849 
SCOT 
ocean, about six miles below Dundee. In the Southern 
district we have the Forth, the Clyde and the Tweed, and 
the numerous rivers which empty themselves into the Irish 
sea and Solway frith; the Ayr, the Girvan, the Southern Dee, 
the Nith, the Annan and the Liddal. Besides these, there 
are numerous other rivers and streams of inferior note. The 
lakes or lochs of Scotland are numerous and extensive, and 
have been long celebrated for the grand and picturesque 
scenery by which their shores are embellished. Of these, 
the chief are Loch Lomond, Loch Aw, Loch Tay, Loch 
.Ness, Loch Shin, Loch Lochay, Loch Naver, Loch Leven. 
It is calculated that the rivers and lakes of this country might 
be converted into a very considerable source of profit if 
their owners would attend to a proper system of stocking 
and fishing. At present, these sources of profit are but 
partially turned to account. 
Few countries in Europe display a greater extent of sea 
coast. From Berwick, at the south-east extremity of the 
kingdom, the coast bends north-west to the Frith of Forth, 
which is an extensive bay, bounded by the counties of 
Lothian and Fife. The eastern part of Fife divides this frith 
from that of Tay, whose breadth does not exceed two or 
three miles. From the mouth of the Tay, the shore proceeds 
north-north-east to Kinnaird-head, the north-east extremity 
of Aberdeenshire. Between that promontory and the coast 
of Caithness, there is a vast bay of a triangular form, the 
base or eastern line of which is 70 miles. The interior part 
of this bay is subdivided into the iriths of Moray, Cromarty, 
and Dornoch, separated by narrow peninsulas. The north 
coast, between Duncansby-head and Cape Wrath, along the 
Petland frith, is bold, rocky and dangerous. Along the 
western shores are many openings or inlets, where the sea 
runs far inland, forming safe and commodious harbours. 
The entrance into the Frith of Clyde is a capacious bay, 
bounded on the one side by Ayrshire, and on the other by 
Cantyre, Arran and Bute. Thence the coast extends south¬ 
ward to the Mull of Galloway, the south-west extremity of 
Scotland. Between that point and the bottom of the Sol¬ 
way frith, lie the deep bays of Wigton and Glenluce. 
The bowels of the Scottish earth present a great variety of 
products useful to the arts and interesting to the mineralogist. 
This country cannot boast of mines of the more precious 
metals; but considerable quantities of gold and silver have 
been found at different times. 'When James V. married the 
French king’s daughter, a number of covered dishes, con¬ 
taining coins of Scottish gold, were presented to the guests 
by way of dessertand it appears, by the public records, that 
in one year there was coined in the mint of Scotland £48,000 
sterling of Scottish gold. No mines are now wrought solely 
for silver; but the lead mines are exceedingly rich in that 
metal. In the last century a rich silver mine was wrought 
in the Ochil hills, in the parish of Alva. Ironstone, iron 
ore, and septaria ironstone, are abundant. Copper has been 
discovered in many places. The other metallic substances 
hitherto discovered are cobalt, bismuth, manganese, wolfram, 
plumbago and mercury; the latter in very small quantities. 
Coal is abundant in the southern and middle districts; it 
runs in a direction from north-east to south-west, and is to 
be found in great abundance in that track, stretching across 
the island, and comprehended between the Ochil hills on 
the north, and the Lammermuir and Carrick hills on the 
south; but little or none has yet been discovered north of 
these hills. Limestone, freestone or sandstone, and slate, are 
found in every district, in the greatest abundance. Of late, 
too, some attention has been paid to the marbles, which 
prove but little inferior to those of Italy. Most of the 
gems and precious stones have been found in Scotland, 
the diamond excepted. Pearls are found in oysters and 
muscles, though of small size. The sapphire is found in 
several places, of different shades, from a deep red to a trans¬ 
parent white, and of equal hardness with the oriental. The 
topaz is found in abundance in the highest ground in Scot¬ 
land, in the Mountains of Marr, and in the extensive range 
which stretches towards Perth, Inverness, and Banff shires. 
It is the most brilliant of the gems hitherto found in Scot- 
Vol. XXII. No. 1545. 
