FORTH is the name of the largest river in Scotland. It is first formed of several smaller streams, rising on the north of Ben-Lomond, or flowing from the lakes in the adjacent country. It proceeds easterly in a direct course for above a hundred miles, receiving in its progress the tributary waters of the Goodie, the Teith, and the Allan, above Stirling, and below it the Devon, the Carron, the Avon, the Almond, the Leith, the Esk, the Leven, the Tyne, and others; and it discharges itself into the German Ocean in about 56° 10 ’ of north latitude. The windings of the river both above and below Stirling are particularly beautiful. The windings above Stirling to Gartmore extend about thirty-three miles in length, though only twenty in a direct line; and towards Alloa the river flows for twenty-four miles in a tortuous course, without advancing more in a straight line than six. Its width at Borrowstownness is four miles, at Queensferry two, at Kinghorn nearly six, between Dysart and Aberlady about twelve, between Elie and Dirleton Common eight, and between St Abb’s Head and Fifeness, where the

Forth joins the German Ocean, its breadth is from thirty-five to forty miles.

It is so deep as to be navigable by vessels of seventy tons burden as high up as Stirling, and the tide flows a mile above that town. At low water, above Borrowstownness, it seldom exceeds two fathoms in depth; at Queensferry, between Inchgarvey and the north shore, it deepens to thirty-seven fathoms. It becomes shallower again where it widens, till it reaches the north channel between Kinghorn-ness and Inchkeith, where it deepens to twenty-six fathoms. Between Elie and the south shore its depth is sometimes thirty fathoms; and it never exceeds this depth to the westward of its junction with the German Ocean.

The Forth, like other streams connected with the ocean, ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours; but the flood and ebb run about two hours longer in the middle than at the shore. It was high water, full and change, according to Captain Thomas, in 1815, at
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The tides at Leith and Kinghom rise sometimes as high as nineteen feet above low-water mark, the average being seventeen and a half feet.

There are in the Forth, as elsewhere in similar rivers and arms of the sea, particular currents. Amongst the most remarkable are those known by the name of leakies, above Queensferry, and which are particularly observed from Culross to Alloa. These consist in an intermission of the tide at certain places, during the flood at others, and before high water at certain places, the sea ebbing at others; and also whilst the sea ebbs at certain places, and before low water, the ebb intermitting at others, and a flow commencing and continuing some time, after which the ebbing is resumed until low water. This is observable during two hours, and the irregularity occupies more of the river, according as it is spring or neap tides.

Certain winds, acting upon the great mass of the Atlantic Ocean, affect the times at which it is high or low water in the Forth, while their effect upon the extent of the rise or fall of its waters is frequently very considerable.

The prevailing winds of the Forth will be seen by the following table, constructed from observations taken every day at ten o'clock forenoon, on the island of Inchkeith, for the ten successive years ending on 31st December 1826.
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Nearly the same facts are better brought out by the following table, constructed from the observations taken every day, in the Calton Hill observatory, under the superintendence[7:9:765] of the astronomical observer, for the same ten years, ending on the 31st December 1826. The entry in the register for each day is applicable to the winds of its whole twenty-four hours.
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From these tables it will be observed, that the prevailing winds in the Forth, the gales and storms at Inchkeith, and the very high and extremely high winds at the Calton Hill observatory, chiefly proceed from westerly directions.

The waters of the Forth and its tributary streams are all fresh until they mingle with that of the ocean. Long before the river becomes two miles wide, they acquire a saltness which differs little, if at all, from that of the sea in general. The water in the neighbourhood of the coalworks of the Forth has been often evaporated for the sake of the salt, which was here at one time an extensive article of manufacture.

The constituent parts of 10,000 parts of the waters of the Frith were found by Mr Murray,^[1. Edinburgh Phil. Trant, viü. ] in the course of three different analyses made in different ways, to contain,
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Mr Murray placed most confidence in the results obtained from the last of these analyses.

