and brought him this Barony of Beaufort or Downie, and their grand-daughter, heiress of Beaufort, married Hugh Fraser. A mile east of Downie, is Belladrum, the seat of a gentleman of the name Fraser, descended of Fraser of Coulbokie; and of Belladrum are come the Frasers of Achnagairn, Fingask, &c. At the confluence of the rivers above mentioned, is the seat of Fraser of Strawie, of whom Fraser of Eskadale, &c. is descended. The rest of this parish is planted by the Clan of Fraser, except Strathglass, which is inhabited by the Chisholms. Strathglass is a valley, watered by the river Glass or Glassater, into which another river, flowing out of Loch Assarig, falleth at Comer, the seat of Roderick Chisholm of Comer or Strath glass, Chief of that name. I have not learned upon what occasion the Chisholms sold their lands in Teviotdale, and made a purchase in the North, if it was not on being made Constables of the Castle of Urquhart. Sir Robert Lauder was Governor of that Castle, anno 1334. His daughter and heiress was married to Sir Robert Chisholm, also Governor of said Castle, and by her he got the lands of Quarrelwood, Kinsterie, Brightmonie, &c., and their daughter married Hugh Rose of Kilravock. John Chisholm of Quarrelwood succeeded his brother, Sir Robert, and was father of Robert Chisholm, whose daughter and only child, Morella, married Alexander Sutherland of Duffus, and brought into that family, the lands of Quarrelwood, Brightmonie, Kinsterie, &c., and the heir-male of Chisholm enjoyeth the paternal estate of Strathglass. The frequent changes of the proprietors of land, verify Horace's observation, Nam propriæ Telluris Herum NATURA, neque illum, Nunc ager Umbreni sub nomine, nuper Ofelli, one. For nature hath appointed to be perpetual Lord of this earthly property, neither him, nor me, nor any Now this field goes under the denomination of Umbrenus,' lately it was Ofellus,' and it shall be the absolute property of no man; for it will turn to my use one while, and by and by to that of another. I have now delineated the Geographical face of this Province, and proceed to PART III. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MORAY. Of the Climate and Weather-the Mountains and Vallies—the Soil-the Productions of the Country-the Waters-Animals -Rarities. ALTHOUGH this country is in a climate considerably Northern, being in the twelfth climate, and from about 57 degrees to 57–40 North latitude, the longest day being about 17 hours 46 minutes, and the shortest 6 hours 14 minutes; yet no country in Europe can boast of a more pure, temperate, and wholesome air. No part of it is either too hot and sultry in Summer, nor too sharp and cold in Winter; and it is generally (and I think justly) observed, that, in the plains of Moray, they have forty days of fair weather in the year more than in any other country in Scotland. The wholesomness of the air appears in the long lives of its inhabitants. In the In the year 1747, William Catanach, in Pluscardine, died at the age of 119 in the year 1755, Sir Patrick Grant of Dalvey died 100 years old,— in 1756, Thomas Fraser of Gortuleg, in Stratherick, died aged 97; and, generally, 80 years are reckoned no great age to the sober and temperate. years, 'Tis observed in this, as in all northern countries, that, in the beginning of the year, the day-light increases with remarkable celerity, and decreases in a like proportion, at the approach of Winter, which And in is owing to the inclination of the Earth towards the Poles. the Winter nights, the Aurora Borealis (from its desultory motion, called Merry-dancers and Streamers) affords no small light.— Whether this proceeds from nitrous vapours in the lower region of the air, or from a reflection of the rays of the Sun, I shall not inquire. It is certain that the Ignis Fatuus, or Ignis Lambens, that shineth in the night, is owing to a thick and hazy atmosphere, and a clamy and unctuous dew; for, in riding, the horse's mane, and the hair of the rider's head, or wig, shine, and, by gently rubbing them, the light disappears, and an oily vapour is found on the hand. The cold in this country is never found too sharp and severe. In the winters of 1739 and 1740, the frost was not, by much, so strong in Moray, as it was at Edinburgh and London, and during the continuance of it the water mills at Elgin were kept going. The warm exhalations and vapours from the sea, dissolve the icy particles in the air, and the dry sandy soil doth not soon freeze, or retain these particles. And if, among the mountains, the cold is more intense, it is an advantage to the inhabitants; for, by contracting the pores of the body, the vital heat is kept from dissipating, and is repelled towards the inner-parts, keeping a necessary warmth in the whole body. The heat is pretty strong in Moray; for in summer the Sun's absence, under the horizon, is so short, that either the atmosphere, or heated soil, has little time to cool. And often the heat is greater in the glens and vallies, than in the champaign ground, for the rays of the Sun are pent in and confined, and reverberated from the rocks. Rains in this country are seldom hurtful, or occasion inundations. Usually we have the Lammas flood, in the beginning of August, and sometimes a Michaelmas storm; but the soil is generally so sandy and dry, that drought is more hurtful than rain.