Chapter XVIII: Section II: Geographical and Physical Features of the Country

Scotland is separated from England by the River Tweed, the Cheviot Hills, the Liddel Water, and the Solway Firth; the Cheviot range naturally tended to fix the southern limit of the country. The boundary line runs in a slanting direction from Berwick-on-Tweed to the Solway Firth, a distance of seventy miles, and except on this line Scotland is surrounded by the sea. On the east side lies the North Sea, on the west the Atlantic Ocean; the North Channel, between the south-western part of the country and Ireland, is only thirteen and a half miles broad at the Mull of Cantyre, and the most southerly part of the coast is washed by the Irish Sea. The west coast is nearly in a line with the east of Ireland, and the greater part of Scotland lies west of England; and the south-eastern end of the island approaches so near the continent of Europe that the opposite coasts of England and France are only twenty-one miles apart from each other at the narrowest point of the Channel. Between Scotland and Norway there are 300 miles of sea, and between Denmark and Scotland 400 miles of sea. These natural facts, as we shall find, had an important bearing on the early history of the island.

The coasts of Scotland are very irregular, and broken, and rocky. On the whole of the west coast there are numerous arms and inlets of the sea, which penetrate far into the interior of the country, while here and there the land extends out to the sea in numerous islands and surf-beaten rocks. Amongst the most noted of these inlets of the sea are Lochs Linnhe, Torridon, Duich, Hourn, and Nevis; on the south and north coasts the bays and inlets are not so numerous, though on the northern there are the Firths of Moray, Inverness, Beauly, Cromarty, and Dornoch. The east coast is much less indented than the other sides, but on it are the two important estuaries of the Forth and Tay. Owing to these numerous firths, inlets, and arms of the sea, the coast-line of Scotland measures about 2,500 miles, which affords many industrial and commercial advantages.

The Orkney Islands lie off the northern mainland, and are separated from Caithness by the Pentland Firth――a dangerous channel――6 miles broad, and noted for the strength and rapidity of its tides and currents. This group of islands amounts to upwards of sixty, but most of them are small, and others merely bare rocks, and only twenty-nine are inhabited. The largest of the group is about thirty miles in length. The surface of these islands mostly consists of heathy wastes, intersected with rocks, swamps, and lochs; there are scarcely any trees, and the cultivated portions yield oats and green crops. The only towns are Kirkwall and Stromness. The climate is rather moist, but not severe.

The Shetland ♦Islands lie about one hundred miles off the northern coast of Scotland, and they are separated from the Orkneys by seventy miles of sea. This group exceeds one hundred islands, but more than the half of them are small holms or rocky islets, and only about thirty of them are inhabited. These islands have a less favourable climate than the Orkneys; they are more rugged, and the agriculture is poor; but the Shetland sheep yield a fine soft wool, which is much valued. The inhabitants chiefly live by fishing, and Lerwick, their only town, has a harbour which is frequented by the vessels of different nations as a haven of refuge. The Shetlands are only two hundred miles from Norway, and hence they became important in relation to the ethnology and colonisation of the northern and western coasts of Scotland.

♦ “Island lies” replaced with “Islands lie”

The Hebrides or Western Isles lie on the western side of Scotland, and are very numerous. They stretch along the western shores nearly to the coasts of Ireland, and are regarded as the natural breakwater of the north-west coasts. They consist of two chief groups: 1, those lying close to the mainland, as Mull, Islay, Skye, and others, called the inner group; 2, those lying to the west of the Channel of Minch, and usually called the outer islands. These outer ones form a continuous group of 140 miles in length, and so close together that they have been regarded as one, and named the Long Island. Lewis is sixty miles long, being the longest of the group, and the longest island belonging to Scotland. Probably some of these islands were inhabited at an early period, and they became connected with the ethnology and the colonisation of the west of Scotland; and also with the introduction of Christianity, and thus were associated with the early history of the country.

The islands in the Firth of Clyde are Bute and Arran, the two Cumbraes, and the Rock of Ailsa. The climate of Bute is mild, and its central and southern parts are well suited for tillage and pasture, but its northern extremity is rugged. Arran is remarkable for its lofty hills and glens, and only a small portion of it is suitable for cultivation. Ailsa Craig lies in the broad part of the Firth, and is simply an insulated rocky hill, about two miles in circumference, and rising in steep cliffs to 1,098 feet above the sea. It is a great resort of the solan goose and immense numbers of other sea birds.

