Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/725

 SCOTLAND 699 nite. The mountain range called the southern highlands, which crosses the island from St. Abb's Head on the North sea to Loch Kyan, is formed by these strata. These mountains sel- dom rise above 2,000 ft., and are clothed to the summit by grass or moss. On the English bor- der are the Cheviots, a group consisting of feldspar porphyry and trap rocks. The princi- pal valley of this region is that of the Tweed, which embraces some very fertile land. West of the valley of the Tweed are the vales of the Liddel, Esk, and Annan, the lower portions of which are peat bogs, the site of ancient forests, which have been in great part drained and cultivated. 2. The central or newer palaeozoic region embraces the basins of the friths of Clyde, Forth, and Tay, and has an area of about 5,000 sq. m. It consists of the Devo- nian or old red sandstone and the carbonifer- ous formations, with the surface extensively covered by trap rocks. The coal measures are largely productive in rich beds of bituminous coal, iron ores, and fire clay. Much of the coal is cannel, and is largely exported for gas works and domestic consumption in other countries. The boghead cannel is especially famous for producing gas and coal oil. The iron ores are worked on an immense scale, especially the variety known as the black band; and the product of the blast furnaces of this region has long been exported in large quantities to the United States, where it is known by the name of Scotch pig. South of the Forth are the Pentland hills, and north of it the Kilpatrick, Campsie, Ochil, and Sidlaw hills, a range of trap rocks. Among the re- markable isolated trap hills in this district are Arthur's Seat and the Lomond hills, and the rocks on which are built the castles of Edin- burgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton. 3. The north- ern division, or the region of the crystalline and metamorphic rocks, comprises the whole of Scotland N. and W. of the central division, or beyond a line drawn from the frith of Clyde on the S. "W. to Stonehaven on the opposite coast. This region has an area of 19,000 sq. m., and comprises the highlands. Its south- ern boundary is a narrow zone of clay slate, which is extensively quarried for roofing slates. North of this is an irregular band of mica slate, which begins in the peninsula called the Mull of Cantyre, and extends in a N. E. direction to the E. coast. Beyond this is an extensive formation of gneiss covering about 11,000 sq. m. This is throughout broken by granite, sometimes in small veins and in other places in huge mountain masses, forming some of the highest summits in Scotland. Among the oth- er igneous rocks of this region, the most im- portant is porphyry, which forms the moun- tains of Glencoe and the summit of Ben Nevis, the highest point of the British islands. Next on the W. coast is the red sandstone formation, with the superposed quartzite and limestone, constituting a series of lofty mountains, of which the principal peaks are about 3,000 ft. high. The N. and E. extremity of the main- land is mostly covered by the old red sand- stone or Devonian formation, which spreads N. over the Orkneys and part of Shetland. On the N. E. coast are newer secondary de- posits of limited extent, the most important of which are patches of lias and oolite in Aber- deenshire, Elgin, Cromarty, and Sutherland, and greensand and chalk flints in Aberdeen- shire. Lias and oolite beds are widely diffused on the W. coast and around the shores of some of the islands. In the islands of Skye, Mull, and Morven, and in Lorn on the mainland, these beds are covered by trap rock, showing that for a long period this part of Scotland was subject to volcanic action. The climate is so tempered by the influence of the ocean that, notwithstanding the high northern latitude of the country, the thermometer rarely falls to zero, nor does it often rise above 80 in sum- mer ; the mean temperature is 47. The prev- alent winds are from the west, and the record of meteorological observations shows that du- ring more than two thirds of the year the direc- tion of the wind is from N. W. or S. W. In some places among the mountains the annual fall of rain is nearly 100 inches, while in other parts of the country it is only 24 inches. Ob- servations made at 55 stations during 1872 showed the following results: highest temper- ature in the shade 85 - 3, lowest 10; mean day temperature 52'6, mean night tempera- ture 41'1, mean temperature 46'9; number of rainy days, 217; rainfall, 54'15 inches; mean barometer, 29 - 698. Easterly winds pre- vailed 112 days, and westerly 147 days. The flora of Scotland does not differ materially from that of England, though there are some peculiar plants which grow only in certain re- stricted localities. The number of flowering plants and ferns is estimated at 1,200. Among those of a peculiarly Scottish type are the globe flower, crowberry, trientalis Europcea, primula farinosa, haloscias Scoticum, and Mer- tensia maritima. There are 37 species of in- digenous land quadrupeds, among them the red, fallow, and roe deer, the hare, rabbit, fox, badger, otter, wild cat, weasel, and hedgehog. Bears and wolves have been exterminated, the last wolf having been killed in 1680. A few specimens of the native wild cattle are pre- served in a park belonging to the duke of Hamilton. Of birds about 270 species have been noted, one half of them water birds, of which great numbers are found on the coast. The golden eagle inhabits the mountains, and the pheasant, ptarmigan, blackcock, grouse, and partridge are abundant. Reptiles are al- most unknown. Fish abound in the lakes, rivers, and adjacent seas, and a great variety of shell fish occurs, among which is a mussel found in the rivers containing in some cases tolerably large pearls. Politically, the king- dom is divided into 33 counties, grouped in eight geographical divisions. The population of these counties according to the official cen-