360 Mr. George Tate on the Cheviots. 



from Branxton on the north to Ridlee hills on the south, 

 about %% miles; and from Branton on the east to Bloodylaws 

 on the west, nearly 21 miles ; the area in Northumberland 

 being about 200, and in Roxburghshire about 100 square 

 miles. These hills, rising out of the stratified rocks by which 

 they are flanked and towering high above them, are marked 

 by distinctive features. The lowest level at which the 

 porphyry and syenite, of which they are formed, appear in 

 Northumberland, is in Akeld burn 300 feet above the sea 

 level ; but from this the ground rises rapidly ; Akeld hill is 

 986 feet high ; Homildon, the scene of a Border battle, is 977 

 feet ; Yevering, which is crowded with archaic remains, is 

 1182 feet ; Standrop, 1721 ; Newton Tors, 1762 ; Dunmore, 

 1860; Windy-gyle, near the Borders, 1983; rounded Hedge- 

 hope, 2348 ; and broad-backed Cheviot, the highest of all, is 

 2676 above the sea level. In Roxburghshire the elevations 

 are less, and melt down more gradually to the general level 

 of the district ; yet here Hownam-law is 1472 feet high. 



Many of the hills, especially near the Borders, are of a fine 

 smooth conical form and roll as it were into each other, being 

 separated by short upland valleys or hopes; but others are 

 connected by high ridges. In deep narrow gorges, the burns 

 and rivulets brawl over rocky channels and leap over clifis, 

 which form here and there picturesque waterfalls and linns, 

 the highest being Harthope and Linhope spouts. Other 

 narrow clefts, without water, appear like gashes in the sides 

 of the mountains. One element of picturesqueness is want- 

 ing, for the tops of the hills are usually naked and treeless ; 

 but on some, as on the Tors, Standrop, and Housey Crag 

 there are outbreaks of rock. Variety is given to the scenery 

 by long trains of stones or glidders extending from the sum- 

 mit of the minor hills to their base, when the slope is con- 

 siderable ; for the rock readily breaks under the action of the 

 elements into small fragments, which, when weathered, assume 

 a purple hue. On a bright summer day some years ago, I 

 enjoyed from one of the spurs of the Cheviot, a magnificent 

 ■view over part of the range. During the morning the tops 

 of the hills had been wreathed in mist ; but, towards after- 

 noon, while looking down the deep valley of the Colledge, 

 and tracing the headlong course of the river among the 

 rocks, a light breeze sprung up and rolled away the mist from 

 one hill top and then from others in succession, until the sun 

 lighted up with marvellous brilliancy the whole of the moun- 

 tains: the spell of a great magician appeared thrown over 



