The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

6o THE HIGHLANDERS [part i
this period, the ravages of the Norwegian pirates had for some
time been incessant, and, in general, successful, yet they had
not effected an\' permanent settlement either in the isles or on
the mainland of Scotland. The summer was spent by them
on the seas, ravaging and laying waste wherever they were
attracted by the prospect of plunder, while in winter they
retired to some of the numerous isles of Scotland, to secure
their plunder and recruit their followers. Towards the latter
end of the ninth century, however, the pirates who infested these
isles, received a great addition to their numbers and strength
b}- the arrival of those Vikings who had unsuccessfully opposed
the conquest of Norway by Harald Harfagr, and who preferred
a piratical life on the ocean to one of submission to his authorit}'.
The facilities of shelter and protection which these islands
afforded them, enabled them, by their incessant incursions on
the new!}' erected kingdom of Norway, to harass the conqueror
who had expelled them from their country, while, although
Harald sent out his fleet every summer to drive them from the
islands where they had taken refuge, he found that they merely
evaded his force b}- flying to the open sea, and returned again
to these retreats in winter. At length,- Harald finding it in vain
to protect his newly acquired dominions from the constant
incursions of these rovers, determined at once to put an end to
their predatory expeditions, by the conquest of the isles which
had afforded them shelter and the means of renewing these
enterprises. For this purpose, having collected a powerful fleet,
he set sail in person from Norway, and proceeding first to the
Shetland Isles, he totally subdued them, and drove out the
pirates who had there taken refuge. Continuing then his
southern course, he reduced to his allegiance the Orkney Isles
and Hebrides, concluding an uninterruped career of victory with
the capture of the Isle of Man, which was found deserted, its
inhabitants having fled on his approach to the neighbouring
coast of Scotland. Here he left a garrison for the maintenance
of his authority in these distant isles, and retracing his course
towards the north, ravaged the coasts of Scotland as he proceeded.
Among the chiefs who had followed Harald in his
expedition to the west was Rognwald, the son of Eystein, who
had been made larl of the Maerians in Norway ; he was accom-