102 [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



not considered remarkable, but on inquiry it was ascertained 

 that something was wrong with the locomotive. Wiring for 

 additional power was of no avail, and field naturalists and others 

 were alike compelled to wait with such patience as they could 

 command the arrival of the next train their way, thus losing 

 about two hours of the best part of the day. Eventually reach- 

 ing Ballycastle, Mr. Wagg, of the Antrim Arms, intuitively took 

 in the position of affairs, and the desire to make the most of 

 the fine evening, and certainly no time was lost on his part in 

 laying out, or on that of his guests in disposing of, a substantial 

 dinner. A forgiving spirit seemed to have entered into the 

 party with the good things partaken of, the tedious delay at the 

 uninteresting wayside station of Stranocum being forgotten as 

 we whirled along on well-appointed vehicles towards Murlough 

 Bay. 



Tourists " doing" the Antrim coast too frequently omit this 

 — one of its most charming pictures. Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, 

 though visiting it under the disadvantage of rain and clouds, 

 pronounced it '^ a scene of unspeakable grandeur and beauty ; " 

 and, certainly, the view presented as the party approached the 

 edge of the cliffs was one not soon to be forgotten. The bright 

 sunshine and light-flying clouds imparted the play of light and 

 shade so necessary for an extended landscape. The imposing 

 cliffs rising from the richest of foliage on the broken ground at 

 their base, and the snug homesteads nestling midway between 

 them and the rugged shore, — the distant headlands with their 

 varied colourings, and the bright sparkling sea, with ships 

 whose sails caught the evening sunshine, — combined to form a 

 scene of rare and pleasing beauty. Slowly wending along the 

 edge of the giddy cliffs, evidence of ice-action was pointed out 

 in the rounded bosses on the upper surface of the Basalt — known 

 to geologists as Roches montonnee — and in the perched boulders 

 near Lough-na-Cranagh. 



The culminating point of the coast is Benmore (the great 

 peak), more popularly known as Fair Head, 636 feet, which is 

 by far the finest headland on the Antrim coast. The height is 



