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706 VON TROIL’s LETTERS ON ICELAND.
pafled the cave, which if it is not low water, you muft do ina boat, you come to the
firft ranges of pillars, which are ftill not above half as large as thofe a little beyond.
Over againft this place is a fmall ifland, called in Erfe Boo-/ha-/a, feparated from the
main by a channel not many fathoms wide: this whole ifland is compofed of pillars
without any f{tratum above them ; they are ftill {mall, but by much the neateft formed of
any about the place.
The firft divifion of the ifland, for at high water it is divided into two, makes a kind
of a cone, the pillars converging together towards the centre: on the other, they are in
general laid down flat: and in the front next to the main, you fee how beautifully they
are packed together; their ends coming out fquare with the bank which they form :
all thefe have their tranfverfe fetions exaét, and their furfaces fmooth, which is by no
means the cafe with the large ones, which are cracked in all directions. I much queltion,
however, if any one of this whole ifland of Boo-fha-la is two feet in diameter.
The main ifland oppofite to Boo-fha-la, and farther towards the N. W. is fupported
by ranges of pillars pretty erect, and though not tall (as they are not uncovered to the
bafe) of large diameters ; and at their feet is an irregular pavement, made by the up-
per fides of fuch as have been broken off, which extends as far under water as the eye
can reach. Here the forms of the pillars are apparent; thefe are of three, four, five,
fix, and feven fides; but the numbers of five and fix are much the moft prevalent.
The largeft I meafured was of feven; it was four feet five inchesin diameter*. ‘The
furfaces of the large pillars in general are rough and uneven, full of cracks in all
directions ; the tranfverfe figures in the upright ones never fail to run in their true
directions: the furfaces upon which we walked were often flat, having neither concavity
nor convexity; the larger number however were concave, though fome were very
evidently convex: in fome places the interftices within the perpendicular figures were
filled up with a yellow fpar ; in one place a vein pafled in among the mafs of pillars,
carrying here and there {mall threads of fpar. Though they were broken, and cracked
through and through in all directions, yet their perpendicular figures might eafily be
traced ; from whence it is eafy to infer, that whatever the accident might have been that
caufed the diflocation, it happened after the formation of the pillars.
From hence, proceeding along fhore, you arrive at Fingal’s Cave, which runs into a
rock in the direction of N. E. by E. by the compafs.
Proceeding farther to the N. W. you meet with the higheft range of pillars, the
magnificent appearance of which furpafles all defcription: here they are bare to their
very bafis; and the ftratum below them is alfo vifible: in a fhort time it rifes man
feet above the water, and gives an opportunity of examining its quality. Its furface is
rough, and has often large lumps of {tone {ticking to it, as if half immerfed ; itfelf, when
broken, is compofed of a thoufand heterogeneous parts, which together have ver
much the appearance of a lava; and the more fo, as many of the lumps appear to be of.
the very fame {tone of which the pillars are formed: this whole ftratum lies in an in-
clined pofition, dipping gradually towards theS. E. Hereabouts is the fituation of the
higheft pillars. ‘The {tratum above them is uniformly the fame, confifting of numberlefs
{mall pillars, bending and inclining in all directions, fometimes fo irregularly, that the
{tones can only be faid to have an inclination to aflume a columnar form; in others
more regular, but never breaking into, or difturbing the ftratum of large pillars, whofe-
tops every where keep an uniform and regular line.
* As Mr. Banks’s meafurement and dimenfions of thefe and other remarkable pillars, and of Fingal’s
Cave, agree even to a lingle figure with thofe given by our accurate Author in this work, the repetition
of them would have been ufelefs; for which reafon they are omitted.
10 Proceeding
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