Chapter IV: Part 4

Montrose, a royal burgh and sea-port town of Forfarshire, is agreeably situated on a level plain, or peninsula, bounded on the north-east by the German Ocean, on the south by the river South Esk, and on the west by a large expanse of this river, called the Basin of Montrose. The erection of this town into a royal burgh has generally been referred to the year 1352, being the twenty-third of the reign of David II.; but it appears to have been a place of some note long before it acquired this dignity, and is connected with many important events in the history of Scotland. It is mentioned by Froissart, as the port from which the gallant Sir James Douglas embarked in 1330, for the Holy Land, attended by a numerous and splendid retinue, and carrying with him the heart of King Robert Bruce. This, as the reader knows, was in execution of the last charge committed to him by his royal master, namely, to carry the heart of the deceased monarch to Jerusalem, and there deposit it in the holy sepulchre. The disastrous failure of this pious enterprise is too well known to require further notice in this place.

The principal manufactures carried on in Montrose are the spinning and weaving of flax. For this purpose there are several steam-mills for spinning, and one on the North Esk driven by water. These steam-mills produce annually upwards of 800,000 spindles. There are also in the town soap, starch, rope, and sail manufactories; and others for making steam-machinery. Ship-building is carried on to a considerable extent, and there is a patent slip, introduced for repairing ships. There are also in addition various breweries, tan-works, candle-works, a foundry, and a steam-mill for grinding meal and flour.

Montrose is the port of the Custom-house, and, as such, comprehends within its bounds all that district between the lights of Tay on the south, and the Todhead on the north, thereby including Arbroath, and other places of less importance.

The principal foreign imports into Montrose consist of flax, hemp, tallow, whale-fins and oil, fir-timber, oak and oak-planks, deal and deal-ends. But as the goods manufactured here are sent coastwise to London, Glasgow, Dundee, and other towns, there are few or no _exports_ to foreign places from Montrose. Owing, however, to the bonded system having been extended to this port, nearly all the foreign wines and spirits consumed in the district, are brought coastwise to the bonded warehouses, and pay duty at the Custom-house when taken out for consumption.

The _exports_ from this district by the coasting-trade consist of wheat, oats, barley, rye, peas, beans, and potatoes; salmon, codfish, and pork, the latter chiefly for the London market: great coal, culm, parret, lime, blue slate, iron, tallow, rosin, barilla, kelp, salt, and herrings from the Moray Frith, chiefly smoked and sent to the Hull and London markets. The principal import from the English coast is coal; but various other articles are imported and exported by regular traders to London, Glasgow, and Leith.

Montrose contains several public edifices, all designed with considerable taste and substantially executed. Among these are the church, with a fine gothic tower, St. John's church, St. Peter's episcopal chapel, the Town-hall, the Academy, the Lunatic Asylum, and the Jail. The finest object, however, and which combines ornament with utility, is the new Chain-bridge, erected, like many others in the United Kingdom, after a plan by Captain James Brown, of the Royal Navy. The foundation-stone of this admirable structure was laid on the 18th of September, 1828, and the whole was completed before the close of the following year. The distance between the towers at the two extremities of the bridge, measured from the centre, is four hundred and thirty-two feet. The height of each tower is seventy-one feet, namely, twenty-three and a half from the foundation to the roadway; forty-four from the roadway to the top of the cornice; and three feet and a half forming the cornice. It spans the river, South Esk, and is justly considered the finest specimen of the kind in Scotland. The whole cost is stated at twenty thousand pounds.

The population of Montrose continues rapidly to increase. The society is very superior to that of most country towns, and includes amongst its members men who have distinguished themselves in every department of the state. It was formerly represented in Parliament by Joseph Hume, Esq., a native of the place, and so well known as a leading member in the House of Commons.

DUNNOTTAR CASTLE.

"High on a rock, half sea-girt, half on land,
The castle stood, and still its ruins stand.
Wide o'er the German main the prospect bent,
Steep is the path and rugged the ascent:
There hung the huge portcullis--there the bar
Drawn on the iron gate defied the war."

_"Dunnottar Castle," by Mrs. Carnegie, 1796._

The view of Dunnottar Castle, which so happily illustrates this portion of the work, represents one of the most remarkable features that are anywhere to be met with on the coasts of the British empire. The drawing was taken on the spot, and shows with admirable effect and precision those striking combinations of nature and art which, during a long series of ages, rendered the fortress of Dunnottar impregnable. But those rocky foundations from which it once rose in all the strength and grandeur of feudal architecture are fast yielding to the encroachments of the sea; its crested summits, once brilliant with arms and bristling with cannon, seem ready to drop from their precipice. Unroofed, unlatticed, untenanted, with not an ember left on its once capacious hearth, desolation and ruin are vividly pictured in its dreary solitude. The floors are covered with crumbling fragments of varied and costly decorations in sculpture, painting, and fretwork. Once a palace--commanding all that could minister to the security and luxury of its almost royal possessors, its battlements gay with standards, crowded with retainers, mailed guests in the hall, and minstrels in the court--it is now dark as a sepulchre;--banners, retainers, guests, minstrels, and the master of the feast himself--all are gone! The hoarse dash of the waves, the shrill scream of the stormy petrel, the crash of some disjointed and falling rock, or the whistling of the coming tempest, are almost the only sounds that now alternate among these embattled heights, where the curious stranger retraces with melancholy interest the days and deeds of antiquity. To him who is familiar with its history, Dunnottar speaks with an audible voice; every cave has a record--every turret a tongue; his ear is struck with "wandering voices," and words that never die seem at every step to arrest his attention.

