S C O T L A N D,
in Liddefdale, a portion o f the county of Dumfries: a moil fer-
tile and well-cultivated trait of low arable and .pafture land. Keep
P e n t o n - u n s . by the river fide for three miles farther to Penton-lins, where is a
moft wild but piiturefgue fcene of the river, rapidly flowino
along rude rocks, bounded by cliffs, cloathed on each fide by
trees. The bottom the water rolls over afiumes various forms;
hut the moft fingular are beds of ftone regularly quadrangular,
.and divided by a narrow vacant fpace from each other, refembling
.immenfe mafies o f Ludi Helmontii, with their fepta loft. Below
thefe, the rocks approach each other, leaving only a deep and
narrow channel, with a pretty wooden alpine bridge over a depth
•of furious water, black and terrible to the fight. The fides of
the rock are ftrangely perforated with great and circular hollows,
like pots; the work o f the vortiginous motion of the water in
great floods.
A farmer I met with here told me, that a pebble, naturally perforated,
was an infallible cure, hung over a horfe that was hag-ridden,
or troubled with nodturnal fweats.
Canronsby. Return and pafs through the parifh of Cannonfby, a fmall fertile
plain, watered by the EJk; where fome canons regular of St.
Auguftine had pitched their piory at left before the year 1296,
when William, prior o f the convent, fwore allegiance to Edmri
I *. The parifh is very populous, containing above two thoufand
fouls. Much coal and lime-ftone is found here.
* Keith's Scotch bijhop'Sf 240#
Moft
¡1 Moff part of the houfes are built with clay : the perfon who has
Building in view,, prepares the materials, then fummons his neighbors
on a fixed day, who come furnifhed with viftuals at their
own expence, fet chearfully to workv and’ complete'the edifice
before night.
IgAfcend a bank on the fouth fide of this valley, to a vaft height
above it : the fcenery is great and enchanting: on one fide is a
view of the river EJk, far Beneath,, running through a rocky
ciannel,. and bounded by immenfe precipices; in various places
fuddenly deepening to a vaft profundity ; while in other parts it
glides over a bottom covered with mofles, or colored ftones, that
refleft through the pure water teints glaucous, green, or fappha-
rine: thefe various views are in moft places fully open to fight;
in others fuffer a partial interruption from the trees, that cloatli
the fteep bank, or fhoot out from the brinks and fiflures of the
precipices; the trees are in general oak, but often intermixed with
the waving boughs of. the weeping birch.
Two precipices are particularly diftinguifhed: one called Car- Car-sidelw-
fjdel: the other Gilnochie's garden: the laft is faid to have been
the retreat of a celebrated outlaw;. but originally had evidently
been a fmall Eritijh fortrefs^, guarded, on one fide by the fteeps o f
the precipice, on the other by a deep entrenchment.
'¿The ride was extremely diverfified through thick woods, or
fmall thickets, with fudden tranfitidns from, the fhade into rich’
and well hufbanded fields, bounded on every fide with woods ;
with views of other woods ftill rifing beyond. No wonder then
that the inhabitants of thefe parts yet believe the fairies revel in
thefe delightful fcenes.
Grofs >