MELFORD
ARGYLSHIRE, Sept. 3.
To Dr LEWIS.
DEAR DICK,
About a fortnight is now elapsed, since we left the capital of
Scotland, directing our course towards Stirling, where we lay. The
castle of this place is such another as that of Edinburgh, and
affords a surprising prospect of the windings of the river Forth,
which are so extraordinary, that the distance from hence to Alloa
by land, is but forty miles, and by water it is twenty-four.
Alloa is a neat thriving town, that depends in a great measure on
the commerce of Glasgow, the merchants of which send hither
tobacco and other articles, to be deposited in warehouses for
exportation from the Frith of Forth. In our way hither we visited
a flourishing iron-work, where, instead of burning wood, they use
coal, which they have the art of clearing in such a manner as
frees it from the sulphur, that would otherwise render the metal
too brittle for working. Excellent coal is found in almost every
part of Scotland.
The soil of this district produces scarce any other grain but
oats, lid barley; perhaps because it is poorly cultivated, and
almost altogether uninclosed. The few inclosures they have
consist of paultry walls of loose stones gathered from the
fields, which indeed they cover, as if they had been scattered on
purpose.
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