of ' Derry and Antrim, 109 



Fifth Stratum, (g). 



This stratum is ochreous, and more of a slate colour than 

 any of the other red strata ; as it is friable, it soon acquire* 

 a grassy coat, through which it is only in spots that it shows 

 its proper colour; it is about eight feet thick. 



Sixth Stratum, (f) . 



This stratum is composed of rude massive pillars so 

 coarsely formed, that on the least abatement of perpendicu- 

 larity the columnar form can scarcely be traced. This stra- 

 tum is about ten feet thick, it forms the vertex of the beau- 

 tiful conical island Beanyn Daana, and is marked in the 

 views (f). 



These last strata, though they have nothing very remark- 

 able in themselves, nor contribute much to the beauty of 

 the facade ; yet they exhibit one of the most important facts 

 I am acquainted with in natural history, and which, when 

 attentively considered, throws much light on the nature of 

 the operations performed upon our globe since its consolida- 

 tion, and leads us irresistibly to conclusions extraordinary 

 and unexpected. 



The fourth, fifth, and sixth strata reach the top of the 

 precipice, and vanish together at the waterfall in the north- 

 west corner of Portmoon. When they come to the surface, 

 they turn inland to the westward in long stony ridges ; these 

 obstruct the course of the waters in their descent along the 

 inclined plane, formed by the surface of the promontory, 

 and throw them over the precipice, in a cascade highly beau- 

 tiful after rain. 



On the facades to the north-west not a trace of them ap- 

 pears, these being entirely formed by the lower strata, which 

 I have not yet noticed ; but at the distance of a mile, at the 

 great depression (already mentioned), the fourth, fifth, and 

 sixth strata, with a narrow stripe of the third, suddenly ap- 

 pear, in their regular posts, their proper order, and with all 

 the characteristic marks peculiar to each separate stratum. 



In the interval between the depression at Pleskbt, and the 

 Giant's Causeway (about a mile), these three strata often 



appear 