The minerals of which the banks of the Forth are composed will be found described under the counties of East-Lothian, Mid-Lothian, West-Lothian, Stirling, Clackmannan, Perth, and Fife, by all which the Forth is bounded.

Coal, besides being wrought in these counties, was once worked near Culross and Torryburn, under the bed of the river, and partly by pits within high-water mark. At the mouths of these pits there were piers, at which vessels were loaded with the coals. But these mines have been for many years filled with water.

The bed of this river consists to a great extent of mud, and in many places the freestone bottom is covered with it to the depth of twenty feet. Its banks above Alloa, and λ great way below that place, are formed of this material, which is brought down by the waters from the higher levels; and the carses of Stirling and Falkirk, &c. which have been formed from its accumulation, are secured at their lowest levels by sea-dikes against inundations, occasioned by the rise of the tides.

The recent alluvial cover to the westward of Alloa has been found by Mr Bald in some places to be no less than ninety feet deep, and to contain trunks and branches of large trees, and beds of sand with sea shells, particularly of the oyster, cockle, mussel, donax, &c.; and similar beds of shells not only abound at and below Alloa, but are found several miles to the westward of Stirling similarly situated. Many of the oyster-shells are of uncommon thickness, and larger than any specimens that can now be found. What makes the westerly position in which these uncommonly large shells are found very remarkable is, that there are no specimens of the oyster now found farther up the Forth than Queensferry.

There is also a bed of marine shells on the banks of the Forth near Borrowstownness, about three miles in length, and several feet in thickness, and which is situated many feet above the present level of the waters of the Forth. This circumstance would favour the opinion that the sea in this quarter had at one time occupied a higher elevation than at present; an opinion which is further supported by the fact of the skeleton of a large whale having been found some time ago in the lands of Airthrey, near Stirling. The surface of the ground where the remains of this huge marine animal were deposited, was ascertained by Mr Stevenson to be twenty-four feet nine inches above the present level of the Forth at high water of spring tides.

But if the land has been gaining on the waters in the upper part of the Forth, ground has been lost farther down the estuary. The sea has made considerable encroachments at North Berwick; at Newhaven, an arsenal and dock built in the reign of James IV. in the fifteenth century has been swept away; and on the coast of Fife, in 1803, the last remains of the Priory of Crail, and the ground on which it stood, met with a similar fate.

At Largo Bay the sea seems now to be covering ground which was formerly dry land. Here a submarine forest has been discovered, the roots of the trees penetrating into a brown clay, over which is irregularly distributed a covering of sand and fine gravel. The peat upon it is composed of land and fresh-water plants, amongst which are hazel nuts, and the remains of birch, hazel, and alder trees. The root of one tree, apparently an alder, was here traced by Dr Fleming to an extent of more than six feet from the trunk.

There is an abundant supply of sea-weed on almost all the shores of the Forth, which has often been burned at various places to form kelp. Within the last twelve or fifteen years this manufacture in the Forth has been entirely given up. The produce of the rocks, or what is cast ashore in storms, is now therefore only used as manure.
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Seals are often seen sitting on the rocks, or swimming along the coasts of the Forth. Sharks are also said to have occasionally made their appearance. Numerous cetacea from twenty to sixty feet long, and grampuses, have often been stranded in the Forth. A male Beluga,orwhite whale, apparently of full growth, appeared in its waters in 1815. It was killed by the salmon fishers near the abbey of Cambuskenneth, and sent to Edinburgh, where it was dissected by the late Dr Barclay.

