852 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. VIII. 



has been produced by the incessant action of the surges on 

 the base of the cliff. This natural cavern is of singular 

 beauty, and is known to the English tourist by the name of 

 FingaVs Cave ; but it is called by the islanders, Naimh-bim, 

 or the Cave of Music, from the murmuring echoes occasioned 

 by the billows, which in rough weather dash with violence 

 and a loud noise into the chasm. 



The Isle of Staffa is a complete mass of columnar basalt ; 

 it is about two miles in circumference, and forms a table- 

 land of an irregular surface, being surrounded on every side 

 by steep cliffs, about seventy feet high, which are composed 

 of clusters of angular columns, possessing from three to six or 

 seven sides. It is intersected by one deep gorge, which 

 divides the higher and more celebrated columnar portion 

 from the other division of the island. At the highest tides, 

 the columns which form the south-western cliffs appear to 

 terminate abruptly in the water ; but the retiring tide ex- 

 poses a causeway of broken columns at their base. The 

 greatest elevation of the island is about 120 feet, and its 

 surface is covered with soil of considerable depth, clothed 

 with herbage.* 



Fingal's Cave, first made known to the public in 1772, 

 by Sir Joseph Banks, is on the south-east corner of the 

 island, and presents a magnificent chasm 42 feet wide, and 

 227 in length. The roof, which is 100 feet high at the 

 entrance, gradually diminishes to 50, and is composed of the 

 projecting extremities of basaltic columns ; the sides are 

 formed of perpendicular pillars ; and the base consists of a 

 causeway paved with the truncated ends of similar columns. 

 The vaulted arch presents a singularly rich and varied effect ; 

 in some places it is composed of the ends of portions of 

 basaltic pillars, resembling a tessellated marble pavement ; 

 in others, of the rough surface of the naked rock ; w r hile in 

 many, stalactites mingle with the pillars in the recesses, and 

 * Dr. Macculloch. 



