the surrounding country. The huge rocks which we before looked up to with astonisment, were now far below our feet, and many a small lake appeared in the valleys between them. "To the north, Snowdon, and its dependencies shut up the scene, and on the west we saw the whole curve of the Bay of Cardigan, bounded at a great distance by the Caernarvon mountains; and nearer, dashing its .white breakers against the rocky coast of Merioneth. The southern horizon was bounded by Plinlimmon, and the Bay of Swansea, the channel peeping through the open-ings in the Brecon mountains, and on the east the eye glanced over the lake of Bala and the long chain of the Ferwyn mountains, to the Bredden hills on the confines of Shropshire. Dimly in the distant horizon was beheld the Wrekin, rising alone in the plain of Salop." DYKES. THE road from Amsterdam to Saardam is made along one of those surprising efforts of human industry, termed a dyke, by means of which, the Dutch have been enabled to bar .out the encroachments of the ocean. As the traveller passes along it, he sees, on one side, the land many yards below him, whilst on the other, the sea rises almost to a level with his feet. These dykes are of various heights and thickness according to their situation. They are formed with a slope on each side, and many of them are sufficiently wide at the top for two carriages to go along them. The side of the mound towards the sea, is ornamented and strengthened by a species of reed, which is carefully planted by the Hollanders in spring and autumn. This catching the sured which the tide drives against it rapidly accumul s, and soon affords a thick covering for the original mound. There sometimes a second dyke formed behind the first, so that should the water burst the outer one, the scond may save the country from inundation, whilst the hollow by tween the two, serves as a com to carry off the occasional floods These dykes are kept in repair by the government, at an immense espense; but their maintenance absolutely necessary to the preser vation of the country, a consideri portion of Holland being below tre level of the sea. The, poet Goldsmith alludes these extraordinary works of t Hollanders, in the following besus-! ful lines. Methinks her patient sons before ne stand Where the broad ocean leans against land, And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, called Druidical: the remains of three stone circles. The principal, and by far the most perfect of them, one of the most remarkable in form and extent in the British Isles, stands on the brow of a promontory overhanging the bay, striking the eye at a considerable distance, like a cemetery of thickly-clustered tombstones. It has been visited by Martin and Macculloch. To the latter we are indebted for the following description of it : monuments, of the kind commonly | and seven fallen stones, and reaches as far as I could discover, only to 480 feet. Thus these two lines may be conceived to form a sort of avenue to the circular enclosure; its breadth being exactly equal to a semi-diameter of the circle, as the additional line touches the edge of this. The shorter line of the cross, at right angles to the other, now measures 204 feet, including the circle: but as it is longer on one side than the other, its original length has probably been greater, though I was unable to detect any traces of fallen stones; the progress of some enclosures having here interfered with the integrity of the work. This line contains ten erect stones. The diameter of the circle is sixty-three feet from north to south, and sixty-two from east to west, and it contains fourteen erect stones in the circumference, with one in the centre. This central stone is twelve feet high; one near the end of the long line measures thirteen, a few are found reaching to seven or eight, but the height of the greater number does not exceed four. "The general aspect of this structure is that of a cross, nearly of the proportions of the Roman crucifix, with a circle at the intersection. But - a nearer inspection discovers more than is essential to that form. The largest line lies in a direction of about twenty-four degrees west of the true meridian, or pretty nearly in that of the magnetic variation at present, which is therefore the general bearing of the work. Great stones intermixed with some that have fallen, and with blank spaces whence they may have been removed, or where more probably they are covered by the soil, are found along this line for the space of 588 feet, including the circle; their number amounting to fourteen, and eleven of them being still erect. If we were allowed to fill up the blanks according to the general proportions of the intervals between those that remain, the number would be twenty within that distance. But following the direction of this line further on, there are indications of other stones, all of them fallen, and nearly covered by earth and vegetation, that would justify in extending it ninety feet, or more, further, thus making the total length about 680 feet, Parallel to the long leg of the cross, and to that only, is another line, now far less perfect than the first, since it contains only three erect "The intervals between the stones vary from two to ten yards, but the larger ones are probably the consequence of the loss of those which once occupied these places. I ought to add that the total number of stones which I could discover, either erect or