THE INSURRECTION OF DONALD DUBH. 117 



Act relating to Ross and Caithness, another was passed 

 which commented severely on the great want of justice 

 in the Hebrides, " wherethrow the people are almost gane 

 wilde." Accordingly, the Act provided for the appoint- 

 ment of Justices, those of the North Isles to have their 

 seat and place of justice in Inverness or Dingwall, " as the 

 matters occurris to be decerned by the said Justices,"* 

 while the seats of justice for the South Isles were to be 

 at Tarbert and Loch Kilkiaran (Campbeltown). The con- 

 ditions which prevailed at the commencement of the six- 

 teenth century called for a measure like the Act of 1503, 

 to provide for the better administration of justice in the 

 Northern Hebrides. But that Inverness and Dingwall, at 

 the commencement of the twentieth century, should still 

 be the centres of wisdom which direct the machinery of 

 county affairs in Skye and the Long Island, is an obvious 

 anomaly ; and that the Long Island should still be included, 

 partly in Ross-shire, and partly in Inverness-shire, is a 

 proof of the necessity for rectifying so incongruous a state 

 of matters. Lewis became part of Ross-shire through the 

 influence of the Earl of Seaforth, who naturally desired 

 to have all his estates included in one county. And from 

 1 66 1 to the present day, this division of the Long Island, 

 with all its inconveniences, has remained unchanged. 



The preparations for reducing them to obedience, both 

 by force of arms and by the terrors of the law, had their 

 due effect on the Islesmen. They saw that the moment 

 for action had come. Late in December, 1503, they 

 assumed the offensive. They sought, but apparently 

 without avail, assistance both from England and Ireland. 

 With the youthful Donald Dubh at their head, and Mac- 

 leod of Lewis as one of their leaders, they spread over 

 Lochaber the property of Huntly like a swarm of 



* It was not, however, until 1661 that the bounds of Ross-shire were settled 

 as they now exist, and that Lewis, owing to its possession by the Seaforths, 

 was included in that county. After defining the bounds of Ross and Inver- 

 ness, the Act goes on to say : " And that the shire of Ross comprehend the 

 ylland of Lewis perteaning to the Earle of Seaforth." The Sheriff- courts of 

 Ross-shire were to be held at " the burgh of Dingwall, Tayne, or Fforterose, 

 as the Shirreff shall think fit." (Acts of ParL, Vol. VII., pp. 124-5.) 



