TRAPPE TRAVELS. 



661 



frequently form isolated caps on detached moun- 

 tains. 



The occurrence of thick beds of basalt, divided 

 iiuto regular pentagonal or hexagonal columns, and 

 disposed in ranges of vast extent and height, early 

 attracted the attention of mankind, and gave rise 

 to various theories respecting their formation. Few 

 countries in the world present more magnificent 

 deposits of columnar basalt than the north part of 

 Ireland and some of the Hebrides. (See Giant's 

 Causeway and Staffu.~) The Giant's causeway, in 

 the county of Antrim, constitutes a small part of 

 a range of this description. The promontories of 

 Fairhead and Borge, in the same range, are situated 

 eight miles from each other. These capes consist 

 of various ranges of pillars and horizontal strata, 

 which rise from the sea to the height of 500 feet. 

 From their abruptness, they are conspicuous, and 

 form a pile of natural architecture, in which the 

 regularity and symmetry of art appear to be united 

 with the wild grandeur and magnificence of nature. 

 Many of the columns in the ranges at Fairhead are 

 150 feet in height, and five feet in breadth. At 

 the base, along the shore, is a wild waste of rocky 

 fragments which have fallen from the cliffs, resem- 

 bling the ruins of enormous castles. At the Giant's 

 causeway, the columns rarely exceed one foot in 

 breadth and thirty in height. They are sharply 

 defined, and the columns are divided into smaller 

 blocks, or prisms, of one foot or more in length, 

 which fit neatly into each other, like a ball and 

 socket. The basalt is close-grained, excepting the 

 upper joint of the column, which is often cellular. 

 The columns usually have five or six sides ; but 

 some have seven or eight, and others only three. 

 Beds of basalt that are not columnar, in some places 

 lie over, and also under, the columns. The basalt 

 of the beds is amygdaloidal. The columns at Fair- 

 head are not articulated like those of the Giant's 

 causeway; but blocks, which are of great length, 

 lie flat on each other. The trap formation appears 

 to extend on the coast and inland about forty miles 

 in length and twenty in breadth. The basaltic co- 

 lumns of the island of Stafia are too well known 

 to require a description. No formation of genuine 

 basalt has hitherto been found on the North Ame- 

 rican continent, at least north of Mexico. Bu,t lo- 

 calities of the greenstone trap are found in several 

 districts, and present nearly all the peculiarities of 

 the true basalt, differing from it only in possessing 

 a lighter green colour, a less compact fracture, and 

 a less decided columnar structure. 



The trappean rocks, when free from vesicular 

 cavities, are valuable for architecture, especially 

 the greenstone trap, which is quarried with little 

 or no expense, since it breaks naturally into angu- 

 lar pieces, with smooth faces. Basalt is wrought 

 into vases, tables for inscriptions, &c. ; but its 

 working is attended with great expense. The 

 ophite, when handsome, is much prized. 



TRAPPE, LA, TRAPPISTS. In a valley of 

 Normandy, thirty-four leagues north-west of Paris, 

 Rotrou, count of Perche, founded a Cistercian ab- 

 bey, in 1140, svhicb, from its difficult access, he 

 called La Trappe (trap-door). It was approached 

 by no path, and the traveller was obliged to direct 

 his course by the sun and the appearance of the 

 trees. The deep silence of the wild valley, sur- 

 rounded by woods and rocks, was sufficient to sa- 

 tisfy the most ascetic disposition. In the sixteenth 

 century, the monks, however, had become so licen- 

 tious, that they were the terror of the surround- 



ing country, robbing, murdering and kidnapping 

 young females : this wild and lawless conduct pro- 

 cured them the epithet of the " bandits of La 

 Trappe." In the seventeenth century, the abbey, 

 then containing but six or seven monks, was con- 

 ferred on De Ranee, then (1636) ten years old, as 

 a sinecure benefice. In 1664, after a youth passed 

 in dissipation, he became regular abbot of La 

 Trappe, and accomplished a most rigorous reform 

 of the monastery. The Trappists prayed eleven 

 hours daily, and passed the rest of their time in 

 hard labour and silent meditation. Beyond the 

 sacred hymns and prayers, and their usual saluta- 

 tion, Memento mori, no word passed their lips, but 

 even their wishes and wants were indicated by 

 signs. Their meagre diet consisted solely of fruits 

 and pulse ; flesh, wine and butter being entirely pro- 

 hibited. They received no information of what 

 was going on in the world, and no news from their 

 relations; all their thoughts were devoted to pen- 

 ance and death, and every evening they dug their 

 own graves. Louisa, princess of the Conde, 

 founded a female order of Trappists. The Trap- 

 pists were obliged to leave France at the time of 

 the revolution ; but they returned in 1815, when 

 their house was restored to them. A traveller, 

 who visited them, 1818, found their number to 

 amount to a hundred, of whom more than half 

 were lay brothers andfreres donnes, who pass only 

 a certain time at La Trappe for the performance of 

 some acts of penance. The professed brothers 

 wear a dark-coloured frock, cloak, and hood, which 

 covers the whole face. The order has, besides, 

 three other houses in France, the abbey Jara, near 

 Amiens, Mellerai, in the department of the Loire 

 Inferieure, and an abbey at St Aubin. There is, 

 likewise, a female convent not far from La Trappe. 



TRASS. See Cements. 



TRASTEVERE. See Tiber. 



TRAVELS AND VOYAGES. Travelling has 

 always been one of the mc-ans of forming the cha- 

 racter for the business of life, and for promoting 

 scientific knowledge. By travelling, the ancients 

 prepared themselves to become legislators and phi- 

 losophers, as, for instance, in the cases of Lycur- 

 gus, Solon and Pythagoras. Herodotus travelled 

 to study history. The statesman and the man of 

 the world, the scholar, the naturalist, the geogra- 

 pher, the physician, the artist, the merchant, the 

 political economist, the soldier, &c., each has his 

 own objects in travelling. Young men who travel 

 extensively by way of completing their education, 

 should be well acquainted with the ancient and 

 modern classics, mathematics, the principles of 

 trade, political economy, history, statistics and 

 geography, and with one or more foreign languages. 

 The main object of the tour should be, in the first 

 place, well settled, and all others be made subordi- 

 nate to it. The young traveller should not strive 

 so much to observe a great variety of things, as to 

 learn accurately what is essential. See Reichard's 

 Guide des Voyageurs. 



In the history of scientific expeditions, the five 

 following divisions may be made. 



1. The earliest age of the Phoenicians, down to 

 Herodotus, 500 B. C. The Phosnicians undertook 

 the first voyages of discovery for commercial pur- 

 poses, or to found colonies. Their colonies did 

 the same. Unhappily, the accounts of these voy- 

 ages are very obscure (as, for instance, of the cir- 

 cumnavigation of Africa), or couched in figures 

 (like the first navigation of the straits of Gibraltar), 