Numerous porpoises are often observed tumbling and disporting in the Frith. The salmon is abundant, and salmon fisheries have been established at Stirling, Aber, corn, and near Queensferry, &c. Herrings are also plentiful, and at Burntisland and various other stations the fishery is prosecuted successfully. The other fishes caught in the Forth are mackerel, haddock, cod, turbot, skate, flounders, halibut, soles, &c. In fact, fish are so abundant in the Frith, that upwards of forty sail of foreign vessels are said to have been frequently seen fishing on the cod banks opposite St Abb’s Head, guarded by a Dutch ship of war. Almost all parts of the Frith are also fished with success by English vessels. Sometimes a dozen at a time of the English fishing smacks are there seen busily employed. One of them alone has been known to catch seventy-two scores of large cod in two days. Taking this as an average, and it is said not to be a high one, these vessels in a week would catch 52,000 of the finest fish, which is a much larger quantity than is believed to be sold in the Edinburgh market during a whole year. This market is chiefly supplied by Newhaven and Fisherrow boatmen, who purchase their fish generally from fishermen residing at a distance upon the coasts of the Frith, many of whom are under contracts with English fishmongers for the supply of the London markets.

Cellardike is one of the principal stations of this fishery in the Forth. It supplies the London market to a great extent with salted cod, and Glasgow as well as Edinburgh with fresh fish; but here, as elsewhere in the Forth, the fishermen migrate for months to the herring fishery in the north of Scotland, at the season when fish is most abundant, particularly the haddock. This interrupts the regular supply of that important article. Lobsters and crabs are also caught at almost all the fishing stations in the Forth. Mussels, cockles, lampits, and wilks, are also collected in great quantities at those places where they abound; and oysters are extensively fished at the oyster-beds, which are met with chiefly to the eastward of Leith.

There is nothing remarkable about the wild fowl resorting to the Forth in winter. The solan geese of the Bass have been already described under that head, to which the reader is referred.

Besides the Bass, there is another island in its neighbourhood, the May; and the larger islands farther up the Forth are Inchkeith, lnehcolm, and Inchgarvey, which will be found described in separate articles. The smaller islands are Fidra, the Lamb, and Craigleith, near the Bass, and Mickry and Cramond Islands near Inchcolm.

The principal sand banks which obstruct the navigation of the Forth are the Drum Sands near Cramond, and the Sandend to the east of Burntisland. The principal rocks which require to be avoided by the mariner are the South Carr reef lying N.N.W. from Dunbar, the North Carr about a mile and a quarter east of Fifeness, the Blea to the west of Kinghorn, the Commons to the west of Burntisland, Craig Waugh S.E. į E. of Inchkeith, and the Gunnet Rock, Fallas Rock, Longcraig, Briggs, and Harwit, in its neighbourhood; and several miles farther west, and nearer lnehcolm, the Oxcares, Carcraig, and Mickry Stone.

Many of these rocks are seldom seen at the lowest ebbs; their position, together with the different landmarks which are necessary to point them out to the mariner, are > well delineated on an admiralty chart of the Forth by Captain Thomas, of the navy, published in 1815.

To show their position still better, floating buoys have r been placed upon Craig Waugh, the Gunnet, the Hari wit, and the Pallas rocks, and beacons have been erected on the Oxcares and the North Carr. The last was completed in 1821, with a cast-iron ball formed in ribs, and is elevated upwards of twenty-five feet above the medium level of the sea, the under part of the beacon being a circular building of masonry of eighteen feet in diameter.

Besides these provisions for aiding the navigator, there is a lighthouse on the Isle of May. It has been lighted! since the 1st of February 1816, during night, with oil;: and, by means of reflectors, gives what is called by marī- , ners a stationary light. Being defended from the wea-: ther in a glazed light roof, it has a uniform steady appear-I ance, resembling a star of the first magnitude, and is seen i from all points of the compass to the distance of seven leagues. In 18O4∙, another lighthouse was erected on the summit of Inchkeith. Its lanthorn is 229 feet above the level of the sea, of which the building forms forty-five feet. On the 1st of February 1816 it was converted into a revolving light without colour, seen from all points of the compass, and exhibiting a bright light once every minute, and becoming less luminous, till to a distant observer it totally disappears. By this arrangement the possibility of mistaking lnehkeith light for any other of the Forth is effectually prevented. There are also light-houses on the pier-heads of Leith, Newhaven, Burntisland, Pettycur, Queensferry, &c. on which, whilst there is water in the harbours during night, care is taken to keep the lamps burning.

