It Is So Nearly Entire, That It
Might Have Easily Been Made Habitable, Were There Not An Ominous
Tradition In The Family, That The Owner Shall Not Long Outlive The
Reparation.
The grandfather of the present Laird, in defiance of
prediction, began the work, but desisted in a little time, and
applied his money to worse uses.
As the inhabitants of the Hebrides lived, for many ages, in
continual expectation of hostilities, the chief of every clan
resided in a fortress. This house was accessible only from the
water, till the last possessor opened an entrance by stairs upon
the land.
They had formerly reason to be afraid, not only of declared wars
and authorized invaders, or of roving pirates, which, in the
northern seas, must have been very common; but of inroads and
insults from rival clans, who, in the plenitude of feudal
independence, asked no leave of their Sovereign to make war on one
another. Sky has been ravaged by a feud between the two mighty
powers of Macdonald and Macleod. Macdonald having married a
Macleod upon some discontent dismissed her, perhaps because she had
brought him no children. Before the reign of James the Fifth, a
Highland Laird made a trial of his wife for a certain time, and if
she did not please him, he was then at liberty to send her away.
This however must always have offended, and Macleod resenting the
injury, whatever were its circumstances, declared, that the wedding
had been solemnized without a bonfire, but that the separation
should be better illuminated; and raising a little army, set fire
to the territories of Macdonald, who returned the visit, and
prevailed.
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