245 



FIELD MEETINGS. 



31st May, 1913. 



Leadhills and Enterkin Pass. 



A party, to the number of twenty, spent a most enjoy- 

 able day in the passes through the Lowthers at the north of 

 Dumfriesshire. A start was made shortly after eight o'clock 

 in the morning, the company motoring- up Xithsdale to the 

 Mennock Pass. The day was one of bright sunshine, the 

 warmth of the sun being- tempered by a g^rateful breeze; and 

 the valley of the Nith clad in the fresh foliage of early 

 summer, was rich in beauty. The run to Mennock village 

 was made al a good pace, and the six steep miles from there 

 up the Mennock Pass to W'anlockhead and Leadhills were 

 covered at a comfortable rate, which gave ample time for 

 the enjoyment of the splendid hill scenery amid which the 

 road winds. 



The wild and striking beauty of the ^[ennock Pass has 

 often been described, and always with a note of admiration. 

 Clerical travellers, and among them Dean Stanley, have 

 discovered that it resembles certain parts of Palestine, the 

 features of the scenery when journeying near Jerusalem 

 having brought to their recollection this road among the 

 Lowthers, where the mountains by whii-h it is surrounded 

 give a favourable idea of the hills of Judea. " There is," 

 adds one writer when speaking of the district, " one re- 

 markable point of difference. In Scotland the traveller 

 passes through an excellent road, among an honest and 

 industrious pf)pulation, where the conversation of the 

 commonest will often delight imd surprise the man of letters. 

 Among the hills of Palestine the road is almost impassable, 

 and he finds himself among- a set of infamous and ignorant 

 thieves, who would cut his throat for a farthing and rob him 

 of his properly for the mere pleasure of doing it." The lale 



