teenth century. There is a-number of lochs, none of them large, but some of them very beautiful, such as those at Lindores, Kilconquhar, Kinghorn, Loch gellie, Camilla, Lochfittie, and Otterstone.
The southern part of Fifeshire, from the Forth almost to the Eden, abounds in coal of all the kinds common in Scotland. Along the Frith of Forth the strata generally dip to the east and south-east, but are cut off before they reach the higher ground, not extending above two or three miles from the shore. In this district, proceeding from west to east, coal is found in the parishes of Torryburn, Abbotshall, Kirkaldy, Dysart, Wemyss, Scoonie, Largo, and Pittenweem. The coal-works in Dysart and Wemyss are very considerable; in the former parish there is a bed eighteen feet thick, which is said to have been wrought more than 800 years ago, and it is remarkable for having been frequently on fire. Beyond this tract to the north, the coal and all the other strata commonly incline to the north or north-east. The most considerable collieries in this quarter are in the parishes of Dunfermline, Dalgety, Auchterderran, Leslie, and Markinch; the last of which only resembles the metals on the sea-coast in its general bearing. Limestone is in great abun dance along the whole of this tract. In the Saline hills, still farther to the north, coal and lime are found in various places; there is a considerable coal work at Keltie, in the parish of Beith, on the borders of Kinross-shire; but from the south aide of the vale of Eden northward to the Tay, there is no coal nor any appearance of the metals that usually accom pany it, except perhaps near Newburgh, where lime stone occurs. From a charter, dated in March 1291, it would appear that coal has been wrought in this county for more than five centuries. William de Oberville there grants liberty to the convent of Dun fermline to open a coal pit in his lands of Pittny crieff. But this is not, as has been alleged, the first instance of a Scottish charter containing a right to work coal ; for Mr. Chalmers alludes to one dated in 1284-5, from which it may be inferred, that coal was wrought on the lands of Tranent before that period. The greatest lime-works in Scotland are at Charles town, on the Forth, belonging to the Earl of Elgin; about 100,000 tons are raised here annually, part of which is sold as it comes from the quarry, and 12,000 tons of coals are employed in calcining the remain der on the spot. Ironstone, of a good quality, is
found in the parishes of and and sandstone in almost every part of the coal dis trict. Lead has been wrought in the Lomond bills. Marl is met with occasionally, and clay fit for bricks and tiles ; at Durie coal-works, a species of clay has been discovered proper for fire-bricks. Stones, somewhat resembling the precious garnet, are found in considerable numbers at Elie, and known by the name of Elie rubies.
Most of this county is divided into estates of a moderate size; there are a greater number, indeed, above L.500 Soots of valuation than in any other county in Scotland ; but of the 638 estates which it contained in 1811, 491 were below that amount. in the same year the number of freeholders, entitled to vote for a member of the county, was 207. If we may judge from the valuation, which is still the rule for the payment of cess and other taxes, Fife shire must have been the most valuable of all the Scottish counties about the middle of the seven teenth century ; the amount is L.863,192, 38. Scots, almost a tenth part of the whole valuation of Scotland. Somewhat- more than a third of this be longs to estates held under entail, and there are twenty-nine estates belonging to corporate bodies, which, like the former, cannot be brought to market. The rental of the lands, in 1811, was L.385,290, 14s. 6d. Sterling, or almost a guinea an acre over the whole, and of the houses L.38,756, Is. 6d. On the Lomond hills, there is a common of about 4000 acres, one of the very few now to be found in Scotland, which once belonged to the pa lace of Falkland, and afterwards became the pro perty of the surrounding heritors; yet it was thought not to come under the Scots statute, authorizing the division of commons, which excepts those belonging to the King and to royal burghs, and is still in its natural state; but having been divided very lately, it will soon be rendered much more valuable. There is a great number of elegant seats in the county, of which ten belong to eight peers, and seven to baro nets, besides more than seventy to other proprietors. According to the author of the Agricultural Survey, published in 1800, upwards of half a million had been expended on buildings during the twenty-four years preceding. Considerable tracts have been planted within these few years; yet there is still a want of shelter in many parts, and the county at large is by no means well wooded.