Bonnie Prince Charlie managed to escape, but England was far from done with the Highlanders. Fearing the ancient crofting way and the fighting men it yielded, the "Highland Clearances" were put into law, intended to destroy the clans' very culture. The speaking or writing of Gaelic and the wearing of tartan were made hanging offenses. Entire communities were "encouraged" to emigrate to the New World, while other Highlanders were sold off as slaves, their land stolen and used to raise sheep.

More than two centuries have passed since the dark days of Culloden. Those Scots who fled long ago have seeded great generations that have flourished the world over. George Washington claimed Scottish ancestry, and more than thirty other American presidents bear the Scot credentials as well.

Today, a new kind of invasion is under way. Italians and Pakistanis, Asians and Africans, and many other nationals have settled in Scotland, calling it home. Though they may not share our turbulent history, they, too, are Scots, and now they are part of our heritage.

Still, there are those of pure Gael blood, those like my father, who swear they'll never forget what the English did to their ancestors on the moors of Culloden so long ago.

That John Cialino hailed from London did not surprise me in the least.

* * *

Dawn blinded me, the sun's rays striking my sleep-deprived eyes beneath the partially drawn window shade. We were circling Gatwick Airport, the long night finally over. In just a few short hours I would be back in the Highlands, reunited with my father, and though I had no inkling about what lay ahead, if history was any teacher, then I knew my stay in Scotland would be filled with turmoil.

A country having species, genera, and whole families peculiar to it, will be the necessary result of its having been isolated for a long period, sufficient for many series of species to have been created on the type of pre-existing ones, which, as well as many of the earlier-formed species, have become extinct, and thus made the groups appear isolated. If in any case the antitype had an extensive range, two or more groups of species might have been formed, each varying from it in a different manner, and thus producing several representative or analogous groups.

—ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE "ON THE LAW WHICH HAS REGULATED THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW SPECIES", 1855

As I have no doubt you are aware, some animal or fish of an unusual kind has found its way into Loch Ness. I think I can say the evidence of its presence can be taken as undoubted. Far too many people have seen something abnormal to question its existence… I have indeed been asked to bring a Bill into Parliament for its protection.

—EXCERPT FROM A LETTER TO SIR GODFREY COLLINS, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR SCOTLAND, FROM SIR MURDOCH MACDONALD, M.P. FOR INVERNESS-SHIRE, 13 NOVEMBER 1933

Chapter 6

Inverness, Scottish Highlands
Scotland