ABERDEEN IN ITS REGIONAL SETTING 5 
The conditions of life have never been easy in the North-east. By the 
labour of successive generations and with infinite toil the farm lands have 
been won from the moorland and waste ; to-day in the higher lying parts 
of the region, as in other parts of Scotland, fields which had fifty or a 
hundred years ago been brought under the plough, are now, owing to 
changed economic conditions, reverting to moorland. ‘The climate is 
dry, the average rainfall being about 30 in. per annum, but it cannot 
be described as genial. Rather is it rigorous and bracing, and this and 
the absence of great natural wealth in the district have produced a strong, 
hardy race of people, enured to toil and accustomed to self-denial, but full 
of resource and resolute for progress. The qualities supposed to be 
typical of Scotsmen are to be found raised to the mth degree in the people 
of the North-east. They are a folk reserved and shy and lacking perhaps 
in the outward graces of life, but it would be a complete mistake to think 
that they are wanting in imagination or in artistic appreciation, for in the 
past the countryside was rich in ballad lore, and to-day, in the movement 
for community drama and acting which is such a happy feature of rural 
life, the North-east sends forward a larger number of competing teams in 
proportion to its population than any other part of Scotland. 
While the North-east cannot boast any writer of the class of Burns, Scott, 
or Carlyle, it can claim an exceptionally large roll of men of high compe- 
tence and ability, particularly in the field of science and medicine. 
Prof. James Ritchie, in a paper on ‘'The Genius of the Aberdonian ’ 
(Aberdeen University Review, vol. xv, pp. 193-205), describes the mentality 
of the Aberdonian as ‘ a bent for minute, detailed work ; for accuracy in 
the small things.’ This has found expression in scientific work, and 
especially in the practical application of scientific knowledge, and in a 
subsequent article an account is given of leading names in this field. At 
the same time it is only right to say that in other walks of life—in 
classical study, in letters and in art—names not a few might be cited 
which evidence the all-round capacity of the people. 
IL. 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE NORTH-EAST 
BY 
JOHN McFARLANE, M.A., M.Com. 
A visitor to Aberdeen, taken to Rubislaw Quarry on the western margin 
of the city and shown the surrounding country from the height of a small 
eminence there, might at first be surprised to learn that, if he were to 
proceed due west from where he stood, it would be necessary for him 
