64 Notes and Sketches. 



" lifted" six score black cattle. They were pursued 

 by a body of nearly 50 horsemen, well mounted, and 

 armed, and each carrying bags of meal and other pro- 

 visions, both for their own support, and to offer in 

 ransom for the cattle, if peaceful negotiations could be 

 carried through. On through the hills, over marshes, 

 rocks, and heather, the spirited horsemen followed, 

 under their leader ; and guided by a herd boy whom 

 they encountered, they traced the robbers by Loch 

 Erricht side into the heart of their own country. At 

 nightfall, they came upon them at Dalunchart, en- 

 camped and busily engaged roasting a portion of the 

 flesh of one of the cattle they had stolen. They 

 offered, after some parley, to give each of the free- 

 booters a bag of meal and a pair of shoes in ransom 

 for the cattle. The Highlanders treated such an offer 

 for cattle driven so far and with so much trouble with 

 contempt ; the herd was gathered in, and the fight 

 began in deep earnest, the result being that the Loch- 

 aber men were all shot down, killed or wounded, 

 except three, who escaped unhurt to tell the tale ; and 

 the cattle were, of course, recovered. 



In 1691 a certain Hugh Thaine, messenger, makes 

 declaration that he is unable to go " the length of 

 Edinburgh" from Elgin " by reason of sickness and 

 inabilitie of bodie," from " the hard usage" he had met 

 in Strathspey, in the wood of Abernethy. And he 

 " supplicats" the Privy Council or other judges to 

 " apoynt some way for redressing and punishing the 

 abusses committed against the law and Government" 

 upon his person and those in his company. Some 

 Strathspey Highlanders had lifted cattle belong- 

 ing to Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstone, and Hugh, 

 in his official capacity, had been sent to cite the Laird 

 of Grant, as answerable for his clan : when he and 

 three men who accompanied him " were seized upon 

 be a pearty of armed men, who most maisterfullie and 

 violently struck ine with ther gunues, gave me a stobbe 



