The most easterly of the Scottish counties, it abuts like a prominent shoulder into the North Sea. It has, therefore, a considerable sea-board partly flat and sandy, partly rocky and precipitous. The population of the numerous villages dotted along this coast used in time past to devote themselves to fishing, but the tendency of recent years has been to concentrate this industry in the larger towns, Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Aberdeen.
Other industries there are few. Next to agriculture and fishing comes granite, which is the only mineral worthy of mention found in the county. It is the prevailing rock of the district and is quarried to a considerable extent in various parts. A large part of the population earn their living by this industry, and Aberdeen granite, like Aberdeen beef and Aberdeen fish, is a well-known product and travels far. Paper and wool are also manufactured but only on a moderate scale.
There is only one other general feature of the county that deserves mention and that is its attractiveness as a health resort. The banks of the Dee, more especially in its upper regions, is a much frequented holiday haunt; and every summer and autumn Braemar, Ballater and Aboyne are crowded with visitors from all parts of the country. The late Queen Victoria no doubt gave the
The Punch Bowl, Linn of Quoich, Braemar
impetus to this fashion. Her majesty at an early period of her reign bought the estate of Balmoral, half-way between Ballater and Braemar, and having built a royal castle there made it her practice to reside for a large part of every year amongst the Deeside hills. Apart from this royal advertisement the high altitude of the district, and its dry, bracing climate, as well as its romantic mountain scenery, have proved permanently attractive. Here are Loch-na-gar (sung by Byron), Ben-Macdhui, Brae-riach, Ben-na-Buird, Ben-Avon and other Bens, all of them 4000, or nearly 4000, feet above sea-level, and all of them imposing and impressive in their bold and massive forms. These mountains supply elements of grandeur which exercise a fascination upon people who habitually live in a flat country, and Braemar is not likely to lose its merited popularity.
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries.
Aberdeenshire is one of the large counties in area, standing fifth in Scotland. Although Inverness contains more than twice the number of square miles in Aberdeenshire, its population is far behind that of Aberdeen, which in this respect is the third county in Scotland. Its greatest length from N.E. to S.W. is 102 miles; its greatest breadth from N.W. to S.E. is 50. The coast line measures 65 miles and is little indented. The whole area of the county is 1970 square miles, or 1,261,971 acres, of which 6400 are water.
In shape the county might be likened to a pear lying obliquely on its side, the narrow stalk-end being in the mountains, while the rounded bulging head is the north-eastern sea-board. The flattest portion is the region lying north of the Ythan, called Buchan, and even this can hardly be called flat, for the level is broken by Mormond Hill, near Strichen, rising to a height of 810 feet. All the way to Pennan Head the contour of the land is irregularly wavy. The narrower portion in the S.W., called Mar, is entirely mountainous, and midway between these two extremes lie the Garioch and Formartin—districts which are undulating in character. A crescent line drawn from Aberdeen to Turriff, the convex side being to the S.W., would divide the county into two parts, which might be described as lowland and highland. The lowland portion contains the lower valley of the Don as far up as Inverurie, the valley of the Ythan and all the remaining northern part of the county. South of this imaginary line the ground rises in ridge after ridge until it culminates in the lofty Grampian range of the Cairngorms. The bipartite character of the county, which is reflected in the occupation and pursuits as in the character and language of the two populations, is of some importance, and yet must not be pressed too far, because the population in the one half is practically insignificant as compared with that of the other. It follows that when Aberdeenshire men and Aberdeenshire ways are referred to, nine times out of ten it is the lowland part of the county that is in question.
