NESSSHIRE.

INVER- Silver ores are known to exist in Badenoch, but not rich enough to repay the labour of mining. The same may be said of the iron and lead ores, and of the veins of plumbago which have been met with in various parts of the County.

Rivers.

Lakes.

Loch Ness.

The principal rivers of the County are the Spey, the Ness, the Lochy, the Beauly, the Findhorn, Nairn, and Nevis. The first of these rises from a Loch of the same name, and flowing in a direction parallel to that of the Great Glen, falls into the sea a little to the East of Elgin in Morayshire, after a course of about 96 miles. The Ness is the natural outlet by which Loch Ness communicates with Moray Frith; though navigable for barges, it has a course of only six miles. The Lochy carries the waters of Loch Lochy into Loch Eil, near Fort William. The Foyers, or Fyers, running into Loch Ness from the South, is noted for its celebrated falls, the one of 70, the other of 207 feet perpendicular height. The rocks which enclose the channel of the river below the falls are 470 feet in height. A stone bridge, erected of late years between the cascades, to replace the frail wooden structure of the Highlanders, commands a full view of the romantic glen. On the streams which unite to form the Beauly, in the parish of Kilmorack, and also at Loch Laven head, are cascades not inferior to the falls of Fyers.

The deep valleys of Inverness-shire enclose numerous lakes. The most important of these are Lochs Ness, Oich, Lochy, Arkey, and Morrer, Loch Clunie, in Glen Morriston; Lochs Garry and Quoich, in the district of Glengarry; Lochs Laggan and Treig, emptying themselves into Glen Spean, and Loch Maddy, running into Strath Glass. These lakes are all extremely narrow, like the valleys which enclose them, and are in general from six to fourteen miles in length. Lochannain, in the Parish of Kilmorack, is said to have been known to remain frozen all the year round.

Loch Ness, which very much exceeds in magnitude the other lakes of Inverness-shire, is two and twenty miles long, varying from one to two miles in breadth. It derives importance from its position as well as its size, since extending along the Great Glen, and communicating with the sea by the river Ness, it forms a great portion of the Caledonian Ship Canal, to the construction of which so many singular advantages were presented by nature. (See CANAL.) The depth of Loch Ness varies in general from 116 to 120 fathoms, though in one place it is 135 fathoms deep; its shores are every where steep, so that the whole basin of the Loch does not present a single shallow. To the great depth of Loch Ness is by many ascribed the fact that it has never been known to freeze, the superficial strata of water, when cooled, being continually replaced by others of higher temperature from below. Others, who deem this explanation insufficient, suppose the waters of the lake to be heated by the proximity of volcanic fires. On the day of the great earthquake at Lisbon, (1st of November, 1755,) Loch Ness manifested great agitation, rushing with violence towards the South-West, and ebbing and flowing for some hours. In August, 1816, when a smart shock of an earthquake was felt at Inverness, a noise and deep agitation were perceptible in the waters of the lake. The water of Loch Ness is very unwholesome, producing obstinate diarrhoea in strangers who drink of it. The chemical ingredients which impart to it this bad quality, have not yet been detected; but the prevailing opinion that the laxative property of the

NESSSHIRE.

water is due to a great portion of putrid vegetable matter INVERmechanically mixed with it, rests evidently on a slender foundation, as there are few lakes less exposed to the corruptive influence of decayed vegetation.

