lead mines are exceedingly rich in that metal. Iron ore is abundant. Copper has also been discovered in many places, and of late years a very rich mine of antimony has been opened in Westerkirk, in Dumfriesshire; the other metallic substances are cobalt, bismuth, manganese, &c. In the southern and middle districts, coal is abundant, but none has been yet discovered north of the Tay: limestone, freestone, and slates, are found in every district; and many of the marbles prove equal in colour and polish to those of Italy.

Most of the gems and precious stones have been found in Scotland, the diamond excepted; pearls are found in the great horse-muscle, a native of the northern rivers; the sapphire is found in several places of different shades, from a deep red to a transparent white, and of equal hardness with the oriental. The topaz is found in the Highland mountains, and the ruby and hyacinth mixed with the sand on the sea shore. At Portsoy is found that singular kind of granite called Moses' tables, which when polished, the marks in it resemble the Hebrew characters on a white ground; besides these there are many curious and rare fossils: among the districts of metallic ores there are many springs of mineral impregnation, and the chalybeate waters are very numerous; and at Moffat and near Edinburgh are sulphureous springs.

RIVERS.

The rivers of this country are numerous, and descending from so elevated a country to the sea, are in general rapid and precipitous, and their innumerable cascades heighten the beauty of the scenery; the most considerable of these rivers are those of the middle division. The Spey rising in the mountainous district of Lochaber, rushes furiously into the eastern sea; and the Tay discharges into the ocean below Dundee a greater quantity of water than perhaps any other river in Britain. In this district too the Dee,

Don,

Don, and Esk, are very large rivers. In the southern district, are the rivers Forth, Clyde, and Tweed, besides the numerous rivers which empty themselves into the Irish Sea, and Solway Frith; viz. the Ayr, Girvan, South Dee, Nith, and Annan. The northern division contains the Beaulieu, the Orron Water, the Fleet, the Brora, and the Helmsdale, besides several inferior streams.

The SPEY, as before mentioned, is a rapid river, rising in the centre of those rocks and frightful precipices with which the vast mountain of the Coriaraich is environed, in the wilds of the northern highlands of Inverness-shire. A small lake conceals its source, from whence, with various windings, it pursues a north-east direction, gradually verging more and more towards the north, till it reaches the sea below Fochabers.

Nothing can be imagined more rude and desolate than the early part of this river's course, as it falls in a succession of precipitous cataracts from the base of the Coriaraich, and roils with unparalleled rapidity along the valley it has formed, through an uninhabited district, till it reaches the solitary hamlet of Garvamore. A scanty succession of inconsiderable villages then adorns its banks, which swell again into the compass of a small lake, called Loch-Inch, near Ruthven Castle, and two of the greatest military roads to Inverness join near it, as it crosses a corner of the county of Murray. The Spey afterwards divides Inverness-shire froin Banif-shire, passing near GrantTown, and through the great forests of pines which encircle the territory of Castle Grant; little afterwards distinguishes its course, though the country it traverses becomes more expanded, while the villages still remain scanty and inconsiderable. The Spey, long before it reaches the small town of Fochabers near its mouth, widens considerably, and becoming navigable, transports the abundant pines which clothe its hills, still preserving to the last strong traits of its native

native rapidity. The extensive plantations, magnificent house, and beautiful grounds of Castle Gordon, decorate its approach to the sea with new features.

The TAY finds its source in the central part of the Western Highlands, where the extremity of Perthshire borders on Argyleshire, in a very wild, elevated, and mountainous district; it flows towards the south-east by Tyndrum to Crienlarich, and then makes a curve to the north-east, as it pervades the valley of Glendochart, pursuing the same direction to form its great lake, hetween Killin and Taymouth, at the former of which places it is joined by the Lochy from the northwest, and a little below the latter by the Lion from the west. It then makes a considerable compass by the north, and meeting the Tumel, descending in that direction, pursues a southward course with it to Dunkeld, where the Braan from the south-west falls into it; its tendency is then eastward, till it meets the Isla from the north-west, soon after the junction of that river with the Airdle from the north-west. The Tay, thus reinforced, makes a rapid curve, by the west to the south, till it reaches Perth, and beneath the rock of Kinnoul turns again to the south-east; the Earne from the west joins it near Newburgh, and it then forms its firth, turning to the north-east, but after it has passed Dundee, inclining once more to the south-east, to make its exit to the sea.

