a comparison, I should yield the palm to the Tummel, though the falls of the Clyde are undoubtedly higher. To the north west of the fall is a cave, in the face of a tremendous rock, to which there is only one passage, and that very difficult. In this cave a party of the Macgregors is said to have been surprised during their proscription; after part of them were killed, the rest climbed up a tree that grew out of the face of the rock; upon which their pursuers cut down the tree, and precipitated them to the bottom."

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CAVES AND CAVERNS.

THE impetuosity of the ocean has formed innumerable Caves and Caverns in almost every part of the coast of Scotland. Some are remarkable for their magnitude, and others for the romantic feelings which they are calculated to excite. We shall select for description, the Buller of Buchan, the Caves of Covesea, and Caves on the coast of Fife: and shall reserve our account of the Cave of Fingal, and give it under the head of Geological Wonders.

BULLER OF BUCHAN.

This is an immense cavern into which the sea enters by a natural arch formed in the rock. This grand natural curiosity is on the coast of Aberdeenshire, about eight miles from Peterhead, and in the immediate neighbourhood of Slanes Castle, the seat of the Earl of Errol. The wonders of this part of the coast are thus described by Dr. Johnson.

"We came in the afternoon to Slanes 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, must enjoy all the terrific grandeur of the tempestous ocean. I would not for my amusement wish for a storm; but as storms, whether wished or not, will sometimes happen; I may say, without violation of humanity, that I should willingly look out upon them from Slanes Castle.

"When we were about to take our leave, our departure was prohibited by the countess, till we should have seen two places upon the coast, which she rightly considered as worthy of curiosity. Dun Buy, and the Buller of Buchan, to which Mr. Boyd very kindly conducted us.

"Dun Buy, which, in Erse, is said to signify the Yellow Rock, is a double protuberance of stone, open to the main sea on one side, and parted from the land by a very narrow channel on the other. It has its name and its colour from the dung of innumerable sea-fowls: which, in the spring, choose this place as convenient for incubation, and have their eggs and their young taken in great abundance. One of the birds, that frequent this rock, has, as we were told, its body not larger than a duck's, and yet lays eggs as large as those of a goose. bird is by the inhabitants named a coot. which is called coot in England, is here a cooter. Upon these rocks, there was nothing that could long detain attention, and we soon turned our eyes 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 tabulated, united on one side with a high shore, and on the other, rising

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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 that 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 the 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, though 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 interruption of all lateral light caused a dismal gloom. Round us was a perpendicular rock, above us the distant sky, and below us unknown profundity of water. 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.

"But terror without danger is only one of the sports of fancy, a voluntary agitation of the mind that is permitted no longer than it pleases.

We were soon at leisure to examine the place with minute inspection, and found many cavities which as the watermen told us, went backward to a depth which had never been explored. Their extent we had not time to try. They are said to serve different purposes. Ladies come

hither some time in the summer with collations, and smugglers make them storehouses for clan. destine merchandise. It is hardly to be doubted but the pirates of ancient times often used them as magazines of arms, or repositories of plunder."

Near the Castle of Slanes, is a dropping cave. The cause of this phenomenon is now well understood by philosophers. When lime is combined with a large portion of carbonic acid, it is dissolved by water; and when the solution drops down, part of the carbonic acid is lost, and the remainder not being sufficient to keep the lime in solution, it becomes again solid. Hence it forms in this process those different concretions which are like icicles.

Besides the celebrated cave, two other caves were discovered in 1752 by workmen digging for lime. They were filled with pillars, formed by the dropping of the solution of lime.

CAVES OF COVESEA.

The western part of the ridge, upon the Covesea coast, on the Murray Frith, forms a very bold shore. The penetrating power of the surge in winter storms, with the reiterated play of the ocean, and the various whirl of the rebounding wave upon the projecting cliffs of the freestone rock, has formed several detached pyramids,