18 Notes ox w Old Tradition. 



bj' points tliat cannot now lie easily identified — a lieap of stones, 

 a ditch, &c. — the boundary finds its way back to the Laggan at 

 the point from which it started. But however interesting this 

 mass of topographical detail may be for its own sake, I fear I have 

 lingered too long over it, and I must now point ont the bearing 

 which it has upon the tradition regarding the diversion of the 

 Cairn. You will notice that mention is made of the Cairn in 

 this charter and of a ford in it towards (versus) Glenessland. 

 But those of you who know tlie district will remember that this, 

 the lower end of Glenessland, the place where Glenessland Burn 

 falls into the Cairn, is beloiv the point where the Cairn is said to 

 have been diverted. If the tradition be true there Avas, when 

 the land came into the possession of the monks of Melrose, no 

 Cairn in the neighbourhood of Glenessland at all, and as it flowed 

 through a loch at its nearest point there could be no " ford of the 

 Cairn " within several miles. And yet here, in the charter which 

 gives the land to the monks, the Cairn is described as following 

 the same course as it follows to-day. 



A later charter describes what is evidently the same, or 

 virtually the same, tract of land, Init begins this time not at the 

 Laggan but at Crossengarriauch. 



After describing the boundary from Crossengarriauch to the 

 Laggan it goes on : " And by Pollogan, ascending as far as the 

 royal road, which leads from Dercongal (Holy wood) to Glencairn, 

 and by the same road as far as the ford in a certain ditch which 

 is called Atheuweran, and as the same ditch descends to a certain 

 footpath which leads to the ford of the Cairn, and by the rivei- 

 Cairn, ascending as far as a certain rivulet, which is called 

 Pollechoustergan, and b}^ the same rivulet, ascending as far as 

 the before-mentioned cross, which is called Crossengarriauch." I 

 confess I can make nothing of this description. The perplexing 

 point is that which speaks of ascending the Cairn from the ford. 

 In the former charter the boundary foUoAvs the Cairn "towards 

 the east," which, of course, is descending, and if the word were 

 descending here it might be possible to identify Pollechoustergan 

 with the Pollecostertan, even although a little violence were 

 used in the process ; but the Avord is undoubtedly " ascending " 

 in the text, and I can only leave the tangle for some more 

 skilful hands to redd up. 



There is only one more document in the Book of Melrose 

 Avhich in any way bcais on our tradition, and that is one wiiicli, 



