Fair Head, County Antrim
The promontory of Fair Head is formed of a number of basaltic colossal pillars, many of them of a much larger size than any to be seen at the Causeway; in some instances exceeding two hundred feet in length, and five in breadth; one of them forming a quadrangular prism, thirty-three feet by thirty-six on the sides, and of the gigantic altitude we have just mentioned. It is said to be the largest basaltic pillar yet discovered upon the face of our globe, exceeding in diameter the pedestal that supports the statue of Peter the Great, at St. Petersburg, and considerably surpassing in length the shaft of Pompey's Pillar, at Alexandria.
At the foot of this magnificent colonnade is seen an immense mass of rock, similarly formed, like a wide waste of natural ruins, which are by some supposed to have been, in the course of successive ages, tumbled down from their original foundation, by storms or by some violent operation of nature. These massive bodies have sometimes withstood the shock of their fall, and often lie in groups and clumps of pillars, resembling many of the varieties of artificial ruins, and forming a very novel and striking landscape—the deep waters of the sea rolling at their base with a full and heavy swell.
END OF CHAPTER III.