The surface of Banffshire presents a very diversified aspect. The lower district is mostly a fine open country of a rich, deep, and highly-cultivated soil, agreeably diversified with gentle risings and young plantations. The upper district is mountainous and, at a distance, wears a bleak, forbidding appearance. But the scene changes on a nearer approach. Extensive farms are found embosomed in its fertile and well-cultivated glens. Some of the mountains are covered with trees in full luxuriance of growth; some presenting a beautiful intermixture of rock and copse, while others are covered with brown heath. The Spey flows along its western, and the Deveron along its eastern boundary; and both yield a considerable revenue from their salmon-fish ings. The principal mountains of Banffshire proper are Benrinnes and the Knockhill; but Cairngorm,Ben Macdhui, and Ben Aven, the highest summits in Britain, lie on or close to the boundary. The principal noblemen’s and gentlemen’s seats are Duff House, Cullen House, Park House, Troup House, Forglen House, Drummuir, Kininvie, Bal-venie, Aberlour, and Rothiemay. Several of these are elegant mansions, and most of them are surrounded by extensive and tastefully laid-out plantations. The natural woods are inconsiderable both in extent and value.

The geology of Banffshire is very closely connected with that of the neighbouring counties of Aberdeen and Moray, from which it is divided by no natural boundaries. Gneiss, and to a greater extent mica slate, form the lowest stratified rocks running nearly south-weβt from the coast between Cullen and Portsoy to the upper valleys of the Fiddach, Deveron, and Aven rivers. Generally they are fine grained slaty rocks, and form low rounded mountains, of no great beauty, but decomposing into soils of considerable fertility. In many places the mica slate alternates or passes into quartzite, which differs from it chiefly in the almost entire absence of mica. Quartzite in a more independent form is seen on the coast between Cullen and Buckie, and forms also the Durn Hill near Portsoy, the Binn of Cullen, the Knockhill, and much of the high ground to the south. Where it prevails the soil is far from fertile, and the white, weather-beaten mountains have a very sterile aspect. Connected with this series also beds of limestone are very common, and have been quarried in many places, as near Boyne Castle, Sandend, and Fordyce in the north, and in the interior near Keith, Mortlach, and Tomintoul.

Clayslate occurs in considerable abundance in Banffshire, in some places perhaps merely a finer variety of mica slate, in others coarser in texture, or so-called greywacke. Large masses are seen near Boharm, and from Dufftown south to Kirkmichael. It also forms the north coast from Knock Head by Banff, Macduff, and Gamrie, to the Troup Head, often rising into bold, lofty cliffs, and extends south to Gartly. In several places it is wrought for roofing slates both in this county and in Aberdeenshire. Though no fossils have yet been found in these strata, there is little doubt that they are more or less metamorphosed representatives of the lower portions of the Palaeozoic (Silurian and Cambrian) formations.

Resting on these rocks Devonian or Old Red Sandstone and conglomerate beds are seen in a few places. Thus the Morayshire beds cross the Spey near Fochabers, running along the coast to Euckie, and in the Tynet Burn have yielded many characteristic fossil fishes. Gamrie, at the north-east extremity of the county, is also well known for similar remains occurring in calcareous nodules embedded in a bluish grey marly rock, from which they are washed out by a small stream on its way to the sea. The more important species are Cheir acanthus Murchisoni, Cheirolepis Uragus, C occosteus cuspidatus, Dipl opt er us affinis, Glyptolepis elegans, Osteolepis arenatus, and Pterichthys Milleri. In the interior, near Tomintoul, another large deposit of red sandstone occurs, probably of the same age, but as yet no organic remains have been found in this locality. Indications of still more recent formations are seen in the chalk flints common in the vicinity of Portsoy, and in the Oolite fossils found in the brick clays at Blackpots. The raised beach with recent shells, more than 200 feet above the sealevel, near the old church of Gamrie, is also interesting. As in other parts of Scotland, the surface of the country is covered with masses of boulder clay and stratified drift beds, the materials often derived from a considerable distance and some of the granite boulders several tons in weight.

The most important igneous rock is granite. This rock, a portion of the great central mass of the Grampians, forms the mountains in the extreme south of the country round the sources of the Aven. Benrinnes also consists of it, and smaller masses are seen in Glenlivet and other localities. The well-known “graphic granite” forms a vein on the coast near Portsoy, and gets its name from the quartz and felspar crystals appearing on the polished surface like rude letters. Syenite, a compound of hornblende and felspar, covers a large district running south from near Portsoy to Rothiemay and Huntly in Aberdeenshire. The serpentine of Portsoy, though long known, and said to have been at one time extensively wrought and even sent to France as an ornamental stone, is now almost neglected. Rocks of a similar character may be traced pretty much in a south-west direction to near the sources of the Deveron, and from that into the upper parts of the Don in Aberdeenshire.

