fupposed to exceed the value of the trade; but the hore on either fide for 5 or 6 miles along the bay of Spey being smooth gravel, or foft fand (one little rock, the bear's head, half way between Garmach and Loffiemouth excepted), feveral veffels have in neceflity' been run afhore, with little damage. At the harbour, there is a wood trade, the moft confiderable, it is supposed, for home timber in Scotland. It is mostly fir, with fome birch and oak. There are feven perfons engaged in this trade; but for fome years the greater part has been carried on by an English company, who, about the year 1784, contracted with the Duke of Gordon, for all the marketable timber of the foreft of Glenmore, in the district of Strathspey, to be felled within the space of 26 years, at the fum of L.10,000 fterling. When the timber of this, and of the other forefts in Strathspey and Badenaugh, arrives at Garmach, after fupplying a great extent of country, from Aberdeen to the ifle of Sky, it is carried in confiderable quantities to Hull, and to the King's yards at Deptford and Woolwich. This company have alfo formed a dock-yard, and fince the year 1786, befides a number of boats, they have built 24 veffels from 25 to 500 tons burthen, the greater number about 200 tons, amounting in all to more than 4000 tons, all of the fir wood of Glenmore, both the plank and timbers. The greater part of this wood being of the best quality, thefe veffels are deemed equal to thofe of New England oak. The largest mafts are 60 feet in length. Before the Commiffioners of the Navy purchased any of this timber, they afcertained, by feveral experiments, that it is equal in quality to any imported from the Baltic. Several of thefe vessels have been purchased for the Baltic trade, one for the trade of the Bay of Campeachy, and feveral are employed in the trade of the company. Befides the veffels which they have built, feveral floops have been alfo built at Speymouth by others, in the fame time, and several have been repaired. The plank, deals, and mafts, are floated from their native forefts down the Spey in rafts, navigated by 2 mten, at the rate of L.1. 10s. the raft. The logs. and fpars belonging to the English company are at times floated down in fingle pieces, to the number perhaps of 20,000 at a time, conducted by 50 or 80 men going along the fides of the river, to push them off by poles, as they stick upon the banks, hired at IS. 2d. by the day, and a competent allowance of fpirituous liquor. 327928B The The medium price of logs, from 10 to 20 feet long, and from 12 to 18 inches diameter, is 1s. the folid foot; fpar-wood of the fame length, about 7 inches diameter, is fold at 7d. the folid foot; plank, 3 inches thick, and 10 in breadth, about 12 feet in length, are 38. the picce-2 inches thick, 2s.; and deals, 14 inch thick, 8 inches in breadth, and 12 feet long, 1s. the piece. The exports from Spey confift chiefly of wood and falmon, and 4 or 5 cargoes of grain, or meal, of 400 or 500 bells each in a year. From Oct. 1, 1791, to Oct. 1, 1792, veffels failed from Spey with timber for different places, from 350 to 20 tons burden, average 50 tons Touched at Spey, and took in falmon for London, having taken in part of the fame cargo at other ports With oats and meal With yarn Number of veffels which failed with cargoes. Veffels arrived in Spey with coal 82 24 I 109 With empty kits, ftaves, and hoops With falt II 5 6. I 23 The falmon fishery, yielding a revenue of L.1800 fterling yearly, begins on the 30th of November, and ends the 26th of Auguft. It is feldom regular until the end of January. During the spring months, the greater part of the fish is fent fresh in içe to London— a late discovery, which adds greatly to the value of the fishery, as the highest price is in this way obtained. 41d. the lb. is the common price at the river-fide. After the beginning of May, the greater part of the falmon is boiled, and fent to the London market. The fishery is carried on by nets and fmall boats, each navigated by 8 men, and an overfeer, called the Kenner, from the Gaelic word for the head. The crew is changed every 12 hours: each man has L.1. 15s. of ftated wages for the feafen, and 6d. each befides, when 6 fish are caught in the 12 hours, and 3d. only when they catch but 4. They have ftill a farther allowance when they catch 1 catch above a certain greater number, and may gain from L. 4 to L.6 in the season. They have alfo as much bread and beer as neceflary while at work, and a bottle of fpirits to the crew for the 12 hours they are employed. They are accounted skilful in the business; and though wading in the water higher than the knee, and remaining the whole 12 hours in wet clothes, fuch is the power of habit, they feel no inconvenience from the cold even of the winter night. About 130 men may be the number generally employed. This parish has a connection with the diftinguished family of Chatham. Jane, fpoufe to Governor Pitt, the great grandmother of the prefent Chancellor of the Exchequer, was daughter to James Innes Efq. of Redhall, on the bank of the Spey directly oppofite to Gordon Caftle. The family of Redhall, represented now by Innes of Blackhills, are a branch of the family of Innes, Baronets of Coxtown. This circumftance has been always recognized in the country, and is afcertained by Edmondfon's Peerage, " Family of Chatham.” The parish has been the fcene of fome actions in the history of the kingdom. Near the mouth of the river, the rebels of Moray,' Rofs, and Caithness, in the year 1078, made a stand, to oppose the paffage of Malcolm III.; but, on seeing the resolution of the