Note 739 — Chapter IX · THE KINGDOM OF SCOTIA PASSES INTO FEUDAL SCOTLAND. (continued 2)

In his account of Hakon’s expedition, Mr. Burton, in describing the Western Isles, states that ‘there was a general division of the whole into Nordureyer or Norderies and Sudureyer or Suderies, the northern and southern division. The dividing line was at the point of Ardnamurchan, the most westerly promontory of the mainland of Scotland, so that Iona was included in the Suderies’ (vol. ii. pp. 28, 29). This is an entire mistake, in which Mr. Burton is merely repeating previous writers. It was first asserted by Dr. Macpherson without any proof, and adopted by all subsequent writers as a fact; but it is impossible not to see, from the most cursory perusal of the Sagas, that they include the entire Hebrides under the name of Sudreyer or Sudreys, to distinguish them from the Nordureyer or Orkneys.