beautiful of Highland valleys. The gray mountain peaks, standing in threatening line at the head of the glen, the brown hills subsiding into green slopes, the meadowy holms, over which the stream wanders, recalling by its many windings the poet's beautiful fancy of the river unwilling to leave its source, all realize Dante's idea of the dolcemente feroce. * From Martin's Bridge the valley lies smiling before you into Glenties. LETTERKENNY TO RATHMULLAN. It is a pleasant drive on the western side of the Swilly, passing Gortlee, Kiltoy Lodge, Lisnennan Lodge, on the left, and on the right Barn Hill, Castle Wray, and Castle Grove, at which point (four miles) the direct road turns inland; but the tourist had better follow that which keeps to the right, for the sake of the beautiful views of Lough Swilly and its coasts. Beyond Ardrumman House (F. Mansfield, Esq.) are the ruins of Killydonnell Abbey, a Franciscan monastery, founded in the sixteenth century by an O'Donnell, and a chapel of ease to the ecclesiastical establishment of Kilmacrenan. A large portion of the side-walls of the chapel still remain, and a turret or gable, from which the Sweetly fierce. * visitor may have a view of one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth. Below him is a land-locked sea of purest sapphire, bordered by a coast, green to the water's edge, and, dotted with waving woods and handsome residences, slopes pleasantly off to the hills of Fanad and Inishowen. "The bowery shore Went off in gentle windings to the hoar And light blue mountains, but no breathing man On either side. The sidelong view of swelling leafiness, Which the glad setting sun in gold doth dress, The bell of the Abbey of Killydonnell, according to a pretty legend, is heard once every seven years at midnight. The story goes that a party of marauders from Tyrone attacked the abbey, and carrying off amongst other things the bell, put it on board a vessel which they had waiting off the shore below, and departed with their booty across the lough. But God's justice overtook them, for a storm arose, and the sacrilegious robbers were all * Keats. drowned, and thus the sacred bell never entered Tyrone. It is kept somewhere at the bottom of the lough, whence its muffled tones proceed once every seven years at the still hour of midnight. Beyond the Abbey of Killydonnell is the demesne of Fort Stewart, (Sir James Stewart, Bart.,) which occupies a beautiful situation close to the shore, where there is a ferry of the same name, touching on the opposite side at a point within about eight miles of Derry. At a short distance farther on are Shellfield, (N. Stewart, Esq.,) and the ruins of old Fort Stewart, a place built at the commencement of the seventeenth century. From hence the road traverses a well-cultivated country to RATHMELTON, which is prettily situated on the Lannan, a picturesque mountain stream that flows by Kilmacrenan into Lough Fern, emerging from it under the same name, only a few yards from its point of entrance. Like the Bann, it was at one time famous for its pearls. There is good salmon and trout fishing on this river. Leave to fish must be obtained from Sir James Stewart, the owner of the river, or from Mr Charles Kelly, Rathmelton, who rents it. Distances.-Millford, 4 miles; Kilmacrenan, 6 miles; Rathmullan, 6 miles; Fort Stewart Ferry, 3; Killydonnell, 4. Rathmelton is a good starting-point for an excursion to Kilmacrenan and Gartan Lough, (p. 200.) The road running from Rathmelton to Milford cuts off the peninsula formed by Lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay it is only five miles from sea to sea. Leaving Rathmelton, the tourist may take the direct road to Milford, or go round by Tilly bridge, by which route he will get an abundance of interesting scenery along the picturesque valley of the Lannan, by the pretty seats of Claragh, (Mrs Watt,) and Ballyarr, (Lord George Hill,) and Lough Fern, which is a sheet of water about four miles in circumference, and the centre of a landscape exquisitely beautiful. There is much besides Lough Fern in the neighbourhood of Milford to interest the lover of scenery. The visitor should not fail to explore the Bunlin river, a stream which pursues a romantic course all the way down to the Mulroy Bay, forming a fine cascade at the Golden Loup. The Mulroy is an estuary which for irregularity of coast-line is hardly equalled anywhere. To explore this extraordinary inlet of the Atlantic, so full of various incident, the tourist should go from Milford to Carrigart by the road that keeps along the western shore of the bay, of whose calm waters and bold and broken shores it affords beau tiful views. Carrigart is a small village, with nothing to detain the tourist; but in its neighbourhood are the Rosapenna sands* and Downing's Bay, from above which there is a glorious view of Sheephaven, † and its magnificent background of mountains. Close on the left, rises Lough Salt mountain, at the foot of which repose the village of Glen, and the lough of the same name. From Carrigart the tourist should again seek the Mulroy shore by the nearest route, and crossing the ferry from Lowertown, follow the road on the eastern side, traversing Fanad,§ the land of the famous Gallowglasses, "the MacSweenys of the axes." Fanad was "the property of the sept of the O'Breslans, descendants of Connaing, third son of Conaill Gulban, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, who possessed Tirconnell.' The O'Breslans, however, were succeeded by the MacSwynes, who established themselves and built several fortresses. Physically speaking, Fanet is intersected by three short ranges of hills running across the peninsula, viz., the Rathmullan range, .. the Knockalla Hills, which attain to a height of 1200 feet; and a still more northerly group about 800 feet." || The road skirting the base of the Knockalla Hills, * See p. 190. + Page 189. + Page 195. || Murray. |