The ride was, for the moft part, above the N ith; that in many
places appeared in lingular forms : the moft ftriking was a place
called Hell’s Cawdron, a fudden turn, where the water eddies in (
large hole, of a vaft depth .and blacknefs, overhung, and darkened
by trees. On the oppofite fide is the appearance o f a Britijh en.
trenchment.; and near Durifdeer is faid-to be a fmall Roman fortrefs;!
the Roman road runs by it, and is continued from thence b y the
Well-fath, through Crawford moor, to Elven-foot, has been lately
repaired, and is much preferable to the other through the mountains,
which would never have been thought of but for the mines in the
lead hills.
The river affumes a milder courfe ; the banks bordered witi
fields, and thole oppofite, well wooded. On an eminence is the
houfe o f Eliock, environed with trees, once one of the pofleffions
of Crichton, father to the A d m i r a b l e ; and before, at fom e dif-
.tance, is the town of Sanquhar, with the ruins o f the caftle, the
antient feat of the Lords Crichton. The parilh is remarkable for
the manufacture o f woollen ftockings, and the abundance of its
coal.
Quit Nithfdale, and turn luddenly to the right; pals through the
glen of -Lochburn between vaft mountains, one fide wooded to a great
height, the other naked, but finely grafted, and the bottom walhed
by the .Menoch, a pretty ftream; the glen grows very narrow, the
mountains encreafe in height, and the afcent long and laborious.
Ride by Wanlock-head in the parilh of Sanquhar, the property o f the
Duke of Queenjbury ; fometimes rich in lead ore. Crofs a fmall
dike at the top of the mountain, enter
l a n e r k -
L A N E R K S H I R E, or
C L Y D E S D A L E ;
¿nd continue all night at the little village of Leadhills, in the
Rariih of Crawford: the place confifts of numbers of mean houfes,
Inhabited b y about fifteen hundred fouls, fupported b y the mines;
•for five hundred are employed in the rich Sous terrains o f this trad.
^Nothing can equal the barren and gloomy appearance of the
Jountry round: neither tree nor fhrub, nor verdure, nor pidtu-
tefque rock, appear to amufe the eye: the fpetator mull plunge
into the bowels o f thefe mountains for entertainment; or pleafe
iimfelf with the idea of the good that is done b.y the .well-bellowed
treafures drawn from thefe inexhauftible mines, that are
fell rich, baffling the efforts o f two centuries. The fpace that
has yielded ore is little more than a mile fquare, and is a flat or
iiafs among the mountains : the -veins o f lead run North and
South; vary, as in other places, in their depth, and are from
4wo or fourfeet thick : fome have been found filled with ore within
two fathoms o f the furface ; others fink to the depth o f ninety
fathom.
■ The ore yields in general about feventy pounds of lead from
a hundred and twelve of ore; but affords very little filver: the
Varieties are the common plated ore, -vulgarly called Potter’s :
the fmall or fteel-grained ore; and the curious white ores, lamel-
lated and fibrous, fo much fearched after for the cabinets of the
purious. The laft yields from fifty-eight to fixty-eight pounds
Jfrom the hundred, but the working of this fpecies is much more
fernicious to the health of the workmen than the common.
- S The