Misc. Subj. CXXV. Vol. Vt. No. 8? 



THE GIANTS -CAUSEWAY IN IRELAND. 



L he isla of Staffa and Fin gal's cave in 

 Scotland are not superior in beauty to the 

 magnificent Giants - causeway , situated on 

 the northwestern coast of Ulster, in the 

 county of Antrim in Ireland. It is natu- 

 rally formed of innumerable pillars of ba- 

 saltes which arise perpendicularly , having 

 been regarded in former times by supersti- 

 tious people as a work of spirits and giants. 

 Those pillars of basaltes (which are reckoned 

 30,000) form a kind of promontory gradually 

 declining towards the sea and terminating m 



a causeway, which by means of the pillarg 

 proportionately broken off forms an even 

 way. This causeway has about 600 feet in 

 length and 120 to 140 in breadth. The single 

 pillars have 12 to 15 inches in diameter, being 

 quadrangular , sexangular and octangular,, 

 but for the most part sexangular, as the pre- 

 sent table shews, on one side elevated ani 

 on the other fluted, whereby the single parts 

 of the pillars join tçgether like the vertèbres 

 of the back - bone , thus supporting themsel- . 

 ves in an upright direction» 



