LOCKERBY TO MOODLAW. 357 



sake^ not to do a deed — which he had no intention of 

 doing. Of course we stopped at the foot, to hear the 

 prospects of the leather plating, next day, from 

 the clerk of the course, a most communicative black- 

 smith. " There will be three fra Peerithy^' said he, 

 "one or two fra the Langholm, and Joe Graham's 

 tied to have yen in.'' The sheep Nestors ascended 

 the hill soon after day-break. In the very first 

 group we hailed there were Graham of The Shaw, 

 "Moodlaw,^' Tom Welsh, and our active-minded 

 friend John Irving, who had laid aside his Municipal, 

 Silloth, and True Blue cares for the day, and, being 

 no sheep among men, had arrived from Carlisle to be 

 a man among sheep. Upper and Mid Annandale 

 were all in that hill landscape. AYe looked across, 

 with Mr. Graham as our geographical guide, to 

 Torthorwald and Rammerscales hills, and traced 

 the Annan as it wound along from Moffat, bear- 

 ing four or five ''^ waters^' in its bosom. 



The sheep are in diff'erent divisions on the hill. 

 Blackfaced and cross-bred lambs are on the west side ; 

 Cheviot lambs in separate ewe and wedder lots on 

 the north ; and half-bred s on the south. Pens are 

 still the exception, and the lots are of all sizes from 

 three to twenty score. No picking is allowed, and a 

 lot must be run off by the crook with a steady hand 

 and a straight eye. It is a great art to swirl them 

 round, so as to mix up tops and seconds, and then to 

 make a steady cut ; and it is given to few men to 

 count off a lot on the spur of the moment, as 



