310 THE WHITADDER. 



above the town of Berwick, the Whitadder is joined by 

 the Blackadder a considerable stream, which rises in 

 the south-west of Berwickshire, and passes in an easterly 

 direction through the district, a little to the south of 

 the town of Dunse, until it meets the Whitadder. The 

 highest station for the angler upon this river is the 

 solitary inn of Elmford, about three miles east of Long- 

 formachus, and nine north-west of Dunse, above which 

 the river becomes too small for good fishing. The 

 existence of this lone hostelry is almost entirely due to 

 the patronage of the angling fraternity, who frequent it 

 during the summer months to enjoy plenitude of sport 

 combined with the sweets of retirement ; and here cer- 

 tainly both are to be had in perfection, as the sportsman 

 may wander for day after day by the margin of the 

 crystal waters in pursuit of his favourite avocation, 

 without ever once meeting with a human being, unless 

 it is a straggling member of his own fraternity similarly 

 occupied, or a solitary shepherd peeping over the brow 

 of a distant hill. 



From Elmford to Abbey St. Bathan's, a village 

 pleasantly situated on its banks, in which are the re- 

 mains of an ancient monastery, the Whitadder passes 

 through a hilly and purely pastoral district, with only 

 small patches of cultivation here and there \ but below 

 the latter place it leaves the Lammermuirs behind, and 

 pursues its course through one of the richest and most 

 highly-cultivated valleys in Great Britain, until its de- 

 bouchure into the Tweed at Canty's Bridge ; while the 

 entire river is broken up into a perpetual succession of 



