Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/212

 200 INVERNESS The number of holdings in June 1880 was 6142. Of these there were 5616 of 50 acres and under, with a total extent of 47,772 acres ; 248 were between 50 and 100 acres, total 17,407 acres ; 237 between 100 and 300 acres, total 39,746 acres; 30 between 300 and 500 acres, total 11,408 acres; 9 between 500 and 1000 acres, total 6029 acres; and 2 above 1000 acres, total extent 4057 acres. Considerable enterprise has been shown in many districts in the im provement of land, and on the larger farms the best modern imple ments of husbandry are in use. The crofter system has very much decreased on the mainland, and some of the crofters now have leases of five, ten, or fourteen years, and have largely increased their cul tivated holdings by reclamation. On the larger farms a nineteen years lease is almost universal, and a five-shift course of cropping is the most common. Large numbers of admirable farm steadings have been erected within late years, and considerable progress has been made in the construction of suitable cottages for married ser vants. The acreage under wheat has been decreasing very much within late years : the area sown in 1878 was 352 acres, in 1879 only 82, and in 1880 146, while in 1855 it was 1539 acres. The best quality raised has always been that of the Aird and Beauly districts. Barley and bere were grown on 7855 acres in 1880 instead of 2220 in 1855. Much good barley is produced in the middle districts, such as Strathspey, Strathnairn, Strathglass, and Glenurquhart. Bere is grown mostly in the late districts and in the Western Isles. Most of the barley is manufactured into whisky in the county. Oats occupy more than three-fourths of the area under grain, 30,714 acres in 1880, instead of 13,704 in 1855. A considerable portion of this crop is of a light and inferior quality, the best being that pro duced on heavy clay land. There is a considerable area under rye, 814 acres in 1880 as compared with 125 in 1855. It is grown chiefly on the sandy hills south and east of Inverness. Under beans and pease there were in 1880 only 13 and 35 acres respectively. The extent under turnips and Swedes in 1880 was 11,084 acres, the proportion under Swedes being about one-sixth. Artificial manure is exten sively used for the turnip crop, and on many soils the yield is very heavy. Potatoes were grown on 8252 acres in 1880. The dry soil in many parts of the country is well adapted for this crop, and on the more extensive farms they often constitute a large item in the fanner s profits. The number of cattle in 1880 was 51,287 (24,061 in 1855), or an average of 40 5 to every hundred acres under cultivation, the aver age for Scotland being 23 - 2, and that for the United Kingdom 20 7. Of these the number of cows and heifers in milk or in calf was 22,208, and the number under two years of age 21,673. The prin cipal breed is the Highland, the largest and best herds of which are in the Western Isles. There are a few of the polled and shorthorn breeds, and Ayrshire cows have in many places been introduced for dairy purposes. Crosses of an indefinite description are numerous in the lowlands, but in many places their quality has been improved by the use of polled or shorthorn bulls. The number of horses in 1880 was 8938 (3485 in 1855), or 7 to every hundred acres under cultivation, the proportion for Scotland and also for the United Kingdom being 4 1. Large numbers of Highland ponies are raised on the hill farms. The breed of agricultural horses, which in 1880 numbered 6758, has been much improved by the introduction of Clydesdale stallions. The sheep numbered 711,910 in 1880 (567,694 in 1855), or 5637 to every hundred acres under cultivation, the proportion for Scotland being 149 - 3 and for the United Kingdom 63 &quot;5. The majority are either Cheviots or blackfaced, ot which the numbers are about equal, Cheviots having been for some time on the increase. Leicesters and half-breeds are kept in several of the lower districts of the country. The number of pigs in 1880 was 2897 (1667 in 1855), an average of 2 3 to every hundred acres under cultivation, the average for Scotland being 2 6 and that for the United Kingdom 6 0. Not much attention is paid to the character of the breed, especially by the crofters, who rear this stock chiefly for domestic consumption. According to the Returns of Owners of Lands and Heritages, 1872-73, the land was divided among 1867 proprietors ; its gross annual value was 361,848, 5s, and the average value of the whole 2s. 9^d. per acre. Of the owners 83^ per cent, possessed less. than 1 acre. There were no fewer than thirty proprietors owning more than 20,000 acres, while nineteen possessed upwards of 50,000 acres each, and an aggregate of nearly 1,900,000 acres viz. , Lord Lovat, 161,574; Earl of Seafield, 160,224; Macleod of Macleod, 141,679 : Evan Baillie, 141,148; Lord Macdonald, 129,919; The Mackintosh^ 124,181; Donald Cameron of Lochiel, 109,574; Sir G. Macpherson Grant, 103,372 ; Edward Ellice, 99,545 ; The Chisholm, 94,328 ; John