290 HEBR 
Argyle, with Mull, and the iflands north of it, fell to 
the lhare of the firft ; Hay, 'Cantyre, and the fouthern 
ifles, were the portion of theiaft ; a divifion that form¬ 
ed the dillinftion of the Sudereysand Nordereys. Thefe 
chieftains were the fcourgesof tile kingdom; they were 
likened in hiftory to the,devaluations of a temped ; their 
paths were marked with the mod: barbarous'defolation. 
Encouraged by their didance from the feat of royalty, 
and the turbulence of the times, which gave their mo- 
narchs full employ, they exercifed a kingly power, and 
often a (Turned that title. They are known in hidory by 
the dyle of “ the Lords of the Ides,” or “ the Earls of 
Rofs and fotnetimes by that of “the Macdonalds.” 
Hiftorians are filent about their proceedings,' from the 
retreat of the Danes, in the year 1263, till that of 1335, 
when John, lord of the ides, withdrew his allegiance. 
In the beginning of the next century, his fucceffors were 
fo independent, that our Henry IV. entered into a for¬ 
mal alliance with the brothers, Donald and John ; which 
encouraged them to commit frefli hodilities againd their 
natural prince. Donald, under pretence of a claim to 
the earldom of Rofs, invaded and made a conqued of 
that country : but penetrating as far as the fhireof Aber¬ 
deen, after a fierce but undecifive battle with the royal 
party, thought proper to retire, and in a little time to 
fwear allegiance to his monarch, James I. But he was 
permitted to retain the county of Rofs, and alfume the 
title of earl. His fucceflor, Alexander, at the head of 
ten thoufand men, attacked and burnt invernefs; at 
length, terrified with the preparations made againd him, 
he fell at the royal feet, and obtained pardon as to life, 
but was cbinmitted to drift confinement. His kiofman 
and deputy, Donald Bulloch, relenting the imprifon- 
ment of his chieftain, excited another rebellion, and de- 
droyed the country with fire and fword ; but on his 
flight was taken and put to death by an Irilh chieftain, 
with whom he had fought protection. 
In the reign of James II. 1461, Donald, earlofRofs, 
and lord of the ifles, renewed the druggie for indepen¬ 
dence, furprized the cadle of Invernefs, forced his way 
as far as Athol, obliged the earl and countefs, with the 
principal inhabitants, to feek refuge in the church of St. 
Bridget, in hopes of finding fecurity from his cruelty by 
the fanftity of the place; but the barbarian fet fire to 
the church, put the ecclefiadics to the fword, and, with 
a great booty, carried the earl and countefs prisoners to 
his cadle of Claig, in the ifland of llay. In a fecond 
expedition, however, he fuftered the penalty of his im¬ 
piety ; a temped overtook him, and overwhelmed mod 
of his alfociates ; and he, efcaping to Invernefs, perilh- 
ed by the hands of an Irilh harper. His furviving fol¬ 
lowers returned to llay, conveyed the earl and countefs 
of Athol to the fanctuary they had violated, and ex¬ 
piated their crime by relloring. the plunder, and making 
donations to the flirine of the offended faint. John, fuc- 
ceflor to the preceding earl of Ro!s, entered into alli¬ 
ance with our Edward IV. lent ambalfadors to the court 
England, where Edward empowered the bilhop of Dur¬ 
ham and earl of Winchester to concede a treaty with 
him, another Donald Bulloch, and his fon and heir John. 
They agreed to ferve the king with all their power, and 
to become his lubjects ; the earl was to have a hundred 
marks fterling for life in time of peace, and two hun¬ 
dred pounds in time of war ; and tiiele illand allies, in 
cafe of the conqued of Scotland, were to have confirmed 
to them all the poffellions north of the Scottilh Sea; and, 
in cafe'of a truce with the Scottilh monarch, they were 
to be included in it. But about the year 1476, Edward, 
from a change of politics, courted the alliance of James 
III. and dropped his new allies. James, determined to 
fubdue this rebellious race, fent again!! them a power¬ 
ful army under the earl of Athol, and took leave 
of him with this remarkable injunction : Fvrth ; fortune, 
and jilt the fetters ; as much as to fay, Goforth , be fortunate, 
and bring home many captives; which the larnily of Athol 
IDES. 
have ufed ever fince for their motto.. Rofs was terrified 
into a fubmiflion ; obtained his pardon, but was de¬ 
prived of his earldom, which, by aft of parliament, was 
then declared unalienably annexed to the crown : at the 
fame time the king teftored to him Knapdale and Can- 
tyre, which the earl had refigned, and inverted him anew 
with the lordfhip of the ifles, to hold them of the king 
by fervice and relief. 
