, Scotland (United Kingdom)
1906



Scotland, the northern division of the island of Great Britain, between lat. 54° 38' and 58° 40' 24" N. and Ion. 1° 46' and 6° 8' 30" W. Area, 30,405 sq. m. (inclusive of 609 sq. m. of inland waters). It is bounded on the N. and W. by the Atlantic Ocean and on the E. by the North Sea, and is in part separated from England by Solway Firth, an arm of the Irish Sea, and by the river Tweed, which flows into the North Sea. The Cheviot Hills extend along a por tion of the boundary. The greatest length, from NNE. to SSW., between Dunnet Head and the Mull of Galloway, is 287 miles. The breadth varies from about 150 miles to 40 miles. The distance between Leith, the port of Edin burgh, on the Firth of Forth, which indents the E. coast, and Greenock, on the Firth of Clyde, on the W. coast, is about 60 miles. Numerous islands line the coasts and form one of their peculiar features. On the E. coast these islands are few and small ; but on the N. are the two large groups of the Orkneys and Shetlands, while on the W. a series of groups (the Hebrides or Western Isles) stretch almost un interruptedly from N. to S., at a short distance from the coast, forming no insignificant portion of the whole area of the country. The largest of them are Lewis, North Uist, South Uist, Skye, Mull, Jura, and Islay. In the SW. the islands of Arran and Bute, in the Firth of Clyde, form a separate county under the name of the latter. The coast line of Scotland is very largely developed as the result of a great number of oceanic arms, estuaries, or fjords project ing into the land, of which the narrower ones are usually termed torht and the broader and more extensive ones firtht. Those on the W. coast are the Firth of Clyde ; Loch Long, between Argyllshire and Dumbartonshire; lochs Fyne and Linnhe, in Argyllshire ; Loch Eil, in Inverness ; lochs Carron, Torridon, and Broom, in Ross and Cromarty; and Assynt, in Sutherland. On the E. coast are the large indentations known as Moray Firth, Firth of Tay, and the Firth of Forth. Loch Ness, in Inverness, a virtually enclosed narrow arm of the sea, occupies part of the deep depression known as the Great Glen or Glen More (or Albin), and communicates by means of the Ness River in the NE. with Moray Firth, and by means of the Caledonian Canal and other waters with Loch Lochy and the more distant Firth of Lome. This famous canal, which thus unites the waters of the North Sea with those of the Atlantic, and is chiefly a tour ist route, occupies what seems to be an ancient fracture or a subsided trough. The Atlantic and North Sea waters are also united by the Forth and Clyde Canal. Other minor canals connect a number of the interior lochs with the sea, as the Crinan Canal, between Loch Fyne and J ura Sound. There are numerous headlands and promontories on the coast, the chief of which are St. Abb's Head, in Berwick shire; Fife Ness, the termination of the peninsula of Fife;Buddon Ness, in Forfarshire ; Girdle Ness, at the month of the Dee, in Kincardineshire; Bach an Ness and Peter head Point, in Aberdeenshire, the most easterly land in Scotland ; Kinnaird Head, also in Aberdeen : Tar bet Ness, in Ross and Cromarty, on the N. side of the entrance to Moray Firth ; Noss Head, Duncansby Head, and Dunnet Head, in Caithness ; Strathey Point, Witen Head, Cape Wrath, and Khua Stoir, in Sutherland ; the Hnll of Kin- tyre, the extremity of the Ions peninsula of Kintyre, in Argyll ; Corsewall Point, at the NW. extremity of the Rhinns of Galloway, in Wigtownshire ; and Mull Head and the Mull of Galloway, also in Wigtown. The chief rivers of Scotland are the Tweed, Forth, Tay, North and South Esk, Dee, Don, Deveron, Spey, Lossie, Findhorn, Ness, Beauty, Carron, Oykel, Brora, Helmsdale, and Wick, on the eastern side ; and the Annan, Nith, Dee, Cree, Ayr, Doon, and Clyde, on the S. and W. Of the large number of interior lakes, known as lochs, many of which are noted for their beautiful scenery, may be mentioned Loch Lomond, on the borders of Dumbartonshire and the county of Stir ling ; the closely neighboring Loch Katrine ; lochs Tay, Errieht, Rannoch, and Earn, in Perthshire; Loch Awe, in Argyllshire ; Loch Ness, already referred to as occupying the deep depression of the Caledonian Canal ; and Loch Leven, in Kinross. Loch Montr, in the western part of Inverness, separated by only a short space from the ocean, is the deepest lake in the British Isles, its depth being 1070 feet...

Lippincott's New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns ... in Every Portion of the Globe Publisher J.B. Lippincott Company, 1906

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