Forfeited Estates Were Not In Those Days Quietly Resigned; Maclean,
Therefore, Went With An Armed Force To Seize His New Possessions,
And, I Know Not For What Reason, Took His Wife With Him.
The
Camerons rose in defence of their Chief, and a battle was fought at
the head of Loch Ness, near the place where Fort Augustus now
stands, in which Lochiel obtained the victory, and Maclean, with
his followers, was defeated and destroyed.
The lady fell into the hands of the conquerours, and being found
pregnant was placed in the custody of Maclonich, one of a tribe or
family branched from Cameron, with orders, if she brought a boy, to
destroy him, if a girl, to spare her.
Maclonich's wife, who was with child likewise, had a girl about the
same time at which lady Maclean brought a boy, and Maclonich with
more generosity to his captive, than fidelity to his trust,
contrived that the children should be changed.
Maclean being thus preserved from death, in time recovered his
original patrimony; and in gratitude to his friend, made his castle
a place of refuge to any of the clan that should think himself in
danger; and, as a proof of reciprocal confidence, Maclean took upon
himself and his posterity the care of educating the heir of
Maclonich.
This story, like all other traditions of the Highlands, is
variously related, but though some circumstances are uncertain, the
principal fact is true. Maclean undoubtedly owed his preservation
to Maclonich; for the treaty between the two families has been
strictly observed: it did not sink into disuse and oblivion, but
continued in its full force while the chieftains retained their
power. I have read a demand of protection, made not more than
thirty-seven years ago, for one of the Maclonichs, named Ewen
Cameron, who had been accessory to the death of Macmartin, and had
been banished by Lochiel, his lord, for a certain term; at the
expiration of which he returned married from France, but the
Macmartins, not satisfied with the punishment, when he attempted to
settle, still threatened him with vengeance. He therefore asked,
and obtained shelter in the Isle of Col.
The power of protection subsists no longer, but what the law
permits is yet continued, and Maclean of Col now educates the heir
of Maclonich.
There still remains in the Islands, though it is passing fast away,
the custom of fosterage. A Laird, a man of wealth and eminence,
sends his child, either male or female, to a tacksman, or tenant,
to be fostered. It is not always his own tenant, but some distant
friend that obtains this honour; for an honour such a trust is very
reasonably thought. The terms of fosterage seem to vary in
different islands. In Mull, the father sends with his child a
certain number of cows, to which the same number is added by the
fosterer. The father appropriates a proportionable extent of
ground, without rent, for their pasturage. If every cow brings a
calf, half belongs to the fosterer, and half to the child; but if
there be only one calf between two cows, it is the child's, and
when the child returns to the parent, it is accompanied by all the
cows given, both by the father and by the fosterer, with half of
the increase of the stock by propagation. These beasts are
considered as a portion, and called Macalive cattle, of which the
father has the produce, but is supposed not to have the full
property, but to owe the same number to the child, as a portion to
the daughter, or a stock for the son.
Children continue with the fosterer perhaps six years, and cannot,
where this is the practice, be considered as burdensome. The
fosterer, if he gives four cows, receives likewise four, and has,
while the child continues with him, grass for eight without rent,
with half the calves, and all the milk, for which he pays only four
cows when he dismisses his Dalt, for that is the name for a foster
child.
Fosterage is, I believe, sometimes performed upon more liberal
terms. Our friend, the young Laird of Col, was fostered by
Macsweyn of Grissipol. Macsweyn then lived a tenant to Sir James
Macdonald in the Isle of Sky; and therefore Col, whether he sent
him cattle or not, could grant him no land. The Dalt, however, at
his return, brought back a considerable number of Macalive cattle,
and of the friendship so formed there have been good effects. When
Macdonald raised his rents, Macsweyn was, like other tenants,
discontented, and, resigning his farm, removed from Sky to Col, and
was established at Grissipol.
These observations we made by favour of the contrary wind that
drove us to Col, an Island not often visited; for there is not much
to amuse curiosity, or to attract avarice.
The ground has been hitherto, I believe, used chiefly for
pasturage. In a district, such as the eye can command, there is a
general herdsman, who knows all the cattle of the neighbourhood,
and whose station is upon a hill, from which he surveys the lower
grounds; and if one man's cattle invade another's grass, drives
them back to their own borders. But other means of profit begin to
be found; kelp is gathered and burnt, and sloops are loaded with
the concreted ashes. Cultivation is likely to be improved by the
skill and encouragement of the present heir, and the inhabitants of
those obscure vallies will partake of the general progress of life.
The rents of the parts which belong to the Duke of Argyle, have
been raised from fifty-five to one hundred and five pounds, whether
from the land or the sea I cannot tell. The bounties of the sea
have lately been so great, that a farm in Southuist has risen in
ten years from a rent of thirty pounds to one hundred and eighty.
He who lives in Col, and finds himself condemned to solitary meals,
and incommunicable reflection, will find the usefulness of that
middle order of Tacksmen, which some who applaud their own wisdom
are wishing to destroy.
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