FIFE.

WE

Boundaries E have already had occasion to mention the form and extent. and situation of the county of Fife. It is on the eastern side of Scotland; and the eastern part of the county is accordingly washed by the waters of the German ocean. On its southern side it looks down upon the Frith of Forth; on the north, the river Tay divides it from the counties of Angus and Perth; on the west, the boundaries are the counties of Perth, Kinross, and Clackmannan. The county of Kinross incroaches deeply upon its western side. From the unevenness of this last boundary, and from the manner in which it is indented by the surrounding waters, its form is irregular. By the most correct computation that can be made, its medium length, from east to west, is about thirty-six miles, and its medium breadth, from north to south, fourteen miles; and therefore the whole contents will amount to 504 square miles, or 256,970 Scots acres, equal to 322,560 acres English measure. The extreme length of the county, however, from the western point of the parish of Saline to Fifeness, is upwards of sixty miles; and from Kinghorn on the south, to Newburgh on the north, is upwards of thirty miles. The county lies between 56° 3′ and 56° 25' of north latitude, and between 3° and 3° 56′ of west longitude from Greenwich.

Jills.

Fife exhibits abundance of inequalities of surface, but contains nothing that in Scotland deserves to be denominated mountainous territory. The chief hills are the Lo

monds, by which it is partly separated on the west from Kinross-shire, but which are in no respect remarkable. In the eastern part of the county is Largo Law, very conspicuous from the opposite coast of the Lothians. It is of a conical form, situated considerably inland, but does not rise more than 800 feet above the level of the sea. It may here be remarked, that we have frequently had occasion to mention hills in Scotland, which in addition to the name of the place or village near which they are situated receive the appellation of Law. They are seldom what can be called lofty mountains, but rather conical hills, detached from any great mountainous chain, and visible over a considerable extent of country. Two etymologies of the word have been given. By some it has been supposed that these hills were places where criminals were executed, or, in the language of the ancient Scottish statutes, "did underlie the law." Others, however, are of opinion, and the notion seems fully as probable, that these conspicuous hills were anciently selected as alarm-posts, on which fires were kindled in cases of bostile invasion of any sort; for example, North Berwick Law on the south side of the Forth, and Largo Law on the north, are peculiarly adapted for this purpose. A fire kindled on the one would be readily seen at the other; and these two would be capable of spreading an alarm, in an instant, over a very large division of Scotland. In the present vulgar Scottish dialect, the word law is synonymous with the English word flame, which the Swedes express by the word loa, and the Danes by the word lue. It is not improbable, therefore, that the appellation law may be a corruption of the northern term which signifies flame. The Norman Law, in this county, is also conspicuous. Several hills on the north-eastern part of the county give variety to its aspect.

Hills.

Waters.

'The Leтел.

Orr.

The general aspect of Fife is uncommonly beautiful and populous along its shores; but on asscending from thence inland, it more or less suddenly assumes a considerable degree of bleakness of appearances

From its peninsular situation, the inland waters of Fife cannot be great or important. The chief of its streams are the Leven and the Eden. The Leven issues from the celebrated Lochleven in Kinrosshire, and from which it takes its name. This water runs eastward, through a beautiful strath, by Lesslie, Balgonie, and Balfour, and empties itself into the Frith of Forth at the town of Leven. In its course it is joined by the water of Lothrie, a little below the village of Lesslie; by the Orr, half a mile above Cameron bridge; and a little farther down by a burn or brook, which descends from the Lomond hills, and runs thro' a valley in Markinch, a little towards the north. From its rise to the sea, the Leven has a course of eleven or twelve miles. It is a clear, constant, and weighty stream, and from the declivity of its channel is in many places rapid, and of quantity and force sufficient to drive machinery of almost any magnitude. There are upon this water seven bleachfields, two large cotton-mills, three mills for spinning flax, twelve corn-mills, three fulling-mills, seven lint-mills, two flour-mills, four barley-mills, one mill for manufacturing linseed-oil, and three coal-engines. Besides the stations already occupied, there are many others equally convenient for erections of the same kind, and where a constant and plentiful supply of water can be had at all seasons of the year. This water abounds with excellent salmon and trout, and some pikes and eels. Where it falls into the sea there is a considerable salmon-fishery, the property of which belongs to Mr Christie of Durie.

The Orr issues from a loch or lake of that name,

to the southward of Lochleven, in the parish of Ballin Waters, gry. About a mile below the loch it is joined by a stream from Lochfettie, and farther down by another from Lochgellie, and at last loses itself in the water of Leven about half a mile above Cameron bridge. Upon this water there are six corn-mills, two fulling-mills, twa lint-mills, one flour-mill, and one coal-engine. Loch Orr has been lately drained by the proprietor, by which means he has added above one hundred acres of land to his estate. But while the proprietor of the loch has been a gainer, the proprietors of the mills have been materially injured by the drainings. The loch was originally a natural reservoir, in which the water was collected, and from which a regular and sufficient supply was furnished at all seasons. But now that the dam is removed, and the water allowed to run off as it gathers, the mills, in a long course of dry weather, are but scantily supplied, and must occasionally stop. Besides, the haugh and low grounds upon the banks of the water are liable to be overflowed and inju red in time of floods or great falls of rain; there being nothing now to prevent their running off as they are collected. This water, issuing from mossy ground, and in its course being mixed with coal-water, has never been used for the purpose of bleaching. Trout, pike, perch, and eels, are to be found in it, but no salmon.

Lochty, which rises out of the bog Lochty, in the Lochty, parish of Ballingry, runs upon flat ground, through the parish of Kinglassie, and falls into the Orr about half a mile below the road that leads from Kirkcaldy to the New Inn. This is a small stream except in rainy weather. Fish, the same as in the Orr, Only one lint-mill upon it. The water of Eden forms an important line in the geography of Fife. It is formed by the confluence of several VOL. IV.

Waters. small sreams in the parishes of Strathmiglo and Falkland, that is, towards the north and eastern side of the Lomonds. It runs, in general, in a north-eastern direction, parallel to the Tay, and divides the eastern part of Fife into two districts, of which the southern is the largest. It will afterwards be remarked, that the mineralogy of the county on the two sides of the river is totally different; and the mouth of the Eden may even be considered as an interesting point in Scottish geography, so far as its mineralogy is concerned. In the mean while, it may be remarked, that this stream, from its source, winds its way slowly through a level valley, passes the town of Cupar, and loses itself in the German ocean a little below the Guard bridge. This water is increased by the accession of several small streams that descend from the high grounds on either side, and has a course of about eighteen miles. Formerly, from its having little descent, and from its frequent and sharp turnings, it very often overflowed its banks, and did consider able damage to the ground on either side by washing away the soil: but some of the proprietors through whose lands it runs have now partly remedied this evil, by straightening and deepening its channel. Mr Johnston of Lathrisk, in particular, so far as he was concerned, spared no labour or expence in order to render the work as complete and effectual as possible; and his operations have been equally successful and advantageous to his estate. He caused a spacious canal to be made for the water, twelve feet wide at the bottom, and thirty feet at the top, secured on the sides by embankments and hedges, which include a space of seventy feet in breadth; so that, in time of a flood, there is sufficient space for containing the water, and preventing its overflowing and damaging the adjacent grounds. Upon this water there are some mills, and a bleachfield near Cupar. It abounds with excellent