The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

220 THE HIGHLANDERS [part ii
exert himself to obtain possession of the earldonn, contending
that Euphemia, by taking the veil, had become, in a legal point
of view, dead ; and that the earldom belonged to him in right
of his wife, and accordingly he demanded to be put in possession
of it. This demand was of course repelled by the governor,
whose principal object appears to have been to prevent the
accession of so extensiv^e a district to the territories of the lord
of the Isles, already too powerful for the security of the government,
and whose conduct was more actuated by principles of
expediency than of justice. Donald had no sooner received this
unfavourable answer to his demand, than he determined to
assert his claim by arms, since he could not obtain it from the
justice of the government. And in consequence of this deter-
mination, he raised all the forces which he could command, to
the amount of ten thousand men, with whom he suddenly
invaded the earldom of Ross. From the inhabitants of Ross he
appears to have met with no resistance, so that he speedily
obtained possession of the district ; but on his arrival at Dingwall,
he was encountered by i:\ngus Dow Mackay, at the head
of a large body of men from Sutherland, and, after a fierce
attack, the Mackays were completely routed, and their leader
taken prisoner.
Donald was now in complete possession of the earldom, but
his subsequent proceedings shewed that the nominal object of
his expedition was but a cover to ulterior designs, for, leaving
the district of Ross, he swept through Moray, and penetrated
even into Aberdeenshire, at the head of his whole army. Here
he was met at the village of Harlaw by the earl of Mar, at the
head of an inferior army in point of numbers, but composed of
Lowland gentlemen, who were better armed and disciplined
than the Highland followers of Donald. It was on the 24th of
July, 141 1, that the celebrated battle of Harlaw was fought,
upon the issue of which seemed to depend the question of
whether the Gaelic or Teutonic part of the population of
Scotland were in future to have the supremacy.
Of the battle the result was doubtful, as both parties claimed
the victory ; but in the case of the Highlanders, the absence of
decided victory was equivalent to defeat in its effects, and
Donald was in consequence obliged to retreat. The check