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NATURAL CURIOSITIES.

Among these would, in ancient times, have been mentioned the purgatory of St. Patrick. At present the lake of Killarney attracts more attention. This picturesque expanse of water is about ten miles in length, and from one to seven in breadth; it is divided into three parts, called the upper, lower, and Mucrass lake; and is surrounded by an amphitheatre of mountains clothed with trees, whose verdure is contrasted with intervening rocks. The arbutus, with its scarlet fruit and snowy blossoms, here vegetates in great luxuriance. Nor are cascades, and other features of rural beauty, wanting to complete the scene. The isle of Innisfallen is not only romantic, but of venerable fame for the annals written there. The petrifying power of Lough Neagh must be mentioned, though the quality is supposed to reside rather in the circumjacent soil. The petrifications seem to be chiefly of oak and holly. Among the natural curiosities of Ireland must not be forgotten the Dargle, an enchanting glen, about twelve miles to the south of Dublin, finely wooded with oak, and near a mile in length, with high precipices, and a picturesque river.

In describing the physical appearances. of Ireland, the mind naturally reverts to that most exraordinary phænomenon of nature, called the Giant's Causeway; and as the most accurate and

perfect account of it, which has yet appeared, is to be found in Hamilton's Letters on the North

ern Coast of the County of Antrim, some extracts from it shall be here given, omitting all the previous details respecting its volcanic origin, because interesting only to the man of science, and retaining those which are descriptive of its actual appearance, and comprehensible therefore to every reader.

"The Causeway itself is generally described as a mole or quay, projecting from the base of a steep promontory, some hundred feet into the sea, and is formed of perpendicular pillars of basaltes, which stand in contact with each other, exhibiting an appearance not much unlike a solid honeycomb. The pillars are irregular prisms, of various denominations, from four to eight sides * ; but the hexagonal columns are as numerous as all the others together.

"On a minute inspection, each pillar is found to be separable into several joints, whose articulation is neat and compact beyond expression, the convex termination of one joint always meeting a concave socket in the next; besides which, the

"Monsieur Faujas de St. Fond took much pains to search for pillars of nine sides among the basaltes of Vivarais, in consequence of the account which Mr. Molleueux and Monsieur de Lisle gave, that such were to be found;, but there is little doubt that both these gentlemen were mistaken, as none of that denomination are to be discovered at the Giant's Causeway, or its neighbourhood. Indeed octagon pillars are very rarely to be met with."

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angles of some frequently shoot over those of the other, so that they are completely locked together, and can rarely be separated without a fracture of some of their parts.

"The sides of each column are unequal among themselves, but the contiguous sides of adjoining columns are always of equal dimensions, so as to touch in all their parts.

Though the angles be of various magnitudes, yet the sum of the contiguous angles of adjoining. pillars always makes up four right ones. Hence there are no void spaces among the basaltes, the surface of the Causeway exhibiting to view a regular and compact pavement of polygon stones.

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"The outside covering is soft, and of a brown colour, being the earthy parts of this stone nearly. deprived of its metallic principle by the action of the air, and of the marine acid which it receives from the sea*.

"These are the obvious external characters of this extraordinary pile of basaltes, observed and described with wonder by every one who has seen it. But it is not here that our admiration should cease whatever the process was, by which naturė produced that beautiful and curious arrangement of pillars, so conspicuous about the Giant's Causeway, the cause, far from being limited to that spot alone, appears to have extended through a large

"This coating contains iron which has lost its phlogiston, and is nearly reduced to a state of calx; for with a very moderate heat, it becomes a bright red ochre colour, the attendant of an iron earth.”

tract of country, in every direction, insomuch that many of the common quarries, for several miles round, seem to be only abortive attempts towards the production of a Giant's Causeway.

"From want of attention to this circumstance, a vast deal of time and labour have been idly spent in minute examinations of the Causeway itself; in tracing its course under the ocean, pursuing its columns into the ground, determining its length and breadth, and the number of its pillars, with numerous wild conjectures concerning its original all of which cease to be of any importance, when this spot is considered only as a small corner of an immense basalt quarry, extending widely over all the neighbouring land.

"The leading features of this whole coast are the two great promontories of Bengore and Fairhead, which stand at the distance of eight miles from each other; both formed on a great and extensive scale; both abrupt towards the sea, and abundantly exposed to observation; and each in its kind exhibiting noble arrangements of the different species of columnar basaltes.

"The former of these lies about seven miles west of Ballycastle, and is generally described by seamen, who see it at a distance, and in profile, as an extensive headland, running out from the coast to a considerable length into the sea; but, strictly speaking, it is made up of a number of lesser capes and bays, each with its own proper name, the

tout ensemble of which forms what the seamen denominate the headland of Bengore.

"These capes are composed of a variety of different ranges of pillars, and a great number of strata; which, from the abruptness of the coast, are extremely conspicuous, and form an unrivalled pile of natural architecture, in which all the neat regularity and elegance of art is united to the wild magnificence of nature.

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"The most perfect of these capes is called Pleaskin, of which I shall attempt a description, and along with it hope to send a drawing which draftsman has taken from the beach below, at the risk of his neck; for the approach from these promontories down to the sea, is frightful beyond description, and requires not only a strong head, but very considerable bodily activity to accomplish it.

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"The summit of Pleaskin is covered with a thin grassy sod, under which lies the natural rock, having generally an uniform hard surface, somewhat cracked and shivered. At the depth of ten or twelve feet from the summit, this rock begins to assume a columnar tendency, and forms a range of massy pillars of basaltes, which stand perpendicular to the horizon, presenting, in the sharp face of the promontory, the appearance of a magnificent gallery, or colonade, upwards of sixty feet in height.

"This colonade is supported on a solid base,