on its waters down to Garmouth. The Spey is the mos rapid river in Scotland. Besides these rivers, numerou streams water the country in all directions, and add t its riches by their aid in moving machinery.

The chief lakes of Scotland are Loch Lomond in Dum bartonshire; Loch Awe in Argyllshire; Loch Tay, Lock Katrine, and Loch Earn in Perthshire; Loch Ness i Inverness-shire; and Loch Leven in Kinross-shire, celebrated for the fine trouts it produces, and on ac count of the castle on one of its islands having been fo some time the prison of Queen Mary.

fal

The climate of Scotland, compared with that of th greater part of England, is cold, cloudy, and wet; an corn, fruits, and vegetables, common to both division of the island, in general reach maturity a month soone in England than in Scotland. The annual mean tem perature is between 45° and 47° Fahr. ; the average of rain about thirty-one inches, though the differene between the east and west coasts has been estimated a one-fifth more in the latter than in the former. Th number of days on the west coast in which no rain fall has been estimated at 160, while on the east coast 23

have been given as the average. The winds which ge nerally prevail are westerly for about two-thirds of th year, and easterly gales, chiefly in spring and the earl part of summer, for about one-third.

Agriculture. That part of Scotland chiefly cultivate lies along the banks of the rivers and shores of the se and the heaviest crops are procured from the valleys o alluvial lands called Carses. In some of these, as i the Carse of Gowrie, the land lets high in proportion t other parts of the country. Of the computed area Scotland, amounting to 18,944,000 English acres, exclu sive of lakes, little more than a fourth, or five million of acres, are regularly or occasionally cultivated; an about two-thirds even of this is employed in grazing, i

The

raising crops for live stock, or is under fallow. remainder, about fourteen millions of acres, deducting about 900,000 acres as the estimated extent of the natural and planted wood, is only adapted for the pasturage of sheep. The smallest proportion of cultivated land is in the counties of Selkirk, Sutherland and Orkney, averaging only about six acres in the hundred; the greatest is in the counties of East, West, and Mid-Lothian. Including mines and fisheries, the medium rent of the land may be estimated at about five shillings per acre.

The mineral productions of Scotland are numerous and valuable. The great coal field, stretching across the country in a diagonal line from west to east, or from the Firth of Clyde at Dumbarton to St Andrews in Fife, and Haddington in East Lothian, is about ninety-eight miles long, with an average breadth of thirty-three miles, and estimated to extend over 600,000 acres. Coal has also been found in the county of Sutherland in the north, and in Dumfries-shire and Roxburghshire in the south, but has not been worked to any extent. Lime is very generally diffused, and is wrought in the neighbourhood of the collieries. It is extensively used for the amelioration of the land. Iron is also found very generally in the coal districts, and is wrought to a considerable extent, though some is still imported from Wales. Lead occurs in many parts of Scotland, and is wrought to a great extent at Leadhills and Wanlockhead, in the county of Dumfries. Marble is found in the Hebrides, Argyllshire, and Sutherland; granite and sandstone in the line of the Grampians. Greenstone and other species are abundant over all the country. The fine freestone, of which the greater part of the buildings in the New Town of Edinburgh are specimens, was chiefly taken from Craigleith and Hailes quarries, about two miles to the westward of the city. Plumbago is found in Dum

fries-shire, and roofing-slates of the best quality are dug in Argyllshire, Perthshire, and Peebles-shire.

The domesticated animals belonging to Scotland are similar to those found in the other divisions of the United kingdom. Among those in a wild state, (some of which are peculiar to certain districts,) may be mentioned the roe and the red-deer, the hare, (common and alpine,) the rabbit, the otter, the seal, the badger, and the fox; besides minor species, such as the squirrel, the weasel, the ermine, the martin, the hedgehog, the mole, and the pest of granaries and houses, the brown and black rat. The wolf and the beaver formerly existed, but the first has not been known in Scotland since 1680, nor the second since the twelfth century. In the rocky districts are found the golden eagle, and other birds of prey; the ptarmigan is found on the highest mountains ; and the capercailzie existed in the fir woods till the year 1745. Grouse, partridges, and water-fowl are plentiful, and the pheasant is now naturalized and abundant in the low country.

