BOYHOOD IN GALLOWAY 9 



hollows of the great wind-swept moors, with the 

 huge expanse of sky over all, to conjure up a con- 

 venticle of the persecuted " Men of the mosshags " 

 of a bygone age ; for Galloway is rich in its his- 

 torical associations, and especially in those of the 

 Covenanters. The climate is much drier than in 

 most parts of Scotland, the air extraordinarily 

 health-giving ; indeed, I can remember at one 

 time, in the village of Dairy alone, there were 

 six ladies living who averaged the ripe old age 

 of ninety. 



The river Ken runs from north to south, join- 

 ing the Black Water of Dee near Parton station ; 

 or rather, the two rivers empty their waters into 

 a large loch, some nine miles long, the upper 

 part of which. Loch Ken, is very beautiful, while 

 the lower, called Loch Dee, is of the quiet, pastoral 

 order. Strangely enough, there is another lake of 

 the same name in Galloway ; the Loch Dee in 

 which the Black Water of Dee takes its rise — 

 a sheet of water wild and lonely in the extreme, 

 over a mile in length, and celebrated for the 

 quality and size of its trout. I will call this the 

 upper Loch Dee, to distinguish it from the lower, 

 in which the waters of the Ken and Dee inter- 



