THE CHEVIOT BREED. 107 



of sheep had dropped dead going from the washing. Many 

 hundreds were driven into waters, burns, and lakes, by the 

 violence of the storm, where they were buried or frozen up, 

 and these the flood carried away, so that they were never 

 seen or found by the owners at all. The greater part of the 

 rivers on which the storm was most deadly run into the Sol- 

 way Frith, on which there is a place called the Beds of Esk, 

 where the tide throws out, and leaves, whatever is carried 

 into it by the rivers. When the flood after the storm sub- 

 sided, there were found on that place, and the shores adjacent, 

 one thousand eight hundred and forty sheep, nine black cattle, 

 three horses, two men, one woman, forty-five dogs, and one 

 hundred and eighty hares, besides a number of meaner ani- 

 mals.'' 



After describing his return from a distant excursion through 

 the mountains, and certain presages of a coming storm, he 

 continues : 



" I then went to my bed in the byre-loft, where I slept with 

 a neighbour shepherd, named Borthwick ; but though fatigued 

 with walking through the snow, I could not close an eye, so 

 that I heard the first burst of the storm, which commenced 

 between one and two, with a fury that no one can conceive 

 who does not remember it. Besides, the place where I lived 

 being exposed to two or three ' gathered winds,' as they are 

 called by shepherds, the storm raged there with redoubled 

 fury. It began all at once, with such a tremendous roar, that 

 I imagined it was a peal of thunder, until I felt the house 

 trembling to its foundation. In a few minutes I thrust my 

 naked arm through a hole in the roof, in order, if possible, to 

 ascertain what was going on without, for not a ray of light 

 could I see. I could not then, nor can I yet, express my 

 astonishment : so completely was the air overloaded with 

 falling and driving snow, that, but for the force of the wind, 

 I felt as if I had thrust my arm into a wreath of snow. I 

 deemed it a judgment sent from Heaven upon us, and went 

 to bed again, trembling with agitation. 5 ' " I kept my bed 



