230 A YEAR OF liberty; or, 



summoned you back to earth once more to walk tlie banks and 

 braes that in life you loved so well. But now the spell is broken, 

 and you must depart. The play is over ; the curtain is falling. 

 Vale Ite missa est. 



CHAPTER XXXni. 



After a lazy Day on the Banks of the Beltra, we become more lazy still ; 



abandon our Duty in a shameful Manner, and go Sight-seeing to the Island 



of Achil. 



September 20. 

 The district surrounding the head of Clew Bay contains the pretty 

 towns of Westport and Newport ; the former situated on a small 

 stream running into the south-eastern angle of the inlet, and the 

 latter on the river which discharges the waters of Lough Beltra into 

 its north-eastern comer. Westport is a well-built and handsome 

 town ; two of the principal streets are parallel to the river, the 

 borders of which are laid out as a public walk, with rows of trees. 

 Westport House, the residence of the Marquis of Sligo by far the 

 finest mansion in the county stands in the immediate vicinity of the 

 town, near the sea. Between the two " ports," the head of Clew 

 Bay is studded over with green pasturable islands, varying in size 

 from a few acres to half a mile or more in length, and in number 

 amounting to 1 70. The shore along the head of Clew Bay is rich, 

 and worn into numerous peninsulas an^ low promontories, many of 

 them wooded, which greatly increases their picturesque effect. On 

 one of them stands the residence of Sir William O'Malley, and at 

 Newport, close to the town, is the seat of Sir Eichard O'Donnell, 

 proprietor of large tracts in the neighbourhood. The scenery of this 

 district is remarkably striking ; the beauty of the bay, with its 

 labyrinth of islands, appears to have been known from an early 

 period, since they are distinguished as the "Fortunate Islands" 

 in an Italian map of the sixteenth century. 



The absence of rain for the last twenty-four hours, which reduced 



