Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-02-04
THE GIANTS CAUSEWAY.
An Americans Impression of That Great Work Of
Nature.

THE GIANTS CAUSEWAY.
An American Impression of That Great Work Of
Nature.
dublin Correspondence Montreal Heraldl
The actual sight of the Giants Cause
way is at first an inevitable disappoint-
ment The tall columns which our old
biographies used to picture are wholly
wanting. No "lofty pillars holding up
the sky are here. AS your boat shoots
out of the little bay whose hanking pro-
montories conceal this wonder of the
world from view, you almost refuse to
sight which you have pictured to your
imagination. [ am confident that few
persons ever visit this strange columnar
formation for the first time without ex-
claiming, els that all ?"
The fact is that our pictures and old
representations of the causeway are man.
ifestly exaggerated, SO far as any gran
deur and awe-inspiring majesty are con-
ceIned.
Your guides take you out in large
ships boat on placid sea for a quarter
of mile from the shore, and then rows
you into a cavern of 800 or 400 feet in
depth and perhaps forty feet in height,
excavated in the rocks by the fierce
beatings of the Atlantic surges, OF per-
haps, of biologists say, torn open by the
past catalysm. I can imagine how,
when the west winds bring the great
rollers of the Atlantic to thunder at the
entrance of this cave, there should be
something to inspire the beholder with
awe; but as on calm evening we glided
smoothly under the roof of rocks it GER
tainly was commonplace. Half o mile
north of the cave is the causeway itself.
Above it the shores tower to height of
perhaps 400 feet, overhanging the sea,
and displaying but imperfectly the same
columnar structure, which is the
characteristic peculiarly of this north
most peninsula of Ireland. One sees
high up on the face of the cliffs places
where the pillars are quite plainly visible,
but not SO manifestly as the pictures
would lead one to suppose. Just on the
promontory which stands out most boldly
into the Atlantic is a group of three
| isolated columns, each one of which is
said to be forty-fve feet in height, and
which stands in an altitude above the
water of $40 feet. The most conspicuous
one looks like what we Americans would
call elderly pole" Such it really is;
for when the Spanish armada, in the reign
of Elizabeth, undertook the invasion and
conquest of Britain, part of the vast
fleet, separated by storm, sailed around
the British islands, and in the twilight,
rounding this point, the commander
probably mistook it's lofty turrets for
those of Dunluce castle, noble pile of
Notifications, whose ruins still crown o
neigboring prO1nontory, and bombarded
| the battlements of natures building till
only these three remained of the group.
The causeway proper, however, does
not rise more than 20 feet above the wa
ter's edge. 1t is this comparatively low
er altitude which is the source of disap-
pointment to which have alluded. The
consciousness of something wanting to
the fulfllment of what ones fancy has
painted is only removed when, disem-
barking from your boat, you stand on
the great highway of natures own pay
ing, and gradually realize it's marvellous
character. Beneath your feet is won
derfui mosaic if that term can be APP
piled to that which has no variety of
color, composed of thousands of basal
tic pillars, as if some Titantic pile driver
had been here set at work to construct a
breakwater against the surges of the sea-
It's breadth is from 20 to 46 feet, and the
length of the whole structure perhaps is
| 500 or 600 feet. No Minton tile work was
ever laid with more perfect joints. Each
angle fits into it's corresponding recess
with an absolute mechanical nicely. The
larger number Of these pillars are pen
tagonal, but some have six, some seven,
and some eight sides. How deeply they
! &c L,
been determined, nor is it known how far
they run out beneath the sea, although
| the somewhat similar formation on the
| Scottish side of the channel is the basis
Of the legend which has given its name
! to the causeway. The Irish myth is that
this was formerly a roadway to Stafa,
built by Hibernian giant to enable
Scotchman of like huge proportions to
walk over to Ireland to be soundly
tbrasned. The sequel of this veracious
narrative I have never heard, and am
therefore nnable to chronicle the issue of
the fight. AS we left the region of the
causeway it was ten O'Clock at night. A
mist was already thie!kening the atmos-
phere, the prelude to heavy ram, which
overlook us before we haa driven into
| Port Rush, the nearest town on the line
of the railway. Yet so wonderful IL ne
twilight in this far northern region that
it was easy to read the hour on the face
of my watch.
Far away to the northwest, through
the gloom that gathered over the ocean,
! we caught the distant glimmer of a re
volving light. It was that upon the
island of 1nnistrahul, oh which the ILL
fated steamship Cambria, of the Anchor
line, struck a few years ago and went to
pieces, with the loss of al on board.
One man alone reached the land alive,
and he was too exhausted to tell the hor-
rible story of the accident before his
death ensued.
THERE is something sadden1ng about
pair of scissors alas they only meet to