ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF SUTHERLAND. D 



the oldest inhabited house in Britain, but a great portion is of 

 modern construction, havinu; been erected between 1845 and 

 1851 by tlie second iJuke and Duchess. The style of architecture 

 is chaste and elegant, while the interior is, if possible, still more 

 grand, the paintings and other works of art being nunioious and 

 of great value. The policies are extensive and beautiful ; and 

 the gardens lying between the castle and the sea, " remarkable 

 alike for their extent, beauty, and productions." From the higher 

 windows of the castle the view is extensive, varied, and 

 picturesque. Overlooking tlie castle stands the romantic l)en- 

 Bhraggie, on the top of which there is a monument 70 feet high, 

 surmounted by a colossal statue 30 feet high, of tlie first Duke 

 of Sutherland, who died in 1834. This monument, erected by 

 Her Grace's tenantry and friends, is said to have a higher site 

 (1300 feet) than any other monument in the kingdom. Nearer 

 there are handsome monuments of the second Duke and Duchess 

 and other members of the noble family of Sutherland, all of 

 whom have served well their day and generation. 



At Brora, in the parish of Clyne, there is a prosperous growmg 

 village, fostered mainly by improvements and various works 

 carried on by the Duke of Sutherland. The village of Helms- 

 dale, situated at the mouth of the river of that name, has a larger 

 population, chiefly dependent on the herring fishing. There are 

 numerous other small villages throughout the county, that of 

 Tongue on the west coast being snugly situated amidst the most 

 charming of Highland scenery. 



The ueneral configuration of Sutherland is wild and nioun- 

 tainous in the extreme. Along the south-east coast there is a 

 flat fertile border, varying from little more than half a mile to 

 over two miles and a half in breadth, laid off in well-appointed 

 farms, and yielding profitable crops. The coast on the west and 

 north, on the contrary, is bare, bold, and precipitous, abounding 

 in rocky promontories and numerous inlets of the sea ; while 

 " the wiiole of the interior," says one writer, " is mountamous, 

 varied with elevated plateaus covered with heath, vast fields of 

 peat bog, some pleasant straths of average fertility, watered by 

 considerable streams and numerous lakes, embosomed either in 

 bleak dismal regions of moorland, or begirt by a series of hills 

 of conglomerate, whose naked and rugged sides have no covermg 

 even of heather. Wildness and sterility are the great features 

 of the landscape, the dreary monotony being seldom relieved by 

 tree or shrub ; and this uniformity of desolation is only occa- 

 sionally broken by some glen or strath presenting itself as an 

 oasis of verdure in the bleak desert." This picture, rougli though 

 it be, is in the main correct ; but it barely does justice to the 

 straths, some of which, considermg their high northern latitude, 

 are of more than average fertility, while a few of the lakes are 



