We were soon at leisure to examine the place with minute
inspection, and found many cavities which, as the waterman told us,
went backward to a depth which they had never explored. Their
extent we had not time to try; they are said to serve different
purposes. Ladies come hither sometimes in the summer with
collations, and smugglers make them storehouses for clandestine
merchandise. It is hardly to be doubted but the pirates of ancient
times often used them as magazines of arms, or repositories of
plunder.
To the little vessels used by the northern rovers, the Buller may
have served as a shelter from storms, and perhaps as a retreat from
enemies; the entrance might have been stopped, or guarded with
little difficulty, and though the vessels that were stationed
within would have been battered with stones showered on them from
above, yet the crews would have lain safe in the caverns.
Next morning we continued our journey, pleased with our reception
at Slanes Castle, of which we had now leisure to recount the
grandeur and the elegance; for our way afforded us few topics of
conversation. The ground was neither uncultivated nor unfruitful;
but it was still all arable.
