We hold our breath as with a quick turn and dart through the seething flood, our clever steersman pilots us through dangers greater than ever Sylla and Charybdis offered, and leaves us at leisure to survey the prosperous cattle farms, which, on both banks, now line our approach to Concordia.
At length about 5 P. M., after a passage of thirty-one hours and at a distance of 300 miles from Buenos Ayres, we sight the town of Concordia on the right bank, and at almost the same moment Salto, on the left, which, rising tier upon tier, very much resembles Bath; these two occupy almost the same relative positions as Buda and Pesth on the Danube.
From its junction with the Paraná, the Uruguay is navigable at all states of the tide as far as Concordia, but some miles above that city occur the Falls of Salto-grande and numerous rapids which render it unnavigable to steamers from below, except in times of extraordinary freshets between which an interval of years sometimes elapses; whilst above these, although still sown with rapids, the river is navigable but to vessels of smaller draught.
From the marvellous accounts I had listened to, I expected to behold in these Falls another Niagara, but great was my disappointment on viewing them for the first time, for although very picturesque, they struck me as completely wanting in the grandeur with which my imagination had clothed them. Extending for about a mile longitudinally, they consist on the northern limit of a transverse bar of boulders which cause a perpendicular descent of about twenty-five feet; then a succession of rugged rocks, sometimes of very fantastic shape, pile Pelion on Ossa, amongst which the river surges and eddies. The reef spreads completely across the river, a distance of about a quarter of a mile, so that in some states of the tide, it is possible to pass on foot from Entre Rios to the Banda Oriental, at all times a difficult, nay dangerous, undertaking. An island formed of massive boulders occupies the centre, on which a few dwarfed trees struggle for an aquatic existence. Here are found splendid agates, blocks of rock crystal, amethysts and other precious stones; and there lie naked on the blistering rocks, those rusty and silent mementos of Garibaldi’s unsuccessful expedition in 1840 when, to cross the rapids, he was obliged to throw overboard ten eighteen-pounder iron guns.
By contemplating the scene, however, it grows in magnitude and sublimity.
THE TWEED
SIR THOMAS DICK LAUDER
The great valley which affords a course for the Tweed, when taken in conjunction with those minor branch valleys which give passage to its various tributaries, may be called the great Scoto-Arcadian district of pastoral poetry and song. Who could enumerate the many offerings which have been made to the rural muses in this happy country? for where there are poetry and song, happiness must be presupposed, otherwise neither the one nor the other could have birth.
During those barbarous times, when border raids were in continual activity, and when no one on either side of the marches, or debatable land, could lay down his head to sleep at night, without the chance of having to stand at his defense, or perhaps to mount and ride ere morning, the valleys of the Tweed and its tributaries must have witnessed many strange and stirring events and cruel slaughters. To defend themselves from these predatory incursions the Scottish monarchs erected strong castles along the lower part of the course of the Tweed, and the chain of these places of strength was carried upwards, quite to the source of the streams by the various land owners. These last were either Towers or Peels--these different names being given, rather to distinguish the structures as to their magnitude and importance, than from any great difference of plan--the Tower possessing greater accommodations and being much the larger and more impregnable in strength of the two. These strongholds, being intended for the general advantage and preservation of all the inhabitants of the valley, were built alternately on both sides of the river, and in a continued series, so as to have a view one of another; so that a fire kindled on the top of any one of them, was immediately responded to, in the same way, by all the others in succession; the smoke giving the signal by day and the flame by night--thus spreading the alarm through a whole country of seventy miles in extent, in the provincial phrase, from “Berwick to the Bield,”--and to a breadth of not less than fifty miles carrying alarm into the uppermost parts of every tributary glen.
