i twelve millions of yards are annually exported from Hmh. Much
1 flax is raifed here, and the country is full of Com, but hot fuf-
Jfficient to' fupply the numerous inhabitants. Late at night -reach
| Inchftuthel, the modern Ddvin, the feat of John M a d k e n fte * , Efq;
«where I found a continuation of highland hofpitali'ty.
The fituation of this houle is of ftrange Angularity ; On a flat of
fa hundred and fifty-four Scotch acres f , regularly fteep on every
-afide, and in every part of equal height -, that is to fay, about fixty .1 feet above the great plain of Stormont-, which it Hands on. The
I figure is alfo remarkable, and much better to be exprefil-d by the
«engraving than by any defcription-of mine.
Two nations took advantage of this natural ftrength, and fitu-
Bated themfelves on it. The Piets, the long poflelfors of thefe
¡■eaftern parts of the kingdom, in all probability had here an oppi-
Mdtim, or town, fuch as uncivilized people inhabited in early times ;
«often in the midft of woods, and fortified all ròiind with a dike.
-« Here we find the veftiges of fuch a defence ; a mound of ftones
* Mr. Mackenjte's father, who was a good antiquary, held this to have been
part o f the land granted by Kenneth to the gallant Hay, the hero o f the battle o f 111 Loncarty, whofe defcendents pofleiTed it four or fivfe centuries.
f The difference between the meafufes O’f land in Scotland, and thofe ufed in
B England, is in proportion to thè Scots fell o f fix Scots èlls length* and the Englijh
I perch, which by fiatate is in length five yards and a half* whereby the acres
!§j fiand thus : One Scots acre is one acre, one rood, and one perch Englijh ; 100
Scots acres is 125 acres, two roods, 33 perches : fo that the proportion is nearly
as four is to five.— It is to be obferved, that there is no ftatute for the Scots
B chain, as there is for the Englijh ; only a very Old ctìftóm, which feerns to have
m ^een brought from the Pai •is Royal Arpent, which is nearly the faine with that
I at Prefe^t in Scotland, and called the Scots acre.
K 2 and
D e l v i n , or.
I n c h s t u t h e l .