io6 LANDSCAPE AND LITERATURE 



The isolation imposed on the separate communities 

 by this topography of the ground inured them to 

 habits of self-dependence. It gave them a coherence 

 that served them in good stead for attack or defence 

 in the old days of Border forays. Each stream not 

 only gave its name to the whole valley which it 

 traversed, but to the human population that dwelt 

 by its banks. It was called a ' Water,' such as Leader 

 Water, Allan Water, Jed Water, and many more, and 

 this word ' water ' came to be synonymous with the 

 able-bodied inhabitants of the dale. When, for in- 

 stance, old Buccleuch gave his orders for the ride to 

 rescue Jamie Telfer's cattle, carried off by English 

 thieves, he bade his men 



' Gar warn the water, braid and wide, 

 Gar warn it sune and hastilie.' 



The marauding propensities of one of these com- 

 munities would sometimes be condensed into the name 

 of their valley, as where Dick o' the Cow complains 



mat c Liddesdale's been i' my house last night, 

 And they hae taen my three kye frae me.' 



The ballads are so full of human incident as to leave 

 little room even for a background of landscape, but 

 some of the features of the scenery are here and there 

 graphically indicated by a line or even a word. c The 

 bent sae brown ' of the higher ground gives place to 

 1 heathery hill and birken shaw,' with here and there 

 a ' bush of broom ' or ' buss o' ling ' where the dun 

 deer couches in the glade. We are led to where 



' The hills are high on ilka side 

 An' the bought i' the lirk o' the hill.' 



