olO 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



^ound to exist a quantity of slags 

 and ashes, unquestionably the pro- 

 duction of fire. On ascending to 

 this spot, whirh can be easily 

 done, 1 found the slags and ashes 

 deposited in a sort of bed about 

 four feet thick, and running ho- 

 rizontally along the face of the 

 basaltic precipice 20 or 30 feet. 

 The ashes are in general observed 

 to lie undermost, and the slags 

 above them. They are covered 

 with a considerable quantity of 

 earth and stones, which all consist 

 of basalt, are of a large size, some 

 of them three or four feet or more 

 in diameter, and the ashes likewise 

 rest on the same sort of materials. 

 What struck me here was, that 

 these ashes and slags are entirely 

 unconnected with any rock or for- 

 mation which seems to be in situ, 

 or in its original position. They 

 are, therefore, in my opinion, dis- 

 tinctly artificial, and nothing more 

 than the remains of some large 

 and powerful fire which had been 

 kept burning for a long while on 

 the top of this precipice, either for 

 the purpose of a signal, or some 

 other which we cannot now ascer- 

 tain ; and that, owing to the part 

 of the cliff on which the ashes 

 were lying having given way and 

 tumbled down, they have been 

 thus buried beneath the ruins and 

 there remain. This hypothesis 

 may appear to some fanciful or 

 extravagant, but I should have 

 little hesitation in referring the 

 truth of it to any unprejudiced 

 person accustomed to investiga- 

 tions of this sort who will be at 

 the trouble to sci amble up and 

 survey the spot. Nay, 1 think I 

 could even trust the decision to a 

 Huttonian himself ! The mass of 

 pauterials in which the slags and 



ashes are found is clearly moved 

 from its j)lace, and has distinctly 

 the appearance of a large slip of 

 loose pieces of rock and soil tliat 

 has been disengaged by means of 

 frost or some other agent. It may 

 have been effected by an earth- 

 quake : or the fire itself may have 

 contributed to its own removal by 

 the rents or cracks its heat made 

 in the rock on which it stood. It 

 is not a great many years since 

 these ashes were noticed. John 

 Corry, one of the most obliging 

 and intelligent guides about the 

 place, picked up some of them on 

 the beach below, and naturally 

 enough concluding that they came 

 from the cliff above, he climbed 

 up and found their repository. One 

 gentleman, he informed u.s, who 

 is well known to have paid m\ich 

 attention to the appearances at the 

 Giant's Causeway, and who has 

 written upon the subject, will not 

 yet believe that the ashes are found 

 in the place which 1 have describ- 

 ed, but insists (obstinately enough, 

 no doubt !) that honest John and 

 his colleagues have put the ashes 

 there un purpose to deceive the 

 public ! He cannot be prevailed 

 upon to scramble up and look at 

 the ashes himself, verifying, it 

 would seem, the old proverb, 

 which says, that there is no one 

 blinder than he who will not see. 



A considerable way from the re- 

 pository of the ashes and slags, 

 and to the east of the Great Cause- 

 way, is another curious appear- 

 ance. Here, in the pure basalt, 

 70 or 80 feet from the top of the 

 cliff, is a horizontal bed of wood 

 coal eiglit feet tliick. The coal to 

 all appearance rests immediately 

 on the basalt below, and the ends 

 of perpendicular basaltic colymns 



&re 