The productive land of this County lies along the sea- Soil, coast, or in narrow strips on the banks of lakes and climate, &c. rivers. A light sandy loam is the prevailing soil, clay occurring only on the shores of the Beauly and Moray Friths. It has been calculated that not more than a fortieth part of the County is arable land; and that twenty-six of the remaining parts are hills or mountains, in a great measure covered with heath. The corn-land, wood-lands, and green pastures, taken together, it is said, do not amount to eight acres in a hundred. The great difference in soil and climate between the Eastern and Western portions of the County, gives rise to a corresponding difference in the objects of agricultural labour. In the Aird, and in the country round Inverness, grain of all sorts is raised of the best quality. Extensive plantations have been made, and large tracts of lands exposed to inundation, at the mouth of the Spey especially, have been reclaimed by judicious draining. On the Western side of the County, the moisture of the climate hardly allows the ripening or the saving of grain, to the cultivation of which the barren and rugged nature of the County offers but little encouragement. Potatoes, and a little barley, are the only produce of the few spots which can be dug with the spade. The indolence and improvidence of the Highlanders may still be seen in these mountains, where large commou-pastures are thought necessary to the farmer, and where the patches of land employed in tillage are cropped till exhausted, and then neglected for years. The introduction of large flocks of sheep, has of late years gone far towards eradicating the old system. The poor peasantry suffered severely from the measures connected with the formation of large farms. They were forced to emigrate when extensive tracts, divided among small farmers, or enjoyed by them as wastes, were enclosed and united, in order to form large pastures. But the value of the estates being increased, the change of system will, it is hoped, hereafter redound to the advantage of the peasantry. Some of the mountain farms of Inverness-shire extend at present over several miles, and are held at rents of £2000 or £3000 a year. The indigenous breed of sheep with fine white wool are still numerous; a flock of Merinos has been introduced near Inverness, but the Cheviot sheep are daily increasing, and, from the superior quality of their wool, will probably, ere long, supply the place of the other races. The cattle and horses are in general small, but handsome, retaining many of the characteristics of the original mountain breeds.

The salmon fisheries of Inverness-shire are of con- Fisheries. siderable value; those of the river Ness alone are farmed for £1200 a year. The fish are almost all sent to the London market. In some seasons great quantities of herrings enter the deep inlets of the sea on the Western coast and furnish a temporary abundance to the people. Red deer and roes are still in great numbers; foxes, otters, and wild cats are also numerous. All kinds of feathered game are found here in plenty; pheasants have been lately introduced, and are multiplying rapidly. It is not many years since that fine bird, the Capercailzie, or Cock of the Woods, was an inhabitant of the fir-woods of Inverness-shire.

The antiquities of this County are numerous. They

SHIRE. Antiquities.

INVER consist of Druidical circles, Pictish buildings conNESS structed of large stones without cement, and those singular appearances called Vitrified Forts. But the most interesting remains are the Highland Castles, which generally occupy bold sites on the margins of the lakes, and to which importance has been attached by the events of History. Of this kind are, Urquhart Castle, standing on a bold cliff projecting into Loch Ness; the Castle of Invergarry, on Loch Oich; and that of Inverlochy, near Fort William, at one time a fortress of great extent. The Castle of the Thane of Cawdor, in which Macbeth is said to have murdered Duncan, stood on the Castle Hill not far from Inverness.

Population.

Inverness.

The estates of this County are of great extent, and great relative value. In 1811, the whole number of estates was seventy-seven, but thirteen of these averaged about 100,000 acres each, and exceeded twothirds of the whole. The chief proprietors are, the Duke of Gordon, the Earl of Moray, the Earl of Seafield, Lord M'Donald, Lord Cawdor, Fraser of Lovat, M'Donald of Glengarry, Cameron of Lochiel, &c. The valuation of the County, made in 1601, amounted to £72,836 Scots, and in 1811, the real rent of the lands was £195,843. 158. sterling.

The population of Inverness-shire amounted, in 1811, to 78,336, and from the great emigration which resulted from the introduction of sheep-farming, it was thought that the number would be found diminished in 1821. The population, nevertheless, had increased to 90,157, although the opponents of the new system represented the County as depopulated. A great number of roads and bridges have, of late years, been constructed through the Highlands, equally bold in design and solid in execution. The construction of the Caledonian Canal, also, has contributed to make the country more accessible, and to diffuse a spirit of active industry. The expenditure of money in these magnificent public works, has, in some measure, relieved the labouring classes from the distress necessarily resulting from the subversion of the old Highland system of small farms and common pastures.

