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THE SCOTTISH

GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

Vol. 75, No. 2 September 1959

RIVER DEVELOPMENT IN GALLOWAY W. G. JARDINE

MOST of the rivers of Galloway are aligned in one of two main directions, north-west to south-east transverse to the geological grain of the Southern Uplands, or south-west to north-east roughly parallel to the strike of the underlying Lower Palaeozoic rocks. The streams aligned in the latter direction are porn er ted late developments owing their origin to the discovery and excavation of soft bands in

the steeply dipping rocks. On the other hand, the transverse rivers

flow across Ordovician and Silurian rocks athwart the strike, over Old Red Sandstone granite, or across Carboniferous and Permian sediments (Fig. 1). Clearly the river system bears no direct relationship to the rocks over which its streams flow, and its initiation must post- date the youngest of the formations upon which it is superimposed.

In the central area of the Southern Uplands a similar incongruence between drainage pattern and structure was noted by George 1 who discussed the epigenetic heritage of the Southern Uplands drainage a George questioned the suggestion by Linton 2 that the present

inage system of southern Scotland originated on an eastward-sloping emergent Upper Cretaceous sea-bed. His evidence substantiated Holling- worth’s ® claim that “the residual plateau surface of the Southern Uplands, as of many mountain regions farther south, was — not of one single dissected plane. first eroded by a transgressive Creta- ceous sea” * but of a number of benches etched during pulsatory uplift — probably eustatic — in the Pliocene period.

GALLOWAY EROSION PLATFORMS

The original plateau surface has been reduced to a number of remnants by stream dissection, but the former extension of a high-level surface across the greater part of southern Scotland is suggested b the summit concordance of Merrick (2,764 feet), Corserine (2,668 feet), Carlin’s Cairn (2,650 feet) and Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (2,612 feet) in Galloway, Broad Law (2,754 feet), Cramalt Craig (2,723 feet), Dollar Law (2,680 feet), Hart Fell (2,651 feet), White Coomb (2,695 feet) and

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SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

66

Lochcraig Head (2,625 feet) in the Tweedsmuir Hills, and The Cheviot (2,676 feet) farther east 5.

Over a large area like the Southern Uplands the presence of high- level erosion platforms can only be deduced from the frequency of hill summits at similar elevations. Within the smaller region of Galloway several residual platforms can be observed in the field. Seen from the summit of Cairnsmore of Carsphairn the mass of high ground to north and east extends from foreground to horizon as an area of smooth a hills at 1,900 to 2,000 feet, broken only here and there by

eep valleys. Similarly, from some of the higher hills near the source of the Euchan Water, west of Sanquhar, a rolling surface located at 1,700 to 1,800 feet stretches westwards for several miles until arrested — va Blackeraig (2,298 feet) and Blacklorg (2,231 feet), two residual hills projecting above the general level of the peneplain.

About twenty-five miles farther west a ridge at just over 1,800 feet stretches south-westwards from Rowantree Hi (L811 feet) to Craigen- reoch (1,852 feet), and between that flat-topped ridge and Pinbreck Hill (1,802 feet) a mile away, the summit of Poimaddie Hill rises to within a few feet of the general level in that area.

In the extreme west of the region the highest ground is centred around Beneraird (1,435 feet). The summit itself stands slightly above its surroundings, but in its vicinity there is about a square mile of terri- tory at 1,350—1,400 feet. To the west the summit of Milljoan (1,321 feet) and to the east summits at 1,370 and 1,381 feet on Kilmoray and Benaw are further remnants of the same erosion platform.

The high-level platforms are much more fragmentary and their identity is less certain than in the case of the platforms at lower elevations. Between sea-level and 1,100 feet five separate erosion plat- forms may be distinguished at elevations approximating to 200 feet, 450—500 feet, 600—700 feet, 750—850 feet, and 1,000—1,100 feet. The regional distribution of the platforms is important. Fragments of the 200-foot platform occur in the Machers of Wigtownshire, in the lower reaches of the valleys of the Rivers Bladnoch and Cree and, less definitely, in the valleys of the Tarff and Dee near Kirkcudbright. Fragments of the 450 to 500-foot platform occur slightly farther inland, and remnants of succeeding higher platforms up to the 1,000 to 1,100-foot platform are to be found progressively farther from the Solway Firth. Thus, the overall impression is of a ste land surface aligned in a south-west to north-east direction, roughly parallel to the central axis of the Solway Firth. ;

The manner of formation of the platforms is not clear, particularly in the case of those at higher elevations. The five lowest platforms appear to have been associated with successive stages of fall in relative sea-level, but there are no certain indications whether the benches are subaerial or marine in origin. It is certain, however, that the stepped morphology of the land surface has played an important part in the evolution of the present-day drainage pattern. In the valleys of the major rivers the lowest benches terminate upstream at knickpoints. In addition, long-profiles of some of the streams show that separate reaches of the same stream are graded to the levels of different erosion plat- forms. River evolution in the two main basins is discussed below.

4 T Stews River Cree near south whils Minn SOLY | Fig. 1 princi stone); Fault; Tt knick | the ri asab there under iec the 2 coursé glacia ; Fr south- flows chang north- Burnfs closel} is ger churcl

RIVER DEVELOPMENT IN GALLOWAY 67

DRAINAGE INTEGRATION IN THE BLADNOCH-CREE BASIN

The broad valley linking Barrhill in south Ayrshire and Newton Stewart in Witenes is drained by the north-westward flowing River Duisk and the south or south-eastward flowing Rivers Bladnoch, Cree and Minnoch. The Bladnoch and Duisk rise close together, in or near Loch Maberry. Farther east a major valley carries the Minnoch southwards from the Ordovician rocks near the Southern Uplands Fault, whilst the Cree rises in Loch Moan about half a mile west of the Minnoch valley.

'WERAIRD BLACKCRN BLACK

ICAIRNSMORE OF FLEET

SOLWAY FIRTH go lal MILES

Fig. 1 Map of Galloway, showing the main watercourses in relation to the

principal rock outcrops. 1. Permian; 2. Carboniferous; 3. Granite (Old Red Sand-

stone); 4. Upper Silurian; 5. Lower Silurian; 6. Ordovician; 7. Southern Upland

Fault; S.- Stranraer; NS.- Newton Stewart; K.- Kirkcudbright; CD.- Castle Douglas; D.- Dumfries; Sa.- Sanquhar.

The upper reaches of the present-day Minnoch are ened to a knick point at 670 feet at Kirriereoch (Fig. 2). In the middle reach of the river southward flow continues and the gradient is moderate as far as a broad alluvial holm east of Bargrennan. Downstream from that point there is an abrupt change to south-westerly flow along the strike of the underlying stee i -dipping strata, and the change in direction is accom- aan he a iol en steepening of gradient as the Minnoch cuts below the 200-foot platform in a series of waterfalls. Formerly the southward course of the river, graded to the 200-foot level, was by the now glacially mutilated bench south-east of the strike reach of the Minnoch.

From its source the Cree is a small, sluggish stream, making its way south-westwards through morainic debris to Creeside. Thence the Cree flows southwards as far as Carrick Burnfoot, where there is a marked change both in direction and in character of the river as it flows east- north-eastwards to Bargrennan. In the mile-long reach between Carrick Burnfoot (water-level 338 feet) and the Linn of Bargrennan the river closely follows the strike of nearly vertical shaly rocks and the gradient is gentle for the most part, but between the Linn and Bargrennan church the gradient steepens in a series of waterfalls which bring the

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68 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

water-level to 135 feet at the church. In that reach the direction of stream flow has been controlled equally by rock strike and strong joint or fault planes at right-angles to the strike. For four miles down- stream from Bargrennan the Cree flows south-south-eastwards athwart Ordovician rocks in a narrow valley excavated about 100 feet below the level of the 200-foot platform.

Immediately south of Carrick Burnfoot a broad expanse of peat rests on glacial drift the thickness of which is indeterminate but consi- derable. Across the peat-bog, and in line with the southward trending portion of the Cree valley, lies Loch Ochiltree (surface level 342 feet), and beyond it in a wide valley flows the diminutive Beoch Burn, an obvious misfit. The conclusion is self-evident. The former course of the Cree was from Carrick Burnfoot southwards across the territo now occupied by the peat, through the present location of Loch Ochil- tree, and os the valley of the Beoch Burn to the confluence with the Bladnoch near the village of Knowe.

Proof of the former course of the Cree is furnished by long-profiles of the Cree, Beoch Burn and Bladnoch (Fig. 3), Loch Ochiltree and the profile of the Beoch Burn continuing almost perfectly the profile of a former level of the Cree above Carrick Burnfoot, indicated by terrace remnants near the sharp bend in the stream at that locality.

The terraces of the Cree at Carrick Burnfoot are graded to the Beoch Burn which in turn is graded to the Bladnoch at Knowe, and there the Bladnoch is graded to the level of the 200-foot platform. In contrast, the segment of the Cree downstream from the Linn of Bar- grennan is eroding below the 200-foot platform. It is a youthful stream, much more active than the Cree above Carrick Burnfoot. The Lower Cree has captured the Upper Cree, formerly a left-bank tributary of the Bladnoch via the site of present-day Loch Ochiltree and Beoch Burn. The strike reach of the Cree between Carrick Burnfoot and the Linn of Bargrennan appears to be a reversed tributary of the Upper Cree om in process of adjustment to the gradient of its captor, the Lower

ree.

The present-day Bladnoch is a much reduced stream. As indicated, its major left-bank tributary has been annexed by the growing Cree. In addition, Mort ® claimed that the north-westward flowing Duisk represents the reversed headwaters of a former southward flowin stream. Field evidence is not conclusive, as the tributaries of the Duis are merely streams, many of them of post-glacial origin. The valleys of the upper reaches of two of them, however, Pollgowan Burn and Feoch Burn, appear to be pre-glacial, and their ee mf trend may be indicative of former confluence with a larger Bladnoch. Furthermore, the Duisk is an affluent of the River Stinchar, itself sited along a major zone of structural weakness and graded to sea-level at the Firth of Clyde eight miles from the confluence. It appears that the vigorous Duisk, graded to the Stinchar, captured the headwaters of the former Bladnoch, graded to the 200-foot level at Knowe, and far inland from their ultimate base-level at Wigtown Bay, more than twenty miles away.

DRAINAGE INTEGRATION IN THE KEN-DEE BASIN Drainage development in the valleys of the Water of Deugh, Water

ay

Vf, - 0

Fig. 2

patter

now

| River

200-fc

Cr.-

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Fig. 3

River

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the p1

Cree i

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4

RIVER DEVELOPMENT IN GALLOWAY

Nee

O MILES 2

Crown Copyright Reserved

Fig. 2 The Duisk-Bladnoch-Cree drainage area, showing the present stream pattern and the former more extensive Bladnoch drainage system. The Cree is a composite stream, a former tributary of the Bladnoch, the Upper Cree, being linked now with its captor, the Lower Cree, a former tribu of the Minnoch. The River Duisk represents the reserved headwaters of the B. h. 1. Remnants of 200-foot platform; 2. Suggested former stream courses. B.- Barrhill; Ba.- Bargrennan; Cr.- Creeside; CB.- Carrick Burnfoot; K.- Kirriereoch; Kn.- Knowe; NS.- Newton Stewart. Contours in feet O.D.

OF LOCH OCHILTREE BEOCH BURN & RIVER BLADNOCH

BARGRENNAN LINN 10

MILES 20

9

L OF TERRACE REMNANTS

PROFILE OF LEVE AT CARRICK BURNFOOT

RIVER CREE

Fig. 8 Long-profiles of part of the River Cree and the combined Beoch Burn — River Bladnoch, showing the effect of different base-levels of erosion. Downstream from Bargrennan Linn Cree is eroding below the 200-foot platform. In contrast, the level of terrace remnants of the Cree above Carrick Burnfoot is continued by the profile of the combined Beoch-Bladnoch, with which the course of the Upper Cree is aligned. The more active Lower Cree has captured the Upper Cree which was , in effect, to the 200-foot erosion level through the Beoch and Bladnoch.

BURN & R. BLADNOCH

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70 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

of Ken, River Dee and their affluents has been more complex than in the drainage area just considered. This is probably due, in large measure, to the presence of the Loch Doon and Cairnsmore of Carsphairn granite masses in the territory in which these watercourses have their sources, and to the location of the Criffell granite athwart the north-west to south-east course of the combined Ken-Dee river.

The Carsphairn area: The juxtaposition of the southward trending valley of Carsphairn Lane and the northward trending valleys of the Eglin and Gala Lanes which join to form the valley now occupied by the waters of Loch Doon requires explanation (Fig. 4). en of the northern reach of Loch Doon and the valley drained by Carsphairn Lane makes unavoidable the conclusion that the valleys were, at some time in the course of drainage evolution, occupied by a continuous stream. It is improbable, however, that such a stream flowed southwards at the same time as the Eglin-Gala stream flowed north-north-eastwards in the valley occupied now by the southern part of Loch Doon. The alternative explanations of such a situation are that Carsphairn Lane formerly flowed northwards and the northern arm of Doon was the site of the confluent waters of Eglin, Gala and Carsphairn Lanes, or that the Eglin-Gala river has flowed northwards only since the beheading of a former southward flowing Carsphairn Lane.

Field evidence in support of either alternative is scanty, but the first is more likely on the basis of indications that the upper waters of the Deugh formerly flowed towards the present bend in Koch Doon. Two

miles east of the bend there is a saddle between Benbrack and Lamford Hill at just over 1,200 feet. In the reach of the Deugh immediately east

of the saddle there is a change of slope along the valley sides, the walls being steeper below 1,200 feet than above. It appears that when the floor of that part of the Deugh valley was about at that level the stream flowing in it continued westwards across the saddle between Benbrack and Lamford Hill. At the same time a stream occupying the valley of the present Bow Burn may have joined the westward flowing ancestor of the Deugh at the saddle.

The location of the major watershed of Galloway has a bearing on the problem. In the west of the region the northern anticlinorium of Ordovician strata forms the watershed. North-east of Loch Doon the same belt of rocks forms the divide, the Water of Deugh occupying a position between it and the Cairnsmore of Carsphairn granite mass to the south. In the centre of the region, however, the watershed makes a southward detour to the centre of the Loch Doon granite complex, Eglin and Gala Lanes flowing northwards, Cooran Lane southwards. In effect drainage from the granite complex is radial.

The deep valley between Loch Doon and Loch Dee itself presents a problem of origin, as yet unsolved. If it is true that the northward flow of Gala Lane is, in geomorphic terms, of comparatively recent origin, the claim by Wallace’ that the broad through-valley between Loch Doon and Loch Dee was excavated by a southward flowing river having its source a considerable distance north of Galloway, may be valid. In such circumstances an initially and continuously southward flowing Carsphairn Lane might be explicable.

But it is difficult to accept Wallace’s claim. The radial drainage

RIVER DEVELOPMENT IN GALLOWAY

O MILES 2

Loch Doon, are indicated.

centre of the region where the granitic complexes of Loch

deflection of the watershed to the south.

however, that the erosion level at the north end of

Crown Copyright Reserved

Fig. 4 The drainage pattern in the Carsphairn area. The former courses of Carsphairn Lane and Water of Deugh, when they flowed north-westwards and westwards respectively, to join the Eglin and Gala Lanes at the present bend in

1. Carboniferous and Old Red Sandstone sediments; 2. Old Red Sandstone Granitic Complex; 3. Ordovician and Silurian sediments; 4. Suggested former stream courses; 5. Southern Upland Fault. B.- Benbrack; C.- Cairnsmore of Carsphairn; Co.- Corserine; D.- Dundeugh; L.- Lamford Hill; M.- Merrick; Contours in feet O.D.

pattern of the Loch Doon granitic complex and, in a lesser degree, of the Cairnsmore of Carsphairn granitic complex, together with indica- tions of the northern arm of Loch Doon as the former site of confluent Eglin, Gala and Deugh, suggests that originally stream flow along the site of Carsphairn Lane was northwards. In addition, it appears that in Galloway the initial major watershed of the present drainage system was located along the northern anticlinorial rock belt, except in the

oon and

Cairnsmore of Carsphairn, forming centres of radial drainage, caused

The mechanism of adjustment to the present drainage pattern in the neighbourhood of Carsphairn is not clear. It —— significant, och Doon, acting

as base to pre-glacial forerunners of Eglin and Gala Lanes, was certainly not lower than 650 feet, whereas the Water of Ken above a knickpoint at Dundeugh — much closer to Carsphairn village than

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LOCH “KEN

Crown Copyright Reserved Fig. 5 The drainage pattern in the Castle Douglas area, showing the former course of the Ken-Dee river south-eastwards from Castle Douglas by Gelston to the Solway Firth area, and the former course of the Black Water of Dee from Stroan Loch by Laurieston before integration with the Ken by its presents course at Hensol. 1. Gelston Surface (500-600 feet); 2. Remnants of 450 to 500-foot plat- form; 3. Suggested former stream courses. CD.- Castle Douglas; G.- Gelston; H.- Hensol; K.- Kirkcudbright; L.- Laurieston; T.- Tongland. Contours in feet O.D.

Loch Doon — is graded to the level of the 450 to 500-foot platform. In such circumstances headward erosion by a stream flowing south- eastwards from Carsphairn to join the Ken near Dundeugh may well have effected reversal of a north-westward flowing Carsphairn Lane, and a deflected Deugh have been incorporated in the system.

Ti trian Castl north reach clearl A val the c

prese! Re

| 72 Wate: : ie to tha as * é: with Oo Miles 2 Th S time. 3 of evc with tempc In | been foot, | ations of apy In northe to the radial

RIVER DEVELOPMENT IN GALLOWAY 73 The Castle Douglas area: The geomorphic history of the broad —— area between Kirkcudbright and Laurieston in the west and Castle Douglas in the east is as obscure as it is complex (Fig. 5). The north-east to south-west flowing reach of the Dee, ae south-flowin reaches upstream from Castle Douglas and downstream from Tongland, clearly is a late development along the strike of the underlying shales °. A valid claim was ame too by Wallace ® and Linton 1° that formerly the course of the Ken was south-eastwards past Castle Douglas by the present site of Orchardton Bay to the Solway Firth area.

Remnants of an erosion surface at 500—600 feet are retained in the Gelston hills south-south-east of Castle Douglas and, from the configu- ration of the surrounding countryside, it appears likely that a former Ken river was responsible for the cutting of that surface. On the other hand, the subaerial or marine nature of the 450 to 500-foot and 200-foot

latforms is unknown — the waters of a Tertiary Solway Firth may be penetrated to the broad tract of country between Kirkcudbright and Castle Douglas at the time of still-stand represented by these platforms, or the area may have been a low coastal plain. In either case, however, it is likely that desertion of the Gelston course occurred before the 450 to 500-foot stadium.

Similarly, the uncertainty of origin of the 200-foot platform does not alter the likelihood that integration of the River Dee and the Water of Ken near Hensol, seven miles north-west of Castle Douglas, followed rejuvenation of the Ken after the 200-foot stadium. East of the waterfalls in the gorge at Hensol the Water of Ken flows at 150 feet, whereas above the alls the Dee is eroding at just over 200 feet. The former course of the Dee ap to have been by Laurieston via the valley now occupied by Woodhall Loch for, although the loch itself probably occupies the site of a glacially excavated rock basin, the transverse profile of its containing valley is similar in depth and width to that of the valley of the Black Water of Dee upstream from Hensol, with which it is aligned.

SUMMARY

The present drainage system of Galloway originated in mid-Tertiary time. Since then the dominant factor determining the manner and rate of evolution has been changing regional base-level of erosion, associated with pulsatory uplift of the Southern Uplands block relative to con- temporary sea-level.

In the field it is ible to identify erosion platforms which have been called the 200-foot, 450 to 500-foot, 600 to 700-foot, 750 to 850- foot, and 1,000 to 1,100-foot platforms. Above the last of these, indic- ations of much less perfectly — latforms are found at elevations of approximately 1550 to l, feet, 1,700 to 1,800 feet, 1,900 to 2,000 feet, and 2,600 to 2,800 feet.

