O'Eeilly — On the Wade of the Coast of Ireland, 8fc. 163 



for some distance fiu'ther, the height of the cliff will gradually lesson, 

 owing to the fall of the ground inwards. Among the coast cliffs of 

 Ireland, and perhaps of the British Isles, there is none which reaches 

 in loftiness that which presents its face to the Atlantic along the 

 western flank of Slieve League, and which forms a breakwater not 

 unworthy of the great ocean which washes its base. 



" This coast, indeed, fi'om Carrigan Head to Donegal, consists 

 of a succession of deep bays, with proportionately long intervening 

 headlands." 



(p. 12.) — *' East of the promontory of Carntullagh lies McSwyne's 

 Bay, separated from Inver Bay by the long and nan'ow promontory 

 terminating in St. John's Point, which, owing to its form and length, 

 is the most remarkable headland of Donegal Bay. Measured from 

 St. John's Point to the village of Dvmkineely, this promontory is 

 over 6 miles in length, with an average breadth of half a mile." 



(p. 36.) — " There is a large sea-cave directly beneath the highest 

 point of Slieve League." 



Memoir Geological Survey of Ireland, Sheets 31 (in part) and 

 32 (1891). The district described lies in the south-western border 

 of the great tract of metamorphic rocks which stretch northwards 

 into the highlands of Derry and Donegal. (No available particulai's 

 given.) 



Memoir Geological Survey of Ireland, Sheets 42 and 43 (1885). 

 The eastern and larger portion of the ground described belongs to the 

 Co. Leitrim. 



(p. 9.) — " The lowland belt stretches through the district as an 

 undulating or boggy tract between the central mountains and the sea, 

 most usually presenting a low line of cliffs and islets, or a sandy 

 foreshore, to the full force of the Atlantic breakers. 



" That part of the Atlantic off the coast has not any great depth in 

 the vicinity of the land, nor does it seem to present any such abrupt 

 irregularities in the form of its bed as diversify the shape of the 

 ground imder description. Such depths as 8, 15, and 25 fathoms, are 

 marked on the Admiralty Chart, within distances from the coast -line, 

 which, taken inland, would show differences in elevation equal in 

 amount to considerably more than 200 fathoms. Drumcliff Bay is 

 only one or two fathoms deep ; and even out in the wildest part of 

 Donegal Bay, mid-way between the Teelin and Ardboline headlands, 

 the depth given (31 fathoms) is less than the height above sea-level of 



