SALMON ANGLING IN IRELAND. 261 



justify my praise of the autumn virtues of the loveliest mountain 

 water in the world. 



The last morning of our stay has amved ; so has Mr. Doolan ; so 

 has the car ; and we pause before mounting to take a last look at 

 the bright river sweeping round the old walls of O'Donnell's Castle, 

 and to bid adieu to the restless, noisy jackdaws, whose loquacity, by 

 the way, we had long since graciously pardoned. But the best 

 friends must part ; a weary journey lies before us, and it will be 

 dark long ere we crawl over Crotty Bridge, and roll into the court- 

 yard of Lord Q-eorge Hill's hotel. 



The district of the Rosses is separated from the more reclaimed 

 country about Qlenties and Ardara on the south by the river Gwee- 

 barra, the sandy channel of which is from a mile and a half to a 

 quarter of a mile in breadth throughout the last eight miles of its 

 course, and can only be passed by fording in dry weather. On the 

 whole line of coast from Bloody Foreland to Malin Beg Head there 

 is but one gentleman's seat ; this is at Ardara, a village at the head 

 of Loughrosmore Bay, from which there is a pretty good communi- 

 cation over the heights that stretch from Bluestack to Malin, 

 Beg, Killybeggs, and Donegal. Westward from Ardara the coast 

 again becomes precipitous, being lined with cliffs from 500 to 600 feet 

 in height on the northern side of the great promontory terminated 

 by Malin Beg Head. The loftiest cliffs, however, on the whole line 

 of coast, are those of Slieve League, immediately east of Malin Beg 

 where the height from the sea to the summit of the shelving rock 

 above, is at one point 1964 feet. 



This description, extracted partly from the ''Memoirs of the 

 Ordnance Survey," introduces the reader to a vast wilderness of 

 swamp and mountain, glens, lakes, and rivers ; but it affords him no 

 aid whereby to feel all the magic of the scene. Passing through 

 Mount Charles, we entered on a track of moorland that appeared 

 endless. Hour after hour the car rolled along the solitary waste, 

 through Ardara, through Glenties, and across the Oanea, now 

 shrunk to half its size. 



Wilder grew the landscape as we toiled slowly up the lofty 



