CAITHNESS is the most northern county of Scotland. It is bounded on the north by the Pentland Frith, which separates it from the Orkney Islands; on the east and south-east by the Moray Frith; on the south and southwest by Sutherlandshire; and on the west by the Northern Ocean. A chain of hills, commencing on the east at the Ord, runs along the division between Sutherland and it. One of these, Morven, rises to an elevation of 1929 feet. The Burn of the Ord forms the true boundary between the two counties on the east side; and a line drawn across the hill of Drumholłiston, on the east of the river Halladałe, constitutes that on the west coast. The form of the county is an irregular triangle, measuring along the eastern coast from Duncansbay-head to the Ord about forty miles, and from Duncansbay-head along the northern shore to Bighouse on the west, about thirty-five miles. No accurate map of the county has yet been constructed; but it is supposed∙to contain about 650 square miles. There are ten parishes of very unequal extent, the least being four miles long and two broad; the largest twenty-seven miles by ten or twelve. The coast nearly along the whole line is rocky and precipitous, with deep water to the edge of the rock, and at Dunnet-head it rises to the height of 340 feet. It is remarkable for a number of bold headlands. The principal of these are Sandside-head on the west; Holburn-head, Dunnet-head, Duncansbay-head, Noss-head, and Clythness. Dunnet-head is the most northerly land on the mainland, lying in long. 3. 29. E. and lat. 58. 42. N. Near Duncansbay-head lies John o’ Groat’s, commonly considered the most northern point; but it is two miles farther south than Dunnet-head.

There are several bays along the coast. Sandside Bay lies on the east of the head of that name. It is open, and not safe for shipping in particular winds. On the east of Holburn-head, and sheltered by it, lies Thurso Bay, having Scrabster roadstead close to the head, affording the most secure anchorage on a stiff blue clay bank sloping outwards. Dunnet Bay is much exposed to the north, and dangerous for shipping, being often mistaken for the entrance to the frith; the low sands lying at its bottom not being observable in a dark night till close at hand. Last year a light-house was finished on Dunnet-head, by which this danger is obviated. The light stands 346 feet above the sea. Riess Bay, or Sinclair’s Bay, bounded on the east by Noss-head, is also an exposed bay from the north-east; but in certain winds it affords good anchorage. Wick Bay, at the bottom of which stands the town of that name, is small, and very unsafe with the wind high from the east and south-east, a heavy sea then rolling in. The tide in the Pentland Frith runs, at spring tides, at the rate of nine miles an hour; and, when opposed by a strong wind, raises a very heavy sea. Within two miles of the shore, off Duncansbay, lies the island of Stroma, about a mile long, round which the tides form several eddies. Off the point of Mey, a few miles farther west, there is an eddy of considerable strength, called the Merry Men of Mey, into which boats are sometimes in danger of being drawn. The navigation of the frith requires the aid of a pilot, unless the crew of the ship are well acquainted with it.

The county is generally level, or swelling into slight elevations, with very few hills, which are chiefly on the west side. It is well watered with rivers, brooks, and lochs, and seldom suffers from drought. The climate is variable. On an average of eight years, the number of days of more or less rain in each month is as follows: Jan. Feb. March. April. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 14 12 15 15 15 16 19 19 16 19 16 17

making for the whole year 193 days.

The average of days with snow is as follows :—

January. February. March. April. October. November. December.

7⅜ 7 7⅜ 4 2 . 5 3⅜

Instances of snow in May have occasionally occurred, as in May 1831, when there were four days of snow and heavy wind, which destroyed the prospect of small fruit.

The average of days of frost stands thus:

January· February. March. April. October. November. December.

8 7⅜ 4⅜ 2 1 . 4⅜ 7⅜

In the summer and harvest, frost frequently occurs at night. Rain, snow, and frost, frequently occur on the same day during the winter.

The range of the barometer is .very extensive, sometimes two inches and more; yet the climate is in general healthy. The soil is various, from black and clay loam to light sandy, in general yielding abundant crops of oats and bear, of which large quantities are exported. Wheat is also grown, but in small quantities, and also peas and beans. The subsoil is almost throughout clay upon clay slate rock. Whinstone and sandstone also occur. Dunnet and Duncansbay-heads are composed of rough sandstone of a red colour. A white sandstone is found in abundance in the interior of Dunnet-head, and in other places on the coast of the Pentland Frith. Granite is found in mass in the Berridale Hills. A good deal of an inferior limestone also occurs, and shell marl in great abundance. Traces of various metallic minerals have been found. A lead vein was discovered at Skinnet, near Thurso, and copper at Old Wick, near Wick, but neither was of any value. Bog-iron also occurs.

Great numbers of black cattle are reared for home use and sale. Many thousands were annually sent south, but of late years the demand has been very dull. A curious kind of traffic exists between the Caithness and Orkney people. Annually a number of colts, one or two years old, are sent into the islands, which return a proportional number of horses from five to eight years old. This practice has existed from time immemorial.

There are few trees in the county; but experience has shown that they would thrive if proper care were employed to protect them when young. The trunks of large trees are often found in the mosses which abound in this county, and which yield the chief part of the fuel used by the people. Coals, principally English, are also now much in use. Partridges, hares, rabbits, grouse, plovers, &c. [7:5:781]abound; and there are some black-cock around Berridalc and Langwell. Formerly great flocks of a bird larger than the sparrow, called the snow-fowl, visited this county in the winter season; but for some years past they have scarcely been seen. The rocks are frequented by eagles, hawks, and a variety of sea-fowl, which breed in great numbers.

