Sutherland and the Reay country

15 SUTHERLAND AND THE REAV COUNTRY.
his family and estates in the guardianship of his brother
Hugh, till his son Angus Du came of age. Hugh was a
stern man of business, and proved himself worthy of the
trust reposed in him by his brother. During his guardian-
ship the mother of the young chief was desirous of having
some share in the management of affairs, and probably a
larger allowance than had been allotted to her. Hugh
declined to accede to her demands. She then complained
to her brother, MacLeod of Lewis, who came to Tongue
with a large and select company of his men, with the deter-
mination of compelling Hugh by entreaty or force, to comply
with his sister's demands. Finding the guardian inflexible,
and not a man to be cajoled by fair words, or overawed by
force, he departed in high dudgeon, and on his way home-
wards drove off a large number of cattle from Mackay's
lands. No sooner was this reported than Hugh and his
brother Neil, getting as many men together as they could,
went in pursuit of the men of Lewis, whom they overtook in
Strathoykell. The Mackays immediately attacked the Lewis
men, and as Sir R. Gordon says, "a terrible battle was
fought," in which the islanders were annihilated, one only
escaping to tell the woful tale. Hugh, the guardian, died
two years after this event, and Neil did not long survive,
leaving three sons, Thomas, Morgan, and Neil, who played
an important part in the story of the life of Angus Du.
Upon the death of his uncle Hugh, the young chief
assumed the reins of government, well prepared by his
guardian in all the accomplishments of the period to govern
and lead men in peace and war. He soon proved himself
to be no ordinary leader of men. From the associations he
had formed, and the influence he had acquired in the earlier