Inverness-shire contains 31 parishes, 11 of which belong to the Hebrides. Some of these parishes are of enormous extent; those of Kilmalie and Kilmorack are 60 miles long, and about 30 broad. The County contains about 58 freeholders, who return one Member to Parliament. The town of Inverness, together with Forris, Nairn, and Fortrose, elects another for the Burghs. Inverness, a Royal Burgh, is the only town of any importance in the County. Although always looked upon as the Capital of the Highlands, it was not till the present century that it acquired elegance or the activity of trade. Inverness stands in a plain, on the banks of the river Ness, where it falls into the Frith of Moray. The heights behind the town command noble prospects of the Beauly and Moray Friths, on the one side, and with the mountain scenery connected with the Great Glen on the other. The old Town, situated on the Eastern side of the river, contains many vestiges of very remote antiquity. The more modern portion, on the Western bank, is less extensive, but superior in neatness to the old 'town. There are three Presbyterian Churches here, besides an Episcopalian and a Catholic Chapel. In one of the churches the Gaelic

SHIRE.

language is exclusively used; in another it is employed INVERalternately with English. The Tolbooth and Court NESSHouse is a modern erection of great elegance; the beautiful tower 150 feet high, which rises over the entrance, has been twisted in an extraordinary manner from the effect of an earthquake in 1816. In this Court House are held the Courts of Assize for the Counties of Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, Inverness, Nairn, and Moray. The Chartered School is a thriving institution, with seven masters, and in general about 250 scholars, originally sup ported by private subscriptions; the management of it is vested in directors, the chief of whom are the magistrates for the time being. Inverness is also the seat of a Highland Society, of a Farming Society, and of the Northern Horticultural Society. There is also a little Theatre, which is occasionally opened, and Assembly Rooms for the festivities of the summer season, when strangers flock hither in their way to the Highlands.

The population of Inverness, which in 1801 was only 8742, amounted in 1821 to 12,264. The trade and activity of the place have increased in proportion. It carries on at present a regular trade with the port of London. Vessels of 200 tons burden can unload at the quay, and those of greater size have safe anchorage at a short distance from the shore, The opening of the Caledonian Canal was expected to make great additions to the commerce of the town, but these sanguine anticipations have not yet beeu fulfilled. The manufacture of polished iron has been brought to great perfection here, but the most important manufactures are those of coarse hempen cloth for packers, and of tartans for the Highland markets. Inverness is 118 miles West North-West from Aberdeen, and 156 North North-West from Edinburgh, in longitude 4° 5′ West, and latitude 57° 30′ 5′′ North.

Forts were formerly constructed at the principal The Forts. openings of the Great Glen, with the view of maintaining a communication through the country and of keeping the Highlanders in awe. The entrance up the Moray Frith to Inverness is commanded by Fort George, situated on a little peninsula, about 11 miles to the Eastward of that town. It was begun in 1747, but not finished till 20 years afterwards; the situation which it occupies is censured as too accessible, but in point of construction the fortress is regarded as a model. It mounts 80 guns, and has barracks for 3000 soldiers. Fort William, at the Western termination of the Glen, stands at the foot of Ben Nevis, on the navigable inlet of the sea called Loch Eil. It was built by William III., and mounts 15 small guns; during the rebel. lion of 1745, it stood a siege of five weeks. Before the construction of the fort an encampment of troops had been established here, amounting, at times, to 2000 men. It was at that time called the garrison of Inverlochy. About midway in the Great Glen, at the Western extremity of Loch Ness, stands Fort Augustus, a regular fortress with four bastions, and accommodations for 400 men. The old fortress, which was built in 1730, and destroyed by the rebels in 1745, stood at a considerable distance from the lake. ✨

See Robertson's Survey of Inverness-shire; Playfair's Description of Scotland; Travels in the Highlands, London, 1822.

