BOYHOOD IN GALLOWAY 15 



from its nearer extremity ; while from the north a 

 further stretch of river, called the Cooran Lane 

 (Lane mt^^nmg slow-Jlowing stream), meandered down 

 the valley with many loops and links. Here and 

 there the stream connected small black tarns, which 

 lay under the shade of a wild, forbidding-looking, 

 and deeply-scarred precipice, until finally it joined 

 the Dee, shortly after the latter's exit from the loch. 

 And all this great valley of desolation was cut up 

 by what appeared to be ugly brown serpents creeping 

 over it ; in reality the winding and gaping creeks 

 of black mud, guarded on either hand by peat-hags 

 covered with giant cushions of grey-green moss — 

 moss shaded in places to rose colour, and fringed 

 with old, long-since burned heather, like the bleached 

 and silvered bones of a bygone generation. 



Gazing on this wild scene, however, would not 

 bring us any nearer to the white sand on the shores 

 of Loch Dee, nor to our destination, the shepherd's 

 house of Black Laggan, still five miles away. So 

 we made the best of our way down the mountain- 

 side, where all was plain sailing until the flat of 

 the valley was reached, when we got into a labyrinth 

 of those horrid, winding peat-bogs, and many ddtours 

 had to be made. Surely, there is no spot in Great 



