DECEMBER 297 



and wont. The land was mainly grazing, pastoral, and 

 unfenced ; but there were numerous crofts also, and no 

 improvement could be carried on without interfering 

 with these. The first step was to increase the size of 

 the holdings, so that a family might earn a fair living 

 off a farm, and this spelt eviction. It also meant the 

 erection of fences, the abolition of the ancient rights 

 of common pasturage and the old and wasteful 'runrig' 

 system of cultivation, which had been handed down 

 from primitive Celtic times. Now the herding of cattle 

 upon unfenced pasture was a constant source of em- 

 ployment to the rural population, who viewed with 

 intense displeasure the erection of dry-stone dykes. 

 Under the leadership of one Billy Marshall, of the 

 blood-royal of the gypsies, they formed themselves 

 into an association of 'Levellers,' whose business it 

 was to throw down the obnoxious fences. Billy had 

 deserted from the Scots Greys when serving under 

 Marlborough in Flanders, and his military experience 

 enabled him to impart a formidable character to this 

 organisation. Their nocturnal raids were not confined 

 to inanimate objects. Numerous entries in the laird's 

 accounts refer to proceedings against ' those who haked 

 & destroyed my cattle.' 



The Levellers were not put down without difficulty ; 

 soldiers had to be marched into Galloway to quell the 

 rioting ; several men were killed, and in one encounter 

 at Cuiquha in the Stewartry, some two hundred 

 prisoners were taken, many of whom were consigned 

 to a fate more dreaded than death banishment to the 

 plantations. Scraps of verse may still be gathered in 



