BASALTES. 
5t)3 
towards the sea, and terminating in a point, over 
which the breakers dash with violence. This pier 
composes the western horn of a bay in the form of 
a crescent, surrounded by high and rugged ground, 
which exhibits some fine basaltic phenomena. On 
all sides are to be seen groups of columns, to which 
the guides have given different names, according to 
their supposed resemblance to some familiar ob- 
ject ; thus they call one mass of columns at the 
bottom of the bay the organ, another the weaver’s 
loom, &c. 
The mass of columns which run into the sea 
and form the causeway itself, are nearly on a level 
with the beach, and, being composed of vertical pil- 
lars with horizontal surfaces, exhibit at a distance 
the appearance of a stone pavement. But on ap- 
proaching the shore, we perceive that the sections 
of the columns are so far from being upon the same 
level, that in traversing the causeway we are con- 
tinually obliged to go up and down. All the prisms 
which compose this natural pier are almost in per- 
fect contact with each other, without any interme- 
diate substance between them ; in which respect 
they differ from the basaltes at Dunbar, where the 
intervals between the columns are said to be filled 
with a coarse kind of jasper. 
The columns of this famous causeway are nearly 
of the same size ; and their mean diameter, says 
M. Pictet, is from twelve to fifteen inches. They 
differ in the number of their sides, some having 
four, and some eight ; but those with six sides are 
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