The Castle of Dunnottar--now the stately and magnificent ruin thus feebly sketched--stands on an isolated rock two hundred feet perpendicular, washed on three sides by the sea, and on the other separated from the adjacent land by a wide and deep chasm, from which by a gate in the wall, nearly forty feet high, there is an entrance to the fortress. Leading upwards from this gate there is a long steep passage, partly arched over, and formerly secured by two drawbridges, the grooves for which are still visible. At the inner end of this passage is another gate, opening into the castle area, which is enclosed by a wall, and occupied by buildings of various epochs. But of all the buildings on this rock the chapel is the most ancient, and there is reason to believe that it originally served as the parish church of Dunnottar. The Castle, or the peninsular rock on which it stands, makes its first appearance in Scottish history during the wars of Bruce and Baliol, when, it is alleged by some modern authorities, the castle was erected by Sir William Keith as a place of safety for himself and friends. According to Blind Harry and Hector Boece, Dunnottar was surprised and taken by Sir William Wallace in 1297, and the Blind Historian relates that Dunnottar was occupied by four thousand English troops, who had fled before the victorious arms of the Liberator; and that when Wallace made the onslaught, as many of them as the church would contain took shelter there, in the hope that consecrated ground would not be violated by their slaughter; but, says the bard,--

"Wallace on fyre gart set all haistely,
Brynt up the kyrk and all that was thairin."

In the year 1336 Dunnottar was fortified and garrisoned by Edward III.; but immediately after his departure for England it was attacked and carried by the gallant Sir Andrew Moray, who destroyed the fortifications of the Castle, so that it might not again afford ready protection to an enemy.

STONEHAVEN.

"The flocks are white upon the moor,
The forest's filled with deer;
There's industry at every door,
And shipping at the pier."

Stonehaven, like Aberdeen, has its old town and its new; but "with this distinction, that of the latter, the new town is the older of the two." The old town of Stonehaven, or Steenhive as it was formerly written, was built on _feus_ granted by the "Earls Marischal," by one of whom it was erected into a burg of barony. The new town, or "Links of Arduthie," is separated from the old town by a brook, called the water of Carron, and is built upon the estate of the patriotic Mr. Barclay Allardyce, of Ury. It is the county-town; and hither, in 1660, the sheriff-court was removed from Kincardine by Act of Parliament.

On the south-west of a bare rocky promontory, called Garron-point, at the entrance of Stonehaven Bay, are seen the ruins of Cowie Chapel, which is said to have been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. From this point on the north, called Garron, to that of Downie on the south, is what is termed the Bay of Stonehaven. The town stretches from the bridge over the Cowie river, on the north, to the above-mentioned headland, Downie Point, on the south; but it is divided, as already stated, into two parts by the "Carron;" the north part being the new, and the south the _old_, or sea-town; close to which last, and to Downie Point, which is a protection to it from south-east gales, stands the Harbour, erected, like most others on the east coast, _sea_-ward. It is a capacious basin, and would contain a great number of vessels, but until lately, when two cross-jetties were built, it was very insecure, or afforded little protection to vessels during north-east and east gales, to which it is much exposed, the entrance being to the east. It is now, however, comparatively secure; and gas-lights being erected, the one bearing on the other, vessels bound southward in winter find it a very agreeable retreat, and about thirty so situated have been seen in it at one time.

The exports consist of grain, timber, herrings, and other fish; the imports are principally coals and lime, of which a great quantity is required for agricultural purposes.

The Harbour, in spring-tides, will admit vessels drawing fourteen feet water, sometimes upwards; but in ordinary tides the depth can hardly be reckoned at more than from ten to eleven feet.

The trade of curing fish by smoke-drying, in imitation of the _Finnan haddies_, is carried on with much spirit: several large houses have been fitted up for this purpose and for red-herrings; and a stranger would scarcely believe the extent done in this business, the haddocks thus cured being sent to London, Edinburgh, and other markets in the south, by all conveyances.

The other trade of the place is principally in manufacturing woollen, linen, and cotton cloths, a branch of native industry in which great numbers of people are employed. The Glenury distillery is a large concern, and close to the town, from which a great quantity of whiskey is constantly shipped off.

Among the disasters which, in its day, Stonehaven has had to deplore, we may cite the following, as characteristic of those unhappy times when the country was torn by the violence of faction, and fire and sword laid waste this ill-fated district. On the 20th of March, 1645, the Marquis of Montrose, then quartered at Stonehaven, addressed a letter to Earl Marischal, at his castle of Dunnottar, about two miles from this, exhorting him to espouse the royal cause; but receiving no answer, he proceeded to wreak his vengeance on the earl's lands and dependants. "Thereafter," says the historian Spalding, "he fires the Tolbooth, a prison of Stonehaven, wherein there was store of grain, and the whole town, with all the barnyards, houses, and other buildings, except those of James Clark, wherein Montrose himself was quartered. They plundered a ship lying in the harbour, then set fire to her, as well as to all the fishing-boats then in the harbour. They burnt up the whole town of Cowie, houses, buildings, corn, and corn-yards; and in like manner plundered the whole goods, gear, horses, oxen, sheep, which they could get; plundered the parson of Dunnottar's house and set it on fire. The people of Stonehaven and Cowie, it is said, came out, men, women, and children at their feet and children in their arms, crying, howling, and weeping, praying the earl, for God's sake, to save them from this fire as soon as it was kindled; but these poor people got no answer, nor knew they where to go with their children. How lamentable to behold!"

