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ABERDEENSHIRE, maritime county, ex-tending from the river Dee to the Moray Firth, and from the Dee's mouth to the summits of the Cairngorm Mountains. Its length is about 86 miles ; its greatest breadth about 47 miles ; its extent of coast about 70 miles ; its circumference about 280 miles ; its area 1970 square miles. Its ancient divisions were Buchan, Strathbogie, Formartine, Garioch, and Mar ; and its modern districts are Deer, Turriff, Huntly, Garioch, Alford, Ellon, New Machar, Aberdeen, Deeside, and Braemar. The coast has few indentations, is partly rocky and precipitous, and includes the most easterly ground in Scotland. About two-thirds of the interior are either sands, mosses, moors, hills, or mountains. The northern, eastern, and south-eastern parts are the least elevated, and comprise a large aggregate of low flat land ; while the south-western parts are prevailingly lofty and rugged, and include summits and offsets of the Cairngorm Mountains. The chief rocks are granite, gneiss, and mica slate. The principal rivers are the Dee, the Don, the Deveron, and the Ythan. The soils are very various and averagely poor, but have been so skilfully worked as to be remarkably productive. The towns with each above 4000 inhabitants are Aberdeen, Peterhead, and Fraserburgh ; with each above 2000, Huntly, Inverury, Turriff, and New Pitsligo ; with each above 1000, Old Meldrum, Rosehearty, and Strichen ; and the villages with each above 500, Auchmull, Ballater, Boddam,Cuminestone, Ellon, Inverallochy, Kintore, New Aberdour, Newburgh, and St. Comb. The county sends 2 members to Parliament, and is cut for that purpose into two divisions, eastern and western. Real property in 1880-81, 919,203. Pop. in 1871, 244,603 ; in 1881, 267,963.
