20 A HUNDRED YEARS 



made various attempts to regain Gairloch, as will be 

 seen from the following story taken from the " History 

 of the Mackenzies ": "A considerable number of the 

 younger Macleods who were banished from Gairloch 

 were invited by their chief to pass Hogmanay night 

 in the castle of Dun vegan. In the kitchen shere was 

 an old woman known as Mor Bhan (Fair Sarah), who 

 was usually occupied in carding wool, and generally 

 supposed to be a witch. After dinner the men began 

 to drink, and when they had passed some time in this 

 occupation they sent to the kitchen for Mor Bhan. 

 She at once joined them in the great hall, and having 

 drunk one or two glasses along with them, she remarked 

 that it was a very poor thing for the Macleods to be 

 deprived of their own lands of Gairloch and to have 

 to live in comparative poverty in Raasay and the Isle 

 of Skye. ' But," she said to them, ' prepare yourselves 

 and start to-morrow for Gairloch, sailing in the black 

 hirlinn (war-boat), and you shall regain it, and I shall 

 be a witness of your success when you return.' The men 

 trusted her, believing she had the power of divination. 

 In the morning they set sail for Gairloch. The black 

 galley was full of the Macleods. It was evening when 

 they entered the loch. They were afraid to land on 

 the mainland, for they remembered the descendants of 

 Domhnall Greannach (Rough Donald, a celebrated 

 Macrae) were still there, and they knew the prowess 

 of these Kintail men only too well. The Macleods, 

 therefore, turned to the south side of the loch and fastened 

 their hirlinn to the Fraoch Eilean (Heather Island) in 

 the sheltered bay beside Leac nan Saighead (Slab of the 



