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view, and then an old castle on the high ground to the right, and a 

 few miles further the chief feature on the road — the famous Barns- 

 more Gap — a deep pass or cut through the mountains, extending a 

 few miles, through which the road runs, and is lined at either side 

 by high cliffs, and sloping rock terraces, rising hundreds of feet 

 high, and forming a magnificent picture, requiring only a little 

 more foliage to perfect. We here first noticed the Osmunda or royal 

 fern, and collected several specimens of granite and other rocks. 



Farther on the road towards Donegal, the character of the 

 scenery changes. The wild moor passes into a beautiful undulat- 

 ing, well-wooded country, and Lough Esk appears to the right, 

 with Esk Castle towering above the foliage that clothes the 

 southern boundary of the lake, and the demesne of Ardnamona 

 adding to the beauty of its northern limit. Soon after passing 

 along the valley of the Esk the old town of Donegal comes into 

 view, and a quick drive over falling ground brings us, with a cheer, 

 to the comfortable hostelry of Dillon's Hotel, and in ten minutes 

 after our arrival we were all seated at a substantial dinner, served 

 up with due regard to our requirements after a railway run of ioo 

 miles, and a further drive of seventeen miles by car. 



After dinner a visit was paid to Donegal Castle, built by Sir 

 Basil Brook, in the reign of Elizabeth, on the site of the castle of 

 the O'Donnells, chiefs of the territory of Tir Conaill, the country 

 of Connell, from Conall Gulban, who, in the fifth century, held a 

 territory embracing nearly the whole of the present County 

 Donegal. This territory of Tir Conaill was formed into the pre- 

 sent county by Lord Deputy Perrott, in 1585, who called it 

 Donegal from the town of that name— Dun-na-M'Gall — or the fort 

 of the foreigner, so called from the fort erected there by the Danes. 

 After leaving the Cattle we visited the remains of the old Abbey, 

 beautifully situated on the margin of the bay, but in a most 

 melancholy state of dilapidation. The original Abbey was founded 

 in 1474, by Hugh Roe O'Donnell, as recorded in the annals of the 

 Four Masters, one of the most valuable compilations connected 

 with Irish history. It was written in this abbey by Michael 

 O'Clery and three other writers, between the year 1632 and 1636, 

 b 



