CORTACHY TO PERTH. 235 



authorities differed so essentially, that after we had 

 consulted an old woman, who overruled all previous 

 decisions we put it confidentially to a lad with a 

 cart, who was exactly wrong by one mile in the three. 

 We thought the old lady was not within earshot dur- 

 ing this interview ; but she was, and we heard her 

 indignant protest, ' ' greet Ite" in a voice quite be- 

 yond her years, and her word proved to be sound 

 law. 



Mains of Kelly lies about three miles from the flour- 

 ishing little town of Arbroath, which has not fallen 

 under the prophet's ban of being "a' dung down," like 

 Dundee, and shows quite as few symptoms of it. 

 Mr. Bowie's father came from Cockpen, three miles 

 from Dalkeith, in 1809, and the son has held farms 

 since 1834 under the lairds of Cockpen, or rather the 

 Marquises of Dalhousie, The late Mr. Bowie had 

 been an Angus breeder since 1809 ; and when his 

 son began, it was on Mr. Fullarton Lindsay Carne- 

 gie's estate, with one of Mr. Colvill's Boysick tribe. 

 Cupbearer by Pat was the junior's "opening star/' and 

 the white inside the hocks and in the centre of the 

 tail has always been the Bowie coat-of-arms. As he 

 also bred Hanton by Pat, a bull of great touch and 

 size, he could virtually claim the first and fifth honours 

 in the great Paris contest. How matters were con- 

 ducted by the jury, both there and at Hamburgh, 

 will always be a problem to the breeders, who got 

 quite confused with what they still term " the show- 

 ing of hands and measuring of tails." 



