HIGHLANDS, THE, that part of Scotland north-west of a line drawn from Dumbarton to Stonehaven, sometimes including the Inner and Outer Hebrides and the county of Bute, but exclud ing the Orkneys and Shetlands, Caithness, the flat coastal land of the shires of Nairn, Elgin and Banff, and all East Aberdeenshire (see SCOTLAND). This area is to be distinguished from the Low lands by language and race, the long persistence of the Gaelic speech being characteristic. Even in a historical sense the High landers were separate from the Lowlanders, with whom, during many centuries, they shared nothing in common. The town of Inverness is usually regarded as the capital of the Highlands.