The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

194 THE HIGHLANDERS [part ii
writers, the son of Arailt. It appears from the same writers
that he was Anlafs nephew, for they style Arailt the grandson
of Ivar and son of Sidroc. Maccus was succeeded by his
brother, Godfrey Mac Arailt, who was slain in an Irish
expedition in 987, and not long after his death the Isles were
conquered, along with a considerable part of the north of
Scotland, by Sigurd, the earl of Orkney. Among the Scottish
earls mentioned by the Sagas as reconquering the north of
Scotland from Sigurd, is Hundi or Kenneth. He
was probably the same Kenneth who was father of
Suibne, king of the Gallgael in 1034, and at the same time m.ust
have been son of Godfrey, as we find Ranald Mac Godfrey king
of the Isles in 1004. On Ranald's death, in 1004, Suibne, the
son of Kenneth, reigned over this tribe until 1034, when, as his
death exactly .synchronises with the conquest of the Isles and
the whole of the north of Scotland by Thorfinn, the earl of
Orkney, it would appear that he had been slain by that powerful
earl in the unsuccessful defence of his territories. From
this period there is no mention of any king of the Gallgael,
and it is certain that the subsequent kings of the Isles were
not of this race. It is therefore apparent that this petty kingdom
never afterwards rose to the same state in which it had
been before the conquest of Thorfinn, and that the different
septs into which the tribe became separated on the death of
their king in 1034, never again united under one head. We
shall now, therefore, trace the origin and history of the various
septs whom we find inhabiting these districts at a later period,
under the two great divisions of Arg}'ll and Atholl.
Argyll.
The ancient district of Argyll consisted of the present
county of that name, together with the districts of Lochaber
and Wester Ross, and was known to the Highlanders by the
name of the Cantair, or Oirir, Alban, and sometimes of Oirirgael,
whence the present name is derived.
Wester Ross was termed by
The present district of
them Oirir an tuath, or the
Northern coastlands, and the remaining
name of the Oirir an deas, or Southern
part received the
coastlands. From