PARISH OF QUEENSFERRY. PRESBYTERY OF LINLITHGOW, SYNOD OF LOTHIAN & TWEEDDALE. THE REV. THOMAS DIMMA, A. M., MINISTER. I.-TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. Boundaries. THIS parish, which comprehends the royal burgh, is bounded on the north by the Frith of Forth, and everywhere else by the parish of Dalmeny. In the town, but beyond the royalty, there are 422 inhabitants, and at New-Halls 90, by the census 1841. Climate, &c. In winter the thermometer ranges from 46° to 15°. In November 1830 it was 32o at the lowest, and in the following January at 23°. The barometer is not subject to more than the usual variations. The Frith opposite the town is about a mile and a half in breadth. The tide rises 18 feet at the harbour mouth. The water is shallow on the southern shore; but the depth is greatest on the Fife side, where in the fair-way between the island Inch Garvie, and the Battery Point, the bottom has been found with a line of 60 fathoms. At certain seasons, after floods occasioned by melting snow or falls of rain, the saltness of the water is much diminished by the volume of fresh water carried down by the Forth and its tributary streams. The town is supplied with water collected in an artificial reservoir, very liberally formed, at the expense of the Earl of Rosebery, in the year 1819. This has proved an unspeakable advantage to the town. During the great drought of last summer, when the reservoir was nearly emptied, the burgh laid out upwards of L. 100 in heightening the embankment, and thereby greatly increasing the supply of water. At the original formation of the reservoir, the town expended L. 200. The houses in the centre of the town are founded on sea sand, which extends to the foot of the rising ground or brae, at the bottom of which the town is built. In the west and east, a bed of sandstone appears, which dips to the north with a considerable LINLITHGOW. A |