246 Field Meetings. 



James Shaw, the Tynron schoolmaster, aptly describes the 

 pass itself in a few sentences. " Departing- from the Nith," 

 he says, " at a sharp angle at Mennock, we began slowly to 

 wind up an excellently macadamised road, at every turn of 

 which the glen became more contracted, the trees scarcer, the 

 hills higher, the stream narrower and fiercer, and the vegeta- 

 tion more Alpine. Dark mists, dark heath, dark-winged 

 butterflies, grey whinstone, and blackfaced sheep were for 

 ever turning up ; while sometimes, far below us on the solitary 

 road, the thin wail of the much-diminished stream continued 

 to be heard. The hills were now fast becoming mountain 

 masses, on the right dark with heath, on the left verdant with 

 the freshest grass. These mountains were variegated with 

 the parallel tracks of sheep, or seamed from top to bottom 

 with the dry, stony beds of winter torrents." On Saturday, 

 however, dark mists such as are referred to by Shaw were 

 absent, the pass appearing in its most delightful summer 

 aspect, having overhead a blue sky flecked with white clouds, 

 from which came delicate grey shadows which chased each 

 other over the sunlit hillsides. 



On reaching Wanlockhead the party gladly availed 

 themselves of the opportunity to pause for a few minutes to 

 look round on the singularly picturesque little mining village, 

 the houses of which have of necessity been arranged in rows 

 on the hillsides to face every possible point of the compass. 

 Wanlockhead, which is about fourteen hundred feet above 

 the sea-level, contains the highest house in Scotland, and 

 was the birthplace of Dr William Hastie, Professor of 

 Divinity in Glasgow University, who died in 1903, and was 

 buried in its churchyard ; and of Mr Robert Reid, the poet, 

 who has made the whole district vocal with his song. The 

 lead mines, which give employment to most of the men of the 

 village, are the property of the Duke of Buccleuch, and were 

 opened about the year 1680 by Sir James Stampfield. About 

 two hundred and fifty men are now employed in the mines, 

 and in addition to lead, silver is obtained. At one time 

 gold was found in large quantities, a circumstance which 

 earned for the district the name of " God's treasure-house in 

 Scotland." One feature of the village has always been re- 



