nds or high tides drive it up the arch into the basin. Walking a
little farther, I spied some boats, and told my companions that we would
go into the Buller and examine it. There was no danger; all was calm; we
went through the arch, and found ourselves in a narrow gulf, surrounded
by craggy rocks, of height not stupendous, but, to a mediterranean
visitor, uncommon. On each side was a cave, of which the fisherman knew
not the extent, in which smugglers hide their goods, and sometimes
parties of pleasure take a dinner. I am, &c.

XX.--To MRS. THRALE.

Skie, September 6, 1773.

DEAREST MADAM,--I am now looking on the sea, from a house of sir
Alexander Macdonald, in the isle of Skie. Little did I once think of
seeing this region of obscurity, and little did you once expect a
salutation from this verge of European life. I have now the pleasure of
going where nobody goes, and seeing what nobody sees. Our design is to
visit several of the smaller islands, and then pass over to the south-west
of Scotland.

I returned from the sight of Buller's Buchan to lord Errol's, and,
having seen his library, had, for a time, only to look upon the sea,
which rolled between us and Norway. Next morning, August 25th, we
continued our journey through a country not uncultivated, but so denuded
of its woods, that, in all this journey, I had not travelled a hundred
yards between hedges, or seen five trees fit for the carpenter. A few
small plantations may be found, but I believe scarcely any thirty years
old; at least, they are all posterior to the union. This day we dined
with a country-gentleman, who has in his grounds the remains of a
Druid's temple, which, when it is complete, is nothing more than a
circle, or double circle, of stones, placed at equal distances, with a
flat stone, perhaps an altar, at a certain point, and a stone, taller
than the rest, at the opposite point. The tall stone is erected, I
think, at the south. Of these circles, there are many in all the
unfrequented parts of the island. The inhabitants of these parts respect
them as memorials of the sculpture of some illustrious person. Here I
saw a few trees. We lay at Bamff.

August 26th. We dined at Elgin, where we saw the ruins of a noble
cathedral; the chapter-house is yet standing. A great part of Elgin is
built with small piazzas to the lower story. We went on to Foris, over
the heath where Macbeth met the witches, but had no adventure; only in
the way we saw, for