Art Holiday Travel and Vacation information for Buteshire

"BUTESHIRE. The Islands of Bute, Arran, Great and Little Cumbray (or Cumbrae), Holy Isle, Pladda, and Inch-Marnoch, compose this shire, which comprises 225 square miles of land, or 143,997 acres. Though far separated from the properly denominated Western Islands, those of Bute statistically constitute a portion of the Hebrides. ... The climate of Buteshire is eminently salubrious - neither mists nor noxious fogs, so prevalent in the east of Scotland, infest it; snow rarely lies on the hills, and the only qualification to its general genial character is a liability to severe and sudden rains. ... The number of inhabited houses in the shire is 2,433; the parliamentary constituency for 1876-7 being 1,195. According to the returns presented to Government in 1871 the population of the shire was 16,996."
[From Slater's Directory of Scotland, with Topographical and Postal Information, Volume II, 1878]