414 Dr. Johnston's Journal jf a visit to Jardine Hall. 



indigenous here. Left this scene with reluctance, and ascend- 

 ing the bank, we returned to Douglas Hall by a high road, 

 that afforded extensive views of the Solway and the coast. 

 I know not in what direction we were now driven ; but the 

 road was tortuous and interesting, and fringed on each side 

 with numberless briars, the species different from those of 

 Berwickshire, and more productive of fruit. The hills 

 around us were granite, and the country was very unequal 

 and rocky ; so that Galloway must be as ticklish a place as 

 Gal way, for the gentlemen who love to follow the hounds 

 fair ; indeed we were told that fox hunting was here an un- 

 known sport, and the proprietors give 10s 6d. for every fox 

 that any countryman may destroy, by fair means or foul. 

 There were many valleys stretching up and between these 

 rough hills, that, as a botanist, I yearned to explore ; but, it 

 was onwards we must go, contented with the glances of fields 

 which it seemed very certain I would never again re-visit. 

 Oats and barley appeared to be the only corns cultivated, 

 and the fields were redolent of annual weeds. Peat mosses 

 were numerous, and in each of them a solitary individual 

 worked away in cheerless silence. After a long stage in 

 which we had passed very few houses, and not even an 

 onstead, we came to Dalbeattie, a nice looking village that 

 looks as if it had been set down in this thinly peopled 

 district by some mistake, and one wonders what the inhabi- 

 tants of it can find to do. Yet it has every symptom of 

 comfort about it, and the stone houses are all covered with 

 blue slates, and white washed. There is a good Inn in the 

 village, and a mail coach passes daily through it. A few 

 minutes drive now brought us to Munches, and to the end 

 of our day's travels. 



Friday, Sept. 13th. Munches is the residence of Mr. 

 Maxwell, a young gentleman married only a few months 

 since, to the eldest daughter of Sir William Jardine. The 

 house has nothing notable in it, but the grounds are beautiful, 

 and in the neat flower garden we found a great display of 

 fine flowers, groups of which were likewise tastefully planted 

 about the house. I enjoyed a morning stroll in this pretty 

 garden, and over the grounds very much ; and the pleasure 

 was heightened by the company of Mr. Maxwell, who hour- 

 ly improved upon us. He is really a very excellent and 

 amiable person, very fond of farming, and anxious to adopt 

 modern improvements, which from a deficiency of chemical 



