468 6n the Bed oi- the German oceak 



the powerful effects of this element. Betweefi 

 Nevvhaven and Leith, where the subsoil consists 

 of strong clay overlaid by a deep cover of alluvial 

 matters, it is in the recollection of some old fisher^ 

 men still living, that an extensive piece of Link 

 ground or Downs existed in front of the lands of 

 Anchorfield and along these shores, on which they 

 used formerly to dry their nets, and which is now 

 entirely washed away. From the fishing village 

 of Newhaven to Leith, the direct road was along 

 shore on the northern side of Leith Fort ; but the 

 road being now carried wholly away, and the sea 

 having penetrated considerably into a field on the 

 eastern side of the houses of Anchorfield, the car- 

 riage road takes a circuitous route by another 

 way ; and there is reason for believing, that at a 

 former period the land here had extended, pro- 

 bably as far to the northward as the Martello 

 Tower or Black Rocks. 



Of the wasting effects of the sea on the shores 

 of the shire of Edinburgh, some striking proofs 

 are adduced, and others may be drawn from 

 Maitland's History of Edinburgh^, in which he 

 speaks of a tract of land on both sides of the 

 Port of Leith, which has now wholly disappear- 

 ed. In particular, at Newhaven, a village which 

 appears to have been established in the beginning 

 of the 15th century, by King James the IV., who 

 there caused a harbour to be constructed for the 

 reception of vessels, and a dock-yard or arsenal, 



