the bridge, which feems intended as the means to draw in the bo-
and fecure the retreat of the inhabitants. In this gallery is a |j
bafon cut in the rock ; perhaps a Benitoire.
The grand apartment faces the door, and is ninety-ope feet ll
the beginning is twelve feet wide, the reft only five feet eight!
height fix. In a recefs of the broader part is a well, fome fad!
deep. Above is cut a funnel, which pierces the roof to thcl
Near the end of this apartment is a ihort turning, that leads tcf
other gallery, twenty-three feet by five.
Thefe curious hollows have been fuppofed by fome to have!
the works of the PiSis; but to me they feem to have been delil
as an afylum in troublefome times for fome neighboring inhabit?
in the fame manner as Wetherell cells were for the monks of j
abby. It appears by Major *, that the brave Alexander & J
in 1341, made thefe .caves his refidence for a confiderable tin»
To him reforted all the gallant youth of Scotland; and to®
parents, fent their ions to be initiated in the art of war. iff
hence he made his excurfions to the Englijh borders with I
pupils j each inroad was to them a lecture for valour and I
taDaem. I
Thefe alone attrait the attention of ftrangers ; but the foir
and pifturefque walks cut along the fummits, fides, and bottom *
this beautiful den, are much more deferving admiration. Thetj
mural fence, formed by the red precipices, the mixture of trees,!
grotefque figure of many of the rocks, and the fmooth fides I
the Pentland hills, appearing above this wild fcenery, are
ftriking objects to the contemplative mind.
* De Geftis Scdcrum, lib. V . c. 16. p. 236.
Afl