FORESTAFF, the name of a clumsy instrument, long ago exploded, for taking the altitudes of the heavenly bodies at sea.
FORFAR-SuraE, one of the maritime comities of Scot land.
1. Natural History.—The county of Forfar, known also by the name of .4ngus, is situated on the cast coast of Scotland, immediately to the north of the estuary of the Tay, between 56° 27' and 59"of North Latitude, and between 0° 14' west, and 0' 46' east of the meridian of Edinburgh. It is hounded on the south-west and west by the county of Perth ; on the north-west by Aberdeenshire; on the north-east by Kincardineshire ; on the south-east by the German Ocean, and on the south by the Frith of Tay. The line by which it is divided from Perthshire is very uneven, and extends from Kingudie, to the westward of Dundee, in a northerly direction to the source of the Isla. The division between this county and Aberdeen shire is chiefly marked by the Water•shed ; the ground containing rivulets running northward to the Dee belong ing to the latter, and the ground with rivulets running southward into the Esk or the Isla to the former. The North Esk divides the lower part of the shire from Kin cardine. It contains 977.97 English square miles, or 496,230 Scottish acres.
This county, possessing both maritime, inland, and alpine districts, has every variety of aspect and climate. In the high grounds, among the Grampian mountains, where the SDOW is seldom long absent even in the summer months, the air is cold and piercing. In the inland dis tricts, the climate is mild and genial ; and the same might be said of the places along the coast, were they not occa sionally visited with easterly breezes, previously chilled by the cold of Scandinavia. Several registers of the weather have been kept in different places in this county, in which the quantity of rain, and the state of the barome ter and thermometer have been recorded with accuracy. One of these registers kept at Belmont, in Strathmore, twelve miles north-west from Dundee, and two miles dis tant from any eminence, indicated the following quantities of rain, in inches and decimals, during six years.
In the year 1790 31.41791 37.1 1792 38.4 1793 39.5 1794 39.
1795 36.6 During the three first years of the preceding period, the following appears to have been the state of the baro meter and thermometer : Inches.
Mean height of the barom. in the year 1790 29.59 1791 29.61 1792 29.59 Mean height of Fahrenheit's thermom, 1790 41° 1791 42 1792 42 Another register kept at the Crescent, half a mile west from Dundee, on the banks of the Tay, and 40 feet above its surface, indicated by the rain-gauge and thermometer as follows.
Inches.
1790Rain 22.27 Thermometer 51°.
1791 24 8 48.5 1792 34 12 48.
1793 25.13 49.
1794 30 44 52.
1795 29. 46.
Although there are many springs in this county, none of them can be considered as remarkable, either for the quantity of water which they discharge, or the mineral sub stances which they hold in solution. A few springs of the chalybeate kind are resorted to by persons labouring under diseases arising from debility of the organs of diges tion. The principal springs are, one in the neighbourhood of Montrose ; another at Wormy hills, to the south-west of Aberbrothick ; and a third at Durnbarrow, in the parish of D unic hen.
Formerly there were few parishes in which lakes did not exist ; now the number of these is greatly reduced. A few have been drained, in order to increase the extent of the arable ground ; but by far the greatest number, con taining fine shell-marl at the bottom, have been drained, in order to obtain that valuable manure. The lake called Lentrathen loch, situated amidst the Grampians, and in the neighbourhood of most magnificent scenery, is nearly of a circular ,form, about a mile in diameter, and yields to the botanist several rare plants. Loch Lee, another of the Grampian lakes, is about a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile in breadth. In the more level parts of the county, we meet with the lakes of Forfar and Roscobie ; and among the Sidlaw hills, those of Luodie, Balshardy, and Pitten dreich. These are well stored with trout, pike, perch, and eel.