the North-eastern Part of the County of Antrim. 75 



the Cushendall conglomerate. It is undoubtedly much older, as I shall pre- 

 sently show. The same rock, though less gritty in structure, extends to a 

 considerable elevation in the bay, and alternates with beds of slate clay, and a 

 dark blue, bituminous shale, as in the cliffs west of Fairhead. There also 

 adits were made into the sandstone, and a considerable quantity of coal was 

 obtained, but the workings are now abandoned. 



Fairhead reposes upon the coal formation. At the south-western termi- 

 nation of the area, near Maghera and Cairnlogher, in the county of Derry, 

 a small coal formation occurs, resting upon carboniferous limestone and old 

 red sandstone on the one side, and upon mica slate on the other, thus afford- 

 ing a complete analogy with the Ballycastle district. 



New Red Sandstone and Conglomerate. 



(14.) The conglomerate of this formation has been fully described by Dr. 

 Berger and Mr. Conybeare. In addition to the fragments observed by them, 

 I noticed a few small round pieces of red granite, which would seem to have 

 been derived from the beds of that rock, subordinate to the mica slate. This 

 conglomerate passes (apparently) into old red sandstone on the one hand, and 

 into red marl on the other. It lines the coast from Cushendun Bay to the 

 commencement of the porphyry, at the mouth of Cushendall river, and ex- 

 tends a short distance from the shore into Cross-slieve. 



At Cushendall caves, the red sandstone alternates with the conglomerate ; 

 but is so free from fragments, that it is quarried in considerable quantity 

 and shipped for Belfast. The cement of the conglomerate also often passes 

 from its ordinary coarse, reddish, and highly quartzose state into a finer and 

 white sandstone, indicating a passage from the one rock into the other. In- 

 deed so close is the connexion in mineral structure, that it seems almost im- 

 possible to draw a precise line between them. 



On the shore near Port Vinegar, the masses of porphyry imbedded in the 

 conglomerate, are more numerous than at any other place, and are all identical 

 with the adjoining rock; and as almost every variety is found in rolled and 

 angular pieces, a great part of the conglomerate at this point, has been pro- 

 duced, apparently by the wearing down of the porphyry. 



At the southern termination of the porphyry the conglomerate is resumed, 

 and extends to the mouth of Glenariff" river. A change there takes place in 

 the base of the conglomerate, — it first passes into a coarse red sand, containing 

 the usual fragments ; then into a fine stratified red sand, in which the frag- 

 ments are loosely imbedded, adhering neither to the base nor to one another. 

 These fragments gradually diminish in size and in quantity, until they ulti- 



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