On the east coast there are only a few detached islets. The Bass Rock, on the south side of the entrance of the Firth of Forth, is a mass of basalt rising perpendicularly to 400 feet. The islands of May, Inchkeith, and Inchcolm, are all in the Forth. The Bell Rock lies 14 miles east of the entrance of the Firth of Tay, and is the site of a notable lighthouse.

Turning now to the mainland, the country presents to the eye an exceedingly varied prospect. The fine diversity of mountains and wooded heights, rivers and valleys, narrow glens and ravines, and lakes, present stretches of charming scenery, and in other parts a succession of picturesque scenes of rugged and wild scenery, striking and imposing from the grandeur of their outstanding features. Many of the valleys and glens in every quarter of the country present scenery of exquisite beauty when seen in a fine summer-day in all their verdant glory. The existing aspects of external nature are the result of the operation of forces which have been working for untold æons, stretching far back into eternity. If we could recall the echoes from that vasty deep, and figure in imagination the successive phenomena as they appeared, then we might form some faint idea of the sublimity and the infinite significance of the great work of creation. The space which Scotland now occupies, and after the formation of its rocks, was repeatedly submerged by the ocean, and also at different periods enveloped in mountains of snow and glacier ice. The action of immense moving masses of glacier ice have contributed much to deepen and smooth the glens and the lochs, and to modify the contour of the mountains and hills;¹ while the wasting powers which rain, frost, wind, and the sea possess, have all contributed to produce changes on the surface of the earth, and formed the many contrasts, the varied and picturesque features of the grand and beautiful scenery of the country.

¹ Dr. A. Geikie’s _Scenery of Scotland_, pages 81‒87, 1887.
“While land-ice is thus a most powerful geological agent in
new-modelling the surface of the earth, its operations are
not entirely confined to the dry land. As already stated,
it creeps along the sea bottom for some distance from land
until flotation comes into play, when large masses break off
from the ice-cliff, and rising up and floating, sail away
seaward as icebergs. These ice islands carry with them any
soil or rock-rubbish which may have fallen upon them from
inland cliffs while they formed part of the ice-sheet of the
country. The debris so borne off is, of course, thrown down
upon the sea bottom as each berg melts away, after a voyage
of perhaps hundreds of miles. Year by year whole fleets of
these bergs are sent southwards in the arctic regions, so
that the bed of the northern seas must be strewn with earth
and boulders. As only between an eighth and a ninth part of
a mass of ice appears above the sea water on which it floats,
the bulk of many bergs must be enormous. One rising two
hundred feet above the waves――not an uncommon height――must
have its bottom more than seven hundred feet below them,
and the thickness of the ice cap at its outer edge must be
there about two thousand feet. The Antarctic ice-sheets and
icebergs are of still more colossal dimensions.”

The mountain ranges and the river system of the country may be briefly indicated. The Highlands are naturally marked off by mountains from the eastern Lowlands and the central valleys of the Forth and Clyde. The Grampian range of mountains stretches from near the coast of Kincardineshire across the country to Ardnamurchan on the west coast. These mountains vary greatly in figure and elevation; the average height of their higher summits runs from 3000 to 4000 feet above sea level, and their greatest height is reached at the top of Ben Nevis, which rises 4,406 feet, but it is not quite within the limit of perpetual snow. To the north of the Grampians ranges of mountains run off in successive waves to Cape Wrath, the shores of the North Sea, and the Moray Firth, and southward along the west coasts to the Mull of Cantyre, gradually diminishing in height as they approach the coasts, where the river valleys widen out into limited plains. These mountains are mainly formed of masses of rocks consisting of gneiss, granite, schist, and other crystalline rocks, and bands of quartzose, which are associated with some strips of limestone.

The scenery of the Highlands presents many varied and striking features, associated with much similarity and wonderful order. The craggy array of peaks overhanging the narrow passes and glens, often present to the eye a marked similarity of bend and slope, of figure and contour; still taking the whole of the Highlands, a rich variety of contrasts can easily be observed. Many of the Highland valleys present exceedingly picturesque and beautiful scenery.

Glenmore, or the Great Glen, is a remarkable feature in the physical structure of the Highlands. It extends from the Moray Firth at Inverness to the Sound of Mull, a distance of about one hundred miles, and separates the Highlands into two regions. In its middle portion there are three lakes――Loch Ness, the source of the beautiful river Ness, which flows through the town of Inverness; Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy. These lochs are very deep. “The deepest soundings in Loch Ness gives a depth of 129 fathoms opposite the Falls of Foyers; in Loch Oich, 23 fathoms; in Loch Lochy, 76 fathoms.”¹ The lochs are situated in the midst of varied and beautiful scenery; and the Caledonian Canal now connects them by navigable channels from shore to shore.

