Page 293 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

292 THIRD nooK O '
2. The chief causeway consists of a regular ar­ rangement of millions of pentagonal and hexagonal columns of basaltes, a deep grayish blue-coloured stone, harder than marble: the pillars are chie y in the rm of a pentagon, so closely situated on their sides, though per ctly distinct om top to bottom, that scarcely anything can be introduced between them. The columns are of an unequal height and breadth; some of the highest visible above the sur­ ce of the strand and at the ot of the precipice, are about twenty et; none of the principal arrange­ ment exceeds this height; how deep they are under the sur ce has not yet been ascertained.
3. This causeway extends nearly two hundred yards, visible at low water; how r beyond is un­ certain; om its declining appearance, however, to­ wards the sea, it is probable it does not extend under water to a distance anything equal to what is seen above. The breadth of the ca1 seway, which runs out into one continued range of columns, is, in gen­ eral, om twenty to thirty et; at one place or two, it may be nearly rty et r a w yards. The highest part of this causeway is the narrowest, at the ot of the impending cli whence the whole projects, where, r four or ve yards, it is om ten to fteen et.
4. The columns of this narrow part incline om a perpendicular a little to the westward, and rm a slope on their tops, by the very unequal height of the columns on the two sides, by which an ascent is made at the ot of the cli om the head of one column to the next above, to the top of the cause­ way, which, at the distance of half a dozen yards om this, assumes a perpendicular position, and low-