recently fallen, is forty-eight; and that if the whole rank were complete, as it appears originally to have been built, they would amount to sixty-five or sixtysix. My measurements did not entirely coincide with those here stated: but on the whole they are doubtless accurate. The recent removal of the peat-moss, in which the stones are half buried, from the sides of one of them, exhibits not only the surprising growth of this vegetable production, on a height where it could not receive any allu- | Scandinavian, and in Scotland, where it does not appear that the Druids were known. Of the Druids, we have no information except from the Roman writers, who state that their chief seats were in Gaul and Great Britain, and that they wor shipped exclusively in groves. The monuments of antiquity miscalled Druidical, were clearly constructed for all public purposes, whether legislative, judicial, festal, or sept chral; and consequently vary much vial contributions, or deposit of extraneous decayed vegetable matter, but also the method employed by the rude architects who erected them, to fix them on those bases on which they have remained unmoved for centuries. The stone is inserted in a hole, filled up with small loose fragments of the same material. | The elevation of the stones of the central circle must have amounted to thirty feet above the ground Where exposed to view, the sub-in form and dimensions. A copiou stance is as white as a bleached bone, contrasting singularly with the gray hue produced by the atmosphere." The fanciful conjecture of Toland respecting this structure, which I have read detailed in an Encyclopædia, is ridiculed by Dr. Macculloch. The circular or oval form of these edifices was selected, no doubt, as best adapted to the purpose for which they were erected, and not with reference to the signs of the zodiac, as the number of stones in the circle varies indefinitely. The extensive appendage | to the circle at Calernish, which distinguishes it from other circles, consists of the four avenues of stones directed towards it, from the four principal points of the compass, and is also so simply constructed, that its origin may be accounted for without imputing to the architect an astronomical design exhibited in no other structure of the same kind. The other two circles in the neighbourhood are composed of much smaller stones; one is incomplete, the other has a double row still standing, and arranged in an oval form. The people have no tradition respecting them. Doubtless, while the world lasts, Stonehenge and all similar remains of antiquity will be commonly attriDruids. Yet they are tries, such as the account of those existing in Sweden illustrated by numerous engravings has been published at Stockholm, by M. Siöborg, the principal ant quary of that country, but unfor tunately in his native language which is little known beyond own country. One of those des cribed by him is remarkable, as the stones of which it is composed, an arranged in the shape of a vesel some of them representing the position of the masts; indicating the burial-place of a celebrated pirate. That the remains in Scotland wer of Scandinavian origin, there can be little doubt, the probability be heightened by the circumstance f their being found chiefly on the coasts and islands which were mos frequented by the Danes and Nor wegians. Pennant took for granted that they were Druidical, and under the influence of this prepossession found in the immediate vicinity of one which he examined on the main land, the residence of the ArchDruid. "The Druids undoubtedly possessed Iona. before the intro duction of Christianity. A gre eminence close to the Sound of Iona, is to this day called the Druids burial-place. years ago, planting potatoes in this spot, and digging earth to cover them, brought up some bones which the people of the island immediately concluded to be the bones of the A cottager, some Druids: the tradition is, that the ably the crew, who proved to be first Christians banished the Druids, Swedes. and took possession of their seat. The Druids also had a temple on the head of Loch Swidain, in a farm called Rossal. The temple is but small, and several of the stones have fallen down. Here, as the name of the place indicates, they held courts of justice.”—Statistical Survey. The harbour of Loch Eribol frequently exhibits a scene of bustle strikingly contrasted with the dreariness of its shores. About seventy vessels, detained by the western gale, had just cleared out of it for the southward. Mr. Anderson was engaged in repairing his sloop. The materials were furnished him by a wreck which occurred here lately; the crew having escaped in a remarkable manner. The inhabitants of Rispon were all eye-witnesses of the catastrophe. They observed, during a heavy gale from the northwest, a vessel in distress, with her sails partly set, as she was waterlogged, and the crew could not mamage her, rapidly approaching the harbour, and on the point of striking upon a small island opposite to Rispon. The crew, perceiving that destruction would be inevitable, if they remained in the vessel, betook themselves, just before she struck, to their boat, altogether nine in number. The captain stood at the stern, holding a cask of oil, which he sprinkled on the waves to allay their fury*. The vessel was instantly shivered to fragments, and the boat, contrary to the expectation of all on shore, who expected its momentary disappearance, arrived safely. Mr. Anderson received most hospit * I have been told by a captain of an East India Company's vessel, that, when sailing with whale-ships, he has observed the sea in their wake perfectly smooth; whilst in that of the other ships in their company it was much agitated. CAVE OF SMO.