Hills to the point at Dryburgh, a distance of eight miles, A mile and a half beyond the junction of the Ettrick and the Tweed, the towers of

whole southern part of Scotland, is the waterfall called the Grey Mare's Tail, situate on the north-west side of the glen, about a mile and a half beyond Birkhill. It is approached by a footpath along the bank of the stream, which brings the tourist to a platform in front of the fall, and from twenty to forty feet above the bottom of the gulf. He may then gaze upwards upon the avalanche of spray which threatens to overwhelm him. It is a truly sublime spectacle, and not the less so, that it wants all the accompaniments of our other cascade scenery. Here are no trees nor flowers-artificial grottoes nor bridges-only the black rocks projecting over the bare mountain side. The fall is said to be 400 feet in height, and the form which the falling waters assume, strikingly illustrates the name which has been given to it. If the tourist has the hardihood, he may climb the precipice, and gaze down the steep upon "The hell of waters, where they howl, and hiss, And boil in endless torture; while the sweat Of their great agony, wrung from out this, Their Phlegethon, curls round the rock of jet

That guard the gulf around, in pitiless horror set."

He may farther ascend the stream, which forms a continued series of cascades, until he reach, about two miles above the fall, the "dark Loch-Skene," where he will behold a picture of utter desolation, such as perhaps he never looked on before. No sight or sound of living thing is there to gladden the eye or the ear, unless, perhaps, a solitary heron watching, from the shore of the little islet, the motions of its finny prey, or the lordly eagle, perched on some cliff overhead, who, in his turn, has destined that same heron for his evening meal. As he returns to the road, the tourist will ob. serve a sort of rampart, where the stream joins the one from Dobb's Linn, to form the Moffat Water: this goes by the name of the Giant's Grave. The view down Moffatdale is very grand; but the only objects to be noticed are, the farm of Bodsbeck, which has given name to one of Hogg's tales; and the Craigie-Burn, which joins the Moffat Water from the north, and has been introduced into one of Burns's delightful lyrics, where it is said or sung, that

"Sweet fa's the eve on Craigie-Burn."

Passing through Craigie-Burn Wood, the tourist soon after leaves Dumcrieff and Oakrig on the left, and reaches the fashionable village of Moffat.

This place consists of one street, and the houses on either side are neat and clean. It stands at the bottom of a finely wooded conical hill, and is indeed surrounded by hills on all sides except the south. The river Annan skirts the west side of the town, and is joined below by the Moffat Water on the one side, and the Elvan Water on the other. The village has long been famed as a wa

ABBOTSFORD,*

the elegant mansion of the late Sir Walter Scott, Bart. appears amidst plantations of oak, birch, mountain-ash,

tering-place, and, accordingly, the visiter will find good accommodation, with assembly-rooms, baths, bowling-green, &c. The well is at a little distance to the southward, as is also a cascade, called the Belle Craig. The mail from Edinburgh to Dumfries runs through the village: distances, 51 miles from the former, and 21 from the latter place.

The road from Moffat to Dumfries is almost totally devoid of interest; the only objects, indeed, to be noticed, are, Raehill, on the banks of the Kinnel, the seat of Mr. Hope Johnstone; and Amisfield Castle, a little to the right of the road, five miles from Dumfries. The latter is a very rare specimen of the ancient baronial tower, and will amply repay a close inspection, from the richness of some, and the absurdity of others of its ornaments. It is the seat of the ancient family of Charteris. Nearly opposite, on the left of the road, is the village of Tinwald, the birth-place of Paterson, the projector of the Banks of England and Scotland, and likewise of the Scottish expedition to Darien. The higher cultivation of the ground, and the numerous hedge-rows and villas, apprise the traveller that he has now reached the valley of the Nith, and that ere long he will enter its capital town.

Dumfries, the most considerable town in the south-western district of Scotland, has a neat and handsome appearance. It possesses the usual buildings and accommodations of a large town, such as court-house, jail, assembly.rooms, theatre, reading-rooms, good inns, &c. and in the market-place is a Doric column, erected to the memory of the late Charles Duke of Queensberry. The principal street extends three quarters of a mile, parallel to the Nith, the vicinity of which river adds very much to the beauty of the place. Two bridges connect Dumfries with the large suburb of Maxwelltown, on the opposite bank of the Nith. The more ancient of these bridges was erected by Divegella, the mother of John Baliol, in the thirteenth century, and originally consisted of thirteen arches, although it has now only seven. The population of Dumfries is about 12,000.

* The following extract is from a letter in answer to the application for permission to dedicate this book to Sir Walter. It is in his own hand-writing :

"Sir Walter is much obliged by the copy of the Tourist, which "he found lying for him at his return from Ireland; and returns "his thanks, and permission to inscribe the work to Sir Walter, "in case it shall not find a worthier patron.

"The general plan and execution of the work seem highly com"mendable."