64 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



was fought between them at Barvas, is traditionally 

 believed to be commemorated by the Thrushel stone, 

 the large menhir in that parish, which the Morisons are 

 said to have erected to mark their victory over their 

 hereditary foes ; not, it may be added, a very likely 

 story. Torquil Macleod, grandson of Torquil L, son 

 of Leod, is believed to have acted as mediator in the 

 quarrel ; if that be so, the feud between the Morisons 

 and the Macaulays must date as far back as about the 

 middle of the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth 

 century, according to tradition, the Macaulays and a 

 family of the Macleods who resided at Pabbay, Uig, had 

 a blood-feud, from which the Macaulays, in the person 

 of John Roy, ultimately emerged victorious. The story 

 of John Roy Macaulay is told elsewhere in these pages. 



The Macivers, another well-known clan in Lewis, can 

 hardly be regarded as indigenous to the soil. They are 

 bracketed with the Morisons and Macaulays by the 

 author of The Highlands of Scotland in 1750. He 

 says : " The common inhabitants of Lewis are Morisons, 

 McAulays and McKivers, but when they go from home, 

 all who live under Seaforth call themselves Mackenzies." 

 The Macivers, or most of them, seem to have come 

 over to the island with the Mackenzies, as did several 

 families, such as the Macraes and others, whose descen- 

 dants are to be found there. The Macivers (Mac Ivar) 

 are of Scandinavian origin* as are also apparently the 

 Macaskills, a clan or sept whose chief habitat seems to 

 be Lewis. "Ascall, son of Torcall, King of Ath-cliath" 

 figures in the Annals of Ulster in 1171. In 1311, one 

 " Gilbert Macaskil " is mentioned in connexion with 

 certain lands in the Bishopric of Durham. 



In 1890-1, a return was made of the surnames of school 

 children in three of the parishes of Lewis, from which the 

 following extract is taken, showing those names whose 



* By McFirbis's genealogy, the Macleods are traced back to "Old Ivor 

 the Great of the Judgments, from whom are descended the Siol-Sin-Iomhair 

 in Albain and in Erin and in Lochlann." 



