GIANTS' CAUSEWAY—ORGAN.

27

which it could have been made, I would not hesitate to say, that it is the work of man; but its position, on the coast, and partly under the water-its extent, consisting of three plateaux, or moles, each jutting out into the sea; the greatest being visible about three hundred yards, at low water; besides the face of the cliffs, for miles, being formed of the same kind of structure, and the want of any useful design that has ever been discovered or suggested, utterly forbids every idea of its having a human origin.

The material is basalt; its form is that of vertical columns, running down in the ground, fitting together like mosaic work, as accurately as though they had been laid out by rule, and cut to patterns, each side fitted to the sides of the next ones with which they come in contact. They are from three to ninesided; but notwithstanding they are thus varied, they are so placed, that the joints are all perfect, and fit so nicely, that in walking over them, you would fail to find a crevice in which you could insert the smallest substance. It is impossible to say how deeply they penetrate beneath the surface; but in the cliffs, which tower hundreds of feet above the shore, you see them in places where the earth has been washed off, reaching from the top to the bottom. Here they present, in many places, resemblances which have led to various names. One of these is called the "Giant's Organ;" the pipes are said to be one hundred and twenty feet high. The fanciful tradition about it runs as follows:

"Sure, wasn't it petrified into stone, and if it was disenchanted, all the fine ould Irish airs that are lost

would break out of it again. It must have been a great treat intirely, to say nothing of the music, to hear OSSIAN sing his own poetry to the organ built by his own hands; and a fine sight to see the giants, and their wives and children, listening to the white bearded old poet."

CHAPTER VI.

Belfast-Greenock-Scotch Mist-Loch Lomond-Glasgow--Na

pier's Foundry.

OM the Giants' Causeway, we "posted

FROM

" it

down to Belfast, which place is famous for its immense linen markets, and is a thriving, business city. We visited the linen warehouse of Messrs. Sadler, Fenton & Co., which is, I believe, the most extensive firm in the trade, and were received with much courtesy, and kindly shown through it by the proprie

We also visited several of the manufactories, and observed, with much interest, the weaving of damask and other fine linens, some kinds of which can only be made by the hand (and feet) looms. It is a laborious tread-mill operation, and must be very trying to the constitution of even the most robust but when we saw women employed in this kind of labor, sitting at the looms, with their feet and hands in constant and severe motion all day long, we could not help deploring that any necessity should exist for this distressing labor by the weaker sex. It was painful to see, and it is painful to recall it.

men;

From Belfast we crossed the channel, in the night, and were introduced into Scotland, at Greenock, at an early hour in the morning, in a regular Scotch mist. One of those that would be pronounced either a rain or a mist, according to the temperament of the person judging; a lively imagination would unhesi

tatingly term it a rain, and the sober truth would not permit you to say that it was exaggerated; a person of more phlegmatic temperament might call it a mist, and you would be very likely to say that it was a very matter-of-fact judgment. We thought this an appropriate introduction into Scotland, and a characteristic accompaniment to a Scotch reception. We accordingly made quite merry over it, although it was a damper to our feelings, and would not have had it otherwise for any consideration.

After breakfast, and a walk through the city, we took steam up the Clyde, past Dumbarton to Bowling; thence by rail to Balloch, on Loch Lomond, where we again took steam up the loch, to visit Ben Lomond. The loch is a beautiful sheet of water, about twentyfour miles long, and containing twenty-four islands. It is narrow and winding, and the mountains, all around it, are so situated as to shut in the prospect, so that you seem to be in a small lake, about a mile or two in circumference, all the time, with high hills and mountains on every hand. As you proceed, the prospect opens before and closes behind you in such a manner that you seem to be continually approaching the shore, and can see no outlet; but as you advance, by almost imperceptible sweeps of the shore, the boundaries of the little lake seem to expand by some magical process, which you hardly wish to comprehend, so pleasing is the effect; and you almost unavoidably forget the plain realities as they exist, and resign yourself to the influence of imagination, which brings back upon the mind the stories of enchantment

LOCH LOMOND-BEN LOMOND.

31.

that took so strong a hold upon youthful fancy, in which mountains became level plains, and the ponderous gates of giants' castles, opened at a word before the stalwart knight, bound upon some chivalric mission. The same remark will almost apply to it that I made concerning the Scotch mist. There is so much truth about it, that a vivid fancy will hardly deem it overdrawn, and a cold, unimaginative temperament could not say less than that the scene is one that will admit of some enthusiasm, and, although unmoved itself, will find a shadow of excuse for even some exaggerated feeling.

Ben Lomond is three thousand two hundred and sixty-two feet above the level of the loch; the distance, by the path, to the top, is five miles, and can be traveled on horseback to the very summit. We could. procure, however, but two horses, and mounting Mrs. V. upon one, we three gentlemen took turns upon the other, and in two hours gained the top. We found large deposits of snow before reaching the top, and had a regular frolic at snow-balling. On many of the peaks around, snow was visible, (30th May.) From this elevated point of view (the mist having cleared away,) the scene was enchanting; mountains rising around us in gigantic grandeur on all sides; some of them higher than the spot we were on, and all having the most irregular and picturesque outlines traced against the clear blue sky, crossing each other in every imaginable way, and at various distances; some of them near by, others so remote as to be just visible, and many intervening-a perfect am