128 Anniversary Address. 



where there is tufa ; and these portions have been hollowed out 

 and caverned and worn into deep chasms ; here, even in moderate 

 weather, there is a heavy roll of the tide, and a hoarse gurgle 

 is heard resounding among the caverns. The scenery is wonder- 

 fully varied, picturesque, and impressive. In front of the 

 lofty cliffs are many detached masses of rocks. Some are single, 

 surrounded by the sea, others are in groups ; all, however, 

 are fashioned by the elements, into peculiar, and not unfre- 

 quently grotesque forms ; not a few resemble ruined buildings 

 and towers. One rock in Petticowick Bay had for its old name 

 " The Auld Wife ;" its more modern name is " Lord Brougham," 

 from an odd likeness to that distinguished orator ; there are his 

 wig — ^his marvellous nose — ^his projecting and heavy under lip, 

 and a Yivid imagination can even see the Judge's robe. 



" The stratified rocks in this district are greywacke and grey- 

 wacke slate, being part of that formation, which extends across 

 Berwickshire in a west-south-west direction, and which has been 

 ranked as lower Silurian byMiu-chison and Cambrian by Sedgwick. 

 These rocks are seen at the mouth of the Cole Burn and at Colding- 

 ham sands, on the south side of the porphyry ; they appear again 

 at the north "side in Petticowick Cove, where they form a series of 

 remarkable foldings and curvatures, in one part dipping north- 

 north-west 50 degrees and at a short distance making a complete 

 bend, and dipping 50 degrees to the south-east. Westward of 

 St. Abb's Head, greywacke forms the Paven's Brae ; a deep 

 swampy valley here separates the stratified from the igneous 

 rocks. Most probably this had been scooped out when the district 

 was under water, for beneath the soil is a considerable accumula- 

 tion of rounded water- worn stones. A natural cause was, how- 

 ever, not suificient for the old chroniclers ; one relates that, in the 

 seventh century, the sea flowed miraculously into tliis valley, and 

 that for seven days St. Abb's Head was converted into an island, 

 in order that the Virgin Queen Edelthyra and her two Holy Virgins 

 Sewenna and Sewara might be protected from her husband King 

 Egfrid. He had given her permission to become a Nun in the 

 sanctuary of Ebba, but changing his mind, he followed her to 

 bring her back by force ; but the miraculous flow of the water 

 evidenced to him, that the Deity was unfavourable to his purpose, 

 and he therefore abandoned the attempt and returned to York. 



"In the course of our ramble we saw a singular mass of arti- 

 ficially fused rock, called "The Deil's Danders," standing on the 

 south side of the Cole Burn where it joins the sea ; it is six feet 