Availing ourselves of the quaint language of Dr. Pennecuick, we now beg to inform our readers that “The famous Tweed hath its first spring or fountain nearly a mile to the east of the place where the shire of Peebles marches and borders with the stewartry of Annandale--that is Tweed’s Cross, so called from a cross which stood and was erected there in the time of Popery, as was ordinar y, in all the eminent places of public roads in the kingdom before our Reformation. Both Annan and Clyde have their first rise from the same height, about half a mile from one another, where Clyde runneth west, Annan to the south, and Tweed to the east.” There is some little exaggeration, however, in the old Doctor here--for there is, in reality, no branch of Clyde within two miles of Tweed’s Cross, or Errickstane Brae. Tweed’s Well is not very far from the great r oad; and the site of Tweed’s Cross is 1,632 feet above the level of the sea. “Tweed runneth for the most part with a soft, yet trotting stream, towards the north-east, the whole length of the country, in several meanders, passing first through the Paroch of Tweeds-moor, the place of its birth, then running eastwards, it watereth the parishes of Glenholm, Drumelzear, Broughton, Dawick, Stobo, Lyne, Mannor, Peebles, Traquair, Innerleithen, and from thence in its course to the March at Galehope-burn, where, leaving Tweeddale, it beginneth to water the forest on both sides, a little above Elibank.”
[Illustration: THE TWEED]
The Banks of the Tweed abound in simple rural charms as you proceed downwards from Elibank Tower, and they partake of that peaceful pastoral character which its green sided hills bestow upon it.
We now come to that part of the course of the Tweed, extending from its junction with the united rivers Ettrick and Yarrow to the mouth of Gala Water. The estate of Abbotsford makes up a large part of the whole. The part of it that borders the Tweed consists of a large and very beautiful flat haugh, around the margin of which the river flows gently and clearly over its beds of sparkling pebbles.
The angling from Gala Water foot to Leader foot is all excellent, both for salmon and trout, when the river is in proper condition; and then the beauty and interest of all the surrounding features of nature and the silent grandeur of the holy pile of ruin are such that even the unsuccessful angler must find pleasure in wandering by the river-side, quite enough to counterbalance the disappointment of empty baskets.
Sir Walter Scott says:--
“If thou would’st view fair Melrose aright, Go visit it by the pale moonlight; For the gay beams of lightsome day Gild but to flout the ruins grey. When the broken arches are black in night, And each shafted oriel glimmers white; When the cold lights’ uncertain shower Streams on the ruined central tower; When buttress and buttress alternately, Seemed framed of ebon and ivory; When silver edges the imagery, And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die; When the distant Tweed is heard to rave And the howlet to hoot o’er the dead man’s grave; Then go--but go alone the while-- Then view St. David’s ruined pile; And, home returning, soothly swear Was never scene so sad and fair.”
Before leaving this section of the Tweed, we must not forget to mention that the Knights Templars had a house and establishment on the east side of the village of Newstead. It was called the Red Abbey. Before concluding this part of our subject, it appears to us to be very important, if not essential, to call our readers’ especial attention to the singular promontory of Old Melrose on the right bank of the river. It is a high bare head, around which the river runs in such a way as to convert it into a peninsula. Here it was that the first religious settlement was made. This monastery was supposed to have been founded by Columbus or by Aidan, probably about the end of the Sixth Century. It would appear that it was built of oak wood, thatched with reeds, the neck of land being enclosed with a stone wall. It is supposed to have been burned by the Danes. The name given to it was decidedly Celtic and quite descriptive of its situation--Maol-Ros, signifying Bare Promontory--and from this the more recent Abbey and the whole of the more modern parish of Melrose have derived their name.
We now come to a very beautiful, nay, perhaps, we ought to say the most beautiful part of the Tweed, where it meanders considerably, as it takes its general course in a bold sweep round the parish of Merton. On its north side the ground rises to a very considerable height in cultivated and wooded hills. From several parts of the road that winds over it, most magnificent views are enjoyed up the vale of the Tweed including Melrose and the Eildon Hills; and then at the same time, these rising grounds and the southern banks, which are likewise covered with timber, give the richest effect of river scenery to the immediate environs of the stream.