In Galloway, the initial major watershed was located along the northern anticlinorium of Ordovician strata, incipient drainage bein to the Midland Valley and Solway Firth areas, but locally centres of radial drainage were operative. The Loch Doon granite intrusion was

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74 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

ly important in that respect. The erosion platforms mark stages of still-stand during emergence.

The two main through- of the region, those of the Duisk- Bladnoch-Cree and Deugh-Ken-Dee drainage systems, provide evidence of modifications since initiation of the present drainage system. The Duisk is the obsequent of a formerly more extensive Bladnoch. The Cree, far from being a stream of single se is a composite water- course incorporating portions of smaller streams originally tributaries of the Bladnoch.

Water of Deugh was to north and west respectively to join a forerunner of the Gala Lane near the present bend in Loch Doon. Farther down the valleys of the Ken and Dee, late modification of drainage took the form of diversion of river flow from a south-easterly course past Castle Douglas to the present south-westerly course between Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright. A former course of the lower reaches of the from the neighbourhood of Stroan Loch southwards by Laurieston was modified after the 200-foot stadium to the present course by Hensol.

The drainage modifications indicated above have been brought about in the main by the advantages offered to piratical stream portions graded to lower base-levels of erosion than their victims, in combination with adjustment to underlying structure.

The author wishes to express his thanks to the Trustees of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for financial support during the period of research in Galloway and at the Department of Geography, Cambridge, and to Professor T. Neville George of Glasgow for his encouragement in the preparation of this paper.

1 George, T. N. Drainage in the Southern Uplands: Clyde, Nith, Annan. Trans. geol. Soc. Glasg., 1955, 22: 1-34.

2 Linton, D. L. Problems of Scottish Scenery. $.G.M., 1951, 67, p.69.

3 Hollingworth, S. E. The ee and Correlation of High Level Erosion Surfaces in Britain: A Statistical Study. Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., 1988, 94: 55-84.

4 George, T. N. op. cit., p.5.

5 George, T. N. op. cit., p.7.

6 Mort, F. The Rivers of South West Scotland. S.G.M., 1918, 34, p.364.

7 Wotees Ai The Black Water of Dee. Trans. Dumfr. Gall. nat. Hist. Soc., 1924, 3, 9, p.186.

8 Wallace, R. The Galloway Dee: Its Floods in Relation to River Capture. Trans. ae Gall. nat. Hist. Soc., 1919, 3, 6, p.80.

® Wallace R. op. cit., 1919, p.81. , ane D. L. The Origin of the Tweed Drainage System. S.C.M., 1933, 9, p.171.

IT is 4 confi; have every close land, ment assunt with tively meml or : shieli: of Le estab) dim 1 a lar; eratic one i centu glens struct and o syster are f indivi The Trott It see ; of for to ar limits of ae feet i consi very | ‘ foot | Trott series the s parall — the utilise 4 lower

TRANSHUMANCE IN NORTH SKYE

Matcotm D. MacSwEen

IT is generally accepted that the Celtic countries of the British Isles possess a fundamental unity, discernible not only in their physical configuration but in the marked similarities in rural economy which have prevailed along the Atlantic seaboard. Common features almost everywhere have been the limited areas of fertile land, situated in close juxtaposition to “extensive areas of waste in mountain and moor- land, water and bog” !, and the use of summer hill-grazing “to supple- ment the resources of outfield and infield”. ? This practice is one which assumed great importance in Atlantic Britain, especially when associated with movements of population, transhumance of this type being tenta- tively defined as “the movement of peasant families, or of certain members of these families, who accompany their flocks and herds to open pastures, and remain there beside their animals throughout all or a part of the fine season”. *

e traces of such a practice in Scotland, where it is known as the shieling system, are of particular interest, if only because in the Isle of Lewis persist some of the last recognisable survivals of this old- established folk-custom. Survivals of this character are, however, but dim reflections of a system which was at the same time practised over a large part of the country. The area chosen here for special consid- eration, the peninsulas of Trotternish and Waternish in North Skye, is one in which the shieling system has been extinct for well over a century, and has barely left a trace even in local tradition. Yet the glens and moorlands of North Skye bear many traces of huts and other structures, remote from present-day settlement, which from place-names and oral evidence may be assigned to periods in which the transhumant system was in full vigour (Fig. 1). These huts and associated enclosures are found invariably in groups, er! comprising four to five individual buildings, with occasional groups of twelve to twenty huts. The largest and most striking concentration is in Glen Haultin in Trotternish where forty huts occur within a radius of about a mile. It seems probable, however, that this cluster represents an amalgamation of four or five distinct groupings. In general, the shielings are restricted to areas of between 600 feet and feet in altitude. The absolute limits of cultivation in Skye, as observed in the field and from a study of aerial photographs appear to have occurred between 450 and 500 feet in altitude, and the nearer shielings, at least in Trotternish, are considerably higher than the head-dyke. There appear to have been very few groups over 850 feet, and none was observed near the 1,000- foot level, although considerable surfaces at this elevation occur in Trotternish. The western side of the peninsula is characterised by a series of wide valleys, whose streams have their ori in corries near the summit of the marked central escarpment, and which run almost

parallel to each other towards the west. Each of these valleys, or glens, —

— those of the Rha, Conon, Hinnisdal, Romesdal and Haultin — was utilised as seasonal pasture, by the anent settlements in its lower reaches and all possess well-marked groups of shieling huts. It is

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76 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

rarely, however, that these sites occur in the valley floor itself, often liable to flooding ; most are situated near smaller tributary streams on the valley sides, very often at minor breaks in slope, where, for example, as is so typical of the basaltic plateau, tributaries attain the major streams by plunging over minor escarpments formed by particularly resistant lava flows, and build small, well-drained fans on the flanks of the main valley. In the more open, undulating moorlands of Eastern Trotternish, the distribution of sites tends to be more sporadic, but well-drained slopes in close proximity to streams are again the most favoured locations (See Pl. 2). Such freely drained areas are usually free of sedges and coarse heather, and their greenness stands out in marked contrast to the general drabness of the surrounding moors. The form of individual huts is remarkably uniform over all of North Skye. For the most part, the bothies are circular or near-circular in shape, entered via a single door, with a smaller opening within giving access to a similar adjacent structure of lesser dimensions. In sever, cases a complex suite of four or even five of such near-circular buildings is traceable — whether all were occupied simultaneously, it is difficult to ascertain. Rectangular structures are also evident in certain localities, one group in Eastern Trotternish being particularly noteworthy. It is of interest in that not only do few subsidiary agg os Baie to have existed adjacent to the rectangular huts, but in this locality are found

the only evident traces of cultivation around the shielings in the area studied. Several other features of this group — Gleann a Ghrealin and and Gleann a’ Bhreacraidh — lead one to conclude that this shieling represents, in all Fr the a the latest survival of transhumance in

Trotternish (Fig. 2). The state of preservation of the huts contrasts markedly with the relatively faint traces of such structures in other parts of the peninsula, and local tradition points to the site being used as late as the eighteen-fifties. In this respect, two features are of interest. Firstly, the townships involved, Grealine and Breckry, were among those in which runrig persisted almost until 1841, (in most parts of Trotternish, the old system was abolished in 1811); and secondly, these townships possessed detached portions of common pasture as late as 1906, when reorganisation took place. It was on these detached pas- tures that the groups of huts were situated (Fig. 3).

It would appear, therefore, that the emergence of the rectangular building waited é the latest stage in the evolution of the Skye shieling, and, moreover, the association with cultivation ridges may represent a result of pressure on the land in the eighteen-thirties and forties. The much more typical circular huts are small, the average internal dimensions being of the order of eight to ten feet in diameter, with the door approximately three feet in width. The smaller adjacent structure is usually of six to eight feet in diameter, with an even narrower entrance from the major building. The rectangular variety are on an average nine feet by seven feet internally, without, of course, any subsidiary structures. As to the actual form of the buildings when in use, little can be said from evidence on the ground. The circular huts appear to have been built principally of turf, although the tumble-down nature of the great majority makes any general conclusion difficult. A recent trial excavation in Waternish * would seem to indicate one or two

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.

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TRANSHUMANCE IN NORTH SKYE

TROTTERNISH

JOINT-FARMS SH/ELINGS

VATERNISH Unser)

Fig. 1 Trotternish and Waternish; Joint-farms and shielings in the eighteenth century: 1. Joint farms and other tenancies recorded in the MacDonald Estate Documents; 2. Other settlements shown on air photos but not recorded in Mac Donald Estate Documents; 3. Joint-farms and other tenancies not on MacDonald Estates; 4. Direction of transhumant movement (known); 5. Ditto (postulated); 6. Shieling huts known from field observations and air photos (one symbol = approximately 4 huts); 7. Shieling huts postulated from oral evidence.

courses of rough boulders at ground level, with the remainder of the wall constructed of turf, or a mixture of turf and stone. Remepoery habitations of this type, occupied during the fine season only, are unlikely to have been elaborately constructed, and annual repair seems very probable. A striking feature in North Skye is the manner in which

77 uN \e ef ee ° \ : af 4 é 4 a A ‘ aa A * e a a 4 So SCARP. A 7 aks : \ A | = 2

78

many of the huts observed surmounted mounds or ‘tells’ of considerable proportions — in places up to ten feet in height. This indicates cont- inued occupation of the same site over a considerable period, and in the Rha valley several of these mounds, partly cut into by streams, reveal that they are largely com of peat ash and other occupation material. The Waternish example referred to above was situated on a ‘tell’ some four feet in height, and digging revealed the existence of three distinct huts at different levels, each with an associated peat hearth. To the annual cycle of repairing and minor rebuilding of the shieling must be added, in these cases, a varying number of major reconstructions of the site, when the old hut, perhaps encumbered the debris of several cycles of repairs, was roughly levelled off, and a completely new building raised on the mound. ?

In several instances, huts situated on mounds similar to those described above are found in close proximity to others without similar accumulations of material. While no definite evidence exists, this may well be a reflection of pressure of population and subdivisions of tenan-

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

COMMONTY

ast CULNACNOCK LON FEARN FARM THE

OLTACHED

Old Rigs. Fj meter Ares. ON Modern Shielings .

Crofts,

COMMONTY

1 t 1

Fig. 2 Townships with detached pastures in the nineteenth century; black lines indicate township boundaries (supplied by Estate Office, Portree).

cies in the clachans nrmeee ; to a more intensive use of the hill

during the latter phase of transhumance in Skye. The roofing of the shielings seems to have been relatively simple. No evidence exists to show that the buildings were ever soctemad as appears to have been the case in certain areas of Lewis, and it is much safer to assume that the roof was constructed of a few beams crudely thatched or covered with thin turves (sgrathan), heather and bracken. Alasdair Cameron describes the process as it occurred in Gairloch in the eighteen-fifties and ’sixties when “each man went to the hill equipped with an axe and spade, carrying in addition a thin iron rod, with which he probed the peat to locate bog-timber”5, the latter being utilised as roof timber.

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TRANSHUMANCE IN NORTH SKYE

A-F SHIELINGS OF BRECKRY

SHIELINGS OF

GREALINE

GORGE, DEPTH ¢ 25.

GLEANN A’ BHREACRAIDH

GLEANN A’GHREALIN

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Fig. 3 Shieling huts of Breckry and Crealine (see Fig. 2).

The furnishings of a newly-repaired bothy were exceedingly simple, comprising a of heather and rushes, with pillows of cotton (canach), a bench of turf, recesses for the em Bey household utensils, and the open fire. The lesser chamber fulfilled the functions of a dairy and storehouse.

Associated with many of the groups of shielings in Trotternish and Waternish are crudely constructed enclosures varying sizes, the largest usually forty-five feet or so in diameter. These go by various names, according to the type of stock they were designed to accomo- date. For example the most common designation is crd nan laogh, or the calf-pen, where calves were housed while the milk cattle were turned to pasture. Other names recorded in literature and place-names include crd nan uain (lamb-pen), mainnir nan gobhar (goat-pen) or very rarely marclan or horse-pen. Such enclosures formed the milking place on the return of the cattle in the evening. The walls of these enclosures are earthen or formed of stone and turf in varying propor-

79 \ 4 » B a = 58 WY E \ CULTIVATION RIGS Say Be tee ae ae

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

tions. Favourite sites are where only one or two banks are required — for example at the base of basaltic escarpments or across the neck of meanders in the larger streams. In a stock-rearing economy which possessed no fences and few march dykes, small pens of this nature, easily constructed and looked after, played an important role in the management of sheep, cattle and —_ Today, it seems probable that many of the ‘fanks’ or sheep-folds utilised by the Skye crofters at sheep-shearing time on the moors are older constructions adapted to modern uses. Examples of this process are apparent in Upper Glen- conon and elsewhere, where ‘ ’ are found in close association with groups of shieling huts. —

A considerable proportion of the geographical nomenclature in North Skye is Norse in origin, one of the most frequent endings being shadder, the Gaelicised version of Norwegian setr, a dwelling place. This particular word has also acquired a subsidiary meaning, as ‘pasture place’, just as occurs in modern Norwegian, where the saeter closely resembles the old Scottish shieling (in Gaelic, dirigh, a green summer grazing or hut built on such pastures). According to Brggger ®, the place name Marrister in Shetland, equatable with the Skye Marrishadder, is simply Norse Marra-setr or horse-pasture. Doubtless other of Skye’s 8 r or shiader place names could be similarly analysed to indicate possible wides on occurrence of transhumance under Norse rule, i.e. prior to the thirteenth century. This is of interest in that the great majority of locations rene 2 the ending shadder today form permanent settlements, and have, in fact done so since at least the seventeenth century, indicative, perhaps, of colonisation due to an increasing popu lation. That such a process occurred at some period can hardly be doubted, but from place-name evidence alone little can be garnered. Unlike some other Highland districts no permanent colonisation of shielings took place in Trotternish as a result of the evictions in the nineteenth century ; indeed the general lack of traces of cultivation and of social tradition regarding transhumance seem to point to the system ending prior to the period of disturbance and population pressure. Exceptions to this rule are few and, as in Grealine and Breckry, explicable by peculiar circumstances.

It has proved difficult to assign particular groups of shieling huts to permanent settlements except by interpolation using local informants idk place-name evidence as guides. A major drawback occurs in that shielings are not generally named after the settlements which used them, but after individuals who used them at some period. Thus, in Eastern Trotternish are found Airigh Neill (Neil's er Airigh Fhionnlaigh (Finlay’s shieling), Airigh Uisdean (Hugh’s shieling) and many others. Often topographic features in their vicinity are used in the name, for example, Airigh an Easain (the shieling by the small waterfall), and it is rarely that names of the type Airigh Uige (the

‘shieling of Uig) or Gleann aGhrealin (the glen belonging to -Grealine) occur, which tie the shieling unequivocally to its parent

settlement. Documentary evidence is disappointing in this respect. A surviving rental of 1733 produces on examination only two references to transhumance, one relating to a wadsett granted to William Mac- Donald for “the four-pennyland of Brunistot and the shieling of Scam-

MacD:

80 4 mada! “4 the Pp q rich”. Airigh Th ses or wh 3 pressu take tl of the a prac of Phi restrai which dail traditi of the for for domes 4 very | ; all the platea Thus, tacks black-« fundar several Cor | and ev from t cases | this ty which item o which in kine q to see eightee the bl: At seasons whethe not bee | at Kilr Despite promin is no p where

TRANSHUMANCE IN NORTH SKYE 81

madal” in Kilmaluag, and the other to “Alex. Nicolson, who “perme the pennyland of Shulishadder-in-the-wood and the grazing of Arihau- rich”. This latter shieling is unidentifiable, but may represent Fluich Airigh in Glenmore, near Portree.

The evidence suggests that not every clachan of runrig cultivators possessed, or made use of shieling grounds. Where the settlement was endowed with ample good varied pastures in its immediate vicinity, or where the outfield was extensive — especially before population pressure on the land became evident — it was found unnecessary to take the milch cattle to distant pastures. This does not exclude utilisation of the common pastures for summering young cattle, sheep and goats, a practice which assumed a importance in Skye. Livestock of this character requires little attention other than that necessary to restrain it from wandering outwith certain broadly defined grazing limits. This is somewhat different from the true preren: Phevermeen economy, which comes into its own when milch cattle are involved, requirin daily attention, and necessitating movements of population. L tradition * points to such a dual use of common pastures. The corries of the spine of volcanic hills which runs though Trotternish were grazed for four to five months each year by herds of cattle — reputedly semi- domesticated — which formed the basis of the wealth of Skye for a very long period. The lucrative trade in the black cattle, common to all the Highland area, achieved its greatest success on the basaltic plateaux of North Skye, and is thought to date from 1502 when MacDonald of Kingsburgh began droving operations to the Lowlands. Thus, in making use of the common grazings of Skye, small-tenants and tacksmen introduced elements of two economies — the commercial black-cattle rearing, and the true shieling system associated with the fundamentally subsistence nature of local agriculture. This introduced several problems which will be dealt with presently.

Complementary to this activity existed the herding of milch cattle and ewes at the dirigh or shieling. This was usually at no _ distance from the winter base or permanent settlement in North Skye, in most cases between two and three miles, sometimes less. Transhumance of this type was concerned principally to produce the butter and cheese which in a predominantly pastoral economy formed such an important item of diet, and incidentially of currency. In the runrig economy which existed until 1811 a considerable proportion of rent was paid in kind, cheese and butter forming prominent items. It is tempting eighteenth cen rogressed a reflection prosperity brought the black-cettlo ta e the island.

At earlier periods dairy products were very highly prized, and in seasons of hoards of butter were - buried in peat — whether to improve the flavour or to safeguard against famine has not been definitely ascertained. Kegs of ‘bog-butter’ have been located at Kilmaluag and Kyleakin ®, and faint memories of the custom persist. Despite the large numbers of livestock in the area, meat did not pene prominently in the diet; as Martin Martin observed in 1703, “there is no place so well stored with such quantity of good Beef and Mutton, where so little of both is consum’d by eating” 1°.

ae . Vy

of

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

The movement of people and dairy cows to the shieling took place in mid-June 11, and the shieling life lasted until mid-August. These dates are in themselves significant, as they appear to conflict with

- some theories advanced for the use of shielings in Highland Scotland.

It will suffice at this point to note that the departure from the inbye land occurred after the crops had been sown or planted, and the return to the permanent settlement took place before harvest. In any case, shieling life in Skye seems to have been intimately connected with the runrig clachan, and came to an end sometime between 1811 and the great famine of the eighteen-forties (See Pl. 3). Indeed disruptive elements were in operation in the decades immediately preceding 1811, when large areas of hill-ground in Trotternish by transhumant tenants were abandoned as a result of early clearances. Scorrybreck in Eastern Trotternish, a district some twelve miles in extent, consisting of six or seven clachans of joint tenants or sub-tenants of tacksmen, was cleared in the later years of the eighteenth century, the tenants either being forcibly evicted or emigrating to Carolina with their tacksmen as a protest against rack renting. A similar story could be told of other areas of North Skye. The disappearance of large numbers of smaller gentry and tenants demonstrates the pressure exerted on the older cattle-rearing economy by the of sheep-rearing at this period. Sheep had been of minor importance in the Skye scene up until the latter part of the eighteenth century. With goats, the native sheep — a small species similar to that of St Kilda — had been a useful supplementary source of dairy produce, but took no place in the commercial livestock industry, and by 1843, only a handful of the caoraich beaga survived in Skye 12. The increasing importance of sheep- rearing, accompanied by the formation of large farms was, then, one of the primary reasons for the abandonment of transhumance.

The movement of people and animals to the shieling huts can thus be explained very largely in terms of the runrig system of agriculture. Sheer physical limitations — of climate, soil and terrain — have led to the rural economy of Western Scotland being one in which stock- rearing has had predominance from early times. The early accounts of Hebridian agriculture bear out this assertion, for all observers commented upon the grave difficulties facing the farmer in an environ- ment in which copious rainfall, low temperatures and high winds militated against arable cultivation. This was true even of North Skye, in many respects more favoured than its neighbuuring islands and mainland districts. Walker, in 1808, stated that “in the Hebrides, every fourth crop is almost entirely lost through the lateness of the harvest and the inclemency of the weather” 13, and MacDonald a few years later was forced to the conclusion that “the Island of Skye has hitherto been wholly devoted to pasturage, and is still far behind the southern isles in agriculture” 14.

