CALEDONIA. 



Having been tr.oi v of the Plfts have been extingiiirr.ed by tlieir fucccfsfifl 



ir country to the rivals ; and the Scots, after maintatniiig for ages the dignity 



R ,...„, ,hu i..J„lhio>,s people, in the conrfe of the third of an independent kingdo^r,, have rndtiphed by an equal 



;, bu ve . ow^s «L fta.lons. conllrnaed high- and voluntary un.o,r^ the honours of the Enghlh name, la- 



x:a's «t dol'n wood., drained marlhes. and introduced citus V.t. Agr.c. Crmcpl D.fTertations on the Or,g,n, An- 

 a^iiculturc into the country between the \va 

 ..f wl.ich are very Itvil, fertile, and fit for 



by huntinp.sr.don the fruits of their trees." 

 o'jUi^cd by Severus to furrender part of their < 



td.ui.h the Romans never formed any large or lalling efta 

 1 I,,! -.'tnt to the north of the wall bttween the Forth and 

 I .., yet many of t'lem, and of the provincial Britons, re- 

 t , >; into Caledonia at different linas, and on various occa- 

 lioiis. particularly about the end of the third century, m 

 order to cfcapc from the Diocl liaii perfecution. It is, 

 therefore, highly probable, that thtfe refugees inftrucled 

 the people among whom they fettled, not only in their re- 

 iigion, but alfo in their arts, particularly agriculture. The 

 callcni coafts of Caledonia were remarkably fit for cultria- 



Us. many parts tiquitics, &c. of the Cakdoniars, by Dr. J. Macpherfon. 



ir tiUatr.-. Al- Lond. 1768. 410. J. Macpheifon's Introd. to the HiU. of 



Great Britain and Ireland, Lond. 1773. 4to. Henry's 



Hill. vol. i. and ii. Gibbon's Hift. vol. iv. See Attacotti, 



Highlanders, Picts, and Scotland. 



Caledonia, a town in the country above defcribcd ; 

 which, Eccording to Buchanan, gave name to the country, 

 the people, and adjacent ocean. 



CALiDONiA5)'foa,alargeforeftinthefamecountry,covered 

 with lofty trees, and affording (heltei to wild a' d fierce beads. 



Caledonia, in Geography, a fca-port fettlcment, on the 

 north-well fide of the iilhmus of Darien, near the gulf of 

 Mexico, foiuided in 169S, by feme Scots families ; but 



tion, andthePias, who inhabited thcfe coafts, were very r .. —r n r j /- .1 

 early acquainted with agriculture, which they undoubtedly which, by the influence of tne Eaft India Company, they 

 learned from the Romans, or the provincial Britons. The were obliged^to abandon, in the yesr I 700. N. lat. 9 30. 

 name which was given to the Caledonians on the eaft, by W. long. 77° j6'. . ^ . 

 thofe of the weft, was " Cruitnich," which fignifies wheat Caledoni.'., a county of Vermont, in America, contain- 

 er corn cakes ; a proof that they were hufbandmen, and ex- ing 24 townftiips, and having to the S.E. Connefticut river ; 

 pr.filng the contempt or envy of the carnivorous hlglilander. to the N.W. Orleans and Chittenden counties; to the N.E. 

 There 15 alfo realon to believe, that the Caledonians of the Elfexcounty ; and to the S. W. Orange-county, of which, 

 weft, who, in the fourth century, began to be called till of late, it formed a part 



" Scots," denoting, in the Celtic language, wanderers or 

 vagrants, though they were of a more relUefs and wander- 

 ing difpofition than thofe of the eaft, and their country was 

 more mountainous, and not fo fit for cultivation, were not 

 altogether ignorant of agriculture at this period. The vi- 

 cinity of the Hebrides, profufel) fcattered along the weft- 



Caledonia, iYfw, a large illand of AuftralaGa, in the 

 Southern Pacific Ocean, extending from 19° 37' to 22" 

 ^o', S. lat. ; and from 16. J° 37° to 167° 14', E. long. Its 

 itngth fi\,:n north-weft to fouth-eall: is ab'ut 80 leagues ; 

 but its greateft breadth does not exceed JO leagues. It waB 

 dilcoveied by captain Cook, in 1774. He explored the 

 rn coaft of Scotland, tempted the curiofity of thefe weftern noith-wefttrn part of this ifland, and fays that this diftridl 

