ANDERSON'S

TOURIST'S GUIDE THROUGH

SCOTLAND.

INTRODUCTION.

SCOTLAND, which long served the sister kingdom as the object of ridicule and contempt, has now, by one of those singular changes in the ever-varying opinions of men, become as much the idol of admiration, as it was before decried. It owes this, in some respect, to the very barrenness which excited the contempt of her more richly-endowed sister. In this northern portion of the British isle, Nature has indulged her freaks for the sublime and beautiful,-has frolicked in her pastimes and pleasures, rearing up huge mountains, and excavating ravines and chasms, and fantastically besprinkling them with heath, and birch, and moun tain-ash, over which toss and tumble her snow-white streams; while in England, in a more sober and monotonous mood, she has spread out her rich valleys, uninterrupted by a single hillock, and sent out her sluggish flowing streams, having an eye to the useful 'much more than the pleasing.

Yet it is astonishing how long prejudice withheld the eye of taste from these beauties. While Continental Alps were visited with rapture, the mountains and lakes of Scotland were disregarded. Smollett endeavoured to bring into notice the splendid scenery of his native Loch Lomond; but his satire is not much exaggerated, when he describes Tabitha Bramble as carrying down with her from London packages of mutton, because she understood that nothing but sheeps' heads were to be got in Scotland. So late as the year 1772, the existence of Staffa, containing that wondrous temple "not made with hands," was unknown, till it was visited and described by Sir Joseph Banks, and, two years after, by Johnson, in his tour with Boswell to the Hebrides.

But it is to our mighty Magician of later times, that Scotland owes its deepest debt of gratitude. That great genius, enthusiastically alive to all that is beautiful and sublime in nature, and full of the finest feelings of patriotism, has dipt his pen in the brightest hues of fancy, and embodying his scenes with the human interest of legendary and domestic story, has imparted a never-dying interest to the localities of his native land. Perhaps there never was a greater triumph of genius witnessed than to behold, year after year, thousands of travellers, from all lands, and of every description, coming to gaze on those scenes to which their imaginations were first directed by the magic pen of SCOTT.

The picturesque scenery of Scotland may be classed under four heads: The River Scenery, the Mountain, the Lake, and the Island.

Four principal rivers flow through the country,

swelling their winding currents by numerous tributaries: three of these terminating in the ocean by broad and extended estuaries. On the south is the Tweed, taking its rise on the borders of Lanarkshire, and flowing with a placid course through the rich and fertile valleys of Roxburgh and Berwick shires, to the sea at Berwick. On the east are the winding Forth and the Tay. On the west, the Clyde pursues its more direct course to the sea; and on the north, the Ness and the Beauly join their waters to form the Moray Firth. Throughout the course of all these rivers are to be found scenes of varied beauty and fertile richness. A great mountain-chain, called the Grampians, intersects Scotland from east to west, while subordinate ranges break off from these in various directions. Along the centre of this range are scenes of the most wild and savage grandeur, such as Glencoe, Ben-Nevis, Ben-Cruachan, Leney, Killicrankie, and the scenery of the source of the Dee; while amid the depressions between these towering mountains, several chains of lakes spread out their deep blue waters, and give relief and lightness to the magnificent scenery around. Of this kind are the Lochs Lomond and Katrine; Loch-Tay, Loch-Awe, LochNess, Loch-Leven, and many others, constituting the rich and varied scenery of the Lakes. In the following routes, we have so far endeavoured to follow the natural arrangement of the scenery.

But Scotland is not celebrated altogether for the picturesque; she has also her rich carses and grassy meadows, her busy towns and flourishing manufactories, all calculated to interest the man of facts and utility, as well as the man of fancy and taste. Perhaps, too, these

valleys shew a superior excellence of culture, and these towns an excelling energy of exertion and ingenuity, from the very circumstance of the prevalent barrenness around: while the rich soil and genial climate of the Englishman encourages to indolence and ease, the bare moor and the chill blast of the north, stimulates the hardy and shrewd native of the soil to more increased and unremitting exertions.

The whole superficies of Scotland contains nearly nineteen millions of acres. A great proportion of this, however, is mountain country, and only about five millions of acres are under regular cultivation. The Highland district embraces the midland counties of Perth, Inverness, Argyle, Dunbarton, &c. where there is least arable land. The Lowland district, south of the Tay, consisting of the Lothians, Haddington, and Berwick shires, is the most fertile. According to the census of 1831, the population amounted to 2,363,842, which is a rapid increase since the first estimate was attempted in 1755. It was in that year computed at 1,265,380. The census of 1811 amounted to 1,805,000, of 1821 to 2,093,456. The average population for the square mile is about seventy persons. In Sutherlandshire, one of the most thinly peopled, there are only three persons to each mile; in Edinburghshire there are 541 to the square mile.

The manufactures of Scotland are now on a most extensive scale, that of linen and cotton goods being the chief. Distillation from grain is carried on to a large extent. The amount of spirits manufactured in 1829 was six millions of gallons. An abundant supply of coal is afforded from the extensive coal-fields of Edinburgh and Lanark shires. Iron and lead, to a

considerable extent, are also found; but the other metals are by no means plentiful. Marble, limestone, and sandstone, of excellent quality, are very plentiful. The chief emporium of trade and manufacture is Glasgow; next follow Aberdeen, Paisley, and Dundee. The fisheries of Scotland are carried on to a very considerable extent; and of these salmon and herrings are largely exported.

Scotland is divided into thirty-three counties or shires. Each county now returns one member to parliament, with the exception of Elgin and Nairn, which jointly return one; Ross and Cromarty, Kinross and Clackmannan, doing the same. The cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow send two members each, and Aberdeen, Paisley, Dundee, Greenock, and Perth, return one member each. The other towns are classified into fourteen districts, each district returning a member. There are thus thirty members for the counties, and twenty-three for the burghs.

There are 1066 parishes in Scotland, each of which has a clergyman and a parish-school. The parishes are divided into Presbyteries and Synods; and the General Assembly, which meets annually in Edinburgh, is the supreme ecclesiastical court.

The supreme civil court, called the Court of Session, for the general administration of justice, is held in the Parliament-House, Edinburgh. It consists of thirteen judges. Six of these, with the Lord JusticeGeneral as president, constitute the criminal court.

Throughout almost every part of Scotland the roads are good, in many parts excellent. The picturesque scenery may all, with very few exceptions, be visited in a carriage. Steam-boats upon the lakes and rivers