LISMORE. GEOLOGY. 265 



which he has been accustomed; while the manufacture 

 will have the sanction of law.* 



The description already given of the limestone of Isla, 

 will have prepared the reader for the geological history of 

 Lismore. 



The whole island consists of a series of calcareous strata 

 extending more or less accurately, according to the lines of 

 the coasts, from one extremity to the other, and conse- 

 quently in a general north-easterly direction. That direction 

 is however rarely maintained long in any one spot, being 

 subject to frequent deviations, from the apparently dis- 

 turbed and broken state of the beds. The same apparent 

 confusion attends the dip, which although in a general 

 sense toward the east, like that of the Slate isles and the 

 neighbouring gneiss of Morven, is exceedingly irregular 

 in the smaller parts, the strata being frequently found in 

 an erect position, and occasionally, even reversed. In this 

 respect the rock of Lismore bears a striking resemblance 

 to the corresponding limestone of Isla, the irregularity of 

 which is such as there also in a great measure to prevent 

 the determination of its dip or bearing. In addition to 

 these irregularities, the beds are frequently bent or con- 

 torted, often to as great a degree as the micaceous schist 

 of the central Highlands. The characters of the rock cor- 

 respond so minutely with those of the blue limestone of 

 that island, already described, that further mention of 

 them is unnecessary. It may only be remarked, that 



* Notwithstanding a popular opinion to the contrary, it may truly be 

 said of the Highlanders, that they are no less sober than generally correct 

 and exemplary in their moral conduct. Whiskey is in fact so rare and 

 expensive an article, that it seldom enters into the Highlander's cottage; 

 and although where great gains are occasionally made, instances of sys- 

 tematic drunkenness may be found here, as well as in manufacturing 

 towns, the generality of the population is as much excluded from the fre- 

 quent use of whiskey as from that of Tokay. The interior consumption 

 has been gradually reduced to perhaps a twentieth part of what it was 

 some yeafs ago, and the habit has nearly ceased as the difficulty of pro- 

 curing the article has increased. 



