EOSS AND CEOMAETY. 373 



Excepting Inverness, there is no town or village in the county whose population 

 exceeds 1,200 souls. Gaelic is still spoken by 83 per cent, of the population. 



If Inverness, the " capital " of the Highlands, could be suddenly transported 

 6^ of latitude to the south, to a milder climate, it might become one of the great 

 cities of the world ; for its geographical position upon a deep firth, and at the 

 mouth of a cleft which crosses a whole kingdom from sea to sea, is exceptionally 

 favourable. But the north of Scotland is too cold and inhospitable to give 

 birth to a great city. Still Inverness is a town of noble appearance, and its 

 commerce is not inconsiderable. The site of Macbeth's ancient castle is now 

 occupied by a castellated court-house. Culloden Moor, upon which the fortunes of 

 the royal house of Stuart were for ever wrecked, stretches along the Inverness 

 Firth, below the town. CamphelUown, near the entrance to the Firth, which is 

 guarded by Fort George, and Beanh/, at the mouth of Strath glass, are merely 

 villages. At Kirkhill, near the latter, is the county lunatic asylum. Fort 

 Augustus, at the head of Loch Ness, has recently been converted into a Jesuit 

 college ; whilst Fort William, at the southern terminus of the Caledonian Canal, 

 has grown into the second town of the county. Near it are Banavie, the ruins of 

 Inverlochy Castle, and a famous distillery which supplies the " dew " off Ben Nevis, 

 which looks down calmly from the other side of the valley. The villages of 

 Kingussie and Newtonmore, in Strathspey, derive some importance from their 

 position on the Highland Railway which connects Inverness with the basin of the 

 T^y. It crosses the Pass of Drumouchter, or Dulwhinni (1,450 feet), between 

 Badenoch and Athol. 



Portree, the capital of the Isle of Skye (i^ee p. 347), is a small village on the 

 steep side of a land-locked harbour. Near it is a stalactite cavern in which Prince 

 Charles lay concealed for a time. 



The united shires of Ross and Cromarty stretch from sea to sea. Along their 

 eastern seaboard lies a fertile tract of old red sandstone and alluvial soil, 

 forming the peninsula of Black Isle, between Inverness and Cromarty Firths, and 

 a second peninsula which terminates in Tarbat Ness, between the latter and 

 Dornoch Firth. The bulk of the country consists, however, of sterile and almost 

 deserted moorlands and mosses. The backbone of the Grampians runs nearer to 

 the western than to the eastern shore, extending from Ben Attow northward 

 through the Diresdh Mor, Ben Dearig (3,551 feet), and Badnagown Forest, 

 or Freevater, to Ben More Assynt (3,281 feet), but towards the east there 

 lies the bold mass of Ben Uaish, or AVyvis (3,425 feet), almost insulated. The 

 western coast is indented with numerous lochs, chief amongst which are Loch 

 Broom, to the north of the Gruinard district, on which stands the fishing village 

 of Fllapool ; Loch Ewe, continued by the inland Loch of Mai-ee, at whose head the 

 Sleugach rises to a height of 4,000 feet; the Gareloch ; Loch Torridon, with the 

 village of Shieldag, one of the most remarkable on account of its land-locked inner 

 basin ; Loch Carron, to the south of Applecross district, with the fishing village 

 of Jeantown ; and Loch Alsh. The bulk of the population is, however, gathered 

 along the eastern seaboard. Here, on the northern shore of Inverness Firth, are 



