Criffel Diamond
I proceeded from hence towards the mouth of the Nith skirting the base of Criffel, which rose with great majesty to my right. This mountain rises abruptly from its base to its summit, but has a smooth surface covered with heath. When seen from the plain it appears to taper to a point, but there is a flat peat-moss on its very summit of considerable extent. At its base is a small lake well stocked with trout and other fish. Seamen have reported that from some distance at sea, a bright spot is often to be seen high up this mountain, which shines like a diamond, and no doubt is one, they say, sufficient to make the fortunes of any twenty who may have the luck to find it. But the perverse jewel mocks pursuit, and though it has been the object of many an anxious search, never shews itself but to tantalize the distant observer.
Source
- Richard Ayton, A Voyage Round Great Britain, undertaken in the Summer of the Year 1813, and Commencing from the Land's-End, Cornwall, vol. II, (1815), p. 192