322 Obfervatiotts on- the Bafaltic Coafi of Ireland,. 



of thefe wonderful walls, which feem to me utterly irreconcileable to any of the theories 

 illVSrited by cofmbgonrfts. 



In this Letter I will confine myfelf to the mighty promontory of Fairhead, which 

 forms the north-caft point of our ifland^ and a line drawn from it to Cape Clear in Kerry 

 meafures its greateft dimenfion. 



Before I proceed to particulars, I mufl dwell a little on its magnificence, both becaufe 



you yourfelf, when admiring from the water the vaft bafaltic precipices of Bengore, (370 



feet high) feemed to doubt me, when I told you that at Fairhead they were far more 



ftupendous; and alfo becaufe Mr, Pennant aflerts, that the bafaltic pillars at Sta.ffa. 



far exceed the Irifl) in grandeur. 



It has of late been much the falhion to prefer Staffa to any thing our bafaltic coaft; 

 can boaft of, with what foundation will foon appear. 



In point of grandeur, menfuration affords a good teft.'and fortunately we have the heights 

 of the pillars and precipices at Staffa accurately taken by Sir Jofeph Banks, and I make 

 myfelf anfwerable for the meafures I ftate at Fairhead. 



In Staffa the longeft pillar or range of pillars is 55 feeti and" the higheft point of the 

 precipice and ifland 126; (this laft afTertlon is from recolleftion) whereas at Fairhead the 

 height of the face of the columnar precipice, that is, the height of each pillar in a range 

 of near an Englifh mile, varies only from 252 to 250 feet, and from the angle (fee view of 

 Failhead taken at four miles diftance W. S. W.) to the level of the fea, the perpendicular 

 height of the precipitous declivity is at leaft 300 feet, making together the height of the 

 promontory 550 feet. 



After comparing thefe meafures, it Is mortifying to obferve the animation with which 

 Sir Jofeph Banks defcribes the magnificence of Staffa, while Fairhead remains unnoticed.. 



I apprehend It is by far the moft fuperb colonade of bafaltic pillars yet difcovered, though 

 Mr. Kirwan, on the authority of Mr. Charpentier fays, the pillars at Stolpe are 300 

 feet high, but the Encyclopedic tells us,, thefe fame pillars at Stolpe are but 17 or 18,. 

 and Gentlemen (particularly my friend Archdeacon Lovel) who have vifited Stolpe, 

 alTure me that the latter dimenfions feem to them the true ones. 



The vaft perpendicular precipice which lines the upper part of Fairhead promontory, is 

 twice cut into by very acute angles ; the wefternmoft of thefe is as it were bifedled by a 

 mighty wall, compofed of pillars near 150 feet long each, while the eafternmoft affords a 

 path by which I defcended to the bafes of the pillars ; as I flood at the opening of this angle 

 the fcene about me was the moft ftupendous I ever beheld; on my right and left hand 

 enormous walls reaching almoft to the fky, intirely columnar, the diameter of each pillar 

 exceeding two feet, but quite out of proportion to their enormous height. 



The view below me was terrific, for I ftood on the top of a fecond ftratum of perpen- 

 dicular pillars, probably 80 feet long each, with the declivity from the bottom of thefe 

 pillars to the fea, ftcep and precipitous, not much lefs than 300 feet. 



The 



