540 OF THE SOLWAY FIRTH. 



Perfons of both fexes, and of all ;\<res, would be 

 fully c'n;>l'>vrd and well paid; the whole coafl 



aid alfume a 'new appeal would 



gladden every face, inftead of that ('' om 



which is the prefent character! (lie of of 



Galloway. 



Such would be the confcqucnces of cxchaiv 

 the idle habits of fmuggling for the more 

 profits which the fea affords; and while the inhabi- 

 tants of the fho e thus engaged in the vari 

 branches depending on the fr which may be 

 called the maritime flaple of Scotland; fome at- 

 tempts might be made towards introducing induf- 

 try through the inland parts of this dillrict, where 

 the trade of grazing gives employment to a few 

 hands only, while the main body of the people drag 

 out a life in idlenefs and penury. The great national 

 ftaple of Scotland is the linen manufacture, linen- 

 yarn, and thread ; for which there is an unbounded 

 demand in both kingdoms; but fuch is the inatten- 

 tion of thefe fouthcrn inhabitants to induflry, that 

 while, in 1783, 



Yards. Value. 

 The linen (lamped for fale in "i 



the whole kingdom was ) l S>3+*>7*+ 775>' 

 In the county of Angus ^ 



alone $ 6 >74^3S 7 177,105 



In the counties of Dumfries,! 



Kirkudbright and Wig- I 



town, to which the habit- c 47*5*9 



able part of Angus is as | 



i to 8, only J 



If the negle6l of the fifheries by thefe people, 

 while all their neighbours are rifing into confequencc 

 by means of that branch, afford matter of furprizc ; 

 the neglect of the linen manufacture mud appear 

 equally unaccountable in a province furnifhed with 

 fome hundred dreams, many of them confiderable, 

 and all of them proper for bleaching. 



This 



