The Scientific Tourist through Ireland: in which the traveller is directed to the principal objects of antiquity, art, science & the picturesqueWalford, Thomas
History
The Scientific Tourist through Ireland: in which the traveller is directed to the principal objects of antiquity, art, science & the picturesque
Walford, Thomas
Ireland -- Description and travel
FAIRHEAD or BENMORE, 4 m. N.E. of Ballycastle.--Is a most interesting
object, towering magnificently with its massive columns of basaltes,
forming a line of coast the most fantastically beautiful that
imagination can conceive. It is strongly characterized by the savage
wildness of its cliffs, at whose foot the ocean rages with uncommon
fury. Scarce a single mark of vegetation has yet crept over the hard
rock to diversify its colour, but one uniform grayness pervades its
scenery, contrasting exquisitely with Bengore, about 9 m. distant to
the W. The tourist must visit the Fhirleath or Gray Man's Path, a deep
chasm dividing the solitary promontory in twain, with its solid walls
of rude and threatening columns upwards of 200 feet in perpendicular
abruptness.
GIANT'S CAUSEWAY, 8 m. W. from Ballycastle, and about 3 m. N. of
Bushmills (the general station for tourists).--Is an object not to be
described in small limits, being a most singular geological curiosity
and one of Nature's most stupendous productions. Dr. Drummond briefly
states it to consist of three moles, composed of basaltic columns
projecting into the sea from the middle of the semicircular bay of
Port Noffer; the longest of which, called the Grand Causeway, extends
in a sloping direction from the base of the cliff about 300 feet, when
it is lost in the ocean. The pillars of which the Causeway consists
have been estimated at 30000; but that is too small a calculation.
These are of different dimensions; 15 to 36 feet in height, and from
15 to 26 inches in diameter, chiefly pentagonal or hexagonal; each
consists of joints or pieces concave and convex alternately at the
ends. The pillars are a species of basaltes and kind of close grit,
vitrifiable, of a dusky hue, contrasting finally with the surrounding
verdant scenery, and continued, with interruptions, two miles along
the precipitous shore. On the eastern side the Giant's Loom, a
colonnade of 36 feet in height; and on the opposite cliff may be seen
the Organ, so called from the resemblance to that instrument in the
group of columns: also the Giant's Well, Chair, and Theatre, with
the King and Parliament. Other objects of curiosity are,--the large
rounded masses of irregularly prismatic basalt between the causeways,
and the distinct globular concretions at Port Coon, a little to the
westward: the curious whyn dyke at the head of the grand causeway:
the generally romantic scenery of Port Noffer: then the cave of Port
Coon, celebrated for its fine echo, continually resounding to the dash
of the waves: the Cave of Dunkerry between Port Coon and the Bushfoot
Strand, accessible only from the ocean, between two mural ridges
of jet-black rock, with its lofty dome and sides overspread with a
covering of green _confervæ_, suggesting the idea that it might have
been scooped out of an emerald; a crimson zone of marine plants, five
or six feet in breadth, surrounds and adorns it; and its extent has
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