hold water; at the bottom they place a layer o f peat and tarf
and fill the pit with the collected fand : after that they pour
water on i t : this filters through the fand, and carries the fait with
it into a lefier pit, made at the end o f the great one : this,
they boil in fmall lead pans, and procure a coarfe brown fait, very
fit for the purpofes of faking meat or fifh. James VI. in a vifit he
made to thefe parts, after his aceeffion to the crown o f England
took notice o f this operation, and' for their induftry exempted the
poor falt-rrrakers o f Ruthwell from all duty, on this commodity ¡.
which till the union, .was in all the Scotch arits relating to the fait
duties, excepted.
In- this pariih was lately, difcovered a lingular road through a
morafs, made o f wood, confifting of fplit oak planks, eight feet
long, fattened down by long pins or ftakes, driven through the
boards into the earth. It was found out by digging of peat, and
at that time lay fix feet beneath the furface. It pointed towards the
fea, and in old times was the road to i t ; but no tradition remains of
the place it came from.
Return through Annan, and after a ride over a naked traft, reach"
Springkeld, the feat of Sir William Maxwell: near the houfe is the
fite of Bell-cajile, where the Duke o f Albany, brother to James III,
and the-Earl-of Douglas lodged the night before their defeat at Kirk-
onnel, a place almoft contiguous. This illuftrious pair had been
exiled in England, and invaded their own country on a plundering
fcheme; in a manner unworthy o f them. Albany efcaped; Douglas was-
taken, and finiihed his life in the convent of Lindores *.
• Hume’s Hift. of the Douglas's,. folio, p. 206.
1
[ In the burying-ground of Kirkonnel is the grave of the fair Ellen E l l e n I r v in e .
\rrvine, and that o f her lover: fhe was daughter of the houfe o f
\-Kirkennel; and was beloved by two gentlemen at the fame time ; the
tone vowed, to facrifice the fuccefsful rival to. his refentment; and
¡watched an opportunity while the happy pair were fitting on the
ibanks of the Kirtle, that wafhes thefe grounds. £&»-perceived the
Idefperate lover on the oppofite fide, and fondly thinking to fave her
ifavorite, interpofed ; and receiving the wound intended for her be.
loved, fell and expired in-his arms. He inftantly revenged her
death; then fled into Spain, and ferved for fome time againft the
linfidels : on his return he vifited the grave of his unfortunate mif-
Strefs, ftretched himfelf on it, and expiring on the fpot, was interred
,by her fide. A fword and a crofs are engraven on the tomb-ftone,
Iwith hie jacet Adam Fleming: the only memorial o f this unhappy
gentleman, except an antient. ballad of.no great merit, which records
■the tragical event *.
I Excepting a glen near Springkeld, moft of this country is very
naked. It is faid to have been cleared of the woods by aft of
^parlement;... in the time of James VI, in order to deffiroy the re<-
;treat of the mofs-troopers,. a peft this part of the country was in- ..
-famous for : in fait the whole- of the borders then was, as ISn-
defay exprefies, no other- thing- but theft, reiff and Jlaughter. They
were poffeffed by a. let of potent clans, all o f Saxon -defcent; and,
like true defcendents of IJhmael, their hands were againft every
r®an,,.and every man’s hand againft them.. The JohnJlons, of
* * Which happened either the latter end of the reign of James V. or-the
beginning of that of Mary,
Lough