170 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



his relationship to them and his superior abilities, took 

 command of Lewis and ruled as their representative. The 

 Morisons of Ness were the objects of his vengeance, and 

 tradition has preserved accounts of many sanguinary fights 

 which took place between that clan and the Macleods. 

 The Morisons appear to have got the worst of the 

 encounters, for many of them were forced to take refuge 

 in Durness and Eddrachillis in Sutherlandshire, where 

 a branch of the clan was settled. According to the Old 

 Statistical Account y the inhabitants of those districts in 

 1793 were, with a few exceptions, all Morisons, Macleods, 

 and Macleays. 



From these local feuds, we now turn to consider a matter 

 of wider importance, viz., that epoch in Lewis history 

 which is known as the attempted settlements of the Fife 

 Adventurers. 



