Autumnal Ravings. 209 



ground, presenting every variety of shape, and colour, and 

 distance. By-and-by the hills gave place to the softer 

 surroundings of Lochs Kerr and Dee, and to the woods, 

 gardens, and habitations of the well-cultivated pasture lands 

 intervening between the lakes and Castle Douglas. 



Castle Douglas is another such halting-place as Newton- 

 Stewart, being the centre of many interesting places recom- 

 mended to tourists. Here, as at Newton, in the middle of 

 the community, there is a solidly-built town-house, with its 

 tower and clock ; but the ancient meeting-place for bailies, 

 provosts, and councillors has been turned into a billiard- 

 room, while a new and more fashionable building has been 

 provided as a home for the fathers of the burgh. In 

 the pre-railway era Kirkcudbright (pronounced Kurcoobri) 

 was an out-of-the-world town, sleeping placidly to the 

 lullaby of its own bay ; but it will scarcely do to accuse 

 it of somnolence now that a pert little branch line has 

 brought it within reach of the main road between Dumfries 

 and Stranraer. 



A rare old royal burgh is Kirkcudbright, thriving, too, in 

 these days, with its handsome new bridge and bustling 

 harbour. Here again, in the heart of the town, do we find 

 the old court-house, surmounted by a quaint tower and spire 

 and clock, and from " turret to foundation stone " of evident 

 antiquity. The river Dee affords many picturesque views 

 and walks, and there is a particularly fine prospect from the 

 west end of the bridge. The castle ruins by the river's 

 brink stand isolated from all modern whims and con- 

 trivances. The crumbling walls, reared three hundred 

 years since on the site of a Franciscan Priory, have for 

 generations clothed themselves in a living mantle of ivy of 

 the most luxuriant foliage. 



Dundrennan Abbey, nearer the shore of Solway Firth, 



p 



