History of the Clan MacLean from its first settlement at Duard Castle, in the Isle of Mull, to the present period

First Period of the Chiefs — 1250 to 1400. 33
CHAPTER III.
FIRST PERIOD OF THE CHIEFS.
Feom a. d. 1250 TO A. D. 1400.
I. Gilleain flourished about the 3'ear liJ50. He was known as Gilleain na
Tuaiglie, from bis carrying, as his ordinary weapon and constant companion,
a battle-ax. He was a man of mark and distinction. The followins; anec-
dote is related of him, which probablj^ accounts for the origin of the ^lac-
Lean crest, which consists of a battle-ax between a laurel and cypress branch,
and is still used on the coat-of-arms : He was on one occasion engaged, with
other lovers of the chase, in a stag-hunt on the Mountain of Bein 'tsheata,
and having wandered from the rest of the party in pursuit of game, the
mountain became suddenly covered with a heavy mist, and he lost his way.
For three days he wandered about, unable to recover his route, and on the
fourth, exhausted by fatigue, he entered a cranberry bush, where, fixing the
handle of his battle-ax in the earth, he laid himself down. On the evening
of the same day his friends discovered the head of the battle-ax above the
bush, and found its owner, with his arms round the handle, stretched, in a
state of insensibilitj% on the ground.
The evidence, so far as it is now attainable, goes to show that Gilleain,
as well as his father. Rath, held large possessions in Upper-Mull, and
along the whole northern coast of that island. It also appears that the
island of Kerrera ^va,s part of his property, and at its southern end he estab-
lished himself, and there built a castle, which still bears his name, Gylen, or
Gillean. It afterward became one of the strongholds of the MacLeans of
Duard, and in it, at one time, was kept the famous Brooch of Lorn, belong-
ing to King Robert the Bruce. The lofty ruined tower of Gylen Castle, cov-
ered with ivy, rests on the edge of a cliff, over a beach where the Atlantic has
rent the rocks into fantastic shapes.
As Gilleain was the undoubted founder of the clan, to him has justly
been ascribed — The First Chief of MacLean. He had three sons, Bristi,
Gillebride, and Maoliosa.
II. Gille-Iosa, second chief.
Maoliosa, or Malo-Iosa, or Gille-Iosa, means the servant of Jesus. He
■was a distinguished follower of Alexander III. of Scotland, and was conspicu-