ing spectacle of ingenious and successful industry. The annual value of the produce of the manufactures in the town of Paisley, consisting of silk gauze, lawns, cambrics, threadgauze, muslins, white thread, ribbons, soap, candles, and tanned leather, have been computed at upwards of 660,000%, besides those of the suburbs, where two of the cotton mills contain 22,572 spindles, and employ nearly 1000 persons. According to the returns made to sir John Sinclair in 1721, the number of inhabitants in the town of Paisley, and its suburbs, amounted to 19,903. Since 1791, the population is supposed to have increased one fourth.

Stirling is chiefly remarkable for its historical fame, and for its romantic and commanding situation. Its castle is of great antiquity. It commands a delightful prospect diversified by the windings of the Forth, as well as by ancient ruins, elegant seats and populous villages. This fortress was often the object of bloody contention, and twelve fields of battle are said to be within view of its walls. In Scotland the scene is now happily changed: instead of gloomy castles, and ensanguined fields, we see the arts of peace converting to human use the rude materials of nature. The population of Stirling

is about 5,000.

SCOTTISH ISLANDS.

The Scottish islands are generally classed in three grand divisions; the Hebudes, or western isles, erroneously called Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the islands of Shetland.

To the first of these divisions belongs Jura, about twenty miles in length, and at the most five miles in breadth. Mull is about twenty-eight miles in length, and its mean breadth about eighteen. The climate is cloudy and rainy. The population is about 7,000. The principal food of the inhabitants is potatoes, barly-meal, and fish ; and their drink pure water, except

when then can obtain whiskey. The habitations are hovels constructed of whin, or furze, and covered with thatch, while a hole in the roof serves for a chimney. In the whole island Dr. Johnson could find only one man that spoke English, and not a single individual that could read. Mull is surrounded with small, but interesting islands. Icolmkill, and Staffa, in the vicinity of Mull, are to the historian, and naturalist, curious subjects of investigation. The celebrated Icolmkill, or Jona, is only about three miles long and one in breadth, yet this remote and contracted spot was once the seat of religion, and learning, when not only England and Scotland, but also a great part of Europe, were immersed in the darkest and most barbarous ignorance. Jona may be considered as classic ground, and the primitive seat of Scottish literature. Innumerable inscriptions seem to sanction the well known observation, that when learning was almost extinct in most parts of Europe it found an asylum in these remote regions. But the light which it once diffused in this corner, was afterwards extinguished by the ravages of the Danes, and Norwegians, and ages of barbarism succeeded. Staffa, about six miles north of Jona, is about a mile in length, and half a mile in breadth, and exhibits a scene of natural magnificence almost unparalleled. Sir Joseph Banks explored those interesting regions. The beautiful basaltic columns, forming one entire end of the island, are almost fifty feet high, and standing in natural colonnades, disposed with all the regularity of architecture, present an appearance astonishingly grand and beautiful.

Skey, and its surrounding isles, form another groupe of the Hebrides. This is the largest of the division, distinguished by this appellation, being about forty-five English miles in length, and twenty-two in breadth, and containing about 15,000 inhabitants. From this island are exported considerable num

* Skey is the birth place of the Rev. Donald M'Leod of Edisto Island who has enriched the history of South Carolina with an account of the place of his residence so full and accurate as to render it the most complete statistical account that has yet been given of any place in the United States to the southward of New York.

bers of black cattle, and horses. The houses are mostly of turf and covered with grass.

St Kilda is the most western of the Hebrides. The coast is one continued face of perpendicular rock, of a tremendous height. One of the principal employments of the inhabitants of St. Kilda, is catching wild fowl, and taking their eggs. In this difficult and apparently dangerous business, a person, by the means of a rope, which he has fastened round his waist, descends the precipitous rocks which form the shores of the island, and ransacks the nests of the various kinds of sea fowl, that breed there in incredible numbers. After having obtained his booty, he is drawn up on a signal given to a person placed on the top of the rock. At this business, which often affords them a plentiful supply of excellent food, the people of St. Kilda are exceedingly dexterous. The fowler, without the least trepidation, or appearance of fear, descends the most dreadful precipices, and, suspended between heaven and earth, pitches himself by the help of a pole, from rock to rock with the utmost agility, while his situation cannot, without terror, be viewed by a spectator unaccustomed to such scenes. St. Kilda contains one village, about a quarter of a mile from the landing place. In this village all the inhabitants reside. In 1690 they amounted to 180 persons. In 1764, they were only eighty-eight. This decrease was owing to the introduction of the small pox, which, in 1730, had so depopulated the island, that no more than four grown persons were left alive. In so small a society, in a situation so remote as to be almost entirely secluded from the rest of the world, it may easily be imagined that a peculiarity of manners, and ideas, must prevail. The inhabitants of St. Kilda, having scarcely any communication with the rest of mankind, appear almost in the light of a distinct race of human beings.

