BUITTLE. 19& 



before the net is hauled, and many of the fish badly mutilated. 

 There is a vast difference between a little smack dragging a 23 

 feet beam with the help of wind and tide and a powerful steamer 

 with a spread of net between 100 and 200 feet worked irrespective 

 of wind or tide. When it is remembered that as often as not a 

 smack in the Solway fishing in the channels is working with the 

 tide only it will be seen that the pressure in the net cannot be very 

 great, and consequently the immature fish are unhurt. I remem- 

 ber once trawling down the coast to the westward of Heston 

 behind a large deep sea trawler. She was some distance ahead 

 of us, and we saw her haul and clean her net some time before we 

 hauled ours. When we did haul eventually we found we had 

 picked up the cleanings of the large smack, and these amounted 

 to about half-a-hundredweight of dead flounders, plaice, and 

 skate, many of tRem no bigger than a two-shilling piece. 



It may be asked how is it that .such small fish remain in a net 

 with a mesh of .regulation size. This is accounted for partly bv 

 the partial closing of the mesh when being pulled through the 

 water and partly by the presence of a large amount of seaweed 

 and other rubbish blocking the bag of the net. If one fished with 

 a six-inch mesh one would still catch a few shrimps and fish no 

 bigger than a threepenny l)it. There are very manv things which 

 affect the fishing of a firth like the Solway, but it would seem that 

 with a fair amount of deep water and a great area of shallow, with 

 excellent feeding for the fish and legal protection from steam 

 trawlers in the lower water and natural barriers in the head 

 waters, we are much better off than many places round the coast. 

 With the exception of the soles, the fishery is self-contained, so 

 that unless trawling operations increase enormouslv and vast 

 pollutions occur, the Solway is assured of a plentiful supply of flat 

 fish for many years to come. 



BuiTTLE. By Mr James Affleck, Castle-Douglas. 



The ruins of Buittle Old Castle may be classed among the 

 leaves of our unwritten history. They are situated in one of the 

 most picturesque and charming spots of "Grey Galloway." In 

 all our antiquarian rambles it has seldom been our good fortune 

 to meet ip so small a compass so much peaceful svl\-an beautv. 

 coupled with so mu(-h thrilling history. Buittle was one of the 



