176 Irish Volcanoes. 



The single bed that is seen at the Causeway is but one of 

 some five and twenty distinct eruptions, and of all these abun- 

 dant evidence exists on the line of cliff between Londonderry 

 and Belfast. 



But the Giant's Causeway, if only a small part of the whole, 

 is wonderfully perfect and characteristic, and affords the key 

 to the whole formation. It is a natural tesselated pavement, 

 extending from the foot of the cliff towards the sea below low- 

 water mark ; but it is confined to this one particular locality 

 on the coast, and though it extends out seaward till lost 

 under the waves, it does not seem to recur in the same state 

 in any other place. 



It is a pavement of which the pattern is so elegant and so 

 perfect, that no one can wonder at the Irish superstition to 

 which its name is due. No one would easily recognize, with- 

 out some familiarity with such phenomena elsewhere, the 

 connection between this marvellously regular pavement and 

 the volcanic eruption to which it is unquestionably due. 



The entrance to Belfast Lough from the sea is extremely 

 picturesque. Hills rise on either side, some of them flat- 

 topped and basaltic, others crowned with heaps of sand and 

 gravel. To the north, these hills are backed, by others of 

 older rock and less formal appearance. On both sides and all 

 round they are deeply tinged with the emerald green so 

 characteristic of Ireland, and so striking to the eye of the 

 traveller, even when he has only crossed from Lancashire to 

 Ulster. The richness of vegetation does not, however, conceal 

 the peculiar angular and almost grotesque outline of the prin- 

 cipal hill on the north side, whose top is said to present a 

 contour likeness to the nose and chin of the first Napoleon. The 

 resemblance is not very striking. 



Belfast itself is well worth a visit. The town is large, but 

 it will not long detain the visitor who is bound for the 

 Irish volcanoes. One of the Ulster lines of railway runs 

 westward as far as Portadown, where it connects with the line 

 to Dublin. It then proceeds north-westward to Londonderry, 

 always over or near the old floor of lava. Another line nrus 

 first eastward, branching to Carrickfcrgus and Larne, and 

 then westward, branching again to Lough Neagh. A branch 

 runs northward to Coleraine and Portrush — and it is this which 

 brings one most rapidly to the Giant's Causeway. It passes 

 near Lough Neagh, the great lake of Ireland, and one of the 

 largest in Europe, but not within sight of it. It passes over the 

 fiery stream also, but that is for the most part hidden from the 

 general traveller, though a geological eye would discover ihc 

 fact here and there. The road from Belfast to Portrush is not 

 remarkably picturesque, and offers nothing of special interest. 



