254 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



Lewismen by their loyal neighbours, yet, in order to leave 

 the latter without any excuse, Donald Gorm of Sleat, 

 Macleod of Harris, Macneill of Barra, Mackay of Farr, and 

 his son and heir, are charged, under pain of rebellion, to 

 abstain from rendering help, direct or indirect, of any kind 

 whatsoever, to the insurgents. On 28th May, 1612, the 

 commission of nth June, 1611, was renewed, the terms 

 being very similar to those of the commission granted to 

 Lord Kintail on ipth July, 1610. 



The Tutor now applied himself to the task of chasing 

 Neil Macleod and his comrades out of their stronghold on 

 Birsay. Neil had recently been engaged on a foray in 

 Lewis, where he was attacked by the Mackenzies and some 

 Lewismen, but managed to make his escape back to Birsay. 

 Ultimately, his followers were dispersed by a stratagem, if 

 Sir Robert Gordon is to be believed. The Tutor despaired 

 of carrying Birsay at the point of the sword, or of starving 

 the defenders into submission. He was exasperated, too, 

 by the loss of two of his men who were stationed on a rock 

 within gunshot of Birsay, one of them having been killed 

 outright, and the other wounded, by Neil. He therefore 

 conceived a plan, by means of which he hoped to compel 

 the little band to surrender. He gave orders to seize the 

 wives, children, and other relatives of the insurgents, and 

 place them at low tide on a rock, sufficiently near Birsay 

 for the occupants to hear and see the wretched people. 

 He then informed Neil that unless he and his companions 

 surrendered immediately, their helpless relatives would be 

 left to drown on the return of the tide. Fearing that the 

 stern Tutor would keep his word, if his orders were not 

 obeyed, Neil and his followers capitulated, on condition 

 of being allowed to leave Lewis ; a condition to which 

 Mackenzie acceded. Neil then took refuge with Ruari 

 Macleod of Harris. 



It is difficult to say whether this account is perfectly 

 reliable, or, if reliable, whether Mackenzie really meant to 

 carry out his inhuman threat. The earliest MS. dealing 

 with the troubles in Lewis, which was written apparently 



