Highlands

Highlands, The, a term used somewhat vaguely to designate the mountainous portion of Scotland lying N. of an imaginary line beginning it Nairn on the Moray Firth, running S.E. to the Dee at Dinnet, thence S. to the West Water in Forfarshire, and ending at Ardmore on the Clyde, the whole of Argyleshire and the islands, except Arran, being indented in the division N. of the line. The Lowlands, of course, are the districts south of this ill-defined boundary. The use of the Gaelic language and the ethnological characteristics of the native population roughly serve to mark off one division from the other. A very distinct geographical feature, viz. the chain of lakes connected by the Caledonian Canal, separates the Northern from the Southern Highlands, whilst a less clear boundary limits the area popularly known as the Western Highlands.