1857.] 79 



TOUE IN SCOTLAND. 



General Summary or Results of our Tour in Scotland. 



The impressions or recollections of the scenes already noticed 

 and partly described, the general features of the country, and the 

 aspects of its vegetation, now only remain to be briefly stated. 



We had now travelled nearly 400 miles in Scotland ; the half 

 of this distance on foot : we had crossed Scotland's most cele- 

 brated rivers, the Tweed, the Forth, the Tay, and the Clyde ; had 

 paid our respe'cts to the sites of Scotland's ancient renown, Ber- 

 wick, Edinburgh, Stirling, and Perth. The general results of 

 the whole are now to be deduced and offered to our readers. 



On the eastern Borders, from Berwick to Edinburgh, along 

 the coast — for the railways generally select the flattest parts of 

 every country — the landscape is by no means interesting. It is 

 far more fertile — at least after we crossed the Tweed the crops 

 were better than on the southern side of that river, — and the 

 country was not quite so tame, bleak, and cheerless, as it is in 

 Northumberland along the coast ; but this is not high praise. 

 The belt of fertile land between the Lammermuir Hills and the 

 coast is well cultivated, and this year (1856) at least gave promise 

 of an ample return to its cultivators. The hills beyond were 

 " in pastures green," as all the hUls -of the south-west parts of 

 Scotland are, and grazed by both cattle and sheep. 



There were seen abundant proofs of human labour, but of the 

 inhabitants and their dwellings little was visible from the railway. 

 The road passes through a rich and well-tilled country ; but few 

 villages and no towns were in sight till we reached Dalkeith, near 

 Edinburgh. Here and there a park was observed, well sheltered 

 and ornamented with trees, and now and then there was a narrow 

 ravine, the sides of which were too steep for cultivation ; these 

 were fringed with plantations; otherwise, where the land was 

 convertible into tillage fields, few trees were visible. The country 

 upon the whole has rather a bare, uniform, and unpicturesque 

 appearance. On approaching the capital, Arthur's Seat, the 

 Berwick Law, and the hills of Eife give relief to the uniformity 

 of the scene ; but these elevations are as bare of everything save 

 grass as the sea-shore, or as the summit of Ben-mac-dui. Craig- 

 miller Woods on the left, though at a distance, give an aspect of 

 richness to the scenery. 



