extraordinary annexations? Befides thefe remote portions, (which are confidered as belonging, quoad facra, to the parishes in which they are respectively fituated), the parish is of confiderable extent, ftretching from N. W. to S. E. nearly 13 miles, and varying in its breadth from I to 6 miles. Soil and Land, Floods. The foil is various. On the high grounds it is mostly a cold wet clay. On the banks of the Tay and Ifla, it is in general a light loam. The ground is fo flat, that when these rivers are flooded, they overflow many hundred acres. Four remarkable floods have happened in the Tay, in the courfe of 30 years, in 1761, 1780, 1789 and 1791. In the fpring of the year 1790, in confequence of gradual breaches made by the river on the green Inch, below Inchtuthel, two oak trees were uncovered. The trunk of the largeft, from the root to the loweft branch, was 40 feet 6 inches long, and contained 132 feet 9 inches of folid measure. As fimilar oaks have been often difcovered near the place, by means of fimilar encroachments on the bank, in the fpring and autumnal floods, it appears in the highest degree probable, that they had grown on the fpot. Hence we are led to believe, agreeably to traditionary accounts, that the country was well wooded in former times. The Tay has undoubtedly taken various directions, at different periods, through the plain. Delvin, though now and for many ages fituated on the north, is faid to have been on the fouth fide of the river *. It seems, however, more likely that it was always occafionally each minister was required to extend his care, was, by that circumfcription, constituted a parish. This is a pofition fo generally received in England, that the extent of a manor, and of a parish, are regularly received for each other." Bofwell's Life of Johnson, vol. I. p. 419. See Pennant's Tour, quoted below, fionally infulated by the Tay; and this fuppofition is favoured by its fituation, and by its ancient name, Inch-tuthel, that is, an "island in a flooded stream." of the pa weft parts excellent blue flates, the thousand, and are Hills and Woods.-The north and rish are hilly, and contain quarries of which are fold on the spot at L. 1 carried to a confiderable diftance. The higher hills are covered with heath, mixed with dwarf juniper, the lower with furze and broom. They are generally of a rocky appearance. Some of the latter are clothed with natural woods of oak, afh, birch and hazel; others have been planted with firs, larches, and other forest-trees, of which large plantations have likewife been formed in the low part of the parish, within the laft 20 or 30 years; but there is still need of more woods, not only for shelter and for ornament, but also to supply the inhabitants with fuel and timber. Climate, Distempers, &c.-The air is dry and healthy, but fenfibly different in the N. and S. parts of the parish, being temperate on the banks of the Tay and the Isla, and cold and keen on the hills*. About 50 years ago, the ague was very prevalent in the plain; but fince the marshy grounds were drained, it has difappeared. The disorders moftly to be met with, are hysterical and nervous affections, confumptions, and worms. The violent nervous fymptoms with Having been favoured with a state of Fahrenheit's thermometer for the last 10 years, taken at Delvin, at 11 o'clock at night, I fubjoin an abftract of the greatest and leaft heights. To this I am enabled to add a fimilar abstract of the greatest and leaft heights taken at the fame hour in Queen-Street, Edinburgh, for the fame years. From thefe abftracts an idea may be formed of the general temperature of this climate compared with that of the capital. Delvin is in 56° 33′ North Latitude. ABSTRACT ABSTRACT of the STATE of the THERMOMETER at DELVIN for 10 Years. January February March 46 25 41 12 49 20 40 23 44 48 28 50 25 15 46 29 49 29 43 21 42 47 22 48 56 41 54 38 56 47 Auguft 21 48 31 43 29 19 48 29 348 34 37 52 40 56 41 67 44 61 46 57 64 51 57 47 64 50 59 44 67 66 48 60 4359 41 September 58 42 60 40 60 38 October 57 34 49 30 56 28 November 49 31 47 2449 December 47 10 52 19 43 22 55 28 48 31 49 33 46 29 48 28 47 21 37 24 49 32 48 28 46 21 34 48 31 