2 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



title from a mass of sandstone that once blocked the 

 entrance to the harbour, called Craig-ma-cair * the rock of 

 the seat or of the turn, meaning either in Gaelic, to which 

 the word belongs. Hence the striking name Stonehaven, 

 originally, in old Scotch, Stanehyve, the Haven or Harbour 

 with the Stone in its throat, though this obstruction has 

 been long since removed. 



Like the -granite city, the present Stonehaven consists 

 of two towns, the old and tne 'new, but, unlike the northern 

 capital, the. old ;is to the. soutfy and the new to the north, 

 both mainly standing within Ihe peninsula between the 

 rivers. The new town is spacious, well-planned, and in- 

 odorous ; but the old is crowded, low-lying and pervaded 

 by that " ancient fishy smell," that clings to all our fishing 

 villages ; for it is chiefly inhabited by those picturesque 

 and peaceful descendants of the old piratical Danes, who 

 gain their livelihood off that dangerous shore. 



But when our story begins, at the close of last century, 

 the site of the new town was covered with bent, and formed 

 the links of Arduthie, the healthy recreation ground of the 

 good folks of the old town. This was not then the fishing 

 quarter it is now, for the fishers at that time were con- 

 fined to the village of Cowie. 



As the county town of Kincardine for two hundred 

 years, created such by our wise James in 1607, and inhabited 

 by the tlite of the shire, it was comparatively clean and 

 healthy for that period, and its inhabitants had the usual 

 caste and consequence characteristic of all seats of local 



* Either from cathiar (th being mute), a chair or seat, or car, a 

 bend or turn. The same word also occurs in the name of a rock 

 south of the town, Dunnacair, Dun signifying a hill or fort. 



