Page:Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history.djvu/91

PEEFACE. Ixxxiii Dorsum. It might be fitly viewed as the backbone or ridge of Scotland, from which the rivers and glens radiated like ribs on each side. It takes its rise north of the level isthmus which separates the Firths of Forth and Clyde in the mountains lying on the east side of Loch Lomond, of which Ben Lomond is the chief, and proceeds by the head of Loch Kat- rine to the Braes of Balquhidder, and then forms the chain which di^ades the county of Perth from that of Ai-gyle. This part of the range is termed, in the description of Scotland (No. xvii.), the "Montes " qui dividunt Scotiam ab Arregaithel," and traces of the name are found in Cairndrum and Tyndrum, at the head of Glen Dochart, meaning " the cairn of "the Brum" and "the house of the i)rMm."^ The chain is broken by the great moor of Eannoch, but intersects the main ridge of the Mounth or Grampians at Ben Alder, and proceeds north, cross- ing the great glen of Scotland between the Oich and the Lochy at a place called Achadrum, or "the " field of the Drum ;" it then proceeds through the centre of Eoss-shire, dividing the eastern and western waters, and crosses the strath called the Dearymore, extending from Dingwall to Loch ' In the " Description of Scot- " land" (No. xvii.), Albania is said to have in it the figure of a man. The head and neck are in Arre- gaithel. The body is " mens " Mound" extending from the west to the east sea. The arms are the " montes fjui dividunt " Scociam ab Arregaithel," pro- jecting from each side of the " mous Mound" at right angles. The legs are the Spey and the Tay. When the diocese of Dunkeld was divided into deaneries, the first was " in limitibus Athola; et " Drumalbaue."