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Centre of the water, is 17 miles; and to the bridge of Stir- ling, it is 194: whereas the diſtance by land, from that to | Alloa, does not exceed 7 miles. The river expands confi- derably about the village of Cambus, where the water of Dovan falls into itz and from that to Kincardine, the river ji! varies in breadth from 1 to a mile. There are three iſlands| | between Cambus and Ailoa. One of them is of conſiderable| jj extent. Every ſpring-tide uſed formerly to cover all of them ||; with water. But within theſe two years, one of the ſmalleſt || of them has had a ſea-dyke put round it. But whether this I| banked iſlet will feed more cattle than formerly, has not yet
4 been aſcertained. There is a ſtratum of rock which runs
| acroſs the bed of the river, at ſome diſtance above the largeſt | iſland, which, at low water, during ſpring-tides, makes a | ford, which, however, is but ſeldom attempted. Few veſ-
| ſels above 69 or 70 tons burden can get over this ford.' ||/ The Frith of Forth may be ſaid to commence at Kincar-| j dine; and a little below that village, its breadth is full ij] 2X miles. There is a particularity in this river that is very remarkable. It is taken notice of in Sir Robert Sibbald's | Hiſtory, Ancient and Modern, of the Sheriffdoms of Fife | and Kinroſs, printed in 1710.
||« It is to be remarked, that in the Forth, there are, beſides| ||.<< the regular ebbs and flows, ſeveral irregular motions, which. ||.“« the commons between Alloa and Culroſs(who have moſt cc diligently obſerved them) called the Lakies of Forth; by <“« which name they expreſs theſe odd motions of the river, |« when it ebbs and flows: for when it floweth, ſometime |«« before it be full ſea; and on the contrary, when the ſea ji«« is ebbing, before low water, it intermits, and fills for ſome |||<“« conſiderable time, and after ebbs till 4t be low water. And| ""«« this is called a Lakie*. N "'« The Rev. Mr. Alexander Wright, late miniſter of the s« goſpel at Alloway, who made a diligent inquiry about
m|» Commonly pronounced Leakie, |«“ theſe