Dumfries.

The old tower at Lockerbie was last year converted into a kind of temporary lock-up house; but such is the peaceable disposition of the people of this part of the country, that not one single person has yet been lodged in it.

Fairs.-In Lockerbie, there are two fairs and ten markets.* The two fairs are, the one at Lammas, and the other at Michaelmas, when moderate tolls are levied by the proprietor. At the two markets, all are free; but besides these, there are in winter weekly markets, principally for pork, which is brought from all quarters of the surrounding country to be disposed of here. I have known the sum of L. 1000 and upwards expended by bacon-curers in one day,—which they buy in at the average price of 5s. per stone, which, when cured and dried, are sold at 6d. or 7d. per lb.

Such is the importance of the Lammas fair, that I consider a short history of it here will not be unsuitable: Lockerbie has been celebrated for its lamb and wool market for several centuries back. When the border raids had so far ceased as to allow a slight intercourse between the Scot and the southern, our sheep farmers assembled here every year, to meet with English dealers. This they called a tryst; but, as Lockerbie increased in population, and the friendly intercourse between Scotland and England extended itself, the fair became a greater object of importance, and was held on the top of that range of hills south of Quhytewoollen, and north-east of Lockerbie, which was granted in perpetuity as a kind of "common" to that town,—but at what time or by whom I have never met with a person who was yet able to inform me. It is a curious fact, however, that the common was once dependent on the city of Glasgow, until Lady Douglas of Lockerbie House bought the right of superiority, who charges so much per head upon all the lambs that are shewn on it; and as the charges amount in the aggregate to a considerable sum, it is let out by roup to the highest bidder a day or two before the custom is collected, and he depends for remuneration on the number of lambs

The Lammas fair is on 2d August, old style, excepting Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, and in that case on the Tuesday following. The Michaelmas fair is on the 2d of October, old style, excepting Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, and in that case on the Tuesday following. The two markets are on the second Thursday, old style, in January, February, March, April, May. The third Thursday in June is called the Midsummer market. The next is fourteen days after the Michaelmas fair, if on Thursday, if not, on the Thursday thereafter. The next is three weeks after the last, called the Martinmas one. The other is fourteen days after that, and the last on the Thursday before Yule or Christmas, old style. The hiring market for servants for the summer half-year is in April. For the winter half year, the one fourteen days after Michaelmas. To these two markets an immense concourse of people assemble from all parts of Annandale.

exposed. In some good years, he pays L. 30 to the proprietor for one day's collection. The person that takes it was never known to be a loser by it. The common is a round hill of about 100 acres in extent. The soil is barren; in some places overgrown with whins; a large portion of it is of a spongy nature, but from its altitude it presents on the fair day a very imposing spectacle. Besides the lamb-market on the hill, there is an annual fair in the town, at which the whole county for twelve miles round is generally assembled.

Inns.-In Lockerbie there are two inns; at one of which, chaises and horses are to be hired; besides some small ale-houses. These houses are, on public occasions, frequented by many for the transaction of business, for receiving payments, &c. and on any of these days the people seem to be more regular and sober.

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

The appearance of the people, as respects their manners, dress, inclination to be employed, and aversion to idleness,--shews at once that, since the time of the former Statistical Account, there has been a progressive advance in these particulars. The improvement in agriculture is also proved satisfactorily by the great advancement in the rent of land since that time, viz. from 13s. 4d. the acre per annum to L. 2. The enclosed parks about Lockerbie, then set at 17s 6d., are now let at L. 3, 10s. 6d. It may also be observed, that at that time there were sixty farms in the parish let at from L. 25 to L. 100 yearly rent; there are now only about fifty, each let at from L. 60 to L. 500. The population in the town of Lockerbie has increased 714; but in the country part of the parish there has been a decrease of 31,—which decrease may be owing, perhaps, to many of the small farms having been joined into one, and to the dilapidation of many cot houses and villages already mentioned. There is one great obstruction to every kind of trade in this part of the country,—the great scarcity of fuel. This is occasioned by a want of proper internal communication.

There are in Lockerbie-20 grocers, 1 hardware, and 4 clothshops, 5 surgeons with 2 apothecaries shops, 2 midwives, 5 writers, 4 messengers, 8 weavers, 13 tailors, 7 joiners, 2 wheel-wrights, 9 blacksmiths, 4 nailers, 3 watchmakers, 4 bakers, 3 fleshers, 1 barber, 3 cloggers, 2 saddlers, 2 tanners, 4 stocking-framers, 1 cabinet-maker, 8 shoemakers, 12 stone-masons; in the country part there are, 4 millers, about 100 ploughs, 400 horses, and 50 farmers. January 1836.

PARISH OF KEIR.

PRESBYTERY OF PENPONT, SYNOD OF DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY.

THE REV. WILLIAM MENZIES, MINISTER.

I. TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.

Name, Boundaries, &c.—THIS parish forms the south-west side of the central basin of the Nith, which comprehends great part of the parishes of Closeburn, Morton, Durisdeer, Penpont, and Tynron. It derives its name either from some fortress, of the existence and history of which all traces have now disappeared, Caer, an old British word, signifying a fort;* or, according to the somewhat fanciful conjecture of Mr Rae in his History of the parish, from the colour of its grounds,—the word Keir signifying black or brown. This colour, however, which seems formerly to have been in a certain degree distinctive of the parish, is gradually yielding to plantation and extended culture. The extreme length of the parish, from north-west to south-east, is about 7 miles, and its extreme breadth 2; but in much of its length it is so narrow that the surface does not exceed 11 square miles.

