TINWALD DOWNS TO HALLHEATHS. 347 



a' the lochs — nine of 'em" glistened before us, and 

 transformed Lochmaben, which we had only thought 

 of as a pig market, into quite a fair " City of the 

 "Waters/^ Herons from Hallheaths and wild-ducks 

 pause there in their flight to the Solway, and pikes 

 and vendace seem to be the fish tenants in common. 

 These vendace are said to have been originally brought 

 from Italy by the monks. They are less than three 

 ounces, and have a black heart-shaped transparency 

 at the back of their heads, through which the brain 

 may be seen. Thus they keep their hearts not ^' for 

 daws to peck at,^' but for the Vendace Club, when 

 they meet at Lochmaben early in August, to fish and 

 dine together, with Sir William Jardine in the chair. 

 Fried in bread-crumbs they are quite the white-bait 

 of the North, and a ten-dozen basket is a good 

 day's sport. 



A half-bred Arab by Minuet from a Telemachus 

 mare, in the breaking bits, showed that we were ap- 

 proaching a spot where other " good things have 

 been landed.^' In a few minutes the clock cupola 

 rose above the thick laurel approaches to Hallheaths, 

 once the home of the owner of Charles the Twelfth. 

 St. ^lartin, Annandale, Verulam, Mentor, and Tele- 

 machus have all been stabled under that cupola 

 since the late Mr. Andrew Johnstone came back 

 from China, great in the faith of a blood horse,* and, 

 curiously enough, the two last died from broken legs, 

 caused by the kick of a mare. St. Martin has also 



* See " Scott and Sebright," pp. 171-72. 



