22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



of our progressing in the ordinary way. Our 

 movements were eccentric but graceful ; dart- 

 ing at intervals ostensibly upwards, but always 

 yielding, and, like the snail in the problem, 

 descending ten feet for every one we ascended. 

 By yielding to the might of the river, we were 

 carried more safely and pleasantly on our 

 destined course. 



" Passing the noble ruins of Dryburgh Abbey 

 scarce, if at all, inferior to those of Melrose 

 I speedily reached another cauld or dam, 

 and, passing it with equal ease and less fear 

 than the former, swam along by woody Maker- 

 stoun through one of the narrow channels 

 called the ' Clippers,' by the magnificent castle 

 of Floors, and, tarrying but to taste the sweet 

 waters of the Teviot, on through Kelso Bridge 

 and Sprouston Dubs, through the Edenmouth 

 and Carham Waters to Coldstream Bridge. In 

 this neighbourhood I escaped, by pure good 

 fortune, a danger that I afterwards learnt 

 proved fatal to thousands nay, tens of thou- 

 sands of my young companions. The stream 

 had apparently divided, and, whilst I followed 

 the course of the right-hand one, the greater 

 number passed down the wider but less rapid 



