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

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HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.
The laird of Grant, by whose advice Mackintosh had acted in opposing
the earl, also submitted to the earl; but the reconciliation was more
nominal than real, for the earl was afterwards obliged to protect the
chief of the Clan-Cameron against them, and this circumstance gave
rise to many dissensions between them and the earl, which ended only
with the lives of Mackintosh and the laird of Grant, who both died in
the year sixteen hundred and twenty-two, when tlie ward of part of
Mackintosh's lands fell to the earl, as his superior, during the minority
of his son. The earl of Seaforth and his clan, who had also favoured
the designs of Mackintosh, were in like manner reconciled, at the same
time, to the carl of Enzie, at Aberdeen, tlirough the mediation of the
earl of Dunfermline, the chancellor of Scotland, whose daughter the
earl of Seaforth had married.*
In no part of the Highlands did the spirit of faction operate so
powerfully, or reign with greater virulence, than in Sutlierland and
Caithness, and the adjacent country. The jealousies and strifes ^vhich
existed for such a length of time between the two great rival families of
Sutherland and Caithness, and the warfare which these occasioned,
sowed the seeds of a deep-rooted hostility, which extended its baneful
influence among all their followers, dependants, and friends, and retard-
ed the advancement of the social system. The most trivial offences were
often magnified into the greatest crimes, and bodies of men, animated by
the deadliest hatred, were instantly congregated to avenge imaginary
wrongs. It would be almost an endless task to relate the many dis-
putes and diflierences which occurred during the seventeenth century in
these distracted districts ; but as a short account, or an abridged narrative
of the principal events is necessary in a work of this nature, we
again proceed agreeably to our plan.
During the year sixteen hundred and twenty-one, a dispute arose
between Sutherland of Duffus and John Gordon, younger of Enibo,
respecting the marches between Embo and the lands of Cuttle, which
belonged to the former. Duft'us, accompanied by his brother, James
Sutherland, and seven other persons, visited the marches one evening,
when he sent for young Embo to come and speak with him respecting
them. Though late in the evening, Embo went unaccompanied by any
person, and met DufTus and his party, and after exchanging some words,
they attacked Gordon and wounded him before he had time to draw
his sword. As soon as this attack became known, the Gordons and the
Grays, with some of the earl of Sutherland's tenants, came to Embo,
and proceeded from thence to the castle of Skelbo, where DufTus then
resided, with the design of attacking him. They did not enter the
house, but rode round about it, defying him and daring him to come
out. Sir Alexander Gordon, sheriff of Sutherland, hearing of the
meeting, immediately hastened to the spot to prevent mischief; and he-
Sir It Gordnn, p. 350, cl s«).