68 LUNDY ISLAND. 



for some one who feared an enemy whom he dared 

 not resist, or for the secretion of valuable property in 

 some of the troublous times, of which the island has 

 seen many, there was no clue to inform us. No sub- 

 terranean passage was observed, though the earth at 

 one side was so loose as to suggest the notion that 

 such a communication might once have existed ; a 

 fragment of pottery was the only object found. I was 

 myself struck with a rank odour in the cavity, very 

 different from that of newly-turned soil ; the earth, 

 too, at one end, was black, and of an unctuous appear- 

 ance, somewhat like that of a grave ; but no trace of 

 bone or other organised matter could be found. 



The appearance of this rude structure somewhat 

 resembled that of the monument known as Wayland 

 Smith's Cave, near Ashdown, in Berkshire. This 

 consists of a broad slab laid horizontally on several 

 upright ones. The earth in the lapse of centuries 

 had accumulated, until it was level with the flat slab ; 

 but the lord of the manor, about thirty years ago, 

 cleared away the ground both within and without the 

 edifice. Local tradition assigns it to an invisible 

 blacksmith, who was said to shoe travellers' horses 

 there for a small fee. The money was to be laid on 

 a stone, and the steed tied; in the morning the 

 money was gone, and the horse was found shod. The 

 prescribed fee was sixpence, and neither more nor 

 less would do. Sir Walter Scott, in a note to " Kenil- 

 worth," suggests that this legend may have alluded to 

 " the northern Duergar, who resided in the rocks, and 



