RIVERS TEVIOT, NITH, AND CLYDE. 453 



freezing in somewhat the same manner, but when the mill was set agoing, the 

 pool above was drained in a short time to the level of the dam-head, because Mr 

 Mein's, which is about three miles above it, had obstructed the current in the 

 manner described." 



Dr Wilson mentions in his first letter, that, " at Roxburgh and other places, 

 persons crossed the water dry-shod ; and a boy crossing from Trows to Heiton, 

 caught several eels which were struggling in the shallows." 



Dr Wilson adds, in his second letter, that there was in the Teviot, on the 

 morning of the stoppage, little or no ice in the stream. " The miller at Roxburgh 

 (he says) finding the mill stopped, looked out for ice, and discovering none, and 

 finding his dam empty, thought it was the last day ! Neither he nor any other 

 miller would have been surprised, had the stoppage been caused by ice, which is 

 an occurrence so common, that they are generally provided with large wooden 

 mallets, to be used for its removal. Mr Dickson of Hawick, who was not likely 

 to be an inattentive observer, as his large manufactory was stopped on the occa- 

 sion, stated to me that there was no ice, unless a little at the edges of the pools." 



These extracts are sufficient to shew generally, the nature of the phenomenon 

 in the Teviot. 



I shall now give a summary of the most important facts stated in the letters 

 of the different gentlemen above mentioned, calculated to explain the phenome- 

 non. It appears from these letters — 



1. That there was an almost total cessation of current, and in many places 

 an absolute depletion of the bed of the Teviot, in that part of its course situated 

 betwixt Kelso and Hawick, and that the same phenomenon happened in most of 

 the streams which joined it. 



2. That, with one exception, all the mills on the river, from Kelso to Hawick 

 inclusive, and most of the mills on the tributary streams, were stopped from 

 want of water, — a circumstance which proves that the phenomenon arose, not 

 from obstructions by ice or otherwise on the caulds or dam-heads, but from a 

 failure of water in the upper parts of the river. 



3. That when the current began to flow again, there was no sudden rush of 

 waters, such as would have arisen from the mere stoppage of the current by ob- 

 structions, but that there was a gradual restoration of the current. 



4. That the diminution and disappearance of the water took place in the up- 

 per parts of the Teviot and its tributaries, before it took place in the lower parts. 

 (For example, it was noticed on the Rule Water at 11 p. m. on the 26th Novem- 

 ber, whilst it was not noticed in the lower parts of the Teviot till next morning). 



5. That the restoration of the current took place first in the upper parts of 

 the Teviot and its tributaries, the smallest and shallowest of the latter being the 

 first to indicate motion. 



6. That, during the night of the 26th, and morning of the 27th November, 



VOL. XIV. PART II. 4 A 