The harbours and landing places are, on the south side of the Forth, Dunbar, North Berwick, Port-Seton, Morison’s Haven, Fisherrow, Leith, Newhaven, Trinity, Queensferry, Borrowstownness, and Grangemouth; and on the north side, Crail, Anstruther, Elie, Pittenweem, Leven, Methe), West Wemyss, Dysart, Kirkaldy, Kinghorn, Pettycur, Burntisland, Starleyburn, Aberdour, St Davids, Inverkeithing, Queensferry, Charleston, Crombie Point, Culross, Kincardine, and Alloa. The more important of these harbours and landing places will be found described in separate articles. The anchorage in the Forth is in general good, and in particular the anchorage at Aberlady Bay, in the westerly part of Largo Bay, and in the roads of Burntisland, Leith, St Davids, Limekilns, &c.

The coasting and foreign trade of the Frith is carried on in vessels varying in size from eighteen tons to nearly 500. The principal port to which they belong is Leith; but there are several whalers and vessels engaged in the Australian, American, Mediterranean, and Baltic trades, belonging to other ports in the Forth.

The traffic in goods and passengers between the ports in the Forth and London, Greenock, Glasgow, Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle, Dundee, Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness, Peterhead, and almost every considerable town in Scotland, is conducted chiefly by the vessels of joint-stock companies, which vessels sail periodically. A joint-stock company is also engaged in the Leith, Hamburg, and Rotterdam trades, the vessels belonging to which sail at present from Leith every alternate Tuesday. The Glasgow, Greenock, and Liverpool trade is chiefly conducted through the Forth and Clyde Canal; as to which, see Navigation, Inland, and Grangemouth.

The names of all the vessels belonging to the Forth are registered in the custom-houses of Leith, Borrowstown∙ ness, Kirkaldy, and Anstruther. The aggregate tonnage registered at each of these ports will be found under the articles Kirkaldy and Leith, together with a statement[7:9:767] of the number of arrivals in a year from foreign ports and coastwise, and the chief goods and other articles landed and exported, with the aggregate duties paid upon them.

To facilitate the intercourse between the northern and southern parts of Scotland by a communication across the river Forth, wooden bridges near Stirling were erected at a very early period. The time at which the present old bridge of Stirling was erected is unknown; but it must have been built before the year 1571, as Archbishop Hamilton is then said to have been hanged over it by the king’s faction under the Regent Lennox. The newest bridge at Stirling is of very recent erection. There was, within the last thirty years, a project of erecting a suspension bridge at Queensferry, and another project of making a tunnel near the same place; but the practicability of these schemes has been doubted.

From the want of such facilities of passage across the Forth, the regulation of its ferries became the object of legislative enactments at so early a period as the year 1467. Before the introduction of steam navigation, the traffic at these ferries was chiefly conducted by open boats, pinnaces, and yawls of various sizes; and from the want of low-water piers, they seldom departed from either side except at high water. Although by the statute 1686 all Scotch ferries were subjected to the regulation of the justices of the peace and commissioners of supply, the traffic on the Forth at all times received much interruption from not having stationary superintendents, and the consequent want of proper subordination.

Most of the ferries on the Forth are still private property. The private rights to the Queensferry passage were in 1809 purchased by parliamentary trustees, for upwards of L.Θ550; and these trustees, out of funds arising from a government grant, at first of L.13,525, and it is believed afterwards of L.2300, and loans from private individuals to as great an extent upon the security of the profits arising from the traffic, have improved the landing places, and purchased and continue to maintain suitable vessels. In 1828, the debts of this trust to banks and private individuals, with interest,amounted toL. 16,410.2s. Id. The rent payable by the tacksmen of the ferry, including an allowance of L.200 a year from the post-office, was
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The annual surplus since 1828 is understood to be rather greater than this, in consequence of the piers requiring but little repair. The amount of the traffic in 1833 was estimated at 6180carriages and carts, 11,750 horses, 16,500 cattle, 27,000 sheep and lambs, 4500 barrel-bulk of luggage, 73,500 passengers, including 500 paupers allowed to pass gratis, and 3000 Highland shearers, and exclusive of mail guards and coachmen twice every day, and of military baggage and stores having a free passage. The number of passengers landed from, or taken off to, steam vessels passing up and down the Frith, at Queensferry, is estimated at not less than 4000.