Defintion.

A certain portion of the revenues of Bengall has been, for many years, set apart to be employed in the purchase of goods for exportaSon to Bagland, and this is called the investment.

I. Ib. vol. xi. p. 51. On the Affairs of India. INVESTITURE, in the Feudal Law, was the open and notorious delivery of a feud by a Lord to his vassal, thus by external proof affording evidence of property. In modern Law-parlance it may be termed giving livery of seizin or possession. Blackstone, as usual, has explained the nature of this custom simply and briefly: Investitures in their original rise were probably intended to demonstrate in conquered Countries the actual possession of the Lord, and that he did not grant a bare litigious right, which the soldier was ill qualified to prosecute, but a peaceable and firm possession. And at a time when writing was seldom practised, a mere oral gift, at a distance from the spot that was given, was not likely to be either long or accurately retained in the memory of by standers who were very little interested in the grant. Afterwards they were retained as a public and notorious act, that the Country might take notice of and testify the transfer of the estate, and that such as claimed title by other means might know against whom to bring their action." (ii. xx.) The ceremony by which an heir is served at present in Scotland in the Lords' Court, in the presence of his Peers, corresponds in this respect with Feudal Investiture.

Investiture, for the most part, was performed by the presentation of some symbol to the person Invested, as a ring, a staff, a sword, &c. Du Cange (ad v.) has enumerated seventy-eight different modes. A passage respecting it in the History of Ingulphus has been largely commented upon by Mr. Ellis in the Archeologia, (xvii. 311.) The Chronicler, speaking of the times immediately succeeding the Conquest, says, Conferebantur etiam primo multis predio mudo verbo, absque scripto vel charta, cm Domini gladio, vel galed, vel cornu, vel craA plurima tenementa eum calcari, cum strigili, (a curry-comb,) cum arcu, et nonnulla eum sagitta. (A Gale, 70) Mr. Ellis adduces numerous illustra five stances, Occasionally, such articles as Ingulphus mentions were attached to Deeds, like seals: thus, in the archives of Trinity College, Cambridge, a Deed is still preserved, to which a knife is appendant. An extraordinary method of Investiture was that by which Witham Earl of Warren gave and confirmed to the Church of St. Pancras, at Lewes, in the 24th year of Henry III, certain land, rent, and tithes, of which he gave seism per capillos capitis sui et fratris sui Radulfi. The hair of the parties was cut off by the Bishop of Winchester before the High Altar. See also ArcheoA 111. 1. &c. for many examples of Investiture by

In the Primitive Church, after the election of a Bhop, and his Consecration, the early Christian Em

perors claimed a right of confirmation. The Gothic INVEST and Lombard Kings exercised the same privilege. In TURE the French Monarchy, the Merovingians affected the still greater power of direct nomination, and their control was supported by means against which the Church was wholly inadequate to contend. The estates and honours which composed the Ecclesiastical temporalLord. Charlemagne is said to have introduced this Charleties, were considered to partake of the nature of fiefs, and therefore to require similar Investiture from the practice, (Radolf de Diceto, ap. X. Scrip. 445. Sigo- magne. newly consecrated Bishop by placing a ring and crosier nius, iv. ad ann. 774.) and to have Invested the in his hands. Gratian, indeed, (distinct. 63. cap. Adrianus,) affirms that Pope Adrian positively conceded to in 774, but neither Eginhard, nor any other contempothis Emperor the power of electing even to the Papacy, rary writer, mentions this fact. The custom, however, existed, nor does it appear to have been objected to or opposed during the lapse of two centuries from his reign. The disorderly state of Italy which succeeded the death of Charlemagne, frequently interrupted the exercise of this right by the Carlovingians; but even so Henry I late as 1047, when the Empire had passed to another line, Henry III. received an explicit admission of his prerogative, and repeatedly used it. The Investiture in the lesser Sees followed as a matter of course.

A. D

774

A. D

104

A.

10