LAND. 
land, and of a size not as yet observed in any other country, 
not even in Siberia, Saxony and Brazil. It occurs in rolled 
pieces, sometimes imbedded in the granite. They are most 
commonly of a light green, or greenish-white, and generally 
in hexahedral crystals. The ruby and hyacinth have been 
found near Ely, in Fifeshire, mixed with the sand on the sea 
shore, and adhering to the rocks. They are in general of 
inferior lustre, and of small size. Emeralds are found in 
several places; and amethysts are pretty frequently met with, 
particularly in the mountain of Lochnagaraidh, in Aberdeen¬ 
shire. Some of these are an inch in diameter, of good colour, 
and valued at 30 or 40 guineas each. Small specimens of 
the precious beryl, exactly similar to those of Siberia, have 
been found in the mountains of Marr, in Aberdeenshire. 
Garnets are found in many places of the Highlands, of good 
sizes, and in considerable quantities. Agates, under the va¬ 
rious names of onyx, sardonyx and pebble, are to be met 
with in every part of the country where basaltic rocks are 
found. Besides being found thickly strewed in the rock 
itself, they are to be met with in almost every brook in the 
vicinity of basaltic rock, from which, in the course of time, 
they have been washed by the rains. The Scotch pebbles 
are of many beautiful hues; blue and white, red and white, 
and frequently to be met with of all these colours blended 
together in veins, and in every gradation of shade. Although 
jasper is so abundant as to be included among the building 
stones, yet there are many delicate specimens to be met with, 
particularly in Ayrshire, which, from the fineness of the tex¬ 
ture, and elegant variety in the colour, are exalted into the 
class of gems, and cut into seals, ear-rings, snuff-boxes and 
other ornaments. The rock crystal is commonly denomi¬ 
nated eairngorum, from the mountain of that name in Banff¬ 
shire. But rock crystal is found in every mountain in the 
primary districts of Scotland, and in peculiar abundance on 
the mountains of Aberdeen and Banffshires. The colours of 
these crystals are yellow of different shades, and clove- 
brown approaching to black. The deeper yellow speci¬ 
mens sell high ; and are commonly, but improperly, termed 
by the jewellers, topazes. The clove-brown colours, more 
peculiarly termed cairngorums, are also valued in jewellery. 
Chalcedony is found in Fife, equal in hardness and water to 
the oriental. But, perhaps, the greatest mineral treasure of 
Scotland is her granite. This is found in distinct and dis¬ 
tant parts of Scotland ; but the most extensive tract is in 
Aberdeenshire, where it forms the great mountain mass of 
Cairngorm, Ben Avon, and the associated mountains on 
both sides of the Dee; ramifying also into Inverness-shire 
and Perthshire. Over some considerable tracts it is continu¬ 
ous ; but in others it is interrupted in that respect by patches 
more or less extensive, of the schistose rocks, which are 
superincumbent on the mass. From this great centre, the 
granite is found extending through all the lower parts of 
Aberdeenshire, even to Peterhead, and further north, till it is 
cut off by the superincumbent slate, and other rocks w'hich 
follow it in this direction. To the south of Banff it reap¬ 
pears in another considerable tract, and is there cut off again 
and terminated by the western mountains of this county. 
Proceeding northward, the next tract of granite lies on the 
east coast of Sutherland, occupying a space of about eighteen 
miles on the shore, or near it, and reaching into the interior 
country. 
The next granite to the north must be sought in the 
Orkney and Shetland islands, where it is very scattered, and 
seldom of any great extent. In Orkney in particular, the 
appearances are extremely minute, being confined to a small 
spot near Stromness, and another at no great distance from it 
in one of the neighbouring islands. In the Shetland islands, 
Foula presents an equally insignificant patch on its eastern 
shore; but on the main islands the appearances are more 
extensive. Here it chiefly occupies the western side of the 
Mainland, reaching in an interrupted manner, or in two 
distinct regions, from the north to the south of its widest 
portion. Ronas Hill, the principal eminence, is formed of 
granite. 
In the western Highlands, on the mainland, the appear- 
10 G ance 
