Chapter VIII

Mackay, or Siol Mhorgan—Mackays of Clan-Abrach—Bighouse—Strathy—Melness—Kinloch—Mackays of Holland—Macnicol—Sutherland—Gunn—Maclaurin or Maclaren—Macrae—Buchanan—“The King of Kippen”—Buchanan of Auchmar—Colquhoun—Macgregors and Macfarlanes in Dumbartonshire—Forbes—Forbes of Tolquhoun—Craigievar—Pitsligo and Fettercairn—Culloden—Urquhart.

The most northern mainland county of Scotland is that of Caithness, and the principal clan inhabiting this district is the important one of Mackay, or the siol Mhorgan. With regard to Caithness, Mr Skene says—“The district of Caithness was originally of much greater extent than the modern county of that name, as it included the whole of the extensive and mountainous district of Strathnaver. Towards the middle of the tenth century the Norwegian Jarl of Orkney obtained possession of this province, and with the exception of a few short intervals, it continued to form a part of his extensive territories for a period of nearly two hundred years. The district of Strathnaver, which formed the western portion of the ancient district of Caithness, differed very much in appearance from the rest of it, exhibiting indeed the most complete contrast which could well be conceived, for while the eastern division was in general low, destitute of mountains, and altogether of a Lowland character, Strathnaver possessed the characteristics of the rudest and most inaccessible of Highland countries; the consequence of this was, that while the population of Caithness proper became speedily and permanently Norse, that of Strathnaver must, from the nature of the country, have remained in a great measure Gaelic; and this distinction between the two districts is very strongly marked throughout the Norse Sagas, the eastern part being termed simply Katenesi, while Strathnaver, on the other hand, is always designated ‘Dölum a Katenesi,’ or the Glens of Caithness. That the population of Strathnaver remained Gaelic we have the distinct authority of the Sagas, for they inform us that the Dölum, or glens, were inhabited by the ‘Gaddgedli,’ a word plainly signifying some tribe of the Gael, as in the latter syllable we recognise the word Gaedil or Gael, which at all events shews that the population of that portion was not Norse.”