t
I mports,
greatly augmented. This is owing to the introdu&ion of manu:
failures ; the number, at this time, is faid tobe about three thoufadi
five hundred : thefe principally confift of weavers of coarfe brown
linens, and fome fail-cloth ; others are employed in making white
and coloured threads: the remainder ale either-engaged in the Ihip.
ping of the place, or in the necefiary and common mechanic trades,
The brown linens, or Ofnaburghs, were manufactured here before
any encouragement was given by Government, or the linen com.
pany ereiled at Edinburgh. The merchant, who firft introduced
the manufacture, is iliil alive, and has the happinefs of feeing it
overfpread the country. It appears from the books of the itanip.
office in this town, that feven or eight hundred thoufand yards are
annually made in the place, and a fmall diftrit round. Befide this
export, and that of thread, much barley, and fome wheat is lent
abroad 5 but fo populous is the country, that more than an equivalent
of meal is imported.
The foreign imports are flax, flax-feed, and timber, from tktc
Baltic. The coafling trade confifts of coals from Borrowflmtf
and lime from Lord Elgin's kilns in Fife. The firft forms a conJ
fiderable article of commerce, this being the laft port to the north,!
into which that commodity may be brought, free from the heavy
duty commencing after it'has palled the promontory,, the Red-Hd
The coaft from the Buttonefs, or northern cape of the Firth of 7>;'i
is entirely deftitute of a port, as far as the harbour of Mofitnf.
In fadl this eaftern fide of the kingdom is as unfavorable to the-
feaman as it is to the planter. Whofoever will give themfelves tie
trouble of calling their eye on the map, will perceive,' that frooj
the Humber’s mouth to John a Groat’s houfe, there is an uncom>l
01»!
^ ijr l8 §