Titus* at length, the great power of the ifles was 
broken; yet* ford confiderable time after, the petty 
chieftains were continually fomenting frelh rebellions, 
or harafling each other in private wars, while tyranny 
feeins to have been multiplied. James V. found it ne- 
ceffary to make the campaign of the ifles in perfon, in 
the year 1536 ; feized and brought away with him fe- 
veral of the mod confiderable leaders, and obliged them 
to find fecurity for their own good behaviour, and that 
of their vaffals. He examined the titles of their hold¬ 
ings, and, finding feveral to have been ufurped, reunited 
their lands to the crown. On this occafion he had the 
glory of fcauling a furvey to be taken of the eOafts of 
Scotland and of the iflands, by his pilot, Alexander 
Lindefay, the particulars of which were publilhed in 
1583, at Paris, by Nicholas Nicholay, geographer to the 
French monarch. The troubles that fucceeded thd 
death of James occafioned a negleft of thefe infulated 
parts of the Scottilh dominions, and left them in a date 
of anarchy. In 1614, the Macdonalds made a formida¬ 
ble infulreftion, oppofing the royal grant of Cantyre td 
the earl of Argyle and his relations. The petty chief¬ 
tains continued in a fort of rebellion* and the fword of 
the greater, as ufual in weak governments* was employ¬ 
ed again!! them; the encouragement and proteftion 
given by them to pirates, employed the power of the 
Campbels during the reign of James VI. This prince, 
however, determined to keep the didant iflahders rrtore 
in check, by planting a colony among!! them. It ap¬ 
pears that he drew from Fife, where the inhabitants 
were indudrious in hulbandry, and good filhertaen, an 
efficient colony, headed by lir James Andruther and 
other gentlemen, which lie planted on the ifle of Lewis. 
Murdoch Macleod* a bafe-born but potent and feroci¬ 
ous chief, was at that time lord of Stornoway, a didrift 
where the new comers landed-, and him they expelled, 
probably with inconfiderate hade. His people on Ihore 
fubmrtted 5 but the aftive defpot, putting to fea with a 
little fleet, compofed of birlihgs, a bark peculiar to the 
Weftern Illes, foon found an opportunity to furprife one 
of the colonial (hips, which a calm had prevented from 
taking meafures for flight or defence. The whole crew 
were hanged by the inhuman captor, except the laird of 
Balgonie, who was on-board ; and lie, after a rigorous 
confinement', was ranfomed, and died at Orkney. Soon 
after Murdoch was feized by his own brother, Neil Mac- 
leod, who fold him to the Scots, and he was hanged at 
St. Andrew’s. The colony in the'mean while Was fur- 
rounded and harafled by the natives under a third bro¬ 
ther, Norman Macleod ; and, when molt of the adven¬ 
turers were flain or darved, the refidue yielded them- 
felves prifoners ; and the unfteady king, in (lead of re¬ 
venging the -i-nfult', bought the freedom of the few. fur- 
vivors with a promife “ that the iflanders of Lewis Ihould 
remain unmolelledly fav-age.” 
In this Hate, or in a very fmall remove from it, the 
inhabitants of this remote!! part of the Hebrides appear 
Hill to remain ; or at leal! under opprelfions and cruel¬ 
ties known only among favage nations. The detail has 
been recently publilhed by the Rev. George Lane Bu. 
chanan, a rniflionary minider, long reiident in thofe 
iflands; and whole interelting account of them we Ihajl 
recite in his own words : 
“ Though feveral traveller^ have vifited Skye, Mull, 
llay. Jura, and other iflands Ikirting the weltern Ihores 
of the main land, we have never yet had any written ac¬ 
counts of the Long Illand, or rather chain of iflands; 
or, 
