SELKIRKSHIRE, an inland county in the south of Scotland, is bounded N. by Edinburghshire, E. and S.E. by Roxburghshire, S. and S.W. by Dumfriesshire, and W. and N.W. by Peeblesshire. A small detached part of the county lies just beyond the eastern boundary, entirely surrounded by Roxburghshire. Tho county lies between 55° 20' and 55° 42' N. let., 2° 48' and 18' W. long. In form the county is very irregular ; the greatest length is from south-south west to north-north-cast, 28 miles ; its greatest breadth, at right angles to the length, is 16 miles. The area is 266 square miles, or 170,303 acres. The population in 1841 was 7990; in 1851 it was 9809. The county returns one member to the Imperial Parliament.
Surface, Ilydrography, Communications.—The whole county is hilly, but especially the southern and western parts, which are the highest, the direction of the principal streams being from south-west to north-east. The hills vary in height from a few hundred feet to 2000 feet. Windleatraw Law (2295 feet). at the northern extremity ; Blackhouse (2370 feet); Minchmoor (2290 feet), on the borders of Peeblesehire; and Ettrick Pen (2200 feet), on the south-west boundary, are the only hills which exceed 2000 feet in height.
The county is comprehended in the basin of the Tweed, which crosses it in the north from west to east, quittiog it at its junction with the Gala. About 10 or 12 miles of its course belong to Selkirkahire. The Ettrick is the county river; it gave to the district its former name of Ettrick Forest. It rises in the south-west corner, and flows in a north-east course till it joins the Tweed on its right bank, on the east border of the county; its course is about 30 miles. The Yarrow rises on the western border, and has its course nearly parallel to the Ettrick, until it reaches Yarrow Ford, where it turns to the south east and joins the Ettrick a little above Selkirk ; its course is about 20 miles, including the lochs of the Lows and St. Mary, through which it flows. The Gala, which has the greater part of its course in Edinburghshire, and the Candor, belong to the northern part of the county ; they flow sonth-east, and join the Tweed on the left bank : the Gala on the border of the county, the Cawdor a little above it.
The principal lochs are those of the Lows and St. Mary, separated from each other by a very narrow neck of land. They are both expansions of the Yarrow, which enters the loch of the Lows at its upper end and quits that of St. Mary at its lower end. The Lows is • mile long, • quarter of a mile broad, and about 70 feet deep ; St. Mary's is 3 miles long, half a mile broad, and from 80 to 90 feet deep. They are at an elevation of 560 feet above the level of the sea. The lochs are stored with pike, perch, and trout. The rivers abound with good salmon and trout, and contain barbel and other fish.
The principal road is the great road from Carlisle to Edinburgh, which passes through Selkirk and Galashiels. A branch parts from it at Selkirk, and passing by Yair Bridge, reunites with the main road at Creoles, 9 miles N. from Selkirk. A road from Glasgow to Kelso and Berwick crosses the county, following the valley of the Tweed. The Edinburgh and Hawick railway passes the border of the county and has a station at Galashiels.
Geology, Mineralogy, itc.—The mountains have been described as "one large high bed of grauwacke and clay-slate, now cut by larger streams into long-shaped divisions, and cross-cut by the smaller streams to a less depth, and into smaller and rounded divisions." The bill, are generally ridge-ehaped and rounded on the tops, having acclivities of from 10' to 30'. The projecting ridges on one side of a valley usually have a corresponding recess on the opposite aide. The west and south-west aides of the transverse or smaller valleys are generally the steeper. The strata for the most part dip to the north east, but with various degrees of inclination. At New House Lynne, 7 mile. above Selkirk, the rocks which form the bank of the Ettrick rise to a surprising height perpendicularly; both here and at Newark on the Yarrow the strata are remarkably curved. On the western aide of the county, towards Pceblesshire, extensive strata of porphyry are found alternating with thin strata of slate and granite. Shell marl occurs abundantly near Gal&shiela, and was extensively used for manure, until superseded by the introduction of lime. Granite and whin-stone are abundant.