BUTE, the most important, though not the largest, of the islands constituting the county of the same name, in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, about 18m. S.W. of Greenock and 4om. by water from Glasgow. Pop. (1921) 19,465. It is bounded on the north and west by the lovely Kyles of Bute, the narrow winding strait which separates it from Argyllshire ; on the east by the Firth of Clyde, and on the south and south-west by the Sound of Bute, about 6m. wide, which divides it from Arran. Its area is about 49sq.m., its length 152m., and its breadth from 42 to one mile. Its highest point, Karnes hill, in the north, is 911 feet. This part of the island is composed mainly of the metamorphic rocks of the eastern Highlands, mica schists, interrupted by a belt of clay slate such as fringes the Highlands across the main land right to Stonehaven ; the south of the island consists mainly of upper Old Red Sandstone, with many intrinsic igneous rocks. On account of its pleasant scenery, mild climate and lower rain fall than occurs over much of the western coast, added to its fertile soil and proximity to the Clyde estuary, the island is rela tively populous and a favoured residential and holiday resort from Glasgow. About two-thirds of the island are arable, yielding potatoes for the Glasgow market, oats and turnips. Many burns water the island, and there are six lochs among which Loch Fad, about mi. S. of Rothesay, was the source of the power used in the Rothesay cotton-spinning mill, the first of the kind erected in Scotland. The island is well served by steamers from Glasgow and other Clyde ports, and there are piers at Kilchattan, Craig more, Port Bannatyne and the chief port and old royal burgh of Rothesay (q.v.). The fisheries of the island are of value.
The name of the island is variously derived from the Erse, both (or a "cell") in allusion to St. Brendan's foundation here in the 6th century, and from the Gaelic Ey Bhiod, "the island of corn," in reference to its fertility. Stone monuments, barrows, cairns and cists, with the remains of ancient chapels, attest its early settlements. Bute was probably first colonized by the van guard of Scots who came over from Ireland.