ABERDEEN.

GENERAL VIEW.

The city of Aberdeen, the seat of two celebrated universities, is divided into the old and the new towns, at an interval of about a mile. Of these, the former--now reduced almost to a village--appears to have been a town of some note as early as the ninth century, but gradually fell into decay after the great epoch of the Reformation. The Cathedral of St. Machar was founded at the remote era of 1164, and repaired in the beginning of the fourteenth century. But a new building of more elegant design was founded by Bishop Kinnimond, the second prelate of that family, and finished by Bishop Leighton. The Reformation, however, suspended all further operations, and left the pile a monument of premature decay. Of King's College, founded at the close of the fifteenth century, the learned Hector Boethius was the first principal.

New Aberdeen, though irregularly built, is a handsome city, and beautifully situated on three gentle eminences at the mouth of the Dee. The streets are spacious, and many of the public buildings of elegant design. In ancient times, several religious establishments flourished here, belonging to the different orders of Dominicans, Carmelites, and Grey Friars, with an hospital, or _maison-Dieu_. Marischal College, so named from its liberal founder, George, Earl Marischal of Scotland, has, like its predecessor, been long celebrated as a seat of the muses. Its professors and lecturers--twenty-seven in number--have shone conspicuous in every department of human learning, and are continually sending forth in their pupils the living proofs of that zeal and assiduity with which their important functions are discharged. With the fame of this university, the names of Campbell and Beattie are more especially associated, as the champions of religion and the ornaments of our native literature.

The environs of this ancient city exhibit many pleasing indications of commercial improvements, which are daily acquiring fresh impulse, adding new embellishments to the landscape, and evincing an increase of comfort and independence among the inhabitants, who amount to about fifty thousand.

There are few springs of any consequence in Aberdeen or the neighbourhood, and although a supply of water can be had in most places, by digging to a depth of from ten to thirty feet, it is generally so hard as to be of comparatively little value. Close by the boundary of the parish, on the west side, are two springs, quite contiguous, which have been long known as the "Well of Spa." Both these springs, but especially the least copious one, are impregnated with carbonate of iron, and on that account have been long noticed as medicinal. Early in the seventeenth century an account of the properties and powers of these springs was published by Dr. Barclay, under the title of _Callirhoee, commonly called the Well of Spa, or the Nymph of Aberdene_. A building, which at that time protected the spring, having fallen into decay, was repaired by the celebrated painter George Jamieson, but was not long afterwards demolished by a flood of the Den-burn, which runs close beside it. In 1670, another building was erected over the spring, which still remains, consisting of a stone enclosure, with steps or benches, and an entablature bearing these inscriptions:--

"As Heaven gives me,
So give I thee."

"Hoc fonte derivata salus in Patriam populumque fluat,
Spada Rediviva 1670."

Within the last two centuries both these springs have repeatedly disappeared and been recovered, and always retaining their chalybeate qualities till of late. Within the last few years, however, while digging upon the adjacent eminence for the foundations of the west wing of the new infirmary, it would seem as if the course of the water had been disturbed, or some other change produced, the consequence of which is, that now the larger spring appears to possess hardly any chalybeate impregnation, whilst the smaller one is much weaker than formerly.

ABERDEEN,

FROM ABOVE THE CHAIN BRIDGE.

"Blyth Aberdein! thou beriall of all tounis,
The lamp of bewtie, bountie, and blythnes;
Unto the heaven ascendit thy renown is
Off vertew, wisdom, and of worthines;
Benottit is thy name of nobilnes;--
Be blyth and blissful, burgh of Aberdein!"--DUNBAR.

The Port of Aberdeen is now universally known among seafaring men as one of the safest and most commodious in Scotland. The skill and practical efforts of both Smeaton and Telford were successively employed upon it; and after an arduous and extensive enterprise, the grand object has been fully obtained. To those who are only acquainted with the harbour under its present aspect it will be difficult to convey a correct notion of its appearance in ancient times. There is reason to suppose that at a period beyond the reach of history, the river Dee must have discharged its waters into the sea at the Craiglug--where the Chain Bridge is seen in the engraving--and that by their alluvial deposits, and the effects of the north-east winds, in accumulating the sands in the neighbourhood, the ground now occupied by the village of Footdee, the shorelands and Sandilands, the Links and the islands in the estuary were gradually raised above the level of the sea. At a less remote period it is believed that the river Don poured its floods into the frith of the Dee: and the conjecture derives strength from the notices of Roman geographers. The occurrence of great changes is attested by various remains which have been disinterred at different periods. Thirteen feet under low-water mark in spring-tides, and twenty-eight feet below the general surface of the Inches, were discovered two human skulls, a large piece of flint, and great quantities of shells and other marine deposits; and in excavating the canal, at a considerable distance from the shore, anchors and other articles of shipwreck were found deeply imbedded in the earth.