46 30 48 34 51 30 60 35 52 37 56 51 38 55 47 56 43 57 47 60 46 56 48 59 46 60 49 53 41 64 63 48 169 48 61 46 | 62 42 60 40 40 58 44 58 40 55 40 58 36 57 36 Abstract of the State of the Thermometer in Queen-ftreet, Edinburgh, for 10 Years. January 48 24 48 17 47 24 52 17 51 February 51 25 47 21 39 32148 2652 23|49 34 473 47 20 33 55 351 55 31 21 50 26 20 47 25 48 32 45 28 49 34 51 36 46 26 50 33 21 44 23 27 57 32 48 34 49 22 40 28 52 37 48 32 49 27 49 34 3550 37 52 35 May 55 38 56 42 50 36 57 41 44 55 37 | 52 39 June 67 39 58 46 71 62 36 58 47 July 59 49 50 4663 49 | 61 49 67 51 59 59 34 51 32 48 67 42 59 39 52 58 36 61 49 57 46 43 59 4865 5261 48 60 48 | 62 Auguft 64 49 61 46 65 48 61 48 61 48 September 58 44 37 56 41 62 October 59 35 48 30 58 29 57 November 53 31 49 25 51 29 46 December 48, 11 84 21 45 18 51 64 52 62 48 63 50 64 40 59 441 55 43 371 58 43 34 53 41 57 36 59 40 55 38 53 31 49 28 55 32 48 34 49 31 52 33 56 31 20 54 29 43 26 51 33 48 28 41 19 51 29 with which the country people are fometimes feized, are fuppofed to be owing to their extreme inattention to their drink and clothing, when they are over heated by their fummer work. Spinning, which is the employment of the young women during the winter months, is justly reckoned the occafion of confumptions among them, by the waste of faliva requifite in that laborious exercise. Some medical practitioners think, that worms in children are the effects of their living fo much on potatoes, which they prefer to oat-meal. The people in general have weak eyes, from the fmoke of their houses, and fine teeth even to old age. Lakes and Fifbings.-Through the middle of the Stormont, runs a chain of small lakes, The lochs of Craiglufh, of Lows, of Butterftown, of Cluny, and of Drumelie. They are connected by the rivulet or burn of Lunan; which taking its rise in the first, passes through all the reft, and at its mouth, where it falls into the Ila, forms the eastern boundary of this parish. The three first mentioned lochs are wholly in the parish, and it touches the other two on their fouth fides. Excellent pikes, perches, trouts, and eels, are found in them. The falmon fishing in the Tay is now inconfiderable; and the price is fo much enhanced by the great demand for the London market, that little is left for the use of the country. The falmon caught in the Ifla is inferior both in fize and quality to that in the Tay. Migratory Birds. Of these, the cuckoo, fwallow, lapwing, fandy-lark, plover, rail or corncraik, seagull, fea-magpie, pictarny or kittywake, curlew or whaap, and clocharet, are fummer birds. The fieldfare, woodcock, and wildgeefe, are winter birds. The fwallow appears about the 14th of April; the earliest time of the cuckoo's being heard, is the 25th of April, but ufually not before the 2d ΟΙ or 3d of May. It is heard till the 10th of June, and last year, as late as the 3d of July. Population. It is a fubject of regret, that the feffion records of country parishes have been generally kept in a manner fo flovenly and negligent, that it is now almost impoffible to form a just estimate of their population a century ago, or even lefs. There is also a peculiar difficulty in making such an estimate with regard to this parish. Previous to the year 1728, its population was greater than it could be expected to be at any fubfequent period; because those distant parts (already noticed) which are locally fituated in Cluny and Kinloch, and those which are immediately adjacent to the town of Dunkeld on the N. and W. were then Joined respectively to thefe parishes quoad facra, in confequence of a formal recommendation of the Prefbytery; and from that time ceased to be under the inspection of the minifter of Caputh. With respect to the following lists taken from the parish-register, it is to be remarked, 1. That many children in diftant parts of the parish, not being baptized by the minifter, are neglected to be registered by the parents. 2. That many of the inhabitants bury in other parishes, and never pay the tax imposed by act of Parliament in 1783, which, being unpopular, is not collected in fome places. No accurate conclufion, therefore, can be drawn from thefe lifts of |