288 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



X. 



An' gin a sawmont soom the Tweed 

 (The thing 's no that unchancy), 



We '11 gar the ilka tooth o't bleed, 

 May fortune fa' the fancy ! 



PISCICULTUKE. 



A VISIT TO MR. SHAW, DRUMLANRIG. 



THE greater part of the month of May 1859 was spent in 

 Dumfriesshire, on the banks of the Esk and the Nith, in company 

 with my friend Wilson. One of the excursions undertaken by 

 us was to Drumlanrig, with the view of meeting Mr. Shaw, the 

 fruits of whose researches into the fresh-water habits of the sal- 

 mon have been accepted by naturalists as a most valuable addi- 

 tion to science, and given an impetus to the pursuit of pisciculture, 

 in its highest branch, both at home and abroad. A long-pro- 

 mised visit, which my friend and I were paying to Sheriff 

 Trotter at Dumfries, gave us an opportunity, our kind enter- 

 tainer during the forenoon being occupied with his judicial duties, 

 of hurrying up Nithsdale by an early train to the station near 

 Thornhill, and thence, by gig, proceeding to Mr. Shaw's cottage, 

 which stands overlooking the valley a short way beyond the 

 ducal castle, and commanding a stretch of landscape to which, 

 with all appropriateness, the term 'magnificent' may be applied. 



Drumlanrig, of the several princely residences in Scotland 

 possessed by his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, is certainly the 

 most princely. It greatly surpasses in command of situation, 

 and extent of pleasure-grounds, Dalkeith Palace, Bowhill, and 