The entrance to the harbour of Aberdeen is naturally bad, owing to a bar at the mouth of the river, where, at ebb-tide, the depth of water was often not more than two feet. To remedy this evil was, from a very early period, the ardent desire of the citizens, and to some of their first efforts in this direction we have alluded in our notice of Aberdeen Light-house. But it is since the commencement of the seventeenth century that the most effective improvements have been made, amongst which we may name the erection of a bulwark on the south side of the entrance, and the removal of a great stone, called "Knock-Maitland," which lay nearly in the middle of the river, both of which were accomplished in succession; the first in 1608, and the latter in 1618. Between 1623 and 1658, the quay was extended eastward, towards Futtie; by which means a considerable portion of ground was redeemed below the Castle-hill, and is now covered with buildings. In 1755 an additional quay was built a good way further down, opposite the village of Torrie. In 1770, further improvements were projected; and, on a report from Mr. Smeaton, recommending the erection of a pier on the north side of the entrance, so that the influx of sand from the north might be prevented, and the removal of the _bar_ effected, by confining the waters of the river Dee within narrower bounds, the work was commenced in 1775, and finished in less than six years. The length of this pier was twelve hundred feet, and it terminated in a round head of sixty feet in diameter. Owing, however, to a departure from Mr. Smeaton's plan, by which the pier was founded too far to the north, it was found that a heavy swell entered the harbour; and to obviate this formidable inconvenience, a bulwark was projected from the pier, to about one-third across the channel.

By these means considerable improvements were effected; but as the trade of the city increased, inconvenience was still felt from a deficiency of water on the bar; and Mr. Telford, having been consulted in 1810, on the means of remedying this evil, recommended that the pier should be extended, and that wet-docks should be formed in the harbour. These works were commenced forthwith, and the pier, carried on to the extent of nine hundred feet beyond the head of Smeaton's pier, and again finished with a round head, was completed in 1816. In the course of the following winter, however, this head was destroyed by the storms; but being rebuilt with a slope towards the sea, it has since stood without very material damage. A breakwater, extending to the length of eight hundred feet, was also built on the south side, by which the mouth of the channel was narrowed, and the entrance protected from the storms of the south-east. Wharfs were built along the south-west side of Futtie; the pier opposite Torrie was enlarged; and, latterly, the quay has been extended westward from the old quay-head; and by raising embankments on the Inches, a considerable range of quay-room has been gained there, which is connected with the town by a swivel-bridge, opposite Marischal-street. By all these combined measures, quay-room has been provided to the extent of about four thousand feet; a tide-harbour has been formed, in which, at spring-tides, the depth of water is about _eleven feet_ at the west-end, gradually increasing to _fifteen feet_, where it joins the course of the river; while the depth of the water on the bar has been increased to about nineteen feet.

ABERDEEN LIGHTHOUSE.

Immediately to the south of the small bay of Greyhope stands the Girdleness Lighthouse; an erection by which the trade of Aberdeen has been greatly benefitted. The Girdleness, from which it takes its name, is a conspicuous promontory of which the Commissioners of the Northern Lights took advantage to erect this monitory beacon: it was lighted up for the first time on the night of the 15th of October, 1833, and is a lofty, circular tower, built of granite, and crowned with two copper domes, one within the other, in order to prevent the effects which would follow from the condensation of vapour from the heated air of the lamps. The dwelling-houses of the keepers are at the bottom of the tower; and a field of considerable extent has been walled in and cultivated for their accommodation. It is on the larboard, or left-hand side, as we enter the port, and is known to mariners as a _double-light_, a distinction produced by placing two lights in the same tower, the one above the other. Of these, the lower light is visible in clear weather at the distance of thirteen, and the higher at that of sixteen miles. They are under the charge of two keepers, one of whom mounts guard at sunset, and in case of emergency can summon assistance by means of an alarm-bell, placed in the sleeping apartments, which may be rung from the light-room, by means of an air-blast, through tubes laid for that purpose. This edifice, of incalculable benefit to the cause of humanity, was erected after the design of Robert Stevenson, Esq., and does great honour to his talents. The bay of Greyhope, above-named, is memorable as the scene of many a disastrous shipwreck, particularly that of the Oscar, in which, out of a crew of forty men, only two were saved. This occurred on the 1st of April 1813.

For many centuries after the foundation of Aberdeen, the harbour was nothing more than an open expanse of water, washing the base of the Castle-hill on the north, the rising grounds of Torrie on the south, and communicating with the sea by the narrow and shallow mouth of the river. Of this basin the greater part was left dry at ebb of tide; while several large, but low islands, were never wholly overflowed. The most ancient, and during many years the only erection within the port, was a bulwark extending from the Ship-row southwards, and now known as the Shore-area. Its extremity was called the Quay-head, a name afterwards applied to the wharfs extending from the vicinity of the Trinity Kirk eastward, beyond the present weigh-house. At what time it was built is altogether unknown; but it was in existence in the fourteenth century, and was probably constructed in the preceding age. In 1484, having become ruinous, it was either repaired or rebuilt; and about the same time, beacons for the guidance of ships were erected, and the wreck of a Spanish galley on the southern shore, which had long obstructed the channel, was removed. In 1512, the quay was again repaired; and in 1526, still further operations became necessary, and a great portion of the wharfs was reconstructed. In 1549, repairs being once more required, a stair was added; and in 1582 a crane was erected. In 1621, two corn-mills were built within flood-mark; and about thirteen years later, a weigh-house, which served also for a custom-house, was erected. In the course of the same century, various other additions were made to the wharf, and several municipal statutes introduced for the better regulation of the port. In 1566, a lighthouse, containing "three great flaming lights, to burn from daylight to daylight, between the first day of September and the last day of March," was erected on St Ninian's Chapel, on the Castle-hill.

