God rest her! once pointed out to me, when I was a little boy, an appearance, as of a flame of light on the island, slowly moving backwards and forwards, and she assured me it was the watching spirit going his rounds." "What particular object has the spirit in watching?" we asked. "Well, I don't exactly know," was the answer. "He just takes a sort of general charge of the Island of the Dead, until his successor arrives." We have since found that a belief in this superstition is common among the old people. The spirit or ghost is supposed to be to a certain extent unhappy, and impatient of relief while in the discharge of this office, and thus, it is considered, that the sooner after a funeral there is occasion again for the opening of a grave, the better it is for the spirit of the last person interred, who then, and not till then, passes finally and fully to his rest.