The ferry stations of Burntisland and Newhaven were added in 1792 to the stations of Kinghorn and Leith, which had been used for the great ferry of the Forth from the very earliest period of our history; and by the act 32 Geo. III. cap. 93, the traffic in goods and passengers crossing the Forth between these stations was placed under the superintendence of trustees, with powers to raise tolls for the improvement of the harbours. These trustees obtained further powers from parliament in 1813 to pur chase from the boatmen the vessels used upon these ferries, and to carry on the trade themselves exclusively both as to goods and passengers. In 1813 and 1821 they were further empowered by parliament to acquire rights to extend their monopoly in transporting passengers between MidLothian, and Kirkaldy and Dysart on the opposite coast. They have tried both; but some years ago they abandoned the Dysart passage. By a loan from government to the extent of L.10,000, and from private individuals of L.19,516. 13s. 4d., besides a sum from the Navy Board, they have erected a stone pier at Newhaven, made small repairs, and added landing slips to the harbours on the north side; and they conduct the ferry to Leith at present by means of sailing vessels; and between Newhaven on the one side, and Burntisland, Kinghorn, and Kirkaldy, on the other, by steam navigation, their vessels making from three to four trips to and from each of these ports daily. In 1832 the gross debts of this trust, with interest, amount-
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The number of passages and passengers to and from Newhaven in 1832 was as follows:
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The revenue arising at the Burntisland and Leith ferry in 1832 from cattle and carriages was L.15. 18s. Id., and from goods L.435. 17s. 8d. The revenue arising at the Leith and Kinghorn ferry during the same period from cattle and carriages was L.126. 7s. 6įd., and from goods L.363. 16s. 4d.

The revenue arising from the carriage of goods at the ferry between Leith and Kirkaldy is not known, as it is conducted by private traders, and is not within the limits of the trustees’ monopoly. As little is generally known concerning the numbers of the passengers crossing in the steam-vessels which now regularly ply to and from Dysart, Largo, Queensferry, Cromby Point, Limekilns, Alloa, Stirling, Borrowstownness, &c. These vessels land and take in passengers regularly at the low-water Chain Pier at Trinity, which is a noble specimen of what may be done in the erection of useful works by private individuals for the benefit of the public.

The principal projects at present in contemplation for the improvement of these ferries, and in general for extending the navigation of the Forth, are the erection of low-water piers on both sides of the Frith. ∙

Mr Telford, in October 1828, reported to government that it would cost L.38,660. 17s. 2d. to construct a low-water landing place at Newhaven in connection with the ferry pier, so as to secure a depth of water there of ten feet at low water; and that in proceeding farther westward he could not perceive that any advantages were to be obtained.

Another project, founded on a report by Mr Matheson, civil engineer, was to erect at Wardie Point, the property of Captain Donaldson Boswall, α complete landing place and a wet dock. At this place it is stated that at the distance of 1500 feet from the shore there is ten feet deep water at the lowest ebb of stream tides; but the accuracy of the statement has been questioned. The estimated expense of this proposed harbour and other structures is L.122,149.

