ranald of Glengarry. Some of the Macdonalds, chiefly concerned in this outrage, were afterwards killed by the Mackenzies; but it is somewhat startling to reflect that this terrible instance of private vengeance should have occurred in the commencement of the seventeenth century, without, so far as we can trace, any public notice being taken of such an enormity. Eventually, the disputes between the Chiefs of Glengarry and Kintail were amicably settled by an arrangement which gave the Ross-shire lands, so long the subject of dispute, to Mackenzie; and the hard terms to which Glengarry was obliged to submit in this private quarrel seemed to have formed the only punishment inflicted on this clan for the cold-blooded atrocity displayed in the raid of Kilchrist.* After this the two powerful families continued on friendly terms much to their mutual advantage, and that of the wide district of country over which they held sway.

Angus, the eldest son and heir, having been killed, and Donald MacAngus being now advanced in years, the actual command fell into the hands of the second son Alexander, known among the Highlanders as "Alister Dearg." He appears to have been of a much more peaceable disposition than his deceased brother Angus. His father, who outlived him, was very frail and confined to bed in his latter years, and after the death of "Alister Dearg" the actual command of the clan devolved upon Angus, or Æneas, son of Alister and grandson of Donald MacAngus, afterwards, in 1660, created "Lord Macdonell and Arros." That Alexander predeceased his father is clearly proved by an order of the Privy Council, dated Edinburgh, 3d December 1641, at the instance of William Mackintosh of Torcastle and others, for committing Angus, Donald's grandson, to Edinburgh Castle for refusing to exhibit several of his clan, named in the order, who had murdered Lauchlane Mackintosh and William Millar within the burgh of Inverness, upon a Sabbath day named "in the criminall letres" issued against them. Angus was in Edinburgh at the date of order, and is designed, though his father was still alive, as "the Laird of Glengarie, who is Cheefe Maister landslord to the saids rebells," and who "ought to be answirable for thame, and exhibite thame to justice conforme to the laws of the countrie and severall Acts of Parliament." The applicants pray that "the Laird of Glengarie" be committed to ward in Edinburgh till the said rebels be exhibited to answer for the said slaughter committed by them or else to take responsible caution of him to exhibit them "at a certane day vnder great soumes." After hearing parties the Council decided as follows:

"Quhereunto Angus Macdonald oy (ogha, or grandson) to the Laird of Glengarie being called to answyr, and he compeirand this day personally before the saids Lords, together with Lauchlane MacIntosh, brother to the supplicant. And the saids Lords being well and throughlie advised with all that wes proponned and alledged be both the saids parteis in this mater. The Lords of Secreit Counseill, in regard of the knowne old age and infirmitie of the old Laird of Glengarie being neir ane hundreth yeers of age; and that the said Angus Macdonald his oy (ogha, or grandson) is appearand heir of the estat, hes the management and government yairof, and is followed and ackowledged be the haill tennents of the bounds, and

snch as hes ane dependence on his goodshir. Therefore they find that he is lyable for exhibition of the rebells foresaids, men tennants and servants, to his said guidshir, as he would have beene if his age did not excuse him, And the said Angus being personallie present as said is, and this sentence being intimate to him, and he ordained to find caution for exhibition of the saids rebells, before the saids Lords in the moneth of Junii next, and to keepe the peace in the meane time, he refused to doe the same; and therefore the saids Lords ordains him to be committed to waird within the Castell of Edinburgh, therein to remaine upon his owne expenss ay and whyll he find the said cautioun, and till he be freed and releeved be the said Lords, and siclyke ordanis lettres of intercommoning to be direct aganis the rebells foresaids."

By an order dated 1st of March 1642 he is set at liberty "furthe of the Castle," but to continue at open ward within "this Burghe of Edinburghe," Sir John Mackenzie of Tarbat having become cautioner for him. He was imprisoned in the Castle for "ye space of 13 weekis or thereby," and, in the order, he is again designed "Angus Macdonald, oy (ogha or grandson) to the Laird of Glengarie." This establishes beyond question that "Alister Dearg" (as well as Angus Og) predeceased his father, Donald MacAngus MacAlister, and that, although he commanded the Macdonalds of Glengarry during his father's life-time, he never was, and ought not to be reckoned one of the Chiefs of Glengarry.

It should also be mentioned that hitherto we have not met with a single instance where "Macdonell" is used as the family name. It will be observed that during his grandfather's life-time the future Lord Macdonell and Arros was designated Angus Macdonald, and the first instance of "Macdonell" as a family name, in connection with Glengarry, is in the patent of nobility granted to the grandson and successor of Donald MacAngus, on the 20th of December 1660. The name having at that date been assumed, we shall also use it hereafter in connection with the family.

