Colourful Scotland [antikvár]

The Lowlands The Lowlands of Scotland are generally considered to consist of the country south of the estuaries of the Forth and the Clyde, the lower regions of the eastern seaboard and the counties of Banffshire, Morayshire and Nairnshire. Yet the word 'lowland' in this context is a comparative term, for there are summits in the Lowlands which approach 2,500 feet. It is perhaps more satisfying to identify the Highlands with those areas where the population is predominantly of Gaelic-speaking Celtic origin and the Lowlands, as the rest of the country, but in the last analysis the distinction is merely one of geographical convenience and Scotland is certainly no divided country. Of the four counties in the south-west, Wigtown and Kirkcudbrightshire bordering the Solway Firth once förmed with the southern part of Ayrshire the ancient province of Galloway. Here agriculture and the raising of livestock are the principal rural oecupations, and industry which once flourished in the small towns of Galloway now tends to be concentrated in the larger centres. Dumfriesshire extends from the English bordér into the mountains, from which long dales reach down to the sea. Ayrshire has a long coastline bordering the Clyde and a number of pleasant holiday resorts: it gave its name to the well-known breed of cattle, and dairy farming is of considerable importance. Róbert Burns, Scotland's national poet, was born in 1759 in a humble cottage at Alloway, two miles south of Ayr. The cottage is now restored and refurnished in the style of the period, and a near-by museum houses relics of the poet. There are alsó four Lowland counties in the south-east - Roxburgh, Berwick, Selkirk and Peebles. Roxburghshire is largely an upland county intersected by lovely dales, the most important being that of the Teviot. Ancient pele towers, the ruined abbeys of Jedburgh, Melrose and Kelso and fortified castles such as Hermitage, all bear witness to the long and often bittér struggles which once took place in the Bordér counties. Berwickshire owes its name to the town which is now in England. It lies between the Lammermuir Hills and the Tweed and includes the Merse, one of the most fertile areas in Scotland. Agriculture and fishing are the principal means of livelihood. There are only somé twenty thousand people in the whole of Selkirkshire and all but three thousand live in Selkirk and Galashiels. The county is largely synonymous with Ettrick Forest and was once a royal hunting ground, but today a considerable area is devoted to the rearing of sheep and the woollen industry thrives. Peeblesshire, between Selkirkshire and Midlothian, is drained by the Tweed and its tributaries, a fact which endears the county to anglers. A surprising fact is that the mean altitude of Peeblesshire is greater than that of any other Scottish county. Like its neighbour to the south, Peeblesshire is sparsely populated, and once again the chief occupations of its inhabitants are agriculture and stock-raising. As we move northwards towards the Clyde and the Forth the countryside gradually gives place to industrial development and the towns become larger and more numerous, yet only a short way from the sprawling metropolis of Glasgow there are considerable