98 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF DUNBAR SHORE. 



observations were made in the course of a single day's excursion. This plan 

 will have the advantage of being a useful guide to any one who may be 

 desirous, with limited time, to examine for himself this portion of our coast. 



It was a clear cold February morning, on which about seven o'clock, we 

 commenced our perambulations. Passing along by the western side of Dunbar 

 House and Park, we came down upon the shore at a little hollow immediately 

 to the west of the castle. At this particular point, the rocks consist of Red 

 Sandstone, which reach the beach here, in a narrow strip between the trap 

 rocks of the castle, and another development of similar rocks farther west. 



By referring to the map herewith, it will be seen that the coast at this 

 point extends considerably out, and that it consists of three masses of Trap; 

 'Dunbar castle being situated on the eastmost, and the others bearing respec- 

 tively the names of Knockinghair and Wilkiehaugh. The point where we 

 approached the shore, is the narrow tongue of Sandstone, west of the castle 

 rock, and from this we held a westward direction. The cliflfs are of consi- 

 derable perpendicular height, reaching from forty to eighty feet above high 

 water. At their base, uncovered at low water, is a considerable platform of 

 flattish rocks, and a pathway leads along by the foot of the cliffs towards 

 Belhaven. Right in front an isla^nd at highwater, but at low tide approachable, 

 a conical mass of Trap, bearing the name of the Doo-rock, bursts through 

 the Sandstone, and rises thirty feet above high water; a model in diminutive 

 proportions, of the more imposing rocks of analogous character out in the Frith, 

 the Bass, and the May. 



Following the westward course of the pathway, we soon qixitted the 

 Sandstone, and entered on a tract of lied- coloured Trap tuff. The outline 

 of these cliffs is very sinuous, and some of the bays arc of considerable depth. 

 When within the recess of one of them, the scene, though in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of a town, is not a little wild. The precipitous rock raises its 

 dark red slabs all around; in front, seen out betwixt the perpendicular walls, 

 the German Ocean rolls its waves to meet the watere of the Forth, No 

 sight or sound of human life is near; the hoarse voice of the ocean alone is 

 heard; the loneness and the sound of the sea are peculiarly impressive. All 

 along this shore masses of cliff have been isolated by the abrading power 

 of the waves, and stand out islets of rock at high water, but easily accessible 

 at low tide. 



Among the flat nocks which, at low tide, are seen to extend a considerable 

 distance from the base of the cliffs, there ai'c many curious chasms and crevices. 

 These ai'e in I'cality rents in a submerged cliff, of which the flat platform is 

 the upper sm'face. At low water the edge of the perpendicular face of this 

 nethercliff is seen, and there is then four fathoms of water in its immediate 

 neighbourhood. One of these chasms bears the graphic cognomen of "The 

 Sucking-in Goat," It is a rent of some length, deep and narrow, opening, 

 in its nether extremity, far out in the ocean. Even in calm weather, there 

 is a perpetual rush of water in this narrow gorge. Beat into the purest foam 



