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hills form perpendicular escarpments, from the foot of which 

 the valley slopes on either side with an unbroken sweep to 

 the flat below, where the Invir or Glenariff river traces its 

 course to the sea. Being unbroken by intervening hills or 

 undulations of the surface, the whole extent of the valley is 

 constantly in view from the road. This was the last scene of 

 CoxwelPs balloon exploit. Limestone quarries occur on the 

 north side of the valley, in one of which were collected very 

 good clear crystals of double-refracting spar. Along the banks 

 the ladies gathered quantities of wild strawberries, which 

 abounded here melting with ripeness. At the head of the glen 

 the river, like our own Woodburn, divides into two branches, 

 on each side of which there are some splendid waterfalls, the 

 main branches, as well as the tributary streams, being fringed 

 with groves of the densest foliage, where the botanists of the 

 party collected many specimens of our native plants, including 

 the following ferns : — The maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium 

 trichomanes), the beech fern (Polypodium phegopteris), and 

 the brittle bladder fern (Cystopteris fragilis). At three 

 o'clock the whistle of the steward again called the party 

 together ; and, at the village of Waterfoot, they exchanged the 

 hotel van for their own, and passed on for Lame. The cliffs 

 along the road now looked imposingly grand. The craggy 

 prominences, reflecting back the brilliant rays of the evening's 

 sun, stood out boldly, and cast dark shadows athwart the 

 receding surfaces ; and all was so clear and well defined that, 

 hundreds of feet above on the rocky face of the escarpment, 

 the mountain sheep were seen browsing on the scanty herbage 

 that occasional projecting ledges afforded. 



Reaching Garron Point the party alighted to visit the Tower, 

 and away they went scrambling up the winding path along the 

 face of the thickly-wooded hill directly under Garron Tower. 

 They were received by Mr. Portens, the gardener ; and, with a 

 rapidity that scarcely did justice to the place, they were shown 

 over gardens, greenhouses, vinery, and rosery, and were 

 amazed at the amount of taste and skill displayed in convert- 

 ing this ledge of fallen rock into a paradise of flowers. Art, 

 thus triumphing over the desolation of nature, has transformed 



