Autumnal Rovings. 207 



Covenanters, to be told of the neighbourhood ; but the 

 all-powerful pictures spread out upon this wide, wonderful 

 canvas of land and water absorb all attention. At Glen 

 Trool, containing a snug shooting lodge, under a range of 

 rocky hills, you ascend an eminence to overlook the gem of 

 the collection Loch Trool, studded with islets, and over- 

 awed by a burly mountain standing stern guard afar off, 

 with other mountains around to keep it company, though 

 less grimly, in its steadfast task. 



The Linns, a majestic waterfall, thunders through a 

 neighbouring gorge into the loch. Across the hills is Loch 

 Dee, from which the superannuated gamekeeper, acting as 

 guide, declared to us that a Liverpool gentleman last year 

 bore away six dozen of prime trout a statement open 

 to doubt, for the worthy man admitted upon cross-examina- 

 tion that there were both pike and perch in plenty in the 

 loch ; and in that case the trout, though perhaps large, 

 could not be numerous. But there are some fish for the 

 angler in all the lochs and streams. I was, for example, 

 shown a pool, not three miles from Newton, in which a lad 

 a few days since slew an eighteen-pound salmon. This, 

 it is true, was in preserved water; but Lord Galloway's 

 agent is liberal in permission to fish waters equally good. 



The journey from the river Cree to the river Nith, the 

 next stage on our way to the English border, is across the 

 widest part of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. The country 

 traversed is surpassingly beautiful. There are occasions 

 when we sigh for the old coaching days, and for a land in 

 which the shriek of the locomotive is never heard, but in 

 this lovely part of the Stewartry we have every reason to be 

 grateful to the railway, since without it one of the most 

 interesting portions of the district would be unopened. 



