& (G-O, Toi Ay N-. Dz 
~ To the north the firth of Cromartie, and the firth of Zayne, the Vara A/tua- 
rium, penetrate deep into the land. From Dernoch, the coaft of Sutherland is 
_low and fandy, except in a few places : one, at the water of Brora, is diftinguifh- 
ed by the beauty of the rocky fcenery ; in the midft of which the river precipi- 
tates itfelf into the fea, down a lofty precipice. The Scottifs 4/ps, which hereto- 
fore kept remote from the fhore, now approach very near; and at the great pro- 
montory, the Ripa Alta of Ptolemy, the Ord, i.e. Aird of Cathnefs, or the Height 
of Cathne/s, terminate in a moft fublime and abrupt manner in the fea. The 
upper part is covered with gloomy heath; the lower is a ftupendous precipice, ex- 
cavated into vaft caverns, the haunt of Seals and different fea-fowl. On the 
eaftern fide of the kingdom, this is the ftriking termination of the vaft mountains 
of Scotland, which form its Highlands, the habitation of the original inhabitants, 
driven from their antient feats by the anceftors of Lowland Scots, defcendants 
of Saxons, French, and Normans, congenerous with the Lvglifh, yet abfurdly 
and invidioufly diftinguifhed from them. Language, as well as ftriking natural 
boundaries, mark their place. Their mountains face on the weft the Atlantic 
ocean ; wind along the weft of Cathne/s ; among which Morvern and Scaraben, 
Ben-Hop and Ben-Lugal arife pre-eminent. Sutherland is entirely Alpine, as are 
Rofs-frire and Invernefs-fbire. Their Summa Alpes are, Meal Fourvounich, the Cory- 
arich, Benewifh, and Benevifh near Fort William; the \aft of which is reported 
to be fourteen hundred and fifty yards in height. Great part of Aberdeenfbire 
lies in this tra. It boafts of another Morvern, foaring far beyond the others : 
this is in the centre of the Grampian hills, and perhaps the higheft from the fea 
of any in Great Britain. They again comprehend the eaftern part of Perth- 
fire, and finifh on the magnificent fhores of Loch-lomond, on the weftern fide of 
which Ben-lomond rifes, diftinguifhed among its fellows. From hence the reft of 
North Britain forms a chain of humbler hills; but in Cumberland, part of Wef- 
moreland, Yorkfhire, Lancafbire, and Derby/bire, the Alps refume their former ma- 
jefty. A long and tame interval fucceeds. The long fublime tra& of Wales 
arifes, the antient pofleffion of the antient Briti/h race. From the Ord, the great 
mountains recede inland, and leave a vaft flat between their bafes and the fea, 
fronting the waves with a feries of lofty rocky precipices, as far as the little creek 
of Staxigo ; the whole a bold, but moft inhofpitable fhore for fhipping. Wick and 
Staxigo have indeed their creeks, or rather chafms, which open between the 
cliffs, and may accidentally prove a retreat, unlefs in an eaftern gale. 
Sinclair and Frefwick bays are fandy, and afford fafe anchorage: from the laft 
¢he country rifes into lofty cliffs, many compofed of {mall ftrata of ftones, as re- 
gular as a mafon could lay them; and before them rife infulated flacks or co- 
Cz lumns 
XIX 
Orp or Caru- 
NESS. 
Hicutanp ApS, 
ENGLIsu. 
CaMBRIAN. 
