816 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



mansions dotted over the country. Tliese products have caused the villages 

 of this district to expand into populous towns, but it is only fair to observe that 

 hardly one amongst them possesses other sources of attraction than collieries and 

 iron works. Foremost amongst the towns to the east of the Clyde are Carluke, 

 in.s/inir with Cmiihiixiu't/iaii, MotJwncell, Iloli/toicn, BcIkhiU, and Calderhnnk, in the 

 valley of the Calder ; Airdrie, Coatbridge, Gartsherrie, Rosehall, and Tollcross, in 

 the northern part of tlie county. Far more inviting than cither of these is 

 Hamilton, at the confluence of the Avon with the Clyde, with the sumptuous 

 palace of its duke abounding in costly works of art, and its noble chase, in which 

 a remnant of the breed of Scottish wild cattle still browse. The staple trades of 

 Hamilton are hand-loom weaving and tambouring ; but Larlchall, Mothericcll, and 

 other coal and iron mining villages are in its neighbourhood, and at night the 

 horizon is illumined with the fires of numerous smelting works. The Avon flows 

 past Strathavon and Stonehousc, and near it is the famous Drumclog, where the 

 Covenanters beat Claverhouse in 1G79, only to meet a disastrous defeat soon after- 

 wards at Bothwell Bridge, 2 miles below Hamilton, and near the picturesque 

 ruins of Bothwell Castle. In its onward course the Clyde flows past the manu- 

 facturing villages of Camhushng and Rutherglen, whose swelling heights are crowned 

 with the villas of the wealthy merchants and manufacturers of Glasgow. 



This town, though more populous than any other in Scotland, and ranking 

 immediately after London, is not even the capital of a county. Glasgow, as 

 early as the fifteenth century, had 14,000 inhabitants, but its distance from 

 the sea and the small depth of the Clyde stunted its growth. At the time 

 of the union the port of the Clyde, now so prodigiously busy, had hardly any 

 commerce with foreign countries. Its position on the western coast precluded 

 it from competing with the towns of England in their traflic with continental 

 Europe, and the English colonies were at that time closed against her merchants. 

 But no sooner had the Act of Union placed Glasgow and Greenock on the footing 

 of English ports than they endeavoured to secure their share in the commerce with 

 America. They imported more especially the tobacco of Virginia and Maryland, 

 and when they lost their monopoly in this branch of commerce, other industries 

 had been created, and Glasgow increased rapidly in population. In 1801 it had 

 already 80,000 inhabitants, and the increase since then has been enormous. 

 Unfortunately this increase is entirely due to immigration, and not to an excess 

 of births ; for though Glasgow rejoices in the possession of magnificent parks, 

 its death rate exceeds that of Bombay and Calcutta. The crowds of half-famished 

 immigrants are so great, and the dens they inhabit are so unwholesome, that death 

 reaps a more abundant harvest here than in most of the other great cities of the 

 world. Irishmen without work, and numerous immigrants from the Highlands, 

 furnish fresh food to succeeding epidemics, and the narrow n-ynds are the 

 permanent abodes of consumption and fever. Yet between 18G6 and 1876 more 

 than 31,000 persons were driven from the most crowded parts of the city in 

 consequence of the opening of new thoroughfares. 



The 150,000 houses of the town extend . along both banks of the Clyde, but 



