1903-1904.1 .151 



few minutes were bowling along the undulating road leading 

 to Killyleagh. In the course of our drive through this fertile 

 district the neatness and taste exhibited in the farmhouses 

 and cottages attracted much attention, and the vivid colour- 

 ing presented by the broom was much admired. By the side 

 of the road was observed a rather remarkable rookery; here 

 the nests were placed in low fir bushes, contrary to the usual 

 nesting practice of rooks, which is to rear their young in the 

 slender branches at the tops of high trees ; and a little further 

 on the peculiar spectacle of a large grass field studded all 

 over with white-thorn bushes was commented on. Fields of 

 this sort may be seen in game-preserving localities, the reason 

 for having them planted over with bushes being to defeat the 

 netting proclivities of poachers, but here it is more likely 

 that the haw kernels had been scattered by members of the 

 thrush family after taking from them their nutritive 

 envelopes, and had vegetated in the fertile soil. 



Our arrival in Killyleagh had evidently been anticipated, 

 and many of the inhabitants were standing outside their 

 doors, who greeted us with friendly cheers as we drove 

 through their streets to the quay. 



Killyleagh must always be held in reverence as the birth- 

 place, in 1666, of Sir Hans Sloane, the eminent physician 

 and naturalist, and founder of the British Museum. Sir 

 Hans Sloane was President of the Royal Society from 1727 

 till 1741 ; he died in 1753, and bequeathed to the nation his 

 entire collections, which form the nucleus round which the 

 vast treasures of our national Museum have since aggregated. 

 On reaching the quay our embarkation was speedily accom- 

 plished, but the weather, which up till this time had not been 

 unfavourable, now changed, and soon the strong north- 

 westerly wind, blowing almost directly in our faces, very 

 much impeded our progress up the lough, and necessitated 

 frequent tackings to enable us to make any progress north- 

 wards. About a mile and a half out from Killyleagh we 

 passed close by Dunnyneill Island {dun-ui-Neill, O'Neill's 

 fort). Unlike most of the islands in the lough, which are 



