: they became, nevertheless, in the course of
the fourteenth century, an independent state. In a manuscript history of
the clan Cameron, they have been traced so far back as to the year 404;
and their origin in Scotland ascribed to the arrival of a younger son of
the royal family of Denmark, their progenitors acquiring the name of
Cameron from his crooked nose.

The clan consisted of three septs; but the family of Lochiel were
acknowledged as the chief, and, according to the singular system of
clanship, the Camerons freely gave up their wills to that of their
head. The history of this family, whilst it shows by what decision of
character and intrepidity of conduct this superiority was maintained,
presents little else than a tissue of successive feuds between the clan
and its neighbours, until, during the seventeenth century, the events of
history brought forth qualities of still greater importance to
distinguish the house of Lochiel. From henceforth the disputes with the
clan Chattan, and the long-standing feuds with the Mackintoshes, merged
into obscurity compared with the more stirring interests into which the
chieftains were now, fatally for their prosperity, intermingled.

The celebrated Sir Ewan Dhu of Lochiel, one of the finest specimens of
the Highland chieftains on record, had passed a long life in the service
of the Stuart family, for whom, even as a boy, he had manifested a sort
of intuitive affection. This cherished sentiment had repelled the
efforts of his kinsman, the Marquis of Argyle, to mould his youthful
mind to the precepts of the Puritans and Covenanters. Sir Ewan Dhu
combined a commanding personal appearance with a suitable majesty of
deportment, and with a shrewd, dauntless, honourable, generous mind. His
very sirname had an influence upon the good will of his superstitious
and devoted followers. It denoted that he was dark, both in hair and
complexion; and so many brave achievements had been performed by
chieftains of the clan Cameron, who were of this complexion, that it had
been foretold by gifted seers, that never should a fair Lochiel prove
fortunate. Endowed with this singular hold upon the confidence of his
people, Ewan Dhu eclipsed all his predecessors in the virtues of his
heart and the strength of his understanding. His vigilance, his energy,
and firmness were the qualities which had distinguished him as a
military leader when, in the close of his days, the hopes and designs of
the modern