THE UISTS AND BARRA. 277 



of Strath, were obliged to enter into a bond to observe 

 the following conditions, (ist) That they should appear 

 annually before the Council on loth July, and that all 

 necessary measures for the preservation of peace by their 

 clansmen should be employed by them. (2nd) That they 

 should produce annually a certain number of their kinsmen 

 as a further guarantee of good order. Macleod was to ex- 

 hibit three, and Clanranald two ; of their clansmen. Clan- 

 ranald, it may be remarked, disclaimed responsibility for 

 his three brothers, who were apparently beyond his control. 

 (3rd) That the number of gentlemen attached to the house- 

 hold of each chief was to be strictly limited, Macleod and 

 Clanranald being each apportioned six gentlemen, while 

 the number appointed for the other chiefs was three apiece. 

 (4th) That they were to purge their bounds of sorners and 

 idle men. (5th) That they were to be permitted to wear 

 pistols and hackbuts only in the King's service, and that 

 none of their servants, except the gentlemen of their 

 households, were to carry any weapons or wear any armour 

 whatever.* (6th) That they were to reside at fixed places 

 of abode, Macleod's residence to be at Dunvegan, and Clan- 

 ranald's at Eilean Tirrim in Moidart, and that they were 

 to take the mains or home-farms into their own hands, and 

 cultivate them, with the view of being usefully employed, 

 instead of leading lives of idleness. There being no home- 

 farm attached to the Castle of Eilean Tirrim, Clanranald 

 selected the farm of Hobeg, in Uist, as his mains. (7th) That 

 at the following Martinmas, they were to let the remainder 

 of their lands to tacksmen at a clear rent, without the 

 additional exactions which they had been accustomed 

 to impose upon their tenants. (8th) That no chief was to 

 have more than one birling of sixteen or eighteen oars in 

 his possession ; and that when travelling through the Isles 

 in their birlings, no sorning on the people was to be 

 permitted. (9th) That all their children over nine years 



* On i8th September, 1616, the King granted a warrant to the Council to 

 issue to certain of the chiefs and their kinsmen, permits for carrying firearms, 

 to be used within a mile of their own houses only. 



