It is not a little remarkable that the only conception of the Devon
put on paper by Robert Burns was as a clear winding river, whose sweet
stream 'meandering flows.' The fact was that Burns was led to know
that something was expected of him, and his muse was not to respond,
for she acted spontaneously or not at all. A woman did eventually
inspire him to write--ah! those women, how much of Burns' best
thoughts did they command!--and he referred to the romantic stream
only in order to tell that the 'bonniest flower' there had once been a
sweet bud on the banks of his own beloved Ayr. The river Devon has a
short and chequered existence, and after a course of thirty-four
miles, falls into the Forth within five miles of its source. At that
little bit of its journey when, after rising in Stirlingshire, it
flows through Perthshire into Kinrosshire, and then doubles back
across a peninsular bit of Perthshire to reach the county of
Clackmannan, the stream goes through a series of vicissitudes that
completely destroy its 'clear-winding' character. First there is the
deep chasm across which the Rumbling Bridge is thrown. There are here
two bridges, one over the other. The earlier bridge, built in 1713,
eighty feet above the stream, is narrow and without a parapet, and
there is a local tradition of a man who fell asleep in his cart being
taken home safely over this exalted and narrow pathway by the instinct
of his horse. The present bridge, a plain but strong erection, was
built in 1816, and is one hundred and twenty feet above the stream,
the latter hidden far below amidst inaccessible precipices and
darkening woods. Further up the stream is the 'Devil's Mill,' said to
be a waterfall, but so completely inaccessible, that the character of
the place is very much a matter of conjecture. However, there is
heard far down in the depths below the clack and beat of a mill; and
as this goes on Sabbath and Saturday alike, the name quoted above has
been bestowed on the unhallowed mill. It is understood that the water
falls into a basin or chasm without outlet, carrying air with it, then
the air bursts out with the boom that resembles the regulated beat of
a mill. Be the cause what it may, the delusion is perfect.
Pursuing its way for a mile through a deeply cleft and gnarled valley,
the Devon flings itself in desperation over the Cauldron Linn. There
are two points of view for this singular waterfall, one from above
looking down, the other, shown in our view, from below, looking up.
From above, at the level where the trees are seen, the water leaps
into the cauldrons that give the Linn its name. In the hard basaltic
rock the swirling water has worn out three circular vats or cauldrons,
in which the stream incessantly goes round. The surplus water plunges
over the edge of one cauldron to that below, or, as in one instance,
has worn a hole in the side of the pot, and rushes through that. It is
said that when a sheep's carcase is brought down, and the river is not
high, it will swirl round in the cauldrons till a spate comes strong
enough to carry it over the edge. At the top the round lips of the
upper cauldron nearly meet, so that a man of nerve could leap across.
The distance is probably not over a yard, but so dizzying is the
incessant whirl of the water, that so far from leaping across, a timid
visitor may not even look over the edge, unless prone on the earth he
puts his face over, conscious that six-sevenths of his body are safe
on _terra firma_!
From below none of this terrible stir of the Cauldron Linn is seen--we
have merely a snowy sheet of water, beautiful certainly, and
impressive in its height, and encircled with lofty precipices, so
that, without reference to its characteristic features above, it takes
rank as one of the most beautiful cataracts in Scotland. The view,
which forms a vignette on our title-page, would in its natural place
come before or after Loch Leven.