The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. II] OF SCOTLAND 25
In the following passages of Tighernac ai*d the annals of
Ulster, particular tribes of the Picts also appear to be men-
tioned :
A.D. 666. Eochaigh larlaithe Ri Cruithne Midhi mortuus est.
668. Navigatio filiorum Gartnaidh ad Hiberniam cum plebe
670.
Sciih.
Venit gens Gartnaidh dc Hibernia.
739- Talorcan mac Drostan Rex Athfotla.
752. Cath a Sreith in te7-ra Circi.
The territories of the Dalriads, as we have already
Dairiads seen, consistcd of the southern half of Argyllshire
•divided into iitii/-ti ii iithree
tribes, and the Island of Isla, and they seem at all times to
have been divided into no more than three tribes,
namely, the Genus Loarn, Genus Comgal, and Genus Gabran.
The districts inhabited b\' these tribes can also be pretty nearly
ascertained from these annals. The name points out the dis-
trict of Lorn as the possession of the Genus Loarn. Argyll
and Kintyre belonged to the Genus Gabran, for Duncan Begg,
who is mentioned by Tighernac in 719 as leading that tribe, is
called by him in 721 Rincina tire, or King of Kintyre. While
the present district of Cowall, which is in old MSS. always
termed Comgaill, points itself out as the seat of the Genus
Comgaill. These tribes of the Dalriads, however, must not be
viewed in the same light as the Pictish tribes, because the
tribes of the Picts, although they possessed a common origin,
yet had been for a long course of time separated from each
other ; they possessed independent chiefs of their own, and were
•connected together only by the necessity of having a common
head for the sake of their mutual safety. The Dalriadic tribes,
on the contrary, had a much closer connexion ; they formed
but one nation, had sprung from the original stock within a very
few
ties
generations, and were, therefore, united together by the
of affinity and relationship as well as those of common
•origin and of policy.
The only point which now remains for us to
Bnles of sue- . - •
, i ^ i ^
^u
session among examuie beiorc we can proceed to determme the
causes which led to the union of all these nations,
under the rule of Kenneth Mac Alpin, are the principles which
regulated the succession to the throne among them.