 Caledonians or Scots, and improved their (kill; and they was called " Balade ;" but D'Entrecailea'JX, who corn- 

 acquired, by flow degrees, the art, or rather the habit, of manded the expedition fitted out by the Conftituent Af- 

 managing their boats in a temptftuous fta, and of fleering fembly of France in fcarch of La Peroufe, in 1791 — 1794, 

 their nodurnal courfe by the light of the well-known ftars. vifited its fouth-weftern coaft. The reefs by which this 

 The ancient Caledonians, and other Britons, educated in part is bounded, are generally from 25 to .?o,oco toiles from 

 the midft of arms, and accuftomcd from their infancy to hear the land ; and it is rendered ftill more dangerous by the 

 nothing admired or cekbrated but valiant deeds in war, fouth-weft winds that blow in that quarter. Many moutr- 

 looked upon e%'ery profeflion but that of arms as dilhonour- tainous iflands and detached rocks ftretch from N.N.E. to 

 able ; and every employment but war as unworthy of a man E.N.E. and render this extremity of the ifland more dan- 

 uffpirit. To fuch an extravagant height did they carry gerous than the fouthern part. Some of thefe iflands are 

 thefe abfurd and pernicious notions of honour, that they feveral hundred toifes in extent ; they are very numerour, 

 imagined that thofe who followed any other employment, and encircled with reefs. Thefe iflands fecm to be a conti- 

 e.xcept tliat of arms, not oiily lived defpifed, and died unla- nuation of the mountains of the large ifland ; their bafes be- 

 mcntcd ; but that their fouls, after death, hovered in the ing covered by the fea, and their fummits rifing above it, 

 lower regions, among fens and marflies, and never mounted and forming fo many little iflands. The gradual diminution 

 the winds, nor mingled with the fouls of warriors in the airy of the height of thefe mountains affords reafon to fnppofe, 

 balls. Dio and Herodian fcem to intimate, that the Mce- that in thefe feas, flioals extending to a nreat dillance con- 

 a!i andCaledonians were naked in the beginning of the third tribute to augment the dangers of navigation. The ret fs 

 century, v.-hen they were invaded by the emperor Severus. that abound in the vicinity of this ifland, are coral rocks. 

 But thcfe authors probably meant no more than that thefe the well-known work of polypi. The land of New Caledo- 

 people were very imperfeClly clothed, or alinoft naked ; and nia, which is low towards it's fouthern extremity, rifes into 

 they ufe expreflions which admit of this interpretatiou. As mountains of moderate elevation, in a foutheaft or north- 

 the Romani never conquered the Caledonians, or northern weft direction, inclining towards the north. Hills, almoft 

 Britons, they cannot be fuppofed to have made any material deftitute of vegetation, rife like an amphitheatre towards 

 change m their language ; which is ftill fpoken by their the principal chain of mountains, and appear to be at leaft 

 potterity, in the highlands, and weftern iflands of Scotland, 900 toifes in perpendicular height, and direded towards the 

 wiiTilefs variation from the original Celtic (if we maybe- north-weft. D'Entrecafteaux and his companions of. 

 lievc fome of tlie beft judges m thefe matters,) than in any fervcd three ranges of mountains of different degrees of ek- 

 other part of Europe. ,..,,. nation, and hollows apparently formed by the fall of the 



As earl) as the reign of Conftantine, the inhabitants of rains, which were continued to the fiimmits of the moft an.l 

 .Scot,"" Z7 ^r,^"^^,Tr' T? ^''" '"J";i°f the mountains. Behind thefe high mountains they faw about 



we ha e obfcrved .t . if ' ^ ', T" P"^'^"^^ '^ %?'°=° '°''^^^ ^^•'""" '^' '^'"^' "^ich feemed to tower above 

 we ha^e "bfer.ed, the weftern ; and the latter, the eaftem all the reft, and to be at leaft 1200 toifes in perpendicular 

 divfion of that country. The power, and alznoft the me- elevation. From the middle of one of thefe mvi^s or hoi! 



lows 



