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258 HIGHLAND PAPERS
II. — TESTIFICATE BY SIR JAMES TURNER IN
FAVOUR OF COLEIN M'EACHARNE, 4 JULY
1662
This curious document was executed in duplicate, and the
original in the Argyll charter chest from which it is printed is
endorsed ' Dowble of the testificat S r James turner in favors of
Coline M'Eacharne 1662.' It will be noticed that the name of
Angus M'Eacharin does not appear in the list in the preceding
pages.
The Marquess of Argyll had been forfeited in l66l, and his
son, the ninth Earl, was not restored until 1663. Turner's
declaration was therefore taken during the forfeiture, probably
to secure for the MacEacharne family the writs that had been
entrusted to the Marquess for safe keeping. Incidentally, and
therefore most effectively, it negatives any suggestion that the
butchery may have been clone in hot blood immediately on the
surrender ; and it also shows that Argyll was regarded as a friend
at least by Angus M'Eacharin. It therefore seems fully to
support the views already expressed as to the guilt of Leslie and
the Reverend John Nevoy.
That the lands of Angus M'Eacharin had already been restored
to his eldest son appears from the deed mentioned in the note
below.
of Lome sprung from the Race of Dougall, son of Somerled. It adds valuable
details to the Pedigree of the Clan.
' Of the surnames appearing in the second column the M'onleas were originally
M'Dunleas ;
the D disappears through euphonistic elision in Gaelic, and there is
little doubt that their eponymic ancestor was Dunsleve, the son of Aedh Alain,
who through his son Suibhne or Swene was also ancestor of the MacSuibhnes or
M'Ewens, the Ancient Lords of Otter in Cowall, Argyll, and of Castle Sween
in Knapdale.
' The M'ilchomghains, or M'llchoen as they here are called, were an ancient
race of untraced origin ; the name means Son of the Servant of S. Comgan, and
they have now in the Highlands anglicised their name to the form Cowan.
Three generations of them are commemorated on the Market Cross of
Inveraray, which must have been brought from somewhere in Lome, or wherever
this race were really natives of, as I have not found signs of them about
Inveraray itself. On the Cross they are called M'Eichgyllichomghan.
' It must be remembered that this list is not complete, as it is known that 500
were killed according to Acta Pari. Scot., vol. vii. p. 338, though Sir James
Turner, perhaps to lessen his own guilt in being a participant, asserts 300 fell.
Further lists containing the MacDonalds will perhaps one day be found, as none
of them appear to be in this one now printed, which apparently, as has been
shown, only deals with the losses of the MacDougallsand their followers.— A.'