¹ “Its very straightness is enough to suggest that the
Great Glen owes its direction to a line of dislocation. I
ascertained in the year 1864 that the line of the fracture,
or of one continued in the same line, can be seen along the
western side of the Moray Firth, where the Jurassic beds
of Eathic and Shandwick are thrown down against the Old Red
Sandstone. Hence the downthrow at this end of the line is to
the east side. It seems to me that this line has been from
a very early geological period up, indeed, to the present
day, a line of weakness in the crust of the earth. The
prolongation of the tongue of the Old Red Sandstone up
the valley of Loch Ness appears to show that the valley is
older than that formation; the dislocation of the Eathic
and Shandwick shales proves disturbance even after the
Lias; and the agitation of the waters of Loch Ness, during
great earthquakes in modern times, shows that, even yet,
underground movements tend to reveal themselves along
the same old line. Hence it may be reasonably conjectured
that the fracture along the line of the Great Glen has
been repeatedly modified during the subterranean changes
of successive geological periods.” Geikie’s _Scenery of
Scotland_, page 234.

Some parts of the Highlands consist of barren moor, such as the Moor of Rannoch, extending to 400 square miles, which is little better than a desert. Its surface is level and a part of it covered by a bog; it produces no vegetation, except a few fir trees, but granite covers many miles of it. To the north of it another sterile tract lies between Ben Nevis and the shores of Loch Ericht.

The Lowland region is marked off on the one side by the lines of the Highland mountains, and on the other by the southern uplands. From St. Abb’s Head to the cliffs of Portpatrick a range of hilly ground runs across the country from sea to sea; and in East Lothian and Edinburghshire, the long chain of the Lammermuir Hills rises into steep heights. The surface of the Lammermuirs, like most of the southern hills, is pretty smooth and covered with heath or coarse grass, except where the peat covers the hollows, and where the streams keep open their channels through the bare drift or hard rock. The tops of these hills are usually broad, smooth, and grassy; but on the western ridges they descend abruptly into the plains, and present gulleys and narrow glens, through which the drainage flows into the low grounds. These heights of the Lammermuirs fairly represent the general features of the scenery of the country between the North Sea and the Vale of the Nith, although in the higher parts of the region the smoothness and verdure of the hills are exchanged for the rocky scarfs, bare crags and cliffs, and deep narrow defiles, which remind us of some parts of the Highlands.¹

¹ Geikie’s _Scenery of Scotland_, page 281, _et seq._

The Lammermuirs, the Moorfoots, and the Pentland Hills, form a range running from east to west; further south, the Cheviots, the Moffat Hills, and the Lowther Hills, form a continuous range extending in a zig-zag course from east to west. The general features of these southern and border hills are remarkably uniform throughout; they are mostly covered with pasture nearly to the tops, and a great part of this region is naturally a pasture land.

The Lowlands of southern Scotland consist of a series of fertile valleys, some of which are of considerable extent. It may be observed that a different local topography prevails; as the term dale, instead of strath or glen, is used to indicate a stretch of low lying ground, a cultivated valley or a pastoral one. Amongst these notable local districts are Tweeddale, Teviotdale, and Lauderdale, which belong to the basin of the Tweed; Liddlesdale, Eskdale, Annandale, and Nithsdale, each of which belong to the respective rivers of the same name, and slope toward the shores of the Solway Firth; the vale of Yarrow, the vale of Gala, and Ettrick, which have been rendered famous in the national songs and poetry.

But many parts of the central Lowlands are dotted with hills, and even long ranges. The Sidlaw Hills commence in the vicinity of Perth, thence extending in a north-east direction and terminating by a rapid declivity on the side of Strathmore, but descending in a fine succession of terraces towards the North Sea. The Ochil Hills, with their offshoots, occupy much of the peninsula of Fife, and in some parts rise to a considerable height; Ben Glack is 2359 feet above sea level.

