INVERNESS, a co. of Cape Breton island, Nova Scotia, Canada; pop. '71, 23,415; soil fertile. Coal and petroleum are found. Fishing and agriculture are the chief occu pations of the people. Capital, Port Hood.
the largest co. of Scotland, includes Badenoch, Glenroy, and the valley of the Spey on the e.; Lochaber on the s.; Glenelg, Glen Garry, Arisaig. Moydart, and Eraser's county on the TV.; Glen Urquhart and Glen Morristou towards the center. It includes also Strathalass on the n., and several of the Western islands, viz., Skye, Harris, north and southtiist, and Barra, etc. The mainland portion lies between n. lat. 56° 40' and 57' and w. long. 3° 30' and 5° 55'; and is bounded on the e. by the couu ties of Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, and Nairn; on the s. by Perth and Argyleshire; on the w. by the Atlantic and Ross-shire; and on the n. by Ross-shire. It measures from n.e. to s.w. 85 m., and from n.w. to s.e. 57 m.; and has an area of 4,256 sq.m., of which more than two-thirds consist of barren heath. The wildest and most moun tainous portion is towards the w., comprising a tract 70 In. in extent, and designated the Rough Bounds. The most extensive moss in Great Britain lies on the 8. of 13adenoch, where, in the naturally formed wooded islands,large herds of -deer find a refuge. These mosses had at one time been mostly, if not wholly, covered with trees, some of them of great magnitude. In Strathspey, three tiers of stocks, one above another, have been found, showing that a succession of forest trees must have grown up, flourished for ages, and then, one after another,• disappeared by the work of time or the axe. At present, the natural pines occupy a larger space than in any other county of Britain. There are also many thousand acres of plantations of ordinary forest trees. Some mountains attain considerable altitude. Ben Nevis, ascertained to be the highest in Great Britain, is 4,406 ft. above the level of the sea Cairngorm, partly in this county, is 4,050 ft. high. The geological formation of the county is various; but primary rocks,
consisting of gneiss, mica-slate, granite, porphyry and trap rocks, mostly prevail. The most fertile soil of the county rests on time red s‘L idst one in the valley of the Aird, and between the county town and Beauly. There are several lakes of sonic extent, as lodh Ness, loch Lochy, loch Laggan, loch Ericht, and a number of other lochs forming arms of the sea. The principal rivers are the Ness. Spey, Lochy, Beauly, Findhorn, Nairn, Garry, Morriston, and the Foyers (q.v.). The county is divided among 80 or 90 proprietors, a few of whom possess above 100,000 acres of surface. The old valued rent (1674) was £6,099; the valuatio1 for 1878-79 was £319,877, exclusive of railways and canals, which amounted to £26,663. According to the agricultural returns of 1876, the total acreage under all kinds of crops, fallow, and grass, was 125,831: 40,221 acres were under corn crops, 22,421 under green crops, 26,895 under clover and grasses under rota tion, 35,228 with permanent pasture (exclusive of heath and mountain-land). Of the laud under crops, 738 acres were wheat, 7,169 barley, 31,067 oats, 1109 rye. Of land under green crops, 8,017 acres were potatoes, 14,234 turnips, 162 vetches, etc. Of live stock, there were 9,008 horses, 54,742 cattle. 724,518 sheep, and 4,127 swine. There are comparatively few antiquities worth noting in the county. These consist principally of remains of vitrified forts and ruins of old castles. The battle which decided the fate of the Stuarts was fought April 16. 1746, on Culloden moor, a few miles from Inverness. The Gaelic language is still generally. hut in scarcely any district exclusively, spoken. Pop. in 1871, 87,531. The constituency returns one member to parliament.