Ifftny.iih. 



-. 



10 



caused * iingular sort of experiment to be made, by 

 , ., riii.* two infant* to the charge of a dumb woman, 

 w j t >. , re sci.t to Inchkfith as the scene of 



solitary confinement, till the children should reach 

 , c . It would, at this day, have been some- 



w | ( h.ivc known the result of this ex- 



perirm-ni ; hut ov. ing to the death of the king, and the 

 troubles of the times, it seems to have been entirely 

 lost sight of, and all that we now learn regarding it is, 

 ; I.indMiy of I'iucottie, who, in speaking of the 



hukra 



tfic trench, 



Dettrored 

 V Act of 



Fatluiueot. 



t>ecription 



; I. 



!mi, obMTM-s, "Some say they spnke good Ha- 

 ir riv ! but as to myself, (he added, with proper cau- 

 tion.) I know not, but by report." 



During the |>eriod of the Reformation in Scotland, 



I .on!- nf the Congregation having applied to the 

 l-ji^li-h for assistance against the queen dowager, 

 Mry of Gui*e, Edward VI. sent them-a navy in 1549, 

 consisting of 29 ships. The first object of this force 

 was to have secured the port of Leitii ; but failing in 

 this, they landed and took possession of Inchkeith. 



r roaring a temporary fort upon it, four companies 

 of f-'.n :lish, and one of Italians, were left for its de- 

 fence. under the command of one Cotterel ; who was 

 soon afterwards attacked, and, after a very brave and 

 g* 1 ^"' defence, was dislodged by the French auxiliary 

 troops, then defending the town and citadel of Leith, 

 under M. Desse, who seeing the importance of this 

 island as a military station, from its commanding posi- 

 tion, at a narrow part of the Frith of Forth, he saw its 

 utility both as a cover to Leith, and a place of retreat 

 in case of any sudden disaster. Desse had no sooner 

 made himself master of the island, than the temporary 

 works of the English were thrown down, when a re- 

 gular fortification was erected, by order of the Regent, 

 under the sanction of her daughter Mary and the Dau- 

 phin of France, her husband. This fort consisted of 

 several strong bastions, laid out for the defence of the 

 place, with a strong wall of circumvallation, varying 

 in height from a few feet to upwards of 20 feet, ac- 

 cording to the situation of the ground. The principal 

 parts of this work, were executed in square or aisler 

 masonry, and from the inaccessible nature of the island, 

 either as to landing places or roads, it must in those 

 days have been considered an operation of no small 

 ma K n ' tu ^ e ani ' expence. It seems also to have been 

 regarded by the Scottish Parliament as a place of so 

 much importance, and one which might be turned to 

 so much account against the country by an enemy, 

 that the works were only allowed to remain in a per- 

 fect state for a few years, when, by an act of that le- 

 gislative body, the whole of the fortification, and the 

 greater part of the walls were thrown down, excepting 

 tbe eastern wall, and part of the southern wall, which 

 still remains. The royal arms of Scotland is also pre- 

 served in one of the walls, with the initial letters M. R. 

 and the date 1556. 



Inchkeith lies, per compass, from Leith S. W. distant 

 auout 4, njj]^ an ,l 3 m i\ es from Kinghorn in Fife. It 

 contains about 70 acres ; is of along, and somewhat irre- 

 gular figure, measuring about one mile in length, and 

 une-Gt'th of a mile in breadth. Its shores are much che- 

 quered with rocks, and indented with several small 

 creeks or bays, capable of being converted into good 

 boat harbours. Its surface, though in many parts 

 rocky, iiml throughout extremely irregular, yet, in ge- 

 neral, is covered with a good sward of grass ; while in 

 the more sheltered points, the soil is not only deep, but 

 MI extremely rich that it produces the most luxuriant 

 crops where cultivation has been attempted. It afford- 

 rii indeed such excellent pasture, particularly for horses, 

 that while it was in the poasessipn of the French, they 



INCH KBIT II. 



called it " L'isie des clievaux." On the eastern and Inchkeith. 

 western sides, the island JS precipitous and Abrupt; S T"" - ' 

 while towards the north and southern end*, pnrticular- 

 \y the latter, it rises more gradually, to the height of 

 180 feet, calculating from high water mark to the sum- 

 mit or site of the lighthouse. 



