206 By Stream and Sea, 



life like a hero, and is, by the same token, a capital guide- 

 book of the country which he honours by ascending. 



Of Newton-Stewart, till within a day or two, I am 

 ashamed to confess the most benighted ignorance ; but it 

 was enough for me to hear that the Cree was a salmon 

 river. The result has verified my long-established con- 

 viction of the worth of the fish as a direction-post for the 

 sight-seer. Here at Newton we are on the confines of 

 Ancient Galloway, and the modern province of that name 

 includes the counties of Kirkcudbright and Wigtonshire. 

 The river Cree, indeed, which I am doing my best to con- 

 ciliate, is the western, as the Nith is the eastern, boundary of 

 the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. There is a popular drive 

 on the left bank of this stream to Glen Trool, which 

 bountifully repays a halt here, since it combines a variety of 

 all that should enter into the composition of fine scenery. 

 Take it as a sample of other "outings" at hand. The 

 historical thirst from which tourists are supposed to suffer 

 may be within half an hour dissipated by a draught from the 

 ivy-covered ruins of Castle Stewart. Distance in the shape 

 of hills, and mountain-tops purpled by heather, lend a 

 necessary enchantment to the view ; the loch into which the 

 Cree widens adds the salient water feature j and for three 

 miles at a stretch the famous woods of Cree are reflected in 

 the river. Moorlands put in an appearance to complete the 

 proportions, and northward and westward mountains arrest 

 the clouds at one moment, and at the next shake them off to 

 look the god of day boldly in the face. 



At the spot where the road crosses an arm of the Cree, 

 the prospect seems alive with silvery streamlets hurrying and 

 winding in their everlasting course through picturesque 

 banks to the coast. There are romantic stories of Bruce, and 

 bloody remembrances of the troopers who hunted down the 



