1

tient kingdom of Galloway, it was of confequence inhabited by a tribe of the Celts.

Antiquities and Natural Curiofities.-The Castle of Dunskey is the only remarkable building in the parish. It ftands upon the brink of a tremendous precipice on the edge of the Irish sea, and has been fecured on the land fide by a ditch and draw-bridge, the remains of which are ftill visible. It was certainly built as a place of fecurity against sudden incurfions in the days of violence, and in former times must have been cafily defended. A cave in the neighbourhood of Dunskey ought also to be mentioned, on account of the great veneration in which it is held by the people. At the change of the moon (which is ftill confidered with fuperftitious reverence), it is ufual to bring, even from a great distance, infirm persons, and particularly ricketty children, whom they often fuppofe bewitched, to bathe in a ftream which pours from the hill, and then dry them in the cave.

The Cairnpat, which rifes 800 feet above the level of the fea, and is fuppofed to be the fecond or third mountain in Galloway, merits alfo to be noticed. It bears all the marks of having been a military station, being furrounded by three ftone walls or intrenchments, with very ample spaces between them, and commands a prospect of Loch Ryan and of Luce Bay, which form the peninfula in which Portpatrick is fituated; England alfo, the Isle of Man, Ireland, and part of the Highlands of Scotland, are feen rifing at a distance.

NUM

NUMBER IV.

PARISH OF HOUNAM,

IN ROXBURGH.SHIRE.

Origin of the Name.

HE parish of Hounam does not furnish much room for

THE

statistical investigation, and the few obtervations which occur respecting it, may be comprehended within narrow bounds. The origin of its name cannot now be ascertained. There are many places in the neighbourhood, on the borders both of England and Scotland, ending in am. It is believed that ham, in the Saxon language, fignifies a habitation or village. Perhaps it was originally pronounced Hounaham, or the habitation of Houna, a name not unknown at the oppofite extremity of the kingdom*.

Situation and Extent of the Parifb.-The parish is fituated in the county of Roxburgh, in the prefbytery of Jedburgh, and in the fynod of Merse and Tiviotdale. It is of a circular form, furrounded by the parishes of Morbattle, Jedburgh, and Oxnam in Scotland, and bordering on the opposite fide with the county of Northumberland, where the top of the Fells, a range of the Cheviot hills, is the march. The parish, from east to weft, is about nine or ten miles long; and in general is about fix miles broad. It may

be

* One of the ferries between Caithness and Orkney, is at a place called Houna.

be called a hilly or mountainous diftrict; but the hills are green, and rarely incumbered with rocks or covered with heath. The land is wet and fpungy; the foil light, and better calculated for grafs than grain. The air is healthy, and the people long lived. Three perfons who had refided in the parish from their youth, died lately, at the advanced age of 100.

Sheep. The principal circumftance for which this district is remarkable, is the Kale-water breed of fheep, fo called from a small stream running through the middle of the parish. The fheep are of a moderate fize, and produce excellent wool. Their number ufually amounts to 12,000. Attempts have been made to improve the breed, by croffing with a larger kind, but the experiments did not fucceed. Though the theep became larger, and the quantity of the wool was increafed, its quality was inferior. The most approved ftock-farmers, however, have not the leaft doubt that the wool might be brought to ftill greater perfection by proper management, and by croffing with fheep nearly of the fame fize, but whofe wool is the fineft poffible. The sheep not only produce excellent wool, but, as the farmers term it, they feed well, come to a tolerable good fize when fat, and are exquifite mutton.

Productions.-The quantity of grain produced is very inconfiderable. Several of the farms in the higher part of the parish have scarcely been ploughed in the memory of man. The foil being light and fandy, excellent turnips might be raised. Some have been produced in the parish weighing above 26 lbs. avoirdupolfe. But the farmers have not as yet fucceeded in raifing this useful root, though they are extren.ely fenfible of the great advantage that might be derived from VOL. I.

G

it,

it, particularly in the fpring. The farmers are in general too late in fowing them. Turnips cannot be raised to a greatf fize in this part of the country, unless they are fown about the end of May or the beginning of June; but the farmers in the parish of Hounam are confiderably later.

Rent of the Parif.-The land-rent is L. 2720. It has rifen more than a third within thefe laft fifteen years. The valued rent is L. 914:4:9. There are 8 heritors in the parish, 2

of whom are refident. There are only 14 farms, which, at an average, are from L. 250 to L. 300 per annum. The number of fheep on a farm is from 50 to 100 fcore.

State of the Church, &c.-The walls of the church were repaired about 40 years ago; but the building is still very bad, and worse than any place of worship in the neighbourhood. The Duke of Roxburgh is the patron. The present incumbent is Mr James Rutherford, who was admitted in March 1775. He is married; has a fon and five daughters. The manfe was built in 1776; but is placed too near the river, and confequently in a damp fituation. The ftipend, from the Revolution, amounted to L. 75 in money, and 21 boll's of victual. In confequence of a late procefs of augmentation, the victual ftipend is now fixed at 63 bolls. There is no pa rochial fund for the poor, excepting the weekly collections, and quarterly affeffments laid on the land-holders and their tenants, which yield, at an average, about L. 30 per annum.

Population. The population of the parish has of late confiderably diminished. The return to Dr Webster, about 40 years ago, was 632. The number of inhabitants is at prefent 355. Of thefe,

One

The number of burials do not exceed 4 each year. The births are from 10 to 12, exclusive of the fectaries, who are indeed but few, and have a register of baptifms of their own. There is not even a village in the parish; a few houses near the church not deferving that name. The number of births, about a century ago, viz. from the year 1689 to the year 1707, feem, at an average, to have been 30 in the year. From the Union of the two kingdoms, to about the time of the last rebellion, the average number of births seem to be 20 a year. From that time, the births have gradually decreased to the prefent number of 10 or 12. The The wages of men fervants are between L. 7 and L. 8; of women about L. 4. Fifteen or twenty years ago, the wages of men fervants were about L, 5, and of women fcarcely L. 3. The wages of the shepherds, who conftitute one half of the parish, confist of a certain number of cows and sheep to grafe on the farm to which they belong. The people enjoy a confiderable degree of the comforts of life. They are chearful and contented; and there are but few poor.

The great decrease of inhabitants, within the laft 40 years, is evidently occafioned by the too general practice of letting the lands in great farms; but may be, in fome measure, owing to the mode of agriculture almoft univerfally adopted in the parish, (especially fince fheep and wool brought fo high