THE BOON 393 



Monument and Alloway Kirk. There is an Alloway Mill also, 

 in connection with which a smooth cement-faced dam -dyke is 

 thrown across the river. It was at one time a rather serious 

 obstacle, but a fish-pass has been erected in recent years, 

 which, after some alteration, is, I hope, less difficult for fish 

 than it was. Above the Alloway Mill a short distance the 

 Dutch Mills have also a weir, some 3 feet high, with a fish-pass. 



The memory of Burns is fondly cherished in this the place 

 of his birth, and apart from those whose business it is to know 

 about the Burns' relics and the " auld clay biggin' " which 

 stands so simply by the roadside, who, as it were, make a living 

 out of his memory, there are not wanting those who have a 

 genuine and a deep knowledge of his beautiful songs and strong, 

 deeply fascinating poems. There is a short cut through the 

 Alloway Kirkyard for any one wishing to keep near to the 

 river bank. Folk don't now see the " warlocks and witches in 

 a dance " that made Tarn o' Shanter " amazed and curious," 

 but stepping over the stile there on one occasion I came upon 

 an old worthy deeply absorbed in a well-thumbed book. A 

 short crack showed him to be steeped in Burns lore, and I 

 had caught him in the act of quietly verifying a reference. As 

 I left the kirk gates I felt that Burns still lives about the old 

 Brig o' Doon. 



But we have almost come to the end of 



"the bonnie winding banks 

 Where Doon rins, wimplin' clear." 



An ever -running stream from the Bridge curves to the right, 

 and at top of tide-reach is brought up by a cement-covered 

 weir, where in years only recently passed some deadly netting 

 used to be practised. A fish-pass exists, and the in-coming 

 tide flushes the face of the dyke, but fish are naturally checked 

 if the river is not in running order. However, the Marquis of 

 Ailsa has now entirely discontinued the netting of the tidal 

 water. 



The mouth of the Doon offers a rather peculiar question for 

 consideration. The action of the sea in throwing up gravel 

 and sand so acts upon the rather slanting entrance of the river 

 that the fresh water is gradually forced more and more north- 

 wards in its direction. Floods, of course, assert themselves, 



