102 Annive7'sary Address. 



persons free access to their picturesque and beautiful grounds, 

 is highly commendable and worthy of general imitation. 



After inspecting the mansion both externally and inter- 

 nally ^ including the fine old pictures, the library, the drawing- 

 room, and many antiqvie curiosities, the party proceeded to 

 view the group of caves opposite Ancrum Mill. These, like 

 Thomson's cave, are all cut out of the old red sandstone 

 strata, here nearly horizontal and thin bedded. They are 

 situated in a high cliff or scaur, nearly perpendicular, and 

 about 40 feet above the river, which forms a deep pool at 

 the base. They are accessible by a narrow path cut in the 

 face of the cliff, in such a manner that one strong and deter- 

 mined man could hold his ground against an indefinite num- 

 ber of assailants, by lying in wait behind a projecting part of 

 the cliff, and as they advanced pushing them seriatim over 

 the precipice into the refreshing waters below. They are 

 cut only a few feet into the rock, but could shelter a con- 

 siderable number of persons. The interiors are quite clean 

 and fresh looking, there being no marks of fire in any of 

 them, and from the nature of the strata, they appear to have 

 been always free from the dripping of water. In some cases 

 one cave is over another like a second storey, but the entrance 

 is always open in the face of the cliff. Their number is in 

 all thirteen. Their origin is evidently pre-historic, though 

 they have doubtless been used in more recent troublous 

 times. 



Part of the company, under the guidance of Mr "Weaver, 

 forester to the Marquis of Lothian, passed through the 

 grounds of Mount Teviot, which had also been kindly opened 

 for the day. Near the garden at Harestanes, the spot was 

 noticed where once stood a Druidical circle, from which the 

 place derived its name. It was observed that this spot was 

 midway between two mounds, one called Silverhill, the other 

 Davie Leslie's Knowe, in which, according to tradition, a 

 person so named had been buried, seated in a golden chair. 

 The mounds seem to have been deposited by water, and pro- 

 bably their position relative to the stones was merely acci- 



