Ossian Collection > Journal of a tour in Scotland in

64 JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN SCOTLAND
northwards, and hands are now particularly
required, because the harvest has come on
so fast. Bervie is an ugly town ; larger, but
not much better than the assemblage of poor
houses at the harbour. The inn stands apart
from the town, and is very comfortable.
We were tempted by the appearance of the
dinner which was set before the children,
and sitting down to it ourselves, we dined
suddenly.
The shore on this part of the coast is
rocky, and black with sea-weeds. These
weeds are sometimes used for manure ; but
after a while they are supposed rather to
injure the land than to benefit it. I do not
understand how. They must contain salt
and gelatinous matter ; and it seems very
unlikely that there can be anything injurious
to vegetation in the residuum. The land
is curiously cut into ravines, or glens, by
numerous small rivulets, none of which collect
so as to form a river. Some of them are deep
enough to have a romantic character. Bervie
stands at the mouth of the widest of these,
called Glenbervie ; from whence Sylvester
Douglas takes his title. Hard by the inn
is a fine bridge across the glen, apparently
about sixty feet in height. Allardice, one