Flora and Fauna.---The tops of the highest mountains have an
arctic flora. At the royal lodge on Loch Muick, 1350 ft. above
the sea, grow larches, vegetables, currants, laurels, roses,
&c. Some ash-trees, four or five feet in girth, are growing
at 1300 ft. above the sea. T rees, especially Scotch fir and
larch, grow well, and Braemar is rich in natural timber, said
to surpass any in the north of Europe. Stumps of Scotch fir
and oak found in peat are sometimes far larger than any now
growing. The mole is found at 1800 ft. above the sea, and the
squirrel at 1400. Grouse, partridges and hares are plentiful,
and rabbits are often too numerous. Red deer abound in
Braemar, the deer forest being the most extensive in Scotland.
Climate and Agriculture.---The climate, except in the
mountainous districts, is comparatively mild, owing to
the proximity of much of the shire to the sea. The mean
annual temperature at Braemar is 43.6 deg. F., and at Aberdeen
45.8 deg. . The mean yearly rainfall varies from about 30 to 37
in. The summer climate of the upper Dee and Don valleys is
the driest and most bracing in the British Isles, and grain
is cultivated up to 1600 ft. above the sea, or 400 to 500
ft. higher than elsewhere in North Britain. Poor, gravelly,
clayey and peaty solis prevail, but tile-draining, bones and
guano, and the best methods of modern tillage, have greatly
increased the produce. Indeed, in no part of Scotland has
a more productive soil been made out of such unpromising
material. Farm-houses and steadings have much improved, and
the best agricultural implements and machines are in general
use. About two-thirds of the population depend entirely
on agriculture . Farms are small compared with those in
the south-eastern counties. Oats are the predominant crop,
wheat has practically gone out of cultivation, but barley
has largely increased. The most distinctive industry is
cattle-feeding. A great number of the home-bred crosses
are fattened for the London and local markets, and Irish
animals are imported on an extensive scale for the same
purpose, while an exceedingly heavy business in dead meat
for London and the south is done all over the county.
Sheep, horses and pigs are also raised in large numbers.
Fisheries.---A large fishing population in villages along
the coast engage in the white and herring fishery, which is the
next most important industry to agriculture, its development
having been due almost exclusively to the introduction of steam
trawlers. The total value of the annual catch, of which
between a half and a third consists of herrings, amounts to
L. 1,000,000. Haddocks are salted and rock-dried (speldings)
or smoked (finnans). The ports and creeks are divided
into the fishery rllstricts of Peterhead, Fraserburgh and
Aberdeen, the last of which includes also three Kincardineshire
ports. The herring season for Aberdeen, Peterhead and
Fraserburgh is from June to September, at which time
the ports are crowded with boats from other Scottish
districts. There are valuable salmon-fishings--rod, net
and stake-net--on the Dee, Don, Ythan and Ugie. The average
annual despatch of salmon from Aberdeenshire is about 400 tons.
Other Industries.--Manufactures are mainly prosecuted in or
near the city of Aberdeen, but throughout the rural districts
there is much milling of corn, brick and tile making, smith-work,
brewing and distilling, cart and farm-implement making,
casting and drying of peat, and timber-felling, especially
on Deeside and Donside, for pit-props, railway sleepers,
laths and barrel staves. There are a number of paper-making
establishments, most of them on the Don near Aberdeen.
The chief source of mineral wealth is the noted durable
granite, which is quarried at Aberdeen, Kemnay, Peterhead and
elsewhere. An acre of land on being reclaimed has yielded L. 40 to
L. 50 worth of causewaying stones. Sandstone and other rocks
are also quarried at different parts. The imports are mostly
coal, lime, timber, iron, slate, raw materials for the textile
manufactures, wheat, cattle-feeding stuffs, bones, guano, sugar,
alcoholic liquors, fruits. The exports are granite (roughdressed
and polished), flax, woollen and cotton goods, paper, combs,
preserved provisions, oats, barley, live and dead cattle.
Communications.---From the south Aberdeen city is approached
by the Caledonian (via Perth, Forfar and Stonehaven), and the
North British (via Dundee, Montrose and Stonehaven) railways,
and the shire is also served by the Great North of Scotland
railway, whose main line runs via Kintore and Huntly to Keith and
Elgin. There are branch lines from various points opening up
the more populous districts, as from Aberdeen to Ballater by
Deeside, from Aberdeen to Fraserburgh (with a branch at Maud
for Peterhead and at Ellon for Cruden Bay and Boddam), from
Kintore to Alford, and from Inverurie to Old Meldrum and also to
Macduff. By sea there is regular communication with London,
Leith, Inverness, Wick, the Orkneys and Shetlands, Iceland and the
continent. The highest of the macadamized roads crossing the
eastern Grampians rises to a point 2200 ft. above sea-level.
