The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. Ill] OF SCOTLAND 231
the government. Kerneburg Castle, the last resort of the
insurgents, was reduced with the utmost facility. The Maclanes
and Macleods submitted, and Donald Du was taken
A.D. 1501. . . ,.,
irTi/-
captive and imprisoned in the castle of Inch Connel,
where he was destined to remain for forty years.
At no period, however, did the Highlanders exhibit more of
the extraordinary perseverance with which they support a
falling cause ; for although the person whom they regarded as
the legitimate heir of the Isles was in hopeless captivity, they
made an attempt to place his nearest relation and presumptive
heir in possession of the Isles ; and accordingly it was not many
years after the failure of their former insurrection, that Donald
Galda, the son of that Alaster who had been the principal
mover in the former rebellion, having just attained the age of
majority, raised another insurrection in the Isles, in order to
assert what he considered his just claim to the lordship of the
Isles ; but this attempt, although supported by a greater pro-
portion of the chiefs, proved equally unsuccessful with the last.
It appears that Donald Galda had no sooner declared
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his intention of attempting to regam the Isles, than
he was joined by the powerful clan of the Macleods. He also
reconciled himself with the Macconnells of Kintyre, and with
this great accession of power he succeeded in obtaining possession
of the Isles, and was immediately declared lord of the
Isles ; but he did not long enjoy his dignity, as he died a few
weeks afterwards, and the only event of his short reign was his
revenging his father's death upon the Macians of Ardnamurchan,
by the slaughter of their chief and his son.