1 86 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



Lewismen were well up-to-date. They killed twenty-two 

 of the colonists, burnt property valued at 20,000 merks, 

 and carried off horses, cows, oxen, sheep, and other 

 " bestiall " worth ten thousand pounds. 



The news of the raid soon reached the ears of the King. 

 In a letter dated I5th June, 1599, to the Chancellor and 

 other Lords of the Privy Council, he commanded them to 

 " haist " Colonel Stewart and his comrades in concluding 

 the consideration of matters connected with the Isles 

 which was then proceeding. " For," added the King, " we 

 have ressavit letters out of the Lewis " showing that their 

 " returne is maist ernistlie craved and thocht maist 

 necessar to be haistned." Four days after the date of 

 this letter, Stewart, Spens, and Thomas Cunningham, 

 the Crail burgess, appeared before the Privy Council, 

 craving for themselves and for the Syndicate, that a day 

 should be appointed for charging Mackenzie of Kintail 

 with such " crimes " as they were prepared to advance 

 against him ; and the 25th September was fixed for the 

 purpose. It is probable that the worthy burgess of Crail 

 had discovered, during his imprisonment on the Isle of 

 Ristol, that Kintail was a secret enemy of the Syndicate, 

 and knew more about Murdoch Macleod's doings than he 

 openly professed. No doubt Cunningham was to have 

 been the chief witness against Mackenzie ; but the appli- 

 cation, so far as the records show, was fruitless. Kenneth 

 Mackenzie had a perfect genius for getting himself out of 

 a tight place. 



It is not surprising that there should have existed in the 

 Highlands and Isles generally, a feeling of great irritation, 

 not unmixed with profound disquietude, at the intrusion 

 of the Lowland strangers. The fate of the Lewismen 

 to-day might be that of their neighbours to-morrow. The 

 conquest of Lewis was the thin end of the wedge. The 

 cession of Trotternish was sufficient to stimulate the active 

 antagonism of Macleod of Harris and Macdonald of Sleat, 

 both of whom laid claim to that territory. The great 

 chiefs of the western seaboard viewed with alarm the 



