Stewart — TIte Botany of the Island of Rathlin. 83 



the "white limestone cliffs -vvhich produce such a picturesque effect at 

 many points on the Antrim coast. At the "vrest and north-west these 

 limestone rocks give way to dark trap, identical with the rocks of the 

 Basaltic Plateau of Antrim. These traps are sometimes massive, but 

 often more or less columnar. At the north-west there are great 

 basaltic cliffs, which rise sheer out of the water to a height of between 

 300 and 400 feet. These cliffs are frequently composed of huge 

 columns, and, in the early summer, are tenanted by innumerable sea- 

 birds, which find on the many inaccessible ledges a secure retreat in 

 which to place their nests and bring out their young. Land birds are not 

 abundant, Lepidoptera are few in number, and the fauna is in general 

 poor. Hares have been introduced, and are now well established ; but 

 it is remarkable that the fi'og, so common on the mainland, has not 

 yet penetrated to Rathlin. Trees do not grow naturally on the island ; 

 and the only wood is a small grove planted near Mr. Gage's residence ; 

 •and these trees, though well sheltered fi'om the northern winds, are 

 yet by no means in a flourishing condition. This absence of timber 

 has not always been the case, as trunks and branches of trees and 

 numbers of hazel nuts have been dug up in the bogs. The deforesting, 

 if we may so call it, was doubtless caused by scarcity of fuel. There 

 are now no peat bogs on the island ; and the greatest want of the 

 people is something to burn. Everything has been cut down long 

 since ; and now, when there is nothing to break the force of the 

 storms which career over the surface, it is difficult to induce either 

 tree or shrub to grow. 



At the commencement of the present century, the population of 

 Rathlin was about 1200. It is now reduced to one-half of that num- 

 ber, with advantage to those that remain. The Eathliners are not now 

 the simple-minded primitive people described by Dr. Hamilton one 

 hundred years ago, and by Dr. Marshall as late as fifty years since. 

 Irish is spoken by the islanders universally, but there are none who are 

 ignorant of the English tongue, and they seem to use both languages 

 indifferently. Their habits and manners, their dwellings and sur- 

 roundings, and theii' ideas, are very much like those of people of the 

 same class on the mainland. With good boats and proper equipments 

 for fishing, no doubt a much larger population could be maintained in 

 comfort. 



The flora of Rathlin Island was examined in a more or less cursory 

 manner by the Father of Irish Botany, Mr. John Templeton, and after- 

 wards, in 1836, by Dr. David Moore. The results of these researches 

 have been already published in the "Flora of Ulster," and in the 

 " Contributions towards a Cybele Hibernica." Miss Gage, a lady 

 resident in Rathlin, takes a great interest in its native flora ; and her 

 album of drawings contains excellent figures, representing the greater 

 part of the plants that occur on the island. A list of Rathlin plants 

 was prepared by Mlis Gage for the Botanical Society of Edinburgh; 

 and an abstract was published in the "Annals and Magazine of jN"atural 

 History" for the year 1850. Dr. Marshall, whose valuable catalogue 



R.I. A. PROC, SEK. II., vox,. IV. — .=;CIEXCE. N 



