GENERAL DESCRIPTION 9 



M'Phee, John M'Quarrie, and Ivor Ban (the Fair), the com- 

 plainants being Mary M'Donald (M'Phee's widow), Donald, 

 a son, Catherine, Annie, and Flora, daughters, besides relatives 

 of the other victims. 



Although the history of the island is often veiled in 

 obscurity, we can gather from various sources that its owner- 

 ship during the latter half of the sixteenth century and 

 the early part of the seventeenth was a source of contention 

 among the M'Phees, M'Donalds, M 'Leans, and Campbells. 

 After the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles in 1493, 

 the Isles, instead of following one leader, were divided 

 among a number of chiefs who frequently opposed one 

 another. In their quarrels over the ownership of certain 

 parts of Islay, M'Lean of Duart and M'Donald of Islay 

 were fighting for close on half a century, 1550-1600. 

 Local traditions of raids and clan fights are often associated 

 with this period. 



The battle of Traigh Ghruineart in the north of Islay, 

 in 1598, brought the long tribal warfare between the M 'Leans 

 and M'Donalds to a close. Before the fight began, Dubh- 

 sith Beag, a native of Jura, asked Lachlan Mor, chief of the 

 M'Leans, for "a day's work." Owing to his diminutive size, 

 M'Lean refused to take him into his ranks. Nothing daunted, 

 Dubh-sith went to the opposite party. M'Donald gave him 

 "a man's place." "I will see to Lachlan Mor; you dispose 

 of the rest," exclaimed the dwarf, who forthwith betook 

 himself to the shelter of some neighbouring scrub. In the 

 heat of the fight, Lachlan Mor bent down to arrange his 

 armour. Dubh-sith, who was an expert bowman, seeing part 

 of M'Lean's person unprotected by his coat of mail while he 

 was in this position, shot him with an arrow. Besides their 

 chief, nearly 300 of the M'Leans fell on that day. The 

 M'Donalds' loss was not so great, but their chief, Sir James 

 M'Donald, Lachlan Mor's nephew, was wounded. 



The person whose doings during this stormy period most 



