Ohfervattotit en the BnfaUlc Coqfl of Ireland. 323 



The views from the fummit of this promontory arc highly gratifying to thofe who de- 

 light in the fublime, but it is by coafting its bafc alone that the naturalift will obtain en- 

 tertainment or information ; this however is an expedition of difficulty and uncertainty, 

 from the rapidity of tlie tide that runs clofe to this headland, and the violent furf which 

 gcncr'ally beats againft its bafe ; twice I reached the north-weft point of this formidable 

 head without daring to proceed, the third time I was more fortunate, and amply repaid 

 for ttiy perfeverance. 



While at Fairhead nature feems to have exerted her utmoft powers In difplaylng a mag- 

 nificence unrivalled any where clfe, at the fame time (he appears in the conftruftion of this 

 promontory to have adopted different principles from thofe fhe has hitherto been governed 

 ty in the formation of the reft of our bafaltic country. 



I had always obferved that our ftrata were in the fame place, all fteadily parallel to each 

 other, and I fliewed you that this rule obtained in all the precipices we rowed along toge« 

 ther ; but at Fairhead the cafe is different, for there the columnar ftrata are inclined to 

 each other in a confiderable angle. 



I alfo (hewed you, that in every feparate ftratum the material was uniform through its 

 whole extent, the principle of conftru£tion, and the degree of perfection with which it was 

 executed, the fame. 



At Fairhead on the contrary, the material is fenfibly changed, in paflSng from the weft 

 to the eaft fide, the perfeftion in the workman(hip of the pillars confiderably abated, and a 

 hew principle of internal conftrudlion Introduced. 



A moft extraordinary circumftance alfo occurs here, which I have not met with in any 

 other of the columnar groups with which our bafaltic country abounds, nor do I find any 

 thing fimilar mentioned by the writers on thefe fubjefts. 



In viewing Fairhead from any diftance, many of its pillars appear to be of a moft enor- 

 mous fize, but upon a near approach thofe gigantic columns from ten to twenty feet dia- 

 meter, are found to be formed by an accumulation of the fmaller ones (from two to three 

 feet) which compofe the promontory, and adhere together with fuch force, that when the 

 mighty pillar tumbles down (as fometimes happens) it breaks In pieces by the violence of a 

 fall 250 feet perpendicular, without feparating from each other, the fmaller pillars of 

 which it Is compofed. 



The fteep declivity is covered quite down to the water edge with enormous fragments, 

 or frufta of thefe pillars, they are always cylindrical, and to look at their fides they re- 

 femble an affemblage of great beams of timber confolidated together, while their bafes 

 (generally planes, and at right angles with their axes) exhibit a teffelated pavement, exadly 

 like the furface of the Giant's Caufeway, but the polygons are fomewhat larger, and ap- 

 proach more to equilateral figures* 



Sometimes thefe fmaller pillars are continued quite up to the top, of their original fize, 

 at other times when half way up they merge Into, and form greater pillars, which are 

 continued to the fummit, at other times again they merge into the folid rock. 



Tt2 It 



