Giant’? fj ! 
Causeway. multiplicity of forms which present themselves are very 
GIA 
gures of nine sides. It is seldom that any among the 
symmetrical, those-of the pentagon and” hexagon are 
most common; and they sometimes, though’ rarely, 
occur perfectly equilateral. In the highest part of the 
mole, the columns are*from 25 to 30 feet in length; ex~ 
tremely straight and well proportioned: to this place 
the name of the Loom has been given. The prisms 
aré wonderfully sharp in the angles, and present the 
very curious phenomenon of articulation throughout 
their whole extent. _ This articulation is not performed 
by a simple section of the column, but the joints are 
let into each other in the manner of the ball and soc- 
két, so that the angles of the under joint extend in 
the form ‘of triangular projections, over those of the 
one above'it.. These projections, or spurs as'they have 
been denominated, are easily detached; and in some 
places, particularly among the columns at the Organ a 
iittle east of the mole, where they are 45 feet in height, 
this mutilation renders the articulation particularly re- 
markable. The joints are from eight inches in length to 
a foot and a half, and sometimes even two, feet; they 
are often longest towards the bottom. In diameter, the 
columns may average about 16 or 20 inches ; they are, 
wonderfully uniform in this respect ; those of a triangu- 
Jar and-square form are very rare, as ‘well as those of 
nine ‘sides. 
The height of the cliff which overhangs this mole, 
is about 330 feet above the level of the sea, and va- 
ries:from that to 400 feet, which is the elevation of 
Pleskin, one of the principal promontories towards the 
eastern extremity of this basaltic district. . This por- 
tion of the coast is deeply indented; each little bay is 
denominated a port, and distinguished by its particular 
name, as Port Nofer, Port na Spania, &c. and alon 
the whole coast the basaltic formation is beautifully ex- 
posed to view, in one of the most magnificent facades 
perhaps in the world. In some of the promontories, the 
ranges of columns placed over each: other, and separated 
by amorphoustrap, extend to the number of four or five. 
This’ is particularly the case in the great headland 
which bounds the east side of Port na Spania. At Port 
Pleskin, the visible ranges of columns. are only two, 
but here they are magnificently displayed, and on a 
larger scale than in any other part of the causeway. 
The number of beds of trap: are altogether about 16, 
partly very soft amygdaloid mixed. with much zeolite, 
and partly irregular prismatic basalt. , These are here and 
there interspersed with beds of bright red ochre ; on 
one of which, at an elevation of about-200 feet from 
the sea, the first bed of columnar basalt rests, measuring 
about 44 feet in thickness. On this a bed of irregularly 
prismatic basalt lies, 54 feet thick; and on it another 
colonnade, still more magnificent than the first. 
Pleskin is the highest elevation of this basaltic dis- 
trict; from it the beds all dip to right and left, and 
that which we have just mentioned, as resting ona 
surface of red ochre, 200. feet above the level of the 
sea, on the west, sinks below its surface at the mele, 
which in fact is merely a portion of it, and on the east 
it disappears in the middle of Port Moon. The view 
fromthe summit of Pleskin, is ene of the most im 
sing that can be imagined ; the series of headlands, which 
are seen in perspective from this point, form one of the 
grandest pictures of coast scenery, that it is possible to 
conceive. J 
The,substance of the columnar. basalt is extremely 
gompact, of a dark iron grey colour, fine grained in the 
texture, and conchoidal inthe fracture, with sharp- 
; 4 
264 
GIB 
edged angular fragments. It is totally different from 
the substance of which Paithied is composed ; and 'per- 
haps we could not point out where the distinction be- 
tween basalt) and’ nstone ‘is better defined, than — 
at Fairhead and the Giant’s\Causeway. The blocks or — 
joints are extremely sonorous. ‘Small piec ofcalcedony, 
fine semi-opal, and even precious opal, have been found — - 
imbedded in it: -it is occasionally cellular, and in some __ 
places presents the very singular phenomenon of contains — - 
ing fluid water; a circumstance which may be observed © 
in the columnar basalt that occurs in a quarry not 
far from the summit of Pleskin. This fact has been ‘urs 
ged by Dr Richardson as an incontestible proof of the 
impossibility of basalt being of igneous origin; but the 
theorists on that side of the question have no difficulty’ 
in accounting for it; we may remark, however, with 
regard to the value:of the fact itself, that it cannot be‘of 
much consequence; for if pieces of the stone»be rea 
moved for a tirne from the quarry, water-will no longer 
be found inthem, having made its’ 3; hence, if 
the stone be sufficiently porous to admit of ee 
of the fluid, it cannot be denied that water may also be- 
admitted through the same channel. 5. 5/0) = 
The Causeway has onie considerable advantage over its 
rival Staffa, being much more accessible ;-itsis distant’ 
about six miles from Colerain, between which and Bel= 
fast there is a mail-coach communications 9.» > 
See the Rev. Mr Dubourdieu’s, Statistical mictose ¥ % 
Antrim ; Dr Hamilton’s Letters on the Coun ¥ 
trim ; the Giant's Causeway, a Poem, by W. H. : 
mond, D.D. ; the Rev. Richard Pocock’s Account of the 
Giant’s Causeway, in the Phil. Trans. 1747-8; volwxlv. 
page 124; and -Dr Richardson’s Paper on the basaltic 
country in Ireland, inthe Phil. Trans. 1808, vol. xcviii. 
p- 187. (s..N.) ‘ i 
GIBBON, Epwarp, Esq. celebrated for the. Ice: 
and depth of his literary and historical works, was the 
first child of the marriage of Edward Gibbon, Esq.and 
Judith Porten. He was born at Putney in the 
of Surry, on the 27th of April O.S.1737. His ma- 
ternal grandfather was Mr James Porten, a London 
merchant. By the father he was descended from John 
Gibbon, who is recorded to have been the marmorius 
or architect of Edward II]. The strong and ‘stately 
castle of Queensborough, which guarded the entrance of 
the Medway, was a monument of his skill, and obtain- 
ed for him the reward of a hereditary toll.on the pas- 
sage from Sandwich to. Stanar, in the isle of Thanet. — 
The family was at that time possessed of lands in Kent, 
and the elder branches continued to, ss them with 
out much alteration till the present time. Our author, 
who was descended from a younger branch of the fami- 
ly, counts among his kindred several individuals of rank, 
learning, and political eminence. He-was the only sur= 
viving member of a family, consisting of six sons and 
one daughter, all of whom, himselfonly excepted, were 
snatched away in infancy. , In his Memoirs of himself, 
published by his friend Lord Sheffield, he makesuse of 
the following tender expression of his Ppeeria 
five brothers, whose names maybe found in the parish, ~ 
register of Putney, I shall not pretend to lament; but — 
Jrom my childhood to the present hour, Ihave meen ae 
sincerely regretted my sister, whose life was somewh 
rolonged, and whom I remember to have seen an ami= 
able infant.” His own constitution was so : 
feeble even from his birth, that, anticipating his early 
loss, his father’s prudence had the name of ward re~ j 
peated in the baptism of each of his sons, that this here-. 
ditary appellation might assuredly belong to the heir, 
