54 De Archibald's " Cuiuobities of Dumfries." 



length of two inches, did sorely trouble him and fall off, others 

 succeeding- thus e%'ery half-year. 



In a moss which lies upon the east side of this town, seven 

 miles long and one mile broad, did I have the leg of a child cut 

 off (as appears) by the patella. It's of a stickish like substance, 

 the tibia and fibula inhosened in a casement like the black bark of 

 a tree, which is in place of the muscles tibiaeus, peronaeus, &c., 

 all the mterossean muscles of the foot, toes, ancles, nails, and all 

 other parts exactly well propoi'tioned as anything Nature can 

 efform. " Nuni fuerat lutum instructum animal principio integrum, 

 vel deficiens animal procedens : an foetus humo commissus, et 

 a bituminoso calore conservatus et processu temporis (juasi 

 transmutatus dignus est D. D. Sibbaldo nodus, ad cujus augusta 

 subsellia hoc ipsum reclino." [Had the formed clay been an 

 animal originally entire or an immature animal in process of 

 development ? Was it a fujtus buried in the ground, preserved 

 by the bituminous heat and in process of time transformed as it 

 were ? This is a problem worthy of 1). D. Sibbald, on whose 

 august judgment seat I leave the thing itself.] 



As for Annandale, the supreme governcnir, steward, and lord 

 thereof is the Earl of Annandale, an ancient Family and "Wardens 

 of the Border. Wherefore their arms are supported with a 

 saddled horse and a crowned lion carrying upon the crest a flying 

 spur. The motto is " nunquam non paratus " [never unprepared]. 



In this country are the wells of Moffat, encircled with a wall 

 by the foresaid Family. 



His houses are Lockwood and Newbie ; the one desirable for 

 strength, the other for pleasure ; that for pasture, moss, or fire 

 and wood, this for fish and plenty of coneys. 



Here is the King's Castle of Lochmaben, famous for defend- 

 ing the country in the old English inrodes, strengthened by a 

 Loch surrounding it, where the fishes called venaces and 

 gevenaces are talked of in nowhere else in our country. They 

 are pleasant white fishes. 



Contiguous to this loch are seven large lochs, all of which 

 have the same fishes, a clear and stony bottom, with a tossing 

 surge and noise before a storm blow. The fishes resemble 

 whitings in colour, taste, and figure, being only a little more dry. 



Besides this castle is a moss which giveth peits [peats] for 

 fire, most white, yielding a bright shining fire and flame. 