Attention has been drawn above to the co-existence of two mutually interdependent types of economy, which persisted over several cent- uries, the association of black cattle rearing (commercial) with the humbler dairying activities at the airigh (subsistence). The fundamental problem in Skye was then, as now, the struggle to provide winter fodder for the very considerable herds of cattle which could easily be

| 4 82 prop’ autul a a tas utmo syste grazi inter come 2 of sc T be gi the n Macl in 18 their Johns Engli forme 3 stack a cultiv assoc | lands today 3 show: graph crop-! Chille bere 4 men Trott know TI and it to’mo 7 the n that access case \ tered ubiqu a sign or ‘fat : manu) devoti prima Kilmu the ‘h conne

TRANSHUMANCE IN NORTH SKYE 83

maintained on the hills in summer. Despite the fact that a large proportion of the black cattle were sold to southern buyers every autumn, there was still the necessity to conserve a large breeding stock, a task which strained the delicately balanced arable economy to the utmost. This was rendered all the more difficult by the fact that “the system of land tenure, ene a prge tenant population, all with grazing rights, led to over-stocking of the land with cattle” 15. This internal contradiction in society was one which was never fully over- come, and the history of North Skye is marked by a series of years of scarcity.

The full extent of the problem of securing winter fodder can partly be gauged by the fact that until a fairly late date — often well into the nineteenth century — organised pay enating was little known. Both MacDonald and Pennant remarked upon the fact 16 17 and Stanhope in 1805, commented “their hay, which they get at the same time as their corn, at the end of September, is thoroughly bad” 18, while Samuel Johnson was probably not exaggerating when he claimed that “by most English farmers it would be thrown away”. Examination of several formerly occupied sites illustrates that the site of the hay rick in the stackyard is either very small or is totally absent. The proliferation of cultivation ridges so obvious in the plain of Kilmuir and elsewhere was associated with the cultivation of oats, bere and potatoes, and the ee of ridges can be understood in relation to the lack of hay, today the principal crop in the island. The extent of ridges in 1764, as shown in an Estate Map of that year and plotted from aerial photo- graphs, had reached its maximum, and the only major addition to crop-land after that date concerned the drainage of Loch Chaluim Chille in 1829, significantly to form a large hay-meadow. Oats and bere were, then, the principal crop, and formed the subsistence of men and animals alike (See Pl. 1). Kilmuir, the northern parish of Trotternish, was famed for its fertility and heavy crops of grain, being known for a long period as the “Granary of Skye’, and having surpluses in good seasons sufficient to permit an intermittent export.

The large areas of infield and outfield, devoted to grain and potatoes, and eotalastiy enclosed by low turf banks were a powerful incentive to'movement of stock between seedtime and harvest. There also existed the necessity, in view of the limited amount of fodder available — and that for dairy cattle alone, as a rule — to safeguard the lower and more accessible pasture for livestock during autumn and winter, when growth virtually ceases at higher elevations. This was especially the case with the ‘commercial’ black cattle, which were gen ly out-win- tered in parks on the outfield. These parks, surrounded by the ubiquitous turf dykes (gearraidh fail), are known as buailtean, and form a significant feature even in the modern landscape. A form of ‘tathing’ or ‘faughing’, as in Aberdeenshire 19, was practised, the buailtean being manured in some form of rotation. This was probably the sole attention devoted to outfield in North Skye, and can be visualised as being of primary importance in the extension of the limits of cultivation. The Kilmuir area exhibits ample evidence of such a piecemeal extension of the ‘head-dyke’ if it may be so called. Pennant in 1776 remarks in this connection 2° that “the greater tenants keep their cattle (i.e. black

fa: # -

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

cattle) in winter in what are called winter parks, the driest and best ground that they have ; here they are kept till April, except the winter — very hard, when they are foddered with straw: in April the armer turns them to the neo ee which springs first, and at night drives them into the dry grounds again”.

A contributory, but nevertheless important, factor to the system of transhumance was a desire to utilise to the full such grazing as was available. It was recognised that a change of herbage was exceedingly beneficial to stock, and, that, in season, a great variety of plants were found palatable. This was nes ef the solution to diseases arising from lack of trace-elements in the soil, and many explain the prevalence in some areas of detached pastures. A similar process can be observed in South Uist.

When, in the clachans, the cattle and other livestock had sufficiently recovered from the rigours of winter, the exodus to the shieling normally began. The black cattle were first driven to the higher pastures about May Day, and shortly after seed-time the milch cattle, accompanied by members of the community, followed to the dirigh. In ancient times, when the pastoral tradition was stronger, probably the whole a moved, but in later periods only certain members of each family too part, notably young women, children and elderly people. The dirigh was sufficiently near the clachan to maintain close, even daily, contact, and it may be that all members of the community spent part of the summer at the shieling. Indeed, this seems very probable, for the shieling life was the major event of the year in the life of people in the Highlands. Those who remained behind had many tasks to perform, notably the peat-cutting and securing of fish to ensure fuel and food for the winter. Necessary repairs to the houses, such as thatching, were also presumably undertaken at this time.

The business of herding was continued until mid-August 21 utilising first the pasture in proximity to the dirigh and gradually working away from the huts. A Skye landlord recently _ e opinion that such systematic grazing and dunging of the hill-ground was instrum- ental in maintaining grazing of a quality rarely seen in Skye today. The great numbers of cattle eslociol to in most early accounts of the island may be partly explicable in such terms, although an eminent authority 2° maintains that until large-scale introduction of sheep, a large proportion, even as much as two-thirds, of the hill-grazings of the Highlands was unsuitable for cattle. Accordingly, the choice of a suitable site for the shieling was of primary importance. The dairying activities involved the manufacture of butter and cheese, the latter largely from the milk of sheep and goats. The utensils used were, of course, taken from the permanent settlement. Such by-products as ‘crowdie’ (cottage cheese) would also figure largely in the supplies sent to the clachan.

The ‘soum’ or g stint observed in each joint-farm was adhered to at the shieling also. To enforce observance, essential if such a precar- iously balanced economy was to thrive, an elected ‘constable’ was appointed. The danger of overstocking must have been an ever-present one, and it is difficult to see how the repeated years of famine and scarcity can be explained, unless it be assumed that there existed a

3 affe whi whi toc mee fabr 7 coas inev Skye deve oper folkl : to tk welc nece wide tong the « Evic the « cong olida that | : large impr of 2 direc i hum tried comp house open usual its fr many of ac came no e: Wern the p arran

TRANSHUMANCE IN NORTH SKYE

istent tendency in this direction. This trend was almost certainly ees to the lure of the flourishing black-cattle ind , which latterly affected the whole shieling economy. It was observed above that the return to the clachan occurred in mid-August, before harvest, a fact which obscures the original purposes of transhumance in Skye, and which is explained by the anal 2 of drovers at that time of year, to commence the driving of cattle to Falkirk and Stenhousemuir fairs in mid-September. The Portree fair, established in 1580, was the great meeting-place of Skye, and necessitated the adjustment of the whole fabric of the economy.

The course of events in the nineteenth century, with the inexorable incorporation of the relatively self-sufficient peasantry of the Atlantic coastlands into the greater economic whole of the United Kingdom led inevitably to the disruption of such delicately balanced systems. In Skye, where lively commercial contacts with the outside world were develo at an early date, the wider horizons and greater opportunities opened to the population had the effect of attacking the shieling system where it was most vulnerable, in its social function. The rich and varied folklore woven around the dirigh, the love songs and fables — all testify to the summer movement being a time of gaiety and relaxation and a welcome change from the drag of life in the clachan. Such factors may explain the persistence of the system longer than dictated by sheer necessity. The shielings, “with their attendant gatherings and fairs, made wider intercourse possible, and must have helped to keep the Celtic tongue alive”. 22 Thus in one respect, they may have helped to avoid the dangers of inbreeding inherent in close-knit peasant communities. Eviction, and the separate letting of hill-pastures to large sheep farmers destroyed the older system completely in North Skye between 1811 and the eighteen-thirties and ‘forties, with population increase, poverty and congestion as attendant evils. The division of the joint-farms into cons- olidated and individually held holdings contributed to this change, in that croftland could now be grazed systematically by tethered animals, large areas of arable land going out of cultivation with the advent of improved means of transport. In a sense, of course, the throwing open of the unenclosed crofts to the whole township stock in winter is a direct survival of the open-field system.

In one other important respect, that of domestic architecture, trans- humance left its mark upon North Skye. The lesser er normal] tried to house as many cattle as possible during the winter, the warm compensating to some extent for the paucity of provisions. The black house or long house (tigh dubh), a single-storeyed construction with an open central hearth, and no chimney, and entered via the cattle end, usually without a central partition, was of great antiquity and fulfilled its function admirably. Buildings of somewhat similar type, in their many variants, occurred throughout Western Britain, and formed part of a common pastoral tradition. With the disappearance of transhumance came a marked decline in this of folk-building, and there remain no examples in either Trotternish or Waternish at- the present-day. Werner Kissling finds it in direct association with transhumance and the pastoral tradition. “It is now clear in retrospect that the original arrangement according to which the animals were taken under the

85 = é ‘ Be 3 4:

86 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

family roof was perfectly adapted to the people’s mode of life in shieling times”. 2 That is to say, the winter-dwelling was in a sense no more permanent than the bothan dirigh or shieling hut. Despite the fact that the black house had “lost its place and limited function” with the cessation of transhumant activity, the Skye house remained fairly common for a long period thereafter. The last true example appears to have been vacated about 1950, although they survive as byres and outhouses throughout the island. In a wider connotation, Evans finds the Irish equivalent, the “kitchen-byre”; likewise related to trans- humance. ?4

' This leads to a consideration of the manner in which the trans- humant system of North Skye may be said to typify that once prevalent over much of Western Britain and Ireland. Skye in this respect is of particular interest for a variety of reasons. The island is almost centrally placed in Celtic Scotland ; its position in the Minch makes it almost a bridge between the Outer Hebrides and Mainland Scotland, and from the agricultural point of view it is more favoured than most of the North-Western seaboard. Its importance can be guaged from the fact that in 1755, the island possessed a population more than twice as numerous as that of any other of the Hebrides, and considerably more than its adjoining mainland districts. It follows that the relatively dense population, directly dependent on the land, was probably the major factor influencing the full development of transhumance in the island, constituting as it were an intensive use of available pastoral resources.

The antiquity of transhumance in Highland Britain has been estab- lished beyond doubt. The Brehon Laws of Ireland, dating from the seventh to the ninth centuries A.D., describe the practice of “going out about May Day from the green of the old (winter) residence to a suinmer pasture (dirge)”, and of “leaving the grass-land for the old residence about November Day”. 25 The term used, airge, a to be the same as the Scottish Gaelic dirigh, which is ap lied ikewise to the location of transhumant activity. In both Scotland and Ireland, however, this term has been largely superseded by others in common usage, in Ireland by buaile or ley, properly an enclosure where cattle are milked and kept during the night, as in Scottish Gaelic, and in Scotland by ‘shieling’ derived from the Middle English schele, signif- ying a rude hut or hovel. These have their counterparts in the the Welsh

od and Manx eary. The Irish system has, like the Scottish (with the exception of Lewis), become extinct in comparatively recent times, and has been systematically studied by the Folklore Commission, in several cases drawing their material from actual participants. 2° _ In Scotland, on the other hand, comparatively little is known in detail of the shieling system, and even the many journals of early travellers prove to contain only meagre references. The great exception is the oe Pennant, an extremely shrewd and painstaking obser- ver, who during the course of his journeying in 1772 was very interested in the indications of transhumance he encountered. In Islay and Jura he remarked several times on the shielings which formed a prominent feature of the landscape, and his description of one particular group is probably the best eye-witness account of transhumance in the

Hebr on a 3 peasa grouy is for door const of he dairy to ho | huts, . is, he signif of su strens ution: and n but iz ding | effect multi) the st emati upon : under itants 1 XV (5 2 3 1957, |

Glasgo 5 daidhe

6

7

8

9 Antige

: 0 11

12

13 Edinbi

14 1811,

15

16

17

p.279.

18

TRANSHUMANCE IN NORTH SKYE

Hebrides during the mid-eighteenth century. “I landed (from the sea) on a bank covered with sheelins, the temporary habitations of some peasants who tend the herds of milch cows. These formed a grotesque

oup; some were oblong, some conic, and so low that the entrance is forbidden without creeping through the opening, which has no other door than a faggot of birch twigs placed there occasionally ; they are constructed of branches of trees covered with sods ; the furniture a bed of heath; placed on a bank of sod, two blankets and a rug; some dairy wei and above, certain pendent shelves made of basket-work, to hold the cheese, the product of the summer. In one of the little conic huts, I spied a little infant asleep”. 27 Graphic description of this type is, however, rare, and it remains true that transhumance in Scotland has been little examined.

Nevertheless, seasonal movements of population have formed a significant feature of Scottish rural life in the past, and the persistence ne movements until relatively recent times is an indication of the strength of an ancient pastoral heritage. Settlement forms and distrib- utions in Western Scotland may be influenced, largely, in this way, and may be most intimately related, not to the presence of fertile infield, but in a much more direct manner to the physical nature of the surroun- ding uplands. Undoubtely, infield of good quality exercised a powerful effect on the establishment of early settlement, but the growth and multiplication of settlements may owe more to the pastoral qualities of the surrounding terrain than to the presence of cultivable land. A syst- ematic study of transhumance in Scotland may thus shed much light upon problems of early settlement, and in so doing lead to a greater understanding of the settlement patterns and way of life of the inhab- itants of the Atlantic seaboard.

1 Evans, E. E. The Atlantic Ends of Europe. Advancement of Science, 1958, XV (58), p.54.

. op., cit. p.20. 16 MacDonald, J. op., cit. p.261. ams Pennant, T. Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides. Chester, 1774, p.279. 18 Nicolson, A. op., cit. p.315.

2 Evans, E. E. op., cit. p.63. on 3 Flatres, P. La Géographie Rurale de Quatre Contrées Celtiques. Rennes, oe p.109. i # Information from R. A. Gailey, B.A., Dept. of Geography, University of sg gow. 5 Mofat-Pender, I. M. (ed.) Am Bard. Glasgow, 1926. Contains: “Cleach- _ daidhean nan Airighean Gaidhealach”, by Alasdair Camshron. p25. aoe 6 Brogger, A. W. Ancient ee age Oxford, 1929, pp.74-76. _. 7 Mackenzie, W. Skye : lochdar Trotternish. Glasgow, 1930. + 8 Haldane, A. R. B. The Drove Roads of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1952, p.20. . a ® Ritchie, J. A Keg of Bog-butter from Skye and its Contents. Proc. Soc. of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1940-1, LXXV, p.5. es ® Martin, M. A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland. 1703. a 11 Nicolson, A. History of Skye. Glasgow, 1930, p.318. an 12 Nicolson, A. op., cit. p.339. “ites Mn ogg Rev. J. Oeconomical History of the Highlands and Hebrides. oe Edinburgh, 1808. 2 14 MacDonald, J. General View of the Agriculture of the Hebrides. Edinburgh, <s

88 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

is: pean J. Scottish Farming in the Eighteenth Century. London, 1958, pp. ‘

20 Pennant, T. op., cit. p.308.

21 Nicolson, A. op., cit. p.818.

22 Evans, E. E. Transhumance in Europe. Geography, 1940, XXV, p.178.

23 Kissling, W. The Character and Purpose of the Hebridean Black-House. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Inst., 1943, 46, p.90.

24 Evans, E. E. Donegal Survivals. Antiquity, 1939, 13, p.267.

25 O’Moghrain, P. More Notes on the Buaile. Bealoideas, 1944, p.45.

26 O’Moghrain, P. op., cit.; S. O’Duilearga. Mountain Sheilings in Donegal. Bealoideas, 1939, IX, p.295; P. O’Moghrain. Some Mayo Traditions of the Buaile. Idem, 1943, XIII, p.161; and other articles in Irish in Bealoideas. See also J. M. Graham. Transhumance in Ireland. Advancement of Science, 1953, X (87), p.74.

27 Pennant, T. op., cit. p.216.

The author would like to express his appreciation to the Carnegie Trust for assistance towards research.

CONTRIBUTORS TO S.G.M., Vol. 75 (2), September, 1959.

Ss. E. DURNO. — Experimental Officer, Peat Ecology Section, Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen.

W. G. JARDINE. — Soil Surveyor, Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen.

MALCOLM D. MACSWEEN. — Research Student, Department of Geography,

University of Glasgow.

R. MILLER. — Professor of me University of Glasgow.

ROY MELLOR. — Department of Geography, University of Aberdeen.

KARL A. SINNHUBER. — Department of Geography, University College, London,

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Oban Times Pl. 1 THE QUERN

Using the quern in Skye (Gaelic - brath), end of the nineteenth century. \though this primitive implement had been banned by the improvers shortly after ’60, when water-mills were established at various places in the island, it continued

use until a relatively late date, partly because the quantities of grain available

‘clined during the nineteenth century. Neither quern nor mill is in use at the esent-day in Trotternish or Waternish. Quern and corn-kiln were prominent in all ttlements when transhumance was at its peak.

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Pi. 4 Alexander von Humboldt; aged about seventy-five, as knight of the Order “Pour le mérite”. (After a painting by Karl Begas).

The picture of Alexander von Humboldt is reproduced by courtesy of the editor and pubiishers of Geographisches Taschenbuch 1958/59, Prof. E. Meynen, Dr. phil., Director, Bundesanstalt fiir Landeskunde und Raumforschung, Bad Godesberg ; Franz Steiner Verlag, G.m.b.H., Wiesbaden, who also kindly lent the

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ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 1769 - 1859 Kart A. SINNHUBER

THE present era deserves to be called ‘atomic’, not only because this new source of cnr ine come into the hands of mankind for better or for worse, but also use learning has been split into so many com-

ents that it may well be described as ‘atomised’. While specialisation is unavoidable, the advance of genuine knowledge needs somethin more. Knowledge is one indivisible entity and thus requires an outloo beyond the narrow confines of specialisation, and an integration of research from the aspect of a co-ordinating principle. This task has become increasingly difficult but to i it as beyond human capability is a counsel of despair. As geographers we must above all preserve the unity of geography as a study whose very essence is thinking in terms of association and interrelation of phenomena on the earth’s surface.

This description of geography only demarcates the boundaries of our subject in a very general sense, it is no more than a minimum dem- and. Although it is true that substantive work is of foremost importance, to advance the subject it must rest on the foundation of an awareness of the nature of geography. It would therefore be to our own detriment to belittle methodological studies since they serve to strengthen the fundament on which we build. But one thing is certain ; both inquiries into the content and purpose of geography as well as substantive work should be a logical outcome of the earlier development of the subject, and to that end an occasional look back is indispensable if we are to avoid the pitfalls of moving in circles or, at best, of advancing along a zig-zag fine.

The year 1959 offers to peographers all over the world a particular inducement for such a look into the past since it is the centenary of a year which is particularly important and memorable to us, the year of the deaths = the founders of modern geography: Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter. Since their work marked a new and important beginning of our subject, their deaths also meant the close of the first, the ‘classical’ period of modern geography, the period during which g aphy became in principle the branch of learning it is today.

It might argued that together with the general advance in knowledge around the turn of the eighteenth century an advance in the field of geography was also inevitable. This is undoubtedly true. Nevertheless it is certain that these two men hastened this advance and influenced the direction it took. It would be futile to argue whether Humboldt or Ritter was of greater importance for the development of geography since their work was so highly complementary. Although

umboldt was undoubtedly the greater genius, who widened the

boundaries of knowledge considerably more than Ritter, within the confines of geography Ritter is his equal. It was Ritter who formulated

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SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

the new concept of regional geography which raised it finally from mere description and an orderly gazetteer type assembly of useful information about political units to the level of a study in a genuine sense, and who assured geography its development as a distinctive subject by limiting its scope to the earth’s surface. And finally it was also Ritter who gained lasting academic recognition for the subject and initiated a tradition to which the numerous university departments and chairs of geography in the whole world bear witness. .

Much has been written about Humboldt and Ritter and universal lip service is paid to them by geographers. And yet very few of them are as well informed as might be expected of the life and work of these two outstanding personalities.

