SCOTLAND. SCOTLAND, the Caledonia of Tacitus, is situated between 55° and 58° 40′ north latitude, and between 10 and 6o west longitude; being about 250 miles in length, from north to south, with a very irregular breadth, no where exceeding 160 miles. The contents of its surface have been computed at 27,793 square miles; the population being estimated at 1,600,000, the proportion of the inhabitants to the soil is only fifty-seven for a square mile. The face of the country is extremely diversified. The popular distinction of highlands, and lowlands, is expressive of the contrast between the mountainous and the level part. The highlands are strikingly picturesque; but one beautiful and interesting feature is almost universally wanting in the landscapes of Scotland. The almost total absence of wood gives to nature a kind of forlorn aspect. Masses of mountains, and extensive heaths, without a tree, or a shrub, to relieve the eye in ranging over the wide and desolate waste, excite the gloomy idea of hopeless sterility. The mountains, which occupy so great a part of its surface, are the principal distinctive feature of Scotland. The principal chains are the Grampian hills, running from east to west, almost the whole breadth of the country; the Pent land hills, and Lammer Muir. Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Britain; its elevation being estimated at 1450 yards above the level of the sea. The savage scenery of the northwest of Scotland is thus described by an intelligent traveller: "A wide extent of country lay before us, and exhibited a most august picture of forlorn nature. The prospect was altogether immense, but wild and desolate beyond con'ception. The mountains presented nothing to view but heath, and rock between them; formless lakes, and pools dark with shades thrown from prodigious precipices, gave grandeur to the wilderness in its gloomy forms." These desolate regions yet remain unexplored by tourists, and unknown to geographical description. The three principal rivers of Scotland are the Forth, the Clyde, and the Tay. The Clyde, having the great mercantile city of Glasgow seated on its banks, claims a commercial preeminence over all the other rivers of Scotland. The number * of vessels belonging to the Clyde, in 1790, was 476. Next in consequence to these is the Tweed. The Dee is a considerable and placid stream, which scarcely yields to the Tweed in pastoral celebrity. The canal which connects the Forth and the Clyde, is a masterpiece of inland navigation, the depth being seven feet, the width, at the surface, fifty-six feet, the locks seventy-five feet long, and their gates twenty feet wide. In a tract of ten miles, it is raised, by twenty locks, to the amazing height of 155 feet above the medium sea mark. In the fourth mile there are ten locks, and a fine aqueduct bridge, which crosses the great road leading from Edinburgh to Glasgow. The expense of this mile amounted to 18,000l. At Kirkintilloch, the canal is carried over the water of Logie on an aqueduct bridge, the arch of which is ninety feet wide, and is considered as a capital piece of masonry. In the whole extent of the canal there are eighteen draw-bridges, and fifteen aqueduct bridges of considerable size, besides smaller ones, and tunnels. One reservoir, for supplying it with water, is above twenty-four feet deep, and covers a surface of fifty acres ; another occupies seventy acres, and is banked up at the sluice twenty-feet; the former of these is near Kilsyth, and the latter seven miles from Glasgow. The precise length of the canal is thirty-five miles. On the 28th of July, 1790, it was opened, and the communication from sea to sea completely effected. No work of the kind can be more ably finished. Among the lakes of Scotland, the chief, in extent and beau ty, is Loch Lomond, studded with romantic islands, and adorned with picturesque scenery. Among the metals and minerals of Scotland, lead, iron, and coal, may be considered as the principal. Both gold and silver have been found, but in very small quantities. The coal mines have been worked through a succession of ages, and may be traced as far back as to the twelfth century. The mountains of Scotland consist of a great variety of materials. Many parts of the highlands contain white marble, and beau tiful granite. The highlands, in general, present a picture of extreme sterility; but many parts of the lowlands yield abundant crops. In the eastern parts of Scotland, the atmosphere is less humid than that of England. On`the other hand, the western counties are deluged with violent and long continued rains an additional, and indeed, in many cases, an