JULY 167 



found near Carse-na-brock ; but still, on tbe neighbouring 

 Luce, Linc6m runs in the sharp sweep which earned for 

 it the name of the crooked pool, and local history con- 

 firms the justice of the title borne by the Bloody Wiel, 

 where the Linns of Larg and the Hays of Park once 

 settled their differences. 



More than one salmon-pool has earned historic distinc- 

 tion from its name being adopted as a personal one. 

 Thus, if in passing south from Ayr you will look out on 

 the right side at Dalrymple station, you shall see how the 

 bonnie Doon makes a sudden circular sweep round three 

 sides of a flat and fertile piece of ground — croTn pol — the 

 crooked pool — whence the level ground became known as 

 dal-chruim-puill, the land portion of the crooked pool. 

 In time, when the need arose for surnames, the possessor 

 of this land became known as Dalrymple, whose descend- 

 ants have carried the name to glory as statesmen, soldiers, 

 and lawyers. 



But I have said enough already in another of these 

 random papers — too much, the reader may think — on 

 this subject. Perhaps my best excuse for maundering over 

 what Porthos denounced as un plaisir rotv/rier — angling 

 and its pertinents — may be found in the fact that my own 

 name is derived from a salmon-pool. Maccus the son of 

 Undwin, and great-grandson of that other Maccus who 

 thought it no shame in 973 to attest a charter of Edgar 

 King of England as ' Archipirata ' — arch-pirate — obtained 

 from David i. of Scotland certain lands adjacent to Kelso, 

 comprising a productive salmon-pool, which soon became 

 known as Maccus' or Max's wiel. The lands took their 

 name from the pool ; the descendants of Maccus became, 

 in the feudal manner, De Maccuswell or Maxwell, and 



