provide communication in one direction
with Aberdeen, and in another with Elgin, Nairn and Inverness.

The population of Banffshire in 1891 was 61,684, and in 1901 61,488, or 97
to the square mile. In 1901 there were 499 persons speaking Gaelic and
English. The chief towns are Banff (pop. in 1901, 7161), Buckie (6549), and
Keith (4753), with Cullen (1936), Portsoy (1878) and Dufftown (1823). The
county returns one member to parliament; the royal burghs, Banff and
Cullen, belonging to the Elgin group of parliamentary burghs. Banffshire,
with Aberdeen and Kincardine shires, forms a sheriffdom, and there is a
resident sheriff-substitute at Banff, who sits also at Keith, Buckie and
Dufftown. Most of the schools are under school-board jurisdiction. Several
of them earn grants for higher education, and the county council, out of
the "residue grant," subsidizes classes in agriculture, navigation,
veterinary science and cookery and laundry work. The teachers of the
county, with those of the shires of Aberdeen and Elgin, benefit by the
bequest of James Dick (1743-1828), a West India merchant, who left over
L110,000 to promote the higher learning of the schoolmasters of these
shires. The annual income of L4000 is distributed among the dominies who
have qualified by examination to become beneficiaries.

_History_.--Of the northern Picts who originally possessed the land few
remains now exist beyond the cairns that are found in the districts of
Rothiemay, Ballindalloch, Boharm, Glen Livet and elsewhere. "Cairn" also
occurs in many place names. The advance of the Romans was practically
prevented by the mountains in the south, but what is believed to have been
a Roman camp may still be made out in Glen Barry. Danish invaders were more
persevering and more successful. Many bloody conflicts took place between
them and the Scots. Near Cullen a fierce encounter occurred in 960, and a
sculptured stone at Mortlach is said to commemorate a signal victory gained
by Malcolm II. over the Norsemen in 1010. The shire was the scene of much
strife after the Reformation. In Glen Livet the Roman Catholics, under the
marquess of Huntly, worsted the Protestants under the earl of Argyll. From
1624 to 1645 was a period of almost incessant struggle, and the Covenanting
troubles, combined with the frequent conflicts of the clans, were
productive of serious evils. But the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 left
the county comparatively untouched, and therea