לן same group, on the west coast of Scotland, contains a cave at the south-eastern side, of considerable size, but possessing a more horrible celebrity from its having been the scene of a barbarous massacre of the inhabitants, belonging to the elan Macdonald, by the Macleods; the unburied bones of the victims still are strewed over the floor; and in the inmost recesses are found those of the last victims, who gradually retreated there to escape from the suffocating smoke and heat of the fires kindled at the mouth by their blood-thirsty murderers, and to which they at last fell a prey. When the desperate exertions by which these victims could alone attain these final places of retreat are recalled to mind, some idea may be formed of the dreadful agony they must have previously endured, when, finding themselves cut off from all possibility of escape, they resigned themselves to their fate, and awaited a slow and lingering death. These dark scenes in history ought to convey a lesson to those who, from a blind perversity of intellect, regard those ages as the period of heroism and grandeur of the human race, and deplore the progress of civilization and refinement! In many of the other islands in this quarter, are found caves of different sizes and forms; but they are not interesting either for their physical structure and appearance, or for any traditions attached to them. -LORD TEIGN MOUTH. THE BASS ROCK. THE BASS is an abrupt insulated rock, or rather island, situated near the entrance to the Firth of Forth, and about two miles from the coast of East Lothian, in Scotland. It is famous for the immense number of water-fowl, particularly the Solan goose, (the gannet,) with which it abounds; the rock itself is about a mile in circumference, and rises near four hundred feet in height from the water's edge. There is but one spot at which a landing can be effected, and this is on the side that faces the main land; formerly, this part of the rock was fortified, but at present the fortifications are dismantled. There is an extraordinary cavern or rather fissure in the rock, which penetrates through its whole substance, and at low water it can be passed through on foot. The Bass, in former times, was the retreat of a hermit; it afterwards came into the possession of a family of the name of Lander. In 1405, when it became necessary to send Prince James, afterwards James the First of Scotland, to France, to secure him against the machinations of the Duke of Albany, this rock afforded the exile a temporary place of refuge. After leaving this place, the unfortunate prince was taken prisoner by the English while passing Flamborough-head, and remained in prison for nineteen years. After the restoration, the rock was purchased by Government for the sum of four thousand pounds, and converted into a state-prison, and during the struggles of the Scotch against episcopacy, many of the most noted among the Covenanters were confined in this dreary spot. It was the last part of Great Britain that submitted to the authority of William, Prince of Orange, after the expulsion of James the Seventh of Scotland and Second of England. The garrison for several months held out against the newly constituted authorities, and made many daring attacks upon them; this they effected by employing a boat which they could lower or raise at pleasure. They only gave up possession of the fortress on the gion, his own; yet, as they are at tached to this single spot, they are, to all intents and purposes, as much failure of the supplies, which had until then, been remitted them from France. The name of the officer who at this time headed the garri-private property as the live stock on son, was David Blair, third son of a farm. The proprietor of the rock Blair of Ardblair, who retired after-pays annually twelve geese to the wards to France, where he died. church of North Berwick, as part of Although the fortress is dismantled, the minister's stipend. the dungeons in which the Covenanters were confined still remain entire. About half way up a grassy slope towards the peak, there is a small ruinous chapel, containing a baptismal font. It is a singular fact, that the Solan geese, which are so numerous on this rock, are not found in any numbers on the coast of Scotland, except at this place, at Ailsa Crag, and at St. Kilda. The rock is now let on lease to a tenant residing on the main land, who employs a number of hands, at proper seasons of the year, to collect the birds and eggs. Mr. Daniell, in his Picturesque Tour round Great Britain, says, "In the course of a season, about one thousand birds are taken,—they sell for ninepence each; the fat is used as cart-grease, and the feathers fetch a guinea per stone, Dutch, of twentytwo pounds." The Kittiwakes (a species of gull,) are numerous here; their name seems to be derived from their peculiar cry, which sounds, however, as much like the words get away as any other. The clamour of these, and a variety of other sea-fowl that inhabit the rock, is absolutely deafening. However strange the remark may seem, yet the birds are in fact kept under lock and key, the islet being accessible only in one place, which has a gate secured by these fastenings. There is something paradoxical, and even absurd, in the notion, that a man should be privileged to call the thousands, and tens of thousands, of Solan geese, that freely the air in this re The grassy part on the top of the rock affords food to about twenty sheep; these are in great request among the epicures, on account of their delicate flavour. THE GIANTS' CAUSEWAY. THE Giants' Causeway is the name given to a portion of that stupen dious range of basaltic columns which extends