130 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



gesting the establishment of signals, by means of fires at 

 night and smoke by day, at proper stations, for pointing 

 out to vessels the places where shoals of herrings have 

 appeared upon the coast. 



Two awards, made on loth January 1809, indicate that 

 the Society considered it fitting to reward soldierly fidelity 

 and patriotism. One vote was a gold medal of the value 

 of five guineas to Angus Mackay, of the 71st Highlanders. 

 It appeared by a letter from General Ferguson that, at the 

 battle of Vimiera, in Portugal, the French General, Bernier, 

 was taken prisoner by Mackay, then a corporal of the 71st 

 Regiment. The French General having tendered to him 

 his watch and purse with a \-iew of obtaining his liberty, 

 ]\Iackay declined accepting either, and brought his prisoner 

 to his commanding-officer. On the recommendation of the 

 Duke of Wellington, Mr Mackay had been promoted to the 

 rank of a commissioned officer in the ser\ace. The other 

 vote was a handsome stand of bagpipes, with an appropriate 

 inscription, to George Clark, piper of the 71st Regiment, 

 who, after being severely wounded in the same action, sat 

 on the ground, when unable to stand from the effect of his 

 wound, and played a pibroch. The pipes were of the value 

 of nine guineas. The Society's awards were delivered to 

 Ensign Mackay and George Clark, at a meeting of the 

 Highland Society of London, by the Marquis of Huntly, as 

 preses of meeting. George Clark appeared at the competi- 

 tion of pipers held in 18 15, when it was thought proper to 

 vote him a gold medal, instead of considering him a candi- 

 date for one of the prizes. 



A suggestive vote was passed in 1809 of a silver medal 

 to David Shank, secretary of the Rhins of Galloway Agri- 

 cultural Society. A report of the proceedings of the Rhins 

 Society having been laid before the directors, it was ap- 

 proved of; and, in particular, the Society's practice of 

 periodically inspecting the improvements made by the 

 different farmers within that district ; and the medal was 

 voted as a mark of such approbation by the directors. In 

 the same year (on 23rd June) a silver medal was voted to 

 Walter Laidlaw, Menzion, Peeblesshire, for the introduction 



