for defense against invaders, was difficult for the molding of a nation. Scotland itself is divided roughly in three parts. There is the southern Uplands with steep-sided hills and narrow ravines, making a terrain so difficult that invading armies could scarcely traverse it. Besides the land in olden times was so barren that medieval warriors who "moved on their bellies" could forage neither food for men or fodder for beasts.

In the north is the mountainous Highlands, cold, bleak, rocky, seeming in ancient times almost too formidable for human habitation, yet the home of a proud and fierce people.

Between the southern Uplands and the northern Highlands lies a magic valley, the central Lowlands. This valley, measuring only 50 miles north and south and 100 miles east and west, is the heart of Scotland, ancient and modern. Most of the fertile land of the whole country lies in this small area. Here also were hidden nearly all of the mineral resources which sup.ply raw materials for the modern industrial economy. The river Clyde in the west and the Firth of Forth in the east cut into the Lowlands to leave an isthmus only 30 miles wide, providing fine harbors and an ideal situation for water transport.

Crowded into the Lowlands are the leading towns and cities of modern Scotland and here were the richest baronies and shires, or counties, of the feudal era. One of the counties in the middle of this favored area, with the Clyde River as its northern boundary, is historic Refrewshire, which was detached from the shire of Lanark in 1402.

The land of Renfrew was originally called Strathgrife which, in the ancient Celtic dialect, meant "valley of the rapid river." Through the county flows the Gryffe River that presumably gave the area its old name. In this county dwelt several of the great dukes, earls and barons of the middle ages who did much to mold the history of Scotland. Here developed Scotland’s greatest royal house, the Stewart princes and kings, who for 350 years guided the destines of Scotland and extended their authority even to England and France.

Among the barons of this shire who were friends, allies and subjects of the Stewarts were the houses of Lennox, Cunningham, Walkinshaw, Muir, Fleming, Maxwell, Houstoun and many others. Out from the valley of the river Clyde emerged strong and able men who helped direct the course of history in the Western World and enrich the civilization of many lands. Not