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

214
HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.
and collecting an immense quantity of cattle and goods, so large, iuaeed,
as to exceed all that had been seen together in that country for many
years, all of which was divided among the army, agreeably to the custom
in such cases. This invasion had such an etFect upon the people of Caith-
ness, that every race, clan, tribe and family there, vied with one another
in offermg pledges to the earl of Sutherland to keep the peace in all time
coming. This affair took place in the month of February, fifteen hundred
and eighty-eight, and was called La-na-Creach-Moir, that is, the time of
the great slaughter or spoil. The town of Wick was also pillaged and
burnt, but the church was preserved. In the church was found the
heart of the earl of Caithness' father in a case of lead, which was opened
by John Mac Gille-CalumRasay, and the ashes of the heart were thrown
by him to the winds.
Duiiiig the time when these depredations were committing, the earl
of Caithness shut himself up in the castle of Girnigo ; but on learning
the disasters which had befallen his country, he desired a cessation ot
hostilities and a conference with the earl of Sutherland. As the castle
of Girnigo was strongly fortified, and as the earl of Caithness had made
preparations for enduring a long siege, the earl of Sutherland complied
with his request. Both earls ultimately agreed to refer all their differ-
ences and disputes to the arbitrament of friends, and the earl of Huntly
was chosen by mutual consent to act as umpire or oversman, in the
event of a difference of opinion. A second truce was in this way en-
tered into until the decision of the arbitei-s, when all differences were to
cease.*
Notwithstanding this engagement, however, the earl of Caithness
soon gave fresh provocation, for before the truce had expired he
sent a party of his men to Diri-Chatt in Sutherland, under the
command of Kenneth Buy, and his brother, Farquhar Buy, chieftains
of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair in Caithness, and chief advisers of the earl ol
Caithness in his bad actions, and his instruments in oppressing the poor
people of Caithness. These men, after killing Donald-Mac-Iain-Moir,
a herdsman of the earl of Sutherland, carried off some booty out of
Baddenligh. The earl of Sutherland lost no time in revenging himself.
At Whitsunday, in the year fifteen hundred and eighty-nine, he sent
three hundred men into Caithness with Alexander Gordon of Kilcalme-
kill at their head. They penetrated as far as Girnigo, laying the coun-
try waste everywhere around them, and striking terror into the hearts
of the inhabitants, many of whom, including some of the Siol-Mhic-
Imheair, they killed. After spending their fury the party returned to
Sutherland with a large booty, and without the loss of a single man.
This affair was callei! the Creach-na-Camchic.
To retaliate upon the earl of Sutherland for this inroad, James Sin-
clair of Markle, brother of the earl of Caithness, collected an army o(
• Sir n. Gnrilon, p. 157.