The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

PEETHSHIEE. 3G3
now a small village on the road leading over the Ochills, is interesting to archfco-
logists on account of its round tower. Crossing the Lower Earn at the village of
Bridge of Earn, a rival of Bridge of Allan, we soon reach Perth, formerly a Roman
station, afterwards the capital of Scotland, and still a town of considerable note.
Seated at the head of the navigation of the Tay, and in the gorge which presented
the only easy means of communication between Fife and the fertile Strathmore,
its geographical position is admirable. In our own days Perth has become a
manufacturing town, with flax-mills, bleaching and dye works, wooUen factories,
glass houses, and engineering shops, but the charms of its environs are as great as
ever. Scone Palace, a modern mansion in the neighbourhood, stands on the site
of a palace of the Kings of Scotland. The famous stone on which the Scotch
monarchs were crowned was kept in Scone Abbey, now in ruins, until Edward I.
transferred it to Westminster Abbey.
Glen Almond joins the Tay above Perth. Within it lie the manufacturing
village of Methven, and Trinity College for the education of clergymen of the
Episcopal Church of Scotland. Continuing up the winding Tay, we pass Stank t/,
with its cotton- mill ; obtain a glimj)se of Bunsinane, where Macbeth (lOoG)
lost the battle which cost him his throne ;
and reach the mouth of the Isla, which
flows through a part of Strathmore, and is fed by the Ericht and other rivers
descending from the Highlands. Blairgoicrie, Cupar-Angus, and Alyth, the only
towns of this district, are engaged in the linen trade.
Dunheld, beautifull}' seated on the Tay, enclosed by trees, above which
peep forth the ruins of its noble cathedral, lies on the threshold of the High-
lands, not far beyond the boundary which separates the red sandstone from
the Silm-ian slates. Near it are Birnam Wood and the newly planted grounds of
the Duke of Athol. Seven miles above it, at Logierait, the Tay receives the
tribute of the Tummel. The Tay rises to the south-west, at the foot of Ben
Lui (3,708 feet), and successively flows through Loch Dochart—to the south of
which Ben More (3,818 feet) raises its head—and Loch Tay, by the foot of
gloomy Ben Lawers (3,984 feet). The district drained by its upper course is
known as Breadalbane, whose lordly owner has a princely seat at Taymouth
Castle, at the foot of Loch Tay. In one of its wildest recesses are the lead mines
of Tyndrum. The Tummel, after having received the tribute of Lochs Luj'dan
and Errocht, flows through Glen Garroch, purifj'ing its floods in Lochs Eannoch
and Tummel, and forms an attractive waterfall before its junction with the Garry.
This latter is the principal river of Athol. A short distance above the confluence
it forces itself a passage through the famous gorge of Killiecrankie, above which
the Highland clans, in 1689, inflicted so severe a defeat upon the royal forces.
Blair-Athol, at the junction of Glen Tilt with the Upper Glen Garry, rises in the
midst of the wildest mountain scenery. Two roads diverge from it : one leads
up gloomy Glen Tilt, and past Cairn Gower (3,671 feet) into Aberdeenshire; the
other, accompanied by a railwaj', continues up Glen Garry, and crosses the Pass of
Drumouchter into Inverness-shire. In the great " forest " of Athol 130,000 acres
are set apart for grouse and deer-stalking.