Among the influences of external nature few have a more important bearing upon the people than the water courses of the country. The Watershed of Scotland runs southward from Cape Wrath to the head of Loch Quoich, whence it turns eastward between Lochs Lochy and Oich, then sweeping round the top of Strathspey and over the hills above the head of Loch Laggan, and thence following a curving southerly course past the west end of the Moor of Rannoch and the Brae Lyon mountains to Crianlarich, thence across Ben Lomond and south-eastward over the Campsie Fells into the broad Lowland valley: whence skirting the south-western parts of Linlithgow and Mid-Lothian, it sweeps up into the Pentland Hills, and then south between the valleys of the Clyde and Tweed to the Hartfell Heights, thence it strikes across to the Cheviot Hills. To the west of this line the water flows into the Atlantic, and to the east, into the North Sea or the Firths connected with it. Owing to the steep and mountainous nature of the west side of the Island, the Watershed keeps much nearer to the Atlantic than to the North Sea; and hence the greater part of the country is drained into the latter. In the northern half of Scotland no large river enters the Atlantic; on the western side of the Watershed as it runs through the counties of Sutherland, Ross, and Inverness, nearly all the great valleys which enter the sea come down from the south-east, and have their seaward portions filled by the tides of the Atlantic. Thus they form the series of inland sea lochs, narrow firths, and fords which characterise the western shores of the country.

On the north-east side, the Ness, the Spey, the Deveron, the Don, the Dee, the North Esk, the South Esk, and the Tay, and a number of smaller rivers, carry the drainage of the mountains into the sea. The principal rivers of the Central Lowlands are the Tay, the Forth, and the Clyde. The Tay descends from the heights of the Highlands, and as it were issues into the Lowlands through the narrow defile of Birnam, winds by Perth and gradually opens into a fine estuary; and pours a greater body of water into the sea than any other river in Britain. The Forth rises on the eastern side of Ben Lomond; and issues from the Highlands through the narrow defile of Aberfoyle; and winding on it passes by Stirling and Alloa, and enters its estuary. The Clyde rises from the Moffat Hills in the Southern uplands, flows northward, winding its course through the broad meadows, cultivated fields, fine woodlands, and beautiful stretches of scenery. The basins of the Forth and Clyde are not separated by ranges of hills, between the two rivers, the ground undulates across the great coal and iron fields from Campsie to the Pentland Hills.

The numerous rivers and streams give rise to a corresponding variety of defiles, straths, dales, and valleys. Besides those already mentioned, there are in the north-eastern side of the ♦country, the valleys of the Dee, the Don, the Deveron, the Spey, and the Ness; and the notable ravines of the Findhorn, Nairn, and Beauly. Much of the best cultivable land of the country lies in the valleys, on the banks and haughs of the rivers.

♦ “county” replaced with “country”

Caithness presents a tract of comparatively flat land; and in the lower parts of Moray, Banffshire, and Aberdeenshire, there are considerable stretches of pretty level ground; but the greatest extent of level land in Scotland is the plain of Strathmore, which runs from the banks of the river Forth to the vicinity of Stonehaven, where it is terminated by the eastern Grampians. This plain is nearly ninety miles in length, and its breadth varies from sixteen miles at its widest part along the course of the Forth and Teith to less than a mile at its northern extremity. It is the largest extent of level and cultivable land in Scotland. The Carse of Gowrie lies along the banks of the beautiful estuary of the Tay, it is two or three miles broad, and one of the most fertile spots in Scotland. The Carse of Stirling lies on the south side of the Forth, and is remarkably fertile.

The Central Region extending between the Firths of Forth and Clyde presents a striking feature in the physical configuration of the country. The two Firths penetrate inwards on opposite sides, and opening out the mouths of the rivers, nearly cuts the country into two halves; and at this point reduces its breadth to forty miles. These natural features have had a controlling influence on the stream of events for ages: 1, In relation to the origin of historical conditions; 2, In relation to military and political conditions; 3, In relation to national defence and political independence; 4, In relation to the development of industry and commerce. The details of these will successively appear in the sequel of the work.

Lakes are still pretty numerous in Scotland; although in early times they were far more numerous. During the last hundred and fifty years many lochs have been drained and turned into cultivated land; while the natural processes of growth have transformed others into mosses. They are most numerous in the Highland and Middle divisions of the country. Loch Lomond is the largest one in the Kingdom; it is twenty-four miles long and seven miles broad at its widest part. It contains upwards of thirty islands, many of which are richly wooded. For some time it has been held to be scientifically proved, that the greater part of the lochs of Scotland were formed or at least deepened by the action of glacier ice; some of them are scooped out of solid rock, the immense weight of a great moving mass of ice having effected this result.

