IX. 



B Curious Golong* 



THE fine weather tempted me the other day to visit 

 an old haunt of mine situated on the shores of the 

 Firth of Forth. This haunt, or " howf," to use the 

 Scotch equivalent, is famous alike for zoological ex- 

 cursions (by sea), for its fishing industries, and last, 

 though by no means least, for its fish dinners. A 

 kind of Scottish Greenwich this, but with a prospect 

 fair to see, and far exceeding the Thames in respect 

 of its scenery and surroundings. Before you lie the 

 blue hills of Fife ; away to the east Inchkeith stands 

 out on the bosom of the Firth ; and North Berwick 

 Law can be easily seen on a fine day, reminding you 

 of an ancient Vesuvius which, once upon a time, may 

 have belched forth fire and fury on the now quiet and 

 respectable county of Haddington itself. Along the 

 quaint High Street of Newhaven you meet with the 

 fisher-folk. The women with their caps suggest the 

 North of France at once to your mind ; and the blue 

 eyes and fair hair you meet with now and again tell 

 their own story of Norse blood and of Viking invasion 

 and settlement on the Eastern Scottish coasts. 



To-day, Newhaven is dull and deserted. An air 

 of melancholy seems to have marked the place for its 

 own. A few ancient mariners loll on the pier-head 



