FUJd Meetings. 35 



the Moloch Hill, and for the earlier portion of their clirab 

 had to wade through a luxuriant growth of the parsley fern, 

 which spread around them for acres. From the summit one 

 of the most magnificent scenes which Nithsdale or the South 

 can boast of lay at their feet. The frequent but foolish wish 

 that " they could be there and look at it for ever " was felt 

 and uttered, but the party descended nevertheless, and pro- 

 ceeded up the burn towards Dalswinton, Dr Gilchrist securing 

 some remai'kably fine geological specimens on the way. 

 Dalswinton Castle, to the site of wliich the present mansion 

 stands in close proximity, belonged to the family of the 

 Comyns, and must have been a fortress of considerable im- 

 portance as early as the time of Wallace, who is reported to 

 have reduced its English garrison by a strategy similar to 

 that by which Sanquhar was captured, and tradition also 

 mentions it as his resting place on the night following the 

 memorable engagement in which he totally routed the Eng- 

 lish near b}-. Caerlaverock has better claims to this honour, 

 however, and the story is probably onl}' another example of 

 that hero-worship accorded to the patriot by the Scottish 

 peasantry, and winch is manifested by the existence of a 

 similar legend regarding every place he was ever within a 

 reasonable or unreasonable distance of. But the Castle is 

 possessed of considerable historical interest, from the fact 

 that within its walls were concocted the famous letters which, 

 falling into the hands of Bruce, revealed to him the treach- 

 eiy of Comyn, and which contributed so much to the cause 

 of Scottish liberty, for had Bruce not become possessed of 

 them the dark scene in Greyfriars' Monastery would never 

 have taken place, and the battle of Bannockbum never have 

 been fought. The Loch was next visited. Apart from the 

 beauty of its features, natural and artificial, much interest 

 centres in it as the cradle of the steam-boat, the first vessel 

 propelled by steam having been launched here by Mr Patrick 

 Miller, the then proprietor, and Mr James Taylor, his colla- 

 borateur in the invention, on the 4th of October, 1788, the 

 experiment causing such general interest that the shores of 