SLAINES CASTLE.

Slaines Castle, the feudal residence of the Hays of Erroll, covers a peninsular rock, boldly projecting into the German Ocean and forming an abrupt and imposing landmark on this iron-bound coast. Its position is remarkable: the huge precipice over which it projects on one side, and of which it seems an integral part, descends perpendicularly to the sea, where the water is so deep that vessels of large burden may float within a yard of the rock. It is said, indeed, that a tankard of wine may be lowered down from the Castle window to the yard-arm of a man-of-war under sail. Whether this experiment has been tried we know not; but this we can readily admit, that much good wine has taken the opposite direction.

The situation of this family fortress is rather bleak and cheerless, presenting no leafy bowers, no clumps of trees, few masses of verdure or vegetation, to refresh the eye or flatter the imagination.

"La nature maratre, en cet affreux climat,
Ne produit, au lieu d'or, que du fer des soldats."

The prospect, however, which is bounded only by the horizon seaward, is grand and imposing, and fills the mind with corresponding ideas. For a Trappist convent, with Baron Geramb at its head, nothing finer could be imagined; for their nearest neighbour in one direction is the "King of the Norse;" and the hills, on the other hand, are wild and solitary enough to shut out the world and its vanities.

The following is the traditional origin of the Hays of Erroll:--In the year 980, and reign of Kenneth III., the Danes having invaded the country, gave battle to the Scots at Loncarty, near Perth. The latter, being worsted in the fight, gave way; but, while passing a defile in their flight, were stopped by a countryman and his two sons, who encouraged the fugitives to rally and renew the struggle. The example, resistance, and reproaches of these three brave men, armed only with the implements snatched hastily from their ploughs, inspired the routed Scots with new life. They rushed back upon their pursuers, encountered the Danes afresh, defeated them at every point, and delivered their country from servitude. The victory being complete, the father, afterwards known by the name of Hay, was ennobled by the king, and rewarded with the best part of the enemy's baggage, and a grant of land in the rich Carse of Gowry, containing as much as "a falcon flew over without alighting." The march stones, being about seven miles apart, are to this day called the "Falcon Stones."

The first of this ancient family who did honour to the Scottish peerage was created Earl of Erroll by James II., in 1452, in recompense of his faithful services, and died at this castle in 1470.

The baronial fortress of Slaines was afterwards demolished by order of James VI., on the rebellion of the Earl of Huntly, and long continued in ruins.

Dr. Johnson thus records his visit and reception within these walls:--"We came in the afternoon to Slaines Castle, built upon the margin of the sea, so that the walls of one of the towers seem only a continuation of a perpendicular rock, the foot of which is beaten by the waves. To walk round the house seemed impracticable; from the windows, the eye wanders over the sea that separates Scotland from Norway, and when the winds beat with violence, it must enjoy all the terrific grandeur of the tempestuous ocean. I would not for my amusement wish for a storm, but as storms, whether wished for or not, will sometimes happen, I may say, without violation of humanity, that I should willingly look out upon them from Slaines Castle."

The caves and grottoes along this coast are numerous and interesting. The Dropping, or White Cave of Slaines, extends about 200 feet underground; and through a natural vault the water oozes forth, and forms fantastic pyramids of incrustations or stalactites. The cave, by this natural process, would soon be filled up, were not the petrified substance frequently cut away and burnt for lime. In this, as in many other caves along the shore, the ancient inhabitants of the district are supposed to have taken refuge when repeatedly harassed by the sudden descent of Danish marauders; and in later times it may have often served as a secure retreat for smugglers, who formerly abounded in this neighbourhood, and carried on their illegal traffic in comparative safety.

(near Peterhead)]

THE BULLER OF BUCHAN.

"If I had any malice against a walking spirit, instead of
laying him in the Red Sea, I would condemn him to reside in the
_Buller of Buchan_."--SAMUEL JOHNSON.

The Buller of Buchan, one of the most remarkable natural curiosities in Scotland, is about six miles south from Peterhead. It is a vast hollow in a rock projecting into the sea, open at the top, and communicating with the water by means of a natural arched passage, about fifty yards high. The basin within is nearly circular, about thirty yards in diameter; and around the extreme edge of the chasm is a narrow footpath, from which to the water in the abyss below, measures about thirty fathoms,[13] more or less, according to the state of the tide. It is a scene upon which all travellers dwell with feelings of mixed awe and admiration. Even Dr. Johnson, the learned philologist from whom we take our motto, visited and retired from the spot with amazement. "We soon turned our eyes," he observes, "to the Buller, or _Bouilloir_, of Buchan, which no man can see with indifference, who has either sense of danger or delight in rarity. It is a rock perpendicularly tubulated, united on one side with a high shore, and on the other rising steep to a great height above the main sea. The top is open, from which may be seen a dark gulf of water, which flows into the cavity through a breach made in the lower part of the enclosing rock. It has the appearance of a vast well, bordered with a wall. The edge of the Buller is not wide, and to those who walk round appears very narrow. He that ventures to look downward sees that, if his foot should slip, he must fall from his dreadful elevation upon stones on one side, or into water on the other. We, however, went round, and were glad when the circuit was completed. When we came down to the sea, we saw some boats and rowers, and resolved to explore the Buller at the bottom. We entered the arch which the water had made, and found ourselves in a place which, although we could not think ourselves in danger, we could scarcely survey without some recoil of the mind. The basin in which we floated was nearly circular, perhaps thirty yards in diameter. We were enclosed by a natural wall, rising steep on every side, to a height which produced the idea of insurmountable confinement. The interception of all lateral light caused a dismal gloom. Round us was a perpendicular rock; above us, the distant sky, and below, an unknown profundity of water."[14]

