The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

54 THE HIGHLANDERS [part i
Maormor, we ma)^ conclude that that person was chief of some
tribe of the Gaelic race which inhabited the northern districts of
•
Scotland at this .i .
period.
Sixth.—The great territorial divisions of Scotland, the chiefs
of which were termed Maormors, appear in the Norse Sagas
under two names, Riki and larldom, of which the former was
more peculiarly and exclusively applied to them. Thus, on one
occasion it is said, that Sigurd had these Rikis in Scotland,
was also in
Ros, Sutherland, Moray, and Dala. But Sigurd
possession of Caithness, which having belonged to the Norwegians
for a long time, was not governed by a Maormor, and
as that district is not included under the term Riki, it is plain
that that term was applied only to the Maormorships, if I may so
call them. With regard to the other term, larldom, the Orkneyinga
Saga mentions, that Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, died
possessed of the Hebrides, a great extent of territory in Ireland,
and nine larldoms in Scotland ; by these larldoms, the Maor-
morships only can be meant, and it will be observed, that in
narrating the possessions of Thorfinn, that term is applied to the
districts on the mainland of Scotland only. The Maormors
themselves appear in the Norse Sagas under one name only, that
of Scotajarl, and there is good reason for thinking that that title
was applied to them exclusively.
From the preceding observations upon the nature of the title
of Maormor, and of the territorial divisions of Scotland in the
eleventh century, we see that at that period the Gaelic inhabi-
tants of the north of Scotland were divided into several great
tribes, v/hich corresponded exactly with the great territorial
divisions of the country. We also see, that the Maormors of the
different districts were the hereditary and native chiefs of these
great tribes, and that that title was altogether peculiar to the
Gaelic inhabitants of Scotland. The history of these Maormors,
then, becomes a very important medium for ascertaining the
earlier history of the Highlanders ; for, whenever we find any of
the northern chiefs mentioned in the history of Scotland as having
this title, we may conclude with certainty, that the northern dis-r
tricts were at that time inhabited by the same Gaelic race whom
we find in possession of them in the eleventh century. Inde-
[^endently of this, the particular history of some of the Maormors