The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

So T in=: HIGHLANDERS [part i
to rule over them," are the emphatic words of the Orkneyinga
Saga ; and there can be no question that that Saga
alludes to the earldoms which Thorfinn had conquered in
Scotland. This, therefore, is a passage of great importance
for the histor\- of the Highlands, for it proves clearly that
when Thorfinn's death caused the dismemberment of his kingdom,
the great districts of Scotland reverted to the descendants
of the Gaelic chiefs who had formerly possessed them, and
had a hereditary right to their acquisition, and, consequently,
that the Norwegian conquest produced no permanent effect
whatever upon the race originally in possession of these territories,
or upon the chiefs of the Gaelic tribes in the north of
Scotland.
Yet although the Norwegian kingdom did not produce any
effect upon the succession of the native chiefs, it is nevertheless
possible that a very great change may have taken place on
the population of the different districts over which the native
and
chiefs were again enabled to resume their wonted sway ;
in estimating the probable extent of such a change, it will be
necessar}' to keep in view that the effects of a Norwegian
conquest were frequently very different, according to the nature
of the conquered country. In some districts the ancient
inhabitants were almost entirely driven out, the country became
graduall}- colonized by Norwegians, and a Norwegian larl
generally placed over it ; while in others, where such a proceeding
was more difficult, owing to the impervious nature of
the country, the Norwegians usually contented themselves with
plundering the district and exacting a tribute from its lord,
leaving the ancient inhabitants otherwise in full possession of
their territor}-.
It is plain that in the eastern and more level districts of
Scotland, a Norwegian conquest of not less than thirty years'
duration could produce no other effect than that of an extensive,
and probably a permanent change in the population ; and there
can be little doubt that when, upon the death of Thorfinn,
the districts occupied by him reverted to the descendants of the
ancient possessors, the population must have been principally
Norwegian, and that the Norse language had spread over that
part of the country. In the more mountainous and Highland