The Catrail, or Pids-Worh-Ditch, by James Small. Ill 



■where it is lost on the soft land on Linglee, measures a mile-and- 

 a-half ; but mucli of it is very faintly marlred, and will shortly 

 disappear. After leaving Linglee hill it disappears on soft 

 ground for about three-quarters of a mile ; after which we caught 

 it up without difficulty and followed it with certainty, although 

 it is not deeply marked, for many hundred yards. At this part 

 it crosses a portion of the Peatlaw, and a wire fence runs along- 

 side of it for several hundred yards ; and near this fence it 

 crosses the bridle-path that leads from Yair on Tweed to Broad- 

 meadows on Yarrow, at the sj^ot where Sir Walter Scott and 

 Mungo Park bade farewell, just before the latter last sailed for 

 Africa. The incident is mentioned by Lockhart in his Life of 

 Sir Walter. 



Prom the bridle-path mentioned, we traced it a mile on the 

 Three Brethren hill ; and after losing it we also ourselves got 

 lost, from a dense fog, which darkened all around. After a good 

 deal of bewilderment, for the pocket-compass of each seemed to 

 point the wrong way, we found ourselves when the fog cleared, 

 about three miles out of our reckoning. 



After it leaves the Three Brethren hill, behind Yair about two 

 miles, it runs westward for about four miles, nearly as high as 

 the watershed between Tweed and Yarrow, but on the Yarrow 

 side of the watershed. It then reaches Wallace's Trench where 

 it is fairly well marked ; but in the space between Three 

 Brethren hill and this there is very little of it to be found. 

 Prom Wallace's Trench until it reaches a part of the farm of 

 Whitehope on Yarrow, nearly five miles, almost no traces of 

 the Catrail can be found. The course from Wallace's Trench 

 was westward on to the south-east end of Minchmuir, " the hill 

 of hills," along the ridge of which a jpart of Montrose's defeated 

 army retreated from Philiphaugh. It then curved to the south 

 and crossed the uplands through Lewinshope and Tinnis to 

 Whitehope hill. Mr Lindsay, the respected tenant of White- 

 hope, kindly accompanied us to the Catrail ; and it is very 

 plainly marked on his hill for a few hundred yards. He pointed 

 out where it was said to pass in the direction of Henhole and 

 Minchmuir ; but as I have said, almost no traces of it, if any, 

 can be found in that direction. He also pointed out its reported 

 line towards the Yarrow, and the same on the further side of the 

 river. 



