i5 



commodation,and all were comfortably seated when the shrill whistle 

 of the guard and its echo from the engine announced the departure 

 of the train. After a quick drive of four hours past the nourishing 

 factories of Lisburn, Lurgan, and Portadown, the ancient towns of 

 Armagh and Clones, and the wooded demesnes that skirt the lines 

 by Tynan, Glasslough, and Monaghan, a halt was made at the 

 historic town of Enniskillen, through which the party was conveyed 

 on its way to the quay, where the Rossclare steamer awaited them. 

 The embarkation was soon accomplished, and the steamer under 

 weigh for a trip down the beautiful Lough Erne. Above the right 

 bank of the river stands a lofty column to commemorate the fame of 

 Sir Lowry Cole, while the left is commanded by the military barrack 

 and fort. Farther on, Portora school crowns the crest of a hill, at 

 the base of which Portora Castle crumbles to the waters' edge, op- 

 posite Derrygore Cottage, nestling in the deepest foliage. Between 

 the two the steamer passes on to the "Friar's Leap," where the lake 

 expands and brings into view the bold outline of Devenish Island, 

 broken by the ruins of the abbey, and one of the most perfect of Ire- 

 land's famous round towers, 80 feet high, where, thus deserted, those 

 venerable piles with their surrounding graves are allowed to fall into 

 decay, and cattle roam through sculptured stones and fallen tombs. 

 Leaving Devenish on the right, the scenery of Lough Erne opens 

 out in all its beauty, a very labyrinth of islands of every size, 

 clothed in the richest verdure, now darkened by the shade of 

 thick foliage, now bright with the waving crops of corn, and again 

 partaking of the refreshing green of new-mown meadows, and, as 

 the steamer winds its way amid them, vistas of varying beauty are 

 opened up at every turn, affording distant glimpses of mansions 

 and cottages, and nearer views of ruined castles and mouldering 

 towers, and here and there the smooth surface of the water broken 

 by crafts of different sizes, while the Rossclare Hotel stands out a 

 central feature in the landscape, which satisfies the approaching 

 visitors that it cannot be surpassed for the beauty of its site or the 

 extent of its delightful prospect. Nearing the Hotel, Ely Lodge is 

 passed on the left, peeping above the trees, and playing, as it were, 

 hide-and-seek with the steamer around the intervening islands. 



