THE RAID. 183 



level of the sea, and is closely followed in its cloud- 

 aspiring tendencies by many adjacent summits. The 

 various heights along the boundary, and for some distance 

 into the interior on the north, form a part of what is often 

 called the "Highlands of the Lowlands;" and a living 

 Gallowegian writer assures us that at the present day, 

 there are unmistakeable evidences that the original 

 inhabitants of these mountainous districts spoke the 

 Gaelic language. This broad Alpine belt, as it has been 

 termed, stretches across the middle of the Scottish 

 Lowlands, and ascends, as a whole, to lofty elevations ; 

 and extending down to the sea on the west, or running 

 down parallel to Dumfriesshire on the east, forms an 

 imposing semicircle, from which widening and lessening 

 spurs run off into the interior. The south-eastern division 

 of the county, when viewed from this northern mountain 

 range, seems like a great plain diversified by a marvellous 

 variety of light and shade, according to the colour, size, 

 or distance of the heights on its surface. So gradual and 

 gentle, too, is the ascent of this plain from the Bay of Kirk- 

 cudbright, that after following the course of the Dee for 

 several miles inland, it is only 150 feet above the level of 

 the sea. And yet nearly one-fourth of this plain is what 

 we would designate as hilly, or rather mountainous ; 

 while the greater part of the other three-fourths, though 

 chiefly under cultivation, consists of a rolling and broken 

 surface, and continues, in many parts, its bold undulations 

 down to the estuary of the sea. These heights, though 

 considerably inferior to those of the north-east and 

 western divisions, are far from being insignificant, as many 



