Pe rOe Tih TAs Nop. xv 
the cliffs foar to a diftinguifhed height. Where thofe are wanting, they retire to 
fea-girt rocks, as {pots the left acceflible to mankind. The five fpecies of Auks 
and Guillemots appear in fpring, and vanifh in autumn; the other birds preferve 
their native haunts, or fpread along the neighboring fhores. 
From Bamborough to the mouth of the Tweed is a fandy fhore, narrowing as 
it approaches our fifter kingdom. Lindésfarn, or the Holy ifland, with its ruined 
cathedral and caftle, lie remote from fhore, acceflible at every recefs of tide, 
and poflibly divided from Northumberland by the power of the waves in diftant 
ages. The tides do not fwell over this tra&t in the ufual manner of apparent flow- 
ing and gradual approach ; but ooze gently out of every part of the fand, which 
at firft appears a quaggy extent, then, to the terror of the traveller, furrounds 
him with a fhining plain of fmooth unruffled water, refle@ting the varied land- 
feapes of the adjoining fhores *. f 
The Tweed, the antient Alaunus, a narrow geographical boundary between us Scornanp. 
and our fellow-fubje&s the Scotti/p nation, next fucceeds. After a fhort conti- 
nuance of low land, St. Ebd’s head, a lofty promontory, projects into the fea Sr. Ess’s Heap, 
(frequented in the feafon by Razor-bills, Guillemots, and all the birds of the Ba/, 
excepting the Gannet) and its lower part is hollowed into moft auguft caverns. 
This, with Fifene/s, about thirty miles diftant, forms the entrance into that 
magnificent eftuary the firth of Forth, which extends inland fixty miles; and, Firty or Forty, 
with the canal from Carron to the firth of Clyde, intirely infulates the antient 
Caledonia. ‘The ifle of May appears near the northern fide of the entrance ; the 
vaft towering rock, the Ba/i, lies near the fouthern. This lofty ifland is the 
fummer refort of birds innumerable, which, after difcharging the firft duty of 
nature, feek, with their young, other fhores or other climates. This is one 
of the few fpots in the northern hemifphere on which the Gannets neftle. 
Their fize, their fnowy plumage, their eafy flight, and their precipitate plunge 
after their prey, diftinguifh them at once from all the reft of the feathered tenants 
of the ifle, the Corvorants and Auks, the flights of whom are rapid, and the 
Gulls, which move with fluggith wing. 
Near the Ba/s the entrance narrows, then opens, and bending inwards, forms 
on each fide a noble bay. The Firth contracts to a very narrow ftreight at 
Queensferry ; then winds beautifully, till it terminates beyond 4//oa, in the river 
to which it owes its name. The fhores are low, in part rocky, in part a plea- 
fant beach; but every where of matchlefs beauty and population. Edinburgh, 
the capital, rifes with true grandeur near the fhore, with its port, the great em- 
# Mr, Hutchinfon, ii, 15% 
- poriuss, 