Although the country is comparatively poor in soil, it is rich in the raw materials of industry. Limestone, greenstone, freestone, flagstone, slatestone, and granite of various colours are abundant. The carboniferous rocks extend from Fife Ness to the coast of Ayrshire, and cover the greater part of the Central Region――the coal, iron, and shale district. It has been estimated that the total depth of the carboniferous strata cannot be less than 6000 feet.¹ The richest portions of the coal fields are in Clydesdale, Lanarkshire, and Renfrewshire; the counties of Ayr, Fife, Stirling, Edinburgh, and Linlithgow, follow in order; and in most of these counties more or less valuable beds of ironstone, shale, and limestone, are intermixed with the coal. Broken strata of coal have been found as far north as Sutherlandshire. Lead and copper are found in small quantities; gold also has been discovered in several parts of the country, though not in sufficient quantities to repay the labour of searching for it. About twenty years ago, a number of persons employed themselves searching for gold in Sutherlandshire, and though small quantities were found, the occupation did not prove remunerative.

¹ Geikie’s _Scenery of Scotland_, page 329, 1887.

Within the limit of the close of the latest geological epoch, the flora and fauna of the country may be briefly noticed. The character of the vegetation varied in different localities, and according to altitude on the mountains. Heaths, and here and there a straggling alpine plant, graced the higher brows of the mountains; lower down, on their ribs, waving ferns and other wild growths shot up; around their base, and some 1500 feet upward on their sides, trees of pine and oak spread out their trunks and branches. The oak also abounded on the low grounds, and other indigenous trees, such as the birch, hazel, alder, willow, and juniper, all lived and grew wonderfully. In the boggy valley and glen, marsh plants, sea growths, and other wild flowers sprang up. In the more level and dry grounds, natural grasses, and wood wherever the conditions were suitable covered the scene. How many of the fruit bearing trees and bushes were indigenous I am unable to tell; that there were wild fruit of various kinds need not be doubted.

Passing to the fauna of the country, vast multitudes of trout swarmed in the streams, rivers, and lakes; and immense shoals of fish, then as now, inhabited the firths and bays, and the encircling ocean. Touching the feathered species, there were several kinds of game, wild ducks, and fresh water and sea fowls were plentiful. Rapacious birds of the hawk and owl varieties, and the golden eagle were common. The British Islands are very rich in birds, nearly three hundred species are known, some of which are nowhere else found. The small singing birds of the country are well known, and need not be enumerated, for in spring and summer they enliven the garden, the wood, the valley and the mountain. Among the higher indigenous animals there were one or two species of the ox, from which the native cattle were probably derived. The sheep, red deer, and the roebuck were common; and the dog and the horse appear to have been domesticated at a very early period. The hare, the fox, wild cats, weasels, fumarts, and other wild animals, some of which have long been extinct in Scotland, such as the wild boar, the wolf, the beaver, and others, were common. The wolf held out for many centuries into the present era, and Acts of Parliament were passed in the fifteenth century, commanding the people to muster at certain seasons every year to hunt and destroy them.

Although the main outline of the country was the same then as now; yet the external surface and face of the country then presented a very different aspect to that which we see around us in every quarter at the present time. There was more water over the whole country; the Firths of Forth and Clyde rose some thirty feet above the present level of their tides; and the ground on which Leith, Dundee, Arbroath, Ayr, Greenock, Cromarty, and many other towns on the coast now stand, was then either wholly or in part covered with water. The rivers too were then much larger than they are now, and in many places their waters spread over a wider area. Then there were ♦innumerable lakes and swamps, black mosses and moors; and vast forests which swept in long withdrawing glades across the country. Thick clouds of mist often enveloped the land and water, and a severer climate prevailed. The reigning silence was only broken by the howl and snort of the wild beasts which roamed throughout the country. Such was the state of the country, when man first planted his foot on the soil of Scotland, and found himself surrounded by the conditions and the natural resources of the home, which I have briefly described; and how far he has turned them to account this history should show.

♦ “inumerable” replaced with “innumerable”

The influence of climate, soil, food, and other natural agencies on man, and the early inhabitants of Scotland, have now to be considered. According to the brief statement in the first section, it is extremely difficult to distinguish in the early stages of society, what is due to external agencies on the one hand, from what is due on the other to the internal energy of man himself. Still the co-relative potency of external influences and natural agencies on the destiny of the human race can hardly be questioned. At once discarding visionary notions, and endeavouring to grapple with the real and living world; we find men naked upon the earth amid the forces of nature, and on every side ferocious and venomous creatures to contend against; while he had everything to learn, how to protect himself and to fight and struggle for his life. Thus we must see the importance of the surrounding conditions and circumstances. Here man had to shield himself from the biting cold and frost, there from the scorching and burning sun; everywhere he found himself face to face with numerous forces which might have hurt or destroyed him.