The ridge of Keir hill separates the parish from Glencairn on the south-west; and everywhere else streams form its boundaries. Indeed, it may be said to consist of the slopes from that hill down to some stream. From Tynron, on the west, it is separated by the waters of a small burn and the Shinnel; from Penpont on the north, by the Scar after its junction with the Shinnel; from Closeburn on the north-east by the Scar and Nith; and from Dunscore on the south by the Allanton burn.

The high land of the parish consists of the long ridge called the Keir hill, and some small branches at both ends of it. This ridge is about four miles long. Its highest point bears the name of the Waugh hill. Connected with it at its northern extremity is Capenoch hill; and to the east of its southern extremity lie the short parallel ridges of Kilbride and Blackwood. From all these heights there are most beautiful and extensive views,-so many as

• Close by a farm house, now called Nether Keir, a tower once stood.

eight or ten parish churches being seen from some points. Blackwood hill, in particular, is noted for commanding all the windings of the Nith, through the rich holms of its central and lower basins, from Drumlanrig to the Solway, the view being terminated to the north by the central chain of the lowlands, and to the south by the mountains of Cumberland.

Adjacent to the Shinnel, Scar, and Nith, are about 300 acres of rich holm land. This is separated by a steep wooded bank from the table-land of the parish, which stretches to the foot of the hills, and becomes gradually narrower and more elevated towards the southeast, till it merges into the slope of the hill of Kilbride. Blackwood hill dips at once into the Nith. The height of the hills has not been ascertained by actual measurement. Aldgirth Bridge is about 50 feet above the level of high water at Dumfries; and the table-land may be from 100 to 150 more.

Prognostics of Weather, &c.-Springs are observed after longcontinued drought to rise before rains. Sea gulls appear in unusual numbers before a storm. In clear weather, when the Lowthers to the north, and Queensberry to the north-east, assume a very indistinct outline, resembling a piece of printing on which the types have been shifted, rain may be expected, and in frost thaw. In cloudy weather, a reddish or brassy glare in the morning in that part of the horizon which appears in the south-east, between Blackwood and the heights of Closeburn, when it decreases, portends rain; when it increases, fair weather.

The temperature of the atmosphere is extremely mild. But the air is generally loaded with moisture, as is proved by the rapidity with which the surface of the earth, or fine gravel, becomes covered over with mosses. The noxious effects of this dampness are in a considerable degree counteracted by the porousness of the soil, and by very extensive draining for the improvement of the numerous bogs or small patches of meadow land, with which the whole surface of the parish is studded. It is probably owing to the latter circumstance that the slow nervous fevers, rheumatisms, and asthmatic disorders, which are stated by Mr Wallace in the former Statistical Account to have been very prevalent, are by no means so at present. Consumption is the most frequent and deadly disease; and stomach complaints, originating in poor diet, are common.

Hydrography. The whole parish abounds in springs: but none of them are known to possess any remarkable property, though in some the presence of mineral substances is indicated both by taste

and smell. The only loch of any consequence lies on the border of the parish, between Blackwood and Halliday hills. It is fast filling up. A part of it now yields an abundant crop of meadow hay, and it might all be drained, and the land highly improved, were it not for a servitude held over it by Allanton mill for supplying it with water: the burn which drives the mill flowing through it. Another to the north-west, now nearly filled up, seems to be the loch alluded to in the Macfarlane MSS. "Here is a deep loch, called the Loch of Kilbread, in a place pertaining to the Laird of Lag, but the water is not reputed medicinal." Keir hill gives birth to a great number of burns which intersect the table land of the parish. None of them have formed any deep ravine, except the Barndennoch burn below Barjarg. This ravine is covered with fine trees: pleasure walks have been cut through it; and it possesses a great attraction in a singularly beautiful waterfall. The hill of Blackwood is the great barrier which seems at some remote period to have pent up the waters of the Nith, so as to form a lake of great dimensions in the basin above. A considerable extent of alluvial land, nearly at the same level, about thirty feet above the present holms in the parishes of Keir, Penpont, and Closeburn, bear testimony to its existence.

Geology, &c.-The parish of Keir, as is the case with most of the upper part of Dumfries-shire, is chiefly composed of greywacke, which exhibits considerable variety in its characters, the component parts being in many cases very large, while in others they are so minute that the mass has a very homogeneous aspect, and bears a considerable resemblance to a trap rock.

In some parts, however, newer rocks occur, and those are principally limestone and sandstone.

The limestone is generally of a reddish colour, owing to a considerable admixture of iron, and contains numerous small cavities filled with crystals of calcareous spar. A few petrifactions are occasionally met with.

The principal localities of the limestone are at Barjarg and Porterstown, and in both of these places it is regularly quarried. The Barjarg limestone has been found by analysis to contain about fifty-four per cent. of carbonate of lime, and thirty-six per cent. of carbonate of magnesia. The limestone of Porterstown has not as yet been regularly analyzed, but appears to be much the same as the other, though it probably contains a larger portion of foreign

matters.