SCOTLAND. 





Statistic* 



The Firth 

 of Forth. 



The Firth 

 of Tay. 



M array 

 Firth. 



picturesque beauty to the mere traveller. Loch Stra- 

 ven and Loch Ridan, branching from the Kyle* of 

 Bute, are nearly uninteresting in every seme. 



The length of Loch Long is sixteen miles, and toge- 

 ther with Loch Goyl, it forms an extensive indenta- 

 tion, while it also affords a ready avenue to Loch Lo- 

 mond. Hence it is now well known, nor need we do 

 more than barely mention tin- neighbouring opening of 

 the Gare Loch. The sestuary of the Clyde itself may 

 however be looked on as a s milar sea loch to Loch 

 Fyne, and its total depth from the Garroch head is 

 about thirty-two miles. 



The western coast presents but one more inlet, in 

 Loch Ryan ; and, in the Solway firth, it is sufficient to 

 mention the wide bay of Luce, that of Wigton, and 

 the much smaller barbour of Kirkcudbright. 



On the eastern coast, we find comparatively few 

 indentations, a misfortune which is even more severe- 

 ly felt by England, in the want of harbours on those 

 shores where commerce and industry have found their 

 irost tempting seats. There is scarcely indeed more 

 than one good harbour on the whole eastern side of 

 Scotland ; all except Cromarty being bad and unshelter- 

 ed roadsteads, or shallow and inconvenient firths and 

 tide rivers. 



The great sinuosity of the Forth is the first in order 

 as in magnitude, and has already been fully described 

 in our article FORTH, Vol. IX. p. 482. 



The length of the firth of the Tay, from Button 

 Ness to Perth, is scarcely more than half that of the 

 Forth, not exceeding twenty-six miles, while it has 

 the character of an inland sea throughout. Though 

 not very open to the sea, it is a bad harbour, from its 

 want of water, but still more from the difficulty of an 

 entrance encumbered and obstructed by banks and 

 shifting shoals. It is, however, the medium of a con- 

 siderable commerce; while, in splendour and wealth, 

 and in picturesque beauty, its banks even exceed those 

 of the firth of Forth. Nor does it shoal so rapidly 

 above. At present, the ebb is such in the upper parts 

 of this last inlet, as to leave an enormous extent of mud 

 dry at low water, and every year the salt marshes gain 

 on it, so as to indicate the day when it will become, 

 far below Alloa, what it is now near Stirling, a tortu- 

 ous river, creeping through flat meadows. It is more 

 probable that the greater obstructions to the firth of 

 Tay will be extended near its entrance, where the 

 most rapid accumulation of alluvium is taking place, 

 and thus, at some future period, it may become an in- 

 land sea, of a far different character ; while, above, the 

 rich lands of the Carse of Gowrie are extending, by 

 the lateral addition which the process of projecting 

 embankments produces. 



Were the basin of Montrose what it appears to be 

 in the map, it would be one of the most enviable har- 

 bours in the world ; but it possesses no water, and is 

 absolutely useless. Hence, also, even to the Murray 

 Firth, there is not an indentation that requires to be 

 named ; and even this is a deceptive spot to those who 

 might be tempted to judge of it from the general as- 

 pect, both of itself and of the surrounding land. The 

 total depth of this great sinuosity is seventeen miles, 

 of which seven belong to the Firth of Beauley. In 

 picturesque beauty it cannot well be exceeded, whether 

 we regard the mountain outline, or the richness and 

 cultivation of its shores. But the navigation is singu- 

 larly difficult and dangerous ; and it is thus a most 

 unfortunate entrance to the Caledonian canal. So 

 shallow is the water, that even the smaller class of 



vessel* can only past it with an expert pilot ; as the 



navigable depth is limited to the wandering river, 



whose blind course, between banks of mud and sand, G*npbr, 



i concealed by the water, which never ebbs from pfcySHT 



these shallows. Nor is the anchorage at Invernew 



much better ; being deficient in depth, though secure 



from sea and wind. 



If it were a compensation to the defects already enu Kmb of 

 merited, of the eastern shore of Scotland, the harbour CraMrtjr. 

 of Cromarty might atone for any thing. This magni- 

 ficent and truly inland sea is twenty miles in length, 

 and at one point seven in breadth ; while, with respect 

 to beauty, whether of its mountain outline and bound- 

 ary, or of cultivation and richness of aspect, it exceeds 

 all the others with which it might be put into compe- 

 tition. As a mere harbour, it is capable of hole' ing 

 the fleets of Britain, though shallow and useless in its 

 remoter parts ; and as a harbour, also, it u not only 

 easy of accers, but rendered so obvious by the height 

 of its entrance through the lofty and correspond 

 Suters, that it may be taken without a pilot in the 

 darkest night, and in the worst weather. Were it 

 possible that commerce and capital should ever find 

 their way to Cromarty, it might even supersede every 

 rival port on the eastern coast of Britain. 



The Firth of Dornoch, or Tain, is about twelve Firth of 

 miles long, and its course is both intricate and con- Domoch. 

 tracted at the middle. It is also shallow in its upper 

 part, where it might otherwise form a safe har- 

 bour, were any harbour required in the vicinity of 

 Cromarty. The Fleet is the last of these sinuosities. 

 But this is little more than a contest between shoals 

 and marshes ; and as it has now been dammed by a 

 mound with a sluice, which forms a road superseding 

 a former ferry, it will, in no long time become a series 

 of meadows and marshes, to be ultimately consolidat- 

 ed into a valuable tract of land. 



For an account of the islands of Scotland, we mutt 

 refer to the following articles, under which they have 

 been described with great minuteness. 



1. AILSA, Vol. I. p. 306. 



2. ARHAN, Vol. II. p. 49S. 



3. BAJIRA, Vol. III. p. 402. 



4. BEXBICULA. Vol. III. p. 4i7- 



5. BERNEHA, Vol. III. p. 478. 



6. BUTE, Vol. V. p. J 



7. IONA, Vol. XII. p. - 



8. IBLA, Vol. XII. p. 318. 



9. JURA, Vol. XII. p. 400. 



10. KILDA, ST. Vol. XII. p. 4oO. 



1 1. LEWIS and HARRIS, Vol. XII. p. 615. 



12. MULL, Vol. XIV. p. 739. 



13. OKI. \NDS, Vol. XVI. p. 1. 



14. RONA, Vol. XVII. p. 44 K 



i 1. KONAY, Vol. XVII. p. 44k. 

 10'. RUM, EGG and MUCK, and CAXNA, Vol. XVII. 

 p. *480. 



17. SANDA, vol. XVII. 



18. SCALPA, Vol. XVII. 



19. SCARDA, Vol. XVII. 



20. SHETLAND ISLANDS, Vol. XVII. 



21. SHIANT ISLES, Vol. XV1I1. 



22. SKY, Vol. XVIII. 



23. STAFFA, Vol. XMII. 



i.'k TIHEY and COLL, Vol. XVIII. . 

 25, Uisx, VoL XVIII. 



