a parliamentary and municipal burgh and seaport of Scotland, in the county of Aberdeen, stands on a peninsula, forming the most easterly promontory of the mainland, 33 miles N.N.E. of Aberdeen, and 146 from Edinburgh. The streets are for the most part broad; and being exposed to the bracing breezes of the ocean, it is peculiarly exempt from epidemical diseases. It is well supplied with excellent spring water, brought from about 3 miles inland. The houses are built of the fine red granite which is quarried in the vicinity, and which takes its name from the town. Among the public buildings, the most important is the town-house, which has a handsome spire 125 feet high. The parish church, built in 1803, near the west end of the town, is also surmounted by a lofty granite spire of the height of 118 feet. There are also places of worship belonging to the Free Church, the Scotch Episcopal Church, the United Presbyterians, Independents, Methodists, and Roman Catholics. The market-cross, erected in 1833, consists of a Tuscan column of granite, having on the top the armorial bearings of the earl marischal, surmounted by the Scottish lion. The principal educational establishments of the town are the parish school, the Free Church school, the academy, the Episcopal Church school, and the union or industrial school; and there are also a news-room and an extensive circulating library. There is a museum and a cabinet of coins of considerable value, the gift of the late Adam Arbuthnot, Esq.; but from want of adequate accommodation, these collections have not yet been rendered properly available. There is a sick benefit institution, and several friendly societies. The manufactures are not extensive; but there are large bone and saw mills, an iron foundry, a woollen cloth manufactory, a rope-work, breweries, and a brick and tile work, besides extensive premises for oil-boiling and the other processes connected with the extensive fisheries which are carried on. Peterhead ranks high as an enterprising commercial and seaport town. Here the Greenland whale and seal fisheries have been carried on since 1788. At present there are 28 vessels employed in that trade, of 7885 registered tons, and manned by 1385 seamen. This number exceeds that of all the vessels in the trade from the other ports in Great Britain. During the nine years from 1849 to 1857 there were brought to Peterhead the produce of 651,474 seals and 207 whales, which, besides the seal-skins, yielded 10,863 tons of oil and 2783 cwt. of whale-bone, and the value is estimated at L550,398. The herring fishery is also extensively carried on, the number of boats commonly ranging from 230 to 400 annually, ranking in this respect second only to Wick among the stations on the coasts of Scotland. The white fishery is actively carried on at the villages in the neighbourhood, and the fish is brought to Peterhead for shipment to the London and other markets. Besides the exports arising from the fisheries and the agricultural produce of the district, there is a considerable export of granite from the extensive quarries in the vicinity. It may be obtained in very large blocks, and when polished is very beautiful. The pillars in the British Museum, the docks at Sheerness, the York column in London, and many other public works, are of Peterhead granite; and in a polished state it has been used in many ornamental designs. The principal imports consist of British and foreign timber, tar, hemp, coals, lime, Peterhead, manure, salt, iron, wool, soft goods, groceries, flour, and wooden hoops. Peterhead has a custom-house on the full establishment for the district, which includes Fraserburgh and Boddam. Ship-building is carried on to some extent. The number of sailing-vessels registered as belonging to the port on December 31, 1857, was 74; tonnage 13,419; steam-vessels 2; tonnage 327. During 1857 there entered the port 544 sailing-vessels, tonnage 59,889; and 26 steam-vessels, tonnage 3978; while there cleared 406 sailing-vessels, tonnage 18,827; and 26 steam-vessels, tonnage 3978. Peterhead possesses two harbours, the north and the south, which communicate by means of a canal; and thus vessels may enter and leave the one or the other in any wind. That portion of the peninsula thus formed into an island is called Keith Inch, and is connected with the mainland by an excellent swing-bridge with a double roadway. The south harbour has a depth of 11 feet of water at medium spring-tides, and the north harbour 16 feet. They have together an area of about 17 imperial acres, and are protected by substantially-built breakwaters, within which are commodious quays and piers. There are also two excellent graving-docks, where repairs can be speedily made on vessels under 600 tons. The south breakwater was constructed in 1778, according to a plan by the late Mr Smeaton, engineer; and the north breakwater in 1818, according to a plan by the late Mr Telford. About £105,000 have been expended on the building and improving of these harbours and docks since 1773, of which £15,000 was obtained from government by grants from the forfeited estates fund. The harbour revenue amounted for the year 1857–8 to £4392. The importance of the harbours is enhanced by their being situated near the outer extremity of the south bay, a beautiful sheet of water, nearly 2 miles across, and extending more than a mile inland. It has ample depth of water for a fleet of the largest vessels, and its anchorage is of a very superior description. To protect this bay with proper breakwaters is all that is necessary to make it a national harbour of incalculable value. So long ago as the reign of Charles II., the importance of the harbours of Peterhead as a port attracted the attention of the legislature, and an act was passed for their improvement; and since then, from time to time, public attention has been directed to them. At present they are being made the subject of inquiry by a royal commission appointed to report on the best site for a harbour of refuge on the east coast of Scotland. For this purpose, from what has been said, it will be seen that Peterhead offers many advantages. It is also nearly midway between the firths of Forth and Cromarty, it occupies a salient position on the coast, and is the nearest point of Britain to the Baltic. About 240 vessels take shelter annually in these harbours, and about 600 in the south bay, in its present unprotected state, which prevents its being available in the winter months. A railway between Aberdeen, Peterhead, and Fraserburgh is about to be constructed, which will materially contribute to the prosperity of the town. Peterhead was for upwards of two centuries a favourite watering-place, and its mineral waters were in repute for stomach and bowel complaints, nervous affections, and general debility. Sea-bathing is also to be had here, either on the shores of the open sea, or in the baths, of which there are two for the different sexes, with hot-water vapour baths, &c. Peterhead was erected into a burgh of barony by George, earl marischal, in 1593, previously to which it was an unimportant fishing village. A large portion of the lands in the parish continued to belong to the marischal family till 1715, when they were forfeited to the Crown, the then earl having actively espoused the cause of the Stuart family. The estate was then purchased by the York Building Company, who sold it in 1728 to the governors of the Merchant Maiden Hospital of Edinburgh, who still continue to be the superiors of the town. By the original charter in 1593, the earl marischal established a Peter-le-municipal government in the town, and the system continued till the passing of the Burgh Reform Act in 1833, which conferred on the town the privilege of electing a provost, three bailies, and a treasurer, out of a body of twelve councillors appointed by the electors. Peterhead unites with Elgin, Cullen, Banff, Inverury, and Kintore in returning a member to Parliament; and its constituency amounts to 250. The population of the burgh in 1851 amounted to 7747, besides about 500 absent seamen. The rental of property within the burgh amounts to £14,081. The assessment for poor in the parish in 1858 was £2200. The remains of two ancient small forts, and the ruins of Ravenscrag, and of the castle of Boddam, are in the vicinity. Ravenscrag is a fine specimen of an old baronial castle, not in a very dilapidated state. The walls are in many places 11 feet in thickness; and the date of its erection is assigned to the eleventh or twelfth century. The ruins of Boddam Castle stand on a narrow promontory immediately south of Buchanness, on each side of which there is a deep chasm, forming precipices of great height. A good many relics of antiquity have at different times been found in the neighbouring parishes.