NATURE AND MAN IN THE FORTH VALLEY. 75 
Dumbarton measures only 43 miles, and from Alloa to 
Dumbarton, 31. 
The Forth Valley may be divided into an eastern dis- 
trict, largely maritime, with northern and southern sections, 
and a western or inland district—the whole being bounded 
by the watershed of the streams flowing into the Firth of 
Forth. My acquaintance with the eastern district is 
limited, and I shall therefore to-night speak only of the 
western portion—namely, the area drained by the River 
Forth and its tributaries, stretching from Ben Lomond and 
Stobinean to Queensferry, where the Forth may be said to 
end. Between North and South Queensferry the proportion 
of fresh water in the estuary becomes so small as to be 
barely appreciable. Eastward of this point the Firth may 
fairly be described as a projecting portion of the German 
Ocean, although influenced to some extent by the fresh 
water of the Forth, Almond, Esk, and Leven. The boun- 
daries of the district would be marked by a line tracing the 
watershed, and dividing the Forth area from the drainage 
areas of the Tay and Earn on the north, the Leven (Loch 
Lomond) on the west, the Endrick, Kelvin, and Clyde on 
the south, and the Leven (Loch Leven), the Keithing 
Burn, and the Almond on the east. Beginning at North 
(Queensferry, the line of the watershed passes north-westward 
by Crossgates, the Saline and Cleish Hills, to the Ochils, 
between Glendevon and Gleneagles ; thence westward to Uam 
Var, Stuc-a-Chroin, and the eastern ridge of Strathyre; and 
southward by Balquhidder to Ben Lomond. It then follows 
the ridge to the Pass of Ballat, and mounting the Fintry 
Hills, it passes by the Campsie Fells to Kelvinhead, and 
thence eastward by the Slamannan Ridges and Bathgate 
Hills to South Queensferry. 
The district enclosed by this bounding-line embraces 
about % of Stirlingshire, } of Linlithgowshire, } of Perthshire, 
+ of Kinross-shire, } of Fife, the whole of Clackmannanshire, 
and extremely small portions of Dumbartonshire and 
Lanarkshire. It comprises fifty-two parishes, with the ex- 
ception of certain out-lying portions of these which stretch 
beyond the boundary line. The names of forty-nine parishes 
are given hereinafter in the table of population. The Dum- 
