Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

HISTORY OF THE WRSTERN ISLANDS. fil
Scottish crown whenever it found an opportunity, can
be no matter of surprise; particularly when the dif-
ference of language, manners, and origin, is considered,
and the slight hold which, at any period, that crown had
possessed over the Islands. Whatever may be thought
of the mode of warfare, the politics of the Macdonalds
are justified by the examples of all times. Not very
rigid about the means, their exertions can scarcely be
considered those of rebellious subjects against a King,
but more like the struggles of a tributary kingdom for
independence, or the warfare of independent power.
While it is difficult to separate the history of the
Islands*from that of the Highlands at large, owing to the
continental possessions of the Lords of the Isles, to the
wars waged on the mainland, and to other causes, it is
impossible to enter upon a branch of history which is still
more intimately connected with that of the Scottish
crown, and which has therefore wide ramifications. There
is a gradual transition from the westernmost and indepen-
dent Clans to those which were connected with the
Crown more like feudal barons than independent chiefs
or which presented a mixture of both, that renders any
attempt of this nature impracticable in a small compass.
The* changes of proprietors which these great estates
underwent, add also materially to this difficulty, by in-
volving in the same manner, a large portion of Scottish
history.
But to sketch it in the barest possible manner, and
just as far as is necessary for illustrating the history of
the Isles, it must first be remarked that the Norwegian
feudal kingdom, which occupied the Western Isles and
Mann, or the Sudereys, also included the Orkney and
Shetland Isles, or the Nordereys, together with occa-
sional possessions, in ancient times, in Caithness, Suther-