A third project is that of a joint-stock company to erect at Trinity, to the east of Wardie, and nearer the Ferry Trustees’ pier, including the ground whereon the chain pier now stands, a,wet dock containing forty-three acres, and affording wharfage to the extent of 12,000 feet. It is proposed that the dock should be entered by a lock 200 feet in length and fifty-five in width, of sufficient dimensions to admit a ship of the line or steam-vessels of the first class. The entrance is meant to be protected by a breakwater 1100 feet long, parallel to the channel of the Frith, which, with two check piers built on arches, would secure an outer harbour 900 feet long by 300 wide, where there would be a low-water landing place; the depth of the water in the outer harbour at the lowest ebbs would be upwards of eleven feet, and twenty-nine feet at high water, and the depth over the whole dock would be only one foot less. The estimated expense of erecting these works, purchasing the grounds, &c. is stated to be L.250,000. Application has been made to parliament for power to carry this project into execution.

A fourth project is that of his grace the Duke of Buccleuch, who, with a munificence seldom displayed by a single individual, has come forward with a proposal to construct at his own expense a deep-water harbour on his property at Granton. This situation is about three quarters of a mile west from the Trinity Chain Pier, in a small bay formed by Granton Point on the west and Wardie Point on the east. Here a depth of twelve feet of water is obtained at low water of spring tides, at the distance of 550 yards from high-water mark, the rise of the tide giving twenty-eight feet at high water of spring tides. It is proposed to extend two piers of masonry to this depth, including between them an area of thirty-five acres, which will be occupied as an outer harbour or receiving basin, and capable of accommodating his majesty’s ships of war as well as the largest class of merchant vessels. To the landward of this basin it is proposed to construct a suite of wet docks, to such an extent as may afterwards be found necessary. It is calculated that the expense of each of the piers will be from L.80,000 to L.90,000, and that the wet docks will cost at least L. 100,000 more.

The erection of low-water piers on the south side of the Forth, at any of the stations above referred to, should only take place if it be found to be utterly impracticable, by a capacious tide basin, or otherwise, to deepen the harbour of Leith, or secure at that station a sufficient depth of water at the lowest ebbs. At the same time the erection of low-water landing places on both sides of the Forth is now considered by every body as an object of the greatest national importance; and when the relative merits of new grants out of the public funds for such works in distant colonies, or nearer home, come to be considered, it is to be hoped that the harbours on the Forth will receive proper aid from the government, and not be left to be improved exclusively by the enterprise and at the risk of private individuals.

On the north side of the Forth Mr Rennie had advised an extension of the present piers of Burntisland for a low-water landing place there. But Mr Telford recommended to government the construction of a landing pier a little to the eastward; the pier to be at the distance of 700 feet from high water, and carried in to ten feet depth of water at low water of spring tides. He estimates the expense at L.20,801. 9s. 3d. He also recommends a continuation of the road partially made along the beach from the eastward of Burntisland, so as gradually to rise from the eastern extremity of that parish to the town of Kinghorn. But in the event of Kinghorn being preferred as the better of the two stations on the Fife side for a low-water harbour, Mr Telford also reported to government that he would propose to form a very capacious harbour in the bay of Kinghorn, by making an insulated break-water, and a smaller one connected with the Kinghorn Kirk Craig, having an opening between them, and a main landing pier slip on the western side of the harbour. He estimates the expense at L.60,917. 3s.

Another survey and report was obtained at the same time from Mr Buchanan, civil engineer. Mr Buchanan reported that a pier of solid masonry might be carried out 1200 feet on the ridge of rocks stretching from the Kirk Craig, so as to form a harbour which would command a depth of water at the entrance of ten or eleven feet at the lowest spring tides, and of twenty-six feet at high water of ordinary spring tides. This would inclose a space ol twenty imperial acres in extent, secure from every storm He estimates the expense at L.20,159. 14s., and the expense of a level road from it to Kirkaldy, the great seal of the traffic, at L.3960, and that of a railway upon it to the same place at L.2760. 15s. Indeed, the roads to Burntisland and Kirkaldy, referred to in both Mr Telford’s and Mr Buchanan’s reports, are admitted to be indispensable at whatever station proper landing places are erected.