During the hundred years since their deaths the judgement of their importance has varied a = deal; in many cases it was based on insufficient evidence or suffered from being still too close in time and thus lacked the proper perspective. Even now no finite judgement can be given and much detailed work is still to be done. Nevertheless we are now in a much better position to come within reach of this aim since we are sufficiently removed in time, and a good deal of research, largely stimulated by the occasion of the oe centenary, has been carried out.1 This paper does not fall into this category, it is merely meant to be a tribute but by coming as late as it does, it has been possible to incorporate some of the results of these researches which, published mostly in German, might not easily be accessible.

Alexander von Humboldt, the second son of a Prussian Court Chamberlain and former officer, was born in Berlin on the 14th of Sept- ember 1769, ten years before Carl Ritter. With their nobility title only dating back two generations the Humboldts were not an old established noble family. With one exception, a Swede, Alexander's paternal ancestors had all been Germans; landowners, officers, and public servants. On his maternal side a much more varied picture emerges. In the direct line, Alexander’s mother’s great-grandfather, Jean Colomb, had been a landowner of the old nobility in Provence, and amongst the other lines there were more Huguenots and also a member of the Scottish colony of merchants at Elbing, William Durham. 2

Berlin, in whose outskirts the Humboldt children grew up, was still at the time a rather provincial city of about 150,000 inhabitants, only a quarter the size of Paris. Frederick the Great had, however, begun to turn it into a centre of culture and learning, as for instance by his foundation of the Academy of Sciences. His inclination was to French rather than German culture, and the use of the French language amongst the educated was de rigeur. This was certainly at least one of the reasons why Alexander felt so much at home in Paris at later stages in his life.

The influences he experienced in his youth and the conditions under which he grew up also had important bearings on his later development in many other ways. Alexander had just passed his tenth year when his father, by all accounts a practical man keen on an outdoor life, died prematurely. For the next seventeen years the course of Alexander's education and career was largely determined by his mother until her death in 1796. Even before her husband’s death the education

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 9I

of the two sons had been entrusted to private tutors and no expense was spared to make it the best possible as she saw it. Herself ailing and withdrawn from life, it was not the usual education of youn noblemen of the time, aiming to turn them into masters of all the soci graces, but an education emphasising subjects which might later be useful in public service. Those subjects, however, attracted Alexander but little, already at this early age Nature was his major interest. Life at the family country seat at Tegel, with its large park and exotic trees, offered many opportunities for simple nature studies, although for these he found little encouragement and no formal training.

During later years the training of the Humboldts was continued in Berlin itself and they visited the country seat only over weekends. The Tegel residence came to be so uninspiring to Alexander that he used to refer to it as ‘boredom castle’. Nevertheless, some years later, in 1792, when writing to a friend and referring to his unpleasant memories of the time he had spent there he added : “.... however painful these memories are they become neverthless at the same time intriguing by the thought, that just this life has contributed so much to my present

aracter and the direction towards the study of nature, etc., my mind has taken”. 3

During his last years in Berlin before entering university one event came to be of great significance for Humboldt’s future, hi wi at the age of sixteen into the circle of intellectuals of the salon of Madame Herz. Here he met the cream of the Jewish intelligentsia of Berlin, and with his open mind Humboldt was struck by the injustice of the forced segregation these people had still to suffer. His conviction of the unity of the human race and consequently the equality of all its members, which he emphasised time and time again, both in word and deed, was most certainly born during these years. +

In October 1787, Alexander von Humboldt, together with his brother, and accompanied by their tutor, registered at the university of Frankfurt-on-Oder and began his academic studies which lasted altogether four-and-a-half years. Obeying his mother’s wish that he should prepare himself for public service, he studied technology which interested him and political economy for which he had a great aversion. But he also followed his own inclinations and studied all the natural sciences, with some studies also in the classical languages and history. By that he achieved an early versatility which he would not have other- wise attained.

Frankfurt could not hold the two brothers for long — the goddess of learning certainly had no temple there — as Alexander wrote, and the following spring they returned to Berlin. Wilhelm proceeded to Géttingen university while Alexander stayed for a year in Berlin studying technological subjects and botany under Willenow, who later became the first professor of botany at Berlin university. In the spring of 1789 Alexander went to join his brother. The university of Gottingen was quite a different place from that of Frankfurt. It was genuinely a seat of learning with outstanding scholars and scientists. At last away from the supervision of his tutor Alexander pursued with full vigour the study of subjects which particularly interested him. In this period he met Georg Forster, the son-in-law of a Géttingen professor and a

7 3 4 4

92 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE celebrated person since with his father he had taken part in Captain Cook's second voyage and had written a widely vot J account of it. His writings, and those of his father, were almost the only valuable geographical travel literature of the time and they served as examples to Humboldt for his later descriptions of landscapes. Georg Forster's influence on Humboldt was not only through the printed word, but their personal contact was of even greater importance. In the early summer of 1790 Humboldt accompanied him on a journey to the Low Countries, London and Paris, ok the experiences gained then had a decisive influence as can be seen from the following passages in the Cosmos, written over fifty years later : “....the ingenious Georg Forster, to whom I am indebted for the lively interest which prompted me to undertake distant travels” and “.... if I might... say what awakened in me the first beginnings of an inextinguishable longing to visit the tropics, I should name rg Forster’s descriptions of the islands of the Pacific — paintings, by Hodge, in the house of Warren Hastings, in London, representing the banks of the Ganges....” 5

Although after this journey Humboldt’s mind was made up he could not yet carry out his plans. Obeying his mother he attended the Academy of Commerce at Hamburg for the next six months. His only formal contact with ‘geography came at this time since one of the directors, C. D. Ebeling, had contributed the volume North America to Biisching’s Neue Erdbeschreibung, the standard geographical work of the time. Humboldt left for Freiburg in Saxony in May 1791 and there at this earliest Mining Academy in the world he concluded his formal studies in a brief but intensive nine months’ training.

These extremely varied studies would have turned a lesser man into a mediocre ‘Jack of all trades’. But Humboldt’s immense capacity for work and his keen awareness of relationships between seemingly unconnected sets of facts hel him to advance simultaneously in different subjects and made this the most useful training he could have had as his later applications of it showed.

His entry into public service had already been arranged before he took up his studies at Freiburg. Thus only a few days after leavin he was appointed ‘Assessor’ in the Prussian Department of Mines an Industry and began his brief mining career of a mere four years. His first commission in this capacity was to carry out geological investi- gations and an i ion of the mines in the provinces of Ansbach and Bayreuth, and he was commended for the thoroughness with

- which he executed his task. Official duties brought him to Bavaria and

various parts of Austria but despite being extremely busy in this position he found time to publish his first major work, the Florae fribergensis cimen...., dealing with the subterranean plants of the mines. ® This work was widely acknowledged. In 1794 came his promotion to mining counsellor. A career which would probably have ended as Minister of Mines lay before him, but he was determined not to follow it and declined further promotion which was offered the year after.

As the journey to England had made Humboldt decide to travel in the tropics, a study tour in the Austrian and Swiss Alps seems to have directed his attention towards America. At least, his first statement to this effect dates from that time. While his mother was still alive he

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT

could not, for lack of means, make any definite decisions about the travels he planned to undertake, but only a month after her death in November 1796 he wrote to Willdenow that his journey to America was an absolute certainty, but that he would take a few more years to pre himself for it. Both points are of importance. If Humboldt is justly to be considered a ‘scientific traveller’, the — idea that he chose America only by chance after other plans not materialised and that he went there without thorough preparation cannot be accepted. 7

e death of his mother left him with a considerable fortune ; now he could follow his ambitions. He left his post as quickly as possible and spent the next years thoroughly preparing himself, reading all the relevant publications, establishing personal contacts with a number of the foremost travellers, and training himself in the use of the most modern surveying instruments. An important stage in this was his stay in Vienna and his studies of American plants in the Botanical Gardens. In fact, in the history of travel his preparation for his expedition was unparalleled in its Segaahentl and he set a new stan for the future.

Stating that he was quite definite about his going to America is not to say that fortune did not also come his way. It was a unique

iece of luck indeed that he was granted the privilege of travelling in e Spanish —— of America, a part of the world which had so far been jealously guarded against any intrusion by foreigners.

On the 5th of June 1799 he left Corufia together with his companion Aimé Bonpland, a botanist, and arrived in Cumana, Venezuela, about six weeks later, on the 16th of July. We cannot follow in detail Humboldt and Bonpland on the journeys they undertook in the New World during a stay which lasted four years. ® The importance of the experience Humboldt gained during this time for his subsequent work cannot easily be overestimated, but on the other hand his basic concept of nature as a harmonious whole was not a result of this expedition, but had been formed previously, largely through his contacts with Goethe —_ the years 194-7, ust before leaving, full of joy at what awaited him, he wrote: “.... I will collect plants and fossils, survey the ground with excellent instruments .... but all that is not the main purpose of my expedition. My attention will always be directed to the way in which the forces of nature act upon each other and what influences inanimate nature exerts on plant and animal life; the harmony of nature is my principal concern....” ®

The number of observations he made, of data he recorded, of botanical and geological specimens he collected over these four years is almost unbelievable, and by these alone he made important contrib- utions to a number of sciences, and in particular atly increased the knowledge of Latin-America. 1 For the further development of geo- graphy is wealth of information which Humboldt gathered during

is travels in Latin-America was less important than his ideas about climatology and plant geography which he began to form under the impact of this grandiose spectacle of nature, ranging from tropical lowland swamps to the rock and ice deserts of the Ande

| 98 iy i 4 ough he travelled under icult circumstances, and was often sae .

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

in danger, he was not an explorer who penetrated to places no white man had seen before him ; he was a scientific traveller doing field work on a grand scale which, though geographical in outlook, had also to establish all relevant data in the other earth sciences.

His travels in America fall into four main parts. Their first journey, which lasted sixteen months, took Humboldt and Bonpland from Cumana to Caracas, from there up the Orinoco to the Rio Negro and via the Casiquiare, the river which through bifurcation links the Orinoco and the Amazon, back to the Orinoco. On this occasion Humboldt drew the first reliable map of this river labyrinth. Then they crossed the Llanos of Venezuela back to the coast and to Cumana. The second journey led first to Cuba, from there up the Rio Magdalena and to Bogota and Quito. There they climbed Chimborasso, then held to be the highest mountain of the world, to within 1,000 feet of the summit, the greatest altitude reached by. man at the time. The mountaineering record thus established he held until 1838 and Chimborasso itself was first climbed as late as 1880 by Whymper, famous for his ascent of the Matterhorn. A trek across the Andes to Lima concluded the second journey. On a voyage from Callao to Guayaquil Humbolt carried out temperature and rate of flow measurements on the cold long shore current which later came to be called by his name. 11 The voyage terminated in Acapulco and was followed by travels in various parts of Mexico. A visit to the United States, from the 20th of May to the 30th of {use 1804, to Philadelphia and Washington, where he entered into a close personal relationship with President Jefferson, concluded his stay in the New World. On the 3rd of August 1804 Humboldt and Bonpland landed at Bordeaux after an absence from Europe of four

ears and ten months. Fame had travelled ahead of the ship and umboldt, who had been a recognised scientist on his departure, was already famous when he set foot on European soil again.

After his return Humboldt significantly preferred to stay in Paris, then the foremost centre of learning, rather than return to Berlin, to

repare the publications of the exploits of his travels, since only in Pans could he find all the facilities, academic as well as technical, which he needed. A first publication, his Essai sur la géographie des Ranier, was published within less than a year after his return. 12

uring this first part of his long stay in Paris, as guest of honour in all the salons, Humboldt made an acquaintance which in the light of subsequent history became much more important than he had thought at the time. This was his meeting with Simén Bolivar, later the ‘Liber- tador’ of Spanish South America. Humboldt and Bolivar had a number of conversations on South American problems, but while- the former made a deep impression on the young rebel, Humboldt failed to per- ceive in the latter a suitable leader in the struggle for independence. _ Humboldt could not avoid going to Berlin and presenting himself to his king, but despite being showered with honours, and being appointed Court Chamberlain with a substantial annual pension, Berlin could not hold him. His stay was lengthened more than he had intended ; political events, the complete breakdown of Prussia before the might of Napoleon in 1806, played a in that. Unhappy as he was he nevertheless wrote at that time his Views of Nature, 1* specific-

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT

ally for German readers as a spiritual uplift at this time of misery. The collection of essays, which contains Humboldt’s masterpieces of oe description, became his own favourite of his many publi

cations. Translated into several languages and republished a number of times it also came to be the most widely read of his works. At last in 1808 came the opportunity to return to Paris. He was sent there on a diplomatic mission and was given royal permission to stay on itrasidasibe The years that followed were devoted to the publication of the results of travels in America, a task which he had thought would take two to three years but in fact was not completed until the eighteen-thirties. Long as this seems, it is less surprising when we remember that the work consists of thirty volumes. Though only twelve were written by Humboldt himself they represent a singular personal achievement. Some — or volumes were also published separately, the most notable of these his Personal narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of the new continent 14 and his Political essay on New Spain (Mexico), 15 now widely considered the first modern political-economic geography of a country.

Over the publication of this American work Humboldt found himself in serious difficulties. The travels had consumed the greater part of his inheritance, he had lost money invested in Poland, the publication was planned much too expensively, and turned out to be a financial loss. His royal pension was much too small to cover all his varied expenses and the income from publications like Views of Nature not nearly adequate. Nevertheless he refused all offers of public appoint- ments, to _~ Prussian Ambassador at Paris, Prussian Minister of Education or Minister of Mexico in Vienna and St Petersburg. He was not to be tempted away from his work and was already making plans for another journey, this time to eastern Russia and the Himalayas.

Napoleon's expedition to Moscow meant that nothing came of these plans for the time being. As war broke out between France and Prussia Humboldt stayed in Paris and the esteem he enjoyed was such that he, an enemy alien, could continue in his work completely unmolested. His repayment was to save the Natural History Museum from mang by foreign troops when they entered Paris. A happier event occur some years later, in 1821, the foundation of the Paris Geographical Society, the first geographical society in the world, an act in which Humboldt had a share. 14

At last Humboldt’s stay in Paris came to an end. The King, who after all was paying him a pension, wished to have him in Berlin, and in 1827 he rather reluctantly left his beloved Paris. The change turned out to be better than he may have feared, the spiritual atmosphere of Berlin had altered considerably. It too had become a centre of learning, Berlin University had been founded — Humboldt’s brother Wilhelm had been the driving force behind it — and at the university there was oon a chair of geography, the first of any university, held by Carl

itter.

Humboldt’s position at the court was not a clearly defined one — the only official office he ever held was Chancellor of the civilian class of the order ‘Pour le mérite’ (founded 1842), the highest Prussian

= 95 Tite hy

96 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

distinction. Until his death he was the King’s adviser in scientific and cultural matters — Liebig called him the “guardian angel of all scientists, scholars and artists in Berlin” — and more than that he enjoyed the King’s friendship. We owe it to Humboldt’s capacity for work that over and above his time-consuming duties at court his scientific work was by no means neglected.

As a member of the Academy of Sciences he was entitled to lecture at the university and in the autumn of the year of his return from Paris he began a course of public lectures on the nature of the universe which aroused so much attention that he gave simultaneously a series of sixteen lectures on the same theme before an audience in the largest concert hall in Berlin. Both these ventures met with a tremendous response. The most lasting consequence was that his German publisher wanted to print them. This he would not allow but he a to write a book on that theme; this was to be his Cosmos, but it was not to appear for another seventeen years.

In the year 1828 two other events in the world of learning took place in which Humboldt played an important part; the Berlin Meeting of the Association of German Scientists and Physicians (founded 1822), the only scientific association of the time which extended across the borders of all German states, and the foundation of the Geographical Society of Berlin, the second oldest in the world, which made him an honorary member. Under his presidency the Meeting became a noble manifestation of the unity of German science, despite the political and religious division of the German nation.

Before finally settling down to gather in the harvest of his life, Humboldt went in 1829 on one last long journey, an expedition across Russia as far as the Chinese border. This expedition, on which he was accompanied by a biologist, a mineralogist and his servant, was under- taken on the invitation and at the expense of the Tsar. The major py oes of this journey was to report on the mineral resources, but needless to say Humboldt cast the net of his observations very much wider. Compared with his travels in America, the journey carried out by coach was relatively comfortable. It was also much shorter, nine months, but to have covered nearly 10,000 miles was no mean achiev- ement at the age of sixty, quite apart from the investigations he made which are contained in his work on Central Asia. Some aspects of this journey were not to his liking as can been seen from one of his letters, in which he wrote: “We are continually the object of attention with the police, government officials, Cossacks, and guards of honour. Unfortunately, we are scarcely alone a moment. We cannot take a step without being led by the arm like invalids”. 17

His work on Central Asia differs greatly from that on Latin-America. Here he refrained completely from giving any account of the journey as such, but dealt with a number of problems of systematic geography. By raising problems like that of the contrasts between the climates of Europe and Central Asia, or of the climatic snow line, and his careful attempts to solve them by his ingenious handling of the —— method of using the gradation of a phenomenon at different locations as a natural experiment, he gave an important lead to future work.

The preparation of this work was not the only task which occupied

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ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 97

him after his return from Russia. Apart from his court duties he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Paris which took rather longer than

ed. He wrote a critical examination of the history of the discoveries of the New World in which he rehabilitated Amerigo Ves- pucci, who had been ee of having cheated Columbus of being the namesake of the newly discovered continent. Although correct in respect of his main thesis, his assumption that the name ‘America’ was invented and introduced by Waldseemiiller has only recently been refuted. Finally, he worked on his Cosmos, sketch of the physical description of the Universe, the ultimate culmination of his life’s work the embodiment of his philosophy.

The first idea of undertaking such a task of demonstrating the harmony of the universe he had conceived fifty years earlier when he had written in 1796: “Je congus l’idée d'une physique du monde”. 18 This idea lay dormant until 1818 when he gave in Paris a series of lectures on the nature of the universe and later his similar course in Berlin. The actual writing of the Cosmos he began in 1833, twelve years before the first volume appeared. He called it a “mad idea” and “a perhaps all too daring plan” to depict the entire material world as far as our present knowledge permits, in one single work and in a lively style which would arouse enthusiasm and spiritual satisfaction. The way in which he came to write it is revealed in the preface: “While the outward circumstances of my life, and an irrestible impulse to the acquisition of different kinds of knowledge, led me to occupy myself for many years, apparently exclusively, with separate branches of science — descriptive botany, geology, chemistry, geographical determinations, and terrestrial magnetism, tending to render useful the extensive journeys in which I engaged — I had still throughout a higher aim in view, I ever desired to discern physical phenomena in the widest natural connection, and to comprehend Nature as a whole, animated and moved by inward forces. Intercourse with highly gifted men had early led me to the conviction that without earnest devotion to particular studies such attempts could be but vain and illusory. The separate branches of natural knowledge have a real and intimate connection, which renders these special studies capable of mutual assistance and fructification : descriptive botany .... leads the observer .... to the study of the geographical description of plants according to distance from the equator and elevation above the level of the sea. —. in order to elucidate the complicated causes which determine this distribution, we must investigate the laws which regulate the diversities of climate and the meteorological processes of the atmosphere; and thus the observer, earnest in pursuit of knowledge, is led onwards from one class of pheno- mena to another, by their natural connection”.

After stating that a treatment like this is in its factual contents bound to become out of date, but that a scientist can never regret any widenin of the boundaries of our knowledge, he concluded with the words : venture to indulge in the hope that the present attempt to trace such a general view of the grandeur of nature, and of the permanent relations and laws discernible through apparent fluctuation, as the ae of our own age permits us to form, will not be wholly disregarded even at a future period”. 1°

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

This hopehas found fulfilment. The immediate success of the Cosmos was tremendous ; it was translated into nine other languages and saw a number of editions. Though overtaken by advancing know- ledge almost at the moment the volumes left the publisher, the Cosmos has found a permanent place in the literature of science as the attempt by the most versatile scientific genius of his age to present all know- ledge about the universe, as it existed at the end of the period of Goethe, from the aspect of one leading idea: the harmony of nature. Science has given up this idea as Utopian, and yet is is a fascinatin thought that it might be achieved once again ; the desire for a a interpretation of nature came before science ever began and has never ceased to exist.

