Alexander MacDonald, of Skirinish

II. JOHN of Castle Camus. He seems to have predeceased his father, but it is convenient to reckon him in the genealogy as the second of his branch. He seems to have incurred the enmity, and suffered unjust treatment at the hands of the Earl of Argyll, who, in 1578, imprisoned him in the Castle of Inchconnell, Lochawe, but was afterwards com- pelled to liberate him. He was killed in Mull in 1585 in the course of the feud between the families of Sleat and Duart. He married a lady of the Clanranald family, by whom he had an only son, his successor,

III. DONALD, who was one of the most remarkable men in the history of the Clan. Domhnull Mac Iain 'ic Sheumais, as he was known in the Western Isles, was born at Moidart, his mother's native district ; but he was brought up mainly at Castle Camus, a fact of which there are echoes in his bardic effusions ; for Donald was not only a warrior but a poet of no mean order, and snatches of his songs long lingered among the people of Skye and Uist. Like his contemporaries, he did not receive the education which may be described as literary, but he was from his boyhood a great expert in the use of sword and bow, a species of culture highly useful at a time when the pen was not yet mightier than the sword. Tradition describes him as large- boned, of a heavy if not lubberly gait, and of a moody cast of countenance, predisposed to habits of thoughtful ness and retirement, yet, under provoca- tion, quick in his movements ; terrible when roused, and prompt in the hour of action. His sword, which he named " Cuig Mharg," because five merks was the price he paid for it, was a terror wherever his name was known, always ready to be drawn in the cause of right, and to be the avenger of the blood of injured innocence. It never suffered defeat. From an early age he was the undisguised enemy of the Macleods, never as the aggressor, but as the defender of the interests of his chief and people. He distinguished himself as a warrior on many occasions, but the circumstances are forgotten, save in the conspicuous instances of Coolin and Carinish, which have been duly chronic-led in the history of the family of Sleat. At the battle of Carinish he was wounded in the foot, and judging by the song of Nic C6iseim, his foster-mother, also in the body. He was conveyed to a house in Carinish with the arrow sticking in the flesh, and tradition has it that Nic Coiseim procured a band of women, whom she arranged around a waulking board, and who joined in a loud Luinneag to drown his complaints while the arrow was being extracted and the wound bound. This is a highly improbable story about the heroic Mac Iain, which probably had its origin in the fancy of his foes.
Donald Mac Iain's occupation in times of peace was that of a drover or cattle dealer, and he is said to have been the first man who ever ferried cattle from Skye to Uist. When he travelled from home he took with him a staff of " Gilliemores," or big stalwart fellows who " breathed to do his bidding," and we doubt not but in the unsettled state of the Highlands he needed their warlike prowess and his own trusty Cuiy Mharg to protect his herds on the way to Southern trysts. In his early days he lived at Eriskay, which he held from Clanranald, and which was occupied by several generations of his descendants. He afterwards lived at Carinish, the scene of one of his greatest exploits, and of this we have evidence in a contract of marriage in which he appears as cautioner in 1626. It must be admitted that Donald Maciain, who had been such a pillar of the house of Sleat, received tardy recognition of his valuable services. Many years passed without his receiving an inch of ground on the territories of the family for which he had fought and bled. At last a clansman and fellow bard, the keen-witted John Lorn of Lochaber, took up the cudgels for his friend. Donald had set his heart upon the lands of Airdviceolan in Trotternish, but another was preferred. John Lorn, on hearing how the grand old warrior had been treated, went all the way from Lochaber to Duntulm and recited half a dozen verses laden with the fiercest invective in the hearing of Sir Donald, first baronet of Sleat. " In the name of the Almighty desist," said Sir Donald in Gaelic. " I have more," said the per- sistent wrong-righter. " You have more than enough," replied the baronet. " Have you a place for Domhnull Mac Iain 'ic Sheumais ?" returned the bard. " We will get a place for him," was the reply. " If not," said the bard, " you will hear of it on the deafer ear." The scathing tongue of John Lorn won for the Macdoriald hero what his own merits had been unable to secure, and the voice of tradition has it that Donald got the farm of Cuid- re'ach in liferent. Tradition is in this detail amply supported by documentary evidence. It was, how- ever, a tack for a certain number of years, which certainly extended very considerably beyond the lifetime of Maciain, for in 1660, long after his death, we find his widow a^d son in possession of the lands in question. These included not only Cuidreach proper, but also Arnishbeg, Arnishmore, and Glen- tinistle. Donald appears on record in 1648, but he must have been pretty well advanced in years, and we find no further notice of him. He spent a good deal of his old age in the house of his daughter, wife 'of Macleod of Gesto, a bold, irascible, and proud churl, who used to taunt her with being " Nighean aireach liath nam bo," or " the daughter of the grey-headed herdsman." Donald is said to have died at Gesto, and the date may probably be fixed as 1650. He married a daughter of Macdonald of Keppoch, and had issue —

1. Alexander, who appears in 1648 as Alexander Macdonald of Skirmish, and who carried on the senior representation of the line of Donald Mac Iain 'ic Sheumais.
2. John, of whom the Macdonalds of Eriskay. He was a brave warrior, and fought under Montrose in the Civil Wars, in the course of which he lost both his legs by a musket shot. He survived his wounds, and returned to his native Island of Eriskay. He had a son, James, who succeeded him there. James married, in 1696, Ann, daughter of Alexander Macdonald of Heiskir and Balranald, and had a son, Donald of Eriskay. Donald married and had a son, Angus, known in his day as Aoughas Mac Dhomhnuill 'ic Sheumais, who also was tacksmau of Eriskay. He flourished at the time of the '45, and it was in his house at Eriskay that Prince Charles Edward spent his first night on Scottish soil after disembarking from the Doutelle. He died without issue.
3. John, known as Iain Bodach, because he was fostered in Bute. He had a son who lived in North Uist, and was drowned while swimming from an islet on Loch Una in that parish, since which occurrence it has been known as " Eilean Mhie a' Bh6daich," or " the islet of the Buteman's son."
4. Hugh, who succeeded his father as tacksman of Cuidreach, and of whom the family so designed.
5. Mary, who married Macleod of Gesto.

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