Gordon of Cluny, 84,404; Sir John P. Orde, 81,099; Trustees of J. M. Grant, 74,646; Mrs Campbell, 74,000; Colonel George G. Walker, 70,940; Sir John W. Eamsden, 60,400; Earl of Dunmore, 60,000; James Baird, 60,000 ; Edward H. Scott, 59,123. Salmon yield a considerable rent on the rivers Lochy, Beauly, and Ness, and are found also in other streams and in several of the lochs. Red and roe deer, the alpine and common hare, black game and ptarmigan, grouse, partridges, and pheasants tenant the moors and woodlands. Foxes and wild cats are found, and otters are to be met with in the lakes and rivers. There are also eagles, hawks, and owls, and great numbers of waterfowl, particularly swans, resort to Loch Inch and the other lakes of Badenoch. The manufactures of the county are unimportant. At Inverness there are two woollen manufactories, two breweries, and a distillery. The principal distilleries are Ben Nevis distillery near Fort William, Ord distillery near Beauly, Carbost distillery in Skye, and two in the neighbour hood of Kingussie. There are flour mills in various parts of the county, and artificial manure is manufactured at Kirkton near Inverness. The Highland Railway traverses the eastern corner of the county, and enters it again near Campbeltown, skirting its northern shore by Inverness and Beauly. The only royal burgh is Inverness, the county town. The principal villages are Beauly (population 995), with some shipping trade ; Campbeltown (831), frequented as a bathing-place, and possessing a chalybeate spring ; Fort William (1562), near Ben Nevis, with herring and salmon fisheries ; Kingussie (645) ; and Portree (893), in the Isle of Skye, having considerable export trade in cattle, sheep, and fish. The population of the county, which was 88,261 in 1861, and 87,531 in 1871, was found in 1881 to be 90,414 (43,785 males and 46,629 females). The maximum population was reached in 1841, when it was 97,799. In 1801 it was 72,672. The county returns one member of parliament ; and the burgh of Inverness unites with three others in returning a second. At an early period Inverness was included in the kingdom of the Northern Picts, its mainland portion forming part of the provinces of Moravia and Arguthecla. The latter province with the islands subsequently became the possession of the Norwegians, but was afterwards known as Ergadia, and was divided into three portions, Ergadia Borealis, Ergadia quae ad Moraviam pertinet, and Ergadia qu;e ad Scotiam pertinet. For some time the capital of the Pictish kings was at Inverness in Moravia. The province was for a considerable period ruled by the mormaers of Moray,, one of whom was the well-known Macbeth. The last of these mormaers was defeated by David I. Early in the 13th century the province, which up to that time had been included under one sheriffdom, was divided into the sheriffdoms of Inverness, Elgin, and Nairn. Among the antiquarian remains of Inverness-shire are a large number of the so-called Druidical circles, especially in the northern part of the county. At Inshes, 2 miles from Inverness, there are remarkable cromlechs ; and at Clava near Culloden there are large remains of old chambered sepulchres. Numerous traces exist of ancient pit dwellings similar to those of the Picts but of inferior masonry, and there are remains of crannogs or old lake dwellings at the Loch of the Clans and Loch Beauly. Two examples of the old Pictish towers still exist at Glenelg in a state of almost perfect pre- servation, and there are others in Glenmore and elsewhere. Among the vitrified forts the principal are those on the hill of Craig Phad- raig, with ten others stretching into the interior; Dundbhairdghall on Ben Nevis; and Dun Fhion or Fingal s fort on the top of a conical hill near the river Beauly. The principal examples of other ancient fortresses are Castle Spynie, an extensive ruin on a hill about 700 feet above the plain and 2 miles east from the church of Beauly, and the remains of massive fortifications on the summit of a steep hill in the parish of Laggan. Among the old castles may be mentioned Urquhart castle, besieged and taken by the officers of Edward I. in 1303, and Inverlochy castle near Fort William. The county formerly contained three military forts. Of these Fort George, on the Moray Firth, 12 miles east of Inverness, built in 1747-67, at a cost of 160,000 is now used only as barracks; Fort Augustus, at the west end of Loch Ness, originally erected in 1730, and rebuilt after having been demolished by the rebels in 1745, is now almost obliterated, a palatial Benedictine monastery having been erected on its site; Fort William, on Loch Eil, built in the reign of William III., remains in good preservation, but is inhabited by civilians. On Culloden Moor to the eastward of Inverness was fought the battle (April 10, 1746) which closed the rebellion of 1745-46. INVERNESS, a royal, parliamentary, and municipal burgh of Scotland, the capital of the above county, is finely situated at the northern end of Glenmore, on both sides of the river Ness, about half a mile from its mouth, and