over a great part of the north-eastern coasts of Ireland and the adjacent islands. It is situated within one mile of Bushmills, on the northern coast of the county of A trim, and consists of a most irreg lar arrangement of many hundred thousands of columns, most of which are of a pentagonal or five-sided form, and vary from one to five feet in thickness, and from 20 to 250 feet in height. The origin of basalt is evidently volcanic, and the prismatic form in which it is found, appears to be the result of its having been melted, The composition of these pillars is well deserving the attention of the observer: they are not of one solid. stone, but composed of several short lengths, curiously joined, not with flat surfaces, but like a ball and socket or the joints in the back bones of fishes, the end of one being hollowed out so as to receive that of another, the depth of the hollow being generally about three or four inches. Although the most common. form of these columns, as we have, already noticed, is five-sided, many. are found with eight, and some with only four sides, but notwithstanding the want of uniformity both of figure and size, and though they are the Rev. G. N. Wright's Guide to perfectly distinct from top to bottom, the Giants' Causeway. yet is the whole arrangement so closely combined at all points, that the thinnest substance can scarcely be introduced between them, either upon the sides or at the angles. The whole mass forms a kind of inole or quay, extending from the base of a steep promontory, several 1undred feet into the sea. GA "In the dark perpendicular cliff is a deep and lofty cave, accessible by water alone; the entrance assumes the appearance of a pointed arch, and is remarkably regular. The boatmen are very expert in entering these caves: they bring the boat's head right in front, and, watching the roll of the wave, quickly ship the oars, and sail invi majestically upon the smooth rolling wave. The hollows on the top of the oints are of use to the neighbouring poor; for they employ them in summer, as salt-pans, and thus very asily procure for themselves a kind of bay-salt. At high tide, they fill hese little basins with sea-water, and the heat of the sun and of the stone, combined with the shallow-greasy character of the sides of the aess of the basin, causes the whole cave, the hand cannot be serviceable moisture to evaporate in a couple of in forwarding or retarding the boat.! days, Along the sides is a bordering of marine plants, above the surface of the water, and of considerable depth. “The depth of Dunkerry Cave has not been ascertained; for the extremity is so constructed, as to render the management of a boat there dangerous; besides, from the*** This peculiar arrangement of basalt is not confined to the coast of Ireland, but is to be met with in many other parts of the world. Fingal's Cave, in the island of Staffa, is formed of gigantic columns of this mineral; Samson's Ribs, near Edinburgh, affords another instance; and if we look abroad, we find giants' causeways not uncommon in Italy, in the neighbourhood of Padua; in the hills of Auvergne and Velay in France; and in many other parts of the globe. The colour of basalt is generally of a dark blueish gray, varying, at times, to brown or red; its texture is granular, and, in some cases, it is nearly hard enough to strike fire with flint. The following account of a cave, called Dunkerry Cavern, in the immediate vicinity of the Giants' Causeway, and, in fact, a part of the same basaltic formation, will give some idea of the appearance of the basalt, when seen under other circumstances; it is extracted from "It has already been frequently observed, that the swell of the sea upon this coast is at all times heavy, and as each successive wave rolls into the cave, the surface rises so slowly and awfully, that a nervous person would be apprehensive of a ceaseless increase in the elevation of the waters, until they reached the summit of the cave. Of this, however, there is not the most distant cause of apprehension, the roof being sixty feet above the high water mark. The roaring of the waves in the interior is distinctly heard; but no probable conclusion can be arrived at from this as to the depth. It is said, too, that the inhabitants of some cottages, a mile removed from the shore, have their slumbers frequently interrupted in the winter's nights, by the subterranean sounds of Dunkerry Cavern. The entrance is very striking and grand, being twenty-six feet in breadth, and enclosed between two J natural walls of dark basalt; and the visitor will enjoy a much more perfect view of the natural architecture at the entrance, by sitting in the prow, with his face to the stern as the boat returns." VOYAGE ON THE MISSIS SIPPI. On the second morning after our departure from Louisville, a change in the general character of the river seemed to indicate that we were rapidly approaching the Mississippi. For about fifty miles before the point of union, the surrounding scenery is flat, and the breadth of the Ohio is more than doubled, as if, from a feeling of rivalry, the river-god had expanded his waters to the utmost. On the present occasion, the Ohio had the advantage of being very full, from the melting of the snows along the whole line of its course, while the Mississippi, descending from higher latitudes, had experienced no such augmentation. For hours I was on the tiptoe of expectation, to catch the first glimpse of "the father of rivers," and, with this view, had taken up a station on the highest pinnacle of the forecastle. At length, when yet about five miles distant, the Mississippi, sailing along in dark and solemn grandeur, became