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296 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
Raasay "perteining to M'Gyllychallam of Raarsay be the sword and
to the bishope of the iles be heritage " we feel that he may be
covertly intimating that in this particuhir case the Bishop found
some difficulty in getting his dues fi-om his vassal ; and we have more
solid authority than this to go upon. In 1597 an Act was passed
by the Scots Parliament, evidently directed against the vassals
and rentallers of the annexed Earldom of Ross, calling on the
inhabitants of the Isles and Highlands to show their titles. The
preamble is in these terms ;— " Considdering that the inhabitantes
of the Hielandes and lies of this Realme quhilkes ar for the
maist parte of his Hiencsse annexed propertie, lies nocht onelie
frustrate his Majestie of the zeirb'e payment of his proper rentes
and dew service properlie addebted be them to his Majestie,
foorth of the said Landes : Bot that they have likewise through
their barbarous inhumanitie maid, and presentlie maiks the saidis
Hielandes and lies (quhilkis ar maist commodious in themselves,
alsweill bee th^ fertilitie of the grounde as be ricli tishinges bee sea)
altoquidder unprofitable baith to themselves and to all utheris his
Hienesse Lieges within this Realme:" kc. His Highness of coiii-se
knew well enough of the deficiency of his rents, and the barbarous
inhumanity of some of the Islanders had in the previous year been
brought under his notice in a petition presented to him by Kenneth
Mackenzie of Kintail against Torquil Dow of the Lews. Torquil
Dow appears besides to have been one of those who had "frustrate"
his Majesty of his rents, and who omitted to show his titles in conformity
with the new Act, and in 1598 his lands were confiscated and
granted to a company since known as that of the "Fife Adventurers."
It is in everyone's knowledge that this comjjany could not make
good the possession conferred on it by Royal Charter, though subsequently
Mackenzie of Kintail, to whom they assigned it, did so.
Non-observance of the law was therefore in this case abnormal
and temporary, for in the end, the law asserted itself, and it
is reasonable to supi)osc that as it was in this case so must it always
have been. Failure to recognise rights which the law conferred,
could only have been exceptional even in those tumultuous times.
Family traditions in the Highlands, as the members of the Gaelic
Society of Inverness must be well aware, lay constant stress on tlie
possession of titles, " coraicheayi," as they are called, a word which
does not mean equitable rights but written Charters, those very
paper-titles which we hear sneered at by persons who do not know
the important place they occupy in Highland legend. In the history
of my own clan, written by tlje editoi' of the Celtic Mngazine
from the gathered-up traditions of he past, one instance at least will