Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/424

 410 F B F O resorted to by Charles I. for raising a revenue independently of parliament, and the royal forests in Essex were so enlarged that they were hyperbolically said to include the whole county. The earl of Southampton was nearly ruined by a decision that stripped him of his estate near the New Forest. The boundaries of Eockingham Forest were increased from six miles to sixty, and enormous fines imposed on the trespassers, Lord Salisbury being assessed in 20,000, Lord Westmoreland in 19,000, Sir Christopher Hatton in 12,000 (Hallam s Constitutional History of England, c. viii.). By the statue 16 Charles I. c. 16 the royal forests were determined for ever according to their boundaries in the twentieth year of James, all subsequent enlargements being annulled. (B. R.) FORFAR, or ANGUS, a maritime county of Scotland, is situated between 56 27 and 56 59 N. lat., and between 2 26 and 3 24 W. long. It is bounded on the N. by the shires of Aberdeen and Kincardine, on the E. by the German Ocean, on the S. by the Firth of Tay, which separates it from Fife, and on the W. by Perthshire. Its greatest length from north to south is about 37 miles, and its greatest breadth from east to west 27 miles ; its average length is about 35 miles, and its average breadth about 25 miles. The area comprises 890 square miles or 569,840 imperial acres. Forfar presents great variety of surface. The northern division, comprising nearly half the county, is occupied by the Binchinnin hills or &quot; Braes of Angus,&quot; which form part of the Grampian mountain range, and join the &quot; Braes of Mar &quot; in Aberdeenshire. At the head of Glen Clova they rise boldly and abruptly, and are clothed in summer by a green covering of grass ; but for the most part they are rounded and rather tame, and covered with a thin coat of moorish soil bearing stunted heath. The highest summit is Glas Meal, 3502 feet, and a large number are over 3000 feet. The range is intersected by several wooded and fruitful valleys, the principal of which are Glen Isla, Glen Prosen, Glen Clova, Glen Lethnot, and Glen Esk. These are watered by streams that rise in the west and north, and commonly flow south-east, receiving the mountain torrents in their progress. Some miles south from the Grampians, and parallel to them, there is another and lower mountain range called the Sidlaw hills, the higher eminences generally covered with moor and heath, but the lower ridges cultivated or wooded. Their highest summits are Auchterhouse hill (1399 feet), and Gallow hill (1242); and a considerable number are above 1100 feet. The breadth of this range is from 3 to 6 miles. Between these two mountain districts lies Strathmore or the Great Valley, as the name means in Gaelic, or, as it is commonly called, the &quot; Howe of Angus,&quot; forming a con tinuation of the &quot; Howe of the Mearns,&quot; and having a breadth of from 6 to 8 miles, a district beautifully diversified by gentle eminences, fertile fields, plantations, villages, and gentlemen s seats, very little of it being 200 feet above sea-level. From the Sidlaw Hills to the German Ocean on the east and the Firth of Tay on the south there extends a tract of low and level ground, vary ing in breadth from 3 to 8 miles, and comprehending about a fourth part of the whole county. The southern shore is level and sandy, but from Arbroath to Lunan Bay the coast line is formed of sandstone cliffs, in some parts very steep and precipitous, and containing a number of caves, most of which are only accessible from the sea. The principal rivers are the Isla, the South Esk, and the North Esk. The Isla rises in the Grampians in the north west of the county, and flows from north to south through the glen which bears its name, until at Ruthven it bends to the westward and joins the Tay in Perthshire. Below the Bridge of Craigs it has cut a chasm, in some places more than 100 feet in depth, through a barrier of porphyry and gravel stone rocks, where it forms cascades of singular beauty. The South Esk has its source in the Grampians a few miles east of the Isla, and flows south-east till it reaches the valley of Strathmore, after which it takes an eastward course, and passing Brechin discharges itself into the basin of Montrose. The North Esk issues from Loch Lee, and, flowing first eastward and then south-east, forms for about 10 miles of its course the boundary between this county and that of Kincardine, and falls into the sea about 3 miles north-east of Montrose. Among the smaller streams are the Dean, a tributary of the Isla ; the Prosen, which falls into the South Esk ; the Mark, the Westwater, and the Cruick, which join the North Esk; the Dighty, which flows south-eastwards into the Firth of Tay at Broughty Ferry; and the Lunan, which empties itself into the German Ocean at Lunan Bay. There are a number of small lochs, the principal being Loch Lee, Lintrathen Loch, and the lochs of Forfar, of Rescobie, and of Balgavies, Geology and Minerals. In the northern portion of the Forfarshire Grampians the prevailing rock is granite, some of it very beautiful, and containing in its cavities topazes and rock crystals called &quot;cairngorms,&quot; from the mountain of that name in Aberdeenshire. Other portions of the Gram pians are composed of micaceous schist and porphyry, dykes of the latter in some places intersecting the former. Laminated mica is found in veins in mica slate, and rock crystals are found in the beds of torrents. Lead was at one time wrought at Gilfianan, above the old castle of Invermark, in the upper part of the parish of Lochlee ; and according to Edward, in his Description of Angus published in 1678, it yielded one sixty-fourth part of silver. It has also been wrought at Ardoch near Millden on the Esk. Limestone occurs in various parts of the Grampians, and jasper is frequently embedded in the micaceous schist. In the lower portions of the Grampians pudding-stone prevails, and afterwards sandstone. Clay marl is found both in Strathmore and the Sidlaw hills. Shell marl abounds in. the beds of the various lochs, some of which have been partly or wholly drained to render it easy of access. The Sidlaw hills are chiefly composed of sandstone of various colours. Sandstone flags are quarried in large quantities on the hill of Balmashanner, in the moor to the south of Forfar, in the parish of Carmylie, and along the southern declivity of the Sidlaw hills. In this sandstone district lies the famous Forfarshire Jishbed, containing the earliest known vestiges of vertebrate life. 1 In the maritime district there are numerous beds of red sandstone, which, however, are frequently intersected by whinstone and porphyry. The principal limeworks are in this division, at Hedclerwick near Montrose, and at Boddin in the parish of Craig. Climate and Agriculture. The climate differs consider ably in various parts of the county ; but is on the whole salubrious and favourable for agricultural pursuits. Ac cording to observations taken by Alexander Brown, LL.D., at Arbroath, for tsn years, from March 1868 to March 1878, the mean of the barometer, reduced to sea-level and a temperature of 32 F. was 29 -83 inches. The mean tem perature was in spring 46 1 F., summer 58 3, autumn 4:7 7, winter 39 *0. The mean annual rainfall was 29 8 inches. The average annual number of days whereon the wind was from the N. was 29, N.E. 15, E. 26, S.E. 28, S. 69, S. W. 36, W. 78, and N.W. 38, while 46 were calm. In Strathmore, owing to the proximity of the Grampians, the rainfall is considerably greater than in the maritime district. In these two districts the harvests are nearly as early as in 1 See paper by James Powrie, F.G.S., F.R.S.E., in Transactions of Edinburgh Geological Society for 1870.