the beautiful Torc Cascade, supplied from a lake in the neighbouring mountain. * 7. "The Lower Lake, or Lough Leane, is five and a half miles in length, and two and a half in breadth, and covers more than four times the area of the other two. It contains in all about five-and-thirty islands of all sizes and proportions, and nearly all of them are clothed in the richest verdure and foliage. The largest and most famed of these islands are Ross and Innisfallen. 8. "Ross, the largest island, covers an area of about 158 acres. The most noteworthy object on the island is the celebrated Ross Castle, built in the fourteenth century by a descendant of O'Donoghue, 'lord of the lakes.' 'Sweet Innisfallen ' has an area of only twenty-one acres ; but if less in magnitude it receives from all tourists the distinction of being the most beautiful, as it is certainly the most interesting of the lake islands. Twelve centuries ago was founded here an abbey, of which the ruins still exist, from which afterwards issued the 'Annals of Innisfallen,' among the earliest and most authentic records of ancient Irish histories. The original manuscript, preserved for centuries in this abbey, is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford." 1. Like the west coast of Great Britain, and especially that of Scotland, the west coast of Ireland is irregular, broken, and indented, and the cause of the one is doubtless the cause of the other the great waves of the stormy Atlantic. We have seen that the chief mountain districts of Ireland lie near the coast. This is especially so in the north-east, north-west, west, and * Lower Lake has an area of 5,000 acres ; Middle Lake 680; and Upper Lake 130 acres. south-west, and on these coasts therefore we must look for great cliffs and rocky promontories. On the other hand, where the plains reach the sea the coast will be low. Such is the case on the east coast between the Wicklow Mountains on the south, and the Mourne Mountains on the north, and at other places between the mountain ranges. 2. The north-east coast of Antrim is bold and rocky. The cliffs increase in height and grandeur as we proceed northwards, and at Benmore or Fair Head, the extreme north-east point of the country, the rocks rise sheer out of the ocean to a height of over 600 feet. The north coast from Fair Head, to the far-famed Giant's Causeway, is strikingly peculiar, and no less interesting. The cliffs are formed of a greenish-looking rock, called basalt. The basalt has arranged itself in irregular upright columns having from three to six sides. Hundreds of these basaltic columns stand side by side, without any intervening spaces, and form compact pillars of rock, but pillars broken into all sorts of shapes and forms. Fair Head, Carrick-a-Rede-the "Rock in the Road"—the Pleaskin, and other noted promontories on this coast, are all formed of gigantic pillars of basalt. The Giant's Causeway has the appearance of a mole or quay made with giant pavement, projecting from the base of a steep promontory some hundred feet into the water. It is formed of perpendicular columns of basalt, the upper portions of which have been removed by the sea. 3. West of the Giant's Causeway the coast of Antrim consists of cliffs of white limestone. These cliffs-called "the White Rocks -are worn by the action of the waves into all kinds of fantastic forms. In many places they are full of wild and picturesque caves, the water having burrowed into the rocks till they present the appearance, when viewed from the sea, of gigantic rabbit warrens. Northwards from Antrim is Rathlin Island, where Robert Bruce once sought refuge when compelled to flee from his own country. Loughs Foyle and Swilly are the chief openings on the north coast. 4. The wild western shores of Donegal, with numerous narrow rocks and bold rocky points, resemble those on the west of Scotland. Malin Head is the extreme northern point of Ireland. Carrigan Head, the termination of the Donegal Mountains on the south, is a fine promontory, rising like a wall out of the sea to a height of 745 feet. Arran Island lies to the west of Donegal. 5. Mayo and Connemara form the western peninsula of Connaught, and here the shores are as wild, and bleak, and rugged, as on any part of the coast. The islands lying off this coast are numerous, chief among them being Achill Island, Clare Island, and the Arran Islands, at the entrance to Galway Bay. Erris Head, Achill Head, and Slyne Head, are the chief promontories. Between Donegal and Galway Bays the chief inlets of the sea are Sligo, Killala, and Clew Bays. 6. "The western coast of the county of Clare, from the cliffs of Moher to Loop Head, presents a succession of grand and impressive scenery. A bold, precipitous shore, with intervening bays, and coves, and sandy beaches; black, giant cliffs rising sheer out of the Atlantic Ocean, whose billows break thundering on the rocks, flying their spray high upon the headlands. The incessant beat of the sea has undermined the rocks in many places, making overhanging cliffs and caverns, whose borings have been the work of ages, forming natural bridges of the most picturesque character, and deep, long tunnels, into which the waters rush and break up through fissures, tossing their foam into the air high over the cliffs above." 7. The south-western peninsula-Kerry and Corkis split into four smaller peninsulas, which point like fingers into the Atlantic, by Dingle, Kenmare, and Bantry Bays. These long peninsulas are all mountainous, and the shores are broken and rocky, forming fine scenery. Dunmore Head, Bolus Head, Crown Head, and Mizen Head, are the western points. North-west of Kerry is Tralee Bay. South of the entrance to Dingle Bay is Valentia Island, important as the eastern terminus of the Atlantic cable which communicates with America. Cape Clear Island is the most southern part of Ireland. 8. The south coast, though less broken and mountainous than that of the west, is generally rugged and rocky, and in some parts skirted by dangerous rocks and islets. Waterford, Youghal, and Cork, are the chief inlets the latter forms one of the finest harbours in the world. 9. The east coast forms two curves bending outwards: the one from Carnsore Point, in the extreme south-east, to Dundalk Bay, and the other from Dundalk Bay to Fair Head. The shores of the former curve, with the exception of some of the cliffs terminating the Wicklow Mountains, such as Wicklow Head, are flat and sandy. |