20 MEMOIR OF PENNANT. 



and well husbanded fields, bounded on every side 

 with woods, with views of other woods still rising 

 beyond. No wonder the inhabitants yet believe the 

 Fairies revel in these delightful scenes." 



From this place he again returned south, and af- 

 ter some delay recrossed the border at Gretna, and 

 proceeded to Dumfries, which seems to have been 

 the intended point of commencement for his northern 

 journey. He visited the principal beauties and ruins 

 in the district, and proceeded on his way up the 

 Nith, by Lanarkshire, to Glasgow. When describing 

 the Solway Firth, he mentions the hunting of salmon, 

 and although this method of taking these active fish 

 was almost extinct, his work is a record of its being 

 still practised in 1772, or about sixty years since. 

 There was only one person on the coast who was 

 expert enough to practise the diversion. 



The appearance and bursting of the Solway Moss 

 is also described ; he had seen it and the surrounding 

 country in his former tour. Speaking of the latter, he 

 says, " it has been finely reclaimed from its original 

 state, prettily divided, well planted with hedges, and 

 well peopled ; the ground, originally not worth six- 

 pence an acre, was improved to the value of thirty 

 shillings. At this time it was a melancholy extent 

 of black turbery, the eruption of the moss having in 

 a few days covered grass and corn ; levelled the 

 boundaries of almost every farm ; destroyed most of 

 the houses, and driven the poor inhabitants to the 

 utmost distress." An authentic account of this ca- 