To the above description, written in the autumn of 1773, little needs to be added: the wild features of the scene, and the effect produced upon the minds of travellers, continue to present nearly the same aspect and to awaken the same impressions as in the days of the great lexicographer. The scene of horror, however, is often enlivened by pic-nic parties from Peterhead, during the fine season, and is deservedly considered as one of the great "lions" on this coast, a title to which its continual "roar" gives it a more especial title.

The geological features of this locality are very interesting. The rocks are of primitive granite, and appear to have been upheaved to the surface by some internal expansive force, and have an inclination from east to west of 25 degrees. Reposing upon the granite, is a bed of diluvial clay, of from ten to fifteen feet deep, containing numerous small water-worn stones, of different species of the secondary formation; besides large quantities of flint, originally imbedded in limestone, which must have been rolled from a great distance, as there are no beds of limestone on this coast, or in any of the neighbouring districts. From atmospheric action and other causes the rocks are rapidly disintegrating; and great quantities of _debris_ are annually accumulating at the bottom of the precipices, where wild grasses and lichens springing up produce, by their decomposition, a vegetable mould which is gradually increasing.

[13] Two hundred and fifty feet, according to more recent admeasurement.

[14] The accompanying view has been justly pronounced as by far the best that has ever appeared of this remarkable scene, and is taken at the same point from which it was contemplated by Dr. Johnson, after his walk from Slaines Castle, about two miles distant. Sir Walter Scott, when on his excursion to the Shetland Isles, and while becalmed off this coast, paid a visit to the Buller; and we are of opinion (says Mr. Mackie), that in his description of the Cavern of Staffa, we can discover some of the general features of the scene described, shadowed forth in the _Lord of the Isles_. It is proper to mention, that although now generally written Buller, it is uniformly known in the district as the _Bullers_--_Les Bouilloirs_, or boiling caldrons.

PETERHEAD.

"No scene for me like the bounding sea;
No couch like my cabin pillow!
No fair domain like yon ocean's plain--
And my coursers, the breeze and billow!"

_The Heliotrope._

Peterhead, like the neighbouring ports already noticed, has rapidly increased, within the last twenty years, in all those means which facilitate and secure the advantages of trade and commerce. Though long and deservedly resorted to as a delightful watering-place, remarkable for the salubrity of its air, and the beauty of its situation, the activity of trade was still unknown to its inhabitants. Its only harbour, a small basin dug out of the rock, was rarely enlivened by anything that could aspire to the title of shipping; for in Cromwell's time, about twenty tons of boat-freight was all that its diminutive port could lay claim to. The spirit of its inhabitants, however, with an accurate perception of the natural advantages of the Port, and aided by government in the preparation for a new era in commercial enterprise, has achieved wonders. An air of prosperity animates the whole town: the harbour is filled with goodly traders; imports and exports cover the quays: industry has received a stimulus which communicates its happy influence to everything around; and Peterhead now holds an enviable station among the Ports and Harbours of Great Britain.

The point of land on which the town is built, is the most easterly of the mainland of Scotland. It forms the north-east side of a bay, and is connected with the country, on the north-west, by an isthmus eight hundred yards in breadth. On Keith-Inch, so called from the Earl Marischal, are many elegant and substantially-built houses; and on its south-side is an old Castle, erected in the sixteenth century, by George, Earl Marischal, after the model of one which he had seen in Denmark. Down to the close of the sixteenth century, Peterhead was only a small fishing-village, and the stranger who now passes through its populous streets, and busy harbours, will readily perceive how much has been accomplished in the interval.

The Harbours are both handsome and commodious; and, having two entrances from the south and north, and being equidistant from the Forth and Moray Friths, are much resorted to by vessels frequenting the east coast of Scotland. The annual revenue is under the management of commissioners incorporated by Act of Parliament. The South Harbour has a depth of between twelve and fourteen feet water at medium springs, and from eight to ten at neap-tides; but the North Harbour, during spring-tides, has full eighteen feet water, and at no tide less than fourteen. The Quay extends to 3350 feet in length; and connected with the harbour is an excellent graving dock. The shipping belonging to the port amounts to about 12,000 tons; and the number of vessels that annually take shelter in these harbours, may be estimated at two hundred and forty. The leading articles of export are grain, meal, eggs, butter, cattle, fish, and the produce of the fisheries: the imports are groceries, clothing, flour, salt, iron, timber, coal, lime, and bone-manure. Shipbuilding has long been carried on to a considerable extent; and in the present day no port of the kingdom sends out vessels more remarkable for fine proportion and elegant combination of strength and beauty. During the last half century, Peterhead has carried on an extensive trade with Greenland, and Davis' Straits; and takes rank next to Hull in the whale fishery.

