And in reality
he practically did so, for having stated that the later reputed
charters of 1360 and 1380 are not now known to exist, he adds, "But
the terms of them as quoted in the early histories of the family
are consistent with either theory of the origin of the Mackenzies,
whether descended from Colin Fitzgerald or Colin of the Aird."
In this he is quite correct; but it is impossible to say the same
thing of the earlier charter, which all the authorities worth
listening to now admit to be a palpable forgery of the seventeenth
century; and Sir William virtually admits as much.
There is one other fact which alone would be almost conclusive
against the Fitzgerald theory. Not a single man of the name Colin
is found, either among the chiefs or members of the clan from their
first appearance in history until we come to Colin cam Mackenzie
XI. of Kintail, who succeeded in June, 1568 - a period of three
hundred years after the alleged date of the reputed charter to
Colin Fitzgerald. Colin Cam was a second son, his eldest brother,
Murdoch, having died during his father's life and before he attained
majority, when Colin became heir to the estates. It was then, as
now, a common custom to name the second son after some prominent
member of his mother's family, and this was, no doubt, what was
done in the case of Colin Cam, the first Colin who appears - as
late as the middle of the sixteenth century - in the genealogy of
the Mackenzies.
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