The rivers and lochs afford trout, salmon, and cels; and the sea yields abundance of cod, haddocks, and other kinds of fish. The salmon fishery is not now so successful as formerly. The herring fishery has of late years been very prosperous. Wick is the principal station. On an average of eleven years ending in 1830, there have been caught 100,000 barrels annually. There were 134 curers, employing 736 boats, 3564 fishers, 384 coopers, 239 labourers, and 2455 women. In 1830 about 153,000 barrels were taken. But the fishing of 1831 was not so productive. The quantity caught at other stations along the coast may amount to 40,000 or 50,000 more.

The population amounted at last census (1831) to 34,500, including Wick, Pulteneytown, and Thurso. In 1801 it was 22,609. The people are hardy and industrious. Their condition as cultivators of the ground has materially improved within the last forty years. Formerly they were oppressed with the exaction of personal services by the landlords. These consisted of labour on the lands in the natural possession of the proprietors, ploughing, sowing, cutting, and gathering in the crops; furnishing straw, fuel, fowls, eggs, &c.; shipping grain, and other services, which are now almost entirely abolished, and money payments substituted. Still they labour under several disadvantages, the principal of which are want of leases and too high rents. In general the rents, especially on the coast, are high; nor could the tenants pay them, but for their traffic in cattle, and the herring fishery. The improvement in agriculture has been very great within the last forty years. At the beginning of that period artificial or sown grasses and turnips were commodities possessed by few; now both are common, and their value is duly appreciated. A regular system of rotation of crops is pursued on all farms of any size; and the breed of working horses is greatly improved. The real rent of the county, which has increased to nearly one half within the last thirty years, exceeds L.61,000. On some estates the rents arc payable partly in money, partly in meal and bear.

Wick is the head burgh of the shire. It was erected into a royal burgh in 1589, in favour of the Earl of Caithness. But the superiority came into the possession of Sir John Sinclair, and was lately purchased by the Marquis of Stafford. Including Louisburgh, it contains 2269 inhabitants, and perhaps has made more rapid advances in improvement and extent of trade within the last twenty years than any other place of the same size in the empire. In the foreign trade of last year (1831) fifty vessels and 4072 tons of shipping were employed, while in the coasting trade there have been generally about 500 vessels and 35,000 tons likewise annually engaged. The chief imports are timber, hemp, iron, and tar, while the exports consist chiefly of fish.

The settlement of Pulteneytown, on the south side of the river of Wick, has sprung up entirely from the herring fishery. The first house was built only twenty-two years since, and now the town contains 2845 inhabitants, lhe ground was purchased from Lord Duffus, then Sir B. Dunbar, by the British Fishery Society, who derive a large income from the feu-duties, and the harbour dues of a large and secure port, lately completed at an expense of L. 40,000.

The town of Thurso is of great an tiquity, and was erected into a burgh of barony in 1633. It has 2364 inhabitants.

The antiquities of this county consist of old castles and Picts’ cairns. The former are nearly all on the coast, and on bold projecting points. The ruins of Castle Sinclair, anciently called Girncgo, the residence of the earls, arc situated on a tongue of lofty rock on the west side of Noss-head, and within Riess Bay. The castle of Kiess stands on the opposite side of the bay. The castle of Old Wick, to the south of the town, is known to mariners as the Old Man of Wick, and is a noted land-mark. Thp Bishop of Caithness, whose see included Sutherland, had a castle at Scrabster, a short distance west of Thurso. There are ruins of castles also at Forse, Latheron, and Berridalc, and in the interior at Braal, Dirlet, and Loch-more, along the river Thurso. The only habitable castles are those of Mey, Ackergill, and Dunbeath.

The Picts’ cairns are scattered over the face of the country, generally on the slopes of rising grounds. They are very numerous, and it has been remarked that Biere are at least three always in sight of one another. They were probably the houses of the richer inhabitants, the lower classes lodging in more perishable huts of turf, as many of them still do.

The names of places arc generally of Danish origin; and a number of them end in ster> which signifies a station or estate. The language spoken by the people is the same as that of the south of Scotland, except in the parts bordering on Sutherland, where Gaelic is still in use, though giving place to English.

The ancient history of this county is, as might be expected, very obscure. What is known of it is little more than a record of petty quarrels, strifes, robberies, and bloodshed, as in other parts of Scotland in the same times.

The aborigines were the Picts, who were subdued and their possessions seized by the Norwegians, a kindred race, in the beginning of the tenth century. At the same time they took possession of the Orkneys. Their chiefs, under the title of lari or Earl, ruled Caithness and Orkney down to the beginning of the fourteenth century, when the direct line ceased in the person of Magnus. For a century the succession was unsettled and disputed. In 1456 the first of the family of Sinclair became earl. In the end of the seventeenth century the property of the earldom was alienated, and acquired by Glenorchy, afterwards Lord Breadalbane, who sold it to various persons; so that the present family succeeded to nothing but the title.

The county formerly sent a representative to Parliament alternately with Bute. But under the alteration which has just been made on the representation of Scotland, it will have a representative for itself, to which indeed it is well entitled from its population and rapid increase in importance.

Great improvements have been made in the county since the money wisely appropriated by government from the price of the forfeited estates has been expended in the Highlands in making roads and bridges. By that appropriation the recesses of the north have been opened up, and communication with the other end of the island rendered easy; the mail-coach now travelling through tracts where a Highland pony, twenty years ago, could only make his way. Valuable tracts of land have in consequence been brought into a state of high cultivation, and lime from Sunderland conveyed into the interior for that purpose. An impulse has been given to the spirit of improvement; and so much has the benefit arising from roads been valued by the inhabitants of this northern county, that the proprietors and tenants have lately procured an act of parliament for assessing themselves for the price of making 180 miles of additional roads. By this public-spirited measure great benefits must ere long arise to [7:5:782]the district; and within a short period, it is not doubted that fine fields and modern farm-steadings will be seen in districts at present comparatively uncultivated and unknown.
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