172 SHEEP FARMING ON THE BOBBER 



one's fire shuddering to think of the wreaths or drifts 

 piling up outside. Well, in this year of storm there had 

 been a long spell of snow and frost, and the surface of 

 the snow had hardened, and the sheep were weakened 

 by want of food. In the end of January a change seemed 

 coming, and the shepherds were rejoicing to think of 

 relief. Little they thought what the change would 

 be ! The wind rose and drift set in, nor did it cease 

 nignt or day for thirteen days. The accounts doubtless 

 lose nothing in the telling ; still it seems certain that in 

 all those days the sheep never broke their fast ; nor was 

 the drift constant from one quarter, for the wind shifted 

 so continually that the shepherds knew not how to 

 dispose the poor animals for shelter. On the ninth and 

 tenth days the dead grew so numerous, from hunger and 

 the most intense cold, that the shepherds built up dykes 

 or walls of dead sheep in a half-circle to shelter the 

 living. It availed but little ; and on the fourteenth day, 

 when the storm at last abated, nought remained on any 

 farms but these walls of dead sheltering a small flock, 

 all likewise stiff and cold. One happier experience is 

 recorded in our long diaries. 



A certain Robbie Scott, of Priesthaugh, in Upper 

 Teviotdale, never left his sheep day nor night all through 

 the weary storm. He scraped away what snow he could 

 where the drift had left ground comparatively bare, and 

 he led the sheep to where the rough tops of heather 

 afforded them some little food. A fine fellow he must 

 have been, and of most wondrous endurance ; but, worn 

 out at length, on the thirteenth night, he went away 

 to get the sleep he could no longer do without. By 

 morning it was thawing, so his sufferings were not in 

 vain ; and later he was rewarded by his sheep bringing 

 eight score lambs, which was more than the whole district 

 altogether could show. 



But the greatest storm on record is that of 1794; 

 known as the Gonyal storm — no one knows why — when 



