Note 45 — Chapter III

Others of the same tribe were "as comely as Sappho;" and the inference is that, ethnologically regarded, these were totally different from the others. It must be remembered that the mere surname, borne by all the members of a Highland clan, did not imply kinship. The word "clan" was originally used to denote only the blood-relations of the chief; but latterly it was applied to the whole community. And that the commonalty was frequently composed of men of a wholly different stock from their chiefs may be seen from the fact that the former are specially distinguished as "the native men" (i.e., aborigines) in several clan documents.