The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. VII] OF SCOTLAND in
every action decided ; but there might still be an appeal to the
council of the Isles. Macfinnon was obliged to see weights and
measures adjusted, and Macduffie or Macphie, of Colonsay, kept
the records of the Isles."
In this account it is plain that the Highland system was
almost the same with the Welsh and Irish. The first tenure
consisted, with them, of the Ard Righ, Righ and Maormor, of
which latter the lord of the Isles was no un\\orthy representation.-
The Tighern or Thane, the Armin and the Squire were the same
with the three Welsh degrees included under the Uchilordir,
while the Highlanders had an order termed native men, clearl}equivalent
to the Priodordir of the Welsh. These native men,
however, were just the tenants or farmers on the property, for
Martin, in his admirable picture of the ancient customs of the
Western Isles, says, that the peculiar acknowledgment made by
the tenants to the chief of their clan was the calpe.
"
There was
another duty payable by all the tenants to their chief, though
they did not live upon his lands, and this is called Calpich ;
there was a standing law for it also called Calpich law, and I am
informed that this is exacted by
some in the mainland to this
day." And this is confirmed by Skene, who mentions in his
work De Verborum Significatione, that Herezeld and Calpe were
two duties paid by the tenant of more than the eighth of a
davach to his landlord or chief Now, we find this was likewise
the peculiar acknowledgment of chiefship incumbent upon the
native men, for in the bonds of Manrent which exist between
native men and their chief, we find them always giving their
bonds of Manrent and "
Calpis, as native men ought and could
do to their chief," and that there is always an obligation for the
due payment of the Calpe. We must be careful, however, to
draw a proper distinction between the nativi or native men of
Highland properties, and the seii'i fugitivi or CuinerlacJi, the
latter of which were slaves, and the same as the Welsh Kaeth.
These have all been hitherto most improperly confounded, and it
has been assumed, that they were equally ascribed to the soil,
but this was far from being the case. In all old charters they
are carefully distinguished. The servi ox fugitivi were absolute
slaves, and might be bought and sold either with or independent
of the land. The nativi were so termed not because they were