his thumb under it. When Diarmid had passed the first night at Kilclooney, being prevented by the sea from going farther, he took with him a sack of sand and returned by a detour to Carnaween, where he spread the sand on his bed. Meanwhile, Finn applied his thumb to the divination tooth, and received for answer that the pair were passing the night on the sand. He went, accordingly, to the bed at Kilclooney, and was of course disappointed. Next morning, Diarmid having concealed his bag of sand, took a bundle of heath, returned to, and spent the night in the bed at Kilclooney. Finn, as usual, when the night came consulted his tooth, and got for answer that the pair were passing the night on the heath, and he accordingly sought the pair at Carnaween. Thus was the giant baffled, his gift of divination notwithstanding. From Kilclooney the tourist may proceed to Ardara, or return to Glenties by Loughfad.

II. EXCURSION THROUGH THE GLENS.

The lover of Highland scenery may have a pleasant excursion of some ten miles, through two glens that are hidden in the mountains behind Glenties. About a mile and a half from Glenties, a sadly neglected road is given off the main road to the right, and passing under Aughla mountain, ascends

Stracastle Glen, which, at the lower end is strikingly wild, but softens as you ascend farther into the mountains. At about four miles the road crosses the Stracastle river, the passage over this Highland stream consisting of a few large stones, laid at regular intervals, edgeways, under the water, and is carried over a tract of hilly upland for about two miles, when it drops into the Glenmore, and holds an even tenor along the Owenea to Glenties. The reader will find some details of this beautiful Glenmore in the excursion from Stranorlar to Glenties.

III. EXCURSION TO DUNGLOE.

Leaving Glenties, the main route is followed up to the third mile, where the direct road to Dungloe goes off to the left up Derryloghan hill, and then turning to the right, keeps along the southern shore of the Gweebarra estuary for seven miles to Du

carry.

The shore facing the north is bleak, rocky, and untenanted, but the opposite shore, a district called Lettermacaward, is cultivated, and thickly dotted with cottages. The estuary lies at your feet all the way, and there is a view of the valley running inland as far as the mountains of Slieve Snaght and Glendowan. From the more elevated part of the

ground good distant views to the north-east are obtained. From Ducarry, you ascend by a zig-zag road, the steep side on the north of the Gweebarra, and looking back, you get a striking view of the pass running up to Lough-Barra, and the distant mountain ranges. When you have fairly attained the high ground, your "way lies through an untameably wild country, but with such shifting panoramas of mountains, that the attention is never fatigued." Away to the right are the Glendowan and Derryveagh Mountains, with Slieve Snaght in the foreground, and the lower ranges on this side of Dunlewy, and the white peak of Arrigal peering loftily behind. "In fact, if the weather is fineand it all depends on that-there is scarce such another mountain view in the kingdom." To the left are the Crohy Hills, subsiding here into low ridges with nothing striking in their conformation, along which the road is carried to

DUNGLOE, "a dreary looking village on the side of a hill, which rises rather sharply from the water's side." It is situated at the head of a rather wide inlet of the sea, guarded on the outside by the island of Inishfree. The water is so shallow that it is not a fit station even for the smallest boats. At the foot of the town is a brawling mountain torrent,

* Murray.

+ Ibid.

Ibid.

which in rainy weather rushes down its rocky bed with a deafening roar. The only noticeable piece of architecture in the place is the Catholic chapel, which is a spacious building, and is furnished with a handsome marble altar.

I.-EXCURSION TO CROHY HEAD.

The tourist should make an excursion to Crohy Head, for the sake of the view, which may be got from that point, of the extensive district of Templecrone. The distance is but four miles, the road running along the shore as far as the martello tower. The elevation of the Head is not more than 800 feet. Northward you look on a singular stretch of coast a seaboard dotted with rocks and lakelets, and a coast-line marvellously irregular, presenting a perfect chaos of land and water, and a multitude of islands, looking, to borrow Thackeray's image, like dolphins playing in the bay. "To the southwest, overlooking Gweebarra Bay, is a singular landslip, called by the inhabitants Tholla Bristha,' (broken earth.) The rocks seem to have been shaken and shivered to pieces-in fact, macadamized on a prodigious scale, and present an awfully shattered appearance. The chasm varies in its dimensions, the greatest gash being twelve feet wide above, and upwards of twenty-five deep. At some places the

edges accurately correspond, and are serrated."* There is a fine range of precipices on the south-west side of the Head, and there is some good cave scenery, accessible only by a boat. The sportsman will find plenty of wild fowl and seal shooting on the coast, and trout fishing in the open loughs in the neighbourhood of Dungloe.

II. EXCURSION TO BURTON PORT AND THE

ISLANDS.

At the end of the second mile the road passes Meenmore Lough, near which there is an old, disused barrack, and two miles farther on, you reach Burton Port, which is the chief point of connexion between the islands of this coast and the mainland. Here are Roshin Lodge, (Mrs Foster,) and Lackbeg House, (G. Sproule, Esq.) Within a quarter of an hour's rowing is "Ruiland Island, where, during the Lord Lieutenancy of the Duke of Rutland in 1785, £40,000 was expended in making a military station and general emporium for this part of the country." The island is now a mere sandbank; about a dozen of small dwelling-houses remain, the sand has destroyed all the rest.

Off Rutland is Arranmore, a large island, on which there are some eighty families. If the tourist is + Murray.

*

Donegal Tourist, apud Murray.