distinctly visible. Both rivers were about two miles broad, but the expanse of the Ohio struck me as being somewhat larger than that of its more powerful rival. I do not remember any occasion on which my imagination was more excited; I felt, in parting with the Ohio, as if I had done injustice to its attractions. True, it presents but one style of beauty, but that is of the noblest character. For a distance of nine hundred miles, I had bebida its clear waters, smoothly and peacefully, and I now, almost with a feeling of regret, lade it farewell. We passed the small settlement of Cairo, standing on an isthmus be tween the two rivers, and in a few minutes, beheld ourselves borne on the most majestic tribute of waters which Earth pays to Ocean. It certainly appears strange that the Mississippi, after absorbing the Ohio, presents no visible augmertation of its volume. Below the point of junction, the river is t broader than the Ohio alone Though flowing in the same cha nel, the streams are not mingled For many miles there is a disting line of demarcation between the waters of the two rivers. Those the Ohio are clear, while the stream of the Mississippi is ever dark and turbid. When the Mississippi s flood, it almost dams up the Ohio, and suffers it to occupy but a small portion of the common-channel. After quitting la belle rivière, the French first designated the Ohio, one feels as if he had made an exchange for the worse. The scenery of the Mississippi is era less varied than that of the Ohi It is almost uniformly flat, though in the course of twelve hundred miles, a few bluffs and eminences do certainly occur. The wood grows down to the very margin f the river; and the timber, for some hundred miles, is by no means remarkable for size. As the river descends to the southward, however, it is of finer growth; and about latitude 30°, vegetation becomes marked by a degree of rankness and luxuriance which I have never seen any where else. The American forests are generally remarkable for the entire ab sence of underwood, so that they are easily penetrable by a foot traveller, and generally, even by a mounted one. But in the neigh stand. bourhood of the Mississippi, there where the foot of civilized man has is, almost uniformly, a thick under- | never yet been planted. They flow growth of cane, varying in height into an ocean yet vaster, the whole from four or five to about twenty body of which acknowledges their feet, according to the richness of influence. Through what varieties the soil. Through this thicket of of climate have they passed? On cane, I should think it quite im- what scenes of lonely and sublime possible to penetrate; yet, I have magnificence have they gazed? In been assured, the Indians do so for short, when the traveller has asked leagues together, though by what and answered these questions, and means they contrive to guide their a thousand others, it will be time course, where vision is manifestly enough to consider how far the impossible, it is not easy to under- scenery of the Mississippi would be improved by the presence of rocks and mountains. He may then be led to doubt whether any great effect can be produced by a combination of objects of discordant character, however grand in themselves. The imagination is, perhaps, susceptible but of a single powerful impression at a time. Sublimity is uniformly connected with unity of object. Beauty may be produced by the happy adaptation of a multitude of harmonious details; but the highest sublimity of effect can proceed but from one glorious and paramount object, which impresses its own character on everything around. It has been the fashion with travellers, to talk of the scenery of the Mississippi as wanting grandeur and beauty. Most certainly, it has neither. But there is no scenery on earth more striking. The dreary and pestilential solitudes, untrodden, save by the foot of the Indian; the absence of all living objects, save the huge alligators, which float past, apparently asleep, on the driftwood; and an occasional vulture, attracted by its impure prey on the surface of the waters; the trees, with a long and hideous drapery of pendent mass, fluttering in the wind; and the giant river, rolling onward the vast volume of its dark | and turbid waters through the wilderness, form the features of one of the most dismal and impressive landscapes on which the eye of man ever rested. Rocks and mountains would add nothing of sublimity to the Mississippi. Pelion might be piled on Ossa; Alps on Andes; and still, to the heart and perceptions of the spectator, the Mississippi would be alone. It can brook no rival, and it finds none. No river in the world drains so large a portion of the earth's surface. It is the traveller of five thousand miles, more than two thirds of the diameter of the globe. The imagination asks, whence come its waters, and whither tend | I have never experienced before or they? They come from the dis- since. Conversation became odious, tant regions of a vast continent, and I passed my time in a sort o The prevailing character of the Mississippi is that of solemn gloom. I have trodden the passes of Alp and Apennine, yet never felt how awful a thing is nature, till I was borne on its waters, through regions desolate and uninhabitable. Day after day, and night after night, we continued driving right downward to the south; our vessel, like some huge demon of the wilderness, bearing fire in her bosom, and canopying the eternal forest with the smoke of her nostrils. How looked the hoary river-god, I know not; 'nor what thought the alligators, when awakened from their slumber by a vision so astounding. But the effect on my own spirits was such as |