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| | History of the Burgh of Dumfries - Chapter I |
 | | Dumfriesshire comprehends the districts of Nithsdale, Annandale, and Eskdale: which natural divisions nearly agree with the ancient jurisdictions that prevailed; the first having been governed as a sheriffship, the second as a stewartry, and the third as a regality. |
 | | The ancient stewartry of Annandale had a wider range than the valley of the Annan, as it comprised the tracts of country that lie eastward to the Sark, and westward along the Solway towards the Lochar. |
 | | The length of the Esk is nearly forty miles: part of its lower waters, meandering through the Debatable Land, constitutes a portion of the Western Border; and often, as we shall have to notice, its waves ran red with blood to the sea, owing to its boundary position between two hostile nations. |
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