HIGHLAND 



3988 



HIGHLANDS 



this and other small companies 

 were amalgamated, and the name 

 Highland Rly. was adopted. In 

 1884 the Sutherland and Caithness 

 and other lines were taken over, 

 while various extensions were added 

 to the mileage. The line serves 

 Inverness and the extreme N. of 

 Scotland, i.e. the counties of Inver- 

 ness, Boss, Cromarty, Sutherland, 

 and Caithness, while southward it 

 connects with the Caledonian near 

 Perth. With its headquarters at 

 Inverness, it owns 484 m. of line, 

 and its capital is nearly 7,000,000. 



Highland Regiments. General 

 name for those regiments of the 

 British army, five in number, that 

 are recruited in the Highlands of 

 Scotland, and wear the kilt. They 

 are the Black Watch, or Royal 

 Highlanders, 42nd and 73rd; 

 Seaforth Highlanders, 72nd and 

 78th; Cordon Highlanders, : 75th 

 and 92nd ; Cameron Highlanders, 

 79th ; and the Argyll and Suther- 

 land Highlanders, 91st and 93rd. 

 The Highland Light Infantry, in 

 spite of its name, is not a Highland 

 regiment; the men are recruited 

 mainly in Lanarkshire, while they 

 do not wear the kilt. See Gaiters. 



Highlands, THE. Name given 

 to that part of Scotland lying N. 

 and W. of a line drawn from Dum- 

 barton on the W. to Stonehaven on 

 the E. The limitations are vague, 

 but it is customary to exclude the 

 coastal parts of- Aberdeenshire, 

 Nairn, Elgin, and Banff, and the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands. It thus 

 denotes generally the mountainous 

 parts of the country and those, 

 apart from Caithness and the Ork- 

 neys and Shetlands, where the 

 Celtic race and the Gaelic speech 

 predominate. The physical con- 

 figuration of these parts, their 

 relative inaccessibility and barren- 

 ness, and the racial characteristics 

 of the inhabitants have combined 

 to give the Highlands a distinctive 

 place throughout Scottish history, 

 and the " Highland line" still marks 

 real differences in the life and 

 manners of the two portions of 

 Scotland. 



Inverness is usually counted the 

 capital of the Highlands. In the 

 glens and other fertile tracts agri- 

 culture is carried on, mostly in 

 small-scale farming ; the croft- 

 system prevails in many of the re- 

 moter districts. Sheep-rearing is 

 of great importance, sturdy hill- 

 sheep, especially of the black-faced 

 varieties, being bred in large 

 numbers. The grouse-moors, deer- 

 forests, and salmon fisheries are of 

 economic importance, and, apart 

 from the wealthy classes who enjoy 

 these sports, the summer months 

 bring numerous tourists, e.g. to 

 Oban, Kingussie, or Strathpeffer. 



The earliest history of the High- 

 lands is obscure ; neither ethnolo- 

 gists nor antiquarians have deter- 

 mined the precise development of 

 the possibly Iberian dwellers of 

 prehistoric times, of the Goidels, 

 Caledonians, and Picts or Cruitnigh. 

 The coming of S. Columba to lona. 

 A-.D. 563, marks the beginnings of 

 Christianity in the Highlands, but 

 their history throughout the Middle 

 Ages and the following centuries is 

 a long record of confused wars, 

 now with Norsemen, now with Low- 

 landers, now among the rival clans. 



The first great step towards 

 settling the Highlands was the 

 Statutes of lona, 1 609, when Bishop 

 Knox of the Isles arranged a com- 

 pact with the great chiefs to regu- 

 late such matters as the mainten- 

 ance of churches and clergy, the 

 reduction of the chiefs' retinues, 

 education, carrying of firearms, 

 maintenance of inns, etc. Later 

 came the road-building of General 

 Wade, 1725, and the wholesale 

 abolition of hereditable jurisdic- 

 tions of the great chiefs, 1748. But 

 conditions remained primitive until 

 well on in the 19th century. Agri- 

 culture was improved by the High- 

 land and Agricultural Society, 

 founded 1 784 ; but prolonged emi- 

 gration, and the great " clear- 

 ances " of crofting areas to make 

 room for sheep-runs in the early 

 19th century, left results which 

 are still felt in some districts. 