-Near the coast, a mountain-torrent descending to the sea, tumbles into a deep hole, and pursues its course through a subterranean passage, a hundred yards in length, into a large chasm called the Cave of Smo, enclosed by precipitous rocks, forming a small cove which embays the sea. The bed of the torrent must be reached by scrambling up the rock side, and entering through a hole in the side of the cave. Sir Walter Scott, as the people relate, performed this feat, notwithstanding his lameness, and explored the dark recess, a fit retreat for a Balfour, or Dirk Hatteraick. CAVES IN THE WESTERN ISLES OF SCOTLAND. THE island of Staffa, one of the western isles of Scotland, is celebrated for a natural cave of singular beauty. This was first visited by the late Sir Joseph Banks, who gave it the name of Fingal's Cave, from some information he obtained of his guide; but it is known in the country by the Gaelic name of Uaimh-binn, the "Cave of Music," probably from the echo of the waves which wash into it. The steep cliffs of the island are almost everywhere composed of a peculiar species of rock, resembling angular columns, known by the scientific name of basaltic. At the highest part of the coast this cliff is 112 feet above high-water mark, and on the southern side, where the cave is situated, these columns are above two feet in diameter; though each column is seldom, if ever, straight, yet the whole, in a mass, presents to the eye an appearance of regularity, almost architectural, which, though commonly exaggerated in drawings, is yet sufficiently striking to give a very peculiar character to this far-famed curiosity. At the eastern end, then, of a cliff of these columns, the traveller discovers a cave, the sides of which are composed of them, supporting an irregular arch of rock, and penetrating under the surface of the island to a depth of 227 feet: the width, at the entrance, is forty-two feet, the height of the pillars on the left, or western side, is thirtysix feet, while on the other they are only eighteen, owing to a causeway, formed of portions of the columns, running out into the sea at that part, which diminishes the altitude of the columns supporting the arch on that side. The height of the arched roof diminishes as he advances into the recess from sixty-six feet, which is the distance from the surface of the water to the top at the mouth, to a height of fifty, varying to forty-four. The vaulted ceiling presents a singularly rich and varied effect, being, in some places, composed of the ends of portions of basaltic pillars, resembling a marble pavement, and in others of the rough surface of the naked rock, while, in some places, stalactites mingled with the pillars in the recesses, add, by the contrast of their colours, to the pictorial effect, which is still further enhanced by the varying reflected light thrown from the surface of the water, which always fills the bottom of the cave; this is nine feet deep at low water, and admits of persons reaching the end in a boat, in tolerably calm weather; but when the boisterous gales of that northern clime blow into the cavern, the agitated waves dashing and breaking among the rocky sides, their roar, echoed with increased power from the roof, present to the eye and ear such a scene of grandeur as bids defiance to any description. The short columns, which form the natural causeway before mentioned, continue within the cave on each side, and form a broken and irregular path, which allows a skilful and fearless climber to reach the extremity on the eastern side on foot; but it is a task of danger at all times, and impossible at high tide, or in rough weather. Besides the cave just described, Staffa contains eleven others; twe of which would have commanded the foremost rank among natural curiosities, if they had not been eclipsed by that of Fingal. The westernmost of these, which are also situated in the southern c of the island, is called Mac Kinnon's cave, or sometimes Cormorant's cave; it is more accessible by a boat than that of Fingal, not only from its greater breadth, but becaus the entrance is free from the rocks which narrow the channel and cause the sea to break into the former; the mouth is about fifty feet in height at quarter ebb tide, and forty-eight broad, presenting a square opening; its length or depti is two hundred and twenty-four feet, and it is of nearly the same dimensions throughout, except st the farthest end, where the roof and walls approach; a little, and a pebbly beach is formed; the walls and ceiling, with slight exceptions, are even and smooth; it not being formed in a mass of basaltic columns, and therefore being destitate of the varied effects of its more justly celebrated rival. The intermediate cave, called Boat Cave from its being accessible only by water, though compara tively insignificant in size, is strikingly beautiful from the greater symmetry of the arrangement of the columnar cliff in which it is situ ated; it is fifteen feet high, and twelve broad, and about one han dred and fifty feet in depth. Its interior is plain and uninteresting, resembling a gallery in a mine. The island of Egg, another of the |