OCTOBER. 185 



use of the monastery lands, this is not impro- 

 bable. At the lake of Killarney, so often 

 celebrated by the poets for its beautiful 

 scenery, the arbutus grows in great plenty, and 

 attains a considerable size, in the woods on 

 the shores of the blue waters. The fruit of the 

 tree is as large as the common hautboy, but of 

 a much deeper crimson, and of a firmer sub- 

 stance ; it is very ornamental to the tree, and 

 it appears to have been a common article of 

 food among the ancients, as it now is in Spain 

 and Italy ; yet Pliny says, the specific name 

 ef the plant is derived from unedo, I "eat 

 one," because he who ate one would eat no 

 more. Its name of arbutus is also from the 

 Celtic words, ar boise, " austere bush," because 

 of the nature of its berries ; yet to many per- 

 sons their flavour is agreeable. The Spaniards 

 make of them a conserve, and the Irish peasant 

 children gather them for sale, from the bushes 

 of Killarney. 



Two other kinds of arbutus belong to our 

 wild plants : the trailing, or black bear-berry, 

 {Arbutus alpina,) which grows on the bleak 

 Highland mountains, and whose foliage in 

 autumn is remarkably beautiful, from its deep 

 yet bright crimson colour ; and the red bear- 

 berry, {Arbutus uva ursi,) which is a common 

 plant throughout the north of England, and on 

 the Scottish Highlands. Its blossoms are of a 

 deep rose colour ; its berries smaller and more 

 austere than those of the strawberry tree ; and 

 they afford excellent food for the moor-fowl. 



