The ores are fmelted in heaths* blown by a great bellows, ati
fluxed with lime. The lead is lent to Leith in fmall carts, that
carry about feven hundred weight, and exported free from duty.
The miners and fmelters are fubjedt here, as in other places,
to the lead diftemper, or mill-reek, as it is called here; whicl
brings on palfies, and fometimes madnefs, terminating in deatl
in about ten days. Yet about two years -ago died, at this plate,
a perfbn o f primaeval longevity : one John Taylor, miner, who
worked at his bufinefs till he was a hundred and twelve: he dil
not marry till he was fixty, and had nine children ; he faw t(
the laft without fpeftacles ; had excellent teeth till within fix yean
before his death, having left off tobacco, to which he attributed
their prefervation : at length, in 1770, yielded to fate, after hat
ing completed his hundred and thirty-fecond year.
Native gold has been frequently found in this trail, in tit
gravel beneath the peat, from which it was walhed by rains, ail
collefted in the gullies by perfons who at different times has
employed themfelves in fcareh of this precious metal: but if
late years thefe adventurers have fcarce been able to procure 1
lively hood. I find in a little book, printed in 1710, called Ml
cellanea Scotica *, that in old times much gold was collefted in m
ferent parts o f Scotland. In the reign o f James IV, the Scots <■
ieparate the gold from the fend by walhing. In the following
the Germans found gold there, which afforded the king g[Ci:
fums : three hundred men were employed for feveral SummerSi
* For a farther account of gold found in Scotland, fee p. 414. o f the 2d {«t
of this Tour.
and about 100,coo/, iterling procured. They did not difpofe of
it in Scotland, but carried it into Germany. The feme writer fays,
that the Laird of Marchejlan got gold in Pentland hills •, that fome
W3S fo„nd in Langham waters, fourteen miles from Leadhj.ll houfe v
in Meggot waters, twelve miles ; and Pbinlcmd, fixteen miles. He
adds, that pieces o f . gold, mixed with fpar and other fubftances,
that weighed thirty ounces were found; hut the largeft piece I have
heard of does not exceed an ounce and a half, and is in the pofieffion
ef Lord Hofetoun, the owner of thefe mines,
f Continue my journey through dreary glens or melancholy hills,
■set not without feeing numbers of iheep. Near the fmall village
of Gmnf.ord.John, procured a guide over five miles of alrnoft path-
Jels moors, and defcend into- Douglafdale, watered by the river that
E Ves the name * a valley diftinguiibed by the refidence o f the
¡family of Boughs, a race o f turbulent heroes, celebrated throughout
Enrobe for deeds o f arms * the glory, yet the fcourge of their
^country •, the terror o f their princes; the pride o f the Northern
annals- of chivalry.
I They derive their name from Sholto Du glajfe, or the black and
Sgrey warrior (as their hiftory * relates) a hero in the reign of SoL
Mvathius, King of Scotland, who lived in the eighth century: with
¿more certainty, a fuiccefibr of his, o f the name of William, went
.into Italy in queft of adventures, and from him defcended the fa-
Jjmily of the Scoti of Placentia j", that flourilhed in the laft age,
land may to this time continue there. But the Douglajfes firft
■began to rife into power in the days of the good Sir James,
* Hume’s hilt, of the houfes of Douglas, 3. f Idem. p. 5*
who