Many of the mollusca tribes, besides the two latter which we have alluded to, inhabit the Frith ; and probably the majority are yet nondescript. Medusze, actinix, nereids, are seen in great variety and beauty ; and conchology has still to receive accessions in the history of the shells which may be recovered here. Little need be said of the ornithology ; for, except in the wild fowl resorting hither during winter, and in the numbers of solan geese frequenting a small rocky island called the Bass, there are no peculiarities. Few phocx are seen but on some of the rocks, and occasionally near the shore.
The minerals are more important. At first, the course of the Forth is through deep clay, and near impassable mosses. Expanding towards the east, it approaches vast strata of coal, beds of lime and ironstone, found alike on each side of the river; and some of these are not only on the banks, but penetrate far under its bottom—so far, that it is reported the workmen front the opposite coasts can hear each other's operations below, where it is more than three miles wide. Neither is this so improbable as might at first sight appear ; for the coal workings from the north at Culross are said to have been carried two miles under the Forth ; and from Borrowstounness on the south, they penetrate 1700 yards. The principal mines are in the neighbourhood of Alloa, which exports 35,000 tons an nually; Culross, Borrowstounness, Torryburn, Inverkeith ing, Dysart. Some of these mines have been open above five hundred years, and have been carried to great extent. John Taylor, the water poet, who published an account of his travels in 1618, expresses great admiration of the en trance to one of the Culross mines by a pit far within high water mark. The mouth of the pit was defended by a strong circular bulwark, which likewise served as a pier for vessels to load immediately from the mine itself, with out land carriage. But, during some very tempestuous season, the bulwark either yielded to the violence of the waves, or the rising tide overflowed it, so as to render the mine ugeless ever since. It is said, that King James VI. having, by more than an ordinary effort of courage, pene trated this mine from the land side, where there was also access, and being conducted to the mouth of the pit, where he suddenly beheld himself surrounded by the sea, loudly exclaimed, treason ! treason ! but an attendant, pointing to an elegant bark anchored here, endeavoured to dispel his fears ; and the king preferred being carried in it directly ashore, to descending within and returning below ground. At the end of a reef stretching a mile from the shore of Torryburn, an engine has been erected, which, as its walls are environed by the rising tide, appears an isolated tower in the middle of the river. In addition to the home con sumption, great quantities of coal are exported from both sides of the Forth, both coastwise and to distant countries. Lime is wrought to a great extent on many parts of the banks of the river, from the parish of Aberfoylc, near its source, downwards; but the principal quarry is at Charles town in Fife, 12 miles north-west of Edinburgh. Several hundred persons are continually employed there ; and the lime is exported in numerous small vessels from a harbour beside the kilns to different parts of Scotland. Being of the best quality, it is applied equally to building and the manuring of ground. In some places, the limestone rock abounds with entrochi, and, being sufficiently hard to ena ble it to receive a polish, is used for ornamental purposes, under the name of Fife marble. There is abundance of ironstone, either scattered about the shore in loose nodules, or dug from pits. It has partly been sent to Carron, and partly to the English founderies ; but the expence of ob taining or collecting the loose nodules or septaria, has hith erto greatly diminished the profit that would otherwise re sult from this very rich sort of ironstone. Pieces of fine jasper, pebbles, granite, and petrifactions, occur on many parts of the shore.
There are several rocks and islands scattered throughout the lower part of this river, where it has expanded into a frith, of which Inch Garvey, Inch Colme, Inch Keith, the Bass, and the Isle of May, are the principal. On the top of the first, which is barren and rocky, stands a small fort, with two inconsiderable pieces of cannon, and one invalid soldier, who is stationed there in solitude six weeks at a time. It was sometimes converted to a state prison of old, but now belongs to a private family. This island, standing in the middle of a strait, between the Queen's Ferries, could effectually prevent any hostile approaches higher up the river. Inch Colme, which scarce exceeds half a mile
in length, and is narrow, enjoys greater celebrity ; for one of the kings of Scotland, having escaped imminent danger while he found an asylum on it, slimed his gratitude to Divine Providence, by erecting a monastery here in the year 1123. Its picturesque ruins arc still extant. Soon after the commencement of the late war, in 1793, a battery of heavy guns was constructed on Inch Colme, which, it was supposed, would command the deep water of the Forth, but no opportunity has been afforded of trying their effect, which those who consider themselves well acquaint ed with the navigation of the channel have doubted. The island abounds in rabbits, and belongs to the family of Mur ray, Cramond Island, nearly opposite, on the south side, is connected with the land at low water, but the access, unless in a certain direction, is very dangerous, from deep mud or quicksands. The island best known, at least to the in habitants of the capital, is Inch Keith, which lies about half way between the coasts, and somewhat eastward of Edinburgh. It is between two and three miles in circuit, of fertile surface, and has always been pastured. Circum stances have frequently rendered this inconsiderable spot of importance, from an early date, either in civil of mili tary operations. In the year 1497, when the venereal disease was making uncommon ravages in Edinburgh, and was then, as in the rest of Europe, considered a pestilence, the magistrates directed that all persons infected with the grand gore" should repair to the sands of Leith, were they should find boats ready to convey them to the island, " there to remain, until God should provide for their health." In the reign of Edward VI. the English sent two expeditions equally destructive into Scotland, when Inch Keith was taken and fortified. They were expelled by the French, who erected fortifications on a larger scale, con sisting of a strong tower on the highest ground, with an interior court, 100 feet in diameter, as also an external wall of hewn stone, 20 feet high, and 9 feet thick, with Queen Mary's arms sculptured on it, and a motto sa vertue nz'at tire; but the whole fort %las afterwards demolished by order of the Scottish parliiment. More recently, when a Russian lay in Leith roads, during the last war, there was an hospital here for their seamen ; and at present it has a lighthouse for the safety of mariners. The Bass is a lofty precipitous rock, with a conical summit rising from deep water, within two miles of the southern shore of the Forth near North Berwick. This isle, which is less than a mile in circuit, is accessible only by a dangerous and narrow pathway : formerly it was employed as a state prison, and a small fortress upon it surrendered to Oliver Cromwell. It was held in property by a private family, and purchased by government in the reign of Charles IL; but after most of the kingdom had submitted to the sove reignty of William, at the revolution, the for toss was held out by a few of the abdicated monarch's adherents, which produced an order for its demolition on their surrender. The Bass is now in the hands of a subject, by whom it is leased, for a rent which is indemnified by the innumerable flocks of solan geese taken annually on it, (see Miss). The Isle of May lies nearest the mouth of the Forth, and is probably the largest of the whole, being nearly three miles in circuit, and is situated six or seven miles south-east of the town of Anstruther. It affords good pasture, and has a pool or small lake of fresh water. Anciently this island belonged to an English monastery, for the monks of which, King David I. of Scotland founded a call or priory of the order of St Augustine, and there was also a chapel dedica ted to St Adrian. The latter was frequently resorted to in pilgrimages, and particularly on account of barrenness, though not for that reason only, as Andrew Wood of Largo, a celebrated Scottish mariner, held certain lands in Fife for the service of piloting James IV. and his queen to St Ad rian's chapel. A lighthouse was erected here in the reign of Charles I., which has undergone many successive im provements, and receives a duty from all vessels navigating the river. Both it and the island being private property, frequently changed their owners, and having lately passed by manage into the Duke of Portland's family, they were purchased by the Commissioners for Northern Lights in 1814, for 60,000/. sterling, when affording a very considera ble revenue.