266 Enter the awful Pass of Barnmoor. 



which I before adverted, one solitary hovel 

 only was seen at a distance, standing in the 

 midst of this extensive field of desolation, nearly 

 opposite to Lough Alowin, a mile and a half in 

 length, and half a mile in breadth. Here we 

 entered the grand and awful pass of Barnmoor, 

 a quarter of a mile wide, and three miles long, 

 formed by mountains which rise to a consider- 

 able height on each side of a deep glen, the 

 rugged tops and rocky sides of which con- 

 tributed to the sombre appearance, by being 

 partially blackened with heath. The gloom 

 and chillness of the air, occasioned by the ex- 

 clusion of the sun's rays the death-like silence 

 which here appeared to reign, impressed the 

 mind with an indescribable solemnity and awe ; 

 for though there was little to apprehend from 

 the destruction which nature held impending 

 over our heads, and as little to dread from 

 predatory man, yet there was something so 

 truly inhospitable, melancholy, and desolate 

 in the scene, that the passing moments were 

 attended by feelings of a painful description, 

 until we became relieved by the sight of some 

 habitations at the bottom of the hill, yet two 

 miles to the end of this dismal pass. 



Appalling and forlorn as was the situation, 

 it had allured a human being, though with 