These islands were peopled at an early period, and were not unknown to Pliny.* That they were once in a flourishing

*Pliny's Hist. Nat. lib 6, c. 16.

state, and the seat of religion and learning, is attested by a mass of circumstantial evidence. In the year 1098, Magnus, king of Norway, attacked and subdued these islands. In 1266 they were, by Alexander II. re-annexed to Scotland, and their cession was solemnly confirmed to Alexander III. by Magnus IV. king of Norway. The Hebrides were once better peopled and cultivated, and, in every respect, more flourishing than at present. The people of these islands, in their manners and customs, their prejudices, &c. resemble the highlanders. The lowland manners, however, are continually gaining ground in the highlands, while in those sequestered isles, scarcely any alteration in the moral condition of the inhabitants takes place. Many of the Celtic customs still remain, and a strong tincture of the feudal system yet prevails. The shamachies, or story tellers, supply the place of the ancient bards; and like them, are the family historians and genealogists. The family musician, who is generally a bag-piper, appears on particular occasions, sumptuously dressed in the manner of the English minstrels of former ages. The people are very little better clothed, lodged, and fed, than the Laplanders. Their religion is chiefly that of the kirk of Scotland; but superstition is so grafted on their minds, that volumes might be filled with the description of their follies, notions, and practices.

The islands of Orkney form a groupe round what is called the main land. Kirkwall, the chief town of the Orkneys, contains about 300 houses, and has a stately cathedral. In 1790 the exports of Kirkwall were estimated at 26,5981. and Ithe imports at 20,803. Its manufactures are linen yarn, coarse linens, and kelp. The number of sheep in the Orkneys is computed at 50,000. Their horses and cows are small, but the former are full of spirit, and the latter yield excellent milk. The swine are also of a diminutive size. The inhabited isles of Orkney are computed at twenty-six, and 23,035 is the number assigned to their population.

The islands of Shetland form a groupe similar to that of

Orkney, the largest of which is called the Mainland, being in the middle. Of this remote country it is difficult to obtain any accurate accounts. The following, chiefly extracted from Jameson, seems to be the best modern view of Shetland. “On viewing these islands, in general, a wonderful scene of rugged, bleak, and barren rocks, presents itself to our view. No tree, or shrub is to be seen to relieve the eye in wandering over these dreary scenes. The western part presents many scenes as wild and sterile as can well be conceived. Grey rocks rising from the midst of marshes and pools, and shores bounded by awful sea beat precipices, do not fail to raise in the mind ideas of desolation and danger. The coasts are, in general, rugged and precipitous, presenting in many places scenes truly grand and magnificent, vast rocks of various heights, dreadfully rugged, and broken, opposing their rude fronts to all the fury of a tempestuous ocean, which in some places has formed great detached pillars, in others, has exeavated grand natural arches, and caverns, that mock all human magnificence, and strike the beholder with awe and wonder." These islands lie between 59° 59' and 61° 15' north latitude; the longest day is somewhat more than nineteen, and the shortest less than five hours: but, as in other high northern latitudes, the inhabitants derive, in the gloomy season of winter, great advantages from the strong aurora borealis, which affords a light nearly equal to that of a full moon. In these islands the spring is late, the summer very short, and the autumn wet and foggy. The winter sets in about the end of October, and continues till April. During that season they have little frost and snow, but almost constant rains, with frequent and violent storms; and the sea swells and rages in so tremendous a manner, that, for the space of five or six months, their shores are inaccessible, and the inhabitants debarred from all intercourse with the rest of the world. Internal intercourse is also difficult; the interior parts, being moorish and boggy, and every where intersected with rugged mountains, are almost impervious, especially as neither roads