1901-1902.] 19 



it was somewhat difficult progress, but on this occasion it was 

 easily undertaken by everyone, as convenient styles or foot- 

 bridges have been erected by the Northern Counties Railway 

 Company at all difficult places. Passing the first headland a 

 fine comprehensive view of the coast was obtained; in the 

 distance the bluff head of the Gobbins, reminding one of Fair 

 Head, or some of the well-known headlands at the Causeway. 

 In the middle foreground large masses of white chalk have 

 fallen into the sea, and give variety to the coast line, paved 

 with a multitude of pebbles, well-rounded chalk predominat- 

 ing; in the immediate foreground a steep wall of black basalt 

 rises, and casting its shadow over the path gives charm to the 

 foreground, and lends perspective to the distance. As soon as 

 we had grasped the features of the landscape we turned to the 

 details near at hand, and found romance and mystery in the 

 Smugglers' Cave. Truth is stranger than fiction, and local 

 history stranger than romance. " Here in this cave Lieu- 

 tenant Moses Hill, the head of the now great house of Down- 

 shire, lay concealed in 1588, after the disastrous affray with 

 M'Donnel, at Altfracken, when the Scot put to flight the 

 soldiers from Carrickfergus, and Sir John Chichester lost his 

 head." A stone wall or screen extends across the mouth of 

 the cave, and commands the narrow entrance with its rifle 

 embrasures. At present much of the entrance is obscured 

 from view, as debris has fallen from the overhanging cliff, 

 and masked the screen on the outside, but on the inside the 

 details of the wall are clearly seen. 



Soon the geologists came upon the small exposure of Lias 

 clay, a stiff blue clay, which when saturated with water 

 becomes plastic, and, underlying the Chalk and Basalt, has 

 formed an insecure foundation for the overlying rocks, with 

 the result that small landslips form a feature in the scenery 

 where such a combination of rocks exists. Fossils were found 

 in abundance in the short time at our disposal, even our 

 youngest members picking up such specimens as Cardinia 

 listen and Ostrea. A little further on there are little cliffs 

 sTiowing sections of the Cretaceous rocks with their various zones 



