Skye6 From Book: "Glencoe and Beyond: The sheep farming years 1780-1830"
by Iain S. Macdonald.   Edinburgh : John Donald, 2005.
Loan from Timberland Library, Washington State.
Google Books (excerpts):
http://tinyurl.com/26odm2l

Notes:
Page 146:  "Archibald Dhu MacDonell as Tacksman of Kyles Knoydart"
"Archibald [also called "Archy Du"] did purchase the stock of two of the
existing tenants, John and Roderick MacDonald, who decided to go to America.
The cash for this was advanced by Mr John Elder of the firm
of McDonald and Elder, merchants at Isleornsay in Skye."
   More on page 146:
   "McDonald and Elder, Merchants, Isleornsay"
  "The firm of McDonald and Elder, who figure in some of these transactions, traded as merchants for at least thirty-seven years. In 1790 Mr. Donald Smith wrote from Inverness to Mr. George Gibson in Rotterdam: "I am applied by my Two Young Friends Messrs. Alexander McDonald and John Elder to write you on their behalf whose orders you will please execute on the very best terms within your power...to strengthen their credit I hereby promise to see you regularly paid."
"In 1798, McDonald and Elder wrote from Camuscross, near Isleornsay in Skye, to Alexander Macdonell, writer in Inverness, to get a bill protested. (Footnote 53]."
  "Most of their business seems to have been as general merchants, with customers in Skye and on the adjacent parts of the mainland. For a time around 1816 and 1817 they had a third partner, Duncan M'Innes. (Footnote 54].
"There are indications that besides the usual business of merchants, they were willing to advance sums of money. Their assistance to Archibald Dhu at Kyles Knoydart is one example. In 1819 they took steps to recover 244 Pounds 5 s. 0 d. plus interest from another Archibald MacDonald, the tacksman of Ord in Skye. The amount is large enough to suggest that money had been advanced to him. [Footnote 55]"
  Page 147:
"In 1818 they were interested in obtaining oak bark from the Keppoch wood in Lochaber. They were still in business in Sleat in 1827, and there is a reference in the same year to "Mr. Colin Elder sometime merchant at Kyleakin, now residing at Isleornsay." He was John Elder's son." [Footnote 56, 57]
***
Appendix A (begins on page 215 - topic Financial Transactions:
  Page 217. ..."Merchants may have been another source of credit. The firm of McDonald and Elder, merchants in Sleat, seem to have given Archibald Dhu MacDonell in Knoydart access to funds and credit when he needed it"
(see Chapter 10 - "Knoydart and Glendessary," page 141, etc.).

Chapter 10 Footnotes:
Page 279:
51  NAS SC 28/16/22 Alexander Macdonald, Scotus, v. Arch. MacDonald, Kyles Knoydart, 1824.
52  NAS GD 128/51/14 Copy letter.  Mr. Donald Smith, Inverness, to Mr. George Gibson, Rotterdam. 14 October 1790.
53  NAS GD 128/45/1 McDonald and Elder, Camuscross, to Alexander Macdonell, Writer, Inverness. 28 May 1798.
54  NAS SC 29/7/17 Decreet. Messrs. MacDonald, Elder, and McInnes, Merchants in Sleat, against Angus McInnes etc. 2 December 1816; Decreet. Messrs. Alexander McDonald, John Elder, and Duncan McInnes... Merchants, against Alexander Cameron, Tacksman of Inverguseran, and Ewen Rankin...4 March 1817.
55  NAS SC 29/7/20 Decreet. Messrs. MacDonald, Elder, and McInnes, sometime Merchants in Sleat, against Archibald MacDonald, Tacksman of Ord. 20 July 1819.
56  NAS GD 176/2111 Item 7.  Colin Elder, Inverness, to Campbell Mackintosh, 24 February 1818; Item 20 John Elder to Campbell Mackintosh. 20 April 1818.
57  NAS SC 29/7/24 Messrs. Alexander MacDonald and John Elder residing at Isleornsay carrying on business as merchants there...3 April 1827; Mr. Colin Elder, sometime merchant at Kyleakin, now residing at Isleornsay...3 April 1827.

References in Footnotes:
Page 247:
Abbreviations:
NAS - National Archives of Scotland (formerly the Scottish Record Office)
NAS GD 128  -  Fraser-Mackintosh Collection
NAS GD 176  -  Mackintosh Muniments
NAS SC 28    -  Fort William Sheriff Court
 NAS SC 29   -  Inverness Sheriff Court
***
Map from Inverness to Kyles Knoydart, Loch Nevis, Mallaig, Inverness-Shire (no mileage) - SE of Skye
http://tinyurl.com/27q2u3k
****

"A tacksman (Scottish Gaelic: Fear-Taic, meaning "supporting man") was a land-holder of intermediate legal and social status in Scottish Highland society.
at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacksman

"Although a tacksman generally paid a yearly rent for the land let to him (his “tack”), his tenure might last for several generations. He would often be related to his landlord, the free-holder, and might, for example, represent a cadet branch of the family of the clan chief. The tacksman in turn would let out his land to sub-tenants, though he might keep some in hand himself. Dr Johnson defined the class in this manner:
  "Next in dignity to the laird is the Tacksman; a large taker or lease-holder of land, of which he keeps part as a domain in his own hand, and lets part to under-tenants. The tacksman is necessarily a man capable of securing to the laird the whole rent, and is commonly a collateral relation. These tacks, or subordinate possessions, were long considered as hereditary, and the occupant was distinguished by the name of the place at which he resided. He held a middle station, by which the highest and the lowest orders were connected. He paid rent and reverence to the laird, and received them from the tenants. This tenure still subsists, with its original operation, but not with its primitive stability.”