188 Anniversary Address. 



admitted to the garden, which contains a lovely border of 

 herbaceous plants. Thence the party descended towards the 

 sea, passing the hamlet of Billsdean, almost hid in a hollow ; 

 viewed the waterfall which, like that of Niagara, is wasting 

 away below by the agency of rushing water and gusts of 

 wind ; and reached the coast at an old low arched bridge, 

 not far from which were noticed some fortifications that had, 

 in warlike times, blocked up the passage to the inland 

 country. Myrrhis odorata and Anchusa sempervirens grow 

 at the bottom of the ravine. The waters here have a 

 petrifying property, and a large block of calcareous tufa 

 was passed, called the " Ballabus Rock," i.e. the alabaster 

 rock ; and there are many such with the upper part 

 still in process of formation. Ever since crossing 

 Dunglass Burn the Club had been sojourning in East 

 Lothian, and they went here still further along the 

 coast to view some fantastic, cavernous, and detached sand- 

 stone rocks, bearing many an impress of the quaint chiselling 

 of Time, and the evidence of mighty disruptions ; and the 

 commencement of the Mountain Limestone was noted, and 

 the intervening beds of shale and imperfect coal, which 

 hereabouts succeed in ascending order to the Calciferous 

 Sandstone. The coal was, about the beginning of the 

 18th century, used in manufacturing salt; and the re- 

 mains of the buildings connected with the work are still 

 traceable. Between the mouths of Billsdean and Dun- 

 glass Burns, the Sea Buckthorn adorns the banks, and is 

 spreading. After reaching the mouth of Dunglass dean, it 

 was ascended as far as the bridge over the post road. 

 A clumsy old bridge was passed at the mill, consisting of 

 ever so many roods of blank wall, perforated by a small 

 aperture. Till within recent times, all the traffic of the 

 country, i.e. of Scotland, passed along it. Above this, 

 down in the dean by the waterside, near the remains of 

 an ancient mill, grew the peppermint and spearmint, and 

 Anchusa sempervirens of some old garden ; along with the 

 authentic aborigines of the spot, Eupatoria cannabinum, 



