To the above description, written in the autumn of 1773, little needs to be added: the wild features of the scene, and the effect produced upon the minds of travellers, continue to present nearly the same aspect and to awaken the same impressions as in the days of the great lexicographer. The scene of horror, however, is often enlivened by pic-nic parties from Peterhead, during the fine season, and is deservedly considered as one of the great "lions" on this coast, a title to which its continual "roar" gives it a more especial title.
The geological features of this locality are very interesting. The rocks are of primitive granite, and appear to have been upheaved to the surface by some internal expansive force, and have an inclination from east to west of 25 degrees. Reposing upon the granite, is a bed of diluvial clay, of from ten to fifteen feet deep, containing numerous small water-worn stones, of different species of the secondary formation; besides large quantities of flint, originally imbedded in limestone, which must have been rolled from a great distance, as there are no beds of limestone on this coast, or in any of the neighbouring districts. From atmospheric action and other causes the rocks are rapidly disintegrating; and great quantities of débris are annually accumulating at the bottom of the precipices, where wild grasses and lichens springing up produce, by their decomposition, a vegetable mould which is gradually increasing.
PETERHEAD.
"No scene for me like the bounding sea;
No couch like my cabin pillow!
No fair domain like yon ocean's plain—
And my coursers, the breeze and billow!"
The Heliotrope.
Peterhead, like the neighbouring ports already noticed, has rapidly increased, within the last twenty years, in all those means which facilitate and secure the advantages of trade and commerce. Though long and deservedly resorted to as a delightful watering-place, remarkable for the salubrity of its air, and the beauty of its situation, the activity of trade was still unknown to its inhabitants. Its only harbour, a small basin dug out of the rock, was rarely enlivened by anything that could aspire to the title of shipping; for in Cromwell's time, about twenty tons of boat-freight was all that its diminutive port could lay claim to. The spirit of its inhabitants, however, with an accurate perception of the natural advantages of the Port, and aided by government in the preparation for a new era in commercial enterprise, has achieved wonders. An air of prosperity animates the whole town: the harbour is filled with goodly traders; imports and exports cover the quays: industry has received a stimulus which communicates its happy influence to everything around; and Peterhead now holds an enviable station among the Ports and Harbours of Great Britain.