THE TWEED — THE ALLAN. 71 



him for visiting the shrine and trying his skill in the 

 Abbot's ford, before the return train is due. He may 

 either fish up to Ettrick foot and back, or down to 

 Melrose, a distance of about three miles by the water, 

 where he may catch the evening train. 



The Ettrick is the first of the larger tributaries which 

 the Tweed receives, and it enters the main river about 

 three miles below Yair-bridge. We reserve it and the 

 Yarrow, however, for a future chapter. From Ettrick- 

 foot to Melrose the salmon-fishings belong chiefly to 

 Major Scott of Gala and Lord Somerville, and we 

 believe the different waters are all rented by Mr. 

 Broad wood, the eminent London piano-manufacturer, 

 who has several keepers protecting the river, and pays 

 a visit or two each year to the Tweed, residing at the 

 Pavilion, Lord Somerville's seat, which he rents along 

 with the fishings. The Gala joins the Tweed from the 

 north, a little below Abbotsford, and about three miles 

 above Melrose. It, also, and the streams that sub- 

 sequently contribute to the Tweed — the Leader, the 

 Teviot, the Till, and the Whitadder — are of sufficient 

 importance to demand separate notice. The Allan or 

 Ellwand-water, which runs about parallel with the 

 Gala, separated by high ground, flows in a little 

 below the junction of the latter stream. Its vale is 

 the Glendearg of " The Monastery," but we regret that 

 we can say nothing as to its adaptation to angling. 

 Scott thus describes it in the preface to the novel we 

 have mentioned : — " The Allan, after traversing the 

 romantic ravine called the Nameless Dean, thrown 

 off from side to side alternately, like a billiard ball 

 repelled by the sides of the table on which it is played, 



