126 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1904 



On the left, proceeding Westwards, stands the Manor-house 



of Bowhill, the Forest residence of the Duke of 

 Bowhill. Buccleuch. Presenting in the beginning of last 



century the appearance of only a small shooting 

 lodge, it has been elaborated into a stately mansion, built in 

 the Italian style, and surrounded by ample woods, which 

 recall its fame for supplj'ing bows for the archers of Ettrick. 

 The earliest mention of the place in history in 1455 describes 

 it as a royal possession, lately wrested from the house of 

 Douglas. In succeeding centuries it became the possession 

 of Scotts and Murrays, till at the close of the 17th century 

 it passed into the hands of Colonel William Murray, who 

 was succeeded by his brother John, afterwards Lord Bowhill. 

 After being acquired by one of the name of James Veitch, it 

 ultimately became the property of the ancestors of the noble 

 family of Buccleuch, of whom Mr T. Craig Brown, in his History 

 of Selkirkshire, states : ** The Scotts of Buccleuch properly 

 begin with Robert Scott, who is first distinctly mentioned as 

 possessor of Eankle Burn, and who in 1415 exchanged with 

 the monks of Melrose the lands of Glenkerry for the lands 

 of Bellenden, and who also, in 1420, acquired half of the 

 lands of Branxholm." On the South of this estate "Black 

 Andro's Wood " of stately pines adorns the hillside, obtaining 

 its distinctive title, it is alleged, from a coloured servant of 

 the ducal house, who had assisted at their plantation. 



About a mile further West, on the right, are to be seen 



the ruins of Foulshiels Cottage, the birthplace 

 Mungo of Mungo Park, "the first of the knight errantry 



Park. of Africa." Born on the 10th September 1771, 



and giving proof in time of exceptional ability, 

 he was apprenticed at the age of fifteen to a Selkirk surgeon, 

 and having graduated in Edinburgh at the age of twenty-one, 

 he began his medical career by accepting the post of assistant- 

 surgeon on board an East Indiaman bound for Sumatra. 

 Returning to his native country he accepted, in 1795, under 

 the auspices of the African Association of London, an appoint- 

 ment to investigate the course of the river Niger, and at 

 the age of twenty-four sailed for Senegal, W. Africa, whence, 

 after preparing himself by acquiring the Mandingo language, 

 he set out to explore what proved to be a most inhospitable 



