t>6o [P roc . B.N.F.C, 



recognizable. The "gold ornaments," which formed the subject 

 of the celebrated Government law-suit some years ago, were 

 buried in the oldest, that is, the principal, raised beach. 



AEOLIAN DRIFT. 



The remarkable sand-tract of Magilligan, projecting in 

 triangular form north-westward, from the steep slope at the foot 

 of Benevenagh, almost to Greencastle in Inishowen, presents a 

 problem of unique interest, as I regard it. 



It is represented on the published government maps as raised 



beach, dotted over here and there near the margins with sand-hills ; 



yet, except as affording probably an original foothold for the sand 



the raised beach character is wanting ; the tract as a whole shows 



neither an upper layer, nor a subsoil like those of the other raised 



beaches. Shells and shell fragments are abundant in the latter, 



while in openings for drains and wells throughout Magilligan they 



are conspicuous by their absence or rarity. Again the Raised 



Beach is characteristically flat, while the Magilligan sand-tract is 



ridged throughout. The ridges in the cultivated flatter parts are 



locally known as " ryelands," and the troughs, as "oatlands" or 



" coaghs." The persistence, regularity and extension even of the 



very minor ridges are unique, and supply us, on a small scale, with 



a character of scenery witnessed in the extensive deserts,* say of 



North Africa. Compared with the usual effects of wind upon 



sand-areas along the Irish coast, so very fitful and irregular, the 



regularity of arrangement in Magilligan is a matter of intense 



surprise. Along the north-eastern side, a valley runs N.W. and 



S.E. between ridges for about two miles. It is almost quite level 



and some 35 feet deep, at a point where the ridge between it and 



the present beach is 60 feet above datum. The ridges within 



this are lower and less regular, but each is separated from the 



neighbouring ridges by narrow far-stretching "coaghs," with 



loughlets, marshes or wet usually peaty ground. 



*Beadnall of the Egyptian Survey in his "Memoir" for 1901, speaks 

 (p. 9, etc.) of the strict parallelism of the sand-ridges in the Farafra Oasis, 

 N.N.W. and S.S.E,, this being, he remarks, the direction of the normal winds. 



