Morning journal and courier., 1890-08-23

English Tramps.
EccLEFEcHAN, Scotland, July %.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
Lying between Eskdale on the east and
Nithsdale on the west is the sweet and
pastoral Annandale, though not among
the most noted, yet one of the most lovely
valleys OF the Scottish border. To the
leisurely and sentimental pilgrim tarrying
among its pleasing scenes it appeals with
goodly fascination. 1t is but tiny vale,
thirty miles long, the river Amman, from
which it takes its name, having its source
in the Hartfell mountains, and winding
with gentle flow through and between
characteristic Scottish villages, its banks
dotted with humble crofts, larger farm
steads, and all the lang syne features of
countryside Scottish homes. Though the
little valley is accorded no special fame
among the Scottish people themselves, and
is scarcely ever visited by tourists, to me
it seems that in few particulars it pos
sesses extraordinary interest. Within the
distance of one days tramp across five
parishes through which winds the gentle
Amman, can be seen one of the most an
cient, and certainly one of the most his
toric, castle ruins of Scotland, the first
home in Scotland of Robert the Bruce, at
Lochmaben; the birth place, at Amman, of
the greatest and most unfortunate of all
Scottish preachers, Edward Irving; the
wonderful phenomena the tides of Solway
Firth, which are perhaps better observed
from the great Amman viaduct conflicting
England with Scotland than at any other
spot along the Solway shores; and the
birth place and burial place of the one
philosopher, essayist and critic who has
undoubtedly left deeper impression upon
intellectual minds in Great Britain and
America than any other individual who
ever adorned and perplexed this country
grabbed, crafty, mighty and glorious old
Thomas Carlyle.
At about the center of Annandale in the
parish of Lochmaben are eight curious
little lakes shallow and with sedgy shores.
In these are found the vendace fishes from
five to six inches in length, nowhere else
discoverable in Great Britain, of a bril-
liant silvery appearance, and in anatomy
and flavor much resembling those famous
American ciscoes, which in June attract
such hosts of anglers to the shores of
Lake Geneva, in. Wisconsin. They are
| the most delicate fish known to the British
| gourmand. Their heads are extraordinary
| " marked, in a puce colored transparent
substance, with the perfectly defined fig
ure of a heart, through which, when
freshly caught, the brain may be seen.
Along the haughs and moss banks of the
lochs the deadly adder turks; and the
peasantry will tell you that these dreadful
reptiles are kept down by their implacable
foes, the herods, which are certainly con-
tinually seen dodging in and out among,
and towering over, the surrounding reeds
| and mosses About mile from the an
cient burgh town of Lochmaben, on q
| tongue shaped peninsula which extends
into the lake called the Castle loch, are
found the ruins of the grandest fortress
the border ever knew. Whether or not il
was the original residence of the Bruces
granted by David l., in 1924, or an en-
larged successor built in the thirteenth
century, it covered sixteen acres of ground
and Is known to have been absolutely i'm
pregnable before the invention of gun
powder. 1t was stupendous and mag
nificent pile, and the care and perfection
with which it was built are attested in tht
immense walls still traeeable, and in ths
fact that though its masonry has been ex
posed to the elements for six hundred
years, one will to-day as often break tn,
stone itself as separate by strokes o.
sledge hammer the stone and mortar witt
which the walls were constructed. 1
seems unfortunate that so noble a ruin
could not have been given better care ant
preservation. One-half of the structures
of Lochmabep burgh have built from tn
material in the majestic stone pile. Cow
houses and byre walls foS half dozel
miles in every direction disclose the sourc
from which their material was rayaged b,
protruding moulding, splendid ashla
work or grinning gargoyles; it is said tina
citizen of Lochmaben burgh warns hi
once rested on the paternal hearth o
Bruce; and the old key to the outer gat
: of the majestic pile, in which had bee
nurtured the proudest line of Scottish pa
triot kings, on being discovered q hal
, century since by the leaden headed hind
of the district, was regarded as such q
, antiquarian prize, as it weighed sever
: pounds, that it was at once turned over I
t the Lochmaben blacksmith for conversio
t into pair of utilitarian turf-spades!
s The prim and ancient town of Annal
q at the side of the Solway where the Al
t nan water flows into that estuary, is
burgo of quaint, old granite homes, il
a habited by quaint, old granite Scotch fol
n rich, contented, indolent. Great, squa
n houses, great, square doors, great, squa