When Humboldt began to write his Cosmos he had already reached the age of sixty-five. Although he was of the opinion that ideally it should consist of only one volume, he soon realised that he was attempting the impossible, but he hoped that two volumes would be suf- ficient. As it turned out he had to expand it into four volumes and it remained incomplete even so, but although he knew that any year we easily be his last, he would not be hurried into handing something with which he was not completely satisfied to the printers. His duties at court left him only the hours of night for work and yet aged eighty- nine he wrote in the preface to the last volume: “I can see no reason for not treating my work with even greater diligence than ever”. But even Humboldt’s strength was not inexhaustible, and death took the

n out of his hand before he was able to write the final chapters.

e end came on the 6th of May 1859; he could rest at last. A great scientist and a true humanist was no more.

The sheer volume of his work and the breadth of his theme make it almost impossible to sum up his importance adequately. Furthermore the com of his work by the world of science has varied a great deal. While at the height of his fame he was next to Napoleon the best known person in Europe, and academies and learned societies were proud to have him as a member. The Paris Academy had a memorial coin minted for this ‘New Aristotle’, and he was called an ‘academy by himself’. Nevertheless, there was also criticism. For his emphatic advocacy of empirical research he was first accused by the poet Schiller of lack of reverence for Nature. His attemps towards a synthesis of empirical facts into a ‘cosmos’ found little understanding amongst the scientists of a period of increasing specialisation. The first detailed biography written by eleven specialists shows a complete misunder- standing of his achievements when he is described as a polyhistor whose contributions to knowledge can easily be counted and measured. ?°

He would no doubt have become absolutely outstanding regardless of which career he had chosen, had it been mining, politics or academic teaching and research in a special branch of science, but he could not have become greater than he did as a universal naturalist. But even so, his individual contributions and the stimuli he gave to others in

ursuing vistas he had pointed out, make him important in many ranches of the history of science. We can do no more here than name a few of the most outstanding. 21 Important to more than one branch became his revolutionary

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ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT

99 methods of graphic tation, most notably his invention of the isothermal lines 2 without which comparative climatology could never have begun, but which as a principle were capable of application wherever the gradation of a variable element over an area is to be shown and studied. He was the first to draw cross-sections across landforms, without which geomorphology would be unthinkable. He invented a method of geological ma ping which integrated the third dimension into the ground plan and oo y included symbols for strike and dip of strata.?% He was directly responsible for H. Berghaus’ Ph Atlas (1st ed. 1837), conceived as an illustration to the Cosmos, ‘alk one of the outstanding geographical works of the period. 24

The methodological principle, as shown in the isotherms, Humboldt applied himself to earth magnetism. He discovered the anomalies of magnetism caused by volcanic rocks, located the magnetic equator and seater" the decrease of magnetic intensity with increasing distance rom the magnetic pole. He awakened C. F. Gauss’s interest in earth magnetism and this resulted in 1837 in the establishment of the first mathematical theory of this phenomenon.

To the science of geology, which greatly developed durin Humboldt’s a time, he made fundamental contributions. He establish the magnetic of volcanism, recognised the linear arrangement of me ane y= of weakness of the earth’s crust, and realised the close connection between volcanism, earthquakes and mountain formation. Using a greater number of observations of rocks than anyone before him, he was the first who could state that the character of rocks varies completely independently of latitude and longitude.

And so one could and should go on and point out his contributions to astronomy, surveying, meteorology, oceanography, botany, zoology, physiology, anthropology, and even political economy. ?5 He not only inspired and actively supported great travellers to follow in his footsteps, but his work was an inspiration in other ways. Charles Darwin said that his career was a consequence of reading Humboldt’s Narrative of Travels, and Justus von Liebig acknowledged that a promee written by Humboldt in 1798 was to him the deciding stimulus for his develop- ment of agricultural chemistry.

Lastly a word about Humboldt’s contributions to geography, the only subject which has preserved as an inte, characteristic his approach of seeing phenomena in their interrelation. Here again his work ranges extremely widely and he dealt with almost every aspect of the subject as we see it now. His excellent descriptions of landscape in Views of Nature and his exemplary regional treatments of Mexico and Cuba are still of great value. Nevertheless, compared with the bulk of his work they appear almost as by-products since on the whole the emphasis lies on the strictly scientific and what we now call ‘systematic’ side. To him, striving to grasp a glimpse of the ‘cosmos’, the ordered universe, of — urgency was the search for the general laws governing the world-wide distribution of phenomena like climate

and vegetation. In this field lies also his most important contribution to geography, namely to have first comprehended the interrelationship of certain groups of phenomena and to have established the concept of “the zonation of!

climate, vegetation and landscape in three

by ies & =

100 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE dimensions and the physiognomies of plants, vegetation and natural landscapes”. 26

Humboldt’s contemporaries, though well aware of his contributions to geographical knowledge, largely his enrichment of knowledge of Latin-America, did not see him as a geographer, but rather as a scientific traveller and naturalist. Since, being outside the university, he did not establish a ‘school’ of followers, and did not concern himself with the methodology of geography, it was almost inevitable that his immediate impact on geography as a branch of learning was unbelievably small. His direct ‘successors’, who looked to him as the master, were not found in the ranks of university teachers, but were the naturalist travellers.

When decades later Humboldt was ‘rediscovered’, the development that followed, mainly in the German-speaking countries, was at first not altogether beneficial to the geo aphical iscipline. Having left no methodological work on the nature of geography, geographers attempted to find his concept by inference from his writings. Since he had often dealt with the interrelation of phenomena on a world-wide basis and restricted himself to the physical sphere, the result for some time was a bias towards systematic and physical at the expense of regional and human geography. The breadth of his work also gave rise to a number of different, even contrasting, concepts of geography, from the geo- physical concept that the earth as a whole comes within its field, to the concept of geography as an art only concerned with aesthetical description of landscape. Interpretations like these led away from the straight course of geography and caused a certain delay in its devel- opment.

But in comparison with the rich inheritance which geography owes to Humboldt and from which it still draws inspiration, the negative consequences, faults of his interpreters and not of himself, can be counted as negligible. It is impossible to imagine what geography would be like today without the work of this man of whom roma rimm said: “Only one could stand at Goethe’s side — Humboldt”.

1 In particular two Festschriften : Alexander von Humboldt. Studien zu seiner universalen Geisteshaltung. ed. J. H. Schultze, Berlin, 1959. Carl Ritter zum Gedichtnis. Special issue of Die Erde, Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1959. 90, Hft. 2.

(In both publications the papers are summarised in English).

2 Biographies in German have recently been published by the following authors: E. Banse (Stuttgart, 1953); H. Beck (2 vols. Wiesbaden, 1959); R. Bitterling (Miinchen & Berlin, 1959), a series of excellent illustrations with brief notes; M. Krammer (Berlin & Miinchen, 1959); E. Plewe (Heidelberg, 1951); H. Scurla (Berlin, 1955); C. Troll in Die Grossen Deutschen III (Berlin, 1956) 175-88. In English there is a brief account in G. R. Crone, Modern Geographers (London, 1951) 10-16, and a detailed biography containing also a bibliography of Humboldt’s major works and Humboldt Literature by H. De Terra (New York, 1955). A genealogical table is in Banse’s biography.

8 Quoted in translation after E. Banse, Alexander von Humboldt. Erschliesser einer neuen Welt. Stuttgart, 1958, 10.

* In his Essai politique sur l'Isle de Cuba (Paris, 1828) Humboldt included a chapter on slavery “the worst of all evils that have ever afflicted mankind” and he complained bitterly and publicly when this chapter was omitted in the American edition of 1856. Through his influence at Court he succeeded eventually in removing

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ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT

the restrictions still imposed on Jewish intellectuals and also the passing of the law which stated that Negro slaves became free on entering Prussia. 5 Quotation after the English edition (London) 1847, Vol. I, $17; Vol. I,

5.

6 Published in Berlin 1793. Being written in Latin it was later almost forgotten that it contained one of the rare statements of Humboldt on the nature of geo- graphy. R. Hartshorne has recently drawn attention to it and translated the relevant passage. See Annals of the Assoc. American Geographers, 1958, 48, 100.

7 See H. Beck, Das Ziel der grossen Reise Alexander von Humboldts. In Erdkunde, 1958, 12, 42-50 (English summary).

8 For an account of the travels based on contemporary documents see R. Bitterling, Alexander von Humboldt’s Amerikareise in zeitgendssischer Darstel- lung. Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, 1954, 98, 161-71.

® Quoted in translation after Banse op. cit. 32.

10 How quickly this was appreciated and how ewe one was in Europe for the information Humboldt had brought back may be judged by the — reviews of some of Humboldt’s publications in the Edinburgh Review or Cri Journal, 1810, 16, 62-102, 228-53; 1811, 19, 164-98; 1814-15, 24, 183-57; 1815, 25 86-111; 1816, 27, 99-102.

11 Responsible for this was H. Berghaus who despite Humboldt’s objection used his name. See G. Wiist, Alexander von Humboldts Stellung in der Geschichte der Ozeanographie. Festschrift op. cit., 90-104.

12 Paris, 1805. A facsimile edition appeared in Mexico, 1955, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its foundation published by the Pan American Institute of Geography and History. A reproduction of the illustration showing an annotated ——a profile across the Andes in Ecuador is also enclosed with Bitterling’s paper loc. cit.

13 Ansichten der Natur, (Stuttgart und Tiibingen, 1807); an English edition appeared in Bohn’s Scientific Library, London. 1847.

14 Original French edition, 3 vols, Paris, 1814-25; English editions London, 1814-29; London, 1852-69 (in Bohn’s Scientific Library). A new German edition with the title, Vom Orinoko zum Amazonas. Reise in die Aquinoktialgegenden des neuen Kontinents. Wiesbaden, 1959.

15 Original French edition, 2 vols., Paris, 1811; English edition, 4 vols., London, 1811-22; A recent (the 6th) Spanish edition Mexico, 1941. For a modern assessment see D. D. Brand, Festschrift op. cit., 123-41.

16 For an account of documents and events of Humboldt’s life in Paris see E. F. Podach, Festschrift op. cit., 196-214.

17 See H. De Terra, Humboldt, New York, 1955, 298.

18 See E. Banse, op. cit., 103.

18 Cosmos, Vol. z., London, 1847.

20 Quoted after H. Beck, op. cit., 44.

21For an overall assessment of Humboldt’s work and personality see particu- larly the contributions of J. H. Schultze, R. L. Stevens C. Troll in the Fest- schrift, cit.

22 The paper De lignes isothermes was first published in Paris, 1817. A trans- lation of it appeared in the Edinburgh Philos. Journal, 1820-21, III-V. See also W. Meinardus, Die Entwicklung der Karten der Jahresisothermen, Humboldt Centenar Schrift der Gesellschaft f. Erdkunde zu Berlin, Berlin, 1899, containing a facsimile of Humboldt’s original diagram.

23 See H. Beck, Alexander von Humboldts “Essai de Pasigraphie” Mexico, 1803-4. Forschungen und Fortschritte, 1958, 32, 33-39.

24 See H. Beck, Heinrich Berghaus und Alexander von Humboldt. Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, 1956, 100, 4-16.

25 See in particular the following contributions to the Festschrift, op. cit. H. Schipperges. Humboldts Beitrag zur Medizin des 18. Jahrhunderts; N. Zuniga, Alexander von Humboldts Beitrag zur Erforschung des vorkolumbischen Amerika; W. K. Frankel, Alexander von Humboldt und der Panamakanal.

26 C, Troll. Die tropischen Gebirge. Ihre dreidimensionale klimatische und Zonierung. Bonner Geographische Abhandlungen, 1959,

101 > ‘pe age. ‘ ¥

POLLEN ANALYSIS OF PEAT DEPOSITS IN THE EASTERN GRAMPIANS

S. E. Durno

T HE aim of this investigation was to provide pollen analytical data for the study of forest history in the Eastern Grampians. Samples of peat were taken from five sites situated in different parts of the area between the valley of the river Dee on the one hand and Strathmore and the Howe o’ the Mearns on the other. Many of the hills which lie to the east and south-east of the Lochnagar massif (3,786 feet), the area with which this pee is chiefly concerned, rise to more than 2,000 fest in height but only one peak — Mount Keen (3,077 feet) on the Aberdeen- shire-Angus border — exceeds 3,000 feet. Geikie 1, describing an adjacent area of the Grampians writes “It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that there is more level ground on the —e the mountains than in the valleys below”. This statement also applies to the area under consider- ation as many of the glens which penetrate the region are indeed stee sided and narrow e.g. the glens of Muick and Tanner on the no side of the watershed leading into Deeside, and on the other side, the glens of Clova and Esk.

The botanical composition of the hill peat which covers much of the higher plateaux and gentler slopes of the eastern Grampians is mainly a mixture, in varying proportions, of bog moss (Sphagnum), cotton grass (Eriophorum vaginatum), and ling (Calluna vulgaris). The

lower layers have little or no sphagnum, and in some sites remains of wood, usually birch, occur. Humification is generally high with much of the peat very finely comminuted.

Altitude Grid reference Name of site (approx,)

1. Monelpie Moss 701.04 NO 275835 2. Allachy Moss 804.80 NO 483917 8. Goyle Hill ’ 465.43 NO 684820 4. Muckle Cairn 609.60 NO 768373 | 5. Laidwinley 577.85 NO 470683

Table 1. Details of sampling sites.

Of the five sites from which samples were taken (See Table 1), sites 1 and 2 are situated north of the watershed which follows a more-or- less west to east course from the Lochnagar heights to Cairn-mon-earn the most easterly summit of the Grampians ; Sites 3, 4 and 5 lie to the south of the watershed.

MONELPIE MOSS (See Fig. 1).

This moss lies in a shallow basin on the south-eastern slopes of Lochnagar at 2,300 feet O.D., and about 1,000 feet above the level of Loch Muick which occupies the south-western extremity of Glen Muick. The mass of Lochnagar lies between Monelpie and Ballochbuie Forest

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POLLEN ANALYSIS OF PEAT IN THE EASTERN GRAMPIANS 108

which includes remnants of the ancient Caledonian pinewood. The o

other woodlands in the vicinity are coniferous plantations in Glen Mui and a small stand of pines surrounding the lodge at Glas-allt-Shiel.

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1 2 3 4 a, 7 Fig. 1 Pollen Diagram - Monelpie Moss

(The following key applies to Figs. 2-6 inclusive) TYPE OF PEAT: 1. Sedge/grass; 2. wood (mainly birch); 3. heather (Calluna

aris); 4. cotton (Eriophorum vaginatum); 5. bog moss (Sphagnum) - Seatieodion low; 6. moss - humification high; amorphous peat. TYPES OF POLLEN as a percentage of total tree pollen. Arboreal

expressed species: A. pine (Pinus); B. Birch (Betula); C. oak (| ); D. elm (Ulmus); E. alder (Anus): F. willow (Salix); G. hazel (Corylus). Non-arboreal species : H. Grasses (Gramineae); J. Sedges eee ; K. heaths (Ericaceae); L. bog moss spores (Sphagnales); M. ferns (F les); N. miscellaneous herbs. X. Total tree pollen expressend as a percentage of total pollen [© beech (Fagus);

+ lime (Tilia).

Tree pene are mainly pine, birch, and alder with a high arboreal to non-arboreal pollen ratio in the total pollen count. Non-arboreal pollen is dominated by the Ericoids. It is not possible to differentiate

ollen analytical zones in this diagram with any degree of certainty, 20 it is reasonably sure from the alder curve in particular, that the whole profile is of post-Boreal age. The high pine and Ericoid counts of the lower 20cm. probably indicate open pine forest with a shrub layer of heather and allied om in fact the type of vegetation associated with open pine-birch woodland in those areas where it can be seen growing naturally at the present time. The top metre shows a change, not away from forest, but in the forest composition, with pine declining somewhat and birch and alder becoming more frequent. There is little evidence for the typical sub-Atlantic period (zone VIII) charac- terised by decreasing forest as seen in many pollen analyses from Scot- tish sources. ? The evidence on the contrary shows that ian continued throughout to be the major pollen contributor. Whether this site, at well over 2,000 feet, actually carried trees is doubtful as no stump remains nor were wood fragments found in the peat, and the site is an extremely exposed one ; but in all probability the Caledonian Forest once extended well up Glen Muick to the lower slopes of Lochnagar. There is strong

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SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

indication that the erosion of on on Monelpie Moss has obscured the more recent portion of the pollen record — a tree pollen count of over 40 per cent of the total at the top of the diagram is not consistent with the nature of the present vegetation, completely dominated as it is now by non-arboreal species.

ALLACHY MOSS (See Fig. 2).

Allachy Moss is a small pocket of peat situated at about 1,000 feet O.D. ‘within pinewood in the valley of the Allachy Burn, a tributary of the Water of Glentanner which joins the Dee at Aboyne. Some of the pinewood in the Glentanner area is believed to be a relict of the ancient Caledonian Forest, and with the exception of the forests of Ballochbuie and Mar is the only site of na pinewood in the area dealt with in this paper. 3

The main feature of this diagram is the almost complete dominance of the arboreal pollen by pine, and of the non-arboreal by the Ericoid group. As in the Monelpie diagram pollen zones cannot be inserted with any accuracy, but the sharp rise of Ericoids together with the total arboreal pollen decline at 120cm., may indicate the onset of the sub- Atlantic period (zone VIII). There can be little doubt that pine forest has occupied this area for as far back as the pollen record goes, and the combination of pine and Ericoids, which indeed exists on the site at the present time, indicates a continuity of what is regarded as the ancient Caledonian Forest. As might be expected there is no sign of any diminution of the pine frequency at any time, but rather a tendency for pine to increase at the expense of birch and alder which at the top . the profile may be due at least in part to recent afforestation in

e area.

GOYLE HILL (See Fig. 3).

Goyle Hill (1,527 feet), situated some twelve miles inland from the

Kincardineshire coast, is one of the eastern foothills of the Grampians.

re: les were taken near the top which bears a thick cover of lanket peat.

The Goyle Hill diagram is icularly interesting as it alone amon the five described in this ate a back to “the Boreal plated (zone VI). The diagram is in some respects similar to those obtained from low-level peats of the raised moss type in this part of the country, which allows a comparison of the relative rates of peat accumulation between hill peat and low-level peat of the type mentioned above. Pollen analysis of a profile from Netherley Moss some eight miles to the north-east shows the transition from the Boreal to the Atlantic period (zone VI/VIIa boundary) at a depth of 420cm.* The corres- ponding depth in the Goyle Hill diagram is 180cm., so that in this comparison peat formation in the low lying basin has been nearly 2.5 times faster than on the hill (Fig. 4).

Pollen analytical zones have ae inserted in this diagram (Fig. 3). The Boreal/Atlantic Transition at 180cm. is fixed by the rising alder and the falling of birch, pine and hazel. The close of zone VIIa and the beginning of zone VIIb is seen at 150cm. where elm shows its first

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POLLEN ANALYSIS OF PEAT IN THE EASTERN GRAMPIANS 105

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SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE °

decline after the Boreal period. At this level also alder is at its maximum and birch begins a long steady rise. It is noticeable that the pine curve is quite different from that in the two previous profiles — it remains low and of less frequency than birch or alder. At a marked drop in the total ip pollen is accompanied by a rise in the Ericoid curve which. is tentatively interpreted as the end of zone VIIb and the begin- ning of the Git Atlantic (zone VIII). The pine curve remains low until the top of the profile where it rises very sharply probably due to modern planting in the district.

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Correlation diagram showing different rates of peat growth in two sites.

2 zz au A. Netherly Moss: raised moss basin peat : alt. 400 feet.

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POLLEN ANALYSIS ZONES and BLYTT and SERNANDER CLIMATIC PERIODS ;

3 1. Zone VIII (Sub-Atlantic); 2. Zone VIIb (Sub- Boreal); 3. Zone VIIa (Atlantic); 4. Zone VI (Boreal); 5. mineral soil. :

MUCKLE CAIRN (See Fig. 5).

