90 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



may be attributed the undue importance, from a racial 

 point of view, which has been assigned to it by Dr. Hill 

 Burton and even by Dr. Skene. Secondary accessories 

 have usurped the place of primary causes ; the personnel 

 of the combatants has over-shadowed the quarrel in which 

 they fought ; and thus a battle, which originated in a 

 dispute over a Highland Earldom, has been magnified 

 into a struggle for supremacy between the Celtic and 

 Teutonic elements of the Scottish people. It is neverthe- 

 less a striking commentary on the welding processes 

 wrought by Time, that the descendants of the men who 

 fought at Harlaw men so essentially different in race, 

 language, sentiment, and civilisation should at the present 

 day meet one another on an equal platform in the peaceful 

 walks of life, and should fight together shoulder to shoulder 

 as brothers-in-arms in a common cause, in every country, 

 and in every clime, where the British flag is unfurled. 



Whatever the ultimate results of Harlaw, its immediate 

 effects were for a time fatal to the claims of the Lord of 

 the Isles. The Duke of Albany, then Regent of Scotland, 

 was roused to action. He collected an army before which 

 resistance on Donald's part was futile, and the whole of 

 Ross was quickly recovered from the possession of the 

 Lord of the Isles. The Earl of Mar commenced to build 

 the Castle of Inverness for the defence of the country 

 against future invasions by his opponent of Harlaw. The 

 latter took refuge in the Hebrides, where he was safe 

 during the winter months. In the summer of the follow- 

 ing year, the contest was renewed with varying successes, 

 but finally the proud Hebridean was forced to bow his 

 neck in submission, resign his claim to the Earldom of 

 Ross, and become a vassal of the Scottish Crown. At 

 Loch Gilp in Argyllshire, a treaty embodying these con- 

 ditions was consummated,* and for a short period the 



* This treaty is stated by the historians of Clan Donald to be a fiction 

 of Fordun. The authors doubtless mean Walter Bower, who continued 

 Fordun's chronicles. Bower, who died in 1449, was presumably conversant 

 with the circumstances, and there is no reason to doubt his statement. 



