When Agricola invaded Scotland in A.D. 81, the tribe of Picts who inhabited Ross-shire was called the Cantæ. A punster might be excused for remarking (and that truly), that in Gairloch at least the race is still "canty," _i.e._ knowing. It is not probable that the Romans ever reached this part of Ross-shire; the nearest evidence of their invasion is some trace of their roads in Strathspey, a hundred miles from Gairloch. It is very likely that Gairloch men helped their fellow Celts in the battles with the Romans. Tacitus relates how the Highlanders at that period made sacrifices before going to battle, and fought with broadsword and targe. The country was then almost destitute of agriculture, being mostly vast forests and morasses, teeming with wolves and other wild beasts; the possessions of the people were herds of cattle. When the Romans abandoned Britain, about A.D. 446, the Picts were under the sway of a king called Drust, the son of Erp, who is said to have lived a hundred years, and to have fought a hundred battles. The Pictish monarchy continued until A.D. 843, when Kenneth II. took Camelon, the capital of the Picts; on this the kings of Scotland, and subsequently of Great Britain, became at least the nominal rulers of the Highlands. The introduction of Christianity brought a refining and civilising element to the rough people of the North, but it was many centuries before its influence became general. St Columba began his mission in A.D. 563, and the ecclesiastical establishment at Iona was the result. Local tradition says the little chapel at Sand of Udrigil, in Gairloch parish, was built by St Columba, or one of his immediate followers. But it was St Maelrubha who was the apostle of Gairloch and of the adjoining parish of Applecross; he founded the church of Applecross A.D. 673, and died there on 21st April A.D. 722. He appears to have made his Gairloch home on Isle Maree, a site that suggests the necessity, at least at first, of the Christian missionary having recourse to the protection afforded by an insular position. The new teaching soon displaced the Paganism of the Druids, though, in accordance with the policy of the early Christian church, the sacrifices of bulls were permitted, as we have seen, for a thousand years afterwards. The first church of Gairloch was dedicated to St Maelrubha; it was probably not erected until many years after his death. Tradition says that his cell on Isle Maree was occupied for some generations by the successors of this holy man; one of them is mentioned in the legend of the island given in the next chapter.