The mud buildings, common in some of the north ern counties, called Auchenhalrig work, from a place of that name in Banffshire, have been found a cheap, and by no means a bad substitute for stone and lime walls in farm offices. About 30 carts of stones, round, or rather small, 10 carts of clay or mud, to which a certain proportion of sand is added, and 24 stone of straw, make a rood of 36 square yards. Several houses built of these materials have stood upwards of a hundred years.
There is scarcely any thing deserving the name of manufactures in this county. The linen, and more lately the cotton branches, employed a number of hands, but both have declined of late. Coarsp woollen stuffs arc made in private families for home consump tion ; and tan-works, breweries, rope-works, &c. have been established on a small scale. Its commerce by sea is equally inconsiderable. At the ports of Banff, Macdull; Portsoy, and tardengtown, a few vessels carry on a little trade, chiefly coastwise, importing coals, iron, timber, and other necessary articles ; and exporting salmon and other fish, butter, and a little grain. But the cattle driven to the southern
markets make the principal returns. The salmon fishings have been already noticed, and there are 10 fishing villages, which, besides yawls, employ from 50 to 60 boats in the white fishery. Herrings have lately appeared on this coast.
Several remains of antiquity are pointed out in different parts of Banffshire, of which the churches of Mortlach in the mountains, and Gamray on the shore, are perhaps the most remarkable ; exhibiting the savage triumphs of our ancestors over the invad ing Danes 700 years ago, in their sculls built into the solid walls. Ruins of castles and traces of en campments are frequent ; but scarcely any of those circles of stone are to be seen, which are supposed to belong to a much more remote age.
The population, as taken under the acts 1800 and 1811, is given in the table below; but it appears that, in some instances, the population of parishes, part of which lie in other counties, is included in the re turns for these counties.