We have already seen that Donald's father entered into an agreement with Grant of Freuchy that Donald, his son, should marry_Grant's daughter, and that Angus suffered seriously in consequence of Donald's refusal to carry out that engagement. She, however, appears to have been living with him as his wife in Strone Castle, Lochcarron, probably in accordance with the outrageous custom which then to some extent prevailed among some of having their betrothed living with them on probation. The inhabitants of the district looked upon her, erroneously, however, as his lawful wife; and one of the charges made against him before the Privy Council, in 1602, was that "he lived in habitual and constant adultery with the Captain of Clanranald's daughter after he had put away and repudiated Grant's daughter, his married wife." The author of the oldest Mackenzie MS. extant+ refers to the same irregularity in the following terms:-" His young lady MacRanald's, or Captain of Clanranald's, daughter, whom he had newly brought there (Strone Castle), and had sent away Grant's daughter. This would go far to explain the determination with which Grant decided upon punishing the father, and insisting upon the penalties provided for in the agreement between Grant and old Glengarry failing the due solem

*Letterfearn MS.

The "Ancient" MS. of the Mackenzies.

nization of the marriage. It is from this position of affairs that any plausible foundation is found for the charge made by the Clanranald champion in his letters to the Inverness Journal in 1818 and 1819, that "Alister Dearg" was illegitimate, and that therefore the Glengarry line was in the same position as that alleged in the case of John Muideartach's descendants. This argument, however, could not apply, for it is admitted by all parties, including Clanranald, that a legitimate marriage had taken place between Donald of Glengarry and the daughter of Allan of Muidort or Clanranald. The only question which could affect it was a previous legally constituted marriage with Helen Grant of Grant, and that no such union existed has been proved beyond any possibility of doubt.

It is, however, hardly worth while to discuss seriously the charges made by the Clanranald champion, for he not only maintains that Donald, first of Scotos, was "Donald of Laggan," but that "Alister Dearg," the undoubted son of Donald MacAngus, and father of Æneas, Lord Macdonell and Arros, was the son of Donald of Scotos-the brother and the son of the same man at the same time. "Regarding Allister Dearg," in his letter of 1st of October 1819, he says, "I admit he was the son of Donald of Laggan." He has been proved to be the son of Donald MacAngus MacAlester and brother of Donald first of Scotos, whom Clanranald calls "Donald of Laggan." Stuff like this is almost beneath notice, but it was the only possible retreat that the champion of Clanranald could find from the false position which he had assumed; for he himself declares, when taken to task, that he never attempted to insinuate that Alester Dearg's father, the real Donald of Laggan-Donald MacAngus MacAlister-was not legitimate,

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Donald married, first, Margaret, daughter of Allan Macdonald of Muidort, Captain of Clanranald, and grand-daughter of John Muideartach, with issue

1, Angus, who died before his father, unmarried.

2. Alexander, known as "Alastair Dearg," who married Jean, daughter of Allan Cameron, XVth of Lochiel, with issue-Æneas Macdonell, created a Peer of Scotland as Lord Macdonell and Arros in 1660, and his father, "Alastair Dearg," having died before his grandfather, Donald MacAngus, succeeded the latter in the lands and as Chief of Glengarry.

3. Donald, first of Scotus, or Scothouse, who married Mary (?), daughter of Sir Donald Macdonald of Sleat, with issue-Reginald, second of Scotus, who married a daughter of Macleod of Macleod, with issue"Alastair Dubh" Macdonell (who succeeded to Glengarry on the death, without lawful issue, in 1682, of his cousin, Lord Macdonell and Arros), and four other sons, of whom hereafter.

4. John, known as "Ian Mor," from whom the family of Ard-naheare, all of whom emigrated to America.

5. John, or Ian Og, whose descendants also went to America.

He is said to have married secondly a daughter of Macdonell of Keppoch. He died at an extreme old age-over a hundred-on Sunday, the 2d of February 1645, the same day on which the great Montrose victoriously fought the battle of Inverlochy, aided by the men of Glengarry, under Donald MacAlester's grandson and successor.

(To be Continued.)

TALES AND ADVENTURES OF A BOTANIST : ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE MANNERS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND.

RORY OF THE GLEN AND THE SMUGGLER.

