338 TWEED AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 



hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea. After 

 running three miles, it is joined by the Easseney water 

 at Millknow. It afterwards, a short way above Ellem- 

 ford, receives the Dye, with its tributary, the Watch- 

 burn ; and on reaching Allanton is augmented from the 

 west by the Blackadder. Both the main stream and its 

 tributaries abound in trout ; in point of numbers, per- 

 haps, there are few rivers in Scotland that surpass them ; 

 and the Blackadder, which has its sources at Wedderlie, 

 nineteen miles distant from its junction with Whitadder, 

 is in high repute for the size and excellence of its fish. 

 They resemble, in some respects, the trout of Eden, and 

 when in season are red-fleshed. Sea-trout, it is said, do 

 not ascend the Blackadder, but take freely to the 

 channels of its fairer sister. The same assertion was 

 made to me, with respect to the Leet ; but I quickly 

 disproved it by capturing several fish of this sort in its 

 pools : and from the Eden, a stream of the same nature 

 as Blackadder, I have frequently, below the falls, taken 

 bull-trout and whitlings. The salmo solar has also been 

 killed close to Ednam, during the fence-season. 



One of the oldest and largest fishing-clubs in Scot- 

 land (the Ellemford) is connected with the Whitadder, 

 and takes its name from an angling station on this 

 river. It originated in 1827 or 1828. The funds at its 

 disposal, in 1844, amounted to above four hundred 

 pounds. A handsome rod and reel, the bequest of the 

 late Andrew Girvan, Esq., one of its original members, 

 form the leading prize, and are annually contested for 

 on the Whitadder in the first or second week of May. 

 There is also a medal given in perpetuity by George 

 Trotter, Esq., of Chirnside, to the captor of the best 

 dozen of river trout the rod, along with an honorary 

 medal, the property of the club, being awarded for the 



