Memoir of the Chisholm

64 NOTICE OF THE CLAN.
being a smaller number than any which are
therein enumerated, except those furnished
by the Maclachlans, Macdougals, Grant of
Glenmorriston, the Robertsons, and Mac-
donald of Glencoe 3 . The population, how-
ever, has been considerably diminished since
that period, owing to the introduction of the
large sheep-farming system introduced into
the Highlands; and, since the year 1790,
there have been three marked and large emi-
grations of the Clan Chisholm to the British
possessions in North America, amounting in
all to several hundreds. Many of these were
Roman Catholics, and they were for the most
part settled in the Glengarry district of Upper
Canada, where, along with their fellow-coun-
trymen the Macdonnells, from Glengarry,
they were presided over with patriarchal
kindness and simplicity by one of their own
name, the late highly-esteemed Roman Ca-
tholic Bishop Macdonnell.
The writer has noticed these facts, because
it gives him the opportunity of introducing a
remarkable proof of the ardent affection which
3 See Major-General Stewart's Sketches of the High-
landers, Vol. i. p. 27 ; and Appendix C. pp. 6 — 10.