Some interesting minerals have been found in Banffshire. Among them may be mentioned magnetite, chromite, and asbestos at Portsoy; fluorite near Boharm, at Keith, and on the Avon; also cyanite and chiastolite in clayslate at Boharm. Attempts were made many years ago to work a vein of sulphuret of antimony near Keith; and more recently mines of haematite were opened near Arndilly on the Spey.

The agriculture of Banffshire is conducted upon the newest and most approved principles. The soil, though varying even in adjacent fields, is in general rich and productive, yielding fair crops of wheat, and excellent crops of barley, oats, &c.; and the grass and green crops are equally abundant. About 163,000 acres are under cultivation, the extent of the farms is in general from 150 to 200 arable acres, independently of moorland and pasture-grounds. The duration of leases is nineteen years; although there are still some individuals who possess on liferent, and a few leases are held for a longer term. The whole of the farms, even the smallest pendicles, are under regular rotations of cropping, generally a five or seven course shift. The fields are well laid out and subdivided, and properly cleaned and manured; for which last purpose large quantities of lime, bone-dust, and guano, are annually imported. The ridges are all straight; and the fields, at least many of them, are enclosed with stone dykes or other fences. The swamps and wet grounds have also been drained and cultivated, so as to effect a total revolution in the ancient modes of agriculture within the county. The cattle and stock hold a high character; and there are several herds of pure short-horns and pure polled Aberdeenshire cattle maintained in the county. This district was much indebted to one of the earls of Findlater, who, as early as the year 1754, not only introduced and exemplified, on some of his own farms, the most approved practices then known in England, but held out liberal encouragement to his tenants to follow his example. His descendants, the earls of Seafield, have also done much to improve the family estates, adding to them many thousands of acres of arable land; and it may be said with truth that one of the earls was the greatest planter of trees in Great Britain within the present century. In 1846 this nobleman received the honorary gold medal of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, for his vast and thriving plantations of useful timber trees, in the counties of Banff, Moray, and Nairn. From the year 1811 to 1845, he had planted 18,938,224 Scotch firs, 11,904,798 larches, 843,450 hardwoods; making the enormous aggregate of 31,686,472 forest trees, planted in 8223 acres of enclosed ground.

This county also owes much to the earls of Fife, by whose generous efforts and taste for improvement a vast amount has been done in planting and reclaiming land, by favourable leases to the tenantry, and allowances for draining, <fcc, Latterly, improvement has been promoted by agricultural associations, annual premiums being given for the best specimens of live stock and the best productions of the soil The Banffshire Agricultural Association has two shows yearly for all sorts of stock and produce and agricultural implements, with premiums for superiority in various breeds of cattle, poultry, &c. The valued rental of the county is now upwards of £224,250 sterling.

The manufactures of Banffshire are very unimportant, the inhabitants being principally engaged in agriculture and the rearing of cattle. The salmon-fishery is actively prosecuted on the rivers, and herring and other fisheries on the coast. Distilling is largely carried on in Glenlivet and other places; and there is a woollen factory at Keith.

Banffshire was the scene of many bloody conflicts between the Scots and their Danish invaders. From 1624 to 1645 it was the theatre of almost incessant struggles, and the Covenanting troubles of that period, combined with the frequent conflicts of the clans, were productive of serious evils. Several remains of antiquity are pointed out in different parts of the country, such as the sculptured stone at Mortlach, and the churches of Cullen and Fordyce Ruins of castles and traces of encampments are often to be met with, and a great number of cairns and tumuli are also found. Among the distinguished men whom Banffshire has produced, the following may be mentioned :—Archbishop Sharp of St Andrews; George Baird, distinguished for his services as sheriff of the county during the time of the Covenanters; Thomas Ruddiman, the grammarian; Walter Goodall, the defender of Mary Queen of Scots; Dr Alexander Geddes; and James Ferguson, the astronomer. The population of the county in 1861 and in 1871 was as follows :— [table]

See Robertson s Collections for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff, Spalding Club; Shaw’s History of the Province of Moray; Cordiner’s Antiquities of the North of Scotland; and various statistical accounts of Banffshire.