1889-90.] 173 



On June 15th, to 



GLENARIFF. 



Upwards of forty members left the Northern Counties ter- 

 minus by the 9-5 a.m. train, bound for GlenarifT, and, after a 

 quick run, were at Ballymena transferred to the carriages of 

 the Ballymena and Cushendall branch. This line is a narrow- 

 gauge one, and the passenger cars on it are a departure from 

 those on our ordinary systems, the plan of the tramway cars 

 having been adopted. They are of unusual length, seating 

 between thircy and forty on each side, and from their being well 

 supplied with windows, and the occupants seated sociably vis-a- 

 vis, they are well adapted for excursions, affording as they do good 

 opportunities for viewing the district through which they run. 

 The country between Ballymena and Parkmore — the northern 

 terminus of this newly-opened branch — is for the most part 

 agricultural, but as we advance northward and gain a higher 

 elevation, the open moorland is reached. Openings in the hill- 

 sides, with patches of rich-coloured iron ore, and all the 

 machinery and accompaniments of mining, indicate the use 

 for which this line and its many branches were originally con- 

 structed. Parkmore offers at first sight little to attract visitors. 

 The view is certainly an extended one, but it is bounded on 

 almost every side by rounded heath-clad hills. One exception 

 is a wooded valley to the right of the line. In this direction 

 lies GlenarifT. Under the guidance of the President of the 

 club, Mr. William Gray, M.R.I. A., the upper reaches of the 

 glen are entered — permission having been specially granted to 

 the club. Here the GlenarifT water finds its way in a compara- 

 tively open course through a plantation of young firs, but soon 

 its descent becomes more rapid, and its work of cutting a chasm 

 for itself more marked. Presently a waterfall — the first of 

 many — deepens the glen, along the steep sides of which a path 

 has been cut. It is found difficult in such places to keep the 

 large party together, various pursuits leading the members in 

 different directions. The botanists, delighted with the variety 



