16 Anni/versary Address. 



pining stock, tlie shepherds universally coincide in lauding, be- 

 came conspicuous. Becoming clear of the pass, the road conducts 

 us along the crest of the Black Hass, a sort of slack or lower 

 level, whence we obtain our first, and by no means cheering, view 

 of English ground. For that is the desolate and secluded tract 

 of Kidland, which extends in a sort of triangle, at a modified 

 elevation, lumpy, confused, and tumultuous ; here and there 

 heathery, or peat rifted, but mostly green; in short a medley of 

 bogs and moors and dry hillocks, up to the base of the great 

 Cheviot (2658 and 2676 feet), whose vast bulk combined with 

 the taU heights of Hedgehope (2348 feet) and Dunmore (1860) 

 constitute its mighty eastern barrier. Most of its eminences, 

 which are intersected by winding streams, are scarcely decided 

 hills; but Cushet Law (2020 feet), Shill-Moor (1734 feet), and 

 Shill-hope Law (1642 feet), are bulky heights. The most mas- 

 sive lay in front, viz. Thirlmoor (1833 feet) along-backed un- 

 bending ridge, that shut out an expected view of Eedesdale ; 

 somewhat heathy, but mostly green, rutted here and there with 

 earth- slips and open fissures, and dimpled and unequal on its 

 broad sides ; and shewing rock precipices and sections where its 

 base is washed and limited by the upper waters of the Coquet. 

 The adjacent western portion is Harden Edge (1500 feet), and 

 not far from its upper end is the head of the river. At very wide 

 distances is a sprinkling of slated shepherd's houses, and we see 

 distinctly as marks of occupancy, the roads and beaten tracks 

 that keep up intercourse with the low country, or conduct to the 

 nearest peat-moss. These diminutive dwellings are almost swal- 

 lowed up in the surging wilderness. Buckham's Walls (1341 

 feet) on a slope in the open, and Makendon, Phillip, i.e. FuUhope, 

 and Blindburn on the Coquet were those within a moderate dis- 

 tance of us. It is still as of old in 1542, that there is ''but one 

 house or two at the most in one of the valleys, for the ground 

 yrof wyll serve none otherwyse" ; there not being "such great 

 parcelles of medowe or pasture together that are able to fynde 

 above one household in one place." 



But meantime we are still upon the waste with the sun beating 

 hot upon us, and the Eoman Camp of Chew-Green, that we are 

 in search of, seems ever to be moving away from us instead of 

 becoming nigher, as we compass one long stretch after another, 

 till at length the illusion terminates on turning round the base 

 of the Brown Hart Law (1664 feet) where we began the descent 



