[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

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aware, is unknown ; it has, however, heen held from time immemorial.
The only market throughout the year, in an extensive district, it was attended
by people from great distances. Booths and stands were erected
for the entertainment of the gathered throng, and the disposal of merchandise,
which, as there were no roads, was brought chiefly on horseback.*
Here those travelling merchants, whose avocation is now almost
gone—but who, before communication with the towns came to be so
freely opened up, formed nearly the sole medium of sale or barter among
the inhabitants—assembled in great numbers, bringing with them the
{ tempting wares of England and the Continent. If, with the magician's
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power, we could recal a vision of Kirkdamdie centuries back, how inter-
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esting would be the spectacle ! The blvouack of the pedlars with their
pack-horses, who usually arrived the night before the fair ; the bustle of
active preparation by earliest dawn ; and the gradual gathering of the
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plaided and bonneted population, from the various pathways across the
{ hills, or down the straths, as the day advanced, would be a picture of deep
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interest. Even yet, changed as are the times, the gathering is a truly
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picturesque sight, which intuitively points to the " days of other years."
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Until recently, when the establishment of a fair at Girvan, together with
the great facilities everywhere afforded for the interchange of commodities,
conspired to deprive Kirkdamdie of its importance, it continued to be numerously
attended. Many remember having seen fi'om thirty to forty tents
on the ground, all well filled with merry companies
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" Here Jamie Brown and Mary Bell,
Were seated on a plank, man,
Wi' Robin Small and Kate Dalziel,
And heartily they drank, man.
'
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And syne upon the board was set,
Gude haggis, though it was na het,
And braxy ham
I ; the landlord cam',
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Wi' rowth o' bread and cheese, man."
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* Tlie custom from traders at landward fairs was, in ancient times, levied by the
f
sheriff of the county, whose minions were very rapacious. This species of robbery
( became so clamant that several acts of parliament were passed against the abuse.
i The dues at Kirkdamdie, about two centuries ago, appear to have been lifted by
Alexander or M'A.lexander of Corseclays, to whom "
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the three pund land of Kirkdominie
and Ballibeg" belonged, together with the " teyndis and fisching upon the
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< watter of Stincher, commonlie called the fisching of the weills."