10 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



whole way to the sea, yet with increase of volume comes the 

 dignity of the large river, and the powerful glide and swirl. 



Tweed has not gone far before an old Peel Tower is passed, 

 for in the old days a line of signals could be flashed " from 

 Berwick to the Bield," and those towers are characteristic of 

 the Tweed to this day. 



Many of them are not now to be readily identified. The 

 highest of all, for instance, Old Oliver Castle, which was in 

 touch with Drumelzier, is now no longer visible. The most 

 famous in those upper waters is Neidpath Castle, a short 

 distance above Peebles. Like Oliver it originally seems to have 

 belonged to the Erasers. It stands picturesquely on a rocky 

 bluff, where the river makes a couple of bends through a wooded 

 defile. On the slope above, on a small flat eminence amongst 

 the trees, a splendid view both up and down the valley used to 

 be obtained. I am not aware if the trees have yet obscured it, 

 but forty years ago it was known to me as " Mount Pizgah." 



The trend of the river eastward begins about Broughton, and 

 before Neidpath is reached the tributary of Lyne has come in 

 on the left bank and Manor Water on the right. The former 

 rises away to the north on the slopes of the Pentland Hills. 

 The latter, remarkable for its fine water and lusty trout, comes, 

 in many small streams, from a half circle of hills which lie 

 close to one another, the remnant of an old land surface ; 

 Scrape, Pykeston Hill, Long Green Knowe, Dollar Law, Black 

 Law, Blackhouse Heights how Lowland Scots the names are ; 

 the hills are all above 2,200 feet, Dollar Law being 2,680 feet. 

 By Manor banks David Ritchie, the original of Sir Walter's 

 Black Dwarf, had his cottage a ghoulish person with an 

 extremely twisted nature by all accounts. 



At Peebles the Eddleston Water enters at its mouth called 

 by true gutterbluids " The Cuddy." Immediately below, the 

 first weir or " cauld " of the river exists. The tweed mills of 

 Peebles make full use of the water and do not leave it as they 

 find it. Peebles may be said to be the first of many sources of 

 pollution. Sewage fungus grows freely in the river below the 

 town. A Royal Burgh since the days of David II., son of 

 Bruce, the clean and peaceful town lies sweetly amongst the 

 pastoral hills. King's Moor across the river used to be the 

 scene of many " weaponschawings " at an annual tournament. 



