private property, which constituted the basis of the _Grad Flath_, or territorial nobles of the tribe. Between the class of freeholders and the servile class part of the land was occupied by the _liberi firmarii_, or free farmers, who had a mere usufruct of their possessions, which varied in size from the tenandry to the small holding of two oxgangs, or the fourth part of a ploughgate. These farmers usually held upon the system termed the Steelbow, when the stock and implements belonged to the proprietor, and were handed over to the tenant during his occupation of the land, who was bound to return an equal value at the termination of his tenure, his rent being usually paid in kind. This tenure closely resembled that of the _Saer_, or _Ceile_, of the Irish tribe, while the _Daer_, or bond _Ceile_, were represented by the _Bondi_, or occupiers of a servile holding in the thanage. Another portion of the thanage was the church land. When the church consisted merely of the Cill, or parish church, it was known as the _Terra ecclesiæ_, kirkton or Pettintaggart, and was cultivated by the _Scolocs_, who paid _Cain_ to the thane, and _Conveth_ to the bishop in whose diocese it was. It generally varied in size from a half davach to a half ploughgate, but when a Columban monastery had been founded in the thanage, it was of larger extent and fell into lay hands under the name of _abbatie_, or _abthanrie_, paying, however, both _Cain_ and _Conveth_ to the church. This was in fact the _termon_ lands of the Irish tribe. Lastly, what had originally been the waste land of the tribe became known as the forest, and became dissociated from the cultivated land of the thanage. It either formed the subject of a separate grant or was retained as a royal forest. CHAPTER VIII. THE FINÉ OR CLAN IN SCOTLAND. [Sidenote: Clanship in the Highlands.]