Population and Government.---In 1801 the population numbered
284,036 and in 1901 it was 304,439 (of whom 159,603 were
females), or 154 persons to the sq. m. In 1901 there were 8
persons who spoke Gaelic only, and 1333 who spoke Gaelic and
English. The chief towns are Aberdeen (pop. in 1901, 153,503),
Bucksburn (2231), Fraserburgh (9105), Huntly (4136), Inverurie
(3624), Peterhead (11,794), Turriff (2273). The Supreme Court
of Justiciary sits in Aberdeen to try cases from the counties of
Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine. The three counties are under
a sheriff, and there are two sheriffs-substitute resident in
Aberdeen, who sit also at Fraserburgh, Huntly, Peterhead and
Turriff. The sheriff courts are held in Aberdeen and
Peterhead. The county sends two members to parliament
--one for East Aberdeenshire and the other for West
Aberdeenshire. The county town, Aberdeen (q.v.), returns two
members. Peterhead, Inverurie and Kintore belong to the Elgin
group of parliamentary burghs, the other constituents being
Banff, Cullen and Elgin. The county is under school-board
jurisdiction, and there are also several voluntary schools.
There are higher-class schools in Aberdeen, and secondary
schools at Huntly, Peterhead and Fraserburgh, and many of
the other schools in the county earn grants for secondary
education. The County Secondary Education Committee dispense
a large sum, partly granted by the education department and
partly contributed by local authorities from the ``residue''
grant, and support, besides the schools mentioned, local
clases and lectures in agriculture, fishery and other technical
subjects, in addition to subsidizing the agricultural department
of the university of Aberdeen. The higher branches of
education have always been thoroughly taught in the schools
throughout the shire, and pupils have long been in the
habit of going directly from the schools to the university.
The native Scots are long-headed, shrewd, careful, canny,
active, persistent, but reserved and blunt, and without
demonstrative enthusiasm. They have a physiognomy distinct
from the rest of the Scottish people, and have a quick,
sharp, rather angry accent. The local Scots dialect is
broad, and rich in diminutives, and is noted for the use
of e for o or u, f for wh, d for th, &c.
So recently as 1830 Gaelic was the fireside language of
almost every family in Braemar, but now it is little used.
History.---The country now forming the shires of Aberdeen
and Banff was originally peopled by northern Picts, whom
Ptolemy called Taixall, the territory being named Taixalon.
Their town of Devana, once supposed to be the modern Aberdeen,
has been identified by Prof. John Stuart with a site in the
parish of Peterculter, where there are remains of an ancient
camp at Normandykes, and by Dr W. F. Skene with a station
on Loch Davan, west of Aboyne. So-called Roman camps have
also been discovered on the upper Ythan and Deveron, but
evidence of effective Roman occupation is still to seek.
Traces of the native inhabitants, however, are much less
equivocal. Weems or earth-houses are fairly common in the
west. Relics of crannogs or lake-dwellings exist at Loch
Ceander, or Kinnord, 5 m. north-east of Ballater, at Loch
Goul in the parish of New Machar and elsewhere. Duns or forts
occur on hills at Dunecht, where the dun encloses an area
of two acres, Bnrra near Old Meldrum, Tap o' Noth, Dunnideer
near Insch and other places. Monoliths, standing stones and
``Druidical'' circles of the pagan period abound, and there are
many examples of the sculptured stones of the early Christian
epoch. Efforts to convert the Picts were begun by Teman
in the 5th century, aad continued by Columba (who founded
a monastery at Old Deer), Drostan, Maluog and Machar, but
it was long before they showed lasting results. Indeed,
dissensions within the Columban church and the expulsion
of the clergy from Pictland by the Pictish king Nectan in
the 8th century undid most of the progress that had been
made. The Vikings and Danes periodically raided the coast,
but whhen (1040) Macbeth ascended the throne of Scotland the
Northmen, under the guidance of Thorfinn, refrained from further
trouble in the north-east. Macbeth was afterwards slain at
Lumphanan (1057), a cairn on Perkhill marking the spot. The
influence of the Norman conquest of England was felt even in
Aberdeenshire. Along with numerous Anglo-Saxon exiles, there
also settled in the country Flemings who introduced various
industries, Saxons who brought farming, and Scandinavians
who taught nautical skill. The Celts revolted more than
once, but Malcolm Canmore and his successors crushed them
and confiscated their lands. In the reign of Alexander
I. (d. 1124) mention is first made of Aberdeen (originally
called Abordon and, in the Norse sagas, Apardion), which
received its charter from William the Lion in 1179, by which
date its burgesses had alfeady combined with those of Banff,
Elgin, Inverness and other trans-Grampian communities to form
a free Hanse, under which they enjoyed exceptional trading
privileges. By this time, too, the Church had been organized,
the bishopric of Aberdeen having been established in 1150.
In the 12th and 13th centuries some of the great Aberdeenshire
famines arose, including the earl of Mar (c. 1122), the
Leslies, Freskins (ancestors of the dukes of Sutherland),
Durwards, Bysets, Comyns and Cheynes, and it is significant
that in most cases their founders were immigrants. The
Celtic thanes and their retainers slowly fused with the
settlers. They declined to take advantage of the disturbed
condition of the country during the wars of the Scots
independence, and made common cause with the bulk of the
nation. Though John Comyn (d. 1300?), one of the competitors
for the throne, had considerable interests in the shire, his
claim received locally little support. In 1296 Edward I. made
a triumphal march to the north to terrorize the more turbulent
nobles. Next year Wilham Wallace surprised the English garrison
in Aberdeen, but failed to capture the castle. In 1303 Edward
again visited the county, halting at the Castle of Kildrummy,
then in the possession of Robert Bruce, who shortly afterwards
became the acknowledged leader of the Scots and made Aberdeen
his headquarters for several months. Despite the seizure of
Kildrummy Castle by the English in 1306, Bruce's prospects
