ing it from his nephew: the firft had only eleven hundred, aim
was at firft obliged to- retreat till he was joined by a h u n d r e d and]
twenty freih. forces: this decided the engagement. Sir Laitd-l
lan was flain, with four-fcore o f his principal kinftnen, an d two]
hundred of his foldiers, who lay furrounding the body of th e ir chiefJ
tain. A ftone ftill on the fpot, was eredled in memory of h is fail, ]
Sir Lauchlan confulted a witch, the oracle o f Mull, before le i
fet out on his expedition; and received three pieces of adviceJ
firft, Not to land on a 1 hw[day : a ftorm. forced him into difobeJ
dience. The fecond, Not to drink of a certain fpring: w hich hej
did through ignorance. The third, Not to fight befide Loch-dmI
nard: but this the fates'may be fuppofed to have determined.
L o c h - f i n l a c a n . Ride by Loch-Jinlagan, a narrow piece o f water, c e le b ra te d fo J
its ifle, a principal refidence of. the great Mac-donald. The riiinsl
of this place and chapel ftill exift,.and alfo the ftone. on.which fcl
ftood when he was crowned king of the ifles. This c u ft o m feemJ
to have been common to the northern nations. The Danes. * had!
their Kongftolen.
The ceremony, (after the new lord had collefted his • kindred!
and vaffals) was truly patriarchal. After putting on his armour his]
helmet and his fword, he took an oath to rule as his anceftors hail
done; that is, to goyern asa father would his1 children : his people!
in return fwore that they would pay the fame obedience to him «i|
children would to their parent. The dominions of this potentate!
about the year 1586 confifted, only of Hay, Jura, Kmpdale and CuA
tyre. So reduced were they,, from what they had been, before the!
* Stephanii note in Sax. Gramm, 29.
deprivation1
L r i v a t i o n of the great Earl of Refs in the reign o f
I Near^his is another little Me, where he affembledhis council :
L I Corlle, or, The ifland of council ; where thirteen judges
M m fate to decide differences among his fubjefts-, and received
for their trouble the eleventh part of the value of the affair
Iried before them *.
I In the firft ifland were buried the wives and children of the lords
lof the ifles ; but their own perfons were depofited in the more
Ifacred ground of Jona.. . ,
I On the ihores of the lake are fome marks of the quarters ot
L Carnauch and Gilli-glaffes, the military of the ifles : the firft
Lifying a ftrong man; the laft, a grim-lookrng fellow The
lirft were light-armed, and fought with darts and daggers ; the la
Imth lharp hatchets +. Thefe are the troops that Shakefpear alludes
Ito , when he ipeaks of* a-Donald, who
From the Weitern ifles
Of Kernes and Gallon glajjes was fupplied.
Upon the ihore are the remains of a pier, and on a ftone is cut,
I A. II. or, OEneas the fecond, one of the lords of the riles, m
whofe reign it was founded t- This Proves fufficiendy that; Macf
\lonald was not their general title, as fome have imagined: the
1 Thefe were the Armin or fier»* heads of the principal families; who alfo
affifted the Lord of the ijles with their advice.
t Camden, 1 4 2 1 . - , , r ' •
X 383. Tordun fays, that the lord of the ifles had here duas manfionv,
et’C&Jirum D o m a n o w a l k . L l a miftake