DURING one of my frequent botanical excursions in the Highlands, I one day rambled further than usual, and so engrossed was I in the pursuit of my favourite science that I "lost my bearings" as a sailor would say, and was uncertain in what direction to turn to regain my lodging. I stood on the level summit of a range of very precipitous rocks, which commanded an extensive prospect of the subjacent valley, which I knew was called Glenaverain, and as I looked in all directions in dire perplexity, I was greatly relieved to see a shepherd, accompanied by his collie, approaching me. Quickening my flagging steps I soon joined him, and in answer to my enquiries, I found that I was much further from my destination than was at all pleasant for a tired pedestrian. The shepherd was evidently pleased to meet with some one to have a "crack" with, to relieve the tedious monotony of his solitary employment, and I found him a very intelligent, sensible man, who, though quite uneducated, evinced, by his quaint and original remarks, a fund of common sense and dry humour. In short, we were mutually pleased with each other's company, and, finding I was so far out of my way, he kindly invited me to spend the night at his cottage, where he assured me his wife, Ericht, would make me comfortable as well as welcome; for during the summer season she always kept the house in readiness to receive visitors, who, like myself, traversed these remote parts in pursuit of science or pleasure.

"Last year," said Allan, "there was a fine, frank fellow in your own line that spent a few nights with us, and seemed very well pleased with our homely way. He said he came from Edinbro', and that his name was Graham. I'm thinking, though he did not tell me, he was one of the folk they call professors there."

Making due acknowledgments to my hospitable friend, I readily agreed to accept of the shelter of a roof, however humble, that had been honoured by the presence of one for whom I entertained so much esteem, and who has done so much to enrich the department of science in which he has so long and so industriously laboured. With some difficulty the shepherd made me discern his little hut, situated in a solitary nook at a considerable distance in the deep hollow of the mountains. Having engaged to meet him there by dusk, I took temporary leave of him, and commenced my sauntering way, along the brow of the precipice, not a little pleased with myself in having been able meanwhile to give to my honest friend kindly advice which I hoped would be useful to him and his family. Some time insensibly passed away while I was threading my downward way through the rocks, occasionally turning aside by a ravine, or goat path, to examine some tempting tuft of herbage that attracted my eye. While scrambling to reach a bed of saxifrage, a distant growling noise arrested my attention, and on looking around for its cause, I discovered that the sky meantime had become suddenly overcast, and that a dense mass of

towering thunder clouds was fast approaching me.

As soon as I had

secured my specimen, my sole concern was to look for some convenient place where I might take refuge from the violence of the coming storm, of which I had already received repeated warnings in the vivid flashes of lightning and the deepening peals of thunder by which they were succeeded.

The darkened prospect around and beneath me, sufficiently wild at any time, had now assumed the still and solemn aspect of awful expectation which nature usually puts on when the elements are about to join in dreadful conflict. I soon found a retreat under a projecting crag, where no drop of rain could penetrate, and here, perched like an eagle on his eyrie, I set myself to watch with a satisfaction, not unmingled with awe, the mustering horrors of the scene. The electrified cloud already rested on the tall cliffs directly opposite to that in which I lay ensconced, and seemed rapidly advancing towards me. I could scarcely see the bottom of the valley amidst the lurid shade that brooded over it. But as far as my eye could reach I beheld the bleating flocks crowding together in their alarm, now running, they knew not whither, during the thunder-peal, and again halting after it had died away, to gaze on each other with stupid amazement. The bird of Jove himself appearing to have deserted the charge which the ancients had assigned him, now slowly descended from his ethereal height, and after making several majestic swoops, on a level with my eye, as if to satisfy himself of the security of his abode, made a rapid turn, in which I distinctly heard the sound of his tawny pinions, and took possession of his asylum in the bosom of the precipice beneath me. The only living creatures that seemed to enjoy the deepening gloom were the swarms of rock-swallows, which, as the horrors thickened, continued to skim the dark abyss in increasing numbers and with more noisy chirp, till at length even they were driven by the thickening drops of rain from their careerings in the sky to seek for shelter in their " claybuilt citadels." Now the tempest raged in all its dread magnificence. It seemed as if nature were trying to array herself in her most terrible majesty. The deeply charged cloud now burst around the lofty rock where I lay. Each vivid flash was instantly followed by a deafening peal which rolled, in deep reverberations, from cliff to cliff, and before its echoes had ceased to send back their long protracted answers another peal followed to sustain the awful sound of "heaven's dread artillery." A sulphurous odour diffused itself around me, and every moment I expected a resistless bolt to strike the rock beside me.

At length the violence of the storm abated, the war of the ele ments gradually ceased, the rain abated its force, and the murky vapours, though they did not entirely disperse, became greatly rarified. I still remained snug in my rocky shelter, expecting that the atmosphere would clear sufficiently to permit of my leaving my retreat. I waited in vain till the approach of night admonished me that I would require all the remaining light of day to make my way to Allan's dwelling. The thick fog in which I was enveloped, and my ignorance of the ground, combined to render my position somewhat hazardous, find a safe descent to the bottom of the valley was what I now tried to discover, and I made several fruitless attempts to descend. Wherever I found an opening among the rocks, my way was always interrupted by

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