46 J. D. Marsuart on the Statistics and 
of them spoke of the dense fog which they frequently encountered in crossing to and 
fro ; and after mentioning the deceptions they occasionally experienced, he stated, that 
one morning very lately they had been crossing to Ballycastle during a fog, when sud- 
denly they perceived a brig in full sail bearing down on them. The illusion was so 
great, that the crew used every exertion to escape being run down, as they momen- 
tarily anticipated ; and they had just accomplished their object, when the vessel totally 
disappeared. 3 
In connexion with this subject, I may mention, that a belief was formerly prevalent 
among the inhabitants, that a green island rises, every seventh year, out of the sea 
between Bengore and Rathlin. Many individuals, they say, have distinctly seen it 
adorned with woods and lawns, and crowded with people selling yarn, and engaged in 
the common occupations of a fair. Could this have been the Fata Morgana 2 
Here oft, ’tis said, Morgana’s fairy train 
Sport with the senses of the wondering swain : 
Spread on the eastern haze a rainbow light, 
And charm with visions fair th’ enchanted sight. 
At first a beauteous island scene behold, 
Like that Hy Brasail found, by swains of old, 
In ocean’s depths ;—and then a rustic throng, 
With booths and tents the forest glades among ; 
Next, warrior bands in scarlet files arise, 
Chariots and steeds, and towers that reach the skies : 
But soon they flit, and bounding in the breeze, 
Embattled navies plough the azure seas; 
Sail crowds on sail, the boiling wake grows hoar, 
And whitening surges climb each sculptured prore. 
Thus shifts each pageant, like the scenes that fall 
Through lens, or lantern, pictured on the wall 
Of chamber dark—till all dissolves away, 
As filmy vapour in the noon-tide ray. 
Drummond's Poem on the Giant's Causeway. 
The tides of Rathlin are most remarkable ; and to navigate the channel between the 
island and the opposite coast, requires more than ordinary skill and caution. Against 
the north-west point, the Bull, the great body of water which flows from the ocean 
during flood-tide to supply the northern part of the Irish channel, is first interrupted 
and broken in its course, and counter-tides are here created. Thus, along part of the 
coasts of Antrim, Derry, and Donegal, the flood-tide appears to flow nine hours, and 
the ebb only three. In Church bay, in Rathlin, the same is the case ; but at Archill 
bay, south of Bruce’s Castle, the ebb runs nine hours, and the flood only three. So 
prevalent are these currents round the island, that I have frequently observed that 
one tide or current will be setting round part of the coast for a short distance from 
the shore, while another will be running in the very opposite direction at the distance 