royal army in fording the river, their fubmiffion was offered, and received, at the interceffion of the priests. In the year 1110 an army of rebels halted at the mouth of the Spey, to difpute the paffage with Alexander I. pursuing them. The King, forcing the paffage, fo terrified the rebels, that they were eafily defeated by a detachment of the army, under the con➡ duct of Alexander Scrimger. In the year 1160 a rebellion, still more formidable, was quelled by Malcolm IV. in a battle that muft have happened on the moors of this parish, wherein the Moray people were fo completely routed, that the chief families of this turbulent province were removed to different parts of the kingdom, and others transplanted in their room. In the year 1650 King Charles II. landed at Speymouth from Holland. A man of the name of Milne carried his Majesty on shore, and his descendants are yet diftinguished from others of the fame name in Garmach, by the appellation of King Milnes. His Majefty was received by the Knight of Innes, and other gentlemen, and dined with the steward of Lord Dumfermling, at that time the proprietor of the lordship of Urquhart, in a house of Garmach, built, as has been defcribed, of mortar, and of late only taken down; and in this house it was, that his Majesty subfcribed the Solemn League and Covenant. NUMBER II. PARISH OF URQUHART. Situation, Soil, and Climate].-THE parish of Urquhart may be understood to extend across the low lands of Moray, from the fea upon the N. to the mountain on the S. about 9 miles, though in this fpace one farm of the parish of Speymouth intervenes; and fo little of the cultivated ground lies on the fouthern fide of the poft-road, that it may be confidered in a general view as forming its boundary, as it paffes from Elgin at the W. to the river Spey at the E. for the length of 4 miles, parallel almoft to the Firth, at the distance of 3 miles on the N. The fea-coaft, which is about 6 miles in extent, is low and fandy; and as no brook or rivulet falls in between Spey and the water of Loffy, there is no creek or landing place of any kind. Grain, which is the only article of exportation, is fhipped in the harbours of Speymouth or Loffymouth; and coal, the great article of importation, must be carried over-land from the fame harbours, the former at the dif tance of 4, and the other of 6 miles. In addition to what has been already faid of the climate, it is only to be observed, that its fuperiority over that of the high country is moft remarkable in the fpring months. While all the operations of husbandry are going forward in the low parts of Moray, they meet with a total interruption in the high country, diftant only a few miles, by the intenfeness of the froft, or the depth of the fnow. The winters likewife in general are fo temperate, that several plants, commonly ranked in the hot-houfe divifion, ftand throughout that feafon, in the gardens of Innes-Houfe, lofing little of their verdure. It may likewife be obferved, as another evidence of the excellence of this climate, that in the famine which prevailed over Scotland for years 1 years in the end of the last century, owing to the cold and wet feafons, the land in Moray was all that time fo productive, as to Spare confiderable quantities of grain; and it is well afcertained, that in those years of dearth, people came from the county of Angus to buy oat-meal at the rate of L.I. 10s. the boll, to be carried across the Grampian mountains, at the distance of about 100 miles. Towards the N. W part of the parish, the land is low and flat, and a few feet only above the level of the fea, of which at a remote period it has been the bottom, as there are evident marks of the fea having receded from the coaft. The foil here may be accounted loam. In the other quarters of the parish, the ground is greatly more elevated, and of an unequal waving surface; and the foil, though in general fandy and light, is of a kindly and fertile nature, well adapted for turnip, potatoe, barley, and all kinds of artificial graffes, and a confiderable part would be extremely fit for wheat, could manure in fufficient quantities be produced. State of Property.]-Four-fifths of this parish are the property of the Earl of Fife. About 26 years ago, his Lordship, being proprietor of confiderable estates in the adjacent parishes, purchased the eftate of Innes; and he lately acquired the lordship of Urquhart, partly by an excambion with the family of Gordon, and partly by the purchase of several small feus, which had originally thereto appertained, and thus became poffeffed of fo large a track of contiguous property, comprehending a great variety of ground, that he became enabled to complete plantations of very large extent, which add much to the ornament and convenience of the country. Some moors and hills of great extent are planted, and a number of little rifing grounds are covered with fingular good tafte, making their appearance with relation to each other extremely beautiful. In all thefe plantations, the Scots fir at prefent predominates; but many of thefe are yearly cut down, and the voids filled up with deciduous trees. Previous to the year 1779, when about one half of thefe plantations were formed, 3000 Scots firs were planted on each acre; but fince that that time, 1200 only. Lord Fife has also enclofed many fields by hedges and hedge-rows, which are carried in part along the highways, affording confiderable warmth and utility. In a valley bending north and south, stands his feat of Innes-House, in a park of considerable ,extent, diverfified by groves of full-grown lofty trees, young foot ing |