Sketch of the Munro Clan

THE CLAN MUNRO.
THE origin of the Clan Munro is lost in
that legendary obscurity which is the
sure proof of real antiquity. One may
take his choice of many fables, every one of
them solemnly attested by high antiquarian au-
thority. If a Munro wishes to feel very old
indeed, he may accept the statement of Sir
Robert Douglas, who declares that the family
— one of the most ancient in Scotland — was
driven over to Ireland by the Romans in 357,
and that only after sojourning there for seven
hundred years did it return to its original High-
land home. If one demurs at this Irish resi-
dence and admixture, he may subscribe to the
statements of Skene and Smibert, proving the
purely Gaelic origin of the clan, and showing
that it was driven down into the southern
Highlands from the rocky islands of the north.
Out of the mass of conflicting testimony only
one fact emerges : that the founder of the
family — that is, the first Munro who held