The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

AND NOTES] OF SCOTLAND 421
In 1292, Thomas Cambel held lands in Kintyre, and about the same time
Dugald Cambell is connected with Dumbarton Castle as governor. The
relationship of these several Cambels, and of Sir Arthur Cambel, it seems
impossible now to define. Cailin Mor's son was Sir Neil, who married
Bruce's sister. The Cambells are usually regarded as interlopers in Argyle
(see Brown's Memorials of Argyle), but, if they did not originally belong to
Argyle, we must not go further than Dumbartonshire for their habitat. The
old genealogies trace them to the British King Arthur, a tradition which may
indicate that the Cambells originally lived on the borderland of the Strathclyde
Briton and the Gael. The name Arthur is common among them. The
Cambells rose then on the ruins of the families of Lorn and of Alexander,
lord of the Isles, partisans of the English. The Cambells of Lochow soon
became masters of Argyle ; they were a race of statesmen, with high literary
talent, as old Gaelic poetry shows, and they still manifest the same
characteristics. Skene's severe censures are undeserved ; because the
Campbell chiefs nearly always trod a path of level-headed common sense,
must they be declared cunning and unscrupulous ?
Page 357, middle paragraph. There was no sheriffdom of Argyle till 1292.
Page 359. Caithness. The old province of Cat (so named from the
Catti or Cat-tribe) included Caithness and Sutherland. In the restricted
sense, Caithness meant in the Sagas, modern Caithness, but they also used it
to mean the whole Cat province, save Sutherland. The province Ness meant
strictly and always modern Caithness ; it was the Ness of Cat. Skene's
attempt to make Ness mean the Cape Wrath district is entirely against the
evidence (p. 366) ; it is abandoned in Celtic Scotland.
Page 360, line 5 from bottom. "Gaddgedli"; this is simply a corruption
of Gall-Gaidheil, later reduced to mean Galloway. The text of the Saga here
is corrupt (Anderson's Orkn. Saga, p. 28).
Page 361. 'The Mackays. The name Aodh or Aed, so troublesome to
Sassenach scribes, was once the most popular of Gaelic names. We ha\ e
already dealt with the Mac-Heths of Moray ; then there were the powerful
Mackeths, or Mackies, of Galloway ; Mackays of Ugadale ; Mackays of the
Rinns in Islay; and the Morgan Mackays of Sutherland. There is, of course,
no connection between these clans. The Inverness-shire Mackays are usually
called in Gaelic, Mac-ai, that is, Mac Dhai or Davidson ; they formed a
branch of Clan Chattan. It is remarkable that the Sutherland Mackays claim
kinship with the f'orbcs's of Aberdeenshire, and about 1608 actually adopted
Lord Forbes' arms, with cadet differences (by permission of Lord Forbes, whom
Hugh Mackay of Mackay calls his "dear chief") ; but it is also remarkable
that the name Morgan exists, or in historic times existed, nowhere else than
in Aberdeenshire and among the Sutherland Mackays. The name is Pictish
—Morcunn (Book of Deer), "Sea-bright." Perhaps the explanation lies in
the fact that the Earl of Ross held lands in Buchan— indeed, he was entitled
to half the earldom, and the last lord of the old line died in asserting his
claims, and the first of the Macdonald lords suffered at Harlaw in the same
cause. Now, the lands of Strathhalladale and Ferrincoskry (Skibo, Creich,
&€.), and probably more, belonged to the Earl of Ross. The former lands
were granted or re-granted to Angus Du Mackay in 141 5 by Donald of the