ROSS-SHIRE. 



acres, which are in general inclofed ; but the reft of the 

 country is almoft entirely open field. Among the fmaller 

 tenants leafes ufually run from five to feven years, at the 

 end of which an increafe of rent is moft frequently demanded. 

 This limitation of leafes greatly retards improvement ; for 

 the tenant can reap but little benefit from his labour in fo 

 (hort a fpace of time ; and if he has done any thing more 

 than his neighbours, his farm is coveted, and he muft either 

 give a greater increafe of rent than it can properly bear, or 

 remove. There are fome eftates, however, in the leafing of 

 which a different practice has been adopted, to the mutual 

 advantage of the landholder and the tenant. 



The central and weftern diftrifts of Rofsfhire may be 

 confidered as exclufively devoted to pafturage ; the fmall 

 quantities of arable lands in the vallies bearing but a very in- 

 fignificant proportion to the extent of the country. Till 

 within the lad thirty years thefe diftrifts were inhabited by 

 a number of fmall farmers who maintained themfelves and 

 their families from the produce of the little fpots they had 

 to cultivate, and who, in favourable feafons, were enabled 

 to pay the trifling rent impofed by the landlord, from the 

 profit of the cattle they poffeffed. Thefe extenfive diftrifts, 

 particularly the central diftrift, are now converted from 

 cattle into fheep farms ; and there is no queftion of their 

 fuperior adaptation to the latter fpecies of flock. For every 

 pound of beef which a Highland cattle grazier can fend to 

 market, a fliepherd can at lead bring three pounds of mutton. 

 The wool alfo furnifhes the itaple for a ufeful and important 

 branch of manufacture. Hence the fhepherd can afford a 

 double rent with eafe ; and there can hardly exift a doubt 

 that property in the Highlands will, in procefs of time, be 

 tripled, or even quadrupled, by fheep farming. The re- 

 fult, however, upon the population of the country is be- 

 coming more and more evident. In proportion as capital 

 is acquired, farms augment in magnitude, and a fmaller 

 number of people find employment and lupport within a 

 given fpace. 



Live-Stock. — The cattle reared in the low parts of thefe 

 counties are chiefly intended for the dairy, and are a mixed 

 breed. The oxen and old cows are commonly fattened for 

 the butchers of Invernefs and Fort George. The breeds of 

 lheep kept are various. The pure Cheviots, a mixture of 

 that breed with the Leicefter, and a mixture of the latter 

 with the old white-faced horned breed of the country, are fre- 

 quently met with, and alfo the pure Leicefter. Some gentle- 

 men have introduced the South Down and the Merino, and 

 have fuccefsfully attempted croffes of thefe with the Cheviot 

 breed. The mountain breed is not larger than ponies, but 

 by care and attention in breeding, the fize and utility might 

 be greatly augmented. The breed of hogs kept by gentle- 

 men for their tables, is that of China ; but the country 

 people chiefly rear the large common fow. Turkies, ducks, 

 pea fowls, Guinea fowls, and common fowls, are reared by 

 moft of the families reiiding in the country, but only to 

 fupply their own confumption. Pigeon-houfes are very 

 frequent ; and bees are beginning to attraft confiderable 

 attention. 



Roads. — Through the cultivated parts of the county the 

 roads have been long noted for their excellence, though 

 there were no other means for making or repairing than the 

 ordinary ftatute labour. About feven years ago, however, 

 a bill for converting the ftatute labour into money was pre- 

 fented to parliament, and paffed into a law. By this aft, 

 the poft-road from the borders of the county of Rofs, near 

 Beauly, to its termination at the Frith of Dornoch, is to be 

 made turnpike ; and authority is given for the ereftion of 

 toll-gates every fix miles. The materials for making roads 



are every where found in great abundance ; but the number 

 of bridges required renders road-making very expenfive. 

 The roads forming by government, and the Highland 

 counties conjointly, will colt, on an average, 250/. per mile ; 

 though their breadth be only fifteen feet. The roads in the 

 mountainous diftrifts, if roads they can be called, are very 

 bad ; but moft of them are in progrefs of amelioration. 

 The road from Contin to Lochcarron is confiderably ad- 

 vanced. 



Towns and Villages. — In the united counties of Rofs and 

 Cromarty there are three royal boroughs, all of them 

 fkuated in the eaftern diftrift. Thefe are Tain, on the 

 fouthern fide of the Frith of Dornoch ; Dingwall, at the 

 inland extremity of the Frith of Cromarty ; and Fortrofe, 

 on the northern fide of the Moray Frith. Of the villages, 

 the moft worthy of notice are Cromarty, Ullapool, Fairn- 

 tofh, and Lochalfh : the laft has lately been conftituted a 

 burgh of barony. Fairntofh is remarkable for the fingular 

 privilege it enjoyed for nearly a century, of exemption from 

 excife, on condition of an annual payment of 400 marks 

 Scots. This right was refumed by government in 1786, 

 and the fum of 20,000/. was granted as a compenfation to 

 the proprietor. Before that period, Fairntofh whifkey was 

 proverbial for its purity and excellence ; and even yet, the 

 appellation of real Fairntolh is ufed to denote the beft 

 famples of that favourite Highland beverage. Fairs, mar- 

 kets, and " tryfts" for cattle, are held at various places 

 throughout the country ; fome of them eftablifhed by cuf- 

 tom, and others by afts of parliament. 



Manufactures and Commerce. — The only manvifafture 

 which has been eftablifhed in thefe counties is that of bifcuit 

 and cotton-bagging at Cromarty, with branches at Inver- 

 gordon and Port-Mahomack. This is carried on to a con- 

 fiderable extent. The bagging made at thefe places, and 

 at Invernefs, obtains a decided preference, under the name 

 of Invernefs bagging, where it is principally fold. Many 

 years ago, a flax manufaftory was attempted to be efta- 

 blifhed, but without fuccefs. With refpeft to commerce, 

 it may be obferved, that the chief exports are black cattle, 

 fheep, and wool, and a confiderable quantity of wheat and 

 oats. 



Antiquities. — Rofsfhire contains a confiderable number of 

 remains of antiquity, which are not unworthy of notice. 

 Thefe confift chiefly of Druidical temples, and Piftifh or 

 Danifh forts, called Duns, and of the caftles of the ancient 

 chieftains. In the parifh of Kiltearn, in the eaftern diftrift, 

 is a Druidical temple, confiding of a row of twelve large 

 Hones, fo difpofedasto form two conjoined ovals. Theareaot 

 each oval is 13 feet long and 10 feet broad in the centre. At 

 the weftern extremity of one of them is a ftone, which rifes 

 eight feet above the lurface of the ground ; but the other 

 ftones do not exceed fix feet in length. In the middle of the 

 weftern oval is a flat ftone, whieh was probably the altar ; and 

 at the diftance of three paces from the eaftern oval is a circular 

 hollow, faid to have been a well of confiderable depth, but 

 it is now filled up. Thefe ovals occupy the fummit of an 

 eminence, round which are drawn three concentric circular 

 ditches ; and at the diftance of half a mile to the welt- 

 ward is a cairn, 30 paces in diameter, containing in the 

 centre a grave 35 feet long, 18 inches broad, and 14 

 deep, lined by four flat ftones, and covered by another. 

 Cairns are alfo numerous on the adjoining hill. In the 

 parifh of Nigg, on the the fame coalt, flands a large obeliik, 

 on one fide of which are cut the figures of different animals, 

 and on the other a crofs. The former is fuppofed to be a 

 much older work than the latter ; and the tradition is, that 

 the ftone was erefted in memory of a fhipwreck, by which 



three 



