50 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



armed with a knife, strives to relieve her husband of his burden, by cutting 

 the rope which attaches the basket to his shoulders. 



It is worth mentioning, that in St. Bathan's, a society has been formed 

 for securing to each member, diuing illness, the benefit of medical assistance — 

 an excellent method, of trifling expense to the individual, and yet remunerative 

 to the practitioner. In another parish is a society, by the rules of which, when 

 any of its poor members have had the misfortune to lose their cow, another is 

 purchased out of the society's funds. 



The fishing stations on the Tweed are numerous ; and the men employed 

 a robust, healthy, and industrious class. The method of fishing, which maj' 

 be new to our continental readers, is as follows : — Men are stationed at 

 particular places of the river, where the water is shallow, to watch the fish 

 coming up ; and so expert has habit rendered them in the art of recon- 

 noitring, that they know by the least ripple in the water when even a solitary 

 fish is making its progress upwards. When the salmon are thus discovered, 

 an alarm is instantly given to the men at the shiel, or house where the fishermen 

 lodge. Immediately a one-oared boat is pushed off with great celerity, 

 having a net attached to it, ready prepared for dropping gradually into the 

 water — one end of which is fastened to the boat, and the other dragged with 

 a rope by the men on shore — and by taking a considerable sweep, an endeavour 

 is made to surround the fish, which, thus discovered in advance, seldom escape. 

 The salmon caught here are packed in boxes of ice, and shipped from Berwick 

 for London, where, during the prevalence of cholera, it was almost without pur- 

 chasers, and sold at from M. to 6d. per lb. — one of the most extraordinary 

 facts in the history of the trade. For some years past, sabnon have been 

 unusual'y scarce in the Tweed, a fact for wliich no adequate cause has been 

 assigned, but wliich has been severely felt by the salmon coopers who carry 

 on the trade. 



This county, with few exceptions, may be considered highly salubrious, 

 and with a daily progress in those causes which, by ameliorating the soil, purify 

 the atmosphere, and prolong and invigorate human hfe.* 



* In 1830, nevertheless, small-pox nnil scarlet-fever were very prevalent, though not fatal, in Eccles. 

 In Earlston, scarlet-fever has appeared but rarely during the last fourteen years, while glandular and 

 cutaneous complaints have greatly diminished. In Greenlaw, no epidemic has appeared for many years; 

 and heing sheltered by the surrounding hills, the air is mild and salubrious. Several mineral springs are 

 found here, but not sufficiently important to call for special notice. In Harelaw Moor is a chalybeate 

 spring, much resorted to in former times for its imputed virtues. Its credit, however, is now gone ; and 

 like the still more famous Dunse Spa, has given place to more distant competitors. At the Leet, near 

 Eccles, is a chalybeate well, the supply of which is copious ; spec. grav. 1 00237, and summer temp. 48°. It 



