proaches within seven miles of the Tweed. Between the two streams, of course, lies the watershed of the country, the drainage flowing on the one side into the Atlantic, and on the other into the North Sea. Yet, instead of a ridge or hill the space between the rivers is the broad flat valley of Biggar, so little above the level of the Clyde that it would not cost much to send that river across into the Tweed. Indeed, some trouble is necessary to keep the former stream from eating through the loose sandy deposits that line the valley, and finding its way over into Tweeddale. That it once took that course, thus entering the sea at Berwick instead of at Dumbarton, is probable; and if some of the gravel mounds at Thankerton could be re-united it would do so again. Allusion has already been made to this singular part of the water-shed. Its origin is probably traceable to the recession of two valleys, and to the subsequent widening of the breach by atmospheric waste and the sea.

But

"From the western margin of the Biggar flat the Clyde turns to the north-west, flowing across a series of igneous rocks belonging to the Old Red Sandstone series. Its valley is there wide, and the ground rises gently on either side into low undulating hills. after bending back upon itself, and receiving the Douglas Water, its banks begin to rise more steeply, until the river leaps over the linn at Bonnington into the long, narrow, and deep gorge in which the well-known falls are contained. That this defile has not been rent open by the concussion of an earthquake, but is really the work of sub-aërial denudation, may be ascertained by tracing the unbroken beds of lower Old Red Sandstone

from side to side. Indeed, one could not choose a better place in which to study the process of waste, for he can examine the effects of rains, springs, and frosts in loosening the sandstone by means of the hundreds of joints that traverse the face of the long cliffs, and he can likewise follow in all their detail the results of the constant wear and tear of the brown river that keeps ever tumbling and foaming down the ravine."

CHAPTER IV.—HISTORICAL.

Burton in his History of Scotland says: "It is in the year 80 of the Christian era that the territory in later times known as Scotland comes out of utter darkness and is seen to join the current of authentic history. In that year Julius Agricola brought Roman troops north of the line, which, hundreds of years afterwards, became the border dividing Scotland from England.

"The neck of land between the Firths of Clyde and Forth appears to have been the boundary where the general found that the outer line of Roman acquisition could be most effectually marked. Agricola ran defensive works across this line; and these were the beginning of the fortified rampart, renewed and strengthened from time to time, of which some remnants may still be seen."

Agricola for five years remained in the country establishing forts and making occasional campaigns, gradually pushing northwards until the famous battle of Mons Grampius was fought, somewhere probably north of the Tay, but authorities are divided on this, as upon many

other matters of these far-back times. Agricola appears to have been a skilful general as well as military engineer, as his forts were numerous and well planned. In A.D. 85 he was recalled by orders from head-quarters, it is believed through envy at his success. The chain of forts which he erected from the Forth to the Clyde, after subduing the tribes to the south of the latter river, gave him a base of operations from whence he proceeded in his more northern and last campaign. The tribes to the north of this line appear to have been the Caledonians, or Picts as they were known later on, a race of a warlike character. Thus we are told by a Roman historian, Dion Cassius, that "they have neither castles nor cities; nor do they till the ground, but live by their flocks, by hunting, and on the fruits of trees. They go naked and dwell in tents. They are addicted to plunder, make war in chariots, and have small but fleet horses." He further tells us that they are armed with a shield and short spear, and carry short daggers. This description applies to the "two great nations, the Caledonians and Mæatæ;" the latter, however, were said to "dwell near the wall which divides the island into two parts, and beyond them are the Caledonians."

These impetuous natives, on the retreat of the Roman army southwards and the absence of Agricola, descended from their "rugged and arid mountains, and desert plains abounding in marshes," and made reprisals, carrying with rapid and fierce attack the Roman forts and driving back their legions. The Emperor Hadrian, however, visited Britain (A.D. 120), and determined to make a division further south, so as to protect the Britons who had become

Romanized from the Caledonian tribes of the north, and consequently built a wall extending from the Tyne to the Solway. This no doubt served the purpose to some extent and for a time, but the Romans had a valiant, restless people to deal with, who paid little respect to the warlike emissaries of the Mistress of the World. Hence about A.D. 140 Lollius Urbicus, a lieutenant of the Emperor Antoninus, was sent to deal with the refractory tribes who lived to the north of Hadrian's Wall, in which he seemed to be successful, as he appears to have penetrated as far north as the Moray Firth. Lollius, like Agricola, believed in having a base of operations to operate against the Caledonians of the north and the inhabitants of the country to the south, as he completed the line of defences begun by the latter general, and built a wall from the Forth to the Clyde pretty much on the line of Agricola's forts.

The northern tribes appear to have highly resented this abridgment of their liberties, and made constant efforts to overturn the Roman power. They were finally successful in bursting through this new barrier, and apparently did not stop until they had passed through the more southern wall of Hadrian. For a time they appear to have held this territory, harassing the provincial Britons of the southern part of the country, and levying "blackmail" on these more wealthy and probably more peaceful tribes. Such a state of things did not suit the central authority at Rome, and about A.D. 208 the Emperor Severus came to Britain to look into matters in person, and subdued the tribes once more with his legions. The passion for building walls still existed as strongly as

ever, and Severus built another somewhat on the line of Hadrian's.

For about two hundred years after little is known of the events happening north of this wall. About the year 306 the restless Caledonians seem again to have made an excursion south, only to be driven back by the Romans, who, still believing in their walls, had the one between Forth and Clyde put in complete repair, and added to its strength about the year 368. The district lying between the walls was known to the Romans as the province of Valentia. The Romans finally abandoned the district about the year 446, and their ancient foes of the north were not long in following up this advantage, and renewing their raids upon their neighbours to the south. Those tribes formed themselves into a community for purposes of defence, from which arose the Cumbrian or Strathclyde kingdom, of which what we now call Lanarkshire constituted a portion. Mr. M'Gregor, in his History of Glasgow, says:

Running through this early British kingdom was the now famous river Clyde, a name derived with little or no alteration from the old British or Welsh word Clyd, signifying warm or sheltered. Even in these primitive days Clydesdale was celebrated for its fruit crops, for there is an obscure reference by one of the early chroniclers to the 'orchardes of Lenerck.' The metropolis of this region was Alclwyd, or Petra Cloithe (Rock of the Clyde), afterwards called by the Scoto-Irish Dunbritton (Hill of the Britons), from which, by an easy transition, comes the present name of Dumbarton."

Speaking of these occurrences, Burton says: "Cumbria

D