business of preparing the ground, and the lime and other matters connected with the farm, afford employment during a great part of even the winter season. In favourable seasons, the appearance of such grain crops as are raised is equal, and sometimes superior, to the appearance of crops of the same grain in the Carse of Gowrie; but owing to the climate and height of the situation, the produce when manufactured is inferior in quantity and quality, as compared with the grain of the carse. In ordinary seasons, both the green and grain crops are still apt to be injured by early frosts, which prevent their ripening, and coming to perfection.; although this disadvantage is much diminished by improved cultivation, which to other beneficial effects has added that of earlier harvests. A respectable carse farmer, who rents a part of this district for pasturing cattle and sheep, having sown a field on the bank of the river with oats, was surprised at the produce; and it was then discovered that the soil was superior to the soil in several parts of the Carse of Gowrie. A farm-steading, it is said, is now to be built on the land, which for many years has exhibited no building, except a shepherd's cottage, and ruins of old touns. The same discovery may perhaps be made in other highland

districts, and the plough may be restored to grounds to which it had long been a stranger.

The depopulating consequences of the change of system have been more gradual in this district than in many other parts of the highlands, upon some of which they came with the suddenness and violence of a hostile invasion with , fire and sword. Even in this district, the hardship has been severely felt; and one who admires the improvements that have taken place in arable farming, feels the greater regret in looking at so many fine situations, from which the plough has been entirely banished. Sheepfeeding on the sides of the mountains, and cattle grazing in the inclosures of the low grounds, are the only objects that relieve the silent solitude of several parts of the district, which formerly resounded with the busy hum of swarms of human beings, who poured from their hives of clustered cottages, for the purposes of spring and harvest labour.

About three miles west from the village of Kirkmichael, Glenfernate diverges from the principal valley towards the north, extending to the vast mountain of Beingloe, near the Blair of Athol, and the other mountains in that quarter, which send their waters from one side to the river Garry, and from the other to the Ardle,

the Ericht, and Isla. Among these hills, forming part of the forest of Athol, which extends north and east to the range of mountains that divide Perthshire from the counties of Inverness and Aberdeen, numerous herds of red deer still remain. Glenfernate is a fine pastoral valley, remarkable for its green hills, and excellent sheep pasture. From the foot of that Glen, the road stretches for about two miles, through the hollow of Straloch, in which the plough is still retained, and then the traveller enters Glenbriarchan the most westerly subdivision of the district. This glen produces rich pasture and valuable grain crops on the extensive haughs, spread along the banks of the river, which likewise issues from the hills about Beingloe, and joining the Fernate at the foot of Glenfernate becomes the Ardle. At the head of the glen, 'some excellent inclosures, and other improvements have been made, although it is still well peopled.

From the head of Glenbriarchan, the road stretches up the face of a steep black hill, and from the height descends for about three miles to the Athol side, having the green shealings of Badivoe on the left. On arriving at the height on the Athol side, the rich valley of Athol, from the junction of the Tummel and Garry on the

north, to the junction of the united streams. with the Tay on the south, spreads below. The river, large and slow, winds along the middle of the vale, through thick woods, fertile fields, and luxuriant pasture, finely contrasting with the dark, rugged, and moorish ridges on each side. Further south, the summits of the lofty hills of Birnam, Newtyle, and Craig-barns, rise above the entrance into the Grampian pass at Dunkeld. Descending through the fertile hollow of Moulin, to the great highland road between Perth and Inverness, the traveller intending to proceed to the west highlands, by Strath-Tay, advances eastward for three or four miles along the Athol road, to the Tummel ferry, at the termination of the ridge which divides Strath-Tay from Athol; and having crossed the Tummel, and proceeded for a quarter of a mile round the point of the ridge, he finds himself in the village of Logierait, on the northern bank of the Tay. This village, as the name implies, was one of the places, where, while the heritable jurisdictions continued, the head of the Athol family held his courts of justice, and by the number and rank of his vassals and dependants assembled on such occasions, as well as by the administration of the law, displayed the power and feudal magnificence of the family. Nothing

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could be better calculated to advance the power of the nobles and chiefs, and to render them independent of the general government, than these heritable jurisdictions. Besides the influence of general feudal and clanish notions, nothing was seen or felt in the district, but the authority of the lord, who appeared all-powerful, either to protect or punish; and he was considered as the sovereign who had a right to command the services of his vassals, even when he chose to arm against the general government. If the system was subversive of the power of the crown, it was but ill adapted to produce that sense of security among the people, which gives to industry its most powerful stimulus. The disputes of these petty princes with the crown, and their feuds among themselves, rendered the services of many of those who were most active in promoting disturbances in the district of singular value to the lord, against those who might be considered as his foreign enemies; and this circumstance, together with a variety of local interests and connexions, interfered with the strict and impartial administration of the law. The duty was generally performed in a careless manner, and in many places not attended to at all; "whare through," in the language of an act of par