i88 Dr. Richardson's Letter on the basaltic Surface 
a spectacle equally gratifying to the admirer of magnificence, 
and to the curious naturalist, who can here, by simple inspec- 
tion, trace the arrangements which are to be discovered else- 
where, only by penetrating beneath the surface of the earth. 
As soon as we enter the basaltic area, we begin to perceive 
traces of these arrangements ; as we advance farther north, 
they increase ; and in the tract near the shore, and espe- 
cially at the island of Rathlin, which seems to have come 
fresher from the hand of nature than the rest of our area ; the 
stratification of the whole is perfectly visible, and the nature 
of the several strata laid open to us at their abrupt and preci- 
pitous terminations. 
To the southward we perceive the distinctive features abate, 
and wear away ; the basaltic stratification indeed remains, 
but is no longer displayed to us in the same manner ; the neat, 
prismatic, internal construction, of the strata, which occurs 
so frequently on, and near, the coast, is scarcely to be met 
with at a distance from it ; a rude columnar appearance is all 
we find, and that but rarely. 
It is at the periphery of our area, and especially at its 
northern side, that every thing is displayed to the greatest 
advantage ; here we have perpendicular facades often con- 
tinuous for miles, and every separate stratum completely 
open to examination. 
Of these fa£ades, four are more distinguished by their 
grandeur and beauty than the rest, Magilligan Rock, Cave 
Hill, Rengore, and Fairhead. 
The two former are at the extreme points of the north- 
west diagonal of our area, and nearly forty miles asunder ; 
they are at the summits of mountains, and accessible by land. 
