414 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



of Time has, however, taken well-nigh a century to heal the scars 

 made by " Old Q," who both here, and at Neidpath on the Tweed, 

 made hideous havoc of the splendid timber. Burns was a frequent 

 visitor to the Duke's Chamberlain, John M'Murdo, and gives speech 

 to the genius of the stream in mourning the wreck, which, a little 

 later, Wordsworth also saw and lamented : 



" There was a time, it's nae lang syne, 



Ye might hae seen me in my pride, 

 When a' my banks sae bravely saw 



Their woody pictures in my tide ; 

 When hanging beech and spreading elm 



Shaded my stream sae clear and cool ; 

 And stately oaks their twisted arms 



Threw broad and dark across the pool ; 



"When glinting through the trees appear'd 



The wee white cot aboon the mill, 

 And peacefu' rose its ingle reek, 



That slowly curled up the hill ; 

 But now the cot is bare and cauld, 



Its branchy shelter's lost and gane, 

 And scarce a stinted birk is left 



To shiver in the blast its lane." 



When mentioning Drumlanrig it is well to recollect that we owe 

 much to Shaw, who was head keeper there 70 years ago, for his 

 valuable experiments in the hatching of salmon eggs and rearing of 

 their fry. It was Shaw who in 1840 first proved that parr are the 

 young of the salmon. The results of his many and carefully 

 guarded experiments were given to the world in the transactions of 

 the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh. 1 



The Duke of Buccleuch owns something like twenty miles of the 

 river, but in this only a limited stretch is reserved as private water. 

 At Thornhill, and again at Sanquhar, Angling Associations exist 

 which have extensive stretches of the river. In the upper reaches, 

 however, it is chiefly brown trout fishing that is indulged in, and 

 the trout are not in any way famous for their size. 



One must go on hoping that a better day is yet to dawn for the 

 Nith salmon angler. The natural conditions of a good second-class 

 river are here. Surely the great value of salmon angling will not be 

 thrown away for ever. 



i Vol. xiv. p. 547, 1840. 



