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converted the place into a bishopric. St Eunan was appointed the first bishop of this see, who so far back as the eleventh century built the cathedral, which, with some notable alterations, stands there to this day. It is a plain cruciform building, with a square tower of the last century, which is also the date of the transepts added by Bishop Pooley in 1702. The venerable diocess of Raphoe was incorporated with that of Derry by Act of Parliament in 1835, and the episcopal residence now stands near the cathedral in a ruinous condition. The Catholic ecclesiastical division remains what it has been from the earliest times, but the Catholic bishop of the diocess resides at Letterkenny. The town has declined much of late years; whole rows of houses are in a state of dilapidation. There is a fine example of a stone circle at Beltanny, on the summit of a hill about two miles from the town. This circle consists of sixty-seven stones, and measures one hundred and fifty yards in circumference. The name Beltanny is supposed to be a corruption of Baal-tinne, "the fire of Baal," intimating a spot where that deity was particularly worshipped in Ireland; and just the same is the etymology in Gaelic for the Beltani tree, burned at Midsummer.

The land around Raphoe, especially towards the

south and east, is fertile and highly cultivated; the surface of the country is hilly. Fine views may be got from Mullafin (954 feet) eastward, over the green undulations and valleys of the Deel and Fin, and beyond the Foyle away to the distant hills of county Derry, while on every other side the Donegal ranges darken the horizon. Close at hand, on the northwest, is Cark mountain, (1205 feet,) near the summit of which, some ten miles from Raphoe, is Lough Deel, in which the Burndale, as it is commonly called here, takes its rise. This stream flows a little south of Convoy and Raphoe, through Ballindrate, and joins the Foyle a little below Lifford.

From Raphoe the tourist may proceed through Ballindrate a village with nothing to characterize it, except, perhaps, that the river is navigable by small craft up to this point-on to Lifford and Strabane. But there is more of incident on the road to Stranorlar, through Convoy, (three miles,) a village in which the traveller will find nothing to attract his notice except the Protestant and Catholic churches, facing each other across the road, and the wellwooded demesne of G. Montgomery, Esq. "Hard by, near Convoy," writes the Rev. C. Otway, "I observed a kind of magnesian stone or steatite, that might be applied to many uses in architecture and the arts; it is as easily cut and carved as a piece of

wood; it bears the fire so well that it would answer for crucibles."*

From Convoy the road traverses an open country, passing Tircallan, a residence belonging to the Marquis of Conyngham, and affording near views of the Donegal Highlands, to Stranorlar, where "the only building of interest is a very handsome Roman Catholic church, lately built" by the Rev. D. E. Coyle. In the neighbourhood are Drimboe Castle, (Sir S. Hayes ;) Summer Hill, (J. Johnston, Esq. ;) and Meenglass, (Viscount Lifford.) Stranorlar is the birthplace of Frances Browne, the well-known blind poetess of Donegal.

STRANORLAR TO DONEGAL.

A

Crossing the Finn, the road passes through Ballyboffey, a busy, thriving village, and following up the valley of the Burn Darnett, affords extensive views over the open country behind. short distance above Ballyboffey, a road is given off to the left, which leads to Meenglass, (the greenplane,) the seat of Viscount Lifford, a nobleman whose large intellect can find interesting occupation amongst his tenantry in the remote Donegal. At the sixth mile Lough Mourne is reached, and the tourist, now fairly in the highland country, follows

* Sketches in Donegal.

the road already sketched in an excursion from Donegal to the Gap of Barnesmore.

FROM STRANORLAR TO GLENTIES.

Some very pretty scenery is to be met with by following the Finn up its stream on the north bank to Fintown, or on the south bank to Glenties. Emerging from Ballyboffey, the road runs alongside the river, on the opposite bank of which are the dense woods of Drumboe Castle, and passing Glenmore, (W. M. Style, Esq.,) four miles farther on, cuts round the base of Altnapaste, a conical hill, (1199) feet,) which on this side comes close to the river's brink. If it be dry weather, the traveller will not fail to notice the marked attrition of this mountain stream, which has furrowed deeply the solid rock that forms its bed. On the northern bank, opposite to Altnapaste, are a Catholic chapel, and a little higher up the valley, a Protestant chapel and glebehouse, backed up by Crocknamona. Here a road is given off to the right, which, crossing the Finn, "where there is a pretty waterfall," and falling into the road on the northern bank at Cloghan Lodge, (Sir T. C. Style,) keeps along the river to its source at Fintown, some ten miles up in the heart of the

mountains.

The direct road leads on to Glenties, and affords along its whole length highland scenery, rich and varied as the tourist could desire. Crossing the Reelan bridge, we find ourselves in the midst of the mountains. As we follow up the Reelan river, we get at every turn of the road new views of a noble group of steeply-escarped hills, which "shoulder each other" close on the left. First is Gaugin, (1865 feet,) conspicuous by its dark colour and isolated summit; then Crovenahanta, (1568 feet,) and Lavaghmore, (2211 feet,) and Croaghanairigid, (Silver Hill,) and other peaks of the Croaghgorm, or Bluestack, range peering up behind. On the right is Crocknahamid, up whose side we have been ascending; and a little farther on, Boultypatrick, (1415 feet.) Having reached the watershed at a point eight hundred feet above the level of the sea, the road begins to descend Ballinagrath Hill, affording fine views northward over Aghla, Scraigs, and the Glendowan mountains. A little farther on we pass Lough Ea, a small tarn guarded by savage-looking precipices, under an outlier of the Binbane range, which the eye may trace from this point westward behind Ardara, and running out to the ocean cliffs of Slievatoovey. From Lough Ea, our road is down the rapidly-descending course of the Owen-Ea, into the Glenmore, or Glen of Glenties, one of the most

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