156 The Irish Naturalist . ( June, 1898. 



Naturalists will turn to the last seventy pages, dealing with the 

 Mourne district, for information as original as it is detailed. A general 

 shaded map, in four colours, is given, on which all the summits are 

 named, from Clonachullion Hill to Knockshee above the Carlingford 

 inlet. The northern section of the group is further admirabl}- dealt 

 with in a reproduction of Prof. M. F. Fitzgerald's contoured map— the 

 onlj' one, we believe, as yet published; the reproduction is enhanced by 

 the contour-lines being in red, while the rivers are printed in blue. 

 Two sketches, on pp. 200 and 201, indicate the forms of the summits as 

 seen respectivel}- from Lisburn and vSlieve Donard, and will aid in their 

 I'ccognition in tlie field. 



The stress laid on the types of jointing in the granite (p. 203) will 

 explain many of the more remarkable rock-features, which are other- 

 wise apt to impress the tourist with a sense of the strange rather than 

 the beautiful. He can now correlate the sheer grc}- walls, wearing the 

 aspect of titanic masonr}-, or the great bare faces on Slieve Bernagh or 

 Slieve Meel, with the planes of fracture that were set up in the granite 

 as it slowl}' cooled and settled down. 



And the natural architecture of the ''Castles" on Slieve Commedagh, 

 so nobly portrayed on p. 220, will in lime remind the pedestrian less of 

 the work of human hands, and more of the work of those world-wide 

 forces, against which he also, in his own pleasure-taking, must 

 contend. 



The mention of the illustration of these pinnacles brings ns to the 

 pictures in general, which are liberal in number and admirable in re- 

 production. The majority are process-blocks, reduced from Mr. 

 Welch's views ; and the pure beauty of some of them, even in this form, 

 is enough to send the artist or the antiquary to the originals. Take for 

 instance, '* Downpatrick from Gallows Hill" (p. 129) ; the picturesque 

 backing to Kilbroney Cross (p. 187) ; and the sense of moorland desola- 

 tion conveyed in the twelve square inches of the view up the unhappily 

 named " Happy Valley" on p. 226. Notice, again, the use made of the 

 commonplace neatness of Rostrevor on p. 186, by drawing up a solid- 

 wheeled car across it, as a touch of primitive times. 



Finally, this little book, bound with rounded corners for the pocket, 

 will prove a pleasant companion among more ambitious volumes in a 

 library. One need not even have visited the district to enjoy its multi- 

 farious details. The antiquary will find in it plans of ruins, coats of 

 arms, corporate seals, and, in Mr. J. St. J. Phillips's restoration of 

 Dundrum Castle, a touch of Viollet-le-Duc and Carcassonne. The 

 scientist will know that its field-observations are reliable, and that its 

 guidance in mountain-climbing is that of an expert in the Mournes. 

 The credit for its production must not rest altogether with the author 

 and the artists, but must be shared with the enterprising Railway 

 Company, which has preferred to appeal, in this latest venture, to the 



higher spirit of the tourist. 



GReNvii,i.K A. J. Coi,K. 

 Royal College of Science, Dublin. 



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