A history of the Highlands and of the Highland clans : with an ...

INDEPENl/ENCE OF THE CLANS. 141
their own independence. When a chief was unfit for his situation, oi
had degraded his name and family, thr; clan proceeded to depose him,
and set up the next in succession, if deservinj:, to whom they transferred
their allegiance, as liappened to two chiefs of tiie fomilies of Macdonald
of Clanronald and Macdonell of Kt^ppoch. The head of the family of
Stewart of Garth, who, on account of his ferocious disposition, was nicknamed
the " Fierce Wolf," was, about the year fifteen hundred and
twenty, not only deposed, but confined for life in a cell in the castle of
Garth, which was, therefore, long regarded by the people with a kind of
superstitious terror. The clans even sometimes interfered with the
choice of the chiefs in changing their places of abode, or in selecting a
site for a new residence. The Earl of Seaforth was prevented by liis
clan (the M'Kenzies) from demolishing Brahan castle, the principal scat
of the family. In the same way the Laird of Glenorchy, ancestor of
the Marquis of Breadalbane, having some time previous to the year fif-
teen hundred and seventy, laid the foundation of a castle which he in-
tended to build on a hill on the side of Lochtay, was compelled, or in-
duced, by his people, to change his plan and build the castle of Balloch
or Taymouth.
From what has been stated, it will be perceived that the influence of
a chief with his clan dejiended much on his personal qualities, of which
kindness and a condescension, which admitted of an easy familiarity, were
necessary traits. The author of ' Letters from the North' thus alludes to
the familiarity which existed between a chief and his clan, and the af-
fability and courtesy with which they were accustomed to be treated :
'' And as the meanest among them pretended to be his relations by consanguinity,
they insisted on the privilege of taking him by the hand
whenever they met him. Concerning this last, I once saw a number of
very discontented countenances when a certain lord, one of the chiefs,
endeavoured to evade this ceremony. It was in the presence of an
English gentleman, of high station, from whom he would willingly have
concealed the knowledge of such seeming familiarity \rith slaves of \vretch-
ed appearance ; and thinking it, I suppose, a kind of contradiction to
what he had oflen boasted at other times, viz., his despotic power in bis
clan "
That whistle garrison'd the glen
At once with full five hundred men.
As if the ya\v]iiiig hilt to heaven
A subterranean host had given.
Watching their leader's beck and will,
All silent lliere they stood, and still.
Like the loose crags whose threatening ma^s
Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass.
As if an infant's touch could urge
Their headlong passage down the verge,
With step and weapon forward flung.
Upon the mountain-side they hung,
LaAy ufths IHike, C-iito V. bt.