The sampling site was at a height of approximately 2,000 feet O.D. on the slopes of Muckle Cairn (2, feet), one of the hills above the valley of the Water of Unich at the head of Glen Esk. This regi. between upper Glen Clova and upper Glen Esk, is in the heart of the eastern Grampians and forms part of an extensive tract of eroding high-level blanket peat.

Birch is the dominant tree species with alder subsidiary and pine relatively low. At 170cm. there is the elm decrease which marks the close of zone VIIa (the Atlantic) and the commencement of zone VIIb

' (the sub-Boreal). Alder shows a decline in this period with birch rising

steeply. At 120cm., coincident with the sharp fall of the tree pollen curve, the Ericoid group increases abruptly from low values to over 400 per cent. This is _ thought to be a possible indication of the beginning of zone (sub-Atlantic).

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SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE LAIDWINLEY (See Fig. 6).

This site is situated at 1,750 feet O.D., near the Hill of Garbet (1,900 feet) on the south-eastern fringe of the eastern Grampians. The sampling site was on a gentle slope overlooking the fertile plain of Strathmore.

This diagram is essentially the same as Figs. 4 and 5 described above. Among the trees, birch and alder are the most frequently represented with oak slightly higher than in the other profiles but still accounting for only a small proportion of the total arboreal pollen.

The zone boundaries are fixed as in other diagrams and occur at the following depths: VIIb (sub-Boreal)/VIII (sub-Atlantic) — 90cm. ; Vila (Atlantic)/VIIb (sub-Boreal) — 150cm.

The pollen diagrams show that in sites 1 and 2 the arboreal per- centage is cea higher than in sites 3, 4 and 5; in other words, the influence of woodland has been greater in the two locations north of the watershed than in those situated on the southern side. In the Allachy profile the = values are so consistently high as to leave little doubt that this has been a habitat of pinewood for at least as far back as the pollen record goes. In the Monelpie diagram the arboreal values are again high, but birch and alder are well represented and pine, although considerably higher than is usual in Scottish peats, does not dominate the diagram to the extent seen in the Allachy analysis.

In the Angus Grampians Seots Pine with imported conifers are described by Smith 5 as “a prominent feature high in the valley slopes”, but unlike some of the Dee valley woodland these clearly are not natural and indeed it is noticeable that from the southern flanks of the eastern Grampians there is little evidence for the existence of a flourishing pinewood in post-Boreal times. Again referring to the Angus Grampians, Smith ® writes “The oak tends to become the dominant tree in the valleys among the hills”, and his account of the frequency of oakwood on the low grou and glens would lead one to expect a higher oak pollen count than is in fact recorded. It should be rememb- ered however that oak is not a heavy producer of pollen, nor does it flower profusely in the north of Britain near the limit of its range. 7 That the oak age is slightly higher in the south of the area under consideration than in the north may perhaps be due to the influence of pollen from the adjacent Strathmore and the Howe o’ the Mearns where small amounts of natural oak still exist, and edaphic and climatic conditions are on the whole more favourable. It must be added however that at the present time oak is rarely found on the hills and glens of the eastern Grampians.

Judging from the evidence of pollen analysis over a large area of Scotland, birch has been the predominant tree in the native woodlands. Most of the pollen diagrams so far published show birch first in the vile set era sharing dominance with pine, and later in the post-

oreal era with alder. In certain Highland areas however, it appears that forest history does not conform to this pattern and data from pollen

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POLLEN ANALYSIS OF PEAT IN THE EASTERN GRAMPIANS 109

analysis in certain Highland localities point to pine, in the post-Boreal

riods at least, being more frequent than in lowland sites.* The Allachy and Monelpie analyses are examples of this. In this context it is interesting to quote the following from Godwin ® referring to a pollen diagram by Erdt:nan, “Scottish records are still few, but the

ine-hazel zone can be recognised there as elsewhere and the pollen Binge from Inveroran, Argyllshire (Erdtman, 1928) 1°, which shows Boreal pine in fair amounts at its base, has such continuing high pine values up to the present bog-surface that one cannot but think the native Scottish pine forests still represented not far away by Rothiem- urchus Forest and the Black Wood of Rannoch, must be the direct descendants of the indigenous pine woods”.

In Scotland analyses from sources outwith the Highlands ?, 11 have not shown pine dominance in the post-Boreal era and in the present investigation based on a Highland fringe area we find two types of diagram, one in the northern part of the region showing a stron

st-Boreal influence of pine, and the other, in the southern part fhe region without such evidence of pine forest. It appears then that there is a boundary between the northern and southern divisions of the eastern Grampians beyond which the Caledonian pine forest did not exert any great influence, or, to put it another way, birch, the earlier coloniser, was never superseded by pine forest in this region.

In considering the pollen analysis of these hill peats it is enlightening to compare the results with those obtained by Conway 12 on blanket peats at a similar altitude on the southern Pennines. Certain differences emerge, perhaps the most striking being the much greater frequency of oa llen in the Pennine sites. In one site at an altitude of 2,040 feet, alk giles is recorded virtually throughout the profile with values between 20 and 40 per cent of total tree pollen. The southern Pennine region must have supported luxuriant oakwood compared with the eastern Grampians where in five separate sites only one sample (near the base of the Laidwinley profile) has an oak llen count exceeding 10 per cent and generally the content is much lower.

In the northern sites (1 and 2) of the eastern Grampians pine is much more abundant than in the Pennines, but the southern sites (3, 4, and 5) show pine only slightly higher. Birch and alder do not on the whole differ greatly in frequency in the two areas. This compar- ison of two widely separated parts of the country — the eastern Grampians and the southern Pennines — indicates that their forest histories differ mainly in respect of pine and oak. The northern portion of the Grampian region under consideration shows that it has been strongly influenced by the ancient Caledonian Pinewood whilst in the Pennines pine is relatively unimportant. The reverse is true in the case of oakwood which is abundant in the southern Pennines but very scarce in the northern portion of the eastern Grampians. The southern portion of the eastern Grampians has some features more akin to the distant Pennines than to the adjoining area north of the watershed, although it must be regarded as intermediate, with pine less abundant than in the Dee valley, and oak less abundant than in the southern Pennines. In the southern Grampians birch and alder dominate the arboreal pollen content in the post-Boreal era. Table 2 shows for sites 1 and 2

3 t f af #: 7 ie ves x

13.0 45.1 $4.1

Table 2. Mean tree pollen content from five sites expressed as a percentage of total arboreal pollen. (Mean values representing the northern and southern sites

combined respectively appear separately).

MONELPIE ALLACHY GOVLE MUCKLE CAIRN LA/OWINLEY

100

Fig. 7 Histogram based on mean values of actual numbers of pollen grains counted for each profile.

a combined value of 36.1 per cent for birch and alder, whilst the corres- ponding value for sites 3, 4, and 5 is 79.2 per cent. ate histogram (Fig. 7) shows an ‘average’ tree pollen count from each site. In conclusion it should be said that the foregoing evidence and its interpretation is regarded as preliminary and further research is required before the vegetational history of this area can be more fully understood.

23g

Ee 4. Muckle Cairn 13.9 51.7 27.5 3.3 8.7 19 : 5. Laidwinley 9.0 42.6 38.7 6.1 3.0 mean. | 3.3 3.6 we 19 | Bl j if | — | = | = |

TROUT AND GEOMORPHOLOGY lll

I wish to acknowledge with thanks the help received from the following colleagues, Mr E. L. Birse who located and helped in_the sampling of the Allachy site; Mr J. C. C. Romans for obtaining the Laidwinley profile; and Miss M. Findlay

for preparing data and 1 Geikie, A. The Scenery of Scotland. London, 1901.

PY aeee S. E. Pollen ysis of Peat Deposits in Scotland, S.G.M., 1956, 72 oe. Steven, H. M. and Carlisle A. The Native Pinewoods of Scotland. Edinburgh 1959. 4 Durno, S. E. Ibid. 5 Smith, W. G. Botanical Survey of Scotland III and IV; Forfar, Fife. $.C.M., 1905, XXI (2) : 4, 57, 117.

6 Smith, W. G. Ibid. 7 Steven, H. M. The Forests and Forestry of Scotland. $.G.M., 1951, 67 (2) : |

8 Durno, S. E. Pollen Analysis of Peat Deposits in Eastern Sutherland Caithness. $.G.M., 1958, 74 (2) : 127.

® Godwin, H. The History of the British Flora. Cambridge, 1956, ana.

10 Erdtman, G. Studies in Postarctic History of the Forests of North- ge —_ I. Investigation in the British Isles. Geol. Foren. Stockh. Forh., 1928, : 128.

11 Knox, E. M. Pollen Analysis of a Peat at Kingsteps Quarry, Nairn. Trans. and Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinb., 1954, XXXVI (III) : 224.

12 Conway, V. M. Stratigraphy and Pollen Analysis of Southern Pennine

Blanket Peats. Jour Ecol., 1954, 42 (1) : 117.

TROUT AND GEOMORPHOLOGY A REVIEW

The biological factor is well-known in relation to the disintegration of rocks, the mass movement of waste, and so on, but a relationship between fish and the form of a stream bed is probably not so familiar to geomorphologists. Such a con- nection, has, however, been clearly established Mr T. A. Stuart of the Fresh- water Fisheries laboratory at Pitlochry in the — ications listed below.

He has shown }, 2 both by the use of worki —— and by the introduction of soluble dyestuffs in ine form into pools in Perthshire streams that the gravel in which trout choose to spawn is characterised by a marked interstitial flow of water (Fig. 1) which passes through the gravel by a path at right angles to the surface. Such currents would clearly maintain a full supply of oxygen for the spawn held in place under the gravel cover. Trout about to spawn ® seek such situations and can find them unerringly, yooumebly by the presence of the downward current, which not only helps to hold hen in place while she excavates a redd and lays her eggs, but ensures effective fertilisation by the attendant cock fish.

Such gravels characteristically occur on the downstream end of a pool, forming the bar which divides the stream into a series of reaches. The interstitial currents are proportional not to the velocity of the stream but to the gradient from one pool to the next. Indeed, in spate, when such gradients are smoothed off, the spawning gravels form a refuge from which eggs and small fry may not be displaced even by the highest floods. These gravels are of assorted sizes and shapes which bond together well and form a more stable bar than if they were of uniform size and roundness. They are, of course, not individ- ually stable: in flood, some from the surface are carried downstream but this is compensated for by accretions from upstream *. Clearly such conditions are best developed where is an ample supply of rock-fragments to the stream, as for example in Scottish hill burns, w frost-shattering and glacial deposits supply an ample reserve. By contrast, a stream carrying alluvium of only small

' a q ?

112 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

calibre is of little or no use for spawning. So close is the correlation between

and composition of the stream-bed on the one hand and the occurrence of spawning on the other, that Mr Stuart was able “by the use of manometers in the pre-spawning season” to predict exactly where would be made. Exper- iments in tanks gave precisely identical results.

When small streams are turned by man into drains, however, the objective aimed at is a channel of uniform width and depth5. When this is achieved, it immediateiy ceases to be of any value for spawning and such regularising treat- ment — quite commonly practised — eventually destroys the fishing. The water everywhere is in motion, den resting places or refuges to fish and flora and silt pervades the channel, choking out both plant and animal life. By leaving small mounds of gravel at calculated intervals, however, and mechanical excavators will do this incidentially unless special efforts are made to ‘tidy-up’ after them,

—> PATH OF THE CURRENT. 4 SPAWNING GRAVEL.

(2) LARGE STONES

conditions for spa are maintained. The same effect can be achieved making the course of the drainage channel wind a little so that the main stream swings from side to side and bars are built up naturally, later to be freed from silt by the interstitial currents and so made suitable for spawning. The interesting thing from the point of view of geomorphology is that once the slightest chance of spawning is given, the trout themselves tend to change the form of the stream- bed into the pool-and-shallow sequence so characteristic of natural streams. The process is as follows. The gra female excavates a hollow for her eggs by powerful s of the tail, which, while not in direct contact with the grave: causes some of it to leap momentarily into suspension and be moved downstream by the current. She spawns in the hollow so formed, then moves slightly upstream and excavates another hollow, the spoil from which covers the eggs in first hollow. This process is repeated three or four times until spawning is . In this way, any slight gravel prominence in the stream-bed is accentuated, being excavated on its forward slope and the spoil moved towards the top. This improves the interstitial currents, which the area suitable for redds and so attracts more gravid fish which further build up the gravel bar and so on, the limit of — being, of course, the water surface. The building up of a gravel bar by established redds however, slightly raises the water level directly upstream

to yet trot in orp Jul; Ses

$.0 of | ~ 195 led

tre alo of wh Mz the

THE CHANGING GEOGRAPHICAL VALUE OF TIBET 113

thus increases the velocity due to the force of gravity over the downstream of the bar. The immediate effect of this local increase of current velocity is to scour the bed where the current impinges, thus moving the smaller granular components of the sub-stratum and depositing them further downstream to form yet another bar which in turn attracts more spawning re eee trout in a small gravelly stream could therefore initiate a ‘chain reaction’ whi

in one season would completely alter the form of the stream bed. Clearly geom- orphologists will have to add to their techniques the ability to recognise a redd. Ronald Miller.

om See T. A. Water currents through permeable gravels. Nature, 172, August 1953, p.407.

2— Spawning sites of Trout. Nature, 178, February, 1954, p.354. ” gah Selection of spawning sites by trout. Proc. Linnean Soc. London, July, 1956.

4 ‘iol re Migration, Reproduction and Young Stages of Loch Trout. H.M.

$.0.

5— (unpublished) A paper given at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Athens 1958.

THE CHANGING GEOGRAPHICAL VALUE OF TIBET Roy MELLOR

News of conditions in Tibet has been scanty since the Chinese invasion of 1950. The apparent revolt against the Communist authorities in April, 1959, which led to the flight of the Dalai Lama to sanctuary in India, has been another stage in a long —— against Mongol and later Chinese domination. Despite autonomy which China claims to have given to the Tibetan “local government” since 1950, increasing centralisation by Peking plus the growing food shortage caused by a large Chinese garrison living off the land, have been the reasons at least on the surface for the uprising in 1,

The strengthened Chinese hold and the changing econ: mic and military conditions in Central Asia make a geographical revaluation of the country necessary. Tibet straddles the immense high plateau-heart of Asia, lying at heights between 10,000 and 14,000 feet, crossed by great snow-capped ranges or dissected by deep, trench-like valleys. The principal settlements lie in the south-east, notably in the valleys associated with the Tsangpo, where most of the population live?. The north-west forms the vast emptiness of the Chang Tang, while the north-east lies along the edge of the Tsaidam Depression and drops to the lower, dissected gt of Sikang and Chinghai. The northern and eastern boundaries are particularly ill- defined: the southern and western parts are sometimes known as Outer Tibet, while the eastern districts long under Chinese influence are called Inner Tibet.

Our impression of the political geography of Tibet is coloured by the relations of British India with the country during a period of Chinese decadence, when the Manchu emperors and later Nationalist warlords were unable successfully to exert their power. Tibet thus enjoyed a de facto independence. Britain strove to immobilise Tibet in the pattern of international relations in the hope of winning security for the 1,800-mile long Indian Himalayan frontier. Its defence on the scale of the North-west Frontier would have been an intolerable drain on man- power and resources. High Russian or Chinese prestige at Lhasa might have created unrest among tri along the Himalayan glacis which commands the mente Plains. To maintain an agreeable status quo, Britain sought to prevent the for “spheres of influence”, a political vogue, by the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1904, while the Younghusband military expedition was sent to Lhasa to counter Russian moves there and to force Tibet to open diplomatic relations in the same year. The Convention recognised Chinese suzerainty over Tibet, which had been nominally established since the thirteenth century and which China had tried to enforce since the seventeenth century. Britain had also

n TS T- ye it t- } ll . re

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

separately recognised China’s rights in an earlier treaty of 1890. Tibet maintained nevertheless a remarkable degree of independence and repudiated the rights ascribed to China in both agreements, while Lhasa had consistently refused to open relations with Britain*. After his flight to India during the abortive Chinese invasion of 1910, the thirteenth Dalai Lama held Britain in high esteem until his death in 1933. This was important after the collapse of the Manchus in 1911, when Russiaf influence spread rapidly in Western China and Outer Mongolia. The tripartite Simla Conference of 1914 recognised the independence of Tibet but also recognised China’s rights in the eastern valleys, roughly along a line from which the Chinese advance had begun in the eighteenth century.

Chinese resurgence in the western provinces began in 1942 when Nationalist forces, utilising Russia’s preoccupation in the war zone of the West, ousted Soviet agents from Sinkiang. No attempt was made, however, to alter the political status of Tibet, because of the friendly Sino-British relations at the time. Before Commun- ist conquest of the mainland was complete, Britain withdrew from India. When Peking began to renew pressure against Tibet, culminating in the 1950 invasion, China faced an independent India bent on co-existence through an active policy af appeasement. With Chinese troops in Lhasa, Tibet again recognised Chinese overlordship in 1951. In 1954, India surrendered to China the extra-territorial rights in Tibet exacted by Britain in 1904. The act appears to have encouraged intensification of Chinese pressure on Tibet, where strategical considerations had now become of peculiar interest. Recently published Chinese maps show several territorial claims on the Himalayan glacis in Assam, where the McMahon Line of 1914 was never fully accepted by China, and in Kashmir. The economic and cultural frontier of the glacis lies not on the crest but at the foot of the mountains in the terai. Tibetan Lama Buddhism has many adherents on the Himalayan glacis, including an estimated 40,000 in Ladakh. It also extends across Chinese Turkestan into the Mongol People’s Republic and even beyond into Soviet territory. Chinese domination of the spiritual and temporal guidance of Lhasa might have unexpected repercussions on Mongolian nationalism which has been generally more anti-Chinese than anti-Russian. Although the Panchen Lama is a Chinese puppet, his power appears much less than that of the Dalai Lama. It is worth mention that Russia recently (1958) reinstated the banished Buddhist Kalmyks to a position of autonomy ¢. Particular attention is devoted to the Buddhist peoples of the Soviet Union in the 1958 edition of the standard university textbook on ethnography published in Moscow 5.

The future political-geographical role of Tibet naturally depends on the general pattern of Sino-Russian relations, but some students of Communist bloc affairs see several possible lines of divergence in the policies of the two states. With a pacifist India on the southern flank, China is protecting itself by control of the Tibetan Plateau from possible Soviet penetration into an area which might close the Kansu Corridor between Peking and the western provinces and open the way to full-scale Russian control of Sinkiang. The mineral resources already known in Sinkiang are significant for Russia’s intense development in Central Asia and Western Siberia, but are absolutely vital for the realisation of China’s desire to be a major industrial country within fifty years. Moreover, command of a prevents Soviet contact with South-east Asia by direct or indirect territorial infiltration.

Tibet had always been regarded as militarily negative terrain. Few of the historically great military empires of Central Asia ever succeeded directly to subjugate the country by force. Britain and Imperial Russia were for some time interested in the discovery of routes suitable for modern conventional ground forces across the western part of the country, but none was found. China has already constructed a number of arterial roads for motor lorries from the east to Lhasa and the Indian frontier, while a motor lorry road is said to be under construction by Chinese and Russian engineers in a broad sweep from Kashgar southwards to Lhasa. Although modern forces used have been small and logistical problems great, Tibet is nevertheless ideal guerilla country. Conventional piston- driven aircraft require long runways and carry only low payloads in the rarified atmosphere of the high plateau; but jet propulsion gains. Already Chinese airfields are reported to have been built in Tibet within 250 miles of, Delhi. The high plateau also makes an admirable rocket-launching ‘pad’, from which short-range 1,500km missiles might command the Indian Plains, Northern Burma and even the Russian industrial bases in Fergana. Command of the crestline puts the

ome

i occ Wan wh a adi is | ant alo ma ba: it in eas col 19% ga tio mé of is =) to lar ‘ 1

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 115

occupier in a position to infiltrate the Himalayan glacis states: Assam, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, Jammu and Kashmir. Nepal paid tribute to China until 1911, while some Nepalis still favour an association with Sino-Mongol nationalism. India’s advice to Katmandu to reject an American request for an embassy in case Peking should do the same is an indication of Indian distaste of possible Chinese penetration of the glacis. The strong military position in Asia now held by China is clear. Less clear is the degree to which Chinese control in Tibet threatens existing regimes in India and South-west Asia generally. Closer integration of the richer eastern valleys along the Assam boundary and development of possible Tibetan mineral wealth may bring accelerated immigration from the overcrowded Yangtse and Whan basins. Britain regarded such a possibility as a threat to India and tried to regulate it in the Simla agreements of 1914: it may weli constitute a danger to India even in an Asian Asia. It becomes more real for India and the other states of South- east Asia if China has solved the application of Communist collectivism to peasant communities, a problem not yet satisfactorily overcome in the U.S.S.R. ®.