* The thermometer is not unknown, and the barometer has been long familiar; yet its indications are so imperfectly understood, that its practical use is of little importance. The nature of the climate Snow seldom lieth a long time, even in the glens and vallies, and when it continueth, the benefit of it is considerable, especially if it is attended with frost; for it mellows and manures the ground, and renders it more fertile, impregnating it with nitre, and other principles of vegetation, which improve both corn and grass. The winds that prevail here, are the south-west, the north, and north-east. From January to June they generally blow between of any district may be more certainly and more distinctly understood by an accurate register of the weather, than by the most extended specification,---were such a register accompanied by the more striking appearances, previous to any change, its most important purpose would be, by similar future appearances, to indicate a like approaching alteration. The storm of the 25th December, 1806, so fatal to the fishermen over all the coast of the Moray Frith, was preceded by a pleasant temperate sunny day, with a gentle gale from the south,---the morning of that melancholy day was ushered in by a warmth in the open air, sensibly and strikingly unnatural at that season,---the wind veered into the west, and rose into the loudest tempest in remembrance, or in tradition, although, had the damage been restricted to the uprooted trees, the houses unthatched, and the corn-stacks drifted off into destruction, it would have comparatively attracted but a short-lived remembrance. No meteorological register has been ever kept in this part of the country, excepting that the quantity of rain which fell at Urquhart, in the vicinity of Innes-house, from the 1st of October, 1795, to the same date in the year 1797, noted every month in inches and decimal parts, as in the annexed table, has been accurately observed. At Gordon Castle also, at the distance of three miles only from Urquhart, on the same plain, the quantity of rain which fell in each of the nine years succeeding 1798, has been accurately ascertained by James Hoy, Esq., and found, as by the annexed state, not to exceed the medium of twenty-six inches in that series of years, both measurements concurring in the verification of a supposition, which, for several generations, has been maintained, that, along the coast, there are forty days in the year of more fair weather, than in any other quarter of the kingdom. north-west and north-east, and from June to November, between south-west and north-west. In winter they are more various and inconstant. By these periodical changes, the barley seed-time in April and May is cool, and the harvest is fair and dry.—Hurricanes are seldom known in this country. The mountains and deserts in the highlands of Moray, are incom-. parably more extensive than the arable ground. A chain of the Grampian mountains runneth on the south side of Spey, and another chain, though lower than the former, stretcheth on the north side, from the mouth to the head of the river. And the straths of the other rivers, Erne, Nairn, Ness, and Farar, are, in like manner, enclosed by ranges of hills. Although, to the taste of some travellers, these may seem to disfigure the country, their diversifying scenes will, to others, form a most agreeable landscape. And, certainly, the benefit of these mountains is very great; for they collect and dissolve the clouds into rain, and from the reservoirs in their bowels, form the rivers and brooks that water the vallies and plains. The mountain water, being impregnated by the earth, through which it is filtrated, has a vegetable power, which appears in the fertility of the grounds at the foot of the mountains. Their surface affords rich and wholesome pasture, necessary for the inhabitants, whose property consists mainly in cattle. Let me add, that these mountains, as natural fences, enclosing the vallies, make a fresh stream of air fan them, and drive away all noxious vapours; and hence, the inhabitants are so sound, vigorous, and wholesome, as to know few diseases, except such as are contracted by intemperance, or communicated from other countries. In distant ages, and in times of tumults and war, much of the corn land was on the tops and sides of the lower hills. The ridges and furrows are as yet discernible in many places, and the great heaps of stones gathered out of the corn-fields still remain. Their safety from the incursions of enemies made them choose these high |