It is stated in _Sinclair's Statistical Accounts of Scotland_, vol.
8, page 167 and following:--"In the account of Cannisby by the Rev.
John Marison, D.D., that in the reign of James the Fourth, King of
Scotland, Malcom, Cairn and John de Groat, supposed to have been
brothers and originally from Holland, arrived in Caithness from the
south of Scotland, bringing with them a letter in Latin by that King
recommending him to the countenance and protection of his loving
subjects in the County of Caithness."
It is stated in _Chambers's Pictures of Scotland_, vol. 2, page 306,
"that the foundations or ruins of John o' Groat's House, which is
perhaps the most celebrated in the whole world, are still to be
seen."
Then followed the names and addresses of visitors extending over a
period of thirty-three years, many of them having also written remarks
in prose, poetry, or doggerel rhyme, so we found plenty of food for
thought and some amusement before we got even half way through the
volume. Some of these effusions might be described as of more than
ordinary merit, and the remainder as good, bad, and indifferent. Those
written in foreign languages--and there were many of them--we could
neither read nor understand, but they gave us the impression that the
fame of John o' Groat's had spread throughout the civilised world. There
were many references to Stroma, or the Island of the Current, which we
could see in the Pentland Firth about four miles distant, and to the
difficulties and danger the visitors had experienced in crossing that
"stormy bit of sea" between it and John o' Groat's. But their chief
complaint was that, after travelling so far, there was no house for them
to see. They had evidently, like ourselves, expected to find a
substantial structure, and the farther they had travelled the greater
their disappointment would naturally be. One visitor had expressed his
disappointment in a verse more forcible than elegant, but true as
regarded the stone.
I went in a boat
To see John o' Groat,
The place where his home doth lie;
But when I got there,
The hill was all bare,
And the devil a stone saw I.