 Thus it is not uncommon to 

 find glens which now hold a mere 

 handful of inhabitants, where 

 formerly, as local records and the 

 remains of cottages and sheilings 

 attes't, scores of families were able 

 to subsist. But it is certain that, 

 under modern conditions, many 

 such tracts are economically more 

 fitted for sheep than smallholders. 



The spread of education and 

 improved transport facilities have 

 greatly modified the distinctive 

 life of the old Highlanders, but the 

 Gaelic tongue survives in many 

 parts, particularly in the W., either 

 alone or side by side with English. 

 The Celtic customs and folklore are 

 not forgotten, and the Highland 

 gatherings, e.g. of Braemar or 

 Blair Atholl, foster the old pipe- 

 music, dances, and sports. Indeed, 

 recent j^ears have seen a marked 

 revival of the old language, music, 

 and traditions which were in grave 

 danger of obliteration. See Celt ; 

 Clan; Gaelic; Scotland; consult 

 also History of the Highlands and 

 Gaelic Scotland, D. Mitchell, 1900; 

 Language and Literature of the 

 Highlands, J. S. Blackie. 1872. 



J. E. Miles 



HIGHLAND DRESS. A form of kil t 

 not uncommon in Europe in early 

 times. It was used notably by the 



Romans, was common to the Irish, 

 the Manx, the Welsh, and ancient 

 Britons, and is still the national 

 garb of the Albanians. In Scotland 

 it appears on the earliest known 

 records of that land, the sculptured 

 stones. Among these the Dupplin 

 Cross is cited by Skene; the St. 

 Andrews altar slab, found 6 ft. 

 below the ground, . is .referred to- 

 by Romilly Allen as bearing a 

 figure who * wears a plaid and kilt. 

 These monuments prove that the 

 ancient Scots, when hunting or on 

 horse -back, wore a kilt -like dress, 

 falling below mid-thighs, and a 

 plaid across the shoulders. Be- 

 neath the dress the Highlanders 

 wore what was called the lenicroich 

 or Highland shirt, in Ireland called 

 the lenn, which it was the custom 

 to dye with saffron. 



Early Form of Dress 



The Scottish dress differed from 

 the Roman, Welsh, and, at anv rate 

 from the later forms of, the Irish and 

 Manx kilts, in the important fact 

 that it an breacan feilidh formed 

 a covering for the whole upper part 

 of the body. It consisted of a great 

 piece of tartan cloth. This was 

 spread out upon the floor while the 

 owner carefully kilted, that is 

 pleated, one end of it. He then lay 

 down and fastened the kilted por- 

 tion round his waist with a belt. 

 The unkilted part lent itself to 

 great diversity of arrangement ; 

 one of the commonest methods was 

 to draw it up the back and on to 

 the front of the shoulder, where it 

 was fastened by a brooch of large 

 size, ornamented generally with 

 interlaced patterns and cairngorm 

 stones. This arrangement left a 

 picturesque loop at each hip. 

 The sword arm was unobstructed. 

 The back portion could "also be 

 formed into a cloak which covered 

 the head. The kilted portion was 

 shorter than is now customary 

 in the modern stitched and de- 

 tached kilt or feilidh' beag. 



The length of the breacan feilidh 

 was probably 12 yards. The short 

 jacket opened down the front as 

 in the time of the ancient Britons ; 

 the hose and the broad bonnet 

 came later. The latter, with its red 

 tourie, looks as though it had been 

 evolved from the round, oval- 

 topped morion which is shown on 

 the sculptured stones, notably on 

 the Aberlemno stone. 



The Glengarry bonnet was said 

 by Logan to be only some forty 

 years old, but it is improbable that 

 a race so loyal to ancient custom 

 should invent a new bonnet to 

 replace the older famous one. An 

 examination of the drawings of 

 the Forteviot stone, which is 

 probably as ancient as its model- 



