314 Oijefvaihht en the Bafahk Coafl of Ireland, 



It alfo frequently happens that the lower half of columns, both great and fmall, has 

 fallen down, leaving the upper half apparently unfupported, yet firm in its place } this laft 

 circumftance, however, is common in all our bafaltic precipices. 



This fufpenfion of the upper parts of pillars, and ftill more the adhefion of their fides, 

 which I have juft now fhewn to be fo ftrong as not to yield to the (hock of a mighty fall, 

 prove, that at lead in this place there are no intervals between the pillars. 



From analogy i have long fufpedted this to be the cafe, every variety of our bafalt is of 

 prifmatic conftrudion, and in all, the prifms adhere fo clofely together as to be feparablc 

 by the crow cr fledge alone, the columnar is the only one that has intervals between its 

 prifms, and thefe I have little doubt proceed from external caufes, but it is impofTible to 

 penetrate fo far into a range of pillars as to bring the point to certainty ; it is by catching at 

 accidental circumftances that we arc enabled to throw any light upon it. 



As I coafted along the foot of the promontory, the magnificence of the fcene above me 

 baffled all defcription, the mighty wall which ftruck me fo forcibly when on the top of the 

 cliff, was now an infignificant objeft, and the angle through which I had defcended to the 

 foot of the precipice, was diminifhed almoft to nothing. 



A little to the eaftward of this angle (called the Grey Man's Bath) we came oppofite to 

 the place where a confiderable part of the precipice had fallen down about 25 years ago ; 

 its length feemed to be near a furlong, and its depth into the face of the rock muft have 

 exceeded 150 feet ; the materials of this immenfe mafs are fcattered in vaft fragments piled 

 upon one another from the foot of the perpendicular precipice, quite down to the water 

 edge, forming by their accumulations a wild variety of caverns, arches, and pafTages be- 

 neath the ruins. 



The face of rocks which is now laid bare, and which before the difruption was far in 

 the interior, is by no means fo columnar as the refl of the furface ; fometimes the vaft 

 pillars alone are vifible, fometimes the rocks feem quite plain, and in one place the lines 

 feparating three or four pillars after afcending about 150 feet, faintly marked, make a 

 flight curve for a few feet, and then merge in the folid rock. 



All this looks as if the columnar conftruftion did not reach far into the interior of our 

 precipices; but exclufive of the unfairnefs of drawing a general conclufion from this foli- 

 tary inflance, I mufl admit I could not get fo near the bafe of the perpendicular face, as 

 to make any accurate obCervations ; befides, the material feems to undergo a confiderable 

 change in the pafTage from the wefl; to the eaft fide of Fairhead, to have aflTumed a darker 

 colour, and from many of the fragments looks as if compofed of fmall trapezoidal prifms, 

 like the Gaw, or Whynn Dyke we examined together at Port Spagna. Bengore, the 

 internal conftruftion of whofe maflive horizontal prifms was difclofed to us by the nervous 

 arm, and weighty fledge of your friend Mr. Crampton, without whofe powerful aCTiftancc 

 we ourfelves would in vain have attempted to difcover it, 



I have not met with any writer who notices this curious circumftance attending many ol 



our bafalts, to wit, that exclufive of their external prifmatic form, they have, as it weje, a 



4 fubordinatCL 



