The BucHANiTES and Crocketford. 296 



when friends of the then laird of Larg- (the odious hag) shot 

 down four Co\enanters in a Httle natural hollow, so shut in 

 that the pious pilgrim can see naught from it but the distant 

 top of Criffel and the over-arching' sky. •» 



On the site of the ewe-buchts in this remote solitude the 

 Buchanites built for themselves the first house the farm had 

 ever seen ; and from their kitchen window they could see in 

 the plain below their old Auchengibbert home with a silver 

 glint of the Milton Loch on the left, and the dark hill range 

 of Criffel in the background. The sheep they took at valua- 

 tion and on credit. And now began a repetition, but on a 

 much smaller scale of course, of the activity and diligence of 

 Auchengibbert. The trammels of their religious system 

 gradually ceased to be obtrusive, and in time were lost in the 

 general fame of their kindness and of their skill in spinning 

 and in doctoring. 



While the Buchanites were thus laying for themselves 

 both far and near in the Stewartry the foundations of a 

 reputation which drew the unaccustomed feet of rich and 

 poor to their thriving settlement, other and wider forces were 

 beginning to operate in their neighbourhood towards a 

 general opening up of the district. During the last two 

 decades of the eighteenth century there was throughout 

 Galloway a remarkable movement towards general improve- 

 ment. Wealthy landlords sought to encourage the better 

 cultivation of land and the improvement of breeds of cattle ; 

 and they were anxious to improve farm building also. But 

 for the attainment of these objects the first and the most 

 urgent desideratum was a better service of roads. The old 

 bridle-tracks and drove roads were no longer suitable for the 

 growing demands of the district ; and it was decided that new 

 roads should be begun at once with better surface, easier 

 gradients, and in many places altered route. The present 

 splendid through road or coach road between Dumfries and 

 Portpatrick was not opened in its entirety till September, 

 1807 ; but that part of it which connects Dumfries with Castle- 

 Douglas was opened in 1800, and a tollbar was erected about 

 midway between the two towns (at the point where the New- 

 Galloway road joins the trunk road). By reason of the fact 