1 These notes are based primarily on press reports appearing during April-May 1959. Historical material has been collected from a range of sources.

2 Usually the population is considered to be 2 to 3 million. This appears to be an estimate for the Tibetan lands as a whole. The Chinese census of 1953 gave the population of the Tibetan Autonomous Chu as 1,274,000.

3 Warren Hastings in the late eighteenth century for a time established rela- tions with the Panchen Lama, who appears to have been usually more open to making outside contacts than the Dalai Lama.

4 The Kalmyk autonomous region was dissolved during the German invasion of Russia in 1941-1942. The Kalmyks were banished to Siberia. Their ‘rehabilitation’ is said to rectify a Stalinst error, but it is conjectural whether this is an attempt to recruit Buddhist sympathy for Russia or to remove from the Buddhist ‘heart- land’ an active and virile group without great attachment to the Soviet State.

5 Tokarev, S. A. Etnografiya Narodov SSSR, Moscow, 1958. 6 The question was developed at length in Der Spiegel, Hamburg, Ist April,

REVIEWS OF BOOKS EUROPE

Roman and Native in North Britain. Edited by I. A. Richmond. 6%/2X91/s. Pp.X+174. 8 Plates. 8 Maps. Edinburgh: Nelson, 1958, 18s.

This volume is the second of a series of studies in History and Archaeol being published by Nelson’s under the general editorship of F. T. Wainwright as the outcome of a succession of summer schools in Archaeology held at various centres in Scotland. It is a fitting sequel to the first volume — The Problem of the Picts, for whereas the earlier work looked for the internal origins of the northern tribes known to the Roman world as the Picts, in this present work five authors, under the editorship of one of the leading authorities on Roman Britain, Professor Richmond, assess the external impact of the Roman army of occupation on the political, economic, and cultural character of the native peoples of Scotland and Northern England during the first four centuries of the Christian era. New evidence from air reconnaissance and the excavation of Roman and native sites is used to enlarge the picture of successive Roman campaigns and northern revolts known from classical literary sources, but many gaps still remain in the storv can now only be filled by further excavation of Scottish sites. As one of the authors puts it, the myth of naked woad-bedaubed savages brandishing flint axes in the face of disciplined Roman legions has now been exploded, but, particularly

d d is it t ae | | | 1959. ‘

116 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

in Northern Britain, there is still a great deal of work to be accurate alternative picture is obtained of the human communities w: might of Rome on this remote Atlantic frontier.

The Third Statistical Account of Scotland, Volume 5, The City of Glasgow. by J. Cunnison and J. B. S. Gilfillan. 8*/2X5*/2. Pp.l 88 Figs. and folding map at back. Glasgow: Collins, 1958, 50s.

and “Community Life”; and an outline of their contents will serve to give an idea of its nature, scope, and comprehensive character.

The background is treated in three chapters; “The Site and its Development’; “Population Past and Present”; and the “Historical Setting”. The first gives a concise and effective account of the physical features, geology, climate, and land use of the city. Attention should however be drawn to one error in relation to climatic change. The general rise in temperature, which occurred in the British Isles and other places in high northern latitudes since the mid-nineteenth century, is due primarily to the warmer autumns and early winters and not to warmer summers as the writer states. The chapter on population deals with present distribution and density, growth, with its many striking phases, natural increase and migration, birthplaces, and other demographic matters, such as age, sex, conjugal condition, and the balance of births and deaths. The “Historical Setting” tells the dramatic story of Glasgow's transformation within less than two centuries, from the small pretty cathedral and university town set amidst gardens and orchards, to the large industrial and commercial city of the late-nineteenth century with a population of nearly a million many of whom existed in conditions of fantastic overcrowding, squalor and poverty. The authors bring out well both the triumphs in manufacturing and trading of the nineteenth ceatury and the human and spiritual tragedies that so often accompanied them and whose effects are still with us. Indeed the fact of their treatment here in this historical setting, should help to fit readers better to gain a sympathetic and informed understanding of the psychological, spiritual and social effects of nineteenth changes.

“The City’s Economy”, which takes up over one-third of the 777 pages of text, opens with a preliminary survey of the present industrial Fs and an outline of the factors that affected the growth of industry. There follows chapters on iron and steel; shipbuilding and marine engineering; other engineering; textiles and clothing; and other manufacturing industries. In assessing the changed advantages and disadvantages for iron and steel and heavy :engineering a new factor, probably not apparent when the account was written, is the position of Clydeside as the region of Europe with a tradition and skill in these activities nearest to the largest deposits of iron ore in Labrador, now being mined and exported. Part two continues with a comprehensive account of the interesting development of means of transport and communication in Glasgow and the surrounding region and a discussion of their present state and future pros a

er

Bc e before an

faced the 90 | re. W.K. aw

Edited inte Plates rela inte ‘ : The fifth volume of the Third Statistical Account of Scotland on the city of mat a Glasgow makes a very valuable addition to the published material on the present imy state of Scotland, and Messrs Cunnison and Giltillan and their helpers are to be dat aa warmly congratulated on this very interesting and useful product of teamwork to | i in research. Moreover, the authors have successfully accomplished the difficult feat is es of presenting a vast amount of information in a lively and readable manner. Inf “ae Though only parts of the book are of direct concern to the geographer as such, pri ae the whole volume is of very great interest and importance to the general student to | Bh of Scottish affairs and to anyone wishing to understand a part of the country illu ae housing about one-fifth of its population and having key signiticance economically. bas 7 The pattern of the book follows that of the ote volumes of the Third sas BS! Statistical Account, although, as in the case of volume four, the City of Aberdeen, dat ese | there are no separate parish accounts. The text is divided into four major parts:

“The Background”; “‘The City’s Economy”; “Public Administration and Services”;

et vol Ex a of of thi cot ha res de thi wi ‘ie Glasgow is an important centre for these as well as for manufacturing.

ae In part three separate chapters, supplemented by numerous statistical tables

i and diagrams, deal comprehensively with government, housing, health, and

i education. Notable among the latter is a pape showing the spectacular fall in

the infant death rate since 1944 from one of the worst in Western Europe of over

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 117

90 per 1000 live births to a figure of about 35 1000. A fifth chapter covers a wide variety of services from cleaning and lighting, water, electricity and gas supplies to parks and libraries.

Part four, “Community Life”, includes chapters on working conditions, leisure interests, crime, poverty, distress and social agencies, the churches, and social relations; the last with a section on district loyalties which brings out some interesting features of social geography.

Following the text there are 174 pages of statistical appendices. These cover matters deait with in each of the four parts and form a very valuable and important section of the volume, since they gather together in convenient form data on a very wide range of subjects that it is difficult for the ordinary citizen to have the time or opportunity to collect. An index to the statistical appendices is supplied as well as a general index, while under the heading, “Sources of Information” an extensive bibliography and long lists of acknowledgements to private individuals and firms and public bodies are arranged mainly according to chapters. In addition to nearly 40 maps, diagrams and graphs there 24 plates illustrating various features of the city, past, present and future, and a folded map based on the Ordnance Survey one-inch and printed in three colours, showing parish and burgh boundaries around the county of the city of Glasgow and the dates of incorporation of various extensions to the city since 1890. C.P.S.

L’Europe du Nord et du Nord-Ouest, Tome II, La Finlande et les Pays Scandinaves. By G. Chabot, 71/; 91/4. Pp.871. 68 Figs. 6 Plates. Paris: Presses Universitaires

de France (Orbis Series), 1958, 1800Frs.

This is the second volume of L’Europe du Nord et du Nord-Ouest being preceded by Généralites Physiques et Humaines and followed by Iles Brittaniques et Pays-Bas. It is part of the “Orbis” series and it is natural to regard regional volumes such as this to some extent as successors to the Géographies Universelles. Examination confirms this view. The first volume dealt with physical topics, the history and growth of population. Even so the present volume commences with a more detailed study entitled “Le relief et lhydrographie” which is mainly devoted to a summary of geological evolution and a more detailed account of the Quaternary glaciation from the morphological point of view. The greather part of the book consists of admirable summaries of the human and economic geography of each country, including Iceland but not Greenland; the emphasis is on natural resources and their utilisation and on internal and external relationships, rather than on regional division. Indeed there is very little regional treatment within the countries, each being regarded as a major geographical region in itself. Thus we have an interesting contrast with Professor O’Dell’s recent book, in which the regional treatment is more prominent and the major economic topics are given detailed attention in a general section. Although, for the English speaking student, this book does not provide an alternative to that of O’Dell, it is nevertheless one

which he cannot afford to neglect. H.A.M.

North-West Europe. By P. J. Powrie and A. J. Mansfield. 5'/2X7'/2. Pp.528. 71 Figs. 17 Plates. London: Harrap, 1959, 17s. 6d.

This is a textbook intended for those taking advanced geography in the General Certificate Examination. The region covered includes Scandinavia (with Finland and Iceland), the Benelux countries, Switzerland, France and Germany. The general arrangement and choice of material is excellent for the purpose and the amount of factual information given would put to shame some more pretentious books. Indeed many first year students in Scottish universities, where Europe is included in the regional course, could profit from using just such a book as this. Within the major regions the treatment is by topics— “Population, Towns and Trade in Scandinavia”, “Land Reclaimation in the Benelux Countries” and “Power and Industry in Germany”, are typical chapter headings. ‘There is a good index; the well-chosen bibliography is not so long as to deter, though probably more than adequate for, the average reader. There are almost ninety photographs and line drawings, the subjects being well-chosen but the execution of some of the latter, sketch maps in particular, leaves much to be desired. H.A.M.

> 4

118 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

Ricerche sulle dimore rurali in Italia. Vol. 19. Hy. Grouee Nangeroni and Roberto Pracchi. La casa rurale nella montagna barda. II. Settore sud-orientale (G. Nangeroni). 10X7. Pp.220. 32 Plates. 94 Figs. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 1958, Lire 2,500. For the Consiglie Nazionale delle Ricerche.

The traveller hastening between Milan and Venice passes just to the south of an agricultural world very different from that of the plain. One of its more colourful features that KP ig Bes time to time attract his eye will be the bright teddish-yellow screens of maize cobs that hang to dry in front of the loggias and balconies of the farmhouses. It is with these and other houses of the Alpine sector that this volume deals. It is the nineteenth in the series of a great study of Italian rural housing begun in 1938 and appearing in the last two years at the accelerated rate of two a year. This is the last of devoted to Lombardy; the first dealt with the plain and the hills, the present is the second of two devoted to the Alpine sector. Professor Nangeroni deals primarily with the mountain areas of Bergamo and Brescia but he also sums up the conclusions of the two volumes.

Professor Nangeroni’s work as a glaciologist has made him particularly familiar with these Alpine valleys and one of his suggestions combines his observations in that field with those of rural housing in a very interesting way. Loggias, generally above porticos, are traced back only as far as the seventeenth century, when urban purchasers of farms copied the architectural features of the cities as they improved the farmhouses. Professor Nangeroni suggests a correlation with the period of colder and more humid climate associated with the advance of the glaciers that continued until 1820-30, stimulating the more well-to-do farmers to build south-facing loggias for the further drying of their produce. The poorer farmers and those in areas where livestock predominated continued to use balconies, built of wood, to dry their hay, subsidiary crops and wood. In some predominantly livestock areas the author draws attention to interesting cases of complete separation of cowsheds and haysheds in a “cows village” outside the main settlement. Another feature of the poorer areas is the outside stair, implying inadequate room space.

Only a few points can be mentioned here from this fascinating study of how farm buildings as functional units result from the interpenetration of physical and economic factors, the details related to the materials available and their structure frequently a blend of residual features carried on by tradition with adjustments to later economic circumstances. The volume is richly illustrated. The photographs are all taken by the author.

This is a branch of geographical research in which Scotland, and indeed most of Britain, has-been regrettably unenterprising. For that reason this great Italian project should be an object-lesson. CJ.R.

Italy. By D. S. Walker. Pp.256, 35 Photos. 38 Maps and

A Geography of diagrams. London: Methuen, 1958, 30s.

A geographical study of Italy in English has long been needed, and this new addition to the Methuen series is to be welcomed. Peninsular Italy in particular is one of Europe’s ‘problem areas’; its aeape is a product of the Mediterranean

climate, becoming increasingly arid the f r south one goes, and a complex and far from peaceful history which has led to the establisment of unsatisfactory systems of ional testes and utilisation and the attendant social evils. The geography of the whole country is difficult, and a clear authoritative account of it has been wanted by student and teacher alike. Mr Walker’s book goes far towards satisfying this market; beautifully written, it presents a vivid picture of the landscape and, most important, shows how this has been affected by various peoples throughout history. Unfortunately the treatment of some aspects of the geography of the country is less thorough than one might have hoped; in this connection the short bibliography is interesting, for there are very few geographical references and there is none to modern research papers in Italian or any other language. The hotographs have been well chosen and fit well with the text, but one feels that ine drawings and maps could have been more numerous and better. Serious students of the subject must still await the appearance of a major work on Italy, but in the meantime Mr Walker’s work will be of great value; it is very readable on oe author has given us a book which can be enjoyed as well as studied — profit. A.M.

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REVIEWS OF BOOKS

Spain; A Geographical Background. By W. B. Fisher and H. Bowen-Jones. 71/25. Pp. VIII + 222. 8 Plates and 18 maps. London: Christophers, 1958, 10s. 6d.

It is refreshing to see a book such as this appear on the geographical market, for (as the authors point out) “there is no single volume in English devoted to the geography of Spain”. Professor Fisher and Mr Bowen-Jones succeed in providing a very readable introduction to this rich but neglected subject. Their presentation is precise and clear-cut, though at times one feels that questions of opinion or debate are over-simplified or even neglected. In the chapter on Cultural Aspects, for instance, only a few lines are given to Spanish painting (p.108), and they do not discuss it from a geographer’s es Elsewhere in chapter eight, the picaresque novel is discussed as‘ being typically Spanish, but nothing is said of the irony and satire that stems from the countryside and resources of Spain. One half of the book (Part III) is devoted to Regional Geography. When the reader begins to follow (on p.116) the authors’ depiction of twenty-two regions — _ geometrically into the North-West, North-East, Central, Southern and Sou -Eastern Spain — he has to refer back to ‘Structure and Relief for a map of the whole picture of these regions (p.21). As the ‘rationale’ of their grouping is said to be “the historical evolution of the human societies settled in each region”, it is difficult to see why the Central Sierras and Sierras de Guadalupe and Toledo are regarded as main regions. This applies —_ to the ‘threshold regions’ of Leén and Jucar, admittedly in a class apart as historic corridor zones, but scarcely distinctive regions in terms of settlement. Perhaps the ‘rationale’ of historical evolution would have been better served by following the framework of the King- doms of Spain. Even in the chapter on medieval and modern Spain there is no map showing the thirteen historical divisions or ‘Kingdoms of the Spains’. Yet in fact it is feasible to arrange them into half-a-dozen regions, without much alteration of their traditional boundaries, and so have an actual basis for regional geography. They would be as follows: Galicia and the Principality of Asturias; the Biscayan ‘root’ of Old Castile and the Basque Provinces; Navarre and Aragon north of the Ebro; Leén, Old and New Castile, ‘Iberic’ Aragon, and Extremadura (giving, together, the Meseta core); Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia; and lastly Catalonia. In the account of Asturias, the coastal regions are given scant attention. To the east of Gijon, for instance, stretch the low, Jevel platforms of good land, some- times with distinctive names like comarca la Rasa. Here soils which del Villar called humid calcareous are able to a crops and grass right down to the cliff-edge, growing maize, potatoes fodder crops for dairy cattle, carrying apple-orchards, and cut across by steep valleys clothed with eucalyptus. Although on — Lugo in Galicia is compared with Cardiganshire, there is no suggestion of the geographical 'similarities between the Asturian coastal plateaux and those of South Wales. Generally, the description of Galicia is one of the most convincing, but it is curious that nothing is said of the neolithic contacts between Galicia and other western coastal regions of Europe. Such connections go far to explain the geography of peasant! landscapes in those ‘Atlantic Ends’ of Europe. The maps are too few and too small; those in the regional a could be more definite in portraying regional characteristics and limits. F.V.E.

pe ae en By Bert Boger. 11X9. Pp.140. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd,

This is a most attractive addition to the large number of illustrated travel books that have been appearing recently. Its core consists of 32 exquisite coloured eames. ay ae each occupying a full page and illustrating various aspects of the Spanish landscape; a similar number of black and white photographs are also

excellent of their kind. A most welcome feature for the amateur is the inclusion of brief technical details of lens, camera, film and ure used. The photographs are supplemented by some 40 pages of text, in addition’ to annotations, and if one turns from the illustrations it may be that the prose will be considered less worthy; at times arch and + eye it does contain some useful information ly produced and a pleasure to handle, et

.M.

however. The book is beau pictures are sheer delight.

5 a. J,

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

AFRICA

African Economic Development. By W. A. Hance. 8'/25*/2. Pp. X+807. 12 tables and 7 maps. 2 end-paper maps. London: Oxford University Press, for the Council on Foreign Relations, 1958, 30s.

This is a very useful and informative book, but with a somewhat misleading title. It is concerned essentially with tropical Africa and only in the first and last chapters are the problems of overall economic development considered. This is a series of essays on economic developments dealing either with specific schemes (the Gezira and the proposed Volta project) or with territories (the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, British East Africa, Liberia and aecegnenets These are all well done, together with an essay on transport in tropical Africa; in the latter it is a pity that no attention was given to the present and gauipping importance of airways. There is just sufficient general consideration of poe ems to provide a background for these specific topics. One would wish for further e ion of

the last chapter, which is concerned with the potentialities and needs of economic development. The essays are illustrated by few maps and most of these are so reduced as to appear unpleasing and to be of little value. R.M.P.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

They came to New Zealand. An account of New Zealand from the earliest times to the middle nineteenth century. By Marjorie Appleton. 8'/2X5*/2. Pp.318. 35 Plates. 3 Maps. London: Methuen, 1958, 30s.

The Sixth Continent. The discovery and exploration of Australia. By Arthur Scholes. a Pp.183 15 Plates. 2 End-paper maps. London: Allen and Unwin, 1958, 21s.

These two books both deal with exploration and settlement in the Antipodes, but from differing regional and philosophical viewpoints. They Came to New Zealand traces the establishment of human contact, first by Maori and then by pakeha, with the remote and uninhabited archipelago of New Zealand, and comes to an end at the period when large-scale immigration was beginning. Though the subsequent history is well-documented, this is one of the first attempts # deal comprehensively with the earlier period, and to collect together the evidence of abundant journals and treatises. The book falls into five sections: first, an assess- ment of the background of the country itself; secondly the Maori invasions; thirdly, the voyages of exploration; fourthly, the activities of the missionaries and the traders; and fifthly, the events which led to full European settlement. Of these, the first three are the best, the work diminishing somewhat in interest as contact is lost with the land itself and attention focussed on personalities and political machinations. It remains a very readable book, apart from a few annoying geograp- hical errors (for example, it is one of the most important features about Lyttelton that it is not situated on low ground as stated) and a tendency to detail which in some cases would be better relegated to appendices. More disturbing, however, is the author’s uncompromising acceptance of the traditional blacks and whites of conventional history: the Maoris were not entirely noble savages living in perfect accord with their environment, and the chieftain who wreaked most havoc following contact with pakeha culture was a protegé of the ‘good’ missionaries, whereas many of the ‘bad’ sealers and whalers, far from being loose-living reprobates, were honest settlers; her hero, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, was a dreamer rather than a planner, and the settlements he inspired narrowly escaped utter disaster through lack of foresight and survey and too rigid adherence to principles laid down 12,00 miles away. Nevertheless, the impression left at the end is probably one on which all would agree, that never has the establishment of a colony been attended by so much ill-directed goodwill.

