5 # / 
THE NATURALIST. 
REMARKS ON. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CENTRAL POR¬ 
TION OP THE TRANSITION RANGE OF THE SOUTH OF 
SCOTLAND, IN WHICH ARISE THE SOURCES OF THE TWEED. 
By William MacGillivray, A.M., F.R.S.E., &c. 
The most elevated portion of the mountainous track which extends from the Mull 
of Galloway to St. Abb's Head, forming the central zone of the southern division 
of Scotland, consists of an aggregated group of mountains, from which arise the 
sources of the river Tweed. These mountains are for the most part situated in 
the parishes of Tweedsmuir, Megget, and Manner, which form the southern and 
south-eastern parts of the inland county of Peebles, and are continuous with the 
high land forming the upper ranges of the celebrated pastoral districts of Yarrow 
and Ettrick in Selkirkshire, and with the higher parts of the parish of Moffat in 
Dumfriesshire. 
The river Tweed, which collects the waters that drain from these mountains, 
commences at the southern extremity of Peeblesshire, receives accessions on either 
hand from the numerous vallies that wind among the smooth green hills, and 
proceeds north-eastward in an open, rather narrow, slightly tortuous valley, until 
it reaches Nedpath Castle, a little above Peebles, where it alters its course, and 
runs directly eastward, still receiving numerous tributaries, until it escapes from 
the mountain land, beyond the mouths of the Ettrick and Gala. 
The scenery of this region is so peculiar, that an attempt to delineate its 
characteristic features seems to me not unworthy of the approbation of those 
who are interested in the Natural History of our romantic land. The general 
idea of it is extremely simple. It may be summarily described as a district 
composed of uniform, smooth, rounded, grey-wacke hills, scarcely ever precipitous 
or even abrupt, clothed to the summits with JuncecE, Cyparacem^ Grasses, 
Heath, and pasture plants, and separated into groups or ridges by long, narrow, 
straight vallies, which, though generally green, seldom present any natural wood, 
even along the clear streams that flow into the valley of the Tweed. 
But it is necessary to examine the picture more in detail. With this view, let 
us ascend the long valley of Manner Water, which opens upon the Tweed a little 
above Nedpath Castle, and is one of the most extended in the upper part of the 
course of that river. This valley runs nearly north and south, for the most part 
in a straight line. Its breadth varies from a few hundred yards to half a mile in 
No. 11, Vol. 11. 2 H 
%• ' 
10'.'-'I ■ 
