Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

40
INVERNESS-SHIRE.
water. Its Valley, however, is much narrower, and
the hills more abrupt and barren. The Glass has a
slower current than the Spey, which prevents its
devastating the banks, and the formation of beds of
gravel. In the Aird there are few haughs. On the
banks of the Ness there is some soil of this com-
plexion; but that river issuing pure from Loch-
Ness, carries down stones, gravel, and sand, rather
than fine earth ; the weight, however, of its water,
which flows with a magnificent and powerful stream,
under a bridge of no fewer than seven arches, has
forced such a quantity of these materials into the
Murray frith, in a transverse direction, that a bar
has been formed nearly three-fourths across this
arm of the sea at the ferry of Kessock. The tide-
way above the strait, is called the frith of Beauly;
that below, the Murray frith. Dr. Robertson pre-
dicts that "this growing headland will, in future
ages, approach so near the opposite shore as to allow
no more water to escape than what is brought into
the frith of Beauly from the higher grounds around
it, and the frith itself will become a lake, first of
brackish, and afterwards of fresh water." Strather-
rick has little of this soil, except some patches on
the sides of the lakes of that district. Along the
Nairn there are small hanghs in different places, all
the way from the head of that strath to Cantray,
where it joins the county of Nairn. Loam, pro-
perly so called, is very rare in the county of Inver-
ness.— Sand and gravel form a part of the soil of
Inverness-shire in a great variety of places. Strath-
nairn, and particularly Strathdearn— so far as they
are within this county — abound with this light free
soil: a great proportion also of Strathspey and of
Badenoeh is cf this complexion Till, next to a
sandy or gravelly soil, is the most common in this
county ; and, if the mountains are taken into ac-
count, the proportion of till exceeds all the other
kinds taken together Moss, moor, and heathy
ground, in the opinion of some intelligent persons —
as already noticed — covers two-thirds of the shire
of Inverness. If one-fortieth only be arable land,
there are probably twenty-six of the remaining parts
covered with heath incumbent on moss or a till bot-
tom. Heath generally produces a crust of moss on
the surface, whatever be the soil below. The land
occupied now or formerly by natural firs assumes
the same appearance, because they seldom grow so
closely, or shade the ground so completely, as to
destroy the heath. The higher mountains are not
Covered with heath to the summit; nor are the
mountains in all the districts of this county equally
gloomy and forbidding. The hills of Lochaber pre-
sent a good mixed pasture of grass and heath inter-
spersed. Glennevis is of this description, though it
4'orms the skirts of the highest mountain in Britain;
the hills of Arasaig, freckled as they are with rocks,
- — those of Glendessary,— of Glenpean, — of Glen-
qneich, — those on the north of Glenpean, — those
of Glenroy.^-those on both sides of Loch-Lochy,
particularly at Lowbridge, where the bills in gen-
eral are as green as a meadow, — those on the
sides of Loch-Oich, to its northern extremity,
where the dark brown heath begins on the west,
i — those in both Glenelgs, — those at the bead
of Strathglass, and on the braes of Badenoeh, —
all are more or less of the same hue, and yield
most plentiful pasture. But on the confines of
Strathspey the aspect of the mountains is very dif-
ferent. At the head of Strathdearn and of Strath-
nairn, — in Stratherrick on both sides of Loch-Ness,
— from behind the head of Urquhart, and across
Glenmoriston to the source of the Oich, — and in
several other districts, — the mountains are gloomy,
■black, and sterile to suoh a degree, that in a dis-
tance of 12 or 14 miles, hardly any verdure is to be
seen, except where a solitary rivulet, by its occa-
sional flooding, produces some green ground in part
of its course, to relieve the eye. In all the mosses,
the roots of fir-trees stick up, which are dug out
and dried for fuel: so plenteous are they, and so
singular in their appearance, that there have been
seen in Strathspey three tier of fir-stocks in the moss ;
indicating no doubt that wood had there thrice come
to maturity, after every former growth had, by its
destruction, formed a soil capable of nourishing the
succeeding forest. Almost all the deep mosses of
this country are situated on land which is more or
less elevated above the general level of the valleys,
and lie on gravel, or stones, or till. None of these
fields of moss — except a patch at Corpach, and a
Very few more — are in the bottom of a valley, like
the famous Flanders moss of the county of Perth ;
nor, like it, have they in any case a bottom of rich
clay. Limestone is found in every district of the
county, and in many places approaches to the nature
of marble. Near the ferry of Ballachtilish, in Loch-
aber, there is a fine rock of an ash-coloured marble,
beautifully speckled with veins of copper pyrites,
and intersected with small thready veins of lead ore
which is rich in silver. In the parish of Kilmalie.
near Fort- William, in the bed of the Nevis, is a
singular vein of marble, of a black ground, with a
beautiful white flowering like needle- work, or rather
resembling the frosting upon a window, penetrating
the whole vein. Most of the mountains are com-
posed of a reddish granite, which, according to Wil-
liams, the mineralogist, is the most beautiful of any
in the world. In the parish of Kingussie a rich
vein of silver was discovered, and attempted to be
wrought, but without success; in other places veins
of lead, containing silver, have been observed. Iron-
ore has also been found, but not in sufficient quan-
tity to render it an object of manufacture. In the
isle of Skye there are several valuable minerals: see
Skye. The mountains and forests are inhabited by
herds of red and roe deer, which here roam in safety,
in recesses impenetrable to man ; the alpine and
common hare, and other game, are also abundant.
Inverness-shire contains one royal burgh, viz. In-
verness, and several small villages. The Gaelic is
the language of the people on the northern, western,
and southern borders; but, in the neighbourhood of
■Inverness, the better sort use the English language,
which, it is said, is here pronounced with as great
propriety as in any :part of Scotland. We have ad-
verted to this subject in the preceding article. While
the feudal system yet existed in the Highlands, and
any factious chief had it in his power to embroil the
neighbourhood in war — as had been proved in 1715
and 1745 — it became necessary to erect military sta-
tions to keep the Highlanders in subjection. Ac-
cordingly, in the tract of the great vale or Glenmore,
Fort-George, Fort-Augustus, and Fort- William,
were erected, as a chain of forts across the island.
By means of Fort-George on the east all entrance
up the Moray frith to Inverness was prevented;
Fort- Augustus curbed the inhabitants midway; and
Fort- William was a check to any attempts on the
west. Detachments were sent from these garrisons
to Inverness, to Bernera, opposite to the isle of
Skye, and to Castle-Douart in the isle of Mull.
The English garrisons which necessarily occupied
the forts, and the number of travellers to whom the
military roads gave access, undoubtedly induced
gentler and more polished manners, and assisted in
banishing those exclusive privileges and partialities
which had acquired such a withering strength under
the system of clanship. The military roads in this
county, made by the soldiers under General Wade,