The fisheries form an important part of the productive labour of Scotland. The salmon-fisheries particularly are of great importance. Immense quantities of salmon, both fresh and pickled, are transported to the London market. The herring-fishery, formerly a source of wealth to the Dutch, has greatly increased of late years, and from the encouragement given to it by government, may soon become a source of wealth to this country. Of the total number of barrels cured, amounting to nearly 300,000 yearly, on which a bounty is paid, the proportion caught in England is less than one-twentieth part. And the fishery of cod, ling, &c. commonly known by the name of the white-fishery, from the inexhaustible supply of fine fish round the north coasts of Scotland promises, when full advantage shall be taken

of it, amply to make up for any deficiency under which it labours in point of soil and climate.

The manufactures of Scotland, chiefly in cotton and linen, are of vast extent, and employ an immense number of people. The numerous waterfalls, and the abundance of coal, so essential for steam-power, have given rise to large mills, both for spinning and weaving cotton; these compensate in a great measure for the raw material having to be brought from another hemisphere. The making of machinery of every description is an important article of manufacture. The casting of iron is carried on to a prodigious extent in all its branches.

The commerce of Scotland is extensive and increasing. Besides a coasting-trade with England, and an extensive land-trade, the ports on the east coasts carry on a considerable trade with the northern countries of Europe. The western coasts, on the other hand, trade to a very great extent with America and the West Indies; and the enterprise of Scottish merchants has found an outlet for the manufactures of the country in India, South America, and Australasia.

The revenue of Scotland has been progressive for many years, and contributes its full share to the exigencies of the state.

Politically, Scotland is divided into thirty-three counties or shires. Each county, (with the exception of Bute and Caithness, Clackmannan and Kinross, Cromarty and Nairn, which return only three members,) sends a member to the British Parliament; and the royal burghs, in number sixty-six, with the exception of Edinburgh, which sends a member by itself, are classed into districts, four or five combining in the election of a member, making together forty-five representatives in the House of Commons. The Peers of Scotland send sixteen of their own number to represent them in the House Lords.

Ecclesiastically, Scotland is divided into 899 parishes,

the cure of which is served by resident clergymen with very moderate stipends, averaging in the country parishes about L.200 a-year. Each parish has besides a parish school under the superintendence of the Presbytery, an institution which has proved of incalculable advantage to this portion of the empire, from the almost universal diffusion of the necessary branches of education. The church government is vested in Kirk-sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and the General Assembly. The dissenters from the established church do not amount to a fourth part of the population; and two-thirds of these differ from the established church rather in matters of unimportant discipline than doctrine. The poor are supported, with a few exceptions, by voluntary contributions; and although there are poor-laws in Scotland, yet poor-rates, which in England are so oppressive, may be said to be unknown.

The administration of Justice in Scotland, in civil causes, previous to 1532, was entrusted to an ambulatory committee of Parliament, who assumed the title of Lords of Council and Session. At that period, however, regular judges were appointed for this purpose, and the individuals connected with the Court erected into a body corporate by James V. under the title of the College of Justice. The members of the College of Justice consist not only of the Judges, but also of the faculty of Advocates, writers to the Signet, clerks of Session, and some others. The supreme civil Court at its original constitution consisted of fifteen judges, but this constitution has been modified by recent acts of Parliament. Two chambers or divisions have been formed of equal authority, and each of these divisions have separate Court-rooms. The number of judges has been, by a recent statute, reduced to thirteen, in place of fifteen. The Supreme criminal Court, or Court of Justiciary, is composed of a President with the title of Lord JusticeClerk, and five other judges appointed from the judges