382 [Proc. B.N.F.O., 



At six o'clock tea was provided at Hill's cottage ; and, 

 although not served with the promptness, nor surrounded with 

 all the desirable accessories of a high-class restaurant, was 

 nevertheless much appreciated, after which a short business 

 meeting was held, and some new members elected ; then the 

 return journey commenced, and the party entrained again, 

 arriving in Belfast at a quarter-past nine. 



EXCURSION TO MOURNE MOUNTAINS. 



The third excursion of the summer season took place on 

 Saturday, July ist, to- the Diamond Rocks and Tollymore Park. 

 Many of the members left for their holidays on this day, and 

 only forty-four met the conductors at the County Down Railway 

 Station, where the 9-35 train was taken for Newcastle. On 

 arrival here the party, augmented by two members who joined 

 en route, took brakes and cars, and were driven tO' Trassey 

 Bridge. Leaving the vehicles here the party divided, one half 

 exploring Tollymore Park, and the other, including seven ladies, 

 starting on the stiff climb to the Diamond rocks, led by Mr. 

 Nevin H. Foster, and accompanied by twO' quarrymen with 

 huge hammers, in order that the rocks might be more easily 

 broken. After a long walk over very rough road the party 

 breasted the Hare's Gap, and quickly reached their destination, 

 where all were soon busy looking for "specimens." 



The Mourne Mountains are of tertiary age, and have been 

 intruded into the silurian beds, which to a large extent must 

 have been carried up by the granite, as even after hundreds of 

 years of denudation patches of these ancient sedimentary strata 

 are still found at high altitudes. The mountains nearly all 

 show the characteristic rounded top which a weathered granite 

 mountain presents, while in places the smaller masses showed 

 another characteristic of granite — namely, the smooth weathered 

 rounded surfaces of the jointed mass, looking as if it had been 

 rounded by water action. The granite varies in coarseness 

 from place to place. That of the Diamond Rocks shows well 



