lings, and a man with two horses carried four such packages.
The trade was entirely destroyed by Mr. Pitt's celebrated commutation
law, which, by reducing the duties upon excisable articles, enabled the
lawful dealer to compete with the smuggler. The statute was called in
Galloway and Dumfries-shire, by those who had thriven upon the contraband
trade, 'the burning and starving act.'

Sure of such active assistance on shore, Yawkins demeaned himself so
boldly that his mere name was a terror to the officers of the revenue. He
availed himself of the fears which his presence inspired on one
particular night, when, happening to be ashore with a considerable
quantity of goods in his sole custody, a strong party of excisemen came
down on him. Far from shunning the attack, Yawkins sprung forward,
shouting, 'Come on, my lads; Yawkins is before you.' The revenue officers
were intimidated and relinquished their prize, though defended only by
the courage and address of a single man. On his proper element Yawkins
was equally successful. On one occasion he was landing his cargo at the
Manxman's Lake near Kirkcudbright, when two revenue cutters (the 'Pigmy'
and the 'Dwarf') hove in sight at once on different tacks, the one coming
round by the Isles of Fleet, the other between the point of Rueberry and
the Muckle Ron. The dauntless freetrader instantly weighed anchor and
bore down right between the luggers, so close that he tossed his hat on
the deck of the one and his wig on that of the other, hoisted a cask to
his maintop, to show his occupation, and bore away under an extraordinary
pressure of canvass, without receiving injury. To account for these and
other hairbreadth escapes, popular superstition alleged that Yawkins
insured his celebrated buckkar by compounding with the devil for
one-tenth of his crew every voyage. How they arranged the separation of
the stock and tithes is left to our conjecture. The buckkar was perhaps
called the 'Black Prince' in honour of the formidable insurer.

The 'Black Prince' used to discharge her cargo at Luce, Balcarry, and
elsewhere on the coast; but her owner's favourite landing-places were at
the entrance of the Dee and the Cree, near the old Castle of Rueberry,
about six miles below Kirkcudbright. There is a cave of large dimensions
in the vicinity of Rueberry, which, from its being frequently used by
Yawkins and his supposed connexion with the smugglers on the shore, is
now called Dirk Hatteraic