THE BASS ROCK 181 



that John Major's is earher, and if the two be compared 



it becomes a question if Boece has not in part copied 



from Major, with whom he was contemporary. It is true 



that Major makes no mention of the use by the inhabitants 



of the Bass of the sticks fetched up by Gannets, so it is 



possible that his " Historia Ma j oris Britannise " although 



it had been published five years, was unknown to Hector 



Boece. On the other hand, the story of the first fish 



rejected for a better one is told by them both. 



6. Peter Swave, a Dane, visited Scotland in 1535, and in 



a curious diary written in Latin, and contained in the third 



volume of State Papers from the Archives of Copenhagen 



(" Aars beretninger fra det Kongeliger Geheimearchiv," 



III., pp. 232 et seq.*) he says : — " Quinto die a discessu 

 Angliam in conspectu habuimus, septimo Scotiae littora 

 intrauimus. Vidimus in mari iacentem arcem Basth in uasta 

 rupe sitam. Ibi sunt aves, quos Scoti gant uocant, albi, sed 

 admixto colore nigro, tanta multitudine, ut numerus non 

 facile reperiatur. Ex plumis et piscibus, quos adferunt aves 

 ad rupem, dictur praefectus quotannis coUigere posse ad 

 quadringentos aureos .... auem gandt non nisi unum 

 ouum edere, idipsum stando sub pede ponere et excludere." 



TRANSLATION. 



" We saw a fortified place, called Basth, t 



situated on an immense rock. There are found birds which 



* Edited by C. F. Wegener, 1801-05. 



t The Rev. H. N. Bonar observes that " Batliais " in Gaelif means a 

 forehead or front, and is pronounced as a iiionosynal)l(\ the tli being mute. 



