sect. V. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 309 



trade : but some of them also for other ports in 

 Scotland. The crooked wood is mostly import- 

 ed from Hamburgh ; and the planks, partly from 

 Dantzick, and partly from England. About 

 120 men may be employed in this business. 

 This branch of our manufactures, though carried 

 on upon a comparatively small scale, is, never- 

 theless, productive of considerable advantage to 

 the place ; as, besides the number of hands en- 

 gaged in building, it furnishes employment for 

 many others in importing the materials, and in 

 manufacturing the cordage, sail-cloth, iron work, 

 &c. which such a business requires. 



Leather is manufactured in several parts of 

 Fife, particularly at Kirkaldy, Cupar, Auchter- 

 muchty, and Falkland. This branch of busir 

 ness employs about 40 hands, who manufacture 

 rnnually between 9,000 and 10,000 hydes of 

 oxen and cows, perhaps as many calf skins, and 

 some seal-skins. Such proportion of the raw 

 hydes and skins, as Fife cannot supply, is brought 

 from the neighbouring counties, from the North 

 of Scotland, from Ireland, and sometimes from 

 Holland. About 560 tons of oak-bark are an- 

 nually consumed by the tanneries, purchased 

 partly in England and Scotland, but, owing to 

 the great rise in the price of British bark, prin- 

 cipally from Germany and the Netherlands. 

 The quantity of leather annually manufactured, 

 is about 164,000 libs. It consists of all the usual 

 kinds, whether for shoes, saddles, harness, or 

 other purposes, and is disposed of in Fife and 

 in other places in Scotland. The annual return 

 it brings at an average, is about 30,000 1. j and 



