A Sunday at the Saiut's Cave.

Southland Times, Issue 9390, 2 December 1886, Page 3

A Sunday at the Saiut's Cave.

■ - - ♦ — - (By Miii 0. P. Gordon Camming.) We are spending the summer on the sea-coast in the north-east of Scotland, a coast so fascinating as to atone for the doll monotony of tbe level country around. This has been a genuine Sunday of balmy, breezy sunshine, from the outgoing of the morning till the lovely evening light flooded the sea with its radiance, aad I confess that when the carriage (a close one) came round to take us to cbnrch five miles inland, I was not very sorry to find that there was not room for every one, so I was left to find a church after my own heart, and all to my own selfish self, beside the beautiful, peaceful eea. No jarring noise of wheels along the dusty high road, bat a qaiet path past a silent old churchyard, whore the moss-grown stones clustering round the ivy-covered rains of the old kirk tell of The many generations for whom this first chapter of life has long since been closed. Then on, between the yellow cornfields, till I reached the tract of mingled Band and moorland which lies along the sea-board —a tract of glorious colour, where utunted furze and patches of the richest pink lilac and purple heather (the velvety hogheather, the ling, which is par excellence 55 Scotch iiefitber" find ibp j>urj>lo be}!) alternate with bode 'of short' greon turf ; veiled with a profusion of dainty bluebells—" the blue-beila of [Scotland"— recalling the tint of the beautiful hills which * bound the horizon beyond: the bine waters of the Firtb, $nd; bringing to earth a suggestion of the spit blue overhead. This belt of varied beauty terminates abruptly Jin precipitous, many - coloured sandstone cliffs, forming a series . of small promontories, each possessing some distinctive charm in the character of tbe cavea which honeycomb Jthese crags, some of which can only be entered at low tide, and are - paved with slippery rocks, or fine white sand, while the entrance to others is entirely concealed by grassy hillocks, which in the sweet springtime are carpeted with .primroses and foxgloves. So he who would explore this coast must ascertain the hours of the tide, else he will find, as I did this morning, that ' in place of bard white sand, each cove is filled with clear green water, through which tbe sun's rays gleam on shells and fishes, and he must be content to look from above on tbe beautiful crage, where soft grey-green lichen tends to blend ■•■- every shade of grey, yellow, and sienna still more harmoniously. Fair indeed was ' the scene on which I looked this morning, with the fall-flowing tide covering aiike v sand and rock, and breaking with pleasant murmurs in the hollow caves below, A atraDger might seek long and vainly for any path by which to reach the water level, yet here and there rough-hewn steps form cunningly d«viß«d ladders down hidden clefts in tbe rocks, an<i -there .are , graas-^rown rock ledges by which desount i» possible to any WitifoiUot p9i few! ttf jfcaely

foot. For such a track," familiar in early days, I now Bought, and recognising certain landmarks, I fonnd the cliff at the back of which lies the cave I wished to re-visit. Cautiously followiug the belt of tnrf along the face of ttio cliff, I came to a cleft in the rock, passing through which I came first to a small opening like a fox's burrow, commanicatisg with a large cave, to which access can only he obtained from the seashore, by boys aided by a ladder — so small and so inaccessible is the opening. Koundiog this crag, I Baw before me the dark entrance to the cave I flougbr, BOrne thirty feet above the sea, from which the outer crag rises perpendicular for about fifty feet,' then overarching forms the roofs of the cave where, closed in by the sea, and only to be reached by this hidden track, once dwelt one of the early Celtic saints. It extends back for some distance, so that he could find a dry corner to sleep even on stormy nights when the spray dashed high. In the centre of the cave a small hollowed square stone, raised on three others, form a sort of rude font, placed to catch the slow ceaseless drip from the rock overhead. It has stood here for each long ages that it seems as old as the cave itself. Sock &nd font are alike overgrown with green moes, suggestive of a grievously damp home, bat this fresh water supply from "the stony rock " was. invaluable, and here from time to time came converts from the pagan villages craving baptism, the sea-gulls witnessing their vowe. Beside this primitive font I read the baptismal service " for such as are of riper years " with somewhat a new understanding of the familiar words. There seemed a special charm in this spot, where the saint spent so many days, that were all Sundays — alone, yet never alone ; and I lingered long in the cool shade, looking down, as be must have done, on the waves breaking gently on the great rounded boulders, polished by their daily toil, and oat to the tall, solitary crag, which haa withstood so many storms, and stands warm aud mellow in the aanlight, showing curious stratification — a beautiful piece of colour, io contrast with the pearly grey of the clouds, which cast their floating shadows on the distant hills. Even as { I watched, the quickly receding tide was working its daily miracie — the clear, green water and white spray vanished, and revealed a broad expanse of brown rocks and little pools, fringed with dripping tangle, and scores of white gulls settled down silently to rest on the wet weed. It was a scene of such peace that I could not but sympathise with the gipsies, who from time immemorial have lived for a considerable part of each I year in one of the further caves — a large, very sheltered cavo, floored with soft white sand. No Bret Harte has yet arisen to sing their idylls, yet these simple lives are surely not lacking in pathetic iaterest. About three years ago the old grannie of the party was so very ill aud iuffering that her friende were persuaded to bring her to the county hospital, where she was tended with Buch care, and fed with such good things as ehe had. never before dreamt of. But though very grateful for the kindness of her nuraep. she could not brook the sense of confinement within walls — abe craved for the murmur of fbe waves and for the dear cave where, well-nigh a century back, she firet saw the light. There she married, there her children were born, and there oaly could she die in peace. It was evidently cruel to thwart her longing, so her friends brought their little cart and very tenderly carried her back to lie on a heap of straw beside their camp fire, and there she lingered content, till the Angel of Death cime to call her. Then, for a while, the tribe forsook this, their favourite home, and took up their quarters in another (to which, indeed, they often resort during the prevalence of strong easterly gales, for when you have no door and the kitchen fire is at the mouth of the cuve it h a matter of somecoosoquence which way the entrance faces !) So, what with saints, smugglers, and gipsies, this rocky coast could tell many a tale of days long past, as well as of later timeß, when its beauty has done its pait in moulding the young minds of many whose life paths have led them to take thoir shnre in the turmoil of great bustling cities, and remains stored for evermore among the sacred memories of their early days.