THE CLANS OF THE LONG ISLAND. 65 



numbers exceed a hundred. The Macleods head the list 

 in each parish ; the Morisons are second in Barvas ; the 

 Mackenzies in Lochs ; and the Macdonalds in Uig. No 

 return was made of the parish of Stornoway. 



Macleod 585 Maclean 155 



Macdonald 364 Smith 132 



Morison ... ... 239 



Mackenzie 184 



Mackay 166 



Maciver 127 



Macaulay 106 



The origin of the Macdonalds of North and South Uist 

 and Benbecula is too well known to call for discussion 

 here. The descendants of Somerled found their way in 

 large numbers to Lewis, as appears from the fact that 

 they are numerically second among the surnames in the 

 list given above. 



The Macneills of Barra are without doubt of very 

 ancient lineage. Martin tells us that according to the 

 genealogists of his day, the chief of the Macneills was 

 the thirty-fourth of his name who had possessed Barra 

 in unbroken descent, and Dr. Walker asserts that the 

 family were in possession of vouchers for about thirty 

 descents. The Old Statistical Account states that the 

 Macneills came from Ireland, and were in possession of 

 Barra "before the Danes"; that "the Danish governor 

 made alliance with them by marrying a daughter of one 

 of their chiefs ; that their castle of Kisimul," according 

 to tradition, " was built upwards of 500 years ago " *>., 

 about the thirteenth century. All this points to their 

 being in Barra at an early date as early as the ninth or 

 tenth century if Dr. Walker's "vouchers" are reliable 

 and it may be safely assumed that they were in possession 

 of their patrimony during the Norse occupation of the 

 Long Island. It is impossible to trace their progenitor, 

 but it seems likely that he was a Northman named Njal 

 Macneill being the same as Nilsson perhaps the Njal of 

 the race of Ketil Flatneb who ruled in the Hebrides 

 during the tenth century. According to the Old 

 Statistical Account, the Macneills of Barra were always 



