n8 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



locusts, desolating the whole country in the line of their 

 march. Bute and Arran were similarly devastated, and 

 so thorough was the work of destruction in those islands 

 that the poverty-stricken tenants of the Crown sub- 

 sequently received a remission of their rents for the three 

 previous years. 



The insurrection had now assumed formidable propor- 

 tions, and the whole fighting strength at the disposal of 

 the Crown was drawn upon for its suppression. The pre- 

 parations for the despatch of ships to the Isles were 

 pushed forward ; the services of the famous Sir Andrew 

 Wood and Robert Barton were requisitioned ; and the 

 King himself reviewed the fleet at Dumbarton. The army 

 was placed under the leadership of the Earls of Argyll 

 and Huntly, and Lord Lovat. Huntly took charge of a 

 division to carry out his project of reducing the Castles 

 of Strome and Eilean Donain. Apparently he got the 

 artillery he wanted, for according to the Treasurer's Ac- 

 counts, a supply of gunpowder was sent to him on ipth 

 January, 1503-4. There are no details of the siege of the 

 castles, but from subsequent events, it appears that Huntly 

 succeeded in obtaining possession of them. Nor are there 

 particulars of the results of the general campaign against 

 the Hebrides, but it is inferentially evident that the back 

 of the rebellion was broken. 



During 1504, Macleod of Harris in the North, and the 

 Earl of Argyll and Macian of Ardnamurchan in the South, 

 exerted themselves to induce the Hebridean chiefs to 

 submit ; while the Earl of Arran received two commis- 

 sions against the Isles. 



Notwithstanding Torquil Macleod's re-appearance as a 

 rebel, the King was apparently still disposed to deal gently 

 with him. His powerful influence ; his relationship to the 

 Earl of Argyll ; and possibly his attractive personality 

 may have swayed a generous monarch like James IV. ; 

 but above all, it was politic to keep him and Maclean 

 of Duart on opposite sides. And so we find that in 

 the autumn of 1504, Alastair Crotach's emissary, Mac- 



