While the position of chief was hereditary, yet the heir was obliged in honor to give a specimen of his valor, before he was assumed or declared leader of his people. Usually he made an incursion upon some chief with whom his clan had a feud. He gathered around him a retinue of young men who were ambitious to signalize themselves. They were obliged to bring, by open force, the cattle they found in the land they attacked, or else die in the attempt. If successful the youthful chief was ever after reputed valiant and worthy of the government. This custom being reciprocally used among them, was not reputed robbery; for the damage which one tribe sustained would receive compensation at the inauguration of its chief. Living in a climate, severe in winter, the people inured themselves to the frosts and snows, and cared not for the exposure to the severest storms or fiercest blasts. They were content to lie down, for a night's rest, among the heather on the hillside, in snow or rain, covered only by their plaid. It is related that the laird of Keppoch, chieftain of a branch of the MacDonalds, in a winter campaign against a neighboring clan, with whom he was at war, gave orders for a snow-ball to lay under his head in the night; whereupon, his followers objected, saying, "Now we despair of victory, since our leader has become so effeminate he can't sleep without a pillow." The high sense of honor cultivated by the relationship sustained to the chief was reflected by the most obscure inhabitant. Instances of theft from the dwelling houses seldom ever occurred, and highway robbery was never known. In the interior all property was safe without the security of locks, bolts and bars. In summer time the common receptacle for clothes, cheese, and everything that required air, was an open barn or shed. On account of wars, and raids from the neighboring clans, it was found necessary to protect the gates of castles. The Highlanders were a brave and high-spirited people, and living under a turbulent monarchy, and having neighbors, not the most peaceable, a warlike character was either developed or else sustained. Inured to poverty they acquired a hardihood which enabled them to sustain severe privations. In their school of life it was taught to consider courage an honorable virtue and cowardice the most disgraceful failing. Loving their native glen, they were ever ready to defend it to the last extremity. Their own good name and devotion to the clan emulated and held them to deeds of daring.