SCOTLAND. 



PART II. STATISTICS OF M oil. 



609 



( I JAP I. CMXM.IIAHIY, I'm -ic .u. AM, IVi.nn \i.. 



Boundaries. 



noundaneg. SCOTLAND < ccupics the northern porti< n of the island 

 which constitutes Great Britain, and is divided from 

 England by a line which is partly physical and fixed, 

 jvirtly political and conventionaf. To the west this 

 physical division is the water of the Solway Firth, se- 

 parating the anticnt kingdom of Galloway from Cum- 

 berland. Where this terminates, it pursues the course 

 of the Esk to Longtown, and thence towards the junc- 

 tion of the Liddel, which it then follows as far as Kers- 

 hopefoot. Here it diverges southward to follow the 

 Kershope water ; and very shortly the physical boun- 

 dary disappears, as the political line then becomes for 

 a space indefinite, or nearly undefinablc by other na- 

 tural marks than the courses of a few small streams 

 which descend from the hill country to hold their 

 courses towards England. 



A fresh physical line is now taken up along the 

 southern declivity of the hills, commencing with Peel 

 Fell and ranging along the Carter Fell, Blackball bill, 

 and the Cheviot to Shorthope. Here the boundary 

 once more becomes difficult of definition, as it crosses 

 the courses of the streams, and equally despises the 

 forms of the land. Thus it is scarcely to be defined in 

 words but by the positions of a few farms or villages, 

 consisting of East Hamilton, Cowsnout, Kirkmains, 

 and Haggies hall, meeting the Tweed near Hadden 

 on the one side of that river, and Birgham on the other. 

 The Tweed itself then becomes the boundary to the 

 sea, with reservation of the shadowy political distinc- 

 tions of Berwick. 



13', and the extreme longitude west to 6' 18'. The 

 tot.d area of the islands is computed at 3212 square 

 inilfi, causing the whole land < 1 .v-utl.-md to reach to 

 "IM1)H equare miles exclusive of the water. 



( 'otintiet. 



In enumerating the counties it will be convenient Conadst. 

 to exhibit them in the form of a list, together with the 

 contents of each. 



General Table of the Extent of the teveral Count Ut of 



Scotland. 



General po. 

 sitioa and 



extent. 



General Position and Extent. . 



Excluding the isl.-mds, Scotland lies between the la- 

 titudes of 5 J- 37' and 58 42', and longitudes 1 47' and 

 6 7' west. Its greatest length on any one meridian is 

 from the Mull of Galloway toFarout Head, amounting 

 to 275 miles ; but the longest interval between any two 

 of its parallels of latitude, is between the former point 

 and Dunnet Head, reaching to 284 miles. The greatest 

 breadth is from Buchaness to Applecross, and is 147 

 miles ; and the least is from the Firth of Dornoch to 

 Loch Broom, where the interval is only 36 miles. In 

 other places the breadth varies exceedingly, as, in the 

 north, it is only 71 miles, between Assynt and Noss- 

 head, and in the south between St. Abb's Head and 

 the point of Knap 134. 



The territorial surface of the main land is about 

 26,286 English square miles, of which about 290 are 

 fresh water lakes. 



The islands form an important part, however, of the 

 territorial surface of the kingdom, as they are numerous 

 and extensive. They are easily divided, according to 

 the ancient Norwegian division, into north and south 

 islands, or Nordereys and Sudereys ; the former com- 

 prising the Shetland and Orkney isles, the latter the 

 western isles or CElmdae. corruptly called Hebrides. 

 Including these, the extreme latitude reaches to 61 



It must be observed, that from a recent comparison, made with great accuracy, of the Scotch standard ell, and tbe EngOth 

 yard, it appears that the Scotch chain should be, at the temperature of 60 of Fahrenheit, 74,123 



f the chain in common use. In the calculations by which the table has been constructed, the correct length wis^ used, whjch make 

 fercnce of above 1 1,000 Scotch acres to be added to what the turn would have been, had tbe common measure bea employed. 



VOL. XVII. PART II. * H 



exuat tt 

 thewvrrml 

 OSVMic* "t 



Xote By the term water in the cable, U to be understood only lh 

 fretlt water of lochs or lakes, that of rireu and talt water frUlw not 

 being included. 