The Sixth Continent, on the other hand, is almost entirely concerned with explor- ation as such, and settlement is mentioned only incidentally. The early history of discovery and neglect were very similar in Australia and New Zealand; but whereas

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REVIEWS OF BOOKS 121

in New Zealand the general outline of the geography was well known before full colonisation took place, the first settlements in Australia were established on the fringés of an unknown land-mass, and it was more than a century before the innermost secrets of the continent were revealed, as the reward of great hardships and priv- ationt suffered by brave men who frequently obtained little material gain. The story of these explorers is faithfully and often vividly told, but this book does not form so significant a contribution to the history of exploration and settlement as Marjorie Appleton’s, because its treatment of material already worked over is less inal, nor has it the same lite quality. Its great virtue is that it takes a regional rather than a strictly chronological standpoint, which makes its picture of gradually enfolding knowledge much easier to follow than usual, in spite of the inadequate maps. In one of the few references to settlement, it is instructive to contrast the account given of the failure of the first ‘Wakefield’ settlement at S River with that of Miss Appleton. E.L.E.

Advanced Level Geography, Book I, Australia and New Zealand, Part I, Australia, Part II, New Zealand. By D. C. Money 8'/2X5*/2. Part I: Pp.296. 100 Figs. 25 Plates and 44 Tables. Part II: Pp.144. 89 Figs. 18 Plates and 21 Tables. London: University Tutorial Press, 1958; Part I, 15s. Part II, 8s.

Part of a series being prepared for G.C.E. “‘A” level pupils, these books will be welcomed north of the Border in school for Sixth Form work and teaching preparation, and in university by students who look for comprehensive and up-

te information simply presented.

In school the systematic chapters, which comprise over two-thirds of the text, wiil be most useful; also the large number of maps and the well-chosen and beautifully produced plates. The very detailed regional chapters will however test severely the pupils’ ability to select relevant material. At university level a particularly useful feature is the bibliography at the end of each volume with references to many articles in iodicals, but the text itself emphasises the “factual geographical account” rather at the expense of encouraging a questioning approach by the reader.

Accepting these limitations, the books may be recommended to teachers and students alike as sources of information, much of which has not previously been so readily available, fully illustrated yet presented in small bulk and at a reasonable cost. A.A.M.H.

ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC

The Polar Regions in their relation to human affairs: Bowman Memorial Lecture No. 4. By L. M. Gould. 83/4X58/s. Pp.54. New York: Am. Geog. Soc., 1958.

$3.50.

This, the fourth in the Isaiah Bowman Memorial Lecture series, is a disap- ting booklet. Knowing Dr Gould as a lecturer I am sure it delivered excellently

t it makes very thin reading and there is nothing new in the text. The North Polar region is treated very slightly, there are rather better sections on U.S. (and other) political aims in the Antarctic in the I.G.Y. The best features are 16 pages of good photographs and a new and important bathymetric map of the Arctic Basin. $3.50 is a lot to pay for the latter. P.D.B.

The Russians in the Arctic: Aspects of Soviet exploration and exploitation of the Far North 1937-57. By Terence Armstrong. 81/4 5*/2. Pp.175. 20 illustrations, 6 maps and end-paper map. London: Methuen, 1958, 22s. 6d.

Terence Armstrong, the Russian expert at the Scott Polar Research Institute, has given us in this small book, by means of eight we lee a summing up, a very useful picture of recent Russian achievement. He picked on particular episodes such as Cherevichny’s Polar flights and the discovery of a seventeenth- century wreck east of Cape Chelyuskin to enlarge on stories which may have received no more than a paragraph in the English-speaking press. Also included are two

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122 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

other chapters on which he has written before in greater detail—the Northern Sea route and the astonishing voyage of the German raider Komet through this route from Atlantic to Pacific in 1940. The drift of the Sedov which so closely paralleled Nansen’s Fram drift of forty-four years before is another good piece of Armstrong’s description. The very up-to-date pictures themselves are most instructive and

dot map of Soviet landings on the North Polar Sea pack ice shows the tremendous scale of their effort where “they have 500 men able to do a particular job where the West has five”. I am only sorry that in the chapter on the Mammoth he holds out no hope for this beast’s existence alive, as does a more optimistic recent writer, M. Bernard Heutelmans ! P.D.B.

GEOMORPHOLOGY

Coastal and Submarine Morphology. By André Guilcher, translated into English by B. W. Sparks and the Rev. R. H. W. Kneese. 6X81/4. 274 pages. 8 Plates. 40 Figs. London: Methuen, 1958, 30s.

It is many years since we had an up-to-date book in English exclusively devoted to this subject from the systematic point of view, and consequently this translation is particularly valuable. It is divided i into eight chapters, five on coastal geomorph- ology and concerned with forces, shoreline movements, coastal features, classification,

evolution; and three on submarine geomorphology, entitled “General remarks”, “The continental margin”, and “The deep-sea floor”.

The translators are to be congratulated on the excellence of their work, which roduces a book that now reads almost as though it had been initially written in nglish. One may criticise the frequent habit of grouping a number of small

diagrams together on one page, even when they are used in different parts of the text, and one suffers a constant sense of mild frustration due to the wealth of description and yet comparative lack of explanation. Perhaps that is inevitable in what is after all a short book that attempts to be comprehensive. The except- ionally full and well-organised bibliographies are particularly valuable. Together they occupy about fifty-four of the 250 pages of text, and are so planned that it is easy to discover literature on any desired aspect of the subject.

This certainly is a book of the greatest interest and value to all who study coastal areas. R.K.G.

Landscape From the Air. By F. J. Monkhouse. 7'/2X9'/2, Pp.IX+52. London: Cambridge University Press. 1959, 8s. t

This collection of 52 oblique air photographs aims to give pictorial represent- ation of the physical landscape and is desi for use by senior classes in schools, and in training colleges. Each photograph, with a description and analysis, occupies a single page, and the views are grouped penenatiogty under various headings with a welcome bias towards process. When possible, rapid means of locating has been provided by giving relevant map numbers and, in Britain, grid references.

The one major criticism that must be made is the failure to provide any explicit suggestion of scale, which, remembering the level to which the collection is directed, is surely wee?» The difficulties of providing simply an adequate representation of scale for oblique air photographs are t, but even i above the surface at which the views were taken would have helped.

The choice of one or two of the photographs might be questioned. em Point, Bute, illustrating a raised beach could be im med upon as could the particular view of Nant Ffrancon showing an over-deepened U-shaped valley. This latter point is in part rectified incidentally in other views, and the author does provide cross references and an index which add immeasurably to the value of the collection. _ in using two views from Northern Ireland it is difficult to understand why the references quote an out-dated map series when the Northern Ireland Ordnance Survey provide a perfectly adequate One-inch series, with kilometre grid! These are relatively minor points and hardly detract from the value of the collection as a whole. With few exceptions, the views are not the well-known ones and for this reason alone the collection will be a useful supplementary aid to both student and teacher. RAG.

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REVIEWS OF BOOKS

METEOROLOGY

Farming Weather. By L. P. Smith. 8X5‘/2. Pp. IX+208. 14 Plates. 35 Figs. Edinburgh: Nelson, 1958, 15s.

The author of this latest edition to Nelson’s invaluable agricultural series is well known for his work on weather in relation to agriculture, and has been active in encouraging farmers to make use of the meteorological services available to them. His book is clear and practical and a very useful addition to the literature on applied climatology; prs ore ns of physics and mathematics have been avoided, and the book is remarkably free from the meteorologist’s jargon, without being super- ficial. Modern science, while apparently increasing man’s independence of his environment has also brought about an increasingly nice adjustment of agriculture to physical conditions not the least important of which is climate; Mr Smith discusses the various elements of the climate with which farmers in the British Isles must cope, and not only farmers but also students of geography and climat- ology will profit from what he has to say. A.M.

MAPS AND ATLASES

Westermanns Hausatlas. Maps by C. Diercke and R. Dehmel, text by W. Tietze. 9X 181/s. Pp.184+54 (index). 423 maps, 134 colour photographs. Braunschweig: Georg Westermann Verlag, 1958, DM 39.80.

If we consider the cartographic production in the field of reference atlases during the past eight years, we find a variety of interesting publications of different sizes, of more or less traditional treatment, and of better or poorer graphic quality.

There are two factors which contribute to making this period a significant one. Firstly, there is the shrinkage of world distances due to the use of electronics in communications (radio, television, etc.) together with the jet for travel. The increased contacts resulting from this shrinkage of distances could account for the marked trend in nomenclature viz. the use of names in their local forms. This practice is found in the Atlante Internazionale (T.C.I.), the Tidens World Atlas (Esselte), the Atlas International (Larousse), the World Atlas (Verlag Enzyklopidie), the University Atlas (Phillips, 8th edition). Secondly, we are in the plastic era of reproduction technique. This factor is probably responsible for an increase in graphic illustration and changes in relief representation.

The classic example of illustration is the masterly work of Herbert Bayer in the Atlas of the Container Corporation of America. On the relief treatment side, this new trend seems to indicate the introduction of continuous tone shading, at the expense of the traditional hypsometric tints and hachuring. This tendency is marked indeed, when one considers its appearance in even the most traditionally treated publications, such as the Times Atlas (Bartholomew), the Atlas of the World (Atlas Mira G.U.G.K. Moscow), or the Atlante Internazionale (T.C.1.)

The new Westermanns’ publication as seen in this perspective, follows these trends in some respects. The new element consists of a most remarkable four- colour offset coelaeiin of colour photographs. The choice of photographs, and the use of —pe brown for the fourth colour, portray exceptionally good taste. The photographs are up to date i.e. including those of Kitimat and Schefferville, and have generous textual captions.

The cartographic treatment of the atlas can be described as typically central European in style. Large maps, some on triple spread, with the third page folded inward (this is a technique used even more extensively in the Féldrajzi Atlasz, Kartografiai Vallalat), are high-lighted by large-scale maps of selected regions. The relief treatment uses a combination of hypsometric tints with hachuring. Relief shading is used on one map of a part of Switzerland (page 43). All maps would, however, benefit from being printed in lighter colours to increase the legibility of

names. The Atlas carries much statistical information both demographic and economic. In its nomenclature, it is traditional and patriotic using germanised names wherever they exist. The post-war name changes are completely ignored.

As with any publication, this Atlas is not free from errors. One of these is a serious factual error, and yet has an amusing slant, in view of the current dis-

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SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

cussion on the introduction of into the Church of Scotland: the map of Europe presenting religions (page includes Scotland (and part of Northern Ireland) in the Anglican denomination.

However, taking all aspects into consideration, this atlas is a serious and attractive work. J.J.K.

Guide to the Manuscript Maps in the William L. Clements Library, ——— by

Christian Brun. 9X6”. Pp. XIII+208. 5 illustrations. Ann The

University of Michigan, 1959.

The value of old maps to geographers increases every year but these historic documents ———- aspects of bygone geography, so often necessary for the explanation of present day geography, frequently become forgotten in museums and private collections. It is refreshing, therefore, to find the manuscript collection of yet another library bound in print, so preserving it from pretermittant geo- graphers. This list of manuscript sketches, maps and plans contains over 800 entries relating chiefly to the military campaigns in North America. It gives a description of the British-American landscape following the French and Indian war and provides close detail of the battles of the Revolution. More than 700 of the maps listed deal with North America and the remainder show various parts of the world including 20 maps of parts of Europe. Almost all of the maps are from the eighteenth century and come from various collections of papers such as those of Sir Henry Clinton and Lt General Thomas Gage, British commanders in America during the period 1763 to 1782. The maps are listed by geographical areas and within each area alphabetically by title. The name of the cartographer, scale and size of each map are provided where known and each map is described by a short text. Unfortunately only five reproductions of the maps are shown in the list but these serve to stimulate interest in seeing more. The reproduced map of West Florida for = gives a detailed picture of the Mississippi ‘goosefoot’ as it was in 1773 and one is readily stimulated by this to wonder what, for instance, the map by Davies in 1760 at a half-inch scale to show the “Draught of the river St Lawrence from Lake Ontario to Montreal”, must show. One perhaps — early echoes of the St Lawrence Seaway two hundred years before its opening

Christian Brun is to be commended for his contribution to the —— lists of manuscripts of maps and it is to be hoped that other librarians will follow his example and guide others to their all but forgotten maps. LA.G.K.

GENERAL

Geography of World Affairs. By J. P. Cole. 7X 41/2. Pp.348. 45 . Harmonds- worth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1959, 3s. 6d. =

Of all the departments of pape study, those of Political and Military Geography seem to receive the least attention. It is thus encouraging to note that this welcome attempt at a mid-twentieth century account of geography of world affairs has been made by one of Britain’s younger geographers. He has produced a well-reasoned, fair-minded and most readable volume. Although books of this type tend to become rapidly out-dated, this study contains many stimulating ideas about fundamental world problems which will remain valid for many years to come. For students of geography and related studies, it is an example of the contribution which geographers may make to the understanding of the complex political and economic patterns of the world today. The Introduction’s summary of the influence of maps and map projections on human vi ints is a useful statement of a fact not always appreciated by the non-g ap er. The author's review of the process and results of Europeanisation and of e shifting balance of power cannot fail to make a Western ———- reflect on the continuing validity of many long-cherished concepts. Even the y condensed regional studies are not without new thoughts and approaches, while the examination of world powers in Part III is concise and objective. Only the maps hardly do a geographer credit — the author might do well to study more closely what he said in his introductory remarks about projections. R.E.H.M.

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REVIEWS OF BOOKS

J Taylor; the education of a scientist. - T. Griffith Taylor, abr., a A. Macgregor. 88/45'/2. Pp.852. Plates and maps. Hale, 1958, 25s.

A v personal step-by chronicle of journeys by one of the most uavelled of men, with pr Ao companions by the way, of observations made and conclusions reached. Taylor is an expert in diagrams that are vivid and some- times suggestive, his conclusions are occasionally a little too much under their influence, but he is a cheery controversialist with special antipathies including classical education and cricket. His pages on the Antarctic with Scott, Ponting, Wright, Debenham, and Oates have several personal touches. In Australia he aroused much criticism by his justified candour about the desert and the Northern Territory. In his teaching he fought for geography as a means of education for international goodwill, and sought to - a the influence of environments, ~~ and past, and the i environmental changes on human istributions.

Proof-reading should have avoided such mistakes as Beckett (for Beckit), Myers (for Myres), Geike (for Geikie), Chrysoyster (for Chysauster), Tarshen (for Hal Tarxien), Hallstadt (for Halstatt). Altogether, the book is a rapid survey of the adventures of an active and indefatigable traveller and teacher in Australia, Canada, U.S.A., and, now and then, in England. H.J.F.

The Atlantic: a history of an ocean. By Leonard Outhwaite. 8'/2X5'/2. Pp.479, 5 Maps. 5 Drawings. End-paper maps. London: Constable & Co., 1958, 30s.

Mr Outhwaite has tried to put an ocean and its history into a quart pot and the result is an omnium gatherum which many will find fascinating but which will not please the specialist or the scholar. One suspects that his aim has been to write another marine best-seller. While the general reader will be astonished at the amount of material and information that is included, others will be surprised that such a topic as the air-mass meteorology of the North Atlantic, for instance, is barely touched on. The best chapters are those dealing with the history of the sailing routes across the ocean, but one is bound to wonder how many inaccuracies they may contain when one comes across, elsewhere, such slips as the following: the curragh “‘is still in use by the fishermen of the Isle of Arran (Scotch southwest coast)” (p.86); “the Christian Typography of Cosmas” (p.101); the Bronze Age and “the Iron Age that preceded it” (p.107); and the Geographical Journal cited as the publication of the American Geographical Society (p.464). E.E.E.

125 ‘ae = ©

SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY PROCEEDINGS

MEETINGS OF COUNCIL were held on the 13th February (not the 18th January as reported in previous issue), 29th May and 31st July 1959.

OBITUARIES : The Council regrets to announce the deaths of Mr George Dott, a member cf Council, who gave valuable services as Convener of the Place Names Committee and on the Early Maps of Scotland collection; Mr Robert Grant, a respected Chairman of Council, Vice President and Trustee of the Society, and Professor James Ritchie, a Fellow and Vice President of the Society.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

. The Annual General Meeting will be held in the Society’s Rooms, Edinburgh, on Tuesday, 6th October 1959.

ANNUAL SUMMER EXCURSION

This took place on Saturday, 30th May 1959, and was a coach tour to South West Scotland, going from Glasgow to Stranraer by Girvan, Ballantrae and Glen App, with a visit to Culzean Castle. Under the aegis of the series “Know your Scotland” excursions took place from Glasgow to Edinburgh (with a visit to the Society’s Rooms), round Glasgow, and to the State forest and typical farms in the Aberfoyle area. .

ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY’S TOURS

Pyrenees and Northern Spain - June, July, 1959; Norway - July, 1959.

PICTURES OF BRITAIN’S PAST

The history of Britain can be studied with enhanced pleasure with the aid of the Ordnance Survey Period Maps :— ROMAN BRITAIN A map of Britain as it was during the period of Roman occupation. BRITAIN IN THE DARK AGES (two sheets) Maps showing sites of historical importance between the end of Roman rule and the accession of King Alfred. MONASTIC BRITAIN (two sheets) Maps covering the period of British Monasticism from the Norman Conquest to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. ANCIENT BRITAIN (two sheets) Maps showing the most important visible antiquities older than A.D. 1066.

ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPS Key to the land of Britain

Obtainable from most booksellers and stationers PUBLISHED BY THE ORDNANCE SURVEY, CHESSINGTON, SURRBY

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INFORMATION ON THE U.S.S.R.

Students of the Soviet Union will find a new Bulletin of Material on the Geography of the U.S.S.R. of interest The first five issues are already avail- able— Agricultural Statistics, by C. A. Halstead (Glasgow University); New Economic Regions of the U.S.S.R., by J. P. Cole (Nottingham University); Industrial Statistics, by J. P. Cole; Transport Statistics and Notes, by R. E. H. Mellor (Aberdeen University); Popu- lation Statistics, by J. P. Cole. The material contained in the Bulletins is selected from Soviet geographical and - other publications available usually only in Russian and frequently difficult to obtain generally in this country. A sub- scription of 3s. 6d. (includes postage) will secure the first set of bulletins. Subscriptions and inquiries should be addressed to J. P. Cole, M.A., Depart- ment of Geography, University, Notting- ham, mentioning this journal.

NEWBIGIN PRIZE : REVISION

The Council of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society announce that : as from 1958, instead of a bronze medal and prize of £5. 5s., the prize offered for the Newbigin Prize should be £20 for the best essay, not exceeding 7,000 words on any subject relating to Scot- land, suitable for publication in the Scottish Geographical Magazine. Two copies of essays for the prize should be submitted to The Secretary, The Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Synod Hall, Castle Terrace, Edinburgh 1, not later than Ist of September, 1960.

Colonial Office List 1959

Assembling in one volume inform- ation otherwise available only from a number sources, this reference book is indispensable to anyone whose work, studies, or interests lie with the dependent territories. 35s. (post 1s. 3d.)

Abbeys

by R. GILYARD - BEER

Among our greatest architectural leg- acies from the Middle Ages are the ruined abbeys of England and Wales. This handbook deals briefly with the various orders of monks and friars and describes in greater detail the buildings and their architecture. Fully illustrated with plates and drawings. 5s. (post 6d.)

Structural Analysis of the Basement System

at Turoka, Kenya by L. E. WEISS, B.Sc., Ph.D., D:Se.

Gives the results of a detailed inves- tigation involving two months’ field work during the summer of 1955. Illustrated. 8s. (post 5d.)

From the Government Bookshops or through any bookseller

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The new edition of this outstanding book, completely revised by Margaret Walter, will be welcomed by all geography specialists.

The principle features of geomorphology and the relation of the physical environment to the human response is studied through the medium of the geographers’ tool — the large scale map. Examples are taken from abroad and from this country and provide the student with the opportunity not only to study foreign environments in detail but also to compare overseas topographic maps with the Ordnance

Survey sheets. 12s 6d non net

This book should be in the hands of every student of advanced geography.

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