are neat and numerous. On the left stands the mountain of Knock-laide, one thousand six hundred and ninety feet high, the loftiest and largest in this part of the country. On reaching the town I drove to the little inn which had the appearance of comfort and cleanliness; but on delivering my letter of introduction to Mr. M'Neill, he very kindly insisted on my taking up my abode with him, at least for the night.

69

LETTER V.

FROM BALLYCASTLE TO COLERAINE.

Town of Ballycastle-Projects of Mr. Boyd-Ancient CollieriesPartially Worked — Swinging Bridge of Carrick-a-Rede Pleaskin Promontory-Formation of Giant's Causeway - Its Structure-Singularity of, in the Angles of the PolygonsVariety in the Formation of the Joints or Articulations-Dimensions of the Causeway-Grand View of Pleaskin from-Specimen of Irish Feeling-Port du Spagna, and Note on the Spanish Armada - Bush Mills-Whin-dykes-Portrush Dunluce Castle O'Halloran's History.

Coleraine, 5th September, 1835. BEFORE I Conduct you to the Giant's Causeway, of which you will naturally expect I should say something, (though after so many accounts of it already in print, you must not expect that my short visit will elicit anything new,) I must first give you a brief notice of Ballycastle, of which, as yet, I have said nothing. The town is prettily situated in a wide gap, made in the long line of a precipitous coast of basalt and limestone, extending from Fairhead to Portrush. There are, in fact, two towns; the upper, which is situated in the open country, at the commencement of the valley; and the lower, which may be considered as the port, and consists of the customhouse, storehouses, and a few dwellings. Between

the two is an avenue of trees, an object which is not often seen in this part of the county of Antrim. Ballycastle may probably contain some two hundred houses, and one thousand inhabitants. This agreeable little spot may be said almost to owe its creation to an enterprising individual of the name of Boyd, who obtained a grant of land from the Earl of Antrim, in perpetuity, of all the coal-mines between it and Fairhead. He also succeeded in obtaining a parliamentary grant of 20,000l. or upwards, for the erection of a pier to protect the harbour against the tremendous sea that sometimes rolls in upon this wild coast. He now concluded that his fortune was fully secured. He erected a glass-house, a brewery, a tannery; built a customhouse; and, to do his memory full justice, he built a church, ornamented with a spire; built and endowed a school with twenty acres of land, and was proceeding with other improvements, when he was cut short in his career by death, and was carried to the grave on the very day that the church was con

secrated.

All these projects at once failed by the demise of the original projector, and the demolition of the pier from the violence of the waves, by which the harbour was filled up and destroyed. The collieries alone continue to be worked, but the coals are like those of Kilkenny, called blind coals, that yield neither flame nor smoke. They are still worked by adits or drifts, to spare the expense of machinery

required by shafts; but the quantity produced is said to be small, and no demand for an increased quantity. There appears on the Ordnance map, between Ballycastle and Carrickmore (little more than half way to Fairhead), not less than ten different collieries, and five whin-dykes apparently intersecting them.

It is related by Dr. Hamilton, that a discovery was made, in his time, of chambers that had been worked, and of various tools, baskets, &c., deposited therein; the latter so decayed that, on being touched, they immediately crumbled to pieces. The implements that had been employed were very different from those in use at the present day; and the wicks of the candles were formed of rags. The great antiquity of this mine may be inferred, from the hammers made use of being formed of boulders of stone, one of which I have in my possession. It is of ponderous and close-grained basalt, about four pounds in weight; some being heavier and others lighter: has a groove evidently made with difficulty round it, the ends meeting in a flat surface underneath, against which the wedge, that was used to tighten the shaft of the hammer, appears to have been placed, and which shaft was probably a twisted withe of willow or hazel, or a strap of tough hide passed round the groove. The figure in the following page will perhaps convey a clearer description than I can otherwise give.

This colliery must evidently have been worked long before the discovery of gunpowder, as no trace of blasting appears. The ancient use of stone hammers is not confined to this part of the United Kingdom: the same thing has been found in an old colliery near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, together with some flint wedges. The working of the Antrim mine had apparently stopped short on arriving at one of the whin-dykes, which the miners could not penetrate. It is recorded, that in these places where the coal was in contact with the whin-stone, it was blistered, or burnt into cinders. The same thing happens in other collieries, wherever the whin-dykes have penetrated the coal strata. These whin-dykes, it appears, are very frequent along the whole of the coast of Antrim, intersecting the limestone strata, of which the cliffs are mostly composed, and then