Rivers of Scotland.
We shall here enumerate the most important of these, without making a distinction between the Low land and Highland streams, as it is a distinction that would not be easily maintained.
Of these, the first in importance is the Tay, the chief of the rivers of Britain, since it has been ascer tained by Mr. Smeaton to carry more water to the sea than even the Thames.* The course of the Spey is much more simple and decided than that of the Tay; receiving no rival, though many small tributaries, and continuing one decided river from its fountain head to the sea at Speymouth. That head is a small lake, scarcely de serving of the name; rising at the head of Glen Roy, and fed by the drainage of the surrounding wet land. Flowing on, it receives no stream of any note, till it meets the waters of the Truim at Invernahavan, of the Calder at the bridge of Spey, and of the Trommy descending from the hills of Gaich; nor is it neces sary to name the various inconspicuous rivers which join it at a hundred points till it unites with the more important Avon. Neither from this junction does it receive any other stream worthy of distinction; being fed by innumerable rivers and brooks through its whole course, till it rolls its broad waters into the sea.
The course of the Dee, like that of the Spey, is sim ple, as it receives no river of note, being fed by the various streams which descend on each hand from the mountainous and hilly countries through which it holds its course. But, at its commencement, the Ge only has an equal claim to continue its name, as both rivers arc at least of equal magnitude where they join. The source of the Dee branch is at the foot of Cairn Gorm, and the termination of this great river is at Aberdeen. Like the Spey, it is subject to great irregularities in the state of its waters, and through the largest part of its course is a violent and rapid river. This uncertainty, both in the Spey and the Dee, is the consequence of their simplicity of origin and supply. Hence a rainy or a dry season or period
produces its full effect; while the Tay, receiving its supplies from remote and discordant places, is main tained in a more general state of average by the com pensations thus caused.
The sources of the Don are also those of the Dev ron; the former river meeting the sea together with the Dee, and the latter running to the north to dis charge itself at Banff. The chief addition which the Don receives is from the Urie; but the Devron is swelled by a great many waters of considerable size, too little noted, however, to require a detailed enu meration. Of the other rivers of Aberdeenshire, the Ythan, discharging itself near Slains, and the Ugie near Peterhead, arc the only ones tliat require notice.
The Findhorn must be named among our principal rivers. This holds a course parallel to that of the Spey, indicating, together with that of the Nairn, the directions of the hills and their correspondence to the stratification of the rocks, more accurately and ex tensively than any other portion of Scotland except the Glenmore na Albin, to which they are parallel. The Findhorn rises among the wild but tame moun tains of Monagh lea, and without combining with any other river of note, holds its own course to the sea near Forres, fed by the small streams which de scend from each side of the great valley by which it is conducted. The Nairn has two distinct sources, one in the singular and elevated lake Duntelchak and the other in the neighbouring hills, nor does it re ceive any river till it falls into the sea at Nairn.
Compared with its magnitude, the Ness is among the shortest rivers in Scotland, meeting the sea at In verness very soon after quitting its parent lake, of which the Oich and the Tarff at the upper extremity, with the waters of Glen Morison, Glen Urquhart and Foyers, are the principal feeders. The Conan, run ning into the Cromarty Firth, and the Glas into that -of Beauley, can only be classed among our rivers of an inferior rate.