200 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



has been supposed that these were relics of the occupation 

 of the Adventurers, but it will be shown that they belonged 

 to a later period. That the village of the colonists adjoined 

 the old Castle of Stornoway the most natural site for it 

 is proved by a charter of 1607, in which the location of 

 " Villam de Stroneway " is so described. 



Everything was now looking bright for the young colony ; 

 and a peaceful occupation seemed assured. But it was a 

 delusive peace ; it was the calm which precedes the storm ; 

 for soon their dreams of security were rudely dispelled. 

 That stormy petrel, Neil Macleod, was the disturbing 

 element. The alliance between him and the Lowlanders 

 never contained the germs of permanency. The incon- 

 gruity of their friendship is easily apparent. Neil was 

 with them, but not of them. His proud and restless spirit 

 could ill brook to see the ancient possessions of the Siol | 

 Torquil parcelled out among insolent strangers. The re- 

 straints of civilisation, too, probably became irksome ; he 

 despised the trading instincts of the Lowlanders ; he longed 

 for the old life with its ploys and its plunder. His was a 

 masterful personality, a revengeful disposition, an uncurbed 

 temper, and a code of ethics that was in many respects 

 different from the laws which governed the conduct of his 

 temporary associates. It is probable that his relations 

 with the Adventurers gradually grew less cordial, and that 

 the hollow friendship patched up between them became 

 more and more distasteful, and mutually so. And then 

 an event occurred which hastened the inevitable severance 

 of association. Irritated beyond measure by some un- 

 named injury at the hands of Spens of Wormiston, Neil 

 suddenly broke off all amicable relations with the colonists, 

 and being a man who never did things by halves, became 

 once more the bitter enemy whom they dreaded. This 

 quarrel, initiated perhaps by some trivial incident, changed 

 the whole face of Lewis history. Had Neil Macleod con- 

 tinued to be the friend of the colonists ; had they been 

 sufficiently politic to avoid giving him offence ; the descen- 

 dants of the Fife men might to-day be the ruling caste 



