ANCIENT AYRSHIRE. 103 



the Tyne to the Solway. In 207 the country north 

 of the Clyde was savage and uncleared, and the fierce 

 inhabitants in A. D. 446 are described as bearing all 

 the stamp of barbarian life. 



Upon the abandonment of Britain by the Romans 

 in 446, the five tribes inhabiting the region about 

 these fortifications became independent, and under a 

 union formed a new kingdom termed Eegnum Cum- 

 brense, or more frequently the Kingdom of Strath- 

 clyde. It appears to have included the present 

 Liddesdale, Teviotdale, Dumfriesshire, Galloway, 

 Ayrshire, Renfrew, Strathclyde, the midland and 

 western parts of Stirlingshire, and the largest por- 

 tion of Dumbartonshire. The tribes which formed 

 this community led a pastoral life, living on the milk 

 of their flocks and the produce of the chase. They 

 were a race not of dhTerent descent from the ruder 

 tribes of the north, but of improved civilization. 16 



This v, as the region in which civilization first ob- 

 tained a foothold, and where the labors of agriculture 

 must first have taken the place of the uncertainties 

 of the chase. The only early record of dairy prod- 

 ucts is from within this district, 17 as well as the 

 breeding of horses. As an evidence of culture exist- 

 ing here at an early date, it may be well to state that 

 the immense Abbey of Kelso was begun in 1128, 

 and the beautiful Melrose Abbey in 1136. 17 



Until the middle of the eighteenth century there 

 was scarcely a good road in Scotland. 18 In 1678 an 



Euc. Brit. xix. 741, 743. " Black's Picturesque Guide to Scotland. 

 is Enc. Brit, six, 807. 



