232 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ochre-bed or chalk. They are plainly artificial in their present form. 

 The peculiar Gothic door-way and the sheltered approach strengthen 

 the view that they bear a distinct relation to an ancient civilization, 

 and that it is not by accident that adjacent cliffs are crowned with 

 castles, neighboring mines were worked from unknown periods, beacon- 

 rocks bear mythological names, and manuscripts refer to maritime 

 expeditions to the Baltic and Mediterranean. It seemed antecedently 

 possible that the same race, Kelto-Iberian, Wend, or Phoenician, which 

 had formed harbors on the coast of Ireland, might also have been the 

 active agent in that perforation which has been termed the most re- 

 markable in Europe. This conjecture received strong and unexpected 

 confirmation. It was submitted to rigid examination ; it was strength- 

 ened by opposition. It has been adopted, by a considerable number of 

 eminent men, as a far stronger prima facie case than that commonly 

 stated by the text-books in favor of marine erosion. If not well 

 founded, it still suggests difficulties which have escaped observation, 

 and may also correct the inaccurate terms in which Fingal's Cave has 

 been described, and the imperfect representations which have gone 

 far to perpetuate the hasty conclusion of Sir Joseph Banks. 



Fingal's Cave is not at the Giants' Causeway. It is in the southern 

 end of the Island of Staffa, whose apparent size and position are neces- 

 sarily exaggerated on the maps in common use. It is not " off the 



Back "beg T4.-neUgt_ / J%^&"^^^ W 



so. ^- 3S jS^S\ 8 \ 



37) 





a ^\z 



4i STAFiEA/^A^ : : MMl 



$\ 





4& 



lOCatTad J 



[ 1 l ' .ii !ii i!! '!ii: r.iw, l mi 'l ii il'lll' ii.i't Mllimillllul MiViJU-iir , 



Fig. 1. From the Admiralty Chart of Loch Ttjadh. 



southwest coast of Scotland." It is deeply embayed in a large sinu- 

 osity formed by the Island of Mull, and nearly inclosed on the opposite 

 side by Iona and the Treshnish Islands. Beyond the latter a second 

 line is drawn by Tiree and Coll, while to the north but to a greater 

 distance are placed the islands of Minch, Rum, Eigg, and Canna. The 



