Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 18, RHI-SCR

SCO
C 58+ ]
SCO
Scotland.
x? .
Aborigines
of Scotland,
* Caledo¬
nia, vol. i.
V- 33-
20
Names and
iituations
of the Abo
riginal
sribes.
of Buie and Arran, which are diftinft from the He¬
brides, have all’o been deferibed under their refpeftivQ
names. ...
The name Scotland, as applied to North Britain, is
comparatively of recent date. By the later Roman
writers, Scotut was applied to Ireland, as the country
which had been colonized by the Scoti, and the names
of Hiberni and Scoti are, after the 4th century of the
Chriltian era, indiferiminately applied to the inhabi¬
tants of Ireland. When North Britain firft became
known to the Romans under Agticola, it was by them
denominated Caledonia, from its abounding in forefts,
and the natives were called Caledomi. I befe names
continued in ufe till the expiration of the Roman power
in Britain, when this part of the ifland was generally
known by the name of Provincia PiSlorum, and the in¬
habitants were divided into PiEli-Caledonu, and Pich.
It is not till the 1 ith century that we find Scotia or
Scotland appropriated to North Britain.
With refpe£t to the origin of this name there is much
difpute, but it is generally agreed that the terra Scots
was applied to the inhabitants of North Britain by their
neighbours, by way of reproach.
Few points have been difputed with more keennefs
, and more afperity than the original population of Scot¬
land. The Irifli and the Scotch have llrenuoufly con-
tefted the claim of their country to be the flock from
which the other was colonized. There feems no doubt
that both Britain and Ireland were originally peopled
by the Celtic tribes, who had long before occupied the
weft of Europe, and advanced from the fliores of Gaul,
probably acrofs the ftraits of Dover, to take poffeflion
of the fouthern part of Britain. Thence it appears they
extended themfelves northwards, till they had peopled
the whole ifland, when, from a fpirit of enterprife, or
to find more room and better pafture for their herds,
they crolTed the channel to the weft of Britain, and
planted a colony in Ireland. This feems to be their
rnoft natural route, and numerous authorities have been
lately adduced to prove, not only that the whole of
Britain and Ireland were peopled by Celtic tribes, but
that the colonization of Ireland was fubfequent to that
of Scotland. “ This region (North Britain) during the
firll century,” fays Mr Chalmers “ is a fmall but ge¬
nuine mirror of Gaul during the fame age. North
Britain was inhabited by one-and-twenty clans of
Gaelic people, whofe polity, like that of their Gaelic
progenitors, did not admit of very ftrong ties of poli¬
tical union. They profefled the fame religious tenets
as the Gauls, and performed the fame facred rites *, their
ft one monuments were the fame, as we know from re¬
mains. Their principles of adtion, their modes of life,
their ufages of burial, were equally Gaelic •, and above
all, their expreflive language, which ftill exifts for the
examination of thofe who delight in fuch lore, was the
pureft Celtic*.”
The names and pofition of the 21 tribes which occu¬
pied North Britain in the firft century, have been mi¬
nutely inveftigated by Mr Chalmers, and we (hall here
briefly ftate the refult of his inveftigations. The firft
tribe which he. mentions is that of the Ottadini, wFo
pofietTed the country which ftretches from the river
Tyne northward alone the coaft of the German fea and
the frith of Forth. On the weft of thefe lay the Ga-
deni, occupying the weftern part of Northumberland, Scotlaad.
that fmall portion of Cumberland which lies to the '““■““'r**”
north of the river Irthing*, the weft of Roxburghftdre,
the whole of Selkirk and Tweeddale, part of Mid Lo¬
thian, and nearly the whole of Weft Lothian, or Lin¬
lithgow. To the fouth-weft of the Gadeni lay the Sel-
qovee, inhabiting Annandale, Nithfdale, and EIkdale in
Dumfries-lhire ; the fcaftern part of Galloway as far as
the river Dee, which formed their weftern boundary;
while to the fouth they extended to the Solway frith.
The Novantes inhabited the weftern and middle parts
of Galloway, from the Dee on the eaft to the Irifti fea
on the weft. The Damnii occupied the whole extent of
country from the ridge of hills lying between Galloway
and Ayrflure on the fouth, to the river Earn on the
north, comprehending all Strathcluyd, the counties of
Ayr, Renfrew, and Stirling, with a fmall part of Dum¬
barton and Perth. The Horejlii inhabited the country
lying between the Forth and Tay, including the (hires
of Fife, Clackmannan, and Kinrofs, with the eaftern
part of Strathern, and the country lying weftward of
the Tay, as far as the river Brand. The Venricones pof-
feflfed the country between the Tay and the Carron,
comprehending a great part of Perth-lhire, the whole of
Angus, and part of Kincardine-ftiire. The Taixali in¬
habited the northern part of the Mearns, and the whole
of Aberdeen-ihire, to the Doveran •, a diftridt which in¬
cluded the promontory of Kinnaird’s-bead, to which the
Romans gave the name of Taixa/orum promontonum.
The Vacanagi occupied the country on the fouth fide of
the Murray frith, from the Doveran on the eaft, to the
Nefs on the weft •, an extent comprehending the (hires
of Banff, Elgin, Nairn, the eaft part of Invernefs, with
Braemar in "Aberdeen-flure. The Albani, afterwards
called Damnii Albani, inhabited the interior diftri&s,
between the lower ridge of the Grampians on the fouth,
and the chain of mountains forming the fouthern limit
of Invernefs-(hire on the north, including Braidalban,
Athol, a fmall part of Lochaber, with Appin and
Glenorchy in Upper Lorn. The inhabited the
whole country from Loch Fine on the weft, to the eaft-
ward of the river Leven and Loch Lomond, compre¬
hending the whole of Cowal in Argyle-ftiire, and the
greater part of Dumbarton-Ihire. The proper Caledonu
poffeffed the whole of the interior country, from the
ridge of mountains which feparates Invernefs from Perth
on the fouth, to the range of hills that forms the foreft
of Balnagavan on the north, comprehending all the
middle parts of Invernefs and of Rofs. The Cantce in¬
habited the eaft of Rofs-fture from the aeftuary of Varrar
on the fouth, to the frith of Dornoch on the north,
having the frith of Cromarty in the centre, and a ridge
of hills on the weft. The fouth-eaftern coaft of Suther¬
land was inhabited by the Logi, whofe country extended
from the frith of Dornoch on the fouth-weft to the river
11a on the eaft. The 'Carnabii inhabited the fouth of
Caithnefs from the Ila river ; the fmall tribe of the Ca-
teni inhabited the north-weft corner of Caithnefs, and
the Mertce occupied the interior of Sutherland. The
Carnonaax inhabited the north and weft coaft of Suther¬
land, while the Creones occupied the weft coaft of Rofs-
(hire, the Cerones the weftem coaft of Invernefs, and
the Epidii the fouth-weft of Argyle-lhire, from Loch
Linnhe to the frith of Clyde.
All
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