44 



The acompanying' illustration shows a quiet corner of 

 Louj^h Dunlewey, Avith Blount Erij>al looming- in the back- 

 gTound. This is the highest mountain in Irehmd, and the 

 Donegal folk think a lot of Mount Erigal. 



One of the places of interest which the visitor to 

 Gweedo.'e ought not to miss seeing is Skull Island, It is 

 close to the sea-trout ])ool already referred to, and you 

 ran reach the island wit'iout getting wet-footed at low tide. 

 The island is simply a mound of sand, lying off the harbour 

 of Bunbeo' ; which villao-e is three Irish miles from the 

 Gweeiloi-e Hotel. That is a somewhat comjjl^x sentence, 

 but the information it contains Avill be useful to intending 

 visitors. And we ^d\l now get back to Skull Island and 

 its human bones. The loose sand is here literally full of 

 human remains, and A\e duu' up skulls and other bones 

 Avith our landing-net handles close to the surlace. No 

 one appears to know anything about the history of this 

 singular deposit. The popular belief, amongst the 

 natives, is that these bleached bones are the remains of 

 the thousands who perished on this coast in the wrecked 

 Spanish Armada. 



There is excellent sea-fishing at Bunbeg, but there is 

 great difficulty in obtaining the use of a boat for the piu*- 

 pose. By the Avay, I may mention that the cost of a 

 boat and man on the Loughs is only five shillings per 

 day, l)ut the OAvners of the hotel are also the owners of 

 the fishing, and they booked us a guinea apiece for 

 salmon licenses. This we refused to pay, because we 

 already possessed licenses. The hotel charges were 

 reasonable — ten shillings per day — the fare was plain 

 and plentiful, but the accommodation could not be called 

 luxurious. 



The flies Avitli which I killed best were olive duns, on 

 PenuelFs No. 1 hooks, Wickham's fancy, and Alexandras, 

 on No. 2 hooks. For salmon, the flies used are small, 

 and all the standard patterns will kill, provided the size 

 is proportionate to the height of water. Of the fishing 

 in the loughs there is not much to be said ; they teem 

 with AVTetched little brown trout — ^locally called "Jen- 



