The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. I] OF SCOTLAND 179
tribes of Lorn, Cowall, and Kintyre ; and
although, as we have
seen, the tribe of Lorn was almost annihilated, while that of
Kintyre attained to so great power as eventually to obtain the
the clans in this MS.
supreme authority over all Scotland, yet
inhabiting the greater part of the Highlands, including the
extensive districts of Moray and Ross, are all brought from the
small and almost annihilated tribe of Lorn, and not one from
anv of the other Dalriadic tribes. It is almost inconceivable
that the population of such immense districts could have sprung
from the small tribe of Lorn alone. In the second place, if we
suppose the general system of the descent of the clans from
the Dalriadic tribe of Lorn, as contained in the MS., to be
correct, then the relative affinities of the clans with each other
will be found at utter variance with those which are known and
established by authentic documents. The clans brought by
this MS. from the line of Lorn may be divided into two classes ;
first, those brought from sons or brothers of Fearchar Fada ;
secondly, those brought from a certain Cormac Mac Oirbertaigh,
a descendant of Fearchar. In the second cla.ss, the Rosses are
made nearer in connexion to the Macnabs than the Mackinnons,
and yet there is no tradition of any connexion having subsisted
between the Rosses and the Macnabs, a connexion which
distance of abode renders improbable ; while, on the other hand,
there exists a bond of Manrent between the Macnabs and
Mackinnons, founded upon their close connexion and descent
from two brothers. The same remark applies to the Mac-
gregors, Mackinnons, and Macquarries, who by the MS. are
made no nearer to each other than they are to the Rosses,
Mackenzies, &c. If, however, we leave out of view those earlier
parts of the different genealogies by which the clans are connected
with the kings of the line of Lorn, then we shall find the
rest of the MS. to be borne out in a most remarkable manner
by every authentic record of the history of the different clans
which remains to us. In the third place, those early parts of
the different genealogies do not agree among themseh-es ; thus,
Cormac Mac Oirbertaigh is upon different occasions made
great -great -grandson, great-grandson, grandson, a remote
descendant, nephew, and brother of Fearchar Fada.
It will be shewn in another place, that there is every reason