The lighthouse, which stands on the Buchan Ness, at the extremity of the south bay, is of the utmost importance, both as regards the interest of the general trade of the port, and the prosecution of the herring fishery, which is carried on with great success.

The neighbourhood of Peterhead is renowned for its granite, which is of a reddish colour and closely resembles that on the west bank of the Lago Maggiore in Italy. The beautiful pillars in the British Museum, and the Duke of York's column in Waterloo-Place, are specimens of it; and materials for many of our public buildings, such as the docks at Sheerness, have also been furnished from the quarries of Peterhead.

MACDUFF.

"... A place, where industry and health
Their sure abode have found;
Where want has ripened into wealth,
And gladdened all around.
How sweet on that romantic bay
To spend the live-long summer-day!"

Macduff, which in the course of a century has emerged from its humble origin of a few fishermen's huts into a town and harbour of no little importance on this coast, is now an object of increasing interest to all who delight in tracing the gradual rise and progress of national prosperity, in the ramifications of our trade and commerce. The town is situated about a mile and a half to the east of Banff; and in the grouping of its buildings presents an aspect sufficiently romantic to arrest the attention of every stranger who has a taste for the picturesque. The Earl of Fife, on whose property it is built, has greatly contributed to its advancement in all that regards the comfort of the inhabitants, and the improvement of its harbour, which is now considered one of the best in the Moray Frith. At the instance of this patriotic nobleman, Macduff was created a burgh of barony by his Majesty George III.; and from that time large sums of money have been annually expended in improving the town, encouraging industry, and extending the harbour. The import and export traffic of this port continues on the increase, and employs numerous vessels that carry on a regular trade with London and the ports of the Baltic. The exports consist chiefly of corn, salmon, cod-fish, and granite, for which the quarries of this coast have been so long known and appreciated. It is also a favourite fishing-station, and possesses a numerous fleet of boats engaged in the herring-fishery, which is here prosecuted during the season with great activity and success; an occupation that has been the means of training up a larger number of hardy seamen, and thus contributing to the naval supremacy of our country in a greater degree than any other branch of the coasting-trade. It has at the same time been instrumental in providing an important portion of the subsistence of the peasantry in the district, as well as furnishing a supply for transmission to the metropolis and the southern part of the Kingdom, and successfully vieing with the far-famed staple of Yarmouth. The herring-fishery on the coast of Scotland was long confined, almost exclusively, to the coasts of Caithness and Sutherland; but owing to the encouragement afforded by government at the termination of the war, the fishing of herrings was commenced on the Aberdeen, Banff, Moray, and Rossshire coasts; and it was soon discovered that the herrings were both as good in quality and as abundant on the south side of the Moray Frith as on the north. This trade, from a small beginning, has now become flourishing and extensive; and although the government bounties have been withdrawn, it is still carried on with great spirit and activity. The quantity cured within the district amounts in favourable years to about thirty thousand barrels.

The town contains a thriving and industrious population of nearly two thousand: it has a grammar-school, a town-hall, and a jail. The church, which forms so prominent a feature in the picture, occupies a conspicuous situation on the eminence, and owes much to the taste and munificence of Lord Fife, who has erected a fine massy cross in its immediate precincts, and thereby contributed an ornament which, by its peculiar elevation, gives additional interest and effect to the whole scene.

The bridge across the Devon, by which Macduff communicates with Banff and the surrounding scenery, is described in our notice of the latter town and harbour. Owing to the acknowledged excellence of its accommodation for shipping, Macduff is gradually acquiring fresh testimony in its favour as a seaport, and promises to insure to its inhabitants, at no remote period, their full proportion of maritime prosperity. So be it; and in this wish and prospect every one, who is acquainted with the place or the people, will cordially sympathize; and from their known energy and perseverance, there is no reason to doubt of their securing that commercial success which they labour so strenuously to obtain, and to which their natural position so much entitles them.

BANFF.

The ancient town of Banff consists of two distinct parts, the first of which, called the body of the town, lies partly on the lower extremity of the plain, skirting the river, and partly on the declivity. The second portion, called the sea-town, stands on an elevated level which terminates abruptly within a short distance of the sea, by which it is bounded. When viewed from the low ground beyond the river, the sea-town appears to stand on a long elevated ridge, as seen in the engraving, and having the battery on its northern extremity. On a piece of table-land, projecting midway between the town proper, and sea-town, and nearly opposite the mouth of the river, stands the Castle, a plain, modern edifice, but commanding an extensive and varied prospect of the sea, the town, the hill of Macduff, the sweep of the river, and the beautiful slope opposite, surmounted by the woods of Mount Coffer.

The streets of Banff, though composed of houses varying much in size, are generally straight and of a convenient width. The High-street, Castle-road, and a street in the sea-town, terminating in the battery, form a continuous line from south to north, of about half a mile in length. In the progress of recent improvements, many of the old houses have been pulled down and replaced by others, so that now scarcely a feature of primitive architecture is left to remind the spectator of the olden time--the characteristic dwellings of our forefathers--

"When walls of oak and hearts of steel
Stood surety for the public weal."

About twenty years ago the comfort and convenience of the inhabitants were greatly promoted by the addition of an excellent market-place, laid out in a central part of the town and furnished with every necessary accommodation. Public baths have also been erected by a joint-stock company, and the town is lighted with gas.

