[Dòmhnall] Ach chan e eachdraidh nan daoine mòra a-mhàin a tha seo idir. ’S e innte eachdraidh nam mìltean Ghàidheil air a bheil gann sgeul againn an-diugh.
[Dòmhnall] ’S ann air Eilean Grosse Île air Abhainn Labhruinn a chuir mòran aca cas air talamh an t-saoghail ùir an toiseach. Ionad eilthireachd agus stèisean quarantine, b’ e seo a’ chiad cheum air an t-slighe do chuid agus an ceum mu dheireadh do chuid eile.
[Dòmhnall] Bhuail a’ bhreac, fiabhras dubh, a' ghriùthlach agus cholera na mìltean eilthitirich bhochda a thàinig air tìr an seo. Tha na h-uaighean anns a bheil iad nan làighe air muin a chèile rim faicinn fhathast.
[Dòmhnall] ’S ann an seo a chunnaic fear à Eilean Cholbha, Murchadh MacIain, a bhean is cuid dhe theaghlach airson an turas mu dheireadh. Tha ise air a tìodhlacadh an seo am measg nan ceudan Ghàidheil eile.
[Dòmhnall] Fiù ’s mus do ràinig iad bha iad air corp a’ bhalaich bhig aca, Alasdair, fhaicinn ga thilgeil le cliathach na soithich. Chaidh feadhainn eile den chloinn a thoirt a dh’ospadal ann am Montreal. Nuair a dh’fhàs Murchadh fhèin na b’ fheàrr chaidh esan gan lorg.
[Dòmhnall] Bha a mhac Dòmhnall marbh mus do ràinig e. Sgrìobh e a-rithist dhachaigh a Cholbha gu a bhràthair ag innse mar a chaidh e a-steach a dh’aon ospadal a dh’fhaicinn nurs a’ toirt corp leanaibh à leabaidh. “Thug mi sùil air a’ chorp”, ars esan, “agus cò bh’ ann ach Iseabail bheag agam fhìn”.
[Dòmhnall] Tha na ceudan sgeulachdan eile a cheart cho dòrainneach rin innse. Tha co-dhiù lorg air eachdraidh teaghlach Cholbha. Tha cuimhne orra fhathast. Chan eil sgeul dè thachair dhan chuid mhòr. ’S dòcha anns na prògraman-sa gum faigh sinn beagan tuigse air na thachair dhaibh agus gun cùm sinn cuimhne.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Na h-Eilthirich, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 1999.
[Donald] But this isn’t just the history of the gentry at all. It is the history of the thousands of Gaels that we have almost no trace of today.
[Donald] It is on Grosse Île Island on the St. Lawrence River that many of them first set foot on the land of the new world. An emigrant centre and a quarantine station, this was the first step on the journey for some and the last step for others.
[Donald] Smallpox, black fever, measles and cholera hit the thousands of poor emigrants that landed here. The graves in which they lie on top of each other can still be seen.
[Donald] It is here that a man from the isle of Coll, Murdo Johnstone, saw his wife and some of his family for the final time. She is buried here amongst the hundreds of other Gaels.
[Donald] Even before they arrived they had seen their small boy’s body, Alasdair, thrown over the side of the ship. Some of the other children were taken to hospital in Montreal. When Murdo himself got better he went to find them.
[Donald] His son Donald was dead before he arrived. He wrote home again to Coll to his brother telling how he went into one hospital to see a nurse taking a child’s body from a bed. “I looked at the body”, he said, “ and who was it but my own wee Ishbel”.
[Donald] The hundreds of other stories are just as harrowing to tell. There is at least a trace of the Coll family’s history. They are still remembered. There is no trace of what happened to the majority. Perhaps in these programmes we will gain a little understanding on how happened to them and we will remember them.
This programme, Na h-Eilthirich, was first broadcast in 1999.
[Dòmhnall] Ach chan e eachdraidh nan daoine mòra a-mhàin a tha seo idir. ’S e innte eachdraidh nam mìltean Ghàidheil air a bheil gann sgeul againn an-diugh.
[Dòmhnall] ’S ann air Eilean Grosse Île air Abhainn Labhruinn a chuir mòran aca cas air talamh an t-saoghail ùir an toiseach. Ionad eilthireachd agus stèisean quarantine, b’ e seo a’ chiad cheum air an t-slighe do chuid agus an ceum mu dheireadh do chuid eile.
[Dòmhnall] Bhuail a’ bhreac, fiabhras dubh, a' ghriùthlach agus cholera na mìltean eilthitirich bhochda a thàinig air tìr an seo. Tha na h-uaighean anns a bheil iad nan làighe air muin a chèile rim faicinn fhathast.
[Dòmhnall] ’S ann an seo a chunnaic fear à Eilean Cholbha, Murchadh MacIain, a bhean is cuid dhe theaghlach airson an turas mu dheireadh. Tha ise air a tìodhlacadh an seo am measg nan ceudan Ghàidheil eile.
[Dòmhnall] Fiù ’s mus do ràinig iad bha iad air corp a’ bhalaich bhig aca, Alasdair, fhaicinn ga thilgeil le cliathach na soithich. Chaidh feadhainn eile den chloinn a thoirt a dh’ospadal ann am Montreal. Nuair a dh’fhàs Murchadh fhèin na b’ fheàrr chaidh esan gan lorg.
[Dòmhnall] Bha a mhac Dòmhnall marbh mus do ràinig e. Sgrìobh e a-rithist dhachaigh a Cholbha gu a bhràthair ag innse mar a chaidh e a-steach a dh’aon ospadal a dh’fhaicinn nurs a’ toirt corp leanaibh à leabaidh. “Thug mi sùil air a’ chorp”, ars esan, “agus cò bh’ ann ach Iseabail bheag agam fhìn”.
[Dòmhnall] Tha na ceudan sgeulachdan eile a cheart cho dòrainneach rin innse. Tha co-dhiù lorg air eachdraidh teaghlach Cholbha. Tha cuimhne orra fhathast. Chan eil sgeul dè thachair dhan chuid mhòr. ’S dòcha anns na prògraman-sa gum faigh sinn beagan tuigse air na thachair dhaibh agus gun cùm sinn cuimhne.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Na h-Eilthirich, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 1999.
[Donald] But this isn’t just the history of the gentry at all. It is the history of the thousands of Gaels that we have almost no trace of today.
[Donald] It is on Grosse Île Island on the St. Lawrence River that many of them first set foot on the land of the new world. An emigrant centre and a quarantine station, this was the first step on the journey for some and the last step for others.
[Donald] Smallpox, black fever, measles and cholera hit the thousands of poor emigrants that landed here. The graves in which they lie on top of each other can still be seen.
[Donald] It is here that a man from the isle of Coll, Murdo Johnstone, saw his wife and some of his family for the final time. She is buried here amongst the hundreds of other Gaels.
[Donald] Even before they arrived they had seen their small boy’s body, Alasdair, thrown over the side of the ship. Some of the other children were taken to hospital in Montreal. When Murdo himself got better he went to find them.
[Donald] His son Donald was dead before he arrived. He wrote home again to Coll to his brother telling how he went into one hospital to see a nurse taking a child’s body from a bed. “I looked at the body”, he said, “ and who was it but my own wee Ishbel”.
[Donald] The hundreds of other stories are just as harrowing to tell. There is at least a trace of the Coll family’s history. They are still remembered. There is no trace of what happened to the majority. Perhaps in these programmes we will gain a little understanding on how happened to them and we will remember them.
This programme, Na h-Eilthirich, was first broadcast in 1999.