RIVERS TEVIOT, NITH, AND CLYDE. 455 



it was not till about seven in the evening that there was a sufficiency of water to 

 turn the machinery." 



In his second letter, Mr Logan repeats, that " the waters of the Clyde were 

 entirely absent from 2 a. m. tiU 6 or 7 p. m. In the middle of the day, when I 

 crossed by the bridge, a mile below Lanark, the stones in the bed of the river 

 were so bare, that any one might have crossed tvithout wetting their feet. I had 

 intelligence of the river being in the same state, for at least twenty-five miles up 

 the stream, and ten or fifteen down." 



These letters describe the state of the Clyde in the lower part of its course. 

 That the current was likewise arrested in the river near its source, appears fi-om 

 a letter handed to me by Professor Forbes, written by the schoolmaster of 

 Crawford, through which parish the Clyde in the upper part of its course flows. 

 He states that, in that high district, the Clyde was dried up on the morning of 

 the 27th, and was crossed by several persons dry footed, and that the river 

 did not regain its usual size tiU 3 o'clock p. m. That the rivers Daer and 

 Powtrail, which join the Clyde in the south part of Crawford parish, as well 

 as all the rivulets and feeders there, were remarkably low, — ^the cause of which 

 was supposed by the inhabitants of the district to be the severe fi-ost of the pre- 

 ceding night. This writer adds, that, during the winter of 1837-8, when the frost 

 lasted continuously for six weeks, and when the thermometer was greatly lower 

 than it was in November last, the Clyde could in no place have been crossed 

 dry footed. 



A letter (sent to me by Messrs Chambers, publishers of Chambers' Edin- 

 burgh Journal), from the miller of Hyndford-mUl, (situated about three or four 

 miles above New Lanark), states that, " on the morning of the 27th November, 

 the water in the Clyde was flowing in its usual manner, until about 6 a. m., when 

 it began to subside rapidly, and shortly after almost ceased to flow. The frost 

 was very severe at the time, accompanied with rather high roind. The channel 

 of the river continued nearly dry, until between 12 and 1 o'clock p. m., when it 

 began to flow." 



This person adds, " that, during a severe frost, water freezes rapidly at the 

 bottom of the strongest current, and the fiwzen particles accumulate so rapidly, 

 under certain circumstances, as to present a complete barrier to the flowing of the 

 water. I have (he says) several times been forced to stop the mill, on account of 

 the opening under the sluice becoming quite closed up." 



From these diffferent letters, it appears, 



1. That the River Clyde, from its sources down to ten or fifteen miles below 

 New Lanark, was, alongst with most of its tributaries, almost entirely dry. 



2. That the total desiccation appears to have continued from nine to ten 

 hoiu*s, and that the period when the current began to stop, to the period of its 

 again flowing, was about sixteen or seventeen hours. 