In the southern approach to Banff, the road is carried over the Doveran by means of an elegant and substantial stone bridge, consisting of seven semicircular arches, with a clear water-way of one hundred and forty-two yards. This handsome structure was finished at the expense of government in 1779, and is highly ornamental to the town and neighbourhood. From this point the view of Duff House, in the centre of a beautiful park, is seen to great advantage. In proof of this, the reader has only to cast his eye over the engraving, which, to those who have not seen the original, conveys a faithful and striking resemblance to Banff and its vicinity. Seen so near as to render its elaborately carved ornaments visible, the appearance of Duff House is particularly rich, graceful, and majestic. It contains a fine gallery of paintings, many of them by the first masters of the art. This baronial mansion, was built nearly a century ago, after a design by Adams, in the Roman style, but has never been finished in its original detail. The body of the house is an oblong, consisting of four lofty stories; the first of which is a rustic basement, over which rise two stories, adorned with fluted pilasters, and an entablature in imitation of that on the temple of Jupiter Stator, in the Campo Vaccino at Rome. Over this entablature, which surrounds the whole structure, is an attic story, surmounted by a balustrade. The four corners of the building have projections resembling towers, which break and vary the outline, overtop the attic story, and are adorned at the angles by an upper range of pilasters with an entablature of the Composite order, and crowned by dome-like roofs, on which are placed octagonal pedestal-chimneys.

The town of Banff has much to recommend it as a residence. It possesses both coast and inland scenery of a superior description, and is particularly healthy. It has excellent schools, classical and commercial; various places of public worship, as observed by the established Presbyterian, the Episcopalian, the Seceder, and others. It has abundant markets, frequent and regular mails, public baths, literary, scientific, and benevolent institutions; boarding-schools, and society equal at least to what is generally met with in a remote provincial town.

PORT GLASGOW.

Here, safely moored, our vessels ride,
Here plies the busy oar;
And every ship that stems the tide
Brings treasures to our shore:
Here trade and industry command
The trusty heart and steady hand.

The ground on which this town has been erected belonged originally to the estate of Newark, and was purchased by the magistrates of Glasgow, in 1668, in order to provide a convenient harbour for the merchant-vessels belonging to that city--hence the name of Port Glasgow. In 1775, a charter was obtained from parliament, conferring on the town the privilege of a burgh of barony, and granting a constitution, which vested the management of its municipal affairs in a council of thirteen, including two baillies. By the Burgh-Reform Act, the number was reduced to nine, consisting of a provost, two baillies, and six councillors. The Reform Bill elevated it to the rank of a parliamentary burgh; and, in connexion with Kilmarnock, Rutherglen, Dumbarton, and Renfrew, it sends one member to parliament.

In its general appearance, Port Glasgow presents an air of much neatness and regularity. The streets are straight, and for the most part cross each other at right angles; while the houses, nearly uniform in size, and generally whitewashed, give to the whole a light and regular appearance. Among the modern buildings the town-house, and parish-church are chiefly deserving of notice. The town-hall, of plain but substantial workmanship, is ornamented in front with a portico, resting on four massy fluted pillars, and surmounted with a handsome spire, which rises from the centre. Of this edifice, the ground-floor has been laid out chiefly in shops; but the upper story, in addition to the chambers of the council and town-clerk, contains a large and commodious reading-room, with several apartments occupied as mercantile counting-rooms. The church was finished seventeen years ago, and affords accommodation for about twelve hundred persons. It is square in form, and plain in its exterior; but is much and deservedly admired for the simplicity and elegance of its internal arrangement. The wealthy inhabitants of the place did themselves great honor, and at the same time set a valuable example to others, by gratuitously contributing a sum of fifteen hundred pounds to assist in the expenses of its erection.

Attached to this Port are two capacious harbours, substantially built, and so completely sheltered from storms, that the vessels moored within them have rarely been found to suffer injury even in the severest weather. These harbours are furnished with ample quay and shed-room, and also with a commodious graving-dock--the oldest in Scotland. The largest vessels that trade to the Clyde are found at this port; such is the facility of access to this harbour, that vessels which draw twenty-one feet of water are towed up and down the channel with the greatest ease and safety.

A very important addition to the harbour accommodations of Port Glasgow was obtained a few years back in the erection of wet-docks. The then existing harbours having been found much too small for the increasing number of ships belonging to the port, the inhabitants of the town resolved to avail themselves of their local advantages, by converting the Bay of Newark, naturally adapted to the purpose, into a spacious dock, where vessels of the largest class might lie securely afloat in every state of the tide. The trustees of the harbours obtained an act of parliament, investing them with the necessary powers for carrying this desirable object into effect; and funds having been secured, they were enabled to commence the work, which was soon in rapid progress, and completed about twelve years ago. This dock, having spacious quays, with a twenty-five feet depth of water alongside, holds out special advantages to the trade, both in point of safety and convenience.

The charges levied at this port are on the most moderate scale, and considerably below the rates imposed at the neighbouring ports. To merchants engaged in trade with the Clyde, Port Glasgow thus presents the double advantage of low charges and very superior accommodation; while, at the same time, the privileges of the warehousing system are on a footing equal to those of any other port in the kingdom. Warehouse-room is provided on a very extensive scale, and is open for the general accommodation of the trade, on very moderate terms. In addition to the regular bonded warehouses, there is a large area for receiving wood into bond, and an excellent warehouse for crushing refined sugars, in which large quantities of that article are prepared for exportation to the Mediterranean markets.