It was idle to run after the mountaineers up and down their mountains.

A chain of fortresses must be built in the most important situations, and must be well garrisoned.

The place with which the general proposed to begin was Inverlochy, where the huge remains of an ancient castle stood and still stand.

This post was close to an arm of the sea, and was in the heart of the country occupied by the discontented clans.

A strong force stationed there, and supported, if necessary, by ships of war, would effectually overawe at once the Macdonalds, the Camerons, and the Macleans, [343] While Mackay was representing in his letters to the council at Edinburgh the necessity of adopting this plan, Dundee was contending with difficulties which all his energy and dexterity could not completely overcome.
The Highlanders, while they continued to be a nation living under a peculiar polity, were in one sense better and in another sense worse fitted for military purposes than any other nation in Europe.