Some time before this a desperate skirmish took place at a place called Bealach nam Brog, "betwixt the heights of Fearann Donuil and Lochbraon" (Dundonald and Lochbroom), which was brought about by some of Kintail's vassals, instigated by Donald Garbh M'Iver, who attempted to seize the Earl of Ross. The plot was, however, discovered, and M'Iver was seized by the Lord of the Isles' followers, and imprisoned in the Castle of Dingwall. He was soon released, however, by his undaunted countrymen from Kenlochewe, consisting of Macivers, Maclennans, Macaulays, and Macleays, who, by way of reprisal, pursued and seized the Earl's relative, Alexander Ross of Balnagown, and carried him along with them. The Earl at once apprised Lord Lovat, who was then His Majesty's Lieutenant in the North, of the illegal seizure of Balnagown, and his lordship promptly dispatched northward two hundred men, who, joined by Ross's vassals, the Munroes of Fowlis, and the Dingwalls of Kildun, pursued and overtook the western tribes at Bealach nam Brog, where they were resting themselves. A sanguinary conflict ensued, aggravated and more than usually exasperated by a keen and bitter recollection of ancient feuds and animosities. The Kenlochewe men seem to have been almost extirpated. The race of Dingwall were actually extinguished, one hundred and forty of their men having been slain, while the family of Fowlis lost eleven members of their house alone, with many of the leading men of their clan. ["Among the rest ther wer slain eleven Monroes or the House or Foulls, that wer to succeed one after another; so that the succession of Foulls fell into a chyld then lying in his cradle." - Sir Robert Gordon's History 0f the Earldom of Sutherland, p. 36.]