Looking then to the climate and soil of Scotland in prehistoric times, the difficulty of obtaining food and protection from the cold and frost incident to the country, would have been the first matters to seriously affect the early inhabitants. The limited quantity of vegetable roots and wild fruit, which the soil spontaneously produced, must have rendered a supply of food from this source exceedingly precarious; and, prior to cultivation in so sterile a country, the early inhabitants could hardly have subsisted on vegetable food. The only remaining source of food in sufficient abundance was the wild animals, fowls, and the fish swarming in the waters. But it demanded much exertion and some ingenuity on man’s part to procure a supply of this description; owing to the coldness of the climate, however, and his imperfect means of sheltering himself, animal food was most suitable for him, as it is best fitted to keep up the warmth of the body. The results of these external conditions on the spirit and habits of the early inhabitants may be easily realised. The exertion and risk incurred in pursuing and slaying wild animals would naturally ♦develop habits of daring and determination; and the very efforts necessary for his self-preservation tended to develop his faculties. In short, we may easily comprehend how the circumstances in which man found himself placed in this quarter of the globe, were admirably calculated to develop a fund of energy, a spirit of independence, and a physical constitution capable of great and heroic endurance.

♦ “develope” replaced with “develop”

The natural structure of the country was favourable to lawless freedom. Geographically there are few countries less adapted to the requirements of a central despotism than Scotland. As the obstacles interposed by nature rendered regular communication between the different parts of the country almost impossible for ages, the results of these structural features of the country have been enormous, and they will again and again force themselves upon our notice. Here I am mainly concerned with the effort to understand their early effects. Their outcome was exhibited in the form of a number of little local rulers planted throughout the country――sometimes called chiefs, at other times nobles, and they long possessed the supreme power in Scotland, though not always its nominal holders; and they offered a prolonged and determined resistance to the formation of an effective central authority.

The general features of a country may be considered in relation to the imagination, and also in relation to the understanding. The appearances presented by external nature to the eye and the senses mainly operates through the imagination, and this process has been supposed to have originated many of the superstitions which have afflicted mankind, such as those primitive notions of spirits and ghosts, myths, legends, and so on, which arose in the infancy of the race. Generally, it may be said, that whatever in the aspects of nature is calculated to inspire feelings of fear, terror, or bewilderment, and everything that raises in the mind an idea of the uncontrollable and unfathomable, has a tendency to inflame the uncultured imagination. In the early prehistoric ages, when men looked around and contrasted their own powers with the forces of nature, they were apt to become painfully conscious of their own helplessness and their dependent condition. Hence have sprung up the mythologies and polytheisms of the world. In those regions of the earth, where nature is seen on a grand and imposing scale, the impressions produced on the mind would be the most effective and abiding.

But the mountains and rivers of Scotland, though numerous, cannot be considered as being on an exceedingly grand scale, when compared with those of other countries. The aspects of these mountains and rivers could scarcely have presented an unsurmountableness calculated to overawe or stagger the minds of the people, although doubtless in the early stages these outstanding features of the country had some effect upon the feelings of the inhabitants. The rolling and raging waves of the sea, the rocks, and torrents streaming down the mountains, the storms and mists, have all been considered as suggesting and intensifying the superstitions of the Scots.¹ It seems to me that the influence of these natural agencies on the peculiar characteristics of Scotch superstition have been greatly overdrawn. There were many other ways in which their superstitions might have arisen, even supposing that the Scots had any superstitions essentially peculiar to themselves.

¹ Buckle’s _History of Civilisation_, Volume II., page 181;
Burton’s _Criminal Trials in Scotland_, Volume I., pages
240‒248.

In relation to the understanding, on the other hand, the influence of the mountains and hills, the rivers, the lakes, the firths, and the sea, on the mind and daily life of the inhabitants, is clearly manifested. This will appear on all sides as we proceed with their history. The hills and elevated rocks were selected as the appropriate sites for strongholds; and the lakes were utilised for a similar purpose. We find the banks of rivers, the heights near the side of an estuary, and the elevated positions in the vicinity of the sea shore, all chosen with remarkable sagacity as the fittest sites for the habitations of communities. Here we can trace with something like precision the co-relative action of external nature on the understanding of man; here we can see him picking out the spots best suited for his purposes, and exerting that faculty which has enabled the human race to obtain an undisputed supremacy upon the earth.