Matheson Collection > Macleods of Dunvegan from the time of Leod to the end of the seventeenth century

RORY, THIRTEENTH CHIEF 139
Isles, observes that it has grievously suffered in the
translation from the original Gaelic ; but to any one
who knows Dunvegan, and has a spark of imagination,
it conjures up a scene of striking interest, and enables
one to realise something of the manners and customs
of the times.
It appears that Rory did not always pay for the wine
consumed on these jovial occasions. In the charter
chest there are two letters of horning against him, to
enforce the payment of bills for wine, one in 1610, when
the amount owed was ;^ioo, one in 1625, when the amount
due was £500.
In 1626 he went, on some business or another, to
Fortrose, which was then known as the Canonry of Ross,
and which was the great legal centre of the Highlands.
There he must have been taken ill, there he died, and
there he lies beneath a stone on which his arms are cut,
and his name inscribed. He was, I imagine, over eighty
years of age when he died, and probably he saw greater
changes during his life in the condition of the Highlands
than any other of the long line of Dunvegan Chiefs,
changes which he had done much to bring about himself.
If I read Rory Mor's character aright, he was more of
a statesman than a warrior. No great feats of strength
and courage are related of him, such as Malcolm's adven-
ture with the bull, or Alastair Crottach's feats in the field
of battle. He was not even present at some of the battles
fought in his day, notably the fights at Carinish and
Bruach-na-Fridhe. I do not for a moment doubt that
he was a brave man and a capable leader of his clan in
war, but if he was really born about 1535, he was no
longer a young man when he became Chief in 1595, and
this may account for his taking little personal share in
the military adventures of his clan ; while his not doing
so is an additional reason for believing that the early
date I have suggested for his birth is correct.