Inchkeith possesses several pretty abundant springs Natural his. 

 of the purest and most excellent water that is any where tory * 

 to be met with ; and since a boat harbour and landing 

 pier have been constructed, the water has been collect- 

 ed in the higher parts of the island, and conducted by 

 a leaden pipe, from a large stone cistern, to the har- 

 bour, where it is served out by the light- house 

 keeper. From this cistern the shipping in Leith roads 

 is supplied, and seamen remark that this water is bet- 

 ter, and keeps longer free of impurities, than any other 

 with which they are supplied. 



The rocks of this island belong to the coal formation, Mineralogy. 

 and are distinctly stratified upon the great scale. They 

 consist chiefly of beds of trap-tuff, amygdaloid, slate- 

 clay, bituminous shale, lime-stone, sand-stone, and 

 gi 'en-stone. The lime- stone, in some places, is of a 

 fibrous texture, somewhat resembling asbestus. On 

 the south-west side of the island, under the lime-stone, 

 there is a bed of flinty slate, containing the traces of 

 madrepores and shells. Some very beautiful specimens 

 of crystallized quartz are also found in various parts of 

 the island ; and detached masses of rock much impreg- 

 nated with iron. Nodules of agate are not uncommon 

 on the shores; they have been washed from the amygda- 

 loidal rock, in which they occur imbedded. The stratifi- 

 cation of this island has a south-western direction, dip- 

 ping towards the east at an angle of about 45. It is 

 also worthy of remark, that the same strata of rocks, 

 with a similar direction and dip, are observable on the 

 Fife shores to the north; and in the direction of a 

 chain of sunken rocks extending towards Prestonpans, 

 they have been traced on the south side of the Frith. 



Besides horses and black cattle, which thrive well on Animals. 

 tliis island, sheep are sometimes pastured here ; but the 

 grass is considered too rank for sheep. There is a pret- 

 ty numerous tribe of the common grey rabbit here, 

 which would increase and become very numerous were 

 they i)ot so much annoyed by occasional sportsmen vi- 

 sitors. An attempt has lately been made to introduce a 

 species of the rabbit here, remarkable for the length and 

 silkiness of its hair. The sea swallow, or pictarny, 

 breeds on the island ; and occasionally the eider duck 

 makes its nest on the least frequented part of the shore. 

 Since the erection of the light-house, birds of passage, 

 particularly woodcocks, have been sometimes attracted 

 by the light on stormy evenings, and have suffered 

 themselves to be taken by the keeper. On one occa- 

 sion, a number of beautiful small birds ( fringillajlam- 

 meu), having a tuft of crimson feathers on the back of 

 the head, took shelter about the light-house. Thte 

 grey Norwegian rat is pretty numerous on the island; 

 no doubt brought here originally by the shipping in 

 Leith roads. The fishes found in the neighbourhood 

 of Inchkeith are chiefly of the smaller kinds, and such 

 as are common to the Frith of Forth ; particularly rock- 

 codling, podley, or young coalfish, and small whitings. 

 One peculiarity, or change upon the habits' of the fishes 

 in the Frith of Forth, which has been well authenti- 

 cated by several of the oldest fishermen of the conti- 

 guous 'village of Newliaven, may here be noticed, viz. 

 that in former times, alluding to a period about the 

 middle of the 18th century, great numbers of large had- 

 docks and whitings were caught above, or to the west- 

 ward of Inchkeith, but that such fishes are scarcely now 

 to be found to the westward of the isle of May, 20 milts 