insuperable obstacle, to the advancement of agriculture. The winter is more remarkable for the abundance of rain and snow, than for the intenseness of the frost; but in summer, the solar rays are powerfully reflected in the vallies between the mountains. In Fifeshire and the Lothians, agriculture is well understood; and the farmers are in general well fed, clothed, and comfortably lodged. A very considerable part of Scotland, however, displays but little improvement, and the husbandman rather exists, than lives, on the scanty produce of his farm. In those places the cattle are lean and small, the houses exceedingly mean, and the whole face of the country exhibits the most deplorable marks of poverty. The general aspect of the country is bleak, from the deficiency of wood, yet some parts of Scotland present considerable forests of birch and pine. The Scotch oak is excellent, and several parts of Scotland present incontestible evidences, that the country formerly abounded in timber, large logs being frequently found buried in the mosses or bogs. The Sylva Caledonia was famous in antiquity for being the retreat of the Caledonian boar; but the forest, as well as its fierce inhabitants, has now disappeared. The general nudity of the country, however, is gradually dimininished by the good taste, and laudable exertions of many of the nobility, and gentry, who form numerous and extensive plantations in the vicinity of their mansions. The horses of Galloway are of a diminutive breed, but considerably larger than those of Shetland. Horses, horned cattle, and sheep, are very small in the highlands, but, in the eastern districts, they are much larger, and of different breeds. Wolves were not extirpated in Scotland till near the end of the seventeenth century. Among the birds, may be reckoned a considerable number of eagles and falcons. The islands, and rocky shores, are the haunts of numberless sea fowl, of various kinds. Scotland abounds with fish, and contributes largely to the supply of the English markets, especially in lobsters and salmon, the produce of its seas and rivers. The latter, indeed, as well as some of its lakes, have long been distinguished for the abundance of salmon with which they are stored. In the small river of Thurso, 2,500 salmon have been caught in one morning. 4 Some The relics of antiquity, in Scotland, are numerous. are considered as Druidical. Those of the Roman period, however, are of superior importance, and easily distinguished. The camp near Ardock, in Perthshire, at the foot of the Grampian hills, is a striking remnant of Roman antiquity, and is generally supposed to have been the encampment of Agricola, previous to his decisive battle with Galgacus, the Caledonian king, which Tacitus describes with such eloquence. The principal vestige of the Roman power, inNorth Britain, is the celebrated wall, built in the reign of Antoninus Pius, which, extending beyond the Friths of Forth and Clyde, marked the utmost boundaries of the dominions of Rome. Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, cannot be traced beyond the year 955. Many of the houses in the old town of Edinburgh, are of the astonishing height of twelve or thirteen stories, a singularity ascribed to the desire of the ancient inhabitants to be within the protection of the castle, which was formerly considered as a place of extraordinary strength. The new town of Edinburgh is deservedly celebrated for its regularity and elegance; the houses being all of freestone, and some of them ornamented with pillars and pilasters. Brick is comparatively unknown in Scotland. Many of the public edifices in Edinburgh, are magnificent. The High street, in the old town, acquires from its length, width, and the height of the houses, an appearance strikingly magnificent, and scarcely equalled in Europe. The new city is joined to the old by the North bridge. A similar communication with the elevated ground on the south is effected by the South bridge, extending over the valley, called the Cowgate, This bridge has a range of houses on each side, forming a continued street, except at the middle arch. The enormous sums of 150,000l., 100,000,, and, in general, from 80,000/. to 96,000l. per acre, are the astonishing, and almost incredible, prices of areas for building, in this superb street. The situation of Edinburgh is grand and romantic, and its environs are picturesque and pleasing. For mental cultivation, and literary society, Edinburgh is scarcely excelled by any city. Its population is about 90,000. Glasgow, the second city of Scotland, is also one of the most ancient; but it was little distinguished in the annals of |