The Tay is one of the most considerable and beautiful rivers in our island, traversing the whole county of Perth, amidst the richest districts of the middle range of Scotland, and forming itself the principal ornament to some of the most romantic tracts in nature; its source is in one of the highest and wildest eminences in the western Highlands, from whence it rushes with a singularly characteristic rapidity, through the gloomy hollow of Glendochart, where it forms a small lake, with an island and a castle. The pleasant little town of Killin is delightfully situated some miles lower, on a neck of land between the two points, where the placid Lochy

and

and the rapid Tay, strongly contrasting each other in character, form the great expanse of water, called Loch Tay; lofty mountains surround this charming lake, encircling a wooded, populous, and well-cultivated district; two good roads pervade the whole, on eminences overhanging each side of the water, and command every species of the sublime and beautiful in landscape: these scenes are varied happily by the three great turns of Loch Tay, the last of which discloses all the ornamented territory of Taymouth, whose groves sweep the whole horizon, stretching across the plain at the bottom of the lake, from the heads of two opposite mountains, and interspersed with many conspicuous buildings. The Tay makes its exit from the lake through the handsome stone bridge of Kenmore, the church of which village stands finely exalted on an eminence, looking directly down Loch Tay.

The river, now greatly increased by the junction of the Lion from its pleasant dale, but still preserving all its original rapidity, rolls in majestic state between the rich groves of Taymouth, and at Aberfeldie is crossed by a large stone bridge, built by General Wade, when the military roads were formed; the Tumel, lately enlarged by the waters of the Carrie, tumbling from the highly-improved district of the Blair of Athol, through the hollow parts of Killirancky, meets the Tay below the romantic spot of Faskally, which after passes through a finely pastured and well-timbered vale to Dunkeld, the venerable remains of whose abbey present a fine object close to the Tay, and in the midst of the Duke of Athol's numerous plantations. High obtruding hills direct its winding course in its exit from the Highlands, beneath the scanty remains of the celebrated wood of Birnam, from whence the ruined fortress of Dunsinane is seen at a considerable distance across the plain. The Tay here makes a considerable circuit to meet the Isla from Angus, and then descending beneath the ancient palace of Scone, to the fine city of Perth, passes under the arches of its noble

bridge,

bridge, aud sweeps in a bold semicircle round the rock of Kinnoul, opposite to the the hill of Moncrieffe, where it is said the Roman legions, struck with astonishment at the grandeur of the scene before them, suddenly halted, and cried, "Ecce Tiberim."

The Earne descends a little below this spot from Crieffe, and beneath the elevated pile of Drummond Castle adorns the fertile vale of Straith, Earne, through which its course is parallel with the Tay, till the two rivers unite near Newburgh. Thus is formed that vast æstury, called the Firth of Tay, at the head of which the important and flourishing port of Dundee spreads over a considerable eminence. This firth narrows considerably as it approaches its exit, and falls into the sea beneath the walls of Broughty Castle.

The DEE rises at the western extremity of the Grampian hills, near the borders of Inverness-shire, and intersects the whole chain of that mountainous district in its course to the sea, which tends almost invariably eastward.

The country encircling this fine river in the early part of its progress is wonderfully bold and romantic, especially about the Castle-Town of Brae-Marr, and the wells of Pannanach, where the heights are clothed with vast forest of pines. The Dee afterwards forms a more expanded valley, as it crosses the northern corner of Kincardineshire, and re-entering Aberdeenshire, passes under the arches of a noble bridge, a few miles before it falls into the sea, on the south side of New Aberdeen.

The Don finds its origin in the Grampians, some what northward of the Dee at Brae-Marr, on the borders of Banffshire, near Cock-bridge, pursuing a course rather inclined to the north-east till it meets the Urie from the north-west a little below Inverarie, from whence it flows to the south-west with various windings, till it reaches the sea, somewhat northward of Old Aberdeen.

The Don is throughout a very rapid and romantic